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I  I 


DICTIONARY 

OF 

NATIONAL    BIOGRAPHY 

POCOCK PUCKERING 


DICTIONARY 


OF 


NATIONAL    BIOGRAPHY 


EDITED    BY 

SIDNEY     LEE 


VOL.  XLVI. 
POCOCK PUCKERING 


MACMILLAN     AND      CO. 

LONDON  :  SMITH,  ELDER,  &  CO. 
1896 


18 


LIST    OP   WEITEES 


IN  THE  FORTY-SIXTH  VOLUME. 


G.  A.  A.  .  .  G.  A.  AITKEN. 
J.  G.  A.    .  .  J.  G.  ALGER. 

A.  J.  A..  .  .  SIR  ALEXANDER  J.  ARBUTHNOT, 

K.C.S.I. 
W.  A.  J.  A. .  W.  A.  J.  ARCHBOLD. 

W.  A WALTER  ARMSTRONG. 

P.  H.  B.  .  .  P.  H.  BAGENAL. 

B.  B-L.  .  .  .  RICHARD  BAGWELL. 

G.  F.  R.  B.  .  G.  F.  RUSSELL  BARKER. 

M.  B Miss  BATESON. 

R.  B THE  REV.  RONALD  BAYNE. 

T.  B THOMAS  BAYNE. 

L.  B LAURENCE  BIN  YON. 

H.  E.  D.  B.  THE  REV.  H.  E.  D.  BLAKISTON. 

G.  C.  B.  .  .  G.  C.  BOASE. 

W.  B-T.    .  .  MAJOR  BROADFOOT. 

A.  R.  B.  .  .  THE  REV.  A.  R.  BUCKLAND. 

E.  I.  C. .  .  .  E.  IRVING  CARLYLE. 

H.  M.  C.  .  .  THE    LATE    H.    MANNERS    CHI- 
CHESTER. 

J.  W.  C-K.  .  J.  WILLIS  CLARK. 

E.  M.  C.  .  .  Miss  CLERKE. 

A.  M.  C.  .  .  Miss  A.  M.  CLERKE. 

T.  C THOMPSON  COOPER,  F.S.A. 

W.  P.  C.  .  .  W.  P.  COURTNEY. 

L.  C LIONEL  GUST,  F.S.A. 

J.  C.  D.    .  .  J.  C.  DIBDIN. 


A.  D AUSTIN  DOBSON. 

G.  T.  D.  .  .  G.  THORN  DRURY. 

R.  D ROBERT  DUN  LOP. 

C.  H.  F.  .  .  C.  H.  FIRTH. 

W.  G.  D.  F.  THE  REV.  W.  G.  D.  FLETCHER. 

T.  F^  ....  THE    REV.    THE    PRESIDENT    OF 

CORPUS    CHRISTI    COLLEGE, 

OXFORD. 

J.  G JAMES  GAIRDNER. 

R.  G RICHARD  GARNETT,  LL.D.,  C.B. 

J.  T.  G.   .  .  J.  T.  GILBERT,  LL.D.,  F.S.A. 
G.  G GORDON  GOODWIN. 

A.  G THE  REV.  ALEXANDER  GORDON 

R.  E.  G.  .  .  R.  E.  GRAVES. 

J.  A.  H.  .  .  J.  A.  HAMILTON. 

T.  H THE  REV.  THOMAS  HAMILTON,  D.D. 

C.  A.  H.  .  .  C.  ALEXANDER  HARRIS. 
P.  J.  H.   .  .  P.  J.  HARTOG. 
E.  G.  H.  .  .  E.  G.  HAWKE. 
T.  F.  H.  .  .  T.  F.  HENDERSON. 
W.  A.  S.  H.  W.  A.  S.  HEWINS. 

W.  H THE  REV.  WILLIAM  HUNT. 

W.  H.  H.    .  THE  REV.  W.  H.  BUTTON,  B.D. 

B.  D.  J.   .  .  B.  DAYDON  JACKSON. 

R.  C.  J.  .  .  PROFESSOR  R.  C.  JEBB,  M.P. 
T.  B.  J.  .  .  THE  REV.  T.  B.  JOHNSTONE. 
R.  J.  J. .  .  .  THE  REV.  JENKIN  JONES. 


VI 


List  of  Writers. 


c.  L.  K.  . 

J.  K.  .  .  . 

J.  K.  L.   . 

E.  L.  .  .  . 

S.  L.  .  .  . 

E.  H.  L.  . 

E.  M.  L.  . 

J.  E.  L.    . 
J.  H.  L.   . 
M.  MACD.. 
JE.  M. 
P.  L.  M.  . 
L.  M.  M.  .  . 
A.  H.  M.  .  . 

C.  M 

N.  M 

G.  P.  M-Y.. 
G.  LE  G.  N. 

C.  N 

D.  J.  O'D.  . 
F.  M.  O'D. . 

T.  0 

J.  H.  0.  .  . 
J.  F.  P..  .  . 
C.  P.   . 


.   C.   L.   KlNGSFORD. 

.  JOSEPH  KNIGHT,  F.S.A. 

.  PROFESSOR  J.  K.  LAUGHTON. 

.  Miss  ELIZABETH  LEE. 

.  SIDNEY  LEE. 

.  ROBIN  H.  LEGGE. 

.  COLONEL  E.  M.  LLOYD,  E.E. 

.  JOHN  EDWARD  LLOYD. 

.  THE  REV.  J.  H.  LUPTON,  D.D. 

.  M.  MACDONAGH. 

.  SHERIFF  MACKAY. 

.  P.  LE  MAISTRE. 

.   MlSS   MlDDLETON. 

.  A.  H.  MILLAR. 

.    COSMO   MONKHOTJSE. 

,  NORMAN  MOORE,  M.D. 

G.   P.   MORIARTY. 

G.  LE  GRYS  NORGATE. 
CONOLLY  NORMAN,  F.R.C.S.I. 

D.   J.    O'DONOGHUE. 
F.   M.    O'DONOGHUE. 

THE  REV.  THOMAS  OLDEN. 
THE  REV.  CANON  OVERTON. 
J.  F.  PAYNE,  M.D. 
THE  REV.  CHARLES  PLATTS. 


A.  F.  P.   .  .  A.  F.  POLLARD. 

S.  L.-P. .  .  .  STANLEY  LANE-POOLE. 
D'A.  P.  ...  D'ARCY  POWER,  F.R.C.S. 
R.  B.  P.  .  .  R.  B.  PROSPER. 
J.  M.  R.  .  .  J.  M.  RIGG. 

T.  S THOMAS  SECCOMBE. 

W.  A.  S.  .  .  W.  A.  SHAW. 

C.  F.  S.    .  .  Miss  C.  FELL  SMITH. 

B.  H.  S.  .  .  B.  H.  SOULSBY. 

G.  W.  S.  .  .  THE  REV.  G.  W.  SPROTT,  D.D. 
L.  S LESLIE  STEPHEN. 

C.  W.  S.  .  .  C.  W.  SUTTON. 
J.  T-T.  .  .  .  JAMES  TAIT. 

H.  R.  T.  .  .  H.  R.  TEDDER,  F.S.A. 

S.  T SAMUEL  TIMMINS,  F.S.A. 

T.  F.  T.   .  .  PROFESSOR  T.  F.  TOUT. 

D.  H.  T.  .  .  THE  LATE  D.  HACK  TUKE,  M.D  , 

LL.D. 

E.  V.  ....  THE  LATE  REV.  CANON  VENABLES. 
R.  H.  V.  .  .  COLONEL  R.  H.  VETCH,  R.E.,  C.B. 
H.  M.  V.  .  .  COLONEL  H.  M.  VIBART. 

F.  W-N.   .  .  FOSTER  WATSON. 
E.  T.  W.  .  .  E.  T.  WEDMORE. 
B.  B.  W.  .  .  B.  B.  WOODWARD. 

W.  W.   ...  WARWICK  WROTH,  F.S.A. 


DICTIONARY 


OF 


NATIONAL    BIOGRAPHY 


Pocock 


Pocock 


POCOCK,  SIR  GEOEGE  (1706-1792), 
admiral,  born  on  6  March  1706,  was  son  of 
Thomas  Pocock,  F.R.S.,  chaplain  in  the 
navy,  by  his  wife,  a  daughter  of  James 
Master  of  East  Langdon  in  Kent,  and  sister 
of  Margaret,  wife  of  George  Byng,  viscount 
Torrington  [q.  v.]  In  1718  he  entered  the 
navy  under  the  charge  of  his  uncle,  Streyn- 
sham  Master  [q.  v.],  on  board  the  Superbe,  in 
which  he  was  present  in  the  battle  of  Cape 
Passaro.  He  was  afterwards  for  three  years 
in  the  Looe,  with  Captain  George  Prothero, 
for  a  year  in  the  Prince  Frederick,  and 
another  in  the  Argyle ;  and  passed  his  ex- 
amination on  19  April  1725.  From  7  Dec. 
1726  to  May  1728  he  was  lieutenant  of  the 
Burford,  with  the  Hon.  Charles  Stewart; 
afterwards  in  the  Romney,  with  Charles 
Brown  [q.  v.]  ;  in  the  Canterbury,  with  Ed- 
mund Hook,  in  the  fleet  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean, under  Sir  Charles  Wager  [q.  v.] ;  in 
the  Namur,  carrying  Wager's  flag ;  and,  on 
26  Feb.  1733-4,  he  was  promoted  to  be  com- 
mander of  the  Bridgwater  fireship.  On 
1  Aug.  1738  he  was  posted  to  the  Aldborough 
frigate,  attached  to  the  fleet  in  the  Medi- 
terranean under  Rear-admiral  Nicholas  Had- 
dock [q.  v.]  The  Aldborough  was  paid  off 
at  Deptford  in  December  1741,  and  early  in 
the  following  year  Pocock  was  appointed  to 
the  Woolwich  of  40  guns,  which  he  com- 
manded in  the  Channel  during  the  year.  In 
January  1742-3  he  was  moved  into  the 
80-gun  ship  Shrewsbury,  much  against  his 
will,  the  smaller  ship  being,  he  considered, 
more  advantageous  in  time  of  war.  During 
the  few  weeks  he  was  in  the  Shrewsbury  he 
occupied  himself  in  pointing  out  her  defects 
in  writing  to  his  cousin,  Lord  Torrington, 
and  complained  of  being  moved,  against  his 

YOL.   XLVI. 


will,  into  a  large  ship.  His  interest  pre- 
vailed ;  he  was  appointed  to  the  Sutherland, 
of  50  guns,  and  sent  for  a  cruise  in  the  Bay 
of  Biscay  and  on  the  north  coast  of  Spain. 

In  1744  he  convoyed  the  African  trade  to 
Cape  Coast  Castle,  and  brought  home  the 
East  India  ships  from  St.  Helena.  In  1745  he 
again  took  out  the  African  trade,  and,  cross- 
ing over  to  the  West  Indies,  joined  Com- 
modore Fitzroy  Henry  Lee  [q.  v.],  with  whom, 
and  afterwards  with  Commodore  Edward 
Legge  [q.  v.],  he  continued  on  the  Leeward 
Islands  station.  On  Legge's  death,  on 
18  Sept.  1747,  he  succeeded  to  the  chief 
command.  Shortly  afterwards,  a  letter  from 
Sir  Edward  (afterwards  Lord)  Hawke  [q.  v.] 

E'.ving  him  the  news  of  the  victory  over 
'-Etenduere  on  14  Oct.,  warned  him  to 
look  out  for  the  convoy  which  had  escaped 
(BTJEEOWS,  Life  of  Hawke,  p.  185).  This 
he  did  with  such  good  effect  that  about 
thirty  of  the  ships  fell  into  his  hands,  and 
some  ten  more  were  picked  up  by  the  priva- 
teers. Early  in  May  1748  he  was  relieved 
by  Rear-admiral  Henry  Osborne  or  Osborn 

tq.  v.],  and  returned  to  England  in  the  fol- 
owing  August.  For  the  next  four  years  he 
resided  in  St.  James's  Street,  and  in  July 
1752  was  appointed  to  the  Cumberland  on 
the  home  station.  In  January  1754  he 
commissioned  the  Eagle,  and  in  March  sailed 
for  the  East  Indies,  with  the  squadron  under 
the  command  of  Rear-admiral  Charles  Wat- 
son [q.  y.]  The  squadron  put  into  Kinsale, 
where,  in  a  violent  gale,  the  Eagle  parted 
her  cables,  fell  on  board  the  Bristol,  and  was 
only  saved  from  going  on  shore  by  cutting 
away  her  masts.  The  two  ships  were  con- 
sequently left  behind  when  the  squadron 
sailed,  and  Pocock  was  ordered  to  take  them 


Pocock 


Pocock 


to  Plymouth  to  refit.  He  was  not  able  to 
reach  Plymouth  till  15  April,  and  a  few  days 
later  he  and  his  ship's  company  were  turned 
over  to  the  Cumberland,  in  which  he  went 
out  to  the  East  Indies. 

On  4  Feb.  1755  he  was  promoted  to  be 
rear-admiral  of  the  white,  and,  hoisting  his 
flag  on  board  the  Cumberland,  remained  with 
Watson  as  second  in  command.  On  8  Dec. 
1756  he  was  advanced  to  the  rank  of  vice- 
admiral,  and,  on  Watson's  death  on  16  Aug. 
1757,  succeeded  to  the  chief  command.  At 
Madras,  in  March  1758,  he  was  joined  by 
Commodore  Charles  Steevens  [q.  v.],  and, 
having  moved  his  flag  to  the  Yarmouth  of 
64  guns,  he  put  to  sea  on  17  April,  his 
squadron  now  consisting  of  seven  small  ships 
of  the  line,  ships  of  64,  60,  or  50  guns.  On 
the  29th,  off  Fort  St.  David,  he  fell  in  with 
the  French  squadron  of  about  the  same 
nominal  force,  all  being  French  East  India 
company's  ships,  except  the  one  74-gun  ship 
which  carried  the  broad-pennant  of  Comte 
d'Ach6.  Pocock  led  the  attack  as  prescribed 
by  the  English '  Fighting  Instructions.'  An 
indecisive  action  followed,  the  French  prac- 
tising the  familiar  manoeuvre  of  withdrawing 
in  succession  and  reforming  their  line  to  lee- 
ward. Battles  fought  in  this  manner  never 
led  to  any  satisfactory  result.  It  generally 
happened  that  some  of  the  English  ships  were 
unable  to  get  into  action  in  time;  and  on 
this  occasion,  as  on  many  others,  the  cap- 
ta,ins  of  the  rearmost  ships  were  accused  of 
misconduct.  Three  were  tried  by  court- 
martial,  found  guilty  of  not  using  all  possi- 
ble means  to  bring  their  ships  into  action,  and 
severally  sentenced  to  be  dismissed  from  the 
ship,  to  lose  one  year's  seniority,  and  to  be 
cashiered.  The  court  failed  to  recognise 
that  the  manoeuvre  required  of  them  was 
practically  impossible  (Minutes  of  the  Courts- 
inartial,  vol.  xxxviii.) 

On  1  Aug.  the  two  squadrons  were  again 
in  sight  of  each  other  off  Tranquebar,  the 
French,  with  two  74-gun  ships,  having  a 
considerable  nominal  superiority.  It  was 
not,  however,  till  the  3rd  that  Pocock  suc- 
ceeded in  bringing  them  to  action,  and  then 
in  the  same  manner  and  with  the  same 
indecisive  result.  The  French  then  went 
to  Mauritius,  and  Pocock,  having  wintered 
at  Bombay,  returned  to  the  Coromandel 
coast  in  the  following  spring.  The  French 
fleet  of  eleven  ships  did  not  come  on  the 
coast  till  the  end  of  August,  and  on  2  Sept. 
it  was  sighted  by  the  English.  After  losing 
it  in  a  fog,  and  finding  it  again  on  the 
8th,  off  Pondicherry,  on  the  10th  Pocock 
brought  it  to  action,  but  again  in  the  manner 
prescribed  by  the  '  Fighting  Instructions,' 


and  with  unsatisfactory  results.  The  fight- 
ing was  more  severe  than  in  the  previous 
actions  ;  on  both  sides  many  men  were  killed 
and  wounded,  and  the  ships  were  much 
shattered,  but  no  advantage  was  gained  by 
either  party.  That  the  prize  of  victory 
finally  remained  with  the  English  was  due 
not  to  Pocock  and  the  East  Indian  squadron, 
but  to  the  course  of  the  war  in  European 
waters.  In  the  following  year  Pocock  re- 
turned to  England,  arriving  in  the  Downs 
on  22  Sept.  On  6  May  1761  he  was  nomi- 
nated a  knight  of  the  Bath,  and  about  the 
same  time  was  promoted  to  be  admiral  of 
the  blue. 

In  February  1762  he  was  appointed  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  '  a  secret  expedition/ 
destined,  in  fact,  for  the  reduction  of  Ha- 
vana, which  sailed  from  Spithead  on  5  March, 
the  land  forces  being  under  the  command  of 
the  Earl  of  Albemarle  [see  KEPPEL,  GEORGE, 
third  EAEL  OF  ALBEMARLE].  On  26  April  it 
arrived  at  Martinique,  sailed  again  on  6  May, 
and,  taking  the  shorter  though  dangerous 
route  on  the  north  side  of  Cuba,  under  the 
efficient  pilotage  of  Captain  John  Elphin- 
ston  [q.  v.], landed  Albemarle  and  the  troops 
six  miles  to  the  eastward  of  Havana  on 
7  June,  under  the  immediate  conduct  of 
Commodore  Keppel,  Albemarle's  brother 
[see  KEPPEL,  AUGUSTUS,  VISCOUNT  KEPPEL]. 
The  siege-works  were  at  once  commenced. 
A  large  body  of  seamen  were  put  on  shore, 
and  '  were  extremely  useful  in  landing  the 
cannon  and  ordnance  stores  of  all  kinds, 
manning  the  batteries,  making  fascines,  and 
in  supplying  the  army  with  water '  (BEATSON, 
ii.  547).  By  the  30th  the  batteries  were 
ready,  and  on  1  July  opened  a  heavy  fire, 
supported  by  three  ships  of  the  line,  under 
the  immediate  command  of  Captain  Hervey 
of  the  Dragon.  The  Moro  was  engaged, 
but,  after  some  six  hours,  the  ships  were 
obliged  to  haul  out  of  action,  two  of  them 
— the  Cambridge  and  the  Dragon — having* 
sustained  heavy  loss  and  much  damage  [see 
HERVEY,  AUGUSTUS  JOHN,  third  EARL  OF 
BRISTOL].  After  this  the  work  of  the  fleet 
was  mainly  limited  to  preventing  any  move- 
ment on  the  part  of  the  Spanish  ships 
which  might  otherwise  have  effectually  hin- 
dered the  English  works.  The  English 
batteries  gradually  subdued  the  enemy's  fire, 
though  the  Spaniards  were  materially  assisted 
by  the  climate,  which  rendered  the  exposure 
and  fatigue  very  deadly.  By  3  July  more 
than  half  of  the  army,  and  some  three  thou- 
sand seamen,  were  down  with  sickness. 
Under  all  difficulties,  however,  the  siege  was 
persevered  with.  The  Moro  was  taken  by 
storm  on  30  July,  and  on  13  Aug.  the  town, 


Pocock 


Pocock 


with  all  its  dependencies  and  the  naen-of- 
war  in  the  harbour — to  the  number  of  twelve 
ships  of  the  line,  besides  smaller  vessels — 
surrendered  by  capitulation,  The  money 
value  of  the  prize  was  enormous.  The  share 
of  Pocock  alone,  as  naval  commander-in- 
chief,  was  122,697/.  10*.  6d. ;  that  of  Albe- 
marle  was  the  same.  In  November  Pocock 
delivered  over  the  command  to  Keppel,  who 
had  just  been  promoted  to  flag  rank,  and 
sailed  for  England  with  five  ships  of  the 
line,  several  of  the  prizes,  and  some  fifty  of 
the  transports.  The  voyage  was  an  unfor- 
tunate one.  Two  of  the  line-of-battle  ships, 
worn  out  and  rotten,  foundered  in  the  open 
sea,  though  happily  without  loss  of  life. 
Two  others  had  to  throw  all  their  guns  over- 
board, and  with  great  difficulty  reached  Kin- 
sale.  Twelve  of  the  transports  went  down 
in  a  gale  ;  many  were  wrecked  in  the  Chan- 
nel, with  the  loss  of  most  of  their  crews ; 
and,  in  those  ships  which  eventually  got 
safe  in,  a  large  proportion  of  the  men  died, 
worn  out  with  fatigue,  hunger,  thirst,  and 
cold.  Pocock,  in  the  Namur,  arrived  at 
Spithead  on  13  Jan.  1763. 

He  had  no  further  service,  and  in  a  letter 
to  the  admiralty,  dated  11  Sept.  1766,  stated 
that  '  the  king  had  been  pleased  to  grant  his 
request  of  resigning  his  flag,'  and  desired 
that  '  his  name  might  be  struck  off  the  list 
of  admirals/  which  was  accordingly  done. 
It  was  generally  believed  that  this  was  in 
disgust  at  the  appointment  of  Sir  Charles 
Saunders  [q.  v.],  his  junior,  to  be  first  lord  of 
the  admiralty.  Although  Saunders's  patent, 
which  was  dated  15  Sept.,  may  have  been  the 
deciding  reason,  the  prospect  of  continued 
peace,  his  large  fortune,  and  a  wish  not  to 
stand  in  the  way  of  his  poorer  friends  doubt- 
less had  their  weight.  He  died  at  his  house 
in  Curzon  Street,  Mayfair,  on  3  April  1792, 
and  was  buried  at  Twickenham.  A  monu- 
ment to  his  memory  is  in  Westminster 
Abbey. 

Pocock  married  in  November  1763  Sophia 
Pitt,  daughter  of  George  Francis  Drake, 
granddaughter  of  Sir  Francis  Drake  of  Buck- 
land  Monachorum,  Devonshire,  third  baronet, 
and  widow  of  Commodore  Digby  Dent,  and 
by  her  left  issue  a  daughter  and  one  son, 
George  (1765-1840),  created  a  baronet  at 
the  coronation  of  George  IV.  A  portrait 
belongs  to  the  family.  The  face  is  that  of  a 
young  man,  and  it  would  seem  probable  that 
the  ribbon  of  the  Bath  was  painted  in  many 
years  after  the  portrait  was  taken.  Two  en- 
gravings, one  by  J.  S.  Miller,  are  mentioned 
by  Bromley. 

[Charnock's  Biogr.  Nav.  iv.  383  ;  Naval 
Chronicle  (with  portrait),  viii.  441,  xxi.  491; 


Beatson's  Nav.  and  Mil.  Memoirs,  vol.  ii. ; 
Gent.  Mag.  1866,  ii.  546;  Burke's  Peerage  and 
Baronetage  ;  Official  Letters  and  other  docu- 
ments in  the  Public  Eecord  Office  ;  La  Marine 
franchise  sous  le  Eegne  de  Louis  XV,  par  H. 
Riviere  ;  Batailles  navales  de  la  France,  par  0. 
Troude,  vol.  i.]  J.  K  L. 

POCOCK,  ISAAC  (1782-1835),  painter 
and  dramatist,  born  in  Bristol  on  2  March 
1782,  was  eldest  son  of  Nicholas  Pocock 
[q.  v.],  marine  painter,  by  Ann,  daughter  of 
John  Evans  of  Bristol.  William  Innes  Pocock 
[q.  v.]  was  his  brother.  Isaac  inherited  his 
father's  artistic  talents,  and  about  1798  be- 
came a  pupil  of  Romney.  After  Romney's 
death  he  studied  under  Sir  William  Beechey 
[q.  v.]  He  acquired  something  of  the  dis- 
tinctive style  of  each  of  his  masters.  William 
Hayley's  son,  Thomas  Alphonso  Hay  ley,  was 
a  fellow  student  under  Romney,  and  in 
February  1799  Pocock  accompanied  Romney 
on  a  month's  visit  to  the  elder  Hayley  at 
Eartham.  During  this  visit  Romney  made 
drawings  of  his  two  pupils,  and  Hayley  ad- 
dressed a  sonnet  to  Pocock,  beginning  '  In- 
genious son  of  an  ingenious  sire '  (Life  of 
Romney,  p.  292). 

Between  1800  and  1805  Pocock  exhibited 
subject-pictures  and  portraits  at  the  Royal 
Academy,  and  occasionally  sent  portraits 
during  the  next  fifteen  years.  In  1807  his 
'Murder  of  St.  Thomas  a  Becket'  was 
awarded  the  prize  of  100/.  given  by  the 
British  Institution.  In  1812  Pocock  be- 
came a  member  of  the  Liverpool  Academy, 
and  sent  to  their  exhibitions  paintings  in 
both  oils  and  water-colours.  His  last  his- 
torical painting  was  an  altar-piece  for  the 
new  chapel  at  Maidenhead.  The  Garrick 
Club  has  a  portrait  by  him  of  Bartley  as 
Hamlet. 

In  1818  Pocock  inherited  from  his  uncle, 
Sir  Isaac  Pocock,  some  property  at  Maiden- 
head, and  thenceforth  he  mainly  devoted 
himself  to  the  drama.  For  some  time  he 
lived  in  London,  and  served  in  the  Royal 
Westminster  Volunteers,  in  which  he  was 
raised  to  the  rank  of  major  '  by  the  suffrage 
of  its  members.'  He  afterwards  became  a 
J.P.  and  D.L.  for  Berkshire,  and  was  an 
active  magistrate.  Pocock  died  at  Ray 
Lodge,  Maidenhead,  on  23  Aug.  1835,  and 
was  buried  in  the  family  vault  at  Cookham. 
He  married,  on  24  Aug.  1812,  Louisa, 
daughter  of  Henry  Hime  of  Liverpool,  and 
left  three  daughters  and  a  son  (see  below). 

Pocock's  first  piece  was  a  musical  farce  in 
two  acts,  entitled  l  Yes  or  No.'  It  was  pro- 
duced at  the  Haymarket  on  31  Aug.  1808, 
and  acted  ten  times.  Genest  calls  it  a  poor 
piece,  but  Oulton  says  it  had  some  effective 

B  2 


Pocock 


Pocock 


broad  humour  (GENEST,  viii.  109-10  ;  OUL- 
TON,  London  Theatres,  iii.  77).  It  was  fol- 
lowed by  numerous  similar  productions. 

Of  the   musical  farces,    '  Hit    or    Miss/ 
with  music  by  C.  Smith,  first  given  at  the 
Lyceum  on  26  Feb.  1810,  was  by  far  the 
most  successful,  being  acted  l  at  least  thirty- 
three  times '  (GENEST,  viii.  166-7).   A  fourth 
edition  of  the  printed  work  appeared  in  1811. 
It  is  printed  in  Dibdin's  '  London  Theatre/ 
vol.xxiv.,as  well  as  in  Cumberland's  'British 
Theatre/  vol.  xxxiv.    According  to  the '  Dra- 
matic Censor/  it  produced  'on  an  average 
100  guineas  at  half-price  on  every  evening 
that  it  is  given.'    Its  success  was  chiefly  due 
to  the  playing  of  Mathews  as  Dick  Cypher 
(cf.  OXBERRY,  Dramatic  Biography,  v.  5,  6). 
In  1815  Mathews  rendered  like  service  to 
Pocock's  '  Mr.  Farce- Writer '  at  Covent  Gar- 
den (GENEST,  viii.  540).    The  piece  was  not 
printed.    '  Twenty  Years  Ago/  a  melodra- 
matic entertainment,  was  given  at  the  Ly- 
ceum in  1810.     'Anything  New/  with  over- 
ture and  music  by  C.  Smith,  given  on  1  July 
1811,  had  some  lively  dialogue  (Dramatic 
Censor ;  OULTON,  iii.  125)  ;  but  the  '  Green- 
eyed  Monster/  produced   on  14  Oct.  with 
Dowton,  Oxberry,  and  Miss  Mellon  in  the 
cast,  was  denounced  by  the  '  Dramatic  Cen- 
sor' '  as  a  last  experiment  which  should  be 
quite  final  to  Mr.  Pocock.'    It  was,  however, 
revived  at  Drury  Lane  in  1828,  when  Wil- 
liam Farren  [q.  v.]  and  Ellen  Tree  acted  in 
it.     The  music  was  composed  by  T.  Welsh. 
A  burletta,  called '  Harry  Le  Roy/  by  Pocock, 
was  also  given  in  1811.     Pocock's  'Miller 
and  his  Men/  a  very  popular  melodrama, 
with  music  by  Bishop,  which  attained  a 
second  edition  in  1813,  was  still  played  in 
1835f(cf.   British  Drama,   1864,  vol.   ii.; 
CUMBERLAND,    Collection;   DICK,  Standard 
Plays,  1883;   GENEST,  viii.  441,  444,  472). 
'  For  England  Ho  ! '  a  melodramatic  opera, 
produced    at   Covent   Garden   on   15   Dec. 
1813,  and  acted  '  about  eleven  times/  had, 
according  to   Genest,   '  considerable  merit ' 
(ib.  viii.  420-1).     It  was  published  in  1814  ! 
(cf.  CUMBERLAND,  vol.  xxxix.)     'John  of 
Paris/  a    comic    opera   adapted    from   the 
French,  was  produced  at  Covent  Garden  on 
12  Oct.  1814,  and  acted  seventeen  times. 
Liston  played  an  innkeeper.    When  revived 
at  the  Haymarket  in  1826,  Madame  Vestris 
was  in  the  cast  (GEXEST,  viii.  475-7).    It  was 
again  played  at  Covent  Garden  in  1835  (cf.  j 
CUMBERLAND,  vol.  xxvi.)    'Zembuca,  or  the 
Net-maker/  first  given  at  Covent  Garden,  as  j 
'  a  holiday  piece/  on  27  March  1815,  was 
played  twenty-eight    times   (GENEST,   viii.  ! 
479).     The  '  Maid  and  the  Magpie,'  a  drama 
in  three  acts,  a  second  edition  of  which  ap- 

'It  was  early  adopted  for  the 
Juvenile  Drama  and  remained  its  most 
popular  play'  (A.  E.  Wilson,  Penny  Plain, 
Twopence  Coloured  (1932),  pp.  83-93;  C- 


peared  in  1816,  was  adapted  from  the  French 
of  L.  C.  Caigniez  and  J.  M.  Baudouin.  It 
was  first  printed  in  1814  (cf.  LACZ,  vol. 
Ixxxvii. ;  CUMBERLAND,  vol.  xxviii.)  '  Ro- 
binson Crusoe,  or  the  Bold  Buccaneers/  a 
romantic  drama  in  two  acts,  was  produced  as 
an  Easter  piece  at  Covent  Garden  in  1817, 
with  Farley  in  the  title-role,  and  J.  S. 


revived  in  1826. 

Pocock  subsequently  aimed  at  a  higher 
species  of  composition,  and  converted  some 
of  the  Waverley  novels  into  operatic  dramas. 
On  12  March  1818  his  'Rob  Roy  Macgregor, 
or  Auld  Lang  Syne/  an  operatic  drama  in 
three  acts,  was  first  played  at  Covent  Garden. 
Macready  took  the  title-role,  '  which  first 
brought  him  into  play'  (OxBEKRY,  v.  41); 
Liston  played  Baillie  Nicol  Jarvie,  and  Miss 
Stephens  Di  Vernon.  It  was  acted  thirty- 
four  times  (GENEST,  viii.  657).  It  was  played 
at  Bath,  for  Farren's  benefit,  on  15  April 
1815,  when  Warde  was  very  successful  as 
Rob  Roy  (ib.  p.  672).  In  the  revival  of  the 
following  year  Farren  took  Listen's  place 
as  the  Baillie  (ib.  ix.  41).  This  play  and 
Pocock's  '  John  of  Paris '  were  given  together 
at  Bath  on  the  occasion  of  Warde's  fare- 
well to  the  stage,  on  5  June  1820  (ib.  ix. 
74).  Wallack  played  in  '  Rob  Roy '  at  Drury 
Lane  in  January  1826 ;  and  Madame  Vestris 
impersonated  Di  Vernon  at  the  Haymarket 
in  October  1824.  The  play  was  published  in 
1818,  and  is  in  Oxberry's  'New  English 
Drama/ vol.  x. ;  'The  British  Drama/  vol.  ii.; 
Lacy,  vol.  iii.,  and  in  Dick's  'Standard 
Plays.'  '  Montrose,  or  the  Children  of  the 
Mist/  three  acts,  produced  at  Covent  Garden 
on  14  Feb.  1822,  was  not  so  successful, 
though  it  was  played  nineteen  or  twenty 
times.  Liston  appeared  as  Dugald  Dalgetty 
(i*.  ix.  157,  158,  570).  '  Woodstock/  five- 
acts,  first  acted  on  20  May  1826,  was  a  com- 
parative failure,  though  the  cast  included 
Charles  Kemble  and  Farren.  '  Peveril  of  the 
Peak/  three  acts,  produced  on  21  Oct.  of 
the  same  year,  was  acted  nine  times.  '  The 
Antiquary '  was  also  unsuccessful.  '  Home, 
Sweet  Home,  or  the  Ranz  des  Vaches/  a 
musical  entertainment,  was  produced  at 
Covent  Garden  on  19  March  1829,  with 
Madame  Vestris  and  Keeley  in  the  cast  (ib. 
ix.  481). 

Besides  the  plays  mentioned,  Pocock 
wrote  '  The  Heir  of  Veroni '  and  '  The  Liber- 
tine/ operas,  1817  ;  '  Husbands  and  Wives.' 
a  farce,  1817;  'The  Robber's  Wife/  a  ro- 
mantic drama  in  two  acts,  adapted  from  the 
German,  1829  (CUMBERLAND,  vol.  xxviii.; 


Pocock 


Pocock 


LACY,  vol.  Ixix.),  music  by  F.  Hies;  "The 
Corporal's  Wedding/  a  farce,  1830 ;  '  The 
Omnibus,'  an  interlude,  1831 ;  '  Country 
Quarters'  and  'The  Clutterbucks,'  farces, 
1832  ;  '  Scan  Mag,'  farce,  1833 ;  '  The  Ferry 
and  the  Mill/  melodrama,  1833;  'King 
Arthur  and  the  Knights  of  the  Round  Table/ 
a  Christmas  equestrian  spectacle,  1834-5. 
'  The  Night  Patrol/  a  farce,  and  *  Cavaliers 
and  Roundheads/  an  adaptation  of  'Old 
Mortality/  were  posthumous. 

His  only  son,  ISAAC  JOHN  LSTKES  POCOCK 
(1819-1886),  born  on  28  July  1819,  was 
educated  at  Eton,  and  Merton  College,  Ox- 
ford (B.A.  in  1842),  and  was  called  to  the 
bar,  19  Nov.  1847.  In  1872  he  printed  pri- 
vately '  Franklin,  and  other  Poems.'  He 
married,  on  4  April  1850,  Louisa,  second 
daughter  of  Benjamin  Currey.  He  died  on 
28  May  1886. 

[Berry's  Genealogies  of  Berkshire,  pp.  1 16-22  ; 
Gent.  Mag.  1835,  ii.  657-8;  Eedgrave's  Diet,  of 
Artists  ;  Bryan's  Diet,  of  Painters  and  En- 
gravers, 1889;  Memoirs  of  T.  A.  Hayley,  ed.  J. 
Johnson,  pp.  421,  449-50  ;  W.  Hayley's  Life  of 
Rornney,  pp.  291-4  ;  Baker's  Biogr.  Dramatica, 
i.  575,  787  ;  Genest's  Account  of  the  English 
Stage,  vol.  viii.  ix.  passim ;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat. ; 
Pocock's  Christian  name  is  erroneously  given  as 
James  in  Diet,  of  Living  Authors,  and  some 
other  places.  See  also  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon. 
and  Men  at  the  Bar.]  G.  LE  G.  N. 

POCOCK,  LEWIS  (1808-1882),  art 
amateur,  born  in  South  London  on  17  Jan. 
1808,  was  the  third  and  youngest  son  of 
Thomas  Pocock,  by  his  wife  Margaret  Ken- 
nedy. He  was  educated  partly  in  England 
and  partly  at  Tours  in  France.  He  was 
through  life  a  great  lover  of  art,  and  in 
1837  took  the  leading  part  in  founding  the 
Art  Union  of  London.  He  acted  as  one 
of  its  honorary  secretaries  (George  Godwin 
[q.v.J  being  his  first  colleague)  from  that 
time  till  his  death,  and  in  the  early  years  of 
the  union  devoted  much  time  and  labour  to 
his  duties.  In  1844  Pocock  and  Godwin 
brought  out,  in  connection  with  the  Art 
Union,  an  edition  of  the  'Pilgrim's  Pro- 
gress/ illustrated  by  H.  C.  Selous.  Pocock 
contributed  a  bibliographical  chapter. 

Pocock  was  for  many  years  a  director  of 
the  Argus  life-assurance  office,  and  in  1842 
published  'A  familiar  Explanation  of  the 
Nature  of  Assurances  upon  Lives  .  .  .with  an 
extensive  Bibliographical  Catalogue  of  Works 
on  the  Subject.'  In  1852  he  patented  a  scheme 
for  electric  lighting.  Pocock  was  an  extensive 
collector  of  Johnsoniana  of  all  descriptions. 
His  collection  was  sold  before  his  death.  He 
was  for  some  time  treasurer  of  the  Graphic 
Society,  and  an  active  member  of  the  Society 


for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals.  He 
died  at  70  Gower  Street,  London,  on  17  Oct. 
1882,  and  was  buried  at  Highgate.  He  mar- 
ried, on  6  Sept.  1838,  Eliza,  daughter  of  George 
Barrett,  esq.,  and  left  twelve  children. 

[Private  information ;  Report  of  the  Art 
Union  of  London  for  1883;  Times,  21  Oct. 
1882  ;  Builder,  28  Oct.  1882;  Academy,  28  Oct. ; 
Graphic,  23  Dec.  1882  (with  portrait).] 

G.  LE  G.  N. 

POCOCK,  NICHOLAS  (1741  P-1821), 
marine  painter,  the  eldest  son  of  Nicholas 
Pocock,  a  Bristol  merchant,  by  Mary,  one  of 
the  daughters  and  coheiresses  of  William 
Innes  of  Leuchars,  Fifeshire,  was  born  at 
Bristol  about  1741.  His  mother  was  left  a 
widow  with  three  sons,  the  support  of  whom 
devolved  on  Nicholas.  He  had  little  edu- 
cation, and  must  have  gone  to  sea  early. 
Before  1767  he  was  in  the  employ  of  Richard 
Champion,  a  merchant,  who  was  uncle  of 
Richard  Champion  [q.  v.l  the  ceramist,  and 
in  1767  he  left  Bristol  for  South  Carolina 
in  command  of  the  Lloyd,  one  of  Cham- 
pion's ships.  He  afterwards  commanded  the 
Minerva,  another  of  Champion's  ships.  His 
talent  for  art  showed  itself  in  his  sea  journals, 
which  are  illustrated  by  charming  drawings 
in  Indian  ink  of  the  principal  incident  of  each 
day.  Six  volumes  of  these  journals  were  in 
the  possession  of  his  grandsons,  George  and 
Alfred  Fripp,  painters  in  water-colours.  Po- 
cock was  on  friendly  terms  with  the  Cham- 
pions, by  whom  he  was  much  esteemed. 

In  1780  Pocock  sent  a  sea  piece  (his  first 
attempt  in  oil  painting)  to  the  Royal  Aca- 
demy. It  arrived  too  late  for  exhibition, 
but  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  wrote  him  an  en- 
couraging letter,  with  advice  as  to  future 
practice,  and  recommended  him  to  '  unite 
landscape  to  ship  painting.'  In  1782  he  ex- 
hibited at  the  Royal  Academy  for  the  first 
time.  His  subject  was  '  A  View  of  Redclift' 
Church  from  the  Sea  Banks/  and  he  con- 
tinued to  exhibit  (sea  and  battle  pieces 
mainly)  at  the  Royal  Academy  and  the 
British  Institution  till  1815.  In  these  works 
he  turned  to  account  many  of  his  sketches  in 
South  Carolina  and  the  West  Indies. 

In  1789  he  left  Bristol  and  settled  in  Lon- 
don, where  he  rose  to  distinction  as  a  painter 
of  naval  engagements.  In  1796  he  was  living 
at  12  Great  George  Street,  Westminster, 
where  his  visiting  circle  included  many  ad- 
mirals and  other  officers  of  the  navy,  and 
some  theatrical  celebrities,  including  the 
Kembles  and  Mrs.  Siddons. 

In  1804  he  took  part  in  founding  the 
Water-colour  Society  (now  the  Royal  So- 
ciety of  Painters  in  Water-colours),  of  which 


Pocock 


6 


Pocock 


he  subsequently  refused  the  presidency ;  and 
though  he  withdrew  on  the  temporary  dis- 
solution of  the  society  in  1812,  he  continued 
to  contribute  to  its  exhibitions  till  1817. 
He  exhibited  altogether  320  works,  182  at 
the  "Water-colour  Society,  113  at  the  Royal 
Academy,  and  twenty-five  at  the  British 
Institution.  In  1817  he  left  London  for 
33  St.  James's  Parade,  Bath,  and  he  died 
at  Maidenhead,  Berkshire,  on  19  March  1821, 
at  the  age  of  eighty. 

Pocock  married  Ann,  daughter  of  John 
Evans  of  Bristol.  His  sons  Isaac  and  Wil- 
liam Innes  are  noticed  separately. 

Though  Pocock  earned  his  reputation 
mainly  by  his  pictures  of  naval  engagements 
(for  which  the  wars  of  his  time  supplied 
ample  material)  and  other  sea  pieces,  he  also 
painted  landscapes  in  oil  and  water-colour. 
As  an  artist  he  had  taste  and  skill,  but  his 
large  naval  pictures,  though  accurate  and 
careful,  are  wanting  in  spirit,  and  in  water- 
colours  he  did  not  get  much  beyond  the 
'tinted'  drawings  of  the  earlier  draughts- 
men. 

There  are  two  of  his  sea-fights  at  Hamp- 
ton Court,  and  four  pictures  by  him  at 
Greenwich  Hospital,  including  the  'Re- 
pulse of  the  French  under  De  Grasse  by  Sir 
Samuel  Hood's  Fleet  at  St.  Kitts  in  January 
1782.'  The  Bristol  Society  of  Merchants 
possess  a  picture  of  the  defeat  of  the  same 
French  admiral  in  the  West  Indies,  12  April 
1782.  This  was  engraved  in  line  by  Francis 
Chesham,  and  published  1  March  1784,  the 
society  subscribing  ten  guineas  towards  the 
expense.  Many  others  of  his  marine  subjects 
have  been  engraved. 

Four  of  his  water-colours,  two  dated  1790 
and  one  1795,  are  at  the  South  Kensington 
Museum.  Three  of  these  are  of  WTelsh 
scenery.  Other  drawings  by  him  are  in  the 
British  Museum  and  the  Whitworth  Insti- 
tute at  Manchester.  He  illustrated  Fal- 
coner's 'Shipwreck,'  1804,  and  Clarke  and 
M< Arthur's  '  Life  of  Napoleon/  1809.  The 
engravings  (eight  in  the  former  and  six  in 
the  latter)  are  by  James  Fittler. 

A  portrait  of  Nicholas  Pocock  by  his  eldest 
son  Isaac  [q.  v.]  was  exhibited  at  the  Royal 
Academy  in  1811,  and  there  is  a  caricature 
of  him  in  A.  E.  Chalon's  drawing  of  'Artists 
in  the  British  Institution'  (see  Portfolio.  No- 
vember 1884,  p.  219). 

[Redgrave's  Diet.;  Bryan's  Diet.  (Graves 
and  Armstrong);  Owen's  Two  Centuries  of 
Ceramic  Art  at  Bristol ;  Roget's  '  Old '  Water- 
colour  Society;  Notes  and  Queries,  4th  ser.  xi. 
331,  and  8th  ser.  iv.  108,  197,  and  291  •  Leslie 
and  Taylor's  Life  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  ] 

C.  M. 


,  ROBERT  (1760-1830),  printer 
and  antiquary,  born  at  Gravesend,  Kent,  on 
21  Feb.  1760,  was  the  second  son  of  John 
Pocock  (1720-1772),  grocer.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  the  free  school,  and,  after  a  short 
experience  of  his  father's  business,  established 
himself  as  a  printer  in  his  native  town.  He 
married  in  1779  his  first  wife,  Ann  Stillard 
(d.  1791),  by  whom  he  had  three  children. 
In  1786  he  founded  the  first  circulating  li- 
brary and  printing-office  at  Gravesend  (Po- 
COCK,  Chronology,  1790,  p.  14).  His  first 
literary  productions  were  some  children's 
books.  In  1792  he  married  his  second  wife, 
a  daughter  of  John  Hinde  (d.  1818),  who 
bore  him  seven  children.  He  published  an 
excellent  history  of  Gravesend  (1797),  as 
well  as  other  contributions  to  the  topogra- 
phical and  family  history  of  Kent.  He  also 
wrote  a  history  of  Dartford,  and  some  other 
works,  which  were  never  printed. 

Pocock  was  a  man  of  great  versatility  but, 
imperfect  business  capacity,  and  combined 
the  occupations  of  bookseller,  printer,  pub- 
lisher, naturalist,  botanist,  and  local  anti- 
quary. He  was  proud  of  his  collections 
(see  Journals  ap.  AENOLD),  but  was  obliged 
occasionally  to  sell  specimens.  His  latter 
years  were  passed  in  comparative  poverty. 
He  died  on  26  Oct.  1830,  and  was  buried  at 
Wilmington. 

Pocock's  chief  publications  were  :  1.  '  Po- 
cock's  Child's  First  Book,  or  Reading  made 
easy,'  n.d.,  and  '  Child's  Second  Book/  n.d. 
(the  two  were  bound  up  and  sold  as  '  Po- 
cock's Spelling  Book).'  2.  'A  Chronology 
of  the  most  Remarkable  Events  that  have 
occurred  in  the  Parishes  of  Gravesend, 
Milton,  and  Denton,  in  Kent/  Gravesend, 
1790,  8vo.  3.  '  The  History  of  the  Incor- 
porated Town  and  Parishes  of  Gravesend 
and  Milton  in  Kent/  Gravesend,  1797,  4to, 
plates.  4.  '  Kentish  Fragments/  Gravesend, 
1802,  8vo.  5.  '  Memoirs  of  the  Family  of 
Tufton,  Earls  of  Thanet/  Gravesend,  1800, 
8vo.  6.  '  Pocock's  Gravesend  Water  Com- 
panion, describing  all  the  Towns,  Churches, 
Villages,  Parishes,  and  Gentlemen's  Seats, 
as  seen  from  the  Thames  between  London 
Bridge  and  Gravesend/  Gravesend,  1802, 
sm.  8vo.  7.  '  Pocock's  Margate  Water  Com- 
panion/ Gravesend,  1802,  sm.  8vo.  (No.  6 
continued  to  Margate).  8.  '  Pocock's  Ever- 
lasting Songster,  containing  a  Selection  of 
the  most  approved  Songs/  Gravesend,  1804, 
sm.  8vo.  9.  '  Pocock's  Sea  Captains'  Assis- 
tant, or  Fresh  Intelligence  for  Salt-water 
Sailors/  Gravesend,  n.d.  [1802],  sm.  8vo. 
10.  '  God's  Wonders  in  the  Great  Deep/  n.d. 
11. '  The  Antiquities  of  Rochester  Cathedral/ 
n.d.  12.  '  Memoirs  of  the  Families  of  Sir 


Pocock 


Pococke 


E.  Knatchbull,  Bart.,  and  Filmer  Honey- 
wood/  Gravesend,  1802,  8vo. 

[G-.  M.  Arnold's  Kobert  Pocock,  the  Gravesend 
Historian,  1883,  8vo,  which  contains  Pocock's 
Journals  for  1812,  1822,  and  1823.]  H.  K.  T. 

POCOCK,  WILLIAM  FULLER  (1779- 
1849),  architect,  the  son  of  a  builder,  was  born 
in  1779  in  the  city  of  London.  He  was 
apprenticed  to  his  father,  and  then  entered 
the  office  of  C.  Beazley.  His  first  essays  in 
art  were  landscape-paintings  ;  but  at  the  age 
of  twenty  he  had  begun  to  work  as  an  archi- 
tect. From  1799  to  1827  he  exhibited  de- 
signs of  minor  works  at  the  Royal  Academy, 
the  most  ambitious  of  which  was  a  '  Design 
for  a  Temple  of  Fame.'  In  1820-2  he  de- 
signed the  hall  of  the  Leathersellers'  Com- 
pany in  St.  Helen's  Place,  and  in  1827  the 
priory  at  Hornsey.  The  headquarters  of  the 
London  militia,  Bunhill  Row,  were  designed 
by  him  ;  the  Wesleyan  Centenary  Hall  in 
Bishopsgate  Street  Within  (1840);  Christ 
Church,  Virginia  Water ;  and  a  great  number 
of  smaller  works.  Pocock  died  on  29  Oct. 
1849  in  Trevor  Terrace,  Knightsbridge,  Lon- 
don. 

He  published  :  1.  l  Architectural  Designs 
for  Rustic  Cottages,'  London,  1807,  4to  ;  of 
which  new  editions  were  published  in  1819 
and  1823.  2. '  Modern  Finishings  for  Rooms,' 
London,  1811, 4to  ;  also  republished  in  1823. 
3.  '  Designs  for  Churches  and  Chapels,'  Lon- 
don, 1819,  4to.  4.  '  Observations  on  Bond 
of  Brickwork '  (1839),  written  for  the  In- 
stitute of  British  Architects,  of  which  so- 
ciety he  was  an  early  member. 

[Diet,  of  Architectiire ;  Redgrave's  Diet,  of 
Artists;  Gent.  Mag.  1849,  ii.  664.]  L.  B. 

POCOCK,  WILLIAM  INNES  (1783- 
1836),  lieutenant  in  the  navy  and  author, 
second  son  of  Nicholas  Pocock  [q.  v.~],  marine 
painter,  and  younger  brother  of  Isaac  Pocock 
[q.  v.],  artist  and  dramatist,  was  born  at  Bristol 
in  June  1783.  He  entered  the  navy  in  1795, 
served  more  especially  in  the  East  and  West 
Indies,  and  from  1807  to  1810,  in  the  St. 
Albans,  made  three  several  voyages  to  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  St.  Helena,  and  China.  In  the 
last  of  these  the  convoy  was  much  shattered 
in  a  storm  off  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and 
was  detained  at  St.  Helena  to  refit.  During 
this  time  Pocock  made  several  sketches  of 
the  island,  which,  with  some  account  of  its 
history,  he  published  as  '  Five  Views  of  the 
Island  of  St.  Helena '  in  1815,  when  public 
interest  was  excited  in  the  island  as  the  resi- 
dence allotted  to  Bonaparte.  On  1  Aug.  1811 
Pocock  was  promoted  to  be  lieutenant  of  the 
Eagle,  with  Captain  (afterwards  Sir  Charles) 
Rowley  [q.v.],  and  in  her  saw  much  active 


boat-service  in  the  Adriatic.  She  was  paid 
off  in  1814,  and  Pocock  had  no  further  em- 
ployment afloat.  He  appears  to  have  amused 
his  leisure  with  reading,  writing,  and  paint- 
ing ;  he  is  described  as  a  good  linguist,  and 
is  said  to  have  published  in  1815  '  Naval 
Records :  consisting  of  a  series  of  Engravings 
from  Original  Designs  by  Nicholas  Pocock, 
illustrative  of  the  principal  Engagements  at 
Sea  since  the  Commencement  of  the  War  in 
1793,  with  an  Account  of  each  Action' 
(WATT,  Bibl.  Brit.}  There  is  no  copy  in  the 
British  Museum.  He  is  also  said  to  have 
written  some  pamphlets  on  naval  subjects, 
none  of  which  seem  now  accessible.  He  has 
been  confused  with  William  Fuller  Pocock 
[q.v.],  architect  and  artist.  He  died  at  Read- 
ing on  13  March  1836.  He  was  twice  mar- 
ried, and  left  issue. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1835  ii.  657,  1836  ii.  324;  Navy 
Lists.]  J.  K.  L. 

POCOCKE,  EDWARD  (1604-1691), 
orientalist,  was  born  in  1604  at  Oxford,  in  a 
house  near  the  Angel  Inn  (HEARNE,  Col- 
lections, ed.  Doble,  ii.  125  n.},  in  the  parish  of 
St.  Peter-in-the-East,  and  there  baptised  on 
8  Nov.  1604  (register  of  baptisms ;  WOOD, 
Athence,  ed.  Bliss,  iv.  318 ;  FOSTER,  Alumni 
Oxon.  s.v.)  His  father,  Edward  Pocock, 
matriculated  (as  '  pleb.  fil.'  of  Hampshire)  at 
Magdalen  College  in  1585,  was  demy  from 
1585  to  1591,  held  a  fellowship  from  1591 
to  1604,  proceeded  B.A.  1588,  M.A.  1592, 
and  B.D.  1602  (BLOXAM,  Register  Magd. 
Coll.  iv.  225 ;  CLARK,  Register  Univ.  of  Ox- 
ford, vol.  ii.  pt.  iii.  p.  147),  and  was  ap- 
pointed vicar  of  Chieveley,  Berkshire,  in 
1604  (TwELLS,Life  prefixed  to  the  Theological 
Works  of  the  Learned  Dr.  Pocock,  2  vols., 
London,  1740,  i.  1).  The  son  was  educated 
at  the  free  school  at  Thame,  Oxfordshire,  then 
under  Richard  Butcher,  and  matriculated  at 
Magdalen  Hall,  Oxford,  on  4  June  1619 
(CLARK,  Register,  vol.  ii.  pt.  ii.  p.  375).  In 
the  following  year  he  migrated  to  Corpus 
Christi  College,  where  he  was  admitted 
'discipulus'  (i.e.  scholar)  on  11  Dec.  1620, 
and  where  his  tutor  was  Gamaliel  Chase. 
Pococke  graduated  B.A.  on  28  Nov.  1622, 
and  M.A.  on  28  March  1626  (ib.  vol.  ii.  pt.  iii. 
p.  412),  and  was  elected  a  probationer  fellow 
of  Corpus  on  24  July  1628  (Register  C.  C.  C.) 
He  received  priest's  orders  on  20  Dec.  1629 
from  Bishop  Richard  Corbet  [q.  v.],  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  terms  of  his  fellowship 
(T WELLS,  I.e.  i.  13).  He  had  already  begun 
to  devote  his  attention  to  oriental  studies, 
and  had  profited,  first  at  Oxford,  by  the  lec- 
tures of  the  German  Arabist,  Matthias  Pasor 
[q.  v.],  and  later,  near  London,  by  the  in- 


Pococke 


8 


Pococke 


struction  of  the  learned  vicar  of  Tottenham 
High  Cross,  William  Bedwell  [q.  v.],  the 
father  of  Arabic  studies  in  England.  The 
first  result  of  these  preparations  was  an 
edition  of  those  parts  of  the  Syriac  version  of 
the  New  Testament  which  were  not  included 
in  the  previous  editions  of  1555  and  1627. 
Pococke  discovered  the  four  missing  catholic 
epistles  (Pet.  ii.,  John  ii.,  iii.,  and  Jude)  in  a 
manuscript  at  the  Bodleian  Library,  and  tran- 
scribed them  in  Syriac  and  Hebrew  charac- 
ters, adding  the  corresponding  Greek  text,  a 
Latin  translation,  and  notes.  Gerard  John 
Vossius,  professor  at  Leyden,  canon  of  Can- 
terbury, and  '  dictator  in  the  commonwealth 
of  learning/  after  seeing  Pococke's  manu- 
script, on  a  visit  to  Oxford  (MACEAT,  Ann. 
Bodl.  p.  74),  warmly  encouraged  him  to 
publish  it,  and,  by  the  influence  of  Vossius 
and  under  the  supervision  of  Ludovicus  de 
Dieu,  the  work  appeared  at  Leyden  in  1630, 
with  the  title  of '  Versio  et  notse  ad  quatuor 
epistolas  Syriace.' 

In  the  same  year  the  chaplaincy  to  the 
English  'Turkey  Merchants'  at  Aleppo 
became  vacant  by  the  retirement  of  Charles 
Robson  [q.  v.]  of  Queen's  College.  Pococke 
was  appointed  to  the  vacancy  in  1629,  and 
in  October  1630  arrived  at  Aleppo,  where  he 
resided  for  over  five  years.  During  this  time 
he  made  himself  master  of  Arabic,  which  he 
not  only  read  but  spoke  fluently,  studied 
Hebrew,  Samaritan,  Syriac,  and  Ethiopic, 
and  associated  on  friendly  terms  with  learned 
Muslims  and  Jews,  who  helped  him  in  col- 
lecting manuscripts,  which  was  one  of  the 
chief  ends  he  had  in  view  when  accepting 
the  post,  and  in  which  he  was  extraordinarily 
successful.  Pusey  remarked  that  of  all  the 
numerous  collectors  of  manuscripts  whose 
treasures  have  enriched  the  Bodleian  Library, 
Pococke  alone  escaped  being  deceived  and 
cheated  in  his  purchases  (PusEY,  Cat.  MSS. 
Bodl.  ii.  prsef.  iv.)  Besides  acquiring  a  large 
number  of  Arabic,  Hebrew,  Ethiopic,  and  Ar- 
menian manuscripts,  arid  a  Samaritan  penta- 
teuch  (BEBNAED,  Cat.  Libr.  MSS.  pp.  274-8), 
he  brought  back  a  copy  of  Mey  dani's  collection 
of  6,013  Arabic  proverbs,  which  he  translated 
in  1635  (Bodl.  MS.  Poc.  392),  but  never 
published,  though  a  specimen  was  printed 
by  Schultens  in  1773  and  another  part  in 
1775.  For  travel  and  exploration  he  con- 
fessed he  had  no  taste  (TWELLS,  i.  4),  but  his 
observation  of  eastern  manners  and  natural 
history  served  him  in  good  stead  as  a  com- 
mentator on  the  Old  Testament  (cf.  his 
famous  correction  of  '  wailing  like  the  dra- 
gons'  in  Micah  i.  8,  into  'howling  like  the 
jackals').  As  a  pastor  he  was  devoted  and 
indefatigable  (TWELLS,  i.  4)  j  and  when  the 


plague  raged  at  Aleppo  in  1634,  and  many 
of  the  merchants  fled  to  the  mountains, 
Pococke  remained  at  his  post.  Though  per- 
sonally a  stranger  to  him,  he  had  attracted 
the  notice  of  Laud,  then  bishop  of  London, 
who  wrote  to  him  several  times  with  com- 
missions for  the  purchase  of  ancient  Greek 
coins  and  oriental  manuscripts  (ib.  i.  6) ;  and,, 
after  becoming  archbishop  of  Canterbury  and 
chancellor  of  the  university,  Laud  offered 
to  appoint  him  the  first  professor  of  the 
Arabic '  lecture '  which  he  was  about  to  found 
at  Oxford.  Accordingly,  Pococke  returned 
to  England,  probably  early  in  1636,  and  on 
8  July  of  that  year  he  was  admitted,  after 
the  necessary  exercises,  to  the  degree  of  B.D. 
(CLABK,  Meg.  Univ.  Oxford,  ii.  pt.  iii.  p.  412  f 
cf.  WOOD,  Annals,  ed.  Gutch,  i.  342).  The 
professorship  was  worth  401.  a  year  (Wool),. 
Athence,  ed.  Bliss,  iv.  318),  and  Pococke  was 
to  lecture  on  Arabic  literature  and  grammar 
for  one  hour  at  eight  A.M.  every  Wednesday 
in  Lent  and  during  the  vacations  (i.e.  when 
the  arts  course  did  not  fully  occupy  the  time 
of  the  students,  who  in  those  days  commonly 
resided  during  vacation  as  well  as  in  term 
time),  under  penalty  of  a  fine,  and  all  bachelors 
were  required  to  attend  the  lecture  (GEIF- 
FITHS,  Laud? s  Statutes  0/1636,  pp.  317,  318, 
ed.  1888).  On  10  Aug.  the  new  professor 
'  opened  his  lecture '  with  a  Latin  disserta- 
tion on  the  nature  and  importance  of  the. 
Arabic  language  and  literature  (a  small  part 
of  which  was  published  as  an  appendix  to- 
his  Lamiato  'lAjam,  1661),  and  then  began 
a  course  of  lectures  on  the  sayings  of  the. 
caliph  'All  (TWELLS,  i.  9,  10). 

In  1637,  at  Laud's  instance  (Woov,Athena% 
ed.  Bliss,  iv.  318),  Pococke  again  set  sail  for 
the  east,  for  the  purpose  of  further  study 
under  native  teachers,  and  to  collect  more 
manuscripts.  This  time  he  travelled  with 
his  '  dear  friend '  John  Greaves  [q.  v.]  Po- 
cocke, besides  his  fellowship,  now  possessed 
private  means  by  the  recent  death  of  his 
father,  and  probably  received  some  further 
assistance  from  Laud,  or,  through  Greaves, 
from  Lord  Arundel.  Thomas  Greaves  [q.  v.], 
'  lector  humanitatis  '  (Latin  reader)  at 
Corpus,  was  appointed  his  deputy  in  the 
Arabic  lecture  during  his  absence.  From 
December  1637  to  August  1640  Pococke  re- 
sided at  Constantinople,  chiefly  at  the  British 
embassy,  where  he  acted  as  temporary  chap- 
lain to  Sir  Peter  Wyche  and  Sir  Sackville 
Crow.  He  enjoyed  the  friendship,  and  doubt- 
less used  the  fine  library,  of  the  learned 
patriarch,  Cyril  Lucaris,  until  his  assassina- 
tion in  1638 ;  he  studied  with  Jacob  Romano, 
1  Judaeorum,  quos  mihi  nosse  contigit,  nemini 
vel  doctrina  vel  ingenuitate  secundus'  (Po- 


Pococke 


Pococke 


COCKE,  Porta  Mosis,  not.  misc.,  90),  and  was 
assisted  in  his  researches,  among  others,  by 
Georgio  Cerigo  and  by  Nathaniel  Canopius 
the  protosyncellus,  who  afterwards  resided 
in  Balliol  and  Christ  Church  (Woo~D,Athence, 
ed.  Bliss,  ii.  657).  He  left  Constantinople  in 
August  1640,  and  after  a  pause  at  Paris  after 
Christmas,  where  he  met  Gabriel  Sionita  and 
Hugo  Grotius,  he  reached  London  in  the 
spring  of  1641.  Laud  was  then  in  the  Tower, 
where  Pococke  visited  him  (TWELLS,  i.  19). 
He  found  that  the  archbishop  had  placed  the 
endowment  of  the  Arabic  chair  beyond  the 
risk  of  attainder  by  settling  (6  June  1640) 
certain  lands  in  Bray,  Berkshire,  for  its  per- 
petual maintenance.  In  November  1641 
Laud  presented  a  further  collection  of  manu- 
scripts to  the  university,  many  of  which 
were  doubtless  the  fruits  of  Pococke's  and 
Greaves's  travels. 

After  a  brief  residence  at  Oxford,  which 
was  now  disturbed  by  the  civil  war,  Pococke 
was  presented  by  his  college  in  1642  to  the 
rectory  of  Childrey  in  Berkshire  (Living- 
book  of  Corpus  Christi  College).  He  is  repre- 
sented as  a  devout  and  assiduous  parish  priest ; 
but  his  connection  with  Laud  and  his  royalist 
convictions,  coupled  with  an  over-modest 
manner  and  lack  of  '  unction,'  did  not  re- 
commend him  to  his  parishioners.  They 
cheated  him  of  his  tithes  and  harassed  him 
by  quartering  soldiers  at  the  rectory  (T  WELLS, 
i.  22,  23).  The  sequestrators  of  Laud's  es- 
tates, moreover,  illegally  laid  hands  on  the 
endowment  of  the  Arabic  lecture,  but  were 
compelled  to  restore  it  under  pressure  from 
Dr.  Gerard  Langbaine  [q.  v.],  provost  of 
Queen's,  John  Greaves,  and  John  Selden 
[q.  v.]  Selden,  as  burgess  of  the  university, 
also  procured  for  Pococke  a  special  protection 
under  the  hand  of  Fairfax  dated  5  Dec.  1647, 
against  the  exactions  of  the  parliamentary 
troops  (ib.  i.  24).  The  committee  appointed 
(1  May  1647)  for ( the  visitation  and  reforma- 
tion of  the  university  of  Oxford  and  the 
several  colleges  and  halls  thereof  brought 
fresh  troubles.  At  first  it  seemed  as  if 
Pococke  was  to  be  taken  into  favour  by  the 
visitors  ;  for  they  appointed  him  to  the  pro- 
fessorship of  Hebrew,  vacant  by  the  death  of 
Dr.  John  Morris  on  21  March  1647-8  (Fos- 
TEB,  Alumni  Oxon.  s.v.),  together  with  the 
canonry  of  Dr.  Payne,  whom  they  had 
ejected.  The  king,  then  a  prisoner  at  Caris- 
brooke,  had  already  nominated  Pococke  for 
the  professorship  and  canonry  (WooD,  An- 
nals, ed.  Gutch,ii.  555;  TWELLS,  I.e.  27,  28). 
Pococke  was  one  of  the  twenty  delegates 
appointed  by  the  committee  of  visitation,  on 
19  May  1648,  to  answer '  de  omnibus  quae  ad 
rem  Academise  publicam  pertinent'  (Regist. 


Convoc.  T.,  apud  BTTRROWS,  Register  of  the 
Visitors  to  Oxford,  p.  102,  Camden  Soc.), 
but,  apparently  under  the   advice  of  John 
Greaves,  he  omitted  to  appear  before  the  visi- 
tors, or  to  reply  to  their  summons  (TWELLS, 
i.  28).     When  he  also  failed  to  take  the  <  en- 
gagement '  of  1649  he  was  dismissed  from  his 
canonry  (24  Oct.  1650,  TWELLS,  i.  31 ;  1651 
ace.  to  WOOD,  Annals,  ed.  Gutch,  ii.  629)  ; 
Peter  French,    Cromwell's    brother-in-law, 
was  appointed  in  his  place.     On  30  Nov. 
1650  Pococke  wrote  to  Horn  of  Gueldres : 
(  I  have  learnt,  and  made  it  the  unalter- 
able principle  of  my  soul,  to  keep  peace, 
as  far  as  in  me  lies,  with  all  men ;  to  pay 
due  reverence  and  obedience  to  the  higher 
powers,  and   to  avoid   all  things  that  are 
foreign  to  my  profession  or  studies ;  but  to 
do  anything  that  may  ever  so  little  molest 
the  quiet  of  my  conscience  would  be  more 
grievous  than  the  loss,  not  only  of  my  for- 
tunes, but  even  of  my  life'  (TWELLS,  i.  32). 
Accordingly  he  was  deprived  of  the  two  '  lec- 
tures/ probably  in  December  1650 ;  for  in 
that  month  a  petition  was  addressed  to  the 
visiting  committee  on  his  behalf,  signed  not 
only  by  his  friends,  but  by  many  of  the  new 
men  appointed  by  the  visitors  (BURROWS,  Re- 
gister of  Visitors,  p.  Ixxxiii  n.},  including  the 
vice-chancellor,  proctors,  several  heads   of 
houses,  and  numerous  fellows,  masters  of 
arts,  and  bachelors  of  law,  who  begged  that 
the  '  late  vote,  as  to  the  Arabic  lecture,  at 
least,'  should  be  suspended  in  view  of  Po- 
cocke's great  learning  and  peaceable  conduct. 
Strongly  seconded  by  Selden,  this   remon- 
strance was  successful,  and  Pococke  continued 
to  hold  both  lectures,  without  the  canonry, 
and  resided  at  Balliol  when  he  came  to  Ox- 
ford in  the  vacations  to  deliver  his  courses 
(WooD,  Athena,  ed.  Bliss,  iv.  319).    In  1655, 
at  the  instance  of  a  few  fanatical  parishioners, 
he  was  cited  before  the  commissioners  at 
Abingdon  under  the  new  act  for  ejecting 
'ignorant,  scandalous,  insufficient,  and  negli- 
gent ministers.'   The  leading  Oxford  scholars, 
headed  by  Dr.  John  Owen  (1616-1683)  [q.v.], 
warned  the  commission  of  the  contempt  they 
would  draw  upon  themselves  if  they  ejected 
for '  ignorance  and  insufficiency '  a  man  whose 
learning  was  the  admiration  of  Europe ;  and, 
after   several  months  of  examination   and 
hearing  witnesses  on  both  sides,  the  charge 
was  finally  dismissed  (see  TWELLS,  i.  35-42). 
In  spite  of  such  interruptions  Pococke  con- 
tinued  his   studies  at  Childrey.      He  had 
married  about  1646  Mary,  daughter  of  Thomas 
Burdet,esq.,  of  West  Worldham,  Hampshire, 
by  whom  he  had  six  sons  and  three  daughters. 
At  the  end  of  1649  (TWELLS,  i.  33)  he  pub- 
lished at  Oxford,  and  dedicated  to  Selden,  his 


Pococke 


10 


Pococke 


1  Specimen  historiae  Arabum,'  in  which  an 
excerpt  from  the '  Universal  History'  (Mukh- 
tasar  fi-d-duwaT)  of  Abu-1-Faraj  (Bar  He- 
braeus)  is  used  as  a  peg  whereon  are  hung  a 
series  of  elaborate  essays  on  Arabian  history, 
science,  literature,  and  religion,  based  upon 
prolonged  researches  in  over  a  hundred  Arabic 
manuscripts,  and  forming  an  epoch  in  the 
development  of  eastern  studies.  All  later 
orientalists,  from  Reland  and  Ockley  to  S.  de 
Sacy,  have  borne  their  testimony  to  the  im- 
mense erudition  and  sound  scholarship  of  this 
remarkable  work,  of  which  a  second  edition 
was  edited  by  Joseph  White  [q.  v.]  in  1806. 
The  'Specimen 'is  interesting  also  for  the 
history  of  printing,  for  Twells  asserts  (i.  44), 
it  is  believed  correctly,  that  Pococke's  l  Spe- 
cimen' and  John  Greaves's  'Bainbrigii  Cani- 
cularia,'  1648,  were  the  first  two  books  in 
Arabic  type  which  issued  from  the  Oxford 
University  press.  (The  first  title-page  of  the 
'Specimen'  bears  the  imprint  '  Oxonise  ex- 
cudebat  H.  Hall  impensis  Humph.  Robin- 
son  in  Cemeterio  Paulino,  ad  insigne  trium 
Columbarum,  1650; 'but  the  'notse'  appended 
to  it  have  a  distinct  title,  '  Oxoniae  excudebat 
Hen.  Hall,  1648,'  which  is  doubtless  the  date 
at  which  the  whole  work  was  first  set  up). 
Similarly  the  'PortaMosis,' or  edition  (Arabic 
in  Hebrew  characters)  of  the  six  prefatory 
discourses  of  Maimonides  on  the  Mishna, 
with  Latin  translation  and  notes  (especially 
on  Septuagint  readings),  on  which  Pococke 
had  been  engaged  since  1650,  but  which  was 
not  published  till  1655,  is  believed  to  be  the 
first  Hebrew  text  printed  at  Oxford  from 
type  specially  founded  by  the  university  at 
Dr.  Langbaine's  instance  for  Pococke's  use 
(  TWELLS,  ib.  The  title-page  of  the  '  Porta 
Mosis'  has  the  imprint  of  H.  Hall  Academige 
Typographus,  1655,  but  the  title-page  of  the 
Appendix  is  dated  1654).  In  1658  (MiGNE, 
Patrol  Curs.  iii.  888)  another  work  of  Po- 
cocke's appeared,  the  'Contextio  Gemma- 
rum,'  or  Latin  translation  of  the  'Annals' 
of  Eutychius,  which  he  had  begun,  somewhat 
reluctantly,  in  1652  at  the  urgent  request  of 
Selden  (who  did  not,  as  has  been  imagined, 
take  any  share  in  the  labour ;  TWELLS,  i.  42, 
&c.)  The  great  event  for  oriental  learning 
in  1657  was  the  publication  by  Dr.  Brian 
Walton  [q.v.]  of  his  'Biblia  Sacra  Poly- 
glotta,'  in  which  Pococke  had  taken  a  constant 
interest  for  five  ^  years,  advising,  criticising, 
lending  manuscripts  from  his  own  collection, 
collating  the  Arabic  version  of  the  Penta- 
teuch, and  contributing  a  critical  appendix 
to  vol.  vi.  ('  De  ratione  variantium  in  Pent. 
Arab,  lectionum').  He  translated  and  pub- 
lished in  1659  a  treatise  '  on  the  nature  of 
the  drink  Kauhi  or  coffee  .  .  .  described  by 


an  Arabian  physician.'  This  was  his  last 
work  completed  at  Childrey.  The  Restora- 
tion brought  him  into  permanent  residence  at 
Christ  Church ;  and,  though  he  retained  his 
rectory  till  his  death,  he  appointed  a  curate 
to  perform  its  duties.  His  memory  is  still 
preserved  by  a  magnificent  cedar  in  the  rec- 
tory garden,  said  to  have  been  imported  and 
planted  by  him  (information  from  the  Rev. 
T.  Fowler,  president  of  Corpus  Christi  Col- 
lege, Oxford,  and  the  Rev.  C.  J.  Cornish,  rec- 
tor of  Childrey).  Two  cedars  at  Highclere, 
in  Hampshire,  are  also  believed  to  have  been 
raised  from  cones  brought  from  Syria  by 
Pococke  (LouDOtf,  Arboretum,  p.  2426). 

In  June  1660  Pococke  attended  the  vice- 
chancellor  of  Oxford  when  he  waited  upon 
Charles  II  with  felicitations  on  his  happy 
restoration;  and  on  the  20th  of  the  same 
month  his  Hebrew  professorship,  together 
with  the  canonry  and  lodgings  at  Christ 
Church  properly  assigned  thereto,  was  for- 
mally granted  him  by  letters  patent.  He 
was  installed  on  27  July,  and  received  the 
degree  of  D.D.  by  royal  letters  on  20  Sept. 
(CLARK,  Life  and  Times  of  A.  Wood,  i.  333). 
Henceforward  he  lived  in  studious  ease  at 
Christ  Church  in  the  lodgings  of  the  Hebrew 
professor,  in  the  garden  of  which  is  still  seen 
the  fig-tree,  the  famous  '  Arbor  Pocockiana,' 
imported  by  the  professor  from  Syria, '  prima 
sui  generis,'  according  to  Dr.  White's  en- 
graving preserved  at  Christ  Church,  and  cer- 
tainly the  only  ancient  fig-tree  on  record  still 
existing  in  England  (Baxter  in  Trans.  Hortic. 
Soc.  iii.  433  ;  LOUDON,  Arbor,  p.  1367).  In 
1660  he  published  (at  the  cost  of  the  Hon. 
Robert  Boyle)  an  Arabic  translation  (with 
emendations  and  a  new  preface)  of  Grotius's 
tract,  '  De  veritate  religionis  Christianse,' 
undertaken  in  the  hope  of  converting  Mus- 
lims (WooD,  Athence,  ed.  Bliss,  iv.  321). 
In  1661  appeared  the  text  and  translation 
of  the  Arabic  poem,  l  Lamiato  '1  Ajam,  Car- 
men .  .  .  Tograi,'  with  grammatical  and  ex- 
planatory notes,  produced  at  the  Oxford  press 
under  the  superintendence  of  Samuel  Clarke 
[q.  v.],  architypographus  to  the  university, 
who  appended  a  treatise  of  his  own  on  Arabic 
prosody  (separate  pagination  and  title  1661)  ; 
and  in  1663  Pococke  brought  out  the  Arabic 
text  and  Latin  translation  of  the  '  Historia 
compendiosa  dynastiarum'  of  Abu-1-Faraj 
(Bar  Hebrseus),  of  which  an  excerpt  had 
formed  the  text  of  the  'Specimen'  thirteen 
years  before.  Though  dedicated  to  the  king, 
this  memorable  work  attracted  little  notice 
at  the  time.  A  severe  illness  in  1663  left  him 
permanently  lame,  but  did  not  long  arrest  his 
energy.  He  lent  Castell  Ethiopic  manuscripts 
for  his  great  '  Lexicon  Heptaglotton/  pub- 


Pococke 


Pococke 


lished  in  1669,  and  translated  the  cate- 
chism (1671)  and  the  principal  parts  of  the 
liturgy  of  the  church  of  England  into  Arabic 
('  Partes  praecipuse  liturgies  Eccl.  Angl.  ling. 
Arab.'  1674;  later  editions  1826,  1837) ;  but 
his  chief  work  in  these  later  years  was  his 
elaborate  and  comprehensive  commentary  on 
the  minor  prophets,  which  issued  at  intervals 
from  the  university  press :  Micah  and  Malachi 
in  1677,  Hosea  in  1685,  and  Joel  in  1691. 

Pococke  shared  in  the  cathedral  and  college 
work  at  Christ  Church.  He  was  censor  theo- 
logisB  in  1662,  treasurer  in  1665,  and  several 
times  held  proxies  to  act  for  the  dean  or  other 
authority.  He  was  present  at  chapters  as 
late  as  July  1688.  When  James  II  visited 
Oxford  in  1687,  Pococke  was  the  senior  doctor 
present  (CLAEK,  Life  and  Times  of  Wood, 
iii.  231,  234),  and  he  was  long  a  delegate  of 
the  university  press.  John  Locke  (1632-1704) 
[q.  v.],  who  was  long  intimate  with  him  at 
Christ  Church,  wrote  of  him  to  Humphrey 
Smith  (23  July  1 703) : '  The  Christian  world  is 
a  witness  of  his  great  learning,  that  the  works 
he  published  would  not  sufferto  be  concealed, 
nor  could  his  devotion  and  piety  be  hid,  and 
be  unobserved  in  a  college,  where  his  constant 
and  regular  assisting  at  the  cathedral  service, 
never  interrupted  by  sharpness  of  weather, 
and  scarce  restrained  by  downright  want  of 
health,  shewed  the  temper  and  disposition  of 
his  mind ;  but  his  other  virtues  and  excellent 
qualities  had  so  strong  and  close  a  covering 
of  modesty  and  unaffected  humility'  that 
they  were  apt  to  be  overlooked  by  the  un- 
observant. Though  'the  readiest  to  com- 
municate to  any  one  that  consulted  him/  '  he 
had  often  the  silence  of  a  learner  where  he 
had  the  knowledge  of  a  master.  .  .  .  Though 
a  man  of  the  greatest  temperance  in  himself, 
and  the  farthest  from  ostentation  and  vanity 
in  his  way  of  living,  yet  he  was  of  a  liberal 
mind,  and  given  to  hospitality. .  .  .  His  name, 
which  was  in  great  esteem  beyond  sea,  and 
that  deservedly,  drew  on  him  visits  from  all 
foreigners  of  learning  who  came  to  Oxford. 
.  .  .  He  was  always  unaffectedly  cheerful.  .  .  . 
His  life  appeared  to  me  one  constant  calm  ' 
(WooD,  ed.  Bliss,  iv.  322). 

Pococke  died  on  10  Sept.  1691,  at  one 
o'clock  in  the  morning  (CLAEK,  Life  and 
Times  of  Wood,  iii.  371)  ;  '  his  only  distemper 
was  great  old  age'  (TwELLS,  i.  81).  He  was 
buried  in  the  north  aisle  of  the  cathedral, 
near  his  son  Richard  (who  had  died  in  1666), 
but  his  monument,  a  bust  erected  by  his 
widow,  which  was  originally  on  the  east  of 
the  middle  window  in  the  north  aisle  of  the 
nave,  was  removed  during  the  restorations 
about  thirty  years  ago  to  the  south  aisle  of 
the  nave.  Two  portraits  are  preserved  in  the 


Bodleian  Library :  one,  in  the  gallery,  repre- 
sents a  man  in  the  prime  of  life,  with  light 
hair,  moustache,  and  tuft  on  chin,  dark  eyes, 
and  mild  expression ;  the  other,  on  the  stair- 
case, belongs  to  his  old  age,  and  shows  white 
hair  and  pointed  beard  (HEAENE,  ed.  Doble, 
ii.  56,  says  '  the  Master  of  University  College 
has  the  picture  of  Dr.  Pococke').  An  en- 
graving, after  a  portrait  by  W.  Green,  is  pre- 
fixed to  the  1740  edition  of  his  works  (BEOM- 
LEY).  His  valuable  collection  of  420  oriental 
manuscripts  was  bought  by  the  university  in 
1693  for  600/.,  and  is  in  the  Bodleian  (cata- 
logued in  BEENAED,  Cat.  Libr.  MSS.  pp.  274- 
278,  and  in  later  special  catalogues), and  some 
of  his  printed  books  were  acquired  by  the 
Bodleian  in  1822,  by  bequest  from  the  Rev. 
C.  Francis  of  Brasenose  (MACEAY,  Annals  of 
the  JBodL  Libr.  p.  161).  His  own  annotated 
copy  of  the '  Specimen '  is  among  these.  Three 
letters  from  Pococke  are  printed  in  the  cor- 
respondence of  Gerard  J.  Vossius  (Ep.  eel. 
virorum  nempe  G.  J.  Voss.  Nos.  cvii,  ccxxxix, 
and  cccxxxvi,  dated  1630,  1636,  1642,  all 
from  Oxford),  in  the  second  of  which  he 
refers  to  his  collection  of  Arabic  proverbs 
and  to  his  project  of  editing  Abu-1-Faraj 
(whom  he  does  not  name,  but  clearly  indi- 
cates), while  in  the  third  he  refers  to  Grotius's 
*  De  Veritate '  and  to  his  own  intention  of 
translating  the  church  catechism  into  Arabic 
for  the  instruction  of  his  Syrian  friends — a 

E  reject  not  realised  till  nearly  thirty  years 
iter.  The  same  collection  contains  two 
letters  from  Vossius  to  Pococke  in  1630 
and  1641  (pp.  159,  383).  There  are  also 
letters  of  Pococke  in  the  British  Museum 
(Harl.  376,  fol.  143,  Sloane,  4276,  Addit. 
22905,  the  last  two  to  Samuel  Clarke,  dated 
1657). 

Of  his  six  sons,  the  eldest,  EDWAED  PO- 
COCKE (1648-1727),  baptised  on  13  Oct.  1648, 
matriculated  at  Christ  Church  in  1661,  was 
elected  student,  became  chaplain  to  the  Earl 
of  Pembroke  (CLAEK,  Life  and  Times  of  Wood, 
iii.  373),  canon  of  Salisbury,  1675,  and  rector 
of  Minall  (Mildenhall),  Wiltshire,  1692  (Fos- 
TEE,  Alumni  Oxon.}  He  followed  his  father  in 
oriental  studies,  and  published  in  1671  (with 
a  preface  by  his  father)  a  Latin  translation 
of  Ibn  al  Tufail,  which  Ockley  afterwards 
turned  into  English  (1711).  He  also  began 
an  edition  of  the  Arabic  text,  with  Latin  trans- 
lation, of  '  Abdollatiphi  Historic  ^Egypti 
Compendium,'  in  collaboration  with  hi  s  father, 
who  had  discovered  the  manuscript  in  Syria. 
According  to  Hearne  (ed.  Doble,  i.  224), 
Pococke  the  father  began  this  edition  and 
translation  of  the  celebrated  twelfth-century 
traveller  and  physician ;  but  when  the  work 
had  been  partly  printed  the  Latin  type  was 


Pococke 


12 


Pococke 


wanted  by  Bishop  Fell,  who  at  this  time 
was  omnipotent  at  the  University  press,  and 
the  translation  had  to  be  stopped,  '  which  so 
vexed  the  good  old  man,  Dr.  Pocock,  y*  he 
could  never  be  prevail'd  to  go  on  any  farther.' 
This  part  is  doubtless  the  printed  copy  which 
stops  at  p.  96,  and  has  no  title  or  date ;  but 
it  has  generally  been  ascribed  to  Pococke 
the  son,  who  appears  to  have  completed  a 
rough  draft  of  the  translation  of  the  whole 
work  (mentioned  by  Hunt  in  his  '  Proposals/ 
dated  1746.  See  White's  edition,  reprinting 
Pococke's  to  p.  99;  and  S.  DE  SACY,  Relation 
de  l'Effypte,parAbd-allatif,  xii).  He  was  ex- 
pected to  succeed  to  his  father's  Arabic  pro- 
fessorship (CLAEK,  Life  and  Times  of  Wood, 
iii.  373).  '  ;Tis  said  he  understands  Arabick 
and  other  oriental  Tongues  very  well,  but 
wanted  Friends  to  get  him  ye  Professorships 
of  Hebrew  and  Arabick  at  Oxford '  (HEAKNE, 
ed.  Doble,  ii.  63),  and  Dr.  Thomas  Hyde 
(1636-1703)  [q.  v.],  Bodley's  librarian,  was 
appointed.  Pococke  apparently  abandoned 
further  oriental  researches,  and  died  in  1 727. 
Thomas  Pococke,  another  son,  baptised  on 
21  April  1652,  matriculated  at  Christ  Church 
in  1667,  became  rector  of  Morwenstow,  and 
afterwards  of  Peter  Tavy,  Devonshire,  and 
published  a  translation  of  Manasseh  ben 
Israel's  '  De  Termino  Vitse/  London,  1700. 
Henry  was  born  on  9  May  1654.  Richard, 
baptised  on  4  Jan.  1655-6,  died  on  7  Nov. 
1666,  and  is  buried  in  Christ  Church  Cathe- 
dral. Robert,  baptised  on  8  March  1657-8, 
was  a  Westminster  scholar  at  Christ  Church. 
Charles  (baptised  on  22  Jan.  1660-1),  was 
also  at  Christ  Church,  and  became  rector  of 
Cheriton  Bishop,  Devonshire,  in  1690(FosTEK, 
Alumni  Oxon. ;  Childrey  baptismal  register). 

[The  Life  of  Dr.  Pococke  was  begun  by 
Humphrey  Smith  of  Queen's  College,  Oxford, 
vicar  of  Townstalland  St.  Saviour's,  Dartmouth, 
assisted  by  Edward  Pococke  the  younger,  and 
Hearne  (Collections,  ed.  Doble,  ii.  4)  expected 
its  completion  by  midsummer  1707  ;  but  Smith 
never  finished  the  work.  It  appears  also  that  Mr. 
Richard  Pococke  had  a  manuscript  '  Life  of  Po- 
cock the  Orientalist '(HEARNE,  I.e.  H.10),whileDr. 
Arthur  Charlett  [q.  v.],  master  of  University  Col- 
lege, had  Pococke's  letters,  and  meant  to  write  his 
life(Id.,ib.iii.77).  Smith's  materials,  including  a 
consecutive  memoir  completed  to  1663,  together 
with  Charlett 's  letters,  were  then  entrusted  by 
the  Rev.  John  Pococke,  grandson  of  the  profes- 
sor, to  Leonard  T wells,  rector  of  St.  Matthews, 
Friday  Street,  and  St.  Peter's,  Cheap,  London, 
and  the  latter  prefixed  a  full  biography  to  his 
edition  of  '  The  Theological  Works  of  the  learned 
Dr.  Pocock,'  2  vols.  fol.  London,  1740,  where 
the  particulars  of  his  sources  are  given.  This  bio- 
graphy was  reprinted  in  •  The  Lives  of  Dr.  Ed- 
ward Pocock ...  Dr.  Zachary  Pearce,'  &c.,  2  vols. 


1816,  and  is  the  chief  authority  for  the  pre- 
ceding article,  in  which  the  references  are  to  the 
original  edition.  The  spelling  of  the  name  Po- 
cocke or  Pocock  varies  not  only  in  the  contem- 
porary authorities  and  in  the  records  of  the 
chapter-house  at  Christ  Church  (according  to  the 
taste  of  the  clerks),  but  also  in  the  baptismal 
registers  at  Childrey,  and  on  the  title-pages  and 
prefaces  of  Pococke's  own  books.  His  Micah 
and  Malachi  of  1677  have  no  final  e  to  his  name, 
but  Hosea,  1685,  and  Joel,  1691,  spell  the  name 
Pococke.  His  monument  in  the  cathedral  has 
no  e.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  he  spelt  it  indif- 
ferently both  ways,  but  the  only  two  signatures 
observed  in  his  own  handwriting  have  the  final 
e  :  one  is  in  his  manuscript  collection  of  Arabic 
proverbs  (Poc.  392,  in  the  Bodleian),  and  was 
written  on  10  April  1637  ;  the  other  is  signed  in 
the  Christ  Church  chapter-book.  28  June  1686. 
In  addition  to  the  other  authorities  cited  above, 
information  must  be'acknowledged  from  the  Rev. 
T.  Fowler,  president  of  Corpus ;  the  Rev.  S.  R. 
Driver,  canon  of  Christ  Church;  the  Chapter 
books,  Christ  Church ;  D.  S.  Margoliouth,  Lau- 
dian  professor  of  Arabic ;  F.  Madan,  sub-libra- 
rian of  the  Bodleian  ;  W.  T.  Thiselton-Dyer, 
C.M.G. ;  Rev.  J.  GK  Cornish,  who  examined  the 
registers  at  Childrey ;  R.  L.  Poole ;  British  Mu- 
seum and  Bodleian  Catalogues,  and  prefaces,  &c. 
of  Pococke's  works.]  S.  L.-P. 

POCOCKE,  RICHARD  (1704-1765), 
traveller,  was  born  at  Southampton  in  1704. 
He  was  the  son  of  Richard  Pococke,  LL.B., 
rector  of  Colmer,  Hampshire,  and  after- 
wards headmaster  of  the  King  Edward  VI 
Free  Grammar  School,  and  curate,  under 
sequestration,  of  All  Saints'  Church  in 
Southampton  ;  his  mother  was  Elizabeth, 
only  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Isaac  Milles  [q.  v.], 
rector  of  Highclere,  Hampshire.  He  was 
educated  by  his  grandfather  Milles,  at  his 
school  at  Highclere  rectory.  He  matriculated 
at  Corpus  Christi  College,  Oxford,  13  July 
1720,  and  graduated  B.A.  1725,  B.C.L.  1731, 
D.C.L  1733.  In  1725  he  was  appointed  to  the 
precentorship  of  Lismore  Cathedral  by  his 
uncle,  Thomas  Milles  [q.  v.],  bishop  of  Water- 
ford  and  Lismore,  of  whose  dioceses  he  in 
1734  became  vicar-general.  From  1733  to 
1736  he  made  tours  in  France,  Italy,  and 
other  parts  of  Europe,  with  his  cousin  Jere- 
miah Milles  [q.  v.],  dean  of  Exeter.  Imbued 
with  a  passion  for  travel,  he  planned  a  visit 
to  the  East.  On  29  Sept.  1737  he  reached 
Alexandria,  and  proceeded  to  Rosetta,  where 
he  visited  Cosmas,  the  Greek  patriarch.  He 
endeavoured  to  discover  the  site  of  Memphis, 
and  visited  Lake  Moeris.  In  December  he 
embarked  for  Upper  Egypt,  and  on  9  Jan. 
1738  reached  Dendereh.  He  visited  Thebes, 
but  did  not  go  up  the  Nile  beyond  Philae.  The 
traveller  Frederick  Lewis  Norden  [q.  v.]  went 


Pococke 


Pococke 


as  far  as  Derr,  and  the  two  explorers  passed 
one  another  in  the  night,  Norden  going  up 
the  Nile  and  Pococke  returning.  Pococke 
reached  Cairo  in  February  1738.  He  next 
visited  Jerusalem,  and  bathed  in  the  Dead 
Sea,  to  test  a  statement  of  Pliny's.  He 
travelled  in  northern  Palestine,  and  ex- 
plored Balbec.  He  also  visited  Cyprus, 
Candia  (where  he  ascended  Mount  Ida), 
parts  of  Asia  Minor,  and  Greece.  Leaving 
Cephalonia,  he  landed  at  Messina  in  Novem- 
ber 1740.  He  visited  Naples,  and  twice  as- 
cended Vesuvius.  He  passed  through  Ger- 
many, and  on  19  June  1741,  with  an  armed 
party,  explored  the  Mer  de  Glace  in  the 
valley  of  Chamounix,  where  a  boulder  has 
been  in  remembrance  inscribed  by  the  Swiss 
*  Kichard  Pococke,  1741.'  As  the  travellers 
stood  on  the  ice,  they  drank  the  health  of 
Admiral  Vernon.  An  account  of  the  ex- 
pedition appeared  in  the  '  Mercure  de 
Suisse '  for  1743,  and  Pococke  came  to  be, 
regarded  as  the  pioneer  of  Alpine  travel. 
Pococke  returned  to  England  in  1742,  and 
in  1743  published  vol.  i.  of  '  A  Description 
of  the  East,'  containing  '  Observations  on 
Egypt.'  Vol.  ii.  of  the  { Description,'  con- 
sisting of  observations  on  Palestine,  Syria, 
Mesopotamia,  Cyprus,  Candia,  Asia  Minor, 
Gieece,  and  parts  of  Europe,  was  published 
in  1745,  and  dedicated  to  the  Earl  of  Ches- 
terfield, lord  lieutenant  of  Ireland,  to  whom 
Pococke  was  domestic  chaplain.  The  work 
attained  great  celebrity,  and  Gibbon  (De- 
cline and  Fall,  chap.  li.  note  69)  described 
it  as  of  '  superior  learning  and  dignity,' 
though  he  objected  that  its  author  too  often 
confounded  what  he  had  seen  with  what  he 
had  heard. 

In  1744  Pococke  was  made  precentor  of 
Waterford,  and  in  1745  Philip  Dormer  Stan- 
hope, earl  of  Chesterfield  [q.  v.],  gave  him 
the  archdeaconry  of  Dublin.  In  1756  he 
was  appointed  to  the  bishopric  of  Ossory, 
and,  on  settling  in  the  palace  of  Kilkenny, 
began  the  restoration  of  the  cathedral  church 
of  St.  Canice,  then  in  a  ruinous  state.  He 
personally  superintended  the  workmen, 
sometimes  from  four  o'clock  in  the  morning 
(Ledwich  in  VALLANCEY'S  Collectanea,  ii. 
460-2).  He  encouraged  Irish  manufactures, 
and  about  1763  established  the  Lintown 
factory  in  the  suburbs  of  Kilkenny  for  the 
instruction  of  boys,  chiefly  foundlings,  in  the 
art  of  weaving.  Under  the  name  of  '  Po- 
cocke College,'  the  institution  is  still  carried 
on,  on  a  new  system,  by  the  Incorporated 
Society  for  Promoting  English  Protestant 
Schools  in  Ireland.  In  June  1765  Pococke 
was  translated  from  Ossory  to  Elphin, 
Bishop  Gore  being  then  promoted  to  Meath. 


Gore,  however,  declined  to  take  out  his 
patent,  on  account  of  the  expense,  and  Po- 
cocke was  in  July  translated  to  the  bishopric 
of  Meath.  In  the  demesne  at  Ardbraccan  he 
planted  the  seeds  of  cedars  of  Lebanon,  still 
standing. 

Pococke,  at  various  periods  of  his  life, 
made  several  tours  in  England,  Scotland, 
and  Ireland.  Of  these  he  wrote,  and  arranged 
for  publication,  full  descriptive  accounts, 
sometimes  illustrated  by  his  own  drawings. 
These  manuscripts  have  only  been  printed 
in  recent  years,  or  Pococke,  rather  than 
Thomas  Pennant  [q.  v.],  would  have  been 
reputed  the  first  systematic  explorer  of  com- 
paratively unknown  regions  of  Great  Britain. 
His  tours  in  England  were  made  chiefly 
from  1750  to  1757  and  in  later  years,  and 
the  descriptions  are  simply  written  and  ex- 
act in  detail.  He  made  an  Irish  tour  in 
1752,  the  account  of  which  is  valuable  as 
illustrating  the  social  condition  of  Ireland, 
especially  in  Connaught.  Starting  from 
Dublin,  he  went  north  to  the  Giant's  Cause- 
way, concerning  which  he  published  papers 
in  the  '  Philosophical  Transactions '  for  1748 
and  1753.  He  visited  Donegal,  Erris,  Achill, 
and  Belmullet,  travelling — as  usual  on  his 
tours— on  horseback,  with  outriders.  He 
had  previously  made  an  Irish  tour  in  1749 
through  Connaught,  Clare,  Kerry,  and  Cork, 
but  the  manuscript  account  has  never  been 
published.  Pococke  made  various  observa- 
tions on  the  natural  history  of  Ireland,  and 
a  paper  by  him  on  'Irish  Antiquities'  was 
printed  in  the  '  Archseologia,'  vol.  ii.  He  gave 
assistance  to  Mervyn  Archdall  [q.  v.],  his 
chaplain,  when  bishop  of  Ossory,  in  the  pre- 
paration of  his  '  Monasticon  Hibernicum.' 

Pococke  visited  Scotland  in  1747  and 
1750,  and  in  April  1760  started  for  a  six 
months'  journey,  during  which  he  visited 
lona  and  the  Orkneys,  Sutherland  and  Caith- 
ness. He  was  made  burgess  of  Aberdeen, 
Glasgow,  and  other  Scottish  cities,  and  re- 
turned to  London  on  29  Oct.  1760. 

Pococke  died  of  apoplexy  in  September 
1765  at  Charleville  near  Tullamore,  Ireland, 
while  on  a  visitation.  He  was  buried  in 
Bishop  Montgomery's  tomb  at  Ardbraccan, 
and  on  the  south  side  of  the  monument  is  a 
small  slab  with  a  memorial  inscription. 
There  is  also  a  monument  to  him  in  the 
cathedral  of  St.  Canice,  Kilkenny.  A  por- 
trait of  Pococke  in  oils  hangs  in  the  board- 
room in  Harcourt  Street,  Dublin,  of  the  In- 
corporated Society  for  Promoting  English 
Protestant  Schools,  and  is  reproduced  in 
Kemp's  edition  of  Pococke's  '  Tours  in  Scot- 
land '  (frontispiece).  A  full-length  portrait 
of  him  in  Turkish  dress,  by  Liotard,  was  once 


Pococke 


Poe 


in  the  possession  of  Milles,  dean  of  Exeter. 
Pococke  is  described  by  Richard  Cumber- 
land (Memoirs)  as  a  man  of  solemn  air,  '  of 
mild  manners,  and  primitive  simplicity.'  In 
conversation  he  was  remarkably  reticent 
about  his  travels.  Mrs.  Delany,  whom  Po- 
cocke entertained  when  archdeacon  of  Dub- 
lin, found  her  host  and  his  entertainments 
dull.  Bishop  Forbes,  however,  speaks  of  his 
geniality  when  on  one  of  his  Scottish  tours. 
Pococke  was  a  member  of  the  Egyptian  Club 
(NICHOLS,  Lit.  Anecd.  v.  334)  and  of  the 
Spalding  Society,  and  was  elected  a  fellow  of 
the  Royal  Society  on  ll  Feb.  1741. 

Pococke's  collection  of  Greek,  Roman,  and 
English  coins  and  medals  was  sold  in  London 
at  auction  by  Langford  on  27-28  May  1766. 
The  'Sale  Catalogue'  consists  of  117  lots,  in- 
cluding some  ancient  jewellery  (priced  copy  in 
Department  of  Coins,  Brit.  Mus.)  His  col- 
lection of  antiquities,  and  his  minerals  and 
fossils  (partly  collected  in  his  Scottish  travels), 
were  sold  by  Langford  on  5-6  June  1766. 
By  his  will  Pococke  left  his  property  (which 
consisted  partly  of  an  estate  at  Newtown, 
Hampshire)  in  trust  <to  the  Incorporated 
Society  for  Promoting  English  Protestant 
Schools  in  Ireland  for  the  purpose  of  endow- 
ing the  weaving-school  at  Lintown  '  for 
Papist  boys  who  shall  be  from  12  to  16  years 
old  ...  said  boys  to  be  bred  to  the  Protestant 
Religion,  and  to  be  apprenticed  to  the  Society 
for  seven  years.'  His  sister,  Elizabeth  Po- 
cocke, had  a  life  interest  in  his  property. 
Pococke  left  his  manuscripts  to  the  British 
Museum.  Some  of  these  were  handed  over 
on  9  May  1766,  but  several  volumes  were 
withheld  and  remained  in  private  hands. 
The  manuscript  of  the  Scotch  tours  and  two 
volumes  of  travels  in  England  were  bought 
by  the  British  Museum  at  the  sale  of  Dean 
Milles's  library  at  Sotheby's  on  15  April 
1843  for  33/.  Further  volumes  of  travels 
through  England  were  purchased  by  the  mu- 
seum at  the  sale  of  Dawson  Turner's  library 
in  1859.  The  original  manuscript  of  the 
'  Tour  in  Ireland  in  1752  '  is  at  Trinity  Col- 
lege, Dublin.  Among  Pococke's  manuscripts 
in  the  British  Museum  are  the  minutes 
and  registers  of  the  Philosophical  Society 
at  Dublin  from  1683  to  1687  and  in  later 
years,  with  copies  of  the  papers  read. 
There  are  also  manuscripts  relating  to  his 
travels  in  Egypt  (PKINCE  IBKAIIIM-HILMY, 
Lit.  of  Egypt,  ii.  pp.  124,  125). 

Pococke's  published  writings  are  as  fol- 
lows: 1.  '  A  Description  of  the  East  and 
some  other  Countries,'  2  vols.  London,  1743- 
1745  fol.,  with  178  plates.  This  is  reprinted 
in  Pinkerton's  '  General  Collection  of  Voy- 
vols.  x.  and  xv.  There  is  a  French 


translation,  7  vols.  Paris,  1772-3,  12rno  ;  a 
German  translation,  Erlangen,  1754-5,  4to  ; 
and  a  Dutch  translation,  Utrecht,  1776-86. 
2.  '  Inscriptionum  antiquarum  Grsec.  et 
Lat.  liber.  Accedit  Numismatum  ...  in 
vEgypto  cusorum  .  .  .  Catalogus,  &c.  By 
J.  Milles  and  R.  Pococke,'  [London],  1752, 
fol.  3.  '  Tours  in  Scotland,  1747, 1750, 1760/ 
edited  with  biographical  sketch  by  D.  W. 
Kemp,  1887  (Scottish  History  Society  Pub- 
lications, vol.  i.)  4.  'The  Tour  of  Dr.  R. 
Pococke  . .  .  through  Sutherland  and  Caith- 
ness in  1760,'  ed.  D.  W.  Kemp,  1888  (Suther- 
land Association  Papers).  5.  '  The  Travels 
through  England  of  Dr.  R.  Pococke,'  ed. 
J.  J.  Cartwright,  1888,  4to  (Camden  Soc. 
new  ser.  xlii.)  6.  f  Pococke's  Tour  in  Ireland 
in  1752,'  ed.  G.  T.  Stokes,  Dublin,  1891, 
8vo. 

[Memoir  in  Nichols's  Lit.  Anecd.  ii.  157;  Geor- 
gian Era,  1854,  iii.  16  f. ;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.  ; 
graves  and  Prim's  Hist,  of  St.  Canice,  1857, 
passim  ;  introductions  to  the  editions  of  Pococke's 
Travels,  by  D.  W.  Kemp,  J.  J.  Cartwright,  and 
G-.  T.  Stokes ;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat.  and  authorities 
cited  above.]  W.  W. 

POE,  LEONARD  (d.  1631  ?),  physician, 
whose  family  came  originally,  it  is  said,  from 
the  Rhenish  Palatinate,  was  in  1590  in  the 
service  of  the  Earl  of  Essex.  Essex,  after 
many  vain  appeals  to  the  College  of  Phy- 
sicians, secured  from  that  body  on  13  July 
1596  a  license  enabling  Poe  to  practise  medi- 
cine (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  8th Rep.  pt.  i.  p.  228). 
Although  he  was  thereby  permitted  to  treat 
venereal,  cutaneous,  and  calculous  diseases, 
gout  and  simple  tertian  ague,  in  all  other 
fevers  and  in  all  severe  diseases  he  was  re- 
quired to  call  to  his  assistance  a  member  of 
the  college  (MuKK,  College  of  Physicians,  i. 
149).  On  30  June  1598  he  was  ordered  to  be 
imprisoned  and  deprived  of  his  license,  but 
soon  made  terms  with  the  college.  Despite 
the  suspicion  with  which  the  profession  re- 
garded him,  his  practice  was  large  in  fashion- 
able society,  and  his  reputation  stood  fairly 
high.  On  11  Dec.  1606,  at  the  suggestion  of 
the  Earls  of  Southampton,  Northampton,  and 
Salisbury,  all  restrictions  on  his  license  were 
removed.  On  12  Jan.  1609  he  was  made, 
ordinary  physician  of  the  king's  household 
(State  Papers,  Dom.  index  to  warrant  book, 
p.  77),  and  on  7  July  the  persistent  influence 
of  his  aristocratic  patrons  led  to  his  election 
as  fellow  of  the  College  of  Physicians  (Hist. 
MS.  Comm.  ubi  supra).  He  had  a  mandate 
on  22  July  1615  to  be  created  M.D.,  and  ap- 
parently obtained  the  degree  at  Cambridge. 
In  April  1612  he  was  one  of  the  three 
physicians  in  attendance  on  Lord-treasurer 
Salisbury  (State  Papers,  Dom.  James  I,  Ixviii. 


Poer  15 


Pogson 


104),  and  was  present  at  his  death  on  24  May 
following  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  10th  Rep. 
part  iv.  p.  16).  On  6  June  1625  he  attended 
the  death  of  Orlando  Gibbons  [q.  v.],  the 
musical  composer,  and  made  the  post-mortem 
(ib.  Car.  I,  iii.  37).  He  died  on  4  April  1631, 
when  Sir  Edward  Alston  [q.  v.]  was  elected 
a  fellow  in  his  place.  His  son  Theophilus 
matriculated  from  Broadgate  Hall,  Oxford, 
1623-4,  6  Feb.,  jet.  15. 

[Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  10th  Kep.  pt.  iv.  p.  10, 
8th  Kep.  pt.  i.  p.  228,  12th  Eep.  i.  198,  292, 435 ; 
Hunk's"  Coll.  of  Phys. ;  Burke's  Landed  Gentry.] 

W.  A.  S. 

POER.     [See  also  POOR  and  POWER.] 

POER,  ROGER  LE  (d.  1186),  one  of  the 
conquerors  of  Ireland,  belonged  to  a  family 
which  is  said  to  have  derived  its  name  from 
Poher,  one  of  the  ancient  divisions  of  Brit- 
tany ;  other  accounts  make  the  name  the 
equivalent  of  Puer,  or,  still  less  probably,  of 
Pauper.  In  the  reign  of  Henry  II,  William 
le  Poer  held  lands  in  Oxfordshire,  Hereford- 
shire, and  Gloucestershire,  and  Robert  le 
Poer  in  Oxfordshire  (Pipe  Rolls,  18  Henry 
II.  p.  32;  SwEETMAN,i.41,129,132).  Roger, 
Robert,  William,  and  Simon  le  Poer  are  all 
said  to  have  taken  part  in  the  conquest  of 
Ireland.  Roger  Poer  is  first  mentioned  as  a 
handsome  and  noble  youth  who  took  part  in 
the  invasion  of  Ulster  under  John  de  Courci 
[q.  v.]  in  1177,  and  won  distinction  at  the 
battle  of  Down.  Afterwards  he  obtained 
lands  in  Ossory,  and  was  governor  of  Leighlin 
under  Hugh  de  Lacy, first  lord  of  Meath[q.  v.] 
Payment  was  made  for  his  expenses  in  going 
to  Ireland  in  1186  (ib.  i.  86).  In  the  same  year 
he  was  killed,  with  many  of  his  followers, 
while  fighting  in  Ossory  (GiR.  CAMBR.  Ex- 
pugnatio  Hibernica,  ap.  Op.  iv.  341,  354, 387  ; 
Book  ofHowth,  pp.  81-4).  He  had  married 
a  niece  of  Sir  Amory  de  S.  Laurence  (ib.  p.  88). 
There  is  a  charter  of  his  in  the  '  Chartulary  of 
St.  Mary,  Dublin,'  i.  252. 

ROBERT  LE  POER  (fl.  1190)  was  one  of  the 
marshals  in  the  court  of  Henry  II.  He  ac- 
counts for  lands  in  Yorkshire,  1166-7,  and 
had  charge  of  the  forest  of  Galtris  in  that 
county  in  1169  and  1172.  He  is  mentioned 
in  the  royal  service  in  1171,  and  apparently 
accompanied  Henry  on  his  Irish  expedition 
(Pipe  Rolls,  Henry  II.  esp.  18,  pp.  32,  56). 
In  1174  he  was  in  charge  of  Braban£on  mer- 
cenaries who  were  being  sent  home  from  Eng- 
land (EYTON,  Itinerary  of  Henry  II,  p.  183). 
In  1176  he  was  one  of  four  knights  sent  into 
Ireland  by  the  king,  and  was  made  custos  of 
Waterford,  his  territory  including  all  the 
land  between  Waterford  and  the  water  of 
Lismore,  and  Ossory.  G  iraldus,  who  calls  him 


a  marcher  lord,  blames  him  as ( tarn  ignobilis, 
tarn  strenuitate  carens '  (Op.  iv.  352-3).  He 
was  still  in  charge  of  Waterford  in  1179  (ib. 
iv.  65  ;  SWEETMAN,  i.  58).  In  1188,  when 
returning  with  Ralph  Fraser  from  a  pilgri- 
mage to  St.  James  of  Compostella,  he  was 
seized  by  Count  Raymond  of  Toulouse. 
Richard,  the  future  king,  who  was  then  Count 
of  Poitou,  would  pay  no  ransom  for  the 
knights,  declaring  that  Raymond's  conduct 
in  seizing  pilgrims  was  an  outrage.  Philip 
Augustus  ordered  Raymond  to  surrender  his 
prisoners,  but  Raymond  refused,  and  thus  the 
incident  led  to  Richard's  invasion  of  Toulouse 
in  1188  (Gesta  Henrici,  ii.  35).  Robert 
occurs  as  witness  to  a  charter  in  Ireland  be- 
tweenl!86and  1194.  He  is  said  to  have  been 
an  ancestor  of  the  Poers,  barons  of  Dunoyle, 
of  the  Poers,  barons  le  Poer  and  Coroghmbre, 
and  of  Eustace  le  Poer,  viscount  Baltinglas, 
in  the  time  of  Henry  VIII.  He  may  be  the 
father  of  that  Robert  Poer  who  was  one  of 
the  great  Irish  nobles  in  1221,  and  died  before 
November  1228,  having  a  son  and  heir,  John 
le  Poer  (SWEETMAN,  i.  1001 , 1635, 2646, 3014). 

Of  other  members  of  the  family,  William 
and  Simon  le  Poer  were  brothers  (Chart.  St. 
Mary,  Dublin,  i.  4, 21 ).  William  was  governor 
of  Waterford  about  1180  (GiR.  CAMBR.  iv. 
354),  and  is  mentioned  as  crossing  to  Ireland 
in  1184-5,  and  his  name  occurs  as  late  as  1200 
(SwEETMAX,  i.  75, 129, 132;  Chart.  St.  Mary, 
i.  114, 116, 123, 126).  Roger,  Robert,  Wil- 
liam, and  Simon  may  all  have  been  brothers. 
RAISTULF  LE  POER  (d.  1182),  who  held  land  in 
Shropshire,  and  was  killed  by  the  Welsh  when 
sheriff  of  Gloucestershire  in  1182,  may  have 
been  of  an  elder  generation  (Gesta  Henrici,  i. 
351 ;  EYTON,/£merary,pp.  186, 193).  WALTER 
LE  POER  (Jl.  1220)  was  another  member  of  the 
family,  who  was  employed  in  various  missions 
in  Warwickshire  and  Worcestershire  in  1215. 
He  was  sheriff  of  Devonshire  in  1222,  and  a 
collector  of  the  fifteenth  in  Worcestershire  in 
1226.  In  the  last  year  he  was  a  justice  itine- 
rant in  Gloucestershire,  and  in  1227  held  the 
same  post  for  the  counties  of  Oxford,  Here- 
ford, Stafford,  and  Salop  (Pat.  Rolls,  p.  128; 
Close  Rolls,  i.  226, 449,  ii.  145, 151, 205). 

[Griraldus  Cambrensis,  Expugnatio  Hibernica 
in  vol.  iv.  of  the  Kolls  edit.;  Gesta  Henrici, 
ascribed  to  Benedict  Abbas  ;  Book  of  Howth  in 
Calendar  of  the  Carew  MSS. ;  Eyton's  Court  and 
Itinerary  of  Henry  II;  Pipe  Kolls  for  Henry  II 
(Pipe  Kolls  Soc.);  Sweetman's  Calendar  of  Docu- 
ments relating  to  Ireland,  vol.  i. ;  Foss's  Judges 
of  England,  ii.  445  ;  Q-.  E.  C.'s  Complete  Peer- 
age, vi.  259.]  C.  L.  K. 

POGSON,  NORMAN  ROBERT  (1829- 
1891),  astronomer,  son  of  George  Owen  Pog- 
son of  Nottingham,  was  born  in  that  town 


Pogson 


16 


Poingdestre 


on  23  March  1829.  Acting  under  the  advice 
of  Mr.  J.  R.  Hind,  foreign  secretary  of  the 
Royal  Astronomical  Society,  Pogson,  in  1847, 
at  the  age  of  eighteen,  calculated  the  orbits 
of  two  comets.  During  the  three  following 
years  several  other  comets  and  the  recently 
discovered  minor  planet  Iris,  claimed  his  atten- 
tion. This  led  to  his  appointment  as  an  assis- 
tant at  the  South  Villa  Observatory,  London. 
After  a  short  stay  there  he  obtained  the  post 
of  assistant  at  the  Radcliffe  Observatory,  Ox- 
ford, in  1852,  and  it  was  here  that  he  began 
his  course  of  discoveries,  which  soon  made 
him  known  as  a  first-class  observer.  While  at 
Oxford,  between  1856  and  1857,  he  discovered 
four  minor  planets :  Amphitrite,  2  March 
1854 ;  Isis,  23  May  1856 ;  Ariadne,  15  April 
1857 ;  Hestia,  16  Aug.  1857.  For  the  dis- 
covery of  Isis  he  was  awarded  the  Lalande 
medal  of  the  French  Academy. 

Much  of  his  time  at  Oxford  was  devoted 
to  variable  stars,  but  the  archives  of  the  Rad- 
clifFe  Observatory  between  1852  and  1858 
show  that  the  more  ordinary  work  was  in 
no  way  neglected.  In  1854  he  assisted  at  the 
famous  experiments  for  determining  the  mean 
density  of  the  earth,  conducted  by  Sir  George 
Airy,  the  astronomer-royal  at  the  Harton 
Colliery.  Airy  accorded  him  his  hearty 
thanks,  and  remained  his  cordial  friend 
through  life. 

In  1859  Pogson  was  appointed  director  of 
the  Hartwell  Observatory  belonging  to  John 
Lee  (1783-1866)  [q.  v.]  There  his  time  was 
spent  in  the  study  of  variable  and  double 
stars,  the  search  for  asteroids,  and  the  forma- 
tion of  star  charts.  During  the  two  years  he 
remained  at  Hartwell  the  *  Monthly  Notices 
of  the  Royal  Astronomical  Society '  for  1859- 
1860  contain  fourteen  papers  from  his  pen 
regarding  variable  stars  and  minor  planets, 
while  he  communicated  several  papers  to  the 
British  Association,  and  made  some  valuable 
contributions  to  the  '  Speculum  Hartwellia- 
num.'  In  October  1860  he  was  appointed  by 
Sir  Charles  Wood,  secretary  of  state  for  In- 
dia, government  astronomer  at  Madras.  Sir 
John  Herschel  wrote  at  this  time  of  his  '  con- 
spicuous zeal,  devotion  to  and  great  success 
in  the  science  of  astronomy  ; '  and  C.  Piazzi 
Smyth  bore  testimony  to  his  '  unwearied 
diligence,  enthusiastic  zeal,  and  signal  suc- 
cess.' 

Pogson  reached  Madras  early  in  1861,  full 
of  high  hopes  as  to  the  work  he  would  ac- 
complish. He  soon  discovered  another  minor 
planet,  which  he  named  Asia,  as  being  the 
first  discovered  by  an  observer  in  that  con- 
tinent. Between  1861  and  1868  he  discovered 
no  less  than  five  minor  planets,  and  seven 
variable  stars  were  added  to  his  list  of  dis- 


coveries between  1862  and  1865,  and  an 
eighth  in  1877.  The  chief  work  carried  on 
by  Pogson  at  the  Madras  Observatory  was 
twofold  :  first,  the  preparation  of  a  star  cata- 
logue, for  which  51,101  observations  were 
made  between  1862  and  1887 ;  secondly,  the 
formation  of  a  variable  star  atlas,  begun  at 
Oxford  in  1853,  and  carried  on  with  remark- 
able perseverance.  The  catalogues,  which 
were  to  accompany  the  atlas,  contained  the 
positions  of  upwards  of  sixty  thousand  stars, 
observed  entirely  by  Pogson  himself.  Un- 
happily they  are  still  unpublished.  Pogson 
observed  the  total  eclipse  of  the  sun  on 
18  Aug.  1868  at  Masulipatam,  and  was  the 
first  to  observe  the  bright  line  spectrum  of 
the  Corona. 

He  remained  for  thirty  years  government 
astronomer  at  Madras  and,  during  the  whole 
of  that  time  he  took  no  leave.  His  devo- 
tion to  his  science  and  his  anxiety  to  publish 
his  works  induced  him  to  remain  so  long 
that  his  health  at  last  failed,  and  he  died  at 
his  post  in  June  1891  in  his  sixty-third  year. 
He  was  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Astronomical 
Society,  and  the  Indian  government  nomi- 
nated him  a  companion  of  the  Indian  Empire. 

Pogson's  chief  interest  as  an  astronomer 
lay  in  observations  with  the  equatoreal  and 
meridian  circle,  and  in  the  use  of  these  in- 
struments he  had  few  equals.  As  an  observer 
only  one  or  two  contemporaries  could  equal 
him.  In  all,  he  discovered  nine  minor  planets 
between  the  orbits  of  Mars  and  Jupiter,  and 
twenty-one  new  variable  stars.  He  had  an 
exhaustive  knowledge  of  the  literature  of 
his  subject. 

His  first  wife,  whom  he  married  in  1849 
at  the  early  age  of  twenty,  was  Elizabeth 
Ambrose,  who  died  in  1869,  leaving  a  large 
family.  On  25  Oct.  1883  he  married  Edith 
Louisa  Stopford,  daughter  of  Lieutenant- 
colonel  Charles  W.  Sibley  of  her  majesty's 
64th  regiment,  and  by  her  had  three  children, 
one  of  whom  died  in  infancy. 

[Royal  Astronomical  Society's  Transactions, 
1891  ;  private  information.]  H.  M.  V. 

POINGDESTRE,  JEAN  (1609-1691), 
writer  on  the  laws  and  history  of  Jersey, 
born  in  the  parish  of  St.  Saviour  in  the  island 
of  Jersey,  and  baptised  on  16  April  1609,  was 
the  eldest  son  of  Edward  Poingdestre,  by  his 
second  wife,  Pauline  Ahier.  He  was  among 
the  first  to  obtain  one  of  the  scholarships 
founded  at  Oxford  by  Charles  I  on  behalf  of 
Jersey  students,  and  in  1636  was  elected  a  fel- 
low of  Exeter  College,  Oxford.  He  was  always 
considered  an  accomplished  classical  scholar, 
and  held  the  fellowship  till  1648,  when  he 
was  ejected  by  the  parliamentary  party. 


Poins 


Pointer 


Meanwhile  he  received  an  appointment 
under  Lord  Digby,  and  on  the  outbreak  of 
the  civil  wars  returned  to  Jersey,  where  he 
took  part,  under  Sir  George  de  Carteret,  in 
the  defence  of  Elizabeth  Castle  against  the 
parliamentarians.  After  the  capitulation  of 
this  fortress  in  1651  he  went  into  voluntary 
exile  until  the  Restoration.  In  January 
1668-9  the  bailiff  of  Jersey  nominated  him 
his  lieutenant,  and  he  also  became  jurat. 
In  1676,  however,  he  resigned  his  appoint- 
ment of  lieutenant-bailiff  in  deference  to 
complaints  which  were  made  of  the  uncon- 
stitutional way  in  which  he  had  been  ap- 
pointed jurat,  but  he  retained  this  latter 
post  until  his  death.  During  the  last  years 
of  his  life  he  occupied  himself  chiefly  in 
preparing  various  works  relating  to  the 
history  and  laws  of  Jersey.  He  died  in 
1691. 

Poingdestre's  history  of  Jersey  ('  Caesarea, 
or  a  Discourse  of  the  Island  of  Jersey'), 
written  in  1682,  and  presented  by  the  author 
to  James  II,  is  one  of  the  most  accurate 
works  on  the  island,  and  forms  the  basis  of 
all  that  is  trustworthy  in  Falle's  '  History  of 
Jersey.'  But  it  is  as  a  commentator  on  the 
laws  and  customs  of  Jersey  that  Poing- 
destre  deserves  chief  commendation ;  and  his 
works  on  this  subject  are  superior  to  those 
of  Philip  Le  Geyt  [q.  v.]  In  so  far  as  they 
relate  to  the  law  on  real  property  his  '  Com- 
mentaires  sur  1'Ancienne  Coutume  de  Nor- 
mandie,'  and  '  Commentaires  sur  la  Coutume 
Reformed  de  Normandie,'  are  of  the  highest 
authority.  In  1685  Poingdestre  was  nomi- 
nated one  of  the  committee  commissioned  to 
draw  up  an  abstract  of  the  charters  granted 
by  various  monarchs  to  the  inhabitants  of 
Jersey,  and  this  work,  known  as  '  Les  Pri- 
vileges de  File,'  is  still  extant  in  manu- 
script. 

[Ahier's  Tableaux  Historiques  de  la  Civilisa- 
tion a  Jersey,  p.  342  ;  Le  Geyt's  Works.  Preface 
and  vol.  iv.  p.  65  also  MS. ;  Falle's  Hist,  of  Jersey 
(Durell's  ed.),  p.  279;  La  Croix's  Les  Etats,  p. 
58;  Payne's  Armorial  of  Jersey;  Commissioners' 
Report,  Jersey,  1860;  preface  to  '  Csesarea,' 
Societe  Jersiaise,  1889.]  P.  L.  M.. 

POINS.     [See  POYNTZ.] 

POINTER,  JOHN  (1668-1754),  anti- 
quary, born  at  Alkerton,  Oxfordshire,  on 
19  May  1668,  claimed  to  be  descended  from 
Sir  William  Pointer  of  Whitchurch,  Hamp- 
shire. His  father,  also  called  John,  was 
rector  of  Alkerton  from  1663  till  his  death  in 
1 710,  and  his  mother  was  Elizabeth  (d.  1709), 
daughter  of  John  Hobel,  a  London  merchant. 
He  was  educated  first  at  Banbury  grammar 
school,  and  then  at  Preston  school,  North- 

VOL.   XLVI. 


amptonshire,  and  matriculated  from  Merton 
College,  Oxford,  on  24  Jan.  1686-7.  He 
graduated  B.A.  1691,  and  M.A.  1694. 

Pointer  took  holy  orders,  being  ordained 
deacon  on  24  Dec.  1693,  and  priest  on  23  Sept. 
1694,  and  from  1693  until  he  resigned  the 
office  in  1722  he  was  chaplain  to  his  college. 
He  was  instituted  in  September  1694  to  the 
rectory  of  Slapton,  Northamptonshire,  which 
he  retained  for  his  life.  He  was  lord  of  the 
manor  of  Keresley  in  Warwickshire,  and  in 
December  1722  he  came  into  other  property 
in  the  parish.  He  died  on  16  Jan.  1754  in 
the  house  of  his  niece,  Mrs.  Bradborne  of 
Chesterton  in  Worfield,  Shropshire,  and  was 
buried  in  the  chancel  of  Worfield  parish 
church  on  19  Jan.  A  tablet,  now  in  the 
north  aisle,  was  erected  to  his  memory. 

Pointer  was  author  of:  1.  'An  Account 
of  a  Roman  pavement  lately  found  at  Stuns- 
field,  Oxfordshire,'  1713;  dedicated  to  Dr. 
Holland,  warden  of  Merton  College.  When 
it  was  censured  as  'a  mean  performance,' 
Pointer  vindicated  it  in  an  advertisement 
containing  laudatory  references  to  it  from 
Bishop  White  Kennett,  Dr.  Musgrave,  and 
others.  2.  '  Chronological  History  of  Eng- 
land,' 1714,  2  vols.  Very  complete  in  de- 
scription of  events  occurring  after  1660.  It 
was  intended  that  the  narrative  should  end 
with  the  peace  of  Utrecht,  and  it  was  all 
printed,  but  the  second  volume  was  not  pub- 
lished until  after  the  death  of  Queen  Anne, 
when  the  history  was  brought  down  to  her 
death,  although  the  index  only  ran  to  the 
earlier  date.  Six  supplements,  each  con- 
taining the  incidents  of  a  year,  and  the  last 
two  with  the  name  of  '  Mr.  Brockwel '  on 
the  title-page,  carried  it  on  to  the  close 
of  July  1720.  For  his  share  in  this  com- 
pilation Pointer  received  from  Lintot,  on 
24  Dec.  1713,  the  sum  of  10/.  15s.  (NICHOLS, 
Lit.  Anecdotes,  viii.  299).  3.  '  Miscellanea 
in  usum  juventutis  Academicse,'  1718.  It 
contained  the  characters,  chronology,  and  a 
catalogue  of  the  classic  authors  with  in- 
structions for  reading  them,  pagan  mytho- 
logy, Latin  exercises,  and  the  corrections  of 
palpable  mistakes  by  English  historians. 

4.  'A  Rational  Account  of  the  Weather,' 
1723 ;  2nd  ed.  corrected  and  much  enlarged, 
1738.     It  was  pointed  out  in  the  '  Gentle- 
man's Magazine,'  1748  (pp.  255-6),  that  this 
volume  supplied  the    groundwork  of  '  The 
Shepherd  of  Banbury's  Rules  to  judge  of 
the  Weather,  by  John  Claridge,  shepherd.' 

5.  '  Britannia  Romana,  or  Roman  antiquities 
in  Britain,  viz.,   coins,  camps,  and  public 
roads,' 1724.  6. l  Britannia  Triumphans,  or  ah 
Historical  Account  of  some  of  the  most  signal 
Naval  Victories  obtained  by  the  English  over 


Pointer 


18 


Folding 


the  Spaniards,'  1743.  7.  '  Oxoniensis  Aca- 
demia,  or  the  Antiquities  and  Curiosities  of 
the  University  of  Oxford/  1749 ;  the  manu- 
script is  in  Rawlinson  MS.  B.  No.  405,  at 
the  Bodleian  Library.  It  contains  much 
curious  detail  on  the  history  of  the  several 
colleges.  Two  gifts  by  him  to  the  Bodleian 
Library  are  set  out  on  page  143  (cf.  MACKAY, 
Annals  of  Bodl  Libr.  2nd  edit.  pp.  222-3) 
[see  BUCKLER,  BENJAMIN]. 

[Some  manuscripts  by  Pointer  belonged  to  Mr. 
J.  E.  T.  Loveday,  who  communicated  portions 
from  them  to  Notes  and  Queries,  6th  ser.  vii. 
326,  366.  An  extract  from  an  old  manuscript 
history  of  his  family  and  connections,  taken  by 
himself  from  wills  and  other  documents,  was 
inserted  in  that  periodical  (6th  ser.  x.  522)  by 
Mr.  John  Hamerton  Crump  of  Malvern  "Wells, 
and  was  subsequently  printed  in  extenso  in  the 
Genealogist  (iii.  101-7,  232-40).  Particulars  of 
his  life  were  given  by  Pointer  to  Dr.  Kichard 
Kawlinson,  and  are  now  at  the  Bodleian  Library, 
Eawlinson  MSS.  J.  4to,  1,  fol.  274,  and  J.  fol.  4, 
fol.  224.  See  also  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon. ;  Baker's 
Northamptonshire,  ii.  102;  Coxe's  Catalogus 
MSS.  in  Collegiis  Oxon. ;  information  from  the 
Kev.  E.  P.  Nicholas  of  Worfield.]  W.  P.  C. 

POINTER,  WILLIAM  (ft.  1624),  poet. 
[See  KIDLEY.] 

POITIERS,  PHILIP  OF  (d.  1208?), 
bishop  of  Durham.  [See  PHILIP.] 

POKERIDGE,  RICHARD  (1690  ?- 
1759),  inventor  of  the  musical  glasses.  [See 

POCKRICH.] 

POL  (d.  573),  Saint.    [See  PAUL.] 

POLACK,  JOEL  SAMUEL  (1807- 
1882),  trader,  and  author  of  works  on  New 
Zealand,  was  born  in  London  of  Jewish 
parents  on  28  March  1807.  In  early  life  he 
appears  to  have  travelled  both  in  Europe 
and  America,  to  have  done  some  work  as 
an  artist,  and  to  have  served  under  the  war 
office  in  Africa  in  the  commissariat  and  ord- 
nance departments.  In  1831  he  emigrated 
to  New  Zealand,  and,  after  living  for  a  year 
at  Hokianga,  moved  to  the  Bay  of  Islands, 
a  settlement  still  in  its  infancy.  There  he 
opened  a  ship-chandler's  store  in  connection 
with  a  broker's  business  at  Sydney.  He  paid 
long  visits  to  Sydney,  for  four  or  five  months 
at  a  time,  and  travelled  much  about  New  Zea- 
land. He  learned  the  Maori  language,  gained 
the  confidence  of  the  natives,  and  purchased 
about  eleven  hundred  acres  of  land.  In  May 
1837  he  returned  to  London.  Next  year  he 
was  a  prominent  witness  before  the  select 
committee  of  the  House  of  Lords  on  New 
Zealand.  But  his  veracity  being  impugned 
by  a  writer  in  the  '  Times,'  Polack  brought 


an  action  against  the  (  Times/  and  on 
2  July  1839  secured  a  verdict,  with  100/. 
damages. 

In  1838  Polack  published  l  New  Zealand  : 
a  Narrative  of  Travels  and  Adventures.'  It 
gained  the  notice  of  Robert  Montgomery 
Martin  [q.  v.],  editor  of  the  '  Colonial  Maga- 
zine,' who  in  1838  proposed  him  as  a  member 
of  the  newly  formed  Colonial  Society  of  Lon- 
don. A  second  and  more  ambitious  work  by 
Polack,  *  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  New 
Zealanders/  was  published  in  London  in 
1840  (2  vols.)  This  book  furnishes  one  of 
the  earliest  accounts  of  the  natives  of  New 
Zealand,  and  displays  considerable  erudition 
and  capacity  for  observation ;  the  illustra- 
tions were  drawn  by  the  author. 

Polack  lived  for  a  time  with  a  sister  in 
Piccadilly,  but  eventually  went  to  the  United 
States,  and  settled  in  San  Francisco,  where 
he  married  the  widow  of  William  Hart,  who 
had  also  been  a  settler  in  New  Zealand. 
He  died  in  San  Francisco  on  17  April 
1882. 

[Polack's  evidence  before  select  committee  of 
House  of  Lords  on  New  Zealand,  1838;  prefaces 
of  Polack's  works;  Times,  2  July  1839,  report  of 
Polack  v.  Lawson ;  information  obtained  through 
the  agent-general  for  New  Zealand.]  C.  A.  H. 

FOLDING,  JOHN  BEDE  (1794-1877), 
first  Roman  catholic  archbishop  of  Sydney, 
was  born  in  Liverpool  on  18  Nov.  1794.  Left 
an  orphan  early,  he  was  adopted  by  his  re- 
lative, Dr.  Brewer,  president  of  the  English 
Benedictines.  He  was  sent  at  eleven  years  old 
to  be  educated  at  Acton  Burnell,  the  head- 

?uarters  of  the  Benedictines.  On  16  July 
810  he  joined  the  Benedictine  order,  became 
a  priest  in  March  1819,  and  was  at  once  ap- 
pointed tutor  at  St.  Gregory's  College,  Down- 
side, in  Ireland.  Many  of  his  pupils  were 
distinguished  in  later  life.  In  his  devotion 
to  the  work  Folding  declined  the  see  of  Madras 
in  1833. 

On  the  decision  to  erect  the  vicariate-apo- 
stolic  of  Australia  into  a  bishopric,  Folding 
was  selected  for  the  office,  and  consecrated 
bishop  of  Hiero-Caesarea  on  29  June  1834. 
In  September  1835  he  arrived  in  Sydney  and 
devoted  himself  to  the  organisation  of  the 
new  diocese.  In  1841  he  revisited  England, 
and  thence  went  to  Rome,  where  he  was 
employed  on  a  special  mission  to  Malta,  made 
a  count  of  the  holy  Roman  empire,  and  a 
bishop-assistant  to  the  papal  throne.  He  was 
appointed  archbishop  of  Sydney  on  10  April 
1842. 

Folding's  return  as  an  archbishop  roused 
a  storm  among  members  of  the  church  of 
England  in  Australia,  but  his  calm  and  con- 


Pole 


Pole 


ciliatory  demeanour  gradually  disarmed  op- 
position. 

In  1846-8,  in  1854-6,  and  again  in  1865- 
1866,  Folding  visited  Europe  to  further  the 
interests  of  his  see  and  bring  out  new  helpers. 
He  was  constantly  traversing  the  remotest 
parts  of  his  diocese,  which  included  Tas- 
mania, and  won  the  admiration  and  devotion 
of  clergy  and  laity.  In  1871  he  left  for 
Europe  to  attend  the  oecumenical  council, 
but  his  health  broke  down  at  Aden,  and  he 
returned  to  Sydney.  He  died  on  16  March 
1877  at  the  Sacred  Heart  Presbytery,  Dar- 
linghurst,  Sydney. 

[Melbourne  Argus,  17  March  1877  ;  Heaton's 
Australian  Dictionary  of  Dates.]  0.  A.  H. 

POLE,  ARTHUR  (1531-1570?),  con- 
spirator, born  in  1531,  was  the  eldest  son  of 
Sir  Geoffrey  Pole  [q.  v.]  and  his  wife  Con- 
stance, daughter  of  Sir  John  Pakenham.  He 
has  been  commonly  confused  with  his  uncle 
Arthur,  probably  second  son  of  Margaret  Pole, 
countess  of  Salisbury  [q.  v.],  and  brother  of 
Cardinal  Pole.  He  was  educated  under  the 
care  of  Gentian  Hervet,  a  friend  of  Thomas 
Lupset  [q.  v.],  and  of  Geoffrey  and  Reginald 
Pole.  His  father  and  his  uncle  the  cardinal  died 
within  a  few  days  of  each  other  in  November 
1558,  and  in  December  1559  Arthur  wrote, 
apparently  to  Cecil,  complaining  that  his 
uncle  had  done  nothing  for  him,  and  offering 
his  services  to  Queen  Elizabeth.  This  offer 
was  not  accepted,  and  Pole  was  soon  en- 
tangled in  treasonable  proceedings.  Before 
the  end  of  the  year  the  attentions  paid  to 
Pole  by  the  English  catholics  irritated  Eliza- 
beth, and  in  September  1562  De  Quadra 
wrote  to  Philip  that  Pole  was  about  to  leave 
England  on  the  pretext  of  religion,  '  but  the 
truth  is  that  he  is  going  to  try  his  fortune, 
and  pretend  to  the  crown.'  He  was  persuaded 
that,  as  a  descendant  of  Edward  I  V's  brother, 
the  I)  uke  of  Clarence,  his  claim  to  the  English 
throne  was  as  good  as  that  of  Mary  Queen 
of  Scots.  Through  one  Fortescue,  who  had 
married  his  sister,  he  proposed  to  De  Quadra 
to  enter  the  Spanish  service,  but  the  Spanish 
ambassador  thought  little  of  his  capacity  or 
his  claims,  and  Pole  next  applied  to  the  French 
ambassador,  De  Foix.  But  France  was  not 
likely  to  support  a  rival  to  Mary,  and  Pole 
agreed  to  forego  his  claim  to  the  crown  on 
condition  that  he  was  created  Duke  of  Cla- 
rence. It  was  wildly  suggested  that  Mary 
might  marry  his  younger  brother  Edmund 
(1541-1570?). 

Arthur  and  Edmund  were  encouraged  in 
their  project  by  the  prediction  of  one  Prestal, 
an  astrologer,  that  Queen  Elizabeth  would 
die  in  1563,  and  they  plotted  to  raise  a  force 


in  the  Welsh  marches  to  support  Mary's  claim. 
They  also  applied  to  the  Duke  of  Guise  for  aid. 
He  apparently  held  out  hopes  to  them,  and 
they  were  on  the  point  of  taking  ship  for  France 
in  October  1562  when  they  were  arrested  near 
the  Tower.  They  were  examined  by  the 
council,  but  no  further  "steps  were  taken  until 
after  the  meeting  of  parliament  in  the  follow- 
ing January.  On  26  Feb.  1562-3  they  were 
found  guilty  of  treason ;  but,  in  consideration 
of  their  youth  and  the  futility  of  the  plot, 
they  were  not  executed.  They  were  impri- 
soned in  the  Beauchamp  Tower,  Edmund  in 
the  upper,  and  Arthur  in  the  lower  room. 
They  both  carved  inscriptions  on  the  walls, 
which  still  remain.  Edmund's  is  signed 
l'Mt.  21  E.  Poole,  1562,'  and  Arthur's  <  A.D. 
1568,  Arthur  Poole,  M  suae  37,  A.  P.'  Both 
died  in  the  Tower,  probably  in  1570.  They 
were  alive  in  January  of  that  year,  but 
both  are  omitted  from  their  mother's  will, 
dated  12  Aug.  1570,  where  Thomas,  the  second 
son,  is  described  as  the  eldest.  Froude,  on 
the  authority  of  one  of  De  Quadra's  letters, 
states  that  Arthur  married  a  daughter  of  the 
Earl  of  Northumberland,  but  no  reference 
to  this  match  is  to  be  found  in  the  peer- 


[Cal.  of  Papers  preserved  at  Simaneas,  passim  ; 
Cal.State  Papers,  Dom.  1541-80,  p.  145,  For.  1562 
No.  970,  1563  No.  44;  Harl.  MS.  421 ;  Strype's 
Annals, i. i.  546, 555;  Eccl.Mem.ii.ii.67;  Wood's 
Athense  Oxon.i.  146;  Sandford's  G-enealog.  Hist, 
p.  445  ;  Dugdale's  Baronage  ;  Phillips's  Life  of 
Cardinal  Pole;  Bloxam's  Keg.  Magdalen  Coll. 
Oxford,  iv.  152;  Aikin's  Court  of  Eliz.  i.  354; 
HepworthDixon's  Her  Majesty's  Tower,  ed.  1869, 
pp.  2,  241-4 ;  Pike's  Hist,  of  Crime,  ii.  37-9 ; 
Froude  andLingard's  Histories ;  Sussex  Archseol. 
Collections,  xxi.  86-7 ;  Notes  and  Queries,  3rd 
ser.  viii.  49.]  A.  F.  P. 

POLE,  SIB  CHARLES  MORICE  (1767- 
1830),  admiral  of  the  fleet,  born  on  18  Jan. 
1757,  was  second  son  of  Reginald  Pole  of 
Stoke  Damerell  in  Devonshire,  and  great- 
grandson  of  Sir  John  Pole  of  Shute,  third 
baronet,  and  of  his  wife  Anne,  daughter  of 
Sir  William  Morice  [q.  v.]  In  January  1770 
he  entered  the  Royal  Academy  in  Portsmouth 
Dockyard,  and  two  years  later  was  appointed 
to  the  Thames  frigate,  with  Captain  William 
Locker  [q.  v.]  In  December  1773  he  was 
moved  into  the  Salisbury,  of  50  guns,  going 
out  to  the  East  Indies  with  the  broad  pen- 
nant of  Commodore  Sir  Edward  Hughes 
[q.  v.],  by  whom  he  waspromoted  on 26  July 
1777  to  be  lieutenant  of  the  Seahorse.  In  the 
following  year  he  was  moved  to  the  Ripon, 
carrying  the  broad  pennant  of  Sir  Edward 
Vernon  [q.  v.],  and  in  her  took  part  in  the 
rencounter  with  M.  Tronjoly  on  9  Aug.  He 

c2 


Pole 


20 


Pole 


afterwards  commanded  a  party  of  seamen 
landed  for  the  siege  of  Pondicherry,  and  on 
the  surrender  of  the  place,  on  17  Oct.  1778, 
was  promoted  to  the  command  of  the  Cor- 
morant Bloop,  in  which  he  returned  to  Eng- 
land with  Vernon's  despatches.  On  22  March 
1779,  ten  days  after  his  arrival,  he  was  ad- 
vanced to  post  rank,  and  appointed  to  the 
Britannia,  with  Rear-admiral  George  Darby 
[q.  v.]  In  July  1780  he  was  moved  into  the 
Hussar  frigate,  which  he  took  out  to  North 
America,  but  she  was  lost,  by  the  fault  of 
the  pilot,  in  endeavouring  to  pass  through 
Hell  Gate.  Pole  was  fully  acquitted  by  a 
court-martial,  and  was  sent  home  with  des- 
patches. He  was  then  appointed  to  the 
Success,  of  32  guns,  and  in  March  1782  was 
sent  out  to  Gibraltar,  in  charge  of  the 
Vernon  store-ship.  By  the  way,  on  the  16th, 
he  fell  in  with  the  Spanish  Santa  Catalina, 
of  34  guns,  said  to  have  been  the  largest 
frigate  then  afloat.  As  she  had  also  a  poop, 
she  was  at  first  supposed  to  be  a  ship  of  the 
line  ;  it  was  only  when  Pole,  determining  at 
all  risks  to  save  the  Vernon,  gallantly  closed 
with  the  Spaniard,  that  he  discovered  she 
was  only  a  frigate,  though  of  considerably 
superior  force.  He,  however,  engaged  and, 
after  two  hours'  close  action,  captured  her. 
He  had  partly  refitted  her,  in  the  hope  of 
taking  her  in,  when,  on  the  18th,  a  squadron 
of  ships  of  war  came  in  sight,  and  sooner 
than  let  her  fall  into  the  enemy's  hands  he 
set  her  on  fire.  When  too  late  it  was  found 
that  the  strange  sail  were  English.  During 
the  peace  Pole  commanded  the  Crown  guard- 
ship  for  three  years.  In  1788  he  was  ap- 
pointed groom  of  the  bedchamber  to  the 
Duke  of  Clarence.  In  the  Spanish  armament 
of  1790  he  commanded  the  Melampus  fri- 
gate, stationed  off  Brest  to  report  anv  move- 
ment of  the  French  ships  ;  in  1791  "he  was 
moved  to  the  Illustrious  of  74  guns,  and 
again,  in  1793,  to  the  Colossus,  in  which  he 
went  out  to  the  Mediterranean,  and  was  pre- 
sent at  the  occupation  of  Toulon,  under  the 
command  of  Lord  Hood.  In  1794  the  Co- 
lossus returned  to  England,  and  joined  the 
Channel  fleet  under  Lord  Howe. 

On  1  June  1795  Pole  was  promoted  to  be 
rear-admiral,  and  in  November,  in  the  Co- 
lossus, sailed  for  the  West  Indies  as  second 
in  command,  under  Sir  Hugh  Cloberry 
Christian  [q.  v.],  with  whom  he  returned  to 
England  in  October  1796.  In  March  1797 
he  was  appointed  first  captain  of  the  Royal 
George,  or,  as  it  would  now  be  called,  captain 
of  the  fleet,  with  Lord  Bridport  [see  HOOD, 
ALEXANDER,  VISCOUNT  BRIDPOET].  In  1799, 
with  his  flag  in  the  Royal  George,  he  com- 
manded a  squadron  detached  against  some 


Spanish  ships  in  Basque  roads,  which  were 
found  to  be  too  far  in  under  the  batteries  of 
the  Isle  of  Aix  to  be  attacked  with  advan- 
tage. In  the  following  year  he  went  out  to 
Newfoundland  as  commander-in-chief,  re- 
turning on  his  promotion  to  the  rank  of  vice- 
admiral,  on  1  Jan.  1801.  In  the  following 
June  he  relieved  Lord  Nelson  in  command  of 
the  fleet  in  the  Baltic.  The  work  had,  how- 
ever, been  practically  finished  before  his 
arrival,  and  little  remained  for  him  to  do 
except  to  bring  the  fleet  home.  On  12  Sept. 
he  was  created  a  baronet.  He  was  then  sent- 
in  command  off"  Cadiz,  where  he  remained 
till  the  peace.  In  1802  he  was  returned  to 
parliament  as  member  for  Newark,  and  en- 
tered zealously  on  his  duties.  He  was  made 
an  admiral  in  the  Trafalgar  promotion  of 
9  Nov.  1805,  but  had  no  further  service 
afloat.  From  1803  to  1806  he  was  chairman 
of  the  commission  on  naval  abuses  [see 
DUNDAS,  HENRY,  first  VISCOUNT  MELVILLE], 
and  in  1806  became  one  of  the, lords  of  the 
admiralty.  From  1806  to  1818  he  wasM.P. 
for  Plymouth,  taking  an  active  interest  in 
all  measures  connected  with  naval  admini- 
stration, and  speaking  with  the  freedom  of  a 
man  independent  of  party.  On  20  Feb.  1818 
he  was  nominated  a  G.C.B.  On  the  acces- 
sion of  William  IV  he  was  appointed  master 
of  the  robes,  and  was  promoted  to  be  ad- 
miral of  the  fleet  on  22  July  1830.  He  died 
at  Denham  Abbey,  Hertfordshire,  on  6  Sept. 
1830. 

Pole  married,  in  1792,  Henrietta,  third 
daughter  of  John  Goddard,  a  Rotterdam 
merchant,  of  Woodford  Hall,  Essex,  and 
niece  of '  the  rich  Mr.  Hope  of  Rotterdam  ; ' 
but,  dying  without  male  issue,  the  baronetcy 
became  extinct.  His  portrait  by  Beechey 
has  been  engraved. 

[Marshall's  Royal  Naval  Biogr.  i.  86  ;  Naval 
Chronicle  (with  a  portrait  after  Northcote),  xxi. 
265  ;  Ralfe's  Naval  Biogr.  ii.  129  ;  Pantheon  of 
the  Age,  ii.  158 ;  Foster's  Baronetage,  s.n.  Pole  of 
Shute.  There  are  many  casual  notices  of  him  in 
Nicolas's  Despatches  and  Letters  of  Lord  Nelson 
(see  index).]  J.  K.  L. 

POLE,  DAVID  (d.  1568),  bishop  of  Peter- 
borough, appears  as  a  fellow  of  All  Souls" 
College,  Oxford,  in  1520.  He  devoted  him- 
self to  civil  law,  and  graduated  B.Can.L.  on 
2  July  1526  and  D.Can.L.  on  17  Feb.  1 527- 
1528.  In  1529  he  became  an  advocate  in 
Doctors'  Commons.  He  was  connected  with 
the  diocese  of  Lichfield,  where  he  held  many 
preferments,  first  under  Bishop  Geoffrey 
Blyth,  and  then  under  Bishop  Rowland  Lee. 
He  was  made  prebendary  of  Tachbrook  in- 
Lichfield  Cathedral  on  11  April  1531,  arch- 
deacon of  Salop  in  April  1536,  and  arch- 


Pole 


21 


Pole 


deacon  of  Derby  on  8  Jan.  1542-3.  He  had 
previously  received  the  high  appointment  of 
dean  of  the  arches  and  vicar-general  of  the 
archbishop  of  Canterbury  on  14  Nov.  1540. 
A  conscientious  adherent  of  the  Roman  ca- 
tholic faith,  he  occupied  several  positions  of 
importance  during  Mary's  reign.  In  her  first 
year  he  acted  as  vicar-general  of  the  bishop 
of  Lichfield  (Richard  Sampson)  and  commis- 
sioner for  the  deprivation  of  married  priests 
(STEYPE, M emorials,  vol.  iii.  pt.  i.  p.  168),  and 
in  his  capacity  of  archdeacon  he  sat  011  the 
commission  for  the  deprivation  of  Cranmer, 
Ridley,  and  Latimer,  and  the  restoration  of 
Bonner  and  other  deprived  bishops  (z'6.p.  36). 
He  stood  high  in  the  favour  of  Cardinal 
Pole,  said  to  be  a  relative,  who  appointed 
him  his  vicar-general  (ib.  p.  476).  During 
the  vacancy  of  the  see  of  Lichfield  on  Bishop 
Sampson's  death  in  1554,  he  was  appointed 
•commissary  for  the  diocese.  In  the  early 
part  of  the  same  year  he  took  part  in  the  con- 
demnation of  Hooper  and  Taylor  (ib.  pp.  288, 
290).  On  25  April  1556  he  was  appointed 
on  the  commission  to  inquire  after  heretics, 
and  to  proceed  against  them.  On  the  death 
of  John  Chambers,  the  first  bishop  of  the 
newly  formed  diocese  of  Peterborough,  the 
queen  sent  letters  commendatory  to  Paul  IV 
in  Pole's  favour.  He  was  consecrated  at 
Chiswick  on  15  Aug.  1557  by  Nicholas  Heath 
{q.  v.],  archbishop  of  York.  Hardly  a  month 
elapsed  before  he  proved  his  zeal  against  heresy 
by  sanctioning  the  martyrdom  of  John  Kurde, 
a  protestant  shoemaker  of  Syston,  who  was 
burnt  at  Northampton  on  20  Sept.  1 557  (FoxE, 
Acts  and  Monuments,  iii.  71).  The  death  of 
Mary  caused  a  complete  change  in  his  position. 
He  was  regarded  with  well-deserved  respect 
by  Elizabeth,  who  put  him  in  the  first  abortive 
commission  for  the  consecration  of  Parker  as 
archbishop,  9  Sept.  1559  (STKYPE,  Parker, 
i.  106).  In  the  same  year  he,  with  Bonner 
and  two  other  prelates,  signed  Archbishop 
Heath's  letter  of  remonstrance  to  Elizabeth, 
begging  her  to  return  to  the  catholic  faith 
(STEYPE,  Annals,  vol.  i.  pt.  i.  p.  217).  His 
refusal,  in  common  with  his  brother  bishops, 
to  take  the  oath  under  the  act  of  supremacy 
was  followed  by  his  deprivation ;  but  he  was 
treated  with  great  leniency  by  the  queen  as 
*an  ancient  and  grave  person  and  very  quiet 
subject/  and  was  allowed  to  live  on  parole 
in  London  or  the  suburbs,  having  no  *  other 
gaoler  than  his  own  promise '  (FuLLEE, 
Church  Hist.  iv.  281).  He  was '  courteously 
treated  by  all  persons  among  whom  he  lived, 
and  at  last '  died  '  on  one  of  his  farms  in  a 
good  old  age,'  in  Mayor  June  1568  (HEYLYN, 
Hist,  of  lie  formation,  anno  1559;  STEYPE, 
Annals,  vol.  i.  pt.  i.  pp.  214,  411).  His  pro- 


perty he  left  to  his  friends,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  his  books  on  law  and  theology,  which 
he  bequeathed  to  his  college,  All  Souls'. 

[Wood's  Athense,  ii.  801,  Fasti,  i.  74,  77,  78  ; 
Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.  1500-1714;  Strype,  Me- 
morials, vol.  iii.  pt.  i.  pp.  36, 168,288,  290,  473, 
476-7, pt. ii.  p.  26,  Annals,  vol.  i.  pt.  i. pp.  206, 21 4, 
217,  411,  pt.  ii.  p.  26,  Cranmer,  i.  459,  Parker,  i. 
106;  Lansdowne  MS.  980  f.283;  Ghinton's  His- 
tory of  Peterborough,  pp.  69, 70;  Coote's  Civilians, 
p.  26;  Dixon's  Church  History,  iv.  48,  593,  796.] 

E.  V. 

POLE,  EDMUND  BE  LA,  EAEL  OF  SUF- 
FOLK (1472  P-1513),  was  the  second  son  of 
John  de  la  Pole,  second  duke  of  Suffolk  [q.  v.], 
by  his  wife  Elizabeth,  sister  of  Edward  IV. 
About  1481  Edward  sent  him  to  Oxford, 
mainly  to  hear  a  divinity  lecture  he  had 
lately  founded.  The  university  wrote  two 
fulsome  letters  to  the  king,  thanking  him  for 
the  favour  he  had  done  them  in  sending 
thither  a  lad  whose  precocity,  they  declared, 
seemed  to  have  something  of  inspiration  in  it. 
The  family  owed  much  to  Richard  III,  who 
made  Edmund  a  knight  of  the  Bath  at  his 
coronation  on  4  July  1483  (HOLINSHED,  iii. 
733).  He,  with  his  father,  was  also  pre- 
sent at  the  coronation  of  Elizabeth,  queen 
of  Henry  VII,  on  25  Nov.  1487  (LELAND, 
Collectanea,  iv.  229,  230,  ed.  1770),  and  was 
frequently  at  court  during  the  next  two 
years. 

In  1491  his  father  died.  Edmund,  the 
eldest  surviving  son,  had  not  attained  his 
majority,  and  was  the  king's  ward  (Rolls  of 
Parl.  vi.  477).  He  ought  still  to  have  suc- 
ceeded to  his  father's  title,  but,  his  inheri- 
tance being  seriously  diminished  by  the  act  of 
attainder  against  his  late  brother  [see  POLE, 
JOHN  DE  LA,  EAEL  OF  LINCOLN,  1464  P-1487], 
he  agreed  with  the  king  by  indenture,  dated 
26  Feb.  1493  (presumably  the  date  at  which 
he  came  of  age),  to  forego  the  title  of  duke 
and  content  himself  with  that  of  Earl  of 
Suffolk  on  the  king  restoring  to  him  a  por- 
tion of  the  forfeited  property — not  indeed  as 
a  gift,  but  in  exchange  for  a  sum  of  5,000/. 
to  be  paid  by  yearly  instalments  of  200/. 
during  his  mother's  life  and  of  400/.  after 
her  death.  This  arrangement  was  ratified  in 
the  parliament  of  October  1495  (Rolls  of 
Parl.  vi.  474-7).  Henry's  skill  at  driving  a 
hard  bargain  was  never  more  apparent.  But 
in  the  parliamentary  confirmation  of  the  in- 
denture he  showed  himself  gracious  enough 
to  restore  to  the  impoverished  nobleman  his 
'  chief  place '  in  the  city  of  London,  in  the 
parish  of  St.  Laurence  Pultney,  which  by 
the  agreement  itself  the  earl  had  conceded 
to  the  king  (ib.  p.  476). 

In  October  1492  Suffolk  was  at  the  siege 


Pole 


22 


Pole 


of  Boulogne  (Chronicle  of  Calais,  p.  2).  On 
9  Nov.  1494  he  was  the  leading  challenger 
at  Westminster  in  the  tournament  at  the 
creation  of  Prince  Henry  as  Duke  of  York, 
and  was  presented  on  the  second  day  with 
'  a  ring  of  gold  with  a  diamond '  as  a  prize. 
In  1495,  on  Michaelmas  day,  he  received 
the  king,  who  was  on  his  way  from  Wood- 
stock to  Windsor,  at  his  seat  at  Ewelme 
(Excerpta  Historica,  p.  105).  The  par- 
liament which  confirmed  his  agreement  with 
the  king  assembled  in  the  following  month, 
and  he  was  one  of  the  lords  appointed  triers 
of  petitions  from  Gascony  and  foreign  parts 
(Rolls  of  Parl.  vi.  458).  It  was  probably  in 
1496  that  he  was  made  a  knight  of  the  Garter 
in  the  room  of  Jasper,  duke  of  Bedford,  who 
died  in  December  1495  (BELTZ,  Memorials 
of  the  Garter,  p.  clxix).  In  February  1496 
he  took  part  in  a  '  disguising '  before  the 
king  (Excerpta  Historica,^.  107).  In  the  same 
month  he  was  one  of  a  number  of  English 
noblemen  who  stood  sureties  to  the  Arch- 
duke Philip  for  the  observance  of  the  new 
treaties  with  Burgundy  (RYMER,  xii.  588, 
1st  edit.)  On  22  June  he  led  a  company 
against  the  Cornish  rebels  at  Blackheath. 

In  Michaelmas  term,  1498,  he  was  in- 
dicted in  the  king's  bench  for  murder.  It 
appears  that  he  had  killed  a  man  in  a  pas- 
sion ;  and  though  he  received  the  king's 
pardon,  he  is  said  to  have  resented  the  fact 
that  he,  a  prince  of  royal  blood,  should  have 
been  arraigned  for  the  crime.  In  April  1499, 
however,  he  attended  a  chapter  of  the  Gar- 
ter at  Windsor  (AtfSTis,  Register,  ii.  238). 
But  in  July,  or  the  very  beginning  of  August, 
he  fled  the  kingdom,  first  taking  refuge  at 
Guisnes,  near  Calais,  where  Sir  James  Tyrell, 
captain  of  the  castle,  had  friendly  confer- 
ences with  him,  and  afterwards  going  on  to 
St.  Omer.  Henry,  much  alarmed  at  his  de- 
parture, issued  on  20  Aug.  strict  orders 
against  persons  leaving  the  kingdom  without 
a  license  (Letters  and  Papers,  ii.  377 ;  Paston 
Letters,  iii.  173,  ed.  Gairdner).  He  also 
instructed  Sir  Richard  Guildford  [q.  v.]  and 
Richard  Hatton,  the  former  of  whom  was 
going  on  a  mission  to  the  archduke,  to  use 
all  possible  persuasions  to  induce  Suffolk  to 
return.  Henry's  ambassadors  persuaded  the 
archduke  to  order  Suffolk  out  of  his  domi- 
nions; but  the  captain  of  St.  Omer,  who 
was  charged  to  convey  the  order,  delayed 
the  intimation  of  it,  much  to  his  master's 
satisfaction.  Guildford  had  instructions  to 
bring  Suffolk  back  by  force  if  persuasion 
failed.  Suffolk  wisely  preferred  to  return 
voluntarily,  and  was  again  taken  into  favour. 
He  was,  however,  by  no  means  satisfied  as  to 
the  king's  intentions;  and  the  judicial  murder 


of  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  which  happened 
immediately  after,  did  not  reassure  him.  It 
seemed  as  if  the  house  of  York  were  to  be 
extirpated  to  secure  the  Tudor  throne. 

On  5  May  1500,  however,  he  witnessed  at 
Canterbury  the  king's  confirmation  of  the 
treaty  for  the  marriage  of  Prince  Arthur 
with  Catherine  of  Arragon  (RYMER,  xii. 
752,  1st  edit.),  and  six  days  later  he  followed 
the  king  to  Calais  to  the  meeting  with  the 
Archduke  Philip.  He  returned  to  England, 
but  having  heard  that  the  Emperor  Maxi- 
milian, who  had  an  old  grudge  against 
Henry  VII,  would  gladly  help  one  of  the 
blood  of  Edward  IV  to  gain  the  English 
throne,  he  in  August  1501  repaired  to  Maxi- 
milian in  the  Tyrol.  The  emperor  at  first 
gave  him  no  encouragement.  After  remain- 
ing six  weeks  at  Imst,  Suffolk  received  a 
message,  promising  him  the  aid  of  three  to 
five  thousand  men  for  a  period  of  one,  two, 
or  three  months  if  necessary.  Leaving  his 
steward  Killingworth  to  arrange  details  with 
Maximilian,  he  repaired  to  Aix-la-Chapelle 
with  letters  from  the  emperor  in  his  favour 
to  the  council  of  that  town.  After  Suffolk's 
departure  Maximilian  raised  difficulties  in 
performing  his  promise.  But  Suffolk  was  at 
length  informed  that  Maximilian  had  per- 
suaded the  Count  of  Hardeck  to  lend  Suffolk 
twenty  thousand  gulden.  The  count  was  to- 
be  repaid  double  that  sum,  and  his  son  was 
to  go  with  Suffolk  into  England. 

On  7  Nov.  1501  Suffolk,  Sir  Robert  Cur- 
zon — who  seems  first  to  have  suggested  the 
project  to  the  emperor — and  five  other  per- 
sons were  publicly  *  accursed '  at  Paul's 
Cross  as  traitors.  Afterwards  on  the  first 
Sunday  of  Lent  (13  Feb.)  1502,  Suffolk's 
brother,  Lord  William  de  la  Pole,  with 
Lord  William  Courtney,  Sir  James  Tyrell, 
and  other  Yorkist  friends,  were  thrown  into 
prison.  Of  these,  Tyrell  and  Sir  John  Wynd- 
ham  suffered  as  traitors  in  May  following ; 
but  the  two  Lord  Williams,  whose  Yorkist 
blood  and  connection  were  alone  suspicious, 
were  only  kept  in  confinement  till  the  ac- 
cession of  Henry  VIII.  Suffolk  himself  was 
outlawed  at  Ipswich  on  26  Dec.  1502. 

He  was  also  disappointed  in  the  hope  of 
help  from  his  foreign  friends.  His  remon- 
strances addressed  to  the  emperor  from  Aix 
were  in  vain,  and  on  28  July  1502  Maximilian 
signed  a  treaty  at  Augsburg,  pledging  him- 
self in  return  for  10,000/.  not  to  succour  any 
English  rebels,  even  though  they  claimed  the 
dignity  of  dukes  (for  Suffolk  had  resumed  his 
forfeited  rank  in  the  peerage)  (RYMER,  xiii. 
9,  22-7,  1st  edit.)  Nevertheless,  Suffolk 
was  suffered  to  remain  at  Aix  unmolested. 
But  on  12  Feb.  1503  Maximilian  took,  at 


Pole 

the  English  king's  request,  an  oath  to  observe 
the  treaties,  and  gave  a  reluctant  promise  to 
expel  Suffolk  from  Aix  by  proclamation.  He 
merely  wrote,  however,  to  the  burgomaster 
and  town  council  that,  as  he  had  sent  the  un- 
happy nobleman  thither,  and  was  forbidden 
by  his  treaty  with  England  to  grant  him 
further  aid,  he  had  arranged  to  pay  them  three 
thousand  Rhenish  florins,  to  enable  him  to 
quit  the  town  free  of  debt.  But  it  does  not 
appear  that  Maximilian  kept  his  word,  for 
Suffolk  remained  'at  Aix,  still  in  debt,  for 
several  months  after. 

In  January  1504  he  was  attainted  by  the 
English  parliament  (Rolls  of  Parl.  vi.  545 
seq.),  along  with  his  brothers  William  and 
Richard  [q.  v.],and  a  number  of  his  adherents. 
His  situation  seemed  hopeless.  Strangely 
illiterate  letters  during  the  next  few  years 
reflect  his  wretchedness,  and  form  a  most 
astounding  commentary  on  that  erudition 
with  which  he  was  credited  by  his  univer- 
sity when  a  boy.  Just  before  Easter  1504  he 
managed  to  quit  Aix  by  leaving  his  brother 
Richard  behind  him  as  a  hostage.  He  had 
arranged  to  join  George,  duke  of  Saxony, 
governor  of  Friesland,  but  on  entering  Gelder- 
land  he  was  seized  and  thrown  into  the  castle 
of  Hattem,  in  spite  of  a  safe-conduct  the 
Duke  of  Gueldres  had  sent  him.  The  duke 
is  believed  to  have  obtained  money  from 
Henry  VII  to  keep  the  prisoner  safe,  and 
refused  the  demand  of  his  overlord,  Philip, 
king  of  Castile,  to  deliver  him.  But  in  July 
1505  Philip's  able  captain,  Paul  von  Lichten- 
stein,  obtained  possession  of  Hattem,  with 
the  prisoner  in  it.  Much  negotiation  between 
Philip  and  the  Duke  of  Gueldres  followed, 
and  during  the  course  of  it  Suffolk  was  tem- 
porarily handed  back  to  the  duke ;  but  in 
October  Philip  again  obtained  possession  of 
the  prisoner,  and  shut  him  up  in  the  castle 
of  Namur. 

On  24  Jan.  1506  Suffolk  gave  a  curious 
commission  to  two  of  his  servants  to  treat 
with  Henry  VII  for  an  adjustment  of  the 
differences  between  them,  with  a  set  of  spe- 
cific instructions  as  to  the  terms.  He  de- 
manded Henry's  aid,  if  necessary,  for  his 
delivery  out  of  Philip's  hands.  In  the  same 
month  Philip  visited  Henry  at  Windsor,  and 
consented  to  surrender  the  unhappy  fugitive. 
At  the  end  of  March  Suffolk  was  conveyed 
through  London  (LE  GLAY,  Negotiations,  i. 
114),  and  committed  to  the  Tower. 

Henry  gave  Philip  a  written  promise  to 
spare  his  life  (Cal.  State  Papers,  Spanish, 
vol.  i.  No.  456),  and  the  rumour  that  he 
recommended  his  son  and  successor  to  put 
Suffolk  to  death  is  probably  a  scandal 
(Memoires  de  Du  Bellay,  livre  i.)  But  at 


Pole 

Henry  VIII's  accession  he  was  excepted  from 
the  general  pardon,  and  in  1513,  when  his 
brother  Richard  had  taken  up  arms  in  the 
service  of  France,  with  whom  England  was 
then  at  war,  he  was  sent  to  the  block,  ap- 
parently without  any  further  proceedings 

"  anish  writer 
524) that 

by  writing  to  urge 
his  brother  to  promote  a  rebellion  in  England. 
But  as  a  prisoner  in  the  Tower  he  had  little 
opportunity  of  doing  so,  unless  it  were  pur- 
posely afforded  him  (cf.  Calendar,  Venetian, 
vol.  ii.  No.  248). 

Pole  married  Margaret,  a  daughter  of 
Richard,  lord  Scrope,  and  by  her  he  had  a 
daughter  named  Anne,  who  became  a  nun 
at  the  Minories  without  Aldgate.  He  left 
no  male  issue. 

[Polydori  Vergilii  Historia  Anglica;  Hall's 
Chronicle ;  Fabyan's  Chronicle  ;  Dugdale's 
Baronage  ;  Sandford's  Genealogical  History ; 
"Wood's  Annals  of  Oxford ;  Napier's  Swyncombe 
and  Ewelme ;  Memorials  of  Henry  VII  (Eolls 
Ser.) ;  Letters  and  Papers  of  Eichard  III  and 
Henry  VII  (Eolls  Ser)  ;  Ellis's  Letters,  3rd  ser. 
vol.  i.  Nos.  48-59 ;  Cal.  State  Papers,  Spanish 
vol.  i.,  Venetian  vol.  i.,  and  Henry  VIII  vol.  i.  ; 
Chroniques  de  Jean  Molinet,  vol.  v.  (Buchon's 
Collection  des  Chroniques  Nationales  Fran- 
9aises);  Le  Glay's  Negociations  ;  Busch's  Eng- 
land unter  den  Tudors.]  J.  Gr. 

POLE,  SIR  GEOFFREY  (1502  P-1558), 
a  victim  of  Henry  VIII's  tyranny,  born  be- 
tween 1501  and  1505,  was  brother  of  Henry 
Pole,  lord  Montague  [q.  v.],  and  of  Reginald 
Pole  [q.  v.]  the  cardinal,  being  the  youngest 
son  of  Sir  Richard  Pole  (d.  1505),  by  his  wife 
Margaret,  afterwards  Countess  of  Salisbury 
[see  POLE,  MARGARET].  He  was  one  of  the 
knights  made  by  Henry  VIII  at  York  Place 
in  1529  (METCALFE,  Book  of  Knights,  p.  61 ; 
Cal.  Henry  VIII,  vol.  iv.  No.  6384).  Soon 
afterwards  he  married  Constance,  the  elder 
of  the  two  daughters  and  heirs  of  Sir  John 
Pakenham,  by  whom  he  became  possessed  of 
the  manor  of  Lordington  in  Sussex.  Local 
antiquaries  assert  that  this  manor  belonged  to 
his  father ;  but  this  has  been  fully  disproved 
by  Father  Morris  (Month,  Ixv.  521-2).  From 
1531  his  name  is  met  with  in  commissions  of 
various  kinds,  both  for  Hampshire  and  for 
Sussex. 

Like  the  rest  of  his  family,  he  greatly  dis- 
liked Henry  VIII's  proceedings  for  a  divorce 
from  Catherine  of  Arragon.  In  1532,  when 
the  king  went  over  to  Calais  with  Anne 
Boleyn  to  meet  Francis  I,  he  crossed  the  sea 
in  disguise,  and  keeping  himself  unseen  in  the 
apartments  of  his  brother,  Henry  Pole,  lord 
Montague  [q.  v.],  who  had  gone  over  with 


Pole 

the  king,  stole  out  at  night  to  collect  news. 
Montague  sent  him  back  to  England  to  inform 
Queen  Catherine  that  Henry  had  not  suc- 
ceeded in  persuading  Francis  to  countenance 
his  proposed  marriage  with  Anne  Boleyn. 
Next  year,  however,  his  name  appears  set 
down — not  with  his  own  good  will,  we  may 
be  sure — among  the  knights  appointed  'to 
be  servitors'  at  Anne  Boleyn's  coronation 
(Cal  Henry  VIII,  vi.  246).  But  a  week 
after,  on  Thursday,  5  June,  he  dined  with 
the  Princess  Mary  (ib.  No.  1540,  iii.)  ;  and 
frequently,  when  Anne  Boleyn  was  queen, 
he  visited  the  imperial  ambassador,  Chapuys, 
to  assure  him  that  the  emperor  would  find  the 
hearts  of  the  English  people  with  him  if  he 
invaded  England  to  redress  the  wrong  done 
to  Catherine  (ib.  vii.  520).  He  added  that  he 
himself  wished  to  go  to  the  emperor  in  Spain, 
which  Chapuys  wisely  dissuaded  him  from 
doing  (ib.  vol.  viii.  No.  750,  p.  283). 

In  1536,  on  the  suppression  of  the  smaller 
monasteries,  he  purchased  from  the  commis- 
sioners such  goods  as  then  remained  of  the 
abbey  of  Dureford  in  Sussex,  near  Lordington 
(Sussex  Archceological  Collections,  vii.  224). 
In  the  end  of  that  year  he  is  said  to  have 
commanded  a  company,  under  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk,  against  the  northern  rebels  at  Don- 
caster  ;  but  his  sympathies  were  really  with 
the  rebels,  and  he  was  determined  beforehand 
not  to  act  against  them  (ib.  xxi.  77).  Norfolk, 
however,  was  aware  that  the  insurgents  were 
too  strong  to  be  attacked,  and  Sir  Geoffrey  had 
no  occasion  to  desert  the  royal  standard.  A 
letter  of  Lord  De  la  Warr,  perhaps  misplaced 
in  the  '  Calendar'  in  October  1536,  speaks  of 
his  causing  a  riot  by  a  forcible  entry  into  Slin- 
don  Park,  which  he  was  afterwards  ordered 
in  the  king's  name  immediately  to  quit  (Cal. 
Henry  VIII,  vol.  xi.  No.  523).  In  October 
1537  when  he  came  to  court  the  king  refused 
to  see  him  (ib.  vol.  xii.  pt.  ii.  No.  921)  ;  and 
a  letter  of  his  to  the  lord  chancellor,  dated  at 
Lordington,  5  April,  in  which  he  hopes  for 
a  return  of  the  king's  favour,  was  probably 
written  in  1538,  though  placed  among  the 
state  papers  of  1537  (ib.  vol.  xii.  pt.  i.  No. 
829).  On  29  Aug.  1538  he  was  arrested  and 
sent  to  the  Tower  (ib.  vol.  xiii.  pt.  ii.  p.  91). 

This  was  a  blow  aimed  at  his  whole  family, 
whom  the  king  had  long  meant  to  crush  on 
account  of  the  part  taken  by  his  brother  Regi- 
nald the  cardinal.  For  nearly  two  months 
Geoffrey  lay  in  prison ;  on  26"  Oct.  a  set  of 
interrogatories  was  administered  to  him,  first 
about  words  dropped  by  himself  in  private 
conversation,  when  he  had  expressed  approval 
of  his  brother's  proceedings,  and  next  as  to 
the  letters  and  messages  he  or  his  mother,  or 
others  of  his  family,  had  received  from  the 


24 


Pole 


cardinal  during  the  last  three  years.  With 
the  fear  of  the  rack  before  him,  and  knowing 
that  he  would  be  compelled  to  implicate  his 
family,  he  endeavoured  to  commit  suicide, 
and  did  himself  some  serious  injury  (ib.  vol. 
xiii.  pt.  ii.  Nos.  703,  875).  But  it  was  in  vain. 
Seven  separate  examinations  was  he  obliged 
to  undergo,  with  further  and  further  ques- 
tionings as  new  information  was  elicited  from 
himself  or  from  those  whom  his  confessions 
implicated,  until  the  whole  case  was  made 
out  for  the  king  against  not  only  himself, 
but  his  brother  Lord  Montague,  Henry  Cour- 
tenay,  marquis  of  Exeter  [q.  v.],  Sir  Edward 
Neville  (d.  1538)  [q.  v.],  and  others.  His  wife, 
who  was  herself  examined  by  the  council, 
privately  informed  her  brother-in-law  Lord 
Montague  that  her  husband  was  driven  to 
frenzy,  and  might  make  indiscreet  revelations. 
Brought  to  trial  with  those  he  had  implicated, 
on  4  Dec.  at  Westminster,  he  was  condemned 
to  death  on  his  own  plea  of  guilty,  but,  while 
his  brother  and  the  others  met  their  fate,  his 
life  was  spared.  There  were  new  victims  still 
to  be  caught,  and  even  on  30  Dec.  Cromwell 
intimated  to  the  French  ambassador  that  they 
hoped  to  learn  something  more  from  him. 
At  last,  on  4  Jan.  1539,  he  received  his  par- 
don, which,  it  is  said,  his  wife  obtained  for 
him,  representing  that  he  was  so  ill  that  he 
was  already  as  good  as  dead  (FoLEY,  Records 
of  the  English  Province  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus,  iii.  790-1).  During  the  Christmas 
week,  indeed,  he  seems  to  have  made  another 
attempt  upon  his  own  life,  trying  to  suffocate 
himself  with  a  cushion  (Cal.  Henry  VIII, 
vol.  xiv.  pt.  i.  p.  19). 

In  September  1540  he  was  committed  to 
the  Fleet  in  consequence  of '  a  certain  affray ' 
which  he  had  made  in  Hampshire  on  one  Mr. 
Gunter,  a  justice  of  the  peace,  who  had  given, 
the  council  information  against  him.  A 
fortnight  later  he  received  the  king's  pardon 
on  condition  of  his  keeping  the  peace  towards 
Gunter,  and  not  coming  again  to  court  until 
the  king's  pleasure  were  further  declared. 
Early  in  April  next  year  another  complaint 
was  made  against  him  to  the  council  for  an 
assault  on  John  Michael,  the  parson  of 
Racton,  his  parish  church  in  Sussex.  He 
seems  to  have  previously  connived  at  the 
trumping-up  of  a  charge  of  treason  against 
Michael. 

A  few  weeks  later  his  mother  was  put  to 
death,  and  he  was  afraid  of  further  trouble. 
'  He  went  about,'  says  a  contemporary  writer, 
'like  one  terror-stricken,  and, as  he  lived  four 
miles  from  Chlchester,  he  saw  one  day  in  Chi- 
chester  a  Flemish  ship,  into  which  he  resolved 
to  get,  and  with  her  he  passed  over  to  Flanders, 
leaving  his  wife  and  children.'  It  is  added 


Pole 


Pole 


that  he  found  his  way  to  Rome,  and  threw 
himself  at  the  feet  of  his  brother  the  cardinal, 
saying  he  was  unworthy  to  be  called  his 
brother  for  having  caused  another  brother's 
death.  The  cardinal  brought  him  to  the  pope 
for  absolution,  and  afterwards  sent  him  into 
Flanders  to  the  bishop  of  Liege,  allowing  him 
forty  crowns  a  month  to  live  upon.  There 
he  chiefly  lived  till  the  close  of  Edward  VI's 
reign.  His  wife  and  family,  however,  were 
still  at  Lordington,  and  he  had  a  strong  desire 
to  return  to  England.  In  1550  he  visited  Sir 
John  Mason  [q.  v.]  at  Poissy,  while  on  a 
journey  to  Rouen.  He  explained  that  he 
was  riding  up  and  down  that  summer  to  see 
countries,  and  vainly  begged  Mason  to  procure 
leave  for  him  to  return  to  England.  He  was 
excepted  from  the  general  pardon  granted  at 
the  end  of  the  parliament  in  1552  (STRYPE, 
Heel.  Mem.  vol.  ii.  pt.  ii.  p.  67).  After  Queen 
Mary's  accession  he  returned  to  England. 
He  died  in  1558,  a  few  days  before  his  brother 
the  cardinal,  and  was  buried  at  Stoughton 
Church.  He  was  attended  in  his  last  illness 
by  Father  Peter  de  Soto  [q.  v.]  His  widow 
Constance,  who  made  her  will  on  1.2  Aug. 
1570,  desired  to  be  buried  beside  him.  He 
left  five  sons  and  six  daughters,  two  of  whom 
were  married,  and  one  a  nun  of  Sion ;  the 
eldest  son,  Arthur,  is  separately  noticed. 

[Sandford's  Genealogical  Hist,;  Cal.  State 
Papers,  Henry  VIII,  Foreign,  Edward  VI,  Vene- 
tian, iii.  1560  ;  Privy  Council  Proceedings,  ed. 
Nicolas,  vol.  vii. ;  Sussex  Archseological  Collec- 
tions, vol.  xxi. ;  Tytler's  England  under  Ed- 
ward VI  and  Mary,  i.  313;  Chronicle  of 
Henry  VIII  of  England,  translated  from  the 
Spanish  by  Martin  A.  Sharp  Hume.  The  notices 
of  Sir  Geoffrey  Pole  in  Froude's  History  are 
altogether  erroneous.]  J.  G. 

POLE,  HENRY,  LORD  MONTAGUE  or 
MONTACTJTE  (1492P-1539),  born  about  1492, 
was  eldest  son  of  Sir  Richard  Pole  (d.  1505),  by 
his  wife  Margaret  [see  POLE,  MARGARET].  '  He 
obtained  a  special  livery  of  his  father's  lands, 
viz.  the  manors  of  Ellesborough  and  Med- 
menham  in  Buckinghamshire,  on  5  July  1513. 
On  25  Sept.  following  he  was  one  of  a  com- 
pany of  forty-nine  gentlemen  knighted  by 
Henry  VIII  under  his  banner,  after  mass,  in 
the  church  at  Tournay.  This  implies  that 
he  had  distinguished  himself  during  the 
French  campaign.  Along  with  his  mother, 
who  was  created  Countess  of  Salisbury  that 
year,  he  gave  a  bond  to  the  king  for  the  re- 
demption of  the  lands  of  that  ancestral  earl- 
dom (Cal.  Henry  VIII,  ii.  1480),  and  another 
old  family  title,  the  barony  of  Montague  or 
Montacute,  forfeited  by  the  Nevilles  under 
Edward  IV,  was  conferred  upon  himself. 
There  is  no  record  of  any  formal  grant  or 


creation,  but  from  1517,  when  he  is  named 
as  a  witness  of  Henry  VIII's  ratification  of 
the  treaty  of  London,  he  is  continually  called 
Lord  Montague,  though  he  was  not  admitted 
to  the  House  of  Lords  till  1529.  In  Sep- 
tember 1518  he  was  one  of  the  English  lords 
appointed  to  receive  the  great  French  em- 
bassy. He  was  a  member  of  the  royal  house- 
hold, and  had  a  livery  allowed  him  (Cal. 
Henry  VIII,  vol.  iii.  No.  491).  He  attended 
the  king  in  1520  to  the  Field  of  the  Cloth  of 
Gold,  and  also  to  the  meeting  with  Charles  V 
at  Gravelines. 

About  1513  he  married  Jane,  daughter  of 
George  Neville,  lord  Bergavenny  [q.  v.]  His 
father-in-law  insisted  upon  a  jointure  to  the 
yearly  value  of  200/.,  in  addition  to  which  he 
was  to  pay '  at  convenient  days '  a  sum  of  one 
thousand  marks  if  he  should  have  no  male 
issue ;  but  if  a  son  were  born,  Lord  Ber- 
gavenny was  to  pay  the  same  amount  to  the 
Countess  of  Salisbury  (ib.  vol.  xiii.  pt.  ii. 
No.  1016).  Lord  Bergavenny  was  himself 
the  son-in-law  of  the  unfortunate  Duke  of 
Buckingham  who  once,  as  appears  by  his 
private  accounts,  lost  157.  at  dice  to  him  at 
the  house  of  Lord  Montague  (ib.  iii.  499). 
When  Buckingham  was  arrested  in  April 
1521,  Lords  Bergavenny  and  Montague  were 
arrested  also  (ib.  vol.  iii.  No.  1268),  but  were 
soon  after  released. 

In  1522,  on  Charles  V's  visit  to  England, 
Montague  was  one  of  those  appointed  to  meet 
him  on  his  way  from  Dover  to  Canterbury. 
In  1523  he  took  part  in  Suffolk's  invasion  of 
France  (ib.  vol.  iii.  No.  3281,  vol.  iv.  p.  85). 
His  fortunes  at  this  time  must  have  been 
depressed,  for  his  income  was  under  50/.  a 
year,  and  he  was  exempted  from  paying  sub- 
sidy in  1525  (ib.  iv.  1331).  Apparently  he 
had  parted  with  his  paternal  estates  in  Buck- 
inghamshire, as  his  name  does  not  appear  in 
the  commissions  for  that  county,  although  it 
is  on  those  for  Hampshire,  Sussex,  Wiltshire, 
Somerset,  and  Dorset.  On  1  Dec.  1529  he 
took  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Lords  (DuG- 
DALE,  Summons  to  Parliament,  p.  500).  Next 
year  he  signed  the  address  of  the  peers  to 
Clement  VII,  urging  him  to  comply  with  the 
king's  suit  for  a  divorce.  His  action  did  not 
express  his  real  mind. 

In  October  1532  he  went  with  the  king 
to  Calais,  to  .the  meeting  with  Francis  I. 
Next  year  he  was  queen's  carver  at  the  coro- 
nation banquet  of  Anne  Boleyn,  on  1  June. 
That  he  was  made  a  knight  of  the  Bath  at 
this  time  seems  to  be  an  error  due  to  Stow, 
who  misread  the  name  Monteagle  in  Hall's 
'  Chronicle '  as  Montague.  On  Thursday  fol- 
lowing (5  June)  he  and  his  son-in-law,  Lord 
Hastings,  and  his  brother,  Sir  Geoffrey  Pole, 


Pole 

dined  with  the  Princess  Mary,  and  he  him- 
self dined  with  her  again  on  the  24th  (Cal. 
Henry  VIII,  vol.  vi.  No.  1540,  iii.)  He  re- 
ceived a  writ  of  summons  to  the  prorogued 
parliament  in  January  1534,  and  he  seems  to 
have  attended  regularly,  his  presence  being 
recorded  on  30  March,  the  seventy-fifth  day 
of  parliament.  In  April  1535  he  was  on  the 
special  commission  before  whom  the  Car- 
thusian martyrs  were  tried ;  but  his  position 
there,  like  that  of  other  lords,  was  merely 
honorary,  the  practical  work  being  left  to  the 
judicial  members.  He  was  similarly  placed 
on  the  trial  of  Sir  Thomas  More  on  1  July.  Im- 
mediately afterwards  he  had  a  serious  illness. 
In  May  1536  he  was  one  of  the  peers  before 
whom  Anne  Boleyn  was  tried.  In  it  he  took  a 
more  practical  part  than  in  the  two  previous 
trials,  for  each  of  the  peers  present  severally 
declared  her  guilty.  He  may  have  believed 
in  the  verdict,  for  he  had  never  approved  of 
the  king's  marriage  to  her,  or  loved  the  anti- 
papal  policy  to  which  that  marriage  had  led 
(cf.  ib.  vol.  xvii.  No.  957,  x.  243 ;  vol.  vii. 
No.  1040). 

He  sat  in  the  parliament  of  July  1536 
(ib.  vol.  x.  No.  994,  vol.  xi.  No.  104).  He 
and  his  mother  were  seriously  distressed 
that  year  about  the  book  which  his  brother 
Reginald  sent  to  the  king,  and  each  wrote 
to  him  in  reproachful  terms,  but  it  was  appa- 
rently to  satisfy  the  council  by  whom  the 
letters  were  read  and  despatched  [see  POLE, 
MARGARET].  On  the  outbreak  of  the  Lin- 
colnshire rebellion  in  the  beginning  of  October 
1536,  Montague  received  orders  to  be  ready 
at  a  day's  warning  to  serve  against  the  in- 
surgents with  two  hundred  men.  But  the 
musters  were  countermanded  on  the  speedy 
suppression  of  the  insurrection,  and  it  is 
doubtful  whether  he  was  sent  against  the 
Yorkshire  rebels  afterwards.  On  15  Oct. 
1537  he  took  part  in  the  ceremonial  at  the 
christening  of  Prince  Edward.  On  12  Nov. 
following  he  and  Lord  Clifford  attended  the 
Princess  Mary,  as  she  rode  from  Hampton 
Court  to  Windsor,  as  chief  mourner  at  the 
funeral  of  Jane  Seymour. 

All  this  time,  although  perfectly  loyal,  he 
was  deeply  grieved  at  the  overthrow  of  the 
monasteries  and  the  abrogation  of  the  pope's 
authority.  He  often  said  in  private  he 
wished  he  was  over  sea  with  the  bishop 
of  Liege,  as  his  brother  had  been,  and  that 
knaves  ruled  about  the  king.  Early  in  1538 
his  wife  died,  and  his  interest  in  public 
affairs  consequently  decreased  (Cal.  vol.  xiii. 
pt.  ii.  No.  695  [2]).  But  Henry  VIII  was 
not  ignorant  of  his  opinions,  and  obtained 
positive  evidence  of  them  by  the  examina- 
tion of  his  brother,  Sir  Geoffrey  Pole  [q.  v.], 


;  Pole 

in  the  Tower  in  October  and  November  1538. 
Montague  was  accordingly  committed  to  the 
Tower  on  4  Nov.  along  with  the  Marquis  of 
Exeter.  They  had  at  times  communicated 
on  public  affairs.  The  indictments  in  each 
case  were  to  the  same  effect.  They  had  both 
expressed  approval  of  Cardinal  Pole's  pro- 
ceedings, and  Montague  had  said  he  expected 
civil  war  one  day  from  the  course  things 
were  taking,  especially  if  the  king  were  to 
die  suddenly.  The  two  lords  were  tried 
before  Lord-chancellor  Audeley,  as  lord  high 
steward,  and  a  jury  of  peers,  and  both  were 
found  guilty.  Montague  received  judgment 
on  2  Dec.,  and  Exeter  on  the  day  following. 
On  9  Dec.  both  lords  were  beheaded  on 
Tower  Hill.  A  portrait  of  Montague  by  an 
unknown  hand  belonged  in  1866  to  Mr. 
Reginald  Cholmondeley. 

Montague  left  a  son  whose  existence  is  not 
mentioned  by  peerage  historians ;  he  was  in- 
cluded with  his  father  in  the  bill  of  attainder 
of  1539,  and  probably  died  not  many  years 
after  in  prison.  Besides  Catherine,  wife  of 
Francis,  lord  Hastings,  afterwards  earl  of 
Huntingdon  [q.  v.],  Montague  had  a  daughter 
Winifred,  who  married  a  brother  of  her 
sister's  husband.  His  two  daughters  became 
his  heirs,  and  were  fully  restored  in  blood 
and  honours  in  the  first  year  of  Philip  and 
Mary. 

[Sandford's  Genealogical  Hist.,  DugdaVs  Ba- 
ronage and  the  Calendar  cf  Henry  VIII,  are  the 
main  sources  of  information.  The  Chronicle  of 
Henry  VIII,  translated  from  the  Spanish  by 
M.  A.  S.  Hume  (1 889),  has  some  details  of  doubt- 
ful authenticity  touching  Montague's  arrest  and 
examination.]  J.  G-. 

POLE,  JOHN  DE  LA,  EARL  OF  LINCOLN 
(1464P-1487),  born  about  1464,  was  eldest 
son  of  John  de  la  Pole,  second  duke  of  Suffolk 
[q.  v.],by  Elizabeth,  sister  to  Edward  IV.  He 
was  created  Earl  of  Lincoln  on  13  March 
1466-7,  and  knight  of  the  Bath  on  18  April 
1475,  and  attended  Edward  IV's  funeral  in 
April  1483.  Richard  III  seems  to  have  se- 
cured him  firmly  to  his  party.  lie  bore  the 
orb  at  Richard's  coronation,  7  July  1483,  and 
the  same  month  he  was  made  president  of 
the  council  of  the  north  (cf.  Letters  and 
Papers  of  Richard  III  and  Henry  VII,  ed. 
Gairdner,  i.  56).  Richard's  son  Edward  died 
on  9  April  1484,  and  one  of  his  offices,  that  of 
lord  lieutenant  of  Ireland,  was  conferred  upon 
the  Earl  of  Lincoln  on  the  following  21  Aug. 
He  continued  to  hold  this  office  for  the  rest 
of  the  reign,  the  duties  being  performed,  or 
neglected,  by  the  Earl  of  Kildare.  It  now 
became  necessary  for  Richard  III  to  find  an 
heir  to  the  throne.  Edward,  earl  of  Warwick 
(1475-1499)  [q.  v.],  son  of  the  Duke  of  Cla- 


Pole 


Pole 


rence,  had  a  strong  claim,  and  he  was  certainly 
allowed  to  take  precedence  of  the  Earl  of  Lin- 
coln after  the  death  of  the  Prince  of  Wales. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  Warwick  was  a  mere 
boy,  and  if  he  had  any  claim  to  be  heir,  he  had 
an  equally  valid  claim  to  be  king.  Hence, 
after  some  deliberation,  Lincoln  was  selected 
as  the  heir  to  the  throne.  Kichard  was  very 
generous  to  him.  He  gave  him  the  reversion 
to  the  estates  of  Lady  Margaret  Beaufort 
[q.  v.],  subject  to  the  life  interest  of  her  third 
husband,  Lord  Stanley ;  and  in  the  meantime 
he  was  to  have  a  pension  of  176/.  a  year.  He 
was  with  Richard  at  Bos  worth ;  but  Henry  VII 
had  no  wish  to  alienate  his  family,  and  Lin- 
coln, after  Richard's  defeat  and  death,  took 
an  oath  with  others  in  1485  not  to  maintain 
felons.  On  5  July  1486  he  was  appointed 
a  justice  of  oyer  and  terminer.  None  the 
less  he  seems  to  have  cherished  the  am- 
bition to  succeed  Richard,  and  he  was  the 
real  centre  of  the  plot  of  Lambert  Simnel. 
Suddenly  he  fled  in  the  early  part  of  1487  to 
Brabant,  and  thence  went  to  Ireland,  where 
he  joined  Simnel's  army,  and,  crossing  to 
England,  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Stoke  on 
16  June  1487.  He  was  attainted.  He  had 
married,  first,  Margaret  Fitzalan,  daughter 
of  Thomas,  twelfth  earl  of  Arundel ;  and, 
secondly,  the  daughter  and  heiress  of  Sir 
John  Golafre,  but  left  no  children.  His 
brothers  Edmund  and  Richard  are  noticed 
separately. 

[Doyle's  Official  Baronage,  ii.  379 ;  Letters,  &c., 
Richard  III  and  Henry  VII,  ed.  Gairdner,  i.  6, 
&c. ;  Rot.  Parl.  vi.  288,  436,  474 ;  Memorials  of 
Henry  VII,  ed.  Gairdner,  pp.  50,  52,  139,  314 
(Bernard  Andreas  in  his  l  Douze  Triomphes ' 
probably  alludes  to  him  under  the  name  le  Comte 
de  Licaon) ;  Materials  for  the  Hist,  of  Hen.  VII, 
i.  482 ;  Gal.  of  the  Patent  Rolls  of  Richard  III 
(Rep.  Dep.-Keep.  Publ.  Records,  9th  Rep.  App. 
ii.  ;  Busch's  England  under  the  Tudors  (Engl. 
transl.),  i.  32-3  ;  Gairdner's  Richard  III  ; 
Ramsay's  Lancaster  and  York,  ii.  453,  522, 
523,  534,  545  ;  Gairdner's  Henry  VII ;  Burke's 
Extinct  and  Dormant  Peerage.]  W.  A.  J.  A. 

POLE,  JOHN  BE  LA,  second  DTJKE  OF 
SUFFOLK  (1442-1491),  born  on  27  Sept.  1442, 
was  only  son  of  William  de  la  Pole,  first  duke 
of  Suffolk  (d.  1450)  [q.  v.]  On  27  Nov.  1445 
he  was  made  joint  constable  of  Wallingford 
and  high  steward  of  the  honour  of  St.  Valery, 
offices  to  which  he  was  reappointed  in  146.1. 
In  1455  he  was  restored  by  Henry  VI  to  the 
dukedom  of  Suffolk.  None  the  less  he  joined 
Henry's  Yorkist  foes,  and  married  Ed- 
wa'rd  IV's  sister.  In  February  1461  he  was 
with  the  army  which  went  under  Warwick 
against  Margaret's  northern  host,  fresh  from 
Wakefield,  and  he  fought  at  the  second 


battle  of  St.  Albans  on  7  Feb.  1461.  On 
28  June  following  he  was  steward  of  Eng- 
land at  the  coronation  of  Edward  IV,  and 
two  years  later  he  was  re-created  Duke  of 
Suffolk.  In  1463  he  was  a  trier  of  petitions. 
He  bore  the  queen's  sceptre  at  the  coronation 
of  Elizabeth  Woodville  or  Wydeville.  In  his 
own  county,  according  to  a  letter  from  Mar- 
garet Paston  to  her  husband,  he  was  far  from 
popular  (Paston  Letters,ii.  83), but  it  must  be 
remembered  that  he  was  involved  in  disputes 
with  the  Paston  family  (id.  ii.  203).  In  the 
troubles  of  1469  and  1470  he  took  Edward's 
side,  and  appears  as  a  joint  commissioner  of 
array  for  several  counties  (cf.  ib.  ii.  413). 
When  Ed  ward  was  restored  Suffolk  was  made 
a  knight  of  the  Garter  (1472).  In  1472  he 
became  high  steward  of  Oxford  University. 
When  Edward  went  to  France  in  1475,  Suf- 
folk was  a  captain  in  his  army,  and  took  some 
minor  part  in  the  negotiations  which  led  to 
the  treaty  of  Pecquigny.  In  1478  he  made 
various  exchanges  of  lands  with  the  king, 
which  were  duly  confirmed  in  parliament. 
From  10  March  1478  to  5  May  1479  he  was 
lieutenant  of  Ireland ;  he  also  held  the  office 
of  joint  high  steward  of  the  duchy  of  Lan- 
caster for  the  parts  of  England  south  of  the 
Trent. 

Suffolk  had  enjoyed  many  favours  from 
Edward  IV,  yet  on  his  death  he  at  once 
offered  his  support  to  Richard  III.  He  bore 
the  sceptre  and  the  dove  at  Richard's  corona- 
tion on  7  July  1483.  When,  however,  Richard 
was  dead,  Suffolk  swore  fealty  to  Henry  VII, 
and  was  rewarded  (19  Sept.  1485)  with  the 
constableship  of  Wallingford,  a  sole  grant, 
doubtless,  instead  of  a  joint  grant,  such  as  he 
had  had  previously.  This,  however,  he  did 
not  keep  long,  for  on  21  Feb.  1488-9  the  office 
wasregrantedto  two  more  distinguished  Lan- 
castrians, Sir  William  Stonor  and  Sir  Thomas 
Lovell  [q.  v.]  Suffolk  seems  to  have  been 
trusted  by  Henry,  for,  in  spite  of  the  defection 
of  his  eldest  son  John,  he  was  a  trier  of  peti- 
tions in  1485  and  1487,  and  chief  commissioner 
of  array  for  Norfolk  and  Suffolk  in  1487.  In 
1487  he  refused  to  come  to  a  feast  of  the  order 
of  the  Garter  because  Lord  Dynham  had  not 
made  proper  provision.  Others  did  the  same, 
and  the  feast  had  to  be  postponed.  On  25  Nov. 
1487  he  bore  the  queen's  sceptre  at  the  coro- 
nation of  Elizabeth  of  York,  and  on  6  March 
of  the  next  year  he  witnessed  a  charter  to  her. 
At  the  end  of  1488  he  was  commissioned  to 
take  muster  of  archers  for  the  relief  of  Brit- 
tany. In  1489  he  had  a  grant  from  the  king's 
wardrobe.  He  died  in  1491.  He  had  married 
aefore  October  1460  (cf.  Paston  Letters,  i. 
521)  Elizabeth,  second  daughter  of  Richard, 
duke  of  York,  and  sister  of  Edward  IV.  By 


Pole 


Pole 


her  he  had  three  sons — John,  Edmund,  and 
Richard— all  separately  noticed. 

[Doyle's  Official  Baronage,  lii.  438  ;  Burke's 
Extinct  and  Dormant  Peerage ;  Kamsay 's  Lancas- 
ter and  York,  ii.  245;  Eot.  Parl.  v.  470  n.,  vi. 
75  n.  ;  Paston  Letters,  vols.  ii.  and  iii.  passim  ; 
Materials  for  the  Hist,  of  Henry  VII,  ed.  Camp- 
bell (Kolls  Ser.),  i.  26,  ii.  325,  &c. ;  Grants  of 
Edward.  V  (Camd.  Soc.),  xxi. ;  Warkworth's 
Chron.  (Camd.  Soc.),  p.  11;  Gardner's  Ri- 
chard  III ;  Cal.  of  Patent  Rolls  Edward  V  and 
Richard  III  (Rep.  of  Dep.-Keeper  of  Public 
Records).]  W.  A.  J.  A. 

POLE,  MARGARET,  COUNTESS  OF 
SALISBUEY  (1473-1541),  was  daughter  of 
George  Plantagenet,  duke  of  Clarence  [q.  v.], 
by  his  wife  Isabel,  daughter  of  Warwick  the 
Kingmaker.  She  was  born  at  Castle  Farley, 
near  Bath,  in  August  1473  (Rows  Roll,  33,61), 
and  was  married  by  Henry  VII  to  Sir  Richard 
Pole,  son  of  Sir  Geoffrey  Pole,  whose  wife, 
Edith  St.  John,  was  half-sister  of  the  king's 
mother,  Margaret  Beaufort  (see  Notes  and 
Queries,  1st  ser.  v.  163-4).  Sir  Richard  was 
a  landed  gentleman  of  Buckinghamshire, 
whom  Henry  made  a  squire  of  his  bodyguard 
and  knight  of  the  Garter.  He  also  gave  him 
various  offices  in  Wales,  such  as  the  constable- 
ship  of  Harlech  and  Montgomery  castles  and 
the  sheriffwick  of  the  county  of  Merioneth ; 
he  held,  too,  the  controllership  of  the  port 
of  Bristol  (CAMPBELL,  Materials  and  MS. 
Calendar  of  Patent  Rolls}.  His  marriage  to 
Margaret  probably  took  place  about  1491, 
certainly  not  later  than  1494,  in  which  year 
the  king  made  a  payment  of  20/.  '  to  my  lady 
Pole  in  crowns'  (Excerpta  Historica,  p.  99). 
Next  year  Pole  seems  to  have  raised  men 
against  Perkin  Warbeck.  In  1497  he  was  re- 
tained to  serve  against  Scotland  with  five 
demi-lances  and  200  archers,  and  shortly 
afterwards  with  600  men-at-arms,  60  demi- 
lances, and  540  bows  and  bills.  Two  or  three 
years  later  he  was  appointed  chief  gentleman 
of  the  bedchamber  to  Prince  Arthur,  whom 
he  attended  into  Wales  after  his  marriage, 
and  the  chief  government  of  the  marches  was 
committed  to  his  charge.  He  died  in  1505 
(Henry  VITs  Privy  Purse  Expenses,  p.  132), 
leaving  his  widow  with  a  family  of  five  chil- 
dren. Four  were  boys,  viz.  Henry  [q.  v.] 
(who  became  Lord  Montague),  Arthur,  Regi- 
nald [q.  v.]  the  cardinal,  and  Geoffrey  [q.  v.] 
The  only  daughter,  Ursula,  married  about 
1516  Henry,  lord  Stafford,  son  of  the  Duke 
of  Buckingham. 

Margaret's  brother  Edward,  earl  of  War- 
wick [q.  v.],  was  judicially  murdered  by 
Henry  VII  in  1499.  Henry  VIII,  who  de- 
scribed Margaret  as  the  most  saintly  woman 
in  England,  was  anxious,  after  his  accession, 


to  atone  to  her  for  this  injustice.  He  there- 
fore granted  her  an  annuity  of  100/.  on  4  Aug. 
1509  (Cal  State  Papers,  Venetian,  v.  247), 
andean  14  Oct.  1513  he  created  her  Countess 
of  Salisbury,  and  gave  her  the  family  lands  of 
the  earldom  of  Salisbury  in  fee.  Her  brother's 
attainder  was  reversed,  and  in  the  parliament 
of  1513-14  full  restitution  was  made  to  her 
of  the  rights  of  her  family.  She  thus  became 
possessed  of  a  very  magnificent  property,  lying 
chiefly  in  Hampshire,  Wiltshire,  the  western 
counties,  and  Essex.  But  there  is  no  doubt 
that  it  was  heavily  burdened  by  redemption- 
money  claimed  by  the  king.  On  25  May  1512 
she  had  delivered  to  Wolsey  1,000/.  as  a  first 
payment  of  a  benevolence  of  five  thousand 
marks  for  the  king's  wars,  and  in  1528  she  was 
sued  for  a  further  instalment  of  2,333/.  Qs.  8d. 
Of  her  restored  lands  the  manor  of  Canford 
and  some  others  were  soon  reclaimed  by  the 
crown  as  part  of  the  earldom  of  Somerset. 
In  1532  she  purchased  the  manor  of  Aston 
Clinton  in  Buckinghamshire  from  Sir  John 
Gage. 

Meanwhile  she  was  made  governess  to  the 
Princess  Mary.  But  in  1521,  at  the  time  of 
the  Duke  of  Buckingham's  attainder,  she  and 
her  sons  seem  to  have  been  under  a  momen- 
tary cloud.  She  herself  was  allowed,  however, 
to  remain  at  court — l  propter  nobilitatem  et 
bonitatem  illius'  (Cal.  Henry  VIII,  iii. 
Nos.  1204,  1268).  In  1525  she  went  with 
Princess  Mary  to  Wales.  In  the  summer  of 
1526,  during  her  absence,  the  king  visited  her 
house  at  Warblington  in  Hampshire  (ib.  iv. 
Nos.  2343,  2407). 

In  1533,  when  the  king  married  Anne 
Boleyn,  her  loyalty  was  severely  tried.  She 
refused  to  give  up  Mary's  jewels  to  a  lady 
sent  from  court,  and  was  discharged  of  her 
position  as  governess.  She  declared  that  she 
would  still  follow  and  serve  the  princess  at 
her  own  expense  (ib.  iv.  Nos.  849, 1009, 1041, 
1528).  Her  self-sacrificing  fidelity  to  the 
princess  was  fully  recognised  by  Catherine  of 
Arragon  (ib.  No.  1126).  The  king,  however, 
took  good  care  to  separate  his  daughter  from 
one  whom  she  regarded  as  a  second  mother 
(ift.viii.  101). 

After  Anne  Boleyn's  fall  in  1536  (ib.  x. 
No.  1212)  the  countess  returned  to  court. 
But  at  that  very  time  her  son  Reginald 
sent  to  the  king  his  book,  '  De  Unitate 
Ecclesiastica/  which  gave  deep  offence,  and 
she  trembled  for  the  result.  Both  she  and 
her  eldest  son,  Lord  Montague,  wrote  to 
Reginald  in  strong  language  of  reproof  (ib. 
vol.  xiii.  pt.  ii.  p.  328).  She  denounced 
him  as  a  traitor  to  her  own  servants,  and  ex- 
pressed her  grief  that  she  had  given  birth 
to  him  (ib.  xi.  Nos.  93,  157).  The  letters, 


Pole 


Pole 


however,  were  written  to  be  shown  to  the 
king's  council  (ib.  vol.  xiii.  pt.  ii.  No.  822), 
by  whom  they  were  despatched  to  Reginald 
in  Italy.  Though  the  countess's  alarm  was 
quite  genuine,  her  disapproval  of  Reginald's 
proceedings  was  not  equally  sincere.  The  king 
knew  well  that  his  policy  was  disliked  by  the 
whole  family,  and  he  privately  told  the  French 
ambassador  that  he  intended  to  destroy  all  of 
them  (ib.  vol.  xiii.  pt.  ii.  No.  753).  The  blow  fell 
in  the  autumn  of  1538,  when  her  sons  Geoffrey 
and  Lord  Montague  were  arrested.  One  Ger- 
vase  Tyndall,  a  spy  upon  the  countess's  house- 
hold, was  called  before  Cromwell  at  Lewes, 
and  reported  a  number  of  circumstances  about 
the  escape  some  years  before  of  the  countess's 
chaplain,  John  Helyar,  rector  of  Warbling- 
ton,  beyond  sea,  and  about  clandestine  mes- 
sages sent  abroad  by  one  Hugh  Holland,  pro- 
bably to  Cardinal  Pole  himself.  Fitzwilliam, 
earl  of  Southampton,  and  Goodrich,  bishop 
of  Ely,  were  sent  down  to  Warblington  to 
examine  the  countess.  They  questioned  her 
all  day,  from  the  forenoon  till  almost  night, 
but  could  not  wring  from  her  any  admission. 
They  nevertheless  seized  her  goods  and  car- 
ried her  off  to  Fitzwilliam's  house  at  Cowdry. 
Her  house  at  Warblington  was  thoroughly 
searched,  and  some  letters  and  papal  bulls  dis- 
covered. Her  persecutors  renewed  the  attack 
with  a  set  of  written  interrogatories,  and  ob- 
tained her  signature  to  the  answers.  She  re- 
mained in  Fitzwilliam's  house,  long  unvisited 
either  by  him  or  his  countess,  until  14  March 
following  (1539),  when,  in  answer  to  her  com- 
plaints, he  saw  her,  and  addressed  her  with 
barbarous  incivility.  Shortly  afterwards  she 
was  removed  to  the  Tower.  Tn  May  a  sweep- 
ing act  of  attainder  was  passed  by  the  parlia- 
ment against  not  only  Exeter  and  Montague, 
who  had  already  suffered  death,  but  against 
the  countess,  who  was  not  even  called  to  an- 
swer the  accusations  against  her,  and  against 
her  son  Reginald  and  many  others.  At  the 
third  reading  of  the  bill  in  the  House  of  Lords 
Cromwell  produced,  what  was  taken  as  evi- 
dence of  treason,  a  tunic  of  white  silk,  em- 
broidered with  the  arms  of  England,  viz.  three 
lions  surrounded  by  a  wreath  of  pansies  and 
marigolds,  which  it  was  said  Fitzwilliam  had 
found  in  her  house,  having  on  the  back  the 
badge  of  the  five  wounds  carried  by  the  in- 
surgents at  the  time  of  the  northern  rebellion. 
The  act  of  parliament  was  passed  on  12  May 
1539,  but  it  was  not  put  into  force  at  once  ; 
and  in  April  1540  it  was  supposed  that  the 
countess  would  be  released.  She  was  tor- 
mented in  prison  by  the  severity  of  the  wea- 
ther and  the  insufficiency  of  her  clothing.  In 
April  1541  there  was  another  insurrection  in 
Yorkshire  under  Sir  John  Neville ;  and  on  this 


account,  apparently,  it  was  resolved  to  put 
the  countess  to  death,  without  any  further 
process,  under  the  act  of  attainder  passed 
two  years  before.  Early  in  the  morning  of 
27  May  she  was  told  that  she  was  to  die.  She 
replied  that  no  crime  had  been  imputed  to  her ; 
but  she  walked  boldly  from  her  cell  to  East 
Smithfield  Green,  which  was  within  the  pre- 
cincts of  the  Tower.  No  scaffold  was  erected, 
but  there  was  only  a  low  block.  The  lord 
mayor  and  a  select  company  were  present  to 
witness  the  execution.  The  countess  com- 
mended her  soul  to  God,  and  asked  the  by- 
standers to  pray  for  the  king  and  queen, 
Prince  Edward,  and  the  Princess  Mary,  her 
god-daughter,  to  whom  she  desired  to  be 
specially  commended.  She  then,  as  com- 
manded, laid  her  head  upon  the  block.  The  exe- 
cutioner was  a  clumsy  novice,  who  hideously 
hacked  her  neck  and  shoulders  before  the 
decapitation  was  accomplished. 

[Dugdale's  Baronage  ;  Sandford's  Genealogical 
History ;  Hall's  Chronicle  ;  Letters  and  Papers 
of  Henry  VIII;  Gal.  of  State  Papers,  Spanish; 
Lords' Journals.!.  107;  Correspondence Politique 
de  MM.  de  Castillon  et  de  Marillac.  The  account 
of  Margaret's  execution  given  by  Lord  Herbert  of 
Cherbury  in  Rennet's  England  (ii.  227)  is  clearly 
not  so  trustworthy  as  that  of  Chapuys.]  J.  Gr. 

POLE,  MICHAEL  DE  LA,  called  in  Eng- 
lish MICHAEL  ATTE  POOL,  EAEL  OF  SUFFOLK 
(1330  P-1389),  lord  chancellor,  son  of  Sir  Wil- 
liam de  la  Pole  (d.  1366)  [q.  v.],  by  Kathe- 
rine  Norwich,  was  probably  born  about  1330 
(DOYLE,  Official  Baronage,  iii.  443).  In  1339 
he  received  for  himself  and  his  heirs  the  grant 
of  a  reversion  of  an  annuity  of  70/.  from  the 
customs  of  Hull,  already  bestowed  on  his 
father  and  uncle  (Rot.  Orig.  Abbreviatio,  ii. 
229).  In  1354  he  had  a  charter  of  free  warren 
within  his  demesne  lands  of  Bliburgh,  Gres- 
thorpe,  and  Grafton.  He  was  already  a  knight, 
when  in  1355  he  was  attached  to  the  retinue 
of  Henry,  duke  of  Lancaster  [q.  v.],  in  his  abor- 
tive expedition  to  Normandy.  Henceforward 
his  chief  occupation  for  many  years  was  war 
against  the  French.  In  1359  he  accompanied 
Edward  the  Black  Prince  in  a  new  expedition 
(Fcedera,  iii.  443).  He  was  again  fighting  in 
France  in  1369.  He  was  serving  in  1370  under 
the  Black  Prince  in  Aquitaine,  took  part  in 
September  of  that  year  in  the  famous  siege 
of  Limoges  (FROISSAKT,  ed.  Luce,  vii.  244), 
and  in  December  1370  and  January  1371 
fought  under  John  of  Gaunt  at  the  success- 
ful siege  of  Montpont  (ib.  vol.  viii.  pp.  xi- 
xiii,  12).  He  also  accompanied  John  of  Gaunt 
on  the  abortive  expedition  of  1372.  During 
his  French  campaigns  he  was  twice  taken 
prisoner  (Rot.  Parl.  iii.  217  a).  He  was  also 
at  one  time  captain  of  Calais  (ib.) 


Pole 


Pole 


While  thus  active  abroad  and  at  sea,  Pol 
was  also  occupied  at  home.  In  1362  he  hac 
livery  of  the  lands  of  his  niece  Catherine,  who 
died  in  that  year,  and  was  the  daughter  anc 
heiress  of  his  brother  Thomas.  In  January 
1366  he  was  first  summoned  to  parliament  as 
a  baron  (G.  E.  C[okayne],  Complete  Peerage 
iii.  43).  Thus  he  was  already  a  peer  when 
the  death  of  his  father,  on  21  April  1366 
and  the  succession  to  his  extensive  estates 
gave  him  a  still  more  commanding  position 
On  10  Feb.  1367  he  was  appointed  one  of 
the  commissioners  of  array  for  the  Eas1 
Riding  of  Yorkshire,  in  which  district  his 
influence  chiefly  lay.  In  domestic  politics  he 
attached  himself  to  John  of  Gaunt.  In  the 
Good  parliament  of  1376  he  stood  strongly 
on  the  side  of  the  crown  and  the  unpopular 
duke  (cf.  Hot.  Parl.  ii.  327-329  a).  Though 
his  relations  to  'John  of  Gaunt  cooled,  Pole 
never  swerved  for  the  rest  of  his  career  from 
the  policy  of  supporting  the  crown.  It  was 
doubtless  as  a  reward  far  his  loyalty  that 
he  was  on  24  Nov.  1376  appointed  admiral 
of  the  king's  fleet  north  of  the  Thames  ( Fce- 
dera,  iii.  1065). 

The  accession  of  Richard  II  did  not  affect 
Pole's  position.     On  14  Aug.  1377  his  com- 
mission as  admiral  of  the  west  was  renewed 
(ib.  iv.  15).     However,  on  5  Dec.  of  the 
same  year  he  and  his  colleague  Robert  Hales 
were  superseded  in  favour  of  the  Earls  of 
Warwick  and  Arundel  (NICOLAS,  Hist,  of 
Royal  Navy,  ii.  530 ;  Fcedera,  iy.  36).     He 
pined  in  Lancaster's  useless  maritime  opera- 
tions against  the  French ;  was  put  on  the 
council  of  the  little  king,  and,  on  18  March 
1379,  headed  an  embassy  to  Milan  to  negotiate 
a  marriage  bet  ween  Richard  II  and  Catherine, 
daughter  of  Bernabo  Visconti,  lord  of  Milan 
(ib.  iv.  60).     Nothing  came  of  the  Milanese 
negotiation ;    and  Pole,   after  visiting  the 
papal  curia  at  Rome,  went  to  Wenceslas, 
king  of  the   Romans   and  of  Bohemia,  to 
suggest  Richard's  marriage  with  Wenceslas 's 
sister  Anne.  He  was,  however,  taken  prisoner, 
though  under  an  imperial  safe-conduct,  and 
on  20  Jan.  1380  John  Otter  and  others  were 
despatched  from  England  to  effect  his  ransom 
(ib.  iv.  75).     A  mysterious  entry  on  the  issue 
roll  of  1384  allows  Pole  his  expenses  for  these 
expeditions,  and  also  for  money  paid  to  ransom 
the  lady,  Anne,  who  also  seems  to  have  been 
taken  captive  (DEVON,  Issues  of  the  Exchequer, 
p.  224 ;  Rot.  Part.  iii.  217  a}.     He  returned 
to  England  in  1381,  and  in  November  was 
appointed,  jointly  with  Richard  Fitzalan,  earl 
of  Arundel  [q.  v.],  counsellor  in  constant 
attendance  on  the  king  and  governor  of  his 
person  (Rot.  Parl.  iii.  104  b).     Richard  II 
married  Anne  of  Bohemia  in  1382. 


Michael  impressed  the  young  king  with 
his  ideas  of  policy.  The  retirement  of  John 
of  Gaunt  to  Castile  removed  the  only  rival 
counsellor  of  any  influence,  and  he  soon  be- 
came the  most  trusted  personal  adviser  of  Ri- 
chard. His  attachment  to  the  court  involved 
him  in  a  growing  unpopularity,  both  with  the 
great  barons  and  the  people. 

On  13  March  1383  Pole  was  appointed 
chancellor  of  England  in  succession  to  Ro- 
bert de  Braybroke  [q.  v.],  bishop  of  London 
(Fcedera,  iv.  162),  and  opened  the  parliament 
of  that  year  with  a  speech  in  which  he  de- 
clared his  own  unworthiness  (Rot.  Parl.  iii. 
149  a).  It  was  a  stormy  session.  Pole  said 
that,  besides  enemies  abroad,  the  king  had  to 
deal  with  enemies  at  home  among  his  own  ser- 
vants and  officials.  He  especially  denounced 
the  fighting  bishop  of  Norwich,  Henry  De- 
spenser  [q.  v.],  whom  he  deprived  of  his  tem- 
poralities (ib.  iii.  153-8 ;  WALLOIST,  Richard  II, 
i.  198-214).  In  the  parliament  of  1384  Pole 
wisely  urged  the  need  of  a  solid  peace  with 
France ;  but  the  commons,  who  were  anxious 
enough  to  end  the  war,  were  not  prepared  to 
purchase  a  peace  at  a  high  price,  and  Pole's 
proposal  was  ill  received.  An  accident  gave 
his  enemies  an  opportunity.  A  fishmonger 
named  John  Cavendish  appeared  before  the 
parliament  and  complained  that  the  chan- 
cellor had  taken  a  bribe  from  him.  Cavendish 
had  an  action  before  the  chancellor,  and  had 
been  assured  by  Pole's  clerk,  John  Otter,  that 
if  he  paid  40/.  to  the  chancellor  and  4/.  to  Otter 
himself  he  would  speedily  get  judgment  in 
his  favour.  Cavendish  had  no  money,  but  he 
sent  to  the  chancellor  presents  of  fish  which 
profited  him  nothing.  In  great  disgust  he 
brought  his  grievances  before  the  lords.  The 
chancellor  had  no  difficulty  in  making  a 
satisfactory  answer.  As  soon  as  he  heard 
of  the  presents  of  fish,  he  ordered  them  to 
be  paid  for,  and  compelled  his  clerk  to  de- 
stroy the  unworthy  bond  he  had  entered 
into  with  the  fishmonger.  Cavendish,  in- 
stead of  gaining  his  point,  was  condemned 
for  defamation,  and  ordered  to  remain  in 
prison  until  he  had  paid  one  thousand  marks 
is  damage  to  the  chancellor,  and  such  other 
fine  as  the  king  might  impose  (Rot .  Parl.  iii. 
168-70  ;  WALLON,  i.  221-4). 

Pole  failed  to  carry  out  his  policy  of  peace, 
and  was  forced  to  face  a  vigorous  prosecu- 
:ion  of  the  war  against  both  Scotland  and 
France.     It  was  complained  that  Ghent  fell 
nto  French  hands  owing  to  his  want   of 
quickness  in  sending  relief  (KNIGHTON  apud 
TWYSDEN,  Decem  Scriptores,  c.  2672 ;  cf.  Rot. 
Parl.  iii.  216).     In  the  summer  of  1385  he 
accompanied  Richard   on   that  king's  only 
erious  military  undertaking,  the  expedition 


Pole 


31 


Pole 


against  Scotland,  in  which  he  commanded  a 
band  of  sixty  men-at-arms  and  eighty  archers 
(DOYLE,  iii.  433).  After  the  failure  of  this 
undertaking,  Pole  was  more  than  ever  bent 
on  peace.  France  had  threatened  invasion. 
He  renewed  negotiations.  On  22  Jan.  1386 
he  was  appointed,  with  Bishop  Skirlaw  of 
Lichfield  and  others,  to  treat  with  the  king 
of  France  and  his  allies,  jointly  or  separately, 
for  truce  or  for  peace  (Fcedera,  vii.  491-3, 
original  edition). 

Pole's  wealth  was  steadily  growing,  and 
was  exciting  widespread  envy.  Besides  the 

-Yorkshire  property  that  came  from  his  father, 
and  the  Lincolnshire  estates  of  his  mother, 
he  was  now  in  possession  of  the  great  Suf- 
folk inheritance  of  his  wife,  Catherine,  daugh- 
ter and  heiress  of  Sir  John  de  Wingfield. 
He  now  busied  himself  with  consolidating 
his  power  in  Suffolk  by  fortifying  his  manor- 
houses.  He  hoped  to  build  up  a  solid  domain 
in  north-eastern  Suffolk,  of  which  the  central 
feature  was  the  new  castle,  or  rather  crenel- 
lated manor-house,  of  Wingfield.  His  gate- 
house on  the  south  front,  its  flanking  towers, 
and  curtain  wall  still  survive,  while  in  the 
beautiful  late  decorated  village  church — the 
work,  it  is  believed,  of  his  father-in-law — the 

-  ashes  of  his  son  and  many  later  Poles  now  re- 
pose (MtTKKAT,  Eastern  Counties,  pp.  190-1). 
Moreover,  on  6  Aug.  1385  he  obtained  the 
title  of  Earl  of  Suffolk,  extinct  since  the  death 
of  William  Ufford  three  years  before.  On 
20  Aug.,  at  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  the  king 
granted  him  lands  worth  500/.  a  year,  which 
had  belonged  to  William  Ufford,  and  which 
included  the  castle,  town,  manor,  and  honour 
of  Eye,  with  other  manors  and  jurisdictions, 
mainly  in  Suffolk,  which  nicely  rounded  off 
the  formerWingfield  inheritance.  But,  as  the 
12) ^v?  widowed  Countess  of  Suffolk  still  held  part 
of  these  estates  for  her  life,  and  other  por- 

-tions  had  been  regranted  to  the  queen, 
Blcharcf  further  granted  to  the  new  earl 
200/.  a  year  from  the  royal  revenue  and 
300/.  a  year  from  other  lands,  until  the 
Ufford  estates  fell  in.  The  grant  of  a  small 
sum  from  the  county  revenue  completed  the 
formal  connection  between  the  new  earl  and 
his  shire  (cf.  Rolls  of  Parliament,  iii.  206-9  ; 
DUGDALE,  Baronage,  ii.  185 ;  Gal.  Inq.  post 

-mortem,  iii.  70,  111,  117,  257). 

At  the  parliament  which  met  Richard  on 
his  return  from  Scotland,  Pole  was  solemnly 
girt,  on  12  Nov.  1385,  with  the  sword  of  the 
shire,  and  performed  homage  for  his  new 
office,  before  which  Walter  Skirlaw,  keeper 
of  the  privy  seal  and  bishop  of  Lichfield, 
delivered  an  oration  to  the  assembled  estates 

»on  the  new  earl's  merits  (Rot .  Parl.  iii.  209). 
But  the  murmurs  were  many  and  deep.  He 


was,  says  the  St.  Albans  chronicler,  a  mer- 
chant and  the  son  of  a  merchant ;  he  was  a 
man  more  fitted  for  trade  than  for  chivalry, 
and  peacefully  had  grown  old  in  a  banker's 
counting-house,  and  not  among  warriors  in 
the  field  (Chron.  Anglice,  1328-88,  p.  367). 
The  saying  became  a  commonplace,  and  is 
repeated  by  several  chroniclers  (WALSING- 
HAM,  ii.  141 ;  OTTEKBOTJKNE,  p.  162 ;  MONK 
or  EVESHAM,  p.  67).  Yet  nothing  could  be 
more  unjust  than  such  a  taunt  levelled  against 
the  old  companion  in  arms  of  the  Black 
Prince  and  of  John  of  Gaunt.  But  it  faith- 
fully reflected  the  opinion  of  the  greater 
families,  and  Pole's  former  ally,  John  of 
Gaunt,  had  turned  against  him.  Thomas 
Arundel,  then  bishop  of  Ely,  was  especially 
hostile.  He  sought  to  get  the  temporalities  of 
Norwich  restored  to  Bishop  Despenser.  The 
chancellor  argued  in  the  parliament  of  1385 
that  to  restore  the  bishop's  lands  would  cost 
the  king  1,000/.  a  year.  'If  thou  hast  so 
much  concern  for  the  king's  profit/  retorted 
the  bishop,  '  why  hast  thou  covetously  taken 
from  him  a  thousand  marks  per  annum  since 
thou  wast  made  an  earl?'  The  chancellor 
had  no  answer,  and  Despenser  recovered  his 
temporalities. 

Early  in  1386  Suffolk  was  engaged  in 
fruitless  negotiations  with  France.  He 
was  on  the  continent  between  9  Feb.  and 
28  March  (Fcedera,  vii.  495).  The  English 
unwillingness  to  include  Spain  in  the  truce 
frustrated  the  negotiations.  England  was 
threatened  with  invasion.  The  chancellor  did 
his  best  to  organise  the  defence.  He  acted 
as  commissioner  to  inspect  Calais  and  the 
castles  of  the  marches,  and  as  chief  commis- 
sioner of  array  in  Suffolk  (DOYLE,  iii.  434). 
In  April  and  May  he  visited  Hull,  where  his 
influence  was  still  paramount  (Fcedera,  vii. 
510).  But  whatever  he  did  was  adversely 
judged.  In  June  some  English  ships  captured 
and  plundered  several  Genoese  merchant 
ships  off  Dover ;  and  when  the  chancellor  gave 
the  aggrieved  Genoese  traders  compensation, 
he  was  charged  with  robbing  the  king  of  his 
rights  and  with  showing  more  sympathy 
with  traders  than  with  warriors  (Chron. 
Anglia,  1328-88,  p.  371;  cf.  KNIGHTON", 
c.  2678). 

The  opposition  to  Pole  was  now  formally 
organised  under  the  king's  uncle,  Thomas, 
duke  of  Gloucester.  When  parliament  met,  on 
1  Oct.  1386,  Suffolk,  as  chancellor,  urged  that 
the  time  was  come  for  Richard  to  cross  the 
sea  and  fight  the  French  in  person.  This  was 
a  mere  pretext  for  an  inordinate  demand  for 
'money.  Four-fifteenths,  says  Knighton,  was 
likely  to  be  the  chancellor's  request.  Afraid 
of  the  future,  Richard  retired  to  Eltham, 


Pole 


Pole 


where  his  imprudence  culminated  in  making 
his  favourite,  Robert  de  Vere,  duke  of  Ire- 
land. Lords  and  commons  now  united  to 
demand  the  dismissal  of  the  chancellor. 
Richard  told  the  parliament  that  he  would 
not,  at  their  request,  dismiss  a  scullion  from 
his  kitchen.  Gloucester  and  Bishop  Arundel 
visited  the  king  at  Eltham,  and  hinted  at 
deposition. 

On  24  Oct.  Pole  was  dismissed  from  the 
chancellorship,  and  his  old  enemy,  Bishop 
Arundel,  put  in  his  place.  The  commons 
now  drew  up  formal  articles  of  impeachment 
against  the  minister:  (1)  He  had  received 
grants  of  great  estates  from  the  king,  or  had 
purchased  or  exchanged  royal  lands  at  prices 
below  their  value ;  (2)  he  had  not  carried  out 
the  ordinances  of  the  nine  lords  appointed  in 
1385  for  the  reform  of  the  royal  household ; 
(3)  he  had  misappropriated  the  supplies 
granted  in  the  last  parliament  for  the  guard  of 
the  seas ;  (4)  he  had  fraudulently  appropriated 
to  himself  a  charge  on  the  customs  of  Hull 
previously  granted  to  one  Tydeman,  a  Lim- 
burg  merchant ;  (5)  he  had  taken  for  his  own 
uses  the  revenue  of  the  schismatic  master  of 
St.  Anthony,  which  ought  to  have  gone 
to  the  king;  (6)  he  had  sealed  charters, 
especially  a  grant  of  franchises  to  Dover 
Castle,  contrary  to  the  king's  interest ;  and 
(7)  his  remissness  in  conducting  the  war  had 
led  to  the  loss  of  Ghent  and  a  large  sum  of 
treasure  stored  up  within  its  walls  (Rot. 
Parl.  iii.  216;  STTJBBS'S  Const.  Hist.  ii.  474-5, 
cf.  WALLOP,  Richard  II,  livre  vi.,KsriGHTON, 
cc.  2680-5).  Suffolk  spoke  shortly  but  with 
dignity  in  his  own  defence,  but  left  the  burden 
of  a  detailed  answer  to  his  brother-in-law, 
Sir  Richard  le  Scrope,  who  appealed  in- 
dignantly to  his  thirty  years  of  service  in 
the  field  and  in  the  council  chamber,  denied 
the  ordinary  allegations  of  his  mean  ori- 
gin and  estate,  and  gave  what  seem  to  be 
satisfactory  answers  to  the  seven  heads  of 
accusation  (Rot.  Parl.  iii.  216-18).  The 
commons  then  made  a  replication,  in  which, 
while  silently  dropping  the  third  charge — 
of  misappropriation  of  the  supplies — they 
pressed  for  a  conviction  on  the  other  six, 
and  brought  forward  some  fresh  evidence 
against  Suffolk.  The  earl  was  committed  to 
the  custody  of  the  constable,  but  released  on 
bail.  The  lords  soon  gave  judgment.  Suf- 
folk was  convicted  on  three  of  the  charges 
brought  against  him — namely,  the  first,  fifth, 
and  sixth.  On  the  other  four  charges  the 
lords  declared  that  he  ought  not  to  be  im- 
peached alone,  since  his  guilt  was  shared  by 
other  members  of  the  council.  Sentence  was 
pronounced  at  the  same  time  in  the  name  of 
the  king.  Suffolk  was  to  forfeit  all  the  lands- 


and  grants  which  he  had  received  contrary  to 
his  oath,  and  was  committed  to  prison,  to 
remain  there  until  he  had  paid  an  adequate 
fine.  But  it  was  expressly  declared  that  the 
judgment  was  not  to  involve  the  loss  of  the 
name  and  title  of  earl,  nor  the  201.  a  year 
which  the  king  had  granted  him  from  the 
issues  of  Suffolk  for  the  aforesaid  name  and 
title  (ib.  iii.  219-20).  The  fine  is  estimated  in 
the  chronicles  at  various  large  sums  (Chron. 
Anglifs,  1328-88,  and  OTTERBOTJRNE,  p.  166, 
say  twenty  thousand  marks,  adding,  quite 
incorrectly,  that  Suffolk  was  adj  udged  worthy 
of  death).  The  paltry  character  of  the 
charges,  the  insignificant  offences  regarded 
as  proved  by  the  hostile  lords,  show  that  the 
only  real  complaint  against  the  fallen  mi- 
nister was  his  attachment  to  an  unpopular 
policy. 

Parliament  ordered  Suffolk  to  be  impri- 
soned at  Corfe  Castle  (Cont.  Eulogium  Hist. 
iii.  360  ;  cf.  KNIGHTON,  c.  2683),  but  Richard 
sent  him  to  Windsor.  As  soon  as  the  '  Won- 
derful '  parliament  came  to  an  end,  Richard 
remitted  his  fine  and  ransom,  released  him 
from  custody,  and  listened  to  his  advice.  If 
not  the  boldest  spirit,  Suffolk  was  certainly 
the  wisest  head  of  the  royalist  party  now 
formed  against  the  new  ministers  and  council 
set  up  by  parliament.  He  dwelt  in  the  king's- 
household,  and  seems  to  have  accompanied 
Richard  on  his  hasty  progress  through  the 
land  to  win  support  for  the  civil  war  which 
was  seen  to  be  imminent.  At  one  time  Pole 
was  in  Wales  with  Richard  and  the  Duke  of 
Ireland  (CAPGEAVE,  Chron.  Engl.  pp.  246-8). 
On  25  Aug.  1387  five  of  the  judges  declared 
at  Nottingham  that  the  existence  of  the  new 
perpetual  council  contravened  the  king's  pre- 
rogative, and  that  the  sentence  on  Suffolk 
ought  to  be  reversed.  The  name  of  Suffolk 
ippears  among  the  witnesses  to  this  declara- 
tion of  war  against  the  parliamentary  govern- 
ment. But  his  enemies  were  resolute  in  their 
attack.  He  was  accused  of  labouring  to  pre- 
vent a  reconciliation  between  Richard  and 
Gloucester  when  Bishop  William  Courtenay 
[q.  v.]  of  London  went  to  promote  peace  be- 
tween them.  '  Hold  thy  peace,  Michael,'  said 
the  bishop  to  Suffolk,  who  was  denouncing 
Gloucester  to  the  king ; '  it  becometh  thee  right 
evil  to  say  such  words,  thou  that  art  damned 
for  thy  falsehood  both  by  the  lords  and  by  the 
parliament.'  Richard  dismissed  the  bishop  in 
anger  (Chron.  Angl.  1378-88,  p.  383  ;  CAP- 
GRAVE'S  Chron.  of  England,  p.  248),  but  was 
unprepared  to  push  things  to  extremities.  On 
17  Nov.  he  was  forced  to  promise  the  hated 
council  that  Suffolk  and  his  other  bad  advisers 
should  be  compelled  to  answer  for  their  con- 
duct before  the  next  parliament.  Thereupon 


Pole 


33 


Pole 


Suffolk  hastily  fled  the  realm.  On  27  Dec.  the 
five  baronial  leaders  solemnly  appealed  him 
and  his  associates  of  treason.  On  3  Feb.  1388 
the  five  lords  appellant  laid  before  the  newly 
assembled  estates  a  long  list  of  accusations 
against  Suffolk  and  his  four  chief  associates 
{Rot.  Parl.  iii.  229-38).  No  special  charges 
were  brought  against  Suffolk ;  but  he  was 
associated  with  the  others  in  such  general 
accusations  as  having  withdrawn  the  king 
from  the  society  of  the  barons,  as  having  con- 
spired to  rule  him  for  their  own  purposes,  in- 
cited civil  war,  corresponded  with  the  French, 
and  attempted  to  pack  parliament.  The  de- 
claration of  the  judges  that  the  form  of  the 
appeal  was  illegal  was  brushed  aside,  on  the 
ground  that  parliament  itself  was  the  supreme 
j  udge  in  matters  of  this  sort.  On  1 3  Feb.  sen- 
tence was  passed  on  the  four  absent  offenders. 
Suffolk  was  condemned  to  be  hanged.  His 
--estates  and  title  were  necessarily  forfeited.? 

A  knight  named  William  atte  Hoo  helped 
Suffolk  to  escape  over  the  Channel.  He 
disguised  himself  by  shaving  his  beard  and 
head  and  putting  on  shabby  clothes.  In 
this  plight  he  presented  himself  before  Calais 
Castle,  dressed  like  a  Flemish  poulterer. 
His  brother  was  captain  of  Calais  Castle, 
and  acquainted  the  governor  of  Calais,  Wil- 
liam Beauchamp,  with  his  arrival.  The  go- 
vernor sent  him  back  to  the  king,  who  was 
very  angry  at  his  officiousness  (KNIGHTON,  c. 
2702 ;  CAPGKAVE,  Chron.  of  Engl.  p.  249 ; 
OTTEKBOTIKNE,  p.  170 ;  Chron.  Angl.  1328- 
1388,  p.  386  ;  MONK  OFEVESHAM,  pp.  96-7). 
For  a  second  time  Pole  made  his  escape.  This 
time  he  went  to  Hull,  whither,  on  20  Dec., 
the  king's  sergeant-at-arms  was  despatched 
to  arrest  him  (DEVON,  Issues  of  the  Exche- 
quer, p.  234).  But  Michael  escaped  a  second 
time,  sailing,  if  Froissart  can  be  trusted,  over 
the  North  Sea  and  along  the  coasts  of  Fries- 
land,  and  ultimately  landing  at  Dordrecht 
(FROISSAKT,  xii.  286,  ed.  Kervyn  de  Letten- 
hove).  Anyhow,  he  ultimately  found  his  way 
to  Paris.  In  May  1389  Richard  suddenly  took 
over  the  government ;  but  he  made  no  at- 
tempt to  help  Pole,  who  died  at  Paris  on 
5  Sept.  1389  (MONK  OF  EVESHAM,  p.  113). 
'The  chroniclers  exhaust  their  powers  of 
abuse  in  rejoicing  over  his  death.  The  popular 
poets  were  not  less  vehement  in  their  re- 
proaches (GowER,  '  Tripartite  Chronicle  '  in 
Political  Poems,  i.  421,  Rolls  Ser.) 

By  his  wife,  Catherine  Wingfield,  Suffolk 
left  three  sons  :  Michael  de  la  Pole,  second 
ijarl  of  Suffolk  [q.v.],  Thomas,  and  Richard 
•(Foss,  ii.  76).  He  also  left  a  daughter  Anne, 
who  married  Gerard  de  1'Isle  (DFGDALE, 
JBaronage,  ii.  185). 

Besides  his  building  operations  in  Suffolk, 

VOL.  XLVI, 


Pole  did  not  neglect  his  original  home.  He 
completed  his  father's  foundation  at  Hull 
[see  POLE,  WILLIAM  DE  LA,  d.  1366].  In 
1377  he  procured  royal  license  to  change  his 
father's  plan  and  establish  a  small  Carthusian 
monastery,  with  hospitals  for  men  and  women 
attached.  The  charter  of  foundation,  by '  Mi- 
chael de  la  Pole,  lord  of  Wingfield,' is  dated 
18  Feb.  1379,  and  printed  in  the '  Monasticon' 
~(vi.  20-1,  cf.  vi.  781  for  Pole's  hospital). 
Pole  also  built  at  Hull,  for  his  own  use,  (  a 
goodly  house  of  brick,  like  a  palace,  with  fair 
orchards  and  gardens,'  opposite  the  west  end 
of  St.  Mary's  Church.  He  built  three  other 
houses  in  Hull,  each  with  a  brick  tower,  like 
the  palace  of  an  Italian  civic  noble.  He  also 
built  a  fine  house  in  London,  near  theThames. 
[The  English  chroniclers  give  a  prejudiced 
account  of  Suffolk.  The  most  important  of 
them  is  Chronicon  Anglise,  1328-88,  ed.  Thomp- 
son, Kolls  Ser.,  which  is  copied  by  Walsingham, 
Hist.  Anglicana,  Rolls  Ser.,  arid  the  Monk  of 
Evesham,  ed.  Hearne.  Otterbourne,  ed.Hearne, 
Knighton  in  Twysden's  Decem  Scriptores,  Con- 
tinuation of  the  Eulogium  Historiarum,  Cap- 
grave's  Chronicle  of  England  are  also  useful. 
Less  trustworthy  areFroissart's  scattered  notices, 
vols.  vii.  viii.  xi.  xii.  ed.  Kervyn  de  L>ttenhove, 
vols.  vii.  and  viii.  ed.  Luce.  Rolls  of  Parliament, 
vol.  iii.,  Rymer's  Foedera,  vols.  iii.  and  iv.  Record 
edit,  and  vol.  vii.  orig.  edit.,  contain  the  chief 
documentary  evidence;  Doyle's  Official  Baronage, 
iii.  433-4;  Gr.  E.  C[okayne's]  Complete  Peerage, 
iii.  43.  The  best  biographies  are  in  Dugdale's 
Baronage,  ii .  1 8 1-5,  and  Foss's  Judges  of  England, 
iv.  70-6.  That  in  Campbell's  Lives  of  the  Chan- 
cellors, i.  248-51,  is  valueless.  Stubbs's  Const. 
Hist.  vol.  ii.,  Wallon's  Richard  II,  and  Pauli's 
Geschiehte  von  England,  vol.  iv.  are  the  best 
authorities  for  the  period.]  T.  F.  T. 

POLE,  MICHAEL  DE  LA,  second  EAKL 
of  SUFFOLK  (1361  P-1415),  was  eldest  son  of 
Michael  de  la  Pole,  earl  of  Suffolk  [q.  v.], 
and  was  born  about  1361.  He  was  knighted 
by  Richard  II  on  15  July  1377  (Foedera,  iv. 
79,  Kecord  edit.)  On  30  April  1386  he 
is  mentioned  as  captain  of  men-at-arms  for 
Calais,  of  which  town  his  uncle,  Sir  Ed- 
mund de  la  Pole,  was  then  captain.  In 
the  following  year  the  Earl  of  Suffolk  was 
disgraced,  and,  owing  to  his  subsequent 
condemnation,  his  son  did  not  succeed  to 
the  earldom  at  his  death  in  1389.  Before 
September  1385  (cf.  Testamenta  Vetusta,  p. 
119)  Pole  had  married  Catherine  Stafford, 
daughter  of  Hugh,  earl  of  Stafford,  and  in 
1391  obtained  for  his  support  a  grant  of 
50/.  a  year  from  the  customs  of  Hull.  On 
23  Sept.  1391  he  had  letters  of  attorney 
during  his  intended  absence  on  the  crusade 
in  Prussia,  being  then  styled  Sir  Michael  de 
la  Pole  (Foedera,  vii.  706,  orig.  edit.)  In 


Pole 


34 


Pole 


1397  he  was  restored  to  his  father's  dignities 
as  Earl  of  Suffolk  and  Baron  de  la  Pole,  and 
was  summoned  to  parliament  in  August  1399. 
But  in  the  first  parliament  of  Henry  IV  the 
acts  of  the  parliament  of  1397  were  annulled, 
and  those  of  1388  confirmed,  with  the  effect 
of  reviving  the  attainder  of  1388.  However, 
on  15  Nov.  1399,  the  earldom  of  Suffolk  was 
restored  to  Pole,  but  without  the  barony  of 
De  la  Pole,  which  had  been  enjoyed  by  his 
father  (G.  E.  C[okayne],  Complete  Peerage, 
iii.  43).  At  the  same  time  restitution  was 
made  of  his  father's  lands  and  castle  and 
honour  of  Eye.  The  earl  was  a  commis- 
sioner of  array  for  Suffolk  on  14  July  1402 
and  3  Sept.  1403.  On  27  Aug.  1408  he  was 
employed  by  the  king  on  a  mission  abroad. 
He  attended  the  council  on  several  occasions 
during  the  reign  of  Henry  IV,  and  was  pre- 
sent in  the  council  which  was  held  at  West- 
minster in  April  1415  to  discuss  the  French 
war  (NICOLAS,  Proc.  Privy  Council,  ii.  156). 
On  21  July  he  was  one  of  the  commissioners 
for  the  trial  of  Kichard,  earl  of  Cambridge, 
Richard,  lord  le  Scrope,  Sir  Thomas  Grey,  and 
was  one  of  the  peers  appointed  to  decide  on 
the  guilt  of  Cambridge  and  Scrope  on  5  Aug. 
(Rolls  of  Parliament,  iv.  65-6).  He  sailed 
with  the  king  on  11  Aug.,  and,  after  taking 
part  in  the  siege  of  Harfleur,  died  before 
that  town  of  dysentery  on  18  Sept.  (Gesta 
Henrici  Quinti,  p.  31,  Engl.  Hist.  Soc.)  He 
is  described  as  '  a  knight  of  the  most  excel- 
lent and  kindly  reputation'  (ib.)  His  son 
in  1450  said  he  served  l  in  all  the  viages  by 
See  and  by  Lande '  in  the  days  of  Henry  IV 
(Eolls  of  Parliament,  v.  176).  Suffolk's  will, 
dated  1  July  1415,  is  summarised  in  ( Testa- 
menta  Vetusta,'  pp.  1 89-90.  In  accordance 
with  [his  directions,  he  was  buried  at  Wing- 
field,'  Suffolk.  His  own  and  his  wife's 
effigies  are  engraved  in  Stothard's  'Monu- 
mental Effigies,'  p.  84.  He  left  five  sons 
and  three  daughters.  Of  his  sons,  Michael 
succeeded  as  third  earl,  and  is  noticed  below. 
William,  the  fourth  earl  and  first  duke  of 
Suffolk,  is  noticed  separately.  Sir  John 
de  la  Pole  was  seigneur  de  Moyon  in  the 
Cotentin,  served  with  distinction'  in  the 
French  war,  was  taken  prisoner  at  Jargeau 
on  12  June  1429,  and  died  in  captivity ;  by 
the  French  chroniclers  he  is  called  the  Sire 
de  la  Poulle.  Alexander  was  slain  at  Jar- 
geau on  12  June  1429.  Thomas  was  pre- 
bendary in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  and  died  in 
1433  while  a  hostage  with  the  French  for 
his  brother  William. 

MICHAEL  DE  LA  POLE,  third  EARL  OF 
SUFFOLK  (1394-1415),  the  eldest  son,  served 
with  his  father  at  Harfleur,  and,  after  taking 
part  in  the  march  to  Agincourt,  was  killed  in 


!  the  battle  there  on  25  Oct.     He  is  described 

\  as  '  distinguished  among  all  the  courtiers  for 

I  his  bravery,     courage,  and  activity'  (Gesta 

Henrici  Quinti,  pp.  31,  58).    Drayton  makes 

special  mention  of  him  in  his  ballad  of  Agin- 

I  court — '  Suffolk  his  axe  did  ply.'     His  body 

was  brought  home  to  England,  and  buried 

at  Ewelme,  Oxford.     He  married  Elizabeth, 

|  daughter  of  Thomas  Mowbray,  first  duke  of 

Norfolk  [q.  v.],  but  left  no  male  issue,  and  was 

succeeded  by  his  brother  William.     Of  his 

three  daughters,  Catherine  became  a  nun,  and 

Elizabeth  and  Isabel  both  died  unmarried. 

[Monstrelet's  Chroniques,  iii.  106,  iv.  324  (Soc. 
de  1'Hist.  de  France) ;  Nicolas's  Battle  of  Agin- 
court ;  Napier's  Historical  Notices  of  Swyncombe 
and  Ewelme,  pp.  313-17  ;  Coll.  Top.  et  Gen.  v. 
156;  Dugdale's  Baronage,  ii.  185;  Doyle's 
Official  Baronage,  iii.  434-5;  other  authorities 
quoted.]  C.  L.  K 

'  POLE  or  DE  LA  POLE,  RALPH  (/. 
1452),  judge,  was  the  eldest  of  three  sons 
I  of  Peter  De  la  Pole  of  Radborne,  near  Derby, 
I  and  knight  of  the  shire  for  Derby  in  1400. 
Foss  was  mistaken  in  making  him  a  younger 
1  son  of  Thomas  Pole  or  Poole  of  Poole  Hall 
in  Wirral  or  Wirrell,  who  did  not  marry 
until  1425.   The  De  la  Poles' were  a  Stafford- 
shire  family   seated  at  Newborough,   who 
|  for  three   generations   had  married  Derby- 
|  shire  heiresses.     Pole's  father  acquired  the 
Radborne  estate,  which  had  belonged  to  Sir 
John  Chandos  [q.v.],  the  companion-in-arms 
of  the  Black  Prince,  by  his  marriage  with 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Lawton  and 
Alianore,  Chandos's  sister  and  ultimate  heir. 
Pole  became  serjeant-at-law  in  the  Michael- 
[  mas  term  of  1442,  and  a  j  ustice  of  the  king's 
bench  on  3  July  1452,  and  occurs  in  the 
latter  capacity  until  Michaelmas  1459.     He 
I  was  probably  the  Radulphus  de  la  Pole  ap- 
!  pointed  one  of  the  Derbyshire  commissioners 
to  raise  money  for  the  defence  of  Calais  in 
j  May   1455,  and  he   presided   with   Justice 
I  Bingham  over  the   York   assizes   in    1457,_ 
I  when  the  Nevilles  got  the  Percys  mulcted 
I  in  a  huge  fine. 

His  altar-tomb,  on  the  slab  of  which  are 
engraved  the  figures  of  the  judge  and  his 
wife  and  a  fragment  of  inscription,  remains 
in  the  north  aisle  of  Radborne  church.  By 
his  wife  Joan,  daughter  of  Thomas  Grosvenor, 
Pole,  according  to  Lysons,  had  three  sons : 
Ralph,  who  married  the  heiress  of  Motton, 
John,  and  Henry,  the  latter  two  founding- 
the  younger  branches  of  Wakebridge  and 
Heage.  Pole's  descendants  in  the  direct 
male  line  held  Radborne  until  the  death  of 
j  German  Pole  in  1683,  when  it  passed  to 
a  younger  branch,  now  represented  by  Mr. 
Chandos-Pole. 


Pole 


35 


Pole 


[Foss's  Judges  of  England  ;  Proceedings  and 
Ordinances  of  the  Privy  Council,  ed.  Nicolas,  vi. 
213;  Topographer  and  Genealogist,  i.  176; 
Whethamstede's  Kegistrum,  Eolls  Ser.  i.  206, 
208,  303  ;  Lysons's  Magna  Britannia,  vol.  v.  pp. 
xciv-v,  91,  232  ;  Ormerod's  Cheshire,  ii.  423,  iii. 
351;  Newcome's  Hist,  of  St.  Albans,  p.  361; 
Burke's  Landed  Gentry ;  Official  Eeturns  of  Mem- 
bers of  Parliament,  1878.]  J.  T-T. 

POLE,  REGINALD  (1500-1558),  car- 
dinal and  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  was  son 
— probably  the  third — of  Sir  Richard  Pole 
(d.  1505),  by  his  wife  Margaret,  who  was 
of  the  blood  royal  [see  POLE,  MAKGARET]. 
Born  in  March  1500  at  Stourton  Castle  in 
Staffordshire,  he  was  carefully  brought  up 
by  his  mother,  and  then  spent  five  years  at 
the  school  of  the  Charterhouse  at  Sheen. 
Henry  VIII  was  much  interested  in  his  edu- 
cation, and  paid  121.  for  his  maintenance  at 
school  in  1512.  Soon  afterwards  he  was 
sent  to  Oxford,  to  the  house  of  the  Carmelite 
friars.  Subsequently  he  matriculated  as  a 
nobleman  at  Magdalen  College.  On  8  June 
1513  the  king  ordered  the  prior  of  St.  Frides- 
wide's  to  give  him  a  pension,  which  he  was 
bound  to  give  to  a  clerk  of  the  king's  nomina- 
tion, until  he  could  provide  him  with  a  com- 
petent benefice  (Cal.  of  Henry  VIII,  vol.  i. 
No.  4190).  Pole's  studies  at  Oxford  were 
directed  by  Thomas  Linacre  [q.v.]  and  Wil- 
liam Latimer  (1460  P-1545)  [q.  v.],  and  he  is 
said  to  have  attracted  much  attention  in  a 
disputation  of  some  days'  duration  when  still 
almost  a  boy.  In  June  1515  he  graduated 
B.A.  (WOOD,  Athena,  i.  279).  While  a 
youth,  and  still  a  layman,  he  was  presented 
to  the  collegiate  church  of  Wimborne  min- 
ster, the  incumbent  of  which  bore  the  title 
of  dean  (12  Feb.  1518  ;  Cal.  of  Henry  VIII, 
vol.  ii.  No.  3493),  to  the  prebend  of  Boscombe 
(19  March  1517-18),  and  that  of  Yatminster 
Secunda  (10  April  1519),  both  in  Salisbury 
Cathedral.  From  infancy  his  mother  had 
destined  him  for  the  church,  and  he  intended 
taking  orders  later  in  life  (ib.  vol.  xi.  No.  92). 

In  February  1521,  at  his  own  wish,  he  was 
sent  by  the  king  to  Italy,  with  100/.  towards 
his  expenses  for  a  year  (ib.  iii.  p.  1544).  At 
Padua,  in  May  and  June,  he  formed  a  friend- 
ship with  the  scholars  Longolius,  Bembo, 
Nicolas  Leonicus,  and  his  own  countryman, 
Thomas  Lupset  [q.  v.]  His  revenues  from  his 
benefices,  together  with  the  king's  allowance, 
enabled  him  to  practise  much  hospitality. 
Yet  he  preferred  a  quiet  life,  and  was  em- 
barrassed on  his  arrival  by  the  attentions 
paid  to  him  as  the  king  of  England's  kinsman 
by  the  magistrates  of  Padua.  Longolius  died 
in  his  house  there,  and  left  him  his  library  (ib. 
iii.  2460,  2465).  Pole  wrote  the  anonymous 


life  prefixed  to  Longolius's  collected  writings 
(Florence,  1524).  He  sent  congratulations 
to  Clement  VII  on  his  election  (]  9  Nov. 
1 523),  and  received  a  kindly  acknowledgment 
encouraging  him  in  his  studies.  Erasmus 
opened  a  correspondence  with  him  in  1525, 
introducing  to  him  the  Polish  scholar  John  a 
Lasco  [q.  v.]  (ib.  No.  1685),  and  he  himself 
wrote  to  Cardinal  Wolsey  that  he  was  every- 
where much  sought  after — though  he  mo- 
destly believed  it  was  on  the  king's  account 
rather  than  his  own  (ib.  No.  1529).  He  was 
urged  by  his  family  to  return  to  England 
early  in  1525;  but  he  lingered  in  order  to 
visit  Rome,  where  he  was  received  with 
great  marks  of  distinction.  He  returned  to 
England  in  1527  after  five  years'  absence. 
He  met  with  a  very  cordial  welcome  from  the 
king  and  queen,  but  continued  his  studies 
at  the  Carthusian  monastery  at  Sheen. 

During  his  absence  from  England,  on 
14  Feb.  1523-4  he  was  nominated  fellow  of 
Corpus  Christi  College,  Oxford,  by  Richard 
Foxe  or  Fox  [q.v.],  bishop  of  Winchester,  the 
founder,  but  he  never  seems  to  have  been  ad- 
mitted. On  12  Aug.  1527,  though  he  was  still 
a  layman,  he  was  elected  dean  of  Exeter  (Ls 
NEVE).  In  1529,  anxious  to  avoid  the  crisis 
likely  to  spring  from  the  king's  proceedings 
against  Queen  Catherine,  he  obtained  with 
some  difficulty  the  king's  permission  to  pur- 
sue his  studies  at  Paris.  Henry  paid  him  the 
usual  100^.  '  for  one  year's  exhibition  before- 
hand,' in  October  1529  (Cal.  vol.  iv.  No.  6003, 
v.  315).  At  Paris  he  soon  received  a  letter 
from  the  king  requiring  him  to  obtain  from 
the  university  there  opinions  in  his  favour 
respecting  the  projected  divorce.  He  sought 
to  excuse  himself  on  the  ground  of  inexpe- 
rience, and  the  king  ultimately  sent  Edward 
Fox  [q.  v.]  to  assist  him.  But  the  work  being 
only  to  obtain  opinions — which  he  could 
collect  without  compromising  himself — Pole 
did  what  he  could,  and  won  commendations 
at  home  for  '  acting  stoutly  in  the  king's 
behalf  (ib.  vol.iv.  No.  6252).  Three  hundred 
crowns,  apparently  in  addition  to  the  yearly 
exhibition,  were  remitted  on  29  April  1530 
Ho  Mr.  Pole,  the  king's  scholar'  (ib.  v.  749). 
The  university  of  Paris  came  to  the  decision 
which  Henry  desired,  owing  to  the  inter- 
ference of  Francis  I.  In  July  Pole,  by  the 
king's  orders,  returned  home. 

Although  he  withdrew  to  the  charterhouse 
at  Sheen,  he  was  invited,  on  Wolsey's  death 
in  November,  to  accept  either  the  vacant 
archbishopric  of  York  or  the  bishopric  of 
Winchester.  The  king's  aim  was  to  obtain 
his  avowed  support  for  his  divorce,  and  the 
archbishopric  was  vehemently  pressed  on  him 
by  the  king's  friends.  Pole  entertained 

D  2 


Pole 


Pole 


genuine  affection  for  the  king,  and  hesitated 
to  affront  him  by  a  refusal;  but  no  bribe 
could  induce  him  to  palter  with  his  convic- 
tions. In  a  moment  of  weakness  he  said  he 
believed  he  had  found  a  means  of  satisfying 
the  king  without  offence  to  his  own  con- 
science. The  king  gave  him  an  interview  at 
York  Place.  At  first  Pole  was  tongue-tied. 
At  length  he  exhorted  Henry  not  to  ruin 
his  fame  and  destroy  his  soul  by  perse- 
verance in  wrong.  The  king  in  fury  put  his 
hand  to  his  dagger.  Pole  left  the  chamber 
in  tears  (see  the  different  accounts  of  the  story 
in  Epp.  Poli,  i.  251-62,  and  Calendar,  vol.  xii. 
pt.  i.  No.  444).  At  the  same  time  Pole,  at 
the  king's  request,  wrote  a  paper,  very  likely 
just  after  the  interview,  giving  his  opinion 
on  the  king's  scruples  and  how  to  deal  with 
them.  The  treatise  itself  does  not  seem  to  be 
extant,  but  a  fall  account  of  its  contents  is 
given  by  Cranmer  in  a  letter  to  Anne  Bo- 
leyn's  father,  written  on  13  June  1531,  in 
which  he  says  that  it  was  '  much  contrary  to 
the  king's  purpose ; '  but  the  arguments  were 
set  forth  with  such  wisdom  and  eloquence 
that  if  they  were  published  it  would  be  im- 
possible, Cranmer  thought,  to  persuade  people 
to  the  contrary.  Pole  pointed  out  the  danger 
of  reviving  controversies  as  to  the  succes- 
sion, then  he  attacked  the  arguments  on  the 
king's  side,  and  urged  Henry  to  defer  to  the 
pope's  judgment  (SxKYPE,  Cranmer,  App. 
No.  1).  The  king  took  Pole's  counsel  in  good 
part  (Cal.  Venetian,  v.  244),  and  was  almost 
inclined  to  abandon  the  divorce.  Thomas 
Cromwell  [q.  v.],  however,  whom  Pole  re- 
garded as  an  emissary  of  Satan,  induced  him  to 
persevere.  With  deep  dislike  Pole  saw  soon 
afterwards  the  concession  of  royal  supremacy 
wrung  from  the  clergy.  He  was  present,  pro- 
bably with  a  deputation  of  the  clergy,  when 
the  king  refused  a  large  sum  voted  to  him  by 
convocation  unless  it  were  granted  to  him  as 
head  of  the  church  of  England  (De  Unitate 
JSccl.  f.  19).  He  may  also  have  been  present 
in  convocation  in  the  same  year  when  the 
title,  with  the  qualification  '  as  far  as  the 
law  of  Christ  allows,'  was  silently  conceded, 
after  three  days'  strenuous  opposition.  His 
statement  that  he  was  absent  when  the  royal 
supremacy  was  enacted  (ib.  f.  82)  clearly 
refers  to  the  parliamentary  act  of  1534.  He 
was  then  at  Padua.  Pole,  apprehensive  of 
the  further  consequences  of  Cromwell's  pre- 
dominance, petitioned  to  be  allowed  to  devote 
himself  to  the  study  of  theology  abroad.  He 
told  Henry  that  if  he  remained  in  England 
and  had  to  attend  parliament  (as  he  would 
be  expected  to  do)  while  the  divorce  was  dis- 
cussed, he  must  speak  according  to  his  con- 
science. In  January  1532  Henry  thought  it 


prudent  to  let  him  go  (Cal.  v.  No.  737).  He 
and  Henry  parted  good  friends,  and  the  king 
continued  his  pensions. 

Pole  settled  at  Avignon  for  a  few  months, 
but  soon  removed  to  Padua,  where  he  spent 
some  years,  paying  frequent  visits  to  Venice. 
From  Padua  he  wrote  to  the  king  a  care- 
fully considered  letter,  full  of  powerful  argu- 
ments against  the  divorce,  whose  wisdom  the 
king  and  Cromwell  praised.  Meanwhile  his 
friends  in  England  caused  him  to  be  insti- 
tuted in  his  absence  (20  Dec.  1532)  to  the 
vicarage  of  Piddletown  in  Dorset,  a  living 
in  the  patronage  of  his  family.  He  resigned 
it  three  years  later.  In  order  to  hold  it  he 
was  dispensed  '  propter  defectum  susceptionis 
sacrorum  ordinum'  (HUTCHINS,  Dorset,  ii. 
624). 

At  Padua  he  took  into  his  house  the  great 
classical  professor  Lazzaro  Buonamici,  with 
the  view  of  re-studying  Greek  and  Latin  lite- 
rature ;  but  the  thought  of  what  was  going 
on  in  England  induced  him  to  devote  himself 
more  ardently  to  philosophy  and  theology. 
At  Venice  or  at  Padua  Pole  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  two  lifelong  friends— Gaspar 
Contarini,  who  was  created  a  cardinal  a  year 
before  himself,  and  Ludovico  Priuli,  a  young 
Venetian  nobleman,  who  became  ardently 
attached  to  him.  He  came  to  know,  too,  Gian 
Pietro  Caraffa,  afterwards  Paul  IV,  and, 
among  other  men  of  worth  and  genius,  Ludo- 
vico Beccatelli,  afterwards  his  secretary  and 
biographer. 

On  Henry's  marriage  with  Anne  Boleyn  in 
1533,  and  the  disinheriting  of  Princess  Mary, 
Queen  Catherine  and  her  nephew,  Charles  V, 
alike  agreed  that  Pole's  services  might  be  em- 
ployed in  redressing  the  wrongs  of  the  divorced 
queen  and  her  daughter  (Cal.  Henry  VIII, 
vol.  vii.  No.  1040).  The  princess  might,  it 
was  vaguely  suggested,  become  his  wife,  and 
Yorkist  and  Tudor  claims  to  the  throne 
might  thus  be  consolidated.  It  was  only  in 
June  1535  that  Pole  was  made  aware,  in  a 
letter  from  the  emperor,  of  the  proposal  that 
he  should  interfere.  His  first  feeling  was 
alarm  at  the  responsibility.  But  he  agreed 
to  make  experiment  of  peaceful  mediation 
after  a  method  of  his  own  (Cal.  Spanish, 
vol.  v.  pt.  ii.  No.  63  ;  cf.  vol.  viii.  No.  830). 

Pole  was  anxious  at  this  time  to  avoid  all 
chance  of  a  civil  war  in  England  (ib.  No. 
129),  and  Henry  VIII  had  already  offered 
him,  he  vainly  hoped,  an  opportunity  of  pro- 
moting peace.  In  the  latter  part  of  1534  the 
king  had,  through  Thomas  Starkey,who  seems 
to  have  been  Pole's  chaplain  at  Padua,  and 
was  on  a  visit  to  England,  requested  Pole's 
opinion  on  the  two  points,  whether  marriage 
with  a  deceased  brother's  wife  was  permissible 


Pole 


37 


Pole 


by  divine  law,  and  whether  papal  supremacy 
was  of  divine  institution.  If  Pole  could  not 
agree  with  the  royal  view,  Henry  added,  he 
must  state  his  own  candidly,  and  then  come  to 
England,  where  the  king  would  find  honour- 
able employment  for  him  in  other  matters. 
Starkey's  letter  reached  Pole  at  Venice  in 
April,  and  Pole  asked  for  further  time  for 
study  before  coming  home.  Starkey  mean- 
while deemed  it  prudent  to  give  the  king 
some  indication  of  Pole's  general  political 
views,  and  set  them  forth  in  the  form  of  an 
imaginary  dialogue  bet  ween  Pole  and  the  now 
deceased  Thomas  Lupset.  Pole  was  repre- 
sented as  in  theory  a  reformer,  strongly  alive 
to  the  dangers  of  the  prerogative,  but  entirely 
loyal  to  a  king  like  Henry  VIII,  who  was  in- 
capable of  abusing  it  (ib.  No.  217  ;  Starkey's 
treatise  printed  in  England  in  the  Reign  of 
Henry  VIII,  by  J.  M.  Cowper,  for  the  Early 
English  Text  Soc.)  Henry  was  not  offended 
at  an  abstract  theory  expounded  in  this  way. 

The  king  caused  Cromwell,  in  December 
1534,  to  write  to  Pole  with  some  impatience 
for  his  answer  to  the  two  questions  (Cal. 
Henry  VIII,  vol.  ix.  No.  988).  But  his  reply 
was  taking  the  form  of  a  long  treatise,  'Pro 
Ecclesiasticse  Unitatis  Defensione,'  which  he 
did  not  finish  till  May  1536.  His  arguments 
were  aimed  at  peacefully  deterring  Henry 
from  further  wrongdoing,  and  were  solely 
intended  for  the  king's  eyes.  The  work 
was  a  severe  criticism  of  his  proceedings, 
written  not  without  pain  and  tears,  for  the 
high  estimate  he  had  formed  of  Henry's 
character  had  been  bitterly  disappointed. 
The  king,  dissembling  his  indignation,  re- 
peated his  wish  that  Pole  should  repair  to 
England ;  but  Pole  alleged  the  severe  laws 
the  king  had  himself  promulgated  as  a  suffi- 
cient excuse.  Letters  from  his  nearest  rela- 
tives at  home  threatened  to  renounce  him  if 
he  did  not  return  and  make  his  peace  with 
the  king.  His  friends  in  Italy  were  alarmed 
lest  he  should,  in  spite  of  the  manifest  danger, 
revisit  his  country.  Paul  III  was  conse- 
quently induced  to  summon  him  to  Rome 
to  a  consultation  about  a  proposed  general 
council.  With  some  reluctance  he  obeyed 
the  call,  and  reached  Rome  in  November 
1536.  He  was  lodged  by  the  pope  with  great 
honour  in  the  Vatican. 

Pole  found  himself  at  Rome  the  youngest 
and  most  energetic  member  of  a  committee 
summoned  by  Paul  III,  after  consultation 
with  Pole's  friend  Cardinal  Contarini,  to  draw 
up  a  scheme  for  reforming  the  discipline  of 
the  church.  The  committee's  report  was  pub- 
lished in  1538  (Consilium  delectorum  Car- 
dinalium),  Pole  was  still  a  layman,  but  it 
was  thought  well  that  he  should  now  take 


deacon's  orders  and  be  made  a  cardinal.  The 
prospect  filled  him  with  dismay,  and  he  en- 
deavoured to  convince  the  pope  that  it  was 
at  least  untimely.  It  not  only  would  destroy 
his  influence  in  England,  but  involve  his 
family  in  some  danger.  The  pope  at  first 
yielded  to  these  representations ;  but  others 
were  so  strongly  in  favour  of  his  promotion 
that  he  returned  to  his  original  purpose.  The 
papal  chamberlain  was  despatched  to  inform 
Pole  of  the  final  resolution,  along  with  a 
barber  to  shave  his  crown;  and  Pole  sub- 
mitted. He  was  made  a  cardinal  on  22  Dec. 
1536,  deriving  his  title  from  the  church  of 
St.  Mary  in  Cosmedin.  In  the  following 
February  he  was  nominated  papal  legate  to 
England. 

The  news  of  Pole's  cardinalate  enraged 
Henry  VIII,  but  he  forbore  to  show  any 
open  sign  of  anger.  Popular  disaffection  was 
spreading  in  the  north.  A  conciliatory  atti- 
tude was  needed  to  prevent  a  disastrous  de- 
velopment. A  letter  to  Pole  was  drawn  up 
on  18  Jan.  in  the  name  of  the  king's  council, 
and  was  despatched  apparently  on  the  20th, 
after  being  signed  by  Norfolk,  Cromwell,  and 
others,  remonstrating  with  him  on  the  tone 
of  his  book  and  of  his  letters  to  the  king,  but 
accepting  conditionally  a  suggestion  thrown 
out  by  himself  that  he  should  discuss  in 
Flanders,  with  commissioners  sent  by  the 
king,  the  matters  in  dispute  (  Cal.  Henry  VIII, 
vol.  xii.  pt.  i.  No.  125).  It  was  insisted  that 
he  should  go  thither  without  commission 
from  any  one.  Otherwise  recognition  of  the 
pope's  authority  would  be  assumed.  Pole 
replied  from  Rome  on  16  Feb.  that  he  had 
only  obeyed  the  king's  request  in  writing, 
and  had  done  his  utmost  to  keep  the  con- 
tents of  the  book  secret  from  all  but  the  king 
himself.  He  was  ready,  however,  to  treat 
with  the  king's  commissioners  in  France  or 
Flanders,  but  it  must  be  in  his  capacity  of 
legate  (ib.  No.  444 ;  an  undated  Latin  transla- 
tion inPoliEpp.  i.  179,  is  wrongly  addressed 
to  the  parliament  of  England). 

Pole  was  straightway  despatched  by  the  pope 
to  England,  and  carried  with  him  money  with 
which,  it  was  understood,  he  was  to  encou- 
rage the  northern  rebels  against  Henry  VIII. 
On  the  journey  he  resolved  to  appeal  to 
Francis  I,  the  ally  of  Henry,  and  to  per- 
suade the  French  king  to  exhort  Henry  to 
return  to  the  Roman  church  as  his  only 
safety.  With  Giberti,  bishop  of  Verona,  a 
known  friend  of  England,  to  whom  Henry, 
if  he  disliked  receivinga  cardinal,  might  give 
a  more  favourable  reception,  Pole  accordingly 
set  out.  After  five  weeks'  travelling,  they 
reached  Lyons  on  24  March.  Henry  VIII 
had  crushed  the  northern  rebellion  before 


Pole  • 

Pole  left  Rome.  But  Francis  I  and  the 
emperor  were  at  war,  and  neither  wished  to 
offend  Henry  lest  he  should  take  part  with 
the  other  against  him.  Henry  demanded  of 
Francis  I  that  Pole  should  be  delivered  up  to 
him  as  a  traitor.  Francis  promised  not  to 
receive  Pole  as  legate.  Though  the  cardinal 
made  a  public  entry  into  Paris,  he  was  in- 
formed that  his  presence  in  France  was  incon- 
venient, and  that  he  must  leave  the  country. 

Much  mortified,  he  withdrew  to  Cambray, 
which  was  neutral  territory,  and  remained 
there  more  than  a  month,  awaiting  a  safe- 
conduct  from  Mary,  queen  of  Hungary,  regent 
of  the  Netherlands,  in  order  to  get  safely 
away.  But  the  English  ambassador  at  her 
court  insisted  that  if  he  entered  imperial  terri- 
tory he  should  be  delivered  up  to  Henry,  and 
efforts  were  made  by  English  agents  to  as- 
sassinate or  kidnap  him.  Queen  Mary  excused 
herself  from  seeing  him,  and  sent  an  escort  in 
May  to  convey  him  from  Cambray  to  Liege, 
without  stopping  any  where  more  than  a  single 
night.  Within  the  territory  of  the  cardinal 
of  Liege  he  was  safe  from  further  demands 
for  his  extradition. 

The  cardinal  of  Liege  (Erard  de  la  Marck) 
lodged  Pole  in  his  own  palace,  and  with 
princely  liberality  pressed  upon  his  accept- 
ance large  sums  of  money  for  his  expenses. 
No  stranger  could  enter  or  leave  Liege  un- 
examined  while  Pole  was  there.  And  he 
remained  there  nearly  three  months  (Epp. 
Poli,  ii.,  Diatriba  ad  Epistolas,  cii-ciii,  cix- 
cv).  At  length  the  pope  ordered  him  to  re- 
turn to  Rome,  which  he  reached  in  October. 
He  remained  there  till  the  following  spring 
(1538),  when  he  accompanied  Paul  III  to 
the  meeting  at  Nice  between  Francis  I  and 
Charles  V.  At  the  first  interview  of  the  em- 
peror and  the  pope  the  former  desired  to  be 
made  acquainted  with  Pole,  who  accordingly 
waited  on  the  emperor  at  Villafranca,  and 
was  very  cordially  received.  After  the  meet- 
ing he  spent  some  time  at  his  friend  Priuli's 
country  house  near  Venice,  and  thence  moved 
to  Padua.  There  news  reached  him  of  the 
arrest  in  England  of  his  brother  Sir  Geoffrey. 
He  himself,  in  Venetian  territory,  was  beset 
by  spies  and  would-be  assassins — one  of  them 
the  plausible  scoundrel  Philips  who  had  be- 
trayed the  martyr  Tindal.  In  October  he 
removed  to  Rome.  Not  many  weeks  later 
he  was  refused  an  audience  by  the  pope,  be- 
cause he  had  just  received  such  distressing 
news  of  Pole's  family  that  he  could  not  bear 
to  look  him  in  the  face.  His  eldest  brother, 
Lord  Montague,  had  been  arrested  on  a  charge 
of  treason,  and  with  him  his  mother  and 
some  dear  and  intimate  friends. 

Pole  felt  that  his  own  griefs  were  those  of 


$  Pole 

his  country  and  even  of  Europe.  The  only 
cure  was  to  be  sought  in  a  restoration  of 
papal  authority  in  England  by  a  league  of 
Christian  princes  against  Henry.  He  there- 
fore accepted  a  mission  from  the  pope  to 
visit  the  emperor  in  Spain,  and  afterwards 
Francis  I.  He  left  Rome  on  27  Dec.  1538,  and, 
to  avoid  Henry's  hired  assassins,  travelled  in 
disguise,  with  few  attendants.  By  the  end  of 
January  1539  he  reached  Barcelona,  and  he 
was  with  the  emperor  at  Toledo  in  the  middle 
of  February.  Sir  Thomas  Wyatt,  the  English 
ambassador,  vainly  demanded  his  extradition 
as  a  traitor.  Charles  replied  that '  if  he  were 
his  own  traitor,  coming  from  the  Holy  Father 
at  Rome,  he  could  not  refuse  him  audience.' 
In  other  respects  he  was  not  more  successful 
than  before.  Charles  V  replied  that  he  was 
not  inclined  to  take  offensive  measures  against 
England  until  he  was  sure  of  the  co-opera- 
tion of  France. 

While  on  his  return  journey,  at  Gerona  in 
Catalonia  (not  La  Gironde,  as  in  the  '  Spanish 
Calendar,'  vol.  vi.  pt.  i.  p.  145),  Pole  learned 
that  an  English  exile  was  seeking  to  assas- 
sinate him  in  hope  of  earning  pardon  from 
Henry  for  past  misdeeds.  This  knowledge, 
combined  with  a  fear  that  an  immediate  visit 
to  France  might  lead  to  closer  union  between 
England  and  the  emperor,  led  him  to  return 
for  a  time  to  Carpentras,  a  neutral  place  in  the 
papal  territory  near  Avignon.  He,  however, 
commissioned  Parpaglia,  abbot  of  San  Saluto, 
a  Piedmontese  belonging  to  his  household, 
who  had  been  with  him  at  Toledo,  to  deliver 
his  message  to  Francis  and  inquire  if  he 
should  come  himself.  Parpaglia  was  received 
politely,  but  was  told  that  Pole's  presence  in 
France  was  not  desired.  Pole  despatched 
Parpaglia  to  Rome  to  give  a  full  account  of 
the  two  missions.  Pole's  expenses  had  not 
only  far  exceeded  his  allowances,  but  had 
absorbed  nearly  all  his  savings. 

The  pope  was  satisfied  that  the  failure  of 
the  missions  was  not  due  to  Pole,  and  on  the 
death  of  Cardinal  Campeggio  [q.  v.],  who  was 
titular  bishop  of  Salisbury,  offered  the  see  to 
Pole.  Pole,  who  was  still  at  Carpentras,  de- 
clined it.  Meanwhile,  in  England,  parlia- 
ment had  passed  an  act  of  attainder  against 
Pole  and  all  his  family,  with  the  exception  of 
Sir  Geoffrey.  When  the  news  of  his  mother's 
execution  reached  him,  he  said, '  I  am  now  the 
son  of  a  martyr.  This  is  the  king's  reward 
for  her  care  of  his  daughter's  education;'  but 
added  calmly, '  Let  us  be  of  good  cheer.  We 
have  no  w  one  patron  more  in  heaven.'  Deeply 
depressed,  he  found  his  best  comfort  in  the 
quietude  of  Carpentras,  and  with  much  reluc- 
tance obeyed  the  pope's  summons  to  Rome  in 
1540.  The  pope  assigned  him  a  bodyguard ; 


Pole 

and,  in  order  to  supply  him  with  means  suit- 
able to  his  birth  and  station,  conferred  on  him 
what  was  called  the  legation  of  the  patrimony, 
that  is  to  say,  the  secular  government  of  that 
portion  of  the  States  of  the  Church  called  the 
patrimony  of  St.  Peter.  Viterbo  was  the 
capital  of  the  district  which  lay  between  the 
Tiber  and  Tuscany.  Pole's  government  was 
distinguished  by  a  leniency  strongly  contrast- 
ing with  Henry  VIII's  severity.  After  the 
arrest  of  two  Englishmen,  who,  on  examina- 
tion, were  compelled  to  confess  that  they  had 
been  sent  to  assassinate  him,  he  remitted  the 
•capital  penalty,  and  merely  sent  them  for  a 
few  days  to  the  galleys. 

In  1541,  when  Contarini  was  despatched 
by  the  pope  to  the  diet  at  Ratisbon,  he  took 
counsel  with  Pole,  and  never  was  the  breach 
between  Rome  and  the  protestants  more 
nearly  healed  than  by  their  able  and  concilia- 
tory policy.  Pole  appreciated  clearly  the  fact 
that  the  heart  of  the  controversy  lay  in  the 
doctrine  of  justification,  on  which,  indeed,  his 
own  views  were  not  unlike  those  of  Luther, 
and  on  this  subject  an  understanding  was 
almost  arrived  at. 

In  1542  he  was  one  of  the  three  legates 
appointed  by  the  pope  to  open  the  council 
of  Trent ;  but  delays  followed,  and  the  council 
only  met  for  despatch  of  business  in  Decem- 
ber 1545.  He  spent  some  time  of  the  interval 
in  writing  the  treatise  l  De  Concilio.'  He 
was  with  his  two  colleagues  at  Trent  when  a 
solemn  commencement  was  made  on  13  Dec., 
after  which  there  was  an  adjournment  over 
Christmas  till  7  Jan.  1546.  Then  matters 
proceeded  smoothly  till  the  fifth  session  in 
June,  when  a  rheumatic  attack  compelled 
Pole  to  leave  for  his  friend  Priuli's  country 
house  at  Padua,  whence  he  corresponded 
with  the  council,  and  gave  his  opinion  on  the 
•decrees  it  passed.  The  subject  at  that  time 
was  justification,  and  ungenerous  sneers  have 
been  pointed  at  his  illness  as  a  diplomatic  one, 
because  his  own  view  in  that  matter  inclined 
to  the  protestant  side. 

He  returned  to  Rome  on  16  Nov.  by 
permission  of  the  pope,  who  found  his  ser- 
vices of  value  in  his  correspondence  with 
foreign  courts.  When  news  reached  Pole  of 
the  death  of  Henry  VIII  (January  1547),  he 
was  anxious  that  the  pope  should  use  the  em- 
peror's aid  to  reclaim  his  native  country  from 
schism.  He  strongly  urged  the  pope  to  send 
legates  to  the  emperor  and  to  France  ;  while 
he  wrote  to  the  privy  council,  representing 
that  now  it  would  be  necessary  to  redress 
many  wrongs  done  during  the  late  reign,  but 
that  he  would  not  press  those  done  to  himself 
-and  his  own  family  more  than  was  consistent 
with  the  public  peace.  He  warned  the  coun- 


39 


Pole 


cil,  however,  that  no  firm  foundation  could 
belaid  for  future  prosperity  without  the  Holy 
See,  and  that  the  English  people  were  fortu- 
nate in  having  a  pope  to  whom  their  interests 
were  very  dear.  The  privy  council  declined 
to  receive  his  messenger. 

Pole  was  not  discouraged.  Next  year  he 
sent  to  England  his  trusted  servant  Throg- 
morton  to  remonstrate  on  the  incivility  with 
which  he  had  been  treated,  and  to  point  out 
the  dangers  of  their  situation,  especially  if  the 
emperor  broke  with  England  on  account  of 
changes  in  religion.  Throgmorton  failed  to 
obtain  an  audience,  but  received  an  indirect 
answer  from  the  Protector  Somerset  that  any 
letters  the  cardinal  might  write  privately 
would  be  fully  considered,  and  that  any  emis- 
sary he  might  choose  to  send  into  France  or 
Flanders,  to  speak  for  him,  would  have  a 
passport  sent  him  to  come  to  England  (State 
Papers,  Domestic,  Edw.  VI,  vol.  v.  No.  9). 
A  few  months  later,  on  6  April  1549,  Pole 
despatched  two  special  messengers  to  the  pro- 
tector, and  a  letter  to  Dudley,  earl  of  War- 
wick, offering,  if  they  declined  to  allow  his 
own  return,  to  repair  to  some  neutral  place 
near  the  English  Channel  to  discuss  points 
of  difference.  Although  his  messengers  this 
time  were  treated  with  courtesy,  they  were 
dismissed  with  a  written  answer  repudiating 
any  wish  for  conciliation.  Pole  wrote,  the 
letter  said,  like  a  foreign  prince.  They  in 
England  had  no  need  of  the  pope.  If  Pole 
wished  to  return  to  his  country,  the  council 
would  mediate  for  his  pardon;  and  to  show 
him  the  true  state  of  matters  there  with  re- 
spect to  religion,  they  sent  him  a  copy  of 
the  new  prayer-book  approved  by  parliament 
(ib.  vol.  vii.  No.  28). 

Pole  still  persevered,  and  again  sent  two 
messengers  to  England  with  a  long  letter 
(7  Sept.  1549)  to  the  protector,  in  which  he 
pointed  out  that  he  had  done  no  offence, 
either  to  Edward  or  even  to  his  father,  for 
which  he  should  require  a  pardon.  As  to 
their  proceedings  in  religion,  he  was  not  con- 
vinced of  their  sincerity.  While  he  was  con- 
cluding, news  reached  him  of  the  rebellions 
in  Norfolk  and  the  west  of  England,  which 
seemed  a  sufficient  commentary  on  all  that 
he  had  said.  Among  the  fifteen  articles  of 
the  western  rebels,  the  twelfth  was  a  demand 
that  Cardinal  Pole  should  be  sent  for  from 
Rome  and  admitted  to  the  king's  council 
(STRYPE,  Cranmer,  App.  835,  ed.  1812). 

On  10  Nov.  1549  Pole's  friend  Paul  III 
died,  one  of  his  last  acts  being  to  confer  upon 
Pole  the  abbacy  of  Gavello  or  Canalnuovo  in 
Polesina.  There  was  much  betting  at  bankers' 
shops  in  Rome  as  to  his  successor,  and  Pole's 
name  soon  distanced  all  competitors.  One 


Pole 


Pole 


evening  two  cardinals  came  to  visit  Pole  in 
his  cell,  and  begged  him,  as  he  had  already 
two-thirds  of  the  votes  of  the  conclave,  to 
come  into  the  chapel,  where  they  would  make 
him  pope  by  '  adoration.'  Pole,  who  was  as 
much  impressed  with  the  responsibilities  as 
with  the  dignity  of  St.  Peter's  chair,  induced 
them  to  put  the  ceremony  off  till  the  morning, 
and  thus  lost  his  chance.  His  supporters 
were  mainly  those  cardinals  who  favoured  the 
emperor,  and  they  remained  steady  to  him 
throughout  the  protracted  contest.  But  to- 
wards its  close  the  French  party  gained  head ; 
a  compromise  was  thought  advisable,  and 
Pole  himself  cordially  agreed  to  the  election 
of  Cardinal  de  Monte,  who  then  easily  car- 
ried the  day  (8  Feb.  1550),  and  took  the  name 
of  Julius  III.  Pole,  it  is  said,  in  the  expecta- 
tion of  being  elected,  composed  an  oration  to 
thank  the  assembled  cardinals  (GKATTANUS, 
De  Casibus  Virorumlllustrium^.  219).  He 
undoubtedly  prepared  a  treatise, '  De  Summo 
Pontifice,'  on  the  powers  and  duties  of  the 
papal  office.  The  new  pope,  who  had  not 
favoured  Pole's  own  claim,  was  greatly 
touched  by  his  disinterestedness.  Though  in 
June  1550  he  conferred  on  another  cardinal 
the  legation  of  the  patrimony  given  to  Pole 
by  his  predecessor,  he  charged  the  revenues 
with  a  pension  of  one  hundred  crowns  for 
Pole,  and  appointed  him  one  of  three  cardi- 
nals to  draw  up  the  bull  for  the  resumption 
of  the  council  at  Trent.  The  emperor,  too, 
gave  Pole  a  pension  of  two  thousand  ducats  out 
of  the  see  of  Burgos,  and  another  out  of  that 
of  Granada;  but  these  were  irregularly  paid. 
The  council  of  Trent  was  abruptly  sus- 
pended in  April  1552  in  consequence  of  the 
war  in  Europe,  and  Pole,  anxious  to  be  out  of 
the  turmoil  both  of  war  and  politics,  retired, 
with  the  pope's  leave,  in  the  spring  of  1553  to 
the  monastery  of  Maguzzano  on  the  Lago  di 
Garda  belonging  to  the  Benedictine  order,  of 
which  he  had  for  some  years  been  cardinal 
protector.  Here  he  acceded  to  the  wish  of  his 
friends  to  prepare  for  publication  his  treatise 
'  Pro  Defensione,'  which  had  been  set  up  in 
type  with  the  pope's  sanction  but  without 
Pole's  knowledge  and  in  his  absence  from 
Eome  in  1539.  The  text  apparently  followed 
a  first  draft  divided  into  four  books  :  the  ma- 
nuscript sent  to  Henry  VIII  (which  is  now  in 
the  Record  Office)  was  one  connected  treatise. 
There  were  also  some  variations,  the  most  im- 
portant of  which  were  the  passages  alluding 
to  the  king's  connection  with  Mary  Boleyn, 
which  in  the  manuscript  sent  to  the  king  he 
suppressed.  All  that  the  book  needed  was 
a  preface.  This  Pole  now  drew  up  in  the 
form  of  a  letter  to  Edward  VI,  in  which  he 
explained,  as  delicately  as  he  could,  the  cir- 


cumstances which  had  led  him  to  compose 
the  work,  and  vindicated  his  own  loyalty  and 
regard  for  the  late  king's  best  interests.  But 
before  this  letter  was  sent  to  press  Edward  VI 
was  dead,  and  the  preface  remained  in  manu- 
script till  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  when 
it  was  included  by  Quirini  in  the  great  edi- 
tion of  Pole's  correspondence.  The  treatise 
itself  appeared,  without  any  preface  or  date 
of  publication,  in  1554  (Cal.  State  Papers  f 
Venetian,  vol.  v.  No.  901).  Next  year  a, 
second  edition  was  published  by  protestant 
hands  in  Germany,  with  a  number  of  anti- 
papal  tracts  appended,  and  a  letter  prefixed 
from  the  pen  of  Vergerius  (once  a  papal  legate, 
but  then  a  protestant),  repeating,  with  strong 
party  spirit,  an  old  insinuation  that  the  work 
had  been  kept  back  from  publication  dis- 
honestly. Pole  was  more  troubled  by  other 
malicious  insinuations  made  in  past  years 
against  his  character  at  Rome.  His  rivals- 
in  the  papal  election  had  imputed  to  him 
heresy  in  doctrine,  overgreat  lenity  in  his  go- 
vernment at  Viterbo,  and  personal  impurity. 
He  was  moved  to  write  a  defence  of  himself, 
which  Cardinal  Caraff'a  wisely  advised  him. 
not  to  publish.  As  others,  however,  took  a 
different  view,  he  only  refrained  in  deference 
to  the  pope  himself,  to  whom  he  referred  the 
matter.  The  scandal  that  he  had  a  natural 
child  rested  on  the  fact  that  he  had  rescued 
a  poor  English  girl,  whose  mother  had  died 
at  Rome,  from  the  danger  of  an  immoral  life 
by  placing  her  in  a  Roman  convent.  As 
Cardinal  Caraffa,  Pole's  warm  friend  hitherto, 
disbelieved  these  imputations,  it  is  not  quite 
clear  how  they  led  to  a  temporary  coolness- 
on  his  part.  Such,  however,  is  the  fact,  and, 
though  CarafFa  soon  confessed  his  error  and 
expressed  the  highest  esteem  for  Pole,  some 
grudge  remained,  and  was  revived  a  few  years 
later,  when  Caraffa  became  Paul  IV. 

The  news  of  Edward  VI's  death,  soon  fol- 
lowed by  that  of  Mary's  bloodless  triumph 
over  the  factious  attempt  to  prevent  her  suc- 
cession, reached  Pole  at  La  Garda  early  in 
August.  He  at  once  wrote  to  the  pope  of 
the  hopeful  prospect  of  recovering  England 
from  disorder  and  schism.  Julius  III  had 
already  taken  action,  and  sent  to  Pole  briefs 
and  a  commission  constituting  him  legate  to- 
Queen  Mary  as  well  as  to  the  emperor  and  to 
Henry  II  of  France,  through  whose  territory 
he  might  pass  on  his  way  to  England.  On 
this  Pole  wrote  to  the  queen  congratulating- 
her  on  her  accession,  and  asking  directions, 
as  to  the  time  and  mode  in  which  he  might 
best  discharge  his  legation  and  restore  papal 
authority.  The  queen  shared  his  anxiety,  but 
in  other  quarters  the  opinion  prevailed  that 
England  was  far  too  unsettled  to  receive  a 


Pole 


Pole 


legate  yet.     The  emperor  held  that  Mary 
ought  to  be  married  to  his  son  Philip  before 
the  relations  of  England  to  the  see  of  Rome 
could  be  satisfactorily  adjusted,  and  deemec 
it  prudent  to  keep  Pole  out  of  the  way  til 
that  marriage  was  accomplished.  In  Englanc 
it  was  suggested  that  Pole  should  come  to 
England  and  marry  the  queen  himself.    Pol 
had  no  such  aspirations,  and  wrote  to  the 
emperor  of  the  great  importance  of  imme- 
diately reconciling  England  with  Eome.  But 
the  more  worldly-minded  pope,  Julius  III 
perceived  that  postponement  was  inevitable 
and,  in  order  to  preserve  Pole's  mission  from 
an  appearance  of  undignified  inactivity,  made 
over  to  him  the  unpromising  task  of  endea- 
vouring to  make  peace  between  the  emperor 
and  Henry  II.     With  this  further  mission 
imposed  on  him,  Pole  decided  to  visit  the 
emperor  at  Brussels,  and  on  his  way  arrived 
on  1  Oct.  at  Trent.     Thence,  in  a  second 
letter  to  Mary,  he  protested  against  the  delay 
of  the  religious  settlement.  Passing  through 
the  Tyrol,  he  stayed  some  days  with  the  car- 
dinal-bishop of  Augsburg,  at  Dillingen,  on 
the  Danube,  where  he  received  Mary's  reply 
to  his  first  note,  stating  that  she  could  not 
restore  papal  authority  offhand.     The  mes- 
senger, Henry  Penning,  also  brought  secret 
messages  bidding  Pole  travel  slowly  towards 
Brussels,  where  he  would  receive  letters  from 
her  again.     His  nephew,  Thomas  Stafford, 
visited  him  at  Dillingen,  and  spoke  sharply 
against  Mary's  proposed  union  with  Philip. 
Pole  rebuked  his  presumption.     A  few  days 
later,  when  three  leagues  from  Dillingen,  he 
was  met  by  Don  Juan  de  Mendoza,  who  told 
him  that  the  emperor  thought  both  his  mis- 
sions untimely,  and  wished  him  to  come  no 
further  till  a  more  favourable  opportunity. 
Pole  remonstrated,  but  returned  to  Dillingen 
to  await  the  pope's  commands. 

That  Pole  when  he  went  to  England  would 
at  once  have  the  first  place  in  Mary  s  confidence 
was  generally  anticipated.  Accordingly  the 
emperor  stopped  even  his  messengers  going 
over  to  her,  and  the  agents  of  the  English  go- 
vernment did  the  same  (cf.  Neyoc.  deNoailles, 
ii.  224;  Cal.  State  Papers,  For.,  Mary,  p.  34). 
Mary  now  wrote  to  him,  in  official  Latin,  that 
his  immediate  coming  would  be  inexpedient, 
and  subsequently  that  his  coming  as  legate 
would  be  extremely  dangerous.  The  pope  en- 
deavoured to  meet  the  difficulty  by  granting 
Pole  permission,  if  he  found  it  expedient,  to 
go  to  England  as  a  private  person,  resuming 
the  legatine  capacity  when  he  could  do  so  with 
prudence.  Pole,  however,  found  a  new  envoy 
to  plead  his  cause  with  the  emperor  in  the 
person  of  Friar  Peter  Soto,  once  his  majesty's 
confessor,  now  professor  of  divinity  in  the 


university  of  Dillingen,  whom  he  sent  to 
Brussels  in  November.  Soto's  persuasions 
seem  to  have  been  effective,  or  Charles  him- 
self felt  that  Pole  could  no  longer  do  much 
harm  at  Brussels.  On  22  Dec.  the  emperor 
invited  him  thither,  and  in  January  1554  he 
gave  him  a  magnificent  reception. 

Mary's  marriage  was  practically  concluded. 
Pole,  who  had  kept  silence  on  the  subject, 
declared,  when  asked  his  private  opinion  by 
Soto,  that  he  thought  the  queen  would  do 
well  not  to  marry  at  all.  Wyatt's  rebellion  in 
January  justified  at  once  such  an  opinion  and 
the  emperor's  argument  that  England  was 
not  '  mature '  for  a  legate.  Pole  was  driven 
to  occupy  himself  with  his  second  mission — 
for  peace  between  the  emperor  and  France. 
And  as  the  emperor's  ministers  affirmed  that 
the  obstacles  to  an  honourable  peace  did  not 
proceed  from  him,  he  in  February  left 
Brussels  for  Paris.  On  his  way  he  drew  up  a, 
very  able  address  to  both  princes,  full  of  argu- 
ments, alike  from  past  experience  and  from 
policy,  against  the  continuance  of  the  war. 
He  arrived  at  St.  Denis  on  12  March ;  the 
French  king  received  him  at  Fontamebleau 
on  the  29th.  He  remained  there  till  5  April, 
and  made  a  public  entry  into  Paris  on  the  8th. 
He  met  with  a  very  gratifying  reception  in 
France.  Personally  he  produced  a  most  fa- 
vourable impression  on  Henry  II ;  but  the 
conferences,  though  encouraging,  held  out 
slender  hopes  of  peace. 

On  his  return  to  Brussels  he  was  very  coolly 
received  by  the  emperor  (21  April),  owing  to 
growing  rumours  of  his  dislike  of  Mary's  mar- 
riage. Pole  vindicated  the  reticence  he  had 
maintained  in  the  first  instance,  and  declared 
that  he  cordially  accepted  the  queen's  deci- 
sion when  announced  to  him,  believing  that 
it  was  taken  with  a  view  to  reform  religion, 
and,  if  possible,  secure  the  succession.  Pole 
soon  found,  however,  that  the  emperor  wished 
tiim  to  be  recalled.  Pole  referred  the  matter 
to  the  pope,  but  in  the  meantime  remained 
at  Brussels,  while  Philip  went  to  England 
and  was  married.  On  11  July  Pole  sent 
Philip  a  letter  of  congratulation. 

Pole  had  already  been  consulted  by  Mary 
n  spiritual  matters,  and  had  rendered  him- 
self indispensable.  Neither  the  church  nor 
the  realm  of  England  had  yet  been  reconciled 
to  Rome.  But  numerous  bishops  and  married 
clergy  had  already  been  deprived,  and  as  their 
)laces  could  only  be  filled  by  recourse  either 
;o  the  papal  legate  or  to  the  pope,  the  queen 
lad  presented  twelve  bishops  to  Pole,  of 
whom  six  were  consecrated  on  1  April.  The 
>osition  of  affairs  rendered  Pole's  presence  in 
England  absolutely  necessary,  and  the  pope 
irged  the  emperor  not  to  keep  Pole  away 


Pole 


Pole 


any  longer.  But  Pole's  attainder  had  still  to 
be  reversed  in  parliament,  and,  from  what 
was  reported  of  his  views  on  the  subject,  the 
possessors  of  church  property  felt  that  his 
coming  might  threaten  their  titles.  The  pope 
was  willing  to  remove  the  latter  difficulty, 
and  gave  the  legate  large  dispensing  powers, 
so  that  holders  of  church  lands  might  not  be 
disturbed.  But  the  emperor,  whose  interests 
were  now  the  same  with  those  of  the  king  and 
queen,  was  not  satisfied  that  these  powers 
were  large  enough.  The  traditional  unpopu- 
larity of  legatine  jurisdiction  in  England, 
which  could  only  be  exercised  by  royal  license, 
made  it  moreover  desirable  to  carefully  weigh 
the  terms  on  which  it  was  conceded  before  the 
legate  arrived. 

Pole  was  in  despair.  He  wrote  a  power- 
ful letter  of  expostulation  to  Philip,  declar- 
ing that  he  had  been  a  year  knocking  at  the 
palace  gates,  although  he  had  suffered  long 
years  of  exile  only  for  maintaining  Mary's 
rights  to  the  succession.  Philip,  in  reply,  sent 
over  Renard,  the  imperial  ambassador  at  the 
English  court,  to  Brussels  to  confer  with  him. 
The  main  difficulty  was  about  the  church  pro- 
perty in  secular  hands.  Pole  refused  to  re- 
cognise the  title  of  the  lay  proprietors,  or  to 
strike  a  bargain  with  them  on  behalf  of  the 
church.  But  general  and  immediate  restitu- 
tion was  clearly  out  of  the  question,  and  he 
at  length  consented  to  leave  the  matter  in 
abeyance,  in  the  hope  that  the  king  and  queen 
and  other  holders  of  church  property  would 
as  a  matter  of  conscience  restore  what  and 
when  they  could.  The  divines  at  Rome  took 
the  more  practical  view  that  the  alienation  of 
church  goods  was  justifiable,  if  it  proved 
the  means  of  restoring  a  realm  to  the  faith 
(Upp.iv.  170-2). 

Renard  was  satisfied  with  Pole's  assurance, 
and  Lords  Paget  and  Hastings  (the  latter  a 
nephew  of  Pole's)  were  sent  to  conduct  him 
to  England  (November).  The  queen  prayed 
him  to  come  not  as  legate,  but  only  as  cardinal 
and  ambassador.  On  12  Nov.  parliament  re- 
versed his  attainder.  Travelling  by  gentle 
stages,  on  account  of  his  weak  health,  through 
Ghent  and  Bruges,  he  was  received  at  Calais 
on  19  Nov.  with  many  peals  of  bells  and 
salvoes  of  artillery.  Next  morning  he  reached 
Dover  in  a  royal  yacht. 

There  he  was  saluted  bv  Anthonv  Browne, 


iirst  viscount  Montague  [q.v.],  Thirlby,  bishop 
of  Ely,  and  a  number  of  the  nobility,  who 
brought  him  a  letter  from  the  queen,  to 
which  Philip  had  added  a  few  words  in  his 
own  hand, thanking  him  for  coming.  Nicholas 
Ilarpsfield  [q.  v.],  archdeacon  of  Canterbury, 
inquired  in  behalf  of  the  chapter  whether  he 
would  be  received  in  that  city  as  legate.  But 


he  declined,  as  the  realm  was  still  schismati- 
cal,  and  the  queen  had  not  desired  it.  At- 
tended by  a  large  company  of  noblemen  and 
gentlemen,  Pole  rode  on  to  Canterbury,  which 
he  entered  by  torchlight.  Harpsfield  received 
him  with  a  fine  oration,  which  moved  the 
company  to  tears.  But  Pole  stopped  his 
oratory  when,  towards  the  close,  the  speaker 
turned  the  discourse  to  eulogy  of  himself.  At 
Rochester  a  request  that  he  would  come  to 
her  as  legate  reached  Pole  from  the  queen.  A 
patent  had  already  been  granted  him  on  the 
10th,  in  advance  of  his  coming,  to  enable  him 
to  exercise  legatine  functions  in  England 
(WiLKiNS,  iv.  109).  At  Gravesend  his  ca- 


valcade had  increased  to  five  hundred  horse. 
There  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury  and  Tunstall, 
bishop  of  Durham,  presented  him  with  letters 
under  the  great  seal,  certifying  the  repeal  of 
all  laws  passed  against  him  in  the  two  pre- 
ceding reigns  (Lords'  Journals,  i.  469).  From 
Gravesend  he  sailed  up  the  Thames  in  the 
queen's  barge,  with  his  silver  cross  fixed  in 
the  prow  (24  Nov.)  The  king  and  queen 
received  him  most  cordially  at  Whitehall, 
and  in  the  presence  chamber  he,  under  a 
canopy  of  state,  formally  presented  to  them 
the  briefs  of  his  legation.  H  e  then  was  con- 
ducted by  Gardiner  to  Lambeth  Palace. 

Three  days  later  (27  Nov.)  Secretary  Petre 
[see  PETKE,  SIE,  WILLIAM]  summoned  the 
two  houses  of  parliament  to  court  to  hear  a 
declaration  from  the  legate.  Pole,  despite  a 
weak  voice,  delivered  a  long  oration,  in  which 
he  said  he  was  come  to  restore  the  lost  glory 
of  the  kingdom.  On  the  feast  of  St.  Andrew 
(30  Nov.)  lords  and  commons  presented  a  joint 
supplication  to  the  king  and  queen,  who  there- 
upon publicly  interceded  with  the  legate  to 
absolve  them  from  their  long  schism  and  dis- 
obedience. Pole,  who  was  seated,  uttered  a 
few  words  about  the  special  grace  shown  by 
God  to  a  repentant  nation,  then  he  rose  and 
pronounced  the  words  of  absolution. 

On  2  Dec.,  the  first  Sunday  in  Advent,  he 
proceeded  in  state,  at  the  invitation  of  the 
corporation,  to  St.  Paul's.  High  mass  was 
celebrated,  and  Bishop  Gardiner  preached 
from  the  text  (Rom.  xiii.  11),  '  It  is  high  time 
to  awake  out  of  sleep.'  On  Thursday  follow- 
ing (6  Dec.)  the  two  houses  of  convocation 
came  before  Pole  at  Lambeth,  and,  kneeling, 
received  absolution  '  for  all  their  perjuries, 
schisms,  and  heresies.'  The  Act  1  &  2  Phil. 
and  Mary,  c.  8,  for  restoring  the  pope's  supre- 
macy, was  passed  in  January  1555. 

Julius  III  published  a  jubilee  to  celebrate 
the  restoration  of  his  authority  in  England, 
but  he  died  on  5  March  following.  Pole  was 
spoken  of  at  Rome  as  his  successor,  but  Mar- 
cellus  II  was  elected  on  9  April  1555.  He 


Pole 


43 


Pole 


survived  his  elevation  o.nly  three  weeks,  dying 
on  30  April,  and  at  the  second  vacancy  both 
Queen  Mary  and  the  court  of  France  bestirred 
themselves  in  Pole's  favour.  But  on  23  May 
Cardinal  Caraffa  became  pope  as  Paul  IV. 
Pole  himself,  meanwhile,  was  more  concerned 
about  the  re-establishment  of  peace  in  Europe. 
Peace  conferences  were  presently  arranged  to 
take  place  at  Marck,  near  Calais,  on  the  borders 
of  the  two  hostile  countries  of  France  and 
the  empire,  and  he  crossed  to  Calais  in  the 
middle  of  May  to  act  as  president.  The  pro- 
spect, however,  did  not  improve,  and  within 
a  month  the  conferences  were  broken  off, 
and  he  returned  to  England. 

On  10  June  Paul  IV  held  his  first  con- 
sistory at  Home,  when  English  ambassadors 
declared  their  nation's  repentance  for  past 
errors.  Paul  ratified  all  that  Pole  had  done, 
and  said  no  honour  could  be  paid  to  him 
which  would  not  fall  short  of  his  merits. 
After  a  month's  stay  in  Rome  the  ambassa- 
dors returned  to  England  with  various  bulls, 
one  among  them  being  directed  against  the 
alienation  of  church  property.  The  bull 
might  perhaps  have  been  construed  not  to 
apply  to  the  owners  of  church  property  in 
England,  whose  rights  had  already  been  re- 
cognised both  .by  the  legate  and  by  the 
holy  see.  But  it  was  felt  at  once  to  be  con- 
trary to  the  spirit  of  the  compromise  which 
Pole  had  accepted.  He  therefore  insisted 
on  the  necessity  of  excepting  England  by 
name  from  its  operation.  A  new  bull  to  that 
effect  was  issued  without  hesitation,  and  was 
read  at  Paul's  Cross  in  September  (TYTLEE, 
Edward  VI  and  Mary,  ii.  483). 

Before  Philip  left  England  for  Brussels  in 
October  he  placed  the  queen  specially  under 
the  care  of  the  cardinal,  who  thereupon  took 
up  his  abode  in  Greenwich  Palace ;  and  he 
paid  a  private  visit  to  Pole  himself  to  induce 
him  to  undertake  a  supervision  of  the  coun- 
cil's proceedings.  Pole  acquiesced,  appa- 
rently so  far  as  to  receive  reports  of  what 
was  done  in  the  council,  and  to  be  a  referee 
when  matters  of  dispute  arose ;  but  otherwise 
he  declined  to  interfere  with  secular  business 
(Cal  of  State  Papers,  Venetian,  vi.  178-9; 
comp.  NOAILLES,  v.  126).  He  seems  never  to 
have  attended  the  council. 

The  church's  affairs  were  all-absorbing. 
Cranmer,  the  imprisoned  archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, wished  to  confer  with  Pole  per- 
sonally. This  the  legate  declined,  as  incon- 
sistent with  his  office;  but  he  wrote  to  Cran- 
mer twice,  in  ansvr -r  to  letters  to  himself 
and  to  the  queen.  The  proceedings  taken  in 
England  against  Cranmer  were  sent  to  Rome 
for  judgment,  where  sentence  of  deprivation 
being  pronounced  against  him,  the  admini- 


stration of  the  see  of  Canterbury  was  com- 
mitted on  11  Dec.  to  Pole.  At  the  same 
time  Pole  was  raised  from  the  dignity  of 
cardinal-deacon  to  that  of  cardinal-priest. 
The  queen  designed  him  to  succeed  Cranmer 
as  archbishop.  Though  he  felt  it  a  serious 
additional  responsibility,  he  agreed  to  accept 
the  primacy,  on  the  understanding  that  he 
should  not  be  compelled  again  to  go  to  Rome. 
With  the  bull  appointing  him  to  Canterbury, 
Pole  received  a  brief  confirming  him  in  his 
old  office  of  legate  for  the  negotiation  of 
peace.  Immediately  afterwards  Pole  rejoiced 
to  find  that,  without  his  intervention,  a  five 
years' truce  was  arranged  between  the  French 
Jking  and  Philip,  now  king  of  Spain,  at  Vau- 
celles  (5  Feb.  1556). 

On  4  Nov.  1555  Pole,  having  a  warrant 
under  the  great  seal  for  his  protection,  had 
caused  a  synod  of  both  the  convocations  to 
assemble  before  him  as  legate  in  the  chapel 
royal  at  Westminster.  Gardiner's  death  on 
the  12th  deprivedPole  of  very  powerful  aid  in 
that  reform  and  settlement  of  the  affairs  of 
the  church  which  was  the  great  object  of  this 
synod.  It  continued  sitting  till  February 
following,  when  it  was  prorogued  till  No- 
vember, the  results  of  its  deliberations  being 
meanwhile  published  on  10  Feb.  1556,  under 
the  title  '  Reformatio  Angliae  ex  decretis 
Reginaldi  Poli,  Cardinalis,  Sedis  Apostolicse 
Legati.'  In  the  first  of  these  decrees  it 
was  enjoined  that  sermons  and  processions 
through  the  streets  should  take  place  yearly 
on  the  feast  of  St.  Andrew,  to  celebrate  the 
reconciliation  of  the  realm  to  Rome. 

On  20  March  1557,  at  Greenwich,  he  was 
ordained  a  priest  at  the  Grey  Friars  church, 
and  there  next  day,  when  Cranmer  was  burnt 
at  Oxford,  he  celebrated  mass  for  the  first 
time.  On  Sunday  the  22nd  he  was  conse- 
crated at  the  same  church  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  by  Heath,  archbishop  of  York, 
assisted  by  Bonner  and  five  other  bishops  of 
the  province  of  Canterbury  (STKYPE,  Eccl. 
Mem.  iii.  287, 1st  ed.)  He  would  have  gone  to 
Canterbury  to  be  enthroned,  but  as  the  queen 
desired  his  presence  in  London,  he  deputed 
one  of  the  canons  to  act  as  his  proxy  there, 
and  received  the  pallium  in  great  state  on 
Ladyday  at  the  church  of  St.  Mary-le-Bow. 
On  entering  the  church  a  paper  was  handed 
to  him  by  the  parishioners,  requesting  that 
he  would  favour  them  with  a  discourse,  which 
he  did  extempore  and  with  great  fluency  at 
the  close  of  the  proceedings. 

After  Gardiner's  death  Pole  was  elected 
chancellor  of  the  university  of  Cambridge. 
He  acknowledged  the  compliment  in  a  grace- 
ful letter,  dated  from  Greenwich  1  April 
1556  (which  the  editor  of  his  letters,  Epp. 


Pole 


44 


Pole 


v.  88,  has  inaccurately  headed  '  Collegio 
Oxoniensi').  On  26  Oct.  following  Oxford 
paid  him  the  same  honour,  on  the  resignation 
of  Sir  John  Mason  [q.  v.]  'He  had  previously 
issued  a  commission  for  the  visitation  of  both 
universities,  and  he  soon  manifested  his  ac- 
tivity in  revising  the  statutes  at  Oxford. 
Ignatius  Loyola  had  invited  him  to  send 
English  youths  to  Rome  for  their  education, 
but  Pole,  much  occupied  with  the  reform  of 
the  English  church  and  universities,  appa- 
rently found  no  opportunity  to  accept  this 
invitation  (Epp.  v.  115-20).  He  was  inte- 
rested in  Loyola's  new  Society  of  Jesus,  and 
Loyola  on  his  part  followed  with  admiration 
Pole's  work  in  England.  They  had  corre- 
sponded at  times  from  the  days  of  Pole's 
government  of  Viterbo. 

Both  Mary  and  Pole  had  underestimated 
the  difficulties  of  reconciling  the  realm  to 
Rome.  With  regard  to  church  property,  the 
most  ample  papal  indulgence  could  not  allay 
all  disquiet  when  the  sovereign  herself  de- 
clined to  take  advantage  of  it,  and  was  sur- 
rendering the  religious  property  in  the  hands 
of  the  crown.  The  abrogated  laws  against 
heresy  had  been  revived  by  parliament  just 
before  Pole's  arrival  in  England,  and  his  con- 
nection with  their  enforcement  was  merely 
official.  But,  like  Sir  Thomas  More  and  all 
good  catholics  of  the  old  school,  he  thought 
the  propagation  of  false  opinion  an  evil  for 
which  no  punishment  was  too  extreme. 
With  the  actual  conduct  of  prosecutions  he 
seems  to  have  had  nothing  to  do  (cf.  Dixox, 
Hist,  of  the  Church  of  England,  iv.  573). 
Three  condemned  heretics  in  Bonner's  diocese 
were  pardoned  on  an  appeal  to  him.  He 
merely  enjoined  a  penance  and  gave  them 
absolution  (ib.  p.  582). 

But  Pole  had  to  face  difficulties  in  an  un- 
expected quarter.  Paul  IV,  a  hot-blooded 
Neapolitan,  longed  to  drive  the  Spaniards 
out  of  Naples.  War  broke  out  between  him 
and  Philip  in  Italy,  and  Pole  found  that  his 
sovereign  had  become  the  pope's  enemy.  He 
strongly  urged  on  Philip  the  unseemliness  of 
making  war  on  Christ's  vicar.  But  the  storm 
extended  itself ;  the  pope  made  alliance  with 
France,  and  the  war  so  recently  suspended 
between  France  and  Spain  was  again  re- 
newed. Pole  now  urged  Mary  not  to  declare 
herself  against  France  on  account  of  her 
husband's  quarrel.  But  Philip  came  back  to 
England  in  March  1557  with  the  express 
object  of  implicating  her  in  his  struggle  with 
France,  upon  which  Pole  retired  to  his  cathe- 
dral city,  explaining  to  him  privately  that 
the  pope's  legate  could  not  visit  the  pope's 
enemy.  In  April,  however,  Paul  IV  with- 
drew all  his  legates  from  Philip's  dominions 


and  cancelled  the  legation  of  Pole.  Sir  Ed- 
ward Carne,  the  English  ambassador  at 
Rome,  remonstrated.  England  was  neutral, 
and  the  condition  of  the  country  specially  re- 
quired a  legate.  The  pope  recognised  his 
error,  and  lamely  directed  that  the  native 
legateship  always  attached  to  the  see  of  Can- 
terbury should  not  be  included  in  the  act  of 
revocation. 

The  clouds  did  not  disperse.  England  was 
dragged  into  the  war,  and  Pole  was  sum- 
moned from  Canterbury  by  the  king  and 
queen,  on  pain  of  their  displeasure.  Philip 
and  Mary  wrote  joint  letters  to  the  pope  for 
the  full  restoration  of  Pole's  legateship.  Paul 
said  it  would  be  unbecoming  his  dignity  to 
give  back  to  Pole  what  he  had  taken  from 
him ;  besides,  he  wanted  all  his  cardinals  at 
Rome,  to  consult  with  him  in  those  difficult 
times.  Still,  as  Mary  wished  for  a  legate  in 
England,  he  appointed  in  Pole's  place  her 
old  confessor,  Friar  William  Peto  [q.  v.]  A 
brief  was  sent  to  Pole  relieving  him  of  his 
legateship,  and  requiring  his  presence  at 
Rome.  Mary,  against  Pole's  wish,  directed 
the  papal  messenger  to  be  detained  at  Calais, 
and  requested  Pole  to  continue  his  legatine 
functions.  Pole  refused,  and  despatched  his 
auditor,  Niccolo  Ormanetto,  to  Rome  to  in- 
form the  pope  of  the  state  of  the  case  (see  ex- 
tracts from  his  unprinted  letter  to  the  pope 
in  DIXON'S  Hist,  of  the  Church  of  England, 
iv.  674-5,  w.)  He  objected  that  the  pope  had 
not  only  deprived  him  of  his  legation,  but  in- 
sinuated that  he  was  a  heretic ;  and  that  no 
pope  had  ever  called  a  legate  into  suspicion 
on  such  grounds  while  actually  exercising  his 
legatine  functions,  or  had  replaced  him  by 
another,  without  first  citing  him  to  plead 
his  own  cause  and  justify  himself  of  the 
charge  (STRYPE,  Eccl.  Memorials,  iii.  34, 
ed.  1822).  Ormanetto  was  admitted  to  an 
audience  by  the  pope  on  4  Sept.,  and  spoke 
discreetly  in  Pole's  behalf. 

The  fortunes  of  war  had  just  compelled 
Paul  to  conclude  a  peace  with  Philip,  and 
he  found  it  expedient  to  be  conciliatory.  He 
assured  Ormanetto  that  he  considered  the 
rumours  of  Pole's  heresy  malicious,  and  said 
that  he  would  send  his  nephew,  Cardinal 
Caraffa,  to  Flanders  to  arrange  all  diffe- 
rences. But  to  others  he  maligned  Pole  as 
a  heretic  with  a  malevolence  almost  sug- 
gesting insanity,  and  spoke  with  bitterness 
of  all  Pole's  friends.  He  had  imprisoned 
Pole's  disciple,  Cardinal  Morone,  mainly  be- 
cause he  was  a  disciple  of  Pole.  When  the 
Venetian  ambassador  at  Rome  requested  the 
pope  to  give  the  bishopric  of  Brescia  to  Pole's 
ardent  admirer  and  constant  companion  in 
England  and  abroad,  Priuli,  Paul  said  he 


Pole 


45 


Pole 


would  never  consent  to  bestow  it  on  one 
who  was  of  the  English  cardinal's  '  accursed 
school  and  apostate  household.' 

Cardinal  CarafFa,  however,  went  to  the 
Netherlands,  and  Pole  restated  his  case  to 
him  in  correspondence.  He  also  wrote  a 
treatise  in  his  defence,  recounting  his  past 
relations  with  the  pope,  but  threw  it,  when 
completed,  into  the  fire,  saying,  '  Thou 
shalt  not  uncover  thy  father's  nakedness.' 
Finally  he  addressed  to  Paul,  on  30  March 
1558,  a  powerful  letter,  recommending  his 
self-denying  friend  Priuli  for  the  vacant 
bishopric  of  Brescia,  vindicating  himself  from 
the  vague  charges  of  heresy,  and  asking  for 
some  explanation  of  the  pope's  recent  treat- 
ment of  himself. 

In  the  course  of  the  summer  Pole  fell 
mortally  ill  of  a  double  quartan  ague  at  Lam- 
beth Palace.  At  seven  in  the  morning  of 
17  Nov.  Mary,  who  had  been  long  ill,  passed 
away  ;  at  seven  in  the  evening  of  the  same 
day  Pole,  too,  died — so  gently  that  he  seemed 
to  have  fallen  asleep  (Cal.  Venetian,  vol.  vi. 
Nos.  1286-7).  The  cardinal's  body  lay  in 
state  at  Lambeth  till  10  Dec.,  when  it  was 
carried  with  great  pomp  to  Canterbury.  There 
it  was  buried  on  the  15th,  and  it  still  rests 
in  St.  Thomas's  Chapel.  The  place  was  only 
marked  by  the  inscription,  which  has  now 
disappeared  :  '  Depositum  Cardinalis  Poli.' 

Pole  was  a  man  of  slender  build,  of  middle 
stature,  and  of  fair  complexion,  his  beard 
and  hair  in  youth  being  of  a  light  brown 
colour.  His  eye  was  bright  and  cheerful, 
his  countenance  frank  and  open.  Several 
good  portraits  of  him  exist,  in  all  of  which  he 
appears  in  the  vestments  of  a  cardinal,  with 
a  biretta  on  his  head.  One  picture  by  Sebas- 
tian del  Piombo,  now  at  St.  Petersburg  (once 
absurdly  attributed  to  Raphael),  is  a  full- 
faced  portrait,  with  a  large  flowing,  wavy 
beard.  This  must  have  been  painted  at  Rome 
in  the  time  of  Paul  III,  when  he  was  in  his 
fullest  vigour.  A  large  portrait  at  Lambeth 
is  said  to  have  been  copied  for  Archbishop 
Moore  from  an  original  in  Italy.  This  pic- 
ture, with  others  of  the  same  type,  shows  him 
•seated,  with  a  paper  in  his  hand.  Lord  Arun- 
del  of  Wardour  has  a  valuable  small  panel- 
picture  (not  by  Titian,  however,  to  whom  it 
is  attributed),  showing  somewhat  careworn 
features  and  small  blue-grey  eyes.  This 
portrait  has  been  engraved  by  Lodge.  Other 
small  panel-portraits  of  value  are  preserved 
at  Lambeth,  at  Hardwick  Hall  (belonging 
to  the  Duke  of  Devonshire),  and  in  the 
National  Portrait  Gallery.  Two  early  en- 
gravings also  deserve  notice  :  One,  in  the 
*  Hercoologia '  (1620),  gives  the  best  type 
of  his  appearance;  the  other,  which  is  earlier, 


in  Reusner's  '  Icones  '  (Basle,  1589),  shows 
a  more  aged  face.  There  is  much  gentleness 
of  expression  in  all  his  likenesses. 

Pole's  habits  were  ascetic.  He  kept  a 
sumptuous  table,  but  was  himself  abstemious 
in  diet,  taking  only  two  meals  a  day,  pro- 
bably to  the  detriment  of  his  health.  He 
slept  little,  and  commonly  rose  before  day- 
break to  study.  Though  careful  not  to  let 
his  expenditure  exceed  his  income,  he  never 
accumulated  wealth,  but  gave  liberally ;  and 
his  property  after  his  death  seems  barely  to 
have  sufficed  to  cover  a  few  legacies  and  ex- 
penses. 

Seldom  has  any  life  been  animated  by  a 
more  single-minded  purpose,  but  its  aim 
was  beyond  the  power  of  man  to  achieve. 
The  ecclesiastical  system  which  Henry  VIII 
had  shattered  could  not  be  restored  in  Eng- 
land. Royal  supremacy  thrust  papal  supre- 
macy aside,  even  in  France  and  Belgium ;  and 
when  in  England  papal  authority  was  re- 
stored for  a  time,  it  was  restored  by  royal 
authority  alone,  and  had  to  build  upon 
foundations  laid  by  royalty.  Worst  of  all, 
the  papacy,  itself  fighting  a  temporal  battle 
with  the  princes  of  this  world,  disowned  its 
too  intrepid  champion  at  the  last.  That  he 
died  on  the  same  day  with  Mary,  whose 
battle  he  had  been  fighting  all  along,  was  a 
coincidence  that  might  be  considered  natural. 
Both  might  well  have  been  heartbroken  at 
the  discredit  thrown  upon  their  zeal,  and 
the  hopelessness  of  the  political  outlook. 

As  a  writer  Pole's  style  is  verbose,  but  he 
never  cared  for  literary  fame.  None  of  his 
writings  were  penned  with  a  mere  literary 
aim,  except  his  early  anonymous  life  of  Lon- 
golius.  After  his  death  editions  of  his  '  De 
Concilio '  appeared  at  Venice  in  1562,  and  of 
the  '  De  Unitate '  at  Ingolstadt  in  1587,  of 
'De  Summo  Pontifice'  (1569).  There  was 
published  at  Louvain  in  1569  '  A  treatie  of 
lustification.  Founde  emong  the  writinges 
of  Cardinal  Pole  of  blessed  memorie,  remain- 
ing in  the  custodie  of  M.  Henrie  Pyning 
[the  Henry  Penning  above  referred  to] 
Chamberlaine  and  General  Receiuer  to  the 
said  Cardinal,  late  deceased  in  Louaine.' 
The  theological  views  here  expounded  are 
in  practical  agreement  with  the  reformers. 
An  extract  from  his  '  De  Unitate  Ecclesias- 
tica '  appeared  in  an  English  translation  by 
Fabian  Withers,  under  the  title  of  '  The 
Seditious  and  Blasphemous  Oration  of  Car- 
dinal Pole/  Pole's  correspondence,  edited 
by  Quirini,  was  issued  at  Brescia  in  five 
volumes  between  1744  and  1757. 

[The  Life  of  Pole,  written  in  Italian  by  his 
secretary  Beccatelli,  commonly  read  in  the  Latin 
translation  of  Andrew  Dudith,  who  was  also  a 


Pole 


46 


Pole 


member  of  the  cardinal's  household,  is  the  first 
authority  for  the  facts.  Both  the  original  and  the 
translation  of  this  life  will  be  found  in  Quirini's 
edition  of  Pole's  Correspondence  (Epistolre  Regi- 
naldi  Poli  .  .  .  et  aliorum  ad  se,  &c.,  5  vols., 
Brescia,  1744-57),  which  is  a  most  important 
source  of  information.  Other  documentary  evi- 
dences will  be  found  in  the  Calendars  of  State 
Papers,  viz.  that  of  Henry  VIII,  frequently  cited 
in  the  text,  and  those  of  the  Domestic  Series 
(1547-80),  the  Foreign  Series  (Edward  VI  and 
Mary),  the  Spanish,  and,  most  of  all,  the  Venetian. 
A  few  notices  also  will  be  found  in  the  Cal.  of 
Dom.  Addenda;  Burnet's  Hist,  of  the  Reforma- 
tion ;  Strype's  Eccles.  Memorials  ;  Foxe's  Acts 
and  Monuments;  Dodd's  Church  Hist. ;  the  Acts 
of  the  Privy  Council;  Vertot's  Ambassades  de 
Messieurs  de  Noailles ;  Papiers  d'Etat  du  Car- 
dinal de  Granvelle,  vol.  iv.  (Documents  Inedits) ; 
Sarpi's  Hist,  of  the  Council  of  Trent ;  Palla- 
vicino's  Hist,  of  the  same;  Gratiani  Vita  J.F. 
Commendoni  Cardinalis  (Paris,  1669),  Machyn's 
Diary,  Chronicle  of  Queen  Jane  and  Queen  Mary, 
and  Chronicle  of  the  Grey  Friars  (all  three 
Camd.  Soc.)  ;  Hardy's  Report  on  the  Archives 
of  Venice  (in  which,  however,  Bergenroth's  com- 
munication, pp.  69-71,  must  be  used  with 
caution) ;  Lettere  del  Re  d'  Inghilterra  et  del 
Card.  Polo  .  .  .  sopra  la  reduttione  di  quel 
Regno  alia  .  .  .  Chiesa  (without  date);  Copia 
d'  una  lettera  d'  Inghilterra  nella  quale  si  narra 
1'entrata  del  Rev.  Cardinale  Polo,  Legato,  Milan, 
1554,  reprinted  (at  Paris,  I860?).  Of  modern 
biographies  the  most  valuable  even  now,  though 
by  no  means  faultless,  is  the  History  of  the  Life 
of  Reginald  Pole,  by  Thomas  Phillips,  first  pub- 
lished at  Oxford  in  1764,  and  a  second  edition 
(in  which  the  author's  name  is  suppressed), 
London,  1767  [see  for  replies  art.  PHILLIPS, 
THOMAS,  1708-1774].  The  biography  in  Hook's 
Lives  of  the  Archbishops  is  strangely  prejudiced, 
and  sometimes  quite  inaccurate.  Even  Bergen- 
roth's very  erroneous  statements  in  his  letter  to 
Mr.  (afterwards  Sir  Thomas)  Duffus  Hardy  do 
not  justify  Dean  Hook  in  his  assertion  (p.  230) 
that  there  is  a  letter  at  Simancas  'in  which  Pole 
had  proposed  himself  as  a  suitor  for  the  hand 
of  Mary '  (see  Hardy's  Rpport  above  referred  to, 
p.  70).  The  historical  sketch  entitled  '  Reginald 
Pole'  (lettered  on  the  back  of  the  volume  'The 
Life  of  Cardinal  Pole'),  by  F.  G.  Lee,  D.D.,  is 
not  a  life  at  all,  but  an  essay  on  the  beginning 
and  end  of  his  career.  Of  much  greater  value 
is  Kardinal  Pole,  sein  Leben  und  seine  Schriften, 
oin  Beitrag  zur  Kirchengeschichte  des  16.  Jahr- 
hunderts,  by  Athanasi.us  Zimmermann,  S.  .T., 
Regensburg,  1893.  This  is  not  so  full  a  bio- 
graphy as  could  be  desired,  but  it  is  the  most 
accurate  hitherto  published.]  J.  G. 

POLE,  RICHARD  DE  IA  (d.  1525),  pre- 
tender to  the  crown,  younger  brother  of 
Edmund  Pole  [q.  v.]  and  of  John  Pole  [q.  v.], 
was  fifth  son  of  John,  second  duke  of  Suffolk 
[q.  v.]  Two  other  brothers,  Humphrey  and 


im 
that 


Edward,  who  were  older  than  himself,  took 
orders  in  the  church,  the  latter  becoming  arch- 
deacon of  Richmond.  In  1501  Richard  escaped 
abroad  with  his  brother  Edmund.  French 
writers,  who  apparently  have  confounded  hi 
with  Perkin  Warbeck,  erroneously  state  th 
he  entered  the  service  of  Charles  VIII  of 
France  as  early  as  1492,  the  year  in  which 
Henry  VII  besieged  Boulogne  ;  that  Henry, 
on  the  conclusion  of  peace,  demanded  his  sur- 
render ;  and  that,  though  this  was  refused,  he 
was  compelled  to  quit  France  (DIJCHESNE, 
Hist.  d'Angleterre,  p.  975,  2nd  edit.)  Others 
say,  equally  falsely,  that  King  Charles  gave 
him  a  pension  of  seven  thousand  ecus.  In  the 
parliament  which  met  in  January  1504  he  was 
attainted,  along  with  Edmund  and  another 
brother,  William.  He  is  called  in  the  act 
'Richard  Pole, late  of  Wingfieldinthe  county 
of  Suffolk,  squire/  while  his  brother  is  desig- 
nated William  Pole  of  Wingfield,  knight 
(Rolls  of  Parl.  vi.  545). 

In  March  1504  he  joined  his  brother  Ed- 
mund at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  was  left  there 
by  Edmund  as  a  hostage  or  security  for  the 
payment  of  Edmund's  debts  in  the  town. 
The  latter's  creditors,  unable  to  obtain  pay- 
ment, rendered  Richard's  life  unbearable,  and 
threatened  to  deliver  him  up  to  Henry  VII. 
Richard,  however,  managed  to  attract  the 
sympathy  of  the  munificent  Erard  de  la 
Marck,  bishop  of  Liege,  who  contrived  to  get 
him  out  of  his  perilous  situation,  and  he 
arrived  somewhat  later  in  the  year  at  Buda 
in  Hungary.  Henry  VII  sent  ambassadors 
to  Ladislaus  VI  to  demand  his  surrender, 
but  that  king  not  only  refused  to  deliver 
him,  but  gave  him  a  pension  (Cal.  Venetian , 
vol.  i.  No.  889,  and  Cal.  Henry  VIII,  vol.  ii. 
No.  1163  n;  cf.  ELLIS,  Letters,  3rd  ser. 
i.  141). 

In  1509  Richard,  like  his  two  brothers 
Edmund  and  William,  who  were  then  in  the 
Tower,  was  excepted  from  the  general  par- 
don granted  at  the  accession  of  Henry  VIII, 
and  in*1512,  when  England  and  France  were 
at  war,  Louis  XII  recognised  him  as  king  of 
England,  giving  him  a  pension  of  six  thousand 
crowns.  Towards  the  close  of  that  year  he 
commanded  a  body  of  German  landsimechts 
in  the  unsuccessful  invasion  of  Navarre, 
during  which  his  company  sustained  more 
severe  losses  than  any  other.  In  this  cam- 
paign he  and  the  Chevalier  Bayard  were 
warm  friends,  and  suffered  great  privations 
together  ('  Chronique  de  Bayard,'  p.  102,  in 
BUCHOST).  In  the  spring  of  1513,  when  his 
brother  Edmund  was  put  to  death  in  England, 
he  assumed  the  title  of  Duke  of  Suffolk,  and 
became  an  avowed  claimant  of  the  crown  of 
England.  Though  his  pretensions  were  not 


Pole 


47 


Pole 


formidable,  discharged  soldiers  of  the  garri- 
son of  Tournay  (then  in  English  hands) 
threatened  to  join  him  (Gal.  Henry  VIII, 
vol.  ii.  Nos.  325-6).  It  was  reported,  too, 
in  SDain  that  he  had  been  given  the  command 
of  a  French  fleet.  Later  in  the  year  lie  led  a 
company  of  six  thousand  men  against  the 
English  at  the  siege  of  Therouanne.  In  1514 
Louis  gave  him  twelve  thousand  landsknechts 
'  to  keep  Normandy,  and  also  to  enter  into 
England  and  to  conquer  the  same'  (HALL, 
Chronicle,  p.  568,  ed.  Ellis).  He  conducted 
them  to  St.  Malo  in  Brittany,  to  embark,  it 
was  supposed,  for  Scotland.  Their  behaviour 
in  France  had  been  so  riotous  that  the  people 
were  glad  to  get  rid  of  them.  But  peace  was 
concluded  with  England  before  their  depar- 
ture. Henry  VIII  had  insisted  on  Richard's 
surrender.  To  that  Louis  would  not  consent, 
but  he  desired  Richard  to  leave  France,  and 
gave  him  letters  to  the  municipal  authorities 
of  Metz  in  Lorraine  (an  imperial  city),  re- 
questing them  to  give  him  a  good  reception. 
He  entered  Metz  on  2  Sept.  1514,  with  a 
company  of  sixty  horsemen  and  a  guard  of 
honour  given  him  by  the  Duke  of  Lorraine. 
The  town  gave  him  a  present  of  wine  and 
oats  for  his  horses,  with  a  temporary  safe- 
conduct  renewable  at  convenience. 

When  Louis  XII  died  (1  Jan.  1515), 
Francis  I  continued  Pole's  allowance,  and  he 
remained  for  some  years  at  Metz.  English 
ambassadors  organised  conspiracies  for  his 
capture.  In  February  1516  an  Englishman 
who  had  been  arrested  confessed  that  he 
had  been  sent  by  Henry  VIII  to  kill  him. 
During  a  visit  to  Francis  I  at  Lyons  in 
March  he  obtained,  it  would  seem,  a  distinct 
promise  from  the  French  king  to  support 
his  title  to  the  crown  of  England  at  a  con- 
venient opportunity  (Letters  and  Papers  of 
Henry  VIII,  Nos.  1711,  1973,  2113).  In 
the  summer  he  paid  a  visit  to  Robert  de  la 
Marck  at  Florange.  On  Christmas  day  he 
again  left  Metz  secretly,  along  with  the  Duke 
of  Gueldres,  who  had  come  thither  in  disguise. 
Proceeding  to  Paris,  he  visited  the  French 
king  by  night.  He  returned  to  Metz  on 
17  Feb.  1516-17.  Spies  employed  by  Eng- 
land tried  hard  to  discover  his  plans.  Be- 
tween June  and  August,  accompanied  by 
several  young  gentlemen  of  Metz,  he  paid 
visits  to  Milan  and  Venice. 

Early  in  1518  there  were  rumours  that 
Francis  I  was  about  to  send  him  into  Eng- 
land to  dispute  Henry's  title  to  the  throne. 
But  between  8  May  and  24  Oct.  he  spent 
most  of  his  time  in  Lombardy.  Although 
peace  was  made  between  England  and  France 
on  2  Oct.,  it  was  reported  to  Wolsey  that 
Francis  favoured  '  White  Rose,'  as  Pole  was 


called,  more  than  ever,  and  had  augmented 
his  stipend. 

Pole  had  hitherto  resided  in  Metz  in  a  fine 
pleasure-house  named  Passe  Temps,  which  a 
chevalier  named  Claude  Baudoiche  had  lent 
him.  In  February  1519  the  owner  desired 
to  resume  possession.  Thereupon  the  chapter 
of  Metz  gave  him  for  life  a  mansion  called 
La  Haulte-Pierre,  near  St.  Simphorien,  at 
a  low  rent  on  his  undertaking  to  rebuild  it. 
This  he  did  in  magnificent  style.  His  tastes 
were  luxurious,  and  he  initiated  horse-racing 
at  Metz;  but  after  losing  money  in  the 
pastime  he  gave  it  up. 

After  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Maxi- 
milian, in  January  1519,  Francis  I  sent  Pole 
to  Prague  to  influence  Louis,  the  young  king 
of  Bohemia,  and  his  tutor  Sigismund,  king 
of  Portugal,  in  favour  of  his  candidature 
for  the  imperial  crown  (Colbert  MS.  385  in 
Bibliotheque  Nationale,  Paris).  In  Septem- 
ber some  disturbances  caused  by  an  intrigue 
which  he  had  carried  on  with  a  citizen's 
wife  led  him  to  leave  Metz  f or  Toul,  whither 
his  paramour  escaped  after  him.  There  he 
remained  during  the  next  three  years — in  the 
house  of  the  cardinal  of  Lorraine.  His  com- 
pany of  landsknechts  was  dismissed. 

In  1522,  when  England  and  France  were 
again  at  war,  Francis  contemplated  sending 
Pole  to  invade  England.  At  the  close  of 
1522  he  was  in  Paris  with  Francis,  and  fre- 
quently rode  through  the  streets.  The  French 
king  showed  like  courtesies  to  John  Stewart, 
duke  of  Albany  [q.v.],  the  regent  of  Scotland, 
who  was  arranging  an  attack  on  England  from 
the  north.  In  1523  Pole  and  Albany  went 
to  Brittany  to  make  preparations  for  a  joint 
invasion  of  England.  They  left  the  French 
coast  together,  and  Albany  reached  Scot- 
land at  the  end  of  September,  when  he  an- 
nounced that  he  had  parted  at  sea  on  Mon- 
day (21  Sept.)  with  his  ( cousin,  the  Duke  of 
Suffolk,'  who  was  about  to  carry  out  an  in- 
vasion of  England.  Nothing  further  is  re  - 
corded  of  Pole's  movements,  and  the  inva- 
sion did  not  take  place. 

In  the  spring  of  1524  he  served  in  the 
campaign  in  Picardy,  and  writing  to  Louise 
of  Savoy,  the  mother  of  Francis  I,  from  the 
camp  near  Therouanne,  he  declared  that  all 
he  had  in  the  world  was  owing  to  her.  On 
24  Feb.  152o  he  was  killed,  fighting  by  the 
French  king's  side,  at  the  battle  of  Pavia. 
In  a  picture  of  the  battle,  preserved  at  the 
Ashmolean  Museum  at  Oxford,  his  lifeless 
body  is  represented  in  the  thick  of  the  com- 
bat with  the  inscription *Le  Due  deSusfoc  dit 
Blance  Rose.'  When  the  news  of  his  death 
reached  Metz,  the  cathedral  chapter  ordered 
an  anniversary  celebration  for  his  soul. 


Pole 


Pole 


[Hall's  Chronicle  ;  Pugdale's  Baronage  ;  Sand- 
ford's  Genealogical  History  ;  Napier's  Swyn- 
combe  and  Ewelme ;  Letters  and  Papers  of 
Kichard  III  and  Henry  VII  (Kolls  Ser.)  ;  Ellis's 
Letters,  3rd  ser.  vol.  i. ;  Calendars,  Venetian, 
vols.  i.  and  ii.,  Henry  VIII,  vols.  i-iv. ;  Busch's 
England  unter  den  Tudors,  vol.  i. ;  Journal  of 
Philippe  de  Vigneulles,  in  Bibliothek  des  lite- 
rarischen  Vereins  in  Stuttgart,  vol.  xxiv.  A 
pamphlet  by  F.  des  Kobert  (  Un  pensionnaire  des 
Kois  de  France  a  Metz),  published  at  Nancy  in 
1878,  is  full  of  inaccuracies,  but  of  some  value  in 
local  matters.]  J-  &• 

POLE,  THOMAS  (1753-1829),  quaker 
and  physician,  born  on  13  Oct.  1753  in  Phila- 
delphia, was  youngest  son  of  John  Pole 
(1705-1755),  a  native  of  Wiveliscombe, 
Somerset,  who  emigrated  to  New  Jersey. 
His  mother's  maiden  name  was  Rachel 
Smith  of  Burlington.  Thomas  was  brought 
up  as  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends. 
In  1775  he  visited  his  relatives  in  England, 
and,  with  the  object  of  attending  Friends' 
meetings,  he  travelled  some  6,650  miles 
through  England  and  Wales,  chiefly  on  horse- 
back, during  the  next  two  or  three  years.  In 
1777  he  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  Joseph 
Rickman  at  Maidenhead,  thence  passed  to 
Reading,  for  the  same  purpose,  and  in  1780 
removed  to  Falmouth,  on  becoming  assistant 
to  Dr.  J.  Fox.  He  settled  in  London  in  1781, 
was  admitted  a  member  of  the  College  of 
Surgeons  there,  and  received  the  degree  of 
M.D.  from  St.  Andrews  University  in  1801. 
In  1789  he  was  made  a  member  of  the 
American  Philosophical  Society,  of  which 
Benjamin  Franklin  was  then  president.  His 
practice  was  mainly  confined  to  obstetrics 
and  to  the  diseases  of  women  and  children. 
He  lectured  on  midwifery,  and,  being  a  skilful 
draughtsman,  recorded  instructive  cases  in 
sketches,  which  were  engraved. 

In  1790  he  published  his  valuable  'Ana- 
tomical Instructor'  (1790),  an  illustration  of 
the  modern  and  most  approved  methods  of 
preparing  and  preserving  the  different  parts 
of  the  human  body  for  purposes  of  study, 
with  copperplates  drawn  by  himself.  A  new 
edition  appeared  in  1813.  Pole  removed  to 
Bristol  in  1802,  and  soon  acquired  an  exten- 
sive practice.  There  he  continued  his  medical 
lectures,  among  his  pupils  being  James  Cowles 
Prichard  [q.  v.],  and  he  also  lectured  on 
chemistry  and  other  sciences. 

Pole  throughout  his  life  devoted  much  of 
his  time  to  ministerial  work  in  the  Society  of 
Friends,  and  took  part  in  many  philanthropic 
schemes.  He  helped  William  Smith  in  1812 
to  establish  the  first  adult  schools  for  poor 
persons  of  neglected  education  in  England, 
and  wrote  in  their  support  in  1813.  In  1814 


he  issued  an  account  of  their  origin  and 
progress,  for  which  James  Montgomery  wrote 
a  poem.  Bernard  Barton,  the  quaker  poet, 
bore  testimony  in  1826  to  Pole's  wide  sym- 
pathies and  tolerant  views.  Despite  the 
strictness  then  prevalent  in  the  Society  of 
Friends,  a  love  of  art  remained  with  him  to 
the  last,  and  found  expression  in  many  water- 
colour  drawings  of  landscape  and  architec- 
ture, in  monotints  and  silhouettes.  He  died 
at  Bristol  on  28  Sept.  1829.  In  1784  he  had 
married  Elizabeth  Barrett  of  Cheltenham  ; 
four  children  survived  him. 

Besides  the  works  noticed,  Pole  published 
'Anatomical  Description  of  a  Double  Uterus 
and  Vagina,'  4to,  London,  1792. 

[Pole's  manuscript  journals,  diaries,  and  corre- 
spondence; private  information.]  E.  T.  W. 

POLE,  SIR  WILLIAM  DE  LA,  called  in 
English  WILLIAM  ATTE  POOL  (d.  1366),  baron 
of  the  exchequer  and  merchant,  was  second 
son  of  Sir  William  de  la  Pole,  a  merchant  of 
Ravenser  Odd  (Ravensrode)  and  Hull,  who 
is  described  as  a  knight  in  1296  and  died 
about  1329,  having  made  his  will  in  Decem- 
ber 1328.  The  father  married  Elena,  daughter 
of  John  Rotenheryng,  '  merchant  of  Hull,' 
by  whom  he  had  three  sons,  Richard,  William, 
and  John. 

The  eldest  brother,  SIR  RICHARD  DE  LA 
POLE  (d.  1345),  was,  in  1319,  attorney  for  the 
king's  butler  at  Hull  (  Close  Rolls,  Edward  II, 
p.  67),  and  a  mainpernor  for  certain  mer- 
chants of  Liibeck  (ib.  pp.  170, 180).  He  was 
collector  of  the  customs  at  Hull  in  1320 
(PALQRAVE,  Parl  Writs,  iv.  1305),  and  was 
M.P.  for  that  town  in  the  parliaments  of 
May  1322  and  September  1327  (Return  of 
Members  of  Parliament,  pp.  66, 79).  Through 
the  influence  of  Roger  Mortimer  he  became 
the  king's  chief  butler  in  1327,  and,  in  con- 
junction with  his  brother  William,  obtained 
the  office  of  gauger  of  wines  throughout  the 
realm  for  life  on  22  May  1329,  and  a  similar 
grant  of  the  customs  of  Hull  on  9  May  1330 
(Patent  Rolls,  Edward  III,  1327-30,  pp, 
391,  518,  1330-4,  pp.  29-41).  The  two 
brothers  are  frequently  mentioned  as  ad- 
vancing money  for  the  king.  After  the  fall 
of  Mortimer  they  lost  the  post  of  gauger  of 
wines,  but  Sir  Richard  continued  to  be  chief 
butler  until  1338  (ib.  pp.  70, 434,  511).  lie 
was  a  guardian  of  the  peace  for  Derbyshire, 
and  served  on  a  commission  of  oyer  and 
terminer  in  Leicestershire  in  1332  (ib.  pp. 
304,  391).  About  1333  he  seems  to  have 
moved  to  London,  and  in  his  will  and  else- 
where is  styled  a  citizen  of  London.  He 
was  knighted  in  1340,  and,  dying  on  1  Aug. 
1345  at  his  manor  of  Milton,  Northampton- 


Pole 


49 


Pole 


shire,  was  buried  in  the  Trinity  Chapel  at 
Hull.  His  will  is  printed  in  *  Testamenta 
Eboracensia,'  i.  7-9.  By  his  wife  Joan  he 
had  two  sons,  William  and  John,  and  three 
daughters:  Joan,  wife  of  Ralph  Basset  of 
Weldon,  Northamptonshire  ;  Elizabeth,  a 
nun  ;  and  Margaret.  His  son  William  (1316- 
1366),  who  is  carefully  to  be  distinguished 
from  his  uncle,  married  Margaret,  daughter 
of  Edmund  Peverel,  and  held  property  at 
Brington  and  Ashby,  Northamptonshire.  He 
died  on  26  June  1366,  leaving  a  son  John, 
who  married  Joan,  daughter  of  John,  lord 
Cobham  ;  by  her  he  was  father  of  Joan, 
baroness  Cobham  and  wife  of  Sir  John  Old- 
castle  [q.  v.]  (NAPIEK,  Hist.  Notices  of 
Swyncombe  and  Ewelme,  pp.  262-70).  The 
arms  of  this  branch  of  the  family  were 
azure,  two  bars  wavy,  or. 

Sir  William  de  la  Pole,  the  baron  of  the 
exchequer,  first  learnt  the  business  of  a 
merchant  at  Ravenser  Odd,  but  afterwards 
moved  to  Hull,  and  is  mentioned  as  a  mer- 
chant of  that  town  in  1319  and  1322  (Cal. 
' 


He  was  associated  with  his  elder  brother  as 
gauger  of  wines  in  1327,  and  in  supplying 
money  for  the  royal  service.  During  the 
regency  of  Mortimer  and  Isabella  they  ad- 
vanced large  sums  to  the  government  : 
4,000/.  on  12  July  1327  for  the  abortive 
Scots  campaign,  and  2,OOOJ.  six  weeks  later 
as  wages  for  the  Netherland  mercenaries, 
who  had  landed  to  effect  Edward  II's  depo- 
sition. As  repayment  they  received  the 
issues  of  customs  in  London  and  other  prin- 
cipal ports.  They  also  received  a  grant  of 
-the  manor  of  Miton  in  Holderness  for  their 
good  services  in  1330,  and  on  2  Aug.  were 
appointed  joint  wardens  of  Hull.  On  the  fall 
of  Mortimer  their  position  was  endangered, 
and  they  lost  the  office  of  gangers  of  wine. 
But  they  kept  aloof  from  politics,  and  their 
wealth  insured  their  pardon.  On  .15  July 
1331  William  de  la  Pole,  then  described  as 
the  king's  yeoman  and  butler,  was  granted 
repayment  for  his  advances  to  Queen  Phi- 
lippa  out  of  the  customs  of  Hull  (Cal. 
Patent  Rolls,  Edward  III,  p.  107).  In  1332 
he  entertained  the  king  at  Hull,  and  ob- 
tained from  Edward  the  title  of  mayor  for 
the  chief  magistrate  of  the  town,  being  him- 
self the  first  to  fill  the  office,  which  he  re- 
tained for  four  years  till  1335.  Pole  repre- 
sented Hull  in  the  parliaments  of  March 
1332,  September  1334,  May  and  September 
1336,  and  February  1338  (Return  of  Mem- 
bers of  Parliament).  During  1333  and  the 
two  following  years  he  was  employed  on 
various  negotiations  with  Flanders,  with 
which,  as  a  wool  merchant,  he  had  commer- 

VOL.   XLVI. 


cial  relations  (Fcedera,  ii.  862, 872,  875,  907- 
908 ;  Cal  Patent  Rolls,  Edward  III,  1330-4, 
p.  479). 

On  29  Sept.  1335  he  was  appointed  custos 
of  the  tables  of  exchange,  established  to 
prevent  the  export  of  gold  and  silver,  and 
receiver  of  the  old  and  new  customs  of  Hull 
and  Boston.  In  consideration  of  the  latter 
appointment  he  undertook  to  pay  the  ex- 
penses of  the  royal  household  at  IQl.  a  day 
(Abbrev.  Rot.  Orig.  ii.  97,  100 ;  Faedera,  ii. 
922).  In  1337  he  was  charged  to  build  a 
galley  for  the  king  at  Hull,  and  on  1  Sept. 
of  this  year  was  associated  with  Reginald 
de  Conduit  in  purchasing  wool  to  be  sent 
abroad  for  the  king  (ib.  ii.  958,  988).  On 
14  Nov.  1338  Edward  gave  him  an  acknow- 
ledgment for  11,000/.  advanced,  and  for 
7,500/.  for  which  he  had  become  bound ;  and 
this  same  year,  in  consideration  of  other 
moneys  advanced  by  Pole,  granted  him  va- 
rious manors  in  Nottinghamshire  and  York- 
shire, including  the  lordship  of  Holderness,^ 
together  with  the  rank  of  knight-banneret, 
the  reversion  of  one  thousand  marks  in  rent 
in  France  when  the  king  recovered  his  rights 
there,  and  the  houses  in  Lombard  Street, 
London,  which  had  belonged  to  the '  Societas 
Bardorum '  (ib.  ii.  1065  ;  Abbrev.  Rot.  Oriy.  ii. 
123,  128,  142 ;  Chron.  de  Melsa,  iii.  48). 

The  '  Chronicle  of  Meaux '  also  states  that 
Pole's  appointment  as  baron  of  the  exche- 
quer was  in  reward  for  the  same  services. 
The  date  of  his  appointment  as  second  baron 
was  26  Sept.  1339,  and  as  one  of  the  judges 
he  was  present  in  the  parliaments  of  October 
1339  and  April  1340  (Rolls  of  Parliament, 
ii.  103,  1126).  He  was  a  commissioner  of 
array  for  Yorkshire  in  1339.  During  this  and 
the  following  year  he  was  much  employed 
by  the  king  in  commercial  and  financial 
business.  In  1339  he  was  a  hostage  for  the 
payment  of  the  king's  expenses  at  Antwerp 
(KNIGHTON,  col.  2573).  In  1340  he  under- 
took to  obtain  wool  for  the  king's  aid,  and 
to  advance  three  thousand  marks  (Rolls  of 
Parliament,  ii.  110  a,  1186,  1216;  Fccdera, 
ii.  1072,  1085).  But  his  conduct  of  affairs 
did  not  satisfy  the  king,  and  when  Edward 
returned  in  haste  to  London  on  30  Nov.  1340, 
William  de  la  Pole,  his  brother  Richard, 
and  Sir  John  de  Pulteney  [q.  v.]  were  among 
the  merchants  who  were  arrested  (MuEi- 
MTJTH,  p.  117).  Pole's  lands  were  taken  into- 
the  king's  hands  and  he  was  for  a  short 
time  imprisoned  at  Devizes  Castle  (AuNGiER, 
French  Chron.  of  London,  pp.  84-5,  Caniden 
Soc. ;  Chron.  de  Melsa,  iii.  48).  The  par- 
ticular charge  against  Pole  arose  out  of  his 
commission  with  Reginald  de  Conduit  three 
years  before;  but  though  judgment  was 


Pole 


5° 


Pole 


given  against  them  in  the  exchequer,  the 
whole  process  was  annulled  in  the  parlia- 
ment of  July  1344  (Rolls  of  Parliament, 
ii.  154  #).  Sir  William  de  la  Pole  survived 
to  enjoy  the  king's  favour  for  more  than 
twenty  years,  but  he  does  not  again  appear 
in  a  prominent  position.  About  1350  he 

-founded  a  hospital  at  the  Maison  Dieu,  out- 
side Hull,  which  he  had  at  first  intended  to 
be  a  cell  of  Meaux,  but  afterwards  converted 
to  a  college  for  six  priests.  In  the  last  year 
of  his  life  he  obtained  license  to  change  it 
to  a  house  for  nuns  of  the  order  of  St.  Clare, 
and  eventually,  in  1376,  his  son  Michael 

-established  it  as  a  Carthusian  priory  ( Chron. 
de  Melsa,  i.  170 ;  DUGDALE,  Monasticon  An- 
glicanum,  vi.  19-22).  Pole  died  at  Hull  on 
21  April  or  22  June  1366,  and  was  buried, 
like  his  brother,  in  the  Trinity  Chapel  (cf. 
NAPIEE,  Swyncombe,  &c.,  p.  284).  His  will  is 

-printed  in '  Testamenta  Eboracensia/  i.  76-7. 
He  married  Katherine,  daughter  of  Sir 
Walter  de  Norwich  [q.  v.],  who  survived 
him,  and,  dying  in  1381,  was  buried  at  the 
Charterhouse,  Hull ;  her  will  is  printed  in 
'  Testamenta  Eboracensia/  i.  119.  Pole  had 
four  sons :  Michael,  earl  of  Suffolk  [q.  v.] ; 
Walter  and  Thomas  (d.  1361),  both  of  whom 
were  knights;  and  Edmund  (1337-1417), 
who  was  captain  of  Calais  in  1387,  when  he 
refused  admission  to  his  brother  Michael  lest 
he  should  be  found  false  to  his  trust.  The 
Edmund  who  fought  at  Agincourt  was  pro- 
bably his  grandson  (WALSINGHAM,  Hist. 
Angl.  ii.  169 ;  NICOLAS,  Agincourt,  pp.  128, 
354 ;  Archaologia,  iii.  18).  Pole  had  also  two 
daughters  :  Blanche,  who  married  Richard, 
first  lord  le  Scrope  of  Bolton  [q.  v.]  ;  and 
Margaret,  married  Robert  Neville  of  Hornby, 
Lancashire.  Sir  William  de  la  Pole's  arms 
were  azure,  a  fess  between  three  leopards' 
faces  or.  The  <  Chronicle  of  Meaux '  (iii.  48) 
describes  him  as  '  second  to  no  merchant  of 
England.'  He  is  memorable  in  English  com- 
mercial history  as  the  first  merchant  who 
became  the  founder  of  a  great  noble  house. 
His  own  and  his  wife's  effigies,  from  the 
tomb  in  the  Trinity  Chapel,  Hull,  are  en- 
graved in  Gough's  '  Sepulchral  Monuments,' 
i.  122. 

[Information  supplied  by  Professor  T.  F. 
Tout;  Chronicon  de  Melsa,  i.  170,  iii.  17,  48 
(Rolls  Ser.) ;  Rymer's  Foedera,  Record  ed. ;  Rolls 
of  Parliament;  Calendars  of  Close  Rolls,  Ed- 
ward II,  and  Patent  Rolls,  Edward  III ;  Testa- 
menta Eboracensia  (Surtees  Soc.) ;  Dugdale's 
Baronage,  ii.  182;  Frost's  Hist,  of  Hull,  pp  31 
85;  Tickell's  Hist,  of  Hull,  p.  21;  Poulson's 
-Holderness,  i.  56,  63,  64 ;  Foss's  Judges  of 
England,  iii.  478-81  ;  Napier's  Hist.  Notices  of 
Swyncombe  and  Ewelme,  passim.]  C.  L.  K. 


POLE,  WILLIAM  DE  LA,  fourth  EARL 
and  first  DUKE  OF  SUFFOLK  (1396-1450), 
second  son  of  Michael  de  la  Pole,  second 
earl  [q.  v.],  was  born  on  16  Oct.  1396  at 
Cotton  in  Suffolk  (NAPIEE,  pp.  47,  64-5). 
He  served  in  the  French  campaign  of  1415, 
but  was  invalided  home  after  the  siege  of 
Harfleur  (ib.  p.  48).  His  father  died  before 
Harfleur,  and  his  elder  brother,  the  third 
earl,  was  slain  at  Agincourt  on  25  Oct.,  and 
thus  William  de  la  Pole  became  Earl  of 
Suffolk  when  only  nineteen.  Suffolk  served 
in  the  expedition  of  1417  with  thirty  men-at- 
arms  and  ninety  archers  (  Gesta,  App.  p.  267). 
and  in  the  early  part  of  1418  was  employed  in 
the  reduction  of  the  Cotentin.  On  12  March 

1418  he  was  granted  the  lordships  of  Hambye 
andBriquebec  (HAEDY,  Rot.  Norm.  p.  318). 
During  the  summer  he  served  under  Hum- 
phrey of  Gloucester  at  the  siege  of  Cherbourg, 
and,  when  that  town  fell  in  October,  went 
to  join  the  king  before  Rouen  (Chronique  de 
Normandie,^.  183,  191,  ap.  Gesta  Henrici] 
PAGE.  Siege  of  Rouen,  p.  11).     On  19  May 

1419  he  was  appointed  admiral  of  Normandy, 
in  June  captain  of  Pontorson,  and  in  August 
captain  of  Mantes  and  Avranches  (Fcedera, 
ix.  753,  772 ;   Chron.  A,  de  Richemont,  p.  22  ; 
DOYLE).    He  was  a  conservator  of  the  truce 
with  France  on  27  June  1420  (Foedera,  ix. 
856),  and  during  the  autumn  served  at  the 
siege  of  Melun  ( Gesta,  p.  144).  When  Henry  V 
took  Catherine  to  England  in  February  1421, 
Suffolk  was  one  of  the  commanders  left  in 
charge  of  Normandy,  and  on  10  Feb.  was 
named  one  of  the  conservators  of  the  truce 
with  Brittany   (Fcedera^  x.   61,   91,  152). 
Suffolk  was  made  a  knight  of  the  Garter 
on  3  May  1421,  in  succession  to  Thomas, 
duke  of  Clarence  (BELTZ,  Memorials  of  the 
Garter,  p.  clviii).     When  Henry  came  back 
to  France,  Suffolk  joined  the   royal  army 
(ELMHAM,  Vita   Henrici   Quinti,  p.   312) ; 
on   28  Sept.  he   was  appointed  warden  of 
the  lower  marches  of  Normandy  (cf.  HALL, 
pp.  108-9). 

After  the  death  of  Henry  V,  John  of  Bed- 
ford, on  10  Oct.  1422,  appointed  Suffolk 
guardian  of  the  Cotentin,  the  castle  of  St. 
Lo,  and  town  of  Coutances  (Chron.  Mont 
St.  Michel,  i.  117).  After  many  small  en- 
gagements, he  laid  siege  to  Ivry-la-Chaussee 
on  15  June  1424,  and,  on  concluding  a  treaty 
for  its  surrender  if  not  relieved,  joined  Bed- 
ford in  Normandy.  Under  Bedford  he  was 
present  at  the  surrender  of  Ivry  on  15  Aug., 
and,  when  Bedford  fell  back  on  Evreux,  was 
despatched  with  Salisbury  to  watch  the 
French  at  Breteuil.  Next  day  Suffolk  sent 
news  that  the  French  were  holding  their 
ground.  Bedford  at  once  advanced,  and  on 


Pole 


Pole 


the  17th  won  his  victory  at  Verneuil.  On 
26  Sept.  Suffolk  was  made  governor  of  the 
district  round  Chartres,  and  during  October 
captured  Senonches,  Nogent-le-Rotrou,  and 
Rochefort  (BEAUCOUET,  ii,  20  n.  4).  In  No- 
vember he  was  at  Paris  for  the  festivities 
held  by  Philip  of  Burgundy  (FENIN,  p.  225). 
From  Paris  he  was  sent  by  Bedford  to  en- 
deavour to  arrange  the  quarrel  between  Hum- 
phrey of  Gloucester  and  the  Duke  of  Bra- 
bant. On  his  way  he  was  nearly  killed  by 
an  accident  near  Amiens  (STEVENSON,  ii.  400 ; 
as  to  his  alleged  complicity  in  a  plot  of 
Gloucester  against  Burgundy  see  BEATJ- 
COTJET,  ii.  658-60).  In  1425  Suffolk  was 
employed  as  lieutenant-general  of  Caen,  the 
Cotentin,  and  Lower  Normandy,  and  as  con- 
stable of  the  army  of  the  Earl  of  Salisbury. 
In  May  he  was  detached  to  direct  the  siege 
of  Mont  St.  Michel  by  land  and  sea  (Chron. 
Mont  St.  Michel,  \.  201,  213,  244 ;  DUPONT, 
Histoire  du  Cotentin  et  ses  lies,  ii.  551-3). 
In  the  early  part  of  1426  Suffolk,  who  was 
about  this  time  created  Earl  of  Dreux,  made 
a  raid  into  Brittany  as  far  as  Rennes.  Shortly 
afterwards  his  lieutenant,  Sir  Thomas  Remp- 
ston  [q.  v.J,  defeated  Arthur  de  Richemont 
at  St.  James  de  Beuvron  on  6  March.  Suf- 
folk came  up  a  few  days  later,  and,  after  some 
negotiations,  concluded  a  truce  with  Brittany 
to  last  till  the  end  of  June.  Almost  imme- 
diately afterwards  he  resigned  his  command 
in  Normandy  to  the  Earl  of  Warwick  (MoN- 
STEELET,  iv.  284-6).  Suffolk  took  an  active 
part  in  the  warfare  of  the  following  year. 
On  26  May  he  laid  siege  to  Vendome,  and 
on  1  July  joined  Warwick  before  Montargis, 
the  siege  of  which  place  was  raised  by 
the  French  after  it  had  lasted  two  months. 
In  the  summer  of  1428  Suffolk  served  under 
Salisbury  in  the  campaign  which  led  up  to 
the  siege  of  Orleans. 

After  Salisbury's  death  he  was  appointed 
to  the  chief  command  on  13  Nov.  (ib.  iv.  360 ; 
RAMSAY,  ,i.  384).  Under  his  direction  the 
siege  prospered  so  well  that  in  February  1429 
Orleans  and  the  French  cause  seemed  doomed. 
The  appearance  of  Jeanne  d'Arc  changed  the 
aspect  of  affairs.  In  May  the  siege  was  raised, 
and  Suffolk  fell  back  to  Jargeau.  In  that 
town  he  was  besieged  by  Jeanne  and  the  Duke 
of  Alen^on,  and  was  forced  to  surrender  on 
12  June.  One  story  represents  Suffolk  as 
refusing  to  yield  himself  prisoner  till  he  had 
dubbed  his  would-be  captor  knight.  Ac- 
cording to  another,  he  would  yield  only  to 
Jeanne  as  the  bravest  woman  on  earth 
(Proces  de  Jeanne  d'Arc,  vol.  iv. ;  BEATT- 
COTJET,  ii.  220,  iv.  148;  VALLET  DE  VIEI- 
VILLE,  ii.  83).  Suffolk's  brother,  Sir  John 
de  la  Pole,  was  taken  prisoner  with  him; 


a  third  brother,  Alexander,  was  slain.  Suf- 
folk was  the  prisoner  of  the  Comte  de  Dunois ; 
he  obtained  his  freedom  after  a  short  time, 
though  he  had  to  sell  his  lordship  of  Brique- 
bec  to  raise  the  money  for  his  ransom,  amount- 
ing to  20,000/.,  and  give  his  brother  Thomas 
as  a  hostage  (Chron.  Mont  St.  Michel,  i. 
156  n.;  Rolls  of  Parliament,  v.  176:  NAEIEE, 
p.  317).  On  15  March  1430  Suffolk  was  re- 
appointed  to  the  command  at  Caen  and  in 
the  Cotentin  (Chron.  Mont  St.  Michel,  i.  292). 
In  July  he  besieged  and  captured  the  castle 
of  Aumale  (MONSTEELET,  iv.  370)  ;  and  after- 
wards took  part  in  the  siege  of  Compiegne 
(Proces  de  Jeanne  d'Arc,  v.  73).  With  this 
Suffolk's  active  participation  in  the  war  pro- 
bably came  to  an  end  ;  for,  though  he  re- 
mained captain  of  Avranches  and  was  cap- 
tain of  the  islet  of  Tombelaine  from  1432 
to  1437  and  of  Regneville  in  1438,  he  exer- 
cised his  authority  by  means  of  lieutenants 
(Chron.  Mont  St.  Michel,  i.  307,  ii.  28,  44, 
111 ;  STEVENSON,  ii.  291,  293).  It  is,  how- 
ever, commonly  stated  that  Suffolk  took  part 
in  the  war  in  1431,  and  attended  Henry's 
coronation  at  Paris  on  17  Dec.  But  he  was 
certainly  in  England  in  November  of  that 
year,  and  probably  some  months  earlier 
(NAPIEE,  p.  51 ;  ANSTIS,  Register  of  the  Gar- 
ter, i.  108,  where  it  is  said  that  Suffolk  could 
not  attend  on  22  April  1431  through  illness). 
Suffolk  himself  said  that  he  t  continually 
abode  in  the  war  seventeen  year  without 
coming  home  or  seeing  of  this  land '  (Rolls 
of  Parliament,  v.  176).  But  in  this  state- 
ment, if  correctly  reported,  he  was  clearly  in 
error. 

The  remaining  years  of  Suffolk's  life  were 
occupied  with  political  affairs  at  home.  He 
was  present  in  the  royal  council  on  10 
and  on  28  Nov.  1431,  and  on  30  Nov.  was 
formally  admitted  a  member  of  the  council 
and  took  the  oath  (NICOLAS,  Proc.  and  Or- 
dinances, iv.  101,  104,  108).  His  marriage 
about  this  time  to  the  widowed  Countess  of 
Salisbury  inclined  him  to  connection  with 
the  Beauforts.  His  long  experience  of  the 
war  in  France  had  possibly  convinced  him 
of  the  wisdom  of  peace.  If  he  had  formed 
such  a  conviction,  it  was  no  doubt  strength- 
ened by  his  association  with  the  captive 
Duke  of  Orleans,  who  was  assigned  to  his 
custody  on  21  July  1432  (ib.  iv.  124).  Next 
year  Suffolk  was  made  steward  of  the  royal 
household,  and  was  working  actively  for 
peace  when  Hue  de  Lannoy  came  to  Eng- 
land as  ambassador  from  Philip  of  Burgundy. 
Lannoy  and  his  colleagues  met  Orleans  at 
Suffolk's  house  in  London  (STEVENSON,  ii. 
218-40),  and  it  is  clear  that  Suffolk  made 
use  of  Orleans  in  forwarding  the  negotia- 

E2    • 


Pole  « 

tions.  In  1435  the  peace  negotiations  had 
so  far  progressed  that  a  general  congress  was 
arranged  for,  and  Suffolk  was  appointed  one 
of  the  chief  English  representatives  after 
Cardinal  Beaufort  (Fcedera,  x.  611).  Suffolk 
and  most  of  his  colleagues  came  to  Arras  for 
the  congress  on  25  July.  Beaufort  joined 
them  a  little  later.  The  English  were  not 
prepared  to  yield  to  the  French  demands, 
and  withdrew  from  the  congress  on  6  Sept. 
Their  withdrawal  was  almost  immediately 
followed  by  the  reconciliation  of  Burgundy 
to  the  French  king,  and  by  the  death  of  John 
of  Bedford. 

The  double  event  changed  the  whole  aspect 
of  English  politics.  For  the  time  it  threw 
increased  authority  into  the  hands  of  Hum- 
phrey of  Gloucester  and  the  warlike  party. 
Thereupon  Suffolk  came  forward  as  the  chief 
opponent  of  Gloucester,  and  the  remainder 
of  Suffolk's  life  is  centred  in  his  rivalry  with 
the  king's  uncle.  For  the  time  the  war  feeling 
was  too  strong  to  be  resisted,  and  Suffolk  was 
one  of  the  commanders  appointed  to  go  over 
to  France  in  December  1435.  Richard,  duke 
of  York,  was  to  have  the  chief  command,  but 
it  was  not  until  May  1436  that  he  and  Suf- 
folk crossed  over  to  France.  With  Richard 
Neville,  earl  of  Salisbury  [q.  v.],  they  were 
commissioned  to  treat  for  peace  (Fcedera,  x. 
C42).  No  practical  result  came  from  the 
negotiations,  and  Suffolk  served  during  June 
and  July  at  the  defence  of  Calais.  In  April 
1437  there  was  some  talk  of  sending  him 
on  a  fresh  embassy  to  France  ( NICOLAS, 
Proc.  Privy  Council,  v.  7,  8).  Meanwhile 
he  was  nominated  to  many  posts  of  respon- 
sibility at  home.  On  23  April  1437  he  was  ap- 
pointed steward  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster 
north  of  the  Trent.  On  19  Feb.  1440  he  was 
chief  justice  of  North  Wales  and  Chester, 
and  of  South  Wales.  On  17  Feb.  1441  he 
was  directed  to  make  inquiry  into  the  royal 
lordships  in  the  county  of  Monmouth,  and  on 
23  July  as  to  the  government  of  Norwich 
(DOYLE).  In  this  same  year  also  he  was  one 
of  the  commissioners  to  inquire  into  the 
charges  of  sorcery  against  Eleanor  Cobham, 
wife  of  Humphrey  of  Gloucester  (DAVIES, 
English  Chronicle,  p.  58).  In  1442  a  marriage 
was  projected  for  the  young  king  with  a 
daughter  of  the  Count  of  Armagnac;  but 
Suffolk  helped  to  defeat  the  project,  which 
was  favoured  by  Gloucester.  He  resolved 
that  the  king  should  marry  Margaret  of 
Anjou. 

The  match  with  Margaret  was  suggested 
by  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  who  had  been  re- 
leased in  1440.  From  the  same  quarter,  it 
would  seem,  came  the  suggestion  that  Suf- 
folk should  be  the  chief  ambassador  in  nego- 


2  Pole 

tiating  it.  But  Suffolk,  who  was  evidently 
regarded  by  the  people  as  the  most  responsible 
of  Henry's  advisers  after  Cardinal  Beaufort, 
perceived  that  his  acceptance  of  the  mission 
might  be  dangerous  both  to  himself  and  to 
the  policy  which  he  had  at  heart.  At  a  later 
time  he  was  charged  with  having  had  a  cor- 
rupt interest  in  the  release  of  Orleans  (cf.,. 
however,  BEATJCOUET,  iv.  100  n.),  and  it  is 
clear  that  he  had  already  incurred  some  un- 
popularity. In  a  council  held  on  1  Feb. 
1444  (NICOLAS,  Proc.  Privy  Council,  vi.  32- 
35,  where  the  date  is  wrongly  given)  Suffolk 
himself  urged  the  objections  to  his  appoint- 
ment. These  were  finally  overruled,  but 
at  his  own  request  a  formal  indemnity  was 
granted  on  20  Feb.  exonerating  him  from 
all  blame  for  what  he  might  do  in  the  matter 
of  the  peace  or  marriage  (Fcedera,  xi.  53). 
Suffolk's  embassy  landed  at  Harfleur  on 
13  March.  On  8  April  conferences  were 
opened  at  Vendome,  and  a  week  later  Suffolk 
and  his  colleagues  joined  Orleans  at  Blois. 
Thence  they  sailed  down  the  Loire  to  Tours, 
and  on  17  April  were  presented  to  Charles  VII 
at  his  castle  of  Montils-les-Tours.  It  soon 
became  clear  that  terms  for  a  permanent  peace 
could  not  be  agreed  upon,  but  a  truce  was- 
nevertheless  arranged  to  last  till  1  April  1446. 
On  24  May  Margaret  was  formally  betrothed 
to  Suffolk  as  Henry's  proxy,  the  truce  was. 
signed  on  the  28th,  and  on  the  next  day  Suf- 
folk started  home.  His  progress  was  one 
continued  triumphant  procession,  and  when 
he  entered  Rouen  on  8  June  he  was  hailed 
with  rapturous  shouts  of  '  Noel !  Noel ! r 
Suffolk  reached  London  on  27  June,  and 
on  the  same  day  the  truce  was  ratified 
(STEVENSON,  i.  67-79,  vol.  ii.  pt.  i.  preface- 
pp.  xxxvi  -xxxviii  ;  Fcedera,  xi.  59-67  ; 
RAMSAY,  ii.  58-60).  His  success  was  for 
the  time  complete,  and  was  marked  by  his 
promotion  to  a  marquisate  on  14  Sept. 
(This  is  the  date  of  his  patent,  but  he  is  so- 
styled  in  the  Issue  Roll  on  17  Aug.)  On 
28  Oct.  he  was  instructed  to  bring  home  the- 
king's  bride.  His  wife  went  with  him  as  the 
principal  lady  of  Margaret's  escort ;  and  his. 
chief  colleague  in  this,  as  in  his  former  mission, 
was  Adam  de  Molyneux  or  Moleyns  [q.  v.] 
Suffolk  and  his  retinue  left  London  on  5  Nov., 
crossed  the  Channel  on  13  Nov.,  and  joined 
the  French  court  at  Nancy.  Whether  from 
accident  or,  as  some  accounts  suggest,, 
through  design,  Margaret  was  not  present. 
The  French  took  advantage  to  extort  further 
concessions,  and  before  he  could  obtain  his  ob- 
ject Suffolk  had  to  promise  the  surrender  of 
all  that  the  English  held  or  claimed  in  Maine- 
and  Anjou  (GASCOIGNE,  Loci  e  Libro  Verita- 
tum,  pp.  190,  204-5 ;  RAMSAY,  ii.  62).  «  This. 


Pole 


53 


Pole 


fatal  concession,  wrung  from  an  unwary 
diplomatist  in  a  moment  of  weakness,  be- 
came at  once  the  turning-point  of  English 
polities'  (ib.)  At  a  later  time,  Suffolk 
laid  the  responsibility  for  the  transaction  on 
Molyneux  (Rot.  Parl.  v.  182).  For  the 
moment,  however,  all  went  fairly.  Under 
Suffolk's  escort,  Margaret  entered  Rouen  in 
triumph  on  22  March  1445,  and  on  9  April 
landed  at  Portsmouth  (EscouciiY,  i.  87-9). 
In  the  parliament  which  met  in  June 
Suffolk  made  a  declaration  in  defence  of  his 
conduct.  William  Burley,  the  speaker,  on 
behalf  of  the  commons,  recommended  the 
marquis  to  the  king  for  the  '  ryght  grete 
and  notable  werkys  whiche  he  hathe  don  to 
the  pleasir  of  God'  (Rot.  Parl.  v.  73-4). 
Even  Gloucester,  who  had  in  the  previous 
year  endeavoured  to  thwart  Suffolk,  found 
it  expedient  to  express  his  approval.  On 
14  July  a  French  embassy  reached  London. 
The  only  practical  result  was  a  prolonga- 
tion of  the  truce  till  1  Nov.  1446.  But  the 
record  of  the  transactions  shows  the  thorough- 
ness of  Suffolk's  political  triumph.  The  French 
ambassadors  plainly  accepted  him  as  the  most 
important  person  in  the  state,  and  Suffolk  on 
his  part  did  not  hesitate  to  speak  openly  of 
his  wish  for  peace,  and  of  his  disbelief  in 
Gloucester's  power  to  thwart  him  (STEVEN- 
SON, i.  96-131,  esp.  p.  123). 

Under  Suffolk's  influence  negotiations  for 
peace  were  continued  throughout  1446,  with 
no  very  definite  result.  The  government, 
however,  passed  entirely  into  Suffolk's  hands. 
The  king  was  altogether  alienated  from  his 
uncle,  who  made  Suffolk  the  object  of  open 
and  repeated  attack  (BASIN,  i.  187, 190 ;  Es- 
COUCHY,  i.  115;  Croyland  Chron.  p.  521).  To 
Suffolk  and  the  queen,  the  complete  overthrow 
of  Humphrey's  power  appeared  a  paramount 
necessity.  On  14  Dec.  a  parliament  was 
-summoned  to  meet  at  Bury  St.  Edmunds, '  a 
place  where  Suffolk  was  strong,  and  where 
Gloucester  would  be  far  a  way  from  his  friends, 
the  Londoners '  (STUBBS).  The  parliament 
met  on  10  Feb.  1447.  Some  formal  action 
against  Gloucester  was  no  doubt  intended, 
and  one  authority  says  that  Suffolk  had  all 
the  roads  watched  with  armed  men  (DAVIES, 
English  Chron.  p.  62).  Gloucester  himself 
reached  Bury  on  18  Feb.,  and  was  at  once 
arrested.  Five  days  later  he  died,  no  doubt 
from  natural  causes  accelerated  by  the  shock 
of  his  imprisonment.  Popular  belief,  how- 
ever, laid  his  death  at  Suffolk's  door,  though 
no  definite  charge  was  ever  formulated  (the 
nearest  approach  is  in  the  petition  of  the 
•commons  for  Suffolk's  attainder  in  Novem- 
ber 1451,  Rolls  of  Parliament,  v.  226).  The 
death  of  Cardinal  Beaufort,  which  took  place 


six  weeks  after  that  of  Gloucester,  left  Suf- 
folk without  a  rival. 

But  Suffolk's  tenure  of  power  was  from 
the  first  troubled.  The  charges  against  him 
in  reference  to  Maine  and  Anjou  at  once 
took  shape.  On  25  May  he  had  formally 
to  defend  his  action  in  the  council,  and  on 
18  June  a  royal  proclamation  was  issued, 
declaring  the  king's  satisfaction  with  what 
he  had  done  (Fcedera,  xi.  173).  Gloucester's 
death  had  brought  Richard  of  York  a  step 
nearer  the  throne,  and  made  him  the  leader 
of  the  party  opposed  to  the  court.  The  com- 
mand in  France  was  now  taken  away  from 
Richard,  who  was  sent  into  practical  banish- 
ment as  lieutenant  of  Ireland,  and  given  to 
the  incapable  Edward  Beaufort,  duke  of 
Somerset.  Both  appointments  were  ascribed 
to  Suffolk's  influence  (WATTKIN,  i.  300). 
They  certainly  contributed  to  diminish  his 
popularity,  and  made  Richard  his  mortal 
enemy  (WHETHAMSTEDE,  Reg.  i.160;  GILES, 
Chron.  p.  35).  Suffolk,  however,  was  so 
strong  in  the  king's  favour  that  he  cared 
little  for  the  displeasure  of  others  (ib.}  At 
Gloucester's  death  he  had  obtained  the  earl- 
dom of  Pembroke,  the  reversion  to  which 
had  been  granted  to  him  four  years  previously. 
On  24  Feb.  1447  he  was  made  chamberlain, 
constable  of  Dover,  and  lord  warden  of  the 
Cinque  ports.  On  9  Aug.  1447  he  was  made 
admiral  of  England,  and  on  9  March  1448 
governor  of  Calais.  With  his  promotion  to 
a  dukedom  on  2  July  of  this  year,  he  reached 
the  summit  of  his  power.  Maine  had  been 
formally  surrendered  in  February  1448,  and 
a  truce  concluded  for  two  years.  The  fact 
of  the  surrender  increased  Suffolk's  unpopu- 
larity. The  truce  was  ill  observed,  and 
Suffolk  found  it  impossible  to  carry  out  his 
policy  of  peace  in  full.  On  24  March  1449 
Fougeres  in  Brittany  was  treacherously  cap- 
tured for  the  English  by  Franfois  1'Arra- 
gonais  or  de  Surienne.  In  this  impolitic  and 
unjustifiable  act  Suffolk  was  probably  impli- 
cated. Francois,  who  had  been  connected 
with  Suffolk  as  early  as  1437  (NICHOLS,  Proc. 
Privy  Council,  v.  29),  expressly  declared  that 
he  had  acted  with  the  duke's  cognisance  and 
approval  (Pieces,  &c.,  ap.  BASIN,  iv.  294- 
300,  337;  STEVENSON,  i.  278-98).  The  attack 
on  Fougeres  was  followed  by  open  war ; 
one  after  another  the  English  strongholds 
in  Normandy  were  lost,  and  Rouen  itself 
was  taken  on  29  Oct.  This  succession  of 
disasters  stirred  a  warlike  feeling  in  Eng- 
land, and  finally  discredited  Suffolk  and  his 
policy. 

If  the  cession  of  Maine  and  Anjou  had 
been  due  to  Suffolk's  policy,  the  loss  of  Nor- 
mandy was  due  to  the  incapacity  of  Somer- 


Pole 


54 


Pole 


set.  But  Suffolk,  who  had  long  been  allied  to 
the  Beauforts,  in  politics  and  by  marriage, 
was  in  the  popular  estimation,  at  all  events, 
responsible  for  Somerset's  appointment.  It 
was  upon  him  that  the  storm  broke.  As 
a  minister  he  had  been  careless  about  the 
enmities  that  he  excited.  He  was  charged 
with  pride  and  avarice,  and  with  having  dis- 
posed of  bishoprics  and  other  preferment 
from  corrupt  motives  (Croyland  Chron.  pp. 
521,  525  ;  the  charge  was  perhaps  a  specious 
one,  cf.  BECKINGTO^,  i.  158,  and  Political 
Songs,  ii.  232-4,  though  many  vacant  sees 
had  been  filled  by  his  supporters). 

The  parliament  of  1449  met  on  6  Nov. 
Molyneux  had  to  resign  the  privy  seal  on 
9  Dec.  Marmaduke  Lumley  [q.  v.]  had  re- 
signed the  treasurership  in  the  previous 
October.  These  two  had  been  Suffolk's  prin- 
cipal supporters  and  colleagues.  Their  re- 
moval marked  the  decline  of  his  influence. 
In  the  first  weeks  of  the  parliament  no  pub- 
lic action  was  taken  against  Suffolk.  But  on 
28  Nov.,  as  Ralph,  lord  Cromwell,  who  ap- 
pears to  have  been  the  duke's  chief  adversary 
in  the  council,  was  entering  the  Star-cham- 
ber, he  was  hustled  in  Westminster  Hall 
by  William  Tailboys,  a  Lincolnshire  squire 
and  supporter  of  Suffolk.  Cromwell  accused 
Tailboys  and  Suffolk  of  intending  his  death. 
Tailboys,  supported  by  Suffolk,  denied  the 
charge,  but  was  committed  to  the  Tower. 
There  were  other  charges  of  violence  against 
Tailboys,  and  in  these  also  it  was  alleged 
that  he  had  profited  by  Suffolk's  patronage. 
Afterwards  Suffolk's  connection  with  Tail- 
boys  formed  part  of  the  charges  brought 
against  him  (WiLL.  WOEC.  [766] ;  Rolls  of 
Parliament,  v.  181,  200;  Paston  Letters,  i. 
96,  97,  and  Introduction,  pp.  xliii-xliv).  At 
Christmas  the  parliament  was  prorogued  till 
22  Jan.  1450.  On  9  Jan.  Molyneux  was  mur- 
dered at  Portsmouth.  Before  his  death  he 
made  some  confession  injurious  to  Suffolk. 
When  parliament  reassembled,  the  duke,  in 
anticipation  of  attack,  at  once  made  an  elo- 
quent and  impressive  speech  in  his  own  de- 
fence. Odious  and  horrible  language  was 
running  through  the  land  to  his  'highest 
charge  and  moost  hevyest  dtsclaundre.'  He 
appealed  to  his  long  and  faithful  service,  and 
begged  that  any  accusations  against  him 
might  be  preferred  openly  {Rolls  of  Parlia- 
ment, v.  176).  The  commons,  inspired  by 
Cromwell,  at  once  took  up  the  challenge 
(  WILL.WORC.  [766]).  On  26  Jan.  they  begged 
that  Suffolk  might  be  '  committed  to  ward.' 
The  council  refused,  in  absence  of  any  definite 
charge.  On  28  Jan.  the  commons  accused 
Suffolk  of  having  sold  the  realm  to  the 
French  and  treasonably  fortified  Walling- 


ford  Castle.  On  this  Suffolk  was  committed 
to  the  Tower  {Rolls  of  Parliament,  v.  176- 
177).  On  7  Feb.  a  formal  and  lengthy  in- 
dictment was  presented  by  the  commons. 
The  chief  charges  were  that  Suffolk  had 
conspired  to  secure  the  throne  for  his  son, 
John  de  la  Pole,  afterwards  second  Duke  of 
Suffolk  [q.  v.]  ;  that  he  had  advised  the  re- 
lease of  Orleans,  promised  to  surrender  Anjou 
and  Maine,  betrayed  the  king's  counsel  to 
the  French,  failed  to  reinforce  the  English 
armies,  and  estranged  Brittany  and  Aragon 
(ib.  v.  177-9).  On  12  Feb.  the  articles  were 
brought  before  the  council,  and  Henry  or- 
dered the  matter  to  be  respited  (ib.  v.  179). 
It  was  reported  that  the  duke  was  '  in  the 
kyng's  gode  grase'  (Paston  Letters,  i.  115), 
and  his  pardon  was  no  doubt  intended. 
However,  on  9  March  the  commons  pre- 
sented eighteen  additional  articles,  charging 
Suffolk  with  maladministration  and  malver- 
sation, with  the  promotion  of  unworthy  per- 
sons, and  with  the  protection  of  William 
Tailboys  (Rolls  of  Parliament,  v.  179-82). 
On  the  same  day  Suffolk  was  brought  before 
the  king,  and  received  copies  of  the  accusation . 
On  13  March  he  again  appeared  before  the 
parliament.  He  denied  the  charges  utterly,, 
and  said  :  <  Savyng  the  kynges  high  presence, 
they  were  fals  and  untrue'  (ib.  v.  182). 
Four  days  later  he  once  more  appeared  and 
repeated  his  denial.  At  length  on  the  first 
bill  the  king  held  Suffolk  '  neither  declared 
nor  charged ; '  on  the  second  bill '  not  by  way 
of  judgment,'  but  by  force  of  his  submission, 
the  king  ordered  his  banishment  for  five  years 
from  the  first  of  May  (ib.  v.  183).  The  deci- 
sion was  a  sort  of  compromise  intended  to 
save  the  duke  and  satisfy  the  commons. 

On  19  March  Suffolk  was  set  free,  and  at 
once  left  the  capital.  The  Londoners  sought 
to  intercept  him,  and  severely  handled  some 
of  his  servants  (WiLL.  WoKC.  [767]).  The 
remaining  six  weeks  were  spent  by  Suffolk 
on  his  estate.  On  30  April  he  came  to  Ips- 
wich, and  in  the  presence  of  the  chief  men 
of  the  county  took  an  oath  on  the  sacrament 
that  he  was  innocent  of  the  charges  brought 
against  him  (ib.)  That  same  evening  he 
addressed  a  touching  letter  of  farewell  to  his- 
little  son  (Paston  Letters,  i.  121-2),  and  the 
next  morning  set  sail  with  two  ships  and  a 
pinnace.  When  off  Dover  he  sent  the  pin- 
nace towards  Calais  to  learn  how  he  would 
be  received.  The  pinnace  was  intercepted  by 
a  ship  called  Nicholas  of  the  Tower,  which 
was  lying  in  wait.  The  master  of  the  Ni- 
cholas bore  down  on  Suffolk's  ships,  and  bade 
the  duke  come  on  board.  On  his  arrival  lie 
was  greeted  with  a  shout  of  '  Welcome, 
traitor.'  His  captors  granted  him  a  day  and 


Pole 


55 


Pole 


a  night  to  shrive  him.  Then,  on  2  May,  he 
was  drawn  out  into  a  little  boat,  and  a  knave 
of  Ireland, '  one  of  the  lewdest  men  on  board,' 
took  a  rusty  sword  and  smote  off  his  head 
with  half  a  dozen  strokes.  Some  accounts 
alleged  that  Suffolk  was  given  a  sort  of  mock 
trial,  and  it  was  also  stated  that  he  spent  his 
last  hours  in  writing  to  the  king  (ib.  i.  124- 
127;  Three  Fifteenth-Century  Chronicles,^. 
66;  DAVTES,  English  Chronicle,  pp.  68-9). 
His  body  was  taken  to  land,  and  thrown 
upon  the  beach  near  Dover,  whence,  by 
Henry's  orders,  it  was  removed  for  burial  at 
"Wingfield  (GILES,  Chron.  p.  38).  The  cir- 
cumstances of  Suffolk's  murder  must  re- 
main somewhat  of  a  mystery.  But  the  Ni- 
cholas was  a  royal  ship,  and  probably  the 
crime  was  instigated  by  persons  of  influence, 
possibly  by  Richard  of  York,  or  some  of  his 
supporters  (cf.  RAMSAY,  ii.  121 ;  cf.  Paston 
Letters,  i.  125  ;  GASCOIGNE,  p.  7).  It  is  some- 
times said  that  Suffolk  was  attainted  after 
his  death.  But  the  petition  of  the  commons 
to  this  effect  in  November  1451  was  refused 
by  the  king  (Rolls  of  Parliament,  v.  226). 

The  general  opinion  of  the  time  regarded 
Suffolk's  murder  as  the  worthy  end  of  a 
traitor  (Croyland  Chron.  p.  525).  Public 
indignation  expressed  itself  in  a  host  of 
satirical  verses  (Political  Poems  and  Songs, 
ii.  222-34).  In  these  verses  all  the  formal 
charges  of  the  impeachment  are  repeated, 
and  the  hatred  for  Suffolk  continued  as  a 
popular  tradition  ;  it  inspired  one  of  William 
Baldwin's  contributions  to  the  '  Mirror  for 
Magistrates,'  and  two  of  Drayton's  '  Heroical 
Epistles.'  By  later  writers  Suffolk  is  even 
charged  with  having  been  the  paramour  of 
Queen  Margaret  (cf.  HALL,  p.  219 ;  HoLiisr- 
SHED,  iii.  220 ;  DRAYTON,  Heroical  Epistles}. 
The  charge  is  absurd  and  baseless,  but  has 
gained  currency  from  its  adoption  by  Shake- 
speare (Henry  VI,  pt.  ii.  act  v.  sc.  2).  But 
the  popular  verdict  on  Suffolk's  private  and 
public  character  is  not  to  be  accepted  with- 
out serious  qualification.  The  very  indict- 
ment of  the  commons  '  proves  that  nothing 
tangible  could  be  adduced  against  him  ' 
(RAMSAY,  ii.  117).  Lingard  (Hist.  England, 
v.  179)  well  says  of  his  farewell  to  his  son 
that  it  is  '  difficult  to  believe  that  the  writer 
could  have  been  either  a  false  subject  or 
a  bad  man'  (see  also  GAIRDNER,  Paston 
Letters,  vol.  i.  p.  xlvii).  The  same  spirit  of 
unaffected  piety  and  simple  loyalty  which 
inspires  this  letter  appears  in  Suffolk's  speech 
in  parliament  on  22  Jan.  1450.  The  two 
documents  reveal  their  author  as  a  man  who 
had  made  it  the  rule  of  his  life  to  fear  God 
and  honour  the  king.  Suffolk  may  have  been 
headstrong  and  overbearing,  but  his  pa- 


triotism and  sincerity  appear  beyond  ques- 
tion. The  policy  of  peace  which  he  adopted 
and  endeavoured  to  carry  through  was  a  just 
and  sensible  one.  It  was  not  a  policy  which 
would  have  appealed  to  selfish  motives. 
Whatever  its  ultimate  wisdom,  it  was  sure  to 
incur  immediate  odium.  Suffolk  himself 
foresaw  and  endeavoured  to  forestall  the 
dangers  before  he  embarked  on  his  embassy 
in  February  1444 ;  his  conduct  at  that  time 
shows  that  he  was  *  throughout  open  and 
straightforward  in  his  behaviour '  (STUBBS). 

Suffolk's  tomb,  with  a  stone  effigy,  still 
exists  in  his  collegiate  church  at  Wing- 
field.  It  is  figured  in  Napier's  '  History  of 
Swyncombe  and  Ewelme '  (plates  before  p. 
81).  Walpole  gave  an  engraving  of  a  pic- 
ture in  his  possession,  representing  the  mar- 
riage of  Henry  VI,  one  of  the  figures  in 
which  he  takes  for  Suffolk  (Anecdotes  of 
Painting,  i.  34,  ed.  1762).  Suffolk's  will, 
dated  17  Jan.  1448,  is  given  in  Kennett's 
'  Parochial  Antiquities/  ii.  376,  and  in  Na- 
pier's '  History  of  Swyncombe  and  Ewelme,' 
p.  82.  His  seals  and  autograph  are  figured 
in  the  latter  work  (p.  89),  and  his  badge — 
the  ape's  clog — in  Doyle's  '  Official  Baron- 
age.' Suffolk  was  the  founder  of  a  hospital 
at  Ewelme,  Oxfordshire,  in  1437.  This 
charity  still  continues,  the  mastership  having 
been  long  annexed  to  the  regius  professor- 
ship of  medicine  at  Oxford.  He  also  re- 
founded  another  hospital  at  Donnington, 
Berkshire,  in  1448,  and  intended  to  refound 
Snape  Priory  in  Suffolk  (NAPiER,pp.  54,  63 ; 
DTJGDALE,  Monasticon  Anglicanum,  iv.  557, 
vi.  715-17  ;  Archceologia,  xliv.  464).  , 

Suffolk's  wife  was  Alice,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Chaucer  [q.  v.]  of  Ewelme.  She 
was  therefore  in  all  likelihood  a  grand- 
daughter of  the  poet,  and  through  her  grand- 
mother, Philippa  Roet,  a  cousin  of  the  Beau- 
forts.  As  a  child  she  had  married  Sir  John 
Philip  or  Phelip  (d.  1415),  and  afterwards 
was  second  wife  of  Thomas  de  Montacute, 
fourth  earl  of  Salisbury  [q.  v.J  Her  license 
to  marry  Suffolk  was  granted  on  11  Nov. 
1430  (NAPIER,  p.  66).  Robes  were  pro- 
vided for  Alice,  countess  of  Suffolk,  as  a 
lady  of  the  Garter  on  21  May  1432  (Nico- 
LAS,  Proc.  Privy  Council,  iv.  116).  After  her 
husband's  death  she  was,  during  Jack  Cade's 
rebellion,  indicted  for  treason  at  the  Guild- 
hall (WORCESTER  [768]).  The  charge  was 
more  formally  repeated  in  the  parliament  of 
November  1451  (ib.  [770] ;  Rolls  of  Parlia- 
ment, v.  216).  Subsequently  Alice  made  her 
peace  with  the  Duke  of  York  and  his  party, 
her  stepdaughter  by  her  second  husband 
j  being  the  mother  of  Warwick  '  the  king- 
maker.' She  was  specially  excepted  from 


Pole 


Pole 


the  act  of  attainder  in  1461  (ib.  v.  470). 
Some  fairly  numerous  references  in  the  '  Pas- 
ton  Letters '  (vol.  iii.)  illustrate  her  later 
life.  Three  letters  from  Alice  to  her  ser- 
vant, William  Bylton,  are  given  by  Napier 
(p.  99).  She  died  on  20  May  1475  at 
Ewelme,  and  was  buried  in  the  church  there 
on  9  June.  Her  splendid  tomb  still  exists  in 
fine  preservation  (plates  in  NAPIEK,  p.  103, 
and-  GOTJGH'S  Sepulchral  Monuments).  Her 
only  child  was  John  de  la  Pole,  who  suc- 
ceeded his  father  as  second  Duke  of  Suffolk, 
and  is  separately  noticed. 

[Stevenson's  Wars  of  the  English  in  France, 
with  William  of  Worcester's  Diary,  Walsing- 
ham's  Historia  Anglicana,  ii.  345,  Beckington's 
Correspondence,  i.  158,  175,  ii.  159,  163,  171, 
Amundesham's  Annales,  ii.  213-20,  Whetham- 
stede's  Kegistrum,  i.  45,  160,  Wright's  Political 
Poems  and  Songs,  ii.  222-34  (all  these  are  in 
Eolls  Ser.);  Gesta  Henrici  Quinti  (Engl.  Hist. 
Soc.);  Three  Fifteenth-Century  Chronicles, 
Collections  of  a  London  Citizen,  Davies's  Eng- 
lish Chronicle,  1377-1461  (these  three  in  Camd. 
Soc.)  ;  Giles's  Incerti  Scriptoris  Chronicon  ; 
Chronicle  of  London,  ed.  Nicolas,  1827;  Con- 
tinuation of  the  Croyland  Chronicle  in  Fulman's 
Scriptores,  vol.  i. ;  Gascoigne's  Loci  e  Libro 
Veritatum,  ed.  Kogers ;  Paston  Letters,  ed. 
Gairdner;  Chronicles  of  Hardyng  and  Hall. 
Among  French  writers  there  are  Monstrelet, 
Jean  le  Fevre  de  S.  Eemy,  Waurin,  Gruel's 
Arthur  de  Eichemont,  T.  Basin.  Matthieu  d'Es- 
couchy  (all  in  Soc.  de  PHistoire  de  France ;  the 
first  four  throw  light  chiefly  on  Suffolk's  military 
career,  the  last  two  furnish  some  information  as 
to  his  fall) ;  Proces  de  Jeanne  d'Arc  (Soc.  de 
1'Hist.  France) ;  Cousinot's  Gestes  des  Nobles 
and  Chron.  de  la  Pucelle,  ed.  Vallet  de  Viri- 
ville;  Chronique  de  Mont  St.  Michel  (Societe 
des  Anciens  Textes  Fran^ais) ;  ^Eneas  Sylvius 
(Opera,  pp.  440-2)  gives  a  foreign  opinion  hostile 
to  Suffolk  ;  Nicolas's  Proceedings  and  Ordi- 
nances of  the  Privy  Council,  vols.  iv.-vi.;  Eolls 
of  Parliament;  Eynier'sFcDdera,  vols.  ix.-xi.,  orig. 
edit. ;  Dugdale's  Baronage,  ii.  186-9  ;  Doyle's 
Official  Baronage,  iii.  436-8 ;  Napier's  Historical 
Notices  of  the  Parishes  of  Swyncombe  and 
Ewelme  contains  a  life  of  Suffolk,  together  with 
genealogical  tables  and  some  documents  of  im- 
portance. For  modern  accounts  see  Gairdner's 
Introduction  to  Paston  Letters,  i.  pp.  xxxii-1 ; 
Stubbs's  Constitutional  History,  iii.  136-54 ; 
Eamsay's  Lancaster  and  York  ;'  Villet  de  Viri- 
ville's  Hist,  de  Charles  VII ;  G.  Du  Fresne  de 
Beaucourt's  Histoire  de  Charles  VII  ] 

C.  L.  K. 

POLE,  SIR  WILLIAM  (1561-1635), 
antiquary,  baptised  on  27  Aug.  1561  at  Coly- 
ton,  Devonshire,  was  son  of  Sir  William 
Pole,  knt.,  of  Shute  in  the  same  county,  and 
his  wife  Catherine,  daughter  of  Chief-justice 
John  Popham  [q.  v.]  The  family  originally 


came  from  Wirrell  in  Cheshire,  and  appa- 
rently had  no  connection  with  the  dukes  of 
Suffolk  of  that  name  or  with  Cardinal  Pole's 
family.  It  was  the  father,  and  not  the  son, 
as  Prince  states  (  Worthies  of  Devon,  p.  504), 
who  was  educated  at  Exeter  College,  Ox- 
ford (cf.  BOASE,  JReffistrum,  ii.  255),  was 
autumn  reader  at  the  Inner  Temple  in  1557, 
double  reader  in  1560,  and  treasurer  in  1565. 
The  son  entered  the  Inner  Temple  in  1578, 
was  placed  on  the  commission  of  the  peace 
for  Devonshire,  served  as  high  sheriff  for  that 
county  in  1602-3,  and  represented  Bossiney, 
Cornwall,  in  the  parliament  of  1586  (Official 
Return,  i.  417).  He  was  knighted  by  James  I 
at  Whitehall  on  15  Feb.  1606.  He  paid 
37 /.  10.5.  to  the  Virginia  Company,  and  was 
an  incorporator  of  the  third  Virginia  charter. 
He  died  at  Colcombe,  in  the  parish  of  Coly- 
ton,  Devonshire,  on  9  Feb.  1635,  aged  73. 
He  was  buried  in  the  west  side  of  the  chancel 
in  Colyton  church.  He  married,  first,  Mary, 
(d.  1605),  daughter  and  coheir  of  Sir  William 
Peryam  [q.  v.],  by  whom  he  had  issue  six 
sons  and  six  daughters.  Of  the  sons,  the 
eldest,  William,  died  young  ;  the  second,  Sir 
John,  whose  descendants  still  occupy  Shute 
House,  was  created  a  baronet  on  12  Sept. 
1628,  and  died  on  16  April  1658  ;  the  third 
was  Peryam  Pole,  whose  descendant,  William 
Pole,  dying  in  1778  without  issue,  bequeathed 
his  estates  to  his  kinsman,  the  Hon.  William 
Wellesley,  who  thereupon  assumed  the  name 
Pole,  and  subsequently  became  Earl  of  Morn- 
ington.  Another  of  Sir  William  Pole's  sons, 
also  named  William,  matriculated  from  Oriel 
College,  Oxford,  on  24  March  1609-10,  gra- 
duated B.A.  on  3  Nov.  1612,  entered  the 
Inner  Temple  in  1616,  and  emigrated  to 
America,  where  he  died  on  24  Feb.  1674. 
Sir  William's  daughter  Elizabeth  (1588- 
1654)  also  emigrated  to  America,  and  took 
a  prominent  part  in  the  foundation  and  in- 
corporation of  Taunton  in  1639-40,  where 
she  died  on  21  May  1654.  Pole  married, 
secondly,  Jane,  daughter  of  William  Simmes 
or  Symes  of  Chard,  Somerset,  and  widow  of 
Roger  How  of  London. 

Pole  was  a  learned  antiquary,  and  at  his 
death  left  large  manuscript  collections  for 
the  history  and  antiquities  of  Devonshire. 
Of  these  the  greater  part  perished  during 
the  civil  war,  but  there  survived:  1.  Two 
folio  volumes,  entitled  l  The  Description  of 
Devonshire;'  which  were  printed  in  1791 
(4to)  under  the  title  '  Collections  towards  a 
Description  of  the  County  of  Devon.'  2.  A 
folio  volume  of  deeds,  charters,  and  grants 
compiled  in  1616  ;  a  small  portion  of  this 
was  privately  printed  by  Sir  Thomas  Phillipps 
[q.  v.]  under  the  title  '  Sir  William  Pole's 


Pole 


57 


Polhill 


Copies  of  Extracts  from  Old  Evidences,' 
Mill  Hill,  1840?  3.  A  thin  folio  volume 
containing  coats-of-arms,  &c.  4.  A  volume 
of  deeds  and  grants  to  Tor  Abbey,  Devon- 
shire. These  collections  were  largely  used 
by  (among  others)  Prince,  Risdon,  and 
Tuckett,  in  his  edition  of  the  '  Visitation  of 
Devonshire  in  1620,'  published  in  1859. 

[Rogers's  Memorials  of  the  "West,  pp.  350  et 
seq.  (with  portraits)  ;  Preface  to  Pole's  Descrip- 
tion of  Devonshire,  1791 ;  Harl.  MS.  1195,f.37  ; 
Prince's  Worthies  of  Devon,  pp.  504-6 ;  Risdon's 
Chorographical  Description  of  the  County  of 
Devon;  Visitation  of  Devon  in  1620  (Harl. 
Soc.);  Dugdale's  Orig.  Juridiciales,  p.  165;  Fos- 
ter's Alumni  Oxon.  1500-1714;  Nichols's  Lit. 
Anecd.  vi.  299 ;  Brown's  Genesis  U.  S.  A.  ii.968  ; 
Burke's  Peerage,  s.v.  'Pole'  and ' Wellington.'] 

A.  F.  P. 

POLE,     WILLIAM      WELLESLEY, 

EARL  OF  MORNINGTON  (1763-1845),  master 
of  the  mint.  [See  WELLESLEY-POLE.] 

POLEHAMPTON,     HENRY    STED- 

MAN  (1824-1857),  Indian  chaplain,  was 
the  second  son  of  Edward  Polehampton, 
M.A.,  rector  of  Great  Greenford,  Middlesex, 
by  his  wife,  younger  daughter  of  Thomas 
Stedman,  vicar  of  St.  Chad's,  Shrewsbury, 
and  was  born  at  his  father's  rectory  on 
1  Feb.  1824.  Admitted  on  the  foundation 
of  Eton  College  in  1832,  he  proceeded  thence 
to  Oxford,  where  he  matriculated  from  Pem- 
broke College  on  17  Nov.  1842  as  a  Wight- 
wick  scholar,  a  distinction  which  he  obtained 
as  being  of  the  founder's  kin.  His  university 
career  was  undistinguished ;  he  became  a 
fellow  of  his  college  in  1845,  and  in  No- 
vember 1846  was  admitted  13. A.  without 
taking  honours.  He  proceeded  M.  A.  in  1849. 
Following  the  family  tradition,  he  was 
ordained  deacon  on  18  June  1848.  At  Easter 
1849,  after  a  few  months  of  tutorial  work,  he 
was  appointed  assistant  curate  of  St.  Chad's, 
Shrewsbury,  doing  good  work  among  the 
victims  of  the  cholera  when  it  visited  that 
town.  In  1849  he  was  presented  by  his  col- 
lege to  the  rectory  of  St.  Aldate's,  Oxford, 
a  living  which  he  soon  resigned,  because  it 
was  not  tenable  with  his  fellowship.  Find- 
ing no  further  chance  of  preferment,  he  ac- 
cepted an  East  Indian  chaplaincy  in  Septem- 
ber 1855.  On  10  Oct.  he  married  Emily, 
youngest  daughter  of  C.  B.  Allnatt,  esq.,  of 
Shrewsbury,  barrister,  and,  with  his  wife, 
sailed  for  Calcutta  on  4  Jan.  1856.  At  his  own 
desire  he  was  appointed  chaplain  to  the  Luck- 
now  garrison,  and  arrived  there  on  26  March. 
During  the  summer  of  1856  he  was  instru- 
mental in  relieving  the  sufferers  from  cholera, 
which  had  especially  attacked  the  52nd  regi- 


ment. After  recovering  from  a  severe  illness, 
he  made  several  tours  to  Sultanpur,  Sitapur, 
and  the  neighbourhood,  and  returned  to 
Lucknow  in  time  to  witness  the  outbreak  of 
the  mutiny  there  (3-30  May  1857).  He  took 
refuge  within  the  Residency,  his  wife  volun- 
teering as  nurse,  when  the  siege  began, 
30  June.  Eight  days  later  he  was  wounded 
by  a  stray  shot,  cholera  supervened,  and  he 
died  on  20  July,  while  the  first  great  attack 
was  being  made  on  the  Residency.  He  was 
buried  in  the  Residency  garden.  A  tablet  to 
his  memory  was  afterwards  set  up  in  St. 
Chad's  Church,  Shrewsbury. 

The  value  of  his  services  during  his  brief 
residence  in  Lucknow  was  attested  in  the 
official  despatches  of  Havelock.  He  was  a 
good  athlete.  His  literary  remains  comprise 
merely  a  brief  diary  of  his  Indian  career,  with 
a  few  letters. 

[Memoir,  Letters,  and  Diary  of  H.  S.  P., 
edited  by  Revs.  E.  and  T.  S.  Polehampton,  3rd 
edit.  1859,  8vo;  Funeral  Sermon  on  his  Death, 
preached  at  St.  Chad's  by  Rev.  F.  W.  Kitter- 
master,  1858,  8vo  ;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.] 

E.  G-.  II. 

POLENIUS,  ROBERT  (d.  1150),  car- 
dinal. [See  PULLEN.] 

POLHILL,  EDWARD  (1622-1694?),  re- 
ligious writer,  son  of  Edward  Polhill  (d. 
1654),  rector  of  Ellington,  Kent,  by  his 
second  wife,  Jane,  daughter  of  William  New- 
ton of  Lewes,  was  born  in  1622.  He  entered 
Gray's  Inn  on  16  June  1638-9,  and  was  called 
to  the  bar  (FOSTER,  Gray's  Inn  Register], 
but  he  chiefly  divided  his  time  between  the 
care  of  his  family  estates  in  Burwash,  Sussex, 
where  he  was  justice  of  the  peace,  and  the 
compilation  of  religious  tracts,  somewhat 
Calvinistic  in  temper,  but  supporting  the  esta- 
blished church.  '  It  was  hard  to  say  which 
excelled,  the  gentleman  or  the  divine'  (Life 
of  Phil.  Henry,  p.  422).  Lazarus  Seaman 
claimed  '  knowledge  of  him  from  his  child- 
hood,' and  '  certified  of  his  domestical  piety' 
(Divine  Will,  preface).  Polhill  died  about 
1694. 

Polhill  wrote:  1.  'The  Divine  Will  con- 
sidered in  its  Eternal  Degrees  and  holy  Exe- 
cution of  them,'  London,  1673;  strongly  Cal- 
vinistic in  tone,  with  prefaces  by  John  Owen 
(1616-1683)  [q.  v.]  and  Lazarus  Seaman;  2nd 
edit.,  London,  1695 ;  partly  reprinted  at 
Berwick,  1842,  as  '  An  Essay  on  the  Extent 
of  the  Death  of  Christ.'  2.  'An  Answer 
to  the  Discourse  of  William  Sherlock  touch- 
ing the  Knowledge  of  Christ  and  our  Union 
and  Communion  with  Him,'  London,  1675. 
1  When  I  read  Sherlock's  book,'  says  Polhill, 
'I  thought  myself  in  a  new  theological 


Polidori 


Polidori 


•world,  as  if,  according  to  Pelagius,  all  grace 
were  in  doctrine  only.'  3.  '  Precious  Faith 
considered  in  its  Nature,  Working,  and 
Growth'  (London,  1675);  panegyrised  by 
Philip  Henry.  4.  <  Speculum  Theologies 
in  Christo,  or  a  View  of  some  Divine  Truths,' 
London,  1678.  5.  'Christus  in  corde,  or 
the  Mystical  Union  between  Christ  and  Be- 
lievers considered  in  its  Resemblances,  Bonds, 
Seals,  Privileges,  and  Marks '(London,  1680); 
reprinted, '  corrected  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Priestley 
of  Jewin  Street,'  London,  1788,  and  again  in 
1842  as  '  revised  and  carefully  abridged  by 
James  Michel.'  6.  'Armatura  Dei,  or  a 
Preparation  for  Suffering  in  an  Evil  Day, 
showing  how  Christians  are  to  bear  Suffer- 
ings,' London,  1682 ;  reprinted,  London,  1824. 
7.  '  A  Discourse  of  Schism,'  London,  1694  ; 
a  catholic-minded  treatise,  showing  that  the 
separation  of  the  nonconformists  is  not 
schism ;  reprinted  in  1823.  Reprints  of  Nos. 
1,  2,  3,  and  6  appear  in  Ward's  '  Library  of 
Standard  Divinity'  (new  ser.  vol.  i.) 

[Berry's  County  G-en.,  'Kent/  p.  334  ;  Addit. 
MSS.  5711  f.  133,  6347  f.  10;  Hist.  MSS. 
Comm.  6th  Rep.,  pp.  5la,  53a,  69cr,  SO  a;  Lords' 
Journals,  vii.  284,  304,  468,  633;  Wood's  Athense 
Oxon.  iv.  106;  Notes  and  Queries,  1st  ser.  vi. 
460,  563,  3rd  ser.  v.  419;  Calamy's  Account, 
ii.  680  ;  Orme's  Life  of  Dr.  John  Owen,  pp.  507, 
513  ;  Hasted's  Kent.  i.  316.]  W.  A.  S. 

POLIDORI,  JOHN  WILLIAM  (1795- 
1821),  physician  and  author,  was  the  son  of 
Gaetano  Polidori,  teacher  of  Italian  in  Lon- 
don, who  had  been  Alfieri's  secretary,  and  is 
known  as  the  author  of  tales  and  educational 
works  and  the  translator  of  Milton  and 
Lucan  into  Italian  (1840  and  1841).  He 
was  born  in  London  on  7  Sept.  1795,  and  at 
the  early  age  of  nineteen  received  the  degree 
of  M.D.  from  the  university  of  Edinburgh, 
reading  and  publishing  an  able  thesis  on 
nightmare,  'Disputatio  medica  inauguralis 
de  Oneirodynia,'  1815.  Early  in  the  follow- 
ing year  he  obtained,  through  the  recom- 
mendation of  Sir  Henry  Halford,  the  post  of 
physician  and  secretary  to  Lord  Byron,  then 
departing  on  his  exile  from  England.  They 
travelled  together  to  Geneva,  and  Polidori 
continued  in  Byron's  suite  during  the  greater 
portion  of  his  sojourn  there ;  but  his  whim- 
sical and  jealous  temper,  of  which  several 
instances  are  given  in  Moore's  biography  of 
Byron,  led  to  a  dissolution  of  the  engage- 
ment ere  Byron  quitted  Switzerland.  Poli- 
dori, nevertheless,  proceeded  to  Milan,  where 
Byron  found  him  'in  very  good  society;' 
but  he  was  soon  expelled  the  city  for  quarrel- 
ling with  an  Austrian  officer.  From  a  letter 
of  Byron's  to  Murray,  dated  11  April  1817, 
he  appears  to  have  returned  to  England  from 


Venice  in  attendance  upon  the  widow  of  the 
third  Earl  of  Guilford  [see  under  NORTH,  FRE- 
DERICK, second  EA.RLJ.  As  Byron  entrusts 
him  with  commissions  and  recommends  him  to 
Murray,  their  relations  cannot  have  been  ab- 
solutely unfriendly.  Polidori  had  designed 
a  speculative  expedition  to  Brazil,  but  settled 
instead  as  a  practising  physician  in  Norwich, 
where  he  met  with  little  encouragement,  and 
eventually  returned  to  London,  and  began 
to  study  for  the  bar.  In  April  1819  he  pub- 
lished in  the  i  New  Monthly  Magazine,'  and 
also  in  pamphlet  form,  the  celebrated  story 
of  l  The  Vampyre,'  which  he  attributed  to 
Byron.  The  ascription  was  fictitious.  Byron 
had,  in  fact,  in  June  1816  begun  to  write  at 
Geneva  a  story  with  this  title,  in  emulation 
of  Mrs.  Shelley's '  Frankenstein,'  but  dropped 
it  before  reaching  the  superstition  which  it 
was  to  have  illustrated.  He  sent  the  frag- 
ment to  Murray  upon  the  appearance  of 
Polidori's  fabrication,  and  it  is  inserted  in  his 
works.  He  further  protested  in  a  carelessly 
good-natured  disclaimer  addressed  to  '  Gali- 
gnani's  Messenger.'  His  name,  nevertheless, 
gave  Polidori's  production  great  celebrity 
upon  the  continent,  where  the  '  Vampyre ' 
was  held  to  be  quite  the  thing  which  it  be- 
hoved Byron  to  have  written.  It  formed 
the  groundwork  of  Marschner's  opera,  and 
nearly  half  a  volume  of  Dumas's  i  Memoirs  ' 
is  occupied  by  an  account  of  the  representa- 
tion of  a  French  play  founded  upon  it. 
Polidori  made  a  less  successful  experiment 
in  his  own  name  with  '  Ernestus  Berchtold, 
or  the  Modern  CEdipus,'  another  melodra- 
matic story  published  in  the  same  year,  which 
also  witnessed  the  publication  of  '  Ximenes, 
The  Wreath,'  and  other  poems.  «  The  Fall 
of  the  Angels,'  a  sacred  poem,  was  published 
anonymously  in  1821,  and  reissued  with  the 
author's  name  after  his  death.  He  also 
wrote  an '  Essay  on  Positive  Pleasure,'  1818, 
which  was  censured  for  immorality  and  mis- 
anthropy, and  one  upon  the  punishment  of 
death  (1816),  which  had  the  honour  of  in- 
sertion in  the  '  Pamphleteer.'  In  August 
1821  Polidori,  pressed  by- a  gaming  debt 
which  he  was  unable  to  discharge,  died  at 
his  lodgings  in  London,  'from  a  subtle  poison 
of  his  own  composition,'  says  Edward  Wil- 
liams in  his  '  Diary.'  A  verdict  of  natural 
death  was  returned,  but  there  is  no  doubt  as 
to  the  real  facts  of  the  case.  Polidori's  un- 
published diary  is  stated  by  Mr.  W.  M. 
Rossetti  to  contain  some  particulars  of  sub- 
stantial interest.  '  Dr.  Polidori,'  says  Med- 
win,  '  was  a  tall,  handsome  man,  with  a 
marked  Italian  cast  of  countenance,  which 
bore  the  impress  of  profound  melancholy ;  a 
good  address  and  manners,  more  retiring  than 


Pollard 


59 


Pollard 


forward  in  general  society.'  There  is  a  por- 
trait of  him  in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery, 
London.  One  of  his  sisters  married  Gabriele 
Rossetti  [q.  v.],  and  became  the  mother  of 
Dante  Gabriel  and  Christina  Rossetti  [q.  v.] 

[W.  M.  Rossetti's  Memoir  of  D.  G-.  Rossetti, 
vol.  i. ;  Moore's  Life  of  Byron  ;  Moore's  Diary, 
vol.  v. ;  Medwin's  Life  of  Shelley  ;  Williams's 
Diary  in  Shelley's  Prose  Works,  ed.  Forman,  vol. 
iv. ;  Notes  and  Queries,  3rd  ser.  vols.  vii.  ix.  x.] 

R.  G. 

POLLARD,  SIR  HUGH  (tf.1666),  royalist, 
son  of  Sir  Lewis  Pollard,  bart.  (d.  1641),  of 
King's  Nympton,  Devonshire,  and  his  wife 
Margaret,  daughter  of  Sir  Henry  Berkeley, 
was  descended  from  Sir  Lewis  Pollard  [q.  v.] 
His  great-grandfather,  another  Sir  Lewis, 
was  recorder  of  Exeter  and  serjeant-at-law ; 
his  father,  also  Sir  Lewis,  was  created  a 
baronet  on  31  May  1627.  Hugh  was  a  cap- 
tain in  the  army  before  1639,  when  he  was 
engaged  in  raising  troops  in  Devonshire  for 
the  expedition  against  the  Scots.  In  the 
following  year  he  was  again  serving  under 
Conway  against  the  Scots,  and  was  probably 
present  at  the  battle  of  Newburn  on  28  Aug. 
On  19  Nov.  he  was  returned  to  the  Long 
parliament  as  memberfor  Beeralston,  Devon- 
shire. In  May  and  June  1641  he  was  impli- 
cated in  the  royalists'  '  first  army  plot,'  was 
imprisoned  in  the  Gatehouse,  and  expelled 
from  the  House  of  Commons.  He  was 
bailed  before  the  end  of  June,  and  retired  to 
Devonshire.  Here  he  was  apparently  en- 
gaged in  further  royalist  schemes,  and  on 
26  Sept.  was  taken  prisoner  by  some  par- 
liamentary troopers,  and  carried  to  Molton 
(Some  late  Occurrences  in  Shropshire  and 
Devonshire,  1641,  p.  7).  During  the  year 
he  succeeded  to  the  baronetcy  on  his  father's 
death. 

Early  in  1642  he  set  out  for  Holland  to 
raise  levies  for  the  king's  service.  On  the 
voyage  he  fell  in  with  the  Providence,  a  king's 
ship  coming  from  Holland  with  arms  and 
ammunition,  and  determined  to  return  with 
it.  They  were  pursued  by  some  parliamentary 
ships,  but  Pollard  escaped,  and  in  August 
accompanied  the  Marquis  of  Hertford  to  the 
west  to  levy  troops ;  he  was  sergeant-major 
in  Viscount  Kilmorey's  regiment  (PEACOCK, 
p.  16).  During  the  war  he  was  mainly  em- 
ployed with  the  army  in  Devonshire  and 
Cornwall,  and  in  1645  was  governor  of  Dart- 
mouth. Fairfax  laid  siege  to  the  town  in 
January  1645-6,  and  when  summoned  to 
surrender  Pollard  returned  a  defiant  answer. 
A  detachment  of  four  hundred  horse  was  sent 
under  Major  Ducroc  from  the  king's  army  at 
Torrington  to  defend  the  town,  but  Pollard 
quarrelled  with  Ducroc,  and  the  troops  re- 


turned to  Exeter.  The  next  night  (18  Jan.) 
Fairfax  ordered  an  attack  on  the  town.  It 
was  stormed,  and  Pollard  was  wounded  in 
an  attempt  to  escape  across  the  harbour. 
He  was  taken  prisoner,  and  kept  in  custody 
until  May  1646.  An  erroneous  report  of 
his  death  has  been  frequently  repeated  (ib.) 
He  then  petitioned  to  compound  for  his  de- 
linquency, and  on  submitting  to  his  fine  was 
released  on  bail.  The  sum  was  ultimately 
fixed  at  518/. ;  in  1653  it  was  paid,  and  the 
sequestration  of  his  estates  discharged. 

Pollard,  though  he  stayed  in  England, 
remained  a  royalist  at  heart.  It  was  only 
its  rapid  suppression  that  prevented  him  sup- 
porting Booth's  attempt  in  1658  by  a  rising 
in  Devonshire.  At  the  Restoration  he  was 
sworn  of  the  privy  council,  appointed  go- 
vernor of  Guernsey  and  comptroller  of  the 
king's  household.  He  sat  in  parliament  as 
member  for  Callington,  Cornwall,  in  1660, 
and  Devonshire  in  1661.  He  received  various 
grants  from  the  king,  including  one  of  5,000/. 
in  1665,  as  a  reward  for  his  services,  and  to 
clear  him  from  pecuniary  embarrassment  in 
which  they  had  involved  him.  He  died  on 
27  Nov.  1666,  having  married  Bridget,  daugh- 
ter of  Edward  de  Vere,  seventeenth  earl  of 
Oxford,  and  widow  of  Francis  Norris,  earl  of 
Berkshire  [q.  v.]  By  her  he  left  an  only 
daughter,  Margaret ;  the  baronetcy  passed 
to  his  brother  Amias,  and  on  his  death  with- 
out issue  in  1693  became  extinct. 

[Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  passim ;  Cals.  of 
Committees  for  Compounding  and  Advance  of 
Money;  Cal.  Clarendon  State  Papers ;  Hist.MSS. 
Comm.  4th  Rep.  p.  304;  Rushworth's  Collections, 
m.i.  255;  Carte's  Original  Letters,i.  137;  Official 
Returns  of  Members  of  Parliament ;  Journals 
of  Lords  and  Commons ;  Clarendon's  Rebellion  ; 
Sprigge's  AngliaRediviva;  May's  Long  Parl.  pp. 
96,  98,  99 ;  Lloyd's  Memoirs,  p.  648  ;  Pepys's 
Diary,  ed.  Braybrooke,  iii.  348 ;  Evelyn's  Diary, 
ed.  Bray,  i.  370,  ii.  19,  862,  iv.  154;  Maseres's 
Tracts,  i.  29;  Markham's  Fairfax,  pp.  260-1; 
Aikin's  Court  of  Charles  I,  ii.  150,  156;  Masson's 
Milton,  passim;  Chester's  Westm.  Abbey  Register; 
Prince's  Worthies  of  Devon,  pp.  494-5;  Moore's 
Devon,  p.  86;  Burke's  Extinct  Baronetage;  Gar- 
diner's Hist,  of  England.]  A.  F.  P. 

POLLARD,  SIR  JOHN  (d.  1557),  speaker 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  was  second  son  of 
Walter  Pollard  of  Plymouth,  by  Avice, 
daughter  of  Richard  Pollard  of  Way,  Devon- 
shire. The  pedigree  of  the  Pollard  family  is 
very  complicated,  as  the  family  was  wide- 
spread in  the  west  of  England,  and  other 
branches  are  found  in  the  fourteenth  century 
in  Yorkshire,  Essex,  and  other  counties  ;  the 
main  branch  was  seated  at  Way,  and  Sir 
Lewis  Pollard  [q.  v.],  the  judge,  was  a  col- 


Pollard 


Pollard 


lateral  relation  of  Sir  John.  Jolin  Pollard 
may  have  been  the  Pollard  who,  without 
Christian  name,  is  mentioned  as  entering  at 
the  Middle  Temple  on  3  June  1515;  but  it 
may  be  that  this  entry  is  that  of  Lewis 
Pollard,  son  of  Sir  Hugh  Pollard  and  grand- 
son of  Sir  Lewis  Pollard  the  j  udge.  John  was 
appointed  autumn  reader  of  the  Middle  Tem- 
ple in  1535,  and  became  serjeant-at-law  in 
1547.  After  1545  he  received,  possibly 
through  the  influence  of  a  relative,  Richard 
Pollard,  who  had  taken  part  in  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  monasteries,  a  grant  of  the  manor 
of  Nuneham  Courtney,  where  he  afterwards 
lived.  He  was  relieved  by  patent  of  21  Oct. 
1550  from  his  office  of  serjeant-at-law,  in 
order  to  become  vice-president  of  the  council 
for  the  Welsh  marches.  He  was  elected 
member  for  Oxfordshire  in  the  parliaments 
of  1553  and  1554,  and  for  Wiltshire  in  that 
of  1555.  He  seems  to  have  been  knighted 
on  2  Oct.  1553,  although  he  is  described  as 
merely  armiger  in  the  returns  of  1554  and 
1555.  He  was  chosen  speaker  of  the  House  of 
Commons  in  1553,  and  held  the  office  till  the 
close  of  the  parliament  of  1555.  He  was  de- 
scribed as '  excellent  iiithe  laws  of  this  realm.' 
He  died  in  August  1557,  and  was  buried  on 
25  Aug.  He  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Ri- 
chard Gray  of  London,  but  left  no  issue.  His 
estates  passed  in  great  part  to  his  brother 
Anthony,  after  the  death  of  his  widow.  The 
inquisition  post  mortem  is  numbered  4  and 
5  Phil,  and  Mary,  No.  139.  His  will  was 
proved  in  the  probate  court  of  London,  P.P.C. 
37,  Wrastley,  on  13  Oct.  1557. 

[The  late  Mr.  Winslow  Jones  made  extensive 
researches  into  the  history  of  the  Pollard  family, 
and  placed  his  materials  at  the  disposal  of  the 
present  writer.  See  also  Letters  and  Papers 
of  Henry  VIII,  viii.  87,  149,  312;  Manning's 
Speakers  of  the  House  of  Commons ;  Machyn's 
Diary  (Camd  Soc.),pp.  148,  335;  Dixon's  Hist,  of 
the  Church  of  England,  passim.]  "W.  A.  J.  A. 

POLLARD,  LEONARD  (d.  1556),  di- 
vine, was  a  native  of  Nottinghamshire,  and 
graduated  B.A.  at  Cambridge  in  1543-4. 
He  was  admitted  a  fellow  of  Peterhouse 
on  2  March  1546,  and  proceeded  M.A.  in 
1547.  In  June  1549  he  was  an  opponent 
in  a  public  disputation  on  the  doctrine  that 
the  Lord's  supper  is  no  oblation  or  sacrifice, 
but  merely  a  remembrance  of  Christ's  death. 
After  he  had  graduated  D.D.  he  became 
prebendary  of  Worcester  on  11  Sept.  1551. 
On  6  Nov.  1553  he  preached  at  St.  Mi- 
chael's, Cambridge,  on  purgatory.  He  was 
then  in  receipt  of  an  annual  pension  of  30s. 
as  incumbent  of  the  dissolved  chantry  of 
Little  St.  Mary's,  Cambridge.  On  23  Dec. 
1553  he  became  prebendary  of  Peterborough, 


resigning  on  30  June  1555.  In  1554  he  was 
admitted  a  fellow  of  St.  John's  College, 
Cambridge.  He  was  rector  of  Ripple,  Wor- 
cestershire, and  in  1555  became  chaplain  to 
the  bishop  of  Worcester,  Richard  Pate  or 
Pates  [q.v.]  Under  his  direct  ion  Pollard  wrote 
five  sermons,  beginning  t  Consydering  with 
myself,'  which  he  dedicated  to  his  bishop. 
They  were  printed  in  London  by  Richard 
Jugge  and  Cawood,  as  well  as  by  William 
Griffith,  in  1556,  having  been  sanctioned  by 
Bonner  on  1  July  1555.  A  copy  is  in  the 
British  Museum.  He  died  before  March 
1556. 

[Cooper's  Athense  Cantabr.  i.  127,  546 ;  Ames's 
Typogr.  Antiq.  ed.  Herbert,  pp.  716,  1798  ;  Le 
Neve's  Fasti,  ii.  548,  iii.  86;  Baker's  History 
of  St.  John's  College,  ed.  Mayor,  i.  286,  ii.  981  ; 
Strype's  Memorials,  in.  i.  81,  and  Life  of 
Cranmer,  p.  290  ;  Tanner's  Bibl.  Brit.]  JVI.  B. 

POLLARD,  SIB  LEWIS  (1465  P-1540), 
judge,  born  about  1465,  was  son  of  Robert  Pol- 
lard of  Roborough,  near  Torrington,  Devon, 
and  a  kinsman  of  Sir  John  Pollard  [q.  v.], 
speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons.  Lewis  was 
called  to  the  bar  from  the  Middle  Temple, 
where  he  was  reader  in  1502;  in  1505  he  was 
made  serjeant-at-law,  and  on  9  July  1507 
king's  serjeant,  an  appointment  which  was 
confirmed  on  the  accession  of  Henry  VIII. 
From  this  time  he  frequently  served  on  the 
commission  for  the  peace  in  Cornwall,  Devon, 
Dorset,  Somerset,  Hampshire,  and  Wiltshire, 
was  justice  of  assize  for  the  Oxford  circuit  in 
1509,  and  for  the  western  circuit  from  1511  to 
1514,  when  he  was  appointed  justice  of  com- 
mon pleas  and  knighted.  He  retired  from  the 
bench  after  February  1526,  and  died  in  1540. 
1  His  knowledge  in  the  laws  and  other  com- 
mendable virtues,  together  with  a  numerous 
issue,  rendered  him  famous  above  most  of 
his  age  and  rank '  (PRINCE,  Worthies  of  Devon, 
p.  493).  He  married  Agnes,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Hext  of  Kingston,  near  Totnes, 
Devon,  and  had  eleven  sons  and  eleven  daugh- 
ters. Of  the  sons  no  less  than  four  were 
knighted.  Sir  Hugh,  Sir  John,  Sir  Richard, 
and  Sir  George.  Sir  Hugh  was  great-great- 
grandfather of  Sir  Hugh  Pollard  [q.  v.] ;  Sir 
Richard  was  father  of  Sir  John  Pollard  (1528- 
1575),  who  must  be  distinguished  from  Sir 
John,  speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons;  the 
former  was  knighted  by  the  Earl  of  Warwick 
on  10  Nov.  1549,  sat  in  parliament  as  member 
for  Barnstaple,  1553-4,  Exeter  in  1555,  and 
Grampound,  1562,  and  died  in  1575,  leaving 
no  issue.  Sir  Lewis's  son  George  owed  his 
knighthood  to  his  services  in  defence  of  Bou- 
logne in  1548-9. 

[Letters  and  Papers  of  Henry  VIII,  passim  ; 
Dugdale's  Chron.  Ser.  pp.  77,  79;  Foss's  Lives 


Pollard 


61         Pollard-Urquhart 


of  the  Judges,  v.  227-8  ;  Visitation  of  Devon 
(Harl.ScxO ;  Pr '.nce's  Worthies  of  Devon,  pp.  492- 
495;  Pole's  Description  of  Devon,  and  Moore's 
Hist,  of  Devon,  passim ;  Burke's  Extinct  Baro- 
netage; Strype's  Works,  Index.]  A.  F.  P. 

POLLARD,  ROBERT  (1755-1838),  de- 
signer and  engraver,  born  at  Newcastle-on- 
Tyne  in  1755,  was  articled  to  a  silversmith 
there,  and  subsequently  became  a  pupil  of 
Richard  Wilson,  R.A.  For  a  time  he  prac- 
tised as  a  landscape  and  marine  painter,  but 
about  1782  he  established  himself  in  Spa 
Fields,  London,  as  an  engraver  and  print- 
seller,  and  during  the  next  ten  years  pro- 
duced a  large  number  of  plates,  executed  in  a 
peculiar  mixed  style,  composed  of  line,  etch- 
ing, and  aquatint,  some  of  them  from  his 
own  designs,  and  others  after  popular  artists 
of  his  time.  To  the  former  category  belong 
'  Lieutenant  Moody  rescuing  a  Prisoner,' 
1785,  *  Adventure  of  Lady  Harriet  Ackland,' 
1784,  '  Ed  win  and  Angelina,'  1785,  'The 
Blind  Beggar  of  Bethnal  Green,'  and  eight 
plates  of  shipping.  The  latter  class  includes 
'  Wreck  of  the  Grosvenor  East  Indiaman  ' 
1784,  '  Wreck  of  the  Halsewell  East  India- 
man,'  1786, '  Margaret  Nicholson's  attempt  to 
murder  George  III,'  1786,  and  two  plates 
illustrating  the  restoration  of  a  young  man 
to  life  by  Doctors  Lettsom  and  Hawes, 
1787,  all  after  R.  Smirke,  R.A. ;  '  Trial  of 
Warren  Hastings,'  1789,  '  Thanksgiving  Day 
in  St.  Paul's,'  1789,  and  views  of  Blooms- 
bury,  Hanover,  Grosvenor,  and  Queen 
squares,  London,  all  after  E.  Dayes;  'Wreck 
of  the  Centaur '  and  '  Preservation  of  Cap- 
tain Inglefield  after  the  Wreck'  (a  pair), 
after  R.  Dodd,  1783  ;  <  Leonora,'  after  J.  R. 
Smith,  1786 ;  and  others  after  Cosway,  Gil- 
pin,  Stothard,  Wheatley,  &c.  Many  of 
these  plates  were  finished  in  aquatint  by 
Francis  Jukes  [q.  v.]  In  1788  Pollard  was 
elected  a  fellow,  and  in  the  following  year  a 
director,  of  the  Incorporated  Society  of  Ar- 
tists, which  became  extinct  in  1791 ;  in 
October  1836,  as  the  last  surviving  member, 
he  placed  the  charter,  books,  and  papers  of 
that  body  in  the  custody  of  the  Royal  Aca- 
demy. The  latter  part  of  Pollard's  life  was 
spent  in  poverty  and  obscurity,  and  he  died 
on  23  May  1838. 

[Redgrave's  Diet,  of  Artists;  Nagler's  Kiinst- 
ler-Lexicon;  information  from  F.  A.  Eaton, 
esq.]  F.  M.  O'D. 

POLLARD,  WILLIAM  (1828-1893), 
quaker,  born  on  10  June  1828,  was  ninth  child 
of  James  and  Susanna  Pollard  of  Horsham, 
Sussex,  where  the  family  had  been  settled 
for  several  generations.  After  attending 
the  Friends'  school,  Croydon,  Pollard  pro- 


ceeded to  the  Flounders  Training  College 
at  Ack worth,  Yorkshire.  From  1853  he 
was  a  teacher  at  Ackworth  school.  For 
the  use  of  his  pupils  he  wrote  a  '  Reading- 
Book,'  1865,  a  '  Poetical  Reader,'  1872,  and 
*  Choice  Readings.'  From  1866  to  1872  he 
was  in  the  employ  of  Francis  Frith,  the 
well-known  photographer  at  Reigate. 

From  1872  to  1891  he  was  secretary  and 
lecturer  to  the  Manchester  Peace  and  Arbi- 
tration Society,  and  lived  at  Sale,  Cheshire. 
During  this  period  he  wrote  articles  for  the 
'  Manchester  Examiner.'  In  the  winter  of 
1891  he  became  co-editor  with  W.  E.  Turner 
of  the  '  British  Friend,'  a  monthly  periodical 
first  published  at  Glasgow  in  1843. 

Pollard  was  a  successful  minister  among 
the  Friends  from  1865,  and  was  an  able  ex- 
ponent of  the  fundamental  principles  of 
quakerism  in  its  quietist  phase.  A  '  Reason- 
able Faith,  by  Three  Friends'  (W.  Pollard, 
Francis  Frith,  and  W.  E.  Turner),  London, 
1884  and  1886,  was  well  received,  though  it 
met  with  some  opposition  from  the  more 
evangelical  section  of  the  society.  His  other 
works  were :  *  Old-fashioned  Quakerism  :  its 
Origin,  Results,  and  Future.  Four  Lectures/ 
London,  1887 ;  the  first  lecture,  on '  Primitive 
Christianity,'  was  reissued  in  '  Religious 
Systems  of  the  World,'  London,  1890.  His 
4  Primitive  Christianity  revived  '  and  '  Con- 
gregational Worship  'were  contributed  to  the 
'  Old  Banner '  series  of  quaker  tracts,  London, 
1864-1866. 

Pollard  died  on  26  Sept.  1893,  and  was 
buried  in  the  Friends'  burial-ground  at  Ash- 
ton-on-Mersey,  Manchester.  His  wife,  Lucy 
Binns  of  Sunderland,  whom  he  married  in 
1854,  survived  him  with  five  sons  and  three 
daughters. 

[Eccl.es  and  Patricroft  Journal,  September 
1893;  Annual  Monitor,  1894,  and  private  in- 
formation.] C.  F.  S. 

POLLARD-URQUHART,  WILLIAM 

(1815-1871),  miscellaneous  writer,  eldest 
child  of  William  Dutton  Pollard  (1789- 
1839),  of  Kinturk,  Castlepollard,  co.  West- 
meath, by  his  second  wife,  Louisa  Anne, 
eldest  daughter  of  Admiral  Sir  Thomas  Pa- 
kenham,  was  born  at  Kinturk  on  19  June 
1815.  He  was  educated  at  Harrow  and  at 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  graduating  B.A. 
as  eighteenth  wrangler  in  1838,  and  M.A.  in 
1843.  He  kept  his  terms  at  the  Inner  Temple, 
but  was  never  called  to  the  bar.  In  1840 
he  was  gazetted  high  sheriff  of  Westmeath, 
and  in  1846,  on  his  marriage,  took  by  royal 
license  the  additional  name  of  Urquhart.  He 
sat  in  parliament  for  Westmeath  as  a  1  iberal 
from  1852  to  1857,  and  from  1859  to  his  death. 


Pollexfen 


Pollexfen 


He  died  at  19  Brunswick  Terrace,  Brighton, 
on  1  June  1871.  He  married,  on  20  Aug. 
1846,  Mary  Isabella,  only  daughter  of  Wil- 
liam Urquhart  of  Craigston  Castle,  Aber- 
deenshire.  The  second  son,  Francis  Edward 
Romulus  Pollard  Urquhart  (b.  1848),  became 
a  major  in  the  royal  horse  artillery  in  1886. 

Pollard-Urquhart  was  the  author  of: 
1.  'Agricultural  Distress  and  its  Remedies,' 
Aberdeen,  1850.  2.  *  Essays  on  Subjects  of 
Political  Economy,'  1850.  3.  <  The  Substi- 
tution of  Direct  for  Indirect  Taxation  ne- 
cessary to  carry  out  the  Policy  of  Free  Trade/ 
1851.  4.  'Life  and  Times  of  Francisco 
Sforza,  Duke  of  Milan,'  Edinburgh,  1852, 
2  vols.  (adversely  criticised  by  the  '  Athe- 
meum').  5.  'A  short  Account  of  the  Prussian 
Land  Credit  Companies,  with  Suggestions  for 
the  Formation  of  a  Land  Credit  Company  in 
Ireland,'  Dublin,  1853.  6.  <  The  Currency 
Question  and  the  Bank  Charter  Committees 
of  1857  and  1858  reviewed.  By  an  M.P.,' 
1860.  7.  '  Dialogues  on  Taxation,  local  and 
imperial,'  1867. 

[Burke's  Landed  Gentry,  1886,  ii.  1879  ;  Ann. 
Kegister,  1871,  p.  154 ;  Illustrated  London  News, 
1871,  Iviii.  579.]  G-.  C.  B. 

POLLEXFEN,  SIB  HENRY  (1632?- 
1691),  judge,  born  about  1632,  was  eldest 
son  of  Andrew  Pollexfen,  a  member  of  an 
ancient  family  settled  at  Sherford  in 
Devonshire.  He  was  bred  to  the  law,  called 
to  the  bar  at  the  Inner  Temple  in  1658,  and 
became  a  bencher  of  his  inn  in  1674.  His 
practice  was  soon  extensive ;  known  as  a 
prominent  whig,  he  appeared  frequently  for 
the  defence  in  state  trials.  During  the  reigns 
of  Charles  II  and  James  II  he  was  counsel 
for  Lord  Arundel  of  Wardour  on  the  trial  of 
the  '  Five  Popish  Lords  '  in  1680,  for  Col- 
ledge  in  1681,  for  Fitzharris  in  the  same 
year,  for  William  Sacheverell  in  1684,  for 
the  corporation  of  London  in  defence  of  its 
charter  in  1682  (BiiENET,  folio  ed.  i.  532, 
533,  gives  Pollexfen's  argument  in  this  case 
as  communicated  by  himself),  and  for  Sandys 
when  sued  for  infringing  the  monopoly  of 
the  East  India  Company  in  1684.  He  had 
earned  the  reputation  of  being  an  antagonist 
of  the  court  and  crown.  Consequently  his 
appearance  as  prosecutor  for  the  crown,  on  the 
nomination  of  Chief-justice  Jeffreys,  against 
Monmouth's  followers,  and  particularly  Lady 
Alice  Lisle,  in  1685  at  the  assizes  in  the  west, 
caused  some  surprise  and  gained  him  much  un- 
popularity. The  fact  is  probably  explained  by 
his  being  leader  of  the  circuit,  and  he  merely 
laid  the  evidence  before  the  court  (State 
Trials,  xi.  316).  In  June  1688  he  was  em- 
ployed in  his  accustomed  kind  of  practice 


when,  with  Somers,  for  whose  assistance  he 
stipulated,  he  defended  the  seven  bishops  (ib. 
xii.  370).  Upon  the  Revolution  he  was  well 
known  to  be  an  adherent  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  and  to  hold  the  opinion  that  the 
throne  was  left  vacant  by  the  late  king  (see 
Speaker  Onslow's  note  to  BUENET,  ed.  1823, 
iii.  341 ;  and  CLAEENDON,  Diary,  14  Dec.  1688). 
He  was  accordingly  among  those  summoned 
by  the  peers  to  advise  them  in  the  emergency, 
and  also  sat  for  Exeter  in  the  Convention 
parliament.  In  February  1689  he  was 
knighted  and  appointed  attorney-general, 
and  on  4  May  promoted  to  be  chief  justice 
of  the  common  pleas.  As  a  judge  he  does 
not  appear  to  have  increased  his  fame.  His 
reports,  which  begin  in  1670  and  were  pos- 
thumously published,  are  inferior ;  and  Bur- 
net  (fol.  ed.  i.  460,  8vo,  ii.  209)  describes 
him  at  the  bar  as  '  an  honest  and  learned, 
but  perplexed  lawyer.'  The  only  public 
event  which  is  connected  with  his  j  udgeship 
is  his  being  summoned  in  June  1689  before 
the  House  of  Lords  for  expelling  the  Duke 
of  Grafton  from  the  treasury  office  of  the 
common  pleas  granted  to  him  by  the  crown. 
On  15  June  1691  he  burst  a  blood-vessel, 
died  shortly  afterwards  at  his  house  in  Lin- 
coln's Inn  Fields,  and  was  buried  in  Wood- 
bury  church  in  Devonshire.  Two  engraved 
portraits  by  W.  Elder  and  J.  Savage  are 
mentioned  by  Bromley. 

[Foss's  Judges  of  England ;  State  Trials,  vols. 
vii-xii.;  North's  Lives,  p.  214;  Luttrell's 
Diary,  i.  490-545,  ii.  227,  231  ;  Clarendon  Cor- 
respondence, ii.  247  ;  Prince's  Worthies,  p.  327.1 

J.A.H. 

POLLEXFEN,  JOHN  (fi.  1697),  mer- 
chant and  economic  writer,  of  the  parish  ot 
St.  Stephen's,  Walbrook,  London,  was  born 
about  1638.  A  member  of  the  committee 
of  trade  and  plantations  in  1675,  and  of  the 
board  of  trade  from  1696  to  1705,  he  exer- 
cised much  influence.  He  took  part  in  the 
agitation  for  withdrawing  the  privileges  of 
the  old  East  India  Company,  and  establish- 
ing a  new  company  on  a  national  basis.  In 
1697  he  published  '  A  Discourse  of  Trade, 
Coyn,  and  Paper  Credit,  and  of  ways  and 
means  to  gain  and  retain  riches.  To  which 
is  added  the  Argument  of  a  Learned  Counsel 
[Sir  Henry  Pollexfen]  upon  an  Action  of  the 
Case  brought  by  the  East  India  Company 
against  Mr.  Sand[y]s,  an  Interloper,' London, 
8vo.  In  this  important  pamphlet  Pollexfen 
treats  labour  as  the  sole  source  of  wealth, 
and  points  out  that  national  wealth  depends 
on  the  proportion  between '  those  that  depend 
to  have  their  riches  and  necessaries  from  the 
sweat  and  labour  of  others,'  and  '  those  that 
labour  to  provide  those  things '  (p.  44).  Like 


Pollock 


Pollock 


all  free  traders  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
he  was  equally  opposed  to  monopoly  and  to 
'  leaving  trade  to  take  its  own  course,'  but 
favourable  to  the  state  regulation  of  industry 
and  commerce.  His  main  object,  however, 
was  to  attack  the  East  India  Company,  and 
to  urge  the  claims  of  the  private  traders. 
He  discusses  at  length  the  '  interlopers,'  par- 
ticularly Captain  Thomas  Sandys,  to  whose 
enterprises  he,  together  with  other  merchants, 
probably  contributed,  so  that  a  test  case  might 
be  submitted  to  the  courts.  When  the 
company  employed  Charles  Davenant  to 
write  '  An  Essay  on  the  East  India  Trade,' 
Pollexfen  replied  to  him  in  '  England  and 
East  India  inconsistent  in  their  Manufac- 
tures,' &c.,  London,  1697,  8vo.  A  reply  to 
this  was  published,  with  the  title  '  Some 
Reflections  on  a  Pamphlet,  intituled  Eng- 
land and  East  India,'  &c.,  London,  1696  (sic), 
8vo.  Pollexfen  married,  on  10  May  1670, 
at  St.  Mary  Undershaft,  Mary,  daughter  of 
Sir  John  Lawrence. 

[HarleianSoc.Publ.xxni.  178;  Cal.  of  Colonial 
State  Papers  (America  and  "West  Indies),  1675, 
p.  498 ;  Macpherson's  Annals  of  Commerce,  ii. 
693 ;  M'Culloch's  Literature  of  Political  Economy, 

LI 82;  Koscher's  Political  Economy,  transl.  by 
lor,  i.  70 ;  Cunningham's  Growth  of  English 
Industry  and  Commerce,  ii.  126,  130,  154,  160.] 

W.  A.  S.  H. 

POLLOCK,  SIR  DAVID  (1780-1847), 
judge,  eldest  son  of  David  Pollock,  saddler,  of 
Charing  Cross,  by  Sarah  Homera,  daughter  of 
Richard  Parsons  of  London,  receiver-general 
of  customs,  was  of  Scottish  extraction,  his 
grandfather,  John  Pollock,  having  been  a 
native  of  Tweedmouth.  Sir  George  Pollock 
[q.  v.l  and  Sir  Jonathan  Frederick  Pollock 
[q.  v.j  were  his  brothers.  He  was  born  in 
London  on  2  Sept.  1780,  and  was  educated 
at  St.  Paul's  School  and  the  university  of 
Edinburgh,  but  did  not  graduate.  On  28  Jan. 
1803  he  was  called  to  the  bar  at  the  Middle 
Temple.  Pollock  practised  as  a  special  pleader 
on  the  home  circuit,  at  the  Kent  sessions,  and 
in  the  insolvent  debtors'  court.  He  took  silk 
in  Hilary  vacation  1833,  was  appointed  re- 
corder of  Maidstone  in  1838,  and  commissioner 
of  the  insolvent  debtors'  court  in  1842. 

By  patent  of  2  Sept.  1846  he  was  created 
a  knight  of  the  United  Kingdom  on  suc- 
ceeding Sir  Henry  Roper  as  chief  justice 
of  the  supreme  court  of  Bombay,  where  he 
was  sworn  in  on  3  Nov.  following,  and  died 
of  liver  complaint  on  22  May  1847.  His 
remains  were  interred  in  Bombay  cathedral. 

Pollock  married,  on  12  Dec.  1807,  Elizabeth 
Gore,  daughter  of  John  Atkinson,  by  whom 
he  had  issue  seven  sons  and  a  daughter. 
Lady  Pollock  died  on  16  April  1841. 


[Foster's  Baronetage ;  Law  List ;  Times, 
5  Sept.  1846,  22  July  1847;  London  Gazette, 
4  Sept.  1846;  Gent.  Mag.  1846  pt.  ii.  pp.  193, 
417,  1847  pt.  ii.  p.  432  ;  Ann.  Reg.  1846  Chron. 
App.  p.  322,  1847  Chron.  App.  p.  223;  Bombay 
Times  (bi-monthly  edit.),  November  1846  and 
May  1847.]  J.  M.  R. 

POLLOCK,  SIR  GEORGE  (1786-1872), 
baronet,  field-marshal,  youngest  son  of  David 
Pollock  of  Charing  Cross,  London,  saddler  to 
George  III,  was  born  on  4  June  1786.  He 
was  educated  with  his  brother,  Jonathan 
Frederick  [q.  v.],  afterwards  lord  chief  baron, 
at  a  school  at  Vauxhall,  and  enteredthe  Royal 
Military  Academy  at  Woolwich,  where  a  few 
candidates  of  the  East  India  Company  artil- 
lery and  engineers  were  received.  Pollock 
quitted  Woolwich  in  the  summer  of  1803. 
Although  he  had  passed  for  the  engineers,  he 
elected  to  serve  in  the  artillery,  and  sailed  for 
India  in  September  on  board  the  Tigris.  He 
was  commissioned  lieutenant  fireworker  on 
14  Dec.  1803,  and  after  his  arrival  at  Dumdum 
was  promoted  lieutenant  on  19  April  1804. 
In  August  he  moved  to  Cawnpore,  to  join  the 
army  in  the  field,  under  Lake,  against  Holkar. 
From  Cawnpore  he  went  to  Agra,  where  the 
remnants  of  Colonel  Morison's  brigade  were 
straggling  in  after  a  disastrous  rout.  He 
finally  joined  his  company  of  artillery  at  Ma- 
thura ;  but,  as  Holkar  advanced  with  ninety 
thousand  men,  the  British  forces  fell  back  on 
Agra,  and  Pollock  with  them.  On  1  Oct. 
Lake  marched  to  meet  Holkar,  who  evaded 
him  and  moved  on  Delhi.  Pollock  joined 
Marmaduke  Brown's  battery  of  6-pounders, 
under  General  Fraser,  who  left  Delhi,  after 
Holkar  had  been  compelled  to  abandon  his 
efforts  to  besiege  it,  on  5  Nov.  with  six  thou- 
sand men,  to  watch  the  Maratha  infantry. 
On  12  Nov.  he  came  up  with  the  enemy  near 
the  fort  of  Dig,  and  the  following  day  the  battle 
of  Dig  was  fought,  in  which  the  battery  to 
which  Pollock  belonged  played  an  important 
part.  The  battle  was  a  very  severe  one,  and 
the  issue  was  for  some  time  'doubtful.  Fraser 
was  wounded,  and  Morison  assumed  com- 
mand. Eventually  the  Marathas  were  de- 
feated, and  the  remnant  of  Holkar's  army  took 
refuge  in  the  fort  of  Dig.  On  2  Dec.  Lake 
united  his  forces  before  Dig,  and  on  the  17th 
fire  was  opened.  Pollock  served  in  the  mortar- 
battery,  and  on  the  night  of  23  Dec.  1804  the 
assault  was  made  and  the  outworks  captured. 
The  next  morning  Pollock  was  detailed  with 
his  guns  to  destroy  the  gates  of  the  citadel. 
As  Pollock,  with  the  brigade  major,  was  re- 
connoitring the  same  evening,  he  discovered 
that  the  enemy  had  evacuated  the  place,  and 
on  Christmas-day  Lake  occupied  Dig.  Before 
Bharatpiir,  to  which  Lake  laid  siege  on  4  Jan. 


Pollock 


64 


Pollock 


1 805,  Pollock  was  again  in  the  mortar-battery, 
and  did  good  work.  After  four  assaults  were 
repulsed,  the  siege  was  converted  into  a 
blockade ;  but  on  2  April,  when  Lake  com- 
pletely defeated  Holkar  in  the  field,  the  rajah 
of  Bharatpur,  dreading  the  renewal  of  the 
siege,  hastened  to  conclude  peace.  Pollock 
was  promoted  captain-lieutenant  on  17  Sept. 
1805. 

Lake  moved  to  Jailor  on  the  Chambal,  and 
Pollock  went  with  his  battery  to  Marabad. 
In  August  Lake  gave  Pollock  the  command 
of  the  artillery  of  a  field  force,  under  Colonel 
Ball,  ordered  for  the  pursuit  of  Holkar.  By 
December,  Holkar,  a  helpless  fugitive,  sued 
for  peace,  and  Pollock  was  stationed  with  his 
battery  at  Mirat,  until  he  was  appointed 
quartermaster  to  a  battalion  of  artillery  at 
Dumdum.  Later  he  was  made  adjutant  and 
quartermaster  of  the  field  artillery  at  Cawn- 
pore ;  he  remained  there  until  his  promotion 
to  captain  on  1  March  1812,  when  he  was 
ordered  to  Dumdum.  He  was  in  command 
of  the  artillery  at  Fathgarh  in  1813.  Shortly 
afterwards  the  offer  of  his  services  to  serve 
in  Nipal  was  accepted,  and  in  January  1814 
he  joined  Major-general  John  SullivanWood's 
division  at  Jeitpur,  with  reinforcements  of 
two  companies  of  artillery.  Finding  himself 
senior  officer  of  artillery,  he  took  command 
of  that  arm  in  the  division.  On  the  conclu- 
sion of  hostilities  Pollock  returned  to  Dum- 
dum, and  in  1815  was  given  the  appoint- 
ment of  brigade-major  of  the  Bengal  artil- 
lery. For  some  years  he  remained  in  can- 
tonments. He  was  promoted  brevet-major 
on  12  Aug.  1819,  and  regimental  major  on 
4  May  1820. 

In  1820  he  was  appointed  assistant  adju- 
tant-general of  artillery,  a  post  which  he 
held  until  his  promotion  to  a  regimental 
lieutenant-colonelcy  on  1  May  1824.  In 
1824  the  first  Burmese  war  began,  and  Pol- 
lock, ordered  to  the  front,  arrived  at  the  seat 
of  war  after  the  capture  of  Rangoon.  He 
did  much  good  work  in  organising  the  artil- 
lery and  completing  the  equipment.  In 
February  1825  he  accompanied  the  com- 
mander-in-chief  in  his  advance  on  Prome, 
moving  by  water  up  the  Irrawaddy,  with 
his  detachment  of  artillery  and  guns. 
Prome  was  entered  on  25  April.  He  took 
part  in  the  operations  near  Prome  in  Novem- 
ber and  December,  commanding  the  artillery 
of  General  Willoughby  Cotton's  division  in 
the  march  and  capture  of  Mallown.  He 
was  specially  mentioned  in  despatches 
for  the  prominent  part  he  had  taken  in 
the  bombardment  of  Mallown.  On  25  Jan. 
1826  the  army  marched  on  Ava,  and  came 
upon  the  enemy  between  Yebbay  and 


Pagahm  on  9  Feb.  The  Burmese  were  de- 
feated, and  Pagahm  Mew,  with  all  its  stores, 
ordnance,  and  ammunition,  fell  to  the  British. 
Pollock  took  his  full  share  in  the  day's  pro- 
ceedings, in  which  the  artillery  again  took 
the  most  prominent  part.  On  16  Feb. 
the  march  on  Ava  was  resumed,  and  the 
force  arrived  at  Yandabii,  some  forty- 
five  miles  from  Ava,  on  the  22nd.  Here 
the  treaty  of  peace  was  signed.  On 
8  March  the  army  left  Yandabii.  Pollock's 
services  in  the  campaign  were  specially 
acknowledged  by  the  governor-general  in 
council,  and  he  was  made  a  C.B.  On  his 
return  to  Calcutta  his  health  was  so  muck 
shaken  by  the  hardships  of  the  campaign 
that  he  received  sick  leave  to  proceed  to 
Europe  early  in  1827.  He  was  promoted 
brevet-colonel  in  the  company's  service  on 
1  Dec.  1829. 

He  returned  to  India  in  1830,  and  was 
posted  to  the  command  of  a  battalion  of 
artillery  at  Cawnpore.  He  was  promoted 
regimental  colonel  and  colonel-commandant 
of  the  Bengal  artillery  on  3  March  1835.  In 
1838  he  was  appointed  brigadier-general  with 
a  divisional  command  at  Danapur.  From 
Danapiir  he  was  transferred  to  the  command 
of  the  Agra  district.  On  28  June  1838  he 
was  promoted  major-general. 

In  November  1841  the  disastrous  rising  at 
Kabul  took  place.  It  was  followed  in  January 
by  the  annihilation  of  the  British  army  in 
the  Khyber  pass  [see  BEYDON",  WILLIAM  ; 
MACNAGHTEN,  SIR  WILLIAM  HAT].  Troops 
were  gradually  collected  at  Peshawar,  and 
Pollock  was  selected  in  January  1842  to 
command,  with  political  powers,  the  expe- 
dition for  the  relief  of  Sale  and  his  troops 
at  Jalalabad.  Pollock  reached  Peshawar  on 
5  Feb.  For  two  months  he  remained  there, 
waiting  for  reinforcements  and  organising  his 
column.  Much  sickness  prevailed  among  the- 
native  troops,  and  nearly  two  thousand  men 
were  in  hospital.  The  native  troops  were- 
also  somewhat  demoralised.  Urgent  as  Pol- 
lock understood  the  case  of  Jalalabad  to  be, 
he  preferred  to  face  hostile  criticism  on  his 
delay  to  risking  anything  at  such  a  crisis. 
On  31  March  he  advanced  with  his  column 
to  Jamriid.  He  had  reduced  his  army  bag- 
gage to  a  minimum,  and  was  himself  content 
to  share  a  tent  with  two  officers  of  his  staff. 
He  had  conciliated  his  Sikh  allies,  and  in- 
spired his  own  native  troops  with  some  con- 
fidence. On  5  April  he  advanced  to  the 
mouth  of  the  pass,  where  the  enemy  had  made 
a  formidable  barrier  in  the  valley,  had  taken 
up  strong  positions,  and  had  erected  redoubts 
on  the  high  ground  to  the  right  and  left  of 
the  pass.  Pollock  had  made  all  his  arrange- 


Pollock 


Pollock 


ments  beforehand  with  care,  and  had  per- 
sonally ascertained  that  each  commander 
was  acquainted  with  the  dispositions.  He 
directed  columns,  under  Lieutenant-colonel 
Taylor  and  Major  Anderson,  to  crown  the 
heights  on  the  right  of  the  pass,  while  simi- 
lar columns,  under  Lieutenant-colonel  Mose- 
ley  and  Major  Huish,  were  to  crown  the 
hills  on  the  left.  Artillery  and  the  infantry 
of  the  advanced  guard  were  drawn  up  op- 
posite the  pass,  and  the  whole  of  the 
€avalry  placed  so  that  any  attack  from 
the  low  hills  on  the  right  might  be  frus- 
trated. The  heights  on  each  side  were 
scaled  and  crowned,  in  spite  of  a  deter- 
mined opposition  from  the  hardy  moun- 
taineers. On  rinding  their  position  turned, 
the  barrier  at  the  mouth  of  the  pass  was 
.abandoned,  as  well  as  the  redoubts  on  the 
heights,  and  Pollock's  main  body  commenced 
the  destruction  of  the  barrier.  The  flank 
columns  now  descended,  and  attacked  the 
-enemy,  drawn  up  in  dense  masses,  who,  in 
spite  of  a  vigorous  defence,  were  compelled 
to  retreat;  and  Pollock  pushed  on  to  AH 
Masjid,  some  five  miles  within  the  pass. 
Ali  Masjid  had  been  evacuated,  and  was 
•at  once  occupied  by  the  British  force. 
Detained  during  6  April  at  Ali  Masjid  by 
finding  the  Sikhs  had  not  completed  the  ar- 
rangements for  guarding  the  road  to  Pesha- 
war, Pollock  marched  on  the  7th  to  Ghari 
Lala  Beg,  meeting  with  trifling  opposition 
on  the  road,  and  pushed  on  to  Landikhana. 
Thence  he  advanced  to  Daka,  and  emerged 
on  the  other  side  of  the  pass.  He  formed  a 
-camp  near  Lalpura,  where  Saadut  Khan  made 
an  effort  to  oppose  him,  but  was  driven  off, 
and  on  the  16th  Pollock  arrived  at  Jalala- 
bad, the  band  of  the  13th  regiment  marching 
out  to  play  the  releasing  force  into  the  town. 
Sale  had  sallied  out  on  7  April,  and  with 
eighteen  hundred  men  had  completely  de- 
feated Akbar  Khan,  whose  force  was  six 
thousand  strong,  with  heavy  loss,  capturing 
his  guns  and  burning  his  camp. 

Lord  Auckland  had  been  relieved  by  Lord 
Ellenborough  as  governor-general  at  the  end 
of  February  1842,  and  on  15  March  Ellen- 
borough  addressed  a  spirited  letter  to  the  com- 
xnander-in-chief  in  India,  advocating  not  only 
the  relief  of  the  troops  at  Jalalabad,  Ghazni, 
Kalat-i-Ghilzai,  and  Kandahar,  but  the  ad- 
vantage of  striking  a  decisive  blow  at  the 
Afghans,  and  possibly  reoccupying  Kabul, 
and  recovering  the  British  captives,  before 
withdrawing  from  the  country.  Unfortu- 
nately the  news  of  Sale's  victory  at  Jalala- 
bad, and  of  the  forcing  of  the  Khaibar  and 
arrival  at  Jalalabad  of  Pollock,  was  more 
than  counterbalanced  in  Lord  Ellenborough's 

VOL.  XLVI, 


eyes  by  the  news  of  the  capitulation  of 
Ghazni  by  Colonel  Palmer,  after  holding 
out  for  four  months,  and  of  Brigadier- 
general  England's  repulse  on  28  March  at 
Haikalzai,  and  he  induced  both  Pollock  at 
Jalalabad  and  Nott  at  Kandahar  to  make 
arrangements  for  the  withdrawal  of  all 
British  troops  from  Afghanistan.  Fortu- 
nately neither  Pollock  nor  Nott  feared  re- 
sponsibility, and  both  were  of  an  opinion 
that  an  advance  on  Kabul  must  be  made 
before  withdrawing  from  the  country.  Pol- 
lock at  once  communicated  with  Nott,  re- 
questing him  on  no  account  to  retire  until 
he  should  hear  again  from  him.  In  the 
meantime  Pollock  remonstrated  strongly 
against  the  policy  of  the  governor-general, 
and  pointed  out  the  necessity  of  advancing, 
if  only  to  recover  the  captives,  while  at 
that  season  it  was  highly  advantageous  for 
the  health  of  the  troops  to  move  to  a  hotter 
climate  rather  than  retire  with  insufficient 
carriage  through  the  pass  to  Peshawar.  He 
further  assumed  that  the  instruction  left 
him  discretionary  powers.  Having  received 
further  orders  from  the  governor-general  that, 
on  account  of  the  health  of  the  troops,  they 
would  not  be  withdrawn  from  Afghanistan 
until  October  or  November,  Pollock  re- 
mained at  Jalalabad  negotiating  with  Akbar 
Khan  for  the  release  of  the  captives,  but 
making  preparations  for  an  advance  on 
Kabul.  On  2  Aug.  Captains  Troup  and 
George  Lawrence  arrived  from  Kabul,  de- 
puted by  Akbar  Khan  to  conclude  negotia- 
tions, but  they  were  obliged  to  return  to 
captivity,  as  Pollock  would  not  agree  to  re- 
tire. In  July  Lord  Ellenborough  decided 
to  leave  the  responsibility  of  an  advance  on 
Kabul,  or  as  he  put  it,  a  withdrawal  by 
way  of  Kabul,  to  the  discretion  of  Pollock 
and  Nott,  directing  Pollock  to  combine  his 
movements  with  those  of  Nott,  should 
he  decide  to  adopt  the  line  of  retirement 
by  Ghazni  and  Kabul ;  and,  in  that  case,  as 
soon  as  Nott  advanced  beyond  Kabul, 
Pollock  was  directed  to  issue  such  orders 
to  Nott  as  he  might  deem  fit.  It  now  be- 
came a  race,  in  which  the  two  generals  were 
each  bent  on  getting  to  Kabul  first.  In  the 
middle  of  August  Pollock  heard  from  Nott 
that  he  would  withdraw  a  part  of  his  force  by 
way  of  Kabul  and  Jalalabad,  and  on  20  Aug. 
Pollock  moved  towards  Gandamak,  leaving 
a  detachment  to  hold  Jalalabad.  Pollock 
reached  Gandamak  on  the  23rd,  and  on  the 
24th  he  attacked  the  enemy  and  drove  them 
out  of  their  positions  at  Mamii  Khel  and 
Kuchli  Khel,  and  then  out  of  the  village  and 
their  adjoining  camp.  Major  Broadfoot  and 
his  sappers  greatly  distinguished  themselves, 


Pollock 


66 


Pollock 


and  captured  the  whole  of  the  enemy's  tents, 
cattle,  and  a  good  s  apply  of  ammunition.  The 
Afghans  fled  to  the  hills;  the  heights  were 
attacked,  and  position  after  position  carried  at 
the  point  of  the  bayonet.  Having  dispersed 
the  enemy  and  punished  the  villagers  of  Mamu 
Khel,  Pollock  busied  himself  in  collecting 
supplies  at  Gandamak,  and  in  making  all 
necessary  arrangements  for  the  advance  on 
Kabul.  Letters  arrived  from  Nott  on  6  Sept., 
and  Pollock,  having  secured  sufficient  supplies 
and  leaving  a  strong  detachment  at  Ganda- 
mak, advanced  on  7  Sept.  in  two  divisions, 
the  first,  which  he  himself  accompanied, 
under  the  immediate  command  of  Sir  Robert 
Sale,  the  second  under  Major-general  McCas- 
kill.  Pollock  encountered  the  enemy  on  the 
8th  when  advancing  on  the  Jagdalak  pass. 
The  position  occupied  by  the  enemy  was  one  of 
great  strength  and  difficult  of  approach.  The 
hills  on  each  side  were  studded  with  '  sun- 
gahs'  or  breastworks,  and  formed  an  amphi- 
theatre inclining  towards  the  left  of  the 
road.  After  shelling  the  '  sungahs  '  for  some 
time,  Sale  with  much  courage  dispersed  the 
enemy,  and  Pollock  pushed  on  his  troops, 
rejecting  the  advice  of  Sale  to  give  the  men 
rest  after  the  fatigues  of  the  day  and  to  spare 
the  cattle.  He  wisely  deemed  it  best  to  give 
the  enemy  no  time  to  rally,  even  at  the  cost  of 


some  of  the  baggage  animals.   Captain  Troup, 

l,  a  captive 


who  was  at  this  time  at  Kabul,  a  captive 
with  Akbar  Khan,  subsequently  told  Pollock 
that,  had  he  not  pushed  on,  the  sirdar  would 
have  sallied  out  of  Kabul  with  twenty  thou- 
sand men.  Pollock  reached  Seh  Baba  on 
the  10th,  and  Tezin  on  11  Sept.,  and  was 
joined  on  the  same  day  by  the  second  divi- 
sion. 

Akbar  Khan  had  sent  the  captives  to 
Bamian,  and,  on  learning  that  Pollock  had 
halted  at  Tezin,  at  once  determined  to  at- 
tack him  there.  He  opened  fire  in  the  after- 
noon of  12  Sept.  Pollock  immediately  at- 
tacked the  enemy,  some  five  hundred  of  whom 
had  taken  post  along  the  crest  and  upon  the 
summit  of  a  range  of  steep  hills  running 
from  the  northward  into  the  Tezin  valley. 
They  were  taken  by  surprise,  and  driven 
headlong  down  the  hills.  Hostilities  were 
suspended  by  the  approach  of  night.  At 
dawn  preparations  were  made  for  forcing 
the  Tezin  pass,  a  most  formidable  pass, 
some  four  miles  in  length.  The  Afghans, 
numbering  some  twenty  thousand  men,  had 
occupied  every  height  and  crag  not  already 
crowned  by  the  British.  Sale,  with  whom 
was  Pollock,  commanded  the  advanced  guard. 
The^enemy  were  driven  from  post  to  post,  con-  ! 
testing  every  step,  but  overcome  by  repeated  j 
bayonet  charges.  At  length  Pollock  gained  ! 


complete  possession  of  the  pass  ;  but  the  fight 
was  not  over.     The  Afghans  retired  to  the 
Haft  Kotal,  an  almost  impregnable  position 
on  hills  seven  thousand  eight  hundred  feet 
above  the  sea,  and  the  last  they  could  hope 
to  defend  in  front  of  Kabul.     But  Pollock's 
force  had  now  become  accustomed  to  victory, 
and  was  burning  to  wipe  out  the  stain  of  the 
disasters  that  had  befallen  Elphinstone's  army 
near  the  same  spot.     The  Haft  Kotal  was 
at  length  surmounted  and  the  enemy  driven 
from  crag  to  crag.     Pollock,   having  com- 
pletely dispersed  the  enemy  by  these  opera- 
tions, on  12  and  13  Sept.  pursued  his  march. 
The  passage  through  the  Khurd  Kabul  pass 
was  unmolested,  but  the  scene  was  a  painful 
one,  for  the  skeletons  of  Elphinstone's  force 
lay  so  thick  on  the  ground  that  they  had  to 
be  dragged  aside  to  allow  the  gun-carriages 
to  pass.     Butkhah  was  reached  on  the  14th, 
and  on  the  15th  the  force  encamped  close  to 
Kabul.     The  British  flag  was  hoisted  with 
great  ceremony  in   the  Bala  Hisar  on  the 
morning  of  the  16th.   Akbar  Khan,  who  had 
commanded  the  Afghans  in  person  at  Tezin, 
fled  to  the  Ghorebund  valley.    On  the  follow- 
ing day  Nott  arrived  from  Kandahar  and  en- 
camped at  Arghandeh,  near  Kabul.      The 
armies  of  Nott  and  Pollock  were  encamped 
on  opposite  sides   of  Kabul  (Nott   having 
shifted   his  camp   to   Kalat-i-Sultan),    and 
Pollock   assumed   command    of   the  whole 
force.  Immediately  upon  his  arrival  at  Kabul 
Pollock  despatched  Sir  Richard  Shakespear 
with  seven  hundred  Kazlbash  horsemen  to 
Bamian  to  rescue  the  captives,  and  on  17  Sept. 
he  sent  a  request  to  Nott  that  he  would  sup- 
port Shakespear  by  sending  a  brigade  in  the 
direction  of  Bamian.     Nott,  however,  who 
was  annoyed  by  Pollock's  victory  in  the  race 
to  Kabul,  objected,  saying  his  men  required 
rest  for  a  day  or  two,  and  excused  himself 
from  visiting  Pollock  on  the  plea  of  ill-health. 
Pollock,  whose  amiability  was  never  in  doubt, 
went  on  the  17th  to  see  Nott,  and,  finding  that 
he  was  still  indisposed  to  send  a  brigade,  di- 
rected Sale  to  take  a  brigade  from  his  Jalala- 
bad troops  and  push  on  to  the  support  of 
Shakespear.    The  captives  had,  however,  by 
large  bribes  effected  their  own  deliverance, 
and,  starting  for  Kabul  on  the  16th,  met 
Shakespear  on  the  17th,  and  arrived  in  Pol- 
lock's camp  on  22  Sept. 

Pollock  ascertained  that  Amir  Ullah  Khan, 
one  of  the  fiercest  opponents  of  British  au- 
thority in  Afghanistan,  was  collecting  the 
scattered  remnant  of  Akbar's  forces  in  the 
kohistan  or  highlands  of  Kabul.  He  therefore 
sent  a  strong  force,  taken  from  both  his  own 
and  Nott's  division,  under  McCaskill,  Avhose 
operations  were  crowned  with  complete  sue- 


Pollock 


Pollock 


cess.  The  fortified  town  of  Istalif  was  carried 
by  assault,  and  Amir  Ullali  forced  to  fly.  Cha- 
rikar  and  some  other  fortified  places  were 
destroyed,  and  the  force  returned  to  Kabul  on 
7  Oct. 

On  9  Oct.  Pollock  instructed  his  chief 
engineer,  Captain  (now  Major-general  Sir 
Frederick)  Abbott,  to  demolish  the  celebrated 
Char  Chutter  (or  four  bazaars),  built  in  the 
reign  of  Aurungzebe  by  the  celebrated  Ali 
Mardan  Khan,  where  the  head  and  muti- 
lated remains  of  the  British  envoy,  Sir 
William  Macnaghten,  had  been  exhibited. 
On  12  Oct.  Pollock  broke  up  his  camp,  and 
started  on  his  return  to  India.  He  took  with 
him  as  trophies  forty-four  pieces  of  ordnance 
and  a  large  quant ity'of  warlike  stores,  but,  for 
want  of  carriage,  was  obliged  to  destroy  the 
guns  en  route.  He  also  removed  with  him 
two  thousand  natives,  sepoys  and  camp  fol- 
lowers of  Elphinstone's  army,  who  had  been 
found  in  Kabul.  Pollock,  with  the  advanced 
guard  under  Sale,  reached  Gandamak  on 
18  Oct.,  with  little  opposition;  but  McCaskill 
had  some  fighting,  and  the  rear  column  under 
Nott  was  engaged  in  a  severe  affair  in  the 
Haft  Kotal.  On  the  22nd  the  main  column 
arrived  at  Jalalabad,  McCaskill  arriving  on 
the  23rd,  and  Nott  on  the  24th.  On  27  Oct. 
the  army  commenced  to  move  from  Jalalabad, 
having  during  the  halt  there  destroyed  both 
the  fortifications  and  the  town.  Pollock 
reached  Daka  on  the  30th,  and  Ali  Masjid 
on  the  12th  Nov.  Having  during  the  whole 
of  his  march  exercised  the  greatest  caution, 
he  met  with  no  difficulty  in  any  of  the  passes. 
McCaskill's  division  met  with  much  opposi- 
tion in  the  Khaibar,  and  suffered  severely. 
His  third  brigade,  under  Wild,  was  over- 
taken at  night  in  the  defiles  leading  to  Ali 
Masjid,  and  lost  some  officers  and  men. 
Nott  arrived  at  Jamriid  with  the  rear  di- 
vision on  6  Nov.  The  whole  army  encamped 
some  four  miles  from  Peshawar.  On  12  Nov. 
it  moved  from  Peshawar,  and  crossing  the 
Punjab  arrived,  after  an  uneventful  march,  on 
the  banks  of  the  Satlaj,  opposite  Firozpur. 
Here  they  were  met  by  the  governor-general 
and  the  commander-in-chief,  who,  with  the 
army  of  reserve,  welcomed  them  with  every 
circumstance  of  pomp.  On  17  Dec.  Sale,  at 
the  head  of  the  Jalalabad  garrison,  crossed 
the  bridge  of  boats  into  Firozpur.  On  the 
19th  Pollock  crossed,  and  was  received  by 
the  governor-general ;  and  on  the  23rd  Nott 
arrived-  Banquets  and  fetes  were  the  order 
of  the  day.  Rajah  Shen  Singh  presented  to 
Pollock,  through  the  governor-general,  a 
sword  of  honour.  Pollock  was  made  a  G.C.B. 
and  given  the  command  of  the  Danapiir  divi- 
sion. In  the  session  of  parliament  of  1843  the 


thanks  of  both  houses  were  voted  to  Pollock, 
and  Sir  Robert  Peel  dwelt  eloquently  on  his 
services. 

In  December  1843  Nott,  who  had  been 
appointed  political  resident  at  Lucknow,  re- 
signed on  account  of  ill-health,  and  Pollock 
was  appointed  acting  resident,  an  office  which 
he  held  until  the  latter  part  of  1844,  when 
he  was  appointed  military  member  of  the 
supreme  council  of  India.  On  his  arrival  at 
Calcutta  he  was  presented  with  an  address, 
and  a  medal  was  instituted  in  commemora- 
tion of  his  services,  to  be  presented  to  the 
most  distinguished  cadet  at  the  East  India 
Company's  military  college  at  Addiscombe 
on  each  examination  for  commissions.  This 
medal,  which  has  the  head  of  Pollock  on  the 
obverse  side,  has  since  the  abolition  of  Ad- 
discombe been  transferred  to  the  Royal 
Military  Academy  at  Woolwich.  Pollock 
was  compelled  to  resign  his  appointment  and 
leave  India  in  1846  in  consequence  of  serious 
illness. 

On  his  return  to  England  the  directors  of 
the  East  India  Company  conferred  upon 
Pollock  a  pension  of  1,000/.  a  year;  the  cor- 
poration of  London  voted  their  thanks  to 
him  and  presented  him  with  the  freedom  of 
the  city ;  the  Merchant  Taylors  conferred 
on  him  the  freedom  of  their  company.  On 
11  Nov.  1851  he  was  promoted  lieutenant- 
general.  He  was  appointed  colonel-com- 
mandant of  the  C  brigade  of  the  royal  horse 
artillery.  On  the  initiation  of  the  volunteer 
movement  in  1861  he  accepted  the  honorary 
colonelcy  of  the  1st  Surrey  rifles.  On  the 
institution  in  1861  of  the  order  of  the  Star 
of  India,  Pollock  was  made  one  of  the  first 
knights  grand  cross. 

In  April  1854  Pollock  was  appointed  by 
Sir  Charles  Wood  the  senior  of  the  three 
government  directors  of  the  East  India  Com- 
pany, under  the  act  of  parliament  passed  in 
the  previous  year.  The  appointment  was  for 
two  years.  Pollock  resided  at  Clapham  Com- 
mon, and,  after  the  expiration  of  his  two  years 
of  office,  did  not  again  undertake  any  public 
post.  On  17  May  1859  he  was  promoted  gene- 
ral. On  24  May  1870  he  was  gazetted  field- 
marshal.  One  of  the  last  occasions  on  which 
he  appeared  in  public  was  on  17  Aug.  1871, 
at  the  unveiling  of  the  memorial  of  Outram. 
On  the  death  of  Sir  John  Burgoyne  in  1871, 
Pollock  was  appointed  to  succeed  him  as  con- 
stable of  the  Tower  of  London  and  lieutenant 
and  custos  rotulorum  of  the  Tower  Hamlets. 
In  March  1872  the  queen  created  him  baronet 
as  '  of  the  Khyber  Pass.'  He  died  at  Walmer 
on  6  Oct.  1872,  and  was  buried  in  Westmin- 
ster Abbey.  His  remains  received  a  public 
funeral.  His  portrait  was  painted  by  Sir 

F2 


Pollock 


68 


Pollock 


Francis  Grant,  afterwards  president  of  the 
Royal  Academy,  for  the  East  India  Com- 
pany, and  is  now  in  the  India  office.  Pollock 
also  sat  for  his  likeness  at  the  request  of  the 
committee  of  the  United  Service  Club ;  and  a 
marble  bust,  by  Joseph  Durham,  is  in  the 
National  Portrait  Gallery,  London.  Pollock's 
second  wife  presented  a  portrait  of  her  hus- 
band, in  the  uniform  of  a  field-marshal,  to 
the  mess  of  the  officers  of  the  royal  artillery 
at  Woolwich. 

Pollock  was  twice  married — first,  in  1810, 
to  Frances  Webbe,  daughter  of  J.  Barclay, 
sheriff  of  Tain.  She  died  in  1848.  By  her 
he  had  five  children  :  Annabella  Homeria, 
married,  first,  to  J.  Harcourt  of  the  Indian 
medical  service,  who  was  killed  in  the  retreat 
from  Kabul,  and,  secondly,  to  John  Binney 
Key.  Frederick,  the  eldest  son,  entered  the 
royal  engineers,  and  succeeded  to  the  baro- 
netcy ;  he  married  Laura  Caroline,  daughter 
of  Ilenry  Seymour  Montagu  of  Westleton 
Grange,  Suffolk,  and  in  1873  assumed  the 
name  of  Montagu-Pollock  ;  he  died  in  ]  874, 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  who  has  no 
male  issue.  Sir  George's  second  son,  George 
David,  F.R.C.S.,  of  Early  Wood,  Surrey, 
surgeon  to  St.  George's  Hospital,  and  surgeon- 
in-ordinary  to  the  Prince  of  Wales,  is  heir  to 
the  baronetcy.  Robert,  a  lieutenant  in  the 
Bengal  horse  artillery,  died  from  the  effects 
of  a  wound  received  at  the  battle  of  Mudki 
on  18  Dec.  1845  (he  was  aide-de-camp  to  his 
father  in  Afghanistan) ;  and  Archibald  Reid 
Swiney  of  the  Indian  civil  service.  Pollock 
married,  secondly,  in  1852,  Henrietta,  daugh- 
ter of  George  Hyde  Wollaston  of  Clapham 
Common.  She  died  on  14  Feb.  1872. 

Pollock's  fame  rests  chiefly  on  his  Afghani- 
stan campaign.  Although  not  a  brilliant 
commander,  he  was  a  very  efficient  one.  He 
took  the  greatest  trouble  in  looking  after  his 
men,  and  made  all  his  arrangements  with  great 
care  and  precision.  Cautious  and  prudent, 
he  husbanded  his  resources  ;  but  when  he  was 
ready  to  strike  he  was  bold  and  determined. 
The  Afghan  campaign  was  a  model  of  moun- 
tain Avarfare,  and  is  a  standing  example  in  all 
textbooks  on  the  subject. 

[Despatches  ;  Low's  Life  of  Field-marshal  Sir 
George  Pollock,  London,  1873  ;  Stocqueler's  Me- 
morials of  Afghanistan,  Calcutta,  1843;  Broad- 
foot's  Career  of  Major  George  15  roadfoot,  London, 
1888;  Kaye's  Hist,  of  the  War  in  Afghanistan 
in  1838  to  1842,  3  vols. ;  Stocqueler's  Memoirs 
and  Correspondence  of  Sir  William  Nott,  2  vols. 
18-54.]  K.  H.  V. 

POLLOCK,  SIR  JONATHAN  FRE- 
DERICK (1783-1870),  judge,  third  son  of 
David  Pollock,  saddler,  of  Charing  Cross,  by 
his  wife  Sarah  Homera,  daughter  of  Richard 


Parsons,  receiver-general  of  customs,  and 
brother  of  Sir  David  Pollock  [q.  v.],  and  also 
of  Field-marshal  Sir  George  Pollock  [q.  v.], 
was  born  in  the  parish  of  St.  Martin's-in- 
the-Fields  on  23  Sept.  1783.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  private  schools,  at  St.  Paul's  School, 
and  at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  where 
he  obtained  a  scholarship  in  1804,  but  was 
nevertheless  so  poor  that,  but  for  the  help 
afforded  him  by  his  tutor,  the'  unlucky  Tavel ' 
of  Byron's '  Hints  from  Horace,'  he  must  have 
left  the  university  without  a  degree.  He 
graduated  B.A.  in  1806,  being  senior  wran- 
gler and  first  Smith's  prizeman,  was  elected 
fellow  of  his  college  in  1807,  proceeded  M.A. 
in  1809,  and  on  27  Nov.  of  the  same  year 
was  called  to  the  bar  at  the  Middle  Temple. 
Uniting  a  retentive  memory,  great  natural 
acumen,  and  tact  in  the  management  of  juries, 
with  a  profound  knowledge  theoretical  and 
practical  of  the  common  law,  and  a  perfect 
mastery  of  accounts  and  mercantile  usages, 
Pollock  rapidly  acquired  an  extensive  practice 
both  at  Westminster  and  on  the  northern  cir- 
cuit, though  among  his  rivals  were  Brougham 
and  Scarlett.  He  took  silk  in  Easter  vaca- 
tion 1827,  and  on  2  May  1831  was  returned 
to  parliament  in  the  tory  interest  for  the 
close  borough  of  Huntingdon,  which  he  con- 
tinued to  represent  throughout  his  parlia- 
mentary career.  He  was  knighted,  29  Dec. 
1834,  on  accepting  the  office  of  attorney- 
general  in  Sir  Robert  Peel's  first  admini- 
stration, which  terminated  on  9  April  1835  ; 
resumed  the  same  office  on  the  formation  of 
Peel's  second  administration,  6  Sept.  1841, 
and  held  it  until  he  was  appointed  lord  chief 
baron  of  the  exchequer,  in  succession  to  Lord 
Abinger  [see  SCARLETT,  SIR  JAMES],  15  April 
1844. 

In  the  court  of  exchequer  Pollock  presided 
with  distinction  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  during  which  the  practice  of  the 
courts  was  materially  modified  by  the  Com- 
mon Law  Procedure  Acts  of  1852  and  1854. 
He  loyalty  accepted  these  reforms,  and  carried 
them  into  practical  effect.  His  learned  and 
luminous  judgments  are  contained  in  the 'Re- 
ports' of  Meeson  and  Welsby(vol.xii.et  seq.), 
the  'Exchequer Reports,' and  the  'Reports  of 
Hurlstone  and  Norman,  and  Hurlstone  and 
Coltman.  In  the  great  case  of  Egerton  r. 
Brownlow,  in  the  House  of  Lords,  he  was  al- 
most alone  among  the  judges  in  the  opinion 
which  the  lords  ultimately  adopted.  Though 
place  cannot  be  claimed  for  him  among  the 
most  illustrious  of  the  sages  of  the  law,  he 
yields  to  none  in  the  second  rank.  On  his 
retirement  in  1866  he  received,  on  24  July, 
a  baronetcy.  In  later  life  Pollock  resumed 
the  studies  of  his  youth.  To  the  Royal  So- 


Pollock 


69 


Pollok 


ciety,  of  which  he  was  elected  a  fellow  in 
1810,  he  communicated  three  mathematical 
papers  (Philosophical  Transactions,vol.cx\iv. 
No.  xiv.,  vol.  cxlix.  No.  iii.,  and  vol.  cli.  pt. 
i.  No.  xxi.  He  was  also  F.S.A.  and  F.G.S. 

Pollock  died  of  old  age  at  his  seat,  Hatton, 
Middlesex,  on  23  Aug.  1870.  His  remains 
were  interred  (29  Aug.)  in  Hanwell  ceme- 
tery. 

Pollock  married  twice.  By  his  first  wife, 
Frances,  daughter  of  Francis  Rivers  of  Lon- 
don (m.  25  May  1813;  d.  27  Jan.  1827)  he 
had  issue  six  sons  and  five  daughters ;  by  his 
second  wife,  Sarah  Anne  Amowah,  second 
daughter  of  Captain  Richard  Langslow  of 
Ilatton,  Middlesex  (m.  7  Jan.  1834),  he  had 
issue  two  sons  and  five  daughters  [cf.  MAKTIN, 
SIE  SAMUEL,  ad  fin.]  He  was  succeeded  in 
title  by  his  eldest  son,  Sir  William  Frede- 
rick Pollock  [q.  v.]  His  fourth  son,  Sir 
Charles  Edward  Pollock,  is  a  baron  of  the 
exchequer. 

[Cambridge  Univ.  Cal.  1804-1810;  Grad. 
Cant.;  Foster's  Baronetage;  Times,  24  Aug. 
1870  ;  Law  Journal,  2  Sept.  1870;  Law  Times, 
27  Aug.  1870;  Gent.  Mag.  1866,  pt.  ii.  393; 
Ann.  Keg.  1870  (Obituary) ;  Gardiner's  Register 
of  St.  Paul's  School ;  Jerdan's  Reminiscences ; 
Pryme's  Autobiographic  Recollections,  pp.  54, 
183,  341,  373;  Ballantine's  Experiences  of  a 
Barrister's  Life,  p.  154;  Crabb  Robinson's  Diary; 
Pollock's  Personal  Reminiscences,  1887  ;  Lord 
Kingsdown's  Recollections,  pp.  24,  100,  115  ; 
Duke  of  Buckingham's  Cabinets  of  William  IV 
and  Victoria,  ii.  150,  412  ;  Foss's  Judges  of  Eng- 
land ;  Haydn's  Book  of  Dignities,  ed.  Ockerby.l 

J.  M.  R. 

POLLOCK,  SIR  WILLIAM  FRE- 
DERICK (1815-1888),  queen's  remem- 
brancer and  author,  eldest  son  of  Sir  Jona- 
than Frederick  Pollock  [q.  v.]  by  his  first  wife, 
was  born  on  13  April  1815.  He  was  educated 
under  private  tutors,  at  St.  Paul's  School,  and 
at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  where  he  ob- 
tained a  scholarship  in  1835,  graduated 
B.A.  in  1836,  and  proceeded  M.A.  in  1840. 
Although  of  junior  standing  to  Tennyson, 
he  was  a  member  of  the  little  society  whose 
debates  are  celebrated  in  (  In  Memoriam ' 
(Ixxxvi). 

Pollock  was  called  to  the  bar  at  the  Inner 
Temple  on  26  Jan.  1838,  and  went  the  north- 
ern circuit,  in  which  he  held  for  some  years 
the  post  of  revising  barrister.  He  was  ap- 
pointed a  master  of  the  court  of  exchequer 
in  1846,  and  in  1874  to  the  ancient  office  of 
queen's  remembrancer.  On  the  fusion  of  the 
courts  of  law  and  equity  in  the  supreme  court 
of  judicature  (1875)  the  office  of  queen's 
remembrancer  was  annexed  to  the  senior 
mastership,  and  continued  to  be  held  by  I 


Pollock  until  September  1886,  when  he  re- 
signed. He  died  at  his  residence  in  Montague 
Square  on  24  Dec.  1888. 

Pollock  married,  on  30  March  1844,  Juliet, 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Henry  Creed,  vicar  of 
Corse,  Gloucestershire,  by  whom  he  had 
issue  three  sons,  of  whom  the  eldest,  Sir 
Frederick  Pollock,  bart.,  is  Corpus  professor 
of  jurisprudence  at  Oxford. 

Pollock  was  a  man  of  liberal  culture  and 
rare  social  charm.  His  entertaining  '  Per- 
sonal Remembrances,'  which  he  published 
in  1887,  show  how  various  were  his  accom- 
plishments, and  how  numerous  his  friend- 
ships in  the  world  of  letters,  science,  and 
art.  He  was  one  of  Macready's  executors, 
and  edited  his  '  Reminiscences '  (London, 
1876,  2  vols.  8vo).  His  portrait  was  painted 
by  W.  W.  Ouless,  R.A. 

Pollock  was  author  of '  The  Divine  Comedy ; 
or  the  Inferno,  Purgatory,  and  Paradise  of 
Dante  rendered  into  English '  (in  closely 
literal  blank  verse,  with  fine  plates  by  Dalziel 
from  drawings  by  George,  afterwards  Sir 
George,  Scharf  [q.v.],  mostly  after  Flaxman), 
London,  1854,  8vo. 

[Grad.  Cant.;  Foster's  Baronetage ;  Times, 
20  Aug.  1886,  25  Dec.  1888;  Law  Journal, 
29  Dec.  1888;  Personal  Remembrances  of  Sir 
Frederick  Pollock,  second  bart.,  1887,  2  vols.] 

J.  M.  Ii. 

POLLOK,  ROBERT  (1798-1827),  poet, 
son  of  a  small  farmer,  and  seventh  of  a 
family  of  eight,  was  born  at  North  Moor- 
house,  in  the  parish  of  Eaglesham,  Renfrew- 
shire, on  19  Oct.  1798.  In  1805  the  family 
settled  at  Mid  Moorhouse,  about  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  from  their  previous  residence,  and 
this  is  the  Moorhouse  of  Pollok's  letters. 
He  received  his  elementary  education  at 
South  Longlee,  a  neighbouring  farm,  and  at 
Mearns  parish  school,  Renfrewshire,  where, 
by  excessive  indulgence  in  athletic  exer- 
cise, he  permanently  weakened  his  health. 
In  the  spring  of  1815  he  tried  cabinet- 
making  under  his  brother-in-law,  but  re- 
linquished the  trade  after  constructing  four 
chairs.  Pollok  worked  on  his  father's  farm, 
till  the  autumn  of  1815,  when  he  and  his 
elder  brother,  David,  decided  to  become 
secession  ministers,  and  were  prepared  for 
the  university  at  the  parish  school  of  Fen- 
wick,  Ayrshire.  Pollok's  general  reading 
had  already  embraced  the  works  of  various 
standard  English  poets,  and  he  began  poetical 
composition,  specially  affecting  blank  verse. 
In  1817  Pollok  went  to  Glasgow  Univer- 
sity, where  he  graduated  M.A.  in  1822.  He 
was  a  good  student,  gaining  distinction  in  logic 
and  moral  philosophy.  H  e  read  widely ;  com- 
posed many  verses ;  founded  a  college  literary 


Poilok 


Toiton 


society ;  began  a  commonplace  book ;  and 
gave  evidence  of  an  acute  critical  gift  in  a 
letter,  entitled  '  A  Discussion  on  Composi- 
tional Thinking'  (Life,  by  his  brother,  p. 
76). 

From  1822  to  1827  he  studied  theology, 
both  at  the  United  Secession  Hall  and  at 
Glasgow  University.  In  spite  of  bad  health, 
he  devoted  his  leisure  to  literature,  and  began 
in  1825  the  work  which  developed  into  the 
'  Course  of  Time.'  It  was  prompted  by 
Byron's  '  Darkness,'  which  he  found  in  a 
miscellany.  John  Blackwood,  supported  by 
the  opinion  of  Professor  Wilson  and  David 
Macbeth  Moir  [q.  v.]  (Delta),  published  the 
poem  in  the  spring  of  1827. 

After  two  years  of  preparation  at  Dun- 
fermline,  Poilok  received  his  qualification 
as  a  probationer  under  the  United  Associa- 
tion Synod  on  2  May  1827.  He  preached 
once  in  Edinburgh,  and  three  times  at  Slate- 
ford,  in  the  neighbourhood,  but  his  health  dis- 
allowed any  permanent  engagement.  Dr.  Bel- 
frage  of  Slate  ford  befriended  him,  consulted 
Dr.  Abercrombie  and  other  eminent  physi- 
cians in  his  interest,  and  agreed  with  them 
that  he  should  visit  Italy.  Among  his  many 
visitors  at  Slateford  was  Henry  Mackenzie 
[q.  v.],  author  of  the  ( Man  of  Feeling,'  then 
eighty-four  years  of  age.  At  length  he  made 
with  his  sister,  Mrs.  Gilmour,  the  voyage 
from  Leith  to  London,  where  the  doctors 
pronounced  him  unfit  for  further  travel.  His 
sister  settled  with  him  at  Shirley  Common, 
near  Southampton,  where  he  died  18  Sept. 
1827.  He  was  buried  in  the  neighbouring 
churchyard  of  Millbrook,  and  a  granite  obelisk 
over  his  grave  bears  the  inscription,  '  His 
immortal  Poem  is  his  monument.'  His  por- 
trait, painted  by  Sir  Daniel  Macnee,P.R.S.  A., 
is  in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery,  Edin- 
burgh. 

'  The  Course  of  Time,'  Edinburgh,  1827, 
8vo,  is  Pollok's  one  permanent  contribution 
to  literature.  It  is  in  ten  books,  the  blank 
verse  in  which  it  is  written  recalling  Cowper 
and  Young,  whose  harmonies  Poilok  regarded 
as  the  language  of  the  gods.  Concerned  with 
the  destiny  of  man,  the  poem  is  conceived  on 
a  stupendous  scale,  which  battled  the  writer's 
artistic  resources.  Never  absolutely  feeble, 
it  tends  to  prolixity  and  discursiveness,  but 
is  relieved  by  passages  of  sustained  brilliancy. 
It  reached  its  fourth  edition  in  1828,  and  its 
twenty-fifth  in  1867.  An  edition,  with  illus- 
trations by  Birket  Foster  and  Mr.  John 
Tenniel,  appeared  in  1857  (London,  8vo), 
and  the  seventy-eighth  thousand  appeared  at 
Edinburgh  in  1868. 

Of  Pollok's  other  experiments  in  verse, 
published  in  the  '  Life '  by  his  brother,  the 


most  remarkable  is  his  contemplative 
'  Thoughts  on  Man,'  in  chap.  vi.  The  three 
tales,  written  in  1824-5,  'Helen  of  the 
Glen,'  '  Ralph  Gemmell,'  and  '  The  Perse- 
cuted Family,'  treating  of  the  covenanters, 
were  published  anonymously,  in  a  time  of 
stress,  for  what  they  would  bring,  and 
Poilok  never  acknowledged  them.  After 
his  death  the  publishers  issued  them  with 
his  name.  To  '  The  Esk,'  an  ephemeral 
periodical,  Poilok  contributed  a  suggestive 
article  on  'Serious  Thought  '  (ib.  p.  329), 
and  his  wide  reading  and  discrimination  are 
displayed  in  his  comprehensive  •  Survey  of 
Christian  Literature '  (ib.  pp.  323,  362). 

[Life  of  Robert  Poilok.  by  his  brother,  David 
Poilok;  Memoir  prefixed  to  23rd  edit,  of  the 
Course  of  Time ;  Blackwood's  Magazine,  July 
1827;  Noctes  Ambrosianse,  vols.  ii.  iv. ;  Eecrea- 
tions  of  Christopher  North,  i.  224  ;  Moir's  Lec- 
tures on  Poetical  Literature,  p.  238;  Cham- 
bers's  Dictionary  of  Eminent  Scotsmen.]  T.  B. 

POLTON,  THOMAS  (d.  1433),  bishop 
successively  of  Hereford,  Chichester,  and 
Worcester,  may  be  the  Thomas  Polton  who 
was  temporarily  archdeacon  of  Taunton  in 
1395,  and  again  about  1403,  and  held  a  pre- 
bend at  Hereford  between  1410  and  1412 
(LE  NEVE,  i.  167,  516).  From  1408  he  was 
prebendary  of  York,  of  which  cathedral  he 
was  elected  dean  on  23  July  1416,  being  then 
described  as  bachelor  of  laws,  but  of  what 
university  does  not  appear  (ib.  iii.  124, 
190,  215  ;  cf.  Fcedera,  ix.  370).  Meanwhile 
he  had  acted,  from  8  June  1414,  as  the  king's 
proctor  at  the  papal  court,  and  simulta- 
neously with  his  promotion  to  the  deanery  of 
York  was  appointed  one  of  the  English 
ambassadors  to  the  council  of  Constance 
(ib.')  As  papal  prothonotary  and  head  of 
the  English  '  nation,'  he  took  a  very  promi- 
nent part  in  the  proceedings  of  the  council 
(Vox  DER  HARDT,  vols.  iv-v. ;  ST.-DENYS, 
v.  467,  620).  After  the  council  broke  up, 
Polton  continued  to  reside  at  Home  as  papal 
notary  and  proctor  for  Henry  V,  and  even 
when  Pope  Martin  provided  him  by  bull, 
dated  15  July  1420,  to  the  bishopric  of  Here- 
ford, and  consecrated  him  at  Florence  six 
days  later,  he  did  not  at  once  return  to 
England  (LE  NEVE,  i.  464).  On  the  death 
of  Richard  Clifford,  bishop  of  London,  in 
August  1421,  the  chapter,  on  22  Dec.,  elected 
Polton  in  his  place,  but  the  pope  had  already 
(17  Nov.)  translated  John  Kemp  [q.v.]  from 
Chichesterto  London,  and  Polton  from  Here- 
ford to  Chichester  (ib.  i.  245,  294).  In 
January  1426,  as  part  of  a  compromise  with 
the  pope  with  regard  to  the  filling  up  of 
several  sees  then  vacant,  the  privy  council 
agreed  that  Polton,  who  was  then  in  Eng- 


Polwarth 


Polwhele 


land,  sliould  be  translated  from  Chichester  to 
Worcester,  and  this  was  done  by  papal  bull 
dated  27  Feb.  1426  (Ord.  Privy  Council,  iii. 
180,  190). 

In  November  1432  lie  was  appointed  to 
go  to  the  council  of  Basle,  with  license  to 
visit  the  '  limina  apostolorum '  for  a  year 
after  the  dissolution  of  the  council  (Fwdera, 
x.  527-9).  He  does  not  seem  to  have  set 
out  until  the  following  spring,  and  shortly 
after  his  arrival  at  Basle  he  died  (23  Aug. 
1433),  and  was  buried  there.  His  will,  dated 
6  Dec.  1432,  was  proved  on  18  Oct.  1433 
(Ord.  Privy  Council,  iv.  156  ;  LE  NEVE,  iii. 
60).  In  the  Cottonian  Collection  (Nero 
E.  V.)  there  is  a  fine  manuscript  entitled 
*  Origo  et  Processus  Gentis  Scotorum  ac  de 
Superioritate  Regum  Anglise  super  regnum 
illud'  which  belonged  to  Polton,  and  was 
bought  from  his  executors  by  Humphrey, 
duke  of  Gloucester. 

[Rymer's  Foedera,  orig.  ed. ;  Proceedings  and 
Ordinances  of  the  Privy  Council,  ed.  Nicolas ; 
Von  der  Hardt's  Concilium  Constantiense,  1697, 
&c. ;  Lenfant's  Concilede  Basle,  1731  ;  Godwin, 
De  Prsesulibus  Anglise,  ed.  Eichardson,  1743, 
pp.  466,  491,  509;  Le  Neve's  Fasti  Ecclesise 
Anglicanse,  ed.  Hardy;  Stubbs's  Registrum  Sa- 
crum.] J.  T-T. 

POLWARTH,  fifth  BARON.  [See  SCOTT, 
HENRY  FRANCIS,  1800-1867.] 

POLWHELE,  RICHARD  (1760-1838), 
miscellaneous  writer,  claimed  descent  from 
Drogo  de  Polwhele,  chamberlain  of  the  Em- 
press Matilda.  Upon  Drogo  Matilda  bestowed 
in  1140  a  grant  of  lands  in  Cornwall  {Gent. 
Mag.  1822  pt.  ii.  p.  551,  1823,  pt.  i.  pp.  26, 
98).  The  family  long  resided  at  Polwhele, 
in  the  parish  of  St.  Clement,  Cornwall,  about 
two  miles  from  Truro,  on  the  road  to  St. 
Columb,  and  several  of  its  members  were 
among  the  Cornish  representatives  in  parlia- 
ment. His  father,  Thomas  Polwhele,  died 
on  4  Feb.  1777,  and  was  buried  in  St. 
Clement's  churchyard  on  8  Feb. ;  his  mother 
was  Mary  (d.  1804),  daughter  of  Richard 
Thomas,  alderman  of  Truro  (POLWHELE,  Corn- 
wall, vii.  43)  ;  she  suggested  to  Dr.  Wolcot 
the  subject  of  his  well-known  poem,  'The 
Pilgrim  and  the  Peas '  (REDDING,  Fifty  Years, 
i.  266). 

Richard,  the  only  son,  was  born  at  Truro 
on  6  Jan.  1760,  and  was  educated  at  Truro 
grammar  school  by  Cornelius  Cardew,  D.D. 
He  began  to  write  poetry  when  about  twelve 
years  old,  and  his  juvenile  productions  were 
praised  by  Wolcot,  then  resident  at  Truro,  but 
with  the  judicious  qualification  that  he  should 
drop  '  his  damned  epithets/  On  his  father's 
death  in  1777  he  accompanied  his  mother  on 


a  visit  to  Bath  and  Bristol,  where  he  made  the 
acquaintance  of  literary  personages,  including 
Mrs.  Macaulay  and  Hannah  More.  He  pre- 
sented the  first  of  these  ladies  with  an  ode  on 
her  birthday,  which  was  printed  at  Bath,  with 
five  others,  in  April  1777 ;  and  he  was  induced 
by  the  flattery  of  his  friends  to  publish  in 
the  next  year  a  volume  of  poems  called  '  The  ( 
Fate  of  Lewellyn.'  The  title-page  concealed ' 
the  author's  name,  stating  that  it  was  '  by  a 
young  gentleman  of  Truro  School,'  whereupon 
the  critic  in  the  '  Monthly  Review '  stated 
that  the  master  of  that  school  should  have 
kept  it  in  manuscript,  and  Cardew  retorted 
that  he  was  ignorant  of  the  proposed  publica- 
tion. This  premature  appearance  in  print 
impaired  Polwhele's  reputation.  From  that 
date  he  was  always  publishing,  but  all  his 
works  were  deficient  in  thoroughness. 

Polwhele  matriculated  as  commoner  at 
Christ  Church,  Oxford,  on  3  March  1778, 
and  received  from  it  two  of  Fell's  exhibitions. 
He  kept  his  terms  until  he  was  admitted  a 
student  in  civil  law,  but  he  left  the  univer- 
sity without  taking  a  degree.  In  1782  he 
was  ordained  by  Bishop  Ross  as  curate  to 
the  Rev.  Thomas  Bedford,  rector  of  Lamor- 
ran,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Fal,  Cornwall,  but 
stayed  there  for  a  very  short  time,  as  in  the 
same  year  he  was  offered  the  curacy  of  Kenton, 
near  Powderham  Castle,  Devonshire,  the  seat 
of  the  Courtenays.  In  this  position  he  re- 
mained until  the  close  of  1793.  The  parish 
is  situate  in  beautiful  scenery;  many  of  the 
resident  gentry  were  imbued  with  literary 
tastes,  and  it  is  but  a  few  miles  from  Exeter, 
where  Polwhele  joined  a  literary  society 
which  '  met  every  three  weeks  at  the  Globe 
Tavern  at  one  o'clock  ;  recited  literary  com- 
positions in  prose  and  verse,  and  dined  at 
three '  (POLWHELE,  Cornwall,  v.  105).  The 
association  published  in  1792  '  Poems  chiefly 
by  Gentlemen  of  Devonshire  and  Cornwall ' 
(2  vols.),  edited  by  Polwhele,  and  in  1796 
*  Essays  by  a  Society  of  Gentlemen  at  Exeter.' 
A  quarrel  over  the  second  publication  gave 
rise  to  a  bitter  controversy  between  Polwhele 
and  his  colleagues  (Gent.  Mag.  1796,  pt.  ii.) 
Meanwhile  he  projected  his  '  History  of 
Devonshire,'  and  derived  considerable  assist- 
ance from  the  documents  at  Powderham, 
Mamhead,  and  Haldon,  and  from  the  dio- 
cesan records  at  Exeter  (cf.  ib.  1790,  pt.  ii. 
pp.  1178-80).  His  list  of  subscribers  was 
soon  full,  but  the  work  proved  unsatis- 
factory. 

Polwhele  had  married  in  1782  Loveday, 
second  daughter  of  Samuel  Warren  of  Truro, 
by  his  wife,  Blanche  Sandys,  of  an  old  Cornish 
family.  On  1  Feb.  1793  his  wife  died  at 
Kenton,  aged  28,  leaving  one  son  and  two 


Polwhele 


72 


Polwhele 


daughters  (POLWHELE,  Devonshire,  ii.  167). 
Thereupon  he  moved,  with  his  children,  to 
his  mother's  house  in  Cornwall,  but  after 
a  short  stay  returned  again  to  Kenton,  and 
married  there,  on  29  Nov.  1793,  Mary,  daugh- 
ter of  Richard  Tyrrell  or  Terrell  of  Star- 
cross.  Early  in  1794  he  was  appointed  to  the 
,  curacy  of  Exmouth,  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  Exe  (WEBB,  Memorials  of  Exmouth, 
p.  30). 

On  the  nomination  of  the  bishop  of  Exeter, 
Polwhele  was  appointed  in  1794  to  the  small 
living  of  Manaccan,  near  Helston,  Cornwall, 
and  he  also  undertook  for  a  non-resident 
vicar  the  charge  of  the  still  smaller  and  poorer 
living  of  St.  Anthony  in  Meneage,  to  which 
he  was  appointed  in  1809.  The  parsonage  of 
Manaccan  was  a  mere  cottage,  and  Polwhele 
spent  a  considerable  part  of  his  resources 
in  repairs  and  enlargements.  To  secure  the 
requisite  education  for  his  children,  he  ac- 
cepted, about  1806,  the  curacy  of  the  large 
parish  of  Kenwyn,  within  which  the  borough 
of  Truro  is  partly  situated,  and  obtained  from 
the  bishop  a  license  of  non-residence  at 
Manaccan.  Croker  records  in  1820  that 
Polwhele,  who  appeared  '  to  have  very  little 
worldly  wisdom,'  was  in  trouble  through  re- 
storing his  church  without  proper  authority, 
and  that  the  parishioners  had  threatened  him 
with  law  proceedings.  He  vacated  the  living 
of  Manaccan  in  1821  on  his  appointment  to 
the  more  valuable  vicarage  of  Newlyn  East, 
and  he  resigned  St.  Anthony  in  favour  of 
his  eldest  son,  William,  in  1828.  Though 
he  retained  the  benefice  of  Newlyn  until 
his  death,  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life  were 
spent  on  his  estate  of  Polwhele,  where  he 
devoted  himself  to  the  composition  of  his 
autobiographical  volumes.  He  died  at  Truro 
on  12  March  1838,  and  was  buried  at  St. 
Clement,  where  a  monument  preserves  his 
memory.  By  his  second  wife  he  had  a  large 
family ;  among  the  sons  were  Robert,  vicar  of 
Avenbury,  Herefordshire,  and  author  of  some 
small  theological  works ;  Richard  Graves,  a 
lieutenant-colonel  in  the  Madras  artillery; 
and  Thomas,  a  general  in  the  army. 

Polwhele  was,  by  turns,  poet,  topographer, 
theologian,  and  literary  chronicler,  and  his 
fame  has  been  marred  by  a  fatal  fluency  of 
composition.  Before  he  was  twenty  he  wrote, 
besides  the  works  already  mentioned,  an  ode 
called  '  The  Spirit  of  Frazer  to  General  Bur- 
goyne '  (1778),  poems  in  the  '  Essays  and 
Poems  of  Edmund  Rack,'  and  an  '  Ode  on  the 
Isle  of  Man  to  the  Memory  of  Bishop  Wril- 
son  '  for  the  1781  edition  of  Wilson's  works. 
The  chief  of  his  subsequent  productions  in 
poetry  were:  1.  'The  Art  of  Eloquence,'  a 
didactic  poem,  bk.  i.  (anon.),  1785,  the  later 


editions  and  following  books  being  known  as 
'  The  English  Orator,'  which  was  revised  by 
Bishop  Ross  and  others  (POLWHELE,  Laviny- 
ton 's  Enthusiasm  of  Methodists,  App.  p.  404). 
2.  Poems,  1791.  3.  'Pictures  from  Nature,' 
1785  and  1786.  4.  'Influence  of  Locals 
Attachment'  (anon.),  1796,  1798,  and  1810. 
This  poem  gave  '  indications  of  a  higher  ex- 
cellence '  which  were  not  fulfilled  (MoiEr 
Sketches  of  Poetical  Lit.  p.  37).  Long  ex- 
tracts from  it  are  given  in  Drake's  '  Winter 
Nights/  i.  224-36,  ii.  14-17,  247-63,  and  it 
wras  compared  by  some  of  the  critics  to  the- 
'Pleasures  of  Memory'  by  Samuel  Rogers. 
Polwhele  thereupon  attempted  to  prove  t he- 
originality  of  his  own  ideas  (CLAYDEN,  Early 


copies 

satirical  references  to  Montauban  (i.e.  Sir 
John  St.  Aubyn).  6.  '  Sketches  in  Verse,' 
1796  and  1797.  7.  '  The  Old  English  Gen- 
tleman,' 1797.  8.  'The  Unsex'd  Females/ 
1798  and  1800.  9.  '  Grecian  Prospects,'  1799. 
10.  Poems,  1806,  3  vols.  11.  'The  Family 
Picture'  (anon.),  1808.  12.  Poems,  1810, 
5  vols.  13.  '  The  Deserted  Village  School ' 
(anon.),  1812.  14. '  The  fair  Isabel  of  Cotehele/ 
1815.  15.  '  The  Idylls,  Epigrams,  and  Frag- 
ments of  Theocritus,  Bion,  and  Moschus,  with 
the  Elegies  of  Tyrtaaus,'  1786;  this  has  been 
often  reprinted,  the  translations  of  Tyrtaeus 
being  included  in  a  polyglot  version  published 
at  Brussels  by  A.  Baron  in  1835.  The  render- 
ing of  the  idylls  of  Theocritus  has  been  much 
praised  (DRAKE,  Lit.  Hours,  ii.  191). 

The  topographical  works  of  Polwhele  in- 
cluded histories  of  Devon  and  of  Cornwall. 
The  second  volume  of  16.  '  The  History  of 
Devonshire,'  the  first  part  that  was  pub- 
lished appeared  early  in  1793.  The  third 
volume  came  next,  and,  like  its  predecessor, 
was  devoted  to  a  parochial  survey  of  the- 
county.  The  style  of  these  volumes  was- 
attractive,  and  the  descriptions  of  the  places 
which  he  had  himself  seen  were  excellent. 
But  the  author  was  wanting  in  applica- 
tion;  large  districts  of  the  county  were- 
unknown  to  him,  and  the  topography  was 
not  described  on  an  adequate  scale.  The 
general  history  of  the  county  was  reserved 
for  the  first  volume,  the  first  part  of  which 
came  out  in  the  summer  of  1797.  This  com- 
prised the  '  Natural  History  and  the  British 
Period '  from  the  first  settlements  in  Dam- 
nonium  to  the  arrival  of  Julius  Caesar.  Then 
came  a  querulous  postscript  with  complaints 
of  the  withdrawal  of  subscribers  and  of  the 
action  of  some  of  his  friends  in  publishing 
separate  works  on  portions  of  the  history  of 
the  county.  The  first  volume  was  at  last 


Polwhele 


73 


Polwhele 


completed  with  a  very  meagre  sketch  of  its 
later  history.  Much  matter  was  omitted, 
and  the  whole  work  was  a  disappointment 
to  both  author  and  public,  which  was  not 
mitigated  by  the  separate  publication  of 
17.  '  Historical  Views  of  Devonshire,'  vol.  i. 
1793.  Four  more  volumes  were  announced,  but 
only  the  first  volume  was  published.  Further 
information  on  these  works  will  be  found  in 
the  '  Gentleman's  Magazine '  for  1793  and 
following  years,  Upcott's  '  English  Topo- 
graphy,'i.  150-2,  and  the  '  Transactions  of 
the  Devonshire  Association,'  xiv.  51-3.  Per- 
fect copies  of  '  The  History  of  Devonshire ' 
are  very  scarce.  A  copy  with  numerous  notes 
by  George  Oliver,  D.D.  (1781-1861)  [q.v.],  is 
at  the  British  Museum.  The  '  History  of 
Devonshire  '  was  reissued  in  1806. 

Polwhele's  next  great  labour  in  topography 
— 18.  '  The  History  of  Cornwall ' — also  came 
out  piecemeal  in  seven  detached  volumes 
(1803-1808),  and  copies,  when  met  with,  are 
rarely  in  perfect  agreement  either  as  to  leaves 
or  plates.  A  new  edition,  purporting  to  be  cor- 
rected and  enlarged,  appeared  in  1816,  when 
the  original  titles  and  the  dedication  to  the 
Prince  of  Wales  were  cancelled.  The  most  use- 
ful of  the  volumes  is  the  fifth,  which  deals  with 
'  the  language,  literature,  and  literary  cha- 
racters.' A  dull  supplement  to  the  first  and 
second  books,  containing  '  Remarks  on  St. 
Michael's  Mount,  Penzance,  the  Land's  End, 
and  the  Sylleh  Isles.  By  the  Historian  of 
Manchester '  (i.e.  John  Whitaker  [q.  v.J),  was 
printed  at  Exeter  in  1804.  The  vocabularies 
and  provincial  glossary  contained  in  vol.  vi. 
were  printed  off  in  1836.  The  complicated 
bibliography  of  this  work  can  be  studied  in 
the  'Bibliotheca  Cornubiensis,'  ii.  510-11, 
the  '  Gentleman's  Magazine '  for  1803-4, 
Upcott's  'English  Topography,'  i.  88-93, 
and  '  The  Western  Antiquary,' vol.  ix.  Pol- 
whele gave  much  assistance  to  John  Britton 
in  the  compilation  of  the  '  Beauties  of  Corn- 
wall and  Devon.' 

The  volumes  of  reminiscences  and  anecdotes 
by  Polwhele  comprised  :  19.  '  Traditions  and 
Recollections,'  1826,  2  vols.  20.  'Biogra- 
phical Sketches  in  Cornwall,'  1831,  3  vols. 
21.  '  Reminiscences  in  Prose  and  Verse,'  1836, 
3  vols.  The  earlier  part  of  the  first  set  con- 
tains some  civil-war  letters,  anecdotes  of 
Foote  and  Wolcot,  and  many  of  his  own 
juvenile  poems.  His  chief  correspondents 
were  Samuel  Badcock,  Cobbett,  Cowper, 
Darwin,  Hay  ley,  Gibbon,  Mrs.  Macaulay, 
Sir  Walter  Scott,  Miss  Seward,  and  John 
Whitaker,  D.D.  A  memoir  by  Polwhele  of 
the  last  of  these  worthies  formed  the  subject 
of  the  third  volume  of  the  '  Biographical 
Sketches.'  Copies  of  these  three  works,  with 


manuscript  additions,  cancelled  leaves,  and 
many  names,  where  blank  in  print,  inserted 
in  writing,  are  in  the  Dyce  Library  at  the 
South  Kensington  Museum.  Polwhele  also 
published,  in  connection  with  the  Church 
Union  Society,  two  prize  essays — respectively 
on  the  scriptural  evidence  as  to  the  condition 
of  the  soul  after  death,  and  on  marriage; 
printed  many  sermons,  and  conducted  a 
vigorous  polemic  against  the  methodists. 
His  chief  opponent  on  this  topic  was  Samuel 
Drew  [q.  v.J,  who  first  confuted  Polwhele's 
arguments  and  afterwards  became  his  firm 
friend  (Life  of  Drew,  pp.  129-52). 

Throughout  his  life  Polwhele  was  a  con- 
tributor to  the  *  Gentleman's  Magazine,'  and 
from  1799  to  1805  he  was  a  frequent  con- 
tributor to  the  '  Anti-Jacobin  Review.'  He 
also  supplied  occasional  articles  to  the 
'European  Magazine,'  the  '  Orthodox  Church- 
man's Magazine,'  and  the  '  British  Critic/ 
Some  of  his  poetry  appeared  in  the  '  Forget- 
me-not,'  '  Literary  Souvenir,'  '  The  Amulet,* 
the  'Sacred  Iris*'  and  George  Henderson's 
'Petrarca'  (1803).  Several  letters  to  him 
are  in  Nichols's  '  Illustrations  of  Literature,' 
(iii.  841-2,  v.  326,  vii.  610-80),  and  some 
letters  by  him  were  in  Upcott's  collection 
(Catalogue,  1836,  pp.  41-3). 

Polwhele's  portrait,  by  Opie,  '  one  of  the 
first  efforts  of  his  genius,'  painted  about  1778? 
was  in  the  possession  of  the  Rev.  Edward 
Polwhele,  his  son.  It  was  engraved  by 
Audinet  as  frontispiece  to  his  'Traditions 
and  Recollections,'  and  was  also  inserted  in 
Nichols's  '  Illustrations  of  Literature  '  (viii. 
646-7).  Another  engraved  portrait  from  a 
miniature  appeared  in  the  '  European  Ma- 
gazine '  for  November  1795. 

[Foster's  Alumni  Oxon. ;  Gent.  Mag.  1793  pt. 
i.  p.  187,  pt.  ii.  p.  1149,  1838  pt.  i.  pp.  545-9 ; 
Boase  and  Courtney's  Bibl.  Corn ub.  ii.  506-17, 
iii.  1316;  Boase's  Collect.  Cornub.  pp.  745-7, 
1200  ;  Vivian's  Visitations  of  Cornwall,  pp.  377- 
378;  Parochial  Hist,  of  Cornwall,  i.  210-17; 
Literary  Memoirs  of  Living  Authors,  1798,  ii. 
144-6  ;  Public  Characters,  1802-3,  pp.  254-67; 
European  Mag.  1795,  pt.  ii.  pp.  329-33; 
Bidding's  Personal  Keminiscences,  i.  176-200; 
Redding's  Fifty  Years'  Recollections,  i.  266; 
Croker Papers,  i.  165.]  W.  P.  C. 

POLWHELE  or  POLWHEILE, 
THEOPHILUS  (d.  1689),  puritan  divine, 
of  Cornish  extraction,  was  born  in  Somerset. 
He  was  entered  at  Emmanuel  College,  Cam- 
bridge, as  a  sizar  on  29  March  1644,  and 
was  under  the  tutorship  of  William  Sancroft, 
afterwards  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  In 
1651  he  took  the  degree  of  M.A.  He  was 
preacher  at  Carlisle  until  about  1655  (Dedi- 
cation to  Treatise  on  Self-deniall).  In  1654 


Pomfret 


74 


Pomfret 


he  was  a  member  of  the  committee  for 
ejecting  scandalous  ministers  in  the  four 
northern  counties  of  Cumberland,  Durham, 
Northumberland,  and  Westmoreland.  From 
that  year  until  1660,  when  he  was  driven 
from  the  living,  he  held  the  rectory  of  the 
portions  of  Clare  and  Tidconibe  at  Tiverton. 
The  statement  of  the  Rev.  John  Walker,  in 
1  The  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,'  that  he  allowed 
the  parsonage-house  to  fall  into  ruins,  is  con- 
futed in  Calamy's  '  Continuation  of  Baxter's 
Life  and  Times'  (i.  260-1).  Polwhele  sym- 
pathised with  the  religious  views  of  the  in- 
dependents, and  after  the  Restoration  he  was 
often  in  trouble  for  his  religious  opinions. 
After  the  declaration  of  James  II  the  Steps 
meeting-house  was  built  at  Tiverton  for  the 
members  of  the  independent  body ;  he  was  ap- 
pointed its  first  minister,  and,  on  account  of 
his  age,  Samuel  Bartlett  was  appointed  his 
assistant.  He  was  buried  in  the  churchyard 
of  St.  Peter,  Tiverton,  on  3  April  1689.  His 
wife  was  a  daughter  of  the  Rev.  William 
Benn  of  Dorchester.  Their  daughter  married 
the  Rev.  Stephen  Lobb  [q.  v.] 

Polwhele  was  the  author  of:  1.  l  Avdevrrjs, 
or  a  Treatise  of  Self-deniall,'  1658 ;  dedicated 
to  the  mayor,  recorder,  and  corporation  of 
Carlisle.  2.  l  Original  and  Evil  of  Apostasie/ 
1664.  3.  'Of  Quencing  [sic]  the  Spirit,' 
1667.  3.  ( Choice  Directions  how  to  serve 
,God  every  Working  and  every  Lord's  Day/ 
1667  ;  published  by  Thomas  Mall  as  an 
addition  to  his  '  Serious  Exhortation  to 
Holy  Living.'  4.  l  Of  Ejaculatory  Prayer/ 
1674  ;  dedicated  to  Thomas  Skinner,  mer- 
chant in  London,  who  had  shown  him  great 
kindness.  A  catalogue  of  the  l  names  of 
the  princes  with  Edward  III  in  his  wars 
with  France  and  Normandy/  transcribed  by 
him  '  att  Carlisle  the  21st  Aug.  1655,' from  a 
manuscript  at  Na worth  Castle,  is  in  Raw- 
linson  MS.  Bodl.  Libr.  Class  B  44,  fol.  47. 

[Boase  and  Courtney's  Bibl.  Cormib.  ii.  517- 
518,  iii.  1316-17;  Dunsford's  Tiverton, pp.  331, 
371-2;  Harding's  Tiverton,  vol.  ii.  pt.  iv.  pp. 
47,  70;  Calamy's  Abridgment  of  Baxter's  Life 
and  Times,  ii.  239,  and  Continuation,  i.  260-1 ; 
Palmer's  Nonconf.  Memorial  (1802  ed.),  ii.  79- 
80;  Greene's  Memoir  of  Theophilus  Lobb,  p.  5.] 

W.  P.  C. 

POMFRET,  EARL  OF.  [See  FERMOR, 
THOMAS  WILLIAM,  fourth  EARL,  1770-1833.] 

POMFRET,  COUKTESS  or.  [See  FERMOR, 
HENRIETTA  LOUISA,  d.  1761.] 

POMFRET,  JOHN  (1667-1702),  poet, 
born  at  Luton,  Bedfordshire,  in  1667,  was 
the  son  of  Thomas  Pomfret,  vicar  of  Luton, 
who  married,  at  St.  Mary's,  Savoy,  Middle- 
sex, on  27  Nov.  1661,  Catherine,  daughter  of 


William  Dobson  of  Holborn  (Harl.  Soc. 
PubL  1887,  xxvi.  287).  The  father  gra- 
duated M.A.  from  Trinity  College,  Cam- 
bridge, in  1661,  became  chaplain  to  Robert 
Bruce,  second  earl  of  Elgin  and  first  earl 
of  Ailesbury  [q.  v.],  and  is  probably  iden- 
tical with  the  Thomas  Pomfret,  author  of  the 
1  Life  of  Lady  Christian,  Dowager  Countess 
of  Devonshire  '  (privately  printed  1685). 
The  poet  was  educated  at  Bedford  gram- 
mar school  and  at  Queens'  College,  Cam- 
bridge, graduating  B.A.  in  1684,  and  M.A. 
in  1688.  He  took  orders  upon  leaving 
Cambridge,  and,  having  influential  connec- 
tions, he  was  instituted  to  the  rectory  of 
Maulden  in  Bedfordshire  on  12  Dec.  1695, 
and  to  the  rectory  of  Millbrook  in  the  same 
county  on  2  June  1702.  He  dabbled  in  verse 
at  least  as  early  as  1694,  when  he  wrote  an 
elegy  upon  the  death  of  Queen  Mary.  This 
was  published  in  1699,  with  other  pieces  in 
heroic  couplets,  remarkable  chiefly  for  their 
correctness,  under  the  title  of  (  Poems  011 
Several  Occasions.'  One  of  the  longer  poems, 
called  '  Cruelty  and  Lust/  commemorates 
an  act  of  barbarity  said  to  have  been 
perpetrated  by  Colonel  Kirke  during  the 
western  rebellion.  Pom  fret's  treatment  of 
the  situation  is  prosaically  tame.  The  sale 
of  these  ( miscellany  poems '  was  greatly 
stimulated  by  Pomfr'et's  publication  in  1700 
of  his  chief  title  to  remembrance,  '  The 
Choice :  a  Poem  written  by  a  Person  of 
Quality  '  (London,  fol.),  which  won  instant 
fame.  Four  quarto  editions  appeared  during 
1701.  In  the  meantime  Pomfret  issued  ( A 
Prospect  of  Death :  an  Ode  '  (1700,  fol.),  and 
'  Reason :  a  Poem '  (1700,  fol.)  A  second 
edition  of  his  poems,  including  *  The  Choice/ 
appeared  in  1702  as  '  Miscellany  Poems  on 
Several  Occasions,  by  the  author  of  "The 
Choice."'  A  third  edition  was  issued  in  1710; 
the  tenth  appeared  in  1736,  12mo,  and  the 
last  separate  edition  in  1790,  24mo.  When 
the  scheme  for  the  '  Lives  of  the  Poets  '  was 
submitted  by  the  booksellers  to  Dr.  Johnson, 
the  name  of  Pomfret  (together  with  three 
others)  was  added  by  his  advice ;  Johnson 
remarks  that  '  perhaps  no  poem  in  our  lan- 
guage has  been  so  often  perused '  as  *  The 
Choice.'  It  is  an  admirable  exposition  in 
neatly  turned  verse  of  the  everyday  epi- 
cureanism of  a  cultivated  man.  Pomfret 
is  said  to  have  drawn  some  hints  from 
a  study  of  the  character  of  Sir  William 
Temple  (cf.  Gent.  Mag.  1757,  p.  489).  The 
poet's  frankly  expressed  aspiration  to  '  have 
no  wife '  displeased  the  bishop  of  London 
(Compton),  to  whom  he  had  been  recom- 
mended for  preferment.  Despite  the  fact 
that  Pomfret  was  married,  the  bishop's  sus- 


Pomfret 


75 


Ponce 


picions  were  not  dispelled  before  the  poet's 
death.  He  was  buried  at  Maulden  on  1  Dec. 
1702  (Genealogia  Bedfordiensis.  ed.  Blaydes, 
p.  414). 

Pomfret  married  at  Luton,  on  13  Sept. 
1692,  Elizabeth  Wingate,  by  whom  he  had 
one  surviving  son,  John  Pomfret,  baptised 
at  Maulden  on  21  Aug.  1702,  who  became 
rouge  croix  pursuivant  of  arms  in  July 
1725,  and,  dying  on  24  March  1751,  was 
buried  at  Harrowden  in  Bedfordshire  (Hist. 
Megist.  1725 ;  NOBLE,  Hist,  of  the  College 
of  Arms,  pp.  362,  394;  Gent.  Mag.  1751, 
p.  141). 

Pomfret  s  poems  were  printed  in  Johnson's 
'English Poets '  (1779,  vol.  xxi.),  Chalmers's 
'Poets'  (1810,  vol.  viii.),  Park's  'British 
Poets '  (1808,  supplement,  vol.  i.),  Roach's 
'  Beauties  of  the  Poets '  (1794,  vol.  ii.),  and 
Pratt  V  Cabinet  of  Poetry  '(1808,  vol.  ii.)  The 
exclusion  of  Pomfret  from  more  recent  lite- 
rary manuals  and  anthologies  sufficiently 
indicates  that  Johnson's  strange  verdict 
finds  few  supporters  at  the  present  day.  At 
the  end  of  the  fourth  edition  of  '  The  Choice ' 
(1701)  is  advertised  'A  Poem  in  Answer  to 
the  Choice  that  would  have  no  wife.' 

[Cole's  Athenae  Cantabr.  (Addit.  MS.  5878,  f. 
167);  G-raduati  Cantabr. ;  Gibber's  Lives,  of  the 
Poets,  vol.  v. ;  Johnson's  Lives  of  the  Poets,  ed. 
Cunningham,  ii.  3 ;  Chalmers's  Biogr.  Diet. ; 
Blaycles's  Grenealogia  Bedfordiensis,  pp.  186, 
409, 414  ;  Notes  and  Queries,  8th  ser.  ii.  27,  viii. 
passim ;  Pope's  Works,  ed.  Elwin  and  Court- 
hope,  ii.  239;  works  in  British  Museum; 
Bodleian  and  Huth  Library  Catalogues.] 

T.  S. 

POMFRET,  SAMUEL  (1650-1722),  di- 
vine, born  at  Coventry  in  1650,  was  edu- 
cated at  the  grammar  school  of  Coventry, 
and  subsequently  under  Dr.  Obadiah  Grew 
[q.  v.],  and  under  Ralph  Button  [q.  v.]  at 
Islington.  "When  he  was  about  nineteen  his 
mother  died,  and  he  attained  religious  con- 
victions. After  acting  as  chaplain  to  Sir 
William  Dyer  of  Tottenham,  and  afterwards 
of  High  Easter,  Essex,  he  served  for  two 
years  in  the  same  capacity  on  board  a  Medi- 
terranean trader.  Upon  his  return  to  Eng- 
land Pomfret  preached  a  weekly  lecture  in 
Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  until  he  received  a  call 
to  Sandwich,  Kent,  where  he  remained  seven 
years.  At  length  he  was  arrested  for  non- 
conformity, but  escaped  his  captors  on  the 
way  to  Dover  Castle.  About  1685  he  opened 
a  service  in  a  room  in  Winchester  Street, 
London,  which  was  so  crowded  that  even- 
tually the  floor  gave  way.  A  new  meeting- 
house, capable  of  holding  fifteen  hundred 
people,  was  then  erected  for  him  in  Gravel 
Lane.  Houndsditch.  The  church  was  in- 


variably crowded,  and  Pomfret  administered 
the  sacrament  to  as  many  as  eight  hundred 
communicants.  The  zeal  which  he  displayed 
in  itinerant  preaching  wore  out  his  health, 
but  when  unable  to  walk  he  had  himself 
carried  to  his  pulpit  in  a  chair.  He  died  on 
11  Jan.  1722.  His  assistant  from  1719,  Wil- 
liam Hocker,  predeceased  him.  by  a  month, 
on  12  Dec.  1721.  Thomas  Reynolds  (1664- 
1727)  [q.  v.]  preached  funeral  sermons  on 
and  issued  memoirs  of  both.  Pomfret's  wife 
survived  him,  but  all  his  children  died  before 
him.  Pomfret  only  published  two  sermons 
(1697  and  1701).  '  A  Directory  for  Youth,' 
with  portrait,  was  issued  posthumously,  Lon- 
don, 1722. 

[Works  and  Sermon,  with  portrait,  in  Dr. 
Williams's  Library;  Memoir  by  Reynolds,  pre- 
fixed to  Funeral  Sermon,  1721-2,  2nd  ed.  1722  ; 
another  edition,  entitled  '  Watch  and  Remember,' 
London,  1721-2,  differs  slightly  ;  Wilson's  Hist, 
of  Diss.  Churches,  i.  165,  397,  473  ;  Bogue  and 
Bennett's  Hist,  of  Dissenters,  ii.  341  ;  Granger's 
Hist,  of  Engl.,  Continuation  by  Noble,  iii.  158  ; 
Toulmin's  Hist,  of  Prot.  Dissenters,  pp.  572,  245, 
247  ;  Meridew's  Warwickshire  Portraits,  p.  48  ; 
Bromley's  Cat.  of  Portraits,  p.  226  ;  Chaloner 
Smith's  Brit.  Mezz.  Portraits,  iv.  1701.] 

C.  F.  S. 

PONCE,  JOHN  (d.  1660?),  author,  a 
native  of  Cork,  studied  at  Louvain  in  the 
college  of  the  Irish  Franciscans.  He  became 
a  member  of  the  order  of  St.  Francis,  and, 
after  further  studies  at  Cologne,  he  removed 
to  the  Irish  College  of  St.  Isidore  at  Rome, 
where  he  was  appointed  professor  of  philo- 
sophy and  theology.  Ponce  contributed  to 
the  Franciscan  edition  of  the  works  of  Duns 
Scotus,  issued  at  Lyons  in  1639.  He  pub- 
lished at  Rome  in  1642  'Integer  Philosophic 
Cursus  ad  mentein  Scoti,'  in  two  volumes  4to, 
containing  upwards  of  fifteen  hundred  pages 
of  small  type  in  double  columns.  A  third 
volume  of  about  nine  hundred  pages  was  issued 
at  Rome  in  1643.  Ponce  dedicated  the  work 
to  Cardinal  Francesco  Barberini,  from  whom 
he  had  received  many  favours,  and  who  held 
the  office  of  '  protector  of  Ireland.' 

Ponce  disapproved  of  the  courses  pursued 
in  Ireland  by  those  who  opposed  the  nuncio 
Giovanni  Battista  Rinuccini  [q.  v.]  In  the 
'Aphorismical  Discovery  of  Treasonable  Fac- 
tion '  are  preserved  two  letters  written  by 
Ponce  at  Paris  in  1648  in  relation  to  transac- 
tions in  Ireland. 

In  1652  Ponce  published  at  Paris  '  Cursus 
Theologicus,'  in  a  folio  volume.  His  views 
on  affairs  in  Ireland  were  enunciated  in 
'  Richardi  Bellingi  Vindicise  Eversse '  (Paris, 
1653),  impugning  the  statements  which  had 
been  promulgated  by  Richard  Sellings  [q.  v.J 


Pond 


Pond 


and  others  of  the  Anglo-Irish  party.  Ponce 
was  author  also  of  the  following  works,  pub- 
lished at  Paris:  '  Philosophise  Cursus,'  1656  ; 
4  Judicium  Doctrinee  Sanctorum  August ini  et 
Thomas,'  1657 ; '  Scotus  Hibernise  Restitutus,' 
1660;  'Commentarii  Theologici,'  1661. 

Ponce  died  at  Paris  about  1660.  A  portrait 
of  him  is  in  St.  Isidore's  College,  Rome. 

[Scriptores  Ordinis  Minorum,  1650;  Gilbert's 
Contemporary  History  of  Affairs  in  Ireland,  1879, 
and  History  of  Irish  Confederation  and  War,  1881  ; 
Lowndes's  Bibl.  Man.  ed.  Bohn.]  J.  T.  G-. 

POND,  ARTHUR  (1705  ?-l 758),  painter 
and  engraver,  born  about  1705,  was  educated 
in  London,  and  made  a  short  sojourn  in 
Rome  for  purposes  of  studying  art  in  com- 
pany with  the  sculptor  Roubiliac.  He  be- 
came a  successful  portrait-painter.  The  most 
notable  of  his  numerous  original  portraits 
are  those  of  Alexander  Pope,  William,  duke 
of  Cumberland,  and  Peg  Womngton ;  the  last 
is  in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery.  Pond 
was  also  a  prolific  etcher,  and  an  industrious 
worker  in  various  mixed  processes  of  engrav- 
ing by  means  of  which  he  imitated  or  repro- 
duced the  works  of  masters  such  as  Rem- 
brandt, Raphael,  Salvator  Rosa,  Parmigiano, 
Caravaggio,  and  the  Poussins.  In  1734-5 
he  published  a  series  of  his  plates  under  the 
title  '  Imitations  of  the  Italian  Masters.' 
He  also  collaborated  with  George  Knapton 
in  the  publication  of  the  '  Heads  of  Illus- 
trious Persons,7  after  Houbraken  and  Vertue, 
with  lives  by  Dr.  Birch  (London,  1743-52), 
and  engraved  sixty-eight  plates  for  a  collec- 
tion of  ninety-five  reproductions  from  draw- 
ings by  famous  masters,  in  which  Knapton 
was  again  his  colleague.  Another  of  his  pro- 
ductions was  a  series  of  twenty-five  carica- 
tures after  the  Cavaliere  Ghezzi,  republished 
in  1823  and  1832  as  <  Eccentric  Characters.' 
He  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society 
in  1752,  and  died  in  Great  Queen  Street, 
Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  9  Sept.  1758.  His  col- 
lection of  drawings  by  the  old  masters  was 
sold  the  following  year,  and  realised  over  four- 
teen hundred  pounds.  An  anonymous  etched 
portrait  of  Pond  is  mentioned  by  Bromley. 

[Redgrave's  Diet,  of  Artists;  Gent.  Mag.  1758, 
p.  452;  Lowndes's  Bibl.  JVIan.  p.  1911.]  W.  A. 

POND,  EDWARD  (fi.  1623),  almanac- 
maker,  is  described  on  the  title-page  of  his 
almanac  of  1601  as  '  a  practitioner  in  the 
Mathematicks  and  Physicke  at  Bidarcay 
(?  Billericay)  in  Essex.'  In  this  almanac  he 
includes  a  diagram  and  description  of  '  Man's 
Anatomy '  and '  Physicke  Notes.'  From  1604 
he  published  an  almanac  each  year  in  London 
under  the  title '  Enchiridion,  or  Edward  Pond 
his  Eutheca.'  Subsequently  the  periodical 


issue  was  christened  '  An  Almanac  by  Ed. 
Pond,  student  of  Physics  and  Mathematics.' 
In  October  1623  the  Stationers'  Company 
petitioned  the  privy  council  against  the  in- 
fraction of  their  monopoly  by  Cantrell  Legge, 
printer  of  Cambridge  University,  but  ap- 
parently without  success,  for  from  1627  the 
almanacs  were  issued  from  the  University 
press.  It  is  probable  that  Pond  died  shortly 
after  1643.  The  popularity  of  his  publication 
led  to  its  continuance,  under  a  slightly  modi- 
fied title,  until  1709.  The  later  series  was 
prepared  at  Saffron  Walden,  doubtless  by  a 
relative  of  Pond,  and  each  part  was  designated 
'  Pond,  an  Almanac.'  This  was  printed  at 
Cambridge  until  the  close  of  the  century,  and 
in  London  during  the  early  years  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  The  rhyme, 

My  skill  goes  beyond 

The  depth  of  a  Pond, 

occurs  in  Martin  Parker's  ballad  '  When, 
the  king  enjoys  his  own  again'  (WiLZiNS, 
Political  Ballads,  i.  11). 

[Pond's  Almanacs;  Cal.  State  Papers.  Dom. 
1623-5,  p.  98;  Arber's  Stat.  Keg.  v.  p.  xlix ; 
Hazlitt's  Collections,  i.  336,  ii.  483.]  E.I.  C. 

POND,  JOHN  (1767-1836),  astronomer- 
royal,  was  born  in  London  in  1767.  His 
father  soon  afterwards  withdrew  from  busi- 
ness, with  an  ample  competence,  to  live  at 
Dulwich.  Pond's  education,  begun  at  the 
Maidstone  grammar  school,  was  continued 
at  home  under  the  tuition  of  William  Wales 
[q.  v.],  from  whom  he  imbibed  a  taste  for 
astronomy.  His  keenness  was  shown  by  the 
detection,  when  about  fifteen,  of  errors  in 
the  Greenwich  observations.  At  sixteen  he 
entered  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  where 
he  devoted  himself  to  chemistry ;  but  he  was 
obliged  by  ill-health  to  leave  the  university, 
and  went  abroad,  visiting  Portugal,  Malta, 
Constantinople,  and  Egypt,  making  astro- 
nomical observations  at  his  halting-places. 
About  1798  he  settled  at  Westbury  in  Somer- 
set, and  erected  there  an  altazimuth  instru- 
ment, by  Edward  Troughton  fq.  v.],  of  two 
and  a  half  feet  diameter,  which  became  known 
as  the '  Wrestbury  circle' (see Phil.  Trans. xcvl. 
424).  His  observations  with  it  in  1800-], 
*  On  the  Declinations  of  some  of  the  Principal 
Fixed  Stars,'  communicated  to  the  Royal 
Society  on  26  June  1806  (ib.  p.  420),  gave 
decisive  proof  of  deformation  through  age 
in  the  Greenwich  quadrant  (Bird's),  and 
rendered  inevitable  a  complete  re-equipment 
of  the  Royal  Observatory. 

Pond  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the  Royal 
Society  on  26  Feb.  1807.  He  married  in  the 
same  year,  and  fixed  his  abode  in  London, 
occupying  himself  with  practical  astronomy. 


Pond 


77 


Pond 


Troughton  was  his  intimate  friend,  and  he 
superintended,  in  his  workshop,  the  con- 
struction of  several  instruments  of  unprece- 
dented perfection.  Dr.  Nevil  Maskelyne 
[q.  v.],  the  fifth  astronomer-royal,  recom- 
mended him  as  his  successor  to  the  council 
of  the  Royal  Society ;  and  Sir  Humphry 
Davy,  who  had  visited  him  at  Westbury  in 
1800,  brought  his  merits  to  the  notice  of 
the  prince-regent.  As  the  result  he  was 
appointed  astronomer-royal  in  February  1811, 
with  an  augmented  salary  of  600/.  The  six- 
foot  mural  circle,  ordered  from  Troughton  by 
Maskelyne,  was  mounted  in  June  1812 ;  and 
Pond  presented  to  the  Royal  Society,  on 
8  July  1813,  a  catalogue  of  the  north  polar 
distances  of  eighty-four  stars  determined  with 
it  (ib.  ciii.  280),  which  Eessel  pronounced  to 
be  '  the  ne  plus  ultra  of  modern  astronomy ' 
(Brief wechsel  mit  Olbers,  30  Dec.  1813).  In 
1816  a  transit  instrument,  by  Troughton,  of 
five  inches  aperture  and  ten  feet  focal  length, 
was  set  up  at  the  Royal  Observatory.  A 
Ramsden  telescope  presented  by  Lord  Liver- 
pool in  1811  proved  of  little  use.  In  a  paper 
on  the  construction  of  star-catalogues  read 
before  the  Royal  Society  on  21  May  1818 
Pond  described  his  method  of  treating  '  every 
star  in  its  turn  as  a  point  of  reference  for  the 
rest '  (ib.  cviii.  405).  He  substituted  in  1821 
a  mercury-horizon  for  the  plumb-line  and 
spirit-level  (ib.  cxiii.  35),  and  introduced  in 
1825  the  system  of  observing  the  same  ob- 
jects alternately  by  direct  and  reflected  vision, 
which,  improved  by  Airy,  is  still  employed 
(Memoirs  Roy.  Astr.  Society,  ii.  499).  The 
combination  for  this  purpose  of  two  instru- 
ments was  suggested  to  Pond  by  the  posses- 
sion of  a  circle  by  Jones,  destined  for  the 
Cape,  but  sent  on  trial  to  Greenwich.  Pond 
obtained  permission  to  retain  it,  and  it  was 
transferred  in  1851  to  the  observatory  of 
Queen's  College,  Belfast.  Among  his  other 
Inventions  for  securing  accuracy  were  the 
multiplication,  and  a  peculiar  mode  of  group- 
ing observations. 

He  showed  in  1817,  by  means  of  deter- 
minations executed  in  1813-14  with  the 
Greenwich  circle,  the  unreality  of  Brinkley's 
ostensible  parallaxes  for  a  Lyrse,  a  Aquilae, 
and  a  Cygni  (Phil.  Trans,  cvii.  158).  As  a 
further  test  he  caused  to  be  erected  in  1816 
two  fixed  telescopes  of  four  inches  aperture 
and  ten  feet  focal  length,  directed  respec- 
tively towards  a  Aquilae  and  a  Cygni,  and 
sedulously  investigated  their  differences  of 
right  ascension  from  suitable  comparison- 
stars.  But  neither  thus  nor  by  the  aid  of 
transit  observations  could  any  effects  of  pa- 
rallax be  detected  (ib.  cvii.  353,  cviii.  477, 
cxiii.  53).  Pond's  conclusion  that  they  were 


insensible  with  the  instruments  then  in  use 
has  since  been  fully  ratified.  Dr.  C.  A.  F. 
Peters  nevertheless  criticised  his  methods 
severely  in  1853  (Memoir -es  de  Saint-Peters- 
bourg,  torn.  vii.  p.  47).  Against  attacks  made 
in  this  country  upon  his  general  accuracy,  and 
even  upon  his  probity  as  an  observer,  Bessel 
vigorously  defended  him  (Astr.  Nach.  No. 
84).  From  a  comparison  of  his  own  with 
Bradley's  star-places,  Pond  deduced  the  in- 
fluence upon  them  of  a  southerly  drift  due  'to 
some  variation,  either  continued  or  periodical, 
in  the  sidereal  system '  (Phil.  Trans,  cxiii. 
34,  529).  Herschel's  discovery  of  the  solar 
advance  through  space  appears  to  have 
escaped  his  notice.  Airy,  however,  gave  him 
credit  for  having  had  the  first  inkling  of  dis- 
turbed proper  motions  (Astr.  Nach.  No.  590). 
A  discussion  on  the  subject  with  Brinkley 
was  carried  on  with  dignity  and  good  temper. 
Pond  received  in  1817  the  Lalande  prize 
from  the  Paris  Academy  of  Sciences,  of  which 
he  was  a  corresponding  member ;  and  the 
Copley  medal  in  1823  for  his  various  as- 
tronomical papers.  He  joined  the  Astronomi- 
cal Society  immediately  after  its  foundation. 
Directed  by  the  House  of  Commons  in  1816 
to  determine  the  length  of  the  seconds  pen- 
dulum, he  requested  and  obtained  the  co- 
operation of  a  committee  of  the  Royal  Society. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  board  of  longitude, 
and  attended  diligently  at  the  sittings  in 
1829-30  of  the  Astronomical  Society's  com- 
mittee on  the  '  Nautical  Almanac,'  of  which 
publication  he  superintended  the  issues  for 

1832  and  1833.     The  new  board  of  visitors, 
appointed  in  1830,  caused  him  no  small  vexa- 
tion.    They  took  exception  to  his  neglect  of 
the  planets  for  the  stars,  and  to  the  rigidity 
of  mechanical    routine   imposed    upon   his 
assistants.     His   own   mathematical  know- 
ledge was  very  slight.     The  publication  in 

1833  of  a  catalogue  of  1113  stars,  determined 
with  unexampled  accuracy,  was  his  crowning 
achievement.     It  embodied  several  smaller 
catalogues,  inserted  from  time  to  time  in  the 
'  Nautical  Almanac  '   and  the   '  Greenwich 
Observations,'  of  which  he  printed  eight  folio 
volumes.     In  his  last  communication  to  the 
Royal  Society  he  described  his  mode  of  ob- 
serving with  a  twenty-five-foot  zenith  tele- 
scope, mounted  by  Troughton  and  Simms  in 
1833  (Phil.   Trans,  cxxiv.  209,  cxxv.  145). 
Harassed  by  many  infirmities,  he  retired  from 
the  Royal   Observatory  in  the   summer  of 
1835  with  a  pension  of  600/.  a  year,  and 
died  at  his  residence  at  Blackheath  on  7  Sept. 
1836.    He  was  buried  in  the  tomb  of  Halley 
in  the  neighbouring  churchyard  of  Lee. 

Of  a  mild  and  unassuming  character,  Pond 
neither  sought  nor  attained  a  popular  reputa- 


Ponet 


Ponet 


tion.  His  work  was  wholly  technical,  h 
writings  dry  and  condensed ;  but  his  reform 
of  the  national  observatory  was  fimdamenta 
He  not  only  procured  for  it  an  install menta 
outfit  of  the  modern  type,  but  establishe 
the  modern  system  of  observation.  Th 
number  of  assistants  was  increased  durinn 
his  term  of  office  from  one  to  six,  and  he  sub 
stituted  quarterly  for  annual  publication  o 
results.  He  possessed  the  true  instinct  of  i 
practical  astronomer.  Troughton  used  fr 
say  that  *  a  new  instrument  was  at  all  time 
a  better  cordial  for  the  astroiiomer-roya 
than  any  which  the  doctor  could  supply, 
Arago  visited  Greenwich  to  acquire  hi 
methods ;  Airy  regarded  him  as  the  princi 
pal  improver  of  modern  practical  astronomy 
Bessel,  many  of  whose  refinements  he  antici 
pated,  was  his  enthusiastic  admirer.  Pond's 
double-altitude  observations,  made  with  his 
two  mural  circles  in  1825-35,  have  been  re- 
duced by  Mr.  S.  C.  Chandler  for  the  purposes 
of  his  research  into  the  variation  of  latitude 
(Astr.  Journal,  Nos.  313,  315).  He  speaks 
of  them  as  '  a  rich  mine  of  stellar  measure- 
ments,' and  considers  that  their  accuracy 
'  has  been  scarcely  surpassed  anywhere  or  at 
any  time.'  His  catalogues  are,  however, 
somewhat  marred  by  slight  periodical  errors, 
depending  probably  upon  the  system  oi 
fundamental  stars  employed  in  their  con- 
struction (W.  A.  ROGEES,  in  Nature,  xxviii. 
472).  A  translation  by  Pond  of  Laplace's 
'  Systeme  du  Monde '  was  published  in  1 809, 
and  he  contributed  many  articles  to  Rees's 
'  Encyclopaedia.' 

[Memoirs  of  the  Koyal  Astronomical  Society, 
x.  357;  Proceedings  of  the  Eoyal  Society,  iii. 
434;  Annual  Biography  and  Obituary,  1837, 
vol.  xxi.;  Gent.  Mag.  1836,  ii.  546;  Eeport  of 
the  Brit.  Association,  i.  128,  132,  136  (Airy); 
Grant's  Hist,  of  Astronomy,  p.  491 ;  Edinburgh 
Eeview,  xci.  324  ;  Penny  Cyclopaedia  (De  Mor- 
gan) ;  Andre1  et  Rayet's  L'Astronomie  Pratique, 
i.  32 ;  Marie's  Hist,  des  Sciences,  x.  223  ; 
Miidler's  Geschichte  der  Himmelskunde,  vol.  ii. 
passim ;  Annuaire  de  1'Observatoire  de  Bruxelles, 
1864,  p.  331  (Mailly);  Bessel's  Populare  Vorle- 
sungen,  p.  543  ;  Poggendorff 's  Biogr.-lit.  Hand- 
•worterbuch ;  Observatory,  xiii.  204  (Lewis  on 
Pond's  instruments)  ;  Watt's  Bibl.  Brit.  ;  Eoyal 
Society's  Cat.  of  Scientific  Papers;  Allibone's 
Grit.  Diet,  of  English  Literature.]  A.  M.  C. 

PONET  or  POYNET,  JOHN  (1514  ?- 
1556),  bishop  of  Winchester,  was  born  in 
Kent  about  1514,  and  educated  at  Queens' 
College,  Cambridge,  under  Sir  Thomas  Smith 
(STEYPE,  Smith,  pp.  20,  159).  He  was  a 
great  scholar,  skilled  especially  in  Greek,  in 
which  he  adopted  Cheke's  mode  of  pronun- 
ciation (STEYPE,  Cheke,  p.  18).  He  gra- 


duated, became  fellow  of  the  college  in  1532, 
bursar  there  from  1537  to  1539,  and  dean  from 
1540  to  1542.  He  proceeded  D.D.  in  1547. 
He  was  a  strong  divine  of  the  reforming 
school ;  clever,  but  somewhat  unscrupulous. 
Cranmer  saw  his  ability,  and  made  him  his 
chaplain,  a  promotion  which  must  have  come 
before  1547,  as  in  that  year  Ponet  delivered 
to  the  archbishop  a  letter  from  his  close 
friend  Roger  Ascham,  praying  to  be  relieved 
from  eating  fish  in  Lent  (STEYPE,  Cranmer, 
i.  240,  cf.  p.  607).  Meanwhile  other  prefer- 
ment had  come  to  him.  On  15  Nov.  1543 
he  became  rector  of  St.  Michael's,  Crooked 
Lane,  London.  On  12  June  1545  he  was 
made  rector  of  Lavant,  Sussex,  and  on 
12  Jan.  1545-6  he  became  canon  of  Canter- 
bury, resigning  Lavant.  In  1547  he  was 
proctor  for  the  diocese  of  Canterbury.  For 
Henry  VIII  he  made  a  curious  dial  of  the 
same  kind  as  that  erected  in  1538  in  the  first 
court  of  Queens'  College.  While  with  Cran- 
mer he  built  a  summer  parlour  or  '  solar  '  at 
Lambeth  Palace,  which  Archbishop  Parker 
repaired  in  after  years  (STEYPE,  Parker,  ii. 
26,  79). 

Ponet  was  a  great  preacher,  and  had  a  wide 
range  of  acquirements,  knowing  mathematics, 
astronomy,  German,  and  Italian,  besides  being 
a  good  classical  scholar  and  a  theologian.  In 
Lent  1550  he  preached  the  Friday  sermons 
Defore  Edward  VI,  and  on  6  June  1550  he 
was  appointed  bishop  of  Rochester.  He 
was  the  first  bishop  consecrated  according  to 
;he  new  ordinal  (STEYPE,  Cranmer,  pp.  274, 
363).  He  was  the  last  bishop  who  was 
illowed  to  hold  with  his  see  his  other  pre- 
erments ;  and  there  was  some  reason  for  the 
)ermission  in  his  case,  in  that  there  was  no 
mlace  for  the  bishop  when  he  was  conse- 
crated. On  18  Jan.  1550-1  he  was  appointed 
me  of  thirty-one  commissioners  to  '  correct 
and  punish  all  anabaptists,  and  such  as  did 
ot  duly  administer  the  sacraments  accord- 
ng  to  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  '  (STBYPE, 
Memorials,  n.  i.  385). 

Ponet  was  one  of  those  who  consecrated 
looper  bishop  of  Gloucester  on  8  March 
550-1.  He  appears  not  to  have  shared  in 
looper's  objection  to  the  vestments.  With 
Cranmer  and  Ridley,  Ponet  was  consulted  in 
larch  1550-1  about  the  difficult  case  of  the 
'rincess  Mary ;  and  their  answer  as  to  her 
learing  mass—'  that  to  give  license  to  sin  was 
in ;  nevertheless,  they  thought  the  king  might 
uffer  or  wink  at  it  for  a  time  '  (STEYPE,  Me- 
lorials,  n.  i.  451)— seems  to  bear  traces  of  his 
andiwork.  On  23  March  1550-1  he  was  ap- 
ointed  bishop  of  Winchester,Gardiner  having 
een  deprived,  A  condition  of  his  appoint- 
ment, which  he  at  once  carried  out,  was  that 


Ponet 


79 


Ponsonby 


he  should  resign  to  the  king  the  lands  of  the 
see,  receiving  in  return  a  fixed  income  of  two 
thousand  marks  a  year,  chiefly  derived  from 
impropriated  rectories.  The  meaning  of  the 
transaction  was  soon  made  plain  in  the  grants 
made  of  the  surrendered  lands  to  various 
courtiers.  But  the  blame  was  not  solely 
Ponet's  ;  for  the  dean  and  chapter  consented, 
and  Cranrner  must  have  had  a  good  deal  to 
say  in  the  matter.  At  Winchester  he  had 
Bale  and  Goodacre  for  chaplains,  and  John 
Philpot  (1516-1555)  [q.v.]  for  archdeacon. 
On  6  Oct.  1551  he  was  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners for  the  reformation  of  ecclesiastical 
law,  and  about  the  same  time  he  was  one  of 
the  visitors  of  Oxford  University.  When 
Mary  came  to  the  throne  Ponet  was  deprived, 
and  is  said  to  have  fled  at  once  to  the  con- 
tinent. A  tradition,  however,  preserved  by 
Stow,  asserts  that  he  took  an  active  part  in 
Wyatt's  rebellion.  Eventually  he  found  his 
way  to  Peter  Martyr  at  Strasburg,  where  he 
seems  to  have  been  cheerful  enough,  even 
though  his  house  was  burnt  down.  '  What 
is  exile  ? '  he  wrote  to  Bullinger :  ( a  thing 
painful  only  in  imagination,  provided  you 
have  wherewith  to  subsist.'  He  died  at 
Strasburg  in  August  1556. 

Ponet's  ability,  both  as  a  thinker  and  a 
writer  of  English,  can  perhaps  best  be  inferred 
from  his ( Short  Treatise  of  Politique  Power,' 
which  is  useful  as  an  authority  for  the  history 
of  his  time.  It  is  also  said  to  be  one  of  the 
earliest  expositions  of  the  doctrine  of  tyran- 
nicide ;  but  there  Ponet  was  anticipated  by 
John  of  Salisbury.  Ponet's  matrimonial  ex- 
periences were  curious.  He  seems  to  have 
gone  through  the  form  of  marriage  with  the 
wife  of  a  butcher  of  Nottingham,  to  whom 
he  had  to  make  an  annual  compensation; 
from  her  he  was  divorced  '  with  shame 
enough'  on  27  July  1551  (MACHYN).  On 
25  Oct.  1551  he  married  Maria  Haymond  at 
Croydon  church,  Cranmer  being  present  at 
the  ceremony.  This  wife  wrent  abroad  with 
him,  and  survived  him.  An  interesting  letter 
from  her  to  Peter  Martyr,  some  of  whose 
books  she  had  sold  with  her  husband's  by 
mistake,  has  been  preserved. 

Ponet's  chief  works  were  :  1.  '  A  Tragoedie 
or  Dialoge  of  the  uniuste  usurped  primacie  of 
the  Bishop  of  Rome, .  .  .  '  London,  1549,  8vo. 
This  translation  from  Bernardino  Ochino 
[q.  v.]  brought  him  to  the  notice  of  Somerset, 
who  is  mentioned  in  the  dedication.  2.  { A 
Defence  for  Marriage  of  Priestes  by  Scripture 
and  aunciente  Wryters,'  London,  1549,  8vo 
(possibly  an  early  edition  of  No.  5).  3.  '  Ser- 
mon at  Westminster  before  the  King,'  Lon- 
don, 1550,  4to.  4.  *  Catechismus  Brevis 
Christianoe  Discipline  Summam  continens, 


omnibus  ludimagistris  authoritate  Regia  com- 
mendatus.  Huic  Catechismo  adiuncti  sunt 
Articuli/  Zurich,  1553,  8vo.  This  was  pub- 
lished anonymously,  in  English  by  Day  and  in 
Latin  by  Wolf.  It  was  assigned  to  both 
Ridley  and  Nowell.  Several  editions  ap- 
peared in  1553.  The  English  version  has  been 
printed  in  *  Liturgies '  of  Edward  VI's  reign 
by  the  Parker  Society.  5.  l  De  Ecclesia  ad 
regem  Edwardum,' Zurich,  1553,  8vo.  6.  'An 
Apologie  fully  aunsweringe  by  Scriptures 
and  aunceant  Doctors  a  blasphemose  Book 
gatherid  by  D.  Steph.  Gardiner  .  .  .  D.  Smyth 
of  Oxford,  Pighius,  and  other  Papists  .  .  . 
and  of  late  set  furth  under  the  name  of 
Thomas  Martin  .  .  .  against  the  godly  mar- 
riadge  of  priests,'  1555,  12mo  ;  1556,  8vo. 
7.  'A  Short  Treatise  of  Politique  Power, 
I  and  of  the  true  obedience  which  subjectes 
owe  to  kynges  and  other  civile  governours, 
with  an  Exhortacion  to  all  true  naturall 
Englishemen/  1556,  8vo;  1639,  8 vo ;  1642, 
4to.  8.  '  Axiomata  Eucharistise.'  9.  *  Dia- 
lecticon  de  veritate,  natura,  atque  substantia 
Oorporis  et  Sanguinis  Christi  in  Eucharistia,' 
Strasburg,  1557,  8vo.  An  English  transla- 
tion was  published  in  London,  1688,  4to 

(LOWNDES). 

[Cooper's  Athens  Can tabr.  i.  155,547;  Dixon's 
Hist.  Church  of  Engl.  iii.  151,  &c.,  iv.  74,  &c.  ; 
Le  Neve's  Fasti,  i.  56,  ii.  570;  Heylyn's  Ecclesia 
Restaurata,  i.  208,  &c.,  ii.  91,  121,  &c. ;  Wood's 
Athense  Oxon.  ed.  Bliss,  i.  390,  ii.  52  ;  Wood's 
Hist,  and  Antiq.  of  Univ.  of  Oxford,  i.  273  ; 
Machyn's  Diary  (Camden  Soc.),  pp.  8,  320,  323  ; 
Foxe's  Actes  and  Monuments,  vii.  203;  Cal. 
State  Papers,  Dom.  1547-80,  pp.  32,  44  ;  Mait- 
land's  Essays,  pp.  97,  124  ;  LipscomVs  Bucking- 
hamshire, ii.  162,  iii.  392,  653  ;  Hasted'sKent,  iii. 
265 ;  Hessel's  Eccles.  Lond.  Batavi8eArchivum,ii. 
15,  16  ;  authorities  quoted.]  W.  A.  J.  A. 

PONSONBY,  LADY  EMILY  CHAR- 
LOTTE MARY  (1817-1877),born  on!7Feb. 
1817,  was  the  third  daughter  of  John  Wil- 
liam Ponsonby,  fourth  earl  of  Bessborough 
[q .  v.],  by  his  wife,  Lady  Maria  Fane,  daughter 
of  John  Fane,  tenth  earl  of  Westmorland 
[q.  v.]  Frederick  George  Brabazon  Ponsonby, 
sixth  earl  of  Bessborough  [q.  v.],  was  her 
brother.  From  1848  till  1873  she  wrote,  a 
number  of  novels,  mostly  published  anony- 
mously ;  they  contain  some  careful  and  good 
writing.  She  died,  unmarried,  on  3  Feb.  1877. 

Her  books  are :  1.  "  The  Discipline  of  Life/ 
3  vols.,  1848 ;  2nd  edit.,  1848.  2.  <  Pride 
and  Irresolution,'  3  vols.,  1850  (a  new  series 
of  the  former  book).  3.  '  Clare  Abbey ; 
or  the  Trials  of  Youth,'  1851.  4.  'Mary 
Gray,  and  other  Tales  and  Verses,'  1852. 

5.  '  Edward   Willoughby :    a    Tale,'   1854. 

6.  'The  Young  Lord/  1856.     7.  'Sunday 


Ponsonby 


Ponsonby 


Readings,  consisting  of  eight  Short  Sermons, 
addressed  to  the  Young,'  1857.  8.  <  The  two 
Brothers/  3  vols.,  1858.  9.  <  A  Mother's 
Trial,'  1859.  10.  *  Kathlenne  and  her  Sisters,' 
1861 ;  2nd  edit.,  1863.  11.  '  Mary  Lyndsay.' 
3  vols.,  1863 ;  published  in  New  York,  1863. 
12  '  Violet  Osborne,'  3  vols.,  1865.  13.  '  Sir 
Owen  Fairfax,'  3  vols.,  1866.  14.  '  A  Story 
of  Two  Cousins,'  1868.  15.  <  Nora,'  3  vols., 
1870.  16.  '  Oliver  Beaumont  and  Lord  Lati- 
mer,'  3  vols.,  1873. 

[Allibone's  Diet.  English  Lit.  ii.  1620,  Sup- 
plement, ii.  1243  ;  O'Donoghue's  Poets  of  Ire- 
land, pt.  iii.  p.  206.]  E.  L. 

PONSONBY,  SIB  FREDERIC  CAVEN- 
DISH (1783-1837),  major-general,  born  on 
6  July  1783,  was  the  second  son  of  Frederic 
Ponsonby,  third  earl  of  Bessborough,  by 
Lady  Henrietta  Frances  Spencer,  second 
daughter  of  the  first  Earl  Spencer.  He  en- 
tered the  army  in  January  1800  as  a  cornet 
in  the  10th  dragoons,  and  became  lieutenant 
on  20  June  of  that  year,  and  captain  on 
20  Aug.  1803.  In  April  1806  he  exchanged 
to  the  60th  foot,  and  served  on  the  staff  of 
the  lord  lieutenant  in  Ireland.  He  became 
major  in  the  army  on  25  June  1807,  and  on 
6  Aug.  he  obtained  a  majority  in  the  23rd 
light  dragoons.  He  went  with  his  regiment 
to  Spain  in  1809,  and  distinguished  himself 
at  Talavera.  The  23rd  were  ordered,  together 
with  a  regiment  of  German  hussars,  to  charge 
a  column  of  infantry  advancing  on  the  French 
right  as  they  were  in  the  act  of  deploying. 
They  came  in  mid  career  on  a  ravine,  which 
stopped  the  Germans  and  threw  the  23rd 
into  confusion.  The  colonel  was  wounded, 
but  Ponsonby  led  the  men  on  against  the 
infantry,  which  had  by  this  time  formed 
squares.  Repulsed  by  the  infantry,  the  23rd 
•were  charged  by  two  regiments  of  French 
cavalry,  and  were  driven  back  with  a  loss  of 
more  than  two  hundred  officers  and  men; 
but  the  delay  and  disorder  prevented  the 
French  column  from  taking  part  in  the 
general  attack  on  the  British  position  (see 
NAPIER,  iii.  559,  2nd  edition,  for  Ponsonby's 
own  account  of  this  affair). 

Ponsonby  served  on  the  staff  as  assistant 
adjutant-general  at  Busaco  and  Barosa.  Gra- 
ham, in  his  report  of  the  latter  action,  said  that 
a  squadron  of  the  2nd  hussars,  King's  German 
legion,  under  Ponsonby's  direction,  made  '  a 
brilliant  and  most  successful  charge  against 
a  .squadron  of  French  dragoons,  which  were 
•entirely  routed'  (Wellington  Despatches,  iv. 
697).  He  had  become  lieutenant-colonel  on 
15  March  1810,  and  on  11  June  1811  he  ob- 
tained the  command  of  the  12th  light  dragoons, 
and  led  that  regiment  for  the  rest  of  the  war. 


He  played  a  principal  part  in  the  cavalry 
action  near  Llerena  on  11  April  1812,  being 
at  the  time  in  temporary  command  of  Anson's 
brigade,  to  which  his  regiment  belonged. 
!  The  French  cavalry  under  Pierre  Soult  was 
j  about  two  thousand  strong.  Ponsonby  had 
about  six  hundred,  as  one  regiment  of  the 
brigade  was  still  in  rear,  and  he  was  told  by 
Sir  Stapleton  Cotton  to  detain  and  amuse 
the  French  while  Le  Marchant's  brigade 
moved  round  upon  their  flank.  The  French, 
seeinghis  inferiority,  advanced,  and  he  retired 
slowly  before  them  into  a  narrow  defile 
between  some  stone  walls.  They  were  on 
the  point  of  charging  when  his  missing  regi- 
ment came  up,  and  at  the  same  time  the  head 
of  Le  Marchant's  brigade  appeared  on  the 
right.  The  French  turned,  and  were  pursued 
by  the  two  brigades  to  Llerena,  where  they 
found  protection  from  their  infantry,  having 
lost  more  than  150  men.  Ponsonby  was 
praised  by  Cotton  for  his  gallantry  and 
judgment. 

Ponsonby  was  actively  engaged  with  his 
regiment  in  covering  the  movements  of  the 
army  immediately  before  Salamanca,  and  in 
the  battle  itself,  22  July  1812,  towards  the 
evening,  he  made  some  charges  and  dispersed 
some  of  the  already  beaten  French  infantry, 
his  horse  receiving  several  bayonet  wounds. 
After  the  failure  of  the  siege  of  Burgos  he 
helped  to  cover  the  retreat  of  the  army,  and 
was  wounded.  At  Vittoria  his  regiment 
j  formed  part  of  the  force  under  Graham  which 
turned  the  French  right,  and  barred  their  re- 
treat by  the  Bayonne  road.  It  was  engaged  in 
the  action  at  Tolosa,  when  Graham  overtook 
Foy,  and  covered  the  communications  of 
Graham's  corps  during  the  siege  of  San  Se- 
bastian. It  took  part  in  the  subsequent 
operations  in  the  Pyrenees  and  in  the  south 
of  France,  and  returned  to  England  in  July 
1814.  On  4  June  of  that  year  Ponsonby  was 
made  a  brevet  colonel  and  A.D.C.  to  the  king 
in  recognition  of  his  services. 

In  the  following  year  the  12th,  with  Poa- 
sonby  still  in  command  of  it,  formed  part 
of  Vandeleur's  light  cavalry  brigade.  At 
Waterloo  this  brigade  was  at  first  posted  on 
the  extreme  left;  but  about  half-past  one, 
when  the  two  heavy  brigades  charged,  it  was 
moved  towards  the  centre,  and  two  regiments, 
the  12th  and  16th,  were  ordered  to  charge, 
to  cover  the  retirement  of  the  men  of  the 
Union  brigade.  They  were  told  to  descend 
the  slope,  but  not  to  pass  the  hollow  ground 
in  front ;  once  launched,  however,  they  were 
not  easily  stopped.  Ponsonby  himself,  after 
receiving  several  wounds,  fell  from  his  horse 
on  the  crest  of  the  ridge  which  was  occupied 
by  the  French  guns.  '  I  know,'  he  says,  '  we 


Ponsonby 


81 


Ponsonby 


ought  not  to  have  been  there,  and  that  we 
fell  into  the  same  error  which  we  went  down 
to  correct,  but  I  believe  that  this  is  an  error 
almost  inevitable  after  a  successful  charge, 
and  it  must  always  depend  upon  the  steadi- 
ness of  a  good  support  to  prevent  serious 
consequences'  (Waterloo  Letters,  p.  112). 
His  experiences  as  he  lay  on  the  battle-field 
were  taken  down  from  his  oral  account  by 
the  poet  Rogers,  and  recorded  in  a  letter  to 
his  mother  which  has  been  frequently  quoted 
(e.g.  CKEASY,  Decisive  Battles}.  He  was  on 
the  field  all  night,  and  had  seven  wounds ; 
but  he  was  '  saved  by  excessive  bleeding.' 

He  left  his  regiment  on  26  Aug.  1820,  ex- 
changing to  half-pay,  and  on  20  Jan.  1824 
lie  was  appointed  inspecting  field  officer  in 
the  Ionian  Islands.  He  became  major-general 
on  27  May  1825,  and  on  22  Dec.  of  the  fol- 
lowing year  he  was  made  governor  of  Malta, 
where  he  remained  till  May  1835.  On  4  Dec. 
of  the  latter  year  he  was  given  the  colonelcy 
of  the  86th  foot,  from  which  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  royal  dragoons  on  31  March 

1836.  In  1831  he  had  been  made  a  K.C.B. 
and  a  K.C.H. ;  he  was  also  a  K.C.M.G.,  a 
knight  of  the  Tower  and  Sword  of  Portugal, 
and  a  knight  of  Maria  Theresa  of  Austria. 
He  kept  up  his  interest  in  cavalry  questions, 
and  in  the  '  Wellington  Despatches '  (viii. 
335)  there  is  a  letter  from  the  duke,  dated 
7  Nov.  1834,  in  reply  to  one  of  his  upon 
details  of  cavalry  equipment  and  formations. 
When  in  Spain  he  had  made  an  abridgment 
of  some  *  Instructions  for  Cavalry  on  Outpost 
Duty,'  drawn  up  by  Lieut.-colonel  von  Arent- 
schildt,  who  commanded  the  hussar  regiment 
which  was  to  have  charged  with  the  23rd  at 
Talavera,  and  this  abridgment  was  printed  at 
Freneda  in  1813.   It  was  reprinted,  together 
with  the  original  instructions,  London,  1844. 

Ponsonby  died  near  Basingstoke  on  11  Jan. 

1837.  Hefmarried,  16  March  1825,  Lady 
Emily  Charlotte  Bathurst,  second  daughter 
of  the  third  Earl  Bathurst,  and  left  three  sons 
and  three  daughters. 

The  eldest  son,  SIR  HENRY  FREDERICK 
PONSONBY  (1825-1895),  born  at  Corfu  on 
10  Dec.  1825,  entered  the  army  on  27  Dec. 
1842  as  an  ensign  in  the  49th  regiment. 
Transferred  to  the  grenadier  guards,  he  be- 
came lieutenant  on  16  Feb.  1844,  captain  on 
1 8  July  1848,  and  major  on  1 9  Oct.  1849.  From 
1847  to  1858  he  was  aide-de-camp  to  Lord 
Clarendon  and  Lord  St.  Germans,  succes- 
sively lord-lieutenants  of  Ireland.  He  served 
through  the  Crimean  campaigns  of  1855-6, 
becoming  lieutenant-colonel  on  31  Aug.  1855 ; 
for  the  action  before  Sebastopol  he  received 
a  medal  with  clasp,  the  Turkish  medal,  and 
third  order  of  the  Mejidie.  After  the  peace 

VOL,   XLVI. 


he  was  appointed  equerry  to  the  prince  con- 
sort, who  greatly  valued  his  services.  On 
2  Aug.  1860  he  became  colonel,  and  in  1862, 
after  the  death  of  the  prince,  he  was  sent  to 
Canada  in  command  of  a  battalion  of  the 
grenadier  guards  which  was  stationed  in  the 
colony  during  the  American  civil  war.  On 
6  March  1868  he  became  major-general. 
On  8  April  1870  Ponsonby  was  appointed 
private  secretary  to  the  queen.  Energetic 
but  unobtrusive,  ready  but  tactful,  he  com- 
manded the  confidence  not  only  of  his  sove- 
reign, but  of  all  her  ministers  in  turn.  In 
October  1878  he  added  to  his  duties  those  of 
keeper  of  the  privy  purse.  He  was  made  a 
K.C.B.  in  1879,  a  privy  councillor  in  1880, 
and  a  G.C.B.  in  1887.  On  6  Jan.  1895  he 
was  attacked  by  paralysis ;  in  May  he  retired 
from  his  offices,  and  on  21  Nov.  died  at  East 
Cowes  in  the  Isle  of  Wight.  He  was  buried  at 
Whippingham.  He  had  married,  on  30  April 
1861,  Mary  Elizabeth,  eldest  daughter  of 
John  Crocker  Bulteel,  M.P.,  of  Flete  or  Fleet, 
Devonshire,  one  of  the  queen's  maids  of 
honour.  He  left  three  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters ( Times,  22  Nov.  1895 ;  Men  of  the  Time, 
vol.  xii. ;  BURKE,  Peerage,  s.v. '  Bessborough ; ' 
Army  Lists). 

[Gent.  Mag.  1837,  pt.  i. ;  Royal  Military  Gal. 
iv.  239  ;  Eecords  of  the  12th  Light  Dragoons  ; 
Wellington  Despatches ;  Combermere's Memoirs; 
Napier's  War  in  the  Peninsula;  Si  home's  Wa- 
terloo Letters.]  E.  M.  L. 

PONSONBY,  FREDERICK  GEORGE 
BRABAZON,  sixth  EARL  OF  BESSBOROUGH 
(1815-1895),  second  son  of  JohnWilliam  Pon- 
sonby, fourth  earl  [q.  v.],  was  born  in  London 
on  11  Sept.  1815.  He  was  educated  at  Harrow 
from  1830  to  1833,  and,  proceeding  to  Trinity 
College,  Cambridge,  graduated  M.A.  in  1837. 
He  studied  for  the  law,  and  was  called  to 
the  bar  at  Lincoln's  Inn  on  16  June  1840. 
He  was  an  enthusiastic  cricketer,  com- 
mencing his  career  in  the  Harrow  eleven, 
when  on  3  Aug.  1832  he  played  at  Lord's  in 
the  match  with  Eton.  At  Cambridge  he 
also  played  in  the  university  eleven.  After- 
wards, when  he  was  at  the  bar,  he  appeared 
in  such  important  matches  as  Kent  v.  Eng- 
land and  Gentlemen  v.  Players.  After  1843, 
owing  to  an  accident  to  his  arm,  he  gave  up 
playing  at  Lord's.  In  1845,  with  J.  L.  Bald- 
win, he  founded  the  I  Zingari  Club,  and 
took  part  in  their  performances.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  committee  of  the  Marylebone 
Club,  and,  having  a  great  knowledge  of  the 
game,  managed  many  of  the  matches  at  Lord's. 
He  had  a  free  and  forward  style  of  hitting, 
and  also  excelled  at  long-stop  and  mid- 
wicket.  The  Harrow  eleven  were  for  many 
years  indebted  to  him  for  tuition,  and  many 


Ponsonby 


Ponsonby 


of  their  successes  against  Eton  and  Winches- 
ter were  due  to  his  instruction.  He  was 
also  a  good  actor  at  Cambridge  in  private  thea- 
tricals. With  Torn  Taylor, William  Holland, 
G.  Cavendish  Bentinck,  and  others,  he  origi- 
nated, in  184:2,  the  Old  Stagers  at  Canterbury 
in  connection  with  the  Canterbury  cricket 
week,  and  for  many  years  he  took  part  in 
their  entertainments. 

On  the  death  of  his  brother,  John  George 
Brabazon,  fifth  earl  of  Bessborough,  on  28  Jan. 
1880,  he  succeeded  as  sixth  earl,  but  sat  in 
the  House  of  Lords  as  Baron  Ponsonby  and 
Baron  D imcannon.  In  poli  tics  he  was  a  liberal. 
When  Mr.  Gladstone's  ministry  in  1880  ap- 
pointed a  commission  to  inquire  into  the  land 
system  in  Ireland,  Bessborough  was  nomi- 
nated a  member.  His  colleagues  were  Baron 
Dowse,  The  O'Conor  Don,  Mr.  Kavanagh, 
and  William  Shaw  [q.v.]  The  commission, 
which  became  known  by  Lord  Bessborough's 
name,  reported  in  1881 ,  advising  the  repeal  of 
the  Land  Act  of  1870,  and  the  enactment  of 
a  simple  uniform  act  on  the  basis  of  fixity  of 
tenure,  fair  rents,  and  free  sale.  The  policy 
of  buying  out  the  landlords  was  deprecated, 
but  additional  state  aid  for  tenants  anxious 
to  purchase  their  holdings  was  recommended. 
The  Bessborough  commission  marks  an  im- 
portant stage  in  the  history  of  Irish  land 
legislation,  and  led  to  Mr.  Gladstone's  land 
bill  of  1881.  Lord  Bessborough  was  himself 
a  model  landlord.  He  was  unremitting  in 
his  attention  to  the  interest  of  his  tenants 
in  co.  Kilkenny,  and  through  the  troubled 
times  of  the  land  league  there  was  never 
the  least  interruption  of  friendly  relations 
between  him  and  them.  Although  for  a  long 
time  a  follower  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  he  did  not 
vote  in  the  divisions  on  the  home  rule  bill  in 
the  House  of  Lords  in  1893.  He  died  at 
45  Green  Street,  Grosvenor  Square,  London, 
on  12  March  1895,  and  was  buried  at  Bess- 
borough.  He  was  unmarried,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  brother  Walter  William  Bra- 
bazon  Ponsonby,  who  was  rector  of  Canford 
Magna,  Dorset,  from  1846  to  1869. 

[Thornton's  Harrow.  1885,  pp.  250,  276; 
Lillywhite's  Cricket  Scores,  1862,  ii.  193; 
Cokayne's  Peerage,  1887,  i.  353;  Times,  15  Jan. 
1881  p.  7,  16  March  p.  4,  19  March  p.  14, 
30  March  p.  4,  13  March  1895,  p.  10.]  G.  C.  B. 

PONSONBY,  GEORGE  (1755-1817), 
lord  chancellor  of  Ireland,  third  son  of  John 
Ponsonby  (1713-1789)  [q.  v.~|,  was  born  on 
5  March  1755.  William  Brabazon  Pon- 
sonby, first  baron  Ponsonby  [q.  v.],  was  his 
brother.  After  an  education  received  partly 
at  home  and  partly  at  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge,  he  was  called  to  the  Irish  bar 
in  1780.  Though  fonder,  it  is  said,  of  fox- 


hunting than  of  the  drudgery  of  the  law 
courts,  he  was  in  1782,  by  the  influence  of 
his  father  and  the  patronage  of  the  Duke  of 
Portland,  admitted  to  the  inner  bar,  and  at 
the  same  time  given  the  lucrative  post,  worth 
1,200/.  a  year,  of  first  counsel  to  the  com- 
missioners of  revenue,  of  which  he  was  sub- 
sequently, in  1789,  deprived  by  the  Marquis 
of  Buckingham.  He  entered  parliament  in 
1776  as  member  for  the  borough  of  Wick- 
low,  in  the  place  of  Sir  William  Fownes, 
deceased.  In  1783  he  Avas  returned  for 
Inistioge  borough,  co.  Kilkenny,  which  he 
represented  till  1797,  and  was  one  of  the 
representatives  of  Galway  city  when  the 
parliament  of  Ireland  ceased  its  independent 
existence.  He  held  office  as  chancellor  of  the 
exchequer  in  the  brief  administration  of  the 
Duke  of  Portland  in  1782,  and  in  February 
supported  the  motion  for  the  postponement 
of  Grattan's  address  regarding  the  independ- 
ence of  the  Irish  parliament.  The  traditions 
of  his  family,  though  liberal,  naturally 
inclined  him  to  support  government ;  but 
his  interest  in  politics  at  this  time  was  not 
intense,  and  his  attendance  in  the  house 
far  from  frequent.  He  spoke  at  some  length 
on  29  Nov.  1783  in  opposition  to  Flood's 
Reform  Bill ;  in  March  1786  he  opposed  a  bill 
to  limit  pensions  as  an  unmerited  censure 
on  the  Duke  of  Rutland's  administration, 
and  in  the  following  year  he  resisted  a  mo- 
tion by  Grattan  to  inquire  into  the  subject 
of  tithes.  He  took,  however,  a  very  deter- 
mined line  on  the  regency  question  in  1789, 
arguing  strongly  in  favour  of  the  address  to 
the  Prince  of  Wales.  He  was  in  conse- 
quence deprived  of  his  office  of  counsel  to 
the  revenue  board,  and  from  that  time  for- 
ward acted  avowedly  with  the  opposition.  In 
the  following  session  he  inveighed  strongly 
against  the  profuse  expenditure  of  govern- 
ment with  a  declining  exchequer,  and  the 
enormous  increase  in  the  pension  list  during 
the  Marquis  of  Buckingham's  administra- 
tion. '  His  excellency,'  he  said  sarcastically, 
reviewing  the  list  of  persons  promoted  to 
office, '  must  have  been  a  profound  politician 
to  discover  so  much  merit  where  no  one  else 
suspected  it  to  reside.' 

Meanwhile  his  reputation  as  a  lawyer  had 
been  steadily  growing.  His  practice  was  a 
large  and  a  lucrative  one ;  and  so  great,  it  is 
said,  was  Fitzgibbon's  regard  for  his  profes- 
sional abilities  that  Fitzgibbon,  on  his  eleva- 
tion at  this  time  to  the  woolsack,  forgot  his 
political  animosity  towards  him,  and  trans- 
ferred to  him  his  brief  bag.  In  1 790,  as  counsel 
with  Curran,  he  supported  the  claims  of  the 
common  council  of  Dublin  against  the  court 
of  aldermen  in  their  contest  over  the  elec- 


Ponsonby 


Ponsonby 


tion  of  a  lord  mayor,  and  received  their  thanks 
for  his  conduct  of  their  case.  In  consequence 
of  the  extraordinary  partisanship  displayed 
by  the  chief  justice  of  the  king's  bench  [see 
SCOTT,  JOHN",  LORD  CLONMELL]  in  the  famous 
quarrel  between  John  Magee  (d.  1809)  [q.  v.], 
the  proprietor  of  the  '  Dublin  Evening  Post/ 
and  Francis  Higgins  (1746-1802)  [q.  v.],  the 
proprietor  of  the  '  Freeman's  Journal,'  Pon- 
sonby brought  the  matter  before  parliament 
on  3  March  1790.  His  speech,  which  was 
published  and  had  a  wide  circulation,  was 
from  a  legal  standpoint  unanswerable  ;  but 
the  motion  was  adroitly  met  by  the  attorney- 
general  moving  that  the  chairman  should 
leave  the  chair.  '  A  similar  motion  in  March 
of  the  following  year,  expressly  censuring  the 
lord  chief  justice,  incurred  a  similar  fate; 
but  the  fierce  criticism  to  which  his  conduct 
had  exposed  him  utterly  ruined  Clonmell's 
judicial  character. 

In  1792,  during  the  discussion  on  the  Ro- 
man catholic  question,  Ponsonby,  who  at 
this  time  took  a  more  conservative  line  than 
Grattan,  urged  that  time  should  be  given  for 
recent  concessions  to  produce  their  natural 
fruits,  and  a  fuller  system  of  united  educa- 
tion be  adopted  before  the  catholics  were 
entrusted  with  political  power.  Neverthe- 
less, he  voted  for  the  bill  of  1793 ;  and  on 
the  ground  that  government  was  trying  to 
create  a  separate  catholic  interest  inimical 
to  the  protestant  gentry,  he  urged  parlia- 
ment '  to  admit  the  catholics  to  a  full  parti- 
cipation in  the  rights  of  the  constitution, 
and  thus  to  bind  their  gratitude  and  their 
attachments  to  their  protestant  fellow-sub- 
jects.' He  was  designated  for  the  post  of 
attorney-general  in  the  administration  of 
Earl  Fitzwilliam  [see  FITZWILLIAM,  WIL- 
LIAM WENTWOETII,  second  EAEL  FITZ- 
WILLIAM], and  corroborated  Grattan's  ac- 
count of  the  circumstances  that  led  to  that 
nobleman's  recall.  In  a  subsequent  debate 
on  the  catholic  question  in  1796  he  again 
urged  parliament  to  admit  the  catholics  to  a 
full  participation  of  political  power,  and  thus 
to  deprive  government  of  its  excuse  to  keep 
the  country  weak  by  keeping  it  divided. 
Every  attempt  to  settle  the  question  and  to 
purify  the  legislature  having  failed,  Ponsonby, 
in  company  with  Grattan,  Curran,  and  a  few 
others,  seceded  from  parliamentary  life  early 
in  1797.  The  wisdom  of  such  conduct  is  open 
to  question ;  but  he  at  once  returned  to  his 
post  when  the  intention  of  government  to 
effect  a  legislative  union  was  definitely  an- 
nounced. During  the  reign  of  terror  which 
preceded  the  union  he  incurred  the  suspicion 
of  government,  and  acted  as  counsel  for  Henry 
Sheares  [q.  v.]  and  Oliver  Bond  [q.  v.]  He  led 


the  opposition  to  the  union  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  but  he  spoiled  the  effect  of  his 
victory  on  the  address  by  injudiciously  try- 
ing to  induce  the  house  to  pledge  itself 
against  any  such  scheme  in  the  future. 

On  2  March  1801  he  took  his  seat  in  the 
imperial  parliament  as  member  for  Wicklow 
county,  and  speedily  won  the  regard  of  the 
house  by  his  sincerity,  urbanity,  and  business- 
like capacity.  He  opposed  the  motion  for 
funeral  honours  to  Pitt,  on  the  ground  that 
to  do  otherwise  '  would  be  virtually  a  con- 
tradiction of  the  votes  I  have  given  for  a 
series  of  years  against  all  the  leading  mea- 
sures of  that  minister.'  On  the  formation  of 
the  Fox-Grenville  ministry  in  1806,  he  re- 
ceived the  seals  as  lord  chancellor  of  Ireland, 
and  at  the  same  time  obtained  for  Curran 
the  mastership  of  the  rolls ;  but  in  the  ar- 
rangements for  this  latter  appointment  a 
misunderstanding  arose,  which  led  to  a  per- 
manent estrangement  between  them.  Though 
holding  office  for  barely  a  year,  he  retired 
with  the  usual  pension  of  4,000/.  a  year. 
He  represented  county  Cork  in  1806-7 ; 
but  on  19  Jan.  1808  he  succeeded  Lord 
Howick — called  to  the  upper  house  as  Earl 
Grey — in  the  representation  of  Tavistock,  and 
for  the  remainder  of  his  life  acted  as  official 
leader  of  the  opposition.  He  offered  a  strenu- 
ous resistance  to  the  Irish  Arms  Bill  of 
1807,  which  he  denounced,  amid  great  up- 
roar, as  an  'abominable,  unconstitutional, 
and  tyrannical  measure.'  In  the  following 
year  he  opposed  the  Orders  in  Council  Bill, 
which,  he  predicted,  would  complete  the 
mischief  to  English  commerce  left  undone 
by  Bonaparte,  and  he  was  very  averse  to 
the  system  of  subsidising  continental  powers, 
'  the  invariable  result  of  which  had  been  to 
promote  the  aggrandisement  of  France.'  In 
speaking  in  support  of  the  Roman  catholic 
petition  on  25  May  1808,  he  added  some 
novelty  to  the  debate  by  announcing,  on  the 
authority  of  Dr.  John  Milner  (1752-1826) 
[q.  v.],  that  the  Irish  clergy  were  willing  to 
consent  to  a  royal  veto  on  the  appointment 
to  vacant  bishoprics.  It  soon  turned  out  that 
he  was  misinformed,  and  his  statement  caused 
much  mischief  in  Ireland;  but  he  did  not  cease 
to  advocate  the  concesion  of  the  catholic 
claims.  On  19  Jan.  1809,  in  a  speech  of  an 
hour  and  a  half,  he  arraigned  the  conduct  of 
the  ministry  in  mismanaging  affairs  in  Spain, 
and,  in  consequence,  was  charged  with  throw- 
ing cold  water  on  the  Spanish  cause.  In  the 
following  year  he  took  a  prominent  part  in 
the  debates  on  the  Walcheren  expedition  ; 
and  his  speech  on  the  privileges  of  the  House 
of  Commons  as  connected  with  the  committal 
of  Sir  Francis  Burdett  [q.  v.],  on  11  May, 

G2 


Ponsonby 


84 


Ponsonby 


was  regarded  as  a  valuable  contribution  to 
the  constitutional  literature  of  the  subject. 
During  the  debate  on  the  king's  illness  on 
10  Dec.,  he  defended  the  course  pursued  by 
the  Irish  parliament  in  1789,  and  moved  for 
an  address  in  almost  the  same  words  as  had 
been  adopted  by  the  Irish  parliament ;  while 
his  statement  that,  if  the  method  by  address 
were  followed,  he  should  submit  another 
motion,  seems  to  show  that  he  intended  fol- 
lowing the  form,  prescribed  by  Grattan,  of 
passing  an  act  reciting  the  deficiency  in  the 
personal  exercise  of  the  royal  power,  and  of 
his  royal  highness's  acceptance  of  the  regency 
at  the  instance  and  desire  of  the  lords  and 
commons  of  the  realm.  On  7  March  1811 
he  animadverted  strongly  on  Wellesley- 
Pole's  circular  letter,  and  moved  for  copies 
of  papers  connected  with  it ;  but  his  motion 
was  defeated  by  133  to  48.  He  still  con- 
tinued to  take  a  lively  and  active  interest  in 
the  catholic  claims,  but,  like  Grattan,  he 
had  drifted  out  of  touch  with  Irish  national 
feeling  on  the  subject,  and  to  O'Connell  his 
exertions,  based  on  securities  of  one  sort  and 
another,  seemed  worse  than  useless.  On 
4  March  1817  he  moved  for  leave  to  bring 
in  a  bill  to  prevent  the  necessity  of  renew- 
ing certain  civil  and  military  commissions 
on  the  demise  of  the  crown.  The  desirability 
of  some  such  measure  seems  to  have  been 
generally  admitted ;  but  he  did  not  live  to 
fulfil  his  intention.  The  severe  labours  of 
parliamentary  life,  and  the  constant  strain 
to  which  his  position  as  leader  of  the  oppo- 
sition subjected  him,  broke  down  a  constitu- 
tion naturally  robust.  He  was  seized  with 
paralysis  in  the  house  on  30  June,  and  died 
a  few  days  later,  on  8  July  1817,  at  his  house 
in  Curzon  Street,  Mayfair.  He  was  buried 
beside  his  brother,  Lord  Imokilly,  without 
ostentation  or  ceremony,  at  Kensington. 

In  moving  a  new  writ  for  co.  Wicklow, 
which  he  represented  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
the  future  Lord  Melbourne  spoke  of  '  Pon- 
sonby's  manly  and  simple  oratory '  as  evidence 
of  the  'manliness  and  simplicity  of  his  heart ; ' 
and  another  contemporary  characterised  him 
as  possessing,  in  the  words  of  Cicero  with  re- 
gard to  Catulus,  'summa  non  vitse  solum 
atque  naturae,  sed  orationis  etiam  comitas ' 
(Brutus,  132). 

Ponsonby  married  about  1780  Mary  Butler, 
eldest  daughter  of  Brinsley,  second  earl  of 
Lanesborough.  He  left  no  surviving  male 
issue.  His  only  daughter,  Martha,  was 
married  to  the  Hon.  Francis  Aldborough 
Prittie,  second  son  of  Lord  Dunally,  M.P. 
for  co.  Tipperary. 

[Ryan's  Biogr.  Hibernica ;  Willis's  Irish  Na- 
tion ;  O'Flanagan's  Lives  of  the  Lord  Chancel- 


lors ;  Smyth's  Law  Officers  of  Ireland  ;  Annual 
Register,  1817,  p.  145;  Gent.  Mag.  1817,  pt.  ii. 
pp.  83,  165,  261  ;  Official  List  of  Mem.  of  Parl.  ; 
Parliamentary  Register  (Ireland),  passim;  Grat- 
tan's  Life  of  Henry  Grattan  ;  Hardy's  Life  of 
Charlemont;  Beresford,  Auckland,  Cornwallis  and 
Castlereagh  Correspondence ;  Lecky's  England 
in  the  Eighteenth  Century  ;  Parl.  Debates  1801- 
1817  passim  ;  Colchester's  Diary  and  Corre- 
spondence;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  10th  Rep.  pt.  i. 
p.  426,  pt.  iv.  p.  27,  13th  Rep.  App.  viii.  (Earl 
of  Charlemont's  MSS.  vol.  ii.)]  R.  D. 

PONSONBY,  HENRY  (d.  1745),  of 
Ashgrove,  major-general,  was  the  second  son 
of  Sir  William  Ponsonby  by  Mary,  sister  of 
Brabazon  Moore,  of  the  family  of  Charles, 
second  viscount  Moore  of  Drogheda[q.v,]  His 
father,  third  son  of  Sir  John  Ponsonby,  who 
accompanied  Cromwell  to  Ireland  in  1 649  as 
colonel  of  a  regiment  of  horse,  sat  in  the- 
Irish  parliament  as  member  for  co.  Kilkenny 
in  Anne's  reign,  was  called  to  the  privy 
council  in  1715,  and  was  raised  to  the  peerage 
of  Ireland  as  Baron  Bessborough  in  1721.  In- 
the  preamble  of  his  patent  his  services  as  a 
soldier  during  the  siege  of  Derry  are  par- 
ticularly mentioned.  He  was  made  Viscount 
Duncannon  in  1723,  and  died  on  17  Nov. 
1724  at  the  age  of  sixty-seven. 

Henry  Ponsonby  was  made  a  captain  of  foot 
on  2  Aug.  1705,  and  became  colonel  of  a  regi- 
ment (afterwards  the  37th  or  North  Hamp- 
shire) on  13  May  1735.  He  represented  Fet- 
hard  in  the  Irish  parliament  in  November 
1715,  and  afterwards  sat  for  Clonmeen,  Inis- 
tioge,  and  Newtown.  In  February  1742, when 
Great  Britain  was  preparing  to  take  part  irt 
the  war  of  the  Austrian  succession,  he  was 
made  brigadier,  and  in  April  he  embarked  for 
Flanders  with  the  force  under  Lord  Stair.  He 
was  present  at  Dettingen,  and  was  promoted 
major-general  in  July  1743.  At  the  battle- 
of  Fontenoy  on  11  May  1745,  as  one  of  the 
major-generals  of  the  first  line,  he  was  at 
the  head  of  the  first  battalion  of  the  1st  foot- 
guards,  and  therefore  in  the  forefront  of  the* 
famous  charge  made  by  the  British  and  Hano- 
verian infantry.  He  was  in  the  act  of  hand- 
ing over  his  ring  and  watch  to  his  son, 
Chambre-Brabazon,  a  lieutenant  in  his  own 
regiment,  when  he  was  killed  by  a  cannon- 
shot.  By  his  wife,  Lady  Frances  Brabazon  r 
youngest  daughter  of  the  fifth  Earl  of  Meath, 
he  left  one  son  and  one  daughter. 

[Lodge's  Peerage  of  Ireland ;  Gent.  Ma?. 
1742-5;  Campbell  McLachlan's  Duke  of  Cum- 
berland, p.  183.]  E.  M.  L. 

PONSONBY,  JOHN  (1713-1789),  speaker 
of  the  Irish  House  of  Commons,  born  on 
29  March  1713,  was  the  second  son  of  Bra- 
bazon Ponsonby,  second  viscount  Duncan- 


Ponsonby 


Ponsonby 


non,  and  first  earl  of  Bessborough,  by  his  first 
wife,  Sarah,  granddaughter  of  James  Marget- 
•son  [q.  v.J,  archbishop  of  Armagh,  and  widow 
of  Hugh  Colvil,  esq.,  of  co.  Down.  William 
Ponsonby,  second  earl  of  Bessborough  [q.  v.], 
was  his  elder  brother.  His  great-grandfather, 
Sir  John  Ponsonby,  of  Hale  in  Cumberland, 
born  in  1608,  commanded  a  troop  of  horse  in 
the  service  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  had 
two  grants  of  land  assigned  him  in  Ireland 
under  the  acts  of  settlement.  He  repre- 
sented co.  Kilkenny  in  parliament  in  1661, 
and,  dying  in  1678,  was  succeeded  by  his  son 
William  [see  under  PONSONBY,  HENRY]. 

Ponsonby  entered  parliament  in  1739  as 
member  for  the  borough  of  Newtown,  co. 
Down,  vacated  by  the  elevation  of  Robert 
Jocelyn,  first  viscount  Jocelyn  [q.  v.],  to  the 
lord-chancellorship.  Shortly  afterwards,  in 
1742,  he  was  appointed  secretary  to  the 
revenue  board,  and,  on  the  death  of  his  father 
in  1744,  succeeded  him  as  first  commissioner. 
He  held  the  post  with  credit  for  twenty-seven 
years,  and  on  his  dismission  in  1771  he  received 
the  unanimous  thanks  of  the  merchants  of 
Dublin.  On  the  occasion  of  the  rebellion  of 
1745  he  raised  four  independent  companies 
of  horse,  and  was  specially  thanked  by  Lord 
Chesterfield  in  the  king's  name  for  his  loyalty. 
Besides  being  the  first  to  be  raised  at  that  time, 
his  troopers  were  notable  for  their  discipline 
and  handsome  uniform,  which,with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  sash,  was  the  same  for  the  men  as 
the  officers.  In  1748  he  was  sworn  a  privy 
councillor,  and  on  26  April  1756  was  unani- 
mously elected  speaker  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons in  succession  to  Henry  Boyle,  created 
lord  Shannon  [q.  v.]  (cf.  a  curious  account 
of  his  election  in  Letters  from  an  Arme- 
nian, fyc.  p.  45,  attributed  to  Edmond  Sexton 
Pery  [q.v.]) 

Ponsonby's  connection  by  marriage  with 
the  Duke  of  Devonshire  and  the  great  parlia- 
mentary influence  of  his  own  family  rendered 
him  an  important  political  factor  in  a  country 
of  which  the  government  practically  lay  in 
the  hands  of  three  or  four  great  families.  On 
the  change  of  administration  which  occurred 
shortly  after  his  election  to  the  speakership, 
Ponsonby  entered  into  an  alliance  with  the 
primate,  George  Stone  [q.  v.],  with  the  object 
of  securing  a  dominant  influence  in  state 
affairs.  In  this  he  was  successful.  For  the 
commons  having,  in  October  1757,  passed  a 
strong  series  of  resolutions  against  pensions, 
absentees,  and  other  standing  grievances,  the 
lord  lieutenant,  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  who 
had  formed  the  design  of  governing  inde- 
pendently of  the  undertakers,  was,  much 
against  his  will,  compelled  by  a  threat  of 
suspending  supplies  to  transmit  them  to 


England  in  the  very  words  in  which  they 
had  been  moved.  This  was  regarded  as  a 
great  triumph  for  the  speaker,  and  on  the 
departure  of  the  viceroy  in  May  1758,  he 
had  the  satisfaction  of  being  included  in  the 
commission  for  government  along  with  the 
primate  and  the  Earl  of  Shannon.  Several 
unsuccessful  attempts  were  made  to  diminish 
his  power,  especially  during  the  viceroyalty 
of  the  Earl  of  Northumberland  in  1763-4, 
but  nothing  occurred  to  permanently  shake 
his  authority  till  the  arrival  of  the  Marquis 
of  Townshend  in  1767.  In  1761  he  was  re- 
turned for  Armagh  borough  and  the  county 
of  Kilkenny,  but  elected  to  serve  for  the 
latter,  which  he  continued  to  represent  till 
1783. 

The  appointment  of  the  Marquis  of  Town- 
shend as  resident  viceroy  marks  the  beginning 
of  a  new  epoch  in  Irish  h  istory .  Hi  therto  it  had 
been  the  custom  of  the  lord  lieutenant  for  the 
time  being  to  spend  only  two  or  three  months 
during  the  year  in  Dublin  for  the  purpose 
mainly  of  conducting  the  business  of  parlia- 
ment. In  consequence  of  this  arrangement 
the  government  of  the  country  had  for  many 
years  rested  in  the  hands  of  a  few  families, 
among  whom  the  Ponsonbys  were  pre-emi- 
nent; they  practically  controlled  parliament, 
and  for  their  service  in  managing  the  king's 
business — whence  the  name  i  undertakers  '— 
were  allowed  to  engross  to  themselves  the  chief 
emoluments  in  the  country.  So  far,  indeed, 
as  Ireland  was  concerned,  there  had  hitherto 
been  little  to  complain  of  in  regard  to  this  ar- 
rangement. But  in  England  the  growinginde- 
pendenceof  the  Irish  parliament  was  regarded 
with  increasing  suspicion.  The  appointment 
of  Townshend  was  intended  as  a  blow  against 
the  authority  of  the  '  undertakers,'  and  all 
the  influence  of  the  crown  was  accordingly 
placed  at  his  disposal.  Immediately  on  his 
arrival  he  set  himself  resolutely  to  form  a 
party  in  parliament  wholly  dependent  on  the 
crown.  The  Octennial  Bill  was  a  serious 
blow  to  the  dominion  of  the  undertakers. 
Ponsonby  and  his  friends  instantly  recognised 
the  danger  that  menaced  them,  and  by  their 
united  effort  succeeded  in  frustrating  the 
viceroy's  attempt  to  force  through  parliament 
a  money  bill,  which  had  taken  its  origin  in 
the  privy  council.  For  this  he  was  imme- 
diately deprived  of  his  office  of  commissioner 
of  revenue,  and  the  effect  of  his  punishment 
was  such  that  at  the  close  of  the  session  parlia- 
ment passed  a  vote  of  thanks  to  the  viceroy. 
Rather,  however,  than  consent  to  present  an 
address  so  antagonistic  to  his  feelings,  Pon- 
sonby preferred  to  resign  the  speakership  (cf. 
Charlemont  MSS.  i.  39).  He  no  doubt  ex- 
pected to  be  re-elected,  but  had  the  additional 


Ponsonby 


86 


Ponsonby 


mortification  of  seeing  it  conferred  on  Ed- 
mond  Sexton  Pery.  A  strenuous  but  unsuc- 
cessful effort  was  made  to  recover  the  chair 
for  him  in  1776.  He  still  retained  his  enor- 
mous parliamentary  influence,  and  was  till 
his  death,  on  12  Dec.  1789,  a  firm  supporter 
of  the  patriotic  party ;  but  after  his  defeat 
in  1776  he  gradually  ceased  to  take  an  active 
personal  part  in  politics,  yielding  the  post  of 
leadership  to  his  son  George,  subsequently 
chancellor  of  the  exchequer. 

Ponsonby  married,  on  22  Sept.  1743,  Lady 
Elizabeth  Cavendish,  daughter  of  William, 
third  duke  of  Devonshire,  by  whom  he  had, 
with  other  issue, William  Brabazon  Ponsonby, 
first  baron  Ponsonby  of  Imokilly,  who  suc- 
ceeded him,  and  is  separately  noticed ;  John, 
who  died  young,  George,  lord  chancellor  of 
Ireland  [q.  v.],  and  two  sons,  Richard  and 
Frederick,  who  died  in  infancy,  also  Cathe- 
rine, who  married  Richard  Boyle,  second 
earl  of  Shannon ;  Frances,  who  married  Cor- 
nelius O'Callaghan,  first  earl  of  Lismore; 
Charlotte,  who  married  the  Right  Hon.  Denis 
Bowes  Daly;  and  Henrietta. 

His  portrait  was  painted  by  Gavin,  and 
engraved  by  T.  Gainer ;  a  poor  engraving, 
representing  him  in  his  robes  as  speaker,  is 
in  the  ' Hibernian  Magazine'  for  1777  (cf. 

BKOMLEr). 

[Burke's  Extinct  Peerage ;  Hibernian  Mag. 
1777;  Nicolson  and  Burn's  Hist,  of  "Westmore- 
land and  Cumberland,  ii.  30  ;  Official  List  of 
Members  of  Parliament,  Ireland;  Wiffen's  House 
of  Russell ;  Froude's  English  in  Ireland  ;  Hist. 
MSS.  Comm.  12th  Rep.  App.  ix.  (Earl  of 
Donoughmore's  MSS.),  App.  x.  (Earl  of  Charle- 
mont's  MSS.  vol.  i.)]  R.  D. 

PONSONBY,  JOHN,  VISCOUNT  PON- 
SONBY (1770P-1855),  diplomatist,  eldest  son 
of  William  Brabazon  Ponsonby,  first  baron 
Ponsonby  [q.  v.],  and  brother  of  Sir  William 
Ponsonby  [q.  v.],  was  born  about  1770.  He 
was  possibly  the  John  Brabazon  Ponsonby 
who  was  successively  member  for  Tallagh, 
co.  Waterford,  in  the  Irish  parliament  of 
1797,  for  Dungarvan,  1798-1800,  and  for 
Galway  town,  in  the  first  parliament  of  the 
United  Kingdom,  1801-2.  On  the  death  of 
his  father  on  5  Nov.  1806  he  succeeded  him 
as  second  Baron  Ponsonby,  and  for  some  time 
held  an  appointment  in  the  Ionian  Islands. 
On  28  Feb.  1826  he  went  to  Buenos  Ayres 
as  envoy-extraordinary  and  minister-pleni- 
potentiary, and  removed  to  Rio  Janiero  in 
the  same  capacity  on  12  Feb.  1828.  An  ex- 
ceptionally handsome  man,  he  was  sent,  it 
was  reported,  to  South  America  by  George 
Canning  to  please  George  IV,  who  was  envious 
of  the  attention  paid  him  by  Lady  Conyng- 
ham.  He  was  entrusted  with  a  special  mission 


to  Belgium  on  1  Dec.  1830,  in  connection 
with  the  candidature  of  Prince  Leopold  of 
Saxe-Coburg  to  the  throne,  and  remained  in 
Brussels  until  Leopold  was  elected  king  of 
the  Belgians  on  4  June  1831.  His  dealings 
with  this  matter  were  adversely  criticised  in 
'  The  Guet-a-Pens  Diplomacy,  or  Lord  Pon- 
sonby at  Brussels,  .  .  .' London,  1831.  But 
Lord  Grey  eulogised  him  in  the  House  of 
Lords  on  25  June  1831.  Ponsonby  was 
envoy  at  Naples  from  8  June  to  9  Nov.  1832, 
ambassador  at  Constantinople  from  27  Nov. 
1832  to  1  March  1837,  and  ambassador  at 
Vienna  from  10  Aug.  1846  to  31  May  1850. 

Through  Lord  Grey,  who  had  married  his 
sister  Mary  Elizabeth,  he  had  great  influence, 
but  his  conduct  as  an  ambassador  sometimes 
occasioned  embarrassment  to  the  ministry. 
He  was,  however,  a  keen  diplomatist  of  the 
old  school,  a  shrewd  observer,  and  a  man  of 
large  views  and  strong  will  (LoFTTJS,  Diplo- 
matic Reminiscences,  1892,  i.  129-30).  He 
was  gazetted  G.C.B.  on  3  March  1834,  and 
created  Viscount  Ponsonby  of  Imokilly,  co. 
Cork,  on  20  April  1839.  He  published  '  Pri- 
vate Letters  on  the  Eastern  Question,  written 
at  the  date  thereon/  Brighton,  1854,  and  died 
at  Brighton  on  21  Feb.  1855.  The  viscounty 
thereupon  lapsed,  but  the  barony  devolved 
on  his  nephew  William,  son  of  Sir  William 
Ponsonby.  The  viscount  married,  on  1 3  Jan. 
1803,  Elizabeth  Frances  Villiers,  fifth  daugh- 
ter of  George,  fourth  earl  of  Jersey.  She  died 
at  62  Chester  Square,  London,  on  14  April 
1866,  having  had  no  issue. 

RICHAED  PONSONBY  (1772-1853),  bishop 
of  Derry,  brother  of  the  above,  was  born  at 
Dublin  in  1772,  and  educated  at  Dublin  Uni- 
versity, where  he  graduated  B.A.  in  1794, 
and  M.A.  in  1816.  During  1795  he  was  or- 
dained deacon  and  priest,  and  was  appointed 
prebendary  of  Tipper  in  St.  Patrick's  Ca- 
thedral. He  succeeded  by  patent  to  the  pre- 
centorship  of  St.  Patrick's  on  25  July  1806, 
and  became  dean  on  3  June  1817.  In  Fe- 
bruary 1828  he  was  consecrated  bishop  of 
Killaloe  and  Kilfenora,  was  translated  to 
Derry  on  21  Sept.  1831,  and  became  also 
bishop  of  Raphoe,  in  pursuance  of  the  Church 
Temporalities  Act,  in  September  1834.  He 
was  president  of  the  Church  Education  So- 
ciety, and  died  at  the  palace,  Derry,  on  27  Oct. 
1853.  He  married,  in  1804,  his  cousin  Fran- 
ces, second  daughter  of  the  Right  Hon.  John 
Staples.  She  died  on  15  Dec.  1858,  having 
had  issue  William  Brabazon,  fourth  and  last 
baron  Ponsonby,  who  died  on  board  his  yacht, 
the  Lufra,  off  Plymouth,  on  10  Sept.  1866 
(Gent.  Mag.  1853  ii.  630,  1866  ii.  545; 
COTTON,  Fasti  Eccl  Hib.  1847,  i.  409,  ii.  107, 
160,  iii.  328,  358,  Suppl.  1878,  p.  109). 


Ponsonby 


Ponsonby 


[Lamington's  Days  of  the  Dandies,  1890,  pp. 
75-9;  G rev ille  Memoirs,  1874  ii.  155,  172,  iii. 
405  ;  Malmesbury's  Memoirs  of  an  Ex-Minister, 

1885,  p.  345;  Foreign  Office  List,  1855,  p.  66; 
Gent.  Mag.  April  1855,  p.  414  ;  Burke's  Peerage, 
1854  p.  806,  1877  p.  1329;  Doyle's  Baronage, 

1886,  iii.  55 ;  Sir  H?  Lytton  Bulwer's  Historical 
Characters,    1868,   ii.    369-70;  Morning  Post, 
24  Feb.    1855,  p.  6;  Gent.  Mag.  April  1855, 
p.  414.]  G.  C.  B. 

PONSONBY,  JOHN  WILLIAM,  fourth 
EARL  OF  BESSBOROUGH  (1781-1847),  eldest 
son  of  Frederick,  the  third  earl,  by  his  wife, 
Lady  Henrietta  Frances  Spencer,  second 
daughter  of  John,  first  earl  Spencer,  and 
grandson  of  William  Ponsonby,  second  earl 
of  Bessborough  [q.  v.],  was  born  on  31  Aug. 
1781.  In  early  life  he  bore  the  courtesy  title 
of  Lord  Duncannon.  He  matriculated  from 
Christ  Church,  Oxford  on  14  Oct.  1799,  and 
was  created  M.  A.  on  23  June  1802.  In  1805 
he  entered  parliament  in  the  whig  interest  for 
Knaresborough,  one  of  the  Duke  of  Devon- 
shire's seats ;  he  then  sat  for  Higham  Ferrers 
in  1806  and  1807,  and  for  Malton  from  1812 
to  1826,  both  the  latter  boroughs  belonging 
to  Earl  Fitzwilliam.  In  1826  he  contested 
Kilkenny,  and,  after  a  hard  struggle  with  his 
opponent,  Colonel  Butler,  he  was  returned, 
in.  spite  of  O'Connell's  opposition.  At  the 
election  of  1831  he  again  won  the  seat  by 
the  narrow  majority  of  sixty-one,  Bishop 
Doyle,  by  the  exercise  of  his  episcopal 
authority,  having  prevented  the  Roman 
catholic  priests  from  opposing  him.  Such  a 
victory  was  equivalent  to  a  defeat,  and  he 
did  not  risk  another  contest.  He  stood  at 
the  next  election  for  Nottingham,  and  was 
returned  by  a  very  large  majority.  A  warm 
supporter  of  catholic  emancipation  and  par- 
liamentary reform,  he  acted  as  chief  whip  of 
the  whig  party,  and  shared  in  its  councils  by 
virtue  of  his  shrewdness,  though  he  was  an 
unready  speaker,  and  held  aloof  from  debate. 
With  Lord  Durham,  Lord  John  Russell,  and 
Sir  James  Graham,  he  prepared  the  first  Re- 
form Bill  in  1830.  In  February  1831  he  was 
appointed  by  Lord  Grey  first  commissioner  of 
woods  and  forests,  and  was  sworn  of  the 
privy  council.  After  a  very  successful  tenure 
of  that  office  he  was  transferred  to  the  home 
office,  when  Lord  Melbourne,  his  brother-in- 
law,  succeeded  Lord  Grey  as  premier  in 
August  1834.  This  appointment  was  made 
to  conciliate  O'Connell,  now  a  friend  of 
Lord  Duncannon  (McCuLLAGH  TORRENS, 
Life  of  Lord  Melbourne,  ii.  17).  Duncannon 
had  introduced  O'Connell  on  taking  his  seat 
for  co.  Clare  in  1829,  when  O'Connell  refused 
to  take  the  oath.  Duncannon  was  called  up 
to  the  House  of  Lords  on  18  July  1834  as 


Baron  Duncannon  of  Bessborough,  and  re- 
tired from  office  with  his  colleagues  when 
Peel  became  premier  in  December  1834.  He 
returned  to  the  woods  and  forests  on  18  April 
1835,  when  Melbourne  resumed  the  premier- 
ship, and  held  also  the  office  of  lord  privy 
seal  till  1839.  As  first  commissioner,  Bess- 
borough  was  officially  responsible  for  the 
design  of  the  new  houses  of  parliament,  and 
took  an  active  part  in  the  improvement  of  the 
metropolis  [see  PENNETHORNE,  SIE  JAMES]. 

He  succeeded  to  the  earldom  of  Bess- 
borough  in  February  1844,  and  in  July  1846 
was  appointed  lord  lieutenant  of  Ireland, 
the  first  resident  Irish  landlord  who  had 
held  that  office  for  a  generation.  His  good 
relations  with  O'Connell  recommended  him 
for  the  post.  Though  he  held  it  only  two 
years,  he  was  active  and  successful  in  coping 
with  disaffection.  He  died  on  16  May  1847 
at  Dublin  Castle  of  hydrothorax,  and  was 
privately  buried  in  the  family  vault  at  Bess- 
borough  (Greville  Memoirs,  2nd  ser.  iii.  80). 
He  was  married  in  London,  on  11  Nov.  1805, 
to  Lady  Maria  Fane,  third  daughter  of  John, 
tenth  earl  of  Westmorland,  by  whom  he 
had  eight  sons  and  six  daughters.  His  second 
son,  Frederick  George  Brabazon,  sixth  earl 
of  Bessborough,  and  his  daughter,  Lady 
Emily  Charlotte  Mary  Ponsonby,  are  sepa- 
rately noticed. 

Bessborough  was  held  in  general  esteem 
for  his  high  principle,  easy  manners,  manage- 
ment of  men,  good  sense,  accurate  informa- 
tion, and  industry.  In  an  elaborate  estimate 
of  his  character,  his  friend  Charles  Greville 
says  of  him  (Memoirs,  2nd  ser.  iii.  83)  :  *  He 
had  a  remarkably  calm  and  unruffled  temper, 
and  very  good  sound  sense.  The  consequence 
was  that  he  was  consulted  by  everybody, 
and  usually  and  constantly  employed  in  the 
arrangement  of  difficulties,  the  adjustment 
of  rival  pretensions,  and  the  reconciliation 
of  differences.  .  .  .  In  his  administration, 
adverse  and  unhappy  as  the  times  were,  he 
displayed  great  industry,  firmness,  and  know- 
ledge of  the  character  and  circumstances  of 
the  Irish  people,  and  he  conciliated  the  good- 
will of  those  to  whom  he  had  been  all  his 
life  opposed.' 

[Greville  Memoirs  ;  Fitzpatrick's  Correspon- 
dence of  O'Connell;  Gent.Mag.  1847,ii.81;  Ann. 
Reg.  1847;  Times,  19  May  1847.]  J.  A.  H. 

PONSONBY,  HON.  SARAH  (1755?- 
1831),  recluse  of  Llangollen.  [See  under 
BUTLER,  LADY  ELEANOR.] 

PONSONBY,WILLIAM  (1546  P-1604), 
publisher,  was  apprenticed  for  ten  vears  from 
25  Dec.  1560  to  William  Norton  [q.  v.],  the 
printer  (ARBER,  i.  148).  He  was  admitted 


Ponsonby 


88 


Ponsonby 


to  the  Stationers'  Company  on  11  Jan.  1571, 
and  in  1577  began  business  on  his  own  ac- 
count at  the  sign  of  the  Bishop's  Head  in  St. 
Paul's  Churchyard.  He  engaged  his  first  ap- 
prentice, Paul  Linley,  on  25  March  1576,  and 
his  second.  Edward  Blount  [q.  v.J,  on  24  June 
1578.  His  earliest  publication,  for  which 
he  secured  a  license  on  17  June  1577,  was 
'  Praise  and  Dispraise  of  Women,'  by  John 
Alday  [q.  v.]  A  few  political  and  religious 
tracts  followed  in  the  next  five  years.  In 
1582  Ponsonby  issued  the  first  part  of  Robert 
Greene's  romance,  '  Mamillia,'  and  in  1584 
the  same  author's  l  Gwydonius.'  At  the  end 
of  1586  he  sought  permission,  through  Sir 
Fulke  Greville,  to  publish  Sidney's  'Arcadia,' 
which  was  then  being  generally  circulated 
in  manuscript.  His  proposal  was  not  re- 
ceived with  much  enthusiasm  by  Sidney's 
representatives,  but  Ponsonby  secured  a 
license  for  its  publication  on  23  Aug.  1588, 
and  in  1590  he  published  it.  He  liberally 
edited  and  rearranged  the  text.  A  new 
issue  of  1 593, '  augmented  and  ended,'  intro- 
duced a  few  changes,  but  in  1598  Sidney's 
sister,  the  countess  of  Pembroke,  by  arrange- 
ment with  Ponsonby,  revised  the  whole  and 
added  Sidney's  '  Apologie  for  Poetrie'  and  his 
poetic  remains.  Ponsonby  had  in  1595  dis- 
puted the  claims  of  Henry  Olney  to  publish 
the  first  edition  of  Sidney's  'Apologie  for  Poe- 
trie,'but  the  first  edition  came  from  Olney's 
press.  With  the  Countess  of  Pembroke  he 
seems  to  have  been  on  friendly  terms,  and  in 
1592  published  for  her,  in  a  single  volume,  her 
translations  of  De  Mornay's  '  Life  and  Death ' 
and  Garnier's  'Antonius.'  The  first  piece 
Ponsonby  reissued  separately  in  1600. 

Ponsonby  chiefly  owes  his  fame  to  his 
association  with  Spenser.  No  less  than  ten 
volumes  of  Spenser's  work  appeared  under 
his  auspices.  In  1590  he  published  the  first 
three  books  of  Spenser's '  Faerie  Queene,'and 
next  year  he  brought  together  on  his  own  re- 
sponsibility various  unpublished  pieces  by 
Spenser  in  a  volume  to  which  he  gave  the 
title  of  '  Complaints.'  He  prefixed  an  ad- 
dress to  the  reader  of  his  own  composition. 
Subsequently  he  issued  in  separate  volumes 
'The  Tears  of  the  Muses'  and  'Daphnaida,' 
both  in  1591 ;  '  Amoretti '  and  '  Colin  Clout's 
come  home  again'  in  1595;  and  in  1596  the 
fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  books  of  the  'Faerie 
Queene,'  as  well  as  a  collected  edition  of  the 
six  books,  and  two  other  volumes,  respec- 
tively entitled  '  Fowre  Hymns '  and  '  Pro- 
thalamion.' 

He  was  admitted  to  the  livery  of  his 
company  on  6  May  1588,  and  acted  as  warden 
in  1597-8.  His  latest  appearance  in  the 
Stationers'  '  Registers '  is  as  one  of  the  pro- 


prietors of  a  new  edition  of  Sir  Thomas 
North's  great  translation  of  Plutarch,  5  July 
1602.  He  died  before  September  1604,  when 
his  chief  copyrights  were  transferred  to 
Simon  Waterson.  They  included,  besides 
the  '  Arcadia '  and  the  '  Faerie  Queen,'  Cle- 
ment Edmonds's  '  Caesar's  Commentaries,' 
and  the  Countess  of  Pembroke's  translation 
of  De  Mornay's  '  Life  and  Death.' 

[Arber's  Registers  of  the  Stationers'  Company, 
passim,  especially  ii.  35,  866,  iii.  269;  Biblio- 
graphica,  i.  475-8;  Collier's  Bibliographical 
Catalogue,  ii.  346  sqq.]  S.  L. 

PONSONBY,  WILLIAM,  second  EARL 
OP  BESSBOROITGH  (1704-1793),  born  in  1704, 
was  eldest  son  of  Brabazon,  first  earl  of  Bess- 
borough,  by  his  first  wife,  Sarah,  widow  of 
Hugh  Colville  of  Newtown,  co.  Down,  and 
daughter  of  Major  John  Margetson  (son  and 
heir  of  James  Margetson  [q.v.],  archbishop 
of  Armagh).  John  Ponsonby  [q.  v.],  speaker 
of  the  Irish  House  of  Commons,  was  his 
youngest  brother.  'William  was  elected  to 
the  Irish  House  of  Commons  in  1725  for  the 
borough  of  Newtown.  At  the  general  elec- 
tion in  1727  he  was  returned  for  the  county 
of  Kilkenny,  which  he  continued  to  represent 
until  his  father's  death  in  July  1758.  In  1739 
he  was  appointed  secretary  to  his  father- 
in-law,  William,  third  duke  of  Devonshire, 
then  lord  lieutenant  of  Ireland,  and  in  1741 
was  sworn  a  member  of  the  Irish  privy 
council.  In  March  1742  he  was  elected  to 
the  British  House  of  Commons  for  Derby, 
and  continued  to  represent  that  town  until 
the  dissolution  in  April  1754.  He  was 
appointed  a  lord  of  the  admiralty  on  24  June 
1746,  and  at  the  general  election  in  April 
1754  was  elected  for  Saltash,  but  vacated 
his  seat  for  that  borough  in  November  1756 
on  his  promotion  from  the  admiralty  to  the 
treasury  board.  He  was  returned  to  the 
House  of  Commons  for  Harwich  at  a  by- 
election  in  December  1756,  and  succeeded 
to  the  peerage  on  the  death  of  his  father  on 
4  July  1758.  Bessborough  took  his  seat  in 
the  English  House  of  Lords  as  second  Baron 
Ponsonby  of  Sysonby  in  the  county  of 
Leicester  on  23  Nov.  1758  (Journals  of  the 
House  of  Lords,  xxix.391).  He  was  appointed 
joint  postmaster-general  on  2  June  1759, 
'being  succeeded  at  the  treasury  by  Lord 
North  (Chatham  Correspondence,  1838-40, 
i.  409).  On  the  dismissal  of  his  brother-in- 
law,  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  from  the  post 
of  lord  chamberlain,  in  October  1762,  Bess- 
borough  resigned  office. 

He  attended  the  meeting  of  whig  leaders 
held  at  the  Duke  of  Newcastle's  on  30  June 
1765  (LORD  ALBEMARLE,  Memoirs  of  the 


Ponsonby 


89 


Ponsonby 


Marquis  of  Eockingham,  1852,  i.  218-20), 
and  on  12  July  following  kissed  hands  on 
his  reappointment  as  joint  postmaster-general 
(Grenville  Papers,  1852-3,  iii.  217),  being 
at  the  same  time  sworn  a  member  of  the 
privy  council.  On  25  Nov.  1766  Bessborough 
offered  to  resign  the  post  office  in  favour  of 
Lord  Edgcumbe,  who  had  been  dismissed 
from  the  treasurership  of  the  household,  and 
to  accept  a  place  in  the  bedchamber  instead. 
His  offer,  however,  was  refused,  and  Bess- 
borough  thereupon  resigned  (Chatham  Cor- 
respondence, iii.  130).  In  company  with  the 
Duke  of  Devonshire,  and  Lords  Bocking- 
ham,  Fitzwilliam,  and  Fitzpatrick,  he  pro- 
tested strongly  against  the  proposed  Irish 
absentee  tax  in  1773  (FROTJDE,  English  in 
Ireland,  1872-4,  ii.  150,  152).  He  died  on 
11  March  1793,  and  was  buried  on  the  22nd 
of  the  same  month  in  the  family  vault  of  the 
Dukes  of  Devonshire  in  All  Saints'  Church, 
Derby,  where  there  are  monumental  busts 
of  him  and  his  wife  by  Nollekens  and  Rys- 
brach  respectively. 

He  married,  on  5  July  1739,  Lady  Caroline 
Cavendish,  eldest  daughter  of  William,  third 
duke  of  Devonshire,  by  whom  he  had  five 
sons — all  of  whom  died  young  with  the  ex- 
ception of  Frederic,  viscount  Duncannon 
(born  24  Jan.  1758),  who  succeeded  as  third 
Earl  of  Bessborough,  and  died  on  3  Feb.  1844, 
and  whose  son,  John  William,  fourth  earl,  is 
separately  noticed — and  six  daughters,  all  of 
whom  died  young  with  the  exception  of  Cathe- 
rine, who  married,  on  4  May  1763,  the  Hon. 
Aubrey  Beauclerk  (afterwards  fifth  Duke  of 
St.  Albans),  and  died  on  4  Sept.  1789,  aged 
46;  and  Charlotte,  who  married  on  11  July 
1770  William,  fourth  earl  Fitzwilliam, 
and  died  on  13  May  1822,  aged  74.  Lady 
Bessborough  died  on  20  Jan.  1760,  aged  40, 
and  was  buried  in  All  Saints',  Derby. 

There  is  no  record  of  any  speech  delivered 
by  Bessborough  in  either  the  Irish  or  British 
parliaments,  though  he  signed  a  number  of 

Protests  in  the  British  House  of  Lords  (see 
tOGERS,  Complete  Collection  of  the  Protests 
of  the  Lords,  1875,  vol.  ii.)  He  was  ap- 
pointed a  trustee  of  the  British  Museum  in 
1770.  The  pictures  at  his  house  in  Pall  Mall, 
and  the  antiques  at  Bessborough  House, 
Roehampton.  which  Bessborough  and  his 
father  had  collected,  were  sold  at  Christie's 
in  1801 .  A  catalogue  (in  French)  of  his  gems 
was  published  by  Laurent  Natter  in  1761 
(London,  4to).  A  portrait  of  Bessborough 
was  painted  by  George  Knapton  for  the  Dilet- 
tanti Society,  and  there  is  a  mezzotint  en- 
graving by  R.  Dunkarton  after  J.  S.  Copley. 
[Walpole's  Memoirs  of  the  Reign  of  George  III, 
1845,  i.  200-1,  ii.  22,  194,381-2,  395;  Walpole's 


Letters,  1857-9  passim  ;  Glover's  Hist,  of  Derby- 
shire, 1833,  vol.  ii.pt.  i.  p.  491  ;  Cox  and  Hope's 
Chronicles  of  All  Saints',  Derby,  1881,  pp.  129, 
132,133;  Nichols's  Leicestershire,  1795-1815, 
vol.  ii.  pt.  i.  p.  283;  Brayley  and  Britton's 
Surrey,  1850,  iii.  483 ;  Ljsons's  Environs  of 
London,  1792,  i.  433-4,  Supplement,  1811, 
p.  64;  G-.  E.  C.'s  Complete  Peerage,  i.  351-2  ; 
Edmondson's  Baronagium  Genealog.  v.  448 ; 
Foster's  Peerage,  1883,  p.  78;  Lodge's  Peerage 
of  Ireland,  1789,  ii.  281-2;  Collins's  Peerage, 
1812,  vii.  265-7;  Gent.  Mag.  1760  p.  46,  1763 
p.  257,  1770  p.  344,  1789  pt.  ii.  p.  866,  1793 
pt.  i.  p.  285, 1801  pt.  i.  pp.  323-4,  pt.  ii.  p.  783, 
1822  pt.  i.  p.  472,  1844,  pt.  ii.  p.  87;  Official 
Return  of  Membersof  Parliament, pt.ii. ;  Haydn's 
Book  of  Dignities,  1890.]  G.  F.  R.  B. 

PONSONBY,  SIE  WILLIAM  (1772- 
1815),  major-general,  born  in  1772,  was  the 
second  son  of  William  Brabazon  Ponsonby, 
first  baron  Ponsonby  [q.  v.],  by  the  Hon. 
Louisa  Molesworth,  fourth  daughter  of  the 
third  Viscount  Molesworth.  John,  first  vis- 
count Ponsonby  [q.  v.],  was  his  eldest 
brother.  Sir  William  was  second  cousin  of 
Sir  Frederic  Cavendish  Ponsonby  [q.  v.], 
both  being  great-grandsons  of  the  first  Earl 
of  Bessborough.  After  serving  for  a  year  and 
a  half  as  ensign  and  lieutenant  in  the  inde- 
pendent companies  of  Captain  Bulwer  and 
Captain  Davis,  he  obtained  a  company  in  the 
83rd  foot  in  September  1794,  and  on  15  Dec. 
of  that  year  became  major  in  the  loyal  Irish 
fencibles.  On  1  March  1798  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  5th  dragoon  guards,  and  obtained 
the  command  of  that  regiment  on  24  Feb. 
1803,  having  become  lieutenant-colonel  in 
the  army  on  1  Jan.  1800.  He  became  colonel 
on  25  July  1810.  Up  to  this  time  he  had 
seen  no  foreign  service,  but  in  1811  he  went  to 
Spain  with  his  regiment,  which  formed  part 
of  Le  Marchant's  brigade.  His  was  the  lead- 
ing regiment  of  that  brigade  in  the  affair  at 
Llerena  on  11  April  1812  [see  PONSONBY,  SIR 
FREDERIC  CAVENDISH],  and  he  won  the  com- 
mendation of  Sir  Stapleton  Cotton.  At  Sala- 
manca he  took  part  at  the  head  of  his  regi- 
ment in  the  charge  of  the  brigade  which  broke 
up  the  French  left  and  took  two  thousand 
prisoners,  and  after  the  fall  of  General  Le 
Marchant  in  that  charge  he  succeeded  to  the 
command  of  the  brigade.  He  was  defini- 
tively appointed  to  this  command  three  days 
afterwards,  25  July  1812,  and  he  led  the 
brigade  at  Vittoria.  He  was  promoted  major- 
general  on  4  June  1813,  and  on  2  Jan.  1815 
he  was  made  K.C.B. 

In  the  campaign  of  1815  he  was  given 
command  of  the  Union  brigade  of  heavy 
cavalry  (Royals,  Scots  Greys,  and  Inniskil- 
lings),  and  led  it  at  Waterloo  in  the  famous 
charge  on  d'Erlon's  shattered  corps.  Lord 


Ponsonby 


Ponsonby 


Anglesey's  order  was  that  the  Eoyals  and 
Inmskillings  should  charge  and  the  Greys 
should  support,  but  the  latter  came  up  into 
front  line  before  the  other  regiments  were 
halfway  down  the  slope.  The  French  columns 
broke  up,  and  two  thousand  prisoners  were 
taken.  Sir  De  Lacy  Evans,  who  was  acting 
as  extra  A.D.C.  to  Ponsonby,  says:  'The 
enemy  fled  as  a  flock  of  sheep  across  the  valley, 
quite  at  the  mercy  of  the  dragoons.  In  fact 
our  men  were  out  of  hand.  The  general  of 
the  brigade,  his  staff,  and  every  officer  within 
hearing  exerted  themselves  to  the  utmost  to 
re-form  the  men ;  but  the  helplessness  of  the 
enemy  offered  too  great  a  temptation  to  the 
dragoons,  and  our  efforts  were  abortive.' 
They  mounted  the  ridge  on  which  the  French 
artillery  were  drawn  up,  and,  meeting  two 
batteries  which  had  moved  forward,  sabred 
the  gunners  and  overturned  the  guns.  The 
household  cavalry  brigade,  which  had  charged 
at  the  same  time  on  the  right,  became  to  some 
extent  intermixed  with  the  Union  brigade. 
Napoleon,  seeing  the  situation,  sent  two  regi- 
ments of  cuirassiers  to  fall  on  the  front  and 
flank  of  the  disordered  cavalry,  and  they  were 
.j  oined  by  a  regiment  of  Polish  lancers.  '  Every 
one,'  says  Evans,  '  saw  what  must  happen. 
Those  whose  horses  were  best,  or  least  blown, 
got  away.  Some  attempted  to  escape  back 
to  our  position  by  going  round  the  left  of 
the  French  lancers.  Sir  William  Ponsonby 
was  of  that  number'  (  Waterloo  Letters,}*.  61). 
He  might  have  escaped  if  he  had  been  better 
mounted,  but  the  groom  with  his  chestnut 
charger  could  not  be  found  at  the  moment 
of  the  charge,  and  he  was  riding  a  small  bay 
hack  which  soon  stuck  fast  in  the  heavy 
ground.  Seeing  he  must  be  overtaken,  he 
was  handing  over  his  watch  and  a  miniature 
to  his  brigade-major  to  deliver  to  his  family, 
when  the  French  lancers  came  up  and  killed 
them  both  on  the  spot.  He  was  buried  at 
Kensington,  in  the  vault  of  the  Molesworth 
family,  and  a  national  monument  was  erected 
to  him  in  St.  Paul's.  The  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton, in  his  report  of  the  battle,  expressed  his 
'  grief  for  the  fate  of  an  officer  who  had 
already  rendered  very  brilliant  and  important 
services,  and  was  an  ornament  to  his  pro- 
fession.' 

Ponsonby  married,  20  Jan.  1807,  the  Hon. 
Georgiana  Fitzroy,  sixth  daughter  of  the  first 
Lord  Southampton,  and  he  left  one  son,  Wil- 
liam, who  succeeded  his  uncle  John  Ponsonby 
as  third  Baron  Ponsonby — a  title  now  ex- 
tinct— and  four  daughters. 

[G-ent.  Mag.  1815;  Burke's  Extinct  Peerages ; 
Records  of  the  5th  Dragoon  Guards ;  Siborne's 
Waterloo  Letters ;  Statement  of  Service  in  Public 
Eecord  Office.]  E.  M.  L. 


PONSONBY,  WILLIAM  BRABAZON, 

first  BARON  PONSONBY  (1744-1806),  born  on 
15  Sept.  1744,  was  the  eldest  son  of  the  Right 
Hon.  John  Ponsonby  [q.  v.],  speaker  of  the 
Irish  House  of  Commons,  by  his  wife,  Lady 
Elizabeth  Cavendish,  second  daughter  of 
William,  third  duke  of  Devonshire.  George 
Ponsonby  [q.  v.],  lord  chancellor  of  Ireland, 
was  his  brother.  He  was  returned  in  1764  to 
the  Irish  House  of  Commons  for  Cork  city, 
which  he  continued  to  represent  until  the 
dissolution  in  1776.  He  represented  Bandon 
Bridge  from  1776  to  1783.  At  the  general 
election  in  1783  he  was  returned  both  for 
Newtown  and  Kilkenny  county,  but  elected 
to  sit  for  Kilkenny,  and  continued  to  repre- 
sent that  county  until  his  elevation  to  the 
peerage.  He  voted  against  Flood's  Parliamen- 
tary Reform  Bill  on  29  Nov.  1783  (Life  and 
Times  of  Henry  G rattan,  iii.  150-4  n.},  and 
in  July  1784  was  appointed  joint  postmaster- 
general  of  Ireland  and  sworn  a  member  of 
the  Irish  privy  council.  Having  declared 
his  opinion  that  the  house  ought  '  to  invest 
the  Prince  of  Wales  as  regent  with  all  the 
authority  of  the  crown  fully  and  imlimitedly ' 
(Parl.  Register,  or  History  of  the  Proceedings 
and  Debates  in  the  House  of  Commons  of 
Ireland,  ix.  22),  he  was  selected  as  one  of 
the  bearers  of  the  address  to  the  prince, 
which  the  lord  lieutenant  refused  to  transmit. 
He  joined  those  who  opposed  the  Marquis  of 
Buckingham's  policy  in  signing  the  round- 
robin  agreement  of  27  Feb.  1789  (BARRING- 
TON",  Historic  Memoirs  of  Ireland,  1833,  vol. 
ii.  opp.  p.  377),  and  was  shortly  afterwards 
removed  from  the  office  of  postmaster- 
general.  He  was  elected  an  original  mem- 
ber of  the  whig  club  founded  in  Dublin 
on  26  June  1789.  On  4  March  1794  he 
brought  forward  a  parliamentary  reform 
bill,  which  was  substantially  the  same  as 
the  bill  which  he  had  introduced  in  the 
previous  year,  its  principal  features  being 
the  extension  of  the  right  of  voting  in  the 
boroughs,  and  the  addition  of  a  third  mem- 
ber to  each  of  the  counties  and  to  the  cities 
of  Dublin  and  Cork  (Parl.  Reg.  &c.,  xiv. 
62-8).  It  was  warmly  supported  by  Grattan, 
but  was  rejected  by  the  house  by  a  majority 
of  ninety-eight  votes.  Ponsonby  appears  to 
have  been  recommended  by  Fitzwilliam  for 
the  post  of  principal  secretary  of  state  in 
1795  (LECKY,  History  of  England,  vii.  57). 
In  May  1797  he  brought  forward  a  series  of 
resolutions  in  favour  of  reform,  but  was  de- 
feated by  117  votes  to  30  (ib.  vii.  324-8). 
He  voted  against  the  union  in  1799  and  in 
1800  (BARRINGTON,  Historic  Memoirs  of  Ire- 
land, ii.  374).  On  16  March  1801  he  took 
part  in  the  debate  on  the  Irish  Martial 


Pont 


Pont 


Law  Bill,  and  warned  the  house  that  '  it 
would   be    the  wisest  policy  to  treat   the 

nle  of  Ireland  like  the  people  of  Eng- 
'  (Parl.  Hist.  xxxv.  1037-8).  He  was 
created  Baron  Ponsonby  of  Imokilly  in  the 
county  of  York  on  13  March  1806.  He  took 
his  seat  in  the  House  of  Lords  on  25  April 
(Journals  of  the  House  of  Lords,  xlv.  574), 
but  never  took  any  part  in  the  debates.  He 
died  in  Seymour  Street,  Hyde  Park,  London, 
on  5  Nov.  1806. 

Ponsonby  was  a  staunch  whig  and  a  steady 
adherent  of  Charles  James  Fox.  He  is  said 
to  have  kept  *  the  best  hunting  establishment 
in  Ireland/  at  Bishop's  Court,  co.  Kildare, 
where  he  lived  '  in  the  most  hospitable  and 
princely  style'  (Gent.  Mag.  1806,  pt.  ii.  p. 
1084).  He  married,  in  December  1769,  Louisa, 
fourth  daughter  of  Richard,  third  viscount 
Molesworth,by  whom  he  had  five  sons — viz. : 

(1)  John  Ponsonby,  viscount  Ponsonby  [q.v.] ; 

(2)  Sir  William  Ponsonby  [q.v.];  (3)  Richard 
Ponsonby  [see  under  PONSONBY,  JOHN,  VIS- 
COUNT PONSOKBY]  ;  (4)  George  Ponsonby  of 
Woolbeding,  near  Midhurst,  Sussex,  some- 
time a  lord  of  the  treasury,  who  died  on  5  June 
1863 ;  and  (5)  Frederick,  who  died  unmarried 
in  1849 — and  one  daughter,  Mary  Elizabeth, 
who  married,  on  17  Nov.  1794,  Charles  Grey 
(afterwards  second  Earl  Grey),  and  died  on 
26  Nov.  1861,  aged  86.    Lady  Ponsonby  mar- 
ried, secondly,  on  21  July  1823,  William, 
fourth  earl  Fitzwilliam,  and  died  on  1  Sept. 
1824. 

[Authorities  cited  in  text ;  Hardy's  Memoirs 
of  the  Earl  of  Charlemont,  1812,  ii.  186,214-15; 
Lodge's  Irish  Peerage,  1789,  ii.  279  ; 
Collins's  Peerage,  1812,  ix.  343-4;  Foster's 
Peerage,  1883,  pp.  77-8  ;  Burke's  Extinct  Peer- 
age, 1883,  p.  617;  G-ent.  Mag.  1794  pt.  ii. 
p.  1054,  1806  pt.  ii.  pp.  1248-9,  1823  pt.  ii. 
p.  368,  1853  pt.  ii.  pp.  630-1,  1862  pt.  i.  p.  105  ; 
Official  Keturn  of  Lists  of  Members  of  Parlia- 
ment, pt.  ii.;  Haydn's  Book  of  Dignities,  1890, 
p.  564.]  G.  F.  E.  B. 

POJSTT,  KYLPONT,  or  KYNPONT, 
ROBERT  (1524-1606),  Scottish  reformer, 
born  in  1524  at  or  near  Culross,  Perthshire 
(BUCHANAN,  De  Scriptoribus  Scotis  Illustri- 
bus),  was  the  son  of  John  Pont  of  Shyresmill 
and  Catherine  Murray,  said  to  be  a  daughter 
of  Murray  of  Tullibardine  (Blackadder's  ma- 
nuscript memoirs  in  Advocates'  Library, 
Edinburgh,  quoted  in  App.  A  to  WODEOW'S 
Collections  upon  the  Lives  of  the  Reformers}. 
The  statement  of  Dr.  Andrew  Crichton  (note 
in  Life  of  the  Rev.  John  Blackadder)  that  the 
father  was  a  Venetian,  who,  having  been 
banished  for  his  adherence  to  the  protestant 
faith,  arrived  in  Scotland  in  the  train  of  Mary 
of  Guise,  is  essentially  improbable,  as  well  as 


inconsistent  with  well-known  facts  ;  and  the 
evidence  for  the  statement  has  not  been  ad- 
duced. The  son  received  his  early  education 
in  the  school  of  Culross,  and  in  1543  was  in- 
corporated in  the  college  of  St.  Leonards  in 
the  university  of  St.  Andrews.  On  com- 
pleting the  course  of  philosophy  there  he  is 
supposed  to  have  studied  law  at  one  of  the 
universities  on  the  continent.  Nothing,  how- 
ever, is  definitely  known  of  his  career  until 
1559,  when  he  was  settled  in  St.  Andrews, 
and  acted  as  an  elder  of  the  kirk  session 
there.  As  a  commissioner  from  St.  Andrews 
he  was  present  at  a  meeting  of  the  first  gene- 
ral assembly  of  the  reformers  at  Edinburgh 
on  20  Dec.  1560  (CALDEEWOOD,  Hist,  of  the 
Kirk  of  Scotland,  ii.  44),  and  he  was  one  of 
twenty  within  the  bounds  of  St.  Andrews 
declared  by  this  assembly  to  be  qualified  for 
ministry  and  teaching  (ib.  p.  46).  The  esti- 
mation in  which  he  was  held  was  evidenced 
by  his  being  chosen  one  of  a  committee  to 
'  sight '  or  revise  the  '  Book  of  Discipline,' 
printed  in  1561  (ib.  p.  94).  At  a  meeting  of 
the  general  assembly  in  July  1562  Pont  was 
appointed  to  minister  the  word  and  sacra- 
ments at  Dunblane,  and  in  December  of  the 
same  year  he  was  appointed  minister  of  Dun- 
keld.  He  was  also  the  same  year  nominated, 
along  with  Alexander  Gordon  (1516P-1575) 
[q.  v.],  bishop  of  Galloway,  for  the  superin- 
tendentship  of  Galloway ;  but  the  election 
was  not  proceeded  with  (KNOX,  ii.  375 ; 
CALDEEWOOD,  ii.  207).  On  26  June  1563  he 
was  appointed  commissioner  of  Moray,  In- 
verness, and  Banff.  After  visiting  these  dis- 
tricts he  confessed  his  inability,  on  account 
of  his  ignorance  of  Gaelic,  properly  to  dis- 
charge his  duties,  and  desired  another  to  be 
appointed ;  but,  on  the  understanding  that 
he  was  not  to  be  burdened i  with  kirks  speak- 
ing the  Irish  tongue,'  he  accepted  a  renewal 
of  the  commission  (ib.  ii.  244-5).  To  the 
'Forme  of  Prayers,'  &c.,  authorised  by  the 
general  assembly  in  1564,  and  printed  in 
1565,  Pont  contributed  metrical  versions  of 
six  of  the  Psalms ;  and  at  a  meeting  of  the 
general  assembly  in  December  1566  his 
'  Translation  and  Explanation  of  the  Helve- 
tian Confession'  was  ordered  to  be  printed 
(ib.\\.  332;  Book  of  the  Universal  Kir7t,L  90). 
On  13  Jan.  1567  he  was  presented  to  the  par- 
sonage and  vicarage  of  Birnie,BanfFshire.  By 
the  assembly  which  met  in  December  1567  he 
was  commissioned  to  execute  sentence  of  ex- 
communication against  Adam  Bothwell,  bi- 
shop of  Orkney,  for  performing  the  marriage 
ceremony  between  the  Earl  of  Bothwell  and 
Queen  Mary ;  by  that  which  met  in  July  1568 
he  was  appointed  one  of  a  committee  to  revise 
the '  Treatise  of  Excommunication '  originally 


Pont 


Pont 


penned  by  Knox  (CALDEEWOOD,  ii.  424); 
and  by  that  of  1569  lie  was  named  one  of  a 
committee  to  proceed  against  the  Earl  of 
Huntly  for  his  adherence  to  popery.  By  the 
latter  of  these  assemblies  a  petition  was  pre- 
sented to  the  regent  and  council  that  Pont 
might  be  appointed  where  his  labours  might 
*  be  more  fruitful  than  they  can  be  at  present 
in  Moray'  (ib.  ii.  485) ;  and  in  July  1570  he 
also  craved  the  assembly  to  be  disburdened 
of  his  commission,  but  was  requested  to  con- 
tinue until  the  next  assembly.  At  the  as- 
sembly of  July  1570  he  acted  as  moderator. 
On  27  June  1571  he  was  appointed  provost 
of  Trinity  College,  near  Edinburgh.  He  at- 
tended the  convention  which  met  at  Leith 
in  January  1571-2,  and  by  this  convention 
he  was  permitted  to  accept  the  office  of  lord 
of  session  bestowed  on  him  by  the  regent 
Mar  on  account  of  his  great  knowledge  of 
the  laws.  The  license  was,  however, 
granted  only  on  condition  that  he  left  '  not 
the  office  of  the  ministry,'  and  it  was  more- 
over declared  that  the  license  was  not  to  be 
regarded  as  a  precedent  (ib.  iii.  169 ;  Book 
of  the  Universal  Kirk,  p.  54).  When,  there- 
fore, in  March  1572-3  the  regent  Morton 
proposed  that  several  other  ministers  should 
be  appointed  lords  of  session,  the  assembly 
prohibited  any  minister  from  accepting  such 
an  office,  Pont  alone  being  excepted  from  the 
inhibition  (ib.  p.  56).  Pont  was,  along  with 
John  Wynram,  commissioned  by  Knox  to 
communicate  his  last  wishes  to  the  general 
assembly  which  met  at  Perth  in  1572  (KNOX, 
Works,  vi.  620). 

In  1573  Pont  received  a  pension  out  of  the 
thirds  of  the  diocese  of  Moray.  At  the  as- 
sembly which  met  in  August  of  this  year  he 
was  l  delated  for  non-residence  in  Moray,  for 
not  visiting  kirks  for  two  years — except  In- 
verness, Elgin,  and  Forres — and  for  not  as- 
signing manses  and  glebes  according  to  act 
of  parliament ; '  and  at  the  assembly  held  in 
March  1574  he  demitted  his  office  '  in  re- 
spect that  George  Douglas,  bishop  of  Moray, 
was  admitted  to  the  bishopric'  (CALDEE- 
WOOD,  iii.  304).  The  same  year  he  was  trans- 
lated to  the  second  charge  of  St.  Cuthbert's 
(or  the  West  Church),  Edinburgh ;  and  in 
1578  to  the  first  charge  of  the  same  parish. 
He  was  chosen  moderator  of  the  general  as- 
sembly which  met  in  August  1575  ;  and  from 
this  time  he  occupied  a  position  of  great 
prominence  in  the  assembly's  deliberations, 
his  name  appearing  as  a  member  of  nearly  al] 
its  principal  committees  and  commissions. 

Pont  was  one  of  those  who,  after  the  fall 
of  Morton  in  1578,  accompanied  the  English 
ambassador  to  Stirling  to  arrange  an  agree- 
ment between  the  faction  of  Morton  and  the 


^action  of  Atlioll  and  Argyll ;  and  he  was 
also  one  of  those  who,  nominally  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  king, '  convened '  in  the  castle  of 
Stirling,  on  22  Dec.  1578,  for  the  prepara- 
tion of  articles  of  a  '  Book  of  Policy,'  after- 
wards known  as  the  '  Second  Book  of  Disci- 
aline.'     He  again  acted  as  moderator  at  the 
assembly  of  1581.   After  October  of  the  same 
year  he,  on  invitation,  became  minister  at 
St.  Andrews ;  but  for  want  of  an  adequate 
stipend  he  was  in  1583  relieved  of  this  charge, 
and  returned  to  that  of  St.  Cuthbert's,  Edin- 
burgh.   He  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  pro- 
ceedings in  1582  against  Robert  Montgomerie 
(d.  1609)  [q.  v.]  in  regard  to  his  appointment 
to  the  bishopric  of  Glasgow,  and  at  a  meet- 
ing of  the  privy  council  on  12  April  he  pro- 
tested in  the  name  of  the   presbyteries  of 
Edinburgh,  Stirling,  and  Dalkeith  that,  '  the 
cause  being  ecclesiastical,'  it  t  properly  ap- 
pertained to  the  judgement  and  jurisdiction 
of  the  kirk'  (Reg.  P.  C.  ScotL  iii.  477;  CAL- 
DEEWOOD, iii.  596-8).     In  1583  he  was  ap- 
pointed one  of  a  commission  for  collecting 
the  acts  of  the  assembly  (ib.  p.  712)  ;  and  the 
same  year  was  directed,  along  with  David 
Lindsay  and   John  Davidson,  to  admonish 
the  king  to  beware  of  innovations  in  religion 
(ib.  p.  717).     At  the  general  assembly  held 
at  Edinburgh  in  October  of  the  same  year  he 
again  acted  as  moderator.     When  the  acts 
of  parliament  regarding  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  kirk  were  proclaimed  at  the  market  cross 
of  Edinburgh  on  25  May  1584,  Pont,  along 
with  Walter  Balcanqual,  appeared  l  at  the 
appointment  of  their  brethren,'  and '  took  pub- 
lic documents  in  the  name  of  the  kirk  of 
Scotland  that  they  protested  against  them  ' 
(ib.  iv.  65).     For  this  he  was  on  the  27th 
deprived  of  his  seat  on  the  bench,  and  imme- 
diately thereafter  he  took  refuge  in  England. 
On  7  Nov.  he  was  summoned  by  the  privy 
council  to  appear  before  it  on  7  Dec.,  and 
give  reasons  for  not  subscribing  the  *  obliga- 
tion of  ecclesiastical  conformity '  (Reg.  P.  C. 
Scotl.  iii.  703).     Shortly  before  this  he  had 
returned  to  Scotland,  and  had  been  put  in 
ward,  but  not  long  afterwards  he  received  his 
liberty.     He  penned  the  f  Animadversions  of 
Offences  conceaved  upon  the  Acts  of  Parlia- 
ment made  in  the  Yeare  1584  in  the  Moneth 
of  May,  presented  by  the  Commissioners  of 
the  Kirk  to  the  King's  Majesty  at  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Linlithgow  in  December  1585.'     In 
May  1586  he  again  acted  as  moderator  of  the 
general  assembly.   In  1587  he  was  appointed 
by  the  king  to  the  bishopric  of  Caithness ; 
but,  on  his  referring  the  matter  to  the  gene- 
ral assembly,  it  refused  to   ratify  the   ap- 
pointment, on  the  ground  that  the'  office  was 
'  not  agreeable  to  the  word  of  God.'     The 


Pont 


93 


Pont 


same  year  he  was  appointed  by  the  assembly 
one  of  a  committee  for  collecting  the  various 
acts  of  parliament  against  papists,  with  a 
view  to  their  confirmation  on  the  king's 
coming  of  age  (CALDERWOOD,  iv.  627) ;  and 
in  1588  he  was  appointed  one  of  a  committee 
to  confer  with  six  of  the  king's  council  regard- 
ing the  best  methods  of  suppressing  papacy 
and  extending  the  influence  of  the  kirk  (ib. 
p.  652) ;  and  also  one  of  a  commission  to  visit 
the  northern  parts,  from  Dee  to  the  diocese  of 
Caithness  inclusive,  with  a  view  to  the  insti- 
tution of  proceedings  against  the  papists,  the 
planting  of  kirks  with  qualified  ministers,  and 
the  deposition  of  all  ministers  who  were  un- 
qualified, whether  in  life  or  doctrine  (ib.  pp. 
671-2).  On  15  Oct.  1589  he  was  appointed  by 
the  king  one  of  a  commission  to  try  beneficed 
persons  (ib.  v.  64).  He  was  one  of  those  sent 
by  the  presbytery  of  Edinburgh  to  hold  a 
conference  with  the  king  at  the  Tolbooth  on 
8  June  1591  regarding  the  king's  objections 
to  '  particular  reproofs  in  the  pulpit ; '  and 
replied  to  the  king's  claim  of  sovereign  judg- 
ment in  all  things  by  affirming  that  there 
was  a  judgment  above  his — namely, '  God's — 
put  in  the  hand  of  the  ministry  '  (ib.  pp.  130- 
131).  On  8  Dec.  he  was  deputed,  along  with 
other  two  ministers,  to  go  to  Holy  rood  Palace 
'  to  visit  the  king's  house/  when  after  various 
communications  they  urged  the  king '  to  have 
the  Scriptures  read  at  dinner  and  supper' 
(ib.  p.  139).  At  the  meeting  of  the  assembly 
at  Edinburgh  on  21  May  1592  he  was  ap- 
pointed one  of  a  committee  for  putting  cer- 
tain articles  in  reference  to  popery  and  the 
authority  of  the  kirk  '  in  good  form  '  (ib.  p. 
156).  When  the  Act  of  Abolition  granting 
pardon  to  the  Earls  of  Huntly,  Angus,  Erroll, 
and  other  papists  on  certain  conditions  was 
on  26  Nov.  1593  intimated  by  the  king  to 
the  ministers  of  Edinburgh,  Pont  proposed 
that  it  should  be  disannulled  rather  than  re- 
vised (ib.  289).  He  again  acted  as  mode- 
rator of  the  assembly  which  met  in  March 
1596.  On  16  May  1597  he  was  appointed 
one  of  a  commission  to  converse  with  the 
king  '  in  all  matters  concerning  the  weal  of 
the  kirk '  (ib.  p.  645)  ;  and  he  was  also  a 
member  of  the  renewed  commission  in  the 
following  year  (ib.  p.  692).  At  the  general 
assembly  which  met  in  March  1597-8  he  was 
one  of  the  chief  supporters  of  the  proposal 
of  the  king  that  the  ministry,  as  the  third 
estate  of  the  realm,  should  have  a  vote  in 
parliament  (ib.  pp.  697-700).  By  the  as- 
sembly which  met  at  Burntisland  on  12  May 
1601  he  was  appointed  to  revise  the  trans- 
lation of  the  Psalms  in  metre.  On  15  Nov. 
of  the  following  year  he  was  '  relieved  of  the 
burden  of  ordinary  teaching.'  He  died  on 


8  May  1606,  in  his  eighty-second  year,  and 
was  buried  in  the  churchyard  of  St.  Cuth- 
bert's,  Edinburgh.  He  had  had  a  tombstone 
prepared  for  himself,  but  this  was  removed 
and  another  set  up  by  his  widow.  There- 
upon the  session  of  St.  Cuthbert's,  on  14  May 
1607,  ordained  that  the  stone  she  had  set  up 
'  be  presentlie  taen  down.'  Against  this 
decision  she  appealed  to  the  presbytery  of 
Edinburgh,  and  from  it  to  the  privy  council, 
which  on  4  June  ordained  ( the  pursuers  to 
permit  the  stone  made  by  her  to  remain,  in- 
stead of  that  made  by  her  husband '  (Reg. 
P.  C.  Scotl.  vii.  381). 

Pont  was  three  times  married.  By  his 
first  wife,  Catherine,  daughter  of  Masterton 
of  Grange,  he  had  two  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters :  Timothy  [q.  v.] ;  Zachary,  minister  of 
Bower  in  Caithness,  who  married  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  John  Knox ;  Catherine;  and 
Helen,  married  to  Adam  Blackadder  of 
Blairhall,  grandfather  of  Rev.  John  Black- 
adder  [q.  v.]  By  his  second  wife,  Sarah  Den- 
holme,  he  had  a  daughter  Beatrix,  married  to 
Charles  Lumsden,  minister  of  Duddingston. 
By  his  third  wife,  Margaret  Smith,  he  had 
three  sons  :  James,  Robert,  and  Jonathan. 

Wodrow  states  that  Pont  '  had  a  discovery 
of  Queen  Elizabeth's  death  that  same  day 
she  died.'  He  came  to  the  king  late  at 
night,  and  after,  with  difficulty,  obtaining 
access  to  him,  saluted  him  '  King  of  Great 
Britain,  France,  and  Ireland.'  The  king 
said  '  I  still  told  you  you  would  go  distracted 
with  your  learning,  and  now  I  see  you  are 
so.'  'No,  no,'  said  Pont,  'I  am  not  dis- 
tempered. The  thing  is  certain ;  she  is  dead,  I 
assure  you  '  (Analecta,  ii.  341-2).  The  '  dis- 
covery '  was  attributed  either  to  a  revelation 
or  to  his  knowledge  of  the  science  of  the 
stars. 

Besides  several  of  the  metrical  Psalms, 
1565,  his  translation  of  the  Helvetic  Con- 
fession, 1566,  his  contributions  to  the  'Se- 
cond Book  of  Discipline,'  his  calendar  and 
preface  to  Bassandyne's  edition  of  the  l  Eng- 
lish Bible,'  1579,  his  recommendatory  verses 
to  'Archbishop  Adamson's Catechism,' 1581, 
and  to  the  '  Schediasmata '  of  Sir  Hadrian 
Damman,  1590,  and  his  lines  on  Robert 
Rollock  (Sibbaldi  JEloffia,  p.  66,  in  the  Advo- 
cates' Library,  Edinburgh),  Pont  was  the 
author  of:  1.  '  Parvulus  Catechismus  quo 
examinari  possunt  juniores  qui  ad  sacram 
coenam  admittuntur,'  St.  Andrews,  1573. 
2.  'Three  Sermons  against  Sacrilege,'  1599- 
(against  the  spoiling  of  the  patrimony  of  the 
kirk  and  undertaken  at  the  request  of  the 
assembly  in  1591).  3.  'A  Newe  Treatise  on 
the  Right  Reckoning  of  Yeares  and  Ages 
of  the  World,  and  Mens  Lines,  and  of  the 


Pont 


94 


Pontack 


Estate  of  the  last  decaying  age  thereof,  this 
1600  year  of  Christ  (erroneously  called  a 
Yeare  of  luhilee),  which  is  from  the  Creation 
the  5548  yeare  ;  containing  sundrie  singu- 
larities worthie  of  observation,  concerning 
courses  of  times  and  revolutions  of  the 
Heaven,  and  reformation  of  Kalendars  and 
Prognostications,  with  a  Discourse  of  Pro- 
phecies and  Signs,  preceding  the  last  daye, 
which  by  manie  arguments  appeareth  now 
to  approach/  Edinburgh,  1599.  A  more 
ample  version  in  Latin  under  the  title  '  De 
Sabbaticorum  annorum  Periodis  Chrono- 
logia,'  London,  1619  ;  2nd  ed.  1623.  4.  '  De 
Unione  Britannise,  seu  de  Regnorum  Angliae 
et  Scotiae  omniumque  adjacentum  insular um 
in  unam  monarchiam  consolidatione,  deque 
multiplici  ejus  unionis  utilitate,  dialogus,' 
Edinburgh,  1604.  David  Buchanan  (De 
Script.  Scot.  III.}  mentions  also  his  'Aureum 
Seculum,'  his  *  Translation  of  Pindar's 
Olympic  Odes,'  his  'Dissertation  on  the 
Greek  Lyric  Metres,'  his  '  Lexicon  of  Three 
Languages,'  and  his '  Collection  of  Homilies ; ' 
but  none  of  these  manuscripts  are  now 
known  to  be  extant. 

[Histories  by  Keith,  Calderwood,  and  Spotis- 
wood;  Knox's  Works;  Wodrow's  Miscellany, 
vol.  i.  ;  Wodrow's  Analecta;  Kobert  Baillie's 
Letters  and  Journal  (Bannatyne  Club);  Diary  of 
James  Melville  (Wodrow  Soc.) ;  Brunton  and 
Haig's  Senators  of  the  College  of  Justice  ;  Hew 
Scott's  Fasti  Eccles.  Scot.  i.  118-19,  ii.  388,  715, 
786,  iii.  150.]  T.  F.  H. 

PONT,  TIMOTHY  (1560  P-1630  ?),  topo- 
grapher, elder  son  of  Robert  Pont  [q.  v.], 
Scottish  reformer,  by  his  first  wife,  Cathe- 
rine, daughter  of  Masterton  of  Grange,  was 
born  about  1560.  He  matriculated  as  student 
of  St.  Leonard's  College,  St.  Andrews,  in 
1579-80,  and  obtained  the  degree  of  M.A. 
in  1583-4.  In  1601  he  was  appointed  mini- 
ster of  D unnet,  Caithness-shire,  and  was  con- 
tinued 7  Dec.  1610 ;  but  he  resigned  some 
time  before  1614,  when  the  name  of  William 
Smith  appears  as  minister  of  the  parish.  On 
25  July  1609  Pont  was  enrolled  for  a  share 
of  two  thousand  acres  in  connection  with  the 
scheme  for  the  plantation  of  Ulster,  the  price 
being  400/.  (Reg.  P.  C.  Scotl.  viii.  330). 

Pont  was  an  accomplished  mathematician, 
and  the  first  projector  of  a  Scottish  atlas.  In 
connection  with  the  project  he  made  a  com- 
plete survey  of  all  the  counties  and  islands 
of  the  kingdom,  visiting  even  the  most  remote 
and  savage  districts,  and  making  drawings 
on  the  spot.  He  died  between  1625  and 
1630,  having  almost  completed  his  task.  The 
originals  of  his  maps,  which  are  preserved 
in  the  Advocates'  Library,  Edinburgh,  are 
characterised  by  great  neatness  and  accuracy. 


1  King  James  gave  instructions  that  they 
should  be  purchased  from  his  heirs  and  pre- 
pared for  publication,  but  on  account  of 
!  the  disorders  of  the  time  they  were  nearly 
|  forgotten,  when  Sir  John  Scot  of  Scotstarvet 
prevailed  on  Robert  Gordon  (1580-1661) 
[q.  v.]  of  Straloch  to  undertake  their  revision 
with  a  view  to  publication.  The  task  of  re- 
vision was  completed  by  Gordon's  son,  James 
Gordon  [q.  v.],  the  parson  of  Rothiemay,  and 
they  were  published  in  Bleau's '  Atlas,'  vol. 
v.  Amsterdam,  1668.  The  '  Topographical 
Account  of  the  District  of  Cuniiinghame, 
Ayrshire,  compiled  about  the  Year  1600  by 
Mr.  Timothy  Pont,'  was  published  in  1850 ; 
and  was  reproduced  under  the  title '  Cunning- 
hame  Topographised,  by  Timothy  Pont,  A.M., 
1604-1608 ;  with  Continuation  and  Illustra- 
tions by  the  late  John  Robie  of  Cumnock, 
F.S.A.  Scot.,  edited  by  his  son,  John  Skelton 
Robie,'  Glasgow,  1876. 

[Chalmers's  Caledonia ;  Prefaces  to  the  edi- 
tions of  his  Cunninghame  ;  Scott's  Fasti  Eceles. 
Scot.  iii.  360.]  T.  F.  H. 

PONTACK, (1638  P-1720  ?),  tavern- 
keeper,  was  the  son  of  Arnaud  de  Pontac,  pre- 
sident of  the  parliament  of  Bordeaux  from 
1653  to  1673,  who  died  in  1681.  Another 
Arnaud  de  Pontac  had  been  bishop  of  Bazas 
at  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and 
several  members  of  the  family  held  the  office 
of '  greffier  en  chef  du  parlement,'  and  other 
posts  in  France  (L'ABBE  O'REILLY,  Histoire 
complete  de  Bordeaux,  1863,  pt.  i.  vol.  ii.  p.  126, 
vol.  iii.  p.  42,  vol.  iv.  pp.  274, 550).  After  the 
destruction  of  the  White  Bear  tavern  at  the 
great  fire  of  London,  Pontack,  whose  Chris- 
tian name  is  unknown,  opened  a  new  tavern 
in  Abchurch  Lane,  Lombard  Street,  and, 
taking  his  father's  portrait  as  the  sign,  called 
it  the  Pontack's  Head.  His  father  was  owner, 
as  Evelyn  tells  us,  of  the  excellent  vineyards 
of  Pontaq  and  Obrien  [Plant  Brion  ?],  and 
the  choice  Bordeaux  wines  which  Pontack 
was  able  to  supply  largely  contributed  to  the 
success  of  his  house,  which  seems  to  have 
occupied  part  of  the  site  (16  and  17  Lombard 
Street)  where  Messrs.  Robarts,  Lubbock,  & 
Co.'s  bank  now  stands  (Journal  of  the  In- 
stitute of  Bankers,  May  1886,  vii.  322,  <  Some 
Account  of  Lombard  Street,'  by  F.  G.  H. 
Price).  The  site  cannot  have  been  the  same 
as  that  of  Lloyd's  coftee-house,  for  Pontack's 
and  Lloyd's  flourished  at  the  same  period. 

Pontack's  became  the  most  fashionable 
eating-house  in  London,  and  there  the  Royal 
Society  Club  dined  annually  until  1746.  On 
13  July  1683  Evelyn  wrote  in  his  'Diary:  ' 
'  I  had  this  day  much  discourse  with  Mon- 
sieur Pontaq,  son  to  the  famous  and  wise 


Pontack 


95 


Ponton 


prime  president  of  Bordeaux.  ...  I  think  I 
may  truly  say  of  him,  what  was  not  so  truly 
said  of  St.  Paul,  that  much  learning  had 
made  him  mad.  He  had  studied  well  in  phi- 
losophy, but  chiefly  the  rabbines,  and  was 
exceedingly  addicted  to  cabalistical  fancies, 
an  eternal  hablador  [babbler],  and  half  dis- 
tracted by  reading-  abundance  of  the  extra- 
vagant Eastern  Jews.  He  spake  all  lan- 
guages, was  very  rich,  had  a  handsome  per- 
son, and  was  well  bred,  about  45  years  of  age.' 
These  accomplishments  are  not  usually  ex- 
pected of  a  successful  eating-house  proprietor. 


met  at  dinner  Bentley,  Sir  Christopher  Wren, 
and  others.'  The  eating-house  and  the  wine 
named  Pontack  are  mentioned  in  Montagu 
and  Prior's  '  The  Hind  and  Panther  trans- 
vers'd '  (1687),  and  in  Southerne's '  The  Wives' 
Excuse'  (1692).  In  1697  Misson  (Travels, 
p.  146)  said : '  Those  who  would  dine  at  one  or 
two  guineas  per  head  are  handsomely  accom- 
modated at  our  famous  Pontack's;  rarely  and 
difficultly  elsewhere.'  On  17  Aug.  1695  Nar- 
cissus Luttrell  records  (Brief  Relation  of 
State  Affairs,  iii.  513)  that  Pontack,  l  who 
keeps  the  great  eating-house  in  Abchurch 
Lane/  had  been  examined  before  the  lord 
mayor  for  spreading  a  report  that  the  king 
was  missing,  and  had  given  bail. 

Tom  Brown  speaks  of  '  a  guinea's  worth 
of  entertainment  at  Pontack's/  and  the'  mo- 
dish kickshaws'  to  be  found  there  are  men- 
tioned in  the  prologue  to  Mrs.  Centlivre's 
'  Love's  Contrivance.'  In  the  same  year 
(1703)  Steele  (Lying  Lover,  i.  1)  makes 
Latine  say, '  I  defy  Pontack  to  have  prepared 
a  better  [supper]  o'the  sudden.'  In  'Reflec- 
tions ...  on  the  Vice  and  Follies  of  the  Age/ 
part  iii.  (1707),  there  is  a  description  of  a 
knighted  fop  dining  at  Pontack's,  at  disastrous 
expense,  on  French  ragouts  and  unwholesome 
wine.  On  16  Aug.  1711  Swift  wrote:  'I  was 
this  day  in  the  city,  and  dined  at  Pontack's. 
.  .  .  Pontack  told' us,  although  his  wine  was 
so  good,  he  sold  it  cheaper  than  others — he 
took  but  seven  shillings  a  flask.  Are  not  these 
pretty  rates? '  On  25  Jan.  1713  '  the  whole 
club  of  whig  lords '  dined  at  Pontack's,  and 
Swift  was  entertained  there  by  Colonel  Cle- 
'land  on  30  March  of  that  year.  The  house 
is  mentioned  in  '  Mist's  Journal'  for  1  April 
1721,  where  it  is  hinted  that,  through  the 
losses  arising  from  the  '  South  Sea  Bubble/ 
the  brokers  at  the  Royal  Exchange  went  to 
a  chop-house  instead  of  to  Pontack's,  and  that 
the  Jews  and  directors  no  longer  boiled  West- 
phalia hams  in  champagne  and  burgundy.  In 
1722  Macky  (Journey  through  England,  i.  175) 


spoke  of  Pontack's, '  from  whose  name  the  best 
French  clarets  are  called  so,  and  where  you 
may  bespeak  a  dinner  from  four  or  five  shil- 
lings a  head  to  a  guinea,  or  what  sum  you 
please.'  Pontack's  guinea  ordinary,  according 
to  the '  Metamorphosis  of  the  Town '  (1730),  in- 
cluded'a  ragout  of  fatted  snails 'and 'chickens 
not  two  hours  from  the  shell.' 

It  is  not  known  when  Pontack  died,  but 
in  1735  the  house  was  kept  by  a  Mrs.  Susan- 
nah Austin,  who  married  William  Pepys,  a 
banker  in  Lombard  Street.  Pontack's  head 
is  seen  in  some  copies  of  plate  iii.  of  Hogarth's 
'Rake's  Progress'  (NICHOLS,  Biographical 
Anecdotes  of  Hogarth,  1785,  p.  214). 

[Wheatley  and  Cunningham's  London  Past  and 
Present ;  Ashton's  Social  Life  in  the  Eeign  of 
Queen  Anne,  i.  186-7  ;  Burn's  Descriptive  Cata- 
logue of  London  Traders,  Tavern,  and  Coffee- 
house Tokens,  p.  13  ;  Timbs's  Club  Life  in  Lon- 
don, i.  68,  ii.  130-1;  Larwood  and  Hotten's 
History  of  Signboards,  1867,  pp.  93,  94  ;  Notes 
and  Queries,  2nd  ser.  vi.  375,  7th  ser.  ii.  295 ; 
Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  12th  Rep.  pt.  ii.  p.  354; 
Tatler,  No.  131.]  G.  A.  A. 

PONTON,  MUNGO  (1802-1880),  pho- 
tographic inventor,  only  son  of  John  Ponton, 
farmer,  was  born  at  Balgreen,  near  Edin- 
burgh, on  23  Nov.  1802.  He  was  admitted 
writer  to  the  signet  on  8  Dec.  1825,  and  was 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  National  Bank  of 
Scotland,  of  which  he  subsequently  became 
secretary. 

Ill-health  caused  him  to  relinquish  his  pro- 
fessional career,  and  he  devoted  his  attention 
to  science.  On  29  May  1839  he  communi- 
cated to  the  Society  of  Arts  for  Scotland 
'  a  cheap  and  simple  method  of  preparing 
paper  for  photographic  drawing  in  which  the 
use  of  any  salt  of  silver  is  dispensed  with ' 
(Edin.  New  Phil.  Journal,  xxvii.  169).  In  this 
paper  he  announced  the  important  discovery 
that  the  action  of  sunlight  renders  bichro- 
mate of  potassium  insoluble,  a  discovery 
which  has  had  more  to  do  with  the  produc- 
tion of  permanent  photographs  than  any 
other.  It  forms  the  basis  of  nearly  all  the 
photo-mechanical  processes  now  in  use.  The 
developments  of  Ponton's  method  are  stated 
in  '  Reports  of  the  Juries  of  the  Exhibition 
of  1862,'  class  14,  p.  5.  In  1849  he  com- 
municated to  the  '  Edinburgh  New  Philo- 
sophical Journal/  xxxix.  270,  an  account  of 
a  method  of  registering  the  hourly  varia- 
tions of  the  thermometer  by  means  of  photo- 
graphy. A  list  of  his  papers,  which  relate 
principally  to  optical  subjects,  is  given  in  the 
'  Royal  Society  Catalogue  of  Scientific  Papers.' 
He  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society 
of  Edinburgh  in  1834.  He  died  at  Clifton 
on  3  Aug.  1880. 


Poole 


96 


Poole 


[Authorities  cited,  and  Photographic  News, 
20  Aug.  1880,  pp.  402-3  ;  Proceedings  of  the 
Koyal  Society  of  Edinburgh,  xi.  100;  List  of 
Members  of  the  Society  of  Writers  to  the  Signet, 
p.  168.]  B.  B.  P. 

POOLE,  ARTHUR  WILLIAM  (1852- 
1885),  missionary  bishop,  the  son  of  Thomas 
Francis  and  Jane  Poole,  was  born  at  Shrews- 
bury on  6  Aug.  1852,  and  educated  at 
Shrewsbury  school.  At  the  age  of  seventeen 
he  proceeded  to  Worcester  College,  Oxford,  at 
Michaelmas  1869,  and  took  a  third  class  in 
classical  moderations  in  1871,  and  a  third 
class  in  the  final  classical  school  in  1873.  He 
graduated  B.A.  in  1873,  M.A.  in  1876,  and 
D.D.  in  1883.  On  leaving  Oxford  Poole  be- 
came a  tutor.  Afterwards  he  thought  of 
medicine  as  a  profession ;  but  in  1876, 
having  abandoned  a  leaning  towards  the  Ply- 
mouth brethren,  he  was  ordained  deacon, 
and  licensed  to  the  curacy  of  St.  Aldate's, 
Oxford.  Early  in  boyhood  Poole  had  wished 
to  be  a  missionary,  and  the  old  desire  was 
renewed  in  March  1876  by  an  appeal  for 
men  to  aid  in  educational  work  at  Masuli- 
patam.  After  some  hesitation,  Poole  offered 
himself  to  the  Church  Missionary  Society  on 
20  June  1876.  He  was  accepted,  and  sailed 
for  India  in  October  1877.  At  Masulipatam, 
Poole  threw  himself  into  the  work  of  the 
Noble  High  School,  fostered  the  growth  of 
Christian  literature  in  the  vernacular,  and 
made  many  friends  among  the  educated 
natives.  Early  in  1879  signs  of  consumption 
showed  themselves  in  Poole,  and,  after  twice 
visiting  the  Neilgherry  hills,  he  was  in- 
valided home  in  June  1880.  There  was 
little  prospect  of  his  being  able  to  return  to 
India,  and  he  resigned  in  October  1882.  At 
the  anniversary  meeting  of  the  Church  Mis- 
sionary Society  in  May  1883  a  speech  by 
Poole  attracted  the  attention  of  the  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  who  offered  him  the  mis- 
sionary bishopric  in  Japan  which  it  had  just 
been  resolved  to  establish.  After  much  hesi- 
tation and  reassuring  reports  from  the  medi- 
cal board,  Poole  accepted  the  offer,  and  was 
consecrated  at  Lambeth  on  St.  Luke's  day 
1883.  He  was  warmly  received  in  Japan, 
and  at  once  began  to  visit  the  chief  mis- 
sionary stations  in  his  diocese.  But,  his 
health  failing,  he  spent  the  winter  of  1884- 
1885  in  California.  He  did  not  recover,  but 
returned  to  England,  and  died  at  Shrews- 
bury on  14  J  uly  1885.  Poole  married,  in 
1877,  Sarah  Ann  Pearson,  who  survived  him, 
and  by  her  he  had  issue. 

[Record,  17  July  1885;  Church  Missionary 
Intelligencer,  November  1885  ;  private  informa- 
tion.] A.  K.  B. 


POOLE,  GEORGE  AYLIFFE  (1809- 
1883),  divine  and  author,  was  born  in  1809, 
and  educated  at  Cambridge,  where  he  was  a 
scholar  of  Emmanuel  College.  He  graduated 
B.A.  in  1831,  and  proceeded  M.A.  in  1838 
(Lu±'KD,Grad.Cantabr.  p.  415).  Hetookholy 
orders  in  1832,  and  was  curate  successively 
of  Twickenham,  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist, 
Edinburgh,  and  of  St.  Chad's,  Shrewsbury. 
On  16  March  1839  he  was  appointed  per- 
petual curate  of  St.  James's,  Leeds  (FOSTER, 
Index  Eccl.  p.  142),  and  took  the  high-church 
side  in  the  controversy  then  raging.  In  1843 
he  was  presented  to  the  vicarage  of  Welford, 
Northamptonshire,  which  he  held  until,  in 
1876,  he  was  presented  by  the  bishop  of 
Peterborough  to  the  rectory  of  Winwick, 
near  Rugby,  in  the  same  county.  He  acted 
for  a  few  years  as  rural  dean  of  the  district. 
He  died  at  Winwick  25  Sept.  1883. 

He  was  a  strong  high  churchman ;  but  the 
work  of  his  life  was  to  promote  the  revival  of 
Gothic  architecture,  and, next  to  John  Henry 
Parker  and  M.  H.  Bloxam,  he  was  the  most 
prominent  among  the  literary  advocates  of 
this  movement.  He  was,  besides,  a  prolific 
writer  on  other  subjects.  His  works,  exclud- 
ing various  sermons  and  tracts,  were :  1. '  The 
Exile's  Return ;  or  a  Cat's  Journey  from  Glas- 
gow to  Edinburgh,'  a  tale  for  children,  Edin- 
burgh, 1837, 12mo.  2.  '  The  Testimony  of  St. 
Cyprian  against  Rome,'  London,  1838,  8vo. 

3.  '  The  Anglo-Catholic  Use  of  Two  Lights 
upon  the  Altar,  for  the   signification   that 
Christ  is  the  very  true  Light  of  the  World, 
stated   and   defended,'   London,  1840,  8vo. 

4.  <  The  Life  and  Times  of  St.  Cyprian,'  Ox- 
ford, 1840,  8vo.     5.  '  On  the  present  State 
of  Parties  in  the  Church  of  England,  with 
especial  reference  to  the  alleged  tendencies 
of  the  Oxford  School  to  the  Doctrines  and 
Communion  of  Rome,'  London,  1841,  8vo. 

6.  'The  Appropriate  Character   of  Church 
Architecture,'  Leeds,  1842,  8vo ;  reissued  in 
1845  as '  Churches :  their  Structure,  Arrange- 
ment,   and     Decoration,'     London,     12mo. 

7.  '  Churches  of   Yorkshire,'  described  and 
edited  (with  others),  1842,  8vo.     8.  '  A  His- 
tory of  the  Church  in  America  '  (part  of  vol. 
ii.  of  l  The  Christian's  Miscellany '),  Leeds, 
1842,  8vo.     9.  '  A  History  of  England,  from 
the  First  Invasion  by  the  Romans  to  the 
Accession  of  Queen  Victoria,'  London,  1844- 
1845,  2  vols.  12mo.     10.  <  The  Churches  of 
Scarborough,  Filey,  and  the  Neighbourhood/ 
London,  1848,  16mo  (in  collaboration  with 
J.  W.  Hugall).    11.  <  A  History  of  Ecclesias- 
tical Architecture  in  England,'  London,  1848, 
8vo.     12.  '  Sir  Raoul  de  Broc  and  his  Son 
Tristram,'  a   tale   of  the   twelfth   century, 
London,  1849,  16mo.      13.  'An  historical 


Poole 


97 


Poole 


and  descriptive  Guide  to  York  Cathedral 
(with  Hugall),  York,  1850,  8vo.  14.  '  Archi- 
tectural, historical,  and  picturesque  Illus- 
trations of  the  Chapel  of  St.  Augustine 
Skirlaugh,  Yorkshire'  (edited  by  Poole),  Hull 
1855,  8vo.  15.  '  Diocesan  History  of  Peter- 
borough/ London,  1880,  8vo. 

[Times,  28  Sept.  1883;  Guardian,  3  Oct. 
1883  ;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat. ;  Allibone's  Diet,  of  Engl. 
Lit. ;  Poole's  Works.]  E.  G.  H. 

POOLE,  JACOB  (1774-1827), antiquary, 
son  of  Joseph  Poole  and  his  wife  Sarah,  daugh- 
ter of  Jacob  Martin  of  Aghfad,  co.  Wex- 
ford,  was  born  at  Growtown,  co.  Wexford, 
11  Feb.  1774.  His  parents  were  members 
of  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  he  was  seventh 
in  descent  from  Thomas  and  Catherine  Poole 
of  Dortrope,  Northamptonshire.  Their  son, 
Richard  Poole,  came  to  Ireland  with  the 
parliamentary  army  in  1649,  turned  quaker, 
was  imprisoned  for  his  religion  at  Wex- 
ford and  Waterford,  and  died  in  Wexford 
gaol,  to  which  he  was  committed  for  refusing 
to  pay  tithe  in  1665.  Jacob  succeeded  to 
the  family  estate  of  Growtown,  in  the  parish 
of  Taghmon,  in  1800,  and  farmed  his  own 
land.  He  studied  the  customs  and  language 
of  the  baronies  of  Bargy  and  Forth,  on  the 
edge  of  the  former  of  which  his  estate  lay. 
The  inhabitants  used  to  speak  an  old  English 
dialect,  dating  from  the  earliest  invasion  of 
the  country,  and  he  collected  the  words  and 
phrases  of  this  expiring  language  from  his 
tenants  and  labourers.  This  collection  was 
edited  by  the  Rev.  William  Barnes  from 
the  original  manuscript,  and  published  in 
1867  as  'A  Glossary,  with  some  pieces  of 
verse,  of  the  old  Dialect  of  the  English  Colony 
in  the  Baronies  of  Forth  and  Bargy.'  The 
glossary  contains  about  fifteen  hundred  words, 
noted  with  great  fidelity.  The  dialect  is  now 
extinct,  and  this  glossary,  with  a  few  words 
in  Holinshed  and  some  fragments  of  verse, 
is  its  sole  authentic  memorial.  Poole  com- 
pleted the  glossary  and  a  further  vocabulary 
or  gazetteer  of  the  local  proper  names  in  the 
last  five  years  of  his  life.  He  died  20  Nov. 
1827,  and  was  buried  in  the  graveyard  of  the 
Society  of  Friends  at  Forest,  co.  Wexford. 
He  married,  13  May  1813,  Mary,  daughter  of 
Thomas  and  Deborah  Sparrow  of  Holms- 
town,  co.  Wexford,  and  had  three  sons  and 
three  daughters.  A  poem  in  memory  of  Poole, 
called  '  The  Mountain  of  Forth,'  by  Richard 
Davis  Webb,  who  had  known  and  admired' 
him,  was  published  in  1867,  and  it  was  owing 
to  Mr.  Webb's  exertions  that  the  glossary 
•was  published. 

[Barnes's  edit,  of  a  glossary  of  the  old  Dia- 
lect, London,  1867;  Mary  Leadbeater's  Biogra- 
VOL.   XLVI. 


phical  Notices  of  Members  of  the  Soc.  of  Friends 
who  were  resident  in  Ireland,  London,  1823  ;  in- 
formation from  his  grandson,  Benjamin  Poole  of 
Ballybeg,  co.  Wexford.]  N.  M. 

POOLE,  JOHN  (1786  P-1872),  dramatist 
and  miscellaneous  writer,  was  born  in  1786, 
or,  according  to   some   accounts,  in   1787. 
His  dedications  to  his  printed  works  prove 
him  to  have  held  some  social  position,  and 
his  success  as  a  dramatist  was  pronounced 
in  early  life.    On  17  June  1813,  for  the  bene- 
fit of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Liston,  he  produced  at 
DruryLane  ' Hamlet Travestie/  in  two  acts, 
in  which  Mathews  was  the  original  Hamlet, 
Mrs.  Liston  Gertrude,  and  Liston  Ophelia. 
This,  written  originally  in  three  acts,  was 
printed  in  1810,  and  frequently  reprinted. 
'Intrigue/  described  as  an  interlude,  followed 
at  the  same  house  on  26  March  1814,  and  was 
succeeded  by  '  Who's  Who,  or  the  Double 
Imposture/  on  15  Nov.  1815,  a  work  earlier  in 
date  of  composition.   To  Drury  Lane  he  gave 
'Simpson  &  Co.,'  a  comedy,  on  4  Jan.  1823; 
'Deaf  as  a  Post,'  a  farce,  on  15  Feb.  1823; 
'The  Wealthy  Widow,  or  They're  both  to 
blame,'  a  comedy,  on  29  Oct.  1827;    'My 
Wife!   What  Wife?'  a  farce,  on  2  April 
1829;    'Past   and    Present,'    a   farce,    and 
'Turning  the  Tables,'  a  farce.     To  Covent 
Garden,  '  A  Short  Reign  and  a  Merry  one/ 
a  comedy   in   two   acts,  from  the  French, 
on  19  Nov.  1819 ;    '  Two  Pages  of  Frede- 
rick the  Great,'  a  comedy  in  two  acts,  from 
the  French,  on  1  Dec.  1821 ;  '  The  Scape- 
Goat/  a   one-act   adaptation   of   '  Le   Pr6- 
cepteur  dans  1'embarras/  on  25  Nov.  1825  ; 
'  Wife's  Stratagem/  an  adaptation  of  Shir- 
ley's 'Gamester/  on  13  March  1827;   and 
More  Frightened  than  Hurt/    And  to  the 
Haymarket,  'Match  Making/  a  farce,  on 
25   Aug.    1821 ;    '  Married    and   Single,'   a 
comedy  from  the  French,  on  16  July  1824 ; 
'Twould   puzzle   a    Conjuror/  a   farce,  on 
LI  Sept.  1824;  'Tribulation,  or  Unwelcome 
Visitors/  a  comedy  in  two  acts,  on  3  May 
L825 ;  '  Paul  Pry,'  a  comedy  in  three  acts, 
on  13  Sept.  1825 ;  '  Twixt  the  Cup  and  the 
l.ip/  a  farce  (Poole's  greatest   success),  on 
12   June    1826;     'Gudgeons   and   Sharks,' 
omic  piece  in  two  acts,  on  28  July  1827; 
Lodgings  for  Single  Gentlemen/  a  farce,  on 
15  June  1829. 

In  these  pieces  Charles  Kemble,  Liston, 
William  Farren,  and  other  actors  advanced 
lieir  reputation.  Most,  but  not  all,  of  them 
were  successful,  and  were  transferred  to 
arious  theatres.  Genest  almost  invariably, 
while  admitting  the  existence  of  some  merit, 
says  they  were  more  successful  than  they 
deserved.  Some  of  them  remain  unprinted, 
and  others  are  included  in  the  collections  of 


Poole 


98 


Poole 


Lacy,  Duncombe,  and  Dick.  Other  pieces 
to  be  found  in  the  same  publications  are 
'  The  Hole  in  the  Wall/  '  A.  Soldier's  Court- 
ship/ '  Match  Making/  '  Past  and  Present/ 
'Patrician  and  Parvenu.'  Poole  also  pub- 
lished 'Byzantium,  a  Dramatic  Poem/ 
8vo  ;  '  Crotchets  in  the  Air,  or  a  Balloon 
Trip/  8vo;  ' Christmas  Festivities ;'  'Comic 
Miscellany  ; '  '  Little  Pedlington/  2  vols. ; 
'  PhineasQuiddy,  or  Sheer  Industry/  3  vols. ; 
'  Sketches  and  Recollections/  2  vols. ; '  Village 
School  improved,  or  Parish  Education.' 

In  1831  he  was  living  at  Windsor.  For 
many  years,  near  the  middle  of  the  century, 
Poole  resided  in  Paris,  and  was  constantly 
seen  at  the  Comedie  FranQaise.  He  was  ap- 
pointed a  brother  of  the  Charterhouse,  but, 
disliking  the  confinement,  threw  up  the  posi- 
tion. Afterwards,  through  the  influence  of 
Charles  Dickens,  he  obtained  a  pension  of 
100/.  a  year,  which  he  retained  until  his 
death.  For  the  last  twenty  years  of  his 
life  he  dropped  entirely  out  of  recognition. 
He  died  at  his  residence  in  Highgate  Road, 
Kentish  Town,  London,  and  was  buried  at 
Highgate  cemetery  on  10  Feb.  1872.  He 
supplied  in  1831  to  the  'New  Monthly  Maga- 
zine/ to  which  he  was  during  many  years  an 
active  contributor,  what  purported  to  be 
'Notes  for  a  Memoir.'  This,  however,  is 
deliberately  and  amusingly  illusive.  A  por- 
trait, prefixed  to  his  'Sketches  and  Recol- 
lections '  (1835),  shows  a  handsome,  clear- 
cut,  intelligent,  and  very  gentlemanly  face. 

[Private  information  ;  Forster's  Life  of 
Dickens;  Letters  of  Dickens ;  G-enest's  Account 
of  the  English  Stage  ;  Poole's  Sketches  and  Re- 
collections; Brit.  Mus.  Cat.  ;  London  Catalogue 
of  Books;  Allibone's  Dictionary  of  Authors; 
Men  of  the  Reign ;  Brewer's  Readers'  Handbook; 
Scott  and  Howard's  Life  of  E.  L.  Blanchard ; 
Biographical  Dictionary  of  Living  Authors,  1816; 
Daily  Telegraph,  10  Feb.  1872;  Era,  11  Feb. 
1872;  Notes  and  Queries,  8th  ser.  vi.  372.1 

J.  K. 

POOLE,  JONAS  (d.  1612),  mariner, 
made  a  voyage  to  Virginia  in  1607  in  the 
employment  of  Sir  Thomas  Smythe  [q.  v.] 
In  1610  he  commanded  the  Amity,  set  forth 
by  the  Muscovy  Company  '  for  a  northern 
discovery/  which  sailed  in  company  with  the 
Lioness,  commanded  by  Thomas  Edge,  under 
orders  for  Cherry  Island  and  the  whale 
fishery.  In  May  the  Amity  made  Spitz- 
bergen,  which  Poole  named  Greenland,  and 
continued  on  the  coast  during  the  summer, 
examining  the  harbours  and  killing  morses, 
with  the  blubber  of  which  they  filled  up, 
and  so  returned  to  England,  carrying  also 
the  horn  of  a  narwhal,  or  '  sea-unicorn.'  In 
^.  again  in  company  with  Edge  in  the 


Mary  Margaret,  which  was  to  fish  '  near 
Greenland/  Poole  sailed  in  the  Elizabeth  of 
sixty  tons  burden,  with  instructions  from 
Smythe  '  to  see  if  it  were  possible  to  pass 
from  "  Greenland  "  towards  the  pole.'  Ac- 
cordingly, parting  from  Edge  near  Spitz- 
bergen,  he  stood  to  the  north,  but  in  lat.  80° 
he  fell  in  with  the  impenetrable  ice-field, 
which  he  skirted  towards  the  west,  never 
finding  an  opening,  till  he  estimated  that  he 
must  be  near  Hudson's  Hold  with  Hope  on 
the  east  coast  of  Greenland.  A  westerly 
wind  then  carried  him  back  to  Cherry 
Island,  where,  through  July,  they  killed 
some  two  hundred  morses,  and  filled  up  the 
Elizabeth  with '  their  fat  hides  and  teeth.'  On 
25  July  Edge  and  most  of  the  men  of  the 
Mary  Margaret  arrived  with  the  news  that 
their  ship  had  been  wrecked  in  Foul  Sound, 
now  known  as  Whale's  Bay  (Nordenskjold, 
1861-4).  Edge  ordered  a  great  part  of  the 
Elizabeth's  cargo  to  be  landed,  and  the  vessel 
went  to  Foul  Sound  to  ship  as  much  of  the 
Mary  Margaret's  oil  as  possible.  There  the 
ship,  owing  to  her  lightness  after  her  cargo 
was  removed,  filled  and  went  down ;  Poole 
escaped  with  difficulty,  with  many  broken 
bones.  They  afterwards  got  a  passage  to 
England  in  the  Hopewell  of  Hull,  which 
Edge  chartered  to  carry  home  the  oil.  In 
1612  Poole  again  went  to  Spitzbergen,  but 
apparently  only  for  the  fishing,  and,  having 
killed  a  great  many  whales,  brought  home  a 
full  cargo.  Shortly  after  his  return  he  was 
'  miserably  and  basely  murdered  betwixt 
Ratcliffe  and  London.' 

[Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United  States;  Pur- 
chas  his  Pilgrimes,  iii.  464,  711,  713.1 

J.  K.  L. 

POOLE,  JOSHUA  (/.  1640),  was  ad- 
mitted a  subsizar  at  Clare  Hall,  Cambridge, 
on  17  Jan.  1632,  and  was  placed  under  the 
tuition  of  Barnabas  Oley.  He  graduated 
M.A.,  and  for  some  time  had  charge  of  a 
private  school  kept  in  the  house  of  one 
Francis  Atkinson  at  Hadley,  near  Barnet  in 
'  Middlesex/  as  he  describes  it  in  '  The  Eng- 
lish Parnassus.'  Poole,  who  died  before  1657, 
published  :  '  The  English  Accidence,  or  a 
Short  and  Easy  Way  for  the  more  Speedy 
Attaining  to  the  Latine  Tongue/  4to,  1646; 
reprinted  1655,  and,  with  a  slightly  different 
title,  1670.  '  The  English  Parnassus,  or  a 
Helpe  to  English  Poesie/  8vo,  1657  (reprinted 
1677),  though  a  posthumous  publication,  has 
a  dedication  to  Francis  Atkinson,  in  whose 
house  it  was  compiled,  signed  by  Poole, 
who  has  also  prefixed  ten  pages  of  verse  ad- 
dressed to  'the  hopeful  young  gentlemen  his 
scholars.' 


Poole 


99 


Poole 


He  also  wrote  and  prepared  for  publica- 
tion a  work  on  English  rhetoric,  but  it  does 
not  appear  to  have  been  printed. 

[Information  kindly  supplied  by  the  master 
of  Clare  College ;  the  English  Parnassus  ;  Addit. 
MS.  24491,  f.  325.]  G.  T.  D. 

POOLE,  MARIA  (1770P-1833),  vocalist. 

[See  DICKONS.] 

POOLE  or  POLE,  MATTHEW  (1624- 
1679),  biblical  commentator,  son  of  Francis 
Pole,  was  born  at  York  in  1624.  His  father 
was  descended  from  the  Poles  or  Pools  of 
Spinkhill,  Derbyshire ;  his  mother  was  a 
daughter  of  Alderman  Toppins  of  York.  He 
was  admitted  at  Emmanuel  College,  Cam- 
bridge, on  2  July  1645,  his  tutor  being  John 
Worthington,  D.D.  Having  graduated  B.A. 
at  the  beginning  of  1649,  he  succeeded 
Anthony  Tuckney,  D.D.,  in  the  sequestered 
rectory  of  St.  Michael-le-Querne,  then  in  the 
fifth  classis  of  the  London  province,  under 
the  parliamentary  presbyterianism.  This  was 
his  only  preferment.  He  proceeded  M. A.  in 
1652.  Two  years  later  he  published  a  small 
tract  against  John  Biddle  [q.  v.]  On  14  July 
1657  he  was  one  of  eleven  Cambridge  gra- 
duates incorporated  M.A.  at  Oxford  on 
occasion  of  the  visit  of  Richard  Cromwell 
as  chancellor. 

In  1658  Poole  published  a  scheme  for  a 
permanent  fund  out  of  which  young  men  of 
promise  were  to  be  maintained  during  their 
university  course,  with  a  view  to  the  ministry. 
The  plan  was  approved  by  Worthington  and 
Tuckney,  and  had  the  support  also  of  John 
Arrowsmith,  D.D.  [q.v.],  Ralph  Cudworth 
[q.  v.],  William  Dillingham,  D.D.  [q.  v.],and 
Benjamin  Whichcote.  About 900 /.was raised, 
and  it  appears  that  William  Sherlock,  after- 
wards dean  of  St.  Paul's,  received  assistance 
from  this  fund  during  his  studies  at  Peter- 
house,  Cambridge,  till  1660,  when  he  gra- 
duated B.A.  The  Restoration  brought  the 
scheme  to  an  end. 

Poole  was  a  jure'divino  presbyterian,  and 
an  authorised  defender  of  the  views  on  ordi- 
nation of  the  London  provincial  assembly 
as  formulated  by  William  Blackmore  [q.  v. 
Subsequently  to  the  Restoration,  in  a  sermon 
(26  Aug.  1660)  before  the  lord  mayor  (Sir 
Thomas  Aleyn)  at  St.  Paul's,  he  endeavoured 
to  make  a  stand  for  simplicity  of  public 
worship,  especially  deprecating  '  curiosity  o 
voice  and  musical  sounds  in  churches.'  On 
the  passing  of  the  Uniformity  Act  (1662)  he 
resigned  his  living,  and  was  succeeded  b} 
R.  Booker  on  29  Aug.  1662.  His  '  Vox  Cla 
mantis'  gives  his  view  of  the  ecclesiastica 
situation.  Though  he  occasionally  preachec 


,nd  printed  a  few  tracts,  he  made  no  attempt 
o  gather  a  congregation.     He  had  a  patri- 
mony of  100/.  a  year,  on  which  he  lived. 
le  was  one  of  those  who  presented  to  the 
dng  '  a  cautious  and  moderate  thanksgiving ' 
or  the  indulgence  of  15  March  1672,  and 
aence  were  offered  royal  bounty.     Burnet 
eports,  on  Stillingfl eet's  authority,  that  Poole 
eceived  for  two   years   a  pension  of  50/. 
larly  in  1675  he  entered  with  Baxter  into 
a  negotiation  for  comprehension,  promoted 
>y  Tillotson,  which  came  to  nothing.     Ac- 
sording  to  Henry  Sampson,  M.D.  [q.v.], Poole 
first  set  on  foot '  the  provision  for  a  noncon- 
'ormist  ministry  and  day-school  at  Tunbridge 
ells,  Kent. 

On  the  suggestion  of  William  Lloyd  (1627- 
.717)  [q.  v.l,  ultimately  bishop  of  Worcester, 
Doole  undertook  the  great  work  of  his  life, 
;he '  Synopsis '  of  the  critical  labours  of  biblical 
commentators.     He  began  the  compilation 
n  1666,  and  laboured  at  it  for  ten  years. 
lis  plan  was  to  rise  at  three  or  four  in  the 
morning,  take  a  raw  egg  at  eight  or  nine,  and 
another  at  twelve,  and  continue  at  his  studies 
till  late  in  the  afternoon.     The  evening  he 
pent  at  some  friend's  house,  very  frequently 
that  of  Henry  Ashurst  [q.  v.],  where  '  he 
would  be  exceedingly  but  innocently  merry,' 
although  he  always  ended  the  day  in  '  grave 
and  serious  discourse,'  which  he  ushered  in 
with  the  words, '  Now  let  us  call  for  a  reckon- 
ing.'    The  prospectus  of  Poole's  work  bore 
the  names  of  eight  bishops  (headed  by  Morley 
and  Hacket)  and  five  continental  scholars, 
besides  other  divines.    Simon  Patrick  (1626- 
1707)  [q.  v.],  Tillotson,  and  Stillingfleet,  with 
four  laymen,  acted  as  trustees  of  the  subscrip- 
tion money.     A  patent  for  the  work  was  ob- 
tained on  14  Oct.  1667.   The  first  volume  was 
ready  for  the  press,  when  difficulties  were 
raised  by  Cornelius  Bee,   publisher   of  the 
Critici  Sacri'  (1660,  fol.,  nine  vols.),  who  ac- 
cused Poole  of  invading  his  patent,  both  by 
citing  authors  reprinted  in  his  collection,  and 
by  injuring  his  prospective  sales.    Poole  had 
offered  Bee  a  fourth  share  in  the  property 
of  the  '  Synopsis,'  but   this  was    declined. 
After  pamphlets  had  been  written  and  legal 
opinions  taken,  the  matter  was  referred  to 
Henry  Pierrepont,   marquis   of  Dorchester 
[q.  v.],  and  Arthur  Annesley,  first  earl  of 
Anglesey  [q.  v.],  who   decided    in  Poole's 
favour.     Bee's  name  appears  (1669)  among 
the  publishers  of  the  '  Synopsis,'  which  was 
to  have  been  completed  in  three  folio  volumes, 
but  ran  to  five.     Four  thousand  copies  were 
printed,  and  quickly  disposed  of.    The  merit 
of  Poole's  work  depends  partly  on  its  wide 
range,  as  a  compendium  of  contributions  to 
textual  interpretation,  partly  on  the  rare  skill 


Poole 


100 


Poole 


which  condenses  into  brief,  crisp  notes  the 
substance  of  much  laboured  comment.  Rab- 
binical sources  and  Roman  catholic  com- 
mentators are  not  neglected ;  little  is  taken 
from  Calvin,  nothing-  from  Luther.  The 
'  Synopsis'  being  in  Latin  for  scholars,  Poole 
began  a  smaller  series  of  annotations  in  Eng- 
lish, and  reached  Isaiah  Iviii. ;  the  work  was 
completed  by  others  (the  correct  list  is  given 
in  CALAMY). 

In  his  depositions  relative  to  the  alleged 
'popish  plot'  (September  1678),  Titus  Gates 
[q.  v.]  had  represented  Poole  as  marked  for 
assassination,  in  consequence  of  his  tract 
(1666)  on  the  '  Nullity  of  the  Romish  Faith.' 
Poole  gave  no  credit  to  this,  till  he  got  a 
scare  on  returning  one  evening  from  Ashurst's 
house  in  company  with  Josiah  Chorley  [q.  v.] 
"When  they  reached  the  'passage  which  goes 
from  Clerkenwell  to  St.  John's  Court,'  two 
men  stood  at  the  entrance ;  one  cried  '  Here 
he  is,'  the  other  replied  '  Let  him  alone,  for 
there  is  somebody  with  him.'  Poole  made 
up  his  mind  that,  but  for  Chorley 's  presence, 
he  would  have  been  murdered.  This,  at  any 
rate,  is  Chorley's  story.  He  accordingly  left 
England,  and  settled  at  Amsterdam.  Here 
he  died  on  12  Oct.,  new  style,  1679.  A 
suspicion  arose  that  he  had  been  poisoned, 
but  it  rests  on  no  better  ground  than  the 
wild  terror  inspired  by  Oates's  infamous 
fabrications.  He  was  buried  in  a  vault  of 
the  English  presbyterian  church  at  Amster- 
dam. His  portrait  was  engraved  by  R.White. 
His  wife,  whose  maiden  name  is  not  known, 
was  buried  on  11  Aug.  1668  at  St.  Andrew's, 
Holborn,  Stillingfleet  preaching  the  funeral 
sermon.  He  left  a  son,  who  died  in  1697. 
The  commentator  spelled  his  name  Poole, 
and  in  Latin  Polus. 

He  published:  1.  <  The  Blasphemer  slain 
with  the  Sword  of  the  Spirit ;  or  a  Plea  for 
the  Godhead  of  the  Holy  Spirit .  .  .  against 
.  .  .  Biddle,'  &c.,  1654, 12mo.  2.  '  Quo  War- 
ranto ;  or  an  Enquiry  into  the  .  .  .  Preach- 
ing of  ...  Unordained  Persons,'  &c.,  1658, 
4to  (this  was  probably  written  earlier,  as  it 
was  drawn  up  by  the  appointment  of  the 
London  provincial  assembly,  which  appears 
to  have  held  no  meetings  after  1655 :  Wood 
mentions  an  edition,  1659, 4to).  3.  <  A  Model 
for  the  Maintaining  of  Students  ...  at  the 
University.  .  .  in  order  to  the  Ministry,' &c., 
1658,  4to.  4.  'A  Letter  from  a  London 
Minister  to  the  Lord  Fleet  wood/  1659,  4to 
(dated  13  Dec.)  5.  <  Evangelical  Worship 
is  Spiritual  Worship,'  &c.,  1660,  4to:  with 
title  '  A  Reverse  to  Mr.  Oliver's  Sermon  of 
Spiritual  Worship,'  &c.,  1698, 4to.  6.  <  Vox 
Clamantis  in  Deserto,'  &c.,'  1666,  8vo  (in 
Latin).  7.  'The  Nullity  of  the  Romish 


Faith,'  &c.,  Oxford,  1666,  8vo  (Wooo); 
Oxford,  1667,  12mo.  8.  'A  Dialogue  be- 
tween a  Popish  Priest  and  an  English  Pro- 
testant,' &c.,  1667,  8vo,  often  reprinted  ;  re- 
cent editions  are,  1840, 12mo  (edited  by  Peter 
Hall  [q.  v.]) ;  1850,  12mo  (edited  by  John 
dimming  [q.  v.])  9.  '  Synopsis  Criticorum 
aliorumque  Sacrae  Scripturse  Interpretum,' 
&c.,  vol.  i.,  1669,  fol.;  vol.  ii.,  1671,  fol.;  vol. 
iii.,  1673,  fol. ;  vol.  iv.,  1674,  fol. ;  vol.  v., 
1676,  fol.;  2nd  edit.,  Frankfort,  1678,  fol.,  5 
vols. ;  3rd  edit., Utrecht,  1684-6,  fol.,  5  vols. 
(edited  by  John  Leusden)  ;  4th  edit.,  Frank- 
fort, 1694,  4to,  5  vols.  (with  life)  ;  5th  edit., 
Frankfort,  1709-12,  fol.,  6  vols.  (with  com- 
ment on  the  Apocrypha).  The  '  Synopsis' 
was  placed  on  the  Roman  Index  by  decree 
dated  21  April  1693.  10.  'A  Seasonable 
Apology  for  Religion,^  &c.,  1673,  4to.  Pos- 
thumous were  11.  '  His  late  Sayings  a  little 
before  his  Death,'  &c.  [1679],  broadsheet. 
12.  '  Annotations  upon  the  Holy  Bible,'  &c., 
1683-5,  fol.,  2  vols.;  often  reprinted;  last 
edit.  1840,  8vo,  3  vols.  Four  of  his  sermons 
are  in  the  '  Morning  Exercises,'  1 660-75, 4to. 
He  had  a  hand  in  John  Toldervy's  '  The  Foot 
out  of  the  Snare,'  1656,  4to  (a  tract  against 
quakers)  ;  he  subscribed  the  epistle  commen- 
datory prefixed  to  Christopher  Love's  pos- 
thumous '  Sinner's  Legacy,'  1657,  4to ;  he 
wrote  a  preface  and  memoir  for  the  posthu- 
mous sermons  (1677)  of  James  Nalton  [q.v.l; 
also  elegiac  verses  in  memory  of  Jacob  Stock, 
Richard  Vines,  and  Jeremy  Whitaker. 

[Calamy's Account,  1713,  pp.  14seq.;  Calamy's 
Continuation,  1727,  i.  15  seq. ;  Wood's  Fasti 
(Bliss),  ii.  205 ;  Reliquise  Baxterianae,  1696,  iii. 
157;  Burnet's  Own  Time,  1724,  i.  308;  Birch's 
Life  of  Tillotson,  1753,  pp.  37  seq.;  Granger's 
Biogr.  Hist,  of  England,  1779,  iii.  311  ;  Peck's 
Desiderata  Curiosa.  1779,  ii.  546;  Chalmers's 
General  Biogr.  Diet.,  1816,  xxv.  154  seq.; 
Glaire's  Dictionnaire  Universel  des  Sciences  Ec- 
clesiastiques,  1858,  ii.  1816  ;  extract  from  Samp- 
son's Day-book,  in  Christian  Reformer,  1862,  p. 
247;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.  1891,  iii.  1175.] 

A.  G. 

POOLE,  PAUL  FALCONER  (1807- 
1879),  historical  painter,  fourth  son  of  James 
Paul  Poole,  a  small  grocer,  was  born  at  43  Col- 
lege Street,  Bristol,  on  28  Dec.  1807.  An 
elder  brother,  James  Poole,  a  merchant,  was 
mayor  of  Bristol  in  1858-9,  and  chairman  of 
the  TafF  Vale  Railway  Company,  and  of 
the  Bristol  Docks  Committee.  He  died  on 
24  Dec.  1872,  aged  75. 

Paul  was  baptised  in  St.  A  ugustine's  Church 
in  that  city  on  22  July  1810  by  the  names  of 
Paul  'Fawkner.'  He  received  little  general 
education,  and  as  an  artist  was  almost  entirely 
self-taught,  to  which  cause  must  be  ascribed 


Poole 


IOI 


Poole 


the  imperfect  drawing  that  is  observable  in 
much  of  his  work.  He  came  to  London  early, 
and  in  1830  exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy 
his  first  picture, 'The  Well,  a  scene  at  Naples,' 
but  during  the  next  seven  years  his  name  does 
not  appear  in  the  catalogues.  He,  however, 
contributed  to  the  exhibitions  of  the  Society 
of  British  Artists  and  of  the  British  Institu- 
tion, and  from  1833  to  1835  appears  to  have 
been  living  at  Southampton.  In  1837  he  sent 
to  the  Royal  Academy  *  Farewell !  Fare- 
well ! '  and  was  afterwards  an  almost  constant 
contributor  to  its  exhibitions.  '  The  Emi- 
grant's Departure '  appeared  at  the  Royal  Aca- 
demy in  1838,  and  was  followed  in  1840  by 
*  The  Recruit '  and  '  Hermann  and  Dorothea 
at  the  Fountain,'  in  1841  by  '  By  the  Rivers 
of  Babylon,'  a  work  of  fine  poetic  feeling,  and 
in  1842  by  '  Tired  Pilgrims  '  and  l  Margaret 
alone  at  the  Spinning-Wheel.'  All  these 
works  were  idyllic,  but  in  1843  he  attracted 
much  notice  by  his  highly  dramatic  picture 
of  '  Solomon  Eagle  exhorting  the  people  to 
Repentance  during  the  Plague  of  the  year 
1665,'  a  subject  taken  from  Defoe's  'History 
of  the  Plague,'  and  described  by  Redgrave 
as  representing  '  the  wild  enthusiast,  almost 
stark  naked,  calling  down  judgment  upon  the 
stricken  city,  the  pan  of  burning  charcoal 
upon  his  head  throwing  a  lurid  light  around.' 
The  Heywood  gold  medal  of  the  Royal  Man- 
chester Institution  was  awarded  to  him  for 
this  picture  in  1845.  He  also,  in  1843,  sent 
to  the  Westminster  Hall  competition  a 
spirited  cartoon,  the  subject  of  which  was 
'  The  Death  of  King  Lear.'  In  1844  he  sent 
to  the  academy  '  The  Moors  beleaguered  by 
the  Spaniards  in  the  city  of  Valencia,'  and  in 
1846  'The  Visitation  and  Surrender  of  Syon 
Nunnery.'  He  was  elected  an  associate  of  the 
Royal  Academy  in  1846,  and  in  1847  gained 
a  prize  of  300/.  in  the  Westminster  Hall  com- 
petition for  his  cartoon  of  '  Edward's  Genero- 
sity to  the  People  of  Calais  during  the  Siege 
of  1346.'  His  subsequent  contributions  to  the 
Royal  Academy  included,  in  1848,  '  Robert. 
Duke  of  Normandy,  and  Arietta ; '  in  1849, 
a  picture  in  three  compartments,  containing 
scenes  from  Shakespeare's  '  Tempest ; '  in 
1850,  *  The  Messenger  announcing  to  Job  the 
Irruption  of  the  Sabseans  and  the  Slaughter 
of  the  Servants,'  a  work  which  has  been  de- 
scribed as  '  a  painted  poem  not  unlike  Mr. 
Browning's  verse;'  and  in  1851  'The  Goths 
in  Italy,'  now  in  the  Manchester  Art  Gallery. 
These  were  followed  by '  The  May  Queen  pre- 
paring for  the  Dance'  and  'Marina  singing  to 
her  father  Pericles,' in  1852;  'The  Song  of 
the  Troubadour,'  in  1854;  'The  Seventh 
Day  of  the  Decameron :  Philomena's  Song,' 
in  1855  ;  '  The  Conspirators— the  Midnight 


Meeting,'  in  1856 ;  'A  Field  Conventicle,'  in 
1857  ;  'The  Last  Scene  in  King  Lear  (The 
Death  of  Cordelia),'  in  1858,  now  in  the 
South  Kensington  Museum  ;  and  '  The  Es- 
cape of  Glaucus  and  lone,  with  the  blind  girl 
Nydia,  from  Pompeii,'  in  1860.  In  1861 
Poole  was  elected  a  royal  academician,  and 
presented  as  his  diploma  work  '  Remorse.' 
His  later  works  include  the  '  Trial  of  a  Sor- 
ceress—the Ordeal  by  Water,'  1862;  'Light- 
ing the  Beacon  on  the  coast  of  Cornwall  at  the 
appearance  of  the  Spanish  Armada,'  1864 ; 
'  Before  the  Cave  of  Belarius,'  1866 ;  '  The 
Spectre  Huntsman/  1870 ;  '  Guiderius  and 
Arviragus  lamenting  the  supposed  death  of 
Imogen,'  1871 ;  '  The  Lion  in  the  Path,'  1873 ; 
'  Ezekiel's  Vision,'  1875,  bequeathed  by  him 
to  the  National  Gallery,  but  not  a  good 
example  of  his  powers ;  '  The  Meeting  of 
Oberon  and  Titania,'  1876;  'The  Dragon's 
Cavern,'  1877 ;  '  Solitude,'  1878 ;  and  '  May 
Day '  and  '  Imogen  before  the  Cave  of  Bela- 
rius,' 1879.  These  were  his  last  exhibited 
works,  and  were  typical  examples  of  his 
idyllic  and  dramatic  styles.  His  pictures  owe 
much  of  their  effect  to  his  fine  feeling  for 
colour,  the  keynote  of  which  was  a  tawny 
gold.  He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Insti- 
tute of  Painters  in  Water-Colours  in  1878. 
Two  of  his  drawings  are  in  the  South  Ken- 
sington Museum.  Twenty-six  of  his  works 
were  exhibited  at  the  winter  exhibition  of 
the  Royal  Academy  in  1884,  together  with  a 
portrait- sketch  by  Frank  Holl,  R.A. 

Poole,  who  was  a  painter  of  great  poetic 
imagination  and  dramatic  power,  died  at  his 
residence,  Uplands,  Hampstead,  on  22  Sept. 
1879,  and  was  buried  in  Highgate  cemetery. 
In  manner  unassuming,  he  was,  in  person,  tall 
and  spare,  with  grey  eyes  and  a  short  beard. 
He  married  Hannah,  widow  of  Francis  Danby 
[q.  v.],  A.R.A.,  who  also  in  early  life  resided 
in  Bristol,  and  whose  son,  Thomas  Danby, 
lived  much  with  him. 

[Athenseum,  1879,  ii.  408  ;  Art  Journal,  1879, 
pp.  263,  278 ;  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  9th 
edit.  1875-89,  xix.  461  ;  Kedgraves'  Century  of 
Painters  of  the  English  School,  1890,  p.  367  ; 
Eoyal  Academy  Exhibition  Catalogues,  1830- 
1879;  British  institution  Exhibition  Catalogues 
(Living  Artists),  1830-42;  Exhibition  Catalogues 
of  the  Society  of  British  Artists,  1830-41  ; 
Graves's  Dictionary  of  Artists,  1760-1880; 
information  kindly  communicated  by  Mr.  H.  B. 
Bowles  of  Clifton,  and  Mr.  W.  George  of  Bristol, 
and  by  Dr.  Richard  Garnett,  C.B.]  R.  E.  G. 

POOLE,  REGINALD  STUART  (1832- 
1895),  archaeologist  and  orientalist,  born  in 
London  on  27  Feb.  1832,  was  the  younger 
son  of  the  Rev.  Edward  Richard  Poole,  M.A., 
of  Trinity  Hall,  Cambridge,  and  Sophia  Poole 


Poole 


102 


Poole 


[q.  v.l,  sister  of  Edward  William  Lane  [q.  v.] 
From  July  1842  to  October  1849  he  lived  with 
his  mother  and  her  brother  at  Cairo,  where 
his  education  was  directed  by  Lane  and  by 
the  Rev.  G.  S.  Cautley.  He  began  very  early 
to  devote  himself  to  the  study  of  ancient 
Egypt,  made  minute  researches  in  private 
collections  of  antiquities  at  Cairo  and  Alex- 
andria, and  twice  ascended  the  Nile  for 
the  purpose  of  studying  the  monuments.  The 
fruit  of  these  labours  was  seen  in  a  series  of 
articles  contributed,  before  he  was  seventeen, 
to  the  '  Literary  Gazette,'  and  republished  in 
1851  under  the  title  of '  Horse  JEgyptiacae, 
or  the  Chronology  of  Ancient  Egypt/  at  the 
instance  of  Algernon  Percy,  fourth  duke  of 
Northumberland  [q.  v.]  By  the  duke's  in- 
fluence he  was  admitted  as  an  assistant  in  the 
department  of  antiquities  in  the  British  Mu- 
seum, 26  Feb.  1852.  When  that  department 
was  rearranged  in  its  present  subdivisions, 
he  was  assigned  to  the  new  department  of 
coins  and  medals,  of  which  he  became  assis- 
tant keeper  in  July  1866,  and  keeper,  29  Oct. 
1870. 

Poole's  work  as  head  of  the  coin  depart- 
ment is  specially  memorable  for  the  initiation 
and  superintendence  of  a  system  of  scientific 
catalogues.  While  keeper  he  edited  and 
collated  thirty-five  volumes,  four  of  which 
and  part  of  a  fifth  he  wrote  himself:  viz. 
(in  the  '  Catalogue  of  Greek  Coins),'  *  Italy,' 
1873 ;  part  of  <  Sicily,'  1876 ; '  Ptolemaic  Kings 
of  Egypt,'  1883  ;  and  <  Alexandria,'  1892; 
and  in  the  oriental  series,  '  Shahs  of  Persia,' 
1887.  Duringhis  administration  a  new  feature 
was  introduced  in  the  exhibition  of  electro- 
types of  select  Greek  coins  and  English  and 
Italian  coins  and  medals  in  the  Museum  public 
galleries,  for  which '  Guides  '  were  written  by 
members  of  his  staff;  and  a  plan  was  carried 
out  of  exposing  to  public  view  successive 
portions  of  the  original  coin  collections.  By 
these  method?,  as  well  as  by  frequent  lec- 
tures and  by  a  vast  amount  of  individual 
instruction  freely  given  to  numerous  students, 
he  did  much  to  encourage  the  study  of  numis- 
matics and  medallic  art,  while  inspiring  his 
assistants  with  an  exalted  standard  of  learned 
work.  Outside  his  official  work,  he  com- 
piled a  laborious  '  Catalogue  of  Swiss  Coins ' 
in  the  South  Kensington  Museum  (1878), 
and  wrote  articles  on  Greek,  Arabic,  Persian, 
and  other  coins  in  the '  Numismatic  Chronicle ' 
and  in  the  'Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society 
of  Literature,'  in  some  of  which  he  was  the 
first  to  point  out  the  value  of  Greek  coins 
in  illustrating  classical  literature  and  plastic 
art  (FTJRTWAENGLER,  Masterpieces  of  Greek 
Sculpture,  ed.  Sellers,  1894,  p.  106).  He  also 
contributed  an  introductory  essay  to  the 


volume  on  '  Coins  and  Medals,'  edited  by 
his  nephew,  S.  Lane-Poole,  in  1885.  During 
his  keepership  the  department  acquired  the 
Wigan  collection,  the  South  Indian  series  of 
Sir  Walter  Elliot,  and  Sir  Alexander  Cun- 
ningham's Bactrian  cabinet,  while  it  was 
owing  to  Poole's  negotiation  that  the  collec- 
tions of  the  Bank  of  England  and  of  the  India 
Office  were  incorporated  in  the  British 
Museum. 

On  Egyptology  Poole  lectured  and  wrote 
frequently,  and  some  of  his  essays  were  col- 
lected in  1882,  with  the  title  'Cities  of  Egypt.' 
He  contributed  numerous  articles  to  Smith's 
'  Dictionary  of  the  Bible '  (1860  et  seq.) ;  wrote 
1  Egypt,'    '  Hieroglyphics,'    '  Numismatics,' 
&c.,for  the  eighth  and  ninth  editions  of  the 
1  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  ; '  read  papers  on 
Egyptian  subjects  before  the  Royal  Asiatic 
Society  and  the  Royal  Society  of  Literature ; 
and  was  an  occasional  reviewer  in  the  *  Aca- 
demy.'    In  1869  he  was  sent  by  the  trustees 
of  the  British  Museum  to  report  on  antiquities 
at  Cyprus  and  Alexandria,  and  the  result  was 
the  acquisition  of  the  Lang  and  Harris  collec- 
tions.    In  1883-5  he  was  appointed  to  lecture 
on  Greek,  Egyptian,  and  medallic  art  to  the 
students  of  the  Royal  Academy,  and  in  1889 
he  succeeded  Sir  Charles  Newton  as  Yates  pro- 
fessor of  archaeology  at  University  College, 
where  he  converted  what  had  been  a  special 
chair  of  Greek  archaeology  into  a  centre  for  in- 
struction in  a  wide  range  of  archaeological 
studies.     His  own  stimulating  teaching  of 
Egyptian,  Assyrian,  and  Arab  art  and  anti- 
quities, and  numismatics,  was  supplemented 
by  the  co-operation  of  specialists  in  other 
branches.    In  1882  he  joined  Miss  Amelia  B. 
Edwards  in  founding  the  Egypt  Exploration 
Fund,  to  which  he  devoted  most  of  his  spare 
time  and  energy  during  his  last  twelve  years, 
and  of  which  he  was  honorary  secretary  and 
chief  supporter   until   his  death.     He   also 
founded,  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Legros,  in 
1884,  the  Society  of  English  Medallists,  in 
the  hope  of  developing  an  improved  style  of 
medallic  art.     In  1876  he  was  elected  a  cor- 
respondent of  the  Academie  des  Inscriptions 
et  Belles-Lettres  of  the  French  Institute,  and 
in  1880  he  received  the  honorary  degree  of 
LL.D.  at  Cambridge.     In  1893,  after  forty- 
one  years'  public  service,  he  retired  from  the 
keepership  of  coins,  and,  having  resigned  his 
professorship  in  1894  in  consequence  of  failing 
health,  died  on  8  Feb.  1895  at  West  Kensing- 
ton.    He  married  in  1861  Eliza  Christina 
Forlonge,  by  whom  he  had  four  children,  of 
whom  three  survived  him. 

Besides  the  works  mentioned  above,  Poole 

edited  a  short-lived  magazine,  the  '  Monthly 

,  Review,'  1856-7,  to  which  he  was  an  exten- 


Poole 


103 


Poole 


sive  contributor;  and  wrote,  in  collaboration 
with  his  mother,  the  descriptive  letterpress  of 
Frith's '  Views  in  Egypt,  Sinai,  and  Palestine.' 

[Times,  9  Feb.  1895;  Athenaeum,  16  Feb. 
1895  ;  Lane-Poole's  Life  of  E.  W.  Lane,  pp.  111- 
121 ;  information  from  F.  A.  Enton,  secretarj'  of 
the  Koyal  Academy;  personal  knowledge  and 
private  information.] 

POOLE,  ROBERT  (1708-1752),  medical 
and  theological  writer,  was  born  in  1708, 
but  his  parentage  cannot  be  traced.  Nearly 
all  that  can  be  found  out  about  this  singular 
man  is  derived  from  his  own  writings.  He 
states  that  after  studying  some  years  in  the 
['Congregational  Fund']  academy  of  arts 
and  sciences  under  Professor  Eames  [see 
EAMES,  JOHN],  and  attending  some  courses 
of  anatomy  under  Dr.  Nichols,  professor  of 
anatomy  at  Oxford,  and  of  chemistry  under 
Dr.  Pemberton,  professor  of  physic  at  Gresham 
College,  he  entered  (2  March  1738)  as  a 
physician's  pupil  at  St.  Thomas's  Hospital, 
where  he  followed  the  practice  chiefly  of 
Dr.  Wilmot.  His  studies  continued  about 
three  years,  and  in  May  1741  he  set  out  on 
a  journey  to  France,  his  chief  object  being 
to  obtain  a  degree  in  medicine  from  the  uni- 
versity of  Rheims.  On  15  July  1741,  after 
one  day's  examination  in  Latin,  he  received 
his  diploma,  and,  having  visited  the  hos- 
pitals in  Paris  and  studied  there,  returned 
by  way  of  Holland  to  his  home  at  Isling- 
ton after  three  months'  absence.  He  would 
seem  subsequently  to  have  practised  as  a 
physician,  for  on  the  foundation  of  the  Mid- 
dlesex Infirmary  (afterwards  the  Middle- 
sex Hospital)  in  1745  he  became  physician 
to  the  institution,  but  resigned  in  October 
1746,  when  the  constitution  of  the  infirmary 
was  altered  (see  ERASMUS  WILSON,  History 
of  the  Middlesex  Hospital,  1845,  pp.  xiv,  3, 
182).  He  was  appointed  in  1746  physician 
to  the  small-pox  hospital,  which  he  had  as- 
sisted to  found,  but  resigned  this  office  in 
1748. 

Poole's  medical  career  was  not  a  long  one, 
for  in  October  1748  he  embarked  on  a  voyage 
to  Gibraltar  and  the  West  Indies,  chiefly,  it 
would  seem,  for  the  sake  of  his  health,  and 
visited  Barbados,  Antigua,  and  other  islands. 
In  June  1749  he  was  attacked  with  fever. 
His  diary,  which  is  minutely  kept,  ends  on 
<5  July.  He  returned  home,  however,  since 
he  was  buried  at  Islington  on  3  June  1752 
(LYSONS,  Environs  of  London,  1795,  iii.  158). 
The  journals  of  this  voyage  were  published 
after  his  death,  under  the  title  of  '•  The  Bene- 
ficent Bee,'  with  an  anonymous  preface  which 
ends  with  these  words :  '  The  present  and 
eternal  happiness  of  his  fellow-creatures  was 
his  principal  concern,  and  he  spent  his  for- 


tune, his  health,  nay,  even  his  life,  «in  order 
to  promote  it.'  These  words  indicate  Poole's 
high  character  and  aims.  He  was  not  only 
a  physician,  but  a  religious  enthusiast,  who, 
as  a  friend  and  follower  of  George  Whitfield, 
was  not  ashamed  of  being  called  a  methodist. 
During  his  hospital  studies  and  on  his  travels 
he  busied  himself  in  religious  exhortation 
and  in  distributing  good  books.  His  profes- 
sional life  was  too  short  to  be  productive. 
He  was  a  most  industrious  student  and  an 
indefatigable  taker  of  notes,  but  evidently 
by  his  private  fortune  independent  of  his  pro- 
fession. He  appears  not  to  have  been  married, 
and  never  belonged  to  the  College  of  Phy- 
sicians. His  portrait,  a  mezzotint  by  J.  Faber 
after  Augustus  Armstrong,  is  prefixed  to  his 
first  volume  of  travels.  It  gives  his  age,  in 
1743,  as  thirty-five. 

Poole's  writings  form  two  groups.  The 
first  group  were  published  with  the  pseudo- 
nym of  Theophilus  Philanthropes.  They  are 
as  follows,  all  being  printed  at  London  in 
8vo.  The  editions  mentioned  are  those  in 
the  British  Museum.  1.  'A  Friendly  Cau- 
tion, or  the  first  Gift  of  Theophilus  Philan- 
thropes,'1740.  2.  'The  Christian  Muse,  or 
Second  Gift  of  Theophilus  Philanthropes,' 
2nd  edit.  1740.  This  is  in  verse.  3.  l  The 
Christian  Convert,  or  the  Third  Gift  of  Theo- 
philus Philanthropes,'  1740.  4.  '  A  Token 
of  Christian  Love,  or  the  Fourth  Gift  of 
Theophilus  Philanthropes,'  1740.  5.  'A 
Physical  Vade-mecum,  or  Fifth  Gift  of  Theo- 
philus Philanthropes,'  1741.  6.  '  Seraphic 
Love  tendered  to  the  Immortal  Soul,  or 
the  Sixth  Gift  of  Theophilus  Philanthro- 
pes,' 4th  edit.  1740.  The  first  four  'Gifts' 
and  the  sixth  are  all  of  the  same  kind, 
being  short  books  or  tracts  of  an  edifying 
and  devotional  character.  They  are  adorned 
with  extraordinary  allegorical  frontispieces, 
engraved  on  copper,  in  some  of  which  the 
author's  portrait  is  introduced.  These  tracts 
were  on  sale  at  8d.  or  1,9.  each,  but  were  also 
to  be  had,  if  desired,  gratis,  with  a  small 
charge  for  binding,  being  evidently  meant  also 
for  private  distribution.  The  fifth  'Gift 'is 
entirely  different.  It  contains  a  full  de- 
scription of  St.  Thomas's  Hospital  in  his  time, 
its  buildings,  arrangements,  and  staff,  with 
a  complete  copy  of  the  'Dispensatory'  or 
pharmacopoeia  of  that  hospital,  as  well  as  of 
those  of  St.  Bartholomew's  and  Guy's  Hos- 
pitals. Drawn  up  with  great  care,  it  is  an 
important  historical  memorial  of  hospital 
affairs  and  medical  practice  in  the  eighteenth 
century.  This  also  has,  in  some  copies,  a 
curious  allegorical  frontispiece,  and  in  one 
copy  we  have  found  the  portrait  of  the 
author.  The  authorship  of  these  works  is 


Poole 


104 


Poole 


established  not  only  by  the  dedications  and 
other  personal  details,  but  by  allusions  to 
them  in  the  acknowledged  works  of  the 
author. 

The  works  published  in  Poole's  own  name 
are  :  1.  'A  Journey  from  London  to  France 
and  Holland,  or  the  Traveller's  Useful  Vade- 
mecum,  by  R.  Poole,  Dr.  of  Physick,'  vol.  i. 
2nd  edit.  London,  1746 ;  vol.  ii.  1750.  This 
work  contains  a  minute  journal  of  the  au- 
thor's travels,  with  interesting  remarks  on 
the  Paris  hospitals,  freely  interspersed  with 
religious  and  moral  reflections.  The  bulk 
is  made  out  with  a  French  grammar,  a 
sort  of  gazetteer  of  Europe,  and  other  infor- 
mation for  travellers.  2.  'The  Beneficent 
Bee,  or  Traveller's  Companion :  a  Voyage 
from  London  to  Gibraltar,  Barbados,  Anti- 
gua, &c.,  by  R.  Poole,  M.D.,'  London,  1753. 
This  is  a  traveller's  journal  of  the  same 
character  as  the  former.  All  Poole's  works 
display  minute  accuracy,  a  thirst  for  in- 
formation of  all  kinds,  and  a  passion  for  sta- 
tistics, besides  the  personal  characteristics 
already  mentioned. 

[Poole's  Works ;  cf.  a  fuller  account  of  some 
of  them  by  Dr.  W.  S.  Church  in  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's Hospital  Eeports,  xx.  279,  and  xxi.  232  ; 
Notes  and  Queries,  2nd  ser.  i.  77.]  J.  F.  P. 

POOLE,  SOPHIA  (1804-1891),  author 
of  the  'Englishwoman  in  Egypt,'  was  the 
youngest  child  of  the  Rev.  Theophilus  Lane, 
D.C.L.,  prebendary  of  Hereford,  where  she 
was  born  on  16  Jan.  1804,  and  the  sister  of 
Edward  William  Lane  [q.  v.]  In  1829  she 
married  Edward  Richard  Poole,  M.A.  of 
Trinity  Hall,  Cambridge,  barrister-at-law, 
but  recently  admitted  to  holy  orders,  a 
notable  book-collector  and  bibliographer,  an 
intimate  of  Thomas  Frognall  Dibdin  [q.  v.], 
and  anonymous  author  of  '  The  Classical 
Collector's  Vade  Mecum'  (1822).  In  1842 
Mrs.  Poole  and  her  two  sons  accompanied 
her  brother  to  Egypt,  and  lived  in  Cairo  for 
seven  years,  where  she  visited  some  of  the 
harims  of  Mohammad  'Ali's  family,  and  ob- 
tained a  considerable  knowledge  of  domestic 
life  in  Mohammadan  society,  as  yet  but 
slightly  modified  by  western  influences.  The 
results  of  her  experiences  were  embodied  in  a 
series  of  letters,  published,  under  the  title  of 
'  The  Englishwoman  in  Egypt,'  in  Knight's 
weekly  volumes  (2  vols.  1844,  and  a  second 
series  forming  vol.  iii.  1846).  The  book  sup- 
plies a  true  and  simple  picture  of  the  life 
of  the  women  of  Egypt,  together  with  his- 
torical notices  of  Cairo — these  last  were  { 
drawn  from  Lane's  notes  and  revised  by  him.  I 
After  Mrs.  Poole's  return  to  England  with  ! 
her  brotherin  1849,  she  collaborated  with  her  ! 


younger  son,  Reginald  Stuart  Poole  [q.  v.]r 
in  a  series  of  descriptions  of  Frith's  '  Photo- 
graphic Views  of  Egypt,  Sinai,  and  Pales- 
tine' (1860-1).  After  the  early  education  of 
her  children,  her  life  was  mainly  devoted  to 
her  brother,  Edward  Lane,  up  to  his  death 
in  1876;  and  her  last  years  were  spent  in  her 
younger  son's  house  at  the  British  Museum, 
where  she  died,  6  May  1891,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-seven. 

The  elder  son,  EDWAED  STANLEY  POOLE 
(1830-1867),  was  an  Arabic  scholar,  and 
edited  the  new  edition  of  his  uncle  Lane's 
'  Thousand  and  One  Nights  '  (3  vols.  1859), 
and  the  fifth  edition  of  '  The  Modern  Egyp- 
tians '  (I860) ;  he  also  wrote  many  articles 
for  Smith's  '  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,'  besides 
contributing  to  the  eighth  edition  of  the '  En- 
cyclopaedia Britannica,'  and  occasionally  to 
periodical  literature.  He  became  chief  clerk 
of  the  science  and  art  department,  and  died 
prematurely  on  12  March  1867,  leaving  two 
sons,  Stanley  Lane-Poole  and  Reginald  L. 
Poole. 

[Private  information.] 

POOLE,  THOMAS  (1765-1837),  friend 
of  Coleridge,  eldest  son  of  Thomas  Poole, 
tanner,  of  Nether  Stowey,  Somerset,  Avas 
born  at  Nether  Stowey  on  14  November  1765. 
The  father,  a  rough  tradesman,  brought  up 
the  son  to  his  own  business,  and  thought 
book-learning  undesirable.  The  younger 
Thomas  was  never  sent  to  a  good  school,  and 
resented  his  father's  system.  He  managed 
to  educate  himself,  and  learnt  French  and 
Latin  with  the  help,  in  later  years,  of  a 
French  emigrant  priest.  He  stuck  to  his 
business  not  the  less;  and  in  1790  was 
elected  delegate  by  a  meeting  of  tanners  at 
Bristol,  who  wished  to  obtain  from  Pitt 
some  changes  in  the  duties  affecting  the 
trade.  He  visited  London  on  this  errand  in 
1791,  and  was  afterwards  engaged  in  pre- 
paring memorials  to  Pitt.  About  1793  he 
seems  to  have  carried  out  a  plan  for  improv- 
ing his  knowledge  of  business  by  working 
as  a  common  tanner  in  a  yard  near  London. 
A  story  that  while  thus  working  he  made 
acquaintance  with  Coleridge,  then  in  the 
dragoons,  seems  to  be  inconsistent  with 
dates  (SANDPOKD,  Thomas  Poole  and  his 
Friends,  pp.  54,  70-84).  Upon  his  father's 
death  in  July  1795,  Poole  inherited  the 
business.  He  met  Coleridge,  probably  for 
the  first  time,  in  1794,  and  describes  the 
'  Pantisocracy  '  scheme.  Poole  was  a  whig 
rather  than  a  Jacobin,  but  sympathised  with 
the  revolution  in  its  earlier  phases.  Cole- 
ridge and  his  friends  were  on  the  same  side 
at  this  time.  An  intimacy  soon  began,  and 


Poole 


I05 


Poor 


in  September  1795  Coleridge  again  visited 
Stowey,  when  Poole  wrote  an  enthusiastic 
copy  of  verses  about  his  friend.  Poole  sup- 
ported the  '  Watchman '  in  1796,  in  which 
Coleridge  also  published  a  paper  of  his 
upon. the  slave  trade.  He  got  up  a  small 
subscription  of  40/.,  which  was  presented 
to  Coleridge  on  the  failure  of  the  periodical, 
and  which  was  repeated  in  1797.  Poole 
found  Coleridge  a  cottage  at  Nether  Stowey 
at  the  end  of  1796.  He  also  became  inti- 
mate with  Thomas  Wedgwood  and  his 
brothers,  to  whom  he  introduced  Coleridge. 
A  lifelong  friendship  with  Sir  Humphry 
Davy  was  another  result  of  the  same  con- 
nections. The  friendship  with  Coleridge 
continued  after  Coleridge's  voyage  to  Ger- 
many, and  Mrs.  Coleridge  wrote  annual 
letters  to  Poole  for  many  years,  showing 
her  confidence  in  his  continued  interest.  In 
October  1800  he  wrote  some  letters  upon 
Monopolists  and  Farmers '  which  Coleridge 


413-55).  In  1801  a  slight  tiff,  arising  from 
Poole's  unwillingness  or  inability  to  lend 
as  much  as  Coleridge  had  asked,  was 
smoothed  over  by  an  affectionate  letter  from 
Coleridge  on  the  death  of  Poole's  mother. 
In  1807  Coleridge  again  visited  Poole  at 
Stowey  after  his  return  from  Malta,  when 
De  Quincey,  then  making  his  first  acquain- 
tance with  Coleridge,  also  saw  Poole.  In 
1809  Poole  advanced  money  for  the  '  Friend.' 
He  corresponded  with  Coleridge  occasionally 
in  later  years.  He  contributed  to  the 
support  of  Hartley  Coleridge  at  Oxford, 
received  him  during  vacations,  and  took 
his  side  in  regard  to  the  expulsion  from 
Oriel.  He  saw  Coleridge  for  the  last  time 
in  1834,  and  offered  help  for  the  intended 
biography. 

Coleridge's  correspondence  shows  that  he 
thoroughly  respected  the  kindness  and 
common  sense  of  Poole,  who  even  ventures 
remarks  upon  philosophical  questions.  Al- 
though self-taught,  Poole  had  made  a  good 
collection  of  books,  and  he  was  active  in  all 
local  matters.  He  kept  up  a  book  society  ; 
was  an  active  supporter  of  Sunday-schools, 
and  formed  a  '  Female  Friendly  Society.' 
He  was  also  much  interested  in  the  poor  laws, 
and  in  1804  was  employed  by  John  Rick- 
man  [q.  v.]  in  making  an  abstract  of  returns 
ordered  by  the  House  of  Commons  from 
parish  overseers  (printed  in  May  1805).  In 
1805  Poole  took  into  partnership  Thomas 
Ward,  who  had  been  apprenticed  to  him  in 
1795,  and  to  whom  he  left  the  charge  of  the 
business,  occupying  himself  chiefly  in  farm- 


ing. Poole  was  a  man  of  rough  exterior, 
with  a  loud  voice  injured  by  excessive  snuff; 
abnormally  sharp-tempered  and  overbearing 
in  a  small  society.  His  apology  for  call- 
ing a  man  a  '  fool '  ended,  *  But  how  could 
you  be  such  a  damned  fool  ?  '  He  was,  how- 
ever, heartily  respected  by  all  who  really 
knew  him ;  a  staunch  friend,  and  a  sturdy 
advocate  of  liberal  principles;  straightfor- 
ward and  free  from  vanity.  He  died  ot 
pleurisy  on  8  Sept.  1837,  having  been 
vigorous  to  the  last.  He  never  married,  but 
was  strongly  attached  to  his  niece,  Eliza- 
beth, daughter  of  his  brother  Richard,  a 
doctor,  who  died  in  1798,  just  at  the  time 
of  her  birth.  Elizabeth  was  the  *  E '  of  Mrs. 
Kemble's  '  Records  of  my  Childhood,'  and 
married  Archdeacon  Sandford. 

[Thomas  Poole  and  his  Friends;  by  Mrs.  Henry 
Sandford,  2  vols.  8vo,  1888;  Life  of  Coleridge  by 
J.  Dykes  Campbell.]  L.  S. 

POOR,  or  PAUPER,   HERBERT   (d. 

1217),  bishop  of  Salisbury,  was  son  of  Ri- 
chard of  Ilchester,  bishop  of  Winchester  [see 
RICHAKD]  (MADOX,  Formulare  Anglicanum, 
pp.  47,  52).  Richard  Poor  [q.  v.],  who  suc- 
ceeded him  as  bishop  of  Salisbury,  was  his 
younger  brother.  Dr.  Stubbs  suggests  that 
he  was  connected  with  Roger  Poor  [see 
ROGER],  and  therefore  also  with  Roger  of 
Salisbury  and  Richard  FitzNeale.  Canon 
Rich  Jones  conjectured  that  Poore  was  in 
this  case  the  equivalent  not  of  'pauper,'  but 
of  '  puer '  or  the  Norman  '  poer,'  a  knight  or 
cadet  of  good  family  (cf.  Anglo-Saxon '  cild '). 
He  has  also  pointed  out  that  near  Tarrant  in 
Dorset,  where  Herbert's  brother  Richard  was 
born,  there  are  places  called  Poorstock  and 
Poorton. 

Herbert  was  probably  employed  under 
his  father  in  the  exchequer,  but  the  first 
mention  of  him  is  in  1175,  when  he  was  one 
of  the  three  archdeacons  appointed  by  Arch- 
bishop Richard  of  Canterbury  ;  afterwards, 
in  1180,  the  archbishop  reverted  to  the 
ancient  practice,  and  made  Herbert  sole 
archdeacon.  On  11  Dec.  1183  Herbert,  in 
his  capacity  of  archdeacon,  enthroned  Walter 
de  Coutances  [q.  v.]  as  bishop  of  Lincoln. 
On  25  July  1184  he  was  one  of  the  com- 
missioners sent  by  Henry  II  to  the  monks 
of  Christ  Church,  Canterbury,  to  warn  them 
to  prepare  for  the  election  of  an  archbishop 
(GERVASE,  i.  309).  From  1185  to  1188  he 
had  custody  of  the  see  of  Salisbury  (MADOX, 
Hist,  of  Exchequer,  i.  311,  634).  Herbert 
was  a  canon  of  Lincoln  and  of  Salisbury. 
In  May  1186  the  chapter  of  the  former  see 
elected  him  as  their  bishop,  but  Henry  II 
refused  his  consent.  A  little  later  the 


Poor 


1 06 


Poor 


majority  of  the  canons  of  Salisbury,  in  their 
turn,  chose  Herbert  for  bishop,  and  on 
14  Sept.  1186  the  king  gave  his  assent ;  but 
the  minority  appealed  to  the  pope,  on  the 
ground  that  Herbert  was  the  son  of  a  con- 
cubine, and  the  election  came  to  naught 
(Gesta  Henrici,  i.  346,  352).  On  29  Sept. 
1186  Herbert  enthroned  his  successful  rival, 
Hugh,  as  bishop  of  Lincoln.  In  May  1193 
he  appealed  to  the  pope  against  the  election  of 
Hubert  Walter  as  archbishop,  on  the  ground 
that  the  king  was  in  captivity  and  the  Eng- 
lish bishops  were  not  present  at  the  election 
(RoG.  Hov.  iii.  213).  In  1194  the  canons 
of  Salisbury,  having  no  dean,  unanimously 
elected  Herbert  for  their  bishop.  The  elec- 
tion was  confirmed  by  Archbishop  Hubert  on 
29  April.  Herbert  was  at  this  time  only 
in  deacon's  orders,  but  on  4  June  he  was 
ordained  priest,  and  on  5  June  was  conse- 
crated by  Hubert  in  St,  Katharine's  Chapel 
at  Westminster.  He  was  enthroned  at 
Salisbury  on  13  June. 

From  1195  to  1198  Herbert  was  one  of 
the  justices  before  whom  fines  were  levied. 
On  16  June  1196  he  was  at  Rouen  with 
Walter  of  Coutances.  At  the  council  of 
Oxford  in  February  1198,  when  Hubert  de- 
manded in  the  king's  name  a  force  of  three 
hundred  knights  to  be  paid  three  shillings  a 
day  each,  Herbert,  who  represented  the  older 
traditions  of  the  exchequer,  supported  St. 
Hugh  of  Lincoln  in  his  successful  resistance 
to  the  demand  (Magna  Vita  S.  Hugonis,  pp. 
248-9).  For  his  share  on  this  occasion 
Herbert  was,  by  Richard's  orders,  deprived 
of  his  possessions  in  England,  and  compelled 
to  cross  over  to  Normandy  ;  but  he  was  soon 
reconciled  to  the  king,  and  returned  home  on 
8  June.  He  was  present  at  the  coronation 
of  John  on  27  May  1199.  On  19  Sept.  1200 
he  was  one  of  the  papal  delegates  who  sat 
at  Westminster  to  effect  a  reconciliation 
between  Archbishop  Geoffrey  and  the  chapter 
of  York,  and  on  22  Nov.  was  at  Lincoln 
when  the  king  of  Scots  did  homage  to  John. 
On  14  Dec.  1201  he  was  summoned  to  join 
the  king  in  Normandy.  His  name  occurs 
on  2  Jan.  1205  as  receiving  a  present  of  six 
tuns  of  wine  (Cal.  Rot.  Glaus.  i.  37).  In 
1207  Herbert  fled  to  Scotland  with  Gilbert 
de  Glanville  [q.  v.]  to  escape  the  constant 
vexation  from  the  king.  However,  on 
27  May  1208,  he  was  present  at  Ramsbury 
(Reg.  S.  Osmund,  i.  190).  On  21  Jan.  1209 
Innocent  III  wrote  to  Herbert  with  regard 
to  the  dower  of  Berengaria,  widow  of  Ri- 
chard I,  and  on  14  May  directed  him,  in  con- 
j  unction  with  Gilbert  de  Glanville,  to  publish 
the  interdict  (Cal.  Papal  Registers,  i.  33, 
35 ;  MIGXE,  Patrologia,  ccxvi.  268).  In  1212 


Herbert  and  Gilbert  de  Glanville  were  en- 
trusted with  a  mission  to  release  the  Scots 
from  their  allegiance  to  John.  During  the 
interdict  Herbert  had  been  deprived  of  the 
lands  of  his  see,  but  restitution  was  ordered 
to  be  made  on  18  July  1213  (Cal.  Rot.  Pat. 
p.  101).  After  this  there  is  no  reference 
of  importance  to  Herbert.  He  died  in  1217, 
according  to  some  statements  on  9  May, 
but  other  authorities  give  6  Feb.  His  obit 
was  observed  at  Salisbury  on  7  Jan.  He 
was  buried  at  Wilton.  Herbert  is  note- 
worthy in  the  history  of  the  see  of  Salisbury 
for  having  conceived  the  design  of  removing 
it  from  Old  Sarum  to  a  more  suitable  site 
on  the  plain.  He  obtained  the  sanction  of 
Richard  I  through  the  aid  of  Hubert  Walter, 
and  his  design,  which  was  delayed  by  the 
troubles  of  the  next  reign,  was  eventually 
carried  out  by  his  brother  and  successor, 
Richard  Poor  (Reg.  S.  Osmund,  ii.  3,  4 ; 
PETEE  OP  BLOIS,  Epistola  104).  A  letter 
from  Peter  of  Blois  to  Herbert  consoling 
him  on  his  afflictions  apparently  belongs  to 
1198  (ib.  Epist.  246). 

[Annales  Monastici,  Roger  of  Hoveden,  Ealph 
de  Diceto,  G-ervase  of  Canterbury,  Roger  of 
Wendover,  Gesta  Henrici  Secundi  (attributed  to 
Benedict  of  Peterborough),  Register  of  S.  Os- 
mund, Sarum  Charters  (all  in  Rolls  Ser.) ;  Le 
Neve's  Fasti  Eccl.  Angl.  i.  38,  ii.  595  ;  Stubbs's 
Preface  to  Hoveden,  vol.  iv.  p.  xci ;  Cassan's 
Lives  of  Bishops  of  Salisbury;  Wiltshire  Archaeo- 
logical Magazine,  xviii.  217-24,  art.  by  W.  H.  R. 
Jones ;  Foss's  Judges  of  England,  i.  405-6 ; 
Ey ton's  Itinerary  of  Henry  II ;  Hoare's  History 
of  Wiltshire,  vi.  37;  other  authorities  quoted.] 

C.  L.  K. 

POOR,  POORE,  POURE,  or  LE  POOR, 
RICHARD  (d.  1237),  bishop  of  Chichester, 
Salisbury,  and  Durham,  was  younger  brother 
of  Bishop  Herbert  Poor  [q.  v.]  and  son  of 
Richard  of  Ilchester,  bishop  of  Winchester 
[see  RICHAKD]  (MADOX,  Form.  Angl.,  noted 
by  STUBBS,  Introd.  to  Hoveden,  vol.  iv.  p. 
xci  ft.)  He  was  therefore  technically  ille- 
gitimate, and  obtained  on  that  account  a  dis- 
pensation to  hold  his  benefices  in  January 
1206  (BLiss,  Papal  Registers,  p.  24).  In 
1197  or  1198  he  was  elected  dean  of  (Old) 
Sarum,  where  he  held  the  prebend  of  Char- 
minster  (Ann.  Mon.  ii.  65  ;  DICETO,  ii.  159). 
A  man  of  ability  and  learning,  he  was  instru- 
mental in  perfecting  the  cathedral  statutes 
by  the  important  '  Nova  Constitutio  '  of 
1213-14  (printed  in  Reg.  S.  Osmund,  i.  374- 
379).  In  1204  he  went  to  Rome  to  pro- 
secute his  candidature  for  the  bishopric  of 
Winchester;  but  Peter  des  Roches  [q.  v.] 
was  consecrated.  Similarly,  about  1213,  his 
election  by  the  monks  to  the  see  of  Dur- 


Poor 


107 


Poor 


ham,  after  being  <  hidden  under  a  bushel '  for 
five  months,  was  quashed  by  Innocent  III 
(COLDINGHAM,  xxi,  xxiii,  in  Hist.  Dunelm. 
Script,  pp.  29-31).  In  1214,  on  the  removal 
of  the  papal  interdict,  he  was  elected  to  the 
see  of  Chichester.  To  his  cathedral  he  gave 
the  manor  of  Amport,  Hampshire,  and  en- 
dowed a  prebend  with  the  church  of  Hove 
(STEPHENS,  Chichester,  pp.  72-3).  In  1216 
he  is  mentioned  as  one  of  the  executors  of 
King  John. 

In  1217  he  was  translated  to  Salisbury, 
to  the  general  joy,  as  he  had  been  '  pugil 
fidelis  et  eximius '  against  the  anti-national 
claims  of  the  dauphin  Louis  (WANDA,  pp.  4, 
5).  In  1222  he  was  one  of  the  arbitrators  who 
gave  the  award  exempting  the  abbey  of  West- 
minster from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  bishop  of 
London  (MATT.  PAKIS,  iii.  75 ;  WILKINS,  Cone. 
i.  598).  In  August  1223  he  was  one  of  the 
four  bishops  sent  on  the  death  of  Philippe  Au- 
guste  to  demand  Normandy  from  Louis  VIII 
(MATT.  PAKIS,  iii.  77  ;  Ann.  Mon.  iii.  81). 

But  the  most  important  work  of  Poore's 
life  was  the  removal  of  the  see  of  Salisbury 
to  New  Sarum,  and  the  erection  of  the  pre- 
sent magnificent  Early-English  cathedral  of 
Salisbury.  This  plan  had  been  long  con- 
templated (see  letters  of  PETEE  OP  BLOIS, 
e.g.  No.  104 ;  MATT.  PAKIS,  iii.  391 ;  Sarum 
Charters,  pp.  267-9  ;  Reg.  S.  Osmund,  vol.  ii. 
pp.  cii-cvi,  1-17,  37  sqq. ;  WILKINS,  Cone. 
i.  551  sqq. ;  DODSWOKTH,  Salisbury,  pp.  107- 
121).  Eventually  the  bishop,  with  the  chap- 
ter's concurrence,  sent  special  envoys  to 
Rome,  obtained  from  Honorius  III  a  bull 
dated  29  March  1219,  and  chose  a  site  <  in 
dominio  suo  proprio '  named  Myrfield  or 
Miry  field,  i.e.  Mary  field  (  WILLIS),  Merry- 
field  (GODWIN),  or  Maerfelde  -=  boundary-field 
(JONES).  A  wooden  chapel  and  cemetery 
were  at  once  provided,  and  some  of  the  canons 
sent  to  collect  funds  in  various  dioceses.  The 
formal ( transmigrate '  was  on  1  Nov.,  and 
the  foundations  were  laid  with  great  solem- 
nity on  28  April  1220,  the  bishop  laying  five 
stones— for  the  pope,  Langton,  himself,  Earl 
William  and  Countess  Ela  of  Salisbury — 
and  the  work  soon  received  the  support  of 
the  king  and  many  nobles  (WANDA,  pp.  5-15 ; 
MATT.  PAKIS,  iii.  391  ;  Ann.  Mon.  i.  66, 
which  says  that  Pandulph  laid  the  five 
stones).  A  poem  on  the  subject  by  the 
court  poet,  Henry  d'Avranches  (cf.  WAK- 
TON,  Hist,  of  Poetry,  i.  47),  exists  in  the 
Cambridge  University  Library,  and  is  quoted 
by  Matthew  Paris. 

The  work  went  on  quietly  for  five  years, 
and  the  bishop  must  have  full  credit  for  the 
organisation  and  the  provision  of  funds  for 
the  work.  On  28  Sept.  1225  he  consecrated 


a  temporary  high  altar  in  the  lady-chapel, 
and  two  others  at  the  end  of  the  north  and 
south  aisles,  endowing  the  '  vicars  choral ' 
with  the  church  of  Bremhill  (Sarum  Char- 
ters, pp.  116-19),  or  possibly  that  of  Laver- 
stock  (LELAND,  Inscr.^),  which  is  still  served 
by  them.  Next  day  the  public  consecra- 
tion of  the  whole  site  took  place,  Langton 
preaching  to  an  enormous  audience ;  the 
king  and  the  jnsticiar  (De  Burgh)  came  on 
2  Oct.  and  again  on  28  Dec.  (WANDA,  pp. 
38-40).  In  March  1226  Poore  administered 
the  last  sacrament  to  William  de  Longespee 
[q.  v.],  the  first  person  to  be  buried  in  the 
cathedral  (ib.  p.  48 ;  MATT.  PAKIS,  Hist.  Min. 
ii.  280),  and  on  4  June  translated  from  Old 
Sarum  the  bodies  of  Bishops  Osmund,  Roger, 
and  Joscelin.  A  letter  dated  16  July  1228, 
in  which  he  urges  the  chapter  to  press  Gre- 
gory IX  to  canonise  Osmund,  is  the  latest 
document  in  which  Poore  is  described  as 
bishop  of  Sarum  (WANDA,  p.  88). 

Poore  also  commenced  the  episcopal  palace, 
and  built  the  original  '  aula  '  and  '  camera ' 
(1221-2)  with  the  undercroft.  The  greater 
part  of  his  work,  recently  identified,  still  re- 
mains as  the  nucleus  of  the  present  building 
(Bishop  [Wordsworth]  of  Salisbury's  '  Lec- 
ture,' in  Wilts  Arch.  Mag.  vol.  xxv.)  He 
carefully  organised  the  cathedral  system  by 
important  statutes  passed  by  the  chapter 
under  his  influence  (Reg.  S.  Osmund,  ii.  18, 37, 
42).  His  Salisbury  constitutions  (dated  by 
Spelman  c.  1217,  and  by  Wilkins  c.  1223) 
bear  a  strong  resemblance  to  those  supposed 
by  Wilkins  to  have  been  promulgated  by 
Richard  De  Marisco  [q.  v.]  at  Durham  about 
1220  (they  are  printed  in  part  in  Wilkins's 
1  Concilia,'  i.  599,  in  Labbe's  l  Concilia,'  xi. 
245-70,  and  from  a  better  manuscript  in  '  Sa- 
rum Charters,'  pp.  128-63).  Bishop  Words- 
worth is  of  opinion  that  the  Durham  con- 
stitutions are  of  later  date,  and  are  simply 
Poore's  own  revision  for  use  at  Durham  of 
his  Sarum  constitutions  (see  Canon  Jones's 
Note  in  Sarum  Charters,  p.  128). 

For  the  city  of  New  Sarum  Poore  pro- 
cured a  charter  from  Henry  III  about  1220, 
besides  those  which  he  gave  himself  (HAT- 
CHER and  BENSON,  Salisbury,  pp.  728-31), 
and  the  systematic  arrangement  of  the  town 
in  rectangular  '  places '  or  '  tenements,'  still 
known  as  squares  or  chequers,  is  attributed 
to  him.  Tradition  connects  his  name  with 
the  foundation  of  the  still  existing  Hospital 
of  St.  Nicholas  by  Harnham  Bridge.  It  is 
clear  that  he  assisted  it,  and  procured  the 
donations  of  Ela  of  Salisbury  (c.  1227)  ;  but 
the  '  ordinatio '  of  1245,  providing  for  the 
master,  eight  poor  men.  and  four  poor  women, 
assigns  the  honours  of  founder  to  Bishop 


Poor 


108 


Poor 


Bingham  (HATCHER  and  BENSON,  pp.  38-49, 
documents  732-5,  and  in  Sarum  Charters, 
pp.  295-300 ;  TANNER,  Not.  Mon. ;  DIJGDALE, 
Mon.  vi.  778). 

In  1228  Poore  was  translated  to  the  see 
of  Durham  by  a  bull  dated  14  May  (Hist. 
Dunelm.  Script,  app.  Iii. ;  cf.  GREENWELL, 
Feodarium  Prioratus  Dunelmensis,  pp.  212- 
217).  On  22  July  he  received  the  tempo- 
ralities, though  the  king  took  the  unpre- 
cedented step  of  retaining  the  castles  of 
Durham  andNorham  (HUTCHINSON,  Durham, 
i.  200).  Poore  wrote  a  letter  of  farewell  to 
Sarum  on  24  July,  and  was  enthroned  at 
Durham  on  4  Sept.  (GRAYSTANES  in  Hist. 
Dun.  Scr.  p.  37,  where  1226  is  an  obvious 
slip).  At  Durham  he  maintained  good  rela- 
tions with  the  convent,  and  discharged  a 
'  debitum  inaestimabile '  of  more  than  forty 
thousand  marks  left  on  the  see.  The  Early- 
English  eastern  transept  of  the  '  Nine  Altars/ 
commonly  assigned  to  him,  may  have  been 
projected,  but  was  not  commenced  till  1242 
(GREENWELL,  Durham  Cathedral,  p.  37).  In 
1232  the  pope  ordered  him  to  inquire  into 
the  outrages  against  Roman  clerics  in  the 
northern  province  (MATT.  PARIS,  iii.  218). 
His  latest  appearance  in  public  affairs  is  as 
one  of  the  witnesses  to  Henry  Ill's  confirma- 
tion of  Magna  Charta  in  1236  (Ann.  Mon. 
i.  103). 

About  1230  he  had  refounded  at  Tarrant 
Kainston  (which  has  been  claimed  as  his 
birthplace)  a  small  house  for  three  Cistercian 
nuns  and  their  servants,  the  site  of  which  is 
now  included  in  Preston  or  Crawford  Tarrant 
(HUTCHINS,  Dorset,  iii.  118-19).  He  made 
the  control  of  it  over  to  Henry  Ill's  sister 
Johanna,  queen  of  Scotland,  who  was  buried 
there  in  1238  (MATT.  PARIS,  Chron.  Maj. 
iii.  479)  ;  it  was  consequently  called  '  Locus 
Benedictus  Reginse  super  Tarent.' 

Poore  died  on  15  April  1237  at  Tarrant 
(MATT.  PARIS,  Chron.  Maj.  iii.  392,  Hist.  Maj. 
ii.  396).  A  blundering  inscription,  now  lost, 
copied  by  Leland  (Itin.  iii.  62),  in  the  lady- 
chapel  at  Salisbury,  states  that  his  body  was 
buried  there  and  his  heart  at  Tarrant.  Ac- 
cording to  Tanner  (quoting  wrongly  WHAR- 
TON,  Angl.  Sacr.},  he  was  interred  in  Dur- 
ham chapter-house  But  Graystanes  states 
explicitly  (I.e.)  that  he  died  and  was  buried 
at  Tarrant, '  sicut  vivens  prseceperat.'  A  coffin 
slab,  found  about  1850  under  the  ruins  of 
the  abbey  chapel  at  Tarrant,  and  now  in  the 
church  of  Tarrant  Crawford,  is  not  impro- 
bably that  which  covered  the  bishop's  body 
(cf.  Rev.  E.  HIGHTON,  Last  Resting-place  of 
a  Scottish  Queen  and  a  Great  English  Bishop, 
p.  8).  An  effigy  in  Purbeck  marble  in  Salis- 
bury Cathedral  on  the  north  side  of  the  high 


altar,  formerly  said  to  be  Poore's,  is  now 
believed  to  represent  his  successor,  Bishop 
Bingham. 

The  { Ancren  Riwle,'  a  treatise  in  Middle 
English  on  the  duties  of  monastic  life — also 
found  in  a  Latin  version  as  '  Regulae  Inclu- 
sarum ' — is  said  in  an  early  manuscript  to 
have  been  addressed  by  Simon  of  Ghent, 
bishop  of  Salisbury  (1297-1315),  to  his  own 
sisters,  who  were  anchoresses  at  Tarrant. 
But  it  is  attributed  by  its  editor,  the  Rev.  J. 
Morton  (Camden  Soc.  1853),  to  Bishop  Poore, 
on  the  ground  that  in  language  it  belongs  to 
the  earlier  part  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
and  is  likely  to  have  been  written  by  the 
founder  of  the  religious  house  at  Tarrant. 
The  author  quotes  freely  from  the  Latin 
fathers,  Bernard,  Anselin,  and  even  Ovid  and 
Horace  (MORTON,  Introd.  pp.  xv,  xvi).  It  is 
considered  ( one  of  the  most  perfect  models 
of  simple  natural  eloquent  prose  in  our  lan- 
guage. ...  As  a  picture  of  contemporary 
life,  manners,  and  feeling  it  cannot  be  over- 
estimated' (SWEET,  First  Middle  English 
Primer,  pp.  vi,  vii). 

Various  letters  of  Poore  are  printed  by  Ca- 
non Rich  Jones  (Reg.  S.  Osmund,  and  Sarum 
Charters',  see  also  HATCHER  and  BENSON, 
WILKINS,  and  HUTCHINSON).  His  Salisbury 
seal  is  in  Dodsworth  (pi.  3),  and  in  Bishop 
Wordsworth's '  Seals  of  Bishops  of  Salisbury ' 
(reprinted  from  *  Archaeological  Journal,'  vol. 
xlv.),  p.  12.  The  Durham  seal  in  Surtees 
(i.  pi.  i.  8)  is  clearly  his.  The  counter-seal, 
representing  the  Virgin  and  Child  between 
two  well-modelled  churches  with  spires,  may 
indicate  an  intention  of  completing  both  his 
cathedrals  by  central  spires,  such  as  was 
actually  erected  at  Salisbury. 

The  bishop  was  identified  first  by  Panci- 
roli,  and  lately  by  Sir  Travers  Twiss  (Law 
Magazine  and  Review,  No.  ccxcii.  May  1894), 
with  RICARDUS  ANGLICUS,  the  'pioneer  of 
scientific  judicial  procedure  in  the  twelfth 
century.'  Panciroli  (d.  1599)  states  that 
Ricardus  Anglicus  was  surnamed  Pauper, 
and  that  he  was  so  poor  that  he  and  two 
chamber-fellows  at  Bologna  possessed  be- 
tween them  only  one  academic  hood  (capi- 
tium),  which  they  wore  in  turns  to  enable 
them  to  attend  the  public  lectures.  This 
story  is  a  common  fable  ;  and  it  is  impossible 
to  determine  whether  Panciroli  (whose  work 
was  published  in  1637)  had  any  better  evi- 
dence for  assigning  Ricardus  the  name  Pauper 
or  Poor.  Sarti  and  Fattorini  (De  Claris 
Archigymnasii  Bononiensis  Professoribus,  ed. 
C.  Albicini,  i.  ii.  386)  and  Savigny  express 
an  unfavourable  view  of  the  accuracy  of 
Panciroli,  and  Bethman-Hollweg  pronounces 
the  whole  statement  '  durchaus  fabelhaft.' 


Poor 


109 


Pope 


Bishop  Poore  is  called  'magister'  in  'Flores 
Historiarum '  (ii.  156),  and  '  summe  literatus' 
by  Wanda ;  but  there  is  no  allusion  to  his 
eminence  as  a  jurist  or  canonist ;  nor  is  there 
any  trace  of  special  knowledge  in  his  con- 
stitutions or  in  the  l  Ancren  Riwle.'  More- 
over, Ricardus  Anglicus  of  Bologna  may 
probably  be  identified  with  the  'Ricardus 
Anglicus,  doctor  Parisiensis,'  of  a  bull  of 
Honorius  III,  dated  1218  (see  RASHDALL, 
Mediaeval  Universities,  ii.  750).  Such  an 
identification  would  positively  differentiate 
him  from  Richard  Poore,  who  had  been  a 
bishop  since  1215,  and  would  certainly  be 
described  by  the  name  of  his  see. 

The  Bolognese  Richard  was  an  Englishman, 
who,  according  to  his  imitator  Tancred,  after- 
wards archdeacon  of  Bologna  and  rector  of 
the  law  school  there  in  1226,  held  the  position 
of  *  magister  decretorum '  at  Bologna,  and 
was  the  first  to  improve  on  the  methods  of 
Johannes  Bassianus  by  treating  of  judicial 
procedure  in  a  more  scientific  spirit,  namely, 

*  in  the  manner  of  a  compilation,  in  which 
passages  from  the  laws  and  canons  are  cited 
in   illustration    of    each   paragraph.'     This 
statement  is  repeated  by  Johannes  Andreas 
of  Bologna  (d.  1348),  who,  however,  was 
not  personally   acquainted   with   Richard's 
treatise  ;  nor  is  there  any  authority  for  the 
statement   of  Dr.   Arthur   Duck   (De    Usu 
Juris  CivilisRomanorum^.  142),  that  Richard 
taught  law  at  Oxford.     His  treatise  entitled 

*  Ordo  Judiciarius  '  was  discovered  by  Pro- 
fessor A.  Wunderlich  of  Gottingen  in  1851 
in   the   public  library   of  Douay.     It   was 
formerly  in  the  monastery  of  Anchin,  and 
was  published  at  Halle  in  1853  by  Professor 
Charles  Witte.      It    is   unfortunately   mis- 
dated 1120  by  a  blunder  in  the  legal  docu- 
ment which  is,  as  usual,  inserted  to  fix  the 
date.     However,  a  second  manuscript  was 
discovered  in  1885  by  Sir  T.  Twiss  in  the 
Royal  Library  at  Brussels ;  the  manuscript 
(No.  131-4),  which  bears  the  stamp  of  the 
famous  Burgundian  Library,  contains  also 
the  '  Brocarda  '  of  Otto  of  Pavia,  and  a  por- 
tion of  the  '  Summa '  of  Bassianus.     This 
text  has  been  transcribed  and  autotyped ;  it 
Is  considered  more  free  from  clerical  errors 
than  the  Douay  manuscript,  and  the  inserted 
document  is  clearly  dated  1196,  which  shows 
that  Richard  anticipated  the  method  of  treat- 
ment of  his  elder  contemporary  Pillius  (cf. 
Sir  T.   Twiss's   article;    Professor   M.   von 
BETHMAN-HOLLWEG  of  Bonn,  dvil-Prozess 
des  yemeinen   Rechts,  Bonn,   1874,  vol.  vi. 
pt.  i.  105-9;  Professor  J.  F.  VON  SCHULTE, 
Geschichte  der  Quellen  des  canonischen  Rechts, 
Stuttgart,  1875).     Von  Schulte  assigns  to 
the  '  Ordo  Judiciarius '  a  later  date,  on  the 


ground  that  it  contains  quotations  from  de- 
cretals recorded  in  compilations  which  were 
not  in  existence  before  1201.  Sir  T.  Twiss 
disputes  this  view.  Ricardus  Anglicus  also 
composed  glosses  on  the  papal  decretals, 
which  were  used  by  Bernard  of  Parma,  and 
'  Distinctiones '  on  Gratian's  '  Decretum/ 
which  are  supposed  by  Professor  von  Schulte 
to  be  extant  in  a  manuscript  at  Douay.  Both 
he  and  Poore  must  be  distinguished  from  a 
contemporary  physician  also  called  Ricardus 
Anglicanus  [see  RICHARD  OF  WENDOVEE]. 

[Documents  and  Works  cited  above,  esp.  the 
Sarum  Charters,  ed.  Jones  and  Macray,  and 
William  de  Wanda's  narrative  in  the  Register  of 
St.  Osmund,  which,  as  well  as  Wendover,  Paris, 
and  the  Monastic  Annalists,  are  quoted  from 
the  Rolls  Series.  The  statements  of  Godwin, 
Dugdale,  Tanner,  and  Willis,  and  even  the  no- 
tices in  Dodsworth's  Salisbury,  Cassan's  Bishops 
of  Salisbury,  and  Hatcher  and  Benson's  Salis- 
bury are  inaccurate,  and  superseded  by  the 
(practically  identical)  memoirs  by  Canon  W.  H. 
Kich  Jones  in  the  Wilts  Arch.  Mag.  1879,  xviii. 
223-4,  Fasti  Sarisb.  1882,  i.  45-50,  and  In  trod, 
to  Reg.  of  S.  Osmund,  vol.  ii.  pp.  xcviii-cxxxi. 
Leland's  inscription  is  clearly  not  contemporary. 
Information  and  suggestions  have  been  kindly 
furnished  by  the  present  bishop  of  Salisbury, 
Dr.  John  Wordsworth.]  H.  E.  D.  B. 

POOR,  ROGER  LE,  or  ROGER  PAUPER 
(fl.  1135),  judge.  [See  ROGER.] 

POPE,  ALEXANDER  (1688-1744), 
poet,  son  of  Alexander  Pope,  by  his  wife 
Edith,  daughter  of  William  Turner  of  York, 
was  born  in  Lombard  Street,  London,  on 
21  May  1688.  Pope's  paternal  grandfather  is 
supposed  to  have  been  Alexander  Pope,  rector 
of  Thruxton,  Hampshire  (instituted  1  May 
1630-1 ;  information  from  the  Winchester 
bishop's  register,  communicated  by  Mr.  J.  C. 
Smith,  of  Somerset  House),  who  died  in 
1645.  The  poet's  father,  according  to  his 
epitaph,  was  seventy-five  at  his  death, 
23  Oct.  1717,  and  therefore  bom  in  1641  or 
1642  (see  also  P.  T.'s  letter  to  Curll  in 
POPE'S  Works,  by  Elwin  and  Courthope, 
vi.  423,  where  he  is  said  to  have  been  a 
posthumous  son).  According  to  Warton,  he 
was  a  merchant  at  Lisbon,  where  he  was 
converted  to  Catholicism.  He  was  after- 
wards a  linendraper  in  Broad  Street,  Lon- 
don. A  first  wife,  Magdalen,  was  buried 
12  Aug.  1679  (register  of  St.  Benet  Fink); 
he  had  by  her  a  daughter  Magdalen,  after- 
wards Mrs.  Rackett ;  and  in  the  Pangbourne 
register,  Ambrose  Staveley,  the  rector,  re- 
cords the  burial  of  '  Alexander  Pope,  son  of 
my  brother-in-law,  Alexander  Pope,  mer- 
chant of  London/  on  1  Sept.  1682  (informa- 


Pope 


•no 


Pope 


tion  from  Mr.  J.  C.  Smith).  Pope's  state- 
ment in  a  note  in  the  Epistle  to  Arbuth- 
not,  that  his  father  belonged  to  the  family 
of  the  earls  of  Downe,  appears  to  have  been 
a  fiction  (WARTOX,  Essay,  ii.  255).  The 
poet's  maternal  grandfather  descended  from 
a  family  of  small  landowners  in  Yorkshire. 
He  had  seventeen  children,  one  of  whom, 
Edith,  the  poet's  mother,  was  baptised  on 
18  June  1642,  though,  according  to  her  epi- 
taph, she  was  ninety-three  at  her  death  on 
7  June  1733.  Christiana,  another  daughter, 
married  the  portrait-painter,  Samuel  Cooper 
(1609-1672)  [q.  v.],  and  at  her  death  in 
1693,  left  some  china,  pictures,  and  medals 
to  her  nephew.  Three  of  her  sons,  according 
to  Pope's  statement  (Epistle  to  Arbuthnot), 
were  in  the  service  of  Charles  I.  Alexander 
Pope,  the  linendraper,  after  his  second  mar- 
riage, moved  his  business  to  Lombard  Street. 
He  made  some  money  by  his  trade,  and  in 
or  before  1700  moved  to  Binfield  in  Windsor 
Forest.  It  appears  from  his  will  (CAR- 
KTJTHERS,  Pope,  1857,  p.  463)  that  he  had 
some  landed  property,  and  he  also  invested 
money  in  French  rentes  ( Works,  vi.  189, 
201).  The  story,  first  told  by  Ruffhead,  that 
he  put  all  his  money  in  a  strong-box  and 
lived  upon  the  principal,  is  therefore  erro- 
neous. As  a  catholic,  he  was  exposed  to 
various  disqualifications  ;  but  he  appears  to 
have  lived  comfortably  among  the  country 
gentry.  He  had  many  friends  among  the 
Roman  catholics,  several  of  whom  lived  near 
the  forest.  He  was  fond  of  gardening,  and 
had  twenty  acres  of  land  round  his  house  at 
Binfield.  'One  room  of  the  house  is  said  to 
remain,  and  a  row  of  Scottish  firs  near  it  was 
apparently  there  in  Pope's  time. 

Pope  was  precocious,  and  in  his  infancy 
healthy.  He  was  called  the  '  little  nightin- 
gale '  from  the  beauty  of  his  voice,  a  name 
still  applied  to  him  in  later  years  by  the 
dramatist  Southern  (RUFFHEAD,  p.  476  ; 
ORRERY,  Swift,  p.  207).  A  portrait,  painted 
when  he  was  ten  years  old,  showed  him 
'plump  and  pretty,  and  of  a  fresh  com- 
plexion.' This  is  said  to  have  been  like  him 
at  the  time ;  but  a  severe  illness  two 
years  later,  brought  on  by  l  perpetual  appli- 
cation,' ruined  his  health  and  distorted  his 
figure  (SPEISTCE,  Anecdotes,  1820,  p.  26). 
Spence's  statements,  chiefly  derived  from 
Pope  himself  and  his  sister,  Mrs.  Rackett, 
give  all  that  is  known  of  his  childhood.  He 
was  once  nearly  killed  by  a  cow.  He 
learnt  to  read  l  from  an  old  aunt,'  and 
to  write  by  imitating  printed  letters.  He 
acquired  a  clear  and  good  hand.  When  eight 
years  old  he  began  Latin  and  Greek  under 
a  priest  named  Banister  (or  Taverner). 


Next  year  he  was  sent  to  a  Roman  catholic 
school  at  Twyford,   near  Winchester,  and 
afterwards  to  a  school  kept  by  Thomas  Deane 
[q.    v.],  first   at   Marylebone,   and  then  at 
Hyde  Park  Corner.     He  was  removed  from 
Twyford  because  he  had  been  whipped  for 
satirising  the  master  ;  and  at  the  two  schools 
he  unlearnt  what  he  had  learnt  from  Banis- 
ter.      He  was   then    brought  back   to  his 
father's  house,  and  placed  for  a  few  months 
under  a  fourth  priest.     After  this  he  was 
left  to  his  own  devices,  and  plunged  into 
miscellaneous    reading,    studying,  he  says, 
French,  Italian,  Latin,  and  Greek,  as  well 
as  English  poets, '  like  a  boy  gathering  flowers ' 
(ib.  p.  193).  His  scholarship  naturally  was  very 
imperfect;  but  he  read  poetry  voraciously.  He 
did  nothing  else  but  write  and  read,  says  Mrs. 
Rackett  (ib.  p.  267).    He  began  very  early  to 
imitate  his  favourite  authors.  He  readOgilby's 
translation  of  Homer  when   he  was  about 
twelve,  and  formed  from  it  a  *  kind  of  play,' 
which  was  acted  by  his  schoolfellows.     At 
the  same  age  he  saw  Dryden  (who  died  1  May 
1700),  and  ( observed  him  very  particularly  ' 
(ib.  p.  332).     Between  the  ages  of  thirteen 
and  fifteen   he    wrote  an  epic  poem  called 
'Alexander'  (ib.  p.   279),  which  he  burnt 
about   1717,  with  the    approval,  perhaps  at 
the    suggestion,   of  Atterbury   ( Works,  ix. 
8).     He   made   a  translation  from  Statius 
about  1702  or  1703,  according  to  his  own 
account,  though  it  was  not  published  till  1712, 
and  then  no  doubt  with  many  corrections. 
Other  translations  from  the  classics  and  adap- 
tations of  Chaucer  show  his  early  practice 
in  versification.     He  went  to  London  in  his 
fifteenth  year  to  learn  French  and  Italian 
(SPENCE,  p.  25),  and  his  energetic  studies  pro- 
duced another  illness.     He  thought  himself 
dying,  and  sent  farewells  to  his  friends.  One 
of    these,    the    Abbe"    Southcote,   hereupon 
applied   to  Radcliffe  for   advice.    Radcliffe 
sensibly  prescribed  less  study  and  daily  rides 
in  the  forest.     Pope  regained  health,  and 
twenty  years  later  showed  his  gratitude  by 
obtaining  for  Southcote,  through  Sir  Robert 
Walpole,  an  appointment  to  a  French  abbey 
near   Avignon  (ib.  pp.  7,    8).     Pope's  pre- 
cocious ambition  led  him  to  court  the  ac- 
quaintance of  all  the  wits  whom  he  could 
meet,  and  the  homage  of  so  promising  a  lad 
was  returned  by  warm  encouragement.     One 
of  his  earliest  friends  was  Sir  William  Trum- 
bull,  who  had  been  secretary  df  state,  and 
was  living  in  retirement  at  Easthampstead 
Park.     Pope  rode  out  with  him  three  or  four 
days  a  week,  and  was  encouraged  by  him  in 
the  composition  of  his  '  Pastorals.'     The  first 
is  addressed  to  Trumbull,  and  Pope,  whose 
statements  on  such  points  are  always  doubt- 


Pope  i 

ful,  says  that  they  were  composed  when  he 
was  sixteen.  A  letter  from  George  Gran- 
ville  (afterwards  Lord  Lansdowne)  shows 
that  they  were  in  any  case  written  before  he 
was  eighteen  (LANSDOWNE,  Works,  ii.  113). 
The  same  letter  mentions  Walsh  and  Wy- 
cherley as  patrons  of  the  rising  prodigy. 
William  Walsh,  then  a  critic  and  man  of 

i  fashion,  appears  to  have  made  his  acquain- 
tance in  1705,  and  gave  Pope  the  well-known 
advice  to  aim  at  '  correctness ' — a  quality 
hitherto  attained  by  none  of  our  great  poets. 
Tonson,  who  had  seen  a  '  pastoral  poem '  in 
the  hands  of  Walsh  and  Congreve,  wrote  to 
Pope,  proposing  to  publish  it,  in  a  letter 
dated  20  April  1706.  The  manuscript,  still 
preserved,  was  shown  about  to  other  eminent 
men,  including  Garth,  Somers,  and  Halifax  ; 
and  was  published  in  Tonson's  'Miscellanies' 
in  1709.  Pope  had  meanwhile  become  inti- 
mate with  Wycherley,  who  first  introduced 
him  to  town  life.  Pope,  as  he  told  Spence, 
followed  Wycherley  about  '  like  a  dog/  and 
kept  up  a  correspondence  with  him.  Wycher- 

1  ley  was  the  senior  by  forty-eight  years.  He 
had  long  ceased  to  write  plays,  and  had 
probably  been  introduced  to  some  of  Pope's 
circle  by  his  conversion  to  Catholicism.  He 
was  one  of  Dryden's  successors  at  Will's 
coffee-house.  He  treated  Pope  with  con- 
descension, and  wrote  in  the  elaborate  style 
of  an  elderly  wit;  but  some  quarrel  arose 
about  1710  which  caused  a  breach  of  the 
friendship.  Pope  afterwards  manipulated 
the  letters  so  as  to  give  the  impression  that 
Wycherley,  after  inviting  criticism,  took 
offence  at  the  frankness  of  his  young  friend ; 
but  the  genuine  documents  (first  published 
from  manuscripts  at  Longleat  in  the  El  win 
and  Courthope  edition  of  Pope's  '  Works ') 
show  this  to  be  an  inversion  of  the  truth. 
Another  friend  of  Pope  at  this  time  was 
Henry  Cromwell,  a  man  about  town,  about 
thirty-six  years  Pope's  senior.  Their  corre- 
spondence lasted  from  July  1707  to  Decem- 
ber 1711.  Pope  affects  the  tone  popular  at 
Will's  coffee-house,  then  frequented  by  his 
correspondent,  and  does  his  best  to  show  that 
he  has  the  taste  and  morals  of  a  wit.  He 
afterwards  became  rather  ashamed  of  the 
terms  of  equality  upon  which  he  corre- 
sponded with  a  man  above  whose  head  he 
had  risen. 

The  publication  of  the  '  Pastorals '  first 
made  Pope  generally  known;  they  were 
received  with  applause,  although  they  were 
examples  of  a  form  of  composition  already 
effete,  and  can  now  be  regarded  only  as  ex- 
periments in  versification.  They  show  that 
Pope  had  already  a  remarkable  command  of 
fluent  and  melodious  language.  He  had 


i  Pope 

not  only  practised  industriously,  but,  as  his 
early  letters  show,  had  reflected  carefully 
upon  the  principles  of  his  art.  The  result 
appeared  in  the  '  Essay  on  Criticism/  pub- 
lished anonymously  on  15  May  1711.  The 
poem  is  an  interesting  exposition  of  the 
canons  of  taste  accepted  by  Pope  and  by  the 
leading  writers  of  the  time,  and  contains 
many  of  those  polished  epigrams  which,  if 
not  very  profound,  have  at  least  become  pro- 
verbial. Incidents  connected  with  this  pub- 
lication opened  the  long  literary  warfare  in 
which  much  of  his  later  career  was  passed. 
A  contemptuous  allusion  to  the  sour  critic 
John  Dennis  [q.  v.]  produced  an  angry  pam- 
phlet, '  Reflections  .  .  .  on  a  late  Rhapsody/ 
from  his  victim.  Pope  had  the  sense  to  cor- 
rect some  of  the  passages  attacked,  and,  for 
the  moment,  did  not  retort.  Addison  soon 
afterwards  praised  the  '  Essay  '  very  warmly 
in  the  'Spectator'  (20  Dec.  1711),  while 
regretting '  some  strokes '  of  personality.  Pope 
wrote  a  letter  to  Steele  (first  printed  in  Miss 
Aikin's  'Addison/ where  it  is  erroneously  ad- 
dressed to  Addison)  acknowledging  the  praise, 
and  proposing  to  suppress  the  objectionable 
'  strokes.'  Steele,  who  was  already  known  to 
him,  and  had  suggested  to  him  the  '  Ode  to  St. 
Cecilia/  promised,  in  return,  an  introduc- 
tion to  Addison.  Pope  thus  became  known 
to  the  Addison  circle.  His '  Messiah/  a  fine 
piece  of  declamation,  appeared  in  the  '  Spec- 
tator '  of  14  May  1712.  He  afterwards  con- 
tributed some  papers  to  its  successor,  the 
'Guardian.'  The 'Rape  of  the  Lock 'appeared 
in  its  first  form  in  the'  Miscellanies 'published  ; 
by  Lintot  in  1712,  which  included  others  of 
Pope's  minor  poems.  LordPetre,  a  youth  of 
twenty,  had  cut  off  a  lock  of  hair  of  Miss 
Arabella  Fermor,  a  beauty  of  the  day,  who 
was  offended  by  this  practical  joke  [see  under 
PETRE,  WILLIAM,  fourth  BARON  PETRE].  ' 
They  were  both  members  of  the  catholic 
society  known  to  Pope,  and  the  poem  was 
written  at  the  suggestion  of  a  common  friend, 
Caryll,  in  order  to  appease  the  quarrel  by  a 
little  pleasantry.  The  poem  was  warmly  ad- 
mired by  Addison,  who  called  it  merum  sal, 
and  advised  Pope  not  to  risk  spoiling  it  by 
introducing  the  new  '  machinery '  of  the 
sylphs  (WARBURTON,  Pope,  iv.  26).  This, 
according  to  Warburton's  story,  opened 
Pope's  eyes  to  the  jealousy  which  he  sup- 
posed to  have  dictated  a  very  natural  piece 
of  advice.  Pope  altered  and  greatly  enlarged  : 
his  poem,  which  appeared  separately  in 
1714.  It  shows  extraordinary  skill  in  the 
lighter  kind  of  verse,  and  reflects  with  singu- 
lar felicity,  in  some  respects  a  little  too  faith- 
fully, the  tone  of  the  best  society  of  the  day. 
.It  took  at  once  the  place  which  it  has  ever 


Pope 


112 


Pope 


since  occupied  as  a  masterpiece.  The  chief 
precedent  was  Boileau's  'Lutrin'  (first  pub- 
lished in  1674,  and  completed  in  1683).  The 
baron  in  the  poem  represents  Lord  Petre ; 
'  Sir  Plume '  is  Sir  George  Brown,  and  Thales- 
tris  his  sister.  Sir  George  Brown,  as  Pope 
says,  '  blustered,'  and  Miss  Fermor  was 
offended  (  Works,  vi.  162).  Sir  Plume  is  clearly 
not  a  flattering  portrait.  The  poem,  how- 
ever, went  far  to  establish  Pope's  reputation 
as  one  of  the  first  writers  of  the  day. 

Pope's  t  Windsor  Forest '  appeared  in  March 
1712-13.  The  first  part,  modelled  upon  Den- 
ham's  '  Cooper's  Hill,'  had  been  written  in 
his  earlier  period.  The  conclusion,  with  its 
prophecy  of  free  trade,  refers  to  the  peace  of 
Utrecht,  which,  though  not  finally  ratified  till 
28  April,  had  been  for  some  time  a  certainty. 
Pope's  poem  was  thus  on  the  side  of  the 
tories,  and  brought  him  the  friendship  of 
Swift,  who  speaks  of  it  as  a  'fine  poem  'in 
the  'Journal  to  Stella'  on  9  March  1712- 
1713. 

Pope  still  preserved  friendly  relations  with 
/  Addison,  whose  '  Cato '  was  shown  to  him 
in  manuscript.  He  praises  it  enthusiasti- 
cally in  a  letter  to  Caryll  (February  1712- 
1713),  though  he  afterwards  told  Spence 
that  he  had  recommended  Addison  not  to 
produce  it  on  the  stage.  He  wrote  the 
prologue,  which  was  much  applauded,  and 
the  play,  produced  on  13  April  1713,  had  an 
immense  success,  due  partly  to  the  political 
interpretation  fixed  upon  it  by  both  parties. 
Pope's  friendship  with  Addison's  l  little 
senate'  was  now  to  be  broken  up.  Accord- 
ing to  Dennis  {Remarks  on  the  DunciacT), 
whose  story  is  accepted  by  Pope's  best  bio- 
grapher, Mr.  Courthope,  Pope  devised  a 
singular  stratagem.  He  got  Lintot  to  per- 
suade Dennis  to  print  some  shrewd  though 
rather  brutal  remarks  upon  'Cato.'  Pope 
then  took  revenge  for  Dennis's  previous  pam- 
phlet upon  the  '  Essay  on  Criticism'  by  pub- 
lishing a  savage  onslaught  on  the  later 
pamphlet,  called  a  '  Narrative  ...  of  the 
strange  and  deplorable  Frenzy  of  Mr.  J[ohn] 
D[ennis].'  Had  the  humour  been  more  suc- 
cessful, the  personality  would  still  have  been 
discreditable.  Dennis  was  abused  nominally 
on  behalf  of  Addison,  but  his  criticisms  were 
not  answered.  Addison  was  bound  as  a 
gentleman,  though  he  has  been  strangely 
blamed  for  his  conduct,  to  disavow  a  vulgar 
retort  which  would  be  naturally  imputed  to 
himself.  At  his  desire,  Steele  let  Dennis 
know,  through  Lintot,  that  he  disapproved  of 
such  modes  of  warfare,  and  had  declined  to 
see  the  papers.  Pope,  if  he  heard  of  this  at 
the  time,  would  of  course  be  wounded.  He 
had  meanwhile  another  ground  of  quarrel. 


His  prologue  to  '  Cato'  had  appeared  in  the 
'  Guardian '  of  18  April  1713.  Some  previous 
papers  upon  pastoral  poetry  had  appeared 
shortly  before,  in  which  high  praise  was  given 
to  Ambrose  Philips,  one  of  the  whig  clique 
whose  '  Pastorals '  were  in  the  same  '  Mis- 
cellany '  with  Pope's  (1709).  Pope  now  pub- 
lished a  paper  (27  April  1713)  ostensibly  in 
praise  of  Philips  as  contrasted  with  himself. 
Steele  is  said  to  have  been  deceived  by  this 
very  transparent  irony ;  but  the  paper,  when 
published,  provoked  Philips's  wrath.  He  is 
said  to  have  hung  up  a  rod  at  Button's,  vow- 
ing that  he  would  apply  it  to  Pope's  shoulders 
(see  Broome  to  Fenton  [1728],  Works,  viii. 
147.  The  storyis  also  told  by  Ayre  and  Cibber). 
Pope  appears  to  deny  some  such  story  in  a 
letter  to  Caryll  of  8  June  1714  (Works,  vi. 
208).  He  says  that  Philips  had  never  <  offered 
him  any  indecorum,'  and  that  Addison  had 
expressed  a  desire  to  remain  upon  friendly 
terms. 

Pope,  in  any  case,  was  naturally  thrown  \ 
more  upon  the  opposite  party.  Swift  became  » 
a  warm  friend,  and  introduced  him  to  Ar- 
buthnot  and  other  distinguished  men.  The 
'  Scriblerus  Club,'  in  which  Pope,  Gay,  and 
Parnell  joined  Swift,  Arbuthnot,  Congreve, 
Atterbury,  Oxford,  and  others,  was  apparently 
a  kind  of  informal  association  which  pro- 
jected a  joint-stock  satire  upon  pedantry.  It 
was  possibly  an  offshoot  from  the  '  Brothers' 
Club' formed  in  1711,  of  which  Swift  was 
also  a  member,  and  which  was  now  declining. 
Pope  at  the  end  of  1713  was  taking  lessons 
in  painting  from  Charles  Jervas  [q.  v.],  but 
he  was  soon  to  be  absorbed  in  the  most 
laborious  task  of  his  life.  Among  his  early 
translations  was  a  fragment  from  the  '  Iliad,' 
and  his  friend  Trumbull  upon  reading  it  had 
suggested  (9  April  1708)  that  he  should  con- 
tinue the  work.  Idolatry  of  classical  models 
was  an  essential  part  of  the  religion  of  men 
of  letters  of  the  day.  Many  of  them,  how- 
ever, could  not  read  Greek,  and  the  old  trans- 
lations of  Chapman,  Ogilby,and  Hobbeswere 
old-fashioned  or  feeble  in  style.  Many  trans- 
lations from  the  classics  had  been  executed 
by  Dryden  and  his  school.  Dryden  had  him- 
self translated  '  Virgil'  and  the  first  book  of 
the  '  Iliad.'  But  a  Homer  in  modern  English 
was  still  wanting.  Pope's  rising  fame  and 
his  familiarity  with  the  literary  and  social 
leaders  made  him  the  man  for  the  oppor- 
tunity. Addison's  advice,  according  to  Pope 
(Preface  to  the  Iliad),  first  determined  him 
to  the  undertaking,  although  a  letter,  in  which 
Addison  says  '  I  know  of  none  of  this  age 
that  is  equal  to  the  task  except  yourself' 
(  Works,  vi.  401),  is  of  doubtful  authenticity. 
Pope  also  thanks  Swift,  Congreve,  Garth, 


Pope  i 

Howe,  and  Parnell  for  encouragement.  He 
issued  proposals  for  the  translation  of  the 
'Iliad' in  October  1713.  Lord  Oxford  and 
other  friends  regretted  that  he  should  devote 
his  powers  to  anything  but  original  work ; 
but  the  plan  was  accepted  with  general 
enthusiasm.  Swift  was  energetically  tout- 
ing for  him  in  November  1713.  Supported 
by  both  the  whig  and  the  tory  leaders  of 
literature,  and  by  all  their  political  and  noble 
friends,  the  subscription  soon  reached  unpre- 
cedented proportions.  Dryden  had  made 
about  1,2001.  by  his  'Virgil'  (1697),  when 
the  plan  of  publishing  by  subscription  was 
still  a  novelty.  Lintot  agreed  to  pay  Pope 
200/.  a  volume,  and  supply  him  gratuitously 
with  all  the  copies  for  subscribers  and  presents. 
The  book  was  published  in  six  volumes,  and 
subscribers  paid  a  guinea  apiece.  There 
were  575  subscribers  for  650  copies  (list  in 
first  edition),  and  the  names  include  150 
persons  of  title  and  all  the  great  men  on 
both  sides.  The  total,  after  deducting  some 
payment  for  literary  help,  was  over  5,000/., 
and  Lintot  is  said  to  have  sold  7,500  copies 
of  a  cheaper  edition.  Pope,  who  had  scarcely 
made  150/.  by  his  earlier  poems  (see  list  of 
Lintot's  payments  in  D'!SRAELI'S  Quarrels 
of  Authors,  reprinted  in  COTTRTHOPE'S  Life, 
p.  151),  thus  made  himself  independent  for 
life.  The  translation  must  be  considered  not 
as  a  publisher's  speculation,  but  as  a  kind  of 
national  commission  given  by  the  elegant 
society  of  the  time  to  their  representative 
poet. 

The  first  volume,  including  the  first  four 
books  of  the  '  Iliad,'  was  issued  in  June  1715. 
Almost  at  the  same  time  appeared  a  trans- 
J  Ration  of  the  first  book  by  Thomas  Tickell, 
one  of  Addison's  clients.  Although  Tickell, 
in  his  preface,  expressly  disavowed  rivalry, 
and  said  that  he  was  only  '  bespeaking  public 
favour  for  a  projected  translation  of  the 
"  Odyssey,'"  Pope's  jealousy  was  aroused. 
His  previous  quarrels  with  the  Addison  circle 
predisposed  him  to  suspicion,  and  he  per- 
suaded himself  that  Addison  was  the  real 
author  of  the  translation  published  under 
Tickell's  name.  In  a  later  quarrel  after  Addi- 
son's death  in  1719,  Steele  called  Tickell '  the 
reputed  translator 'of  the  '  Iliad'  (dedication 
of  the  '  Drummer 'in  ADDISON'S  Works,  1811, 
vi.  319),  a  phrase  which  implies  the  currency 
of  some  rumours  of  this  kind.  Pope  also 
asserted  (SPENCE,  p.  149)  that  Addison  had 
paid  Gildon  ten  guineas  for  a  pamphlet  about 
Wycherley,  in  which  Pope  and  his  relatives 
were  abused.  No  such  pamphlet  is  known, 
and  the  whole  imputation  upon  Addison  is 
completely  disproved  [see  under  ADDISON, 
JOSEPH].  The  so-called  '  quarrel,'  which  gave 

VOL.  XLVI. 


3  Pope 

rise  to  much  discussion  superseded  by  recent 
revelations,  was  only  a  quarrel  on  Pope's 
side.  The  famous  lines  upon  Addison,  which 
were  its  main  fruit,  first  appeared  in  print 
in  a  collection  called  '  Cytherei'a,'  published 
by  Curll  in  1723  (in  NICHOLS'S  Anecdotes, 
iv.  273,  it  is  asserted  that  some  verses  by 
Jeremiah  Markland,  appended  to  Pope's  lines 
given  at  p.  314,  were  in  print  as  early  as 
1717.  No  authority  is  given  for  the  state- 
ment, which  must  be  erroneous).  They  are 
mentioned  in  a  letter  from  Atterbury  of  26  Feb. 
1721-2,  and  apparently  as  a  new  composition 
much  '  sought  after.'  Pope  was  accused  of 
writing  them  after  Addison's  death,  1719. 
B  oth  Lady  Mary  Wortley  Montagu  and  Lord 
Oxford  say  that  they  had  been  previously 
written,  though  neither  testimony  is  unequi- 
vocal (Courthope  in  Works,  iii.  233) ;  and  a 
letter  from  Pope  to  Craggs,  dated  15  July 
1715,  uses  some  of  the  phrases  of  the  satire. 
The  letter,  however,  is  probably  spurious,  and 
it  forms  part  of  the  correspondence  concocted 
by  Pope  in  order  to  give  his  own  account  of 
his  relations  to  Addison.  He  told  Spence 
(p.  149)  that  he  had  sent  a  <  first  sketch'  of 
his  satire  to  Addison  himself,  who  had  after- 
wards 'used  him  very  civilly.'  The  same 
story  is  told  by  Warburton.  It  is,  however, 
quite  incredible  in  itself,  and  is  part  of  a 
whole  system  of  'mystification,'  if  such  a 
word  be  not  too  gentle.  It  is  possible,  and 
perhaps  probable,  that  Pope  wrote  the  lines 
in  his  first  anger  at  Tickell's  publication,  and 
afterwards  kept  them  secret  until  the  period 
fixed  by  Atterbury's  letter. 

The  last  volume  of  the  '  Iliad,'  delayed  by 
ill-health,  family  troubles,  and  the  prepara- 
tion of  various  indexes,  appeared  in  May 
1720.  A  dedication  was  appended  to  Con- 
greve,  who  was  doubtless  selected  for  the 
honour,  as  Macaulay  observes,  as  a  man  of 
letters  respected  by  both  parties.  Pope  had 
not  only  made  a  competence,  but  had  be- 
come the  acknowledged  head  of  English 
men  of  letters.  The  'Homer'  was  long  re- 
garded as  a  masterpiece,  and  for  a  century 
was  the  source  frorrJ  which  clever  schoolboys 
like  Byron  learnt  that  Homer  was  not  a 
mere  instrument  of  torture  invented  by  their 
masters.  No  translation  of  profane  literature 
has  ever  occupied  such  a  position,  and  the 
rise  of  new  poetical  ideals  was  marked  by 
Cowper's  attempt  to  supersede  it  by  a  version 
of  his  own.  Cowper  and  the  men  of  genius 
who  marked  the  new  era  have  made  the 
obvious  criticisms  familiar.  Pope  was  no 
scholar;  he  had  to  get  help  from  Broome 
and  Jortin  to  translate  the  notes  of  Eusta- 
thius,  and  obtained  an  introductory  essay 
from  Parnell.  Many  errors  in  translation 

i 


Pope 


114 


Pope 


Lave  been  pointed  out  by  Gilbert  Wakefield 
and  others,  and  the  conventional  style  of 
Pope's  day  often  gives  an  air  of  artificiality 
to  his  writing,  while  he  was  of  course  en- 
tirely without  the  historical  sense  of  more 
recent  writers.  Bentley  remarked  that  it 
was  a  '  pretty  poem,  but  not  Homer,'  nor 
has  any  critic  disputed  the  statement.  It 
must  be  regarded  rather  as  an  equivalent  to 
Homer,  as  reflected  in  the  so-called  classi- 
cism of  the  time,  and  the  genuine  rhetorical 
vigour  of  many  passages  shows  that  there 
was  some  advantage  in  the  freedom  of  his 
treatment,  and  may  justify  the  high  place 
held  by  the  work  until  the  rise  of  the  revo- 
lutionary school. 

Pope  had  made  not  only  a  literary  but  a 
social  success.  At  that  period  the  more 
famous  authors  were  more  easily  admitted 
than  at  any  other  to  the  highest  social  and 
political  circles.  Besides  meeting  Oxford, 
Bolingbroke,  Atterbury,  Swift,  and  Congreve 
in  society,  he  was  frequently  making  tours 
about  the  country,  and  staying  in  the  country 
houses  of  Lord  Harcourt — at  whose  place, 
Stanton  Harcourt,  he  finished  the  fifth  volume 
of  the  'Iliad'  in  1718— of  Lord  Bathurst, 
Lord  Digby,  and  others.  Gay's  pleasant  poem, 
'  Mr.  Pope's  Welcome  from  Greece,'  gives  a 
long  list  of  the  distinguished  friends  who 
applauded  the  successful  achievement  of  the 
task.  In  April  1716  the  Pope  family  left 
Binfield,  and  settled  at  Mawson's  Buildings, 
Chiswick,  '  under  the  wing  of  my  Lord  Bur- 
lington.' He  was  now  within  reach  of  many 
of  the  noble  families  who  lived  near  the 
Thames,  and  saw  much  aristocratic  society. 
Here  his  father  died  on  23  Oct.  1717,  an 
event  mentioned  by  the  son  with  great  ten- 
derness. In  1718  Pope  had  felt  himself  rich 
enough  to  think  of  building  a  house  in  Lon- 
don, and  the  plans  were  prepared  for  him  by 
James  Gibbs  (1682-1754)  [q.v.]  Bathurst 
apparently  deterred  him  by  hints  as  to  the 
probable  cost,  and  in  1719  he  bought  the 
lease  of  a  house  at  Twickenham,  with  five 
acres  of  land.  Here  he  lived  for  the  rest  of 
his  life,  and  took  great  delight  in  laying  out 
the  grounds,  which  became  famous,  and  are 
constantly  mentioned  in  his  poetry.  Pope 
also  invested  money  in  the  South  Sea  scheme. 
It  appears  that  at  one  time  he  might  have 
become  a  rich  man  by  realising  the  amount 
invested.  He  held  on,  however,  until  the 
panic  had  set  in ;  but  he  seems  finally  to 
have  left  off  rather  richer  than  he  began  (see 
Courthope's  account  in  Works,  v.  184-7). 
He  corresponded  upon  the  South  Sea  scheme 
with  Lady  Mary  Wortley  Montagu  and  with 
Teresa  and  Martha  Bloiint,  who  were  more 
or  less  concerned  in  the  speculations  of  the 


period  [see  MONTAGU,  LADY  MARY  WORTLEY  ; 
BLOUNT,  MARTHA]. 

Both  women  had  about  this  time  a  great 
influence  upon  Pope's  personal  history.  The 
only  earlier  mention  of  anything  like  a  love 
affair  in  Pope's  life  occurs.in  his  correspon- 
dence with  Cromwell  (18  March  1708),  where 
he  speaks  of  a  certain  l  Sappho.'  She  is  identi- 
fied with  a  Mrs.  Nelson,  who  wrote  a  compli- 
mentary poem  prefixed  to  his  '  Pastorals '  in 
the  '  Miscellany,'  but  afterwards  suppressed 
in  consequence  of  a  quarrel.  Pope,  however, 
speaks  of  her  with  levity,  and  in  a  later  letter 
(21  Dec.  1711)  compares  her  very  unfavour- 
ably with  (apparently)  the  Blounts.  In  1717 
an  edition  of  his  poems  was  published,  in- 
cluding the  '  lines  to  an  unfortunate  lady/ 
Ayre,  followed  by  Ruffhead,  constructed  out 
of  the  lines  themselves  a  legend  of  a  lady 
beloved  by  Pope  who  stabbed  herself  for 
love  of  somebody  else.  Sir  John  Hawkins 
and  Warton  found  out  that  she  hanged  her- 
self for  love  of  Pope.  Bowles  heard  from  a 
gentleman  of  *  high  birth  and  character,'  who 
heard  from  Voltaire,  who  heard  from  Con- 
dorcet,  that  the  lady  was  in  love  with  a 
French  prince.  The  fact  appears  to  be  that 
a  Roman  catholic,  Mrs.  Weston,  had  quar- 
relled with  her  husband,  and,  upon  his 
threatening  to  deprive  her  of  her  infant,  pro- 
posed to  retire  into  a  convent.  Pope  took 
up  her  cause,  quarrelled  with  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Rackett,  who  took  the  other  side,  and  ap- 
pealed to  Caryll  to  interfere.  The  purely 
imaginary  lady  was  merely  the  embodiment 
of  his  feelings  about  Mrs.  Weston,  though  he 
afterwards  indulged  in  a  mystification  of  his 
readers  by  a  vague  prefatory  note  in  later 
editions.  Caryll  had  in  vain  asked  for  ex- 
planations. Mrs.  Weston  died  on  18  Oct. 
1724,  long  after  the  imaginary  suicide.  The 
poems  of  1717  contained  also  the  '  Eloisa  to 
Abelard,'  which  bore  a  similar  relation  to  a 
genuine  sentiment.  When  he  forwarded  the 
volume  to  Lady  Mary,  Pope  called  her  atten- 
tion to  the  closing  lines  (  Works,  ix.  382),  and 
during  the  composition  he  had  mentioned  the 
same  passage  (apparently)  in  a  letter  to 
Martha  Blount  (ib.  ix.  264),  in  each  case 
making  the  application  to  the  lady  to  whom 
he  was  writing.  Pope's  relations  to  Lady 
Mary  have  been  considered  in  her  life  [see 
MONTAGU,  LADY  MARY  WORTLEY].  He  knew 
her  before  she  went  to  Constantinople  in 
1716,  and  after  her  return  in  1718  she  lived 
near  him  for  a  time  at  Twickenham.  The 
quarrel  took  place  about  1722,  and  the  extreme 
bitterness  with  which  Pope  ever  afterwards 
assailed  her  can  be  explained  most  plausibly, 
and  least  to  his  discredit,  upon  the  assumption 
that  his  extravagant  expressions  of  gallantry 


Pope 


covered  some  real  passion.  If  so,  however, 
it  was  probably  converted  into  antipathy  by 
the  contempt  with  which  she  received  his 
declaration.  The  relation  to  Martha  Blount 
[q.  v.]  was  more  enduring,  though  the  obscure 
allusions  in  Pope's  correspondence  are  insuffi- 
cient to  explain  the  circumstances.  Teresa, 
born  1G88,  and  Martha,  born  15  June  1690,  ! 
were  daughters  of  Lister  Blount  of  Maple-  , 
durham,  who  died  in  1715.  They  had  been  j 
educated  abroad,  and  the  date  of  Pope's  I 
acquaintance  is  uncertain.  He  had  at  any  | 
fate  begun  to  correspond  with  them  in  1712, 
when  he  sent  the  '  Rape  of  the  Lock '  to  i 
Martha,  and  his  tone  to  both  sisters  is  that  [ 
of  a  familiar  family  friend,  with  some  playful  j 
gallantry,  and  occasionally  passages  of  strange 
indecency.  On  the  marriage  of  their  brother,  j 
Michael  Blount,  in  1715,  they  left  Maple-  ' 
durham,  and  afterwards  lived  in  London,  and 
occupied  also  a  small  house  at  Petersham 
in  Pope's  neighbourhood.  In  1717  some  diffi- 
culty arose  between  Pope  and  Teresa  Blount. 
He  wrote  letters  soon  after  his  father's  death 
(ix.  279-83),  of  which  it  is  the  most  obvious 
interpretation  that  he  had  hinted  at  a  marriage 
with  Martha ;  that  Teresa  elicited  some  con-  | 
fession  of  his  intentions,  and  then  convinced 
Martha  that  Pope's  offer  was  '  only  an  amuse- 
ment, occasioned  by  [his]  loss  of  another 
lady.'  A  month  later  (March  1718)  he  exe- 
cuted a  deed  settling  upon  Teresa  an  annuity 
of  40£.  for  six  years,  on  condition  of  her  not 
marrying  within  that  time,  but  no  explana- 
tion is  given  of  the  circumstances.  He  after- 
wards for  a  time  kept  at  a  greater  distance. 
In  later  years  Pope  complained  to  Caryll 
that  Teresa  (apparently)  had  spread  reports 
affecting  the  innocence  of  his  relations  to 
Martha  (25  Dec.  1725).  He  indignantly 
denies  them,  and  says  that  for  the  last  two 
years  he  has  seen  less  of  her  than  ever.  He 
subsequently  to  Caryll  (20  July  1729)  accuses 
Teresa  of  an  intrigue  with  a  married  man, 
and  of  scandalous  ill-treatment  of  her  mother. 
The  mother,  however,  according  to  his  ac- 
count, was  so  bewitched  as  not  to  resent  the 
treatment.  His  suspicions  appear  to  have 
been  based  upon  mere  scandalous  gossip.  He 
can  hardly  have  been  a  welcome  visitor  at  the 
house  where  the  mother  (until  her  death  on 
31  March  1743)  still  lived  with  her  two 
daughters.  Teresa  survived  till  7  Oct.  1759. 
Pope  continued,  however,  to  preserve  affec- 
tionate relations  with  Martha,  which  became 
closer  in  later  life.  Pope's  deformity  and 
infirmities  would  have  been  obstacles  to  any 
project  of  marriage,  but  his  relation  to  Martha 
was  the  nearest  approach  in  his  life  to  a 
genuine  love  affair. 

After  the  final  publication  of  the  '  Iliad,' 


5  Pope 

Pope  was  engaged  for  a  time  on  task-work. 
In  1722  he  edited  the  poems  of  Parnell  (who 
died  in  1717),  and  began  an  edition  of  Shake- 
speare for  Tonson.  For  this  he  received 
217/.  12s.  It  appeared  in  1725,  and  had 
little  success.  Though  he  recognised  the 
importance  of  collating  the  early  editions, 
he  had  neither  the  knowledge  nor  the  patience 
necessary  for  a  laborious  editor.  He  made 
some  happy  conjectures,  and  his  preface, 
which  was  generally  admired,  is  interesting 
as  indicating  the  prevalent  opinion  about 
Shakespeare.  The  edition,  according  to 
Johnson's  report,  was  a  commercial  failure  : 
many  copies  had  to  be  sold  for  16s. 
instead  of  six  guineas.  A  pamphlet  by  L. 
Theobald,  « Shakespeare  Restored,'  1726, 
pointed  out  '  many  of  Mr.  Pope's  errors,'  and 
left  a  bitter  grudge  in  the  poet's  mind. 
Another  undertaking  was  at  least  more  pro- 
fitable. Pope  resolved  to  translate  the  '  Odys- 
sey; '  and,  to  save  himself  labour,  took  for 
associates  William  Broome  [q.  v.],  who  had 
already  helped  him  in  the  notes  to  the 
'  Iliad,'  and  Elijah  Fenton  [q.  v.]  (The  story 
told  by  Ruffhead  and  Spence,  that  Broome 
and  Fenton  had  started  the  project,  seems  to 
be  erroneous ;  see  the  correspondence  be- 
tween them  and  Pope,  first  published  in  the 
Elwin  and  Courthope  edition,  viii.  30-185.) 
Fenton  translated  the  1st,  4th,  19th,  and 
20th  books ;  Broome  the  2nd,  6th,  8th,  llth, 
12th,  16th,  18th,  and  23rd  books,  and  wrote 
the  notes.  A  Mr.  Lang  is  also  reported  to 
have  translated  part  of  two  other  books,  for 
which  Pope  gave  him  a '  twenty-two  guineas 
medal '  (SPENCE,  p.  330).  They  had  caught 
Pope's  style  so  well  that  the  difference  of 
authorship  has  never  been  detected  from  the 
internal  evidence.  Broome,  in  a  note  at 
the  conclusion,  said  that  Pope's  revision  of 
his  assistant's  work  had  brought  the  whole 
up  to  his  own  level.  Mr.  Elwin  ( Works, 
viii.  123  n.}  states,  after  examining  Fenton's 
manuscripts  in  the  British  Museum,  that  this 
is  an '  outrageous  exaggeration.'  Lintot  paid 
600/.  for  the  copyright,  half  what  he  had 
paid  for  the  f  Iliad ; '  but  the  result  was 
apparently  less  profitable.  The  amount  re- 
ceived from  subscribers  made  up  the  total 
received  by  the  translators  to  4,500/.,  out  of 
which  Pope  paid  Broome  500/.,  while  Fenton 
probably  received  200/.  Since  Pope  originated 
the  plan,  and  the  large  sale  was  entirely  due 
to  his  reputation,  his  assistants  had  no  right 
to  complain  of  being  paid  at  the  rate  of 
literary  journeymen.  Many  jealousies  and 
difficulties,  however,  arose  from  the  alliance. 
Pope  in  his  proposals,  issued  10  Jan.  1724-5, 
stated  that  he  was  to  be  helped  by  Broome 
and  by  a  friend  whose  name  was  to  be  con- 

i2 


Pope 


116 


Pope 


cealed.  He  exhorted  Broome  to  be  reticent 
in  regard  to  his  share  in  the  work,  as  the 
public  would  be  attracted  by  their  belief  in 
Pope's  authorship.  Broome,  however,  was 
vain  and  talkative,  and  various  rumours 
arose  from  his  indiscretion.  Upon  the  pub- 
lication of  the  first  three  volumes,  in  April 
1725,  Lintot  threatened  Pope  with  a  lawsuit, 
apparently  on  the  question  whether  free 
copies  were  to  be  delivered  to  Broome's  sub- 
scribers as  well  as  to  Pope's.  Attacks  upon 
the  '  bad  paper,  ill  types,  and  journey-work 
poetry'  appeared  in  the  papers.  To  meet 
them,  Pope  induced  Broome  to  write  the 
postscript  above  mentioned,  in  which  he 
asserts  that  he  had  himself  translated  three 
books  and  Fenton  two  (the  real  numbers 
being  eight  and  four).  Though  Broome  was 
weak  enough  to  consent  to  this  virtual  false- 
hood, both  he  and  Fenton  resented  Pope's 
treatment  of  them.  Pope  retaliated  by  in- 
sulting Broome  in  the  '  Bathos,'  published  in 
the  '  Miscellany '  of  1728.  The  correspon- 
dence dropped  for  a  time ;  but  in  1730,  when 
the  accusations  were  revived  in  a  satire 
called  '  One  Epistle,'  Pope  again  applied  to 
Broome  for  a  statement  in  justification. 
Though  Broome  declined  to  make  more  than 
a  dry  statement,  he  resumed  a  friendly  cor- 
respondence, and  Pope  tried  to  make  some 
atonement.  He  disavowed  responsibility  for 
the  '  Bathos,'  altered  a  couplet  in  the  '  Dun- 
ciad,'  and  in  an  appendix  to  the  same  poem 
claimed  only  twelve  books  of  the  '  Odyssey.' 
The  '  Odyssey '  brought  an  addition  of  for- 
'  tune,  though  not  much  of  fame.  It  also  intro- 
duced him  to  the  friendship  of  Joseph  Spence 
[q.  v.],  who  published  a  discriminative l  Essay' 
upon  it  in  1726 ;  second  part  1727.  Pope  had 
the  good  sense  to  be  pleased  with  the  criti- 
cism and  make  friends  with  the  author. 

Pope's  domestic  circle  had  meanwhile  gone 
through  various  changes.  His  mother's  life 
was  in  great  danger  at  the  end  of  1725 ; 
his  nurse,  Mary  Beach,  died  on  25  Nov.  in 
the  same  year,  and  is  commemorated  by  an 
epitaph  in  Twickenham  church.  Pope  was 
much  confined  by  his  attendance  upon  his 
mother,  his  affection  for  whom  is  his  least 
disputable  virtue.  His  friend  Atterbury 
was  exiled  in  1723.  Pope  had  to  give  evi- 
dence upon  his  trial,  and  was  nervous  and 
blundering.  He  was  alarmed,  it  seems,  by 
the  prospect  of  being  cross-examined  as  to 
his  religious  belief,  and  consulted  Lord  Har- 
court  as  to  the  proper  answer  (  Woi'ks,  x. 
199).  His  anxiety  was  increased  by  com- 
plaints made  against  him  for  editing  the 
Duke  of  Buckingham's  works  (1723),  which 
had  been  seized  on  account  of  Jacobite  pas- 
sages. The  exile  of  Atterbury  coincided 


with  the  return  of  Bolingbroke,  to  whom 
Pope  had  been  slightly  known  in  the  *  Scrib- 
lerus  Club.'  Bolingbroke  now  renewed  the 
acquaintance,  and  in  1725  settled  at  Dawley,  v 
within  easy  drive  of  Twickenham.  Pope 
was  a  frequent  visitor,  and  in  September  1726 
was  upset  in  crossing  a  stream  upon  his  re- 
turn in  Bolingbroke's  coach.  His  fingers 
were  badly  cut  by  the  glass  of  the  window, 
and  he  nearly  lost  the  use  of  them.  Pope 
had  at  intervals  corresponded  with  Swift 
after  Swift's  retirement  to  Ireland  in  1714, 
and  he  now  joined  Bolingbroke  in  writing  to- 
their  common  friend.  In  1725  Pope  wrote 
to  Swift,  mentioning  a  satire  which  he  had 
written,  and  suggesting  a  visit  to  England. 
Bolingbroke,  Arbuthnot,  Lord  Oxford,  and 
Pope  would  welcome  him.  Swift  visited  Eng-"^ 
land  in  the  summer  of  1726,  bringing  '  Gul- 
liver's Travels,',  for  the  publication  of  which 
arrangements  were  made  by  Pope  [see  also 
LEWIS,  EKASMTJS].  The  little  circle  also- 
agreed  to  publish  a  miscellany.  Swift  con- 
tributed verses,  which  he  sent  to  Pope  with 
full  powers  to  use  as  he  pleased.  Two  volumes 
were  published  in  June  1727.  Swift  had 
again  visited  England,  in  April  1727,  and 
stayed  for  some  time  with  Pope ;  but  his 
infirmities  and  anxiety  about  Stella  made 
him  unfit  for  company,  and  he  left  Pope- 
some  time  before  his  return  to  Ireland  in 
September.  The  'Dunciad'  was  by  this 
time  finished,  and  Swift,  who  had  at  first 
advised  Pope  not  to  make  the  bad  poets- 
immortal,  was  anxious  for  its  appearance. 
Pope  had  probably  withheld  it  with  a  view 
to  one  of  his  manoeuvres.  The  third  volume 
of  the  '  Miscellanies/  published  in  March 
1727-8,  contained  the  '  Bathos,'  a  very  lively 
satire,  of  which  Pope,  though  he  afterwards 
disavowed  it,  says  that  he  had  ( entirely 
methodised  and  in  a  manner  written  it  all * 
(  Works,  vii.  110).  It  gave  sarcastic  descrip- 
tions of  different  classes  of  bad  authors, 
sufficiently  indicated  by  initials.  If  his 
purpose  was,  as  Mr.  Courthope  suggests,  to 
irritate  his  victims  into  retorts,  in  order  to- 
give  an  excuse  for  the  '  Dunciad,'  he  suc- 
ceeded. The  '  Dunciad '  appeared  on  28  May 
1728,  and  made  an  unprecedented  stir  among- 
authors.  Pope  had  made  elaborate  prepara- 
tions to  avoid  the  danger  of  prosecution  for 
libel.  The  poem  appeared  anonymously ;  a 
notice  from  the  publisher  implied  that  it 
was  written  by  a  friend  of  Pope,  in  answer 
to  the  attacks  of  the  '  last  two  months '  (i.e. 
since  the  '  Bathos ')  ;  the  names  of  the  per- 
sons attacked  were  represented  by  initials  ; 
and  the  whole  professed  to  be  a  reprint  of  a 
Dublin  edition.  On  its  success  he  published 
an  enlarged  edition,  in  March  1729,  with 


Pope 


117 


Pope 


names  in  full  and  a  letter  to  the  publisher 
in  defence,  written  by  himself,  but  signed  by 
his  friend  William  Cleland  (1674-1741) 
{q.  v.]  He  assigned  the  property  to  Lord 
Bathurst,  Lord  Oxford,  and  Lord  Burlington, 
from  whom  alone  copies  could  be  procured. 
When  the  risk  of  publication  appeared  to  be 
over,  they  assigned  a  new  edition  to  Pope's 
publisher,  Gilliver  (November  1729).  Va- 
rious indexes,  *  testimonies  of  authors/  and 
so  forth,  were  added.  The  poem  was  not  ac- 
knowledged till  it  appeared  in  Pope's  '  Works  ' 
in  1735.  A  '  Collection  of  Pieces  '  relating 
to  the  poem  was  published  in  1732,  with 
a  preface  in  the  name  of  Savage  describing 
the  first  appearance. 

The  '  Dunciad,'  though  written  with  Pope's 
full  power,  suffers  from  the  meanness  of  the 
warfare  in  which  it  served.  It  is  rather  a 
long  lampoon  than  a  satire  ;  for  a  satire  is 
supposed  to  strip  successful  vice  or  imposture 
of  its  mask,  not  merely  to  vituperate  men 
already  despised  and  defenceless.  Pope's 
literary  force  was  thrown  away  in  insults 
to  the  whole  series  of  enemies  who  had  in 
various  ways  come  into  collision  with  him. 
He  was  stung  by  their  retorts,  however 
coarse,  and  started  the  '  Grub  Street  Journal  ' 
to  carry  on  the  war.  The  avowed  authors 
were  John  Martyn  [q.  v.]  and  Dr.  Richard 
Russell.  Pope  contributed  and  inspired 
many  articles.  It  lasted  from  January  1730 
till  the  end  of  1737,  and  two  volumes  of 
articles,  called  l  Memoirs  of  the  Society  of 
Grub  Street,'  were  republished  (see  CAR- 
KUTHEKS  pp.  270-82,  for  a  good  account  of 
" 


Theobald  was  made  the  hero  of  the  (  Dun- 
ciad,' to  punish  him  for  exposing  the  defects 
of  Pope's  '  Shakespeare.'  Pope  attacked  Lin- 
tot,  with  whom  he  had  quarrelled  about  the 
1  Odyssey,'  and  Jonathan  Smedley  [q.  v.],  dean 
of  Clogher,  who  had  written  against  the  '  Mis- 
cellanies.' He  attacked  Aaron  Hill,who  forced 
him  to  equivocate  and  apologise  [see  under 
HILL,  AARON].  One  of  his  strongest  grudges 
was  against  James  Moore  Smy  the  [q.  v.],  who 
had  obtained  leave  to  use  some  verses  by 
Pope  in  a  comedy  of  his  own,  and  probably 
did  not  acknowledge  them.  Pope  attacked 
him  again  in  the  '  Grub  Street  Journal  '  with 
singular  bitterness.  A  squib  called  '  A  Pop 
upon  Pope,'  telling  a  story  of  a  supposed 
whipping  by  two  of  the  '  Dunciad  '  victims, 
was  attributed  by  Pope  to  Lady  M.  W.  Mon- 
tague. Young,  of  the  '  Night  Thoughts,'  de- 
fended Pope  in  '  Two  Epistles,'  to  which 
Welsted  and  J.  Moore  Smythe  replied  in 
*  One  Epistle.'  Pope  seems  to  have  felt 
this  keenly,  and  replied  vehemently  in  the 
'Journal.'  We  can  hardly  regret  that  in 


this  miserable  warfare  against  unfortunate 
hacks  Pope  should  have  had  his  turn  of 
suffering.  Happily,  Bolingbroke's  influence 
directed  his  genius  into  more  appropriate 
channels.  Bolingbroke  had  amused  himself 
in  his  exile  by  some  study  of  philosophy,  of 
which,  however,  his  writings  prove  that  he 
had  not  acquired  more  than  a  superficial 
knowledge.  Pope  was  at  the  still  lower 
level  from  which  Bolingbroke  appeared  to 
be  a  great  authority.  Bolingbroke's  singular 
brilliancy  in  talking  and  writing  and  his 
really  fine  literary  taste  were  sufficient  to 
account  for  his  influence  over  his  friend. 
Pope  expressed  his  feeling  to  Spence  (p.  316) 
by  saying  that  when  a  comet  appeared  he 
fancied  that  it  might  be  a  coach  to  take 
Bolingbroke  home.  One  result  of  their  con- 
versation is  said  to  have  been  a  plan  for 
writing  a  series  of  poems  which  would 
amount  to  a  systematic  survey  of  human 
nature  (see  SPENCE,  pp.  16,  48,  137,  315). 
They  were  to  include  a  book  upon  the  nature 
of  man ;  one  upon  '  knowledge  and  its 
limits ; '  a  third  upon  government,  ecclesias- 
tical and  civil ;  and  a  fourth  upon  morality. 
The  second  included  remarks  upon  '  educa- 
tion,' part  of  which  was  afterwards  em- 
bodied in  the  fourth  book  of  the  '  Dunciad  ; ' 
and  the  third  was  to  have  been  wrought  into 
an  epic  poem  called  l  Brutus/  of  which  an 
elaborate  plan  is  given  in  Ruffhead  (pp. 
410-22).  It  was  begun  in  blank  verse,  but 
happily  dropped.  To  the  first  and  the  fourth 
part  correspond  the  '  Essay  on  Man '  and  the 
four  '  Moral  Essays.'  The  plan  thus  ex- 
pounded was  probably  not  Pope's  original 
scheme  so  much  as  an  afterthought,  sug- 
gested in  later  years  by  Warburton  (see  Mr. 
Courthope  in  Works,  iii.  45-51).  '  Moral 
Essays '  was  the  name  suggested  by  War- 
burton  for  what  Pope  had  called  '  Ethic 
Epistles.'  The  first  of  these,  written  under 
Bolingbroke's  eye,  was  the  l  Essay  on  Taste/ 
addressed  to  Lord  Burlington,  published 
in  1731.  It  includes  the  description  of 
Timon's  villa,  in  which  many  touches  were 
taken  from  Canons,  the  house  of  James 
Brydges,  duke  of  Chandos  [q.  v.]  Pope 
was  accused  of  having  accepted  500£.  from 
the  duke,  which  was  no  doubt  false ;  but 
chose  also  to  deny  what  was  clearly  true, 
that  Canons  had  been  in  his  mind.  Pope 
was  much  vexed  by  the  attacks  thus  pro- 
voked, and,  besides  writing  to  the  duke,  got 
'  his  man/  Cleland,  to  write  an  exculpatory 
letter,  published  in  the  papers.  He  also  de- 
layed the  publication  of  his  next  *  Moral  Es- 
say '  '  On  Riches  '  for  a  year  (i.e.  till  Janu- 
ary 1733),  from  fear  of  the  abuse.  This, 
however,  which  dealt  with  fraudulent  specu- 


Pope 


118 


Pope 


lators,  met  the  public  taste.  That  upon  the 
1  Characters  of  Men '  appeared  on  6  Feb. 
1733,  when  the  last,  upon  the  '  Characters  of 
Women,'  was  already  written  (Works,  vii. 
298),  though  it  was  not  published  till  1735. 
The  '  Essay  on  Man,'  the  first  book  of  which 
appeared  in  February  1733 — the  remainder 
following  in  the  course  of  a  year — seems  also  to 
have  excited  the  author's  apprehensions.  It 
was  anonymous,  and  he  wrote  to  his  friends 
about  it  without  avowing  himself.  The  main 
cause  was  no  doubt  his  fear  of  charges 
against  his  orthodoxy.  In  fact,  the  poem 
is  simply  a  brilliant  versification  of  the  doc- 
trine which,  when  openly  expressed,  was 
called  deism,  and,  when  more  or  less  dis- 
guised, was  taught  as  orthodox  by  the  latitu- 
dinarian  divines  of  the  day.  Pope  was  pro- 
bably intending  only  to  represent  the  most 
cultivated  thought  of  the  time,  and  accepted 
Bolingbroke  as  its  representative.  Bathurst, 
indeed,  said  (BoswELL,  Johnson,  ed.  Hill,  iii. 
402-3)  that  Pope  did  no  more  than  put 
Bolingbroke's  prose  into  verse.  Johnson's 
criticism  upon  this,  namely,  that  Pope  may 
have  had  the  '  philosophic  stamina  of  the 
essay  from  Bolingbroke'  but  added  the 
poetical  imagery,  probably  hits  the  mark. 
Comparison  between  Bolingbroke's  fragment 
and  Pope's  essays  shows  coincidences  so 
close  as  to  leave  no  doubt  of  the  relation- 
ship. Bolingbroke  probably  did  not  reveal 
his  sceptical  conclusions  to  Pope ;  and  Pope 
was  too  little  familiar  with  the  subject  to 
perceive  the  real  tendency  of  the  theories 
which  he  was  adopting.  It  would  be  idle  to 
apply  any  logical  test  to  a  series  of  superfi- 
cial and  generally  commonplace  remarks. 
The  skill  with  which  Pope  gives  point  and 
colouring  to  his  unsatisfactory  framework  of 
argument  is  the  more  remarkable.  The  many 
translations  indicate  that  it  was  the  best 
known  of  Pope's  writings  upon  the  conti- 
nent. Voltaire  and  Wieland  imitated  it; 
Lessing  ridiculed  its  philosophy  in  'Pope 
ein  Metaphysiker '  (1755,  LESSING,  Werke, 
1854,  vol.  v.)  ;  but  it  was  greatly  admired 
by  Dugald  Stewart  ( Works,  vii.  133),  and 
was  long  a  stock  source  for  ornaments  to 
philosophical  lectures.  Though  its  rather 
tiresome  didacticism  has  made  it  less  popular 
than  Pope's  satires,  many  isolated  passages 
are  still  familiar  from  the  vivacity  of  the 
style.  The  <  Universal  Prayer '  was  first 
added  in  1738. 

Bolingbroke,  happening  one  day  to  visit 
Pope,  took  up  a  Horace,  and  suggested  to  his 
friend  the  suitability  to  his  case  of  the  first 
satire  of  the  second  book.  Pope  thereupon 
translated  it l  in  a  morning  or  two,'  and  sent 
it  to  the  press  (SPE^CE,  p.  297).  It  appeared 


in  February  1733,  and  was  the  first  of  a 
series  of  his  most  felicitous  writings.  A 
couplet  containing  a  gross  insult  to  Lady 
M.  W.  Montagu,  and  another  alluding  to 
Lord  Hervey,  led  to  a  bitter  warfare.  They 
retorted  in  '  Verses  addressed  to  the  Imitator 
of  Horace'  (ascribed  to  Lady  Mary,  Lord 
Hervey,  and  Mr.  Windham,  tutor  to  the 
Duke  of  Cambridge)  and  in  <A  Letter 
from  a  Nobleman  at  Hampton  Court  to  a 
Doctor  of  Divinity'  (by  Lord  Hervey). 
Pope  replied  by  some  squibs  in  the  {  Grub 
Street  Journal '  and  by  '  A  Letter  to  a  Noble 
Lord,'  dated  30  Nov.  1733.  The  latter, 
though  printed,  and,  according  to  War- 
burton,  submitted  to  the  queen,  was  sup- 
pressed during  Pope's  life.  Johnson  says 
that  it  exhibits  '  nothing  but  tedious  ma- 
lignity,' and  it  is  certainly  laborious  and 
lengthy.  A  far  more  remarkable  result  of 
this  collision,  however,  was  the  *  Epistle  to 
Arbuthnot,'  published  in  January  1734-5. 
It  is  written  for  the  most  part  in  answer  to 
Hervey  and  Lady  Mary,  though  various 
fragments,  such  as  the  lines  upon  Addison, 
are  worked  in.  This  poem  is  Pope's  master- 
piece, and  shows  his  command  of  language 
and  metre  in  their  highest  development.  It 
is  also  of  the  first  importance  as  an  auto- 
biographical document,  and  shows  curiously 
what  was  Pope's  view  of  his  own  character 
and  career. 

Pope's  autobiography  was  continued  by 
the  publication  of  his  correspondence  soon 
afterwards  as  the  result  of  a  series  of  ela- 
borate manosuvres  scarcely  to  be  paralleled 
in  literary  history.  A  full  account  of  them, 
and  of  the  means  by  which  they  were  de- 
tected, is  given  by  Mr.  Elwin  in  the  first 
volume  of  Pope's  '  Works '  (pp.  xvii-cxlvii), 
and  the  story  is  summarised  by  Mr.  Court- 
hope  in  the  <  Life  '  (  Works,v.  279-300).  The 
main  facts  are  as  follows :  In  1726  Curll 
published  Pope's  correspondence  with  Crom- 
well, having  obtained  them  from  Cromwell's 
mistress.  The  correspondence  excited  some 
interest,  and  Pope  soon  afterwards  began  to 
apply  to  his  friends  to  return  Ms  letters. 
Caryll,  one  of  his  most  regular  correspon- 
dents, returned  the  letters  in  1729,  but  had 
them  previously  copied  without  Pope's  know- 
ledge. In  the  same  year  Pope  obtained 
Lord  Oxford's  leave  to  deposit  the  originals 
of  his  correspondence  in  Oxford's  library, 
on  the  ground  that  the  publication  by 
Theobald  in  1728  of  the  posthumous  works 
of  Wycherley  might  be  injurious  both  to 
W'ycherley's  reputation  and  his  own.  His 
intention  seems  to  have  been  to  induce  Ox- 
ford to  become  responsible  for  the  publica- 
tion (see  Elwin  in  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  xxvii). 


Pope 


119 


Pope 


He  then  published  some  of  Wycherley's 
remains,  including  their  correspondence,  as  a 
supplement  to  Theobald's  volume.  The  book, 
however,  failed.  No  copy  is  known  to  exist, 
and  the  sheets  were  used  by  Pope  in  his  next 
performance.  The  Hervey  and  Lady  Mary 
quarrel  apparently  stimulated  his  desire  to 
set  forth  his  own  virtues,  and  it  now  occurred 
to  him  to  make  a  tool  of  his  old  enemy 
Curll.  He  had  in  1716  administered  an 
emetic  to  Curll  on  behalf  of  Lady  Mary  [see 
CURLL,  EDMUND],  and,  besides  publishing 
the  Cromwell  letters,  Curll  had  advertised  a 
life  of  Pope.  Pope's  object  was  to  secure 
the  publication  of  his  letters  and,  at  the 
same  time,  to  make  it  appear  that  they  were 
published  in  spite  of  his  opposition.  In  order 
to  accomplish  this,  he  employed  an  agent, 
supposed  (see  WAKTON'S  Essay,  ii.  339,  and 
JOHNSON)  to  have  been  a  painter  and  low 
actor,  named  James  Worsdale.  Worsdale, 
calling  himself  R,  Smythe,  told  Curll  that  a 
certain  P.  T.,  a  secret  enemy  of  Pope,  had  a 
quantity  of  Pope's  correspondence,  and  was 
willing  to  dispose  of  the  printed  sheets  to 
Curll.  Curll,  after  some  negotiations,  agreed 
to  publish  them.  Pope  arranged  that  the 
book,  as  soon  as  published,  should  be  seized 
by  a  warrant  from  the  Plouse  of  Lords,  on 
the  ground  that  it  was  described  in  an  ad- 
vertisement (dictated  by  Worsdale)  as  con- 
taining letters  from  peers.  Pope  had,  however, 
contrived  that  no  such  letters  should  be  in 
the  sheets  delivered  to  Curll.  The  books 
were  therefore  restored  to  Curll,  and  Pope 
had  the  appearance  of  objecting  to  the  pub- 
lication while,  at  the  same  time,  he  had 
secretly  provided  for  the  failure  of  his  ob- 
jection. Curll  became  unmanageable,  told 
his  story  plainly,  and  advertised  the  publica- 
tion of  the  '  initial  correspondence ' — i.e.  the 
correspondence  with  '  R.  Smythe '  and  '  P.T.,' 
which  accordingly  came  out  in  July.  Pope, 
however,  anticipated  this  by  publishing  in 
June,  through  a  bookseller  named  Cooper,  a 
1  Narrative  of  the  Method  by  which  Mr. 
Pope's  Private  Letters  were  procured  by 
Edmund  Curll.'  This  did  not  correspond  to 
its  title.  No  light  was  thrown  upon  the 
really  critical  question  how  Curll  could  have 
obtained  letters  which  could  only  be  in  Lord 
Oxford's  library  or  in  the  possession  of  Pope 
himself.  The  publication,  however,  seems  to 
have  thrown  the  public  off  the  scent ;  and, 
though  Curll's  pamphlet  gave  sufficient  indi- 
cations of  the  truth  and  suspicions  of  Pope's 
complicity  were  current,  his  manoeuvres  were 
not  generally  penetrated,  and  their  nature 
not  established  till  long  afterwards. 

Curll,  however,  issued  a  new  edition  of 
the  '  P.  T.'  letters,  and  advertised  a  second 


volume.  This  appeared  in  July  1735,  but 
contained  only  three  letters  from  Atterbury 
to  Pope,  two  of  which  had  been  already 
printed.  Pope  took  advantage  of  this  to 
advertise  that  he  was  under  a  necessity  of 
printing  a  genuine  edition.  He  proposed  in 
1736  to  publish  this  by  subscription,  at  a 
guinea  for  the  volume.  The  scheme  would 
have  fallen  through  but  for  Ralph  Allen 
[q.  v.],  who  was  so  much  impressed  by  the 
benevolence  exhibited  in  the  published  let- 
ters that  he  offered  to  bear  the  expense  of 
printing.  The  book  finally  appeared  18  May 
1737,  and  the  copyright  was  bought  by 
Dodsley.  Pope's  preface  pointed  out  how  he 
had  unconsciously  drawn  his  own  portrait 
in  letters  written  '  without  the  least  thought 
that  ever  the  world  should  be  a  witness  to 
them.'  Pope  had,  in  fact,  not  only  carefully 
revised  them,  but  materially  altered  them. 
His  friend  Caryll  died  6  April  1736,  and 
Pope  treated  the  letters  really  addressed  to 
him  as  raw  materials  for  an  imaginary  cor- 
respondence with  Addison,  Steele,  and  Con- 
greve,  which,  for  a  long  period,  perverted 
the  whole  history  of  their  relations.  The 
discovery  by  Charles  Wentworth  Dilke  [q.  v.] 
of  Caryll's  letter-book,  in  the  middle  of  this 
century,  led  to  the  final  unravelling  of  these 
tortuous  manoeuvres. 

Pope  afterwards  carried  on  a  similar  in- 
trigue of  still  more  discreditable  character. 
He  seems  to  have  considered  Curll  as  out- 
side of  all  morality.  But  he  next  made 
a  victim  of  his  old  friend  Swift.  He  had 
obtained  his  own  letters  from  Swift  in  1737, 
who  sent  them  through  Orrery,  after  long 
resisting  the  proposal.  Pope  had  the  letters 
printed  and  sent  the  volume  to  Swift,  with  an 
anonymous  letter,  suggesting  their  publica- 
tion, and  saying  that  if  they  fell  into  the 
hands  of  Pope  or  Bolingbroke  they  would  be 
suppressed.  Swift,  whose  mind  was  failing, 
gave  the  volume  to  his  bookseller,  Faulkner. 
Pope  ventured  to  protest,  and  Faulkner  there- 
upon offered  to  suppress  the  letters.  Orrery, 
to  whom  Pope  applied,  also  provokingly  re- 
commended their  suppression  as  '  unworthy 
to  be  published.'  Pope  now  had  to  affect 
to  be  certain  that  the  letters  would  come 
out  in  any  case,  and  they  finally  appeared  in 
London  in  1741,  with  a  statement  that  they 
were  a  reprint  from  a  Dublin  edition.  The 
great  difficulty  was  to  explain  how  the  letters 
from  Swift  to  Pope,  which  had  never  been 
out  of  Pope's  hands,  could  be  obtained. 
Pope  endeavoured  to  pervert  ambiguous 
statements  due  to  Swift's  failing  powers  into 
an  admission  that  the  letters  on  both  sides 
were  in  Swift's  hands.  He  tried  to  throw 
the  blame  upon  Swift's  kind  ,  friend,  Mrs. 


Pope 


120 


Pope 


Whiteway,  and  in  his  letters  moralised  over 
the  melancholy  fact  that  Swift's  vanity  had 
survived  his  intellect.  The  full  proofs  of 
this  transaction  were  only  given  in  the  last 
edition  of  Pope's  'Works/  even  Mr.  Car- 
ruthers  still  supposing  (in  1857)  that  Pope 
was  really  pained  by  Swift's  treachery,  and 
not  knowing  that  he  had  contrived  the  whole 
affair  himself.  The  only  apology  for  a  dis- 
gusting transaction  is  that  Pope  did  not 
know  at  starting  how  many  and  what  dis- 
graceful lies  he  would  have  to  tell. 

Pope's  reputation  as  moralist  and  poet  was 
meanwhile  growing.  He  had  lost  some  of 
his  best  friends.  Gay  died  4  Dec.  1732 ;  his 
mother  on  7  July  1733  ;  and  Arbuthnot  on 
27  Feb.  1734-5.  Bolingbroke  retired  to 
France  in  the  following  winter.  As  a  friend 
of  Bolingbroke,  Pope  had  naturally  been 
drawn  into  intimacy  with  the  opposition 
which  was  now  gathering  against  Walpole. 
He  received  a  visit  from  Frederick,  prince  of 
Wales,  in  October  1735  (Letter  to  Bathurst, 
8  Oct.  1735) ;  Wyndham,  Marchmont,  and 
other  leaders  met  and  talked  politics  at  his 
grotto;  and  Pope  was  on  intimate  terms 
with  Lyttelton  and  other  of  the  young 
patriots  whom  he  compliments  in  his  poems. 
His  sentiments  appear  in  the  '  Epistle  to 
Augustus,'  the  most  brilliant  of  his  imita- 
tions of  Horace  (first  epistle  of  second  book), 
which  was  published  in  March  1737.  Others 
of  the  series  which  appeared  in  the  same 
year  are  of  more  general  application.  The 
two  dialogues,  called  '  1738,'  and  afterwards 
known  as  *  Epilogue  to  the  Satires,'  were 
mainly  prompted  by  the  attack  upon  the 
government  as  the  source  of  corruption,  and 
again  show  Pope  at  his  best.  They  are  in- 
comparably felicitous,  and  incisive  and  dex- 
terous in  their  management  of  language. 

Pope,  always  under  the  influence  of  some 
friend  of  stronger  fibre  than  his  own,  was 
now  to  be  conquered  by  William  Warbur- 
ton.  Warburton,  turbulent  and  ambitious, 
had  forced  himself  into  notice  by  writings 
showing  wide  reading  and  a  singular  turn 
for  paradoxes.  He  had  ridiculed  Pope  in 
earlier  years,  but  he  now  undertook  to  de- 
fend the  '  Essay  on  Man  '  against  the  criti- 
cisms of  Jean  Pierre  de  Crousaz,  who  had 
published  his  '  Examen  de  1'Essay  de  M. 
Pope  sur  1'homme'  in  1737.  Warburton's 
reply,  which  appeared  as  a  series  of  letters 
in  a  periodical  called  'The  Works  of  the 
Learned/  excited  Pope's  eager  gratitude.  He 
wrote  to  Warburton  in  the  warmest  terms. 
*  You/  he  said,  '  understand  my  work  better 
than  I  do  myself.'  He  met  his  commentator 
in  the  garden  of  Lord  Radnor  at  Twicken- 
ham in  April  1740.  He  astonished  his  pub- 


lisher Dodsley,  who  was  present,  by  the 
compliments  which  he  paid  to  his  new  ac- 
quaintance. Warburton  succeeded  to  Boling- 
broke's  authority.  Pope  confided  to  him  his 
literary  projects.  They  visited  Oxford  toge- 
ther in  1741 ;  and  the  honorary  degree  of 
D.C.L.  was  offered  by  the  vice-chancellor  to 
Pope.  An  offer  of  a  D.D.  degree  was  made 
at  the  same  time  to  Warburton  ;  but,  as  this 
was  afterwards  opposed  by  some  of  the  clergy, 
Pope  refused  to  be  '  doctored'  without  his 
friend.  Pope  undertook,  at  Warburton's  in- 
stigation, to  complete  the  'Dunciad'  by  a 
fourth  book.  It  was  published  in  March 
1742.  A  reference  in  it  to  Colley  Gibber 
produced  Pope's  last  literary  quarrel.  Pope 
and  Arbuthnot  were  supposed  to  have  had 
a  share  in  the  farce  called  'Three  Hours 
after  Marriage/  of  which  Gay  was  the  chief 
author.  It  was  damned  on  its  appearance  in 
1717,  and  Gibber  soon  afterwards  introduced 
an  allusion  to  it  in  the  '  Rehearsal.'  Pope 
came  behind  the  scenes  and  abused  Gibber 
for  his  impertinence,  to  which  Gibber  replied 
that  he  should  repeat  the  words  as  long  as 
the  play  was  acted.  Pope  had  made  several 
contemptuous  references  to  him ;  and  upon 
the  appearance  of  the  new '  Dunciad  '  Gibber 
took  his  revenge  in  '  A  Letter  from  Gibber 
to  Pope.'  Gibber  was  a  very  lively  writer, 
and  treated  Pope  to  some  home  truths  with- 
out losing  his  temper.  He  added  an  un- 
savoury anecdote  about  a  youthful  scrape 
into  which  Pope  had  fallen.  '  These  things/ 
said  Pope  of  one  of  Gibber's  pamphlets,  '  are 
my  diversion  ; '  and  the  younger  Richardson, 
who  heard  him  and  told  Johnson,  observed 
that  his  features  were  l  writhing  with  an- 
guish.' Pope  in  his  irritation  resolved  to 
make  Gibber  the  hero  of  the  '  Dunciad '  in 
place  of  Theobald.  Warburton,  who  had 
now  undertaken  to  annotate  Pope's  whole 
works,  was  to  be  responsible  for  ttie  notes 
written  by  Pope  on  the  '  Dunciad/  and  added 
'  Ricardus  Aristarchus  on  the  Hero  of  the 
Poem.'  The  fourth  book  contains  some  of 
Pope's  finest  verses.  The  book  in  the  final 
form  appeared  in  October  1742.  The  meta- 
physical parts  were  probably  inspired  by 
Warburton.  The  attack  upon  Bentley  ex- 
pressed probably  antipathies  of  both  the  as- 
sailants. Bentley  was  sinking  at  the  time 
of  the  first  publication,  and  died  on  14  July 
1742.  As  the  old  opponent  of  Atterbury 
and  all  Pope's  friends,  as  well  as  for  his 
criticism  of  Milton  and  his  remarks  upon 
Pope's  '  Homer/  he  was  naturally  regarded 
by  Pope  as  the  ideal  pedant.  He  had  spoken 
of  Warburton  as  a  man  of  monstrous  appe- 
tite and  bad  digestion ;  and  neither  of  them 
could  appreciate  his  scholarship,  thoughWar- 


Pope 


121 


Pope 


burton  seems  to  have  fully  repented  (see 
MONK,  Life  of  Bentley,  ii.  375,  378,404-11). 
Pope  was  staying  with  Allen  at  Prior 
Park  in  November  1741,  and  invited  War- 
burton  to  join  him  there.  Warburton  ac- 
cepted, and  to  his  marriage  to  Allen's  niece 
in  1745  owed  much  of  his  fortune.  Pope's 
health  was  declining,  although  he  was  still 
able  to  travel  to  his  friends'  country  houses. 
Martha  Blount  was  still  intimate  with  him ; 
she  seems  to  have  spent  some  time  with  him 
daily,  although  living  with  her  mother  and 
sister,  whom  he  had  endeavoured  to  persuade 
her  to  leave.  She  frequently  accompanied 
him  to  the  houses  of  his  friends,  and  is  men- 
tioned in  his  letters  as  almost  an  inmate  of 
his  household.  In  the  following  summer 
Pope  visited  Bath,  and  afterwards  went  to 
Prior  Park,  where  Miss  Blount  met  him. 
For  some  unexplained  reason  a  quarrel  took 
place  with  the  Aliens.  Miss  Blount  (as 
appears  from  her  correspondence  with  Pope) 
resented  some  behaviour  of  the  Aliens  to 
Pope,  and  begged  him  to  leave  the  house. 
She  was  compelled  to  stay  behind,  and,  as 
she  says,  was  treated  with  great  incivility 
both  by  the  Aliens  and  Warburton.  Pope 
expresses  great  indignation  at  the  time.  He 
must,  however,  as  his  letters  imply,  have 
been  soon  reconciled  to  Warburton.  Allen 
called  upon  him  for  the  last  time  in  March 
1744,  when  Pope  still  showed  some  coldness. 
By  this  time  Pope  was  sinking.  He  still 
occupied  himself  with  a  final  revision  of  his 
works,  and  saw  his  friends.  He  was  visited 
by  Bolingbroke,  who  had  returned  to  Eng- 
land in  October  1743,  and  by  Marchmont, 
and  attended  by  Spence,  who  has  recorded 
some  of  the  last  incidents.  Pope's  behaviour 
was  affecting  and  simple.  Warburton,  a 
hostile  witness,  accuses  Miss  Blount  of  neg- 
lecting Pope  in  his  last  illness ;  and  John- 
son gives  (without  stating  his  authority)  a 
confirmatory  story.  Spence,  however,  re- 
marked that  whenever  she  entered,  his  spirits 
rose.  At  the  suggestion  of  Hooke  he  sent 
for  a  priest  on  the  day  before  his  death,  and 
received  absolution.  He  died  quietly  on 
30  May  1744.  He  was  buried  on  5  June  in 
Twickenham  Church,  by  the  side  of  his 
parents,  and  directed  that  the  words  '  et  sibi ' 
should  be  added  to  the  inscription  which  he 
placed  upon  their  monument  on  the  east  wall. 
In  1761  Warburton  erected  a  monument  to 
Pope  upon  the  north  wall,  with  an  inscrip- 
tion '  to  one  who  would  not  be  buried  in 
Westminster  Abbey,'  and  a  petulant  verse. 

By  his  will  (dated  12  Dec-.  1743)  Pope  left 
to  Martha  Blount  1,000/.,  with  his  house- 
hold effects.  She  was  also  to  have  the  in- 
come arising  from  his  property  for  life,  after 


which  it  was  to  go  to  the  Kacketts.  He  left 
150/.  to  Allen,  in  repayment  of  sums  ad- 
vanced '  partly  for  my  own  and  partly  for 
charitable  uses/  Books  and  other  memorials 
were  left  to  Bolingbroke,  Marchmont,  Ba- 
thurst,  Lyttelton,  and  other  friends.  An 
absolute  power  over  his  unpublished  manu- 
scripts was  left  to  Bolingbroke,  and  the  copy- 
right of  his  published  books  to  Warburton. 
Pope  had  contemplated  two  odes,  upon  the 
'Mischiefs  of  Arbitrary  Power'  and  the 
'  Folly  of  Ambition,'  which  were  never  exe- 
cuted, and  had  made  a  plan  for  a  history  of 
English  poetry,  afterwards  contemplated  by 
Gray  (RUFFHE.U),  pp.  423-5). 

Mrs.  Rackett  threatened  to  attack  the 
will,  but  withdrew  her  opposition.  Allen 
gave  his  legacy  to  the  Bath  Hospital,  and 
observed  that  Pope  was  always  a  bad  ac- 
countant, and  had  probably  forgotten  to  add 
a  cipher.  He  took  Pope's  old  servant,  John 
Searle,  into  his  service.  Disputes  soon  arose, 
which  led  to  one  of  the  worst  imputations 
upon  Pope's  character.  In  1732-3  Pope  ap- 
pears to  have  written  the  lines  upon  the 
Duchess  of  Marlborough  which,  with  later 
modifications,  became  the  character  of  Atossa 
in  the  second  '  Moral  Essay.'  The  duchess 
was  then  specially  detested  by  the  opposition 
generally ;  but  Pope's  prudence  induced  him 
temporarily  to  suppress  this  and  some  other 
lines.  In  later  years,  however,  the  duchess 
became  vehemently  opposed  to  Walpole.  She 
was  very  anxious*  to  obtain  favourable  ac- 
counts of  her  own  and  her  husband's  career. 
She  gave  Hooke  5,000/.  to  compile  the  pam- 
phlet upon  her  '  Conduct.'  Pope  took  some 
part  in  negotiating  with  Hooke,  and  the 
duchess,  he  says  in  his  last  letter  to  Swift 
(28  April  1739),  was  '  making  great  court  to 
him.'  A  very  polite  correspondence  took 
place  (published  in  Pope's  '  Works,'  v.  406- 
422,  from  '  Historical  Manuscripts  Commis- 
sion,' 8th  Rep.)  From  this  it  appears  that 
after  some  protests  he  accepted  a  favour  from 
her,  and  from  later  evidence  this  was  in  all 
probability  a  sum  of  1,000/.  Pope  appears 
( Works,  iii.  87)  to  have  suppressed  some 
lines  which  he  had  intended  to  add  to  a  cha- 
racter of  the  Duke  of  Marlborough.  Sup- 
pression, however,  of  polished  verses  was  sore 
pain  to  him,  and  he  resolved  to  use  the 
'  Atossa '  lines  in  a  different  way.  He  intro- 
duced changes  which  made  them  applicable 
to  the  Duchess  of  Buckinghamshire  (daugh- 
ter of  James  II,  and  widow  of  John  Shef- 
field, first  duke).  She  had  edited  her  hus- 
band's works,  and  bought  an  annuity  from 
the  guardians  of  the  young  duke.  The 
duchess  showed  him  a  character  of  herself, 
and,  upon  his  finding  some  faults  in  it,  picked 


Pope 


122 


Pope 


a  quarrel  with  him  for  five  or  six  years  before 
her  death  (Works,  x.  217).  According  to 
several  independent  reports,  varying  in  de- 
tails (collected  in  Works,  iii.  77,  £c.),  Pope 
read  the  Atossa  to  the  Duchess  of  Marl- 
borough,  saying  that  it  was  meant  for  the 
Duchess  of  Buckinghamshire,  and  she  is  said 
to  have  seen  through  the  pretence.  Mean- 
while the  character  was  inserted  by  Pope  in 
the  edition  of  the  '  Moral  Essays '  which  was 
just  printing  off  at  the  time  of  his  death,  and 
which  he  must  therefore  have  expected  to  be 
seen  by  the  Duchess  of  Marlborough.  Upon 
his  death  she  inquired  of  Bolingbroke 
whether  Pope's  manuscripts  contained  any- 
thing affecting  her  or  her  husband.  He 
found  the  '  Atossa '  lines  in  the  '  Moral 
Essays,'  and  communicated  with  March- 
mont,  observing  that  there  was  '  no  excuse 
for  them  after  the  favour  you  and  I  know/ 
A  note  in  the  '  Marchmont  Papers '  (ii.  334) 
by  Marchmont's  executor  states  this  to  have 
been  the  1,000/.  The  whole  edition  was 
suppressed,  and  Warburton,  as  proprietor  of 
the  published  works,  must  have  consented. 
The  only  copy  preserved  is  now  in  the  British 
Museum.  Bolingbroke  soon  afterwards  found 
that  fifteen  hundred  copies  of  some  of  his  own 
essays  had  been  secretly  printed  by  Pope. 
Though  Pope's  motive  was  no  doubt  admi- 
ration of  his  friend's  work,  Bolingbroke,  who 
had  been  greatly  affected  at  Pope's  death, 
was  furious  either  at  the  want  of  confidence 
or  some  alterations  which  had  been  made. 
He  burnt  the  edition,  but  retained  a  copy, 
and  had  another  edition  published  by  Mallet, 
with  a  preface  complaining  of  the"  conduct 
of  l  the  man '  who  had  been  guilty  of  the 
'  breach  of  trust.'  He  also  printed  a  sheet 
in  1746  containing  the  *  Atossa '  lines,  with  a 
note  stating  that  the  duchess  had  paid  1,000/. 
for  their  suppression.  Warburton,  having 
consented  to  the  suppression  of  the  edition, 
was  disqualified  for  directly  denying  the  ap- 
plication of  the  lines,  although  he  tried  else- 
where to  insinuate  that  they  were  meant  for 
the  other  duchess  (  Works,  v.  443,  446).  The 
story  was  afterwards  told  by  Warton  (Mr. 
Courthope's  discussion  in  Works,  iii.  75-92, 
andv.  346-51  is  exhaustive).  The  supposed 
bargain  is  disproved.  What  remains  is  a 
characteristic  example  of  Pope's  equivoca- 
tions. Had  the  epistles  appeared  in  his  life, 
he  would  no  doubt  have  declared  that  they 
applied  to  the  Duchess  of  Buckinghamshire. 
Pope,  as  described  by  Reynolds,  who  once 
saw  him  (PRIOR,  Malone,  p.  429),  was  four 
feet  six  inches  in  height,  and  much  deformed. 
He  had  a  very  fine  eye  and  a  well-formed 
nose.  His  face  was  drawn,  and  the  muscles 
strongly  marked ;  it  showed  traces  of  the 


headaches  from  which  he  constantly  suffered. 
Johnson  reports  some  details  given  by  a  ser- 
vant of  Lord  Oxford.     He  was  so  weak  in 
middle  life  that  he  had  to  wear  '  a  bodice  of 
stiff  canvas ; '  he   could  not  dress  without 
help,  and  he  wore  three  pairs  of  stockings  to 
cover  his  thin  legs.     He  was  a  troublesome 
inmate,  often  wanting  coffee  in  the  night, 
but  liberal  to  the  servants  whose  rest  he  dis- 
turbed.    Johnson  mentions  that  Pope  called 
the  servant  up  four  times  in  one  night  in 
1  the  dreadful  winter  of  1740 '  that  he  might 
write  down  thoughts  which  had  struck  him. 
His  old  servant,  John  Searle,  lived  with  him 
many  years,  and  received  a  legacy  of  100/. 
under  his  will.    He  was  abstemious  in  drink, 
and  would  set  a  single  pint  before  two  guests, 
and,  having  taken  two  small  glasses,  would 
retire,  saying,  l  Gentlemen,  I  leave  you  to 
your  wine.'     He  is  said  to /have  injured  him- 
self by  a  love  of '  highly  seasoned  dishes '  and 
'  potted  lampreys ; '  but,  in  spite  of  a  fragile 
constitution,  he  lived  to  the  age  of  fifty-six. 
Pope's    character   is   too    marked   in  its 
main  features  to  be  misunderstood,  though 
angry  controversies  have  arisen  upon   the 
subject.      Literary  admirers   have  resolved 
to  find  in  him  a  moral  pattern,  while  dissen- 
tients have  had  no  difficulty  in  discovering 
topics   of  reproach.     There   is,  in  fact,  no 
more  difficult  subject  for  biography,  especi- 
ally in  a  compressed  form.    His  better  quali- 
ties, as  displayed  in  the  domestic  circle,  give 
no  materials  for  narrative,  while  it  is  neces- 
sary to  give  the  details  of  the  wretched  series 
of  complex  quarrels,  manoeuvres,  and  falsi- 
fications in  which  he  was  plunged  from  his 
youth.     Pope's  physical  infirmities,  his  in- 
tense sensibility,  and  the  circumstances  of 
his  life,  produced  a  morbid  development  of 
all  the  weaknesses  characteristic  of  the  lite- 
rary temperament.     Excluded  by  his  creed 
from  all  public  careers,  educated  among  a 
class  which  was  forced  to  meet  persecution 
by  intrigue,  feeling  the  slightest  touch  like 
the   stroke  of  a   bludgeon,   forced  into  an 
arena  of  personality  where  rough  practical 
joking   and   coarse   abuse  were   recognised 
modes  of  warfare,  he  had  recourse  to  weapons 
of  attack  and  defence  which  were  altogether 
inexcusable.      The    truest  statement  seems 
to  be  that  he  was  at  bottom,  as  he  represents 
himself  in  the  epistle  to  Arbuthnot,  a  man 
of  really  fine  nature,  affectionate,  generous, 
and  independent ;  unfortunately,  the  better 
nature  was  perverted  by  the  morbid  vanity 
and  excessive  irritability  which  led  him  into 
his  multitudinous  subterfuges.     His  passion 
for  literary  fame,  and  the  keenness  of  his 
suffering  under  attacks,  led  to  all  his  quarrels. 
The  preceding  narrative  has   shown   sum- 


Pope 


123 


Pope 


ciently  how  lie  thus  was  led  into  his  worst  of- 
fences. Beginning  with  a  simple  desire  to  give 
literary  polish  to  his  essays,  he  was  gradually 
led  to  calumniate  Addison.  He  thought 
himself  justified  in  making  use  of  the  common 
enemy,  Curll,  to  obtain  the  publication  of 
his  letters,  and  was  gradually  led  on  to  the 
gross  treachery  to  Swift.  When  accused  of 
unfair  satire,  he  was  afraid  to  defend  him- 
self by  the  plain  truth,  and  fell  into  unmanly 
equivocations.  He  was  a  politician,  as  John- 
son reports  Lady  Bolingbroke  to  have  said, 
*  about  cabbages  and  turnips,'  and  could 
'  hardly  drink  tea  without  a  stratagem.'  But 
even  his  malignity  to  Lady  Mary  and  Lord 
Hervey  probably  appeared  to  him  as  a  case 
of  the  '  strong  antipathy  of  good  to  bad.' 

His  really  fine  qualities,  however,  re- 
mained, and  animated  his  best  poetry.  All 
judicious  critics  have  noticed  the  singular 
beauty  of  his  personal  compliments.  They 
were  the  natural  expression  of  *  really  affec- 
tionate nature.'  His  tenderness  to  his  parents, 
his  real  affection  for  such  friends  as  Arbuth- 
not,  Gay,  and  Swift,  his  almost  extravagant 
admiration  of  Bolingbroke  and  Warburton, 
are  characteristic.  He  always  leaned  upon 
some  stronger  nature,  and  craved  for  sym- 
pathy. His  success  gave  him  ahigh  social  posi- 
tion, and  he  appears  to  have  maintained  his 
independence  in  his  intercourse  with  great 
men.  He  declined  a  pension  of  300/.  out  of 
the  secret-service  money  offered  by  his  friend 
Craggs  (SPENCE,  pp.  307-8),  and  lived  upon 
the  proceeds  of '  Homer.'  He  seems  to  have 
been  careful  in  money  matters,  but  was 
liberal  in  disposing  of  his  income.  He  could 
be  actively  benevolent  when  he  thought  that 
an  injustice  was  being  done.  He  subscribed 
generously  to  the  support  of  a  Mrs.  Cope 
who  had  been  deserted  by  her  husband,  and 
several  other  instances  are  given  to  the  same 
effect.  He  helped  to  start  Dodsley  as  a  pub- 
lisher, and  contributed  201.  a  year  to  Savage, 
until  Savage's  conduct  made  help  impossible. 
It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  Savage's 
services  to  Pope  in  the  war  with  the  dunces 
were  discreditable  to  both.  This  substratum  of 
real  kindness,  and  even  a  certain  magnanimity, 
requires  to  be  distinctly  recognised,  as  show- 
ing that  Pope's  weaknesses  imply,  not  ma- 
lignity, but  the  action  of  unfortunate  con- 
ditions upon  a  sensitive  nature.  Probably 
the  nearest  parallel  to  the  combination  is  to 
be  found  in  his  contemporary,  Voltaire.  His 
abnormal  sensibility  fitted  Pope  to  give  the 
most  perfect  expression  of  the  spirit  of  his 
age.  His  anxiety  to  be  on  the  side  of  en- 
lightenment is  shown  by  his  religious  and 
intellectual  position.  Though  brought  up  in 
a  strictly  Koman  catholic  circle,  he  adopted 


without  hesitation  the  rationalism  of  Boling- 
broke, and  supposed  himself  to  be  a  disciple 
of  Locke.    Atterbury  and  Dr.  Clarke,  fellow 
of  All  Souls'  (not  Samuel  Clarke,  as  has  been 
erroneously  said),  tried  to  convert  him.     His 
letter  to  Atterbury  (  Works,  ix.  10-12)  gives 
most  clearly  the  opinions  which  he  always 
expressed.     A  change  of  religion  might  be 
profitable,  as  it  would  qualify  him  for  pen- 
sions ;  but  it  would  vex  his  mother,  and  do 
no  good  to  anybody  else.  Meanwhile,  he  held 
that  men  of  all  sects  might  be  saved  (see  also 
letter  to  Swift,  28  Nov.  1729,   Works,  vii. 
175).     The  'Universal  Prayer'  shows  the 
same  sentiment.     Pope,  taking  the   advice 
attributed  to  Addison,  professed  to   stand 
aside  from  political  party.     His  connections 
naturally  inclined  him  to  the  tory  side,  but 
he  was  not  a  Jacobite,  and  his  sympathies 
were  with  the  opposition  to  Walpole.     He 
took  for  granted  the  sincerity  of  their  zeal 
in  denouncing  the  corruption  of  the  period, 
and    gave   the   keenest  utterance   to   their 
commonplaces.     His  devotion  to  literature 
was  unremitting,  and  his  fortunate  attain- 
ment of  a  competence  enabled  him  to  asso- 
ciate independently  with  the  social  leaders. 
If,  as  Johnson  says,  he  boasts  a  little  too 
much  of  their  familiarity,  and,  as  Johnson 
also  remarked  with  more  feeling,  regarded 
poverty  as  a  crime,  he  cannot  be  fairly  ac- 
cused of  servility.     He  held  his  own  with 
great  men,  though  he  shared  their  prejudices. 
The  wits  and  nobles  who  formed  a  little 
circle  and  caressed  each  other  were,  in  their 
way,  genuine   believers   in   enlightenment. 
They  had  finally  escaped  from  the  prison  of 
scholasticism  ;  they  preferred  wit  and  com- 
mon sense  to  the  '  pedantry  of  courts  and 
schools ; '  they  suspected  sentimentalism  when 
not  strictly  within  the  conventional  bounds ; 
they  looked  down  with  aristocratic  contempt 
upon  the  Grub  Street  authors,  for  whom 
they  had  as  little  sympathy  as  cockfighters 
for  their  victims ;  and  took  the  tone  towards 
women  natural  in  clubs  of  bachelors.    Satire 
and   didactic   poetry   corresponded    to   the 
taste  of  such  an  epoch.  Pope's  writings  accu- 
rately reflect  these  tendencies  ;  and  his  scho- 
larly sense  of  niceties  of  language  led  him 
to  polish  all  his  work  with  unwearied  care. 
Almost  every  fragment  of  his  verse  has  gone 
through  a  series  of  elaborate  and  generally 
successful  remodellings.     Whether  Pope  is 
to  be  called  a  poet — a  problem  raised  in  fol- 
lowing generations — is  partly  a  question  of 
words  ;  but  no  one  can  doubt  that  he  had 
qualities  which  would  have  enabled  him  to 
ive  an  adequate  embodiment  in  verse  of  the 
spirit  of  any  generation  into  which  he  had 
Deen  born,     He  might  have  rivalled  Chaucer 


Pope 


124 


Pope 


in  one  century,  and  Wordsworth  in  another. 
As  it  was,  his  poetry  is  the  essence  of  the 
first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The 
later  history  of  Pope's  fame  is  the  history  of 
the  process  by  which  the  canons  of  taste 
ceased  to  correspond  to  the  strongest  intel- 
lectual and  social  impulses  of  a  new  period. 
What  was  spontaneous  in  him  became  con- 
ventional and  artificial  in  his  successors. 
War  ton  first  proposed  to  place  Pope  in  the 
second,  instead  of  the  first,  class  of  poets. 
Cowper's  'Homer'  was  another  indication 
of  the  change  ;  and,  in  the  next  century,  the 
discussions  in  which  Bowles,  Roscoe,  Camp- 
bell, and  Byron  took  part,  and  the  declara- 
tions of  poetic  faith  by  Wordsworth  and  Cole- 
ridge, corresponded  to  a  revolution  of  taste, 
and  showed,  at  any  rate,  how  completely 
Pope's  poetry  represented  the  typical  charac- 
teristics of  the  earlier  school. 

Pope  enlarged  his  villa,  and  he  spent  much 
time  and  money  on  improving  his  garden, 
with  the  help  not  only  of  the  professional 
gardeners,  Kent  and  Bridgeman,  but  of  his 
friends,  Lords  Peterborough  andBathurst.  A 
plan,  with  a  short  description,  published  by 
his  gardener,  Searle,  in  1745,  is  reproduced 
in  Carruthers's  '  Life '  (pp.  445-9).  The  best 
description  is  in  Walpole's  '  Letters  '  (to  Sir 
Horace  Mann,  20  June  1760).  His  grotto  was 
a  tunnel,  which  still  remains,  under  the  Ted- 
dington  road.  He  describes  it  in  a  letter  to 
Edward  Blount  (2  June  1725).  He  orna- 
mented it  by  spars  and  marbles,  many  of  them 
sent  by  William  Borlase  [q.  v.]  from  Corn- 
wall. The  garden  included  an  obelisk  to 
his  mother,  and  the  second  weeping  willow 
planted  in  England.  The  willow  died  in 
1801,  and  was  made  into  relics.  After  his 
death  the  house  was  sold  to  SirWilliam  Stan- 
hope, Lord  Chesterfield's  brother.  In  1807 
it  came  into  the  possession  of  the  Baroness 
Howe,  daughter  of  the  admiral.  She  de- 
stroyed the  house  and  stubbed  up  the  trees. 
Thomas  Young,  a  later  proprietor,  built  a  new 
house,  with  a  '  Chinese-Gothic  tower,' which 
still  stands  near  the  site  of  the  old  villa 
(THOENE,  Environs  of  London,  pp.  634-7  ; 
COBBETT,  Memorials  of  Twickenham  (1873), 
pp.  263-91).  In  1888  the  bicentenary  of 
Pope's  birth  was  celebrated  by  an  exhibition 
at  Twickenham  of  many  interesting  portraits 
and  relics. 

Pope  was  painted  by  Kneller  in  1712, 1716, 
and  1721 ;  by  Jervas  (an  engraving  from  a 
portrait  at  Caen  Wood,  prefixed  to  vol.  vi. 
of '  Works/  and  a  portrait  exhibited  by  Mr. 
A.  Morrison  at  Twickenham)  ;  by  W.Hoare 
(exhibited  by  Messrs.  Colnaghi  at  Twicken- 
ham) ;  by  Jonathan  Richardson  (engraving 
from  portrait  at  Hagley,  prefixed  to  vol.  i.  of 


'  Works  '),  who  also  made  various  drawings 
(three  made  for  Horace  Walpole  were  exhi- 
bited by  the  queen  at  Twickenham,  and  fifteen 
drawings  of  Pope  were  included  in  a  volume 
containing  thirty-eight  of  Richardson's  draw- 
ings) ;  by  Van  Loo  in  1742  ;  and  by  Arthur 
Pond.  Most  of  these  have  been  engraved. 
The  National  Portrait  Gallery  has  a  por- 
trait by  Jervas  with  a  lady  (perhaps  Martha 
Blount),  one  by  W.  Hoare  (crayons)  of  1734, 
and  one  by  Richardson,  1738.  Mrs.  Darell 
Blount  also  exhibited  at  Twickenham  a  por- 
trait by  an  unknown  painter,  and  portraits 
of  Pope  and  Teresa  and  Martha  Blount  by 
Jervas.  A  '  Sketch  from  Life,'  by  G.  Vertue, 
was  exhibited  at  Twickenham  by  Sir  Charles 
Dilke.  A  bust  by  Roubiliac,  '  the  original 
clay  converted  into  terra-cotta,'  was  exhi- 
bited at  Twickenham  by  John  Murray  (1808- 
1892)  [q.  v.]  the  publisher,  and  an  engraving 
is  prefixed  to  vol.  v.  of  the  (  Works.'  A 
marble  bust  by  Rysbrach  was  presented  to 
the  Athenaeum  Club  in  1861  by  Edward 
Lowth  Badeley  [q.  v.]  An  engraving  from  a 
drawing  of  Pope's  mother  by  Richardson  is 
prefixed  to  vol.  viii.  of  the  '  Works.' 

Pope's  works  are:  1.  'January  and  May,' 
the  '  Episode  of  Sarpedon  '  from  the  '  Iliad,' 
and  the  '  Pastorals  '  in  Tonson's  *  Poetical 
Miscellanies,'  pt.  vi.,  1709.  2.  'Essay  on 
Criticism,'  1711  [anon.]  ;  2nd  edit,  'by  Mr. 
Pope,'  1713.  3.  '  The  First  Book  of  Statius's 
Thebais,'  '  Vertumnus  and  Pomona  from  the 
Fourth  Book  of  Ovid's  "  Metamorphoses," ' 
'  To  a  Young  Lady  with  the  Works  of  Voi- 
ture,'  'To  the  Author  of  a  Poem  entitled 
"  Successio," '  and  the  '  Rape  of  the  Lock ' 
(first  draft,  without  author  s  name),  in  Lin- 
tot's  'Miscellany,'  1712.  3.  'Sappho  to 
Phaon  '  and  '  Fable  of  Dryope '  in  Tonson's 
'  Ovid,'  1712.  4.  '  The  Messiah  '  in  '  Spec- 
tator,' 30  Nov.  1712.  5.  '  Windsor  Forest,' 

1713.  6.  '  Prologue  to  Cato,' with  play,  and 
in  '  Guardian,'  No.  33.     Nos.  4,  11,  40,  61, 
78,  91,  92,  173  of  the '  Guardian '  are  also  by 
Pope,  1713.     7.  'Narrative  of  Dr.  Robert 
Norris  concerning  the  deplorable  frenzy  of 
J[ohn]  Denn  .  .  .,'  1713.     8.  '  Rape  of  "the 
Lock,'  with  additions,  2  March  1714.     The 
first  complete  edition.     9.  '  Wife  of  Bath,' 
from  Chaucer,  the  '  Arrival  of  Ulysses  at 
Ithaca,'  and  the '  Gardens  of  Alcinous,'  from 
the   thirteenth   and   seventh   books  of  the 
'  Odyssey,'  in  Steele's  '  Poetical  Miscellanies,' 

1714.  lO.  'The  Temple  of  Fame '(imitated 
from  Chaucer),  1715.     11.  'A  Key  to  the 
Lock :  or  a  Treatise  proving  beyond  all  Con- 
tradiction the  Dangerous  Tendency  of  a  late 
Poem  intituled  the  "  Rape  of  the' Lock,"  to 
Government   Religion.     By  Esdras  Barni- 
velt,  Apoth./  1715.     12.  'Iliad  of  Homer j 


Pope 


125 


Pope 


translated   by  Mr.  Pope/  first   four  books, 

1715.  The  next  three  volumes  appeared  in 

1716,  1717,  and  1718,  and  the  last  two  to- 
gether in  1720,  each  containing  four  books. 

13.  '  A  full  and  true  Account  of  a  horrid 
and  barbarous  Revenge  by  Poison   on   the 
Body  of  Mr.  Edmund  Curll,  Bookseller,  with 
a  faithful  copy  of  his  last  Will  and  Testa- 
ment.    Publish'd  by  an  eye-witness/  1716. 

14.  'The  Worms:  a  Satyr   by   Mr.  Pope/ 
1716.     15.  '  A  Roman  Catholic  Version  of 
the  First  Psalm,  for  the  use  of  a  young  Lady. 
By  Mr.  Pope/  1716.     (This  and  the  preced- 
ing, attributed  to  Pope  by  Curll  and  others, 
were  not   acknowledged  nor  disavowed  by 
him ;  see  CARRTJTHERS,PP.  153-4,  and  Works, 
vi.  438).     16.  'Epistle  to  Jervas/  prefixed 
to  an  edition  of  Fresnoy's  t  Art  of  Painting/ 
1716.     17.   Pope's  works  in  1717  included 
for  the  first  time  the  '  Elegy  to  the  Memory 
of  an  Unfortunate  Lady/  and  the  '  Eloisa  to 
Abelard/  which  were  published  separately 
in  1720,  with  poems  by  other  authors,  as 
*  Eloisa  to  Abelard,  second  edition.'     The 
works  also  included  the  '  Ode  on  St.  Cecilia's 
Day/  republished,  with  changes,  as  '  Ode  for 
the  Public  Commencement  at  Cambridge  on 
July  6, 1730/  with  music  by  Maurice  Green, 
1730.     18.  '  To  Mr.  Addison  :  occasioned  by 
his  Dialogues  on  Medals/  in  Tickell's  edition 
of  '  Addison's  Works/  1721.      19.  'Poems 
on  Several  Occasions  ...  by  Dr.  Thomas 
Parnell  .  .  .  published  by  Mr.  Pope/  with 
'Epistle  to  the  Earl  of  Oxford/ 1722.  20.  'The 
Dramatic  Works  of  Shakspear  .  .  .  collated 
and  corrected  by  the  former  editions/ 6  vols. 
4to,  ed.  Pope,  1725.     21.  'The  Odyssey  of 
Homer/  vols.  i.,  ii.,  and  iii.  1725,  iv.  and  v. 
1726.     22.  'Miscellanea/  including  ' Fami- 
liar Letters  written  to  Henry  Cromwell,  Esq., 
by  Mr.  Pope/  was  published  by  Curll  in 
1720,  dated  ]  727.     23.  '  Miscellanies/  with 
preface  signed  by  Swift  and  Pope;  vols.  i. 
and  ii.  in  1727;   vol.  iii.,  called  'the   last 
volume/  in  March  1727-8 ;  a  fourth  volume 
was  added  in  1732.     24.  '  The  Dunciad :  an 
heroic  poem,  in  three  books,  Dublin  printed ; 
London  reprinted  for  A.  Dodd/  1728, 12mo. 
Three  more  editions,  with  an  owl  on  the 
frontispiece,  were  printed  in  London  in  1728, 
and  one  with  no  frontispiece  and  with  Pope's 
name  at  Dublin.     '  The  Dunciad  Variorum, 
with  the  prolegomena  of  Scriblerus,  London, 
printed  for  A.  Dod,  1729,'  4to,  was  the  first 
complete  edition.     It  has  a  vignette  of  an 
ass  and  an  owl.     Four  other  octavo  editions 
are  dated  London,  1729,  with  varying  fron- 
tispieces of  the  owl  and  the  ass.     There  is 
another  edition  without  date  (which  cannot 
have  appeared  till  1733),  and  another  dated 
1736,  with   the   ass  frontispiece.     In  1736 


appeared  also  a  different  edition  as  vol.  iv. 
of  Pope's  '  Works.'  The  ass  and  owl  hate 
now  disappeared.  '  The  New  Dunciad :  as 
it  was  found  in  the  year  MDCXLI,  with  the 
Illustrations  of  Scriblerus  and  Notes  Vari- 
orum/ 4to  (i.e.  the  fourth  book  of  '  The  Dun- 
ciad '),  appeared  in  1742 ;  another  edition, 
with  the  same  title,  in  the  same  year.  '  The 
Works  of  Alexander  Pope/  vol.  iii.  pt.  i., 
contains  the  first  three  books,  and  vol.  iii. 
pt.  ii.  the  fourth  book.  The  '  Dunciad  in 
Four  Books,  printed  according  to  the  com- 
plete copy  found  in  the  year  1742  ...  to 
which  are  added  several  Notes  now  first 
published,  the  Hypercritics  of  Aristarchus, 
and  his  Dissertation  on  the  Hero  of  the 
Poem/  1743,  is  the  poem  in  its  final  form 
with  an  '  advertisement '  signed  W.  W[ar- 
burton].  An  edition, '  with  several  additions 
now  first  printed/ appeared  in  1749.  A  full 
account  of  these  editions  was  given  by  Mr. 
Thorns  in  '  Notes  and  Queries/  Nos.  268-70, 
and  is  reprinted  by  Mr.  Courthope  in 
'  Works/  iv.  299-309.  Mr.  Courthope  adds 
an  account  of  four  other  editions  printed  at 
Dublin  (1728,  two  in  1729,  and  one  without 
a  date).  25.  Wycherley's  '  Works/  vol.  ii., 
with  Pope's '  Letters/  1729,  has  disappeared 
(see  above).  27.  '  Of  Taste:  an  Epistle  to 
the  Rt.  Honble.  Richard,  Earl  of  Burlington, 
occasioned  by  his  publishing  "  Palladio's 
Designs,"  etc./  1731 ;  afterwards  called  '  Of 
False  Taste/  and  finally  'Of  the  Use  of 
Riches '  (fourth  moral  essay).  27.  '  Of  the 
Use  of  Riches  :  an  Epistle  to  the  Rt.  Honble. 
Allen,  Lord  Bathurst/  1732  (third  moral 
essay).  28.  '  An  Essay  on  Man  addressed 
to  a  Friend/  1733,  fol.,  no  date.  Quarto  and 
octavo  editions  were  also  printed.  The  second 
and  third  epistles  appeared  in  1733,  and  the 
fourth  in  January  1734,  in  the  same  forms. 
They  were  all  anonymous.  The  '  Universal 
Prayer '  was  added,  and  also  published  sepa- 
rately, in  1738.  An  edition,  with  an  excel- 
lent commentary  by  Mark  Pattison,  was 
published  at  the  Clarendon  Press  in  1866. 
The  '  Satires  and  Epistles '  were  edited  by 
Pattison  in  the  same  year.  29.  'Of  the 
Knowledge  and  Characters  of  Men :  an 
Epistle  addressed  to  the  Rt.  Honble.  Lord 
Viscount  Cobham/ 1733  (first  moral  essay). 
30.  '  The  First  Satire  of  the  Second  Book  of 
Horace,  imitated  in  a  Dialogue  between 
Alexander  Pope  .  .  .  and  his  learned  coun- 
sel/ 1733.  31.  'The  Second  Satire  of  the 
Second  Book  of  Horace/  1734.  32.  '  Epistle 
from  Mr.  Pope  to  Dr.  Arbuthnot/  1735. 
33.  '  Sober  Advice  from  Horace  to  the 
Young  Gentlemen  about  Town  :  as  delivered 
in  his  second  sermon ;  imitated  in  the  man- 
ner of  A.  Pope'  (n.d.),  1734;  (included  also 


Pope 


126 


Pope 


in  1738  edition  of  '  Works/  but  afterwards 
withdrawn).      34.    'On   the   Characters  of 
Women :  an  Epistle  to  a  Lady,'  1735  (second 
moral  essay).     35.  Second  volume  of  Pope's 
*  Works/  adding  those  published  since  1717 
and  including  for  the  first  time  the  '  Satires 
of  Dr.  Donne  versified  by  the  same  hand," 
1735.     36.  '  Letters  of  Mr.  Pope  and  several 
Eminent  Persons/  2  vols.  8vo  (always  put 
up  together).     This  is  the  original  '  P.  T. 
edition  (see  above),  and  occurs  in  several 
forms,  due  to  Pope's  manipulations  of  the 
printing,   and   his   use   of    the    Wycherley 
volume  (see  No.  25).     It  was  also  printed  in 
12mo,  with  the '  Narrative  of  the  Method  by 
which  Mr.  Pope's  Letters  were  procured. 
Cur  11  reprinted  this  as  '  Mr.  Pope's  Literary 
Correspondence  for  Thirty  Years/ 1735 ;  there 
are  two  octavo  editions  and  a  12mo  edition. 
C  urll  published  four  more  volumes  called '  Mr. 
Pope's  Literary  Correspondence/ which  really 
contained  no  letters  of  Pope's,  but  gave  op- 
portunities for  annoying  him.    See  *  Works/ 
vol.  vi.  pp.  xlix-lviii  for  a  full  account.  Two 
other  editions  are  mentioned  by  Pope  in  his 
'  Catalogue  of  Surreptitious  Editions'  in  1737. 
Cooper  published  another  in  June  1735,  with 
Pope's  connivance,  which  is  not  mentioned  in 
the '  Catalogue.'  The  first  avowed  edition  ap- 
peared on  18  May  1737  in  folio  and  quarto, 
and  afterwards  octavo ;    and  the  fifth   and 
sixth  volumes  of  the  octavo  edition  of  Pope's 
'Works/  containing  the  'Correspondence/ 
was  printed  at  the  same  time.      37.  '  The 
First  Epistle  of  the  First  Book  of  Horace, 
imitated  by  Mr.  Pope/  the  sixth  epistle  of 
the  first  book,  the  first  epistle  of  the  second 
book,  the  second  epistle  of  the  second  book, 
and  the  ode  to  Venus,  appeared  separately 
in  1737.  38.  'The  Sixth  Satire  of  the  Second 
Book  of  Horace,  the  first  part  ...  by  Dr. 
Swift.     The  latter  part .  .  .  now  added  [by 
Pope]/  1738,  fol.    39.  '  One  Thousand  Seven 
Hundred  and  Thirty-Eight ;  a  dialogue  some- 
thing   like   Horace/   and   '  One   Thousand 
Seven  Hundred  and  Thirty-Eight,  Dialogue 
II,'  1738  ;  afterwards  called  '  Epilogue  to 
the  Satires.'  40.  '  Selecta  Poemata  Italorum 
qui  Latine  scripserunt,  cura  cujusdam  ano- 
nymi  anno  1684  congesta,  iterum  in  lucem 
data,  una  cum  aliorum  Italorum  operibus, 
accurante  A.  Pope/ 2  vols.  1740.  41.  'Works 
in  Prose/  vol.  ii.,  containing  the  Swift  cor- 
respondence (with  the   'Memoirs  of  Scri- 
blerus'),  1741. 

A  '  Supplement '  to  Pope's  '  Works  '  was 
published  in  1757,  and  '  Additions '  in  1776. 
These  include  the  '  Three  Hours  after  Mar- 
riage/ attributed  to  Pope,  Gay,  and  Arbuth- 
not,  and  the  poems  suppressed  on  account  of 
indecency.  A  '  Supplemental  Volume/  pub- 


lished in  1825,  is  chiefly  composed  of  trifling 
letters  from  the  Homer  MSS.  in  the  British 
j  Museum.  The  first  collective  edition  of 
Pope's  '  Works/  '  with  his  last  corrections, 
additions,  and  improvements,  as  they  were 
delivered  to  the  editor  a  little  before  his 
death ;  together  with  the  commentaries  and 
notes  of  Mr.  Warburton/  appeared  in  nine 
vols.  8vo,  in  1751.  It  was  several  times  re- 
printed, and  in  1769  published  in  five  vols. 
4to,  with  a  life  by  Owen  Ruff  head.  In  1794 
appeared  the  first  volume  (all  published)  of 
an  edition  by  Gilbert  Wakefield.  The  edi- 
tion (9  vols.8vo)  by  Joseph  Warton  appeared 
in  1797  (republished  in  1822);  that  by 
William  Lisle  Bowles  (10  vols.  8vo)  in 
1806 ;  that  by  William  Roscoe,  said  to  be 
'the  worst'  by  Croker  and  Mr.  El  win  (  Works, 
I.  xxiv)  (10  vols.  8vo),  in  1824.  The  stand- 
ard edition  is  the  edition,  in  10  vols.  8vo, 
published  by  Mr.  Murray  (1871-89);  the 
first  four  volumes  contain  the  poetry,  except 
the  translation  of  the '  Iliad  '  and  '  Odyssey/ 
the  fifth  the  life,  and  the  last  five  the  cor- 
respondence and  prose  works.  The  first  two 
volumes  of  poetry  and  the  first  three  of 
correspondence  were  edited  by  the  Rev. 
Whitwell  Elwin,  the  remainder  by  Mr.  W.  J. 
Courthope,  who  also  wrote  the  life. 

A  '  Concordance  '  to  the  works  of  Pope  by 
Edwin  Abbott  [q.v.],  with  an  introduction  by 
the  Rev.  E.  A.  Abbott,  D.D.,  appeared  in  1875. 
[Some  catchpenny  anonymous  lives  of  Pope 
appeared  directly  upon  his  death.  That  by 
William  Ayre  (2  vols.  8vo,  1745)  is  also  worth- 
less. The  life  by  Owen  Kuffhead,  published  in 
1769,  with  help  from  Warburton,  is  of  very  little 
value,  except  as  incorporating  a  few  scraps  of 
Warburton's  information.  Johnson's  Life  (1781) 
is  admirable,  but  requires  to  be  modified  by  the 
later  investigations.  Johnson  saw  Spence's 
Anecdotes  in  manuscript.  The  Anecdotes,  first 
published  by  Singer  in  1820,  give  Pope's  own 
account  of  vari/ous  transactions,  and  are  of  great 
importance.  John  Warton's  Essay  on  Pope,  of 
which  the  first  volume  was  published  in  1752, 
and  the  second  in  1782,  gives  various  anecdotes, 
also  contained  in  the  notes  to  his  edition  of  the 
Works.  Some  points  were  discussed  in  the  con- 
troversy raised  by  Bowles's  Life  prefixed  to  his 
edition.  An  attack  by  Campbell  in  his  Speci- 
mens of  British  Poets  (1819)  led  to  a  contro- 
versy in  which  Hazlitt,  Byron,  and  Bowles  him- 
self took  part.  A  very  good  life  is  that  by 
Robert  Carruthers  [q.v.],  prefixed  to  an  edition 
of  the  Works  in  1853  (again  in  1858),  and  pub- 
ished  separately  in  1857.  It  contains  an  inte- 
resting account  of  the  Mapleclurham  MSS.  and 
a  statement  of  the  earlier  results  of  Di Ike's  in- 
quiries. Pope's  life,  however,  has  been  in  great 
)art  reconstructed  by  more  recent  researches. 
VTr.  Croker  had  made  large  collections,  which 
were  after  his  death  placed  in  the  hands  of  Mr. 


Pope 


127 


Pope 


El  win.  The  researches  of  Mr.  CharlesWentworth 
Dilke  [q.  v.]  were  first  started  by  the  discovery  of 
the  Caryll  Papers  in  1853.  These  papers  have 
since  been  presented  to  the  British  Museum  by  the 
present  Sir  Charles  W.  Dilke,  Mr.  Dilke's  grand- 
son. Mr.  Dilke  published  his  results  in  the  Athe- 
naeum and  Notes  and  Queries  ;  and  they  are  re- 
printed in  the  first  volume  of  his  Papers  of  aCritic 
(1875).  Mr.  Dilke  also  gave  great  help  to  Mr. 
Elwin  (see'  Works,' vol.  i.  p.  cxlvi)  in  collecting 
letters  and  explaining  difficulties.  The  results  of 
the  labours  of  Croker,  Dilke,  Mr.  Elwin,  and  Mr. 
Courthope  are  given  in  the  notes,  introductions, 
and  essays  in  the  edition  above  noticed.  The 
papers  formerly  in  Lord  Oxford's  library  are 
now  at  Longleat.  and  were  placed  at  Mr.  Elwin's 
disposal  by  the  Marquis  of  Bath.  The  corre- 
spondence of  Lord  Orrery  with  Pope,  communi- 
cated to  Mr.  Elwin  by  the  Earl  of  Cork,  and 
first  published  in  the  eighth  volume  of  the 
Works,  also  throws  much  light  upon  Pope's  trans- 
actions. The  British  Museum  has  a  collection  of 
the  original  manuscripts  of  Pope's  translations  of 
Homer,  presented  by  David  Mallet  [q.  v.]  Much 
of  it  is  written  upon  the  backs  of  letters,  most 
of  which  have  been  printed  in  the  '  Supplemental 
Volume '  of  1726,  and  in  later  editions  of  the  cor- 
respondence.] L.  S. 

POPE    or    PAIP,  ALEXANDER  (d. 

1782),  minister  of  the  church  of  Scotland, 
was  the  son  of  Hector  Paip  of  Loth,  Suther- 
landshire.  He  was  educated  at  the  univer- 
sity and  King's  College,  Aberdeen,  where  he 
graduated  MA.  15  April  1725..  A  contribu- 
tion was  recommended  to  be  made  for  him  by 
the  synod  in  1720,  to  enable  him  to  prosecute 
his  studies  with,  the  purpose  of  entering  the 
ministry  of  the  national  church.  On  28  July 
1730  he  was  elected  session  clerk  and  precen- 
tor of  Dornoch,  where  probably  he  was  also  a 
schoolmaster.  He  is  said  to  have  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1732  ridden  on  his  pony  from  Caithness 
to  Twickenham  to  visit  his  namesake  the 
poet  Pope,  who  presented  him  with  a  copy 
of  the  subscribers'  edition  of  his  '  Odyssey/ 
in  five  volumes,  and  a  handsome  snuff-box. 
If  the  date  of  a  letter  of  the  poet's  to  him, 
28  April  1728  (POPE,  Works,  ed.  Elwin  and 
Courthope),  be  correct,  the  visit  took  place 
some  time  before  1728,  but  not  improbably 
the  date  should  be  1738.  In  it  the  poet  refers 
to  the  '  accidental  advantage  which  you  say 
my  name  lias  brought  you,' which,  would  seem 
to  indicate  that  there  was  no  blood  relation- 
ship between  them. 

Pope  was  licensed  as  a  preacher  of  the  kirk 
of  Scotland  by  the  presbytery  of  Dornoch, 
19  Feb.  1734,  and  having  been  unanimously 
called  to  the  church  of  Reay,  Caithness-shire, 
was  ordained  there  on  5  Sept.  He  was  re- 
markably successful  in  reforming  the  habits 
of  the  semi-barbarous  population  of  the  parish, 


his  great  bodily  strength  being  an  impor- 
tant factor  in  enabling  him  to  win  their  re- 
spect and  deference.  He  is  said  to  have 
enlisted  some  of  the  worst  characters  as 
elders,  in  order  that  they  might  be  the  better 
induced  to  curb  their  vicious  tendencies; 
and  he  was  accustomed  to  drive  to  church 
with  a  stick  those  of  his  parishioners  whom 
he  found  playing  at  games  on  Sundays. 
He  died  on  2  March  1782.  By  his  first  wife, 
Mary  Sutherland,  he  had  three  sons ;  and 
by  his  second  wife  he  had  also  three  sons,  the 
youngest  of  whom,  James,  became  his  as- 
sistant. He  translated  a  large  part  of  the 
1  Orcades  '  of  Torfseus,  extracts  from  which 
are.  published  in  Cordiner's  '  Antiquities.' 
He  also  wrote-  the  account  of  Strathnaver 
and  Sutherland  in  Pennant's  <  Tour,'  and  a 
description  of  the  Dune  of  Donadilla  in 
vol.  v.  of  'Archaeologia.' 

[New  Statistical  Account  of  Scotland;  Hew 
Scott's  Fasti  Eccles.  Scot.  iii.  367;  Pope's  Works.] 

T.  R  H. 

POPE,  ALEXANDER  (1763-1835), 
actor  and  painter,  was  born  in  Cork  in  1763. 
His  father  and  his  elder  brother,  Somerville 
Stevens  Pope,  were  miniature-painters,  and 
Alexander  was  trained  as  an  artist  under 
Francis  Robert  West  in  the  Dublin  Art 
Schools.  He  practised  for  a  time  at  Cork, 
taking  portraits  in  crayons  at  a  guinea  apiece ; 
but,  after  appearing  at  a  fancy  ball  in  the 
character  of  Norval,  and  subsequently  taking 
part  with  much  applause  at  private  thea- 
tricals, he  adopted  the  stage  as  a  profession. 
He  appeared  at  Cork  as  Oroonoko  with  a 
success  which  led  to  his  engagement  at 
Covent  Garden,  where  he  appeared  in  the 
same  character  on  8  Jan.  1785.  On  the 
19th  he  played  Jaffier  in '  Venice  Preserved,' 
on  4  Feb.  Castalio  in  the  '  Orphan,'  on  the 
28th  Phocyas  in  the  '  Siege  of  Damascus,' 
on  7  March  Edwin  in  l  Matilda,'  on  12  April 
Horatio  in  the  '  Fair  Penitent,'  and  on  the 
23rd  Othello  for  his  benefit.  He  made  an 
eminently  favourable  impression,  and  during 
fifteen  consecutive  years  played  the  principal 
tragic  parts  at  the  same  house.  From  1801 
to  1803,  in  which  year  he  returned  to  Covent 
Garden,  he  was  at  Drury  Lane,  where  he 
reappeared  in  181 2,  remaining  there  until  his 
retirement  from  the  stage.  He  was  in  1824 
at  the  Haymarket,  and  made  occasional  ap- 
pearances in  the  country,  especially  in  Edin- 
burgh, where  he  was  a  favourite.  During 
these  years  he  was  seen  at  one  or  other 
house  in  an  entire  round  of  parts,  chiefly 
tragic.  In  Shakespeare  alone  he  played  An- 
tonio, Banquo,  King  Henry  in  '  Richard  the 
Third/  Bassanio,  lachimo,  Leontes,  Romeo, 


Pope 


128 


Pope 


Hotspur,  Wolsey,  Richmond,  Macduff,  Lear, 
Hamlet,  Ford,  Posthumus,  Tullus  Aufidius, 
Ghost  in  '  Hamlet,'  Henry  VIII,  Polixenes, 
Macbeth,  Proteus,  Antipholus  of  Syracuse, 
Antonio,  lago,  John  of  Gaunt,  King 
Henry  VI,  Hubert,  Friar  Lawrence,  Kent, 
Banished  Duke  in  '  As  you  like  it,'  and 
King  of  France  in  '  King  John.'  A  list  of 
all  the  pieces  in  which  he  was  seen  would 
be  a  simple  nomenclature  of  the  plays  then 
in  fashion.  The  principal  actors  of  the  Gar- 
rick  period  had  with  one  or  two  exceptions 
disappeared,  and,  except  for  the  Kembles, 
Pope  had  at  the  outset  little  formidable 
rivalry  to  encounter.  He  married  in  Dublin, 
in  August  1785,  Elizabeth  Younge  [see  POPE, 
ELIZABETH],  a  lady  much  his  senior. 

The  first  original  character  assigned  Pope 
at  Covent  Garden  seems  to  have  been  St. 
Preux  in  Reynolds's  unprinted  tragedy  of 
1  Eloisa,'  23  Dec.  1786 ;  the  second  was  lias- 
well  in  Mrs.  Inchbald's  '  Such  Things  are/ 
10  Feb.  1787.  At  this  period  Pope  wras 
assigned  a  wider  range  of  parts  than  was 
afterwards  allotted  him,  and  played  Be- 
verley  in  the  'Gamester,'  Lord  Morelove 
in  the  l  Careless  Husband,'  Lord  Hardy  in 
the  '  Funeral,'  Lord  Townly  in  the  '  Pro- 
voked Husband,'  Young  Belmont  in  the 
'  Foundling,'  Young  Bevil  in  the  '  Conscious 
Lovers,'  and  Young  Mirabel  in  the  '  Incon- 
stant.' On  the  first  production  at  Covent 
Garden  of  '  A  King  and  no  King,'  on 
14  Jan.  1788,  he  played  a  part,  presumably 
Arbaces.  On  8  April  he  was  the  original 
Lord  Ormond  in  '  Ton,  or  the  Follies  of 
Fashion,'  by  Lady  Wallace,  and  on  8  May 
1789  Frederic  Wayward  in  Cumberland's 
'  School  for  Widows.'  Pope's  salary  at  the 
outset  had  risen  from  8/.  to  10/.  a  week,  his 
wife's  being  twenty.  At  the  end  of  1789, 
on  a  question  of  terms,  he  left  Covent  Gar- 
den, to  which  he  returned  after  an  absence 
of  three  years.  He  played  for  the  first  time 
in  Edinburgh  on  15  June  1786,  as  Othello 
to  the  Desdemona  of  his  wife.  During 
Pope's  absence  Mrs.  Pope  remained  at  Covent 
Garden.  Pope  reappeared  as  Lord  Townly 
on  21  Sept.  1792  ;  on  1  Dec.  he  was  the  first 
Columbus  in  Morton's  '  Columbus,  or  a 
World  Discovered;'  on  29  Jan.  1793  the 
original  Irwin  in  Mrs.  Inchbald's  '  Every  one 
has  his  Fault ; '  and  on  18  April  Warford 
in  Reynolds's '  How  to  grow  Rich.'  For  his 
benefit,  on  2  May,  he  made  the  singular  selec- 
tion of  Falkland  in  the  '  Rivals.'  In  1793-4 
Pope  confined  himself  principally  to  serious 
parts,  making  his  first  essay  in  '  Hamlet ' 
and  *  Lear,'  and  playing  the  original  Sir 
Alexander  Seaton  in  Jerningham's  dull  tra- 
gedy, the  'Siege  of  Berwick,'  13  Nov.  1793; 


Lamotte  in  Boaden's  '  Fontainville  Forest J 
on  25  March  1794,  and  St.  Pol  in  Pye's 
'Siege  of  Meaux'  on  19  May.  In  the 
'  Mysteries  of  the  Castle '  of  Miles  Peter 
Andrews,  31  Jan.  1795,  he  was  Carlos ; 
in  George  Watson's  'England  Preserved/ 
21  Feb.,  the  Earl  of  Pembroke ;  in  Pearce's 
'Windsor  Castle,'  6  April,  the  Prince  of 
Wales ;  and  in  Holcroft's  '  Deserted  Daugh- 
ter,' 2  May,  Mordant.  In  the  last-named 
piece  Pope  incurred  some  obloquy  for  break- 
ing through  tradition,  and  playing  a  part 
with  four  days'  study  instead  of  the  four 
weeks  then  customary  at  the  house.  In  Lent 
Pope,  with  John  Fawcett  (1768-1837)  [q.v.], 
Charles  Incledon  [q.  v.],  and  Joseph  George 
Holman  [q.  v.],  gave  readings,  accompanied 
with  music,  at  the  Freemasons'  Hall.  In 
Cumberland's  '  Days  of  Yore,'  13  Jan.  1796, 
he  created  the  part  of  Voltimar,  and  ten 
days  later  gave  that  of  Captain  Faulkner  in 
Morton's  'Way  to  get  Married.'  For  his- 
benefit  he  played  Sir  Giles  Overreach.  On 
10  Jan.  1797  he  was  the  first  Charles  in 
Morton's  'Cure  for  the  Heart  Ache,'  and 
4  March  Sir  George  Evelyn  in  Mrs.  Inch- 
bald's  '  Wives  as  they  were  and  Maids  as 
they  are.' 

In  March  1797  died  Pope's  first  wife,  Eliza- 
beth, and  on  24  Jan.  1798  he  married  his 
second  wife,  Maria  Ann  [q.  v.],  at  St.  George's, 
Hanover  Square.  In  the  meantime,  continu- 
ing at  Covent  Garden,  he  was,  on  1 1  Jan.  1798, 
the  first  Greville  in  Morton's  '  Secrets  worth 
Knowing ; '  in '  He's  much  to  blame,'  variously 
assigned  to  Fenwick  and  Holcroft,  he  was, 
13  Feb.,  Delaval.  He  acted  Joseph  Surface, 
and  on  30  May  1798  was  cast  for  Hortensio 
in '  Disinterested  Love,'  altered  by  Hull  from 
Massinger's '  Bashful  Lover.'  Owing  to  Pope's 
illness,  his  part  was  read  by  Henry  Erskine 
Johnston  [q.  v.]  On  11  Oct.  1798  Pope  was 
the  first  Frederick  in  'Lovers'  Vows,'  adapted 
by  Mrs.  Inchbald ;  on  12  Jan.  1799  Leonard  in 
Hoi  man's  '  Votary  of  Wealth,'  on  16  March 
Frederick  in  T.  Dibdin's  '  Five  Thousand  a 
Year,'  and,  12  April,  for  his  benefit,  Henry 
in  the  '  Count  of  Burgundy,'  translated  from 
Kotzebue  by  Miss  Plumptre,  and  adapted  for 
the  English  stage  by  Pope  himself.  In  Cum- 
berland's adaptation  from  Kotzebue, '  A  Ro- 
mance of  the  Fourteenth  Century,'  16  Jan. 
1800,  Pope  was  Albert,  and  in  Morton's- 
'  Speed  the  Plough,'  8  Feb.,  Sir  Philip  Bland- 
ford.  During  this  season  Pope  was  one  of 
the  eight  actors  who  published  the  statement 
of  their  case  against  the  management  [see- 
HOLMAN,  JOSEPH  GEOKGE].  Pope  continued 
at  Covent  Garden  during  the  following  season, 
in  which  he  played  for  the  first  time  Has- 
tings in  '  Jane  Shore,'  and  one  or  two  other 


Pope 


129 


Pope 


parts,  but  was  little  seen  ;  and  the  following 
season  transferred  his  services  to  Drury 
Lane,  appearing  on  25  Jan.  1802  as  Othello. 
He  was,  2  March,  the  first  Major  Man- 
ford  in  Cumberland's  '  Lovers'  Resolutions.' 
In  Dimond's  '  Hero  of  the  North,'  19  Feb. 
1803,  he  was  the  original  Gustavus  Vasa, 
and  in  Allingham's  '  Marriage  Promise ' 
George  Howard.  He  also  played  the  Stran- 
ger for  the  first  time.  In  Allingham's 
' Hearts  of  Oak,'  19  Nov.  1803,  he  was  the  first 
Borland ;  in  Cherry's  '  Soldier's  Daughter,' 
7  Feb.  1804,  Malfort,  jun. ;  in  Cumberland's 
'  Sailor's  Daughter,'  7  April,  Captain  Senta- 
mour.  On  18  June  1803  the  second  Mrs.  Pope 
had  died ;  in  1804  his  son,  a  midshipman,  also 
died.  At  the  close  of  the  season  Pope  was 
dismissed  by  the  Drury  Lane  management, 
which  had  secured  Master  Betty  [see  BETTY, 
WILLIAM  HENRY  WEST].  He  had  played 
very  little  of  late,  and  expressed  his  inten- 
tion of  retiring  and  devoting  himself  to 
painting.  On  3  Feb.  1806,  however,  he  re- 
appeared at  Co  vent  Garden  as  Othello;  in 
Cumberland's  '  Hint  to  Husbands,'  8  March 
1806,  he  was  the  original  Heartright ;  and 
in  Manners's  *  Edgar,  or  Caledonian  Feuds,' 
9  May,  the  Barno  of  Glendore.  In  Cherry's 
'  Peter  the  Great,'  8  May  1807,  he  was  Count 
Menzikoff. 

Pope  married,  on  25  June  1807,  his  third 
wife,  the  widow  of  Francis  Wheatley,  R.A. 
[q.  v.]  [see  POPE,  CLARA  MARIA].  After 
visiting  Ireland,  being  robbed  in  Cork,  and 
narrowly  escaping  shipwreck,  he  was,  at 
Covent  Garden,  the  original  Count  Valde- 
stein  in  C.  Kemble's  'Wanderer,'  12  Jan. 
1808.  After  the  burning  of  Covent  Garden 
he  played,  at  the  Haymarket  Opera  House, 
the  original  Count  Ulric  in  Reynolds's 
'  Exile/  1 0  Nov.  1808.  At  the  smaller  house 
in  the  Haymarket,  to  which  the  company 
migrated,  he  played  Pierre  in  *  Venice  Pre- 
served.' Dismissed  from  Covent  Garden,  he 
was  for  three  years  unheard  of  in  London, 
but  played  at  times  in  Edinburgh.  He  re- 
turned to  the  new  house  at  Drury  Lane, 
28  Nov.  1812,  as  Lord  Townly;  and  was, 
23  Jan.  1813,  the  original  Marquis  Valdez 
in  Coleridge's l  Remorse.'  On  11  April  1811 
he  had  had,  at  the  Opera  House,  a  benefit, 
which  produced  him  over  700/.,  Mrs.  Siddons 
playing  for  the  first  time  Margaret  of  Anjou 
in  the  '  Earl  of  Warwick.'  On  6  Jan.  1814 
he  was  Colonel  Samoyloii  in  Brown's  (  Na- 
rensky.'  In  Henry  Siddons's  *  Policy '  he  was, 
15  Oct.,  Sir  Harry  Dorville ;  in  Mrs.  Wil- 
mot's  '  Ina/  22  April  1815,  he  was  Cenulph, 
Kean  being  Egbert ;  and  in  T.  Dibdin's 
'  Charles  the  Bold,'  15  June,  he  was  the 
Governor  of  Nantz;  on  12  Sept.  he  was 

VOL.  XLVI. 


Evrard  (an  old  man)  in  T.  Dibdin's  '  Mag- 
pie,' and  on  9  May  1816  St.  Aldobrand  in 
Maturin's  *  Bertram.'  In  'Richard,  Duke 
of  York,'  compiled  from  the  three  parts  of 
'King  Henry  VI,'  he  was,  22  Dec.  1817, 
Cardinal  Beaufort.  In  the  '  Bride  of  Aby- 
dos,'  taken  by  Dimond  from  Byron,  he 
played,  5  Feb.  1818,  Mirza ;  and  in  an  altera- 
tion of  Marlowe's  '  Jew  of  Malta,'  24  April, 
was  Farneze.  The  following  season  his 
name  does  not  appear.  On  11  Oct.  1819, 
as  Strictland  in  the  '  Suspicious  Husband,' 
he  made  what  was  called  his  '  first  appear- 
ance for  two  years.'  He  was  Prior  Aymer, 
2  March  1820,  in  Soanes's  '  Hebrew/  a  ver- 
sion of  '  Ivanhoe.'  During  the  season  he 
played  Minutius  to  Kean's  Virginius  in  an 
unprinted  drama  entitled  '  Virginius.'  His 
popularity  and  his  powers  had  diminished ; 
and  he  was  now  assigned  subordinate  parts, 
such  as  Zapazaw,  an  Indian,  in  '  Pocahontas/ 
15  Dec.  1820.  On  18  Nov.  1823  he  was  Drusus 
to  Macready's  Caius  Gracchus  in  Sheridan 
Knowles's  '  Caius  Gracchus/  and  on  5  Jan. 
1824  Lord  Burleigh  in  '  Kenilworth.'  At  the 
Haymarket,  16  July,  he  was  the  first  Bicker- 
ton  in  Poole's adaptation,'  Married  or  Single/ 
on  24  Aug.  1825  Ralph  Appleton  in  Lunn's 
1  Roses  and  Thorns/  and  13  Sept.  Witherton 
in  'Paul  Pry.'  At  Drury  Lane,  28  Jan. 
1826,  he  was  the  first  Toscar  in  Macfarren's 
'  Malvina.'  On  21  May  1827  he  was  the 
original  Clotaire  in  Grattan's  '  Ben  Nazir 
the  Saracen.'  This  is  the  last  time  his  name 
is  traced.  He  was  not  engaged  after  the 
season.  In  1828  he  applied  for  a  pension 
from  the  Covent  Garden  Fund,  to  which  he 
had  contributed  forty-four  years.  He  ob- 
tained a  grant  of  80/.  a  year,  afterwards 
raised  to  100/.  On  Thursday,  22  March  1835, 
he  died  at  his  house  in  Store  Street,  Bed- 
ford Square.  He  was  during  very  many 
years  a  mainstay  of  one  or  other  of  the 
patent  theatres,  and  was  in  his  best  days 
credited  with  more  pathos  than  any  Eng- 
lish actor  of  his  time.  His  Othello  and 
Henry  VIII  were  held  in  his  day  unrivalled. 
His  person  Avas  strong  and  well  formed,  and 
he  had  much  harmony  of  feature,  but  was, 
in  spite  of  his  pathos,  deficient  in  expres- 
sion. Leigh  Hunt  says  that  he  had  not  one 
requisite  of  an  actor  except  a  good  voice. 
He  possessed  a  mellow  voice  and  a  grace- 
ful and  easy  deportment.  Towards  the  close 
of  his  career  he  had  sensibly  declined  in 
power. 

Throughout  his  life  Pope  practised  minia- 
ture painting,  and  between  1787  and  1821 
he  exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy  fifty-nine 
miniatures.  A  portrait  by  him  of  Michael 
Bryan  [q.  v.],  the  author  of  th?  '  Dictionary 


Pope 


130 


Pope 


of  Painters  and  Engravers/  was  engraved  as 
a  frontispiece  to  the  original  quarto  edition 
of  that  work,  and  many  other  portraits  Iry 
him  have  been  engraved,  including  those  o: 
Henry  Grattan,  John  Boydell,  Henry  Tres- 
ham,  Lewis  the  actor,  and  Mrs.  Crouch.  He 
engraved  a  mezzotint  plate  from  a  picture  by 
himself,  entitled  '  Look  before  you  leap/ 

Pope  was  a  confirmed  gourmand,  and  spent 
in  good  living,  and,  it  is  said,  in  bribing  his 
critics,  the  handsome  property  he  obtained 
with  his  wives.  So  early  as  1811  he  had 
fallen  into  straits,  from  which,  in  spite  of 
the  assistance  of  his  brother  actors — notably 
Edmund  Kean— he  never  recovered.  Kean, 
asking  Pope  to  join  him  in  Dublin,  and 
promising  him  a  great  benefit,  received  the 
answer, '  I  must  be  at  Plymouth  at  the  time ; 
it  is  exactly  the  season  for  mullet.'  He  offended 
people  of  distinction  and  influence  by  his  pre- 
tensions, refusing  to  sit  with  Catalani  because 
she  cut  a  fricandeau  with  a  knife  ;  and  order- 
ing expensive  luxuries,  for  which  he  did  not 
pay,  to  be  sent  in  to  houses  to  which  he  was 
bidden.  Many  of  these  stories  are  probably 
coloured,  if  not  apocryphal ;  but  there  is 
abundant  proof  of  his  gluttonish  propensities. 
Portraits  of  Pope  by  Sharpe  as  Henry  VIII, 
by  Dupont  as  Hamlet,  and  by  Stewart,  are 
in  the  Mathews  collection  of  pictures  in  the 
Garrick  Club.  Another,  engraved  by  Clamp, 
after  Kichardson,  is  given  in  Harding's 
'  Shakespeare/  1793. 

[Manager's  Notebook ;  Genest's  Account  of 
the  English  Stage;  Biographia  Dramatica; 
Gilliland's  Dramatic  Mirror ;  Clark  Eussell's 
Representative  Actors;  Dramatic  Essays  by 
Leigh  Hunt,  ed.  Archer  and  Lowe ;  Redgrave's 
Diet,  of  Artists;  Pasquin's  Artists  of  Ireland, 

L30;  Gent,  Mag.   1835,  i.  666;  Registers  of 
rriages,    St.    George's,    Hanover   Square,   ii. 
176,  369;  and  information  kindly  supplied  by 
F.  M.  O'Donoghue,  esq.]  J.  K. 

POPE,    CLARA    MARIA    (d.    1838), 

painter,  and  third  wife  of  the  actor,  Alexan- 
der Pope  [q.  v.],  was  a  daughter  of  Jared 
Leigh  [q.  v.],  an  amateur  artist,  and  married 
at  an  early  age  Francis  Wheatley  [q.  v.],  the 
painter,  whom  she  served  as  model  for  all 
his  prettiest  fancy  figures.  In  1801  she  was 
left  a  widow  with  a  family  of  daughters  ;  and 
on  25  June  1807  married,  as  his  third  wife, 
Alexander  Pope  [q.v.],  the  actor  and  artist. 
In  1796,  while  Mrs.  Wheatley,  she  com- 
menced exhibiting  at  the  Royal  Academy, 
her  first  contributions  being  miniatures; 
later  she  sent  rustic  subjects  with  figures  of 
children,  such  as  *  Little  Red  Riding-hood/ 
'  Goody  Two-shoes/  and  '  Children  going  to 
Market.'  In  1812  Mrs.  Pope  exhibited  a 
whole-length  drawing  of  Madame  Catalani, 


of  which  she  published  an  excellent  en- 
graving by  A.  Cardon.  During  the  latter 
part  of  her  life  she  enjoyed  a  great  reputation 
for  her  groups  of  flowers,  of  which  she  was 
an  annual  exhibitor  from  1816  until  her 
death.  She  died  at  her  residence,  29  Store 
Street,  London,  on  24  Dec.  1838.  Two  por- 
traits of  Mrs.  Pope,  painted  by  her  first 
husband,  were  engraved  by  Stanier  and 
Bartolozzi. 

[Redgrave's  Diet,  of  Artists;  Graves's  Diet, 
of  Artists,  1760-1880;  Dramatic  Mag.  January 
1830  ;  Royal  Academy  Catalogues  ;  Gent.  Mag. 
1839,  pt.  i.  p.  217.]  '  F.  M.  O'D. 


POPE,  MRS.  ELIZABETH  (1744P-1797), 
actress,  and  first  wife  of  Alexander  Pope 
[q.  v.]  the  actor,  was  born  about  1744  near 
Old  Gravel  Lane,  Southwark.  Her  parents 
are  said  to  have  been  named  Younge.  In 
girlhood  she  was  apprenticed  to  a  milliner. 
Furnished  with  a  letter  of  introduction, 
she  went  to  Garrick,  who,  pleased  with  her 
abilities,  put  her  forward.  As '  Miss  Younge 
she  made  accordingly,  at  Drury  Lane  on 
22  Oct.  1768,  her  first  appearance  upon  any 
stage,  in  the  part  of  Imogen.  She  won  im- 
mediate recognition,  and,  the  death  of  Mrs. 
Hannah  Pritchard  [q.v.]  furnishing  an  open- 
ing for  her,  was  assigned  many  leading  cha- 
racters. In  her  first  season  she  played  Jane 
Shore  and  Perdita,  and  was,  on  17  Dec.,  the 
original  Ovisa,  the  heroine  of  Dow's  tragedy 
of  '  Zingis.'  The  following  season  Garrick 
kept  her  closely  occupied,  exhibiting  her  as 
Juliet,  Margaret  (presumably)  in  '  A  New 
Way  to  Pay  Old  Debts/  Almeria  in  the 
'  Mourning  Bride/  Selima  in  '  Tamerlane/ 
Maria  1  in  the  'London  Merchant/  Lady 
Anne  in  '  Richard  HI/  Alcmena  in  '  Am- 
phitryon/ Angelica  in  '  Love  for  Love/  Lady 
Dainty  in  the  '  Double  Gallant/  Lady  Easy 
in  the  '  Careless  Husband/  Mrs.  Clerimont 
in  the  '  Tender  Husband/  Leonora  in  the 
Double  Falsehood/  Lady  Chariot  in  the 
Funeral/  Calista  in  the  'Fair  Penitent/ 
Miranda  in  the  '  Tempest/  Mrs.  Kiteley  in 
'  Every  Man  in  his  Humour/  and  Lady 
Fanciful  in  the  '  Provoked  Wife.'  She  was 
also,  on  3  March  1770,  the  original  Miss 
Dormer  in  Kelly's  '  Word  to  the  Wise.' 
Slot  a  few  of  these  parts  were  in  high  comedy. 
She  also  recited  '  Bucks,  have  at  you  all/ 
altered  for  her  by  the  author.  In  the  sum- 
mer of  1769  she  played  under  Love  at  Rich- 
mond. On  a  question  of  terms,  Garrick 
>arted  with  her.  Engaged  by  Dawson  for 
;he  Crow  Street  Theatre,  then  rechristened 
he  Capel  Street  Theatre,  she  went  to  Dublin, 
where  she  made  her  appearance  as  Jane 
Shore  early  in  1771.  She  played  with  con- 


Pope 


Pope 


spicuous  success  many  characters  in  tragedy 
and  comedy,  added  to  her  repertory  Char- 
lotte Rusport  in  the  '  West  Indian '  and 
Fatima  in  '  Cymon,'  and  was  the  original 
Lady  Rodolpha  in  Macklin's  '  True-born 
Scotchman/  subsequently  converted  into  the 

I  Man  of  the  World.'    Returning  to  Garrick, 
one  of  whose  chief  supports  and  torments 
she  was  destined  to  become,  she  reappeared 
at  Drury  Lane  as  Imogen  on  26  Sept.  1771. 
Here,  with  occasional  trips  to  the  country, 
she  remained  eight  years,  playing  an  almost 
exhaustive  round  of  parts.    She  did  not  leave 
Drury  Lane  until  after  Garrick's  retirement. 
In  a  list  of  her  characters  appear  Monimia  in 
the  '  Orphan,'  Zara  in  the  *  Mourning  Bride,' 
Aspasia,  Rosalind,  Desdemona,  Cleopatra  in 
'  All  for  Love,'  Merope,  Lady  Macbeth,  Cor- 
delia, Portia,  Fidelia  in  the  '  Plain  Dealer,' 
Roxana,  Lady  Brute,  Lady  Plyant,  Mrs.  Sul- 
len, Bellario  in  '  Philaster,'  Hermione  in  the 
*  Distressed  Mother,' Mrs.  Oakley,  Lydia  Lan- 
guish, and  innumerable  others.    Her  original 
characters  during  this  period  include  Lady 
Margaret  Sinclair  in  O'Brien's  comedy  '  The 
Duel,'  8  Dec.  1772 ;  Emily  (the  Maid  of  Kent) 
in  Waldron's  '  Maid  of  Kent,'  17  May  1773 ; 
Mrs.  Belville  in  Kelly's  '  School  for  Wives,' 

II  Dec.   1773;   Matilda  in   Dr.   Franklin's 
'  Matilda,'  21  Jan.  1775  ;  Bella  in  Mrs.  Cow- 
ley's  '  Runaway,'  15  Feb.  1776  ;  Margaret  in 
Jerningham's  '  Margaret  of  Anjou,'  11  March 
1777 ;  Matilda  in  Cumberland's  '  Battle  of 
Hastings,'  24  Jan.  1778;  Miss  Boncour  in 
Fielding's    '  Fathers,    or  the   Good-natured 
Man,'  30  Nov.  1778 ;  the  Princess  in  Jeph- 
son's   'Law    of   Lombardy,'  8  Feb.   1779. 
On  16  Oct.  1778  she  played  at  Covent  Gar- 
den,  as   Miss    Younge   from    Drury  Lane, 
Queen  Katharine  in   '  King   Henry   VIII,' 
and  on  6  May  1779,  at  the  same  house,  was 
the  original  Emmelina   in  Hannah  More's 
'  Fatal  Falsehood.'     At  Covent  Garden  she 
remained  during  the  rest  of  her  stage  career. 

The  entire  range  of  tragedy  and  comedy 
remained  open  to  her,  and  very  numerous 
were  the  leading  parts  she  sustained.  In 
an  alteration  of  Massinger's  ( Duke  of  Milan,' 
attributed  to  Cumberland,  she  was,  on  10  Nov. 
1779,  the  first  Marcelia,  and  on  22  Feb.  1780 
the  original  Lsetitia  Hardy  in  Mrs.  Cowley's 
(  Belle's  Stratagem,'  to  the  conspicuous  suc- 
cess of  which  she  largely  contributed.  When 
the  censor  at  last  permitted  the  representation 
of  Macklin's '  Man  of  the  World,'  she  was,  on 
14  April  1781,  Lady  Rudolpha  Lumbercourt. 
Clara  in  Holcroft's  '  Duplicity,'  the  Countess 
in  Jephson's  '  Countess  of  Narbonne/  Lady 
Bell  Bloomer  in  Mrs.  Cowley's  '  Which  is 
the  Man? '  were  the  original  parts  of  1781-2  ; 
Euphemia  (presumably)  in  Bentley's  '  Philo- 


damus'  and  Lady  Davenant  in  Cumberland's 
(  Mysterious  Husband,'  those  of  the  follow- 
ing season;  and  Sophia  in  the  '  Magic  Pic- 
ture,' altered  from  Massinger  by  the  Rev.  H. 
Bates,  and  Miss  Archer  in  Mrs.  Cowley's 
'More  Ways  than  One,'  those  of  1783-4. 
On  14  Dec.  1784  she  was  the  first  Susan  in 
'  Follies  of  a  Day,'  Holcroft's  translation  of 
'  Le  Mariage  de  Figaro '  of  Beaumarchais.  A 
long  succession  of  original  characters  of  little 
interest  follows.  On  5  May  1786,  as  Mrs.  Pope, 
late  Miss  Younge,  she  played  for  her  hus- 
band's benefit  Zenobia.  Her  marriage  with  a 
man  so  much  her  junior  as  Alexander  Pope 
[q.v.]  caused  much  comment,  and  did  not 
contribute  to  her  happiness  (cf.  Theatrical 
Manager's  Notebook).  Zenobia  was  a  solitary 
appearance  during  the  season  in  which,  pre- 
sumably on  account  of  her  marriage,  she 
was  not  engaged.  On  25  Sept.  1786  she  re- 
appeared as  Mrs.  Beverley  in  the  '  Gamester,' 
and  on  25  Oct.  played  for  the  first  time  Lady 
Fanciful  in  the  'Provoked  Wife/  and  on 
15  Nov.  Angelica  (with  a  song)  in  '  Love 
for  Love.'  She  was,  on  18  Nov.,  the  original 
Charlotte  in  Pilon's  '  He  would  be  a  Sol- 
dier.' On  10  Feb.  1787  she  was  the  first 
Female  Prisoner  in  Mrs.  Inchbald's  '  Such 
Things  are.'  On  21  May  she  played  Her- 
mione to  her  husband's  Leontes.  The  fol- 
lowing season  she  was  principally  seen  in 
tragedy,  adding  to  her  repertory  Lady  Ran- 
dolph in  '  Douglas '  and  the  Lady  in  '  Co- 
mus.'  On  3  Dec.  1791  she  was  the  original 
Alexina  in  Mrs.  Cowley's  'A  Day  in  Turkey/ 
In  the  season  she  played  for  the  first  time 
Medea.  In  the  following  season  she  was  the 
original  Cora  in  Morton's  '  Columbus/  Lady 
Eleanor Irwin in  Mrs.  Inchbald's  'Everyone 
has  his  Fault/  and  Lady  Henrietta  in  Rey- 
nolds's'How  to  grow  Rich/ and  on  13  Nov. 
1793  was  the  first  Ethelbertain  Jerningham's 
tragedy, '  The  Siege  of  Berwick.'  It  had  long 
been  the  custom  to  assign  her  the  parts  of 
ladies  of  title  or  fashion.  She  was  accordingly 
assigned  Lady  Fancourt  in  Holcroft's '  Love's 
Frailties/  Lady  Horatia  Horton  (a  sculptor) 
in  Mrs.  Cowley's  '  Town  before  You/  Lady 
Torrendel  in  O'Keeffe's  '  Life's  Vagaries/  and 
Lady  Ann  in  Holcroft's  '  Deserted  Daughter.' 
She  also  played  Adeline  in  Boaden's  '  Fon- 
tainville  Forest/ 25  March  1794  ;  Matilda  in 
Pye's  '  Siege  of  Meaux/  19  May  1794;  Mrs. 
Darnley  in  Reynolds's  '  Rage/  23  Oct.  1794 ; 
Adela  in  Cumberland's  'Days  of  Yore/ 
18  Jan.  1796;  and  Ellen  Vortex  in  Morton's 
'Cure  for  the  Heartache/  10  Jan.  1797. 
This  was  her  last  original  part.  Her  name 
appeared  to  this  character  on  26  Jan.,  being 
her  last  appearance  in  the  bills.  On  the  31st 
Ellen  Vortex  was  played  by  Miss  Mansel. 

K  2 


Pope 


132 


Pope 


Mrs.  Pope  died  on  15  March  following1,  in  Half 
Moon  Street,  Piccadilly,  and  was  buried  on 
the  west  side  of  the  cloisters  of  "Westmin- 
ster Abbey,  near  Spranger  Barry  [q.  v.]  and 
'Kitty'  Olive.  She  had  twenty  guineas  a 
week  from  Covent  Garden,  and  left  behind 
her  to  her  husband — twenty-two  years  her 
junior — over  7,000/.  and  her  house  in  Half 
'Moon  Street. 

Mrs.  Pope  was  not  only  one  of  the  bril- 
liant stars  in  the  constellation  of  which 
Garrick  was  the  centre — she  was  one  of  the 
foremost  of  English  actresses.  She  had  to 
encounter  the  formidable  competition  of 
Mrs.  Siddons  [q.v.]  in  tragedy,  and  Miss 
Farren  in  comedy.  Her  Lady  Macbeth, 
Euphrasia,  Calista,  and  Jane  Shore  were  in- 
ferior to  those  of  Mrs.  Siddons,  who  sur- 
passed her  in  power,  energy,  conception, 
majesty,  and  expressiveness,  and  in  all  tragic 
and  most  pathetic  gifts ;  and  her  Estifania, 
Mrs.  Sullen,  and  Clorinda  were  inferior  to 
those  of  Miss  Farren.  Her  range  was,  how- 
ever, wider  than  that  of  either.  She  was 
invariably  excellent  in  a  remarkable  variety 
of  characters,  and]  was  held  on  account  of 
these  things  not  only  the  most  useful  but 
the  principal  all-round  actress  of  her  day. 
In  comedy  she  was  different  from,  but  not 
in  the  main  inferior  to,  Miss  Farren.  In 
tragedy  she  was  at  times  declamatory,  though 
her  delivery  was  always  audible  and  gene- 
rally judicious.  In  addition  to  ease,  spirit, 
and  vivacity,  she  displayed  in  comic  charac- 
ters close  observation  of  nature ;  her  delivery 
imparted  life  to  indifferent  dialogue,  and  de- 
prived the  dialogue  of  the  Restoration  dra- 
matists of  much  of  its  obscenity.  Her  Portia 
was  greatly  praised,  and  in  the  portrayal  of 
distressed  wives  and  mothers,  as  Lady  Anne 
Mordant,  Mrs.  Euston,  Lady  Eleanor  Irwin, 
&c.,  she  distanced  all  competitors.  Laetitia 
Hardy  was  perhaps  her  most  bewitching  per- 
formance. 

George  III  is  said  to  have  detected  in  the 
actress  a  close  resemblance  to  the  goddess  of 
his  early  idolatry,  Lady  Sarah  Lennox  [see 
under  LENNOX,  CHARLES,  second  DUKE  OF 
RICHMOND].  Her  features  were  soft,  her  eyes 
blue,  and  her  complexion  delicate.  She  was 
commanding  in  stature,  but  pliant.  Her 
voice  was  powerful.  She  was  never  accused 
of  imitation,  and  of  all  Garrick's  pupils  is 
said  to  have  most  nearly  approached  her 
master.  Her  private  life  was  irreproach- 
able, and  her  manners  pleasing.  Garrick 
treated  her  with  respect,  but  without  much 
affection.  Playing  Lear  to  her  Cordelia  on 
8  June  1776,  his  last  appearance  but  one  on 
the  stage,  Garrick  said  with  a  sigh,  after  the 
performance,  *  Ah,  Bess !  this  is  the  last  time 


of  my  being  your  father  ;  you  must  now  look 
out  for  some  one  else  to  adopt  you.'  '  Then, 
sir,'  she  said,  falling  on  her  knees,  '  give  me 
a  father's  blessing.'  Greatly  moved,  Garrick 
raised  her  up  and  said, '  God  bless  you  ! ' 

A  portrait  by  Dupont,  as  Monimia  in 
the  '  Orphan/  is  in  the  Garrick  Club.  A 
print  of  her,  by  Robert  Laurie,  as  Miss 
Young  [sic],  was  published  on  1  March  1780. 
A  portrait  as  Viola  with  Dodd  as  Sir  Andrew,. 
Love  (Dance)  as  Sir  Toby,  and  Waldron  as 
Fabian,  was  painted  by  Francis  Wheatley, 
and  engraved  by  J.  R.  Smith.  Others  are 
mentioned  by  Bromley. 

[Genest's  Account  of  the  English  Stage; 
Monthly  Mirror,  vol.  iii. ;  Theatrical  Manager's 
Notebook  ;  Macaroni  and  Theatrical  Magazine; 
Gilliland's  Dramatic  Mirror ;  Thespian  Dic- 
tionary; Wheatley  and  Cunningham's  London 
Past  and  Present ;  Jesse's  London ;  Knight's 
Garrick;  the  Garrick  Correspondence ;  Chester's 
Westminster  Abbey  Registers,  p.  458;  Smith's 
Mezzotinto  Portraits ;  Dibdin's  Hist,  of  the  Stage ; 
Doran's  Annals  (ed.  Lowe).]  J.  K. 

POPE,  Miss  JANE  (1742-1818),  actress, 
born  in  1742,  was  the  daughter  of  William 
Pope,  who  kept  a  hairdresser's  shop  in  Little 
Russell  Street,  Covent  Garden,  adjoining  the 
Ben  Jonson's  Head,  and  was  barber  in  ordi- 
nary and  wig-maker  to  the  actors  at  Drury 
Lane.  Garrick  on  3  Dec.  1756  brought  out 
at  Drury  Lane  his  one-act  entertainment 
*  Lilliput,'  acted,  as  regarded  all  characters 
except  Gulliver,  by  children.  In  this  Miss- 
Pope,  then  fourteen  years  of  age,  played 
Lalcon,  Gulliver's  housekeeper.  Vanbrugh's- 
'  Confederacy '  was  acted  at  the  same  house 
27  Oct.  1759,  when  as  Corinna  Miss  Pope,  as- 
'a  young  gentlewoman,'  made  her  first  defi- 
nite appearance.  On  31  Dec.  she  was  the 
original  Dolly  Snip  in  Garrick's '  Harlequin's; 
Invasion.'  She  played  admirably  a  part  in 
which  she  was  succeeded  sixty  years  later 
by  Madame  Vestris  (Mrs.  Lucia  Elizabeth 
Mathews  [q.  v.])  She  took  during  the  season 
Miss  Biddy  in  '  Miss  in  her  Teens,'  Miss  Prue 
in  'Love  for  Love,'  Miss  Notable  in  the 
'  Lady's  Last  Stake,'  and  Miss  Jenny  in  the 
'  Provoked  Husband.'  Cherry  in  the  '  Beauxr 
Stratagem '  was  allotted  her  next  season, 
and  she  gained  great  applause  as  the  original 
Polly  Honeycombe  in  Colman's  piece  so- 
named.  Besides  playing  in  1 761-2  Phsedra 
in  l  Amphitryon,'  Sophy  (an  original  part) 
in  Colman's  l  Musical  Lady,'  and  Charlotte 
in  the  '  Apprentice,'  she  appeared,  for  her 
benefit,  as  Beatrice  to  the  Benedick  of 
Garrick  in  '  Much  Ado  about  Nothing.'  A 
full  list  of  the  very  numerous  characters  in 
which  she  was  seen  is  given  by  Genest. 
These  are  all  comic,  and  were  all  given  at 


Pope 


133 


Pope 


Drury  Lane,  to  the  management  of  which 
Tiouse  during  her  long  stage  life  she  re- 
mained faithful.  A  selection  from  these 
characters  will  suffice.  Lucetta  in  the  '  Two 
Gentlemen  of  Verona/  Widow  Belmour  in 
the  '  Way  to  keep  him/  Elvira  in  the 
'  Spanish  Fryar/  Violante  in  the  '  Wonder/ 
Phillis  in  the  '  Conscious  Lovers/  Olivia  in 
the '  Plain  Dealer/  Mrs.  Oakly  in  the  '  Jealous 
Wife/ Patch  in  the 'Busy body/ Lady  Brump- 
ton  in  the  '  Funeral/  Lucy  in  the  '  Guar- 
dian/ Margery  in  '  Love  in  a  Village/  Catha- 
rine in  '  Catharine  and  Petruchio/  Laetitia 
in  the  '  Old  Bachelor/  Mrs.  Page,  Mrs. 
JFrail  in  '  Love  for  Love/  Lucy  Locket  in 
the  '  Beggars'  Opera/  and  Abigail  in  the 
'Drummer/  are  a  few  only  of  the  parts 
in  which,  under  Garrick's  management  or 
supervision,  she  kept  up  the  traditions  of 
the  stage.  Principal  among  her  original 
parts  were  Lady  Flutter  in  Mrs.  Sheridan's 
•*  Discovery/  3  Feb.  1763;  Emily  in  Column's 
1  Deuce  is  in  Him/  4  Nov.  1763 ;  Miss  Ster- 
ling in  the  'Clandestine  Marriage'  of  Col- 
man  and  Garrick/  20  Feb.  1766;  Lucy  in 
the  '  Country  Girl/  altered  by  Garrick  from 
the  '  Country  Wife/  25  Oct.  1766  ;  Molly  in 
Colman's  '  English  Merchant/  21  Feb.  1767. 
In  the  '  Jubilee '  of  Garrick,  14  Oct.  1769, 
she  danced  in  the  pageant  as  Beatrice  (she 
was  an  excellent  dancer)  :  Patty  in  Wal- 
dron's  'Maid  of  Kent/  17  May  1773;  Dorcas 
JZeal,  the  heroine  in  a  revived  version  of 
the  'Fair  Quaker/  9  Nov.  1773;  Lucy  in 
Oumberland's  '  Choleric  Man/  19  Dec.  1774 ; 
and  Lady  Minikin  in  Garrick's  '  Bon  Ton/ 
18  March  1775. 

In  the  season  of  1775-6  she  was,  for  pecu- 
niary reasons,  not  engaged,  this  being  the 
only  season  in  which,  between  her  first  regular 
engagement  and  her  retirement,  she  was 
absent  from  the  boards.  She  went  to  Ire- 
land, made  persistent  advances  to  Garrick, 
and,  at  the  intercession  of  Kitty  Clive,  was 
reinstated.  She  reappeared,  3  Oct.  1776,  as 
Miss  Sterling  in  the  'Fair  Penitent/  and, 
after  playing  Mrs.  Frail  in  '  Love  for  Love  ' 
and  Muslin  in  the  '  Way  to  keep  him/  was, 
8  May  1777,  Mrs.  Candour  in  the  immortal 
first  performance  of  the '  School  for  Scandal.' 
She  had  by  this  time  grown  stout,  and  was 
accordingly  the  subject  of  some  banter.  Her 
success  was,  however,  unquestioned,  and  for 
some  years  subsequently  the  name  of  Mrs. 
Candour  clung  to  her.  She  lived,  it  may  here 
be  recorded,  to  play  the  part  for  her  benefit, 
22  May  1805,  when  she  was  the  only  one 
of  the  original  cast  still  left  on  the  stage. 
Many  important  parts  were  now  assigned  her: 
Ruth  in  the  '  Committee/  Lady  Fanciful  in 
the  '  Provoked  Wife/  and  Lady  Lurewell  in 


the  '  Constant  Couple/  and,  on  29  Oct.  1779, 
she  created  a  second  of  Sheridan's  popular 
characters,  being  the  original  Tilburina  in  the 
'  Critic.'     If  the  original  parts  subsequently 
assigned  her  were    of  little    interest,   the 
fault  was  not  hers.     The  best  among  them, 
if  there  is  any  best  in  the  matter,  are  Phil]  is 
in  the  '  Generous  Impostor/  22  Nov.  1780, 
by  Thomas  Lewis  O'Beirne  [q.  v.],  subse- 
quently bishop  of  Meath ;  Lady  Betty  Worm- 
wood in  'Reparation/  14  Feb.  1784;  Phoebe 
Latimer    in    Cumberland's   '  Natural    Son/ 
22  Dec. ;  Miss  Alscrip  in  Burgoyne's '  Heiress/ 
14  Jan.  1786  ;  Mrs.  Modely  in  Holcroft's '  Se- 
duction/ 12  March  1787  ;  Diary  in  '  Better 
late  than  never/  by  Reynolds  and  Andrews , 
17  Nov.  1790 ;  while,  with  the  Drury  Lane 
company  at  the  Haymarket,  she  was  the  origi- 
nal Mrs.  Larron  in  Richardson's  '  Fugitive/ 
20  April  1792.     Returning  to  Drury  Lane, 
she  made  her  first  reappearance  in  her  great 
part  of  Audrey.    She  was  the  first  Lady  Plin- 
limmon  in  Jerningham's  '  Welch   Heiress/ 
17  April  1795 ;  Lady  Taunton  in  Holcroft's 
'  Man  of  Ten  Thousand/  23  Jan.  1796.   Next 
season  she  was  successful  in  Mrs.  Malaprop, 
of  which  she  was  not  the  original  exponent. 
In  1801-2  she  played  for  the  first  time  the 
Duenna,  and   essayed,  at  the  command   of 
George  III,  what  was  perhaps  her  greatest 
role,   Mrs.  Heidelberg  in  the  '  Clandestine 
Marriage.'      The   king  having  expressed   a 
wish  to  see  it  the  previous  season,  she  had 
studied  the  part  in  the  summer.     A  very 
great  number  of  important  characters  belong 
to   her  entire  career,  the  most   remarkable 
performance  of  her  closing  years  being  Lady 
Lambert    in    the    '  Hypocrite.'      Her    last 
original  part  was  Dowager  Lady  Morelove 
in  Miss  Lee's  '  Assignation/  28  Jan.  1807. 
Upon  her  retirement  she  chose  for  her  benefit 
and  last  appearance,  26  May  1808,  Deborah 
Dowlas,    in    the    '  Heir-at-Law/   a  choice 
that  incurred  some  condemnation.  She  spoke, 
in  the  character  of  Audrey,  a  farewell  ad- 
dress which  was  not  regarded  as  very  happy. 
After  her  retirement  she  quitted  the  house 
in  Great  Queen  Street  where  she  had  long 
resided,    two  doors  from   the  Freemasons' 
Tavern,  and  went  to  Newman  Street.      She 
then  removed  to  25,  and  afterwards  to  17,  St. 
Michael's  Place,  Brompton,  and  died  there 
30  July  1818. 

Miss  Pope's  forte  was  in  soubrettes,  prin- 
cipally of  the  pert  order,  her  greatest  parts 
being  Corinna,  Dolly  Scrap,  Polly  Honey- 
combe,  Olivia  in  the  '  Plain  Dealer/  Phillis, 
Patch,  Mrs.  Doggerell,  Foible,  Flippanta, 
Lappet,  Kitty  in  '  High  Life  below  Stairs/ 
Mrs.  Frail,  Muslin,  Mrs.  Candour,  Tilburina, 
Audrey,  Lady  Dove,  and  Mrs.  Heidelberg. 


Pope 


134 


Pope 


Many  of  these  parts  she  played  at  sixty  with 
the  sprightliness  of  sixteen.  Churchill  praised 
her  warmly  in  the  '  Rosciad  : ' 

With  all  the  merry  vigour  of  sixteen, 
Among  the  merry  troop  conspicuous  seen, 
See  lively  Pope  advance  in  jig  and  trip, 
Corinna,  Cherry,  Honeycomb,  and  Snip. 
Not  without  art,  and  yet  to  nature  true, 
She  charms  the  town  with  humour  ever  new. 
Cheer'd  by  her  presence,  we  the  less  deplore 
The  fatal  time  when  Clive  shall  be  no  more. 
Charles  Lamb  describes  her  as  'a  gentle- 
woman ever,  with  Churchill's  compliment 
still  burnishing  upon  her  gay  honeycomb 
lips/  and  also  as  '  the  perfect  gentlewoman 
as  distinguished  from  the  fine  lady  of  co- 
medy.'    Hazlitt  calls  her  « the  very  picture 
of  a  duenna,  a  maiden  lady,  or  antiquated 
dowager,'  and  Leigh  Hunt '  an  actress  of  the 
highest  order  for  dry  humour.'     Oulton  de- 
clared her  without  a  rival  in  duennas,  and 
the  author  of  the  *  Green  Room,'  in  1790, 
declares  that  the  question  for  criticism  is 
not  where  she  is  deficient,  but  where  she 
most  excels ;  and  while  hesitating  as  to  her 
general  equality  with  Mrs.  Clive,  and  dis- 
puting her  value  in  farce,  the  same  writer 
attributes  her  excellence  to  natural  genius, 
and  holds  her  up  as  an  example  '  how  infi- 
nitely a  comedian  can  please  without   the 
least  tincture  of  grimace  or  buffoonery,  or 
the  slightest  opposition  to  nature.'    Her  fea- 
tures were  naturally,  he  says,  neither  good 
nor  flexible. 

A  careful  and  worthy  woman,  Miss  Pope 
lived  and  died  respected,  and  the  stage  pre- 
sents few  characters  so  attractive.  Besides 
keeping  her  father,  whom  she  induced  to 
retire  from  his  occupation,  she  put  by  money 
enough  to  enable  her  to  retire  as  soon  as 
she  perceived  a  failure  of  memory.  She  con- 
ceived a  romantic  attachment  to  Charles 
Holland  (1768-1849  ?)  [q.  v.]  the  comedian, 
with  whom  she  had  a  misunderstanding.  She 
was  also  engaged  to  John  Pearce  (1727- 
1797),  a  stockbroker,  but  broke  off  the  en- 
gagement when  Pearce  made  her  retirement 
from  the  stage  a  condition  of  marriage. 
She  always  entertained  a  kindly  feeling  for 
Pearce,  who  died  unmarried  in  1797  (SiK 
R.  E.  PEARCE,  Family  Records,  pp.  22,  63). 
She  made  at  her  first  appearance,  and  retained 
to  the  end,  the  friendship  of  '  Kitty '  Clive,  to 
whom  she  erected  a  monument  in  Twicken- 
ham churchyard.  With  the  single  excep- 
tion of '  Gentleman  '  Smith,  she  was  the  last 
survivor  of  Garrick's  company.  The  stage 
presents  few  characters  so  attractive  as  this 
estimable  woman  and  excellent  actress. 

Her  picture,  by  Roberts,  as  Mrs.  Ford  in 
the  'Merry  Wives  of  Windsor/  is  in  the 


Mathews  collection  in  the  Garrick  Club, 
which  includes  a  second  picture  by  the  same 
artist.  A  half-length  engraving,  by  Robert 
Laurie  [q.  v.],  is  mentioned  in  Smith's  *  Cata- 
logue.' Miss  Pope  extracted  out  of  Mrs. 
Sheridan's  '  Discovery  '  a  farce  called  '  The 
Young  Couple/  in  which,  for  her  benefit, 
she  appeared  on  21  April  1767,  presumably 
as  Lady  Flutter.  It  was  not  printed. 

[G-enest's  Account  of  the  English  Stage  ; 
Biographia  Dramatica ;  Manager's  Notebook  ; 
Dibdin's  History  of  the  Stage;  Grarrick  Cor- 
respondence ;  Memoirs  of  James  Smith  by  Horace 
Smith ;  Clarke  Russell's  Representative  Actors  ; 
Wheatley  and  Cunningham's  London  Past  and 
Present.]  J.  K. 

POPE,  MRS.  MARIA  ANN  (1775-1803), 
actress,  and  second  wife  of  the  actor,  Alex- 
ander Pope  (1763-1835)  [q.v.],born  in  1775 
in  Waterford,  was  the  daughter  of  '  a  mer- 
chant' named  Campion,  a  member  of  an  old 
Cork  family.  After  her  father's  death  she 
was  educated  by  a  relative,  and,  having  a, 
strong  disposition  for  the  stage,  was  engaged 
by  Hitchcock  for  Daley,  manager  of  the 
Crow  Street  Theatre,  Dublin.  Here  as  Moni- 
mia  in  the  '  Orphan/  having  only,  it  is  said, 
seen  two  theatrical  representations  in  her 
life,  she  made  in  1792  a  '  first  appearance 
on  any  stage.'  So  timid  was  she  that  she 
had  to  be  thrust  on  the  boards,  and  im- 
mediately fainted.  Recovering  herself,  she 
played  with  success,  and  was  rapidly  pro- 
moted to  be  the  heroine  of  the  Irish  stage. 
Frederick  Edward  Jones  [q.  v.]  then  engaged 
her  for  his  private  theatre  in  Fishamble  Street. 
In  York  she  played  under  the  name  of  Mrs. 
Spenser,  and  she  afterwards  started  on  a 
journey  for  America,  which  she  abandoned, 
returning  once  more  to  Dublin.  Here  at  the 
Theatre  Royal  she  met  William  Thomas 
Lewis  [q.  v.],  who,  pleased  with  her  abilities, 
procured  her  an  engagement  at  Covent  Gar^ 
den,  where,  as  Mrs.  Spenser  from  Dublin,  she 
made  her  first  appearance  13  Oct.  1797,  play- 
ing Monimia  in  the  '  Orphan.'  On  2  Nov.  she 
played  Juliet  to  the  Romeo  of  Henry  Erskine 
Johnston  [q.  v.]  and  the  Mercutio  of  Lewis, 
on  the  18th  Indiana  in  the  'Conscious  Lovers/ 
on  the  20th  Cordelia  to  the  Lear  of  Charles 
Murray  [q.v.]  On  26  Jan.  1798,  in  'Secrets 
worth  knowing/  she  was  announced  as  Mrs. 
Pope,  late  Mrs.  Spenser.  Her  marriage  to 
Pope,  to  whom  she  brought  an  income  of  200/. 
a  year,  took  place  two  days  earlier  at  St. 
George's,  Hanover  Square.  On  13  Feb.  she 
was  the  original  Maria  in  'He's  much  to 
blame/  attributed  to  Holcroft,  and  also  to 
John  Fen  wick.  Jane  Shore,  Lady  Amaranth 
in  '  Wild  Oats/  Yarico  in  '  Inkle  and  Yarico/ 
Lady  Eleanor  Irwin  in  '  Every  one  has  his 


Pope 


135 


Pope 


Fault/  Indamora  in  the  '  Widow  of  Malabar,' 
Arabella  in  '  Such  Things  are/  and  Julia  in 
the  '  Rivals/  were  played  during  the  season,  in 
which  she  had  original  parts  in  *  Curiosity' 
by  '  the  late  king  of  Sweden '  (GustavusIII), 
and  Cumberland's    '  Eccentric   Lover/  and 
was  the  first  Princess  of  Mantua  in  '  Dis- 
interested Love/  taken  by  Hull  from  Mas- 
singer.   On  15  Oct.  1798  she  was  Desdemona, 
and  12  Jan.  1799  the  original  Julia  in  Hoi- 
man's  '  Votary  of  Wealth.'    On  16  March  she 
was  the  first  Lady  Julia  in  T.  Dibdin's  i  Five 
Thousand  a  Year/  and,  8  April,  Emma  in 
'  Birthday/  by  the  same  author.  She  probably 
played  Elizabeth  in  the '  Count  of  Burgundy/ 
from  Kotzebue,  and  was  Mrs.  Dervilla  in 
'  What  is  she  ? '  by  a  lady.    For  her  benefit 
she  played  the  Queen  in  'King  Henry  VIII.' 
Next  season  saw  her  in  Cordelia,  29  Oct.  1799. 
Two  days  later  she  was  Juliana  in  Reynolds's 
'  Management.'     On  16  Jan.  1800  she  was 
the  first  Joanna  of  Montfaucon  in  '  Joanna,  a 
.Romance  of  the  Fourteenth  Century/  adapted 
by  Cumberland  from  Kotzebue.     One  or  two 
unimportant    characters  followed,   and    on 
13  May  1800  she  was  Imogen  and  Amanthis 
in  the '  Child  of  Nature.7    In  1801  she  accom- 
panied her  husband  to  Drury  Lane,  where,  as 
J  uliet,  she  made  her  first  appearance  on  1  Feb. 
On  2  March  she  was  Lady  Caroline  Malcolm  in 
the  first  production  of  Cumberland's  '  Serious 
Resolution.'    She  also  played  Mrs.  Lovemore 
in  the  <  Way  to  keep  him.'   On  14  Oct.  1802 
she  played  Mrs.  Beverley,  on  9  Dec.  Belvi- 
dera  in  '  Venice  Preserved/  on  29  Jan.  1803 
she  was  the  first  Caroline  in  Holcroft's l  Hear 
both  Sides/  and  on  4  May  she  was  Mrs.  Haller 
in  the  'Stranger.'    On  10  June,  play  ing  Desde- 
mona,  she  was  taken  ill  in  the  third  act,  and 
her  place  was   taken  by  Mrs.  Ansell,  the 
Emilia.     She  was  thought  to  be  recovering, 
but  on  the  18th  she  had  a  fit  of  apoplexy, 
and  expired  in  Half  Moon  Street,  Piccadilly. 
She  was  buried  on  the  25th,  in  the  same  grave 
with  her  husband's  first  wife,  Elizabeth  Pope 
[q.  v.],  inWestminster  Abbey.  She  was  slender 
in  figure  and  finely  proportioned,  had  a  sweet 
face  and  expression,  a  retentive  memory,  and 
a  clear  voice.     She  was  credited  in  private 
with  a  good  heart  and  engaging   manners. 
She  was  an  acceptable  actress,  but  inferior 
in  all  respects  to  the  first  Mrs.  Pope.     The 
chief  characteristics  of  her  acting  were  ten- 
derness  and    pathos.      A   portrait    by   Sir 
Martin  Archer  Shee  is  in  the  Garrick  Club. 
A  three-quarter-length  portrait  by  Shee,  en- 
graved by  William  Ward,  was  dated  1  April 
1804. 

[Genest's  Account  of  the  English  Stage  ;  Man- 
ager's Notebook ;  Monthly  Mirror,  vol.  xvi. ; 
Gilliland's  Dramatic  Mirror ;  Thespian  Diet. ; 


Smith's  Cat, ;  Chester's  Westminster  Abbey 
Eegisters,  p.  469  ;  Marriage  Eegisters  of  St. 
George's,  Hanover  Square,  ii.  76.]  J.  K. 

POPE,  SIR  THOMAS  (1507  P-1559), 
founder  of  Trinity  College,  Oxford,  was  elder 
son  of  William  Pope,  a  small  landowner  at 
Deddington,  near  Banbury,  by  his  second  wife, 
Margaret  (d.  1557),  daughter  of  Edmund  Yate 
of  Standlake.  The  Pope  family,  originally 
of  Kent,  had  been  settled  in  North  Oxford- 
shire from  about  1400  (E.  MARSHALL,  North 
Oxf.  Arch.  Soc.  1878,  pp.  14-17).  Thomas 
was  about  sixteen  at  the  time  of  his  father's 
death  on  16  March  1523  (see  Will  and 
Inquis.  post  mortem  15  Sept.  1523,  in  WAR- 
TON,  App.  i.  and  ii.*)  His  mother  afterwards 
married  John  Bustard  of  Adderbury  (d.  1534). 
Thomas  was  educated  at  Banbury  school 
and  at  Eton  College  (see  Statutes  of  Trin. 
Co/Z.c.vii.),  was  subsequently  articled  to  Mr. 
Croke  (?  Richard,  comptroller  of  the  hanaper), 
and  by  1532  was  one  of  the  lower  officials  in 
the  court  of  chancery.  He  seems  to  have 
risen  by  favour  of  Lord-chancellor  Thomas 
Audley  [q.  v.],  in  whose  house  he  was  domi- 
ciled in  1535,  and  is  described  as  his 'servant' 
in  a  letter  of  28  March  1536  (Letters  and 
Papers  of  Henry  VIII,  x.  223).  He  and  Sir 
Edward  North  were  Audley's  executors  and 
residuary  legatees.  Pope  was  also  on  terms 
of  intimacy  with  Sir  Thomas  More,  to  whom, 
on  5' July  1535,  he  brought  the  news  that  he 
was  to  be  beheaded  on  the  following  day  (see 
WARTON,  pp.  33-4). 

On  5  Oct.  1532  Pope  received  a  grant  of 
the  office  of  clerk  of  briefs  in  the  Star-cham- 
ber, and  on  15  Oct.  1532  he  was  granted  the 
reversion  of  the  valuable  clerkship  of  the 
crown  in  chancery  (Letters  and  Papers  of 
Henry  VIII,  v.  642,  xin.  ii.  115).  He  be- 
came warden  of  the  mint,  &c,,  in  the  Tower 
of  London  on  13  Nov.  1534,  and  held  the 
post  till  9  Nov.  1536  (ib.  vii.  558,  xi.  564). 
At  the  same  time  he  came  to  know  and  to 
correspond  with  Cromwell,  who  in  1536  pro- 
cured him  a  nomination  to  be  burgess  of 
Buckingham  (ib.  x.  384,  xin.  i.  545-6,  550, 
572,  ii.  10,  38).  Extensive  landed  property 
was  reconfirmed  to  him  by  act  of  parliament 
on  4  Feb.  1536  (ib.  x.  87).  On  26  June  1535 
he  obtained  a  grant  of  arms  (WARTON,  App. 
ii.),  and  he  was  knighted  on  18  Oct.  1537. 

Meanwhile,  on  24  April  1536,  on  the 
establishment  of  the  court  of  augmentations 
of  the  king's  revenue  to  deal  with  the  pro- 
perty of  the  smaller  religious  houses  then  sup- 
pressed, Pope  was  created  second  officer  and 
treasurer  of  the  court,  with  a  salary  of  120/. 
( Cal.  State  Papers,  xin.  ii.  372)  and  large  fees. 
About  1541  Pope  was  superseded  by  Sir  Ed- 
ward (afterwards  Lord)  North.  In  January 


Pope 


136 


Pope 


1547,  on  the  reconstitution  of  the  court,  he 
became  the  fourth  officer,  and  master  of  the 
woods  of  the  court  this  side  the  Trent.  He 
probably  retained  this  office  till  the  court 
was  incorporated  in  the  exchequer  in  1553 
(WARTON,  pp.  15-19).  He  had  been  a  privy 
councillor  before  21  March  1544,  and  was 
frequently  employed  by  the  privy  council  on 
important  business  (Acts  of  P.  C.  vii.  281, 
viii.  328,  ix.  Ill,  142). 

Pope  was  not  a  regular  commissioner  for 
the  suppression  of  the  monasteries,  but  he 
received  the  surrender  of  St.  Albans  from 
Richard  Stevenache  on  5  Dec.  1539,  and  had 
exceptional  facilities  for  obtaining  grants  of 
the  abbey  lands  disposed  of  by  his  office.  Of 
the  thirty  manors,  more  or  less,  which  he 
eventually  possessed  by  grant  or  purchase, 
almost  all  had  been  monastic  property.  There 
were  conveyed  to  Pope,on  11  Feb.  1537,  for  a 
valuable  consideration,the  site  and  demesnes 
of  Wroxton  Priory,  the  manor  or  grange  of 
Holcombe  (Dorchester  Priory),  and  other 
abbey  lands  in  Oxfordshire.  The  manors  of 
Bermondsey  (4  March  1545)  and  Deptford 
(30  May  1554);  the  house  and  manor  of 
Tittenhanger  (23  July  1547),  formerly  the 
country  seat  of  the  abbots  of  St.  Albans; 
and  a  town  house,  formerly  the  nunnery  of 
Clerkenwell,  ultimately  fell,  with  much  other 
property,  into  his  hands.  He  thus  became  one 
of  the  richest  commoners  of  the  time. 

Under  Edward  VI  his  want  of  sympathy 
with  the  Reformation  largely  withdrew  him 
from  public  life  (but  cf.WRiOTHESLEY,  Chron. 
ii.  7,27).  On  the  accession  of  Mary  he  was 
sworn  of  the  privy  council  on  4  Aug.  1553. 
He  was  sheriff  of  Essex  and  Hertfordshire  in 
1552  and  1557,  and  was  associated  with 
Bonner,  Thirlby,  and  North  in  a  commission 
for  the  suppression  of  heresy  on  8  Feb.  1557 
(BTJKNTET,  Ref.  ii.  ii,  records,  No.  32).  Pope 
may  perhaps  at  the  beginning  of  the  reign 
have  been  attached  to  the  Princess  Eliza- 
beth's household  (WARTON,  p.  80).  On  8  July 
1556  he  was  selected  to  reside  as  guardian  in 
her  house  (cf.  BURNET,  1.  c.  No.  33),  but  that 
he  long  had  charge  of  Elizabeth  is  improbable. 
He  clearly  possessed  the  confidence  of  both 
the  sisters,  and  was  sent  by  Mary  on  26  April 
1558  to  broach  to  Elizabeth  an  offer  of  mar- 
riage from  Eric  of  Sweden  (Cotton  MS.  Vi- 
tellius  C.  xvi.  f.  334,  in  BTJRNET,  I.e.  No.  37; 
WARTON,  pp.  99-103).  The  commonly  ac- 
cepted accounts  of  the  festivities  given  in 
honour  of  Elizabeth,  mainly  '  at  the  chardges 
of  Sir  Thomas  Pope,'  during  1557  and  1558, 
rest  on  no  trustworthy  evidence.  Warton 
says  that  he  derived  them  from  copies  made 
for  him  by  Francis  Wise  (cf.  STRYPE'S  tran- 
scripts) of  the  then  unpublished  '  Machyn's 


Diary '  in  the  Cottonian  Library.  An  examina- 
tion of  Machyn's  manuscript,  after  all  allow- 
ance is  made  for  the  injury  it  sustained  in  the 
fire  of  1731,  proves  that  these  passages  were 
not  derived  from  the  source  alleged,  and  it  is 
probable  that  they  were  fabricated  by  Warton 
himself  (cf.  WARTON,  pref.  pp.  x-xiii,  and  pp. 
86-91 ;  WIESENER,  La  Jeunesse  d 'Elisabeth 
d?  Angleterre,  1878,  Engl.  transl.  1879,  vol.  ii. 
chap.  xi.  and  xii. ;  an  account  of  the  forgeries 
in  English  Historical  Revieiv  for  April  1895). 

Meanwhile,  like  Lord  Rich,  Sir  William 
Petre,  Audley,  and  others,  Pope  was  prompted 
to  devote  some  part  of  his  vast  wealth  to  a 
semi-religious  purpose.  On  20  Feb.  1554-5 
he  purchased  from  Dr.  George  Owen  (d.  1558) 
[q.  v.]  and  William  Martyn,  the  grantees,  the 
site  and  buildings  at  Oxford  of  Durham  Col- 
lege, the  Oxford  house  of  the  abbey  of 
Durham.  A  royal  charter,  dated  8  March, 
empowered  him  to  establish  and  endow  a 
college  '  of  the  Holy  and  Undivided  Trinity  ' 
within  the  university,  to  consist  of  a  pre- 
sident, twelve  fellows,  and  eight  scholars, 
and  a  'Jesus  scolehouse,' at  Hooknorton, for 
which  four  additional  scholarships  were  sub- 
sequently substituted.  On  28  March  he  exe- 
cuted a  deed  of  erection,  conveying  the  site  to 
Thomas  Slythurst  and  eight  fellows  and  four 
scholars,  who  took  formal  possession  the  same 
day  (WARTON,  App.  ix.-xii.)  The  original 
members  of  the  foundation  were  nearly  all 
drawn  from  other  colleges,  chiefly  Exeter  and 
Queen's. 

During  1555-6  he  was  engaged  in  perfect- 
ing the  details  of  his  scheme,  repairing  the 
buildings,  and  supplying  necessaries  for  the 
chapel,  hall,  and  library  (ib.  App.  xvi.-xviii.) 
The  members  were  admitted  on  the  eve  of 
Trinity  Sunday,  30  May  1556,  by  Robert 
Morwen  [q.  v.j,  president  of  Corpus.  The 
estates  selected  for  the  endowment  were 
handed  over  as  from  Lady-day  1556,  and 
comprised  lands  at  Wroxton  and  Holcombe, 
with  about  the  same  amount  in  tithe,  mostly 
in  Essex,  part  of  which  he  specially  pur- 
chased from  Lord  Rich  and  Sir  Edward 
Waldegrave.  The  statutes,  dated  1  May 
1556,  which  resemble  other  codes  of  the 
period,  were  drawn  up  by  Pope  and  Sly- 
thurst with  the  assistance  of  Arthur  Yel- 
dard.  Slight  alterations  were  made  by  an 
'  additamentum '  of  10  Sept,  1557.  The  rec- 
tory of  Garsington,  granted  by  the  crown 
on  22  June  1557,  was  added  to  the  en- 
dowment of  the  presidency  on  1  Dec.  1557 
(see  Statutes  of  Trin.  Coll.  Oxf.,  printed  by 
the  University  Commissioners,  1855).  War- 
ton's  quotations  from  a  letter  alleging  inte- 
rest on  the  part  of  Elizabeth  (p.  92)  and  Pole 
(p.  236)  are  probably  fabrications. 


Pope 


137 


Pope 


If  Pope,  as  Warton  alleges  (p.  132), 
founded  an  obit  for  himself  at  Great  Walt- 
ham  on  24  Dec.  1558,  it  is  probable  that  he 
was  about  that  time  attacked  by  the  epi- 
demic which  proved  fatal  that  winter  to  so 
many  of  the  upper  classes.  He  died  at 
Clerkenwell  on  29  Jan.  1559 ;  and,  after 
lying  in  state  at  the  parish  church  for  a 
week,  was  buried  on  6  Feb.  1559  with  great 
pomp  (MACHYST,  p.  188),  according  to  his 
express  directions,  in  St.  Stephen's,  Wai- 
brook,  where  Stow  (London,  p.  245)  saw  the 
monument  erected  to  him  and  his  second  wife. 
Their  remains  were  removed  before  1567  to 
a  vault  in  the  old  chapel  of  Trinity  College, 
over  which  his  widow  (his  third  wife)  placed 
a  handsome  monument,  with  alabaster  effigies 
of  Pope  and  herself.  It  is  now  partly  con- 
cealed by  a  wainscot  case,  put  over  it  when 
the  present  chapel  was  built,  but  is  clearly 
engraved  by  Skelton  (Pietas  Oxoniensis  and 
Oxonia  Antigua  Restaurata,  vol.  ii.  ;  cf. 
WOOD'S  Life,  ed.  Clark,  iii.  364). 

Pope  was  thrice  married,  but  left  no  issue. 
From  his  first  wife,  Elizabeth  Gunston,  he 
was  divorced,  on  11  July  1536,  by  Dr. 
llichard  Gwent,  dean  of  arches  (MSS.  F. 
Wise  in  Coll.  Trin.  Misc.  vol.  i.)  On  17  July 
1 536  he  married  Margaret  (Townsend),  widow 
of  Sir  Ralph  Dodmer,  knt.,  mercer,  and  lord 
mayor  of  London  1529.  She  died  on  10  Jan. 
1538,  leaving  a  daughter  Alice  (b.  1537), 
who  died  young.  His  third  wife,  Elizabeth, 
was  daughter  of  Walter  Blount  of  Osbaston, 
Leicestershire,  by  Mary,  daughter  of  John 
Sutton.  She  married,  first,  Anthony  Basford 
(or  Beresford)  of  Bentley,  Derbyshire,  who, 
dying  on  1  March  1538,  left  her  with  a  young 
son,  John.  On  1  Jan.  1540-1  (according  to 
Wise ;  but  possibly  later)  she  married  Pope, 
with  whom  she  is  afterwards  associated  in 
various  grants,  settlements,  &c.,  as  also  in 
the  rights  and  duties  of  foundress  of  Trinity 
College.  She  carried  out  the  founder's  injunc- 
tions to  complete  the  house  at  Garsington. 
After  Pope's  death  she  married  Sir  Hugh 
Paulet  [q.v,]  She  was  suspected  of  recusancy 
(  Gal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  Add.  1566-79 p.  551, 
1581-90  p.  287),  and  established  an  almshouse 
at  her  native  town  of  Burton.  She  died  at 
Tittenhanger  on  27  Oct.  1593,  and  was  buried 
at  Oxford  on  2  Nov.,  both  the  university  and 
the  college  celebrating  her  funeral  with  some 
pomp  (WARTON,  pp.  202-4,  and  App.  xxx.) 
A  good  portrait  on  panel,  which  was  in  the 
college  before  1613,  is  now  in  the  hall.  At 
Tittenhanger  there  is  one  of  a  later  date,  re- 
presenting her  in  a  widow's  cap. 

By  his  will,  dated  6  Feb.  1557,  with  a 
long  codicil  of  12  Dec.  1558,  Pope  bequeathed 
numerous  legacies  to  churches,  charities, 


prisons,  and  hospitals ;  his  wife,  her  brother, 
William  Blount,  and  (Sir)  Nicholas  Bacon, 
to  whom,  as  his  'most  derely  beloved  frend,7 
he  leaves  his  dragon  whistle,  were  executors. 
The  will  was  proved  on  6  May  1559.  By  the 
settlement  ot  1  April  1555  nearly  the  whole 
of  his  Oxfordshire  estates  passed  to  the  family 
of  John  Pope  of  Wroxton,  and  some  of  these 
remain  with  the  latter's  representatives,  Vis- 
count Dillon  and  Lord  North  [see  POPE, 
THOMAS,  second  EAKL  OF  DOWNE].  The  Tit- 
tenhanger, Clerkenwell,  and  Derbyshire  pro- 
perties seem  to  have  been  settled  on  his 
third  wife  with  remainder  to  her  son,  who 
died  young,  and  were  thus  inherited  by  Sir 
T.  Pope  Blount  (son  of  Pope's  niece,  Alice 
Love),  whose  representative,  the  Earl  of 
Caledon,  still  owns  Tittenhanger. 

Portraits  of  Pope,  differing  slightly  in  de- 
tails, are  at  Wroxton  and  Tittenhanger; 
both  are  plausibly  attributed  to  Holbein. 
Two  early  copies  of  the  latter  are  now  in  the 
president's  lodgings  at  Trinity;  they  were 
acquired  before  1596  and  1634  respectively. 
Later  copies  are  in  the  hall,  common  room, 
and  Bodleian  Gallery.  The  Wroxton  por- 
trait was  engraved  in  line  by  J.  Skelton  in 
1821 ;  there  is  a  mezzotint,  by  J.  Faber,  from 
the  copy  at  Oxford.  Of  the  Tittenhanger 
portrait  there  is  a  small  scarce  mezzotint  by 
W.  Robins.  Both  in  the  portraits  and  on 
the  tomb  Pope  is  represented  as  a  middle- 
aged  man,  with  sensible  and  not  unpleasing, 
but  rather  characterless,  features.  For  his 
motto  he  used  the  phrase '  Quod  taciturn  velis, 
nemini  dixeris.' 

[Authorities  cited  above,  especially  the  Calen- 
dars of  State  Papers  and  other  records  from 
which  it  is  possible  to  correct  the  minor  in- 
accuracies of  dates,  &c.,  in  Warton's  Life  of  Sir 
Thomas  Pope  (1st  edit.  1772;  2nd,  1780),  which 
is  expanded  from  an  article  in  the  Biogr. 
Brit.  1760.  It  is  a  most  laborious  work,  and 
contains  a  vast  amount  of  information  on  a 
great  variety  of  cognate  subjects  derived  from 
papers  then  unprinted.  It  is,  however,  full  of 
serious,  and  in  some  cases  intentional,  inaccu- 
racies. The  remarkable  series  of  fabricated  ex- 
tracts from  Machyn  is  mentioned  above  (see 
Engl.  Hist.  Eev.  April  1896).  No  fact  which 
Warton  states  on  his  own  authority  or  on  that 
of '  MSS.  F.  Wise,'  or  <  the  late  Sir  Harry  Pope 
Blount,'  can  be  accepted  where  not  verifiable. 
Modern  memoirs  (Skelton,  Clutterbuck,  Chal- 
mers, &c.)  are  derived  entirely  and  uncritically 
from  Warton.  Mr.  F.  G-.  Kenyon,of  the  British 
Museum,  has  kindly  examined  the  manuscripts 
of  Machyn  for  the  purposes  of  this  article.  All 
registers  and  original  papers  in  the  college  ar- 
chives, where  fourteen  of  Pope's  letters  and  others 
of  his  papers  are  still  extant,  have  been  carefully 
examined.]  H.  E.  D.  B. 


Pope 


138 


Pope 


POPE,  SIR  THOMAS,  second  EAKL  or 
DOWNE  (1622-1660), baptised  at  Cogges,  near 
Witney,  16  Dec.  1622,  was  the  eldest  of  the 
three  sons  of  Sir  William  Pope,  knt.  (1596- 
1624),  by  Elizabeth,  sole  heiress  of  Sir 
Thomas  Watson,  knt.,  of  Halstead,  Kent. 
His  mother  married,  after  his  father's  death, 
Sir  Thomas  Peneystone  of  Cornwall,  Ox- 
fordshire. His  grandfather,  Sir  William 
Pope  (1573-1631)  of  Wroxton  Abbey,  near 
Banbury,  was  made  knight  of  the  Bath  in 
1603,  and  a  baronet  in  1611;  on  16  Oct. 
1628  he  was  created  Baron  Belturbet  and 
Earl  of  Downe  in  the  kingdom  of  Ireland, 
and  died  on  2  July  1631.  Thomas,  his  grand- 
son, thereupon  succeeded  to  his  title,  and  to 
the  large  estates  in  north-west  Oxfordshire 
which  had  been  settled  on  the  family  in  1555 
by  his  great-granduncle,  Sir  Thomas  Pope 
[q.  v.],  founder  of  Trinity  College.  Wroxton, 
however,  remained  in  the  occupation  of  his 
father's  younger  brother,  Sir  Thomas  Pope 
(see  below).  The  young  earl  was  brought 
up  in  a  good '  school  of  morality,'  at  the  house 
of  his  guardian,  John  Dutton  of  Sherborne 
(BEESLEY,  SouFs  Conflict,  1656,  ded.)  On 
26  Nov.  1638  he  married  his  guardian's 
daughter  Lucy,  and  on  21  June  1639  matri- 
culated as  a  nobleman  at  Christ  Church, 
Oxford;  but  he  offended  against  academic 
discipline,  and  before  13  March  1640-1  he 
left  the  university  (LAUD,  Chancellorship, 
pp.  190  sqq.) 

When  the  civil  war  broke  out,  Downe 
raised  a  troop  of  horse,  and  was  in  Oxford 
with  the  king  in  1643.  Charles  I  slept  at 
his  wife's  house  at  Cubberley,  Gloucester- 
shire, on  6  Sept.  1643  and  12  July  1644 
('Iter  Carolinum,'  in  GUTCH,  Coll.  Cur.  ii. 
431,  433).  In  1645  (Cal.  State  Papers,  Com. 
Comp.  ii.  934-5),  his  estate  being  valued  at 
2,2021.  per  annum,  he  was  fined  6,000/.  by 
the  committee  for  compounding.  He  took 
the  oath  and  covenant  before  24  Oct.  1645, 
but  had  great  difficulty  in  raising  money  for 
his  fine,  and  in  1648  his  other  debts  amounted 
to  11,000/.  The  sequestration  was  finally  dis- 
charged on  18  April  1651,  after  he  had  sold, 
under  powers  obtained  by  a  private  act  in 
1650,  all  his  lands,  except  the  manors  of 
Cogges  and  Wilcote,  Cubberley,  which  he 
held  in  right  of  his  wife,  and  Enstone,  with 
the  adjacent  townships  (Ditchley  Papers}. 
The  earl,  who  was  steadied  by  his  misfortunes, 
soon  left  England,  and  travelled  in  France 
and  Italy.  He  died  at  Oxford,  at  the  '  coffee- 
house '  of  Arthur  Tilliard,  a  '  great  royalist ' 
and  apothecary  in  St.  Mary's  parish,  28  Dec. 
1660.  His  body  was  buried  among  his  ances- 
tors at  Wroxton  11  Jan.  1661,  and  there  is  a 
floor-slab,  with  a  long  inscription  to  his  me- 


mory, in  the  chancel  (WooD,  Life,  ed.  Clark, 
i.  350-1).  The  countess  had  died  6  April 
1656,  and  was  buried  at  Cubberley  (BIG- 
LAND,  Gloucestershire,  i.  407).  Just  before 
Downe's  death  his  only  child,  Elizabeth  (born 
at  Cogges  15  April  1645),  married  Sir  Francis 
Henry  Lee,  fourth  baronet  of  Ditchley,  Ox- 
fordshire [see  under  LEE,  GEOKGE  HENKY, 
third  EAKL  OF  LICHFIELD].  Her  second 
husband  was  Robert  Bertie,  earl  of  Lindsey  ; 
and  the  Enstone  property  still  remains  with 
her  representative,  Viscount  Dillon. 

The  peerage  passed  to  his  uncle,  SIR 
THOMAS  POPE  of  Wroxton,  third  EAKL  OF 
DOWNE  (1598-1668),  who  was  knighted  at 
Woodstock  in  1625,  and  suftered  severely 
from  both  sides  in  the  civil  war.  He  was 
imprisoned  by  the  king  at  Oxford  for  six 
weeks,  and  was  arrested  in  1656  on  suspicion 
of  complicity  in  the '  cavalier '  plot  (  Cal.  State 
Papers,  Com.  for  Compounding,  ii.  1612; 
cf.  BEESLEY,  Banbury,  618).  He  married,  in 
1636,  Beata,  daughter  of  Sir  Henry  Poole,  of 
Saperton,  Gloucestershire,  and  died  11  Jan. 
1668.  His  portrait  was  painted  by  W.  Dob- 
son.  His  only  surviving  son,  Thomas,  died 
18  May  1668,  when  the  titles  became  extinct. 
The  succession  to  the  Wroxton  lease  and 
estates  was  contested  between  the  three 
daughters  of  the  third  earl  and  their  cousin, 
Lady  Elizabeth  Lee,  who  claimed  as  heir 
general  on  failure  of  heirs  male,  '  furiously 
protesting '  that  she  would  have  at  least  half. 
A  compromise  was  effected  by  the  lawyers, 
one  of  whom,  Francis  North,  afterwards  lord 
Guilford  [q.  v.],  subsequently,  in  1671,  mar- 
ried Frances  Pope,  one  of  the  coheiresses, 
bought  out  the  others  in  1680-1,  and  settled 
at  Wroxton,  where  his  descendants,  the  Earls 
of  Guilford  and  Lords  North,  have  since  re- 
mained (NOKTH,  Life  of  the  Norths,  i.  163-4). 

There  is  a  fine  head  of  the  second  earl  at 
the  age  of  about  twenty-one,  attributed  to 
Isaac  Oliver,  in  the  possession  of  Lord  North 
at  Wroxton,  together  with  portraits  of  his 
father,  mother,  grandparents,  and  other  mem- 
bers of  the  Pope  family.  Lord  Dillon  has 
another  good  head,  attributed  to  Janssen, 
of  a  much  later  date,  and  a  companion  por- 
trait of  his  wife.  A  third  portrait  which 
bears  his  name  probably  represents  his  father. 

[Authorities  cited;  Warton's  Life  of  Sir  T. 
Pope,  App.  xxvi  (inaccurate  in  its  account  of  the 
family);  Baker's  Northamptonshire;  Gr.  E.  C.'s 
Peerage;  Jordan's  Enstone  ;  Beesley's  Banbury ; 
Croke's  Croke  Family;  personal  inspection  of 
papers  and  portraits  at  Wroxton,  Ditchley,  and 
Claydon.]  H.  E.  D.  B. 

POPE,  WALTER  (d.  1714),  astronomer, 
was  a  native  of  Fawsley  in  Northampton- 
shire. His  mother  was  a  daughter  of  the 


Pope 


139  Pope-Hennessy 


puritan  divine,  John  Dod  [q.  v.],  and  John 
Wilkins  (afterwards  bishop  of  Chester)  was 
his  half-brother.  He  entered  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge,  in  1645,  was  appointed  scholar 
of  Wadham  College,  Oxford,  by  the  parlia- 
mentary visitors  in  1648,  and  graduated 
thence  B.A.  on  6  July  1649,  M.A.  on  10 July 
1651.  Admitted  to  a  fellowship  on  9  July 
1651,  he  held  various  offices  in  his  college, 
was  nominated  a  visitor  on  16  Oct.  1654,  and, 
as  junior  proctor  of  the  university,  success- 
fully resisted,  in  1658,  an  attempt  to  abolish 
the  wearing  of  caps  and  hoods.  Later  in  the 
same  year  he  went  abroad,  and  wrote  to 
Robert  Boyle  from  Paris  on  10  Sept.  1659, 
that  he  spent  his  time  reading  Corneille's 
plays  and  romances,  '  which  we  hire  like 
horses '  (BOYLE,  Works,  v.  631, 1744).  He 
succeeded  Sir  Christopher  Wren  [q.  v.]  as 
professor  of  astronomy  in  Gresham  College 
in  1660,  was  elected  dean  of  Wadham  Col- 
lege for  1660-1,  and  had  a  degree  of  M.D. 
conferred  upon  him  at  Oxford  on  12  Sept. 
1661.  He  obtained  license  to  travel  in  1664, 
and  spent  two  years  in  Italy,  Barrow  and 
Hooke  taking  his  lectures.  Four  letters 
written  by  him  to  Wilkins  during  this  tour 
are  in  the  archives  of  the  Royal  Society. 
Pope  had  a  reputation  for  wit  as  well  as  for 
learning;  he  acquired  French  and  Italian 
abroad,  and  taught  them  to  Wilkins,  and  was 
besides  conversant  with  Spanish.  An  original 
member  of  the  Royal  Society,  he  sat  on  the 
council  in  1667  and  1669.  Dr.  Wilkins  made 
him  registrar  of  the  diocese  on  his  elevation 
to  the  see  of  Chester  in  1668,  and  he  held 
the  post  till  his  death. 

At  Salisbury  in  1686  he  suffered  severely 
from  an  inflammation  of  the  eyes,  but  was 
eventually  cured  by  Dr.  Daubeney  Turber- 
ville  [q.  v.],  whose  epitaph  he  gratefully  wrote. 
It  was  probably  this  infirmity  which  induced 
him  on  21  Sept.  1687  to  resign  his  professor- 
ship and  withdraw  to  Epsom.  On  16  Nov. 
1693  he  lost  all  his  books  through  a  fire  in 
Lombard  Street.  He  was  also  annoyed  by  a 
protracted  lawsuit.  His  later  years  were 
passed  at  Bunhill  Fields,  London,  where  he 
died,  at  a  very  advanced  age,  on  25  June  1714; 
he  was  buried  in  St.  Giles's,  Cripplegate. 
Wood,  who  was  very  bitter  against  him,  ac- 
cused him  of  having  led  '  a  heathenish  and 
epicurean  life ; '  but  Ward  regarded  his  close 
intimacy  with  Dr.  Seth  Ward  [q.  v.]  as  alone 
sufficient  to  refute  the  charge.  Pope  lived 
much  in  Ward's  house,  had  from  him  a  pen- 
sion of  100Z.  a  year,  and  in  a  '  life '  of  the 
bishop  published  by  him  in  1697  says  that 
he  '  made  it  his  business  to  delight  him  and 
divert  his  melancholy '  (p.  95).  The  little  book 
was  criticised  by  Thomas  Wood,  in  an  ap-  ( 


pended ( Letter  to  the  Author,'  for  its  '  comical 
and  bantering  style,  full  of  dry  scraps  ol 
Latin,  puns,  proverbs,  senseless  digressions.' 

Pope's  other  compositions  were  designated 
by  Anthony  a  Wood  as  'frivolous  things, 
rather  fit  to  be  buried  in  oblivion  with  the 
author  than  to  be  remembered.'  Their  titles  are 
as  follows :  1.  '  Memoirs  of  M.  Du  Vail,'  Lon- 
don, 1670 ;  reprinted  in '  Harleian  Miscellany,' 
iii.  308, 1809.  2.  <  To  the  Memory  of  the  most 
Renowned  Du  Vail,  a  Pindaric  Ode,'  1671. 
The  person  ironically  celebrated  was  Claude 
Duval  [q.  v.]  3.  l  Select  Novels  from  Cer- 
vantes and  Petrarch,'  1694.  4.  « The  Old 
Man's  Wish,'  1697 ;  3rd  ed.  1710  ;  latinised 
by  Vincent  Bourne  in  1728.  This  is  the 
1  wishing  song  '  sung  by  Benjamin  Franklin 
(as  he  told  George  Whately)  '  a  thousand 
times  when  I  was  young,  and  now  find  at 
fourscore  that  the  three  contraries  have  be- 
fallen me.'  5.  l  Moral  and  Political  Fables,' 
1698;  dedicated  to  Chief-justice  Holt.  The 
first  volume  of  the  l  Philosophical  Transac- 
tions'  includes  (at  p.  21)  Pope's  account  of 
the  mines  of  Mercury  in  Friuli,  and  his  joint 
observations  with  Hooke  and  others  (p.  295) 
of  the  partial  solar  eclipse  of  22  June  1666, 
when  Boyle's  sixty-foot  telescope  showed 
traces  of  the  corona  in  the  visibility  of  the 
part  of  the  moon  off  the  sun. 

[Ward's  Lives  of  the  Gresham  Professors,  i. 
Ill;  Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  iv.  724,  Fasti,  ii. 
122  (Bliss);  Gardiner's  Kegisters  of  Wadham 
College,  p.  177;  Burrows' s  Register  of  Visitors 
to  the  University  of  Oxford,  p.  562;  Foster's 
Alumni  Oxon.  1500-1714;  Allibone's  Grit.  Diet, 
of  English  Literature ;  Sherburn's  Sphere  of 
Manilius,  p.  113  ;  Watt's  Bibl.  Brit.] 

A.  M.  C. 

POPE-HENNESSY,  SIR  JOHN  (1834- 
1891),  colonial  governor,  the  son  of  John 
Hennessy  of  Bally hennessy,  co.  Kerry,  and  of 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Henry  Casey  of  Cork, 
was  born  in  Cork  in  1834  and  educated  at 
Queen's  College,  whence  he  went  to  the  Inner 
Temple.  He  entered  parliament  in  1859,  two 
years  prior  to  his  call  to  the  bar,  as  member 
for  King's  County.  In  his  election  address  he 
expressed  confidence  in  Mr.  Disraeli's  foreign 
policy,  but  maintained  an  independent  atti- 
tude on  Irish  questions.  He  was  the  first 
Roman  catholic  conservative  who  sat  in  par- 
liament. 

In  parliament  Pope-Hennessy  proved  zeal- 
ous and  hard-working,  and  made  some  repu- 
tation. In  regard  to  Ireland  he  obtained 
the  amendment  of  the  poor  law  (1861-2), 
urged  the  amendment  of  the  land  laws  and 
the  reclamation  of  bogs  as  a  means  of  staying 
the  emigration  of  the  Irish  population  (1862), 
and  opposed  the  government  system  of  educa- 


Pope-Hennessy  140  Pope-Hennessy 


tion  on  the  ground  that  it  was  '  anti-national.' 
The  select  committee  which  recommended  the 
system  of  open  competition  for  admission  to 
the  public  service  was  largely  due  to  his  exer- 
tions ;  for  promoting  the  passage  through 
parliament  of  the  Prison  Ministers  Act  (1863), 
he  was  publicly  thanked  by  the  Roman  ca- 
tholics of  England ;  and  for  amendments  in 
the  Mines  Regulation  Acts  by  the  miners  of 
Great  Britain. 

On  21  Nov.  1867  Pope-Hennessy  was  ap- 
pointed governor  of  Labuan.  The  post  was 
of  small  value,  and  his  administration  was 
hardly  successful.  On  2  Oct.  1871  he  re- 
turned to  England.  From  27  Feb.  1872  to 
16  Feb.  1873  he  acted  as  governor  of  the  Gold 
Coast,  in  which  capacity  he  took  over  from 
the  Dutch  the  sovereignty  of  Fort  Elmina, 
receiving  from  the  Dutch  governor,  in  the 
presence  of  the  native  chiefs,  the  ancient  gold 
and  ivory  baton  of  De  Ruy ter  (  Colonial  Office 
List,  1881).  He  made  an  impression  on  the 
native  races,  who  still  keep '  Pope-Hennessy 's 
day '  once  a  year.  On  27  May  1873  he  was 
made  governor  of  the  Bahamas,  came  home 
on  leave  on  22  June  1874,  and  never  returned. 

In  1875  he  received  the  more  important 
government  of  the  Windward  Islands,  the 
seat  of  which  at  that  time  was  Barbados. 
In  January  1876  he  laid  before  the  legisla- 
ture his  first  proposals  for  an  amended  ad- 
ministration, tending  in  the  direction  of 
'*  federation '  of  the  Windward  Islands.  The 
Barbadians,  always  fearful  of  any  tampering 
with  their  ancient  constitution,  formed  the 
Barbados  Defence  Association,  and  the 
planters  were  soon  avowedly  hostile  to  Pope- 
Hennessy.  He  was  accused  of  employing 
secret  emissaries  to  influence  the  negro 
labourers  against  the  planters  ;  riots  were 
common,  special  constables  were  sworn  in, 
and  the  military  were  called  out.  On  17  May 
a  motion  was  passed  to  address  the  queen 
for  his  recall.  Despite  this  opposition,  he 
proceeded  steadily  with  projects  of  reform. 
He  further  exasperated  the  planters  by  con- 
demning the  financial  administration  of  the 
assembly  and  the  severe  treatment  of  native 
labourers.  He  strove  to  promote  emigration 
of  the  negroes  to  other  West  India  islands ; 
he  put  an  end  to  flogging  as  a  punishment, 
and  introduced  tickets  of  leave.  Prison  re- 
form was  a  favourite  subject  with  him,  but 
he  dealt  with  it  somewhat  recklessly,  re- 
leasing on  one  occasion  as  many  as  thirty- 
nine  prisoners  in  one  day.  The  provision  of 
medical  aid  to  the  poor  and  extension  of  edu- 
cational facilities  also  occupied  his  attention. 
His  popularity  with  the  negroes  was  excep- 
tional ;  but  in  November  1876  the  home  go- 
vernment removed  him  to  Hongkong. 


He  visited  the  United  Kingdom  in  1877 
on  his  way  to  the  east,  and  was  presented 
with  the  freedom  of  Cork  (3  March).  He 
arrived  at  Hongkong  on  23  April  1877. 
There  his  policy  resembled  that  which  he  had 
adopted  in  Barbados,  and  his  general  ad- 
ministration soon  raised  feelings  of  '  the  pro- 
foundest  dissatisfaction.'  He  quarrelled  with 
the  commander-in-chief,  embroiled  himself 
with  the  governor  of  Macao,  and  was  censured 
by  the  colonial  office,  while  no  private  persons 
of  any  standing  would  go  to  government 
house.  On  7  March  1882  he  relinquished 
the  government. 

Pope-Hennessy's  holidays  from  Hongkong 
had  been  spent  in  Japan,  and  for  most  of 
1882  he  remained  resting  in  England.  In 
September  he  acted  as  chairman  of  the  re- 

Sression  of  crime  section  at  the  Social 
faience  Congress  at  Nottingham,  and  read  a 
paper  on  crime  which  was  based  on  his  ex- 
perience as  a  colonial  governor.  On  26  Dec. 
he  was  gazetted  to  the  government  of  the 
Mauritius. 

Arriving  in  the  Mauritius  on  1  June  1883, 
Pope-Hennessy,  with  characteristic  vigour, 
espoused  the  cause  of  the  French  Creoles, 
who  seemed  to  him  an  oppressed  nationality. 
The  hitherto  dominant  English  party  bitterly 
resented  his  attitude.  In  1884  an  elective 
element  was,  owing  to  his  efforts,  introduced 
into  the  constitution.  The  governor  was 
hailed  as  a  benefactor  by  the  Creole  popula- 
tion, who  raised  the  cry  of  '  Mauritius  for  the 
Mauritians.'  Charles  Dalton  Clifford  Lloyd 
[q.  v.]  arrived  in  February  1886  as  colonial 
secretary  and  lieutenant-governor,  and  his 
leanings  towards  the  English  party  embit- 
tered the  situation.  In  May  the  governor 
and  lieutenant-governor  were  openly  quarrel- 
ling, and  four  unofficial  members  of  council 
prayed  for  the  appointment  of  a  royal  com- 
mission to  inquire  into  Pope-Hennessy's  ad- 
ministration ;  at  the  same  time  an  address  of 
confidence  in  the  governor  was  sent  to  Down- 
ing Street  by  his  friends.  In  September  1886 
a  royal  commission  was  issued  to  Sir  Her- 
cules Robinson,  governor  of  Cape  Colony, 
directing  him  to  proceed  to  Mauritius  and 
hold  an  inquiry  into  the  governor's  admini- 
stration. Sir  Hercules  arrived  early  in  No- 
vember 1886,  and  on  16  Dec.  suspended  Pope- 
Hennessy  from  office.  On  1  Jan.  1887  the 
secretary  of  state  (Lord  Knutsford)  tele- 
graphed to  the  latter  to  come  to  England 
and  explain  his  action.  On  12  July  1887, 
after  a  long  inquiry,  Lord  Knutsford  decided 
that  sufficient  cause  had  not  been  shown  for 
the  removal  of  Pope-Hennessy,  though  he 
had  been  guilty  of  'want  of  temper  and  judg- 
ment,' of  *  vexatious  and  unjustifiable  inter- 


Popham 


141 


Popham 


ference '  with  the  magistrates,  and  undue  par- 
tisanship. Accordingly  Pope-Hennessy  re- 
turned to  the  colony  and  served  out  his  time, 
retiring  on  pension  on  16  Dec.  1889. 

On  his  return  home,  Pope-Hennessy  brought 
a  successful  action  against  the  '  Times '  for 
libel  in  connection  with  his  administration 
at  Mauritius.  During  1890  he  bought  Ros- 
tellan  Castle,  the  home  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
near  Cork,  and  turned  his  attention  once 
more  to  Irish  politics.  In  a  letter  to  Lord 
Beauchamp  of  12  Jan.  1891,  resigning  the 
membership  of  the  Carlton  Club,  he  wrote : 
'  Though  a  conservative  in  principle,  I  am 
still  in  favour  of  the  policy  of  the  Irish 
party.'  After  the  split  occurred  between 
Parnell  and  the  bulk  of  the  home  rule  party 
[see  PABNELL,  CHAKLES  STEWABT],  Pope- 
Hennessy  contested  North  Kilkenny  as  an 
anti-Parnellite  home  ruler  in  December  1890, 
and,  despite  Parnell 's  personal  efforts  against 
him,  carried  the  seat  by  a  majority  of  1171 
votes  after  a  violent  contest.  Pope-Hen- 
nessy's  health  suffered  greatly  from  his  elec- 
toral exertions,  and  he  died  at  Rostellan  on 
7  Oct.  1891,  within  a  few  hours  of  Parnell 
himself.  He  married  Catherine,  daughter  of 
Sir  Hugh  Low,  resident  at  Perak. 

Pope-Hennessy  was  '  an  able  and  typical 
Irishman,  quick  of  wit  and  repartee,'  of 
humane  and  sympathetic  but  impulsive  tem- 
perament. His  failure  as  a  colonial  governor 
was  due  to  his  want  of  tact  and  judgment, 
and  his  faculty  of '  irritating  where  he  might 
conciliate.'  Unhappily,  too,  his  mind  worked 
tortuously,  and  he  never  acquired  the  habit 
of  making  definite  and  accurate  statements. 

Pope-Hennessy  published  in  1883  'Raleigh 
in  Ireland ; '  he  wrote  articles  at  different 
times  in  magazines,  and  contributed  papers 
to  the  '  Transactions '  of  the  British  Associa- 
tion, of  the  mathematical  section  of  which 
he  was  for  a  time  secretary. 

[Times,  8  Oct.  1891  ;  Official  Records  ;  various 
colonial  newspapers  ;  private  information.] 

C.  A.  H. 

POPHAM,  ALEXANDER  (1729-1810), 
author  of  the  bill  for  the  prevention  of  the  gaol 
distemper  in  1774,  the  son  of  Alexander  Pop- 
ham,  rector  of  West  Monckton,  Somerset,  was 
born  in  1729.  His  family  was  closely  allied  to 
the  Pophams  of  Littlecote  [see  POPHAM,  SIB 
JOHN,  1531  P-1607].  He  matriculated  at  Ox- 
ford from  Balliol  College  on  11  Nov.  1746,  but 
migrated  to  All  Souls',  whence  he  graduated 
B.A.  in  1751,  and  M.A.  in  1755.  He  was 
called  to  the  bar  from  the  Middle  Temple  in 
1755,  becoming  a  bencher  of  his  inn  in  1785  ; 
he  was  a  master  of  the  court  of  chancery  from 
1786  to  1802,  and  was  made  an  auditor  of  the 


duchy  of  Lancaster  in  1802.  Popham  was 
elected  M.P.  for  Taunton  in  1768 ;  in  1774 
he  was  last  upon  the  poll,  but  was  returned 
upon  a  petition  ;  he  lost  his  seat  in  1780,  but 
was  returned  in  1784,  and  held  the  seat 
until  1796.  As  chairman  of  quarter  sessions, 
Popham  acquired  an  insight  into  the  state  of 
the  county  gaols,  and  during  his  first  par- 
liament an  outbreak  of  gaol  fever  killed 
eight  out  of  nineteen  prisoners  in  Taunton 
gaol.  In  1774  Popham  brought  forward  a 
bill  with  a  view  to  mitigating  the  evil.  It  was 
framed  in  accordance  with  the  disclosures  and 
recommendations  of  John  Howard  (1726  ?- 
1790)  [q.  v.],  who,  at  Popham's  instance,  gave 
evidence  before  a  committee  of  the  House  of 
Commons  on  4  March  1774,  and  was  after- 
wards called  to  the  bar  to  receive  the  public 
thanks.  Popham's  bill  was  ultimately  formed 
into  two  separate  measures.  The  first  of 
these  abolished  the  fees  demanded  by  gaolers 
from  acquitted  prisoners  (14  Geo.  Ill  c.  20). 
The  second  provided  for  a  more  efficient 
control  of  the  prisons  by  the  magistrates; 
proper  ventilation  was  to  be  provided;  rooms 
were  to  be  allotted  for  the  immediate  treat- 
ment and  separation  of  the  sick ;  arrangements 
were  to  be  made  for  bathing;  finally 'an  ex- 
perienced surgeon  or  apothecary,'  at  a  stated 
salary,  was  to  be  appointed  to  each  gaol,  and 
to  report  to  the  justices  at  quarter  sessions 
(14  Geo.  Ill,  c.  59). 

The  provisions  of  this  last  bill  were  very 
largely  evaded,  and  little  real  progress  was 
made  until  1784,  when  the  sale  of  alcoholic 
drinks  in  prisons  by  gaolers  was  prohibited, 
and  gaolers  were  paid  a  fixed  salary. 

Popham  died  at  his  house  in  Lincoln's  Inn 
Fields  on  13  Oct.  1810,  and  was  buried  in 
the  Temple  church. 

[Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.  1715-1888;  Gent. 
Mag.  1810,  ii.  397;  Toulmin's  History  of  Taun- 
ton, 1822,  pp.  330,  340;  Official  Eeturns  of 
Members  of  Parliament ;  Journals  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  xxxi  v.  534  sq. ;  The  Gaol  Distemper, 
by  A.  D.  Willcocks,  esq.,  an  address  to  the  West 
Somerset  branch  of  the  Brit.  Med.  Assoc.  in  June 
1894.]  T.  S. 

^-PpPHAM,  EDWARD  (1610P-1651), 
admiral  and  general  at  sea,  fifth  and  youngest 
son  of  Sir  Francis  Popham  [q.  v.],  was  pro- 
bably born  about  1610,  his  brother  Alexander, 
the  second  son,  having  beeen  born  in  1605. 
In  1627  Edward  and  Alexander  Popham 
were  outlawed  for  debt,  their  property  being 
assigned  to  their  creditors  ( Cal.  State  Papers, 
Dom.  23  March,  15  Aug.  1627);  but  the  age 
of  even  the  elder  of  the  brothers  suggests  that 
the  debtors  must  have  been  other  men  of  the 
same  name,  the  Edward  being  possibly  the 
man  who  represented  Bridgwater  in  parlia- 

^     Thi 

article  needs  revision.     See  Sir  Charles  Firt. 
in  The  Mariner's  Mirror,  xii.  242-43. 


Popham 


142 


Popham 


ment  from  1620  to  1620  (Returns  of  Members 
of  Parliament).  In  1636  Edward  Popham 
was  serving  as  lieutenant  of  the  Henrietta 
Maria  in  the  fleet  under  the  Earl  of  North- 
umberland (State  Papers,  Dom.  Charles  I, 
cccxliii.  72), and  in  March  1637  was  promoted 
to  be  captain  of  the  Fifth  Whelp  (ib.  cccxlix. 
38,  66,  cccl.  49).  The  Whelps  were  by  this 
time  old  and  barely  seaworthy ;  most  of  them 
had  already  disappeared,  and  in  a  fresh  breeze 
off  the  coast  of  Holland,  on  28  June  1637,  this 
one,  having  sprung  a  leak,  went  down  in  the 
open  sea,  giving  Popham  with  the  ship's  com- 
pany barely  time  to  save  themselves  in  the 
boat.  Seventeen  men  went  down  in  her. 
After  rowing  for  about  fifty  miles,  they  got  on 
board  an  English  ship  which  landed  them  at 
Rotterdam ;  thence  they  found  their  way  to 
Helvoetsluys,  where  an  English  squadron  of 
ships  of  war  was  lying  (ib.  Popham  to  Earl 
of  Northumberland,  4  July  1637,  ccclxiii. 
29).  In  1639  Popham  commanded  a  ship, 
possibly  the  Rainbow,  in  the  fleet  with  Sir 
John  Penington  [q.  v.]  in  the  Downs,  and 
was  one  of  those  who  signed  the  narrative 
of  occurrences  sent  to  the  Earl  of  Northum- 
berland (ib.  ccccxxx.  74). 

In  the  civil  war  he  threw  in  his  lot  with 
the  parliament,  of  which  his  father  and 
brother  Alexander  were  members.  On  the 
death  of  his  father  he  succeeded  him  as 
member  for  Minehead.  In  1642  Edward  and 
his  brother  Hugh  were  with  Alexander,  then 
a  deputy-lieutenant  of  Somerset,  raising  men 
for  the  parliament.  In  May  1643  Colonel 
Popham  commanded '  a  good  strength  of  horse 
and  foot'  in  Dorset,  and  relieved  Dorchester, 
then  threatened  by  Prince  Maurice  (Sir  Walter 
Erie  to  Lenthall,  3  June,  Hist.  MSS.  Comm. 
13th  Rep.  (Welbeck  Papers),  i.  711).  This 
was  probably  Edward,  as  Alexander  appears 
to  have  been  then  in  Bristol  (PBTNNB  and 
WALKER,  Trial  of  Fiennes,  App.  p.  4).  In 
June  1644  both  Pophams  were,  with  Ludlow 
and  some  others,  detached  by  Waller  into 
Somersetshire,  in  order  to  raise  recruits.  It 
proved  a  service  of  some  danger,  as,  with  a 
body  of  about  two  hundred  horse,  they  had 
to  pass  through  a  country  held  by  the  enemy 
(LVDLOW,  Memoirs,  ed.  Firth,  i.  91-3).  On 
11  June  1645  Edward  was  desired  to  repair 
to  Romsey,  take  command  of  the  troops  as- 
sembling there  for  the  relief  of  Taunton,  and 
follow  the  orders  of  Colonel  Massey  [see 
MASSEY,  SIR  EDWARD];  and  on  17  June 
Alexander  was  directed  to  command  a  party 
of  horse  to  Romsey,  there  to  receive  orders 
from  Edward.  It  would  seem  that  at  this 
time  Edward  was  considered  the  superior 
officer  (Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.)  It  is 
thus  certain  that  he  was  not  at  Naseby,  but 


probable  that  he  took  part  in  the  western 
;  campaign  of  July,  and  fought  at  Ilminster, 
Langport,  and  Bridgwater.  It  is,  however, 
curious  that  as  a  colonel,  second  in  command 
to  Massey,  his  name  is  not  mentioned.  On 
17  July  1648  he  had  instructions  to  accom- 
pany the  lord  admiral  to  sea,  the  Prince  of 
Wales  having  a  squadron  on  the  coast  [see 
RICH,  ROBERT,  EARL  or  WARWICK]  ;  but 
three  days  later  they  were  countermanded, 
and  Walter  Strickland  was  sent  in  his  stead. 
On  24  Feb.  1648-9  an  act  of  parliament  ap- 
pointed Popham,  Blake,  and  Deane  commis- 
sioners for  the  immediate  ordering  of  the 
fleet,  and  on  the  26th  their  relative  prece- 
dence was  settled  as  here  given,  the  seniority 
being  assigned  to  Popham  on  account,  it  may 
be  presumed,  of  his  rank  and  experience  in 
the  navy,  independent  of  the  fact  that  his 
brother  Alexander  was  a  member  of  the 
council  of  state.  Blake,  too,  had  already 
served  under  one  of  the  Pophams,  apparently 
Edward,  as  lieutenant-colonel  of  his  regi- 
ment, and  it  would  seem  not  improbable  that 
he  was  now  appointed  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners for  the  fleet  on  Popham's  suggestion 
[see  BLAKE,  ROBERT]. 

During  1649  Popham  commanded  in  the 
Downs  and  North  Sea,  where  privateers  of 
all  nations,  with  letters  of  marque  from  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  were  preying  on  the  east- 
coast  merchant  ships.  On  23  Aug.  the  cor- 
poration of  Yarmouth  ordered  three  good 
sheep  to  be  sent  on  board  his  ship  then  in 
the  roads  as  a  present  from  the  town  in  re- 
cognition of  his  good  service  in  convoying 
Yarmouth  ships  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  9th 
Rep.  i.  320  6).  Early  in  1650  he  was  under 
orders  to  join  Blake  at  Lisbon  with  a  strong 
reinforcement.  An  intercepted  royalist  letter 
of  date  20  Feb.  has  l  Blake  has  gone  to  sea 
with  fourteen  sail.  ...  A  second  fleet  is 
preparing  under  Ned  Popham.  His  brother 
Alexander  undertakes  to  raise  one  regiment 
of  horse,  one  of  dragoons,  and  two  of  foot  in 
the  west;  but  good  conditions,  authentically 
offered,  might  persuade  them  both  to  do 
righteous  things  '  (Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.) 
With  eight  ships  Popham  put  to  sea  in  the 
last  days  of  April,  and  having  joined  Blake, 
the  two  were  together  on  board  the  Resolu- 
tion when,  on  26  July,  Rupert  tried  to 
escape  out  of  the  Tagus.  The  close  watch 
kept  by  the  parliamentary  squadron  com- 
pelled him  to  anchor  under  the  guns  of  the 
castle,  where,  by  reason  of  a  strong  easterly 
wind,  the  others  could  not  come ;  and  two 
days  later,  finding  the  attempt  hopeless,  he 
went  back  off  Lisbon  (Popham  and  Blake  to 
council  of  state,  15  Aug. ;  Welbeck  Papers, 
i.  531). 


Popharn 


'43 


Popham 


In  November  Popliani  returned  to  Eng- 
land (Cal.  State  Papers, Dom.  14  Nov.),  and 
shortly  afterwards  resumed  his  station  in  the 
Downs  in  command  of  the  ships  in  the  North 
Sea.  He  died  of  fever  at  Dover,  and  in  actual 
command  if  not  on  board  his  ship,  on  19  Aug. 
1651.  The  news  reached  London  on  the  22nd, 
and  was  reported  to  the  house  by  Whitelocke, 
and  at  the  same  time  Sir  H.  Vane  was  ordered 
'to  go  to  Mrs.  Popham  from  the  council  and 
condole  with  her  on  the  loss  of  her  husband, 
and  to  let  her  know  what  a  memory  they  have 
of  his  services,  and  that  they  will  upon  all 
occasions  be  ready  to  show  respect  to  his 
relations  \ib.  22  Aug.)  A  year's  salary  was 
granted  to  the  widow,  Anne,  daughter  of 
William  Carr,  groom  of  the  bedchamber.  By 
her  Popham  had  two  children :  a  daughter, 
Letitia,  and  a  son,  Alexander,  whose  daughter 
Anne  married  her  second  cousin  Francis,  a 
grandson  of  Popham's  brother  Alexander, 
from  whom  the  present  Littlecote  family  is 
descended.  Popham  was  buried  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  state  in  Westminster  Abbey  in 
Henry  VII's  chapel,  where  a  monument  in 
black  and  white  marble  was  erected  to  his 
memory.  At  the  Restoration  the  body  and 
the  monument  were  removed,  but,  as  Alexan- 
der Popham  was  still  living  and  a  member 
of  parliament,  the  body  was  allowed  to  be 
taken  away  privately,  and  the  monument  to 
be  placed  in  the  chapel  of  St.  John  the 
Baptist,  the  inscription  being,  however,  ef- 
faced, as  may  still  be  seen.  A  portrait  by 
Cooper,  belonging  to  Mr.  F.  Leyborne-Pop- 
ham,  was  on  loan  at  South  Kensington  in 
1868. 

[References  in  the  text ;  Chester's  Westmin- 
ster Registers;  Burke's  Landed  Gentry.  The 
•writer  has  to  acknowledge  valuable  help  from 
Mr.  C.  H.  Firth.]  J.  K.  L. 

POPHAM,  SIR  FRANCIS  (1573-1644), 
soldier  and  politician,  born  in  1573,  only 
son  of  Sir  John  Popham  (1531  P-1607)  [q.  v.] 
of  Littlecote,  matriculated  at  Balliol  Col- 
lege, Oxford,  on  17  May  1588,  being  then  fif- 
teen (FOSTER,  Alumni  O.ronienses),  but  does 
not  seem  to  have  taken  a  degree  (CLARK, 
Oxford  Registers).  In  1589  he  was  entered 
as  a  student  of  the  Middle  Temple.  He  was 
knighted  by  the  Earl  of  Essex  at  Cadiz  in 
1596.  Between  1597  and  his  death  in  1644 
he  successively  represented  in  parliament 
Somerset,  Wiltshire,  Marlborough,  Great 
Bedwin  in  Wiltshire,  Chippenham,  and 
Minehead,  sitting  in  every  parliament  ex- 
cept the  Short  parliament.  He  would  ap- 
pear to  have  inherited  his  father's  grasping 
disposition,  without  his  legal  ability  or  train- 
ing, and  to  have  been  constantly  involved  in 
lawsuits,  which  he  was  charged  with  con- 


ducting in  a  vexatious  manner.  Like  his 
father,  he  took  an  active  interest  in  the 
settlement  of  Virginia  and  New  England,  and 
was  a  member  of  council  of  both  countries. 
He  was  buried  at  Stoke  Newington  on 
15  Aug.  1644,  but  in  March  1647  was  moved 
to  Bristol.  He  married  Ann  (b.  1575),  daugh- 
ter of  John  Dudley  of  Stoke  Newington,  and 
by  her  had  five  sons  and  eight  daughters. 

His  eldest  son,  John,  married,  in  1621, 
Mary,  daughter  of  Sir  St.  Sebastian  Harvey, 
was  a  member  for  Bath  in  the  parliament 
of  1627-8,  and  died  (without  issue)  in  or 
about  January  1638  at  Littlecote,  where  he 
was  buried  with  much  pomp  (cf.  Cal.  State 
Papers,  Dom.  20  Jan.  1638). 

Popham's  second  son,  Alexander,  born  in 
1605,  matriculated  at  Balliol  College,  Oxford, 
on  16  July  1621,  being  then  sixteen  (FOSTER, 
Alumni  Oxon.*)  In  1627  an  Alexander  Pop- 
ham  was  outlawed  as  a  debtor  and  his  pro- 
perty assigned  to  his  creditors  (Cal.  State 
Papers,  Dom.  23  March,  15  Aug.),  but  the 
identification  seems  doubtful.  From  1640 
he  sat  continuously  in  parliament  as  mem- 
ber for  Bath.  On  the  death  of  his  father  in 
1644  he  succeeded  to  the  estates  of  Little- 
cote. He  took  an  active  part  on  the  side  of 
the  parliament  in  the  civil  war;  on  the 
death  of  Charles  I  he  was  at  once  appointed 
a  member  of  the  council  of  state,  and  was 
one  of  Cromwell's  lords  in  1657,  which  did 
not  interfere  with  his  sitting  in  the  Cavalier 
parliament  of  1661,  entertaining  Charles  II 
at  Littlecote  on  his  way  to  Bath  in  1663, 
or,  as  a  deputy-lieutenant  of  Wiltshire,  tak- 
ing energetic  measures  l  to  secure  dangerous 
persons '  (ib.  2  Sept.,  14  Oct.  1663).  He  died 
in  November  1669.  Popham's  youngest  son, 
Edward,  is  separately  noticed. 

[Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United  States;  Cal. 
State  Papers,  Dom. ;  Burke's  Landed  Gentry.] 

J.  K.  L. 

POPHAM,  SIR  HOME  RIGGS  (1762- 
1820),  rear-admiral,  born  on  12  Oct.  1762 
at  Tetuan,  where  his  father,  Stephen  Popham, 
was  consul,  was  the  twenty-first  child  of  his 
mother,  who  died  in  giving  him  birth.  He 
was  educated  at  Westminster,  and,  for  a  year, 
at  Cambridge.  In  February  1778  he  entered 
the  navy  on  board  the  Hysena,  with  Captain 
Edward  Thompson  [q.  v.],  attached  to  the 
Channel  fleet  in  1779,  with  Rodney  in  the 
action  off  Cape  St.  Vincent  on  16  Jan.  1780, 
and  afterwards  in  the  West  Indies.  In  April 
1781  he  was  tranf erred  to  the  Sheilah-nagig 
(Sile  na  guig  =  Irish  female  sprite).  On 
16  June  1783  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank 
of  lieutenant,  and  was  employed  in  the  sur- 
vey of  the  coast  of  Kaffraria.  In  March  1787 


Popham 


144 


Popham 


he  obtained  leave  from  the  admiralty,  and 
went  to  Ostend,  whence  he  sailed  for  India 
in  command  of  a  merchant  ship  under  the 
imperial  flag.  At  Calcutta  he  was  favour- 
ably received  by  Lord  Cornwallis,  at  whose 
request  he  made  a  survey  of  New  Harbour 
in  the  Hooghley,  with  a  view  to  the  esta- 
blishment of  a  dockyard.  Having  returned 
to  Ostend,  he  made  a  second  voyage  in  1790, 
with  a  cargo  belonging  wholly  or  in  great 
part  to  an  English  house  at  Ostend.  At 
Calcutta  he  undertook  to  carry  a  cargo  of 
rice  to  the  Malabar  coast  for  the  use  of  the 
company's  army,  but  was  driven  to  the  east- 
ward by  the  strength  of  the  monsoon,  and 
forced  to  bear  up  for  Pulo  Penang.  There, 
while  the  ship  was  refitting,  he  made  an  exact 
survey  of  the  island,  and  discovered  a  new 
channel  to  the  southward,  through  which, 
in  the  spring  of  1792,  he  piloted  the  com- 

ry's  fleet  to  China.  For  this  piece  of  work 
was  presented  with  a  gold  cup  by  the 
governor-general  in  council,  who  also  wrote 
very  strongly  in  his  favour  to  the  court  of 
directors,  requesting  them  to  represent  Pop- 
ham's  services  to  the  admiralty  '  in  the  terms 
they  merit.'  He  was  at  this  time  on  terms 
of  intimacy  with  the  deputy-governor  and 
several  members  of  the  council ;  and  with 
their  knowledge  in  December  1791  he  pur- 
chased and  fitted  out,  at  a  cost  of  about 
20,000/.,  an  American  ship,  the  President 
Washington,  whose  name  he  changed  to 
Etrusco.  In  her  he  went  to  China,  took  on  j 
board  a  cargo  to  the  value  of  near  50,000/., 
the  joint  property  of  himself  and  two  mer- 
chants, apparently  French,  the  freight  of 
which,  to  the  amount  of  40, GOO/.,  was  en- 
tirely his  own.  On  arriving  at  Ostend  in 
July  1793  the  Etrusco  was  seized  by  the 
English  frigate  Brilliant,  brought  into  the 
Thames,  claimed  as  a  prize  for  having  French 
property  on  board,  and  condemned  as  a  droit 
of  admiralty,  apparently  for  illegal  trading 
in  contravention  of  the  charter  of  the  English 
East  India  Company.  Popham's  contention 
was  virtually  that  he  had  rendered  important 
services  to  the  company,  and  that  his  voyage 
was  sanctioned  by  the  governor-general  in 
council.  The  case  was  the  subject  of  pro- 
longed litigation.  It  was  not  till  1805  that 
Popham  received  a  grant  of  25,000/.  as  a 
compensation  for  the  loss  of  about  70,000/., 
the  value  of  his  stake  in  the  Etrusco,  not 
including  the  heavy  costs  of  the  lawsuit  (Part. 
Papers,  1808,  vol.  x.  ;  Parl  Hist.  11  Feb. 
1808;  2^».CAro».xix.l51,312,406;  Edin. 
Rev.  May  1820,  pp.  482-3). 

Meantime,  and  immediately  on  his  return 
to  England  in  1793,  Popham,  under  the  im- 
mediate orders  of  Captain  Thompson,  was 


:  attached  to  the  army  in  Flanders  under  the 
Duke  of  York,  who  on  27  July  1794  for- 
warded to  the  admiralty  a  strong  commenda- 
tion of  the  conduct  and  services  of  Popham 
as  superintendent  of  the  inland  navigation. 
'  His  unremitting  zeal  and  active  talents  have 
been  successfully  exerted  in  saving  much 
public  property  on  the  leaving  of  Tournay, 
Ghent,  and  Antwerp.'  He  therefore  requested 
that  Popham  might {  be  promoted  in  the  line 
of  his  profession,  and  still  be  continued  in 
his  present  employment,  where  his  service 
is  essentially  necessary'  (Nav.  Chron.  xix. 
407).  The  recommendation  was  not  attended 
to  till  after  a  second  letter  from  his  royal 
highness,  when  the  commission  as  commander 
was  dated  26  Nov.  1794.  When  the  cam- 
paign was  ended  the  duke  wrote  again,  on 
19  March  1795,  and  this  time  personally  to 
the  first  lord  of  the  admiralty,  commending 
Popham's  exertions,  and  concluding  with  a- 
request  that  he  might  '  be  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  post  captain.'  This  was  accordingly 
done  on  4  April  1795. 

In  the  years  immediately  following  Pop- 
ham  drew  up  a  plan  for  the  establishment 
and  organisation  of  the  sea-fencibles,  and  in 
1798  he  was  appointed  to  command  the  dis- 
trict from  Deal  to  Beachy  Head.  In  May 
he  had  command  of  the  naval  part  of  the 
expedition  to  Ostend  to  destroy  the  sluices- 
of  the  Bruges  Canal  [see  COOTE,  Sm  EYRE, 
1762-1824?],  and  in  1799  was  sent  to  Cron- 
stadt  in  the  Nile  lugger  to  make  arrange- 
ments for  the  embarkation  of  a  body  of 
Russian  troops  for  service  in  Holland.  The 
emperor,  with  the  empress  and  court,  visited 
him  on  board  the  lugger,  presented  him  with 
a  gold  snuff-box  set  with  diamonds,  and  con- 
stituted him  a  knight  of  Malta,  an  honour 
which  was  afterwards  sanctioned  by  his  own 
sovereign.  The  empress,  too,  gave  him  a 
diamond  ring.  After  inspecting  several  of 
the  Russian  ports  and  making  the  necessary 
arrangements,  Popham  returned  to  England. 
In  the  following  winter  he  had  command  of 
a  small  squadron  of  gunboats  on  the  Alkmaar 
Canal,  and  was  able  to  render  efficient  sup- 
port to  the  army  in  its  first  encounter  with  the 
enemy.  The  expedition,  however,  ended  in 
disaster,  and  the  troops  returned  ingloriously. 
Popham's  services  were  rewarded  with  a  pen- 
sion of  500/.  a  year. 

In  1800  he  was  appointed  to  the  Romney 
of  50  guns,  in  command  of  a  small  squadron 
ordered  to  convoy  troops  from  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope  and  from  India  up  the  Red  Sea, 
to  co-operate  with  the  army  in  Egypt  under 
Sir  Ralph  Abercromby,  and  to  conclude  a 
commercial  treaty  with  the  Arabs  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Jeddah.  When  this  had 


Popham 


Popham 


been  done  he  went  to  Calcutta,  and,  while 
the  Romney  was  refitting,  was  up  country 
in  attendance  on  the  governor-general,  the 
Marquis  Wellesley.  He  afterwards  joined 
the  commander-in-chief,  Vice-admiral  Rai- 
nier, at  Penang,  was  sent  to  Madras,  and 
again  into  the  Red  Sea.  At  Suez  he  had 
charge  of  the  embarkation  of  the  troops  for 
India ;  at  Jeddah  he  brought  the  negotiations 
with  the  Arabs  to  a  satisfactory  end;  and 
sailed  for  England,  where  he  arrived  early  in 
1803.  There  had  been  already  some  objec- 
tions made  to  the  expenditure  on  the  repairs 
of  the  Romney  at  Calcutta ;  and  though  the 
bills  drawn  by  Popham  had  been  paid,  the 
amount  was  charged  as  an  imprest  against 
him.  A  strict  investigation  was  now  or- 
dered, and  on  20  Feb.  1804  the  navy  board 
reported,  with  many  details,  that  the  ex- 
penditure had  been  '"enormous  and  extraor- 
dinary.' The  admiralty  handed  the  papers 
over  to  the  commissioners  of  naval  inquiry, 
saying  that  they  had  neither  power  nor  time 
to  investigate  an  expenditure  which  '  ap- 
peared to  have  been  of  the  most  enormous 
and  profligate  nature.' 

It  was  not  till  13  Sept.  1804  that  Popham 
could  obtain  a  copy  of  the  report,  and  then 
without  the  papers  on  which  it  was  based. 
In  the  following  February  they  were  laid  on 
the  table  of  the  House  of  Commons.  As 
early  as  August  1803  Popham  had  had 

grinted,  and  circulated  privately, '  A  Concise 
tatement  of  Facts  relative  to  the  Treat- 
ment experienced  by  Sir  Home  Popham  since 
Ms  return  from  the  Red  Sea.'  This  was  now 
published,  and  appeared  to  show  that  further 
investigation  was  necessary.  On  7  May  1805 
the  House  of  Commons  appointed  a  select 
committee  to  examine  into  the  business  ;  but 
the  navy  board  had  already  been  desired  to 
Teconsider  their  report,  and  had  been  obliged 
to  admit  that  it  was  inaccurate.  Their  re- 
vised report,  dated  1  April  1805,  showed  that 
evidence  had  been  taken  irregularly  and  im- 
properly ;  the  testimony  of  commissioned 
officers  had  been  refused  ;  Popham  himself 
had  not  been  heard.  Sums  of  money  had  been 
counted  twice  over,  and  the  whole  expen- 
diture had  been  exaggerated  from  a  little 
over  7,000/.  to  something  more  than  ten 
times  that  amount.  The  commissioners  of 
the  navy  feebly  explained  that  they  had 
placed  implicit  reliance  on  the  accuracy  and 
industry  of  Benjamin  Tucker  [q.  v.],  and 
that  their  confidence  had  been  misplaced. 
The  select  committee  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons reported  in  a  sense  equally  conclusive ; 
and  Popham's  innocence  of  a  charge  which 
.should  never  have  been  made  was  established. 
Lord  St.  Vincent  appears  to  have  had  a  strong 

VOL.   XLVI. 


prejudice  against  Popham,  and  it  is  not  im- 
probable that  Tucker  believed  that  Popham's 
ruin  would  not  be  displeasing  to  his  patron, 
who  had  no  personal  knowledge  of  the 
matter. 

In  the  summer  of  1804,  while  the  charges 
were  still  pending,  the  lords  of  the  admi- 
ralty had  appointed  Popham  to  the  50-gun 
ship  Antelope,  one  of  the  squadron  on  the 
Downs  station,  under  the  command  of  Lord 
Keith.  In  December  they  moved  him  to 
the  Diadem  of  64  guns  in  the  Channel,  and, 
after  the  report  of  the  select  committee  had 
been  delivered,  directed  him  to  hoist  a  broad 
pennant  as  commodore  and  commander-in- 
chief  of  an  expedition  against  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  in  co-operation  with  a  land 
force  under  Sir  David  Baird  [q.  v.]  On 
4  Jan.  1806  the  squadron,  with  the  transports, 
anchored  near  Robben  Island  ;  but  the  land- 
ing was  not  completed  till  the  morning  of 
the  7th,  and  after  a  feeble  resistance  Cape 
Town  and  the  whole  colony  surrendered  on 
the  10th.  In  April  Popham  was  informed 
by  the  master  of  an  American  merchant- 
ship  that  the  inhabitants  of  Monte  Video 
and  Buenos  Ayres  were  groaning  under  the 
tyranny  of  their  government,  and  would 
welcome  a  British  force  as  liberators.  In 
consultation  with  Baird  he  resolved  to  take 
advantage  of  what  seemed  a  favourable  op- 
portunity of  gaining  possession  of  these 
places,  and  with  some  twelve  hundred  sol- 
diers, under  the  command  of  Brigadier- 
general  William  Carr  Beresford  (afterwards 
Viscount  Beresford)  [q.  v.],  sailed  from  Table 
Bay  a  few  days  afterwards.  In  the  middle 
of  June  the  expedition  arrived  in  the  Rio  de 
la  Plata  ;  on  the  25th  the  troops,  which,  in- 
cluding a  marine  battalion,  numbered  about 
sixteen  hundred  men,  were  landed  near 
Buenos  Ayres.  The  resistance  of  the  Spanish 
troops  was  merely  nominal,  the  governor 
fled  to  Cordova,  and  on  2  July  the  town 
surrendered  and  was  taken  possession  of  by 
Beresford.  A  few  days  later,  however,  the 
inhabitants,  who  had  discovered  the  small- 
ness  of  the  English  force,  rose  in  their  thou- 
sands and  overwhelmed  Beresford,  who,  with 
the  garrison  of  about  thirteen  hundred  men, 
became  prisoners.  Popham  could  do  nothing 
beyond  blockading  the  river,  till  the  arrival 
of  reinforcements  in  October  permitted  him 
to  take  the  offensive  and  to  occupy  the  har- 
bour of  Maldonado.  On  5  Jan.  1807  he  was 
superseded  by  Rear-admiral  Charles  Stirling, 
and  ordered  to  return  to  England,  where,  on 
his  arrival  in  the  middle  of  February,  he 
was  put  under  arrest  preparatory  to  being 
tried  by  court-martial  on  a  charge  of  having 
withdrawn  the  squadron  from  the  Cape  of 


Popham 


146 


Popham 


Good  Hope  without  orders,  thereby  exposing 
the  colony  to  great  danger.     On  this  charge 
he  was  tried  at  Portsmouth  on  6  March  anc 
following  days.  He  argued  with  much  ability 
that,  the  work  at  Cape  Town  having  been  ac- 
complished and  the  safety  of  the  town  assured 
it  was  his  duty  to  seize  any  opportunity  of 
distressing  the  enemy.     But  he  was  unable 
to  convince  the  court,  and  was  accordingly 
'  severely  reprimanded.'    The  judgment  was 
strictly  in  accordance  with  established  usage 
The  city  of  London,  on  the  other  hand, 
considering  Popham's   action   as   a  gallant 
attempt  to  open  out  new  markets,  presented 
him  with  a  sword  of  honour  (Nav.  Chron. 
(xix.  33).  But  even  in  the  navy  the  reprimand 
had  no  serious  consequences.    In  the  follow- 
ing July,  notwithstanding  a  remonstrance 
from  Sir  Samuel  Hood  [q.  v.],  Sir  Richard 
Goodwin  Keats  [q.  v.],  and  Robert  Stopford 
[q.  v.]  (ib.  pp.  68-71),  Popham  was  appointed 
captain  of  the  fleet  with  Admiral  James  Gam- 
bier  (afterwards  Lord  Gambier)  [q.  v.],  in  the 
expedition  against  Copenhagen,  and — in  con- 
junction with  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley,  after- 
wards duke  of  Wellington,  and  Lieutenant- 
colonel  George  Murray — was  a  commissioner 
for  settling  the  terms  of  the  capitulation  by 
which  all  the  Danish  ships  of  war  were  sur- 
rendered.     In    1809    he    commanded    the 
Venerable  of  74  guns  in  the  expedition  to 
the  Scheldt  under  Sir  Richard  John  Strachan 
[q.  v.],  and  by  his  local  knowledge  rendered 
efficient  service  in  piloting  the  fleet.     Still 
in  the   Venerable   in   1812,   he    had    com- 
mand of  a  small  squadron  on  the  north  coast 
of  Spain,  co-operating  with  the   guerillas. 
On  4  June  1814  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank 
of  rear-admiral,  and  on  the  reconstitution 
of  the   order   of  the   Bath,  in   1815,   was 
nominated  a  K.C.B.    From  1817  to  1820  he 
was   commander-in-chief    on    the   Jamaica 
station,  and,  returning  to  England  in  broken 
health    in  July,    died    at   Cheltenham    on 
10  Sept.  1820.     He  married,  in  1788,  Betty, 
daughter   of   Captain  Prince   of    the   East 
India  Company's  military  service,  and  by  her 
had  a  large  family. 

Popham's  services  were  distinguished,  but, 
being  for  the  most  part  ancillary  to  military 
operations,  they  did  not  win  for  him  much 
popular  recognition.  He  was  well  versed  in 
the  more  scientific  branches  of  his  profession, 
and  was  known  as  an  excellent  surveyor  and 
astronomical  observer.  When  in  the  Red  Sea, 
in  the  Romney,  he  determined  many  longi- 
tudes by  chronometer  (Nav.  Chron.  x.  202), 
a  method  at  that  time  but  rarely  employed. 
He  was  also  the  inventor,  or  rather  the  adapter, 
of  a  code  of  signals  which  was  adopted  by 
the  admiralty  in  1803,  and  continued  in  use 


for  many  years.  He  was  elected  F.R.S.  in 
1799,  but  contributed  nothing  to  the  So- 
ciety's '  Transactions.' 

An  anonymous  portait,  which  has  been  en- 
graved, is  in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery. 
[Sir   Home    Popham :    a    memoir    privately 
printed  in  1807,  ending  with  the  court-martial ; 
in  the  account  of  public  matters  it  is  very  in- 
accurate.    The  Memoir  (with  a  portrait)  in  the 
Naval  Chronicle,  xvi.  265,  353,  is  based  on  this, 
adding  a  few  more  errors.     Gent.  Mag.  1820,  ii. 
274;  Parliamentary  Papers,  1805  vols.  iv.  and 
x.,  1816  xviii.  115  ;  Minutes  of  the  Court-mar- 
tial (printed  1807,  8vo) ;  James's  Naval  History ; 
Navy    Lists ;     information    from    the    family. 
Several  pamphlets  relating  to  the  repairs  of  the 
Romney  were  published  in  1805,  among  which, 
in  addition  to  Popham's  own  'Concise  Statement 
of  Facts  '  already  referred  to,  may  be  mentioned 
'  Observations  on  a  Pamphlet  which  has  been 
privately   circulated,   said    to    be    "  A   Concise 
Statement  of  Facts  .  .  .,"  to  which  is  added  a 
copy  of  the  Report  made  by  the  Navy  Board  to 
the  Admiralty  .  .  .,'  anonymous,  but  admitted 
to  be  by  Benjamin  Tucker;  'A  few  brief  re- 
marks on  a  pamphlet  published  by  some  Indi- 
dividuals   supposed  to  be   connected  with   the 
late   Board   of  Admiralty,    entitled   "  Observa- 
tions, &c."  (as  above),  in  which  the  calumnies 
of  those  writers  are  examined  and  exposed,'  by 
'^Eschines,' who  disclaims  any  personal  acquaint- 
ance with  Popham,  but  is  overflowing  with  venom 
against  Tucker  and  St.  Vincent ;  and '  Chronologi- 
cal arrangement  of  the  accounts  and  papers  printed 
by  Order  of  the  Hoiise  of  Commons  in  February, 
March,  and  April  1805,  respecting  the  repairs  of 
the  Romney  .  .  .  with  their  material  contents 
and  some  lew  cursory  remarks  in  elucidation/ 
The  complete  vindication  of  Popham  is,  however, 
to  be  sought  rather  in  the  Parliamentary  Papers 
Iready  referred  to.]  J.  K.  L. 

POPHAM,  SIR  JOHN  (d.  1463  ?),  mili- 
tary commander  and  speaker-elect  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  was  son  of  Sir  John 
Popham,  a  younger  son  of  the  ancient  Hamp- 
shire family  of  Popham  of  Popham  between 
Basingstoke  and  Winchester.  His  mother's 
name  seems  to  have  been  Mathilda  (Ancient 
Deeds,  i.  217  ;  Cal  Rot.  Pat.  p.  322).  His 
uncle,  Henry  Popham,  the  head  of  the  family, 
inherited,  through  an  heiress,  the  estates  of 
;he  Sainh  Martins  at  Grinstead  in  Wiltshire, 
Dean  in  Hampshire,  and  Alverstone  in  the 
[sle  of  Wight ;  served  as  knight  of  the  shire 
for  Hampshire  in  various  parliaments,  from 
1383  to  1404,  and  died  in  1418  or  1419  (ib. 
pp.  198,  252  ;  Cal  Inq.  post  mortem,  iv.  36 ; 
;he  family  tree  in  BEEEY'S  Pedigrees  of  Hants, 
).  181,  cannot  be  reconciled  with  the  docu- 
mentary evidence).  From  a  collateral  branch, 
settled  at  Huntworth,  near  Bridgwater,  Sir 
Fohn  Popham  [q.  v.],  the  chief  justice,  was 
descended. 


Popham 


147 


Popham 


In  1415  Popham  was  constable  of  South- 
ampton  Castle,   and  in  that  capacity  had 
the  custody  of  the  Earl  of  Cambridge  and 
the  others  engaged  in  the  conspiracy  dis- 
covered there  just  before  the  king  set  sail 
for  France  (Rot.  Parl.  iv.  66  ;  cf.  Ord.  Privy 
Council,  ii.  33).     He  took  part  in  that  expe- 
dition at  the  head  of  thirty  men-at-arms  and 
ninety  archers.    Two  years  later  he  was  one 
of  Henry's  most  prominent  followers  in  the 
conquest    of   Normandy,  became  bailli   of 
Caen,  and  received  a  grant  of  the  seigniory 
of  Thorigny  sur  Vire,  forfeited  by  Herve 
de  Mauny.     Henry  also  gave  him  the  con- 
stableship  of  the  castle  of  Snith  for  life  (ib. 
v.  179).     Continuing  in  the  French  wars 
under  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  Popham  became 
chancellor  of  Anjou  and  Maine,  and  captain 
of  St.  Susanne  in  the  latter  county.     He  is 
sometimes  described  as  'chancellor  of  the 
regent '  (Paris  pendant  la  Domination  An- 
glaise,  p.  298).    After  Bedford's  death  he  was 
appointed  to  serve  on  the  Duke  of  York's 
council  in  Normandy,  but  showed  some  re- 
luctance, and  stipulated  for  the  payment  of 
his  arrears,  and  for  his  return  at  the  end  of 
the  year.     In  1437  he  was  appointed  trea- 
surer of  the  household,  but  before  the  year 
closed  French  affairs   again   demanded  his 
presence,  and  he  acted  as  ambassador  in  the 
peace  negotiations  of  1438-9.     The  Duke  of 
York,    on    being    reappointed     lieutenant- 
governor  of  France  in  1440,  requested  his 
assistance  as  a  member  of  his  council  (STE- 
VENSON, ii.  [586]).    In  the  parliament  of  No- 
vember 1449,  in  which  he  sat  for  Hampshire, 
his  native  county,  he  was  chosen  speaker. 
He  begged  the  king  to  excuse  him,  on  the 
ground  of  the  infirmities  of  an  old  soldier 
and  the  burden  of  advancing  age ;  his  re- 
quest was  acceded  to,  and  William  Tresham 
accepted  in  his  stead  (Rot.  Parl.  v.    171). 
The  Yorkists  in  1455  reduced  his  pension, 
and  he  seems  to  have  been  deprived  of  his 
post  at  court  (ib.  v.  312).  He  died,  apparently, 
in  1463  or  1464  (Cal.  Inq.  post  mortem,  iv. 
320, 338,  cf.  p.  375).    There  is  no  satisfactory 
evidence  that  he  married,  and  his  lands  ulti- 
mately passed  to  the  four  coheiresses  of  his 
cousin,  Sir  Stephen  Popham  (son  of  Henry 
Popham),  who  had  died  in  1445  or  1446 
(Cal.  Rot.  Pat.  p.  322;  cf.  BEERY,  p.  21). 
One  of  them  married  Thomas  Hampden  of 
Buckinghamshire.      The  male    line   of  the 
Pophams  thus  died  out  in  its  original  seat. 

[Rotuli  Parliamentorum  ;  Kymer's  Fcedera, 
original  edition  ;  Proceedings  and  Ordinances  of 
the  Privy  Council,  ed.  Harris  Nicolas ;  Steven- 
son's Wars  in  France,  Kolls  Ser. ;  Returns  of 
Names  of  Members  of  Parliament  (1878);  Cal. 
Inquis.  post  mortem  and  Cal.  Eot.  Pat.  publ.  by 


Record  Commission;  Calendar  of  Ancient  Deeds, 
publ.  by  the  Master  of  the  Rolls;  Paris  pendant 
la  Domination  Anglaise,  ed.  Longnon  for  Soc.  de 
1'Histoirede  Paris;  Warner's  Hampshire;  Berry's 
Pedigrees  of  Hants  (1833).]  J.  T-T. 

POPHAM,   SIE  JOHN    (1531  P-1607), 
chief-j  ustice  of  the  king's  bench,  born  at  Hunt- 
worth  in  Somerset  about  1531,  was  the  second 
son  of  Alexander  Popham  by  Jane,  daughter 
{  of  Sir  Edward  Stradling  of  St.  Donat's  Castle, 
I  Glamorganshire  (  Visitation  of  Somerset,  Harl. 
j  Soc.  xi.  125;  CLARK,  LimbusPatrum,pA37). 
\  It  is  stated  (CAMPBELL,  Lives  of  the  Chief 
Justices,  i.  209)  that  while  quite  a  child  he 
was  stolen  by  a  band  of  gipsies;  but  the 
story  is  probably  no  more  than  a  gloss  upon 
a  statement  made  by  Aubrey  (Letters  by  Emi- 
nent Persons,  ii.  492),  and  repeated  in  more 
detail  by  Lloyd   (State    Worthies},  to  the 
effect  e  that  in  his  youthful  days  he  was  a 
stout  and  skilful  man  at  sword  and  buckler 
as  any  in  that  age,  and  wild  enough  in  his 
recreations,  consorting  with  profligate  com- 
panions, and  even  at  times  wont  to  take  a 
purse  with  them.'     It  is  more  certain  that 
he  was  educated  at  Balliol  College,  Oxford, 
and  subsequently  entered  the  Middle  Temple, 
becoming  reader  in  the  autumn  of  1568,  and 
treasurer   twelve    years  later.      A   certain 
John  Popham  is  mentioned  (Official  List  of 
Members    of  Parliament)   as    representing 
Lyme  Regis  in  Queen  Mary's  last  parlia- 
ment, but  his  identity  is  uncertain.     Pop- 
ham,  however,  represented  Bristol,  of  which 
city  he  was  recorder,  in  the  third  or  fourth 
parliament  of  Queen  Elizabeth— i.e.  in  157] 
—and  from  1572  to  1583  (BAEKETT,  History 
of  Bristol,  p.  156).     He  was  created  a  privy 
councillor  in  1571,  and  in  the  following  ses- 
sion (1576)  assisted  in  drafting  bills  for  a 
subsidy,  for  abolishing  promoters  and  for  pre- 
venting idleness  by  setting  the  poor  to  work. 
Meanwhile  he  had  acquired  considerable 
reputation  as  a  lawyer,  and  on  28  Jan.  1578-9 
he  was  specially  called  to  the  degree  of  the 
coif.    In  the  same  year  he  accepted  the  post 
of  solicitor-general,  considering  that,  though 
inferior  in  rank  to  that  of  a  serjeant-at-law, 
it   more  certainly  led   to  judicial  honours 
(DUGDALE,  Orig.  Jurid.  p.  127;  Chron.  Ser. 
p.  95).  The  death  of  Sir  Robert  Bell  [q.  v.]  in 
1579  having  rendered  the  speakership  vacant, 
Popham  was  elected  to  the  chair  on  20  Jan. 
1580.     On  taking  his  seat  he  desired  the 
members  to  (  see  their  servants,  pages,  and 
lackies   attending    on  them   kept   in   good 
order'  (D'EwES,  Journal,  p.  282).     A  few 
days  later  he  was  sharply  reprimanded  by  the 
queen  for  allowing  the  house  to  infringe  her 
prerogative  by  appointing  a  day  of  public  fast 
ing  and  humiliation.   He  confessed  his  fault- 

L  2 


Popham 


148 


Popharn 


and  it  is  said  (BACON,  Apophthegms]  that  on 
being  asked  by  the  queen  shortly  before  the 
prorogation  of  parliament  what  had  passed 
in  the  house,  he  wittily  replied,  '  If  it  please 
your  Majesty,  seven  weeks.'  On  1  June 
1581  he  succeeded  Sir  Gilbert  Gerard  [q.  v.], 
created  master  of  the  rolls,  as  attorney- 
general.  He  held  the  post  for  eleven  years, 
and  took  a  prominent  part  as  crown  prosecu- 
tor in  many  state  trials  (HowELL,  State 
Trials,  i.  1050-1329).  Popham  endeavoured 
to  discharge  his  difficult  office  with  humanity. 

In  1586  he  was  induced  to  offer  himself  as 
an  undertaker  in  the  plantation  of  Munster 
in  conjunction  with  his  sons-in-law,  Edward 
Rogers  and  Roger  Warre,  and  lands  were 
accordingly  assigned  to  him  in  co.  Cork; 
but  after  he  spent  1,200/.  in  transporting 
labourers  thither,  the  difficulties  he  encoun- 
tered led  him  to  desist  from  the  enterprise 
( Cat.  State  Papers,  Irel.  Eliz.  iii.  77, 449, 508). 
He  was,  however,  appointed  to  assist  Chief- 
justice  Anderson  and  Baron  Gent  in  examin- 
ing and  compounding  all  claims  to  escheated 
lands  in  Munster  in  1588.  He  landed  at 
Waterford  on  22  Aug.,  returning  to  England, 
apparently,  in  the  autumn  of  the  following 
year.  He  succeeded  Sir  Christopher  Wray 
[q.  v.]  as  lord  chief  justice  on  2  June  1592, 
and  at  the  same  time  was  knighted.  He 
presided  over  the  court  of  king's  bench 
for  the  remaining  fifteen  years  of  his  life. 
On  the  occasion  of  the  Earl  of  Essex's  in- 
surrection, he  went,  with  other  high  officers 
of  state,  to  Essex  House  on  8  Feb.  1601  for 
the  purpose  of  remonstrating  with  him,  and 
was,  with  them,  confined  in  a  '  back  chamber ' 
in  the  house  for  several  hours.  He  refused  an 
offer  of  release  for  himself  alone  (DEVERETJX, 
Lives  of  the  Earls  of  Essex,  ii.  143).  At  the 
trials  arising  out  of  the  rebellion  he  com- 
bined somewhat  incongruously  the  characters 
of  witness  and  judge  (HowELL,  State  Trials, 
i.  1429). 

Shortly  after  the  accession  of  James  T,  Pop- 
ham  presided  at  the  trial  of  Sir  Walter  Ralegh, 
ftnd  very  feebly  interposed  to  mitigate  the 
violence  of  the  attorney-general,  Sir  Edward 
Coke.  His  decision  that  the  evidence  of  one 
person,  whom  it  was  not  necessary  to  pro- 
duce in  open  court,  was  sufficient  in  cases 
of  treason,  was  not — as  is  sometimes  sup- 
posed— an  attempt  to  twist  the  law  against 
the  prisoner,  but  the  interpretation  univer- 
sally placed  upon  the  law  of  treason,  as  it 
was  supposed  to  have  been  modified  by  the 
•statute  1  and  2  Philip  and  Mary,  cap.  10  (cf. 
GARDINER,  Hist,  of  Engl  i.  130).  Though 
apparently  convinced  of  Ralegh's  guilt,  he 
sympathised  sincerely  with  him.  As  a  mem- 
•b'jr  of  parliament  Popham  had  sat  on  several 


committees  to  devise  means  for  effectually 
punishing  rogues  and  vagabonds  by  setting 
them  to  work,  and  as  lord  chief  justice  he  had 
assisted  in  drafting  the  Act  39  Eliz.  cap.  4, 
whereby  banishment  'into  such  parts  beyond 
the  seas  as  shall  be  at  any  time  hereafter  for 
that  purpose  assigned/  was  for  the  first  time 
appointed  as  the  punishment  for  vagrancy. 
Taken  in  connection  with  his  exertions  in 
1606  in  procuring  patents  for  the  London 
and  Plymouth  companies  for  the  colonisation 
of  Virginia,  it  is  perhaps  not  difficult  to  see 
what  meaning  is  to  be  attached  to  Aubrey's 
statement  that  he  'first  sett  afotte  the  Plan- 
tations, e.g.  Virginia,  which  he  stockt  and 
planted  out  of  all  the  gaoles  of  England.' 
Whether  the  Popham  colony  was  really  com- 
posed of  the  offscourings  of  English  gaols  is  a 
moot-point  which  has  been  discussed  at  con- 
siderable length,  and  with  no  little  acrimony, 
in  America  (WINSOR'S  Hist,  of  America,  iii. 
175,  209).  Popham  presided  at  the  trial  of 
Guy  Fawkes  and  the  other  conspirators  in  the 
*  gunpowder  plot '  in  1606.  He  sat  on  the 
bench  till  Easter  term,  1607. 

He  died  on  10  June  1607,  and  was  buried 
at  Wellington  in  Somerset  in  the  chapel  on 
the  south  side  of  the  parish  church.  His 
wife  lies  beside  him,  and  a  noble  monument 
was  erected  over  them,  with  effigies  of  him 
and  his  wife.  On  the  outskirts  of  the  town 
stood  Popham's  house,  a  large  and  stately 
mansion,  which  was  destroyed  during  the 
civil  wars.  In  accordance  with  his  will, 
dated  21  Sept.  1604,  a  hospital  was  erected 
at  the  west  end  of  the  town  for  the  main- 
tenance of  twelve  poor  and  aged  people, 
whereof  six  were  to  be  men  and  six  women, 
and  for  two  poor  men's  children.  During  his 
lifetime  he  acquired  by  purchase  several  con- 
siderable estates  in  Somerset,  Wiltshire,  and 
Devonshire.  According  to  an  improbable 
story  recorded  by  Aubrey,  and  alluded  to  by 
Sir  Walter  Scott  in  his  notes  to  '  Rokeby,' 
Littlecote  in  Wiltshire  was  the  price  paid 
to  him  by  Darell,  its  previous  owner,  a  dis- 
tant kinsman,  for  corruptly  allowing  him  to 
escape  the  legal  consequences  of  a  most  atro- 
cious murder.  Popham  doubtless  acquired 
the  property  by  purchase.  Aubrey  adds  that 
Popham  '  first  brought  in  [i.e.  revived]  brick- 
building  in  London  (sc.  after  Lincolne's  Inn 
and  St.  James's).' 

Popham  was  a  sound  lawyer  and  a  severe 
judge.  Shortly  after  his  death  Lord  Elles- 
mere  alluded  to  him  as  '  a  man  of  great  wis- 
dom and  of  singular  learning  and  judgement 
in  the  law '  (HOWELL,  State  Trials,  ii.  669), 
and  Coke  spoke  of  him  with  like  admiration 
(6th  Rep.  p.  75). 

According  to  Fuller  (  Worthies,  ii.  284), 


Popple 


149 


Popple 


he  is  said  to  have  advised  James  to  be  more 
sparing  of  his  pardons  to  highwaymen  and 
cutpurses.  His  severity  towards  thieves  was 
proverbial,  and  it  is  referred  to  by  Dr.  Donne 
in  his  poetical  epistle  to  Ben  Jonson  (1603). 
According  to  Aubrey  '  he  was  a  huge,  heavie, 
ugly  man.'  His  portrait  and  a  chair  belong- 
ing to  him  are  at  Littlecote  (BKITTON, 
Beauties  of  Wiltshire,  iii.  259).  Another, 
by  an  unknown  hand,  is  in  the  National 
Portrait  Gallery,  London  ;  and  a  third  (also 
anonymous)  belonged  in  1866  to  the  Duke 
of  Manchester. 

Popham  was  the  author  of  '  Reports  and 
Cases  adjudged  in  the  Time  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, written  with  his  own  hand  in  French,' 
translated  and  published  posthumously  in 
1656 ;  but  the  book  is  not  regarded  as  an 
authority.  A  number  of  legal  opinions  ex- 
pressed by  him  are  preserved  in  the  Lans- 
downe  collection  of  manuscripts  in  the  British 
Museum  (1.  26-8,  39,  64,  70,  Ivii.  50,  72, 
Ixi.  78,lxviii.  18).  His  opinion  on  Sir  Walter 
Ralegh's  case  touching  the  entail  of  the 
manor  of  Sherborne  is  in  Additional  MS. 
6177,  f.  393. 

Popham  married  Amy,  daughter  and  heiress 
of  Robert  Games  of  Castleton  in  St.  Tathan's, 
Glamorganshire  (or  by  other  accounts,  Ann, 
daughter  and  heiress  of  Howel  ap  Adam  of 
Castleton).  Her  portrait,  by  an  unknown 
hand,  belonged  in  1866  to  Mr.  F.  L.  Pop- 
ham.  Sir  John  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 
Sir  Francis  Popham  [q.  v.]  According  to 
Aubrey,  Popham '  left  a  vast  estate  to  his  son, 
Sir  Francis  (I  thinke  ten  thousand  pounds 
per  annum) ;  [the  latter]  lived  like  a  hog,  but 
his  son  John  was  a  great  waster,  and  dyed 
in  his  father's  time.' 

[Foss's  Judges,  vi.  179-85;  Wood's  Athense 
Oxon.  ed. Bliss,  ii.  20;  Collinson's  Hist,  of  Somer- 
set, ii.  483,  iii.  71  ;  Aubrey's  Lives  of  Eminent  Men 
in  Letters  from  the  Bodleian  Library,  ii.  492-5  ; 
Notes  and  Queries,  1st  ser.  viii.  218 ;  Somerset- 
shire Archseol.  Soc.  Proceedings,  xi.  40-1 ;  Man- 
ning's Speakers  of  the  House  of  Commons.  A 
number  of  letters  and  documents  written  by  or 
relating  to  Popham  will  be  found  in  Harl.  MSS 
286,  6995-7;  Egerton  MSS.  1693  f.  122,  2618 
f.  11,  2644  f.  78,  2651  f.  1,  2714  f.  32  ;  Addit. 
MSS.  5485  f.  212,  5753  f.  250,  5756  f.  106, 
6178  ff. 613,  653,  705,803, 15561  f.  99, 19398 f.  97, 
27959  f.  21,  27961  ff.  9,  10,  28223  f.  13,  28607 
f.  33,  32092  f.  145,  33271  f.  186;  Lansd.  MSS. 
xlv.  34,  Ixi.  53,  Ixviii.  90,  Ixxvii.  50.]  K.  D. 

POPPLE,  WILLIAM  (1701-1764),  dra- 
matist, born  in  1701,  was  the  only  son  of 
William  Popple  of  St.  Margaret's,  Westmin- 
ster, who  died  in  1722,  and  was  buried  at 
Hampstead,  by  his  wife  Anne. 

His  grandfather,  also  WILLIAM  POPPLE  (d. 


1708),  was  son  of  Edmund  Popple,  sheriff  of 
Hull  in  1638,  who  married  Catherine,  daugh- 
ter of  the  Rev.  Andrew  Marvell,  and  sister 
of  Andrew  Marvell  [q.  v.]  the  poet ;  he  was, 
accordingly,  the  nephew  of  Marvell,  under 
whose  guidance  he  was  educated,  and  with 
whom  he  corresponded.  He  became  a  Lon- 
don merchant,  and  in  1676  was  residing  at 
Bordeaux,  whence,  ten  years  later,  he  dated 
a  small  expository  work,  entitled  'A  Rational 
Catechism '  (London,  1687,  12mo).  He  was 
appointed  secretary  to  the  board  of  trade  in 
1696,  and  became  intimate  with  John  Locke 
(a  commissioner  of  the  board  from  1696  to 
1700),  whose  'Letter  on  Toleration'  he  was 
the  first  to  translate  from  the  Latin  (London, 
1689,8voandl2mo).  Some  manuscript  trans- 
lations in  his  hand  are  in  the  British  Museum 
(Add.  MS.  8888).  He  died  in  1708,  in  the 
parish  of  St.  Clement  Danes ;  his  widow  Mary 
was  living  in  Holborn  in  1709. 

The  dramatist  entered  the  cofferer's  office 
about  1730,  and  in  June  1737  was  promoted 
solicitor  and  clerk  of  the  reports  to  the  com- 
missioners of  trade  and  plantations.  He  was 
appointed  governor  of  the  Bermudas  in  March 
1745,  '  in  the  room  of  his  relative,  Alured 
Popple '  (1699-1744),  and  held  that  post  until 
shortly  before  his  death  at  Hampstead  on 
8  Feb.  1764  (Miscellanea  Geneal.  et  Heraldica, 
new  ser.  iii.  364).  He  was  buried  on  13  Feb. 
in  Hampstead  churchyard,  where  there  is  an 
inscribed  stone  in  his  memory. 

Some  of  Popple's  juvenile  poems  were  in- 
cluded in  the  '  Collection  of  Miscellaneous 
Poems'  issued  by  Richard  Savage  [q.  v.]  in 
1726.  The  encouragement  of  Aaron  Hill 
[q.  v.]  was  largely  responsible  for  his  inde- 
pendent production  of  two  comedies,  to  both 
of  which  Hill  wrote  prologues.  The  first  of 
these,  '  The  Lady's  Revenge,  or  the  Rover 
reclaim'd'  (London  and  Dublin,  1734,  8vo), 
was  dedicated  to  the  Prince  of  WTales,  and 
produced  on  four  occasions  at  Co  vent  Garden 
in  January  1734.  '  Dull  in  parts,  but  a  pretty 
good  play,'  is  Genest's  verdict  upon  it.  The 
second,  entitled  '  The  Double  Deceit,  or  a 
Cure  for  Jealousy'  (London,  1736,  8vo),  de- 
dicated to  Edward  Walpole,  was  produced 
on  25  April  1735,  also  at  Covent  Garden.  It 
is  the  better  play  of  the  two,  and,  according 
to  Genest,  deserved  more  success  than  it  met 
with.  About  this  same  time  (1735)  Popple 
collaborated  with  Hill  in  his  'Prompter,'  and 
incurred  a  share  of  Pope's  resentment,  which 
took  the  usual  shape  of  a  line  in  the  l  Dun- 
ciad  : ' 
Lo  P — p — le's  brow  tremendous  to  the  town. 

Warburton  elucidates  by  defining  Popple  as 
'  author  of  some  vile  plays  and  pamphlets.' 


Porchester 


Pordage 


The  dramatist  was  not  deterred  from  pub- 
lishing, in  1753,  a  smooth  but  diffuse  trans- 
lation of  the  '  Ars  Poetica '  of  Horace  (Lon- 
don, 4to),  which  he  dedicated  to  the  Earl  of 
Halifax. 

[Baker's  Biogr.  Dramatica  ;  Genest's  Hist,  of 
the  Stage,  vol.  iii. ;  Sheehan's  Hist,  of  Hull, 
1864,  p.  461 ;  Manchester  School  Reg.  (Chetham 
Soc.),  i.  131-2;  Hewitt's  Northern  Heights  of 
London,  1869,  pp.  148,  233  ;  Marvell's  Works, 
1 776, vols.i.  iii.  passim;  Gent.  Mag.  1764,  p.  197; 
.Notes  and  Queries,  4th  per.  vi.  198,  222,  6th  ser. 
iv.  30,  7th  ser.  ix.  485;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat.  (where, 
however,  the  dramatist  is  confused  with  ^his 
grandfather,  the  nephew  of  Marvell).]  T.  S. 

PORCHESTER,  VISCOUNT.  [See  HER- 
BERT, HENRY  JOHN  GEORGE,  third  EARL  <H? 
CARNARVON,  1800-1849.] 

PORDAGE,  JOHN  (1607-1681),  astro- 
loger and  mystic,  eldest  son  of  Samuel  Por- 
dage (d.  1626),  grocer,  by  his  wife  Elizabeth 
(Taylor),  was  born  in  the  parish  of  St.Dionis 
Backchurch,  London,  and  baptised  on  21  April 
1607.  He  was  curate  in  charge  of  St.  Law- 
rence's, Reading,  in  1644,  the  vicar  being 
Thomas  Gilbert  (1 613-1694)  [q.  v.]  Pordage 
is  later  described  as  vicar,  but  erroneously. 
By  1647  (after  9  Nov.  1646)  he  was  rector 
of  Bradfield,  Berkshire,  a  living  in  the  gift 
of  Elias  Ashmole  [q.  v.],  who  thought  highly 
of  his  astrological  knowledge.  Baxter,  who 
describes  him  as  chief  of  the  ( Behmenists,' 
or  English  followers  of  Jacob  Boehme,  knew 
of  him  through  a  young  man,  probably 
Abiezer  Coppe  [q.  v.],  who  in  1649  was 
living  under  Pordage's  roof  in  a  '  family 
communion,'  the  members  '  aspiring  after 
the  highest  spiritual  state '  through  '  visible 
communion  with  angels.'  Baxter  thought 
they  tried  to  carry  too  far  'the  perfection  of 
a  monastical  life.'  Among  themselves  this 
family  went  by  scripture  names ;  Pordage 
was  '  Father  Abraham,'  his  wife  was  '  De- 
borah.' 

He  was  charged  before  the  committee  for 
plundered  ministers  with  heresies  comprised 
in  nine  articles,  accusing  him  of  a  sort  of 
mystical  pantheism.  But  on  27  March  1651 
the  committee  acquitted  him  on  all  counts. 
On  18  Sept.  1654  he  was  summoned  to  ap- 
pear on  5  Oct.  before  the  county  commis- 
sioners (known  as  '  expurgators ')  at  the 
Bear  Inn,  Speenhamland,  Berkshire.  The 
nine  articles  were  revived  against  him  at  the 
instance  of  John  Tickel  [q.  v.],  a  presbyterian 
divine  at  Abingdon,  Berkshire.  The  inquiry 
was  successively  adjourned  to  19 Oct.,  2  Nov., 
22  Nov.,  and  30  Nov.,  fresh  articles  being  from 
time  to  time  brought  forward  against  him, 
to  the  number  of  fifty-six,  in  addition  to 


the  original  nine.  Most  of  them  dealt  with 
unsubstantial  matters  of  personal  gossip; 
the  accusation  of  intercourse  with  spirits 
was  pressed  (from  19  Oct.)  by  Christopher 
Fowler  [q.  v.]  It  was  made  a  charge  against 
him  that  he  had  sheltered  Robert  Everard 
[q.  v.]  and  Thomas  Tany  [q.  v.]  One  of  his 
maid-servants,  while  attesting  some  of  the 
stories  about  spirits,  bore  witness  to  the 
purity  and  piety  of  the  family  life.  By 
30  Nov.  Pordage  was  too  ill  to  appear ;  the 
inquiry  was  adjourned  to  7  Dec.  at  the  Bear 
Inn,  Reading.  On  8  Dec.  the  commissioners 
ejected  him  as  '  ignorant  and  very  insufficient 
for  the  work  of  the  ministry.'  He  was  to 
leave  the  rectory  by  2  Feb.  and  clear  out 
his  barns  by  25  March  1655. 

At  the  Restoration  Pordage  was  reinstated. 
In  1663  he  became  acquainted  with  Jane 
Lead  or  Leade  [q.  v.],  and  assisted  her  in 
the  study  of  Jacob  Boehme.  In  August 
1673  or  1674  (there  is  a  doubt  about  the 
year)  Pordage  and  Mrs.  Lead  '  first  agreed 
to  wait  together  in  prayer  and  pure  dedica- 
tion.' Francis  Lee  [q.  v.],  Jane  Lead's  son- 
in-law,  speaks  warmly  of  Pordage's  devout- 
ness  and  sincerity,  maintaining  that  '  his 
conversation  was  such  as  malice  itself  can 
hardly  except  against.'  He  was  not,  how- 
ever, a  man  of  robust  intellect ;  his  insight 
into  Boehme's  writings  was  feeble,  and  his 
theosophy  was  of  the  emotional  order.  In 
his  will  he  describes  himself  as  '  doctor  in 
physick.'  It  does  not  appear  that  he  held 
the  degree  of  M.D.,  though  it  was  assigned 
to  him  by  others,  and  he  was  commonly 
called  Dr.  Pordage. 

He  died  in  1681,  and  was  buried  in  St. 
Andrew's,  Holborn,  on  11  Dec.  His  will,  made 
on  28  Nov.  1681,  and  proved  17  Jan.  1682, 
was  witnessed  by  Jane  Lead.  His  portrait 
was  engraved  by  Faithorne.  His  first  wife? 
Mary  (Lane),  of  Tenbury,  "Worcestershire, 
was  buried  at  Bradfield  on  25  Aug.  1668. 
His  second  wife  was  Elizabeth,  widow  of 
Thomas  Faldo  of  London.  His  son  Samuel 
is  separately  noticed  ;  he  had  other  sons : 
John,  William,  and  Benjamin.  His  daughter 
Elizabeth  was  buried  at  Bradfield  on  23  Dec. 
1663;  other  daughters  were  Mary,  Sarah 
(married  Stistead),  and  Abigail.  His  brother 
Francis,  who  survived  him,  was  rector  of 
Stanford-Dingley,  Berkshire. 

He  published :  1 .  '  Truth  appearing 
through  the  Clouds  of  undeserved  Scandal,' 
&c.,  1655,  4to  (published  011  22  Dec.  1654. 
according  to  Thomason's  note  on  the  British 
Museum  copy).  2.  ( Innocency  appearing 
through  the  dark  Mists  of  pretended  Guilt,' 
&c.,  1655,  fol.  (15  March).  3.  'A  just 
Narrative  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Com- 


Pordage 


Pordage 


missioners  of  Berks  .  .  .  against  John  Por 
dage,'  &c.,  1655,  4to ;    reprinted  in  '  Stat 
Trials '  (Cobbett),  1810,  v.  539  sq.     4.  '  Th 
Fruitful  Wonder  ...  By  J.  P.,  Student  in 
Physic,'   &c.,    1674,   4to    (account   of  fou 
children  at  a  birth,  at  Kingston-on-Thames 
probably  by  Pordage).     Posthumous  were 
5.  '  Theologia  Mystica,  or  the  Mystic  Divi 
nitie  of  the  ^Eternal  Indivisible  ...  By  a 
Person  of  Qualitie,  J.  P.,  M.D.'  &c.,  1683 
8vo  (prefaced  by  Jane  Lead,  and  edited  by 
Dr.  Edward   Hooker;    Francis   Lee   had  a 
'  much  larger  '  treatise  of  similar  title  '  unde 
the  Doctor's  own  hand  ; '  subjoined,  with  the 
second  title-page,  is  '  A  Treatise  of  Eterna 
Nature ').   6. '  Em  griindlich  philosophischei 
Sendschreiben,'  &c.,  Amsterdam,  1698, 8vo 
reprinted  (1727)  in  F.  Roth-Scholz's  '  Deut 
sches  Theatrum  Chemicum,'  1728,  8vo,  vol.  i 
7.  '  Vier  Tractatlein,'  &c.,  Amsterdam,  1704 
8vo.      A  two-page   advertisement   in  Jane 
Lead's  '  Fountain  of  Gardens,'  1697,   8vo 
gives  full  titles  of  the  following  works  o: 
Pordage,  unpublished  in  English :  8.  '  Philo- 
sophia   Mystica,'  &c.      9.    '  The    Angelical 
World,'  &c.     10.  'The  Dark  Fire  WTorld,: 
&c.     11.  'The  Incarnation  of  Jesus  Christ,: 
&c.      12.    'The    Spirit    of    Eternity,'   &c. 
13.  '  Sophia,'  &c.     14.  '  Experimental  Dis- 
coveries,' &c.     The  '  Vita  J.  Crellii  Franci,' 
by  J.  P.,  M.D.,  prefixed  to  Crell's  '  Ethica 
Aristotelica,'  Cosmopoli  (Amsterdam),  1681, 
4to,  has  been  assigned  to  Pordage,  but  is  by 
Joachim  Pastorius,  M.D.,  and  was  originally 
published  in  Dutch,  1663,  4to   (see  SAND, 
Bibliotheca  Antitrinitariorum,  1684,  p.  149). 

[Pordage's  Narrative,  1655,  and  other  tracts 
(most  of  the  Narrative  is  reprinted  in  Cobbett's 
State  Trials,  vol.  v.  and  in  earlier  collections)  ; 
Fowler's  Dsemonium  Meridianum,  1655-6 ; 
Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  (Bliss),  iii.  1098,  iv.  405, 
715 ;  Reltquise  Baxterianse,  1696, i.  77  sq. ;  Poiret's 
Bibliotheca  Mysticorum,  1708 ;  Calamy's  Ac- 
count, 1714,  p.  96  ;  Granger's  Biographical  Hist, 
of  England,  1779,  iii.  55  sq. ;  Lysons's  Magna 
Britannia  (Berkshire),  1813,  p.  246;  Walton's 


Memorial  of  William  Law,  1854,  pp.  148,  192, 

Feb.  1862,  p. 
136  ;  Chester's  Registers   of  St.  Dionis  Back- 


203,  240;  Notes  and  Queries,  15  Feb.  1862, 


church  (Harleian  Soc.),  1878,  p.  93  :  Foster's 
Marriage-  Licenses,  1887,  p.  469;  Hist.  MSS. 
Comm.  llth  Rep.  App.  pt.  vii.  pp.  189,  192; 
Harleian  MS.  1530,  f.  34  (pedigree)  ;  Pordage's 
will  in  the  Prerogative  Court  of  Canterbury  (8 
Cottle)  ;  information  from  the  rectors  of  Brad- 
field  and  St.  Andrew's,  Holborn.]  A.  G-. 

PORDAGE,    SAMUEL    (1633-1691?), 

poei,  eldest  son  of  John  Pordage  [q.  v.]  by  his 
first  wife,  was  baptised  at  St.  Dionis  Back- 
church,  London,  on  29  Dec.  1633  (Register, 
published  by  Harleian  Society,  1878).  He 


entered  Merchant  Taylors'  School  in  1644,  and 
at  the  trial  of  his  father  ten  years  later  he  ap- 
pears to  have  been  one  of  the  witnesses.  In  his 
title-pages  he  variously  described  himself  as 
'  of  Lincoln's  Inn '  and  ( a  student  of  physick/ 
He  was  at  one  time  chief  steward  to  Philip 
Herbert,  fifth  earl  of  Pembroke  [see  under 
HERBERT,  PHILIP,  fourth  EARL],  but  he 
chiefly  devoted  himself  to  literary  work  (CoB- 
BETT,  State  7W#/s,vol.  v.)  While  residing  with 
his  father  at  the  parsonage  of  Bradfield,  Berk- 
shire, in  1660  he  published  a  translation  from 
Seneca,with  notes,  called '  Troades  Englished.' 
About  the  same  time  he  published  '  Poems 
upon  Several  Occasions,  by  S.  P.,  gent.,'  a 
little  volume  which  included  panegyrics  upon 
Charles  II  and  General  Monck,  but  which  con- 
sisted for  the  most  part  of  amatory  poems, 
full  of  conceits,  yet  containing  among  them 
a  few  graceful  touches,  after  the  fashion  of 
Herrick. 

In  1661  a  volume  appeared  called  '  Mun- 
dorum  Explicatio,  or  the  explanation  of  an 
Hieroglyphical  Figure.  .  .  .  Being  a  Sacred 
Poem,  written  by  S.  P.,  Armig.'    This  book, 
which  was  reissued  in  1663,  is  attributed  to 
Samuel  Pordage  by  Lowndes  and  others ;  but 
its  contents  are  entirely  unlike  anything  else 
which  he  wrote.    The  writer  of  the  unsigned 
preface   to  this  curious  work  of  over  three 
hundred  pages   says  that  the   hieroglyphic 
'  came  into   my  hands,  another  being   the 
author ; '  and  there  is  a  poetical  '  Encomium 
on  J.  [Behmen]  and  his  interpreter  J.  Spar- 
row, Esq.'     It  has  been  suggested  that  the 
real  author  was  Pordage's  father,  a  professed 
Behmenist.     Mr.  Crossley  argues  that  there 
s  no  proof  that  the  work  is  by  either  John 
or  Samuel  Pordage.     Bishop  Kennett,  how- 
ever, writing  in  1728,  attributed  the  work  to 
Samuel.     Possibly  both  John  and  Samuel 
3ordage  had  a  share  in  the  authorship  of  this 
sacred  poem.' 

In  1661  Samuel  Pordage  published  a  folio 
mmphlet, '  Heroick  Stanzas  on  his  Maiesties 
Coronation.'  In  1673  his  '  Herod  and  Mari- 
mne,'  a  tragedy,  was  acted  at  the  Duke's 
theatre,  and  was  published  anonymously. 
^Ikanah  Settle,  who  signed  the  dedication 
o  the  Duchess  of  Albemarle,  said  that  the 
lay,  which  was  ( little  indebted  to  poet  or 
>ainter,'  did  not  miss  honours,  in  spite  of  its 
disadvantages,  thanks  to  her  grace's  patron- 
ge.  The  principal  parts  in  this  rhymed  tra- 
•edy,  the  plot  of  which  was  borrowed  from 
osephus  and  the  romance  of '  Cleopatra,' were 
aken  by  Lee,  Smith,  and  Norris  (GENEST, 
Account  of  the  English  Stage,  i.  171).  Lang- 
iaine  says  that  the  play  had  been  given  by 
'ordage  to  Settle,  to  use  and  form  as  he 
leased.  In  1678  appeared  'The  Siege  of 


Pordage 


Porden 


Babylon,  by  Samuel  Pordage  of  Lincoln's 
Inn,  Esq.,  author  of  the  tragedy  of  "  Herod 
and  Mariamne." '  This  play  had  been  licensed 
by  L'Estrange  on  2  Nov.  1677,  and  acted  at 
the  Duke's  Theatre  not  long  after  the  pro- 
duction at  the  Theatre  Royal  of  Nathaniel 
Lee's  l  Rival  Queens ; '  and  Statira  and 
Roxana,  the  '  rival  queens,'  were  principal 
characters  in  Pordage's  stupid  rhymed  tra- 
gedy, in  which  Betterton,  N orris,  and  Mrs. 
Gwyn  appeared.  The  story  is  based  upon 
'  Cassandra '  and  other  romances  of  the  day 
(ib.  i.  213).  In  the  dedication  to  the  Duchess 
of  York,  Pordage  said  that  ( Herod  and 
Mariamne'  had  hitherto  passed  under  the 
name  of  another,  while  he  was  out  of  Eng- 
land; but,  as  her  royal  highness  was  so 
pleased  with  it,  Pordage  could  not  forbear 
to  own  it. 

Pordage  brought  out  in  1679  the  sixth 
edition  of  John  Reynolds's  '  Triumphs  of 
God's  Revenge  against  the  sin  of  Murther ; ' 
he  prefixed  to  it  a  dedication  to  Shaftesbury. 
In  1681  he  wrote  a  single  folio  sheet,  '  A  new 
Apparition  of  Sir  Edmundbury  Godfrey's 

Ghost  to  the  E.  of  D in  the  Tower,'  and 

the  printer  was  obliged  to  make  a  public 
apology  for  the  reflections  on  Danby  which  it 
contained  (Benskirfs  Domestick  Intelligence, 
21  July  1681).  Between  1681  and  1684  he 
issued  '  The  Remaining  Medical  Works  of ... 
Dr.  Thomas  Willis  .  .  .  Englished  by  S.  P., 
Esq.'  There  is  a  general  dedication  to  Sir 
Theophilus  Biddulph,  bart.,  signed  by  Por- 
dage ;  and  verses  *  On  the  author's  Medico- 
philosophical  Discourses,'  in  all  probability 
by  him,  precede  the  first  part. 

Dryden's  'Absalom  and  Achitophel'  ap- 
peared in  November  1681,  and  among  the 
answers  which  it  called  forth  was  Pordage's 
'Azaria  and  Hushai,  a  Poem,'  1682,  pub- 
lished on  17  Jan.,  according  to  a  contem- 
porary note.  In  this  piece  Azaria  was  the 
Duke  of  Monmouth,  Amazia  the  king, Hushai 
Shaftesbury,  and  Shimei  Dryden;  and  the 
poem,  so  far  from  being,  as  it  is  sometimes 
called,  a  malignant  attack  on  Dryden,  is 
comparatively  free  from  personalities.  '  As 
to  truth,  who  hath  the  better  hold  let  the 
world  judge ;  and  it  is  no  new  thing  for  the 
same  persons  to  be  ill  or  well  represented  by 
several  parties.'  Some  lines,  too,  were  devoted 
to  L'Estrange,  who  was  called  Bibbai.  On 
15  March  1682  Dryden  brought  out  'The 
Medal,  a  Satire  against  Sedition,'  an  attack 
on  Shaftesbury,  and  on  31  March  Pordage 
published  'The  Medal  revers'd,  a  Satyre 
against  Persecution/  with  an  epistle,  ad- 
dressed, in  imitation  of  Dryden,  to  his  ene- 
mies, the  tories.  Pordage  said  he  did  not 
believe  that  the  authors  of  '  Absalom  and 


Achitophel '  and  '  The  Medal '  were  the  same, 
yet,  as  they  desired  to  be  thought  so,  each, 
must  bear  the  reproaches  of  the  other. 

L'Estrange  attacked  Pordage  in  the  '  Ob- 
servator '  for  5  April  1682  on  account  of ;  A 
brief  History  of  all  the  Papists'  bloudy  Per- 
secutions/ calling  him  '  limping  Pordage,  a 
son  of  the  famous  Familist  about  Reading, 
and  the  author  of  several  libels,'  one  against 
L'Estrange.  Dryden,  in  the  second  part  of 
1  Absalom  and  Achitophel/  published  in  No- 
vember, described  Pordage  as 

Lame  Mephibosheth,  the  wizard's  son. 

In  May  John  Oldham,  in  his  '  Imitation  of 
the  Third  Satire  of  Juvenal/  had  ridiculed 
Pordage,  and  in  another  '  Satire '  mentioned 
Pordage  among  the  authors  who  had  '  grown 
contemptible,  and  slighted  since.'  Besides- 
the  pieces  already  mentioned,  Pordage  is- 
stated  to  have  written  a  romance  called 
'  Eliana/  but  the  date  is  not  given,  and  no> 
copy  seems  known. 

Writing  in  1691,  Langbaine  spoke  of 
Pordage  as  lately,  if  not  still,  a  member  of 
Lincoln's  Inn.  The  exact  date  of  his  death 
has  not  been  ascertained.  A  Samuel  Pordage, 
a  stranger,  who,  like  the  poet,  was  born  in  the 
parish  of  St.  Dionis  Backchurch  in  1633,  was- 
buried  there  in  1668.  Pordage  married  about 
1660  Dorcas,  youngest  daughter  of  William 
Langhorne,  by  whom  he  had  a  son,  Charles, 
born  in  1661,  and  other  issue.  When  his 
father  died  in  1681  he  left  silver  spoons  to 
two  of  Samuel's  children  (Harl.  MS.  1530,  f. 
34  ;  will  of  John  Pordage,  P.C.C.  8  Cottle). 

[Authorities  cited ;  Foster's  Marriage  Licenses ; 
Robinson's  Merchant  Taylors'  Register ;  Gent. 
Mag.  1834,  ii.495 ;  Censura  Literaria,  by  Hasle- 
wood,  viii.  247-51  ;  Notes  and  Queries,  3rd  ser. 
vii.  443  ;  Biogr.  Dramatica  ;  Scott's  Dryden,  ix. 
372 ;  Professor  H.  Morley's  First  Sketch  of  Eng- 
lish Literature,  pp.  716-19;  Jacob,  i.  204; 
Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  ed.  Bliss,  ii.  149,  150,  iii. 
1098-1100.]  G.  A.  A. 

PORDEN,  ELEANOR  ANNE  (1797  ?- 
1825),  poetess.  [See  FKANKLIST.] 

PORDEN,  WILLIAM  (1755-1822), 
architect,  born  in  1755  at  Hull,  was  grandson 
of  Roger  Pourden,  an  architect  of  York.  His 
early  taste  for  the  arts  procured  him  the 
notice  of  the  poet  Mason,  who  introduced 
him  to  James  Wyatt  [q.  v.]  After  studying 
architecture  in  Wyatt's  office,  he  became  the 
pupil  of  Samuel  Pepys  Cockerell  [q.  v.]  On 
leaving  the  latter  he  was  made  secretary  to 
Lord  Sheffield,  and  by  him  appointed  pay- 
master to  the  22nd  dragoons  j  but,  on  the 
reduction  of  this  regiment  soon  afterwards, 
he  resumed  his  former  studies.  In  1778  he 


Porrett 


Porrett 


exhibited  designs  for  a  Gothic  church  at  the 
Royal  Academy,  where  his  work  continued 
to  be  seen  at  intervals.  In  1785-6  Porden 
was  chosen  to  make  the  necessary  fittings  in 
"Westminster  Abbey  for  the  Handel  festival. 
He  was  also  employed  by  the  parish  of  St. 
George's,  Hanover  Square,  and  was  surveyor 
of  Lord  Grosvenor's  London  estates.  From 
1790  onwards  he  designed  a  number  of 
churches  and  mansions  in  various  parts  of 
England. 

In  1804  Porden  began  his  most  important 
work,  Eaton  Hall  in  Cheshire  for  Lord 
Grosvenor — a  palace  of  celebrated,  if  some- 
what too  florid,  magnificence.  This  work 
occupied  him  till  1812.  He  was  assisted, 
first  by  his  son-in-law,  Joseph  Kay,  and  later, 
by  B.  Gurnmow,  who  built  the  wings  in 
1 823-5.  Besides  the  superintendence  of  the 
works  at  Eaton,  he  was  busy  with  several 
other  buildings,  chiefly  at  Brighton,  where 
he  erected,  in  1805,  stables,  riding-house,  and 
tennis-court  for  the  Prince  of  Wales's  Pavi- 
lion ;  adding,  during  the  two  following  years, 
the  west  front  and  entrance  hall.  In  1808  he 
designed  Broom  Hall,  Fifeshire,  and  Eccle- 
ston  church,  near  Chester,  in  1809  and  1813. 
He  died  on  14  Sept.  1822,  and  was  buried  in 
St.  John's  Wood  chapel.  According  to  Red- 
grave, his  end  was  hastened  by  annoyance 
at  being  superseded  two  years  before  in  his 
employment  as  architect  to  Lord  Grosvenor, 
to  whom  his  work  did  not  give  entire  satis- 
faction. Extensive  alterations  and  additions 
have  been  made  to  Eaton  Hall  since  his 
time. 

Porden  had  a  numerous  family,  all  of 
whom  died  young,  except  two  daughters ;  the 
elder  of  these  married,  in  1807,  Joseph  Kay 
(1775-1847),  the  architect  of  the  new  post 
office  in  Edinburgh  and  surveyor  to  Green- 
wich Hospital ;  the  younger,  Eleanor  Anne 
(1797  P-1825),  the  first  wife  of  Sir  John 
Franklin,  is  separately  noticed. 

[Diet,  of  Architecture ;  Redgrave's  Diet,  of 
Artists  ;  Hicklin's  Guide  to  Eaton  Hall;  private 
information.]  L.  B. 

PORRETT,  ROBERT  (1783-1868), 
chemist,  son  of  Robert  Porrett,  was  born  in 
London  on  22  Sept.  1783.  When  he  was 
eleven  years  of  age  he  '  amused  himself  by 
drawing  up  and  writing  out  official  papers 
for  his  father,'  who  was  ordnance  storekeeper 
at  the  Tower  of  London.  These  productions 
led  the  war  office  officials  to  offer  to  keep 
him  in  the  department  as  an  assistant.  He 
was  appointed  in  1795,  promoted  later  to  be 
chief  of  his  department,  and  retired  on  a  pen- 
sion in  1850,  when  his  services  received 
official  acknowledgment.  He  died  on  25  Nov. 


1868,  unmarried.     Robert  Porrett  Collier, 
lord  Monkswell  [q.  v.],  was  his  nephew. 

Porrett  was  elected  fellow  of  the  Society 
of  Antiquaries  on  9  Jan.  1840  and  of  the 
Royal  Society  in  1848.  He  was  an  original 
fellow  of  the  Chemical  Society,  and  also  a. 
fellow  of  the  Astronomical  Society.  His 
position  and  residence  in  the  Tower  led  him 
to  take  an  interest  in  antiquities.  He  was  a 
recognised  authority  on  armour,  on  which 
he  contributed  several  papers  to  'Archeeo- 
logia '  and  the  '  Proceedings  '  of  the  Society 
of  Antiquaries. 

Although  he  was  not  a  professional  che- 
mist, Porrett  did  valuable  work  in  experi- 
mental science.  Towards  the  end  of  1808 
he  found  that  by  treating  prussic  acid  with 
sulphuretted  hydrogen  a  new  acid  was  formed, 
which  he  termed  prussous  acid.  For  this 
investigation  he  was  awarded  a  medal  by  the 
Society  of  Arts.  In  1814  he  discovered  the 
qualitative  composition  of  the  acid,  and 
showed  that  it  was  formed  by  the  union  of 
prussic  acid  and  sulphur,  and  termed  it  sul- 
phuretted chyazic  acid.  Its  present  name 
of  sulpho-cyanic  acid  was  given  by  Thomas 
Thomson  (1773-1852)  [q.  v.]  (THOMSON'S 
Annals  of  Philosophy,  xii.  216),  and  its 
quantitative  composition  was  determined  in 
1820  by  Berzelius.  In  1814  Porrett  also 
made  the  important  discovery  of  ferrocyanic 
acid,  which  he  termed  ferruretted  chyazic 
acid.  He  showed  by  the  electrolysis  of  the 
salts,  then  known  as  triple  prussiates,  and 
by  the  isolation  of  the  acid  itself,  that  the 
iron  contained  in  the  salts  must  be  regarded 
as  forming  part  of  the  acid,  thus  confirming 
a  suggestion  previously  put  forward  by  Ber- 
thollet  (KoPP,  Geschichte  der  Chemie,  iv. 
377).  He  examined  the  properties  of  the 
acid  carefully,  and  showed  that  it  can  easily 
be  oxidised  by  the  air,  Prussian  blue  being 
formed  at  the  same  time ;  this  observation 
has  been  utilised  in  dyeing  (Porrett  in  Philo- 
sophical Transactions,  1814,  p.  530,  and 
WATTS,  Diet,  of  Chemistry,  ii.  227).  Por- 
rett attempted  to  determine  the  quantitative 
composition  of  prussic  acid,  and  showed  that 
when  it  is  oxidised  the  volume  of  carbonic 
acid  formed  is  exactly  twice  that  of  the 
nitrogen.  But  his  other  data  are  erroneous, 
and  the  problem  was  completely  solved  by 
Gay-Lussac  shortly  after.  Porrett  in  1813 
made  some  interesting  experiments  in  con- 
junction with  Rupert  Kirk  and  William 
Wilson  on  the  extremely  dangerous  sub- 
stance, chloride  of  nitrogen. 

His  '  Observations  on  the  Flame  of  a 
Candle,'  a  paper  written  in  1816,  contain 
important  and  hitherto  neglected  confirma- 
tion of  Davy's  then  just  published  view  of 


Porrett 


154 


Person 


the  structure  of  luminous  flame,  recently 
defended  by  Smithells  (Chem.  Soc.  Trans. 
1892,  p.  217).  According  to  Porrett,  the 
light  is  mainly  due  to  free  carbon  formed  in 
the  flame  owing  to  the  decomposition  by  heat 
of  gaseous  hydrocarbons.  His  ingenious 
experiments  deserve  repetition,  and  the  ob- 
servation that  the  luminous  portion  of  the 
flame  is  surrounded  completely  by  an  almost 
invisible  mantle,  and  that  a  spirit-lamp  flame, 
though  more  transparent  than  glass,  casts  a 
shadow  when  placed  in  front  of  a  candle 
flame,  are  of  much  importance.  His  chemi- 
cal investigations  on  gun-cotton,  published 
in  1846,  are  not  of  great  value. 

Porrett's  sole  contribution  to  physics  was 
the  discovery  of  electric  endosmosis  in  1816 
(THOMSON,  Annals  of  Philosophy,  viii.  74). 
The  phenomenon  had,  according  to  Wiede- 
mann  (Galvanismus  und  Elektricitat,  Isted. 
i.  376),  been  observed  previously  by  Reuss, 
but  Porrett's  discovery  was  independent, 
and  the  phenomenon  for  long  went  in  Ger- 
many by  his  name. 

Porre'tt's  style  is  clear  and  unpretentious, 
his  exposition  methodical  and  workmanlike. 
Probably  owing  to  lack  of  time,  he  did  not 
attain  the  technical  skill  necessary  to  com- 
plete the  investigations  he  began  so  bril- 
liantly. It  is  unfortunate  for  science  that 
a  man  of  such  marked  capacity  should  have 
given  to  it  only  his  leisure. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  his  scientific 
papers  :  1.  In  the  l  Transactions '  of  the  So- 
ciety of  Arts :  '  A  Memoir  on  the  Prussic 
Acid '  (1809,  xxvii.  89-103).  In  Nicholson's 
'  Journal : '  2.  '  On  the  Prussic  and  Prussous 
Acids '  (1810,  xxv.  344).  3.  '  On  the  Com- 
bination of  Chlorine  with  Oil  of  Turpen- 
tine ' (1812,  xxxiii.  194).  4.  'On  the  Explo- 
sive Compound  of  Chlorine  and  Azote '  (in 
conjunction  with  R.  Kirk  and  W.  Wilson) 
(1813,  xxxiv.  276).  In  the  'Philosophical 
Transactions : '  5.  ( On  the  Nature  of  the 
Salts  termed  Triple  Prussiates,  and  on  Acids 
formed  by  the  Union  of  certain  Bodies  with 
the  Elements  of  Prussic  Acid'  (6  June  1814, 
p.  527).  6.  'Further  Analytical  Data  on 
the  Constitution  of  Ferruretted  Chyazic  and 
Sulphuretted  Chyazic  Acids,'  &c.  (22  Feb. 
1815).  In  Thomson's '  Annals  of  Philosophy : ' 
7.  'Curious  Galvanic  Experiments'  (1816, 
viii.  74).  8.  '  Observations  on  the  Flame  of 
a  Candle'  (viii.  337).  9.  'On  the  Triple 
Prussiate  of  Potash'  (1818,  xii.  214).  10.  '  On 
the  Anthrazothion  of  Von  Grotthuss,  and 
on  Sulphuretted  Chyazic  Acid  '  (1819,  xiii. 
356).  11.  'On  Ferrochyazate  of  Potash  and 
the  Atomic  Weight  of  Iron'  (1819,  xiv. 
295).  In  the  Chemical  Society's  '  Memoirs : ' 
12.  '  On  the  Chemical  Composition  of  Gun- 


Cotton'  (in  conjunction  with  E.  Tesche- 
macher)  (1846,  iii.  258).  13.  'On  the 
Existence  of  a  new  Alkali  in  Gun-Cotton  ' 
(iii.  287). 

[Besides  the  sources  mentioned  above, 
obituaries  in  Chem.  Soc.  Journ.  1869,  p.  vii ; 
Proc.  Eoy.  Soc.  vol.  xviii.  p.  iv. ;  Proc.  Soc.  of 
Antiquaries,  2nd  ser.  iv.  305 ;  Poggendorff 's 
Biographisch-literarisches  Haudworterbuch  zur 
Gresch.  der  exakten  Wissenschaften ;  Porrett's 
own  papers.]  P.  J.  H. 

PORSON,  RICHARD  (1759-1808), 
Greek  scholar,  was  born  on  25  Dec.  1759 
at  East  Ruston,  near  North  Walsham,  Nor- 
folk, where  his  father,  Huggin  Person,  a 
worsted-weaver  by  trade,  was  parish  clerk ; 
his  mother,  Anne,  was  the  daughter  of  a 
shoemaker  named  Palmer  in  the  neighbour- 
ing village  of  Bacton.  Richard  was  the 
eldest  of  four  children,  having  two  brothers 
and  a  sister.  He  was  sent  first  to  the 
village  school  of  Bacton,  and  thence,  after  a 
short  stay,  to  the  village  school  of  Happis- 
burgh,  where  the  master,  Summers — to  whom 
Person  was  always  grateful  —  grounded 
him  in  Latin  and  mathematics.  The  boy 
showed  an  extraordinary  memory,  and  was 
especially  remarkable  for  his  rapid  pro- 
ficiency in  arithmetic.  His  father  meant 
to  put  him  to  the  loom,  and  meanwhile 
took  a  keen  interest  in  his  education,  making 
him  say  over  every  evening  the  lessons 
learned  during  the  day.  When  Porson  had 
been  three  years  with  Summers,  and  was 
eleven  years  old,  his  rare  promise  attracted 
the  notice  of  the  Rev.  T.  Hewitt  (curate  of 
the  parish  which  included  East  Ruston 
and  Bacton),  who  undertook  to  educate  him 
along  with  his  own  sons,  keeping  him  at  his 
house  at  Bacton  during  the  week,  and  send- 
ing him  home  for  Sundays.  For  nearly  two 
years  Porson  was  taught  by  Hewitt,  con- 
tinuing his  Latin  and  mathematical  studies, 
and  beginning  Greek.  In  1773,  when  the 
boy  was  thirteen,  Mr.  Norris  of  Witton 
Park,  moved  by  Hewitt,  sent  him  to  be  ex- 
amined at  Cambridge,  with  a  view  to  de- 
ciding whether  he  ought  to  be  prepared  for 
the  university.  The  examiners  were  James 
Lambert  [q.  v.],  the  regius  professor  of  Greek ; 
Thomas  Postlethwaite  [q.  v.]  and  William 
Collier,  tutors  of  Trinity  College ;  and  George 
Atwood  [q.  v.],  the  mathematician.  Their 
report  determined  Mr.  Norris  to  send  Por- 
son to  some  great  public  school.  It  was 
desired  to  place  him  on  the  foundation  of  the 
Charterhouse,  but  the  governors,  to  whom 
application  was  made,  had  promised  their 
nominations  for  the  next  vacancies ;  and, 
eventually,  in  August  1774,  he  was  entered 
on  the  foundation  of  Eton  College.  At 


Person 


155 


Person 


Eton  he  stayed  about  four  years.  The  chief 
source  of  information  concerning  his  school- 
life  there  is  the  evidence  given,  after  his 
death,  by  one  of  his  former  schoolfellows, 
Dr.  Joseph  Goodall,  provost  of  Eton,  who 
was  examined  before  a  committee  of  the 
House  of  Commons  on  the  state  of  educa- 
tion in  the  country,  and  was  asked,  among 
other  things,  why  '  the  late  Professor  Por- 
son '  was  not  elected  to  a  scholarship  at 
King's  College,  Cambridge.  The  answer  to 
that  question  was,  in  brief,  that  he  had 
entered  the  school  too  late.  When  he  came 
to  Eton  he  knew  but  little  of  Latin  prosody, 
and  had  not  made  much  progress  in  Greek. 
His  compositions,  though  correct,  '  fell  far 
short  of  excellence.'  '  He  always  under- 
valued school  exercises,  and  generally  wrote 
his  exercises  fair  at  once,  without  study.' 
'Still,  we  all  looked  up  to  him/ says  Goodall, 
'in  consequence  of  his  great  abilities  and 
variety  of  information.'  It  is  said  that  once 
in  school  he  construed  Horace  from  memory, 
a  mischievous  boy  having  thrust  some  other 
book  into  his  hand.  He  wrote  two  plays  to 
be  acted  in  the  Long  Chamber,  one  of  which, 
called  'Out  of  the  Frying-pan  into  the  Fire,' 
exists  in  manuscript  in  the  library  of  Trinity 
College,  Cambridge ;  it  is  full  of  rollicking 
fun,  but  nowhere  rises  above  schoolboy  level. 
While  at  Eton  he  had  a  serious  illness,  due  to 
the  formation  of  an  imposthume  in  the  lungs, 
which  permanently  affected  his  health,  and 
caused  him  to  be  frequently  troubled  by 
asthma.  In  1777  his  benefactor,  Mr. 
Norris,  died;  This  loss  threatened  to  mar 
Person's  career ;  but  Sir  George  Baker,  then 
president  of  the  College  of  Physicians, 
generously  started  a  fund  to  provide  for  his 
maintenance  at  the  university,  and,  as  Dr. 
Goodall  tells  us, '  contributions  were  readily 
supplied  by  Etonians.' 

Person  was  entered  at  Trinity  College,  Cam- 
bridge, on  28  March  1778,  and  commenced 
residence  there  in  the  following  October. 
He  was  then  eighteen.  Thus  far  he  had  been 
distinguished  rather  by  great  natural  gifts 
than  by  special  excellence  in  scholarship. 
While  he  was  at  Eton  the  head-master,  Dr. 
Jonathan  Davies  [q.  v.],  had  given  him  as  a 
prize  the  edition  of  Longinus  by  Jonathan 
Toup  [q.  v.]  This  book  is  said  to  have  been 
the  first  which  excited  his  interest  in  critical 
studies.  His  systematic  pursuit  of  those 
studies  began  in  his  undergraduate  days  at 
Cambridge.  He  had  a  distinguished  career 
there.  In  1780  he  was  elected  a  scholar  of 
Trinity  College.  In  December  1781  he 
gained  the  Craven  University  scholarship. 
A  copy  of  seventeen  Greek  iambics  which 
he  wrote  on  that  occasion  is  extant ;  it  is 


without  accents,  and  is  curious  as  exhi- 
biting, besides  some  other  defects,  three 
breaches  of  the  canon  respecting  the  '  pause ' 
which  Person  afterwards  enunciated.  In  1782 
he  took  his  degree  of  B.A.  with  mathema- 
tical honours,  being  third  '  senior  optime  ' 
(i.e.  third  in  the  second  class  of  the  tripos), 
and  shortly  afterwards  won  the  first  of  the 
two  chancellor's  medals  for  classics.  In 
the  same  year  he  was  elected  a  fellow  of 
Trinity  College,  while  still  a  junior  bachelor, 
though,  under  the  rule  which  then  existed, 
men  of  that  standing  were  not  ordinarily 
allowed  to  be  candidates.  He  took  the  de- 
gree of  M.A.  in  1785. 

The  story  of  the  great  scholar's  life  is 
mainly  that  of  his  studies,  but  clearness  will 
be  served  by  postponing  a  survey  of  his  writ- 
ings to  a  sketch  of  the  external  facts  of  his 
career. 

From  1783  onwards  Person  contributed 
articles  on  classical  subjects  to  several 
periodicals,  but  the  work  which  first  made 
his  name  widely  known  was  the  series  of 
<  Letters  to  Travis '  (1788-9).  These '  Letters ' 
were  the  outcome  of  theological  studies  in 
which  he  had  engaged  for  the  purpose  of  de- 
termining whether  he  should  take  holy  orders. 
He  decided  in  the  negative,  on  grounds  which 
he  thus  stated  to  his  intimate  friend,  Wil- 
liam Maltby  [q.  v.]  :  'I  found  that  I  should 
require  about  fifty  years'  reading  to  make 
myself  thoroughly  acquainted  with  divinity 
— to  satisfy  my  mind  on  all  points.'  The 
decision  was  a  momentous  one  for  him.  He 
had  no  regular  source  of  income  except  his 
fellowship  (then  about  100/.  a  year),  and, 
under  the  statutes  of  Trinity  College,  a  fellow 
was  then  required  to  be  in  priest's  orders 
within  seven  years  from  his  M.A.  degree, 
unless  he  held  one  of  the  two  fellowships 
reserved  for  laymen.  Person,  having  be- 
come M.A.  in  1785,  reached  that  limit  in 
1792.  A  lay  fellowship  was  then  vacant, 
and  would,  according  to  custom,  have  been 
given  to  Person,  the  senior  lay  fellow,  but 
the  nomination  rested  with  Dr.  Postlethwaite, 
the  master.  Person  formally  applied  for  it ; 
but  the  master,  in  reply,  wrote  advising  him 
to  take  orders,  and  gave  the  lay  fellowship 
to  John  Heys,  a  nephew  of  his  own.  The 
appointment  of  Heys  is  recorded  in  the  '  Con- 
clusion Book '  of  Trinity  College,  under  the 
date  of  4  July  1792.  In  the  summer  of  1792 
Person,  who  was  then  living  in  London,  called 
on  Dr.  Postlethwaite  at  Westminster,  where 
he  was  staying  with  the  dean  (Dr.  Vincent), 
for  the  purpose  of  examining  for  the  West- 
minster scholarships.  The  interview  was  a 
painful  one.  Porson  said  that  he  came  to 
announce  the  approaching  vacancy  in  his 


Person 


156 


Person 


fellowship,  since  he  could  not  take  orders. 
Dr.  Postlethwaite  expressed  surprise  at 
that  resolve.  Person  indignantly  rejoined 
that,  if  he  had  intended  to  take  orders,  he 
would  not  have  applied  for  a  lay  fellowship. 
To  the  end  of  his  days  Porson  believed 
that  in  this  matter  he  had  suffered  a  cruel 
•wrong ;  and  the  belief  was  shared  by  several 
of  his  friends.  Dr.  Charles  Burney,  writing 
in  December  1792  to  Dr.  Samuel  Parr,  men- 
tions that  Porson  (referring  to  his  studies) 
had  been  saying  how  hard  it  was,  '  when  a 
man's  spirit  had  once  been  broken,  to  renovate 
it.'  Having  lost  his  fellowship,  Porson  was 
now  (to  use  his  own  phrase)  '  a  gentleman 
in  London  with  sixpence  in  his  pocket.'  At 
this  time,  as  he  afterwards  told  his  nephew, 
Hawes,  he  was  indeed  in  the  greatest  straits, 
and  was  compelled,  by  stinting  himself  of 
food,  to  make  a  guinea  last  a  month.  Mean- 
while some  of  his  friends  and  admirers 
privately  raised  a  fund  for  the  purpose  of 
buying  him  an  annuity.  A  letter  from  Dr. 
Matthew  Raine  (of  Charterhouse)  to  Dr. 
Parr  shows  the  good  feeling  of  the  sub- 
scribers. Porson  was  given  to  understand 
that  '  this  was  a  tribute  of  literary  men  to 
literature,'  and  a  protest  against  such  treat- 
ment as  he  had  recently  experienced.  The 
amount  eventually  secured  to  him  was 
about  100/.  a  year.  He  accepted  it  on  con- 
dition that  the  principal  sum  of  which  he 
was  to  receive  the  interest  should  be  vested 
in  trustees,  and  returned,  at  his  death,  to 
the  donors.  After  his  decease,  the  donors, 
or  their  representatives,  having  declined  to 
receive  back  their  gifts,  the  residue  of  the 
fund  was  applied  to  establishing  the  Porson 
prize  and  the  Porson  scholarship  in  the 
university  of  Cambridge. 

Porson  had  now  taken  rooms  at  Essex 
Court  in  the  Temple.  His  fellowship  was 
vacated  in  July  1792.  Shortly  afterwards 
William  Cooke  [see  under  COOKE,  WILLIAM, 
d.  1780],  regius  professor  of  Greek  at  Cam- 
bridge, resigned  that  post.  Dr.  Postlethwaite 
(the  master  of  Trinity)  wrote  to  Porson  urging 
him  to  become  a  candidate.  Porson  was  under 
the  impression  that  he  would  be  required  to 
sign  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  and  wrote  to 
Postlethwaite,  6  Oct.  1792:  <  The  same  reason 
which  hindered  me  from  keeping  my  fellow- 
ship by  the  method  you  obligingly  pointed  out 
to  me  would,  I  am  greatly  afraid,  prevent  me 
from  being  Greek  professor.'  On  learning, 
however,  that  no  such  test  was  exacted,  he 
resolved  to  stand.  He  delivered  before  the 
seven  electors  a  Latin  prelection  on  Euripides 
(which  he  had  written  in  two  days),  and, 
having  been  unanimously  elected,  was  ad- 
mitted professor  on  2  Nov.  1792.  The  only 


stipend  then  attached  to  the  office  was  the 
40/.  a  year  with  which  Henry  VIII  had  en- 
dowed it  in  1540.  The  distinction  conferred 
on  the  chair  by  its  first  occupant,  Sir  John 
Cheke,  had  been  maintained  by  several  of 
his  successors,  such  as  James  Duport,  Isaac 
Barrow,  and  Walter  Taylor.  But  latterly 
the  Greek  professors  had  ceased  to  lecture. 
Porson,  at  the  time  of  his  election,  certainly 
intended  to  become  an  active  teacher.  But 
he  never  fulfilled  his  intention.  It  has  been 
said  that  he  could  not  obtain  rooms  in  his 
college  for  the  purpose.  This  is  improbable, 
though  some  temporary  difficulty  on  that 
score  may  have  discouraged  him.  When  his 
friend  Maltby  asked  him  why  he  had  not 
lectured,  he  said,  l  Because  I  have  thought 
better  on  it ;  whatever  originality  my  lectures 
might  have  had,  people  would  have  cried  out, 
"  We  knew  all  this  before." '  Some  such 
feeling  was,  no  doubt,  one  cause ;  another, 
probably,  was  the  indolence  which  grew  upon 
him  (in  regard  to  everything  except  private 
study).  And  in  those  days  there  was  no 
stimulus  at  the  universities  to  spur  a  reluc- 
tant man  into  lecturing.  But  if  he  did 
nothing  in  that  way,  at  any  rate  he  served 
the  true  purpose  of  his  chair,  as  few  have 
served  it,  by  writings  which  advanced  the 
knowledge  of  his  subject. 

After  his  election  to  the  professorship, 
Porson  continued  to  live  in  London  at  the 
Temple,  making  occasional  visits  to  Cam- 
bridge, where  it  was  his  duty  to  take  part 
in  certain  classical  examinations.  He  also 
went  sometimes  to  Eton  or  to  Norfolk ;  but 
he  disliked  travelling.  In  his  chambers  at 
the  Temple  he  must  have  worked  very  hard, 
though  probably  by  fits  and  starts  rather  than 
continuously.  '  One  morning,'  says  Maltby, 
'  I  went  to  call  upon  him  there,  and,  having 
inquired  at  his  barber's  close  by  if  Mr.  Porson 
was  at  home,  was  answered,  "  Yes ;  but  he  has 
seen  no  one  for  two  days."  I,  however,  pro- 
ceeded to  his  chamber,  and  knocked  at  the  door 
more  than  once.  He  would  not  open  it,  and 
I  came  downstairs.  As  I  was  recrossing  the 
court,  Porson,  who  had  perceived  that  I  was 
the  visitor,  opened  the  window  and  stopped 
me.'  The  work  in  which  Porson  was  then 
absorbed  was  the  collation  of  the  Harleian 
manuscript  of  the  Odyssey  for  the  Grenville 
Homer,  published  in  1801.  His  society  was 
much  sought  by  men  of  letters,  and  somewhat 
by  lion-hunters ;  but  to  the  latter,  however 
distinguished  they  might  be,  he  had  a  strong 
aversion.  Among  his  intimate  friends  was  . 
James  Perry  [q.  v.],  the  editor  of  the  '  Morn- 
ing Chronicle.'  In  November  1796  Porson 
married  Perry's  sister,  Mrs.  Lunan  ;  their 
union  seems  to  have  been  a  happy  one,  but 


Person 


T57 


Person 


it  was  brief,  for  Mrs.  Porson  died  of  a  decline 
on  12  April  1797.   [The  year  of  the  marriage 
is  given  as  1795  by  some  authorities,  but 
H.  R.  LTJARD,  Cambridge  Essays.  1857,  p. 
154,  is  apparently  right  in  giving  1796.]     It 
is  not  recorded  where  Porson  lived  in  London 
during  the  few  months  of  his  married  life. 
After  his  wile's  death  he  went  back  to  his 
chambers  at  the  Temple   in   Essex  Court. 
The  six  years  1797-1802  were  busy;  they 
saw  the   publication  of  the  four  plays   of 
Euripides  which  he  edited.     About  1802  a 
London  firm  of  publishers  offered  him  a  large 
sum  for  an  edition  of  Aristophanes.  A  letter 
preserved  among  the  Porson  MSS.  in  the 
library  of  Trinity  College  proves  that  even 
as  late  as  1805  such  a  work  was  still  ex- 
pected from  him.     Dean  Gaisford  had  found 
in  the  Bodleian  Library  '  a  very  complete 
and  full  index  verborum  to  Aristophanes,' 
and  on  29  Oct.   1805  he  writes  to  Porson 
offering  to  send  him  the  book,  *  that  if  it 
should  suit  your  purpose,  it  might  be  sub- 
joined to   your  edition,  which  we  look  for 
with  much  eagerness  and  solicitude.'     But, 
during  the  last  five  or  six  years  of  his  life, 
Person's  health  was  not  such  as  to  admit  of 
close  or  sustained  application  to  study.     He 
now  suffered  severely  from  his  old  trouble  of 
asthma,    and  habits  had  grown  upon  him 
which  were  wholly  incompatible  with  steady 
labour.      In  1806  the   London   Institution 
was  founded  ;  it  was  then  in  the  Old  Jewry, 
whence  it  was  afterwards  removed  to  Fins- 
bury  Circus.     The  managers  elected  Porson 
to  the  post  of  principal  librarian,  with  a  salary 
of  200/.  a  year  and  a  set  of  rooms,  an  appoint- 
ment which  was  notified  to  him  on  23  April 
by  Richard  Sharp  (<  Conversation  Sharp  ' ), 
one  of  the  electors.  *  I  am  sincerely  rejoiced,' 
Sharp   writes,    '  in   the   prospect   of    those 
benefits  which  the  institution  is  likely  to 
derive  from  your  reputation  and  talents,  and 
of  the  comforts  which  I  hope  that  you  will 
find   in   your  connection    with    us.'      The 
managers  afterwards  complained  (and justly 
in  the  opinion  of  some  of  Person's  friends) 
that  his  attendance  was  irregular,  and  that 
he  did  nothing  to  enlarge  the  library ;  but  in 
one  respect,  at  least,  he  made  a  good  librarian 
— he  was  always  ready  to  give  information  to 
the  numerous  callers  at  his  rooms  in  the  In- 
stitution who  came  to  consult  him  on  matters 
of  ancient  or  modern  literature. 

Early  in  1808  his  wonderful  memory  began 
to  show  signs  of  failure,  and  later  in  the  year  h< 
suffered  from  intermittent  fever.  In  Septem 
ber  he  complained  of  feeling  thoroughly  ill 
with  sensations  like  those  of  ague.  On  Mon 
day  morning,  19  Sept.,  he  called  at  the  house 
of  his  brother-in-law,  Perry,  in  Lancaste: 


^ourt,  Strand,  and,  not  finding  him  at  home, 
vent  on  towards  Charing  Cross.     At  the 
;orner  of  Northumberland    Street   he  was 
eized  with  apoplexy,  and  was  taken  to  the 
workhouse  in  St.  Martin's  Lane.     He  could 
ot  speak,  and  the  people  there  had  no  clue 
o  his  identity  ;  they  therefore  sent  an  adver- 
isement  to  the  *  British  Press/  which  de- 
scribed him  as  '  a  tall  man,  apparently  about 
forty-five  years  of  age,  dressed  in  a  blue  coat 
and  black  breeches,  and  having  in  his  pocket 
a  gold  watch,  a  trifling  quantity  of  silver, 
and  a  memorandum-book,  the  leaves  of  which 
were  filled  chiefly  with  Greek  lines  written 
n  pencil,  and  partly  effaced ;  two  or  three 
ines  of  Latin,  and  an  algebraical  calculation ; 
:he  Greek  extracts  being   principally  from 
ancient    medical    works.'      Next    morning 
^20  Sept.)  this  was  seen  by  James  Savage, 
;he  under-librarian  of  the  London  Institu- 
tion, who  went  to  St.  Martin's  Lane   and 
Drought  Porson  home.     As  they  drove  from 
Charing  Cross  to   the  Old  Jewry,   Porson 
chatted  with  his  usual  animation,  showing 
much  concern  about  the  great  fire  which  had 
destroyed  Covent  Garden  Theatre  the  day 
before.      On   reaching  the   Institution,    he 
breakfasted  on  green  tea  (his  favourite  kind) 
and  toast,  and  was  well  enough  to  have  a 
long  talk  with  Dr.   Adam   Clarke   in  the 
library,  about  a  stone  with  a  Greek  inscrip- 
tion  which  had  just    been    found    in   the 
kitchen  of  a  London  house.     Later  in  the 
day  he  went  to  Cole's  Coffee-house  in  St. 
Michael's   Alley,  Cornhill.      There  he   had 
another  fit,  and  was  brought  back  to  the  Old 
Jewry  and  put  to  bed.   This  was  on  Tuesday 
afternoon,  20  Sept.  His  brother-in-law  Perry- 
was  sent  for,  and  showed  him  the  greatest 
kindness  to    the  end.     He  sank  gradually 
during  the  week,  and  died  at  midnight  on 
Sunday,  25  Sept.  1808,  in  the  forty-ninth 
year  of  his  age.     On  4  Oct.  he  was  buried  in 
the  chapel  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  the 
funeral  service  being  read  by  the  master,  Dr. 
Mansel.     Many  Trinity  men  have  heard  the 
veteran  geologist,  Professor  Adam  Sedgwick, 
tell  how  he  chanced  to  come  into  Cambridge 
from  the  country  on  that  day,  without  know- 
ing that  it  had  been  fixed  for  the  funeral,  and 
how,  anxious  to  join  in  honouring  the  memory 
of  the  great  scholar,  he  borrowed  a  black 
coat  from  a  friend,  and  took  his  place  in  the 
long  procession  which  followed  the  coffin 
from  the   college   hall    through    the    great 
court.     Porson's  tomb  is  at  the  foot  of  New- 
ton's  statue   in   the   ante-chapel,  near  the 
place  where  two  other  scholars  who,  like 
him,  died  prematurely — Dobree  and   John 
Wordsworth — were  after  wards  laid.  Bentley 
rests  at  the  eastern  end  of  the  same  chapel. 


Person 


158 


Person 


Celebrity   and   eccentricity   combined   to 
make  Person  the  subject  of  countless  stories, 
many  of  which   were  exaggerated  or   apo- 
cryphal ;  but  there  remains  enough  of  trust- 
worthy testimony  to  supply  a  tolerably  clear 
picture  of  the  man.    His  personal  appearance 
is  described    in    Pryse   Lockhart   Gordon's 
'  Personal  Memoirs '  (i.  288).     He  was  tall 
— nearly  six  feet  in  stature ;  the  head  was 
a  very  fine  one,  with  an  expansive  forehead, 
over  which  '  his   shining  brown  hair '  was 
sometimes   combed   straight   forward ;    the 
nose  was  Roman,  and  rather  long ;  the  eyes 
'keen  and  penetrating,'  and  shaded  with  long 
lashes.     '  His  mouth  was  full  of  expression  ; 
and   altogether  his   countenance   indicated 
deep  thought.'    There  are  two  portraits  of 
him  at  Cambridge  ;  one  by  Hoppner  (in  the 
university  library),  the  original  of  a  well- 
known  engraving ;    another,  by  Kirkby,  in 
the  master's  lodge  at  Trinity  College.     Two 
busts  of  him  also  exist :  one  by  Chantrey, 
which,  in  the  opinion  of  his  nephew,  Siday 
Hawes  (the  writer  of  the  article  '  Person ' 
in  Knight's  '  English  Encyclopaedia  '),  was 
not  a  good  likeness ;    and  another — which 
the  same  authority  commends  as  excellent 
— by  Ganganelli,  from  a  cast  of  the  head 
and  face  taken  after  death.    The  engraving 
prefixed  to  Person's  'Adversaria'  (1812)  is 
from  Ganganelli's  bust.    His  '  gala  costume,' 
according  to  Mr.  Gordon,  was  '  a  smart  blue 
coat,  white  vest,  black   satin   nether   gar- 
ments  and    silk    stockings,    with    a    shirt 
ruffled   at  the  wrists.'      But,  according   to 
Maltby,  '  he  was  generally  ill-dressed  and 
dirty.'     Dr.  Raine,  indeed,  said  that  he  had 
known  Porson  to  be  refused  admittance  by 
servants  at  the  houses  of  his  friends.     Dr. 
Davis,  a  physician  at  Bath,  once  took  Porson 
to  a  ball  at  the  assembly  rooms  there,  and 
introduced  him  to  the  Rev.  R.  Warner,  who 
has  described  the  horror  felt  by  the  master 
of  the  ceremonies  at  the  strange  figure  'with 
lank,  uncombed  locks,  a  loose  neckcloth,  and 
wrinkled  stockings.'     It  was  in  vain  that 
Warner  tried  to  explain  what  a  great  man 
was  there  (WARNER,  Literary  Recollections, 
ii.  6). 

As  a  companion,  Porson  seems  to  have  been 
delightful  when  he  felt  at  home  and  liked  the 
people  to  whom  he  was  talking.  'In  company,' 
says  Thomas  Kidd, '  R.  P.  was  the  gentlest 
being  I  ever  met  with;  his  conversation 
was  engaging  and  delightful ;  it  was  at  once 
animated  by  force  of  reasoning,  and  adorned 
with  all  the  graces  and  embellishments  of 
wit.'  Gilbert  Wakefield,  on  the  other  hand 
— who,  at  least  after  1797,  disliked  Porson — 
assigns  three  reasons  why  their  intercourse 
had  not  been  more  frequent :  viz.  Person's '  in- 


attention to  times  and  seasons,'  which  made 
him  an  inconvenient  guest ;  his  '  immoderate 
drinking  ; '  and  '  the  uninteresting  insipidity 
!  of  his  conversation.'    The  last  charge  means, 
probably,  that  Porson  stubbornly  refused  to 
i  t>e  communicative  in  Wakefield's  company. 
|  A  less  prejudiced  witness,  William  Beloe 
I  [q.  v.],  says  of  Porson  that,  f  except  where 
he  was  exceedingly  intimate,  his  elocution 
was  perplexed  and  embarrassed.'     But  Dr. 
I  John  Johnstone,  the  biographer  of  Dr.  Parr, 
j  has  described  what  Person's  talk  could  be 
like  when  he  felt  no  such  restraint.     They 
met  at  Parr's  house  in  the  winter  of  1790-1. 
Porson  was  rather  gloomy  in  the  morning, 
more  genial  after  dinner,  and  '  in  his  glory ' 
at  night.     '  The  charms  of  his  society  were 
then  irresistible.     Many  a  midnight  hour  did 
I  spend  with  him,  listening  with   delight, 
while   he   poured   out   torrents   of  various 
literature,    the   best   sentences  of  the  best 
writers,  and  sometimes  the  ludicrous  beyond 
the  gay ;  pages  of  Barrow,  whole  letters  of 
Richardson,  whole  scenes  of  Foote,  favourite 
pieces  from  the  periodical  press.'    His  me- 
mory was  marvellous,  not  only  for  its  tena- 
city, but  also  for  its  readiness  ;  whatever  it 
contained  he  could  produce  at  the  right  mo- 
ment.    He  was  once  at  a  party  given  by 
Dr.  Charles  Burney  at  Hammersmith,  when 
the  guests  were  examining  some  old  news- 
papers which  gave  a  detailed  account  of  the 
execution  of  Charles  I.    One  of  the  company 
remarked  that  some  of  the  particulars  there 
given  had  not  been  mentioned,  he  thought, 
by  Hume  or  Rapin.     Porson  forthwith  re- 
peated a  long  passage  from  Rapin  in  which 
these   circumstances  were    duly    recorded. 
Rogers  once  took  him  to  an  evening  party, 
where  he  was  introduced  '  to  several  women 
of  fashion,'  '  who  were  very  anxious  to  see 
the  great  Grecian.     How  do  you  suppose  he 
entertained  them  ?     Chiefly  by  reciting  an 
immense  quantity  of  old  forgotten  Vauxhall 
songs.'     As  a  rule,  Porson  declined  invita- 
tions of  this  nature.  '  They  invite  me  merely 
out  of  curiosity,'  he  once  said,  '  and.  after 
they  have  satisfied  it,  would  like  to  kick  me 
downstairs.'     One  day  Sir  James  Mackin- 
tosh, with  whom  he  was  dining,  asked  him 
to  go  with  him  the  next  day  to  dinner  at 
Holland  House,  to  meet  Fox,  who  wished  to 
be  introduced  to  him.      Porson  seemed  to 
assent,  but  the  next   morning  made   some 
excuse  for  not  going.    He  was  a  proud  man, 
of  high  spirit,  who  resented  the  faintest  suspi- 
cion of  patronage ;  and  he  also  disliked  the 
restraints  of  formal  society.    With  regard  to 
bis  too  frequent  intemperance,  the  facts  ap- 
pear to  be  as  follows.   It  was  not  believed  by 
bis  friends  that  he  drank  to  excess  when  he  was 


Person 


Person 


alone.  He  could,  and  often  did  (even  in  his 
later  years),  observe  abstinence  for  a  longer 
or  shorter  period.  But  from  boyhood  he  had 
been  subject  to  insomnia;  this  often  drove  him 
to  seek  society  at  night,  and  to  sit  up  late  ; 
and  in  those  days  that  easily  led  to  drinking. 
A  craving  was  gradually  developed  in  him, 
which  at  last  became  essentially  a  disease. 
His  best  friends  did  their  utmost  to  protect 
him  from  it,  and  some  of  them  could  suc- 
ceed; but  he  was  not  always  with  them, 
and,  in  less  judicious  company,  he  would 
sometimes  prolong  his  carouse  through  a 
whole  night.  Byron's  account  of  him  is  to 
the  effect  that  his  demeanour  in  public  was 
sober  and  decorous,  but  that  in  the  evenings, 
in  college  rooms,  it  was  sometimes  the  re- 
verse. It  should  be  remembered  that  these 
recollections  refer  to  the  years  1805-8  (in 
which  Byron  was  an  undergraduate),  when 
Person's  health  was  broken,  and  when  his 
infirmity  was  seen  at  its  worst  (cf.  LUABD, 
Correspondence  of  Porson,  p.  133).  That 
the  baneful  habit  limited  Porson's  work  and 
shortened  his  days  is  unhappily  as  little 
doubtful  as  are  the  splendour  of  his  gifts  and 
the  rare  vigour  of  constitution  with  which  he 
must  have  been  originally  endowed. 

The  most  salient  feature  of  Porson's  cha- 
racter is  well  marked  by  Bishop  Turton  in 
his  '  Vindication '  (1815).  'There  is  one 
quality  of  mind  in  which  it  may  be  confi- 
dently maintained  that  Mr.  Porson  had  no 
superior — I  mean  the  most  pure  and  in- 
flexible love  of  truth.  Under  the  influence 
of  this  principle  he  was  cautious,  and  patient, 
and  persevering  in  his  researches,  and  scru- 
pulously accurate  in  stating  facts  as  he  found 
them.  All  who  were  intimate  with  him 
bear  witness  to  this  noble  part  of  his  cha- 
racter, and  his  works  confirm  the  testimony 
of  his  friends.'  It  might  be  added  that  the 
irony  which  pervades  so  much  of  Porson's 
writings,  and  the  fierce  satire  which  he  could 
occasionally  wield,  were  intimately  con- 
nected with  this  love  of  accuracy  and  of 
candour.  They  were  the  weapons  which  he 
employed  where  he  discovered  the  absence 
of  those  qualities.  He  was  a  man  of  warm 
and  keen  feelings,  a  staunch  friend,  and  also 
a  good  hater.  In  the  course  of  life  he  had 
suffered,  or  believed  himself  to  have  suffered, 
some  wrongs  and  many  slights.  These,  acting 
on  his  sensitive  temperament,  tinged  it  with 
cynicism,  or  even  with  bitterness.  He  once 
described  himself  (in  1807)  as  a  man  who 
had  become  l  a  misanthrope  from  a  morbid 
excess  of  sensibility.'  In  this,  however,  he 
was  less  than  just  to  himself.  He  was,  in- 
deed, easily  estranged,  even  from  old  ac- 
quaintances, by  words  or  acts  which  offended 


nim.     But  his  native  disposition  was  most 
aenevolent.     To  those  who  consulted  him  on 
matters  of  scholarship  he  was  liberal  of  his 
aid.     Stephen  Weston  says  '  he  told  you  all 
you  wanted  to  know  in  a  plain  and  direct 
manner,  without  any  attempt  to  display  his 
own  superiority,  but  merely  to  inform  you.' 
Nor  was  his  liberality  confined  to  the  im- 
parting  of  his  knowledge.      Small  though 
his  means  were,  the  strict  economy  which  he 
practised  enabled  him  to  spare  something  for 
the  needs  of  others  :  he  was  l  most  generous 
(as  his  nephew,  Mr.  Hawes,  testifies)  to  the 
three  orphan  children  of  his  brother  Henry/ 
There  is  a  letter  of  his  extant — written  in  1802 
— when  his  own  income  was  something  under 
140Z.  to  his  great  friend  Dr.  Martin  Davy 
(master  of  Caius) — asking  him  to  help  in  a 
subscription  on  behalf  of  some  one  whom 
he  calls  ;  the  poor  poet.'     He  was  free  from 
vanity.   '  I  have  made  myself  what  I  am,'  he 
once  said,  'by  intense  labour;  sometimes,  in 
order  to  impress  a  thing  upon  my  memory,  I 
have  read  it  a  dozen  times,  and  transcribed  it 
six.'   And,  though  he  could  be  rough  at  times, 
he  was  not  arrogant ;  never  sought  to  impose 
his  own  authority,  but  always  anticipated 
the  demand  for  proof.  His  capacity  for  great 
bursts  of  industry  was  combined  with  chronic 
indolence  in  certain  directions.     He  had  a 
rooted  dislike  to  composition ;  and  though, 
under  pressure,  he   could  write  with   fair 
rapidity,  he  seldom  wrote  with  ease — unless, 
perhaps,  in  some  of  his  lighter   effusions. 
This   reluctance    was   extended    to    letter- 
writing  ;  even  his  nearest  relatives  had  cause 
to  complain  of  his  silence.     In  the  case  of 
some  distinguished  scholars,  his  failure  to 
answer  letters  was  inexcusable.     Gail,  of  the 
College  de  France,  sends  him  books,  with  a 
most  courteous  letter,  in  1799,  and  a  year 
later  writes  again,  expressing  a  fear  that  the 
parcel  must  have  miscarried,  and  sending 
other  copies.     Eichstadt,  of  Jena,  had  a  pre- 
cisely similar  experience  in  1801-2,  aggra- 
vated by  the  fact  that  the  book  which  he 
sent  (vol.  i.  of  his  '  Diodorus ')  was  actually 
dedicated  to   Porson,   in   conjunction  with 
Korae's,  Wolff,  and  Wyttenbach.     The  same 
kind  of  indolence  unfitted  him  for  routine 
duties  of  any  sort.     In  his  later  life  he  was 
also  averse  to  travelling.  '  He  hated  moving,' 
says  Maltby,  '  and  would  not  even  accom- 
pany me  to  Paris.'     Long  years  passed  with- 
out his  once  going  from  London  to  Norfolk 
to  see  his  relatives ;  though  he  was  a  good 
son  and  a  good  brother,  and,  when  his  father 
became  seriously  ill,  hastened  down  to  stay 
with  his  sister.  The  sluggish  elements  which 
were  thus  mingled  with  the  strenuous  in  his 
nature  indisposed  him  for  any  exertion  be- 


Person 


160 


Person 


yond  the  range  of  his  chosen  and  favourite 
pursuits.  As  he  cared  nothing  for  money, 
so  he  cared  little  for  reputation,  at  least  in 
the  popular  sense  ;  the  only  applause  which 
he  valued  was  that  of  scholars  who  satisfied 
his  fastidious  judgment.  He  worked  with  a 
clear  consciousness  of  the  limits  within 
which  he  could  work  best.  Rogers  men- 
tions that  some  one  asked  Person  why  he  did 
not  produce  more  original  work,  and  he  re- 
plied, 'I  doubt  if  I  could  produce  any  original 
work  which  would  command  the  attention 
of  posterity.  I  can  be  known  only  by  my 
notes ;  and  I  am  quite  satisfied  if,  three 
hundred  years  hence,  it  shall  be  said  that 
one  Person  lived  towards  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  who  did  a  good  deal  for 
the  text  of  Euripides.' 

All  Porson's  principal  writings  are  com- 
prised in  the  short  period  from  his  twenty- 
fourth  to  his  forty-fourth  year  (1783-1803). 
The  last  five  years  of  his  life  (1804-8),  when 
his  health  was  failing,  are  represented  only 
by  a  very  few  private  letters  ;  though  some 
of  the  notes  in  his  books  may  be  of  that  time. 
His  earliest  work  appeared  in  a  publication 
called  '  Maty's  Review '  [see  MATT,  PAUL 
HENRY],  which  existed  from  1782  to  1787. 
To  this  review  he  contributed,  in  1783,  a 
short  paper  on  Schutz's  ^Eschylus,  and  a  more 
elaborate  one  on  Brunck's  Aristophanes ;  in 
1784  a  notice  of  the  book  in  which  Stephen 
Weston  dealt  with  the  fragments  of  the  ele- 
giac poet  Hermesianax,  and  a  few  pages  on 
G.  I.  Huntingford's  defence  of  his  Greek 
verses  ('  Apology  for  the  Monostrophics '). 
Comparatively  slight  though  these  articles 
are,  they  give  glimpses  of  his  critical  power; 
one  fragment  of  Hermesianax,  in  particular, 
(ap.  Athen.  p.  599A,  vv.  90  ff.)  is  brilliantly 
restored.  In  1786,  when  Hutchinson's  edition 
of  the  '  Anabasis '  was  being  reprinted,  he 
added  some  notes  to  it  (pp.  xli-lix),  with  a 
short  preface.  During  these  early  years,  Por- 
son's thoughts  were  turned  especially  to- 
wards ^Eschylus.  It  had  already  been  an- 
nounced in  *  Maty's  Review '  (for  March  and 
October  1783)  that  '  a  scholar  of  Cambridge 
was  preparing  a  new  edition  of  Stanley's 
yEschylus,  to  which  he  proposed  to  add  his 
own  notes,  and  would  be  glad  of  any  com- 
munications on  the  subject,  either  from  En- 
glishmen or  foreigners.'  The  syndics  of  the 
Cambridge  University  Press  were  then  con- 
templating a  new  edition  of  ./Eschylus,  and 
offered  the  editorship  to  Person ;  who,  how- 
ever, declined  it,  on  finding  that  Stanley's 
text  was  to  be  followed,  and  that  all  Pauw's 
notes  were  to  be  included.  He  was  anxious 
to  be  sent  to  Florence  to  collate  the  Medicean 
(or  'Laurentian')  manuscript  of  ^Eschylus — 


the  oldest  and  best — and  offered  to  perform  the 
mission  at  small  cost ;  but  the  proposal  was 
rejected,  one  of  the  syndics  remarking  that 
Porson  might  '  collect  '  his  manuscripts 
at  home.  It  was  always  characteristic  of 
Porson  to  vary  his  graver  studies  by  occa- 
sional writings  of  a  light  or  humorous  kind. 
One  of  the  earliest  examples,  and  perhaps 
the  best,  is  a  series  of  three  letters  to  the 
'  Gentleman's  Magazine  '  (August,  Septem- 
ber, October  1787)  on  the  i  Life '  of  Johnson- 
by  Sir  John  Hawkins — an  ironical  panegyric, 
in  which  Hawkins's  pompous  style  is  parodied. 
The  '  Fragment ' — in  which  Sir  John  is  sup- 
posed to  relate  what  passed  between  him- 
self and  Johnson's  negro  servant  about  the  de- 
ceased Doctor's  watch — is  equal  to  anything 
in  Thackeray.  It  was  in  the  '  Gentleman's 
Magazine,'  too,  for  1788  and  1789,  that  Por- 
son published  his  first  important  work,  the 
'Letters  to  Travis.'  Archdeacon  George  Travis, 
in  his  '  Letters  to  Gibbon,'  had  defended  the 
genuineness  of  the  text  1  St.  John  v.  7  (the 
three  heavenly  witnesses),  to  which  Gibbon 
(ch.  37,  note  120)  had  referred  as  being  an 
interpolation.  The  best  critics,  from  Erasmus 
to  Bentley,  had  been  of  Gibbon's  opinion. 
Porson,  in  his  '  Letters  to  Travis,'  reviews 
the  history  of  the  disputed  text  in  detail, 
and  proves  its  spuriousness  with  conclusive 
force.  His  merit  here  is  not  originality,  but 
critical  thoroughness,  luminous  method,  and 
sound  reasoning.  Travis  receives  no  mercy ; 
but  his  book  deserved  none.  Porson  was  an 
admirer  of  Swift  and  of '  Junius.'  In  these 
'Letters 'he  occasionally  reminds  us  of  both. 
'To  peruse  such  a  mass  of  sophistry, 'he  said, 
'  without  sometimes  giving  way  to  laughter, 
and  sometimes  to  indignation,  was,  to  me 
at  least,  impossible.'  The  collected  '  Letters 
to  Travis  '  were  published  in  1790.  In  the 
preface  is  Porson's  well-known  estimate  of 
Gibbon,  whose  style  he  criticises,  while  fully 
appreciating  the  monumental  greatness  of 
his  work.  One  of  the  results  of  Porson's 
labours  was  that  an  old  lady,  who  had  meant 
to  leave  him  a  large  sum,  on  being  informed 
that  he  had  '  attacked  Christianity,'  cut  down 
the  legacy.  In  1789,  while  the  '  Letters  to 
Travis  'were  in  progress,  Porson  found  leisure 
to  write  an  article  in  the  '  Monthly  Review,' 
defending  the  genuineness  of  the  '  Parian 
Chronicle '  against  certain  objections  raised 
by  the  Rev.  J.  Robertson.  A  new  edition  of 
Toup's  'Emendationesin  Suidam' came  forth 
from  the  Oxford  Press  in  1790,  with  notes 
and  a  preface  by  Porson  (which  he  had 
written  in  1787).  This  was  the  work  which 
first  made  his  powers  widely  known  among 
scholars.  The  three  years  1788-90  may  thus 
be  said  to  be  those  in  which  his  high  repu- 


Person 


161 


Person 


tation — to  be  raised  still  higher  afterwards — 
was  definitely  established. 

In  1793  he  wrote  for  the '  Monthly  Review ' 
a  notice  of  an.  edition,  by  Dr.  T.  Edwards, 
of  the  Plutarchic  tract  on  education ;  and 
in  1794  a  notice  of  an  essay  on  the  Greek 
alphabet,  by  R.  Payne  Knight.  The  London 
edition  of  Heyne's  Virgil  (4  vols.  1793)  ap- 
peared with  a  short  preface  by  Person,  who 
had  undertaken  to  correct  the  press.  He  was 
blamed  for  the  numerous  misprints ;  but  a 
writer  in  the  i  Museum  Oriticum '  (i.  395) 
says,  '  he  has  been  heard  to  declare  that  the 
booksellers,  after  they  had  obtained  permis- 
sion to  use  his  name,  never  paid  the  slightest 
attention  to  his  corrections.'  In  1795  a  folio 
^Eschylus  was  issued  from  the  Foulis  Press 
at  Glasgow,  with  some  corrections  in  the 
text.  These  were  Porson's  ;  but  the  book 
appeared  without  his  name,  and  without  his 
knowledge.  He  had  sent  a  text,  thus  far 
corrected,  to  Glasgow,  in  order  that  an 
edition  of  ^Eschylus  for  a  London  firm 
might  be  printed  from  it ;  and  this  edition 
(in  2  vols.  8vo)  was  actually  printed  in  1794, 
though  published  only  in  1806,  still  with- 
out his  name.  This  partly  corrected  text 
was  the  first  step  towards  the  edition  of 
yEschylus  which  he  had  meditated,  but 
which  he  never  completed. 

In  1796  Samuel  Ireland  [q.  v.]  was  pub- 
lishing the  Shakespearean  papers  forged  by 
his  son,  W.  H.  Ireland :  Kernble  acted  for 
Sheridan  at  Drury  Lane  in  f  Vortigern  and 
Rowena,'  and  shortly  afterwards  Malone  ex- 
posed the  fraud.  Porson  wrote  a  letter  to  the 

*  Morning  Chronicle,'  signed  *  S.  England,' 
setting  forth  how  a  learned  friend  of  his  had 
found '  some  of  the  lost  tragedies  of  Sophocles ' 
in  an  old  trunk.     As  a  specimen  he  gives 
twelve  Greek  iambic  verses  (a  translation  of 

*  Three  children  sliding  on  the  ice ').    Among 
his   other    contributions   to   the  *  Morning 
Chronicle'  at  this  period,  the  best  are  'The 
Imitations  of  Horace '(1797), political  satires 
of  much  caustic  humour,  on  the  war  with 
France,  the  panic  as  to  the  spread  of  revo- 
lutionary principles,  &c.,  couched  in  the  form 
of  free  translations  from  the  Odes,  introduced 
by  letters  in  prose.     In  1797  his  edition  of 
the  '  Hecuba '  of  Euripides  was  published  in 
London,  without  his  name.     The  preface  (of 
sixteen  pages)  states  that  the  book  is  meant 
chiefly  for  young  students,  and  then  deals 
with  certain  points  as  to  the  mode  of  writing 
Greek  words,  and  as  to  metre.     The  notes 
are  short,  and  all  f  critical.'     Gilbert  Wake- 
field,  angry  at  not  finding  himself  mentioned, 
attacked  the  book  in  a  feebly  furious  pam- 
phlet ('  Diatribe  Extemporalis  ').     Godfrey 
Hermann  was  then  a  young  man  of  twenty- 

VOL,    XLVI. 


five.  In  1796  (the  year  in  which  he  brought 
out  the  first  edition  of  his  treatise  on  Greek 
metres)  he  had  written  to  Porson,  asking  for 
help  in  obtaining  access  to  the  manuscripts 
of  Plautus  in  England :  a  request  which 
Heyne  supported  by  a  letter  from  Gottingen. 
Nothing  could  be  more  courteous  or  appre- 
ciative than  the  terms  in  which  young  Her- 
mann wrote  to  Porson  (the  letter  is  in  the 
library  of  Trinity  College) ;  but  he  was  now 
nettled  by  Porson's  differences  from  him  on 
some  metrical  points ;  and  when,  after  edit- 
ing the  '  Nubes '  in  1799,  he  brought  out  a 
'  Hecuba '  of  his  own  in  1800,  he  criticised 
the  English  edition  with  a  severity  and  in  a 
tone  which  were  quite  unwarrantable.  There 
are  tacit  allusions  to  Hermann  (as  to  some 
other  critics)  in  Porson's  subsequent  writings, 
and  once  at  least  (on  '  Medea,'  v.  675)  he  cen- 
sures him  by  name.  As  Blonifield  observed, 
traces  of  the  variance  bet  ween  these  two  great 
scholars  may  be  seen  in  the  attitude  of  Her- 
mann's pupils,  such  as  Seidler  and  Reisig, 
towards  Porson.  The  *  Hecuba '  was  followed 
in  the  next  year  (1798)  by  the '  Orestes/  and 
in  1799  by  the '  Phoenissse.'  Both  these  plays, 
like  the  first,  were  published  in  London,  and 
anonymously.  But  the  fourth  and  last  play 
which  Porson  edited — the '  Medea ' — came  out 
at  the  Cambridge  Press,  and  with  his  name, 
in  1801.  The  '  Grenville '  Homer,  published 
in  the  same  year  at  the  Clarendon  Press,  had 
appended  to  it  Porson's  collation  of  the  Har- 
leian  manuscript  of  the  Odyssey  (Harl.  MS. 
5674  in  the  British  Museum).  In  1802  he 
published  a  second  edition  of  the  '  Hecuba,'  - 
with  many  additions  to  the  notes,  and  with 
the  famous  '  Supplement '  to  the  preface,  in 
which  he  states  and  illustrates  certain  rules 
of  iambic  and  trochaic  verse,  including  the 
rule  respecting  the 'pause'  ('canon  Porso- 
nianus').  This 'Supplement 'may  be  regarded 
as,  on  the  whole,  his  finest  single  piece  of 
criticism.  Here  his  published  work  on  Euri- 
pides ended.  A  transcript  by  Porson  of  the 
'  Hippolytus,'  vv.  176-266,  with  corrections 
of  the  text,  was  in  J.  H.  Monk's  hands  when 
he  edited  that  play  (1811).  As  appears  from 
the  notes  on  Euripides  in  Porson's  '  Adver- 
saria '  (pp.  217  ff.),  the  '  Supplices '  was  an- 
other piece  on  which  he  had  done  a  good  deal 
of  work ;  but  there  is  no  reason  to  think  that, 
after  publishing  the  four  plays,  hehad  brought 
any  fifth  near  to  readiness  for  the  press. 


was  unequal  to  such  a  task.  The  '  Monthly 
Review'  for  October  1802 contained  a  curious 
letter,  so  characteristic  of  Porson  as  to  de- 
serve mention.  Having  discovered  an  over- 


Person 


162 


Person 


sight  in  one  of  his  own  notes  (on  '  Heci 
782),  he   wrote   to    the   'Review/   sigi 

T-i I m o al  f  i  Tnlrn  TVir*   T)n .WPS  '  f\ n c\  instrnp.tr 


Hecuba ' 
signing 

himself 'John  Nic.  Dawes,'and  instructively 
correcting '  Mr.  Person's '  blunder.  His  choice 
of  the  pseudonym  was  suggested  by  the  fact 
that  the  eminent  critic  Eichard  Dawes  had 
once  pointed  out  the  similar  oversight  of 
another  scholar  (DAWES,  Misc.  Crit.  p.  216). 
On  13  Jan.  1803  Person  presented  to  the 
Society  of  Antiquaries  his  restoration  of  the 
last  twenty-six  lines  of  the  Greek  inscription 
on  the  Rosetta  stone,  with  a  Latin  transla- 
tion. It  is  printed  in  the  transactions  of 
the  society  (Archceologia,  vol.  xvi.art.xxvii.) 

After  Person's  death  his  literary  remains 
were  published  in  the  following  works : 
1.  *  Ricardi  Porsoni  Adversaria/  1812.  His 
notes  and  emendations  on  Athenseus  and 
various  Greek  poets,  edited  by  Monk  and 
Blomfield.  2.  His '  Tracts  and  Miscellaneous 
Criticisms/  1815,  collected  by  Thomas  Kidd. 
3.  'Aristophanica/ 1820.  His  notes  and  emen- 
dations on  Aristophanes,  edited  by  Peter 
Paul  Dobree.  4.  His  notes  on  Pausanias, 
printed  at  the  end  of  Gaisford's  •'  Lectiones 
Platonic®/ 1820.  5.  '  The  Lexicon  of  Pho- 
tius/  printed  from  Person's  transcript  of  a 
manuscript  presented  to  Trinity  College  by 
Roger  Gale  ('  Codex  Galeanus '),  edited  by 
P.  P.  Dobree,  1822,  2  vols.  6.  Person's 
Notes  on  Suidas,  in  the  appendix  to  Gais- 
ford's edition,  1834.  7.  'Person's  Corre- 
spondence/ edited  for  the  Cambridge  Anti- 
quarian Society,  by  II.  R.  Luard,  fellow  of 
Trinity  College  and  registrary  of  the  univer- 
sity, 1867.  A  collection  of  sixty-eight  letters 
written  or  received  by  Porson  (1783-1808), 
including  letters  from  eminent  scholars  at 
home  and  abroad.  Few  men,  probably,  have 
ever  had  so  distinguished  a  series  of  literary 
executors. 

Person's  papers  in  the  library  of  Trinity 
College  were  arranged  in  1859  by  Dr.  Luard, 
and  are  bound  in  several  volumes,  to  each  of 
which  a  table  of  contents  is  prefixed.  The 
collection  includes :  (1)  The  originals  of 
many  of  the  letters  printed  in  the  '  Corre- 
spondence.' (2)  Person's  transcript  of  the 
Lexicon  of  Photius,  from  the  Gale  MS.  This 
was  the  second  copy  which  he  made,  the 
first  having  been  destroyed  in  a  fire  at  Perry's 
house  in  1797.  It  consists  of  108  leaves, 
written  on  one  side  only,  in  double  columns. 
(3)  Person's  transcripts  of  the  'Medea' 
and  the  '  Phosnissae.'  These,  with  the  Pho- 
tius, are  truly  marvels  of  calligraphy.  The 
so-called  '  Porson '  type  was  cut  from  this 
manuscript  of  the  '  Medea.'  4.  Scattered 
notes  on  various  ancient  authors,  written  in 
copy-books,  in  a  hand  so  minute  that  forty 
or  fifty  notes,  on  miscellaneous  subjects,  are 


sometimes  crowded  into  one  small  page.  A 
collation  of  the  Aldine  ^Eschylus  is  especially 
remarkable  as  an  example  of  his  smallest 
writing :  it  might  be  compared  to  diamond 
type.  Besides  Porson's  papers,  the  college 
library  possesses  also  about  274  of  his  books, 
almost  all  of  which  contain  short  notes  or 
memoranda  written  by  him  in  the  margins 
or  on  blank  leaves.  The  notes,  edited  by 
Monk,  Blomfield,  and  Dobree,  were  taken 
mainly  from  the  papers,  but  partly  also  from, 
the  books. 

Textual  criticism  was  the  work  to  which 
Porson's  genius  was  mainly  devoted.  His 
success  in  it  was  due  primarily  to  native 
acumen,  aided — in  a  degree  perhaps  un- 
equalled— by  a  marvellous  memory,  richly 
stored,  accurate,  and  prompt.  His  emenda- 
tions are  found  to  rest  both  on  a  wide  and 
exact  knowledge  of  classical  Greek,  and  on  a 
wonderful  command  of  passages  which  illus- 
trate his  point.  He  relied  comparatively 
little  on  mere  '  divination/  and  usually  ab- 
stained from  conjecture  where  he  felt  that 
the  remedy  must  remain  purely  conjectural. 
His  lifelong  love  of  mathematics  has  left  a 
clear  impress  on  his  criticism  ;  we  see  it  in 
his  precision  and  in  his  close  reasoning. 
Very  many  of  his  emendations  are  such  as 
at  once  appear  certain  or  highly  probable. 
Bentley's  cogent  logic  sometimes  (as  in  his 
Horace)  renders  a  textual  change  plausible, 
while  our  instinct  rebels ;  Porson,  as  a  rule, 
merely  states  his  correction,  briefly  gives 
his  proofs,  and  convinces.  His  famous  note 
on  the  *  Medea/  vv.  139  f.,  where  he  dis- 
engages a  series  of  poetical  fragments  from 
prose  texts,  is  a  striking  example  of  his 
method,  and  has  been  said  also  to  give  some 
idea  of  the  way  in  which  his  talk  on  such 
subjects  used  to  flow.  Athenseus,  so  rich 
in  quotations  from  the  poets,  afforded  a 
field  in  which  Porson  did  more,  perhaps, 
than  all  former  critics  put  together.  He 
definitely  advanced  Greek  scholarship  in 
three  principal  respects  :  (1)  by  remarks  on 
countless  points  of  Greek  idiom  and  usage ; 
(2)  by  adding  to  the  knowledge  of  metre, 
and  especially  of  the  iambic  trimeter ;  (3)  by 
emendation  of  texts.  Then,  as  a  master  of 
precise  and  lucid  phrase,  alike  in  Latin  and 
in  English,  he  supplied  models  of  compact 
and  pointed  criticism.  A  racy  vigour  and 
humour  often  animate  his  treatment  of 
technical  details.  He  could  be  trenchantly 
severe,  when  he  saw  cause  ;  but  his  habitual 
weapon  was  irony,  sometimes  veiled,  some- 
times frankly  keen,  always  polished,  and 
iisually  genial.  Regarding  the  correction  of 
texts  as  the  most  valuable  office  of  the  critic, 
he  lamented  that,  in  popular  estimation,  it 


Person 


163 


Port 


stood  below  '  literary '  criticism,  which  he 
very  unduly  depreciated  (KiDD,  Tracts,  p. 
108).  He  admitted  the  utility  of  explana- 
tory and  illustrative  comment  (Prcef.  ad 
Hec.\  but  he  never  wrote  it.  Textual  criti- 
cism can  seldom,  however,  neglect  interpre- 
tation without  incurring  a  nemesis.  Person 
(speaking  of  Heyne)  once  said,  ( An  eagle 
does  not  catch  flies,  and  the  higher  criticism 
is  sometimes  so  intent  on  subject-matter 
[rebus]  that  it  neglects  words' — which  is 
true ;  but  there  is  the  converse  danger ;  and, 
in  cases  where  Person's  emendations  do  not 
command  assent,  it  is  sometimes  because  the 
larger  context  condemns  them.  He  had 
much  humour,  but  little  imagination.  In  all 
that  concerns  diction,  he  was  an  acute  judge 
of  style,  for  prose  and  verse  alike;  but  it 
may  be  doubted  whether  his  taste  in  poetry 
was  equally  sure ;  in  his  Latin  discourse  on 
Euripides,  he  is  far  less  than  just  to  Sopho- 
cles ;  and  a  passage  in  the  '  Tempest '  ('  The 
cloud-capped  towers,'  &c.)  was  ranked  by 
him  beneath  similar  but  very  inferior  lines 
in  *  Darius,'  a  tragedy  by  Sir  William  Alex- 
ander, lord  Stirling  [q.  v.]  His  range  of  read- 
ing was  a  wide  one.  Among  his  favourite 
English  authors  were  Barrow,  Swift,  Ri- 
chardson, Smollett,  and  Foote ;  Shakespeare, 
whom  he  knew  thoroughly  ;  Milton,  whom 
he  wished  to  vindicate  from  Johnson's  injus- 
tice ;  Dryden,  and  (in  a  special  degree)  Pope. 
He  had  read  many  French  writers,  and  some 
Italian.  From  almost  every  book  that  he 
loved  he  could  quote  pages. 

Person's  place  in  the  history  of  scholarship 
may  be  concisely  indicated.  Bentley  had 
been  a  brilliant  textual  critic,  and  also  (as 
in  his  '  Phalaris ')  a  pioneer  of  the  higher 
criticism.  The  emendation  of  texts  was  the 
line  in  which  he  was  followed  by  our  chief 
classical  scholars  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
such  as  John  Taylor,  Markland,  Dawes, 
Toup,  Tyrwhitt,  Heath,  Musgrave.  Now, 
Person's'  work  in  this  field  had  a  finish,  an 
exactness,  and  a  convincing  power  which 
tended  to  raise  the  general  estimate  of  all 
such  work  as  a  discipline  for  the  mind.  Por- 
son  did  much  to  create  that  ideal  of  scholar- 
ship which  prevailed  at  Cambridge,  and 
widely  in  England,  for  more  than  fifty  years 
after  his  death  ;  an  ideal  which  owed  its  in- 
fluence largely  to  the  belief  in  its  educa- 
tional value.  On  the  other  hand,  he  lived 
before  the  study  of  manuscripts  and  of  their 
relations  to  each  other  had  become  sys- 
tematic. Hence  his  work  necessarily  lacked 
one  element  of  scientific  value,  viz.  a  con- 
stant regard  to  the  relative  weight  of  dif- 
ferent witnesses  for  a  text.  A  time  came, 
therefore,  when  the  type  of  criticism  which 


he  represents  was  felt  to  be,  though  excel- 
lent in  itself,  yet,  from  the  scientific  point 
of  view,  incomplete  ;  while  its  limitation  to 
the  linguistic  side  of  scholarship  made  it  ap- 
pear, from  the  educational  point  of  view,  less 
satisfactory  than  it  had  once  been  deemed. 
There  was  a  reaction — one-sided  at  first — • 
against  the  Porsonian  school;  but  already 
the  forces  of  a  larger  and  maturer  view  are 
reacting  against  the  reaction.  And  no  vicis- 
situdes in  the  tendencies  of  classical  study 
can  ever  obscure  the  fame  of  Porson.  He 
brought  extraordinary  gifts  and  absolute 
fidelity  to  his  chosen  province,  leaving  work 
most  important  in  its  positive  and  perma- 
nent result,  but  remarkable  above  all  for  its 
quality — the  quality  given  to  it  by  his  in- 
dividual genius,  by  that  powerful  and  pene- 
trating mind,  at  once  brilliant  and  patient, 
serious  and  sportive  by  turns,  but  in  every 
mood  devoted,  with  a  scrupulous  loyalty,  to 
the  search  for  truth. 

[Memoirs  in  the  Gent.  Mag.  for  September 
and  October,  1808  ;  Narrative  of  the  last  Illness 
and  Death  of  R.  Porson,  by  Dr.  Adam  Clarke, 
London,  1808  (there  is  also  an  account  by  James 
Savage,  the  under-librarian  of  the  London  In- 
stitution, to  whom  Clarke  owed  several  particu- 
lars) ;  A  Short  Account  of  the  late  Mr.  Porson, 
London,  1808  :  reissued  in  1814  with  a  new  pre- 
face and  a  piece  entitled  Tefi&x^  &c->  or  Scraps 
from  Porson's  Rich  Feast,  by  Stephen  Weston  (of 
little  value) ;  Imperfect  Outline  of  the  Life  of 
R.  Porson,  by  T.  Kidd  (prefixed  to  the  Tracts, 
&c.,  London,  1815);  The  Sexagenarian,  by  the 
Rev.  "W.  Beloe,  London,  1817,  vol.  i.  (not 
always  trustworthy) ;  A  Vindication  of  the  Lite- 
rary Character  of  the  late  Professor  Porson,  by 
Crito  Cantabrigiensis  (Dr.  T.  Turton,  bishop  of 
Ely),  Cambridge,  1829 ;  Parriana,  by  E.  H. 
Barker,  vol.  ii.,  London,  1829;  Porsoniana  (by 
Barker),  including  several  articles  from  periodi- 
cals of  Porson's  day,  with  Dr.  Young's  memoir 
of  him  (from  a  former  edition  of  the  Encycl. 
Brit."),  London,  1852  ;  Maltby's  Porsoniana  in 
Dyce's  Recollections  of  the  Table-Talk  of  Samuel 
Rogers,  London,  1856  ;  a  short  article  on  Porson 
in  Knight's  English  Encyclopaedia  (1857)  which 
is  of  interest,  especially  in  regard  to  matters  con- 
cerning his  family,  as  being  the  work  of  his 
nephew,  Mr.  Siday  Hawes ;  Porson,  in  Cam- 
bridge Essays,  London,  1857,  by  H.  R.  Luard 
(excellent) ;  Life  of  Porson,  by  the  Rev.  John  Selby 
Watson,  London,  1861 ;  Porson's  Correspondence, 
edited  for  the  Cambr.  Antiq.  Soc.  by  H.  R.  Luard, 
Cambridge,  1867;  Porson  in  Encycl.  Brit.  9th 
edit.,  Edinburgh,  1885,  by  H.  R.  Luard.] 

R.  C.  J. 

PORT  or  PORZ,  ADAM  DE  (d.  1213?), 
baron,  eldest  son  of  John  de  Port  and  Maud, 
his  wife,  was  grandson  of  Henry  de  Port, 
lord  of  Basing  in  Hampshire,  and  a  justice 
itinerant  in  1130.  Henry  founded  the  priory 


Port 


164 


Port 


of  West  Sherborne  in  that  county,  a  cell  of 
St.  Vigor's  Abbey  at  Cerisy,  and  took  his 
name  from  the  Norman  fief  of  his  house  in 
the  Bessin.  Adam  reported  to  the  exchequer 
in  1164,  his  father  John  being  then  alive,  for 
about  twenty-four  knights'  fees  in  Hereford- 
shire (Liber  Niger  de  Scaccario,  i.  151),  said 
to  be  the  fief  of  Sibilla,  daughter  and  heiress 
of  Bernard  of  NeufmarchS  (fl.  1093)  [q.  v.], 
and  widow  of  Miles,  earl  of  Hereford  [see 
GLOUCESTEK,  MILES  BE]  (STAPLETON,  Magni 
Rotuli  Scaccarii  Normannice,  i.  Observations 
clxi).  During  her  lifetime  he  gave  a  charter 
to  the  priory  of  West  Sherborne  relating 
to  an  exchange  (Monasticon,  vi.  1014),  and 
also  in  the  reign  of  Henry  II  granted  Little- 
ton in  Hampshire  to  the  abbey  of  St.  Peter, 
Gloucester,  the  manor  being  claimed  by  the 
convent  (Historia  S.  Petri  Gloucestrice,  ii. 
388). 

He  was  in  1172  accused  of  treason  and  of 
plotting  the  death  of  the  king ;  he  was  sum- 
moned to  appear  before  the  king's  court,  dis- 
obeyed the  summons,  fled  from  England,  and 
was  outlawed  (Gesta  Henrici  II,  i.  35). 
During  the  barons'  rebellion  in  11 74  he  joined 
William,  king  of  Scotland,  with  a  body  of 
knights,  marched  with  him  against  Carlisle, 
shared  in  his  defeat  before  Alnwick,  and  fled 
in  company  with  Roger  de  Mowbray[q.  v.], 
probably  taking  refuge  with  him  in  Scotland 
(JORDAN  FANTOSME,  11.  1340,  1360,  1846). 
He  seems  to  have  been  in  England  in  1176, 
when  he  was  fined  three  hundred  marks  for 
trespassing  in  the  royal  forests  (DUGDALE, 
Baronage}.  He  made  his  peace  with  the 
king  in  1180,  submitting  to  a  fine  of  a  thou- 
sand marks,  and  receiving  back  his  paternal 
lands,  together  with  those  that  he  held  in 
Normandy  in  right  of  his  second  wife,  Ma- 
bil ;  the  lands  that  he  had  held  in  Here- 
fordshire remained  forfeited,  and  were  de- 
scribed as  '  feodum  Adse  de  Port  fugitivi ; ' 
they  appear  to  have  passed  to  William  de 
Braose  in  right  of  his  mother  Bertha,  a 
daughter  of  Sibilla  by  Miles  of  Gloucester, 
for  in  1194  he  paid  22/.  13s.  for  Adam's  fee. 
Of  Adam's  fine  two  hundred  and  fifty-one 
marks  remained  unpaid  at  the  accession  of 
Richard  I  (Pipe  Roll,  1189-90,  p.  199).  He 
is  said  to  have  served  the  king  in  Normandy 
in  1194  (DUGDALE,  Baronage). 

Dugdale  has  a  story  that  early  in  John's 
reign  he  was  accused  of  causing  the  death  of 
Henry  II,  and  fled  the  country.  This  strange 
story,  derived  by  Dugdale  from  a  Cottonian 
manuscript,  to  which  no  reference  is  given, 
seems  to  have  arisen  from  a  misunderstand- 
ing of  the  passage  relating  his  outlawry  in 
1172(<calumniatusdemorte. . .  regis ; '  Gesta 
Henrici  II  which  is  in  two  Cottonian  manu- 


scripts), and  from  the  description  of  the  lands 
in  Herefordshire  that  he  had  lost  (see  above). 
At  the  time  in  question,  1201,  he  still  owed 
the  same  amount  in  respect  of  the  fine  of  1180 
as  in  1189,  together  with  8Z.  10s.  in  respect 
of  the  scutage  of  Wales.  In  1202  he  fined 
ten  marks  and  a  palfrey  in  respect  of  a  divi- 
sion of  land  in  Hampshire  with  the  abbot  of 
Abingdon  (Rotuli  de  Oblatis,  p.  183).  In 
1203  he  was  twice  employed  to  convey  the 
king's  prisoners  from  Normandy  to  England 
(STAPLETON  u.s.  Observations,  vol.  i.  p.  clxi, 
vol.  ii.  p.  cxxvi).  In  1208  he  received  from 
the  king  the  custody  of  Sherborne  Priory. 
He  acted  as  a  justiciar  in  1208-9,  fines 
being  acknowledged  before  him  at  Carlisle. 
He  was  warden  of  Southampton  Castle  in 
1213,  and  died  in  or  about  that  year,  when 
his  eldest  son  had  livery  of  his  lands  in 
Hampshire  and  Berkshire  (Rotuli  de  Oblatis  f 
p.  477).  He  is  said  to  have  rebuilt  the 
church  of  Warnford,  Hampshire  (WiLKs). 
Jordan  Fantosme  (u.s.)  speaks  of  him  as  a 
valiant  baron,  one  of  the  best  warriors  of 
his  time. 

His  first  wife  is  said  by  Stapleton  (u.s., 
accepted  by  Bishop  STUBBS  in  his  edi- 
tion of  Gesta  Henrici  II,  u.s.,  and  by  Foss, 
Judges  of  England,  ii.  108)  to  have  been 
Sibilla,  widow  of  Miles,  earl  of  Hereford , 
and  this  is  borne  out  by  Adam's  charter  to- 
Sherborne  Priory  (u.s.),  where,  among  his- 
witnesses,  is  written  *  Sibilla  comitissa  uxore 
mea.'  Sibilla  was  married  to  Miles  in  1121 
(ROUND,  Ancient  Charters,  p.  8),  and  it  is 
extraordinary  to  find  her  married  again  to  a 
husband  who  died  92  years  after  her  first 
marriage,  and  about  108  after  the  latest  date 
that  can  well  be  assigned  to  her  own  birth. 
There  was  an  older  Adam  de  Port,  the  brother 
of  Henry  de  Port,  and  therefore  great-uncle 
of  this  Adam,  whose  name  occurs  in  several 
charters  of  the  reign  of  Henry  I  (Historia 
S.  Petri  Gloucestria,  i.  93,  236,  ii.  220;  M. 
PARIS,  vi.,  Additamenta,  p.  38 ;  Genealogist, 
new  ser.  iv.  135 ;  ROUND,  Geoffrey  de  Mande- 
ville,  p.  233);  but  the  husband  of  Sibilla 
was,  he  himself  states  in  the  Sherborne 
charter,  the  grandson  of  Henry.  By  11 801 
Adam  married  Mabil,  daughter  of  Reginald 
d'Orval  or  Aurevalle,  and  his  wTife  Muriel, 
daughter  of  Roger  St.  John,  to  whom  Mabil 
appears  eventually  to  have  become  heiress, 
and  in  her  right  he  in  that  year  held  the 
honour  of  Lithaire  and  Orval  in  the  vicomt& 
of  Coutances  (STAPLETON)  ;  by  her  he  had 
issue,  his  son  and  heir  being  William,  who- 
assumed  the  name  of  St.  John  (Monasticon,, 
u.s.)  Later  he  married  a  sister  of  W7illiarn 
de  Braose  (DUGDALE,  Baronage,  p.  416).. 
Dugdale  and  Nicolas  make  two  Adams  de 


Port 


165 


Portal 


Port,  one  of  Basing  and  the  other  of  Here- 
fordshire. 

[Gresta  Hen.  II,  5.  35,  Jordan  Fantosme's 
Chronique  ap.  Ohron.  Stephen  to  Eic.  I,  iii.  314, 
517,  356,  Hist.  S.  Petri  Glonc.  i.  93,  236,  ii. 
220,  388  (all  Eolls  Ser.) ;  Stapleton's  Magni  Rot. 
Scacc.  Norm.  i.  Obs.  clxi,  ii.  Obs.  cxxvi  (Soc. 
Antiq.);  Liber  Niger  de  Scacc.  i.  151,  ed. 
Hearne ;  Madox's  Hist,  of  Excheq.  i.  473  (2nd 
edit.);  Pipe  Roll,  1189-90,  p.  199,  ed.  Hunter, 
Rot.  Curise  Regis,  ii.  177,  225,  ed.  Palgrave, 
Rot.  de  Oblatis,  pp.  145,  183,  477,  ed.  Hardy 
(these  three  Record  publ.);  Foss's  Judges  of 
England,  ii.  107-9;  Dugdale's  Monasticon,  vi. 
1014,  and  Baronage,  i.  416,  463-5;  Nicolas's 
Hist.  Peerage,  p.  387,  ed.  Courthope ;  Round's 
Geoffrey  de  Mandeville,  pp.  233,  428,  and  Ancient 
Charters,  p.  8  (Pipe  Roll  Soc.);  Wilks's  Hist,  of 
Hampshire,  ii.  62,  iii.  238 ;  Norgate's  Angevin 
Kings,  ii.  162.]  W.  H. 

PORT,  SIR  JOHN  (1480  P-1541),  judge, 
•was  born  about  1480  at  Chester,  where  his 
ancestors  had  been  merchants  for  some 
generations  :  his  father,  Henry,  was  mayor 
of  Chester  in  1486,  and  his  mother  was  a 
daughter  of  Robert  Barrow,  also  a  mayor  of 
Chester.  John  studied  law  in  the  Middle 
Temple,  where  he  was  reader  in  1509,  Lent 
reader  and  treasurer  in  1515,  and  governor 
in  1520.  In  1504  he  was  one  of  the  com- 
missioners appointed  to  raise  a  subsidy  in 
Derbyshire ;  on  2  June  1509  he  was  made 
king's  solicitor,  and  on  26  Nov.  signed  a  pro- 
clamation as  member  of  the  privy  council 
(Letters  and  Papers  of  Henry  VIII,  1509- 
1514,  No.  702);  in  the  same  year  he  was 
^keeper  of  the  king's  books'  (ib.),  and  in  1511 
clerk  of  the  wardrobe.  Before  1512  he  was 
appointed  attorney  to  the  earldom  of  Chester, 
and  in  that  year  appears  as  one  of  the  com- 
missioners selected  to  inquire  into  the  ex- 
tortions of  the  masters  of  the  mint.  In  1515 
and  most  succeeding  years  he  served  on  the 
commission  for  the  peace  in  Derbyshire.  In 
1517  he  was  '  clerk  of  exchange  in  the  Tower/ 
and  in  1522  was  made  serjeant-at-law.  He 
acquired  an  extensive  practice  as  an  advocate, 
and  early  in  1525  was  raised  to  a  judgeship 
in  the  king's  bench  and  knighted ;  in  February 
of  that  year  he  was  on  the  commission  for 
gaol  delivery  at  York,  and  in  June  went  on 
the  northern  circuit  as  justice  of  assize  ;  he 
was  also  a  member  of  Princess  Mary's  coun- 
cil. In  1535  he  was  placed  on  the  commis- 
sion of  oyer  and  terminer  for  Middlesex  to 
try  Fisher  and  More,  and  in  the  following 
year  was  similarly  employed  with  regard  to 
Anne  Boleyn.  He  died  before  November 
1541,  having  been  twice  married  ;  his  two 
wives  were  Margery,  daughter  of  Sir  Edward 
Trafford  of  Trafford,  Lancashire,  and  Joan, 


daughter  and  coheir  of  John  Fitzherbert, 
uncle  of  Sir  Anthony  Fitzherbert  [q.  v.],  and 
widow  of  John  Pole  of  Radburn.  By  the 
latter  marriage  he  acquired  the  manor  of 
Etwall,  Derbyshire,  and  had  a  son,  Sir  John. 

Port  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  trans- 
actions relating  to  the  foundation  of  Brase- 
nose  College,  Oxford ;  he  gave  to  it  a  garden 
lying  on  the  south  side  of  the  college,  and 
completed  John  Williamson's  bequest  of 
200/.  '  to  provide  stipends  for  two  sufficient 
and  able  persons  to  read  and  teach  openly  in 
the  hall,  the  one  philosophy,  the  other  'hu- 
manity ; '  the  stipend  was  4/.  a  year,  but  the 
limitation  to  the  descendants  of  Williamson 
and  Port  was  abolished  by  the  university 
commission  of  1854. 

The  son,  SIR  JOHN  (d.  1557),  with  whom 
the  father  has  been  confused,  was  educated 
at  Brasenose,  where  he  was  the  first  lecturer 
or  scholar  on  his  father's  foundation.  He  was 
knighted  at  the  coronation  of  Edward  VI,  sat 
in  the  first  parliament  of  Mary  as  knight  of 
the  shire  for  Derbyshire,  and  served  as  sheriff 
for  that  county  in  1554.  He  died  on  6  June 
1557,  having  married,  first,  Elizabeth,  daugh- 
ter of  Sir  Thomas  Gifford,  and  secondly, 
Dorothy,  daughter  of  Sir  Anthony  Fitzher- 
bert. By  his  first  wife  he  had  three  daugh- 
ters, who  married  respectively  Sir  Thomas 
Gerard  of  Bryn,  Shropshire,  ancestor  of  the 
baronets  of  that  name,  George  Hastings, 
fourth  earl  of  Huntingdon,  and  Sir  Thomas 
Stanhope,  ancestor  of  the  earls  of  Chester- 
field. By  his  will  he  left  bequests  for  the 
foundation  of  a  hospital  at  Etwall  and  a 
school  at  Repton,  which  has  since  become 
one  of  the  great  public  schools  of  England ; 
he  also  confirmed  and  augmented  his  father's 
grants  to  Brasenose  College,  Oxford. 

[Letters  and  Papers  of  Hen.  VIII,  ed.  Brewer 
and  Gairdner,  passim ;  Rot.  Parl.  vi.  539 ; 
Rymer's  Fcedera,  ed.  1745;  Dugdale's  Origin. 
Jurid.pp.  163,  170,  and  Chronica  Series,  pp.  79, 
81,  82;  Foss's  Judges  of  England,  v.  228-30; 
Churton's  Lives  of  the  Founders  of  Brasenose, 
pp.  271,  283,  412,  446-50;  Notitia  Cestriensis, 
ii.  262,  349,  and  Lane,  and  Ches.  "Wills,  i.  28 
(ChethamSoc.);  Strype's  Works, Index;  Nichols's 
Leicestershire,  p.  853 ;  Sandford's  Genealogical 
Hist.  p.  442  ;  Collins's  Peerage,  iii.  96,  309  ; 
Bigsby's  Repton,  pp.  xii,  103,  106,  160,  where 
the  younger  Sir  John's  will  is  printed  in  full ; 
Statutes  of  the  Colleges  of  Oxford,  1853  ;  Miscell. 
Genealog.  et  Herald.  2nd  ser.  ii.  54  ;  Notes  and 
Queries,  7th  ser.  xii.  302-3;  information  kindly 
supplied  by  the  Rev.  Albert  Watson,  formerly 
principal  of  Brasenose.]  A.  F.  P. 

PORTAL,  ABRAHAM  (Jt.  1790),  dra- 
matist, was  the  son  of  a  clergyman,  who  may 
be  identified  with  Andrew  Portal,  a  member 


Portal 


166 


Portal 


of  an  ancient  family  of  Huguenot  origin, 
which  migrated  to  England  in  1686  (cf. 
FOSTEK,  Alumni  Oxon.  1715-1888;  Gent. 
Mag.  1768,  p.  447).  Andrew  Portal  matri- 
culated at  Oxford  from  Exeter  College  in 
1748,  became  vicar  of  St.  Helen's,  Abingdon, 
in  1759,  proceeded  M.A.  in  1761,  and  died  on 
13  Sept.  1768.  The  dramatist  started  in  life 
as  a  goldsmith  and  jeweller  on  Ludgate  Hill, 
but  lost  money  both  in  this  trade  and  that 
of  bookselling,  and  finished  his  career  as  a 
box-keeper  at  Drury  Lane  Theatre.  It  appears 
from  his  '  Poems'  that  Portal  was  a  close 
friend  of  Dr.  John  Langhorne  [q.  v.],  the 
translator  of  Plutarch.  Portal's  writings 
include  :  1.  '  Olindo  and  Sophronia  :  a  Tra- 
gedy,' the  story  taken  from  Tasso,  two  edi- 
tions, 1758,  London,  8vo.  2.  '  The  Indiscreet 
Lover:  a  Comedy/  performed  at  the  Hay- 
market  for  the  benefit  of  the  British  Lying-in 
Hospital  in  Brownlow  Street ;  dedicated  to 
the  Duke  of  Portland ;  two  editions,  London, 
1768, 8vo.  Baker  remarks  of  this  piece  that 
'charity  covereth  a  multitude  of  failings.' 
Genest,  however,  finds  two  of  the  characters, 
Old  and  Young  Reynard, '  excellent.'  To  the 
printed  copies  is  appended  a  list  of '  errata,' 
in  which  the  reader  is  requested  to  substitute 
polite  periphrases  for  coarse  expressions  in 
the  text.  3.  '  Songs,  Duets,  and  Finale/  from 
Portal's  comic  opera  '  The  Cady  of  Bagdad/ 
London,  1778,  8vo.  The  opera,  which  was 
given  at  Drury  Lane  on  19  Feb.  1778,  was 
not  printed.  .  4.  '  Poems/  1781,  8vo.  The 
volume  includes  dedicatory  verses  to  R.  B. 
Sheridan,  and  two  bombastic  poems,  '  War  : 
an  Ode/  and  '  Innocence  :  a  Poetical  Essay/ 
which  had  previously  been  issued  separately. 
5.  *  Vortimer,  or  the  True  Patriot :  a  Tra- 
gedy/ London,  1796,  8vo.  Among  the  dra- 
matis personse  are  Vortimer's  father,  Vorti- 
gern,his  mother  Rowena,  Hengist,  and  Horsa. 
Ireland's  '  Vortigern'  had  appeared  in  March 
1795.  Neither  '  Vortimer '  nor  *  Olindo  and 
Sophronia '  was  acted.  In  the  spring  of  1796 
Portal  seems  to  have  been  living  in  Castle 
Street,  Holborn,  but  the  date  of  his  death  is 
not  known. 

[Baker's  Biogr.  Dramatica,  1812,  i.  577  ; 
Genest's  Hist,  of  the  Stage,  v.  212;  Portal's 
Works  in  Brit.  Mus.  Library.]  T.  S. 

PORTAL,  SIB  GERALD  HERBERT 

(1858-1894),  diplomatist,  second  son  of  Mel- 
ville Portal  of  Laverstoke,  Hampshire,  and 
Lady  Charlotte  Mary  Elliot,  daughter  of  the 
second  Earl  of  Minto,  was  born  at  Laverstoke 
on  13  March  1858,  and  educated  at  Eton, 
where  he  played  in  the  school  cricket  team. 
He  entered  the  diplomatic  service  on  12  July 
1879,  and,  after  the  usual  period  of  proba- 


tion in  the  foreign  office,  was  sent  to  Rome 
on  29  June  1880.  He  became  third  secre- 
tary of  legation  on  22  July  1881. 

In  June  1882  Portal  had  the  good  fortune 
to  be  temporarily  attached  to  the  consulate- 
general  at  Cairo,  at  a  critical  period  in  the 
history  of  British  relations  with  Egypt.  He 
was  present  at  the  bombardment  of  Alex- 
andria, and  for  his  services  on  that  occasion 
received  a  medal  with  clasp  and  the  khedive's 
star.  He  became  a  favourite  with  Sir  Eve- 
lyn Baring  (afterwards  Lord  Cromer),  the 
British  representative,  and  in  April  1884  was 
confirmed  as  third  secretary  at  Cairo.  On 

1  April  1885  he  was  promoted  second  secre- 
tary.    For  some  weeks  in  the  summers  of 
1886  and  1887  he  took  charge  of  the  resi- 
dency during  Lord  Cromer's  absence,  and  con- 
ducted its  affairs  with  credit. 

On  17  Oct.  1887  Portal  was  ordered  to 
attempt  a  reconciliation  between  the  king  of 
Abyssinia  and  the  Italian  government.  On 
21  Oct.  he  left  for  Massowah.  To  succeed  in 
such  a  mission  was  almost  impossible,  but 
he  made  every  effort,  and  showed  rare  judg- 
ment and  coolness  in  travelling  through  a 
disturbed  country.  He  returned  on  31  Dec., 
without  effecting  his  purpose,  but  with  a 
considerably  enhanced  reputation.  He  was 
made  C.B.,  and  in  '  My  Mission  to  Abys- 
sinia' (1888)  he  gave  an  account  of  the 
expedition. 

Returning  to  his  duties  at  the  Cairo  agency, 
Portal  was  charge  d'affaires  in  the  autumn 
of  1888.  From  30  April  to  14  Nov.  1889  he 
acted  as  consul-general  at  Zanzibar,  and  on 

10  March  1891  was  permanently  appointed 
to  the  agency  there,  under  the  scheme  of 
the  British  protectorate,  which   was   then 
inaugurated.    To  these  duties  he  added  those 
of  consul-general  for  German  East  Africa  on 

2  June  1891,  and  for  the  British  sphere  on 

11  Feb.  1892.     He  vigorously  entered  upon 
the  duties  of  his  new  post,  and  reformed  the 
administration.     He  was  made  K.C.M.G.  on 
4  Aug.  1892. 

On  10  Dec.  1892  Portal  was  directed  to 
visit  Uganda,  and  to  report  whether  that 
part  of  Africa  should  be  retained  by  the 
British  or  evacuated.  The  journey  was  at- 
tended by  great  difficulty  and  hardship.  In  the 
course  of  it  Portal  lost,  on  27  May  1893,  his 
elder  brother,  Capt.  Melville  Raymond  Portal 
(b.  1856),  North  Lancashire  regiment,  who 
was  with  him  as  chief  military  officer.  Portal 
arrived  at  the  coast  again  on  21  Oct.  1893, 
and  reached  London  in  November.  He  had 
sent  in  his  reports  on  the  country,  and  had 
completed  the  greater  part  of  a  book  relating 
his  experiences,  when  he  was  struck  down  by 
fever,  the  result  of  his  hardships,  and  died 


Porten 


167 


Porten 


at  5s  Mount  Street,  Grosvenor  Square,  Lon- 
don, on  25  Jan.  1894.  His  book  on  <  The  Bri- 
tish Mission  to  Uganda '  was  published  a 
few  months  later.  His  recommendation  that 
Uganda  should  be  retained  by  the  British 
government  was  ultimately  adopted. 

Portal  was  a  man  of  handsome  presence 
and  athletic  mould,  and  possessed  tact,  firm- 
ness, and  daring.  He  married,  on  1  Feb. 
]  890,  Lady  Alice  Josephine  Bertie,  daughter 
of  the  seventh  Earl  of  Abingdon. 

[Times,  26  Jan.  1894;  Foreign  Office  List, 
1893;  Memoir  prefixed  to  British  Mission  to 
Uganda.]  C.  A.  H. 

PORTEJST,  SIK  STANIER  (d.  1789),  go- 
vernment official,  was  the  only  son  of  James 
Porten,  merchant  of  London,  of  Huguenot 
descent,  who  lived  in  an  old  red-brick  house 
adjoining  Putney  Bridge,  which  he  was 
obliged,  through  his  failure  in  business,  to 
vacate  at  Christmas  1748.  The  son  entered 
the  diplomatic  service,  and  for  some  years 
before  1760  he  was  British  resident  at  the 
court  of  Naples.  He  was  transferred  in  April 
1760  to  the  post  of  consul  at  Madrid  (Gent. 
Mag.  1760,  p.  203 ;  CLAKK,  Letters  on  Spain, 
pp.  346-54).  In  July  1766  he  was  appointed 
secretary  to  the  extraordinary  embassy  of 
Lord  Rochford  to  the  court  of  France  (Home 
Office  Papers,  1766-9,  p.  435  ;  Hist.  MSS. 
Comm.  3rd  Rep.  App.  p.  138).  Several  reports 
were  made  by  Porten  in  1766-7  on  the  terms 
'  of  liquidating  the  Canada  paper  in  France ' 
(ib.  pp.  136-9 ;  Home  Office  Papers,  1766-9, 
p.  176).  Porten  was  appointed  in  November 
1768  as  under-secretary  to  Lord  Rochford, 
then  secretary  of  state  for  the  northern  de- 
partment, and  in  December  17ZO  he  followed 
that  nobleman  to  the  southern  branch  (ib. 
1766-69),  remaining  under-secretary  until 
1782.  He  was  knighted  on  5  June  1772, 
appointed  keeper  of  the  state  papers  at 
"Whitehall  in  1774,  and  from  1782  until 
November  1786  was  a  commissioner  of  the 
customs.  He  was  characterised  as  the  '  man 
of  business '  in  his  department,  and  as  pos- 
sessing a  gravity  of  demeanour  which  was 
exaggerated  by  his  long  official  residence  at 
Naples  and  Madrid  (HAWKINS,  M emoirs,  1824, 
ii.  7-11).  After  'long  infirmities  and  gradual 
decay,'  he  died  at  Kensington  Palace  on 
7  June  1789. 

Porten's  youngest  sister,  Judith,  married, 
on  3  June  1736,  Edward  Gibbon  of  Buriton, 
Hampshire,  and  was  mother  of  Edward 
Gibbon,  the  historian,  who  spent  in  his 
grandfather's  house  at  Putney  the  greater 
part  of  his  holidays  and  the  months  between 
his  mother's  death  in  1747  and  the  break-up 
of  that  establishment.  He  was  tenderly 


cared  for  by  his  eldest  aunt,  Catherine 
Porten,  who,  after  her  father's  ruin,  esta- 
blished a  boarding-house  for  Westminster 
School,  in  which  Gibbon  lived,  and  which 
I  proved  very  successful.  She  died  in  April 
1786.  The  third'  sister  married  Mr.  Barrel 
of  Richmond  in  Surrey. 

Gibbon  wrote  on  24  May  1774  that  Porten 
was  'seriously  in  love'  with  Miss  W.,  'an 
agreeable  woman,'  and  that  he  was '  seriously 
uneasy  that  his  precarious  situation  precludes 
him  from  happiness.  We  shall  soon  see 
which  will  get  the  better,  love  or  reason.  I 
bet  three  to  two  on  love.'  Gibbon's  prophecy 
proved  correct.  The  lady's  name  was  Miss 
Mary  Wibault  of  Titchfield  Street,  London, 
and  the  marriage  took  place  at  the  close  of 
that  year  (Gent.  Mag.  1774,  p.  598).  They 
had  two  surviving  children :  a  son,  Stanier 
James  Porten,  B.A.,  of  Brasenose  College, 
Oxford,  1801,  and  rector  of  Charlwood, 
Surrey,  who  died  in  November  1854 ;  and  a 
daughter  Charlotte,  who  married,  on  7  Feb. 
1798,  the  Rev.  Henry  Wise,  rector  of  Charl- 
wood. At  Porten's  death,  the  widow,  a 
very  lively  woman,  who  long  survived  him, 
was  left  with  a  moderate  pension  for  her 
subsistence.  Gibbon  thereupon  proposed 
adopting  the  eldest  child,  Charlotte,  '  a  most 
amiable,  sensible  young  creature,'  and  re- 
warding '  her  care  and  tenderness  with  a 
decent  fortune ; '  but  the  mother  would  not, 
at  that  time,  listen  to  the  proposition.  By 
his  will,  dated  1  Oct.  1791,  Gibbon  left  his 
money  to  these  two  children,  his  nearest 
relatives  on  his  mother's  side. 

Numerous  letters  to  and  from  Porten  are 
in  the  Marquis  of  Abergavenny's  manu- 
scripts (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  10th  Rep.  App. 
pt.  vi.),  and  in  the  official  papers  of  Lord 
Grantham,  Sir  Robert  Gunning,  and  others, 
at  the  British  Museum.  Archdeacon  Coxe, 
in  the  preface  to  his  *  Memoirs  of  the  Kings 
of  Spain  of  the  House  of  Bourbon,  1700- 
1788  '  (1813  ed.  pp.  xviii-xix),  acknow- 
ledges his  indebtedness  to  the  papers  of 
Porten. 

A  picture  of  the  Porten  family,  painted 
by  Hogarth  and  the  property  of  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Burningham,  was  on  view  at  the 
exhibition  of  the  old  masters  in  1888.  Stanier 
Porten  was  depicted  as  handing  a  letter  to 
his  father  (Catalogue,  p.  13). 

[Gent.  Mag.  1775  p.  550,  1782  p.  207,  1789 
pt.  i.  p.  577,  1798  pt.  i.  p.  169;  Townsend's 
Knights  from  1760,  p.  47 ;  Chatham  Corre- 
spondence, ii.  31-40  ;  Miscell.  Works  of  Gibbon 
(1814),  i.  24,  33-4,  36-8,  296,  315,  426,  ii.  125, 
132,  392-3,  429-30;  Old  Houses  of  Putney, 
p.  11  ;  Nichols's  Illustr.  of  Lit.  i.  152;  Foster's 
Alumni  Oxon.]  W.  P.  C. 


Porteous 


168 


Porteous 


PORTEOUS.     [See  also  PORTE  us.] 

PORTEOUS,  JOHN  (d.  1736),  captain  of 
the  Edinburgh  city  guard,  was  the  son  of 
Stephen  Porteous,  a  tailor  in  the  Canongate, 
Edinburgh,  and  was  bred  to  his  father's 
business ;  but  his  unsteady  habits  and  vio- 
lent temper  led  to  serious  quarrels  with 
his  parents,  and  he  enlisted  in  the  army. 
After  serving  for  some  time  in  Holland 
he  returned  home,  and  ultimately  obtained, 
or  assumed,  the  management  of  his  father's 
business,  treating  his  father  so  badly  that 
he  was  reduced  to  poverty,  and  had  to  become 
an  inmate  of  Trinity  Hospital. 

On  account  of  his  military  experience, 
Porteous  in  17 15  was  employed  to  train  the  city 
guard  to  assist  in  the  defence  of  the  city  in 
view  of  the  expected  rising ;  and  as  he  had 
married  a  young  woman  who  had  previously 
been  housekeeper  to  the  provost  of  the  city, 
he  was,  through  the  provost's  influence,  subse- 
quently promoted  to  be  captain  of  the  force. 
Dr.  Alexander  Carlyle  of  Inveresk  mentions 
'  his  skill  in  manly  exercises,  particularly  the 
golf '  {Autobiography,  p.  35)  ;  and  in  April 
1721  he  played  a  match  at  golf  for  twenty 
guineas  with  an  Edinburgh  gentleman  on 
Leith  links  (CHAMBERS,  Domestic  Annals 
of  Scotland,  iii.  566).  The  stories  of  his 
licentious  adventures,  his  profanity,  and  his 
inconsiderate  severities  are  probably  exag- 
gerated. Dr.  Carlyle,  however,  states  that 
his  admission  (through  his  skill  in  athletics) 
to  '  the  companionship  of  his  superiors ' 
'  elated  his  mind,  and  added  insolence  to  his 
native  roughness,  so  that  he  was  hated 
and  feared  by  the  mob  of  Edinburgh '  (Auto- 
biography, p.  35).  This  mutual  ill-will  no 
doubt  in  part  explains  the  tragic  incidents 
that  occurred  in  connection  with  the  execu- 
tion, 14  April  1736,  of  Andrew  Wilson,  an 
Edinburgh  merchant,  who,  in  retaliation  for 
the  severe  measures  put  in  force  by  the 
government  against  smuggling,  had,  with 
the  assistance  of  a  youth  named  Robertson, 
robbed  the  custom-house  of  Pittenweem. 
The  sympathy  of  the  bulk  of  the  Edinburgh 
citizens  was  with  the  smugglers  ;  and  the 
remarkable  feat  of  Wilson  in  accomplishing 
the  escape  of  his  companion,  by  seizing  three 
of  the  keepers  as  he  and  his  fellow-prisoner 
were  leaving  the  Tolbooth  church,  excited 
general  admiration.  A  rumour  arose  that 
an  attempt  would  be  made  to  rescue  Wilson 
on  the  scaffold,  and  on  this  account  unusual 
precautions  were  taken.  As  the  corpse  of 
Wilson  was  being  cut  down,  the  mob 
1  threw,  as  usual,  some  dirt  and  stones,  which 
falling  among  the  city  guard,  Captain  Por- 
teous fired,  and  ordered  his  men  to  fire, 


whereupon  20  persons  were  wounded,  6  or  7 
killed,  one  shot  through  the  head  at  a  win- 
dow up  two  pair  of  stairs  '  (account  in 
Gent.  Mag.  1736,  p.  230).  Dr.  Alexander 
Carlyle,  who  was  a  spectator  from  an  upper 
widow,  affirms  that  '  there  was  no  attempt 
to  break  through  the  guard  and  cut  down 
the  prisoner,'  and  that  it  was  '  generally 
said  that  there  was  very  little,  if  any,  more 
violence  than  had  usually  happened  on  such 
occasions  '  (Autobiography,  p.  37). 

Porteous  was  subsequently  apprehended 
and  brought  to  trial.  In  his  indictment  it 
was  charged  that  he  had  fired  himself,  and 
that  when,  on  ordering  his  men  to  fire, 
he  saw  them  hold  their  pieces  so  as  to 
fire  over  the  heads  of  the  multitude,  he 
called  out  to  them  to  '  level  their  pieces 
and  be  damned  to  them/  or  words  to  that 
effect.  This  accusation  was  supported  by  a 
large  number  of  witnesses,  and  is  corrobo- 
rated by  Dr.  Alexander  Carlyle,  who  states 
that  when  '  the  soldiers  [city  guard]  showed 
reluctance'  to  fire,  he  saw  Porteous  '  turn  to 
them  with  threateninggesture  and  an  inflamed 
countenance  '  (z'6.)  The  defence  of  Porteous 
was  that  he  did  not  fire  himself,  but  that 
several  of  his  men,  without  orders  from  him, 
'  unfortunately  fired  upon  the  multitude.' 
On  being  found  guilty  and  sentenced  to 
death,  he  presented  a  petition  to  the  govern- 
ment for  pardon,  in  which  he  repeated  the 
plea  urged  in  his  defence.  When  a  reprieve 
was  sent  the  indignation  of  the  com- 
munity was  roused  to  a  high  pitch,  and  cer- 
tain unknown  persons  resolved  that  he  should 
not  escape  the  doom  passed  upon  him.  About 
ten  o'clock  on  the  night  of  7  Sept.  a  body 
of  men  in  djsguise  entered  the  city,  seized 
all  the  firearms,  battle-axes,  and  drums  be- 
longing to  the  city  guard,  and  locked  and 
secured  all  the  city  gates.  They  then  pro- 
ceeded to  the  prison,  and,  after  attempting 
in  vain  to  break  down  the  door,  set  fire  to 
it  and  burnt  it  out.  On  entering  the  prison 
they  compelled  the  under-warden  to  open 
the  double  locks  of  the  apartment  where 
Porteous  was  confined,  and,  hurrying  him 
away,  proceeded  with  lighted  torches  to  the 
place  where  the  gallows  was  usually  erected. 
Having  procured  a  rope  from  a  shop  which 
they  opened,  they  threw  one  end  of  it  over 
a  signpost  about  twenty  feet  high,  belonging 
to  a  dyer.  *  They  then  pulled  him  up  in 
the  dress  in  which  they  found  him — viz.  a 
nightgown  and  cap.  lie  having  his  hands 
loose,  fixed  them  betwixt  his  neck  and  the 
rope,  whereupon  one  with  a  battle-axe  struck 
towards  the  hands.  They  then  let  him 
down,  and  [he]  having  on  two  shirts,  they 
wrapped  one  of  them  about  his  face,  and 


Porteous 


169 


Porteous 


held  his  arms  with  his  night-gown ;  they 
palled  him  up  again,  where  he  hung  next 
morning  till  daylight '  (Method  taken  by 
the  Mob,  London,  1736).  Notwithstand- 
ing the  most  rigorous  investigation,  no  clue 
was  ever  found  to  the  perpetrators  of  the 
murder.  Several  persons  were  seized  and  im- 
prisoned on  suspicion  ;  but  of  these  only  two 
— one  of  them  a  coachman  to  the  Countess 
of  Wemyss,  who  was  in  a  state  of  hopeless 
intoxication  when  he  followed  the  mob — 
were  brought  to  trial,  and  they  were  found 
not  guilty.  Charles  Kirkpatrick  Sharpe  was 
accustomed  to  express  full  belief  in  state- 
ments made  to  him  by  'very  old  persons' 
that  several  of  high  rank  were  concerned  in 
the  affair,  many  of  them  disguised  as  women 
(WILSON,  Memorials  of  Edinburgh,  ed.  1891, 
i.  144)  ;  and  Home  Tooke,  in  defending  him- 
self before  Lord  Mansfield  in  1777,  signifi- 
cantly asserted  that  '  at  this  moment  there 
are  people  of  reputation,  living  in  credit, 
making  fortunes  under  the  crown,  who  were 
concerned  in  that  very  fact '  (ib.) 

The  outrage  led  to  the  introduction  of  a 
bill  in  the  House  of  Lords  for  the  punish- 
ment of  the  provost  of  Edinburgh,  the  exac- 
tion of  a  fine  from  the  city,  the  removal  of 
the  Netherbow  Port — in  token  of  the  level- 
ling of  its  defences  as  a  rebellious  city — 
and  the  abolition  of  the  city  guard  ;  but,  as 
modified  by  the  House  of  Commons,  the 
bill  merely  disqualified  the  provost  from 
holding  any  other  office  throughout  the  em- 
pire, and  levied  a  fine  of  2,000/.  on  the 
city  for  the  widow  of  Porteous.  Another 
act  was  also  passed  denouncing  the  murderers 
of  Porteous,  offering  rewards  for  their  cap- 
ture, and  threatening  punishment  to  all 
who  aided  or  harboured  them.  It  was 
further  decreed  that  this  proclamation  should 
be  read  from  every  pulpit  in  Scotland  on  the 
first  Sunday  of  each  month  for  a  year.  Ac- 
cording to  Dr.  Alexander  Carlyle,  one  half 
of  the  clergy  declined  to  read  the  proclama- 
tion (Autobiography,  p.  41)  ;  but  the  idea  of 
inflicting  a  fine  on  them  for  the  neglect  was 
dropped.  Porteous  is  described  as  having 
been  '  of  the  middle  size,  broad-shouldered, 
strong-limbed,  short-necked,  his  face  a  little 
pitted  with  the  small-pox,  and  round ;  his 
looks  mild  and  gentle,  his  face  having 
nothing  of  the  fierce  and  brutal ;  his  eyes 
languid,  not  quick  and  sprightly,  and  his 
complexion  upon  the  brown '  (Life  and 
Death  of  Captain  Porteous,  p.  7). 

The  plot  of  Sir  Walter  Scott's  '  Heart  of 
Midlothian '  turns  upon  the  incidents  of  the 
Porteous  riot,  and  many  interesting  particu- 
lars were  collected  by  Scott  in  his  notes  to 
that  novel. 


[Information  for  her  Majesty's  Advocate,  &c., 
with  a  full  and  particular  Account  of  the 
Method  taken  by  the  Mob,  &c.,  London,  1736; 
Account  of  the  Cruel  Massacre  committed  by 
Captain  John  Porteous,  1736;  Genuine  Trial  of 
Captain  John  Porteous,  London,  1736  ;  Life  and 
Death  of  Captain  John  Porteous,  with  an  Ac- 
count of  the  two  Bills  as  they  were  reasoned  on 
in  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  and  the  Speeches 
of  the  Great  Men  on  both,  London,  1737  ;  Copy 
of  the  Porteous  Boll  sent  to  the  Ministers  of  Scot- 
land to  be  read  from  the  Pulpits  of  each  of 
them,  1738.  These  and  various  other  pamphlets 
on  I  he  Porteous  occurrences  are  bound  together 
in  two  volumes  in  the  library  of  the  British  Mu- 
seum. Gent.  Mag.  for  1736  and  1737,  passim  ; 
Mahon's  History  of  England;  State  Trials,  vol. 
xvii.;  Criminal  Trials  illustrative  of  Scott's 
novel,  'The  Heart  of  Midlothan;'  Dr.  Alexander 
Carlyie's  Autobiography ;  Memoirs  of  Duncan 
Forbes  of  Culloden ;  Wilson's  Memorials  of 
Edinburgh.]  T.  F.  H. 

PORTEOUS,  WILLIAM  (1735-1812), 
Scottish  divine,  was  the  son  of  James  Por- 
teous, minister  of  Monivaird,  Perthshire,  by 
his  wife,  Marjory  Faichney.  He  was  born  at 
Monivaird  in  1735,  and  educated  for  the 
ministry.  Receiving  a  license  from  the  pres- 
bytery of  Auchterarder  on  13  Sept.  1757,  he 
was  presented  by  Lady  Mary  Cunninghame 
to  the  parish  of  Whitburn,  Linlithgowshire, 
in  November  1759.  He  was  transferred  on 
27  April  1770  to  the  ministry  of  the  Wynd 
Church,  Glasgow.  A  man  of  strong  character 
and  an  able  preacher,  he  filled  this  important 
post  with  success.  His  congregation  increased 
so  rapidly  that  he  had  to  abandon  the  parish 
church,  which  had  been  rebuilt  in  1764,  for 
the  new  St.  George's  Church  in  1807.  Por- 
teous took  a  leading  part  for  many  years  in 
the  proceedings  of  the  Glasgow  presbytery, 
and  of  the  church  in  the  west  generally. 
Strongly  orthodox  in  his  views,  he  resisted 
the  smallest  innovations.  He  defended  his 
position  with  his  pen,  and  did  not  spare  his 
adversaries.  He  resolutely  opposed  the  intro- 
duction of  organs  in  1807-8  (cf.  The  Organ 
Question:  Statements  by  Dr.  Ritchie  and  Dr. 
Porteous,  for  and  against  the  use  of  the  Organ 
in  Public  Worship,  in  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Presbytery  of  Glasgow,  1807-8,  with  an 
introductory  notice  by  Robert  S.  Candlish, 
Edinburgh,  1856).  His  attack  on  the  asso- 
ciate synod,  in  his  (  New  Light  examined,' 
provoked  the  withering  sarcasm  of  James 
Peddie's '  Defence.'  In  the  general  assembly 
he  took  no  prominent  position.  In  Novem- 
ber 1784  he  was  granted  the  degree  of  D.D. 
by  Princetown  College,  New  Jersey.  He  died 
on  12  Jan.  1812. 

He  married  first,  26  June  17CO,  Grizel 
Lindsay  (d.  1774),  by  whom  he  had  two 


Porter 


170 


Porter 


sons,  James  and  George,  and  a  daughter 
Elizabeth,  afterwards  wife  of  Robert  Spears, 
merchant,  of  Glasgow.  On  8  Aug.  1785 
Porteous  married  Marion,  daughter  of  the 
Kev.  Charles  Moore  of  Stirling.  She  died, 
without  issue,  on  4  March  1817. 

[Hew  Scott's  Fasti  Ecclesise  Scoticanse ;  Cleland's 
Annals  of  Glasgow,  1817;  Story's  Church  of 
Scotland  Past  and  Present ;  Candlish's  Preface 
to  The  Organ  Question,  &c.]  E.  G.  H. 

PORTER,  ANNA  MARIA  (1780-1832), 
novelist,  born  at  Durham  in  1780  after  her 
father's  death,  was  the  younger  sister  of 
Jane  Porter  [q.  v.],  and  of  Sir  Robert  Ker 
Porter  [q.  v.],  in  whose  memoir  an  account  of 
the  family  is  given.  Educated  at  Edinburgh 
with  her  sister  Jane,  she  not  only  shared  the 
latter's  studious  tastes,  but  was  attracted  by 
music  and  art.  She  resolved,  like  Jane,  to 
devote  herself  to  literature,  and  at  thirteen 
years  of  age  began  a  series  of  l  Artless  Tales,' 
which  was  completed  in  two  anonymous  vo- 
lumes in  1795.  Other  tales,  entitled  '  Walsh 
Colville'  and  'Octavia'  (3  vols.),  appeared 
anonymously  in  1797  and  1798  respectively. 
After  settling  with  her  family  in  London 
before  1803,  she  attempted  dramatic  com- 
position, and  in  May  1803  the  'Fair  Fugi- 
tives,' a  musical  entertainment,  was  acted  at 
Covent  Garden,  with  music  by  Dr.  Busby. 
It  met  with  no  success,  and  was  not  printed 
(BAKEE,  Biogr.  Dramatica,  ii.  211 ;  GESTEST, 
Hist,  of  the  Stage,  vii.  585). 

In  1807,  when  she  was  living  with  her 
mother  and  sister  in  a  cottage  at  Esher,  Surrey, 
she  published  her  chief  work,  and  the  first  to 
which  she  put  her  name/  The  Hungarian  Bro- 
thers.' It  is  a  novel  in  three  volumes,  dealing 
with  the  French  revolutionary  war.  She 
feared  that  her  heroes  might  be  viewed  as 
women  masquerading  as  men  (cf.  Addit.  MS. 
18204,  f.  150),  and  subsequently  excused  the 
admiration  of  '  martial  glory,'  of  which  the 
book  is  full,  on  the  score  of  her  youth  (pref. 
1831).  But  the  vivacity  and  enthusiasm  of 
the  writer  atone  for  most  of  the  book's  de- 
fects. It  was  popular  at  home  and  abroad. 
General  Moreau  placed  it  in  his  travelling 
library,  and  in  1818  it  was  translated  into 
French.  Later  English  editions  are  dated 
1808,  1831,  1847,  1856,  and  1872. 

In  1809  appeared  '  Don  Sebastian,  or  the 
House  of  Braganza,'  a  novel  in  four  volumes. 
A  second  edition,  in  three  volumes,  soon  fol- 
lowed, and  the  latest  edition  came  out  in 
1855.  It  lacks  the  verve  of  its  predecessor. 
Among  others  of  her  novels,  '  The  Knight  of 
St.  John,'  a  romance  in  three  volumes,  pub- 
lished in  1817,  was  the  last  book  read  aloud 
by  Prince  Leopold  to  Princess  Charlotte  the 


day  before  her  death  [see  CHARLOTTE  ATJ- 

GTJSTAJ. 

In  May  1832  the  sisters,  who  had  removed 
from  Esher  to  London  on  their  mother's 
death  in  1831,  visited  their  brother,  Dr. 
William  Ogilvie  Porter,  at  Bristol.  Anna 
was  seized  with  typhus  fever  there,  and  died 
on  21  Sept.  1832,  at  the  house  of  Mrs.  Colo- 
nel Booth,  Montpellier,  near  Bristol.  She 
was  buried  in  the  churchyard  of  St.  Paul's 
Church  in  that  city. 

Jane  Porter  said  of  Anna  that  '  the  quick- 
ness of  her  perceptions  gave  her  almost  an 
intuitive  knowledge  of  every  thing  she  wished 
to  learn.'  S.  C.  Hall  described  her  as  a  blonde, 
handsome  and  gay,  and  dubbed  her  '  L' Al- 
legro,' in  contrast  to  Jane,  a  brunette,  whom 
he  named  '  II  Penseroso '  (Retrospect  of  a 
Long  Life,  ii.  143-5). 

Her  portrait  was  engraved  by  Woolnoth 
from  a  drawing  by  Harlowe,  and  is  repro- 
duced in  Jerdan's '  National  Portrait  Gallery/ 
vol.  v.  Her  brother  Robert,  when  design- 
ing an  altar-piece  which  he  presented  to 
St.  John's  College,  Cambridge,  made  a  study 
of  her  for  Hope. 

Anna  Maria  Porter  wrote,  besides  the 
works  noticed :  1.  'Tales  of  Pity.'  2.  'The 
Lake  of  Killarney,'  3  vols.  1804 ;  the  last 
edition,  1856,  was  entitled  *  Rose  de  Bla- 
quiere.'  3.  '  A  Soldier's  Friendship.'  4.  *  A 
Soldier's  Love,'  2  vols.  1805.  5.  'Ballads 
and  Romances  and  Other  Poems,'  1811. 
6.  '  The  Recluse  of  Norway,'  4  vols.  1814 ; 
last  edit.  1852.  7.  '  The  Fast  of  St.  Magda- 
len,' 3  vols.  1818,  1819,  1822.  8.  '  The  Vil- 
lage of  Mariendorpt/  4  vols.  1821.  9. '  Roche 
Blanche,  or  the  Hunter  of  the  Pyrenees/ 
3  vols.  1822.  10.  'Honor  O'Hara,' 3  vols. 
1826.  11.  'Coming  Out,'  2  vols.  1828. 
12.  'The  Barony,'  3  vols.  1830.  She  con- 
tributed in  1826  three  stories,  '  Glenowan/ 
'Lord  Howth,'  and  '  Jeanie  Halliday,'  to 
'  Tales  round  a  Winter's  Hearth,' and  in  1828 
a  poem  to  S.  C.  Hall's  'Amulet.'  Nearly 
all  her  books  were  translated  into  French, 
and  some  were  published  in  America. 

[Elwood's  Literary  Ladies  of  England,  ii.  276- 
303  ;  Jerdan's  National  Portrait  Gallery,  vol.  v. ; 
Allibone's  Diet,  of  English  Lit.  ii.  1780.] 

E.  L. 

PORTER,  SIR  CHARLES  (d.  1696), 
Irish  lord  chancellor,  was  a  son  of  Edmund 
Porter,  prebendary  of  Norwich.  According 
to  Roger  North,  who  professed  to  speak  en- 
tirely from  his  own  knowledge  or  '  from 
Porter's  own  mouth  in  very  serious  conver- 
sation,' he  was  engaged  in  the  London  riots 
in  April  1648,  being  then  an  apprentice  in 
the  city.  He  escaped  on  board  a  Yarmouth 


Porter 


Porter 


Iboat  to  Holland,  where  he  trailed  a  pike  as  a 
common  soldier,  and  was  in  several  actions. 
He  kept  an  eating-house;  but  his  cavalier 
customers  generally  forgot  to  pay,  and  he 
made  his  way  back  to  England.  l  Being  a 
genteel  youth,  he  was  taken  in  among  the 
chancery  clerks.'  He  was  admitted  at  the 
Middle  Temple  on  25  Oct.  1656,  and  called 
to  the  bar  in  1660.  Porter  was  immoderately 
addicted  both  to  wine  and  women,  but  was 
nevertheless  industrious,  quick,  and  well  ac- 
quainted with  all  the  forms  of  the  court,  and 
his  '  speech  was  prompt  and  articulate.'  He 
began  with  drawing  pleas,  then  practised  at 
the  bar,  and  soon  had  a  great  deal  of  business. 
Lord-keeper  Guilford  took  notice  of  him ;  but 
his  good  fortune  had  a  hard  struggle  with  his 
dissipated  habits,  and  he  was  always  in  debt. 

On  7  and  30  March  1668-9  Pepys  had 
interviews  with  Porter,  who  was  acting  as 
counsel  for  certain  creditors  of  the  navy. 
The  '  State  Trials  '  give  full  details  as  to  his 
part  in  the  violent  contentions  between  the 
two  houses  in  Shirley  v.Fagg  and  other  cases. 
In  1675  he  was  junior  counsel  with  Peck, 
Pemberton,  and  Sir  John  Churchill  [q.  v.] 
for  Sir  Nicholas  Crispe  against  Mr.  Dal- 
mahoy,  M.P.,  when  the  case  was  argued  at 
the  bar  of  the  lords.  The  House  of  Commons 
resented  Dalmahoy's  trial  by  the  lords  as  a 
breach  of  their  privileges,  and  ordered  all  the 
parties  into  the  custody  of  the  sergeant-at- 
arms,  while  the  House  of  Lords  granted  them 
a  protection  against  all  arrest.  Porter  was 
seized  in  the  middle  of  an  argument.  He 
managed  to  read  out  the  lords'  protection 
audibly,  but  was  nevertheless  lodged  in  the 
Tower  on  4  June ;  the  imprisonment  was  put 
an  end  to  by  a  prorogation  five  days  later. 
So  far  as  Porter  was  concerned,  the  chief 
result  of  the  dispute  was  to  bring  him  into 
prominent  notice,  and  he  was  knighted  soon 
afterwards. 

Porter  spent  money  as  fast  as  he  made  it ; 
and  at  the  accession  of  James  II  he  was 
known  to  be  a  needy  man.  '  His  character,' 
says  North,  '  for  fidelity,  loyalty,  and  face- 
tious conversation  were  without  exception. 
He  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  loved  by 
everybody.'  It  was  hoped  that  he  would 
prove  a  useful  tool ;  and  he  was  appointed 
lord  chancellor  of  Ireland  on  22  March  1686, 
displacing  the  primate  Michael  Boyle  [q.  v.] 
The  lord-lieutenant  Clarendon  did  not  like 
the  change.  He  warned  Porter  that  he  would 
make  no  fortune  in  Ireland ;  for  the  salary  was 
only  1,OOOZ.  a  year,  and  it  turned  out  that 
other  sources  of  income  scarcely  yielded  400/. 
Porter  took  the  oaths  on  15  April,  dined  with 
the  lord  lieutenant,  and  was  careful  to  show 
himself  in  friendly  companionship  with  his 


aged  predecessor.  He  told  every  one  he  met 
that  the  king  had  resolved  not  to  have  the 
acts  of  settlement  shaken,  and  that  he  knew 
nothing  of  any  intention  to  remodel  the  judi- 
cial bench ;  but  Clarendon  was  better  in- 
formed. The  first  patent  sealed  by  Porter 
was  one  for  Colonel  William  Legge,  Lord 
Dartmouth's  brother,  as  governor  of  Kinsale. 

In  May  1686  Porter's  salary  was  increased 
to  1,500/.,  and  that  was  the  last  mark  of 
favour  he  received  from  James  II.  He  ad- 
vocated a  commission  of  grace  to  confirm  de- 
fective titles,  and  the  raising  of  a  revenue  in 
this  way  while  adding  to  the  general  security. 
Tyrconnel's  policy  was  entirely  different ;  he 
accused  Porter  of  taking  bribes  from  the 
whigs,  and  Justin  MacCarthy  [q.  v.]  fixed 
the  sum  at  10,000/.  The  charge,  Clarendon 
wrote  on  1  May,  was  as  true  as  if  he  had 
been  said  to  have  taken  the  money  from  the 
Grand  Turk.  The  struggle  went  on  for  the 
rest  of  the  year,  Porter,  Chief-justice  Keat- 
ing, and  Sir  John  Temple,  the  solicitor- 
general,  contending  for  moderate  courses, 
while  Tyrconnel,  Nugent,  and  Sir  Richard 
Nagle  [q.v.]  combined  to  secure  the  supremacy 
of  the  king's  religion.  On  4  Jan.  1686-7  Cla- 
rendon dined  with  Porter,  and  within  a  week 
they  both  received  their  letters  of  recall. 
Porter  was  generally  regretted  in  Ireland,  and 
on  reaching  London  he  sought  an  interview 
with  James,  which  was  very  unwillingly 
granted.  He  asked  what  he  had  done  to 
deserve  removal,  and  the  king  said  it  was 
his  own  fault.  Further  audience  was  re- 
fused, and  no  information  was  ever  given  of 
the  reasons  for  his  dismissal.  Porter  re- 
turned to  his  practice  at  the  English  bar, 
and  on  18  Jan.  1688-9  Clarendon  notes  that 
he  was  t  at  the  Temple  with  Mr.  Roger  North 
and  Sir  Charles  Porter,  who  are  the  only 
two  honest  lawyers  I  have  met  with.' 

Porter  was  known  as  an  active  adherent 
of  William  as  early  as  December  1688  (Hist. 
MSS.  Comm.  llth  Rep.  App.  vii.)  He  re- 
turned to  Ireland  in  December  1690,  and 
was  sworn  in  lord  chancellor  and  lord  justice, 
with  Coningsby  as  a  colleague  in  the  latter 
office.  In  October  1691  he  signed  the  articles 
of  Limerick  in  the  court  there,  and  these 
were  enrolled  in  chancery  on  24  Feb.  1691-2. 
Like  William,  he  was  in  favour  of  keeping 
faith  with  the  Irish.  In  1692  Porter  attended 
Sidney,  the  lord  lieutenant,  when  he  went  to 
open  parliament.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
session,  on  10  Oct.,  he  made  a  short  speech 
in  answer  to  that  of  Sir  Richard  Levinge 
[q.  v.],  the  speaker.  On  3  Nov.  Porter  spoke 
again,  at  Sidney's  request,  against  the  claim 
of  the  Irish  House  of  Commons  to  originate 
money-bills,  contrary  to  Poynings's  act  and 


Porter 


172 


Porter 


to  the  practice  of  two  centuries.  On  Sidney's 
departure,  in  July  1693,  Porter  again  became 
a  lord  justice,  but  for  less  than  a  month. 
Having  been  dismissed  by  James  because  he 
was  a  protestant,  he  was  now  threatened  with 
vengeance  because  he  was  not  protestant 
enough.  Articles  of  impeachment  were  ex- 
hibited against  him  in  the  English  House  of 
Commons  by  Richard  Coote,  earl  of  Bella- 
mont  [q.  v.],  himself  an  Irish  protestant ;  but 
the  matter  soon  dropped.  Lord  Capel  also 
urged  the  king  to  remove  Porter;  but  Wil- 
liam refused,  and  Porter  continued  to  lead  the 
more  tolerant  party. 

On  30  Sept.  1695  Colonel  Ponsonby  pre- 
sented articles  to  the  Irish  House  of  Com- 
mons, in  which  Porter  was  accused  of  favour- 
ing papists  and  refusing  to  discharge  magi- 
strates '  who  have  imbrued  their  hands  in 
protestant  blood,'  of  corruption  in  his  office, 
and  of  various  irregularities.  On  25  Oct. 
Porter  was  heard  in  person,  a  chair  being 
set  for  him  within  the  bar  of  the  House  of 
Commons.  The  speech  is  unfortunately  lost ; 
but  the  house  voted  his  explanation  satisfac- 
tory by  121  to  77.  That  night  he  overtook  the 
carriage  of  his  enemy,  Speaker  Rochfort  [see 
ROCHFORT,  ROBERT],  in  a  narrow  lane. 
Porter's  coachman  tried  to  pass  the  other ; 
but  Rochfort  lost  his  temper,  produced  the 
mace,  and  declared  that  he  would  not  be 
driven.  Porter  complained  to  the  lords  that 
his  servant  had  been  assaulted  and  himself 
insulted,  and  a  communication  was  made  to 
the  other  house.  The  commons  declared  that 
the  whole  thing  was  pure  accident,  and  the 
matter  dropped.  There  were  no  street  lamps 
in  Dublin  until  after  the  act  9  Will.  Ill, 
cap.  17,  was  passed. 

Capel  died  in  May  1696,  and  Porter  was 
elected  lord  j  ustice  by  the  council  immediately 
afterwards.  Lord  Dartmouth  arrived  in  Dub- 
lin the  night  after  Capel  died,  and  found  the 
whole  town  '  mad  with  joy  '(note  to  BURNET, 
ii.  159).  Porter  remained  a  lord  justice  until 
his  sudden  death,  from  apoplexy,  at  his 
own  house  in  Chancery  Lane,  Dublin,  on 
8  Dec.  1692.  He  died  insolvent,  or  very 
nearly  so. 

Whigs  and  tories  formed  different  esti- 
mates of  Porter.  Lord  Somers,  on  the  part 
of  the  whigs($.),  wrote  to  Shrewsbury  after 
Porter's  death  that  it  was  '  a  great  good  for- 
tune to  the  king's  affairs  in  Ireland  to  be  rid 
of  a  man  who  had  formed  so  troublesome  a 
party  in  that  kingdom.'  Dartmouth  thought 
him  a  wise  man,  not  actuated,  as  Burnet  said, 
by  l  a  tory  humour,'  but  bent  upon  uniting 
all  protestants  without  distinction  of  party. 
And  his  friend  Roger  North  says  '  he  had 
that  magnanimity  and  command  of  himself 


that  no  surprise  or  affliction,  by  arrest  or 
otherwise,  could  be  discerned  either  in  his 
countenance  or  society,  which  is  very  ex- 
emplary ;  and  in  cases  of  the  persecuting 
kind,  as  injustices  and  the  malice  of  powers, 
heroical  in  perfection.' 

[Le  Neve's  Fasti  Ecclesise  Anglicanse  ;  Claren- 
don and  Kochester  Correspondence,  ed.  Singer ; 
Howell's  State  Trials,  vol.  vi.  ;  Koger  North's 
Life  of  Guilford ;  Pepys's  Diary,  ed.  Mynors 
Bright ;  Burnet's  Hist,  of  his  Own  Time,  ed. 
1823;  Liber  Munerum  Publicorum  Hibernise; 
Haydn's  Book  of  Dignities ;  O'Flanagan's  Lives 
of  the  Irish  Chancellors;  Oliver  Burke's  Hist, 
of  the  Irish  Chancellors  ;  Froude's  English  in 
Ireland,  vol.  i. ;  Macaulay's  Hist,  of  England.] 

E.  B-L. 

PORTER,  ENDYMION  (1587-1649), 
royalist,  descended  from  William  Porter,  ser- 
geant-at-arms  to  Henry  VII,  was  the  son  of 
Edmund  Porter  of  Aston-sub-Edge,  Glouces- 
tershire, by  his  cousin  Angela,  daughter  of 
Giles  Porter  of  Mickleton  in  the  same  county. 
Giles  Porter  married  Juana  de  Figueroa  y 
Mont  Salve,  said  to  have  been  a  relative  of 
the  Count  of  Feria,  who  was  Spanish  am- 
bassador in  England  at  the  beginning  of 
Elizabeth's  reign.  On  Lord  Nottingham's 
mission  to  Spain  in  1605,  Giles  Porter  was 
employed  as  interpreter  (BuRKE,  Commoners, 
iii.  577  ;  WINWOOD,  Memorials,  ii.  76).  En- 
dymion  Porter  was  brought  up  in  Spain,  and 
was  sometime  a  page  in  the  household  of 
Olivares  (WILSON,  Life  of  James  I,  p.  225  ; 
CLARENDON,  Rebellion,  iv.  28).  On  his  re- 
turn to  England  he  entered  the  service  of 
Edward  Villiers,  and  passed  thence  into  that 
of  his  brother,  then  Marquis  of  Buckingham. 
Through  Buckingham's  influence  he  obtained 
the  post  of  groom  of  the  bedchamber  to  Prince 
Charles,  which  he  continued  to  hold  after  the 
accession  of  Charles  to  the  throne  (GARDINER, 
Hist,  of  England,  iv.  370).  On  20  Nov.  1619 
the  manor  of  Aston-sub-Edge  was  conveyed 
to  Porter  by  his  cousin  Richard  Catesby  (note 
communicated  by  Mr.  S.  G.  Hamilton). 
About  the  same  time,  or  in  1620,  he  married 
Olivia,  daughter  of  John  Boteler  (afterwards 
Lord  Boteler  of  Bramfield)  and  of  Elizabeth 
Villiers,  sister  of  Buckingham. 

Porter's  knowledge  of  Spain  and  of  the 
Spanish  language  opened  his  way  to  diplo- 
matic employments.  Buckingham  used  him 
to  conduct  his  Spanish  correspondence,  and 
in  October  1622  he  was  sent  to  Spain  to 
carry  the  demand  for  Spanish  aid  in  the 
recovery  of  the  Palatinate,  and  to  prepare 
the  way  for  the  intended  journey  of  Prince 
Charles.  In  December  he  returned  with  the 
amended  marriage  articles,  and  with  a  secret 
message  accepting  the  intended  visit  from 


Porter 


173 


Porter 


the  prince  (GARDINER,  Hist,  of  England,  iv. 
370,  374,  383,  398).  Porter  accompanied 
Prince  Charles  and  Buckingham  to  Spain  in 
1623,  and  sometimes  acted  as  their  inter- 
preter. His  letters  to  his  wife  contain  an 
interesting  account  of  their  reception  (FoN- 
BLANQUE,  Lives  of  the  Lords  Strangford,  p. 
29 ;  NICHOLS,  Progresses  of  James  I,  iv.  808, 
818, 912).  In  1626,  when  the  Earl  of  Bristol 
attacked  Buckingham's  conduct  of  the  mar- 
riage negotiations,  he  involved  Porter  in  his 
charges  (GARDINER,  vi.  96  ;  Hardwicke  State 
Papers,  i.  501).  Porter  was  again  sent  to 
Spain  in  1628  to  propose  negotiations  for  peace 
between  that  country  and  England  (ib.  vi. 
333, 373  ;  Report  on  the  MSS.  of  Mr.  Skrine, 
pp.  156-66 ;  FONBLANQUE,  p.  51).  In  1634 
he  was  employed  on  a  mission  to  the  Cardinal 
Infante  Ferdinand  of  Spain,  then  governor 
of  the  Low  Countries,  which  ended  in  nothing 
but  a  dispute  about  questions  of  etiquette  (ib. 
p.  59 ;  Cal.  State  Papers,  1634-5,  p.  461). 
Charlea  also  commissioned  him  in  October 
1639  to  warn  Cardenas  of  the  danger  of  the 
Spanish  fleet  at  Dover  and  the  king's  in- 
ability to  protect  it  from  the  Dutch  (GARDI- 
NER, ix.  66  ;  FONBLANQJTE,  p.  67). 

Porter's  rewards  more  than  kept  pace  with 
his  services.  In  May  1625  he  was  given  a 
pension  of  500/.  a  year  as  groom  of  the  bed- 
chamber, which  was  converted  three  years 
later  into  an  annuity  of  the  same  amount 
for  himself  and  his  wife.  On  9  July  1628 
he  was  granted  the  office  of  collector  of  the 
fines  in  the  Star-chamber,  estimated  to  be 
worth  750/.  a  year  (Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom. 
1625-6  p.  23,  1628-9  pp.  199,  219).  In  ad- 
dition to  this,  he  purchased  the  post  of  sur- 
veyor of  the  petty  customs  in  the  port  of 
London,  and  had  an  interest  in  the  soap 
monopoly.  He  also  frequently  obtained 
smaller  pecuniary  favours,  such  as  leases  of 
land  at  low  rentals,  shares  in  debts  due  to 
the  king,  and  he  was  liberally  paid  for  his 
diplomatic  missions  (ib.  1635,  p.  65  ;  FON- 
BLANQUE, p.  65).  He  was  granted  one  thou- 
sand acres  of  land  in  Lincolnshire  which  he 
undertook  to  drain  (1632),  but  the  specula- 
tion was  not  very  successful.  More  profit- 
able, probably,  were  his  trading  speculations. 
He  was  one  of  the  association  of  East  Indian 
traders,  founded  by  Sir  William  Courten, 
which  so  seriously  diminished  the  profits  of 
the  old  East  India  Company,  and  he  had 
shares  in  other  maritime  ventures  (BRUCE, 
Annals  of  the  East  India  Company,  vol.  i. ; 
Strafford  Letters,  ii.  87 ;  Cal.  State  Papers, 
Dom.  1635,  p.  96).  The  wealth  thus  ac- 
quired was  liberally  spent. 

Porter's  memory  owes  its  celebrity  chiefly 
to  his  taste  for  literature  and  art.  lie  wrote 


verses  himself,  and  was  the  friend  and  patron 
of  poets.  Some  lines,  prefixed  to  Davenant's 
'  Madagascar,'  and  an  elegy  on  Dr.  Donne's 
death,  afford  -specimens  of  his  poetic  skill 
which  scarcely  justify  Randolph's  unstinted 
praise  ('  A  Pareneticon  to  the  truly  noble 
gentleman  Master  Endymion  Porter,'  Works, 
ed.  Hazlitt,  p.  639).  Dekker  dedicated  his 
1  Dream '  to  Porter,  Gervase  Warmstrey  his 
'  England's  Wound  and  Cure '  (1628),  and 
May  his  '  Antigone '  (1631) ;  Edmund  Bolton 
addressed  to  him  his  *  Historical  Parallel ' 
(1627),  and  he  was  one  of  the  eighty-four 
'  Essentials '  in  Bolton's  intended  '  Academy 
Royal.'  Porter's  influence  with  Charles  I 
saved  Davenant's  play  of  *  The  Wits '  from 
the  excessive  expurgations  of  the  master  of 
the  revels.  '  Your  goodness,'  said  Davenant's 
dedication,  '  first  preserved  life  in  the  author, 
then  rescued  his  work  from  a  cruel  faction ' 
(COLLIER,  English  Dramatic  Poetry,  i.  484  ; 
DAVENANT,  Works,  ed.  1673,  ii.  165).  Dave- 
nant,  who  addresses  Porter  as  '  lord  of  my 
muse  and  heart,'  and  frequently  refers  to  gifts 
of  wine  received  from  him,  was  poet  in  ordi- 
nary to  the  Porter  family.  Among  his  works 
there  are  poems  to  Olivia  Porter,  to  her  son 
George,  copies  of  verse  on  Endymion's  ill- 
nesses, an  *  address  to  all  poets '  upon  his  re- 
covery, and  dialogues  in  verse  between  Olivia 
and  Endymion  and  Endymion  and  Arrigo. 
Herrick  also  was  among  Porter's  friends,  and 
appeals  to  him  not  to  leave  the  delights  of 
the  country  for  the  ambition  and  state  of  the 
court  ('  The  Country  Life  :  an  Eclogue  or 
Pastoral  between  Endymion  Porter  and  Ly- 
cidas,'  HERRICZ,  Poems,  ed.  Hazlitt,  i.  196, 
246).  Elsewhere  he  declares  that  poets  will 
never  be  wanting  so  long  as  there  are  patrons 
like  Porter, 

who  dost  give 

Not  only  subject-matter  for  our  wit, 
But  also  oil  of  maintenance  to  it. 

(ib.  p.  40).  Porter's  generosity  also  extended 
to  Robert  Dover  [q.v.],  whose  Olympic  games 
upon  the  Cotswold  Hills  he  encouraged  by 
*  giving  him  some  of  the  king's  old  clothes, 
with  a  hat  and  feather  and  ruff,  purposely  to 
grace  him,  and  consequently  the  solemnity  ' 
(WOOD,  Athence  Oxon.  iv.  222). 

Porter  had  also  a  taste  for  art ;  he  bought 
pictures  himself,  and  was  one  of  the  agents 
employed  by  Charles  I  in  forming  his  great 
collection.  He  procured  for  Daniel  Mytens 
[q.  v.]  the  office  of  *  one  of  his  Majesty's  pic- 
ture-drawers in  ordinary '  (WAT-POLE,  Anec- 
dotes of  Painting  in  England,  ed.  Wornum, 
1849,  i.  216,  274).  Much  of  the  correspon- 
dence with  the  foreign  agents  who  bought 
pictures  and  statues  for  the  king  in  Italy  and 


Porter 


174 


Porter 


the  Levant  passed  through  his  hands,  and  he 
was  on  friendly  terms  with  Rubens,  Gen- 
tileschi,  and  other  painters  employed  by  the 
king.  He  also  helped  to  procure  the  Earl  of 
Arundel  pictures  from  Spain  (SAINSBUKY, 
Original  Papers  relating  to  Rubens,  1859,  pp. 
146,  203,  293,  324,  353). 

During  the  two  Scottish  wars  Porter  was 
in  constant  attendance  on  the  king.  In  the 
Long  parliament  he  represented  Droitwich, 
and  was  one  of  the  fifty -nine  members  who 
voted  against  Strafford's  attainder,  and  were 
posted  up  as  '  Straffordians  '  and  '  traitors ' 
(RUSHWORTH,  iv.  248).  In  August  1641 
he  accompanied  the  king  on  his  visit  to 
Scotland.  What  he  witnessed  there  filled 
him  with  the  gloomiest  anticipations,  and 
he  told  Nicholas  that  he  feared  this  island 
would  before  long  be  a  theatre  of  distrac- 
tions (Nicholas  Papers,  i.  40,  45).  When 
Charles  left  Whitehall,  Porter  still  followed 
his  master.  '  Wliither  we  go  and  what  we 
are  to  do  I  know  not,  for  I  am  none  of  the 
council ;  my  duty  and  loyalty  have  taught 
me  to  follow  my  king,  and,  by  the  grace  of 
God,  nothing  shall  divert  me  from  it'  (FoN- 
BLANQUE,  p.  75).  On  15  Feb.  1642,  how- 
ever, the  House  of  Commons  voted  him '  one 
that  is  conceived  to  give  dangerous  counsel,' 
and  on  4  Oct.  following  included  him  among 
the  eleven  great  delinquents  who  were  to  be 
excepted  from  pardon.  In  the  subsequent 
treaties  of  peace  he  was  consistently  named 
among  the  exceptions,  and  on  10  March  1643 
he  was  disabled  from  sitting  in  parliament 
(Commons'  Journals,  ii.  433,  997  ;  Report  on 
the  Duke  of  Portland's  MSS.  i.  98).  The 
reasons  for  this  animosity  against  a  man  who 
was  not  a  minister  of  state  or  a  public  offi- 
cial were  partly  the  great  confidence  which 
Charles  reposed  in  Porter,  and  partly  the 
supposition  that  he  was  one  of  the  chief  in- 
struments in  the  '  popish  plot '  against  the 
liberties  and  religion  of  England.  He  had 
been  the  favourite  and  the  agent  of  Bucking- 
ham. His  wife  Olivia  was  a  declared  catho- 
lic, and  has  been  described  as  '  the  soul  of 
the  proselytising  movement '  in  the  queen's 
court.  She  had  converted  her  father,  Lord 
Boteler,  and  attempted  to  convert  her  kins- 
woman, the  Marchioness  of  Hamilton  (GAR- 
DINER, viii.  238).  A  denunciation  of  the 
supposed  plotters,  sent  to  Laud  by  Sir  Wil- 
liam Boswell,  the  English  ambassador  in  the 
Netherlands,  made  the  following  assertions : 
*  Master  Porter  of  the  King's  Bedchamber, 
most  addicted  to  the  Popish  religion,  is  a 
bitter  enemy  of  the  King.  He  reveals  all 
his  greatest  secrets  to  the  Pope's  legate  ; 
although  he  very  rarely  meets  with  him,  yet 
his  wife  meets  him  so  much  the  oftener,  who, 


being  informed  by  her  husband,  conveys 
secrets  to  the  legate.  In  all  his  actions  he 
is  nothing  inferior  to  Toby  Matthew ;  it 
cannot  be  uttered  how  diligently  he  watcheth 
on  the  business.  His  sons  are  secretly  in- 
structed in  the  popish  religion  ;  openly  they 
profess  the  reformed.  The  eldest  is  now  to 
receive  his  father's  office  under  the  king 
which  shall  be.  A  cardinal's  hat  is  pro- 
vided for  the  other  if  the  design  succeed 
well '  (PRYinsrE,  Rome's  Master-Piece,  1644, 
p.  23).  Wild  though  these  accusations  were, 
they  gained  some  credence.  What  helped 
to  make  them  believed  was  that  Porter  was 
undoubtedly  implicated  in  the  army  plot, 
and  was  suspected  of  a  share  in  instigating 
the  Irish  rebellion.  On  1  Oct.  1641  the 
great  seal  of  Scotland  had  been  in  his  cus- 
tody, and  it  was  asserted  that  he  had  used 
it  to  seal  the  commission  produced  by  Sir 
Phelim  O'Neill  [q.  v.]  (The  Mystery  of  Ini- 
quity yet  Working,  1643,  p.  37;  Rome's 
Master-Piece,  p.  33;  BKODIE,  Hist,  of  the 
British  Empire,  ii.  378).  The  charge  was 
probably  untrue,  but  it  is  noteworthy  that 
Porter  subsequently  assisted  Glamorgan  in 
the  illegitimate  affixing  of  the  great  seal  to 
his  commission  to  treat  with  the  Irish  (1  April 
1644).  He  was  not  a  man  to  stick  at  legal 
formalities  in  anything  which  would  serve 
his  master  (English  Historical  Review,  ii.  531, 
692). 

In  the  list  of  the  king's  army  in  1642, 
Porter  appears  as  colonel  of  a  regiment  of 
foot,  but  his  command  was  purely  nominal, 
and  when  he  made  his  composition  with  the 
parliament  he  could  assert  that  he  had  never 
borne  arms  against  it  (PEACOCK,  Army  Lists, 
p.  14).  Porter  followed  the  king  to  Oxford 
and  sat  in  the  anti-parliament  summoned 
there  in  December  1643  (Old  Parliamentary 
History,  xiii.  75).  He  left  England  about 
the  close  of  1645,  stayed  some  time  in  France, 
and  then  proceeded  to  Brussels.  1 1  am  in 
so  much  necessity,'  he  wrote  to  Nicholas  in 
January  1647, '  that  were  it  not  for  an  Irish 
barber,  that  was  once  my  servant,  I  might 
have  starved  for  want  of  bread.  He 
hath  lent  me  some  monies,  which  will  last 
me  a  fortnight  longer,  and  then  I  shall  be  as 
much  subject  to  misery  as  I  was  before. 
Here,  in  our  court,  no  man  looks  on  me,  and 
the  Queen  thinks  I  lost  my  estate  rather  for 
want  of  wit  than  for  my  loyalty  to  my 
master ;  but,  God  be  thanked,  I  know  my 
own  heart  and  am  satisfied  in  my  own  con- 
science, and  were  it  to  do  again  I  would  as 
freely  sacrifice  all  without  hopes  of  reward 
as  I  have  done  this '  (Nicholas  Papers,  i.  70). 
In  the  Netherlands,  thanks  doubtless  to  his 
Spanish  friends,  Porter  found  it  easier  to 


Porter 


175 


Porter 


live,  and  his  letters  from  Brussels  are  more 
cheerful  (FOXBLANQTJE,  p.  80 ;  Fairfax  Cor- 
respondence, iii.  30).  On  23  Nov.  1648  he 
was  given  leave  to  come  over  to  England  to 
compound  for  his  estate,  and  did  so  in  the 
following  spring.  His  fine  was  fixed,  on 
21  June  1649,  at  222/.  10s.,  the  smallness  of 
the  sum  being  probably  due  to  the  fact  that 
his  landed  property  was  encumbered,  while 
all  his  movables  had  long  since  been  con- 
fiscated (Cal.  of 'Committee  for  Compounding, 
p.  1804 ;  cf.  DRING.  Catalogue  of  'Compounders, 
p.  87,  ed.  1733).  He  died  a  few  weeks  later, 
and  was  buried  at  St.  Martin's-in-the-Fields 
on  20  Aug.  1649. 

In  his  will,  dated  26  March  1639,  Porter 
inserted  a  tribute  to  the  patron  to  whom 
he  owed  his  rise  to  fortune.  '  I  charge  all 
my  sons,  upon  my  blessing,  that  they,  leaving 
the  like  charges  to  their  posterity,  do  all  of 
them  observe  and  respect  the  children  and 
family  of  my  Lord  Duke  of  Buckingham, 
deceased,  to  whom  I  owe  all  the  happiness  I 
had  in  the  world  '  (FONBLA^QJTE,  p.  82  ;  Notes 
and  Queries,  3rd  ser.  ix.  353). 

Olivia  Porter  survived  her  husband  four- 
teen years  ;  she  died  in  1663,  and  was  buried 
at  St.  Martin's-in-the-Fields  on  13  Dec. 

Porter's  eldest  son,  George  (1622P-1683), 
and  his  fourth  son,  Thomas,  are  separately 
noticed.  His  second  son,  Charles  (b.  1623), 
was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Newburn  in  1640 
(  Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1640,  p.  231 ;  RTJSH- 
WORTH,  iii.  1238).  Philip,  the  third  (b.  1628), 
was  imprisoned  in  1654  for  complicity  in  a 
plot  against  the  Protector  ( Cal.  State  Papers, 
Dom.  1654,  p.  274).  Otherwise  he  is  only 
heard  of  as  a  swashbuckler  of  the  worst 
type  (Middlesex  Records,  iii.  210). 

James  Porter,  the  fifth  son  (b.  1638),  en- 
tered the  army  after  the  Restoration,  and  was 
probably  the  captain  of  that  name  who  held 
commissions  in  Lord  Falkland's  regiment  in 
1661,  and  in  the  Duke  of  Buckingham's  in 
1672.  He  was  also  captain  of  a  volunteer 
troop  of  horse,  raised  at  the  time  of  Mon- 
motith's  rebellion,  and  was  then  described  as 
Colonel  Porter  (CHARLES  DALTON,  Army 
Lists,  i.  20,  120,  ii.  16).  During  the  reign 
of  Charles  II  he  was  occasionally  employed 
on  complimentary  missions  to  France  and 
the  Netherlands  (Saville  Correspondence,  p. 
116 ;  Secret-service  Money  of  Charles  II  and 
James  II,  p.  130).  On  8  March  1686-7  he 
was  appointed  vice-chamberlain  of  the  house- 
hold to  James  II,  having  previously  held  the 
post  of  groom  of  the  bedchamber  (LTTTTRELL, 
Diary,  i.395;  Saville  Correspondence,^.  167). 
He  has  been  identified  with  the  Porter  who 
held  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel  in  the 
regiment  of  Colonel  Henry  Fit/James  in  the 


Irish  army  of  James  II  (JAMES  D'A 
King  James's  Irish  Army  List,  ii.  85).  In 
February  1689  James  sent  Porter  as  envoy  to 
Innocent  XI  (MACPHERSO^,  Original  Papers, 
i.  302).  On  his  return  he  continued  to  occupy 
the  post  of  chamberlain  in  the  court  at  St. 
Germains,  and  furnished  materials  for  a  fune- 
ral panegyric  on  his  master  ('A  Funeral 
Oration  on  the  late  King  James,  composed 
from  Memoirs  furnished  by  Mr.  Porter,  his 
Great  Chamberlain  ;  dedicated  to  the  French 
King/  translated  into  English,  1702). 

A  picture,  representing  Endymion  Porter 
and  his  family,  by  Vandyck,  was  in  the  pos- 
session of  Lord  Strangford.  Two  other  por- 
traits of  Porter,  by  the  same  artist,  are  in 
the  possession  of  the  Earl  of  Hardwick  and 
the  Earl  of  Mexborough.  The  latter  was 
No.  31  in  the  Vandyck  exhibition  of  1886. 
Another  is  in  Mr.  Fenwick's  collection  at 
Middlehill.  There  is  in  the  National  Gallery 
a  likeness  of  Porter,  by  Dobson,  which  was 
engraved  by  Faithorne  (FAGAN,  Catalogue 
of  Faithorne's  Works,  1888,  p.  54).  Another 
portrait  by  Dobson  is  in  the  National  Por- 
trait Gallery.  A  medal,  representing  Porter, 
was  executed  by  Warin  in  1635,  the  inscrip- 
tion on  which  states  that  he  was  then  (  aet. 
48.' 

[The  best  life  of  Porter  is  that  contained  in 
E.  B.  de  Fonblanque's  Lives  of  the  Lords  Strang- 
ford, 1877.  A  pedigree  of  the  Porter  family  is 
given  by  Waters  in  The  Chesters  of  Chichele,  i. 
144-9.  The  Domestic  State  Papers  contain  a 
large  number  of  letters  from  Porter  to  his  wife, 
many  of  which  are  printed  in  full  by  Fonblanque; 
notes  and  copies  of  other  letters  kindly  supplied 
by  Mrs.  K.  B.  Townshend.]  C.  H.  F. 

PORTER,  FRANCIS  (d.  1702),  Irish 
Franciscan,  a  native  of  co.  Meath,  joined  the 
Franciscans,  and  passed  most  of  his  life  at 
Rome.  He  became  professor  and  lecturer, 
and  was  ultimately  president,  of  the  Irish 
College  of  St.  Isidore  in  that  city.  He  de- 
scribed himself  in  1693  as  '  divine  and  his- 
torian to  his  most  Serene  Majesty  of  Great 
Britain,'  viz.  James  II.  He  died  in  Rome  on 
7  April  1702. 

Porter  was  author  of  the  following  very 
rare  Latin  works:  1.  'Securis  Evangelica 
ad  Hteresis  radices  posita,  ad  Congregationem 
Propagandas  Fidei,'  Rome,  1674,  '  editio  se- 
cunda  novis  additionibus  aucta  et  recog- 
nita  ; '  dedicated  to  Roger  Palmer,  lord  Cas- 
tlemaine.  2.  '  Palinodia  religionis  prgetensse 
Reformatae,'  £c.,  Rome,  1679  ;  dedicated  to 
Cardinal  Cybo.  3.  '  Compendium  Annalium 
Ecclesiasticorum  Regni  Hibernise,  exhibens 
brevem  illius  descriptionem  et  succinctam 
Historian!,'  1690,  4to;  dedicated  to  Alex- 
ander VIII.  It  contains  an  epistle  to  the 


Porter 


176 


Porter 


author,  by  Francis  Echinard,  a  Jesuit,  on 
errors  in  maps  of  Ireland.  Porter  has 
drawn  largely  on  Ussher  and  Ware.  The 
last  section  of  the  Appendix  contains  con- 
temporary history  down  to  the  end  of  1689, 
with  an  account  of  the  siege  of  Derry 
(taken  from  letters  written  in  May,  July, 
and  September  1639),  and  of  the  Jacobite 
parliament  at  Dublin.  Porter  concludes 
with  an  invective  against  Luther,  as  the  au- 
thor of  all  the  evils  of  Ireland.  4.  '  Systema 
Decretorum  Dogmaticorum  ...  in  quo  in- 
super  recensentur  praecipui  cujuslibet  Saeculi, 
errores,  adversi  Impugnatores  orthodoxi  ; 
item  Recursus  et  Appellationes  hactenus  ad 
sedem  Apostolicam  habitse,  cum  notis  his- 
toricis  et  copiosis  indicibus,'  Avignon,  1693, 
fol. ;  dedicated  to  Cardinal  Spada.  This 
work  is  very  rare :  was  unknown  to  Ware, 
and  was  wrongly  described  by  Harris  in  his 
edition  of  Ware's  Irish  writers.  5.  '  Opus- 
culum  contra  vulgares  quasdam  Prophetias 
de  Electionum  [sic]  Summorum  Pontificum, 
S.  Malachise  .  .  .  hactenus  falso  attributas, 
Gallice  primum  editum,  nunc  novis  supple- 
mentis  auctum  et  in  Latinum  idioma  trans- 
latum  :  adjunctis  celebrium  Authorum  [sic] 
reflectionibtis  et  judiciis  de  Abbatis  Joachimi 
Vaticiniis,  e]  usque  Spiritu  Prophetico,' 
Rome,  1698,  8vo. 

[Ware's  Works  concerning  Ireland,  ed.  Walter 
Harris,  1764,  ii.  262;  Webb's  Compend.  Irish 
Biography  ;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat. ;  Porter's  Works ; 
Lowndes's  Bibl.  Manual ;  Hazlitt's  Bibliographi- 
cal Collections,  3rd  ser.  p.  126.]  G-.  LE  G-.  N. 

PORTER,  GEORGE  (1622  P-1683), 
royalist,  was  the  eldest  son  of  Endymion 
Porter  [q.  v.]  On  19  June  1641  Charles  I 
recommended  him  to  the  Earl  of  Ormonde  to 
be  allowed  to  transport  a  regiment  of  a  thou- 
sand of  the  disbanded  soldiers  of  the  Irish 
army  for  the  service  of  Spain  (Cox.v,Hibernia 
Anglicana,  iii.  71,  App.  p.  210).  At  the  com- 
mencement of  the  civil  war  he  appears  to 
have  served  under  Prince  Rupert,  and  then 
became  commissary-general  of  horse  in  the 
army  of  the  Earl  of  Newcastle  (  WARBTJRTOX, 
Prince  Rupert,  i.  507;  Life  of  the  Duke  of 
Newcastle,  ed.  1886,  p.  165).  In  March  1644 
Porter  was  engaged  in  fortifying  Lincoln,  and 
at  the  battle  of  Marston  Moor,  where  he  was 
wounded,  he  held  the  rank  of  major-general 
of  Newcastle's  foot  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  9th 
Rep.  p.  435 ;  VICARS,  God's  Ark,  p.  277). 
The  parliament  sent  him  to  the  Tower,  but. 
after  lengthy  negotiations,  allowed  him  to 
ba  exchanged  (Commons'1  Journals,  iii.  658, 
709,  711  ;  Report  on  the  Duke  of  Portland's 
MSS.  i.  192-6).  On  his  release  Porter  be- 
came lieutenant-general  and  commander  of 
the  horse  in  the  army  of  Lord  Goring,  in  the 


west  of  England.  Over  Goring  he  exercised 
an  influence  which  was  very  harmful  to  the 
king's  cause  ;  he  '  fed  his  wild  humour  and 
debauch,  and  turned  his  wantonness  into  riot.' 
At  Ilminster  on  9  July  1645  he  suffered 
Goring's  cavalry  to  be  surprised  and  routed 
by  Massey.  Goring  indignantly  declared  that 
he  deserved  *  to  be  pistolled  for  his  negli- 
gence or  cowardice,'  and  a  few  weeks  later 
told  Hyde  that  he  suspected  Porter  of 
treachery  as  well  as  negligence,  and  was  re- 
solved to  be  quit  of  him  (CARTE,  Original  Let- 
ters, i.  131 ;  BULSTRODE,  Memoirs,  pp.  135, 
137,  141).  His  final  verdict  was  that  'his 
brother-in-law  was  the  best  company,  but 
the  worst  officer  that  ever  served  the  king.' 
Though  Goring  took  no  steps  to  deprive 
Porter  of  his  command,  the  character  of  the 
latter  was  utterly  discredited  by  a  quarrel 
between  him  and  Colonel  Tuke,  arising  out 
of  an  intrigue  about  promotion  (ib.  pp.  137, 
141-7).  In  November  1645  Porter  obtained 
a  pass  from  Fairfax,  abandoned  the  king's 
cause,  and  went  to  London  (FOXBLANQUE, 
Lives  of  the  Lords  Strangford,  p.  77).  He 
made  his  peace  by  this  treacherous  desertion 
to  the  parliamentary  cause,  for  the  House  of 
Commons  at  once  remitted  the  fine  of  1,000/. 
which  the  committee  for  compounding  had 
imposed  upon  him,  and  passed  an  ordinance 
for  his  pardon  (Commons'  Journals,  iv.  486, 
522  ;  Calendar  of  the  Committee  for  Com- 
pounding, p.  1097). 

Porter  was  extremely  quarrelsome,  al- 
though his  courage  was  not  above  suspicion, 
and  in  1646  and  1654  his  intended  duels 
were  prevented  by  official  intervention 
(Lords'  Journals,  vii'i.  318,  338 ;  Cal.  State 
Papers,  Dom.  1654,  p.  437).  In  1659  he  was 
engaged  in  the  plots  for  the  restoration  of 
Charles  II,  but  was  not  trusted  by  the 
royalists  (Clarendon  State  Papers,  iii.* 586). 
Nevertheless,  after  the  king's  return,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  the  office  of  gentleman 
of  the  privy  chamber  to  the  queen-consort 
(Cal  State  Papers,  Dom.  1664-5,  p.  396; 
ADY,  Life  of  Henrietta  of  Orleans,  p.  215). 
He  died  in  1683. 

Porter  married  Diana,  daughter  of  George 
Goring,  first  earl  of  Norwich,  and  widow  of 
Thomas  Covert  of  Slaugham,  Sussex,  by 
whom  he  had  three  sons  and  five  daughters. 
His  daughter  Mary  married  Philip  Smyth, 
fourth  viscount  Strangford. 

[See  authorities  for  PORTER,  ENDYMION.] 

C.  H.  F. 

PORTER,  GEORGE  (fl.  1695),  con- 
spirator, is  described  in  all  contemporary 
accounts  as  a  Roman  catholic,  a  man  of 
pleasure,  and  a  haunter  of  Jacobite  taverns. 


Porter 


177 


Porter 


He  may  be  identical  with  George,  son    of 
Thomas  Porter  [q.  v.]     On  10  Dec.  1684  a 
true  bill  of  manslaughter  was  brought  in 
against  him  for   causing   the   death  of  Sir 
James  Halkett  during  a  fracas  at  a  theatre, 
but  he  escaped  punishment  (cf.  Middlesex 
County  Records,  iv.  253).     In  1688  he  was  a 
captain  in   Colonel   Slingsby's  regiment   of 
horse  (DALTON,  Army  Lists,  ii.  185).    In  May 
1692  he  was  mentioned  in  the  proclamation 
as  a  dangerous  Jacobite,  but  he  soon  felt  it 
safe  to  return  to  his  old  haunts,  and  in  June 
1695  he  was  temporarily  taken  into  custody 
for  rioting   in   a   Drury  Lane  tavern  and 
drinking   King  James's  health.     After  the 
death  of  Queen  Mary,  Porter  associated  him- 
self more  closely  with  Sir  George  Barclay, 
Eobert  Charnock,  and  other  Jacobite  con- 
spirators ;  and  in  December  1695  the  inten- 
tion to  secure  the  person  of  William  III, 
alive  or  dead,  was  communicated  to  him  by 
Charnock.  Porter  brought  his  servant  Keyes 
into  the  plot,  and  it  was  he  who,  with  much 
ingenuity,  organised  the  details  of  the  plan, 
by  which  William  was  to  be  surprised  in 
his  coach  in  a  miry  lane  between  Chiswick 
and  Turnham  Green,  while  his  guard  was 
straggling  after  the  passage  of  Queensferry. 
It  was  arranged  that  Porter  should  be  one 
of  the  three  leaders  of  the  attack  upon  the 
guards.     On  the  eve  of  the  intended  assassi- 
nation, 21  Feb.  1696,  the  conspirators  as- 
sembled in  the  lodging  that  Porter  shared 
with  Charnock  in  Norfolk   Street,  Strand. 
The  plot  having  been  revealed,  Porter  and 
Keyes  were  pursued  by  the  hue  and  cry  and 
captured  at  Leatherhead.     Fortunately  for 
Porter,  Sir  Thomas  Prendergast  [q.  v.],  the  in- 
former, who  was  under  great  obligation  to 
him,  stipulated  for  his  friend's  life.     Porter 
basely  turned  king's  evidence,  and  thus  pro- 
cured  his  pardon   and   a  grant    from   the 
exchequer  (1  Aug.  1696).     His  testimony 
greatly  facilitated  the  conviction  of  Char- 
nock,   King,   Friend,   Parkyns,  Rookwood, 
Cranbourne,  and  Lowicke.  More  abominable 
was  Porter's  betrayal  of  his  servant  Keyes 
whom  he  had  inveigled  into  the  plot. 

In  November  1696  Sir  John  Fenwick  was 
so  alarmed  at  the  amount  of  information 
possessed  by  Porter  as  to  the  ramifications 
of  this  and  previous  plots,  that  he  made  a 
strenuous  effort  to  get  him  out  of  the  coun- 
try. On  condition  that  he  forthwith  trans- 
ported himself  to  France,  he  promised  Porter 
three  hundred  guineas  down,  a  handsome 
annuity,  and  a  free  pardon  from  James.  The 
negotiations  were  conducted  through  a  bar- 
ber named  Clancy.  Porter  reported  the  in- 
trigue to  the  authorities  at  Whitehall.  On 
the  day  proposed  for  his  departure  to  France 

VOL.   XLVI. 


le  met  Clancy  by  arrangement  at  a  tavern 
in  Covent  Garden.  At  a  given  signal  Clancy 
was  arrested,  and  subsequently  convicted  and 
Dilloried.  Later  in  the  month  Porter  gave 
evidence  against  Fenwick  (LTJTTRELL,  iv. 
140  sq.)  He  probably  retired  at  the  end  of 
he  year  upon  substantial  earnings.  In  June 
L697  a  woman  was  suborned  to  bring  a  scan- 
dalous charge  against  him.  His  successes 
doubtless  excited  the  envy  of  the  confra- 
ternity of  professional  scoundrels  to  which 
le  belonged. 

[Luttrell's  Diary,  vols.  i.  ii.  iii.  and  iv.  passim ; 
Vlacaulay's  Hist,  of  England,  chap.  xxi. ;  Boyer's 
William  III,  pp.  448-56  ;  Burnet's  Own  Time, 
L766,  iii.  232-6;  Life  of  James  II,  ii.  548; 
Ranke's  Hist,  of  England,  v.  125;  Howell's 
State  Trials,  xiii.  See  also  arts.  BARCLAY,  SIB 
GTEORGE;  CHARNOCK,  EGBERT;  PARKYNS,  SIR 
WILLIAM.]  T.  S. 

PORTER,  SIR  GEORGE  HORNIDGE 

'1822-1895),  surgeon, born  in  Kildare  Street, 
Dublin,  on  24  Nov.  1822,  was  the  only  sou 
of  WILLIAM  HENRY  PORTER  (1790-1861), 
by  his  wife  Jane  (Hornidge)  of  Blessington, 
co.  Wicklow.  The  father,  son  of  William 
Porter  of  Rathfarnham,  co.  Dublin,  was  pre- 
sident of  the  Irish  College  of  Surgeons  in 
1838,  and  professor  of  surgery  in  the  College 
of  Surgeons  school  of  medicine  in  Dublin. 
He  was  a  very  popular  teacher  in  the  times 
when  the  old  system  was  in  vogue  by  which 
apprenticeship  to  a  well-known  surgeon  was 
one  of  the  portals  to  the  profession  of  sur- 
gery. He  was  also  a  good  anatomist,  and 
made  occasional  contributions  to  surgical 
literature,  some  of  which  were  of  distinct 
merit.  An  operation  on  the  femoral  artery 
called  Porter's,  now,  however,  rarely  prac- 
tised, owes  its  name  to  him.  A  brother, 
Frank  Thorpe  Porter,  stipendiary  magistrate 
at  Dublin  and  raconteur,  wrote '  Grand  Juries 
in  Ireland,'  Dublin,  1840,  and  a  well-known 
book  of  anecdotes,  '  The  Recollections  of  an 
Irish  Police  Magistrate '  (2nd  edit.  1875). 

George  Hornidge  Porter  studied  at  Trinity 
College,  Dublin,  where  he  graduated  M.D. 
at  the  College  of  Surgeons,  Ireland.  In  1844 
he  became  a  fellow  of  the  latter  body,  and  in 
1849  was  elected  surgeon  to  the  Meath  Hos- 
pital, Dublin,  to  which  institution  his  father 
was  attached  in  the  same  capacity.  He  early 
attained  the  reputation  of  a  bold  and  success- 
ful operator.  He  contributed  to  the  medical 
papers,  chiefly  to  the  Dublin  l  Journal  of 
Medical  Science,'  many  records  of  surgical 
cases  and  operations.  He  was  aman  of  popu- 
lar manner,  and  ambitious  of  social  distinc- 
tion, and  was  for  many  years  one  of  the  best 
known  men  in  his  native  city.  He  was  pre>- 
sident  of  the  College  of  Surgeons  of  Ireland 


Porter 


178 


Porter 


during  1868-9,  and  for  a  long  time  a  mem- 
ber of  the  council  of  that  college,  where  he 
exercised  great  personal  influence.  In  1869 
he  was  appointed  surgeon-in-ordinary  to  the 
queen  in  Ireland.  He  was  knighted  in  1883, 
and  received  a  baronetcy  in  1889  in  recog- 
nition of  his  distinguished  professional  posi- 
tion. The  university  of  Dublin  conferred 
upon  him  in  1873  the  honorary  degree  of 
master  of  surgery,  and  in  1891  the  post  of 
regius  professor  of  surgery.  The  university 
of  Glasgow  gave  him  in  1888  the  honorary 
degree  of  LL.D.  In  his  earlier  years  he  fre- 
quently gave  expert  evidence  in  the  coroner's 
court,  and  in  1882  he  was  one  of  those  who 
were  called  upon  to  examine  the  bodies  of 
Lord  Frederick  Cavendish  and  Thomas  Henry 
Burke,  who  were  murdered  in  the  Phoenix 
Park.  Sir  George  Porter  was  attached  to 
many  of  the  Dublin  hospitals  in  an  honorary 
or  consulting  capacity,  and  was  an  'active 
member  of  numerous  charitable  and  other 
boards.  He  acquired  by  purchase  landed 
property  in  co.  Wexford,  and  was  proud  of 
his  position  as  a  country  gentleman,  and 
especially  of  being  high  sheriff  of  the  county. 
He  died  of  heart-disease  at  his  residence, 
Merrion  Square,  Dublin,  on  15  June  1895. 

He  married  Julia,  daughter  of  Isaac  Bond 
of  Flimby,  Cumberland,  by  whom  he  had 
one  son. 

[Cameron's  Hist,  of  the  College  of  Surgeons 
in  Ireland ;  Ormsby's  Hist,  of  the  Meath  Hos- 
pital ;  obituary  notices  in  British  Medical  Jour- 
nal and  Lancet,  June  1895.]  C.  N. 

PORTER,  GEORGE  RICHARDSON 
(1792-1852),  statistician,  the  son  of  a  London 
merchant,  was  born  in  London  in  1792.  Fail- 
ing in  business  as  a  sugar-broker,  he  devoted 
himself  to  economics  and  statistics,  and  in 
1831  contributed  an  essay  on  life  assurance 
to  Charles  Knight's  '  Companion  to  the  Al- 
manac.' When,  in  1832,  Knight  declined 
Lord  Auckland's  invitation  to  digest  for  the 
board  of  trade  the  information  contained  in 
the  parliamentary  reports  and  papers,  he 
recommended  Porter  for  the  task.  Porter 
now  had  scope  for  the  exercise  of  his  powers 
as  a  statistician,  and  in  1834  the  statistical 
department  of  the  board  of  trade  was  per- 
manently established  under  his  supervision. 
In  1840  he  was  appointed  senior  member  of 
the  railway  department  of  the  same  board, 
and  in  1841  Lord  Clarendon  obtained  for 
him  the  position  of  joint  secretary  of  the 
board  in  succession  to  John  MacGregor  [q.  v.] 
Porter's  remuneration  was  at  first  inadequate, 
but  he  ultimately  received  1,000/.  a  year  as 
chief  of  the  statistical  department,  1,200/.  as 
senior  member  of  the  railway  department, 
and  1,500/.  as  joint  secretary  of  the  board  of 


trade.  He  was  one  of  the  promoters,  in  1834, 
of  the  Statistical  Society,  of  which  he  be- 
came vice-president  and  treasurer  in  1841 ; 
and  he  took  an  active  interest  in  the  pro- 
ceedings of  section  F  of  the  British  Asso- 
ciation. He  was  also  an  honorary  member 
of  the  Statistical  Society  of  Ulster,  corre- 
sponding member  of  the  Institute  of  France, 
and  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  He  died 
on  3  Sept.  1852  at  tunbridge  Wells,  and 
was  buried  there.  The  immediate  cause  of 
his  death  was  a  gnat's  sting  on  the  knee, 
which  caused  mortification.  There  is  an  en- 
graved portrait  of  him  in  the  rooms  of  the 
Statistical  Society,  Adelphi  Terrace,  Lon- 
don, W.C. 

Porter  was  a  liberal  in  politics,  a  zealous 
free-trader,  and  an  able  official.  His  best- 
known  work,  '  The  Progress  of  the  Nation  in 
its  various  Social  and  Economical  Relations, 
from  the  beginning  of  the  Nineteenth  Century 
to  the  present  time'  (3  vols. London,  1836-43, 
cr.  8vo ;  1  vol.  London,  1838, 8vo ;  1847, 8vo; 

1851,  8vo),  is  an  invaluable  record  of  the  first 
half  of  the  nineteenth  century.   It  is  remark- 
able for  the  accuracy  and  the  variety  of  its 
information,  and  for  the  skill  with  which  the 
results  of  statistical  inquiry  are  presented. 
Besides  tracts  and  papers  on  statistical  sub- 
jects in  Lardner's  '  Cabinet  Cyclopaedia,'  the 
'Journal  of  the  Statistical  Society,'  and  the 
'  Proceedings   of  the   British   Association,' 
Porter  published:  1.  '  The  Effect  of  Restric- 
tions on  the  Importation  of  Corn,  considered 
with  reference  to  Landowners,  Farmers,  and 
Labourers,'  London,  1839,  8vo.      2.    'The 
Nature  and  Properties  of  the  Sugar  Cane  .  .  .' 
2nd  edition,  writh  an  additional  chapter  on 
the  manufacture  of  sugar  from  beetroot,  Lon- 
don, 1843,  8vo.     3.  'The  Tropical  Agricul- 
turist :  a  Practical  Treatise  on  the  Cultiva- 
tion and  Management  of  various  Productions 
suited  to  Tropical  Climates.'     4.   'Popular 
Fallacies  regarding  General  Interests :_  being 
a  Translation   of  the  "  Sophismes   !Econo- 
miques"'  [of  F.  Bastiat],  &c.,  1846,  16mo ; 
1849,  16mo.     5.  'A  Manual  of  Statistics' 
(Section  15  of  the  '  Admiralty  Manual  of 
Scientific  Inquiry,'  edited  by  Sir  John  Frede- 
rick William  Herschel,  1849,  12mo;  1851, 
8vo)  ;  another  edition,  revised  by  William 
Newmarch,  1859,  8vo. 

POKTEK,  SARAH  (1791-1862),  writer  on 
education,  wife  of  the  above,  was  the  daugh- 
ter of  Abraham  Ricardo,  and  sister  of  David 
Ricardo  [q.  v.]  She  died  on  13  Sept.  1862  at 
West  Hill,  Wandsworth,  aged  71.  She  pub- 
lished: 1.  'Conversations  on  Arithmetic,' 
London,  1835,  12mo;  new  edition,  with  the 
title  '  Rational  Arithmetic,'  &c.,  London, 

1852,  12mo.    2.  '  On  Infant  Schools  for  the 


Porter 


179 


Porter 


Upper  and  Middle  Classes '  (Central  Society 
of  Education,  second  publication,  1838_ 
12mo).  3.  '  The  Expediency  and  the  Means 
of  elevating  the  Profession  of  the  Educator 
in  public  estimation/  1839,  12mo. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1852  ii.  427-9,  1862  ii.  509 
Annual  Register,  1852,  p.  305  ;  Journal  of  the 
Statistical  Society,  1853,  pp.  97,  98 ;  Athenseum ; 
Waller's  Imperial  Dictionary,  iii.  594;  M'Cul- 
loch's  Literature  of  Political  Economy,  pp.  80, 
220,  222.]  W.  A.  S.  H. 

PORTER,  HENRY  (fi.  1599),  dramatist, 
is  frequently  referred  to  in  Henslowe's '  Diary ' 
between  16  Dec.  1596  and  26  May  1599. 
On  30  May  1598  Henslowe  paid  47.  to  Thomas 
Dowton  and  Mr.  Porter  for  the  play  called 
<  Love  Prevented.'  On  18  Aug.  1598  Hens- 
lowe bought  the  play  called '  Hot  Anger  soon 
Cold,'  by  Porter,  Chettle,  and  Jonson.  On 
22  Dec.  1598  he  bought  the  second  part  of 
Porter's  '  Two  Angry  Women  of  Abington.' 
On  28  Feb.  1599  Porter  promised  Henslowe 
all  his  compositions,  whether  written  alone 
or  in  collaboration,  for  a  loan  of  40s.,  being 
earnest-money  for  his  '  Two  Merry  Women 
of  Abington.'  On  4  March  1599  Henslowe 
paid  for ;  The  Spencers '  by  Porter  and  Chettle. 
Many  small  money  advances  followed.  Fran- 
cis Meres,  in  his  'Palladia  Tamia'  (1598), 
mentions  Porter  as  a  leading  dramatist.  One 
of  Weaver's  epigrams  (1598),  addressed  'ad 
Henricum  Porter,'  describes  a  man  of  mature 
age,  but  he  is  probably  addressing  another 
Henry  Porter  who  graduated  bachelor  of 
music  from  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  in  July 
1600,  and  was  father  of  Walter  Porter  [q.  v.] 

Of  the  five  plays  mentioned  above,  the  only 
one  extant  is  '  The  Pleasant  Historie  of  the 
two  Angrie  Women  of  Abington.  With  the 
humorous  mirth  of  Dick  Coomes  and  Nicholas 
Proverbes,  two  Serving  men.  As  it  was 
lately  playde  by  the  Right  Honorable  the 
Earle  of  Nottingham,  Lord  High  Admirall, 
his  servants.  By  Henry  Porter,  Gent./  Lon- 
don, 1599,  4to.  A  second  edition,  in  quarto, 
was  issued  in  the  same  year.  The  play 
has  been  edited  by  Alexander  Dyce  for  the 
Percy  Society  in  1841,  by  William  Carew 
Hazlitt,  in  vol.  vii.  of  Dodsley's  <  Old  Plays ' 
(4th  edit.  1874),  and  by  Mr.  Havelock  Ellis 
in  '  Nero  and  other  Plays,'  Mermaid  Series, 
1888.  Charles  Lamb  gave  extracts  from  it 
among  his  selecti ons from  the  'Garrick Plays' 
(Bonn's  edit.  1854,  p.  432),  and  judged  it 
'  no  whit  inferior  to  either  the  "  Comedy  of 
Errors"  or  the  "  Taming  of  the  Shrew." .  .  . 
Its  night  scenes  are  peculiarly  sprightly  and 
wakeful,  the  versification  unencumbered,  and 
rich  with  compound  epithets/ 

[Hunter's  Chorus  Vatum,  ii.  302  (Addit.  MS. 
24488) ;  Fleay's  Biographical  Chron.  of  the  Eng- 


lish Drama,  1559-1642,  ii.  162;  Fleay's  Hist,  of 
the  Stage,  p.  107;  and  editions  of  Dyce,  Hazlitt, 
and  Ellis  quoted  above.]  K.  B. 

PORTER,    SIR    JAMES    (1710-1786), 
diplomatist,  was   born  in  Dublin  in   1710. 
His  father,  whose   original   name  was  La 
Roche,  was  captain    of   a   troop    of   horse 
under  James  II.     His  mother  was  the  eldest 
daughter  of  Isaye   d'Aubus  or  Daubuz,   a 
French  protestant  refugee,  and  sister  of  the 
Rev.  Charles  Daubuz,  vicar  of  Brotherton 
in  the  West  Riding  of  Yorkshire.    She  died 
on  7  Jan.  1753.    On  the  failure  of  James  II's 
campaign  in  Ireland  La  Roche  assumed  the 
name  of  Porter.      After  a  slight  education 
young  Porter  was  placed  in  a  house  of  busi- 
ness in  the  city  of  London.  During  his  leisure 
hours  he  'assiduously  studied  mathematics, 
and  to  a  moderate  knowledge  of  Latin  added 
a  perfect  acquaintance  with  the  French  and 
Italian  languages '  (Memoir,  p.  4).     He  also 
joined  a  debating  society,  called  the '  Robin 
Hood,'  where  he  distinguished  himself  as  a 
speaker.   Through  his  friend  Richard  Adams, 
who  afterwards  became  recorder  of  the  city 
of  London  and   a  baron  of  the  exchequer, 
Porter  was  introduced  to  Lord  Carteret,  by 
whom   he  was    employed   on  several  con- 
fidential missions  in  matters  connected  with 
continental  commerce.     While  in  Germany 
in  1736  Porter  paid  a  visit  to  Count  Zinzen- 
dorfF's  Moravian  settlement  near  Leipzig,  of 
which  he  has  left    an   interesting    account 
(Turkey,  its  History  and  Proffress,\ol.  i.  App. 
pp.  365-71).     In  1741  he  was  employed  at 
the  court  of  Vienna,  and  assisted  Sir  Thomas 
Robinson  (1693-1770)  [q.  v.]  in  the  negotia- 
tions between  Austria  and  Prussia.  In  the  fol- 
lowing year  he  was  again  sent  out  to  Vienna 
on  a  special  mission  to  Maria  Theresa  (ib. 
vol.  i.  App.  pp.  406-97).    On  22  Sept.  1746  he 
was  appointed  ambassador  at  Constantinople 
(London  Gazette,  1746,  No.  8573),  where  he 
remained  until  May  1762.     On  7  May  1763 
he   was  appointed  minister-plenipotentiary 
at  the  court  of  Brussels  (ib.  1763,  No.  10310). 
He  was  knighted  on  21  Sept.  following  (ib. 
1763,  No.  10350),  having  refused,  it  is  said, 
,he  offer  of  a  baronetcy.     Finding  the  ex- 
penses of  his  position  at  Brussels  beyond  his 
means,  he  resigned  his  post  in  1765  and  re- 
turned to  England,  where  he  divided  his 
time  between  London  and  Ham,  and  devoted 
himself  to  the  cultivation    of  science  and 
literature.     Porter,  who  was  a  fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society,   declined  to    be  nominated 
president  in   1768,  'not  feeling  himself  of 
sufficient  consequence  or  rich  enough  to  live 
in  such  a  style  as  he  conceived  that  the 
president  of  such  a  society  should  maintain  ' 
(Memoir,  p.  11).     In  the  same  year  he  pub- 


Porter 


1 80 


Porter 


listed  anonymously 
the  Religion,  Law,  Government,and  Manners 
of  the  Turks/  London,  8vo,  2  vols.  ('  Second 
Edition  ...  To  which  is  added  the  State 
of  the  Turkish  Trade  from  its  Origin  to  the 
Present  Time,' London,  1771,  STO).  Porter 
died  in  Great  Marlborough  Street,  London, 
on  9  Dec.  1776,  aged  66. 

He  married,  in  1755,  Clarissa  Catherine, 
eldest  daughter  of  Elbert,  second  baron  de 
Hochepied  (of  the  kingdom  of  Hungary),  the 
Dutch  ambassador  at  Constantinople,  by 
whom  he  had  five  children,  viz.  :  (1)  John 
Elbert,  who  died  an  infant  at  Pera  in  1756. 

(2)  Anna  Margaretta,  born  at  Pera  on  4  April 
1758,  who  became  the  second  wife  of  John 
Larpent  [q.  v.],  and  died  on  4  March  1832. 

(3)  George,  born  at  Pera  on  23  April  1760,  a 
lieutenant-general   in  the  army,  who   suc- 
ceeded   as    sixth   Baron   de   Hochepied  in 
February  1819,  and  by  royal  license  dated 
the  6th  day  of  May  following  assumed  the 
surname  and  arms  of  De  Hochepied  in  lieu 
of   Porter    (London    Gazette,    1819,    pt.  i. 
p.  842)  ;  by  a  further  license,  dated  5  Oct. 
1819,  he  obtained  permission  for  himself  and 
his  two  nephews,  John  James  and  George 
Gerard,  sons  of  his  sister  Anna  Margaretta, 
to  bear  the  title  in  England  (ib.  1819,  pt.  ii. 
p.  1766).  He  represented  Stockbridge  in  the 
House  of  Commons  from  February  1793  to 
February  1820.      He  married,  on    1    Sept. 
1802,  Henrietta,  widow  of  Richard,  first  earl 
Grosvenor,  and  daughter  of  Henry  Vernon  of 
Hilton    Park,    Staffordshire,    and    died   on 
25    March    1828,    without    leaving    issue. 

(4)  Sophia  Albertini,  who  died  unmarried. 

(5)  Clarissa  Catherine,  born  at  Brussels  in 
December  1764 ;    she  married,  on  15  Jan. 
1798,  the  Right  Hon.  James  Trail,  secretary 
of  state  for  Ireland,  and  died  at  Clifton  on 
7  April  1833. 

Sir  William  Jones  speaks  of  Porter  in  the 
highest  terms,  and  asserts  that  during  his 
embassy  at  Constantinople  f  the  interests  of 
our  mercantile  body  were  never  better 
secured,  nor  the  honour  of  our  nation  better 
supported'  (  Works,  1799, 4to,  iv.  5).  Three 
of  Porter's  letter-books  are  in  the  possession 
of  Mr.  George  A.  Aitken  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm. 
12th  Rep.  App.  pt.  ix.  pp.  334-42),  and  a 
number  of  his  despatches  are  preserved  in  the 
Record  Office  (State  Papers,  Turkey,  Bundles 
35  to  43).  He  is  said  to  have  written  a  pam- 
phlet against  the  partition  of  Poland,  which 
was  suppressed  at  the  request  of  the  govern- 
ment (Memoir,  p.  11).  He  was  the  author 
of  the  following  three  papers,  which  were 
printed  in  the  '  Philosophical  Transactions  ' 
of  the  Royal  Society:  1.  'On  the  several 
Earthquakes  felt  at  Constantinople '  (xlix. 


115).  2.  'New  Astronomical  and  Physical 
Observations  made  in  Asia,'  &c.  (xlix.  251). 
3.  '  Observations  on  the  Transit  of  Venus 
made  at  Constantinople'  (lii.  226).  His 
grandson,  Sir  George  Gerard  de  Hochepied 
Larpent  [q.  v.],  published  in  1854  (2  vols.) 
'  Turkey :  its  History  and  Progress,  from  the 
Journals  and  Correspondence  of  Sir  James 
Porter . . .  continued  to  the  present  time,  with 
a  Memoir.'  A  portrait  of  Porter  forms  the 
frontispiece  to  the  first  volume. 

[Authorities  quoted  in  the  text;  Athenaeum, 
21  Oct.  1854,  pp.  1259-60;  Agnew's  Protestant 
Exiles  from  France,  1886,  i.  339-40,  394-5  ; 
Burke's  Peerage,  &c.,  1894,  pp.  830,  1558; 
Foster's  Baronetage,  1881,  p.  374;  Gent.  Mag. 
1776  p.  579,  1798  pt.  i.  p.  83,  1802  pt.  ii.p.  876, 
1828  pt.  i.  pp.  188-9,  364,  1832  pt.  i.  p.  286, 
1833,  pt.  i.  p.  380;  Ann.  Reg.  1776,  p.  230; 
Notes  and  Queries,  5th  ser.  ii.  67,  114,  vii.  128, 
313,  8th  ser.  v.  387  ;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat.] 

G-.  F.  K.  B. 

PORTER,  JAMES  (1753-1798),  author 
of '  Billy  Bluff,'  son  of  Alexander  Porter,  was 
born  in  1753  at  Tamna  Wood,  near  Ballin- 
drait,  co.  Donegal.  His  father  was  a  farmer 
and  owner  of  a  flax-scutching  mill.  James 
was  the  eldest  of  eight  children.  On  his 
father's  death  (about  1773)  he  gave  up  the 
farm  and  mill  to  a  younger  brother,  and 
engaged  himself  as  a  schoolmaster  at  Dromore, 
co.  Down.  In  1780  he  married,  and  removed 
to  a  school  at  Drogheda.  Designing  to  enter 
the  presbyterian  ministry,  he  went  to  Glas- 

fow  as  a  divinity  student  (apparently  in 
784) ;  and,  having  finished  a  two  years' 
course,  was  licensed,  in  1786  or  1787,  by 
Bangor  presbytery.  After  being  an  unsuc- 
cessful candidate  for  the  presbyterian  congre- 
gation of  Ballindrait,  he  received,  through 
the  good  offices  of  Robert  Black,  D.D.  [q.  v.], 
a  call  to  Greyabbey  (local  pronunciation, 
Gryba),  co.  Down,  where  he  was  ordained  by 
Bangor  presbytery  on  31  July  1787.  No  sub- 
scription was  required  of  him,  and  the  test 
questions,  drawn  up  by  Andrew  Craig,  were 
Arian  in  complexion.  His  professional  in- 
come did  not  exceed  60/. ;  hence  he  supple- 
mented his  resources  by  farming.  Having 
mechanical  tastes,  he  fitted  up  a  workshop, 
and  constructed  models  of  improved  farming 
implements.  By  this  and  other  means  he  did 
much  to  promote  the  physical  wellbeing  of 
his  flock,  to  whom  he  was  in  all  respects  an 
assiduous  pastor.  He  is  said  to  have  been  an 
Arian,  but  there  seems  no  evidence  of  his 
attachment  to  a  special  school  of  theology. 
Porter  had  joined  the  volunteer  movement 
which  began  in  1778,  but  took  no  prominent 
part  in  connection  with  it.  He  was  not  a 
United  Irishman,  nor  was  he  publicly  known 


Porter 


181 


Porter 


as  a  politician  till  after  the  suppression  of  the 
volunteer  movement  by  the  Convention  Act 
of  1793.  One  effect  of  this  arbitrary  measure 
was  to  throw  into  alliance  with  the  secret 
society  of  United  Irishmen  those  who,  like 
Porter,  were  in  favour  of  parliamentary  re- 
form and  catholic  emancipation,  but  were 
now  debarred  from  the  holding  of  open  meet- 
ings for  the  agitation  of  constitutional  re- 
forms. Porter  in  1794  became  a  contributor 
to  the  '  Northern  Star,'  founded  in  1792  by 
Samuel  Neilson  [q.  v.]  For  this  paper  he 
wrote  anonymously  a  number  of  patriotic 
songs,  which  were  afterwards  reprinted  in 
'  Paddy's  Kesource.'  In  1796  he  contributed 
a  famous  series  of  seven  letters  by  '  A  Pres- 
byterian.' The  first,  dated  21  May,  was 
published  in  the  number  for  27-30  May. 
They  were  at  once  reprinted,  with  the  title 
'  Billy  Bluff  and  Squire  Firebrand,'  Belfast, 
1796,  8vo  (of  numerous  later  editions  the 
best  is  Belfast,  1816,  12mo,  containing  also 
the  songs).  This  admirable  satire  deserves 
the  popularity  which  it  still  enjoys  in  Ulster. 
The  characters  are  broadly  drawn,  with  a 
rollicking  humour  which  is  exceedingly 
effective  without  being  malicious ;  the  system 
of  feudal  tyranny  and  local  espionage  is 
drawn  from  the  life.  Witherow  well  says 
that '  in  these  pages  of  a  small  pamphlet  there 
is,  on  the  whole,  a  truer  picture  of  country 
life  in  Ireland  in  the  last  decade  of  the 
eighteenth  century  than  in  many  volumes, 
each  ten  times  its  size.'  The  good  Witherow 
laments  that  the  exigencies  of  realism  com- 
pelled a  divine  to  represent  a  County  Down 
dialogue  (of  that  date)  as  '  interlarded  with 
oaths,'  which  fail  to  please  ( a  grave  and  sober 
reader.'  The  original  of  '  Billy  Bluff'  was 
William  Lowry,  bailiff  on  the  Greyabbey 
estate  ;  l  Lord  Mountmumble '  was  Robert 
Stewart,then  baron  Stewart  of  Mountstewart, 
afterwards  first  marquis  of  Londonderry 
[q.  v.] ;  '  Squire  Firebrand  '  was  Hugh  Mont- 
gomery of  Rosemount,  proprietor  of  the  Grey- 
abbey  estate  (so,  correctly,  Classon  Porter 
and  Killen ;  Madden  and  Witherow  erro- 
neously identify  'Squire  Firebrand'  with 
John  Cleland,  rector  (1789-1809)  of  New- 
townards,  co.  Down,  and  agent  of  the  Mount- 
Stewart  estate). 

Later  in  1796  Porter,  whose  name  was 
now  a  household  word  in  Ulster,  went  through 
the  province  on  a  lecturing  tour.  His  subject 
was  natural  philosophy  ;  he  showed  experi- 
ments with  an  electric  battery  and  model 
balloons.  He  had  previously  given  similar 
lectures  in  his  own  neighbourhood,  and  there 
is  no  reason  for  supposing  that  he  now  had 
any  object  in  view  apart  from  the  advance- 
ment of  popular  culture,  though  the  authori- 


ties suspected  that  his  lectures  were  the 
pretext  for  a  political  mission.  He  had 
written  for  the  'Northern  Star'  with  the 
signature  '  A  Man  of  Ulster,'  and  he  began 
another  series  of  letters  on  23  Dec.  1796, 
addressed,  with  the  signature  of  '  Sydney,' 
to  Arthur  Hill,  second  marquis  of  Down- 
shire.  In  these  he  attacked  the  policy  of 
Pitt  with  extraordinary  vehemence,  and  the 
publication  of  the  paper  was  for  some  time 
suspended  by  the  authorities.  Meanwhile, 
on  Thursday,  16  Feb.,  the  government  fast- 
day  of  thanksgiving  for ( the  late  providential 
storm  which  dispersed  the  French  fleet  off 
Bantry  Bay,'  Porter  preached  at  Greyabbey 
a  sermon,  which  was  published  with  the  title 
'Wind  and  Weather,'  Belfast,  1797,  8vo. 
This,  which  was  perhaps  the  most  remark- 
able discourse  ever  printed  by  an  Irish 
divine,  is  a  sustained  effort  of  irony,  sug- 
gested by  the  text,  'Ye  walked  according 
to  ...  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air ' 
(Eph.  ii.  2).  Its  literary  merit  is  consider- 
able. 

On  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion  of  1798 
Porter  was  a  marked  man  ;  a  large  reward 
was  offered  for  his  apprehension.  There  is 
no  evidence  of  any  knowledge  on  his  part  of 
the  plans  of  the  insurgents ;  it  is  certain  that 
he  committed  no  overt  act  of  rebellion,  and 
all  his  published  counsels  were  for  peaceable 
measures  of  constitutional  redress.  He  with- 
drew for  safety  to  the  house  of  Johnson  of 
Ballydoonan,  two  miles  from  Greyabbey,  and 
afterwards  sought  concealment  in  a  cottage 
among  the  Mourne  mountains,  on  the  verge 
of  his  parish.  Here  he  was  arrested  in  June 
1798,  and  taken  to  Belfast,  but  removed  to 
Newtownards  for  trial  by  court-martial.  Th  e 
charge  against  him  was  that  he  had  been 
present  with  a  party  of  insurgents  who,  be- 
tween 9  and  11  June,  having  intercepted 
the  mail  between  Belfast  and  Saintfield,  co. 
Down,  had  read  a  despatch  from  the  com- 
manding officer  at  Belfast  to  a  subordinate 
at  Portaferry,  co.  Down.  The  postboy  from 
whom  the  despatch  had  been  taken  could 
not  identify  him ;  but  a  United  Irishman,  who 
had  turned  informer,  swore  to  his  guilt. 
Porter's  cross-examination  of  this  infamous 
witness  was  interrupted.  He  made  an  im- 
pressive appeal  to  the  court,  affirming  his 
innocence,  and  referring  to  his  own  character 
as  that  of  a  man  '  who,  in  the  course  of  a 
laborious  and  active  life,  never  concealed  his 
sentiments.'  He  was  sentenced  to  be  hanged 
and  quartered.  His  wife  was  told  by  the 
military  authorities  that  Londonderry  could 
suspend  the  execution.  With  her  seven  chil- 
dren, the  youngest  eight  months  old,  she 
made  her  way  to  Mountstewart.  London- 


Porter 


182 


Porter 


derry's  daughters  had  attended  Porter's  scien- 
tific lectures ;  and  one  of  them,  Lady  Eliza- 
beth Mary  (d.  1798),  an  invalid,  who  was 
expecting  her  own  death,  undertook  to  inter- 
cede with  her  father.  Londonderry  could  not 
forgive  the  satire  of  '  Lord  Mountmumble.' 
Tradition  has  it  that  Mrs.  Porter  waylaid  his 
lordship's  carriage,  in  a  vain  hope  of  prevail- 
ing by  personal  entreaty,  but  Londonderry 
bade  the  coachman  *  drive  on.'  The  sentence, 
however,  was  mitigated  by  remission  of  the 
order  for  quartering.  '  Then/  said  Porter  to 
his  wife,  '  I  shall  lie  at  home  to-night.'  He 
was  executed  on  2  July  1798,  on  a  green 
knoll,  close  to  the  road  which  led  from  his 
meeting-house  to  his  dwelling,  and  in  full 
view  of  both.  At  the  gallows  he  sang  the 
35th  Psalm  and  prayed ;  his  wife  was  with 
him  to  the  last.  He  was  buried  in  the  abbey 
churchyard  at  Greyabbey ;  a  flat  tombstone 
gives  his  age '  45  years.'  He  is  described  as 
one  of  the  handsomest  men  of  his  time. 
Henry  Montgomery,  LL.D.  [q.v.],  who  as  a 
boy  had  seen  him,  speaks  of  him  as  '  distin- 
guished for  an  agreeable  address.'  He  was  a 
collector  of  books,  and  his  scientific  apparatus 
was  unrivalled  in  the  north  of  Ireland  in  his 
day.  He  married,  in  1780,  Anna  Knox  of 
Dromore,  who  died  in  Belfast  on  3  Nov.  1823. 
Her  right  to  an  annuity  from  the  widows' 
fund  was  for  some  time  in  doubt ;  it  was 
paid  (with  arrears)  from  1800.  Of  his  five 
daughters,  the  eldest,  Ellen  Anne,  married 
John  Cochrane  Wightman,  presbyterian 
minister  of  Holy  wood,  co.  Down  ;  the  second, 
Matilda,  married  Andrew  Goudy,presbyterian 
minister  of  Ballywalter,  co.  Down,  and  was 
the  mother  of  Alexander  Porter  Goudy,D.D. 
[q.  v.]  ;  the  fourth,  Isabella,  married  James 
Templeton,  presbyterian  minister  of  Bally- 
walter ;  the  fifth,  Sophia,  married  William 
D.  Henderson,  esq.,  Belfast. 

Porter's  eldest  son,  Alexander,  is  stated 
by  a  questionable  local  tradition  to  have 
carried  a  stand  of  colours  at  the  battle  of 
Ballynahinch  (12  June  1798),  being  then 
fourteen  years  of  age  ;  and  the  story  runs 
that  he  fled  to  Tamna  Wood,  and  was  there 
recognised  (but  not  betrayed)  by  a  soldier  of 
the  Armagh  militia.  He  migrated  to  Loui- 
siana, of  which  state  he  became  a  senator, 
and  he  died  there  on  13  Jan.  1844.  Another 
son,  James,  became  attorney-general  of  Loui- 
siana (see  APPLETON",  Cyclop,  of  Amer.  Biogr.*) 

[The  best  account  of  Porter  is  to  be  found  in 
Classon  Porter's  Irish  Presbyterian  Biographical 
Sketches,  1883,  pp.  16  et  seq.  See  also  Mont- 
gomery's Outlines  of  the  History  of  Presby- 
terianism  in  Ireland,  in  the  Irish  Unitarian 
Magazine,  1847,  pp.  331  et  seq.;  Madden's 
United  Irishmen,  3rd  ser.  i.  360  et  seq.,  4th  ser. 


1860,  p.  20;  Keid's  Hist.  Presb.  Church  in 
1886,  Ireland  (Killen),  1867,  Hi.  396;  Webb's 
Compendium  of  Irish  Biography,  1878,  p.  443  ; 
Witherow's  Hist,  and  Lit.  Mem.  of  Presby- 
terianism  in  Ireland,  1880,  ii.  293  et  seq.; 
Killer's  Hist.  Congr.  Presb.  Church  in  Ireland, 
1886,  p.  157;  Appleton's  Cyclopaedia  of  Ameri- 
can Biography,  1888,  v.  71  ;  file  of  the  Northern 
Star  in  Linenhall  Library,  Belfast ;  manuscript 
ordination  service  for  Porter,  in  Craig's  auto- 
graph, in  the  possession  of  Miss  M'Alester, 
Holywood,  co.  Down ;  information  from  Miss 
Matilda  Goudy,  per  Henry  Herdman,  esq.] 

A.  G. 

PORTER,  JANE  (1776-1850),  novelist, 
was  sister  of  Anna  Maria  Porter  [q.  v.]  and 
of  Sir  Robert  Ker  Porter  [q.  v.J  Their 
mother,  left  a  widow  in  1779,  removed  with 
her  children  from  Durham  to  Edinburgh.  The 
little  girls  were  sent  to  a  school  there  kept  by 
George  Fulton.  Their  progress  was  rapid. 
WT alter  Scott,  then  a  boy,  was  a  frequent 
visitor  at  their  house,  and  he  and  a  poor  wo- 
man of  unusual  intelligence,  named  Luclde 
Forbes,  delighted  them  with  fairy  tales  or 
stories  of  the  borders.  Jane's  love  of  study 
often  led  her  to  rise  at  4  A.M.,  and,  while 
still  a  girl,  she  read  the  *  Faerie  Queene/ 
Sidney's  '  Arcadia,'  and  many  tales  of  chi- 
valry. Northcote  made  a  sketch  of  her,  her 
sister,  and  brother  Robert,  while  children, 
reading  and  drawing  in  a  Gothic  chamber 
(cf.  Gent.  Mag.  No.  102,  pt.  ii.  p.  578).  In 
1797  she  and  Anna  Maria  aided  Thomas 
Frognall  Dibdin  in  the  conduct  of  a  short- 
lived periodical  called  '  The  Quiz.' 

Before  1803  the  family  removed  to  Lon- 
don, where  they  occupied  a  house,  16  Great 
Newport  Street,  once  tenanted  by  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds.  They  came  to  know,  through 
their  brother  Robert,  the  artists  West,  Flax- 
man,  and  Northcote,  Hannah  More,  and  Mrs. 
Barbauld,  besides  many  naval  and  military 
veterans,  friends  of  their  father.  In  London 
Jane  wrote  her  first  romance,  an  exciting  but 
carefully  written  story  of  a  Polish  exile, 
'Thaddeus  of  Warsaw.'  Init  she  incorporated 
some  reminiscences  of  the  early  struggles  of 
John  Sell  Ootman  [q.  v.],  to  whom  her  bro- 
ther Robert  had  introduced  her  (ROGET, 
1  Old  Water-colour'  Society,  i.  101),  and  free 
use  was  made  of  the  characters  of  others  of 
their  friends.  When  the  manuscript  was- 
shown  to  an  old  acquaintance,  Owen  Rees 
(of  the  firm  of  Longman  &  Co.),  he  at 
once  offered  to  publish  it.  It  appeared  in 
four  volumes  in  1803,  with  a  dedication  to 
Sir  Sidney  Smith,  and  had  a  rapid  success. 
While  it  was  winning  its  reputation,  Jane 
Porter  and  her  sister  were  invited  to  visit 
the  eccentric  John  James  Hamilton,  first 
marquis  of  Abercorn  ;  and,  when  Jane  re- 


Porter 


183 


Porter 


plied  that  she  could  not  afford  the  expense 
of  travelling,  a  cheque  was  sent.  Although 
Miss  Porter  was  of  prepossessing  appear- 
ance, Lord  Abercorn  had  anticipated  greater 
personal  charms  in  his  visitors,  and  being 
disappointed  by  a  secret  view  he  took  of 
them  on  their  arrival,  he  ungallantly  left 
his  wife  to  receive  them  without  his  aid 
(TAYLOR,  Haydon,  iii.  17-18).  Maginn  con- 
sidered '  Thaddeus  '  the  best  and  most  endur- 
ing of  Miss  Porter's  works.  By  1810  it  had 
reached  a  ninth  edition.  Translated  into 
German,  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  Kosciusko, 
the  Polish  patriot,  who  sent  Miss  Porter  ex- 
pressions of  approval.  A  relative  of  Kos- 
ciusko presented  her  with  a  gold  ring  con- 
taining the  general's  portrait ;  and  the  tenth 
edition,  1819,  was  inscribed  to  his  memory. 
In  recognition  of  her  literary  power  Miss 
Porter  was  made  a  lady  of  the  chapter  of  St. 
Joachim  by  the  king  of  Wiirtemberg.  Later 
editions  appeared  in  1831  (with  a  new  and 
valuable  preface),  1840,  1860,  and  1868. 

Jane  Porter's  second  and  most  notable 
novel, (  The  Scottish  Chiefs,'  was  composed 
within  a  year,  and  was  published  in  five 
volumes  in  1810.  Its  subject  is  the  fortunes 
of  William  Wallace,  the  Scottish  patriot,  of 
whom  she  had  heard  stories  in  her  childhood 
from  Luckie  Forbes.  In  preparing  the 
romance  she  sought  information  in  all  direc- 
tions. The  old  poem  on  the  subject,  by 
Henry  the  Minstrel  (Blind  Harry),  was 
doubtless  known  to  her.  Campbell  the  poet 
sent  her  a  sketch  of  Wallace's  life,  and  re- 
commended books  for  her  to  read.  Miss 
Porter  dedicated  to  him  the  third  edition 
(1816).  He  first  met  her  in  1833,  and  spoke 
of  her  as  '  a  pleasing  woman  '  (BEATTIE,  Life 
of  Campbell,  iii.  146).  « The  Scottish  Chiefs ' 
had  an  immense  success  in  Scotland.  Trans- 
lated into  German  and  Russian,  it  won  Euro- 
pean fame,  was  proscribed  by  Napoleon  (post- 
script to  3rd  edit.  1816),  and  penetrated  to 
India.  Maginn  considered  the  hero,  Wal- 
lace, '  a  sort  of  sentimental  dandy  who  faints 
upon  occasion,  and  is  revived  by  lavender- 
water,  and  throughout  the  book  is  tenderly 
in  love ; '  but  Miss  Mitford,  who  commended 
Miss  Porter's  '  brilliant  colouring,'  declared 
that  she  scarcely  knew  '  one  heros  de  roman 
whom  it  is  possible  to  admire,  except  Wal- 
lace' in  Miss  Porter's  story  (L'EsTKANGE, 
Life  of  Miss  Mitford,  i.  217).  Joanna  Bail- 
lie  acknowledged  her  indebtedness  to  Miss 
Porter,  ( the  able  and  popular  writer,'  when 
writing  her  poem  on  Wallace  in  '  Metrical 
Legends  '  (1821),  and  quoted  in  a  note  a  pas- 
sage of  '  terrific  sublimity '  from  '  The  Scot- 
tish Chiefs.'  The  tradition  that  Scott  ac- 
knowledged in  conversation  with  George  IV 


that  this  book  was  the  begetter  of  the  Waver- 
ley  novels  must  be  regarded  as  apocryphal. 
The  book  has  retained  its  popularity  (it  was 
reprinted  nine  times  between  1816  and 
1882),  and  is  one  of  the  few  historical  novels 
prior  to  f  Waverley '  that  have  lived. 

In  1815  appeared,  in  three  volumes,  '  The 
Pastor's  Fireside,'  a  novel  dealing  with  the 
later  Stuarts ;  a  second  edition  was  published 
in  1817,  and  later  ones  in  1832  (2  vols.), 
1856,  and  1880. 

Miss  Porter  now  turned  to  the  stage  and 
wrote  a  play,  '  Egmont,  or  the  Eve  of  St. 
Alyne.'  It  was  submitted  to  Kean,  who 
praised  it,  but  his  fellow-actors  thought  less 
well  of  it ;  and  it  seems  never  to  have  been 
either  acted  or  printed.  On  5  Feb.  1819  a 
tragedy  by  her  called  '  Switzerland '  was  acted 
at  Drury  Lane  with  Kean  in  the  principal, 
and  Henry  Kemble  in  a  subordinate,  part.  It 
was  so  heartily  condemned  that  the  manager 
had  to  come  forward  and  announce  its  with- 
drawal (Blackwood 's  Mag.  iv.  714 ;  GENEST/"' 
Hist,  of  the  Stage,  viii.  683).  'Miss  Porter' 
is  sick  too,'  wrote  Miss  Mitford  on  5  July 
1820, '  of  her  condemned  play.  I  have  not 
much  pity  for  her.  Her  disease  is  wounded 
vanity.'  Macready  mentions  a  new  tragedy 
in  which  Kean  played  at  Drury  Lane  on 
28  Jan.  1822,  <  Owen,  Prince  of  Powys/ 
'  written,  I  believe,  by  Miss  Jane  Porter — a 
sad  failure '  (Reminiscences,  i.  233). 

Through  Dr.  Adam  Clarke  [q.  v.],  the 
king's  librarian,  who  was  among  Miss  Por- 
ter's acquaintances,  George  IV  suggested  the 
subject  of  her  next  work,  '  Duke  Christian  of 
Luneburg,  or  Traditions  of  the  Harz.'  Clarke 
supplied  Miss  Porter  with  authorities  ;  it  was 
published  in  three  volumes  in  1824,  and  de- 
dicated to  the  king,  who  expressed  satis- 
faction with  it. 

In  1831  was  published,  in  three  volumes, 
'Sir  Edward  Seaward's  Narrative  of  his 
Shipwreck  and  consequent  Discovery  of  cer- 
tain Islands  in  the  Caribbean  Sea :  with  a 
detail  of  many  extraordinary  and  highly 
interesting  Events  of  his  Life  from  1733  to 
1749  as  written  in  his  own  Diary,  edited  by 
Jane  Porter.'  The  book  made  a  great  sen- 
sation, but  is  doubtless  largely,  if  not  wholly, 
fictitious.  Miss  Porter  asserted  that  the  diary 
was  genuine,  and  had  been  placed  in  her 
hands  by  the  writer's  family  (Notes  and 
Queries,  1st  ser.  v.  10,  85).  When  pressed 
on  the  matter,  she  said,  '  Sir  Walter  Scott 
had  his  great  secret :  I  must  be  allowed  to 
keep  my  little  one.'  In  the  preface  to  the 
edition  of  1841  she  refers  to  a  report  of  the 
Royal  Geographical  Society  to  prove  that 
the  islands  were  not  imaginary.  Many  ac- 
cepted her  statements  literally  (cf.  HALL,  Re- 


Porter 


184 


Porter 


tr aspect  of  a  Long  Life} .  But  the '  Quarterly ' 
(No.  48,  pp.  501  et  seq.),  while  commending 
the  literary  ability  of  the  work,  characterised 
it  as  unmingled  fiction.  According  to  an 
inscription  in  Bristol  Cathedral  to  the  me- 
mory of  her  eldest  brother,  Dr.  William 
Ogilvie  Porter,  he  was  the  real  author ;  but 
the  inscription,  doubtless  written  by  Jane,  is 
not  to  be  wholly  trusted  (Notes  and  Queries, 
ib.)  The  book  was  reissued  in  1832,  1852, 
1856,  1878,  1879,  and  1883. 

After  the  publication  of  'Thaddeus'  in 
1803,  and  until  her  mother's  death  on  21  June 
1831,  Miss  Porter  resided  chiefly  at  Thames 
Ditton  and  Esher  in  Surrey.  In  May  1812 
Crabb  Robinson  met  her,  noted  her  fine 
figure  and  interesting  face,  and  was  pleased 
by  her  conversation  (Diary,  i.  200, 201).  In 
March  1832  she  and  her  sister  settled  in  Lon- 
don, frequently  visiting  Bristol,  where  their 
eldest  brother,  William  Ogilvie  Porter,  was 
in  medical  practice.  While  living  in  London, 
Miss  Porter  went  much  into  society,  and  met 
or  corresponded  with  most  of  the  literary  and 
artistic  celebrities  of  her  day.  Maginn  notes 
her  fondness  for  evening  parties,  *  where  she 
generally  contrives  to  be  seen  patronising 
some  sucking  lion  or  lioness.'  In  1835  Lady 
Morgan  met  her  at  Lady  Stepney's,  and  de- 
scribes her  as  '  tall,  lank,  lean,  and  lackadai- 
sical .  .  .  and  an  air  of  a  regular  Melpomene ' 
(Memoirs,  ii.  396).  In  the  same  year  N.  P. 
Willis  visited  Kenilworth  in  Miss  Porter's 
company,  and  wrote  to  Miss  Mitford  of '  her 
tall  and  striking  figure,  her  noble  face  .  . .  still 
possessing  the  remains  of  uncommon  beauty' 
(L'EsTRANGE,  Friendships  of  M.  R.  Mitford, 
i.  295).  In  1842  Miss  Porter  went  to  St. 
Petersburg  to  visit  her  brother  Robert,  who 
died  suddenly  very  shortly  after  her  arrival. 
She  returned  to  London,  and  the  business  of 
her  brother's  estate,  of  which  she  was  execu- 
trix, occupied  her  until  1844.  Judging  from 
unpublished  diaries,  she  seems  to  have  suf- 
fered great  pecuniary  difficulty.  At  the  be- 
ginning of  1842,  however,  she  received  from 
Mr.  Virtue  21 0/.  for  <  The  Scottish  Chiefs,'  and 
in  November  1842  50/.  was  granted  to  her 
from  the  Literary  Fund.  Her  books  had 
a  wide  circulation  in  America.  In  1844  a 
number  of  authors,  publishers,  and  book- 
sellers of  the  United  States  sent  her  a  rose- 
wood armchair,  as  a  token  of  their  admira- 
tion (Gent.  Mag.  1845,  i.  173). 

She  retained  her  intellectual  faculties 
and  serene  disposition,  and  died  on  24  May 
1850  at  the  house  of  her  eldest  brother,  Dr. 
Porter,  in  Portland  Square,  Bristol.  In  the 
cathedral  is  a  tablet  to  her  memory,  and  to 
that  of  her  brothers  and  sister. 

Jane  Porter,  like  her  sister,  regarded  her 


work  very  seriously,  and  believed  the  exer- 
cise of  her  literary  gifts  to  be  a  religious  duty. 
She  was  of  somewhat  sombre  temperament, 
and  S.  C.  Hall  called  her  <  II  Penseroso.'  She 
was  generally  admitted  to  be  very  handsome. 
Miss  Mitford  considered  her  the  only  lite- 
rary lady  she  had  seen  who  was  not  fit 
for  a  scarecrow  '  (L'EsTKANGE,  Life  of  Miss 
Mitford,  ii.  152).  A  fine  portrait  of  her  as  a 
canoness  was  painted  by  Harlowe,  and  was 
engraved  by  Thomson ;  it  is  reproduced  in 
Jerdan's  '  National  Portrait  Gallery '  (vol.  v.) 
Another  portrait  by  the  same  painter  and 
the  same  engraver  appears  in  Burke's  '  Por- 
trait Gallery  of  Distinguished  Females '  (ii. 
71).  West  painted  her  as  Jephthah's  daugh- 
ter in  a  picture  that  was  at  Frogmore  in 
1834.  Maclise  drew  her  in  outline  for 
'  Fraser's  Magazine,'  and  she  there  appears 
among  Regina's  maids  of  honour,  stirring  a 
cup  of  coffee  (cf.  MACLISE,  Portrait  Gallery, 
p.  355).  Dibdin  mentions  a  portrait  by  Kears- 
ley  (Reminiscence*,  pt.  i.  p.  175).  In  an 
altar-piece  presented  by  R.  K.  Porter  to  St. 
John's  College,  Cambridge,  Jane  is  painted 
as  Faith. 

Besides  the  works  noticed,  Miss  Porter 
published  '  Sketch  of  the  Campaign  of  Count 
A.  Suwarrow  Ryminski,'  1804,  and  a  pre- 
face to  *  Young  Hearts,  by  a  Recluse,' 
1834.  She  also  took  part  with  her  sister 
Anna  Maria  in  *  Tales  round  a  Winter 
Hearth,'  2  vols.,  1826,  and  'The  Field  of 
Forty  Footsteps,'  3  vols.,  1828,  and  contri- 
buted to  the  *  Gentleman's  Magazine,'  Mr. 
S.  C.  Hall's  *  Amulet,'  and  other  periodicals. 
Several  unpublished  works  by  both  the  sis- 
ters were  sold  in  1852,  and  cannot  now  be 
traced. 

[No  satisfactory  biography  of  Jane  Porter 
exists.  Brief  accounts  occur  in  Elwood's  Literary 
Ladies  of  England,  vol.  ii. ;  Allibone's  Diet,  of 
Engl.  Lit.  ii.  1645;  Hall's  Book  of  Memories. 
The  Ker  Porter  Correspondence,  sold  by  Sotheby 
in  1852  (cf.  Catalogue  in  the  British  Museum), 
contained  materials  for  a  biography,  and  was  pur- 
chased by  Sir  Thomas  Phillipps  of  Middle  Hill.] 

E.  L. 

PORTER  or  NELSON,  JEROME  (d.  1632), 
Benedictine  monk,  was  professed  at  Paris 
for  St.  Gregory's,  Douay,  on  8  Dec.  1622, 
and  died  at  Douay  on  17  Nov.  1632  (SNOW, 
Necrology,  p.  39). 

He  wrote :  1.  'The  Flowers  of  the  Lives 
of  the  most  renowned  Saincts  of  the  Three 
Kingdoms,  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland. 
Written  and  collected  out  of  the  best 
Authours  and  Manuscripts  of  our  Nation, 
and  distributed  according  to  their  Feasts  in 
the  Calendar,'  vol.  i.  containing  the  calendar 
to  the  end  of  June,  Douay,  1632, 4to.  Dedi- 


Porter 


185 


Porter 


cated  to  Thomas,  second  and  last  lord 
Windsor.  The  second  volume,  prepared  for 
the  press  by  Francis  Hull,  O.S.B.,  seems 
never  to  have  been  published.  2.  '  The  Life 
of  St.  Edward,  King  and  Confessor/  sine 
loco,  1710,  8vo.  A  new  edition,  '  revised 
and  corrected  by  a  priest '  (i.e.  C.  J.  Bowen), 
appeared  at  London,  1868,  12mo. 

[Downside  Review,  iii.  252,  vi.  133;  Oliver's 
Cornwall,  p.  521 ;  Weldon's  Chronological  Notes, 
p.  168.]  T.  C. 

PORTER,  JOHN  SCOTT  (1801-1880), 
Irish  biblical  scholar  and  Unitarian  divine, 
eldest  son  of  William  Porter  (1774-1843), 
by  his  first  wife,  Mary,  daughter  of  Charles 
Scott,  was  born  at  Newtownlimavady,  co. 
Deny,  on  31  Dec.  1801.  His  father,  who 
was  presbyterian  minister  of  Newtown- 
limavady from  1799  till  his  death,  held  the 
clerkship  of  the  general  svnod  of  Ulster  from 
6  Nov.  1816  to  29  June  1830 ;  he  joined  the 
remonstrants  under  Henry  Montgomery, 
LL.D.  [q.  v.],  was  elected  the  first  moderator 
of  the  remonstrant  svnod  of  Ulster  on  25  May 
1830,  and  held  its  clerkship  from  6  Sept.  1831 
till  his  death.  Scott  Porter,  after  passing 
through  schools  at  Dirtagh  and  Londonderry, 
was  admitted  as  a  student  for  the  ministry 
under  the  care  of  Strabane  presbytery.  He 
took  his  arts  course  at  the  Belfast '  academical 
institution'  in  1817-19  and  1821-3,  acting 
in  the  interim  as  tutor  in  a  private  family 
in  co.  Kilkenny.  He  received  silver  medals 
for  mathematics,  natural  philosophy,  and  for 
'  speaking  Greek  extempore.'  In  1823-5  he 
studied  Hebrew  and  divinity  under  Thomas 
Dix  Hincks,  LL.D.  [q.  v.],  and  Samuel  Hanna, 
D.D.  [q.  v.]  He  was  licensed  in  October 
1825  by  Bangor  presbytery  without  sub- 
scription. On  1  Jan.  1826  he  received  a 
unanimous  call  from  the  presbyterian  con- 
gregation in  Carter  Lane,  Doctors'  Commons, 
London,  and  was  ordained  there  on  2  March, 
in  succession  to  John  Hoppus  [q.  v.]  His 
views  were  Arian,  and  he  became  the  editor 
(1826-8)  of  an  Arian  monthly,  the  '  Christian 
Moderator ; '  but  he  was  in  friendly  relations 
with  Thomas  Belsham  [q.  v.],  the  leader  of 
the  Priestley  school  of  opinion,  and  acted  as 
a  pall-bearer  at  Belsham's  funeral  in  1829. 
He  kept  a  school  at  Rosomau  House,  Isling- 
ton, in  conjunction  with  David  Davidson, 
minister  at  the  Old  Jewry ;  his  scholars  called 
him  '  the  lion  ; '  among  his  pupils  was  Dion 
Boucicault  the  dramatist  (who  then  spelled 
his  name  Boursiquot).  In  January  1829  he 
declined  a  call  to  the  second  presbyterian 
church  of  Belfast,  to  which  his  cousin,  John 
Porter  (1800-1874),  was  appointed.  He  ac- 
cepted a  call  (11  Sept.  1831)  to  the  first 


presbyterian  church  of  Belfast,  and  was  in- 
stalled on  2  Feb.  1832  by  Antrim  presbytery 
as  successor  to  William  Bruce  (1757-1841) 
[q.  v.],and  colleague  to  William  Bruce  (1790- 
1868)  [q.  v.j  His  ministry  at  Belfast  was 
one  of  high  reputation  and  success,  both  as 
a  pastor  and  a  polemic.  His  pulpit  and  plat- 
form appeals  were  marked  by  a  masculine 
eloquence,  and,  though  very  uncompromising 
in  his  opinions,  his  straightforward  advocacy 
of  them  won  the  respect  and  even  the  friend- 
ship of  opponents.  He  had  not  been  long  in 
Belfast  when  he  engaged  in  a  public  dis- 
cussion (14-17  April  1834)  on  the  Unitarian 
controversy  with  Daniel  Bagot  (d.  9  June 
1 89 1 ) ,  afterwards  dean  of  Dromore ;  the  argu- 
ments on  both  sides  were  issued  in  ajoint  pub- 
lication ;  Porter's  friends  made  him  a  presen- 
tation of  nearly  1,000/. 

From  1832  he  had  lectured  on  biblical 
subjects  to  divinity  students,  and  on  10  July 
1838  he  was  appointed,  in  conjunction  with 


being 

criticism  and  dogmatics.  The  chair  was  en- 
dowed by  government  in  1847  with  a  salary 
of  150Z.  On  16  July  1851  he  was  appointed 
in  addition  (without  increase  of  salary)  pro- 
fessor of  Hebrew  and  cognate  languages. 
For  many  years  he  taught  classics  to  private 
pupils.  In  1848  he  published  his  contribu- 
tion to  textual  criticism,  on  the  lines  of 
Griesbach  and  Hug;  noted  by  Gregory  and 
Abbot  (Prolegomena  to  TISCHENDORF'S  Nov. 
Test.,  1884,  p.  269)  as  the  indication  of  an 
improved  era  in  British  textual  studies.  A 
useful  feature  of  the  work  was  its  series  of 
coloured  plates,  draughted  by  Porter  himself, 
and  exhibiting  specimens  of  codices  in  fac- 
simile. He  contributed  revised  translations 
of  Kings,  Chronicles,  Ezekiel,  and  Daniel  to 
an  edition  of  '  The  Holy  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  Covenant'  issued  by  Longmans,  1859- 
1862,  8vo.  A  later  fruit  of  his  academic 
work  was  his  defence  (1876)  of  the  authen- 
ticity of  St.  John's  Gospel. 

Among  public  measures  he  was  an  early 
and  consistent  supporter  of  the  Irish  system 
of  'national'  education,  and  an  organiser  of 
the  'Ulster  national  education  association.' 
Though  a  recipient  of  '  regium  donum,'  he 
welcomed  the  policy  of  disestablishment.  In. 
politics,  as  such,  he  took  no  part,  but  was 
always  to  the  front  in  local  schemes  of  phi- 
lanthropy and  culture.  He  had  collected  an 
enormous  library,  and  was  well  read  in  a 
wide  range  of  literature.  His  linguistic  at- 
tainments were  both  extensive  and  accurate ; 
he  was  greatly  interested  in  efforts  to  pre- 
serve the  Irish  language. 


Porter 


186 


Porter 


Of  the  liberal  theology  advocated  by  Henry 
Montgomery,  Scott  Porter  was  the  ablest 
exponent.  His  later  theological  controversies 
were  internal  to  his  own  denomination.  He 
led  a  secession  from  the  Antrim  presbytery 
(of  which  he  had  been  clerk  from  7  May 
1834),  and  founded  (21  Feb.1862)  the  northern 
presbytery  of  Antrim,  with  the  purpose  of 
emphasising  a  recognition  of  the  authority  of 
Christ  and  of  divine  revelation  (the  two  pres- 
byteries were  reunited  on  7  Nov.  1894).  On 
the  same  grounds  he  withdrew,  with  a  large 
majority,  from  the  local  '  Unitarian  society,' 
and  formed  (December  1876)  the  '  Ulster  uni- 
tarian  Christian  association.'  Yet  in  biblical 
science  he  was  by  no  means  conservative ;  the 
publications  of  Colenso  he  welcomed  as  sound 
in  principle,  and  followed  Priestley  in  main- 
taining the  presence  of  an  unhistorical  ele- 
ment in  the  initial  chapters  of  St.  Matthew 
and  St.  Luke. 

Personally  he  was  a  man  of  broad  and 
genial  nature,  of  strong  feelings  easily  roused, 
capable  of  passion,  but  incapable  of  malice ; 
in  society  a  most  genial  and  warm-hearted 
companion,  rich  in  anecdote,  fond  of  music, 
and  capable  of  singing  a  good  song.  His 
somewhat  gaunt  figure  was  dignified  by  a 
striking  countenance,  mellowed  in  old  age, 
and  graced  with  a  profusion  of  snow-white 
hair  and  beard.  He  preached  for  the  last 
time  (at  Larne,  co.  Antrim)  on  18  Aug.  1878, 
and  died,  after  long  illness,  at  his  residence, 
Lennox  Vale,  Belfast,  on  5  July  1880 ;  he 
was  buried  on  8  July  in  the  Borough  cemetery, 
Belfast,  where  an  Irish  cross  of  black  marble 
is  erected  to  his  memory.  A  memorial  tablet 
is  in  his  church.  His  portrait,  painted  (1873) 
by  Ebenezer  Crawford,  has  been  engraved 
(1880) ;  there  are  two  earlier  engraved  like- 
nesses of  him.  He  married,  on  8  Oct.  1833, 
Margaret  (d.  7  April  1879,  aged  66),  eldest 
daughter  of  Andrew  Marshall,  M.D. ;  his 
eldest  son  is  the  Right  Hon.  Andrew  Marshall 
Porter,  master  of  the  rolls  in  Ireland. 

A  list  of  his  thirty-eight  publications,  in- 
cluding single  sermons,  is  appended  to  his 
'  Memorial.'  Of  these  the  most  important  are  : 
1.  'Authentic  Report  of  the  Discussion  on 
the  Unitarian  Controversy,'  &c., Belfast,  1834, 
8vo ;  reached  a  fourth  edition.  2.  '  Twelve 
Lectures  in  Illustration ...  of  Unitarianism,' 
&c.,  Belfast,  1841,  8vo ;  2nd  edit.,  London, 
1853,  8vo.  3.  '  Principles  of  Textual  Cri- 
ticism, with  their  application  to  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments,' &c.,  1848, 8  vo.  4.  'Servetus 
and  Calvin :  Three  Lectures,'  &c.,  1854,  8vo 
(contains  the  best  historical  account  of  Ser- 
vetus,  to  date).  5.  l  Bible  Revision :  Three 
Lectures,'  &c.,  1857,  8vo.  6.  '  Lectures  on 
the  Doctrine  of  Atonement,'  &c.,  1860,  8vo. 


7.  '  The  National  System  and  the  National 
Board,'  &c.,  1864,  8vo  (anon.)  8.  <  Is  the 
"National"  or  the  "Denominational"  System 
of  Education  the  best?'  &c.,  1868,  8vo. 
9.  '  The  Fourth  Gospel  is  the  Gospel  accord- 
ing to  John,'  &c.,  1876,  8vo.  He  contributed 
to  the  '  Bible  Christian'  (which  for  a  time  he 
edited),  '  Irish  Unitarian  Magazine,'  '  Chris- 
tian Reformer,' '  Christian  Unitarian,' '  Ulster 
Journal  of  Archaeology,'  and  other  periodi- 
cals. 

WILLIAM  PORTEK  (1805-1880),  younger 
brother  of  the  above,  was  born  at  Artikelly, 
near  Newtownlimavady,  on  15  Sept.  1805. 
He  served  his  time  with  John  Classon,  iron- 
founder  and  timber  merchant  of  Dublin, 
brother  of  his  father's  second  wife,  but  sub- 
sequently studied  law  in  Dublin  and  London, 
and  was  called  to  the  Irish  bar  at  Michael- 
mas 1831.  In  January  1839  he  was  ap- 
pointed attorney-general  at  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  an  office  which  he  filled  with  great 
distinction  till  31  Aug.  1865.  On  his  retire- 
ment full  salary  for  life  was  voted  to  him  by 
special  resolution  of  the  house  of  assembly ; 
he  devoted  the  larger  half  of  it  to  the  endow- 
ment of  the  university  of  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  of  which  he  was  elected  the  first  chan- 
cellor in  1873.  On  30  Nov.  1872  he  was 
made  companion  of  the  order  of  St.  Michael 
and  St.  George.  He  declined  a  knighthood, 
and  refused  several  judgeships,  including  a 
chief-justiceship  at  the  Cape;  he  declined 
also  the  post  of  prime  minister  at  the  Cape. 
Returning  to  Ireland  in  1873,  he  lived  with 
his  elder  brother,  and  died,  unmarried,  at 
Lennox  Vale,  Belfast,  on  13  July  1880 ;  he 
was  buried  at  the  Borough  cemetery,  Belfast, 
on  16  July.  Among  his  literary  contributions 
are  twelve  remarkable  articles  on  '  preachers 
and  preaching'  in  the  '  Bible  Christian,'  1834- 
1835.  His  published  speeches  were  often  of 
singular  beauty :  an  extract  from  one  of  them 
is  given  in  Sir  Theodore  Martin's  'Life  of 
the  Prince  Consort,'  v.  234. 

CLASSON  EMMETT  POKTEK  (1814-1885), 
half-brother  of  the  above,  born  at  Artikelly 
in  1814,  was  the  eldest  son  of  William  Porter 
by  his  second  wife,  Eliza,  daughter  of  John 
Classon  of  Dublin.  He  was  educated  (1828- 
1834)  at  Manchester  College,  York,  and  or- 
dained (2  July  1834)  by  Antrim  presbytery 
as  minister  of  the  first  presbyterian  church, 
Larne,  co.  Antrim,  a  charge  which  he  held 
till  his  death,  though  he  retired  from  active 
duty  in  July  1875.  He  died  at  his  residence, 
Ballygally  Castle,  co.  Antrim,  on  27  May 
1885,  and  was  buried  in  the  parish  church- 
yard of  Cairncastle,  co.  Antrim.  He  left  a 
widow  and  several  sons.  Latterly  he  di&used 
his  second  name.  His  contributions  to  Irish 


Porter 


187 


Porter 


presbyterian  church  history  and  biography 
were  numerous  and  important,  but  have  not 
been  collected ;  they  appeared  at  intervals 
in  the  '  Northern  Whig/  '  Larne  Reporter/ 
1  Christian  Unitarian/  and  '  Disciple ; '  a  few 
were  reprinted  for  private  circulation,  and  a 
Tolume  of  '  Irish  Presbyterian  Biographical 
Sketches/  Belfast,  1883,  4to,  was  reprinted 
from  the  *  Northern  Whig.'  His  younger 
brother,  James  Nixon  Porter,  educated  (1833- 
1838)  at  Manchester  College,  York,  was  minis- 
ter at  Carrickfergus,  co.  Antrim  (1838-62), 
and  Warrington,  Lancashire  (1862-72),  and 
died  in  1875.  He  married  a  sister  of  the 
Right  Hon.  Sir  James  Stansfeld,  G.C.B.,  and 
left  issue.  His  youngest  brother,  Francis, 
died  at  Capetown  on  28  Feb.  1886. 

[Memorial  of  Kev.  John  Scott  Porter  and  the 
Hon.  William  Porter,  1880;  Christian  Life, 
30  May  and  6  June  1885,  pp.  266,  278;  His- 
torical Sketch  of  First  Presb.Congr.,  Larne,  1889, 
pp.  20  seq. ;  Nightingale's  Lancashire  Noncon- 
formity (1892),  iv.  225;  Eoll  of  Students,  Man- 
chester College,  1868.]  A.  GK 

PORTER,  JOSIAS  LESLIE  (1823- 
1889),  traveller  and  promoter  of  Irish  edu- 
cation, born  on  4  Oct.  1823,  was  youngest 
son  of  William  Porter  of  Carrowan,  parish  of 
Burt,  co.  Donegal,  and  Margaret,  daughter  of 
Andrew  Leslie  of  Drumgowan  in  the  same 
parish.  The  father  farmed  several  hundred 
acres  of  land.  Noted  for  his  great  stature 
and  immense  bodily  strength,  he  raised,  during 
the  Irish  rebellion  of  1798,  a  troop  of  yeo- 
manry in  Burt,  and  kept  a  large  district  in 
order,  services  for  which  he  received  the 
thanks  of  parliament  and  an  honorary  com- 
mission in  the  army. 

The  son,  Josias,  after  being  educated  pri- 
vately, between  1835  and  1838,  by  Samuel 
Craig,  presbyterian  minister  of  Crossroads, 
co.  Derry,  and  afterwards  at  a  school  in 
Londonderry,  matriculated  in  the  uni- 
versity of  Glasgow  in  1839,  with  a  view  to 
entering  the  ministry  of  the  Irish  presby- 
terian church.  He  graduated  B.A.  in  1841, 
and  M.A.  in  1842.  In  November  1842  he 
proceeded  to  the  university  of  Edinburgh, 
where,  and  afterwards  in  the  New  College, 
he  studied  theology  under  Chalmers.  He  was 
licensed  to  preach  by  the  presbytery  of  Derry 
on  20  Nov.  1844.  He  was  ordained  on 
25  Feb.  1846,  and  until  1849  was  minister  of 
the  presbyterian  congregation  of  High  Bridge, 
Newcastle-on-Tyne.  He  was  then  sent  to 
Damascus  as  a  missionary  to  the  Jews  by 
the  board  of  missions  of  the  Irish  presby- 
terian church.  He  reached  Syria  in  Decem- 
ber 1849,  and  remained  there  for  ten  years. 
While  discharging  his  duty  as  a  missionary, 


he  acquired,  by  frequent  and  extensive  jour- 
neys through  all  parts  of  Syria  and  Pales- 
tine, an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  Holy 
Land,  which  he  turned  to  good  literary  ac- 
count. In  1855  he  published  his  first  book 
on  the  East,  *  Five  Years  in  Damascus/  in 
which  he  tells  most  graphically  the  story  of 
his  life  there,  and  of  adventurous  journeys 
to  Palmyra,  the  Hauran,  Lebanon,  and  other 
places.  The  map  appended  to  the  work  was 
constructed  by  himself,  almost  entirely  from 
his  own  observations  and  surveys,  and  the 
plans  and  woodcuts  were  engraved  from  his 
drawings.  In  1858  he  published  his '  Hand- 
book for  Travellers  in  Syria  and  Palestine/  in 
Murray's  series.  A  second  edition,  largely 
rewritten,  appeared  in  1875,  Porter  having 
in  the  interval  revisited  the  country  and 
made  an  extensive  tour  on  both  sides  of  the 
Jordan  and  along  the  borderland  between 
Egypt  and  Sinai.  Many  of  his  letters,  ad- 
dressed to  the  Rev.  David  Hamilton,  hono- 
rary secretary  of  the  Irish  Presbyterian 
Jewish  Mission,  were  printed  in  the  pages 
of  the  '  Missionary  Herald.' 

In  1859  Porter  returned  home  on  furlough, 
and  in  July  1860  was  appointed  professor  of 
biblical  criticism  in  the  presbyterian  college, 
Belfast,  in  succession  to  Robert  Wilson 
[q.  v.]  In  1864  he  received  the  degrees  of 
LL.D.  from  Glasgow  and  D.D.  from  Edin- 
burgh. In  1867,  on  the  death  of  Professor 
William  Gibson  (1808-1867)  [q.  v.],  he  be- 
came secretary  of  the  college  faculty  at  Bel- 
fast. Through  him  Mr.  Adam  Findlater  of 
Dublin  in  1878  gave  10,000 J.  for  additions  to 
the  buildings,  and  this  gift  proved  the  means 
of  raising  11,0001.  more  for  the  professorial 
endowment  fund.  Porter,  from  the  time  of 
his  appointment  as  professor,  took  a  leading 
part  in  the  work  of  the  church  courts,  and 
in  1875  was  elected  moderator  of  the  general 
assembly.  During  his  tenure  of  this  office  he 
initiated  a  fund  which  provided  manses  for 
many  congregations. 

In  1878  Porter  was  appointed  by  govern- 
ment one  of  the  two  assistant-commissioners 
of  the  newly  established  board  of  interme- 
diate education  for  Ireland.  He  thereupon 
resigned  his  professorship,  and,  removing  to 
Dublin,  helped  to  organise  the  new  scheme. 
In  1879  he  was  nominated  president  of 
Queen's  College,  Belfast.  In  virtue  of  his 
office  he  became  a  member  of  the  senate  of 
the  newly  created  Royal  University  of  Ire- 
land, which  in  1881  conferred  on  him  the 
degree  of  D.  Lit.,  and  he  took  a  leading  part 
in  formulating  its  plans.  He  died  at  Belfast 
on  16  March  1889,  and  was  buried  in  Malone 
cemetery,  near  that  city. 

In  addition  to  the  works  mentioned  above, 


Porter 


188 


Porter 


Porter  wrote :  1.  'The  Pentateuch  and  the 
Gospels/  which  appeared  in  1864  during  the 
Colenso  controversy.  2.  '  The  Giant  Cities 
of  Bashan  and  Syria's  Holy  Places/  1865, 
which  has  been  several  times  republished. 
In  this  work  he  maintains  that  the  massive 
buildings,  the  ruins  of  which  are  plentifully 
found  in  Bashan,  are  the  work  of  the  abori- 
ginal inhabitants  of  the  country  long  before 
its  occupation  by  the  Jews.  3.  '  The  Life 
and  Times  of  Dr.  Cooke  '  (his  father-in-law), 
1871;  four  editions  were  published.  4.  'Jeru- 
salem, Bethlehem,  and  Bethany/  1887. 
5.  '  Galilee  and  the  Jordan/  1885. 

He  also  published  a  '  Pew  and  Study 
Bible '  in  1876.  He  contributed  extensively 
to  the  edition  of  Kitto's  '  Cyclopaedia  of  Bi- 
blical Literature/  which  was  commenced  in 
1862.  Nearly  all  the  geographical  articles 
on  localities  in  Palestine  are  from  his  pen. 
He  also  wrote  for  Smith's '  Dictionary  of  the 
Bible/  the  'Encyclopaedia  Britannica/  and 
Kitto's  'Pictorial  Bible;'  and  contributed 
many  papers,  principally  on  subjects  con- 
nected with  the  Holy  Land,  to  the  'Biblio- 
theca  Sacra '  (New  York),  when  it  was  edited 
by  Dr.  Robinson,  to  Kitto's  'Journal  of  Sacred 
Literature/  and  to  other  magazines  and  re- 
views. 

Porter  married,  in  1849,  just  before  going 
to  Damascus,  Margaret  Rainey,  youngest 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  Cooke  (1788- 
1868)  [q.  v.]  of  Belfast,  by  whom  he  had 
several  children  ;  two  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters survived  him. 

A  portrait  of  Porter,  by  Hooke,  hangs  in 
the  examination  hall  of  Queen's  College, 
Belfast. 

[Personal  knowledge  and  manuscripts  in  the 
possession  of  the  writer;  information  kindly 
supplied  by  Mr.  "William  Haldane  Porter,  Por- 
ter's youngest  son ;  Minutes  of  the  General  As- 
sembly of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Ireland, 
passim ;  Calendars  and  Annual  Eeports  of  Queen's 
College,  Belfast;  Minutes  of  Senate  of  Koyal 
University  of  Ireland ;  obituary  notices  in  the 
Belfast  News-letter,  Witness,  and  Northern 
Whig.]  T.  H. 

POUTER,  MARY  (d.  1765),  actress, 
is  said  to  have  been  the  child  of  a  private 
marriage  between  Samuel  Porter  and  a  daugh- 
ter of  Nicholas  Kaufmann  Mercator.  After 
the  early  death  of  her  father  she  was  brought 
up  by  her  uncle,  David  Mercator,  a  clerk  in 
the  office  of  ordnance  in  the  Tower.  Sent 
by  her  mother  to  act  at  Bartholomew  Fair, 
where  she  played  the  Fairy  Queen,  she  was 
seen  by  Mrs.  Barry  and  Mrs.  Bracegirdle, 
and  recommended  by  them  to  Betterton,  who 
engaged  her  and  lodged  her  with  Mrs.  Smith, 
sister  to  the  treasurer  of  the  theatre.  Upon 


Mrs.  Barry,  whose  successor  she  was  after- 
wards to  become,  she  was  for  a  time  an 
attendant.  She  made  her  first  recorded  ap- 
pearance at  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields  in  1699  as 
Ory thia  in  Hopkins's  tragedy  of '  Friendship 
Improved,  or  the  Female  Warrior.'  In  1701 
she  was  the  original  Jessica  in  the  '  Jew  of 
Venice/  altered  by  George  Granville  (Lord 
Lansdowne)  from  Shakespeare ;  Tyrelius,  a 
boy  of  twelve  or  thirteen,  in  '  Love's  Victim, 
or  the  Queen  of  Wales/ attributed  to  Gildon, 
and  Lettice,  an  original  part  in  Burnaby's 
'  Ladies'  Visiting  Day.'  About  the  same  time 
she  was  the  original  Emilia  in  the  '  Beau's 
Duel'  of  Mrs.  Carroll  (Centlivre).  She  was 
also  Philadelphia  in  Betterton's  '  Amorous 
Widow '  (4to,  1706),  revived  about  1702  or 
1703.  Lady  Loveman  in  '  Different  Widows ' 
(anonymous);  Amaryllis  in  the  'Fickle  Shep- 
herdess/ extracted  from  Randolph's  '  Amyn- 
tas/  and  played  by  women,  ascribed  to  1703 ; 
Zaida  in  Trapp's  '  Abra  Mule'  to  January 
1704;  Okima  in  Dennis's  'Liberty  Asserted/ 
to  24  Feb.  The  name  Mrs.  Potter  (Porter  ?) 
also  appears  to  Fidelia  in  'Love  at  First  Sight.' 
At  the  new  theatre  (Opera  House)  in  the  Hay- 
market  she  was  on  30  Oct.  1 705  the  original 
Araminta  in  Vanbrugh's  '  Confederacy/  on 
27  Dec.  Isabella  in  the  '  Mistake'  of  the  same 
dramatist,  and  on  21  Feb.  1706  Corisana  ind 
Granville's  '  British  Enchanters.'  At  the 
Haymarket,  1706-7,  she  played,  besides  many 
other  parts,  Lady  Graveairs  in  the  '  Careless 
Husband/  Melinda  in  the  '  Recruiting  Officer/ 
Fainlove  in  the  '  Tender  Husband/  Eugenia 
in  '  London  Cuckolds/  Cydaria  in  the  'Indian 
Emperor/  Porcia  in  the  '  Adventures  of  Five 
Hours/  Isabella  in  '  Wit  without  Money/ 
Sophonisba  in  Lee's  play  of  that  name,  Mrs. 
Welborn  in  '  Bartholomew  Fair/  Bellamira 
in  '  Caesar  Borgia/  and  the  Duchess  of  Malfi. 
Tragic  parts  were,  it  is  thus  seen,  already 
assigned  her. 

The  Haymarket  being  temporarily  surren- 
dered to  opera,  Mrs.  Porter  migrated  to  Drury 
Lane  Theatre,  where,  under  Rich  and  Brett, 
on  9  Feb.  1708,  she  made  a  successful  appear- 
ance as  the  original  Zaida  in  Goring's '  Irene,  or 
the  Fair  Greek.'  Melisinda  in '  Aureng-Zebe/ 
Leonora  in  the  '  Mourning  Bride/  Morena  in 
the '  Empress  of  Morocco/  the  Queen  in '  Don 
Carlos/  Maria  in  the '  Libertine/  Lady  Toss- 
up  in  D'Urfey's  '  Fine  Lady's  Airs/  Silvia  in 
the '  Old  Batchelor/  Mrs.  Frail  in  '  Love  for 
Love/  Roxana,  Morayma  in  '  Don  Sebastian' 
are  a  few  only  of  the  characters,  original  or 
other,  in  which  she  was  seen  before  reappear- 
ing at  the  Haymarket,  to  which  house,  with 
Wilks,  Dogget,  Gibber,  and  Mrs.  Oldfield,  she 
seceded,  on  22  Sept.  1709,  reappearing  as  Me- 
linda in  the  '  Recruiting  Officer.'  Here  she 


Porter 


189 


Porter 


added  to  her  repertory,  among-  other  charac- 
ters, first  Constantia  in  the  '  Chances,'  Elvira 
in  '  Love   makes   a   Man,'   Isabinda  in  the 
*  Busybody/  Nottingham  in  the  *  Unhappy 
Favourite,'  Amanda  in  *  Love's  Last  Shift,' 
Angelica  in  the '  Constant  Couple,'  the  Queen 
in  '  Hamlet,'  Dorinda  in  the  '  Beaux'  Strata- 
gem,'  the  Queen   in   *  King   Richard   III,' 
Charlotte   in  the  '  Villain,'  Hillaria  in  the 
'  Yeoman  of  Kent/  and  the  Silent  Woman  in 
'  Epiccene.'   After  playing  at  the  Haymarket, 
in  the  season  of  1710-11,  the  Queen  in  Dry- 
den's  '  Spanish  Fryar/  Lady  Macduff,  and 
other  characters,  she   reappeared  at  Drury 
Lane,  where  she  was  on  5  Dec.  1710  Hor- 
tensia  in  '  JEsop/  and  played  Lady  Chariot 
in  Steele's  '  Funeral/  Aspatia  in  the  '  Maid's 
Tragedy/  and  was  the  original  Isabinda  in 
Mrs.  Centlivre's  '  Marplot/   a   continuation 
of  the  '  Busybody/  and  on  17  March  1712 
the   original    Hermione    in    the    'Distrest 
Mother    of  Ambrose  Philips.     In  Charles 
Shadwell's  '  Humours  of  the  Army/  29  Jan. 
1713,  she  was  the  original  Leonora,  and  in 
Addison's  'Cato'  on  14  April  the  original 
Marcia.     Myrtilla  in  Gay's  '  Wife  of  Bath/ 
on  12  May,  was  an  original   part,  as  was 
Alicia  in  'Jane  Shore'  on  2  Feb.  1714.     In 
the  following  season  she  played  Monimia  in 
the  'Orphan/  Desdemona,  Portia  in  'Julius 
Caesar/   Lavinia   in   '  Caius   Marius/  Lady 
Elizabeth  Blunt  in  '  Virtue  Betrayed/  Be- 
linda in  the  *  Man  of  the  Mode/  and  was 
the  original  Duchess  of  Suffolk  in  Howe's 
'  Lady  Jane  Grey.'     Roxana,  in  the  '  Sul- 
taness/  on  25  Feb.  1717,  adapted  by  Charles 
Johnson  from  Racine,  was  also  an  original 
part,  as  was  Lady  Woodvil  in  Gibber's  '  Non- 
juror'  on  6  Dec.  1717.    Other  important  parts 
in  which  she  was  seen  at  Drury  Lane  were 
Amanda  in  the  '  Relapse/  Lady  Wronglove 
in  the  '  Lady's  last  Stake/  Angelica  in  the 
'  Rover/  Evadne,  Elizabeth  in  the  '  Unhappy 
Favourite/  Isabella  in  the  '  Fatal  Marriage/ 
Lady  Mac beth,  Belvidera,  Zara  in  the '  Mourn- 
ing Bride/  Octavia  in  'All  for  Love/  and  Mrs. 
Marwood.    When  Dennis  produced,  11  Nov. 
1719,  his  'Invader  of  the  Country,  or  the 
Fatal  Resentment/  a   mangled  version   of 
'  Coriolanus/  Mrs.  Porter  was  the  Volumnia. 
In  Southerne's  '  Spartan  Dame '  she  was  the 
first  Thelamia,  in  Hughes's  'Siege  of  Da- 
mascus' the  first  Eudocia,  and  in  Young's 
'  Revenge' on  18  April  1721  the  firstLeonora. 
Queen  Katharine  in  '  Henry  VIII,'  Desde- 
mona, and  Athanais  in '  Theodosius'  were  as- 
signed her  the  following  season,  in  which,  on 
19  Feb.  1722,  she  was  the  original  Cartis- 
mand  in  Ambrose  Philips's   '  Briton.'      In 
'  Humfrey,  Duke  of  Gloucester/  taken  by 
Philips    from    Shakespeare,    she    was    the 


Duchess  of  Gloucester,  and  in  Jacob's  '  Fatal 
Constancy'  she  was  the  first  Hesione.  In 
Gibber's  '  Caesar  in  Egypt '  on  9  Dec.  1724 
Mrs.  Porter  was  the  first  Cornelia.  In  the 
following  February  she  was  the  heroine  of 
West's  '  Hecuba/  and  on  13  Dec.  1727  the 
original  Leonora  in  the  '  Double  Falsehood/ 
assigned  by  Theobald  to  Shakespeare,  but 
credited  to  himself  or  Shirley.  In  the  '  Pro- 
voked Husband/  by  Cibber  and  Vanbrugh, 
on  10  Jan.  1728,  she  was  the  original  Lady 
Grace.  In  James  Miller's  '  Humours  of 
Oxford'  on  9  Jan.  1730  she  was  the  first 
Lady  Science ;  she  was  also  the  first  Eunesia 
in  the  anonymous  tragedy  of '  Timoleon.' 

Mrs.  Oldfield  having  now  (1730)  left  the 
stage — Mrs.  Bracegirdle  and  Mrs.  Barry  had 
retired  long  before — Mrs.  Porter  had  little 
rivalry  to  fear.  But  her  career  was  soon 
threatened  by  a  sad  accident.  She  played 
the  original  Medea  in  Johnson's  '  Medea' 
on  11  Dec.  1730,  and  Eurydice  in  Mallet's 
play  so  named,  on  22  Feb.  1731.  At  the 
time  she  occupied,  says  Davies's  'Dramatic 
Miscellanies'  (iii.  465),  a  house  at  Hey  wood 
Hill  (Highwood  Hill),  near  Hendon,  and 
was  in  the  habit  of  going  home  after  the 
performance  in  a  one-horse  chaise,  carrying 
always  with  her  a  book  and  a  pair  of  pistols. 
Being  stopped  by  a  robber,  she  presented  a 
pistol  at  him,  and  cowed  him  into  confessing 
he  was  not  a  highwayman,  but  a  man  despe- 
rate through  affliction.  After  giving  him 
10/.,  she  struck  suddenly  her  horse,  which, 
bolting,  overthrew  the  chaise,  and  her  thigh- 
bone was  dislocated.  This  accident  compelled 
a  retirement  of  nearly  two  years,  and  subse- 
quently she  always  supported  herself  on  the 
stage  with  a  stick.  She  reappeared  at  Drury 
Lane  at  a  benefit  by  '  their  majesties'  com- 
mands/ playing  Queen  Elizabeth  in  the  '  Un- 
happy Favourite.'  On  19  Nov.  1735  she  played 
Belvidera  in  '  Venice  Preserved '  at  Covent 
Garden,  and  the  following  season  reappeared 
at  Drury  Lane.  On  6  April  1738  she  was 
the  first  Clytemnestra  in  Thomson's  '  Aga- 
memnon/ being,  Genest  thinks,  specially  en- 
gaged for  the  part ;  she  repeated,  however, 
the  characters  of  Hermione  in  the  '  Distrest 
Mother'  for  her  benefit,  and  Portia  in  'Julius 
Caesar'  for  the  fund  for  erecting  a  statue  to 
Shakespeare.  From  1736  to  1741,  in  which 
last  year  she  had  a  benefit  at  Covent  Garden, 
playing  Isabella  in  the  '  Fatal  Marriage/  she 
was  not  engaged.  She  played  a  few  familiar 
parts  in  1741-2.  On  14  Feb.  1743,  for  her 
benefit,  she  was  seen  at  Covent  Garden  by 
command  of  the  Prince  and  Princess  of 
Wales,  enacting  Queen  Elizabeth  in  '  Albion 
Queens/  being  '  the  last  time  of  her  appear- 
ance on  the  stage,'  The  stage  was  enclosed 


Porter 


190 


Porter 


and  formed  into  an  amphitheatre,  where  ser- 
vants were  allowed  to  keep  places,  and  no 
person  was  admitted  without  a  ticket.  In 
this  representation  she  struck  the  ground 
with  her  stick  when  signing  the  warrant  for 
the  death  of  Mary  Stuart,  and  her  vehemence 
and  spirit  elicited  loud  applause. 

Mrs.  Porter  was  eminently  popular  with  all 
classes.  Lord  Cornbury  [see  HYDE,  HEKRY, 
VISCOUNT  COKNBURY]  gave  her  his  unacted 
comedy,  'The  Mistakes,'  which  in  1758, 
or  some  five  years  after  his  death,  she  pub- 
lished by  subscription  at  5s.  a  copy.  The 
Countess  Cowper  subscribed  for  eighty  copies, 
and  many  fashionable  folk  took  from  twenty 
copies  up,  it  is  said,  to  a  hundred,  .so  that 
a  large  sum  was  realised.  In  the  advertise- 
ment to  the  book  she  speaks  of  herself  as 
'  an  old  and  favoured  servant  of  the  public, 
whose  powers  of  contributing  to  its  amuse- 
ment are  no  more.'  She  became  great  friends 
with  Mrs.  Oldfield,  as  she  had  been  with 
Mrs.  Barry  and  Mrs.  Bracegirdle.  Jesting 
her  on  her  gravity,  Mrs.  Oldfield  often  called 
her  '  mother.'  Though  far  from  handsome, 
she  was  tall,  well  formed,  and  of  a  fair  com- 
plexion ;  her  voice,  tender  at  first  and  want- 
ing in  volume,  acquired  power  by  cultivation. 
She  had  exquisite  j  udgment.  Somewhat  cold 
in  comedy,  in  those  parts  of  tragedy  in  which 
the  passions  predominate  she  was  another 
person.  She  had  '  noble  and  enthusiastic 
ardour,  great  dignity,  and  most  affecting 
softness  and  tenderness.'  She  was  held  the 
legitimate  successor  of  Mrs.  Barry.  In  Her- 
mione  and  Belvidera  she  was  equally  effec- 
tive. In  the  latter  part  Booth  preferred  her 
to  Mrs.  Oldfield.  She  excelled  particularly 
in  her  agony  when  forced  from  Jaffier  in  the 
second  act,  and  in  her  madness.  Dr.  Johnson, 
with  whose  friends  the  Cotterels  she  lived 
for  a  time  on  terms  of  great  intimacy,  said, 
'  Mrs.  Porter  in  the  vehemence  of  rage,  and 
Mrs.  Olive  in  the  sprightliness  of  humour, 
I  have  never  seen  equalled  ; '  and  Walpole 
declared  that  she  surpassed  Garrick  in  pas- 
sionate tragedy.  No  breath  of  scandal  is 
heard  concerning  her.  She  outlived  an 
annuity  on  which  she  depended,  and  pro- 
bably outlived  her  friends  also ;  she  died  at 
an  advanced  age  and  in  straitened  circum- 
stances on  24  Feb.  1765  (Gent.  Mag.  1765, 
p.  146).  No  portrait  of  her  has  been  traced. 

[G-enest's  Account  of  the  English  Stage ;  Bet- 
terton's  Hist,  of  the  English  Stage;  Davies's 
Dramatic  Miscellanies ;  Victor's  Hist,  of  the 
Theatres ;  Colley  Gibber's  Apology,  ed.  Lowe  ; 
Gilliland's  Dramatic  Mirror;  Thespian  Diet.; 
Dibdin's  Hist,  of  the  Stage ;  Boswell's  Johnson, 
ed.  Birkbeck  Hill ;  Clark  Russell's  Representa- 
tive Actors,  &c.]  J.  K. 


PORTER,  ROBERT  (d.  1690),  ejected 
divine,  was  born  in  Nottinghamshire,  and 
educated  at  Cambridge,  but  the  college  is 
not  specified.  He  became  vicar  of  Pentrich, 
Derbyshire,  in  1650,  succeeding  John  Chap- 
man (d.  1  Nov.  1652),  who  had  been  seques- 
tered by  the  parliamentary  commissioners. 
The  living  yielded  an  income  of  but  15/., 
which  was  brought  up  to  '  near  fifty'  by  the 
parishioners.  Porter  refused  other  prefer- 
ment, and  devoted  himself  to  parish  work. 
In  his  principles  he  was  a  very  moderate  non- 
conformist of  the  school  of  John  Ball  (1585- 
1640)  [q.  v.]  He  became  a  member  of  the 
Wirksworth  presbyterian  classis,  and  was 
moderator  at  its  first  recorded  meeting  on 
16  Dec.  1651.  Great  deference  was  paid  to  his 
judgment,  especially  in  cases  of  conscience. 
He  was  ejected  from  Pentrich  by  the  Uni- 
formity Act  of  1662;  his  farewell  sermon  is  in 
'England's  Remembrancer,'  1663.  He  re- 
mained in  the  parish,  preaching  privately  in 
his  own  house.  On  the  coming  into  force 
(25  March  1666)  of  the  Five  Mile  Act,  he 
retired  to  Mansfield,  Nottinghamshire,  but 
still  ministered  occasionally  to  his  old  flock 
preaching  by  night  at  '  an  obscure  house'  in 
Longcroft  Fields.  After  the  indulgence  of 
1672  he  established  a  congregation  at  Mans- 
field, but  he  always  attended  the  services  of 
the  parish  church,  and  held  his  own  meetings 
out  of  church  hours.  Hence  he  was  never  mo- 
lested. He  died  at  Mansfield  on  22  Jan.  1690. 
His  sister  Ann  married  John  Oldfield  or  Ote- 
field[q.v.] 

Posthumous  was  his  'Life  of  Mr.  John 
Hieron,  with  .  .  .  Memorials  of  ten  other 
worthy  Ministers,'  &c.  1691,  4to,  a  valuable 
collection  of  Derbyshire  nonconformist  bio- 
graphies used  by  Calamy  (four  copies  in  Brit. 
Mus.) 

[Calamy's  Account,  1713,  pp.  180  sq. ;  Cox's 
Notes  on  the  Churches  of  Derbyshire,  1879,  iv. 
357  sq.;  Minutes  of  Wirksworth  Classis  in 
Derbyshire  Archseol.  and  Nat.  Hist.  Soc.  1880, 
pp.  150  sq.]  A.  G. 

PORTER,  SIR  ROBERT  KER  (1777- 
1842),  painter  and  traveller,  was  one  of  the 
five  children  of  William  Porter,  who  was 
born  in  1735,  and  was  buried  at  St.  Oswald, 
Durham,  in  September  1779,  after  twenty- 
three  years'  service  as  surgeon  to  the  6th 
(Inniskilling)  dragoons.  He  was  descended 
from  an  old  Irish  family  which  claimed 
among  its  ancestors  Sir  William  Porter,  who 
fought  at  Agincourt,  and  Endymion  Porter. 
His  mother  was  Jane,  daughter  of  Robert 
Blenkinsop  of  Durham.  She  died  at  Esher  in 
1831,  aged  86.  Robert's  brothers,  both  older 
than  himself,  were  William  Ogilvie  Porter, 


Porter 


191 


Porter 


M.D.,  a  naval  surgeon,  who  after  his  retire- 
ment practised  over  forty  years  in  Bristol, 
and  died  in  that  city  on  15  Aug.  1850,  aged 
76 ;  and  Colonel  John  Porter,  who  died  in 
the  Isle  of  Man,  aged  38,  in  1810.  His 
sisters,  Jane  and  Anna  Maria,  are  separately 
noticed. 

Robert  was  born  at  Durham  in  1777,  but 
spent  his  boyhood  in  Edinburgh,  whither 
his  mother,  who  was  very  poor,  and  de- 

Cded  largely  upon  the  support  of  her  hus- 
d's  patrons  in  the  army,  had  removed 
in  1780.  While  at  Edinburgh  he  attracted 
the  notice  of  Flora  Macdonald,  and,  in  con- 
sequence of  his  admiration  for  a  battle-piece 
in  her  possession  representing  some  action 
in  the  rising  of  1745,  he  determined  to  be- 
come a  painter  of  battles.  In  1790  his 
mother  took  him  to  Benjamin  West,  who 
was  so  struck  by  the  vigour  and  spirit  of 
some  of  his  sketches  that  he  procured  his 
admission  as  an  academy  student  at  Somerset 
House.  His  progress  was  remarkably  rapid. 
In  1792  he  received  a  silver  palette  from  the 
Society  of  Arts  for  an  historical  drawing, 
1  The  Witch  of  Endor.'  In  1793  he  was  com- 
missioned to  paint  an  altar-piece  for  Shore- 
ditch  church ;  in  1794  he  painted  '  Christ 
allaying  the  Storm '  for  the  Roman  catholic 
chapel  at  Portsea ;  and  in  1798  '  St.  John 
Preaching'  for  St.  John's  College,  Cam- 
bridge. In  1799,  when  he  was  living  with 
his  sisters  Jane  and  Anna  Maria,  at  16  Great 
Newport  Street,  Leicester  Square,  he  was  a 
member  of  a  small  confraternity  of  young 
artists,  including  Girtin  and  Cotman,  who 
lived  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood,  and 
were  members  of  a  society  founded  by  Louis 
Francia  for  the  cultivation  of  historic  land- 
scape. The  artistic  precocity  of  '  Bob  Porter ' 
and  the  skill  with  which  he  wielded  the  'big 
brush '  were  already  fully  recognised,  and  in 
1800  he  obtained  congenial  work  as  a  scene- 
painter  of  *  antres  vast  and  deserts  wild '  at 
the  Lyceum  Theatre ;  but  in  1800  he  asto- 
nished the  public  by  his  '  Storming  of  Serin- 
gapatam,'  a  sensational  panorama,  which  was 
120  feet  in  length,  and  is  stated  on  the 
good  authority  of  Jane  Porter  to  have  been 
painted  in  six  weeks.  This  huge  picture, 
borne  on  rollers  and  carried  round  three- 
quarters  of  a  circle,  was  one  of  the  first  of  a 
species  which  has  since  become  extremely 
popular,  especially  in  France.  After  its 
exhibition  at  the  Lyceum  it  was  rolled  up, 
and  was  subsequently  destroyed  by  fire ;  but 
the  original  sketches  and  the  engravings  of 
Vendramini  preserve  some  evidence  of  its 
merits.  Other  successful  works  in  the  same 
genre  were  the  '  Battle  of  Lodi '  (1803),  also 
exhibited  at  the  Lyceum,  and  the  *  Defeat  of 


the  French  at  the  Devil's  Bridge,  Mont  St. 
Gothard,  by  Suwarrow  in  1804,'  to  both  of 
which  explanatory  handbooks  were  issued. 
Other  battle-pieces,  in  which  he  displayed 
qualities  of  vigour  that  bordered  upon  the 
crude  and  a  daring  compared  by  some  to 
that  of  Salvator  Rosa,  were  '  Agincourt ' 
(executed  for  the  city  of  London),  the '  Battle 
of  Alexandria/  the  '  Siege  of  Acre,'  and  the 
'  Death  of  Sir  Ralph  Abercrombte,'  all  of 
which  were  painted  about  the  same  time. 
Porter  also  produced  easel-pictures;  and  in 
1801  he  exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy  a 
successful  portrait  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Harry 
Johnston  as  Hamlet  and  Ophelia.  In  all, 
between  1792  and  1832  he  exhibited  thirty- 
eight  pictures,  the  majority  being  either  his- 
torical pieces  or  landscapes.  In  1797  he 
had  started,  with  the  aid  of  his  sisters,  an 
illustrated  periodical  called  '  The  Quiz,'  for 
which  he  enlisted  the  support  of  Thomas 
Frognall  Dibdin  [q.  v.],  but  this  had  a  very 
brief  existence. 

Porter  was  in  1803  appointed  a  captain  in 
the  Westminster  militia ;  but  from  the  career 
of  a  regular  soldier,  which  had  a  stronger 
attraction  for  him  than  any  other,  he  was 
deterred  by  the  urgent  solicitations  of  his 
family.  In  1804,  however,  his  restless  and 
energetic  nature  obtained  some  satisfaction 
by  his  appointment  as  historical  painter  to 
the  czar  of  Russia.  He  immediately  started 
for  Russia,  and  was  employed  upon  some 
vast  historical  paintings,  with  which  he 
decorated  the  Admiralty  Hall  at  St.  Peters-^ 
burg.  During  his  residence  in  the  capital 
he  won  the  affections  of  a  Russian  princess, 
Mary,  daughter  of  Prince  Theodor  von  Scher- 
batoff,  but  some  hitch  in  the  courtship  neces- 
sitated his  leaving  Russia,  whereupon  he 
travelled  in  Finland  and  Sweden,  and  he  was 
knighted  by  the  eccentric  king  Gustavus  IV 
in  1806.  He  then  visited  several  of  the 
German  courts,  was  in  1807  created  a  knight 
of  St.  Joachim  of  Wurtemberg,  and  subse- 
quently accompanied  Sir  John  Moore  (whom 
he  had  met  and  captivated  while  in  Sweden) 
to  Spain.  He  was  with  the  expedition 
throughout,  was  present  at  Coruna  and  at 
the  death  of  the  general,  and  took  home 
many  sketches  of  the  campaign.  In  the 
meantime,  in  1809,  had  appeared  his  'Tra- 
velling Sketches  in  Russia  and  Sweden  dur- 
ing the  years  1805-1808,'  in  two  sumptuous 
quarto  volumes,  elaborately  illustrated  by 
the  author,  but  showing  neither  remarkable 
literary  faculty  nor  any  special  powers  of 
observation.  It  was  followed  at  a  brief  in- 
terval by  '  Letters  from  Portugal  and  Spain, 
written  during  the  march  of  the  troops  under 
Sir  John  Moore,'  1809,  8vo. 


Porter 


192 


Porter 


In  1811  he  revisited  Russia,  and  on  7  Feb. 

1812  he  triumphantly  married  his  Russian 
princess.    He  was  subsequently  received  in 
Russian  military  and  diplomatic  circles,  and  j 
became  well  acquainted  with  the  Russian  ! 
version  of  the  events  of  1812-13,  of  which  he  ! 
gave  a  graphic  account  in  his  '  Narrative  of 
the  Campaign  in  Russia  during  1812.'     He 
had  returned  to  England  previous  to  the  ap- 
pearance of  his  book,  and  was  on  2  April 

1813  knighted  by  the    prince-regent.      He 
was  soon  abroad  again,  and  in  August  1817 
he  started  from  St.  Petersburg  upon  an  ex- 
tended course  of  travel,  proceeding  through 
the  Caucasus  to  Teheran,  thence  southwards 
by  Ispahan  to  the  site  of  the  ancient  Per- 
sepolis,  where  he  made  many  valuable  draw- 
ings and  transcribed  a  number  of  cuneiform 
inscriptions.     After  some  stay  at  Shiraz,  he 
retraced  his  steps  to  Ispahan,  and  proceeded 
to  Ecbatana  and  Bagdad ;  and  then,  follow- 
ing the  course  of  Xenophon's  Katabasis,  to 
Scutari.     He  published  the  records  of  this 
long  journey  in   his   'Travels  in   Georgia, 
Persia,  Armenia,  Ancient  Babylonia,  1817- 
1820,'  2  vols.  4to,  1821.     This  huge  book, 
which  is  full  of  interest  and  is  a  great  ad- 
vance upon  his  previous  volumes  of  travel, 
was  illustrated  by  bold  drawings  of  mountain 
scenery,  of  works  of  art,  and  antiquities.     A 
large  number  of  Porter's  original  sketches 
are  now  preserved  in  the  British  Museum,  to 
which  they  were  presented  by  the  author's 
sister  Jane.     At  Teheran  Porter  had  an  in- 
terview with  the  Persian  monarch  Futteh 
Ali  Shah,  whose  portrait  he  drew,  and  from 
whose  hands  in  1819  he  received  the  insignia 
of  the  order  of  the  Lion  and  the  Sun.    After 
returning  to  England,  he  soon  left  again  for 
Russia,  but  in  1826  he  was  appointed  British 
consul  in  Venezuela.     During  the   fifteen 
years  that  he  held  that  position  he  resided 
at  Caracas,  where  he  kept  up  an  extensive 
hospitality,   and   became   well  known  and 
popular.    He  continued  to  employ  his  pencil, 
and  painted  several  large  sacred  pieces,  in- 
cluding '  Christ  instituting  the  Eucharist,' 
'  Christ  healing  a  Little  Child,'  '  Ecce  Homo,' 
and  '  St.  John  writing  the  Apocalypse.'    He 
also  painted  a  portrait  of  Simon  Bolivar,  the 
founder  of  the  republic  of  Columbia. 

In  1832,  in  recognition  of  the  benefits  he 
had  conferred  upon  the  protestant  com- 
munity of  Caracas,  he  was  created  a  knight- 
commander  of  the  order  of  Hanover.  He 
returned  to  England  in  1841.  His  wife  had 
died  at  St.  Petersburg,  of  typhus  fever,  on 
27  Sept.  1826;  but  his  only  daughter  was 
still  living  in  the  Russian  capital,  having  in 
1837  become  the  wife  of  M.  Kikine,  an  officer 
in  the  Russian  army.  After  a  short  stay 


with  his  brother,  Dr.  William  Ogilvie  Porter, 
at  Bristol,  he  went  on  a  visit  to  Madame 
Kikine.  On  3  May  1842  he  wrote  from  St. 
Petersburg  to  his  brother  that  he  was  on 
the  eve  of  sailing  for  England ;  but  he  died 
suddenly  of  apoplexy  as  he  was  returning  in 
his  drosky  from  a  farewell  visit  to  the  czar 
Alexander  I  on  the  following  day.  He  was 
buried  in  St.  Petersburg,  a  monument  being 
also  erected  to  his  memory  in  Bristol  Cathe- 
dral. Owing  to  his  large  expenditure  his  affairs 
were  left  in  some  disorder,  but  his  estate  was 
finally  wound  up  in  August  1844  by  his  execu- 
trix, Jane  Porter,  who  speaks  of  him  with 
the  greatest  affection  as  her '  beloved  and  pro- 
tecting brother.'  His  books,  engravings,  and 
antiquities  were  sold  at  Christie's  on  30  March 
1843.  His  drawings  included  twenty-six 
illustrations  to  the  odes  of  Anacreon,  a  large 
panoramic  view  of  Caracas,  and  a  very  in- 
teresting sketch-book  (forty-two  drawings) 
of  Sir  John  Moore's  campaigns,  which  was 
presented  by  his  sister  to  the  British  Museum. 
In  the  print-room  there  are  several  other 
drawings  by  Porter,  and  two  fine  portraits — 
a  mezzotint  by  W.  O.  Burgess,  after  G.  Har- 
lowe,  in  which  is  depicted  a  handsome  man 
in  a  Russian  diplomatic  uniform  lined  with 
fur ;  and  an  engraving  by  Anthony  Garden, 
after  J.  Wright. 

A  man  of  the  most  varied  attainments, 
Porter  was  justly  described  as  'distinguished 
alike  in  arts,  in  diplomacy,  in  war,  and  in 
literature/  He  was  a  splendid  horseman, 
excelled  in  field  sports,  and  possessed  the 
art  of  ingratiating  himself  with  people  of 
every  rank  in  lite.  Unlike  some  popular 
favourites,  he  was  the  idol  of  his  own  do- 
mestic circle. 

[Porter's Works  in  the  British  Museum  Library, 
where  are  also  the  descriptive  sketches  of  several 
of  his  pictures,  including  '  Seringapatam,'  the 
'  Siege  of  Acre,'  and  the  '  Battle  of  Alexandria  ;r 
Gent.  Mag.  1842,  ii.  98-9;  Annual  Register,  1842, 
p.  267;  Times,  28  May  1842;  Bristol  Mercury, 
21  May  1842;  Athenaeum,  1850,  p.  355;  Art 
Journal,  1850,  p,  276;  Dibdin's  Reminiscences 
of  a  Literary  Life,  ii.  143  sq. ;  Hall's  Memories, 
p.  128;  Roget's  'Old'  Water-colour  Society; 
Chambers's  Book  of  Days;  Biographical  Dic- 
tionary of  Living  Authors,  1816,  p.  281 ;  the 
Pantheon  of  the  Age ;  Midland's  Biographie 
Universelle ;  Redgrave's  Diet,  of  English  Artists ; 
Bryan's  Diet,  of  Painters  and  Engravers;  Alli- 
bone's  Diet,  of  Engl.  Literature  ;  Journal  of  the 
Society  of  Arts,  2  Aug.  1895;  Notes  and  Queries, 
1st  ser.  v.  185,  viii.  364,  526,  576,  4tb  ser.  xi. 
177,  5th  ser.  iv.  370,  v.  16;  Memorial  to  the 
Porter  Family  in  Bristol  Cathedral ;  Ker  Porter 
Correspondence  in  the  library  of  Sir  Thomas 
Phillipps  at  Thirlestane  House,  Cheltenham.] 

T.  S. 


Porter 


Porter 


PORTER,  THOMAS  (1636-1680),  dra- 
matist, born  in  1636,  fourth  son  of  Endymion 
Porter  [q.  v.],  began  his  career  by  abducting, 
on  24  Feb.  1655,  Anne  Blount,  daughter  of 
Mountjoy  Blount,  earl  of  Newport  [q.  v.]  For 
this  he  was  for  a  short  time  imprisoned,  and 
the  contract  of  marriage  between  Porter  and 
the  lady  was  declared  null  and  void  by  the 
quarter  sessions  of  Middlesex  on  17  July  fol- 
lowing (Middlesex Records,  iii.  237 ;  Cal  State 
Papers,  Dom.  1655,  pp.  74,  577 ;  Mercurius 
Politicus,  p.  5164).  Nevertheless,  a  valid  mar- 
riage subsequently  took  place,  as  Porter  had 
a  son  George  by  her  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  9th 
Rep.  ii.  123).  On  26  March  of  the  same  year 
Porter  killed  a  soldier  named  Thomas  Salkeld 
in  Covent  Garden,  probably  in  a  duel,  and  was 
consequently  tried  for  murder.  He  pleaded 
guilty  of  manslaughter,  was  allowed  benefit 
of  clergy,  and  was  sentenced  to  be  burned  in 
the  hand  (Mercurius  Politicus,  22-9  March, 
1655,  p.  5228  ;  Middlesex  Records,  iii.  233). 
On  28  July  1667  Porter  had  a  duel  with  his 
friend,  Sir  Henry  Bellasis,  *  worth  remem- 
bering/ says  Pepys,  who  relates  it  at  length, 
for  '  the  silliness  of  the  quarrel.  Bellasis 
was  mortally  wounded,  and  Porter,  who  was 
also  hurt,  had  to  fly  the  kingdom'  (PEPYS, 
Diary,  29  July  1667 ;  Report  on  the  MSS.  of 
M.  le  Fleming,  p.  52).  Porter  subsequently 
married  Roberta  Anne  Colepeper,  daughter  of 
Sir  Thomas  Colepeper,  knt.,  and  died  in  1680 
(FotfBLANQTJE,  Lives  of  the  Lords  Strangford, 
pp.  15, 83 ;  Memoirs  ofLadyFanshawe,^.  172). 

He  was  the  author  of  the  following  plays : 
1.  'The  Villain,'  a  tragedy,  4to,  1663,  1670, 
1694.  This  play  was  acted  at  the  Duke's 
Theatre  in  October  1662  for  ten  nights  in 
succession  to  crowded  houses  (GENEST,  Eng- 
lish Stage,  i.  42,  x.  246;  DOWNES,  Roscius 
Anglicanus,  p.  23).  Young  Killigrew  com- 
mended the  play  to  Pepys  ( as  if  there  never 
"had  been  any  such  play  come  upon  the  stage,' 
but  Pepys  was  dissatisfied  when  he  saw  it, 
finding  '  though  there  was  good  singing  and 
dancing,  yet  no  fancy  in  the  play '  (Diary, 
20  Oct.  1662).  Its  success  was  chiefly  owing 
to  Sandford's  performance  of  the  part  of 
Maligni  (ib.  •  LANGBAINE,  p.  407).  The 
epilogue  to  this  play  was  written  by  Sir 
William  Davenant,  and  is  printed  in  his 
works  (ed.  1673,  p.  440).  2.  <  The  Carnival,' 
a  comedy,  4to,  1664 ;  acted  at  the  Theatre 
Royal  (GENEST,  x.  248).  3.  '  A  Witty 
Combat,  or  the  Female  Victor,  written  by 
T.  P.  Gent./  4to,  1668.  It  is  said  on  the 
title-page  to  have  been  <  acted  by  persons  of 
quality'  in  the  Whitsun  week  with  great 
applause.  Genest  (i.  51)  identifies  it  with 
the  'German  Princess'  which  Pepys  saw 
performed  on  15  April  1664.  4.  'The French 

VOL.   XLVI. 


Conjuror :  a  Comedy  by  T.  P.,  acted  at  the 
Duke  of  York's  Theatre/  4to,  1678.  This 
was  licensed  on  2  Aug.  1677.  The  plot  of 
the  play  is  derived  from  two  stories  in  the 
'  Spanish  Rogue,  or  the  Life  of  Guzman  de 
Alfarache  '  (GENEST,  i.  210).  The  similarity 
of  the  initials  is  the  only  reason  for  attri- 
buting the  last  two  plays  to  Porter. 

[Biographia  Dramatica,  ed.  1782,  i.  348;  other 
authorities  mentioned  in  this  article.]  C.  H.  F. 

PORTER,  WALTER  (1595  P-1659),  com- 
poser, was  son  of  Henry  Porter,  who  in  1600 
graduated  Bac.  Mus.  at  Oxford,  and  in  1603 
was  musician  of  the  sackbuts  to  James  I. 
Walter,  born  about  1595  (BAPTIE),  was  on 
5  Jan.  1616  sworn  gentleman  of  the  Chapel 
Royal,  to  await  a  vacancy  among  the  tenor 
singers.  On  1  Feb.  1617  he  succeeded  Peter 
Wright.  In  1639  he  was  appointed  master 
of  the  choristers  of  Westminster  Abbey, 
Richard  Portman  being  organist  at  the  time. 
Among  his  patrons  were  John,  lord  Digby, 
first  earl  of  Bristol,  to  whom  he  dedicated  his 
'  Ayres/  and  Sir  Edward  Spencer.  Dismissed 
from  his  post  during  the  rebellion,  Porter  was 
relieved  by  Edward  Laurence,  esq.  (Woon). 
He  was  buried  at  St.  Margaret's  Church, 
Westminster,  on  30  Nov.  1659  (GEOVE). 

Porter's  printed  works  are :  1.  'Madrigales 
and  Ayres  of  two,  three,  foure,  and  five 
voyces,  with  the  continued  bass,  with  Toc- 
catos,  Sinfonias,  and  Ritornelles  to  them 
after  the  manner  of  consort  musique.  To 
be  performed  with  the  Harpsechord,  Lutes, 
Theorbos,  Basse-violl,  two  Violins  or  two 
Viols/  4to,  printed  by  Wm.  Stansby,  1632. 
The  book  contains  twenty-six  pieces,  and  is 
recommended  to  the  '  practitioner '  in  these 
terms :  '  Before  you  censure,  which  I  know 
you  will,  and  they  that  understand  least 
most  sharply;  let  me  intreate  you  to  play 
and  sing  them  true  according  to  my  meaning, 
or  heare  them  done  so ;  not,  instead  of  sing- 
ing, to  howle  or  bawle  them,  and  scrape, 
instead  of  playing,  and  perform  them  falsely, 
and  say  they  are  nought.'  A  copy  is  in  the 
Music  School,  Oxford.  2.  '  Ayres  and  Ma  - 
drigals  .  .  .  with  a  thorough-bass  base'for  the 
Organ  or  Theorbo-lute  in  the  Italian  way/ 
1639.  Psalms  and  Anthems  for  two  voices 
to  the  organ,  first  set,  1639  (Play ford  adver- 
tisement). 3.  Second  set,  or  'Mottets  of 
two  voices  for  treble  or  tenor  and  bass,  to 
be  performed  to  an  Organ,  Harpsycon,  Lute, 
or  Bass-viol/  small  folio,  1657  (Sacred  Har- 
monic Cat.)  Burney  found  the  words  of 
some  of  these  were  taken  from  George 
Sandys's  '  Paraphrase.'  4.  '  Divine  Hymns 
by  W.  Porter/  advertised  by  Playford,  1664, 
perhaps  the  same  as  5. '  Psalms  of  Sir  George 

o 


Porter 


194 


Porter 


Sands/  translation  for  two  voices  by  "Walter 
Porter,  three  books,  fol.,  advertised  1671. 
The  following  words  of  anthems  set  by  Porter 
are  in  British  Museum  Harleian  MS.  6346 : 
Full  anthems,  '  Brethren,'  '  Consider  mine 
enemies,'  and  a  collect ;  single  anthems,  t  O 
praise  the  Lord,' ( Ponder  my  words/ '  Awake 
thou  lute/  '  He  taketh  the  simple/  '  Praise 
the  Lord/  '  O  give  thanks/  '  O  Lord,  thou 
hast  searched.' 

[Cal.  of  State  Papers,  Dom.  21  June  16035 
Nichols's  Progresses  of  James  I,  i.  508  ;  Grove's 
Diet.  iii.  19  ;  Kimbault's  Cheque-Book  of  the 
Chapel  Royal,  pp.  8, 9,  47, 76, 123,  205  ;  Baptie's 
Handbook ;  Wood's  Fasti,  p.  284  ;  Rimbault's 
Bibliotheca  Madrigaliana ;  Burney's  Hist,  of 
Music,  iii.  403.]  L.  M.  M. 

PORTER,  WHIT  WORTH  (1827-1892), 
major-general  royal  engineers,  second  son  of 
Henry  Porter,  of  Winslade  House,  South 
Devon,  was  born  at  Winslade,  near  Exeter, 
on  25  Sept.  1827.  His  mother  was  the 
daughter  of  Sir  Henry  Russell,  bart.,  judge 
of  the  supreme  court  of  India.  Porter  en- 
tered the  Royal  Military  Academy  at  Wool- 
wich on  14  Nov.  1842,  obtained  a  commis- 
sion as  second  lieutenant  in  the  royal 
engineers  on  18  Dec.  1845,  and  was  pro- 
moted first  lieutenant  on  1  April  1846. 
After  passing  through  the  usual  course  of 
professional  instruction  at  Chatham,  he  em- 
barked for  Dominica  in  the  West  Indies  on 
13  Dec.  1847,  having  married  in  the  preced- 
ing October.  He  returned  home  from  Do- 
minica in  March  1850,  and  was  stationed  at 
Limerick.  He  was  promoted  second  captain 
on  3  Jan.  1855.  On  20  Dec.  1853  he  embarked 
for  Malta,  but  in  February  1855  was  sent  on 
active  service  to  the  Crimea.  He  served  in 
the  trenches  at  the  siege  of  Sebastopol  until 
June.  For  his  services  he  received  the  war 
medal,  with  clasp  for  Sebastopol,  the  Turkish 
medal,  and  the  fifth  class  of  the  Medjidie, 
and  on  2  Nov.  1855  he  was  promoted  brevet- 
major.  After  serving  at  home  for  eighteen 
months,  during  which  he  published  '  Life  in 
the  Trenches  before  Sebastopol '  (London, 
8vo,  1856),  he  returned  to  Malta  in  December 
1856.  It  was  during  his  service  in  the  fortress 
on  this  occasion  that  he  made  a  study  of  the 
history  of  the  island,  and  especially  of  its 
rulers,  the  knights  of  Malta.  The  result  of 
this  study  was  a  work  in  two  volumes,  entitled 
1 A  History  of  the  Knights  of  Malta'  (2  vols. 
8vo,  London,  1858).  On  2  April  1859  Porter 
was  promoted  first  captain  in  the  royal  en- 
gineers, and  returned  to  England. 

Porter  was  employed  at  the  war  office 
under  the  inspector-general  of  fortifications 
from  April  1859  until  September  1862  in 
connection  with  the  defence  of  the  United 


Kingdom.  He  served  on  the  jury  for  the 
military  division  of  the  international  exhi- 
bition held  in  London  in  1862.  He  was 
instructor  in  fortification  at  the  Royal  Mili- 
tary College  at  Sandhurst  from  1862  to  1868, 
was  promoted  brevet  lieutenant-colonel  on 
23  Aug.  1866,  and  regimental  lieutenant- 
colonel  on  14  Dec.  1868. 

In  March  1870  Porter  was  again  sent  to 
Malta,  where,  as  executive  officer  under  the 
commanding  royal  engineer,  he  supervised 
the  construction  of  the  defences  of  the  new 
dockyard.  While  at  Malta  he  was  employed 
in  connection  with  the  eclipse  expedition 
to  Sicily  in  1872,  and  he  designed  and  erected 
observatories  at  Catania  and  Syracuse.  He 
was  promoted  brevet-colonel  on  14  Dec.  1873, 

In  February  1874  Porter  was  appointed 
commanding  royal  engineer  at  Barbados  in 
the  West  Indies.  He  remained  there  for 
two  years,  returning  to  England  in  April 
1876,  and  was  stationed  for  a  time  at  Chat- 
ham. He  was  commanding  royal  engineer 
of  the  western  district,  and  stationed  at  Ply- 
mouth from  1877  till  1  Oct.  1881,  when  he 
retired  from  the  service  on  a  pension,  with 
the  honorary  rank  of  major-general. 

After  his  retirement  he  interested  himself 
in  various  charitable  works  connected  with 
the  order  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem.  He  was 
chairman  of  the  metropolitan  district  of  the 
St.  John's  Ambulance  Association.  He  also 
occupied  himself  with  a  revision  of  the  '  His- 
tory of  the  Knights  of  Malta'  (which  appeared 
in  1883),  and  with  an  abridged  edition  of  the 
work.  But  the  work  which  principally  en- 
gaged his  attention  during  the  later  years  of 
his  life  was  an  elaborate  'History  of  the 
Corps  of  Royal  Engineers/  which  was  pub- 
lished in  two  volumes  in  1889.  One  of  his 
last  acts  was  to  present  the  copyright  of  this 
work  to  the  corps  to  which  he  belonged. 
Porter  died  on  27  May  1892,  and  was  buried 
at  St.  Michael's  Church,  York  Town,  Surrey, 
of  which  he  had  been  churchwarden  for  many 
years.  He  had  contributed  liberally  to  wards 
its  enlargement,  and  had  with  his  own  hands 
carved  the  ornamental  foliage  on  the  chancel 
screen. 

Porter  married  in  London,  on  25  Oct.  1847, 
Annie  Shirley  da  Costa,  by  whom  he  had 
two  children :  Catherine,  who  married  Cap- 
tain Crosse ;  and  Reginald  da  Costa,  to  whose 
memory  he  erected  a  handsome  reredos  at  St. 
Michael's  Church,  York  Town.  The  son, 
a  lieutenant  in  the  royal  engineers,  won 
the  gold  medal  of  the  Royal  Engineers'  In- 
stitute for  a  prize  essay  on  'Warfare  against 
Uncivilised  Races,  or  How  to  Fight  greatly 
superior  Forces  of  an  uncivilised  and  badly 
armed  Enemy;'  he  saw  service  in  South 


Porteus 


Porteus 


Africa,  and  having-  passed  first  into  the  staff 
college  at  the  examination  in  1880,  was  on 
his  way  out  to  Egypt,  where  he  had  volun- 
teered for  service,  when  he  was  accidentally 
killed  by  the  falling  of  a  spar  during  a  gale 
of  wind  m  1882. 

[War  Office  Eecords  ;  Royal  Engineers'  Jour- 
nal, No.  261,  August  1892,  obituary  notice.] 

E.  H.  V. 

7^PORTEUS,BEILBY(1731-1808),bishop 
of  London,  born  at  York  on  8  May  1731, 
was  youngest  but  one  of  the  nineteen  chil- 
dren of  Robert  Porteus.  Both  his  parents 
were  natives  of  Virginia,  and  lived  on  their 
own  estate  in  that  colony.  His  mother  was 
daughter  of  Colonel  Jennings,  who  was  super- 
intendent of  Indian  affairs  for  the  province, 
and  for  some  time  acted  as  deputy  governor ; 
she  is  said  to  have  been  distantly  related 
to  Sarah  Jennings,  duchess  of  Maryborough. 
In  order  to  procure  a  better  education  for  his 
children,  and  on  account  of  ill-health,  the 
father  left  America  for  England  in  1720,  and 
settled  at  York.  Beilby  was  educated  at 
York  until  1744  and  at  Ripon,  whence  he 
was  admitted  on  1  June  1748  as  a  sizar  at 
Christ's  College,  Cambridge.  He  became  a 
scholar  on  19  Nov.  1748,  graduating  B.A.  in 
1752  as  tenth  wrangler.  He  also  won  the 
second  chancellor's  medal  for  classics  on  the 
first  occasion  on  which  it  was  awarded.  On 
26  May  1752  he  was  elected  fellow  of  his 
college,  and  shortly  afterwards  was  appointed 
esquire  bedel.  That  office  he  held  for  a 
little  more  than  two  years,  resigning  it  in 
order  to  devote  himself  to  private  tuition. 
In  1757  he  was  ordained  deacon  and  priest. 
In  1759  he  won  the  Seatonian  prize  for  an 
English  poem  on '  Death.'  He  wrote  feelingly, 
for  he  had  recently  lost  both  his  parents ;  but 
his  extravagant  eulogy  of  George  II  caused 
him  to  be  gibbeted  by  Thackeray  in  a  well- 
known  passage  in  '  The  Four  Georges.'  He 
was  brought  into  further  notice  by  preaching 
in  1761  an  able  university  sermon  on  the 
character  of  King  David,  in  reply  to  the 
notorious  pamphlet,  e  History  of  the  Man 
after  God's  own  Heart '  (1761),  attributed  to 
the  deist,  Peter  Annet  [q.  v.J  In  1762,  on 
his  appointment  as  domestic  chaplain  to  the 
archbishop  of  Canterbury  (Dr.  Seeker),  he 
quitted  Cambridge  for  Lambeth.  In  1765 
he  was  presented  by  the  archbishop  to  the 
two  small  livings  of  Rucking  and  Witters- 
ham  in  Kent ;  but  he  soon  resigned  them  for 
the  rectory  of  Hunton  in  the  same  county. 
On  25  Sept.  1764  he  received  a  prebend  at 
Peterborough.  In  1767  he  was  appointed 
rector  of  Lambeth,  and  proceeded  D.D.  at 
Cambridge,  when  he  preached  on  the  instruc- 
tion of  youth,  especially  in  the  principles  of 


revealed  religion.  Some  extracts  from  this 
sermon  fell  into  the  hands  of  John  Norris 
(1734-1777)  [q.  v.],  who  was  thereby  moved 
to  found  the  Norrisian  professorship  of  divi- 
nity. In  1769  he  was  appointed  chaplain  to 
the  king,  and  shortly  afterwards  master  of  the 
hospital  of  St.  Cross  at  Winchester.  In  1773 
he  joined  in  an  abortive  petition  to  the  bench 
of  bishops  to  promote  a  reform  of  the  Liturgy 
and  Articles.  In  1776  Porteus  was  promoted 
to  the  bishopric  of  Chester.  Thereupon  he 
resigned  Lambeth,  but  retained  the  valuable 
living  of  Hunton,  and  was  held  to  have 
shown  a  praiseworthy  self-denial  in  not  keep- 
ing both.  As  bishop  of  Chester,  Porteus  was 
very  energetic.  He  encouraged  the  activity 
of  the  rising  evangelical  school;  he  instituted 
a  fund  for  the  relief  of  the  poorer  clergy  in 
the  diocese ;  and  he  warmly  encouraged  the 
establishment  of  the  new  scheme  of  Sunday- 
schools  in  every  parish.  Acting  for  Dr. 
Lowth,  bishop  of  London,  who  was  incapaci- 
tated by  ill-health,  he  carried  through  the 
House  of  Lords  in  1777  a  measure  putting  a 
stop  to  the  evil  custom  of  incumbents  giving 
general  bonds  of  resignation  (that  is,  bonds 
to  resign  whenever  the  patrons  required 
them),  and  he  fought  successfully  a  long 
contest,  which  ended  in  1800,  against  a 
species  of  simony  which  was  gaining  ground 
in  the  purchase  of  the  advowson  of  a  living 
(Life,  p.  153).  He  took  the  deepest  interest 
in  the  welfare  of  the  negro  slaves  in  the  West 
Indies,  and  vainly  endeavoured,  first  by  a 
sermon  preached  in  1783,  and  then  by  a 
pamphlet  written  in  1784,  to  persuade  the 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  to 
set  an  example  to  slave-owners  on  its  own 
trust  estate  in  Barbados. 

Meanwhile,  on  the  death  of  Bishop  Lowth 
in  1787,  Porteus  was  translated  to  London. 
There  he  at  once  avowed  himself  a  warm 
supporter  of  the  schemes  of  piety  and  bene- 
volence originated  by  the  evangelical  party, 
though  he  did  not  identify  himself  with  all 
their  views,  being  decidedly  anti-calvinistic. 
Hannah  More,  in  especial,  found  in  him  a 
staunch  and  powerful  friend  in  her  various 
beneficent  enterprises.  One  of  his  first  acts 
as  bishop  of  London  was  to  throw  himself 
heart  and  soul  into  the  work  of  the  newly 
formed  '  Society  for  Enforcing  the  King's 
Proclamation  against  Immorality  and  Pro- 
faneness.'  His  position  enabled  him  to  do 
yeoman  service  to  the  cause  of  the  abolition 
of  slavery.  He  took  great  but  unsuccessful 
pains  to  get  passed  through  the  lords  Sir 
William  Dolbeii's  '  Slave-Carrying  Bill ' 
(1788).  He  succeeded  in  transferring  to  a 
new  '  Society  for  the  Conversion  and  Reli- 
gious Instruction  of  the  Negroes  in  the  West 

o  2 


Porteus 


196 


Porteus 


Indies/  which  was  formed  under  his  auspices, 
a  bequest  of  the  Hon.  Robert  Boyle,  made  in 
1691  for  missionary  work  in  America,  but, 
owing  to  the  altered  state  of  affairs  in  Ame- 
rica, no  longer  available  for  that  purpose. 
He  was  an  early  patron  of  the  Church  Mis- 
sionary Society ;  and  it  was  at  his  sugges- 
tion that  Dr.  Claudius  Buchanan  [q.  v.] 
wrote  those  works  which  mainly  led  to  the 
foundation  of  the  Indian  episcopate.  He 
joined  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society, 
and  suggested  the  name  of  John  Shore,  lord 
Teignmouth  [q.  v.],  as  its  first  president,  while 
he  himself  accepted  the  post  of  vice-presi- 
dent. He  had  at  all  times  the  courage  of 
his  opinions,  took  on  all  subjects  an  indepen- 
dent line,  and  identified  himself  with  no  one 
party  in  the  church.  Though  he  was  some- 
times called  '  a  Methodist,'  he  was  strict  in 
enforcing  the  discipline,  as  well  as  the  doc- 
trine, of  the  church ;  and  he  incurred  con- 
siderable odium  by  excluding  from  the  parish 
churches  of  his  diocese  a  clergyman  (Dr. 
Draper)  who  had  accepted  the  presidency  of 
a  college  in  Lady  Huntingdon's  connexion, 
and  had  preached  in  a  chapel  belonging  to 
that  lady.  In  1779  he  was  in  favour  of  the 
relief  of  the  Roman  catholics  from  penal 
laws,  but  he  strongly  opposed  '  Catholic 
Emancipation,'  especially  the  bill  of  1805, 
on  the  ground  that  it  is  one  thing  to  grant 
perfect  toleration,  quite  another  to  confer 
political  power.  As  diocesan  for  the  church 
abroad,  he  maintained  his  right  of  veto  upon 
the  appointment  of  chaplains  by  the  East 
India  Company. 

One  of  Porteus's  chief  aims  was  to  secure 
the  due  observance  of  religious  holidays.  A 
letter  which  he  addressed  to  his  parishioners 
at  Lambeth  in  1776,  on  the  neglect  of  Good 
Friday,  led  to  a  stricter  observance  of  that 
day  throughout  London  (see  BKTDGES,  Re- 
stituta,  iv.  417).  The  letter  was  subsequently 
published  as  a  tract  by  the  Society  for  Pro- 
moting Christian  Knowledge.  In  1780  he 
had  taken  a  leading  part  in  putting  down  two 
Sunday  practices  in  London — viz.  the  Sun- 
day debating  societies,  which  were,  in  fact, 
assemblies  for  ventilating  and  propagating 
sceptical  views ;  and  the  Sunday  promenades, 
which  had  degenerated  into  meetings  for 
assignations.  When  bishop  of  London  he 
waged  war  against  the  custom  of  having 
Sunday  concerts  at  private  houses  by  pro- 
fessional performers,  writing  a  letter  to  three 
ladies  of  rank  who  had  helped  to  introduce 
them  ;  and  not  long  before  his  death  he 
sought  an  interview  with  the  prince  regent 
(afterwards  George  IV),  whom  he  persuaded 
to  alter  the  day  of  meeting  of  a  Sunday  club 
which  the  prince  had  patronised  in  London. 


Pamphleteers  bitterly  attacked  him,  but  he 
was  indifferent  to  their  onslaughts  (Life,  p. 
272).  At  the  same  time  he  vigorously  re- 
sisted the  spread  of  French  revolution  prin- 
ciples, which  he  regarded  with  alarm.  Paine's 
'  Age  of  Reason '  he  described  as  '  rendering 
irreligion  easy  to  the  meanest  capacity ; '  and 
he  warmly  encouraged  by  way  of  antidote 
the  dissemination  of  Hannah  More's  popular 
tracts.  To  counteract  the  spread  of  infidelity 
and  the  '  growing  relaxation  of  public  man- 
ners,' he  delivered  in  St.  James's,  Piccadilly, 
Friday-evening  lectures  during  four  succes- 
sive Lents,  beginning  in  1798.  They  were 
attended  by  crowds. 

Porteus  had  ample  means,  and  made  a 
liberal  use  of  them.  He  was  generous  to 
the  poorer  clergy,  and  attempted  to  raise  the 
status  and  the  stipends  of  assistant  curates. 
In  1807  he  built  and  endowed  a  chapel  of 
ease,  with  a  residence  for  the  minister,  in  the 
parish  of  Sundridge,  to  which  he  loved  to 
retire  of  a  summer.  On  28  May  of  the  same 
year  he  gave  1 ,200^.  to  his  old  college  (Christ's) 
for  the  endowment  of  three  medals — one  for 
a  Latin  dissertation  on  some  evidences  of 
Christianity ;  another  for  an  English  essay 
on  some  precept  of  the  Gospel ;  and  the 
third  for  the  best  reader  of  the  lessons  in 
the  college  chapel.  He  died  at  Fulham  on 
8  May  1808,  and,  according  to  his  own  de- 
sire, was  buried  at  Sundridge,  On  13  May 
1765  he  married  Margaret,  eldest  daughter 
of  Bryan  Hodgson,  landlord  of  the  George 
Inn,  St.  Martin's,  Stamford,  afterwards  of 
A shbourne  in  Derbyshire  ;  she  survived  him. 
There  is  a  good  portrait  of  the  bishop,  drawn 
by  H.  Edridge  and  engraved  by  C.  Picart, 
of  which  both  full-length  and  half-length 
copies  were  taken.  The  half-length  copy 
forms  the  frontispiece  of  his  '  Life.'  Another 
portrait,  which  is  anonymous,  belongs  to  the 
bishop  of  London. 

Porteus  was  a  pleasing  and  effective 
preacher  and  writer.  Besides  several  charges, 
volumes  of  collected  sermons,  and  horta- 
tory letters  already  noticed,  he  published  : 
1.  '  A  Review  of  the  Life  and  Character  of 
Dr.  Thomas  Seeker,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury,' 1770,  which  went  through  twelve  edi- 
tions. 2.  l  The  Beneficial  Effects  of  Chris- 
tianity on  the  Temporal  Concerns  of  Man- 
kind proved  from  History  and  Facts,'  about 
1804;  9th  edit.  1836.  3.  'A  Summary  of 
the  Principal  Evidences  for  the  Truth  and 
Divine  Origin  of  the  Christian  Revelation/ 
1800  ;  15th  edit.  1835.  Many  of  his  works 
were  collected  in  t  Tracts  upon  Various  Sub- 
jects' (1796).  His « Complete  [Prose]  Works ' 
were  published  in  6  vols.  8vo ;  a  new  edition 
was  published  in  1816. 


Portland 


197 


Portlock 


[The  first  volume  of  Porteus's  collected  works 
contains  a  '  Life,'  written  shortly  after  the 
Lishop's  death,  by  a  former  chaplain,  Eobert 
Hodgson.  See  also  Abbey's  Engl.  Church  and  its 
Bishops  (1700-1 800) ;  Overton's  English  Church 
in  the  Nineteenth  Century  (1803-1833) ;  Notes 
and  Queries,  7th  ser.  v.  494  ;  private  information 
through  Canon  H.  Leigh-Bennett.]  J.  H.  0. 

PORTLAND,  DUKES  OF.  [See  BEN- 
TINCK,  WILLIAM  HENRY  CAVENDISH,  third 
DUKE,  1738-1809;  BENTINCK-SCOTT,  WIL- 
LIAM JOHN  CAVENDISH,  fifth  DUKE,  1800- 
1879.] 

PORTLAND,  EAELS  or.  [See  WESTON, 
RICHAKD,  first  EAKL,  1577-1634 ;  WESTON, 
JEROME,  second  EARL,  1505-1664;  BEN- 
TINCK,  WILLIAM,  first  EARL  of  the  Bentinck 
line,  1649-1709.] 

PORTLAND,  titular  EARL  OF.  [See 
HERBERT,  SIR  EDWARD,  1648  P-1698.] 

PORTLESTER,  LORD.  [See  EUSTACE, 
ROLAND  EITZ,  d.  1496.] 

PORTLOCK,  JOSEPH  ELLISON 
(1794-1864),  major-general  royal  engineers 
and  geologist,  only  son  of  Captain  Nathaniel 
Portlock  [q.  v.],  was  born  at  Gosport,  Hamp- 
shire, on  30  Sept.  1794.  After  passing 
through  the  Royal  Military  Academy  at 
Woolwich,  he  received  a  commission  as  second 
lieutenant  in  the  corps  of  royal  engineers  on 
20  July  1813.  He  served  for  a  short  time  at 
Portsmouth  and  Chatham,  and  was  promoted 
first  lieutenant  on  13  Dec.  1813.  In  April 
1 8 1 4  he  embarked  to  j  oin  the  army  in  Canada. 
He  took  part  in  the  siege  of  Fort  Erie  (August 
1814),  and  for  the  greater  part  of  it  was  the 
only  engineer  officer  in  the  trenches.  When 
the  army  retired  he  constructed  the  lines  and 
tete  de  pont  of  Chippewa  at  which  Lieu- 
tenant-general Sir  Gordon  Drummond  made 
his  successful  stand  and  saved  Upper  Canada. 
For  his  services  on  this  occasion  Portlock 
was  thanked  in  general  orders.  He  was 
afterwards  employed  on  numerous  explora- 
tory expeditions.  Portlock  Harbour  in  Lake 
Huron  was  named  by  Sir  Gordon  Drummond 
in  memory  of  Portlock's  services. 

On  Portlock's  return  to  England  in  Octo- 
ber 1822  the  ordnance  survey  was  about  to 
be  extended  to  Ireland,  and  in  1824  he  was 
selected  by  Colonel  Thomas  Frederick  Colby 
[q.  v.]  for  employment  there.  In  the  organi- 
sation of  the  Irish  survey  Portlock  was  the 
confidential  assistant  and  companion  of 
Colby,  and  he  was  retained  at  headquarters 
at  the  Tower  of  London  while  Thomas  Drum- 
mond (1797-1840)  [q.v.]  and  others  were  oc- 
cupied with  the  construction  of  the  new  base 
apparatus  and  other  instruments  and  details. 

In  1825  Portlock  accompanied  Colby  to 


Ireland,  and  remained  attached  to  the  trigo- 
nometrical branch  of  the  work,  of  which  he 
soon  became  the  senior  and  ultimately  the 
sole  officer.  In  1826  he  was  employed  in 
the  observations  at  Slievedonard,  co.  Down, 
2,800  feet  above  the  sea.  This  was  a  very 
exposed  station.  The  camp  was  frequently 
blown  down  and  the  instruments  with  diffi- 
culty preserved.  Conjointly  with  the  obser- 
vations and  calculations  of  the  horizontal 
triangulation,  Portlock  had  to  undertake  a 
system  of  vertical  observations  and  calcula- 
tions for  altitudes.  He  carried  a  line  of 
levelling  from  the  coast  of  Down  to  the  coast 
of  Donegal,  and  caused  similar  lines  to  be 
observed  in  other  places  crossing  Ireland  in 
every  direction,  and  terminating  at  stations 
on  the  coast,  where  tidal  observations  were 
simultaneously  made.  These  operations,  in 
addition  to  their  immediate  and  practical 
object,  furnished  the  material  for  the  ad- 
mirable paper  on  tides,  by  the  astronomer- 
royal,  published  in  the  '  Transactions  of  the 
Royal  Society  of  London '  in  1845. 

On  22  June  1830  Portlock  was  promoted 
second  captain.  In  1832  it  was  arranged  to 
compile  a  descriptive  memoir  of  the  survey. 
Portlock,  having  completed  the  great  tri- 
angulation, undertook  the  portions  of  the 
memoir  relating  to  geology  and  productive 
economy.  In  1837  he  formed  a  geological 
and  statistical  office,  a  museum  for  geological 
and  zoological  specimens,  and  a  laboratory 
for  the  examination  of  soils.  Unfortunately, 
for  financial  reasons,  the  preparation  of  the 
memoir  was  suspended  in  1838,  and  was  not 
resumed,  although  a  commission,  appointed 
in  1843  by  Sir  Robert  Peel,  recommended  its 
resumption  and  continuance.  Portlock  pub- 
lished the  volume,  which  bears  his  name,  on 
the '  Geology  of  Londonderry,Tyrone,  and  Fer- 
managh, with  Portions  of  Adjacent  Counties ' 
(with  maps  and  plates,  Dublin,  8vo,  1843). 

While  employed  on  the  Irish  survey,  Port- 
lock  assisted  in  the  advance  of  various  scien- 
tific institutions  in  Ireland.  In  1831  the  Geo- 
logical Society  was  formed,  and  the  Zoological 
and  other  scientific  societies  rapidly  followed. 
Portlock  was  one  of  the  early  presidents 
of  both  the  Geological  and  Zoological  So- 
cieties, and  contributed  to  the  former  twenty 
papers,  including  presidential  addresses,  in 
1838  and  1839.  He  was  again  president  of 
the  Geological  Society  in  1851  and  1852. 
In  1835  the  British  Association  met  in  Dub- 
lin, and  Portlock  was  a  member  of  the  local 
committee  and  secretary  of  the  section  of 
geology  and  geography.  He  was  president 
of  the  geological  section  at  Belfast  in  1852. 
In  the  '  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Irish 
Academy '  for  1837  his  name  appears  in  a 


Portlock 


198 


Portlock 


communication  on  the  occurrence  of  the 
Anatifa  vitrea  on  the  coast  of  Ireland,  and 
in  one  on  ornithology  (Otus  Brachiotus),  and 
also  in  a  communication  relative  to  the  red 
sandstone  of  Tyrone. 

Portlock  was  promoted  first  captain  in 
September  1839.  In  1843  his  labours  on  the 
Irish  survey  ceased,  and  he  returned  to  the 
ordinary  duties  of  the  corps  of  royal  engi- 
neers, and  in  May  embarked  for  Corfu.  At 
Corfu  he  took  part  in  remodelling  the  fort- 
ress. At  the  meeting  of  the  British  Asso- 
ciation at  Cork  in  1843,  a  letter  from  Port- 
lock  to  Professor  Phillips  was  read  on  the 
geology  of  Corfu,  and  a  grant  was  made  the 
same  year  to  him  by  the  council  for  the  ex- 
ploration of  the  marine  zoology  of  the  island. 
In  1845  and  1846  Portlock  made  communi- 
cations on  this  subject  to  the  association. 

On  9  Nov.  1846  Portlock  was  promoted 
brevet-major,  and  on  13  Dec.  1847  regimen- 
tal lieutenant-colonel.  He  returned  to  Eng- 
land in  1847,  and  while  stationed  at  Ports- 
mouth pursued  in  his  leisure  scientific  re- 
searches. In  the  '  Transactions  of  the  British 
Association '  in  1848  there  is  a  communica- 
tion on  evidences  he  had  observed,  at  Fort 
Cumberland  and  at  Blockhouse  Fort,  of 
changes  of  level  on  both  sides  of  Portsmouth 
Harbour.  In  the  same  year  is  a  notice  of 
sounds  emitted  by  mollusca,  which  he  had 
observed  in  the  Helix  aspersa,  as  well  as  in 
the  Helix  aperta. 

In  1849  Portlock  was  appointed  command- 
ing royal  engineer  of  the  Cork  district  in 
Ireland.  While  he  was  at  Cork  the  employ- 
ment of  convicts  on  military  public  works 
began  in  Ireland.  Portlock  lent  his  aid,  and 
the  unfinished  Fort  Westmoreland  on  Spike 
Island  in  Cork  Harbour  was  selected  for  the 
experiment.  In  1851  he  was  appointed  in- 
spector of  studies  at  the  Royal  Military  Aca- 
demy at  Woolwich.  He  was  an  ardent  advo- 
cate for  education  in  the  army  and  especially 
in  the  scientific  corps.  He  considered  that 
.Woolwich  should  be  reserved  for  the  ad- 
vanced stages  of  professional  education,  and 
that  all  general  and  elementary  education 
should  be  previously  acquired.  He  also  in- 
stituted many  valuable  reforms  in  the  sys- 
tem of  education  at  the  Royal  Military  Aca- 
demy. He  was  promoted  to  be  regimental 
full  colonel  on  28  Nov.  1854.  In  1856  he 
resigned  the  appointment  of  inspector  of 
studies  at  Woolwich,  and  received  a  warm 
letter  of  acknowledgment  of  his  services  from 
Lord  Panmure,  then  secretary  of  state  for 
war.  He  was  appointed  commanding  royal 
engineer  of  the  south-eastern  district  in  No- 
vember 1856,  and  was  stationed  at  Dover. 
In  May  1857  he  joined  the  newly  formed 


council  of  military  education,  and  showed 
himself  a  most  forward  advocate  of  educa- 
tion. He  looked  upon  competition,  and  espe- 
cially open  competition,  as  the  great  principle 
upon  which  public  appointments  should  be 
made.  He  retired  from  active  service  on 
25  Nov.  1857  with  the  honorary  rank  of 
major-general,  but  remained  till  1862  a 
member  of  the  council  of  military  education. 
In  1857  and  1858  he  was  elected  president 
of  the  Geological  Society  of  London,  and 
delivered  the  annual  addresses.  Of  his  work 
in  geology  and  natural  history,  Sir  Roderick 
Impey  Murchison  [q.v.]  observed  that  'his 
energy  and  powers  of  critical  research  enabled 
him  to  enter  with  success  the  field  of  pro- 
fessed naturalists.  .  .  .  He  was  a  geologist 
after  my  own  heart.'  In  1857  he  attended  the 
meeting  of  the  British  Association  in  Dublin 
as  a  member  of  the  council,  and  he  received 
from  Trinity  College  the  honorary  degree  of 
doctor  of  laws.  Portlock  was  a  fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society,  a  member  of  the  Royal  Irish 
Academy,  and  of  numerous  other  learned 
societies.  In  1862  he  settled  at  Blackrock, 
near  Dublin,  where  he  died  on  14  Feb.  1864. 

Portlock  married,  first,  on  24  Feb.  1831 , 
at  Kilmaine,  co.  Mayo,  Julia  Browne ;  and, 
secondly^  on  11  Dec.  1849,  at  Cork,  Fanny, 
daughter  of  Major-general  Charles  Turner, 
K.H.,  commanding  the  Cork  district.  There 
was  no  issue  of  either  marriage.  Portlock 
was  the  author  of:  1.  'A  Rudimentary 
Treatise  on  Geology/  London,  12mo,  1848  : 
2nd  edit.  1852.  2.  '  Memoir  of  the  Life  of 
Major-general  T.  Colby,  together  with  a 
Sketch  of  the  Origin  and  Progress  of  the 
Ordnance  Survey  of  Great  Britain  and  Ire- 
land,' London,  8vo,  1869. 

He  was  also  a  frequent  contributor  to  the 
'  Professional  Papers  of  the  Corps  of  Royal 
Engineers,'  to  the  '  Annals  of  Natural  His- 
tory' (vols.  xv.  and  xviii.),  to  the '  Quarterly 
Journal  of  the  London  Geological  Society,' 
to  the  '  Aide-Memoire  to  the  Military 
Sciences,'  to  the '  Transactions  of  the  Dublin 
Geological  Society,'  and  to  the  '  Encyclo- 
paedia Britannica '  (8th  edit.  :  arts. '  Cannon,' 
'Fortification,' '  Gunnery,'  and  'War.') 

[Memoir  by  Major-general  Sir  T.  Larcom, 
E.E.,  in  vol.  xiii.  new  series  Professional  Papers 
of  the  Corps  of  Eoyal  Engineers  ;  War  Office 
Eecords ;  also  Eoyal  Society  Transactions ; 
Eoyal  Engineer  Eecords  ;  War  Office  Kecords.] 

E.  H.  V. 

PORTLOCK,  NATHANIEL  (1748?- 
1817),  captain  in  the  navy,  and  author,  born 
about  1748,  entered  the  navy  in  1772  as  an 
'able  seaman'  on  board  the  St.  Albans,  with 
Captain  (afterwards  Sir)  Charles  Douglas 
[q.  v.]  He  had  probably  been  previously  mate, 


Portlock 


199 


Portman 


or  perhaps  master,  of  a  merchantman,  and 
Douglas,  recognising  his  worth,  placed  him 
on  the  quarterdeck  as  a  midshipman.  He 
afterwards  served  in  the  Ardent  and  in  the 
Ramillies,  guardships  in  the  Medway,  and  in 
1776  was  entered  on  board  the  Discovery, 
where  he  was  rated  as  master's  mate  by  Cap- 
tain Charles  Clerke  [q.  v.]  He  continued  in 
her  during  the  celebrated  voyage  of  circum- 
navigation [see  COOK,  JAMES,  1728-1779], 
till,  in  August  1779,  he  was  moved  into  the 
Resolution.  On  returning  to  England  he 
passed  his  examination  on  7  Sept.  1780,  when 
he  was  officially  stated  to  be  '  more  than  32 ' 
(Passing  Certificate).  On  14  Sept.  1780  he 
was  promoted  to  be  lieutenant  of  the  Fire- 
brand, attached  to  the  Channel  fleet .  In  May 
1785  he  was  appointed  by  the  King  George's 
Sound  Company  to  command  the  King 
George,  a  vessel  of  320  tons,  and  an  expe- 
dition to  the  north-west  coast  of  North 
America.  She  sailed  from  Gravesend  on 
29  Aug.  1785,  in  company  with  the  smaller 
ship  Queen  Charlotte,  commanded  by  George 
Dixon  [q.  v.]  On  19  July  1786  they  arrived 
at  Cook's  River,  and,  after  some  stay  there, 
ranged  along  the  coast,  sighted  Mount  St. 
Elias,  and  on  29  Sept.  sailed  for  the  Sand- 
wich Islands.  There  they  wintered,  return- 
ing to  the  American  coast  in  the  spring. 
When  winter  approached  they  again  sought 
the  Sandwich  Islands,  and,  after  having  re- 
fitted there  and  refreshed  the  men,  sailed  for 
Macao  and  England.  They  anchored  in  Mar- 
gate roads  on  24  Aug.  1788.  In  the  follow- 
ing year  he  published  *  A  Voyage  round  the 
World,  but  more  particularly  to  the  North- 
West  Coast  of  America  .  .  .  ,'  4to,  1789. 
Though  rich  in  geographical  results,  the 
voyage  was  primarily  intended  to  open  out 
the  fur  trade,  in  which  object  it  was  fully 
successful. 

In  1791  Portlock  was  appointed  to  com- 
mand the  Assistant  brig,  going  out  as  tender 
to  the  Providence,  which  had  been  ordered 
to  the  Pacific  to  bring  bread-fruit  plants  to 
the  West  Indies  [see  BLIGH,  WILLIAM]. 
The  ships  returned  to  England  in  August 
1793,  and  on  4  Nov.  Portlock  was  promoted 
to  the  rank  of  commander.  In  1799  he  com- 
manded the  Arrow  sloop,  with  the  tremen- 
dous armament  of  twenty-eight  32-pounder 
carronades,  fitted  on  the  non-recoil  principle 
suggested  by  Sir  Samuel  Bentham  [q.  v.] 
(JAMES,  Naval  Hist.  i.  456),  and  on  9  Sept. 
captured  the  Dutch  ship  Draak,  at  anchor 
in  the  narrow  passage  between  Vlie  and  Har- 
lingen  (ib.  ii.  388).  On  28  Sept.  Portlock 
was  advanced  to  post  rank,  but  he  does  not 
.seem  to  have  had  any  further  service  afloat. 
During  his  later  years  his  health  was  much 


broken.  In  1816  he  was  admitted  to  Green- 
wich Hospital,  where  he  died  on  12  Sept. 
1817.  A  portrait,  engraved  by  Mazell  after 
Dodd,  is  prefixed  to  his  l  Voyage  round  the 
World.'  His  son,  Joseph  Ellison  Portlock, 
is  noticed  separately. 

[Marshall's  Eoyal  Naval  Biogr.  iv.  (vol.  ii. 
pt.  ii.),  630,  and  vi.  (Suppl.  pt.  ii.)  386-7;  his 
Voyageround  the  World;  Pay  book  of  Kesolution 
and  other  documents  in  the  Public Kecord Office; 
Gent.  Mag.  1817,  ii.  379.]  J.  K  L. 

PORTMAN,  EDWARD  BERKELEY, 

VISCOUNT  PORTMAN  (1799-1888),  born  on 
9  July  1799,  was  son  of  Edward  Berkeley 
Portman  (d.  1823)  of  Bryanston  and  Orchard 
Portman,  Dorset,  by  his  first  wife,  Lucy,  elder 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Whitby  of  Cress- 
well  Hall,  Staffordshire.  He  was  educated 
at  Eton  and  at  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  where 
he  graduated  with  first-class  honours,  B.A. 
1821,  M.A.  1826.  As  a  liberal  he  sat  for 
Dorset  from  1823  to  1832,  and  for  Marylebone 
from  12  Dec.  1832  to  March  1833,  being  the 
first  member  to  represent  that  constituency 
after  the  Reform  Act.  On  27  Jan.  1837  he 
was  created  Baron  Portman  of  Orchard  Port- 
man, and  raised  to  be  Viscount  Portman  of 
Bryanston  on  28  March  1873.  For  some  time 
he  was  a  prominent  speaker  in  the  House  of 
Lords.  He  was  lord  lieutenant  of  the  county 
of  Somerset  from  22  May  1839  to  June  1864, 
a  commissioner  and  councillor  of  the  duchy  of 
Cornwall  on  19  Aug.  1840,  a  councillor  of  the 
duchy  of  Lancaster  on  13  Feb.  1847,  and  lord 
warden  of  the  stannaries  and  high  steward  of 
the  duchy  of  Cornwall  from  20  Jan.  1865  to 
his  decease.  He  was  an  active  supporter  of 
the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  from  its 
commencement  in  1838,  and  served  as  pre- 
sident in  1846,  1856,  and  1862.  He  was  a 
considerable  breeder  of  Devon  cattle  and  of 
improved  Alderney  cows.  He  died  at  Bryan- 
ston on  19  Nov.  1888. 

He  married,  on  16  June  1827,  Lady  Emma, 
third  daughter  of  Henry  Lascelles,  second 
earl  of  Harewood.  She  died  on  8  Feb.  1865, 
leaving  six  children :  William  Henry  Berke- 
ley, who  succeeded  to  the  peerage ;  Edwin 
Berkeley,  barrister-at-law ;  Maurice  Berke- 
ley, a  niember  of  the  Canadian  parliament ; 
Walter  Berkeley,  rector  of  Corton-Denham, 
Somerset ;  and  two  daughters. 

[Doyle's  Baronage,  1886,  p.  68  ;  Times,  20  Nov. 

1888,  p.  10  ;  Illustrated  London  News,  12  July 
1862,  p.  57,  with  portrait,  11  April  1863,  p.  400, 
with  portrait ;    Journal  Eoyal  Agricultural  Soc. 

1889,  p.  vi.]  GK  C.  B. 

PORTMAN,  SIB  WILLIAM  (d.  1557), 
judge,  was  the  son  of  John  Portman,  who 
was  buried  in  the  Middle  Temple  Church  on 


Portman 


200 


Pory 


5  June  1521,  by  Alice,  daughter  of  William 
Knoell  of  Samford  Ocas,  Dorset.  His  family- 
belonged  to  Somerset,  and  he  was  in  the 
commission  of  the  peace  for  that  county 
from  time  to  time.  He  was  a  barrister  who 
was  successful  enough  to  be  personally 
known  to  the  king.  In  1533  Henry  gave  him 
a  wardship,  and  he  was  one  of  the  admini- 
strators of  the  will  of  Catherine  of  Aragon. 
He  was  made  a  judge  in  1547,  and  knighted 
by  Edward  VI.  When  Richard  (afterwards 
Lord)  Rich  [q.  v.]  was  ill,  Portman  was  one 
of  those  who,  by  patent  of  26  Oct.  1551,  were 
commissioned  to  despatch  chancery  matters ; 
and  in  the  following  January  he  was  com- 
missioned to  aid  the  lord-keeper,  the  bishop  of 
Ely,  in  similar  affairs.  He  seems  to  have  been 
of  the  old  way  of  thinking  in  religious  matters. 
He  found  no  difficulty  in  keeping  office  under 
Mary ;  and  he  followed  Day,  the  bishop  of  Chi- 
chester,  in  persuading  Sir  James  Hales  [q.  v.] 
to  abjure  protestantism  in  1554.  The  same 
year  he  was  made  chief  justice.  He  died  early 
in  1556-7,  and  was  buried,  with  a  stately 
funeral,  on  10  Feb.  1556-7  at  St.  Dunstan's 
in  the  West,  London.  He  married  Elizabeth, 
daughter  and  heiress  of  John  Gilbert,  and  con- 
nected by  descent  with  the  legal  family  of 
Fitzjames.  By  her  he  had  a  son  Sir  Henry, 
who  died  in  1590,  and  a  daughter  Mary,  who 
married  John  Stowell. 

[Visitation  of  Somerset  (Harl.  Soc.  127); 
Letters  and  Papers  of  Henry  VIII,  v.  1694, 
xni.  i.  1023;  Dixon's  Hist,  of  the  Church  of 
Engl.  iii.  230 ;  Hooper's  Works  (Parker  Soc.),  ii. 
378  ;  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  1547-50,  pp.  42, 
265,  1552-4  p.  21,  1554-6  pp.  22,  &c. ;  Strype's 
Eccles.  Mem.  i.  ii.  253,  n.  i.  24,  521,  ii.  205,  207, 
253,  in,  i.  274,  511,  ii.  261.]  W.  A.  J.  A. 

PORTMAN,  SIR  WILLIAM  (1641  ?- 
1690),  captor  of  the  Duke  of  Monmouth,  the 
descendant  of  an  old  Somerset  family,  was 
eldest  son  of  Sir  William  Portman  (1610- 
1648)  of  Orchard  Portman,  fifth  baronet,  by 
Anna,  daughter  and  coheiress  of  John  Colles 
of  Barton.  The  father  was  returned  for 
Taunton  to  both  the  Short  and  Long  par- 
liaments of  1640,  but  was  disabled,  as  a 
royalist,  to  sit  on  5  Feb.  1643-4.  On  his  death 
in  1648,  William  succeeded  him  as  sixth 
baronet.  He  matriculated  from  All  Souls' 
College,  Oxford,  26  April  1659,  and  at  the 
Restoration  was  made  a  knight  of  the  Bath. 
He  represented  Taunton  in  parliament  from 
1661  until  1679,  and  from  1685  till  his 
death.  From  1679  to  1681  he  sat  for  the 
county  of  Somerset.  Putting  aside  Sir 
Edward  Seymour  [q.  v.],  he  was  accounted 
as  influential  a  tory  as  any  in  the  west  of 
England.  He  was  a  strong  '  abhorrer '  dur- 
ing the  crisis  in  Charles  II's  reign,  and  while 


attending  parliament  in  May  1685  he  re- 
ceived a  mysterious  warning  of  Monmouth's- 
impending  insurrection  in  the  west.  He 
directed  the  search  of  post-coaches  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Taunton,  in  the  hope  of 
intercepting  treasonable  correspondence,  and 
took  an  active  part  in  investigating  the  causes 
of  disaffection,  and  later  on  in  organising  the 
militia.  After  the  battle  of  Sedgmoor  (6  July 
1685)  Portman,  with  the  Somerset  militia,, 
formed  a  chain  of  posts  from  Poole  to  the 
northern  extremity  of  Dorset,  with  a  view 
to  preventing  Monmouth's  escape.  On  8  July 
he  and  Lord  Lumley  captured  the  fugitive 
near  Ringwood  in  the  New  Forest,  and  did 
not  trust  him  out  of  their  sight  until  he  was 
delivered  safe  at  Whitehall. 

Three  years  later  Portman's  affection  for 
the  English  church  proved  stronger  than  his 
devotion  to  James,  and  in  November  1688 
he  joined  the  Prince  of  Orange  at  Exeter 
with  a  large  following.  William  is  said 
to  have  intended  him  for  high  promotion,, 
but  he  died  at  his  seat  of  Orchard  Portman,. 
near  Taunton,  on  20  March  1689-90  (LuT- 
TRELL),  leaving  'an  estate  of  8,000/.  a 
year'  to  his  nephew,  Henry  Seymour  (d. 
1728),  a  brother  of  Sir  Edward,  who  as- 
sumed the  name  and  arms  of  Portman.  Sir 
William  was  elected  F.R.S.  on  28  Dec.  1664. 
He  married  thrice,  but  had  no  issue.  His  de- 
scendant, William  Henry  Portman,  gave  his 
name  to  Portman  Square  (begun  in  1764), 
and  was  ancestor  of  Edward  Berkeley  Port- 
man, viscount  Portman  [q.  v.]  Bryanston 
Square  is  named  after  the  seat  and  estate 
purchased  by  Sir  William  in  Dorset  shortly 
before  his  death. 

[Foster's  Alumni  Oxon  ;  Burke's  Peerage,  s.v. 
'Portman  ;'  Roberts's  Life  of  Monmouth,  i.  213, 
215,  ii.  105,  110,  122,  sq.  314  ;  Macaulay's  Hi?t. 
1886,1.301,  577;  Luttrell's  Diary,  i.  478,  ii. 
23;  Collins's  Peerage,  i.  195;  Eachard's  His- 
tory, bk.  iii.  p.  770;  Burnet's  Own  Time,  i, 
664  ;  London  Gazette  ;  Wheatley  and  Cunning- 
ham's London,  ii.  110  ;  Walford's  Old  and  New 
London,  iv.  412.]  T.  S. 

PORTMORE,  first  EAEL  or.  [See  COL- 
YEAR,  SIR  DAVID,  d.  1730.] 

PORTSMOUTH,  DUCHESS  or.  [See 
KEKOTJALLE,  LOUISE  RENEE  DE,  1649-1734.] 

PORTSMOUTH,  first  EAEL  or.  [See 
WALLOP,  JOHN,  1690-1742.] 

PORTU,  MAURITIUS  DE  (d.  1513), 
archbishop  of  Tuam.  [See  O'FiHELT,  MATJ- 

KICE.] 

PORY,  JOHN  (d.  1573?),  master  of 
Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge,  born  at 
Thrapstone,  Northamptonshire,  was  admitted 
to  Corpus  Christi  College  in  1520,  and  gra- 


Pory 


2OI 


Pory 


duated  B.A.  in  1523-4,  M.A.  in  1527,  B.D 
in  1535,  and  D.D.  in  1557.  He  was  elected 
about  1534  fellow  of  Corpus  and  also  of  the 
college  of  St.  John  the  Baptist  at  Stoke-by- 
Clare,  Suffolk,  where  Matthew  Parker  [q.  v.J 
to  whose  friendship  Pory  owed  his  prefer- 
ments, was  dean.  In  1557  Pory  was  elected 
master  of  Corpus,  and  on  13  Dec.  of  the  year 
following  he  became  vice-chancellor  of  the 
university. 

From  1555  to  1564  Pory  was  rector  of 
Bunwell,  Norfolk ;  from  1555  or  1556  till 
1561  vicar  of  St.  Stephen's,  Norwich  ;  from 
1558  to  1569  rector  of  Landbeach,  Cambridge- 
shire ;  from  21  Dec.  1559-60  prebendary  of 
Ely ;  from  19  Aug.  1560  rector  of  Pulham 
St.  Mary,  Norfolk ;  and  from  1  May  1564 
prebendary  of  Canterbury,  resigning  this  pre- 
bend in  1567  for  the  seventh  stall  at  West- 
minster (LE  NEVE,  i.  53,  iii.  355). 

On  the  visit  of  the  queen  to  Cambridge  in 
August  1564  he  was  one  of  the  four  senior 
doctors  who  held  the  canopy  over  her  as  she 
entered  King's  College  Chapel  (NICHOLS,  Pro- 
gresses of  Eliz.  i.  163).  He  also  took  part  in 
the  divinity  act  held  before  the  queen  on  the 
thesis  '  major  est  scripturse  quam  ecclesige 
auctoritas.'  He  afterwards  attended  Eliza- 
beth when  she  visited  Oxford  in  1566,  and 
was  incorporated  there.  During  his  master- 
ship a  new  library  was  fitted  up  in  the  col- 
lege, the  north  side  of  which  was  reserved 
for  the  manuscripts  which  Archbishop  Parker 
was  intending  to  present.  Pory  persuaded 
the  archbishop  to  increase  the  endowments 
of  his  old  college,  and  showed  anxiety  to  turn 
them  to  a  useful  purpose.  But  he  declined 
to  resign  his  mastership  when  disabled  by 
failing  health  from  performing  his  duties, 
and  Parker  instigated  complaints  against 
him  before  the  ecclesiastical  commissioners. 
Much  pressure  was  needed  before  Pory  con- 
sented to  withdraw.  Thomas  Aldrich  was 
appointed  master  of  Corpus  on  3  Feb.  1569-70 
(Parker  Corresp,  p.  356).  Pory  gave  up  all 
his  preferments  about  the  same  time,  and  is 
held  to  have  died  in  1573.  One  John  Pory 
acted  as  one  of  the  two  conductor  yeomen 
at  Parker's  funeral  on  6  June  1575. 

[Cooper's  Athense  Cantabr. ;  Bentham's  Hist. 
andAntiq.  of  Ely,  p.  244;  Strype's  Works,  index; 
Le  Neve ;  Eymer's  Fcedera,  vol.  xv. ;  Symon 
Gunton's  Hist,  of  Church  of  Peterborough ; 
Masters's  Hist,  of  Corpus  Christi ;  Wood's  Fasti, 
i.  175;  Blomefield's  Norfolk ;  Willis's  Survey  of 
Cath.  ii.  378;  State  Papers,  Dom.  Eliz.  ubi 
supra;  Nichols's  Progresses  of  Eliz.  i.  163  ;  Cole 
MSS.  5813  f.  60,  5807  f.  33,  5843  f.  441  ;  Lans- 
downe,  12,  No.  35,  fol.  12,  and  981,  fol.  58; 
Willis  and  Clark's  Arch.  Hist,  of  C.  i.  253, 
255,  267.]  W.  A.  S. 


PORY,  JOHN  (1570  P-1635),  traveller 
and  geographer,  born  about  1570,  may  have 
been  grandson  or  nephew  of  John  Pory,  D.D. 
(U  1573  ?)  [q.  v.]  He  entered  Gonville  and 


Caius  College,  Cambridge,  in  1587,  graduated 
B.A.  1591-2,  and  M.A.  1595,  and  was  incor- 
porated M.A.  at  Oxford  on  18  April  1610. 
After  leaving  Cambridge  about  1597,  Pory 


three  or  more  years  assisted  and  encouraged 
him  in  the  study  of  cosmography,  conceiving 
him  possessed  of  ( special  skill  and  extraordi- 
nary hope' to  performe  great  matters  in  the 
same,  and  beneficial  for  the  common  wealth ' 
(HAKLUYT,  Voyages,  1600,  vol.  iii.  dedication). 
At  Hakluyt's  instigation,  Pory  translated, 
with  some  notes  of  his  own, '  A  Geographical 
Historie  of  Africa,  written  in  Arabicke  and 
Italian  by  John  Leo,  a  More/  London,  1600r 
sm.  fol.     A  copy  is  in  the  Grenville  Library. 
The  work,  which  was  reprinted  by  Samuel 
Purchas  [q.  v.]  in  part  ii.  of  his  'Pilgrimes,' 
brought  Pory  considerable  notoriety.  He  was 
returned  to  parliament  as  a  member  for  the 
borough  of  Bridgwater,  Somerset,  on  5  Nov. 
1605,  and  settled  in  London.  He  became  in- 
timate with  Sir  Robert  Cotton  (Addit.  MS. 
4176,  fol.  14).     In  the  autumn  of  1607  he 
travelled  in  France  and  the  Low  Countries, 
and  sought  the  support  of  Dudley  Carleton 
in  a  scheme  for  introducing  silk-loom  stock- 
ing weaving  into  England  (Gal.  State  Papers, 
Dom.  1611-1618,  p.  54).  He  was  still  in  parlia- 
ment on  17  July  1610  (Wixwoov,  Memorials, 
iii.  193),  but  retired  shortly  after.  On  21  May 
1611  he  obtained  license  to  travel  for  three 
years  (Gal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1611-18,  p. 
33),  and  some  months  later  he  accompanied 
Lord  Carew,  first  to  Ireland  and  afterwards 
to  Paris.  There  in  January  1612  he  delivered 
to  Cardinal  Perron  a  treatise  written  by  Isaac 
Casaubon  [q.  v.]  and  the  bishop  of  Ely,  in 
answer  to  a  letter  from  the  cardinal  to  the 
king,  and  he  handed  to  Thuanus,  the  his- 
torian, some  materials  collected  for  his  use 
by  Sir  Robert  Cotton  and  Camden.  In  1613 
he  went  through  Turin  to  Venice  (Court  and 
Times  of  James  I,  i.  255),  and  thence  passed 
to  Constantinople,  where  he  was  patronised 
by  Sir  Paul  Pindar  [q.  v.]     He  remained  in 
Turkey  until  January  1616.  In  1617  Carleton 
wrote  from  The  Hague  that '  if  Pory  had  done 
with  Constantinople  and  could  forbear  the 
pot  (which  is  hard  in  this  country),  he  shall  be 
welcome  unto  me  [as  a  secretary],  for  I  love 
an  old  friend,  and  he  shall  be  sure  of  good 
usage '  (ib.  ii.  29).    After  a  brief  visit  to  Lon- 
don he  spent  part  of  1617  in  Turin  with  Sir 
Isaac  Wake,  ambassador  to  Savoy  ($.p.  521). 


Pory 


202 


Post 


At  the  end  of  1619  he  went  to  America  as 
secretary  to  Sir  George  Yeardley,  governor 
of  the  colony  of  Virginia.  In  November 
1621  he  and  his  chief  returned  to  England, 
but  in  1623  Pory  went  back  to  Virginia  as 
one  of  the  commissioners  to  inquire  into  its 
condition.  He  finally,  in  1624,  settled  in 
London  for  the  remainder  of  his  life,  corre- 
sponding regularly  with  Joseph  Mead  [q.  v.], 
Sir  Thomas  Puckering  [q.  v.],  Lord  Brooke, 
Sir  Robert  Cotton,  and  others.  He  died  in 
London  in  September  1635. 

His  letters,  of  which  twenty-three  ori- 
ginals, and  more  than  forty  copies,  by  Dr. 
Thomas  Birch  [q.  v.],  are  in  the  British 
Museum  (Jul.  C.  iii.  if.  298,  301,  303,  305, 
307;  Harl  MS.  7000,  ff.  314-50;  &iidAddit. 
MSS.  4161,  4176, 4177,  4178),  supply  much 
valuable  historical  information.  Fourteen 
were  printed  by  Dr.  Birch  in  '  The  Court  and 
Times  of  James  I.' 

[Venn's  Admissions  to  Gronville  and  Caius,  p. 
64;  Maty's  New  Keview,  1784,  v.  123;  Arber's 
Transcript  of  the  Stationers'  Eegister,  iii.  64 ; 
Ames's  Typogr.  Antiq.  ii.  1153;  Court  and 
Times  of  James  I,  i.  41,  42,  65,  135,  194,  255, 
388,  443,  450,  ii.  11,  14,  29,  30,  32,  52,  64; 
Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1603-10  pp.  368,  579, 
1611-18,  passim  ;  Chalmers's  Biogr.  .Diet.  ; 
Wood's  Fasti,  i.  187.]  C.  F.  S. 

PORY  or  POKEY,  ROBERT  (1608  P- 
1669),  archdeacon  of  Middlesex,  son  of 
Robert  Pory,  was  born  in  London,  probably 
about  1608.  He  was  educated  at  St.  Paul's 
School  under  the  elder  Gill,  and  went  up 
with  his  class-fellow,  John  Milton,  to 
Christ's  College,  Cambridge,  where  he  was 
admitted  a  lesser  pensioner  28  Feb.  1624-5. 
He  graduated  B.A.  1628,  M.A.  1632,  B.D. 
1639,  D.D.  (per  literas  regias)  1660.  In 
1631,  on  the  birth  of  the  Princess  Mary, 
4  Nov.,  he  contributed  to  the  'Genethlia- 
cum'  put  forth  by  his  university.  On 
20  Sept.  1640  he  was  collated  to  the 
rectory  of  St.  Margaret's,  New  Fish  Street, 
London  (which  he  resigned  before  18  Aug. 
1660),  and  in  November  following  to  that  of 
Thorley,  Hertfordshire.  On  the  breaking 
out  of  the  civil  war  he  was,  according  to 
Newcourt  (Repertorium,  i.  83  ra.), '  plundered 
and  sequestred,'  but  his  name  does  not  appear 
in  Walker's  'Sufferings  of  the  Clergy.' 

At  the  Restoration  preferments  were 
showered  upon  him.  On  2  Aug.  1660  he 
was  made  D.D.  by  royal  mandate,  along 
with  Thomas  Fuller  and  others  (BAILEY, 
Life  of  Fuller,  p.  872  rc.)  On  20  July  1660 
he  was  collated  both  to  the  rectory  of  St. 
Botolph,  Bishopsgate  Street,  London  (re- 
signed before  22  May  1663),  and  to  the 


archdeaconry  of  Middlesex  (LsNEVE,  Fasti). 
The  articles  on  his  visitation  in  1662  were 
printed.  On  16  Oct.  (but,  according  to  Le 
Neve,  16  Aug.)  1660  he  was  installed  pre- 
bendary of  Willesden,  in  the  diocese  of  Lon- 
don, and  before  the  year  was  out  was  made 
chaplain  to  Archbishop  Juxon.  In  February 
1661  he  was  instituted  to  the  rectory  of  Hol- 
lingbourne,  Kent ;  in  1662  to  that  of  Much 
Hadham,  Hertfordshire;  and  in  the  same 
year  to  the  rectory  of  Lambeth.  On  19  July 
1663  he  was  incorporated  D.D.  of  Oxford. 
He  died  before  25  Nov.  1669,  when  Dr. 
Henchman  was  admitted  to  the  rectory  of 
Hadham.  Pory  was  licensed,  21  Sept.  1640, 
to  marry  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Thomas 
Juxon  of  Chichester,  a  relative  of  the  arch- 
bishop. 

It  is  said  that  l  Poor  Robin's  Almanack,' 
the  first  edition  of  which  appeared  in  1663, 
was  so  entitled  in  derision  of  him.  It  pro- 
fessed to  bear  his  imprimatur  (WooD,  Fasti, 
pt.  ii.  col.  267  ;  cf.  PEAT,  THOMAS). 

[Lansdowne  MS.  986  ;  Masson's  Life  of 
Milton,  i.  79,  88,  603;  Fosters  Alumni  Oxo- 
nienses  ;  Gardiner's  Admission  Registers  of 
St.  Paul's  School ;  Lysons's  Environs  of  London, 
i.  294.]  J.  H.  L. 

POST,  JACOB  (1774-1855),  quaker,  son 
of  John  and  Rosamund  Post,  was  born  at 
Whitefriars,  London,  on  12  Sept.  1774.  He 
was  educated  at  Ackworth  school  from  1782 
to  1787,  and  subsequently  settled  at  Isling- 
ton. He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
North  London  and  Islington  Auxiliary  of 
the  Bible  Society  in  1812,  and  took  a  lively 
interest  in  it  until  his  death  at  the  age  of 
eighty  on  1  April  1855.  His  wife  died  on 
14  Feb.  1844.  A  clever  and  promising  son, 
Frederick  James,  died,  aged  eighteen,  in  1837. 
His  father  edited,  for  private  circulation, 
'  Extracts  from  his  Diary  and  other  Manu- 
scripts, with  a  Memoir,'  London,  1838. 

Post's  principal  works,  consisting  of  popu- 
lar expositions  of  the  history  and  belief  of 
the  Society  of  Friends,  are :  1.  <  Some  Popu- 
lar Customs  amongst  Christians  questioned 
and  compared  with  Gospel  Precepts  and 
Examples,'  London,  12mo,  1839.  2.  '  On 
the  History  and  Mystery  of  (those  called) 
the  Sacraments  :  shewing  them  to  be  Jewish 
Institutions,  and  not  Ordinances  appointed 
by  Christ  to  be  observed  in  His  Church,' 
London,  1846.  3.  '  Some  Reasons  for  con- 
tinuing to  refuse  the  Payment  of  all  Eccle- 
siastical Demands,'  1849 ;  a  reply  to  Jona- 
than Barrett's  '  Reasons  for  ceasing  to  re- 
fuse,' &c.  4.  <  The  Bible  the  Book  for  All,' 
12mo,  1848  ;  reprinted,  with  additions,  1849 
and  1856.  5.  '  Instructive  Narratives  for 
the  Young,  in  a  Series  of  Visions  and 


Poste 


203 


Postgate 


Dreams  from  the  Bible/  London,  1848 
6.  '  A  Summary  of  the  Principles  and  Doc- 
trines of  the  Christian  Religion  (as  taught 
in  the  Bible),'  1849 ;  reprinted,  London, 

1850.  7.    <  Uncle's  Visit   at   the  Villa,  or 
Evening    Conversations    with    his   Sister's 
Grandchildren  on  some  of  the  distinguishing 
Peculiarities  of  the  Society  of  Friends,'  Lon- 
don, 1849.     8.  «  A  Popular  Memoir  of  Wil- 
liam Penn/  London,  1850.     9.  '  The  Origin, 
History,  and  Doctrine  of  Baptisms,'  London, 

1851.  10.  '  A  Brief  Memoir  of  George  Fox 
.  .  .  for  the  Information  of  Strangers,'  Lon- 
don, 1854.     11.  'A  Compendium  of  Chris- 
tian Doctrine  and  Precepts,  as  taught  in  the 
Bible,'  London,  12mo,  1854. 

[Diary  of  Frederick  James  Post ;  Smith's 
Cat.  ii.  428 ;  Nodal's  Bibl.  of  Ackworth  School, 
p.  25 ;  Annual  Monitor,  1856  p.  155, 1845  p.  102; 
Eegisters  at  Devonshire  House.]  C.  F.  S. 

POSTE,  BEALE  (1793-1871),  divine 
and  antiquary,  of  an  ancient  Kentish  family, 
was  second  son  of  William  Poste,  one  of  the 
four  common  pleaders  of  the  city  of  London. 
Born  in  1793  at  Hayle  Place,  his  father's 
seat  near  Maidstone,  Kent,  he  entered  Trinity 
Hall,  Cambridge  (LuAKD,  Gfrad.  Cant.  p.  416), 
but  left  the  university  at  an  early  age,  tra- 
velled on  the  continent,  returned,  took  holy 
orders,  and  married  (in  1817)  before  gra- 
duating LL.B.  in  1819.  He  was  for  some 
years  curate  of  High  Halden,  and  then  of 
Milstead,  both  in  Kent.  At  Milstead  he  de- 
voted himself  to  the  study  of  archaeology. 
He  was  one  of  the  earliest  members  of  the 
Archaeological  Association,  and  many  papers 
from  his  pen  appeared  in  their  ' Journal.'  He 
removed  about  1851  to  Bydews  Place,  near 
Maidstone,  where  he  died  on  15  April  1871. 

By  his  wife  Mary  Jane,  daughter  of  John 
Cousens,  esq.,  of  Westbourne,  Sussex,  who 
died  two  years  before  her  husband,  he  had 
three  sons  and  four  daughters.  His  third 
son,  Edward,  is  director  of  civil  service  ex- 
aminations. 

His  works,  dealing  principally  with  early 
British  history,  evidence  the  most  painstaking 
research.  They  are :  1.  '  History  of  the  Col- 
lege of  All  Saints,'  Maidstone,  1847,  8vo. 
2.  'The  Coins  of  Cimobeline  and  of  the 
Ancient  Britons,'  1853,  8vo.  3.  'Britannic 
Researches,  or  New  Facts  and  Rectifications 
of  Ancient  British  History/  1853,  8vo. 
4.  'Britannia  Antiqua  :  Ancient  Britain 
brought  within  the  Limits  of  Authentic 
History/ 1857, 8vo.  5. '  Celtic  Inscriptions  on 
Gaulish  and  British  Coins,  intended  to  supply 
Materials  for  the  Early  History  of  Great 
Britain ;  with  a  Glossary  of  Archaic  Celtic 
Words  and  an  Atlas  of  Coins,'  1861,  8vo. 


[Berry's  Kent  Pedigrees,  p.  20;  Allibone's 
Diet,  of  Engl.  Lit. ;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat. ;  Guardian, 
1871,  p.  491;  AthenEeum  for  1853,  1857,  1861; 
Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.]  E.  G-.  H. 

POSTGATE,  JOHN  (1820-1881),  initia- 
tor of  the  laws  against  adulteration,  the  son 
of  a  Scarborough  builder,  Thomas  Postgate, 
by  his  wife  Jane,  born  Wade,  was  descended 
from  an  ancient  Roman  catholic  family  of 
Yorkshire,  of  which  a  representative,  Nicho- 
las Postgate  (1597-1679),  was  executed  at 
York  during  the  panic  caused  by  the '  popish 
plot.'  This  Nicholas,  born  at  Egton  in  York- 
shire, was  ordained  at  Douay  on  20  March 
1628,  and  served  the  English  mission  in  the 
district  of  Ugthorpe,  near  Whitby,  where 
the  farm  at  which  he  resided  is  still  known 
by  his  name.  He  was  apprehended  for  bap- 
tising a  child  according  to  the  Roman  rite, 
indicted  at  York  assizes  under  the  old  penal 
statute  of  27  Eliz.,  and  executed  on  7  Aug. 
1679.  A  hymn  that  he  composed  in  York 
Castle  '  is  even  now  used  in  the  wild  moor- 
lands about  Ugthorpe '  (cf.  FOLEY,  Society  of 
Jesus,  v.  760 ;  PEACOCK,  Yorkshire  Catholics, 
p.  98  ;  RAINE,  York  Castle  Depositions.) 

Born  at  Scarborough  on  21  Oct.  1820, 
John  Postgate  started  life  as  a  grocer's  boy 
at  the  age  of  eleven.  In  1834  he  went  as 
assistant  to  a  surgeon  at  the  modest  salary 
of  2s.  Qd.  a  week.  His  leisure  hours  he  de- 
voted to  self-improvement,  working  hard 
at  Latin,  chemistry,  and  botany,  and  at  the 
age  of  seventeen  he  wrote  and  published  in 
the  '  Yorkshire  Magazine  '  a  paper  on  l  Rare 
Plants  and  their  Properties.'  He  subse- 
quently attended  lectures  at  the  Leeds  school 
of  medicine ;  in  July  1845  he  qualified  at 
Apothecaries'  Hall,  and  earned  the  means  to 
continue  his  education  by  acting  as  assistant 
to  a  firm  in  the  east  of  London.  He  then 
attended  the  London  Hospital,  satisfied  the 
College  of  Surgeons  in  1844,  and  settled  in 
May  1851  at  Birmingham,  where  he  soon 
acquired  a  position  of  influence.  Three  years 
later  he  obtained  the  fellowship  of  the  Col- 
lege of  Surgeons,  and  thenceforward  com- 
menced his  lifelong  crusade  against  the  adul- 
teration of  food  substances,  into  the  secrets 
of  which  his  experience  as  a  grocer's  boy  had 
riven  him  a  grim  insight.  He  succeeded 
in  interesting  the  Birmingham  members, 
William  Scholefield  and  George  Frederick 
Muntz  [q.  v.],  in  the  matter,  and  on  26  June 
1855  Scholefield  moved  for  a  select  com- 
mittee of  inquiry  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
Postgate  was  frequently  examined,  and  by 
means  of  circulars  and  letters  he  kept  the 
question  before  the  public.  Meetings  were 
held  in  the  large  towns  of  the  north,  and 
samples  of  such  commodities  as  bread,  flour, 


Postgate 


204 


Postlethwaite 


ground  coffee,  mustard,  vinegar,  pepper, 
wine,  beer,  and  drugs,  as  adulterated  by  the 
local  retailers,  were  publicly  exhibited  and 
analysed.  The  local  appointment  of  public 
analysts,  coupled  with  the  bestowal  of  powers 
of  summary  jurisdiction  upon  the  magi- 
stracy, was  the  leading  feature  of  the  ma- 
chinery by  which  Postgate  proposed  to  re- 
press such  frauds,  and  his  suggestions  were 
substantially  embodied  in  the  recommenda- 
tions of  the  select  committee.  Altogether, 
no  fewer  than  nine  bills  dealing  with  adul- 
teration were  introduced  into  the  House  of 
Commons  by  the  members  for  Birmingham 
under  Postgate's  influence.  Their  efforts 
met  with  strenuous  opposition  from  retailers. 
At  length,  in  1860,  a  comparatively  gentle 
measure,  giving  local  authorities  the  option 
of  appointing  public  analysts,  with  powers 
of  prosecuting  offending  tradesmen,  became 
law.  It  was  to  remedy  the  manifest  defects 
of  this  permissive  and  largely  inoperative 
measure  that  Muntz,  at  Postgate's  instance, 
subsequently  introduced  the  Amendment 
Act,  which  eventually  became  law  in  1872. 
Other  suggestions  of  Postgate's  were  em- 
bodied in  the  Sale  of  Food  and  Drugs  Act 
of  1875.  This  legislation  was  followed  by 
similar  measures  in  the  British  colonies. 
Postgate  obtained  no  public  recognition  of 
any  kind  for  his  services.  He  took  an  active 
part  in  the  inauguration  in  Birmingham  of 
the  National  Association  for  the  Promotion 
of  Social  Science  in  1857.  Two  papers  by 
him  on  adulteration  were  published  in  the 
'Transactions'  for  1857  and  1868  respec- 
tively. On  7  May  1860  he  was  appointed 
professor  of  medical  jurisprudence  and  toxi- 
cology at  Queen's  College,  Birmingham.  His 
death  took  place  on  26  Sept.  1881  at  the 
London  Hospital,  whither  he  was  taken  by 
his  own  desire  upon  his  return  from  Neuenahr, 
near  Bonn,  in  a  dying  condition.  He  was 
buried  in  the  new  cemetery  at  Birmingham. 
His  epitaph  records  that,  for  '  twenty-five 
years  of  his  life,  without  reward,  and  under 
heavy  discouragement,  he  laboured  to  pro- 
tect the  health  and  to  purify  the  commerce 
of  this  people.'  Postgate  married,  in  -May 
1850,  Mary  Ann,  daughter  of  Joshua  Hor- 
wood  of  Driffield,  Yorkshire,  by  whom  he 
left  issue.  He  published  the  following  pam- 
phlets :  1. '  Sanitary  Aspects  of  Birmingham,' 
1852.  2.  '  A  Few  Words  on  Adulteration,' 
1857.  3.  'Medical  Services  and  Public  Pay- 
ments,' 1862. 

An  excellent  portrait  by  Vivian  Crome,  a 
grandson  of  *  Old  Crome,'  hangs  in  the 
council  chamber  at  Scarborough. 

[Times,  30  Sept.  1881  ;  The  Biograph  and  Re- 
view, May  1880;  Langford's  Modern  Birming- 


ham and  its  Institutions,  ii.  446-66 ;  Scar- 
borough Gazette,  19  Oct.  1882;  notes  kindly 
furnished  by  J.  P.  Postgate,  esq.,  Trinity  Col- 
lege, Cambridge.]  T.  S. 

POSTLETHWAITE,  THOMAS  (1731- 
1798),  master  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge, 
born  in  1731,  was  son  of  Richard  Postle- 
thwaite of  Crooklands,  Lancashire.  He  was 
educated  at  St.  Bees  School,  and  entered  at 
Trinity  College  as  a  subsizar  on  19  June  1749, 
set.  18.  He  was  elected  scholar  on  24  April 
1752,  sizars  at  that  time  not  being  allowed  to 
sit  for  scholarships  until  their  third  year.  He 
proceeded  B.A.  in  1753,  when  he  was  placed 
third  in  the  mathematical  tripos,  with  the 
reputation,  which  he  retained  through  life, 
of  being  one  of  the  best  mathematicians  in 
the  university.  The  dates  of  his  other  de- 
grees are  M.A.  1756,  B.D.  1768,  and  D.D. 
(by  royal  mandate)  1789.  He  was  elected 
fellow  in  1755,  held  the  usual  college  lec- 
tureships, and  from  1763  to  1776  was  tutor. 
He  was  steward  1764-6,  and  junior  dean 
1767-8.  In  1782  he  became  a  senior  fellow. 

He  must  have  been  popular  in  college,  for 
it  is  recorded  that  when,  on  Bishop  Hinch- 
liffe's  resignation  of  the  mastership  in  1789, 
Pitt  consulted  Dr.  Farmer  as  to  his  successor, 
Farmer  replied,  '  If  you  wish  to  oblige  the 
society,  appoint  Postlethwaite.'  As  master 
he  is  said  to  have  '  soon  discovered  that,  if  he 
was  alert,  he  and  the  seniors  should  be  at 
variance,  according  to  antient  usage ; '  and 
to  have  preferred  quiet  and  the  society  of  Dr. 
Craven,  master  of  St.  John's,  to  activity  in 
the  discharge  of  his  duties  (NICHOLS,  Illustr. 
of  Lit.  vi.  737).  During  his  tenure  of  the 
mastership  a  public  examination  for  fellow- 
ships and  an  annual  examination  of  under- 
graduates of  the  first  and  second  year  were 
established.  It  is,  however,  uncertain  how 
far  these  reforms  were  due  to  his  initiative. 
The  old  and  vicious  system  of  private  exami- 
nation for  fellowships  had  been  practically 
abolished  by  his  predecessor  ;  and  the  exami- 
nation of  undergraduates  was  established  by 
an  order  of  the  master  and  seniors  on  24  Feb. 
1790.  On  the  other  hand,  '  his  conduct  in 
passing  over  Richard  Porson  [q.  v.]  for  the 
lay  fellowship,  which  had  been  promised  to 
him,  and  bestowing  it  on  a  relative  of  his 
own,  John  Heys,  a  young  man  seven  years 
junior  to  Porson,  has  left  a  stigma  on  his 
memory '  (Luard  in  the  Trident,  i.  12). 

He  died  at  Bath  on  4  May  1798,  and  was 
buried  in  the  abbey  church,  where  there  is  a 
monument  to  his  memory  (in  the  north  aisle). 
There  is  a  portrait  of  him,  in  oils,  in  Trinity 
College  Lodge.  He  published  one  sermon,  on 
Isaiah  vii.  14-16,  preached  before  the  univer- 
sity on  24  Dec.  1780,  4to,  Cambridge,  1781. 


Postlethwayt 


205 


Postlethwayt 


[Gent.  Mag.  1728,  p.  447;  Nichols's  Illustra- 
tions of  Lit.  vi.  737;  Alumni  Westm.  ed.  1852, 
L34  ;   Watson's  Life  of  Person,  pp.  93,  386  ; 
mrd  in    Cambridge   Essays,    1857,    p.     144; 
Monk's  Life  of  Bentley,  ed.  1833,  p.  424  ;  Con- 
clusion Book  of  Trinity  College.]     J.  W.  C-K. 

POSTLETHWAYT,  JAMES  (d.  1761), 
writer  on  revenue,  probably  a  brother  of 
Malachy  Postlethwayt  [q.  v.],  published '  The 
History  of  the  Public  Revenue  from  the  Re- 
volution in  1688  to  ...  Christmas  1758,'  &c.. 
London,  1759,  obi.  4to.  This  work  is  one  of 
the  most  valuable  authorities  for  the  financial 
history  of  the  period  to  which  it  relates. 
Postlethwayt  also  devoted  some  attention 
to  vital  statistics.  He  published  a  '  Col- 
lection of  the  Bills  of  Mortality  from  1657 
to  1758  inclusive,'  with '  A  Comparative  View 
of  the  Diseases  and  Ages,  and  a  Table  of  the 
Probabilities  of  Life,  for  the  last  Thirty 
Years/  London,  1759, 4to.  He  died  in  Hatton 
Garden  on  6  Sept.  1761. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1761,  p.  430;  Sinclair's  Hist,  of 
the  Public  Eevenue,  pt.  ii.  pp.  61,  77,  100; 
McCulloch's  Literature  of  Political  Economy, 
pp.  272,  331.]  W.  A.  S.  H. 

POSTLETHWAYT,JOHN(1650-1713), 
chief  master  of  St.  Paul's  School,  born  8  Oct. 
1650,  was  fourth  son  of  Matthew  Postle- 
thwayt, and  Margaret  (Hunton).  His  father's 
family  had  long  been  settled  at  Bankside  in 
Millom,  Cumberland.  After  attending  the 
neighbouring  school  of  Whicham  (CARLISLE, 
^Endowed  Grammar  Schools,  i.  199),  he  went 
to  Merton  College,  Oxford,  where  he  gra- 
duated B.A.  1674,  M.A.  1678.  When  Dr. 
Tenison,  afterwards  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, established  the  school  known  by  his 
name  in  the  parish  of  St.  Martin-in-the- 
Fields,  of  which  he  became  rector  in  1680, 
Postlethwayt  was  appointed  master  of  it. 
In  this  office  he  showed  such  ability  that 
in  1697,  on  the  resignation  of  Dr.  Thomas 
Gale  [q.  v.],  he  was  chosen  high  master  of 
St.  Paul's.  The  strong  recommendation  given 
him  by  Tenison  is  printed  in  Stow,  ed.  Strype, 
i.  168.  Evelyn,  Bentley,  and  Wake,  the  future 
archbishop,  also  gave  him  testimonials. 

He  proved  an  eminent  schoolmaster,  and 
St.  Paul's  School  prospered  under  his  rule. 
When  his  strength  failed,  he  taught  in  his 
sick-chamber.  He  died  unmarried,  26  Sept. 
1713,  and  was  buried  in  St.  Augustine's, 
Old  Change,  on  the  30th.  By  his  will, 
dated  5  Sept.  1713,  he  bequeathed  the  ad- 
•vowson  of  Denton  rectory,  Norfolk,  which 
he  had  purchased  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  to 
Merton  College. 

A  voluminous  mass  of  Postlethwayt's 
correspondence  is  in  the  possession  of  a 
collateral  descendant,  Mr.  Albert  Harts- 


horne,  F.S.A.,  of  Bradbourne  Hall,  Derby- 
shire. It  shows,  among  other  matters  of 
interest,  that  the  establishment  of  the  lord 
almoner's  professorship  of  Arabic  at  Oxford 
was  due  to  Postlethwayt.  Through  Postle- 
thwayt's influence  with  William  III,  Arabic 
studentships,  as  they  were  at  first  called, 
were  established  in  Oxford  in  1699.  The 
first  holders  of  these  offices  under  the  crown 
were  two  of  Postlethwayt's  pupils,  John 
Wallis  and  Benjamin  Marshall. 

MATTHEW  POSTLETHWAYT  (1679-1745), 
a  nephew  of  the  preceding,  son  of  George 
and  Elizabeth  Postlethwayt,  graduated  B.A. 
1702-3,  M.A.  1706,  from  St.  John's  College, 
Cambridge.  In  1703  he  was  ordained  to  the 
cure  of  Whicham.  In  1707-8  he  became 
vicar  of  Shottesham  in  Norfolk  ;  and  in 
1714  rector  of  Denton,  of  which  his  uncle, 
John  Postlethwayt,  was  patron,  and  where, 
in  1718,  he  rebuilt  the  rectory-house.  In 
1742  he  was  made  archdeacon  of  Norwich 
and  rector  of  Redenhall,  Norfolk.  He  died 
in  1745.  His  portrait,  by  Cufaude,  shows 
him  to  have  been  a  tall,  spare,  dark-com- 
plexioned man.  He  was  twice  married,  first, 
to  Elizabeth  Rogerson,  and,  secondly,  to 
Matilda,  sister  of  Sir  Thomas  Gooch,  after- 
wards bishop  of  Norwich.  He  published  two 
sermons.  Some  of  his  correspondence  is  in 
vol.  6209  of  the  Additional  and  Egerton  MSS. 
in  the  British  Museum,  and  much  more  in 
the  possession  of  Mr.  Hartshorne. 

[Communication  by  Mr.  Hartshorne  in  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries,  2  Feb.  1888; 
Nichols's  Illustr.  of  Lit.  vi.  808-1 1  ;  Gardiner's 
Admission  Eegisters  of  St.  Paul's  School,  p.  65  ; 
Funeral  Sermon  by  Dr.  John  Hancock,  1713, 
entitled  The  Christian  Schoolmaster,  reprinted 
in  Wilford's  Memorials,  1741,  p.  511. J 

J.  H.  L. 

POSTLETHWAYT,  MALACHY 

(1707  P-1767),  economic  writer,  born  about 
1707,  was  elected  F.S.A.  on  21  March  1734. 
He  devoted  twenty  years  to  the  preparation  of 
'The  Universal  Dictionary  of  Trade  and  Com- 
merce,' London,  1751,  fol.  (3rd  edit.  London, 
1766,  fol. ;  4th  edit.  London,  1774,  fol.),  a 
translation,  with  large  additions,  from  the 
French  of  J.  Savary  des  Brulons.  Postle- 
thwayt collected  much  information,  freely 
plagiarising  other  writers,  but  presented  his 
results  without  method  or  conciseness.  He 
died  suddenly,  '  as  he  had  often  wished/  on 
13  Sept.  1767,  and  was  buried  in  Old  Street 
churchyard,  Clerkenwell. 

Postlethwayt  also  published:  1.  'The 
African  Trade  the  great  Pillar  and  Support 
of  the  British  Plantation  Trade  in  America,' 
&c.,  1745, 4to.  2.  t  The  Natural  and  Private 
Advantages  of  the  African  Trade  considered/ 


Pote 


206 


Potenger 


&c.,  1746,  8vo.  3.  'Considerations  on  the 
making  of  Bar  Iron  with  Pitt  or  Sea  Coal 
Fire,  &c.  In  a  Letter  to  a  Member  of  the 
House  of  Commons,'  London,  1747,  8vo. 

4.  '  Considerations  on  the  Eevival  of  the 
Roy  al-BritishAssiento,  bet  ween  his  Catholic 
Majesty  and  the  .  .  .  South-Sea  Company. 
"With  an  .  .  .  attempt  to  unite  the  African- 
Trade  to  that  of  the  South-Sea  Company,  by 
Act   of    Parliament/    London,    1749,   8vo. 

5.  '  The  Merchant's  Public  Counting  House, 
or  New  Mercantile  Institution,'  &c.,  London, 
1750,  4to.     6.  '  A  Short  State  of  the  Pro- 
gress of  the  French  Trade  and  Navigation/ 
&c.,  London,  1756, 8vo.     7.  '  Great  Britain's 
True  System.  ...  To  which  is  prefixed  an 
Introduction  relative  to  the  Forming  a  New 
Plan  of  British  Politicks  with  respect  to  our 
Foreign   Affairs,'   &c.,   London,  1757,  8vo. 

8.  l  Britain's  Commercial  Interest  explained 
and  improved,  in  a  Series  of  Dissertations  on 
several  important  Branches  of  her  Trade  and 
Police.  .  .  .   Also  .  .  .  the  Advantages  which 
would  accrue  . .  .from  an  Union  with  Ireland/ 
2  vols.  8vo,  London,  1757 ;  2nd  edit.,  '  With 
...  a  clear  View  of  the  State  of  our  Planta- 
tions in  America/  &c.,  London,  1759,  8vo. 

9.  '  In  Honour  to  the  Administration.     The 
importance  of  the  African  Expedition  con- 
sidered/ &c.,  London,  1758,  8vo. 

[Chalmers's  BiogivDict.  vol.  xxv.  pp.  219,  220 ; 
Gent.  Mag.  1767,  p.  479;  Macpherson's  Annals 
of  Commerce,  iii.  317 ;  McCulloch's  Literature  of 
Political  Economy,  p.  52  ;  Cossa's  Introduction 
to  the  Study  of  Political  Economy,  transl.  by 
Dyer,  p.  252  ;  Cunningham's  Growth  of  English 
Industry  and  Commerce  (Modern  Times),  pp. 
260,  290,  315,  400,  420.]  W.  A.  S.  H. 

POTE,  JOSEPH  (1703  ?-1787),bookseller, 
born  in  1702  or  1703,  long  carried  on  business 
at  Eton,  and  also  kept  a  boarding  house  for 
Eton  boys,  Lord-chancellor  Camden  having 
been  one  of  his  boarders.  At  the  same  time 
he  was  well  known  as  an  editor  and  publisher, 
and  his  editions  of  classical  works  brought 
him  into  close  relations  with  Zachary  Grey 
[q.  v.]  and  other  scholars.  Works  compiled 
and  published  by  him  include  :  1.  'Catalogus 
alumnorum  e  collegio  regali  B.  Mariae  de 
Etona/  1730.  Much  use  was  made  in  this 
work  of  the  names  cut  by  pupils,  before  leaving 
Eton,  on  the  oaken  pillars  that  supported  the 
roofoftheunder-school.  2.  '  History  and  An- 
tiquities of  Windsor  Castle  and  the  Royal 
College  and  Chapel  of  St.  George,  with  the  In- 
stitutions, Laws,  and  Ceremonies  of  the  most 
noble  Order  of  the  Garter/  1749.  The  work 
was  subsequently  abridged  and  published 
under  the  name  of '  Les  Delices  de  Windesore, 
or  a  Pocket-Companion  to  Windsor  Castle/ 
which  was  very  popular  and  went  through 


six  editions.  An  appendix  to  the  original 
work  was  compiled  and  published  by  Pote  in 
1762.  It  contained  an  alphabetical  list  of  all 
the  knights  of  the  Garter  from  the  institution 
of  the  order  to  1762.  4.  'The  Lives  of  Leland, 
Hearne,  and  Wood/  1772.  5.  '  Registrum 
Regale  Prsepositorum  utriusque  Collegii  re- 
galis  Etonensis  et  Cantabrigiensis/  1774. 
Pote  died  at  Eton  on  3  March  1787,  aged  84, 
leaving  two  sons ;  the  younger,  Thomas,  who 
succeeded  to  his  father's  business  at  Eton, 
was  master  of  the  Stationers'  Company.  A 
daughter  married  John  Williams,  publisher 
of  Wilkes's  paper  f  The  North  Briton.' 

[Nichols's  Literary  Anecdotes;  Gent.  Mag. 
1787,  vol.  Ivii.  pt.  i.  p.  365  ;  British  Museum 
Catalogue ;  Maxwell-Lyte's  Hist,  of  Eton  Col- 
lege.] a.  P.  M-Y. 

POTENGER  or  POTTINGER,  JOHN 
(1647-1733),  master  in  chancery  and  author, 
born  21  July  1647,  was  the  son  of  John 
Potenger,  D.D.,  and  Anne  Withers.  His 
father  was  headmaster  of  Winchester  School 
from  1  Aug.  1642  to  1652,  and  died  in  1659 
(FOSTER,  Alumni  Oxonienses,  1st  ser.  p.  1187  ; 
WOOD,  Fasti j  ii.  100;  KIRBT,  Annals  of 
Winchester  College,^.  318,  345).  Potenger 
was  admitted  to  Winchester  College  in  1658, 
and  matriculated  at  Corpus  Christi  College, 
Oxford,  on  26  May  1664,  where  he  obtained 
a  Hampshire  scholarship.  He  took  the  de- 
gree of  B.A.  on  1  Feb.  1667-8,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  Inner  Temple  in  1675.  By 
the  favour  of  Sir  John  Ernley,  then  chan- 
cellor of  the  exchequer,  he  was  allowed  to 
buy  at  the  price  of  1,700/.  the  office  of  comp- 
troller of  the  pipe,  and  was  sworn  in  in  Hilary 
term  1676.  On  2  July  1678  he  married 
Philadelphia,  second  daughter  of  Sir  John 
Ernley  (Memoirs,  p.  50  ;  CHESTER,  London 
Marriage  Licenses,  p.  1079).  Subsequently 
he  obtained  the  post  of  master  in  chancery, 
but  sold  it  again  for  700/.  In  the  reign  of 
James  II  he  was  removed  from  the  commis- 
sion of  the  peace  for  Middlesex  for  refusing 
to  support  the  king's  religious  policy,  but  was 
restored  again  by  William  III.  He  died  in 
1733,  his  wife  in  1692,  and  both  were  buried 
in  the  church  of  Broad  Blunsdon  in  the 
parish  of  Highworth,  Wiltshire. 

Potenger  was  the  author  of  '  A  Pastoral 
Reflection  on  Death/  1691,  and  of  many  un- 
published poems.  Nichols,  in  his  '  Select 
Collection  of  Poems '  (i.  213),  prints  an  ode 
of  Horace  translated  by  Potenger,  and  adds 
in  a  note  two  letters  from  Dr.  South  praising 
his  compositions  (viii.  286).  Potenger  also 
published  a  translation  of  the  '  Life  of  Agri- 
cola  '  by  Tacitus  (8vo,  1698).  His  memoirs 
of  his  own  life  were  edited  in  1841  by  his 
descendant,  C.  W.  Bingham,  vicar  of  .Sydling 


Pott 


207 


Pott 


St.  Nicholas,  Dorset.  Apart  from  their  bio- 
graphical interest  they  contain  interesting 
information  on  the-  state  of  education  at 
Winchester  and  Oxford  during  the  seven- 
teenth century.  Extracts  from  the  part  re- 
lating to  Oxford  are  reprinted  in  Couch's 
*  Reminiscences  of  Oxford/  p.  53  (Oxf.  Hist. 
Soc.  1892). 

[Authorities  mentioned  in  the  article.] 

C.  H.  F. 

POTT,  JOSEPH  HOLDEN  (1759-1847), 
archdeacon  of  London,  was  son  of  Percivall 
Pott  [q.  v.],  the  surgeon.  He  was  born  in 
1759,  in  his  father's  house  near  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's Hospital,  was  educated  at  Eton,  and 
thence  sent  at  an  early  age  to  St.  John's 
College,  Cambridge.  He  graduated  B.A.  in 
1780,  and  proceeded  M.A.  in  1783.  At  Eton 
he  had  dabbled  in  verse,  and  up  to  1786  four 
separate  works,  in  verse  and  prose,  appeared 
from  his  pen.  Taking  holy  orders,  he  was 
collated  by  Bishop  Thurlow,  formerly  dean 
of  St.  Paul's,  to  the  prebend  of  Welton- 
Brinkhall  in  Lincoln  Cathedral,  17  March 
1785  (Ls  NEVE,  ii.  230).  In  1787  he  be- 
came rector  of  St.  Olave,  Old  Jewry,  and  St. 
Martin,  Ironmonger  Lane.  He  was  appointed 
archdeacon  of  St.  Albans  on  8  Jan.  1789. 

In  1797  he  exchanged  his  London  rectory 
forthe  living  of  Little  Burstead,  Essex,  which 
he  left  for  the  vicarage  of  Northoltor  Northall, 
Middlesex,  on  24  Feb.  1806.  He  next  became 
vicar  of  St.  Martin-in-the-Fields,  London, 
12  Dec.  181 2,  and  exchanged  the  archdeaconry 
of  St.  Albans  forthat  of  London,  31  Dec.  1813. 
In  1822  (4  Oct.)  he  received  a  canonry  in  St. 
Paul's  Cathedral,  and  on  13  July  1824  ex- 
changed the  vicarage  of  St.  Martin's  for  that 
of  Kensington.  Finally  he  became  canon 
and  chancellor  of  Exeter,  2  May  1826.  Re- 
signing his  archdeaconry  and  his  vicarage  in 
1842,  he  held  both  canonries  until  his  death, 
which  took  place  on  16  Feb.  1847,  at  his  re- 
sidence inWoburn  Place,  Bloomsbury,  Lon- 
don. He  died  unmarried,  leaving  consider- 
able personalty  and  a  valuable  library,  which 
was  sold  by  auction  in  May  1847. 

Pott  assisted  Nichols  to  some  extent  in  the 
production  of  the  '  Literary  Anecdotes,'  and 
he  is  mentioned  with  approval  by  Mathias 
in  the  '  Pursuits  of  Literature  '  in  the  phrase 
1  as  Gisborne  serious,  and  as  Pott  devout.'  He 
was  generally  popular  and  respected.  His 
portrait  was  painted  by  William  Owen,  R.  A., 
and  an  engraving  from  it  published  in  1843. 

His  principal  works,  besides  sermons,  con- 
troversial tracts,  and  archidiaconal  charges, 
of  which  he  delivered  twenty-six,  were: 
1.  'Poems,'  1779,  8vo.  2.  'Elegies,  and 
Selmane,  a  Tragedy,'  1782,  8vo.  3.  <  Essay 


on  Landscape-painting,  with  Remarks  on  the 
different  Schools,'  1783,  8vo.  4.  '  The  Tour 
of  Valentine,'  1786,  8vo.  5.  '  Testimonies  of 
St.  Paul  concerning  Justification,' 1846,  8vo. 

[Nichols's  Literary  Anecdotes,  vii.  p.  425,  ix. 
pp.  v,  73  ;  Gent,  Mag.  1847  pt.  ii.  pp.  210-11  ; 
Eomilly's  Grad.  Cantabr.  p.  306;  Le  Neve's 
Fasti;  Foster's  Index  Ecclesiasticus ;  Life  of 
PercivalPott  in  Works,  ed.  Sir  J.  Earle;  Alli- 
bone's  Diet,  of  Engl.  Lit. ;  Lowndes's  Bibl.  Man.] 

E.  GK  H. 

POTT,  PERCIVALL  (1714-1788),  sur- 
geon, only  son  of  Percivall  Pott,  a  native  of 
London,  whose  profession  was  that  of  a 
scrivener,  was  born  on  6  Jan.  1713-14,  in 
that  part  of  Threadneedle  Street  which  is 
now  covered  by  the  Bank  of  England.  The 
house  was  probably  pulled  down  between 
1766  and  1788,  when  the  east  and  west  wings 
were  added  to  the  bank  buildings.  His 
father  was  his  mother's  second  husband.  Her 
first  husband,  named  Houblon,  a  son  of  Sir 
James  Houblon  [see  under  HOUBLON,  SIR 
JOHN],  was  a  young  officer  who  was  killed 
in  action  soon  after  his  marriage.  Pott's 
father  died  in  1717,  leaving  his  widow  with 
very  inadequate  means  of  support.  After 
Pott's  own  death  in  1788  a  small  box  was 
found  among  his  papers  containing  a  few 
pieces  of  money,  amounting  to  less  than 
five  pounds,  which  was  the  whole  sum  he 
received  from  the  wreck  of  his  father's  for- 
tune. The  mother,  with  her  son  and  daugh- 
ter, however,  were  assisted  by  a  distant  rela- 
tive, Dr.  Wilcox,  bishop  of  Rochester ;  Per- 
civall was  sent  at  the  age  of  seven  to  a  private 
school  at  '  Darne '  (apparently  Darenth)  in 
Kent.  He  showed  a  liking  for  surgery,  and 
on  1  Aug.  1729  he  was  bound  for  seven  years 
an  apprentice  to  Edward  Nourse  [q.v.]  His 
mother  paid  210/.  as  premium.  Nourse,  at 
this  time  an  assistant-surgeon  at  St.  Bar- 
tholomew's Hospital,  gave,  contrary  to  the 
practice  of  most  of  his  colleagues,  private 
lectures  in  anatomy  at  London  House  in 
Aldersgate  Street,  and  it  became  Pott's  duty 
to  prepare  the  subjects  for  these  demonstra- 
tions. Pott  seems  to  have  gained  some  pro- 
fessional reputation  even  at  this  early  period 
in  his  career.  According  to  his  biographer, 
Earle,  during  the  later  years  of  his  apprentice- 
ship, being  l  confident  in  the  fair  prospects  of 
industry,  he  hired  a  house  of  considerable  rent 
in  Fenchurch  Street,  and  took  with  him  his 
mother  and  her  daughter  by  her  first  hus- 
band.' A  court  minute-book,  now  in  the 
possession  of  the  Barbers'  Company,  records 
that  on  '  7  Sept.  1736  Percivall  Pott  was  ad- 
mitted into  the  freedom  of  the  Company  by 
service,  upon  the  testimony  of  his  master, 
and  was  sworn.'  Later  in  the  same  day  he 


Pott 


208 


Pott 


received  the  diploma  testifying  his  skill  and 
impowering  him  to  practice.'  He  was  regis- 
tered in  the  books  of  the  Barber-Surgeons' 
Company  as  living  in  Fenchurch  Street,  but 
he  had  removed  to  Bow  Lane  before  1  May 
1739,  when  he  'tooke  the  livery  [of  the 
Barber-Surgeons'  Company],  and  paid  the 
usual  fine  of  10/.  for  so  doing.'  He  acted 
as  steward  of  the  livery  dinner  of  the  com- 
pany in  1741  and  as  steward  of  the  mayor's 
feast  in  1744.  In  1745  the  United  Company 
of  Barber-Surgeons  was  dissolved,  and  there- 
upon Pott  naturally  allied  himself  with  the 
surgeons. 

Pott  took  an  active  part  in  the  affairs  of 
the  Corporation  of  Surgeons  from  its  very 
commencement.  On  5  July  1753  the  court 
of  assistants  of  the  newly  formed  company 
elected  Pott  and  Hunter  the  first  masters  of, 
or  lecturers  on,  anatomy.  He  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  court  of  assistants  on  23  Dec.  1756 
in  place  of  Legard  Sparham,  deceased,  and  he 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  court  of  exami- 
ners on  6  Aug.  1761,  to  fill  the  place  ren- 
dered vacant  by  the  resignation  of  William 
Singleton.  On  7  July  1763  he  became  under 
or  second  warden  of  the  company ;  on  5  July 
1764  he  was  promoted  to  be  upper  or  first 
warden,  and  on  4  July  1765  he  succeeded 
Robert  Young  as  master  or  governor  of  the 
Corporation  of  Surgeons. 

Pott  became  assistant-surgeon  to  St.  Bar- 
tholomew's Hospital  on  14  March  1744,  '  in 
room  of  Joseph  Webb,  appointed  surgeon 
and  guide  to  Kingsland  Hospital,'  and  on 
30  Nov.  1749  he  was  made  full  surgeon  to 
the  charity  'in  place  of  James  Phillips.' 
Pott  introduced  many  improvements  into 
the  art  of  surgery  during  his  long  tenure  of 
this  office,  rendering  its  practice  more  humane 
and  less  painful  both  to  patient  and  surgeon. 
Earle  tells  us  that,  for  some  years  after  Pott 
became  surgeon  to  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospi- 
tal, escharotic  dressings  were  continually 
employed,  and  that  the  actual  cautery  was 
in  such  frequent  use  that,  at  the  times  when 
the  surgeons  visited  the  hospital,  it  was 
regularly  heated  and  prepared  as  part  of  the 
necessary  apparatus.  It  was  only  by  Pott's 
constant  endeavours  that  these  abominable 
methods  were  discarded. 

In  1756  an  accident  befell  him  which  ren- 
dered his  name  of  world-wide  fame.  '  As  he 
was  riding  in  Kent  Street,  Southwark,  he 
was  thrown  from  his  horse,  and  suffered  a 
compound  fracture  of  the  leg,  the  bone  being 
forced  through  the  integuments.  Conscious 
of  the  dangers  attendant  on  fractures  of  this 
nature,  and  thoroughly  aware  how  much 
they  may  be  increased  by  rough  treatment 
or  improper  position,  he  would  not  suffer 


himself  to  be  moved  until  he  had  made  the 
necessary  dispositions.  He  sent  to  West- 
minster, then  the  nearest  place,  for  two  chair- 
men to  bring  their  poles,  and  patiently  lay 
on  the  cold  pavement,  it  being  the  middle  of 
January,  till  they  arrived.  In  this  situation 
he  purchased  a  door,  to  which  he  made  them 
nail  their  poles.  When  all  was  ready  he 
caused  himself  to  be  laid  on  it,  and  was 
carried  through  Southwark,  over  London 
Bridge,  to  Watling  Street,  near  St.  Paul's, 
where  he  had  lived  for  some  time.  .  .  .  At  a 
consultation  of  surgeons  the  case  was  thought 
so  desperate  as  to  require  immediate  ampu- 
tation. Mr.  Pott,  convinced  that  no  one 
could  be  a  proper  judge  in  his  own  case,  sub- 
mitted to  their  opinion,  and  the  proper  in- 
struments were  actually  got  ready,  when 
Mr.  Nourse  (his  former  master  and  then  col- 
league at  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital),  who 
had  been  prevented  from  coming  sooner,  for- 
tunately entered  the  room.  After  examining 
the  limb  he  conceived  there  was  a  possibility 
of  preserving  it ;  an  attempt  to  save  it  was 
acquiesced  in,  and  succeeded.' 

The  term '  Pott's  fracture  '  is  still  commonly 
applied  to  that  particular  variety  of  broken 
ankle  which  he  sustained  on  this  occasion. 
During  the  leisure  consequent  on  the  neces- 
sary confinement  Pott  first  turned  to  au- 
thorship, and  planned  and  partly  executed 
his  '  Treatise  on  Ruptures.'  He  thus  began 
to  write  at  the  age  of  43,  by  a  curious  coin- 
cidence the  exact  age  at  which  his  illustrious 
pupil,  John  Hunter,  published  his  first  book. 
But  from  that  time  onwards  he  issued  a  long 
series  of  books,  and  his  writings  revolu- 
tionised the  practice  of  surgery  in  this  coun- 
try. In  1764  he  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society. 

While  he  lived  in  Watling  Street  he  in- 
stituted a  course  of  lectures  for  the  pupils 
attending  his  practice  at  St.  Bartholomew's 
Hospital.  This  course  was  at  first  private, 
but  from  1765,  the  year  in  which  he  suc- 
ceeded Nourse  as  senior  surgeon,  it  was  de- 
livered publicly  to  all  the  students  at  St. 
Bartholomew's  Hospital.  These  lectures,  at 
first  given  with  hesitation  and  reserve,  after- 
wards became  the  most  celebrated  in  Lon- 
don, and  served  to  disseminate  his  views  and 
methods  of  treatment  throughout  Europe. 

He  purchased  a  house  near  Lincoln's  Inn 
Fields  in  1769,  and  lived  in  it  until  he  moved 
in  1777  to  Prince's  Street,  Hanover  Square, 
when  the  retirement  of  Sir  Caesar  Hawkins 
materially  increased  his  already  extensive 
practice.  He  was  living  in  this  house  when, 
in  conjunction  with  W.  C.  Cruikshank  in 
1783,  he  treated  Dr.  Johnson  for  the  sarcocele 
which  troubled  the  doctor's  declining  years. 


Pott 


209 


Pott 


In  1786  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  of 
Edinburgh  elected  Pott  an  honorary  fellow  of 
their  corporation,  with  the  gratifying  intima- 
tion that  '  he  was  the  first  gentleman  of  the 
faculty  they  had  thought  proper  to  bestow 
the  honour  on,' and  on  9  Sept.  in  the  follow- 
ing year  he  was  elected  an  honorary  member 
of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  in  Ireland. 

He  resigned  the  office  of  surgeon  to  St. 
Bartholomew's  Hospital  on  12  July  1787, 
after  having  served  it,  as  he  used  to  say,  man 
and  boy  for  half  a  century,  and  in  recogni- 
tion of  his  work  there  he  was  elected  a  go- 
vernor. 

Pott  died  of  pneumonia,  at  his  house  in 
Hanover  Square,  on  22  Dec.  1788.  He  was 
buried  on  7  Jan.  1789  in  the  chancel  of  St. 
Mary's,  Aldermary,  in  Queen  Victoria  Street. 
A  tablet  to  his  memory  is  on  the  wall  of  the 
south  aisle.  John  Hunter  was  elected  on 
12  Feb.  1789  to  fill  his  place  in  the  court  of 
assistants  of  the  Surgeons'  Company. 

Pott's  affection  for  his  mother  prevented 
him  from  forming  during  her  life  any  attach- 
ment which  might  separate  him  from  her. 
In  1746,  after  he  had  been  released  from  this 
filial  engagement,  he  married  Sarah,  the 
daughter  of  Robert  Cruttenden,  by  whom  he 
had  five  sons  and  four  daughters.  His  third 
and  second  surviving  son,  Joseph  Holden 
Pott,  archdeacon  of  St.  Albans  and  London, 
is  noticed  separately. 

<  The  labours  of  the  greatest  part  of  his 
life,'  says  Pott's  son-in-law,  Sir  James  Earle, 
*  were  without  relaxation,  an  increasing  family 
requiring  his  utmost  exertion  ;  of  late  years 
he  had  a  villa  at  Neasden,  and  in  the  autumn 
lie  usually  passed  a  month  at  Bath  or  at  the 
seaside.'  His  kindness  of  heart  was  pro- 
verbial, and  he  is  said  to  have  had  at  one 
time  three  needy  surgeons  living  in  his  house 
until  he  could  provide  them  with  the  means 
of  earning  an  independent  livelihood.  His 
liigh  character  and  blameless  life  helped  to 
raise  the  surgeon's  social  standing  in  this 
country. 

Wadd  says  of  him  that  l  he  predominated 
•early  in  life  in  a  profession  which  has  been 
said  not  to  procure  its  members  bread  until 
they  have  no  teeth  to  eat  it,  particularly  as  a 
•consulting  surgeon,  a  post  generally  occu- 
pied by  veterans.  He  was  the  first  surgeon 
*)f  his  day,  and  a  scientific  writer  remarkable 
for  the  classic  purity  of  his  style,  the  scrupu- 
lous precision  of  his  definitions,  and  the  un- 
erring closeness  of  his  argument.'  Pott  ap- 
pears to  have  done  for  surgery  what  Glan- 
ville  did  for  science  :  he  introduced  a  whole- 
some scepticism.  He  always  professed  the 
utmost  respect  for  the  early  writers  on  the  art 
of  surgery,  and  read  their  voluminous  works 

VOL.  XLVI. 


with  diligence ;  yet  in  his  practice  he  relied 
entirely  upon  his  own  observations,  and  was 
guided  by  his  common  sense.  In  this  way 
he  broke  through  the  trammels  of  autho- 
rity, and  may  be  regarded  as  the  earliest 
surgeon  of  the  modern  type.  Like  Wiseman, 
too,  he  was  of  necessity  a  clinical  rather 
than  a  scientific  surgeon,  for  pathology  as 
yet  had  no  existence.  The  descriptions  of 
his  cases  are  so  clear,  and  the  facts  are  so 
well  stated,  that  it  is  generally  possible  to 
recognise  them,  and  to  draw  conclusions 
from  them  by  the  light  of  modern  know- 
ledge, while  the  cases  narrated  by  many  of 
his  contemporaries  and  successors  are  incom- 
prehensible from  their  manner  of  intermin- 
gling theories  with  facts.  As  a  practical 
surgeon,  Pott  was  as  far  in  advance  of  his 
chief  predecessor,  Wiseman,  as  that  surgeon 
had  been  in  advance  of  Thomas  Gale  (1507- 
1587)  [q.  v.]  and  William  Clowes  the  elder 
(1540-1604)  [q.  v.],  the  chief  surgeons  of 
Elizabeth's  reign,  or  of  Woodall  under 
James  I.  In  practical  surgery  he  takes  rank, 
too,  before  his  pupil  Hunter ;  but  as  a  scien- 
tific surgeon  the  pupil  was  much  greater  than 
his  master,  although  in  power  of  expression 
and  literary  style  Pott  was  Hunter's  superior. 
'  In  practical  surgery '  (according  to  Sir  James 
Paget),  '  Pott  generally  appears  more  tho- 
roughly instructed,  a  more  "  compleat  sur- 
geon ; "  but  with  the  science  and  the  exposition 
of  principles  Hunter  alone  deals  worthily.' 

Pott's  works  are  :  1.  *  A  Treatise  on  Rup- 
tures,'London,  8vo,  1756;  2nd  edit.  1763; 
3rd  ed.  1769  ;  4th  ed.  1775  ;  one  of  the  works 
upon  which  the  reputation  of  Pott  rests. 
Mr.  C.  B.  Lockwood,  to  whom  the  writer  of 
this  notice  has  referred  the  treatise,  says  that 
'  it  may  still  be  read  with  advantage  and  in- 
struction. The  narrative  bears  the  imprint 
of  truthfulness  and  sincerity,  and  his  views 
of  the  anatomy  and  pathology  of  hernia  are 
luminous  and  correct.  He  quotes  few  autho- 
rities, but  it  is  evident  that,  in  advocating 
early  operations  for  strangulated  hernia,  he 
was  in  advance  of  most  of  his  contemporaries, 
while  he  carried  operations  upon  non-stran- 
gulated herniae  as  far  as  they  could  legiti- 
mately go  without  the  aid  of  antiseptics.' 

2.  'An  Account  of  a  particular  kind  of  Rup- 
ture frequently   attendant   upon  new-born 
Children,'   London,   8vo,   1757;    2nd   edit. 
1765;  3rd  edit.  1775;  this  paper  led  to  a 
short  controversy  with  Dr.  William  Hunter, 
who  claimed  priority  of  discovery.     One  of 
the  specimens  illustrating  the  tract   is  still 
preserved,  as  Pott  left  it,  in  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's  Hospital  museum;    it  is  No.  2138. 

3.  '  Observations    on  that  Disorder  of  the 
Corner  of  the  Eye  commonly  called  Fistula 


Pott 


210 


Pott 


Lachrymalis/  8vo,  London,  ]757;  2nd  edit. 
1758;  3rd  edit.  1769;  5th  edit.  1775.  This 
tract,  according  to  present  ideas,  is  quite  ob- 
solete. 4.  *  Observations  on  the  Nature  and 
Consequences  of  Wounds  and  Contusions  of 
the  Head  and  Fractures  of  the  Skull,  Concus- 
sion of  the  Brain/  &c.,  8vo,  London,  1760. 
This  tract  does  not  appear  to  be  reprinted 
in  the  collected  editions  of  Pott's  works. 
5.  *  Practical  Remarks  upon  the  Hydrocele/ 
London,  8vo,  1762 ;  2nd  edit.  1767.  The  cause 
of  the  affection  is  clearly  defined,  due  credit 
is  given  to  Professor  Monro  and  to  Samuel 
Sharp  for  their  work  upon  the  subject,  and 
a  rational  line  of  treatment  is  laid  down.  A 
dissertation  upon  sarcocele,  then  a  mysterious 
affection,  concludes  this  pamphlet.  6.  '  Re- 
marks on  the  Disease  commonly  called  Fis- 
tula in  Ano,'  London,  8vo,  1765 ;  2nd  edit. 
1765 ;  3rd  edit.  1771 ;  4th  edit.  1775.  Pott 
advocates  a  return  to  the  old  and  good  prac- 
tice of  simple  division,  in  preference  to  the 
more  complicated  methods  of  procedure 
adopted  in  England  by  Cheselden,  and  in 
France  by  Le  Dran  and  De  la  Faye.  In  this 
treatise  he  points  out  the  lessons  which  regu- 
lar practitioners  may  learn  from  quacks. 

7.  'Observations  on  the  Nature  and  Conse- 
quences of  those  Injuries  to  which  the  Head 
is  liable  from  External  Violence,'  8vo,  Lon- 
don, 1768;  2nd  edit.  1771.     This  is  one  of 
the  classical  writings  of  English  surgery.   It 
abounds  in  interesting  cases  well  recorded, 
and   some  of  the  conclusions   are   still  re- 
garded  as  axioms   in   practice.     With  the 
first   edition  of  this  work  was   published: 

8.  '  Some  few  Remarks  upon  Fractures  and 
Dislocations/  London,  8vo,  1768  ;  2nd  edit. 
1773.      This    treatise   was   translated   into 
Italian  (Venice,  1784)  and  into  French  (Paris, 
1788).     This,  on  the  whole,  is  the  most  im- 
portant contribution  by  Pott  to  the  surgical 
practice  of  the  last  century.     Dr.  Hamilton, 
the  greatest  American  authority  on  the  sub- 
ject  of  fractures   and  dislocations,  writing 
in  1884,  says  that  'the  work  is  distinguished 
for  the  originality  and  boldness  of  its  senti- 
ments, and  was  destined  soon  to  revolutionise 
especially  throughout  Great  Britain,  the  old 
notions  as  to  the  treatment  of  fractures,  and  to 
establish  in  their  stead,  at  least  for  a  time 
what  has  been  called,  not  inappropriately, "  the 
physiological  doctrine."    The  peculiarity  o1 
this  doctrine  consisted  in  its  assumption  thai 
the  resistance  of  those  muscles  which  tenc 
to  produce  shortening  can  generally  be  over- 
come by  posture  without  the  aid  of  exten- 
sion ;  and  that  for  this  purpose — for  example 
in  the  case  of  a  broken  femur — it  was  only 
necessary  to  flex  the  leg  upon  the  thigh,  an'c 
the  thigh  upon  the  body,. laying  the  limb 


quietly  on  its  outside  upon  the  bed.'     In  a 
modified  form  this  doctrine  was  accepted  by 
;he  majority  of  the  great  surgeons  who  suc- 
ceeded Pott  in  Great  Britain,  and,  owing  to 
Dupuytren's   influence,   it  was   extensively 
adopted  in  France.     It  never  gained  much 
ground  in  America,  and  of  late  years  it  has 
been  considered  to  be  incorrect,  and,  except 
in  a  few  cases,  the  treatment  of  fractures  by 
flexion  has  been  replaced  by  the  method  of 
extension.     9.  '  An  Account  of  a  Method  of 
obtaining  a  Perfect  or  Radical  Cure  of  Hy- 
drocele/ 8vo,  London,  1771  ;  3rd  edit.  1775. 
This  tract  is  an  expansion  of,  and  forms  a 
conclusion  to,  No.  5.     10.  '  Chirurgical  Ob- 
servations/ 8vo,  London,  1775;    translated 
into  German,  Berlin,  12mo,  1776.     The  ob- 
servations are :  (i)  '  Remarks  on  the  Cata- 
ract/ an  attempt  to  maintain  the  operation 
of  "  Couching"  in  opposition  to  that  of  the 
extraction  of  the  opaque  lens,    (ii)  *  A  Short 
Treatise  of  the  Chimney  Sweeper's  Cancer/ 
which  was  reprinted  in  1810,  with  additional 
notes  by  Sir  James  Earle,  F.R.S.    Although 
this  work  only  consists  of  five  octavo  pages, 
it  is  still  quoted  for  the  accuracy  of  its  clini- 
cal details,  and  it  has  led  to  the  production 
of  much  good  work  in  the  fields  of  pathology 
and  surgery,     (iii)  '  Observations  and  Cases 
relative  to  Ruptures.'  A  monograph  of  great 
interest,  in  which  the  best  cases  are  put  last, 
(iv)  '  Observations  on  the  Mortification  of 
the  Toes  and  Feet.'     We  owe  to  this  short, 
clear,  and  modest  tract   that   treatment  of 
gangrene  by  opium  which  has  maintained  its 
ground  uninterruptedly  until  the  present  day. 
(v)  '  Some  few  Remarks  upon  the  Polypus 
of  the  Nose.'     Pott  himself  suffered  from 
nasal  polypi.     11.  'Remarks  on  that  kind 
of  Palsy  of  the  Lower  Limbs  which  is  fre- 
quently found  to  accompany  a  Curvature 
of  the   Spine/  8vo,  London,  1779.     Trans- 
lated into  Dutch,  Leyden,  8vo,  1779,  and 
twice  into  French,  first  at  Brussels  in  1779, 
and  afterwards  at  Paris  in  1783.     The  influ- 
ence and  importance  of  this  tract  may  be 
estimated  by  the  fact  that  the  particular  form 
of  spinal  disease  here  described  is  now  almost 
universally  known  as  '  Pott's  disease.'     Al- 
though one  of  the  best  known  of  Pott's  works, 
it  is  one  of  the  least  satisfactory  according 
to  modern  ideas.     The  clinical  description  is 
admirable,  but  the  treatment  adopted  was 
unnecessarily  severe,  and  was  not  founded 
upon  rational  principles.     One  of  the  speci- 
mens illustrating  this  paper  is  in  the  museum 
of  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital,  No.  1097. 
12.  'Farther  Remarks  upon  the  Useless  State 
of  the  Lower  Limbs  in  consequence  of  a 
Curvature  of  the  Spine/  London,  thin  8vo, 
1782.     13.  '  Remarks  on  the  Necessity  and 


Pott 


211 


Potter 


Propriety  of  the  Operation  of  Amputation  in 
certain  Cases  and  under  certain  Circum- 
stances.' A  controversial  pamphlet  of  ephe- 
meral interest.  14.  Papers  in  the  'Philo- 
sophical Transactions '  for  1741  and  1764. 

Among1  extant  manuscript  notes  of  Pott's 
,  lectures  in  existence,  taken  and  transcribed 
by  the  students  who  attended  them,  are  : 
1.  A  quarto  volume  of  manuscript  notes  in 
the  library  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons 
of  England,  dated  2  Oct.  1777,  and  contain- 
ing 112  pages  of  writing.  2.  A  manuscript 
in  the  library  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital 
containing  the  notes  of  thirty-two  of  Pott's 
lectures  on  surgery  in  331  pages,  dated  1781, 
and  written  by  Thomas  Oldroyd.  The  library 
of  the  Royal  Medical  and  Chirurgical  Society 
contains  two  manuscripts  of  Pott's  surgical 
lectures.  3.  A  quarto  volume  containing 
notes  of  forty-two  lectures  in  217  pages, 
dated  1789.  4.  An  undated  manuscript  of 
Pott's  lectures  on  surgery,  with  his  method 
of  performing  each  operation. 

The  chief  collected  editions  of  Pott's  works 
are :  (1)  in  one  vol.  4to,  London,  1775 ; 

(2)  in  French  in  2  vols.  8vo,  Paris,  1777  ; 

(3)  in  2  vols.  8vo,  Dublin,  1778 ;  (4)  new 
edit.  3  vols.  8vo,  1779 ;  reprinted  (?)  as  (5) 
new  edit.  3  vols.  8vo,  London,  1783  ;  (6)  new 
edit,  edited  by  Sir  James  Earle  in  3  vols. 
8vo,  London,  1790;  (7)  in  3  vols.  8vo,  Lon- 
don,  1808;    (8)  in   2   vols.  8vo,  Philadel- 
phia, 1819. 

The  chief  portrait  of  Pott  is  in  the  Great 
Hall  at  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital ;  it  is  a 
life-size  three-quarter  length  in  oils,  seated  in 
an  armchair,  painted  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds, 
P.R.  A.,  with  the  inscription '  Percivall  Pott, 
surgeon  to  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital.  A.D. 
1784,  set.  71.  The  gift  of  James,  Marquis  of 
Salisbury,  and  Heneage,  Earl  of  Aylesford. 
A.D.  1790.'  There  is  an  octavo  engraving  by 
Heath  of  this  portrait  in  the  Squibb  collec- 
tion of  medical  portraits  at  present  in  the 
possession  of  the  Royal  Medical  and  Chirur- 
gical Society  of  London.  Another  engraving 
is  by  Townley.  There  is  also  in  the  library 
of  the  medical  school  a  bust  presented  by 
his  son,  Archdeacon  Joseph  Holden  Pott 
[q.  v.]  The  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  of 
England  possesses  two  life-size  portraits, 
half-length,  in  oils.  The  one  in  the  secre- 
tary's office  is  painted  by  Sir  Nathaniel 
Dance  Holland,  bart.,  R.A. ;  the  other  in  the 
council  room  is  by  George  Romney.  There 
is  a  bust  by  Peter  Hollins,  A.R.A.,  on  the 
staircase  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons. 
The  Squibb  collection  of  medical  portraits 
also  contains  a  stipple  engraving  by  R.  M. 
of  Dance  Holland's  painting,  and  an  unsigned 
line  engraving  of  Percivall  Pott,  apparently 


from  a  miniature.  The  present  Archdeacon 
Alfred  Pott  possesses  an  oval  portrait  in 
oils,  unsigned,  and  a  miniature  in  a  large 
locket,  with  a  monogram  P.P.,  and  light 
hair  behind.  Both  represent  Pott  as  quite 
a  young  man. 

[A  short  account  of  the  Life  of  Percivall  Pott, 
prefixed  to  Sir  James  Earle's  edition  of  his  works, 
London,  1 790.  The  best  thanks  of  the  writer  of 
the  present  notice  are  due  to  Mr.  Sidney  Young, 
F.S.A.,  master  of- the  Barbers'  Company;  to  Mr. 
W.  H.  Cross,  the  clerk  of  St.  Bartholomew's 
Hospital ;  and  to  Mrs.  South,  who  severally  gave 
details  of  Pott's  connection  with  the  Barber- 
Surgeons,  with  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital,  and 
with  the  Corporation  of  Surgeons  ;  as  well  as  to 
the  Ven.  Alfred  Pott,  B.D.,  archdeacon  of  Berk- 
shire, the  great-great-grandson  of  Pott,  who 
afforded  such  additional  information  about  him 
as  is  traditional  in  the  family.]  D'A.  P. 

POTTER,  BARNABY  (1577-1642),  pro- 
vost of  Queen's  College,  Oxford,  and  bishop 
of  Carlisle,  was  born  at  Kendal,  Westmore- 
land, on  11  Aug.  1577.  He  was  the  son  of 
Thomas  Potter,  a  mercer  and  alderman  of 
Highgate  Kendal.  He  was  educated  at  a 
school  kept  by  a  puritan  named  Maxwell,  and 
on  3  May  1594  matriculated  from  Queen's  Col- 
lege, Oxford,  where  he  was  a  taberdar.  He 
graduated  B.A.  on  24  April  1599,  proceeded 
M.A.  on  20  June  1602,  B.D.  on  5  July  1610, 
and  D.D.  on  27  June  1615.  He  was  elected 
fellow  of  Queen's  on  1  March  1603-4.  At 
first  he  preached  at  Abingdon,  afterwards  at 
Totnes.  In  1610  he  was  elected  principal  of 
St.  Edmund  Hall,  Oxford,  but  preferred  to 
remain  at  Totnes,  where  he  lived  till  29  Mav 
1615.  He  then  became  rector  of  Diptford, 
Devonshire,  by  the  patronage  of  James  I.  On 
4  Oct.  1615  he  was  presented  to  the  vicarage 
of  Dean  Prior  by  Sir  Edward  Giles,  who  had 
married  the  widow  of  his  wife's  uncle  ;  but 
on  14  Oct.  1616  he  was  elected  provost  of 
Queen's  College,  Oxford.  He  was  also  chap- 
lain to  Charles  when  Prince  of  Wales,  and 
continued  to  hold  the  same  office  after 
James  I's  death,  with  the  headship  of  Queen's, 
but  resigned  both  offices  on  17  June  1626, 
having  secured  the  reversion  of  each  for  his 
nephew,  Dr.  Christopher  Potter  [q.  v.]  The 
king  seems  to  have  been  personally  fond  of 
Potter  in  spite  of  his  puritan  leanings,  and  it 
was  to  this  cause  probably  that  he  owed  his 
subsequent  promotion,  and,  not  as  Heylyn 
and  others  suggest,  to  a  mere  desire  to  satisfy 
puritan  opinion.  He  became  Charles's  chief 
almoner  on  4  July  1628,  and  on  15  March 
1628-9  bishop  of  Carlisle.  Laud  alluded  to 
his  appointment  in  the  course  of  his  trial. 
Potter  was  succeeded  in  the  vicarage  of  Dean 
Prior  by  Herrick  the  poet.  As  a  bishop  he 

p2 


Potter 


212 


Potter 


tried  in  vain  to  carry  out  the  old  system 
of  compulsion ;  the  churchwardens  were 
remiss  in  their  duties,  and  would  not  pre- 
sent for  ecclesiastical  offences.  He  was  evi- 
dently not  very  rich,  and  wished  for  another 
see.  Potter  was  one  of  the  four  bishops  who, 
with  Ussher,  advised  the  king  upon  the  at- 
tainder of  Strafford  on  9  May  1641,  and,  like 
Ussher, Williams,  and  Morton,  took  the  popu- 
lar side.  Potter  died  in  January  1641-2  in 
his  lodgings  in  Covent  Garden,  and  was 
buried  apparently  in  the  churchyard  of 
St.  Paul's,  Covent  Garden,  then  a  chapel 
of  ease  to  St.  Martin's-in-the-Fields.  The 
opinions  expressed  by  Hall  and  Lloyd  show 
that  he  was  a  man  of  consistent  views,  and 
that  he  was  both  independent  and  pious. 
Potter  married,  on  21  Aug.  1615,  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  Walter  Northcote  of  Crediton, 
and  widow  of  Edward  Yard  of  Churston- 
Ferrers,  Devonshire ;  Walter  Northcote  was 
uncle  to  Sir  John  Northcote  [q.  v.]  By  his 
wife  he  had  seven  children  at  least ;  two  of 
the  daughters,  '  Handsome  Mistress  '  Grace 
and  Amye,  were  celebrated  by  Herrick  in  the 
Hesperides.  His  only  son  Barnaby  died  in 
1623.  His  widow  died  early  in  1673.  Potter 
published  a  sermon  in  1623,  and  his  visitation 
articles  in  1629.  Wood  refers  to  some  lec- 
tures on  Genesis  and  Exodus,  and  on  the 
beatitudes  of  St.  Luke,  also  to  a  spital  ser- 
mon ;  but  these  have  not  been  preserved,  and 
possibly  were  never  printed. 

[All  the  important  facts  as  to  Potter  are  col- 
lecied  in  a  pamphlet  by  Winslow  Jones,  esq. ; 
Hutchinson's  Cumberland,  ii.  631.] 

W.  A.  J.  A. 

POTTER,  CHRISTOPHER  (1591-1646), 

provost  of  Queen's  College,  Oxford,  was  born 
in  Westmoreland  in  1591.  He  was  the 
nephew  of  Barnaby  Potter  [q.  v.]  He  ma- 
triculated from  Q.ueen's  on  11  July  1606, 
aged  15,  having  entered  the  college  in  the  pre- 
vious Easter  term.  He  was  elected  taberdar 
(pauper  puer)  on  29  Oct.  1609.  He  gradu- 
ated B.A.  on  30  April  1610  and  M.A.  on 
8  July  1613,  became  chaplain  on  5  July 
1613,  and  fellow  on  22  March  1614-15. 
He  was  magister  puerorum  in  1620,  and 
senior  bursar  in  1622 ;  graduated  B.D.  and 
received  a  preacher's  license  on  9  March  1621, 
and  proceeded  D.D.  on  17  Feb.  1627.  He 
was  in  his  early  years  a  follower  of  the  puri- 
tan provost  Henry  Airay,  the  opponent  of 
Laud,  and  himself  held  a  lectureship  at 
Abingdon,  '  where  he  was  much  resorted  to 
for  his  edifying  way  of  preaching '  (WooD, 
Athence,  iii.  180).  On  his  uncle's  resignation 
of  the  headship  of  Queen's  (17  June  1626), 
3ae  was  elected  provost.  He  now  attached 


himself  to  Laud,  and  was  made  chaplain  in 
ordinary  to  Charles  I.  In  the  first  year  of 
his  provostship,  with  the  assistance  of  Sir 
Thomas  Coventry,  the  Earl  of  Carlisle,  and 
Sir  George  Goring,  vice-chamberlain  to  the 
Queen,  he  obtained  from  the  king,  through 
an  appeal  to  the  queen,  the  advowson  of. 
three  rectories  and  three  vicarages  in  Hamp- 
shire for  the  college.  Pie  himself  received 
the  rectory  of  Strathfieldsaye  in  1627,  and 
after  the  death  of  William  Cox  (29  Jan. 
1632)  was  made  precentor  of  Chichester. 
He  received  the  rectory  of  Bletchington,  Ox- 
fordshire, in  1631. 

During  Laud's  chancellorship  of  the  uni- 
versity, Potter  was  one  of  his  most  frequent 
correspondents.  He  applied  himself  dili- 
gently to  the  restoration  of  the  academical 
habit  and  discipline  (Crosfield's  '  Diary '  in 
LAUD'S  Works,  v.  17,  24).  He  did  much  to 
restore  the  adequate  performance  of  the  ex- 
ercises for  their  degrees  by  members  of  his 
college,  instituted  expositions  of  the  creed 
on  Sundays  in  chapel  and  English  sermons 
on  Thursdays,  and  removed  from  the  college 
on  at  least  two  occasions  members  of  the 
foundation  whose  conduct  gave  cause  of 
scandal.  In  1631,  on  the  death  of  Dr.  Raw- 
linson,  principal  of  St.  Edmund  Hall,  he 
asserted  the  rights  of  his  college  against  the 
claim  of  the  chancellor  to  nominate  a  prin- 
cipal. Laud  admitted  and  confirmed  the 
right  (Works,  v.  35-6,  vi.  291,  294).  On 
the  acceptance  of  the  new  statutes  by  the 
university  in  1636,  Potter  signed  them  with 
the  special  note  '  salvo  jure  collegii  prsedicti 
ad  aulam  S.  Edmundi '  ( Colleges  of  Oxford, 
ed.  Clark,  p.  138;  GRIFFITH  and  SHADWELL, 
Laudian  Statutes,  p.  1),  and  he  issued  a 
special  protestation  reaffirming  the  college 
rights,  as  there  was  no  recognition  of  them 
in  the  new  university  statutes  (in  LAUD'S 
Works,  v.  133-4).  He  had  now  attracted 
the  notice  of  puritans  as  a  prominent  Ar- 
minian,  and  was  attacked  in  a  violent  sermon 
written  under  the  influence  probably  of  Dr. 
Prideaux  (ib.  v.  49).  He  was  also  engaged 
in  the  Roman  catholic  controversy.  He 
answered  the  work  of  the  Jesuit  Knott  (Mat- 
thew Wilson),  '  Charity  Mistaken,'  by  the 
king's  command  in  a  pamphlet,  'Want  of 
Charity  justly  charged  on  all  such  Romanists 
as  dare  affirm  that  Protestancy  destroyeth 
Salvation'  (Oxford,  1633).  Potter  takes 
much  the  same  line  as  Laud  had  taken  in  his 
reply  to  Fisher.  A  second  edition  (London, 
1634)  was  soon  called  for,  and  Laud  revised 
the  book  (ib.  vi.  326).  The  alterations  he 
suggested  formed  one  of  the  charges  brought 
against  him  at  his  trial  (PKYNNE,  Canter- 
buries Doome,  pp.  251-2 ;  LAUD,  Works}  iv. 


Potter 


213 


Potter 


279).  To  Knott's  reply,  <  Mercy  and  Truth/ 
Chillingworth's  '  Religion  of  Protestants' was 
an  answer,  and  Potter  was  asked  by  Laud 
to  revise  the  latter  work  (ib.  vi.  165-85). 
He  became  pro-vice-chancellor  on  13  July 
1639,  and  was  appointed  vice-chancellor  on 
28  July  1640.  It  was  to  him  that  Laud's 
letter  of  resignation  of  his  office  was  ad- 
dressed. On  4  Dec.  1640  he  found  it  neces- 
sary, with  the  other  university  officials,  to 
issue  a  notice  denying  that  they  knew  or 
suspected  '  any  member  of  the  university  to 
be  a  papist,  or  popishly  inclined ' (ib.  vi.  297-8 ; 
MACRAY,  Annals  of  the  Bodleian.  2nd  edit.  p. 
92). 

He  had  been  promoted,  by  Laud's  influ- 
ence, to  the  deanery  of  Worcester  in  1636, 
and  he  received  the  rectory  of  Great  Hase- 
ley,  Oxfordshire,  1642.  He  contributed  400/. 
for  himself  in  answer  to  the  king's  demand 
in  July  1642,  in  addition  to  the  800/.  given 
by  the  college.  During  the  civil  war  he 
'  suffered  much  for  the  king's  cause '  (Wooo, 
Athena)  Oxon.  iii.  179),  and  fled  from  Oxford, 
but  returned  before  Christmas  1642  (WooD, 
Life  and  Times,  ed.  Clark,  i.  74).  He  preached 
at  Uxbridge,  before  the  commissioners  for  the 
treaty,  a  sermon  '  which  was  never  printed, 
but  is  now  in  manuscript  in  ye  hands  of  Mrs. 
Lamplugh  in  Westminster'  (HEARNE,  Collec- 
tions, ed.  Doble,  ii.  73).  In  January  1646  the 
king  nominated  him  to  the  deanery  of  Dur- 
ham, but  he  died,  before  his  installation,  on 
3  March.  His  will  was  proved  on  11  March 
1646. 

Potter  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Dr. 
Charles  Sonnibanke,  canon  of  Windsor,  by 
whom  he  had  a  son  Charles  (see  below)..  His 
widow  afterwards  married  Dr.  Gerard  Lang- 
baine  [q.  v.],  his  successor  as  provost  of  Queen's. 
She  erected  a  monument  to  his  memory  on 
the  north  wall  of  the  college  chapel,  in  which 
he  is  described  as  'serius  pietatis  cultor, 
rigidus  honesti  servator,  durus  studiorum 
exactor,  sobrius  veritatis  propugnator,  pacis 
servator  pervicax'  (GTJTCH,  i.  163). 

Potter  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  re- 
cruits of  the  Laudian  party  drawn  from  the 
puritan  clergy.  '  He  was  a  person  esteemed 
by  all  who  knew  him  to  be  learned  and  reli- 
gious, exemplary  in  his  behaviour  and  dis- 
course, courteous  in  his  carriage,  and  of  a 
sweet  and  obliging  nature  and  comely  pre- 
sence '  (WooD,  Athena  Oxon.  iii.  179).  Wood 
notes  (  Wood  MS.  E  32,  fol.  28)  that  four  con- 
temporary graduates  of  Queen's  College  were 
named  Potter,  viz.  '  Potter  the  Wise,  Potter 
the  Grave,  Potter  the  Fool,  and  Potter  the 
Knave.'  Christopher  was  probably  the  second 
on  the  list. 

He  wrote,  besides  the  works  noticed :  1.  'A 


Sermon  [preached  at  his  uncle's  consecration 
as  bishop  of  Carlisle,  15  March  1628].  Here- 
unto is  added  an  Advertisement  touching 
the  History  of  the  Quarrels  of  Pope  Paul  5 
with  the  Venetian ;  Penned  in  Italian  by 
F.  Paul  [Sarpi]  and  done  into  English  by  the 
former  Author.  London,  printed  for  John 
Clarke,'  1629.  In  this  sermon  he  discussed 
the  Roman  claim  to  supremacy,  and  vindi- 
cated the  validity  of  the  English  ordinations 
according  to  the  doctrine  of  apostolical  suc- 
cession. He  gave  also  a  glowing  eulogy  of 
his  uncle's  piety.  2.  His  own  '  Vindication 
of  Himselfe,  by  way  of  Letter  unto  Mr.  V. 
touching  the  same  Points.  Written  7  July 
1629,'  London,  John  Clark,  1651  (at  the  end 
of  '  Appello  Evangelium,'  by  John  Playter). 
This  was  a  letter  defending  his  consecration 
sermon  from  the  censures  of  his  friend,  Mr. 
Vicars,  and  vindicating  his  own  change  from 
calvinistic  opinions.  The  letter  is  written 
in  a  very  touching  style  of  personal  piety, 
and  is  a  sufficient  answer  to  all  charges  of 
personal  interest  or  ambition  in  the  writers 
acceptance  of  Laudian  principles.  Wrood 
says  he  '  had  lying  by  him  at  his  death 
several  manuscripts  fit  to  be  printed,  among 
which  was  one  entit.  "  A  Sermon  of  the  Plat- 
form of  Predestination,"  which,  coming  into 
the  hands  of  Twisse  of  Newbury,  was  by  him 
answered,  as  also  Three  Letters  of  Dr. 
Potter  concerning  that  matter'  (Athence 
Oxon.  iii.  181).  He  made  '  Collections  con- 
cerning the  privileges  of  the  University  ex- 
tracted out  of  the  Charters  in  the  School 
Tower.'  This  paper  came  into  the  hands  of 
Anthony  a  Wood,  who  bequeathed  it  to  the 
Ashmolean  Museum.  It  was  missing  before 
1761  (WooD,  Life  and  Times,  ed.  Clark,  i. 
77  n.)  A  portrait  is  at  Queen's  College  which 
is  said  to  be  his.  It  represents  a  lean,  red- 
haired  man  of  vigorous  appearance. 

The  son,  CHARLES  POTTER  (1634-1663), 
courtier,  born  in  the  college  in  1634,  was 
admitted  a  member  of  Queen's  as  '  upper 
commoner'  in  the  long  vacation  quarter  of 

1646,  became  student  of  Christ  Church  in 

1647,  and  was  in  that  year  made  the  senior 
quadragesimal    collector    (WooD,    Athence 
Oxon.  iii.  648).  His  quadragesimal  exercises 
were  published:  ' Theses  Quadragesimales  in 
Scholis  Oxoniae  publicis  pro  forma  discussae, 
anno  1649-50,' Oxford,  1651.   Wood  declares 
that  they  were  composed  by  his  tutor,  Thomas 
Severn,  student  of  Christ  Church.   They  were 
'  much   commended  when    first   published.' 
Potter  graduated  B. A.  on  27  June  1649,  and 
M.A.  on  15  July  1651.   He  joined  the  exiled 
court  of  Charles  II,  and  was  for  a  time  in 
the  suite  of  James  Crofts  (afterwards  Duke 
of    Monmouth).     He   travelled   in  France, 


Potter 


214 


Potter 


1657-8,  and  lived  extravagantly.  It  was 
feared  that  in  Paris  he  had  '  mortgaged  his 
land  to  enjoy  the  delights  of  the  city  '  (Cal. 
State  Papers,  Dom.  1657-8,  p.  276),  and  was 
later  *  in  a  mean  condition '  (ib.  p.  356).  He 
became  a  Roman  catholic,  and  at  the  Re- 
storation was  made  an  usher  to  Queen  Hen- 
rietta Maria.  In  May  1662  he  was  repaid 
2,000/.  which  his  father  had  lent  to  Charles  I 
(ib.  1661-2,  p.  378),  and  in  June  he  received 
further  sums  f  for  his  faithful  service '  (ib.  p. 
399).  He  died  at  his  lodgings  in  Duke  Street, 
Strand,  London,  in  December  1663,  and  was 
buried  in  St.  Paul's,  Covent  Garden. 

[Queen's  College  MSS. ;  information  kindly 
given  by  the  Rev.  J.  K.Magrath,  D.D.,  provost ; 
'Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  and  Fasti ;  Laud's  Works  ; 
Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.;  Wood's  Life  and  Times, 
ed.  Clark  (Oxford  Hist.  Soc.) ;  Cal.  State  Papers, 
Dom. ;  Le  Neve's  Fasti.]  W.  H.  H. 

POTTER,  CHRISTOPHER  (d.  1817), 
introducer  into  France  of  printing  on  porce- 
lain and  glass,  was  probably  of  the  same 
family  as  Christopher  Potter  (1591-1646) 
[q.  v.j  He  was  owner  in  1777  of  an  estate 
in  Cambridgeshire,  nine  hundred  acres  of 
which  he  devoted  to  the  culture  of  woad.  At 
first  his  property  was  cultivated  by '  itinerant 
woadmen,' who,  as  was  then  customary,  hired 
fields  for  two  years,  but  afterwards  he  em- 
ployed his  own  agricultural  labourers,  which 
he  represents  as  an  innovation.  He  subse- 
quently manufactured '  archel '  dyes.  During 
the  American  war  he  was  one  of  the  principal 
victualling  contractors  for  the  army.  In  1780 
he  unsuccessfully  contested  the  parliamen- 
tary representation  of  Cambridge.  In  1781 
he  was  returned  for  Colchester,  but  on  peti- 
tion was  unseated  for  corrupt  practices.  In 
1784  he  was  again  returned,  but  was  again 
unseated,  on  the  grounds  of  having  been  de- 
clared bankrupt,  and  of  possessing  no  pro- 
perty qualification.  He  sat  and  voted  while 
the  petitions  were  pending.  On  a  new  writ 
being  issued  he  was  a  third  time  a  candidate, 
but  was  defeated.  His  candidature  seems 
to  have  conduced  to  the  passing  of  the  act 
disqualifying  government  contractors. 

Settling  in  Paris,  he  in  1789  established 
potteries  there,  and  assumed  or  received  credit 
for  the  invention  of  printing  on  porcelain  and 
glass,  though  this  had  been  practised  at  Liver- 
pool and  Worcester  as  far  back  as  1756-7 
(see  JEWITT,  Hist,  of  Ceramic  Art,  ii.  27). 
Backed  by  the  Academy  of  Sciences  and  by 
Bailly,  the  mayor  of  Paris,  he  petitioned  the 
national  assembly  for  a  seven  years'  patent, 
promising  to  give  a  fourth  of  the  profits  to 
the  poor,  and  to  teach  his  process  to  French 
apprentices.  No  action  was  taken  on  his 
petition,  but  he  enjoyed  for  years  a  virtual 


monopoly.  He  likewise  reopened  the  Chan- 
tilly  potteries,  which  had  been  closed  through 
the  emigration  of  the  Conde  family;  he  there 
employed  five  hundred  men,  and  produced 
nine  thousand  dozen  plates  a  month.  He 
also  opened  potteries  at  Montereau  and 
Forges-les-Eaux.  In  the  autumn  of  1793, 
when  the  English  in  France  were  arrested  as 
hostages  for  Toulon,  he  was  imprisoned  at 
Beauvais  and  Chantilly.  In  1796  he  was 
the  bearer  to  Lord  Malmesbury  at  Paris  of 
an  offer  from  Barras  to  conclude  peace  for  a 
bribe  of  500,000/.  At  the  industrial  ex- 
hibition of  1798  on  the  Champ  de  Mars,  the 
first  held  in  Paris,  he  was  awarded  one  of  the 
twelve  chief  prizes  for  white  pottery — the 
composition,  shape,  and  varnish  being  highly 
commended.  At  the  exhibition  of  1802  he 
was  one  of  the  twenty-five  gold  medallists 
who  dined  with  Bonaparte.  By  this  time 
he  had  given  up  all  his  factories  except  that 
at  Montereau,  which  is  still  in  existence.  No 
specimen  remains  of  his  ordinary  ware,  but 
at  the  Sevres  Museum  there  is  a  cup,  orna- 
mented with  designs  of  flowers  and  butter- 
flies, which  bears  his  initials,  surmounted  by 
Prince  of  Wales's  feathers.  In  1811  he  advo- 
cated the  culture  of  woad  in  France,  citing 
his  Cambridgeshire  experience,  and  between 
1794  and  1812  he  took  out  five  patents  for 
agricultural  and  manufacturing  processes, 
some  of  them  in  association  with  his  son, 
Thomas  Mille  Potter.  He  died,  apparently 
in  London,  on  18  Nov.  1817. 

[Annual  Biography,  1818;  Gent.  Mag.  1817, 
pt.  ii.  p.  569 ;  Cromwell's  Hist,  of  Colchester, 
1825  ;  Index  to  Moniteur,  1800-14  (misprinted 
Potier) ;  Jacquemart's  Hist,  de  la  Porcelaine, 
1862 ;  Alger's  Englishmen  in  French  Revolution; 
Memoires  de  Barras,  1895.]  J.  G.  A. 

POTTER,FRANCIS(1594-1678),divine 
and  mechanician,  was  second  son  of  Richard 
Potter  (d.  1628),  prebendary  of  Worcester, 
and  his  wife,  who  belonged  to  the  Horsey 
family  of  Clifton,  Dorset.  He  was  born  at 
Mere  vicarage  on  Trinity  Sunday  (29  May) 
1594,  and  educated  at  the  King's  school, 
Worcester.  In  1609  he  went  up  as  a  com- 
moner to  Trinity  College,  where  his  elder 
brother,  Hannibal  (see  below),  was  a  scholar ; 
he  graduated  B.  A.  in  161 3,  and  M.  A.  in  1616. 
In  1625  he  proceeded  B.D.,  and,  after  his 
father's  death  in  1628,  succeeded  him  as 
rector  of  Kilmington,  although  he  did  not  at 
first  reside  there  continuously.  He  escaped 
sequestration  during  the  civil  war  and  inter- 
regnum. He  had  always  been  sickly,  and 
subsequently  became  nearly  blind.  He  died 
unmarried  in  April  1678  (cf.  HOARE,  Wilt- 
shire, i.  158),  and  was  buried  in  the  chancel 
at  Kilmington.  His  friend  Aubrey  describes 


Potter 


215 


Potter 


him  as  '  like  a  monk/  and  as  '  pretty  long 
visaged,  and  pale  clear  skin,  gray  eie.' 

Potter  was  a  practical  mechanician.  He 
made  quadrants  with  a  graduated  compass 
of  his  own  invention,  which  he  gave  to 
Aubrey.  He  also  theorised  as  to  the  trans- 
fusion of  blood  (about  1640),  and  communi- 
cated his  results  through  Aubrey  to  the  Royal 
Society,  of  which  he  was  admitted  a  fellow 
on  11  Nov.  1663,  soon  after  its  foundation  (R. 
THOMSON,  Hist.  Hoy.  Soc.)  He  made  a  fine 
dial  (probably  that  seen  in  Loggan's  view) 
on  the  north  side  of  the  original  quadrangle 
of  Trinity  College.  He  also  drew  and  painted ; 
the  copy  of  the  founder's  portrait  still  in 
Trinity  College  hall  is  his  work,  and  Aubrey 
says  that  he  designed  an  instrument  for 
drawing  in  perspective,  which  was  afterwards 
re-invented  by  Wren.  He  was  fond  of  chess, 
which  he  played  with  his  contemporary  at 
Trinity,  Colonel  Bishop,  accounted  by  Au- 
brey *  the  best  of  England.'  He  also  experi- 
mented with  bees,  and  showed  Aubrey  their 
thighs  in  a  microscope  (AuBKBT,  Wiltshire, 
p.  68). 

Potter  formed  a  wild  but  ingenious  theory 
of  the  Number  of  the  Beast,  connecting  25, 
the  '  appropinque  '  square  root  of  666,  with 
various  Romish  institutions ;  he  elaborated 
it  in  a  manuscript  which  was  read  in  1637  by 
Joseph  Mead  [q.  v.],  and  commended  as  a 
wonderful  discovery, '  the  happiest  that  ever 
yet  came  into  the  world,'  and  as  calculated 
to  l  make  some  of  your  German  speculatives 
half  wild '  (Mead  to  Hartlib,  Works,  p.  1076). 
It  was  published  as  '  An  Interpretation  of 
the  Number  666 '  (Oxford,  by  Leonard  Lich- 
field,  1642),  with  a  symbolical  frontispiece, 
an  opinion  by  Mead  prefixed,  and  a  preface 
dated  from  Kilmington.  Wood  says  it  was 
translated  into  French,  Dutch,  and  Latin ; 
but  the  only  translation  extant  is  in  Latin, 
printed  in  a  small  octavo  at  Amsterdam  in 
1677,  and  attributed  (Ath.  Oxon.  iv.  408)  to 
Thomas  Gilbert  (1613-1694)  [q.  v.]  of  St. 
Edmund  Hall  (cf.  MATTHEW  POOLE,  Synopsis 
Criticorum,  vol.  iv.  pt.  ii.  pp.  1891-5).  It 
was  reprinted  at  Worcester  in  1808.  Pepys, 
who  read  the  work  in  November  1666,  con- 
sidered it  '  mighty  ingenious/ 

His  elder  brother,  HANNIBAL  POTTEK 
(1592-1664),  matriculated  from  Trinity  Col- 
lege, Oxford,  in  1607,  was  elected  scholar  in 
1609,  graduated  B.A.  in  1611,  M.A.  in  1614, 
B.I),  in  1621,  and  D.D.  in  1630;  in  1613  he 
was  elected  fellow  of  Trinity.  He  was  pre- 
sented to  the  livings  of  Over-Worton,  Ox- 
fordshire, and  Wootton,  Northamptonshire, 
in  1625,  and  was  preacher  at  Gray's  Inn  from 
1635.  On  8  Aug.  1643  he  was  admitted  pre- 
sident of  Trinity  by  the  visitor,  though  Wil- 


liam Chillingworth  [q.  v.]  is  said  to  have  had 
a  majority  of  votes.  Potter  was  pro-vice- 
chancellor  during  the  parliamentary  visita- 
tion of  1647,  and  showed  some  ingenuity  in 
obstructing  the  visitors.  On  13  April  he  was 
deprived  of  the  office  of  president  by  the  par- 
liamentary chancellor,  the  Earl  of  Pembroke. 
At  the  same  time  he  was  deprived  of  Gar- 
sington,  a  benefice  attached  to  the  presi- 
dency, and  subsequently '  endured  great  hard- 
ships in  a  most  woeful  manner '  (WALKEK, 
Sufferings,  ii.  133)  ;  and  though  he  obtained 
the  curacy  of  Broomfield,  Somerset,  \vorth 
25/.  or  30/.  a  year,  he  was  soon  turned  out 
either  for '  insufficiency '  (NEAL,  Puritans,  iii. 
389),  or  for  using  the  liturgy.  He  was  re- 
stored to  his  offices  in  1660,  and  died  on 

I  Sept.  1664,  being  buried  in  the  old  chapel 
of  Trinity  College  (WooD,  Hist,  and  Antiq. 
ed.  Gutch,  n.  ii.  507-70;  BFEROWS,  Reg. 
Parl.  Visit. ;  Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.,  pas- 
sim). 

[Memoir  by  John  Aubrey  in  Bodleian  Letters, 
ii.  496-505  (amusing,  but  inaccurate) ;  Wood's 
Life  in  Athense  Oxon.  (ed.  Bliss),  iii.  1155; 
Chalmers's  Biogr.  Diet.  xxv.  229-31  ;  MSS.  Burs, 
at  Trinity  College.]  H.  E.  D.  B. 

POTTER,  GEORGE  (1832-1893),  trade- 
unionist,  was  born  at  Kenilworth  in  War- 
wickshire in  1832,  and  served  his  appren- 
ticeship to  a  carpenter  at  Coventry.  In  1854 
he  came  to  London,  and  was  elected  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Progressive  Society  of  Carpenters. 
He  first  became  prominent  in  the  lock-out 
in  the  building  trades  of  London  in  1859.  On 

II  April  1864  he  headed  the  deputation  of 
workmen   of  London  who  welcomed  Gari- 
baldi, and  rode  on  horseback  by  the  side  of 
his  carriage.     In  recognition  of  his  public 
services  he  was  presented  by  the  combined 
trades  of  London  and  the  provinces  with  an 
illuminated  address  and  a  purse  of  300/.  With 
Howell,   Allan,   Coulson,  Applegarth,  and 
the  other  leaders  of  trade-unionism  he  was 
seldom  in  agreement,  and  they  in  their  turn 
denounced  him  as  an  aider  and   abettor  of 
strikes.     He  started  in  1861  a  paper,  '  The 
Beehive,'  which  exercised  some  little  influ- 
ence, but  he  never  held  any  important  posi- 
tion in  the   trade-union  world.      He  was 
elected  to  the  London  school  board  for  the 
Westminster  district  on  27  Nov.  1873,  and 
served  for  nine  years.      He  was   the   first 
member  of  the  board  who  brought  before  his 
colleagues  the  question  of   free  education, 
and  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  moving  for 
and  obtaining  the  appointment  of  the  edu- 
cational endowment  committee.     In  his  at- 
tempts to  enter  the  House  of  Commons  he 
was  not   successful ;     he    contested   Peter- 
borough in  1874  and  Preston  in  1886. 


Potter 


216 


Potter 


In  August  1886,  as  president  of  the  London 
Working  Men's  Association,  he  opened  the 
trade-union  congress  held  in  St.  Martin's 
Hall,  Long  Acre,  London.  His  last  public 
appearance  was  at  the  demonstration  against 
the  Local  Veto  Bill  in  Trafalgar  Square, 
London,  in  March  1893.  He  died  at  21 
Marney  Road,  Wandsworth,  Surrey,  on 
3  June  1893. 

Though  a  self-taught  man,  he  was  an  able 
writer  on  labour  questions,  upon  which,  from 
time  to  time,  he  contributed  articles  to  the 
1  Times  '  and  the  *  Contemporary  Review.' 
He  in  1861  published  <  The  Labour  Question : 
an  Address  to  the  Capitalists  and  Employers 
of  the  Building  Trade,  being  a  few  Reasons 
on  behalf  of  a  Reduction  of  the  Hours  of 
Labour.' 

[Holyoake's  Sixty  Years  of  an  Agitator's  Life, 

1893,  ii.  194 ;  Webb's  History  of  Trade  Unionism, 

1894,  pp.  213,  230,  237,  256,  282  ;  Times,  5  June, 
1893,  p.  10.]  G-.  0.  B. 

POTTER,  JOHN  (1674  P-l 747),  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  son  of  Thomas  Potter, 
linendraper,  was  born  about  1674  in  the 
house  now  known  as  *  The  Black  Rock '  in 
the  Market  Place,  Wakefield,  Yorkshire. 
He  was  educated  at  the  grammar  school  of 
his  native  town,  and  matriculated,  18  May 
1688,  as  a  servitor  of  University  College, 
Oxford,  being  then  aged  14.  Potter  gra- 
duated B.A.  1692,  M.A.  1694,  B.D.  1704, 
D.D.  1706.  He  was  ordained  deacon  in  1698, 
and  priest  in  1699.  In  1694  he  was  made  a 
fellow  of  Lincoln  College,  and  in  the  same 
year,  when  barely  twenty,  he  published  the 
first  of  his  learned  publications,  '  Variantes 
Lectiones  et  Notae  ad  Plutarchi  librum  de 
Audiendis  Poetis ;  et  ad  Basilii  Magni  Ora- 
tionem  ad  Juvenes,'  Oxford,  8vo.  In  1697 
he  was  presented  to  the  rectory  of  Greens 
Norton,  Northamptonshire,  which  he  held 
till  1700 ;  and  in  the  same  year  to  the  vicar- 
age of  Coleby,  Lincolnshire,  which  he  re- 
signed in  1709.  He  was  also  rector  of  Great 
Mongeham,  Kent,  1707 ;  of  Monks  Ris- 
borough,  Buckinghamshire,  1708  ;  and  of 
Newington,  Oxford,  from  1708  till  1737. 

In  1704  Potter  was  made  domestic  chap- 
lain to  Archbishop  Tenison,  an  appointment 
which  fixed  his  residence  at  Lambeth.  But 
in  1707  he  was  recalled  to  Oxford  by  his 
nomination  to  the  regius  professorship  of 
divinity,  with  which  was  connected  a  stall 
in  Christ  Church.  The  appointment  is  said 
to  have  been  due  to  the  urgent  suit  made  by 
the  Duke  of  Marlbo rough  to  the  queen.  Potter 
was  a  whig  in  politics,  though  a  high  church- 
man in  divinity.  As  Bentley  was  appointed 
to  the  same  chair  at  Cambridge  in  1711,  the 


Wakefield  grammar  school  had  '  the  singu- 
lar distinction  of  having  produced  two 
scholars  who  held  the  office  of  regius  pro- 
fessor of  divinity  in  their  respective  uni- 
versities at  the  same  time'  (MoNK,  Ltfe 
of  Bentley}.  From  this  post  he  was 
raised,  again  by  the  Marlborough  interest, 
to  the  see  of  Oxford,  15  May  1715.  There 
he  remained  till  28  Feb.  1737,  when,  on  the 
death  of  Archbishop  Wake,  he  was  trans- 
lated, at  the  suggestion  of  Queen  Anne,  to 
Canterbury. 

In  his  administration  of  his  province 
Potter  was  accused  by  Whiston  (Memoirs  of 
Life  and  Writings,  i.  359)  and  others  of 
ostentation  and  haughtiness.  But  as  in  the 
case  of  Tillotson,  Seeker,  and  Moore,  his 
humble  origin  made  his  critics  censorious. 
He  died  at  Lambeth  10  Oct.  1747,  and  was 
buried  in  the  chancel  of  Croydon  church  on 
the  27th  of  the  same  month,  being  then  in 
his  seventy-fourth  year  (LTSONS,  Environs 
of  London,  i.  185:  STEINMANN,  Croydon, 
p.  155). 

By  his  wife,  whom  Wood  supposes  to 
have  been  a  granddaughter  of  Thomas 
Venner,  the  '  Fifth-monarchy '  man,  Potter 
had  a  large  family,  but  only  four  or  five- 
children  survived  him.  His  fortune  was  left 
to  his  second  son,  Thomas  [q.  v.]  The  eldest 
son,  John,  born  in  1713,  offended  his  father 
by  marrying  a  domestic  servant,  and  was 
disinherited,  though  amply  provided  for  in 
church  endowments. 

A  full-length  portrait  of  Potter,  by  Hud- 
son, is  in  the  Bodleian  Library  at  Oxford, 
and  has  been  engraved  by  Vertue ;  another 
by  the  same  artist  is  at  Lambeth  Palace,  and 
a  third,  which  is  anonymous,  belongs  to 
Christ  Church,  Oxford.  Engravings  by  Ver- 
tue, after  Dahl  and  Gibson,  are  mentioned 
by  Bromley. 

Potter  was  a  learned  classical  scholar. 
His  works,  besides  the  one  noticed,  were  : 
1.  '  Lycophronis  Chalcidiensis  Alexandra, 
cum  Grsecis  Isaaci  Tzetzis  commentariis, 
&c.,  cura  et  opera  lohannis  Potteri,  A.M.r 
et  Coll.  Lincoln.  Soc./  Oxford,  1697,  fol.  A 
second  edition,  dedicated  to  Grsevius,  ap- 
peared in  1702.  2.  '  Archaeologia  Graeca,  or 
the  Antiquities  of  Greece,'  vol.  i.  1697, 
vol.  ii.  1698.  This  work  was  incorporated, 
immediately  on  its  appearance,  into  the 
'  Thesaurus '  of  Gronovius,  *  whose  warm 
eulogies,'  says  Hallam,  attest  its  merits/ 
It  has  been  often  re-edited,  both  at  home 
and  abroad,  has  been  translated  into  Ger- 
man, and  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  been 
displaced  till  the  appearance  of  Dr.  William 
Smith's  dictionaries.  3.  '  dementis  Alexan- 
drini  Opera  quae  extant,  recognita  .  .  .  per 


Potter 


217 


Potter 


loannem  Potterum,  Episcopum  Oxoniensem, 

2  vols.  fol.  Oxford,  1715.    Criticisms  of  these 
works  will  be  found  in  Briiggemann's '  View 
of  the  English  Editions/  1797,  pp.  206,  314 
373.       Potter's    theological    treatises   were 
collected  and  published  after  his  death,  in 

3  vols.  8vo,  1753.      These  include  his  'Dis- 
course  of  Church   Government,'  originally 
published   in    1707,   his  coronation  sermon 
on  the  accession  of  George  II  in  1727,  anc 
his  controversial  writings  against  Hoadly  in 
the  Bangorian  controversy. 

[Wood's  Athense ;  Biographia  Britannica ; 
Life  by  Anderson,  prefixed  to  later  editions  o1 
the  Archseologia ;  Peacock's  History  of  the 
Wakefield  Grammar  School ;  Sisson's  Historic 
Sketch  of  the  Parish  Church,  Wakefield; 
Foster's  Alumni  Oxonienses;  Nichols's  Literary 
Illustrations,  iii.  687,  691,  iv.  888,  and  Literary 
Anecdotes,  i.  178.]  J.  H.  L. 

POTTER,  JOHN  (fi.  1754-1804),  dra- 
matic and  miscellaneous  writer,  born  in 
London  about  1734,  was  said  to  belong  to 
the  same  family  as  John  Potter  (1674  P-1747) 
[q.  v.],  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  His  father, 
possibly  the  John  Potter,  a  native  of  Kent, 
who  entered  Leyden  University  in  1714, 
seems  to  have  been  vicar  of  Cloford,  Somerset, 
and  to  have  published  '  The  Authority  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testament  considered  :  a  reply 
to  the  deists  '  (1742)  ;  '  A  System  of  Mathe- 
matics '  (1753) ;  and  '  A.  System  of  Practical 
Mathematics,  with  a  plain  Account  of  the 
Gregorian  or  New  Style '  (1757).  Potter  re- 
ceived a  good  classical  education,  studied 
mathematics  '  principally  with  his  father,' 
and  made  some  progress  in  music.  In  1754 
he  published  a  volume  of  poems.  About 
two  years  later  he  settled  'in  the  west  of 
England,  and  in  1756  established,  at  Exeter, 
a  weekly  paper,  called  '  The  Devonshire  In- 
spector.' In  1762  he  returned  to  London, 
and  '  for  a  time  read  the  music  lecture  at 
Gresham  College.'  Extracts  were  published 
the  same  year  as  *  Observations  on  the  pre- 
sent State  of  Music  and  Musicians,  with 
general  rules  for  studying  Music  ;  to  which 
is  added  a  Scheme  for  erecting  and  support- 
ing a  Musical  Academy  in  this  Kingdom.' 
In  the  same  year  he  published  the  '  Hobby 
Horse,'  a  satire  in  Hudibrastic  verse,  and  in 
1765  the  '  Choice  of  Apollo,'  a  serenata,  with 
music  by  W.  Yates,  which  was  performed 
at  the  Haymarket.  Baker  doubtfully  as- 
signs to  him  two  pieces  produced  at  Drury 
Lane  in  1764,  '  The  Rites  of  Hecate '  (said 
by  Victor  to  be  by  Mr.  Love)  and  '  Hymen  ' 
(also  attributed  by  Baker  to  one  Allen). 
Becoming  acquainted  with  Garrick,  he  wrote 
'  several  good  prologues  and  epilogues,'  and 
through  Garrick  was  introduced  to  Tyers, 


the  proprietor  of  Vauxhall  Gardens.  For  the 
entertainments  at  Vauxhall  Potter  wrote 
'  several  hundreds  of  songs,  ballads,  cantatas, 
&c.'  To  the '  Public  Ledger '  he  contributed 
theatrical  criticism,  and  in  one  of  his  con- 
tributions, '  The  Rosciad,  or  a  Theatrical  Re- 
gister,' attacked  Garrick.  In  November  1 766 
he  charged  Garrick  with  having  slandered 
him  to  Tyers,  and  threatened  to  publish  a 
statement  on  the  subject.  Garrick  denied  the 
imputation,  but  reproached  him  with  the  au- 
thorship of  the  'Rosciad'  (GAEEICK,  Corresp. 
1831,  i.  247-8).  Potter's  dramatic  criticisms 
were  collected  in  the  *  Theatrical  Review/ 
ostensibly  written  by  '  a  society  of  gentlemen 
independent  of  managerial  influence.'  Other 
works  which  Potter  issued  during  this  period 
of  his  career  were :  '  The  Words  of  the 
Wise,'  1768, 12mo,  '  consisting  of  moral  sub- 
jects digested  into  chapters  in  the  manner  of 
his  "  Economy  of  Human  Life ;  "  '  a  poor 
edition  of  Gayton's  '  Festivous  Notes  on 
Don  Quixote,'  1768 ;  '  Music  in  Mourning, 
or  Fiddlestick  in  the  Suds,  a  burlesque 
satire  on  a  certain  Mus.  Doc.,'  1780.  He  also 
essayed  a  series  of  somewhat  freely  conceived 
novels :  l  History  and  Adventures  of  Arthur 
O'Bradley,'  2  vols.  1769  ;  '  The  Curate  of 
Coventry,'  2  vols.  1771 ;  '  The  Virtuous  Vil- 
lagers,' 2  vols.  1784;  'The  Favourites  of  Fe- 
licity,'3  vols.  1785;  and  'Frederic,  or  the 
Libertine,'  2  vols.  1790. 

In  1777  Potter  quarrelled  with  Tyers's  suc- 
cessors at  Vauxhall,  and  resigned  his  position 
there.  Soon  afterwards  he  went  abroad,  and 
'  communicated  what  intelligence  he  could 
procure  for  the  service  of  government.'  In 
1784  he  seems  to  have  graduated  M.D.  at 
Edinburgh,  and  was  admitted  in  London  a 
licentiate  of  the  College  of  Physicians  on 
30  Sept.  1785.  He  was  then  described  as  a 
native  of  Oxfordshire  (MrNK,  Coll.  ofPhys.  ii. 
358).  He  practised  medicine  at  Enniscorthy, 
but  left  Ireland  during  the  rebellion  of  1798. 
In  1803,  when  living  at  47  Albemarle  Street, 
London,  he  published  '  Thoughts  respecting 
the  Origin  of  Treasonable  Conspiracies,'  &c. 
Thenceforth  he  supported  himself  by  litera- 
ture, and  produced  '  Olivia,  or  the  Nymph  of 
:he  Valley,'  a  two-volume  novel,  London, 
1813. 

Reuss  also  assigns  to  Potter  '  A  Journal 
of  a  Tour  through  parts  of  Germany,  Hol- 
and,  and  France,'  and  a  '  Treatise  on  Pul- 
monary Inflammation  '  (both  undated),  and 
says  he  published 'The  Repository,"  The  His- 
;orical  Register,'  and  '  Polyhymnia.'     Baker 
urther  says  that  he  corrected  and  added  to 
Salmon's  '  General  Gazetteer '  and  Ogilvy's 
Book  of  Roads,'  and  also  indexed  Dry  den's 
Virgil '  and  other  works. 


Potter 


218 


Potter 


[The  accounts  of  Potter  are  contradictory  and 
confusing.  See  Baker's  Biographia  Dramatica, 
ed.  Keed  and  Jones,  i.  577-9,  ii.  100,  316  ;  Lite- 
rary Memoirs  of  Living  Authors,  1798,  vol.  ii.  ; 
Reuss's  Register  of  Living  Authors,  1804,  vols. 
i.  ii. ;  Musik.  Conversations-Lexikon,  viii.  153; 
Watt's  Bibl.  Britannica;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat.;  au- 
thorities cited.]  Gr.  LE  G-.  N. 

POTTER,  JOHN  PHILLIPS  (1818- 
1847),  anatomist,  only  son  of  Rev.  John 
Phillips  Potter  (1793-1861),  was  born  on 
28  April  1818  at  Southrop,  Gloucestershire, 
while  his  father  was  acting  as  curate  there. 
He  was  partly  educated  (for  three  years)  at 
Brentford,  and  partly  at  the  Kensington 
proprietary  school.  He  entered  University 
College  as  a  student  in  1831,  and  in  his  first 
year  attained  a  distinguished  position  in  the 
class  of  experimental  and  natural  philo- 
sophy, while  in  1834-5  he  was  awarded  the 
gold  medal  for  chemistry.  In  1835-6  he 
became  a  pupil  of  Richard  Quain  (1800- 
1887)  [q.  v.],  professor  of  anatomy.  He  ob- 
tained the  highest  class  honours  in  the  session 
of  1836-7  ;  spent  three  years  in  the  wards  of 
the  hospital,  and  became  house-surgeon  to 
Robert  Listen  [q.  v.]  In  1841  he  took  the 
degree  of  bachelor  of  medicine  with  the 
highest  honours  at  the  London  University, 
and  in  1843-4  was  appointed  junior  demon- 
strator of  anatomy.  On  3  May  1847  he  was 
appointed  assistant-surgeon  to  the  North 
London  (University  College)  Hospital.  But 
he  unhappily  received  a  poisoned  wound 
while  dissecting  a  pelvis  for  Listen,  and  died 
of  pyaemia  a  fortnight  later.  Potter  was  an 
excellent  teacher,  and  helped  to  raise  the 
medical  school  of  University  College  to  the 
high  position  which  it  has  since  maintained. 
A  bust  by  Thomas  Campbell,  dated  1847, 
is  in  the  anatomical  museum  of  University 
College. 

[Obituary  notice  in  the  Lancet,  1847,  i.  576; 
Gent.  Mag.  1847,  ii.  100;  additional  facts  kindly 
given  to  the  writer  by  Sir  J.  Eric  Erichsen, 
bart,  F.R.S.]  D'A.  P. 

POTTER,  PHILIP  CIPRIANI  HAMB- 

L[E]Y  (1792-1871),  musician,  born  in  Lon- 
don on  2  Oct.  1792,  was  godson  of  a  sister 
of  Giovanni  Battista  Cipriani  [q.  v.],  the 
painter  and  teacher  of  music  ;  his  uncle  was 
a  well-known  flute-player.  At  the  age  of 
seven  Potter  began  to  study  music  under  his 
father,  passing  later  under  the  care  of  Att- 
wood,  Crotch,  Wb'lfl  (pianoforte),  and,  it  is 
said  on  doubtful  authority,  Dr.  John  Wall 
Callcott  [q.  v.]  When  the  Philharmonic 
Society  was  instituted  in  March  1813,  Potter 
became  an  associate,  and,  six  months  later, 
on  attaining  his  majority,  a  member.  He 


made  his  first  public  appearance  under  the 
auspices  of  that  society  on  29  April  1816, 
when  he  played  the  pianoforte  in  a  sestet  of 
his  own  composition;  a  month  earlier  the 
society  had  produced  an  overture  which  they 
had  commissioned  from  him.  In  March  of 
the  following  year  he  played  a  concerto  of 
his  own  at  the  same  concerts,  but  his  works 
seem  to  have  disappointed  expectation,  and 
he  left  England  to  study  in  Vienna.  There 
he  was  a  pupil  of  Aloys  Fbrster,  and  became 
personally  acquainted  with  many  of  the  il- 
lustrious musicians  of  the  day,  including 
Beethoven,  who  wrote  flatteringly  of  him  to 
Ries  (5  March  1818).  After  a  stay  of  sixteen 
months  in  Vienna,  Potter  spent  some  time 
in  Germany  and  Italy  before  returning  to 
London  in  1821.  On  12  March  of  that  year 
he  played  Mozart's  D  minor  concerto  at  a 
Philharmonic  concert  in  London. 

When  the  Royal  Academy  of  Music  opened 
its  doors  in  March  1823,  Potter  was  appointed 
principal  professor  of  the  pianoforte  there. 
In  the  following  year  his  first  symphony  was 
played  at  a  Philharmonic  concert,  and  in  1827 
he  became  director  of  the  orchestral  classes 
and  conductor  of  the  public  concerts  at  the 
Royal  Academy.  On  the  retirement  of  Dr. 
William  Crotch  [q.  v.]  from  that  institution 
in  1832,  Potter  succeeded  him  as  principal,  a 
post  he  continued  to  hold  until  1859,  when 
he  resigned  all  his  appointments  there.  A 
presentation  of  plate  was  made  him,  and  an 
exhibition  bearing  his  name  founded  at  the 
academy  (cf.  CORDEK,  Royal  Academy  of 
Music,  p.  127). 

Potter  ranked  high  among  contemporary 
pianists,  and  to  him  is  due  the  credit  of 
having  introduced  into  England  Beethoven's 
concertos  in  C  minor  (1824)  and  G  (1825) 
at  the  Philharmonic  Society's  concerts.  For 
that  society  he  wrote  his  own  symphony 
in  A  minor,  which  was  produced  in  1833. 
Potter  (though  at  first  having  no  sym- 
pathy with  Schumann's  style)  was  one  of 
the  earliest  English  editors  of  that  com- 
poser's works  (for  Wessel  in  1857),  and 
championed  them  at  a  time  when  the  most 
prominent  critics  failed  to  recognise  their 
excellences.  He  at  length  '  seemed  to  set  up 
a  standard  from  the  works  of  Schumann, 
by  which  he  judged  everything  else  which 
was  presented  to  him  with  the  exception 
.  .  .of  Brahms '  (Musical  Association's  Pro- 
ceedings, 10th  Session,  p.  54). 

Potter  was  an  auditor  of  the  Bach  Society, 
founded  in  1849  ;  conductor  of  the  Madrigal 
Society  from  1855  to  1870  ;  treasurer  of  the 
Society  of  British  Musicians,  1858  to  1865 ; 
and  he  frequently  acted  as  conductor  of  the 
Philharmonic  concerts.  He  is  said  to  have 


Potter 


219 


Potter 


been  a  very  efficient  conductor,  and  to  have 
never  used  a  baton,  but  to  have  conducted 
with  his  naked  hand.  His  last  appearance 
in  public  took  place  on  10  July  1871,  when 
he  played  one  of  the  two  pianofortes  at  the 
first  performance  of  Brahms's  '  Requiem '  in 
England.  Potter  died  on  26  Sept.  1871,  and 
was  buried  on  the  seventy-ninth  anniversary 
of  his  birthday.  A  portrait  of  him  by  Ben- 
dixen  and  Seguin  was  published  in  1838. 

Though  his  published  works  extend  to 
Opus  29,  they  are  rarely  heard  nowadays. 
They  include  nine  symphonies,  four  over- 
tures, three  pianoforte  concertos,  chamber 
music  including  a  sestet,  Op.  11,  three  trios, 
Op.  12,  and  some  string  quartets;  pianoforte 
studies  in  all  the  keys  written  for  the  Royal 
Academy  of  Music  ;  an  Italian  cantata 
founded  upon  Byron's  '  Corsair  ; '  and  addi- 
tional accompaniments  to  Handel's  ' Acis  and 
Galatea,'  a  stage  version  of  which  was  pro- 
duced at  the  Queen's  Theatre  in  1831  under 
George  Macfarren  [q.  v.]  He  was  sometimes 
taunted  with  being  a  'servile  imitator  of 
Beethoven  and  others,  and  that  he  sacrificed 
too  much  for  originality ' — a  feature  which 
it  is  not  easy  to  recognise  in  his  works 
(  Georgian  Era,  iv.  533).  As  a  teacher  and 
as  principal  of  the  Royal  Academy,  he  exer- 
cised considerable  influence  among  contem- 
porary English  musicians.  He  edited  Mo- 
zart's pianoforte  works,  and,  among  lite- 
rary papers,  was  author  of  '  Recollections  of 
Beethoven'  (Musical  World,  29  April  1836) 
and  <  Hints  on  Orchestration'  (ib.  1836-7). 

[Authorities  already  cited  ;  the  Panegyric  by 
the  late  Sir  G.  A.  Macfarren,  in  the  Proceedings 
of  the  Musical  Association,  bears  testimony  to 
Potter's  popularity  among  his  past  pupils,  &c. ; 
Cox's  Musical  Recollections,  i.  76,  333 ;  Quar- 
terly Mus.  Rev.  passim  ;  Grove's  Diet,  of  Music 
and  Musicians,  each  of  the  four  vols.  and  App.  ; 
Life  of  Gr.  A.  Macfarren,  by  H.  C.  Banister,  pp. 
6,  19  et  seq.,  35,  112,  166;  Imperial  Diet,  of 
Biography.]  R.  H.  L. 

POTTER,  RICHARD  (1799-1 886),  scien- 
tific writer,  was  son  of  Richard  Potter,  a  native 
of  Westmoreland,  who  became  a  corn  mer- 
chant and  afterwards  a  brewer  at  Manchester. 
Born  in  that  town  on  2  Jan.  1799,  he  was 
educated  at  the  Manchester  grammar  school, 
which  he  entered  in  1811  and  left  in  1815. 
On  leaving  school  he  went  into  a  Manchester 
warehouse,  and  was  for  some  years  engaged 
in  mercantile  life,  but  without  success.  His 
leisure  time  was  devoted  to  scientific  pursuits, 
more  especially  the  study  of  optics  and  che- 
mistry. In  one  or  both  of  these  subjects  he 
had  Dr.  John  Dalton  [q.  v.]  as  his  tutor.  In 
1830  he  wrote  an  article  on  metallic  mirrors 
in  Brewster's  '  Scientific  Journal,'  and  at  the 


first  meeting  of  the  British  Association  in 
1831  he  read  three  papers.  The  next  year 
he  read  two  papers,  and  in  1833  three  others. 
The  attention  given  to  these  contributions 
induced  the  author  to  prepare  himself  for 
admission  to  one  of  the  universities.  He 
accordingly  early  in  1834  commenced  to 
study  classics  under  a  private  tutor,  with  the 
view  of  entering  Queens'  College,  Cambridge. 
He  obtained  a  scholarship  at  that  college, 
and  graduated  B.A.  in  1838,  being  sixth 
wrangler.  In  January  1839  he  was  elected 
a  foundation  fellow  of  his  college,  succeeding 
to  the  medical  scholarship,  then  vacant,  as 
he  intended  to  study  medicine.  He  pro- 
ceeded M.A.  in  1841,  being  then  a  licentiate 
of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians.  He  never 
practised  medicine,  but  devoted  himself  to 
the  teaching  of  the  physical  sciences.  He 
was  professor  of  natural  philosophy  and 
astronomy  in  University  College,  London, 
from  October  1841  to  April  1843.  In  the 
latter  year  he  went  to  the  university  of  King's 
College,  Toronto,  Canada,  but  in  August  1844 
returned  to  London,  where  he  resumed  his 
professorship  at  University  College.  This 
appointment  he  retained  until  July  1865. 
The  remainder  of  his  life  he  spent  at  Cam- 
bridge, where  he  died  on  6  June  1886,  aged 
87.  He  married,  on  11  April  1843,  at  St. 
Pancras  Church,  London,  Mary  Ann,  daugh- 
ter of  Major  Pilkington,  of  Urney,  King's 
County,  Ireland.  She  died,  without  children, 
on  16  April  1871. 

He  published  the  following  works,  in  ad- 
dition to  fifty-nine  or  more  contributions  to 
journals  and  transactions  of  scientific  so- 
cieties: 1.  ( Elementary  Treatise  on  Me- 
chanics,' 1846.  2.  'Elementary  Treatise 
on  Geometrical  Optics,'  2  parts,  1847-51. 
3.  '  Physical  Optics :  Nature  and  Properties 
of  Light,'  2  parts,  1856-9.  4.  '  Treatise  on 
Hydrostatics  and  Hydrodynamics,'  2  parts, 
1859-87. 

[Manchester  School  Register  (Chetham  Soc.), 
iii.  82;  Manchester  Guardian,  18  June  1886; 
Royal  Society  Cat.  of  Scientific  Papers;  Brit. 
Mus.  Cat.]  '  C.  W.  S. 

POTTER,  ROBERT  (1721-1804),  poet 
and  politician,  born  in  1721,  was  educated  at 
the  free  school  of  Seaming,  Norfolk.  He 
matriculated  from  Emmanuel  College,  Cam- 
bridge, Bishop  Hurd  being  slightly  his  senior 
in  standing,  and  graduated  B.A.  in  1741,  but 
did  not  proceed  to  the  degree  of  M.A.  until 
1788,  when  he  received  substantial  prefer- 
ment. For  some  years  he  was  curate  of  Rey- 
merston  in  Norfolk ;  he  was  probably  the 
Robert  Potter  who  held  from  1754  to  1758  the 
rectory  of  Crostwick  in  that  county ;  and  on 


Potter 


220 


Potter 


1  June  1761  he  was  appointed  to  succeed  the  ; 
Rev.  Joseph  Brett  in  the  mastership  of  Scarn- 
ing  school.  When  he  went  to  take  possession 
of  the  premises  the  inhabitants  barred  his 
entrance  by  force,  as  they  desired  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  master  called  Coe,  who  had  been 
working  the  school  for  some  time,  and  Potter 
was  unable  to  enter  until  Sir  ArmineWode- 
house,  a  magistrate,  had  read  the  riot  act.  He 
kept,  like  Brett,  a  good  boarding-school,  and 
had  many  pupils,  whom  he  educated  himself, 
while  he  taught  the  village  children  by  de- 
puty. With  this  position  he  combined  the 
duties  of  curate  of  Scarning,  and  here  he  re- 
mained for  twenty-eight  years  until  1789,  oc- 
cupying his  spare  hours  with  translating  the 
works  of  the  Greek  tragedians.  These  he  regu- 
larly sent,  as  they  passed  through  the  press, 
to  Lord  Thurlow,  then  lord  chancellor,  who 
had  been  educated  at  Scarning  school.  On 
the  receipt  in  1788  of  a  copy  of  the  translation 
of  Sophocles,  a  letter  was  sent  by  the  lord 
chancellor  to  Potter  intimating  his  pleasure  at 
receiving  these  versions,  and  offering  him  the 
second  canonical  stall  in  Norwich  Cathedral, 
which  he  held  until  his  death.  According 
to  the  anecdote  given  by  Lord  Campbell  (Lives 
of  the  Lord  Chancellors,  v.  642),  Thurlow,  in 
giving  the  stall,  observed,  1 1  did  not  like  to 
promote  him  earlier  for  fear  of  making  him 
indolent.'  In  the  next  year  (26  June  1789) 
he  was  appointed  by  the  bishop  of  Norwich, 
without  any  application  on  his  part,  to  the 
important  vicarage  of  Lowestoft,  with  the 
rectory  of  Kessingland,  and  the  house  occu- 
pied by  his  predecessor  was  at  the  same  time 
acquired  as  a  parsonage  and  vested  in  Potter 
and  his  successors  (GILLINGWATER,  Hist,  of 
Lowestoft,  pp.  313,  354).  He  thereupon  re- 
signed his  charge  at  Scarning,  and  devoted 
himself  to  his  new  duties.  He  was  found 
dead  in  his  bed  at  Lowestoft  on  9  Aug.  1804 
(PRATT,  Harvest  Home,  p.  503).  A  mural 
monument  to  his  memory  was  erected  by  the 
parishioners  in  Lowestoft  churchyard.  Rom- 
ney  painted  his  picture  in  1779  as  a  gift  to 
him,  and  also  painted  his  son's  portrait  (  JOHN 
ROMNEY,  Life  of  Romney,  pp.  159-61,  220-2, 
where  are  several  letters  from  Potter  to  Rom- 
ney). His  wife  was  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  J. 
Colman  of  Hardingham,  by  Elizabeth,  daugh- 
ter of  John  Howes  of  Morningthorpe.  She 
was  buried  at  Scarning  on  6  July  1786. 
Potter  was  described  as  *  a  tall  man,  about 
six  feet  high,  very  handsome,  with  an  aqui- 
line nose,'  and  as  '  of  great  merit,  small  pre- 
ferment, and  large  family '  (FORBES,  Life  of 
Beattie,  ii.  220-1).  His  daughter  Elizabeth 
was  buried  at  Scarning  on  12  June  1782. 

Potter's  chief  work  was  his  translation  of 
the  tragedies  of  ^Eschylus.    The  first  edition 


appeared  in  1777,  and  in  the  following  year 
he  printed  and  presented  to  the  subscribers 
his  '  Notes  on  the  Tragedies  of  yEschylus/ 
which  were  drawn  up  at  the  request  of  Mrs. 
Montagu  and  addressed  to  her.  His  corre- 
spondence with  Dr.  Parr  on  these  '  Notes  '  is 
in  Parr's  <  Works,'  viii.  225-30.  Subsequent 
editions  of  the  translation  came  out  in  1779, 
1808,  1809,  1819,  and  1833;  it  formed  in 
1886  vol.  xli.  of  Morley's '  Universal  Library/ 
and  it  was  issued  in  1892  as  No.  30  of  Sir 
John  Lubbock's  '  Hundred  Books.'  Beattie 
called  it  l  the  best  translation  that  ever  ap- 
peared in  English  of  any  Greek  poet,'  and 
Sir  James  Mackintosh  read  it  '  with  very 
great  admiration.' 

The  first  volume  of  Potter's  translation  of 
the  tragedies  of  Euripides  came  out  in  1781, 
with  a  dedication  to  the  Duchess-do  wager  of 
Beaufort,  and  the  second  in  1783.  The  as- 
signment by  him  to  James  Dodsley  of  the 
copyright  is  in  the  Egerton  MS.  Brit.  Mus. 
2334,  f.  19.  It  was  reprinted  in  1808,  1814, 
and  1832,  and  some  of  his  versions  of  the 

?lays  were  also  published  separately.  In 
887  there  appeared,  as  vol.  liv.  of  Morley's 
'Universal  Library,'  Potter's  rendering  of 
1  Alcestis  and  other  Plays  by  Euripides.'  His 
translation  of  the  tragedies  of  Sophocles  was 
given  to  the  world  in  1788,  with  a  dedication 
to  Georgiana,  countess-dowager  Spencer,  and 
a  new  edition  was  published  at  Oxford  in 
1808.  The  verdict  of  Parr  was  that  Potter 
lost  the  fame  established  by  his  ^Eschylus 
by  his  translation  of  Euripides.  Dr.  John- 
son characterised  all  Potter's  efforts  as  '  ver- 
biage.' 

Potter's  other  productions  in  poetry  were : 
1.  'Retirement:  an  Epistle/  1748.  2.  'A 
Farewell  Hymne  to  the  Country  in  the  man- 
ner of  Spenser's  Epithalamion/  1749;  2nd 
ed.  1750 ;  it  is  also  inserted  in  Bell's  '  Col- 
lection of  Fugitive  Poetry/ xi.  105.  3.  *  Hoik- 
ham  :  a  Poem/  to  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  1757 ; 
also  included  in  Pearch's  '  Collection  of 
Poems/  ii.  259-67.  4.  '  Kymber :  a  Monody 
to  Sir  Armine  Wodehouse/  1759 ;  a  poem  in 
praise  of  that  family,  also  in  Pearch's  '  Col- 
lection/ iii.  184-99.  5. '  Poems  by  Mr.  Potter/ 
1774  (containing  the  poems  to  that  date). 
6. '  The  Oracle  concerning  Babylon '  and  l  The 
Song  of  Exultation  '  [two  odes]  from  Isaiah, 
chap.  xiii.  and  xiv.,  1785.  Some  verses  by 
Dr.  Johnson  in  derision  of  Potter's  attempts 
at  poetry  were  read  at  Mrs.  Thrale's  house 
at  Streatham  in  July  1779  (Early  Diary  of 
Frances  Burney,  ii.  256-8).  An  account  of 
Johnson's  rough  treatment  of  him  when  in- 
troduced by  Mrs.  Montagu  is  given  in  E.  H. 
Barker's  '  Anecdotes/  i.  1-2.  The  victim  did 
not  suffer  in  silence.  He  published  in  1783 


Potter 


221 


Potter 


'  An  Inquiry  into  some  Passages  in  Dr.  John- 
son's "  Lives  of  the  Poets,"  particularly  his 
observations  on  Lyric  Poetry  and  the  Odes 
of  Gray,'  and  followed  it  in  1789  with  '  The 
Art  of  Criticism  as  exemplified  in  Dr.  John- 
son's "  Lives  of  the  most  eminent  English 
Poets." '  The  copy  of  this  tract  at  the  British 
Museum  contains  corrections  for  a  new  edi- 
tion. Horace  Walpole,  in  a  letter  to  Mason 
dated  9  June  1783,  calls  the  defence  of  Gray 
*  sensibly  written,  civil  to  Johnson,  and  yet 
severe,'  and  points  out  that  its  true  object 
is  '  to  revenge  the  attack  on  Lord  Lyttelton 
at  the  instigation  of  Mrs.  Montagu,  who  has 
her  full  share  of  incense.' 

Potter  issued  in  1785  a  pamphlet  of '  Obser- 
vations on  the  Poor  Laws  and  on  Houses  of 
Industry,'  in  which  he  commented  on  the  fre- 
quent harshness  of  overseers,  and  advocated 
the  erection  of  composite  poor-houses  for  seve- 
ral parishes.  His  views  were  answered  in  the 
same  year  by  Thomas  Mendham  of  Briston  in 
Norfolk,  and  by  Charles  Butler  in  an  anony- 
mous '  Essay  on  Houses  of  Industry '(BUTLER, 
Reminiscences,  i.  68-9). 

He  published  several  separate  sermons  and 
left  behind  him  a  manuscript  volume  of  bio- 
graphical notices  of  Norfolk  men  of  letters 
from  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth  to  his  own 
death. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1788  pt.  i.  p.  431,  1804  pt.ii.pp. 
792,  974,  1813  pt.i.  pp.  196-7;  Living  Authors, 
1798,  ii.  152-4  ;  Le  Neve's  Fasti,  ii.  498;  Beloe's 
Sexagenarian,  i.  299-300  ;  Walpole's  Letters, 
(ed.  Cunningham),  viii.  376 ;  Forbes's  Life  of 
Beattie,  ii.  191-4;  Carthew's  Launditch  Hun- 
dred, iii.  344,  362-3 ;  Pratt's  Harvest  Home,  p. 
499.]  W.  P.  C. 

POTTER,  THOM  AS  (1718-1759),wit  and 
politician,  second  son  of  John  Potter  (1674?- 
1747)  [q.  v.],  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  was 
born  at  Cuddesdon,  Oxfordshire,  in  1718,  his 
father  being  then  bishop  of  Oxford.  The  eldest 
son  married  beneath  his  rank  in  society,  the 
wife,  according  to  Cole,  being  a  bedmaker  at 
Oxford,  and  Thomas  inherited  from  the  father 
all  his  personal  property,  the  estate  being 
usually  estimated  at  from  70,000/.  to  100,000/. 
He  matriculated  from  Christ  Church,  Oxford, 
on  18  Nov.  1731,  aged  13,  andgraduatedB.A. 
1735,  M.A.  1738.  In  1740  he  was  called  to 
the  bar  at  the  Middle  Temple,  and  he  held  the 
recordership  of  Bath.  Potter  was  ambitious, 
and  with  the  wealth  which  he  had  obtained 
from  his  father,  who  had  also  bestowed  on 
liim  the  lucrative  post  of  principal  registrar 
to  the  province  of  Canterbury,  he  was  enabled 
to  embark  in  politics.  In  the  parliament 
lasting  from  1747  to  1754  he  sat,  through 
the  favour  of  the  family  of  Eliot,  for  the 
Cornish  borough  of  St.  Germans  j  and  he 


acted  as  secretary  to  the  Prince  of  Wales 
from  1748  until  the  prince's  death  in  1751. 
Potter  during  his  first  session  attacked,  in  a 
speech  which  was  '  for  those  days  extremely 
violent,'  the  conduct  of  the  Duke  of  Newcastle, 
who  was  accused  of  having  exercised  undue 
influence  in  the  election  of  1747  for  Seaford 
in  Sussex.  Henry  Pelham  indignantly  called 
him  to  order,  and  the  incident  attracted  great 
attention.  '  Mr.  Potter  the  lawyer  is  a  second 
Pitt  for  fluency  of  words.  He  spoke  well  and 
bitterly,  but  with  so  perfect  an  assurance,  so 
unconcerned,  so  much  master  of  himself, 
though  the  first  sessions  of  his  being  in  parlia- 
ment and  first  time  of  openinghis  mouth  there, 
that  it  disgusted  more  than  it  pleased,'  was 
the  comment  of  Lady  Hervey  (Letters,  1821, 
pp.  110-11).  The  speech  was  published  in 
the  magazines,  and  it  drew  from  the  old 
Horace  Walpole  an  anonymous  '  Letter  to  a 
certain  distinguished  Patriot  and  most  ap- 
plauded Orator  on  the  publication  of  his 
celebrated  Speech  on  the  Seaford  Petition/ 
1748. 

Potter's  second  conspicuous  speech  in  par- 
liament was  on  the  bill  for  removing  the 
assizes  from  Aylesbury  to  Buckingham,  a  bill 
introduced  owing  to  a  contest  between  Lord- 
chief-j  usticeWilles  and  the  Grenvilles.  Potter 
contended  for  Aylesbury.  On  20  March  1751 
he  opened  'in  an  able  manner  his  scheme  for  an 
additional  duty  of  two  shillings  on  spirits,  to 
be  collected  by  way  of  excise,'  and  Walpole  de- 
scribed him  as  a  '  young  man  of  the  greatest 
good  nature '  and  '  not  bashful  nor  void  of 
vanity  '  (Memoirs  of  George II,  i.  69-71).  In 
the  session  of  1753-4  he  introduced  a  census 
bill,  and,  with  the  support  of  Pelham,  suc- 
ceeded in  passing  it  through  the  House  of 
Commons ;  but  it  was  thrown  out  in  the 
upper  house  as  *  profane  and  subversive  of 
liberty,'  and  the  first  census  of  Great  Britain 
was  not  taken  until  1801.  He  criticised  as  a 
country  gentleman  the  ill-fated  expedition  of 
1757  against  the  port  of  Rochefort  in  France, 
and  this  led  to  a  war  of  pamphlets  with  Henry 
Seymour  Conway  [q.  v.] 

From  1754  to  July  1757  Potter  sat  for 
the  borough  of  Aylesbury.  He  very  soon 
allied  himself  with  the  elder  Pitt,  who  wrote 
to  his  nephew  in  October  1756, '  Mr.  Potter  is 
one  of  the  best  friends  I  have  in  the  world.' 
His  name  was  on  the  list  of  Pitt's  candidates 
for  high  office,  but  the  king  '  objected  in  the 
strongest  manner  to  the  promotion  as  a  thing 
unheard  of  at  the  first  step  in  his  service ' 
(Chatham  Corresp.  i.  187-8).  But  Pitt  was 
not  to  be  denied,  and  in  December  1756 
Potter  was  re-elected  at  Aylesbury  after  ap- 
pointment as  paymaster-general  of  the  land 
forces.  In  the  following  July  he  became 


Potter 


222 


Potter 


joint  vice-treasurer  of  Ireland,  and  he  held 
that  office  until  his  death. 

Though  afflicted  with  bad  health,  Potter 
was  extremely  handsome  in  person  and  full 
of  wit.  His  figure  is  said  to  have  been  intro- 
duced into  Hogarth's  election-print  as  the 
handsome  candidate  (NICHOLS,  Anecdotes  of 
Hogarth,  1785  ed.  p.  335),  and  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  witty  set  that  became  notorious  at 
Medmenham.  Among  the  associates  of  John 
Wilkes  he '  was  the  worst,  and  was  indeed  his 
[Wilkes's]  ruin,  who  was  not  a  bad  man  early 
or  naturally.  But  Potter  poisoned  his  morals ' 
(ALMOK-,  Wilkes t  i.  18-19).  Wilkes  was  con- 
nected with  Aylesbury,  and  desired  to  become 
member  for  the  borough.  A  triangular  deal 
was  thereupon  arranged,  in  July  1757,  by 
Potter :  a  vacant  seat  at  Bath  was  filled  by 
Pitt ;  the  place  at  Okehampton  in  Devon- 
shire, a  borough  of  the  Pitt  family  which  Pitt 
had  vacated,  was  occupied  by  Potter ;  and 
Wilkes  succeeded  to  the  seat  at  Aylesbury. 
This  arrangement  cost  the  new  member  no 
less  than  7,000/.,  and,  as  he  had  not  the  ready 
money,  he  was  introduced  by  Potter  to  Jewish 
moneylenders,  and  was  hopelessly  entangled. 

After  a  long  decline  Potter  died  at  his 
favourite  residence  of  Ridgmont,  near  Wo- 
burn,  Bedfordshire  (a  property  which  he  pos- 
sessed through  his  wife),  on  17  June  1759, 
and  was  buried  on  25  June,  at  his  own  desire, 
in  its  churchyard,  e  at  the  west  end  of  the 
belfry,  in  a  place  where  no  one  was  used  to 
be  buried,'  which  he  had  pointed  out  to  his 
steward  a  few  days  before  his  death.  By  his. 
directions  his  body  was  dissected,  and  his 
lungs  and  liver  were  found  to  be  much  de- 
cayed. At  the  dictation  of  his  father  he  mar- 
ried MissManningham,  whom  he  treated  very 
badly.  She  died  on  4  Jan.  1744  (Gent.  Mag. 
1744,  p.  53),  leaving  an  only  son,  a  youth 
of  'good  parts,  good  nature,  and  amiable 
qualities,'  who  was  sent  to  Emmanuel  Col- 
lege, Cambridge,  in  October  1756,  when  Pitt 
strongly  recommended  him  to  his  nephew  as 
a  desirable  acquaintance  (Chatham  Corresp. 
i.  172-5).  Potter  married  for  his  second 
wife,  on  14  July  1747,  Miss  Lowe  of  Bright- 
well,  Oxfordshire,  with  a  fortune  of  50,000/. ; 
by  her  he  had  two  daughters,  one  of  whom 
married  Malcolm  Macqueen,  M.D.  (d.  1829). 
To  the  latter  Potter's  estates  passed.  His 
descendant,  Thomas  Potter  Macqueen,  was 
member  for  East  Looe  in  Cornwall  from 
1816  to  1826,  and  for  Bedford  county  from 
1826  to  1830  (LTSONS,  Bedfordshire,  pp.  97, 
127). 

In  some  bibliographical  notes  contributed 
to  '  Notes  and  Queries '  (2nd  ser.  iv.  1-2, 41-3), 
Charles  Wentworth  Dilke  [q.  v.]  gave  good 
reasons  for  believing  that  the  '  Essay  on 


Woman,'  although  printed  at  the  private  press 
of  Wilkes,  was  written  by  Potter.  The  bur- 
lesque notes  appended  to  it  purported  to  be 
by  Warburton,  and  it  was  suggested  that 
the  selection  of  the  bishop's  name  was  due 
to  a  quarrel  at  Ralph  Allen's  house  of  Prior 
Park,  near  Bath,  where  both  of  them  had 
been  intimate  guests.  The  suggestion  as 
to  the  authorship  is  confirmed  by  a  manu- 
script note  by  Dyce  in  his  copy,  which  states 
that  Wilkes  had  remarked  toWi'lliam  Maltby 
1 1  am  not  the  author  of  the  "  Essay  on 
Woman" :  it  was  written  by  Potter,'  and  gives 
point  to  the  line  in  Churchill's  <  Dedication ' 
describing  the  denunciations  of  Warburton 
on  the  printing  of  the  poem : 

And  Potter  trembles  even  in  his  grave. 

Potter  was  called  by  Horace  Walpole  the 
'  gallant  of  Warburton's  wife,'  and  is  said  in 
Churchill's  '  Duellist '  (bk.  iii.  lines  241-8) 
and  in  other  satirical  publications  to  have 
been  the  father  of  her  only  son.  Potter  wrote 
to  Pitt  on  11  May  17.56,  describing  the 
'worthy'  owner  of  Prior  Park  (i.e.  Warbur- 
ton) and  •'  the  present  joy  at  the  birth  of  an 
heir.' 

The  name  of  Potter  was  printed,  with 
those  of  Chesterfield,  Wilkes,  Garrick,  and 
several  other  wits  of  the  day,  on  the  title- 
page  of  '  The  New  Foundling  Hospital  for 
Wit,'  and  some  epigrams  by  him  are  included 
in  the  collection.  Letters  from  him  to  A.  C. 
Ducarel,  describing  his  travels  in  France  and 
the  Low  Countries  in  1737,  are  in  Nichols's 
'  Illustrations  of  Literature  '  (iii.  687-90), 
and  several  letters  to  Zachary  Grey  are  in  the 
same  work  (iv.  333-43).  He  was  a  corre- 
spondent of  Pitt,  and  many  of  his  communi- 
cations are  in  the  '  Chatham  Correspondence  ' 
(i.  153-366).  His  letters  to  George  Gren- 
ville  are  in  the  'Grenville  Papers'  (i.  102-3, 
104-5,  137-48,  155,  166-7,  172-3,  188-9). 
His  library  was  sold  in  1760. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1747  p.  342,  1759  p.  293;  Cole's 
Addit.  MS.  Brit  Mus.  5831,  ff.  181-3  ;  Watson's 
Warburton,  pp.  559-60  ;  Bridges's  Okehampton, 
p.  140;  Gibbs's  Aylesbury,  pp.  214-20;  Nichols's 
Literary  Anecdotes,  i.  178,  iii.  668  ;  Dyce's  Cata- 
logue, ii.  424  ;  Warburton's  Letters  to  Hurd,  p. 
289  ;  Churchill's  Works  (ed.  1804),  i.  223,  225  ; 
Coxe's  Pelham  Administration,  ii.  167, 271 ;  Wai- 
pole's  George  II,  i.  69-71,  ii.  11;  Walpole's 
George  III  (ed.  Barker),  i.  248-9.]  W.  P.  C. 

POTTER,  THOMAS  JOSEPH  (1828- 
1873),  catholic  story- writer  and  professor, 
born  on  9  June  1828  at  Scarborough,  York- 
shire, was  son  of  George  Potter,  by  his  wife 
Amelia  Hunt.  His  parents  intended  him  to 
take  orders  in  the  church  of  England,  but, 
on  24  Feb.  1847,  he  was  received  into  the 


Potter 


223 


Potter 


catholic  church  at  Stockhead  Park,  Bever- 
ley,  Yorkshire,  and  joined  Stonyhurst  Col- 
lege. On  24  Oct.  1854  he  entered  All  Hal- 
lows' College,  Dublin,  and  was  ordained  a 
priest  on  28  June  1857.  He  was  appointed 
director  of  All  Hallows'  College,  and  pro- 
fessor of  sacred  eloquence,  and  died  there  on 
31  Aug.  1873. 

His  works,  chiefly  passable  religious 
poems  or  romances,  are :  1.  '  The  Two  Vic- 
tories,' Dublin,  8vo,  1860.  2.  <  The  Rector's 
Daughter,'  London,  1861 , 16mo.  3. '  Legends, 
Lyrics,  and  Hymns,'  Dublin,  1862.  4. « Light 
and  Shade,'  8vo,  1864.  5.  «  Panegyric  of  St. 
Patrick,'  8vo,  1864.  6.  'Sir  Humphrey's 
Trial,  or  the  Lesson  of  Life,'  a  book  of  tales, 
legends,  and  sketches  in  prose  and  verse, 
8vo,  4th  edit.  Dublin,  1884.  7.  The  Pastor 
and  his  People,  or  the  Word  of  God  and 
the  Flock  of  Israel,'  Dublin,  8vo,  1869. 
8.  'The  Spoken  Word,  or  the  Art  of  Ex- 
tempore Preaching,'  12mo,  1872.  9.  '  Ru- 
pert Aubrey  of  Aubrey  Chase,'  an  historical 
tale  of  1681, 2nd  edit.  12mo,  1879.  10.  'Percy 
Grange,  or  the  Dream  of  Life,'  a  tale  in  three 
books,  12mo,  1876 ;  new  edit.  1883. 

[Allibone's  Diet,  of  Engl.  Lit.  and  Suppl. ; 
Brit.  Mus.  Cat. ;  information  kindly  supplied 
by  Henry  Bedford,  M.A.,  All  Hallows'  College. 
Dublin.]  D.  J.  O'D. 

POTTER,  THOMAS  ROSSELL  (1799- 
1873),  antiquary,  son  of  John  Potter  of 
West  Hallam,  Derbyshire,  by  his  wife  Mary 
Rossell,  was  born  at  West  Hallam  on  7  Jan. 
1799.  He  was  educated  first  at  the  Risley 
grammar  school,  and  afterwards  at  the  gram- 
mar school  at  Wirksworth.  When  he  was 
fifteen  his  parents  removed  to  Wymeswold 
in  Leicestershire,  and  there  he  resided  until 
his  death. 

His  intention  of  taking  orders  was  fr  ust  rated 
by  his  father's  death,  and  Potter  accordingly 
started  a  school  at  Wymeswold.  The  school 
proved  successful,  and,  with  the  exception 
of  a  few  years  devoted  entirely  to  literary 
work,  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  days  in 
tuition.  From  his  schooldays  he  had  deve- 
loped a  taste  for  literature,  and  especially 
for  antiquities  and  geology.  In  1842  he  tem- 
porarily removed  from  Wymeswold  to  a  house 
on  Charnwood  Forest,  and  while  living  here 
employed  his  leisure  in  collecting  notes  upon 
the  history,  antiquities,  natural  history,  and 
geology  of  that  district,  which  he  worked  up 
into  a  volume,  entitled  '  The  History  and 
Antiquities  of  Charnwood  Forest.'  This,  the 
largest  and  best  of  his  works,  shows  con- 
siderable depth  of  research  and  sound  judg- 
ment in  the  choice  of  facts.  Encouraged  by 
the  reception  of  this  book,  Potter  attempted 


the  reissue  of  Nichols's  '  History  of  Leices- 
tershire,' revised  and  brought  down  to  the 
present  time;  but  his  effort  proved  abortive, 
and,  though  much  was  written,  no  portion 
found  its  way  into  print  except  the  '  Phy- 
sical Geography  and  Geology  of  Leicester- 
shire'(1866),  which  Professor  Ansted  wrote 
for  the  enterprise. 

Potter  was  fond  of  field  sports,  and  a 
regular  attendant  at  the  meets  of  the  Quorn 
hunt,  and  he  contributed  a  series  of  racy 
and  pungent  papers  and  poems  to  the '  Sport- 
ing Magazine '  from  1827  until  1840,  under 
the  nom  de  guerre  of  '  Old  Grey.'  He  after- 
wards wrote  for  the  ;  Sporting  Review.'  One 
of  the  best  of  his  sporting  effusions  was  a 
witty  poem  entited  '  The  Meltonians,'  in 
1835.  He  became  editor  of  the  '  Leicester 
Advertiser 'in  1849,  of  the  'Ilkeston  Pioneer' 
in  1856,  and  of  the  '  Leicester  Guardian  '  in 
1858.  In  1865  he  was  editor  of  the  '  Lough- 
borough  Monitor/  which,  on  its  subsequent 
amalgamation  with  another  paper,  was 
styled  the  '  Loughborough  Monitor  and 
News.'  Some  lyrical  ballads  by  him,  in 
which  local  legends  were  incorporated,  were 
collected  in  a  volume  of  '  Poems '  after  his 
death  by  his  son,  Charles  Neville  Potter,  in 
1881. 

Potter  died  on  19  April  1873,  at  Wymes- 
wold, and  was  buried  there  on  the  23rd. 
He  had  married,  on  14  Jan.  1836,  Frances 
Sarah,  daughter  of  Leonard  Fosbrooke  of 
Shard  low  Hall,  Derbyshire,  and  of  Raven- 
stone  Hall,  Leicestershire,  and  by  her,  who 
still  survives  him,  he  had  five  sons  and  four 
daughters. 

Besides  the  works  mentioned,  he  published : 

1.  '  Walks     round     Loughborough,'  1840. 

2.  '  The  Genius  of  Nottinghamshire,'  1849. 
3. '  Rambles  round  Loughborough,'  reprinted 
from  '  The  Loughborough  News,'  1868. 

['  Thomas  Kossell  Potter :  a  Memory,'  by 
Llewellyun  Jewitt,  F.S.A.,  in  the  Keliquary, 
vol.  xiv.  July  1873;  Fletcher's  Leicestershire 
Pedigrees  and  Royal  Descents,  p.  156,  s.v. 
Fosbrooke;  Antiquary,  10  May  1873;  infor 
mation  kindly  communicated  by  his  sons.] 

w.  G.  D.  F. 

POTTER,  WILLIAM  (/.  1656),  writer 
on  banks,  was  appointed  in  1656  registrar 
of  debentures  on  '  the  act  for  the  sale  of  the 
late  king's  lands'  (Cal  State  Papers,  Dom. 
1656-7,  cxxix.  11).  One  of  the  earliest  writers 
on  paper  currency,  he  recommended  the  issue, 
by  means  of  a  land  bank,  of  bills  payable  at 
sight  to  the  bearer,  under  a  guarantee  of  land 
mortgages.  He  gave  an  account  of  his  scheme 
in  '  The  Key  of  Wealth,  or  a  New  Way  for 
improving  of  Trade,'  London,  1650,  fol.  Ib 
was  remodelled  and  republished,  with  addi- 


Pottinger 


224 


Pottinger 


tions,  with  the  title  'The  Trades-man's  Jewel, 
or  a  Safe,  Easie,  Speedy,  and  Effectual  Means 
for  the  Incredible  Advancement  of  Trade  . . . 
by  making  . . .  Bills  to  become  current  instead 
of  Money/  &c.,  London,  1650,  4to.  He  also 
drew  up,  for  presentation  to  the  Council  for 
Trade, ( Humble  Proposalls . .  .  shewing  what 
Particulars,  if  enacted  by  Parliament,  would 
.  .  .  conduce  to  Advance  Trade/  &c.,  London, 
1651,  4to.  His  scheme  was  criticised  in  'An 
Essay  upon  .  .  .  W.  Potter's  Designe  con- 
cerning a  Bank  of  Lands  to  be  erected 
throughout  this  Commonwealth/  &c.,  Lon- 
don [1651  ?],  4to ;  reprinted  in  'A  Discoverie 
for  division  or  setting  out  of  Lande,  &c.,  by 
Samuel  Hartlib/  London,  1653,  4to. 

[McCulloeh's  Literature  of  Political  Economy, 
p.  159  ;  Cossa's  Introduction  to  the  Study  of 
Political  Economy,  tran  si.  by  Dyer,  pp.  185, 186.1 

W.  A.  S.  H. 

POTTINGER,  ELDRED  (1811-1843), 
soldier  and  diplomatist,  born  in  Ireland  on 
12  Aug.  1811,  was  son  of  Thomas  Pottin- 
ger, esq.,  of  Mount  Pottinger,  co.  Down,  and 
nephew  of  Sir  Henry  Pottinger  [q.v.]  He 
was  educated  at  Addiscombe,  the  East  India 
Company's  military  college,  and  entered  the 
Bombay  artillery  in  1827.  After  some  re- 
gimental service  he  was  appointed  to  the 
political  department  and  was  posted  as  assis- 
tant to  his  uncle,  Colonel  Henry  Pottinger. 
In  1837  the  latter  granted  his  request  to 
travel  in  Afghanistan  in  order  to  satisfy  his 
love  of  adventure  and  to  collect  informa- 
tion. Disguised  as  a  horse-dealer,  with  a 
slender  retinue  he  journeyed  by  Shikarpur, 
Dera  Ismail  Khan,  and  Peshawar  to  Kabul 
and  Herat.  Soon  after  his  arrival  at  Herat 
(September  1837)  the  city  was  invested  by 
a  Persian  army,  accompanied  by  Russian  offi- 
cers. Thereupon  Lieutenant  Pottinger  made 
himself  known  to  Yar  Mahammad  Khan, 
the  wazir  and  commander  of  the  forces 
under  Shah  Kamran,  and  offered  his  services 
for  the  defence.  These  were  accepted,  and, 
mainly  through  the  young  officer's  energy, 
•a  stubborn  resistance  was  organised.  At 
the  same  time  a  naval  demonstration  was 
made  in  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  the  siege  was 
raised  by  the  Persians  in  September  1838. 
Pottinger's  services  were  highly  appreciated, 
and  the  governor-general  (George  Eden,  earl 
of  Auckland)  thanked  him  as  one  '  who,  under 
circumstances  of  peculiar  danger  and  diffi- 
culty, has  by  his  fortitude,  ability,  and  judg- 
ment honourably  sustained  the  reputation 
and  interests  of  his  country.'  Though  only 
a  subaltern,  he  received  a  brevet  majority, 
was  created  C.B.,  and  was  appointed  poli- 
tical agent  at  Herat.  But  he  left  that  city 
in  1839,  when  his  place  was  taken  by  Major 


D'Arcy  Todd.  In  1841  Pottinger  was  sent 
back  to  Afghanistan  as  political  officer  in 
Kohistan,  a  district  of  Afghanistan  north  of 
Kabul.  On  2  Nov.  the  revolt  of  the  Afghans 
against  Shah  Shuja,  whom  the  British  had 
imposed  on  the  throne  and  maintained  by 
force  of  arms,  broke  out  at  Kabul.  On  the 
same  day  an  attack  was  made  by  the  insur- 
gents on  Pottinger's  residence  at  Lughmani, 
and  he  had  to  flee  to  Charikar,  the  neigh- 
bouring city,  three  miles  off,  which  was  in 
the  occupation  of  the  4th  Ghoorkas,  under  the 
command  of  Christopher  Codrington.  There 
Pottinger  was  at  once  besieged.  Codrington 
was  killed  on  6  Nov.  and  succeeded  by  John 
Colpoys  Haughton  [q.  v.];  Pottinger  was 
wounded.  On  the  14th  the  Ghoorkas 
evacuated  the  place,  and  amid  incredible 
difficulties  Pottinger  and  Haughton  (both 
now  severely  wounded)  made  good  their 
escape  to  Kabul,  which  they  reached  on  the 
llth.  There,  on  23  Dec.  1841,  the  British 
envoy,  Sir  William  Hay  Macnaghten  [q.v.], 
was  murdered  by  Akbar  Khan,  one  of  Dost 
Mahammad's  sons,  and  Pottinger  succeeded 
to  Macnaghten's  dangerous  post.  Demo- 
ralisation was  rampant ;  the  English  garri- 
son, under  General  William  George  Keith 
Elphinstone  [q.  v.],  was  helplessly  inactive, 
and,  against  his  better  judgment,  Pottinger 
opened  negotiations  for  the  retreat  of  the 
British  troops  from  Kabul.  On  6  Jan.  1842 
the  march  began  towards  Jalalabad.  Akbar 
Khan  demanded  sureties  for  the  observance 
of  the  conditions  made  by  Pottinger  for  the 
evacuation,  and  Pottinger  was  detained  as 
one  of  three  hostages.  He  thus  escaped  the 
treacherous  massacre  by  which  the  retreat- 
ing army  was  destroyed  in  the  Khyber 
Pass  [see  BRYDON^,  WILLIAM].  But  he  was 
kept  prisoner  at  Kabul  until  Sir  George  Pol- 
lock [q.v.]  arrived  there  on  17  Sept.  1842. 
He  returned  to  India  with  Pollock's  army  in 
October.  His  services  received  scanty  re- 
cognition from  the  new  governor-general, 
Lord  Ellenborough,  and  he  went  on  a  visit 
to  his  uncle,  Sir  Henry  Pottinger,  at  Hong- 
kong. There  he  died,  after  a  brief  illness,  on 
15  Nov.  1843. 

[Alison's  History,  vi.  cap.  xl. ;  Career  of  Major 
Broadfoot,  C.B.,  p.  442  ;  Durand's  First  Afghan 
War,  chap.  iv.  p.  48  ;  Sir  Vincent  Eyre's  Kabul 
Insurrection  of  1841-2  (revised  by  Malleson, 
1879)  ;  Kaye's  Lives  of  Indian  Officers  ;  Webb's 
Compendium  of  Irish  Biography;  Haughton's 
Char-ee-kar,  2nd  edit.  1879;  Vibart's  Addis- 
combe,  its  Heroes,  &c. ;  manuscript  records,  offi- 
cial and  family.]  W.  B-T. 

POTTINGER,  SIR  HENRY  (1789- 
1856),  soldier  and  diplomatist,  born  at  Mount 
Pottinger,  CD.  Down,  on  3  Oct.  1789,  was 


Pottinger 


225 


Pottinger 


fifth  son  of  Eldred  Curwen  Pottinger,  a 
descendant  of  the  Pottingers  of  Berkshire. 
His  mother  was  Anne,  daughter  of  Robert 
Gordon,  esq.,  of  Florida  Manor,  co.  Down. 
He  was  educated  at  the  Belfast  academy, 
which  he  left  when  only  twelve  years  old, 
and  went  to  sea.  In  1803  he  proceeded  to 
India  to  join  the  marine  service  there,  but 
friends  induced  Lord  Castlereagh  in  1804  to 
substitute  for  that  appointment  a  cadetship 
in  the  native  army.  Meanwhile  he  studied 
in  Bombay,  and  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the 
native  languages.  He  worked  well,  became 
an  assistant  teacher,  and  on  18  Sept.  1806 
was  made  an  ensign,  being  promoted  lieu- 
tenant on  16  July  1809. 

In  1808  Pottinger  was  sent  on  a  mission 
to  Sind  under  Hankey  Smith,  brother  of  Sir 
Lionel  Smith.  In  1809,  when  Sir  John 
Malcolm's  mission  to  Persia  was  postponed, 
Pottinger  and  a  friend,  Captain  Charles 
Christie,  offered  to  explore  the  country  be- 
tween India  and  Persia  in  order  to  acquire 
information  which  was  then  much  wanted. 
Government  accepted  the  offer.  The  tra- 
vellers, disguised  as  natives,  accompanied  by 
a  native  horse-dealer  and  two  servants,  left 
Bombay  on  2  Jan.  1810,  journeying  by  sea 
to  Sind,  and  thence  by  land  to  Khelat.  Though 
immediately  recognised  as  Europeans,  and 
even  as  having  belonged  to  the  embassy  at 
Sind,  they  safely  reached  Niishki,  near  the 
boundary  between  Afghanistan  and  Balu- 
chistan ;  here  Christie  diverged  northwards 
to  Herat,  and  proceeded  thence  by  Yezd  to 
Ispahan,  while  Pottinger,  keeping  in  a 
westerly  direction,  travelled  through  Kirman 
(Carmania)  to  Shiraz,  and  joined  Christie 
at  Ispahan.  There  Christie  was  directed  to 
remain,  and  he  was  killed  in  a  Russian  at- 
tack on  the  Persians  in  1812.  Pottinger,  re- 
turning via  Bagdad  and  Bussorah,  reached 
Bombay  in  February  1811.  He  reported  the 
results  of  his  journey,  and  in  1816  they  were 
published  under  the  title  of  'Travels  in  Be- 
loochistan  and  Sinde.' 

He  was  next  appointed  to  the  staff  of  Sir 
Evan  Nepean  [q.  v.],  governor  of  Bombay, 
by  whom  he  was  sent  as  assistant  to  Mount- 
stuart  Elphinstone  [q.  v.],  the  British  resi- 
dent at  Poona.  On  15  Oct.  1821  he  was 
made  captain.  He  served  during  the  Mah- 
ratta  war,  and  at  its  close  became  collector 
of  Ahmadnagar.  He  obtained  his  majority 
on  1  May  1825,  and  in  the  same  year  he  was 
made  resident  in  Cutch.  He  was  promoted 
lieutenant-colonel  on  17  March  1829,  and 
brevet  colonel  on  23  Jan.  1834.  While  resi- 
lient in  Cutch  he  conducted  a  mission  to 
Sind  in  1831,  and  subsequently,  in  1836,  he 
was  appointed  political  agent  in  that  coun- 

VOL.  XLVI. 


try,  which  office  he  held  until  1840,  when 
he  was  compelled  by  ill-health  to  return  to 
England.  His  success  as  political  agent,  and 
especially  in  arranging  with  the  Sind  ameers 
for  the  passage  of  the  Bombay  troops,  under 
Sir  John  Keane,  on  their  way  to  Afghani- 
stan, was  recognised  in  India  and  in  England, 
and  he  was  made  a  baronet  on  27  April  1840. 
Sir  Henry  accepted  Lord  Palmerston's  offer 
of  the  post  of  envoy  and  plenipotentiary  in 
China  and  superintendent  of  British  trade, 
thus  superseding  Captain  Charles  Elliot  [q.  v.] 
A  war — known  as  the  opium  war — had  broken 
out  between  England  and  China  in  January 
1840.  It  originated  in  the  exclusion  by  the 
Chinese  government  of  British  opium-traders 
from  Canton.  After  Captain  Elliot,  the 
British  representative,  had  seized  the  forts 
about  Canton,  a  preliminary  treaty  had  been 
drawn  up  in  January  1841,  but  it  was  sub- 
sequently disavowed  by  both  the  Chinese  and 
English  governments.  Palmerston  directed 
Pottinger  to  replace  this  treaty  by  a  satis- 
factory compact,  which  should  open  China 
to  British  trade.  But  before  his  arrival  in 
China  the  arrogance  of  the  Chinese  had  led 
to  a  renewal  of  hostilities.  Sir  Hugh  Gough 
[q.  v.]  carried  anew  the  forts  about  Canton  in 
May  1841,  and  while  he  was  preparing  to 
attack  the  town  itself,  Pottinger  reached 
Macao  (9  Aug.)  He  deemed  it  essential  to 
the  success  of  his  pacific  mission  to  make  a 
further  display  of  force,  and  he  co-operated 
with  Gough  and  Admiral  Sir  William  Parker 
(1781-1866)  [q.v.]  in  the  capture  of  Amoy, 
Chusan,  Chintu,  and  Ningpo.  On  13  June 

1842  he,  with  Parker,  entered  the  Yangtze- 
Kiang  river  with  the  object  of  taking  Nan- 
king.    After  many  successes  by  the  way,  an 
assault  on  that  city  was  imminent  in  July, 
when  Pottinger  announced  that  the  Chinese 
were  ready  to  treat  for  peace  on  a  satisfactory 
basis.     The  Chinese  diplomatists  had  already 
found  that  Pottinger   could  not  be  trifled 
with.     An  intercepted  letter  from  the  chief 
Chinese  negotiator  to  his  government  now 
bore  testimony  that  '  to  all  his  representa- 
tions the  barbarian,  Pottinger,  only  knit  his 
brows  and  said  "  No."  '     Eventually  peace 
was  signed  on  29  Aug.  1842  on  board  H.M.S. 
Cornwallis  before  Nanking.  By  this  treaty — 
known  as  the  treaty  of  Nanking — Hongkong 
was  ceded  to  England,  and  the  five  ports 
Canton,  Amoy,  Foochow-Foo,  Ningpo,  and 
Shanghai  were  opened  to  English  traders, 
and  were  to  receive  English  consuls.   In  con- 
sideration of  his   exertions  Pottinger  was 
made  G.C.B.  (2  Dec.  1842),  and  on  5  April 

1 843  was  appointed  the  first  British  governor 
of  Hongkong. 

Pottinger  returned   to    England   in   the 


Pottinger 


226 


Potts 


spring  of  1844,  and  was  received  with  much 
distinction.  He  was  made  a  member  of  the 
privy  council  (23  May  1844),  was  presented 
with  the  freedom  of  many  cities,  and  the 
House  of  Commons  voted  him  1,500/.  a  year 
for  life  in  June  1845.  He  attained  the  rank 
of  lieutenant-general  in  1851.  He  was  not 
long  out  of  harness.  On  28  Sept,  1846  he 
succeeded  Sir  Benjamin  Maitland  as  go- 
vernor of  the  Cape  of  Go6d  Hope.  He 
stayed  there  less  than  six  months.  On 
4  Aug.  1847  he  returned  once  more  to  India 
as  governor  of  Madras.  That  post  he  held 
till  1854,  when  he  came  back  to  England  in 
broken  health.  His  government  of  Madras 
was  not  a  success.  He  had  become  some- 
what inert  and  dilatory  in  the  disposal  of 
public  business,  and  failed  to  recognise  the 
necessity  of  improvements  which  were  essen- 
tial to  the  moral  and  material  progress  of 
the  country.  He  was  better  fitted  to  deal 
firmly  with  a  crisis  than  to  conduct  ordinary 
administrative  duties.  He  died  at  Malta  on 
18  March  1856,  and  was  buried  at  Valetta. 

Sir  Henry  married,  in  1820,  Susanna 
Maria  (1800-1886),  daughter  of  Captain 
Richard  Cooke  of  Dublin,  whose  family  was 
a  branch  of  the  Cookes  of  Cookesborough, 
co.  Westmeath.  By  her  he  had  three  sons, 
the  eldest  of  whom  died  in  infancy,  while 
the  other  two  successively  succeeded  to  the 
baronetcy,  and  a  daughter. 

Sir  Henry's  portrait  was  painted  by  Sir 
Francis  Grant,  P.R.A.,  and  there  were  three 
replicas.  One  is  in  the  Oriental  Club,  Hano- 
ver Square :  another  is  in  the  possession  of 
his  son  ;  and  the  third  was  sent  to  China  as 
a  present. 

[Dublin  University  Magazine,  clxvi.  (October 
1846)  426-12;  Knight's  English  Cyclopaedia— 
Biography,  iv.  954-8  ;  Webb's  Compendium  of 
Irish  Biography ;  Alison's  Hist.,  Index ;  Parlia- 
mentary correspondence  relative  to  Sind,  1836 
to  1838  and  1838  to  1843  ;  Knollys's  Life  of  Sir 
Hope  Grant,  i.  31,  35,  41  ;  S.  Lane-Pool e's  Life 
of  Sir  Harry  Parkes,  passim;  Burke's Peerages  ; 
Dodwell  and  Myles's  India  Army  Lists ;  infor- 
mation supplied  by  Pottinger's  second  son,  Sir  H. 
Pottinger,  third  baronet.]  W.  B-T. 

POTTINGER,  ISRAEL  (Jl.  1770),  dra- 
matist, began  life  as  an  apprentice  to  a  book- 
seller named  Worral.  Setting  up  for  himself 
in  Paternoster  Row,  he  projected  a  variety 
of  periodicals.  Oneofthem,  'The  Busy  Body,' 
was  published  thrice  a  week  for  twopence 
at  the  Dunciad,  Paternoster  Row,  and  to  it 
Goldsmith  contributed  in  1759  (FORSTEK, 
Life  of  Goldsmith,  1871,  i.  212).  Not  meet- 
ing with  much  success,  he  next  opened  a  circu- 
lating library  near  Great  Turnstile,  Holborn, 
and  delivered  for  a  time  at  Islington  G.  A. 


Stevens's  popular  '  Lecture  on  Heads.'  He 
subsequently  suffered  from  a  mental  disorder, 
but  supported  himself  in  his  lucid  intervals 
by  his  pen.  In  1761  he  published  an  un- 
acted comedy  called  '  The  Methodist,'  which 
he  described  as  '  a  continuation  or  completion 
of  the  plan  of  Foote's  "Minor."'  It  was 
a  scurrilous  attack  on  Whitefield.  A  third 
edition  appeared  within  the  year.  In  the 
same  year  (1761)  a  farce  by  Pottinger,  en- 
titled '  The  Humorous  Quarrel,  or  the  Battle 
of  the  Greybeards,'  was  acted  at  Southwark 
Fair,  and  subsequently  published.  'The 
Duenna/  a  comic  opera  in  three  acts,  a  parody 
on  Sheridan's  play,  published  in  1776,  and 
'  acted  by  his  majesty's  servants,'  is  supposed 
to  have  been  by  Pottinger.  A  new  edition 
appeared  within  the  year. 

[Baker's   Biographia   Dramatica    (Reed   and 
Jones),  i.  580,  ii.  178,  iii.  40  ;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat.] 

G.  LE  G.  N. 

POTTINGER,      JOHN      (1647-1733), 
master  in  chancery.     [See  POTEISTGEE.] 

POTTS,  LAURENCE  HOLKER  (1789- 
1850),  physician  and  inventor,  son  of  Cuth- 
bert  Potts,  surgeon,  and  Ethelinda  Margaret 
Thorpe,  daughter  of  John  Thorpe,  M.D., 
F.S.A.  [see  THORPE,  JOHN],  was  born  in  Pall 
Mall,  London,  on  18  April  1789.  He  was 
educated  at  Westminster  School  and  at  a 
school  in  Northamptonshire,  and  in  1805  he 
was  apprenticed  to  Mr.  Birch,  surgeon,  of 
Warwick.  In  1810  he  was  entered  at  St. 
George's  Hospital  and  became  a  house-pupil  of 
Sir  Benjamin  Brodie;  William  Frederick 
Chambers  [q.  v.]  and  (Sir)  Charles  Locock 
[q.  v.]  were  house-pupils  at  the  same  time. 
He  passed  the  College  of  Surgeons  in  1812, 
and  graduated  M.D.  at  Aberdeen  in  1825. 
In  1812  he  was  appointed  surgeon  to  the 
Royal  Devon  and  Cornwall  miners  militia, 
then  quartered  in  Ireland.  The  regiment 
returned  to  Truro  in  1814,  and  was  subse- 
quently disbanded,  Potts  starting  in  prac- 
tice in  the  town.  He  had  always  taken 
much  interest  in  scientific  pursuits,  and  in 
1818  took  an  active  part  in  founding  the 
Royal  Institution  of  Cornwall.  He  gave 
several  courses  of  lectures  there,  and  was  in 
the  habit  of  making  gratuitous  analyses  of 
minerals  for  the  miners.  In  1828  he  became 
superintendent  and  physician  of  the  Cornwall 
county  lunatic  asylum  at  Bodmin.  This  ap- 
pointment he  resigned  in  1837,  removing  in 
the  following  year  to  Vanbrugh  Castle,  Black- 
heath,  where  he  established  an  institution 
for  the  treatment  of  spinal  diseases.  Here 
he  established  a  Avorkshop  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  the  various  appliances  and  apparatus, 
of  which  he  devised  manv  new  forms.  He 


Potts 


227 


Potts 


had  at  the  same  time  a  town  house  in  Buck- 
ingham Street,  Strand,  to  which  a  workshop 
was  attached.  His  increasing1  interest  in  his 
inventions  diverted  his  attention  from  his 
patients,  and  Vanbrugh  Castle  was  eventually 
given  up.  In  1843  he  took  out  a  patent 
(No.  9642)  for  conveying  letters  on  a  railway 
formed  by  suspending  wires  or  light  rods 
from  distant  points,  making  use  of  church 
towers,  or  any  other  lofty  structures  avail- 
able. The  patent  also  includes  a  velocipede 
and  a  boat  propelled  by  paddles  worked  by 
hand.  He  was  also  the  author  of  many  minor 
inventions.  But  the  invention  with  which 
his  name  is  closely  connected  is  for  a  method 
of  sinking  foundations,  for  which  he  obtained 
a  patent  in  1843  (No.  9975).  It  consists  in 
the  sinking  of  hollow  piles  of  iron,  open  at 
the  lower  end  and  closed  at  the  top  by  a  cap. 
A  partial  vacuum  being  then  formed  within 
the  tube  by  means  of  a  pump,  the  shingle, 
sand,  &c.,  are  caused  to  flow  up  through  the 
pile  by  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere,  the 
rush  of  water  from  below  breaking  up  the  soil 
and  iindermining  the  lower  edges  of  the  pile. 
The  pile  descends  by  its  own  gravity,  assisted 
by  the  pressure  of  the  air  on  its  closed  end, 
and  when  it  is  filled,  the  contents  are  dis- 
charged by  a  pump.  As  the  tube  descends 
the  cap  is  removed  and  a  fresh  length  at- 
tached. The  tubes  may  be  of  large  size, 
when  they  practically  become  coffer-dams. 
The  invention  was  well  received,  and  at  first 
it  promised  to  be  a  great  success.  Potts 
gave  evidence  on  10  June  1844  before  the 
royal  commission  on  harbours  of  refuge  (cf. 
Report,  p.  119),  when  Mr.  James  Walker, 
president  of  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engi- 
neers, and  a  member  of  the  commission,  spoke 
very  highly  of  the  new  method.  The  matter 
was  taken  up  by  the  Trinity  Board,  and  on 
16  July  1845  an  experimental  tube,  two  feet 
six  inches  diameter,  was  driven  to  a  depth  of 
twenty-two  feet  into  the  Goodwin  Sands  in 
two  or  three  hours.  This  was  intended  to 
form  the  foundation  of  a  beacon,  which  ,how- 
ever,  does  not  seem  to  have  been  completed 
until  26  Aug.  1847,  when  it  was  announced 
to  mariners  (Mechanics'1  Magazine,  9  Aug. 
1845,  p.  96 ;  Civil  Engineers'1  and  Architects' 
Journal,  December  1847,  p.  388).  Several 
.small  beacons  were  erected  on  sands  lying 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Thames  in  1845-6 
(cf.  Findlay's  paper  in  Transactions  of  the 
Society  of  Arts,  15  Dec.  1847,  Ivi.  269). 

In  1845  Potts  became  acquainted  with 
Charles  Fox  of  the  firm  of  Fox  &  Hen- 
derson [see  Fox,  Sin  CHARLES],  who  spent 
a  considerable  sum  of  money  upon  the  in- 
vention, and  used  it  wherever  they  had  an 
opportunity  (Proceedings  of  the  Institution 


of  Civil  Engineers,  xxvii.  301).  The  first 
large  work  upon  which  it  was  employed  was 
the  viaduct  which  carries  the  Chester  and 
Holyhead  railway  across  Maeldreath  Bay 
in  the  Isle  of  Anglesey.  Nineteen  tubes, 
one  foot  diameter  and  sixteen  feet  long,  were 
successfully  sunk  in  the  sand  during  the 
summer  of  1846.  A  full  account  of  this  un- 
dertaking, with  engravings,  is  given  in  the 
'  Civil  Engineers'  and  Architects'  Journal,' 
(December  1847,  p.  388).  It  was  also 
employed  successfully  for  sinking  the  piers 
for  a  railway  bridge  over  the  Ouse  at  Hunt- 
ingdon, but  it  failed  at  the  bridge  over  the 
Nen  at  Peterborough,  in  consequence  of  the 
presence  of  boulders  in  the  clay  forming  the 
river-bed.  The  foundations  for  the  South- 
western railway  bridge  over  the  Thames, 
between  Datchet  and  Windsor,  were  laid 
by  Potts's  method;  but  on  12  Aug.  1849, 
when  the  line  was  ready  to  be  opened,  one 
of  the  tubes  suddenly  sank,  causing  a  frac- 
ture in  the  girder  resting  upon  it  (Times, 
14  Aug.  1849,  p.  3).  G.  W.  Hemans  tried 
it  with  cylinders  ten  feet  diameter  in  1850, 
during  the  construction  of  a  bridge  over  the 
Shannon  at  Athlone,  on  the  Midland  Great 
Western  railway  of  Ireland,  but  the  expense 
of  pumping  out  the  air  was  very  considerable, 
and  much  trouble  was  caused  by  boulders, 
which  the  trial  borings  had  failed  to  indicate 
(cf.  Proceedings  of  the  Institution  of  Civil  En- 
gineers, xxi.  265,  xxvii.  301,  305,  xxviii. 
349,  353, 1.  131;  HTJMBER,  Bridges,  3rd  edit. 
pp.  180,  247;  Civil  Engineers'  and  Archi- 
tects' Journal,  December  1850,  p.  392; 
BTJRNELL'S  Supplement  to  WEALE'S  Theory 
of  Bridges,  1850,  p.  100). 

Potts  read  a  paper  on  his  method  before 
the  Society  of  Arts  on  10  May  1848,  for 
which  he  received  the  Isis  gold  medal  (Trans- 
actions, Ivi.  441).  He  devoted  the  last  years 
of  his  life  almost  exclusively  to  the  perfecting 
of  his  invention,  upon  which  he  expended  a 
very  considerable  fortune.  Unhappily,  it 
was  not  a  financial  success  ;  and  experience 
has  proved  that  its  application  is  very  limited. 
It  is  rarely  used  now  (cf.  NEWMAN,  Cylinder 
Bridge  Piers,  1893,  p.  41).  It  had,  however, 
one  very  important  result,  as  it  incidentally 
gave  rise  to  the  system  of  sinking  founda- 
tions by  compressed  air,  an  invention  of  great 
importance.  It  was  intended  to  employ  Potts's 
method  to  sink  the  piers  of  Rochester  Bridge 
(commenced  about  1849),  but  it  was  found 
that  the  river-bed  was  encumbered  with  the 
remains  of  a  very  ancient  bridge,  and  that 
the  cylinders  could  not  be  forced  through 
the  obstructions.  It  then  occurred  to  Mr.  J. 
Hughes,  the  engineer  in  charge  of  the  work, 
to  reverse  the  process,  and  to  pump  air  into 

Q2 


Potts 


228 


Potts 


the  cylinders  to  force  the  water  out,  so  that 
the  men  could  work  at  the  bottom  of  the 
cylinders,  as  in  a  diving-bell.  As  the  material 
was  excavated  from  the  space  covered  by  the 
cylinders  they  sank  by  their  own  weight.  An 

1  air-lock '  provided  the  means  of  ingress  and 
egress  to  the  cylinders.     An  account  of  the 
work  was  read  by  Hughes  before  the  Insti- 
tution of  Civil  Engineers  in  1851  (cf.  Pro- 
ceedings, x.  353,  also  published  separately). 
It  was  afterwards  pointed  out  that  the  same 
method  had  been  previously  used  in  France, 
though  on  a  very  small  scale. 

Potts  died  on  23  March  1850.  He  mar- 
ried, in  1820,  Miss  Anne  Wright,  of  Lam- 
bessow,  Cornwall.  Four  daughters  and  two 
sons,  John  Thorpe  and  Benjamin  L.  F.,  both 
of  whom  were  trained  as  engineers  at  the 
London  Works,  Smethwick,  near  Birming- 
ham, under  Fox  £  Henderson,  survived  him. 

[Authorities  cited  and  obituary  notice  by 
Hyde  Clarke  in  English's  Mining  Almanack, 
1851,  p.  198.]  K.  B.  P. 

POTTS,  ROBERT  (1805-1885),  mathe- 
matician, the  son  of  Robert  Potts,  and  grand- 
son of  the  head  of  a  firm  of  Irish  linen- 
weavers,  was  born  at  Lambeth  in  1805.  He 
entered  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  in  1828 
as  a  sizar,  and  graduated  B.A.  as  twenty- 
fifth  wrangler  in  1832,  proceeding  M.A.  in 
1835.  He  became  a  successful  private  tutor 
in  the  university,  and  was  a  strenuous  advo- 
cate of  most  of  the  university  reforms  that 
'were  carried  in  his  time.  He  acquired  wide 
reputation  as  the  editor  of  Euclid's  '  Ele- 
ments,' which  he  brought  out  in  a  large 
edition  in  1845,  followed  in  1847  by  an  ap- 
pendix. His  school  edition  appeared  in  1846, 
and  was  republished  in  1850,  1861,  1864, 
and  1886 ;  a  separate  edition  of  book  i.  ap- 
peared in  1884.  The  book  had  an  immense 
circulation  in  the  British  colonies  and  in 
America,  and  the  William  and  Mary  Col- 
lege of  Virginia  conferred  the  honorary  de- 
gree of  LL.D.  upon  Potts  '  in  appreciation 
of  the  excellence  of  his  mathematical  works.' 
The  merits  of  his  edition  of  Euclid  consisted 
m  the  clear  arrangement  and  division  of  the 
component  parts  of  the  propositions,  and  in 
the  admirable  collection  of  notes.  Potts  died 
at  Cambridge  in  August  1885. 

His  other  publications  include:  1.  'A 
View  of  Paley's  Evidences  and  Horse 
Paulinae,'  1850.  2.  '  Liber  Cantabrigiensis,' 

2  pts.  1855-63, 8 vo.  3. '  Aphorisms,  Maxims,' 
&c.,  1875.     4.  *  Open   Scholarships   in  the 
University  of  Cambridge,'  1866  ;  2nd  edit.. 
1883.      5.    l  Elementary  Arithmetic,   with 
Historical  Notes,'   1876.      6.    '  Elementary 
Algebra,  with  Historical  Notes,'  1879.     He 


also  edited  the  1543  edition  of  William 
Turner's  *  Huntyng  and  Fyndyng  out  of  the 
Romish  Fox,'  1851,  and  <  King  Edward  VI 
on  the  Supremacy  .  .  .  with  his  Discourse 
on  the  Reformation  of  Abuses,'  1874,  and 
other  theological  works. 

[Times  obituary,  7  Aug.  1885 ;  information 
kindly  given  by  his  sister,  Mrs.  Sophia  Kees 
Williams.]  C.  P. 

POTTS,  THOMAS  (fi.  1612-1618),  author 
of  the  '  Discoverie  of  Witches,'  was  brought 
up  under  the  care  of  Sir  Thomas  Knyvet, 
lord  Knyvet  of  Escrick  [q.  v.]  He  adopted 
the  legal  profession,  and  resided  in  Chancery 
Lane.  In  1612  he  went  as  clerk  on  circuit, 
with  Sir  James  Altham  and  Sir  Edward 
Bromley,  barons  of  the  exchequer,  and  offi- 
ciated at  the  trial  of  the  famous  Lancashire 
witches  at  Lancaster  on  12  Aug.  At  the 
judges'  request  he  compiled  an  account  of 
the  proceedings,  which  Bromley  corrected 
before  publication.  It  appeared  in  the  fol- 
lowing year  under  the  title  '  The  Wonderf  ull 
Discoverie  of  Witches  in  the  Countie  of 
Lancaster/  &c.,  London,  1613,  4to.  In  the 
dedication  to  Sir  Thomas  Knyvet,  Potts- 
speaks  of  it  as  the  first  fruit  of  his  learning. 
It  was  reprinted  by  Sir  Walter  Scott  in 
'Somers  Tracts,'  1810  (iii.  95-160),  and 
again  by  the  Chetham  Society  in  1845,  with 
an  introduction  by  James  Crossley.  Scott 
refers  to  it  in  his  '  Letters  on  Demonology 
and  Witchcraft,'  and  it  furnished  the  ground- 
work of  Harrison  Ainsworth's  *  Lancashire 
Witches,'  in  which  Potts  is  a  prominent 
character.  He  was  subsequently  granted 
(17  April  1618)  the  office  of  collector  of 
forfeitures  on  the  laws  concerning  sewers. 

[Introd.  to  Chetham  Soc.  Publ.  vol.  vi. ;  Cal. 
State  Papers,  Dom.  Ser.  1611-18,  p.  535; 
various  editions  of  'The  Discoverie'  in  Brit. 
Mus.  Libr. ;  Hazlitt's  Handbook,  p.  325  ] 

A.  F.  P. 

POTTS,  THOMAS  (1778-1842),  com- 
piler, born  in  1778,  was  son  of  Edward 
Potts  (1721-1819)  of  Glanton,near  Alnwick, 
Northumberland  (Gent.  Mag.  1819,  i.  279). 
Thomas  was  a  solicitor,  and  at  one  time  was 
connected  with  Skinners'  Hall.  In  1803  he 
was  residing  in  Cam  den  Town.  Subsequently 
he  seems  to  have  lived  at  Chiswick  and  other 
places,  and  to  have  had  chambers  in  Serjeantsr 
Inn.  He  died  at  Upper  Clapton  on  8  Nov. 
1842. 

Potts  published :  1. '  A  Compendious  Law 
Dictionary,  containing  both  an  explanation 
of  the  terms  and  the  law  itself,  intended 
for  the  use  of  country  gentlemen,  the  mer- 
chant, and  the  professional  man,'  1803,  dedi- 
cated to  Lord  Ellenborough ;  it  was  reissued 


Poulett 


229 


Poulett 


in  1814.  In  1815  a  new  edition,  both  in  8vo 
and  12mo,  was  enlarged  by  Thomas  Hartwell 
Home  [q.  v.]  2. '  The  British  Farmers'  Cyclo- 
paedia, or  Complete  Agricultural  Dictionary, 
including  every  Science  or  Subject  dependent 
on  or  connected  with  improved  modern  Hus- 
bandry/ 1 80G,  4to,with  forty-two  engravings, 
dedicated  to  the  Duke  of  Bedford.  Donald- 
son says  it  was  an  advance  on  preceding 
works,  and  that  the  author  had  '  added  a 
large  mite  to  the  progress  of  the  art '  of  agri- 
culture. 3.  'A  Gazetteer  of  England  and 
Wales,  containing  the  Statistics,  Agricul- 
ture, and  Mineralogy  of  the  Counties,  the 
History,  Antiquities,  Curiosities,  Trade,  &c. 
of  the  Cities,  Towns,  and  Boroughs,  with 
Maps,'  1810,  8vo.  An  historical  introduction 
of  twenty  pages  contains,  among  other  sta- 
tistics, a  table  of  mitred  abbeys,  their  valua- 
tion and  founders. 

[Biogr.  Diet,  of  Living  Authors,  1816  ;  Gent. 
Mag.  1842,  ii.  672  ;  Allibone's  Diet,  of  Engl. 
Lit.  i.  891  ;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat. ;  Donaldson's  Agri- 
cultural Biography,  p.  92.]  Gr.  LE  Gr.  N. 

POULETT.     [See  also  PAULET.] 

POULETT,  JOHN,  first  BARON  POULETT 
(1586-1649),  cavalier,  eldest  son  of  Sir  An- 
thony Paulet  or  Poulett,  governor  of  Jersey 
from  1588  to  1600  [see  under  PATJLET,  SIB 
AMIAS],  was  born  in  1586.  He  matriculated 
(from  University  College)  at  Oxford  on  21  June 
1601,  but  did  not  graduate,  and  on  27  Nov. 
1608  received  a  colonelcy  of  cavalry  from 
Edward  Seymour,  earl  of'Hertford.  In  1610 
he  was  admitted  a  student  at  the  Middle 
Temple,  and  in  the  same  year  (22  Oct.)  was 
returned  to  parliament  for  Somerset,  which 
seat  he  retained  in  the  Short  parliament  of 
1614.  In  the  parliament  of  1621-2  he  sat 
for  Lyme  Regis,  Dorset. 

Being  of  puritan  ancestry,  and  patron  of 
the  living  of  Hinton  St.  George,  Somerset, 
held  by  the  puritan  Edmond  Peacham  [q.v.], 
Poulett  incurred  some  suspicion  of  compli- 
city in  Peacham's  alleged  treasons,  and  was 
twice  examined  by  the  council  in  November 
1614  and  again  in  March  1615,  without,  how- 
ever, any  charge  being  formulated  against 
him. 

At  the  instance  of  Charles  I,  who  had  re- 
cently visited  him  at  Hinton  St.  George, 
Poulett  early  in  October  1625  received  into 
his  house  the  Huguenot  admiral  the  Duke  of 
Soubise,  the  latter  having  put  into  Plymouth 
Sound  after  his  defeat  by  the  Duke  of  Mont- 
morency.  Soubise  remained  at  Hinton  St. 
George  nearly  a  year,  during  which  time  Pou- 
lett discharged  his  duties  as  host  so  much  to 
the  king's  satisfaction  that,  by  letters  patent 
of  23  June  1627,  he  was  raised  to  the  peerage 


by  the  title  of  Baron  Poulett  of  Hinton  St. 
George.  He  took  his  seat  in  the  House  of 
Lords  on  20  March  1627-8. 

Poulett  was  appointed  on  30  May  1635  to 
the  command  of  the  Constant  Reformation ; 
this  ship  formed  part  of  the  Channel  fleet 
commanded  by  the  lord  high  admiral,  the 
Earl  of  Lindsey  [cf.  BERTIE,  ROBERT,  first 
EARL  OF  LINDSEY],  by  whom,  on  23  Sept. 
following,  he  was  knighted  on  board  the 
Mary  Honour.  Poulett  was  summoned  to 
the  great  council  which  met  at  York  on 
24  Sept.  1640,  and  was  one  of  the  royal 
commissioners  for  the  negotiations  with  the 
Scots  at  Ripon  in  the  following  month.  He 
was  at  this  time  regarded  as  a  ' popular'  man; 
but  in  1642,  on  the  passing  of  the  militia 
ordinance,  he  withdrew  from  parliament, 
and,  after  signing  the  York  manifesto  of 
15  June,  united  with  the  Marquis  of  Hert- 
ford at  Wells  in  putting  the  commission  of 
array  into  execution,  and  forcibly  resisting 
the  execution  of  the  militia  ordinance.  Par- 
liament voted  him  a  delinquent,  issued  a  war- 
rant for  his  apprehension,  and  on  17  March 
impeached  him  of  high  treason.  In  the  mean- 
time he  had  retreated  with  Hertford  to  Sher- 
borne  Castle,  and,  after  its  evacuation,  re- 
cruited with  him  in  Wales,  and  was  taken 
prisoner  on  4  Oct.  by  Essex  in  a  skirmish 
near  Bridgnorth. 

Having  regained  his  liberty,  Poulett  served 
for  some  time  under  Hopton,  for  whom, 
during  the  autumn  of  1643,  he  raised  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Oxford  (his  name  appears 
among  the  signatures  to  the  expostulatory 
letter  to  the  Scottish  privy  council  issued 
thence  on  the  eve  of  the  Scottish  invasion) 
a  brigade  of  2,500  men,  which  he  led  into 
Dorset  in  the  winter.  He  took  and  burned 
on  18  Jan.  1643-4  Lady  Drake's  house  at 
Ashe,  defeated  a  detachment  of  Waller's 
army  at  Hemyock  Castle,  occupied  Welling- 
ton in  March,  and  thence  advanced  upon 
Lyme  Regis,  which,  on  the  arrival  of  Prince 
Maurice  with  reinforcements  on  20  April, 
was  closely  invested.  Though  the  siege  was 
pressed  with  great  vigour,  the  town  suc- 
ceeded in  holding  out  until  relieved  by  Essex 
on  15  June.  Poulett  then  retreated  to  Exeter, 
not  without  considerable  loss  by  the  way  in 
skirmishes  with  Waller's  forces.  A  quarrel 
with  Prince  Maurice,  who  appears  to  have 
caned  him  and  refused  satisfaction,  led  to 
their  separation.  Poulett  was  appointed 
commissioner  of  Exeter,  where  he  was  taken 
prisoner  on  the  surrender  of  the  city  on 
13  April  1646.  He  was  brought  to  London 
in  extreme  ill-health,  and,  by  the  intercession 
of  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax,  was  permitted  to 
reside  in  his  own  house  at  Chiswick,  and  was 


Poulett 


230 


Poulett 


eventually  allowed  the  benefit  of  the  Exeter 
articles.  He  thus  escaped  with  payment  of 
a  fine  of  2,742/.,  1,500/.  by  way  of  compen- 
sation to  Lady  Drake  for  the  loss  of  her 
house,  and  the  settlement  of  a  perpetual 
annuity  of  200/.  on  the  town  of  Lyme  Regis. 
He  died  on  20  March  1648-9.  His  remains 
were  interred  in  the  parish  church  of  Hinton 
St.  George,  where  a  stately  chapel  was  built 
and  dedicated  to  his  memory. 

Poulett  married,  about  1614,  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  Christopher  Kenn  of  Kenn  Court, 
Somerset,  who  survived  him,  and  married 
John  Ashburnham  [q.  v.],  ancestor  of  the 
Earls  of  Ashburnham.  By  her  Poulett  had 
issue  (with  five  daughters)  three  sons.  His 
youngest  daughter,  Elizabeth,  married,  first, 
William  Ashburnham,  eldest  son  of  the  above- 
mentioned  John  Ashburnham;  and,  secondly, 
Sir  William  Hartopp  of  Rotherby,  Leicester- 
shire. A  portrait  of  Poulett  by  an  unknown 
artist  has  been  engraved. 

Poulett  was  succeeded  in  title  and  estate 
by  his  eldest  son,  JOHN  POULETT,  second 
LOKD  POULETT  (1615-1665).  He  matricu- 
lated at  Oxford  (from  Exeter  College)  on 
20  April  1632,  and  was  there  created  M.D.  on 
31  Jan.  1642-3,  having  been  knighted  with 
his  father  in  1635.  Returned  to  parliament 
for  Somerset  on  12  Oct.  1640,  he  vacated  his 
seat  in  1642  by  joining  his  father  in  Somer- 
set, and  was  impeached  on  16  Sept.  On  the 
outbreak  of  hostilities  in  Ireland  he  served  in 
Munster  in  command  of  a  regiment  of  foot, 
which,  on  the  conclusion  of  the  armistice  of 
15  Sept.  1643,  was  transferred  to  Bristol, 
and  formed  part  of  the  garrison  of  Winchester 
Castle  on  its  surrender  to  Cromwell  on  5  Oct. 
1645.  He  afterwards  joined  his  father  at 
Exeter,  and  on  the  surrender  of  that  city  was, 
after  some  demur,  allowed  to  compound  on 
the  basis  of  the  articles  of  capitulation.  He 
was  suspected  of  complicity  in  the  royalist 
plot  of  1654-5,  and  went  abroad  in  February 
1657-8.  On  the  Restoration  he  was  made 
deputy-lieutenant  for  Somerset.  He  died 
at  his  manor  house,  Court  de  Wick,  Yatton, 
Somerset,  on  15  Sept.  1665,  and  was  buried 
at  Hinton  St.  George.  He  married  twice  : 
first,  Catherine,  daughter  of  Sir  Horatio 
Vere  [q.  v.],  widow  of  Oliver  St.  John ; 
secondly,  Anne,  second  daughter  of  Sir 
Thomas  Brown  of  Walcote,  Northampton, 
baronet.  He  had  issue  by  his  first  wife  two 
sons  (John  and  Horatio)  and  three  daugh- 
ters ;  by  his  second  wife  two  sons  (Amias 
and  Charles)  and  four  daughters.  His  second 
wife  survived  him,  and  married  Sir  John 
Strode.  He  was  succeeded  in  title  and  estates 
by  his  eldest  son,  John,  father  of  John,  first 
Earl  Poulett  [q.  v.] 


[Collins's  Peerage,  ed.  Brydges,  iv.  9,  260-1  ; 
Falle's  Jersey,  1837,  p.  130;  Bertrand  Payne's 
Armorial  of  Jersey,  p.  81 ;  Collinson's  Somerset- 
shire, ii.  166,  iii.  592;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon. ; 
Addit.  MS.  5496,  f.  526;  Bacon's  Works,  ed. 
Spedding,  xii.  122  ;  Court  and  Times  of 
Charles  I ;  Metcalfe's  Book  of  Knights  ;  Mem- 
bers of  Parliament  (Official  Lists) ;  Gal.  State 
Papers,  Dom.  1591-4  p.  451,  1665  p.  344;  Cal. 
Comm.  Comp.  p.  1052  ;  Yonge's  Diary  (Camden 
Soc.),  p.  86  ;  Notes  of  the  Treaty  at  Ripon  (Cam- 
den  Soc.) ;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  7th  Rep.  App.  pp. 
16,  17,  43,  447,  8th  Rep.  App.  pt.  ii.p.  57,  10th 
Rep.  App.  pt.iv.  p.  29 1,1 1th  Kep.App.pt.  i.  p.  38; 
Rushworth's  Hist.  Coll.  vol.  ii.  pt.  ii.  p.  1262; 
Clarendon's  Rebellion,  ed.  Macray,  bk.  ii.  §  107, 
v.  §§  343-5,  441  w.,  443,  vii.  §  369  n. :  Comm. 
Journ.  ii.  685,  708,  711,  745,  770,  iii.  524,  iv. 
145,  529,  627,  vi.  156;  Lords'  Journ.  iii.  691, 
v.  286,  332,  360,  viii.  341,  612,  x.  165,  325,  336 ; 
Hutchins's  Dorset,  ii.  53  ;  Roberts's  Hist. 
Borough  of  Lyme  Regis,  1834,  pp.  78etseq. ; 
Symonds's  Diary  (Camden  Soc.),  p.  110;  White- 
locke's  Mem.  pp.  201,  203,  298,  386  ;  Walker's 
Hist.  Discourses,  p.  47  ;  Carte's  Orig.  Letters 
(Ormonde),  i.  99 ;  Bell's  Memorials  of  the  Civil 
War  (Fairfax  Corr.),  i.  17;  Gardiner's  Hist. 
Engl.  ii.  274,  and  Great  Civil  War,  i.  343 ;  The 
Resolution  of  Devonshire  and  Cornwall,  13  Aug. 
1642,  and  Speciall  Passages,  9-16  Aug.  1642 
(King's  Pamph.  E  111,  12  and  112,  15);  The 
Court  Mercuric,  2  and  20  July  1644  (King's 
Pamph.  E  53,  8  and  E  2,  25);  Weekly  Ac- 
count, 4  July  1644,  and  6  May  1646,  and  Mercur. 
Civ.  7  May  1646  (King's  Pamph.  E  54,  24  and 
E  336,  7,  11);  A  Copie  of  Lieut.-Gen.  Crom- 
well's Letter  concerning  the  taking  of  Winchester 
Castle  (King's  Pamph.  E.  304,  12);  Sir  Thomas 
Fairfax's  Further  Proceedings  in  the  West, 
22  April  1646  (King's  Pamph.  E  333,  23); 
Notes  and  Queries,  2nd  ser.  viii.  223,  276,  3rd 
ser.  vii.  280;  Westminster  Abbey  Registers 
(Harl.  Soc.),  p.  14  ;  Miscell.  Gen.  et  Herald, 
new  ser.  iv.  34.]  J.  M.  R. 

POULETT,  JOHN,  fourth  BAEOX  and 
first  EARL  POULETT  (1663-1743),  statesman, 
only  son  of  John,  third  baron  Poulett,  by  his 
second  wife,  Susan,  daughter  of  Philip  Her- 
bert, fourth  earl  of  Pembroke  [q.  v.],  was 
born  in  1663.  He  succeeded  to  the  barony 
in  1680,  but  did  not  take  his  seat  in  the 
House  of  Peers  until  24  Nov.  1696,  and  then 
only  under  threat  of  committal  for  non- 
attendance.  He  threw  in  his  lot  with  the 
tories,  but  was  always  a  lukewarm  poli- 
tician. On  the  accession  of  Queen  Anne  he 
was  appointed  lord  lieutenant  and  custos 
rotulorum  of  Devonshire  on  30  May  1702, 
and  sworn  of  the  privy  council  on  10  Dec. 
following.  In  1706  he  took  part  in  the  nego- 
tiation of  the  treaty  of  union  with  Scotland 
(commission  dated  10  April),  and  was  created 
on  29  Dec.  Viscount  Hinton  St.  George  and 
Earl  Poulett.  From  8  Aug.  1710  to  30  May 


Poulett 


231 


Pouncy 


1711  lie  was  nominally  first  lord  of  the 
treasury.  Harley,  however,  was  understood 
to  preside  behind  the  curtain.  From  12  June 
1711  to  August  171-4  he  was  lord  steward  of 
the  household.  He  was  also  custos  rotulorum 
of  Somerset  from  26  Feb.  1712  to  13  Sept. 
1714.  He  was  elected  on  3  April  1706 
F.R.S. ;  on  25  Oct.  1712  he  was  elected, 
and  on  4  Aug.  1713,  he  was  installed,  K.G. 
Poulett  seldom  spoke  in  parliament.  He 
moved,  however,  on  11  Jan.  1710-11,  the 
question  as  to  the  occasion  of  the  reverse  at 
Almanza,  which  formed  the  subject  of  the 
second  debate  on  the  conduct  of  the  war  in 
Spain.  On  a  subsequent  occasion  (27  May 
1712),  in  defending  the  Duke  of  Ormonde 
against  the  charge  of  slackness  in  the  field, 
he  brutally  taunted  Marlborough  with  squan- 
dering the  lives  of  his  officers  in  order  to  fill 
his  pockets  by  disposing  of  their  commis- 
sions. At  the  close  of  the  debate  he  received 
a  challenge  from  Marlborough,  and,  being 
unable  to  conceal  his  agitation  from  his  wife, 
disclosed  its  cause.  She  communicated  the 
circumstance  to  Lord  Dartmouth,  who  pre- 
vented the  meeting  by  placing  Poulett  tem- 
porarily under  arrest.  As  Poulett  had  not 
shown  himself  active  in  the  interest  of  the 
House  of  Brunswick,  he  lost  his  places  on  the 
accession  of  George  I,  during  whose  reign  he 
hardly  spoke  in  parliament  except  to  oppose 
the  septennial  bill  on  14  April  1716  and  the 
bill  of  pains  and  penalties  against  Atterbury 
on  15  May  1723.  During  the  reign  of 
George  II  he  lived  the  life  of  a  country 
gentleman,  but  was  rallied  to  the  court  party 
shortly  before  his  death  by  the  gift  of  a 
lord  of  the  bedchamber's  place  to  his  eldest 
son,  John,  who  was  also  called  up  to  the 
House  of  Peers  as  baron  of  Hinton  St.  George 
on  17  Jan.  1733-4.  On  10  Dec.  1742  he 
spoke  in  support  of  the  proposal  to  take 
Hanoverian  troops  into  British  pay.  He 
died  on  28  May  1743. 

Poulett  married  by  license,  dated  23  April 
1702,  Bridget,  only  daughter  of  Peregrine 
Bertie  of  Waldershare,  Kent,  and  niece  of 
Robert  Bertie,  third  earl  of  Lindsey,  by 
whom  he  had  four  sons  and  four  daughters. 

Macky  describes  him  as  of  '  a  mean  figure 
in  his  person '  and  '  not  handsome.'  A  por- 
trait by  Sir  Godfrey  Kneller  has  been  en- 
graved. 

[Collins's  Peerage,  ed.  Brydges,  iv.  13  ;  Lut- 
trell's  Relation  of  State  Affairs,  v.  165  ;  Coxe's 
Marlborough,  iii.  308  ;  Marlborough's  Letters 
and  Despatches,  ed.  Sir  George  Murray,  vol.  iv. ; 
Defoe's  History  of  the  Union  of  Great  Britain, 
1709,  p.  20;.  Wyon's  Queen  Anne;  Boyer's 
Annals  of  Queen  Anne,  passim ;  Lord  Hervey's 
Memoirs,  ed.  1884,  i.  284;  Private  Correspon- 


dence of  the  Duchess  of  Marlborough,  1838, 
ii.  68,  71,  76,  314;  Parl.  Hist.  vi.  961,  1137, 
vii.  295,  xii.  1024;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  8th  Rep. 
App.  pt.  i.  p.  39,  llth  Rep.  App.  pt.  iv.  p.  221, 
pt.  v.  p.  309 ;  Chester's  London  Marriage  Li- 
cences.] J.  M.  R. 

POULSON,  GEORGE  (1783-1858),  topo- 
grapher,  was  born  in  1783.  His  first  pub- 
lication was  '  Beverlac ;  or  the  Antiquities 
and  History  of  the  Town  of  Beverley,  in  the 
county  of  York,  and  of  the  Provostry  and 
Collegiate  Establishment  of  St.  John's  ;  with 
a  minute  description  of  the  present  Minster 
and  the  Church  of  St.  Mary,'  2  vols.  Lon- 
don, 1829,  4to,  with  numerous  illustrations. 
This  was  followed  by  his  principal  work, 
entitled  '  The  History  and  Antiquities  of  the 
Seignory  of  Holderness,  in  the  East  Riding 
of  the  County  of  York,  including  the  Abbies 
of  Meaux  and  Swine,  with  the  Priories  of 
Nunkealing  and  Burstall :  compiled  from 
authentic  charters,  records,  and  the  unpub- 
lished manuscripts  of  the  Rev.  "W.  Dade, 
remaining  in  the  library  of  Burton  Con- 
stable/ 2  vols.  Hull,  1840-1,  4to,  with  many 
illustrations.  He  also  edited  Henry  William 
Ball's  '  Social  History  and  Antiquities  of 
Barton-upon-Humber,'  1856,  and  added  elu- 
cidatory remarks.  He  died  at  Barton-upon- 
Humber  on  12  Jan.  1858. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1858,  pt.  i.  p.  449;  Boyne's 
Yorkshire  Library,  pp.  152,  165.]  T.  C. 

POUNCY,  BENJAMIN  THOMAS  (d. 
1799),  draughtsman  and  engraver,  was  a  pupil 
of  William  Woollett  [q.v.J,  and  is  said  to 
have  been  his  brother-in-law  (Gent.  Mag. 
1799,  ii.  726).  At  an  early  period  he  ob- 
tained employment  at  Lambeth  Palace,  and 
for  many  years  previous  to  1786  held  the  post 
of  deputy-librarian  there  under  Dr.  Ducarel 
and  his  successor,  Dr.  Lort.  During  that  time 
he  assisted  Ducarel  in  his  researches,  exe- 
cuted facsimiles  of  Domesday  for  Surrey  and 
Worcestershire,  and  engraved  the  plates  for 
many  antiquarian  and  topographical  works, 
such  as  Ducarel's  "'  History  of  St.  Katherine's 
Hospital,'  1782  ;  Astle's  '  Origin  and  Pro- 
gress of  Writing,'  1784  ;  l  Some  Account  of 
the  Alien  Priories,'  edited  by  J.  Nichols, 
1779  ;  and  Ives's  '  Remarks  upon  the  Garia- 
nonum  of  the  Romans,'  1774.  During  the 
latter  part  of  his  life  Pouncy  produced  some 
excellent  plates  of  landscape  and  marine 
subjects  after  popular  artists,  of  which  the 
best  are  :  '  Athens  in  its  Flourishing  State,' 
after  R.  WTilson,  and  '  Athens  in  its  Pre- 
sent State  of  Ruin,'  after  S.  Delane  (a  pair) ; 
•  Sortie  made  by  the  Garrison  of  Gibraltar 
on  27  Nov.  1781,'  after  A.  Poggi;  the  build- 
ing, chase,  unlading,  and  dissolution  of  a 
cutter  (a  set  of  four),  after  J.  Kitchingman 


Pound 


232 


Pound 


1783  and  1785  ;  « N.  W.  View  of  Rochester/ 
after  J.  Farington,  1790  ;  '  The  Morning  of 
the  Glorious  First  of  June  1794,'  after  R. 
Cleveley,  1796  ;  <  The  Windmill '  and  '  The 
Watermill,'  from  his  own  drawings,  1787 ;  j 
and  four  landscapes  after  J.  Hearne.  Pouncy 
also  executed  many  of  the  plates  in  Captain  ! 
Cook's  second  and  third  '  Voyages,'  after 
Hodges  and  Webber,  1777  and  1784;  Sir 
G.  Staunton's  '  Embassy  of  Lord  Macartney 
to  China,'  1797  ;  Farington's  '  Views  of  the 
Lakes  in  Cumberland  and  Westmorland,' 
1789;  Bowyer's  'History  of  England,' 
Macklin's  Bible,  and  the  '  Copperplate  Maga- 
zine.' He  was  a  fellow  of  the  Incorporated 
Society  of  Artists,  and  exhibited  topogra- 
phical views  with  them  in  1772  and  1773 ; 
he  also  sent  works  of  the  same  class  to  the 
Royal  Academy  in  1782,  1788,  and  1789. 
WToollett  engraved  *  The  Grotto  at  Amwell,' 
from  a  drawing  by  Pouncy,  as  an  illustra- 
tion to  John  Scott's  '  Poems,'  1782.  Pouncy 
died  in  Pratt  Street,  Lambeth,  on  22  Aug. 
1799,  and  was  buried  in  the  graveyard  of  the 
parish  church. 

A  portrait  of  Pouncy,  drawn  by  Edridge, 
is  in  the  print  room  of  the  British  Museum. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1799,  ii.  726  ;  Eedgrave's  Diet, 
of  Artists;  Grraves's  Diet,  of  Artists,  1760- 
1880  ;  Nichols's  Literary  Anecdotes,  viii.  40,  625, 
ix.  534,  719  ;  Nichols's  History  of  Lamjbeth,  1786, 
App.  p.  145;  Lambeth  burial  register.] 

F.  M.  O'D. 

POUND,  JAMES  (1669-1724),  astro- 
nomer, was  the  son  of  John  Pound,  of  Bishop's 
Canning,  Wiltshire,  where  he  was  born  in 
1669.  He  matriculated  at  St.  Mary  Hall, 
Oxford,  on  16  March  1687  ;  graduated  B.A. 
from  Hart  Hall  on  27  Feb.  1694,  and  M.A. 
from  Gloucester  Hall  in  the  same  year ;  and 
obtained  a  medical  diploma,  with  a  degree 
of  M.B.,  on  21  Oct.  1697.  Having  taken 
orders,  he  entered  the  service  of  the  East 
India  Company,  and  went  out  to  Madras  in 
1699  as  chaplain  to  the  merchants  of  Fort 
St.  George,  whence  he  proceeded  to  the  Bri- 
tish settlement  on  the  islands  of  Pulo  Con- 
dore,  near  the  mouth  of  the  River  Cambodia. 
1  He  got  much  in  the  plantations,'  Hearne 
remarked  of  him,  '  but  lost  all  in  an  insur- 
rection of  the  Indians.'  On  the  morning  of 
3  March  1705  the  native  troops  at  Pulo 
Condore  mutinied,  conflagration  and  mas- 
sacre ensued,  and  only  eleven  of  the  English 
residents  escaped  in  the  sloop  Rose  to  Ma- 
lacca, and  ultimately,  after  many  adven- 
tures, reached  Batavia.  Pound  was  among 
the  refugees ;  but  his  collections  and  papers 
were  destroyed.  A  valuable  set  of  docu- 
ments relating  to  the  catastrophe — some  of 
them  composed,  others  copied,  by  him — are 


preserved  in  the  Bodleian  Library  (Bradley 
MS.  No.  24). 

Pound  was,  in  July  1707 — a  year  after  his 
return  to  England — presented  by  Sir  Richard 
Child  to  the  rectory  of  Wanstead  in  Essex ; 
and  the  favour  of  Lord-chancellor  Parker 
secured  for  him,  in  January  1720,  on  Flam- 
steed's  death,  that  of  Burstow  in  Surrey. 
He  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society 
on  30  Nov.  1699,  but  his  admittance  was 
deferred  until  30  July  1713,  when  his  astro- 
nomical career  may  be  said  to  have  begun. 
Halley  communicated  to  the  Royal  Society 
his  phase-determinations  of  the  total  solar 
eclipse  of  3  May  1715,  with  the  remark  that 
their  author  was  '  furnished  with  very  curious 
instruments,  and  well  skilled  in  the  matter 
of  observation '  (Phil.  Trans,  xxix.  252). 
On  14  July  1715  Pound  observed  an  occulta- 
tion  of  a  star  by  Jupiter,  on  30  Oct.  an 
eclipse  of  the  moon,  and  made,  in  1716  and 
1717,  various  planetary  observations — all 
with  a  fifteen-foot  telescope  (ib.  xxix.  401, 
xxx.  848,  1109).  His  account  of  some  of 
them  (ib.  xxix.  506)  was  translated  into 
Russian,  and  inserted  in  the  St.  Petersburg 
'Kalendar'  for  1737.  Huygens's  123-foot 
object-glass,  lent  to  Pound  in  1717  by  the 
Royal  Society,  was  mounted  by  him  in  Wan- 
stead  Park  on  the  maj^pole  just  removed 
from  the  Strand,  and  procured  for  the  pur- 
pose by  Sir  Isaac  Newton.  A  copy  of  verses 
affixed  to  it  by  a  local  wit  began  : 

Once  I  adorned  the  Strand, 

But  now  have  found 

My  way  to  pound 
In  Baron  Newton's  land. 

The  inconveniences  of  the  ( aerial '  instru- 
ment thus  formed  were  severely  commented 
upon  by  J.  Crosthwait  (BAILY,  Flamsteed, 
p.  335).  Nevertheless,  it  was  by  Pound 
turned  to  excellent  account.  His  observa- 
tions with  it  of  the  five  known  satellites  of 
Saturn  enabled  Halley  to  'rectify 'their  move- 
ments (Phil.  Trans,  xxx.  772).  Newton 
employed,  in  the  third  edition  of  the  '  Prin- 
cipia'  (pp.  390,  392  of  Sir  W.  Thomson's 
reprint,  1871),  his  micrometrical  measures  of 
Jupiter's  disc,  of  Saturn's  disc  and  ring,  and 
of  the  elongations  of  their  satellites;  and 
obtained  from  him  data  for  correcting  the 
places  of  the  comet  of  1680.  That  a  quid 
pro  quo  was  supplied  appears  from  memo- 
randa in  the  astronomer's  pocket-book  of 
two  payments  to  him  by  Newton  of  52/.  10s. 
each,  in  1719  and  1720. 

Laplace  also  availed  himself  of  Pound's  ob- 
servations of  Jupiter's  satellites  for  the  de- 
termination of  the  planet's  mass  ;  and  Pound 
himself  compiled  in  1719  a  set  of  tables  for 


Pounds 


233 


Povey 


the  first  satellite,  into  which  he  introduced 
an  equation  for  the  transmission  of  light 
(Phil.  Trans,  xxxi.  1021). 

Pound  was  tenderly  attached  to  his  sister's 
son,  James  Bradley  [q.  v.]  He  trained  him 
in  astronomy,  and  many  of  their  observa- 
tions were  made  together.  Those  of  the  op- 
position of  Mars  in  1719,  and  of  the  transit 
of  Mercury  on  29  Oct.  1723,  are  examples 
(BKADLEY,  Miscellaneous  Works,  pp.  353, 
355).  Their  measurement  of  y  Virginis  in 
1718 — the  first  made  of  the  components  of  a 
double  star — was  directed  towards  the  ascer- 
tainment of  stellar  parallax ;  and  Pound 
doubtless  aided  in  planning  the  operations 
upon  y  Draconis  which  led  Bradley  to  the 
discovery  of  the  aberration  of  light. 

Pound  was  a  frequent  visitor  of  Samuel 
Molyneux  [q.  v.]  at  Kew.  He  was  commis- 
sioned by  the  Royal  Society,  in  July  1723,  to 
test  Hadley's  reflecting  telescope,  and  reported 
favourably  on  its  performance  (ib.  xxxii.  382). 
He  died  at  Wanstead  on  16  Nov.  1724, 
aged  55.  His  instruments  were  sold  for  267. 
He  married,  first,  on  14  Feb.  1710,  Sarah, 
widow  of  Edward  Farmer,  who  died  in  June 
1715 ;  and  secondly,  in  October  1722,  Eliza- 
beth, sister  of  Matthew  Wymondesold,  a 
successful  speculator  in  South  Sea  stock,  and 
proprietor  of  the  Wanstead  estate.  She  had 
a  fortune  of  10,000/.  After  her  husband's 
death  she  resided  with  Bradley  at  Oxford, 
1732-7,  died  on  10  Sept.  1740,  and  was 
buried  at  Wanstead.  By  his  first  wife 
Pound  left  a  daughter  Sarah,  born  on  16  Sept. 
1713 ;  she  died  at  Greenwich,  unmarried,  on 
19  Oct.  1747. 

[Bradley's  Miscellaneous  Works,  prefixed  Me- 
moir by  Rigaud,  pp.  ii-ix,  xviii,  xxxix  ;  Biogr. 
Brit.  (Kippis),  ii.  556;  Lysons's  Environs,  iv. 
240 ;  Malcolm's  Londinium  Redivivum,  iv,  28  L  ; 
Madler's  Gresehichte  der  Himmelskunde,  i. 
408-9,  428,  ii.  444;  Wolf's  Geschichte  der 
Astronomie,  pp.  484,  534,  676  ;  Foster's  Alumni 
Oxon. ;  Poggendorff's  Biogr.-lit.  Handworter- 
buch;  Houzeau's  Bibl.  Astronomique;  Thomson's 
Hist,  of  the  Royal  Society ;  Watt's  Bibl.  Brit.] 

A.  M.  C. 

POUNDS,  JOHN  (1766-1839),  gratuitous 
teacher  of  poor  children,  was  born  in  St. 
Mary  Street,  Portsmouth,  on  17  June  1766. 
His  father,  a  sawyer  in  the  royal  dockyard, 
apprenticed  John,  at  twelve  years  of  age,  to 
a  shipwright.  In  1781  Pounds,  then  a  youth 
six  feet  in  height,  fell  into  a  dry  dock,  and 
was  crippled  for  life.  He  put  himself  under 
the  instruction  of  an  old  shoemaker  in  the 
High  Street,  and  in  1803  started  as  a  shoe- 
mender  on  his  own  account  in  a  weather- 
boarded  tenement  in  St.  Mary  Street.  In 
1818  he  took  charge  of  one  of  the  children 


of  his  sailor  brother,  five  years  of  age.  Feel- 
ing that  companionship  for  his  nephew  was 
desirable,  he  added  first  one  child  then 
another  to  his  pupils.  With  a  natural  power 
of  teaching  and  love  of  children,  he  thus  be- 
came voluntary  and  gratuitous  schoolmaster 
to  the  poorest  children  of  Portsmouth.  His 
numbers  averaged  about  forty,  including 
twelve  little  girls.  His  modes  of  teaching 
were  chiefly  interrogatory  and  realistic.  He 
taught  reading  from  handbills,  and  preferred 
old  school-books  to  new.  In  arithmetic  he 
taught  up  to  the  double  rule  of  three.  He 
instructed  children  how  to  cook  their  own 
food,  mend  their  shoes,  and  make  their  play- 
things. He  was  doctor,  nurse,  master  of 
sports,  and  companion  on  excursions  into  the 
country.  His  philanthropy  also  displayed 
itself  in  relieving  his  poor  neighbours  in 
winter — notably  in  1837-8,  a  winter  of  ex- 
ceptional severity — and  his  sympathy  with 
and  power  over  animals  were  remarkable. 

In  1838  a  characteristic  portrait  was 
painted  of  Pounds  by  H.  S.  Sheaf  of  Land- 
port,  a  journeyman  shoemaker.  It  is  in  the 
possession  of  the  family  of  the  late  Edward 
Carter,  esq.,  of  Portsmouth.  There  was  a 
lithograph,  drawn  by  W.  Mitchell  and  en- 
graved by  W.  Charpentier.  Pounds  died  on 
1  Jan.  1839. 

After  his  death  came  the  recognition  of 
his  influence.  Schools  were  established  as 
memorials  ;  publications  in  England,  Scot- 
land, and  America  extolled  his  virtues.  In 
1847  Dr.  Guthrie  wrote  his  '  Plea  for  Ragged 
Schools,' and  proclaimed  Pounds  as  originator 
of  the  idea.  In  1855  a  memorial  stone  was 
erected  to  Pounds,  and  placed  on  his  grave 
in  High  Street  Chapel  burial-ground. 

[Hawkes's  Recollections  of  John  Pounds ; 
Blessley's  Memoir  of  the  late  John  Pounds  of 
Portsmouth  ;  Saunders's  Annals  of  Portsmouth, 
pp.  169-72  ]  F.  W-N. 

POVEY,  CHARLES  (1652  P-1743),  mis- 
cellaneous writer  and  projector,  was  probably 
descended  from  a  family  which  had  settled 
at  Shookledge,  Cheshire,  and  may  have  been 
son  of  Ralph  Povey  (b.  1607)  and  a  relative 
of  Pepys's  friend,  Thomas  Povey  [q.  v.]  (cf. 
Addit.  MS.  5529,  f.  59 b).  He  had  a  brother, 
Josiah  (d.  1727),  who  was  rector  of  Tels- 
combe,  Sussex.  When  twitted  with  his  ob- 
scure origin,  he  said  his  birth  was  neither 
noble  nor  ignoble.  According  to  his  own 
statements,  he  spent  the  flower  of  his  youth 
and  middle  age  in  study  and  thought,  and 
during  the  reign  of  James  II  he  was  twice 
imprisoned  for  writing  against  that  king 
(JEnf/lish  Memorial}.  In  1689  he  printed 
1 A  Challenge  to  all  Jacobites/  which  was 


Povey 


234 


Povey 


followed  in  1690  by  'A  Challenge  in  vindi- 
cation  of  the   Revolution'    (State    Tracts, 

1705,  vol.  i.)   In  1699  he  printed  '  Proposals 
for  raising  One  Thousand  Pounds.'  Next  year 
he  was  living  at  Wapping,  and  entered  the 
coal  trade  ;  but,  being  persecuted  by  other 
merchants,  he  published  '  A.  Discovery  of  In- 
direct Practices  in  the  Coal  Trade,'  1700,  in 
which  he  described  one  of  his  inventions,  an 
engine  for  clearing  a  coal-ship  quickly.     This 
was  followed  in  1701  by  'The  Unhappiness  of 
England  as  to  its  Trade  by  Sea  and  Land 
truly  stated,'  a  piece  containing  proposals  for 
employing  the  poor  by  founding  four  hos- 
pitals of  industry,  each  to  hold  fifteen  hun- 
dred people.     Povey  also  dwelt  upon  '  the 
pernicious  consequence  of  wearing  swords, 
and   the   ill   precedents   acted   at   the  two 
theatres.'     This  book  was  succeeded  by  two 
religious  works,   l  Meditations  of  a  Divine 
Soul,'  1703,  of  which  ten  thousand  copies  are 
said  to  have  been  sold,  and  '  Holy  Thoughts 
of  a  God-made  Man,'  1704. 

By  1705,  and  probably  some  time  earlier, 
Povey  was  in  possession  of  the  Traders'  Ex- 
change House,  Hatton  Garden,  where  he 
carried  on  for  several  years  the  business  of 
a  commercial  agency,  and  floated  life  and 
fire  insurance  schemes.  He  estimated  the 
subscriptions  to  the  exchange  house  at 
2,000/.  a  year.  His  Traders'  Exchange 
House  Office  for  Lives  was  started  about 

1706.  It  was  an  insurance  scheme  for  four 
thousand  members,  reputed  healthy  persons, 
and  was  to  make  an  annual  contribution  to 
the  building  fund  of  a  projected  college  for 
one    hundred    decayed    men    and    women. 
Other  funds  were  to  be  obtained  from  the 
proceeds  of  advertisements  in  the  '  General 
Remark  on  Trade,'  a  periodical  which  ap- 
peared three  times  a  week  from  October  1705 
to  March  1710.     This  paper,  of  which  3,500 
copies  are  said  to  have  been  printed,  was 
distributed  gratis.     Dunton  said  it  was  pub- 
lished in  rivalry  of  Defoe's  'Review,'  and 
complained  that  Povey  plagiarised  from  the 
'Athenian  Oracle.'  The  life-insurance  scheme 
collapsed  in  1710,  but  in  the  meantime  Povey 
had  floated  (1707-8)  the  Exchange  House 
Fire  Office  for  Goods  (London),  or  the  Sun 
Fire  Office.     Business  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  begun  before  1708,  and  in  December  of 
that  year  a  salvage  corps  scheme  was  sug- 
gested.    The  office   proved  a   success,  but 
Povey  parted  with  his  interest  in  it  at  an 
early  date,  although  he  remained  a  member 
of  the  board.     He  was  at  first  promised  by 
the  managers  an  annuity  of  400/.  a  year  dur- 
ing the  lives  of  himself  and  his  wife,  and  of 
the  survivor,  and  he  was  also  to  receive  960/. 
This  arrangement,  however,  was  altered,  to 


Povey's  annoyance,  in  October  1710,  when 
the  twenty-four  acting  members  of  the  so- 
ciety said  they  would  give  Povey  only  201. 
each,  and  an  annuity  of  ten  per  cent,  of  the 
profits,  up  to  200/.  a  year. 

Povey  started  in  1709  a  scheme  called  the 
halfpenny  carriage  of  letters,  an  imitation  of 
the  penny  post  of  William  Dockwray  or 
Dockwra  [q.  v.]  The  post  was  confined  to 
the  cities  of  London  and  Westminster  and 
the  borough  of  Southwark,  and  the  collec- 
tions seem  to  have  been  made  by  tradesmen. 
But  in  November  1709  the  postmasters- 
general  proceeded  against  Povey  for  an  in- 
fringement of  their  monopoly,  and  in  Easter 
term  1710,  when  the  action  was  heard  in  the 
court  of  exchequer,  Povey  was  fined  1007. 
Another  scheme,  for  the  carriage  of  small 
parcels  of  goods  into  the  country,  which  was 
broached  in  1709,  never  came  to  maturity 
(cf.  Treasury  Papers.  1708-14,  vol.  cxx.  No. 
33). 

The  first  number  of '  The  Visions  of  Sir 
Heister  Ryley '  was  published  by  Povey  on 
21  Aug.  1710 ;  the  eightieth  and  last  num- 
ber appeared  on  21  Feb.  1711.  Each  paper 
consisted  of  two  quarto  leaves,  and  the 
periodical,  which  was  sold  for  a  penny,  was 
confessedly  an  imitation  of  Steele's  '  Tatler.' 
In  1712  Povey  let  the  house  and  park  at 
Belsize,  Hampstead,  of  which  he  was  tenant, 
and  on  which  he  claims  to  have  spent  2,000/., 
to  Count  d'Aumont,  the  French  ambassador- 
extraordinary,  who  was  to  pay  1,000/.  for  the 
term  of  his  residence  in  England,  but  Povey 
refused  to  ratify  the  agreement  when  he 
found  that  the  newly  erected  chapel  would 
be  used  for  mass  (English  Memorial).  Povey 
then  vainly  offered  the  house  and  chapel  to 
the  Prince'of  Whales,  and  the  house  remained 
vacant.  One  of  his  later  schemes  was  to  set 
up  a  factory  for  weavers  in  part  of  the  house, 
with  a  warehouse  for  the  sale  of  the  goods. 
Povey  says  he  was  imprisoned  on  a  false 
action  for  10,000/.  in  September  1713  (Sub- 
ject's Representation),  and  that  no  bail  could 
be  obtained.  A  half-sheet  was  published, 
stating  that  he  was  imprisoned  for  conspiring 
against  the  queen  and  government ;  but  Judge 
Tracey  declared  that  there  was  no  cause  of 
action,  and  ordered  the  release  of  Povey,  who 
afterwards  obtained  judgment  for  false  im- 
prisonment against  the  ringleaders.  They, 
however,  fled  in  order  to  evade  justice  (cf. 
Post  Boy,  13-15  Oct.  1713). 

Povey  published  anonymously  in  1714  an 

'Enquiry  into  the  Miscarriages  of  the  last 

Four  Years'  Reign,'  and  he  says  his  life  was 

j  threatened  on  account  of  it.    It  went  through 

I  eight  editions,  some  of  which  were  spurious, 

!  and  was  answered  by  Atterbury's  '  English 


Povey 


235 


Povey 


Advice  to  the  Freeholders  of  England.'  In 
the  following  year  he  printed  '  A  Memorial 
of  the  Proceedings  of  the  late  Ministry '  and 
'  The  English  Parliament  represented  in  a 
Vision/  which  were  entered  at  Stationers' 
Hall  on  15  Dec.  1714  and  7  March  1715  re- 
spectively. '  The  Subject's  Representation,' 
1717,  and  '  English  Inquisition,'  1718,  were 
full  of  complaints  of  persecution  by  the  whigs. 
Povey  estimated  his  loss  by  public  services  at 
1,700/.  a  year,  and  15,673/.  in  money ;  and  he 
complained  (English  Memorial)  that  when 
any  scheme  of  his  came  to  perfection  the 
government  seized  the  good  seed.  In  '  Brit- 
tain's  Scheme  to  make  a  New  Coin  of  Gold 
and  Silver  to  give  in  exchange  for  Paper 
Money  and  South  Sea  Stock,'  1720,  he  said 
that  a  brewhouse  at  Hampstead  belonging  to 
him  had  been  seized  in  1718,  and  his  goods 
sold  by  excise  officers.  In  1723  he  designed 
a  fire-annihilator,  a  bomb  containing  water, 
the  idea  of  which  was  said  to  have  been  stolen 
from  an  invention  of  a  chemist  named  Am- 
brose Godfrey  or  Godfrey-Hanckwitz  [q.  v.], 
who  in  1724  tried  to  convict  Povey  of  the 
theft. 

In  1733  Povey  printed  <  The  Secret  His- 
tory of  the  Sun  Fire  Office,'  and  in  1737  the 
'  English  Memorial  to  obtain  Right  and 
Property.'  These  were  followed  in  1740  by 
'The  Torments  after  Death,'  in  which  he 
said  that  all  the  profits  from  his  works  went 
to  ministers'  and  tradesmen's  widows  and 
charity  children,  and  described  a  number  of 
charitable  projects,  including  the  relief  of 
distressed  families,  prisoners,  and  the  sick. 
In  1741  Povey  brought  out  a  curious  book, 
<  The  Virgin  in  Eden,  or  the  State  of  In- 
nocency.  .  .  .  Presenting  a  Nobleman,  a 
Student,  and  Heiress,  on  their  progress  from 
Sodom  to  Canaan,'  in  which  there  is  a  sec- 
tion criticising  Richardson's  new  novel, 
*  Pamela's  Letters  proved  to  be  Immoral 
Romances,  printed  in  Images  of  Virtue.' 
'  Torments  after  Death '  and '  Virgin  in  Eden ' 
contain  long  catalogues  of  subjects  on  which 
he  had  written.  In  1718  he  stated  that 
he  had  produced  over  six  hundred  pieces ; 
but  this  must  include  the  separate  numbers 
of  the  periodicals  which  he  brought  out.  His 
last  invention  was  a  self-acting  organ  (an- 
nounced in  the  '  Daily  Advertiser '  for 
23  Nov.  1742),  which  he  left  by  will  to  the 
parish  of  St.  Mary,  Newington  Butts. 

Povey  died  on  4  May  1743,  aged  upwards 
of  ninety  (Gent.  Mag.  1743,  p.  274),  in 
Little  Alie  Street,  Goodman's  Fields,  and 
was  buried  on  the  8th  at  St.  Mary's,  New- 
ington, in  the  church,  where  his  wife  Ann 
was  buried.  He  left  directions  that  his  will, 
which  is  dated  30  Jan.  1742-3,  should  be 


printed  twice  in  a  public  newspaper,  and  it 
was  given  in  imperfect  form  in  the  '  Daily 
Post  •  for  1  and  8  July  1743.  Povey  men- 
tions land  at  Cheadle,  Staffordshire ;  and  he 
left  money  for  the  charity  school  in  the 
parish  of  St.  Mary,  Newington  (with  which 
he  was  presumably  connected  through  his 
wife),  for  the  poor  of  Whitechapel,  and  for 
the  widows  of  poor  tradesmen  and  ministers. 
Of  every  pound  received  for  his  books  nine- 
pence  was  to  go  to  the  rector  of  St.  Mary's, 
Newington,  and  ninepence  to  the  dissenting 
minister  at  the  Broad  Street  meeting-house, 
for  the  use  of  poor  ministers'  widows.  The 
residue  was  left  to  two  widows,  who  were 
executrixes — viz.  :  two-thirds  to  Elizabeth 
Smith,  a  niece,  and  one-third  to  Margaret 
Stringer.  Povey  declared  that  he  never  set 
up  any  undertaking  with  the  intent  to  enrich 
himself  by  fraud  or  injustice,  and  never 
wrote  anything  which  did  not  tend  to  pro- 
mote virtue  and  unity  among  men.  A  pro- 
lific schemer  and  writer,  his  statements  are 
untrustworthy  and  exaggerated.  He  was 
quarrelsome,  and  his  vanity  is  shown  by  his 
practice  of  printing  his  coat-of-arms  on  his 
title-pages  instead  of  his  name.  But  some 
of  his  schemes  were  ingenious,  while  the 
Sun  Fire  Office  became  a  great  success.  He 
took  pleasure  in  charitable  work  and  in  the 
promotion  of  friendliness  among  persons  of 
different  religious  beliefs. 

[Almost  everything  that  is  known  about 
Povey  has  been  collected  together  by  Mr.  F.  B. 
Eelton  in  his  Account  of  the  Fire  Insurance 
Companies.  .  .  .  Also  of  Charles  Povey,  1893  ; 
see  especially  pp.  261-84,  447-543.  Other 
works  which  may  be  consulted  are  Joyce's  His- 
tory of  the  Post  Office,  1893  ;  Lewins's  Her 
Majesty's  Mails,  1865  ;  the  Hope  Catalogue  of 
Early  Newspapers;  Notes  and  Queries,  passim  ; 
Wall'ord's  Insurance  Cyclopaedia,  iii.  465-7.] 

O.  A.  A. 

POVEY,  THOMAS  (fi.  1658),  civil  ser- 
vant, was  grandson  of  John  Povey,  citizen 
and  embroiderer  of  London,  and  son  of  Jus- 
tinian Povey,  auditor  of  the  exchequer  and 
accountant-general  to  Anne  of  Denmark 
(Cal.  State  Papers,  6  May  1606,  and  Ad- 
denda, 1580-1625,  p.  477).  He  bore  the 
same  arms  as  Charles  Povey  [q.  v.],  with 
an  annulet  for  difference.  In  1633  he  en- 
tered Gray's  Inn,  and  in  1642  published 
'  The  Moderator,  expecting  sudden  Peace  or 
certaine  Ruine,'  which  drew  forth  three  re- 
plies :  '  A  Sudden  Answer  to  a  Sudden 
Moderator'  and  a  'Fuller  Answer'  in  1642, 
and  in  1647  '  Neutrality  is  Malignancy,  by 
J.M.'  Povey  deemed  the  civil  wars  unjusti- 
fiable, and  at  first  joined  neither  party.  But 
he  was  returned  to  the  Long  parliament  as 


Povey 


236 


Powell 


M.P.  for  Liskeard  on  23  March  1646-7,  and 
in  June  1647  was  sent  from  Westminster 
with  a  letter  to  the  parliamentary  commis- 
sioners with  the  army  in  order  to  promote 
negotiations  for  peace  (Gal.  State  Papers, 
1645-7,  p.  593).  In  1650  he  was  suspected 
of  disloyalty  to  the  council  of  state,  and  a 
warrant  was  issued  for  his  arrest  (ib.  1650, 
pp.  149,  516, 541).  In  1657  he  was  a  member 
of  the  council  for  the  colonies,  and  at  a  by- 
election,  23  Feb.  1658-9,  was  elected  M.P.  for 
Bossiney.  After  the  Restoration  Povey  was 
much  favoured  at  court.  In  July  1660  he 
was  appointed  treasurer  to  the  Duke  of  York, 
but,  as  affairs  fell  into  confusion  under  his 
management,  he  was  induced  to  resign  on 
7  July  1668,  in  consideration  of  a  pension 
of  400/.  a  year.  In  July  1662  he  had  become 
one  of  the  masters  of  requests.  Meanwhile, 
on  20  Sept.  1661,  he  was  made  receiver- 
general  for  the  rents  and  revenues  of  the 
plantations  in  Africa  and  America.  He  was 
also  treasurer  for  Tangier  from  October  1662 
till  1665,  and  surveyor-general  of  the  victual- 
ling department.  Pepys  succeeded  him  in 
both  these  posts  in  1665.  Besides  the  master 
of  requests'  apartments  at  Whitehall,  Povey 
had  a  house  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  which 
was  famous  for  its  general  elegance  and  the 
ingenious  arrangements  of  its  wine-cellars. 
There  he  dispensed  a  generous  hospitality. 
Evelyn  and  Pepys  were  both  frequent  guests. 
He  also  inherited  a  villa  near  Hounslow, 
called  the  Priory.  About  1665  he  travelled 
in  Devonshire  and  Cornwall,  and  a  manu- 
script description  in  verse  of  his  journey 
belongs  to  Lord  Robartes  (BOASE  and  COURT- 
NEY, Bibl.  Cornub.  iii.  1318).  At  the  acces- 
sion of  James  II  he  was  removed,  with  all  his 
colleagues,  from  the  office  of  master  of  re- 
quests, but  was  awarded  a  pension  of  100/.  a 
year,  and  was  continued  a  member  of  the 
queen  dowager's  council  (BRAMSTON,  Auto- 
biography^. 314;  Secret  Services  of  Charles  II 
and  James  II,  pp.  167,  174, 184,  193). 

Before  1665  Povey  married  Mary,  daugh- 
ter of  John  Adderly,  and  widow  of  John 
Agard  of  King's  Bromley,  Staffordshire. 

Evelyn  describes  Povey  '  as  a  nice  con- 
triver of  all  elegancies,  and  exceedingly  for- 
mal.' Pepys  had  a  very  low  opinion  of  his 
abilities,  and  says  that  he  was  cunning.  In 
1669  he  and  another  described  in  a  petition 
to  the  king  an  invention  of  their  own  for 
raising  water  (Cal.  State  Papers,  July  1669). 
A  letter-book  of  his,  dated  from  1655  to  1659, 
and  dealing  mainly  with  the  West  Indies 
and  America,  is  in  the  British  Museum 
(Addit.  MS.  11411 ;  others  of  his  letters  are 
in  Egerton  MS.  2395). 

One  of  his  brothers,  Richard,  was  com- 


missioner-general of  provisions  at  Jamaica, 
and  another,  William,  was  provost-marshal 
at  Barbados.  A  half-brother  John,  who  was 
clerk  of  the  privy  council,  and  commissioner 
for  the  sick  and  wounded  under  William  III, 
died  in  June  1705  (LUTTRELL,  Brief  Rela- 
tion, v.  564). 

Among  contemporary  kinsmen  who  at- 
tained some  distinction  were  :  Sir  John 
Povey  (^.1679),  baron  of  the  exchequer  in 
Ireland  from  26  Oct.  1663,  and  chief  justice 
of  the  king's  bench  from  11  April  1673 
(SMYTH,  Law  Officers  of  Ireland,  pp.  93, 155) ; 
Francis  Povey,  commander  of  the  ordnance 
in  Tangier,  who  became  surveyor  and  con- 
troller of  the  ordnance  in  Ireland,  and  pub- 
lished in  1705  '  The  Gunner's  Companion/ 
with  manuscript  dedication  to  Prince  George 
of  Denmark  (Brit.  Mus.  Cat.  ;  Hist.  MSS. 
Comm.  llth  Rep.  pt.  v. ;  Hyde  Corresp.  ed. 
Singer,  i.  412,  547-8)  ;  and  another,  Tho- 
mas Povey,  who  served  nine  years  with  the 
army  in  Flanders,  and  was  lieutenant-go- 
vernor of  Massachusetts  from  1702  to  1711 
(Massachusetts  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.  6th  ser.  iii. 
98-9,  254,  336). 

[Helton's  Fire  Insurance  Companies  and  Charles 
Povey ;  Steinraann's  Memoir  of  Mrs.  Myddelton , 
1864,  p.  30;  Evelyn's  Diary;  Pepys'"s  Diary, 
where  he  is  very  often  mentioned,  cf.  Wheatley's 
edition,  ii.  318.]  E.  I.  C. 

POWEL.    [See  POWELL  and  POWLE.] 

POWELL,  MRS.  (fl.  1787-1829),  pre- 
viously known  as  MRS.  FARMER,  and  subse- 
quently as  MRS.  REXATID,  actress,  made  her 
first  appearance,  under  the  name  of  Mrs. 
Farmer,  at  the  Ilaymarket  as  Alicia  in 'Jane 
Shore '  in  1787  according  to  Wewitzer,  and 
on  9  Sept.  1788  according  to  Genest.  From 
the  Haymarket  she  went  to  Drury  Lane  in 
the  autumn  of  1788,  where  she  played  Anne 
Bullen  to  the  Queen  Katharine  of  Mrs. 
Siddons,  Yirgilia  in  *  Coriolanus,'  Leonora 
in  '  Revenge,'  &c.  Next  year  she  married  a 
second  husband,  one  Powell,  who  was  promp- 
ter at  Liverpool  and  afterwards  at  Drury 
Lane.  The  next  season  at  Drury  Lane  opened 
on  12  Sept.  1789  with  <  Richard  the  Third.' 
Kemble  appeared  as  Richard,  and  l  Mrs. 
Powell,  late  Mrs.  Farmer,'  as  Lady  Anne. 
She  remained  at  Drury  Lane  for  several 
seasons,  during  which  her  name  was  con- 
stantly coupled  with  that  of  Mrs.  Siddons  in 
parts  of  importance.  A  rising  and  pains- 
taking actress,  she  was  capable  of  affording 
the  principal  support  to  the  leading  performer 
of  the  day,  and  enjoyed  at  the  same  time  an 
invaluable  opportunity  of  studying  acting 
from  the  very  best  model.  When  in  1796  Mrs. 
Siddons  declined  the  role  of  Edmunda  in 


Powell 


237 


Powell 


Ireland's  *  Vortigern,'  Mrs.  Powell  undertook 
it  (2  April).  On  '2  May  1795,  on  the  occasion 
of  Mrs.  Powell's  benefit,  Mrs.  Siddons  played 
Lady  Randolph  to  her  Young  Norval,  and 
at  the  performance  for  her  benefit  on  4  June 
1802  Mrs  Powell  essayed  the  role  of  Hamlet, 
with  Mrs.  Jordan  as  Ophelia.  Mrs.  Powell's 
long  connection  with  Drury  Lane  lasted  till 
1811,  and  during  the  period  she  played  very 
many  important  parts,  including  Alicia  in 
'  Jane  Shore,'  Andromache  in  the  '  Distrest 
Mother,'  Almeria  in  the  '  Mourning  Bride,' 
Mrs.  Haller  in  the '  Stranger,'  and  Lady  Mac- 
beth. Her  forte  lay  in  the  intenser  roles  of 
tragedy.  Tenderness  and  pathos  were  not  at 
her  command. 

In  the  autumn  of  1811  Mrs.  Powell  mi- 
grated to  Covent  Garden,  where  she  opened 
as  Lady  Capulet  on  9  Sept.,  and  again  sup- 
ported "Mrs.  Siddons,  who  was  playing  her 
'  last  season.'  Her  second  husband,  Powell, 
was  apparently  then  dead,  and  in  1814  she 
married  one  Renaud.  On  21  May  1814  she 
was  announced  as  '  Mrs.  Renaud,  late  Mrs. 
Powell,'  and  at  the  close  of  the  season  1815- 
1816  she  terminated  her  London  career.  For 
two  years  she  acted  in  the  provinces,  and  in 
1818  settled  down  in  Edinburgh,  where  she 
had  already  acted  in  the  summer  of  1802. 
She  opened  under  Murray  and  his  sister, 
Mrs.  II.  Siddons,  on  12  Feb.  1818.  The  parts 
for  which  she  was  chiefly  cast  were  '  heavy,' 
those  in  which  power  and  experience  are  the 
most  necessary  qualifications.  Helen  Mac- 
gregor  in  '  Rob  Roy '  and  Meg  Merrilies  in 
'  Guy  Mannering'  are  said  to  have  been  great 
impersonations  in  her  hands.  She  also  fre- 
quently assumed  such  roles  as  Lady  Macbeth, 
the  Queen  in  '  Hamlet,' Volumnia,  Lady  Ran- 
dolph, and  Belvidera  in  <  Venice  Preserved.' 
The  parts  she  created  in  Edinburgh  included 
Helen  Macgregor,  the  Queen  in  the  '  Heart 
of  Midlothian,'  Elspat  in  the  '  Antiquary,' 
Lady  Douglas  in  '  Mary  Stuart/  and  Janet 
in  the  '  Twa  Drovers.'  Her  most  valuable 
work,  however,  lay  in  the  splendid  support 
she  was  able  to  give  Kean,  Young,  and  other 
great  London  tragedians,  who  made  starring 
visits  to  the  Scottish  capital.  Mrs.  Renaud 
displayed  in  her  old  age  a  rare  dignity  of 
bearing,  correct  elocution,  and  telling  voice. 
About  1828  her  health  began  to  fail,  and  she 
appeared  for  the  last  time  on  30  Sept.  1829, 
when  she  acted  the  Queen  to  Kean's  Ham- 
let. On  4  June  1830  Murray  gave  her  a 
benefit,  at  which  she  did  not  appear.  Murray 
is  said  to  have  continued  her  salary  to  the 
day  of  her  death,  the  date  of  which  is  not 
known. 

[Genest's   Historical  Account  of  the   Stage; 
playbills ;  private  information.  ]         J.  C.  D. 


POWELL,BADEN(1796-1860),Savilian 
professor  of  geometry,  born  at  Stamford  Hill 
on  22  Aug.  1796,  was  eldest  son  of  Baden 
Powell  of  Langton,  Kent,  and  Stamford  Hill. 
The  father  was  at  one  time  high  sheriff  of 
Kent.  The  son  matriculated  from  Oriel  Col- 
lege, Oxford,  in  the  spring  of  1814,  and 
graduated  B.A.  in  1817,  with  first-class 
honours  in  mathematics.  He  proceeded 
M.A.  in  1820,  was  ordained  to  the  curacy  of 
Midhurst,  and  in  1821  obtained  the  vicarage 
of  Plumstead  in  Kent.  While  holding  this 
living  he  was  occupied  in  researches  on  optics 
and  radiation,  and  was  a  fellow-worker  with 
Herschel,  Babbage,  and  Airy.  His  ability 
was  recognised  by  his  election  as  F.R.S.  in 
1824,  and  by  his  appointment  in  1827  to  the 
Savilian  chair  of  geometry  at  Oxford,  which 
he  held  till  his  death. 

On  becoming  professor  he  resigned  his 
living  and  devoted  much  time  to  literary 
work.  He  had  already,  in  1825  and  1826, 
contributed  to  the  '  Philosophical  Transac- 
tions '  two  papers  on  radiant  heat ;  he  now 
wrote  two  elementary  books  on  curves  and 
differential  calculus,  1828-9.  In  1832  he  made 
a  report  to  the  British  Association  on  radiant 
heat,  and  drew  up  other  reports  on  the  same 
subject  in  1841  and  1854.  In  1835-7  he  pre- 
pared a  series  of  four  papers  on  dispersion  of 
light  for  the  '  Philosophical  Transactions.' 
He  was  a  frequent  contributor  to  scientific 
periodicals,  chiefly  on  optical  questions,  but 
also  on  questions  connected  with  the  general 
history  and  study  of  science.  He  wrote  a 
'History  of  Natural  Philosophy'  for  the 
1  Cabinet  Cyclopaedia,'  1834.  But  theologi- 
cal controversy  also  interested  Powell.  He 
was  strongly  opposed  to  the  tractarians,  and 
treated  doctrinal  questions  from  a  latitudi- 
narian  point  of  view  in  'Tradition  Un- 
!  veiled  '  (1839),  followed  by  a  supplement  in 
1840.  An  essay  (1838)  on  'The  Connexion 
of  Natural  and  Divine  Truth'  was  succeeded, 
after  many  years,  by  an  important  series  of 
essays  on  kindred  topics — 'The  Unity  of 
Worlds  '  (1855,  2nd  edit.  1856),  <  The  Study 
of  Natural  Theology '  (1856),  and  '  The  Order 
of  Nature'  (1859).  Among  his  other  theo- 
logical essays  maybe  mentioned  '  Christianity 
without  Judaism '  (1857,  2nd  edit.  1866),  and 
an  essay  on  the  study  of  the  evidences  of 
Christianity,  which  he  contributed  to  '  Essays 
and  Reviews,'  1860.  The  last-named  essay 
provoked  many  replies. 

Powell  was  active  in  university  reform, 
was  a  member  of  the  commission  of  1851, 
and  held  advanced  views  on  state  education, 
about  which  he  published  a  pamphlet  in 
1840.  He  died  on  1 1  June  1860,  at  Stanhope 
Street,  Hyde  Park  Gardens,  and  is  buried  at 


Powell 


238 


Powell 


Kensal  Green.  Powell  was  twice  married  : 
first,  on  27  Sept.  1837,  to  Charlotte  Pope, 
who  died  on  14  Oct.  1844 ;  secondly,  on 
10  March  1846,  to  Henrietta  Grace  Smyth, 
daughter  of  Vice-admiral  William  Henry 
Smyth  [q.  v.],  and  sister  of  Mr.  Charles  Piazzi 
Smyth.  By  his  first  wife  he  had  three  daugh- 
ters and  a  son,  Baden  Henry  Powell  (b. 
1841),  judge  of  the  chief  court  of  Lahore, 
and  a  writer  on  Indian  law  and  land  tenure. 
Of  the  professor's  family  by  his  second  wife, 
five  sons,  of  whom  the  second  is  Sir  George 
Baden  Powell,  K.C.M.G.,  M.P.,  and  one 
daughter  survived  infancy. 

Besides  the  physical  papers  referred  to 
above  may  be  named  the  following  contri- 
butions to  the  '  Philosophical  Transactions : ' 
1.  'On  Certain  Cases  of  Elliptic  Polariza- 
tion,' 1842.  2.  'On  Metallic  Reflexion,' 
1845.  3.  '  On  Prismatic  Interference,'  1848. 
He  also  contributed  some  important  mathe- 
matical papers  to  the  Ashmolean  Society's 
1  Memoirs '  for  1832.  In  addition  to  the  above- 
named  reports  to  the  British  Association,  he 
reported  in  1839  on  refractive  indices,  and 
in  1848-59  on  luminous  meteors.  His  con- 
tributions to  the  '  Memoirs '  of  the  Astro- 
nomical Society  are  dated  1845,  1847,  1849, 
1853,  and  1858.  In  1857  he  published  trans- 
lations, with  notes,  of  Arago's  autobiography 
and  lives  of  Young,  Malus,  and  Fresnel. 

[Morning  Chronicle,  14  June  1860;  Aberdeen 
Herald,  21  July  1860  ;  Gent.  Mag.  1860,  pt.  ii. 
p.  204 ;  Liddon's  Life  of  Pusey ;  information 
kindly  supplied  by  Mrs.  Powell.]  C.  P. 

POWELL  or  POWEL,  DAVID  (1552  ?- 
1598),  Welsh  historian,  born  about  1552, 
was  son  of  Hy wel  ap  Dafydd  ap  Gruffydd  of 
Coedrwg  and  Bryn  Eglwys,  near  Llangollen. 
His  mother  was  Catherine,  daughter  of 
GrufFydd  ab  leuan  ap  Dafydd.  At  the  age  of 
sixteen  he  entered  the  university  of  Oxford. 
Where  he  first  resided  is  not  known,  but  in 
1571  he  migrated  to  Jesus  College,  then 
newly  founded,  and  graduated  B.  A.  3  March 
1572-3.  He  had  already  been  collated  by 
Bishop  Thomas  Davies  to  the  vicarage  of 
Ruabon,  Denbighshire  (instituted  12  June 
1571),  to  which  was  soon  added  (27  Oct. 
1571)  the  rectory  of  Llanfyllin,  Mont- 
gomeryshire. He  was  elected  fellow  of  All 
Souls'  College  in  1573,  and  graduated  M.A. 
6  July  1576.  In  September  1579  he  re- 
signed Llanfyllin,  where  he  was  succeeded 
by  AVilliam  Morgan,  the  translator,  and  re- 
ceived instead  the  vicarage  of  Meifod, 
Montgomeryshire.  In  addition  to  his  cures, 
he  held  in  succession  the  prebends  of  Meifod 
and  of  Llanfair  Talhaiarn  (second  portion) 
attached  to  St.  Asaph  Cathedral.  He  gra- 


duated B.D.    from  Jesus  College    19  Feb. 
1582-3,  and  D.D.  on  the  ensuing  11  April. 

Powell  must  have  already  won  some  credit 
as  a  student  of  Welsh  history,  when  in 
September  1583  he  was  requested  by  Sir 
Henry  Sidney,  lord  president  of  Wales,  to 
prepare  for  the  press  an  English  translation 
of  the  Welsh  'Chronicle  of  the  Princes' 
(commonly  known  as  the  l  Chronicle  of  Cara- 
doc  of  Llancarfan '),  left  in  manuscript  by 
Humphrey  Llwyd  (1527-1568)  [q.  v.]  of 
Denbigh.  The  work  appeared,  under  the  title 
'The  Historie  of  Cambria,'  in  1584,  with 
a  curiously  admonitory  dedication  to  Sir 
Philip  Sidney,  the  president's  son ;  though 
Llwyd's  translation  was  the  basis,  Powell's 
corrections  and  additions,  founded  as  they 
were  on  independent  research, made  the  'His- 
torie' practically  a  new  work.  Numerous 
editions  have  since  appeared,  and  later  his- 
torians of  Wales  have  to  a  large  extent  drawn 
their  material  from  it.  In  the  following  year 
Powell  published  in  one  volume  (1)  '  The 
British  Histories  of  Ponticus  Virunnius ; ' 
(2)  the  '  Itinerary '  and  '  Description '  (with 
notes)  of  Giraldus  Cambrensis  (then  for  the 
first  time  printed)  ;  and  (3)  '  De  Britannica 
Historia  recte  intelligenda  Epistola'  (Lon- 
don, 1585).  Powell  dedicated  the  book  to 
Sir  Henry  Sidney,  to  whom  he  had  now 
become  chaplain.  Pride  of  race  led  him  to 
silently  omit  the  second  book  of  Giraldus's 
'  Description,'  dealing  with  the  '  illaudabilia ' 
of  Wales.  Powell's  version  of  the  treatises 
by  Giraldus  was  reprinted  by  Camden  in  his 
'  Anglica,  Normannica,'  &c.  (1602  and  1603), 
and  by  Sir  Richard  Colt  Hoare  in  1804. 
Camden  and  Hoare  followed  Powell. 

Powell  is  honourably  mentioned  in  a  re- 
port, dated  24  Feb.  1587-8,  upon  the  state 
of  the  diocese  of  St.  Asaph,  as  one  of  the 
three  preachers  in  the  diocese  who  resided 
and  kept  house  (STEYPE,  Annals,  edit.  1824, 
in.  ii.  472-3).  Dr.  William  Morgan  also  refers 
to  him,  in  the  address  to  the  queen  prefixed  to 
the  translation  of  the  bible  of  1588,  as  one 
who  had  rendered  him  assistance  in  the  pre- 
paration of  that  work.  On  11  June  1588  he 
received  the  sinecure  rectory  of  Llansaint- 
ffraid  yn  Mechan,  Montgomeryshire.  He  died 
early  in  1598.  Dr.  John  Davies,  who  calls 
him  'historiarum  Britannicarum  peritissi- 
mus,'  mentions  him  as  one 'of  many  Welsh 
scholars  who  had  at  various  times  planned 
the  publication  of  a  Welsh  dictionary  (pre- 
face to  '  Dictionary,'  1632). 

Powell  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Cynwrig  ap  Robert  ap  Hywel  of  Bryn  y 
Grog,  Marchwiail,  by  whom  he  had  six 
sons  and  six  daughters.  Of  the  sons, 
Daniel,  the  eldest,  founded  the  family  of 


Powell 


239 


Powell 


Powells  of  Rhyddallt,  Ruabon;  Samuel 
(born  1574)  succeeded  his  father  as  vicar 
of  Ruabon,  and  Gabriel  [q.  v.]  won  distinc- 
tion as  a  scholar. 

The  following  are  the  chief  editions  of 
Powell's  '  Historie  of  Cambria  : '  1.  London, 
1584  (reprinted  for  J.Harding,  London,  1811). 
2.  London,  1697,  ed.  Wynne.  3.  London, 
1702  (tract  on  the  conquest  of  Glamorgan 
omitted).  4.  London,  1774  (pedigrees  added). 
5.  Merthyr  Tydfil,  1812.  6.  Shrewsbury, 
1832,  ed.  Richard  Lloyd. 

[Dwnn's  Heraldic  Visitations,  ii.  361  ;  Harl. 
MS.  2299,  as  quoted  in  History  of  Powys  Fadog, 
ii.  340 ;  Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  with  Bishop 
Humphrey^  additions ;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxoni- 
enses ;  Browne  Willis's  Survey  of  St.  Asaph ; 
Llyfryddiaeth  y  Cymry,  1869  ;  preface  to  vol.  vi. 
of  Kolls  edit,  of  Giraldus  Cambrensis.] 

J.E.  L. 

POWELL,  EDWARD  (1478P-1540), 
catholic  divine,  born  in  Wales  about  1478, 
was  educated  at  Oxford,  where  he  graduated 
M.A.,  and  in  1495  became  fellow  of  Oriel ; 
he  was  licensed  D.D.  on  26  June  1506  (BoASE, 
Reg.  i.  47).  In  1501  he  was  presented  to  the 
living  of  Bleadon,  Somerset,  and  preached  at 
Lincoln  during  the  visitation  of  the  cathe- 
dral by  Bishop  William  Smith  (d.  1514) 
[q.  v.]  ;  on  26  July  1503  he  was  collated  to 
the  prebend  of  Centum  Solidorum  in  Lincoln 
Cathedral,  exchanging  it  for  Carlton-cum- 
Thurlby  in  1505,  and  Carlton  for  Sutton-in- 
Marisco  in  1525.  He  also  received  the  pre- 
bends of  Lyme  Regis  and  Kalstock,  and  in 
1508  of  Bedminster  and  Radclive  in  Salis- 
bury Cathedral,  and  the  living  of  St.  Ed- 
mund's, Salisbury.  After  the  accession  of 
Henry  VIII,  Powell  became  a  frequent 
preacher  at  court. 

On  the  spread  of  Luther's  doctrines  to 
England,  Powell  took  an  active  part  in  op- 
posing them.  He  seems  to  have  been  asked 
by  the  king  to  publish  a  reply  to  Luther ; 
writing  to  Wolsey  on  3  Nov.  1522,  he  said 
that  he  had  commenced  a  treatise  '  De  Im- 
munitate  Ecclesise,'  which  he  was  sending 
for  approval,  promising  the  rest  of  the  work 
as  soon  as  it  was  completed.  These  writings 
are  probably  included  in  his  *  Prop ugnacul urn 
SummiSacerdotii  Evangelic!  .  .  .  editumper 
.  .  .  Edoardum  Povelum  adversus  Martinum 
Lutherum  fratrem  famostim  et  Wiclefistam 
insignem,'  1523,  4to  (Brit.  Mus.  and  Bodl.) 
It  consists  of  three  books  in  the  form  of  a 
dialogue  between  Luther  and  Powell:  the 
first  deals  with  the  pope,  the  second  with  the 
sacrament  of  the  altar,  and  the  third  with 
the  other  sacraments  ;  there  follow  an  appen- 
dix of  the  heresiarchs  whose  errors  Luther 
had  borrowed,  and  a  long  list  of  errata.  The 


work  won  high  commendation  from  the  uni- 
versity of  Oxford,  and  Dodd  (Church  Hist.  i. 
209)  says  it  was  the  best  performance  of  its 
kind  hitherto  published. 

On  the  question  of  Henry's  divorce  from 
Catherine  of  Arragon,  Powell  was  one  of 
the  learned  divines  who  pronounced  against 
the  measure,  and  he  is  said  to  have  been  one 
of  Catherine's  advocates  at  her  trial.  He 
wrote  a  '  Tractatus  de  non  dissolvendo 
Henrici  Regis  cum  Catherina  matrimonio,' 
which  Stow  (Chronicle,  ed.  1615,  p.  581) 
says  he  saw  printed  in  quarto,  but  neither 
the  manuscript  nor  any  printed  edition 
seems  now  to  be  extant.  From  this  time 
Powell's  zeal  in  preaching  against  the  Re- 
formation brought  him  into  disfavour  at 
court.  When  Latimer  was  invited  to  preach 
before  the  corporation  at  Bristol  in  March 
1533,  Powell  was  put  forward  by  the  Bristol 
clergy  to  answer  him  from  the  pulpit,  and  is 
said  to  have  made  aspersions  on  Latimer's 
private  character  which  he  afterwards  re- 
tracted. Latimer  complained  to  Cromwell 
of  Powell's  bitterness,  and  Powell  aggra- 
vated his  offence  by  denouncing  the  king's 
marriage  with  Anne  Boleyn.  In  January 
1534  his  discharge  as  proctor  of  the  Salis- 
bury clergy  wras  recommended,  and  a  few 
months  later  he  was  condemned  for  treason 
in  refusing  the  oath  of  succession  by  the 
same  act  of  parliament  as  Fisher  and  others 
(Statutes  of  the  Realm,  Record  ed.  iii.  527). 
He  was  deprived  of  all  his  preferments,  and 
committed  to  the  Tower,  where  he  remained 
until  1540,  resolutely  refusing  to  take  the 
oath.  On  30  July  in  that  year  he  was  one 
of  the  famous  six — three  catholics  and  three 
protestants — who  were  dragged  two  and  two 
on  hurdles  from  the  Tower  to  Smithfield. 
There  the  catholics  were  hanged,  drawn,  and 
quartered  as  traitors,  and  the  protestants  were 
burned  as  heretics.  Powell's  companion  was 
Robert  Barnes  [q.  v.],  and  soon  after  their 
execution  appeared  a  dialogue  in  English 
verse,  entitled  'The  metynge  of  Doctor 
Barons  and  Doctor  Powell  at  Paradise  Gate 
and  of  theyr  communicacion  bothe  drawen  to 
Smithfylde  fitf  the  Towar'  [1540?],  8vo 
(Brit.  Mus.) 

[Authorities  quoted;  works  in  Brit.  Mus. 
Libr. ;  Letters  and  Papers  of  Henry  VIII,  1518- 
1538  passim;  Lansd.  MSS.  979,  f.  191 ;  Le  Neve's 
Fasti,  ed.  Hardy,  ii.  124,  130,  218;  Willis's 
Cathedrals,  iii.  160,  166;  Wood's  Athense,  ed. 
Bliss,  i.  117-19;  Myles  Davies's  Athense  Brit, 
i.  108;  Treatise  of  the  Pretended  Divorce,  &c. 
(CamdenSoe.)pp.  208,  329;  Wriothesley'sChron. 
(Camden  Soc.),  i.  121 ;  Churton's  Lives  of  the 
Founders  of  Brasenose,  pp.  118,  181,  245,  363  ; 
Tanner's  Bibl.  Brit.;  Ames's  Typogr.  Antiq. 


Powell 


240 


Powell 


p.  273 ;  Hazlitt's  Handbook  and  Collections ; 
iSeyer's  Memorials  of  Bristol,  ii.  216  et  seq. ; 
Latimer's  Sermons,  ed.  1 824,  p.  xxvi ;  Foxe's  Actes 
andMon.  vol.  vii.  passim;  Strype's  Works,  Index  ; 
Burnet's  Reformation,  passim  ;  Dixon's  Church 
Hist,  of  England,  i.  237,  ii.  246,  250 ;  Lingard's 
and  Fronde's  Histories.]  A.  F.  P. 

POWELL,  FOSTER  (1734-1793),  pe- 
destrian, born  at  Horseforth,  near  Leeds,  in 
1734,  canie  to  London  in  1762  as  a  clerk  to 
an  attorney  in  the  Temple,  whence  he  sub- 
sequently migrated  to  New  Inn.  Two  years 
later  he  commenced  his  career  as  a  pedestrian, 
by  walking  fifty  miles  in  seven  hours  on  the 
Bath  road.  In  November  1773  he  walked 
from  London  to  York  and  back,  a  distance 
of  four  hundred  miles,  in  138  hours.  His 
best  achievements,  however,  were  performed 
in  three  successive  years,  1786-8.  In  the 
first  of  these  he  walked  100  miles  in  23£ 
hours,  in  1787  he  covered  112  miles  in  the 
24  hours,  while  in  1788  he  reduced  his  time 
for  100  miles  to  21  hours  35  minutes.  In 
1792  he  walked  again  from  Shoreditch  to 
York  Minster  and  back  in  5  days  15£  hours 
(135£  hours),  2f  hours  better  than  his  pre- 
vious time.  The  10/.  he  obtained  for  this 
feat  is  said  to  have  been  the  largest  sum  he 
ever  received.  He  was  careless  of  money, 
and  his  great  walks  were  undertaken  for 
trifling  wagers.  He  was  very  popular,  and 
was  often  welcomed  back  to  London  by  huge 
crowds.  Powell  died  in  straitened  circum- 
stances at  his  room  in  Clement's  Inn  on 
15  April  1793,  and  was  buried  on  22  April 
in  the  church  of  St.  Faith  in  St.  Paul's  Church- 
yard. The  pedestrian  was  5  ft.  9  in.  in  height, 
and  of  sallow  complexion.  Abstemious  at 
other  times,  he  took  brandy  to  sustain  him  on 
his  long  expeditions.  Powell  was  one  of  the 
earliest  athletes  of  whom  we  possess  any 
authentic  records ;  and  he  was  probably 
rightly  regarded  as  the  greatest  pedestrian  of 
his  time,  or  indeed  of  the  century.  But  most 
of  his  feats  were  eclipsed  by  Captain  Barclay 
[see  ALLARDICE,  ROBERT  BARCLAY]  during 
the  early  years  of  the  present  century  ;  and 
all  his  records  have  now  long  since  been 
broken.  Four  hundred  miles  were  travelled 
by  G.  Little  wood  at  Sheffield  in  1882^  in 
under  ninety-seven  hours ;  one  hundred  miles 
were  walked  in  18  hours  8£  minutes  by  W. 
Howes  in  1880. 

[A  Short  Sketch  of  the  Life  of  Foster  Powell, 
London,  1793,  with  a  portrait  by  Barlow,  which 
was  modified  for  Granger's  Wonderful  Museum 
and  Wilson's  Wonderful  Characters;  Chambers's 
Book  of  Days,  ii.  633  ;  Gent.  Mag.  1793,  i.  381 ; 
Thorn's  Pedestrianism,  1813;  Particulars  of  the 
late  Mr.  Foster  Powell's  Journey  on  Foot  from 
London  to  York  and  back  again  [1793],  8vo.] 

T.  S. 


POWELL     or    POWEL,     GABRIEL 

(1576-1611),  polemical  divine,  son  of  David 
Powell  [q.  v.],  was  born  at  Ruabon,  Den- 
bighshire, and  baptised  on  13  Jan.  1575- 
1576.  He  entered  at  Jesus  College,  Oxford, 
in  Lent  term  1592,  and  graduated  B.A.  on 
13  Feb.  1595-6.  On  2  March  1604-5,  being 
then  of  St.  Mary  Hall,  and  having  spent 
some  time  in  foreign  universities,  he  suppli- 
cated for  the  degree  of  B.D.,  but  it  is  not 
known  whether  he  obtained  it.  He  is  said 
to  have  been  master  of  the  grammar  school 
at  Ruthin,  Denbighshire,  founded  by  Gabriel 
Goodman  [q.  v.],  but  this  seems  an  error. 
From  1601  to  1607  he  held  the  sinecure  rec- 
tory of  Ll.ansaintffraid-yn-Mechan,  Mont- 
gomeryshire. Apparently  in  1605  he  left 
Oxford  to  be  domestic  chaplain  to  Richard 
Vaughan,  D.D.,  bishop  of  London.  In  1606 
he  became  rector  of  Chellesworth,  Suffolk,  a 
crown  living.  As  Vaughan  died  on  30  March 
1607,  Wood  is  in  error  in  attributing  Powell's 
next  preferment  to  his  patronage.  He  was 
collated  on  14  Oct.  1609  to  the  prebend  of 
Portpool  in  St.  Paul's,  by  Thomas  Ravis, 
[q.  v.],  bishop  of  London,  and  on  15  Oct.  1610 
he  was  admitted  vicar  of  North olt,  Middlesex 
(then  called  Northall),  by  George  Abbot, 
bishop  of  London.  He  died  in  1611 ;  the 
exact  date  is  not  known,  but  his  successor 
was  admitted  to  the  living  on  18  Dec.  Wood 
erroneously  supposed  that  he  died  in  1607. 

Powell's  death  in  his  thirty-sixth  year  cut 
short  a  career  of  great  promise  and  consider- 
able achievement.  *  He  was  esteemed  a 
prodigie  of  learning,'  says  Wood,  and  his 
writings  show  that  he  could  use  it  with  effect. 
In  power  of  argument  and  in  command  of 
clear  terse  expression  he  ranks  high  among 
the  polemical  divines  of  his  time.  It  is  not 
easy  to  account  for  Wood's  blunder  in  styling 
him  *  a  stiff  puritan.'  This  classification  is 
adopted  by  Brook,  evidently  without  exami- 
nation of  his  works.  Hanbury,  going  to  the 
other  extreme,  accuses  him  of  '  infuriated 
bigotry'  against  the  puritans.  Holding  that 
1  the  church  of  England  is  Christ's  true  church/ 
and  that  '  there  is  no  salvation  out  of  the 
church,'  Powel  was  equally  opposed  to  the 
toleration  of  '  your  Romish  church'  as  '  anti- 
christ,' '  not  catholike,'  but  consisting  of 
'  idolaters  and  heretikes,'  and  to  the  tolera- 
tion of  the  <  fanatical  conceits'  of  such  as 
scrupled  at  '  the  cross  and  surplice,  and  such 
other  laudable  ceremonies.'  He  rejected  the 
term  protestant,  '  a  name  given  to  certaine 
Germaines,  that  protested  against .  .  .matters 
certes,  that  touch  us  nothing,  which  never 
joined  with  them  in  protestation'  (see  his 
Supplication,  1604).  He  was  the  trenchant 
antagonist  of  William  Bradshaw  (1571-1618) 


Powell 


241 


Powell 


[q.  v.],  himself  the  antagonist  of  the  sepa- 
rating section  of  puritans.  In  reference  to 
Christ's  descent  into  hell,  he  opposed  the 
transitional  views  of  Thomas  Bilson  [q.  v.] 

He  published:  1.  'The  Resolved  Christian/ 
&c.,  3rd  edit,,  1602,  8vo.  2.  <  Prodromvs. 
A  Logicall  Resolvtion  of  the  I.  Chap.  .  .  . 
vnto  the  Romanes,'  &c.,  Oxford,  1602,  8vo 
(the  dedication  to  Archbishop  Whitgift  and 
William  Morgan,  bishop  of  St.  Asaph,is  dated 
*  From  St.  Marie-Hall  the  5  of  Julie,  A.D. 
1602  ;'  the  book  was  meant  as  a  first  instal- 
ment of  a  comment  on  all  the  epistles,  in 
English  and  Latin)  ;  in  Latin,  Oxford,  1615, 
8vo.  3.  '  The  Catholikes  Svpplication,'  &c., 
1603,  4to  (anon.) ;  enlarged,  with  title  'The 
Svpplication  of  Certaine  Masse-Priests/  &c., 
1604,4to;  another  edition,  with  title  'A  Con- 
sideration of  the  Papists  Reasons  .  .  .  for  a 
Toleration,' &c., Oxford,! 604, 4to.  4.  'Dispu- 
tationum  Theologicarum  de  Antichristo  libri 
duo,'  1604-5,  8vo ;  bk.  ii.,  1606,  8vo  (Wood 
specifies  five  errors  of  Powell  respecting  the 
Oxford  standing  of  writers  against  Rome). 
5.  '  The  Vnlawfvlnesse  and  Danger  of  Tolera- 
tion,' &c.,  1605,  4to.  6.  '  A  Refvtation  of  an 
Epistle  Apologetical,  written  by  a  Puritan- 
Papist,'  &c.,  1605, 4to  (this,  and  the  two  fol- 
lowing, against  Bradshaw).  7.  'A  Considera- 
tion of  the  Deprived  and  Silenced  Ministers' 
Arguments,'  &c.  1606,  4to  (he  states  that  he 
•wrote  this  at  the  command  of  some  in  autho- 
rity,' referring  probably  to  Vaughan  and  John 
Buckeridge  [q.  v.]).  8.  '  A  Reioynder  to  the 
Myld  Defence,'  &c.,  1606,  4to.  9.  '  De  Adia- 
phoris  Theses,'  &<?.,  1606,  8vo ;  in  English 
by  T.  J.  of  Oxford  ( ?  Thomas  Jackson,  1579- 
1640  fq.  v.]),  as  '  Theological  and  Scholastical 
Positions  concerning  .  .  .  Things  Indifferent,' 
£c.,  1607,  4to  (added  is  a  reprint  of  No.  8). 
Wood  mentions  a  '  Comment  on  the  Deca- 
logue,' 8vo,  which  he  had  not  seen.  Powel 
prefixed  some  verses  to  William  Vaughan's 
<  The  Golden-Grove  Moralised,'  1600.  On 
his  title-pages  his  name  is  spelled  Powel, 
though  Wood  gives  it  as  Powell. 

[Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  (Bliss),  ii.  24  seq..  308  ; 
Wood's  Fasti  (Bliss),  i.  269,  303  ;  Brook's  Lives 
of  the  Puritans,  1813,  ii.  211  seq.;  Hanbury's 
Hist.  Memorials  relating  to  the  Independents, 
1839,  i.  128,  186;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.  1500- 
17H,  iii.  1190.]  A.  G. 

POWELL,  GEORGE  (1658  P-1714),  actor 
and  dramatist,  was  the  son  of  an  actor, who  was 
a  member  of  the  King's  company  in  1 682,  when 
it  joined  the  Duke  of  York's,  and  who  died 
about  1698.  George  Powell  is  stated  by  Tony 
Aston,  whose  authority,  however,  is  far  from 
•conclusive,  to  have  been  twenty -three  years 
younger  than  Betterton,  who  was  born  about 
1635.  He  is  first  heard  of  at  the  Theatre 

VOL.  XLVI. 


Royal  in  1687,  in  which  year,  as  Powell 
junior,  he  played  Emanuel  in  the  '  Island 
Princess,  or  the  Generous  Portugals,'  altered 
by  Tate  from  Fletcher — Powell  senior  playing 
King  of  Bakam— and  Don  Cinthio  in  Mrs5. 
Behn's '  Emperor  of  the  Moon.'  In  the  theatre 
was  also  a  Mrs.  Powell,  whose  relationship, 
if  any,  to  Powell  cannot  now  be  traced.  In 
the  following  year  Powell  was  Longovile  in 
D'Urfey's  'Fool's  Preferment,  or  the  Three 
Dukes  of  Dunstable '  (adapted  from  Fletcher), 
and  Shamwell  in  Shad  well's  '  Squire  of  Al- 
satia;'  in  1689  Bellamour  in  Crowne's 
'  English  Friar,  or  the  Town  Sparks,'  and 
in  1690  Muley  Zeydan  in  Dryden's  '  Don 
Sebastian,  King  of  Portugal/  Antonio  in 
Mountford's  '  Successful  Strangers/ Friendly 
in  Mrs.  Behn's  '  Widow  Ranter,  -'and  Al- 
berto in  Harris's '  Mistakes.'  In  1691  Powell 
junior  appears  to  the  character  of  Pilgrim 
in  Southern's  '  Sir  Anthony  Love,  or  the 
Rambling  Lady.'  This  year  saw  the  pro- 
duction of  his  first  drama,  '  Alphonso,  King 
of  Naples/  4to,  1691,  a  play  taken  from 
Neapolitan  history,  and  owing  something  to 
Shirley's  '  Young  Admiral.'  It  was  given, 
with  a  prologue  by  Joe  Haines  and  an  epi- 
logue by  D'Urfey.  The  part  of  Ferdinand 
in  this  is  assigned  to  Powell,  with  no  men- 
tion of  junior.  It  is  impossible,  indeed,  to 
be  sure  what  parts  were  played  about  this 
time  by  the  father  and  what  by  the  son. 
Genest  assigns  to  George  Powell  Edward  III 
in  Mountford's  play  of  that  name,  and  Cap- 
tain Bouncer  in  D'Urfey's  '  Love  for  Money, 
or  the  Boarding  School.'  In  this  year  also 
he  played  the  King  of  Cyprus  in  his  own 
'Treacherous  Brothers/  4to,  1676.  He  ap- 
pears in  1692  to  Colonel  Hackwell  junior  in 
Shadwell's  '  Volunteers  '  and  Granger  in 
Southerne's '  Maid's  Last  Prayer.'  Dr.  Doran 
states  that  on  13  Oct.  1692  Sandford,  acting 
with  Powell  in  <  (Edipus,  King  of  Thebes/ 
ran  a  real  dagger,  of  which  he  had  acci- 
dentally become  possessed,  three  inches  into 
the  body  of  Powell,  all  but  taking  his  life. 
In  1693  he  was  Bellmour  in  Congreve's '  Old 
Bachelor  '  and  Brisk  in  his  '  Double  Dealer/ 
Tom  Romance  in  D'Urfey's  '  Richmond 
Heiress/  Clerimont  in  Wright's  'Female 
Virtuosos '  ('  Les  Femmes  Savantes  '),  Carlos 
in  Dryden's  '  Love  Triumphant/  and  Court- 
well  in  his  own  '  Very  Good  Wife/  4to,  1693, 
a  comedy  the  plot  of  which  is  taken  at 
second  hand  from  Middleton's  '  No  Wit,  no 
Help  like  a  Woman's.'  In  the  first  part  of 
D'Urfey's  'Don  Quixote'  he  was  in  1694 
Don  Fernando,  and  in  the  second  part  Man uel, 
playing  also  Carlos  in  Southerne's  'Fatal 
Marriage/  subsequently  called  '  Isabella/  and 
Careless  in  Ravenscroft's '  Canterbury  Guests.' 

B 


Powell 


242 


Powell 


In  1695,  at  the  close  of  a  dispute  with  the 
patentees,  his  salary  was  raised  from  2/.  to  4J. 
a  week,  and  he  played  Philaster  in  an  adapta- 
tion from  Beaumont  and  Fletcher  by  Settle. 
These  parts  and  all  which  follow,  unless  the 
contrary  is  mentioned,  were  original.  In 
the  third  part  of '  Don  Quixote,'  in  1696,  he 
was  the  Don.  He  was  also  Aboan  in 
Southern's  '  Oroonoko/  the  Prince  in  Mrs. 
Trotter's  l  Agnes  de  Castro/  Caratach  in 
'  Bonduca,'  altered  from  Beaumont  and 
Fletcher,  Antonio  in  Gould's  '  Rival  Sisters,' 
Amurath  in  Mrs.  Fix's  '  Ibrahim,  thirteenth 
Emperor  of  the  Turks,'  Sir  Amorous  Courtall 
in  Mrs.  Manley's  '  Lost  Lover,'  Argilius  in 
1  Pausanias,'  Wilmot  in  Scott's  '  Mock  Mar- 
riage,' George  Marteen  in  Mrs.  Behn's 
'  Younger  Brother,'  King  of  Parthia  in  '  Ne- 
glected Virtue,'  and  Sharper  in  the  '  Cornish 
Comedy.'  The  play  last  named  and  the 
wretched  adaptation  of 'Bonduca'  mentioned 
above  were  both  brought  on  the  stage  by 
Powell,  who  said  that  they  were  given  him 
by  friends.  The '  Cornish  Comedy '  was  dedi- 
cated in  somewhat  servile  terms  to  Rich, 
whose  right-hand  man  Powell  appears  at  this 
time  to  have  been. 

In  1697  Powell  played  Worthy  in  the 
*  Relapse.'  The  habits  of  intoxication  to 
which  he  had  given  way  influenced  him  so 
much  on  this  occasion  that  Mrs.  Rogers,  as 
Amanda,  incurred,  according  to  Vanbrugh, 
some  real  danger  from  the  vivacity  of  his 
attack.  Powell  had,  Vanbrugh  affirms,  been 
'  drinking  his  mistress's  health  in  Nantz 
brandy  from  six  in  the  morning  to  the  time 
he  waddled  in  upon  the  stage  in  the  evening.' 
In  a  scene  in  '  Female  Wits,  or  the  Trium- 
virate of  Poets  at  Rehearsal,'  written  by 
W.  M.  for  the  purpose  of  ridiculing  Mrs.  Man- 
ley,  Mrs.  Pix,  and  Mrs.  Trotter,  Powell  played 
Fastin.  One  scene  is  supposed  to  pass  on  the 
stage  at  Drury  Lane,  and  an  inquiry  is  made 
by  Mrs.  Cross  where  Powell  is.  Johnson,  the 
prompter,  says,  *  At  the  tavern/  and  asks 
her  if  she  does  not  know  that '  honest  George 
regards  neither  times  nor  seasons  in  drink- 
ing/ From  this  piece  we  learn  that  Powell 
was  tall.  Among  other  parts  he  played 
Young  Rakish  in  Cibber's  '  Woman's  Wit.' 
In  his  own  '  Imposture  Defeated,  or  a  Trick 
to  Cheat  the  Devil/  4to,  1698,  he  played  in 
1698  Hernando.  This  piece  he  claims  to 
have  written  in  a  week  in  order  to  serve  the 
company,  who  were  in  a  fix.  Genest  de- 
clares it  pretty  good.  This  year  saw  him 
also  as  Petruchio  in  Lacy's  '  Sauny  the  Scot, 
or  the  Taming  of  the  Shrew/  Phaeton  in 
Gildon's  '  Phaeton,'  and  Caligula  inCrowne's 
'  Caligula/  In  Farquhar's  '  Constant  Couple/ 
played  in  1699,  he  was  Colonel  Standard. 


The  same  year  he  was  Achilles  in  Boyer's 
'  Achilles,  or  Iphigenia  in  Aulis/  and  in 
1700  he  was  Roderigo  in  Vanbrugh's  altera- 
tion of  the  '  Pilgrim/  In  1702  Powell  was 
at  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields  playing  Moneses  in 
Rowe's  '  Tamerlane/  Antiochus  in  'Antiochus 
the  Great/  King  of  Sicily  in  Lord  Orrery's 
'  Altemira/  Flash  in  the  '  Gentleman  Cully/ 
and  Toper  in  the  '  Beau's  Duel '  andPalante 
in  the  '  Stolen  Heiress/  both  by  Mrs.  Carroll 
(Centlivre).  Here  he  remained  two  years 
longer,  playing,  among  other  original  cha- 
racters, Lothario  in  the  'Fair  Penitent/ 
Drances  in  Burnaby's  '  Love  Betrayed/  and 
Solyman  in  Trapp's  '  Abra-Mule.'  He  also 
took  a  few  transmitted  characters,  among 
which  are  Sir  Courtly  Nice,  Sir  Positive 
Atall  in  '  Sullen  Lovers/  and  Ford.  About 
June  1704  he  reappeared  at  Drury  Lane, 
playing  Volpone  and  other  established  parts. 
Powell's  secession  from  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields 
led  to  his  arrest  and  confinement  in  the 
porter's  lodge  for  two  days  by  order  of  the 
lord  chamberlain.  On  7  Dec.  1704  he  was 
at  Drury  Lane  the  original  Lord  Morelove 
in  Cibber's  '  Careless  Husband.'  In  1705  he 
was  at  the  Haymarket.  Returning  to  Drury 
Lane,  he  to  some  extent  abandoned  original 
parts.  He  was  seen  during  the  next  few  years, 
among  many  other  parts,  as  Captain  Plume, 
Peregrine  in  '  Sir  Solomon/  (Edipus,  Don 
John  (Don  Juan)  in  Shadwell's  '  Libertine/ 
Macbeth,  Timon  of  Athens,  Leon  in  '  Rule 
a  Wife  and  have  a  WTife/  Prospero,  Spring- 
love  in  Brome's  'Jovial  Crew/  Lear,  Tor- 
rismond  in  the  'Spanish  Fryar/  Laertes, 
Mithridates,  Alexander  the  Great,  Macduff, 
Aurenge-Zebe,  Cortez,  King  in  '  Mourning 
Bride/  Surrey  in  '  Henry  VIII,'  Hector  in 
'  Troilus  and  Cressida/  Face  in  the  '  Alche- 
mist/ the  Humorous  Lieutenant,  Cassius, 
Valentinia,  Falstaff  in  'King  Henry  IV/ 
Cassio,  Castalio,  and  Cutter  in  the  '  Cutter 
of  Coleman  Street/ 

He  put  upon  the  stage  at  Dorset  Gardens, 
for  his  own  benefit  and  that  of  Verbruggen, 
'  Brutus  of  Alba/  an  opera  given  them,  as  he 
said,  by  an  unknown  author  (cf.  GENEST,  i. 
245-6).  He  acted  at  Greenwich  during  the 
summer  of  1710,  and  was  at  Drury  Lane,  on 
17  March  1712,  the  original  Orestes  in  Am- 
brose Philips's '  Distrest  Mother.'  On  29  Jan. 
1713  he  was  the  first  Wilmot  in  Charles  Shad- 
well's  '  Humours  of  the  Army/  and  on  19  Feb. 
Augustus  in '  Cinna's  Conspiracy/  translated 
from  Corneille,  and  ascribed  to  Gibber,  and 
on  14  April  he  was  the  original  Portius  in 
Addison's  '  Cato/  Soon  after  this  his  name 
disappears  from  the  bills.  Powell  died  on 
14  Dec.  1714,  and  was  buried  on  the  18th 
in  St.  Clement  Dane's,  his  funeral  being  at- 


Powell 


243 


Powell 


tended  by  all  the  male  actors  of  the  company. 
Davies  says  that  Powell  was  alive  in  1717,  in 
which  year  he  saw  his  name  in  a  bill.  This 
error  has  been  copied  by  Bellchambers  in  his 
edition  of  Gibber's  '  Apology,'  and  is  rectified 
by  Mr.  Lowe  in  his  later  edition. 

Powell  had  high  qualifications  for  tragedy, 
and  came  in  for  many  parts  of  Mountfort  and 
Betterton,  not.  however,  without,  in  the  case 
of  the  latter,  incurring  the  charge  of  presump- 
tion. His  life  was  debauched,  and  he  was  in 
such  constant  dread  of  arrest  as  to  menace  with 
his  sword  sheriffs'  officers  when  he  saw  them 
in  the  street.  Addison,  in  the  '  Spectator/ 
No.  40,  accuses  him  of  raising  applause  from 
the  bad  taste  of  the  audience,  but  adds,  '  I 
must  do  him  the  justice  to  own  that  he  is 
excellently  formed  for  a  tragedian,  and,  when 
he  pleases,  deserves  the  admiration  of  the  best 
judges.'  Booth  told  Gibber  that  the  sight  of 
the  contempt  and  distress  into  which  Powell 
had  fallen  through  drunkenness  warned  him 
from  an  indulgence  in  drinking  to  which  he 
was  prone.  Gibber  had  a  personal  dislike 
to  Powell,  which  he  is  at  little  pains  to  con- 
ceal. He  depicts  a  scene  in  which  Powell, 
who  '  was  vain  enough  to  envy  Betterton  as 
a  rival/  mimicked  him  openly  in  a  perform- 
ance of  the  'Old  Bachelor.'  On  another 
occasion  Powell,  according  to  Chetwood, 
imitated  Betterton  as  Falstaff.  In  his  long 
rivalry  with  Wilks,  Powell  had  ultimately 
to  succumb.  Powell  seems  to  have  been 
quarrelsome,  and  to  have  assaulted  Aaron 
Hill  and  young  Davenant.  This  latter  offence 
embroiled  the  company  with  the  lord  cham- 
berlain. When,  as  in  the  case  of  Wilks,  he 
found  men  ready  to  give  him  '  satisfaction/ 
his  anger  would  evaporate.  In  physical  en- 
dowments and  in  power  of  acting,  Powell, 
until  he  took  to  haunting  the  Rose  tavern, 
was  held  the  superior  of  Wilks.  Mills,  a 
commonplace  but  trustworthy  actor,  was 
often  exalted  over  his  head.  Aston  charges 
Powell  in  his  acting  with  out-heroding 
Herod.  When  imitating  Betterton,  he  used 
to  parody  his  infirmities.  He  seems,  indeed, 
to  have  been  a  churlish,  ill-conditioned  man, 
but  was  a  better  actor  than  might  be  sup- 
posed from  Gibber's  ungracious  references  to 
him.  No  portrait  is  to  be  traced. 

[Genest's  Account  of  the  English  Stage ; 
Baker,  Keed,  and  Jones's  Biographia Drama tica; 
Davies's  Dramatic  Miscellanies  ;  Downes's 
Roscius  Anglicanus  ;  Gibber's'  Apology,  ed. 
Lowe ;  Aston's  Brief  Supplement ;  Doran's  An- 
nals of  the  English  Stage,  ed.  Lowe  ;  Wheatley 
and  Cunningham's  London  Past  and  Present; 
Chetwood's  History  of  the  Stage  ;  Dibdin's  His- 
tory of  the  Stage ;  Clark  Russell's  Representative 
Actors.]  J.  K. 


POWELL    or    POWEL,    GRIFFITH 

(1561-1620),  principal  of  Jesus  Gollege,  Ox- 
ford, was  the  third  son  of  John  ap  Hy  wel  ap 
John  of  Prysg  Melyn  in  the  parish  of  Llan 
Sawel,  Carmarthenshire,  and  his  wife  Annes, 
daughter  of  Gruffydd  ap  Henry.  He  was  born 
in  1561,  matriculated  at  Oxford  from  Jesus 
College,  24  Nov.  1581,  and  graduated  B.A. 
28  Feb.  1583-4,  M.A.  21  June  1589,  B.C.L. 
12  July  1593,  and  D.C.L.  23  July  1599.  In 
1613  he  was  elected  principal  of  Jesus  Col- 
lege, a  position  he  held  until  his  death  on 
28  June  1620.  He  was  buried  in  St.  Michael's 
Church,  Oxford,  and  his  will  was  proved  on 
15  June  1621.  He  took  a  warm  interest  in 
the  progress  of  his  college,  and  the  present 
hall  and  chapel  were  both  built  during  his 
principalship  by  benefactors  whose  sympathy 
he  enlisted.  He  bequeathed  his  property  to 
the  college. 

Powel  was  the  author  of  '  Analysis  Ana- 
lyticorum  Posteriorum  sive  librorum  Aris- 
totelis  de  Demonstratione/  Oxford,  1594, 
8vo  (Bodleian) ;  and  of  '  Analysis  lib.  Aris- 
totelis  de  Sophisticis  Elenchis/  Oxford,  1598, 
8vo  (Brit.  Mus.  and  Bodl.)  The  latter,  which 
was  dedicated  to  the  Earl  of  Essex,  contains, 
besides  the  translation,  an  address  to  the 
academic  reader,  and  prolegomena.  Another 
edition  appeared  in  1664  (Bodl.)  Wood 
quotes  the  stanza 

Griffith  Powell,  for  the  honour  of  his  nation, 
"Wrote  a  book  of  Demonstration; 

But  having  little  else  to  do 

He  wrote  a  book  of  Elenchs  too. 

He  is  credited  with  other  philosophical  works 
which  were  not  published. 

[Lewis Dwnn'e  Heraldic  Visitations,  i.  223-4  ; 
Foster's  Alumni  Oxon. ;  Wood's  Athense  Oxon. 
ii.  283  ;  Chalmers's  Hist,  of  the  Colleges,  Halls, 
&c.,  of  Oxford  (Oxford,  1810).]  J.  E.  L. 

POWELL,  HUMPHREY  (fi.  1548- 
1556),  printer,  was  in  1548  engaged  in  print- 
ing in  Holborn  Conduit,  London.  In  that 
year  he  published  two  works,  'An  Holsome 
Antidotus/  8vo,  and  '  Certayne  Litel  Trea- 
tises/ 8vo ;  and  two  other  books,  '  (Ecolam- 
padius's  Sermon  '  and  '  Barclay's  Eclogues/ 
without  date,  were  issued  by  him  about  the 
same  time.  In  1551  Powell  removed  to 
Dublin,  where  he  became  printer  to  the 
king,  and  established  the  first  printing  press 
in  Ireland ;  he  resided  first  *  in  the  great 
toure  by  the  Crane'  (probably  in  Crane 
Lane),  but  subsequently  removed  to  St. 
Nicholas  Street.  The  only  book  known  to 
have  issued  from  his  press  in  Dublin  was  a 
verbal  reprint  of  the  English  common  prayer 
of  1549;  it  appeared  in  1551,  and  a  perfect 
copy  is  extant  in  Trinity  College  Library, 

K2 


Powell 


244 


Powell 


Dublin.  Powell  is  said  to  have  continued 
printing  in  Dublin  for  fifteen  years,  but  the 
only  subsequent  reference  to  him  is  the  ap- 
pearance of  his  name  as  a  member  of  the 
Stationers'  Company  in  the  charter  of  1556. 
Other  Powells— Thomas,  William,  and  Ed- 
ward— were  printers  in  London  during  Eliza- 
beth's reign. 

[Arber's  Transcript,  vol.  i.  pp.  xxviii,  xxix, 
xxxiii,  vol.  ii.  pp.  66,  97.  692  ;  Ames's  Typogr. 
Autiq.,  ed.  Herbert  and  Dibdin,  i v.  310-11;  Tim- 
perl  ey's  Encycl.  pp.  314, 325 ;  Hazlitt's  Handbook, 
pp.  1 56,  588.  and  Collections,  3rd  ser.  p.  179 ;  Cat. 
Trin.  Coll.  Library.]  A.  F.  P. 

POWELL,  SIR  JOHN  (1633-1696), 
judge,  a  member  of  an  old  Welsh  family, 
son  of  John  Powell  of  Kenward,  Carmar- 
thenshire, was  born  in  1633.  He  was  taught 
as  a  boy  by  Jeremy  Taylor  (see  HEBER,  The 
Whole  Works  of  Taylor,  ed.  1822,  i.  xxvi), 
and  afterwards  proceeded  to  Oxford.  Possibly 
he  may  be  the  John  Powell  of  Jesus  Col- 
lege who  matriculated  in  1650,  graduated 
B.A.  in  1653,  and  M.A.  in  1664  (FOSTER, 
Alumni  O.rwz.)  In  1650  he  was  admitted 
a  member  of  Gray's  Inn ;  he  was  called  to  the 
bar  in  1657,  and  became  an  antient  in  1676. 
The  extent  and  nature  of  his  practice  at  the 
bar  are  not  recorded,  but  on  26  April  1686  he 
was  knighted  and  appointed  a  judge  of  the 
common  pleas.  In  the  folio  wing  Trinity  term 
he  was,  with  the  rest  of  the  judges,  called  upon 
for  his  opinion  as  to  the  king's  dispensing 
power,  and  prudently  reserved  his  judgment ; 
but  as  he  escaped  dismissal,  he  cannot  have 
indicated  any  decided  opinion  against  it.  In 
1687  he  was,  on  16  April,  removed  to  the 
king's  bench,  and  during  James's  reign  always 
accompanied  Sir  Robert  Wright,  the  chief 
justice  of  the  king's  bench,  on  circuit.  Ac- 
cordingly he  participated  in  the  responsibility 
for  the  sentence  passed  upon  the  Earl  of 
Devonshire  for  his  assault  on  Colepeper,  for 
which,  after  the  Revolution,  he  was  sum- 
moned before  the  House  of  Lords,  but  re- 
ceived no  punishment.  On  29  June  1688, 
upon  the  trial  of  the  seven  bishops,  he  ex- 
pressed, both  during  its  progress  and  in  his 
judgment,  his  opinion  that  the  Declaration  of 
Indulgence  was  a  nullity,  and  his  inability 
to  see  anything  seditious  or  criminal  in  the 
conduct  of  the  bishops.  In  consequence  he, 
with  Mr.  Justice  Holloway,  who  expressed 
the  same  views,  was  dismissed  on  7  July.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  next  reign  he  declined 
the  offer  of  the  post  of  lord  keeper  of  the  great 
seal,  and  he  was  restored  to  the  bench  in  May 
1689,  but  was  placed  in  the  common  pleas. 
He  was  sworn  in  on  11  March  1689,  and 
died  at  Exeter,  of  the  stone,  on  7  Sept.  1696. 
He  was  buried  at  Broadway,  near  Llang- 


harne,  Carmarthenshire,  where  he  had  a 
country  seat,  and  left  a  son  Thomas  (d. 
1720)  of  Broadway,  Carmarthenshire,  who 
was  created  a  baronet  in  1698.  The  title 
became  extinct  on  the  death  of  Sir  Thomas's 
son  Herbert  in  1721.  His  epitaph  is  given 
in  Heber's  edition  of  Taylor's  '  Works,'  1822, 
i.  cccxv.  His  portrait,  by  an  unknown  hand, 
is  in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery,  London. 

[Foss's  Judges  of  England  ;  State  Trials,  xi. 
1198,  1369,  xii.  426;  Parl.  Hist.  v.  311,  333; 
Bramston's  Autobiography  (Camden  Soc.),  pp. 
2'25,  278  ;  Luttrell's  Diary,  i.  447,  449,  iv.  108  ; 
Gent.  Mag.  1839,  pt.  ii.  p.  22  ;  Macaulay's  Hist, 
ed.  1875,  ii.  204,  iv.  32  ;  Notes  and  Queries.  1st 
ser.  vii.  263,  359.]  J.  A.  H. 

POWELL,  SIR  JOHN  (1645-1713), 
judge,  was  born  in  1645  at  Gloucester,  of 
which  city  his  father,  though  a  member  of  a 
Herefordshire  family,  was  a  citizen,  even- 
tually becoming  mayor  in  1663.  He  was  not 
related  to  either  of  the  contemporary  judges 
of  the  same  name.  Whether  he  went  to  a 
university  or  not  is  uncertain  ;  he  may  well 
have  been  either  of  the  John  Powells  who 
graduated  at  Balliol  College,  Oxford,  in  1663 
and  1672.  In  1664  he  became  a  member  of 
the  Inner  Temple,  and  was  called  to  the  bar 
there  in  1671.  Three  years  later  he  was 
elected  town  clerk  of  Gloucester,  and  sat  for 
that  city  in  the  parliament  of  1685.  In 
September  1685  he  was  expelled  from  his 
office,  but  regained  it  on  application  to  the 
king's  bench  in  1687.  He  was  included  in 
the  first  creation  of  Serjeants  after  the  Revo- 
lution, and  in  May  1691  the  king  gave  orders 
for  his  appointment  to  the  bench  of  the 
common  pleas,  but,  through  the  interposition 
of  Sir  William  Pulteney's  friends,  the  ap- 
pointment was  not  completed  till  the  end  of 
October  or  beginning  of  November,  and  then 
he  received  a  judgeship  in  the  exchequer  with 
knighthood  (LTJTTRELL,  ii.  303).  On  29  Oct. 
1695  he  was  transferred  to  the  common  pleas, 
and  on  24  June  1702  was  again  transferred 
to  the  queen's  bench.  Here  he  was  one  of 
the  majority  of  judges  who,  on  the  trial  of 
the  celebrated  leading  case  of  Ashby  v.  White 
(Lord  Raymond's  Reports,  p.  938),  arising 
out  of  the  Aylesbury  election,  decided  against 
the  plaintiff  (LTJTTRELL,  Diary,  v.  358,  380, 
519).  On  14  June  1713  he  died  at  his  house 
at  Gloucester  on  returning  from  Bath.  There 
is  a  monument  to  him  in  Gloucester  Cathe- 
dral, which  is  figured  in  Bigland  and  Fos- 
brooke's  '  Gloucestershire,'  ii.  134,  and  the 
inscription  is  also  given  in  Archdeacon 
Rudge's  'Gloucester,'  p.  89.  His  judicial 
character,  both  for  learning  and  fairness, 
stood  high.  He  was  humane,  as  is  shown 
by  his  remark  on  a  charge  of  witchcraft  in 


Powell 


245 


Powell 


the  case  of  Jane  Wenham,  who  was  alleged 
to  be  able  to  fly :  '  You  may — there  is  no  law 
against  flying ; '  and  Swift,  who  met  him  at 
Lord  Oxford's,  writes  of  him  to  Stella,  5  July 
1711,  as  '  an  old  fellow  with  grey  hairs,  who 
was  the  merriest  old  gentleman  I  ever  saw, 
spoke  pleasing  things,  and  chuckled  till  he 
cried  again.'  He  was  unmarried.  A  por- 
trait of  him  in  mezzotint  was  engraved  by 
William  Sherwin  in  1711  (Notes and  Queries, 
4th  ser.  i.  128,  196). 

[Foss's  Judges  of  England  ;  Luttrell's  Diary, 
i.  220,  229  ;  Bigland  and  Fosbrooke's  Gloucester, 
ii.  149,  confuses  him  with  the  elder  judge, 
John  Powell ;  so  does  Britton's  Hist,  of  Church 
of  Gloucester,  and  also  Noble's  Biogr.  Hist.  Engl. 
i.  168;  Kudge's  Gloucestershire,  p.  89;  for  his 
judgments,  see  Shower's  Reports  and  Lord  Ray- 
mond's Reports.]  J.  A.  H. 

POWELL,  JOHN  (ft.  1770-1785),  por- 
trait-painter, was  a  pupil  and  assistant  of 
Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  and  an  inmate  of  his 
house,  where  he  was  frequently  employed  in 
makingreduced  copies  of  Reynolds's  portraits. 
These  he  executed  with  great  fidelity,  and 
occasionally  exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy. 
The  portrait  of  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  in 
the  N  ational  Portrait  Gallery ,  after  Reynold  s, 
is  stated  to  be  the  work  of  Powell.  Among 
the  pictures  by  Reynolds  which  were  copied 
by  Powell  was  the  great  family  group  of  the 
Duke  and  Duchess  of  Marlborough  with  their 
children,  now  at  Blenheim  Palace.  This 
important  picture,  being  left  in  Powell's 
charge,  was  seized  by  his  creditors,  and  nar- 
rowly escaped  being  cut  up  to  pay  his  debts. 
According  to  Northcote,  Reynolds,  on  seeing 
Powell's  copy,  perceived  some  important 
errors  in  the  composition  which  he  subse- 
quently corrected. 

[Rf-dgrave's  Diet,  of  Artists  ;  Leslie  and  Taylor's 
Life  and  Times  of  Sir  J.Reynolds;  Scharfs  Cut. 
of  the  Pictures,  &c.,  at  Blenheim  Palace ;  Graves's 
Diet,  of  Artists,  1760-1893.]  L.  C. 

POWELL,  JOHN  (f,.  1796-1829),  water- 
colour-painter,  is  stated  to  have  been  born 
about  1780.  He  painted  at  first  in  oils,  but 
subsequently  devoted  himself  almost  entirely 
to  water-colours.  His  subjects  were  land- 
scapes, chiefly  drawn  from  English  scenery, 
but  sometimes  of  a  topographical  nature.  He 
was  an  unsuccessful  candidate  for  the  '  Old' 
Society  of  Painters  in  Water-colours  at  the 
time  of  its  foundation.  Powell  was  largely 
engaged  as  a  teacher  of  painting  in  water- 
colours  ;  Samuel  Redgrave  [q.  v.]  was  among 
his  numerous  pupils.  Powell  was  a  frequent 
exhibitor  at  the  Royal  Academy  exhibitions 
from  1796  to  1829*.  He  showed  also  con- 
siderable skill  as  an  etcher,  and  published 
some  etchings  of  trees  for  the  use  of  his  pupils, 


and  some  landscape  etchings  after  the  old 
masters.  An  etching  of  a  landscape  by  Do- 
menichino,  now  in  the  National  Gallery,  is 
executed  with  much  force.  He  also  pub- 
lished a  few  lithographs.  There  are  water- 
colour  drawings  by  him  in  the  print-room  at 
the  British  Museum,  and  at  the  South  Ken- 
sington Museum.  The  date  of  his  death  has 
not  been  ascertained. 

[Redgrave's  Diet,  of  Artists ;  Graves's  Diet, 
of  Artists,  1760-1893;  South  Kensington  Mus. 
Cat.  of  British  Art.]  L.  C. 

POWELL,  JOHN  JOSEPH  (1755?- 
1801),  legal  writer,  born  about  1755,  only 
son  of  James  Powell  of  Queen  Street,  West- 
minster, was  admitted  a  student  at  the  Middle 
Temple  on  25  April  1775.  He  practised  as 
a  conveyancer,  and  was  probably  a  pupil  of 
Charles  Fearne  [q.  v.],  whose  classical  essay 
on  '  Contingent  Remainders '  he  edited  in 
1795.  He  died  at  his  residence  in  Guilford 
Place,  Russell  Square,  on  21  June  1801. 

Powell  was  author  of :  1.  'A  Treatise 
upon  the  Law  of  Mortgages,'  London,  1758, 
8vo;  '3rd  edit.  1791,  2  vols.  8vo  ;  6th  edit., 
by  Coventry,  1826, 8vo.  2.  *  An  Essay  upon 
the  Learning  of  Devises,'  London,  1788, 8vo  ; 
3rd  edit.,  by  Jarman,  1827,  2  vols.  8vo. 
3. '  An  Essay  upon  the  Learning  respecting  the 
Creation  and  Execution  of  Powers,'  London, 
1787  ;  2nd  edit.  1799,  8vo.  4.  '  Essay  upon 
the  Law  of  Contracts  and  Agreements,'  Lon- 
don, 1790, 2  vols.  8vo.  Powell's  works  were 
in  high  repute  in  their  day,  both  in  England 
and  America,  where  they  have  been  fre- 
quently re-edited. 

[Middle  Temple  Register;  Europ.  Mag.  1801, 
pt.  ii.  p.  78;  Gent.  Mag.  1801,  pt.  ii.  p.  675; 
Marvin's  Legal  Bibliography;  Bridgman's  Legal 
Bibliography ;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat,]  J.  M.  R. 

POWELL,  MARTIN  (fl.  1710-1729), 
puppet  showman,  came  into  notice  early  in 
the  eighteenth  century.  Until  1710  he  exhi- 
bited his  marionettes  at  Bath  and  other  pro- 
vincial towns,  but  his  fame  had  reached 
London,  and  in  1709  Isaac  BickerstafF  (in 
the  'Tatler')  complained  that  he  was  ridi- 
culed in  the  satirical  prologue  and  epilogue 
of  Powell's  marionette  performance.  Powell 
replied  (August  1709)  that  he  had  neglected 
nothing  to  perfect  himself  in  his  art,having  tra- 
velled in  France,  Italy,  Spain,  and  Germany. 
Early  in  1710  Powell  removed  to  London, 
and  established  his  theatre  in  the  galleries 
of  Covent  Garden,  opposite  St.  Paul's  Church, 
afterwards  known  as  Punch's  theatre,  In 
ludicrous  rivalry  with  the  Haymarket  he 
arranged  various  puppet  operas,  including 
'  Venus  and  Adonis,  or  the  Triumphs  of 
Love :  a  mock  opera  acted  in  Punch's  thea- 


Powell 


246 


Powell 


tre  in  Covent  Garden.'  Others  of  his  pieces 
were  '  King  Bladud,' '  Friar  Bacon  and  Friar 
Bungay/  'Robin  Hood  and  Little  John/ 
;  Mother  Shipton/  and  '  Mother  Goose.'  He 
was  largely  responsible  for  the  form  taken 
by  the  drama  of  Punch  and  Judy.  Magnin, 
the  learned  author  of  the  '  Histoire  des 
Marionnettes  en  Europe/  calls  the  years  of 
Powell's  pre-eminence  '  the  golden  age  of 
marionettes  in  England.' 

Following  up  the  bantering  allusions  to 
Powell  in  the  '  Tatler/  Steele,  in  the. '  Spec- 
tator' (No.  14),  made  the  under-sexton  of  St. 
Paul's,  Covent  Garden,  write  to  complain 
that  his  congregation  took  the  warning  of 
his  bell,  morning  and  evening,  to  go  to  a 
puppet  show  set  forth  by  one  Powell  under 
the  piazzas. .  .  . '  I  have  placed  my  son  at 
the  piazzas  to  acquaint  the  ladies  that  the 
bell  rings  for  church,  and  that  it  stands  on 
the  other  side  of  the  garden ;  but  they  only 
laugh  at  the  child.'  Another  correspondent 
writes  describing  Powell's  show,  which  he 
compares  favourably  with  the  opera  at  the 
P  n vmarket ;  '  for  whereas  the  living  pro- 
perties at  the  Haymarket  were  ill  trained, 
Powell  has  so  well  disciplined  his  pig  that 
in  the  first  scene  he  and  Punch  dance  a 
minuet  together.'  Powell  is  described  as  a 
deformed  cripple,  but  his  powers  of  satire 
were  considerable.  When  the  fanatics  called 
French  prophets  were  creating  disturbances 
in  Moorfields,  the  ministry  ordered  Powell  to 
make  Punch  turn  prophet,  which  he  did  so 
well  that  it  soon  put  an  end  to  the  prophets 
and  their  prophecies.  In  1710,  says  Lord 
Chesterfield,  the  French  prophet  s  were  totally 
extinguished  by  a  puppet  show  (Miscellaneous 
Works,  ed.  Maty,  ii.  528,  555). 

On  20  April  1710  Luttrell  mentions  that 
four  Indian  sachems  who  were  visiting  Lon- 
don went  to  see  Powell's  entertainment. 
Defoe,  in  his  '  Groans  of  Great  Britain/ 1711, 
complains  of  Powell's  popularity,  and  states 
that  his  wealth  was  sufficient  to  buy  up  all 
the  poets  of  England.  '  He  seldom  goes  out 
without  his  chair,  and  thrives  on  this  incre- 
dible folly  to  that  degree  that,  were  he  a  free- 
man, he  might  hope  that  some  future  puppet 
show  might  celebrate  his  being  Lord  Mayor 
as  he  hath  done  Dick  Whittington.'  Steele 
who  saw  Powell  as  late  as  1729,  states  that 
he  made  a  generous  use  of  his  money. 

In  1715  Thomas  Bui-net  ( 1694-1 753)  [q. 
wrote  a  brief  '  History  of  Robert  Powell  the 
Puppet  Showman.'  The  substitution  of  Ro- 
bert for  Powell's  real  name,  Martin,  was  made 
to  render  the  obvious  satire  upon  Robert 
Harley  more  effective. 

[Tatler,  Nos.  44,  50,  115,  142  :  Spectator,  ed 
Morley,  pp.  25,  26,  163,  398,  545;  Magnin's 


-tLibt.  des  Marionnettes,  pp.  236-44 ;  Morley'sBar- 

omew  Fair,  p.  315;  Ashton's  Social  Life  in 

he  Keign  of  Queen  Anne,  passim  ;  Swift's  Works, 

ed.  Scott,  vii.  143  ;  and  authorities  given  in  text.] 

T    S 

POWELL,  NATHANIEL  (d.  1622), 
navigator  and  colonist,  a  native  of  England, 
tvas  one  of  the  earlier  settlers  of  Virginia, 
where  he  arrived  in  April  1607.  In  the 
winter  of  1607-8  he  explored  York  River 
with  Captain  Newport,  and  between  24  July 
and  7  Sept.  1608  further  explored  Chesapeake 
Bay  in  company  with  Captain  John  Smith. 
He  was  apparently  the  author  of  the  '  Diarie 
of  the  Second  Voyage  in  discovering  the 
Bay/  1608,  and  of  the  sixth  chapter  of 
Smith's  l  Relation  of  the  Countries  and  Na- 
tions '  (1608  ?),  which  bears  Powell's  signa- 
ture. He  probably  compiled  the  map  of  the 
bays  and  rivers  which  accompanied  this  '  Re- 
lation.' He  was  for  a  short  time  in  1619 
deputy-governor  of  Virginia,  and  a  member 
of  council  from  1619  to  1622.  He  and  his 
wife,  a  daughter  of  William  Tracy,  were  mur- 
dered by  Indians  on  22  March  1622.  He 
seems  to  have  left  some  estate,  as  his  relatives 
petitioned  council  for  it  in  1626. 

[Collections  of  Virginia  Historical  Society.] 

C.  A.  H. 

POWELL,  RICHARD,  M.D.  (1767- 
1834),  physician,  son  of  Joseph  Powell  of 
Thame,  Oxfordshire,  was  baptised  on  11  May 
1767,  and  in  1781  was  elected  a  scholar  at 
Winchester.  He  entered  Pembroke  College, 
Oxford,  on  19  Jan.  1785,  but  subsequently 
migrated  to  Merton  College,  where  he  gra- 
duated B. A.  23  Oct.  1788,  M.A.  31  Oct.  1791 , 
M.B.  12  July  1792,  and  M.D.  20  Jan.  1795. 
He  studied  medicine  at  St.  Bartholomew's 
Hospital,  and  was  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society  there, 
which  was  after  wards  named  theAbernethian 
Society,  and  still  exists.  He  was  elected  a 
fellow  of  the  College  of  Physicians  30  Sept. 
1796,  and  in  1799  delivered  there  the  Gul- 
stonian  lectures.  They  were  published  in 
1800,  under  the  title  of  '  Observations  on 
the  Bile  and -its  Diseases,  and  on  the  (Eco- 
nomy of  the  Liver/  and  show  careful  obser- 
vation and  sound  judgment.  The  method  of 
clinical  examination  of  the  liver  which  he  pro- 
poses is  excellent ;  and  he  is  the  first  English 
medical  writer  who  demonstrates  that  gall- 
stones may  remain  fixed  in  the  neck  of  the 
gall-bladder,  or  even  obliterate  its  cavity, 
without  well-marked  symptoms  or  serious 
injury  to  the  patient.  On  the  resignation  of 
Dr.  Richard  Budd,  he  was,  on  14  Aug.  1801, 
elected  physician  to  St.  Bartholomew's  Hos- 
pital, an  office  which  he  retained  till  1824. 
He  was  a  censor  at  the  College  of  Physicians 


Powell 


247 


Powell 


in  1798,  1807,  1820,  and  1823 ;  was  Lum- 
leian  lecturer  from  1811  to  1822  ;  and  de- 
livered the  Harveian  oration  in  1808.  He 
had  considerable  chemical  knowledge,  and 
published  '  Heads  of  Lectures  on  Chemistry ' 
in  1796.  He  was  one  of  the  revisers  of  the 
'  Pharmacopoeia  Londinensis  '  in  1809,  and 
published  a  translation  of  that  edition.  On 
30  Sept.  1808  he  was  appointed  secretary  to 
the  commissioners  for  regulating  madhouses, 
and  on  13  April  1810  he  read,  at  the  College 
of  Physicians, l  Observations  upon  the  Com- 
parative Prevalence  of  Insanity  at  Diffe- 
rent Periods,'  afterwards  published  in  the 
1  Medical  Transactions  of  the  College  of 
Physicians  of  London,'  vol.  iv.  In  the  same 
volume  he  published  '  Observations  on  the 
Internal  Use  of  Nitrate  of  Silver/  in  which 
he  recommends  its  use  in  chorea  and  in 
epilepsy,  an  opinion  which  he  modified  in 
a  subsequent  paper  on  further  cases  of  the 
same  diseases,  read  on  17  April  1815.  On 
20  Dec.  1813  he  read  l  Observations  upon 
some  cases  of  Paralytic  Affection '  (Medical 
Transactions,  vol.  v.),  in  which  simple  facial 
palsy  was  for  the  first  time  described.  Sir 
Charles  Bell  [q.  v.],  in  the  course  of  his  re- 
searches on  the  nervous  system,  afterwards 
redescribed  and  explained  this  affection  ;  but 
the  credit  of  its  first  clinical  description  be- 
longs to  Powell,  who  also  initiated  a  method 
of  treatment  by  warm  applications  which  is 
still  in  use,  and  is  often  efficacious.  In  the 
following  year  (2  Dec.)  he  read  '  Some  Cases 
illustrative  of  the  Pathology  of  the  Brain,' 
a  description  of  thirteen  cases  of  interest.  In 
the  course  of  the  paper  he  describes  several 
diseases  which  have  since  become  well  known, 
but  had  then  scarcely  been  noticed — such  as 
hsematoma  of  the  dura  mater,  meningitis  fol- 
lowing necrosis  of  the  walls  of  the  inner  ear, 
and  new  growth  of  the  pituitary  gland.  On 
7  May  181 8  he  read  a  paper '  On  certain  Painful 
Affections  of  the  Alimentary  Canal'  (Med. 
Trans,  vi.  100),  which  describes  a  variety  of 
acute  but  recurring  enteric  inflammation 
associated  with  the  formation  of  flakes  of 
false  membrane.  He  also  published  an  ac- 
count of  a  case  of  hydrophobia.  He  gave 
some  attention  to  the  study  of  the  history 
of  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital;  and  on 
27  Nov.  1817  a  letter  from  him  to  Dr. William 
George  Maton  [q.  v.]  was  read,  describing 
the  most  ancient  charter  preserved  in  the 
hospital  and  its  seal.  He  printed  for  the 
first  time  the  whole  text  of  this  charter 
(Archceologia,  vol.  xix.),  which  is  a  grant 
from  Rahere  [q.  v.]  in  1137.  Powell  lived 
in  Bedford  Place,  London,  for  some  years, 
and,  after  he  retired  from  practice,  in  York 
Terrace,  Regent's  Park,  where  he  died  on 


18  Aug.  1834.  His  portrait  hangs  in  the  com- 
mittee-room of  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital. 
[Hunk's  Coll.  of  Phys.  ii.  456  ;  Kirby's  Win- 
chester Scholars,  p.  273 ;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon. ; 
Records  of  Court  of  Governors  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's Hospital;  Minute-book  of  Abernethian  So- 
ciety of  St.  Bartholomew's,  vol.  i.MS.;  Minute- 
book  of  Medical  Council  of  St.  Bartholomew's, 
vol.  i.  MS. ;  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital  Journal, 
vol.  i.  No.  1 ;  Works.]  N.  M. 

POWELL,  ROBERT  (Jl.  1636-1652), 
legal  writer,  was  probably  related  to  the, 
Powells  of  Pengethley,  Herefordshire.  To 
that  family  belonged  his  client  in  1638,  Sir 
Edward  Powell  (d.  1653),  a  master  of  re- 
quests. Powell  describes  himself  in  1634  as 
(  of  Wells,  one  of  the  Society  of  New  Inn,' 
and  as  having  enjoyed  for  twenty-five  years 
a  good  practice  as  a  solicitor  in  Gloucester- 
shire (Life  of  Alfred,  ded.)  As  late  as  1652  he 
was  bailiff  and  deputy-sheriff  of  the  county 
(State  Papers,  Dom.  Jac.  I.  cliii.  17).  He  is 
perhaps  the  Robert  Powell  of  Westminster 
who  was  licensed  to  marry  Katherine  Smith 
of  St.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  on  13  Aug. 
1618  (Marriage  Licenses,  Harl.  Soc.  xxiii.  24). 

Powell  wrote  :  1.  'The  Life  of  Alfred,  or 
Alured ;  the  first  Instituter  of  Subordinate 
Government  in  this  Kingdome  and  Refoun- 
der  of  the  University  of  Oxford,  together 
with  a  Parallel  of  our  Sovereign  Lord,  King 
Charles,  untill  this  Yeare  1634,'  London, 
1634 ;  dedicated  to  Walter  Curie,  bishop  of 
Winchester.  He  says  '  I  was  first  set  on  to 
this  work  by  reading  '  the  'Regia  Majestas,' 
(1613),  by  Sir  John  Skene  [q.  v.]  2.  « Depopu- 
lation arraigned,  convicted,  and  condemned 
by  the  Lawes  of  God  and  Man,'  London, 
1636 ;  dedicated  to  Sir  John  Bankes  [q.  v.], 
attorney-general.  At  page  1  Powell  says,  '  I 
have  in  another  treatise  handled  the  great 
offence  of  forestallers  and  ingrossers  of  corn.' 
Of  this  treatise  nothing  is  now  known.  3.  '  A 
Treatise  of  the  Antiquity,  Authority,  Uses, 
and  Jurisdiction  of  the  Ancient  Courts  of 
Leet  or  View  of  Franck  Pledge  and  of  Subor- 
dination of  Government  derived  from  the 
institution  of  Moses,  and  the  first  Imita- 
tion of  him  in  the  Island  of  Great  Britaine 
by  King  Alfred,  together  with  additions 
and  alterations  of  the  Modern  Lawes  and 
Statutes  inquirable  at  those  Courts  until 
the  present  Year,  1643,'  London,  1642  ;  de- 
dicated to  the  members  of  the  parliament, 
the  speaker,  and  John  Selden.  The  work 
was  examined  by  Sir  Edward  Coke  in  1634 
and  was  referred  by  Coke  to  Thomas  Tes- 
dall,  esq.,  of  Gray's  Inn,  who  perused  it  and 
sanctioned  it  on  13  July  1636.  Its  publica- 
tion was  delayed  by  the  decree  of  the  Star- 
chamber  limiting  the  press. 


Powell 


248 


Powell 


Another  Kobert  Powell  of  Parkhall, 
Shropshire,  born  in  1599,  was  son  of  Thomas 
Powell,  and  matriculated  from  Hart  Hall, 
Oxford,  in  October  1616.  In  1644  (14  July) 
he  came  '  with  his  family  to  Oswestry,  to 
raise  a  regiment  of  horse '  in  behalf  of  the 
parliament,  and  Colonel  Mitton  asked  for  a 
commission  for  him  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  4th 
Rep.  p.  368).  On  10  Nov.  1646  parliament 
appointed  him  high  sheriff  of  Shropshire  (ib. 
vi.  139  ;  Lords'  Journals,  viii.  560). 

'    [Authorities  cited  ;  Powell's  works ;  Notes  and 
Queries,  7th  ser.  xii.  307.]  W.  A.  S. 

POWELL,  THOMAS  (1572  P-1635  ?), 
attorney  and  author,  born  about  1572,  of 
Welsh  parents,  came  of  the  same  family  as 
Sir  Edward  Powell,  who,  in  1622,  succeeded 
Sir  Christopher  Perkins  [q.  v.]  as  master  of 
requests ;  he  was  probably  related  to  Thomas 
Powell,  a  clerk  in  chancery,  to  whom  Wil- 
liam Hayward's  '  Bellum  Grammaticale  ' 
was  dedicated  in  1576,  and  the  second  part 
of  the  <  Myrrour  of  Knighthood '  in  1582-3. 
He  entered  Gray's  Inn  on  30  Jan.  1592-3, 
being  described  as  '  of  Disserth,  Radnor- 
shire,' but  apparently  devoted  more  time  to 
versification  than  to  the  law.  In  1598  he 
published  '  Loue's  Leprosie,'  4to,  a  poem  on 
the  death  of  Achilles  through  his  love  for 
Priam's  daughter  Polyxena ;  it  is  dedicated 
to  Sir  Robert  Sidney  (afterwards  Earl  of  Lei- 
cester) [q.  v.]  The  only  copy  known  is  now 
at  Brit-well.  It  was  reprinted,  with  an  intro- 
duction by  Dr.  E.  F.  Rimbault,  in  vol.  vi.  of 
the  Percy  Society's  '  Early  English  Poetry.' 
This  was  followed  in  1601  by  '  The  Passio- 
nate Poet ;  with  a  description  of  the  Thracian 
Ismarus,'  4to,  printed  by  Valentine  Simmes. 
There  is  a  unique  copy  at  Britwell  (cf. 
BEYDGES,  Restituta,  iii.  169-73).  Powell's 
verse  is  poor,  and  his  meaning  is  frequently 
obscure. 

Powell  now  turned  from  'bad  serious 
poetry  to  chaffing  prose,  still  intersperst  with 
scraps  of  bad  verse — and  divers  professional 
handbooks '  (FTJRNIVALL,  Introd.  to  Tom  of 
All  Trades).  The  identity  of  the  poet  and 
the  legal  writer,  although  disputed  by  Col- 
lier, is  fairly  well  established.  Powell's 
first  prose  work  was  f  A  Welch  Bayte  to 
spare  Prouender,  or  a  looking  backe  upon  the 
Times,'  1603,  4to,  dedicated  to  Shakespeare's 
patron,  Henry  Wriothesley,  third  earl  of 
Southampton  [q.  v.]  Its  object  seems  to  be 
to  justify  Elizabeth's  treatment  of  papists 
and  dissenters ;  it  ironically  describes  the 
effect  produced  by  the  news  of  her  death 
and  the  troubles  likely  to  ensue,  but  urges 
the  advantages  of  uniting  Scots  and  English 
in  one  nation.  The  only  known  copy  is  in 


the  Huth  Library.  James  seems  to  have 
been  offended  by  Powell's  tone.  The  book 
was  suppressed,  and  the  printer,  Simmes,  who 
had  also  published  'The  Passionate  Poet,' 
was  condemned  to  pay  a  fine  of  13s.  Qd. 
(Cat.  Huth  Libr.;  FUKNIVALL,  Introd.  to- 
Torn  of  All  Trades  ;  ABBEE,  Transcript,  iii. 
349;  butcf.  BBYDGEB'slfrft.  Bibl.  ii.  183-90 
for  a  different  interpretation  of  the  book). 
In  the  same  year  appeared  Powell's  '  Vertue's 
Due,  or  a  true  Modell  of  the  Life  of  ... 
Katharine  Howard,  late  Countess  of  Not- 
tingham, deceased.  By  T.  P.  Gentleman,'' 
8vo.  It  is  dedicated  to  the  widower,  Charles 
Howard,  earl  of  Nottingham,  and  was  re- 
printed in  'A  Lamport  Garland '  (Roxburghe 
Club,  1881,  ed.  Charles  Edmonds).  In 
1606  Powell  contributed  verses  to  Ford's 
'  Fame's  Memoriall.' 

From  this  time  Powell  devoted  himself  to- 
writing  professional  works,  and  with  that 
object  began  to  search  the  records  in  the 
chancery,  the  Tower,  and  elsewhere.  In  1613 
his  literary  work  was  interrupted  by  his 
appointment  (13  Nov.)  as  solicitor-general 
in  the  marches  of  Wales  ;  but  on  5  Aug. 
1622  he  surrendered  this  office,  and  in  the 
same  year  he  published  his  '  Direction  for 
Search  of  Records  remaining  in  the  Chaun- 
cerie,  Tower,  Exchequer,'  &c.,  4to,  dedicated 
to  James  I,  Prince  Charles,  Sir  Edward 
Powell,  and  Noy,  then  reader  at  Lincoln's 
Inn  ;  it  professes  to  be  the  result  of  twenty 
years'  work.  In  1623  he  petitioned  the  king 
for  an  order  requiring  judges  and  officers  of 
courts  to  supply  him  with  information  about 
fees,  &c.,  necessary  to  complete  the  work 
which  would  then  be  *  more  useful  than  the 
Conqueror's  Domesday.'  The  order  was 
granted,  and  the  result  of  Powell's  further 
labours  was  embodied  in  the  '  Repertorie  of 
Records/ 1631,  4to. 

Meanwhile,  he  published  in  1623  'The 
Attourney's  Academy,'  4to,  dedicated  to 
Prince  Charles  and  Bacon  (reprinted  in  1613 
and  1647) ;  and  a  satirical  work  entitled 
'  Wheresoever  you  see  mee,  Trust  unto  your- 
selfe,  or  the  Mysterie  of  Lending  and  Bor- 
rowing,' 4to  ;  it  is  ironically  dedicated  to 
'  the  two  famous  universities,  the  seminaries 
of  so  many  desperate  debtors,  Ram  Ally, 
and  Milford  Lane,'  and  describes  various 
classes  of  debtors,  their  cunning  practices 
and  the  like.  In  1627  appeared  <  The  Attor- 
ney's Almanacke,'  4to.  '  Tom  of  All  Trades, 
or  the  Plain  Pathway  to  Preferment,'  4to 
(1631;  2nd  edit.  1635,  with  the  title  'The 
Art  of  Thriving,  or  the  Plain  Pathway  to 
Preferment')  contains  a  description  of  various 
schools,  colleges,  &c.,  the  best  methods  of 
thriving  in  various  professions;  it  throws 


Powell 


249 


Powell 


valuable  light  011  English  education  in  Shake- 
speare's time,  and  was  reprinted,  with  an  in- 
troduction by  Dr.  Furnivall,  for  the  New 
Shakspere  Society  in  1876.  Powell  also  left 
in  manuscript  'The  Breath  of  an  Unfeed 
Lawyer,  or  Beggers  Round,'  which  is  extant 
in  the  Cambridge  University  Library  (Cat. 
MSS.  in  Cambr.  Univ.  Libr.  i.  213).  The 
author  probably  died  about  1635. 

He  is  doubtless  to  be  distinguished  from 
a  '  Serjeant  Powell '  mentioned  in  the  state 
papers  in  1631.  A  later  Thomas  Powell  (Jl. 
1675)  was  author  of  '  The  Young  Man's  Con- 
flict/ 1675,  <  Salve  for  Soul  Sores,'  1676,  and 
other  works ;  he  probably  wrote  the  commen- 
datory verses  prefixed  to  Henry  Vaughan's 
'  Olor  Iscanus,'  1651. 

[Powell's  works  in  Brit.  Mus.  Libr. ;  Furni- 
vali's  Introd.  to  Tom  of  All  Trades ;  Rimbault's 
Introd.  to  Love's  Leprosy;  Hunter's  manuscript 
Chorus  Vatum ;  Warton's  English  Poetry,  ed. 
Hazlitt,  iv.  304  n.  3;  Eitson's  Bibl.  Anglo- 
Poetica  ;  Brydges's  Restituta  and  British  Biblio- 
grapher; Collier's  Bibl.  Account,  ii.  184;  Haz- 
litt's  Handbook  and  Collections  passim ;  Cal. 
State  Papers,  Dom.  Ser.  passim ;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm . 
1st  Rep.  p.  63, 2nd  Rep.  p.  89 ;  Nichols's  Lit.  Anecd. 
i.  478;  Notes  and  Queries,  1st  ser.  x.  366;  notes 
supplied  by  Miss  Bertha  Porter.]  A.  F.  P. 

POWELL,  THOMAS  (1766-1842  ?),  mu- 
sician, was  born  in  London  in  1766.  He 
studied  composition  and  the  violoncello,  and 
in  1799  was  elected  a  professional  member 
of  the  Royal  Society  of  Musicians.  In  1811 
he  married,  and  settled  for  a  time  in  Dublin 
as  a  teacher  of  music,  afterwards  migrating  to 
Edinburgh,  and  eventually  to  London  (1826), 
where  he  died  between  1842  and  1845. 

Powell  was  said  to  be  a  skilled  artist  on 
several  musical  instruments,  and  possessed 
a  bass  voice  of  exceptional  compass.  His 
compositions  are  numerous,  and  include  ar- 
rangements of  popular  and  classical  airs  for 
pianoforte,  violin,  and  harp,  as  well  as  for 
the  violoncello.  A  long  list  of  his  published 
and  unpublished  works  is  given  in  the  '  Dic- 
tionary of  Musicians,'  1827.  The  following 
pieces,  among  others,  are  in  the  library  of  the 
British  Museum :  1. '  Introduction  and  Fugue 
for  the  Organ  as  performed  at  the  Cathedrals 
of  Christchurch  and  St.  Patrick  at  Dublin,' 
1825.  2.  '  Three  Grand  Sonatas  for  piano- 
forte, with  obbligato  accompaniment  for  vio- 
loncello,' op.  15,  about  1825. 

[Diet,  of  Musicians,  1827,  ii.  305;  Georgian 
Era,  iv.  546  ;  Reports  of  the  Royal  Soc.  of 
Musicians,  passim.]  L.  M.  M. 

POWELL,  VAVASOR  (1617-1670),non- 
conformist  divine,  was  born  in  1617  at 
Cnwcglas  or  Knuclas  in  the  parish  of 
Heyop,  Radnorshire.  His  father,  Richard 


Ho  well  was  an '  ale-keeper '  and l  badger  of  oat- 
meal;'  his  mother  was  Penelope,  daughter  of 
William  Vavasor  of  Newtown,  Montgomery- 
shire. He  is  said  to  have  been  employed  at 
home  as  stable-boy,  and  to  have  served  as 
groom  to  Isaac  Thomas,  innkeeper  and  mercer 
at  Bishop's  Castle,  Shropshire.  These  par- 
ticulars may  be  true,  but  they  are  derived 
from  his  enemies.  His  education  had  not 
been  neglected,  and  at  the  age  of  seventeen 
he  was  sent  to  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  by 
his  uncle,  Erasmus  Howell,  vicar  of  Clun, 
Shropshire.  He  took  no  degree,  probably 
declining  subscription,  and,  leaving  the  uni- 
versity, he  became  schoolmaster  at  Clun. 
Here  he  officiated  as  his  uncle's  curate, 
though  not  ordained;  he  describes  himself 
as  '  a  reader  of  common  prayer.'  Alexander 
Griffith  [q.  v.]  tells  an  improbable  story  of 
his  obtaining  the  letters  of  orders  of  '  an  old 
decayed  minister  (his  near  kinsman),'  and 
substituting  his  own  name,  for  which  offence 
he  was  tried  at  the  Radnorshire  county 
sessions,  and  '  with  much  ado  reprieved  from 
the  gallows.'  He  wore  a  clerical  habit  in 
his  twentieth  year,  but  it  was  as  a  school- 
master that  he  was  at  that  date  reproved  by 
a  strict  puritan  for  looking  on  at  Sunday 
sports.  The  formation  of  his  deeper  religious 
convictions  he  assigns  to  the  period  1638-9, 
when  he  was  influenced  by  the  preaching  of 
Walter  Cradock  [q.  v.]  and  the  writings  of 
Richard  Sibbs  and  William  Perkins  [q.  v.] 
From  about  1639  he  adopted  the  career  of 
an  itinerant  evangelist ;  he  was  possessed  of 
independent  property  either  by  inheritance 
or  marriage. 

In  1640  he  was  arrested,  with  a  number 
of  his  hearers,  for  preaching  at  a  house  in 
Breconshire.  After  passing  a  night  in  custody 
Powell  and  his  friends  were  examined,  and 
dismissed  with  a  warning.  He  was  again 
arrested  for  field  preaching  in  Radnorshire, 
and  committed  to  the  assizes  by  Hugh  Lloyd, 
the  high  sheriff,  his  kinsman.  On  trial  he 
was  acquitted,  and  invited  to  dine  with  the 
judges,  when  one  of  them  complimented  him 
on  his  grace  after  meat  as  '  the  best  he  had 
ever  heard.'  On  the  outbreak  of  the  civil 
war  he  left  Wales  for  London  (August  1642). 

For  a  couple  of  years  he  preached  in  and 
about  London,  and  for  two  years  more  at 
Dartford,  Kent,  where  he  stayed  through  a 
visitation  of  the  plague,  preaching  three  times 
a  week.  When  parliament  had  become  master 
of  Wales  by  the  surrender  of  Raglan  Castle 
in  August  1646,  Powell  was  invited  to  resume 
his  evangelistic  work  in  the  principality.  He 
applied  to  the  Westminster  assembly  for  a 
testimonial.  Stephen  Marshall  [q.  v.]  ob- 
jected that  he  was  not  ordained.  He  was 


Powell 


Powell 


willing  to  be  examined,  but  scrupled  at  presby- 
terian  ordination.  On  11  Sept.  1646  he  ob- 
tained a  certificate  of  character  and  gifts, 
signed  by  Charles  Herle  [q.  v.],  prolocutor 
of  the  assembly,  and  seventeen  divines,  in- 
cluding Marshall,  Joseph  Caryl  [q.v.],  Christo- 
pher Love  [q.  v.],  Philip  Nye  [q.  v.],  and  Peter 
Sterry.  His  position  at  this  time  was  that 
of  an  independent ;  the  difficulty  about  ordi- 
nation was  met  by  considering  him  as  not 
fixed  to  a  particular  church,  but  a  mini- 
ster at  large.  When  on  a  preaching  mission 
to  the  forces  acting  against  Anglesea  (still 
held  for  the  crown),  he  received  a  bullet- 
wound  ;  in  the  midst  of  the  fray  he  fancied 
himself  addressed  by  a  voice  from  heaven,  '  I 
have  chosen  thee  to  preach  the  gospel/  In 
addition  to  his  itinerant  labours,  which  took 
him  into  nearly  every  parish  in  Wales,  he  was 
the  means  of  erecting  some  twenty '  gathered 
churches,'  and  creating  a  band  of  missionary 
preachers.  Hence  he  got  the  nickname  *  me- 
tropolitan of  the  itinerants.'  He  was  him- 
self 'pastor'  of  the  church  at  Newtown, 
Montgomeryshire,  and  ordained  as  such.  Par- 
liament voted  him  100/.  a  year,  of  which  he 
received  some  60/.  a  year  for  about  eight 
years ;  he  denies  that  he  derived  any  other 
income  from  his  Welsh  work.  He  certainly 
refused  in  1647  the  sinecure  rectory  of  Pen- 
strowed,  Montgomeryshire,  on  the  ground  of 
his  objection  to  tithe  (Cal.  State  Papers, 
Dom.  1656,  p.  140).  In  1649  he  built  him- 
self a  house  at  Goitre  in  the  parish  of  Kerry, 
Montgomeryshire  ;  this  estate  was  probably 
derived  from  his  wife.  He  had  purchased 
church  lands,  yielding  701.  a  year,  which  at 
the  Restoration  he  lost. 

Towards  the  end  of  1649  he  visited  London, 
to  obtain  fresh  powers  for  his  Welsh  mission. 
He  preached  on  10  Dec.  1649  before  the  lord 
mayor  (Thomas  Foot),  and  on  28  Feb.  1650 
before  parliament.  Between  these  dates  he 
held  a  discussion  (31  Dec.)  with  John  Good- 
win [q.  v.]  on  universal  redemption.  On 
22  Feb.  1650  an  act  was  passed  appointing  a 
commission  '  for  the  better  propagation  and 
preaching  of  the  gospel  in  Wales,  and  redress 
of  some  grievances.'  Powell  was  one  of 
twenty-five  ministers  by  whose  approbation 
and  recommendation  the  commissioners  were 
to  proceed ;  the  commission  was  to  last  for 
three  years  from  25  March  1650.  At  the 
head  of  the  commission  and  the  director  of 
its  policy  was  Thomas  Harrison  (1606-1660) 
[q.  v.] ;  but  no  one  was  more  active  than 
Powell  in  the  business  of  displacing  clergy 
for  alleged  incompetence,  and  substituting  j 
puritan  preachers,  often  unordained.  Walker, 
who  analyses  the  proceedings  of  the  com- 
mission at  great  length  (relying,  however, 


on  Griffith,  without  noticing  Powell's  tracts 
in  reply),  thinks  it  proof  of  the  sufficiency  of 
the  sequestered  clergy  that  they  were  gra- 
duates. Baxter,  who  regarded  Powell  as  '  an 
honest  injudicious  zealot,'  was  yet  of  opinion 
that  the  clergy  whom  he  displaced  were  '  all 
weak,  and  bad  enough  for  the  most  part.' 
Towards  the  end  of  1651  Powell  (and  Cra- 
dock  also)  was  commanding  a  troop  of  horse 
under  Harrison  in  the  north  (ib.  29  Nov. 
1651).  On  11  June  1652  Powell  issued  a 
challenge  to  discuss  with  any  minister  in 
Wales  the  two  points  of  ordination  and  sepa- 
ration. The  challenge  was  accepted  on 
13  June  by  George  Griffith  [q.  v.]  in  a  Latin 
letter,  to  which  Powell  returned  (19  June) 
an  answer  in  very  halting  latinity.  The  dis- 
cussion came  off  on  23  July.  Each  published 
his  own  account  of  it,  and  claimed  the  victory. 
It  seems  agreed  that  Powell  showed  no  fami- 
liarity with  the  academic  mode  of  disputation. 

On  the  expiry  of  the  commission  he  re- 
turned to  London.  As  a  republican  he 
strenuously  opposed  the  recognition  of  Crom- 
well as  lord  protector,  and  on  the  very  day 
when  the  lord  protector  was  proclaimed 
(Monday,  19  Dec.  1653),  preaching  in  the 
evening  at  Blackfriars  (ib.  xliv.  305),  he  de- 
nounced the  proceeding.  He  was  taken 
(21  Dec.),  with  Christopher  Feake  [q.  v.], 
before  the  council  of  state  at  Whitehall, 
(where  he  preached  to  the  people  while  wait- 
ing in  the  anteroom),  and  detained  in  custody 
for  some  days.  Being  released  (24  Dec.),  he 
preached  in  a  similar  strain  in  the  afternoon 
of  Christmas  day  at  Christ  Church,  New- 
gate, and  an  order  for  his  arrest  was  issued 
on  10  Jan.  Returning  to  Wales,  he  drew 
up  (1655)  a  'testimony'  (printed in  THTJELOE, 
iv.  380)  against  the  usurpation,  which  was 
signed  by  three  hundred  persons.  For  this 
he  was  apprehended  at  Aberbechan,  Mont- 
gomeryshire, and  brought  before  Major-gene- 
ral James  Berry  [q.  v.]  at  Worcester.  Berry's 
letter  to  Cromwell  (21  Nov.  1655 ;  THTJELOE, 
iv.  228)  shows  that  he  did  not  think  Powell's 
'testimony'  meant  more  than  the  relieving 
of  his  conscience.  Powell  had  preached 
four  times  at  Worcester  '  very  honestly  and 
soberly,'  had  dined  with  Berry,  and  been  dis- 
missed under  promise  to  appear  when  sent  for. 

The  recognition  of  Cromwell's  new  position 
made  a  division  among  the  Welsh  indepen- 
dents. Cradock  drew  up  a  counter-address, 
which  was  signed  by  758  persons,  and  pre- 
sented to  Cromwell.  This  may  account  in 
part  for  Powell's  somewhat  sudden  transition 
to  the  baptist  section  9f  the  independents. 
By  24  Feb.  1654  he  was  reported  as  preach- 
ing against  the  baptism  of  infants,  yet  in  the 
same  year  he  emphasised  his  differences  with 


Powell 


Powell 


the  '  rebaptised  people/  led  in  Wales  by  John 
Myles  [q.  v.]  On  1  Jan.  1656  Thurloe  writes 
of  him  as  '  lately  rebaptised,  and  several  other 
of  his  party.'  The  presumption  is  that  he 
was  baptised  by  Henry  Jessey  [q.  v.] :  he  cer- 
tainly adopted  Jessey's  view  of  baptism,  not 
making  it,  with  Myles,  a  term  of  communion. 
At  baptism  he  used  imposition  of  hands ;  he 
practised  the  ceremony  of  anointing,  for  the 
restoration  of  the  sick.  Toulmin  errs  in  sup- 
posing him  to  have  become  a  seventh-day 
baptist.  The  change  in  his  views  made  no 
diminution  of  his  popularity;  his  open-air 
preachings  were  largely  attended ;  the  alarm 
of  the  authorities  was  excited  by  the  con- 
currence of  persons  disaffected  to  Cromwell's 
government,  but  the  suspicion  that  Powell 
aimed  to  be  a  leader  of  insurgents  was  ground- 
less. His  republicanism  was  of  the  theo- 
cratic type,  and  in  this  sense  he  was  a  fifth- 
monarchy  man ;  but  he  took  no  part  in  the 
struggles  of  practical  politics. 

Wood  reports  that  in  1657  Powell  was  at 
Oxford,  preaching  on  Wednesday,  15  July, 
in  All  Saints'  Church,  and  denouncing  Henry 
Hickman  [q.  v.]  for  admitting  that  the  church 
of  Rome  might  be  a  true  church.  This  agrees 
with  his  biographer's  remark  that  he  reckoned 
popery  the  '  common  public  enemy  of  man- 
kind ; '  but  it  hardly  consists  with  Wood's 
statement,  on  the  authority  of  M.  LI.  (i.e. 
Martin  Lluelyn  [q.  v.]),  that  Powell  '  was 
wont  to  say  that  there  were  but  two  sorts  of 
people  that  had  religion,  viz.  the  gathered 
churches  and  the  Rom.  catholicks.' 

Powell  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  non- 
conformist who  got  into  trouble  at  the  Re- 
storation. There  was  nothing  against  him 
but  his  preaching ;  and  his  preaching,  in 
addition  to  its  irregularity,  gave  offence  by 
its  theocratic  tone,  which  was  interpreted  as 
tending  to  sedition.  As  early  as  28  April 
1660  he  was  arrested  at  Goitre  by  a  company 
of  soldiers.  It  is  said  that  he  was  warned 
of  his  arrest  by  a  dream,  and  refused  to  take 
measures  for  his  escape.  He  was  taken  to 
Welshpool,  Montgomeryshire,  and  thence  to 
Shrewsbury ;  after  nine  weeks'  imprisonment 
he  was  liberated  by  an  order  of  the  king  in 
council.  Twenty-four  days  later  he  was 
again  arrested  on  the  warrant  of  Sir  Matthew 
Price,  high  sheriff  of  Montgomeryshire,  for 
refusing  to  abstain  from  preaching.  When 
brought  up  at  the  assizes  he  objected  to  the 
oaths  of  allegiance  and  supremacy,  on  the 
ground  that  these  oaths  were  meant  for 
papists.  Hence  he  was  sent  back  to  prison, 
and  shortly  afterwards  summoned  before  the 
privy  council.  He  was  not  actually  brought 
before  the  council,  but  committed  to  the 
Fleet,  where  he  lay  for  nearly  two  years  in 


rigid  confinement,  under  offensive  conditions 
which  impaired  his  health.  On  30  Sept.  1662 
he  was  removed,  with  Colonel  Nathaniel  Rich, 
to  Southsea  Castle,  near  Portsmouth.  Here 
he  was  confined  for  five  years.  After  the  fall 
of  Clarendon  (30  Aug.  1667)  he  sued  for  a 
writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and  obtained  his  release 
by  an  order  in  council  (November  1667). 
Nine  months  later  he  started  from  Bristol  on 
a  preaching  tour  in  Wales,  and  was  arrested 
at  Merthyr  Tydvil,  Glamorganshire,  and  con- 
veyed to  Cardiff.  On  17  Oct.  1668  he  was 
examined  at  Cowbridge,  Glamorganshire,  on 
a  charge  of  irregular  preaching,  and  com- 
mitted (30  Oct.)  to  prison.  He  refused  to 
take  the  oaths  of  allegiance  and  supremacy, 
and  objected  also  to  the  ceremony  of  swear- 
ing on  the  Bible.  Under  a  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  he  was  sent  to  London  on  16  Oct., 
and  appeared  at  the  common  pleas  on  22- 
23  Oct.  Though  the  legality  of  the  pro- 
ceedings against  him  was  not  sustained,  he 
was  committed  to  l  Karoone  House,  then 
the  Fleet  prison,  Lambeth,'  where  he  ended 
his  days.  His  confinement  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  strict ;  he  was  allowed  to  preach 
in  the  prison,  '  many  being  admitted  to  hear 
him,'  and  he  appears  to  have  been  let  out 
occasionally  on  parole.  He  died  on  27  Oct. 
1670,  and  he  was  buried  in  Bunhill  Fields, 
where  a  monument  (not  now  extant)  was 
erected  to  his  memory,  bearing  an  epitaph 
written  by  Edward  Bagshaw  the  younger 
[q.  v.]  His  constitution  was  strong, '  a  body 
of  steel/  according  to  his  biographer.  No 
portrait  of  him  is  known ;  an  '  elogy '  by 
J.  M.  (John  Myles  ?)  speaks  of  his  *  stature 
mean/  and  says  he  '  died  childless.'  He  was 
twice  married.  His  first  wife  was  the  widow 
of  Paul  Quarrel  of  Presteign,  Radnorshire. 
According  to  Griffith,  she  had  been  a  '  walk- 
ing pedlar'  of  ' hot- waters.'  His  second  wife, 
Katherine  (baptised  20  Oct.  1638),  youngest 
child  of  Colonel  Gilbert  Gerard  of  Crewood, 
Cheshire,  governor  of  Chester  Castle ;  she 
survived  him,  and  married  John  Evans,  by 
whom  she  became  the  mother  of  John  Evans, 
D.D.  [q.  v.] ;  she  was  living  in  1705.  Thomas 
Hardcastle  [q.  v.]  married  her  sister  Anne. 

Though  not  a  man  of  learning,  Powell, 
according  to  his  biographer,  was  '  well  read 
in  history  and  geography,  a  good  natural  phi- 
losopher, and  skilled  in  physic.'  Some  of 
these  acquirements  belong  to  the  last  ten 
years  of  his  life,  when  he  '  turned  his  prison 
into  an  academy.'  He  wrote  little,  but  his 
style  is  forcible  and  earnest,  and  very  tem- 
perate in  manner.  His  forte  was  preaching, 
1 1  would  not/  he  says,  '  neglect,  for  the  print- 
ing of  a  thousand  books,  the  preaching  of 
one  sermon.'  His  services  were  sometimes 


Powell 


252 


Powell 


prolonged  to  seven  hours'  length.  He  pro- 
bably did  not  sanction  conjoint  singing,  but 
is  said  to  have  been  '  excellent  at  extempore 
hymns.'  Noted  for  the  fearlessness  of  his 
reproofs,  his  habitual  tone  was  tender  rather 
than  denunciatory,  and  his  sermons  were 
filled  with  vivid  illustration  drawn  from 
familiar  life.  He  was  deficient  in  power  of 
organisation,  and  (though  himself  a  frequent 
visitor  from  house  to  house)  he  relied  too 
much  on  preaching  as  a  means  of  evangelisa- 
tion; but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  effect 
of  his  work  was  in  the  direction  of  moral 
improvement  and  practical  religion.  His 
use  of  travelling  preachers  anticipated  and 
probably  suggested  George  Fox's  employ  ment 
of  the  same  agency.  He  was  a  generous 
entertainer,  especially  of  the  poor,  keeping 
open  house  for  his  friends,  and  telling  them 
he  had  '  room  for  twelve  in  his  beds,  a  hun- 
dred in  his  barns,  and  a  thousand  in  his 
heart.'  A  fifth  of  his  income  he  devoted  to 
charity.  His  seal  bore  a  skeleton,  seated  on 
the  tree  of  life,  holding  in  the  right  hand  a 
dart,  in  the  left  an  hour-glass. 

He  published :  1 . '  The  Scripture's  Concord ; 
or  a  Catechisme,'  &c.,  1646,  8vo ;  5th  edit., 
1653,  8vo;  1673,  8vo  (this  was  translated 
into  Welsh,  with  title  '  Cordiad  yr  Isgryth- 
yran,'  1647, 8vo).  2.  <  God  the  Father  Glori- 
fied,' &c.,  1649,  4to;  2nd  edit.,  1650,  8vo. 
3.  '  Truth's  Conflict  with  Error,'  &c.,  1650, 
4to  (contains  the  disputation  with  Goodwin, 
from  the  shorthand  of  John  Weeks).  4.  'Christ 
and  Moses  Excellency,'  &c.,  1650,  8vo  (the 
second  half  is  a  concordance  of  Scripture 
promises).  5.  '  Three  Hymnes,'  &c.,  1650, 
8vo  (one  by  Powell).  6.  '  Christ  Exalted,' 
&c.,  1651,  8vo.  7.  '  Saving  Faith  .  .  .  Three 
Dialogues,'  £c.,  1651,  8vo  (in  Welsh,  same 
year,  with  title  '  Canwyll  Crist').  8.  <  The 
Challenge  of  an  Itinerant  Preacher,'  &c., 
1652,  4to.  9.  l  A.  Narrative  of  a  Disputa- 
tion between  Dr.  Griffith  and  .  .  .  Powell,' 
&c.,  1653, 4to.  10.  '  Spirituall  Experiences,' 
&c. ;  2nd  edition,  1653,  12mo.  11.  '  Hymn 
sung  in  Christ  Church,  London,'  &c.,  1654, 
4to.  12.  <  A  Word  for  God,'  &c.,  1655,  8vo 
(in  Welsh,  same  year,  with  title  '  Gair  tros 
Dduw  ').  13.  '  A  Small  Curb  to  the  Bishops' 
Career;  or  Imposed  Liturgies  Tried,'  &c., 

1660,  4to.     14.  '  Common-Prayer-Book   no 
Divine  Service,'  &c.,  1660,  4to  ;    enlarged, 

1661,  4to.     15.  'nen  law,  or  the  Bird  in 
the  Cage,  Chirping,'  &c.,  1661,  8vo;  1662, 
8vo.  16.  'The  Sufferer's  Catechisme '(WOOD). 
17.  '  Brief  Narrative  concerning  the  Proceed- 
ings of  the  Commissioners  in  Wales,'   &c. 
(WOOD).    18.  «  Sinful  and  Sinless  Swearing ' 
(WOOD).     Posthumous  were:  19.  'An  Ac- 
count of  ...  Conversion  and  Ministry,'  &c., 


1671,  8vo  (with  appended  hymns  and  other 
pieces).  20.  'A  New  .  .  .  Concordance  of 
the  Bible,'  &c.,  1671,  8vo;  1673, 8vo  (finished 
by  N.  P.  and  J.  F.  [James  Fitten  ?],  &c.,  com- 
mended to  the  reader  by  Bagshaw  and  Hard- 
castle,  and  in  the  second  edition  by  John 
Owen,  D.D.  (1616-1683)  [q.  v.])  21.  'A 
Description  of  the  Threefold  State  .  .  . 
Nature,  Grace,  and  Glory,'  &c.,  1673,  8vo. 
22.  'The  Golden  Sayings,'  &c.,  1675?  broad- 
sheet, edited  by  J.  Conniers.  23.  '  Divine 
Love,'  &c.,  1682  (REES).  '  The  Young  Man's 
Conflict  with  the  Devil,'  8vo,  attributed  to 
Powell  by  Wood,  is  more  likely  by  Thomas 
Powell  (  ft.  1675)  [see  under  POWELL,  THO- 
MAS, 1572  P-1635  ?]. 

Specimens  of  his  extempore  hymns  are 
given  in  the  '  Strena '  and  elsewhere ;  some 
have  been  translated  into  Welsh  by  D.  Ri- 
chards; although  they  are  rhapsodical  and 
want  finish,  they  have  an  interesting  bearing 
on  the  development  of  modern  hymnody. 
The  editions  of  the  Welsh  New  Testament 
and  Welsh  Bible,  1654,  8vo,  were  brought 
out  by  Powell  and  Cradock. 

[The  Life  and  Death  of  Mr.  Vavasor  Powell, 
1671,  is  attributed  by  Richard  Baxter  to  Edward 
Bagshaw  the  younger.  Wood  questions  this  on 
no  good  ground;  it  includes  Powell's  autobio- 
graphical account,  and  has  been  reprinted  by  the 
.Religious  Tract  Society,  and  in  Ho  well's  Hist, 
of  the  Old  Baptist  Church  at  Olchon,  1887.  A. 
Griffith's  three  pamphlets — Mercurius  Cambro- 
Britannicus,  1 652,  Strena  Vavasoriensis  ...  A 
Hue  and  Cry  after  Mr.  Vavasor  Powell,  1654, 
and  A  True  and  Perfect  Relation,  1654 — are 
criticised  in  Vavasoris  Examen  et  Purgamen, 
1654,  by  Edward  Allen,  John  Griffith  (1622?- 
1700)  [q.  v.],  James  Quarrell,  and  Charles  Lloyd. 
A  Winding-Sheet  for  Mr.  Baxter's  Dead,  1685, 
contains  an  able  estimate  of  Powell's  character; 
Cal.  of  State  Papers  (Dom.),  1660,  pp.  123  seq  ; 
Wood's  Athenae  Oxon.  (Bliss),  iii.  911  seq. ;  Re- 
liquiae Baxterianse,  1696,  iii.  72 ;  Walker's  Suffer- 
ings of  the  Clergy,  1714,  i.  147  seq.;  Calamy's 
Church  and  Dissenters  compared  as  to  Persecu- 
tion, 1719,  pp.  46  seq.;  Crosby's  Hist,  of  the 
Baptists,  1738,i.  217  seq.,  373  seq. ;  Thurloe  State 
Papers  (Birch),  1742  ii.  93,  116  seq.;  iii.  252;  iv. 
228,  373,  380  ;  Peck's  Desiderata  Curiosa,  1779, 
ii.  507  seq  ;  Palmer's  Nonconformist's  Memorial, 
1803,  iii.  517;  Richard's  Welsh  Nonconformist's 
Memorial,  1820,  pp.  141  seq.  (an  excellent  ac- 
count) ;  Neal's  Hist,  of  Puritans  (Toulmin),  1822, 
iv.  108  seq.,  411  seq.,  v.  128  seq.;  Life,  by  T. 
Jackson,  1837;  Records  of  Broadmead,  Bristol 
(Hanserd  Knollys  Soc.),  1847,  pp.  108  seq.,  115 
seq.,  516;  Ormerod's  Cheshire  (Helsby),  1882,  ii. 
132;  Rees's  Hist.  Prot.  Nonconf.  in  Wales,  1883, 
pp.  80  seq.,  97  seq.,  145  seq.,  511  seq. ;  Jeremy's 
Presbyt.  Fund,  1885,  p.  110;  Palmer's  Nonconf. 
of  Wrexham  (1889),  pp.  28,  55 ;  R.  H.  Williams's 
Montgomeryshire  Worthies,  1894.]  A.  G. 


Powell 


253 


Powell 


POWELL,     WILLIAM     (1735-1769), 
actor,  was  born  in  1735  in  Hereford,  and 
educated  at  the  grammar  school  of  that  city  | 
and  at  Christ's  Hospital,  London.      Sir  Ro- 
bert Ladbrooke,  a  distiller,  then  president 
of  the  latter  institution,  took  him  as  appren- 
tice into  his   counting-house,  and   formed, 
says  Walpole,   so  high   an  estimate  of  his 
abilities  as   to   have   contemplated  making 
him  a  partner.     Ladbrooke   strove   vainly, 
however,  to  keep  the  youth  from  amateur 
theatricals,  going  so  far  even  as  to  suppress  one 
spouting  club  in  Doctors'  Commons  of  which 
Powell  had  become  a  member.     Once  out  of 
his  indentures,  Powell  married,  in  1759,  a 
Miss  Branston.     For  a  while  longer  he  re- 
mained in  Ladbrooke's  office.     Charles  Hol- 
land (1733-1769)  [q.v.],  however,  introduced 
him  to  Garrick,  who,  wearying  of  the  rebuffs  he 
had  sustained  and  anxious  for  foreign  travel, 
sought  an  actor  able  to  fill  his  place  during 
his  absence.     An  absurd  rumour  was  current 
at    the    time   that   he   was   Garrick's   son. 
Having  been  carefully  coached  by  Garrick, 
Powell  made  his  first  appearance  on  any  stage 
at  Drury  Lane  on  8  Oct.  1763  as  Philaster 
in  an  alteration  of  Beaumont  and  Fletcher's 
play  executed  by  Colman.     Great  interest 
-was  inspired  by  what  was  indeed  an  auda- 
cious debut.     Powell  had,  however,  ingra- 
tiated himself  with  Lacy  and  Colman,  who 
were  left  in  command.    The  latter  carefully 
superintended  his  rehearsals,  while  Garrick 
from   abroad  sent  him   letters   overflowing 
with  sensible  and  practical  advice.     The  ex- 
periment  proved   a  brilliant   success.     The 
audience,  in  spite  of  the  cynical  depreciation 
of  the  actor  by  Foote,  received  Powell  with 
raptures,  standing  up  to  shout  at  him.     So 
remarkable  a  triumph  bred  much  annoyance 
and   jealousy,  and  for    a   while   embroiled 
Powell  with  his  friend  Holland.     Hopkins 
the  prompter  says  in  his  diary  '  a  greater 
reception    was    never   shown   to   anybody.' 
Powell's  salary,  arranged  by  Garrick  for  31. 
a  week,  was  at  once  raised  to  8/.,  and  after  a 
time  to  12/.    Full  of  hope  and  energy,  Powell 
shrank  from  no  efforts,  and  played  during 
liis  first  season  Jaffier,  Posthumus,  Lusig- 
nan,  the  king  in  the  '  Second  Part  of  King 
Henry  IV  ; '  Castalio  in  the  '  Orphan,'  Lord 
Townly,  Alexander  the  Great,  Publius  Ho- 
ratius    in    the    '  Roman    Father,'    Othello, 
Etan  in  the  '  Orphan  of  China,'  Sir  Charles 
Raymond  in  the  '  Foundling,'  Dumont,  Shore 
in  'Jane   Shore,'    Leon   in    'Rule    a   Wife 
and   have  a    Wife,'    Oroonoko,   Henry   VI 
in  'Richard  III,'  and  Ghost  in  'Hamlet." 

He  was  not,  of  course,  equally  successful  in 
all  these  characters.     In  some  he  ranted,  and 

in  others  he  whined.  In  Leonatus,  says  Hop- 


kins, he  stamped  with  his  feet  until  he  ap- 
peared like  a  madman  ;  in  Alexander  he  was 
'  very  wild  and  took  his  voice  too  high ; '  in 
Leon  he  was  '  queer  enough ; '  and  in  Lu- 
signan  he  '  spoke  much  too  low,  and  cried  too 
much.'     On   the   whole,  Hopkins  approved 
of  him.      Hopkins    chronicles  that  Powell 
was  warmly  applauded,  and  states  that  the 
ting  sent  Lord  Huntington  to  thank  him  for 
the  entertainment  he  supplied.     Best  proof 
of  all,  the  receipts  were  up  to  the  best  Gar- 
rick days.     In  the  season  of  1764-5  Powell 
was  seen  as  Lothario  in  the  '  Fair  Penitent,' 
Orestes,  King  Lear,  Herod  in  '  Mariamne,' 
and  Leontes ;  and  played  on  24  Jan.  1765  the 
first  of  his  few  original  parts  as  Lord  Frank- 
land  in  the  '  Platonic  Wife '  of  Mrs.  Griffiths. 
The  extent  and  duration  of  his  popularity 
nded  by  making  Garrick  uneasy  and  jealous. 
Garrick    accordingly    reappeared    in   the 
season  of  1765-6,  and  took  from  Powell  a  few 
haracters,  such  as  Lusignan,  Lothario,  and 
Leon.  Powell  added  to  his  repertory  Moneses 
in  '  Tamerlane.'  Alcanor  in  '  Mahomet,'  King 
John,  and  Antony  in  '  All  for  Love ; '  played 
either  Agamemnon  or  Achilles  in  'Heroic 
Love,'  and  was  on  20  Feb.  1766  the  original 
Lovewell  in    the   '  Clandestine    Marriage.' 
The  following  season,  his  last  at  Drury  Lane, 
saw  Powell  as  Phocyas  in  the  '  Siege  of  Da- 
mascus,'Jason  in  '  Medea,' and  some  character, 
probably  Don  Pedro,  in  the  '  False  Friend.' 
Powell  played  also  three  original  parts:  King 
Edward  in  Dr.  Franklin's  '  Earl  of  Warwick,' 
13  Dec.  1766 ;  Lord  Falbridge  in  Column's 
'English   Merchant,'   21   Feb.    1767;    and 
^Eneas  in  Reed's  <  Dido.'     In  1767  Powell 
joined  Harris,  Rutherford,  and  Colman  in 
purchasing  Rich's  patents  for  Covent  Gar- 
den.  Powell  was'at  this  time  bound  for  three 
years   to  Drury  Lane  under   a   penalty   of 
1,000/.,  which,  as  his  share  of  the  purchase- 
money  was  15,000/.,  he  could  afford  to  pay. 
The  price  of  his  share  was,  however,  bor- 
rowed from  friends.     On  the  opening  night 
he    spoke,  14   Sept.   1767,    a  rhymed   pro- 
logue by  Whitehead,  and  on  the  16th  played 
Jaffier.     His  new  characters  were  Chorus  in 
'  King  Henry  V,'  Romeo,  Sir  William  Dou- 
glas in  the  '  English  Merchant,'   Hastings, 
Sciolto,  George  Barnwell,   Oakly,  Bajazet, 
Horatius  in  the  '  Roman  Father,'  Don  Felix 
in  the  'Wonder,'    Macbeth,  and   Hamlet; 
and  he   was  on  29  Jan.  1768  the  original 
Honey  wood    in   the  '  Good-natured    Man.' 
Powell  lived  at  this  time  in  a  house  adjoin- 
ing the  theatre,  and  provided  with  a  direct 
access.     In  the  fierce  quarrel  which  broke 
out  during  the  season  among  the  managers, 
leading   to   legal  proceedings   and   a  fierce 
polemic,  Powell  sided  with  George  Colman 


Powell 


Powell 


the  elder  [q.  v.],  whom  he  had  been  the  means 
of  bringing  into  the  association,  against  Harris 
and  Rutherford.  In  his  last  season  he  played 
Ford  in  the  {  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor/  Al- 
win  in  the  '  Countess  of  Salisbury,'  Young 
Bevil  in  '  Conscious  Lovers,'  and  was,  3  Dec. 
1768,  the  original  Cyrus  in  Hoole's  '  Cyrus,' 
and,  18  Jan.  1769,  the  original  Courteney  in 
Mrs.  Lennox's  '  Sister.'  On  the  closing  night 
of  the  season,  26  May  1769,  he  played  Cyrus, 
being  his  last  appearance  in  London. 

At  an  early  date  Powell  had  become  an  un- 
exampled favourite  in  Bristol,  where,  at  the 
Jacob's  Well  Theatre,  on  13  Aug.  1764,  he 
took  his  first  benefit  as  Lear.  On  the  erec- 
tion of  the  King  Street  Theatre,  the  founda- 
tion-stone of  which  was  laid  on  30  Nov.  1764, 
Powell  became  associated  with  two  local 
men  named  Arthur  and  Clarke.  The  lease 
of  the  house  was  for  seven  years.  On  30  May 
1766  it  opened  with  the  'Conscious  Lovers,' 
given  gratis,  with  Powell  as  Young  Bevil. 
The  license  not  having  bee.n  yet  obtained,  the 
entertainment  was  announced  as  a  concert ; 
and  the  piece  named  and  the '  Citizen,'  in  which 
James  William  Dodd  [q.  v.]  took  part,  were 
given  without  charge.  A  prologue,  written 
by  Garrick,  was  spoken  by  Powell.  On  31  May 
1769  Powell  made,  in  this  edifice,  as  Jaffier, 
his  last  appearance  on  the  stage.  The  fol- 
lowing day  he  caught  cold,  playing  cricket. 
His  illness  became  severe,  and  King  Street, 
in  which,  near  the  theatre,  he  lived,  was 
barred  by  chains  against  carriages,  by  order 
of  the  magistrates.  On  Friday,  at  the  request 
of  his  family  and  physician,  the  performances 
were  suspended  to  avoid  disturbing  him,  and 
on  Monday,  3  July,-at  seven  in  the  morning, 
he  died.  '  Richard  III '  was  given  that  even- 
ing, and  Holland,  then  manager,  had  to  apolo- 
gise for  the  inability  of  the  actors  to  play  their 
parts.  The  audience  voluntarily  dispensed 
with  the  closing  farce.  Powell  was  buried 
on  the  following  Thursday  in  the  cathedral 
church,  Colman,  Holland,  and  Clarke,  with 
all  the  performers  of  the  theatre,  attending 
the  funeral,  which  was  conducted  by  the  dean. 
An  anthem  was  sung  by  the  choir.  On  14  July 
the '  Roman  Father '  was  performed  in  Bristol 
for  the  benefit  of  Powell's  family,  most  of  the 
audience  appearing  in  black.  An  address  by 
Colman  was  spoken  by  Holland,  who  did  not 
long  survive.  A  monument  in  the  north  aisle 
of  the  cathedral,  erected  by  his  widow,  has  an 
epitaph,  also  by  Colman.  Powell's  wife  made 
a  debut  as  Ophelia  in  Bristol  in  July  1766, 
but  did  not  reach  London.  She  married,  in 
September  1771 ,  John  Abraham  Fisher  [q.  v.] 
Miss  E.  Powell  appeared  in  Ireland,  where 
she  married  H.  P.  Warren,  an  actor,  and  died 
as  Mrs.  Martindale  in  King  Street,  Covent 


Garden,  in  1821.  Another  daughter  married 
Mr.  White,  clerk  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  left  daughters  who  were  shareholders  in 
Covent  Garden  Theatre. 

Powell  was  a  worthy  man,  an  entertaining 
companion,  and  an  actor  of  high  mark.  He 
was  above  middle  height,  and,  though  round- 
shouldered,  well  proportioned,  and  with  an 
expressive  countenance.  His  voice,  which  he 
abused,  was  musical  rather  than  powerful. 
It  has  been  said  of  him  that  he  burst  upon 
the  stage  with  every  perfection  but  experience. 
His  acting,  as  luxuriant  as  a  wilderness,  had 
a  thousand  beauties  and  a  thousand  faults. 
In  impassioned  scenes  tears  came  faster  than 
words,  choking  frequently  his  utterance. 

A  portrait  of  Powell,  by  Mortimer,  as  King 
John  to  the  Hubert  of  Bensley  and  the  '  Mes- 
senger' of  Smith,  is  in  the  Mathews  collec- 
tion in  the  Garrick  Club,  in  which  is  a  second 
portrait  by  an  unknown  artist.  There  is  an 
engraved  portrait  of  him  as  Cyrus,  and  Smith 
mentions  (Catalogue  JRaisonne)  other  por- 
traits by  both  Lawrenson  and  Pyle. 

[Lives  of  Powell  are  given  in  the  Georgian  Era, 
Rose's  Biogr.  Diet.,  and  in  most  dramatic  com- 
pilations, while  references  to  him  are  abundant 
in  the  biographies  of  actors  of  the  last  century. 
See  more  particularly  G-enest's  Account  of  the 
English  Stage  ;  Manager's  Notebook;  Jenkins's 
Memoirs  of  the  Bristol  Stage ;  Davies's  Life  of 
Garrick  and  Dramatic  Miscellanies ;  Gilliland's 
Dramatic  Synopsis  and  Dramatic  Mirror;  Garrick 
Correspondence;  Murphy's  Life  of  Garrick;  Ber- 
nard's Retrospections;  Reed's  Notit.ia  Dramatica 
(MS.) ;  Wilkinson's  WanderingPatentee ;  Boaden's. 
Life  of  Mrs.  Jordan;  O'Keeffe's  Memoirs;  Doran's 
Annals  of  the  Stage,  ed.  Lowe ;  Victor's  History 
of  the  Theatres ;  Clark  Russell's  Representative 
Actors;  Thespian  Dictionary.]  J.  K. 

POWELL,      WILLIAM       SAMUEL 

(1717-1775),  divine,  was  born  at  Colchester 
on  27  Sept.  1717,  being  the  elder  son  of  the 
Rev.  Francis  Powell,  who  married  Susan, 
daughter  of  Samuel  Reynolds  (d.  1694), 
M.P.  for  Colchester,  and  widow  of  George 
Jolland.  Her  eldest  brother  married  Frances, 
daughter  of  Charles  Pelham  of  Brocklesby, 
Lincolnshire,  of  the  family  of  the  Duke  of 
Newcastle,  and  on  the  death,  in  1760,  of 
their  son,  Charles  Reynolds  of  Peldon  Hall, 
Essex,  that  estate,  with  other  property  in 
Little  Bentley  and  Wix,  in  the  same  county^ 
came  to  Powell  (MOKA.NT,  Essex,  i.  419,447, 
468).  He  was  educated  at  Colchester  gram- 
mar school,  under  the  Rev.  Palmer  Smythies, 
and  admitted  pensioner  at  St.  John's  Col- 
lege, Cambridge,  on  4  July  1734.  In  No- 
vember 1735  he  was  elected  a  foundation 
scholar,  and  he  held  exhibitions  from  his 
college  in  November  1735,  1736,  and  1738. 


Powell 


255 


Powell 


His  degrees  were  B.A.  1738-9,  M.A.  1742, 
B.D.  1749,  and  D.D.  1757  ;  and  on  25  March 
1740  he  was  admitted  as  fellow  of  St.  John's. 

In  1741  Powell  became  private  tutor  to 
Charles  Townshend  (second  son  of  Viscount 
Townshend),  afterwards  chancellor  of  the  ex- 
chequer. At  the  end  of  that  year  he  was 
ordained  deacon  and  priest,  and  was  presented 
on  13  Jan.  1741-2  by  Lord  Townshend  to  the 
rectory  of  Colkirk  in  Norfolk.  In  1742  he  re- 
turned to  college  life,  and,  after  reading  lec- 
tures for  two  years  as  assistant  tutor,  was 
promoted  in  1744  to  be  principal  tutor,  and 
acted  in  1745  as  senior  taxor  of  the  university. 
While  he  was  at  Cambridge  his  chief  friends 
were  Balguy  and  Hurd.  Mason,  who  was  then 
an  undergraduate  at  St.  John's,  refers  in  a 
contemporary  poem  to '  gentle  Powell's  placid 
mien.'  On  3  Nov.  1760  he  became  a  senior 
fellow  of  his  college,  and  in  1761,  when  he  had 
inherited  the  property  of  his  cousin,  he  quitted 
Cambridge  and  took  a  house  in  London ;  but 
he  did  not  resign  his  fellowship  until  1763. 

While  at  Cambridge  Powell  twice  pro- 
voked a  serious  controversy.  There  was  printed 
in  1757,  and  reprinted  in  1758,  1759,  and 
1772,  a  sermon,  entitled  '  A  Defence  of  the 
Subscriptions  required  in  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land,' which  he  had  preached  before  the 
university  on  Commencement  Sunday.  He 
contended  that  the  articles  were  general  and 
indeterminate,  and  '  left  room  for  improve- 
ments in  theology.'  These  views  were  much 
criticised  by  partisans  on  both  sides,  Powell's 
chief  avowed  opponent  being  Archdeacon 
Blackburne,  who  published  severe '  Remarks' 
upon  the  sermon  in  1758  (cf.  MEADLEY,  Life 
of  Mrs.  Jebb,  p.  59). 

Powell's  second  controversy  was  of  a  per- 
sonal character.  The  Lucasian  professorship 
was  vacant  in  1760,  and  among  the  candi- 
dates were  Edward  Waring  of  Magdalene 
College  and  William  Ludlam  of  St.  John's 
College.  As  some  evidence  of  his  qualifi- 
cations for  the  post,  Waring  distributed  a 
portion  of  his  (  Miscellanea  Analytica,'  and 
to  serve  the  interests  of  Ludlam,  a  member 
of  his  own  body,  Powell  attacked  it  in  '  Ob- 
servations on  the  First  Chapter  of  a  Book 
called  "  Miscellanea  Analytica "  '  (anon.), 
1760.  To  a  reply  by  Waring,  Powell  retorted 
in  an  anonymous  l  Defence  of  the  Observa- 
tions,' which  Waring  answered  in  a  '  Letter.' 

On  25  Jan.  1765  Powell  was  unani- 
mously elected  master  of  his  old  foundation 
of  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge,  where  he 
spent  the  rest  of  his  days  *  in  great  splendour 
and  magnificence.'  There  were  numerous 
competitors  for  the  post,  but  he  was  backed 
by  the  influence  of  the  Duke  of  Newcastle 
(GRAY,  Works,  ed.  Gosse,  iii.  190).  Hurd  con- 


gratulated him  on  owing  the  election  to  his 
own  merit  (KiLVERT,  Life  of  Hurd,  p.  93). 
Powell  had  been  admitted  a  fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society  on  15  March  in  the  previous 
year.  In  the  following  November  he  suc- 
ceeded to  the  vice -chancellorship  of  the 
university,  and  in  December  1766  he  was 
appointed  by  the  crown  to  the  archdeaconry 
of  Colchester.  In  1768  he  claimed  the  col- 
lege rectory  of  Freshwater  in  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  worth  500J.  per  annum,  which  was  in 
the  option  of  the  master,  and  resigned  the 
benefice  of  Colkirk.  The  fellows  disliked 
this  act,  but  their  indignation  was  somewhat 
mitigated  by  Powell's  gift  of  500/.  to  the  so- 
ciety, when  it  was  intended  to  rebuild  the 
first  court  and  to  lay  out  the  gardens  under 
the  care  of  '  Capability '  Brown.  Through  the 
watchfulness  with  which  he  guarded  the 
corporate  revenues  and  the  strictness  of  his 
discipline  the  college  secured  the  leading 
position  in  the  university.  In  its  first  year  he 
established  college  examinations,  drawing  up 
the  papers  himself  (cf.  WORDSWORTH,  Schola 
Academicce,  pp.  354-6),  and  attending  the  exa- 
minations in  person.  But  he  opposed  with 
vigour  the  proposition  of  Dr.  Jebb  that  annual 
examinations  of  the  whole  university  for  all 
students  in  general  subjects  should  be  esta- 
blished. An  anonymous  pamphlet,  '  An  Ob- 
servation on  the  Design  of  establishing 
Annual  Examinations  at  Cambridge,'  1774, 
is  ascribed  to  him,  and  it  provoked  from  Mrs. 
Jebb  'A  Letter  to  the  Author.'  He  helped 
several  undergraduates  with  the  means  of 
completing  their  course,  and,  at  his  own  ex- 
pense, he  bestowed  prizes ;  but  he  did  not 
allow  any  student,  whatever  his  year  might 
be,  to  pass  without  examination  in  one  of  the 
gospels  or  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  He  him- 
self attended  chapel  without  a  break  through 
the  whole  year,  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
His  manners,  however,  were  '  rigid  and  un- 
bending.' 

About  1770  Powell  had  a  stroke  of  apo- 
plexy, and  he  died  in  his  chair,  from  a  fit  of 
the  palsy,  on  19  Jan.  1775.  He  was  buried 
in  the  college  chapel  on  25  Jan.,  the  anniver- 
sary of  his  election  as  master,  and  over  his 
vault  was  placed  a  flat  blue  stone,  with  an 
epitaph  by  Balguy.  He  was  unmarried,  and 
left  his  property  to  his  niece,  Miss  Jolland, 
who  lived  with  him.  For  his  sister,  Susanna 
Powell,  with  whom  he  could  not  agree,  an 
annuity  of  150/.  was  provided.  She  became 
matron  of  the  Chelsea  Hospital,  and  died  at 
Colchester  in  August  1796.  He  bequeathed 
1,000/.  to  Dr.  Balguy,  and  the  same  sum  for 
equal  division  between  six  fellows  and  four 
members  of  his  college.  His  books  were  left 
to  four  of  the  fellows. 


Power 


256 


Power 


Besides  the  works  mentioned  above,  Powell 
wrote:  1.  'The  Heads  of  a  Course  of  Lectures 
on  Experimental  Philosophy'  (anon.),  1746 
and  1753.  2.  '  Discourses  on  Various  Sub- 
jects,' 1776;  edited  by  Dr.  Balguy,  who  sup- 
plied an  outline  of  his  life.  They  were 
reprinted,  with  the  discourses  of  the  Rev. 
James  Fawcett,  B.D.,  by  T.  S.  Hughes  in 
1832,  and  an  interesting  account  of  Powell's 
career  was  prefixed.  The  discourses  were 
said  by  Bishop  Watson  to  have  been  '  written 
with  great  acuteness  and  knowledge.'  Two 
letters  by  Powell  are  in  Nichols's  '  Illustra- 
tions of  Literature,'  iii.  512-15,  one  in  Ni- 
chols's '  Literary  Anecdotes,' iii.  232  (cf.  NEW- 
COME,  Memoir  of  Godfrey  Goodman,  App.  L.) 

[Gent.  Mag.  1775  p.  47,  1785  pt.  i.  pp.  290, 
339 ;  Baker's  St.  John's  Coll.  (ed.  Mayor),  i. 
305,  307,  323,  329-30,  ii.  1042-78;  Halkettand 
Laing's  Pseud.  Lit.  iii.  1767,  1778;  Life  by 
Balguy,  1786  ;  Le  Neve's  Fasti,  ii.  344,  iii.  610, 
643,  693  ;  Carthew's  Launditch  Hundred,  iii. 
74;  Blackburne's  Works,  v.  512-31  ;  Nichols's 
Lit.  Anecd.i.  566-84,  ii.  293,  iii.  231-2,  iv.  306, 
viii.  504,  ix.  487 ;  "Wordsworth's  Social  Life  at 
Universities,  pp.  335-43 ;  Wordsworth's  Scholae 
Academic*,  pp.  352-4.1  W.  P.  C. 

P9WER,  HENRY,  M.D.  (1623-1668), 
physician  and  naturalist,  born  in  1623,  was 
matriculated  at  Cambridge,  as  a  pensioner  of 
Christ's  College,  15  Dec.  1641,  and  graduated 
B.A.  in  1644.  He  became  a  regular  corre- 
spondent of  Sir  Thomas  Browne  (1605-1682) 
("q.  v.]  on  scientific  subjects,  and  writing  to 
him  from  Halifax,  13*  June  1646,  he  says: 
1  My  yeers  in  the  University  are  whole  up  to 
a  midle  bachelaur-shippe,  which  height  of  a 
graduate  I  am  sure  ought  to  speake  him 
indefective  in  any  part  of  philosophy  '  (Sloane 
MS.  3418,  f.  94).  He  graduated  M.A.  in 
1648,  and  M.D.  in  1655.  It  appears  that  he 
practised  his  profession  at  Halifax  for  some 
time,  but  he  eventually  removed  to  New 
Hall,  near  Ealand.  Power  was  elected  and 
admitted  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society 
1  July  1663,  he  and  Sir  Justinian  Isham 
being  the  first  elected  members  of  that 
body  (THOMSON,  Hist,  of  the  Royal  Soc. 
append,  iv.  p.  xxiii).  He  died  at  New  Hall  on 
23  Dec.  1668,  and  lies  buried  in  the  church 
of  All  Saints,  Wakefield,  where  there  is  a 
brass  plate  to  his  memory,  with  a  Latin  in- 
scription, on  the  floor  in  the  middle  chancel 
(SissoN,  Church  of  Wakefield,  p.  41). 

His  only  published  work  is:  'Experi- 
mental Philosophy,  in  three  Books :  contain- 
ing New  Experiments,  Microsopical,  Mer- 
curial, Magnetical.  With  some  Deductions, 
and  Probable  Hypotheses,  raised  from  them, 
in  Avouchment  and  Illustration  of  the  now 
famous  Atomical  Hypothesis,'  London,  1664, 


4to  (actually  published  in  1663).  The  pre- 
face is  dated  '  from  New  Hall,  near  Halli- 
fax,  1  Aug.  1661.'  A  copy,  with  the  author's 
manuscript  corrections  and  additions,  is  in 
the  British  Museum  (Sloane  MS.  1318). 

He  left  the  following  works  in  manu- 
script :  '  Experiments  recommended  to  him 
by  the  Royal  Society,'  Sloane  MS.  1326,  art, 
10 ;  '  A  Course  of  Chymistry,'  Sloane  MS. 
496,  art.  2  ;  <  Chymia  Practica,  1659,'  Sloane 
MS.  1380,  art.  17;  <  Copies  of  several 
Letters  to  and  from  him  mostly  on  Chemi- 
cal Subjects,  and  some  Anatomical  Observa- 
tions,' Sloane  MS.  1326,  art.  2 ;  '  A  Physico- 
anatomical  History,'  Sloane  MS.  1380,  art. 
12 ;  Memorandum  Books,  7  vols.,  Sloane  MSS. 
1351,  1353-8;  <  Epitome,  sen  chronica 
rerum  ab  orbe  condito  gestarum,'  Sloane 
MS.  1326,  art.  1 ;  '  Experiments  and  subtel- 
ties,'  Sloane  MS.  1334,  p.  8 ;  '  Analogia  inter 
alphabetum  Hebraicum  et  Musicum,'  Sloane 
MS.  1326,  art,  5 ;  '  The  Motion  of  the  Earth 
discovered  by  Spotts  of  the  Sun,'  Sloane 
MS.  4022,  art.  3 ;  '  Experimenta  Mercurialia,' 
Sloane  MSS.  1333  art.  3,  and  1380  art,  20  ; 
'  Essay  on  the  World's  Duration,'  Sloane 
MS.  2279,  art.  3  ;  '  Experiments  with  the 
Air-pump,'  Sloane  MS.  1326,  art.  11 ;'  Mi- 
croscopical Observations,  1661>'  Sloane  MSS. 
1380  art.  15,  and  4022  art.  11 ;  '  Magnetical 
Philosophy,  1659,'  Sloane  MSS.  1380,  art. 
18  ;  *  Physico  -  mechanical  Experiments,' 
Sloane  MS.  1380,  art,  19:  'Hydragyral  Ex- 
periments, 1653,'  Sloane  MS.  1380,  art.  21 ; 
1  Subterraneous  Experiments,  or  Observa- 
tions made  in  Coal  Mines,  October  1662,' 
Sloane  MS.  243,  art.  56  ;  '  Theatrum  botani- 
cum,'  Sloane  MS.  1343,  art.  4;  'Poem  in 
commendation  of  the  Microscope,'  Sloane 
MS.  1380,  art.  16;  'Some  Objections 
against  Astrology,'  Sloane  MS.  1326,  art.  6. 

[Addit.  MS.  5878,  f.  33;  Ayscough's  Cat.  of 
MSS.  pp.  576,  763,  654,  670,  678,  723,  824  ; 
Boyle's  Works,  1744,  v.  343;  Gent's  Hist,  of 
Rippon  (Journey,  pp.  13,  14);  Sir  T.  Browne's 
Works  (Wilkin),  iv.  525  ;  Halliwell's  Scientific 
Letters,  p.  91 ;  Lupton's  Wakefield  Worthies, 
pp.149,  150;  Wright's  Antiquities  of  Halifax, 
p.  171.]  T.  C. 

POWER,  JOSEPH  (1798-1868),  libra- 
rian of  the  university  of  Cambridge,  son  of 
a  medical  practitioner  at  Market  Bosworth, 
Leicestershire,  was  born  in  1798.  He  was 
admitted  pensioner  at  Clare  College,  Cam- 
bridge, on  21  March  1817.  He  graduated 
B.A.  in  1821,  when  he  was  tenth  wrangler, 
and  M.A.  in  1824.  He  was  elected  fellow 
of  his  college  in  1823  (19  Dec.),  and  served 
the  office  of  dean ;  but,  as  there  was  no 
vacancy  in  the  tuition,  he  removed  in  1829 
to  Trinity  Hall,  where  he  became  fellow  on 


Power 


257 


Power 


21  Feb.,  one  of  the  two  tutors,  and  lecturer. 
In  the  same  year  he  was  proctor.  In  1844 
he  returned  to  his  former  college,  and  was 
re-elected  fellow  on  2  Jan.  In  1845  he  was 
a  candidate  for  the  office  of  librarian  of  the 
university,  vacant  by  the  resignation  of  the 
Rev.  J.  Lodge.  His  opponent  was  the  Rev. 
J.  J.  Smith,  M.A.,  fellow  of  Gonville  and 
Caius  College,  an  extremely  hard-working 
and  industrious  person.  Power,  on  the 
other  hand,  though  able,  was  known  to  be 
fond  of  literary  ease.  It  was  remarked,  there- 
fore, that  the  senate  had  to  choose  between 
work  without  Power,  and  Power  without 
work.  Power  beat  his  opponent  by  312  votes 
to  240.  He  resigned  the  office  on  13  Feb. 
1864.  In  1856  he  was  presented  by  Clare 


of  Musike.'  This  work  contains  the  rudi- 
ments of  extempore  descant,  and  thereby  fur- 
nishes evidence  of  the  existence  of  such  a 
practice  in  early  times.  It  describes  the  laws 
of  harmonical  combination  adapted  to  the 
state  of  music  as  far  back  as  the  reign  of 
Henry  IV  (HAWKINS,  History  of  Music,  2nd 
edit.  i.  248,  255).  Both  Burney  and  Haw- 
kins give  extracts  from  Power's  manuscript. 
Of  manuscript  music  by  Power  there  are  in 
the  *  Liceo  Filarmonico  'of  Bologna,Codex  37 : 
1.  'Salve  Regina;'  2.  'Alma  Redemptoris  ; ' 
and  3.  '  Ave  Regina.'  They  are  respectively 
signed  '  Leonell  Polbero,'  l  Leonelle,'  and 
'  LeoneP  (AMBEOS).  Several  pieces  by  Leo- 
nell Anglicus  are  preserved  in  Codices  87 
and  90  of  the  cathedral  chapter-books  of 


College  to  the  vicarage  of  Litlington,  Cam-    Trent,  and  a '  Kyrie  eleison '  by  Power  appears 
bridgeshire,  which  he  held  till  ]  866,  when  '  on  a  flyleaf  of  a  Sarum  gradual  in  Brit, 
the  same  patrons  presented  him  to  the  rectory 
of  Birdbrook,  Essex.      He   died  there  on 
7  June  1868. 

Power  kept  up  his  study  of  mathematics, 
and  continued  to  write  upon  them  till  late 
in  life.  He  was  also  an  accurate  scholar, 
and  a  thorough  master  of  both  the  theory 
and  the  practice  of  music.  His  geniality, 
love  of  hospitality,  and  wide  interests  made 
him  a  universal  favourite. 


He  contributed  the  following  papers  to 
the  Transactions  of  the  Cambridge  Philo- 
sophical Society:  'A  general  Demonstration 
of  the  Principle  of  virtual  Velocities,'  1827  ; 
'  A  Theory  of  Residuo-capillary  Attraction/ 
1834 ;  '  Inquiry  into  the  Causes  which  led 
to  the  fatal  Accident  on  the  Brighton  Rail- 
way, 2  Oct.  1841,'  1841 :  <  On  the  Truth  of  a 
certain  Hydrodynamical  Theorem,'  1842 ; 


1  On  the  Theory  of  Recip 
the  Solar  Ravs  and  th 


Museum  Lansdowne  MS.  462,  fol.  152. 
Other  music  by  him  is  in  the  Este  Library 
in  Modena. 

[Authorities  cited ;  MS.  Magliabecchia,  No. 
xix.  36  ;  Haberl's  Bausteine  fur  Musikge- 
schichte,  i.  89,  93 ;  information  from  Mr. 
Davey.]  L.  M.  M. 

POWER,  SIK  MANLEY  (1773-1826), 
lieutenant-general,  born  in  1773,  was  son  of 
Thomas Bolton  Power,  esq.,of  the  Hill  Court, 
near  Ross,  Herefordshire,  by  Ann,  daughter 
of  Captain  Corney.  His  great-grandfather, 
John  Power  (d.  1712),  had  married  Mercy, 
daughter  of  Thomas  Manley  of  Erbistock, 
Denbighshire.  Manley's  first  commission  as 
ensign  in  the  20th  foot  was  dated  27  Aug. 
1783,  when  he  was  apparently  between  nine 
and  ten  years  old.  He  was  promoted  to  be 


Rays  and  the  different  Media  by 
which  they  are  reflected,  refracted,  and  ab- 
sorbed,' 1854.  To  these  may  be  added  '  In- 
quiry into  the  Cause  of  Endosmose  and 
Exosmose,'  British  Association  Report,  1833. 

[Cambridge  Graduati  and  Calendar;  Royal 
Soc.  Cat.  of  Scientific  Papers ;  private  informa- 
tion.] J.  W.  C-K. 

POWER,  LIONEL  (fl.  1450?),  com- 
poser and  writer  on  musical  theory,  is  men- 
tioned among  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  cen- 
tury composers  by  John  Hothby  [q.  v.],  in 
his  'Dialogus  in  Arte  Musica,'  a  manu- 
script preserved  in  Florence,  and  quoted  by 
Morelot  and  incorrectly  by  Coussemaker, 
who  read  '  Iconal '  for  '  Leonel.'  Among  the 
curious  manuscripts  in  the  volume  once  be- 
longing to  the  monastery  of  the  Holy  Cross, 
Waltham,  and  now  in  the  British  Museum 
(Lansdowne  MS.  763),  is  a  tract  on  musical 
theory,  entitled  '  Lionel  Power  of  the  Cordis 

VOL.  XLVI. 


rocal  Action  between  j  lieutenant  in  1789,  and  captain  of  an  inde- 
pendent company  in  1793.  Transferred  to 
the  20th  foot  on  16  Jan.  1794,  he  was  pro- 
moted major  in  that  regiment  in  1799  and 
lieutenant-colonel  in  1801. 

Power  saw  much  active  service.  After 
spending  two  years  (1795-7)  in  Halifax, 
Nova  Scotia,  he  served  with  the  expedition 
to  Holland  in  1799  ;  afterwards  went  to  Mi- 
norca in  1800,  and,  with  his  regiment,  joined 
in  Egypt,  in  1801,  the  force  commanded 
by  Sir  Ralph  Abercromby  [q.  v.]  He  was 
present  at  the  siege  and  capitulation  of  the 
French  troops  at  Alexandria.  On  25  Oct. 

1802  he  was  placed  on  half-pay,  but  from 

1803  to   1805  acted  as  assistant  adjutant  - 

feneral  at  the  Horse  Guards.  On  6  June 
805  he  was  made  lieutenant-colonel  of  the 
32nd  foot,  and  became  colonel  in  the  army 
in  1810.  He  took  part  in  the  Peninsular 
war,  serving  with  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton's army  in  Spain  till  1813,  when  he  was 
promoted  major-general.  He  was  then  at- 


Power 


258 


Power 


tacked  to  the  Portuguese  army  under  Gene-  |  of  humour 
ral  Beresford,  and  commanded  a  Portuguese 
brigade  at  the  battles  of  Salamanca,  Vittoria, 
Nivelle,  and  Orthes.  For  his  services  he  re- 
ceived a  cross  and  clasp,  and  was  made 
knight-commander  of  the  Portuguese  order 
of  the  Tower  and  Sword.  The  honour  of 
K.C.B.  was  conferred  on  him  on  2  Jan.  1815. 
He  subsequently  served  on  the  staff  in 
Canada,  and  held  the  office  of  lieutenant- 
governor  of  Malta.  He  died  at  Berne, 
Switzerland,  on  7  July  1826. 

Power  married,  first,  in  1802,  Sarah, 
daughter  of  J.  Coulson,  by  whom  he  had  a 
son  Manley  (1803-1857)  ;  the  latter  became 
a  lieutenant-colonel  commanding  the  85th 
regiment.  He  married,  secondly,  in  1818, 
Anne,  daughter  of  Kingsmill  Evans,  colonel 
in  the  Grenadier  guards,  of  Lydiart  House, 
Monmouthshire.  His  eldest  son  by  her, 
Kingsmill  Manley  Power  (1819-1881),  was 
captain  in  the  9th  and  16th  Lancers,  and 
served  with  distinction  in  the  Gwalior  and 
Sutlej  campaigns. 

[Army  Lists  ;  Burke's  Landed  Gentry  ;  Gent. 


Mag.  1826,  ii.  182-3 
Hi.  312.1 


Royal  Military  Calendar, 
W.  B-T. 


POWER,    MARGUERITE,    afterwards 

COUNTESS      OF      BLESSINGTON     (1789-1849). 

[See  BLESSINGTON.] 

POWER,  Miss  MARGUERITE  A. 
(1815P-1867),  was  a  daughter  of  Colonel 
Power,  and  niece  of  Marguerite,  countess  of 
Blessington  [q.  v.]  She  spent  much  time 
with  her  aunt,  and  after  the  break  up  at 
Gore  House  in  April  1849,  Miss  Power  and 
her  sister  accompanied  their  aunt  to  Paris. 
Miss  Power  wrote  a  memoir  of  Lady  Blessing- 
ton,  which  was  prefixed  to  Lady  Blessington's 
novel,  'Country Quarters/  published  in  1850 ; 
it  is  reprinted  in  the  '  Journal  of  the  Con- 
versations of  Lord  Byron  with  the  Countess 
of  Blessington,'  1893. 

From  1851  to  1857  Miss  Power  edited  the 
'  Keepsake.'  In  1860  she  published  a  poem, 
( Virginia's  Hand,'  dedicated  to  John  Forster. 
It  is  a  story  told  in  poor  blank  verse,  and 
evidently  written  under  the  influence  of  Mrs. 
Browning's  '  Aurora  Leigh.'  Landor,  how- 
ever, highly  praised  Miss  Power's  poetical 
efforts,  especially  a  poem  written  by  her  in 
Heath's  '  Book  of  Beauty.'  Her  last  pub- 
lication was  an  account  of  a  winter's  resi- 
dence in  Egypt,  entitled  '  Arabian  Days  and 
Nights,  or  Rays  from  the  East,'  1863.  It 
is  dedicated  to  Janet  and  Henry  Ross,  with 
whom  she  stayed  at  Alexandria.  Miss  Power 
died,  after  a  long  illness,  in  July  1867.  She 
was  an  accomplished  woman,  possessing  con- 
siderable personal  attractions  and  some  sense 


(cf.  HALL,  Book  of  Memories, 
pp.  404-5). 

Her  works,  other  than  those  already  men- 
tioned, are :  1.  'Evelyn  Forester :  a  Woman's 
Story,'  1856.  2.  <  The  Foresters,'  2  vols. 
3.  « Letters  of  a  Betrothed,'  1858.  4.  '  Nelly 
Carew,'  1859,  2  vols.  5.  '  Sweethearts  and 
Wives,'  1861,  3  vols.,  2nd  edit.  She  also 
contributed  to  the  '  Irish  Metropolitan  Maga- 
zine,' ( Forget-me-not,'  and  '  Once  a  Week. 

[Allibone's  Diet,  of  Engl.  Lit.  p.  1167; 
Madden's  Countess  of  Blessington,  ii.*  393 ; 
O'Donoghue's  Poets  of  Ireland,  p.  208  ;  Gent. 
Mag.  1867,  ii.  266.]  E.  L. 

POWER,  RICHARD,  first  EARL  OF 
TYRONE  (1630-1690),  was  the  eldest  son  of 
John,  lord  de  la  Power  of  Curraghmore,  co. 
Waterford  (patent  in  LODGE),  who  died  in 
1661,  by  his  wife  Ruth  Pyphoe.  About  the 
time  of  his  eldest  son's  birth,  John,  lord 
Power,  became  a  lunatic,  and  this  afflic- 
tion seems  to  have  been  the  means  of  pre- 
serving the  great  family  estates.  Richard's 
mother  died  when  he  was  about  twelve  years 


old,  and  his  grandmother,  Mrs.  Pyphoe,  ob- 
tained protection  for  her  daughter's  children 
on  the  ground  of  their  father's  lunacy,  and 
consequent  innocence  of  the  rebellion  of 
1641.  The  lords  justices  and  council  directed 
that  no  one  should  molest  the  Curraghmore 
family,  and  when  Cromwell  came  to  Ire- 
land he  issued  an  order  on  20  Sept.  1649 
setting  forth  that  Lord  Power  and  his  family 
were  '  taken  into  his  special  protection.'  None 
of  the  Powers  were  excepted  from  pardon  in 
the  Cromwellian  Act  of  Settlement,  but  they 
were  impoverished  by  the  war,  and  in  the 
spring  of  1654  they  received  a  grant  of  20s. 
a  week.  They  were  threatened  with  trans- 
plantation to  Connaught  in  that  year,  but 
were  respited  after  inquiry;  and  Colonel 
Richard  Lawrence  [q.  v.]  certified  on  15  July 
that  'my  Lord  Power  hath  been  in  a  dis- 
temper, disabling  him  to  act  at  all,  and  that 
his  son  Mr.  Richard  Power  hath  ever  de- 
meaned himself  inoffensively  that  ever  I 
heard,  having  killed  tories  and  expressed 
much  forwardness  therein,  and  never  acted 
anything  against  the  authority  that  I  heard 
of'  (copy  at  Gurteen).  The  family  were 
classed  as  recusants,  but  there  was  no  for- 
feiture. In  1655  Richard's  sister  Catherine 
(d.  1660)  was  appointed  his  guardian.  About 
three  years  later  she  married  John  Fitzgerald 
of  Dromana,  when  she  and  Richard  prayed 
that  another  guardian  might  be  appointed. 

The  Restoration  brought  prosperity  to  Cur- 
raghmore, and  Richard  was  M.P.  for  co. 
Waterford  in  the  Irish  parliament  of  1660. 
He  succeeded  to  the  peerage  on  the  death  of 


Power 


259 


Power 


his  father  next  year,  and  his  brother-in-law, 
James,  Lord  Annesley,  was  elected  to  fill  his 
seat  in  the  House  of  Commons.  The  new 
Lord  Power  was  made  governor  of  the  county 
and  city  of  Waterford,  and  had  also  a  com- 
pany of  foot ;  but  the  pay  was  often  in  ar- 
rear,  and  tradesmen  suffered  (Ifist.  MSS. 
Comm.  10th  Hep.  App.  v.  pp.  82,  98).  In 
June  1666  it  was  falsely  reported  that  Ed- 
mund Ludlow  was  going  to  attack  Limerick 
at  the  head  of  a  French  army.  Ormonde  took 
precautions,  and  Orrery,  as  lord  president  of 
Munster,  ordered  Lord  Power  to  have  his 
militia  in  readiness.  In  1669  he  had  a  grant 
of  forfeited  lands  which  belonged  to  various 
persons  of  the  name  of  Power.  He  pur- 
chased other  forfeited  property  at  Dungar- 
van  for  5007. 

In  May  1673  Power  made  a  bold  stroke  to 
unite  the  Curraghmore  and  Dromana  estates 
by  marrying  his  ward  and  sister's  daughter, 
Catherine  Fitzgerald,  to  his  eldest  surviving 
son  John.  Catherine  was  about  twelve  years 
old,  and  her  cousin  about  seven,  but  Arch- 
bishop Sheldon  allowed  a  marriage  ceremony 
to  be  performed  before  him  in  Lambeth 
Chapel.  In  October  Lord  Power  was  created 
Earl  of  Tyrone  and  Viscount  Decies ;  the 
last  was  the  title  formerly  borne  by  the  Fitz- 
geralds,  and  was  now  given  by  courtesy  to  the 
child-bridegroom.  In  May  1675  Catherine 
appeared  again  before  Sheldon,  and,  in  the 
presence  of  a  notary  and  other  witnesses, 
solemnly  repudiated  the  contract  into  which 
she  had  before  been  surprised.  Doubtless  in 
connection  with  this  business  Tyrone  now 
left  Ireland  suddenly  without  the  lord  lieu- 
tenant's license,  which  he  was  obliged  to  have 
as  l  a  peer,  a  privy  councillor,  governor  of 
the  county  and  city  of  Waterford,  and  go- 
vernor of  a  foot  company.'  Catherine  Fitz- 
gerald continued  to  live  for  a  time  under 
charge  of  Tyrone's  father-in-law,  Lord  Angle- 
sey, but  on  Easter  eve  1677  she  left  his  house, 
and  was  married  the  same  day  to  Edward 
Villiers,  an  officer  of  the  blues,  and  eldest  son 
of  the  third  Viscount  Grandison.  Chancery 
proceedings  followed,  and  Tyrone  was  forced 
to  give  up  the  title-deeds  of  the  Dromana 
estate. 

In  March  1678-9  information  was  laid 
before  the  lord  lieutenant  and  council  by  an 
attorney,  Herbert  Bourke,  to  the  effect  that 
Tyrone  was  implicated  in  treasonable  prac- 
tices. Bourke  had  been  on  friendly  terms 
with  Tyrone,  but  they  had  subsequently 
quarrelled,  and  Tyrone  had  sent  him  to 
prison  for  an  old  assault  on  a  smith.  Bourke 
was  acquitted,  and  declared,  with  some  ap- 
pearance of  probability,  that  the  charge  was 
trumped  up  to  punish  him  for  revealing  the 


earl's  treasonable  talk.  Bourke's  charges, 
after  enquiry,  were  remitted  to  the  king's 
bench.  Tyrone  had  to  find  bail,  and  was  ex- 
cluded from  the  castle  and  the  council-board 
until  the  case  could  be  heard.  Tyrone  was 
indicted  for  a  treasonable  conspiracy  at  the 
Waterford  assizes  in  August  1679,  and  again 
in  March  1680,  John  Keating  [q.  v.]  presid- 
ing on  both  occasions.  Both  grand  juries 
ignored  the  bills  ;  the  whole  story  was  ridi- 
culous, and  of  any  plot  there  was  no  real 
evidence  (ib.  llth  Rep.  App.  ii.  p.  219). 

Tyrone,  who  had  not  been  discharged  from 
bail,  was  brought  to  England  before  the 
end  of  1680  ;  his  impeachment  was  decided 
on  by  the  House  of  Commons,  and  he  was 
locked  up  in  the  gatehouse.  Unimportant 
evidence  was  given  by  Thomas  Sampson, 
Tyrone's  late  steward  (ib.)  On  3  Jan.  1681 
the  earl  petitioned  the  House  of  Lords,  set- 
ting forth  the  loyalty  of  his  family  for  nearly 
five  hundred  years,  and  his  adherence  to  the 
protestant  religion.  He  asked  to  have  all 
informations  against  him  brought  from  Ire- 
land, and  to  be  sent  before  a  grand  jury,  and 
to  be  discharged  of  all  civil  actions  during 
his  imprisonment.  Or  he  was  willing,  if 
allowed,  to  prosecute  the  conspirators  against 
his  life.  Parliament  was  dissolved  a  fort- 
night later;  the  reaction  then  began,  and 
'  the  plot '  was  blown  to  the  four  winds.  Three 
earls  and  the  eldest  son  of  another  gave  their 
bail  at  the  beginning  of  1684  for  Tyrone's 
appearance  at  the  opening  of  the  next  session 
of  parliament,  and  he  was  allowed  to  return 
to  Ireland.  He  wrote  to  Dartmouth  within 
a  month  of  Charles  II's  death  to  say  that  he 
was  ready  to  wait  on  the  new  king,  although 
'  his  late  prolix  sufferings,  owing  to  malicious 
contrivers  against  him,  disabled  him  from 
appearing  before  his  majesty  suitable  to  the 
character  he  has  the  honour  to  bear '  (ib. 
App.  v.) 

Tyrone's  protestantism  did  not  survive  the 
accession  of  James  II.  He  became  a  colonel 
of  a  regiment  of  foot,  was  made  a  privy 
councillor  in  May  1686,  and  in  1687  re- 
ceived a  pension  of  300Z.  He  was  lord  lieu- 
tenant of  the  county  and  city  of  Waterford. 
On  12  Sept.  1686  the  viceroy  Clarendon 
wrote  to  Rochester :  f  Lord  Tyrone  came  to 
me  yesterday  morning,  and  has  continued 
with  me  all  the  time  of  my  being  at  Water- 
ford  (three  days)  ;  but  not  one  other  of  the 
Roman  catholic  gentlemen  have  been  with 
me,  nor  any  of  the  merchants.'  According 
to  King  (xviii.  11),  Tyrone  reported  that 
Waterford  Cathedral  was  a  place  of  strength, 
and  therefore  not  fit  to  be  trusted  in  the 
hands  of  protestants.  He  was  one  of  the 
twenty-four  aldermen  elected  for  the  city 

s2 


Power 


260 


Power 


when  James  had  suppressed  the  old  cor- 
poration and  granted  a  new  charter.  He 
sat  as  a  peer  in  the  Irish  parliament  held  on 
7  May  1689,  after  the  abdication,  the  chief 
business  being  to  attaint  most  of  the  protes- 
tant  landowners.  Tyrone's  regiment  was 
one  of  seven  which  formed  the  garrison 
of  Cork  when  Marlborough  attacked  it  in 
September  1690.  He  and  Colonel  Rycaut 
negotiated  the  capitulation,  which  averted  an 
assault.  The  garrison  of  about  four  thousand 
men  became  prisoners  on  28  Sept.  Having 
evidently  levied  war  against  William  and 
Mary,  he  was  charged  with  treason,  and 
lodged  in  the  Tower  by  order  of  the  privy 
council  dated  9  Oct.  There  he  died  on  the  14th, 
and  on  3  Nov.  he  was  buried  in  the  ancient 
parish  church  of  Farnborough,  Hampshire, 
the  resting-place  of  his  father-in-law  Angle- 
sey. Both  vault  and  register  are  still  to  be 
seen,  the  words  *  in  woollen '  being  omitted 
in  the  entry  of  Tyrone's  burial.  He  under- 
went outlawry  in  Ireland,  but  this  was  re- 
versed in  his  son's  time.  There  is  a  picture 
of  a  man  in  armour  at  Curraghmore  which 
is  supposed  to  be  a  portrait  of  this  earl. 

Tyrone  married  in  1654  Dorothy  Annes- 
ley,  eldest  daughter  of  Arthur,  first  earl  of 
Anglesey  [q.  v.]  He  was  succeeded  by  his 
eldest  surviving  son,  John,  lord  Decies,  who 
died  a  bachelor  in  1693  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
eight,  after  having  gone  through  the  form 
of  marriage  when  he  was  seven.  John  is 
the  hero  of  the  Beresford  ghost  story  on 
which  Scott  founded  his  fine  ballad  of  the 
'  Eve  of  St.  John '  (  Ulster  Journal  of  Archceo- 
logy,  vii.  149).  He  was  succeeded  by  his 
brother  James,  who  left  one  daughter,  Lady 
Catherine.  She  became  the  wife  of  Sir 
Marcus  Beresford,  and  from  this  marriage 
the  Marquis  of  Waterford  is  descended. 

[Lodge's  Irish  Peerage,  ed.  Archdall ;  Jacobite 
Narrative  known  to  Macaulay  as  Light  to  the 
Blind,  ed.  Gilbert;  Carte's  Life  of  Ormonde; 
Archbishop  King's  State  of  the  Protestants  under 
James  II ;  Smith's  Cork ;  Arthur,  Earl  of  Essex's 
Letters,  1770;  Macaulay's  Hist,  of  England, 
chap.  xvi. ;  D'Alton's  Irish  Army  List  of  James  II, 
vol.  ii. ;  Kennett's  Hist,  of  England,  vol.  iii.  ; 
Irish  Commons'  Journal,  1660;  authorities  cited 
in  text.  See  also  the  article  on  Archbishop 
OLIVER  PLUNXET.  Mr.  Edmond  De  la  Poer  of 
Gurteen-le-Poer,  co.  Waterford,  who  claims  the 
Barony  of  Le  Poer,  created  in  27  Hen.  VIII,  has 
kindly  given  access  to  his  manuscript  collections 
concerning  the  Power  or  De  la  Poer  family.] 

E.  B-L. 

POWER,  TYRONE  (1797-1841),  Irish 
comedian,  whose  full  name  was  William 
Grattan  Tyrone  Power,  was  born  near  Kil- 
macthomas,  co.  Waterford,  on  2  Nov.  1797. 


His  father  was  a  member  of  a  well-to-do 
Waterford  family,  and  died  in  America  be- 
fore Tyrone  was  a  year  old.  His  mother 
Marie,  daughter  of  a  Colonel  Maxwell,  who 
fell  in  the  American  war  of  independence, 
settled,  on  her  husband's  death,  in  Cardiff, 
where  she  had  a  distant  relative  named  Bird, 
a  printer  and  bookseller.  On  the  voyage 
from  Dublin  she  and  her  son  were  wrecked 
off  the  Welsh  coast,  and  narrowly  escaped 
drowning.  Power  may  have  served  an  ap- 
prenticeship to  Bird's  printing  business  in 
Cardiff.  Bird  was  printer  to  the  local  theatre, 
and  seems  to  have  introduced  Power  to  the 
company  of  strolling  players  which,  to  the 
great  grief  of  his  mother,  he  joined  in  his 
fourteenth  year.  He  was  handsome  and  well 
made,  and  creditably  filled  the  role  of  '  a 
walking  gentleman.'  In  1815  he  visited 
Newport,  Isle  of  Wight,  and  became  en- 
gaged to  Miss  Gilbert,  whom  he  married 
in  1817,  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  his  wife- 
being  a  year  younger.  After  appearing  in 
various  minor  characters  he  undertook,  in 
1818,  at  Margate,  the  part  of  a  comic  Irish- 
man, Looney  Mactwoler,  in  the  '  Review/ 
His  first  attempt  in  the  part,  in  which  he 
was  destined  to  make  a  great  reputation,  was 
a  complete  failure.  Want  of  success  as  an 
actor  led  him  at  the  end  of  the  year,  when  his 
wife  succeeded  to  a  small  fortune,  to  quit  the 
stage.  He  spent  twelve  months  ineffectively 
in  South  Africa,  but  returned  to  England 
and  the  stage  in  1821.  He  obtained  small 
engagements  in  the  London  theatres,  and  in 
1824  made  a  second  and  somewhat  success- 
ful attempt  in  Irish  farce  as  Larry  Hoola- 
gan,  a  drunken  scheming  servant,  in  the '  Irish 
Valet.  In  1826,  while  filling  small  roles 
at  Covent  Garden,  his  opportunity  came. 
Charles  Connor  [q.  v.],  the  leading  Irish 
comedian  on  the  London  stage,  died  suddenly 
of  apoplexy  in  St.  James's  Park  on  7  Oct. 
1826.  At  the  time  he  was  fulfilling  an  en- 
gagement at  Covent  Garden.  Power  was 
alloted  Connor's  parts  as  Serjeant  Milligan  in 
'  Returned  Killed,'  and  O'Shaughnessy  in  the 
'  One  Hundred  Pound  Note.'  His  success 
was  immediate.  Henceforth  he  confined 
himself  to  the  delineation  of  Irish  character, 
in  which  he  is  said  by  contemporary  critics 
to  have  been  superior  to  Connor,  and  at  least 
the  equal  of  John  Henry  Johnstone  [q.  v.] 
He  appeared  at  the  Haymarket,  Adelphi. 
and  Covent  Garden  theatres  in  London,  ful- 
filling long  engagements  at  100/.  and  120£ 
a  week,  and  he  paid  annual  visits  to  the 
Theatre  Royal,  Dublin,  where  he  was  always 
received  with  boundless  enthusiasm.  Be- 
tween 1833  and  1835  he  made  a  tour  in 
America,  appearing  in  the  principal  towns 


Power 


261 


Powle 


and  cities,  and  repeated  the  visit  in  1837  and 
1838. 

Power's  last  appearance  on  the  London 
stage  was  at  the  Haymarket  on  Saturday 
evening,  1  Aug.  1840,  when  he  filled  the 
roles  of  Captain  O'Cutter  in  the  '  Jealous 
Wife  ; '  Sir  Patrick  O'Plenipo,  A.D.C.,inthe 
'  Irish  Ambassador ; '  and  Tim  More  (a  tra- 
velling tailor)  in  the  '  Irish  Lion.'  He  was 
announced  to  open  the  Haymarket  sea- 
son on  Easter  Monday,  12  April  1841,  in  his 
own  farce, '  Born  to  Good  Luck,  or  the  Irish- 
man's Fortune.' 

Meanwhile  he  paid  a  fourth  visit  to 
America,  in  1840,  in  order  to  look  after  some 
property  he  had  purchased  in  Texas,  and 
3,000/.  he  had  invested  in  the  United  States 
Bank,  which  had  stopped  payment.  On 
11  March  1841  he  left  New  York  on  the  re- 
turn voyage  in  the  President,  the  largest 
steamer  then  afloat.  There  were  123  persons 
on  board.  The  steamer  was  accompanied 
by  the  packet  ship  Orpheus,  also  bound  for 
Liverpool.  On  the  night  of  12  March  a 
tempest  arose  and  raged  during  the  whole  of 
Saturday  the  13th.  Before  the  break  of 
dawn  on  Sunday  the  14th  the  President  dis- 
appeared, and  no  vestige  of  her  was  after- 
wards recovered.  Power  was  forty-four 
years  old  at  the  date  of  the  disaster.  He 
left  a  widow  and  four  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters. His  eldest  son,  Sir  William  Tyrone 
Power,  K.C.B.,  some  time  agent-general  for 
New  Zealand  and  author  of  various  books 
of  travel,  still  survives.  His  second  son, 
Maurice,  went  on  the  stage,  and  died  sud- 
denly in  1849. 

Tyrone  Power  was  about  five  feet  eight 
inches  in  height ;  his  form  was  light  and  agile, 
with  a  very  animated  and  expressive  face, 
light  complexion,  blue  eyes,  and  brown  hair. 
He  was  best  in  representations  of  blundering, 
good-natured,  and  eccentric  Irish  characters ; 
but  his  exuberant,  rollicking  humour,  and 
his  inexhaustible  good  spirits  he  infused  into 
every  comedy  and  farce,  however  indifferent, 
in  which  he  acted. 

On  his  return  to  London,  after  his  first 
tour  in  America  in  1836,  he  published  '  Im- 
pressions of  America,'  in  two  volumes.  He 
had  previously  published  three  romances — 
<  The  Lost  Heir'  (1830),  'The  Gipsy  of  the 
Abruzzo'  (1831),  and  'The  King's  Secret' 
(1831).  He  also  wrote  the  Irish  farces, '  Born 
to  Good  Luck,  or  the  Irishman's  Fortune ; ' 
'  How  to  pay  the  Rent  ; '  <  O'Flannigan  and 
the  Fairies;'  'Paddy  Carey,  the  Boy  of 
Clogheen ; '  the  Irish  drama  l  St.  Patrick's 
Eve,  or  the  Orders  of  the  Day  ; '  and  a  comedy 
entitled  '  Married  Lovers,'  all  of  which  he 
produced  himself. 


[In  "Webb's  and  other  notices  of  Power  he  has 
been  confused  with  a  contemporary  actor,  Tho- 
mas Powell,  who,  born  at  Swansea  and  there 
brought  up  as  a  compositor,  achieved  some  suc- 
cess in  his  lifetime  in  the  delineation  of  Irish 
character,  and  assumed  the  name  of  Tyrone 
Power.  The  real  facts  of  the  genuine  Tyrone 
Power's  Irish  origin  and  early  life  were  set  out  in 
a  full  biography  of  him  by  his  friend  J.  W.  Calcraft, 
manager  of  the  Theatre  Royal,  Dublin,  in  the 
Dublin  University  Magazine  for  1852  (vol.  xl.) 
See  also  B.  N.  Webster's  Acting  National  Drama, 
vol.  ii. ;  Thomas  Marshall's  Lives  of  the  most 
celebrated  Actors  and  Actresses.]  M.  MAcD. 

"  POWERSCOURT,     VISCOUNT.       [See 

WlNGFIELD.] 

POWIS,  titular  DUKES  OF.  [See  HER- 
BEET,  WILLIAM,  1617-1696 ;  HERBERT, 
WILLIAM,  d.  1745.] 

POWIS,  MARQUISES  OF.  [See  HERBERT, 
WILLIAM,  first  MARQUIS,  1617-1696 ;  HER- 
BERT, WILLIAM,  second  MARQUIS,  d.  1745.] 

POWIS,  second  EARL  OF.  [See  HER- 
BERT, EDWARD,  1785-1848.] 

POWIS,  WILLIAM  HENRY  (1808- 
1836),  wood-engraver,  born  in  1808,  was  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  best  wood-engravers  in 
his  day.  Some  cuts  of  great  merit  by  him 
are  in  Martin  and  WestalPs  '  Pictorial  Illus- 
trations of  the  Bible,'  published  in  1833;  in 
Scott's  Bible,  edition  of  1834 ;  '  The  Solace 
of  Song,'  and  other  works.  A  very  promising 
career  was  cut  short  by  his  death  in  1836,  at 
the  early  age  of  twenty-eight. 

[Redgrave's  Diet,  of  Artists ;  Chatto  and  Jack- 
son's Treatise  on  Wood  Engraving  (ed.  1861), 
p.  544.]  L.  C. 

POWLE.     [See  also  POWELL.] 

POWLE,  GEORGE  (ft.  1770),  etcher 
and  miniature-painter,  was  a  pupil  of  Tho- 
mas Worlidge  [q.  v.],  whose  delicate  and  highly 
finished  mode  of  etching  he  imitated,  work- 
ing entirely  with  the  dry  point.  Worlidge's 
series  of  plates  from  antique  gems,  issued  in 
1768,  was  to  a  large  extent  the  work  of 
Powle.  He  at  one  time  resided  at  Hereford 
and  later  at  Worcester,  where  he  was  asso- 
ciated with  Valentine  Green,  for  whose  en- 
gravings of  Lady  Pakington  and  Sir  John 
Perrot  he  made  the  drawings.  There  he 
also  came  under  the  notice  of  John  Berkeley 
of  Spetchley,  for  whom  he  etched  a  portrait 
of  Sir  Robert  Berkeley,  the  judge,  and  one 
of  Berkeley  himself  in  1771.  Berkeley,  in 
his  letters  to  Granger,  speaks  highly  of 
Powle's  character  and  skill.  Powle's  other 
plates,  which  are  not  numerous,  include  por- 
traits of  Thomas  Belasyse,  lord  Fauconberg  ; 
the  Comtesse  de  Grammont,  after  Lely,  and 


Powle 


262 


Powle 


'  Old  Parr ; '  two  candle-light  subjects,  after 
Schalken ;  and  a  plate  in  Dr.  Hunter's  '  Ana- 
tomy of  the  Gravid  Uterus.'  Two  anony- 
mous plates  in  Nash's  '  History  of  Worcester- 
shire '  are  evidently  the  work  of  Powle.  He 
also  scraped  in  mezzotint  a  portrait  of  Mrs. 
Worlidge,  his  master's  third  wife.  Powle 
exhibited  miniatures  with  the  Free  Society 
of  Artists  in  1764  and  1766,  and  with  the 
Incorporated  Society  in  1769  and  1770 ;  but 
his  works  of  this  class  are  not  identified. 
James  Ross  of  Worcester  engraved  a  set  of 
views  of  Hereford  from  drawings  by  Powle. 

[Eedgrave's  Diet,  of  Artists ;  Graves's  Diet. 
of  Artists,  1760-1880;  Smith's  British  Mezzo- 
tinto  Portraits  ;  Granger  Correspondence,  ed. 
Malcolm,  1805.]  F.  M.  O'D. 

POWLE,  HENRY  (1630-1692),  master 
of  the  rolls  and  speaker  of  the  Convention 
parliament,  born  at  Shottesbrook  in  1630, 
was  second  son  of  Henry  Powle  of  Shottes- 
brook, Berkshire,  who  was  sheriff  for  Berk- 
shire in  1633,  by  his  wife  Katherine,  daugh- 
ter of  Matthew  Herbert  of  Monmouth.  His 
brother,  Sir  Richard  Powle,  was  M.P.  for 
Berkshire  in  1660-1,  was  knighted  in  1661, 
and  died  in  1678. 

Henry  matriculated  from  Christ  Church, 
Oxford,  on  16  Dec.  1646.  He  was  admitted  to 
Lincoln's  Inn  on  11  May  1647,  and  became  a 
barrister  in  1654  and  bencher  in  1659.  He 
first  entered  public  life  on  3  Jan.  1670-1, 
when  he  was  returned  for  Cirencester  to  the 
Pensioners'  parliament.  At  the  time  he  held 
property  at  Williamstrop  or  Quenington  in 
Gloucestershire,  and  was  usually  described 
as  of  the  latter  place.  Powle  first  appeared 
in  debate  in  February  1673,  when  he  at- 
tacked Lord-chancellor  Shaftesbury's  prac- 
tice of  issuing  writs  for  by-elections  during 
the  recess  without  the  speaker's  warrant. 
As  a  result  of  the  debate  all  the  elections 
were  declared  void,  6  Feb.  1672-3  (Parl. 
Hist.  iv.  510  ;  NOETH,  Examen,^.  56).  Sub- 
sequently he  opposed  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dulgence. He  was  not  anxious  to  extirpate 
papists,  'but  would  not  have  them  equal  to 
us.'  To  protestant  dissenters  he  was  willing 
to  grant  a  temporary  indulgence,  but  not  to 
repeal  all  laws  against  them  since  Queen 
Elizabeth's  time. 

Powle  soon  fully  identified  himself  with  the 
opponents  of  the  court.  He  declined  to 
support  the  king's  claim  to  the  dispensing 
power.  He  promoted  the  passing  of  the  Test 
Act  in  March.  In  the  new  session  in  Octo- 
ber Powle  led  the  attack  on  the  proposed 
marriage  between  the  Duke  of  York  and  the 
Princess  Mary  of  Modena,  and  the  king  at 
once  directed  a  prorogation.  But  before  the 


arrival  of  black  rod  to  announce  it  Powle's 
motion  for  an  address  was  carried  with  '  few 
negatives'  (Letters  addressed  to  Sir  Joseph 
Williamson,  ii.  51).  A  week  later  another 
short  session  opened.  Powle  advised  the 
withholding  of  supply  till  the  grievances  con- 
nected with  papist  favourites  and  a  standing 
army  were  redressed,  and  he  led  the  attack 
on  the  '  villainous  councillors,'  assailing  in 
particular  Anglesey  and  Lauderdale  (27  Oct. 
and  3  Nov.  1673,  ib.  ii.  69).  Next  year  he 
specially  denounced  Buckingham,  and  had 
a  large  share  in  driving  him  from  office.  In 
May  1677  he  vigorously  urged  the  wisdom 
of  a  Dutch  alliance.  When  the  commons 
sent  an  address  to  the  king  dictating  such 
an  alliance  on  4  Feb.  1677-8,  Charles  indig- 
nantly summoned  them  to  the  banqueting- 
room  at  Whitehall.  After  their  return  to 
the  house  Powle  stood  up,  but  Sir  Edward 
Seymour  [q.  v.],  the  speaker,  informed  him 
that  the  house  was  adjourned  by  the  king's 
pleasure.  Powle  insisted,  and  the  speaker 
sprang  out  of  the  chair  and,  after  a  struggle, 
got  away  (TowirsEKD,  Hist,  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  i.  33).  On  their  re-assembling 
five  days  later  Powle  declared  that  the 
whole  liberty  of  the  house  was  threatened  by 
the  speaker's  conduct.  In  May  1678,  when 
Charles  sent  a  message  to  the  house  to  hasten 
supply,  Powle  once  more  insisted  on  the 
prior  consideration  of  grievances.  Powle 
supported  the  impeachment  of  Danby,  but 
in  the  agitation  connected  with  the  pre- 
tended discovery  of  the  '  popish  plot '  he  took 
no  important  part. 

He  was  returned  for  both  Cirencester  and 
East  Grinstead,  Sussex,  in  Charles's  second 
parliament,  which  met  on  6  March  1678-9. 
He  elected  to  represent  Cirencester.  Sey- 
mour, the  speaker  chosen  by  the  commons, 
was  declined  by  the  king.  Powle  denied 
that  the  king  had  such  power  of  refusal,  and 
moved  an  address  '  that  we  desire  time  to 
think  of  it.'  During  the  discussion  that  fol- 
lowed/ Serjeant  Streek  named  Powle  himself 
as  speaker,  but  was  not  suffered  to  proceed, 
as  it  might  mean  a  waiver  of  their  rights.' 
Finally,  Serjeant  Gregory  was  elected.  The 
new  parliament  pursued  the  attack  on  Danby. 
'  Lyttleton  and  Powle,'  says  Burnet  (ii.  82), 
'  led  the  matters  of  the  House  of  Commons 
with  the  greatest  dexterity  and  care.'  Mean- 
while, Barillon,  the  French  ambassador, 
anxious  to  render  Danby 's  ruin  complete,  had 
entered  into  correspondence  with  Powle  and 
other  leaders  of  the  opposition.  Of  Powle's 
influence  and  abilities  Barillon  formed  a  high 
opinion.  '  He  is  a  man  (Barillon  wrote)  fit 
to  fill  one  of  the  first  posts  in  England, 
very  eloquent  and  very  able.  Our  first  cor- 


Powle 


263 


Powle 


respondence  came  through  Mr.  [Ralph]  Mon- 
tague's means,  but  I  have  since  kept  it  by 
my  own  and  very  secretly.'  Powle,  like  Har- 
bord  and  Lyttleton,  finally  accepted  a  pen- 
sion from  Barillon  of  five  hundred  guineas  a 
year  (DALKTMPLE,  i.  381). 

After  Danby's  committal  to  the  Tower 
and  Charles's  acceptance  of  Sir  William  Tem- 
ple's abortive  scheme  of  government  by  a 
new  composite  privy  council  of  thirty  mem- 
bers, Powle  was,  with  four  other  commoners, 
admitted  to  that  body  on  21  April  1678. 
Pour  days  later  James,  duke  of  York,  wrote 
to  Colonel  George  Legge,  '  I  am  very  glad 
to  heare  Mr  Powel  is  like  to  be  advanced,  and 
truly  I  believe  he  will  be  firme  to  me,  for  I 
look  on  him  as  a  man  of  honour.'  To  the 
new  parliament,  which  was  called  for  Octo- 
ber 1679,  Powle  was  returned  for  Cirencester. 
But  parliament  was  prorogued  from  time  to 
time  without  assembling,  and  Powle,  acting 
on  Shaftesbury's  advice,  retired  from  the 
council  on  17  April,  after  Charles  had  de- 
clared at  a  meeting  of  it  his  resolution  to 
send  for  the  Duke  of  York  from  Scotland 
(CHRISTIE,  ii.  356).  Parliament  met  at 
length  in  October  1680.  Powle  at  once 
arraigned  the  conduct  of  the  chief  justice, 
Scroggs,  who  had  just  discharged  the  grand 
jury  before  they  were  able  to  consider  Shaftes- 
bury's indictment  of  the  Duke  of  York.  In 
the  renewed  debates  on  the  Exclusion  Bill 
Powle  did  not  go  all  lengths.  ( The  king 
(he  urged)  has  held  you  out  a  handle,  and  I 
would  not  give  him  occasion  to  say  that  this 
house  is  running  into  a  breach  with  him.' 
Yet  in  the  proceedings  of  December  1680 
against  Lord  Stafford,  he  took  a  vehement 
part  (EVELYN,  Diary,  ii.  158-9). 

Although  returned  for  East  Grinstead  to 
Charles's  Oxford  parliament  (20  March  1680-1 
and  28  March  1681),  Powle  thenceforth  took 
little  share  in  politics  till  the  revolution. 
The  interval  he  is  said  to  have  spent  in  the 
practice  of  law.  But  he  had  other  interests 
to  occupy  him.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Royal  Society,  and  was  probably  for  part 
of  the  time  abroad.  At  the  revolution  he  at 
once  gained  the  confidence  of  William  III. 
On  16  Dec.  1688  he  and  Sir  Robert  Howard 
held  a  long  and  private  interview  with  the 
prince  at  Windsor  {Clarendon  Corresp.  ii. 
228).  When  William  called  together  at  St. 
J  ames's  a  number  of  members  of  Charles  II's 
parliaments  and  common  councilmen,  Powle 
attended  at  the  head  of  160  former  members 
of  the  House  of  Commons.  On  their  return 
to  Westminster  to  consider  the  best  method 
of  calling  a  free  parliament,  he  was  chosen 
chairman.  He  bluntly  asserted  that  '  the 
wish  of  the  prince  is  sufficient  warrant  for 


our  assembling ; '  and  on  the  following  morn- 
ing he  read  addresses  to  William,  praying 
that  he  would  assume  the  administration 
and  call  a  convention.  To  the  Convention 

Earliament   Powle  was  returned,  with  Sir 
hristopher  Wren,  for  the  borough  of  New 
Windsor,  and  he  was  immediately  voted  to 
the  chair  over  the  head  of  his  old  opponent, 
Sir  Edward  Seymour  (22  Jan.  1688-9). 

Powle's  speech  on  the  opening  of  the 
convention  exercised  much  influence  on  the 
subsequent  debates.  As  speaker,  he  con- 
gratulated WTilliam  and  Mary  on  their  coro- 
nation, 13  April  1689,  and  presented  to 
William  the  Bill  of  Rights  on  16  Dec.  1689. 
Powle  was  summoned,  with  seven  other  com- 
moners, to  William's  first  privy  council,  and, 
on  the  remodelling  of  the  judicial  bench, 
when  Hall  was  appointed  justice  of  the  king's 
bench  and  Sir  Robert  Atkyns  chief  baron, 
Powle,  on  13  March  1689-90,  received  the 
patent  of  master  of  the  rolls  (Foss,  vii.  294). 
His  patent  at  first  ran  '  durante  beneplacito,' 
but  on  the  following  14  June  a  new  one  was 
substituted,  bearing  the  phrase  '  quamdiu  se 
bene  gesserit'  (LTJTTEELL,  Relation,  ii.  140). 
So  long  as  the  convention  sat,  William 
constantly  relied  on  Powle's  advice.  When 
he  laid  down  his  office  at  the  dissolution  of 
February  1690,  he  was  allowed,  even  by  his 
rival  Seymour,  to  have  kept  order  excellently 
well.  Powle  was  returned  for  Cirencester 
for  William's  first  parliament,  which  met  on 
20  March  1689-90,  but  was  unseated  on  peti- 
tion. Powle  thereupon  devoted  himself  to 
his  duties  as  master  of  the  rolls,  and  success- 
fully claimed,  in  accordance  with  precedent, 
a  writ  of  summons  to  attend  parliament  as 
an  assistant  to  the  House  of  Lords  (Lords' 
Journals,  xiv.  578,  583).  He  spoke  in  the 
upper  house  in  favour  of  the  Abjuration  Bill 
on  24  April  1690,  yet  wished  the  oath  im- 
posed sparingly  arid  only  on  office-holders. 
He  died  intestate  on  21  Nov.  1692  (Hist. 
MSS.  Comm.  12th  Rep.  v.  139),  and  was 
buried  within  the  communion-rails  of  Quen- 
ington  church,  Gloucestershire,where  a  monu- 
ment was  erected  to  his  memory.  He  is  there 
described  as  master  of  the  rolls  and  one  of 
the  judges  delegates  of  the  admiralty. 

Burnet  said  of  Powle's  oratory,  '  When  he 
had  time  to  prepare  himself  he  was  a  clear 
and  strong  speaker ; '  but  Speaker  Onslow  de- 
precated the  qualification,  declaring  '  I  have 
seen  many  of  his  occasional  speeches,  and 
they  are  all  very  good '  (BuENET,  Own  Time, 
ii.  82).  Powle's  historical,  legal,  and  anti- 
quarian knowledge  was  highly  esteemed. 
With  the  aid  of  John  Bagford,  he  formed  a 
large  library  of  manuscripts  and  records.  A 
few  of  these  now  constitute  the  nucleus  of 


Powlett 


264 


Pownall 


the  Lansdowne  collection  in  the  British  Mu- 
seum (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  5th  Rep.  p.  379). 
Other  portions  were  dispersed,  and  were  for 
a  time  in  the  possession  of  Lord  Somers,  Sir 
Joseph  Jekyll,  and  Philip,  earl  Hardwicke. 
Powle's  arms  were  placed  in  the  window  of 
the  Rolls  chapel  and  also  of  Lincoln's  Inn 
hall  (see  Leicester  Correspondence,  Camden 
Soc.,  iii-iv).  His  portrait  was  painted  by 
Kneller  and  engraved  by  J.  Smith  in  1688. 

Powle  married,  first,  in  1659,  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  the  first  Lord  Newport  of  High 
Ercall.  She  died  on  28  July  1672,  and  was 
buried  at  Quenington.  His  second  wife  was 
Frances,  a  daughter  of  Lionel  Oanfield,  first 
earl  of  Middlesex,  and  widow  of  Richard 
Sackville,  earl  of  Dorset.  By  his  first  wife 
he  left  an  only  child,  Katharine,  who  married 
Henry,  eldest  son  of  Henry  Ireton  [q.  v.], 
the  regicide,  conveying  to  him  the  estates  of 
Quenington  and  Williamstrop  (see  ATKYNS, 
Gloucestershire,  pp.  190,  322).  Powle  was 
subsequently  involved  in  lawsuits  over  the 
property  of  his  second  wife. 

[Macaulay's  Hist,  of  England  ;  Ranke's  Hist, 
vols.  iv.  and  v. ;  Return  of  Members  (Parl. 
Paper),  1878;  Genealogist,  vi.  78;  Le  Neve's 
Pedigree  of  Knights,  pp.  31-2  ;  Ashmole's 
Berkshire,  f.  167  ;  Lansdowne  MSS.  232,  f.  41 ; 
Atkyn's  Gloucester,  pp.  190,  321;  Commons' 
and  Lords'  Journals;  Dalrymple's  Memoirs  of 
Great  Britain,  i.  337,  381 ;  Manning's  Lives 
of  the  Speakers  of  the  House  of  Commons,  p. 
389  ;  Calendar  of  Treasury  Papers ;  Burnet's 
Own  Time,  ii.  82,  145;  Cook's  Hist,  of  Parties, 
i.  32 ;  Lansdowne  MS.  232,  f.  41  ;  Foss's  Judges 
of  England,  vii.  294 ;  Townsend's  History  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  i.  33  ;  Collins's  Peerage,  ii. 
169  ;  Cobbett's  Parl.  Hist.,  passim;  Life  of  Sir 
Christ.  Wren  ;  Lord  Clarendon's  Diary  in  Cor- 
respondence of  Clarendon  and  Rochester ;  Ralph's 
Hist,  of  Engl. ;  Luttrell's  Relation  of  State  Affairs, 
i.  297,  503,  509,  ii.  14  ;  Forneron's  Louise  de 
Keroualle,  p.  208 ;  Mackintosh's  Revolution,  p. 
671;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  llth  Rep.  pp.  5,  31, 
12th  Rep.  vii.  176,  299,  13th  Rep.  v.  190,  399, 
vi.  20  ;  Christie's  Life  of  Shaftesbury ;  Gray's 
Debates  (Camden  Soc.);  Letters  addres«ed  to 
Sir  Joseph  Williamson  (Camd.  Soc.);  Evelyn's 
Diary,  ii.  158-9;  information  kindly  furnished 
by  Sir  Michael  Hicks-Beach  and  John  Nicholson, 
es^.,  the  librarian  of  Lincoln's  Inn.]  W.  A.  S. 

POWLETT.     [See  PATJLET.J 

POWLETT,  THOMAS  ORDE,  first 
LORD  BOLTON  (1746-1807).  [See  ORDE- 

POWLETT.] 

POWNALL,  ROBERT  (1520-1571), 
protestant  divine,  born  at  Barwick  in  So- 
merset in  1520,  fled  from  England  during 
Queen  Mary's  reign.  He  wrote,  in  1554,  'A 
most  Fruitful  Prayer  for  the  disputed  Church 


of  Christ,  very  necessary  to  be  used  of  the 
Godly  in  the  Daies  of  Affliction,  compiled  by 
R.  P.,'  which  was  printed  in  John  Bradford's 
'  Godly  Meditations,'  1559.  In  July  1555  he 
translated  (through  a  French  version  by  Val- 
lerain  Pullain)  Wolfgangus  Muscullus's 
<Temporysour(that  is  to  saye,  the  Observer  of 
Tyme,  or  he  that  chaungeth  with  the  Tyme)/ 
(see  SCHICKLER,  Eglises  du  Refuge,  iii.  12- 
18),  to  which  he  appended  a  rendering  (also 
through  the  French)  of  Celius  Secundus 
Curio's  '  Excellent  Admonicion  and  Resolu- 
cion.'  In  1556  two  other  translations  from 
the  French  by  Pownall  appeared,  viz.  'A 
most  pithye  and  excellent  Epistol  to  animate 
all  trew  Christians  into  the  Crosse  of  Christe/ 
and  Peter  Duval's  f  Litell  Dialogue  of  the 
Consolator  comfortynge  the  Church  e  in  hyr 
Afflictions,  taken  out  of  the  129  Psalme ' 
(14  July)  (cf.  ib.  i.  73,  iii.  40;  Bulletin 
de  la  Societe  pour  VHistoire  du  Prot.  Franq. 
vols.  xix,  xx).  He  is  doubtless  the  R.  P. 
who  published  on  12  April  1557  '  Admoni- 
tion to  the  Towne  of  Callays.'  Later  in  the 
year  he  was  at  Wesel,  and  when  the  con- 
gregation of  English  exiles  there  dispersed, 
he  accompanied  Thomas  Lever  [q.  v.]  and 
three  other  English  protestant  ministers  on 
a  visit  to  their  co-religionists  at  Geneva,  and 
finally  settled  with  Lever  and  his  friends  at 
Aarau  in  Switzerland  in  the  autumn  of  1557 
(Troubles  at  Frankfort,  p.  185).  On  5  Oct. 
1557  Pownall  and  seven  of  his  companions 
wrote  to  Bullinger,  thanking  him  for  dedi- 
cating to  them  a  volume  of  his  discourses 
(Original  Letters,  Parker  Soc.  i.  167).  After 
the  death  of  Mary,  Pownall,  with  others, 
addressed  a  letter  to  the  English  church  at 
Geneva  accepting  that  church's  proposal  that 
all  English  exiles  should  adopt  a  uniform 
attitude  on  points  of  disputed  ceremonies 
(16  Jan.  1558-9). 

Returning  to  England,  Pownall  was  or- 
dained priest  by  Grindal  on  1  May  1560,  being 
then  described  as '  aged  40  and  more '  (STRYPE, 
Grindal,  p.  59).  He  subscribed  the  articles 
of  1562  on  31  Jan.  1561-2  (STRYPE,  ^wza/s,i. 
491 ).  In  1570  he  was  one  of  the  six  preachers 
of  the  cathedral  church  of  Canterbury 
(STRYPE,  Parker,  ii.  25),  and  from  1562  until 
his  death  in  1571  he  was  rector  of  Harbledown 
in  the  Hundred  of  Westgate. 

[Tanner's  Bibl.  Brit.-Hib. ;  Fuller's  Church 
Hist.  iv.  106;  Troubles  at  Frankfort,  pp.  175, 
180  ;  Strype's  Annals,  i.  154,  491.  Parker,  ii.  25  ; 
Watt's  Bibl.  Brit.;  Hasted's  Kent,  iii.  583.1 

W.  A.  S. 

POWNALL,  THOMAS  (1722-1805), 
known  as  '  Governor  Pownall,'  politician  and 
antiquary,  was  second  son  of  William  Pow- 
nall (d.  1731)  and  grandson  of  Thomas 


Pownall 


265 


Pownall 


Pownall  of  Barnton,  Cheshire.  He  is  said  to 
have  been  born  at  Lincoln  in  1722,  and  to 
have  possessed  property  at  North  Lynn  in 
Norfolk.  He  was  educated  at  Lincoln,  and 
graduated  B.A.  from  Trinity  College,  Cam- 
bridge, in  1743.  Soon  afterwards  he  ob- 
tained a  place  in  the  office  of  the  board  of 
trade  and  plantations,  to  which  his  elder 
brother,  John  Pownall,  was  secretary,  and 
he  speedily  acquired  the  confidence  of  his 
chief,  George  Montagu  Dunk,  second  earl 
of  Halifax  [q.  v.]  On  the  nomination  of 
Halifax's  brother-in-law,  Sir  Danvers  Os- 
born,  to  the  governorship  of  New  York,  Pow- 
nall was  appointed  his  private  secretary. 
Either  then  or  at  a  later  date  he  received  the 
commission  of  lieutenant-governor  of  New 
Jersey,  the  governor  being  old  and  infirm. 
They  sailed  from  Portsmouth  on  22  Aug. 
1753,  and  arrived  at  New  York  on  6  Oct. ; 
but  a  few  days  later  Osborn  committed  sui- 
cide. The  late  governor's  papers  were  at 
once  demanded  by  the  council  of  the  pro- 
vince, but  Pownall  refused  to  surrender  them 
until  the  temporary  successor  had  duly 
qualified,  and  informed  his  superiors  in  Eng- 
land that  he  would  permanently  retain  any 
secret  papers.  He  remained  in  America,  and 
in  June  1754  was  a  spectator  at  Albany  of 
the  congress  of  the  commissioners  of  the 
several  provinces  in  North  America  which 
was  held  for  the  purpose  of  adopting  some 
common  measure  of  defence  against  French 
aggression.  It  was  at  this  congress  that  the 
proposition  of  taxing  the  colonies  was  first 
put  forward  by  the  English  authorities,  and 
to  its  meeting  many  politicians  attributed 
the  beginning  of  the  subsequent  revolution. 
Pownall  himself  on  this  occasion  for  the  first 
time  '  conceived  the  idea,  and  saw  the  neces- 
sity, of  a  general  British  union.' 

About  1755  Franklin  drew  up,  at  the  re- 
quest of  Pownall,  a  plan  for  establishing  two 
western  colonies  as  '  barrier  colonies '  in 
North  America  (FKANKLIN,  Works,  iii.  69), 
and  in  February  of  that  yearWilliam  Shirley, 
governor  of  Massachusetts,  sent  him  to  so- 
licit the  aid  of  the  colonies  of  Pennsylvania, 
New  Jersey,  and  New  York  in  driving  the 
French  from  the  continent  of  America.  His 
heart  was  in  his  work,  for  his  policy  was  that 
of  Pitt :  to  put  an  end  to  the  strife  in  Ame- 
rica with  France  by  depriving  that  country 
of  all  its  North  American  possessions.  He 
obtained  the  assistance  of  the  colony  in  the 
projected  expedition  against  Crown  Point, 
and  took  an  active  part  in  forwarding  the 
military  operations.  In  January  1756  he 
went  to  England,  but  in  the  following  July 
returned  to  America  with  Lord  Loudoun, 
the  new  commander- in -chief  of  the  military 


forces.  Shirley  had  seemed  to  him  to  be 
deficient  in  vigour,  and  the  new  commander 
met  with  equal  disapproval.  Pownall  again 
repaired  to  England,  and  in  February  1757 
was  appointed  governor  of  Massachusetts,  in 
place  of  Shirley.  On  2  Aug.  he  arrived  at 
Boston,  where  his  liberal  views  and  his  know- 
ledge of  American  affairs  made  him  at  first 
very  popular,  and  directed  all  his  energies  to 
the  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war.  On 
31  Aug.  Belcher,  the  governor  of  New  Jersey, 
died,  and  on  the  strength  of  his  old  commis- 
sion the  duties  were  assumed  by  Pownall ; 
but  in  about  three  weeks  he  returned  to 
Boston,  finding  it  impracticable  to  retain  the 
administration  of  the  two  colonies  at  the 
same  time.  In  Massachusetts  he  took  into 
his  confidence  the  popular  leaders,  but  this 
proceeding  alienated  from  him  the  opposite 
party.  He  succeeded,  however,  in  raising  no 
less  than  seven  thousand  fighting  men  for  the 
war,  and  he  himself,  in  May  1759,  commanded 
an  expedition  to  Penobscot  river,  where  he 
built  a  fort,  closing  against  the  French  this 
passage  to  the  sea.  His  journal  on  this 
voyage  is  printed  in  the  '  Maine  Historical 
Society  Collections  '  (vol.  v.)  This  expedi- 
tion secured  for  the  states  at  the  peace  of 
1782  '  a  large  and  valuable  portion  of  terri- 
tory.' But,  with  all  his  efforts,  Pownall  could 
not  acquire  the  confidence  of  the  old  govern- 
ing class,  and  he  did  not  escape  calumny  and 
ridicule  from  the  friends  of  Shirley.  It  is 
alleged  that  his  habits  were  rather  freer  than 
suited  the  New  England  standard  (HILDEETH, 
United  States,  ii.  476);  from  his  love  of  gay 
attire  and  social  life  he  was  called  by  one  of 
the  stern  puritans  '  a  fribble.'  His  vanity 
was  undoubted,  and  he  was  satirised  by 
Samuel  Waterhouse  in  proposals  for  a  '  His- 
tory of  the  Public  Life  and  Distinguished 
Actions  of  Vice- Admiral  Sir  Thomas  Brazen, 
in  thirty-one  volumes  in  folio,  by  Thomas 
Thumb,'  which  were  issued  at  Boston  in 
1760. 

Pownall  wished  to  retire  from  this  irk- 
some position,  and  made  application  to  Eng- 
land for  his  own  recall ;  but  the  request  was 
met  in  November  1759  by  his  appointment  to 
the  more  lucrative  and  less  irksome  position  of 
governor  of  South  Carolina.  He  was  still  bent, 
however,  on  going  to  England,  and  on  3  June 
1760  he  quitted  America,  when  the  two 
branches  of  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts 
showed  their  respect  by  accompanying  him 
to  the  place  of  embarkation.  On  his  arrival 
in  London  he  resigned  his  colonial  governor- 
ship, and  during  1762  and  1763  he  acted  as 
director-general,  or  comptroller  of  the  com- 
missariat, for  the  active  forces  in  Germany, 
receiving  with  it  the  rank  of  a  colonel  in  the 


Pownall 


266 


Pownall 


army.  On  the  information  of  a  subordinate 
lie  was  accused,  in  No.  40  of  Wilkes's  'North 
Briton'  (5  March  1763),  '  of  passing  inferior 
oats  and  falsifying  the  military  accounts ; ' 
but  on  the  establishment  of  peace  in  1763, 
the  charges  in  the  libel  were  investigated 
at  his  own  desire,  and  he  was  honourably 
acquitted. 

Pownall  held  liberal  views  on  the  connec- 
tion of  England  with  its  colonies,  and  was 
a  staunch  friend  to  the  American  provinces. 
He  explained  his  sentiments  in  his  famous 
work  on  '  The  Administration  of  the  Colonies,' 
1764,'  stating  that  his  object  was  to  fuse  'all 
these  Atlantic  and  American  possessions  into 
one  Dominion,  of  which  Great  Britain  should 
be  the  commercial  center,  to  which  it  should 
be  the  spring  of  power.'  The  loyalty  of  the 
colonies  was  in  his  opinion  undoubted ;  but 
the  settlers  insisted  that  they  should  not  be 
taxed  without  their  own  consent  or  that  of 
their  representatives.  The  true  principles 
of  commerce  between  Great  Britain  and  her 
colonies  were  that  they  should  import  from 
Britain  only,  and  send  all  their  supplies  to 
it ;  but  he  urged  that  to  carry  out  the  inten- 
tion of  the  Act  of  Navigation,  and  to  give 
the  colonies  proper  facilities  for  trading, 
British  markets  should  be  established  '  even 
in  other  countries.'  In  an  appendix  con- 
taining a  memorial  dated  in  1756,  and  ad- 
dressed to  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  he 
dwells  on  the  wondrous  means  of  intercom- 
munication possessed  by  America  through 
its  noble  rivers.  The  first  edition  was 
anonymous,  but  its  successor,  l  revised,  cor- 
rected, and  enlarged,'  which  came  out  in 
1765,  bore  his  name,  and  was  dedicated  to 
George  Grenville.  The  third  edition  appeared 
in  1766,  and  the  fourth,  which  was  again 
much  enlarged  and  contained  a  new  dedica- 
tion to  the  same  statesman,  in  1768.  Pownall 
had  forwarded  to  Grenville  on  14  July  1768 
the  draft  of  the  dedication,  and  had  received 
from  him  a  letter  reiterating  his  convictions 
on  American  affairs,  and  hinting  that  he 
should  like  it  to  be  made  clear  that  the 
views  of  the  writer  were  not  necessarily  those 
entertained  by  himself  {Grenville  Papers, 
iv.  312-14, 316-19).  The  dedication  allowed 
that  they  differed  on  several  points,  again 
urged  the  attachment  of  the  colonies  to  the 
mother  country,  but  with  the  limitation  as 
to  taxation,  and  insisted  that  the  British 
isles  and  colonies  were  a  grand  marine  do- 
minion, and  ought  to  be  united  into  one 
1  imperium  in  one  center,  where  the  seat  of 
government  is.'  The  fifth  edition,  in  two 
volumes,  is  dated  1774,  and  it  again  appeared 
in  1777.  The  plan  set  out  in  the  later  issues 
for  a  general  paper  currency  for  America  was 


drawn  up  by  Pownall  in  conjunction  with 
Franklin  (  Works  of  franklin,  ii.  353-4). 

In  the  hope  of  carrying  his  political  prin- 
ciples into  practical  action,  Pownall  was 
returned  at  a  by-election  on  4  Feb.  1767  for 
the  Cornish  borough  of  Tregony,  and  sat  for 
it  throughout  the  next  parliament  of  1768- 
1774.  From  that  date  until  1  Sept.  1780  he 
sat  for  Minehead  (Abergavenny  MSS.  :  Hist. 
MSS.  Comm.  10th  Rep.  App.  pt.  vi.  pp.  6-10 ; 
cf.  COURTNEY,  Parl.  Rep.  of  Cornwall,  pp. 
176-7).  At  first  he  allied  himself  with  the 
whigs,  but  he  would  not  accompany  the 
American  colonists  any  further  than  to  op- 
pose any  steps  for  the  limitation  of  their 
liberty.  From  the  beginning  he  announced 
that  they  would  carry  their  opposition  to 
taxation  without  representation  to  the  ex- 
tent of  armed  resistance.  When  the  war 
broke  out  he  became  an  adherent  of  Lord 
North ;  and  when  Burke  brought  forward, 
in  November  1775,  his  conciliatory  bill,  it 
was  opposed  by  Pownall.  But  he  displeased 
his  new  friends  by  insisting  that  England's 
sovereignty  over  America  had  gone  for  ever, 
and  by  urging  his  countrymen  to  circumvent 
the  French  by  making  a  commercial  treaty 
with  the  revolted  colonists.  In  February 
1778  he  spoke  against  the  employment  of  the 
Indians ;  he  then  laid  before  the  ministry  a 
plan  for  peace,  and  at  last  (24  May  1780)  lie 
brought  into  the  house  a  bill  for  making 
peace  with  America.  Pownall  was  of  course 
derided  as  visionary  ;  he  was  called  by  Tho- 
mas Hutchinson  '  a  man  of  parts,  but  runs 
away  with  strange  notions  upon  some  sub- 
jects '  (Diary,  i.  303,  315),  and  it  was  urged 
that  the  support  of  such  a  tory  would  ruin 
the  ministerial  party  (cf.  Memoir  of  Josiah 
Quincy,  Junr.  pp.  205,  255-9 ;  HTJTCHINSON, 
Diary,  i.  251 ;  and  FRANKLIN,  Works,  v.  32- 
33).  As  a  speaker  he  was  ineffective,  but  he 
took  infinite  pains  to  preserve  his  orations. 
Many  of  them,  and  some  with  his  own  cor- 
rections, are  in  Cavendish's  'Debates,'  and 
they  were  printed  by  Almon  from  his  own 
manuscripts  in  his  ( Parliamentary  Register.' 
Pownall  also  assisted  Almon  in  the  twenty 
volumes  of  his  'American  Remembrancer.' 

About  1784  Pownall  gave  up  his  house  at 
Richmond,  and  spent  much  of  his  time  in 
travelling.  At  the  close  of  1784  Joseph 
Cradock  and  his  wife  made  the  Pownalls' 
acquaintance  in  southern  France,  and  notes 
of  "their  travel  are  given  in  Cradock's  '  Me- 
moirs'  (ii.  146,  178-97).  Attacks  of  gout 
made  him  a  frequent  visitor  to  Bath ;  he  died 
there  on  25  Feb.  1805,  and  was  buried  in 
Walcot  church.  An  epitaph  to  his  memory 
was  placed  in  Walcot  church  by  his  widow. 
Pownall  married,  on  3  Aug.  1765,  at  Chelsea, 


Pownall 


267 


Pownall 


Hannah,  relict  of  Sir  E  verard  Fawkener  [q.v.], 
by  whom  she  had  been  left  with  more  children 
than  money.  A  curious  story  about  her  at- 
tempt to  get  a  second  husband  is  told  by 
Gray  (Works,  ed.  Gosse,  iii.  33).  At  her 
death  on  6  Feb.  1777,  aged  51,  a  sarcophagus, 
with  a  bombastic  inscription  by  Pownall, 
was  erected  to  her  memory  on  the  north  side 
of  the  lady-chapel  in  Lincoln  Cathedral.  He 
married,  on  2  Aug.  1784,  as  his  second  wife, 
Hannah,  widow  of  Richard  Astell  of  Everton 
House,  Huntingdonshire. 

Pownall's  portrait,  by  Cotes,  belonging  to 
Lord  Orford,  was  engraved  by  Earlom  in 
March  and  June  1777  (SMITH,"  Portraits,  i. 
255),  and  is  reproduced  in  the  '  Magazine  of 
American  History'  (xvi.  409).  A  portrait, 
painted  from  the  engraving  by  H.  C.  Pratt  of 
Boston,  was  given  to  Pownalborough  (now 
known  as  Dresden)  in  Maine  by  Samuel  J. 
Bridge.  A  second  portrait  was  presented  by 
Lucius  M.  Sargent  in  1862  to  the  Massachu- 
setts Historical  Society  (Proceedings,  1862-3, 
p.  17).  Immediately  after  the  revolution 
Pownall  gave  to  Harvard  College  five  hun- 
dred acres  of  land  for  the  foundation  of  a 
professorship  of  law  (FRANKLIN,  Works,  ix. 
491-3). 

Pownall  was  author  of  :  1.  l  Principles  of 
Polity,  being  the  Grounds  and  Reasons  of 
Civil  Empire/  3  parts,  1752.  The  first  part 
was  originally  published  as  l  A  View  of  the 
Doctrine  of  an  original  Contract.'  The  whole 
work  was  dedicated  to  the  university  of 
Cambridge,  '  in  testimony  of  his  filial  regard 
to  the  place  of  his  education.'  2.  '  Ad- 
ministration of  the  Colonies,'  1764,  and  sub- 
quent  issues.  3.  '  Of  the  Laws  and  Com- 
mission of  Sewers ; '  never  published ;  a  few 
copies  for  friends.  4.  '  Observations  on  his 
own  Bread  Bill ; '  never  published.  The 
provisions  of  the  act  for  regulating  the  assize 
of  bread  are  set  out  in  the  '  Gentleman's 
Magazine,'  1773,  pp.  465-6.  There  was  pub- 
lished in  1774  a  letter  to  Governor  Pownall 
on  '  the  continued  high  price  of  bread  in  the 
metropolis.'  5. '  Two  Speeches  of  an  Honour- 
able Gentleman  on  the  late  Negotiation  and 
Convention  with  Spain,'  1771,  condemna- 
tory of  the  proceedings.  6.  t  Considerations 
on  the  Indignity  suffered  by  the  Crown  and 
the  Dishonour  to  the  Nation  on  the  Marriage 
of  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  with  an  English 
Subject.  By  a  King's  Friend,'  1772,  written 
in  an  ironical  strain.  7.  '  The  Right  Interest 
and  Duty  of  the  State  in  the  Affairs  of  the 
East  Indies,'  1773  ;  2nd  ed.  revised,  1781. 
8.  '  A  Memoir  entituled  Drainage  and  Navi- 
gation but  one  United  Work,  and  an  Outfall 
to  Deep  Water  the  First  and  Necessary  Step 
to  it,'  1775.  9.  '  Topographical  Description 


of  such  parts  of  North  America  as  are  con- 
tained in  the  annexed  Map  of  the  Middle 
British  Colonies  in  North  America,'  1776. 
The  original  map,  by  Lewis  Evans,  came  out 
at  Philadelphia  in  1755,  and  was  dedicated 
to  Pownall.  The  profits  of  the  issue  in  1776, 
which  was  edited  by  him,  were  assigned  to  the 
daughter  of  Evans  and  her  children.  In  1785 
he  had  prepared  a  second  edition  with  very 
many  additions,  which  was  probably  identical 
with  the  copy  sold  at  New  York  about  1856 
(DRAKE,  History  of  Boston,  p.  655).  He 
meditated  publishing  a  French  translation 
for  the  benefit  of  the  daughter  of  Evans 
(FKANKLIN,  Works,  x.  198-201).  10.  'A 
Letter  from  Governor  Pownall  to  Adam 
Smith,  being  an  examination  of  several 
points  of  doctrine  in  the  "  Inquiry  into  the 
Wealth  of  Nations,"  '  1776.  He  desired  the 
appointment  of  a  tutor  in  the  universities  to 
lecture  on  political  economy.  It  was  a  very 
courteous  letter,  and  Adam  Smith  addressed 
him  a  letter  of  thanks  on  his  '  very  great 
politeness'  (Gent.  Mag.  1795,  pt.  ii.  pp. 
634-5;  RAE,  Memoir  of  Smith,  p.  319). 
11.  'Memorial  addressed  to  Sovereigns  of 
Europe,'  1780.  A  very  bad  translation  in 
French  of  a  portion  of  it,  entitled  '  Pensees 
sur  la  revolution  de  1'Amerique-Unie,'  was 
published,  through  the  influence  of  John 
Adams  while  at  the  Hague,  at  Amsterdam 
in  1781 ;  and  another  translation  by  the 
Abb6  Needham  appeared  at  Brussels  in  1781. 
Stockdale  brought  out  in  1781  a  volume  pro- 
fessing to  be  a  translation  of  it  '  into  common 
sense  and  intelligible  English,'  and  this  was 
also  rendered  into  French.  In  1782  Pownall 
caused  the  original  memorial  to  be  trans- 
lated into  the  same  language.  12.  '  Two 
Memorials,  with  an  explanatory  preface  by 
Governor  Pownall,'  1782.  13.  '  Memorial 
to  Sovereigns  of  America,'  1783 ;  a  French 
translation  was  also  published.  14.  '  Three 
Memorials  to  Sovereigns  of  Europe,  Great 
Britain,  and  North  America,'  1784.  15.  <  Me- 
morial to  Sovereigns  of  Europe  and  the 
Atlantic,'  1803.  Reviewed  by  Hugh  Murray 
[q.  v.]  in  <  Edinburgh  Review '  (ii.  484-91), 
where  it  is  stated  that  his  advice  during  the 
American  crisis  '  did  honour  to  his  character 
as  a  man  and  his  judgment  as  a  politician,' 
but  had  little  effect  upon  the  minds  of  his 
countrymen.  16.  '  Treatise  on  the  Study  of 
Antiquities  as  the  Commentary  to  Historical 
Learning,'  1782.  This  was  the  first  part  only ; 
the  contents  of  the  second  and  third  parts 
were  described,  but  they  were  never  published. 
17.  *  Proposal  for  Founding  University  Pro- 
fessorships for  Architecture,  Painting,  and 
Sculpture,'  1786.  18.  '  Answer  to  a  Letter 
on  the  J  litre  or  Viti,'  1786.  19.  '  Live  and  let 


Pownall 


268 


Powys 


Live,  a  treatise  on  the  Hostility  between  the 
Manufacturer  and  Land-worker,  with  especial 
reference  to  the  present  contest  between  the 
Woollen  Manufacturers  and  Wool-growers  ' 
(anon.),  1787.  This  provoked  from  Norwich 
k  Whilst  we  Live  let  us  Live  :  a  short  View 
of  the  Competition  between  the  Manufacturer 
and  Landworker,'  1788.  There  was  a  bill 
impending  in  parliament  for  preventing  the 
exportation  of  live  sheep,  wool,  &c.,  and  much 
controversy  ensued  thereon.  20.  'Hydraulic 
and  Nautical  Observations  on  the  Currents 
in  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  with  Notes  by  Dr. 
Franklin,'  1787.  21.  'Notes  and  Descrip- 
tions of  Antiquities  of  the  Provincia  Romana 
of  Gaul,  with  an  appendix  on  Roman  Baths 
at  Baden weiler,'  1788.  22.  '  An  Antiquarian 
Romance,'  1795.  23.  '  Descriptions  and  Ex- 
planations of  Roman  Antiquities  dug  up  at 
Bath  in  1790,'  1795.  24,  (  Considerations  on 
the  Scarcity  and  High  Prices  of  Bread-corn 
and  Bread  at  the  Market,  in  a  series  of  Letters,' 
first  printed  in  the  '  Cambridge  Chronicle,' 
1795.  He  urged,  if  necessary,  '  a  free  mart 
for  corn  and  grain  opened  in  Great  Britain 
to  all  Europe  and  America.'  25.  'Intellectual 
Physicks :  an  Essay  on  the  Nature  of  Being 
and  the  Progression  of  Existence'  (anon.), 
1795. 

Pownall  was  a  good  mathematician,  under- 
stood practical  surveying,  and  was  skilful 
with  his  pencil.  He  contributed  to  the 
'  Archaeologia,'  '  Tilloch's  Philosophical  Ma- 
gazine,' the  '  American  Museum '  for  1789, 
Arthur  Young's  '  Annals  of  Agriculture ; ' 
and  a  memoir  by  him  on  the  corn  trade  is  in 
Young's  '  Political  Arithmetic.'  In  Val- 
lancey's  '  Collectanea  de  rebus  Hibernicis ' 
(1786),  pp.  199-204,  is  '  An  Account  of  the 
Ship-Temple  near  Dundalk,'  with  remarks 
by  Vallancey  (pp.  205-9)  and  Ledwich  (pp. 
429-41).  His  paper  '  On  the  Conduct  and 
Privileges  of  Sir  Robert  Walpole'  is  inserted 
in  Coxe's  '  Memoirs  of  Walpole'  (iii.  616-20). 
Horace  Walpole  (who  at  one  time  promised 
to  assist  him  in  his  inquiries  into  the  ancient 
history  of  the  Freemasons,  but  subsequently 
sneered  at  him  '  as  pert  Governor  Pownall, 
who  accounts  for  everything  immediately, 
before  the  Creation  or  since ' )  wrote  him  two 
letters  on  it,  which  are  included  in  Nichols's 
'Literary  Anecdotes'  (iv.  709-12)  and  in 
Cunningham's  edition  of  Walpole's  'Letters  ' 
(yiii.  420-4).  Two  of  his  drawings  of  Ame- 
rican scenery  are  in  the  '  Magazine  of  Ame- 
rican History '  (xvi.  414,  420) ;  his  view  of 
Boston  in  1757  is  in  Drake's  '  History  of  Bos- 
ton '  (p.  655),  and  his  sketch  of  the  old  town 
at  Boston  is  published  among  the  ancient 
views  of  that  city.  In  1761  there  came  out 
in  folio  '  Eight  Views  in  North  America  and 


the  West  Indies,  painted  and  engraved  by 
Paul  Sandby  from  drawings  made  on  the 
spot  by  Governor  Pownall  and  others'  (Lives 
of  T.  and  P.  Sandby,  p.  30). 

Count  Rumford  possessed  the  correspon- 
dence of  Franklin  and  Pownall  with  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Cooper,  D.D.,  of  Boston.  He 
gave  the  letters  to  George  III,  '  who  was 
vastly  pleased  with  them,'  and  they  are  now 
preserved  at  the  King's  Library,  British 
Museum.  Some  of  them  were  printed  at 
Boston  in  Massachusetts  in  a  volume  by 
Frederick  Griffin,  entitled  '  Junius  Dis- 
covered,' and  identified  with  Pownall,  a 
claim  which  is  promptly  rejected  in  the 
'  Memoirs  of  Sir  Philip  Francis  '  by  Parkes 
and  Merivale  (i.  299).  His  manuscript  letter- 
book,  in  folio,  with  copies  of  his  letters  while 
governor  of  Massachusetts  to  the  British 
generals  and  others,  was  sold  by  Bangs 
Brothers  &  Co.,  at  New  York,  on  4  March 
1854.  It  was  afterwards  in  the  library  of 
G.  W.  Pratt  of  that  city.  Several  letters  by 
him  to  Franklin  are  included  in  the  latter's 
'  Works '  (vols.  vii.-x.),  and  manuscript  letters 
to  Almon  and  Eden,  first  lord  Auckland,  are 
in  Addit.  MSS.  Brit.  Mus.  20733  and  34413. 

[Nichols's  Lit.  Anecdotes,  viii.  61-6,  110-12, 
761 ;  Nichols's  Illustrations  of  Literature,  vi. 
430,  vii.  438;  Mag.  of  American  History,  xvi. 
409-32  ;  Gent.  Mag.  1805,  pt.  i.  pp.  288-9,  380- 
382;  Atlantic  Monthly,  xx.  285-91;  Allibone's 
Diet,  of  Authors  ;  Rich's  Bibl.  Americana  Nova, 
pp.  143,  230,  284,  296,  305,  310,  317,  483; 
Hutchinson's  Diary,  i.  56,  63,  ii.  28,  337 ;  His- 
torical Mag.  (New  York),  vi.  23-4,  30 ;  Stone's 
Sir  W.  Johnson,  i.  482-3 ;  Drake's  Boston,  pp. 
614,  643-4.  654  ;  Horace  Walpole's  Letters,  v. 
425,  439,  vi.  292,  viii.  26.]  W.  P.  C. 

POWRIE-OGILVY,  JOHN  (ft.  1592- 

1601),  political  adventurer.     [See  OGILVY.] 

POWYS,  HORATIO  (1805-1877),  bishop 
of  Sodor  and  Man,  born  on  20  Nov.  1805, 
was  third  son  of  Thomas  Powys,  second  baron 
Lilford  (1775-1825),  by  Henrietta  Maria, 
eldest  daughter  of  Robert  Vernon  Atherton 
of  Atherton  Hall,  Lancashire.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  Harrow  and  at  St.  John's  College, 
Cambridge,  where  he  graduated  M.A.  in 
1826,  and  was  created  D.D.  in  1854.  His 
father  presented  him  to  the  family  living  of 
Warrington,  Lancashire,  in  1831,  and  he 
was  for  some  time  rural  dean  of  Cheshire. 
Strongly  impressed  with  the  necessity  for 
improved  education,  he  succeeded  in  esta- 
blishing the  training  college  at  Chester  and 
the  institution  for  the  education  of  the 
daughters  of  the  clergy  at  Warrington,  both 
of  which  proved  permanently  successful.  On 
5  July  1854  he  was  nominated  to  the 


Powys 


269 


Poyer 


bishopric  of  Sodor  and  Man.  He  made  suc- 
cessful endeavours  to  uphold  the  rights  of 
the  see,  and  involved  himself  in  much  litiga- 
tion. He  printed  two  charges,  'A  Pas- 
toral Letter  to  the  Congregation  at  War- 
rington,'  1848,  and  two  sermons.  He  died  at 
Bewsey  House,  Bournemouth,  on  31  May 
1877,  and  was  buried  at  Warrington  on 
.5  June.  He  married,  on  21  Feb.  1833,  Percy 
Gore,  eldest  daughter  of  William  Currie  of 
East  Horsley  Park,  Surrey,  and  had  issue : 
Horace  (d.  1857) ;  Percy  William,  rector  of 
Thorpe- Achurch,  Northamptonshire  ;  Henry 
Lyttleton,  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Oxford- 
shire light  infantry  ;  and  five  daughters. 

[Men  of  the  Time,  1875,  p.  820;  Guardian, 
6  June  1877,  p.  772;  Manx  Sun,  2  June  1877 
p.  4,  9  June  p.  5.]  G-.  C.  B. 

POWYS,  SIE  LITTLETON  (1648P-1732), 
judge,  eldest  son  of  Thomas  Powys  of  Hen- 
ley in  Shropshire,  the  representative  of  one 
branch  of  the  ancient  Welsh  family  of  Powys, 
by  his  first  wife,  Mary,  daughter  of  Sir  Adam 
Littleton,  bart.,  was  born  about  1648,  and 
named  after  his  maternal  grandfather.  He 
became  a  student  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  and  was 
called  to  the  bar  in  May  1671.  In  1688  he 
took  the  side  of  William  of  Orange,  read  his 
declaration  at  Shrewsbury,  and,  when  the 
new  government  was  established,  was  ap- 
pointed a  judge  on  the  Chester  circuit  in  May 
1689.  In  1692  he  became  a  serjeant  (LuT- 
TRELL,  Diary,  ii.  404,  427)  and  a  knight,  and 
eventually  was  raised  to  the  bench  of  the 
exchequer  on  29  Oct.  1 695  (cf.  Calendar  of 
Treasury  Papers,  1697-1702,  Ivii.  54).  He 
was  transferred  to  the  court  of  king's  bench 
in  June  1700  (see  LTJTTRELL,  Diary,  iv.  653, 
v.  11),  but  did  not  take  his  seat  till  29  Jan. 
1701.  While  a  member  of  this  court  he  was 
one  of  the  majority  of  judges  who  heard  the 
well-known  leading  case  Ashby  v.  White, 
arising  out  of  the  Aylesbury  election,  and 
decided  against  the  plaintiff  (see  LUTTRELL, 
Diary,  v.  358,  380,  519).  At  the  age  of 
seventy-eight  he  retired  on  a  pension  of 
1,500/.  a  year  on  26  Oct.  1726,  and  died  on 
16  March  1732. 

He  appears  to  have  been  a  dull,  respect- 
able judge,  not  so  able  as  his  brother,  Sir 
Thomas  Powys  [q.  v.],  but  less  of  a  political 
partisan.  His  infelicitous  way  of  express- 
ing himself  made  him  the  object  of  much 
pointless  satire  (HARRIS,  Life  of  Lord  Hard- 
wicke,  i.  82,  84 ;  COOKSEY,  Lord  Somers  and 
Lord  Hardwicke,  pp.  57,  66). 

[Foss's  Judges  of  England;  State  Trials,  xv. 
1407-22  ;  Raymond's  Reports  ;  Public  Records, 
9th  Rep.  App.  ii.  252  ;  Collins's  Peerage,  viii. 
578.]  J.A.H. 


POWYS,  SIR  THOMAS  (1649-1719), 
judge,  second  son  of  Thomas  Powys  of  Hen- 
ley, Shropshire,  and  younger  brother  of  Sir 
Littleton  Powys  [q.v.],  was  born  in  1649. 
He  was  educated  at  Shrewsbury  school,  and 
was  called  to  the  bar  at  Lincoln's  Inn  in  1673. 
He  became  solicitor-general,  and  was  knighted 
on  23  April  1686,  when  Finch  was  dismissed. 
Burnet  (Own  Time,  iii.  91)  calls  him  a  com- 
pliant young  aspiring  lawyer.  Having  ac- 
quiesced in  the  appointment  of  Roman  catho- 
lics to  office,  and  argued  in  favour  of  the 
king's  dispensing  power,  he  was  promoted  to 
be  attorney-general  in  December  1687.  He 
accordingly  conducted  the  prosecution  of  the 
seven  bishops  in  June  1688,  and  acted  with 
such  conspicuous  moderation  and  fairness 
(ib.  iii.  223)  as  to  show  his  own  personal 
disapproval  of  the  proceedings.  During  the 
reign  of  William  III  he  acquired  a  fair  prac- 
tice, especially  in  defence  of  state  prisoners, 
among  whom  was  Sir  John  Fenwick,  and  at 
the  bar  of  both  houses  of  parliament.  He 
sat  in  parliament  for  Ludlow  from  1701  to 
1713,  was  made  serjeant  and  queen's  serjeant 
at  the  beginning  of  Anne's  reign,  and  on 
8  June  1713  a  judge  of  the  queen's  bench; 
but  as  he  and  his  brother  Sir  Littleton 
Powys  too  frequently  formed  judgments  in 
opposition  to  the  rest  of  the  court,  he,  as  the 
more  active  and  able  of  the  two,  was  re- 
moved, on  Lord-chancellor  Cowper's  advice, 
when  King  George  I  came  to  England 
(14  Oct.  1714).  His  rank  of  king's  serjeant 
was  restored  to  him. 

He  died  on  4  April  1719,  and  was  buried 
at  Lilford  in  Northamptonshire.  He  was 
twice  married  :  first  to  Sarah,  daughter  of 
Ambrose  Holbech  of  Mollington,  Warwick- 
shire ;  and  secondly,  to  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Sir  Philip  Meadows  [q.  v.]  He  had  issue  by 
both ;  and  his  great-grandson  Thomas  Powys 
was  created  Lord  Lilford  in  1797. 

[Foss's  Judges  of  England;  Clarendon  Cor- 
respondence, ii.  507 ;  State  Trials,  xii.  279 ; 
Raymond's  Reports  ;  Collins's  Peerage,  viii.  579  ; 
Luttrell's  Brief  Relation.]  J.  A.  H. 

POYER,  JOHN  (d.  1649),  royalist,  w 
in  1642  mayor  of  Pembroke,  distinguished 
himself  by  his  zeal  for  the  parliament,  and 
became  a  captain  in  its  service.  Care  w  Castle  .  ,f 
in  Pembrokeshire  was  surrendered  to  him  by         » 
the  royalists  in  March  1644  (PHILLIPS,  Civil  'jot 
War  in  Wales,  i.  212,  ii.  147,  152 ;  Report 
on  the  Portland  MSS.  i.  31).     Poyer  was  a 
strong  presbyterian,  and  in  1648  he  went 
over  to  the  king's  party.     In  February  1648, 
when   the   parliamentary   forces   in    Wales 
were  about  to  be  disbanded,  he  refused  to 
surrender  the  government  of  Pembroke  to 
Colonel  Fleming,   whom  Fairfax  had   ap- 


Poyer 


270 


Poynder 


pointed  to  succeed  him,  demanding  as  a  pre- 
liminary the  payment  of  his  own  disburse- 
ments for  the  parliament  and  of  the  arrears 
of  his  soldiers  (PHILLIPS,  i.  393-402,  ii.  344 ; 
Tanner  MSS.  Iviii.  721).  Poyer  defeated 
Colonel  Fleming,  raised  forces,  marched  into 
Cardiganshire,  and  declared  for  the  king.  He 
was  joined  by  Colonel  Rowland  Laugharne 
[q.  v.],  who  had  been  the  chief  commander 
for  the  parliament  in  South  Wales.  Both 
confidently  expected  help  from  the  fleet 
under  the  command  of  the  Prince  of  Wales 
(CLARENDON,  Rebellion,  xi.  40).  When  Poyer 
heard  that  Cromwell  was  to  march  against 
him,  he  boasted  that  he  would  '  give  him  a 
field  and  show  him  fair  play,  and  that  he 
will  be  the  first  man  that  will  charge  against 
Ironsides  ;  saying  that  if  he  had  a  back  of 
steel  and  breast  of  iron  he  durst  and  would 
encounter  him'  (PHILLIPS,  ii.  359).  On 
8  May  Laugharne's  forces  were  defeated  by 
Colonel  Horton  at  St.  Pagan's,  and  in  June 
Cromwell  laid  siege  to  Pembroke.  The 
town  and  castle  were  given  up  on  11  July, 
and  by  the  articles  of  capitulation  Colonel 
Poyer  and  four  others  surrendered  them- 
selves '  to  the  mercy  of  the  parliament '  (ib. 
ii.  397).  l  The  persons  excepted,'  wrote 
Cromwell  to  the  speaker,  '  are  such  as  have 
formerly  served  you  in  a  very  good  cause ; 
but,  being  now  apostatised,  I  did  rather 
make  election  of  them  than  of  those  who 
had  always  been  for  the  king;  judging  their 
iniquity  double;  because  they  have  sinned 
against  so  much  light,  and  against  so  many 
evidences  of  divine  providence '  (CAKLYLE, 
Cromwell,  letter  Ixii.)  On  14  Aug.  1648 
the  House  of  Commons  desired  Fairfax  to 
'  take  course  for  the  speedy  try  ing  by  martial 
law 'of  these  prisoners,  and*  on  14  March 
16  i9  it  passed  a  second  vote  of  the  same 
nature  (Commons'  Journals,  v.  670,  vi.  164). 
Poyer,  with  Laugharne  and  Colonel  Powell, 
were  accordingly  tried  by  court-martial  in 
April  1649,  and  sentenced  to  death.  Fairfax 
resolved  to  execute  one  only,  and  Poyer  was 
selected  by  lot  to  be  the  sufferer.  He  peti- 
tioned for  pardon,  recapitulating  his  ser- 
vices to  the  parliament,  but  was  executed  in 
Co  vent  Garden  on  April  25  (  The  Moderate, 
17-24  April,  24  April  to  1  May  1649). 
Rushworth  describes  him  as  '  a  man  of  two 
dispositions  every  day,  in  the  morning  sober 
and  penitent,  in  the  evening  drunk  and  full 
of  plots '  (Hist.  Coll.  vii.  1033  sq.) 

At  the  Restoration  Elizabeth  Poyer,  his 
widow,  petitioned  Charles  II  for  a  grant  to 
her  family,  stating  that  her  husband  had 
lost  8,000/.  in  the  royal  cause.  On  25  Aug. 
1663  she  was  given  100/.,  and  obtained 
finally  a  grant  of  3,000/.  more,  payable  in 


instalments  of  300/.  a  year  ( Cal.  State  Papers, 
Dom.  1660-1  p.  51,  1663-4  pp.  254,  665, 
1664-5  pp.  49,  448). 

[Authorities  given  in  the  article.  Several 
letters  of  Poyer  are  among  the  Tanner  MSS. 
in  the  Bodleian  Library.]  C.  H.  F. 

POYNDER,  JOHN  (1779-1849),  theo- 
logical writer,  born  in  1779,  was  eldest  son 
of  a  tradesman  in  the  city  of  London.  His 
mother  belonged  to  the  evangelical  school  in 
the  church  of  England,  and  from  her  he  in- 
herited his  religious  tendencies.  For  some 
time  he  attended  a  school  at  Newington  Butts, 
kept  by  Joseph  Forsyth  [q.  v.]  He  desired  in 
early  life  to  be  ordained  in  the  English  church, 
but  circumstances  forced  him  to  enter  a  solici- 
tor's office.  For  nearly  forty  years  he  was 
clerk  and  solicitor  to  the  royal  hospitals  of 
Bridewell  and  Bethlehem,  and  for  three  years 
he  was  under-sheriffof  London  and  Middlesex. 
The  Rev.  William  Jay  [q.  v.]  of  Bath  was 
his  friend  for  over  fifty  years,  and  moved  by 
a  sermon  of  Jay  and  another  by  Claudius 
Buchanan  [q.  v.],  the  Indian  missionary, 
Poynder  set  himself  to  rouse  proprietors  of 
East  India  stock  to  a  sense  of  the  iniquity 
of  the  company's  policy  in  encouraging 
idolatry.  For  many  years  he  contended  almost 
singlehanded  in  the  court  of  proprietors  at 
the  East  India  House  for  the  prohibition  of  the 
custom  which  permitted  nearly  six  hundred 
widows  to  be  immolated  every  year  at  the 
suttee,  and  the  practice  was  at  last  stopped  by 
the  action  of  Lord  William  Bentinck.  He 
investigated  the  amount  of  the  profits  made 
by  the  company  from  the  worshippers  and 
pilgrims  at  the  temples  of  Juggernaut,  Gya, 
and  Allahabad,  and  succeeded  in  abolishing 
the  pilgrim  tax.  He  never  desisted  from 
the  crusade  until  his  death,  at  Montpelier 
House,  South  Lambeth,  on  10  March  1849. 
He  married  at  Clapham  church,  on  15  Sept. 
1807,  Elizabeth  Brown,  who  died  at  South 
Lambeth  on  22  Sept.  1845,  aged  60.  They 
had  several  sons  and  daughters.  One  of  the 
sons,  Frederick,  graduated  B.A.  of  Wadham 
College,  Oxford,  in  1838,  and  was  afterwards 
chaplain  of  Bridewell  Hospital,  and  second 
master  of  Charterhouse  School  (GAEDINEK, 
Wadham  Coll.  Reg.  ii.  358).  Poynder's 
library  was  sold  by  Sotheby  £  Co.  on  10  Jan. 
1850  and  two  following  days.  The  collection 
comprised  '  the  first  four  editions  of  Shake- 
speare '  and  many  volumes  with  autograph 
letters  and  memoranda,  including  the  '  Phse- 
nomena  et  Diosemea '  of  Aratus  Solensis, 
with  autograph  and  annotations  of  Milton. 

Poynder  is  best  known  by  his  l  Literary 
Extracts  from  English  and  other  Works, 
collected  during  Half  a  Century/ 1844, 2  vols.; 


Poynet 


271 


Poynings 


a  second  series  in  one  volume  appeared  in 

1847.  They  contain  numerous  observations 
by  Richard  Clark  (1739-1831)  [q.  v.],  the 
city  chamberlain,  on  incidents  in  the  political 
and  social  life  of  London.     Poynder's  own 
reflections  are  indicated  by  the  word  'Mis- 
cellaneous.' 

Poynder's  other  works,  most  of  which  re- 
late to  his  doctrinal  convictions,  include : 
1.  '  Christianity  in  India,'  1813;  a  series  of 
letters  sent  to  the  '  Times '  under  name  of 
Laicus,  with  those  of  his  opponent,  'An 
East  India  Proprietor.'  2.  '  Brief  Account  of 
the  Jesuits '  (anon.)  1815 ;  also  included  in 
the  '  Pamphleteer,'  vi.  99-145.  3.  'History 
of  the  Jesuits,  with  a  Reply  to  Mr.  Dallas's 
Defence  of  that  Order'  (anon.),  1816, 2  vols. 
4.  *  Popery  the  Religion  of  Heathenism,  being 
Letters  of  Ignotus  in  the  "  Times'"  (anon.), 
1818 ;  2nd  edit.,  with  new  title  and  author's 
name,  1835  (HALKETT  and  LAING,  Pseud. 
Literature,  ii.  1973)  ;  on  the  publication  of 
the  second  edition,  called  '  Popery  in  alliance 
with  Heathenism,'  Cardinal  Wiseman  ad- 
dressed to  him  some  printed  letters  of  remon- 
strance. 5.  'The  Church  her  own  Enemy,' 
1818.  6.  '  Human  Sacrifices  in  India,'  sub- 
stance of  speech  at  the  courts  of  the  East 
India  Company,  21  and  28  March,'  1827. 
7.  '  Speech  at  Court  of  East  India  Com- 
pany, 22  Sept.  1830,  on  its  Encouragement 
of  Idolatry,'  1830.  8.  'Friendly  Sugges- 
tions to  those  in  Authority,'  1831.  9.  'Life 
of  Francis  Spira/translated,  1832.  10.  'State 
of  Ireland  reconsidered,  in  answer  to  Lord 
Alvanley,'  1841.  11.  '  Word  to  the  English 
Laity  on  Puseyism,'  1843  (followed  by  '  A 
second  Word '  in  1848).  12.  '  Idolatry  in 
India  :  six  Letters  on  the  Continuance  of 
the  Payment  to  the  Temple  of  Juggernaut,' 

1848.  He   frequently   contributed   to   the 
'  Christian  Observer '  and  the  '  Church  and 
State  Gazette.' 

[Gent.  Mag.  1807  pt.  ii.  p.  887,  1845  pt.  ii. 
p.  544,  1849  pt.  i.  p.  547;  Christian  Observer, 
July  1847  (a  fragment  of  autobiography)  and 

1849.  pp.  354-7  ;  Literary  Extracts,  ii.  733  and 
2nd  ser.  pp.  17-31 ;  Church  and  State  Gazette, 
1849,  p.  181  ;  Eev.  W.  Jay's  Autobiogr.,  pp.  446- 
448.]  W.  P.  C. 

POYNET,  JOHN  (1514  P-1556),  bishop 
of  Winchester.  [See  PONET.] 

POYNINGS,  SIB  EDWARD  (1459- 
1521),  lord  deputy  of  Ireland,  only  son  of 
Robert  Poynings  [see  under  POYNINGS,  MI- 
CHAEL BE],  and  his  wife,  Elizabeth,  only 
daughter  of  William  Paston  (1378-1444) 
[q.  v.],  was  born  towards  the  end  of  1459, 
probably  at  his  father's  house  in  Southwark, 
which  afterwards  became  famous  as  the 


Crosskeys  tavern,  and  then  as  the  Queen's 
Head  (cf.  RENDLE  and  NOKM AN,  Inns  of  Old 
Southwark,  p.  204).  His  father  had  been 
carver  and  sword-bearer  to  Jack  Cade,  and 
was  killed  at  the  second  battle  of  St.  Albans 
on  17  Feb.  1461  (Archaol.  Cant.  vii.  243-4) ; 
his  mother,  who  was  born  on  1  July  1429, 
and  married  Poynings  in  December  1459,  in- 
herited her  husband's  property  in  Kent,  in 
spite  of  opposition  from  her  brother-in-law, 
Edward  Poynings,  master  of  Arundel  Col- 
lege ;  before  1472  she  married  a  second  hus- 
band, Sir  George  Browne  of  Betchworth, 
Surrey,  by  whom  she  had  a  son  Matthew  and 
a  daughter.  She  died  in  1487,  appointing 
Edward  her  executor.  Some  of  her  corre- 
spondence is  included  in  the  'Paston  Letters.' 

Poynings  was  brought  up  by  his  mother  ; 
in  October  1483  he  was  a  leader  of  the  rising 
in  Kent  planned  to  second  Buckingham's 
insurrection  against  Richard  III.  He  was 
named  in  the  king's  proclamation,  but  escaped 
abroad,  and  adopted  the  cause  of  Henry,  earl 
of  Richmond.  He  was  in  Brittany  in  October 
1484  (PoLYDOKE  VEEGIL,  p.  208 ;  BUSCH,  i. 
1 7),  and  in  August  1485  he  landed  with  Henry 
at  Milford  Haven.  He  was  at  once  made  a 
knight  banneret,  and  in  the  same  year  he  was 
sworn  of  the  privy  council.  In  1488  he  was 
on  a  commission  to  inspect  the  ordnance  at 
Calais,  and  in  1491  was  made  a  knight  of  the 
Garter.  In  the  following  year  he  was  placed 
in  command  of  fifteen  hundred  men  sent  to 
aid  Maximilian  against  his  revolted  sub- 
jects in  the  Netherlands.  The  rebels,  under 
the  leadership  of  Ravenstein,  held  Bruges, 
Damme,  and  Sluys,  where  they  fitted  out 
ships  to  prey  on  English  commerce.  Poy- 
nings first  cleared  the  sea  of  the  privateers, 
and  then  laid  siege  to  Sluys  in  August,  while 
the  Duke  of  Saxony  blockaded  it  on  land. 
After  some  hard  fighting  the  two  castles  de- 
fending the  town  were  taken,  and  the  rebels 
entered  into  negotiations  with  Poynings  to 
return  to  their  allegiance.  Poynings  there- 
upon joined  Henry  VII  before  Boulogne,  but 
the  French  war  was  closed  almost  without 
bloodshed  by  the  treaty  of  Staples  on  3  Nov. 
In  1493  Poynings  was  acting  as  deputy  or 
governor  of  Calais ;  in  July  he  was  sent  with 
Warham  on  a  mission  to  Duke  Philip  to  pro- 
cure Warbeck's  expulsion  from  Burgundy, 
where  he  had  been  welcomed  by  the  dowager 
duchess  Margaret;  the  envoys  obtained  from 
Philip  a  promise  that  he  would  abstain  from 
affording  aid  to  Warbeck,  but  the  duke  as- 
serted that  he  could  not  control  the  actions 
of  the  duchess,  who  was  the  real  ruler  of  the 
country. 

Meanwhile  Henry  had  become  dissatisfied 
with  the  state  of  affairs  in  Ireland ;  it  had 


Poynings 


272 


Poynings 


always  been  a  Yorkist  stronghold,  and  here 
Simnel  and  Warbeek  found  their  most 
effective  support.  The  struggles  between 
the  Butlers  and  Geraldines  had  reduced 
royal  authority  to  a  shadow  even  within  the 
Pale,  and  Gerald  Fitzgerald,  eighth  earl  of 
Kildare  [q.  v.],  the  head  of  the  latter  faction, 
who  had  long  been  lord  deputy,  was  in  trea- 
sonable relations  with  Warbeek.  Henry  now 
resolved  to  complete  the  subjection  of  Ire- 
land; he  appointed  his  second  son,  after- 
wards Henry  VIII,  as  viceroy,  and  made 
Poynings  the  prince's  deputy.  The  latter 
landed  at  Howth  on  13  Oct.  1494  with  a 
thousand  men  ;  it  was  part  of  the  scheme  to 
fill  the  chief  Irish  offices  with  Englishmen, 
and  Poynings  was  accompanied  by  Henry 
Deane  [q.  v.],  bishop  of  Bangor,  as  chancellor, 
Hugh  Conway  as  treasurer,  and  three  others, 
who  were  to  be  placed  respectively  over  the 
king's  bench,  common  pleas,  and  exchequer. 
Poynings's  first  measure  was  an  expedition 
into  Ulster,  in  conjunction  with  Kildare,  to 
punish  O'Donnell,  O'Hanlon,  Magennis,  and 
other  chieftains  who  had  abetted  Warbeck's 
first  invasion  of  Ireland  ;  he  is  said  to  have 
done  great  execution  upon  the  Irish ;  but 
his  progress  was  stopped  by  the  news  that 
Kildare  was  plotting  with  O'Hanlon  against 
his  life  ;  some  colour  was  given  to  the  charge 
by  the  revolt  of  Kildare's  brother  James,  who 
seized  Carlow  Castle,  mounted  the  Geraldine 
banner,  and  refused  to  surrender  when  sum- 
moned in  the  king's  name.  Poynings  aban- 
doned the  Ulster  invasion,  turned  south,  and 
with  some  difficulty  reduced  Carlow;  he 
then  proceeded  to  Drogheda  and  summoned 
a  parliament  which  was  to  prove  one  of  the 
most  momentous  in  Irish  history. 

It  opened  on  1  Dec.  1494,  and,  after  at- 
tainting Kildare,  proceeded  to  pass,  at  Poy- 
nings's instance,  numerous  acts  all  tending 
to  make  Irish  administration  directly  depen- 
dent upon  the  crown  and  privy  council. 
Judges  and  others  were  to  hold  office  during 
pleasure,  and  not  by  patent  as  hitherto ;  the 
chief  castles  were  to  be  put  in  English  hands ; 
it  was  made  illegal  to  carry  weapons  or  make 
private  war  without  license,  and  it  was  de- 
clared high  treason  to  excite  the  Irish  to 
take  up  arms ;  the  statutes  of  Kilkenny  passed 
in  1366,  forbidding  marriage  or  intercourse 
between  the  English  colonists  and  the  Irish, 
and  the  adoption  by  Englishmen  of  Irish  laws, 
customs,  or  manners,  were  also  re-enacted. 
But  the  principal  measure  provided  that  no 
parliament  should  be  summoned  in  Ireland 
except  under  the  great  seal  of  England,  or 
without  due  notice  to  the  English  privy 
council,  and  that  no  acts  of  the  Irish  parlia- 
ment should  be  valid  unless  previously  sub- 


mitted to  the  same  body.  Another  act 
declared  all  laws  ( late  made '  in  England  to 
be  of  force  in  Ireland,  and  it  was  subse- 
quently decided  that  this  provision  applied 
to  all  laws  passed  in  England  before  1494. 
These  two  measures,  subsequently  known  as 
1  Poynings's  Law,'  or  '  The  Statutes  of  Drog- 
heda,' rendered  the  Irish  parliament  com- 
pletely subordinate  to  that  of  England.  A 
slight  modification  of  them  was  introduced 
in  Mary's  reign,  and  during  the  rebellion  of 
1641  Charles  promised  their  repeal ;  but  their 
principle  was  extended  by  a  statute  passed 
in  1719,  empowering  the  English  parliament 
to  legislate  for  Ireland,  and  it  was  not  till 
1782  that  they  were  repealed,  and  the  Irish 
parliament  once  more  became  independent. 

While  this  parliament  was  sitting,  Poy- 
nings made  another  expedition  into  Ulster, 
leaving  a  commission  with  his  chancellor  to 
continue,  prorogue,  or  dissolve  it  as  he 
thought  fit.  The  Irish  fled  into  their  fast- 
nesses, and  the  second  expedition  was  even 
less  successful  than  the  first.  Poynings  now 
endeavoured  to  ensure  the  security  of  the 
Pale  by  other  means ;  he  negotiated  alliances 
with  various  septs,  chiefly  by  money  pay- 
ments, and  strictly  enforced  upon  the  in- 
habitants of  the  Pale  the  duty  of  protecting 
its  borders  against  Irish  incursions.  With 
the  help  of  his  under-treasurer,  Hatteclyffe, 
with  whom  he  was  connected  by  marriage 
[see  under  HATTECLYFFE,  WILLIAM],  Poy- 
nings endeavoured  to  reform  the  finances, 
but  the  opposition  of  the  subordinate  officials 
largely  impaired  his  success,  and  Warbeck's 
attack  on  Water  ford  in  July  1495  inter- 
rupted the  work.  The  lord  deputy  marched 
in  person  against  Perkin,  who  blockaded 
Waterford  with  eleven  ships,  while  Desmond, 
with  2,400  men,  attacked  it  on  land.  The 
town  held  out  for  eleven  days,  and  then,  on 
Poynings's  approach,  Warbeek  fled  to  Scot- 
land. 

According  to  Cox,  the  state  of  Ireland  was 
now  so  quiet  that  the  lord-deputy's  presence 
could  be  dispensed  with,  and  Poynings  was 
thereupon  recalled  in  January  1496.  The 
immediate  object  of  his  administration,  viz., 
the  extirpation  of  the  Yorkist  cause  in  Ire- 
land, had  been  attained.  But  Henry  was 
disappointed  that  Poynings,  through  his 
system  of  subsidising  Irish  chiefs,  and  the 
partial  failure  of  his  fiscal  reforms,  had  been 
unable  to  make  Ireland  pay  her  own  way  ; 
and  he  now  fell  back  on  the  cheaper  method  of 
governing  by  the  help  of  the  great  Anglo-Irish 
families.  Kildare,  who  had  regained  favour, 
was  once  more  appointed  deputy,  and  the 
Geraldine  supremacy  lasted  till  1534. 

A.fterhis  return  to  England,  Poynings  was 


Poynings 


273 


Poynings 


frequently  on  commission  for  the  peace  in 
Kent,  and  was  occupied  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  Cinque  ports,  of  which  he  was 
appointed  warden  in  succession  to  his  brother- 
in-law,  Sir  William  Scot,  and  Prince  Henry. 
In  1500  he  was  present  at  the  interview  be- 
tween Henry  VII  and  the  Archduke  Philip 
at-  Calais,  and  in  October  1501  was  one  of 
those  appointed  to  meet  and  conduct  Ca- 
therine of  Arragon  to  London.  He  performed 
a  similar  office  for  the  Flemish  ambassadors 
who  came  to  England  in  1508  to  conclude 
the  projected  marriage  of  Henry's  daughter 
Mary  to  Prince  Charles  of  Castile,  and  some 
time  before  the  king's  death  became  con- 
troller of  the  household.  He  was  one  of 
those  trusty  councillors  who  were  recom- 
mended by  Henry  VII  in  his  will  to  his  son. 

Poynings's  offices  of  controller  and  warden 
of  the  Cinque  ports  were  regranted  him  at 
the  beginning  of  the  new  reign,  and  on 
29  Aug.  1 509  he  witnessed  a  treaty  with 
Scotland.  In  1511  he  was  again  on  active 
service.  In  June  he  was  placed  in  com- 
mand of  some  ships  and  a  force  of  fifteen 
hundred  men,  and  despatched  to  assist  Mar- 
garet of  Savoy,  regent  of  the  Netherlands, 
in  suppressing  the  revolt  in  Gelderland.  He 
embarked  at  Sandwich  on  18  July,  re- 
duced several  towns  and  castles,  and  then 
proceeded  to  besiege  Venlo.  After  three  un- 
successful assaults  the  siege  was  raised,  and 
Poynings,  loaded  with  favours  by  Margaret 
and  Charles,  returned  to  England  in  the 
autumn  (HALL,  Chronicle,  523-4;  DAVIES, 
Hist,  of  Holland,  i.  344).  He  sat  in  the  par- 
liament summoned  on  4  Feb.  1511-12,  pro- 
bably for  some  constituency  in  Kent,  but 
the  returns  are  lost.  From  May  to  Novem- 
ber he  was  going  from  place  to  place  in  the 
Netherlands,  negotiating  a  league  against 
France  (cf.  Letters  and  Papers  of 'Henry  VIII}. 
He  was  similarly  employed  early  in  1513, 
and  successfully  terminated  his  labours  by 
the  formation  of  the  'holy  league '  on  5  April 
between  the  emperor,  the  pope,  and  the  kings 
of  England  and  Spain.  With  a  retinue  of 
five  hundred  men  he  was  present  at  the  cap- 
ture of  Terouenne  on  22  Aug.,  andofTournai 
on  24  Sept.  Of  the  latter  place  he  was  made 
lieutenant ;  but  he  was  '  ever  sickly,'  and  on 
20  Jan.  1513-14  William  Blount,  fourth 
lord  Mountjoy  [q.  v.],was  appointed  to  succeed 
him.  But  through  the  greater  part  of  1514 
Poynings  was  in  the  Netherlands,  engaged  in 
diplomatic  work,  and  perhaps  assisting  in  the 
administration  of  Tournai,  where  he  princi- 
pally resided. 

In  October  peace  was  made  with  France, 
and  in  February  1515  Poynings  returned  to 
England,  with  a  pension  of  a  thousand  marks 

VOL.  XLVI. 


from  Charles,  and  requested  leave  to  go  on 
a  pilgrimage  to  Rome.  In  March  he  was 
appointed  ambassador  to  the  pope,  but  it  does 
not  appear  that  the  embassy  ever  started ; 
and  on  7  May,  with  William  Knight  (1476- 
1547)  [q.  v.],  he  was  once  more  nominated 
envoy  to  renew  the  league  of  1505  with 
Prince  Charles.  On  14  Sept.  Poynings  re- 
turned to  England,  after  four  months'  un- 
successful negotiation.  In  the  same  month, 
however,  the  victory  of  France  at  Marignano 
once  more  cemented  the  league  of  her 
enemies,  and  Poynings,  who  was  re-com- 
missioned ambassador  to  Charles  (now  king 
of  Spain)  on  21  Feb.  1516,  succeeded  in 
concluding  a  treaty  with  him  on  19  April. 

This  was  the  last  of  Poynings's  important 
negotiations,  and  henceforth  he  spent  most 
of  his  time  at  his  manor  of  Westenhanger, 
Kent,  where  he  rebuilt  the  castle,  or  the 
Cinque  ports.  In  June  1517  he  was  decid- 
ing disputes  between  English  and  French 
merchants  at  Calais,  and  in  the  same  year 
he  became  chancellor  of  the  order  of  the 
Garter.  Henry  also  entertained  the  inten- 
tion of  making  him  a  peer,  and  he  is  occa- 
sionally referred  to  as  Lord  Poynings,  but 
the  intention  was  never  carried  out.  In 
1518  he  was  treating  for  the  surrender  of 
Tournai,  and  in  1520  he  took  an  important 
part  in  the  proceedings  at  the  Field  of  the 
Cloth  of  Gold.  He  was  also  present  at 
Henry's  meeting  with  Charles  at  Gravelines 
on  10  July.  He  died  at  Westenhanger  in 
October  1521. 

Poynings  married  Isabel  or  Elizabeth,- 
daughter  of  Sir  John  Scot  (d.  1485),  marshal 
of  Calais,  and  sister  of  Sir  William  Scot, 
warden  of  the  Cinque  ports  and  sheriff  of 
Kent  (cf.  Letters  and  Papers,  passim ; 
WEEVEE,  Funerall  Mon.  p.  269 ;  Archceolog. 
Cant.  x.  257-8).  She  died  on  15  Aug.  1528, 
and  was  buried  in  Brabourne  church,  where 
she  is  commemorated  by  a  brass.  By  her  Poy- 
nings had  one  child,  John,  who  predeceased 
him  without  issue.  Poynings's  will  is  printed 
in  Nicolas's  <TestamentaVetusta,'pp.  578-9. 
His  estates  passed  to  Henry  Algernon  Percy, 
fifth  earl  of  Northumberland  [q.  v.],  the 
grandson  of  Poynings's  first  cousin  Eleanor, 
who  married  Henry,  third  earl  of  Northum- 
berland [see  under  HENEY,  second  EAEL] 
(Letters  andPapers,  vol.  iii.  No.  3214).  He  had 
seven  illegitimate  children — three  sons  and 
four  daughters.  Of  the  sons,  the  eldest,  Tho- 
mas, baron  Poynings,  is  separately  noticed. 
Edward,  the  second,  became  captain  of  the 
guard  at  Boulogne,  and  was  slain  there  in 
1546.  Adrian,  the  third,  was  appointed  lieu- 
tenant to  Wyatt  at  Boulogne  in  February 
1546,  captain  of  Boulogne  in  the  following 


Poynings 


274 


Poynings 


June,  and  served  for  some  years  under  the 
lord  high  admiral.  He  was  knighted  at  the 
accession  of  Elizabeth,  and  in  1561  became 
governor  of  Portsmouth,  where  he  died  on 
15  Feb.  1570-1.  His  daughter  Anne  married 
Sir  George  More  [q.  v.]  of  Losely.  Of  Sir 
Edward  Poynings's  daughters,  Jane  married 
Thomas,  eighth  lord  Clinton,  and  became 
mother  of  Edward  Fiennes  Clinton,  earl  of 
Lincoln  [q.  v.] 

[Letters  and  Papers  of  Henry  VII,  and  Ma- 
terials for  the  Reign  of  Henry  VII  (Rolls  Ser.) ; 
Letters  and  Papers  of  Henry  VIII,  ed.  Brewer 
and  G-airdner;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  9th  Rep.  App. 
pt.  i.  passim ;  Cotton  MSS.  passim ;  Rolls  of 
Parl. ;  Rymer's  Fcedera,  oris;.  edit.  vols.  xii. 
and  xiii. ;  Paston  Letters,  ed.  Gairdner;  Three 
Books  of  Polydore  Vergil,  Chron.  of  Calais  and 
Rutland  Papers  (Camden  Soc.) ;  Hall,  Fabyan, 
Grafton,  and  Holinshed's  Chronicles ;  Bacon's 
Henry  VII ;  Myles  Davies's  Athense  Brit.  ii. 
60-1  ;  Beltz's  Memorials  of  the  Garter ;  Gaird- 
ner's  Richard  III,  p.  398,  and  Henry  VII  (Eng- 
lish Statesmen  Ser.) ;  Lingard's  Hist,  of  England; 
Brewer's  Reign  of  Henry  VIII  ;  Busch's  Eng- 
land under  the  Tudors,  vol.  i.,  which  gives  the 
best  account  of  Henry  VIl's  reign  yet  published; 
Sussex  Archseol.  Coll.  vol.  iv. ;  Norfolk  Archseol. 
iv.  21,  «&c. ;  Archseol..  Cantiana,  v.  118,  vii.  244,  x. 
257,  2-58,  264,  xi.  394;  Hasted's  Kent,  passim; 
Boys'sHist.  of  Sandwich;  Burrows's  Cinque  Ports. 
For  Poynings's  Irish  administration  see  Annals 
of  the  Four  Masters ;  Book  of  Howth ;  Ware's 
Annales  Hib. ;  Harris's  Hibernica ;  Lascelles's 
Liber  Munerum  Hib. ;  Leland's  Hist,  of  Ireland, 
3  vols.,  1773;  Plowden's  Hist.  View;  Cox's 
Hib.  Angl.,  2  vols.,  1689-90;  Smith  and  Ry- 
land's  Hist,  of  Waterford ;  Hist,  of  the  Earls 
of  Kildare ;  Gilbert's  Viceroys  of  Ireland ; 
Richey's  Lectures  on  Irish  Hist,  to  1534; 
Froude's  English  in  Ireland ;  "Wright's  His- 
tory of  Ireland,  vol.  i.  ;  Bagwell's  Ireland 
under  the  Tudors,  vol.  i.  For  Poynings's  law 
see  Irish  Statutes;  Hardi  man's  Statutes  of  Kil- 
kenny ;  Davies's  Hist.  Tracts,  ed.  1786;  A 
Declaration  setting  forth  how  .  .  .  the  laws 
...  of  England  .  .  .  came  to  be  of  force  in 
Ireland,  1643,  attributed  to  Sir  Richard  Bolton 
[q.  v.];  An  Answer  to  the  above  by  Samuel 
Mayart  [q.  v.] ;  Molyneux's  Case  of  Ireland 
being  bound,  and  the  Replies  to  it  [see  under 
MOLYNEUX,  WILLIAM]  ;  Hallam's  Const.  Hist. ; 
Lecky's  Hist,  of  Ireland ;  Ball's  Irish  Legisla- 
tive Systems.]  A.  F.  P. 

POYNINGS  or  PON  YNGS,  MICHAEL 
DE,  second  BARON  POYNINGS  (1317-1369), 
was  eldest  son  of  Thomas,  first  baron,  by 
Agnes,  daughter  and  coheiress  of  Richard 
de  Rokesle.  The  family  had  been  settled  at 
Poynings,  Sussex,  as  early  as  the  reign  of 
Stephen,  and  Michael's  grandfather,  Michael 
de  Poynings  (d.  1316),  received  a  summons  to 
parliament  on  8  June  1294  ;  but  it  was  not 


renewed,  and  it  does  not  appear  that  it  can  be 
regarded  as  constituting  a  regular  summons 
to  parliament  (NiCOLAS,  Historic  Peerage,  pp. 
117-18,  389).  His  son  Thomas  was,  how- 
ever, summoned  on  23  April  1337.  The  latter 
was  one  of  the  guardians  of  the  sea-coast  of 
Sussex  on  1  April  1338,  and  on  22  June 
1339  one  of  the  witnesses  to  the  treaty  with 
Brabant  (Fcedera,  ii.  1025,  1083),  He  was 
killed  in  the  assault  of  Huny court  in  Ver- 
mandois  on  10  Oct.  1339  (HEMINGBURGH,  i. 
341),  though  it  is  commonly  stated  that  he 
was  killed  in  the  sea-fight  off  Sluys  on 
24  June  1340  (LE  BAKER,  ed.  Thompson,  p. 
243 ;  BARNES,  Hist.  Edward  III,  p.  183). 
He  left  three  sons — Michael,  Richard,  and 
Luke.  The  last-named  married  Isabella, 
sister  and  coheiress  of  Edmund,  lord  St.  John 
of  Basing,  and  was  summoned  to  parliament 
in  1368,  probably  in  right  of  his  wife,  as 
Baron  St.  John. 

Michael  de  Poynings  was  twenty-two 
years  of  age  when  he  succeeded  his  father  as 
second  baron  in  1339.  He  served  in  Flan- 
ders in  1339  and  1340,  and  on  4  Nov.  1341 
was  summoned  for  service  in  the  Scots 
war  (Fcedera,  ii.  1181,  1184).  On  4  Oct. 
1342  he  is  mentioned  as  being  with  the  king 
at  Sandwich,  when  on  his  way  to  Brittany 
(ib.  ii.  1212).  He  again  served  in  France  in 
1345,  and  in  1346  took  part  in  the  campaign 
of  Cr6cy  (BARNES,  Hist.  Edward  III,  pp. 
320,  354).  In  1351,  and  again  in  1352,  he 
was  one  of  the  guardians  of  the  sea-coast  of 
Sussex  (Fcedera,  iii.  218,  245).  He  was  em- 
ployed in  the  French  expedition  of  the  king 
in  1355,  and  in  the  campaign  of  Poitiers  in 
the  following  year.  In  August  1359,  to- 
gether with  his  brothers  Richard  and  Luke, 
he  joined  in  the  great  invasion  of  France, 
and  was  still  abroad  in  April  1360  (ib.  iii. 
445,  483).  On  22  June  1362  he  was  one  of 
the  signatories  to  the  treaty  with  the  king 
of  Castile  (ib.  iii.  657).  Poynings  died  on 
15  March  1369.  He  had  been  summoned  to 
parliament  from  25  Feb.  1342.  By  his  wife 
Joan,  widow  of  Sir  John  de  Molyns,  who 
must  be  distinct  from  Sir  John  de  Molines 
or  Moleyns  (d.  1365  ?)  [q.  v.]  he  had  two 
sons — Thomas  and  Richard — and  four  daugh- 
ters. Of  the  latter,  Mary  married  Sir  Arnold 
Savage  [q.  v.]  Joan  de  Poynings  died  on 
11  May  1369,  and  was  buried  with  her 
husband  at  Poynings,  where  the  existing 
church  was  erected  in  accordance  with  their 
wills. 

ROBERT  DE  POYNINGS,  fifth  BARON  POYN- 
INGS (1380-1446),  Michael's  grandson,  and 
son  of  Richard  de  Poynings,  fourth  baron, 
was  born  on  30  Nov.  1380.  He  was  sum- 
moned to  parliament  in  1404,  is  several  times 


Poynings 


275 


Poynter 


mentioned  as  attending  the  council  under 
Henry  IV  (NICOLAS,  Proc.  Privy  Council,  ii. 
7,  99,  156),  and  served  in  the  French  wars 
during  the  reigns  of  that  king  and  his  suc- 
cessors. In  1420  he  had  custody  of  the  Duke 
of  Bourbon  (DEVON,  Issues  of  Exchequer,  p. 
363).  He  was  present  at  the  battles  of  Cre- 
vant  in  July  1423  and  Verneuil  on  16  Aug. 
1424,  and  died  on  2  Oct.  1446.  By  his  first 
wife,  Isabella,  daughter  of  Reginald,lord  Grey 
of  Ruthin — to  whom  Richard  II  gave  a  ring 
in  1397  (ib.  p.  265)— he  had  three  sons.  Ri- 
chard, the  eldest,  was  M.P.  for  Sussex  in 
1428,  but  died  in  1430  (Testamenta  Vetusta, 
p.  217),  leaving  a  daughter  Eleanor,  who 
married  Henry  Percy,  afterwards  third  earl  of 
Northumberland  [see  under  PERCY,  HENRY, 
second  EARL  OF  NORTHUMBERLAND].  Robert 
de  Poynings,  second  son  of  the  fifth  baron, 
was  born  in  November  1419.  He  was  con- 
cerned in  Jack  Cade's  rebellion,  and  was 
killed  at  the  second  battle  of  St.  Albans  on 
17  Feb.  1461  (Paston  Letters,  i.  133,  ii.  329 
et  passim).  By  his  wife  Elizabeth,  daughter 
of  Sir  William  Paston  [q.  v.],  he  was  father 
of  Sir  Edward  Poynings  [q.  v.]  The  wills 
of  several  of  the  chief  members  of  the  Poyn- 
ings family  are  summarised  in  Nicolas's 
t  Testamenta  Vetusta.'  The  Poynings'  arms 
were  barry  of  six,  or  and  verte,  a  bendlet 
gules. 

[Sussex  Archaeological  Collections,  xv.  5-18, 
with  a  full  genealogical  table ;  Dugdale's  Ba- 
ronage, ii.  133-6 ;  Palgrave's  Parliamentary 
Writs,  iv.  1306-7  ;  GK  E.  C.'s  Complete  Peerage, 
vi.  299  ;  Nicolas's  Historic  Peerage,  ed.  Court- 
hope;  Testamenta  Vetusta,  pp.  73,  82,  92,  122, 
217  ;  authorities  quoted.]  C.  L.  K. 

POYNINGS,  THOMAS,  BARON  POYN- 
INGS (d.  1545),  was  an  illegitimate  son  of 
Sir  Edward  Poynings  [q.  v.]  He  was  early 
brought  to  court,  and  was  a  sewer-extraordi- 
nary in  1516.  He  was  one  of  those  who  re- 
ceived livery  of  the  Percy  lands  in  1528,  was 
on  the  sheriff  roll  for  Kent  in  1533,  made  K.B. 
the  same  year,  and  appointed  sheriff  of  Kent 
in  1534.  He  was  present  at  the  christening 
of  Edward  VI  on  15  Oct.  1537,  and  at  the 
funeral  of  Jane  Seymour  on  12  Nov.  When 
Anne  of  Cleves  came  to  England  in  1539, 
Poynings  was  one  of  the  knights  who  re- 
ceived her.  He  was  an  accomplished  cour- 
tier, generous  in  disposition,  the  friend  of 
Wyatt  and  of  Sir  Thomas  Chaloner  the  elder 
[q.  v.]  In  the  French  expedition  of  1544 
Poynings  took  an  important  part.  He  was 
a  captain  in  the  army,  and  greatly  distin- 
guished himself  at  the  capture  of  Boulogne. 
In  October  1544  he  was  left  there  by  Howard 
with  four  thousand  men.  On  30  Jan.  1544- 
1545  he  was  created  Baron  Poynings;  he  died 


[q. 
18 


at  Boulogne  on  17  Aug.  1545.  He  married 
Catherine,  daughter  of  John,  lord  Marney, 
and  widow  of  George  Radcliffe,  but  left  no 
children.  Some  of  his  Kentish  property 
passed  to  the  Duke  of  Northumberland. 

[Burke's  Extinct  and  Dormant  Peerage  ; 
Hasted's  Kent,  iii.  324  ;  Horsfield's  Sussex,  i. 
175-6;  Letters  and  Papers  of  Henry  VIII,  n. 
ii.  2735,  iv.  ii.  3213,  vii.  1498,  xi.  580,  xn.  ii. 
911  ;  Nott's  edition  of  the  poems  of  Wyatt,  p. 
Ixxxiii,  and  of  Surrey,  pp.  Ixxii,  Ixxvi  ;  Chronicle 
of  Calais  (Camd.  Soc.)  p.  176;  Strype's  Memo- 
rials, ii.  i.  9,  in.  i.  41.]  W.  A.  J.  A. 

POYNTER,  AMBROSE  (1796-1886), 
architect,  born  in  London  on  16  May  1796, 
was  second  son  of  Ambrose  Lyon  Poynter 
by  Thomasine  Anne  Peck.  The  family  was 
of  Huguenot  origin,  his  father's  great-great- 
grandfather, Thomas  Pointier  of  St.  Quentin 
in  France,  having  settled  in  England  in  1685 
after  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes. 
Poynter  commenced  his  professional  career 
as  an  architect  in  the  office  of  John  Nash 
.  v.],  working  there  about  five  years  (1814- 
18).  From  1819  to  1821  he  travelled  in 
Italy,  Sicily,  and  the  Ionian  Islands  ;  he  had 
studied  watercolour  painting  under  Thomas 
Shotter  Boys  [q.  v.],  and  the  sketches  made 
by  him  during  these  travels  are  of  great 
merit.  He  attended  Keats's  funeral  at  Rome 
on  26  Feb.  1821.  On  returning  home  Poynter 
set  up  for  himself  as  an  architect  at  1  Poet's 
Corner,  Westminster,  but  afterwards  (about 
1846)  built  for  himself  a  house  and  offices  in 
Park  Street,  now  Queen  Anne's  Gate.  One 
of  his  earliest  works  was  an  observatory  at 
Cambridge  for  his  friend  William  Hopkins 
(1793-1866)  [q.v.],the  mathematical  'coach.' 
In  1832  he  resided  for  some  time  in  Paris, 
where  he  was  associated  with  Richard  Parkes 
Bonington  [q.  v.],  Baron  Denon,  Boucher- 
Desnoyers  the  engraver,  and  others.  He 
subsequently  built  at  Cambridge  the  church 
of  St.  Paul  in  the  Hills  Road,  and  in  1835 
was  an  unsuccessful  though  highly  com- 
mended competitor  for  the  building  of  the 
Fitzwilliam  Museum.  Poynter  was  one  of 
the  foundation  members  of  the  Royal  In- 
stitute of  British  Architects  in  1834,  one  of 
the  first  members  of  their  council,  acted  as 
their  secretary  in  1840,  1841,  and  1844,  read 
various  papers  at  their  meetings,  including 
a  valuable  descriptive  analysis  of  the  ara- 
besques in  the  'Loggie'  of  the  Vatican 
(3  Feb.  1840),  and  in  1842  was  the  author 
of  an  anonymous  essay  f  On  the  Introduc- 
tion of  Iron  in  the  Construction  of  Buildings,' 
to  which  the  silver  medal  of  the  institute  was 
awarded.  Poynter  had  considerable  practice 
as  an  architect  until  the  loss  of  his  eyesight, 
which  commenced  about  1860,  and  caused  his 

T2 


Poynter 


276 


Poynter 


retirement  from  liis  profession  at  the  height  of 
his  career.  In  London  he  designed  the  hospital 
and  chapel  of  St.  Katharine  in  the  Regent's 
Park  (1827),  Christ  Church,  Westminster 
(1841),  and  the  French  Protestant  Church 
in  Bloomsbury  Street.  In  the  provinces, 
among  other  works,  he  was  the  architect  of 
Pynes  House,  Devonshire  (for  Sir  Stafford 
Northcote),  Hodsock,  near  Worksop,  Not- 
tinghamshire (for  Mrs.  Chambers),  Castle 
Melgwyn,  South  Wales,  and  restored  or  added 
to  numerous  buildings,  including  Warwick 
Castle  and  Crewe  Hall,  though  in  both  these 
cases  Poynter's  work  has  since  been  destroyed 
by  fire.  As  architect  to  the  National  Pro- 
vincial Bank  of  England,  he  designed  build- 
ings for  it  in  several  towns.  Poynter  was 
frequently  employed  on  arbitration  cases,  and 
held  the  office  of  official  referee  to  the  board 
of  works. 

Poynter  took  an  important  part  in  the 
establishment  of  government  schools  of  de- 
sign, and  was  the  first  inspector  for  the  pro- 
vinces appointed  in  connection  with  the 
school  of  design  then  at  Somerset  House. 
He  was  one  of  the  committee  of  manage- 
ment appointed  in  1848  to  supervise  the 
district  schools  of  design,  and  in  1850  was 
appointed  inspector  of  them.  He  was  one 
of  the  first  to  urge  the  importance  of  making 
drawing  a  compulsory  subject  in  national 
and  elementary  schools.  He  was  an  original 
member  of  the  Arundel  Society,  the  Graphic 
Society,  and  the  Archaeological  Institute,  and 
contributed  several  papers  to  the  proceedings 
of  the  last.  A  student  of  heraldry,  he  made 
drawings  to  illustrate  Sandford's  'Genea- 
logical History  of  England.'  He  collaborated 
with  Charles  Knight  (1791-1873)  [q.  v.]  in 
his  attempts  to  produce  good  and  cheap  pic- 
torial literature,  contributing  illustrations 
to  Knight's  '  Shakespeare '  and  '  Pictorial 
History  of  England,'  and  the  articles  on 
literature,  science,  and  art  to  the  latter 
work. 

Poynter  died  at  Dover  on  20  Nov.  1880. 
He  married,  first,  in  1832  at  the  chapel  of 
the  British  embassy,  Paris,  Emma,  daughter 
of  the  Rev.  E.  Forster,  by  Lavinia,  daughter 
and  only  child  of  Thomas  Banks,  R.A.  [q.  v.] 
By  her  he  had  one  son,  Mr.  Edward  John 
Poynter,  R.  A.,  director  of  the  National  Gal- 
lery, and  three  daughters,  of  whom  Clara, 
wife  of  Mr.  Robert  Courtenay  Bell,  has  at- 
tained distinction  as  a  translator  from  foreign 
languages.  Poynter  married,  secondly,  Louisa 
Noble,  daughter  of  General  Robert  Bell,  by 
whom  he  left  a  daughter. 

[Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Institute  of  British 
Architects,  1887,  pp.  ]  13,  137  ;  private  informa- 
tion.] L.  C. 


POYNTER,  WILLIAM,  D.D.  (1762- 
1827),  catholic  prelate,  born  at  Petersfield, 
Hampshire,  on  20  May  1762,  was  sent  by 
Bishop  Challoner  to  the  English  College  at 
Douay,  where  he  became  prefect  of  studies, 
was  promoted  to  the  priesthood,  and  took 
the  degree  of  D.D.  In  1793  he  and  the 
other  seminarists  were  transferred  by  the 
French  revolutionary  authorities  to  the 
castle  of  Dourlens,  and  they  were  after- 
wards imprisoned  in  the  Irish  College  at 
Douay.  At  last,  on  25  Feb.  1795,  they  were 
sent  to  England,  where  they  landed  on 
2  March.  Poynter  was  nominated  by  Bishop 
Douglass  to  be  vice-president  of  St.  Ed- 
mund's College,  near  Ware,  and  he  became 
president  of  that  college  in  1801,  when  Dr. 
Gregory  Stapleton  was  made  apostolic  vicar 
in  the  midland  district.  Stapleton  made 
Poynter  his  vicar-general. 

He  was  appointed  coadjutor  to  Dr.  John 
Douglass  [q.  v.],  vicar-apostolic  of  the  Lon- 
don district,  by  papal  brief,  dated  3  March 
1803,  and  he  was  consecrated  bishop  of 
Halia  at  St.  Edmund's  College  on  29  May. 
He  succeeded  to  the  vicariate  per  coadju- 
toriam  on  the  death  of  Douglass,  8  May  1812. 
Poynter  was  of  a  gentler  disposition  than 
John  Milner  £q.  v.],  and  was  adverse  to  the 
bold  manner  in  which  that  controversialist 
carried  himself  towards  his  political  oppo- 
nents. While  on  a  visit  to  Rome  he  drew  up 
his  '  Apologetical  Epistle'  to  Cardinal  Litta, 
prefect  of  the  propaganda,  dated  15  March 
1815,  in  which  he  defended  himself  against 
certain  charges  brought  against  him  and  the 
other  vicars-apostol  ic  by  Bishop  Milner.  The 
document  was  not  intended  to  be  made 
public,  and  was  not  actually  published  till 
1820,  when  it  was  translated  and  printed, 
without  the  knowledge  of  Poynter,  by 
Charles  Butler,  in  his  '  Historical  Memoirs 
of  the  English  Catholics '  (vol.  iv.  appendix, 
note  1).  Poynter  suffered  himself  to  be  per- 
suaded into  becoming  president  of  the 
'  Catholic  Bible  Society,'  an  institution 
founded  in  1813  by  the  'Catholic  Com- 
mittee,' and  afterwards,  in  1816,  condemned 
by  the  holy  see  as  *  a  crafty  device  for 
weakening  the  foundations  of  religion  ' 
(BRADY,  Episcopal  Succession,  iii.  186).  In 
1823  he  obtained  from  the  holy  see  the  ap- 
pointment of  Dr.  James  Yorke  Bramston 
[q.  v.]  as  his  coadjutor,  cum  jure  successionis. 
In  conjunction  with  the  other  English  and 
Scottish  catholic  prelates,  he  issued  the 
famous '  Declaration  of  the  Catholic  Bishops, 
the  Vicars  Apostolic,  and  their  Coadjutors 
in  Great  Britain.'  He  died  in  Castle  Street, 
Holborn,  London,  on  26  Nov.  1827  (Gent. 
Mag.  1827,  pt.  ii.  p.  571),  and  was  buried 


Poynter 


277 


Poyntz 


AWVUAUO         IA»C«         \^>JiLCLH.^O        \J    \J\J11.\J1»          A.  I   \Jrt:'~' 

q.  v.]  (contained  in  his  third  letter) 
3  Spiritual  Jurisdiction  of  Bishops  and 


in  the  church  of  St  Mary,  Moorfields,  where 
there  is  a  monument  to  his  memory,  with  a 
Latin  inscription.  The  Kev.  Lewis  Havard 
preached  the  funeral  sermon,  which  was 
printed.  Poynter's  heart  was  deposited  be- 
neath the  altar  at  St.  Edmund's  College, 
Ware. 

His  portrait,  engraved  by  R.  Fenner, 
forms  the  frontispiece  to  the  '  Catholic 
Miscellany,'  vol.  iv.  (1825).  Another  por- 
trait appeared  in  the  l  Laity's  Directory '  for 
1829. 

Poynter's  separate  publications  were :  1. '  A 
Theological  Examination  of  the  Doctrine  of 
Columbanus  [i.e.  Charles  O'Conor,  1764- 
1828, 
on  the 

the  difference  between  a  Bishop  and  a  Priest,' 
London,  1811,  8vo.  2.  'Instructions  and 
Directions  addressed  to  all  the  Faithful  in 
the  London  District,  for  gaining  the  Grand 
Jubilee,'  London,  1826,  24mo.  3.  'Chris- 
tianity ;  or  the  Evidences  and  Characters  of 
the  Christian  Religion,'  London,  1827,  8vo  ; 
translated  into  Italian  (at  Rome  in  1828). 

Poynter's  *  Narrative  of  the  Seizure  of 
Douay  College,  and  of  the  Deportation  of 
the  Seniors,  Professors,  and  Students  to 
Dourlens,'  in  continuation  of  the  narrative 
of  the  Rev.  Joseph  Hodgson  [q.  v.],  was 
printed  in  the  '  Catholic  Magazine  and  Re- 
view' (Birmingham),  vol.  i.  (1831),  pp.  397, 
457.  A  translation,  by  the  Abb§  L.  Dan- 
coine,  appears  in  '  Le  College  Anglais  de 
Douai  pendant  la  Revolution,'  Douay,  1881, 
8vo.  '  An  Unpublished  Correspondence  be- 
tween Poynter  and  Dr.C.  O'Conor,  on  Foreign- 
influencing  Maxims,  with  Observations  on 
the  Canonical  and  Legal  Securities  against 
such  Maxims/  appeared  in  O'Conor's  '  Colum- 
banus,' No.  vi,  London,  1813.  To  the 
'Laity's  Directory'  for  1813  to  1828  in- 
clusively, Poynter  contributed  an  annual 
article  called  '  New  Year's  Gifts,'  as  well  as 
'  Reflections  on  British  Zeal  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  Christianity,  and  on  the  State  of 
Christianity  in  England,'  to  that  periodical 
in  1829  (p.  75).  He  was  also  responsible 
for  'The  Catholic  Soldier's  and  Sailor's 
Prayer  Book,'  which  was  reprinted,  with  ad- 
ditions, by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Unsworth,  Lon- 
don, 1858,  12mo. 

[Amherst's  Hist,  of  Catholic  Emancipation, 
ii.  353  ;  Butler's  Hist.  Memoirs,  1822,  iv.  379, 
469-523  ;  Butler's  Reminiscences,  p.  301  ;  Catho- 
lic Magazine  and  Eeview,  ii.  260;  Catholic 
Miscellany,  1827,  vii.  284,  viii.  432,  ix.  72; 
Husenbeth's  Life  of  Milner,  p.  584 ;  London  and 
Dublin  Orthodox  Journal,  1842,  xv.  103;  Ward's? 
Hist.  of  St.  Edmund's  College,  Old  Hall,  1893.] 

T.  C.      | 


POYNTZ,  SIR  FRANCIS  (d.  1528), 
diplomatist,  was  third  son  of  Sir  Robert 
Poyntz  (d.  1521)  of  Iron  Acton,  Gloucester- 
shire, and  his  wife  Margaret,  natural  daugh- 
ter of  Anthony  Wydevill,  earl  Rivers  [q.  v.], 
by  Gwentlian,  daughter  of  William  Stradling. 
The  family  was  descended  from  the  Barons 
Poyntz,  who  had  been  prominent  in  the 
Welsh  and  Scottish  wars  of  Edward  I  (cf. 
RYMEK,  Fosdera,  orig.  ed.  vol.  ii.  passim  ; 
Parl.  Writs;  DUGDALE,  Baronage ;  and  G.E. 
C[OKAYNE],  Complete  Peerage),  and  had  long 
been  settled  in  Gloucestershire.  The  father 
officiated  at  many  court  ceremonies,  was 
chancellor  to  Queen  Catherine  of  Aragon, 
and  in  1520  attended  Henry  VIII  to  France. 
From  a  brother  was  descended  the  Poyntz 
family  of  Essex,  and  from  his  second  son, 
John,  father  of  Robert  Poyntz  [q.  v.],  the 
family  of  Alderley,  Gloucestershire  (PALIN, 
More  about  Sti/ord,  p.  128). 

Francis  was  in  1516  appointed  esquire  of 
the  body  to  Henry  VIII,  and  became  a  carver 
in  the  royal  household  in  1521.  In  1526  he 
was  granted  custody  of  the  manor  of  Holborn, 
'  in  the  suburbs  of  London,'  during  the 
minority  of  Edward  Stanley,  third  earl  of 
Derby  [q.  v.],  and  in  the  same  year  he  re- 
ceived some  of  the  forfeited  lands  of  Edward 
Stafford,  third  duke  of  Buckingham  [q.  v.] 
In  1527  he  was  sent  as  ambassador  to  the 
emperor,  with  instructions  to  mediate  peace 
between  him  and  Francis  I,  and  to  threaten 
war  in  the  Netherlands  if  Charles  V  de- 
clined these  overtures.  He  was  also  to  re- 
monstrate with  the  emperor  on  his  treatment 
of  the  pope  and  the  sack  of  Rome.  Poyntz 
travelled  by  way  of  Paris,  where  he  was  joined 
by  the  French  ambassador  to  the  emperor, 
and  arrived  at  Madrid  on  1  July.  But  his 
embassy  met  with  little  success,  and  he  left 
Spain  in  October,  having  an  interview  with 
Francis  at  Paris  on  the  way  back.  He  died 
of  the  plague  in  London  on  25  June  1528. 
He  married  Jane  or  Joan,  daughter  of  Sir 
Matthew  Browne  of  Betchworth,  Surrey, 
but  left  no  issue.  At  the  request  of  his  eldest 
brother  Anthony,  Sir  Francis  wrote  'The 
Table  of  Cebes  the  Philosopher,  Translated 
out  of  Latine  into  Englishe  by  Sir  Francis 
Poyngs  ; '  it  was  published  in  16mo  by  Ber- 
thelet  probably  about  1530;  a  copy  is  in  the 
British  Museum  Library. 

Sra  ANTHONY  POYNTZ  (1480  P-1633)  in- 
herited Iron  Acton,  where  his  descendants 
were  seated  for  many  generations.  He  was 
knighted  in  1513,  when  he  commanded  a  ship 
in  Howard's  expedition  against  France.  In 
September  1518  he  was  sent  on  an  embassy 
to  the  French  king,  and  was  present  at  the 
Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold  in  July  1520.  In 


Poyntz 


278 


Poyntz 


1521  lie  was  one  of  the  jury  at  Bristol  before 
whom  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  was  indicted. 
In  1522  he  joined  in  Surrey's  expedition  to 
Francis  in  command  of  the  Santa  Maria.  In 
the  following  year  he  became  vice-admiral, 
and  was  employed  in  command  of  some  twelve 
or  fourteen  sail  in  preventing  the  return  of 
Albany  to  Scotland.  In  1523  he  was  admini- 
strator for  his  father.  In  1527  he  served  as 
sheriff  of  Gloucestershire,  and  in  1530  was  on 
a  commission  to  inquire  into  Wolsey's  posses- 
sions. He  died  in  1533,  having  married,  first, 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  William  Huddes- 
field ;  and,  secondly,  Joan,  widow  of  Sir  Ri- 
chard Guilford.  His  eldest  son,  Sir  Nicholas, 
born  in  1510,  was  a  prominent  courtier  during 
the  latter  part  of  Henry  VIII's  reign,  and 
died  in  1557.  A  portrait  of  Sir  Nicholas  by 
Holbein  belongs  to  the  Marquis  of  Bristol, 
and  two  drawings,  also  attributed  to  Holbein, 
to  her  majesty  the  queen  (Cat.  Tudor  Exhib. 
1890,  Nos.  79,  493,  500).  Another,  which  is 
anonymous,  belonged  in  1866  to  the  Marquis 
of  Ormonde. 

Sir  Nicholas's  great-grandson,  SIB  ROBEKT 
POYNTZ  (1589P-1665)  matriculated  from 
Brasenose  College,  Oxford,  on  15  March 
1601-5,  was  M.P.  for  Gloucestershire  in 
1626,  1628-9,  and  was  knighted  on  2  Feb. 
1626-7  at  the  coronation  of  Charles  I ;  he 
sided  with  the  king  during  the  civil  war,  and 
wrote  'A  Vindication  of  Monarchy  .  .  .,' 
1661,  4to  (Brit.  Mus.);  he  was  buried  at 
Iron  Acton  on  10  Nov.  1665. 

[Authorities  quoted;  Works  in  Brit.  Mus. 
Libr. ;  Sir  John  Maclean's  Memoir  of  the  Poyntz 
family;  Cotton  MSS.  passim;  Letters,  &c.,  of 
Henry  VII  (Kolls  Ser.),  and  Letters  and  Papers 
of  Henry  VIII,  ed.  Brewer  and  Gairdner,  passim  ; 
Atkyns's  Gloucestershire,  p.  104,&c. ;  Visitation 
of  Gloucestershire  (Harl.  Soc.) ;  Wood's  Athense, 
iii.  715-16;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.  1500-1714; 
Lit.  Remains  of  Edward  VI  (Eoxburghe  Club); 
Chron.  of  Calais  (Camden  Soc.)  ;  Rymer's 
Fcede-a,  orig.  ed.  xiv.  404;  Brewer's  Hist,  of 
Henry  VIII,  ii.  149  ;  Sandford's  Genealog.  Hist, 
p.  434;  Clutterbuck's  Hertfordshire;  Gough's 
Sepulchral  Mon.]  A.  F.  P. 

POYNTZ,  ROBERT  (fl.  1566),  catholic 
divine,  a  younger  son  of  John  Poyntz  (d.  1544) 
and  nephew  of  Sir  Francis  Poyntz  [q.  v.],  lord 
of  the  manor  of  Alderley,  Gloucestershire,  was 
born  at  Alderley  about  1535.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  Winchester,  and  was,  on  26  Aug. 
1554,  admitted  perpetual  fellow  of  New 
College^  Oxford  (Rawl.  MS.  D.  130,  f.  63), 

frad  uating  B.A.   5   June  1556,   and  M.A. 
7  May  1560.  But  as  a  devout  Roman  catholic 
he  abandoned,  early  in  Elizabeth's  reign,  his 
friends  and  expectations  in  this  country,  and 
settled  in  Louvain.  There  he  published  '  Tes- 


timonies for  the  Real  Presence  of  Christ's 
Body  and  Blood  in  the  Blessed  Sacrament 
of  the  Aultar,  set  foorth  at  large  and  faith- 
fully translated  out  of  Six  Auncient  Fathers 
which  ly ved  far  within  the  first  six  hundred 
yeres/  .  .  .  Louvain,  1566.  Another  work, 
'  Miracles  performed  by  the  Eucharist,'  is 
also  ascribed  to  him. 

[Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  i.  356,  Fasti,  i.  149, 
158  ;  State  Papers,  Dom.  Eliz.  Add.  xxxii.  30 ; 
Notes  and  Queries,  1st  ser.  i.  94,  viii.  440; 
Palin's  More  about  Stifford  ;  Atkyns's  Glouces- 
tershire, pp.  104,  107  ;  Visitation  of  Gloucester- 
shire (Harl.  Soc.) ;  Tanner's  Bibl.  Brit.-Hib. ; 
Pits,  De  Script.  Illustr.  Angl.  p.  903,  appendix ; 
Maclean's  Memoir  of  the  Poyntz  Family."! 

W.  A.  S. 

POYNTZ,  STEPHEN  (1685-1750),  di- 
plomatist, born  in  London,  and  baptised  at 
St.  Michael's,  Cornhill,  in  November  1685, 
was  the  second  son  of  William  Poyntz,  up- 
holsterer, of  Cornhill,  by  his  second  wife, 
Jane,  daughter  of  Stephen  Monteage,  mer- 
chant of  London  and  Buckingham,  whose 
wife  was  a  sister  of  Richard  Deane  [q.  v.] 
(LiPSCOMB,  Buckinghamshire,  ii.  579).  He 
was  educated  at  Eton,  being  a  king's  scholar 
and  captain  of  Montem  in  1702.  On  17  Feb. 
1702-3  he  was  admitted  at  King's  College, 
Cambridge,  and  became  in  due  course  a  fellow 
of  his  college,  graduating  B.A.  in  1706,  and 
M.A.  in  1711. 

Shortly  after  he  left  college  he  travelled 
with  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  and  he  was 
also  tutor  to  the  sons  of  Lord  Townshend, 
with  whom  he  was  at  The  Hague  in  1709 
and  1710.  For  some  time  he  seems  to  have 
acted  as  Townshend's  confidential  secretary, 
communicating  on  his  behalf  with  the  Eng- 
lish ambassadors  abroad,  and,  through  his 
chief's  influence,  he  was  introduced  into  the 
diplomatic  service.  Poyntz  was  commissary 
in  1716  to  James,  first  earl  Stanhope,  the 
secretary  of  state,  and  envoy-extraordinary 
and  plenipotentiary  to  Sweden  in  July  1724; 
of  this  mission  Poyntz  acquitted  himself  well, 
though  Sir  Robert  Walpole  complained  of  the 
large  sums  which  he  drew  from  the  English 
exchequer  to  secure  Sweden's  support.  In 
1728  he  was  sent  as  commissioner  to  the 
congress  at  Soissons,  where  he  made  the 
acquaintance  of  George,  first  baron  Lyttel- 
ton  [q.  v.],  and  he  remained  in  France  until 
the  summer  of  1730. 

On  the  formation  of  the  household  of  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland,  second  son  of  George  II, 
Poyntz  was  appointed  as  the  young  duke's 
governor  and  steward  of  the  household,  and 
throughout  his  life  he  continued  the  prince's 
trusted  adviser.  About  1735  he  purchased 
from  the  family  of  Hillersdon  an  estate 


Poyntz 


279 


Poyntz 


at  Midgham,  a  chapelry  in  the  parish  of 
Thatcham,  near  Newbury,  Berkshire ;  the 
duke  spent  some  of  his  early  years  there 
(MONEY,  Newbury,  p.  335),  and  two  rooms, 
still  called  *  the  duke's  rooms,'  were  added  to 
the  house  for  his  accommodation  (GODWIN, 
Newbury  Worthies,  pp.  49-50).  As  a  mark 
of  esteem  for  his  services,  a  very  beautiful 
vase,  ornamented  with  figures  in  high  relief, 
was  placed  by  Queen  Caroline  in  the  grounds 
at  Midgham  (MES.  ROTJNDELL,  Cowdray,  I 
p.  107).  Poyntz  played  an  important  part 
at  court.  He  acted  in  1734  as  the  medium 
of  communication  between  the  king  and 
queen  and  an  Austrian  envoy  (HEKVEY, 
Memoirs,  ii.  54-5).  It  was  in  his  rooms  at 
St.  James's  Palace  that  the  famous  Earl 
of  Peterborough  in  1735  formally  acknow- 
ledged to  the  company  that  Anastasia  Ro- 
binson was  his  wife  (BuKNEY,  History  of 
Music,  iv.  247-9).  In  1735  he  was  created 
a  privy  councillor,  and  he  received  the  sine- 
cure post  of  inspector  of  prosecutions  in  the 
exchequer  concerning  'prohibited  and  un-  j 
customed  goods.'  He  died  at  Midgham  on 
17  Dec.  1750,  and  was  buried  there.  Horace 
Walpole  says  that  he  was '  ruined  in  his  cir- 
cumstances by  a  devout  brother,  whom  he  j 
had  trusted,  and  by  a  simple  wife,  who  had 
a  devotion  of  marrying  dozens  of  her  poor 
cousins  at  his  expense ;  you  know  she  was  •, 
the  "Fair  Circassian."  Mr.  Poyntz  was  j 
called  a  very  great  man,  but  few  knew  i 
anything  of  his  talents,  for  he  was  timorous 
to  childishness.  The  duke  has  done  greatly 
for  his  family  and  secured  his  places  for  his 
children,  and  sends  his  two  sons  abroad, 
allowing  them  800/.  a  year '  (Letters,  ii. 
233). 

Poyntz's  influence  at  court,  his  talents, 
and  his  kindly  disposition  were  acknow- 
ledged on  all  sides.  Carlyle,  in  his  '  Me- 
moirs of  Frederick  the  Great  '  (ii.  58), 
characteristically  describes  him  as  'a  once 
bright  gentleman,  now  dim  and  obso- 
lete.' 

Poyntz  married,  in  February  1732-3,  Anna 
Maria  Mordaunt,  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Lewis 
Mordaunt,  brigadier-general,  and  maid  of 
honour  to  Queen  Caroline.  She  had  been  a 
great  beauty,  and  her  charms  were  described 
by  Samuel  Croxall  [q.  v.]  in  his  poem  of 
the  'Fair  Circassian.'  They  had  two  sons — 
William  of  Midgham  (d.  1809),  and  Charles, 
prebendary  of  Durham — and  two  daughters, 
Margaret  Georgina  and  Louisa.  The  latter 
died  unmarried,  but  Margaret  Georgina  be- 
came the  wife,  at  Althorp,  on  27  Dec.  1755 
(the  day  after  he  came  of  age),  of  John,  after- 
wards first  earl  Spencer.  Mrs.  Calderwood  of 
Polton  met  the  Spencers  and  the  whole  of 


the  Poyntz  family  travelling  at  Spa  in  great 
state  in  1756.  Mrs.  Poyntz  was  then  a  *  deaf, 
shortsighted,  loud-spoken,  hackney-headed 
wife,  and  played  at  cards  from  morning  till 
night.'  Mrs.  Spencer  was '  a  very  sweet-like 
girl ;  her  sister  is  a  great  hoyden '  (Journals, 
pp.  189-92).  Mrs.  Poyntz  was  in  great 
favour  at  Versailles  in  August  1763,  when 
she  cured  Madame  Victoire  of  the  stone 
(WALPOLE,  Letters,  iv.  110).  She  died  at 
Midgham  on  14  Nov.  1771,  and  was  buried 
there  (cf.  WALPOLE,  George  III,  ed.  Barker, 
i.  187-8). 

Poyntz  was  the  author  of  a  '  Vindication 
of  the  Barrier  Treaty,'  which  is  erroneously 
printed  among  Bishop  Hare's  writings.  It 
was  an  *  excellent  work '  (CoxE,  Horatio, 
Lord  Walpole,  ii.  398).  Lord  Lyttelton,  Lord 
Hervey,  Sir  C.  Hanbury  Williams,  Nicholas 
Hardinge,  and  others  addressed  verses  to 
Poyntz  (cf.  Gent.  Mag.  x.  459 ;  DODSLEY,  Col- 
lection, ii.  31,  iv.  239;  New  Foundling  Hos- 
pital for  Wit,  1786  edit.  i.  242-3,  iii.  61-4; 
NICHOLS,  Illustr.  of  Lit.  i.  555,  687-91 ; 
Memoirs  of  Sneyd  Davies,  p.  209;  Select 
Collection,  vi.  85;  HAEDINGE,  Poems,  pp. 
202-5). 

Poyntz  was  a  friend  of  Samuel  Richard- 
son, the  novelist.  Through  his  agency  the 
sum  of  100/.  is  said  to  have  been  granted  by 
Queen  Caroline  to  Elizabeth  Elstob  [q.  v.], 
and  when  James  Ferguson,  the  astronomer, 
came  to  London  in  May  1743,  he  brought 
with  him  a  letter  of  recommendation  to 
Poyntz,  who  befriended  him  in  every  way. 
Ferguson  drew  the  portraits  of  Mrs.  Poyntz 
and  the  children,  so  that  Poyntz  might  be 
able  from  personal  knowledge  to  speak  fa- 
vourably of  the  skill  of  the  artist.  A  por- 
trait of  Poyntz  was  painted  by  John  Fayram, 
and  engraved  by  J.  Faber.  Another,  painted 
by  Thomas  Hudson,  belongs  to  the  Earl 
Spencer. 

[Maclean's  Memoir  of  the  Poyntz  Family ;  Gent. 
Mag.  1 750  pp.  570-1 , 1 789  pt.  ii.  p.  447 ;  Nichols's 
Lit.Anecdotes,  iv.  596,  714,  v.  339,  viii.  520,  543 ; 
Elwes  and  Kobinson's  Castles  of  Western  Sussex, 
p.  79  ;  Harwood's  Alumni  Eton.  p.  286 ;  E.  M. 
Boyle's  64  Quartiers  of  his  Family ;  Kegistrum. 
Regale,  1847/p.  44;  Coxe's  Sir  Robert  Walpole, 
vol.  i.  pp.  xxvi,  743,  ii.  471-3 ;  Smith's  Mezzotint 
Portraits,!.  413-14;  Mrs.  Calderwood's  Journals, 
pp.  189-92;  Le  Marchant's  Earl  Spencer,  pp.  2- 
6 ;  Lysons's  Berkshire,  p.  387.  For  letters  to 
and  from  Poyntz  see  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  10th 
Rep.  App.  pt.  i.  and  llth  Hep.  App.;  Additional 
MSS.  Brit.  Mus.  9151,  28156,  23780, 23793,  and 
23801  ;  Coxe's  Life  of  Sir  Kobert  Walpole,  ii. 
55  et  seq.,  627-85,  iii.  607-9  ;  Phillimore's  Life 
of  Lord  Lyttelton,  i.  35.  A  schedule  of  his  real 
and  personal  estate  is  in  the  Addit.  MS.  25086.] 

W.  P.  C. 


Poyntz 


280 


Poyntz 


POYNTZ,  SYDENHAM  (jft.  1650),  sol- 
dier, fourth  son  of  John  Poyntz  of  Reigate, 
Surrey,  and  Anne  Skinner,  was  baptised 
on  3  Nov.  1607.  He  usually  signs  himself 
'  Sednham  Poynts.'  Poyntz  was  originally 
apprenticed  to  a  London  tradesman,  but, 
being  ill-treated  by  his  master,  he  took  ser- 
vice as  a  soldier  in  Holland,  passed  then  into 
the  imperial  army,  and  finally  rose  to  the 
rank  of  sergeant-major,  and  was  knighted  on 
the  battle-field  (MACLEAN,  Memoir  of  the 
Family  of  Poyntz,  p.  159).  He  returned 
to  England  in  1645,  and  on  27  May  was 
ordered  by  the  House  of  Commons  to  have 
the  command  of  a  regiment  of  horse  and  a 
regiment  of  foot  in  the  army  raised  by  the 
seven  associated  northern  counties.  He  was 
also  appointed  commander-in-chief  of  the 
forces  of  the  northern  association,  with  the 
title  of  colonel-general,  and,  on  19  Aug., 
governor  of  York  (Commons'  Journals,  iv. 
156,  248;  Lords'  Journals,  vii.  548).  On 
taking  command,  Poyntz  found  his  troops 
mutinous  for  want  of  pay,  and  at  the  siege 
of  Skipton  was  more  in  danger  from  his  own 
men  than  from  the  enemy  (ib.  vii.  533 ; 
GKEY,  Examination  of  NeaVs  Puritans,  iii. 
68,  Appendix).  He  was  ordered  after  Naseby 
to  follow  the  king's  motions,  and  succeeded 
in  forcing  him  to  an  engagement  at  Rowton 
Heath,  near  Chester,  on  24  Sept.  (ib.  p.  92  ; 
Report  on  the  Portland  MSS.  i.  278;  A 
Letter  from  Colonel-general  Poynts  to  the 
Hon.  William  Lenthall,  4to,  1645).  Charles 
lost  about  eight  hundred  men  killed  and 
wounded  and  fifteen  hundred  prisoners 
(Lords'  Journals,  vii.  608).  The  House  of 
Commons  voted  Poyntz  a  reward  of  500/. 
(Commons'  Journals,  iv.  292).  He  next  cap- 
tured Shelford  House  and  Wiverton  House 
in  Nottinghamshire,  and  then  laid  siege  to 
.  Newark  (Report  on  the  Portland  MSS.  i. 
306 ;  Life  of  Colonel  Hutchinson,  ed.  1885,  ii. 
80-9,  376).  He  was  still  besieging  Newark 
when  Charles  I  took  refuge  in  the  camp  of 
the  Scottish  army  there,  of  which  Poyntz  at 
once  informed  the  speaker  (CART,  Memorials 
of  the  Civil  War,  i.  19). 

In  February  1646  Poyntz  published  a 
vindication  of  himself,  in  which  he  included 
an  account  of  his  earlier  life  as  well  as  of 
his  recent  services  (The  Vindication  of 
Colonel- general  Poyntz  against  the  False 
and  Malicious  Slanders  secretly  cast  forth 
against  him,'  4to,  1645-6).  Parliament, 
however,  was  so  satisfied  with  his  conduct 
that  he  was  voted  300/.  a  year,  and  it  was 
decided  that  his  regiment  of  horse  should  be 
one  of  the  four  selected  to  be  retained  after 
the  general  disbanding  ( Commons'  Journals, 
iv.  602,  v.  128).  The  presbyterian  leaders 


relied  upon  Poyntz  and  his  troops  to  oppose  the 
'ndependents  of  the  new  model,  but  the  sol- 
diers of  the  northern  association  entered  into 
communication  with  those  of  Fairfax's  army, 
and,  in  spite  of  the  orders  of  their  com- 
mander, held  meetings  and  elected  agitators. 
Poyntz  was  seized  by  the  agitators  on  8  July 
1647  and  sent  a  prisoner  to  Fairfax's  head- 
quarters, charged  with  endeavouring  to  em- 
broil the  kingdom  in  a  new  war  (GARY, 
Memorials,  i.  282,  298;  Clarke  Papers,  i. 
142-5,  163-9).  He  was  released  by  Fairfax 
on  parole  ;  but  the  latter,  who  now  became 
commander-in-chief  of  all  the  land  forces  in 
the  service  of  the  parliament,  appointed 
Colonel  Lambert  to  take  command  in  the 
north  (Fairfax  Correspondence,  iii.  370; 
Lords'  Journals,  ix.  339). 

At  the  end  of  July  1647  an  open  breach  took 
place  between  London  and  the  army.  The 
common  council  chose  Major-general  Edward 
Massey  [q.  v.]  to  command  the  forces  of  the 
city,  and  Poyntz,  who  was  also  given  a  com- 
mand, actively  assisted  in  enlisting  '  re- 
formadoes.'  On  2  Aug.  Poyntz  and  other 
officers  dispersed  a  body  of  citizens  who 
brought  to  the  common  council  a  petition 
'  praying  that  some  means  might  be  used  for 
a  composure.'  According  to  the  newspapers, 
they  hacked  and  hewed  many  of  the  peti- 
tioners with  their  swords  and  '  mortally 
wounded  divers  '  (RTJSHWORTH,  vi.  647,  vi. 
741).  On  the  collapse  of  the  resistance  of 
London,  Poyntz  fled  to  Holland,  publishing, 
in  conjunction  with  Massey,  a  declaration 
(  showing  the  true  grounds  and  reasons  that 
induced  them  to  depart  from  the  city,  and 
for  a  while  from  the  kingdom.'  *  Finding/ 
said  they,  'all  things  so  uncertain,  and 
nothing  answering  to  what  was  promised  or 
expected,  we  held  it  safer  wisdom  to  with- 
draw to  our  own  friends'  (RirsHWORTH, 
vii.  767).  On  14  May  1648  Poyntz  wrote 
to  the  speaker  from  Amsterdam,  begging 
that  he  might  at  least  receive  the  two 
months'  pay  voted  to  his  forces  when  they 
were  disbanded.  '  When  I  peruse  the  letters 
which  I  have  formerly  received  from  both 
houses  of  parliament,  with  all  their  great 
promises  and  engagements  to  me,  never  to 
forget  the  great  services  which  I  have  done 
them  ...  it  would  almost  make  a  man 
desperate  to  see  how  I  am  deserted  and 
slighted  in  place  of  the  great  rewards  which 
the  honourable  houses  were  pleased  to  pro- 
mise me  '  (GARY,  Memorials,  i.  418). 

Receiving  no  answer  to  this  or  previous 
appeals,  Poyntz  in  1650  accompanied  Lord 
Willoughby  to  the  West  Indies,  and  there 
became  governor  of  the  Leeward  Islands, 
establishing  himself  at  St.  Christopher's. 


Poyntz 


281 


Praed 


When  Willoughby  surrendered  Barbados 
to  the  parliamentary  fleet  under  Sir  George 
Ayscue,  Poyntz  found  St.  Christopher's  un- 
tenable, and  retired  to  Virginia  (WHITE- 
LOCKE,  Memorials,  iii.  405  ;  OLDMIXON, 
British  Empire  in  America,  ii.  15,  280  ;  OLI- 
VER, History  of  Antigua,  1894,  vol.  i.  p.  xx). 
But  the  articles  between  Willoughby  and 
Ayscue  contain  a  clause  permitting  Poyntz 
to  retire  to  Antigua  with  other  gentlemen 
having  estates  there  (Cal.  State  Papers, 
Col.  1675-6,  p.  86).  It  is  stated  that  in 
1661  he  was  again  appointed  governor  of 
Antigua,  and  held  the  post  till  superseded 
by  Lord  Willoughby  in  1663,  but  no  trace 
of  his  tenure  of  office  appears  among  the 
colonial  state  papers.  It  is  added  that  he 
then  retired  to  Virginia,  and  died  there  at 
some  unknown  date  (MACLEAN,  p.  183 ; 
Antigua  and  the  Antiguans,  1844,  i.  20).  A 
portrait  of  Poyntz,  from  an  original  in  the 
possession  of  Earl  Spencer,  is  engraved  in 
Sir  John  Maclean's 
in  Ricraft's 
1647,  cha 

by  John  Vicars,  1647,  p.  91.  Sir  John  Mac- 
lean also  gives  a  picture  of  a  contemporary 
portrait-medal  (p.  169). 

Poyntz,  according  to  the  pedigree  given 
in  Aubrey's  '  History  of  Surrey '  (iv.  212), 
married  '  Anne  Eleanor  de  Court  Stephanus 
de  Gary  in  Wirtemberg.'  In  a  letter  from 
his  wife  to  Speaker  Lenthall  in  1647  she 
signs  her  name  '  Elisabeth.' 

Poyntz  was  the  author  of  the  following 
pamphlets :  1.  '  The  Vindication  of  Colonel- 
general  Poyntz  against  the  false  and  mali- 
cious Slanders  secretly  cast  forth  against 
him  ...  in  a  letter  to  a  Friend/  London, 
3  Feb.  1645,  4to.  2.  'The  Vindication  of 
Colonel-general  Poyntz  against  the  Slanders 
cast  forth  against  him  by  the  Army  ;  with 
the  barbarous  manner  of  the  Adjutator's 
surprisal  of  him  at  York/4to,  1648  [no  place]. 
The  '  British  Museum  Catalogue '  also  gives  a 
list  of  letters  by  Poyntz,  which  were  printed 
in  pamphlet  form  between  1645  and  1647. 
Some  unprinted  letters  by  Poyntz  are  to  be 
found  among  the  Tanner  MSS.  in  the  Bod- 
leian Library,  and  among  the  manuscripts 
of  the  Duke  of  Portland. 

An  elder  brother,  JOHN  POYNTZ  (Jl.  1660), 
born  in  1606,  was  active  in  the  civil  war  in 
Ireland  and  England  on  the  parliamentary 
side  (cf.  A  True  Relation  of  the  Taking  of 
Roger  Manwaring,  Bishop  of  St.  David's, 
London,  1642, 4to).  In  1658  he  was  captain 
in  the  navy,  and  in  1663  clerk  of  the  revels. 
He  subsequently  travelled  '  in  the  greatest 
part  of  the  Caribee  Islands  and  most  parts 
of  the  continent  of  America,  and  almost  all 


his  Majesty's  foreign  plantations ; '  in  1683 
he  projected  a  scheme  for  the  purchase  and 
colonisation  of  Tobago  (cf.  The  Present  Pro- 
spect of  the  .  .  .  Island  of  Tobago,  London, 
1683,  4to,  by  Captain  John  Poyntz,  and  Pro- 
posals offered  by  Capt.  John  Poyntz) ;  but 
his  plan  came  to  nothing  (A  Geographical 
Description  of  Tobago  [1750  ?],  8vo,  p. 

t)O  ), 

[A  life  of  Poyntz,  by  Sir  John  Maclean,  is 
contained  in  his  Historical  and  Genealogical 
Memoir  of  the  family  of  Poyntz,  1886,  pp. 
1-59-84.]  C.  H.  F. 

PRAED,  WINTHROP  MACKWORTH 

(1802-1839),  poet,  third  son  of  William 
Mackworth  Praed,  of  Bitton  House,  Teign- 
mouth,  Devonshire,  serjeant-at-law,  and  for 
many  years  chairman  of  the  audit  board,  was 
born  on  26  July  1802  at  35  John  Street,  Bed- 
ford Row,  London.  His  father  was  the  grand- 
son of  William  Mackworth,  second  son  of  Sir 
Humphry  Mackworth  [q.  v.],  who  took  the 
additional  name  of  Praed  upon  his  marriage 
about  1730  to  Martha,  daughter  and  heir  of 
John  Praed  of  Trevethow  in  Cornwall  (for 
the  Mackworth  pedigree  see  BLOKE'S  Rutland, 
pp.  128-9).  The  maiden  name  of  the  poet's 
mother  was  Winthrop.  The  Winthrops  of 
New  England  are  a  branch  of  the  same  family. 
Winthrop  Praed  was  a  delicate  and  preco- 
cious child.  His  mother  died  a  year  after  his 
birth,  and  his  earliest  education  was  superin- 
tended by  an  elder  sister,  to  whom  he  was 
tenderly  attached ;  she  died  in  1830.  He  then 
gave  up  pressing  occupations  in  order  to  at- 
tend her  in  her  last  illness.  In  1810  he  was 
placed  at  Langley  Broom  school,  near  Coin- 
brook,  under  a  Mr.  Atkins.  He  read  Plutarch 
and  Shakespeare,  and  became  a  good  chess- 
player. He  wrote  dramas  and  sent  poems 
home,  which  were  carefully  criticised  by  his 
father.  On  28  March  1814  he  entered  Eton 
in  the  home  of  F.  J.  Plumtre,  afterwards 
a  fellow  of  Eton  College.  An  elder  brother 
helped  him  in  his  studies ;  and  Plumtre  gave 
prizes  for  English  verse,  which  were  generally 
divided  between  Praed  and  George  William 
Frederick  Howard  (afterwards  seventh  Earl 
of  Carlisle)  [q.  v.]  In  1820  he  started  a  manu- 
script journal,  the  (  Apis  Matina,'  of  which 
he  wrote  about  half.  It  was  succeeded  by 
the  '  Etonian,'  the  most  famous  of  school 
journals.  Walter  Blount  was  Praed's  col- 
league as  editor.  Some  of  his  contributors 
were  already  at  college.  Among  the  chief 
writers  were  H.  N.  Coleridge,  Sidney  Walker, 
C.  H.  Townshend,  and  John  Moultrie,  who  de- 
scribes Praed  in  his  'Dream  of  Life'  (MouL- 
TRIE,  Works,  1876,  p.  421).  Praed  signed 
his  articles  as  'Peregrine  Courtenay,'  the 


Praed 


282 


Praed 


imaginary  president  of  the  '  King  of  Clubs/ 
supposed  to  conduct  the  paper.  Charles 
Knight  (1791-1873)  published  the '  Etonian,' 
which  lasted  for  ten  months.  Praed  was  a 
member  of  the  debating  society  during  his 
last  year  at  school,  and  helped  to  found  the 
boys'  library.  He  acted  in  private  theatricals ; 
was  chosen  by  his  senior  schoolfellow,  Ed- 
ward Bouverie  Pusey,  as  a  worthy  competitor 
in  chess ;  and,  though  too  delicate  for  rougher 
exercises,  was  the  best  fives-player  in  the 
school. 

In  October  1821  he  entered  Trinity  Col- 
lege, Cambridge,  with  a  high  reputation,  and 
read  classics  with  Macaulay,  who  was  two 
year.3  his  senior.  He  cared  little  for  mathe- 
matics, and  only  just  avoided  the  '  wooden 
spoon.'  He  failed,  though  he  only  just  failed, 
to  win  the  university  scholarship;  but  he 
won  the  Sir  William  Browne  medals  for 
Greek  ode  in  1822  and  1823,  and  for  epigrams 
in  1 822  and  1824.  He  won  the  college  decla- 
mation prize  in  1823,  and  chancellor's  medal 
for  English  poem  in  1823  ('  Australasia ')  and 
1824  (<  Athens  ').  He  was  bracketed  third 
in  the  classical  tripos  for  1825.  His  classical 
verses,  specimens  of  which  are  preserved  in 
the'Musse  Etonenses'  (Series  Nova,  torn.  ii. 
1 869),  show,  besides  good  scholarship,  unusual 
facility  and  poetic  feeling.  Praed  was  espe- 
cially distinguished  at  the  union,  where  his 
seniors,  Macaulay  and  Charles  Austin,  were 
then  conspicuous  and  his  only  superiors.  He 
generally  took  the  radical  side  in  opposition 
to  Macaulay.  In  the  autumn  of  1822  Knight 
started  and  edited  his  '  Quarterly  Magazine,' 
to  which  Praed  was  the  chief  contributor. 
Macaulay  and  some  of  the  old  contributors 
to  the  '  Etonian '  also  wrote.  Praed's  con- 
tributions were  in  the  first  three  or  four 
n  umbers ;  and  he  took  no  part  in  a  continua- 
t  ion  afterwards  attempted.  In  1823  he  pub- 
lished,  through  Charles  Knight,  'Lillian,  a 
Fairy  Tale,'  a  jeu  d 'esprit  written  at  Trinity 
in  October  1822.  In  1826  Knight  started, 
with  Praed's  help,  a  weekly  paper  called 
'  The  Brazen  Head,'  which  lasted  only  for 
four  numbers.  AftergraduatingB.A.in  1825, 
Praed  became  private  tutor  at  Eton  to  Lord 
Ernest  Bruce,  younger  son  of  the  Marquis 
of  Ailesbury.  He  read  for  a  fellowship  at 
Trinity,  to  which  he  was  elected  in  1827, 
and  in  1830  he  won  the  Seatonian  prize-poem. 
He  finally  left  Eton  at  the  end  of  1827.  On 
29  May  1829  he  was  called  to  the  bar  at  the 
Middle  Temple,  and  joined  the  Norfolk  cir- 
cuit. His  ambition,  however,  was  for  par- 
liamentary life.  He  was  no  longer  a  liberal, 
though  in  1829  he  was  on  the  committee  of 
William  Cavendish  (afterwards  seventh  Duke 
of  Devonshire)  when  the  latter  was  the  whig 


candidate  for  Cambridge  University.  The 
statesman  whom  he  most  admired  was  his 
fellow  Etonian,  Canning.  After  Canning's 
death  in  1827  he  became  alarmed  at  the  de- 
mocratic tendencies  of  the  reformers ;  and  his 
fastidious  and  scholarly  temperament  made 
contempt  for  demagogues  more  congenial 
than  popular  enthusiasm.  At  an  earlier 
period  he  had  been  strongly  in  favour  of 
Roman  catholic  emancipation ;  but  when  that 
question  was  settled,  his  political  sympathies 
were  completely  conservative.  Overtures 
were  made  to  him  to  accept  a  seat  in  the 
House  of  Commons  with  a  view  to  opposing 
him  to  Macaulay,  who  had  recently  entered 
parliament.  Praed  said  that  he  would  not 
accept  a  post  which  involved  *  personal  col- 
lision with  any  man ; '  but  was  otherwise 
ready  to  support  the  conservative  govern- 
ment. The  negotiation  dropped  ;  but  in  De- 
cember 1830  he  bought  the  seat  of  St.  Germans 
for  two  years  for  1,000/.  He  made  a  success- 
ful maiden  speech  on  the  cotton  duties ;  and 
though  his  next  speech,  on  the  Reform  Bill, 
brought  some  disappointment,  he  improved 
as  a  debater.  He  proposed  an  amendment 
in  favour  of  '  minority  representation,'  ac- 
cording to  which  each  constituent  was  to 
vote  for  two  candidates  only  when  three 
places  were  to  be  filled.  Another  amend- 
ment, providing  that  freeholds  in  a  borough 
should  give  votes  for  the  borough  and  not 
for  the  county,  was  proposed  by  him  in  a  very 
successful  speech,  and  led  to  friendly  atten- 
tions from  Sir  Robert  Peel.  St.  Germans  was 
disfranchised  by  the  Reform  Bill,  and  Praed 
stood,  unsuccessfully,  for  St.  Ives,  Cornwall, 
near  which  a  branch  of  the  Praeds  lived  in 
the  family  seat  of  Trevethow.  He  published, 
at  Penzance,  anonymously,  in  1833,  '  Trash 
dedicated  without  respect  to  James  Halse, 
esq.,  M.P.,'  his  successful  rival.  Praed  re- 
mained out  of  parliament  till  1834 ;  and  during 
this  period  wrote  much  prose  and  verse  in  the 
'  Morning  Post,'  which  became  the  leading 
conservative  paper,  a  result  attributed  to  his 
contributions  (Preface  to  Political  Poems,  by 
Sir  G.  Young,  1888,  p.  xviii).  In  1833  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  furnished  him  with  ma- 
terials for  a  series  of  articles  in  opposition  to 
some  changes  in  the  ordnance  department, 
and  subsequently  requested  Praed  to  defend 
him  in  the  l  Morning  Post '  against  an  attack 
in  the  '  Times.'  The  duke  invited  Praed  to 
Walmer  Castle,  and  treated  him  with  great 
confidence.  At  the  general  election  at  the  end 
of  1834  Praed  was  returned  for  Great  Yar- 
mouth, and  was  appointed  secretary  to  the 
board  of  control  by  Peel  during  his  short  ad- 
ministration. His  father  died  in  1835,  and 
in  the  same  summer  he  married  Helen, 


Praed 


283 


Prance 


daughter  of  George  Bogle.  His  later  parlia- 
mentary career  was  not  conspicuous.  He 
retired  from  Great  Yarmouth  in  1837,  and 
was  elected  for  Aylesbury.  In  1838  he  was 
much  occupied  with  his  friendDerwent  Cole- 
ridge and  others  in  agitating  for  an  improve- 
ment of  national  education,  which  led  to 
the  introduction  of  the  national  system  under 
the  committee  of  council  on  education  in 
1839.  He  was  deputy  high  steward  to  the 
university  of  Cambridge  during  his  later 
years.  His  health,  which  had  never  been 
strong,  began  to  break  in  1838,  and  he  died  of 
a  rapid  consumption,  at  Chester  Square,  on 
1 5  July  1 839.  He  was  buried  at  Kensal  Green. 
He  left  two  daughters,  Helen  Adeline  Mack- 
worth  and  Elizabeth  Lilian  Mackworth.  His 
widow  died  in  1863. 

A  portrait,  showing  a  very  refined  head,  is 
prefixed  to  the  '  Poems '  of  1864.  He  wrote, 
according  to  Charles  Knight,  a  singularly 
beautiful  hand.  Praed's  best  poetry  shows 
very  remarkable  grace  and  lightness  of  touch. 
His  political  squibs  would  perhaps  have  been 
more  effective  had  they  been  more  brutal ; 
but  Praed  could  not  cease  to  be  a  gentle- 
man even  as  a  politician.  The  delicacy  of 
feeling,  with  a  dash  of  acid  though  never 
coarse  satire,  gives  a  pleasant  flavour  to  his 
work ;  and  in  such  work  as  the  *  Red  Fisher- 
man '  he  shows  an  imaginative  power  which 
tempts  a  regret  for  the  diffidence  which 
limited  his  aspirations.  Probably,  however, 
lie  judged  rightly  that  his  powers  were  best 
fitted  for  the  lighter  kinds  of  verse. 

Praed  had  continued  to  write  occasional 
poems  in  keepsakes  and  elsewhere.  The  first 
collection  of  his  poems,  edited  by  R.  W. 
Griswold,  appeared  at  New  York  in  1844 ; 
an  enlarged  edition  of  the  same  appeared 
in  1850.  Another  (American),  edited  by 
W.  A.  Whitmore,  appeared  in  1859.  An 
authorised  edition,  edited  by  Derwent  Cole- 
ridge, with  the  assistance  of  Praed's  sister, 
Lady  Young,  and  his  nephew,  Sir  George 
Young,  appeared  in  1864 ;  «  Selections,'  by 
Sir  George  Young,  were  published  in  1866 ; 
and  '  Political  and  Occasional  Poems,'  edited 
with  notes  by  the  same,  in  1888.  Those 
in  the  first  part  appeared  in  the  '  Morning 
Chronicle,'  the  '  Brazen  Head,'  the  '  Sphynx ' 
(a  paper  edited  by  James  Silk  Buckingham 
[q.  v.]),  the  '  Times/  and  elsewhere  down  to 

1831.  Those  in  the  second  part  appeared  in 
the  '  Albion,'  a  morning  paper,  from  1830  to 

1832,  and  the  rest  in  the  '  Morning  Post ' 
1832  to  1834.     The  third  part  consists  of 
three  satires,  written  in  1838-9,  previously 
unpublished.    Praed's  essays — that  is  to  say, 
his  contributions  in  prose  to  the  '  Etonian,' 
'  Knight's  Quarterly,'  and  the  'London  Maga- 


zine '—were  collected  in  a  volume  of  Henry 
Morley's  'Universal  Library 'in  1887;  selec- 
tions of  his  poems  also  appeared  in  Moxon's 
'  Miniature  Library '  (1885),  and  in  the 
'Canterbury  Poets/  ed.  Frederick  Cooper 
(1886). 

The  Whitmore  edition  erroneously  ascribed 
to  Praed  some  poems  by  Edward  Marlborough 
Fitzgerald,  omitted  in  Derwent  Coleridge's 
edition.  Fitzgerald  was  a  friend  and  imitator 
of  Praed  ;  and  for  some  time  they  used  the 
same  signature  *$.'  Praed  corrected  some 
of  Fitzgerald's  poems  (cf.  Sir  George  Young's 
Preface  to  Political  Poems,  pp.  xxiv-xxxi). 

[Life  by  Derwent  Coleridge,  prefixed  to 
Poems ;  Charles  Knight's  Passages  of  a  Work- 
ing Life,  1863  ;  Preface  by  Sir  G.  Young  to 
Political  and  Occasional  Poems ;  Saintsbury's 
Lit.  Essays,  1890;  Lytton's  Life  of  Bulwer 
Lytton,  1883,  i.  233-5;  Maxwell  Lyte's  Eton 
College.]  L.  S. 

PRANCE,  MILES  (fi.  1689),  perjurer, 
was  a  Roman  catholic  goldsmith  of  Princess 
Street,  Covent  Garden,  and  maker  of  religious 
emblems  to  the  queen  consort  of  Charles  II. 
When,  towards  the  close  of  1678,  the  murder 
of  Sir  Edmund  Berry  Godfrey  [q.  v.],  follow- 
ing upon  the  revelations  of  Titus  Gates 
[q.  v.],  greatly  alarmed  the  people  of  London, 
Prance,  whose  trade  and  creed  alike  rendered 
him  peculiarly  liable  to  suspicion,  was  on 
21  Dec.  arrested  upon  the  information  of  a 
lodger  in  his  house,  named  John  Wren. 
Wren  alleged  that  Prance  was  absent  from 
his  house  for  some  nights  at  the  time  that  God- 
frey was  missing.  It  afterwards  appeared  that 
Wren  was  in  arrears  with  his  rent,  while 
Prance's  absence  from  home  occurred  some 
time  before  the  murder.  Upon  his  arrest 
Prance  was  taken  before  the  committee  of 
secrecy,  which  had  been  appointed  by  the 
House  of  Lords,  under  the  presidency  of 
Shaftesbury,  to  investigate  the  alleged '  popish 
plot.'  Prance  denied  all  knowledge  of  Sir 
Edmund's  murder,  though  he  admitted  that 
he  had  worked  for  some  of  the  papists  ac- 
cused by  Oates  and  Bedloe.  He  was  re- 
committed to  Newgate,  where  he  was  thrown 
into  the  t  condemn'd  hole  '  and  loaded  with 
heavy  irons.  Bedloe  the  informer  was,  up 
to  this  time,  the  sole  witness  as  to  the  man- 
ner in  which  Godfrey  was  alleged  to  have  come 
by  his  death.  He  had,  however,  made  inquiries 
respectingPrance,  andjudged  that  he  might  be 
usefully  employed  in  fabricating  some  corro- 
borative testimony.  Notes  of  Bedloe's  evi- 
dence were  surreptitiously  placed  in  Prance's 
cell,  and  Prance,  readily  perceiving  what  was 
expected  of  him,  begged  the  governor,  Cap- 
tain Richardson,  to  convey  him  to  Shaftesbury 
House.  There,  on  the  evening  of  22  Dec., 


Prance 


284 


Pratt 


he  made  a  long  disclosure  about  Godfrey's 
death  before  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury  and 
three  other  members  of  the  secrecy  com- 
mittee. Next  day,  before  the  king  and  the 
privy  council,  he  accused  three  men  employed 
at  Somerset  House  and  two  priests  of  mur- 
dering Godfrey  at  Somerset  House,  and  de- 
clared that  he  had  kept  watch  while  the 
crime  was  being  perpetrated.  On  29  Dec. 
he  was  privately  interrogated  by  the  king  at 
the  house  of  Mr.  Chiffinch ;  on  the  same  after- 
noon he  informed  the  council  that  the  whole 
of  his  story  was  false,  and  he  persisted  in  his 
recantation  next  day.  He  was  thereupon  sent 
back  to  his  dungeon  at  Newgate  and  treated 
with  great  cruelty.  On  12  Jan.  1679  he  re- 
newed his  allegiance  to  his  original  statement. 
Following  the  example  of  Oates,  he  now 
dictated  to  his  keeper,  Boyce,  '  A  True  Nar- 
rative and  Discovery '  of  Godfrey's  murder, 
which  appeared  early  in  1679.  The  discre- 
pancies between  this  narrative  and  Bedloe's 
deposition  are  glaring ;  nevertheless,  the  com- 
bined evidence  of  the  two  informers  sufficed 
to  obtain  the  conviction  of  the  three  men 
employed  at  Somerset  House — Green,  Hill, 
and  Berry  (5  Feb.  1679).  On  13  June  1679 
Prance  gave  minor  evidence  in  support  of 
Bedloe  and  Dugdale  against  the  two  Jesuits 
Harcourt  and  Fenwick,  and  on  10  Jan.  1680 
he  obtained  50/.  from  the  exchequer  '  in  re- 
spect of  his  services  about  the  plott '  (ACKER- 
MAN,  Secret-service  Money  under  Charles  II, 
p.  28).  During  the  rest  of  that  year  he 
proved  himself  a  most  assiduous  supporter 
of  Oates  ;  and,  by  publishing  his  sworn  de- 
positions to  prove  that  Sir  Roger  L'Estrange 
[q.  v.]  was  a  papist,  helped  Oates  to  tempo- 
rarily discredit  a  most  formidable  opponent. 
On  15  June  1686  he  pleaded  guilty  to  perjury 
at  the  king's  bench,  and  declared  his  re- 
pentance, upon  which  he  was  sentenced  to 
pay  a  fine  of  100/.,  to  be  pilloried  and 
whipped.  The  last  part  of  his  sentence  was 
remitted.  He  afterwards  made  a  confession 
in  writing,  attributing  his  perjuries  to  'fear 
and  cowardice,'  and  in  December  1688  he 
thought  it  best  to  seek  refuge  abroad.  He 
was,  however,  captured  off  Gravesend,  along 
with  some  other  papists,  on  the  hoy  Asia, 
bound  for  Dunkirk,  and  was  sent  up  by  the 
mayor  of  Gravesend  for  examination  by  the 
House  of  Lords.  No  proceedings  were  taken, 
and  it  is  probable  that  he  ultimately  found 
employment  among  his  co-religionists  on  the 
continent. 

[The  evidence  as  to  Prance's  career  is  v^ry 
contradictory,  as  may  be  seen  by  comparing 
Eachard's  Hist,  of  England,  ii.  504-9,  513-14, 
564,  807,  and  Ealph's  Hist,  of  England  with 
Burnet's  Own  Time  and  Oldmixon's  History. 


Cf.  also  LuttreH's  Brief  Hist.  Narration,  i. 
passim  ;  Cobbett's  State  Trials,  vol.  vii.;  House 
of  Lords  MSS.  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  12th  Rep. 
App.  vi.  61-2) ;  Sir  W.  Fitzherbert's  MSS.  (Hist. 
MSS.  Comm.  13th  Rep.  App.  vi.  14-16,  154-8); 
Eapin's  Hist.  1703,  ii.  702-3;  Lingard's  Hist, 
of  England,  ix.  192;  Pictorial  Hist,  of  England, 
iii.  7^4;  Twelve  Bad  Men,  ed.  Seccombe,  p.  120; 
Bagford  Ballads,  ed.  Ebsworth,  ii.  679  sq. ;  Willis 
Bund's  Selections  from  the  State  Trials,  ii.  615; 
Stevens's  Cat.  of  Satirical  Prints.  See  articles 
GODFREY,  Sm EDMUND  BERRY;  L'ESTRANGE,  SIB 
ROGER  ;  and  GATES,  TITUS.]  T.  S. 

PRATT,  ANNE,  afterwards  MES.  PEAK- 
LESS  (1806-1893),  botanist,  born  on  5  Dec. 
1806  in  Strood,  Kent,  was  the  second  of  three 
daughters  of  Robert  Pratt  (1777-1819),  a 
wholesale  grocer  of  that  town,  by  his  wife, 
Sarah  Bundock  (1780-1845),  of  Huguenot 
descent.  Her  childhood  and  youth  were 
passed  at  Chatham,  whither  her  father  had 
removed,  and  she  was  educated  by  Mrs.  RofFey 
at  the  Eastgate  House  school,  Rochester. 
Her  delicate  health  rendering  her  unfit  for 
active  pursuits,  she  devoted  herself  to  lite- 
rary study.  A  Scottish  friend,  Dr.  Dods, 
undertook  to  teach  her  botany,  and  she  soon 
became  an  ardent  student.  Aided  by  her 
elder  sister,  who  collected  for  her,  she  formed 
an  extensive  herbarium,  and  supplemented 
her  collection  by  making  sketches  of  the 
specimens.  The  drawings  afterwards  formed 
illustrations  for  her  books. 

She  left  Chatham  in  1846,  and  went  to 
reside  with  friends  at  Brixton  and  other 
places,  but  subsequently  settled  at  Dover  in 
1849.  There  she  wrote  her  principal  work, 
'  The  Flowering  Plants  and  Ferns  of  Great 
Britain.'  Other  changes  of  residence  foil  owed. 

On  4  Dec.  1866  she  was  married  to  John 
Fearless  of  East  Grinstead,  Sussex.  She  re- 
sided there  for  two  and  a  half  years.  They 
settled  for  some  years  at  Redhill,  Surrey. 
She  died  on  27  July  1893  at  Rylett  Road, 
Shepherd's  Bush,  London. 

Although  her  works  were  written  in  popu- 
lar style,  they  were  fairly  accurate,  and  were 
instrumental  in  spreading  a  knowledge  and 
love  of  botany,  and  were  at  one  time  acknow- 
ledged by  a  grant  from  the  civil  list.  They 
were :  1.  '  The  Field,  the  Garden,  and  the 
Woodland.  .  .  .  By  a  Lady,' 16mo,  London, 
1838;  3rd  edit.  12mo,  London  (Knight's 
monthly  volume),  1847.  2.  'Flowers  and 
their  Associations,'  8vo,  London,  1840;  2nd 
edit.  (Knight's  weekly  volume),  1846. 
3.  '  Dawnings  of  Genius,  or  the  Early  Lives 
of  some  Eminent  Persons  of  the  Last  Cen- 
tury/ 8vo,  London,  1841.  4.  'The  Pictorial 
Catechism  of  Botany,'  16mo,  London,  1842. 
5.  *  The  Excellent  Woman,  as  described  in 


Pratt 


285 


Pratt 


the  Book  of  Proverbs/  16mo  [London,  1846] 
[anon.]  6.  '  Wild  Flowers  of  the  Year/ 1 6mo, 
London  [1846  ?].  7.  '  Garden  Flowers  of  the 
Year/  16mo,  London  [1847].  8.  '  Chapters 
on  Common  Things  of  the  Seaside/  8vo,  Lon- 
don, 1850.  9.  ' Wild  Flowers/  2  vols.  16rao, 
London,  1852 ;  2nd  edition  [1892  ?].  10. '  The 
Green  Fields  and  their  Grasses/  8vo,  Lon- 
don, 1852.  11.  'Our  Native  Songsters/ 
16mo,  London,  1852.  12.  'The  Flowering 
Plants  and  Ferns  of  Great  Britain/  5  vols. 
8vo,  London  [1855] :  3rd  edit.  1873.  13.  '  The 
Ferns  of  Great  Britain  and  their  Allies/  8vo, 
London  [1855]  ;  2nd  edit.  1871.  14.  '  The 
Poisonous,  Noxious,  and  Suspected  Plants  of 
our  Fields  and  Woods/  8vo,  London  [1857] ; 
2nd  edit.  [1866].  15.  'The  British  Grasses 
and  Sedges/  &c.,  8vo,  London  [1859]. 
16.  'Haunts  of  the  Wild  Flowers/  8vo, 
London,  1863.  She  also  edited'  By  Daylight/ 
8vo,  London,  1865,  a  translation  of  Ottilie 
Wildermuth's  '  Im  Tageslicht.' 

[Women's  Penny  Paper,  9  Nov.  1889,  with 
portrait;  Journ.  Bot.  1894, pp.  205-7;  Brit. Mus. 
Ca«-. ;  Brit.  Mus.  (Nat.  Hist.)  Cat. ;  information 
kindly  supplied  by  Mrs.  Peurless's  niece,  Mrs. 
Wells.]  B.  B.  W. 

PRATT,  CHARLES,  first  EAKL  CAMDEN 
(1714-1794),  lord  chancellor,  third  son  of 
Sir  John  Pratt  [q.  v.]  by  his  second  wife, 
was  born  at  Kensington,  where  he  was 
baptised  on  21  March  1714.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  Eton,  having  for  his  contemporaries 
William  Pitt,  afterwards  Earl  of  Chat- 
ham, his  lifelong  friend  ;  George  Lyttelton, 
afterwards  first  Baron  Lyttelton  ;  Sneyd 
Davies,  and  Horace  Walpole.  Proceeding 
to  King's  College,  Cambridge,  he  was  elected 
on  to  the  foundation  in  October  1731,  and 
three  years  later  became  fellow.  Being  al- 
ready designed  for  the  legal  profession,  he 
had  been  entered  at  the  Middle  Temple  on 
5  June  1728,  and  at  college  he  applied  him- 
self to  the  study  of  law  and  constitutional 
history.  He  graduated  B.A.  in  1736  (M.A. 
in  1740),  and  was  called  to  the  bar  at  the 
Middle  Temple  on  17  June  1738.  He  paced 
Westminster  Hall  and  rode  the  Western 
circuit  for  some  years  without  a  brief,  and 
began  to  think  of  abandoning  the  profession. 
His  melancholy  condition  drew  from  Sneyd 
Davies  in  1743  an  ode  in  which  he  sought  to 
animate  him  by  the  example  of  the  illustrious 
who,  before  him,  had  from  obscurity '  pleaded 
their  way  to  glory's  chair  supreme '  (DODSLEY, 
Collection  of  Poems  by  Several  Hands,  1758, 
vi.  265;  NICHOLS,  Illustr.  of  Lit.  i.  545). 
Some  years  afterwards  a  lucky  chance  proved 
the  turning-point  in  his  fortunes.  He  was 
briefed  as  junior  to  his  friend  Robert  Henley, 
afterwards  Lord-chancellor  Northington, 


who  fell  or  feigned  to  fall  ill,  and  left  him 
the  entire  conduct  of  the  case,  in  which  he 
showed  such  conspicuous  ability  as  to  esta- 
blish his  reputation.  A  whig  in  politics,  he 
maintained,  as  counsel  for  William  Owen, 
tried,  on  6  July  1752,  as  the  publisher  of 
'  The  Case  of  the  Hon.  Alexander  Murray/ 
the  then  novel  principle  of  the  competence 
of  juries  to  determine  by  general  verdict  the 
entire  question  (law  as  well  as  facts)  in  cases 
of  seditious  libel,  with  the  result  that  the  de- 
fendant was  acquitted  [see  MURRAY,  ALEX- 
ANDER, d.  1777].  In  1755  he  was  made  king's 
counsel  and  attorney-general  to  the  Prince 
of  Wales.  In  1757  he  succeeded  Henley  as 
attorney-general  on  the  accession  of  Pitt  to 
power  on  1  July.  During  his  tenure  of  this 
office  he  represented  Do wnton  in  parliament. 
Office  made  no  change  in  either  his  prin- 
ciples or  his  practice,  and  in  conducting  the 
ex-officio  prosecution  of  John  Shebbeare 
[q.  v.]  in  November  1758  he  emphasised  his 
adhesion  to  the  principle  for  which  he  had 
contended  in  Owen's  case,  by  addressing  him- 
self exclusively  to  the  jury.  The  same  year 
he  drafted  and  carried  through  the  House 
of  Commons  a  bill  for  extending  the  Habeas 
Corpus  Act  to  civil  cases,  a  measure  the 
defeat  of  which  by  the  House  of  Lords 
postponed  a  needful  reform  for  half  a  cen- 
tury. In  1759  he  was  appointed  recorder 
of  Bath.  The  only  state  trials  in  which 
he  figured  during  his  attorney-generalship 
were  those  of  the  spy  Florence  Hensey  [q.  v.] 
and  Laurence  Shirley,  fourth  earl  Ferrers 
[q.  v.] 

On  the  death  of  Sir  John  Willes  [q.  v.], 
Pratt  was  appointed  chief  justice  of  the 
court  of  common  pleas,  and  knighted  on 
28  Dec.  1761.  He  took  his  seat  in  court  on 
23  Jan.  1762,  being  coifed  the  same  day,  and 
was  sworn  of  the  privy  council  on  15  Feb. 
following.  On  30  April  1763  the  arrest  of 
John  Wilkes  [q.  v.]  under  a  general  warrant 
issued  by  the  secretary  of  state  for  the  appre- 
hension of  the  author  of  '  North  Briton/  No. 
45,  raised  the  question  of  the  legality  of  such 
warrants.  Pratt  had  no  doubt  of  their  ille- 
gality, and,  on  Wilkes's  application,  granted 
a  habeas  corpus  returnable  the  same  day.  On 
Wilkes's  subsequent  committal  to  the  Tower 
under  a  particular  warrant,  the  chief  justice 
ordered  his  release  on  the  ground  of  privilege 
of  parliament  (6  May).  Of  this  decision 
parliament  took  cognisance  on  its  reas- 
sembling in  the  following  November,  when 
resolutions  were  passed  by  both  houses  ex- 
cepting cases  of  seditious  libel  from  privilege, 
though  a  minority  of  the  peers  entered  a 
protest  in  the  journal  of  the  house  against 
this  restriction  of  their  ancient  immunity. 


Pratt 


286 


Pratt 


The  question  of  general  warrants  being  again 
brought  before  him  in  the  case  of  Wilkes  ?;. 
Wood  on  6  Dec.  1763,  Pratt,  in  his  charge  to 
the  jury,  laid  down  the  broad  principle  that 
they  were  contrary  to  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  the  constitution ;  and  in  that  of 
Leach  v.  Money,  four  days  later,  refused  the 
defendants,  who  had  arrested  the  plaintiff 
under  a  general  warrant,  the  benefit  of  the 
Constables  Indemnity  Act,  24  George  II,  c.  4. 
In  1765  a  bill  of  exceptions  to  this  ruling 
was  dismissed  by  the  court  of  king's  bench. 
In  another  case,  that  of  Entick  v.  Carring- 
ton,  argued  before  him  upon  a  special  verdict 
in  Easter  term  1764,  and  again  in  Michael- 
mas term  1765,  he  decided,  after  an  exhaus- 
tive review  of  precedents,  that  the  issuing 
of  general  warrants  by  secretaries  of  state 
was  a  usurpation  which  no  prescription 
could  justify.  During  the  contest  on  the 
regency  bill  of  1765  he  decided  in  the  affir- 
mative the  much-controverted  question 
whether  the  queen  was  naturalised  by  her 
marriage.  Meanwhile  Pratt  had  become 
almost  as  great  a  popular  idol  as  Wilkes 
himself.  The  mayor  and  corporation  of  the 
city  of  London  presented  him  with  the 
freedom  of  the  city  in  a  gold  box,  and  com- 
missioned Reynolds  to  paint  his  portrait, 
which  was  hung  in  the  Guildhall  on  22  Feb. 

1764.  His  portrait,  full  length,  by  Hudson, 
was  hung  in  the  Guildhall,  Exeter,  in  Fe- 
bruary 1768.     He  also  received  gold  boxes 
containing  the  freedom  of  the  cities  of  Exeter 
and  Norwich,  and  of  the  guild  of  merchants 
of  the  city  of  Dublin,  besides  the  thanks  of 
the  sheriffs  and  commons  and  the  freedom 
of  the  corporation  of  Barber-Surgeons  of  that 
city  and  of  the    corporation  of  Bath.     In 
April  1766  the  House  of  Commons  passed 
resolutions  condemnatory  of  the  practice  of 
issuing  general  warrants. 

Meanwhile  Pratt  had  been  raised  to  the 
peerage  by  the  title  of  Baron  Camden  of 
Camden  Place  in  the  county  of  Kent,  17  July 

1765.  He  took  his  seat  on  17  Dec.  follow- 
ing, and  made   his  maiden  speech  on  the 
manifestations    of  disaffection    which   had 
been  evoked  in  America  by  the  passing  of 
the  Stamp  Act,  which  statute  he  did  not 
shrink  from  denouncing  as  a  breach  of  the 
constitution.  In  a  subsequent  speech  against 
the   declaratory  bill   (which    affirmed    the 
absolute  supremacy  of  parliament),  he  main- 
tained that  taxation  without  representation 
was  sheer  robbery.     On  both  occasions,  as 
afterwards  on  most  political  questions,  he 
encountered    the   vehement    opposition    of 
Lord  MansBeld. 

On  the  formation  of  Chatham's  second  ad- 
ministration, Camden  succeeded  Northing- 


j  ton  on  the  woolsack,  on  30  July  1766,  re- 
ceiving by  way  of  compensation  for  the  sur- 
render of  the  chief-justiceship  an  allowance 
of  1,500/.  over  and  above  his  salary,  and  the 
reversion  of  a  tellership  in  the  exchequer  for 
his  son.  By  the  irony  of  fate,  this  great  con- 
stitutionalist had  only  been  a  few  weeks  in 
office  when  he  became  responsible  for  a 
breach  of  the  constitution  of  a  kind  peculiarly 
odious  to  the  country,  by  reason  of  its  asso- 
ciation with  the  Stuart  regime.  The  harvest 
failed  almost  entirely ;  and,  to  prevent  a 
famine,  the  government,  acting  on  Camden's 
advice,  issued  during  the  recess  an  order  in 
council  laying  an  embargo  on  the  exportation 
of  corn.  This  involved  the  suspension  of  the 
Corn  Act,  11  George  II,  c.22.  On  the  meet- 
ing of  parliament  in  the  following  November 
the  ministry  introduced,  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, the  bill  of  indemnity  usual  in  such  cases, 
but  limited  it  in  the  first  instance  to  their 
subordinates,  nor  did  they  frankly  and  fully 
acknowledge  the  illegality  of  the  embargo  in 
the  preamble.  In  both  respects  the  bill  was 
amended,  and,  the  amendments  being  made 
the  subject  of  animated  debate  in  both  houses 
of  parliament,  the  ministers  took  the  high 
prerogatival  line  of  defence.  Camden  in  par- 
ticular asserted  the  strict  legality  of  the  em- 
bargo, which  he  lightly  characterised  as  '  but 
forty  days'  tyranny  at  the  outside.'  The 
manifest  inconsistency  of  such  an  assumption 
of  the  tone  of  despotism  by  one  who  had  dis- 
tinguished himself  as  the  asserter  of  popular 
rights  was  turned  to  excellent  account  by 
the  opposition,  led  by  Lord  Mansfield  ;  and 
even  Junius,  though  ordinarily  partial  to 
Camden,  admitted  that  on  this  occasion  he 
had  '  overshot  himself  (Letters  lix.  and 
Ix.) 

No  less  inconsistent  was  Camden's  reten- 
tion of  office  notwithstanding  his  disapproval 
of  the  subsequent  policy  of  his  colleagues, 
both  in  regard  to  America  and  in  the  case 
of  Wilkes.  Finding  them  determined  to  pro- 
ceed with  the  tea  duties  bill  and  the  expul- 
sion of  the  obnoxious  demagogue  from  the 
House  of  Commons,  he  sought,  after  vainly 
protesting  against  these  measures,  to  wash 
his  hands  of  responsibility  for  them  by  ab- 
senting himself  from  the  cabinet,  and  ob- 
serving strict  silence  in  the  House  of  Lords 
while  they  were  under  discussion ;  nor  did  he 
throw  off  this  reserve  until  Chatham's  re- 
turn to  parliament.  He  then  mustered  up 
courage  to  support  the  vote  of  censure  on  the 
proceedings  of  the  House  of  Commons  in  re- 
gard to  Wilkes  moved  by  Chatham  as  an 
amendment  to  the  address  on  9  Jan.  1770, 
but  retained  the  great  seal  until  (17  Jan.) 
it  was  taken  from  him  and  transferred  to 


Pratt 


287 


Pratt 


Charles  Yorke  [q.  v.]     Freed  from  office,  he 
at  once  resumed  his  former  role  of  vigilant 
guardian    of    the    constitution,    supported 
Chatham's  bill  for  restoring  Wilkes  to  the 
House  of  Commons  (1  May),  and  his  subse- 
quent   resolution    declaring    eligibility   for 
parliament  an  inherent  right  of  the  subject 
(5  Dec.)  ;  and  in  the  debate  on  the  decision 
of  the  court  of  king's  bench  in  Rex  v.  Wood- 
fall,  unanimously  affirming  the  incompetence 
of  juries  to  determine  the  question  of  law  in 
cases   of   libel   (10  Dec.),  gained  a   signal 
triumph  over  Lord  Mansfield  by  the  latter's 
evasion  of  his  challenge  to  answer  six  in- 
terrogatories raising  the  several  issues  in- 
volved in  the  judgment.     Gout,  and  disgust 
at  the  futility  of  opposition,  however,  com- 
bined to  paralyse  his  energies  ;  and,  except 
to  protest  against  the  wide  extension  of  the 
prerogative  by  the  Royal  Marriage  Act  of  1772, 
12  George  III,  c.  11,  to  deliver  judgment 
against  the  existence  at  common  law  of  copy- 
right in  published  works  in  the  great  case 
of  Donaldson  v.  Becket,  on    appeal  to  the 
House  of  Lords  in  February  1774,  and  to 
oppose  the  Booksellers'  Copyright  Bill  in  the 
following  June,  he  took  for  the  time  little 
part  in  public  affairs.     But  in  the  following 
session  he  seconded  the  efforts  made  by  Chat- 
ham to  avert  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  in 
America,  and  introduced,  on  17  May  1775,  a 
"bill  (which  did  not  pass)  for  the  repeal  of  the 
recent  act  remodelling  the  constitution  of 
the  province  of  Quebec.     During  the  obsti- 
nate 'struggle  which  followed  he  concurred 
in  the  attacks  made  on  ministers  for  garri- 
soning   Gibraltar    and    Port    Mahon   with 
Hanoverians,  and  raising  troops  by  subscrip- 
tion, without  consent  of  parliament ;  and  he 
supported  the  several  motions  for  a  suspen- 
sion of  hostilities  made  by  the  Dukes  of  Rich- 
mond and  Grafton,  and  finally,  on  30  May 
1777,  by  Chatham.   After  the  death  of  Chat- 
ham, on  whom  he  pronounced  a  noble  eulogy 
in  the  debate  on  the  bill  for  pensioning  his 
posterity,  on  2  June  1778,  Camden,  though 
continuing  to  act  with  the  opposition,  gra- 
dually lost  heart ;  and,  after  delivering,  on 
25  Jan.  1781,  his  protest  against  the  policy 
which  culminated  in  the  war  with  Holland, 
withdrew  from   public  life.     Lord  North's 
fall,  however,  soon  recalled  him,  and  he  en- 
tered the  second  Rockingham  administration 
as  president  of  the  council  on  27  March  1782. 
He  was  thus  a  party — and  by  no  means  a 
reluctant  party — to  the  concession  of  legis- 
lative independence  to  Ireland.  Upon  the  re- 
construction of  the  cabinet  which  followed 
Rockingham's  death  (July)  he  retained  office 
but  resigned  during  the  negotiations  for  the 
formation  of  the  coalition  administration  in 


March  1783.  Having  contributed  to  the 
defeat  of  the  coalition  on  Fox's  East  India 
Bill  in  the  following  December,  he  took  no 
'urther  part  in  politics  until,  on  1  Dec.  1784, 
e  resumed  the  presidency  of  the  council, 
which  he  retained  until  his  death.  During 
:his  final  phase  of  his  career  he  distinguished 
limself  by  the  ability  with  which  he  de- 
fended Pitt's  policy  against  the  opposition, 
.ed  by  Lord  Loughborough  [see  WEDDER- 
BITRN,  ALEXANDER,  LORD  LOUGHBOEOUGH, 
1733-1805].  On  13  May  1786  he  was  created 
Viscount  Bayhamof  Bayham  Abbey,  Sussex, 
and  Earl  Camden. 

During  the  king's  alienation  of  mind,  in 
the  winter  of  1788,  Camden  devised  the  ex- 
pedient, the  issuing  of  letters  patent  under  the 
jreat  seal,  by  which,  had  the  king's  illness  be- 
come chronic,  the  resumption  of  the  regency 
by  the  heir- apparent  would  have  been  avoided. 
His  last  speeches  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
16  May  and  1  June  1792,  were  on  the  same 
topic  which  had  elicited  his  early  enthusiasm, 
the  competence  of  juries  to  determine  the 
entire  issue  in  cases  of  libel,  and  secured  the 
passing  of  the  measure  known  as  Fox's  Libel 
Act.  Though  in  failing  health,  he  continued, 
by  the  express  desire  of  the  king,  to  preside 
at  the  council  board  until  his  death,  at  his 
town  house,  Hill  Street,  Berkeley  Square,  on 
18  April  1794.  His  remains  were  interred 
in  the  parish  church,  Seal,  Kent. 

By  nature  and  habit  Camden  was  an  in- 
dolent dilettante  and  a  temperate  epicure, 
He  was  an  omnivorous  reader  of  romances,  an 
engaging  conversationalist,  and  fond  of  music 
and  the  play.  To  men  of  letters  he  paid  no 
court,  and  was  in  consequence  blackballed 
on  seeking  election  into  the  Literary  Club. 
A  languid  politician,  he  approved  himself  in 
evil  times  a  pillar  of  the  state.  If  inferior 
as  a  constitutionalist  to  Lord  Somers,  in 
mastery  of  the  common  law  to  Lord  Mans- 
field, in  grasp  of  the  subtler  principles  of 
equity  to  Lord  Hardwicke,  he  combined  their 
several  qualities  in  a  remarkable  degree.  The 
only  stain  on  his  public  character  is  his  re- 
tention of  office  notwithstanding  his  disap- 
proval of  the  policy  of  the  cabinet  in  1768- 
1769. 

Camden's  person,  though  small,  was  hand- 
some, and  a  genial  smile  animated  his  regular 
features  and  fine  grey  eyes.  At  Bayham 
Abbey  are  two  portraits  of  Camden,  viz.  a 
half-length  by  Reynolds,  and  a  three-quarter- 
length  by  Nathaniel  Dance.  A  copy  of  the 
one  and  a  replica,  slightly  varied,  of  the  other 
are  in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery.  Another 
portrait  of  him,  also  half-length,  by  Rey- 
nolds, belongs  to  the  Duke  of  Grafton,  and"  a 
three-quarter  length  by  Gainsborough  to  Lord 


Pratt 


288 


Pratt 


Northbourne.  Engravings  by  Ravenet,  Ro- 
binson, Bartolozzi,  and  Ogborne  of  the  above- 
mentioned  portraits,  and  of  a  sketch  by 
George  Dance  done  in  1793,  are  in  the  Bri- 
tish Museum. 

Camden  married,  on  5  Oct.  1749,  Eliza- 
beth, daughter  of  Nicholas  Jeffreys  of  the 
Priory,  Brecknock,  by  whom  he  had  issue 
John  Jeffreys,  his  successor  in  title  and 
estates  [see  PRATT,  JOHN  JEFFREYS,  second 
EARL  and  first  MARQUIS  OF  CAMDEN],  and 
three  daughters,  of  whom  the  eldest,  Frances, 
married,  on  7  June  1775,  Robert  Stewart, 
second  marquis  of  Londonderry. 

Besides  the  tract  on  the  habeas  corpus 
mentioned  above,  Camden  is  the  reputed 
author  of  '  A  Discourse  against  the  Juris- 
diction of  the  King's  Bench  over  Wales  by 
Process  of  Latitat,'  written  about  1745,  and 
edited  by  Francis  Hargrave  in '  A  Collection 
of  Tracts  relative  to  the  Law  of  England,' 
Dublin,  1787,  8vo. 

[Harwood's  Alumni  Etonenses ;  Gent.  Mag. 
1749  p.  476,  1759  p.  347,  1762  p.  94;  Doyle's 
Official  Baronage,  i.  303  ;  Collins's  Peerage,  ed. 
Brydges,  v.  266;  Ann.  Eeg.  1758  pp.  99,  115, 
1761  p.  [189] ;  European  Mag.  1788  pt.  ii.p.  307, 
1794  pt.  ii.  pp.  9,  89,  177,  290,  329;  Welsby's 
Lives  of  Eminent  Judges ;  Walpole's  Letters  (ed. 
Cunningham),  Memoirs  of  George  II  (ed.  Lord 
Holland),  iii.  32,  103,  George  III  (ed.  Russell 
Barker),  and  Royal  and  Noble  Authors  (ed.  Park) ; 
Oliver's  Exeter,  pp.  214-15;  Almon's  Anecdotes, 
1797,  i.  368  ;  Chatham  Corresp. ;  Harris's  Life 
of  Lord  Hardwicke ;  Lords'  Journ.  xxxi.  226 ; 
Parl.  Hist.  vols.  xv.-xxxi.  ;  Howell's  State 
Trials,  xix.  982  et  seq. ;  Wynne's  Serjeant-at- 
Law ;  Cooke's  Hist,  of  Party,  iii.  45,  78,  155 
et,  seq. ;  Wraxall's  Hist,  and  Posth.  Mem.  ed. 
Wheatley;  Duke  of  Buckingham's  Court  and 
Cabinets  of  George  III,  i.  25,  62,  113,  123-4; 
Mrs.  Delany's  Autobiography,  iii.  458,  481, 
487  ;  Bos  well's  Life  of  "Johnson,  ed.  Birkbeck 
Hill;  Addit.  MSS.  20733  f.  29,  21507  f.  162, 
22930  f.  40,  28060  f.  193;  Egerton  MS.  2136 
f.  114;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  5th  Rep.  App.  p. 
212,  6th  Rep.  App.  p.  237,  8th  Rep.  App.  pt.  i. 
pp.  225,  287,  pt.  ii.  pp.  131,  133,  9th  Rep. 
App.  pt.  iii.  14,  22,  24-5,  27,  60,  10th  Rep. 
App.  pt.  i.  pp.  314,  423,  pt.  vi.  p.  24,  llth  Rep. 
pt.  vii.  p.  55;  Lord  Russell's  Life  of  Charles 
James  Fox ;  Lord  Campbell's  Lives  of  the  Chan- 
cellors; Foss's  Lives  of  the  Judges.]  J.  M.  R. 

PRATT,  SIR  CHARLES  (1768-1838), 
lieutenant-general,  is  said  to  have  come  of 
an  Irish  family,  and  may  have  been  distantly 
connected  with  the  earls  of  Camden.  He 
was  born  in  1768,  and  became  ensign  in  the 
army  on  14  April  1794.  He  was  subse- 
quently promoted  lieutenant  5th  foot  (now 
Northumberland  fusiliers),  3  Sept.  1795 ;  cap- 
tain, 28  Feb.  1798;  major,  25  Aug.  1804; 


lieutenant-colonel,  25  March  1808  ;  colonel, 
4  June  1814;  major-general,  27  May  1825; 
lieutenant-general  and  colonel  of  the  95th 
foot  (now  the  Derbyshire  regiment),  23  Dec 
1834. 

Pratt  commanded  the  first  battalion  of  the 
5th  foot  which  embarked  at  Cork  in  May 
1812,  and  landed  at  Lisbon  to  join  the  Eng- 
lish army  under  Wellington  in  the  Penin- 
sula. He  thus  took  a  prominent  part  in  a 
long  series  of  brilliant  engagements.  Joining 
Wellington  on  landing  by  forced  marches, 
both  battalions  of  the  5th  regiment  shared 
in  the  honours  and  triumphs  of  Salamanca 
on  22  July  1812.  Pratt  received  a  medal, 
and  the  regiment  the  right  to  bear  (  Sala- 
manca '  on  their  colours.  He  and  his  batta- 
lion rendered  no  less  service  at  Vittoria,  where 
a  superior  force  of  the  enemy  was  driven  in 
(21  June  1813).  Pratt  again  obtained  a  medal. 
He  was  present  in  command  of  the  first 
battalion  at  the  battles  of  Nivelle,  10  Nov. 
1814,  Orthes,  27  Feb.  1814,  and  finally  at 
the  closing  struggle  and  crowning  victory  of 
the  war,  the  battle  of  Toulouse,  on  10  April 
1814.  The  regiment,  in  consideration  of 
these  achievements,  received  permission  to 
add  <  Peninsula '  to  the  long  list  of  names  on 
its  colours.  On  the  extension  of  the  order 
of  the  Bath  in  1814,  Pratt  was  nominated 
C.B.  With  his  regiment  he  served  in  the 
army  of  occupation  in  France  till  1818.  In 
the  following  year  he  embarked  with  the 
regiment  for  St.  Vincent.  In  May  1825  he 
came  home  on  being  succeeded  in  his  com- 
mand by  Lieutenant-colonel  W.  Sutherland. 
In  1830  he  was  made  K  C.B.  and  declined 
the  command  of  troops  in  Jamaica.  He  died, 
without  issue,  of  an  apoplectic  fit  at  Brighton 
on  25  Oct.  1838. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1839,  i.  210  ;  Army  Lists  ;  Can- 
non's Hist.  Records ;  Times,  29  Oct.  1838;  St. 
George's  Gazette.]  B.  H.  S. 

PRATT,  SIR  JOHN  (1657-1725),  judge, 
son  of  Richard  Pratt  of  Standlake,  Oxford- 
shire, and  grandson  of  Richard  Pratt  of 
Cars  well  Priory,  near  Collumpton,  Devon- 
shire, was  born  in  1657.  After  matriculating 
at  Oxford,  from  Magdalen  Hall,  on  14  March 
1672-3,  he  migrated  to  Wadham  College, 
where  he  was  elected  scholar  in  1674,  and 
fellow  in  1678.  He  graduated  B.A.  in  1676, 
and  proceeded  M.A.  in  1679. 

Pratt  was  admitted  on  18  Nov.  1675  a 
student  at  the  Inner  Temple,  where  he  was 
called  to  the  bar  on  12  Feb.  1681-2.  He 
appeared  for  the  crown  before  the  House  of 
Lords  in  Sir  John  Fenwick's  case,  16-17  Dec. 
1696,  and  before  the  House  of  Commons  for 
the  new  East  India  Company  in  support  of 


Pratt 


289 


Pratt 


the  petition  for  a  charter  on  14  June  and 
1  July  1698  [see  WRIGHT,  SIR  NATHAN, 
1653-1714].  He  was  made  serjeant-at-law 
on  6  Nov.  1700,  was  heard  by  a  committee 
of  the  House  of  Commons  as  counsel  for  the 
court  of  exchequer  against  a  bill  for  curtailing 
the  fees  of  the  officers  of  that  court  on  25  Feb. 
1705-6,  and  on  17  Jan.  1709-10  was  assigned, 
with  Sir  Simon  (afterwards  Viscount)  Har- 
court  [q.  v.],  as  counsel  for  Dr.  Sacheverell, 
but  declined  to  act.  On  20  Dec.  1711  he  ap- 
peared before  the  House  of  Lords  in  support 
of  the  patent  conferring  an  English  dukedom 
on  James  Douglas,  fourth  duke  of  Hamilton 
[q.  v.]  On  28  Dec.  1711  he  was  returned 
to  parliament  for  Midhurst,  for  which  he  sat 
a  silent  or  all  but  silent  member  until  the 
dissolution  which  followed  the  accession  of 
George  I.  Meanwhile,  on  Lord  Cowper's 
recommendation,  he  was  raised  to  a  puisne 
judgeship  in  the  court  of  king's  bench,  and 
was  sworn  in  accordingly  on  22  Nov.  1714 
and  knighted. 

On  the  question  of  prerogative  submitted 
to  the  judges  in  January  1717-18,  whether 
the  custody  of  the  royal  grandchildren  was 
vested  in  the  Prince  of  Wales  or  the  king, 
Pratt  concurred  with  the  majority  of  his 
colleagues  in  favour  of  the  crown.  He  was 
one  of  the  commissioners  of  the  great  seal 
in  the  interval  (18  April-22  May  1718)  be- 
tween the  resignation  of  Lord-chancellor 
Cowper  and  the  seal's  transference  to  Lord- 
keeper  Parker,  afterwards  earl  of  Maccles- 
field.  He  succeeded  the  latter,  15  May, 
as  lord  chief  justice  of  the  court  of  king's 
bench,  being  sworn  of  the  privy  council  on 
9  Oct. 

Pratt  was  a  sound  lawyer,  and  not  with- 
out conscience.  In  the  case  of  Colbatch  v. 
Bentley,  in  1722  [see  COLBATCH,  JOHN],  he 
resisted  the  combined  influence  of  Sir  Ro- 
bert Walpole  and  Lord  Macclesfield,  which 
Bentley  had  enlisted  in  his  interest,  with  an 
inflexibility  which  Walpole  could  only  ex- 
plain by  supposing  that  he  was  conscious  of 
having  '  got  to  the  top  of  his  preferment.' 
His  brutal  usage  of  the  Jacobite  Christopher 
Layer  [q.  v.],  whom  he  kept  in  heavy  irons  in 
the  Tower  pending  his  trial,  though  he  was 
suffering  from  strangury,  is  an  indelible  stain 
on  his  memory. 

Pratt  bought,  about  1705,  the  manor  of 
Stidulfe's  Place,  which  he  renamed  Wilder- 
ness, in  the  parish  of  Seal,  Kent ;  to  this  he 
added,  in  1714,  Bayham  Priory,  in  the  parish 
of  Frant,  Sussex,  the  ancient  church  of  which 
he  wantonly  disroofed.  He  died  at  his 
house  in  Great  Ormond  Street,  London,  on 
24  Feb.  1724-5.  Pratt  married  twice.  By 
his  first  wife  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Henry 

VOL.    XLVI. 


Gregory,  rector  of  Middleton-Stoney,  Oxford- 
shire, he  had  issue,  with  four  daughters,  five 
sons.  By  his  second  wife  Elizabeth,  daugh- 
ter of  Hugh  Wilson,  canon  of  Bangor,  he  had 
four  sons  and  four  daughters.  His  heir  was 
John,  his  fourth  son  by  his  first  wife  [see 
TRACY,  ROBERT,  1655-1735].  Charles,  his 
third  son  by  his  second  wife,  eclipsed  his  fame 
as  a  lawyer,  and  was  created  Lord  Camden 
[see  PRATT,  CHARLES,  first  EARL  CAMDEN]. 
Of  Pratt's  daughters  by  his  first  wife,  the 
second,  Grace,  married  Sir  John  Fortescue 
Aland  [q.  v.l ;  Jane,  his  second  daughter  by 
his  second  wife,  married  Nicholas  Hardinge 
[q.  v.]  ;  Anna  Maria,  his  third  daughter  by 
the  same  wife,  married  Thomas  Barrett 
Lennard,  sixteenth  lord  Dacre  [see  LEONARD, 
FRANCIS,  fourteenth  LORD  DACRE,  ad  fin.] 

A  portrait  of  Pratt,  by  Thomas  Murray,  is 
in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery. 

[Collins's  Peerage  (Brydges),  v.  26  i;  Hasted's 
Kent,  i.  337,  ii.  379;  Harris's  Life  of  Lord 
Hardwicke,  i.  12-5,  149,167;  Wynne's  Serjeants- 
at-Law;  Howell's  State  Trials,  xv.  1216,  xvi. 
94  ;  Bin-net's  Own  Time  (8vo),  vi.  80  n. ;  Lord 
Eaymond's  Reports,  1319,  1338  et  seq  and  1381 ; 
Luttrell's  Relation  of  State  Affairs;  Hardy's  Cat. 
of  Lord  Chancellors ;  Sussex  Archseolog.  Collect, 
ix.  181 ;  Campbell's  Chief  Justices;  Foss's  Lives 
of  the  Judges.]  J.  M.  R. 

PRATT,  JOHN  (1772-1855),  organist, 
son  of  Jonas  Pratt,  music  seller  and  teacher, 
was  born  at  Cambridge  in  1772.  In  1780  he 
was  admitted  chorister  of  King's  College 
(GROVE).  On  the  death  in  1799  of  Dr.  John 
Randall  [q.  v.],  Pratt  succeeded  him  as  or- 
ganist to  the  college.  In  the  same  year  he 
was  appointed  organist  to  Cambridge  Univer- 
sity, and  in  1813  he  held  the  same  post  at 
St.  Peter's  College.  Pratt  composed  sacred 
music,  including  a  morning  and  evening-  ser- 
vice (Brit.  Mus.  Addit.  MS.  11730),  which 
he  declined  the  risk  of  publishing.  He  oc- 
cupied himself  with  compilations  for  the  use 
of  choirs  in  college  chapels,  and  published 
in  1810  a  'Psalmody'  which  became  widely 
known  and  generally  used.  Pratt  retired  from 
the  active  performance  of  his  duties  many 
years  before  his  death,  which  took  place  on 
9  March  1855,  in  his  eighty-fourth  year. 

His  publications  were  :  1.  '  A  Selection  of 
Ancient  and  Modern  Psalm  Tunes  arranged 
and  adapted  for  Two  Trebles  or  Tenors  and 
a  Bass  for  the  use  of  Parish  Churches/ 1810; 
it  was  republished  about  1820,  with  new  title- 
page,  '  Psalmodia  Cantabrigiensis  .  .  .  for  the 
use  of  the  University  Church,  Cambridge.' 
The  appendix  contains  about  twenty  psalms 
and  hymns.  l  not  used  at  the  University 
hurch.'  2.  'A  Collection  of  Anthems  in 
Score  selected  from  the  Works  of  Handel, 

u 


Pratt 


290 


Pratt 


Haydn,  Mozart,  Clari,  Leo,  and  Carissimi, 
with  a  separate  arrangement  for  pianoforte 
or  organ,'  about  1825.  3.  '  Four  Double 
Chants,  the  Responses  to  the  Commandments, 
as  performed  at  King's  College,  Cambridge,' 
8vo,  no  date  (BROWN).  Some  of  Pratt's 
manuscripts  are  in  the  Rochester  Cathedral 
library. 

[Grove's  Diet.  ii.  422,  iii.  26;  Cambridge 
Chron.  10  March  1855  ;  authorities  cited.] 

L.  M.  M. 

PRATT,  JOHN  BURNETT  (1799- 
1869),  Scottish  divine  and  antiquary,  born 
in  1799  at  Cairnbanno,  New  Deer,  was  son 
of  a  working  tradesman.  After  graduating 
M.  A.  at  Aberdeen  University,  he  took  orders 
in  the  Scottish  episcopal  church,  and  obtained 
a  living  at  Stuartfield  in  1821.  In  1825  he 
was  elected  to  St.  James's  Church,  Cruden, 
where  he  remained  till  his  death.  He  was 
also  examining  chaplain  to  the  bishop  of 
Aberdeen  and  domestic  chaplain  to  the  Earl 
of  Errol.  Aberdeen  University  conferred 
on  him  the  honorary  degree  of  LL.D.  in  1865. 
He  died  at  Cruden  on  20  March  1869. 

Besides  editing  the  '  Scottish  Episcopal 
Communion  Service '  in  1866,  he  was  the 
author  of:  1.  'The  Old  Paths,  where  is 
the  Good  Way,'  3rd  edit.  Oxford,  1840. 
2./  Buchan,'8vo,  Aberdeen,  1858 ;  3rd  edit,, 
with  a  memoir,  1870;  this  work  embodied 
the  results  of  many  years  of  antiquarian 
and  topographical  research  in  the  district. 
3.  'The  Druids,' 8vo, London,  1861.  4.  'Let- 
ters on  the  Scandinavian  Churches,  their 
Doctrine,  Worship,  and  Polity,'  8vo,  London, 
1865.  5.  'Scottish  Episcopacy  and  Scottish 
Episcopalians.  Three  Sermons/  8vo,  Aber- 
deen, 1838. 

[Memoir  by  A.  Pratt,  appended  to  Buchan, 
3rd  edit.;  Aberdeen  Free  Press,  23  March  1869; 
Fraserburgh  Advertiser,  2 6  March  18 69;  Cooper's 
Biogr.  Register,  1869,  i.  398;  M'Clintock  and 
Strong's  Cyclop,  of  Theol.  and  Eccles.  Litera- 
ture.] E.  I.  C. 

PRATT,  JOHN  JEFFREYS,  second 
EAKL  and  first  MAEQTJIS  OP  CAMDEX  (1759- 
1840),  born  on  11  Feb.  1759,  was  the  eldest 
child  and  only  son  of  Charles,  first  earl  of 
Camden  [q.  v.],  and  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Nicholas  Jeffreys.  He  was  educated  at  Trinity 
College,  Cambridge,  and  received  the  degree 
of  M.  A.  in  1779.  At  the  general  election  in 
the  following  year  he  was  returned  for  Bath, 
of  which  city  he  was  recorder ;  he  continued 
to  represent  Bath  as  long  as  he  remained 
a  commoner.  As  a  reward  for  his  father's 
services,  he  was  in  1780  appointed  one  of  the 
tellers  of  the  exchequer,  and  held  that  office 
for  the  extraordinary  period  of  sixty  years. 


An  unsuccessful  attempt  was  made  on  7  May 
1812  to  limit  the  emoluments  accruing  to  that 
office,  which  had  increased  from  2,500£  per 
annum  in  1782  to  23,000/.  in  1808.  From 
that  moment  Camden  relinquished  all  income 
arising  from  it,  amounting  at  the  time  of  his 
death  to  upwards  of  a  quarter  of  a  million 
sterling,  arid  received  the  formal  thanks  of 
parliament  for  his  patriotic  conduct.  He  was 
a  lord  of  the  admiralty  from  13  July  1782 
till  8  April  1783,  during  the  administration 
of  Earl  Shelburne,  and  again  in  that  of  Pitt, 
from  30  Dec.  following  to  6  July  1783.  On 
8  April  1789  he  was  appointed  a  lord  of  the 
treasury,  and  held  office  till  May  1794.  He 
was  admitted  a  privy  councillor  on  21  June 
1793,  and  succeeded  his  father  in  the  peerage 
on  18  April  1794.  On  11  March  1795  he 
was  appointed  lord  lieutenant  of  Ireland  vice 
Earl  Fitzwilliam  [see  FITZWILLI  AM,  WILLIAM 
WEXTAVORTH,  second  EARL  FITZWILLIAM]. 

To  the  Irish  generally,  who  saw  in  his 
appointment  the  frustration  of  all  those 
hopes  of  remedial  legislation  to  which  the 
short-lived  administration  of  Earl  Fitz- 
william had  given  birth,  he  was  from  the 
first  unpopular.  He  arrived  in  Ireland  on 
31  March  1795,  and  was  greeted  by  a  riot. 
Personally  opposed  to  catholic  emancipa- 
tion, and  to  any  concession  to  the  popular 
demand  for  parliamentary  reform,  he  must 
share  with  the  English  cabinet  and  his  ad- 
visers in  Ireland  the  responsibility  attach- 
ing to  that  disastrous  line  of  policy  which 
terminated  so  fatally  three  years  later  in  the 
rebellion  of  1798.  Resolved  to  present  an 
uncompromising  front  to  the  catholic  claims, 
he  hoped  by  a  system  of  state-endowed  edu- 
cation to  diminish  the  influence  of  the  catholic 
priesthood  and  to  render  them  more  subser- 
vient to  the  crown.  Apparently  his  object 
was  realised  in  the  rejection  of  the  catholic 
bill  of  1795,  and  the  foundation  of  Maynooth 
College,  the  first  stone  of  which  he  laid  him- 
self. It  was  not  long  before  he  realised  that 
'  the  quiet  of  the  country  depended  upon  the 
exertions  of  the  friends  of  the  established  go- 
vernment backed  by  a  strong  military  force.' 
Only  a  few  weeks  after  his  arrival,  Theobald 
Wolfe  Tone  [q.  v.]  sailed  for  America,  and 
the  society  of  United  Irishmen,  of  which 
Tone  was  the  founder,  was  reconstructed  on 
a  new  and  purely  revolutionary  basis.  To 
this  danger  was  added  the  rapid  spread  of 
defenderism.  Camden  was  thus  driven  to 
adopt  a  system  of  espionage  and  a  policy  of 
sheer  repression.  The  formation  of  a  loyal 
orange  society  seemed  to  furnish  a  guarantee 
of  peace.  But  the  countenance  shown  to  the 
orangemen  led  to  fresh  disturbances,  espe- 
cially in  co.  Armagh ;  and,  though  Camden 


Pratt 


291 


Pratt 


himself  may  be  exonerated  from  regarding 
such  occurrences  as  the  battle  of  the  Diamond 
with  anything  but  anger  and  alarm,  it  is  im- 
possible to  say  so  much  for  other  members  of 
the  government  on  whose  advice  he  relied. 
His  colleagues  in  England  yielded  to  his 
demand  for  further  measures  of  repression, 
and  when  the  Irish  parliament  met  in  1796, 
its  first  and  principal  business  was  to  pass 
a  bill  for  the  more  effectual  suppression 
of  disorder  in  the  country.  But  this  drastic 
measure  failed  to  stem  the  rising  spirit  of 
rebellion,  and  in  August  Oamden  recom- 
mended the  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Cor- 
pus Act,  and  the  formation  of  yeomanry 
corps,  a  step  to  which  he  had  hitherto  been 
averse.  Parliament  reassembled  in  October. 
The  air  was  full  of  rumours  of  an  impending 
French  invasion,  and,  as  a  measure  of  pre- 
caution, the  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Cor- 
pus Act  was  carried  by  137  to  seven. 

The  expedition  of  General  Hoche  missed 
its  object ;  but  the  country  was  not  pacified, 
and  in  January  and  February  1797  Camden 
found  it  necessary  to  proclaim  several  counties 
of  Ulster  under  the  Insurrection  Act.  In 
March  the  whole  of  Ulster  was  placed  under 
martial  law.  Camden  took  the  entire  respon- 
sibility for  this  step  iipon  himself ;  and  to 
Portland,  who  suggested  the  desirability  of 
conciliating  public  opinion  by  conceding  par- 
liamentary reform  and  catholic  emancipa- 
tion, he  replied  by  threatening  to  resign. 
There  were,  he  frankly  admitted,  objections 
to  the  constitution  of  Ireland  as  it  existed, 
*  but/  he  added,  '  as  long  as  Ireland  remains 
under  circumstances  to  be  useful  to  England, 
my  opinion  is  that  she  must  be  governed  by 
an  English  party  .  .  .  and,  illiberal  as  the 
opinion  may  be  construed  to  be,  I  am  con- 
vinced it  would  be  very  dangerous  to  attempt 
to  govern  Ireland  in  a  more  popular  manner 
than  the  present.'  He  appears  to  have  been 
ignorant  of  any  intention  on  the  part  of  Pitt 
to  utilise  the  situation  to  effect  a  legislative 
union  between  the  two  countries  ;  but  not 
being  a  military  man,  and  feeling  that  affairs 
had  reached  a  point  when  physical  force 
could  alone  avail  anything,  he  offered  in 
May  to  resign  in  favour  of  Lord  Cornwallis. 
Cornwallis,  who  viewed  the  policy  of  the 
Irish  government  with  apprehension,  de- 
clined to  cross  the  Channel  except  in  case 
of  imminent  invasion,  and  in  November  Sir 
RalphAbercromby  [q.v.]  was  appointed  com- 
mander-in-chief.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  Camden  regarded  his  appointment 
with  satisfaction,  but  the  ill-concealed  con- 
tempt of  Abercromby  for  the  incapacity  of 
the  Irish  government,  and  his  zealous  but 
imprudent  efforts  to  restore  discipline  and 


efficiency  to  the  army,  aroused  such  a  strong 
feeling  of  hostility  against  him  on  the  part 
of  Lord  Clare  and  Speaker  Foster  that  he 
was  compelled  to  tender  his  resignation,  and 
Camden  reluctantly  accepted  it. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  how  far  Camden  was 
personally  responsible  for  forcing  the  rebel- 
lion to  a  head.  For  he  had  fallen  so  com- 
pletely under  the  influence  of  Lord  Clare  and 
the  castle  clique  as  to  be  little  more  than 
the  mouthpiece  of  their  policy ;  and  it  is 
extremely  doubtful  whether  he  was  really 
aware  of  the  atrocities  committed  in  his 
name.  When  the  rebellion  actually  broke 
out  in  May  1798,  he  believed  that  the  force 
at  his  disposal,  amounting  to  eighty  thousand 
men,  was  insufficient  to  cope  with  the  rebels, 
and  wrote  frantically  to  Portland  for  rein- 
forcements. In  the  meantime  he  preserved 
an  attitude  more  or  less  defensive.  His  con- 
duct was  much  censured,  and  an  ultra-loyal 
pamphlet,  entitled  t  Considerations  on  the 
Situation  to  which  Ireland  is  reduced/  pub- 
lished in  this  year,  of  which  six  editions  were 
almost  immediately  exhausted,  blamed  him 
severely  for  his  dilatoriness  in  not  attacking 
the  rebels  at  once.  The  collapse  of  the  re- 
bellion can  hardly  be  ascribed  to  the  energy 
of  the  government ;  as  for  Camden,  he  added 
to  the  panic  by  sending  his  wife  and  family 
to  England  for  safety.  At  last,  in  answer  to 
his  entreaties  to  be  superseded  by  a  military 
man,  Lord  Cornwallis  arrived  in  Dublin  on 
20  June.  But  by  that  time  the  rebellion  was 
practically  at  an  end.  *  The  public/  sarcas- 
tically remarked  the  author  of  the  pamphlet 
already  referred  to,  '  were  congratulated  by 
all  his  excellency's  friends  on  his  good  fortune 
in  having  been  able  to  terminate  the  rebellion 
without  the  horrid  necessity  of  subduing 
the  rebels.  His  excellency  having  thus  left 
scarcely  anything  to  be  done,  but  to  treat  and 
to  conciliate,  descended  to  the  water  edge  in  a 
splendour  of  military  triumph,  which  Marius, 
after  he  had  overcome  the  Cimbri,  would 
have  looked  at  with  envy,  leaving  Lord 
Cornwallis  to  enjoy,  if  he  could  earn  it,  the 
secondary  honours  of  an  ovation '  (Considera- 
tions on  the  Situation,  p.  21). 

Nevertheless,  Camden  was  not  without 
admirers.  He  was  strongly  in  favour  of 
the  union,  and  there  were*  those,  notably 
Lord  Clare  and  under-secretary  Cooke 
(Auckland  Corresp.  iv.  83),  who  imagined 
that  he  would  have  been  a  better  person  to 
carry  it  into  effect  than  Cornwallis.  Though 
hitherto  strongly  opposed  to  catholic  eman- 
cipation, he  thought  it  might  safely  (with 
certain  reservations)  have  been  conceded  at 
the  time  of  the  union,  and  some  of  his  notes 
relative  to  Pitt's  plan  are  extant  in  the 

ir2 


Pratt 


292 


Pratt 


Pelham  MSS.  (  Addit.  MS.  33119,  ff.  161- 
176).  During  the  debate  in  the  House  of 
Lords  on  the  Union  Resolutions  on  19  March 
1799,  his  administration  was  severely  criti- 
cised by  Lord  Lansdowne.  Camden  replied 
that  he  had  acted  as  just  and  humane 
a  part  as  was  practicable  (Parl.  Hist,  xxxiv. 
680).  On  14  Aug.  he  was  created  a  knight 
of  the  Garter.  He  held  the  post  of  secre- 
tary of  state  for  war  in  Pitt's  administra- 
tion from  May  1804  to  July  1805,  and 
there  was  some  talk  of  reappointing  him 
lord  lieutenant  of  Ireland  whenever  a  va- 
cancy occurred.  On  10  July  he  succeeded 
Sidmouth  as  president  of  the  council,  and 
held  office  till  5  Feb.  1806,  and  again  from 
26  March  1807  to  11  June  1812.  He  was 
master  of  Trinity  House  from  7  Dec.  1809  to 
10  June  1816,  and  was  appointed  a  governor 
of  the  Charterhouse  on  29  April  1811.  He 
was  created  Marquis  of  Camden  and  Earl 
of  Brecknock  on  7  Sept.  1812;  LL.D.  of 
Cambridge  in  1832,  and  on  12  Dec.  1834 
was  elected  chancellor  of  the  university. 
He  seldom  took  any  prominent  part  in  the 
debates  in  the  House  of  Lords.  As  secretary 
for  war  he  moved  the  second  reading  of  the 
Additional  Force  Bill  on  25  June  1804,  and 
more  than  once,  on  subsequent  occasions, 
defended  that  measure  at  considerable  length. 
He  supported  the  suspension  of  the  Habeas 
Corpus  Act  in  1817,  and  spoke  in  favour 
of  the  Irish  Insurrection  Bill  on  10  Feb. 
1822.  He  consistently  opposed  catholic 
emancipation  till  1825,  but  spoke  and  voted 
for  the  third  reading  of  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic Bill  on  10  April  1829.  His  opinions 
were  not  regarded  as  carrying  great  weight, 
and  he  was  described  by  Canning,  with  more 
truth  than  politeness,  as  '  useless  lumber  in 
the  ministry '  (ABBOT,  Diary,  ii.  180).  He 
died  at  his  seat,  the  Wilderness,  in  Kent, 
on  8  Oct.  1840,  in  the  eighty-second  year  of 
his  age.  He  married,  on  31  Dec.  1785, 
Frances  (d.  1829),  daughter  and  sole  heiress 
of  William  Molesworth,  and  by  her  had  issue 
George  Charles,  second  marquis  Camden,  born 
in  1799,  and  three  daughters.  A  portrait,  by 
Hoppner,  was  published  in  Fisher's  'National 
Portrait  Gallery '  in  1829. 

[Doyle's  Official  Baronage  ;  Gent.  Maar.  1840, 

6\  ii.  p.  651  ;  Gratlan's  Life  and  Times  of 
enry  Grattan  ;  Plowden's  Hist.  Review  of  Ire- 
land; Auckland  Corresp. ;  Dunfermline's  Me- 
moirs of  Sir  Ralph  Abercrombv ;  Stanhope's  Life 
of  W.  Pitt ;  Abbot's  Diary  and  Corresp. ;  Parl. 
Debates,  1804-30  passim,  but  particularly  ii. 
817,  iii.  483,  797,  iv.  706,  vii.  273,  xx.  675, 
xxxvi.  1051,  new  ser.  vi.  192,  xiii.  677,  xxi. 
620,  xxiii.  501.  Camden's  Correspondence  with 
the  Earl  of  Chichester  and  the  Duke  of  Portland, 


preserved  in  the  Pelham  MSS.  in  the  British 
Museum,  has  been  utilised  in  Lecky's  Hist,  of 
England,  vols.  vii.  and  viii.  passim.  For  specific 
references  see  Addit.  MSS.  33101  ff.  146-370, 
33102  if.  15-123,  33103  ff.  85,  97,  101,  103,126, 
128,  132,  136,  152-8,  33105  ff.  18-441,  33109 
f.  19,  33112  ff.  146-50,  156,  189-93,  410,  438, 
33441  ff.  76,  78,  80.]  K.  D. 

PRATT,  JOHN  TIDD  (1797-1870),  re- 
gistrar of  friendly  societies,  second  son  of 
John  Pratt,  surgeon,  Kennington,  Surrey, 
was  born  in  London  on  13  Dec.  1797.  He 
was  admitted  a  student  at  the  Inner  Temple 
on  2  April  1819,  was  called  to  the  bar  on 
26  Nov.  1824,  and  went  the  home  circuit. 
From  1828  to  his  death  he  was  consulting 
barrister  to  the  commissioners  for  the  reduc- 
tion of  the  national  debt.  He  was  counsel  to 
certify  the  rules  of  savings  banks  and  friendly 
societies  from  1834  to  1846,  and  registrar  of 
friendly  societies  from  1846  to  his  death.  To 
the  public  he  rendered  efficient  service,  by 
disclosing,  as  far  as  official  restraints  allowed 
him,  the  unsound  condition  of  some  of  the 
benefit  and  friendly  societies,  and  by  recom- 
mend ing  to  the  legislature  modes  of  remedy- 
ing their  defects.  He  was  in  the  commission 
of  the  peace  for  Middlesex,  Westminster, 
Kent,  Surrey,  Sussex,  and  the  Cinque  ports. 
He  died  at  29  Abingdon  Street,  Westminster, 
on  9  Jan.  1870.  His  wife.  Anne,  died  on 
25  Nov.  1875.  • 

He  edited  J.  B.  Bosanquet  and  C.  Puller's 
'  New  Reports  of  Cases  argued  in  the  Court 
of  Common  Pleas  and  other  Courts,'  1826  ; 
E.  Bott's  '  Laws  relating  to  the  Poor,'  6th 
edit.  1827 ;  and  W.  Woodfall's  <  Law  of 
Landlord  and  Tenant,'  1829.  His  '  History 
of  the  Savings  Banks  in  England  and  Wales,' 
1830,  2nd  edit.  1842,  is  interesting  and 
accurate,  and  his  manuals, l  The  Law  relating 
to  Highways,'  1835,  (13th  edit.  1893),  and 
'  The  Law  relating  to  Watching  and  Light- 
ing Parishes,'  1850,  (5th  edit.  1891),  are  still 
in  use. 

Other  works  by  him  are :  1.  '  An  Abstract 
of  all  the  printed  Acts  of  Parliament  for  the 
establishment  of  Courts  of  Request/  1824. 
2.  '  A  digested  Index  to  the  Term  Reports 
analytically  arranged,  containing  all  the 
Points  of  Law  determined  in  the  King's 
Bench,  1785  to  1825,  in  the  Common  Pleas 
1788  to  1825,  and  in  the  Exchequer,  1792  to 
1825,  with  Notes/  1826.  3.  l  An  Epitome  of 
the  Law  of  Landlord  and  Tenant/  1826. 
4.  '  A  Collection  of  the  late  Statutes  passed 
for  the  administration  of  Criminal  Justice  in 
England,  1827;  2nd  edit.  1827.  5.  'The 
Law  relating  to  Savings  Banks  in  England 
and  Ireland/  1828.  6.  <  Statutes  passed  in 
the  present  Session  for  the  administration  of 


Pratt 


293 


Pratt 


Criminal  Justice  in  England.'  1828.  7.  'A 
Summary  of  the  Office  of  a  Justice  of  the 
Peace  out  of  Sessions/  1828.  8.  '  The  Law 
relating  to  Friendly  Societies.'  1829.  This 
work  went  to  several  editions,  and  had 
various  changes  made  in  the  title,  the  con- 
tents, and  the  arrangement.  9.  '  The  Laws 
relating  to  the  Poor/  1833.  10.  'The  Act 
for  the  Amendment  of  the  Laws  relating  to 
the  Poor/  1834.  11.  <  A  Collection  of  the 
Public  General  Statutes  passed  5  &  6  Will. 
IV.,  7  Will.  IV.  and  1  Viet.  2  &  3  Viet., 
3  &  4  Viet.,  4  &  5  Viet.,  5  &  6  Viet., 
6  &  7  Viet.,  as  far  as  they  are  relative  to  the 
Office  of  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  and  to  Pa- 
rochial Matters/  1835,  1837,  1839,  1840, 
1841,  1842,  and  1843,  7  vols.  12.  <The 
General  Turnpike  Koad  Acts/ 1837.  13.  'The 
Law  for  facilitating  the  Enclosure  of  Open 
and  Arable  Fields/ 1837.  14.  <  The  Property 
Tax  Act/  1842,  2nd  edit.  1843.  15.  <  A  Col- 
lection of  all  the  Statutes  in  force  respecting 
the  Relief  of  the  Poor/  1835-64,  2  vols. ; 
2nd  edit.  1843.  Vol.  i.  of  the  first  edition 
was  compiled  by  J.  Paterson.  16.  'A  Sum- 
mary of  the  Savings  Banks  in  England,  Scot- 
land, Wales,  and  Ireland/  1846.  17.  <  Sug- 
gestions for  the  Establishment  of  Friendly 
Societies/  1855.  18. '  Index  to  Acts  relating 
to  Friendly  Societies/  1860.  19.  '  Observa- 
tions on  Friendly  Societies  for  Payments  at 
Death,  commonly  called  Burial  Societies/ 
1868. 

[Solicitors'  Journal,  15  Jan.  1870,  p.  223; 
Law  Times,  15  Jan.  1870  p.  214,  12  Feb.  p. 
305;  Illustrated  London  News,  1870,  Ivi.  107, 
152,  with  portrait;  Men  of  the  Time,  1868,  p. 
661  ;  information  from  the  treasurer  of  the 
Inner  Temple.]  G-.  C.  B. 

PRATT,  JOSIAH  (1768-1844),  evange- 
lical divine,  second  son  of  Josiah  Pratt,  a 
Birmingham  manufacturer,  was  born  at  Bir- 
mingham on  21  Dec.  1768.  His  parents 
were  pious  people  of  the  evangelical  type. 
With  his  two  younger  brothers,  Isaac  and 
Henry,  Josiah  was  educated  at  Barr  House 
school,  six  miles  from  Birmingham.  When 
he  was  twelve  years  old  his  father  took  him 
into  his  business  ;  but  his  religious  impres- 
sions deepened,  and  at  the  age  of  seventeen 
lie  obtained  his  father's  permission  to  enter 
holy  orders.  After  some  private  tuition,  he 
matriculated  on  28  June  1789  from  St.  Ed- 
mund Hall,  at  that  time  the  only  stronghold 
of  evangelicalism  at  Oxford.  His  college 
tutor  was  Isaac  Crouch,  a  leading  evangeli- 
cal, with  whom  he  formed  a  lifelong  friend- 
ship. He  graduated  B.A.  and  was  ordained 
•deacon  in  1792,  becoming  assistant  curate  to 
William  Jesse,  rector  of  Dowles,  near 


Bewdley.  He  remained  at  Dowles  until 
1795,  when,  on  receiving  priest's  orders,  he 
became  i  assistant  minister'  under  Richard 
Cecil  [q.  v.],  the  evangelical  minister  of  St. 
John's  Chapel,  Bedford  Row. 

On  7  Sept.  1797  he  married  and  settled 
at  22  Doughty  Street.  There  he  received 
pupils,  among  them  being  Daniel  Wilson, 
afterwards  bishop  of  Calcutta,  with  whom 
he  maintained  close  intimacy  thenceforth. 
In  1799,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Eclectic  Society, 
which  met  in  the  vestry  of  St.  John's,  Bed- 
ford Row,  he  argued  that  a  periodical  pub- 
lication would  signally  serve  the  interests 
of  religion.  To  give  practical  trial  of  this 
view,  the  first  number  of  the  '  Christian  Ob- 
server '  appeared  in  January  1802  under  his 
editorship.  In  about  six  weeks  he  resigned 
the  editorship  to  Zachary  Macaulay  [q.  v.] 
Pratt  had  also  taken  part  in  those  meetings  of 
the  Eclectic  (18  March  and  12  April  1799) 
at  which  the  Church  Missionary  Society 
was  virtually  founded.  On  8  Dec.  1802  he 
was  elected  secretary  of  the  missionary  society 
in  succession  to  Thomas  Scott  [q.  v.]  He 
filled  the  office,  which  was  the  chief  occupa- 
tion of  his  life,  for  more  than  twenty-one 
years,  and  displayed  a  rare  tact  and  business 
capacity  in  the  performance  of  his  duties. 
From  1813  to  1815  he  travelled  through 
England  successfully  pleading  the  cause  of 
the  society.  He  took  a  leading  part  in  the 
establishment  of  the  seminary  at  Islington  for 
the  training  of  missionaries,  which  was  pro- 
jected in  1822,  and  opened  by  him  in  1825. 
At  last,  on  23  April  1824,  he  resigned  his 
arduous  post  to  Edward  Bickersteth,  assis- 
tant secretary.  He  projected,  and  for  some 
time  conducted,  the  'Missionary  Register/  of 
which  the  first  number  appeared  in  January 
1813. 

Pratt  likewise  helped  to  form  the  British 
and  Foreign  Bible  Society  in  1804 ;  he  was 
one  of  the  original  committee,  and  was  its 
first  church  of  England  secretary,  but  soon 
retired  in  favour  of  John  Owen  (1766-1822) 
[q.  v.]  In  1811  he  was  elected  a  life- governor, 
and  in  1812  he  helped  to  frame  the  rules  for 
the  organisation  of  auxiliary  and  branch 
societies,  and  of  bible  associations. 

In  1804  Pratt  left  Cecil  to  become  lecturer 
at  St.  Mary  Woolnoth,  Lombard  Street, 
where  John  Newton,  another  evangelical 
leader,  whose  health  was  failing,  was  rector. 
Next  year  he  became  Newton's  regular  assis- 
tant curate.  In  1804  he  also  undertook  two 
other  lectureships,  viz.  the  evening  lecture 
at  Spitalfields  Church,  and  Lady  Campden's 
lecture  at  St.  Lawrence  Jewry.  In  1810  he 
was  made  by  Hastings  Wheler,  the  pro- 
prietor, incumbent  of  the  chapel  of  Sir  George 


Pratt 


294 


Pratt 


Wheler,  or  '  Wheler  Chapel,'  in  Spital 
Square,  which  had  been  shut  up  for  some 
time.  For  sixteen  years  he  enjoyed  this 
humble  preferment.  He  established  in  con- 
nection with  it  the  '  Spitalfields  Benevo- 
lent Society,'  and  among  his  congregants 
were  Samuel  Hoare  of  Hampstead,  the 
friend  of  the  Wordsworths,  and  Thomas 
(afterwards  Sir  Thomas)  Fowell  Buxton 
[q.  v.]  The  latter,  with  several  friends,  left, 
at  Pratt's  suggestion,  the  Society  of  Friends, 
and  were  baptised  into  the  church  of  Eng- 
land. 

Pratt's  interest  in  church  affairs  abroad 
was  always  keen.  He  worked  actively  in 
promoting  an  l  ecclesiastical  establishment ' 
in  India,  stimulating  Dr.  Claudius  Buchanan 
to  renew  his  efforts,  and  urging  the  Church 
Missionary  Society  to  give  practical  aid  when 
Dr.  Thomas  Fanshaw  Middleton  [q.  v.]  was 
appointed  bishop  of  Calcutta.  In  1820  Pratt 
corresponded  with  two  American  bishops 
(Drs.  Griswold  and  "White),  and  warmly  wel- 
comed Dr.  Philander  Chase,  bishop  of  Ohio, 
on  his  visit  to  England ;  and  it  was  greatly 
through  his  efforts  that  an  American  mis- 
sionary society  was  established.  He  simi- 
larly took  the  warmest  interest  in  the  mission 
of  his  brother-in-law,  William  Jowett  [q.  v.], 
to  Malta  and  the  Levant,  and  may  be  regarded 
as  founder,  in  conjunction  with  Dr.  Buchanan, 
of  the  Malta  mission. 

In  1826,  when  Pratt  was  fifty-eight,  he  at 
length  became  a  beneficed  clergyman.  The 
parishioners  of  St.  Stephen's,  Coleman  Street, 
who  had  the  privilege  of  electing  their  own 
vicar,  had  chosen  him  their  vicar  as  early  as 
1823.  But  legal  difficulties  arose,  and  were 
not  overcome  for  three  years.  He  retained 
his  lectureship  at  St.  Mary  Woolnoth  until 
1831.  He  established  various  Christian  and 
benevolent  institutions  in  St.  Stephen's 
parish,  did  what  he  could  to  stem  the  pro- 
gress of  the  Oxford  movement,  and  took 
part  in  the  formation  of  the  Church  Pastoral 
Aid  Society.  To  the  last  Pratt  remained  a 
prominent  leader  of  the  evangelicals.  Alex- 
ander Knox  described  a  meeting  with  him 
at  Mrs.  Hannah  More's,  and  called  him  '  a 
serious,  well-bred,  well-informed  gentle- 
man, an  intimate  friend  of  Mrs.  More's  and 
Mr.  Wilberforce's.'  By  the  word  '  serious ' 
Knox  disclaims  meaning  'disconsolate  or 
gloomy '  (Remains,  iv.  68).  Pratt  died  in 
London  on  10  Oct.  1844,  and  was  buried 
in  '  the  vicars'  vault '  in  the  church  of  St. 
Stephen's,  Coleman  Street.  By  his  wife 
Elizabeth,  eldest  daughter  of  John  Jowett 
of  Newington,  he  was  father  of  Josiah,  his 
successor  at  St.  Stephen's ;  and  of  John  Henry 
(see  below). 


In  spite  of  his  many  and  varied  occupa- 
tions, Pratt  found  time  for  literary  work.  In 
1797  he  issued  '  A  Prospectus,  with  Speci- 
mens, of  a  new  Polyglot  Bible  for  the  use  of 
English  Students,'  a  scheme  for  popularising 
the  labours  of  Brian  Walton.  The  '  British 
Critic '  attacked  him  for  presuming  to  tres- 
pass on  that  scholar's  province.  Pratt  pub- 
.ished  a  '  Vindication ; '  but  the  scheme  fell 
hrough.  He  edited  the  works  of  Bishop 
Hall  (10  vols.  1808),  of  Bishop  Hopkins 
4  vols.  1809),  'Cecil's  Remains'  (1810), 
and  Cecil's  *  Works'  (4  vols.  1811).  Among 
iis  other  works  were  *  Propaganda,  being  an 
Abstract  of  the  Designs  and  Proceedings  of 
the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
in  Foreign  Parts,  with  Extracts  from  the 
Annual  Sermons.  By  a  Member  of  the  So- 
ciety,' 1818  ;  '  A  Collection  of  Psalms  and 
Hymns,'  750  in  number,  for  the  use  of  his 
parishioners  in  public  worship,  of  which  no 
less  than  fifty- two  thousand  copies  were  sold ; 
and  another  'Collection' for  private  and  social 
use. 

Pratt's  second  son,  JOHJST  HENRY  PRATT 
(d.  1871),  graduated  B.A.  from  Caius  Col- 
lege, Cambridge,  as  third  wrangler  in  1833 ; 
was  elected  to  a  fellowship  and  proceeded 
M.A.  in  1836  ;  and  was  appointed  a  chap- 
lain of  the  East  India  Company,  through 
the  influence  of  Bishop  Wilson,  in  1838.  He 
became  Wilson's  domestic  chaplain,  and  was 
in  1850  appointed  archdeacon  of  Calcutta. 
He  died  at  Ghazeepore  on  28  Dec.  1871.  At 
the  instance  of  Bishop  Milman,  by  whom  he 
was  held  in  high  esteem,  a  memorial  to  him, 
was  erected  in  Calcutta  Cathedral.  Pratt 
was  the  author  of  '  Mathematical  Principles 
of  Mechanical  Philosophy'  (1836,  8vo),  sub- 
sequently expanded  and  renamed  '  On  At- 
tractions, Laplace's  Functions  and  the  Figure 
of  the  Earth  '  (1860,  1861,  and  1865).  He 
also  published  a  small  work  entitled  '  Scrip- 
ture and  Science  not  at  Variance '  (1856), 
which  went  through  numerous  editions;  and, 
in  1865,  edited  from  his  father's  manuscript 
'  Eclectic  Notes,  or  Notes  of  Discussion  on  Re- 
ligious Topics  at  the  Meetings  of  the  Eclectic 
Society,  London,  during  the  years  1798-18 14; 
(see  Times,  2  and  29  Jan.  1872 ;  ALLIBONE, 
Dictionary;  TODHUNTER,  Analytical  Statics, 
pref.) 

[Memoir  by  Pratt's  sons,  Josiah  and  John 
Henry,  1849;  Funeral  Sermons  on  the  Eev. 
Josiah.  Pratt  by  the  Revs.  E.  Bickersteth,  H. 
Harding,  and  H.  Venn  ;  Christian  Observer  for 
1844  and  1845  ;  Farewell  Charge  of  the  Bishop 
of  Calcutta  (Daniel  Wilson),  1845;  Remains  of 
Alexander  Knox,  vol.  iv.  ;  Overton's  English 
Church  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  1800-1833.] 

J.  H.  0.  ~ 


Pratt 


295 


Pratt 


PRATT,  Sm  ROGER  (1620-1684),  archi- 
tect, baptised  at  Marsworth,  Buckingham- 
shire, on  2  Nov.  1620, was  son  of  Gregory  Pratt 
of  London,  and  afterwards  of  West  Ryston, 
Norfolk,  by  Theodosia,  daughter  of  Sir  Ed- 
ward Tyrell  of  Thornton,  Buckinghamshire, 
and  widow  of  Edmund  West  of  Marsworth. 
He  was  educated  at  Magdalen  College,  Ox- 
ford, matriculating  there  on  12  May  1637, 
and  was  entered  as  a  student  of  the  Inner 
Temple  in  1 640.  He  travelled  in  Italy,  and 
at  Rome  made  acquaintance  with  John 
Evelyn  [q.  v.]  the  diarist,  whose  friend- 
ship he  renewed  in  England.  Pratt  took  to 
architecture,  and  achieved  a  high  reputation 
in  the  profession.  In  August  1666  Evelyn 
records  that  he,  Dr.  (afterwards  Sir  Christo- 
pher) Wren,  Pratt,  May  (the  architect),  and 
others,  went  to  survey  the  fabric  of  St.  Paul's 
Cathedral,  then  in  a  dangerous  condition,  and 
that  Pratt's  views  as  to  the  preservation  of 
the  steeple  were  opposed  to  those  of  Evelyn 
and  Wren.  A  few  days  later  the  cathedral 
perished  in  the  great  fire.  After  the  fire 
Pratt  took  a  considerable  part  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  designs  and  the  actual  rebuilding  of 
the  portion  of  London  then  destroyed.  For 
these  services  he  was  knighted  at  Whitehall 
by  Charles  II  on  18  July  1668.  He  built  a 
magnificent  house  at  Horseheath  in  Cam- 
bridgeshire for  Lord  Alington,  and  also  the 
vast  but  short-lived  palace  known  as  Claren- 
don House,  in  Piccadilly,  for  Edward  Hyde, 
first  earl  of  Clarendon.  Pratt  eventually 
succeeded  to  the  estate  of  West  Ryston 
in  Norfolk,  where  he  died  on  20  Feb. 
1684,  and  was  buried.  His  portrait,  painted 
by  Sir  Peter  Lely,  belonged  in  1866  to 
the  Rev.  Jermyn  Pratt.  He  married  Anne, 
daughter  and  coheiress  of  Sir  Edmond 
Monins,  bart.,  of  Waldershare,  Kent,  who 
married,  secondly,  Sigismond  Trafford  of 
Dunton  Hall,  Tydd  St.  Mary's,  Lincolnshire ; 
she  died  in  1706,  and  was  buried  at  West 
Ryston. 

[Blomefield  and  Parkin's  Hist,  of  Norfolk, 
vii.  395  ;  Le  Neve's  Pedigrees  of  Knights  (Harl. 
Soc.  Publ.) ;  Evelyn's  Diary,  ed.  Wheatley, 
vol.  ii. ;  Wheatley  and  Cunningham's  London 
Past  and  Present ;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.l 

L.  C. 

PRATT  or  PRAT,  SAMUEL  (1659?- 

1723),  dean  of  Rochester,  is  variously  stated 
to  have  been  born  on  2  June  1659  and  on 
22  July  1658.  He  entered  Merchant  Taylors' 
School  on  11  March  1666.  Thence  he  pro- 
bably proceeded  to  Cambridge  ;  but  his  only 
recorded  degree  is  that  of  S.T.P.  per  regias 
literas,  in  1697.  On  10  March  1682  he  be- 
came rector  of  Kenardington,  Kent.  He 


resigned  this  benefice  in  February  1693,  and 
on  23  Nov.  came  into  residence  as  vicar  of  All 
Hallows,  Tottenham  High  Cross.  On  7  April 
1697  he  became  minister  of  the  Savoy  Chapel. 
Pratt  was  also  one  of  the  chaplains  of  the 
Princess  Anne,  and,  on  the  recommendation 
of  Lord  and  Lady  Fitzhardinge,  was  ap- 
pointed sub-preceptor,  under  Bishop  Burnet, 
to  her  son,  the  Duke  of  Gloucester.  On 
27  Nov.  1697  he  was  named  a  canon  of 
Windsor ;  on  8  Aug.  1706  he  was  pro- 
moted dean  of  Rochester  and  clerk  of 
the  closet.  From  15  Aug.  1709  till  July 
1713  he  was  also  vicar  of  Goudhurst  in 
Kent,  and  from  21  Jan.  1712  till  his  death 
vicar  of  Twickenham.  He  died  on  14  Nov. 
1723. 

In  addition  to  many  sermons,  Pratt  pub- 
lished :  1. '  The  regulating  Silver  Coin  made 
practicable  and  easie  to  the  Government  and 
Subj  ect.  Humbly  submitted  to  the  considera- 
tion of  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  by  a  Lover 
of  his  Country,'  1696.  This  was  a  contri- 
bution of  more  curiosity  than  value  to  the 
problem  of  the  restoration  of  the  currency 
undertaken  in  this  year  by  Somers  and  Mon- 
tagu in  conjunction  with  Locke  and  Newton. 
2.  'Grammatica  Latina  in  usum  principis 
juventutis  Britannicae,  cum  notis  necnon 
conjecturis  tarn  veterum  quam  aliorum 
Grammaticorum  . . .  subjunctis,'  1722,  2  vols. 
8vo.  3.  'Ejusdem  Gramma ticse  Compen- 
dium/ 1723,  8vo.  The  grammar  was  se- 
verely criticised  by  Solomon  Lowe  in  his 
1  Proposals '  prefixed  to  his  own  grammar, 
1722. 

The  dean  left  a  son,  Samuel  Pratt,  B.A. 
of  St.  Catharine's  College,  Cambridge,  1710 
(cf.  ATTEEBUEY,  Correspondence,  ed.  Nichols, 
iii.  339-40). 

[Robinson's  Register  of  Merchant  Taylors' 
School,  vol..  i. ;  Grad.  Cantabr. ;  Le  Neve's  Fasti 
Anglic.  Eccles.  ii.  578 ;  Newcourt's  Eepert.  Eccl. 
Lond.  i.  697,  755 ;  Robinson's  Hist,  of  Totten- 
ham, ii.  14,  177;  Wildash's  Hist,  of  Rochester, 
p.  194;  Hasted's  Kent,  iii.  44,  118;  Cobbett's 
Memorials  of  Twickenham,  pp.  113,  212  ;  Loftie's 
Memorials  of  the  Savoy,  pp.  192-3  ;  Hist.  Reg. 
1723  (Chron.  Diary),  p.  52,  which  overesti- 
mates Pratt's  age  ;  Memoirs  of  the  Duke  of 
Gloucester,  by  Jenkyn  Lewis,  ed.  Loftie,  1881 ; 
Sandford's  Genealog.  Hist,  of  Kings  of  England, 
continued  by  Stebbing,  1707,  pp.  861-2  ;  Watt's 
BibL  Brit.  ii.  774 ;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat.] 

G.  LE  G.  N. 

PRATT,  SAMUEL  JACKSON  (1749- 
1814),  miscellaneous  writer,  mainly  under  the 
pseudonym  of  COUETNEY  MELMOTH,  was 
born  at  St.  Ives,  Huntingdonshire,  on  25  Dec. 
1749.  He  was  the  son  of  a  brewer  in 
that  town  who  twice  served  as  high  sheriff 


Pratt 


296 


Pratt 


of  his  county,  and  apparently  died  in  1773 
(Gent.  Mag.  1773,  p.  154).  His  mother 
was  a  niece  of  Sir  Thomas  Drury.  He 
was  educated  in  part  at  Felsted  school 
in  Essex,  is  said  to  have  been  for  some 
time  under  the  private  tuition  of  Hawkes- 
worth,  and  was  ordained  in  the  English 
church.  His  poem  of  the  l  Partridges,  an 
Elegy,'  a  piece  often  included  in  popular 
collections  of  poetry,  was  printed  in  the 
•Annual  Register'  for  1771  (p.  241)  as  by 
the  '  Rev.  Mr.  Pratt  of  Peterborough/  and 
he  is  described  as  '  an  esteemed  and  popular 
preacher '  {Beauties  of  England,  Hunts,  p. 
485*).  At  an  early  age  he  was  entangled 
in  a  love  affair  of  which  his  parents  disap- 
proved, and  the  family  property  was  much 
impaired  by  constant  dissensions  and  litiga- 
tion. He  soon  abandoned  his  clerical  pro- 
fession, and  in  1773  appeared,  under  the  name 
of  '  Courtney  Melmoth,'  on  the  boards  of  the 
theatre  in  Smock  Alley,  Dublin,  taking  the 
part  of  Marc  Antony  in  ;  All  for  Love.'  He 
was  '  tall  and  genteel,  his  deportment  easy,' 
but  his  action  wanted  force,  and  his  success 
was  not  great.  At  the  end  of  the  season 
he  took  a  company  to  Drogheda,  but  after 
three  months'  ill-success  the  theatre  was 
closed  (HTTCHCOCK,  Irish  Stage,  ii.  229-31). 
Inl774he  assumed  at  Covent  Garden  Theatre 
the  parts  of  Hamlet  and  Philaster,  again  with- 
out success,  and  he  also  appeared  as  a  reciter 
(cf.  TAYLOR,  Records  of  my  Life,  i.  45-6). 
His  failure  as  an  actor  was  perhaps  due,  says 
Taylor,  to  his  walk, '  a  kind  of  airy  swing  that 
rendered  his  acting  at  times  rather  ludicrous.' 
Subsequently  he  and  'Mrs.  Melmoth'  tra- 
velled about  the  country  telling  fortunes,  and 
they  resorted  to  various  other  expedients  to 
gain  a  livelihood. 

From  1.774,  when  he  published  verses  de- 
ploring the  death  of  Goldsmith,  Pratt  de- 
pended largely  upon  his  pen  for  support. 
At  first  he  generally  wrote  under  the  pseu- 
donym of '  Courtney  Melmoth.'  About  1776 
he  was  at  Bath,  in  partnership  with  a  book- 
seller called  Clinch,  in  the  old-established 
library,  subsequently  known  as  'Godwin's 
library,'  at  the  north-west  corner  of  Mil- 
som  Street.  On  Clinch's  death  Pratt's  name 
remained  as  a  nominal  partner  in  the  busi- 
ness under  the  style  of  Pratt  &  Marshall,  but 
after  a  few  years  he  quitted  Bath  for  London. 
Several  plays  by  him  were  produced  at  Drury 
Lane,  and  he  became  intimately  acquainted 
with  Potter,  the  translator  of  J^schylus,  the 
elder  Colman,  Beattie,  and  Dr.  Wolcot.  His 
popular  poem  of '  Sympathy '  was  first  handed 
to  Cadell,  the  publisher,  by  Gibbon  the  his- 
torian. Pratt  travelled  at  home  and  abroad  ; 
in  1802  he  was  at  Birmingham,  making  de- 


tailed inquiry  into  its  manufactures  and  the 
lives  of  its  artisans.  He  was  there  again  early 
in  1814,  and,  after  a  long  illness,  caused  by 
a  fall  from  his  horse,  he  died  at  Colmore  Row, 
Birmingham,  on  4  Oct.  1814.  Pratt  possessed 
considerable  talents,  but  his  necessities  left 
him  little  time  for  reflection  or  revision.  Some 
severe  lines  on  his  poetry  and  prose  were  in 
the  original  manuscript  of  Byron's  <  English 
Bards  and  Scotch  Reviewers,'  but  they  were 
omitted  from  publication.  Pratt's  wife  died 
at  the  end  of  1805,  after  a  long  separation 
from  her  husband,  for  whom,  however,  she 
had  retained  feelings  of  '  cordial  and  con- 
fidential amity'  (The  Friendships  of  Miss 
Mitford,  i.  34-5).  A  mezzotint  engraving 
of  Pratt's  portrait  by  J.  J.  Masquerier 
was  published  in  1802;  another  portrait, 
by  Lawrence,  was  engraved  by  Caroline 
Watson. 

Pratt's  voluminous  works  comprised  : 
1.  *  The  Tears  of  Genius,  on  the  Death  of  Dr. 
Goldsmith.  By  Courtney  Melmoth,'  1774 ; 
written  a  few  hours  after  Goldsmith's  death, 
and  containing  imitations  of  him  and  other 
popular  authors.  2.  '  The  Progress  of 
Painting.  A  Poem,'  1775 ;  attributed  to 
him  by  Reuss.  3.  *  Liberal  Opinions  upon 
Animals,  Man,  and  Providence,'  vol.  i.  and 
ii.  1775,  iii.  and  iv.  1776,  v.  and  vi.  1777 ; 
2nd  ed.  1777  ;  new  ed.  1783.  These  volumes 
contained  essays  and  elegies,  but  were 
mainly  occupied  with  the  adventures  of 
Benignus,  believed  to  have  been  in  some  re- 
spects an  autobiography.  4 .  '  The  Pupil  of 
Pleasure,'  inscribed  to  Mrs.  Eugenia  Stan- 
hope, 1776,  2  vols. ;  2nd  ed.  1777 ;  new 
ed.  1783.  Translated  into  French  by 
Lemierre  d'Argy  at  Paris,  1787,  and  into 
German  in  1790.  It  was  written  to  illus- 
trate the  ill-effects  of  the  advice  of  Chester- 
field ;  its  licentious  tone  evoked  a  printed 
letter  of  remonstrance  from  '  Euphrasia  ' 
in  1777.  5.  t  Observations  on  the  "  Night 
Thoughts  "  of  Dr.  Young,'  1776.  6.  *  Travels 
for  the  Heart,'  written  in  France,  1777, 

2  vols.  ;  an  imitation  of  Sterne.     A  trans- 
lation  was  published   at  Leipzig   in  1778. 

7.  '  The  sublime  and  beautiful  of  Scripture,' 
1777,  2  vols. ;  new  ed.  1783;  several  of  these 
essays  were  delivered  in  public  at  Edinburgh. 

8.  l  An  Apology  for  the  Life  and  Writings  of 
David  Hume '  (anon.),  1777.  9. '  Supplement 
to  the  Life  of  David  Hume '  (anon.),  1777  ; 
new  ed.  1789,  also  issued  as  *  Curious  Par- 
ticulars and  Genuine  Anecdotes  respecting 
Lord  Chesterfield  and  David  Hume '  (anon.), 
1788 ;   these   tracts   were    satirised    in   '  A 
Panegyrical  Essay  on  the  present  Times  ' 
(1777).     10.  '  Tutor  of  Truth '  (anon.),  1779, 

3  vols.  (cf.  Notes  and  Queries,  5th  ser.  ix. 


Pratt 


297 


Pratt 


139).  11.  'Shadows  of  Shakespeare,  a 
Monody  on  Death  of  Garrick.  A  Prize- 
Poem  for  the  Vase  at  Bath-Easton,'  1779. 
12.  '  Shenstone  Green,  or  the  New  Paradise 
Lost,'  1779,  3  vols. ;  translated  at  Mann- 
heim in  1780;  a  dull  novel.  13.  'Emma 
Corbett,  or  the  Miseries  of  Civil  War. 
Founded  on  some  Events  in  America' 
(anon.),  1780  ;  4th  ed.  1785  ;  9th  ed.  1789. 
It  was  translated  into  French  by  J.  N. 
Jouin  de  Sauseuil,  in  1783,  and  by  another 
hand  in  1789.  14.  *  Landscapes  in  Verse, 
taken  in  Spring '  (anon.),  1785.  15.  '  Mis- 
cellanies. By  Mr.  Pratt,'  1785,  4  vols.  The 
first  work  on  which  his  name  appears. 

16.  '  Triumph  of  Benevolence.     A  Poem  on 
Design    of  erecting  a    Monument  to   John 
Howard '  (anon.),  1786  ;    several   editions. 

17.  *  Humanity,  or  the  Rights  of  Nature ' 
(anon.),    1788.      18.    'Sympathy,  a   Poem' 
(anon.),  1788  ;  4th  ed.  corrected  and  much 
enlarged,  1788.  Many  of  the  descriptions  were 
drawn  from  the  '  summer  retreat '  of  the  Rev. 
T.  S.  Whalley  at  Langford  Court,  Somerset ; 
the  poem,  which  was  marked  by  '  feeling, 
energy,  and  beauty,'  is  said  to  have  been  cor- 
rected to  the  extent,  of  one  hundred  lines,  by 
the  Rev.  Richard  Graves  [q.  v.]  (cf.  POL- 
WHELE,  Traditions,  i.  132).    It  was  reprinted 
so  late  as  1807.     19.  '  Ode  on  his  Majesty's 
Recovery,'  1789.     20.    'Gleanings  through 
Wales,  Holland,   and   Westphalia.      With 
Humanity,   a  Poem/   1795-9,  4  vols.,  the 
fourth  being  called  '  Gleanings  in  England,' 
and  devoted  to  the  county  of  Norfolk.  A  Ger- 
man translation  came  out  at  Leipzig  in  1800. 
The  last  volume  was  reissued  in  1801  with 
a  second  volume,  and  was  called  '  Gleanings 
in  England,'  2nd  ed. ;  a  3rd  edition  appeared 
in  1801-4.    It  is  described  by  Charles  Lamb 
as  '  a  wretched  assortment  of  vapid  feelings ' 
(Letters,  ed.  Ainger,  i.  97),  but  Pratt's  ob- 
servations were  '  lively  enough '  to  interest 
the  present  Lord  Iddesleigh,  who  described 
them  in  '  Blackwood's  Magazine,'  January 
1895,    pp.    121-5.       20.    Family    Secrets,' 
1797,   5   vols. ;    2nd    ed.    1798 ;   translated 
into  French  by  Madame  Mary  Gay-Allart. 
21.  '  Letter  to  the  "  Tars  "  of  Old  England,' 
1797 ;  this  went  through  six  editions  in  a 
few  weeks.      22.    'Letter  to    the    British 
Soldiers,'  1797.      23.  '  Our  good  old  Castle 
on  the  Rock,'  1797.  24.  'Cottage-pictures,  or 
the  Poor,   a  Poem,'   1801;    3rd    ed.    1803. 
25.  '  John  and  Dame,  or  the  loyal  Cottagers, 
a  Poem,'  1803.     This  passed  through  many 
editions.     26.    '  Harvest  Home,   consisting 
of  supplementary  Gleanings,'  1805,  3  vols. 
The  iirst  volume  is  mainly  composed  of  de- 
scriptions of  Hampshire,   Dorset,  Birming- 
ham ;  in  the  second  are  reprinted  three  of 


Pratt's  plays,  and  the  third  consists  of  poems 
by  himself  and  others.  27.  '  The  Contrast, 
a  Poem,  with  comparative  Views  of  Britain, 
Spain,  and  France,'  1808.  28.  '  The  Lower 
World,  a  Poem,'  1810 ;  arguing  for  kind- 
ness to  animals.  29.  'A  brief  Account  of 
Leamington  Spa  Charity,  with  the  Rides, 
Walks,  &c.'  (anon.),  1812;  subsequently 
enlarged  as  30.  'Local  and  Literary  Ac- 
count of  Leamington,  Warwick,  &c.  By 
Mr.  Pratt,'  1814. 

Pratt's  plays  were :  31.  '  Joseph  Andrews,' 
a  farce  acted  at  Drury  Lane  for  Bens- 
ley's  benefit,  20  April  1778,  unpublished. 

32.  '  The  Fair  Circassian,'  a  tragedy  founded 
on  Hawkesworth's  novel  of  '  Almoran  and 
Hamet ; '  it  was  produced  with  success  at 
Drury  Lane  on  27  Nov.  1781,  the  heroine 
being  Miss  Farren,  afterwards  Countess  of 
Derby,  and  passed  through  three  editions  in 
1781  (GENEST,  Historical  Account,  vi.  214). 

33.  'School  for  Vanity,'  a  comedy,  1785.    It 
was  brought  out  at  Drury  Lane  in  1783,  but 
failed  through  the  great  number  of  letters 
passing  between  the  several  characters  (TAY- 
LOK,  Records  of  my  Life,  i.  45).     34.  '  The 
new  Cosmetic,  or  the  Triumph  of  Beauty,'  a 
comedy,  1790.      Three  plays  by  him  were 
included  in  the  second  volume  of  his  '  Har- 
vest  Home,'  and  three   more  were  neither 
acted   nor  published  (BAZEK,  Biogr.  Dra- 
matical). 

Pratt  published  in  1808,  in  six  volumes, 
'  The  Cabinet  of  Poetry,'  containing  selec- 
tions from  the  Poets,  from  Milton  to  Beattie, 
and  short  notices  of  their  lives.  He  edited 
'Specimens  of  the  Poetry  of  Joseph  Blacket' 
(1809),  and  'The  Remains  of  Joseph 
Blacket '  (1811),  2  vols.  Byron  made  sar- 
castic allusions  to  his  patronage  of  Blacket 
(MooEE,  Byron,  ii.  53-4).  In  conjunction 
with  Dr.  Mavor,  he  formed  a  collection  of 
'  Classical  English  Poetry,'  which  ran  into 
many  editions.  A  .selection  from  his  own 
works,  nominally  by  a  lady,  first  appeared 
in  1798,  and  was  reissued  down  to  1816.  It 
was  entitled  '  Pity's  Gift,'  and  was  followed 
in  1802  by  the  sequel,  '  A  Paternal  Present,' 
the  third  edition  of  which  came  out  in  1817. 
A  translation  of  Goethe's  'Werter'  (1809 
and  1823)  '  by  Dr.  Pratt 'is  sometimes  attri- 
buted to  him.  Lines  by  him,  stigmatised 
by  Charles  Lamb  as  '  a  farrago  of  false 
thoughts  and  nonsense,'  and  chosen  in  pre- 
ference to  a  longer  epitaph  by  Burke,  were 
engraved  on  the  monument  to  Garrick  which 
was  erected  in  1797  in  Westminster  Abbey. 

[G-ent.  Mag.  1814  pt.  ii.  pp.  398-9;  Notes 
and  Queries,  6th  ser.  vi.  212;  Biogr.  Universelle, 
xxxvi.  13-15;  Monkland's  Bath  Literature, 
supplement,  pp.  12-13;  Byron's  Life,  ii.  209; 


Pratt 


298 


Prence 


Byron's  Works,  ed.  1832,  vii.  244;  Taylor's 
Eecordsfof  my  Life,  i.  38-47;  Bath  Book- 
sellers, by  E.  E.  M.  Peach,  in  Bath  Herald 
15  Dec.  1894  ;  Monthly  Mirror,  xv.  363-6.1 

W.  P.  C. 

PRATT,  Sm  THOMAS  SIMSON  (1797- 
1879),  commander  of  the  forces  in  Australia, 
born  in  1797,  was  son  of  Captain  James  Pratt, 
by  Anne,  daughter  of  William  Simson,  and 
was  educated  at  St.  Andrews  University. 
He  was  gazetted  to  an  ensigncy  in  the  26th 
foot  on  2  Feb.  1814,  and  served  in  Holland 
in  the  same  year  as  a  volunteer  with  the 
56th  foot.  He  was  present  at  the  attack  on 
Merxem  on  2  Feb.  and  the  subsequent  bom- 
bardment of  Antwerp.  He  purchased  his  cap- 
taincy on  17  Sept.  1825.  He  was  with  the 
26th  foot  in  the  China  expedition,  and  com- 
manded the  land  forces  at  the  assault  and 
capture  of  the  forts  of  Chuenpee  on  7  Jan. 
1841,  and  again  at  the  capture  of  the  Bogue 
forts  on  26  Feb.  In  the  attacks  on  Canton, 
from  24  May  to  1  June,  he  was  in  command 
of  his  regiment,  and  was  present  also  at  the  de- 
monstration before  Nankin,  and  at  the  signing 
of  the  treaty  of  peace  on  board  II. M.S.  Corn- 
wallis.  On  28  Aug.  1841  he  was  gazetted 
lieutenant-colonel,  and  from  5  Sept.  1843  to 
23  Oct.  1855  was  deputy  adjutant-general  at 
Madras. 

From  1856  to  1861  he  was  in  command  of 
the  forces  in  Australia,  with  the  rank  of 
major-general.  During  1860-1  he  was  in  New 
Zealand,  conducting  the  war  against  the 
Maoris.  From  8  Jan.  1860  to  May  1862  he 
commanded  the  forces  in  Victoria,  and  was 
then  appointed  to  the  colonelcy  of  the  37th 
regiment.  In  October  1877  he  retired  from 
active  service.  He  was  made  a  C.B.  on 
14  Oct.  1841,  and,  for  services  in  New  Zea- 
land, promoted  to  K.C.B.  on  16  July  1861, 
being  publicly  invested  with  the  ribbon  and 
badge  by  Sir  Henry  Barkly,  governor  of  Vic- 
toria, on  15  April  1862.  This  was  the  first 
ceremony  of  the  kind  performed  in  Australia. 
He  was  advanced  to  the  rank  of  general  on 
26  May  1873,  and  died  in  England  on  2  Feb. 
1879.  He  married,  in  1827,  Frances  Agnes, 
second  daughter  of  John  S.  Cooper. 

[Hart's  Annual  Army  List,  1872,  pp.  8,  281  ; 
Times,  6  Feb.  1879,  p.  10.]  G-.  C.  B. 

PRATTEN,  ROBERT  SIDNEY  (1824- 
1868),  flautist,  second  son  of  a  professor  of 
music  who  was  for  many  years  flautist  at 
the  Bristol  theatre,  was  born  at  Bristol  on 
23  Jan.  1824 ;  his  mother's  maiden  name  was 
Sidney.  On  25  March  1835,  at  Clifton,  Pratten 
made  an  early  debut,  playing  Nicholson's  ar- 
rangement of  '  0  dolce  concento.'  After  an 
engagement  as  first  flute  at  the  Dublin  Theatre 


Royal,  he  came  in  1846  to  London.  The 
Duke  of  Cambridge  and  others  were  inte- 
rested in  his  talent,  and  he  was  sent  to 
Germany  to  study  composition.  Pratten's 
popular  piece  for  flute,  '  L'Esperance,'  was 
published  at  Leipzig,  1847.  Upon  his  return 
to  London  in  1848  Pratten  soon  rose  to  the 
front  rank  of  his  art.  He  played  first  flute 
at  the  Royal  Italian  Opera,  English  Opera, 
the  Sacred  Harmonic,  Philharmonic,  and 
other  concerts  and  musical  festivals.  His 
tone  was  powerful,  his  execution  brilliant. 
He  wrote  instruction  books  for  his  instru- 
ment, special  studies  for  Siccama's  diatonic 
flute,  1848,  and  for  his  own  perfected  flute, 
1856,  a  Concertstiick,  1852,  and  many  ar- 
rangements of  operatic  airs.  He  died,  aged  44, 
at  Ramsgate,  on  10  Feb.  1868.  His  younger 
brother,  Frederick  Sidney  Pratten,  contra- 
bassist,  died  in  London  on  3  March  1873. 

Pratten  married,  on  24  Sept.  1854,  Cathe- 
rina  Josepha  Pelzer,  guitarist,  born  at  Miil-r 
heim-on-the-Rhine.  She  made  her  reputa- 
tion as  a  child  artist  in  Germany,  and  in  her 
ninth  year  appeared  at  the  King's  Theatre, 
London.  Madame  Pratten  eventually  settled 
in  London  as  a  teacher  of  the  guitar,  for 
which  she  composed  a  number  of  pieces. 
She  died  on  10  Oct.  1895. 

[Bristol  Mirror,  28  March  1835  ;  Musical 
World,  1868,  pp.  108,  125;  Athenaeum,  1868,  i; 
331 ;  Brown's  Diet,  of  Musicians,  p.  483  ;  Musical 
Directory,  1868.  p.  xiii ;  Grove's  Diet,  of  Music, 
iii.  27;  Daily  News,  16  Oct.  1895;  Pratten's 
Works.]  L.  M.  M. 

PRENCE,  THOMAS  (1600-1673),  gover- 
nor of  Massachusetts,  whose  name  is  also 
written  Prince,  but  not  by  himself,  was 
born  in  1600  at  Lechlade  in  Gloucestershire, 
where  his  family  had  been  settled  for  some 
generations.  His  father  was  a  puritan,  and 
emigrated  to  Leyden  while  Thomas  was  still 
young.  In  November  1621  Thomas  arrived 
at  New  Plymouth,  with  several  distinguished 
colonists,  in  either  the  Fortune  or  the  Anne. 
He  brought  a  considerable  fortune  with  him, 
and  rapidly  became  a  prominent  citizen, 
though  he  always  had  a  distaste  for  public 
office. 

Having  become  a  member  of  the  court 
of  assistants,  Prence  was  elected  to  succeed 
Winslow  as  governor  of  Massachusetts  in 
1634,  but  resigned  in  the  following  year 
on  removing  his  residence  to  Duxbury.  In 
1637  he  did  good  service  to  the  state  in 
raising  a  corps  to  assist  Connecticut  against 
the  Pecquot  Indians,  and  in  1638  was  urged 
to  become  governor  again ;  he  reluctantly 
consented,  making  it  a  condition  that  the 
law  requiring  residence  at  New  Plymouth 
should  be  relaxed  in  his  favour.  At  the 


Prendergast 


299 


Prendergast 


end  of  the  year  he  retired,  but  devoted 
himself  to  promoting  the  welfare  of  the 
colony.  In  1641  the  first  barque  ever  con- 
structed in  New  Plymouth  was  turned  out 
under  his  guidance.  In  1643  he  and  others 
obtained  a  grant  and  founded  a  new  settle- 
ment at  Nansett  or  Easthams.  In  1650  he 
established  the  Cape  Cod  fisheries.  In  1654 
he  was  authorised  by  the  court  of  assistants 
to  constitute  a  new  government  in  the  settle- 
ment at  Kennebec. 

In  1657,  on  the  death  of  Bradford,  Prence 
was  again  chosen  governor,  and  so  remained 
till  his  death,  through  a  period  troubled  by 
wars  with  the  Indians  and  internal  quarrels 
with  the  quakers.  Besides  being  governor,  he 
was  at  one  time  treasurer,  and  on  various 
occasions  a  commissioner,  for  the  united 
colonies.  But  his  great  work  was  the  ap- 
propriation, despite  much  opposition,  of 
public  revenue  to  the  support  of  grammar 
schools.  He  governed  the  colony  with 
firmness  and  prudence  ;  he  was  credited  with 
energy  and  sound  judgment;  his  integrity 
was  proverbial  and  his  religious  zeal  great. 

In  1665  Prence  changed  his  residence 
from  Eastham  to  New  Plymouth,  where  he 
died  011  29  March  1673. 

He  married,  first,  in  1625,  Patience  (d. 
1634),  daughter  of  Elder  Brewster ;  and, 
secondly,  in  1635,  Mary,  daughter  of  William 
Collier,  who  survived  him.  He  left  no  male 
descendants. 

[Collections  of  Massachusetts  Historical  So- 
ciety ;  Morton's  Annals  of  New  England.] 

C.  A.  H. 

PRENDERGAST,    JOHN  PATRICK 

(1808-1893),  historian,  born  on  7  March 
1808,  at  37  Dawson  Street,  Dublin,  was 
eldest  son  of  Francis  Prendergast  (1768- 
1846),  registrar  of  the  court  of  chancery,  Ire- 
land, by  Esther  (1774-1846),  eldest  daughter 
of  John  Patrick,  of  27  Palace  Row,  Dublin. 
Prendergast  derived  his  lineage  from  Maurice 
de  Prendergast,  a  companion  of  Strongbow, 
under  Robert  Fitzstephen.  Educated  at 
Reading  school  under  Dr.  Valpy,  he  graduated 
at  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  in  1825,  and  was 
called  to  the  Irish  bar  in  1830.  In  1836  he 
succeeded  his  father  and  grandfather  in  the 
agency  of  Lord  Clifden's  estates,  which  he 
administered  for  many  years.  The  knowledge 
and  experience  gained  in  this  practical  work 
made  him  an  advocate  of  tenant  right  and  a 
sympathiser  with  the  schemes  of  the  early 
land  reformers  in  Ireland.  In  1840  Prender- 
gast was  commissioned  to  make  some  pedi- 
gree researches  in  the  county  of  Tipperary, 
and  this  led  to  a  study  of  the  settlement  of 
Ireland  at  the  restoration  of  Charles  II, 


and  also  of  the  Cromwellian  settlement. 
His  researches  culminated  in  the  publica- 
tion of  'The  History  of  the  Cromwellian 
Settlement  of  Ireland'  in  1863  (2nd  edit. 
1875).  In  1864  he  was  appointed  by  Lord 
Romilly  a  commissioner,  in  conjunction  with 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Russell,  president  of  May- 
nooth  College,  for  selecting  official  papers 
relating  to  Ireland  for  transcription  from 
the  Carte  manuscripts  in  the  Bodleian  Li- 
brary, Oxford.  The  report  of  the  commis- 
sioners was  published  in  1871.  Russell  and 
Prendergast  continued  to  calendar  these 
state  papers  until  1877,  when  Russell  died. 
Prendergast  continued  the  work  until  1880. 
In  1868  he  issued  for  private  circulation 
'The  Tory  War  in  Ulster'  (Dublin,  2  pts.) 
In  1881  he  prefixed  a  notice  of  the  life  of 
Charles  Haliday  to  the  latter's '  Scandinavian 
Kingdom  of  Dublin/  and  in  1887  he  pub- 
lished 'Ireland  from  the  Restoration  to  the 
Revolution.' 

Although  his  chief  historical  work  was  con- 
nected with  the  seventeenth  century,  Pren- 
dergast was  also  an  authority  on  Irish  pedi- 
grees and  archaeology,  contributing,  among 
other  papers,  to  the  old  Kilkenny  Archaeo- 
logical Society's  '  Journal '  *  The  Plantation 
of  Idrone  by  Sir  Peter  Carew.'  In  articles 
published  anonymously  in  the  Dublin  press 
(1884-90)  he  communicated  a  vast  amount  of 
local  knowledge  concerning  the  old  houses 
of  Dublin.  In  politics  he  was  a  liberal, 
with  a  strong  tinge  of  Nationalist  feeling  of 
the  days  of  O'Connell.  He  contributed  to 
the  old  ' Nation'  newspaper,  and  replied 
therein  in  1872-4  to  Froude's  lectures  in 
America  on  Irish  history.  He  thus  gained 
the  reputation  of  being  a  strong  nationalist, 
but  he  was  never  a  home-ruler,  and  from 
1878  he  was  a  violent  opponent  of  Parnell's 
general  policy.  Among  his  numerous  pam- 
phlets was  one  on  the  viceroyalty  of  Ireland, 
whichhe  upheld.  His  manuscript  collections 
concerning  the  Cromwellian  restoration  and 
revolution  settlements  of  Ireland,  consist- 
ing of  many  volumes,  he  bequeathed  to  the 
King's  Inn,  Dublin,  together  with  other 
manuscripts,  all  bearing  on  the  historical 
and  political  subjects  in  which  he  took  most 
interest. 

Prendergast  was  a  brilliant  talker,  full  of 
anecdote  and  reminiscence,  both  professional 
and  political.  He  died  in  Dublin  on  6  Feb. 
1893.  He  married,  on  1  Sept.  1838,  Ca- 
roline, second  daughter  of  George  Ensor 
of  Ardress,  co.  Armagh,  and  left  one  son, 
Francis,  who  is  a  naturalised  American 
settled  in  California. 

[Private  information;  papers  bequeathed  to 
the  writer.]  P.  H.  B. 


Prendergast 


300 


Prendergast 


PRENDERGAST  or  PENDERGRASS, 
SIK  THOMAS  (1660P-1709),  son  of  Thomas 
Prendergast,  of  an  ancient  family  resident  at 
Newcastle,  co.  Tipperary,  by  his  wife  Eleanor, 
daughter  of  David  Condon,  was  born  at 
Croane,  probably  about  1660.  His  family 
had  suffered  much  at  the  hands  of  Cromwell, 
and  Sir  Thomas  was  subsequently  described 
by  Swift  as  the  son  of  a  cottager  who  nar- 
rowly escaped  the  gallows  for  stealing  cows. 
Nothing  is  known  of  his  early  life  beyond  the 
fact  that  he  was  a  staunch  Roman  catholic 
and  a  Jacobite,  who  stood  high  in  the  estima- 
tion of  his  friends  as  a  man  of  honour  and 
ability. 

In  January  1696  Sir  George  Barclay  [q.  v.] 
landed  at  Romney  in  possession  of  a  defi- 
nite scheme  for  the  assassination  of  Wil- 
liam III,  and  on  Thursday,  13  Feb.,  Pren- 
dergast was  summoned  from  Hampshire  by 
George  Porter  [q.  v.],  Barclay's  chief  con- 
federate, to  lend  his  aid  upon  the  following 
Saturday,  when  it  was  resolved  to  stop  the 
king's  coach  at  Turnham  Green.  The  con- 
federates numbered  about  forty,  and  one  of 
them,  named  Fisher,  had  already  given  in- 
formation respecting  the  conspiracy;  but  the 
king  had  paid  no  attention  to  his  statement, 
thinking  that  it  was  too  indefinite,  and  was 
moreover  part  of  a  settled  policy  to  try  and 
intimidate  him.  On  Friday  night  Prender- 
gast went  to  the  Earl  of  Portland  at  White- 
hall, independently  confirmed  all  that  Fisher 
had  said,  and  gave  so  clear  an  account  of  the 
project  as  to  convince  William  of  its  reality. 
The  spies  whom  the  conspirators  kept  at 
Kensington  reported  next  morning  that  the 
king  did  not  intend  to  drive  to  Richmond 
that  day.  Barclay's  followers  were  not  dis- 
couraged, for  no  arrests  were  made,  and  the 
accomplishment  of  the  design  was  postponed 
until  the  following  Saturday.  Before  that 
date  a  third  informer,  De  la  Rue,  had  pre- 
sented himself  at  the  palace ;  but  William 
was  specially  desirous  to  get  a  confession 
from  Prendergast,  of  whose  probity  he  had 
been  convinced.  Accordingly  on  the  night 
of  Friday,  21  Feb.,  Prendergast  was  with  due 
precaution  summoned  to  the  royal  closet  at 
Kensington ;  he  there  repeated  his  story  to 
the  king,  in  the  presence  of  Cutts  and  Port- 
land, and,  after  much  entreaty,  wrote  down 
the  names  of  the  chief  conspirators.  The 
next  day  he  attended  the  rendezvous  of  his 
associates  at  the  lodgings  of  his  friend,  Cap- 
tain Porter.  The  latter  entrusted  to  him  a 
musquetoon  loaded  with  eight  balls,  and  he 
was  detailed  with  seven  others  to  do  the 
deed  while  the  remainder  kept  the  guards  in 
play.  But  news  received  from  Kensington 
caused  the  conspirators  hastily  to  disperse, 


and  in  a  few  hours'  time  most  of  the  leaders 
were  in  custody.  Prendergast  himself  was 
not  arrested  until  29  Feb.  He  had  obtained 
the  royal  word  that  he  should  not  be  a  witness 
without  his  own  consent,  and  he  was  deter- 
mined not  to  be  a  witness  unless  he  were 
assured  of  the  safety  of  Porter,  to  whom  he 
was  under  heavy  obligation.  His  scruples 
were  removed  by  Porter  himself  turning  king's 
evidence,  and  he  finally  gave  evidence  against 
all  the  chief  conspirators.  His  testimony 
carried  greater  weight  than  that  of  any  of 
the  other  informers,  and  was  material  in  pro- 
curing the  conviction  of  Charnock,  King, 
Keyes,  Friend,  and  Parkyns.  He  was  re- 
leased in  April,  and  soon  received  some  signal 
marks  of  royal  favour.  On  5  May  he  received 
3,000/.  from  the  treasury,  and  a  grant  of  land 
worth  500/.  a  year  out  of  the  forfeited  estate 
of  the  Earl  of  Barrymore  (LODGE,  Irish 
Peerage,  i.  294).  He  had  several  audiences 
with  the  king,  by  whom  he  was  on  3  June 
1699  created  a  baronet,  and  his  estate  was 
untouched  by  the  Resumption  Bill  of  1700. 
He  entered  the  army,  and  in  June  1707  was 
created  a  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  5th  regi- 
ment of  foot,  in  succession  to  Lord  Orrery. 
In  the  following  April  his  regiment  was 
ordered  to  Holland,  and  he  was  subsequently 
quartered  at  Oudenarde.  He  was  promoted 
brigadier-general  on  I  Jan.  1709,  took  a  pro- 
minent part  in  the  battle  of  Malplaquet  on 
11  Sept.  1709,  and  was  mortally  wounded 
while  bravely  leading  his  regiment  to  the 
assault  of  the  French  troops  entrenched  in 
the  wood  of  Blaregnies.  His  death  was  re- 
corded in  the  brief  French  despatch  as  that 
of  *le  brigadier  Pindergratte '  (Memoires 
Milit.  relatifs  a  la  succession  d'Espagne,  1855, 
ix.  370). 

Prendergast  married,  in  1697,  Penelope, 
only  daughter  of  Henry  Cadogan,  and  sister 
of  William,  first  earl  Cadogan  [q.  v.]  This 
match,  in  conjunction  with  the  favour  of 
William  III,  enabled  him  to  lay  the  for- 
tunes of  his  family  upon  a  sure  foundation. 
He  became  in  1703  M.P.  for  Monaghan,  and 
in  the  same  year  he  repurchased  Mullough 
and  Croane  from  the  commissioners  of  for- 
feited estates.  He  was  succeeded  in  the  baro- 
netcy by  his  eldest  son,  Thomas,  who  adopted 
the  protestant  religion,  became  M.P.  for 
Chichester  and  Clonmel,  and  was  appointed 
postmaster-general  of  Ireland.  His  anti-cle- 
rical propensities  made  him  an  object  of 
special  detestation  to  Dean  Swift,  who  wrote 
of  him  in  1733  as  '  Noisy  Tom,'  and  '  spawn 
of  him  who  shamed  our  isle,  traitor,  assassin, 
and  informer  vile'  (cf.  an  ironical  Full  and 
True  Vindication  of  Sir  T.  P.,  by  a  member 
of  the  House  of  Commons).  Swift  attacked 


Prendergast 


301 


Prentice 


both,  father  and  son  again,  in  terms  of  the 
coarsest  vituperation,  in  '  The  Legion  Club ' 
(1736).  The  second  baronet  died  without 
issue  on  23  Sept.  1760,  and  was  succeeded 
by  his  nephew,  John  Prendergast,  who  was 
in  1816  created  first  Viscount  Gort. 

[Luttrell's  Brief  Historical  Relation,  vols.  v. 
and  vi.  passim ;  MacPherson's  Original  Papers, 
i.  542  ;  Tindal's  Contin.  of  Kapin,  1744,  iii.  317- 
320 ;  Oldmixon's  Hist,  of  England  under  Wil- 
liam and  Mary;  Burnet's  Hist,  of  his  Own  Time ; 
Boyer's  Hist,  of  William  III,  p.  483 ;  Black- 
more 's  Hist,  of  the  Plot  in  1695,  pp.  50-5  ;  Hist, 
de  la  derniere  Conspiration  d'Angleterre,  1696; 
Howell's  State  Trials,  vol.  xiii. ;  Ranke's  Hist, 
of  England,  v.  116;  Wilson's  Duke  of  Berwick 
and  James  II;  Swift's  Works,  xii.  447,  459; 
Beatson's  Political  Index,  ii.  148;  Wilkins's 
Political  Ballads,  ii.  52;  Monck  Mason's  History 
of  St.  Patrick's,  1820;  Macaulay's  Hist.  1887,  ii. 
562 seq. ;  Marlborough's  Despatches,  ed.  Murray; 
Burke's  Peerage,  s.v.  Gort.  The  identification 
of  the  baronet  with  the  informer  is  rendered 
difficult  by  the  fact  that  in  the  histories  his  name 
is  invariably  given  as  Pendergrass,  while  in  the 
genealogies  of  the  Gort  peerage  the  early  inci- 
dents in  his  career  are  invariably  suppressed.] 

T.  S. 

PRENDERGAST,  THOMAS  (1806- 
1886),  inventor  of  the  '  mastery '  system  of 
learning  languages,  was  born  in  1806.  His 
father,  Sir  Jeffery  Prendergast,  born  at 
Clonmel  in  1769,  was  in  the  service  of  the 
East  India  Company,  becoming  colonel  of 
the  39th  native  infantry  in  1825.  He  served 
in  the  Mysore  war,  was  knighted  in  1838, 
was  promoted  to  be  a  general  in  1854,  and 
died  in  1856,  having  married  in  1804  Eliza- 
beth, daughter  of  Hew  Dalrymple  of  Nunraw, 
North  Britain. 

Thomas  was  nominated  a  writer  in  the 
East  India  Company's  service  on  23  June 
1826,  and  became  assistant  to  the  collector 
of  Tanjore,  Madras  presidency,  in  1828.  He 
was  acting  head  assistant  to  the  collector  of 
Nellore  on  16  Jan.  1829,  and  head  assistant 
on  9  Feb.  1830.  In  1831  he  became  acting 
sub-collector  and  joint  magistrate  of  Nellore, 
in  1833  acting  assistant  judge  at  Guntoor, 
and  on  8  Aug.  1834  assistant  judge  of 
Tinnevelly,  where  he  remained  until  1838. 
He  was  afterwards  for  many  years  collector 
and  magistrate  at  Rajahmundry  until  his 
retirement  on  the  annuity  fund  in  1859.  On 
his  return  to  England  he  settled  at  Chelten- 
ham, and  soon  became  totally  blind.  Despite 
this  misfortune,  he  devoted  himself  to 
literary  work,  and  invented  what  he  called 
the  mastery  system  of  learning  languages. 
This  system  is  based  upon  the  process  pursued 
by  children  in  learning  to  speak.  They  are 
impelled  by  instinct  to  imitate  and  repeat 


the  chance  sentences  which  they  hear  spoken 
around  them,  and  afterwards  to  interchange 
and  transpose  the  words  so  as  to  form  new 
combinations.  By  frequently  repeating  con- 
versational sentences  Prendergast  had  him- 
self acquired  the  Madras  vernacular,  Tamil, 
and  Telegu.  The  system  was  to  some  extent 
a  development  of  the  Ollendorffian,  but 
Prendergast  elaborated  its  details  on  original 
lines.  His  success  was  considerable,  and  the 
various  manuals  in  which  he  practically  ex- 
pounded his  views  went  through  numerous 
editions.  He  died  at  Meldon  Cottage,  The 
Park,  Cheltenham,  on  14  Nov.  1886,  and 
was  buried  in  the  new  cemetery  on  18  Nov. 
His  son,  Sir  Harry  North  Dalrymple  Prender- 
gast, V.C.,  was  commander  in  British  Burmah 
in  1883. 

His  published  works  are :  '  The  Mastery 
of  Languages,  or  the  Art  of  speaking  Foreign 
Tongues  idiomatically/  1864,  3rd  edition, 
1872;  'Handbook  to  the  Mastery  Series/ 
1868,  5th  edition,  1882 ;  The  Mastery  Series, 
French,  1868,  12th  edition,  1879;  The 
Mastery  Series,  Spanish,  1869,  4th  edition, 
1875;  The  Mastery  Series,  German,  1868, 
8th  edition,  1874  ;  The  Mastery  Series, 
Hebrew,  1871,  3rd  edition,  1879  ;  The 
Mastery  Series,  Latin,  1872,  5th  edition, 
1884. 

[Dodwell  and  Miles's  Madras  Civil  Servants, 
1839,  p.  226  ;  Times,  19  Nov.  1886,  p.  6 ;  Aca- 
demy, 20  Nov.  1886,  p.  345;  Cheltenham  Chro- 
nicle, 20  Nov.  1886,  p.  2.]  G.  C.  B. 

PRENTICE,  ARCHIBALD  (1792- 
1857),  journalist,  son  of  Archibald  Prentice 
of  Covington  Mains  in  the  Upper  Ward  of 
Lanarkshire,  and  Helen,  daughter  of  John 
Stoddart  of  The  Bank,  a  farm  in  the  parish, 
of  Carnwath,  was  born  in  November  1792. 
He  was  descended  from  an  old  covenanting 
family.  After  a  somewhat  meagre  education 
at  a  neighbouring  school,  Archibald  was, 
when  only  twelve  years  old,  apprenticed  to 
a  baker  in  Edinburgh ;  but,  the  occupation 
proving  uncongenial,  he  was  in  the  following 
summer  (1805)  apprenticed  to  a  woollen- 
draper  in  the  Lawn  market.  Here  he  re- 
mained for  three  years,  when  he  removed  to 
Glasgow  as  a  clerk  in  the  warehouse  of 
Thomas  Grahame,  brother  of  James  Grahame 
[q.  v.]  the  poet.  Two  years  later  he  was  ap- 
pointed traveller  to  the  house  in  England, 
and  in  1815  Grahame,  acting  on  his  advice, 
removed  his  business  from  Glasgow  to  Man- 
chester, and  at  the  same  time  admitted  Pren- 
tice into  partnership  in  the  firm. 

At  this  time  there  existed  in  Manchester 
a  small  weekly  newspaper,  called '  Cowdroy's 
Gazette/  to  which  Prentice,  who  took  a  keen 


Prentice 


302 


Prentice 


interest  in  politics,  occasionally  contributed 
But  the  '  Gazette '  was  hardly  influentia 
enough  to  satisfy  the  requirements  of  th< 
Manchester  reformers,  and  in  May  1821  th( 
*  Manchester  Guardian  '  was  founded,  as  the 
organ  of  radical  opinion.  It  was  immediately 
successful,  and  commanded  a  wide  circula- 
lation ;  but  the  political  principles  of  its 
editor,  John  Edward  Taylor,  proving  after 
a  short  time  unsatisfactory  to  the  more  ad- 
vanced radicals,  of  whom  Prentice  was  one 
he  was  induced  to  purchase  '  Cowdroy's  Ga- 
zette/ and  to  start  an  opposition  paper.  Ac- 
cordingly, in  June  1824,  the  first  number  o1 
the '  Manchester  Gazette  '  appeared  under  his 
editorship.  The  year  1826  was  one  of  great 
commercial  depression,  and  after  a  strenuous 
but  ineffectual  effort  he  found  himself  unable 
to  keep  the  paper  afloat  by  his  independent 
exertions.  The  '  Gazette  '  was,  however, 
soon  incorporated  with  the  *  Manchester 
Times,'  and  he  was  appointed  sole  manager 
of  the  new  paper,  the  first  number  of  which 
appeared  on  17  Oct.  1828.  His  method  of 
conducting  the  paper  was  not  always  agree- 
able to  his  contemporaries,  and  on  14  July 
1831  an  action  for  libel  was  brought  against 
him  by  one  Captain  Grimshawe,  of  whom 
he  had  said  that  he  gave  indecent  toasts 
at  public  dinners.  In  the  indictment  Pren- 
tice was  styled  a  '  labourer,'  and  in  his  de- 
fence, which  he  conducted  himself,  he  said 
that  he  gloried  in  being  '  a  labourer  in  the 
field  of  parliamentary  reform.'  He  was 
acquitted,  and  was  presented  with  a  silver 
snuff-box  'by  one  hundred  of  his  fellow- 
labourers.' 

Towards  the  close  of  1836  an  anti-corn- 
law  association  was  started  in  London  by 
Joseph  Hume  and  other  parliamentary 
radicals ;  but  the  association  attracted  little 
attention,  and  it  was  mainly  due  to  Prentice 
that  the  centre  of  agitation  was  transferred 
from  the  metropolis  to  Manchester.  On 
24  Sept.  1838  he  induced  several  prominent 
Manchester  merchants  to  meet  him  at  the 
York  Hotel,  and  the  result  of  their  meeting 
was  the  foundation  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law 
League.  For  the  next  eight  years  he  de- 
voted himself  heart  and  soul  as  editor  and 
lecturer  to  the  propagation  of  free-trade 
principles,  sacrificing  in  his  zeal  for  the 
cause  both  health  and  strength  and  the 
prospect  of  worldly  wealth.  His  paper, 
from  being  a  newspaper  in  the  ordinary 
sense,  came  to  be  merely  an  organ  for  the 
advancement  of  the  movement  unattached 
to  party,  and  it  was  perhaps  not  unnatural 
that  a  company  should  have  been  formed  in 
1845  to  run  another  radical  paper — the 
*  Manchester  Examiner ' — wholly  devoted  to 


the  manufacturing  interest.  The  new  venture 
proved  a  serious  blow  to  the  '  Manchester 
Times,'  and  in  1847  Prentice  was  compelled 
to  dispose  of  his  interest  in  that  journal, 
and  in  the  following  year  the  l  Times '  was 
incorporated  with  the  *  Examiner '  as  the 
'  Manchester  Examiner  and  Times.'  His 
friends  were  indignant  at  the  treatment  thus 
meted  out  to  him,  and  one  of  them,  John 
Childs  [q.  v.],  strongly  remonstrated  against 
the  injustice  of  it.  1 1  have  known  him '  (i.e. 
Prentice),  he  wrote  to  Colonel  Thompson, 
'  more  than  thirty  years,  a  faithful,  earnest, 
principled  man,  and  he  never  forfeited  a 
principle.  He  was  the  father,  the  intel- 
lectual and  moral  guide,  of  the  League 
through  its  childhood  and  youth  into  man- 
hood, and  I  should  like  to  know  what 
Cobden  and  Bright  would  have  done  on 
many  a  stormy  day  without  him.  Shall  I  say 
what  they  would  have  done  without  his  help  ? 
But  now  that  they  are  become  machines 
for  working  Reform-Club  tactics,  and  Pren- 
tice does  not,  as  he  never  did,  go  in  that 
groove,  the  insolence  of  factory-system 
wealth  swaggers  in  his  face  with  an  opposi- 
tion paper  and  ten  thousand  pounds.' 
Having  disposed  of  his  paper,  Prentice 
sought  relaxation  and  health  in  a  short 
visit  to  the  United  States  in  1848.  Of  his 
experiences  he  wrote  an  interesting  and.  at 
that  time  a  valuable  account  in  his  *  Tour 
in  the  United  States,'  which  he  published 
in  a  cheap  form  in  order  to  promote  emi- 
gration. 

On  his  return  from  America  he  obtained 
an  appointment  in  the  Manchester  gas  office, 
which  afforded  him  sufficient  leisure  for  the 
literary  work  to  which  he  devoted  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life.  Always  an  advocate  of 
temperance  principles,  he  became  latterly  an 
ardent  apostle  of  total  abstinence,  and  on 
the  formation  of  the  Manchester  Temperance 
League  in  1857,  he  accepted  the  post  of  trea- 
surer. One  of  his  last  lectures  was  on  the  bac- 
chanalian songs  of  Burns.  He  was  seized 
with  paralysis,  resulting  from  congestion  of 
the  brain,  on  22  Dec.  1857,  and  died  two 
days  later  in  his  sixty-seventh  year. 

Prentice  married,  on  3  June  1819,  Jane, 
daughter  of  James  Thomson  of  Oatridge,  near 
Linlithgow.  She  survived  him  many  years, 
and  was  buried  by  his  side  in  the  Rusholme 
Road  cemetery,  Manchester. 

A  good  portrait  of  Prentice  forms  the 
Tontispiece  to  his '  Tour  in  the  United  States.' 
[n  addition  to  this  and  his  work  as  a  jour- 
nalist, he  edited  in  1822  '  The  Life  of  Alex- 
nderReid,a  Scotish  Covenanter,' and  was  the 
uthor  of '  Historical  Sketches  and  Personal 
^collections  of  Manchester,'  published  in 


Prentis 


Prescott 


1851,  and  l  A  History  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law 
League/  London,  1853,  which  is  still  the 
standard  work  on  the  subject. 

[Prentice's  papers  and  a  portrait  in  oil  are  in 
the  possession  of  his  niece,  Mrs.  Emily  Dunlop 
of  Northwich,  Cheshire,  to  -whom  the  writer  is 
indebted  for  the  information  contained  in  the 
present  article.  See  also  Macmillan's  Mag. 
October  1889,  pp.  435-43,  and  Prentice's  Hist. 
Sketches  of  Manchester.]  K.  D. 

PRENTIS,  EDWARD  (1797-1854), 
painter,  born  in  1797,  first  exhibited  in  1823 
at  the  Royal  Academy,  sending  {  A  Girl  with 
Matches '  and  '  A  Boy  with  Oranges  ; '  and 
in  1825  contributed  three  pictures  to  the  first 
exhibition  of  the  Society  of  British  Artists,  of 
which,  in  the  following  year,  he  was  elected 
a  member.  Thenceforward,  throughout  his 
life,  he  was  a  steady  supporter  of  the  society, 
and  all  his  works  were  shown  in  Suffolk 
Street.  Prentis  painted  scenes  in  the  do- 
mestic life  of  his  own  time,  humorous, 
pathetic,  and  sentimental,  which  gained  con- 
siderable temporary  popularity;  they  in- 
cluded such  subjects  as  'The  Profligate's 
Return  from  the  Alehouse/  1829 ;  '  Valen- 
tine's Eve/  1835;  '  The  Wife'  and  'The 
Daughter/ 1836  (engraved,  as  a  pair,  by  J.  C. 
Bromley,  1837)  ;  'A  Day's  Pleasure/  1841, 
his  cleverest  work  (engraved) ;  and  '  The 
Folly  of  Extravagance/  1850,  which  was 
the  last  picture  he  exhibited.  Prentis  exe- 
cuted for  the  trustees  of  the  British  Museum 
a  series  of  accurate  and  highly  finished 
drawings  of  the  ivory  objects  found  at  Is  im- 
roud ;  these  were  engraved  on  wood  by 
J.  Thompson,  and  published  in  Layard's 
'Monuments  of  Nineveh'  (1849,  fol.)  Prentis 
died  in  December  1854,  leaving  a  widow  and 
eleven  children. 

[Redgrave's  Diet,  of  Artists ;  Art  Journal, 
1855,  p.  108;  Gent.  Mag.  1855,  pt.  i.  p.  656; 
Exhibition  Catalogues.]  F.  M.  O'D. 

PRENTIS,  STEPHEN  (1801-1862), 
poet,  born  in  1801,  was  educated  at  Christ's 
College,  Cambridge,  where  he  graduated 
B.A.  in  1824,  and  M.A.  in  1830.  For  many 
years  he  resided  at  Dinan,  Cotes  du  Nord, 
France,  where  he  died  on  12  June  1862. 
He  was  the  author  of  numerous  short  poems 
of  considerable  merit,  which  he  printed  for 
private  circulation  among  his  friends. 

His  works,  which,  unless  otherwise  speci- 
fied, were  printed  at  Dinan,  are  extremely 
scarce:  1.  'An  Apology  for  Lord  Byron, 
with  Miscellaneous  Poems/  London,  1836, 
8vo.  2. '  Tintern  Stonehenge.  "  Oh !  think  of 
me  at  Times  !  " '  [in  verse],  London,  1843, 
8vo.  3.  '  The  Wreck  of  the  Roscommon/  a 


poem,  London,  1844,  8vo.  4.  '  A  Tribute  to 
May'  [in  verse],  1849,  4to.  5.  '  Le  Grand 
Bey/  1849.  6.  '  Winter  Flowers.'  1849. 
7. '  The  Flight  of  the  Swallow/  1851.  '8.  '  The 
Revel  of  the  Missel-Thrush/  1851.  9.  '  The 
Debtor's  Dodge ;  or  the  Miller  and  the  Bailiff 
[in  verse],  with  copious  Notes/  1852,  8vo. 
10.  '  Reflexions  in  a  Cemetery  abroad/  1852. 
11. '  The  Common  Home/  1852.  12.  '  Opus- 
cula/  1853, 4to,  containing  a  scene  from '  The 
Cid/  an  unpublished  drama,  and  '  Sketch  of 
Levy's  Warehouse  in  1838.'  13.  '  ^Esop  on 
the  Danube,  or  Le  Loup  devenu  Berger ;  to 
which  are  added  two  small  Poems/ 1853,  8vo. 
14. '  Lines  to  a  Post/ 1853, 8vo.  15. '  Shadows 
for  Music  '  [in  verse],  1853,  8vo.  16.  l  Sketch 
of  Levy's  Warehouse  (St.  Margaret's  Bank, 
Rochester) '  [in  verse] ;  a  reprint,  with  more 
text  and  more  notes,  1853,  8vo.  17.  '  Jeux 
d'Esprit  (xxix)  on  the  Russian  War/  1854- 
1855.  18.  'Lines  on  a  Heap  of  Stones,' 
1857.  19.  '  Le  Paysan  du  Danube  (Les  Deux 
Pigeons)  '  [in  English  verse  from  the  French 
of  La  Fontaine],  1858,  8vo.  20.  '  The  Prince 
and  the  Prayer-book;  an  Episode  in  the 
Life  of  Napoleon  III/  1858,  8vo. 

[Private  information ;  Cooper's  Biogr.  Diet. ; 
G-raduat.  Cantabr.]  T.  C. 

PRESCOTT,  SIR  HENRY  (1783-1874), 
admiral,  son  of  Admiral  Isaac  Prescott  (1737- 
1830)  who  commanded  the  Queen  as  flag- 
captain  to  Sir  Robert  Harland  in  the  action 
off  Ushant  on  27  July  1778,  and  grandson, 
on  the  mother's  side,  of  the  Rev.  Richard 
Walter  [q.  v.],  author  of  '  Anson's  Voyage 
round  the  World/  was  born  at  Kew  on 
4  May  1783.  He  entered  the  navy  in  Febru- 
ary 1796  on  board  the  Formidable,  with 
Captain  George  Cranfield  Berkeley  [q.  v.] 
In  1798  he  was  moved  into  the  Queen 
Charlotte,  in  1799  to  the  Penelope,  with 
Captain  (afterwards  Sir)  Henry  Blackwood 
[q.  v.],  and  in  her  was  present  at  the  capture 
of  the  Guillaume  Tell  on  30  March  1800. 
In  1801,  in  the  Foudroyant,  he  was  present 
at  the  operations  on  the  coast  of  Egypt,  and 
on  17  Feb.  1802  he  was  appointed  by  Lord 
Keith  acting  lieutenant  of  the  Vincejo  brig. 
His  rank  was  confirmed  by  commission  dated 
28  April  1802.  In  April  1803  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  Unicorn,  in  the  North  Sea, 
and  in  December  1804  to  the  J^olus,  one 
of  the  squadron,  under  Sir  Richard  John 
Strachan  [q.  v.],  which,  on  4  Nov.  1805, 
captured  the  four  French  ships  of  the  line 
that  had  escaped  from  Trafalgar.  In  1806 
he  was  moved  into  the  Ajax,  from  which  he 
was  transferred  to  the  Ocean,  flagship  of  Lord 
Collingwood  in  the  Mediterranean.  On  4  Feb. 
1808  he  was  promoted  to  be  commander  of  the 


Prescott 


3°4 


Prescott 


Weasel  brig,  and  in  her,  for  the  next  three 
years,  was  actively  engaged  on  the  west  coast 
of  Italy,  and  especially  on  25  July  1810, 
at  Amantea,  where,  in  company  with  the 
Thames  frigate  [see  WALDEGRAVE,  GRAZST- 
VILLE  GEORGE]  and  Pilot,  he  commanded  the 
boats  of  the  squadron  in  the  capture  or  de- 
struction of  thirty-two  store-ships  and  seven 
gunboats  (J  AMES,  Naval  History  ,v .  125).  For 
his  gallantry  on  this  occasion  Prescott  was 
promoted  to  post  rank,  his  commission  being 
dated  back  to  the  day  of  the  action,  though 
it  did  not  reach  him  till  the  following  Fe- 
bruary. From  August  1811  to  June  1813 
he  commanded  the  Fylla,  of  20  guns,  on  the 
Jersey  station ;  and  from  1813  to  1815  the 
Eridanus,  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay.  On  4  June 
1815  he  was  nominated  a  C.B.  From  1821 
to  1825,  in  command  of  the  Aurora  frigate, 
he  was  senior  officer  at  Rio  Janeiro,  or  on 
the  west  coast  of  South  America,  and  in 
October  1822  was  voted  a  testimonial  of  the 
value  of  1,500  dollars  by  the  British  mer- 
chants at  Lima,  in  acknowledgment  of  the 
protection  he  had  afforded  to  British  inte- 
rests. From  1834  to  1841  he  was  governor 
of  Newfoundland  ;  the  whole  period  '  was 
troubled  with  political  squabbles  and  secta- 
rian animosities,'  which  he  had  neither  the 
strength  to  suppress  nor  the  diplomatic 
ability  to  conciliate  (PROWSE,  Hist,  of  New- 
foundland, p.  448).  On  24  April  1847  he 
was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  rear-admiral, 
and  in  June  was  appointed  one  of  the  lords  of 
the  admiralty,  an  office  which  he  resigned  in 
December  to  become  admiral-superintendent 
of  Portsmouth  Dockyard,  where  he  remained 
till  1852.  He  was  promoted  to  be  vice-ad- 
miral on  15  April  1854,  was  nominated  a 
K.C.B.  on  4  Feb.  1856,  became  admiral  on 
2  May  1860,  and  on  9  June  following  was 
retired  with  a  pension.  On  2  June  1869  he 
was  made  a  G.C.B.  He  died  in  London,  at 
his  residence  in  Leinster  Gardens,  on  18  Nov. 
1874. 

Prescott  married,  in  1815,  Mary  Anne 
Charlotte,  eldest  daughter  of  Vice-admiral 
Philip  d'Auvergne,  prince  de  Bouillon,  and 
left  issue.  A  portrait,  from  a  photograph,  is 
printed  in  Prowse's  '  Newfoundland '  (p. 
448). 

[O'Byrne's  Naval  Biogr.  Diet. ;  Marshall's 
Roy.  Nav.  Biogr.  vi.  (Suppl.  pt.  ii.)  107  ;  Navy 
Lists;  Times,  20  Nov.  1874.]  J.  K.  L. 

PRESCOTT,  ROBERT  (1725-1816), 
general,  was  born  in  1725  in  Lancashire, 
Avhere  his  family  lost  their  estates  owing  to 
their  opposition  to  the  revolution  of  1688. 
He  was  gazetted  captain  15th  foot,  22  Jan. 
1755 ;  major,  95th  foot,  22  March  1761 ;  lieu- 


tenant-colonel, late  72nd  foot,  10  Nov.  1762  ; 
brevet-colonel,  29  Aug.  1777,  and  colonel, 
13  Oct.  1780 ;  colonel  of  the  28th  regiment, 
6  July  1789;  major-general,  19  Oct.  1781; 
lieutenant-general,  12  Oct.  1793;  and  gene- 
ral 1  Jan.  1798.  He  served  in  the  expedi- 
tions against  Rochefort  in  1757,  and  Louis- 
burg  in  1758.  He  acted  as  aide-de-camp  to 
General  Amherst  in  1759,  and  afterwards 
joined  the  army  under  General  James  Wolfe. 
In  1761  he  joined  the  95th  foot,  which  formed 
part  of  the  force  that  was  sent  under  General 
Robert  Monckton  [q.  v.]to  reduce  Martinique. 
During  the  course  of  the  American  war  of 
independence  he  was  present  with  the  28th 
regiment  at  the  battle  of  Long  Island,  the 
several  engagements  in  Westchester  county, 
and  the  storming  of  Fort  Washington  in 
November  1775.  He  was  attached  to  the 
expedition  against  Philadelphia  in  1777,  and 
was  present  at  the  battle  of  the  Brandywine. 
In  1778  he  was  appointed  first  brigadier- 
general  in  the  expedition  under  General 
James  Grant  against  the  French  West  Indies. 
On  6  July  1789  he  was  appointed  colonel  of 
the  28th  regiment.  In  October  1793  he  was 
ordered  to  Barbados  to  take  the  command 
there,  and  in  February  1794  he  sailed  with 
the  troops  to  Martinique,  where  he  landed 
without  opposition.  He  effected  the  complete 
reduction  of  the  island  and  forts,  which 
capitulated  on  22  March,  and  was  afterwards 
appointed  civil  governor  of  the  island.  His 
judicious  management  of  affairs  prevented 
an  uprising  of  the  natives.  The  military 
and  naval  commanders  at  the  time  in  the 
West  Indies— General  Sir  Charles  (after- 
wards first  Earl)  Grey  [q.  v.]  and  Admiral 
Sir  John  Jervis  [q.  v.] — were  most  severe  in 
their  treatment  of  the  natives,  and  Prescott 
wrote  to  George  III,  through  Lord  Amherst, 
to  expostulate  against  the  harshness  of  his 
representatives.  The  French  estimated  Pres- 
cott's  character  so  highly  that,  when  the 
storming  of  Fort  Mathilde  at  Guadaloupe, 
where  Prescott's  house  was  situated,  was  con- 
templated, express  orders  were  given  that  his 
life  was  to  be  spared.  After  further  service 
in  the  West  Indies  his  health  failed,  and  he 
obtained  leave  to  return  to  England,  arriving 
at  Spithead  on  10  Feb.  1795. 

Prescott  was  sent  out  on  10  April  1796  to 
undertake  the  office  of  governor  of  Canada, 
in  succession  to  Lord  Dorchester,  who  did 
not  know  that  he  was  to  be  recalled  till  Pres- 
cott arrived  to  supersede  him.  During  the 
spring  of  1796  Prescott  made  considerable 
additions  to  the  fortifications  of  Quebec. 
The  next  year  he  was  appointed,  in  addition, 
governor  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  he  remained  at 
the  head  of  the  government  of  that  colony, 


Preston 


305 


Preston 


as  well  as  of  Canada  and  New  Brunswick,  till 
1799,  when  lie  was  recalled,  and  succeeded  by 
Sir  Robert  Shore  Milnes.  The  principal  event 
of  his  administration,  during  which  he  was 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  full  general,  was 
David  McLean's  attempted  insurrection. 
Prescott,  on  his  return  to  England  in  1799, 
settled  at  Rosegreen,  near  Battle,  Sussex, 
where  he  died  on  21  Dec.  1816.  He  was 
fcuried  in  the  old  church  at  Winchelsea. 

[Army  Lists ;  Apple  ton's  Cyclopaedia  of 
American  Biography ;  Morgan's  Celebrated 
Canadians.]  B.  H.  S. 

PRESTON",  VISCOUNT.  [See  GRAHAM, 
RICHARD,  1618-1695.] 

PRESTON,  SIR  AMYAS  (d.  1617?), 
naval  commander,  of  a  family  settled  for 
many  generations  at  Cricket  in  Somerset, 
was  lieutenant  of  the  Ark  in  the  actions 
against  the  Spanish  Armada  of  1588,  com- 
manded the  boats  in  the  attack  on  the  great 
galleass  stranded  before  Calais  on  29  July, 
and  was  there  dangerously  wounded.  In 
1595,  in  company  with  George  Somers  [q.  y.], 
lie  undertook  a  voyage  to  the  Spanish  main ; 
and  having  on  the  way  plundered  the  island 
of  Porto  Santo  near  Madeira,  and  the  island 
of  Cocke  between  Margarita  and  the  con- 
tinent, they  ravaged  the  coast  of  the  main- 
land ;  after  a  toilsome  march  into  the  moun- 
tains, they  plundered  and  burnt  the  town  of 
Santiago  de  Leon,  now  more  commonly 
Imown  as  Caracas ;  and,  having  done  much 
damage  to  the  Spaniards,  though  without 
obtaining  any  great  spoil,  they  returned  to 
England,  where  they  arrived  in  September. 
In  1596  Preston  was  captain  of  the  Ark  with 
Lord  Howard  in  the  Cadiz  expedition,  and 
was  knighted  by  Howard.  In  1597  he  was 
captain  of  the  Defiance  in  the  expedition  to 
the  Azores,  known  as  the  Islands  voyage. 
He  seems  to  have  been,  after  this,  mixed  up 
with  the  fortunes  of  Essex,  and  in  1601 
quarrelled  with  Sir  Walter  Ralegh,  to  whom 
he  sent  a  challenge.  There  was  no  hostile 
meeting.  On  17  May  1603  (Cal.  State 
Papers,  Dom.)  he  was  granted  the  office  of 
keeper  of  stores  and  ordnance  in  the  Tower, 
which  he  held  till  his  death,  probably  in 
1617  (ib.  12  Nov.  1617).  In  1609  he  was 
member  of  council  for  the  Virginia  Company. 
It  appears  from  the  records  of  the  company 
that  he  died  before  1619.  He  married  at 
Stepney,  in  1581,  Julian  Burye,  widow,  of 
the  city  of  London. 

[Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United  States ;  Defeat 
of  the  Spanish  Armada  (Navy  Records  Soc.),  i. 
15,  ii.  57-8  ;  Hakluyt's  Principal  Navigations, 
iii.  578:  Lediard's  Naval  History;  Edwards's 
Life  of  Ealegh,  i.  419,  ii.  312;  Cal.  State  Papers, 
Dom.]  J.  K.  L. 

VOL.    XLVI. 


PRESTON,  GEORGE  (1659P-1748), 
governor  of  Edinburgh  Castle  at  the  time  of 
the  rebellions  in  1715  and  1745,  was  the 
second  son  of  George  Preston — sixth  of  Val- 
leyfield,  descended  from  the  Prestons  of 
Craigmillar — who  was  created  a  baronet  of 
Nova  Scotia  on  31  March  1637.  His  mother 
was  Marion,  only  child  of  Hugh  Sempill,  fifth 
lord  Sempill.  He  was  captain  in  the  service  of 
the  States-General  in  1688,  and  attended  Wil- 
liam, prince  of  Orange,  in  his  expedition  to 
England.  Subsequently  he  served  in  the 
foreign  wars  of  King  William  and  Queen 
Anne,  and  at  the  battle  of  Ramillies  he  was 
severely  wounded.  In  1706  he  was  made 
colonel  of  the  Cameronian  or  26th  regiment, 
and  he  retained  that  office  till  1720.  At  the 
outbreak  of  the  rebellion  in  1715  he  was  sent 
from  London  to  take  command  of  the  castle 
of  Edinburgh,  and  was  finally  appointed 
lieutenant-governor  of  the  castle,  'with 
a  salary  of  ten  shillings  per  day.'  He  was 
also  made  commander-in-chief  of  the  forces 
in  Scotland.  On  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion 
of  1745  the  government,  either  doubtful 
of  Preston's  loyalty  or  deeming  his  great 
age  a  disqualification,  sent  General  Joshua 
Guest  [q.  v.]  to  take  command  of  the  garri- 
son of  the  castle.  It  is  affirmed  that  after 
the  battle  of  Prestonpans  General  Guest 
was  deterred  from  surrendering  the  castle 
merely  by  the  firmness  of  Preston  (GRANT, 
Memoirs  of  the  Castle  of  Edinburgh,  p.  171)  ; 
but,  according  to  Home  (Hist,  of  the  Rebel- 
lion), General  Guest  spread  the  rumour  that 
he  was  in  need  of  provisions,  and  at  the  point 
of  surrendering  the  castle,  merely  to  induce 
the  highlanders  to  occupy  their  time  in  a 
vain  siege  of  the  castle  instead  of  marching 
into  England.  But,  whatever  may  have  been 
the  conduct  and  purpose  of  Guest,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  Preston,  notwithstanding 
his  great  age,  displayed  the  utmost  watch- 
fulness and  determination.  'Every  two 
hours  a  party  of  soldiers  wheeled  him  in  an 
armchair  round  the  guards,  that  he  might 
personally  see  if  all  were  on  the  alert' 
(GRANT,  p.  171) ;  and  when  the  Jacobites  sent 
a  flag  of  truce  to  the  castle,  and  threatened, 
unless  it  were  surrendered,  to  burn  Valley- 
field,  he  replied  that  in  that  case  he  should 
direct  his  majesty's  cruisers  to  burn  down 
Wemyss  Castle,  on  the  coast  of  Fife,  then 
the  property  of  the  Earl  of  Wemyss,  whose 
son,  Lord  Elcho,  was  a  general  officer  in  the 
service  of  Prince  Charles  Edward.  Preston 
died  on  7  July  1748.  He  left  no  issue.  He 
paid  off  the  encumbrances  on  the  estate  of 
Valleyfield,  and  thus  acquired  the  right  of 
the  entail  of  the  property,  which  he  duly 
executed  in  favour  of  the  heirs,  male  and 

x 


Preston 


306 


Preston 


female,  of  his  brother  Sir  "William,  and  his 
nephew  Sir  George. 

[Scots  Mag.  1748,  p.  355;  Burke's  Landed 
Gentry;  Home's  Hist,  of  the  Kebellion  ;  Grant's 
Memoirs  of  Edinburgh  Castle.]  T.  F.  H. 

PRESTON,  GILBERT  DE  (d.  1274),  chief 
justice  of  the  court  of  common  pleas,  was  son 
of  WALTEE  DE  PRESTOS  (d.  1230),  or  Walter 
Fitz  Winemar,  who  was  sheriff  of  North- 
amptonshire in  1207  and  1208,  and  held  some 
post  in  connection  with  the  forests  (Cal.  Rot. 
Glaus,  i.  79).  He  had  custody  of  Fotheringay 
Castle  in  1212  ;  he  apparently  sided  with  the 
barons,  as  his  lands  were  taken  into  the  king's 
hands  (ib.  i.  122,  297).  In  1227  and  1228  he 
was  employed  to  assess  the  fifteenth  in  War- 
wickshire and  Leicestershire,  and  to  fix  the 
tallage  in  the  counties  of  Northampton,  Buck- 
ingham, and  Bedford  (ib.  ii.  137,  146,  208). 

His  son  Gilbert  paid  one  hundred  shillings 
for  the  relief  of  his  father's  lands  in  Northamp- 
tonshire on  28  Oct.  1230  (ROBEETS,  Excerpta 
e  Rot.  Finium,  i.  204).  He  was  presented  to 
the  livings  of  Marham  and  Asekirk,  North- 
amptonshire, in  1217  (BEIDGES,  North- 
amptonshire, ii.  518).  But  though  the  pro- 
fessional lawyers  of  the  time  were  com- 
monly churchmen,  the  fact  that  Gilbert  de 
Preston  was  married  shows  that  he  aban- 
doned an  ecclesiastical  career.  He  is  first 
mentioned  in  a  public  capacity  as  one  of 
the  justices  itinerant  who  took  the  southern 
circuit  in  1240,  and  sat,  among  other  places, 
at  Hertford  (DUGDALE,  Chron.  Series ;  MATT. 
PAEIS,  iv.  51).  At  this  time  he  was  probably 
not  one  of  the  justices  at  Westminster,  but 
was  appointed  to  the  bench  before  2  Feb. 
1242,  when  fines  were  levied  before  him,  and 
in  Easter  of  that  year  his  name  appears  on 
the  pleas  of  the  bench  (DTJGDALE,  Chron. 
Series,  and  Orig.  p.  43 ;  Gisburn  Cartulary,  i. 
116).  Later  in  the  year  he  was  a  justice  of 
an  assize  of  novel  disseisin  at  Northampton, 
and  in  November  and  December  at  Hereford 
and  Cirencester  (  MICHEL,  Roles  Gascons,  i. 
1234,  1240,  1242).  In  every  year  for  the 
remainder  of  Henry's  reign  there  appear  pay- 
ments for  writs  of  assize  to  be  taken  before 
him  in  various  parts  of  the  country  (Excerpta 
e  Rot.  Finium).  In  1242  Preston  appears  at 
the  bottom  of  the  justiciarii  de  banco ;  but  he 
gradually  advanced  till  after  1252  he  usually 
appears  at  the  head  of  one  of  the  commissions, 
probably  as  being  the  senior  on  the  circuit  to 
which  he  was  appointed.  On  3  Oct.  1258  he 
was  the  second  of  three  assigned  to  hold  the 
king's  bench  at  Westminster  (Cal.  Rot.  Pat. 
p.  29).  In  1263  there  are  pleas  before  him 
and  John  de  Wyvill  at  Westminster,  and  in 
1267  pleas  before  him  and  John  de  la  Lynde. 


Apparently,  therefore,  he  then  acted  in  the 
common  pleas.  In  1268  he  was  '  justiciarius 
de  banco  '  and  head  of  the  justices  itinerant 
in  various  counties  (MADOX,  Hist.  Exch.  i. 
236).  His  salary  in  1255  was  forty  marks, 
but  in  1269  he  had  a  grant  of  one  hundred 
marks  annually  for  his  support  '  in  officio 
justiciarise  ;'  from  the  latter  amount  he  would 
appear  to  have  now  become  chief  justice. 
He  is  not,  however,  given  the  title  of  chief 
j  ustice  till,  on  his  reappointment  by  Edward  I, 
he  is  so  styled  in  the  'Liberate'  granting 
him  livery  of  his  robes.  Dugdale  remarks 
that  he  is  the  first  whom  he  has  observed 
to  hold  the  title  of  chief  justice  of  the  court 
of  common  pleas.  Preston  died  between 
midsummer  and  Michaelmas  1274 ;  the  last 
fine  acknowledged  before  him  was  on  the 
former  date  (DTJGDALE,  Orig.  pp.  39,  43  ; 
Cal.  Inq.  post  mortem,  i.  52).  By  his  wife 
Alice,  who  survived  till  1296,  Preston  had 
a  daughter  Sybil ;  he  and  his  daughter  were 
benefactors  of  the  Cluniac  priory  of  St. 
Andrew,  Northampton  (Monasticon  Angli- 
canum,  v.  186 ;  BEIDGES,  Northamptonshire, 
i.  408,  452).  His  heir  was  Laurence  de 
Preston,  son  of  his  brother  William  (  ROBEETS, 
Calend.  Genealogicum,  i.  211).  Laurence  de 
Preston  was  returned  as  lord  of  the  manor 
of  Preston  in  1316,  and  was  knight  of  the 
shire  for  Northampton  in  1320.  His  de- 
scendants survived  at  Preston  till  the  reign 
of  Henry  VI  (ib.  i.  377,  380,  391,  ii.  511; 
PALGEAVE,  Parliamentary  Writs,  iv.  1316). 

[Foss's  Judges  of  England,  iii.  140-3;  Gis- 
burn Cartulary  (Surtees  Soc.) ;  Chronieon  Petro- 
burgense  and  Liber  de  Antiquis  Legibus  (Camden 
Soc.) ;  other  authorities  quoted  in  text.] 

C.  L.  K. 

PRESTON,  SIE  JOHN  (/.1415),  judge, 
was  a  member  of  an  ancient  Westmoreland 
family  seated  at  Preston  Richard  and  Pres- 
ton Patrick  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
county.  His  father,  John  Preston,  repre- 
sented Westmoreland  in  the  parliaments  of 
1362,  1366,  1372,  and  1382,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  elder  son,  Richard,  on  whose 
death,  leaving  only  daughters,  Preston 
Patrick  passed  to  his  brother  the  judge,  who 
continued  the  family. 

Preston  prosecuted  on  behalf  of  the  crown 
in  a  case  of  murder  in  1394,  and  was  made 
recorder  of  London  in  1406.  He  was  not 
called  to  the  degree  of  serjeant-at-law  until 
1411,  up  to  which  time  his  practice  seems  to 
have  been  confined  to  criminal  cases  and  the 
city  courts.  He  resigned  the  recordership  on 
being  raised  (16  June  1415)  to  the  bench  of 
the  common  pleas.  Retaining  this  position 
until  28  Jan.  1428,  he  was  then  allowed  to 
retire  on  the  ground  of  age  and  infirmity, 


Preston 


307 


Preston 


but  the  date  of  his  death  is  not  recorded. 
The  John  Preston  referred  to  in '  Calendarium 
Inquisitionum  post  mortem '  (iv.  244)  in  1444- 
1445  may  have  been  his  elder  son  John,  a 
clergyman,  who  "in  1414-15  had  received  a 
grant  of  Sandal  church  from  the  prior  of 
St.  Pancras.  His  younger  son,  Richard,  suc- 
ceeded him  in  the  Preston  estate,  and  mar- 
ried Jacobine,  a  daughter  of  Middleton  of 
Middleton  Hall,  near  Kirkby  Lonsdale.  His 
descendants  acquired  the  manor  of  Furness. 
and  one  of  them,  John,  was  created  a  baronet 
in  1644,  being  killed  next  year  in  fighting  for 
Charles  I.  On  the  death  of  his  second  son, 
Sir  Thomas,  in  1710,  the  title  became  extinct. 

[Foss's  Judges  of  England ;  Nicolson  and 
Burn's  Hist,  of  Westmorland,  i.  211,  240,  241 ; 
Devon's  Issue  Roll,  p.  261.]  J.  T-T. 

PRESTON,  SIB  JOHN  (d.  1616),  of  Fen- 
tonburns  and  Penicuik,  lord  president  of  the 
Scottish  court  of  session,  is  stated  to  have 
been  the  son  of  a  baker  (BRTINTON  and  HAIG, 
Senators  of  the  College  of  Justice,  p.  235),  who 
was  also  a  town  councillor  of  Edinburgh,  and 
is  mentioned  in  1582  as  dean  of  guild  (Reg. 
P.  C.  Scotl.  iii.  516).  Not  improbably  he  was 
related  to  the  Prestons  of  Craigmillar,  for  on 
13  Jan.  1584-5  he  was  one  of  the  sureties  in  a 
bond  of  caution  by  David  Preston  of  Craig- 
millar (ib.  p.  716)  [see  PRESTON,  SIR  SIMON]. 
The  son  was  admitted  advocate  at  the  Scot- 
tish bar  at  least  before  20  Oct.  1575,  and, 
from  his  frequent  appearances  in  connection 
with  cases  before  the  privy  council,  must 
have  early  acquired  an  important  practice 
(cf.  ib.  vols.  iii.  and  iv.  passim).  In  1580  he 
was  one  of  the  commissioners  of  Edinburgh, 
and  he  was  also  one  of  the  assessors  of  the 
city.  On  8  March  1595  he  was  elected  an 
ordinary  judge  of  the  court  of  session,  and 
he  was  admitted  on  the  12th.  His  name 
first  appears  at  a  sederunt  of  the  privy  council 
on  24  Nov.  1596  (ib.  v.  332).  The  same  year 
he  was,  along  with  Edward  Bruce,  commen- 
dator  of  Kinloss,  named  king's  commissioner 
to  the  general  assembly  of  the  kirk  (CAL- 
DERWOOD, v.  412).  On  4  March  1596-7  he 
was  appointed  a  commissioner  '  to  conclude 
upon  the  form  and  circumscription  of  a  new 
coinage  '  (Acta  Parl  Scot.  iv.  113  ;  Reg.  P. 
C.  Scotl.  v.  369),  and  on  4  May  1598  he 
was  chosen  a  commissioner  to  treat  of  mat- 
ters concerning  the  Isles  (ib.  p.  455).  On 
31  Oct.  1598  he  was  appointed  to  the  im- 
portant office  of  collector  and  treasurer  of 
the  new  augmentations ;  and  in  this  capacity 
he  served  on  a  large  number  of  commissions 
(cf.  Reg.  P.  C.  Scotl.  vols.  v.  and  vi.  passim). 
On  2  Oct.  1601  he  was  named  one  of  eight 
commissioners  to  assist  the  treasurer  in  the 


administration  of  his  office  (ib.  vi.  292).  In 
recognition  of  his  services  the  king,  on 
10  Feb.  1601-2,  conceded  to  him  and  his 
wife,  Lilias  Gilbert,  the  lands  of  Guthrie 
in  the  county  of  Midlothian  (Reg.  Mag. 
Sig.  Scot.  1593-1608,  entry  1296),  and  on 
30  March  1604  the  lands,  barony,  castle,  &c., 
of  Penicuik  and  various  other  lands  in  the 
same  county  (ib.  entry  1528). 

Preston  was  one  of  the  assessors  at  the 
famous  trial  in  1606  of  the  ministers  con- 
cerned in  holding  the  Aberdeen  assembly. 
In  the  parliament  held  in  the  same  year 
there  were  ratified  to  him  pensions  from  the 
king  amounting  to  1,087/.  10s.,  and  twenty- 
four  bolls  of  meal  yearly  from  the  feu  duties 
of  the  abbeys  of  Jedburgh,  North  Berwick, 
Holywood,  Haddington,  and  others.  He 
was  elected  vice-president  of  the  court  of 
session  on  23  Oct.  1607,  to  act  in  the  ab- 
sence of  Lord  Balmerino,  the  president ;  was 
one  of  the  assessors  at  the  trial  of  Balmerino 
in  1608  ;  and,  on  Balmerino's  removal  from 
the  presidentship,  was,  on  6  June  1609, 
chosen  to  succeed  him.  On  4  May  1608 
he  was  appointed  one  of  a  commission  for 
searching  the  chests  left  by  Jesuits  in  the 
Canongate  (ib.  viii.  281-2) ;  and  on  6  Feb. 

1609  he  was  named  one  of  a  royal  com- 
mission  to    consult  with  and    advise    the 
king  as  to  the  best  means  of  assuring  the 
king's    peace  in   the  Isles,  and   for   plant- 
ing '  religion  and  civilitie  '  there  (ib.  p.  142). 
He  was  one  of  the  members  of  the  recon- 
structed privy  council  chosen  in  February 

1610  (ib.  815),  and  of  the  court  of  ecclesi- 
astical high  commission  appointed  on  the  15th 
of  the  same  month  (CALDERWOOD,  vii.  58) ; 
he  was   also  a  joint  commissioner  to   the 
general  assembly  of  the  kirk  held  in  June 
of  the  same  year  (ib.  p.  104).     On  24  July 
he  was  nominated  one  of  the  assessors  to  the 
commissioner,  Lord  Roxburghe,  for  the  trial  of 
English  pirates  (Reg.  P.  C.  Scotl.  ix.  16) .     On 
15  Nov.  he  was  named  one  of  six  assessors  to 
the  Earl  of  Dunbar,  and  the  treasurer-depute 
in  the  business  of  the    conjoint  offices  of 
the  treasurership,  the  collectorship,  and  the 
comptrollership,   and   also   one  of    a  royal 
commission  of  exchequer  (ib.  p.  85)  ;  and  on 
4  Dec.  it  was  ordained  that,  notwithstanding 
his  demission  of  the  offices  of  treasurer  of 
the  new  augmentations    and  collector    of 
thirds  of  the  benefices — incorporated  in  the 
office  of  the  treasurership — he  should  be  con- 
tinued a  member  of  the  privy  council  (ib.  p. 
94).     About  the  end  of  April  1611  he  was 
appointed  one  of  a  council  of  eight — called 
the  New  Octavians — in  whom  the  offices  of 
the  treasurership,  the  collectorship,  and  the 
comptrollership  were  vested  (CALDERWOOD, 

x  2 


Preston 


308 


Preston 


vii.  158).  He  died  on  14  June  1616.  By 
his  wife,  Lilias  Gilbert,  he  left  a  son  John, 
on  whom  a  baronetcy  of  Nova  Scotia  was 
conferred  in  1628,  and  who,  by  his  marriage 
to  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  William  Turnbull, 
became  possessor  of  the  lands  of  Auchie, 
Fifeshire,  on  which  a  mansion-house  was 
erected,  named  Prestonhall.  The  baronetcy 
is  now  extinct. 

[Reg.  P.  C.  Scotl.  vols.  iv.-x. ;  Reg.  Mag. 
Sig.  Scot.  1580-1620;  Calderwood's  Hist,  of 
the  Kirk  of  Scotland ;  Brunton  and  Haig's  Sena- 
tors of  the  College  of  Justice,  pp.  235-6.] 

T.  F.  H. 

PRESTON,  JOHN,  D.D.  (1587-1628), 

Euritan  divine,  son  of  Thomas  Preston,  a 
irmer,  was  born  at  Upper  Heyford  in  the 
parish  of  Bugbrook,  Northamptonshire,  and 
was  baptised  at  Bugbrook  church  on  27  Oct. 
1587.  His  mother's  maiden  name  was  Alice 
Marsh.  Her  maternal  uncle,  Creswell,  was 
mayor  of  Northampton.  Being  rich  and 
childless,  he  adopted  Preston,  placing  him 
at  the  Northampton  grammar  school,  and 
subsequently  with  a  Bedfordshire  clergyman 
named  Guest  for  instruction  in  Greek.  He 
matriculated  as  a  sizar  at  King's  College, 
Cambridge,  on  5  July  1604,  his  tutor  being 
Busse,  who  became  master  of  Eton  in  1606. 
King's  College  was  then  famous  for  the  study 
of  music ;  Preston  chose  *  the  noblest  but 
hardest  instrument,  the  lute,'  but  made  little 
progress.  In  1606  he  migrated  to  Queens' 
College,  where  he  had  as  tutor  Oliver  Bowles, 
B.D.  [see  BOWLES,  EDWARD].  Creswell  had 
left  him  the  reversion  of  some  landed  pro- 
perty, and  he  thought  of  a  diplomatic  career. 
With  this  view  he  entered  into  treaty  with 
a  merchant,  who  arranged  for  his  spending 
some  time  in  Paris,  but  on  this  merchant's 
death  the  arrangement  fell  through.  Preston 
then  turned  to  the  study  of  philosophy,  in 
which  he  was  encouraged  by  Porter,  who 
succeeded  Bowles  as  his  tutor.  By  Porter's 
interest  with  Tyndal,  master  of  Queens'  and 
dean  of  Ely,  Preston,  who  had  graduated 
B.A.  in  1607,  was  chosen  fellow  in  1609. 
From  philosophy  he  now  turned  to  medi- 
cine ;  got  some  practical  knowledge  under 
the  roof  of  a  friend,  a  physician  in  Kent, 
'  very  famous  for  his  practice ; '  and  studied 
astrology,  then  valued  as  a  handmaid  to 
therapeutics. 

About  1611,  the  year  in  which  he  com- 
menced M.A.,  he  heard  a  sermon  at  St. 
Mary's  from  John  Cotton  (1585-1652),  then 
fellow  of  Emmanuel,  which  opened  to  him  a 
new  career.  Cotton  had  a  great  reputation 
as  an  elegant  preacher  ;  but  this  was  a  plain 
evangelical  sermon,  and  disappointed  his  audi- 
ence. He  returned  to  his  rooms,  somewhat 


mortified  by  his  reception,  when  Preston 
knocked  at  his  door,  and  that  close  religious 
friendship  began  which  permanently  influ- 
enced the  lives  of  both.  Preston  now  gave 
himself  to  the  study  of  scholastic  divinity  ; 
Aquinas  seems  to  have  been  his  favourite ; 
he  thoroughly  mastered  also  Duns  Scotus 
and  Ockham. 

His  biographer  tells  a  curious  story  of  his 
activity  in  securing  the  election  (1614)  of 
John  Davenant  [q.  v.]  as  master  of  Queens' 
in  succession  to  Tyndal.  George  Montaigne 
[q.  v.],  afterwards  archbishop  of  York,  had 
his  eye  on  this  preferment ;  but  immediately 
on  Tyndal's  death  Preston  rode  post-haste 
to  London,  reaching  Whitehall  before  day- 
break. Here  he  made  interest  with  Robert 
Carr,  earl  of  Somerset  [q.  v.],  with  a  view  to 
secure  court  sanction  for  the  choice  of  Dave- 
nant. Returning  to  Cambridge,  he  had  the 
election  over  before  Montaigne  got  wind  of 
the  vacancy. 

During  the  visit  of  James  I  to  Cambridge  in 
March  161 5,  Preston  distinguished  himself  as 
a  disputant.  He  was  chosen  by  Samuel  Hars- 
nett[q.v.],the  vice-chancellor,  as  'answerer' 
in  the  philosophy  act,  but  this  place  was  suc- 
cessfully claimed  by  Matthew  Wren  (1585- 
1667)  [q.  v.],  and  Preston  took  the  post  of 
1  first  opponent.'  His  biographer,  Thomas 
Ball  [q.  v.],  gives  an  amusing  account  of  the 
disputation  on  the  question  '  Whether  dogs 
could  make  syllogismes.'  Preston  main- 
tained that  they  could.  James  was  delighted 
with  his  argument  (which  Granger  thinks 
Preston  borrowed  from  a  well-known  passage 
in  Montaigne's  '  Essays '),  and  introduced  a 
dog  story  of  his  own.  '  It  was  easy  to  dis- 
cerne  that  ye  kings  hound  had  opened  a  way 
for  Mr.  Preston  at  ye  court.'  Sir  Fulke  Gre- 
ville,  first  lord  Brooke  [q.  v.],  became  his 
firm  friend  (he  ultimately  settled  50/.  a  year 
upon  him).  But  Preston  had  by  this  time 
given  up  his  early  ambition ;  though  he  said 
little  of  his  purpose,  his  mind  was  set  on  the 
ministry,  and  he  was  reading  modern  divinity, 
especially  Calvin. 

His  coolness  in  the  direction  of  court 
favour  gave  rise  to  suspicions  of  his  puritan 
leaning.  These  were  increased  by  an  incident 
of  James's  second  visit  to  Cambridge.  A  co- 
medy called  '  Ignoramus,'  by  George  Ruggle 
[q.  v.]  of  Clare  Hall,  was  to  be  acted  before  the 
king.  Preston's  pupil  Morgan  (of  the  Mor- 
gans of  Heyford)  was  cast  for  a  woman's 
part.  Preston  objected  ;  the  lad's  guardians 
overruled  the  objection  ;  Morgan,  who  was 
removed  to  Oxford,  subsequently  joined  the 
Roman  catholic  church.  His  strictness 
greatly  increased  his  reputation  as  a  tutor 
with  puritan  parents  ;  '  he  was,'  says  Fuller, 


Preston 


309 


Preston 


'  the  greatest  pulpit-monger  in  England  in 
man's  memory  .  .  .  every  time,  when  Master 
Preston  plucked  off  his  hat  to  Doctor  Dave- 
nant,  the  college  master,  he  gained  a  chamber 
or  study  for  one  of  his  pupils.'  The  college 
buildings  were  enlarged  to  provide  for  the 
influx  of  students.  He  was  in  the  habit  of 
sending  those  designed  for  the  church  to 
finish  their  studies  with  Cotton,  now  vicar 
of  Boston,  Lincolnshire.  Meanwhile,  Pres- 
ton's health  was  suffering,  and  he  was 
troubled  with  insomnia.  Twice  he  applied 
for  advice  (once  in  disguise)  to  William 
Butler  (1535-1618)  [q.  v.j  of  Clare  Hall,  a 
successful  empiric.  Butler  only  told  him  to 
take  tobacco ;  on  doing  so  he  found  his 
remedy  in  '  this  hot  copious  fume.' 

Preston  had  now  taken  orders,  and  become 
dean  and  catechist  of  Queens'.  He  began  a 
course  of  sermons  which  were  to  form  a  body 
of  divinity.  Complaints  were  made  to  the 
vice-chancellor  that  the  college  chapel  was 
crowded  with  scholars  from  other  colleges 
and  townsmen.  Order  was  issued  exclud- 
ing all  but  members  of  the  college.  Preston 
then  began  an  afternoon  lecture  at  St.  Bo- 
tolph's, of  which  Queens'  College  is  patron. 
This  brought  him  into  conflict  with  New- 
come,  commissary  to  the  chancellor  of  Ely, 
whose  enmity  Preston  had  earned  by  pre- 
venting a  match  between  his  pupil,  Sir  Capel 
Bedels,  and  Newcome's  daughter  Jane.  A 
dispute  with  Newcome  at  St.  Botolph's  de- 
layed the  afternoon  service ;  to  make  room 
for  the  sermon,  common  prayer  was  for  once 
omitted.  Newcome  sped  to  the  court  at 
Newmarket  to  denounce  Preston  as  a  noncon- 
formist. The  matter  came  before  the  heads 
of  houses,  and  there  was  talk  of  Preston's 
expulsion  from  the  university.  At  the  sug- 
gestion of  Lancelot  Andrewes  [q.  v.],  then 
bishop  of  Ely,  Preston  was  directed  to  declare 
his  judgment  regarding  forms  of  prayer  in  a 
sermon  at  St.  Botolph's.  He  acquitted  him- 
self so  as  to  silence  complaint.  Soon  after- 
wards he  was  summoned  to  preach  before 
the  king  at  Finchingbrook,  near  Eoyston, 
Cambridgeshire.  James  highly  approved  his 
argument  against  the  Arminians ;  he  would 
have  shown  him  less  favour  had  he  known 
that  Preston  was  the  author  of  a  paper 
against  the  Spanish  match,  circulated  with 
much  secrecy  among  members  of  the  House 
of  Lords.  He  was  proposed  as  a  royal  chap- 
lain by  James  Hamilton,  second  marquis  of 
Hamilton  [q.  v.],  but  James  thought  this 
premature. 

Preston's  kinsman,  Sir  Ralph  Freeman 
[q.  v.],  who  had  married  a  relative  of  George 
Yilliers,  first  duke  of  Buckingham  [q.  v.], 
now  took  occasion  to  represent  to  Bucking- 


ham that  he  might  make  friends  of  the  puri- 
tansby  promoting  Preston.  Through  Bucking- 
ham's interest  he  was  made  chaplain-in-ordi- 
nary  to  Prince  Charles.  He  took  the  degree 
of  B.D.  in  1620.  On  Davenant's  election 
(11  June  1621)  to  the  see  of  Salisbury, 
Preston  had  some  expectation  of  succeeding 
him  as  Margaret  professor  of  divinity.  He 
felt  his  Latin  to  be  rusty,  and,  as  an  exercise 
in  speaking  Latin,  he  resolved  on  a  visit  to 
the  Dutch  universities,  a  project  which  he 
carried  out  with  a  singular  excess  of  precau- 
tion. From  the  privy  council  he  obtained 
the  necessary  license  for  travel.  He  gave  out 
that  he  was  going,  the  next  vacation,  to 
visit  Sir  Richard  Sandys  in  Kent,  and  pos- 
sibly to  drink  the  Tunbridge  waters.  From 
the  Kentish  coast  he  took  boat  for  Rotter- 
dam, in  a  lay  habit  with  '  scarlet  cloake '  and 
1  gold  hat  band.'  In  Holland  he  consorted 
with  Roman  catholics  as  well  as  protestants. 
On  his  return  to  Cambridge  he  met  the  ru- 
mour of  his  having  been  beyond  the  seas 
with  a  wonder  '  at  their  sillyness,  that  they 
would  beleeve  so  unlikely  a  relation.'  After 
all  he  had  been  outwitted,  for  Williams,  the 
lord  keeper,  suspecting  some  puritan  plot, 
had  set  a  spy  on  his  movements,  who  sent 
weekly  intelligence  of  his  doings. 

In  February  1622  John  Donne  (1573- 
1631)  [q.  v.]  resigned  the  preachership  at 
Lincoln's  Inn,  and  the  benchers  elected 
Preston  as  his  successor.  A  new  chapel, 
finished  soon  after  his  appointment,  gave 
accommodation  to  the  large  numbers  who 
flocked  to  hear  him.  A  more  important 
piece  of  preferment  followed,  but  it  was  not 
obtained  without  intrigue.  Laurence  Cha- 
derton  [q.  v.],  the  first  master  of  Emmanuel, 
had  held  that  post  with  distinction  for  thirty- 
eight  years.  He  had  outlived  his  influential 
friends,  and  the  fellows  thought  that  to  se- 
cure Preston's  interest  with  Buckingham 
would  be  to  the  advantage  of  their  college. 
In  particular  they  wanted  a  modification  of 
the  statutes,  which  enjoined  continuous  resi- 
dence, so  cutting  them  off  from  chaplaincies 
and  lectureships,  and  at  the  same  time  com- 
pelled them  to  vacate  at  the  standing  of 
D.D.,  whether  otherwise  provided  or  not. 
From  Preston's  influence  they  hoped  to  gain 
more  liberty,  as  well  as  to  increase  the  num- 
ber of  college  livings.  Chaderton  thought 
highly  of  Preston,  but  was  very  reluctant  to 
resign,  and  doubted  whether,  if  he  did,  an 
Arminian  might  not  be  appointed.  Preston 
procured  a  letter  from  Buckingham  (20  Sept. 
1622)  assuring  Chaderton  that  it  was  the 
wish  of  the  king  and  the  prince  that  he 
should  make  way  for  Preston,  and  promising 
him  a  'supply  of  maintenance.'  Accordingly 


Preston 


310 


Preston 


Chaderton  resigned  on  25  Sept. ;  contrary  to 
statute,  the  vacancy  was  not  announced,  on 
the  plea  that  all  the  fellows  were  in  resi- 
dence ;  the  election  took  place  on  2  Oct.  with 
locked  gates,  and  nothing  was  known  of  it 
at  Queens'  until  Preston  was  sent  for  to  be 
admitted  as  master  of  Emmanuel.  The 
statutes  limited  the  master's  absence  to  a 
month  in  every  quarter.  This  would  inter- 
fere with  Preston's  preaching  at  Lincoln's 
Inn.  His  ingenuity  found  out  evasions  to 
which  the  fellows  consented ;  the  statutes 
condoned  absence  in  case  of  '  violent  deten- 
tion '  and  of  '  college  business ; '  a  '  moral 
violence '  was  held  to  satisfy  the  former  con- 
dition, and  a  suit  at  law  about  a  college  living, 
which  lasted  some  years,  formed  a  colourable 
pretext  for  alleging  college  business.  But 
Preston  was  inflexible  on  the  point  of  vacat- 
ing fellowships.  In  1623  he  was  made  D.D. 
by  royal  mandate.  According  to  Ball,  he 
had  been  selected  by  Buckingham  to  accom- 
pany Arthur  Chichester,  lord  Chichester 
[q.  v.],  on  a  projected  embassy  to  Germany, 
and  was,  on  this  occasion,  made  D.D.  There 
is  probably  some  confusion  here :  Chiches- 
ter's  actual  expedition  to  the  palatinate  was 
in  May-September  1622. 

Preston  was  anxious  for  opportunities  of 
preaching  at  Cambridge,  and  listened  to 
proposals  in  1624  for  putting  him  into  a 
vacant  lectureship  at  Trinity  Church.  The 
other  candidate,  Middlethwait,  fellow  of 
Sidney  Sussex,  was  favoured  by  Nicholas 
Felton  [q.  v.],  bishop  of  Ely.  The  matter 
was  referred  to  James  I,  who  wanted  to 
keep  Preston  out  of  a  Cambridge  pulpit, 
and,  through  Edward  Conway  (afterwards 
Viscount  Conway)  [q.  v.],  offered  him  any 
other  preferment  at  his  choice.  It  was  then 
that  Buckingham  told  Preston  he  might 
have  the  bishopric  of  Gloucester,  vacant  by 
the  death  of  Miles  Smith  (d.  20  Oct.  1624). 
But  Preston,  backed  by  the  townsmen,  main- 
tained his  ground  and  got  the  lectureship. 

He  was  in  attendance  as  Charles's  chap- 
lain at  Theobalds  on  Sunday,  27  March 
1625,  when  James  I  died,  and  accompanied 
Charles  and  Buckingham  to  Whitehall,  where 
the  public  proclamation  of  Charles's  accession 
was  made.  For  the  moment  it  seemed  as  if 
Preston  was  destined  to  play  an  important 
part  in  politics.  He  exerted  influence  on 
behalf  of  his  puritan  friends,  obtaining  a 
general  preaching  license  (20  June  1625)  for 
Arthur  Hildersam  [q.  v.]  But  he  found  his 
plans  counteracted  by  Laud.  On  the  plea 
of  a  danger  of  the  plague,  he  closed  his  col- 
lege and  took  a  journey  into  the  west.  He 
wanted  to  consult  Davenant  at  Salisbury 
about  the  '  Appello  Csesarem  '  of  Richard 


Montagu  or  Mountague  [q.  v.],  oil  which 
Buckingham  had  asked  his  judgment.  From 
Salisbury  he  went  on  to  Dorchester,  and 
thence  to  Plymouth,  where  Charles  and 
Buckingham  were.  When  the  news  reached 
Plymouth  of  the  disaster  at  Rochelle  (16  Sept. 
1625),  Preston  did  his  best  to  excuse  and 
defend  Buckingham  against  the  outburst  of 
protestant  indignation.  On  the  removal  of 
Williams  from  the  lord-keepership  (30  Oct. 
1625),  Buckingham  '  went  so  farr  as  to  nomi- 
nate' Preston  to  be  lord  keeper.  Thomas 
Coventry,  lord  Coventry  [q.  v.],  who  had 
been  counsel  for  Emmanuel  College  in  the 
suit  above  mentioned,  was  eventually  ap- 
pointed. 

Preston,  however,  could  not  draw  the 
puritans  to  the  side  of  Buckingham,  whom 
they  profoundly  distrusted.  Preston's  friends 
urged  the  necessity  of  a  conference  on  Mon- 
tagu's books,  and  nominated  on  the  one 
side  John  Buckeridge  [q.  v.],  bishop  of  Roches- 
ter, and  Francis  White,  then  dean  of  Car- 
lisle ;  on  the  other,  Thomas  Morton  (1564- 
1659)  [q.  v.],  then  bishop  of  Coventry  and 
Lichfield,  and  Preston.  Buckingham  played 
a  double  part,  begging  Preston  as  his  friend 
to  decline  the  conference,  and  letting  others 
know  that  he  had  done  with  Preston.  The 
conference  was  held  in  February  1626  at 
York  House.  Preston  refused  to  take  part, 
but  came  in  after  it  was  begun  and  sat  by  as 
a  hearer.  A  second  conference  followed  in 
the  same  month,  at  which  Preston  took  the 
lead  against  Montagu  and  White. 

Buckingham  was  elected  chancellor  of 
Cambridge  University  on  1  June  1626. 
Preston  did  not  oppose  his  election,  as  Joseph 
Mead  [q.  v.]  and  others  did  :  but  he  now  felt 
his  position  in  the  university  insecure,  looked 
to  Lincoln's  Inn  as  a  refuge  in  case  he  were 
ousted  from  Cambridge,  and  as  a  last  resort 
contemplated  a  migration  to  Basle.  A  pri- 
vate letter  to  a  member  of  parliament,  in 
which  Preston  suggested  a  line  of  opposition  to 
Buckingham,  came  by  an  accident  into  Buck- 
ingham's hands.  Seeing  that  Preston's  in- 
fluence at  court  was  waning,  the  fellows  of 
Emmanuel  petitioned  the  king  to  annul  the 
statute  limiting  the  tenure  of  their  fellow- 
ships. Buckingham  supported  their  plea. 
Preston  had  the  support  of  Sir  Henry  Mild- 
may  [q.  v.],  the  founder's  grandson.  At 
length  a  compromise  was  reached.  Charles 
suspended  the  statute  (5  May  1627)  till  such 
time  as  six  new  livings  of  100/.  a  year  should  be 
annexed  to  the  college.  Buckingham  was  now 
engaged  with  his  ill-fated  expedition  (27  June 
1627)  to  the  Isle  of  Re.  In  November  Preston 
preached  before  Charles  at  Whitehall  a  ser- 
mon which  was  regarded  as  prophetic  when, 


Preston 


Preston 


on  the  following  Wednesday,  news  arrived 
of  Buckingham's  defeat  (8  Nov.)  He  was 
not  allowed  to  preach  again,  but  considered 
that  he  had  obtained  a  moral  victory  for  his 
cause. 

But  Preston's  health  was  now  breaking ; 
his  lungs  were  diseased,  he  fell  into  a  rapid 
decline,  and  died  at  a  friend's  house  at  Pres- 
ton-Capes, Northamptonshire,  on  Sunday, 
20  July  1628 ;  he  was  buried  on  28  July  in 
Fawsley  church,  John  Dod  [q.v.],  rector  of 
the  neighbouring  parish  of  Fawsley,  preach- 
ing the  funeral  sermon.  There  is  no  monu- 
ment to  his  memory.  A  fine  engraved  por- 
trait of  him  is  prefixed  to  his  'New  Covenant,' 
1629 ;  it  is  poorly  reproduced  in  Clarke ;  there 
are  also  two  smaller  engravings.  As  Ball 
describes  him,  '  he  was  of  an  able,  firme, 
well-tempered  constitution,  comely  visadge, 
vigorous  and  vived  eye.'  He  was  unmarried. 
His  will  provided  for  his  mother  and  brothers, 
founded  exhibitions  at  Emmanuel  College, 
and  left  his  books  and  furniture  to  Thomas 
Ball  [q.  v.],  his  favourite  pupil  and  his  minute 
biographer. 

Preston's  early  inclination  for  diplomacy 
was  symptomatic  of  his  character,  which 
Fuller  has  summed  as  that  of  '  a  perfect 
politician/  apt  '  to  flutter  most  on  that  place 
which  was  furthest  from  his  eggs.'  He  had 
'great  self-command,  kept  his  own  counsel, 
and  was  impervious  to  outside  criticism. 
Only  to  Ball  does  he  seem  to  have  frankly 
bared  his  mind,  and  Ball's  admiring  delinea- 
tion of  him  furnishes  a  singular  picture  of 
cautious  astuteness  and  constitutional  re- 
serve. It  is  clear  that  his  heart  was  firmly 
set  on  the  propagation  of  the  calvinistic 
theology ;  his  posthumous  works  (edited  by 
Richard  Sibbes,  John  Davenport,  Thomas 
Ball,  and  partly  by  Thomas  Goodwin,  D.D. 
[q.  v.])  are  a  storehouse  of  argument  in  its 
favour.  They  comprise :  1 .  '  The  Saints  Daily 
Exercise;  or  a  ...  Treatise  of  Prayer,' &c. ,3rd 
edit.  1629,  4to  (on  1  Thess.  v.  17).  2.  'The 
New  Covenant  .  .  .  xiv  Sermons  on  Genesis 
xvii.  1, 2,'  &c.,  1629, 4to.  3.  <  Four  Sermons/ 
£c.,  1630,  4to  (on  Eccles.  ix.  ],  2,  11,  12). 
4.  '  Five  Sermons  .  .  .  before  his  Majestie/ 
&c.,  1630,  4to  (on  1  John  v.  15;  Isaiah, 
Ixiv.  4 ;  Eph.  v.  15 ;  1  Tim.  iii.  15 ;  1  Sam. 
xii.  20-22).  5.  '  The  Breastplate  of  Faith 
and  Love/  &c.  1630,  4to  (eighteen  sermons, 
on  Rev.  i.  17  ;  1  Thess.  i.  3;  Gal.  v.  6). 
6.  '  The  Doctrine  of  the  Saints  Infirmities/ 
&c.,  Amsterdam  [1630  ?],  12mo  (on  2  Chron. 
vxx.  18-20).  7.  'Life  Eternal;  or  a  .  .  . 
Treatise  ...  of  the  Divine  .  .  .  Attributes 
in  xvii  Sermons/  &c.  1631,  4to.  8.  'The 
Law  Ovt  Lavved/  &c.  Edinburgh,  1631,  4to 
(on  Rom.  vi.  14).  9.  '  An  Elegant  .  .  .  De- 


scription of  Spirituall  Life  and  Death/  &c.^ 
1632,  4to.  10.  '  The  Deformed  Forme  of  a 
Formall  Profession/  &c.,  Edinburgh,  1632. 
4to  (on  2  Tim.  iii.  5)  ;  London,  1641,  4to. 
11.  '  Sinnes  Overthrow ;  or  a  ...  Treatise 
of  Mortification/  &c.,  2nd  edit.  1633,  4to  (on 
Col.  iii.  5).  12.  '  Foure  .  .  .  Treatises/  &c. 
I  1633,  4to  (includes  1.  'A  Remedy  against 
|  Coretousnes/  on  Col.  iii.  5  ;  2.  '  An  Elegant 
and  Lively  Description  of  Spiritual  Life  and 
Death/  on  John  v.  25;  3.  'The  Doctrine  of 
Selfe-deniall/  on  Luke  ix.  23,  preached  at 
Lincoln's  Inn  ;  4.  '  Three  Sermons  upon  the 
Sacrament/  on  1  John  v.  14).  13.  'The 
Saints  Qualification/  &c.,  3rd  edit.  1634,  4to 
i  (ten  sermons  on  Humiliation,  nine  of  them 
j  on  Rom.  i.  18,  the  tenth  preached  before  the 
House  of  Commons  on  Num.  xxv.  10,  11 ; 
nine  sermons  on  Sanctification,  on  1  Cor.  v. 
17 ;  three  on  communion  with  Christ  in  the 
Sacrament,  on  1  Cor.  x.  16).  14.  '  A  Liveles 
Life ;  or  Man's  Spirituall  Death/  &c.,  3rd 
edit.  1635, 4to  (on  Eph.  ii.  1-3).  15.  '  A  Ser- 
mon preached  at  Lincolnes-Inne/  &c.,  1635, 
4to  (on  Gen.  xxii.  14).  16.  '  Remaines  of 
.  .  .  John  Preston/  2nd  edit.  1637,  4to 
(includes  1.  'Judas  his  Repentance/  on 
Matt,  xxvii.  3-5  ;  2.  '  The  Saints  Spirituall 
Strength/  on  Eph.  iii.  16  ;  3.  '  Pauls  Con- 
version/ on  Acts  ix.  6).  17.  '  The  Golden 
Scepter  .  .  .  Three  Treatises/  &c.,  1638,  4to. 
18.  '  Mount  Ebal  .  .  .  Treatise  of  the  Divine 
Love/  &c.,  1638,  4to  (five  sermons  on  1  Cor. 
xvi.  22).  19.  '  The  Saints  Submission/  &c., 
1638,  12mo.  20.  '  The  Fulnesse  of  Christ/ 
&c.,  1640,  4to  (on  John  i.  16).  21.  'The 
Christian  Freedome/  &c.  1641,  4to  (on  Rom. 
vi.  14).  22.  '  De  Irresistibilitate  Gratise  Con- 
vertentis.  Thesis  habita  in  Scholis  Publicis 
Academies  Cantabrigiensis  .  .  .  Ex  ipsius 
manuscript©/  &c.  1643,  ]6mo;  in  English, 
'  The  Position  of  John  Preston  .  .  .  Con- 
cerning the  Irresistiblenesse  of  Converting 
Grace/  &c.  1654,  4to.  23.  '  Riches  of  Mercy/ 
&c.,  1658,  4to.  24.  'Prayers/  &c.,  24mo; 
this  last  is  in  the  list  of  works  prefixed  to 
'  The  Position.'  An  '  Abridgment '  of  six  of 
Preston's  works  by  William  Jemmat  [q.  v.] 
was  published  in  1648,  12mo.  With  his 
sermons  are  sometimes  erroneously  catalogued 
some  funeral  sermons  (1615-19)  by  John 
Preston,  vicar  of  East  Ogwell,  Devonshire. 

[The Life  of  Preston,  by  Thomas  Ball,  written 
in  1628,  several  times  printed  in  an  abridged 
i  form  by  Samuel  Clarke,  the  martyrologist  (whose 
last  edition  is  in  his  Lives  of  Thirty-two  English 
Divines,  1677,  pp.  75  sq.),  is  full  and  graphic; 
the  chronological  arrangement  is  sometimes  con- 
fused (see  also  Clarke's  Life  of  John  Cotton  in 
the  same  collection,  p.  219);  it  was  edited  in 
1885  by  E.  W.  Harcourt,  esq.,  from  the  original 


Preston 


312 


Preston 


manuscript  at  Nuneham.  Fuller's  Church  His- 
tory, 1655,  xi.  119,  126,  131  ;  Fuller's  Worthies, 
1662  (Northamptonshire),  p.  291;  Burn et's  His- 
tory of  his  Own  Time,  1724,  i.  19;  Granger's 
Biographical  Hist,  of  England,  1779,  ii.  174  sq. ; 
Middleton's  Biograpbia  Evangelica,  1780,  ii. 
406  sq. ;  Brook's  Lives  of  the  Puritans,  181 3,  ii. 
356  sq. ;  Neal's  Hist,  of  the  Puritans  (Toulmin), 
1822,  ii.  124  sq. ;  Heywood  and  Wright's  Cam- 
bridge University  Transactions,  1854,  ii.  312  sq. ; 
extracts  from  the  University  Kegister,  Cam- 
bridge, per  the  master  of  Emmanuel,  and  from 
the  burial  register  atFawsley,  per  the  Eev.  P.  W. 
Story.]  A.  G. 

PRESTON,RICHARD(1768-1850),legal 
author,  only  son  of  the  Eev.  John  Preston 
of  Okehampton,  Devonshire,  was  born  at 
Ashburton  in  the  same  county  in  1768.  He 
began  life  as  an  attorney,  but  attracted  the 
notice  of  Sir  Francis  Buller  [q.  v.]  by  his  first 
work,  *  An  Elementary  Treatise  by  way  of 
Essay  on  the  Quantity  of  Estates/  Exeter, 
1791,  Svo.  By  Buller's  advice  he  entered 
in  1793  at  the  Inner  Temple,  where,  after 
practising  for  some  years  as  a  certificated 
conveyancer,  he  was  called  to  the  bar  on 
20  May  1807,  was  elected  a  bencher  in  1834, 
in  which  year  he  took  silk,  and  was  reader 
in  1844. 

Preston  represented  Ashburton  in  the  par- 
liament of  1812-18,  and  was  one  of  the 
earliest  and  most  robust  advocates  of  the 
imposition  of  the  corn  duties.  (See  his 
speeches  on  the  debates  of  15  June  1813  and 
22  Feb.  1815,  Hansard,  xxvi.  666,  andxxix. 
979,  and  his  Address  to  the  Fundholder,  the 
Manufacturer,  the  Mechanic,  and  the  Poor 
on  the  subject  of  the  Corn  Laws,  London, 
1815,  Svo,  and  other  tracts  in  the  Pamphleteer, 
yols.vii.-xi.,  London,  1816-18,  Svo).  He  had 
invested  a  large  fortune,  derived  from  his  con- 
veyancing practice,  in  land  in  Devonshire.  In 
law,  as  in  politics,  he  was  intensely  conserva- 
tive, and  thought  the  Fines  and  Recoveries 
Act  a  dangerous  innovation ;  but  his  know- 
ledge of  the  technique  of  real-property  law 
was  profound,  and  his  works  on  conveyancing 
are  masterpieces  of  patient  research  and  lucid 
exposition.  He  was  for  some  time  professor 
of  law  at  King's  College,  London.  He  died 
on  20  June  1850  at  his  seat,  Lee  House, 
Chulmleigh,  near  Exeter. 

Besides  the  work  mentioned  in  the  text, 
Preston  was  author  of:  1.  '  A  Succinct  View 
of  the  Rule  in  Shelley's  Case,'  Exeter,  1794, 
8vo.  2.  A  volume  of  '  Tracts '  (on  cross- 
remainders,  fines  and  recoveries,  and  similar 
subjects),  London,  1797, 8vo.  3. '  A  Treatise 
on  Conveyancing,'  London,  1806-9,  2  vols. 
8vo ;  2nd  edit.,  1813 ;  3rd  edit.,  1819-29,  8vo. 
4.  t  An  Essay  in  a  Course  of  Lectures  on 


Abstracts  of  Title/  London,  1818,  Svo ;  2nd 
edit.  1823-4,  Svo.  He  also  edited  in  1828 
Sheppard's  '  Touchstone  of  Common  As- 
surances/ London,  Svo. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1850,  pt.  ii.  p.  328;  Ann.  Reg. 
1850,  p.  236;  Warren's  Law  Studies,  3rd  edit, 
pp.  1215etseq.;  Charles  Butler's  Beminiscences, 
i.  62;  Lysons's  Magna  Britannia,  vol.  vi.  pt.  ii. 
pp.  9,  18,  108,  336,  339;  Marvin's  Legal  Biblio- 
graphy ;  Allibone's  Diet,  of  Engl.  Lit.] 

J.  M.  R. 

PRESTON,  SIB  SIMON  C#.  1538-1570), 
of  Preston  and  Craigmillar,  provost  of  Edin- 
burgh in  the  time  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  was- 
descended  from  a  family  who  possessed  the 
lands  of  Preston,  Midlothian,  from  the  time 
of  William  the  Lion.  Sir  William  de  Pres- 
ton was  one  of  the  Scots  nobles  summoned 
to  Berwick  by  Edward  I  in  1291  in  connec- 
tion with  the  competition  between  Bruce  and 
Balliol  for  the  Scottish  crown ;  and  his  son 
Nichol  de  Preston  swore  fealty  to  Edward  I 
in  1296.  The  lands  and  castle  of  Craigmil- 
lar, near  Edinburgh,  were  purchased  by 
Simon  de  Preston  in  1374  from  John  de 
Capella.  Sir  Simon,  provost  of  Edinburgh, 
was  the  eldest  son  of  George  Preston  of" 
Preston  and  Craigmillar  and  Isabella  Hop- 
pringall.  He  is  mentioned  as  a  bailie  of  Edin- 
burgh on  24  Aug.  1538  (Reg.  Mag.  Sig. 
Scot.  1513-46,  entry  1827),  and  filled  the- 
office  of  provost  continuously  from  1538  to 

1543,  and  again  in  1544-5  (Extracts  from 
the  Records  of  the  Burgh  of  Edinburgh,  iiu 
295-7).     On  25  Aug.  1540  he  had  a  grant 
from   the   bailies  and  town  council  of  the 
office  of  town  clerk  for  life,  which  was  con- 
firmed by  letter  of  the  privy  seal  on  the 
27th  of  the  same  month  (ib.  ii.  100-2  ;  Reg. 
Mag.  Sig.  Scot.  1513-46,  entry  2193).     On 
5  June  1543  the  queen-regent  conceded  to« 
him,  as  son  and  heir-apparent  of  his  father, 
and  to  Janet  Beton,  his  wife,  the  lands  ot" 
Balgawy  in  Forfarshire,  and  also  the  lands 
of  Craigmillar  and  Preston,  near  Edinburgh 
(ib.  entry  2926). 

When  the  English  invaded  Scotland  in 

1544,  many  of  the  richer  inhabitants  placed 
their  valuables  in  Craigmillar  Castle,  but  the 
castle  was  surrendered  by  Preston  to  the 
enemy  without  a  blow  being  struck.     The 
author  of  the  l  Diurnal  of  Occurrents  '  states 
that  it  was  surrendered  on  promise  to  i  keep 
the  same  without  skaith'  (i.e.  damage)  (p.  32), 
but,  according  to  Bishop  Lesley,  for  a  part 
of  the  booty  and  spoil  (Hist,  of  Scotland^ 
Bannatyne  Club  ed.,  p.  132) ;  and  Knox  adds- 
that  l  the  laird  '  was  '  caused  to  march  upon 
his  foot  to  London '  (  Works,  i.  121).   In  the 
summer  of  1560  Preston  went  over  to  France, 


Preston 


313 


Preston 


according  to  William  Maitland  of  Lethington 
— who  recommended  him  to  Lady  Cecil,  on 
his  way  through  London,  as  a  '  near  relative 
of  his;;  own ' — for  the  recovery  of  certain 
debts  due  to  him  from  the  late  queen-regent 
(Cal.  Hatfield  MSS.  i.  250).  Not  improbably 
he  was  employed  by  Maitland  on  some  private 
political  mission ;  and  he  seems  to  have  re- 
mained in  France  until  after  the  death  of 
Queen  Mary's  husband,  Francis  II.  That 
he  won  the  special  confidence  of  Queen 
Mary  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  he 
was  chosen  one  of  her  commissioners  on 
12  Jan.  1561  to  intimate  the  death  of  the  king 
to  the  privy  council  of  Scotland  (LABANOFF, 
Lettres  de  Maria  Stuart,  i.  85 ;  Cal.  State 
Papers, For.  Ser.  1560-1,  entry  880). 

When  Queen  Mary  arrived  in  Scotland, 
Preston  became  one  of  her  most  trusted 
friends,  and  she  made  him  captain  of  the  im- 
portant stronghold  of  Dunbar  (ib.  1564-5, 
entry  181).  On  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion 
of  the  Earl  of  Moray  and  others  after  the 
queen's  marriage  to  Darnley,  the  queen  on 
23  Aug.  1565  sent  a  letter  to  the  bailies  and 
town  council  of  Edinburgh  ordering  them  to 
displace  Archibald  Douglas  of  Kilspindie  and 
to  *  elect,  admit,  and  own  our  lovit  Symon 
Preston  as  provost'  (Letter  in  Extracts  from 
the  Records  of  the  Burgh  of  Edinburgh,  1557- 
1571,  p.  199,  and  in  MAITLAND'S  Hist,  of  Edin- 
burgh, p.  26).  When,  on  31  Aug.,  the  forces 
of  the  rebels,  under  Moray,  advanced  towards 
Edinburgh,  Preston  caused  the  common  bell 
to  be  rung  to  summon  the  inhabitants  to  resist 
his  entrance ;  and,  although  he  did  not  suc- 
ceed in  preventing  this,  the  attitude  of  the 
inhabitants  was  so  hostile,  that  Moray,  fail- 
ing to  obtain  any  support  either  in  soldiers  or 
money,  was  compelled  to  depart  as  soon  as 
news  reached  him  of  the  approach  of  the 
queen's  forces.  In  order  to  raise  money  for 
payment  of  the  Queen's  troops,  Preston, 
after  several  of  the  principal  inhabitants  had 
declined  to  raise  the  loan,  effected  an  agree- 
ment by  which  the  city  undertook  to  pay 
immediately  ten  thousand  merks  sterling, 
and  to  have  the  superiority  of  Leith  in 
pledge,  upon  condition  of  redemption  (Ex- 
tracts from  the  Records  of  the  Burgh  of  Edin- 
burgh, 1557-71,  pp.  207-8).  By  this  bargain 
Edinburgh  retained  the  superiority  of  Leith 
for  nearly  three  hundred  years.  Randolph 
refers  to  Preston  as  'a  rank  papist '( Cal. 
State  Papers,  For.  Ser.  1564-5,  entry  181)  ; 
but  Knox,  although  denouncing  Preston  as 
( a  right  epicurean '  for  his  adherence  to  the 
queen  after  the  murder  of  Riccio  (  Works,  i. 
236),  admits  that  after  the  crisis  following 
the  marriage  to  Darnley  he  '  showed  himself 
most  willing  to  set  forward  religion,  to 


punish  vice,  and  to  maintain  the  common- 
wealth J  (ib.  ii.  511).  On  5  Nov.  1565  he 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  privy  council 
(Reg.  P.  C.  Scotl.  i.  389),  and  in  the  same 
month  he  was  also  appointed  one  of  a  com- 
mission to  take  order  for  the  proper  mount- 
ing of  the  artillery  of  the  realm  (ib.  pp.  402- 
403).  After  the  murder  of  Riccio  on  9  March 
1565-6,  Preston,  as  provost  of  the  city, 
caused  the  common  bell  to  be  rung,  and 
passed  to  Holyrood  Palace  with  four  or  five 
hundred  armed  men ;  but,  on  being  com- 
manded by  Darnley  to  return  home  with  his 
company,  immediately  retired  (K^ox,  ii. 
522).  On  2  Aug.  1566  the  bailies  and 
council,  in  recompense  of  his  services  to  the 
burgh  during  the  past  year,  conferred  on 
him  the  gift  of  the  goods  of  Thomas  Hop- 
pringill,  which  had  been  escheated  (Extracts 
from  the  Records  of  the  Burgh  of  Edinburgh, 
1557-71,  p.  216).  Subsequently  Preston  was 
in  close  alliance  with  Bothwell  and  the 
queen.  Mary  was  staying  at  Craigmillar 
Castle  when  the  scheme  was  mooted  for 
ridding  her  of  Darnley ;  and  she  also  at  first 
proposed,  or  professed  to  propose,  to  bring 
Darnley  to  Craigmillar  for  change  of  air, 
when  he  accompanied  her  from  Glasgow. 
After  the  queen's  marriage  to  Bothwell, 
however,  Preston  supported  the  lords ;  and 
in  the  name  of  the  magistrates  of  Edinburgh, 
he,  on  10  June  1567,  signed  the  band  for  the 
deliverance  of  the  queen  from  Bothwell  and 
revenge  of  the  murder  (ib.  p.  233  ;  Reg.  P.  C. 
Scotl.  i.  527).  When  the  queen  was  con- 
voyed by  the  lords  into  Edinburgh  after  the 
surrender  at  Carberry  Hill,  she  was  lodged, 
until  the  evening  of  the  following  day,  ( in 
the  Provests  loging  [or  town  house],  foment 
the  croce,  upon  the  north  syd  of  the  gait ' 
(letter  of  Archbishop  Beaton  in  LAING'S 
Hist.  ii.  113).  On  8  May  1568  Preston  en- 
tered into  a  bond  with  Sir  William  Kirkcaldy 
[q.v.]  of  Grange  to  maintain  the  cause  of 
the  king  and  regent  (CALDERWOOD,  ii.  412-3 ; 
Cal.  State  Papers,  For.  Ser.  1572-4,  entry 
944).  In  1569  he  was  succeeded  in  the  pro- 
vostship  by  Kirkcaldy.  On  2  June  of  the 
same  year  the  king  conceded  to  David  Pres- 
ton, son  and  heir-apparent  of  Simon  Preston, 
the  lands  and  barony  of  Craigmillar,  with 
the  fortalice,  &c.,  which  Simon  resigned 
(Reg.  Mag.  Sig.  Scot.  1543-80,  entry  1860). 
In  June  1570  he  was  in  Paris,  whence,  on 
the  12th,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  Cecil,  inform- 
ing him  of  a  proposal  made  to  the  French 
king  on  behalf  of  the  Queen  of  Scots  (Cal. 
State  Papers,  Scott.  Ser.  i.  291).  He  died 
some  time  before  8  March  1574-5  (Reg.  P.  C. 
Scotl.  ii.  436). 

By  his  first  wife,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 


Preston 


314 


Preston 


William  Menteith   of  Kerse,  Stirlingshire, 
lie  had  a  son  David,  who  succeeded  him. 

[Reg.  Mag.  Sig.  Scot.  1530-80;  Eeg.  P.  C. 
Scotl.  vols.  i.  and  ii.;  Extracts  from  the  Records 
of  the  Burgh  of  Edinburgh,  in  the  publications 
of  the  Burgh  Records  Society ;  Cal.  State  Papers, 
Scott.  Ser.  and  For.  Ser.,  during  the  reign  of 
Queen  Elizabeth  ;  Histories  of  Lesley,  Knox, 
and  Calderwood  ;  Wood's  Baronage  of  Scotland, 
i.  415.]  T.  F.  H. 

PRESTON,  THOMAS  (1537-1598), 
master  of  Trinity  Hall,  Cambridge,  and  dra- 
matist, born  at  Simpson,  Buckinghamshire, 
in  1537,  was  educated  at  Eton  and  at  King's 
College,  Cambridge,  where  he  was  elected 
scholar,  16  Aug.  1553,  and  fellow,  18  Sept. 
1556.  He  graduated  B.A.  in  1557  and  M.A. 
in  1561.  When  Queen  Elizabeth  visited 
Cambridge  in  August  1564,  he  attracted  the 
royal  favour  by  his  performance  of  a  part 
in  the  tragedy  of  '  Dido,'  and  by  disputing 
in  philosophy  with  Thomas  Cartwright  in 
the  royal  presence  (NICHOLS,  Progresses^  iii. 
71,  181).  He  also  addressed  the  queen  in  a 
Latin  oration  on  her  departure,  when  she  in- 
vited him  to  kiss  her  hand,  and  gave  him  a 
pension  of  20Z.  a  year,  with  the  title  of  '  her 
scholar '  (STKYPE,  Annals}.  He  served  as 
proctor  in  the  university  in  1565.  In  1572 
he  was  directed  by  the  authorities  of  his  col- 
lege to  study  civil  law,  and  four  years  later 
proceeded  to  the  degree  of  LL.D.  In  1581 
he  resigned  his  fellowship.  He  seems  to 
have  joined  the  College  of  Advocates.  In 
1584  he  was  appointed  master  of  Trinity 
Hall,  and  he  served  as  vice-chancellor  of 
the  university  in  1589-90. 

He  died  on  1  June  1598,  and  was  buried 
in  the  chapel  of  Trinity  Hall.  A  monu- 
mental brass  near  the  altar,  placed  there  by 
his  wife  Alice,  bears  a  Latin  inscription  and 
a  full-length  effigy  of  him  in  the  habit  of  a 
Cambridge  doctor  of  laws. 

Preston  was  a  pioneer  of  the  English 
drama,  and  published  in  1569  '  A  Lament- 
able Tragedy  mixed  full  of  Mirth  conteyn- 
ing  the  Life  of  Cambises,  King  of  Percia, 
from  the  beginning  of  his  Kingdome,  unto 
his  Death,  his  one  good  deed  of  execution  ; 
after  that  many  wicked  deeds  and  tirannous 
murders  committed  by  and  through  him ;  and 
last  of  all  his  odious  Death  by  God's  justice 
appointed.  Don  in  such  order  as  followeth 
by  Thomas  Preston,  London.'  There  are  two 
undated  editions :  one  by  John  Allde,  who  ob- 
tained a  license  for  its  publication  in  1569,  and 
another  by  Edward  Allde  (cf.  COLLIER,  Regis- 
ters, Shakespeare  Soc.,  i.  205).  It  was  reprinted 
in  Hawkins's  '  Origin  of  the  English  Drama,' 
i.  143,  and  in  Dodsley's '  Old  English  Drama ' 
(ed.  Hazlitt),  iv.  157  sq.  A  reference  to  the 


death  of  Bishop  Bonner  in  September  1  569 
shows  that  the  piece  was  produced  after 
that  date.  The  play  illustrates  the  transi- 
tion from  the  morality  play  to  historical 
drama.  The  dramatis  personas  include  alle- 
gorical as  well  as  historical  personages.  The 
plot,  characterisation,  and  language  are 
rugged  and  uncouth.  Murder  and  bloodshed 
abound.  The  chief  scenes  are  written  in 
rhyming  alexandrines,  but  the  comic  cha- 
racter of  Ambidexter  speaks  in  irregular 
heroic  verse.  The  bombastic  grandiloquence 
of  the  piece  became  proverbial,  and  Shake- 
speare is  believed  to  allude  to  it  when  he 
makes  Falstaff  say  '  I  must  speak  in  passion, 
and  I  will  do  it  in  Cambises  way  '  (IHenrylV, 
ii.  4).  Preston  also  wrote  a  broadside  ballad 
entitled  '  A  Lamentation  from  Rome  how 
the  Pope  doth  bewayle  the  Rebelles  in  Eng- 
land cannot  prevayle.  To  the  tune  of  "  Rowe 
well,  ye  mariners,"  '  London  by  William 
Griffith,  1570;  reprinted  in  Collier's  'Old 
Ballads,'  edited  for  the  Percy  Society>  and 
in  the  <  Borderer's  Table  Book,'  vii.  154  (CoL- 
LIEE,  i.  210).  Another  ballad  by  Preston, 
not  now  extant,  '  A  geliflower  of  swete 
marygolde,  wherein  the  frutes  of  tyranny 
you  may  beholde,'  was  licensed  for  publica- 
tion to  William  Griffith,  1569-70  (COLLIER,- 
i.  222). 

Preston  contributed  Latin  verses  to  the 
university  collection  on  the  restitution  of 
Bucer  and  Fagius,  1560,  and  to  Carr's 


ag 
,'  1 


Demosthenes,'  1571. 

[Cooper's  Athense  Cantabr.  ii.  247,  550  ;  Har- 
wood's  Alumni  Eton.;  Cooper's  Annals  of  Cam- 
bridge ;  Fleay's  History  of  the  English  Stage.] 

S.  L. 

PRESTON,  THOMAS,  first  VISCOUNT 
TAEA  (1585-1653  ?),  born  in  1585,  was  the 
second  son  of  Christopher,  fourth  viscount 
Gormanston,  by  his  second  wife,  Catherine, 
daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Fitzwilliam  of  Bag- 
gotsrath,  co.  Dublin.  Christopher  (d.  1599) 
was  the  great-grandson  of  Robert  Preston,who 
was  created  Viscount  Gormanston  in  1478, 
upon  his  appointment  as  deputy  to  Henry, 
lord  Grey  (Grey  being  himself  deputy  of 
the  youthful  viceroy,  Richard,  duke  of  York, 
who  was  murdered  in  the  Tower  in  1483). 
Gormanston  sat  in  the  Irish  parliament  of 
1490,  and  three  years  later  was  appointed 
deputy  to  Jasper  Tudor,  duke  of  Bedford, 
lord  lieutenant  of  Ireland.  He  died  in  1503. 
His  great-grandfather,  Sir  Robert  de  Preston, 
who  was  knighted  in  1361  by  the  viceroy, 
Lionel,  duke  of  Clarence,  for  services  in  ex- 
peditions against  the  hostile  Irish,  was  the 
founder  of  the  family's  importance.  In  1363 
Sir  Robert  purchased  the  manor  and  lands  of 


Preston 


315 


Preston 


Gormanston  in  Meath,  while  by  his  marriage 
to  Margaret,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Walter 
de  Bermingham,  he  acquired  large  estates  in 
Leiuster.  He  was  appointed  baron  of  ex- 
chequer in  Ireland  in  1365,  and  was  subse- 
quently keeper  of  the  great  seal  in  that 
country  (Patent  and  Close  Rolls,  Ireland ; 
GILBERT,  Viceroys  of  Ireland,  and  Chartu- 
laries  of  St.  Mary's  Abbey,  Dublin,  1884 ; 
LODGE,  Peerage,  i.  82  ;  notes  furnished  by 
J.  T.  Gilbert,  esq.) 

Thomas  was  educated  in  the  Spanish  Ne- 
therlands,where  he  took  service  with  the  arch- 
dukes. Both  he  and  Owen  Roe  O'Neill  [q.  v.] 
were  captains  in  Henry  O'Neill's  Irish  regi- 
ment at  Brussels  in  July  1607  (State  Papers, 
Ireland).  Between  Preston  and  Owen  Roe 
was  from  the  first  a  strong  antipathy ,which  be- 
came embittered  in  the  course  of  time  by  pro- 
fessional rivalry  in  the  Spanish  service  (GIL- 
BERT, Confederation  and  War,  iii.  3).  Preston 
was  in  Ireland  recruitingin  1615,  and  again  in 
1634,  and  Went  worth  allowed  him  to  recruit 
his  regiment  up  to  2,400  men.  Both  Preston 
and  O'Neill  continued  to  draw  men  from  Ire- 
land until  1641,  and  their  recruiting  agents 
frequently  came  into  conflict.  From  24  June 
to  4  July  1635  Preston  distinguished  himself 
in  the  defence  of  Louvain  against  the  com- 
bined forces  of  France  and  Holland,  and  sent 
to  Wentworth  an  account  of  the  exploit  on 
6  July  1635.  In  the  summer  of  1641  Preston 
threw  himself  into  Genappe,  of  which  he 
was  made  governor,  and,  after  a  gallant  de- 
fence, capitulated  to  Frederick  Henry  of 
Orange  in  person  on  27  July.  In  1642  his 
nephew,  Lord  Gormanston,  urged  him  to  re- 
turn to  Ireland,  and,  resolving  to  sacrifice  his 
hopes  of  promotion  abroad,  he  prepared  to 
join  the  Irish  catholics  in  their  rebellion 
against  the  English  government. 

Though  Richelieu  did  not  wish  to  appear 
openly  in  support  of  Irish  rebels,  he  dis- 
charged all  the  Irish  soldiers  in  the  French 
service,  so  as  to  set  them  free  for  their  own 
country,  let  it  be  understood  that  they  might 
expect  money  up  to  a  million  crowns,  and  al- 
lowed war  material  to  be  purchased  in  France. 
Preston  was  at  Paris  in  July  1642  (id.  ii.  67), 
and  probably  obtained  a  substantial  subsidy 
in  money.  But  he  had  married  a  Flemish 
lady  of  rank,  and  had  more  influence  and 
interest  in  the  Spanish  Netherlands.  It  was 
accordingly  from  Dunkirk  that  he  sailed  with 
three  armed  vessels,  carrying  many  guns  and 
stores  and  a  number  of  officers  trained  in 
continental  warfare.  He  arrived  in  Wexford 
harbour  at  the  end  of  July  or  beginning  of 
August  (GILBERT,  Contemporary  Hist.  i. 
519).  At  Wexford  he  was  joined  by  a  dozen 
or  more  vessels  laden  with  munitions  of  war 


1  from  Nantes,  St.  Malo,  and  Rochelle  (CARTE). 
Preston  reconnoitred  Duncannon  fort,  which 
he  thought  could  be  taken  in  fifteen  days,  and 
then  went  to  Kilkenny,  where  the  Catholic 
Confederation  was  established.  He  accom- 
panied Castlehaven  in  his  expedition  against 
Monck,  who  had  just  relieved  Ballinakill  in 
Queen's  County.  Preston,  by  Castlehaven's 
account,  pursued  Monck,  forced  him  to  fight, 
and  routed  him  near  Timahoe  on  5  Oct.  Pres- 
ton was  formally  chosen  general  of  Leinster  by 
the  supreme  council  (14  Dec.)  His  first  suc- 
cess was  the  capture  of  Birr  Castle  on  20  Jan. 
1642-3  (Confederation  and  War,ii.  145).  It 
had  held  out  since  the  beginning  of  the  war. 
The  terms  were  honourable  and  were  honour- 
ably kept.  Castlehaven,  who  served  under 
Preston,  records  with  pride  that '  he  delivered 
[the  inmates  of  the  castle],  being  about  eight 
hundred  men,  women,  and  children,  with  their 
baggage,  safe  to  their  friends '  (p.  34).  On 

18  March  1642-3  Preston  was  totally  defeated 
by  Ormonde,  near  New  Ross.  Preston's  forces 
were  nearly  two  to  one ;  but  Castlehaven,  who 
was  present  and  a  good  judge,  says  he  'put 
himself  under  as  great  disadvantage  as  his 
enemy  could  wish.'   Ballinakill  was  taken  by 
Preston  some  weeks  later,  and  Castlehaven 
escorted  the  defenders  to  a  place  of  safety. 
In  June  1643  Preston  threatened  the  garrison 
of  Castlejordan  in  Meath,  but  was  foiled  by 
Ormonde,    and    his   operations   during  the 
summer   were   unimportant.     On  15  Sept. 
the  cessation  of  arms  for    a  year  between 
Ormonde  and  the  confederates  was  concluded 
at  Sigginstown  in  Kildare  (cf.  Confederation 
and  War,  iii.  3).    Many  soldiers  went  to  Eng- 
land at  the  cessation,  and  few  returned.  When 
the  year  had  expired  there  was  a  succession  of 
short  truces,  during  which  abortive  negotia- 
tions for  peace  went  on. 

After  Lord  Esmond,  governor  of  Dun- 
cannon  fort,  declared  for  the  parliament,  the 
towns  of  Waterford  and  Ross,  who  feared  to 
lose  their  trade,  provided  funds  for  its  re- 
duction. Preston  began  the  siege  on  20  Jan. 
1644-5,  and  the  fort  was  surrendered  on 

19  March.     According  to  the  diary  of  the 
Franciscan   Bonaventure   Baron,  who   was 
present  (ib.  iv.  189),  176  shells  and  162  round 
shot  were  fired  by  the  assailants ;  Carte  adds 
that  19,000  pounds  of  powder  were  burned. 
But  only  thirty  of  the  garrison  were  killed  or 
died ;  famine  and  want  of  water  were  the  real 
captors.   The  garrison  were  allowed  to  march 
out  'with  bag  and  baggage'  (ib.  p.  184),  and 
to  be  conveyed  safely  to  Youghal  or  Dublin. 
But  the  forces  of  Preston  and  the  confede- 
rates were  unequal  to  the  army  which  the 
parliament  was  collecting  against  them,  and 
Preston's  pecuniary  resources  were  failing. 


Preston 


316 


Preston 


A  petition  from  him  to  the  supreme  council 
shows  that  he  had  no  pay  for  eighteen  months, 
except  200/.  during  the  siege  of  Duncannon. 
The  very  expenses  of  his  outfit  and  passage 
from  Flanders  had  not  been  paid.  The 
supreme  council  acknowledged  on  2  May 
1645  that  they  owed  him  1,300/.,  which  they 
ordered  to  be  paid  out  of  the  rents  due  to 
the  crown  at  Easter  and  Michaelmas  that 
same  year  (ib.  p.  239).  As  to  the  rest  of  his 
arrears,  they  would  settle  them  at  some  more 
convenient  season,  (  as  shall  be  agreeable  to 
honour  and  justice.'  In  October  Preston  was 
sent  to  reduce  Youghal ,  but  he  q  uarrelled  with 
his  colleague  Castlehaven,  and  the  expedition 
failed. 

Preston  was  one  of  two  deputed  by  the 
supreme  council  to  wait  upon  the  nuncio, 
Rinuccini,  who  brought  over  arms,  ammuni- 
tion, and  money,  after  his  arrival  at  Kilkenny 
in  the  middle  of  November.  The  nuncio  dis- 
trusted every  one,  and,  after  much  dispute, 
agreed  to  allot  half  the  fund  at  his  disposal 
to  Connaught,  where  Clanricarde  found  it 
hard  to  maintain  his  ground.  In  April  1646 
Preston  was  despatched  to  his  help  with  three 
thousand  foot  and  five  hundred  horse,  and  the 
nuncio  said  his  readiness '  to  serve  under  Clan- 
ricarde had  edified  all,  and  given  the  best  hopes 
of  good  service  from  him.'  Preston  took  Ros- 
common  about  the  time  of  the  battle  of  Ben- 
burb  (5  June)  (  Warr  of  Ireland,  p.  56),  and 
gained  some  success  in  the  field.  But  his  jea- 
lousy of  Owen  Roe  O'Neill  threatened  a  dan- 
gerous development,  and  Owen  Roe,  anxious 
to  spare  his  own  province  of  Ulster,  allowed 
some  of  his  victorious  but  hungry  troops  to 
spread  themselves  over  the  counties  of  West- 
meath  and  Longford,  where  they  committed 
many  excesses.  Preston's  men  were  largely 
drawn  from  that  district,  and  disturbances 
were  imminent  {Confederation  and  War,  v. 
32).  Rinuccini  made  peace  between  the  rival 
generals,  but  it  was  neither  real  nor  lasting. 

A  peace  was  concluded  in  March  1646 
between  Ormonde  and  the  confederates,  but 
it  did  not  put  an  end  to  the  war.  Preston, 
who  was  in  Connaught  till  October,  had  a 
natural  leaning  towards  Ormonde,  and,  after 
a  friendly  correspondence  with  him,  pro- 
claimed the  peace  in  camp.  But  he  was 
afterwards  over-persuaded  by  Rinuccini  to 
reopen  the  war  by  joining  O'Neill  in  an 
attack  on  Dublin.  At  the  end  of  August 
Ormonde  had  gone  to  Kilkenny,  where  he 
collected  some  of  his  rents.  A  determined 
attempt  was  now  made  to  cut  him  off  from 
the  capital.  He  escaped  with  his  men  by 
forced  marches,  but  his  baggage  was  plun- 
dered by  the  Irish.  He  saw  that  the  con- 
federates could  not  be  trusted,  and  suspected 


Preston  equally  with  O'Neill  of  complicity 
in  this  breach  of  faith.  Ormonde  saw  that 
the  protestants  of  Dublin  and  of  the  other 
garrisons  could  only  be  saved  by  the  help  of 
the  English  parliament.  On  9  Nov.  Preston, 
O'Neill,  and  Rinuccini  were  together  at 
Lucan,  only  seven  miles  from  Dublin  ;  but 
the  generals  quarrelled  so  violently  that  the 
nuncio  had  much  ado  to  keep  them  from 
actually  coming  to  blows.  At  the  news 
that  Ormonde  was  treating  with  the  parlia- 
mentarians, O'Neill  suddenly  recrossed  the 
Liffey  and  left  Preston  alone.  Preston's 
position  was  very  difficult.  On  21  Oct.  he 
swore  allegiance  to  the  '  council  and  congre- 
gation of  the  confederates,'  that  is,  to  the 
clerical  section  who  were  now  in  power  at 
Kilkenny ;  but  a  few  days  later,  at  the  per- 
suasion of  Clanricarde,  he  accepted,with  some 
hesitation,  Ormonde's  assurances  that  by 
maintenance  of  peace  his  co-religionists 
would  gain  full  religious  liberty.  In  a  letter 
dated  24  Nov.  to  the  mayor  and  citizens  of 
Kilkenny  he  spoke  triumphantly  of  the  ex- 
tension of  the  catholic  religion,  and  the  re- 
striction of  heresy  in  Leinster  to  Dublin, 
Drogheda,  Dundalk,  and  Trim,  while  he  com- 
plained bitterly  that  his  plan  of  besieging 
Dublin  and  thus  extorting  catholic  emanci- 
pation had  been  hampered  by  tempest  and 
nood,  and  that  his  desertion  by  O'Neill  had 
now  exposed  him  and  his  men  to  great  peril 
(see  Confederation  and  War,  vi.  162). 

He  adhered  to  his  understanding  with 
Clanricarde  only  until  December.  The  nuncio 
early  in  that  month  excommunicated  Preston 
for  refusing  to  disperse  his  army  in  quarters 
assigned  by  the  clerical  party  at  Kilkenny. 
A  few  days  later  he  renewed  his  promises  of 
obedience  to  the  church  and  repudiated  the 
understanding  with  Clanricarde.  He  had 
just  proposed  a  friendly  meeting  with  Or- 
monde, but  excused  himself  on  the  ground 
that  his  officers  were  l  not  excommunication- 
proof'^,  pp.  45,  167).  A  truce  with  Ormonde 
was  maintained  until  10  April.  On  the  very 
night  that  it  ended  Preston  invested  the 
royalist  garrison  at  Carlow.  It  fell  into  his 
hands  three  weeks  later,  but  to  little  purpose, 
for  a  parliamentary  army  under  Michael  Jones 
[q.  v.]  was  admitted  into  Dublin  on  7  June, 
and  on  28  July  Ormonde  left  Ireland,  just 
when  Preston  was  mustering  seven  thousand 
foot  and  a  thousand  horse  on  the  Curragh  of 
Kildare. 

Jones  attacked  him  at  Dangan  Hill,  near 
Trim,  on  8  Aug.,  and  his  army  was  almost 
annihilated  (Jones's  account  in  RTJSHWOETH, 
vii.  779 ;  RINTJCCINI,  p.  306 ;  Contemporary 
Hist.  i.  154). 

The  defeated  general  retired  to  Kilkenny 


Preston 


317 


Preston 


with  the  remnant  of  his  army,  and  was  en- 
gaged for  the  rest  of  the  year  in  disputes 
with  the  nuncio's  party  there.  Preston, 
who  was  next  year  at  the  head  of  about  three 
thousand  men,  formed  an  odd  combination 
with  Taafe  and  Inchiquin  in  the  royalist 
interest,  against  O'Neill  and  the  nuncio.  The 
latter  fulminated  'the  strictest  form  of  ex- 
communication '  against  Preston ;  but  the 
general  had  grown  less  sensitive,  and  the 
Jesuits,  who  were  supported  by  David  Rothe 
[q.v,],  bishop  of  Ossory,  and  other  dignitaries, 
declared  the  sentence  irregular  and  of  no 
effect.  When  Ormonde  returned  to  Ireland 
to  take  command  of  the  moderate  catholic 
and  royalist  forces,  Preston  wrote  (12  Oct.) 
that  he  had  kept  the  Leinster  army  together 
with  great  trouble  and  with  no  selfish  aims, 
but  for  the  king  and  for  miserable,  distracted 
Ireland,  '  which  must  derive  its  happiness 
from  your  lordship's  resuming  the  manage- 
ment thereof,  to  Avhich  no  man  shall  more 
readily  submit  than  I '  ( Confederation  and 
War,  vi.  286).  On  28  Dec.  Ormonde  pro- 
mised Preston,  on  the  king's  behalf,  a  peerage 
and  an  estate  to  support  it  out  of  lands  for- 
feited by  those  who  'oppose  his  authority 
and  the  peace  of  the  kingdom '  (ib.  vii.  171). 

In  June  1649,  Preston,  apparently  jealous 
of  the  favour  bestowed  by  Ormonde  on 
Taafe,  corresponded  with  Jones,  the  parlia- 
mentary general,  but  this  came  to  nothing, 
unless  it  served  to  increase  the  general  distrust 
of  the  royalist  chiefs  in  one  another.  Preston 
was  at  the  council  of  war  held  before  Dublin 
on  27  July  (ib.) ;  the  struggle  with  the  par- 
liamentary troops,  which  grew  fiercer  on 
Cromwell's  landing  in  August,  but  Preston 
took  little  prominent  part  in  it  until  the  spring 
of  1650,  when  he  was  at  Carlow.  Thence 
he  was  sent  by  Ormonde  to  Waterford,  to  fill 
the  place  of  governor.  When  Sir  Hardress 
Waller  took  Carlow  for  the  parliament,  he 
allowed  Preston's  servant  to  follow  his  master 
with  money,  papers,  and  personal  effects. 
Preston  has  been  blamed  for  not  making  some 
effort  to  relieve  Clonmel  in  March,  but  he 
was  probably  quite  powerless  to  do  so.  He 
defended  Waterford  well  against  Ireton,  and 
obtained  honourable  terms  when  he  surren- 
dered on  10  Aug.  to  famine  as  much  as  to 
arms.  The  city  had  been  blockaded  since  the 
beginning  of  June. 

Preston  was  created  Viscount  Tara  by  a 
patent  dated  at  Ennis  2  July  1650.  After 
leaving  Waterford  he  was  engaged  in  some 
trifling  and  hopeless  operations  in  King's 
County,  and  he  withdrew  beyond  the  Shan- 
non early  in  the  following  year.  Ormonde 
liad  then  left  Ireland  for  the  second  time, 
and  Clanricarde  was  appointed  his  deputy. 


In  May  1651  Preston  erected  a  last  fortress 
for  the  falling  confederacy  in  the  island  of 
Innisbofin  off  Connemara,  and  immediately 
afterwards  became  governor  of  Galway  ( Con- 
temporary'History ',iii.  240).  Preston  steadily 
supported  Clanricarde  in  opposition  to  the 
extreme  clerical  party,  and  discountenanced 
the  projects  of  Charles  IV,  the  feather- 
headed  Duke  of  Lorraine,  who  had  got  rid 
of  his  own  duchy  and  dreamed  of  a  new  one 
in  Ireland.  The  Irish  bishops,  who  were  at 
their  wits'  ends,  snatched  even  at  this  straw, 
but  got  only  a  small  sum  of  money,  some  arms, 
and  some  very  bad  powder.  On  22  Dec.  an  Irish 
priest  wrote  from  Brussels  to  the  secretary 
of  propaganda  that  he  had  seen  the  Duke  of 
Lorraine  there,  and  that  '  his  highness  at 
once  fell  to  abuse  [convicia]  of  the  Irish,  and 
especially  of  Clanricarde,  Preston,  Taafe, 
&c.,  calling  them  rogues,  traitors,  and  here- 
tics '  (Spicilegium  Ossoriense,  i.  386).  In  1652 
Charles  II  stood  sponsor  to  Preston's  grand- 
son Thomas,  who  was  born  in  Paris.  The 
royal  godfather  scarcely  brought  prosperity, 
for  it  is  noted  in  the  register  of  the  Scots 
College  at  Douay  in  1670  that  this  boy  was 
hopelessly  in  debt  to  the  college  (Hist. 
MSS.  Comm.  5th  Rep.  App.  p.  654). 

After  taking  Limerick  in  October  1651, 
Ireton  was  unable  to  attempt  Galway,  but 
he  wrote  on  7  Nov.  from  Clare  Castle  to  the 
citizens,  urging  them  to  accept  the  terms 
which  he  had  originally  offered  to  Limerick, 
and  to  save  themselves  from  the  horrors  of 
a  siege  by  turning  out  Preston  and  his  men. 
To  Preston  he  also  wrote  <  for  the  good  men's 
sake  of  the  city,  who  perhaps  may  not  be 
so  angry  in  the  notion  of  a  soldier's  honour 
as  to  understand  the  quibbles  of  it  ... 
though  men  of  your  unhappy  breeding  think 
such  glorious  trifles  worth  the  sacrificing  or 
venturing  of  other  men's  lives  and  interests 
for  .  .  .  the  frivolous  impertinence  of  a 
soldier's  honour  or  humour  rather '  (HARDI- 
MAX,  p.  129).  Five  days  later  the  mayor 
and  his  council  answered  that  they  meant 
to  stand  together  with  the  garrison,  and 
Preston  wrote  angrily  that  the  heads  of 
Ireton's  followers  were  '  as  unsettled  on 
their  shoulders  as  any  he  knew  in  that 
town '  (ib.)  Ireton  died  shortly  afterwards, 
and  Coote  offered  the  same  conditions,  but 
they  were  again  declined.  In  March  1651-2 
Clanricarde  proposed  a  pacification,  but  Lud- 
low  said  that  the  English  parliament  had  to 
be  obeyed,  and  that  no  one  else  could  grant 
conditions  (LuDLOW,  i.  343).  Preston,  find- 
ing the  situation  hopeless,  slipped  away  to 
the  continent,  and  on  5  April  the  townsmen 
surrendered  on  terms  as  good  as  those 
Ireton  had  offered. 


Preston 


318 


Preston 


Preston  was  excepted  from  pardon  for 
life  or  estate  in  the  Cromwellian  Act  of 
Settlement  12  Aug.  1652.  He  was  now  old, 
he  had  not  been  successful  except  in  the 
defence  of  towns,  and  could  scarcely  hope 
for  any  important  employment.  The  short 
remainder  of  his  life  was  chiefly  spent  in 
the  Spanish  Netherlands,  but  he  was  at 
Paris  in  the  autumn  of  1653  with  offers  of 
service  to  Charles  II.  Hyde  did  not  like 
him,  and  wrote  on  12  Sept.  that  he  had 
received  no  countenance,  as  it  was  found 
that  his  real  object  was  to  get  employment 
from  the  .French  king  (Cal.  of  Clarendon 
State  Papers^).  The  date  of  Preston's  death 
is  uncertain.  He  married  a  daughter  of 
Charles  Van  der  Eycken,  seigneur  de  St. 
George.  Their  son  Anthony,  who  had 
played  an  active  part  in  the  Irish  war,  and 
who  succeeded  his  father  as  second  Viscount 
Tara,  died  24  April  1657.  The  peerage  became 
extinct  in  1674.  One  of  their  daughters  was 
the  second  wife  of  Sir  Phelim  O'Neill  [q.  v.], 
and  may  have  stimulated  her  father's  hos- 
tility to  Owen  Roe  O'Neill.  Another  married 
successively  Colonel  Francis  Netterville  and 
Colonel  John  Fitzpatrick. 

There  are  two  portraits  of  Preston  at 
Gormanston Castle,  co.  Meath.  An  engraving 
after  one  of  these  is  preserved  in  Trinity 
College,  Dublin,  and  is  reproduced  in  the 
frontispiece  to  vol.  iv.  of  the  *  History  of 
the  Confederation  and  War  in  Ireland.' 

[For  the  period  before  1642:  Cal.  of  State 
Papers,  Ireland,  1603-14;  Lord  Stratford's 
Letters  and  Despatches  ;  Martin's  Hist,  de 
France,  chap.  Ixx. ;  M.  O'Connor's  Irish  Bri- 
gades, 1855  ;  Historise  Belgicse  Liber  singularis 
de  obsidione  Lovaniensi  A.D.  MDCXXXV.  Ant- 
werp, 1636,  by  Erycius  Puteanus  (Henri  Du 
Puy  or  Van  der  Putte),  which  gives  a  detailed 
and  very  laudatory  account  of  Preston's  doings 
at  Louvain ;  Bishop  French  mentions  another 
by  Vernulseus  (Nicolas  de  Vernulz),  but  without 
specifying  anyone  of  his  numerous  works.  For 
the  Irish  war  and  after  it  see :  Contemporary 
Hist,  of  Aifairs  in  Ireland  and  Hist,  of  Confede- 
ration and  War  in  Ireland,  both  ed.  Gilbert, 
(the  latter  comprises  the  narrative  of  Secretary 
Sellings,  who  is  very  full  and  accurate  on 
Leinster affairs) ;  Irish Warr  in  1641,  by  a  British 
officer  in  Sir  John  Clotworthy's  regiment ; 
Castlehaven's  Memoirs,  ed.  1815  ;  Bishop 
French's  Unkind  Deserter;  Cardinal  Moran's 
Spicilegium.  Ossoriense;  Einuccini's  Embassy  in 
Ireland  (transl.  by  Hughes);  Clanrioarde's  Me- 
moirs, 1744;  Ludlow's  Memoirs,  ed.  Firth,  1894  ; 
Rush  worth  Collections;  Cal.  of  Clarendon  State 
Papers,  1646-57  ;  Carte's  Ormonde  and  Original 
Letters;  Hardiman's  Hist,  of  Gal  way;  Burke's 
Dormant  and  Extinct  Peerage ;  Foster's  Peerage, 
1883.]  R.  B-L. 


PRESTON,  WILLIAM  (1753-1807), 
poet  and  dramatist,  born  in  the  parish  of 
St.  Michan's,  Dublin,  in  1753,  was  admitted 
a  pensioner  at  Trinity  College  in  1766.  He 
graduated  B.A.  in  1770,  and  M.A.  in  1773, 
studied  at  the  Middle  Temple,  and  was  called 
to  the  Irish  bar  in  1777.  He  assisted  in  the 
formation  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  and 
was  elected  its  first  secretary  in  1786.  That 
post  he  held  daring  the  rest  of  his  life.  He 
also  helped  to  found  the  Dublin  Library  So- 
ciety, and  was  a  frequent  contributor  to  its 
'Transactions.'  He  wrote  occasional  poetry 
for  periodicals — including  the  'Press,'  the 
organ  of  the  '  United  Irishmen,'  and  the 
'  Sentimental  and  Masonic  Magazine,'  1794, 
and  he  contributed  to  '  Pranceriana '  (1784, 
cf.  Nos.  16,  24,  25,  29,  31,  and  33),  a  collec- 
tion of  satirical  pieces  on  John  Hely-Hutch- 
inson  (1724-1794)  [q.v.],  provost  of  Trinity 
College,  and  to  Joshua  Edkins's  collection  of 
poems  (1789-90  and  1801).  His  chief  suc- 
cess was  attained  by  his  tragedy  'Democratic 
Rage '  (founded  on  incidents  in  the  French 
revolution),  which  was  produced  at  Dublin  in 
1793,  and  ran  through  three  editions  in  as 
many  weeks.  Preston,  who  was  a  member 
of  the  'Monks  of  the  Screw,'  died  of  over- 
work on  2  Feb.  1807.  He  was  buried  in 
St.  Thomas's  churchyard,  Dublin. 

His  works  were  :  1.  '  Heroic  Epistle  of 
Mr.  Manly  ...  to  Mr.  Pinchbeck,'  a  satire 
(anon.),8vo, Dublin,  1775.  2.  'Heroic Epistle 
to  Mr.  Twiss,  by  Donna  Teresa  Pinna  y 
Ruiz,'  a  satire,  8vo,  Dublin,  1775 ;  2nd  edit. 
Dublin,  1775.  3.  '  Heroic  Answer  of  Mr. 
Twiss,'  by  the  same,  a  satire,  8vo,  Dublin, 
1775.  4.  '  1777,  or  a  Picture  of  the  Manners 
and  Customs  of  the  Age,'  a  poem  (anon.), 
8vo,  Dublin,  1778?  5.  '  The  Female  Congress, 
or  the  Temple  of  Cottyto,'  a  mock-heroic 
poem  in  four  cantos,  4to,  London,  1779. 
6.  '  The  Contrast,  or  a  Comparison  between 
England  and  Ireland,'  a  poem,  1780.  7. '  Offa 
and  Ethelbert,  or  the  Saxon  Princes,'  a 
tragedy,  8vo,  Dublin,  1791.  8.  'Messina 
Freed,'  a  tragedy, 8vo, Dublin,  1793.  9.  'The 
Adopted  Son,'  a  tragedy.  10.  '  Rosmanda,' 
tragedy,  Dublin,  1793,  8vo.  11.  'De- 
mocratic Rage,3  a  tragedy,  8vo,  London, 
1793.  12.  'Poetical  Works,  8vo,  2  vols. 
Dublin,  1793.  13.  'The  Siege  of  Ismail,'  a 
tragedy,  8vo,  Dublin,  1794.  14. '  A  Letter  to 
Bryan  Edwards,  Esq.  ...  on  some  Passages 
of  his  "  History  of  the  West  Indies," '  4to, 
London,  1794.  15.  '  The  Natural  Advan- 
tages of  Ireland,'  4to,  Dublin,  1796.  16. '  The 
Argonautics  of  Apollonius  Rhodius,'  trans- 
lated into  English  verse  with  notes,  12mo, 
1803  (various  other  editions).  17.  '  Some 
Considerations  on  the  History  of  the  Ancient 


Preston 


3*9 


Prestwich 


Amatory  Writers  and  the  comparative  Me- 
rits of  the  Elegiac  Poets/  &c.,  Dublin?  1805  ? 
18.  '  Posthumous  Poems,'  edited  by  Hon. 
Frances  Preston,  with  portrait,  8vo,  Dublin, 
1809. 

[Baker's  Biographia  Dramatica ;  Warburton, 
Wliitelaw,  and  Walsh's  Hist,  of  Dublin,  ii.  1210- 
1212  ;  O'Donoghue's  Poets  of  Ireland,  pp.  208-9; 
Taylor's  Hist,  of  the  University  of  Dublin,  p. 
431 ;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat. ;  authorities  cited  in  text.] 

D.  J.  O'D. 

PRESTON,  WILLIAM  (1742-1818), 
printer  and  writer  on  freemasonry,  born  at 
Edinburgh  on  28  July  1742,  was  second  son 
of  William  Preston  (d.  1751),  writer  to  the 
signet.  Educated  at  the  high  school  and 
university  of  his  native  city,  he  became 
amanuensis  to  Thomas  Ruddiman  [q.  v.], 
whose  brother  Walter,  the  printer,  took  him 
as  apprentice.  In  1760  Preston  went  to  Lon- 
don with  letters  of  recommendation  to  Wil- 
liam Strahan,  king's  printer,  who  employed 
him  as  corrector  of  the  press,  and  left  him  an 
annuity  on  his  death  in  July  1785.  Andrew 
Strahan,  on  succeeding  to  his  father's  busi- 
ness, employed  Preston  as  chief  reader  and 
general  superintendent  until  midsummer 
1804,  when  he  took  him  into  partnership. 

Preston's  initiation  into  freemasonry  took 
place  in  1763  at  lodge  No.  1 1 1  of  the '  Ancient ' 
or  '  Atholl '  grand  lodge,  which  had  recently 
been  opened.  It  was  formally  constituted 
as  the  '  Caledonian '  in  1772.  Preston  be- 
came known  as  a  lecturer,  and  was  admitted 
in  1774  a  member  of  the  lodge  of  antiquity 
No.  1,  of  which  he  afterwards  became  master. 
In  the  same  year  he  delivered  a  course  of 
lectures  on  the  different  degrees  of  masonry 
at  the  Mitre  tavern  in  Fleet  Street,  London. 
He  and  some  others,  having  renounced  alle- 
giance to  the  grand  lodge  of  England,  set  up 
a  grand  lodge  of  their  own  in  1779.  The 
rival  body  did  not  prosper,  and  Preston  and 
the  other  seceders,  having  tendered  their 
submission,  were  restored  to  their  privileges 
in  1789.  He  had  a  share  in  reviving  the 
grand  chapter  of  Harodim  in  1787,  but  the 
establishment  of  formal  lodges  of  instruction 
did  away  with  the  object  of  this  body 
(WATSON'S  reprint  of  Illustrations  of  Ma- 
sonry, pref.  pp.  8-11). 

Few  masonic  publications  have  achieved 
the  extensive  popularity  of  the  '  Illustrations 
of  Masonry,'  of  which  the  first  edition,  now 
a  very  rare  book,  was  published  by  Preston  in 
1772,  London,  12mo.  It  was  issued  under 
the  sanction  of  Lord  Petre,  grand-master,  to 
whom  it  was  dedicated.  It  differs  from  all 
the  subsequent  editions,  and  was  reprinted, 
with  a  biographical  notice,  by  W.  Watson, 
London,  1887, 12mo.  It  contains  descriptions 


of  ceremonies,  songs,  and  an  historical  account 
of  masonry.  The  later  editions  are  chiefly 
historical  and  descriptive.  A '  second  edition, 
corrected  and  enlarged,'  appeared  in  1775, 
London,  12mo.  The  tenth  edition,  with 
considerable  additions,  London,  1801,  12mo, 
was  reprinted  at  Portsmouth  in  1804  as  '  the 
first  American  improved  edition,  to  which  is 
~jsic]  annexed  many  valuable  masonic  addenda 
and  a  complete  list  of  the  lodges  in  the 
United  States  of  America,  edited  by  Brother 
George  Richards.'  The  twelfth  (London, 
1812)  and  thirteenth  (London,  1821)  editions 
were  edited  by  Stephen  Jones,  '  with  correc- 
tions and  additions,'  and  a  portrait.  The 
fourteenth  (London,  1829),  fifteenth  (Lon- 
don, 1840),  sixteenth  (London,  1846),  and 
seventeenth  (London,  1861)  editions  were 
edited  by  the  Rev.  George  Oliver ;  the  last  edi- 
tion, in  which  little  of  the  original  remains, 
contains  '  additions,  explanatory  notes,  and 
the  historical  portion  continued  from  1820 
to  the  present  time.'  A  German  translation 
by  J.  H.  C.  Meyer  appeared  in  1776  and 
1780.  Preston  instituted  the  '  Freemason's 
Calendar,'  and  is  said  to  have  helped  to 
compile  the  '  Bibliotheca  Romana' (1757), 
a  catalogue  of  T.  Ruddiman's  library. 

Through  his  connection  with  Strahan, 
Preston  was  on  friendly  terms  with  Robert- 
son, Hume,  Gibbon,  Johnson,  and  Blair.  He 
died  on  1  April  1818  at  Dean  Street,  Fetter 
Lane,  London,  in  his  seventy-sixth  year,  and 
was  buried  on  10  April  in  St.  Paul's  church- 
yard. 

A  portrait,  engraved  by  Ridley  after  a 
picture  by  S.  Drummond  for  the  '  European 
Magazine '  (May  1811),  is  reproduced,  slightly 
reduced,  in  Stephen  Jones's  editions  of  the 
'  Illustrations  '  (1812  and  1821). 

[Biography  by  Stephen  Jones  in  European 
Magazine,  1811,  pt.  i.  pp.  323-7;  see  also  Gent. 
Mag.  1818,  i.  372;  Kloss's  Bibliographic  der 
Freimaurerei,  1844  ;  Allibone's  Diet,  of  English 
Lit.  ii.  1454,  1676;  Timperley's  Encyclopaedia, 
1 852,  p.  9 1 8 ;  Nichols's  Illustr.  of  Lit.  Hist.  viii. 
490.]  H.  E.  T. 

PRESTONGR  ANGE,  LOED.  [See  GBANT, 
WILLIAM,  1701P-1764,  Scottish  judge.] 

PRESTWICH,  JOHN,  called  SIR  JOHN 
(d.  1795),  antiquary,  was  son  of  Sir  Elias 
Prestwich  of  Holme  and  Prestwich,  Lan- 
cashire, and  a  lineal  descendant  of  Thomas 
Prestwich,  who  was  created  a  baronet  in  1644. 
He  always  claimed  the  title  of  baronet, 
though  the  claim  was  not  officially  allowed. 
He  died  at  Dublin  on  15  Aug.  1795. 

His  works  are:  1.' Dissertation  on  Mineral, 
Animal,  and  Vegetable  Poisons,'  1775,  8vo. 
2.  l  Prestwich 's  Respublica,  or  a  Display  of 


Pretyman 


320 


Prevost 


the  Honors,  Ceremonies,  and  Ensigns  of 
the  Common  Wealth  under  the  Protectorship 
of  Oliver  Cromwell  ;  together  with  the 
Names,  Armorial  Bearings,  Flags,  and 
Pennons  of  the  different  Commanders  of 
English,  Scotch,  Irish,  Americans,  and 
French ;  and  an  Alphabetical  Roll  of  the 
Names  and  Armorial  Bearings  of  upwards 
of  Three  Hundred  Families  of  the  present 
Nobility  and  Gentry  of  England,  Scotland, 
and  Ireland,'  London,  1787, 4to.  This  curious 
heraldic  work  is  inscribed  to  Lord  Sydney. 
Notwithstanding  its  title,  it  is  replete  with 
loyalty.  In  the  British  Museum  there  is  a 
copy  with  indices  of  names  and  mottoes  in 
manuscript. 

Prestwich  left  unpublished  an  incomplete 
*  Historical  Account  of  South  Wales  '  and  a 
<  History  of  Liverpool,'  which  was  withheld, 
by  the  author's  direction,  on  a  similar  work 
being  announced  by  John  Holt  [q.  v.] 

[Courthope's  Extinct  Baronetage,  p.  162; 
Gent.  Mag.  179,5,  pt.  ii.  pp.  879,  967;  Moule's 
Bibl.  Heraldica,  p.  455  ;  Nichols's  Lit.  Anecd. 
ix.  23 ;  Notes  and  Queries,  4th  ser.  viii.  47,  5th 
ser.  i.  269  ;  Palatine  Note-book,  ii.  185,  249.] 

T.  C. 

PRETYMAN,  GEORGE  (d.  1827), 
bishop  of  Winchester.  [See  TOMLINE.] 

PREVOST,  SIR  GEORGE  (1767-1816), 
soldier  and  governor-general  of  Canada,  was 
eldest  son  of  Major-general  Augustine  Pre- 
vost (d.  1786),  who  served  under  Wolfe,  by 
his  wife  Anne,  daughter  of  Chevalier  George 
Grand  of  Amsterdam.  Born  on  19  May  1767, 
he  entered  the  army  and  became  a  captain 
on  9  June  1783,  took  a  company  in  the  25th 
foot  on  15  Oct.  1784,  was  promoted  major  in 
the  60th  (Royal  American)  foot  on  18  Nov. 
1790,  and  shortly  afterwards  was  sent  to  the 
West  Indies  with  his  regiment.  Becoming 
lieutenant-colonel  on  6  Aug.  1794,  he  com- 
manded the  troops  in  St.  Vincent  in  that 
and  the  following  year,  and  saw  much  active 
service.  On  20  Jan.  1796  he  was  twice 
wounded  in  repeated  attempts  to  carry 
Baker's  Ridge,  St.  Vincent.  On  1  Jan.  1798 
lie  became  a  colonel,  and  on  8  March  briga- 
dier-general. 

In  May  1798  Prevost  was  nominated  mili- 
tary governor  of  St.  Lucia.  Applying  himself 
to  abate  the  discontent  of  the  French  popu- 
lation, and  to  reform  the  disorganised  law 
courts,  he  so  won  the  hearts  of  the  people 
that,  on  their  petition,  he  was  appointed  civil 
governor  on  16  May  1801.  In  the  following 
year  his  health  compelled  his  return  to 
England.  On  27  Sept.  1802  Prevost  was 
appointed  captain-general  and  governor-in- 
chief  in  Dominica.  In  1803  he  aided  in  re- 


taking St.  Lucia  from  the  French,  and  in 
February  1805  had  a  severe  tussle  with 
the  French  for  the  possession  of  Dominica. 
On  10  May  1805  he  again  obtained  leave 
to  visit  England,  was  placed  in  command  of 
the  Portsmouth  district,  and  on  6  Dec.  1805 
was  created  a  baronet.  He  was  now  major- 
general,  and  on  8  Sept.  1806  became  colonel 
in  his  regiment.  In  the  same  year  he  was 
second  in  command  when  Martinique  was 
captured.  In  January  1808  he  became  lieu- 
tenant-general. 

In  1808  Prevost  became  lieutenant-governor 
and  commander-in-chief  of  Nova  Scotia, 
where  he  increased  his  reputation.  On 
14  Feb.  1811  he  was,  at  a  critical  juncture, 
chosen  to  be  governor  of  Lower  Canada  and 
governor-general  of  British  North  America, 
in  succession  to  Sir  James  Henry  Craig 
[q.  v.]  He  found  the  Canadians  suspicious 
and  untractable,  while  the  United  States 
were  threatening  war,  of  which  Canada  was 
to  bear  the  brunt.  Prevost's  first  action  was 
to  undertake  a  tour  of  military  observation ; 
he  next  remodelled  his  executive  council. 
On  21  Feb.  1812  he  met  his  parliament,  and 
was  cordially  received.  The  house  responded 
to  his  request  for  unusual  supplies,  and  on 
19  May  the  assembly  was  prorogued.  On 
18  June  the  United  States  declared  war ;  on  the 
24th  the  news  reached  Quebec.  Prevost  acted 
with  promptitude,yet  showed  every  considera- 
tion to  American  s  ubj  ects  then  within  his  j  uris- 
diction.  When  the  news  of  the  repeal  of  the 
orders  in  council  was  received,  he  concluded 
an  armistice  with  the  American  general ; 
but  it  was  disavowed  by  the  States,  and  the 
war  went  on.  Through  his  influence  Canada 
made  it  primarily  a  defensive  war,  and  the 
British  government  retained  the  confidence 
of  the  Canadian  people,  in  spite  of  the  ill- 
feeling  which  smouldered  in  the  House  of 
Assembly.  But  in  1813  the  house,  irritated 
with  the  governor's  cautious  reception  of  the 
impeachment  of  two  judges,  Sewell  and 
Monk,  resolved  that  by  his  answer  to  the 
address  he  had  violated  the  privileges  of  the 
house.  A  few  days  later,  however,  the  house 
resolved  that  '  they  had  not  in  any  respect 
altered  the  opinion  they  had  ever  entertained 
of  the  wisdom  of  his  excellency's  admini- 
stration.' 

Prevost's  intervention  in  the  military  opera- 
tions of  the  campaigns  of  1812-14  was  most 
unfortunate.  Though  nominally  commander- 
in-chief,  he  left  the  chief  conduct  of  the  war 
to  others,  and  his  own  appearance  in  the  field 
on  two  occasions  was  followed  by  the  humilia- 
tion of  the  British  arms.  In  the  one  case — 
on  17  Feb.  1813— Prevost  started  for  Upper 
Canada,  and,  after  waiting  at  Montreal  for 


Prevost 


321 


Prevost 


the  arrival  of  Sir  James  Yeo  from  England, 
went  with  him  to  Kingston,  and  concerted 
the  attack  on  Sacketts  Harbour  on  27  May. 
A  brilliant  attack  was  made  by  the  British 
troops — the  Americans  were  already  routed 
— when  Prevost,  seized  with  doubt,  sounded 
the  signal  for  retreat.  The  scheme  of  in- 
vading New  York  State,  in  July  1814,  was 
likewise  due  to  Prevost.  The  Canadian 
forces  had  been  reinforced  by  Peninsular 
veterans;  the  army  and  fleet  were  to  co- 
operate for  the  reduction  of  Plattsburg. 
The  attempt  ought  to  have  been  successful, 
both  by  land  and  sea.  But  by  some  error 
the  Confiance  was  sent  into  action  alone,  and 
Prevost,  instead  of  giving  her  immediate  sup- 
port, suddenly  decided  to  retreat. 

On  21  Jan.  1815  Prevost  met  the  new  par- 
liament of  Lower  Canada,  and  soon  an- 
nounced that  peace  had  been  concluded. 
The  assembly  proposed  to  present  him  with 
a  service  of  plate  of  5,000/.  value,  '  in  testi- 
mony of  the  country's  sense  of  his  distin- 
guished talents,  wisdom,  and  ability.'  The 
legislative  council,  however,  declined  to 
assent  to  the  bill.  In  closing  the  session 
Prevost  announced  that  he  was  summoned 
to  England  to  meet  the  charges  arising  out 
of  his  conduct  before  Plattsburg.  On  3  April 
he  left  amid  numerous  addresses  from  the 
French  Canadians.  The  British  section  of 
the  population  were  not  so  warm  in  their 
commendations.  He  reached  England  in 
September,  and  on  learning  that  he  had  been 
incidentally  condemned  by  the  naval  court, 
lie  obtained  from  the  Duke  of  York  permis- 
sion to  be  tried  in  person  by  court-martial. 
But  the  consequent  anxiety  ruined  his  health, 
and  he  died  in  London  on  5  Jan.  1816,  a 
week  before  the  day  fixed  for  the  meeting  of 
the  court.  He  was  buried  at  East  Barnet, 
Hertfordshire. 

His  brother,  Colonel  Prevost,  still  de- 
manded an  inquiry,  but  the  judge-advocate 
decided  that  it  could  not  be  held.  Lady 
Prevost  made  similar  efforts,  without  result ; 
but  at  her  request  the  prince  regent  publicly 
expressed  his  sense  of  Prevost's  services,  and 
granted  the  family  additional  armorial  bear- 
ings. 

Prevost  seems  to  have  been  cautious  to  a 
fault,  wanting  in  decision,  always  anticipat- 
ing the  worst ;  but  he  was  straightforward, 
1  amiable,  well-intentioned,  and  honest.' 
There  seems  to  be  little  room  for  questioning 
Prevost's  success  in  civil  affairs,  and  he  was 
an  efficient  soldier  while  he  filled  subordinate 
rank. 

He  married,  19  May  1789,  Catherine 
Anne,  daughterof  Major-general  John  Phipps, 
ll.E,,  and  had  a  son,  George  (1804-1893) 

VOL.   XLVI. 


[q.  v.],  and  two  daughters,  who  died  unmar- 
ried. 

[Army Lists;  Ann.  Eegister,  181G;  Southey's 
Chronicles  of  the  West  Indies ;  Christie's  Ad- 
ministration of  Lower  Canada  by  Sir  George 
Prevost,  Quebec.  1818,  see  esp.  the  Postscript; 
Koger's  History  of  Canada,  vol.  i.  Quebec,  1856  ; 
Withrow's  History  of  Canada ;  James's  Naval  and 
Military  Occurrences  of  the  War  of  1812-14  ; 
Letter  of  Veritas,  Montreal,  1815  ;  Canadian  In- 
spector, No.  1  ;  Gent.  Mag.  1816  i.  183,  1817  i. 
83 ;  Some  Account  of  the  Public  Life  of  the 
late  Sir  George  Prevost,  &c.,  from  the  Quarterly 
Eeviewofl822.]  C.  A.  H. 

PREVOST,  Sra  GEORGE  (1804-1893), 
baronet,  tractarian,  only  son  of  Sir  George  Pre- 
vost (1767-1816)  [q.  v"],  by  Catherine  Anne, 
daughter  of  Major-general  John  Phipps,  was 
born  at  Roseau  in  the  island  of  Dominica  on 
20  Aug.  1804.  He  succeeded  to  the  baronetcy 
on  5  Jan.  1816 ;  matriculated  at  Oxford,  from 
Oriel  College,  on  23  Jan.  1821 ;  graduated 
B.A.,  taking  a  second  class  in  literal  huma- 
niores,  and  a  first  class  in  the  mathematical 
school  in  1825 ;  proceeded  M.A.  in  1827 ; 
was  ordained  deacon  in  1828,  and  priest  in 
1829.  Prevost  was  a  pupil  and  disciple  of 
John  Keble,  whom  he  frequently  visited  at 
Southrop  ;  there  he  met  Isaac  Williams 
[q.  v.],  whose  sister  Jane  he  married  011 
18  March  1828.  Through  life  he  maintained 
the  cordiality  of  his  relations  with  his  old 
college  friend,  Samuel  Wilberforce  [q.  v.], 
successively  bishop  of  Oxford  and  Winches- 
ter. He  was  curate  to  Thomas  Keble  [q.v.] 
at  Bisley,  Gloucestershire,  from  1828  to  1834, 
when  he  was  instituted  on  25  Sept.  to  the 
perpetual  curacy  of  Stinchcombe  in  the  same 
county.  He  was  rural  dean  of  Dursley  from 
1852  to  1866,  proctor  of  the  diocese  of 
Gloucester  and  Bristol  from  1858  to  1865, 
archdeacon  of  Gloucester  from  1865  to  1881, 
and  honorary  canon  of  Gloucester  from  1859 
until  his  death  at  Stinchcombe  on  18  March 
1893.  He  was  buried  in  Stinchcombe  church- 
yard on  23  March. 

By  his  wife,  who  died  on  17  Jan.  1853, 
Prevost  had  issue  two  sons:  George  Phipps 
(1830-1885),  who  held  a  colonel's  commis- 
sion in  the  army ;  and  Charles,  the  present 
baronet. 

Prevost,  who  was  retiring  by  nature  and 
profoundly  pious,  was  an  enthusiastic  sup- 
porter of  the  Oxford  tractarian  movement 
from  its  inception,  and  he  remained  faithful 
till  death  to  the  via  media.  He  contributed 
to  '  Tracts  for  the  Times,'  and  translated  the 
'  Homilies  of  St.  John  Chrysostom  on  the 
Gospel  of  St.  Matthew'  for  Dr.  Pusey's  'Li- 
brary of  the  Fathers,'  Oxford,  1843,  3  vols. 
8vo  (American  reprint,  ed.  Schaff,  1888, 8vo). 


Prevost 


322 


Price 


He  edited  the  '  Autobiography  of  Isaac  Wil- 
liams/ London,  1892,  8vo,  and  printed  his 
archidiaconal  charges  and  some  sermons. 

[Foster's  Baronetage,  Alumni  Oxon.,  and  Index 
Ecclesiasticus ;  Burke's  Peerage  and  Baronetage ; 
Times,  20  March  1893;  Guardian,  22  March 
1893;  Reginald  Wilberforce's  Life  of  Samuel 
Wilberforce,  ed.  Ashwell;  J.  H.  Newman's  Let- 
ters during  Life  in  the  English  Church,  ed. 
Anrie  Mozley;  Charles  Wordsworth's  Annals  of 
my  Life,  1847-56,  p.  67 ;  Liddon's  Life  of  Pusey, 
iii'.  37,  280.]  J.  M.  E. 

PREVOST,  LOUIS  AUGUSTIN  (1796- 
1858),  linguist,  was  born  at  Troyes  in  Cham- 
pagne on  6  June  1796,  and  educated  at  a 
college  in  Versailles.  Coming  to  England 
in  1823,  he  was  at  first  tutor  in  the  family 
of  William  Young  Ottley  [q.  v.],  afterwards 
keeper  of  the  prints  in  the  British  Museum. 
For  some  years,  1823-43,  he  was  a  teacher  of 
languages  in  London,  and  numbered  Charles 
Dickens  among  his  pupils.  His  leisure  was 
spent  in  the  reading-room  of  the  British 
Museum  in  studyinglanguages.  He  gradually 
acquired  most  of  the  languages  of  Europe, 
many  of  Asia,  including  Chinese,  and  even 
some  of  Polynesia.  He  was,  finally,  ac- 
quainted more  or  less  perfectly  with  up- 
wards of  forty  languages.  Like  Mezzofanti, 
who  was  credited  with  knowing  sixty,  he 
was  chiefly  interested  in  their  structures. 
From  1843  to  1855  he  was  engaged  by  the 
trustees  of  the  British  Museum  in  cataloguing 
the  Chinese  books.  He  died  at  Great  Russell 
Street,  Bloomsbury,  London,  on  25  April 
1858,  and  was  buried  in  Highgate  cemetery 
on  30  April.  In  1825  he  married  an  English 
wife,  and  on  25  Oct.  1854  he  lost  his  only  son, 
fighting  under  the  assumed  name  of  Mel- 
rose,  in  the  charge  of  the  light  brigade  at 
Balaklava. 

[Cowtan's  Memories  of  the  British  Museum, 
1872,  pp.  358-62;  Gent.  Mag.  1858,  pt.  ii. 
p.  87.]  G.  C.  B. 

PRICE.  [See  also  PRYCE,  PETS,  and 
PKYSE.] 

PRICE,  ARTHUR  (d.  1752),  archbishop 
of  Cashel,  was  son  of  Samuel  Price,  who  was 
vicar  of  Straffan  in  the  diocese  of  Dublin, 
became  prebendary  of  Kildare  in  1672  (Coi- 
TON,  Fasti,  ii.  263).  and  was  created  B.A.  of 
Dublin  speciali  gratia  in  1692.  Arthur 
Price  was  elected  scholar  of  Trinity  College, 
Dublin,  in  1698,  and  graduated  B.A.  in  1700, 
and  D.D.  on  16  April  1724.  Taking  holy 
orders,  he  was  successively  curate  of  St. 
Werburgh's  Church,  Dublin,  and  vicar  of 
Cellbridge,  Feighcullen,  and  Ballybraine. 
On  4  April  1705  he  was  named  prebendary 
of  Donadea,  Kildare,  on  19  June  1715  canon 


and  archdeacon  of  Kildare,  and  on  31  March 
1721  dean  of  Ferns  and  Leighlin.  In  1723 
he  also  received  the  benefice  of  Louth  in 
Armagh.  On  1  May  1724  he  was  appointed 
to  the  see  of  Clonfert.  Price's  promotion  was 
'most  highly  provoking'  to  the  Irish  chan- 
cellor (Lord  Middleton)  ;  f  and  the  first  news 
of  it  made  him  swear'  (Bishop  Downes  to 
Bishop  Nicholson,  24  March  1724,ap.  MANT). 
From  Clonfert  Price  was  translated  on 
26  May  1730  to  the  see  of  Ferns  and  Leighlin, 
and  on  2  Feb.  1734  to  that  of  Meath.  For 
the  last  piece  of  promotion  Price  was  recom- 
mended on  the  ground  of  his  '  firm  attach- 
ment to  his  majesty/  his  *  great  service  in 
the  House  of  Lords,'  and  his  devotion  to 
'  the  English  interest.'  While  bishop  of 
Meath  he  began  to  build  an  episcopal  resi- 
dence at  Ardbraccan,  but  he  left  the  diocese 
before  it  was  completed,  and  the  design  was 
abandoned.  In  May  1744  he  succeeded 
Bolton  as  archbishop  of  Cashel.  Three  years 
later  he  was  made  vice-chancellor  of  Dublin 
University.  At  Cashel  he  dismantled  the 
old  cathedral,  which  was  built  on  a  steep 
rock,  and  was  rapidly  falling  into  decay,  and 
used  as  his  cathedral  St.  John's  parish  church ; 
these  proceedings  were  authorised  by  an  act 
of  council  (10  July  1749).  The  old  cathe- 
dral having  been  declared  incapable  of  re- 
storation, a  new  edifice  was  eventually  com- 
pleted upon  the  site  of  St.  John's  in  1783. 
Price  died  in  1752,  and  was  buried  in  St. 
John's  churchyard,  Cashel. 

[Ware's  Works  concerning  Ireland,  ed.  Harris, 
i.  164,  452,  645;  Cat.  Dublin  Graduates ;  Lewis's 
Typograph.  Diet,  of  Ireland ;  Cotton's  Fasti 
Ecc-les.  Hibernicfe,  i.  95,  170«.,  ii.  247,  252, 
263,  351,  iii.  107,  iv.  169  ;  Mant's  Hist,  of  the 
Irish  Church,  ii.  397,  399,  504,  529,  580,  584.] 

G.  LE  G.  N. 

PRICE,  BONAMY  (1807-1888),  eco- 
nomist, eldest  son  of  Frederick  Price  of  St. 
Peter's  Port,  Guernsey,  was  born  there  in 
May  1807.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  was 
sent  as  a  private  pupil  to  the  Rev.  Charles 
Bradley  [q.  v.]  of  High  Wycombe,  Bucking- 
hamshire, where  Smith  O'Brien  was  one  of 
his  fellow-pupils.  He  matriculated  at  Wor- 
cester College,  Oxford,  on  14  June  1825, 
graduated  B.A.,  with  a  double  first  in  clas- 
sics and  mathematics,  in  1829,  and  proceeded 
M.A.  in  1832.  While  he  was  an  under- 
graduate at  Oxford  he  was  an  occasional 
pupil  of  Dr.  Arnold  at  Laleham,  and  formed 
a  friendship  with  F.  W.  Newman,  his 
brother,  John  Henry  [q.  v.]  (afterwards  Car- 
dinal) Newman,  and^  other  leaders  of  the 
tractarian  movement.  In  1830  Arnold,  then 
headmaster  of  Rugby,  offered  him  the  mathe- 
matical mastership  at  that  school.  In  1832 


Price 


323 


Price 


Price  was  appointed  to  a  classical  mastership, 
and  given  charge  of  a  division  of  the  fifth 
form.  Six  years  later  he  succeeded  Prince 
Lee,  afterwards  bishop  of  Manchester,  in 
charge  of  the  form  known  as  f  The  Twenty.' 
He  retained  this  post  under  Tait,  Arnold's 
successor,  but  resigned  in  1850,  shortly  after 
Tait's  appointment  to  the  deanery  of  Carlisle. 

From  1850  to  1868  Price  resided  in  London, 
devoting  himself  to  business  affairs.  He 
suffered  for  some  months  from  a  cerebral 
affection,  but  completely  recovered.  He 
served  on  the  royal  commissions  on  Scottish 
fisheries  and  the  queen's  colleges  in  Ireland. 
When  the  Drummond  professorship  of  poli- 
tical economy  at  Oxford,  to  which  elections 
are  made  for  a  term  of  five  years,  became 
vacant  in  1868,  Price  was  elected  by  con- 
vocation by  a  large  majority  over  the  former 
holder  of  the  office,  J.  E.  Thorold  Rogers, 
who  offered  himself  for  re-election.  Rogers 
had  offended  the  conservative  majority  of 
convocation.  Price  held  the  professorship 
till  his  death,  being  thrice  re-elected.  He 
zealously  devoted  himself  to  his  professorial 
duties.  Master  of  a  clear  and  incisive  style, 
he  lectured  with  comparative  success.  Coura- 
geous in  the  expression  of  his  views,  fond 
of  controversy,  though  kindly  in  his  treat- 
ment of  opponents,  he  exercised  a  stimulating 
influence  on  his  pupils.  Prince  Leopold, 
while  resident  in  Oxford,  frequently  attended 
his  lectures,  and  became  much  attached  to 
him.  Price  also  lectured  in  different  parts 
of  the  country  in  connection  with  the  move- 
ment for  the  higher  education  of  women. 
He  served  on  the  Duke  of  Richmond's  com- 
mission on  agriculture,  and  on  Lord  Iddes- 
leigh's  commission  on  the  depression  of  trade. 
At  Cheltenham  in  1878,  and  at  Nottingham 
in  1882,  he  was  president  of  the  economical 
section  of  the  social  science  congress.  In 
1883  he  was  elected  honorary  fellow  of 
Worcester  College.  He  died  at  his  house  in 
London  on  8  Jan.  1888.  He  married,  in  1864, 
the  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Joseph  Rose,  vicar 
of  Rothley,  and  granddaughter  of  Thomas 
Babington  of  Rothley  Temple,  Leicestershire, 
by  whom  he  had  five  daughters. 

Price  possessed  in  a  high  degree  the  qua- 
lities of  a  successful  schoolmaster.  His  power 
as  an  economist  lay  in  exposition  and  criti- 
cism, not  in  original  work.  He  made  no 
important  contribution  to  economic  science. 
In  his  speech  on  the  Land  Law  (Ireland)  Bill 
on  7  April  1881,  Mr.  Gladstone  referred  to 
him,  in  connection  with  the  Duke  of  Rich- 
mond's commission,  as  l  the  only  man — to  his 
credit  be  it  spoken — who  has  had  the  re- 
solution to  apply,  in  all  their  unmitigated 
authority,  the  principles  of  abstract  political 


economy  to  the  people  and  circumstances  of 
Ireland,  exactly  as  if  he  had  been  proposing 
to  legislate  for  the  inhabitants  of  Saturn  or 
Jupiter.' 

Besides  various  pamphlets,  Price  pub- 
lished: 1.  'Preface  to  Arnold's  History  of 
the  Later  Roman  Commonwealth/  1845, 
8vo.  2.  '  Suggestions  for  the  Extension  of 
Professorial  Teaching  in  the  University  of 
Oxford'  [London,  Rugby  printed],  1850,  8vo. 
3.  '  The  Principles  of  Currency.  Six  Lec- 
tures delivered  at  Oxford  .  .  .  with  a  letter 
from  M.  Chevalier  on  the  History  of  the 
Treaty  of  Commerce  with  France,'  London, 
printed  at  Oxford,  1869,  8vo.  4.  '  Currency 
and  Banking,'  London,  1876,  8vo.  5. '  Chap- 
ters on  Practical  Political  Economy,'  &c., 
London,  1878,  8vo ;  2nd  edit.  1882,  8vo. 

[Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.  (1715-1886)  iii.  1146; 
Athenaeum,  14  Jan.  1888,  p.  50;  Times,  9  Jan. 
1888.]  W.  A.  S.  H. 

PRICE,  SIR  CHARLES  (1708-1772), 
speaker  of  the  House  of  Assembly  of  Jamaica, 
sometimes  called  the  '  Jamaica  patriot,'  was 
born  on  20  Aug.  1708,  probably  in  the  parish 
of  St.  Catherine,  Jamaica.  His  father  was 
Colonel  Charles  Price ;  his  mother  Sarah  was 
daughter  of  Philip  Edmunds;  his  grand- 
father had  settled  in  Jamaica  immediately 
after  its  conquest  by  England  in  1658.  He 
was  sent  to  England,  resided  for  a  time  at 
Trinity  College,  Oxford,  whence  he  matricu- 
lated in  October  1724,  made  the  '  grand  tour/ 
and  returned  to  Jamaica  in  January  1730. 
On  23  May  1730  his  father  died,  and  he  suc- 
ceeded to  the  estates.  At  the  same  time  he 
became  an  officer  of  the  militia. 

On  13  March  1732  Price  was  elected  to 
the  Jamaica  assembly ;  on  17  April  1745  he 
was  voted  to  the  chair  during  the  illness  of 
the  speaker,  and  a  year  later  became  speaker. 
During  his  long  term  of  office  many  colli- 
sions occurred  between  the  assembly  and  the 
executive  [see  KNOWLBS,  SIR  CHARLES; 
MOORE,  SIR  HENRY].  By  his  attitude 
throughout,  Price  excited  the  admiration  of 
his  countrymen.  Three  times  the  house 
solemnly  thanked  him  for  his  services — first, 
on  3  Aug.  1748,  then  on  19  Dec.  1760,  and 
again  when,  owing  to  ill-health,  he  retired  on 
11  Oct.  1763  ;  on  each  occasion  it  voted  him 
a  piece  of  plate.  Price  also  at  different  times 
acted  as  a  judge  of  the  supreme  court,  and 
as  the  custos  of  St.  Catherine,  and  became 
major-general  of  all  the  island  militia  forces. 
On  his  beautiful  estates,  Decoy  Penn,  Rose 
Hall  (which  was  the  finest  of  the  old  Jamaica 
houses),  and  Worthy  Park,  he  spent  most  of 
his  later  years ;  many  plants  and  animals  of 
other  countries  were  naturalised  in  the 

Y2 


Price 


324 


Price 


grounds.  The  Charley  Price  rat  takes  its 
name  from  him  (GossE,  Naturalist  in 
Jamaica}. 

On  7  Oct.  1768  Price  was  made  a  baronet 
of  Rose  Hall,  Jamaica.  On  26  July  1772  he 
died,  and  was  buried  at  the  Decoy,  where  a 
verse  epitaph  records  his  patriotism.  He 
married  Mary  Sharpe.  Their  son,  SIR  CHARLES 
PRICE  (1732-1788),  matriculated  from  Trinity 
College,  Oxford,  May  1752,  and  subsequently 
took  part  in  public  life  in  Jamaica,  becoming 
an  officer  of  militia,  and  ultimately  major- 
general.  He  first  sat  in  the  assembly  in 
1753,  and  on  the  resignation  of  his  father, 
being  at  the  time  his  colleague  in  the  repre- 
sentation of  St.  Mary's,  he  was  selected  as 
speaker  of  the  assembly  (11  Oct.  1763) ;  in 
the  next  assembly  he  was  member  for  St. 
Catherine's,  and  was  again  chosen  speaker  on 
5  March  1765  ;  and  on  13  Aug.  1765,  after  a 
new  election.  On  this  occasion  a  crisis  was 
brought  about  by  his  refusal  to  apply  to  Go- 
vernor William  Henry  Lyttelton  [q.  v.]  for 
the  usual  privileges,  and  within  three  days 
the  assembly  was  dissolved;  he  was  chosen 
speaker  once  again  on  23  Oct.  1770,  and  held 
the  post  till  31  Oct.  1775,  when  he  was  re- 
lieved of  it  at  his  own  request,  and  left 
Jamaica  for  England  for  four  years.  He  re- 
turned to  Jamaica  in  1779,  and  died  at  Spanish 
Town  18  Oct.  1788.  Price  married  Elizabeth 
Hannah  (d.  1771),  daughter  of  John  Guy, 
of  Berkshire  House,  chief  justice  of  Jamaica, 
and  widow  of  John  Woodcock,  but  left  no 
issue. 

[Inscription  on  tomb;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon. 
1715-1888;  Long's  History  of  Jamaica,  1774, 
ii  76 ;  Notes  from  the  local  records  by  Mr. 
Cundall ;  Burkes  Extinct  Baronetage.] 

C.  A.  H. 

PRICE,  DANIEL  (1581-1631),  divine, 
son  of  Thomas  Price,  vicar  of  St.  Chad's, 
Shrewsbury,  was  born  there  in  1581  (OWEN 
and  BLAKEWAY,  Shrewsbury,  ii.  312).  Be- 
coming commoner  of  St.  Mary  Hall,  Oxford, 
he  matriculated  14  Oct.  1597.  Before  taking 
his  degree  he  moved  to  Exeter  College, '  where, 
by  the  benefit  of  a  diligent  tutor,  he  became  a 
smart  disputant.'  He  graduated  B.  A.  10  July 
1601,  and  M.  A.  22  May  1604.  He  then  took 
orders,  and  became  '  a  frequent  and  remark- 
able preacher,  especially  against  papacy.'  He 
was  made  chaplain  to  Prince  Henry  in  1608, 
joined  the  Middle  Temple  in  1609",  was  ad- 
mitted B.D.  6  May  1611,  and  D.D.  21  June 
1613.  He  subsequently  became  chaplain  to 
Prince  Charles  and  James  I,  and  preached 
repeatedly  at  court.  In  1613  he  published,  on 
Prince  Henry's  death,  five  sermons,  four  of 
which  were  also  issued  in  a  collective  edition, 
1  Spirituall  Odours '  (Oxford,  1613,  4to).  In 


1614  he  published  a  sermon  on  the  second 
anniversary  of  the  Prince's  death. 

Price  was  rector  of  Wiston,  Sussex,  from 
1607  to  1613,  and  from  February  1610  vicar 
of  Old  Windsor.  In  1612  he  became  rector 
of  Lanteglos,  Cornwall,  in  1620  rector  of 
Worthen  in  Shropshire,  in  1624  canon-resi- 
dentiary of  Hereford,  and  justice  of  the  peace 
for  Shropshire,  Montgomery,  and  Cornwall. 
He  died  at  Worthen  on  23  Sept.  1631,  and 
was  buried  in  the  chancel  of  the  church 
there.  Over  his  grave  was  a  brass  plate 
(afterwards  fixed  in  the  wall),  engraved 
with  a  Latin  and  English  epitaph.  A  story 
was  circulated  in  1633  that  he  died  a  Roman 
catholic  (cf.  Puritanismethe  Mother, by  G.  B., 
1633,  pp.  117-20;  Cal.  State  Papers,  1631,  p. 
205).  The  story  is  due  to  a  confusion  of 
Daniel  with  Theodore  Price  [q.  v.] 

Price's  separately  published  sermons  num- 
bered, between  1608  and  1625,  at  least  thir- 
teen ;  all  but  the  last  two  appeared  at  Ox- 
ford. He  also  wrote  '  The  Defence  of  Truth 
against  a  Book,'  by  Humphrey  Leech  [q.  v.], 
'  falsely  called  the  Triumph  of  Truth,'  Ox- 
ford, 1610 ;  dedicated  to  Prince  Henry.  He 
contributed  verses  to  *  Threni  Oxon.,'  1613, 
and  a  commendatory  poem  before  Parker's 
'Nightingale,'  1632  (Addit,  MS.  24492,  f. 
337). 

A  younger  brother,  SAMPSON  PRICE  (1585- 
1630),  divine,  born  in  1585,  became  a  bateler 
of  Exeter  College,  Oxford,  in  1601,  and  ma- 
triculated 30  April  1602,  but  graduated  from 
Hart  Hall  B.A.  in  1605,  and  M.A.  in  1608. 
He  proceeded  from  Exeter  College  B.D. 
13  July  1615,  and  D.D.  30  June  1617,  when 
he  was  also  licensed  to  preach.  He  became 
a  noted  preacher  in  Oxford  and  its  neigh- 
bourhood ;  and  his  sustained  attacks  on  the 
papists  gained  him  the  sobriquet  of  '  the 
mawle  of  heretics  '  (LEWIS  OWEN,  Running 
Register,  p.  99).  He  was  lecturer  at  St. 
Martin  Carfax,  Oxford,  and  at  St.  Olave's, 
London;  chaplain-in-ordinary  to  James  I 
and  Charles  I ;  rector  of  All  Hallows  the 
Great  from  28  July  1617,  and  vicar  of  Christ 
Church,  London,  from  9  Oct.  1617,  holding 
both  till  his  death  (NEWCOTJRT,  Repert.  i. 
240,  320) ;  and  vicar  of  St.  Chad's,  Shrews- 
bury, in  succession  to  his  father,  from  1620  to 
1628.  In  July  1621  he  was  sent  to  the  Fleet 
for  some  remark  in  a  sermon  preached  before 
James  I  at  Oatlands  (State  Papers,  Dom. 
James  I,  cxxii.  23 ;  wrongly  referred  to  as 
Dr.  Theodore  Price).  In  1626  he  was  entered 
of  Gray's  Inn,  and  on  14  July  of  the  same 
year  was  collated  to  the  prebend  of  Church 
Withington  at  Hereford  (LE  NEVE,  i.  505  ; 
WILLIS,  Survey  of  Cathedrals,  'Hereford/ 
p.  566).  He  died  late  in  1630,  and  was 


Price 


325 


Price 


buried  under  the  communion-table  in  Christ's 
Church,  Newgate  Street.  He  published  be- 
tween 1613  and  1626  seven  separate  sermons, 
the  last  being  entitled  '  London's  Remem- 
brancer for  the  Staying  of  the  Contagious 
Sickness,'  London,  1626 ;  dedicated  to  Lord- 
keeper  Coventry. 

[Cole  MSS.  •  vol.  vi. ;  Hazlitt's  Handbooks; 
Wood's  Athenae  Oxon.  and  Fasti,  ed.  Bliss ; 
Clark's  Oxford  Keg. ;  Le  Neve's  Fasti ;  Foster's 
Alumni  Oxon. ;  Middlesex  County  Eecords,  iii. 
170;  Lansd.  MS.  984,  ff.  91,  112;  information 
kindly  sent  by  tho  bishop  suffragan  of  Shrews- 
bury and  vicar  of  St.  Chad's.  For  Sampson,  see 
alsj  Wood's  Athenae  Oxon.  ii.  489,  Fasti,  i.  305, 
&c.;  Watt's  Bibl.  Brit. ;  Boase's  Exeter  Coll.  Eeg. 
p.  210  ;  Foster's  Eeg.  of  Gray's  Inn.] 


PRICE,  DAVID  (1762-1835),  orientalist, 
was  born  in  1762  in  Brecknockshire,  where 
his  father  soon  after  his  birth  became  rector  of 
Llanbadarnvawr,  near  Aberystwith.  He  was 
educated  at  Brecknock  College  school  until 
October  1779,  when  he  was  awarded  a 
'  Rustat '  scholarship  (Memoirs .  .  .  of  a  Field 
Officer,  p.  4),  and  matriculated  5  Nov.  1779 as 
a  sizar  of  Jesus  College,  Cambridge  (Cam- 
bridge Univ.  Register}.  Disliking  university 
studies,  he  resided  only  till  June  1780  (Me- 
moirs, p.  6),  when  he  went,  nearly  penniless, 
to  London.  On  his  way  to  volunteer  for  a 
regiment  serving  in  America,  he  walked  into 
a  recruiting  party  of  the  East  India  Com- 
pany, and  was  duly  enrolled  in  its  service. 
He  sailed  for  India  in  the  Essex  on  15  March 
1781,  and,  after  some  service  on  the  Coro- 
mandel  coast,  under  Sir  Hector  Munro  [q.  v.], 
arrived  at  Bombay  in  April  1782 ;  he  was 
soon  appointed  to  the  second  battalion  of 
Bombay  sepoys,  which,  under  Captain  Daniel 
Carpenter,  did  good  service  against  Tipu 
Sultan  up  to  the  peace  of  1783.  In  the  next 
war  with  Tipu,  Price  was  in  Little's  battalion 
at  the  siege  of  Darwar,  where  he  was  severely 
wounded  on  7  Feb.  1791,  and  lost  a  leg.  He 
was  next  attached  to  the  guard  of  Sir  Charles 
Malet,  political  minister  at  Poona,  whence  he 
was  transferred  by  the  governor  of  Bombay, 
Jonathan  Duncan  the  elder  [q.  v.],  to  a  staff 
appointment  at  Surat.  In  1795,  being  then 
brevet  captain,  he  was  nominated  judge- 
advocate  to  the  Bombay  army,  in  which 
capacity  he  was  present  and  officiated  as  prize 
agent  at  the  siege  and  capture  of  Seringapatam 
by  General  James  Stuart,  to  whom  he  also 
acted  as  Persian  translator;  he  had  in  the 
meantime  been  military  secretary  and  inter- 
preter to  Dow  in  Malabar  (1797-8),  where  he 
tad  twice  narrowly  escaped  being  cut  off. 
After  the  action  at  Seringapatam  he  returned 
to  Bombay,  and  resumed  the  Persian  studies 


and  collecting  of  manuscripts  which  he  had 
begun  at  Surat  some  years  before.  He  got  his 
majority  in  June  1804,  and  in  February  1805, 
after  twenty-four  years'  service,  returned 
home,  retiring  finally  from  the  Company's 
service  on  his  marriage  in  October  1807. 

Thenceforward  he  lived  in  retirement  at 
Wootton,  Brecknockshire,  and  devoted  him- 
self to  oriental  studies,  writing  long,  leisurely 
works  on  Arabian,  Persian,  and  Indian  his- 
tory, and  printing  them  at  the  local  press  at 
Brecon.  Of  these  the  best  known  and  the 
most  important  is  the  '  Chronological  Retro- 
spect ...  of  Mahommedan  History/  which 
was  published  in  three  volumes  (the  third  in 
two  parts)  4to,  in  1811, 1812,  and  1821.  This 
is  a  history  of  the  Mohammedan  power  from 
its  foundation  by  Mohammed  down  to  the 
time  of  the  Emperor  Akbar.  The  earlier 
volumes  are  based  chiefly  upon  the  chronicles 
of  Mirkhand  and  Khandamir,  and  are  na- 
turally most  detailed  and  accurate  in  respect 
to  the  history  of  the  Persian  dynasties ;  but 
in  the  last  volume  Abu-1-Fazl  is  largely  used. 
The  whole  work  is  written  in  the  over-ornate, 
tedious  style  of  a  scholar  who  has  accustomed 
himself  to  Persian  tropes  and  circumlocu- 
tions ;  but  it  is  the  work  of  a  genuine  student, 
who  is  conscientiously  anxious  to  do  full 
j  ustice  to  his  authorities.  Without  pretend- 
ing to  any  striking  grasp  or  generalisation,  it 
is  a  usefuland  painstaking  performance, which 
has  served  two  generations  of  students,  and 
is  still  for  some  branches  of  eastern  history 
almost  the  only  English  work  of  reference. 
Price's  other  works  were  his  '  Essay  towards 
the  History  of  Arabia  antecedent  to  the  birth 
of  Mahommed,  arranged  from  the  Tarikh 
Tebry'  [Persian  text  of  Et-Tabari],  1824, 
4to ;  the  translation  of  the  well-known  '  Me- 
moirs of  the  Emperor  Jahangueir,'  published 
by  the  Oriental  Translation  Fund  in  1829, 
4to ;  '  Account  of  the  Siege  and  Reduction 
of  Chaitur  . . .  from  the  Akbar-Namah,'  1831 ; 
and  « The  Last  Days  of  Krishna,'  1831.  He 
also  wrote  '  Autobiographical  Memoirs  of 
the  early  life  and  service  of  a  Field  Officer 
on  the  retired  list  of  the  Indian  army,' 
which  was  published  after  his  death  (Lon- 
don, 1839).  His  learned  labours  won  him  in 
1830  the  gold  medal  of  the  Oriental  Trans- 
lation Committee.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Royal  Asiatic  Society,  to  the  l  Journal '  of 
which  he  contributed  l  An  Extract  from  the 
Mualijat-i-Dara  Shekohi,'  and  to  which  he 
bequeathed  over  seventy  oriental  (chiefly  Per- 
sian) manuscripts,  some  of  the  highest  value. 
He  died  at  his  residence,  Wootton,  16  Dec. 
1835.  His  monument  in  Brecon  church  styles 
him  ( F.R.L.S.,'  and  states  that  he  was  a 
magistrate  and  deputy-lieutenant. 


Price 


326 


Price 


[Memoirs  ...  of  a  Field  Officer,  1844, 
posthumous  and  anonymous,  gives  autobiography 
up  to  return  from  India  in  1805,  to  which  a  brief 
memoir  is  appended  from  the  Annual  Biography 
and  Obituary  for  1837;  G-ent.  Mag.  1836,  i. 
204-5 ;  Annual  Eeport  of  the  Eoyal  Asiatic 
Society,  1836,  xii,  Ix ;  Ann.  Keg.  1836,  Ixxviii. 
183  ;  Morley's  Cat.  of  Hist.  MSS.  of  the  Royal 
Asiatic  Society,  1854  ;  information  from  J.  W. 
Clark,  esq.,  registrary  of  the  University  of  Cam- 
bridge.] S.  L.-P. 

PRICE,  DAVID  (1790-1854),  rear- 
admiral,  "born  in  1790,  entered  the  navy  in 
January  1801  on  board  the  Ardent,  with 
Captain  Thomas  Bertie  [q.  v.J,  and  in  her  was 
present  in  the  battle  of  Copenhagen  on 
2  April.  He  was  afterwards  in  the  Blenheim, 
which,  on  the  renewal  of  the  war  in  1803, 
went  out  to  the  West  Indies.  In  1805  he  was 
in  the  Centaur  with  Sir  Samuel  Hood  [q.y.], 
and  again  in  1806,  being  present  in  the  action 
offRochefort  on  25  Sept.,  and  at  the  capture  of 
the  Sewolod  on  26  Aug.  1808.  In  April  1809 
he  was  appointed  acting-lieutenant  of  the 
Ardent,  and  during  the  following  summer 
was  twice  captured  by  the  Danes :  once 
while  away  in  command  of  a  watering  party, 
and  again  in  a  prize  which  was  wrecked ; 
each  time,  however,  he  was  released  after  a 
short  detention.  The  confirmation  of  his 
rank  as  lieutenant  was  dated  28  Sept.  1809. 
He  continued  in  the  Ardent  till  February 
1811,  when  he  was  appointed  to  the  Hawk 
brig,  with  Captain  Henry  Bourchier,  em- 
ployed on  the  north  coast  of  France.  On 
19  Aug.  the  Hawk  drove  four  armed  vessels 
and  a  convoy  of  fifteen  merchantmen  on 
shore  near  Barfleur.  Price,  in  command  of 
the  boats,  was  sent  in  to  finish  the  work, 
and  succeeded  in  bringing  out  an  armed  brig 
and  three  store  ships  ;  the  others  were  lying 
over  on  their  sides,  completely  bilged  (JAMES, 
Naval  History,  v.  216).  Two  months  later, 
on  21  Oct.,  Price  was  severely  wounded  in 
an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  cut  two  brigs  out 
of  Barfleur  harbour.  It  was  nearly  a  year 
before  he  was  able  to  serve  again ;  and  in 
September  1812  he  was  appointed  to  the 
Mulgrave  of  74  guns  off  Cherbourg.  In 
January  1813  he  joined  his  old  captain, 
Bourchier,  in  the  San  Josef,  carrying  the 
flag  of  Sir  Richard  King  (1774-1834)  [q.v.] 
off  Toulon.  On  6  Dec.  he  was  promoted  to 
command  the  Volcano  bomb,  which,  in  the 
summer  of  1814,  he  took  out  to  the  coast  of 
North  America,  and  in  the  same  year  he  en- 
gaged in  the  operations  against  Baltimore,  in 
the  Potomac,  and  at  New  Orleans.  At  the 
last  place,  on  24  Dec.,  he  was  severely 
wounded  in  the  thigh.  '  I  trust,'  wrote 
Rear-admiral  (afterwards  Sir)  Pulteney  Mal- 


colm [q.v.],  'his  wound  is  not  dangerous? 
as  he  is  a  gallant  young  man  and  an  excellent 
officer.'  On  his  return  to  England  Price  was 
advanced  to  post  rank  on  13  June  1815. 
From  1834  to  1838  he  commanded  the  Port- 
land in  the  Mediterranean,  during  which 
time  his  services  to  the  Greek  government 
obtained  for  him  the  order  of  the  Redeemer 
of  Greece,  as  well  as  complimentary  letters 
from  Sir  Edmund  (afterwards  Lord)  Lyons 
[q.v.] 

For  the  next  six  years  he  lived  in  Breck- 
nockshire, for  which  county  he  was  a  J.P. 
In  1846  he  was  made  superintendent  of 
Sheerness  dockyard,  where  he  continued 
until  promoted  to  be  rear-admiral  on  6  Nov. 
1850.  In  August  1853  he  was  appointed 
commander-in-chief  in  the  Pacific,  and  ar- 
rived on  the  station  shortly  before  the  de- 
claration of  war  with  Russia.  In  July  1854 
the  two  squadrons,  English  and  French,  had 
met  at  Honolulu,  and  on  the  25th  sailed  to 
search  for  two  Russian  frigates  which  were 
reported  to  be  at  sea.  On  29  Aug.  they 
arrived  off  Petropaulovski  in  Kamchatka, 
where  the  two  frigates  were  lying  dismantled. 
An  examination  of  the  place  showed  that  it 
was  well  fortified  against  a  casual  attack,  but 
it  was  determined  to  attempt  it  next  day, 
30  Aug.  On  the  forenoon  of  that  day,  as  the 
ships  were  preparing  to  move  in,  Price  shot 
himself  with  a  pistol,  and  died  a  few  hours 
after.  Sir  Frederick  Nicolson  succeeded  to 
the  command,  but  the  attack  was  postponed 
till  4  Sept.,  when  it  met  with  a  decisive  re- 
pulse. On  1  Sept.  Price  was  buried  on  shore, 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  bay,  beneath  a  tree, 
on  which  the  letters  '  D.  P.'  were  rudely  cut 
with  a  knife.  Price's  suicide  was  generally 
assigned  to  his  dread  of  the  responsibilities  of 
his  position.  This  seems  impossible,  for  he 
was  a  hale,  cheerful  man  of  sixty-four,  to 
whom  the  sight  of  an  enemy  was  no  new 
thing.  In  July  1844  Price  married  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  John  Taylor  and  niece  of  Admiral 
William  Taylor. 

[O'Byrne's  Nav.  Biogr.  Diet. ;  Navy  Lists ; 
Annual  Kegister,  1854,  pt.  i.  p.  403,  pt.  ii.  pp. 
199,  540.]  J.  K.  L. 

PRICE,  EDMUND  (1541-1624),  trans- 
lator of  Psalms  into  Welsh.  [See  PKYS.] 

PRICE,  ELLEN  (1820-1887),  novelist, 
[See  WOOD.] 

PRICE,  ELLIS  (1605  P-1599),  Welsh 
administrator,  was  second  son  of  Robert 
ap  Rhys  ap  Maredudd  of  Foelas  and  Plas 
lolyn,  Denbighshire,  and  Marred  (Margaret), 
daughter  of  Rhys  Llwyd  of  Gydros.  His 
sister  married  William  Salesbury  [q.  v.]  His 
father  was  chaplain  and  crossbearer  t  o  Wolsey, 


Price 


327 


Price 


but  found  favour  with  Cromwell,  and  re- 
ceived, when  the  estates  of  Strata  Marcella 
(i.  e.  Ystrad  Marchal  in  Montgomeryshire) 
were  divided,  Cwm  Tir  Mynach,  near  Bala, 
where  his  son  Cadwaladr  founded  the  family 
of  Prices  of  Rhiwlas.  Ellis,  born  about  1505, 
entered  St.  Nicholas's  Hostel,  Cambridge, 
graduating  LL.B.  in  1533,  and  D.C.L.  in 
1534.  From  the  red  gown  of  the  latter 
degree  he  was  popularly  known  as  '  Y  Doctor 
Coch'  (The  Red  Doctor)  (cf.  CAIUS,  Anti- 
quities of  Cambridge).  In  1535  he  was  ap- 
pointed one  of  the  visitors  of  monasteries 
in  Wales,  but  in  November  Cromwell  or- 
dered him  to  cease  visiting,  apparently  on 
account  of  his  youth  and  '  progeny '  (see 
Price's  letter  in  Letters  and  Papers  of 
Henry  VIII,  vol.  ix.  No.  843).  In  1538 
Cromwell  made  him  commissary-general  of 
the  diocese  of  St.  Asaph  (cf.  Letters  relating 
to  the  Suppression  of  the  Monasteries,  Cam- 
den  Society,  1843,  190-1 ;  ELLIS,  Original 
Letters^),  and  he  received  in  the  same  year 
the  sinecure  rectory  of  Llangwm  (from  which 
he  was  soon  ejected),  that  of  Llandrillo 
yn  Rhos,  and  the  rectory  of  Llanuwchllyn 
(STRTPE,  Cranmer,  edit.  1840,  pp.  222, 
274). 

Under  Mary  and  Elizabeth,  Price  de- 
voted himself  in  the  main  to  civil  admini- 
stration. He  was  three  times  member  of  par- 
liament for  Merionethshire,  in  1555,  1558, 
and  1563 ;  seven  times  sheriff  of  the  county, 
in  1552,  1556,  1564,  1568,  1574,  1579,  and 
1585 ;  twice  sheriff  of  Anglesey,  in  1578  and 
1586,  and  once  of  Carnarvonshire,  in  1559 
(BREESE,  Kalendars  of  Gwynedd,^.  37,  51, 
71-2, 116).  He  was  also  sheriff  of  Denbigh- 
shire in  1550, 1557, 1569,  and  1573  (Archeeo- 
logia  Cambrensis,  3rd  ser.  vol.  xv.),  and 
custos  rotulorum  of  Merionethshire  for  the 
greater  part  of  Elizabeth's  reign  (Kalendars 
of  Gwynedd,  p.  28).  Early  in  the  reign  he 
was  appointed  a  member  of  the  council  of 
Wales  and  the  marches,  and  in  February 
1565-6  he  was  suggested  for  the  bishopric 
of  Bangor,  but  Archbishop  Parker  objected 
on  the  ground  of  Price  '  neither  being  priest 
nor  having  any  priestly  disposition.'  In  the 
royal  commission  authorising  the  proclama- 
tion of  Caerwys  Eisteddfod,  and  dated 
23  Oct.  1567,  Price's  name  stands  first  in  the 
list  of  esquires  to  whom  the  document  is 
addressed,  following  immediately  those  of 
the  two  knights  (PENNANT,  Tours,  ii.  89). 
He  was  ordered  on  2  March  1578  to  exa- 
mine, with  Bishop  Robinson,  '  certain  per- 
sons who  had  been  dealers  with  Hugh  Owen, 
a  rebel'  (Calendar  of  State  Papers,  Dom. 
1547-80,  p.  586). 

Meanwhile  he  did  not  neglect  his  own 


interests.  In  1560  he  obtained  from  the 
crown  the  manor  of  Tir  Ifan,  a  portion  of 
the  lands  of  the  knights  hospitallers  at  Dol- 
gynwal  or  Ysbytty  Ifan  (Archceologia  Cam- 
brensis,  3rd  ser.  vi.  108).  He  still  held  the 
rectories  of  Llandrillo  and  Llanuwchllyn, 
and  in  addition  had  by  1561  obtained  the 
chancellorship  of  Bangor  and  the  rectory  of 
Llaniestyn  in  that  diocese.  In  1564,  when 
Elizabeth  gave  the  lordship  of  Denbigh  to 
the  earl  of  Leicester,  he  was  one  of  the  four 
chief  tenants  of  the  lordship  who  acted  for 
the  whole  body  in  negotiations  with  the  new 
lord  (Records  of  Denbigh,  1860,  p.  110). 
Tradition  asserts  that  he  afterwards  became 
Leicester's  willing  tool  in  the  favourite's 
oppressive  dealings  with  the  tenantry,  and 
Pennant  quotes  a  story  that  in  addressing 
Leicester  he  was  accustomed  profanely  to 
say,  '  O  Lord,  in  Thee  do  I  put  my  trust !' 
(Tours,  edit.  1810,  iii.  140). 

Price  died  in  July  1599.  He  married 
Ellyw,  daughter  of  Owen  Pool  of  Llan- 
decwyn,  Merionethshire  (who  was  in  orders), 
by  whom  he  had  two  sons,  Thomas  (jt. 
1586-1632)  [q.  v.]  and  Richard,  and  four 
daughters.  Pennant  speaks  of  a  portrait 
of  Dr.  Ellis  Price  at  Bodysgallen,  near  Llan 
Dudno,  bearing  date  1605.  It  is  probably  a 
copy. 

[Cooper's  Athense  Cantabr.  i.  397,  567 ;  Dwnn's 
Heraldic  Visitations,  ii.  102,  343,  344;  Wil- 
liams's  Parl.  Hist,  of  Wales  (1895);  Arcbseo- 
logia  Cambrensis,  3rd  ser.  ii.  179,  vi.  108, 
119,  4th  ser.  v.  153;  Letters  and  Papers  of 
Henry  VIII,  vols.  ix.  and  xiii. ;  Parker  Corresp. 
pp.  257,  258,  261 ;  authorities  cited.]  J.  E.  L. 

PRICE,  FRANCIS  (d.  1753),  architect, 
published  in  1733  <  The  British  Carpenter, 
or  a  Treatise  on  Carpentry,'  4to,  dedicated  to 
Algernon  Seymour,  earl  of  Hertford,  and 
afterwards  seventh  duke  of  Somerset ;  a 
second  edition  was  published  in  1735  with 
a  supplement  containing  '  Palladio's  Orders 
of  Architecture  .  .  .  described  ...  by  Fran- 
cis Price.'  '  The  British  Carpenter '  was 
long  the  best  textbook  on  the  subject ;  sub- 
sequent editions  appeared  in  1753, 1759,  and 
1765,  the  best  being  the  fourth  or  1759 
edition,  which  contains  sixty-two  plates ;  in 
1859  there  was  published  in  Weale's  edu- 
cational series  '  A  Rudimentary  Treatise  on 
the  Principles  of  Construction  in  the  Car- 
pentry and  Joinery  of  Roofs  deduced  from 
the  Works  of  Robison,  Price,  and  Tred- 
gold.'  In  1734  Price  was  appointed  surveyor 
to  Salisbury  Cathedral,  and  clerk  of  the  works 
to  the  dean  and  chapter,  and  from  that  date 
till  his  death  he  was  engaged  in  superin- 
tending important  repairs  in  the  structure  of 
the  cathedral.  He  died  on  19  March  1753,; 


Price 


328 


Price 


and  in  the  same  year  appeared  his  '  Series  of 
....  Observations  ....  on  Salisbury  Cathe- 
dral/ 4to  ;  another  edition  in  1787.  It  also 
contains  a  description  of  Old  Sarum,  and  is 
the  result  of  a  survey  made  by  direction  of 
Thomas  Sherlock  [q.  v.]  (successively  bishop 
of  Salisbury  and  London),  to  whom  it  is  de- 
dicated. This  work  forms  the  basis  of  many 
subsequent  descriptions  of  the  architecture 
of  the  cathedral ;  it  is  embodied  almost  en- 
tire in  *  A  Description  of  Salisbury  Cathe- 
dral,' 1774,  and  is  largelv  quoted  in  Dods- 
worth's  '  Salisbury  Cathedral,'  1796. 

[Works  in  Brit.  Mus.  Libr. ;  Bods-worth's 
Salisbury  Cathedral,  pp.  16-17,  29,  30,  &c.  ; 
Gent.  Mag.  1753,  p.  148;  Dictionary  of  Archi- 
tecture; Builder,  1873,  p.  765.]  A.  F.  P. 

PRICE,  HUGH  (1495P-1674),  founder 
of  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  was  the  son  of  Rees 
ap  Rees,  a  butcher,  who  '  acquired  such  a 
fortune  as  to  enable  him  to  give  his  children 
a  liberal  education,  and  to  leave  to  his  eldest 
son  a  considerable  landed  estate.'  Hugh  was 
born  at  Brecon  about  1495,  and  educated  at 
Oxford,  where  he  graduated  B.C.L.  on  4  July 
1512,  B.  Canon  L.  on  23  Feb.  1523-4,  and 
D.  Canon  L.  on  2  July  1526.  On  26  April 
1532  he  was  one  of  those  who  tried  James 
Bainham  [q.  v.]  for  heresy  in  the  Tower  of 
London,  and  he  may  be  the  Hugh  Price  alias 
Whiteford  who  was  presented  by  the  king  to 
the  living  of  Whitford,  Flintshire,  on  22  Jan. 
1535-6.  On  the  foundation  of  the  see  of 
Rochester  in  1541  he  was  appointed  to  the 
first  prebend,  which  he  held  till  his  death  in 
August  1574.  From  1571  to  1574  he  was 
treasurer  of  St.  David's.  He  was  buried 
in  the  priory  church  at  Brecon  in  August 
1574. 

On  Price's  petition,  and  by  letters  patent 
dated  27  June  1571,  Elizabeth  established 
Jesus  College,  Oxford,  and  conferred  on  it  all 
the  lands,  buildings,  and  personalty  of  White 
Hall.  Price  himself  gave  60/.  as  a  yearly 
endowment.  It  was  the  first  distinctly  pro- 
testant  college  founded  at  Oxford.  The  build- 
ings were  commenced  about  1572,  but  only 
two  stories  on  the  east  and  south  sides  of 
the  outer  quadrangle  were  completed  until 
1618.  A  portrait  of  Price  attributed  to  Hol- 
bein belongs  to  the  college.  It  was  engraved 
by  George  Vertue  in  1739,  and  appears  in 
Jones's  '  History  of  Brecknockshire.'  The 
arms  adopted  by  the  college  are  not  those  of 
Price  (cf.  English  Hist.  Rev.  1895  passim). 

[Letters  and  Papers  Henry  VIII,  v.  App.  No. 
29,  (3),  x.  No.  226;  Le  Neve's  Fasti,  i.  318,  ii. 
582;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon. ;  Wood's  Fasti,  i. 
70;  Jones's  Hist,  of  Brecknockshire  i.  123-5; 
Granger's  Biogr.  Hist.  i.  214;  Elizabethan  Ox- 


ford (Oxf.  Hist.  Soc.),  pp.  15,  241 ;  The  Colleges 
of  Oxford,  ed.  Clark,  pp.  365-6;  Williams's 
Eminent  Welshmen  ;  Imp.  Diet,  of  Biogr.;  Brom- 
ley's Cat.  of  Engraved  Portraits.]  A.  F.  P. 

PRICE,  JAMES  (1752-1783),  chemist, 
son  of  James  Higginbotham,  was  born  in 
London  in  1752.  He  entered  Magdalen 
Hall,  Oxford,  as  a  gentleman  commoner, 
matriculating  on  15  April  1772,  and  pro- 
ceeding M.A.  (21  Nov.  1777).  Early  in  1781 
he  changed  his  name  to  Price,  in  accordance 
with  the  will  of  a  relative  who  had  be- 
queathed him  a  fortune  (London  Med.  Journ. 
1784,  iv.  317).  On  10  May  1781  he  was 
elected  to  the  Royal  Society,  being  described 
in  the  certificate  of  recommendation  as  ( well 
versed  in  various  branches  of  Natural  Science, 
and  particularly  in  Chymistry.'  On  2  July 
1782  the  degree  of  M.D.  was  conferred  on  him 
by  the  university  of  Oxford,  '  on  account  of 
chemical  labours'  (PRICE,  Experiments  on 
Mercury,  &c.,  2nd  ed.  Introd.) 

In  1782  Price  decided  to  repeat  before 
witnesses  certain  experiments  similar  to  those 
of  the  alchemists.  Between  7  May  and 
25  May  1782  he  performed,  at  his  laboratory 
at  Stoke,  near  Guildford,  seven  experiments, 
by  which  it  appeared  that  he  possessed  a 
white  powder  capable  of  converting  fifty 
times  its  own  Aveight  of  mercury  into  silver, 
and  a  red  powder  capable  of  converting 
sixty  times  its  own  weight  of  mercury  into 
gold ;  the  substances  being  heated  together 
in  a  crucible  with  a  flux  of  borax  or  nitre,  or 
both,  and  stirred  with  an  iron  rod.  The  wit- 
nesses included  Lords  Onslow,  King,  and 
Palmerston,  and  other  men  of  social,  though 
none  of  great  scientific,  rank.  The  gold  and 
silver  alleged  to  be  produced  were  found 
genuine  on  assay,  and  were  exhibited  before 
George  III.  Price  related  the  experiments 
in  detail  in  l  An  Account  of  some  Experi- 
ments,' &c.,  1782.  The  descriptions  evinced 
the  intelligence  and  method  of  a  practised 
chemist,  and  the  book  created  the  greatest 
sensation.  It  was  summarised  at  length  in 
the  'London  Chronicle'  (17-19  Oct.  1782), 
abstracted  in  Lichtenberg  and  Forster's  '  Got- 
tingisches  Magazin'  (iii.  Jahrgang,  p.  410), 
translated  by  Seyler  into  German  (Dessau, 
1783),  and  reached  a  second  English  edi- 
tion in  1783.  Since  the  time  of  Robert 
Bovle  [q.  v.]  alchemy  had  been  entirely  dis- 
credited in  England,  and  Price  himself,  in 
the  second  edition  of  his  book,  declared  that 
while  his  experiments  were  incontestable, 
he  regarded  the  philosopher's  stone  as  a 
chimera.  His  reputation  as  a  man  of  for- 
tune and  honour  seemed  to  place  him  above 
any  suspicion  of  dishonesty.  But  in  his  pre- 
face he  had  declared  that  his  stock  of  the 


Price 


329 


Price 


powders  was  exhausted,  and  that  the  cost  of 
replenishment  would  be  too  great  in  labour 
and  health  for  him  to  undertake  it.  There 
followed  'a  fierce  paper  conflict,'  and  the 
Royal  Society  '  felt  bound  to  interfere  ' 
(CHAMBEES,  Book  of  Days,  i.  602),  though 
the  matter  was  not  considered  by  it  officially. 
Kirwan  and  Bryan  Higgins  [q.  v.]  entreated 
Price  to  repeat  his  experiments  or  disclose 
his  secret.  In  October  1782  he  owned  to 
Kirwan  that  he  believed  he  had  been  de- 
ceived, that  the  mercury  sold  to  him  con- 
tained gold  previously,  and  that  his  powder 
contained  arsenic,  and  that  he  was  satisfied 
to  pass  for  '  a  mere  able  extractor  of  gold ' 
(BOLTOST,  Scientific  Letters  of  Priestley,  p. 
42).  Sir  Joseph  Banks  [q.  v.],  then  pre- 
sident of  the  Royal  Society,  reminded  him 
that  the  honour  of  the  society  was  at  stake 
as  well  as  his  own.  Under  pressure  from 
his  friends,  Price  finally  consented  to  repeat 
the  experiments.  In  January  1783,  having 
meanwhile  tried  to  obtain  information  with 
regard  to  German  hermetic  processes  (Got- 
tingisches  Mayazin,  iii.  Jahrgang,  p.  579),  he 
returned  to  Guildford.  He  seems  to  have 
undertaken  to  prepare  the  powders  in  six 
weeks,  and  failed.  His  friends  disavowed 
him  ;  and  on  3  or  8  Aug.  1783  he  committed 
suicide  by  drinking  a  tumblerful  of  laurel- 
water,  which  he  had  prepared  in  the  previous 
March.  According  to  Chambers's  '  Book  of 
Days,'  he  had  previously  invited  the  Royal 
Society  to  witness  his  experiments,  and  died 
in  the  presence  of  the  three  members  who 
alone  came  to  the  laboratory  on  the  ap- 
pointed day.  It  is  impossible  to  decide 
whether  Price  was  an  impostor  or  a  madman. 
The  last  hypothesis,  adopted  at  the  inquest, 
is  supported  by  the  account  of  his  death  in 
the  '  Gottingisches  Magazin ?  (iii.  Jahrgang, 
p.  886). 

Price  left  a  fortune  of  '  1207.  a  year  in  real 
estate,  and  from  ten  to  twelve  thousand 
pounds  in  the  funds.'  He  has  been  loosely 
called  the  '  last  of  the  alchemists.' 

[Authorities  quoted;    Kopp's  Geschichte  der 
Chemie,  ii.  164,  254;  Kopp's  Alchemie,  ii.  146, 
passim ;  Thomson's  Hist,  of  the  Koyal  Society, 
App.  Iviii.;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.  1714-1886  ; 
Letters  of  Radcliffe  and  James  (Oxf.  Hist.  Soc.),  j 
p.  221  ;  manuscript  journal  and  other  documents 
of  the  Royal  Society;  Jochers  Gelehrten-Lexi-  j 
kon,  continued  by  Adelung,  vol.  vi. ;   Reuss's 
Gelehrtes  England;  Gent.  Mag.  1791,  ii.  893.1    j 

P.  J.  H. 

PRICE,    AP    PRICE,    or    AP    RHYS,  [ 

SIR  JOHN"  (d.  1573?),  visitor  of  the  mon- 
asteries, was  son  of  Rhys  ab  Gwilym  by 
Gwenllian,  daughter  of  Howel  Madoc.  His 
family  was  ancient.  He  is  said  to  have  been  j 


educated  at  Oxford,  where  one  of  his  name, 
who  must  have  been  younger  than  Sir  John, 
graduated  bachelor  of  canon  law  on  8  July 
1532.  Another  John  ap  Price  was  a  servant 
of  the  king  in  1519,  and  officiated  as  servi- 
tor at  the  coronation  of  Anne  Boleyn. 

John  Price  entered  one  of  the  inns  of  court, 
and  became  a  notary  public  and  receiver  of 
the  king.  From  a  statement  of  Rowland 
Lee  [q.  v.],  it  appears  that  Price  had  been 
some  time  in  the  service  of  the  Earl  Arundel 
as  constable  of  Cloon  Castle,  and  that  for 
his  employment  he  was  promoted  to  be  one  of 
Cromwell's  agents.  In  May  1532,  when  the 
Earls  of  Westmorland  and  Cumberland  and 
Sir  Thomas  Clifford  searched  TunstalTs  house 
at  Auckland,  Price  looked  into  the  manu- 
scripts, and  made  a  curious  report  to  Crom- 
well. In  1533  he  was  employed  under  Crom- 
well. In  1534  he  was  registrar  of  Salisbury 
Cathedral.  In  April  1535  he  took  part  in  the 
proceedings  against  the  Charterhouse  monks 
as  to  the  royal  supremacy.  He  officiated  in 
the  same  way  at  the  trial  of  Fisher  and  More. 
His  services  were  secured  for  the  great  visi- 
tation of  the  monasteries  of  1535,  and  on  the 
whole  he  seems  to  have  acted  with  greater 
moderation  than  Sir  Thomas  Legh  [q.  v.],  the 
colleague  with  whom  he  was  chiefly  asso- 
ciated, though  he  joined  with  him  in  sug- 
gesting the  inhibition  of  the  bishops.  In  a 
letter  of  20  Aug.  1535  he  criticised  the  regu- 
lations which  Legh  had  made  as  to  the  shut- 
ting up  of  the  inmates  of  the  houses,  showing 
how  difficult  it  was  to  carry  them  out.  He 
also  gave  Cromwell  a  curious  description  of 
Legh's  method  of  conducting  the  visitation, 
which  has  been  of  service  to  historians,  but 
evidence  furnished  by  Dr.  Gasquet  renders 
his  statements  open  to  suspicion.  At  Cam- 
bridge on  22  Oct.  1535  he  "'observed  in  the 
heads  great  pertinacity  to  their  old  blindness,' 
but  continued,  '  if  they  were  gradually  re- 
moved, learning  would  flourish  here,  as  the 
younger  sort  be  of  much  towardness.'  After 
the  visitation  was  over  he  drew  up  and  at- 
tested the  '  comperta.'  When  the  pilgrimage 
of  grace  was  quelled,  he  assisted  in  trying 
the  rebels.  For  his  many  services  he  re- 
ceived in  1537-8  a  joint  lease  of  Carmarthen 
rectory,  and  a  lease  of  Brecknock  priory  and 
rectory.  He  also  bought  the  priory  of  St. 
Guthlac,  Hereford.  He  was  not,  however, 
satisfied,  and  in  a  petition  of  1538  asked 
for  the  manor  of  West  Dereham.  He  had, 
he  said,  '  written  professions  of  all  prelates, 
persons,  and  bodies  politic  throughout  this 
realm ;  divers  instruments  for  my  ladie  Marie 
concerning  the  abdication  of  the  Bishop  of 
Rome's  power  and  renunciation  of  appeals; 
divers  great  instruments,  as  well  of  the  pro- 


Price 


330 


Price 


cess  of  the  divorce  of  Queen  Anne  as  of  the 
contract  and  solemnization  of  the  same  be- 
tween the  king  and  the  most  noble  Queen 
Jane ;  wrote  to  the  king  the  abridgements 
of  the  comperts  of  the  late  visitation/  and, 
after  further  services,  he  adds  that  he  *  has 
ever  since  been  occupied  in  the  execution  of 
traitors,  felons,  or  heretics '  (Letters  and 
Papers  Henry  VIII,  xni.  ii.  1225). 

Price  was  encouraged  by  William  Herbert, 
first  earl  of  Pembroke  [q.  v.],  and  devoted 
himself  to  study.  He  took,  however,  some 
part  in  public  affairs,  and  is  stated  to  have 
been  greatly  occupied  in  the  union  of  Eng- 
land and  Wales,  drafting  or  suggesting  the 
petition  on  which  the  statutes  were  framed. 
He  was  sheriff  of  Brecknock  in  1541,  and 
lived  chiefly  at  Brecon  priory.  He  was 
knighted  on  22  Feb  1546-7,  and  made  one 
of  the  council  for  the  Welsh  marches  in 
1551.  He  died  probably  about  1573.  He 
and  his  son  Richard  were  patrons  of  Hugh 
Evans,  and  are  said  to  have  introduced  him 
to  Shakespeare ;  Richard  gave  Evans  the 
living  of  Merthyr  Cynog,  Brecon,  in  1572. 
Evans  died  in  1581,  and  made  Richard  Price 
the  overseer  of  his  will.  He  married  Joan, 
daughter  of  John  Williams  of  South wark, 
and  had  a  family  of  five  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters. The  Prices  in  the  civil  war  took  the 
royalist  side,  and  Charles  I  after  Naseby 
dined  and  slept  at  Brecon  priory  on  5  Aug. 
1645. 

Sir  John  Price  wrote  :  1.  l  Historise  Bri- 
tannicse  Defensio,'  composed  about  1553,  pub- 
lished by  his  son  Richard  in  1573,  and 
dedicated  to  Lord  Burghley ;  in  part  a  pro- 
test against  Polydore  Vergil.  2.  '  Descrip- 
tion of  Cambria,'  translated  and  enlarged  by 
Humphrey  Lhuyd  [q.  v.],  and  published  as 
part  of  the  '  Historie  of  Cambria '  by  David 
Powell  [q.v.],  1584;  other  editions  1697, 
1702,  1774,  and  1812.  3.  '  Fides  Historian 
Britannicse,'  a  correction  of  Polydore  Vergil 
(Brit.  Mus.  Cotton  MS.  Titus,  F.  iii.  17). 
4.  A  tract  on  the  restitution  of  the  coinage, 
written  in  1553;  dedicated  to  Queen  Mary 
(MS.  New  Coll.  Oxon.  Arch.  MS.  317,  iii.)  ; 
in  this  tract  he  refers  to  a  larger  treatise  on 
the  same  subject,  which  is  not  extant.  He  is 
also  said  to  have  translated  and  published 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  Creed,  and  Ten  Com- 
mandments in  Welsh,  for  the  first  time. 
Many  of  his  letters  are  preserved  in  the 
British  Museum  and  the  Record  Office. 

[Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  ed.  Bliss,  i.  216-7; 
Reg.  Univ.  Oxf.  (Oxf.  Hist.  Soc.),  i.  134,  169, 
178;  Jones's  Hist,  of  Brecknockshire,  n.  i.  Ill, 
&c. ;  Williams's  Eminent  Welshmen,  p.  416; 
York's  Royal  Tribes  of  Wales,  p.  89 ;  Robinson's 
Castles  and  Mansions  of  Herefordshire,  p.  162; 


Annals  of  the  Counties  and  County  Families  of 
Wales ;  Warrington's  Hist,  of  Wales  ;  Wright's 
Suppression  Letters  (Camd.  Soc.),  p.  53,  &c. ; 
Metcalfe's  Knights,  p.  94  ;  Reg.  Univ.  Oxf.  (Oxf. 
Hist.  Soc.),  i.  156,  669;  Dixon's  Hist,  of  the 
Church  of  Engl.  i.  305-6,  ii.  144,  213;  Letters 
and  Papers  Henry  VIII ;  Strype's  Annals,  in.  i. 
415,  744,  Memorials,  i.  i.  321,  ii.  216,  n.  i.  500, 
ii.  162,  329;  Gasquet's  Henry  VIII  and  the 
Engl.  Monasteries.]  W.  A.  J.  A. 

PRICE  (PRICJETJS),  JOHN  (1600- 
1676  ?),  scholar,  born  of  Welsh  parentage  in 
London  in  1600,  was  educated  at  Westmin- 
ster School  and  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  where 
he  was  elected  student  in  1617;  but,  being 
a  Roman  catholic,  neither  matriculated  nor 
graduated.  He  was  perhaps  identical  with 
the  John  Price,  '  son  and  heir  of  John  Price 
of  London,  deceased,'  who  was  admitted  a 
student  at  Gray's  Inn  in  1619.  He  accom- 
panied James  Howard,  eldest  son  of  Thomas, 
second  earl  of  Arundel  [q.  v.],  in  his  travels 
on  the  continent,  and  obtained  a  doctor's 
degree,  probably  in  civil  law,  from  some 
foreign  university.  During  the  viceroyalty 
of  Sir  Thomas  Wentworth  (afterwards  Earl 
of  Strafford)  [q.v.]  he  visited  Ireland,  and 
made  the  acquaintance  of  Archbishop  Ussher. 
In  1635  he  made  his  mark  as  a  scholar  by 
an  edition  of  the  '  Apologia  '  of  Apuleius, 
published  at  Paris.  In  the  autumn  of  that 
year  he  was  in  London,  corresponding  under 
the  name  Du  Pris  with  Jean  Bourdelot  (see 
the  very  rare  '  Deux  Lettres  In&lites  de 
Jean  Price  a  Bourdelot,  publics  et  annotees 
par  Philippe  Tamizey  de  Larroque,'  Paris, 
1883,  8vo).  Resuming  his  travels,  he  visited 
Vienna,  where  he  occupied  himself  in  mak- 
ing excerpts  from  Greek  manuscripts  in  the 
Imperial  Library,  some  of  which,  marked 
with  the  date  February  1637,  and  dedicated 
to  Laud,  are  in  Addit.  MS.  32096,  ff.  336  et 
seq.  In  1640  he  resumed  residence  at  Christ 
Church,  Oxford,  where  during  the  civil  war 
he  wrote  pamphlets  in  the  royalist  interest. 
He  suffered  in  consequence  a  brief  imprison* 
ment,  and  on  regaining  his  liberty  went  once 
more  abroad.  At  Paris  in  1646  he  edited  the 
Gospel  of  St.  Matthew  and  the  Epistle  of 
St.  James,  and  in  1647  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles;  at  Gouda  in  1650  the  'Meta- 
morphoses' of  Apuleius.  About  1652  he 
settled  at  Florence  as  keeper  of  the  medals 
to  the  Grand  Duke  Ferdinand  II,  who  after- 
wards gave  him  the  chair  of  Greek  at  the 
university  of  Pisa.  There  he  compiled  com- 
mentaries on  St.  Luke's  Gospel,  the  Epistles 
of  St.  Paul  to  Timothy  and  Titus,  and  of  St. 
James,  St.  John,  and  St.  Jude,  the  Apocalypse, 
and  the  Psalms,  which,  with  his  prior  essays 
in  the  same  kind,  were  published  at  London 


Price 


33* 


Price 


in  1660  as  '  Joannis  Pricaei  Commentarii  in 
varies  Novi  Testamenti  Libros '  (folio),  both 
separately,  and  in  the  '  Critici  Sacri,'  torn.  v. 
(see  an  elaborate  review  of  this  work  in 
John  Alberti's  'Periculum  Criticum/  Ley- 
den,  1727,  8vo). 

Price  also  edited  three  of  the  letters  of 
the  younger  Pliny  (Epp.  3,  5,  and  10  of  lib. 
i.),  of  which  very  rare  book  a  copy  (without 
the  title-page)  is  in  the  British  Museum. 
His  latest  project  was  an  edition  of  Hesy- 
chius,  on  which  he  worked  at  Venice, 
having  resigned  his  chair  at  Pisa  for  the 
purpose  ;  but  being  forestalled  by  the  issue 
of  the  Leyden  edition  in  1668,  to  which  he 
contributed  the  '  Index  Auctorum/  he  re- 
moved to  Rome,  where  he  found  a  patron 
in  Cardinal  Francesco  Barberini,  and  a  last 
resting-place  in  the  Augustinian  monastery, 
in  the  chapel  of  which  his  remains  were  in- 
terred about  1676. 

Price's  reputation  stood  high  among  his 
contemporaries  (see  testimonies  by  Ussher, 
Selden,  and  others,  collected  by  Colomies  in 
'  Bibliotheque  Choisie/  Paris,  1731,  p.  189, 
and  BAYLE,  Diet.  Hist.)  Wood  (Athence 
Oxon.,  ed.  Bliss,  iii.  1105)  calls  him  the 
greatest  critic  of  his  time,  and  unquestion- 
ably he  was  a  fine  scholar.  His  reputation, 
however,  rests  chiefly  on  his  work  on 
Apuleius.  The  excessive  license  of  emen- 
dation in  which  he  indulged  in  his  commen- 
taries on  the  New  Testament  seriously  im- 
paired their  value.  From  the  print  of  his 
head  prefixed  to  his  edition  of  the  '  Meta- 
morphoses '  of  Apuleius  he  appears  to  have 
been  a  handsome  man.  He  must  be  care- 
fully distinguished  from  John  Price,  D.D. 
(1625P-1691)  [q.  v.],  chaplain  to  General 
Monck. 

Price's  works  are  entitled  as  follows  : 
1.  '  L.  Apulei  Madaurensis  Philosophi 
Platonici  Apologia  recognita  et  nonnullis 
notis  ac  observationibus  illustrata,'  Paris, 
1635.  2. '  Mattheeus  ex  sacra  pagina  sanctis 
Patribus  Graecisque  ac  Latinis  Gentium 
scriptoribus  ex  parte  illustratus  a  Joanne 
Pricseo,'  Paris,  1646,  8vo.  3.  '  Annotationes 
in  Epist.  Jacobi/  Paris,  8vo.  4. ( Acta  Apo- 
stolorum  ex  sacra  pagina  sanctis  Patribus 
Grsecisque  ac  Latinis  Gentium  scriptoribus 
illustrata/  Paris,  1647,  8vo.  5.  l  L.  Apulei 
Madaurensis  Metamorphoseos  Libri  xi  cum 
notis  et  amplissima  indice/  Gouda,  1650, 8vo. 

[Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.  and  Gray's  Inn  Eeg. ; 
"Welch's  Alumni  Westmonast. ;  Dodd's  Church 
Hist.  iii.  286  ;  Granger's  Biogr.  Hist,  of  Engl. 
1775,  iii.  104;  Chaudon's  Nouveau  Diet.  Hist. ; 
Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1640,  pp.  536,  555; 
Parr's  Life  of  Ussher,  pp.  506,  596  ;  M'Clintock 
and  Strong's  Cyclop.  Bibl.  and  Eccles.  Lit.  ; 


Hallam's  Literature  of  Europe,  iv.  9  ;  Allibone's 
Diet,  of  Engl.  Lit. ;  Brunet's  Manuel  du  Li- 
braire.]  J.  M.  K. 

PRICE,  JOHN,  D.D.  (1625?-! 691), 
royalist,  born  in  the  Isle  of  Wight  about 
1625,  was  educated  at  Eton  and  King's 
College,  Cambridge,  where  he  was  admitted 
on  10  Jan.  1644-5,  commenced  M.A.  in  1653, 
and  was  elected  to  a  fellowship.  Having 
taken  holy  orders,  he  attended  General 
Monck  as  chaplain  during  his  command  in 
Scotland  in  1654-9,  and  was  his  principal 
confidant  and  coadjutor  in  the  enterprise  of 
the  Restoration.  His  loyalty  was  rewarded 
with  an  Eton  fellowship  (12  July  1660),  and 
the  prebend  of  Yetminster  and  Grimston  in 
the  church  of  Sarum  (28  Nov.  following), 
having  a  royal  dispensation  to  hold  both 
benefices  concurrently.  In  1669  he  was  in- 
stituted to  the  rich  rectory  of  Petworth, 
Sussex.  He  received  from  the  university 
of  Cambridge  the  degree  of  D.D.,  pursuant 
to  royal  letters,  in  1661.  On  19  Oct.  1680  he 
was  incorporated  M.A.  at  Oxford.  He  died 
on  17  April  1691.  His  remains  were  interred 
in  Petworth  church. 

Price  was  author  of  'The  Mystery  and 
Method  of  His  Majesty's  happy  Restauration 
laid  open  to  Publick  View/  'London,  1680, 
8vo ;  reprinted  by  Maseres  in  '  Select  Tracts 
relating  to  the  Civil  Wars  in  England,'  Lon- 
don 1815,  8vo  ;  French  translation  in  '  Col- 
lection des  Memoires  relatifs  a  la  Revolu- 
tion d'Angleterre,'  Paris,  1827,  vol.  iv. ; 
an  historical  piece  of  unique  value  from  the 
exceptional  position  occupied  by  the  writer. 
He  also  published  :  1.  '  A  Sermon  preached 
before  the  House  of  Commons  at  St.  Mar- 
garet's in  Westminster  on  Thursday  the  10th 
of  May ;  being  a  day  of  solemn  thanksgiving 
.  .  .  for  the  mercies  God  had  bestowed  on  the 
nation  through  the  successful  conduct  of  the 
Lord  General  Monk,'  London,  1660,  4to. 
2.  l  Sermon  at  Petworth  in  Sussex,  9  Sept, 
1683,  being  a  day  of  solemn  thanksgiving  for 
the  deliverance  of  the  King  from  the  late  Bar- 
barous Conspiracy,'  London,  1683,  4to.  He 
must  be  distinguished  from  John  Price,  M.A. , 
of  University  College,  Oxford,  author  of '  Mo- 
deration not  Sedition/  London,  1663,  4to. 

[Alumni  Etonenses ;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon. ; 
Wood's  Fasti  Oxon.  ed.  Bliss,  ii.  376;  Cole's 
MS.  Coll.  xv.  189  ;  Cooper's  Memorials  of  Cam- 
bridge, King's  Coll. ;  Skinner's  Life  of  Monk, 
pp.  96  et  seq. ;  Le  Neve's  Fasti  Eccl.  Angl.  ii. 
657;  Horsfield's  Sussex,  ii.  179;  Dallaway's 
Western  Division  of  Sussex,  vol.  ii.  pt.  i.  p.  300; 
Arnold's  Petworth ;  Sussex  A.rchseolog.  Coll.  xiv. 
24,xxiii.  172;  Masson's  Life  of  Milton,  v.  476-7, 
526,  528;  Evelyn's  Diary,  ed.  Bray,  1850,  i. 
425  ».]  J.  M.  E. 


Price 


332 


Price 


PRICE,  JOHN  (d.  1736),  architect,  is 
described  as  of  Richmond,  Surrey,  and 
*  armiger.'  In  1714  he  rebuilt  the  church  of 
St.  Mary  at  Walls  at  Colchester  in  Essex. 
He  worked  a  great  deal  for  the  Duke  of 
Chandos,  and  was  employed  from  1712  to 
1720  in  building  the  duke's  great  house  at 
Canons,  near  Edgware  in  Middlesex,  from 
the  designs  of  James  Gibbs  [q.  v.]  Tn  1720 
he  built  a  town  mansion  for  the  duke  in 
Marylebone  Fields.  Price  was  employed  in 
1733  to  rebuild  the  church  of  St.  George  the 
Martyr  in  Southwark,  which  was  completed 
in  1736.  He  died  in  November  of  that  year. 
In  1726  he  published  '  Some  Considerations 
for  building  a  Bridge  over  the  Thames  from 
Fulham  to  Putney,  with  a  Drawing,'  and 
also  a  supplementary  letter  to  the  same; 
and  in  1735  ( Some  Considerations  .  .  . 
offered  to  the  House  of  Commons  for  build- 
ing a  Stone  Bridge  over  the  River  Thames 
from  Westminster  to  Lambeth,'  &c. 

[Diet,  of  Architecture;  Manning  and  Bray's 
Hist,  of  Surrey,  iii.  637,  696  ;  Wheatley's  Lon- 
don Past  and  Present,  ii.  102.]  L.  C. 

PRICE,  JOHN  (1773-1801),  topographer, 
was  born  at  Leominster,  Herefordshire,  in 
1773.  He  gave  lessons  there  in  French, 
Latin,  Italian,  and  Spanish.  Subsequently 
he  became  a  bookseller  at  Hereford,  but 
finally  settled  at  Worcester.  He  occasion- 
ally made  pedestrian  tours  on  the  continent. 
In  1795  he  published  '  An  Historical  and 
Topographical  Account  of  Leominster  and 
its  Vicinity,'  illustrated  by  seven  prints.  This 
was  followed  in  1796  by  '  An  Historical  Ac- 
count of  the  City  of  Hereford,  with  some  Re- 
marks on  the  River  Wye,  and  the  natural 
and  artificial  beauties  contiguous  to  its  banks 
from  Brobery  to  Wilton,'  with  eight  maps 
and  prints.  This  •'  very  respectable  perform- 
ance was  founded  on  collections  given  to  the 
writer  by  John  Lodge,  author  of*  Introductory 
Sketches  towards  a  Topographical  History  of 
Herefordshire,'  1793.  In  1797  Price  pub- 
lished '  The  Ludlow  Guide,  comprising  an 
Historical  Account  of  the  Castle  and  Town, 
with  a  Survey  of  the  various  Seats,  Views, 
&c.,  in  that  Neighbourhood.'  A  plate  of 
the  castle  forms  the  frontispiece.  A  fourth 
edition,  enlarged,  appeared  in  1801.  In 
1799  appeared  a  similar  f  Worcester  Guide,' 
from  which,  says  Chambers,  much  of  the 
matter  of  subsequent  histories  of  the  place 
was  borrowed  without  acknowledgment. 
Price  was  also  author  of  '  The  Seaman's 
Return,  or  the  Unexpected  Marriage,'  an 
operatic  farce,  partly  from  the  German,  in 
three  acts,  published  in  1795  and  acted  at 
Worcester,  Shrewsbury,  Ludlow,  and  Wol- 


verhampton.  His  last  publication  was  '  The 
Englishman's  Manual ;  containing  a  General 
View  of  the  Constitution,  Laws,  Government, 
&c.,  of  England,  designed  as  an  Introduction 
to  the  Knowledge  of  those  Important  Studies,' 
1797,  12mo.  Price  died  at  Worcester  on 
5  April  1801. 

[Chambers's  Biogr.  Illustrations  of  Worcester- 
shire, p.  575  ;  Gent.  Mag.  1801,  i.  577  ;  Allen's 
Bibliotheca  Herefordiensis,  Introd.  and  pp.  16, 
38;  Baker's  Biogr.  Dramatica,  i.  583,  ii.  250; 
Price's  Works ;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat. ;  Lit.  Mem.  of 
Living  Authors,  1798;  Biog.  Diet,  of  Living 
Authors,  1816,  the  compiler  of  which  was  under 
the  impression  that  Price  was  still  alive.] 

G.  LE  G.  N. 

PRICE,  JOHN  (1734-1813),  Bodley's 
librarian,  son  of  the  Rev.  Robert  Price  of 
Llandegla,  Denbighshire,  was  born  in  1734 
at  Tuer,  near  Llangollen,  Brecknockshire. 
He  was  educated  there  and  at  Jesus  College, 
Oxford,  matriculating  on  26  March  1754, 
and  graduating  B.A.  in  1757,  M.A.  in  1760, 
and  B.D.  in  1768.  In  1757  he  was  appointed 
janitor  of  the  Bodleian  Library  ;  from  1761 
to  1763  he  was  sub-librarian,  and  in  1765 
was  made  acting  librarian  by  Humphrey 
Owen  [q.  v.],  principal  of  Jesus  College  and 
Bodley's  librarian,  whose  salary  he  received. 
On  Owen's  death  in  1768  Price  was  chosen 
to  succeed  him  as  Bodley's  librarian  after 
a  severe  contest  with  William  Cleaver  [q.  v.], 
(afterwards  bishop  of  St.  Asaph).  From 
1766  to  1773  he  was  curate  of  Northleigh, 
Oxfordshire,  where  he  distinguished  himself 
by  appropriating  the  manuscript  book  of 
benefactions,  which  was  sold  with  his  library 
in  June  1814.  In  1775  he  became  curate  of 
Wilcote  in  the  same  county ;  in  1782  he  was 
presented  to  the  living  of  Wollaston  and 
Alvington,  Gloucestershire,  and  in  1798  to 
that  of  Llangattock,  Brecknockshire,  by 
Henry  Somerset,  fifth  duke  of  Beaufort, 
whom  Price  frequently  visited  at  Badmin- 
ton. 

In  1787  Thomas  Beddoes  (1760-1808) 
[q.  v.],  reader  in  chemistry  in  the  university, 
issued  a  printed  '  Memorial  concerning  the 
State  of  the  Bodleian  Library,  and  the  Con- 
duct of  the  Principal  Librarian '  (4to,  Brit. 
Mus.)  In  it  he  charged  Price  with  incivility, 
frequent  absence  from  the  library,  ignorance 
of  foreign  publications,  and  carelessness  with 
regard  to  books  in  his  charge.  In  consequence 
the  curators  resolved  to  hold  terminal  meet- 
ings for  the  purchase  of  books,  inspection  of 
catalogues,  &c.  On  the  other  hand,  Price's 
conduct  as  librarian  was  eulogised  by  many 
visitors  to  the  library,  both  foreign  and  Eng- 
lish. In  1797  he  was  elected  F.S.A.,  and 
about  the  same  time  migrated  to  Trinity 


Price 


333 


Price 


College,  to  which  he  is  said  to  have  made 
various  benefactions.  He  lived  in  a  small 
house  in  St.  Giles's,  where  he  died  on  12  Aug. 
1813,  having  been  principal  librarian  at  the 
Bodleian  for  forty-five  years  ;  he  was  buried 
at  Wilcote,  where  a  mural  tablet  was  erected 
to  his  memory  in  the  chancel ;  a  portrait 
engraved  by  Swaine,  after  a  sketch  taken 
by  the  Rev.  Henry  Hervey  Baber  in  1798, 
is  given  in  Nichols's  '  Illustrations  of  Lite- 
rary History,'  v.  514. 

Price's  only  publications  were  :  '  A  short 
Account  of  Holy  head,'  contributed  to 
Nichols's  *  Bibliotheca  Topographica  Britan- 
nica '  (vol.  v.  1790,  4to)  ;  and  '  An  Account 
of  a  Bronze  Image  of  Roman  Workmanship,' 
&c.,  published  in  ( Archseologia,'  vii.  405-7. 
Numerous  letters  from  him  to  Gough,  Nichols, 
Herbert,  and  Bishop  Percy  are  printed  in 
Nichols's  l  Illustrations  of  Literary  History ; ' 
and  he  kept  a  notebook  which  is  frequently 
quoted  in  Macray's  '  Annals  of  the  Bodleian 
Library.'  He  was  an  intimate  friend  of  War- 
ton.  Richard  Mant  [q.  v.]  in  his  edition  of 
Warton's  works  acknowledged  obligations  to 
him,  and  he  assisted  Joseph  Pote  [q.  v.]  in  the 
publication  of  the  '  Lives  of  Leland,  Wood, 
and  Hearne,'  1772.  He  was  godfather  to 
Bulkeley  Bandinel  [q.  v.],  whom  in  1810 
he  appointed  sub-librarian  at  the  Bodleian 
Library.  Anna  Seward  [q.  v.]  dedicated  vol. 
iv.  of  her  '  Anecdotes  '  to  Price  in  1796. 

[Nichols's  Literary  Anecdotes  and  Illustr.  of 
Lit.  Hist,  passim;  Macray's  Annals  of  the  Bodleian 
Library,  passim;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.  1715- 
1886;  Bodl.  Addit.  MS.  A  64,  f.  180;  Serres's 
Life  of  Wilmot,  p.  153  ;  Dibdin's  Bibliomania; 
Gent.  Mag.  1813,  ii.  400;  Evans's  Cat.  Engraved 
Portraits.]  A.  F.  P. 

PRICE,  LAURENCE  (fi.  1628-1680  ?), 
writer  of  ballads  and  political  squibs,  was  a 
native  of  London,  who  compiled  between 
1625  and  1680  numberless  ballads,  pam- 
phlets, and  broadsides  in  verse  on  political 
or  social  subjects.  During  the  civil  wars  he 
seems  to  have  occasionally  been  a  hanger-on 
of  the  parliamentary  army,  and  published 
his  observations  (cf.  Strange  Predictions  re- 
lated at  Catericke,  1 648.  and  Englands  un- 
happy Changes,  1648).  He  adapted  his  views 
to  the  times,  and  the  godly  puritan  strain 
which  he  affected  during  the  Commonwealth 
gave  place  to  the  utmost  indecency  after  the 
Restoration.  The  fact  that  he  published 
much  anonymously,  under  the  initials  'L.P.,' 
renders  it  difficult  to  identify  his  work. 
Many  of  his  publications  are  lost ;  and  the 
sixty-eight  that  are  extant  are  all  rare.  Speci- 
mens of  them  may  be  found  in  the  Thomas- 
son  collection  of  tracts  a,t  the  British  Mu- 
seum, in  the  Pepysian  collection  at  Magda- 


lene College,  Cambridge,  or  in  the  Roxburghe 
and  Bagford  collections  of  ballads  at  the 
British  Museum.  Most  of  the  latter  have 
been  reprinted  by  the  Ballad  Society. 

The  earliest  known  ballad  by  Price  is  '  Oh, 
Gramercy  Penny,  being  a  Lancashire  Ditty, 
and  chieny  pen'd  to  prove  that  a  Penny's  a 
Man's  best  Friend,'  London,  printed  by  widow 
Trundle  about  1625  (in  the  Pepys  collection). 
Some  of  the  titles  of  later  ballads  run  :  '  The 
Bachelor's  Feast '  (1635  ?),  'The  Young  Man's 
Wish'  (1635 ?),  <  The  Merry  Conceited  Lasse ' 
(1640?),  '  Cupid's  Wanton  Wiles'  (1640?), 
'  The  Life  and  Death  of  Sir  Thomas  Went- 
worth  [i.e.  Strafford]  '  (1641),  <  Good  Ale  for 
my  Money '  (1645  ?),  <  The  Merry  Man's  Re- 
solution,' 1655, '  The  True  Lovers'  Holidaies' 
(1655  ?),  *  The  Famous  Woman  Drummer ' 
(1660  ?),  and  <  Win  at  first,  lose  at  last,'  cele- 
brating the  Restoration  of  1660. 

Price's  prose  pamphlets  include :  '  Great 
Britaines  Time  of  Triumph,'  on  Charles  I's 
visit  to  the  city  (1641);  'A  New  Disputa- 
tion between  the  two  lordly  Bishops  of  York 
and  Canterbury'  (1642);  'England's  un- 
happy Changes,'  an  appeal  for  peace  (1648)  ; 
'  The  Shepherd's  Prognostication  foretelling 
the  Sad  and  Strange  Eclipse  of  the  Sun  [on 
29  March  1652]  '  (1652);  'The  Astrologers 
Buggbeare,'  1652 ;  '  Bloody  Actions  per- 
formed,' an  account  of  three  murders — two 
by  husbands  of  their  wives  (1653) ;  *  A  Ready 
Way  to  prevent  Sudden  Death,'  1655;  <A 
Mass  of  Merry  Conceites,'  1656 ; '  Make  Roome 
for  Christmas/  1657  (cf.  Notes  and  Queries, 
4th  ser.  ii.  549,  iii.  185) ;  '  Fortune's  Lottery, 
or  a  Book  of  News,'  1657 ;  <  The  Vertuous 
Wife  is  the  Glory  of  her  Husband,'  1667  ; 
1  The  Famous  History  of  Valentine  and 
Orson,'  London,  1673 ;  '  Witty  William  of 
Wiltshire,  his  Birth,  Life,  and  Education, 
and  Strange  Adventures,'  1674,  12mo ;  '  The 
Five  Strange  Wonders  of  the  World,'  1674 ; 
'  A  Variety  of  New  Merry  Riddles,'  1684. 

[There  are  imperfect  attempts  at  a  biblio- 
graphy of  Price  in  Ebsworth's  Bagford  Ballads, 
i.  263  and  248,  and  Hazlitt's  Handbook,  pp. 
479-81.  Several  but  by  no  means  all  the  Rox- 
burghe Ballads  are  reprinted  in  Chappell's 
Roxburghe  Ballads  (Ballad  Soc.),  in  Ebsworth's 
Bagford  Ballads,  and  in  the  Amanda  group 
(Ballad  Soc.)]  W.  A.  S. 

PRICE,  OWEN  (d.  1671),  schoolmaster 
and  author,  was  a  native  of  Montgomery- 
shire, of  humble  birth.  He  was  appointed"  a 
scholar  of  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  by  the  par- 
liamentary visitors  on  12  Oct.  1648,  and  ma- 
triculated on  12  March  following.  Fouryears 
later  he  became  master  of  a  public  school  in 
Wales,  '  where  he  took  pains,'  says  Wood, 
1  to  imbue  his  pupils  with  presbyterian  prin- 


Price 


334 


Price 


ciples.'  Returning  to  Oxford  in  1655,  he 
graduated  B.A.  and  M.A.  by  accumulation 
from  Christ  Church  on  6  May  1656.  In 
1657  he  became  headmaster  of  Magdalen 
College  School,  but  was  ejected  at  the  Re- 
storation. On  21  June  1658,  in  making  an 
application  to  Henry  Scobell,  secretary  of 
Cromwell's  council,  for  the  mastership  of 
"Westminster,  Price  boasts  that  during  the 
eight  years  he  had  been  schoolmaster,  he  had 
produced  '  more  godley  men  and  preachers 
(some  whereof  have  passed  the  approvers) 
than  some  (that  keepe  greater  noise  than  I 
doe)  have  with  their  XX  years'  labour ' — an 
oblique  stroke  at  Dr.  Busby,  whom  he  hoped 
to  oust  (BAEKEE,  Busby,  p.  74;  PECK,  Deside- 
rata Curiosa,  bk.  xiii.  p.  502).  After  his  ejec- 
tion from  Magdalen,  Price '  taught  school  with 
great  success  in  Devonshire,  and  afterwards 
at  Besills-Lee  (Besselsleigh),near  Abingdon' 
(WOOD).  He  died  at  Oxford, '  in  his  house 
near  to  Magdalen  College,'  on  25  Nov.  1671, 
and  was  buried  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter-in- 
the-East.  Wood  calls  him  l  a  noted  profes- 
sor in  the  art  of  pedagogy,'  and  speaks  of  his 
*  acknowledged  skill  in  teaching.' 

Price  published :  1.  '  The  Vocal  Organ  ; 
or  a  new  Art  of  teaching  Orthography  by 
observing  the  Instruments  of  Pronunciation, 
and  the  difference  between  Words  of  like 
Sound,  whereby  any  outlandish  or  meer 
Englishman,  Woman,  and  Child,  may  speedily 
attaine  to  the  exact  Spelling,  Reading,  or 
Pronouncing  of  any  Word  in  the  English 
Tongue,  without  the  Advantage  of  its  Foun- 
tains, the  Greeke  and  Latine,'  1665,  8vo, 
Oxford.  2.  '  English  Orthography :  teaching 
(1)  the  Letters  of  every  sort  of  Print;  (2)  all 
Syllables  made  of  Letters  ;  (3)  Short  Rules, 
byway  of  Question  and  Answer,  for  Spelling, 
Reading,  Pronunciation,  using  the  Great 
Letters  and  their  Points ;  (4)  Examples  of  all 
Words  of  like  Sound,'  &c.,  1670,  8vo. 

Price  married  a  daughter  of  JohnBlagrave 
of  Merton.  His  son  Thomas,  successively  a 
chorister  and  clerk  at  Magdalen  College 
(B.A.  1692  and  M.A.  1695),  apparently  be- 
came prebendary  of  St.  Paul's  in  1707  (LE 
NEVE,  ii.  390)  ;  *he  is  credited  with  '  Pietas 
in  obitum  Augustas  et  Reginge  Marise,'  in 
Latin  verse,  Oxford,  1695. 

[Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  (Bliss),  iii.  942  ; 
Bloxam's  Magdalen  Eegister,  i.  119,  ii.  83,  171, 
iii.  177-81 ;  Burrows's  Reg,  of  the  Parl.  Visitors, 
p.  504 ;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon. ;  Williams's  Biogr. 
Diet,  of  eminent  Welshmen.]  G.  LE  Of.  N. 

PRICE,  RICHARD  (1723-1791),  non- 
conformist minister  and  writer  on  morals, 
politics,  and  economics,  was  born  on  23  Feb. 
1723  at  Tynton,  in  the  parish  of  Llangeinor, 
in  the  county  of  Glamorgan.  His  father, 


Rice  Price,  who  was  for  many  years  minister 
of  a  congregation  of  protestant  dissenters  at 
Bridgend,  in  the  same  county,  was  a  bigoted 
Calvinist,  and  seems  to  have  been  a  person 
of  morose  temper,  facts  which  may  account, 
on  the  principle  of  reaction,  for  the  liberal 
opinions  and  the  benevolent  disposition  of 
the  son.   Young  Price  seems  to  have  received 
his  early  education  at  many  successive  l  aca- 
demies,' the  last  being  one  kept  by  the  Rev. 
Vavasor  Griffith,  at  Talgarth  in  Breconshire. 
From  his  earliest  youth  he  appears  to  have 
recoiled  from  his  father's  religious  opinions, 
and  to  have  inclined  towards  the  views  of 
more  liberal  and  philosophical  theologians, 
the  works  of  Clarke  and  Butler  having  a 
special  attraction  for  him.    By  the  advice  of 
a  paternal  uncle,  who  officiated  as  co-pastor 
with  Dr.  Watts  [see  WATTS,  ISAAC],  he  re- 
moved, in  his  eighteenth  year,  to  a  dissenting 
college,  the  Fund  Academy,  in  London,  under 
John  Eames  [q.  v.],  and,  having  there  com- 
pleted his  education,  became  chaplain  and 
companion  to  a  Mr.  Streatfield  at  Stoke  New- 
ington.  While  still  occupyingthis  position  he 
officiated  in  various  dissenting  congregations, 
such  as  those  in  the  Old  Jewry,  Edmonton, 
and  Newington  Green.    By  the  death  of  Mr. 
Streatfield  and  of  an  uncle  in  1756  his  circum- 
stances were  considerably  improved,  and  in 
the  following  year,  the  year  in  which  he  first 
published  his  best  known  work,  a  '  Review 
of  the  principal   Questions  in  Morals/  he 
married  a  Miss  Sarah  Blundell,  originally  of 
Belgrave  in  Leicestershire.    In  1758  he  took 
up  his   residence  at  Newington  Green,  in 
order  to  be  near  his  congregation.    His  time 
seems  now  to  have  been  divided  between 
the  performance  of  his  ministerial  duties  and 
his  various  studies,  especially  philosophy  and 
mathematics.      His  treatise  on  morals  had 
gained  him    a   certain  reputation,   and  he 
began  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  philo- 
sophers and  literary  men,  including  Franklin 
and  Hume.      In  1769  Lord  Shelburne,  at- 
tracted by  reading  his  '  Dissertations  on  Pro- 
vidence' and  the  'Junction  of  Virtuous  Men 
in  a  Future  State,'  expressed  a  desire  to  meet 
him.    The  interview  led  to  a  lifelong  friend- 
ship, which  had  much  influence  in  raising 
Price's  reputation  and  determining  the  cha- 
racter of  his  future  pursuits. 

It  was  not,  however,  so  much  as  a  theo- 
logian and  moralist  as  a  writer  on  financial 
and  political  questions  that  Price  was  destined 
to  become  known  to  his  countrymen  at  large. 
In  1769  he  wrote  some  observations  ad- 
dressed in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Franklin  on  the 
expectation  of  lives,  the  increase  of  mankind, 
and  the  population  of  London,  which  were 
published  in  the  '  Philosophical  Transactions ' 


Price 


335 


Price 


of  that  year ;  and  again,  in  May  1770,  he 
communicated  to  the  Royal  Society  some 
observations  on  the  proper  method  of  calcu- 
lating the  values  of  contingent  reversions. 
The  publication  of  these  papers  is  said  to 
have  exercised  a  most  beneficial  influence  in 
drawing  attention  to  the  inadequate  calcula- 
tions on  which  many  insurance  and  benefit 
societies  had  recently  been  formed.  In  1769 
Price  received  the  degree  of  D.D.  from  the 
university  of  Glasgow.  In  1771  he  pub- 
lished his  '  Appeal  to  the  Public  on  the 
subject  of  the  National  Debt/  of  which  sub- 
sequent editions  appeared  in  1772  and  1774. 
This  pamphlet  excited  considerable  contro- 
versy at  the  time  of  its  publication,  and  is 
supposed  to  have  influenced  Pitt  in  1786  in 
re-establishing  the  sinking  fund  for  the  ex- 
tinction of  the  national  debt,  which  had  been 
created  by  Walpole  in  1716,  and  abolished 
in  1733  (STANHOPE,  Life  of  Pitt,  i.  230). 
That  Price's  main  object,  the  extinction  of 
the  national  debt,  was  a  laudable  and  de- 
sirable one  would  now  probably  be  uni- 
versally acknowledged.  The  particular  means, 
however,  which  he  proposed  for  the  purpose 
are  described  by  Lord  Overstone  (who,  in 
1857,  reprinted  for  private  circulation  Price's 
and  other  rare  tracts  on  the  national  debt 
and  the  sinking  fund),  as  '  a  sort  of  hocus- 
pocus  machinery/  supposed  to  work  '  with- 
out loss  to  any  one/  and  consequently  purely 
delusive.  There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that 
Price  rendered  service  by  calling  attention 
to  the  growth  of  the  debt,  no  less  than  by 
attacking  the  practice,  begun  by  North,  of 
funding  by  increase  of  capital  (cf.  FITZ- 
MAUKICE,  Life  of  Shelbume,  iii.  92-4). 

A  subject  of  a  much  more  popular  kind 
was  next  to  employ  Dr.  Price's  pen.  Being 
an  ardent  lover  of  civil  and  religious  liberty, 
he  had  from  the  first  been  strongly  opposed 
to  the  war  with  the  American  colonies,  and 
in  1776  he  published  a  pamphlet,  '  Observa- 
tions on  Civil  Liberty  and  the  Justice  and 
Policy  of  the  War  with  America.'  Several 
thousand  copies  of  this  work  were  sold  within 
a  few  days.  A  cheap  edition  was  soon  issued ; 
the  pamphlet  was  extolled  by  one  set  of  poli- 
ticians, and  abused  by  another.  Among 
its  critics  were  Dr.  Markham,  archbishop  of 
York,  John  Wesley,  and  Edmund  Burke,  and 
its  author  rapidly  became  one  of  the  best 
known  men  in  England.  In  recognition  of 
his  services  in  the  cause  of  liberty,  Dr.  Price 
was  presented  with  the  freedom  of  the  city 
of  London,  and  it  is  said  that  the  encourage- 
ment derived  from  this  book  had  no  incon- 
siderable share  in  determining  the  Americans 
to  declare  their  independence.  A  second 
pamphlet  on  the  war  with  America,  the  debts 


of  Great  Britain,  and  kindred  topics,  followed 
in  the  spring  of  1777,  and,  whenever  the 
•overnment  thought  proper  to  proclaim  a  fast 
.ay,  Dr.  Price  took  the  opportunity  of  de- 
claring his  sentiments  on  the  folly  and  mis- 
chief of  the  war.  His  name  thus  became 
identified,  for  good  repute  and  for  evil  repute, 
with  the  cause  of  American  independence. 
He  was  the  intimate  friend  of  Franklin  ;  he 
corresponded  with  Turgot ;  and  in  the  winter 
of  1778  he  was  actually  invited  by  congress 
to  transfer  himself  to  America,  and  assist  in 
the  financial  administration  of  the  insurgent 
states.  This  offer  he  refused,  from  unwil- 
lingness to  quit  his  own  country  and  his  family 
connections,  concluding  his  letter,  however, 
with  the  prophetic  words  that  he  looked  '  to 
the  United  States  as  now  the  hope,  and  likely 
soon  to  become  the  refuge,  of  mankind.'  In 
1783  he  was  honoured  by  being  created 
LL.D.  by  Yale  College,  at  the  same  time 
with  Washington  (Monthly  Repository,  1808, 
p.  244). 

One  of  Price's  most  intimate  friends  was 
Dr.  Priestley,  but  this  circumstance  did  not 
prevent  them  from  taking  the  most  opposite 
views  on  the  great  questions  of  morals  and 
metaphysics.  In  1778  appeared  a  published 
correspondence  between  these  two  liberal 
theologians  on  the  subjects  of  materialism 
and  necessity,  wherein 'Price  maintains,  in 
opposition  to  Priestley,  the  free  agency  of 
man  and  the  unity  and  immateriality  of 
the  human  soul.  Both  Price  and  Priestley 
were  in  theological  opinion  what  would  now 
vaguely  be  called  '  Unitarians ; '  in  1791 
Price  became  an  original  member  of  the 
Unitarian  Society.  But  Price's  opinions 
would  seem  to  have  been  rather  Arian  than 
Socinian.  To  his  ministry  at  Newington 
Green,  during  the  last  twenty  years  of  his 
life,  he  added  that  of  Hackney. 

After  the  publication  of  his  pamphlet  on 
the  American  war  Dr.  Price  became  an  im- 
portant personage.  He  now  preached  to 
crowded  congregations,  and,  when  LordShel- 
burne  acceded  to  power  in  1782,  not  only 
was  he  offered  the  post  of  private  secretary 
to  the  premier,  but  it  is  said  that  one  of  the 
paragraphs  in  the  king's  speech  was  sug- 
gested by  him,  and  inserted  in  his  very  words. 

In  1786  Mrs.  Price  died,  and  as  there  were 
no  children  by  the  marriage,  and  his  own 
health  was  failing,  the  remainder  of  Price's 
life  appears  to  have  been  somewhat  clouded 
by  solitude  and  dejection.  It  was  illumi- 
nated, however,  by  the  eager  satisfaction 
with  which  he  witnessed  the  passing  events 
of  the  French  Revolution.  In  the  famous 
sermon  '  On  the  Love  of  Our  Country ' 
(preached  at  the  Meeting-house  in  the  Old 


Price 


336 


Price 


Jewry,  on  4  Nov.  1789),  which,  is  described 
as  the  'red  rag  that  drew  Burke  into  the 
arena/  Price  observed  :  '  I  could  almost  say, 
Lord,  now  lettest  Thou  thy  servant  depart 
in  peace,  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  Thy  salva- 
tion. .  .  .  After  sharing  in  the  benefits  of  one 
revolution,  I  have  been  spared  to  be  a  wit- 
ness to  two  other  revolutions,  both  glorious.' 
Burke,  in  his  '  Reflections  on  the  Revolution 
in  France,'  attempts  to  fasten  on  Price  an 
allusion,  in  these  words,  to  the  scenes  of 
riot  and  carnage,  ending  in  the  abduction 
of  the  king  and   queen,  which  had  taken 
place  at  Versailles  on  the  previous  6  Oct. 
But  Price,  in  the  preface  to  the  fourth  edi- 
tion of  the  sermon,  maintains  (and  the  con- 
text of  the  sermon  is  consistent  with  the 
contention)   that   he  was  alluding  not   to 
the  6th  of  October,  but  to  the  14th  of  July 
(the  date  of  the  destruction  of  the  Bastile), 
and  the   subsequent  days,  when  the   king 
'  shewed  himself  to  his  people  as  the  restorer 
of  their  liberty.'  Price,  indeed,  by  this  sermon, 
together  with  a  speech   subsequently  deli- 
vered  at   a  public   dinner  at  the   London 
tavern,  had  rendered  himself  peculiarly  ob- 
noxious to  Burke,  and  brought  down  on  his 
head  some  of  the  fiercest  denunciations  in 
that  writer's  impassioned  work  on  the  French 
Revolution.     Walpole  speaks  of  his  talons 
being  drawn  by  Burke,  who  had  killed  the 
Revolution  Club  '  as  dead  as  the  Cock  Lane 
Ghost.'     Dr.  Johnson  naturally  placed  Price 
in  the   same  category  with  Home  Tooke, 
John  Wilkes,  and  Dr.  Priestley,  and  reso- 
lutely refused  to   meet  him;  Gibbon  com- 
pared him   to   the   'wild  visionaries'  who 
formed  the  '  constituent  assembly '  of  1789. 
The  darker  side  of  the  Revolution  Price 
happily  did  not  live  to  see.     On  19  April 
1791  he  died,  worn  out  with  suffering  and 
disease.  His  funeral  was  conducted  at  Bunhill 
Fields  by  Dr.  Kippis,  and  his  funeral  sermon 
was  preached  by  Dr.  Priestley,  names  which, 
like  his  own,  are  specially  honourable  in  the 
roll  of  English  nonconformist  divines. 

Price's  reputation  at  the  present  time  rests 
mainly  upon  the  position  which  he  occupies 
in  the  history  of  moral  philosophy.  His 
ethical  theories  are  mostly  contained  in  '  A 
Review  of  the  Principal  Questions  in  Morals,' 
of  which  the  first  edition  was  published  in 
1 757,  and  the  third,  expressing  '  the  author's 
latest  and  maturest  thoughts,'  in  1787.  This 
work  is  professedly  directed  against  the  doc- 
trines of  Hutcheson  [see  HUTCHESON,  FRAN- 
CIS, 1694-1746], but  the  treatment  as  a  whole 
is  constructive  rather  than  polemical.  The 
main  positions  are  three:  1.  Actions  are  in 
themselves  right  or  wrong.  2.  Right  and 
wrong  are  simple  ideas  incapable  of  analysis. 


3.  These  ideas  are  perceived  immediately  by 
the  intuitive  power  of  the  reason  or  under- 
standing, terms  which  (therein  differing  from 
Kant)  he  employs  indifferently.  When  the 
reason  or  understanding  has  once  apprehended 
the  idea  of  right,  it  ought  to  impose  that  idea 
as  a  law  upon  the  will,  and  thus  it  becomes, 
equally  with  the  affections,  a  spring  of  action. 
The  English  moralist  with  whom  Price 
has  most  affinity  is  Cudworth  [see  CTJD WORTH, 
RALPH].  The  main  point  of  difference  is  that, 
while  Cudworth  regards  the  ideas  of  right 
and  wrong  as  vofj^ara  or  modifications  of  the 
intellect  itself,  existing  first  in  germ,  and 
afterwards  developed  by  circumstances,  Price 
seems  rather  to  regard  them  as  acquired  from 
the  contemplation  of  actions,  though  acquired 
necessarily,  immediately,  and  intuitively.  The 
interest  of  his  position,  however,  in  the  history 
of  moral  philosophy,  turns  mainly  on  the 
many  points  of  resemblance,  both  in  funda- 
mental ideas  and  in  modes  of  expression, 
which  exist  between  his  writings  and  those 
of  Kant,  whose  ethical  works  are  posterior 
to  those  of  Price  by  nearly  thirty  years. 
Among  these  points  are  the  exaltation  of 
reason;  the  depreciation  of  the  affections;  the 
unwillingness  of  both  authors  to  regard  the 
'  partial  and  accidental  structure  of  humanity  / 
the  '  mere  make  and  constitution  of  man,'  as 
the  basis  of  morality — in  other  words,  to 
recognise  ethical  distinctions  as  relative  to 
human  nature ;  the  ultimate  and  irresolvable 
character  of  the  idea  of  rectitude ;  the  notion 
that  the  reason  imposes  this  idea  as  a  law 
upon  the  will,  becoming  thus  an  independent 
spring  of  action;  the  insistence  upon  the 
reality  of  liberty,  or  'the  power  of  acting 
and  determining ; '  the  importance  attached 
to  reason  as  a  distinct  source  of  ideas ;  and, 
it  may  be  added,  the  discrimination  (so  cele- 
brated in  the  philosophy  of  Kant)  of  the 
moral  (or  practical)  and  the  speculative 
reason. 

On  the  other  hand,  Price's  ethical  theories 
are  almost  the  antithesis  of  those  of  Paley, 
whose  'Moral  and  Political  Philosophy'  ap- 
peared in  1785.  Speaking  of  this  work  in 
bis  third  edition,  Price  says,  '  Never  have  I 
met  with  a  theory  of  morals  which  has  ap- 
peared to  me  more  exceptionable.' 

The  best  portrait  of  Price  is  that  by  Ben- 
amin  West  in  the  possession  of  the  Royal 
Society  at  Burlington  House,  which  was 
engraved  by  Thomas  Holloway  in  1793. 
[n  the  Hope  collection  at  Oxford  are  two 
engraved  portraits — one  published  by  J. 
Sewell,  1  Nov.  1792,  drawn  and  engraved  by 
Louison ;  and  another  published  by  R.  Bald- 
win on  1  June  1776 ;  besides  a  carioatur 
representing  Dr.  Price  as  standing  in  a  tu ' 


Price 


337 


Price 


inscribed  '  Political  Gunpowder,'  which  rests 
on  a  book  inscribed  '  Calculations/  Below 
are  the  words,  <  "  Tale  of  a  Tub,"  "  Every 
man  has  his  PRICE."  Sir  R.  Walpole.'  There 
is  another  caricature  by  Gilray  (WRIGHT, 
Caricature  History  of  the  Georges,  pp.  450. 
452). 

Most  of  Price's  more  important  works  have 
been  already  mentioned.  To  these  may  be 
added  an  '  Essay  on  the  Population  of  Eng- 
land,' 2nd  edit.  1780  ;  two  <  Fast-day  Ser- 
mons,' published  respectively  in  1779  and 
1781 ;  and  '  Observations  on  the  Importance 
of  the  American  Revolution,  and  the  means 
of  rendering  it  a  Benefit  to  the  World,'  1784. 
A  complete  list  of  his  works,  which  are  nume- 
rous, is  given  in  an  appendix  to  Dr.1  Priestley's 
'  Funeral  Sermon.' 

[Notices  of  Price's  Ethical  System  occur  in 
Mackintosh's  Progress  of  Ethical  Philosophy, 
Jouffroy's  Introduction  to  Ethics,  Whewell's 
History  of  Moral  Philosophy  in  England,  Leslie 
Stephen's  English  Thought  in  the  Eighteenth 
Century,  Bain's  Mental  and  Moral  Science,  Sidg- 
wick's  Hist,  of  Ethics,  Fowler's  Shaftes  bury  and 
Huteheson,  pp.  222-4,  Fowler  and  Wilson's  Prin- 
ciples of  Morals,  pt.  i.  pp.  63-70,  and  elsewhere. 
In  the  last-mentioned  work  the  reader  will  find 
a  full  account  and  criticism  of  Price's  theories. 
The  chief  authority  for  his  life  is  a  memoir  by  his 
nephew,  William  Morgan  ;  but  see  also  Turner's 
Lives  of  Eminent  Unitarians,  ii.  382  sq. ;  Lord 
Edmund  Fitzmaurice's  Life  of  Lord  Shelburne, 
ii.  236,  iii.  92,  439,  498 ;  Walpole's  Letters,  ed. 
Cunningham,  ix.  264,  269,302,  354;  Franklin's 
Memoirs,  1833,  iii.  157;  Gibbon's  Misc.  Works, 
i.  304;  Eogers's  Table  Talk,  p.  3;  Boswell's 
Johnson,  ed.  G.  B.  Hill,  passim  ;  Wheatley  and 
Cunningham's  London ;  Conway's  Life  of  Paine, 
i.  324.  The  writer  of  the  present  article  has,  by 
permission,  made  use  of  a  previous  article,  written 
by  himself,  in  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  (9th 
edit.)  A  Welsh  Family,  by  Miss  Williams  (pri- 
vately printed,  1893,  2nd  edit.),  gives  an  account 
of  Price's  domestic  life.]  T.  F. 

PRICE,  RICHARD  (1790-1833),  philo- 
logist and  antiquary,  born  in  1790,  was  the 
eldest  son  of  Richard  Price,  a  British  mer- 
chant. He  entered  at  the  Middle  Temple  on 
29  May  1823,  was  called  to  the  bar  in  1830, 
and  practised  on  the  western  circuit.  He  was 
also  a  sub-commissioner  of  the  public  record 
commission.  In  1824  he  published  an  edition 
of  Warton's  '  History  of  Poetry,'  with  along 
preface,  which  is  reprinted  in  the  editions  of 
R.  Taylor  (1840)  and  Mr.  W.  C.  Hazlitt 
(1871).  Price  incorporated  the  notes  of  Rit- 
son,  Ashby,  Douce,  and  Park,  besides  adding 
some  of  his  own.  The  edition  had  value, 
although  Price  retained  many  of  Warton's 
self-evident  mistakes,  and  made  some  new 
ones;  In  1830  Price  revised  and  brought  up 

TOL.   XLVI. 


to  date,  in  four  volumes,  Edward  Christian's 
edition  of  Blackstone's  '  Commentaries '  of 
1809.  He  also  assisted  Henry  Petrie  [q.  v.] 
in  his  edition  of  the  'Saxon  Chronicle  to  1066,' 
in  vol.  i.  of  Monumenta  Historica  Britannica.' 
Price  died  of  dropsy  on  23  May  1833,  at  Branch 
Hill,  Hampstead. 

Price  had  a  wide  knowledge  of  German  and 
Scandinavian  literature,  to  which  testimony 
was  borne  by  Dr.  James  Grimm,  Dr.  J.  j. 
Thorkelin,  and  Edgar  Taylor,  translator  of 
Wace's  '  Chronicle.'  Thorpe,  in  the  preface 
to  his  *  Ancient  Laws  and  Institutes  of  Eng- 
land,' says  his  labours  had  been  considerably 
lightened  by  Price,  whom  he  calls  '  a  good 
man  and  highly  accomplished  scholar.' 

[Gent.  Mag.  1833,  ii.  282,  561;  Times, 
24  May  1833  (where  there  is  a  singular  mip- 
print);  Taylor's  edition  (1840)  of  Warton,  with 
notices  of  Price  by  various  scholars ;  Hazlitt's 
edition  (1871),  preface;  Middle  Temple  Ad- 
missions ;  Allibone's  Diet.  Engl.  Lit.  ii.  1679.] 

G.  LE  G.  N. 

PRICE,  ROBERT  (1655-1733),  judge, 
born  in  the  parish  of  Cerrig-y-Druidion, 
Denbighshire,  on  14  Jan.  1655,  was  the 
second  son  of  Thomas  Price  of  Geeler,  Den- 
bighshire, by  his  wife  Margaret,  daughter 
and  heiress  of  Thomas  Vynne  of  Bwlch-y- 
Beudy  in  the  same  county.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  Ruthin  and  St.  John's  College, 
Cambridge,  where  he  was  admitted  on 
28  March  1672,  but  left  without  taking  any 
degree.  He  entered  Lincoln's  Inn  as  a  stu- 
dent on  8  May  1673,  and  was  called  to  the 
bar  in  July  1679.  Previously  to  his  call 
Price  made  the  grand  tour  of  France  and  Italy. 
While  at  Rome  his  Coke  upon  Littleton  was 
mistaken  for  an  English  bible,  and  he  was 
carried  before  the  pope.  After  convincing 
his  accusers  of  their  error,  he  made  a  present 
of  the  book  to  the  pope,  by  whom  it  was 
placed  in  the  Vatican  library  (Life,  p.  59). 
In  1682  Price  was  made  attorney-general  for 
South  Wales,  and  elected  an  alderman  of 
the  city  of  Hereford.  He  was  appointed  re- 
corder of  Radnor  in  1683,  steward  to  the 
queen-dowager  in  1684,  town  clerk  of  the 
city  of  Gloucester  in  1685,  and  king's  coun- 
sel at  Ludlow  in  1686.  Price  represented 
Weobley  in  the  Short  parliament  of  James  II. 
He  resigned  the  town-clerkship  of  Gloucester 
in  1688(SnowEK,  Reports,  1794,  ii.  490),  and 
on  the  accession  of  William  III  was  deprived 
of  his  Welsh  attorney-generalship.  At  the 
general  election  in  February  1690  he  was 
igain  returned  to  the  House  of  Commons 
for  Weobley,  and  continued  to  represent  that 
borough  until  the  dissolution  in  December 
1700.  He  was  one  of  the  counsel  for  Charles, 
fifth  baron  Mohun,  who  was  acquitted  by  the 


Price 


338 


Price 


House  of  Lords  of  the  murder  of  William 
Mountfort  the  actor  in  1693  (HOAVELL,  State 
Trials,  1812,  xii.  949-1050).  On  10  May  1695 
Price  was  heard  before  the  lords  of  the  treasury 
in  opposition  to  the  grant  made  by  the  king  to 
the  Earl  of  Portland  of  the  lordships  of  Den- 
bigh, Bromfield,  and  Yale.  On  14  Jan.  1696 
he  presented  a  petition  of  the  freeholders  and 
inhabitants  of  Denbighshire  to  the  House  of 
Commons  against  the  grant,  and  his  motion 
for  an  address  to  the  king  was  carried  unani- 
mously. On  the  23rd  the  speaker  informed 
the  house  that  the  king  had  promised  to  re- 
call the  grant,  and  to  find  some  other  way  of 
showing  his  favour  to  the  earl  (Parl.  Hist. 
v.  978-86  ;  Journals  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons^ xi.  390, 394-5, 409).  Price's  successful 
exertions  against  this  exorbitant  grant  gained 
him  the  title  of  '  the  patriot  of  his  native 
country.'  His  two  speeches  on  the  subject 
were  printed  after  William's  death  in  1702, 
under  the  title  of  *  Gloria  Cambriae  ;  or  the 
Speech  of  a  bold  Briton  in  Parliament 
against  a  Dutch  Prince  of  Wales '  (see  the 
Somers  Collection  of  Tracts,  1814,  xi.  387- 
393).  In  the  session  of  1696-7  Price  took 
an  active  part  in  the  discussion  of  Sir  John 
Fenwick's  case  (Parl.  Hist.  v.  1010-1, 1041, 
1045).  In  1700  he  was  made  a  judge  of  the 
Brecknock  circuit,  and  at  the  general  elec- 
tion in  December  1701  was  again  returned 
to  the  House  of  Commons  for  Weobley.  He 
was  appointed  a  baron  of  the  exchequer  in 
the  place  of  Sir  Henry  Hatsell  [q.  v.]  on 
24  June  1702,  having  received  the  order  of 
the  coif  on  the  previous  day.  He  was  never 
knighted.  He  differed  from  the  majority  of 
the  judges  in  the  case  of  Ashby  v.  White,  and 
agreed  with  Baron  Smith  that  a  writ  of  error 
was  not  a  writ  of  right,  but  of  grace  (LuT- 
TKELL,  v.  524).  Price  and  Sir  Robert  Eyre 
[q.  v.]  were  the  only  two  judges  who  pro- 
nounced against  the  king's  claim  of  prero- 
gative with  regard  to  the  education  of  his 
grandchildren  (HowELL,  State  Trials,  xv. 
1224-9).  Price  succeeded  Sir  Robert  Dormer 
[q.  v.]  as  a  justice  of  the  common  pleas  on 
16  Oct.  1726.  He  died  at  Kensington,  after 
a  long  judicial  career  of  over  thirty  years,  on 
2  Feb.  1733,  aged  78 :  he  was  buried  at  Yazor 
in  Herefordshire. 

Price  was  a  consistent  tory,  and  an  honest 
and  painstaking]  udge.  He  married,  on  23  Sept. 
1679,  Lucy,  eldest  daughter  of  Robert  Rodd 
of  Foxley,  Herefordshire,  and  his  wife  Anna 
Sophia,  daughter  of  Thomas  Neale  of  Warn- 
ford,  Hampshire,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons — 
viz.  (1)  Thomas,  born  on  16  Jan.  1680,  M.  P. 
for  Weobley,  1702-5  ;  he  died  unmarried  at 
Genoa  on  17  Sept.  1706 ;  and  (2)  Uvedale 
Tomkyns,  who  married  Anne,  daughter  and 


coheiress  of  Lord  Arthur  Somerset,  second 
son  of  Henry,  first  duke  of  Beaufort,  and  died 
on  17  March  1764 — and  one  daughter,  Lucy, 
who  married,  in  1702,  Bamfylde  Rodd  of  the 
Rodd,  Herefordshire,  and  Stoke  Canon, 
Devonshire.  In  November  1690  Price  ob- 
tained 1,500/.  damages  in  an  action  for  crim. 
con.  against  '  Mr.  Neal  the  groom-porter's 
son'  (LUTTRELL,  ii.  231).  Price  does  not 
appear  to  have  obtained  a  divorce  from  his 
wife,  to  whom  he  bequeathed  a  legacy  of  20/. 
1  to  buy  her  mourning.'  He  also  charged  his 
estates  by  his  will  with  the  payment  to  her 
of  an  annuity  of  120/.,  'pursuant  to  a  former 
agreement  and  settlement  between  us.'  Price 
erected  and  endowed  an  almshouse  for  six 
poor  people  in  the  parish  of  Cerrig-y-Drui- 
dion,  and  in  1717  built  the  mansion-house 
at  Foxley,  which  remained  in  the  possession 
of  his  descendants  until  1855,  when  it  was 
purchased  by  Mr.  John  Davenport  of  West- 
wood,  Staffordshire. 

There  are  engravings  of  him  by  Vertue 
after  Kneller,  and  by  King  after  Dandridge. 
A  letter  written  by  Price  to  Dr. White  Ken- 
nett,  afterwards  bishop  of  Peterborough, 
relating  to  the  licensing  of  schoolmasters, 
is  printed  in  Sir  Henry  Ellis's  'Original 
Letters  of  Eminent  Literary  Men'  (Camden 
Soc.  Publ.  1843,  p.  335). 

[The  Life  of  the  late  Honourable  Robert  Price, 
&c.,  1734;  Foss's  Judges  of  England,  1864,viii. 
149-53;  Williams's  Biogr.  Diet,  of  Eminent 
Welshmen,  1852,  419-20;  D'Israeli's  Curiosi- 
ties of  Literature,  1834,  vi.  258-61  ;  Noble's 
Continuation  of  Granger's  Biogr.  Hist,  of  Eng- 
land, 1806,  iii.  200-3  ;  Robinson's  Mansions  and 
Manors  of  Herefordshire,  1873,  pp.  242,  317-18; 
Debrett's  Baronetage,  1835,  pp.  426-7;  Mayor's 
Admissions  to  the  College  of  St.  John  the  Evan- 
gelist, Cambridge,  1882-93,  pt.  ii.  pp.  38-9; 
Lincoln's  Inn  Registers ;  Official  Return  of  Lists 
of  Members  of  Parl.  pt.  i.  pp.  553,  566,  574,  581, 
595  ;  Haydn's  Book  of  Dignities,  1890 ;  Notes 
and  Queries,  2nd  ser.  ii.  24,  3rd  ser.  ix.  217.] 

G.  F.  R.  B. 

PRICE,  THEODORE  (1570  P-1631),  pre- 
bendary of  Westminster,  was  son  of  Rees  ap 
Tudor,  by  Marjory,  daughter  of  Edward 
Stanley,  constable  of  Harleigh  Castle.  Born 
about  1570  at  Brony-Foel,  in  the  parish  of 
Llanenddwyn-Dyffyn-Ardudwy,  Merioneth- 
shire, he  entered  All  Souls'  College,  Oxford, 
as  a  chorister,  graduated  B.A.  on  16  Feb. 
1587-8,  and  M.  A.  on  9  June  1591 ,  and  became 
fellow  of  Jesus  College.  He  proceeded  D.D. 
from  New  College  on  5  July  1614.  For  a  short 
time  from  18  Oct.  1591  he  held  the  poor  rectory 
of  Llanvair,  near  Harleigh,  to  which  he  gave 
a  '  fair  communion  chalice '  (cf.  Lansdowne 
MS.  986,  f.  104) ;  from  9  Sept.  1596  was  pre- 


Price 


339 


Price 


bendary  of  Winchester,  where  he  is  also  said 
to  have  been  master  of  the  hospital  of  St. 
Cross ;  was  rector  of  Llanrhaiadr-in-Moch- 
nant,  Denbighshire,  from  1601 ;  principal  of 
Hart  Hall,  Oxford,  from  1604  to  1621 ;  rector 
of  Launton,  Oxfordshire,  from  1609;  pre- 
bendary of  Leighton  Buzzard  in  Lincoln 
Cathedral  from  1621 ;  and  prebendary  of 
"Westminster  from  1623. 

Williams,  the  lord  keeper  and  dean  of 
Westminster,  was  Price's  countryman  and 
kinsman,  and  by  his  favour  Price  also  acted 
as  sub-dean  of  theWestminster  chapter.  He 
was  for  a  time  a  royal  chaplain,  although, 
according  to  Hacket,  he  never  preached  at 
court.  By  Williams's  influence,  too,  Price 
was  employed  as  a  commissioner  to  inquire 
into  the  political  and  ecclesiastical  condition 
of  Ireland  (RTMEE,  Fcedera,  xvii.  358 ; 
HACKET,  Scrinia  Reserata).  'He  came  off 
with  praise  by  his  majesty  (James  I)  with 
promise  of  advance.'  Both  Williams  and 
Laud  were  credited  with  futile  efforts  to 
secure  Price  further  church  preferment. 
Williams  is  said  to  have  suggested  his  name 
for  the  bishopric  of  St.  Asaph,  and  Laud  like- 
wise, according  to  Prynne,  urged  his  claim  to 
a  Welsh  bishopric.  When  the  archbishopric 
of  Armagh  was  vacant  in  1625,  Williams  is 
said  to  have  offended  the  Duke  of  Bucking- 
ham by  his  persistence  in  recommending 
Price.  Price,  however,  thought  Williams 
lukewarm  in  the  matter,  and,  after  Ussher 
was  chosen,  *  Price  did  never  show  Williams 
love,  and  the  Church  of  England  then  or 
sooner  lost  the  doctor's  heart '  (HACKET). 

Price  held  his  various  benefices  till  his 
death  on  15  Dec.  1631.     He  was  buried  six  ! 
days  later  in  Westminster  Abbey  (CHESTER,  j 
Westm.  Abbey  Reg.  p.  130).    Prynne,  who  de-  ] 
nounced  him  as  f  an  unpreaching  epicure  and  \ 
an  Arminian,'  said  that  he  died  a  papist.  | 
Prynne  charged  Laud  with  treating  Price  as 
a  confidential  friend   despite   his   apostasy,  j 
Laud  replied  '  that  Price  was  more  inward  ; 
with  another  bishop  [i.  e.  Williams]  who  ; 
laboured  his  preferment  more  than  I,'  and  | 
denied  the  reports  of  Price's  apostasy  (Rome's 
Masterpiece,  reprinted  in  the  Troubles  and 
Trials ;  see  also  Canterburies  Doom,  p.  355).  j 
Before  Price's  funeral  Williams,  as  dean  of  I 
Westminster,  doubtless  from  a  wish  to  em- 
barrass  his   enemy  Laud,   called   the   pre- 
bendaries together,  and  told  them  that  he  I 
had  been  with  the  sub-dean  before  his  death,  ! 
that  he  left  him  on  very  doubtful  terms  about  i 
religion,  and  consequently  could  not  tell  in  1 
what  form  to  bury  him.     Dr.  No  well,  one  of  ! 
the  senior  prebendaries,  performed  the  funeral  ' 
ceremony  in  the  presence  of  the  whole  chapter  ! 
(HETLTN,  Exam.  Hist.  1651,  p.  74). 


Price's  nephew,  William  Lewis  (1592- 
1667)  [q.  v.],  master  of  the  hospital  of  St. 
Cross,  was  his  general  legatee. 

[G-ale's  Antiq.  of  Winchester,  p.  121;  Laud's 
Troubles  and  Trials ;  Wood's  Fasti,  i.  358  sq. ; 
Foster's  Alumni ;  Kymer's  Fcedera,  xvii.  358  ; 
Hacket's  Scrinia  Reserata  ;  Fuller's  Church  His- 
tory, vi.  319.]  W.  A.  S. 

PRICE  or  PRYS,  THOMAS  (ft.  1586- 
1632),  captain  and  Welsh  poet,  eldest  son 
of  Dr.  Ellis  Price  [q.  v.],  was  t  a  gentleman 
of  plentiful  fortune,'  who  followed  a  seafar- 
ing life  for  many  years.  He  joined  expedi- 
tions both  under  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  and  Sir 
Francis  Drake.  In  one  of  his  poems  he  states 
that  he  andCaptainWilliamMyddelton  [q.v.] 
and  Captain  Thomas  Koet  were  the  first  who 
'  drank '  (smoked)  tobacco  in  the  streets  of 
London.  This  would  be  in  1586  (HuME,  Hist, 
of  England,  ch.  xli. ;  FAIEHOLT,  Tobacco,  pp. 
50-1).  Price  was  present  at  the  camp  at  Til- 
bury in  1588.  He  also  fitted  out  a  privateer 
at  his  own  expense  and  contributed  to  the  de- 
feat of  the  Spanish  Armada.  Subsequently, 
in  conjunction  with  relatives  and  friends  he 
did  some  buccaneering  work  on  the  Spanish 
coast,  but  when  they  persisted  in  such  prac- 
tices after  peace  was  proclaimed  they  were 
warned  by  the  English  government  and  called 
to  severe  account. 

Thomas  Price  was  lord  of  the  manor  of 
Yspytty  leuan,  and  by  many  authorities  he 
is  erroneously  described  as  high  sheriff  of 
Denbighshire  in  1599.  His  chief  residence 
after  the  death  of  his  father  was  Plas  lolyn, 
but  he  had  a  seat  also  in  the  Isle  of  Bardsey, 
which  he  had  built  out  of  the  ruins  of  the  old 
monastery. 

Price  and  Captain  William  Myddelton 
are  ranked  by  the  author  of  '  Heraldry  Dis- 
played' among  the  fifteen  gentlemen  who 
fostered  the  literature  of  Wales  during  the 
eras  of  depression  which  followed  the  in- 
surrection of  Owen  Glendower.  The  literary 
works  of  Thomas  Price  are  in  the  British 
Museum.  They  form  a  large  thick  volume 
of  prose  and  poetry,  and  are  probably  in  his 
own  handwriting"  (Addit.  MS.  14872). 
Prefacing  the  works  is  a  valuable  introduc- 
tion descriptive  of  the  contents,  dated  No- 
vember 1736,  from  the  pen  of  Lewis  Morris 
[q.v.]  The  chief  prose  works  are:  1.  A  British 
history  translated  out  of  some  Latin  or  Eng- 
lish work  until  it  reaches  his  own  time.  It 
generally  agrees  as  to  facts  with  that  of 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  though  very  different 
in  style  and  much  shorter.  It  is  full  of  an- 
glicisms  common  to  this  day  in  Denbighshire. 
2.  'The  British  Expositor,'  a  Welsh  dic- 
tionary, older  than  that  of  Dr.  Davies  (1632), 
the  first  published  in  Welsh,  and  containing 

z  2 


Price 


340 


Price 


many  words  not  in  Davies.  3.  '  The  Art  of 
Poetry.'  4.  A  list  of  contemporaries  skilful 
in  British  poetry  and  other  branches  of  learn- 
ing1. The  poems  range  over  a  period  of  forty 
or  fifty  years.  Some  bear  dates  between  1589 
and  1632.  A  few  specimens  have  been  pub- 
lished in  the  '  Greal '  of  1805  and  the  l  Cam- 
brian Quarterly;'  in  the  '  Cymmrodor  '  of 
1889  there  appeared  a  striking  satirical  ode 
on  f  Unprincipled  Lawyers/  and  a  few  stanzas 
on  various  subjects  in  the  '  Ymofynydd '  of 
1891. 

Prys  married,  first,  Margaret,  daughter  of 
William  Gruffydd  of  Penrhyn  in  Carnarvon- 
shire, by  whom  he  had  two  sons,  Ellis  and 
Thomas,  and  one  daughter ;  and,  secondly, 
Jane,  daughter  of  Robert  William  of  Berth- 
ddu,  by  whom  he  had  no  issue.  The  younger 
son  Thomas  succeeded  his  father  as  lord  of 
the  manor  of  Yspy tty  leuan.  The  elder  son 
Ellis  died  in  1610,  and  his  father  wrote  an 
elegy  on  him.  Ellis's  remains  were  interred  in 
the  same  grave  as  his  cousin's,  William 
GruflFydd  of  Penrhyn,  near  Con  way. 

There  is  a  portrait  of  Prys  at  Gloddaeth, 
the  seat  of  Sir  Roger  Mostyn. 

[Archseologia  Cambr.  1856  p.  179,  1860  p. 
114,  1869  p.  9,  1874  p.  152;  Hist,  of  Powys 
Fadog,  iv.  102  et  seq. ;  Calendars  of  G-wynedd  ; 
Gweithiau  Grwallter  Mechain,  i.  464-5,  ii.  437  ; 
Fairholt's  Tobacco,  pp.  50,  51 ;  Cambro-Briton.i. 
271 ;  Pennant's  Tours  in  Wales,  iii.  442  et  seq.l 

E.  J.  J. 

PRICE,  THOMAS  (1599-1685),  arch- 
bishop of  Cashel,  was  born  in  London,  and 
educated  at  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  where 
he  graduated  B.A.  in  1623,  M.A.  in  1628,  and 
was  elected  a  fellow  in  1626  (ToDD,  Gra- 
duates). 

Price  was  ordained  by  William  Bedell, 
and  became  archdeacon  of  Bedell's  diocese  of 
Kilmore.  He  was  consecrated  bishop  of  Kil- 
dare  in  Christ  Church,  Dublin,  on  10  March 
1660,  and  was  translated  to  the  archbishopric 
of  Cashel  on  20  May  1 667.  He  was  imbued 
with  the  views  of  Bedell  as  to  the  impor- 
tance of  making  the  Irish  language  that  of  the 
established  church ;  he  ordained  some  Irish- 
speaking  ministers,  and  in  1678  he  required 
service  to  be  read  in  his  cathedral  from  a 
folio  Gaedhilic  prayer-book  presented  to  him 
by  Dr.  Andrew  Sail  [q.  v.]  He  encouraged 
Dr.  Sail  in  his  edition  of  the  Irish  Testa- 
ment, and  had  himself  some  acquaintance 
with  the  Irish  language  (Sail's  letter  to 
Boyle).  He  died  at  Cashel  on  4  Aug.  1685. 

[Ware's  Antiquities  and  History  of  Ireland, 
ed.  1705;  Cotton's  Fasti  Eccl.  Hib. ;  Anderson's 
Historical  Sketches  of  the  Native  Irish,  2nd 
edit.  Edinburgh,  1830.]  N.  M. 


PRICE,  THOMAS  (1787-1848),  Welsh 
historian,  best  known  as  *  Carnhuanawc,' 
born  2  Oct.  1787  at  Pencaerelin  in  the  parish 
of  Llanfihangel  Bryn  Pabuan,  Brecknock, 
was  second  son  of  Rice  Price,  vicar  of 
Llanwrthwl,  Brecknock  (d.  1810),  and  Mary 
Bo  wen,  his  wife.  In  1805  he  entered  Brecon 
grammar  school.  There  he  attracted  the 
notice  of  Theophilus  Jones  [q.  v.],  who  was 
then  engaged  upon  the  second  volume  of  his 
'History  of  Breconshire.'  His  talent  for 
drawing  was  turned  to  good  account  in  the 
illustration  of  this  book,  and  a  lasting  in- 
terest in  Welsh  history  was  at  the  same 
time  kindled  in  him.  A  letter  to  Jones,  in 
which  he  described  some  Roman  remains 
near  Llandrindod,  was  printed  in  '  Archgeo- 
logia,'  vol.  xvii.  On  10  March  1811  he  was 
ordained  deacon,  and  licensed  to  the  curacies 
of  Llanyre  and  Llanfihangel  Helygen  in  Rad- 
norshire. His  ordination  as  priest  (12  Sept. 
1812)  was  soon  followed  (April  1813)  by  his 
removal  to  Crickhowel.  Thence  he  served 
the  parishes  of  Llangenny,  Llanbedr  Ystrad 
Yw,  and  Patrishow  as  curate-in-charge.  To 
these  were  added  in  1816  the  neighbouring 
parishes  of  Llangattog  and  Llanelly.  In 
1825  he  received  the  vicarage  of  Llanfihangel 
Cwmdu,  augmented  in  1839  by  the  curacy  of 
Tretower.  Crickhowel,  however,  continued 
to  be  his  home  until  1841,  when  he  built 
himself  a  house  on  the  glebe  land  at  Cwmdu. 

Price  first  appeared  as  a  Welsh  writer 
in  1824,  when  he  contributed  a  series  of 
papers  on  '  The  Celtic  Tongue '  to  '  Seren 
Gomer,'  under  the  name  '  Carnhuanawc,' 
which  became  his  recognised  literary  title. 
He  was  already  known  as  a  well-informed 
and  eloquent  speaker  upon  bardism  and  similar 
topics  at  eisteddfodau,  and  in  1824  he  won 
a  prize  at  Welshpool  Eisteddfod  for  an  essay 
upon  the  relations  between  Armorica  and 
Britain.  The  Celtic  connections  of  the  Welsh 
interested  him  greatly,  and  during  the  next 
few  years  he  travelled  a  good  deal  in  Celtic 
countries.  In  1829  he  published  '  An  Essay 
on  the  Physiognomy  and  Physiology  of  the 
present  Inhabitants  of  Britain/  in  which  he 
maintained  against  John  Pinkerton  [q.v.]  the 
doctrine  of  the  single  origin  of  the  human 
race. 

In  1836  he  commenced  the  great  task  of 
his  life,  the  compilation  of  a  history  of  Wales 
in  Welsh.  '  Hanes  Cymru '  appeared  in  four- 
teen parts,  the  first  of  which  was  issued  in 
the  above  year,  the  last  in  1842.  Price's 
desire  to  secure  as  great  a  degree  of  accuracy 
as  possible  led  to  long  delays  (Archceolcgia 
Cambrensis,  1st  ser.  iv.  148).  A  cumbrous 
and  pedantic  style  and  the  absence  of  any 
constructive  treatment  of  his  material  detract 


Price 


341 


Price 


from  the  merits  of  this  work,  but  it  remained 
for  many  years  the  most  trustworthy  history 
of  Wales. 

Price  was  an  indefatigable  worker  in  all 
movements  which  appealed  to  his  fervid 
patriotism.  He  took  an  active  part  in  the 
foundation  of  the  Cymreigyddion,  or  Welsh 
Society  of  Brecon  (1823),  and  that  of  Aber- 
gavenny  (1833),  sent  regular  communications 
to  Welsh  magazines,  and  corresponded  with  a 
large  number  of  persons  on  Celtic  topics. 
He  took  an  especial  interest  in  the  Welsh 
(triple)  harp,  and  through  his  exertions  a 
school  for  players  of  this  instrument  was  for 
a  time  maintained  at  Brecon.  In  October 
1845  he  won  the  prize  of  80/.  offered  at 
Abergavenny  Eisteddfod  for  the  best  essay 
on  the  comparative  merits  of  Welsh,  Irish, 
and  Gaelic  literature.  In  1847  he  published 
a  pamphlet  (Llandovery)  on  '  The  Geogra- 
phical Progress  of  Empire  and  Civilisation/ 
an  expansion  of  Berkeley's  theory  that '  west- 
ward the  course  of  empire  takes  its  way.' 

Price  died  on  7  Nov.  1848,  and  was  buried 
at  Llanfihangel  Cwmdu.  In  1854-5  his 
'  Literary  Remains'  were  published  at  Llan- 
dovery, the  second  volume  containing  a  bio- 
graphy by  Miss  Jane  Williams  (Ysgafell), 
with  many  illustrative  letters.  To  the  first 
volume  is  prefixed  a  portrait,  photographed 
from  an  oil  painting  at  Llanover;  to  the  second 
a  photograph  of  a  bust  executed  by  W.  M. 
Thomas. 

[Literary  Remains,  Llandovery,  1854-5 ; 
Archseologia  Cambrensis,  1st  ser.  iv.  146-50.] 

J.  E.  L. 

PRICE,  SIR  UVEDALE  (1747-1829), 
writer  on  '  the  picturesque,'  eldest  son  of 
Robert  Price  of  Foxley  in  the  parish  of 
Yazor,  Herefordshire,  by  Sarah,  eldest 
daughter  of  the  first  Lord  Barrington,  was 
born  in  1747.  Robert  Price  was  a  skilled 
musician  and  artist,  and,  while  residing  with 
some  other  Englishmen  at  Geneva  in  1741, 
illustrated  with  his  drawings  the  l  Letter 
from  an  English  Gentleman,  giving  an 
account  of  the  Glaciers,'  which  came  out  in 
that  year.  Two  characters  of  him — the  first 
by  R.  N.  A.  Neville  [q.  v.],  and  the  second 
by  Benjamin  Stillingfleet  [q.  v.],  who  after 
1746  passed  great  part  of  his  time  at  Foxley 
— are  inserted  in  Coxe's  'Literary  Life  of 
Stillingfleet'  (i.  160-1,  ii.  169-82).* 

Uvedale,  who  came  into  a  considerable 
fortune  on  the  death  of  his  father  in  1761, 
was  educated  at  Eton,  and  matriculated  from 
Christ  Church,  Oxford,  on  13  Dec.  1763,  but 
left  without  a  degree.  While  at  Eton  he 
became  friendly  with  Charles  James  Fox.  In 
January  1761  they  acted  together  in  a  play  at 


Holland  House,  continued  their  friendship  at 
Oxford,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1767  studied 
Italian  together  under  a  master  at  Florence. 
They  journeyed  in  company  to  Rome,  Venice, 
Turin,  and  Geneva,  and  in  August  1768  paid 
a  visit  to  Voltaire  at  Ferney.  Fox  then 
returned  to  England,  but  Price  traversed 
the  finest  parts  ot'Switzerland,  and  descended 
the  Rhine  to  Spa  (Memoirs  and  Corresp.  of 
Fox,  i.  27-9,  46-7). 

Father  and  son  made  great  improvements 
in  the  estate  and  gardens  at  Foxley.  The 
chief  labour  of  Uvedale  was  the  construction 
of  a  charming  ride  of  a  mile  and  a  half, 
through  the  woods  to  the  point  of  'Lady 
Lift'  (MURRAY,  Herefordshire,  1894,  ed.  p. 
140).  He  opposed  the  system  of  Brown  and 
Kent,  arguing  in  favour  of  natural  and  pic- 
turesque beauty,  and  endeavouring  to  show 
that  the  fashionable  mode  of  laying  out 
grounds  was  '  at  variance  with  all  the  prin- 
ciples of  landscape-painting,  and  with  the 
practice  of  all  the  most  eminent  masters.' 
These  views  were  set  out  by  Richard  Payne 
Knight  [q.  v.],  his  friend  and  neighbour,  in 
'  The  Landscape,  a  didactic  Poem.  Addressed 
to  Uvedale  Price'  (1794;  2nd  edit.  1795),  and 
by  himself  in  'An  Essay  on  the  Picturesque,' 
1794.  Humphrey  Repton  acknowledged 
their  merits  in  a  courteous  '  Letter  to  Uvedale 
Price/  1794,  but  claimed  beauty  for  'the 
milder  scenes  that  have  charms  for  common 
observers/  and  Price  replied  with  equal 
courtesy  in  '  A  Letter  to  H.  Repton '  (1795 ; 
2nd  edit,  1798)  (Sir  Walter  Scott  in  Quar- 
terly fieview,  March  1828,  p.  317). 

A  new  edition,  with  considerable  additions, 
of  the  first  volume  of '  An  Essay  on  the  Pic- 
turesque '  appeared  in  1796,  and  was  trans- 
lated into  German  at  Leipzig  in  1798 ;  the 
second  volume  came  out  in  1798.  A  further 
edition  of  the  complete  work  was  issued  in 
1810,  in  three  volumes,  and  it  included  Rep- 
ton's  letter  to  Price  and  his  answer,  as  well 
as  a  reprint  of  his  '  Dialogue  on  the  distinct 
Characters  of  the  Picturesque  and  the  Beau- 
tiful' (Hereford,  1801),  in  which  Price  com- 
bated the  objections  of  Knight  in  the  second 
edition  of  the  poem  of  '  The  Landscape,'  and 
criticised  the  opinions  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds 
and  Burke  on  the  beautiful.  A  long  note  in 
the  second  volume  (pp.  383-406)  of  this  edi- 
tion dealt  with  Knight's  remarks  in  the 
second  edition  of  the  '  Analytical  Enquiry 
into  Taste'  on  Price's  views  relating  to  the 
temple  of  Vesta  at  Tivoli.  The  best  edition 
of '  Sir  Uvedale  Price  on  the  Picturesq  ue '  was 
published  at  Edinburgh  in  1842, '  with  much 
original  matter  by  Sir  Thomas  Dick  Lauder 
"q.  v.],  and  sixty  illustrations  by  Montagu 
tanley,  R.S.A.' 


Price 


342 


Price 


Price's  views  were  set  out  in  London's 
'  Encyclopaedia  of  Gardening,'  1822  edit.  (pp. 
74-7),  and  they  were  criticised  tav  William 
Marshall  (1745-1818)  [q.  v.]  ;  by  George 
Mason  (1735-1806)  [q.v.] ;  by  Thomas  Green 
the  younger  (1769-1825)  [q.  v.]  ;  and  by 
Dug-aid  Stewart  in  his  'Philosophical  Essays ' 
(  Works,  v.  221-41,  275-6, 439-41,  vol  x.  pp. 
cl-cliii). 

Scott,  when  engaged  in  forming  his  gardens 
at  Abbotsford,  studied  the  works  of  Price, 
and  wrote  of  him  in  the  '  Quarterly  Review ' 
that  he  '  had  converted  the  age  to  his  views.' 
Dr.  Parr  praised  him  for  the  elegance  of  his 
scholarship  and  the  purity  of  his  style.  Ma- 
thias,  however,  in  the 'Pursuits  of  Literature' 
(second  dialogue,  line  49),  sneered  at  the 
writings  of  Price  and  Knight,  who 

Grounds  by  neglect  improve, 
And  "banish  use,  for  naked  nature's  love. 

Price  entertained  many  visitors  at  his 
country  seat,  among  whom  were  Sheridan 
and  his  first  wife,  Fitzpatrick,  and  Samuel 
Rogers.  Wordsworth  visited  him  at  Foxley 
in  1810  and  1827,  and  on  the  first  occasion 
condemned  the  place  as  wanting  variety,  and 
deficient  in  the  '  relish  of  humanity.' 

Price  served  as  sheriff  of  Herefordshire 
in  1793,  and,  as  a  lifelong  friend  of  the  lead- 
ing whigs,  was  created  a  baronet  on  12  Feb. 
1828.  His  eyesight  was  injured  by  a  blow 
in  1815,  but  when  eighty  years  old  he  was 
'  all  life  and  spirits,  and  as  active  in  ranging 
about  his  woods  as  a  setter-dog '  (KNIGHT, 
Life  of  Wordsworth,  iii.  130).  He  died  at 
Foxley  on  14  Sept.  1829.  He  married,  on 
28  April  1774,  Lady  Caroline  Carpenter, 
youngest  daughter  of  George,  first  earl  of 
Tyrconnel.  She  died  on  16  July  1826,  aged 
72,  leaving  one  son  and  one  daughter 
(cf.  HUGHES,  Windsor  Forest,  pp.  232,  244). 

The  other  works  of  Price  were  :  1.  l  An 
Account  of  the  Statues,  Pictures,  and  Temples 
of  Greece ;  translated  from  Pausanias,'  1780. 
2.  '  Thoughts  on  the  Defence  of  Property,' 
1797.  3.  '  An  Essay  on  the  Modern  Pronun- 
ciation of  Greek  and  Latin,'  printed,  but  not 
published,  at  Oxford  in  1827  ;  he  l  anticipated 
some  modern  changes,'  urging  '  that  our 
system  of  pronouncing  the  ancient  languages 
is  at  variance  with  the  principles  and  es- 
tablished rules  of  ancient  prosody  and  the 
practice  of  the  best  poets.'  Price  contributed 
to  Arthur  Young's  l  Annals  of  Agriculture,' 
and  was  one  of  the  committee  for  inspecting 
models  for  public  monuments  (Biogr.  Diet. 
1816). 

Price  was  a  very  entertaining  letter-writer ; 
long  and  amusing  missives  from  him  are  in 
Miss  Berry's  'Journals,'  ii.  67-9,  528-9  (en- 


closing an  ode  on  the  burning  of  Moscow) , 
547-9 ;  iii.  8-9  ;  Clayden's  «  Samuel  Rogers 
and  his  Contemporaries,'  passim,  and  the 
'  Works' of  Dr.  Parr,  i.  618-21,  viii.  110-20. 
(cf.  E.  H.  BAKKEK,  Anecdotes,  ii.  36,  and 
Memorials  of  C.  J.  Fox,  i.  46-7).  Several 
other  letters  from  him  to  Barker  were  sold 
by  that  needy  writer  to  Pickering  in  August 

Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  painted  a  portrait  of 
Lady  Caroline  Price  in  November  1787,  and 
Sir  Thomas  Lawrence  painted  Price  himself. 
These  portraits,  and  portraits  of  several  other 
members  of  the  family,  were  sold  by  Messrs. 
Christie  &  Manson  on  6  May  1893,  the  paint- 
ing of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  fetching  3,885/. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1774  p.  237,  1826  pt.  ii.  p.  93, 
1829  pt.  ii.  p.  274;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.; 
Felton's  Portraits  of  Authors  on  Gardening,  pp. 
191-200;  Duncumb's  Hereford,  1892  vol.,  pp. 
191-7;  Knight's  Coleorton  Memorials,  i.  129, 
ii.  133-5,  190-2,  215;  Ballantyne's  Voltaire,  p. 
291;  Dyce's  Table-talk  of  Kogers,  pp.  76, 
114-15,  245;  Clayden's  Kogers  and  his  Con- 
temporaries, i.  47-8,  405;  Coxe's  Stillingfieet, 
i.  73-81,  97-9,  125,  151,  159;  Walpole's  Corre- 
spondence, ed.  Cunningham,  iii.  374,  ix.  462; 
Taylor's  Sir  Joshua  Keynolds,  ii.  512;  Words- 
worth's Works,  ed.  Knight,  iii.  45-7.]  W.  P.  C. 

PRICE,  WILLIAM  (1597-1646),  divine, 
one  of  the  Prices  of  Denbighshire,  matricu- 
lated from  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  on  16  Oct. 
1616,  aged  19.  He  graduated  B.A.  and  M.A. 
on  21  June  1619,  and  B.D.  on  14  June  1628. 
Taking  holy  orders,  he  was,  on  26  Sept.  1621, 
elected  the  first  reader  in  moral  philosophy  on 
the  foundation  of  Thomas  White.  On  White's 
death  in  April  1624  Price  pronounced  his  fu- 
neral oration,  which  was  included  in  '  Schola 
Moralis  Philosophise  Oxon.  in  Funere  Whiti 
pullata,'  Oxford,  1624.  In  1630  Price  joined 
in  a  protest  to  the  king  on  technical  grounds 
against  the  appointment  of  Bishop  Laud  as 
chancellor  of  Oxford  (  Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom. 
1629-31 ,  p.  241).  He  was  instituted  on  10  Feb. 
1631  to  the  rectory  of  Dolgelly,  Merioneth- 
shire, where  he  died  in  1646,  and  was  buried 
in  the  church.  He  married  Margaret,  daugh- 
ter of  Robert  Vaughan  [q.  v.]  of  Hengwrt, 
the  antiquary. 

A  contemporary  WILLIAM  PKICE  (d. 
1666),  born  in  London,  delivered  before  the 
lord  mayor  and  aldermen  at  St.  Paul's, 
Covent  Garden,  in  1642  a  '  spittle  sermon,' 
afterwards  printed.  He  became  pastor  of 
a  presbyterian  church  at  Waltham  Abbey, 
Essex,  and  was  chosen  one  of  the  Westmin- 
ster divines.  He  served  on  one  of  the  com- 
mittees, and  took  considerable  part  in  the 
discussions.  He  was  called  from  London  on 
9  Aug.  1648  by  the  presbyterian  or  reformed 


Price 


343 


Price 


church  of  Amsterdam,  and  remained  its  pastor 
until  his  death  in  July  1666.  He  was  author 
of  two  sermons  (1646  and  1660),  and  of: 
1.  ( Janitor  AnimsB,  or  the  Soule's  Porter  to 
cast  out  sinne  and  to  keepe  out  sinne:  a 
Treatise  of  the  Feare  of  God,'  London,  1638, 
8vo.  2.  l  Triumphus  Sapientiae  :  seu  con- 
ciones  aliquse  in  selecta  Theologiee  capita,' 
&c.,  Amsterdam,  1655,  12mo. 

[For  the  elder  Price  see :  Wood's  Athense 
Oxon.  ii.  352;  Fasti,  ed.  Bliss,  i.  365,  388, 
389;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.  (1500-1714);  Le 
Neve's  Fasti,  ed.  Hardy,  iii.  522 ;  "Wood's 
Antiquities  of  the  University  of  Oxford,  ed. 
Outch,  ii.  873 ;  Williams's  Eminent  Welsh- 
men, p.  423.  For  the  younger  Price  see  his 
Works ;  Mitchell's  Minutes  of  the  Westminster 
Assembly,  and  his  Hist,  of  the  same,  xviii.  145, 
162;  Steven's  Scottish  Church,  Kotterdam,  p. 
279 ;  Wagenaar's  Amsterdam,  vii.  595.] 

C"  F.  S. 

PRICE,  WILLIAM,  the  elder  (d.  1722), 
glass-painter,  was  a  pupil  of  Henry  Gyles 
[q.  v.],  glass-painter  at  York,  and  his  im- 
mediate successor  and  most  able  scholar 
in  the  art.  He  first  gained  some  fame  by  a 
window  representing  the '  Nativity  of  Christ,' 
painted  in  1696  from  the  designs  of  Sir  James 
Thornhill  [q.  v.]  for  Christ  Church,  Oxford. 
In  1700  he  painted  the  great  east  window 
for  the  chapel  of  Merton  College  in  the  same 
university,  and  in  1702  '  The  Life  of  Christ,' 
in  six  compartments,  for  the  same  chapel. 
Price's  work,  which  was  mainly  in  enamelled 
glass,  had  some  merit,  although  it  lacked 
strength  and  durability,  and  was  marred  by 
an  excessive  use  of  yellow  glass.  Price  died 
in  1722. 

JOSIICJA  PRICE  (Jl.  1715-1717),  glass- 
painter,  brother  and  fellow-pupil  of  the  above, 
also  worked  at  Oxford,  where  he  repaired 
the  windows  in  Queen's  College  Chapel 
originally  painted  in  1518,  and  mutilated  by 
the  puritans  during  the  civil  wars.  In  1715 
he  painted  '  The  Holy  Family  '  for  the  same 
chapel,  and  in  1717  repaired  the  windows  by 
Van  Linge  there  and  at  Christ  Church.  He 
also  painted  the  chiaroscuro  figures  of 
prophets  and  apostles  in  the  chapel  of  Mag- 
dalen College. 

WILLIAM  PRICE,  the'  younger  (d.  1765), 
glass-painter,  son  of  Joshua  Price,  also 
attained  some  celebrity  as  a  glass-painter. 
At  New  College,  Oxford,  he  filled  the  win- 
dows with  several  pieces  of  stained  glass, 
painted  by  artists  of  the  Rubens  school  in 
Flanders,  and  acquired  by  Price  there.  These 
he  repaired  and  supplemented  to  a  large  ex- 
tent with  glass  of  his  own  painting.  In  1722 
and  1735  Price  was  employed  to  fill  some  of 
the  windows  of  Westminster  Abbey  at  the 


national  expense.  He  painted  *  The  Gene- 
alogy of  Christ'  for  the  chapel  at  Win- 
chester College,  'The  Herbert  Family'  for 
a  closet  at  Wilton  House,  'The  Resurrec- 
tion '  for  the  bishop's  palace  at  Gloucester, 
and  executed  several  works  in  mosaic  for 
Horace  Walpole  at  Strawberry  Hill.  Price 
died  a  bachelor,  in  Kirby  Street,  Hatton 
Garden,  London,  on  16  July  1765.  The 
works  of  the  Price  family  are  of  considerable 
interest  with  regard  to  the  history  of  glass- 
painting  in  England. 

[Winston's  Memoirs  of  the  Art  of  Grlass- 
painting ;  Westlake's  Hist,  of  Design  in  Painted 
Glass,  vol.  iv. ;  Dallaway's  Hist,  of  the  Arts  in 
England ;  Walpole's  Anecd.  of  Painting;  Davies's 
Walks  through  the  City  of  York.]  L.  C. 

PRICE,  WILLIAM  (1780-1830),  orien- 
talist, born  at  Worcester  in  1780,  is  said  to 
have  been  a  captain  in  the  East  India  Com- 
pany;  but  this  is  apparently  a  confusion 
with  a  contemporary  William  Price,  who 
entered  the  service  of  the  East  India  Com- 
pany, became  lieutenant  in  the  5th  native 
regiment  in  Bengal  on  1  Feb.  1807,  captain 
11  July  1823,  and  major  22  April  1831.  Be- 
fore 1815  he  was  appointed  assistant-pro- 
fessor of  Sanscrit,  Bengalee,  and  Mahratta  in 
the  military  college  at  Fort  William,  and  in 
1824  was  professor  of  Hindustanee.  He  re- 
tired on  20  May  1834  (East  India  Lists, 
1800-34 ;  DODWELL  and  MILES,  Indian  Army 
Lists).  Another  William  Price  (d.  1835), 
commander  R.N.,  fought  at  the  battle  of 
1  June  1794,  and  subsequently  saw  much 
active  service  ( United  Service  Journal,  No- 
vember 1835 ;  Gent.  Mag.  1835  ii.  556, 670- 
671,  1837  i.  445). 

The  orientalist  was  in  1810  appointed  as- 
sistant secretary  and  interpreter  to  the  em- 
bassy of  Sir  Gore  Ouseley  [q.v.]  to  Persia 
in  1811-12.  Price  kept  a  diary,  and  made 
hundreds  of  drawings,  both  of  landscapes 
and  buildings,  and  deciphered  many  cunei- 
form inscriptions.  On  his  return  to  England 
he  devoted  himself  to  literary  pursuits,  and 
taught  oriental  tongues  at  the  seminary  of 
his  friend,  Alexander  Humphreys,  at  Nether- 
stone  House,  near  Worces  ter.  He  set  up  a  pri- 
vate printing-press  in  his  house,  and  became  a 
member  of  the  Royal  Society  of  London  and 
the  Asiatic  Society  of  Calcutta.  He  died  in 
June  1830. 

Price  published :  1.  l  Dialogues  Persans, 
composes  pour  1'auteur  par  Mirza  Saulih  de 
Chiraz,'  no  date  or  place,  republished,  with 
an  English  translation,  Worcester,  1822, 
4to;  and  again  as  part  iii.  of  2. 'A Grammar 
of  the  Three  Principal  Oriental  Languages, 
Hindoostanee,  Persian,  and  Arabic,  on  a 
Plan  entirely  new,'  &c.,  London,  1823,  4to. 


Prichard 


344 


Prichard 


3.  '  A  Journal  of  the  British  Embassy  to 
Persia,  embellished  with  numerous  Views 
taken  in  India  and  Persia ;  also  a  Disserta- 
tion upon  the  Antiquities  of  Persepolis, 
London,  1825,  fol.  Only  one  volume  was 
published  of  this  edition,  but  a  second 
edition  contained  4.  '  Elements  of  Sanskrit 
or  an  Easy  Guide  to  the  Indian  Tongues, 
Worcester,  1827,  4to;  London,  1832;  illus- 
trated by  Price's  own  drawings.  5.  '  A  new 
Grammar  of  the  Plindoostanee  Language 
issued  under  the  auspices  of  the  East  India 
Company,'  London,  1828.  6.  '  Husn  oo  Dil 
or  Beauty  and  Heart :  an  Allegory,'  Persian 
and  English,  translated  by  Price,  London, 
1828,  4to  ;  dedicated  to  the  Royal  Asiatic 
Society.  7.  '  Hindu  and  Hindoostanee  Se- 
lections,' from  which  copious  material  was 
drawn  for  the  f  Chants  populaires  de  1'Inde  " 
of  M.  Garcin  de  Tassy  [Paris,  1860],  8vo. 

[Works  above  mentioned  ;  Biographie  Uni- 
verselle  (Suppl.) ;  Annual  Register,  1830,  p. 
266.]  C.  F.  S. 

PRICHARD,  RICHARDS,  or  RHIS- 
IART,  EVAN  (1770-1832),  Welsh  poet, 
usually  called  '  leuan  Lleyn,'  born  in  1770, 
was  sou  of  Richard  Thomas  Evan  of  Ty 
Mawr  in  the  parish  of  Bryn  Croes,  Carnar- 
vonshire, and  his  wife  Mari  Siarl  (Charles). 
Both  his  mother  and  her  father,  Siarl  Marc, 
were  writers  of  Welsh  verse.  Evan  began 
life  as  a  schoolmaster  at  Llan  Gian,  near  his 
home ;  he  afterwards  kept  school  at  Llan 
Ddeiniolen  in  the  same  county.  In  1795  his 
parents  emigrated  to  America,  whereupon  he 
became  an  excise  officer,  and  until  1812  lived 
chiefly  in  England.  In  the  latter  year  he  re- 
turned to  Ty  Mawr,  then  occupied  by  his 
uncle,  Lewis  Siarl,  and  for  the  rest  of  his  life 
conducted  a  travelling  school  in  the  neigh- 
bouring parishes.  He  married  his  cousin, 
Mary  Robert  Thomas,  by  whom  he  had  three 
children,  and  died  on  14  Aug.  1832. 

Prichard  was  a  versatile  writer  in  all 
forms  of  Welsh  verse.  He  wrote  much  for 
the  periodicals  of  his  time,  and  edited  the 
1  Eurgrawn,'  of  which  some  numbers  appeared 
at  Carnarvon  in  1800.  His  best  known  poems 
are  the  <  Ode  on  Belshazzar's  Feast,'  that  on 
the  massacre  of  the  bards,  and  the  transla- 
tion of  '  The  Cottar's  Saturday  Night.'  A 
collected  edition  of  his  verse  was  published 
under  the  title  « Caniadau  leuan  Lleyn '  at 
Pwllheli  in  1878. 

[Williams's  Eminent  Welshmen;  Foulkes's 
Enwogion  Cymru  ;  Enwogion  Lleyn,  by  0.  J. 
Roberts  (Sarn,  1884).]  J.  E.  L. 

PRICHARD,  JAMES  COWLES  (1786- 
1848),  physician  and  ethnologist,  was  born 
at  Ross,  Herefordshire,  on  11  Feb.  1786. 


His  father  was  a  cultivated  man,  of  great 
poetical  imagination,  and  both  parents  were 
members  of  the  Society  of  Friends.  He- 
was  educated  at  home,  learning  French, 
Italian,  and  Spanish.  On  his  father's  removal 
to  Bristol  he  came  into  contact  with  the 
natives  of  different  countries  who  visited 
the  port,  and  thus  gained  an  unusual  know- 
ledge of  modern  Greek  and  Spanish.  In 
1802  he  became  a  student  of  medicine  in 
Bristol,  and  afterwards  at  St.  Thomas's 
Hospital.  In  1806  he  attended  classes  at 
Edinburgh,  and  anthropological  investiga- 
tions soon  absorbed  much  of  his  attention. 
He  graduated  M.D.  in  Edinburgh  in  1808, 
choosing  for  the  subject  of  his  thesis  <De 
Humani  Generis  Varietate.'  He  afterwards 
resided  for  a  year  at  Trinity  College,  Cam- 
bridge. 

In  1810  Prichard  began  to  practise  medi- 
cine in  Bristol.  But  he  combined  with  the 
daily  routine  of  his  profession  a  profound 
study  of  ethnology,  which  bore  fruit  in  1813 
in  the  publication  of  his  '  Researches  as  to- 
the  Physical  History  of  Man'  (2nd  edit. 
2  vols.  1826),  an  expansion  of  his  Edinburgh 
thesis.  In  this  volume  he  contended  that  the 
colour  of  the  negro's  skin  was  not  the  result 
of  the  long-continued  action  of  the  sun :  that 
our  first  parents  were  black,  and  that  the 
white  skin  was  due  to  the  influence  of  civilisa- 
tion. Absorbed  as  Prichard  was  in  anthro- 
pological studies,  his  practice  grew.  He  freely 
prescribed  blood-letting,  and  often  practised 
it  on  himself  as  a  cure  for  headache,  to  which 
he  was  long  subject.  In  after  years  he  was 
frequently  in  request  as  a  consultant  by 
practitioners  at  a  distance.  On  11  Aug. 
1811  he  was  elected  physician  to  St.  Peter's 
Hospital,  Bristol,  and  on  29  Feb.  1814  phy- 
sician to  the  Bristol  Infirmary.  He  lectured 
on  '  physiology,  pathology,  and  the  practice 
of  physic,'  and  wrote  articles  on  purely 
medical  subjects,  such  as  epilepsy  and  fever. 
In  1819  he  found  time  to  publish  'An  Analy- 
sis of  Egyptian  Mythology,'  in  which  he 
traced  the  early  connection  between  the 
Hindus  and  the  Egyptians,  and  made  public 
bis  hieroglyphic  alphabet.  Champollion's 
Precis '  of  the  latter  was  not  published  till 
1824.  Prichard's  deep  interest  in  Egypt  led 
to  a  friendship  between  him  and  the  Che- 
valier Bunsen,  to  whom  he  afterwards  de- 
licated  his  '  Natural  History  of  Man.'  A 
aerman  translation  of  his  Egyptian  book 
appeared  in  1837. 

In  1822  he  issued  his  '  Treatise  on  Diseases 

if  the  Nervous  System,'  part  i.  comprising 

onvulsive  and  maniacal  affections ;  no  more 

was  published.     It  was  based  on  the  expe- 

ience  he  had  gained  during  ten  years  at  Sfc. 


Prichard 


345 


Prichard 


Peter's  Hospital.     Among  his  patients  there 
were  many  lunatics,  whose  maladies  espe- 
cially interested  him.     But  this  book  gave 
no  indication  of  those  new  and  striking  con- 
clusions respecting  insanity  which  he  deve- 
loped later.   An  invitation  to  write  an  article 
on  insanity  in  the  '  Cyclopaedia  of  Practical 
Medicine '  led  him  to  pursue  the  subject,  and 
to  publish  in  1835  his  '  Treatise  on  Insanity 
and    other  Disorders   affecting  the   Mind.' 
This  was  long  the  standard  work  on  this 
branch  of  medicine.    Its  leading  interest  lies 
in  the  assertion — in  contradiction  to  the  posi- 
tion  Prichard  had  previously  assumed — of 
the  existence  of  a  distinct  disease  of  '  moral 
insanity.'     This  malady  Prichard  claims  to 
have  been  the  first  to  recognise  and  describe. 
He  sought   to   prove   that  moral    insanity 
was  a  morbid  condition,  not  necessarily  the 
concomitant  or  outcome  of  mental  disorder 
or  incapacity  (see  Library  of  Medicine,  ed. 
Tweedie,  ii.  110).  He  pointed  out  that  there 
are  patients  truly  insane  and  irresponsible, 
who   suffer  from  moral   defect  or  derange- 
ment, without  such  an  amount  of  intellec- 
tual disorder  as  would  be  legally  recognised 
either  in  a  court  of  law  or  for  the  purpose 
of  certification.     He  showed  that  madness 
often  consisted  '  in  a  morbid  perversion  of 
the  natural  feelings,  affections,  inclinations, 
temper,  habits,  moral  dispositions,  and  natu- 
ral impulses,  without  any  remarkable  dis- 
order or  defect  of  the  intellect  or  knowing 
and    reasoning   faculties,    and   particularly 
without  any  insane   illusion  or  hallucina- 
tion'  (Treatise  on  Insanity,  p.  6).     In  face 
of  the  generally  accepted  view  of  the  soli- 
darity of  the  mental  functions,  the  difficulty 
of  accepting  Prichard's  doctrine  is,  from  a 
psychological  point  of  view,  not  inconsider- 
able.    But  despite  the  warm  contests  that 
have  taken  place    in    regard   to  Prichard's 
conclusion  among  both  lawyers  and  physi- 
cians, his  position  has    been  confirmed  by 
subsequent    observers,  and  is  accepted  by 
leading   scientific   men  in   Europe  and  the 
United  States.     Esquirol,  who  at  first  op- 
posed Prichard's  views,  was  obliged,  as  he 
soon  admitted, '  to  submit  to  the  authority  of 
facts '  (Des  Maladies  Mentales,  1838,  ii.  98). 
Herbert  Spencer  has  acknowledged  his  belief 
in  moral  insanity,  which  he  does  not  consider 
irreconcilable  with  his  well-known  theories 
of  psychology.    Prichard's  study  of  moral  in- 
sanity induced  him  to  prepare,  in  1842,  a 
work  specially  intended  to  indicate  its  bear- 
ing on  legal  questions,  under  the  title  t  On 
the  Different   Forms   of   Insanity  in   rela- 
tion to  Jurisprudence,  designed  for  the  use 
of  persons  concerned  in  legal  questions  re- 
garding unsoundness  of  mind.' 


Still  pursuing  his  anthropological  re- 
searches, Prichard  stated  his  chief  results  in 
his  ;  Natural  History  of  Man/  which  ap- 
peared in  1843.  It  comprised  inquiries  into 
the  modifying  influence  of  physical  and 
moral  agencies  on  the  different  tribes  of  the 
human  family.  He  dwelt  forcibly  on  the 
innumerable  points  of  resemblance  between 
man  and  the  lower  animals.  He  observed 
that  '  to  many  persons  it  will  appear  para- 
doxical to  ascribe  the  endowment  of  a  soul 
to  the  inferior  tribes  in  the  creation j  yet  it 
is  difficult  to  discover  a  valid  argument  that 
limits  the  possession  of  an  immaterial  prin- 
ciple to  man.'  He  inquired  whether  man 
has  not  received,  in  addition  to  his  mental 
sagacity,  a  principle  of  accommodation,  by 
which  he  becomes  fitted  to  occupy  the  whole 
earth,  and  to  modify  the  agencies  of  the 
elements  upon  himself.  Admitting  that  this 
is  the  case,  he  asks  whether  these  agencies 
do  not  also  modify  him.  There  exists,  how- 
ever, the  alternative  opinion — that  mankind 
is  made  up  of  races  differing  from  each  other 
from  the  beginning  of  their  existence.  The 
main  object  of  Prichard's  work  was  to  deter- 
mine which  of  these  views  was  the  better  en- 
titled to  assent.  His  conclusion  was  very 
decided  that  '  we  are  entitled  to  draw  con- 
fidently the  conclusion  that  all  human  races 
are  of  one  species  and  one  family '  (p.  546). 
Prichard's  conclusion  is  that  generally  held 
by  ethnologists  of  the  present  day. 

Between  1836  and  1847  he  brought  out,  in 
five  volumes,  '  Researches  into  the  Physical 
History  of  Mankind,'  and  in  1855  appeared 
a  fourth  edition  of  his  '  Natural  History  of 
Man,'  2  vols.  In  the  words  of  Professor 
Tylor  of  Oxford,  Prichard's  work  as  an  an- 
thropologist is  admirable ;  and  it  is  curious 
to  notice  how  nowadays  the  doctrine  of  de- 
velopment rehabilitates  his  discussion  of  the 
races  of  man  as  varieties  of  one  species. 
We  may  even  hear  more  of  his  theory  that 
the  originally  dark-complexioned  human 
race  produced,  under  the  influences  of  civi- 
lised life,  the  white  man.  Prichard's  merit 
as  the  philologist  who  first  proved  the  posi- 
tion of  Keltic  languages  as  a  branch  of  the 
Indo-European  has  not  met  with  due  recog- 
nition ;  Adolphe  Pictet,  who  made  his  repu- 
tation by  a  treatise  on  the  same  point,  did 
not  publish  it  until  after  Prichard's  results 
on  this  topic  had  appeared  in  the  '  Eastern 
Origin  of  the  Celtic  Nations,'  1831  (ed.  R.  G. 
Latham,  1857). 

In  an  address  before  the  Ethnological  So- 
ciety of  London  on  22  June  1847, '  On  the 
Relations  of  Ethnology  to  other  Branches 
of  Knowledge,'  Prichard  asserted  the  im- 
portance of  ethnology  as  a  science,  and  ar- 


Prichard 


346 


Prichard 


gued — vainly  at  the  time — that  the  British 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science 
ought  to  acknowledge  its  value  by  allotting 
its  treatment  to  a  distinct  section  at  its  an- 
nual meetings.  In  this  address  his  views  on 
the  unity  of  the  human  race  were  finally 
summed  up.  '  The  further  we  explore  the 
various  paths  of  inquiry  which  lie  open  to 
our  researches,  the  greater  reason  do  we  find 
for  believing  that  no  insurmountable  line  of 
separation  exists  between  the  now  diversified 
races  of  men,  and  the  greater  the  proba- 
bility, judging  alone  from  such  data  as  we 
possess,  that  all  mankind  are  descended  from 
one  family.' 

Prichard  was  made  a  commissioner  in 
lunacy  in  1845,  and  from  that  time  till  his 
death  resided  in  London.  He  died,  on  23  Dec. 

1848,  of  rheumatic  fever  and  pericarditis. 
He  was  at  the  time  president  of  the  Ethno- 
logical Society.     He  was  also  fellow  of  the 
Eoyal  Society,  corresponding  member  of  the 
National    Institute   of  France  and  of  the 
French  Academy  of  Medicine,  and  had  re- 
ceived the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  by 
diploma  from  the  university  of  Oxford  in  1835. 

Prichard  married,  on  28  Feb.  1811,  Anne 
Maria  Estlin,  sister  of  John  Bishop  Estlin 
[q.  v.],  and  daughter  of  John  Prior  Estlin 
(_q.  v.],  at  whose  house  he  frequently  met 
Southey  and  Coleridge.  He  left  issue. 

As  an  investigator  into  both  mental  science 
and  anthropology,  Prichard  ranks  very  high. 
Had  he  not  divided  his  energies  between 
the  two  subjects,  he  would  doubtless  have 
achieved  results  in  one  of  them  that  would 
have  entitled  him  to  a  place  among  the 
greatest  of  men  of  science.  Of  excep- 
tional mental  capacity,  Prichard  possessed  a 
good  memory  and  a  strong  philosophical 
tendency,  and  was  able  to  undertake  the 
most  strenuous  mental  labour.  His  expres- 
sion of  countenance  was  singularly  bene- 
volent, and  he  was  free  from  all  feeling  of 
professional  rivalry. 

His  works,  besides  those  noticed,  were  : 
'  A  Review  of  the  Doctrine  of  a  Vital  Prin- 
ciple,' London,  1829,  8vo;  <  On  the  Treat- 
ment of  Hemiplegia,  and  particularly  on  an 
important  Remedy  in  some  Diseases  of  the 
Brain '  ('Medical  Gazette,'  1831,  and  British 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science, 
Bristol,  1836)  ;  '  On  the  Extinction  of  some 
Varieties  of  the  Human  Race '  (British  As- 
sociation, Birmingham.  1839). 

[Memoir  of  Dr.  Prichard  by  Dr.  Hodgkin, 
read  before  the  Ethnological  Society  of  London 
on  28  Feb.  1849;  Memoir  read  before  the  meet- 
ing of  the  Bath  and  Bristol  Branch  of  the  Pro- 
vincial Medical  and  Surgical  Association,  March 

1849,  by  Dr.  J.  A.  Symonds  ('Journal,'  1850, 


vol.  ii.) ;  Miscellanies,  by  John  Addington  Sy- 
monds, M.D.,  edited  by  his  son,  1871 ;  Prichard 
and  Symonds  in  especial  relation  to  Mental 
Science,  by  Dr.  Hack  Tuke,  M.D.,  1891  ;  in- 
formation kindly  given  by  Dr.  E.  B.  Tylorl 

D.  H.  T. 

PRICHARD,  RHYS  or  RICE  (1679- 
1644),  Welsh  religious  poet,  born  in  1579, 
was  the  eldest  son  of  David  ap  Richard  of 
Llandovery,  and  his  wife  Mary,  daughter  of 
John  ap  Lewis  of  Cwrt  Newydd,  Cardigan- 
shire. At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  entered 
Jesus  College,  Oxford,  whence  he  graduated 
B.A.  on  26  June  1602,  and  M.A.  in  1626. 
He  had  already  (25  April  1602)  been  or- 
dained priest  at  Witham,  Essex,  and  on 
6  Aug.  1602  he  received  from  Bishop  Rudd 
the  vicarage  of  Llandingad  and  the  chapelry 
of  Llanfair  ar  yBryn, which  together  form  the 
living  of  Llandovery.  He  possessed  consider- 
able private  property,  and  lived,  not  at  the 
vicarage,  but  in  his  own  mansion  of  '  Neuadd 
Newydd'  (New  Hall),  which  is  still  shown 
in  the  town.  Through  the  influence  probably 
of  Sir  George  Devereux  of  Llwyn  y  brain,  he 
became  chaplain  to  the  young  Earl  of  Essex, 
and  received  the  primate's  authority  to  hold, 
as  a  nobleman's  chaplain,  the  rectory  of 
Llanedi,  Carmarthenshire,  in  conjunction 
with  his  vicarage.  He  was  instituted  to 
Llanedi  on  19  Nov.  1613,  and  on  17  May 
1614  received  a  prebend  in  the  collegiate 
church  of  Brecon.  In  October  1626  he  was 
appointed  chancellor  of  the  diocese  of  St. 
David's  and  rector  of  Llawhaden,  Pembroke- 
shire. 

Prichard  was  an  earnest  and  eloquent 
preacher,  who,  while  a  conformist  and  a 
royalist  in  politics,  was  profoundly  in- 
fluenced by  puritan  ideals.  He  attacked 
the  frivolity  and  licentiousness  of  his  age, 
and,  finding,  as  he  tells  us,  that  set  preach- 
ing did  little  good,  while  a  snatch  of  song 
was  always  listened  to,  threw  his  teaching 
into  rough,  popular  verse,  which,  despite  its 
literary  shortcomings,  gained  him  a  hearing. 
His  stanzas,  written  in  the  colloquial  Welsh 
of  the  district,  were  everywhere  quoted,  and 
his  fame  spread  throughout  Wales.  So  popu- 
lar was  he  as  a  preacher  that  on  many  occa- 
sions he  was  forced  to  speak  in  the  open  air, 
and  this,  it  is  supposed,  was  made  the  occa- 
sion of  complaint  against  him  in  an  eccle- 
siastical court.  Two  of  his  compositions,  a 
1  Prayer  in  Adversity'  and  a  ' Thanksgiving 
for  Deliverance  from  the  hands  of  Enemies ' 
(Canwyll  y  Cymry,  Llandovery  edit.  Nos. 
xcix,  c),  appear  to  have  reference  to  some 
incident  of  this  kind. 

On  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war  Prichard 
attacked  the  parliamentary  party  in  his 


Prichard 


347 


Pricke 


'  Ballad  on  the  Rebellion  in  the  Year  1641 ' 
(ib.  No.  clxviii,  Llandovery  edit.),  and  con- 
tributed liberally  to  the  maintenance  of  the 
royalist  interest  in  the  district.  A  letter 
has,  however,  been  preserved,  in  which  he 
complains  of  the  exoessive  taxation,  amount- 
ing in  one  year  to  2001. ,  imposed  upon  him 
by  the  king's  officers.  Prichard  died  before 
the  end  of  1644,  and  was  buried  in  Llandin- 
gad  church.  He  had  by  his  wife  Gwenllian 
one  child,  Samuel. 

None  of  Prichard's  poems  were  published 
during  his  lifetime.  In  1646  a  few  were 
printed  from  manuscripts  then  in  the  pos- 
session of  Evan  Pugh  (Pren  Teg),  one  of  the 
vicar's  parishioners  ;  a  second  instalment  ap- 
peared in  1658.  In  1670,  Stephen  Hughes, 
a  nonconformist  preacher,  obtained  permis- 
sion to  publish  a  third  part,  and  in  1672  he 
followed  this  up  by  reprinting  the  three 
parts  already  issued,  together  with  a  fourth 
and  a  verse  introduction  of  his  own.  Adopt- 
ing a  title  which  occurred  in  one  of  the 
poems,  Hughes  entitled  the  whole  book f  Can- 
wyll  y  Cymry '  (The  Welshmen's  Candle). 
A  further  edition  by  Hughes  appeared  in 
1681  (London) ;  this  was  succeeded  by  a 
number  of  Shrewsbury  editions  (1714, 1721, 
1725,  1740,  1766),  some  of  which  contained 
many  spurious  additions.  In  1770  Rhys 
Thomas  of  Llandovery  printed  an  entirely 
new  edition  (with  the  alternative  title  '  Y 
Seren  Foreu/i.e.The  Morning  Star),  rejecting 
the  Shrewsbury  additions  and  adding  a  large 
number  of  poems  from  what  were  believed 
to  be  the  author's  manuscripts.  A  brief  bio- 
graphical notice  was  prefixed.  Further  edi- 
tions appeared  at  Carmarthen  in  1776, 1798, 
and  1808 ;  in  1841  a  complete  edition  with 
explanatory  notes  and  a  full  biography  of 
Prichard  was  published  at  Llandovery  by 
Professor  Rees  of  Lampeter,  and  subse- 
quently reprinted  in  1858  and  1867.  Selec- 
tions of  the  vicar's  verse  were  also  issued  by 
Griffith  Jones  (1683-1761)  [q.  v.],  Llan- 
ddowror,  in  1749  and  1758,  and  a  translation 
into  English  by  William  Evans  of  Llaw- 
haden  in  1771  (Carmarthen). 

There  is  a  tradition  that  his  granddaugh- 
ter on  his  death  employed  a  servant  for  two 
days  in  the  task  of  burning  his  manuscripts. 
According  to  Wood,  Prichard  translated 
some  books  into  Welsh,  and  also  wrote  upon 
the  Thirty-nine  Articles.  Some  of  his  ser- 
mons survived  ;  an  abortive  proposal  to  print 
them  was  made  by  Rhys  Thomas  in  1770. 

[Life  in  Llandovery  editions  of  Canwyll  y 
Cymry ;  Wood's  Athense  Oxon. ;  Foster's  Alumni 
Oxon.  1500-1714;  Archseologia  Cambrensis,  4th 
ser.  1878,  ix.  237  ;  Llyfryddiaeth  y  Cymry.] 

J.  E.  L. 


PRICKE,  ROBERT  (/.  1669-1698),  en- 
graver, was  a  pupil  of  Wenceslaus  Hollar 
[q.  v.],  and  kept  a  shop  for  prints  and  maps 
in  Whitecross  Street,  Cripplegate,  London, 
during  the  latter  half  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  Here  he  published  some  important 
architectural  works,  mostly  translated  from 
the  French,  and  illustrated  with  engravings 
by  himself.  These  were :  1. '  A  new  Treatise 
of  Architecture  according  to  Vitruvius,' 
from  the  French  of  Julien  Mauclerc,  1669 
(other  editions  in  1670, 1676,  and  1699).  2. 'A 
new  Book  on  Architecture,  wherein  is  re- 
presented Forty  Figures  of  Gates  and  Arches 
triumphant,  &c.  &c.,  by  Alexander  Francine, 
Florentine  ...  set  forth  by  Robert  Pricke 
.  .  .  1669 '  (with  a  portrait  of  Francini). 
3.  '  The  Art  of  Fair  Building,  wherein  are 
Augmentations  of  the  newest  Buildings  made 
in  France,  by  the  Designs  and  Ordering  of 
P.  le  Muet,  and  others,  published  by  Robert 
Pricke,'  1670  (2nd edit.  1675).  4. '  Perspective 
Practical,  or  a  plain  .  .  .  method  of  ... 
representing  all  things  to  the  eye  at  a  dis- 
tance, by  the  exact  Rules  of  Art.  ...  By 
a  Religious  Person  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  a 
Parisien  [J.  Dubreuil].  Faithfully  translated 
out  of  French  and  illustrated  with  150  copper 
cuts,  set  forth  in  English  by  R.  Pricke/'  1672 
(2nd  edition,  1698).  5.  '  The  Ornaments  of 
Architecture,  containing  Compartments, 
Mantlings,  Foldings,  Festones,  &c.,  &c.  .  .  . 
with  some  Designs  for  Carving  and  Painting 
of  eminent  Coaches.  .  .  .  Containing  Fifty 
Copperplate  Prints ;  collected  out  of  the 
Works  of  several  eminent  Masters,  and  set 
forth  by  Ptobert  Pricke,'  1674.  A  few  etch- 
ings of  shipping,  &c.,  were  also  executed  by 
Pricke. 

[Diet,  of  Architecture  ;  Lowndes's  Bibl.  Man. ; 
Brit.  Mus.  Cat.]  L.  C. 

PRICKET,  ROBERT  (fl.  1603),  poet, 
saw  some  military  service  in  Elizabeth's 
reign,  and  afterwards  sought  a  precarious 
livelihood  as  a  verse-writer  and  pamphleteer 
against  the  catholics.  His  earliest  produc- 
tion he  describes  as  a  '  Love  Song '  on  the 
death  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  but  it  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  printed  (Times  Ana- 
tomie).  His  first  extant  publication  was  a 
prose  tract,  panegyrising  Queen  Elizabeth 
and  James  I,  and  denouncing  the  pope  and 
papists.  It  was  entitled  'Unto  ...  his 
Sovereign  Lord  King  James  a  poor  Subject 
sendeth  a  Souldier's  Resolution,'  London 
(by  John  Windet  for  Walter  Barre),  1603. 
It  was  dedicated  to  the  king,  to  whom 
Pricket  presented  a  copy  in  person  (Brit. 
Mus.  and  Bodleian  Library).  There  fol- 
lowed in  verse  '  A  Souldier's  Wish  unto  the 


Pricket 


348 


Pridden 


Sovereign  Lord  King  James/  4to,  1603  (by 
John  Hanson),  with  some  lines  at  the 
close  dedicated  to  the  lord  mayor  of  Lon- 
don and  his  brethren  (Brit.  Mus.  and  Bod- 
leian). In  1604  Pricket  secured  a  wider  fame 
by  a  poetic  tribute  to  the  memory  of  the 
second  Earl  of  Essex,  called  '  Honors  Fame 
in  Triumph  riding.  Or  the  Life  and  Death 
of  the  late  Honourable  Earle  of  Essex,'  Lon- 
don (by  R.  B.  for  Roger  Jackson),  1604, 4to. 
It  was  dedicated  to  the  Earls  of  Southamp- 
ton and  Devonshire  and  William,  Lord 
Knollys.  A  copy  of  the  rare  volume  is  in 
the  Bodleian  Library,  and  it  was  reprinted 
in  Dr.  Grosart's  '  Miscellanies.'  Pricket  re- 
ferred with  satisfaction  to  the  disgrace  of 
Cobham,  Grey,  and  Raleigh,  but  the  praise 
he  bestowed  on  Essex  led  to  his  imprison- 
ment by  order  of  the  privy  council.  He 
appealed  to  Lord  Salisbury,  who  soon  pro- 
cured his  release,  and  he  sought  to  atone  for 
his  offence  in  '  Times  Anatomie.  Contain- 
ing the  poore  Man's  Plaint,  Britton's  Trouble 
and  her  Triumph,  the  Pope's  Pride,  Rome's 
Treasons,  and  her  Destruction.  Made  by 
Robert  Pricket,  a  Souldier,'  London  (by 
George  Eld),  1606, 4to.  This  was  dedicated 
to  the  privy  council.  The  first  part  had  been 
written  in  1604 ;  it  is  a  bitter  attack  on  the 
catholics.  The  volume  is  throughout  in 
heroic  verse,  and  concludes  with  '  a  song  re- 
joicing for  our  late  deliverance  from  the  Gun- 
powder Plot/  in  six  stanzas.  Pricket's  pro- 
testant  zeal  steadily  increased,  and  in  1607  he 
sent  forth  not  only  '  The  Jesuits  Miracles,  or 
New  Popish  Wonders/  4to,a  diatribe  inverse 
against  Garnet  and  Parsons,  with  Garnet's 
portrait  on  the  title-page,  but  also  a  pam- 
phlet entitled  'The  Lord  Coke  his  Speech 
and  Charge,  with  a  Disco verie  of  the 
Abuses  and  Corruptions  of  Officers/ London, 
(by  N.  Butter).  In  the  dedication  to  the 
latter,  signed  '  R.  P.'  and  addressed  to  Coke's 
father-in-law,  the  Earl  of  Exeter,  Pricket  de- 
scribed himself  as  '  a  poore,  despised,  pouertie- 
stricken,  hated,  scorned,  and  vnrespected 
souldier/  and  represented  the  pages  that  fol- 
low as  a  faithful  report  of  a  charge  given 
by  Coke  to  the  grand  jury  at  the  Norwich 
assizes  on  4  Aug.  1606.  But  Pricket,  al- 
though he  seems  to  have  heard  Coke  deliver 
his  charge,  only  embodied  a  few  vague  re- 
miniscences, and  is  himself  responsible  for 
the  tract,  which  is  mainly  an  intemperate 
vilification  of  the  catholics.  Coke  repudiated 
any  share  in  the  volume  in  the  preface  to 
the  seventh  part  of  his  i  Reports '  (Notes  and 
Queries,  1st  ser.  viii.  376,  433-4). 

About  the  same  period  Pricket,  according 
to  his  own  account,  took  holy  orders.  One 
'  Robert  Prickett,  A.M./  was  curate  of  St. 


Botolph,  Aldgate,  in  the  spring  of  1611 
(NEWCOURT,  Diocese  of  London,  i.  916).  The 
author  obtained  some  preferment  in  Ireland, 
whence  he  was  driven  by  the  rebellion  of 
1641.  In  great  distress  he  sought  refuge  in 
Bath,  and  there,  in  1645,  wrote  '  Newes  from 
the  King's  Bath/  in  verse.  This  he  printed 
at  his  own  charge.  He  must  then  have  been 
well  past  sixty.  On  very  slender  grounds 
the  anonymous  ( Stipendariae  Lachrymse ' 
(Hague,  1654,  4to),  an  elegy  on  Charles  I, 
has  been  assigned  to  him. 

[Collier's  Bibl.  Cat.  ii.  187-93  ;  Brydges's  Re- 
stituta,  pp.  445-50;  Cal.  State  Papers,  1603- 
1610,  p.  4  ;  Hunter's  manuscript  Chorus  Vatum; 
Notes  and  Queries,  3rd  ser.  ii.  469.]  S.  L. 

PRIDDEN,  JOHN  (1758-1825),  anti- 
quary, eldest  son  of  John  Pridden,  by  his. 
wife  Anne,  daughter  of  Humphrey  Gregory 
of  Whitchurch,  Shropshire,  was  born  in 
London  on  3  Jan.  1758.  The  father  (1728- 
1807),  born  on  20  July  1728  at  Old  Martin 
Hall,  near  Ellesm ere,  Shropshire,  of  wealthy 
parents,  ran  away  from  home  to  escape  the 
cruel  treatment  of  a  stepfather,  and  obtained 
employment  with  Richard  Manby,  a  book- 
seller of  Ludgate  Hill,  whom  he  eventually 
succeeded.  He  was  intimate  with  many 
well-known  authors  and  antiquaries.  His 
portrait  appears  in  the  'Fruits  of  Expe- 
rience' (2nd  edit.  1824,  p.  88),  by  Joseph 
Brasbridge  [q.  v.] 

The  son  entered  St.  Paul's  School  on 
3  Aug.  1764,  aged  7,  and  proceeded  on 
15  April  1777  to  Queen's  College,  Oxford, 
winning  the  Pauline  exhibition  in  1778.  He 
graduated  B.A.  in  1781,  and  was  ordained 
soon  after.  He  was  incorporated  M.A.  at 
St.  John's  College,  Cambridge.  He  was 
successively  afternoon  lecturer  at  Tavistock 
Chapel,  London  (1782) ;  minor  canon  of  St. 
Paul's  (November  1782) ;  vicar  of  Heybridge, 
Essex  (July  1783);  curate  (from  1783  to 
1803)  of  St.  Bride's,  Fleet  Street,  where  the 
rector  was  non-resident;  vicar  of  Little 
Wakering,  Essex  (1788)  ;  chaplain  to  Earl 
Powlett  (1789) ;  priest  in  ordinary  of  his 
majesty's  Chapel  Royal  (1795)  ;  minor  canon 
of  Westminster ;  vicar  of  Caddington,  Bed- 
fordshire, from  1797,  when  he  resigned  his 
Essex  livings ;  and  finally  rector  of  the 
united  parishes  of  St.  George,  Botolph  Lane, 
and  St.  Botolph,  Bishopsgate. 

Pridden  was  at  once  an  antiquary,  an 
amateur  artist  and  architect,  and  a  philan- 
thropist. He  was  elected  F.S.A.  in  1785. 
To  the  '  Bibliotheca  Topographica  Britan- 
nica '  he  contributed  '  Appendix  to  the  His- 
tory of  Reculver  and  Herne'  (1787)  and 
many  drawings,  especially  in  illustration  of 


Pride 


349 


Pride 


the  Leicestershire  collections  of  his  father- 
in-law,  John  Nichols  [q.  v.]  His  most  use- 
ful antiquarian  achievement  was  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  index  and  glossary  to  the 
'  Rolls  of  Parliament,'  which  had  been  com- 
menced by  Archdeacon  John  Strachey  [q.  v.] 
Over  this  he  spent  thirty  years.  It  was  com- 
pleted by  Edward  Upham,  F.S.A.,  and  pub- 
lished in  1832,  London,  fol. 

His  excursions  into  architecture  resulted 
in  a  design  for  the  sea-bathing  infirmary  at 
Margate,  of  which  he  was  joint  founder  with 
Dr.  John  Coakley  Lettsom  [q.  v.],  and  for 
many  years  honorary  secretary;  a  new  vicar- 
age at  Caddington  in  1812,  and  a  plan  for 
uniting  Snow  Hill  and  Holborn  Hill,  which 
he  submitted  to  the  Corporation  of  London. 

He  died  on  5  April  1825  at  his  house  in 
Fleet  Street,  and  was  buried  on  12  April  at 
St.  Mary's,  Islington,  beside  his  first  wife, 
Anne,  daughter  of  John  Nichols.  His  second 
wife,  Anne,  daughter  of  Robert  Pickwoad  of 
London,  survived  him.  He  had  no  issue. 

[For  the  father  see  Gent.  Ma?.  1807  pt.  i.  p. 
285,  Koberts's  Boolc-Hunter  in  London,  p.  215, 
and  Nichols's  Lit.  Anecd.  iii.  420.  For  the 
son  Admissions  to  St.  Paul's  School,  p.  130; 
Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.  1715-1888;  Nichols's 
Lit.  Anecd.  ii.  644,  iii.  421,  ix.  18,  220  n.; 
Nichols's  Lit.  Illustr.  ii.  683,  849,  v.  200,  227, 
228,  231,  750,  751,  viii.  676,  677;  Gent.  Mag. 
1811  i.  84,  1824  i.  237,  1825  i.  467;  Lettsom's 
Hints  to  promote  Beneficence,  &c.,  ii.  150,  iii. 
238;  Lewis's  Hist,  of  Islington,  pp.  180,  239, 
252;  Nichols's  Leicestershire,  *423.]  C.  F.  S. 

PRIDE,  THOMAS  (d.  1658),  soldier, 
•was  of  obscure  origin.  A  contemporary 
newspaper  states  that  he  was  born  at  Ash- 
cott,  three  miles  from  Glastonbury  (Mer- 
curius  Elencticus,  3  Sept.  1649).  He  has 
also  been  claimed  as  a  native  of  Haverford- 
west  (English  Historical  Review,  1892,  p. 
718).  One  authority  states  that  he  was  in 
early  life  a  drayman,  another  that  he  was  an 
honest  brewer  in  London  (SMYTH,  Obituary, 
p.  48 ;  Second  Narrative  of  the  late  Parlia- 
ment', Harleian  Miscellany,  iii.  481).  He 
entered  the  parliamentary  army  as  a  captain, 
and  was  a  major  in  1644  when  Essex's  in- 
fantry was  forced  to  surrender  in  Cornwall 
(RusHWORTH,v.409 ;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  6th 
Rep.  p.  38).  When  the  new  model  was  or- 
ganised, Pride  was  made  lieutenant-colonel 
of  Edward  Harley's  regiment  of  foot  (ib.  p. 
49  ;  SPRIGGE,  Anglia  Rediviva,  1854,  p.  329). 
Colonel  Harley  was  absent  during  the  cam- 
paign of  1645,  and  Pride  commanded  the 
regiment  at  Naseby,  at  the  storming  of 
Bristol,  and  at  the  capture  of  Dartmouth, 
distinguishing  himself  by  his  good  service  on 
all  three  occasions  (ib.  pp.  41,  77,  117,  181). 


When  the  army  and  the  parliament  quar- 
relled, Pride  was  one  of  the  officers  most 
active  in  asserting  the  right  of  the  soldiers 
to  petition  for  the  redress  of  their  grievances. 
Harley  complained  of  his  conduct  to  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  he  was  called  to 
the  bar  to  answer  for  his  conduct  (Commons' 
Journals,  v.  129;  Lords'  Journals,  ix.  115; 
Report  on  the  Portland  MSS.  i.  418).  He 
signed  the  vindication  of  the  officers  of  7  April 
1647,  took  part  in  the  preparation  of  the 
charge  against  the  eleven  members,  and  was 
finally  given  the  command  of  the  regiment 
in  place  of  Harley  (Clarke  Papers,  i.  2, 
151 ;  RTTSHWORTH,  vi.  471).  In  the  second 
civil  war  Pride's  regiment  served  under 
Cromwell  in  the  Welsh  campaign  and  at 
the  battle  of  Preston  (ib.  vii.  1118 ;  CARLYLE, 
Cromwell,  letter  64).  It  presented,  in  con- 
junction with  Deane's  regiment,  a  petition 
demanding  the  punishment  of  the  king,  and 
formed  part  of  the  force  which  occupied 
London  at  the  beginning  of  December  1648 
(DEANE,  Life  of  Admiral  Deane,  p.  324 ; 
Clarke  Papers,  ii.  65).  On  6  Dec.  1648, 
Pride,  acting  under  instructions  received 
from  Fairfax,  set  a  guard  round  the  entrances 
to  the  House  of  Commons,  forcibly  prevented 
about  ninety  members  from  entering,  and 
arrested  over  forty  others,  in  order  to  frus- 
trate the  intended  agreement  with  the  king. 
When  Prynne  demanded  to  know  the  au- 
thority by  which  Pride  acted,  he  pointed  to 
the  soldiers  standing  round  with  their  swords 
and  muskets,  and  told  him  that  was  the 
commission  (Old  Parliamentary  History, 
xviii.  447-71  ;  Commons1  Journals,  vi.  93). 
This  violent  purification  of  the  House  of 
Commons  became  popularly  known  as '  Pride's 
purge.' 

In  January  1649  Pride  was  appointed  one 
of  the  commissioners  for  the  trial  of  Charles  I, 
attended  every  sitting  of  the  court  excepting 
one,  and  signed  the  death-warrant.  '  His 
name,'  says  Noble,  '  is  so  strangely  written, 
that  it  is  scarce  legible;  and,  though  his 
beginning  is  said  to  be  so  humble,  yet  there 
is  a  seal  of  arms  after  his  name,  bearing  a 
chevron  inter  3  animals  heads  erased  '  (House 
of  Cromwell,  i.  418).  Pride's  regiment  re- 
mained in  London  through  1649  to  guard 
the  parliament,  and  the  colonel  himself  was, 
on  21  Dec.  1649,  elected  a  member  of  the 
common  council  (SHAEPE,  London  and  the 
Kingdom,  ii.  319). 

In  1650  he  accompanied  Cromwell  to 
Scotland,  commanded  a  brigade  at  Dunbar, 
and  took  part  in  the  following  year  at  the 
battle  of  Worcester  (CARLYLE,  Cromwell, 
letter  140;  GARY,  Memorials  of  the  Civil 
War,  ii.  358).  On  14  May  1652  parliament 


Pride 


350 


Prideaux 


rewarded  his  services  with  a  grant  of  for- 
feited lands  in  Scotland  to  the  value  of  5001. 
per  annum  (Commons'  Journals,  vii.  132). 

Pride  played  no  great  part  in  politics,  and 
was  not  a  member  of  any  of  the  parliaments 
elected  during  the  Protectorate,  excepting 
that  of  1656,  nor  of  any  of  the  councils  of 
state.  He  inclined  to  the  advanced  republi- 
can section  of  the  officers,  and  in  1654,  when 
his  regiment  was  sent  to  Scotland,  it  was  re- 
ported that  the  colonel  was  kept  in  England 
because  he  was  distrusted  by  the  Protector 
(THTJRLOE,  ii.  414).  But  his  stay  in  Eng- 
land may  perhaps  be  explained  by  the  fact 
that  on  7  Nov.  1654  he  had  entered  into  a 
contract,  jointly  with  Denis  Gauden  and 
others,  for  the  victualling  of  the  navy 
(Rawlinson  MSS.  A.  216,  f.  257,  Bodleian 
Library).  He  had  become  rich  enough  to 
buy  Nonesuch  Park  and  House  in  Surrey, 
and  in  1655-6  was  high  sheriff  of  that  county 
(Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1655-6,  p.  317). 

On  17  Jan.  1656  the  Protector  knighted 
him,  performing  the  ceremony  with  a  faggot 
stick,  if  Ludlow  is  to  be  believed  (Memoirs, 
ed.  1894,  ii.  25).  He  was  also  appointed  on 
25  March  1656  one  of  the  commissioners  for 
securing  the  peace  of  London  (Cal.  State 
Papers,  Dom.,  1655-6,  p.  238). 

Pride  rigorously  suppressed  cock-fighting, 
and  had  the  bears  which  were  kept  for  bear- 
baiting  killed,  exploits  which  were  satirically 
celebrated  by  royalist  wits  : 

The  crime  of  the  bears  was  they  were  cavaliers, 
And  had  formerly  fought  for  the  king. 

(Rump  Songs,  1662,  p.  299  ;  CARTE,  Original 
Letters,  ii.  83).  In  the  agitation  among  the 
officers  against  the  proposal  to  make  Crom- 
well king,  Pride  played  a  very  important  part, 
talked  of  armed  opposition,  and  concerted 
the  army  petition  against  kingship  which 
finally  caused  Cromwell  to  refuse  the  crown 
(LuDLOW,  ii.  25  ;  THTTKLOE,  i.  749).  Never- 
theless, after  the  passing  of  the  petition  and 
advice,  he  accepted  a  place  in  Cromwell's 
new  House  of  Lords.  '  He  hath  now  changed 
his  principles  and  his  mind  with  the  times,' 
commented  a  republican  pamphleteer,  add- 
ing that '  the  lawyers  need  have  no  fear  now 
that  he  would  hang  up  their  gowns  alongside 
of  the  captive  Scottish  colours  in  Westmin- 
ster Hall,  as  he  had  once  threatened '  (Har- 
leian  Miscellany,  iii.  481). 

Pride  signed  the  proclamation  declaring 
Richard  Cromwell  successor  to  his  father 
(Cromwelliana,  p.  176).  He  died  on  23  Oct. 
1658,  and  was  buried  at  Nonesuch  on  2  Nov. 
According  to  a  newspaper,  his  last  words 
were  '  that  he  was  very  sorry  for  these  three 
nations,  whom  he  saw  in  a  most  sad  and 


deplorable  condition'  (The  Weekly  Intelli- 
gence, 1-8  Nov.  1659). 

At  the  Restoration  the  commons  avenged 
the  wrongs  of  the  king  and  the  insults  to 
their  own  members  by  voting  that  Pride 
should  be  attainted  (15  May  1660),  and  that 
his  carcass  should  be  exhumed,  drawn  to 
Tyburn,  hung  up  in  its  coffin,  and  be  buried 
under  the  gallows  (4  Dec.  1660).  This  sen- 
tence was  executed  on  the  bodies  of  Crom- 
well, Ireton,  and  Bradshaw  ;  but,  according 
to  Noble,  Pride's  escaped  the  indignity.  His 
estates,  however,  were  confiscated,  and 
Nonesuch  Park  was  restored  to  the  crown 
(Commons'1  Journals,  viii.  27,  73,  197). 

Pride  married  Elizabeth,  natural  daughter 
of  Thomas  Monck,  brother  of  the  Duke  of 
Albemarle.  He  had  by  her  two  daughters : 
Elizabeth,  wife  of  John  Sherwin,  and 
another  who  married  Robert,  son  of  Colonel 
Valentine  Walton.  A  son,  Thomas  Pride, 
was  lieutenant  in  his  father's  regiment  in 
November  1647,  attained  the  rank  of  captain, 
and  was  left  out  in  the  reorganisation  of 
July  1659  ( Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1658-9, 
p.  378).  He  married  Rebecca,  daughter  of 
William  Brydges,  seventh  lord  Chandos 
(COLLINS,  Peerage,  ed.  Brydges,  vi.  726). 

[Noble's  House  of  Cromwell,  1787,  i.  417,  and 
the  same  author's  Lives  of  the  English  Regicides, 
1798,  ii.  132.  Other  authorities  are  quoted  in 
the  article.]  C.  H.  F. 

PRIDEAUX,  SIR  EDMOND  (d.  1659), 
lawyer  and  politician,  second  son  of  Sir  Ed- 
mond  Prideaux,  bart.,  an  eminent  lawyer,  of 
the  Inner  Temple  and  member  of  an  ancient 
family  originally  of  Prideaux  Castle,  Corn- 
wall, by  his  second  wife,  Catherine,  daugh- 
ter of  Piers  Edgecombe  of  Mount  Edge- 
cumbe  in  Devonshire,  was  born  at  his  father's 
seat,  Netherton,  near  Honiton.  He  gra- 
duated M.A.  at  Cambridge,  and  on  6  July 
1625  was  admitted  ad  eundem  at  Oxford 
(WooD,  Fasti,  ed.  Bliss,  i.  424).  On  23  Nov. 
1623  he  was  called  to  the  bar  at  the  Inner 
Temple :  his  practice  was  chiefly  in  chancery. 
He  became  recorder  of  Exeter,  and  subse- 
quently, in  1649,  of  Bristol  (Cal.  State 
Papers,  Dom.  1639,  p.  368).  He  was  returned 
to  the  Long  parliament  for  Lyme  Regis 
(which  seat  he  held  till  his  death),  and 
forthwith  took  sides  against  the  king.  His 
subscription  for  the  defence  of  parliament, 
in  1642,  was  100/.  (Notes  and  Queries,  1st 
ser.  xii.  359).  By  his  own  side  he  was  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  persons  best  informed 
as  to  the  state  of  feeling  in  the  west  of 
England.  For  three  years,  from  10  Nov. 
1643  until  it  was  transferred  to  the  custody 
of  the  speakers  of  the  two  houses,  he  was 


Prideaux 


351 


Prideaux 


one  of  the  commissioners  in  charge  of  the 
great  seal  of  parliament,  an  office  worth 
1,500/.  a  year,  and,  as  a  mark  of  respect,  was, 
by  order  of  the  House  of  Commons,  called 
within  the  bar  with  precedence  next  after 
the  solicitor-general.  He  had  also  been  one 
of  the  commissioners  appointed  to  negotiate 
with  the  king's  commissioners  at  Uxbridge 
in  January  1645.  On  12  Oct.  1648  he  was 
appointed  by  parliament  solicitor-general 
(WHITELOCKE,  p.  357).  This  office  he  re- 
signed when  the  king's  trial  became  immi- 
nent ;  Cook  was  solicitor-general  on  that 
occasion  and  subsequently  (ib.  p.  368  ;  State 
Trials,  iv.  1167,  v.  1209).  But  Prideaux  did 
not  lose  favour  with  his  party.  On  9  April 
1649  he  was  appointed  attorney-general,  and 
remained  in  that  office  for  the  rest  of  his  life. 
For  many  years  Prideaux  was  intimately 
and  profitably  connected  with  the  postal  ser- 
vice. The  question  of  the  validity  of  patents 
for  the  conduct  of  posts  was  raised  in  both 
houses  of  parliament  in  connection  with  the 
sequestration,  in  1640  (RYMEK,  Fcedera,  xx. 
429),  of  Thomas  Witherings'  office,  granted 
in  1633.  Prideaux  served  as  chairman  of  the 
committee  appointed  in  1642  upon  the  rates 
of  inland  letters  ( Commons' Journals,  28  March 
1642).  In  1644  he  was  appointed,  by  resolu- 
tion of  both  houses,  *  master  of  the  posts, 
messengers,  and  couriers'  (Journals,  7  Sept. 
1644)  ;  and  he  continued  at  intervals,  as  di- 
rected by  the  House  of  Commons  or  otherwise, 
to  manage  the  postal  service.  He  was  ordered 
to  arrange  a  post  to  Hull  and  York,  and  also 
to  Lyme  Regis,  in  1644 ;  in  1649  to  Chester, 
Holyhead,  and  Ireland,  and  also  to  Bide- 
ford;  in  1650  to  Kendal,  and  in  1651  to 
Carlisle.  By  1649  he  is  said  to  have  esta- 
blished a  regular  weekly  service  throughout 
the  kingdom.  Rumour  assigned  to  his  office 
an  income  of  15,000/.  a  year.  Blackstone 
(Commentaries,  bk.  i.  c.  8,  §  iv.)  states  that 
his  reforms  saved  the  country  5,000/.  a  year ; 
at  any  rate  it  was  so  profitable  as  to  excite 
rivalry.  '  Encouraged  by  the  opinion  of  the 
judges  given  in  the  House  of  Lords  in  the 
case  of  the  Earl  of  Warwick  v.  Witherings, 
9  July  1646,  that  the  clause  in  Witherings's 
patent  for  restraint  of  carrying  letters  was 
void/  Oxenbridge,  Thomson,  and  others  en- 
deavoured to  carry  on  a  cheap  and  speedy 
post  of  their  own,  and  Prideaux  met  them 
by  a  variety  of  devices,  some  in  the  way  of 
ordinary  competition,  others  in  the  shape  of 
abuses  of  power  and  breaches  of  the  law 
(GREEN,  State  Papers,  Domestic,  1654,  p.  22). 
The  common  council  of  London  endeavoured, 
in  1650,  to  organise  the  carriage  of  letters, 
but  Prideaux  brought  the  matter  before  par- 
liament, which  referred  the  question  to  the 


council  of  state,  21  March  1650.  and  on  the 
same  day  the  council  made  an  order  that  Mr. 
Attorney-general  Prideaux  should  take  care 
of  the  business  of  the  inland  post,  and  be 
accountable  for  the  profits  quarterly,  and  a 
committee  was  appointed  to  confer  with  him 
as  to  the  management  of  the  post.  After 
various  claims  had  been  considered,  parlia- 
ment, on  21  March  1652,  resolved  that  the 
office  of  postmaster  ought  to  be  in  the  sole 
disposal  of  the  house,  and  the  Irish  and 
the  Scotch  committee,  to  which  the  question 
was  referred,  reported  in  favour  of  letting 
contracts  for  the  carriage  of  letters.  Pri- 
deaux contended  that  the  office  of  post- 
master and  the  carrying  of  letters  were  two 
distinct  things,  and  that  the  resolution  of 
parliament  of  1652  referred  to  the  former 
only ;  but  eventually  all  previous  grants 
were  held  to  be  set  aside  by  that  resolution, 
and  contracts  were  let  for  the  inland  and 
foreign  mails  to  JohnManley  in  1653  (GREEN, 
State  Papers,  Domestic,  1652-3,  pp.  109,  366, 
448,  450,  455).  The  loss  entailed  affected 
Prideaux  little ;  his  legal  practice  continued 
to  be  large  and  lucrative,  being  worth  5,000/. 
a  year.  He  bought  Ford  Abbey,  at  Thorne- 
combe,  Devonshire,  and  built  a  large  house 
there.  On  31  May  1658  he  was  made  a  baronet 
for  '  his  voluntary  offer  for  the  mainteyning 
of  thirty  foot-souldiers  in  his  highnes  army 
in  Ireland '  (Public  Records,  5th  Rep.  App. 
p.  273). 

He  died,  leaving  a  great  fortune,  on 
19  Aug.  1659  (GREEN,  State  Papers,  Domestic, 
1658-9,  p.  324).  He  appears  to  have  been 
a  sound  chancery  lawyer  and  highly  esteemed 
by  his  party  as  a  man  of  religion  as  well 
as  learning.  He  was  twice  married:  first, 
to  a  daughter  of  a  gentleman  named  Collins 
of  Ottery  St.  Mary,  Devonshire :  and,  secondly, 
to  Mary,  daughter  of  a  gentleman  named 
Every  of  Cottey  in  Somerset.  By  the  latter 
he  had  one  son,  to  whom  Tillotson,  after- 
wards archbishop,  was  tutor ;  he  took  part 
in  Monmouth's  rebellion,  and  bribed  Jeffreys 
heavily  to  save  his  life  (ECHARD,  iii.  775). 

[Foss's  Judges  of  England ;  Wotton's  Baronet- 
age, i.  517,  518  ;  Parl.  Hist.  iii.  1429,  1480, 
1532,  1606;  Thurloe's  State  Papers,  ed.  1742, 
iii.  371,  377,  402  ;  Encycl.  Brit.  9th  ed.art.  Post 
Office,  by  E.  Edwards  ;  Notes  and  Queries,  1st 
ser.  iii.  267-8 ;  Prince's  Worthies  of  Devon,  p.  509 
(quoting  a  pamphlet,  '  Names  of  such  members  of 
the  House  of  Commons  as  held  places  contrary 
to  the  self-denying  ordinance ') ;  Kushworth,  iii. 
242  ;  T.  E.  P.  Prideaux's  Pedigree  of  Prideaux, 
1889  ;  Joyce's  Hist,  of  Post  Office.]  J.  A.  H. 

PRIDEAUX,  FREDERICK  (1817- 
1891),  conveyancer,  fifth  son  of  Walter 
Prideaux  of  Plymouth,  by  Sarah,  daughter  of 


Prideaux 


352 


Prideaux 


Joseph  Kingston  of  Kingsbridge,  Devonshire, 
was  born  at  No.  1  Portland  Square,  Plymouth, 
on  27  April  1817.  His  father,  a  partner  in  the 
private  bank  of  Kingston  &  Prideaux  (since 
converted  into  the  Plymouth  and  Devonport 
Bank),  was  a  collateral  descendant  of 
Humphrey  Prideaux  [q.  v.],  dean  of  Norwich, 
but  was  bred  a  quaker.  Frederick  Prideaux 
was  educated  at  the  Plymouth  grammar 
school,  at  a  private  school  at  Egloshayle,  near 
Wadebridge,  Cornwall,  and  under  a  private 
tutor.  He  was  instructed  in  law  by  his  elder 
brother,  Walter  Prideaux,  of  the  firm  of 
Lane  &  Prideaux,  solicitors,  London,  and  by 
the  eminent  quaker  conveyancer,  John  Hodg- 
kin.  On  26  May  1834  he  was  admitted  a 
student  at  Lincoln's  Inn,  where  he  was 
called  to  the  bar  on  27  Jan.  1840.  After 
practising  for  some  years  in  London,  he 
removed  to  Bath  in  1858,  but  returned  to 
London  in  1865,  and  in  1866  obtained  the 
post  of  reader  in  real  and  personal  property 
to  the  Inns  of  Court,  which  he  resigned  in 
consequence  of  ill-health  in  1875.  He 
afterwards  resided  successively  at  Torquay, 
Gatcombe,  and  Taunton,  where  he  died  on 
21  Nov.  1891.  In  early  manhood  Prideaux 
abandoned  quakerism  for  the  church  of  Eng- 
land, but  in  later  life  became  attached  to  the 
Baptist  society. 

Prideaux  was  author  of  :  1.  'Law  of  Judg- 
ments and  Crown  Debts  as  they  affect  Real 
Property/  London,  1842,  8vo ;  4th  edition 
1854.  2.  <  Handbook  of  Precedents  in  Con- 
veyancing,' London,  1852,  8vo;  2nd  edition, 
under  the  title  '  Precedents  in  Convey- 
ancing, with  Dissertations  on  its  Law  and 
Practice,'  1856;  4th  edition,  in  which  he 
was  assisted  by  John  Whitcombe,  esq., 
1864,  2  vols.  8vo.  Successive  editions  of 
this  standard  work  appeared  at  intervals 
throughout  Prideaux's  life;  the  fifteenth 
edition,  by  Mr.  Whitcombe,  in  1893,  2  vols. 
8vo,  and  the  sixteenth  edition,  by  Messrs. 
Whitcombe  and  Horsburgh,  in  1895,  2  vols. 
8vo. 

He  married  at  Clifton,  on  14  April  1853, 
Fanny  Ash,  second  daughter  of  Richard  Ball 
of  Portland  House,  Kingsdown,  Gloucester- 
shire, who  survived  him,  and  died  at  Taunton 
in  September  1894.  Mrs.  Prideaux  was  a 
poetess  of  some  merit.  Her  works,  all 
of  which  were  published  in  London,  are : 
1.  '  Claudia,'  a  story  in  blank  verse,  the -scene 
of  which  is  laid  in  Rome  in  the  time  of  the 
Emperor  Claudius,  1865,  8vo.  2.  '  The  Nine 
Days'  Queen,'  a  dramatic  poem  founded  on 
the  history  of  Lady  Jane  Grey,  1869,  8vo. 
3.  'Philip  Molesworth  and  other  Poems,' 
1886,  8vo.  4.  l  Basil  the  Iconoclast,'  a  drama 
of  modern  Russia,  1892,  8vo. 


[In  Memoriam  F.  P.,  by  Mrs.  Prideaux 
(printed for  private  circulation),  1891 ;  Athenaeum, 
18  Sept.  1894.]  J.  M.  E. 

PRIDEAUX,      HUMPHREY,      D.D. 

(1648-1724),  orientalist,  third  son  of  Ed- 
mond  Prideaux,  was  born  at  Padstow,  Corn- 
wall, on  3  May  1648.  His  mother  was  a 
daughter  of  John  Moyle  {1592  P-1661)  [q.  v.] 
After  preliminary  .education  at  the  local 
grammar  schools  of  Liskeard  and  Bodmin, 
he  proceeded  to  Westminster  school  under 
Richard  Busby  [q.  v.]  On  11  Dec.  1668 
be  matriculated  at  Christ  Church,  Oxford, 
where  he  had  obtained  a  studentship.  He 
graduated  B.A.  22  June  1672,  M.A.  29  April 
1675,  B.D.  15  Nov.  1682,  D.D.  8  June 
1686.  At  the  university  he  was  distin- 
guished for  scholarship.  John  Fell,  D.D. 
[q.  v.],  employed  him  in  1672  in  annotating 
an  edition  of  'Florus  ; '  he  was  asked  to  edit 
the  chronicle  of  John  Malelas,  but  thought 
it  not  worth  his  labour.  In  1676  he  issued 
an  account  of  the  Arundelian  marbles,  which 
secured  him  the  patronage  of  Heneage  Finch, 
first  Earl  of  Nottingham  [q.  v.]  In  1677  he 
obtained  the  sinecure  rectory  of  Llandewy- 
Velfrey,  Pembrokeshire.  In  1679  Finch  pre- 
sented him  to  the  rectory  of  St.  Clement's, 
Oxford,  which  he  held  till  1696.  He  was 
appointed  also,  in  1679,  Busby's  Hebrew 
lecturer  in  Christ  Church  College.  Finch 
gave  him  in  1681  a  canonry  at  Norwich,  and 
Sir  Francis  North  in  February  1683  pre- 
sented him  to  the  rectory  of  Bladon, 
Oxfordshire,  which  included  the  chapelry  of 
Woodstock.  He  still  retained  his  student- 
ship at  Christ  Church,  as  he  was  acting  as 
unsalaried  librarian. 

Prideaux  left  Oxford  for  Norwich  on 
James  IPs  appointment  (October  1686)  of 
John  Massey  [q.  v.],  a  Roman  catholic,  as 
dean  of  Christ  Church.  He  exchanged  (1686) 
Bladon  for  the  rectory  of  Saham-Toney,  Nor- 
folk, which  he  held  till  1694.  He  at  once 
engaged  in  controversy  with  Roman  catholics, 
especially  on  the  point  of  the  validity  of  An- 
glican orders.  As  canon  of  Norwich  his  busi- 
ness capacity  was  very  apparent;  he  im- 
proved the  financial  arrangements  of  the 
chapter,  and  put  the  records  in  order.  In 
December  1688  he  was  made  archdeacon  of 
Suffolk  by  his  bishop,  William  Lloyd  (1637- 
1710)  [q.  v.],  an  office  which  he  held  till 
1694.  Though  Lloyd  became  a  nonjuror, 
Prideaux  exerted  himself  at  his  archidiaconal 
visitation  (May  1689)  to  secure  the  taking  of 
the  oaths ;  out  of  three  hundred  parishes  in 
his  archdeaconry  only  three  clergymen  be- 
came nonjurors.  At  the  convocation  which 
opened  on  21  Nov.  1689  Prideaux  was  an 
advocate  for  changes  in  the  prayer-book, 


Prideaux 


353 


Prideaux 


with  a  view  to  the  comprehension  of  dis- 
senters. Subsequently  he  officially  corrected 
a  lax  interpretation  of  the  Toleration  Act 
(1689),  as  though  it  exempted  from  the 
duty  of  attendance  on  public  worship.  Bur- 
net  consulted  him  (1691)  about  a  measure 
for  prevention  of  pluralities,  and  Prideaux 
drafted  a  bill  for  this  purpose.  Kidder  con- 
sulted him  in  the  same  year  about  a  bill 
for  preventing  clandestine  marriages;  Pri- 
deaux thought  the  existing  law  sufficient,  and 
showed  the  difficulty  of  providing  against 
evasion. 

From  1689  to  1694  he  resided  at  Saham. 
He  declined  in  1691  the  Hebrew  chair,  va- 
cated by  the  death  of  Edward  Pococke  [q.v.], 
a  step  which  he  afterwards  regretted.  Saham 
did  not  suit  his  health,  and  he  returned  to 
Norwich.  In  a  letter  written  (28  Nov.  1694) 
just  after  receiving  the  news  of  Tillotson's 
death,  he  says  that  his '  expectations  of  future 
advancement  were  all  dead  with  the  arch- 
bishop.' Early  in  1697  he  was  presented  to  the 
vicarage  of  Trowse,  near  Norwich,  a  chapter 
living,  which  he  held  till  1709.  He  succeeded 
Henry  Fairfax  (1634-1702)  [q.  v.]  as  dean  of 
Norwich,  and  was  installed  on  8  June  1702. 
On  the  translation  to  Ely  (31  July  1707)  of 
John  Moore  (1646-1714)  [q.  v.],  Prideaux 
was  advised  to  make  interest  for  the  vacgnt 
see  of  Norwich  ;  he  thought  himself  too  old, 
and  heartily  commended  the  appointment  of 
Charles  Trimnell,  his  fellow-canon. 

Prideaux's  literary  reputation  rests  on  his 
'  Life  of  Mahomet '  (1697)  and  his  '  Connec- 
tion '  (1716-18).  Of  each  of  these  the  story 
has  been  told  that  the  bookseller  to  whom  he 
offered  the  manuscript  said  he  '  could  wish 
there  were  a  little  more  humour  in  it.'  No 
sign  of  humour  was  ever  shown  by  Prideaux, 
except  in  his  proposal  (26  Nov.  1715)  for  a 
hospital  in  each  university,  to  be  called 
'  Drone  Hall,'  for  useless  fellows  and  stu- 
dents. The  *  Life  of  Mahomet '  was  in  fact 
pointed  as  a  polemical  tract  against  the 
deists.  As  a  biography  it  is  valueless  from 
the  point  of  view  of  modern  knowledge. 
Some  of  its  errors  were  noted  by  Sale  in  the 
discourse  and  notes  to  his  translation  of  the 
1  Koran,'  1734.  Prideaux  had  thought  of  writ- 
ing a  history  of  the  Saracen  empire,  but 
turned  instead  for  his  next  historical  subject 
to  the  interval  between  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments.  The  '  Connection,' which  Lard- 
nerwell  calls  '  learned  and  judicious'  (  Works, 
1815,  i.  216),  was  a  better  piece  of  work  than 
the  '  Life  of  Mahomet,'  and,  though  now  out 
of  date,  it  supplied  for  a  long  time  a  real  want, 
and  stimulated  further  study.  It  led  to  a 
friendly  controversy  between  Prideaux  and 
his  cousin,  Walter  Moyle  [q.  v.]  Le  Clerc 

VOL.  XLVI. 


wrote  a  critical  examination  of  it,  which  was 
published  in  English  in  1722. 

In  1721  Prideaux  gave  his  collection  of 
oriental  books  (over  three  hundred  volumes) 
to  Clare  Hall,  Cambridge,  through  his  son1, 
who  had  been  there  educated.  From  about 
1709  he  had  suffered  severely  from  the  stone, 
which  prevented  him  from  preaching.  An 
operation,  ill-managed,  was  the  source  of 
much  discomfort.  Attacks  of  rheumatism 
and  paralysis  further  reduced  his  strength. 
He  died  on  1  Nov.  1724,  at  the  deanery, 
Norwich,  and  was  buried  in  the  nave  of  the 
cathedral,  where  there  is  a  stone  to  his  me- 
mory, with  an  epitaph  composed  by  himself. 
He  married  (16  Feb.  1686)  Bridget,  only  child 
of  Anthony  Bokenham  of  Helmingham,  Suf- 
folk, and  left  a  son  Edmund. 

A  portrait  of  Prideaux,  formerly  belonging 
to  Sir  E.  S.  Prideaux,  bart,  is  ascribed  to 
Kneller ;  another  by  E.  Seeman  was  engraved 
by  Vertue. 

He  published,  besides  some  pamphlets  and 
a  sermon:  1.  'Marmora  Oxoniensia,'  &c., 
Oxford,  1676,  fol.  (the  numerous  typographi- 
cal errors  laid  the  foundation  of  Aldrich's 
opinion  of  Prideaux  as  '  an  unaccurate, 
muddy-headed  man  ; '  they  are  ascribed  to 
the  carelessness  of  Thomas  Bennet  (1645?— 
1681)  [q.v.],  corrector  of  the  press.  2.  'De 
Jure  Pauperis  et  Peregrini,'  &c.,  Oxford, 
1679,  4to  (the  Hebrew  of  Maimonides,  with 
a  Latin  version  and  notes).  3.  '  A  Com- ; 
pendious  Introduction  for  Reading  .  .  .  His-1 
tories,'  &c.,  Oxford,  1682,  4to.  4.  'The 
Validity  of  the  Orders  of  the  Church  of 
England,'  &c.,  1688, 4to.  5.  '  A  Letter  to  a/ 
Friend  relating  to  the  present  Convocation,' 
1689,  4to  (anon. ;  dated  27  Nov. ;  has  been 
erroneously  assigned  to  Tillotson).  6.  'The 
Case  of  Clandestine  Marriages,'  &c.,  1691 ,  4to 
(anon. ;  published  by  Kidder).  7.  '  The  True 
Nature  of  Imposture  fully  display 'd  in  the  Life 
of  Mahomet,'  &c.,  1697, 8vo;  two  editions  same 
year;  often  reprinted  (French  translation 
1698).  8.  'Directions  to  Churchwardens,'  £c.,  ; 
Norwich,  1701,  4to;  7th  edition,  1730,  4to. 
9.  '  The  Original  and  Eight  of  Tithes,'  &c., 
Norwich,  1710,  8vo;  reprinted  1713,  8vo; 
1736,  8vo.  10.  «  Ecclesiastical  Tracts,'  &c., 
1716,  8vo  (reprints  Nos.  4  and  9,  with  other 
tracts  on  ecclesiastical  law).  11.  'The  Old 
and  New  Testament  connected,  in  the  His- 
tory of  the  Jews  and  Neighbouring  Nations 
. .  .totheTimeofChrist,'1716-18,fol.,2  vols.; 
also,  with  title,  '  The  Connection,'  &c  ,  1716- 
1718, 8vo,  6  vols. ;  very  frequently  reprinted ; 
1845,  8vo,  2  vols.  (edited  by  Alexander 
M'Caul  [q.  v.]) ;  in  French,  '  Histoire  des 
Juifs,'  &c.,  Amsterdam,  1722, 12mo,  5  vols. ; 
in  German,  2  vols.  4to,  1726.  His  letters 

A  A 


Prideaux 


354 


Prideaux 


(1674-1722)  to  John  Ellis  (1643P-1738) 
[q.  v.]  were  edited  for  the  Camden  Society  in 
1875  by  Sir  E.  Maunde  Thompson,  K.C.B. 
They  exhibit  him  as  a  man  of  more  frankness 
than  refinement  of  mind. 

[The  Life,  1748,  is  probably  by  Birch,  being 
based  on  information  supplied  to  Birch  in  1738 
by  Edmund  Prideaux;  Wood's  A  then  se  Oxon. 
(Bliss),  iv.  656;  Wood's  Fasti  (Bliss),  ii.  331,  348, 
384,400;  Birch's  Life  of  Tillotson,  1753,  pp. 
193,  371;  Monthly  Kepository,  1811,  p.  112; 
Norfolk  Tour,  1829,  pp.  1041,  1063;  Letters  to 
Ellis  (Thompson),  1875  ;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon. 
1891,  iii.  1212.]  A.  G. 

PRIDEAUX,  JOHN  (1578-1650),  bishop 
of  Worcester,  fourth  son  of  John  and  Agnes 
Prideaux,  was  born  at  Stowford  in  the  parish 
of  Harford  or  Hartford,  near  Ivybridge, 
Devonshire,  17  Sept.  1578.  His  parents  were 
poor,  and  had  to  provide  for  a  family  of 
twelve  ;  John,  however,  attracted  the  at- 
tention of  a  wealthy  friend,  Lady  Fowel, 
of  the  same  parish,  and  was  sent  to  Oxford 
at  eighteen.  He  matriculated  from  Exeter 
College  14  Oct.  1596  (CLARK,  Reg.  Univ. 
Oxf.  vol.  ii.  pt.  ii.  p.  216),  was  admitted  B.A. 
31  Jan.  1599-1600,  was  elected  fellow  of 
Exeter  30  June  1601,  and  proceeded  M.A. 
30  June  1603  (BoASE,  Exeter  Coll.  Reg.  p. 
55).  He  henceforth  took  a  prominent  part 
in  the  affairs  of  his  college,  which  was 
flourishing  under  Thomas  Holland  (d.  1612) 
[q.  v.]  as  rector  and  William  Helme  as  tutor. 
Prideaux  took  holy  orders  soon  after  1603, 
and  was  appointed  chaplain  to  Prince  Henry. 
Matthew  Sutcliffe,  dean  of  Exeter,  named 
him  in  1609  one  of  the  fellows  of  his  new 
college  at  Chelsea  who  were  to  combat  Roman 
catholics  and  Pelagians ;  but  the  enterprise 
failed  (BoASE,  ib.  p.  xxvi).  Prideaux  was 
admitted  B.D.  6  May  1611  (CLARK,  Reg. 
Univ.  Oxf.  vol.  ii.  pt.  i.  p.  138),  and  on  4  April 
1612  he  was  elected  rector  of  Exeter  College, 
and  was  permitted  to  take  the  degree  of 
D.D.  30  May  1612,  before  the  statutable 
period  (ib.  p.  139).  After  the  death  of 
Prince  Henry  he  was  appointed  chaplain  to 
the  king,  and  preferment  was  not  slow  in 
coming.  On  17  July  1614  he  was  collated 
to  the  vicarage  of  Bampton,  Oxfordshire 
(BoASE,  p.  58),  and  8  Dec.  1615  was  ap- 
pointed regius  professor  of  divinity  in  succes- 
sion to  Abbot  (LE  NEVE,  iii.  509).  To  this 
office  a  canonry  of  Christ  Church  was  annexed 
16  March  1616  (ib.  ii.  525).  He  received  sub- 
sequently the  vicarage  of  Chalgrove,  Oxford- 
shire, in  1620,  a  canonry  in  Salisbury  Cathe- 
dral 17  June  1620  (Lansd.  MS.  985,  f.  168), 
the  rectory  of -Bladon  in  1625,  and  the  rec- 
tory of  Ewelme,  Oxfordshire,  in  1629  (Fos- 
TER,  Alumni  Oxon. ;  WOOD,  Athence). 


When  he  became  rector  of  his  college, 
Exeter  was  fifth  in  point  of  numbers  in  the 
university,  and  attracted  not  only  west- 
countrymen,  but  also  many  foreign  students. 
Prideaux  maintained  and  increased  its  repu- 
tation for  scholarship.  Philip  Cluverius  and 
D.  Orville  the  geographers,  James  Casaubon 
and  Sixtinus  Amama  were  among  the  many 
Germans,  Dutch,  Swedes,  and  others  who 
studied  under  him.  Secretary  Spottiswood 
and  James,  duke  of  Hamilton,  were  among 
his  Scottish  pupils.  Many  distinguished  Eng- 
lishmen were  trained  under  his  care  (WooD, 
Athence,  passim).  Prideaux  was  instru- 
mental in  adding  to  the  buildings  of  the 
college :  a  new  chapel  was  built  in  1624, 
and  consecrated  (5  Oct.)  with  a  sermon  by 
him.  He  enforced  discipline  with  a  firm 
hand  (cf.  BOASE,  pp.  xxvii,  64,  212).  An- 
thony Ashley  Cooper,  afterwards  first  earl  of 
Shaftesbury  [q.  v.],  his  pupil  from  1636  to 
1638,  records  that  he  could  be  just  and  kindly 
to  excitable  undergraduates. 

He  was  vice-chancellor  for  five  years  in 
all— from  July  1619  to  July  1621.  July  1624 
to  1626,  and  from  7  Oct.  1641 'to  7  Feb. 
1642-3  (CLARK;  LE  NEVE).  In  his  first 
year  of  office  he  had  to  intervene  in  the 
dispute  raging  in  Jesus  College  as  to  the 
eleption  of  a  principal.  In  defiance  of  the  fel- 
lows, he  installed  Francis  Mansell  [q.  v.],  the 
nominee  of  Lord  Pembroke,  then  chancel- 
lor, and  expelled  most  of  the  dissentients. 
Through  these  difficult  years,  when  the  uni- 
versity was  breaking  up  into  hostile  parties, 
his  firmness  was  not  unappreciated. 

It  was  as  regius  professor  of  divinity  that 
Prideaux  came  most  into  contact  with  actual 
politics.  For  twenty-six  years  he  had  to 
preside  at  theological  disputations,  in  which 
all  that  was  unorthodox,  whether  puritan  or 
Armiuian,  was  certain  to  find  supporters. 
He  maintained  throughout  the  conservative 
position,  without  altogether  alienating  ex- 
tremists on  either  side.  To  young  Gilbert 
Sheldon,  who  first  at  Oxford  denied  that  the 
pope  was  antichrist,  he  replied  with  a  jest 
(WOOD,  Athence,  iv.  858) ;  and  even  his  quar- 
rel with  Peter  Heylyn  [q.  v.],  whom  in  1627 
he  denounced  as  a  '  Bellarminian,'  for  main- 
taining the  supremacy  of  the  church  in  mat- 
ters of  faith,  was  amicably  settled  in  1633 
by  the  mediation  of  Laud  (ib.  iii.  553-5). 
In  1617  a  similar  difficulty  with  Daniel  Fair- 
clough,  alias  Featley  [q.  v.],  had  been  com- 
posed by  the  help  of  Abbot.  His  attitude 
towards  Arminian  views  was  unfriendly, 
and  Charles  himself  is  said  to  have  rebuked 
him  on  this  account  (BoASE,  p.  xxvi,  quoting 
Laud).  On  the  other  hand,  Laud  respected 
him,  and  asked  him  in  1636  to  revise  Chil- 


Prideaux 


355 


Prideaux 


lingworth's  well-known  '  Religion  of  Pro- 
testants '  (WooD,  iii.  91),  and  he  always  re- 
mained one  of  the  royal  chaplains. 

Prideaux,  as  a   moderate   and  impartia 
divine,  was  one  of  the  miscellaneous  theo- 
logians summoned  by  the  lords'  committee 
1  March  1.640-1,  to  meet  in  the  Jerusalem 
chamber  and  discuss  plans  of  church  reform 
under  the  lead  of  Williams  (MASSON,  Life 
of  Milton,  ii.  225).     In  the  autumn  Charles, 
resolving  to  fill  the  five  vacant  sees,  pro- 
moted four  bishops  and  appointed  Prideaux 
to  the  fifth,  that  of  Worcester.     Prideaux 
was  consecrated  on  19  Dec.  1641,  and  in- 
stalled  a  few   weeks   later;    he   was   thus 
engaged  at  Worcester  when  Williams  and 
his   eleven   colleagues   assembled   to   make 
their  protest,  29  Dec.,  and  so  escaped  im- 
peachment.    He  was  one  of  the  three  peers, 
all  bishops,  who  alone  dissented  when  the 
bill  for  excluding  the  spiritual  peers  from 
parliament  was  read  a  third  time,  5  Feb. 
1641-2,  and  thus  ended  his  brief  parliamen- 
tary career.     That  the  commons  were  not 
hostile  to  Prideaux  was  shown  by  his  nomi- 
nation as  one  of  the  assembly  of  102  divines, 
April  1642  (MASSON,  ii.  573).     He  never  at- 
tended any  of  its  meetings  (WooD,  iv.  150), 
and,  returning  to  Worcester,  gradually  iden- 
tified himself  with  the  royalists ;  so  that  in  the 
list  of  119  divines  nominated  in  the  ordinance 
of  June  1643  his  name  no  longer  appears 
(MASSON,  ib.)      He   maintained  himself  in 
his  diocese  until  the  end  of  the  war,  and  was 
in  Worcester  when  the  city  capitulated  to 
Rainsborough,  23  July  1646  (NASH,  Wor- 
cestershire, ii.  App.  p.  cv).     Deprived  of  what 
remained  to  him  of  the  episcopal  estates,  he 
sought   a   refuge  with   his   son-in-law,  Dr. 
Henry  Sutton,  rector  of  Bredon,  Worcester- 
shire.    His  last  years  were  spent  in  compa- 
rative poverty,  and  Wood,  quoting  Gauden 
(Pillar  of  Gratitude,  p.  13),  calls  •  him   a 
'  verus  librorum  helluo,'  because  he  had  to 
sell  his  library  to  provide  for  his  family. 
He  died  of  fever  at  Bredon  29  July  1650 
(epitaph  in  ABINGDON'S  Antiquities  of  Wor- 
cestershire, 1717,  8vo,  pp.  110-11),  and  was 
buried  in  the  chancel  of  the  church  there 
15  Aug.  (Lansd.  MS.  985,  f.  168),  a  great 
concourse   attending  his   funeral  (FULLEK, 
Worthies,  ed.  1662,  p.  254). 

Wood  writes  of  him  as  l  an  humble  man, 
of  plain  and  downright  behaviour,  careless 
of  money  and  imprudent  in  worldly  matters ' 
(Athena,  iii.  266-7).  He  maintained  his  in- 
dependence of  mind  amid  the  storm  of  contro- 
versy. His  piety  was  sincere,  and  he  possessed 
a  strong  sense  of  humour.  His  friendship 
withCasaubon  and  many  of  the  foremost  con- 
tinental scholars  attests  his  learning. 


He  married  twice.  By  his  first  wife,  Mary, 
granddaughter  of  Dr.  Taylor,  the  Marian 
martyr,  he  had  a  son  William,  who  contri- 
buted verses  to  the  Oxford  '  Epithalamia '  of 
1625,  and,  becoming  a  colonel  in  the  king's 
service,  was  killed  at  Marston  Moor  (BoASE, 
pp.  55/210,  228).  His  second  wife  was 
Mary,  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Reynell, 
and  widow  of  William  Goodwin,  dean  of 
Christ  Church,  who  died  on  11  Aug.  1627, 
and  was  buried  with  two  of  her  children  in 
St.  Michael's  Church,  Oxford  (Lansdowne 
MS.  985,  f.  168).  •  By  her  he  had,  with  three 
children  who  died  young,  a  son  Matthias 
(infra)  and  two  daughters,  Sarah  and  Eliza- 
beth. Sarah  married  William  Hodges,  fellow 
of  Exeter,  in  whose  favour  her  father  re- 
signed the*vicarage  of  Bampton,  1634  (BOASE, 
p.  63).  Elizabeth  married  Dr.  Henry  Sutton, 
rector  of  Bredon  (NASH,  under  'Bredon'). 

A  portrait  of  John  Prideaux  hangs  in  the 
hall  of  Exeter  College.  It  is  one  of  two  copies 
made  in  1832  by  Smith  from  an  original  at 
Laycock  Abbey,  Wiltshire  (BOASE,  p.  130). 
Two  engravings  are  mentioned  by  Bromley. 

Prideaux    composed,    in    addition    to    a 
number  of  sermons,  prefatory  verses,  &c.,  the 
following  works:  1.  ' Tabulae  ad  Grammati- 
cam  Greecam  introductoriae,'  Oxford,  1 608,4to. 
2.  '  Tyrocinium  ad  Syllogismum  legitimum 
contexendum,'  Oxford,  1629,  4to.     3.  '  Hep- 
tades  Logicae  :    sive   Monita   ad   ampliores 
Tractatus  introductoria '  (printed  with  the 
'  Tyrocinium '   in  the  third   edition  of  the 
'  Tabulae,'  Oxford,  1639,  4to).     4.  Castigatio 
cujusdam  Circulatoris,  qui  R.  P.  Andream 
Eudsemon-Johannem  Cydonium  e  Societate 
Jesu  seipsum  nuncupat  .  .  .  Opposita  ipsius 
calumniis   in   Epistolam    J.    Casauboni   ad 
Frontonem  Ducseum,'    Oxford,   1614,   8vo. 
5.  '  Alloquium  sereniss.  Reg.  Jacobo  Wood- 
stochiaa  habitum,   24  Aug.    1624,'    Oxford, 
1625,  4to.  6.  '  Orationes  novem  inaugurales, 
de  totidem  Theologies  Apicibus,  prout  in 
Promotione  Doctorum  Oxonige  publice  pro- 
jonebantur  in  Comitiis.  .  .  .  Accedit  .  .  .  de 
Vtosis  institutione  concio  .  .  .  habita  in  Die 
inerum.     An.  1616,'  Oxford,  1626,  4to  (2 
Darts).     7.    t  Lectiones   decem   de   totidem 
Eleligionis  Capitibus,  preecipue  hoc  tempore 
controversis,     prout     publice     habebantur 
Oxonise   in   Vesperiis,'    Oxford,   1626,   4to. 
8.  '  The  Doctrine  of  the  Sabbath/  translated, 
Condon,  1634,  4to  (printed  in  Latin  at  end 
if  '  Heydani  Disputatio  de  Sabbato/  Leyden, 
.658, 8vo).  9. '  Lectiones  xxn,  Orationes  xm, 
oonciones  vi,et  Oratio  ad  Jacobum  Regem/ 
3xford,    1648,    fol.    (including   those    pre- 
iously  published).    10. '  Fasciculus  Contro- 
ersiarum  Theologicarum  ad  Juniorum  aut 
Occupatorum  Captum  colligatus,'    Oxford, 

A  A  2 


Prideaux 


356 


Prideaux 


1649,   4to.      11.     *  Theologize    Scholastics 
Syntagma  Mnemonicum,'  Oxford,  1651,  4to. 

12.  '  Conciliorum   Synopsis,'  printed    with 
above,  and  in  English  at  end  of  M.  Prideaux's 
*  Easie     and     Compendious     Introduction.' 

13.  '  History    of    Successions    in    States, 
Countries,     or     Families,'     Oxford,     1653. 

14.  l  Epistola  de  Episcopatu,'  fol.  (of  which 
Wood  saw  one  sheet).     15.    '  Euchologia ; 
or  the  Doctrine  of  Practical  Praying,  being 
a  Legacy  left  to  his  Daughters  in  private, 
directing  them  to  such  manifold  Uses  of  our 
Common  Prayer  Book  as  may  satisfy  upon 
all    Occasions,'    &c.,    London,    1655,    8vo. 
16.  *  SuvetST/o-iXoym ;  or  the  Doctrine  of  Con- 
science, framed  according  to  the  Points  of 
the   Catechisme,  in  the   Book  of  Common 
Prayer  .  .  .  for  the  private  Use  of  his  Wife,' 
London,   1656,   8vo.     17.   'Manuductio  ad 
Theologiam  polemicam,'  Oxford,  1657,  8vo. 
18.    '  Sacred    Eloquence ;    or    the    Art   of 
Rhetoric  as   it  is  laid  down  in  Scripture,' 
London,   1659,   8vo.      19.    'Hypomnemata 
Logica,  Rhetorica,'  &c.,  Oxford,  8vo.  He  also 
wrote  some  of  the  poems  included  in  '  Justa 
Funebria,'  &c.,  Oxford,  1613,  on  the  death  of 
Bodley,  and  «  Epithalamia,'   Oxford,    1625, 
on   the   marriage   of  Charles  I.      He  was 
credited  (WooD,   Athena,  ii.  291)  with   a 
large   share   in  the  compilation   of  Robert 
Stafford's  *  Geographical  and  Anthological 
Description  of  all  the  Empires  and  Kingdoms 
...  in  this  Terrestrial  Globe,'  London,  1618, 
4to. 

MATTHIAS  PRIDEAUX  (1622-1646?),  the 
second  son,  was  born  in  the  parish  of  St. 
Michael's,  Oxford,  in  August  1622,  matricu- 
lated from  Exeter  on  3  July  1640,  was 
elected  fellow  of  the  college  on  30  June 
1641,  was  admitted  B.A.  on  2  Nov.  1644, 
and  proceeded  M.A.  on  3  Dec.  1645.  Before 
taking  this  latter  degree  he  had  become  a 
captain  in  the  king's  service.  He  died  of 
smallpox  in  London  about  1646.  Under 
his  name  was  published  '  An  easy  and  com- 
pendious Introduction  for  Reading  all  sorts 
of  Histories :  contrived,  in  a  more  facile 
way,  &c.,  out  of  the  papers  of  Mathias 
Prideaux,'  Oxford,  1648,  4to;  a  work,  no 
doubt  edited  by  his  father,  which  reached  a 
sixth  edition  by  1682  (PRINCE,  Worthies,  p. 
660  ;  Athena,  iii.  199  ;  BOASE,  pp.  xxx,  66). 

[Wood's  Athenae  (ed.  Bliss)  and  Fasti; 
Clark's  Reg.  Univ.  Oxon.  (Oxf.  Hist.  Soc.); 
Prince's  Worthies  of  Devon;  Fuller's  Worthies; 
Boase's  Hist,  of  Exeter  College  and  Reg.  (Oxf. 
Hist.  Soc.; ;  Masson's  Life  of  Milton ;  Nash's 
Worcestershire  ;  Green's  Antiquities  of  Worces- 
ter, 1796  ;  Perry's  Church  Hist. ;  Gardiner's  Hist, 
of  Civil  War ;  Le  Neve's  Fasti ;  Foster's  Alumni 
Oxon. ;  Lowndes's  Bibl.  Man.]  E.  G.  H. 


PRIDEAUX,  JOHN  (1718-1759),  briga- 
dier-general, born  in  Devonshire  in  1718, 
was  second  son  of  Sir  John  Prideaux,  sixth 
baronet,  of  Netherton  Hall,  near  Honiton, 
Devonshire,  by  his  wife  Anne,  eldest  daugh- 
ter of  John  Vaughan,  first  viscount  Lisburne. 
On  17  July  1739  he  was  appointed  ensign 
in  the  3rd  foot-guards  (now  Scots  guards) ; 
he  was  adjutant  of  his  battalion  at  Dettingen 
(27  July  1743),  and  became  lieutenant-colonel 
of  his  regiment  on  24  Feb.  1748.  On  20  Oct. 
1758  he  was  appointed  colonel  55th  foot,  in 
succession  to  George  Augustus,  third  viscount 
Howe  [see  under  HOWE,  WILLIAM,  fifth  VIS- 
COUNT HOWE],  killed  at  Ticonderoga.  Pitt's 
instructions  to  General  Amherst,  commander 
in  America  [see  AMHERST,  JEFFREY,  LORD 
AMHERST],  were  that,  while  Wolfe  attacked 
Quebec,  attempts  should  be  made  to  pene- 
trate into  Canada  by  way  of  Ticonderoga 
and  Crown  Point,  and  that  at  the. same  time- 
he  should  pursue  any  other  enterprises  that 
would  weaken  the  enemy  without  detriment 
to  the  main  object  of  the  expedition  (see- 
Pitt  to  Amherst,  10  March  1759,  PARKMAN, 
ii.  235).  Amherst  decided  to  attempt  the- 
reduction  of  Fort  Niagara,  and  entrusted  the 
task  to  Prideaux,  who  had  just  arrived, 
appointing  Sir  William  Johnson  [q.  v.]  his 
second  in  command.  Prideaux  was  to  ascend 
the  Mohawk  river  with  five  thousand  troops, 
regulars  and  provincials,  accompanied  by 
Indians  under  Johnson,  to  leave  a  strong 
garrison  at  Fort  Stanwix,  the  great  portage, 
descend  the  Onondega,  leaving  part  of  his 
force  under  Colonel  Haldimand  [see  HALDI- 
MAND,  SIR  FREDERICK]  at  Oswego,  and  to 
attack  Niagara  with  the  rest.  Fort  Niagara, 
standing  on  the  site  of  a  former  post,  was 
a  strong  fort,  recently  rebuilt  by  the  French 
in  modern  style,  and  garrisoned  by  part  of 
the  French  regiment  of  Beam.  Prideaux 
landed  before  it  on  7  July  1759,  and  com- 
menced the  attack  in  force.  The  British  en- 
gineers proved  so  incompetent  that,  to  Pri- 
deaux's intense  disgust,  the  first  approaches 
were  completely  swept  by  the  French  fire,  and 
had  to  be  constructed  afresh  (Prideaux  to  Hal- 
dimand, 15  July  1759,  PARKMAN,  ii.  245). 
On  19  July  1759  the  batteries  were  ready. 
Prideaux  beat  off  a  French  vessel  which  at- 
tempted to  land  reinforcements  in  the  morn- 
ing, but  in  the  afternoon  was  struck  on  the 
head  by  a  fragment  of  shell,  which  burst 
prematurely  at  the  mouth  of  one  of  our 
cohorns,  and  killed  him  on  the  spot.  He  is 
described  by  some  writers  as  an  unpopular 
officer.  Colonel  Massey,  46th  regiment  [see 
MASSEY,  EYRE,  LORD  CLARINA],  the  next 
senior  officer  of  the  regulars,  waived  any 
claim  to  command  in  favour  of  Sir  William 


Priestley 


357 


Priestley 


Johnson,  to  whom  the  fort  surrendered  on 
24  July  1759. 

Prideaux  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Colonel  Edward  Rolt  and  sister  of  Sir  Ed- 
ward Bayham-Rolt,  baronet,  of  Spy  Park, 
"Wiltshire,  by  whom  he  had  three  sons  and 
two  daughters.  His  elder  brother,  Sanderson 
Prideaux,  a  lieutenant  in  Colonel  Moreton's 
marines  (see  Home  Office  Mil.  Entry  Book, 
vol.  xv.),  having  died  at  Cartagena  in  1741, 
Prideaux's  elder  son,  John  Wilmot  Prideaux, 
became  heir  to  the  baronetcy,  to  which  he 
succeeded,  as  seventh  baronet,  on  the  death 
of  his  grandfather  in  August  1766;  he  was 
father  (by  his  third  wife)  of  the  last  two 
holders  of  the  baronetcy,  which  became  ex- 
tinct in  1875.  One  of  Prideaux's  daughters 
became  an  actress,  playing  chiefly  at  Bath. 
She  appeared  at  the  Haymarket  once  at  least, 
in  1789  (Notes  and  Queries,  8th  ser.  ix.  85). 

[Burke's,  Baronetage ;  Foster's  Peerage,  s.v. 
*  Lisburne  ; '  Home  Office  Military  Entry  Book, 
vol.  xv.  et  seq. ;  Parkman's  Montcalm  and  "Wolfe 
(18S4),  vol.  ii.  la  some  army  lists  Prideaux's 
Christian  name  is  wrongly  given  '  James.'  Two 
letters  to  Haldimand  during  the  Niagara  expedi- 
tion are  in  Brit.  Mus.  Addit.  MS.  21728,  if.  25, 
27.]  H.  M.  C. 

PRIESTLEY,  JOSEPH,  LL.D.  (1733- 
1804),  theologian  and  man  of  science,  eldest 
of  six  children  of  Jonas  Priestley  (1700- 
1779),  a  cloth-dresser,  by  his  first  wife,  Mary 
(d.  1739),  only  child  of  Joseph  Swift  of 
Shafton,  near  Wakefield,  was  born  at  Field- 
head,  a  wayside  farmhouse  in  the  parish  of 
Birstall,  West  Eiding  of  Yorkshire,  on 
13  March  1733.  A  lithograph  of  his  birth- 
place (removed  in  1858)  was  executed  by 
Hanhart  in  1864.  His  father  became  bank- 
rupt in  1777.  Timothy  Priestley  [q.  v.]  was 
a  younger  brother.  His  parents  were  mem- 
bers of  the  congregational  church  at  Upper 
Chapel,  Heckmondwike ;  but  his  grandfather, 
Joseph  Priestley  (1661-1745),  a  woollen 
manufacturer,  attended  the  parish  church  at 
Birstall.  Joseph  was  taught  by  his  mother 
the  Westminster  catechism,  which  he  could 
repeat  at  four  years  of  age.  From  1742  he 
was  adopted  by  his  father's  eldest  sister, 
Sarah  (d.  1764),  who  had  married  John 
Keighley  (d.  1745)  of  the  Old  Hall,  Heck- 
mondwike. Keighley  was  a  man  of  substance. 
In  early  life  a  strong  opponent  of  dissent,  he 
was  brought  round  by  a  sermon  he  had  at- 
tended with  a  view  to  a  prosecution.  His  wife 
entertained  all  dissenting  ministers  in  the 
neighbourhood,  and  though  a  strong  Calvinist 
made  honest  heretics  very  welcome.  Priest- 
ley described  her  in  1777  as  *  in  all  respects  as 
perfect  a  human  character  as  I  have  yet  been 
acquainted  with'  (Works,  iii.  539). 


At  Batley  grammar  school  (from  1745) 
he  was  well  grounded  in  Latin ;  began 
Greek,  learned  the  shorthand  invented  by 
Peter  Annet  [q.  v.],  wrote  to  Annet  sug- 
gesting improvements,  and  sent  some  com- 
mendatory verses,  which  Annet  prefixed  to 
a  new  edition.  Subsequently  he  became  a 
pupil  of  John  Kirkby  (1677-1754),  congrega- 
tional minister  of  Upper  Chapel,  Heckmond- 
wike, who  had  previously  taught  him  He- 
brew 'on  holidays.'  He  had  no  taste  for 
lighter  reading,  but  early  showed  a  turn  for 
experiment.  At  the  age  of  eleven,  his  brother 
tells  us,  he  bottled  up  spiders  to  see  how 
long  they  would  live  without  fresh  air. 

His  aunt  wished  to  make  him  a  minister, 
and  he  '  readily  entered  into  her  views  ; '  but 
his  health  stood  in  the  way;  there  were 
symptoms  of  consumption,  and  in  1749 
(when  Kirkby  closed  his  school)  it  seemed 
unadvisable  to  proceed  further  with  his  edu- 
cation. He  had  some  thoughts  of  medicine. 
A  mercantile  uncle  proposed  to  put  him  into 
a  counting-house  at  Lisbon.  With  this  view 
he  began  to  teach  himself  French,  German, 
and  Italian,  and  was  able  to  reply  to  some 
of  his  uncle's  foreign  correspondents.  He 
sought  instruction  in  algebra  and  mathe- 
matics from  George  Haggerston  (d.  1792), 
congregational  minister  at  Hopton.  All  was 
ready  for  his  voyage,  when  his  health  im- 
proved, and  it  was  decided  that  he  should 
study  at  a  dissenting  academy.  For  two 
years  he  had  been  teaching  Hebrew  to  John 
Tommas,  baptist  minister  at  Gildersome,  and 
had  acquired  the  rudiments  of  Chaldee, 
Syriac,  and  Arabic.  Before  he  was  twenty 
he  had  read  the  Hebrew  bible  twice  through, 
once  with  points  and  once  without  (  Works, 
xvi.  423).  His  aunt  would  have  sent  him  to 
Plasterers'  Hall  Academy,  London,  under 
Zephaniah  Marryat,  D.D.  (1685-1754),  but 
he  '  resolutely  opposed '  the  condition  of 
subscribing  every  six  months  to  f  ten  printed 
articles  of  the  strictest  Calvinistic  faith' 
(for  these  'Homerton  articles'  see  Monthly 
Repository,  1811,  pp.  219  sq. ;  see  also  COL- 
DER, JOHN,  D.D.)  He  was  accordingly  en- 
tered at  Daventry  Academy,  at  its  opening, 
near  the  end  of  1751,  and  was  the  first  stu- 
dent who  began  his  theological  training  under 
Caleb  Ashworth  [q.  v.],  a  connection  of  his 
family.  In  consequence  of  his  proficiency 
he  was  exempted  from  all  the  studies  of  the 
first,  and  most  of  those  of  the  second,  year. 

He  was  already  drifting  away  from  ortho- 
dox opinion.  Haggerston,  who  inclined  to 
theBaxterian  compromise  between  Calvinism 
andArminianism,had  given  his  views  a  libe- 
ral tone.  He  owed  more  to  the  conversation  of 
John  Walker  (1719-1805),  who  preached  as 


Priestley 


358 


Priestley 


a  candidate  at  Heckmondwike  in  1751. 
Walker,  originally  a  churchman,  was  con- 
nected with  the  liberal  dissenters  of  Dukin- 
field,  Cheshire,  and  became '  an  avowed  Bax- 
terian.'  His  reasoning  made  Priestley  an  Ar- 
minian.  '  Ah,  Walker,'  said  Priestley,  when 
they  met  again  in  1794,  '  it  was  you  that  first 
led  me  astray  from  the  paths  of  orthodoxy ' 
(Univ.  TheoLMag.A^v'il  1804,  p.  172).  Be- 
fore going  up  to  Daventry  he  was  anxious 
to  communicate  at  Heckmondwike.  Kirkby 
would  have  admitted  him,  but  on  exami- 
nation by  the  *  elders '  (Timothy  Armitage 
and  Joseph  Hodgson)  he  was  rejected  as 
'  not  quite  orthodox.'  He  was  '  distressed ' 
that  he  could  not  '  feel  a  proper  repentance 
for  the  sin  of  Adam.' 

Ashworth  was  assisted  in  the  Daventry 
Academy  by  Samuel  Clark  (1727-1769), 
eldest  son  of  Samuel  Clarke  (properly  Clark), 
(1684-1750)  [q.  v.]  In  1751  Clark  spoke 
of  the  new  student  as  one  '  who  seems  to  be  a 
good,  sensible  young  fellow,  though  he  has  un- 
fortunately got  a  bad  name,  Priestley ;  those 
who  gave  him  it  I  hope  were  no  prophets ' 
(Hunter's  MSS.  Addit.  MS.  24485,  p.  99). 
Doddridge's  lectures  formed  the  textbook  of 
theological  study,  and  free  discussion  was  ad- 
mitted, '  Ashworth  taking  the  orthodox  side 
of  every  question,'  and  Clark  '  that  of  heresy.' 
Priestley  was  a  favourite  with  Ashworth,  but 
was  more  influenced  by  Clark.  Thus  he  be- 
came an  Arian,  still  retaining  a  'qualified' 
belief  in  the  atonement.  Clark  revised  a  draft 
which  Priestley  made  at  the  academy  in  1755 
of  his '  Institutes  of  Natural  and  Revealed  Re- 
ligion,' which  was  not  published  till  1772-3. 
Neither  tutor  was  strong  in  scholarship. 

Before  entering  the  academy  Priestley  had 
corresponded  with  Annet  on  the  subject  of 
freewill,  maintaining  the  position  of  '  philo- 
sophical liberty'  against  Annet's  'neces- 
sarian '  doctrine.  Annet  *  importuned '  him 
for  leave  to  publish  the  correspondence ;  this 
Priestley  withheld,  though  from  no  doubt  of 
his  own  arguments.  He  was  moved  by  the 
1  Enquiry'  (1715  ;  reprinted  by  Priestley  in 
1790)  of  Anthony  Collins  [q.  v.],  but  re- 
mained unconvinced  for  several  years.  '  I 
gave  up  my  liberty/  he  says,  '  with  great  re- 
luctance '  ( Works,  iii.  458) ;  and  it  would 
appear  that  the  instances  of  Annet  and 
Collins  had  led  him  to  connect  determinism 
with  'unbelievers  '  (Memoirs,  i.  126).  From 
a  reference  in  Doddridge's  divinity  lectures 
(Lect.  ccxix.)  he  became  acquainted  with  the 
'Observations  on  Man'  (1749)  by  David 
Hartley  (1705-1757)  [q.  v.],  a  book  which 
exercised  a  decisive  and  permanent  influence 
on  his  speculations.  He  ranked  it  next  to 
the  bible  (  Works,  iii.  10).  Hartley's  theory 


of  association  he  embraced  at  once,  and  it 
carried  the  'necessarian'  doctrine  as  its  con- 
sequence. His  conversion  to  determinism 
probably  dates  from  1754.  In  1757  he  en- 
tered into  a  correspondence  with  Hartley, 
which  was  cut  short  by  Hartley's  death. 

On  Ashworth's  recommendation  Priestley 
was  engaged  in  September  1755  as  assistant 
and  successor  to  John  Meadows  [see  under 
MEADOWS,  JOHNJ,  presbyterian  minister  at 
Needham  Market,  Suffolk.  Meadows,  who 
had  held  this  charge  for  fifty-four  years, 
was  superannuated,  and  the  congregation 
decayed.  Priestley  was  promised  40/.  a 
year;  he  got  less  than  '601.,  declining  the 
customary  subsidy  from  the  London  congre- 
gational fund,  as  he  '  did  not  choose  to  have 
anything  to  do  with  the  independents.'  The 
London  presbyterians  helped  him  by  the 
usual  subsidy  from  their  fund,  and  by  oc- 
casional benefactions  through  George  Ben- 
son [q.  v.]  and  Andrew  Kippis  [q.  v.] 
Though  his  preaching  was  uncontroversial, 
he  made  no  secret  of  his  Arianism,  which 
alienated  some  hearers.  Popularity  was  im- 
possible for  him,  owing  to  an  hereditary 
stammer.  His  aunt's  last  benefaction  was  a 
sum  of  twenty  guineas,  the  fee  of  a  Lon- 
don quack,  one  Angier,  who  undertook  '  to 
cure  all  defects  of  speech'  under  an  oath 
of  secrecy.  This  business  took  Priestley  to 
London  for  the  first  time,  with  the  result 
that  his  impediment  was  '  worse  than  ever.' 

To  provide  means  for  his  support,  Priestley 
issued  '  proposals '  for  a  boarding-school,  but 
no  pupils  came ;  this  he  attributes  to  his 
heterodox  repute,  ignoring,  perhaps,  the  dis- 
advantages of  his  bachelor  situation.  He 
gave  a  dozen  lectures  on  the  use  of  the  globes 
to  a  class  of  adults.  Meanwhile  he  was  pur- 
suing his  theological  studies.  He  managed 
to  afford  the  luxury  of  subscribing  for  Tay- 
ler's  Hebrew  concordance,  and  set  about 
comparing  the  Septuagint  with  the  original. 
Soon  he  rejected  the  atonement,  the  in- 
spiration of  the  sacred  text,  and  all  idea  of 
direct  divine  action  on  the  human  soul.  He 
wrote  on  the  'Doctrine  of  Remission,'  and 
entrusted  the  manuscript  to  Caleb  Fleming 
[q.  v.]  and  Nathaniel  Lardner  [q.  v.],  who 
published  it,  with  an  important  omission,  in 
1761.  Lardner,  who  accepted  Priestley's 
views  on  atonement,  strongly  disapproved 
his  criticism  of  St.  Paul's  dialectics.  Priest- 
ley worked  the  excluded  section  into  a  separate 
j  essay.  Kippis  advised  him  to  publish  it 
|  '  under  the  character  of  an  unbeliever.'  This 
|  Priestley  declined.  While  it  was  at  press  the 
|  printing  was  stopped  at  Kippis's  urgent  re- 
monstrance; the  essay  did  not  see  the  light 
till  1770  in  the  'Theological  Repository.' 


Priestley 


359 


Priestley 


Rejected  by  the  Sheffield  dissenters  as  '  too 
gay  and  airy '  (YATES),  in  September  1758 
Priestley  became  minister  at  Nantwich,  Che- 
shire. The  congregation  was  very  small,chiefly 
consisting  of 'travelling  Scotchmen,'  and '  not 
one  of  them  was  at  all  Calvinistical.'  PI  e  wrote 
few  sermons,  but  established  a  flourishing 
school,  never  giving f  a  holiday  on  any  conside- 
ration/ His  school  and  private  tuition  occu- 
pied him  from  seven  in  the  morning  till  seven 
at  night.  Yet  he  learned  to  play  the  flute, '  as 
the  easiest  instrument,'  and  congratulated 
himself  on  having  no  ear,  being  thus  '  more 
easily  pleased.'  He  formed  a  friendship  with 
Edward  Harwood  [q.  v.],  and  was  intimate 
with  Joseph  Brereton  (d.  1787),  vicar  of  Ac- 
ton, near  Nantwich,  who  gave  him  a  telescope 
/made  with  his  own  hands'  (  Works,  xix.  306). 

Aikin's  promotion  to  the  divinity  tutor- 
ship at  Warrington  Academy  was  followed 
by  Priestley's  appointment  (September  1761) 
to  the  tutorship  there  in  languages  and 
belles-lettres.  He  would  have  preferred  the 
chair  of  natural  philosophy,  held  by  John 
Holt  [see  HORSLEY,  JOHN].  In  his  own  de- 
partment he  introduced  public  exercises  in 
English  and  Latin,  and  gave  three  courses  of 
historical  lectures,  dealing  especially  with 
constitutional  history,  for  students  designed 
for  '  civil  and  active  life.'  These  lectures, 
published  in  1788,  were  recommended  at 
Cambridge  by  John  Symonds  [q.  v.],  pro- 
fessor of  modern  history.  His  '  Essay  on 
Government,'  written  at  Warrington,  and 
published  in  1768,  contains  the  sentence  to 
which  Jeremy  Bentham  [q.  v.]  considered 
himself  indebted  for  the  phrase  '  the  greatest 
happiness  of  the  greatest  number.'  Edin- 
burgh University  conferred  on  him  the 
diploma  of  LL.D.  (4  Dec.  1764). 

Priestley  had  been  ordained  on  18  May 
1762  at  Warrington.  On  23  June  in  the 
same  year  he  married,  at  Wrexham,  Mary, 
only  daughter  of  Isaac  Wilkinson,  of  Plas 
Grono,  ironmaster  at  Bersham,  near  Wrex- 
ham, afterwards  of  Bristol ;  her  age  was 
eighteen.  She  was  a  woman  of  sound  cul- 
ture and  strong  sense.  Before  his  marriage 
Priestley  described  her  to  his  brother  as  '  very 
orthodox,'  but  Timothy,  on  making  her  ac- 
quaintance, decided  that  she  was  '  no  dox.' 
At  the  wedding  the  bride  was  given  away 
by  Priestley's  pupil,  Thomas  Threlkeld  [q.v.], 
an  absent-minded  scholar,  who,  finding  a 
Welsh  bible  in  a  pew  of  the  parish  church, 
forgot  his  duty  in  its  perusal  (BARNES).  His 
marriage  led  Priestley  to  project  a  (  widows' 
fund '  for  protestant  dissenters  of  Lancashire 
and  Cheshire.  The  scheme  was  launched  on 
16  May  1764,  and  produced  a  valuable  benefit 
society,  since  become  wealthy. 


Priestley  spent  a  month  of  every  year  in 
London,  where  he  met  Franklin.  His  life 
at  Warrington  was  '  singularly  happy.'  The 
tutors  worked  harmoniously,  and  had  their 
Saturday  club  for  graver  converse ;  for  lighter 
recreation  there  was  a  coterie  of  anonymous 
verse  writers,  whose  pieces  were  dropped  into 
Mrs.  Priestley's  workbag  (BRIGHT).  Some  of 
Priestley's  own  verses  first  roused  the  poetic 
gift  in  Aikin's  only  daughter  (afterwards 
known  as  Anna  LeetitiaBarbauld)  [q.v.]  But 
the  academy  did  not  flourish ;  Priestley  was 
cramped  for  means  (his  salary  was  100/.  with 
a  house,  in  which  he  took  a  few  boarders  at 
151.  apiece),  and  his  wife's  health  failed. 
Accordingly  he  welcomed  a  call  to  the 
ministry  of  Mill  Hill  Chapel,  Leeds,  and  re- 
moved thither  in  September  1767.  His 
salary,  though  exceeding  that  of  most  dis- 
senting ministers  at  that  date,  was  only  a 
hundred  guineas  and  a  house,  but  his  time 
was  at  his  own  disposal. 

He  devoted  his  weekdays  to  his  studies, 
and  wrote  few  discourses,  making  no  secret 
of  his  habit  of  exchanging  sermons  with  his 
friends  (Monthly  Repository^  1818,  p.  94) ; 
but  he  carefully  instructed  his  flock  in  gra- 
duated classes  for  systematic  catechising,  a 
practice  neglected  by  the  liberal  dissenters 
of  that  day.  For  ten  years  his  theology  had 
remained  stationary.  He  now  read  Lardner 
'  On  the  Logos,'  published  in  1759,  and  became 
1  what  is  called  a  Socinian,'  a  development 
which  much  stimulated  his  controversial  ac- 
tivity. As  an  organ  of  critical  inquiry  he 
projected  (1768)  and  set  on  foot  (1769)  the 
'  Theological  Repository,'  which  was  pub- 
lished at  irregular  intervals  till  1788.  He 
offended  public  opinion  by  inviting,  with- 
out success,  the  co-operation  of  deists ;  he 
aspired  to  make  his  magazine  an  open  plat- 
form for  the  discussion  of  all  subjects  relating 
to  biblical  science.  His  first  polemical  piece 
(1769)  was  in  reply  to  an  attack  by  Henry 
Venn  [q.  v.]  His  propagandist  publications 
began  with  his  'Appeal'  (1770),  the  most  suc- 
cessful of  his  tracts,  written  in  view  of  the 
progress  of  methodism  among  dissenters. 

Priestley's  ecclesiastical  views  retained 
the  impress  of  his  early  training  among  in- 
dependents. The  decay  of  church  organisa- 
tion and  the  neglect  of  the  sacraments 
among  liberal  dissenters  concerned  him  ;  he 
propovsed  remedies  in  his  address  (1770)  on 
church  discipline,  and  his  discourse  (1782)  on 
the  constitution  of  a  Christian  church.  He 
upheld  the  autonomy  of  the  particular  con- 
gregation, and  was f  for  increasing  the  num- 
ber of  sects  rather  than  diminishing  them  ; ' 
hence  his  spirited  'Remarks'  (1769)  on 
Blackstone,  who  had  classed  nonconformity 


Priestley 


360 


Priestley 


in  a 
asC 


among  crimes.  He  stood  alone  among  his 
friends  in  advocating  complete  toleration  for 
'  papists/  against  the  opinion  of  Lardnerand 
Kippis.  With  the  idea  of  a  national  church 
he  had  no  sympathy,  though  admitting  the 
utility  of  existing  establishments,  and  desir- 
ing, not  their  dissolution,  but  their  reform. 
He  advocated  the  withdrawal  of  the  *  re- 
gium  donum,'  then  given  to  English  as  well 
as  to  Irish  dissenters.  It  was  with  difficulty 
that  he  was  persuaded  to  add  his  name  to 
the  petition  (1772)  for  modifying  the  Tole- 
ration Act,  which  resulted  in  the  amended 
act  of  1779.  '  You  have  hitherto,'  he  writes 
pamphlet  of  1773, '  preferred  your  prayer 
hristians ;  stand  forth  now  in  the  charac- 
ter of  men,  and  ask  at  once  for  the  repeal  of 
nil  the  penal  laws  which  respect  matters  of 
opinion.'  He  never  qualified  under  either 
act,  but  thought  liberty  less  menaced  by  the 
old  subscription,  practically  a  dead  letter, 
than  by  the  new  and  easier  subscription, 
which  might  be  enforced.  In  the  same  spirit 
he  advised  Theophilus  Lindsey  [q.  v.]  not  to 
resign  his  benefice,  but  to  make  his  own 
alterations  in  the  prayer-book  (as  several 
clergymen  did),  and  wait  till  he  was  ejected. 
But  when  Lindsey  resigned  (1773),  Priestley 
acknowledged  his  friend's  'better  judgment,' 
and  entered  heartily  into  his  plans  for  a  new 
religious  movement  under  the  Unitarian  name. 
Till  a  minister's  house  was  ready  for  him, 
he  resided  in  Meadow  Lane  in  the  suburbs 
of  Leeds,  next  door  to  a  brewery.  In  1770 
he  founded  the  Leeds  circulating  library.  In 
December  1771  his  study  of  science,  to  which 
he  had  long  devoted  his  leisure  (see  infra  for 
his  scientific  work),  had  brought  him  suffi- 
cient reputation  to  lead  Sir  Joseph  Banks 
[q.  v.]  to  offer  him  the  appointment  of  '  astro- 
nomer' (Memoirs,  i.  157)  to  the  second 
expedition  of  James  Cook  (1728-79)  [q.  v.] 
The  Mill  Hill  congregation  agreed  to  pro- 
vide an  assistant  during  his  absence;  but 
clerical  influence  intervened,  and  Priestley's 
place  was  filled  by  Johann  Keinhold  Forster, 
who  had  succeeded  him  at  Warrington  [see 
under  FORSTER,  JOHANN  GEORG  ADAM].  A 
curious  story  belonging  to  this  period  is  told 
of  a  woman,  who  imagined  herself  possessed, 
applying  to  him  as  '  a  great  philosopher  who 
could  perform  miracles;'  he  exorcised  the 
demon  by  help  of  an  electrical  machine. 

In  December  1772  William  Fitzmaurice- 
Petty,  second  earl  of  Shelburne,  afterwards 
first  marquis  of  Lansdowne  [q.  v.],  on  the 
recommendation  of  Price,  appointed  Priestley 
his  librarian  or  '  literary  companion.'  He 
was  to  furnish  Shelburne  with  information 
on  topics  arising  in  parliament,  and  to  super- 
intend the  education  of  Shelburne's  sons, 


with  Thomas  Jervis  [q.  v.]  under  him  as 
tutor.  For  this  he  was  to  have  a  salary  of 
250/.  with  a  house  at  Calne,  Wiltshire  (near 
to  Bowood),  and  rooms  in  Shelburne's  Lon- 
don house  in  Berkeley  Square  ;  if  the  agree- 
ment ended  by  mutual  consent,  Priestley 
was  to  receive  an  annuity  of  ISO/.  He  was  to 
preach  when  he  pleased,  and  pursue  his  own 
studies.  He  resigned  Mill  Hill  on  20  Dec. 

1772,  preached  his  farewell  sermon  on  16  May 

1773,  and  removed  to  Calne  in  June.     For 
some  years  the  arrangement  worked  smoothly. 
Priestley  catalogued  Shelburne's  books  and 
manuscripts  (now  the  Lansdowne  MSS.  in 
the  British  Museum),  and  indexed  his  private 
papers.     Shelburne  gave  him  an  addition  of 
40/.  a  year   towards   his  scientific   experi- 
ments ;  a  similar  sum  was  contributed  an- 
nually  (from    1777)    by   scientific    friends 
through  John  Fothergill,  M.D.  [q.  v.]     In 
1774  he  spent  three  months  (August-October) 
abroad   with  his   patron,  visiting  Brussels 
(where  a   'popish  priest'  tried  to   convert 
him),  Holland,  with  which  he  was  'much 
disgusted,'  the  Rhine,  and  Paris,  where  he 
exhibited  some  of  his  experiments  on  air. 
Just  before  starting  he  had  made  his  capital 
discovery  (1  Aug.  1774)  of  '  dephlogisticated 
air'  (see  below).     His  winters  were  spent  in 
London,  where  he  frequented  the  Whig  Club 
at  the  London  coffee-house,  Ludgate  Hill,  of 
which  Franklin  and  Canton  were  members. 

By  1778,  for  some  reason  unknown  to 
Priestley,  but  probably  owing  to  his  adoption 
of  '  materialism,'  his  patron's  feeling  towards 
him  had  cooled,  and  in  May  1780  he  proposed 
to  transfer  him  to  an  establishment  on  his 
Irish  estate.  Priestley  at  once  offered  to  re- 
tire from  Shelburne's  service.  The  separation 
was  amicable,  and  the  annuity  was  punctually 
paid.  Some  years  later  (apparently  in  1784) 
Shelburne  made  overtures  for  a  renewal  of  the 
connection,  which  Priestley  wisely  declined. 

During  Priestley's  engagement  with  Shel- 
burne appeared  his  '  Examination '  (1774)  of 
the  Scottish  philosophy,  written  in  a  tone 
which  he  afterwards  regretted.  It  was  his 
first  effort  in  psychology.  Up  to  1774  he 
maintained  the  ordinary  distinction  of  soul 
and  body,  as  having  no  common  properties  ; 
though  he  had  held,  with  Edmund  Law 
[q.  v.],  that  the  soul  acts  only  through  an 
organism.  His  first  hint  of  the  doctrine  of 
the  homogeneity  of  man  was  given  in  an 
essay  (1775)  introductory  to  a  selection  from 
Hartley.  It  brought  upon  him  the  imputa- 
tion of  atheism.  A  copy  of  the  work,  at  the 
sale  of  the  Abb6  Needham's  library  at  Brus- 
sels in  1782,  was  seized  by  the  licensers,  and 
burned  along  with  a  copy  of  Cudworth's  '  In- 
tellectual System.'  Further  study  resulted 


Priestley 


361 


Priestley 


in  his  '  Disquisitions  relating  to  Matter  and 
Spirit '  (December  1777),  Avhich  Shelburne's 
friends  (but  not  Shelburne)  tried  to  dissuade 
him  from  publishing.  It  led  to  correspon- 
dence with  John  Henderson  (1757-1788) 
£q.  v.]  and  Augustus  Montague  Toplady 
q.  v.],  and  to  an  amicable  discussion  (1778) 
with  Price  (cf.  The  Sadducee,  a  poem,  1778, 
anon.)  A  supplemental  volume  on  '  philo- 
sophical necessity '  was  the  occasion  of  his 
first  controversial  encounter  with  Samuel 
Horsley  [q.  v.]  Priestley  called  his  system 
by  the  name  of 'materialism,'  but  by  1772 he 
.had  adopted  from  Ruggiero  Giuseppe  Bos- 
cowich  (1711-1787)  the  theory  that  matter 
consists  only  of  points  of  force  ;  the  doctrine 
of  the  penetrability  of  matter  had  inde- 
pendently suggested  itself  (before  1772)  to 
his  friend  Michell.  Rutt  supposes  that  Bos- 
cowich  was  the  *  priest  of  the  catholic  com- 
munion/ having  '  a  taste  for  science/  who 
met  Priestley  in  Paris  (1774),  and  embraced 
him  '  with  tears '  as  the  first  philosopher 
among  his  acquaintance  who  made  profession 
of  Christianity  (  Works,  xv.  366,  xix.  310). 

A  more  strictly  professional  work  of  his 
Shelburne  period  was  his  Greek  '  Harmony ' 
of  the  Gospels,  projected  in  1774,  and  pub- 
lished in  1777.  It  shows  no  appreciation  of 
the  real  difficulties  of  the  problem,  and  is 
chiefly  remarkable  as  adopting  the  theory  ot 
Nicholas  Mann  [q^.  v.],  who  limited  the 
ministry  of  our  Lord  to  little  more  than  a 
single  year.  On  this  topic  Priestley  had  a 
friendly  controversy  (1779-81)  with  William 
Newcome  [q.  v.],  then  bishop  of  Waterford. 
During  its  progress  he  began  his  *  Letters 
to  a  Philosophical  Unbeliever'  (1780-2), 
directed  primarily  against  Hume. 

After  quitting  Shelburne's  service  he  re- 
mained at  Calne  till  Michaelmas  1780,  and 
then  removed  to  Birmingham,  partly  to  be 
nearer  his  brother-in-law,  John  Wilkinson 
{d.  14  July  1808)  of  Castle  Head  in  the  parish 
of  Cartmel,  Lancashire,who  provided  himwith 
a  house.  A  wealthy  widow,  Elizabeth  Ray  ner 
{d.  1 1  July  1800,  aged  86),  of  Sunbury,  M  iddle- 
sex,  gave  him  one  hundred  guineas  towards  his 
removal,  the  first  instalment  of  many  benefac- 
tions from  the  same  quarter.  A  handsome  ad- 
dition to  his  income  was  made  by  the  annual 
subscriptions  of  his  friends.  William  Heber- 
den  the  elder  [q.  v.]  contributed  largely  in 
aid  of  his  theological  as  well  as  his  scientific 
research.  On  Fothergill's  death  his  contri- 
bution was  continued  by  Samuel  Galton,  a 
Birmingham  quaker,  who  was  disowned 
(1795)  <  for  fabricating  and  selling  instru- 
ments of  war.'  Josiah  Wedgwood,  the 
potter,  besides  an  annual  benefaction,  fur- 
nished him  with  apparatus  made  to  his  in- 


structions. Samuel  Parker  (d.  1817),  a 
London  optician  (a  Calvinistic  dissenter), 
supplied  him  with  every  instrument  he  re- 
quired in  glass,  including  his  burning  lenses, 
twelve  and  sixteen  inches  in  diameter.  Soon 
after  1772  he  was  elected  one  of  the  eight 
associates  of  the  French  Academy  of  Sciences. 
In  December  1780  he  was  made  a  member 
of  the  Imperial  Academy  of  Sciences  at  St. 
Petersburg.  Similar  honours  reached  him 
from  Turin,  Haarlem,  and  elsewhere. 

Before  Christmas  1780  William  Hawkes 
(1732-1796)  resigned  his  office  as  junior 
minister  of  the  New  Meeting,  Birmingham. 
Priestley  was  at  once  elected  colleague  with 
Samuel  Blyth  (1719-1796),  and  began  his 
duties  on  31  Dec.  He  was  without  pastoral 
charge,  being  engaged  only  for  Sunday  duty. 
He  pursued  the  plan  of  catechetical  instruc- 
tion which  he  had  introduced  at  Leeds,  add- 
ing the  practice  of  expounding  the  scripture 
lessons.  His  salary  was  100/. ;  but  his  con- 
gregation, led  by  his  friend  William  Russell 
(1740-1818)  [q.  v.J,  was  liberal  in  gifts.  A 
donation  of  200/.,  in  acknowledgment  of  his 
catechetical  work,  he  insisted  on  dividing 
with  Blyth.  Early  in  1781  he  declined  a 
call  to  George's  Meeting,  Exeter.  Twice  he 
was  sounded  in  vain  about  accepting  a  go- 
vernment pension ;  by  Lee  when  solicitor- 
general  (1782),  and  again  (1784)  '  by  a  bishop/ 
probably  Edmund  Law,  a  member  with 
Priestley  of  a  '  society  for  promoting  the 
knowledge  of  the  Scriptures '  (1783)  [see 
JEBB,  Jontf,  M.D.]  He  preferred  the  aid  of 
'  lovers  of  science  and  slso  lovers  of  liberty.' 
Brougham  remarks  that  '  different  men  en- 
tertain different  notions  of  independence.' 
Huxley,  with  more  reason,  refers  to  '  the 
generous  and  tender  warmth  with  which  his 
many  friends  vied  with  one  another  in  ren- 
dering him  substantial  help.'  Edmund  Burke 
[q.  v.],  who  visited  him  at  Birmingham  at 
the  close  of  1782,  '  reported  him  to  all  his 
friends  as  the  most  happy  of  men,  and  most 
to  be  envied '  (Letter  from  Lindsey,  Memoirs, 
i.  354).  Early  in  his  Birmingham  ministry 
his  social  relations,  even  with  the  established 
clergy,  were  pleasant  enough.  Once  a  month 
be  dined  with  the  '  Lunar  Society/  meeting 
Matthew  Boulton  [q.  v.],  James  Keir  [q.  v.], 
James  Watt,  William  Withering,  M.D.[q.v.], 
the  botanist,  and,  for  a  time,  Erasmus  Darwin 
[q.  v.]  (see,  for  *  Lunar  Society/  CARKINGTOJST 
BOLTON'S  Scientific  Correspondence  of  Priest- 
ley, 1892,  app.  ii.)  Every  fortnight  he  dis- 
cussed theology  at  tea  with  his  clerical  com- 
rades. He  continued  his  periodic  visits  to 
London.  It  has  been  said  that  Dr.  Johnson 
refused  to  meet  Priestley,  the  fact  being  that 
it  was  Priestley  who  repeatedly  declined  an 


Priestley 


362 


Priestley 


introduction  to  Johnson,  till  at  length  John 
Paradise  [q.  v.],  at  Johnson's  request,  brought 
them  together  at  dinner.  Johnson  promised 
to  call  on  him  the  next  time  he  was  at 
Birmingham  (Appeal  to  the  Public,  1792, 
ii.  103). 

In  1772  he  had  appended  to  a  reprint  of 
his  Leeds  f  Appeal '  a  '  concise  history '  of 
certain  established  doctrines.  He  began  to 
amplify  it  for  a  fourth  part  of  his '  Institutes.' 
It  took  shape  as  a  *  History  of  the  Corrup- 
tions of  Christianity '  (December  1782),  the 
best  known,  though  not  the  best,  of  his 
theological  writings  (in  1785  it  was  burned 
by  the  common  hangman  at  Dort).  In  this 
work  he  challenged  a  discussion  with  Gibbon, 
who,  in  a  short  correspondence,  advised  him 
(28  Jan.  1783)  to  stick  to  '  those  sciences  in 
which  real  and  useful  improvements  can 
be  made,'  and  contemptuously  declined  the 
challenge.  Criticism  on  the  first  section  of 
the  work,  relating  to  the  person  of  Christ, 
led  him  to  prepare  a  more  elaborate  treatise 
on  this  head.  John  Hawkins,  rector  of 
Hinton-Ampner,  Hampshire,  procured  him 
books  from  the  cathedral  library  at  Worcester 
(Memoirs,  ii.  30).  He  began  to  question 
the  received  accounts  of  our  Lord's  nativity, 
and  in  articles  in  the  *  Theological  Reposi- 
tory' (1784)  .rejected  the  doctrine  of  the 
virgin  birth  as  without  historical  basis.  His 
opinion  that  our  Lord  was  born  at  Nazareth 
has  been  revived  by  modern  critics.  In  this 
connection  he  startled  his  friend  Lindsey  by 
maintaining  that  our  Lord  was  neither  natu- 
rally impeccable  nor  intellectually  infallible, 
was  under  delusion  respecting  demoniacal 
possession,  and  had  misconceived  the  purport 
of  some  of  the  prophecies.  His  labours 
culminated  in  the l  History  of  Early  Opinions 
concerning  Jesus  Christ '  (1786).  Writing 
as  a  sectary,  he  damaged  at  the  outset  his 
claim  to  scrutinise  in  a  scientific  spirit  the 
course  of  thought  in  Christian  antiquity;  but 
he  was  one  of  the  first  to  open  the  way  to 
the  study  of  doctrinal  development,  and 
while  proclaiming  his  own  bias  with  rare 
frankness,  he  submitted  his  historical  judg- 
ments to  the  arbitrament  of  further  research. 
His  account  of  the  origin  of  Arianism,  as  a 
novel  system,  has  stood  this  test.  What 
was  special  in  his  method  was  the  endeavour, 
discarding  the  speculations  of  the  fathers, 
to  penetrate  to  the  mind  of  the  common 
Christian  people.  He  broke  entirely  with 
the  old  application  of  the  principle  of  private 
judgment,  maintaining  that  a  purely  modern 
interpretation  of  Scripture  is,  ipso  facto,  dis- 
credited, and  the  meaning  attached  to  it  by 
the  earliest  age,  if  ascertainable,  must  be 
decisive.  A  good  summary  of  his  position  is 


in  his  '  Letters  '  (1787)  to  Alexander  Geddes 
[q. v.],  the  Roman  catholic  scholar,who  had  ad- 
dressed him  as  his  '  fellow-disciple  in  Jesus/ 
He  was  criticised  by  Samuel  Badcock 
[q.  v.],  a  contributor  to  his  '  Theological  Re- 
pository,' with  whom  he  had  been  on  terms 
of  very  close  literary  correspondence,  .by 
Francis  Howes  [q.  v.],  James  Barnard,  and 
Thomas  Knowles  [q.  v.]  The  attack  was 
led  by  Horsley,  who,  refusing  to  enter 
on  '  the  main  question,'  set  himself  '  to  de- 
stroy the  writer's  credit  and  the  authority 
of  his  name '  (HOESLEY,  Tracts,  1789,  pre- 
face). He  adopted,  with  masterly  effect, 
Bentley's  line  against  Collins.  In  showing 
that  Priestley  failed  to  understand  Platonism, 
Horsley  did  real  service.  His  brilliant  ex- 
posure of  Priestley's  slips  was  less  in  point. 
Priestley,  while  not  a  finished  scholar,  had 
competent  learning,  though  he  wrote  in 
haste.  The  charge  of  borrowing  from  Daniel 
Zwicker  (1612-1678)  was  the  less  reasonable, 
as  neither  Priestley  nor  Horsley  had  seen 
Zwicker  s  tracts,  which  Horsley  only  knew 
from  the  animadversions  of  George  Bull 

iq.   v.]      That   he   abstained  from   reading 
'riestley's  riper  treatise  illustrates  his  con- 
troversial skill  rather  than  his  fairness. 

The  controversy  with  Horsley  lasted  from 
1783  to  1790.  From  1786  Priestley  issued 
an  annual  defence  of  unitarianism,  in  review 
of  all  opponents.  In  1787  he  resisted  the 
resolution  of  Charles  Cooke  (carried  12  Dec.) 
to  exclude  controversial  divinity  from  the 
Birmingham  Public  Library,  which  Jie  had  re- 
organised in  1782.  In  1789  he  projected  a  new 
version  of  the  Scriptures,  in  conjunction  with 
Michael  Dodson  [q.v.],  William  Frend  [q.  v.], 
and  Lindsey.  Priestley  was  to  be  answer- 
able for  the  hagiographa  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, getting  what  assistance  he  could  (Mar- 
tineau  errs  in  supposing  that  he  undertook 
to  translate  the  Hebrew  Bible  singlehanded). 
The  first  instalment  of  his  l  General  History 
of  the  Christian  Church/  a  work  of  some 
merit,  was  published  in  1790.  In  July 
1790  he  met  Samuel  Parr  [q.  v.]  at  the 
ordination  of  William  Field  [q.  v.]  Being 
at  Buxton  in  the  following  autumn,  he 
preached  by  special  request  in  the  assembly 
room  (19  Sept.)  Grattan  was  present,  and 
John  Hely-Hutchinson  [q.  v.-],  provost  of 
Trinity  College,  Dublin.  The  sermon  (after- 
wards published)  was  a  powerful  argument 
for  the  resurrection  of  our  Lord.  In  October 
he  asked  his  Roman  catholic  neighbour, 
Joseph  Berington  [q.  v.],  to  preach  the  Sun- 
day-school sermon  at  the  New  Meeting. 
Berington  hoped  at  some  future  time  that  it 
might  be  prudent  to  do  so.  Early  in  1791 
Priestley  concurred  in  the  formation  of  the 


Priestley 


363 


Priestley 


1  Unitarian  Society.'  The  preamble,  drawn 
by  Thomas  Belsham  [q.  v.],  was  meant  to 
exclude  Arians ;  nevertheless  Price  joined 
it.  Meanwhile  he  was  pursuing  his  experi- 
ments in  science  and  publishing  the  results. 

In  politics  he  had  taken  little  part.  He 
had  written  in  1769  and  1774  two  anony- 
mous pamphlets  on  the  relations  of  Great 
Britain  with  the  colonies.  The  second  of 
these  (against  war)  was  revised  by  Franklin, 
with  whom  he  was  on  the  most  confidential 
terms.  His  intimacy  with  Burke  lasted  till 
1783.  He  states  that  he  was  never  a  mem- 
ber of  any  political  club,  though  it  appears 
that  he  had  attended  the  Birmingham  dinner 
(4  Nov.  1788)  in  celebration  of  the  landing 
of  William  III,  from  which  the  toast  of 
'  church  and  constitution '  was  excluded ; 
and  he  had  a  hand  in  the  framing  of  the 
Birmingham  Constitutional  Society  (June 
1791)  on  the  model  of  that  at  Manchester. 
The  measures  of  reform  in  the  advocacy  of 
which  he  co-operated  were  the  abolition  of 
the  slave  trade,  and  the  repeal  of  the  test 
and  corporation  acts.  On  the  latter  topic 
he  wrote  his  'Letter  to  Pitt'  (1787)  and  a 
Fifth  of  November  sermon  (1789).  The  de- 
feat of  Fox's  motion  for  repeal  (2  March  1 790) 
was  largely  caused  by  the  preface  (17  Feb.) 
of  Priestley's  '  Letters '  addressed  to  Edward 
Burn  [q.  v.]  Extracts  were  furnished  to  all 
members  of  the  House  of  Commons.  He 
had  called  on  the  clergy  to  avert  revolution 
by  reform,  and,  with  more  imagination  than 
usual,  described  his  own  theological  efforts 
as  '  grains  of  gunpowder '  for  which  his  op- 
ponents were '  providing  the  match '  (  Works, 
xix.  311).  The  nickname  *  Gunpowder 
Priestley  '  was  adopted  in  songs  and  carica- 
tures. Popular  feeling  against  him  was  in- 
creased by  his  'Letters  to  Burke'  (1  Jan. 
1791),  in  which  he  vindicated  the  principles 
of  the  French  revolution.  These  ran  through 
three  editions,  and  were  followed  in  June  by 
his  anonymous  'Dialogue  on  the  General 
Principles  of  Government.' 

On  Thursday,  14  July  1791,  the  'Consti- 
tutional Society'  of  Birmingham  held  a 
•dinner  in  Thomas  Dadley's  Hotel,  Temple 
Row,  to  commemorate  the  fall  of  the  Bastille. 
Priestley  had  'little  to  do'  with  it,  but  he 
meant  to  be  present,  and  on  6  July  he  asked 
William  Hutton  (1723-1815)  [q.  v.]  and 
Berington  to  join  the  party;  they  both  de- 
clined. The  promoters  invited,  by  public  ad- 
vertisement (7  July),  'any  friend  to  freedom.' 
An  inflammatory  handbill  of  republican  ten- 
dency was  disowned  by  the  promoters,  who 
•publicly  advertised  their 'firm  attachment 
to  the  constitution.'  On  the  morning  of  the 
14th  his  friend  Russell  sent  Priestley  a  note 


from  town,  advising  him  not  to  attend  the 
dinner ;  hence  he  did  not  go.  An  angry 
crowd  hung  about  the  door  as  the  company 
(numbering  eighty-one)  assembled  at  three 
o'clock,  but  the  dinner,  during  which  some 
extravagant  toasts  were  honoured,  ended 
quietly  before  six.  The  chairman,  James  Keir 
[q.  v.],  was  a  churchman  (for  the  toasts  see 
Authentic  Account,  pp.  32  sq.)  It  appears 
there  was  a  dinner,  not  public,  'of  the  oppo- 
site party,'  at  the  Swan  in  Bull  Street, 
which  kept  up  till  a  later  hour. 

About  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening  the 
crowd  broke  the  windows  of  Dadley's  Hotel. 
Finding  that  the  guests  had  left,  the  mob 
directed  their  attention  to  the  residences  of 
the  organisers,  among  whom  they  wrongly 
assumed  Priestley  was  the  chief.  After 
wrecking  and  burning  the  New  Meeting  and 
the  Old  Meeting,  they  attacked  Priestley's 
house  at  Fairhill,  a  mile  from  Birmingham, 
and  destroyed  nearly  all  his  books,  papers, 
and  apparatus.  He  and  his  family  managed 
to  escape  before  the  incendiaries  arrived. 
Rioting  continued  on  Friday  and  Saturday ; 
the  town  was  in  the  hands  of  the  mob,  the 
gaols  were  opened,  seven  residences  were 
burned,  and  many  others  wrecked ;  the  meet- 
ing-house at  Kingswood,  seven  miles  from 
Birmingham,  was  also  destroyed.  The  ma- 
gistrates were  powerless  ;  great  exertions  to 
restore  order  were  made  by  Heneage  Finch, 
fourth  earl  of  Aylesford  (a  pupil  of  Horsley), 
without  avail.  At  length  dragoons  arrived 
from  Nottingham  on  Saturday  night,  and 
the  disorder  ceased. 

Much  mutual  recrimination  filled  the  pam- 
phlet s  of  the  time.  The  Riot  Act  was  not  read 
at  the  beginning  of  the  disorder,  as  it  was 
next  year  (May  1792)  to  stop  a  raid  on  the 
brothels  of  Birmingham  (PAER).  Priestley's 
friends  charged  the  authorities,  including 
the  clergy,  with  culpable  dereliction  of  duty. 
This  view  was  shared  by  Sir  Samuel  Romilly, 
who  was  in  Birmingham  in  the  latter  part 
of  July,  and  it  was  emphasised  in  the  well- 
known  lines  in  Coleridge's  '  Religious  Mus- 
ings written  on  Christmas  Eve,'  1 794.  Priest- 
ley's friends,  however, hardly  made  allowance 
for  their  own  miscalculation  of  the  current 
of  popular  feeling  to  which  they  ran  counter. 
George  III,  writing  to  Dundas,  expressed 
himself  as  'pleased  that  Priestley  is  the 
sufferer,'  though  disapproving  the  '  atrocious 
means'  employed.  For  Priestley  it  was  a 
rude  awakening.  He  had  passed  the  day  in 
the  company  of  Adam  Walker,  a  lecturer  on 
physics  from  London,  who  had  dined  at 
Fairhill.  Late  in  the  evening,  while  playing 
backgammon  with  his  wife,  he  was  warned 
of  his  danger,  and,  though  incredulous,  he 


Priestley 


364 


Priestley 


allowed  himself  to  be  driven  in  a  chaise  to 
his  friend  Russell's,  at  Showell  Green,  a  mile 
further  from  town.  After  watching  the  fires 
from  the  meeting-houses,  he  proceeded  to 
Thomas  Hawkes's,  at  Moseley  Wake  Green, 
half  a  mile  further.  Here  he  was  within 
earshot  of  the  shouts  of  the  wreckers  of  his 
own  house.  It  seems  they  tried  to  get  fire 
from  his  electrical  machine,  to  burn  the 
building,  'with  that  love  for  the  practical 
application  of  science  which  is  the  source  of 
the  greatness  of  Birmingham '  (HTJXLEY). 
At  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  he  was  re- 
tiring to  bed  at  Showell  Green,  when  the 
mob  approached,  and  he  drove  to  the  house 
of  William  Finch,  his  son-in-law,  at  Heath 
Forge,  five  miles  beyond  Dudley.  He  made 
up  his  mind,  if  it  were  a  fine  Sunday,  to 
preach  in  the  ruins  of  his  meeting-house,  and 
chose  his  text.  On  Friday  night  he  was 
roused  from  sleep,  and  rode  to  Bridgnorth, 
Shropshire,  driving  back  thence  to  Kidder- 
minster. Thinking  all  was  safe,  he  rode  back 
to  Heath  Forge  on  Saturday  evening,  but 
was  persuaded  at  once  to  retrace  his  steps. 
From  Kidderminster  he  made  his  way  to 
Worcester,  and,  catching  the  London  coach, 
reached  Lindsey's  house  in  Essex  Street  at 
five  o'clock  on  Monday  morning.  Next  day 
he  wrote  an  expostulatory  letter  to  the  in- 
habitants of  Birmingham,  and  at  once  began 
his  discourse  on  the  duty  of  forgiveness  of  in- 
juries. This  sermon  did  not  convert  his 
spirited  wife.  '  I  do  not  think,'  she  writes 
(26  Aug.)  to  Mrs.  Barbauld,  'that  God  can 
require  it  of  us  as  a  duty,  after  they  have 
smote  one  cheek,  to  turn  the  other.  .  .  . 
They  will  scarcely  find  so  many  respectable 
characters  a  second  time  to  make  a  bonfire 
of.  So  much  for  King  and  Church  for 
ever.'  Four  or  five  of  the  rioters  were  tried 
at  Worcester  ;  one  was  executed  on  19  Aug., 
and  another  subsequently.  Twelve  were  tried 
at  Warwick  on  22  and  23  Aug.  by  Sir 
Richard  Perryn  [q.  v.] ;  four  were  convicted ; 
of  these,  two  were  executed  on  8  Sept.  A 
moderate  compensation  was  awarded  to  the 
sufferers.  Priestley's  compensation  (paid  in 
1793)  fell  short  of  his  losses  by  some  2,000/. 
Some  of  his  private  papers,  which  fell  into 
the  hands  of  Curtis,  were  sent  by  him  to 
Henry  Dundas,  afterwards  first  viscount 
Melville  [q.  v.],  then  home  secretary,  and  not 
returned.  Addresses  of  sympathy  reached 
him  from  the  French  Academy  of  Sciences 
and  many  other  public  bodies. 

For  a  few  months  Priestley  was  the  guest 
of  William  Vaughan  at  Missenden,  Buck- 
inghamshire. He  preached  for  the  first  time 
after  the  riots  on  26  Sept.  in  a  Calvinistic 
baptist  chapel  at  the  neighbouring  town  of 


Amersham,  by  the  unanimous  request  of 
minister  and  people.  This  was  probably 
through  the  influence  of  Robert  Hall  (1764- 
1831)  [q.  v.]  Two  other  congregations  of 
orthodox  dissenters  requested  his  services. 
Even  among  methodists  he  had  sympathisers. 
'The  curse  of  God,'  said  Samuel  Bradburn 
[q.v.]  in  a  sermon  (1793)  at  Birmingham, 
'hangs  over  your  town  for  the  infamous 
treatment  Dr.  Priestley  experienced  among 
you.'  He  was  invited  to  Paris  and  Toulouse, 
but  resolved  to  settle  in  London ;  a  house 
was  taken  for  him  at  Clapton  in  a  friend's 
name.  '  He  has  taken,'  writes  Hutton,  '  a 
house  near  London  for  twenty-one  years, 
provided  he  lives  and  the  house  stands  so 
long.'  He  wished,  however,  to  return  to 
Birmingham  and  continue  his  ministry  till 
Christmas  ;  his  congregation  begged  him  not 
to  run  the  risk,  and  asked  him  to  nominate 
his  successor.  His  'forgiveness  '  sermon  was 
delivered  at  Birmingham  by  John  Coates 
(d.  2  April  1826,  aged  73),  of  the  Old  Meet- 
ing. The  first  part  of  his  '  Appeal '  on  the 
subject  of  the  riots  is  dated  1  Nov.  On 
7  Nov.,  by  fifty-one  votes  to  nineteen,  he  was 
elected  to  succeed  Price  as  morning  preacher 
at  the  Gravel  Pit  Chapel,  Hackney,  and  en- 
tered on  his  pastoral  duties  on  4  Dec.  No 
fixed  salary  was  guaranteed,  but  his  receipts 
were  at  the  rate  of  a  hundred  and  fifty 
guineas  a  year.  A  section  of  Price's  friends 
left,  but  there  was  a  large  accession  of  new- 
comers. 

At  Hackney  his  life  went  on  '  even  more 
happily '  than  at  Birmingham.  His  pecu- 
niary losses  were  more  than  made  up  by  his 
friends.  Wilkinson,  his  brother-in-law,  gave 
him  5GO/.,  transferred  to  him  a  nominal  sum 
of  10,000/.  in  the  French  funds,  and,  as  this 
was  unproductive,  paid  him  200/.  a  year.  His 
catechetical  classes,  contrary  to  expectation, 
attracted  many  outsiders.  Lindsey  and  Bel- 
sham  were  near  neighbours;  he  had  superior 
advantages  for  his  scientific  pursuits ;  he  gave 
lectures  at  Hackney  College  on  history  and 
chemistry.  In  September  1792  he  was  made 
a  citizen  of  France,  and  elected  a  member  for 
the  department  of  Orne  in  the  National  Con- 
vention. Other  departments  followed  suit, 
but,  while  he  accepted  citizenship,  he  declined 
election  (  Works,  xxv.  118).  The  majority  of 
members  of  the  Royal  Society  fought  shy  of 
him.  Finding  that  they  were  rejecting  eligible 
candidates  on  political  grounds,  he  withdrew 
from  attendance  (1793),  and  ceased  to  publish 
in  the  '  Philosophical  Transactions.' 

As  early  as  1772  he  had  contemplated  a 
removal  to  America  for  the  sake  of  his  chil- 
dren. His  wife's  first  thought  after  the  riots 
was  '  for  trying  a  new  soil.'  His  three  sons 


Priestley 


365 


Priestley 


emigrated  to  America  in  August  1793,  and  he 
expected  to  follow  them.  His  wife  was '  more 
bent  on'  it  than  himself  (Memoirs,  ii.  210). 
He  resigned  his  charge  on  21  Feb.  1794, 
preached  a  farewell  sermon  on  30  March,  and 
embarked  in  the  Sansom,  off  Gravesend,  on 
7  April.  On  4  June  he  landed  at  New  York, 
where  Mrs.  Priestley  'never  felt  herself 
more  at  home  in  her  life.'  He  received  a 
number  of  addresses.  His  answer  to  a  blatant 
address  of  the  '  Democratic  Society '  of  New 
York  '  pleased  everybody  except  the  society 
itself.'  In  reply  to  one  from  'republican 
natives  of  Great  Britain,'  he  declared  his 
preference  for  a  republic,  and  his  hope  of  the 
abolition  of  slavery.  He  was  disappointed 
at  having  no  invitation  to  preach. 

His  sons  and  his  friend  Thomas  Cooper, 
M.D.  [q.  v.J,  were  interested  in  a  proposed 
settlement  in  Pennsylvania  on  the  Susque- 
hanna.  To  be  near  them  he  left  New  York 
on  18  June,  stayed  a  fortnight  at  Philadel- 

Ehia,  and  on  11  July  reached  Northumber- 
md,  Pennsylvania.  The  settlement  scheme 
was  abandoned,  but  finding  Northumberland 
a  'delightful  situation  '  he  made  it  his  home, 
and  built  a  house.  He  once  preached  in  the 
presbyterian  meeting-house,  but  the  invita- 
tion was  not  repeated.  Accordingly  he 
held  public  services  in  his  own  house,  and 
from  about  1799  in  a  wooden  building  ad- 
joining. A  projected  college  came  to  no- 
thing, though  a  building  was  begun.  He  had 
declined  (November  1794)  a  chemistry  chair 
at  Philadelphia,  than  which  he  '  never  saw  a 
town'  he  liked  less.  But  he  resolved  to 
spend  two  months  there  every  winter,  in 
hope  of  founding  a  Unitarian  congregation. 
His  discourses  on  the  evidences,  delivered 
there  (February-May  1796)  in  Elhanan 
Winchester's  universalist  meeting-house, 
drew  distinguished  congregations,  and  a  small 
Unitarian  society  was  formed.  On  subse- 
quent visits  he  attracted  less  attention ;  his 
voice  was  very  weak,  and  his  teeth  were  gone. 
The  deaths  of  his  youngest  son  Henry 
(1795)  and  of  his  wife  (1796)  left  him  lonely, 
and  the  unfilial  conduct  of  his  second  son, 
which  his  biographers  pass  in  silence,  affected 
him  deeply.  To  his  friend  Lindsey  he  writes, 
on  29  Oct.  1796,  'Could  I  pay  you  one 
visit  in  England,  I  should  sing  my  mine 
dimittis.'  Henceforth  he  lived  in  the  family 
of  his  eldest  son. 

In  America  his  theology  advanced  to  its 
final  point  by  his  adoption  of  a  doctrine  of 
'universal  restitution,'  which  he  reached 
more  slowly  and  with  greater  hesitation  than 
was  his  wont.  With  the  old  universalist 
opinion,  limiting  retribution  to  this  life,  he 
had  no  sympathy;  he  looked  for  a  moral 


progression  to  succeed  the  sleep  of  death. 
Thus  on  the  death  of  his  youngest  son  (1795) 
in  his  nineteenth  year,  he  hopes  that  he '  had 
the  foundation  of  something  in  his  character 
on  which  a  good  superstructure  may  be 
raised  hereafter.'  Before  1803  this  theory 
had  established  itself  in  his  mind  as  a  '  firm 
faith.'  With  this  exception  his  American 
period  shows  industry  in  old  directions  rather 
than  fresh  activity  of  mind.  To  the  Ame- 
rican Philosophical  Society  at  Philadelphia 
he  communicated  the  results  of  new  experi- 
ments. He  wrote  against  Paine  and  Volney 
and  a  number  of  French  freethinkers,  upheld 
the  biblical  institutions  in  comparison  with 
those  of  oriental  antiquity,  completed  his 
church  history,  contrasted  Socrates  with  our 
Lord,  and  annotated  the  whole  Bible.  His 
friends  continued  to  contribute  to  his  re- 
sources ;  Mrs.  Rayner  sent  him  50/.  a  year 
and  left  him  2,000/. ;  the  Duke  of  Grafton 
sent  him  40/.  a  year. 

He  was  never  naturalised  as  an  American 
citizen.  In  American  politics  he  sided  with 
the  democrats  against  the  federalists,  which 
exposed  him  to  the  attacks  of  William  Cob- 
bett  [q.  v.]  He  corresponded  occasionally 
with  Adams,  more  with  Jefferson.  Through- 
out 1800  he  had  serious  thoughts  of  return- 
ing to  Europe  ;  by  13  Nov.  he  had  made  up 
his  mind  to  sail  for  France  (where  he  had 
property)  as  soon  as  there  was '  free  and  safe 
communication.'  But  on  8  March  1801, 
while  visiting  Philadelphia,  he  was  attacked 
by  a  bilious  fever  and  pleurisy,  which  nearly 
cost  him  his  life,  and  left  him  permanently 
enfeebled.  He  ceased  to  dig  his  garden,  and 
was  less  in  his  laboratory,  living  much  among 
his  books.  He  was  sounded  (1803)  about 
accepting  the  principalship  of  the  university 
of  Pennsylvania,  but  declined  the  overture. 
In  May  "1803  his  left  leg  was  lamed  by  a 
fall;  soon  after  this  his  digestive  powers, 
failed.  Till  the  close  of  that  year  he  was 
the  first  to  rise  in  the  morning,  always  light- 
ing his  own  fire.  At  the  end  of  January  1804 
news  reached  London  that  he  had  suffered  a 
loss  of  200/.  a  year  by  the  withdrawal  of 
Wilkinson's  aid.  His  English  friends  met 
on  6  Feb.  (the  day  of  his  death)  and  raised 
an  annual  subscription  of  nearly  400£.  On 
2  Feb.  he  made  the  last  entry  in  his  diary. 
Less  than  an  hour  before  his  death  he  dic- 
tated, with  great  precision,  some  emenda- 
tions for  a  posthumous  publication,  adding, 
'  I  have  now  done.' 

He  died  at  Northumberland  on  6  Feb. 
1804,  and  was  buried  in  the  quakers'  burial- 
ground  there  on  9  Feb.,  William  Christie 
[q.  v.]  giving  a  funeral  address.  His  wife 
had  died  at  Northumberland  on  17  Sept. 


Priestley 


366 


Priestley 


1833,  pp.  499  sq.)  ;  his  dauj 
ried  Joseph  Parkes  [q.  v.] 


1796,  aged  52.  His  children  were  :  1.  Sarah 
(d.  1803),  married  to  William  Finch. 
2.  Joseph,  born  at  Leeds  on  24  July  1768 ; 
he  left  Northumberland  in  January  1812, 
settled  at  Cradley,  Staffordshire,  and  died  at 
Exeter  on  2  Sept.  1833;  he  married  (1792) 
Elizabeth  (d.  8  May  1816,  aged  46),  elder 
daughter  of  Samuel  Ryland,  Birmingham ; 
secondly  (1825),  Mrs.  Barton,  daughter  of 
Joshua  Toulmin  [q.v.]  (Christian  Reformer, 
rhter  Eliza  mar- 
>.  William,  who 

was  naturalised  as  a  French  citizen  on  8  June 
1792,  and  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Paris  (  Gent. 
Mag.  July  1792,  p.  657)  ;  he  married  Bettie 
Foulke,  and  died  a  planter  in  Louisiana 
before  1835.  4.  Henry,  who  died  at  North- 
umberland on  11  Dec.  1795,  aged  18. 

Priestley  spoke  and  moved  rapidly  ;  in 
private  converse  he  was  vivacious  and 
fond  of  anecdote,  *  often  smiled,  but  seldom 
laughed'  (COKEY)  ;  he  would  walk  twenty 
miles  before  breakfast,  carrying  a  long  cane, 
and  was  a  good  horseman.  Of  his  preach- 
ing Catherine  Hutton  [q.  v.]  writes  (1781)  : 
'  He  uses  no  action,  no  declamation,  but 
his  voice  and  manner  are  those  of  one  friend 
speaking  to  another.'  His  experiments  im- 
ply great  deftness  of  delicate  manipulation 
with  rude  apparatus,  but  he  had  no  mechani- 
cal readiness  ;  his  brother  says  '  he  could 
scarcely  handle  any  tool.'  From  1783,  being 
troubled  with  gall-stones,  he  used  chiefly  a 
vegetable  diet,  with  '  one  glass  of  wine  at 
dinner.'  He  found  it  easy  to  be  very  metho- 
dical in  his  habits,  working  with  his  watch 
before  him,  and  turning  immediately  to 
another  task  when  the  allotted  time  was  up. 
Hence  he  could  say  (31  Aug.  1789),  '  I  am 
far  from  being  a  close  student;  I  never  fatigue 
myself  in  the  least.'  He  thought  his  main 
talent  was  a  facility  in  arrangement,  but 
affirms  that  he  could  do  nothing  in  a  hurry. 
Edward  Burn  reports  him  as  saying,  in  refe- 
rence to  his  theological  controversies,  '  I  set 
apart  an  hour  in  the  morning  and  an  hour 
in  the  evening,  just  to  tease  you  a  little' 


pp.    44   sq.) 
done  at  his 


(GKEENWOOD,  Journal,  1846, 
His  literary  work  was  often 
fireside,  amid  conversation.  He  composed 
in  shorthand ;  his  rapid  pen  never  left  his 
meaning  doubtful ;  a  turn  for  epigram  is  the 
chief  ornament  of  his  style.  He  had  little 
humour,  but  enjoyed  a  remarkable  faculty 
for  making  the 'best  of  things.  His  home 
affections  were  strong.  He  provided  a  main- 
tenance for  his  younger  brother  Joshua  at 
Birstall.  Domestic  management  he  left  to 
his  wife,  speaking  of  himself  as  a  lodger  in 
her  house.  To  the  faults  of  his  memory  he 
often  alludes;  it  is  curious  that  he  never 


learned  the  American  currency,  and  would 
j  say  to  a  shopkeeper,  *  You  will  give  me  the 
proper  change,  for  I  do  not  know  it'  (BELLAS 
j  in  SPEAGUE,  Annals,  p.  307). 

Toplady  said  of  Priestley's  character,  '  I 
•  love  a  man  whom  I  can  hold  up  as  a  piece 
of  crystal,  and  look  through  him.'  He 
'  charmed  away  the  bitterest  prejudices  in 
personal  intercourse'  (HUXLEY).  Nor  was 
this  merely  a  triumph  of  amiability  ;  it 
illustrates  the  variety  of  his  human  in- 
terests, as  well  as  his  constitutional  straight- 
forwardness. The  history  of  his  religious 
mind  exhibits  a  'continuous  renunciation  of 
prepossessions.  He  scouted  ambiguity,  the 
refuge  of  earlier  heretics.  The  fearlessness 
and  frankness  of  his  propaganda  were  en- 
tirely new ;  for  Whiston,  whom  he  re- 
sembled in  temperament,  wrote  only  for  the 
learned.  Like  Whiston's,  his  nature  was 
essentially  devout,  and  he  had  a  conservatism 
of  his  own  which  he  identified  with  pri- 
mitive Christianity,  holding  tenaciously  to 
the  miraculously  attested  mission  of  Moses 
and  messiahship  of  Christ,  whose  second 
coming  he  expected  by  1814  at  latest  (Me- 
moirs, ii.  119).  His  crusade  against  Arians 
was  more  successful  in  detaching  them  from 
liberal  dissent  than  in  converting  them ;  his 
influence  among  Unitarians  soon  paled  before 
that  of  Channing.  It  was  as  a  pioneer  of 
religious  reform  that  he  wished  to  be  judged ; 
to  his  theological  aims  his  philosophy  was 
j  subsidiary :  his  chemistry  was  the  recrea- 
i  tion  of  his  leisure  time.  Dr.  Martineau, 
in  an  able  estimate,  published  in  1833  (re- 
printed in  Essays,  Reviews,  and  Addresses, 
1890,  vol.  i.),  does  justice  to  his  '  extra- 
ordinary versatility,'  his  '  passion  for  sim- 
plicity,' and  '  eager  rather  than  patient  ' 
attention,  but  goes  too  far  in  claiming  that 
'  his  conclusions '  were  '  drawn  by  the  abso- 
lutely solitary  exercise  of  his  own  mind.' 
Martineau  specifies  his  '  Analogy  of  the 
Divine  Dispensations'  (Theological  Reposi- 
tory, 1771)  as  his  finest  piece.  Brougham 
wrote  rather  grudgingly  of  his  career  (Lives 
of  Men  of  Letters  and  Science,  1845,  vol.  i. ; 
cf.  Turner  in  the  Christian  Reformer,  1845, 
pp.  665  sq.)  Mr.  Leslie  Stephen  (English 
Thought  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  1876, 
i.  429  sq.)  construes  his  many-sided  activity 
as  restlessness,  and  criticises  his  partial  re- 
tention of  the  supernatural.  More  sym- 
pathetic is  the  Birmingham  address  (Mac- 
millan's  Magazine.  October  1874,  reprinted 
in  Science  and  Culture,  1881),  by  Professor 
Huxley,  in  whose  judgment  '  his  philo- 
sophical treatises  are  still  well  worth  read- 
ing.' 

In  person  Priestley  was  slim  but  large- 


Priestley 


367 


Priestley 


boned ;  his  stature  about  five  feet  nine,  and 
very  erect.  His  countenance  is  best  seen 
in  profile,  and  the  right  and  left  profiles 
differ  remarkably ;  the  front  face  is  heavy. 
He  Wore  a  wig  till  he  settled  in  North- 
umberland, which  did  not  boast  of  a  hair- 
dresser. 

Of  many  extant  portraits,  the  earliest  and 
most  pleasing  was  executed  about  1761 ;  it 
has  been  photographed,  but  not  engraved. 
Others  are  by  I.  Millar  (1776  ?),  with  a  com- 
panion picture  of  Mrs.  Priestley ;  by  Peter 
Holland  (painted  at  Birmingham)  ;  by  Fu- 
seli  (1783),  one  of  the  two  portraits  painted 
by  Fuseli  from  life,  engraved  by  C.  Turner, 
1836 ;  by  Opie,  a  front  face,  somewhat  rugged ; 
by  John  Hazlitt,  uncle  of  the  essayist ;  by 
William  Artaud  [q.  v.],  engraved  by  T. 
Holloway,  1795;  by  James  Sharpies  (1794- 
1795)  ;  by  Rembrandt  Peale  of  New  York ; 
by  C.  ~W.  Peale,  engraved  by  Jacques  Reich  ; 
and  by  Gilbert  Stewart,  apparently  posthu- 
mous ;  it  gives  '  the  serene  expression  of  his 
countenance '  (SCHIMMELPENNINCK),  and  was 
reckoned  by  his  family  the  best  likeness,  but 
is  wanting  in  strength ;  it  was  copied  by 
Artaud  (1812),  and  engraved  by  John  Par- 
tridge in  1815,  and  by  W.  Holl  in  1845.  The 
earliest  engraving  (1782)  is  from  one  of 
Wedgwood's  medallions  (1765).  There  is  a 
plaster  bust  by  P.  Berni ;  a  profile  in  marble 
by  P.  Rowe  in  the  memorial  tablet,  now  in 
the  Church  of  the  Messiah,  Birmingham  (epi- 
taph by  Parr)  ;  and  statues  in  the  new  mu- 
seum, Oxford,  by  E.  B.  Stephens,  1860,  and 
at  Birmingham  by  J.  F.  Wilkinson,  1874. 
Priestley's  library  was  sold  in  1816  at  Phila- 
delphia; four  thousand  volumes  brought 
four  thousand  dollars  (Notes  and  Queries, 
23  March  1867  p.  239,  16  Jan.  1869  p.  64). 
His  first  electrical  machine,  bought  while  at 
Nantwich,  is  in  the  possession  of  James  Mar- 
tineau,  D.D.  ;  another  is  in  the  possession  of 
the  Royal  Society.  His  burning  lens  is  in 
the  possession  of  Madame  Parkes-Belloc,  his 
great-granddaughter.  The  centenary  of 
Priestley's  birth  was  celebrated  in  London 
and  Birmingham  in  March  1833. 

His  *  Theological  and  Miscellaneous  Works,' 
with  'Memoirs  and  Correspondence'  (he 
was  not  so  admirable  a  letter-writer  as  his 
wife), but  excluding  his  scientific  works,  were 
edited  by  John  Towil  Rutt  [q.v.],  in  twenty- 
five  (really  twenty-six)  volumes,  1817-32, 
8vo.  The  arrangement  is  not  good,  being 
neither  chronological  nor  entirely  according 
to  class,  and  the  text  is  often  constructed 
by  Rutt  from  different  editions  ;  the  notes 
are  of  service  and  the  indexes  (in  vol.  xxv.) 
are  useful.  The  following  is  a  list  of  his 
religious,  philological,  philosophical,  and  poli- 


tical publications,  with  references  to  Rutt's- 
collection,  if.  included. 

I.  THEOLOGICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS.  —  1.  'The 
Scripture  Doctrine  of  Remission,'  &c.,  1761, 
8vo  ;  incorporated  in  '  The  One  Great  End 
of  the  Life  and  Death  of  Christ  '  in  '  Theo- 
logical Repository,  1769,  i.  (R.  vii.)  2.  'A 
Free  Address  ...  on  ...  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per,' &c.,  1768,  8vo  ;  2nd  edit,  1769,  8vo  ; 
the  3rd  edit.  1774,  8vo,  includes  'Additions,' 
&c.,  1770,  8vo,  and  '  A  Letter  to  the  Author 
of  An  Answer,'  &c.  1770,  8vo  (R.  xxi.) 
3.  '  Considerations  on  Differences  of  Opinion 
amonc 
&c. 
(R. 

of  Families,  with  Forms  of  ...  Prayer,' 
&c.,  1769,  12mo  ;  3rd  edit.  1794,  8vo  (R.  xxi.) 
5.  'A  Free  Address  to  Protestant  Dissenters 
on  ...  Church  Discipline,'  &c.,  1770,  8vo 
(R.  xxi.)  6.  l  An  Appeal  to  the  .  .  .  Pro- 
fessors of  Christianity.  .  .  .  By  a  Lover  of 
the  Gospel,'  &c.,  Leeds,  1770,  12mo  (anon.); 
often  reprinted  ;  to  the  edition  1772,  8vo,  is 
added  'A  Concise  History  of  the  above- 
mentioned  Doctrines  ;  '  the  edition  1791,  8vo, 
has  appended  a  reprint  of  the  '  Trial  '  of 
Edward  Elwall  [q.  v.]  (previously  reprinted 
by  Priestley  in  1772  and  1788)  ;  the  edition 
Philadelphia,  1794,  8vo,  has  new  preface 
(R.  ii.  xxv.)  7.  *  A  Familiar  Illustration  of 
.  .  .  Passages  of  Scripture,'  &c.,  Leeds,  1770, 
12mo  ;  often  reprinted  (R.  ii.)  8.  l  A 
Catechism  for  Children/  &c.,  Leeds,  1771, 
12mo  ;  often  reprinted.  9.  '  Letters  and 
Queries,'  &c.,  Leeds,  1771,  8vo  ;  defences  of 
No.  6,  against  Thomas  Morgan  (1719-1799), 
minister  of  Morley,  near  Leeds,  Cornelius 
Cayley  [q.v.],  and  an  anonymous  writer 
(R.  xxi.)  10.  '  An  Essay  on  the  Best 
Method  of  communicating  Religious  Know- 
ledge,' &c.,  1771,  8vo  (R.  ii.)  11.  'Institutes 
of  Natural  and  Revealed  Religion/  &c.,  vol.  i. 
1772,  8vo  ;  vol.  ii.  1773,  8vo  ;  vol.  iii.  1774, 
8vo  ;  2nd  edit.  Birmingham,  1782,  8vo, 
3  vols.  ;  3rd  edit.  1805,  8vo,  2  vols.  ;  4th 
edit.  1808,  2  vols.  (R.  ii.)  12.  'An  Address 
...  on  ...  Giving  the  Lord's  Supper  to 
Children/  &c.,  1773,  8vo  (R.  xxi.)  13.  '  A 
Letter  to  a  Layman  on  ...  a  Reformed 
English  Church/  &c.  1774,  8vo,  [anon.] 
(R.  xxi.)  14.  'A  Harmony  of  the  Evan- 
gelists, in  Greek,  to  which  are  prefixed 
Critical  Dissertations/  &c.,  1777,  4to  (R.  xx.  ; 
the  dissertations  only).  15.  'A  Harmony  of 
the  Evangelists,  in  English,  with  Critical 
Dissertations.  .  .  .  Paraphrase  and  Notes/ 
&c.,  1780,  4to  ;  the  notes  signed  '  J.  '  are  by 
John  Jebb,  M.D.  [q.  v.]  (R.  xx.  ;  the  dis- 
sertations only).  16.  ' 


Newcome  . 


Two  Letters  to 
on  the  Duration  of  our  Sa- 


Priestley 


368 


Priestley 


viour's  Ministry/   &c.,  Birmingham,  1780, 
8vo  ;  'A  Third  Letter,'  &c.,  1781, 8vo  (E.xx.) 


plies  to  a  critic  writing  under  the  pseudonym 
of '  William  Hammon;'  this,  though  Priest- 
ley did  not  know  it,  was  Matthew  Turner, 
his  first  instructor  in  chemistry  ;  2nd  edit. 


often  reprinted.  19.  '  An  History  of  the 
Corruptions  of  Christianity,'  &c.,  Birming- 
ham, 1782,  8vo,  2  vols. ;  3rd  edit.  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  1797,  12mo  ;  new  edit.  1871, 
8vo  ;  translated  into  German  (R.  v.)  20.  'A 
Reply  to  the  Animadversions  on  the  History 
...  in  the  Monthly  Review/  &c.,  Birming- 
ham, 1783,  8vo,  in  answer  to  Badcock 
(R.  xviii.)  21.  *  A  General  View  of  the  Argu- 
ments for  the  Unity  of  God/  &c.,  Birming- 
ham, 1783,  12mo;  2nd  edit.  Birmingham, 
1785,  12mo ;  last  edit,  1827, 12mo.  22.  <  Let- 
ters to  Dr.  Horsley/ &c.,  Birmingham,  1783, 
8vo;  pt.  ii.  1784,  8vo ;  pt.  iii.  1786,  8vo 
(continuation  in  No.  32)  ;  reprinted  in 
'  Tracts  in  Controversy  with  Bishop  Horsley/ 
&c.,  1815, 8vo,  with  posthumous  matter,  and 
appendix  by  Belsham  (R.  xviii.  xix.  xxv.) 
23.  '  Remarks  on  the  .  .  .  Monthly  Review 
for  September/  &c.,  Birmingham,  1783,  8vo 
(R.  xviii.)  24.  t  Forms  of  Prayer  and  other 
Offices  for  ...  Unitarian  Societies/  &c., 
Birmingham,  1783,  8vo ;  translated  into 
German,  Berlin,  1786,  8vo.  25.  '  Remarks 
on  the  Monthly  Review  of  the  Letters  to 
Dr.  Horsley/  &c.,  Birmingham,  1784,  8vo 
(R.  xxi.)  26.  '  An  History  of  Early  Opinions 
concerning  Jesus  Christ,  compiled  from 
Original  Writers/  &c.,  Birmingham,  1786, 
8vo,  4  vols.  (R,  vi.  vii.)  27.  '  Defences  of 
Unitarianism,  for  the  year  1786,'  &c.,  Bir- 
mingham, 1787,  8vo;  part  reprinted  in 
'  Letters  to  the  Candidates  for  Orders  .  .  . 
on  Subscription/  &c.,  Cambridge,  1790,  8vo 
(R.  xviii.)  28.  'Discourses/  &c.,  Birming- 
ham, 1787,  8vo  ;  reprints  separate  sermons, 
1773-85  (R.  xv.)  29.  <  Letters  to  the  Jews/ 
&c.,  pt.  i.  Birmingham,  1786,  8vo;  pt.  ii. 
Birmingham,  1787,  8vo;  translated  into 
German  and  Hebrew ;  an  '  Address  '  in  con- 
tinuation is  in  No.  42  (R.  xx.)  30.  '  De- 
fences of  Unitarianism,  for  the  year  1787,' 
&c.,  Birmingham,  1788,  8vo  (R.  xviii.) 

31.  'Familiar  Letters    ...  to   the   Inha- 
bitants of  Birmingham  .  .  .  also,  Letters  to 
the  Rev.  Edward  Burn/  &c  ,  Birmingham, 
1790,   8vo;     published   in  parts   (R.   xix.) 

32.  '  Defences  of  Unitarianism,  for  the  years 
1788  and   1789,'  &c.}   Birmingham  [1790], 


8vo  (R.  xix.)  33.  '  Letters  to  the  Members 
of  the  New  Jerusalem  Church/  &c.,  Bir- 
mingham, 1791,  8vo  (R.  xxi.)  34.  '  Four 
Sermons/  &c.,1791,12mo  (R.  xv.)  35. 'Let- 
ters to  a  Young  Man/  &c.,  pt.  i.  1792;  8vo, 
on  public  worship,  against  Gilbert  Wake- 
field  and  Edward  Evanson  [q.  v.] ;  pt.  ii. 
1793, 8vo,  against  Evanson  (R.  xx.)  36. '  Let- 
ters to  the  Philosophers  and  Politicians  of 
France  ...  on  Religion/  &c.,  1793,  8vo ;  'A 
Continuation  of  the  Letters/  &c.,  Northum- 
berland Town,  1794,  8vo  ;  2nd  edit.  Phila- 
delphia, 1794,  8vo ;  3rd  edit.  Salem,  Massa- 
chusetts, 1795,  8vo;  edited  by  Lindsey  as 
*  An  Answer  to  Mr.  Paine's  Age  of  Reason/ 
&c.,  1795,  8vo  (R.  xxi.)  37.  '  The  Conclu- 
sion of ...  Hartley's  Observations  on  ... 
Man  .  .  .  with  Notes/  &c.,  1794,  8vo  (anon, 
deals  with  the  second  coming  of  Christ). 
38. '  Discourses  on  the  Evidences  of  Revealed 
Religion/  &c.,  1794,  8vo ;  reprinted,  Phila- 
delphia, 1795  (R.  xv.)  39.  '  Discourses  re- 
lating to  the  Evidences  of  Revealed  Re- 
ligion/ &c.,  Philadelphia,  1796-97,  8vo, 
2  vols. ;  quite  distinct  from  No.  38  (R.  xvi.) 
40.  *  Observations  on  the  Increase  of  In- 
fidelity/ &c.,  Northumberland-Town,  1796, 
8vo;  reprinted,  London,  1796,  8vo ;  Phila- 
delphia, 1797,  8  vo  (R.  xvii.)  41.  'Letters 
to  Mr.  Volney/  &c.,  Philadelphia,  1797,  8vo 
(R.  xvii.)  42.  '  An  Outline  of  the  Evi- 
dences of  Revealed  Religion/  &c.,  Phila- 
delphia, 1797,  12mo;  London,  1833,  12mo 
(R.  xxi.)  42.  '  A  Comparison  of  the  In- 
stitutions of  Moses  with  those  of  the  Hin- 
doos/ &c.,  Northumberland,  1799,  8vo  (R. 
xi.  xvii.  xx.)  43.  'An  Inquiry  into  the 
Knowledge  of  the  Antient  Hebrews  con- 
cerning a  Future  State/  &c.,  1801,  8vo; 
edited  by  Lindsey  (R.  xii.)  44.  '  A  Letter 
to  an  Antipsedobaptist/  &c.,  Northumber- 
land, 1802,  8vo ;  addressed  to  Joshua  Toul- 
min  [q.  v.]  (R.  xx.)  45.  '  Socrates  and 
Jesus  compared/  &c.,  Northumberland,  1803, 
8vo;  also  London,  same  year  (R.  xvii.) 
46.  '  A  Letter  to  the  Rev.  John  Blair  Linn/ 
&c.,  Northumberland,  1803,  8vo,  in  defence 
of  No.  45;  'A  Second  Letter/  &c.,  same 
date  (R.  xxi.)  47.  'The  Originality  and 
.  .  .  Excellence  of  the  Mosaic  Institutions/ 
&c.,  Philadelphia  and  Northumberland,  1803, 
8vo  (R.  xi.  xxv.)  Posthumous :  48. '  Notes  on 
all  the  Books  of  Scripture/  &c.,  North  umber- 
land,  1803-4, 8vo,  4  vols.  (R.  xi-xiv.)  49. '  The 
Doctrines  of  Heathen  Philosophy  compared 
with  .  .  .  Revelation/  £c.,  Northumberland, 
1804,  8vo  (R.  xvii.)  50.  '  Index  to  the 
Bible/  £c.,  Philadelphia,  1804,  8vo;  re- 
printed, London,  1805,  12mo  ;  1811,  12mo: 
1812,  8vo  (R.  xxv.)  51.  'Four  Discourses/ 
&c.,  Northumberland,  1806,  8vo  (It.  xvi.) 


Priestley 


369 


Priestley 


His  separate  sermons,  1788-97,  are  reprinted 
R.  xv.  xvi.  His  signatures  to  articles  in  the 
'  Theological  Repository ,'1769-70-71, 1784- 
1786-88,  are  'Beryllus/  '  Biblicus,'  'Cle- 
mens,' *  Ebionita,'  '  Hernias,'  '  Josephus/ 
4  Liberius,'  '  Pamphilus,'  'Paulinos,'  '  Pela- 
gius,'  '  Photinus,'  and  '  Scrutator  '  (see 
Monthly  Repository,  1817,  pp.  526  sq.)  All 
these  articles  are  reprinted  by  Rutt.  Many 
German  theologians,  from  Doderlein  to 
Hagenbach,  have  erroneously  assigned  to 
him  an  essay  denying  the  resurrection  of 
the  body,  signed  '  Philander/  i.e.  John 
Cameron  (1724-1799)  [q.  v.]  In  early  life 
he  wrote  for  the  '  Monthly  Review,'  but  the 
only  article  identified  as  his  is  a  review 
(1755,  xii.  485  sq.)  of  a  translation  of  the 
Psalms  by  Thomas  Edwards  (1729-1785) 
[q.  v.]  He  wrote  a  hymn  at  Birmingham 
for  a  charity  occasion,  but  it  was  rejected  as 
not  good  enough ;  it  is  printed  in  the  l  Dis- 
ciple '  (Belfast),  1881,  p.  151.  In  1790  he 
edited,  in  conjunction  with  William  Hawkes 
(1759-1820)  of  Manchester,  a  collection  of 

*  Psalms    and    Hymns,'    12mo,   grievously 
altered  from  their  originals ;  it  was  in  use  at 
the  New  Meeting,  Birmingham,  and  Mosley  j 
Street  Chapel,  Manchester  (see  his  letter  of 
19  Dec.  1789,  among  the  Priestley  MSS.  in  j 
Dr.  Williams's  library,  Gordon  Square,  Lon- 
don). 

II.  PHILOLOGICAL  AND    EDUCATIONAL. — 
52.  '  The  Rudiments  of  English  Grammar,' 
&c.,  1761,  12mo ;  1762,  8vo ;  enlarged  edi- 
tion, 1768,  12mo;  often  reprinted;  it  is  said 
(Memoirs,  i.  46)  to  have  been  useful  to  Hume 
(R.  xxiii.)      53.  '  A  Course  of  Lectures  on 
the  Theory  of  Language,'  &c.,  Warrington, 
1762,  12mo  (R.  xxiii.)      54.  '  An  Essay  on 
a   Course   of  Liberal  Education  .    .  .  with 
Plans  of  Lectures,'  &c.,  1765,  8vo  (R.  xxiv.) 
55.  '  Considerations  for  the  Use  of  Young 
Men,'  &c.,  1775,  12mo  ;  reprinted  in  No.  57 
(R.  xxv.)     56.  'A  Course   of  Lectures   on 
Oratory  and  Criticism,'  &c.,  1777,  4to  (R. 
xxiii.)     57.  '  Miscellaneous  Observations  re- 
lating to  Education,'  &c.,  Bath,  1778,  8vo  ; 
also    Birmingham,    same    year ;   reprinted, 
Cork,  1780,  8vo  (R.  xxv.) 

III.  HISTORICAL. — 58.  '  A  Chart  of  Bio- 
graphy,'  &c.,    1765,    engraved   sheet,  with 

*  Description,'  1765,  12mo  ;  also  Warrington, 
1765,  8vo;  last  edition,  1820,  12mo.  59.  'A 
New  Chart  of  History,'  &c.,  1769,  engraved 
sheet,  with  '  Description,'  1770,  12mo  ;  15th 
ed.  1816.     60,  '  An  History  of  the  Suffer- 
ings of ...  De  Marolles  and  .  .  .  Le  Fevre,' 
&c.,  Birmingham,  1788,  8vo,  a  reprint  from 
the  English  translation  of  1712,  with  pre- 
face (R.  xxv.  preface  only).     61.  'Lectures 
on  History  and  General  Policy,'  &c.,  Bir- 

VOL.  XLVI. 


mingham,  1788,  4to,  2  vols.  (the  'Sylla- 
bus '  was  printed,  Warrington  [1765],  4to)  ; 
reprinted,  1793,  8vo  ;  Philadelphia,  1803, 
8vo,  with  added  lecture  on  the  constitution 
of  the  United  States;  1826,  8vo  (R.  xxiv.) 
62.  '  A  General  History  of  the  Christian 
Church,'  &c.,  vols.  i.  and  ii.,  Birmingham, 
1790,  8vo  ;  2nd  ed.  Northumberland,  1803- 
1804,  8vo;  vols.  iii.  and  iv.,  Northumber- 
land, 1802-3,  8vo  (R.  viii.  ix.  x.)  63.  '  Ori- 
ginal Letters  by  the  Rev.  John  Wesley  and 
his  Friends,'  &c.,  Birmingham,  1791,  8vo  ; 
Priestley  got  these  letters  from  Badcock,  and 
supplied  particulars  from  them  to  John 
Hampson,  father  of  John  Hampson  [q.  v.] 
(R.  xxv.  preface  and '  Address  to  the  Metho- 
dists '  only).  64.  '  Memoirs,'  &c.,  Northum- 
berland, 1805, 8vo,  edited  by  his  son  Joseph; 
often  reprinted ;  see  below. 

IV.  POLITICAL  AND  SOCIAL.— 65.  'An 
Essay  on  the  First  Principles  of  Govern- 
ment/ &c.,  1768,  8vo;  2nd  ed.  1771,  8vo 
(includes  No.  66);  reprinted,  1835;  trans- 
lated into  Dutch,  Leyden,  1783,  8vo  (R. 
xxii.)  66.  '  Considerations  on  Church 
Authority,'  &c.,  1769,  8vo,  against  Thomas 
Balguy  [q.  v.]  (R.  xxii.)  67.  <  A  Free  Ad- 
dress to  Protestant  Dissenters.  .  .  .  By  a 
Dissenter,'  &c.,  1769,  8vo  (anon.);  3rd*ed. 
Birmingham,  1788,  12mo  (R.  xxii.)  68.  '  A 
Few  Remarks  on  ...  Blackstone's  Commen- 
taries,' &c.,  1769,  8vo;  reprinted,  Dublin, 
1771, 8vo ;  Philadelphia,  1772, 8vo  (R.  xxii.) 
69.  '  An  Answer  ...  to  Dr.  Blackstone's  Re- 
ply,' in  the  l  St.  James's  Chronicle,'  October 
1769;  reprinted,  Dublin  and  Philadelphia, 
with  No.  68  (R.  xxii.)  70.  '  A  View  of  the 
Principles  and  Conduct  of  ...  Dissenters,' 
&c.,  1769,  8vo  ;  2nd  ed.  same  year  (R.  xxii.) 
71.  '  The  Present  State  of  Liberty  in  Great 
Britain  and  her  Colonies  .  .  .  By  an  English- 
man,' &c.,  1769,  8vo ;  a  dialogue  (anon.) 
(R.  xxii.)  72.  'Letters  to  the  Author  of 
"  Remarks  on  Several  late  Publications,"  ' 
&c.,  1770,  8vo ;  in  reply  to  William  Enfield 
[q.  v.] ;  an  '  Additional  Letter/  1770,  8vo 
(R.  xxii.)  73.  '  A  Letter  ...  to  ...  Dis- 
senters who  conduct  the  Application  .  .  . 
for  Relief  from  .  .  .  Penal  Laws,'  &c., 
1773,  8vo  (anon.)  (R.  xxii.)  74.  '  An  Ad- 
dress to  ...  Dissenters  ...  on  the  approach- 
ing Election/  &c.,  1774,  12mo  (anon.)  (R. 
xxii.)  75.  '  A  Free  Address  ...  in  favour 
of  the  Roman  Catholics.  By  a  Lover  of 
Peace  and  Truth/  &c.,  1780,  8vo  (anon.) 
(R.  xxii.)  76.  'An  Address  to  the  Sub- 
scribers to  the  Birmingham  Library,  on  the 
.  .  .  Motion  to  restrict  .  .  .  the  choice  of 
Books,'  &c.,  Birmingham,  1787,  12mo. 
77.  '  A  Letter  to  ...  Pitt,  on  ...  Tolera- 
tion and  Church  Establishments/  &c.,  3787, 

B  B 


Priestley 


370 


Priestley 


8vo ;  2nd  ed.  same  year  (R.  xix.)  78.  'Ac- 
count of  a  Society  for  the  Relief  of  the 
Industrious  Poor,'  &c.,  Birmingham,  1787, 
8vo  (R.  xxv.)  79.  'Letters  to  ...  Burke, 
occasioned  by  his  Reflections  on  the  Revo- 
lution in  France/  &c.,  Birmingham,  1791, 
8vo ;  three  editions  same  year  (R.  xxii.) 
80.  '  A  Political  Dialogue  on  the  General 
Principles  of  Government,'  &c.,  1791,  8vo ; 
(anon.)  (R.  xxv.)  81.  'An  Appeal  to  the 
Public,  on  ...  the  Riots  in  Birmingham,' 
&c.,  pt.  i.  Birmingham,  1791,  8vo  ;  pt.  ii. 
London,  1792,  8vo  (R.  xix.)  82.  '  Letters 
to  the  Inhabitants  of  Northumberland,'  &c., 
Northumberland,  1799,  8vo,  2  pts. ;  2nd  ed. 
with  additions,  Philadelphia,  1801,  8vo  (R. 
xxv.) 

V.  PSYCHOLOGICAL  AND  METAPHYSICAL. 
83.  'An  Examination?  of  ...  Reid  .  .  . 
Beattie  ...  and  ..."  Oswald,'  &c.,  1774, 
8vo ;  2nd  ed.  1775,  8vo  (R.  iii.)  84.  '  Hart- 
ley's Theory  of  the  Human  Mind  .  .  .  with 
Essays,'  &c.,  1775,  8vo  ;  2nd  ed.  1790,  8vo 
(R.  iii.)  85.  '  Disquisitions  relating  to  Matter 
and  Spirit,'  &c.,  1777,  8vo  ;  2nd  ed.  (includ- 
ing Nos.  86  and  87),  Birmingham,  1782,  8vo, 
2  vols.  (R.  iii.)  86.  '  The  Doctrine  of  Philo- 
sophical Necessity,  illustrated,'  &c.,  1777, 
8vo  (R.  iii.)  87.  'A  Free  Discussion  of 
.  .  .  Materialism  and  Philosophical  Necessity 
.  .  .  between  Dr.  Price  and  Dr.  Priestley,' 
&c.,  1778,  8vo  (R.  iii.)  88.  '  A  Letter  to 
.  .  .  John  Palmer,'  &c.,  Bath,  1779,  8vo,  in 
defence  of  No.  82 ;  'A  Second  Letter,'  Lon- 
don, 1780,  8vo  (R.  iv.)  89.  '  A  Letter  to 
Jacob  Bryant ...  in  Defence  of  Philosophi- 
cal Necessity,' &c.,  1780,  8vo;  also  Birming- 
ham, 1780,  8vo  (R.  iv.)  In  1790  he  prefaced 
an  edition  of  Collins  on  '  Human  Liberty.' 

[Priestley's  Memoirs  to  1787  were  written  by 
himself  at  Birmingham,  and  survived  the  destruc- 
tion of  his  papers  in  1791 ;  at  Northumberland 
he  added  a  brief  continuation  to  24  March  1795; 
the  work  was  edited,  with  a  supplementary  nar- 
rative, by  his  son  Joseph,  in  1805  ;  the  best 
edition  is  by  Cooper  and  Christie.  1806,  2  vols., 
but  the  references  above  are  to  the  Memoirs  and 
Correspondence,  1831-2,  2  vols.,  by  Rutt,  who 
includes  the  whole  of  the  original  memoirs,  with 
extracts  from  all  letters  written  by  or  to  Priestley 
that  he  could  collect ;  the  son,  carrying  out  what 
he  believed  to  be  his  father's  wish,  withheld  the 
correspondence  in  his  hands;  some  of  this  is  still 
at  the  family  residence,  Northumberland,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  has  not  been  made  public.  The 
originals  of  most  of  the  letters  in  Rutt,  with 
other  and  unpublished  letters,  are  preserved  in 
Dr.  Williams's  Library.  Extracts  from  earlier 
letters  recovered  by  Henry  Arthur  Bright  [q.  v.] 
are  printed  in  the  Christian  Reformer,  1854,  pp. 
625  sq.  Letters  from  the  Canton  Papers  are 
printed  in  Weld's  History  of  the  Royal  Society, 


1848,  i.  513,  ii.  51  sq. ;  and  in  communications 
by  Augustus  De  Morgan  [q.  v.]  to  the  Athenaeum, 

1849,  pp.  5,  162,  375.     Letters  to  James  Watt 
are   printed   in   Muirhead's   Correspondence  of 
Watt,  1846  ;  letters  to  the  Wedgwoods  and  Keir 
are  described  in  Wilson's  Life  of  Cavendish,  1846, 
pp.  90  sq. ;  extracts  from  a  volume  of  letters  in 
the   Warrington   Library   are    printed   in   the 
Christian  Reformer,   1851,  pp.   110,  129,  202; 
letters   at  Eden  Lodge,  Kensington  Gore,  are 
described  in  the  Athenaeum,  1860,  pp.  343,  376; 
the  collection  of  scientific  correspondence,  edited 
by  Carrington  Bolton,  1892,  is  not  exhaustive. 
Of  notices   published  in"  his  lifetime  the  most 
important  are:  A  Small  Whole-Length  of  Dr. 
Priestley  from  his   Printed  Works,   1792   (the 
British  Museum  copy  has  manuscript  notes  by 
Priestley  himself  and  two   other   hands) ;    the 
Character  of  Dr.  Priestley  [1794]  ;  and  a  sketch 
in  Literary  Memoirs  of  Living  Authors  of  Great 
Britain,  1798,  i.  164  sq.     Funeral  sermons  are 
very  numerous ;  those  by  Edwards  and  Toulmin 
are  of  service,  also  Christie's  speech  at  the  fune- 
ral, 1804,  and  a  memorial  sermon  by  Kentish, 
1833.     The  earliest  complete  biography  is  'A 
Short    Sketch'   in    the   Universal   Theological 
Magazine,  April  1804  (portrait),  which  contains 
particulars  not  found  elsewhere,  including  the 
first  draft  of  his  son's  account  of  his  last  days. 
The  '  life '  by  John  Aikin  in  the  General  Bio- 
graphy (vol.  viii.)  is  reprinted  in  the  Monthly 
Repository,  January  181 5  (portrait),  with  copious 
notes  by  Rutt.     Other  biographies  are  by  John 
Corry  [q.  v.],  1804  (gives  personal  reminiscence, 
and  good  gossip  by  an  old  servant) ;  and  William 
B.  Sprague,  D.D.,  in  Annals  of  the  American 
Unitarian  Pulpit,  1865,  pp.  298  sq.  (gives  valu- 
able particulars  of  his  American  life,  written  in 
1849  by  Hugh  Bellas,  who  knew  him  personally). 
For  his  ancestry  see  Account  of  a  Visit  to  Birstal, 
by  Samuel  Parkes  [q.  v.],  in  the  Monthly  Re- 
pository,  1816,  pp.  274  sq. ;  Miall's  Congrega- 
tionalism in  Yorkshire,  1868,  p.  272  ;  Heywood 
and  Dickenson's  Nonconformist  Register  (Turner), 
1881,  p.   220;    Some   Memoirs   concerning   the 
Family  of  the  Priestleys  (Surtees  Soc.),  1886; 
Peel's  Nonconformity  in  Spen  Valley,  1891,  pp. 
89  sq.     Appended  to  the  funeral  sermon,  1804, 
by  his  brother  Timothy,  are  valuable  particulars 
of  his  early  life.     Among  authorities  for  later 
points  are  Orton's  Letters  to  Dissenting  Mini- 
sters, 1806,  i.  201  ;  Barnes's  Funeral  Sermon  for 
Threlkeld,    1806;    Monthly   Repository,    1822, 
p.  163    (list  of  Ash  worth's  pupils);    Wreford's 
Sketch  of  Nonconformity  in  Birmingham,  1832  ; 
Christian  Reformer,  1833,  pp.  142,  169;  Wick- 
steed's  Memory  of  the  Just,   1849,   pp.  53  sq. 
(ministry  at  Leeds) ;    Catalogue  of  Edinburgh 

"  raduates,  1858,  p.  257  ;  Hankin's  Life  of  Mary 
Ann  Schimmelpenninck,  1858;  Bright's  His- 
torical Sketch  of  Warrington  Academy,  1859, 
pp.  5  sq.  (cf.  Monthly  Repository,  1813,  1814); 
Yates's  Memorials  of  Dr.  Priestley  [1860] ;  Ur- 
wick's  Nonconformity  in  Cheshire,  1864,  p.  133  ; 
Browne's  Hist.  Congr.  Norf.  and  Suff.  1877,  pp. 


Priestley 


37' 


Priestley 


439,  500  sq.,  535,  538  ;  Beale's  Memorials  of  the 
Old  Meeting  House,  Birmingham,  1882,  pp.45  sq.; 
Hist,  of  the  Baptist  Church  at  Gildersome,  1888, 
p.  22 ;  Palmer's  Nonconformity  at  Wrexham, 
1889,  p.  135;  Timmins's  Dr.  Priestley's  Labora- 
tory, 1890.  For  the  Birmingham  riots  see  Authen- 
tic Account  of  the  Riots  in  Birmingham  [1791] ; 
compare  2nd  edit.  [1792]  ;  Report  of  the  Trials 
of  the  Rioters  [1791];  Burn's  Reply  to  Priestley's 
Appeal,  1792;  Edwards's  Letters  to  the  British 
Nation  [1792];  Letter  from  Irenopolis  to  the 
Inhabitants  of  Eleutheropolis,  1792  (by  Parr) ; 
Views  of  the  Ruins,  1792  (engraved  by  William 
Ellis ;  the  drawings  and  letterpress  in  French 
and  English  by  P.  H.  Witton) ;  Narrative  by 
William  Hutton,  written  August  1791,  and  pub- 
lished in  his  'life'  1816;  contemporary  Journal, 
by  Martha,  eldest  daughter  of  William  Russell, 
published  in  Christian  Reformer,  1835,  pp. 
293  sq. ;  Memoirs  of  Sir  Samuel  Romilly,  1840, 
i.  443  sq. ;  Langford's  Century  of  Birmingham 
Life,  1868,  i.  288  sq.,  472  sq.  ;  Beale's  Letters  of 
Catherine  Hutton,  1891,  pp.  72  sq. ;  art.  'Joseph 
Priestley  in  Domestic  Lite,'  by  Madame  Parkes- 
Belloc,  in  the  Contemporary  Review,  October 
1894.  For  estimates  of  his  general  career,  see 
Cuvier's  Historical  Eulogy  (23  June  1805),  trans- 
lation in  Monthly  Repository,  1806,  pp.  216  sq. ; 
Priestley  Memorial  at  Birmingham,  1875  (collec- 
tion of  articles  and  addresses  on  occasion  of 
erecting  the  statue  at  Birmingham).  An  esti- 
mate of  his  theological  work,  by  the  present 
writer,  is  in  '  Heads  of  English  Unitarian  His- 
tory,' 1895.  Extract  from  Wrexham  Parish  Re- 
gister ;  information  from  Frank  Peel,  esq.,  Heck- 
mondwike  ;  Philip  Barker,  esq.,  Nantwich  ;  the 
Rev.  C.  Hargrove,  Leeds  ;  H.  New,  esq.,  Bir- 
mingham ;  the  Rev.  H.  Beddow,  Amersham ; 
Walter  C.  Clennell,  esq.,  Clapton  ;  the  Rev.  H.  D. 
Catlin,  Eastport,  Maine  ;  and  the  Rev.  W.  H. 
Furness,  D.D.,  Philadelphia.]  A.  G-. 

PRIESTLEY'S  SCIENTIFIC  WORK. — It  is  as 
a  man  of  science,  and  chiefly  as  a  chemist, 
the  *  discoverer  '  of  oxygen,  that  Priestley  is 
most  generally  remembered ;  and  except  for 
certain  references  to  religion  in  the  prefaces 
to  his  t  Experiments  ...  on  ...  Air/  his 
scientific  work  has  little  connection  with  his 
other  occupations.  His  fuller  interest  in 
science  dates  from  1758,  when  he  bought  a 
few  scientific  books,  a  small  air-pump,  an 
electric  machine,  and  other  instruments,  with 
the  help  of  which  he  made  experiments  for 
his  pupils  at  Nantwich,  as  well  as  for  his  own 
amusement  and  that  of  his  friends  (Phil. 
Trans.  1770,  p.  1 92).  The  delight  in  pretty  ex- 
periments finds  constant  expression  through- 
out his  work.  Although  his  preference  for 
science  over  literature  appears,  in  1761,  in 
his  '  English  Grammar '  (p.  62),  and  in  the 
introduction  to  the  '  Chart  on  Biography,' 
Priestley  seems  to  have  been  long  prevented 
by  an  unusual  diffidence  from  attacking  the 


subject  on  his  own  account.  This  diffidence 
was  removed  during  his  visit  to  London  in 
January  1766,  when  he  met  Richard  Price 


(1723-1791)  [q.  v.],  Sir  William  Watson, 
M.D.  [q.v.],  John  Canton  [q.v.],  and  Benja- 
min Franklin  (1706-1790).  Franklin  en- 


couraged him  to  undertake  the  '  History  of 
Electricity,'  which  Priestley  intended  as  part 
of  a  general  history  of  experimental  philo- 
sophy. The  book  drew  him  '  into  a  large 
field  of  original  experiments,'  and  on  the 
strength  of  these  he  was  elected  F.R.S.  on 
12  June  1766,  on  the  proposition  of  Watson, 
Franklin,  Canton,  and  Price.  With  the  last 
three  men  he  maintained  a  scientific  corre- 
spondence till  death.  Franklin  and  Canton 
corrected  the  proofs  of  the  '  History/  which 
was  printed  in  1767,  within  twelve  months 
of  its  inception.  Priestley's  electrical  work 
is  mostly  sound,  and  much  of  it  brilliant  ;  it 
shows  him  at  his  best,  although  the  discoveries 
contained  therein  are  of  less  importance  in 
the  history  of  science  than  his  later  discoveries 
in  chemistry.  The  '  History  of  Electricity  ' 
supplies  an  excellent  account  of  previous 
work  both  treated  historically  and  summa- 
rised systematically,  and  his  own  reflec- 
tions and  experiments  described  in  a  '  simple, 
exact,  and  artless  style  '  borrowed,  as  he  ad- 
mits, from  Stephen  Gray  [q.v.];  the  style 
contrasts  with  the  excessive  fluency  of  much 
of  his  purely  literary  work.  In  the  second 
part  Priestley  enounces  his  views  on  scientific 
method  (Hist,  of  Electricity,  3rd  edit.  ii.  pre- 
face), which  he  derived  from  Locke  and  pos- 
sibly in  part  from  Condillac.  The  object  of 
science  is  '  to  comprehend  things  clearly,  and 
to  comprise  as  much  knowledge  as  possible  in 
the  smallest  compass  ;  '  hypotheses  are  useful 
only  in  order  to  ascertain  facts,  and  must  not 
be  valued  for  their  own  sake.  At  this  time 
Priestley  ,  adhering  to  his  principles,  and  show- 
ing a  critical  power  that  was  not  equally  con- 
spicuous in  his  later  work,  declined  to  adopt 
either  of  the  two  contending  fluid  theories, 
and  suggested  to  Canton  on  12  Nov.  1767 
(quoted  in  Chemical  News,  14  May  1869)  that 
electrification  may  be  only  a  modification  of 
the  body  electrified  ;  but  he  afterwards  iden- 
tified '  the  electric  matter  '  with  phlogiston 
(Experiments  .  .  .  on  .  .  .  Air,  i.  186).  In  his 
'  History  '  he  anticipated  Henry  Cavendish 
[q.v.]  and  Charles  Augustin  de  Coulomb  in 
the  important  suggestion  that  the  law  of  elec- 
tric attraction  is  that  of  the  inverse  square, 
deducing  this  from  an  experiment  suggested 
by  Franklin.  He  found  that  an  electrified 
body  is  discharged  by  the  proximity  of  flame, 
that  charcoal,  blacklead,  and  red-hot  glass 
are  conductors  ;  and  satisfactorily  explained 
the  formation  of  ring's  (since  known  as 

BB2 


Priestley 


372 


Priestley 


Priestley's  rings)  when  a -Discharge  takes 
place  on  a  metallic  surface.  He  showed  great 
insight  by  pointing  out  the  need  for  the 
measure  of  electric  resistance,  and  proposed 
a  method  for  measuring  what  is  now  called 
'  impedance/  which  at  the  time  was  not  dis- 
tinguished from  resistance  (PhiLTrans.  1769, 
p.  63).  In  February  1770  (ib.  1770,  p.  192) 
he  investigated  the  '  lateral  explosion  '  pro- 
duced in  the  discharge  of  a  Ley  den  jar,  and 
showed  that  it  is  of  an  oscillatory  nature,  thus 
anticipating  in  part  recent  discoveries  on  this 
subject,  especially  those  of  Dr.  Oliver  Lodge 
(The Electrician,  1888,  vol.  xxi.  pp.  234,  276, 
302).  In  1772  he  corresponded  with  Volta 
at  Como ;  and  received  a  commission  from 
Leopold,  grand  duke  of  Tuscany  (afterwards 
the  Emperor  Leopold  II),  for  an  electrical 
machine,  which  was  made  under  his  direction 
by  Edward  Nairne  [q.v.] 

But  after  1770  Priestley  practically  aban- 
doned the  study  of  electricity  for  that  of 
chemistry,  to  which  he  had  been  led  in- 
cidentally. He  had  attended  a  course  of 
chemical  lectures  given  in  Warrington  Aca- 
demy by  Dr.  Turner  of  Liverpool.  But  he  ad- 
mitted that  he '  knew  very  little  of  chemistry 
at  this  time,'  and  even  attributed  his  success 
to  the  ignorance  which  forced  him  to  devise 
apparatus  and  processes  of  his  own  (Memoirs, 
i.  61).  Much  later  he  declared  himself  '  no 
professed  chemist.'  It  was  precisely  to  this 
ignorance  of  chemical  history  and  practice 
that  was  due  his  lasting  incapacity  to  analyse 
experiments  thoroughly,  and  to  push  them  to 
their  logical  conclusion.  He  began  his  chemi- 
cal work  by  attacking  the  problem  of  com- 
bustion, the  solution  of  which  created  the 
science  of  modern  chemistry  (Phil.  Trans. 
1770,  p.  211).  He  was  led  to  study  gases  by 
watching  the  process  of  fermentation  in  a 
brewery  next  to  his  house ;  and  in  March 
1772  he  read  his  first  paper,  'On  different 
Kinds  of  Air.'  It  was  inspired  by  the  work 
of  Stephen  Hales  [q.v.],  of  Joseph  Black 
[q.  v.],  and  of  Cavendish. 

Despite  its  many  wrong  conclusions,  and 
its  records  of  unsatisfactory  experiments,  this 
essay  marked  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  the 
science.  In  the  first  place,  Priestley  set  forth 
improvements  in  the  methods  of  collecting 
gases,  and  especially  the  use  of  mercury  in  the 
pneumatic  trough,  which  enabled  him  to  deal 
for  the  first  time  with  gases  soluble  in  water. 
He  announced  the  discovery  of  marine  acid 
air  (hydrochloric  acid)  and  nitrous  air  (nitric 
oxide),  and  showed  the  feasibility  of  substi- 
tuting the  latter  for  living  mice  as  a  means 
of  measuring  the  goodness  of  air,  a  sugges- 
tion which  led,  in  the  hands  of  Fontana, 
Landriani,  Cavendish,  and  others,  to  exact 


eudiometry.  He  showed  that  in  air  exposed 
over  water,  one-fifth  disappears  in  processes 
of  combustion,  respiration,  and  putrefaction, 
and  that  plants  restore  air  vitiated  by  these 
processes ;  and  that  no  known  gas  conducted 
electricity.  The  paper  also  contained  a  pro- 
posal to  saturate  water  with  carbonic  acid 
under  either  atmospheric  or  increased  pres  - 
sure,  which  has  led  to  the  creation  of  the 
mineral-water  industry.  Of  this  means  of 
making  '  Pyrmont  water '  (which  he  de- 
scribed in  a  pamphlet  in  June  1777),  he 
wrote :  '  I  can  make  better  than  you  import, 
and  what  cost  you  five  shillings  will  not 
cost  me  a  penny.  I  might  have  turned 
quack'  (Memoirs,  i.  177).  Certain  experi- 
ments on  this  part  of  his  work  were  made 
for  Priestley  by  William  Hey  [q.  v.]  Priest- 
ley likewise  described  the  preparation  of 
pure  nitrogen,  a  gas  to  which  he  gave  the 
vague  name  of  <  phlogisticated  air,'  only  re- 
cognising it  later  as  a  distinct  species.  Daniel 
Rutherford  [q.  v.]  simultaneously  and  inde- 
pendently obtained  a  like  result,  which  he 
first  described  in  '  De  Aere  fixo  '  (p.  16), 
dated  12  Sept.  1772.  In  the  same  disserta- 
tion Priestley  noted,  without  comment,  that 
he  had  produced  two  other  gases,  which  were 
subsequently  recognised  as  new,  and  were 
designated  respectively  carbonic  oxide  and 
nitrous  oxide,  and  that  he  had  disengaged 
from  nitre  a  gas  which  further  examination 
would  have  proved  to  be  identical  with  the 
as  yet  undiscovered  oxygen.  The  paper  was 
awarded  the  Copley  medal  of  the  Royal  So- 
ciety (30  Nov.  1773),  and  was  at  once  ab- 
stracted at  length  by  Lavoisier  ((Eui>res,  i. 
512,  621)  and  criticised  by  him.  Hence- 
forward Lavoisier  acted  as  a  sieve  to  sepa- 
rate the  inaccurate  work  and  conclusions  of 
Priestley  from  the  accurate. 

There  followed  in  1772  Priestley's '  History 
of  ...  Light.'  His  knowledge  of  mathe- 
matics was  insufficient  to  enable  him  to  pro- 
duce anything  more  than  a  clear  but  unoriginal 
narrative,  and  with  its  publication  he  aban- 
doned his  scheme  o  f  writing  a  general  scientific 
history,  owing  to  the  financial  failure  of  the 
work.  He  wrote  to  Canton  (18  Nov.  1771), 
'  If  I  do  work  for  nothing,  it  shall  be  on  theo- 
logical subjects.'  In  the  '  History  of  Light ' 
(pp.  390  sq.)  be  announced  his  adherence  to 
Boscowich's  theory  of  points  of  force  (see 
supra).  After  1772  Priestley  decided,with  the 
approbation  of  the  president,  Sir  John  Pringle, 
not  to  present  his  papers  to  the  Royal  Society, 
but  to  publish  them  separately,  and  from  1774 
to  1786  he  published  six  successive  volumes 
of  researches  on  air  and  kindred  subjects 
(condensed  into  three  volumes  in  1790),  oc- 
casionally contributing  shorter  accounts  of 


Priestley 


373 


Priestley 


his  work  to  the  'Philosophical  Transactions.' 
The  first  volume  records  the  discoveries  of 
alkaline  air  (ammonia  gas)  and  dephlogisti- 
cated  nitrous  air  (nitrous  oxide),  and  the 
synthesis  of  sal-ammoniac,  as  well  as  (p.  258) 
liis  first  general  view  of  the  then  current 
hypothesis  of  Becher  and  Stahl — that  fire  is 
a  decomposition,  in  which  phlogiston  is 
separated  from  all  burning  bodies.  Priestley 
adopted  modifications  of  detail  in  this  view 
under  the  compulsion  of  facts  and  the  in- 
fluence of  Richard  Kirwan  [q.  v.]  and  Caven- 
dish. At  various  periods  he  identified  phlo- 
giston with  electricity  and  with  hydrogen 
(Phil.  Trans.  1785,  p.  280).  But  his  whole 
scientific  energies  from  this  time  forward 
were  devoted  to  the  upholding  of  the  phlo- 
gistic theory,  which  his  own  experiments  (and 
their  completion  by  Cavendish)  by  a  strange 
fate  were  destined,  in  the  hands  of  Lavoisier, 
completely  to  overturn. 

On  1  Aug.  1774,  at  Lansdowne  House, 
Priestley  obtained  what  was  to  him  a  new 
gas  from  mercurius  calcinatus  per  se,  in  which 
a  candle  burnt  vigorously,  but  he  remained 


to  support  respiration,  as  well  as  combustion, 
better,  and  called  it  '  dephlogisticated  air.' 
From  its  property  of  yielding  acid  compounds 
this  gas  was  named  oxygen  by  Lavoisier  at  a 
later  date.  As  it  both  came  from  the  atmo- 
sphere and  could  also  be  produced  by  heating 
certain  metallic  nitrates,  Priestley  concluded 
that  the  air  is  not  an  element,  but  '  consists 
of  the  nitrous  [nitric]  acid  and  earth,  with  so 
much  phlogiston  as  is  necessary  to  its  elasti- 
city '  (Experiments . . .  on . . .  Air,n.  55),  a  mis- 
taken opinion  which  he  modified,  but  did  not 
improve,  in  1779  (Experiments  and  Observa- 
tions on  Natural  Philosophy,  L  192).  Priest- 
ley's great  discovery  of  oxygen  contained  the 
germ  of  the  modern  science  of  chemistry,  but, 
owing  to  his  blind  faith  in  the  phlogistic 
theory,  the  significance  of  the  discovery  was 
lost  upon  him. 

Priestley  made  the  first  public  announce- 
ment of  his  discovery  of  oxygen  in  a  letter  to 
Sir  John  Pringle,  dated  15  March  1775,  which 
was  read  to  the  Royal  Society  on  25  May. 
But  while  in  Paris,  in  October  1774,  Priest- 
ley, according  to  his  own  account,  spoke  of  the 
experiments  he  had  already  performed,  and 
of  those  he  meant  to  perform,  in  relation  to 
the  new  gas  (Experiments . . .  on  . . .  Air,Kov. 
1775,  ii.  320).  Fifteen  years  later— in  the 
1790  edition  of  'Experiments  on  Air'  (vol. 
ii.  108) — Priestley  declared  specifically  that 
he  told  Lavoisier  of  his  experiments  during 
this  visit  to  Paris.  There  is  no  doubt  that 


immediately  after  that  date  Lavoisier  made 
oxygen  for  himself,  and  in  the  May  follow- 
ing published  the  first  of  a  long  series  of 
memoirs,  in  which  he  used  his  experiments 
to  explain  the  constitution  of  the  air,  com- 
bustion and  respiration,  and  to  give  an  ex- 
perimental interpretation  of  the  Greek  idea  of 
the  conservation  of  matter,  thus  founding 
chemistry  on  a  new  basis.  Priestley  refused 
to  accept  Lavoisier's  sagacious  views.  The 
centenary  of  Priestley's  discovery  of  oxygen 
was  celebrated  in  Birmingham  and  in  North- 
Cumberland,  Pennsylvania,  on  1  Aug.  1874, 
but  there  is  some  divergence  of  opinion  as  to 
who  is  entitled  to  the  full  credit  of  the  original 
discovery.  Although  Priestley  was  '  in  pos- 
session of  the  gas  l  before  November  1771 ' 
(Experiments  on  Natural  Philosophy,  i.  194), 
it  is  admitted  that  Karl  Wilhelm  Scheele, 
the  great  Swedish  chemist,  working  quite 
independently,  first  recognised  it  as  a  dis- 
tinct species  '  before  1773 '  (NOEDENSKJOLD 
and  THOKPE),  but  Scheele  did  not  publish  his 
researches  until  after  Priestley.  Lavoisier's 
claim  to  subsequent  but  independent  dis- 
covery, for  which  his  own  statement  is  the 
only  evidence,  offers  greater  difficulty.  La- 
voisier was  possibly  among  the  first  chemists 
to  whom  Priestley's  discovery  was  com- 
municated before  its  public  announcement. 
Priestley  made  no  definite  charge  of  pla- 
giarism when  Lavoisier  published  his  memoir 
in  May  1775.  When,  in  1790,  Priestley  first 
asserted  that  he  had  himself  told  Lavoisier 
of  his  discovery  in  October  1774,  Lavoisier 
made  no  reply.  Lavoisier  died  in  1794,  and 
it  was  not  until  1800,  after  twenty-five  years 
had  elapsed  since  the  discovery,  and  memory 
was  failing  him,  that  Priestley  made  Lavoi- 
sier's pretensions  a  matter  of  complaint  (Doc- 
trine of  Phlogiston  established,  1800,  p.  88). 

In  November  1774  Priestley  discovered 
vitriolic  acid  air  (sulphur  dioxide),  and  before 
November  1775,  continuing  an  investigation 
by  Scheele  (Kopp),  fluor  acid  air  (silicon  tetra- 
fluoride).  This  completes  the  list  of  Priestley's 
great  discoveries  of  gases  (nine  in  all),  of 
which  only  three  species  had  been  recognised 
before  he  began  his  researches. 

Priestley's  memoir  on  respiration,  read  in 
January  1776  (Phil.  Trans,  p.  226),  in  which 
he  regards  respiration  as  '  a  true  phlogistic 
process,'  was  not  original  in  idea,  but  was 
acknowledged  by  Lavoisier  as  the  starting- 
point  of  his  own  work  on  the  subject  (CEuvres, 
ii.  174),  published  in  the  next  year.  In  the 
spring  of  1778  Priestley  returned  to  the  im- 
portant researches  on  vegetable  physiology  of 
1772,  and  discovered  oxygen  in  the  bladders 
of  seaweed.  In  June  and  the  following 
months  he  found  that  this  gas  is  given  off  in 


Priestley 


374 


Priestley 


the  light  from  the  green  conferva  in  water, 
but  was  doubtful  as  to  the  nature  of  the  con- 
ferva until  the  following  winter,  when,  with 
the  help  of  William  Bewley  [q.  v.]  and  others, 
he  found  it  to  be  vegetable,  and  then  extended 
his  researches  to  other  plants,  but  did  not 

Publish  them  till  1781.  Meanwhile  John 
ngenhousz  [q.  v.]  had  published  the  main 
facts  in  1779.  Priestley  accused  him  of  pla- 
giarism in  1800,  after  exonerating  him  from 
all  suspicion  in  1787  (Doctrine  of  Phlogiston 
established,  pp.  80  sq).  Priestley  showed 
that  the  oxygen  given  off  is  due  to  the  pre- 
sence of  gas  in  the  water,  and,  also  with  the 
help  of  Bewley  (Experiments  on  Natural 
Philosophy,  i.  335  sq.),  and  in  opposition  to 
Ingenhousz,  that  the  '  seeds  '  (spores)  of  the 
conferva  come  from  the  air,  or  pre-exist  in 
the  water  (ib.  ii.  17,  33),  and  are  not  spon- 
taneously generated.  He  made  numerous 
minor  experiments  of  varying  value  on  the 
effect  of  gases  on  plants. 

In  1781  he  decomposed  ammonia  by  means 
of  the  electric  spark  ;  the  experiments  were 
interpreted  later  by  Berthollet.  In  the  same 
year  Priestley,  continuing  with  John  Warl- 
tire  of  Birmingham  certain  observations  of 
the  latter  on  the  burning  of  hydrogen  in  1777, 
made  experiments  which  led  to  the  syn- 
thesis of  nitric  acid  and  water  by  Caven- 
dish, and  the  interpretation  of  Cavendish's 
experiments  by  Lavoisier.  Priestley  and 
Warltire  noticed  that  when  hydrogen  and 
air  or  oxygen  are  exploded,  by  means  of  an 
electric  spark,  a  dew  is  formed  ;  and  Priestley 
had  previously  shown  that  when  a  spark  is 
passed  in  air  an  acid  is  formed  (Experiments 
.  . .  on  . . .  Air,  i.  183  sq.)  Cavendish  repeated 
the  experiments  quantitatively  in  the  summer 
of  1781,  and  told  Priestley  verbally  of  the 
formation  of  water  without  loss  of  weight 
when  hydrogen  and  oxygen  are  exploded. 
Priestley  in  1783,  before  Cavendish's  paper 
was  published,  repeated  the  information  to 
James  Watt,  who  suggested  to  him  that 
water  was  not  an  element,  but  a  compound 
of  dephlogisticated  air  and  phlogiston.  Hence 
arose  a  controversy  on  the  relative  claims  of 
Watt  and  Cavendish  with  regard  to  priority, 
which  Priestley  might  have  settled,  but  did 
not.  The  repetition  of  Cavendish's  experi- 
ments on  a  large  scale  in  France,  and  La- 
voisier's experiments  on  the  action  of  steam 
on  iron,  made  him  waver  for  a  moment  in  his 
adherence  to  the  old  theory.  He  had,  in  1783, 
made  the  important  discovery  that  '  calces ' 
are  reduced  to  the  metallic  state  by  heating 
in  hydrogen,  but  failed  to  notice  the  water 
formed.  In  1785,  however,  he  made  an  ad- 
mirable series  of  quantitative  experiments  on 
the  oxidation  of  iron  and  the  reduction  of 


the  oxide  by  hydrogen,  with  formation  of 
water  ;  but,  in  spite  of  this,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  Watt  (Phil.Trans.  1785,  pp.  279-89), 
he  finally  rejected  the  Lavoisierian  doctrine. 
He  concluded  later  that  water  was  already 
contained  in  all  gases,  and  that  the  acid 
formed  in  the  Cavendish  experiments  was  the 
essential  product  of  what  he  viewed  as  the 
{ decomposition  of  dephlogisticated  and  in- 
flammable air.'  In  1786  he  published  a  series  of 
experiments  on  '  various  kinds  of  inflammable 
air,'  under  which  name  he  included  hydrogen, 
carbon  monoxide,  and  various  inflammable 
vapours  ;  though  he  was  aware  that  these 
had  distinct  properties,  he  often  confused 
them.  In  the  same  year  he  published  a 
further  statement  of  his  general  theoretical 
views  (Experiments  on  Natural  Philosophy, 
iii.  400).  In  the  condensed  edition  of  his 
works,  published  in  1790,  he  described  inte- 
resting experiments  on  the  thermal  conducti- 
bility  of  gases,  which  he  found  to  be  much 
the  greatest  in  the  case  of  hydrogen.  In  1793 
he  published  his  '  Experiments  on  the  Gene- 
ration of  Air  from  Water,'  with  a  dedication 
to  the  Lunar  Society,  in  which  he  explains 
the  reasons  for  his  rupture  with  the  Royal 
Society,  and  with  a  reprint  of  the  only  paper 
contributed  to  their  '  Philosophical  Transac- 
tions '  and  not  included  in  his  own  works — 
the  '  Experiments  relating  to  the  Decomposi- 
tion of  Inflammable  and  Dephlogisticated 
Air'  (Phil.  Trans.  1791,  p.  213). 

In  1796  Priestley  published  his  '  Con- 
siderations on  ...  Phlogiston.'  This,  ad- 
dressed to  '  the  surviving  answerers  of  Mr. 
Kirwan,'  was  promptly  replied  to  by  Pierre 
Auguste  Adet,  the  eminent  chemist,  then 
French  ambassador  to  the  United  States. 
Priestley  rejoined  in  a  second  edition  of  his 
work,  to  which  Berthollet  and  Fourcroy  re- 
plied (Annales  de  Chimie,  vol.  xxvi.)  The 
controversy,  which  relates  chiefly  to  the  com- 
position of  water,  and  to  the  existence  of 
oxygen  in  '  finery  cinder '  (magnetic  oxide 
of  iron),  on  which  the  new  theories  partly 
depended,  was  continued,  mainly  in  America. 

In  1798,  evidently  through  forgetfulness 
(Med.  Repository,  ii.  254,  v.  264),  Priestley 
published,  as  if  they  were  new,  experiments 
on  the  combustion  of  the  diamond,  well 
known  through  numerous  researches  of 
Cadet,  Lavoisier,  and  others,  at  least  fifteen 
years  previously.  Priestley's  objections  to 
the  explanation  of  certain  experiments  on 
the  action  of  charcoal  on  steam  and  on  me- 
tallic oxides  (a  stumbling-block  to  him  since 
1785)  were  well  founded.  They  led  William 
Cruickshank  to  discover  that  Priestley  and 
bis  opponents  alike  had  failed  to  recognise  the 
existence  of  carbonic  oxide  as  a  distinct 


Priestley 


375 


Priestley 


chemical  species  (NICHOLSON,  Journal  [1],  v. 
1,  1801).  Priestley  rejected  Cruickshank's 
views,  but  asserted  that  if  there  were  any 
discovery  it  was  his.  In  1800,  when  he  con- 
fessed himself  all  but  alone  in  his  opinions, 
and  appealed  somewhat  pathetically  for  a 
hearing,  he  published  his  last  book,  '  The 
Doctrine  of  Phlogiston  established,'  of  which 
the  second  edition  in  1803  shows  no  change 
of  view.  In  his  last  papers  he  replied  to 
Noah  Webster  and  Erasmus  Darwin  [q.  v.], 
attacking  the  theory  of  spontaneous  genera- 
tion and  of  evolution,  and  defending  his 
former  experiments  with  undiminished  clear- 
ness and  vivacity. 

Priestley's  eminent  discoveries  in  chemistry 
were  due  to  an  extraordinary  quickness  and 
keenness  of  imagination  combined  with  no 
mean  logical  ability  and  manipulative  skill. 
But,  owing  mainly  to  lack  of  adequate 
training,  he  failed  to  apprehend  the  full 
or  true  value  of  his  great  results.  Care- 
lessness and  haste,  not  want  of  critical 
power,  led  him,  at  the  outset,  to  follow  the 
retrograde  view  of  Stahl  rather  than  the 
method  of  Boyle,  Black,  and  Cavendish. 
The  modification  of  the  physical  properties 
of  bodies  by  the  hypothetical  electricity 
doubtless  led  him  to  welcome  the  theory  of 
a  *  phlogiston  '  which  could  similarly  modify 
their  chemical  properties.  Priestley  was 
content  to  assign  the  same  name  to  bodies 
with  different  properties,  and  to  admit  that 
two  bodies  with  precisely  the  same  properties, 
in  other  respects  differed  in  composition 
(Considerations  .  .  .  on  Phlogiston,  1st  edit. 
p.  17).  Though  often  inaccurate,  he  was  not 
incapable  of  performing  exact  quantitative 
experiments,  but  he  was  careless  of  their  in- 
terpretation. The  idea  of  '  composition '  in 
the  sense  of  Lavoisier  he  hardly  realised,  ex- 
cept for  a  brief  period  between  1783  and 
1785.  But  the  enthusiasm  roused  in  him  by 
opposition  made  him  keen  to  the  last  to  see 
weak  points  in  his  opponent's  theory:  he 
failed  to  see  its  strength.  Priestley  is  unjust 
to  himself  in  attributing  most  of  his  dis- 
coveries to  chance ;  his  researches  offer  ad- 
mirable examples  of  scientific  induction  (e.g. 
the  researches  on  the  action  of  plants  on  air). 
He  has  been  called  by  Cuvier  a  '  father  of 
modern  chemistry  .  .  .  who  would  never 
acknowledge  his  daughter.' 
^""Triestley's  scientific  works,  which  have 
never  been  collected,  were:  1.  'The  History 
and  Present  State  of  Electricity,  with  ori- 

tinal  Experiments,' 1767, 4to;  2nd  edit.  1769, 
to ;  3rd  edit.  1775, 8vo  ;  5th  edit.  1794,  4to. 

2.  t  A  Familiar  Introduction  to  the  Study  of 
Electricity,'  &c.,  1768,  4to;  4th  edit.  1786. 

3.  '  A  Familiar  Introduction  to  the  Theory 


and  Practice  of  Perspective,'  &c.,  1770,  8vo ; 
2nd  edit.  1780,  8vo.  4.  '  Directions  for  im- 
pregnating Water  with  Fixed  Air,'  &c.,  1772, 
8vo.  5.  i  The  History  of  the  Present  State  of 
Discoveries  relating  to  Vision,  Light,  and 
Colours/  &c.,  1772,  4to,  2  vols.  ;  translated 
into  German,  Leipzig,  1775-6,  4to.  6.  '  Ex- 
periments and  Observations  on  Different 
Kinds  of  Air,'  &c.,vol.  i.  1774,  8vo,  2nd  edit. 
1775,  3rd  edit.  1781 ;  vol.  ii.  1775,  2nd  edit. 
1784,  8vo  ;  vol.  iii.  1777,  8vo ;  vol.  iv.  1779, 
8vo ;  vol.  v.  1780,  8vo  [containing  an  ana- 
lysis of  his  researches  up  to  this  time]  ; 
vol.  vi.  1786,  8vo  [the  last  three  volumes  are 
entitled  '  Experiments  and  Observations  re- 
lating to  ...  Natural  Philosophy,  with  a 
continuation  of  the  Observations  on  Air  ']  ; 
new  edit.,  abridged  and  methodised,  with 
many  additions,  Birmingham,  1790,  8vo, 
3  vols.  7.  '  Philosophical  Empiricism,'  &c., 
1775,  8vo,  in  reply  to  Bryan  Higgins,  M.D. 
[q.  v.],  who  accused  him  of  plagiarising  his 
experiments  on  air.  8.  '  Experiments  on  the 
Generation  of  Air  from  Water,'  &c.,  1793, 
8vo.  9.  *  Heads  of  Lectures  on  ...  Experi- 
mental Philosophy,'  &c.,  1794,  8vo,  10. '  Ex- 
periments and  Observations  relating  to  the 
Analysis  of  Atmospherical  Air,'  &c.,  Phila- 
delphia and  London,  1796,  8vo.  11.  '  Con- 
siderations on  the  Doctrine  of  Phlogiston 
and  the  Decomposition  of  Water,'  1st  edit. 
Philadelphia,  1796.  12.  «  The  Doctrine  of 
Phlogiston  established,  and  that  of  the  Com- 
position of  Water  refuted,'  &c.,  Northumber- 
land, 1800,  8vo ;  2nd  edit.  Philadelphia,  1803, 
8vo.  Many  of  Priestley's  earlier  books  were 
translated  soon  after  publication. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  Priestley's  scien- 
tific memoirs,  many  of  which  appeared  in 
more  than  one  periodical,  and  most  of  which 
are  repeated  or  summarised  in  his  books  (the 
dates  given  are  those  of  publication — but 
the  dates  of  actual  discovery  are  often  spe- 
cified in  the  papers)  :  In  the  '  Philosophical 
Transactions '  of  the  Koyal  Society  :  '  [On] 
Rings,  consisting  of  ...  Prismatic  Colours, 
made  by  Electrical  Explosions  on  ...  Sur- 
faces of  .  .  .  Metal,' 1768;  '  On.  the  Lateral 
Force  of  Electrical  Explosions,'  1769;  ' . .  .On 
the  Force  of  Explosions,'  1769 ;  <  [On]  the 
Lateral  Explosion,'  &c.,  1770  ;  '  Experiments 
...  on  Charcoal,'  1770  ;  <  On  Different  Kinds 
of  Air,'  1772 ;  '  On  a  new  Electrometer,  by 
William  Henley,'  1772 ;  <  On  the  Noxious 
Quality  of  Putrid  Marshes,'  1774 ;  <  Further 
Discoveries  on  Air,'  1775  ;  *  On  Respiration 
and  the  Use  of  the  Blood,'  1776 ;  Experi- 
ments relating  to  Phlogiston  and  the  seem- 
ing Conversion  of  Water  into  Air,'  1783; 
'Experiments  relating  to  Air  and  Water,' 
1785 ;  '  On  the  Principle  of  Acidity,  the  Com- 


Priestley 


376 


Priestley 


position  of  Water,  and  Phlogiston,'  1788  and 
1789  ;  '  On  the  Phlogistication  of  Spirit  of 
Nitre/  1789 ;  '  On  the  Transmission  of  the 
Vapour  of  Acids  through  a  hot  Earthen 
Tube,'  &c.,  1789;  <0n  Respiration,'  1790: 
'  On  the  Decomposition  of  Dephlogisticated 
and  Inflammable  Air,'  1791. 

In  the  New  York  Medical  Repository  : 
'Letters  to  Mitchill,'  1798,  i.  514,  521,  2nd 
edit.  1800,  ii.  45 ; * On  Red  Precipitate,'  ii.  152 ; 
'  On  the  Antiphlogistic  Doctrine  of  Water,'  ii. 
154 ;  '  On  the  Calces  of  Metals,'  ii.  248 ;  « On 
.  .  .  Experiments .  .  .  with  Ivory  Black  and 
.  .  .  Diamonds,'  ii.  254  ;  '  On  the  Phlogistic 
Theory,'  ii.  353, 358 ;  '  Reply  to  James  Wood- 
house,'  1800,  iii.  116 ;  « Reply  to  Antiphlogis- 
tian  Opponents,'  iii.  121,  124 ;  '  On  the  Doc- 
trine of  Septon,'  iii.  307 ;  '  On  the  Production 
of  Air  by  the  Freezing  of  Water,'  1801,  iv. 
17 ;  'On  Phlogiston,'  iv.  103  ;  <  On  heating 
Manganese  in  Inflammable  Air,'  iv.  135  ; 
'  On  the  Sense  of  Hearing,'  iv.  247 ;  '  On 
Webster's  "  History  of  ...  Pestilential  Dis- 
eases," '  1802,  v.  32 ;  <  [On]  Dreams,'  v.  125 ; 
1 .  .  .  Experiments  [on]  the  Pile  of  Volta,'  v. 
153 ;  '  On  the  Doctrine  of  Air,'  v.  264  ;  [re- 
plies to  Cruickshank],  v.  390,  and  1803,  vi. 
24,  271. 

In  the  '  Transactions '  of  the  American 
Philosophical  Society  :  '  On  the  Analysis  of 
Atmospherical  Air,'  iv.  1,  382  (1799)  ;  <  On 
the  Generation  of  Air  from  Water,'  iv.  11 
(1799) ;  f  On  the  Transmission  of  Acids,  &c., 
over  .  .  .  Substances  in  a  hot  Earthen 
Tube/  v.  11  (1802)  ;  <  [On]  the  Change  of 
Place  in  different  kinds  of  Air  through  in- 
terposing Substances/  v.  14  (1802)  ;  <  [On" 
the  Absorption  of  Air  by  Water/  v.  2. 
(1802) ;  '  Miscellaneous  Experiments  on 
Phlogiston/  v.28  (1802) ;  '  On  Air  heated  in 
Metallic  Tubes/  v.  42  (1802) ;  «  On  Equi- 
vocal or  Spontaneous  Generation/  vi.  119 
(1809) ;  '  On  the  Discovery  of  Nitre  in  Salt 
.  .  .  mixed  .  .  .  with  Snow/  vi.  129.  In 
(  Nicholson's  Journal : '  *  On  the  Conversion 
of  Iron  into  Steel/  1802  [2],  ii.  233. 

[The  Archives  of  the  Royal  Society;  Memo- 
rials of  Dr.  Priestley,  collected  by  James  Yates 
in  1864,  in  the  Royal  Society's  library;  the 
manuscript  collection  of  John  Canton's  papers 
in  the  Royal  Society's  library,  containing  many 
unpublished  manuscript  letters  from  Priestley; 
Six  Discourses  by  Sir  John  Pririgle,  1783 ;  Weld's 
Hist,  of  the  Royal  Society  ;  Thomson's  Hist,  of 
the  Royal  Society;  Thomson's  biography  of 
Priestley  in  his  Annals  of  Philosophy,  i.  81 ; 
Thomson's  Hist,  of  Chemistry ;  Franklin's  Works, 
ed.  Sparkes,  which  contains  letters  from  and  to 
Priestley;  CEuvres  de  Lavoisier,  ii.  130  (ac- 
knowledges debt  to  Priestley),  passim  ;  Scheele's 
Nachgelassene  Briefe,  ed.  by  A.  E.  Nordenskjold, 
pp.  xxi,  458-66,  passim;  W.  Cruickshank  in 


Nicholson's  Journal,  4to  edit.  v.  1,  201  (1802) 
and  8vo  edit.  ii.  42  (1802);  numerous  letters 
Prom  Mitchill,  Woodhouse,  and  Maclean,  in  the 
New  York  Medical  Repository;  Poggendorff's- 
Biographisch-literarisches  Handworterbuch ;  Cu- 
vier's  Recueildes  Eloges  Historiques,  &c.,  and 
Hist,  des  Sciences  Naturelles,  passim;  Kopp's 
Gesch.  d.  Chemie,  passim,  and  Entwicklung  der 
Chemie,  p.  61,  passim  ;  W.  Henry  in  American 
Journal  of  Science,  xxiv.  28  (1833);  Dumas' s. 
Le9ons  de  Philosophic  Chimique;  Ladenburg's 
Entwicklungsgesch.  der  Chemie,  2nd  edit.  p. 
12;  Hoefer's  Hist,  de  la  Chimie ;  Wilfrid  de 
Fouvielle's  Celebration  du  premier  Centenaire  de 
la  Decouverte  de  1'Oxygene,  Paris,  187«>;  La- 
voisier, by  Grimaux,  p.  11 7,  passim ;  information 
from  Rev.  A.  Gordon  and  Dr.  C.  H.  Lees.  The 
following  works  contain  special  reference  to  the 
discovery  of  oxygen  and  the  composition  of 
water :  Thorpe's  Essays  in  Historical  Chemis- 
try; Rodwell  in  Nature,  xxvii.  8  (1882);  Gri- 
maux and  Balland  in  the  Revue  Scientifique,  1882, 
[3]  iv.  619;  Berthelot's  Revolution  Chimique; 
Wilson's  Life  of  Cavendish;  Kopp's  Beitrage 
zur  Gesch.  d.  Chemie,  St.  iii. ;  Brougham's  Lives 
of  Philosophers  (Watt,  Cavendish,  and  Priest- 
ley).] P.  J.  H. 

PRIESTLEY,  TIMOTHY  (1734-1814), 
independent  minister,  second  child  of  Jonas 
and  Mary  Priestley,  was  born  at  Fieldhead 
in  the  parish  of  Birstall,  Yorkshire,  on 
19  June  1734.  He  was  brought  up  by  his 
grandfather,  Joseph  Swift,  and  sent  to  school 
at  Batley,  Yorkshire.  For  some  time  he  was 
employed  in  his  father's  business  as  a  cloth- 
dresser.  His  elder  brother,  Joseph  Priestley, 
LL.D.  [q.v.],  who  thought  him  frivolous,  tells 
how  he  snatched  from  him  '  a  book  of  knight- 
errantry  '  and  flung  it  away.  He  received 
his  religious  impressions  from  James  Scott 
(1710-1783)  [q.  v.],  who  became  minister  of 
tipper  Chapel,  Heckmondwike,  Yorkshire,  in 
1754.  Scott  in  1756  established  an  academy 
at  Southfield,  near  Heckmondwike,  and 
Timothy  Priestley  was  the  second  who 
entered  it  as  a  student  for  the  ministry. 
Joseph  Priestley  speaks  of  the  course  of 
studies  as  '  an  imperfect  education  ; '  it  was 
efficient  in  training  an  influential  succession 
of  resolute  adherents  to  the  Calvinistic 
theology.  Timothy  Priestley  distinguished 
himself  as  an  assiduous  pupil ;  he  got  into 
trouble,  however,  by  going  out  to  preach 
without  leave.  His  preaching  was  popular, 
and  he  was  employed  in  mission  work  at 
Ilkeston,  Derbyshire,  and  elsewhere.  In  1760 
he  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  congregation 
at  Kipping  (now  Kipping  Chapel,  Thornton), 
near  Bradford,  Yorkshire.  It  was  an  un- 
comfortable settlement,  the  owner  of  the 
Kipping  estate  having  ceased  to  be  in  sym- 
pathy with  nonconformity.  Early  in  1766 


Priestley 


377 


Priestman 


Priestley  became  minister  of  Hunter's  Croft 
congregational  church,  Manchester.  His 
chapel  was  enlarged  during  his  ministry. 
He  is  described  as  '  a  strong  preacher,  care- 
less of  personal  dignity,  and  of  abounding 
audacity'  (MACKENNAL).  Many  stories  are 
told  of  his  pulpit  eccentricities.  His  deacons 
accused  him  of  l  irregularities/  the  fact 
being  that  he  eked  out  an  inadequate  main- 
tenance (60/.  a  year)  in  sundry  ways  of  trade. 
He  was  said  to  have  an  interest  in  *  the 
liquor  business,'  and  it  was  alleged  that  he 
made  packing-cases  on  Sunday  nights.  He 
retorted  that  he  never  began  till  the  clock 
struck  twelve.  He  made  many  electrical 
machines  for  sale,  under  his  brother's  di- 
rections, and  constructed  for  his  brother  an 
electrical  kite,  6  feet  4  inches  wide,  which 
folded  up  so  as  to  be  carried  like  a  fishing- 
rod.  His  relations  with  his  father  were  not 
cordial,  though  there  was  no  breach.  He 
visited  him  at  Warrington  in  1762,  and 
excited  the  amusement  of  the  leaders  of  dis- 
senting culture.  He  refused  to  join  the 
petitions  (1772-3)  for  relaxation  of  the 
Toleration  Act,  except  upon  the  odd  con- 
dition that  concealment  of  heresy  should 
be  made  a  capital  offence.  In  1774  he  was 
in  London,  preaching  at  Whitefield's  Taber- 
nacle, Moorfields.  His  brother,  who  was 
then  living  with  Lord  Shelburne,  told  him 
it  mortified  him  to  hear  people  say  '  Here  is 
a  brother  of  yours  preaching  at  the  Taber- 
nacle.' In  1782  the  two  Priestleys  were 
appointed  to  preach  the  'double  lecture' 
(24  Aug.)  at  Oldbury,  Worcestershire  ; 
Joseph  wished  his  brother  to  decline,  and  on 
his  refusal  to  give  way,  himself  withdrew,  his 
place  being  taken  by  Habakkuk  Crabb[q.  v.] 
Priestley's  Manchester  ministry  terminated 
in  his  formal  dismissal  on  14  April  1784,  only 
two  hands  being  held  up  in  his  favour.  He 
removed  to  Dublin,  where  he  remained  some 
two  years.  He  then  received  a  call  to  suc- 
ceed Richard  Woodgate  (d.  28  June  1787) 
as  minister  of  Jewin  Street  independent 
church,  London.  Here  he  remained  till  his 
death.  He  issued  a  periodical,  '  The  Chris- 
tian's Magazine,  or  Gospel  Repository/  de- 
signed to  counteract  unitarianism.  It  seems 
to  have  reached  but  three  volumes  (1790-2, 
8vo) ;  the  first  is  dedicated  to  Lady  Hunting- 
don [see  HASTINGS,  SBLINA],  whose  friendship 
he  enjoyed.  It  contains  a  biography  of  Scott, 
his  tutor,  which  was  reprinted  in  1791,  8vo. 
On  his  brother's  death  he  preached  at  Jewin 
Street,  29  April  1804,  and  printed  (1804, 8vo) 
a  funeral  sermon,  with  appendix  of  '  authen- 
tic anecdotes/  the  authenticity  of  some  of 
which  has  been  disputed  (  Univ.  Theol.  Mag. 
June  1804,  pp.  295  seq. ;  RUTT,  Memoirs  of 


Priestley,  1831,  i.  31).  He  had  more  imagi- 
nation than  his  brother,  and  probably 
shared  his  defects  of  memory.  His  adver- 
tised '  Animadversions  '  on  his  brother's 
theological  views  do  not  seem  to  have  been 
published.  He  published  also  an  annotated 
1  Family  Bible/ 1793  ?  fol. ;  1804, 2  vols.  4to ; 
the  '  Christian's  Looking-Glass/  1790-2, 
12mo;  'Family  Exercises/  1792,  8vo,  and  a 
few  single  sermons.  He  died  at  Islington  on 
23  April  1814,  and  was  buried  at  Bunhill 
Fields  on  29  April.  His  funeral  sermon  was 
preached  by  George  Burder  [q.  v.]  Two  en- 
graved portraits  of  Priestley  are  mentioned 
by  Bromley.  His  son  William  (1768-1827) 
was  independent  minister  at  Fordingbridge, 
Hampshire. 

[Wilson's  Dissenting  Churches  of  London, 
1810,  iii.  351  seq. ;  Yates's  Memorials  of  Dr. 
Priestley,  1860, p.  16;  Miall's Congregationalism 
in  Yorkshire,  1868,  p.  243;  Halley's  Lancashire, 
1869,  ii.  448  seq. ;  Turner's  Nonconformity  in 
Idle,  1875,  p.  119;  Button's  Lancashire  Authors, 
1876,  p.  96;  Mackennal's  Life  of  Macfadyen, 
1891,  p.  101;  Peel's  Nonconformity  in  Spen 
Valley,  1891,  pp.  145,  153  seq.,  158;  Nightin- 
gale's Lancashire  Nonconformity  (1893),  v.  116 
seq.  (portrait).]  A.  G. 

PRIESTMAN,  JOHN  (1805-1866), 
quaker,  son  of  Joshua  and  Hannah  Priest- 
man, was  born  at  Thornton,  near  Pickering, 
Yorkshire,  where  his  ancestors — sturdy  yeo- 
men and  quakers— had  been  settled  for  more 
than  two  hundred  years.  He  was  educated 
at  the  Friends'  school,  Ackworth,  Yorkshire, 
and  apprenticed  to  an  uncle,  a  tanner  at 
York,  but  at  nineteen  joined  his  brother-in- 
law,  James  Ellis,  in  the  Old  Corn  Mill, 
Bradford.  Together  they  founded  the  first 
ragged  school  in  Bradford,  in  a  room  at  the 
top  of  one  of  their  mills.  The  teacher's  salary 
was  privately  defrayed  by  them. 

Priestman  was  one  of  the  founders  in  1832 
of  the  Friends'  Provident  Institution,  a  so- 
ciety whose  conspicuous  success  was  due  to 
economic  management  and  the  temperate 
habits  of  the  members,  and  he  remained  on 
the  board  of  directors  until  his  death.  In 
early  life  Priestman  became  a  free-trader,  and 
entered  warmly  into  the  anti-corn  law  agita- 
tion. He  represented  Bradford  at  many  of 
the  conferences  called  by  the  league,  and 
used  all  his  influence  to  keep  alive  the  agita- 
tion in  the  north  of  England. 

Priestman  and  his  partner,  Ellis,  actively 
resisted  the  collection  of  church-rates.  For 
refusal  to  pay  the  rate  for  1835  they  were 
summoned  before  the  magistrates,  and  pleaded 
with  such  cogency  the  illegality  of  the  impost 
that  the  rate  was  not  levied  again  in  their 
parish.  Chiefly  from  a  desire  to  utilise  the 


Prime 


378 


Primrose 


waste  power  of  machinery  in  his  mills, 
Priestman,  in  1838,  commenced  manufac- 
turing worsted  goods  in  an  upper  room.  Dis- 
covering that  the  weaver's  shuttle  generated 
wealth  more  easily  than  the  millstone,  he  re- 
moved to  larger  premises  in  1845,  and  in  1855 
he  abandoned  corn-milling  altogether.  His 
treatment  of  the  mill  hands,  chiefly  women 
and  girls,  was  sympathetic  and  enlightened, 
and  their  tone  grew  so  refined  that  his  works 
obtained  the  title  of '  Lady  Mills.'  He  intro- 
duced with  success  a  system  of  profit-sharing 
among  the  superior  workpeople. 

Much  of  his  time  and  means  was  also  de- 
voted to  the  causes  of  peace  and  temperance. 
From  1834,  when  the  Preston  '  teetotallers  ' 
first  visited  Bradford,  he  adopted  total  abs- 
tinence. At  the  same  time  he  and  his  partner 
relinquished  malt-crushing,  the  most  profit- 
able part  of  their  milling  business.  He  was 
one  of  the  few  supporters  of  Cobden  in  his 
condemnation  of  the  Crimean  war  (1854), 
and  seconded  the  unpopular  resolution  pro- 
posed by  him  at  a  great  meeting  at  Leeds  in 
that  year.  Sternly  adhering  to  quaker  prin- 
ciples throuarh  life,  he  died  at  Whetley  Hill, 
Bradford,  on  29  Oct.  1866,  aged  61,  and  was 
buried  on  2  Nov.  in  the  Undercliffe  cemetery, 
Bradford.  Eleven  hundred  of  his  workpeople 
attended  the  funeral. 

Priestman  married,  first,  on  28  Nov.  1833, 
Sarah,  daughter  of  Joseph  Burgess  of  Beau- 
mont Lodge,  Leicester,  who  died  in  1849, 
leaving  two  sons,  Edward  and  Frederick, 
and  a  daughter,  who  married  Joseph  Ed- 
mondson  of  Halifax.  Secondly,  he  married, 
in  1852,  Mary,  daughter  of  Thomas  Smith, 
miller,  of  Uxbridge,  Middlesex,  by  whom 
he  left  two  sons,  Arnold,  a  landscape  artist, 
and  Walter. 

[Bradford  Observer,  1  Nov.  1866;  Biogr. 
Cat.  of  Portraits  at  Devonshire  House  ;  Friends' 
Quarterly  Examiner,  July  1867,  p.  344;  Ack- 
worth  Scholars,  1879  ;  Registers  at  Devonshire 
House.]  C.  F.  S. 

PRIME,  JOHN  (1550-1596),  divine,  son 
of  Robert  Prime,  a  butcher  of  Oxford,  was 
born  in  the  parish  of  Holy  well  (WooD,i.  652). 
He  was  admitted  a  scholar  of  Winchester  in 
1564,  being  then  fourteen  years  old  (KiEBY, 
Winchester  Scholars,  p.  139),  was  elected 
scholar  to  New  College,  Oxford,  in  1568-9, 
and  was  fellow  of  that  house  from  1570  to 
1591.  He  graduated  B.A.  on  15  Dec.  1572, 
M.A.  on  20  Oct.  (or  29th)  1576,  B.D.  on 
22  June  1584,  and  D.D.  on  9  July  1588.  On 
12  Dec.  1581  he  supplicated  for  license  to 
preach,  and  eight  years  later  became  rector 
of  Adderbury,  Oxfordshire.  He  was  held  in 
much  repute  as  a  preacher,  but  died  young  at 
Adderbury  on  12  April  1596. 


Besides  some  volumes  of  sermons,  Prime 
published:  1. '  A  short  Treatise  of  Sacraments 
generally,  and  in  speciall  of  Baptism  and 
of  the  Supper,'  1582,  8vo,  London.  2.  '  Trea- 
tise of  Nature  and  Grace,  in  two  books,  with 
Answers  to  the  Enemies  of  Grace  upon  in- 
cident Occasions,  offered  by  the  late  Jesuits' 
Notes  on  the  New  Testament,' London,  1583, 
8vo  (cf.  STKYPE,  Annals,  in.  ii.  157). 

[Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  i.  652,  Fasti,  i.  188, 
201,  227,  244 ;  Tanner's  Bibl.  Brit. ;  Watt's  Bibl. 
Brit. ;  Foster's  Alumni;  Lansd.  MS.  982,  f.199  ; 
Madan's  Early  Oxford  Press,  ]  895.]  W.  A.  S. 

PRIMROSE,  SIB  ARCHIBALD,  LOED 
CARKDTOTON  (1616-1679),  Scottish  official 
and  judge,  born  16  May  1616,  was  son  of 
James  Primrose  [q.v.],  clerk  to  the  privy 
council  of  Scotland,  by  his  second  wife, 
Catharine,  daughter  of  Richard  Lawson  of 
Boghall,  Lanarkshire.  On  2  Sept.  1641 
he  succeeded  his  father  as  clerk  to  the 
privy  council,  and  he  acted  as  clerk  to 
the  convention  of  estates  in  1643  and  1644. 
After  the  victory  of  Kilsyth  he  joined  the 
army  of  Montrose,  was  taken  prisoner  at 
Philiphaugh  on  13  Sept.  1645,  and  was  tried 
and  condemned  for  treason  at  the  parlia- 
ment of  St.  Andrews  in  1646.  His  life  was 
spared,  but  he  remained  a  prisoner  till  the 
end  of  1646,  when  he  was  released,  and,  again 

{"  mining  the  royalist  army,  he  was  knighted 
y  Charles  II.  Having  taken  part  in  the 
engagement  of  1648,  he  was  on  10  March 
1649  deprived  of  his  office  of  clerk  of  the  privy 
council  by  the  Act  of  Classes,  but  was  re- 
instated on  6  June  1652.  He  accompanied 
Charles  II  on  his  march  to  England,  and 
was  made  a  baronet  on  1  Aug.  1651. 

After  the  battle  of  Worcester  his  estates 
were  sequestrated,  and  he  remained  out  of 
office  during  the  Protectorate.  At  the  Re- 
storation he  was  appointed  lord  clerk  register 
out  of  many  competitors,  having  bought  oft* 
Sir  William  Fleming,  to  whom  Charles  II 
had  given  a  grant  of  it  during  his  exile. 

On  14  Feb.  1661  he  was  appointed  a  lord 
of  session  under  the  title  of  Lord  Carring- 
ton,  a  lord  of  exchequer,  and  a  member  of 
the  privy  council.  He  was  the  principal 
author  of  the  Rescissory  Act,  by  which  all 
the  acts  of  the  Scottish  parliament  since 
1633  were  rescinded,  and  of  the  series  of 
acts  declaratory  of  the  royal  prerogative. 
According  to  Burnet,  he  was  responsible  for, 
and  afterwards  regretted,  their  preambles, 
1  full  of  extravagant  rhetoric,  reflecting  se- 
riously on  the  proceedings  of  the  late  times, 
and  swelled  up  with  the  highest  phrases  and 
fullest  clauses  he  could  invent.'  Although  a 
follower  of  the  party  of  Middleton  and  an  op- 
ponent of  Lauderdale,  he  was  politic  enough 


Primrose 


379 


Primrose 


to  oppose  the  Act  of  Billeting,  which  was 
aimed  at  Lauderdale,  and  retained  his  offices 
after  Middleton's  fall  from  power. 

In  1676  an  intrigue,  attributed  to  the 
influence  of  the  Duchess  of  Lauderdale,  led 
to  his  removal  from  the  office  of  lord  clerk 
register,  which  Avas  given  to  the  duchess's 
kinsman,  Sir  Thomas  Murray  of  Glendook, 
during  pleasure  ;  but,  '  to  stop  his;  mouth 
and  sore  against  his  heart/  Primrose  received 
the  office  of  justice-general,  which  was  in- 
ferior in  emoluments.  Deprived  of  this 
office  also  on  16  Oct.  1678,  he  died  on 
27  Nov.  1679,  and  was  buried  in  the  church 
of  Dalmeny,  in  which  parish  the  estate  of 
Bambougle  or  Dalmeny,  purchased  by  him 
from  the  Earl  of  Haddington  in  1662,  is 
situated.  Bishop  Burnet,  a  contemporary 
though  not  unprejudiced  witness,  has  drawn 
his  character  with  some  justice :  '  He  was  a 
dexterous  man  in  business.  He  had  always 
expedients  ready  at  every  difficulty.  .  .  .  He 
was  always  for  soft  counsels  and  slow  methods, 
and  thought  that  the  chief  thing  that  a  great 
man  ought  to  do  was  to  raise  his  family  and 
his  kindred,  who  naturally  stick  to  him  ; 
for  he  had  seen  so  much  of  the  world  that 
he  did  not  depend  much  on  friends,  and  so 
took  no  care  of  making  any.' 

Lord  Carrington  married,  first,  Elizabeth, 
daughter  and  coheiress  of  Sir  James  Keith 
of  Benholm ;  and,  secondly,  Agnes,  daughter 
of  Sir  William  Gray  of  Pittendrum,  and 
widow  of  Sir  James  Dundas  of  Newliston. 
William,  his  eldest  surviving  son  by  his  first 
wife,  succeeded  to  the  baronetcy.  His 
youngest  son  by  his  first  wife,  Gilbert  Prim- 
rose (1654-1731),  obtained  a  commission  in 
the  1st  footguards,  1  Sept.  1680,  served  on 
the  Rhine  and  in  the  Low  Countries  under 
Marlborough,  and  became  colonel  of  the  24th 
foot  on  9  March  1708,  and  major-general  on 

1  Jan.  1710.     He  resigned  his  regiment  in 
1717,  and  died   at  Kensington    Square  on 

2  Sept.  1731  (Gent.  Mag.  s.a.-p.  403).     The 
only  son  by  his  second  wife,  Archibald,  first 
Earl  of  Rosebery,  is  separately  noticed. 

[Acts  of  Parliament  of  Scotland,  vi.  and 
vii. ;  Books  of  Sederunt  of  Court  of  Session ; 
Records  of  the  Privy  Council  of  Scotland, 
vol.  ix. ;  Sir  J.  Mackenzie's  History  of  Scot- 
land ;  Kirkton's  History  ;  Balfour's  Annals, 
vol.  iv. ;  Burnet's  History  of  his  Own  Time  ; 
Brunton  and  Haig's  Senators  of  the  College  of 
Justice.  For  Gilbert  Primrose  see  Dalton's 
Army  Lists,  i.  276  ;  Douglas's  Peerage,  ed.Wood, 
ii.  405;  Beatson's  Polit.  Index,  ii.  141,  222; 
Marlborough's  Despatches,  iv.  367.]  M.  M. 

PRIMROSE,  ARCHIBALD,  of  Dal- 
meny, first  EAEL  OF  ROSEBEEY  (1661-1723), 
only  son  of  Sir  Archibald  Primrose,  lord 


Carrington  [q.  v.],  lord-justice-general,  by 
his  second  wife,  Agnes,  daughter  of  Sir 
William  Gray  of  Pittendrum,  and  widow 
of  Sir  James  Dundas,  was  born  on  18  Dec. 
1661.  In  his  early  manhood  he  travelled 
abroad,  and  served  in  the  imperial  army  of 
Hungary.  Being  opposed  to  the  policy  of 
James  II  in  Scotland,  he  was  on  26  June 
1688  summoned  before  the  privy  council 
on  the  charge  of  leasing-making  and  sowing 
discord  among  the  officers  of  state;  but, 
through  the  intervention  of  the  Duke  of 
Berwick,  the  process  against  him  was  coun- 
termanded. After  the  Revolution  he  was  ap- 
pointed one  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  bed- 
chamber to  Prince  George  of  Denmark,  on 
whose  death  in  1708  the  salary  of  600/.  a  year 
attached  to  the  office  was  continued  to  him  for 
life.  In  1695  he  was  chosen  to  represent  the 
county  of  Edinburgh  in  the  Scottish  parlia- 
ment, and,  on  account  of  his  steady  and  zealous 
support  of  the  government,  he  was  by  patent, 
dated  at  Kensington  1  April  1700,  created 
Viscount  Rosebery,  lord  Primrose  and  Dal- 
meny, to  him  and  heirs  male  of  his  body, 
which  failing,  to  the  heirs  female  of  his  body, 
which  also  failing,  to  the  heirs  of  entail  of 
his  lands.  On  the  accession  of  Queen  Anne 
he  was  sworn  a  privy  councillor,  and  created 
Earl  of  Rosebery,  Viscount  of  Inverkeith- 
ing,  and  Lord  Dalmeny  and  Primrose  in 
the  Scottish  peerage,  by  patent  10  April 
1703,  to  him  and  heirs  male  of  his  body, 
which  failing,  to  heirs  female.  He  was  one 
of  the  commissioners  for  the  union  with  Eng- 
land, and  after  its  accomplishment  was  chosen 
a  Scottish  representative  peer  in  1707, 1708, 
1710,  and  1713.  He  died  on  20  Oct.  1723. 
By  his  wife  Dorothea,  only  child  and  heiress 
of  Everingham  Cressy  of  Birkin,  Yorkshire 
— representative  of  the  ancient  families  of 
Cressy,  Everingham,  Birkin,  &c. — he  had  six 
sons  and  six  daughters.  He  was  succeeded 
in  the  peerage  by  his  eldest  son  James,  who, 
on  the  death  in  1741  of  his  kinsman  Hugh, 
viscount  Primrose,  inherited  the  family  estate 
and  baronetage  of  the  elder  branch  of  the 
Primrose  family  [see  PKIMKOSE,  SIB  AKCHI- 
BALB]. 

[Carstare's  State  Papers  ;  Lockhart  Papers  ; 
Douglas's  Scottish  Peerage  (Wood);  Burke's 
Peerage.]  T.  F.  H. 

PRIMROSE,     ARCHIBALD    JOHN, 

fourth  EAKL  OP  ROSEBEKY  (1783-1868), 
eldest  son  of  Neil,  third  earl  of  Rosebery,  by 
his  second  wife,  Mary,  only  daughter  of  Sir 
Francis  Vincent  of  Stoke  d'Abernon,  Surrey, 
was  born  at  Dalmeny  Castle,  Linlithgow- 
shire,  on  14  Oct.  1783.  He  was  educated  at 
Pembroke  College,  Cambridge,  where  he  gra- 


Primrose 


38o 


Primrose 


duated  M.A.  in  1804.  He  sat  in  parliament 
for  the  burgh  of  Helston  in  1805-6,  and  for 
Cashel  in  1806-7.  On  the  death  of  his  father, 
25  Jan.  1814,  he  succeeded  to  the  earldom, 
and  for  several  parliaments  he  was  chosen  a 
representative  peer,  until  1828,  when  on 
17  Jan.  he  was  created  a  peer  of  the  United 
Kingdom  by  the  title  Baron  Rosebery  of 
Rosebery,  Midlothian.  He  took  an  active 
interest  as  a  liberal  in  the  passing  of  the 
Reform  Bill  of  1832.  In  1831  he  was  sworn 
a  member  of  the  privy  council,  and  in  1840 
was  made  a  knight  of  the  order  of  the  Thistle. 
From  1843  to  1863  he  was  lord  lieutenant 
of  Linlithgowshire.  He  was  a  fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society,  and  a  member  of  other  learned 
institutions.  In  1819  he  received  the  honorary 
degree  of  D.C.L.  from  the  university  of  Cam- 
bridge. He  died  in  Piccadilly  on  4  March 
1868.  By  his  first  wife,  Harriet,  second 
daughter  of  the  Hon.  Bartholomew  Bouverie 
(afterwards  Earl  of  Radnor),  he  had  two  sons 
and  a  daughter.  The  marriage  was  dissolved 
in  1815,  and  he  married  as  second  wife  Anne 
Margaret  Anson,  eldest  daughter  of  Thomas, 
first  viscount  Anson  (after  wards  Earl  of  Lich- 
field),  by  whom  he  had  two  sons.  His  eldest 
son  by  the  first  marriage,  Archibald,  lord 
Dalmeny,  born  in  1809,  represented  the  Stir- 
ling burghs  in  parliament  from  1833  to  1847, 
and  from  April  1835  to  August  1841  was  a 
lord  of  the  admiralty.  He  was  the  author 
of '  An  Address  to  the  Middle  Classes  on  the 
Subject  of  Gymnastic  Exercises,'  London, 
1848.  He  died  on  23  Jan.  1851,  leaving  by 
his  wife,  Catherine  Lucy  Wilhelmina  (only 
daughter  of  Philip  Henry,  fourth  earl  of 
Stanhope,  and  subsequently  wife  of  Harry 
George,  fourth  Duke  of  Cleveland),  two  sons 
and  two  daughters,  of  whom  the  eldest  son, 
Archibald  Philip,  lord  Dalmeny,  born  on 
7  May  1847,  succeeded  on  the  death  of  his 
grandfather  to  the  peerage  as  fifth  earl,  and, 
after  a  distinguished  career  as  a  statesman, 
was  prime  minister  from  March  1894  until 
June  1895. 

[Gent.  Mag.   1868,  i.  436;  Burke's  Peerage.] 

T.  F.  H. 

PRIMROSE,  GILBERT,  D.D.  (1580?- 
1641 ),  divine,  born  about  1580,  was  son  of  Gil- 
bert Primrose,  principal  surgeon  to  James  VI, 
and  Alison  Graham,  his  wife.  The  family  be- 
longed to  Culross,  Perthshire,  and  his  father 
was  elder  brother  of  Archibald  Primrose, 
from  whom  the  earls  of  Rosebery  descend. 
Gilbert  was  educated  at  St.  Andrews  Uni- 
versity, where  he  took  the  degree  of  M.A. 
He  then  went  to  France,  and  was  received 
as  a  minister  of  the  reformed  church  there. 
His  first  charge  was  atMirambeau,  Charente- 


Inferieure,  from  which  he  was  transferred  in 
1603  to  the  church  of  Bordeaux. 

Primrose  was  not  unmindful  of  the  country 
from  which  he  came,  and  it  was  mainly 
through  his  influence  that  John  Cameron 
(1579P-1625)  [q.v.J,  the  great  theologian, 
was  made  regent  in  the  new  college  of  Ber- 
gerac.  The  national  synod  of  the  reformed 
church,  which  met  at  Rochelle  in  March  1607, 
and  of  which  Primrose  was  a  member,  ap- 
pointed him  to  wait  upon  John  "Welsh  [q.  v.] 
and  other  Scots  ministers  who  had  been 
banished,  and  to  inquire  into  their  circum- 
stances, with  the  view  of  rendering  them 
such  pecuniary  help  as  might  be  necessary. 
At  this  synod  Primrose  presented  letters  from 
King  James  and  from  the  magistrates  and 
ministers  of  Edinburgh,  recalling  him  home 
to  serve  the  church  in  that  city.  The  synod 
entreated  him  to  consider  the  interests  of  his 
present  charge,  '  which,  by  his  most  fruitful 
preaching  and  exemplary  godly  conversation, 
had  been  exceedingly  edified;'  and  he  was 
induced  to  remain  at  Bordeaux.  In  the  latter 
part  of  the  same  year  he  visited  Britain,  when 
he  was  commissioned  by  the  reformed  congre- 
gation at  Rochelle  to  ask  King  James  to  set  at 
liberty  Andrew  Melville  [q.  v.],  who  was  then 
a  prisoner  in  the  Tower  of  London,  and  to 
allow  him  to  accept  a  professorship  in  their 
college.  The  request  was  refused,  and  the 
application  gave  offence  to  the  French  court. 
On  his  return  Primrose  was  called  before  the 
king  of  France,  and  the  people  of  Rochelle 
were  reprimanded  for  communicating  with  a 
foreign  sovereign  without  the  knowledge  or 
consent  of  their  own. 

In  1608  John  Cameron  became  Primrose's 
colleague  at  Bordeaux,  and  they  'lived  on 
the  most  cordial  terms  and  governed  the 
church  with  the  greatest  concord  for  ten 
years/  when  Cameron  left  for  a  professor- 
ship at  Saumur.  In  the  end  of  1615  and 
beginning  of  1616  the  church  at  Bordeaux 
was  closed  on  account  of  the  action  of  the 
government  towards  the  reformed  congrega- 
tion, and  the  ministers  were  sent  away  to 
insure  their  safety ;  but  they  were  recalled 
and  resumed  their  duties  when  matters  be- 
came more  settled. 

In  1623  an  act  was  passed  forbidding 
ministers  of  other  nations  to  officiate  in 
France,  and  at  the  national  synod  which 
met  at  Charenton  in  September  of  that  year 
the  royal  commissioner  presented  letters 
from  the  French  king  intimating  that  Prim- 
rose and  Cameron  were  no  longer  to  be  em- 
ployed, '  not  so  much  because  of  their  birth 
as  foreigners  as  for  reasons  of  state.'  Depu- 
ties were  sent  to  the  king  to  intercede  on 
their  behalf,  but  he  would  only  consent  to 


Primrose 


381 


Primrose 


their  remaining  in  France  on  the  condition 
that  they  should  resign  their  offices.  Prim- 
rose was  obliged  to  quit  the  country.  His 
banishment  was  mainly  due  to  the  Jesuits,  to 
whom  he  had  given  special  offence. 

On  returning  to  London,  he  was  chosen  one 
of  the  ministers  of  the  French  church  founded 
in  the  time  of  Edward  VI,  an  appointment 
which  he  held  till  his  death ;  and  he  was  also 
made  chaplain-in-ordinary  to  James  I. 

On  18  Jan.  1624-5  he  was  incorporated  in 
the  university  of  Oxford,  receiving  the  degree 
of  D.D.  on  the  same  day  on  the  recommenda- 
tion of  the  king,  ample  testimony  having  been 
borne  to  his  high  character  and  eminence  as 
a  theologian.  Four  years  later  his  royal 
patron,  with  whom  he  was  a  great  favourite, 
preferred  him  to  a  canonry  of  Windsor.  He 
died  in  London  in  October  or  November  1642. 
An  engraved  portrait  of  Primrose  is  men- 
tioned by  Bromley.  He  had  four  sons— James 
(d.  1659)  [q.  v.],  David,  Stephen,  and  John. 

His  published  works  were  :  1.  f  Le  vceu 
de  Jacob  oppose  aux  voeux  de  Moines/  4 
vols.,  Bergerac,  1610 ;  translated  into  Eng- 
lish by  John  Bultiel,  London,  1617.  2.  <La 
Trompette  de  Sion  '  (18  sermon?),  Bergerac, 
1610,  of  which  a  Latin  edition  was  published 
at  Danzig  in  1631.  3.  <  La  Defense  de  la  Re- 
ligion Reformee,'  Bergerac,  1619.  4.  'Pane- 
gyrique  a  tres  grand  et  tres  puissant  Prince 
Charles,  Prince  de  Galles,'  Paris,  1624. 
5.  '  The  Christian  Man's  Tears  and  Christ's 
Comforts,' London,  1625.  6.  'Nine  Sermons,' 
London,  1625.  7.  '  The  Table  of  the  Lord,' 
London,  1626. 

[Wodrow's  Lives  in  MS3.  Univ.  of  Glasgow  ; 
Poster's  Alumni  '  Oxon.  1500-1714;  Quick's 
Synodicon  ;  M'Crie's  Lite  of  Andrew  Melville ; 
Wood's  Fasti,  i.  419  ;  Allibone's  Diet,  of  Engl. 
Lit.]  G.  W.  S. 

PRIMROSE,  JAMES  (d.  1641),  clerk 
of  the  privy  council  of  Scotland,  was  the 
second  son  of  Archibald  Primrose  of  Culross 
and  of  Burnbrae,  Perthshire,  by  Margaret 
Bleau  of  Castlehill,  Perthshire.  He  belonged 
to  a  family  of  officials  specially  connected 
with  the  revenue  department  during  the 
seventeenth  century.  His  father,  Archibald, 
a  writer— i.e.  a  conveyancer  or  law  agent — 
was  employed  in  the  comptroller's  office  under 
Sir  James  Hay,  and  at  Hay's  death  in  1610 
-was  entrusted  with  the  collection  of  the 
arrears  of  taxation  made  in  1606,  and  received 
special  leave  of  access  to  the  meetings  of  the 
privy  council  and  exchequer.  His  ability  was 
shown  by  several  pieces  of  special  business  en- 
trusted to  him — the  collection  of  information 
as  to  the  highlands  and  the  monopoly  of  the 
publication  of 'God  and  the  King,' a  catechism 
teaching  high  prerogative  which  James  VI 


attempted   through   the    privy   council    to 
disseminate  in  every  household  of  Scotland. 

James  practised  as  a '  writer'  or  solicitor  in 
Edinburgh.  Probably  he  is  the  James  Prim- 
rose who  on  4  Nov.  1586  is  mentioned  as  pro- 
curator for  the  city  of  Perth  (Reg.  P.  C.  Scotl. 
iv.  116).  After  acting  for  some  time  as  '  ser- 
vant '  or  assistant  to  John  Andro,  clerk  of  the 
privy  council,  he,  on  Andro's  retirement, 
1  Feb.  1598-9,  was  appointed  clerk  for  life 
(ib.  v.  521).  On  13  June  1616  he  obtained  a 
monopoly  of  the  printing  and  selling  of  the 
book  '  God  and  the  King,'  the  use  of  which 
was  then  made  imperative  in  the  schools  and 
universities  throughout  Scotland  (ib,  x.  535). 
He  died  in  1641.  By  his  first  wife,  Sibylla 
Miller,  he  had  a  son  Gilbert,  and  six  daugh- 
ters, of  whom  Alison  became  the  second  wife 
of  George  Heriot  [q.  v.],  jeweller  to  James  VI. 
By  his  second  wife,  Catharine,  daughter  of 
Richard  Lawson  of  Boghall,  he  had  six 
daughters  and  six  sons,  of  whom  Archibald, 
afterwards  Sir  Archibald  Primrose,  lord  Car- 
rington  [q.v.],  succeeded  him  as  clerk  to  the 
privy  council. 

[Douglas's  Scottish  Peerage  (Wood),  ii.  402; 
Reg.  P.  C.  Scotl.  v.-xi.;  Calderwood's  Hist,  of 
the  Kirk  of  Scotland.]  T.  F.  H. 

PRIMROSE  or  PRIMEROSE,  JAMES, 
M.D.  (d.  1659),  physician,  son  of  Dr.  Gilbert 
Primrose  (1580  P-1641)  [q.  v.],  was  born  at 
St.  Jean  d'Ange"ly,  Charente-Inferieure.  He 
studied  at  the  university  of  Bordeaux  (Popu- 
lar Errors,  p.  6),  there  graduated  M.A.,  and 
then  proceeded  to  Montpellier,  where  he  took 
the  degree  of  M.D.  in  1617  (AsTRirc),  and 
attended  the  lectures  of  John  Varandaeus, 
professor  of  physic  (Errors,  p.  44).  He  was 
incorporated  M.D.  at  Oxford  in  March  1628. 
On  9  Dec.  1629,  at  Dr.  Argent's  house  in 
London,  he  was  examined  for  admission  to 
the  license  of  the  College  of  Physicians,  Wil- 
liam Harvey,  M.D.  [q.  v.],  being  one  of  his 
examiners  (manuscript  annals).  He  passed, 
and  was  admitted  the  following  day.  He 
settled  in  Hull,  and  there  practised  his  pro- 
fession. His  first  book  appeared  in  Lon- 
don in  1630 :  '  Exercitationes  et  Animad- 
versiones  in  Librum  Gulielmi  Harvsei  de 
Motu  Cordis  et  Circulatione  Sanguinis,'  and 
is  an  attempt  to  refute  Harvey's  demonstra- 
tion of  the  circulation  of  the  blood.  His  '  Ani- 
madversiones  in  J.  Walsei  Disputationem/ 
Amsterdam,  1639,  '  Animadversiones  in 
Theses  D.  Henrici  le  Roy/  Leyden,  1640,  and 
'  Antidotum  adversus  Spongium  venatum 
Henrici  Regii,' Leyden,  1640,  are  furtherargu- 
ments  on  the  same  subject.  Harvey  made 
no  reply.  In  1631  Primrose  published  at 
Oxford  *  Academia  Monspeliensis  descripta,' 
4to,  dedicated  to  Thomas  Clayton,  regius 


Prince 


382 


Prince 


professor  at  Oxford,  and  in  1638,  in  London, 
'  De  Vulgi  in  Medicina  Erroribus.'  An 
English  translation  of  this  was  published  by 
Robert  Wittie,  another  physician  in  Hull,  in 
1651 .  A  French  translation  appeared  at  Lyons 
in  1689 ;  other  Latin  editions  appeared  at 
Amsterdam  in  1639  and  at  Rotterdam  in 
1658  and  1668.  It  refutes  such  doctrines  as 
that  a  hen  fed  on  gold-leaf  assimilates  the 
gold,  so  that  three  pure  golden  lines  appear 
on  her  breast ;  that  the  linen  of  the  sick  ought 
not  to  be  changed  ;  that  remedies  are  not  to 
be  rejected  for  their  unpleasantness  ;  and 
that  gold  boiled  in  broth  will  cure  consump- 
tion. Andrew  Marvell  wrote  eighteen  lines 
of  Latin  verse  and  an  English  poem  of  forty 
lines  in  praise  of  this  translation.  Wittie  pub- 
lished in  1640  in  London  an  English  version 
of  a  separate  work  by  Primrose  on  part  of  the 
same  subject,  '  The  Antimoniall  Cup  twice 
Cast.'  In  1647  Primrose  published,  at  Ley- 
den,  '  Aphorismi  necessarii  ad  doctrinam 
Medicinse  acquirendam  perutiles,'  and,  at 
Amsterdam,  in  1650,  'Enchiridion  Medi- 
cum,'  a  dull  little  digest  of  Galenic  me- 
dicine, on  the  same  general  plan  as  Nial 
O'Glacan's  treatise  [see  O'GLACAN,  NIAL], 
and  in  1651  '  Ars  Pharmaceutica,  methodus 
brevissima  de  eligendis  et  componendis 
medicinis.'  His  last  four  books  were  all 

Siblished  at  Rotterdam ;  *  De  Mulierum 
orbis,'  1655  ;  '  Destructio  Fundamentorum 
Vopisci  Fortunati  Plempii,'  1657;  'De 
Febribus,'1658 ;  and  '  Partes  duse  de  Morbis 
Puerorum,'  1659.  All  his  books  are  compi- 
lations, with  very  few  observations  of  his 
own.  He  married  Louise  de  Haukmont  at  the 
Walloon  church  in  London  in  1640  (BuKN, 
History  of  the  French  Refugees,  &c.,  1846,  p. 
32),  and  died  in  December  1659  at  Hull,  where 
he  was  buried  in  Holy  Trinity  Church. 

[Hunk's  Coll.  of  Phys.  i.  197;  Foster's 
Alumni  Oxon. ;  Lorry's  edit,  of  Astruc'sMemoires 
pour  servir  a  1'Histoire  de  la  Faculte  de  Mont- 
pelier,  1767  ;  Works.]  N.  M. 

PRINCE,  JOHN  (1643-1723),  author  of 
'  Worthies  of  Devon,'  born  at  the  '  Abbey ' 
farmhouse  in  the  parish  of  Axminster, 
Devonshire,  on  the  site  of  the  Cistercian 
abbey  of  Newenham,  was  the  eldest  son  of 
Bernard  Prince,  by  his  first  wife,  Mary, 
daughter  of  John  Crocker  of  Lyneham  in 
Yealmpton,  Devonshire.  Bernard  was  buried 
at  Axminster  on  6  Nov.  1689,  and  a  monu- 
ment to  his  memory  was  placed  in  the  church 
in  1709  by  his  eldest  son.  '  John  was  related  to 
Mrs.  Winston  Churchill's  family,  and  Marl- 
borough's  maternal  uncle,  Sir  John  Drake, 
was  his  godfather'  (WOLSELEY,  John,  Duke 
of  Marlborough,  i.  2-6).  He  matriculated 
from  Brasenose  College,  Oxford,  on  13  July 


1660,  and  graduated  B.A.  on  23  April  1664. 
When  the  nonconformists  were  ejected  from 
their  fellowships,  Lord  Petre  gave  him  in 
1663-4  a  formal  presentation  to  one  of  the 
vacancies  on  the  Petrean  foundation,  but 
the  right  of  patronage  was  not  admitted  by 
the  college  (  Worthies,  1810  edit.  pp.  632-3). 
He  was  ordained  as  curate  to  the  Rev.  Arthur 
Giffard,  rector  of  Bideford  in  North  Devon, 
and  remained  there  until  the  rector's  death 
in  March  1668-9.  His  next  post  was  at  St. 
Martin's,  Exeter,  where  he  seems  to  have 
been  curate  and  minister  until  1675,  in 
which  year  he  was  incorporated  at  Cam- 
bridge, and  graduated  M.A.  from  Caius 
College.  From  25  Dec.  1675— as  appears  by 
the  articles  of  agreement  between  the  cor- 
poration and  himself,  which  are  printed  in 
the  'Western Antiquary'  (iv.  158-60) —until 
1681  Prince  received  the  emoluments  of  the 
vicarage  of  Totnes,  Devonshire,  being  insti- 
tuted on  4  April  1676,  and  on  21  April  1681 
he  was  instituted,  on  the  presentation  of  Sir 
Edward  Seymour,  to  the  neighbouring  vicar- 
age of  Berry  Pomeroy.  In  this  pleasant 
position  he  remained  until  his  death,  on 
9  Sept.  1723,  when  he  was  buried  in  the 
chancel  of  the  church,  and  a  small  tablet  was 
placed  in  it  to  his  memory.  He  died  intes- 
tate, and  letters  of  administration  were 
granted  to  his  widow,  Gertrude,  youngest 
daughter  of  Anthony  Salter,  physician  at 
Exeter,  who  had  married  Gertrude,  daughter 
of  John  Acland.  She  was  baptised  at  St. 
Olave's,  Exeter,  on  18  Feb.  1643-4,  and  was 
buried  at  Berry  Pomeroy  on  4  Feb.  1724-5. 
Prince's  great  work  was  the  chatty  and 
entertaining  '  Damnonii  Orientales  Illustres,' 
better  known  by  its  further  title  '  The 
Worthies  of  Devon.'  The  first  edition  came 
out  in  1701,  with  a  dedication  'from  my 
study,  Aug.  6,  1697.'  The  manuscript  ma- 
terials on  which  it  is  based  were  a  transcript 
by  Prince  of  the  work  of  Sir  William  Pole 
[q.  v.],  now  Addit.  MS.  28649  at  the  Bri- 
tish Museum,  and  a  similar  transcript  of 
Westcote's  '  Devon,'  now  among  the  manu- 
scripts of  Dean  Milles  at  the  Bodleian  Li- 
brary (Trans.  Devon  Assoc.  xxiii.  161).  His 
own  library  was  small,  but  he  had  the  free 
use  of  the  very  good  library  of  the  Rev. 
Robert  Burscough  [q.  v.],  his  successor  at 
Totnes.  A  long  letter  from  him  to  Sir 
Philip  Sydenham,  on  Sir  Philip's  family  and 
on  the  second  part  of  the  '  Worthies,'  is  in 
Egerton  MS.  2035,  and  is  printed  in  the 
'Western  Antiquary '(iv.  45-6).  The  second 
volume,  which  was  left  ready  for  the  press, 
is  still  in  manuscript,  and  belongs  to  the  re- 
presentatives of  Sir  Thomas  Phillipps  [q.  v.] 
of  Cheltenham. 


Prince 


383 


Prince 


A  second  edition  of  '  The  Worthies  '  came 
out  in  1810,  under  the  editorship  of  the 
publisher,  Mr.  Rees  of  Plymouth,  with  the 
assistance  of  William  Woollcombe,  M.D.,  and 
Henry  Woollcombe,  F.S.A.  Lord  Grenville 
contributed  the  materials  for  the  notes  on  the 
Grenville  family  (DAVIDSON,  Bibl.  Devon,  p. 
135).  The  memoranda  of  George  Oliver, 
D.D.  (1781-1861)  [q.  v.],  in  his  copy  of 
*  The  Worthies/  now  in  the  possession  of  Mr. 
W.  Cotton,  are  printed  in  'Notes  and  Glean- 
ings '  (Exeter),  iv.  179  sq. 

Prince  published,  in  addition  to  three  single 
sermons:  1.  'An  humble  defence  of  the 
Exeter  Bill  in  Parliament  for  uniting  the 
Parishes,'  1674.  2.  'A  Letter  to  a  Young 
Divine,  with  brief  Directions  for  composing 
and  delivering  of  Sermons,'  1692.  'A  Cate- 
chistical  Exposition  of  the  Church  Catechism.' 
4.  '  Self-Murder  asserted  to  be  a  very  heinous 
Crime;  with  a  Prodigy  of  Providence,  con- 
taining the  wonderful  Preservation  of  a 
Woman  of  Totnes,'  1709.  Several  unpublished 
sermons  and  tracts  by  him  are  mentioned  by 
Wood,  and  the  insertions  between  brackets 
in  the  text  of  Westcote's  '  View  of  Devon- 
shire, and  Pedigrees  of  most  of  its  Gentry,' 
as  printed  in  1845,  were  from  Prince's  notes. 
They  are  described  as  containing  many  errors 
(WESTCOTE,  View,  p.  v). 

[Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  iv.  608-9,  Fasti,  ii. 
277  ;  Rogers's  Memorials  of  the  West,  pp.  26-9; 
Davidson's  Newenham  Abbey,  pp.  217-24  ;  Pul- 
man's  Book  of  the  Axe,  1875  edit.,  pp.  403,  666, 
707  ;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon. ;  Trans.  Devon 
Assoc.  xxv.  416—30,  by  Winslow  Jones,  embody- 
ing the  facts  collected  by  Edward  Windeatt  in 
the  Plymouth  Inst.  Trans,  vol.  vi.]  W.  P.  C. 

PRINCE,  JOHN  CRITCHLEY  (1808- 
1866),  poet,  born  at  Wigan,  Lancashire,  on 
21  June  1808,  was  the  son  of  a  reed-maker  for 
weavers,  a  man  of  drunken  habits,  careless 
of  his  family,  and  ever  immersed  in  poverty. 
Young  Prince  learned  to  read  and  write  at 
a  baptist  Sunday-school,  and  at  nine  years  of 
age  was  set  to  practise  reed-making,  as  a 
help  to  his  father.  As  he  grew  up  his  chief 
solace  amid  tedious  toil  and  privation  was 
got  from  the  few  story  and  poetry  books 
which  he  managed  to  procure.  He  worked 
with  his  father  for  ten  years,  living  in  turn 
at  Wigan  and  Manchester,  and  at  Hyde  in 
Cheshire ;  and  towards  the  end  of  1826  or 
beginning  of  1827,  before  he  was  nineteen, 
he  married  a  girl  named  Orme,  at  Hyde. 
This  step  only  plunged  him  into  deeper  dis- 
tress. In  1830  he  was  tempted  to  go  in 
search  of  work  to  St.  Quentin  in  Picardy ; 
but  on  reaching  that  place  he  found  that  the 
revolution  of  July  1830  had  paralysed  busi- 


ness, and  after  a  stay  of  two  months  he 
made  his  way  by  Paris  to  Miilhausen,  where 
again  he  was  doomed  to  disappointment. 
He  underwent  many  hardships  on  his  tramp 
to  Calais,  and  from  Dover  to  Manchester, 
where  he  found  his  miserable  home  broken 
up  and  wife  and  children  sent  to  the  poor- 
house  at  Wigan. 

He  began  to  write  verses  in  1827,  and 
from  the  following  year  he  was  an  occasional 
contributor  to  the  <  Phoenix '  and  other  local 
periodicals.  In  1840  he  brought  out  his 
first  volume,  entitled  <  Hours  with  the 
Muses,'  which  at  once  attracted  much  atten- 
tion, partly  by  its  own  merits,  and  partly  on 
account  of  the  position  of  its  author,  who 
was  at  that  time  working  as  a  factory  opera- 
tive at  Hyde.  He  soon  after  gave  up  this 
situation,  and  for  a  time  kept  a  small  shop 
in  _  Manchester.  Thenceforward  he  lived 
chiefly  by  the  sale  of  his  poems.  He  un- 
fortunately fell  into  habits  of  dissipation, 
and  his  unthriftiness  baffled  all  the  efforts  of 
his  friends  to  help  him  effectually.  He  once 
had  a  grant  of  50/.  from  the  royal  bounty. 

In  1841  he  was  one  of  the  leading  spirits 
in  the  formation  of  a  short-lived  '  Literary 
Association'  which  met  at  the  Sun  Inn, 
Manchester,  and  next  year  he  undertook  a 
journey  on  foot  to  London,  recording  his 
impressions  and  experiences  in  a  series  of 
letters  to  'Bradshaw's  Journal,'  edited  by 
George  Falkner.  From  1845  to  1851  he  was 

editor— at  an  annual  salary  of  12/. of  the 

'Ancient  Shepherd's  Quarterly  Magazine,' 
published  at  Ashton-under-Lyne. 

Besides  the  '  Hours  with  the  Muses,'  of 
which  six  editions  were  issued  between  1840 
and  1857,  Prince  published:  1.  *  Dreams  and 
Realities,' Ashton-under-Lyne,  1847.  2. 'The 
Poetic  Rosary,'  Manchester,  1850.  3.  '  Au- 
tumn Leaves,'  Hyde,  1856.  4.  'Miscella- 
neous Poems,'  1861.  A  collected  edition  of 
his  poetical  works  was  published,  in  two 
volumes,  by  Dr.  R.  A.  Douglas  Lithgow  in 
1880.  The  characteristics  of  Prince's  writings 
are  ^  sweetness  and  simplicity.  Within  his 
limited  range  he  is  admirable.  His  command 
and  flow  of  language  are  remarkable  when 
his  education  and  surroundings  are  consi- 
dered. He  was  himself  conscious  of  his 
own  limitations;  as  he  says,  'the  power  to 
think  and  utter  great  things  belongs  to  few, 
and  I  am  not  one  of  them.' 

He  lost  his  first  wife  in  September  1858, 
and  married  again  in  March  1862.  His  second 
wife,  Ann  Taylor,  was  a  woman  of  his  own 
class  and  of  about  his  own  age.  He  died 
at  Hyde  on  5  May  1866,  and  was  buried  at 
St.  George's  Church  in  that  town;  one 
daughter  survived  him. 


Prince 


384 


Pring 


[Life,  by  R.  A.  Douglas  Lithgow,  1880  (with 
portrait) ;  Procter's  Byegone  Manchester,  1880 
(with  portrait  by  W.  Morton,  taken  in  1852), 
and  Literary  Reminiscences,  1860  (with  woodcut 
of  the  same  portrait) ;  Axon's  Cheshire  Glean- 
ings, 1884;  Evans's  Lancashire  Authors,  1850; 
Manchester  Weekly  Times,  Supplement,  7  Jan. 
1871  (article  by  J.  Dawson);  Ben  Brierley's 
Journal,  1871  ;  Manchester  Guardian,  26  May, 
2  June,  21  July  1841.]  C.  W.  S. 

PRINCE,  JOHN  HENRY  (fl.  1818), 
author,  born  on  21  May  1770  in  the  parish 
of  St.  Mary,  Whitechapel,  was  son  of  George 
Prince,  originally  of  Dursley,  Gloucester- 
shire, by  his  wife,  Dorothy  Dixon.  He  was 
educated  in  the  charity  school  of  St.  Mary's, 
Whitechapel;  he  started  life  as  errand 
boy  to  a  tallow-chandler,  and  eventually, 
about  1790,  became  clerk  to  an  attorney  in 
Carey  Street,  Lincoln's  Inn.  Dismissed  after 
three  years'  service,  he  entered  another  office, 
and  a  year  later  became  secretary  to  a  re- 
tired solicitor,  who  gave  him  access  to  an 
excellent  library.  His  weekly  salary  was 
only  half  a  guinea,  but  he  deemed  it  suffi- 
cient to  maintain  a  wife,  and  was  married  on 
29  May  1794.  One  child,  a  daughter,  was 
the  fruit  of  this  union.  From  1796,  when 
an  essay  from  his  pen  *  On  Detraction  and 
Calumny'  appeared  in  the  'Lady's  Maga- 
zine/ he  began  to  turn  out  articles  and 
pamphlets  on  the  most  varied  subjects.  He 
left  his  patron  in  1797,  and  served  with 
several  firms  of  solicitors.  Besides  his  literary 
and  legal  work,  he  found  time  to  act  for  a 
while  as  minister  of  Bethesda  Chapel — a 
methodist  congregation — and  was  prominent 
in  debating  societies,  such  as  the  London  and 
Westminster  Forums.  A  religious  organisa- 
tion of  his  own,  of  a  methodistical  type,  had 
a  short-lived  existence. 

In  1813  he  was  living  at  Islington  (Gent. 
Mag.  1813,  ii.  18),  and  in  1818  he  pub- 
lished a  small  legal  treatise  on  conveyancing. 
The  date  of  his  death  is  unknown. 

He  wrote,  besides  ephemeral  tracts  in- 
cluding three  letters  (1801-2)  attacking 
Joseph  Proud  [q.  v.]  :  1.  'A  Defence  of  the 
People  denominated  Methodists/  London, 
1797,  8vo.  2.  '  Original  Letters  and  Essays 
on  moral  and  entertaining  Subjects,  1797, 
8vo.  3.  '  Observations  on  the  Act  for  In- 
corporating the  London  Company,  including 
Remarks  on  the  Dearness  of  Bread,  and  on 
Monopoly,  Forestalling,  and  Regrating/  4th 
edit.  1802,  8vo.  4.  '  The  Christian's  Duty 
to  God  and  the  Constitution  at  all  Times, 
but  especially  at  this  critical  Juncture/  1804, 
8vo,  3rd  edit.  5.  'Remarks  on  the  best 
Method  of  barring  Dower/  1805,  8vo  (re- 
published,  with  additions,  1807).  6.  '  The 


Life,  Pedestrian  Excursions,  and  singular 
opinions  of  J.  H.  P.,  Bookseller  .  .  .  Written 
by  himself/  1806,  8vo.  7.  'Original  Pre- 
cedents in  Conveyancing,  with  Notes  and 
Directions  for  drawing  or  settling  Con- 
veyances/ 1818,  8vo. 

[Autobiography,  No.  6  above,  and  other 
works ;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat.]  E.  G.  H. 

PRING,  MARTIN  (1580-1626  ?),  sea  cap- 
tain, son  of  John  Pring  of  Awliscombe,  De- 
vonshire, was,  in  1603,  captain  of  the  Speed- 
well, a  vessel  of  fifty  tons  burden,  which, 
together  with  a  small  barque  named  the 
Discoverer,  was  fitted  out  by  some  Bris- 
tol merchants,  and  in  great  part  by  John 
Whiston,  the  mayor,  for  a  voyage  to  North 
Virginia,  under  license  from  Sir  Walter  Ra- 
legh. They  sailed  from  Milford  Haven  on 
10  April,  and,  passing  by  the  Azores,  came 
among  a  great  number  of  small  islands — 
apparently  in  Casco  Bay — and  through  them 
to  the  mainland  in  lat.  43°  30'  N.  Then, 
turning  to  the  southward  along  the  coast, 
treating  with  the  Indians,  they  came  into 
'  that  great  gulf '  which  Bartholomew  Gos- 
nold  [q.  v.]  had  '  over-shot '  the  year  before, 
and  named  it  Whiston  Bay.  It  is  now 
known  as  Cape  Cod  Bay.  Here  they  filled 
up  with  sassafras,  and,  carrying  away  also  a 
bark  canoe — the  first,  it  would  seem,  taken 
to  England — they  arrived  at  Bristol  on  2  Oct., 
where  they  reported  the  land  they  had  visited 
to  be  f  full  of  God's  good  blessings/  and  the 
sea  'replenished  with  great  abundance  of 
excellent  fish'  (PuKCHAS,  iv.  1654-6).  In 
March  1604  Pring  sailed  from  Woolwich  as 
master  of  the  Olive  Plant,  otherwise  called 
the  Phoenix,  with  Captain  Charles  Leigh 
[q.  v.],  on  a  voyage  to  Guiana,  and  arrived 
on  22  May  in  the  Wyapoco  (now  Oyapok), 
where  Leigh  proposed  to  form  a  settlement. 
His  men,  however,  revolted  against  the  hard 
fare  and  the  labour  of  felling  the  trees,  and, 
led  on  by  Pring,  insisted  on  returning  home. 
Eventually  they  agreed  to  stay,  but  Pring 
was  sent  on  board  a  Dutch  ship  in  the  river, 
which  carried  him  to  England  (ib.  iv.  1253, 
1260).  In  October  1606  he  went  out  to  Vir- 
ginia in  an  expedition  fitted  out  by  Sir  John 
Popham  [q.  v.],  and '  brought  back  with  him/ 
wrote  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  'the  most 
exact  discovery  of  that  coast  that  ever  came 
to  my  hands  since,  and  indeed  he  was  the 
best  able  to  perform  it  of  any  I  met  withal, 
to  this  present '  (  The  Advancement  of  Planta- 
tions, Jc.,  p.  6). 

It  appears  probable  that  in  1608  Pring  en- 
tered the  service  of  the  East  India  Company. 
In  January  161 3-4  he  was  master  of  the  com- 
pany's ship  New  Year's  Gift,  and  on  the  17th 


Pringle 


385 


Pringle 


was  reprimanded  for  sleeping  out  of  the  ship, 
then  preparing  for  a  voyage.  She  returned 
to  England  in  June  1616.  In  the  following 
February  he  was  appointed  captain  of  the 
James  Royal  and  general  of  the  voyage.  He 
arrived  at  Bantam  on  22  Oct.  1618,  and  was 
shortly  afterwards  joined  there  by  Sir  Thomas 
Dale  [q.  v.]  When  Dale  left,  the  James 
Royal  remained  behind,  and  did  not  join  him 
till  after  the  battle  in  Jacatra  Bay.  As  the 
need  for  her  had  then  passed,  she  was  sent 
back  to  Bantam,  where,  in  March  1619,  Pring 
discovered  an  intention  among  the  crew  to 
mutiny.  Five  seamen  he  flogged;  but  in 
writing  to  the  court  of  directors  he  com- 
plained vehemently  of  the  policy  of  sending 
out  such  men  as  '  this  incorrigible  scum  of 
rascals — sea-gulls,  sea-apes — whom  the  land 
hath  ejected  for  their  wicked  lives  and  un- 
godly behaviour'  (Cal.  State  Papers,  East 
Indies,  23  March  1619).  On  the  death  of 
Dale  in  the  summer  of  1619,  Pring  remained 
general  of  the  company's  ships ;  but  the  war 
with  the  Dutch  was  not  prosecuted.  The 
idea  which  seems  to  have  directed  Pring's 
conduct  was  that,  in  true  policy,  the  English 
and  Dutch  should  unite,  should  overthrow 
the  King  of  Spain,  and  thus  have  a  monopoly 
of  the  trade  ;  buy  all  commodities  in  India, 
and  sell  them  in  Europe,  at  such  price  as 
they  pleased,  whereby  they  might  '  expect 
both  wealth  and  honour,  the  two  main  pillars 
of  earthly  happiness.'  In  March  1620  he  re- 
ceived news  of  the  peace  which  had  been  ar- 
ranged at  home,  and  immediately  fraternised 
with  the  Dutch  (ib.  21  Dec.  1620).  Pring 
remained  in  eastern  seas  during  the  year, 
and  returned  to  England  in  1621,  arriving 
in  the  Downs  on  18  Sept. 

On  the  passage  home,  the  officers  and  men 
of  the  James  Royal  made  a  subscription  to- 
wards the  building  of  a  free  school  in  Vir- 
ginia. The  sum  raised  amounted  to  70/.  8s.  6d., 
of  which  Pring  contributed  6/.  13s.  kd.  (ten 
marks);  this  was  paid  over  to  the  Virginia  Com- 
pany at  a  court  on  21  Nov.  1621 .  On  3  July 
1622  Pring  was  made  a  freeman  of  the  com- 
pany, and  was  granted  two  shares  of  land  in 
Virginia,  '  in  regard  of  the  contribution 
whereof  he  was  an  especial  furtherer.'  Mean- 
time the  court  of  the  East  India  Company, 
whose  servant  he  was,  was  taking  a  less  favour- 
able view  of  his  conduct  in  India.  He 
was  charged  with  having  carried  on  private 
trade,  contrary  to  his  bond  and  covenant ;  in 
the  business  of  the  company  'he  had  not 
carried  himself  like  a  man  that  understood 
his  command ; '  he  was  a  good  navigator,  but 
a  bad  officer.  When  the  news  of  the  peace 
arrived,  '  he  had  so  far  undervalued  the 
honour  of  his  commission  and  of  the  English 

VOL.  XLVI. 


nation'  as  to  go  three  times  on  board  the 
Dutch  general's  ship,  whereas  the  Dutchman 
had  never  once  come  on  board  his;  and, 
worst  of  all, '  he  had  embraced  the  accord 
with  the  Dutch  without  first  insisting  upon 
such  restitution  as  was  warranted  by  the 
articles '  (ib.  24-6  Oct.  1621).  It  was  for  a 
time  in  contemplation  to  prosecute  him  for 
breach  of  his  agreement  and  other  alleged 
misconduct ;  the  matter  was  eventually  al- 
lowed to  drop ;  but  when  Pring,  with  truly 
admirable  impudence,  applied  for  a  '  gratifi- 
cation,' he  was  told  that  'forty  marks  a 
month  for  so  many  years  was  sufficient,  and 
more  than  he  deserved.'  His  pay  had,  in 
fact,  been  fixed  at  forty  marks  on  his  agree- 
ing to  give  up  private  trade.  He  is  believed 
to  have  made  a  voyage  to  Virginia  in  1626, 
and  to  have  died  in  Bristol  shortly  after  his 
return.  He  was  buried  at  St.  Stephen's 
Church,  Bristol,  where  there  is  a  monument 
to  his  memory.  His  daughter  Alice  mar- 
ried Andrews,  son  of  William  Burrell,  a 
commissioner  of  the  navy. 

[Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United  States ;  Pur- 
chas  his  Pilgrimes,  i.  631 ;  Cal.  State  Papers, 
East  Indies.]  J.  K.  L. 

PRINGLE,  ANDREW,  LOKD  ALEMOOR 
(d.  1 776),  solicitor-general  for  Scotland  and 
lord  of  session,  was  eldest  son  of  John  Pringle, 
lord  of  session,  under  the  title  of  Lord  Ham- 
ing,  by  his  wife  Anne,  eldest  daughter  of  Sir 
John  Murray  of  Phiiiphaugh.  He  was  ad- 
mitted advocate  at  the  Scottish  bar  in  1740, 
appointed  sheriff  of  Wigton  in  1750,  and  in 
the  following  year  was  named  sheriff  of  Sel- 
kirk. On  5  July  1755  he  was  named  solicitor- 
general,  and  on  14  June  1759  he  was  raised  to 
the  bench  as  Lord  Alemoor,  the  title  being 
taken  from  a  property  which  he  had  acquired 
in  Selkirkshire.  He  was  also  at  the  same  time 
appointed  a  lord  of  justiciary. 

Pringle  was  a  lay  elder  of  the  general 
assembly  of  the  kirk  in  1757,  when  John 
Home  [q.  v.]  was  libelled  on  account  of  the 
performance  of  his  play  of '  Douglas,'  and  he 
spoke  in  Home's  favour.  He  also  spoke  in 
favour  of  Dr.  Alexander  Carlyle  [q.  v.]  when 
he  was  cited  before  the  synod  of  Lothian 
and  Tweeddale  for  his  attendance  at  the 
performance  of  Home's  play  in  the  Edin- 
burgh Theatre  (ALEXANDER  CARLYLE,  Auto- 
biography, p.  321).  He  died  at  Hawkhill, 
near  Edinburgh,  on  14  Jan.  1776.  As  he 
was  unmarried, he  was  succeeded  in  his  estates 
by  his  second  brother,  John  Pringle  of  Hain- 
iiig,  who  had  purchased  Ilaining  on  the  death 
of  his  father,  and  cleared  oft' the  encumbrances 
on  it. 

Lord  Alemoor  had  in  his  day  an  unrivalled 

c  c 


Pringle 


386 


Pringle 


reputation  as  a  lawyer   and  pleader.     Dr. 

union  that 
Scottish, 
and  the 

character  of  his  eloquence  is  described  in 
some  detail  by  Dr.  Somerville,  who  states 
that  he  was  the  most  admired  speaker  at  the 
Scottish  bar  in  the  middle  of  last  century, 
and  that  he  had  never  been  surpassed  by  any 
one  at  the  bar  or  on  the  bench  since  that 
period.  '  His  language,'  says  Somerville, '  was 
pure  and  nervous,  his  argument  the  most 
sound  and  substantial,  shortly  and  distinctly 
stated,  and  strictly  applicable  to  the  point 
under  discussion.  Nothing  appeared  to  be 
studied  for  effect ;  he  used  no  action  nor  arti- 
ficial embellishment,  but  the  native  dignity 
of  his  manner  and  the  force  and  perspicuity  of 
his  reasoning  always  commanded  attention' 
(Own  Life  and  Times,  p.  108). 

[Brunton  and  Haig's  Senators  of  the  College 
of  Justice,  p.  523  ;  Dr.  Carlyle's  Autobiography; 
Dr.  Somerville's  Own  Life  and  Times  ;  Craig- 
Brown's  Hist,  of  Selkirkshire,  ii.  309-10.] 

T.  F.  H. 

PRINGLE,  GEORGE  (1631-1689),  of 
Torwoodlee,  eldest  son  of  James  Pringle  of 
Torwoodlee,by  his  second  wife,  Janet,  daugh- 
ter of  Sir  Lewis  Craig  of  Riccarton,  was  born 
on  7  Feb.  1631.  The  Pringles  of  Torwoodlee, 
Selkirkshire,  are  descended  from  the  Pringles 
of  Snailholm,  Roxburghshire,  the  first  of  the 
name  being  George,  son  of  William  Pringle 
of  Snailholm  who  was  killed  at  Flodden  in 
1513.  This  George  Pringle  was  murdered 
in  his  own  house  by  a  party  of  Liddesdale 
reivers  in  1568.  The  subject  of  the  present 
notice  was  the  brother-in-law  of  Walter 
Pringle  [q.  v.]  of  Greenknowe,  and,  like  him, 
a  zealous  covenanter,  but  both,  with  other 
covenanters,  fought  against  Cromwell  at  Dun- 
bar.  He  was  present  with  Pringle  of  Green- 
knowe when  the  latter,  as  he  was  returning 
from  a  visit  to  his  wife,  had  an  encounter  with 
one  of  the  soldiers  of  Cromwell,  in  which  the 
soldier  was  killed.  Ultimately,  however,  he 
and  his  father  made  their  peace  with  Crom- 
well, and  in  1655  they  were  both  gazetted 
commissioners  of  supply  for  Selkirkshire  by 
Cromwell's  officers.  He*  succeeded  his  father 
in  Torwoodlee  in  1657,  and  in  1659  was  ap- 
pointed sheriff  of  Selkirkshire  by  Richard 
Cromwell.  After  the  Restoration  he  in  1662 
accepted  the  king's  pardon,  but  was  burdened 
with  a  fine  of  1,800  J.  From  then  until  1681  he 
lived  in  retirement,  taking  no  active  part  in 
public  affairs.  '  Though  he  did  not  conform  to 
prelacy,'  says  Wodrow,  *  yet  he  had  no  share 
in  those  struggles  for  religion  and  liberty  at 
Pentland  and  Bothwell.'  Nevertheless  '  his 
home  was  a  sanctuary  for  all  the  oppressed 


that  came  to  him,  and  these  were  neither 
few  nor  of  the  meanest  quality'  (Sufferings 
of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  iv.  228).  When 
the  Earl  of  Argyll  escaped  from  prison  on 
20  Dec.  1681,  he  rode  to  an  alehouse  at 
Torwoodlee,  near  the  mansion  of  Pringle, 
who  met  him  there,  and  sent  him  to  the 
house  of  William  Veitch  [q.  v.]  in  North- 
umberland (Memoirs  of  Veitch,  ed.  M'Crie, 
p.  151).  Pringle  was  one  of  those  named  by 
William  Carstares  as  being  concerned  in  the 
Rye  House  plot  (LATJDEK  OF  FOUNTAINHALL, 
Historical  Notices,  p.  556),  and  it  was  at  his 
house  that  the  Scottish  conspirators  were 
accustomed  to  meet  (ib.  p.  590).  After  its 
discovery  he  made  his  escape  to  Holland,  and 
during  his  absence  he  was  libelled  for  treason, 
and  his  estates  were  confiscated  by  parlia- 
ment. He  was  among  those  twelve  exiles 
who  on  7  April  1685  met  at  Amsterdam, 
and  constituted  themselves  a  council  '  for 
the  recovery  of  the  religion,  rights,  and 
liberties  of  the  kingdom  of  Scotland,'  and 
was  sent  by  Argyll  to  the  south  of  Scotland 
to  prepare  the  people  there  for  the  invasion. 
On  the  failure  of  Argyll's  expedition  he  again 
escaped  to  Holland.  At  the  Revolution  he 
returned  to  Scotland,  and  he  was  a  member 
of  the  Convention  parliament  which  offered 
the  crown  to  William  and  Mary.  The  decree 
of  attainder  against  him  was  removed,  and 
he  was  restored  to  his  estate.  He  died  in 
May  1689.  By  his  wife,  Janet  Brodie  of 
Lethem  in  Morayshire,  he  had  one  son,  James, 
who  succeeded  him,  and  two  daughters : 
Anne,  married  to  Alexander  Don  of  Ruther- 
ford, and  Sophia  to  James  Pringle  of  Green- 
knowe. The  son,  who  was  only  sixteen 
years  of  age  when  his  father  first  took  refuge 
in  Holland,  remained  at  home,  but  was  seized 
and  imprisoned  in  the  castle  of  Edinburgh, 
only  being  released  after  finding  surety  in 
500/.  On  the  failure  of  Argyll's  expedition 
he  was  also  again  seized  and  confined  for 
some  time  in  Blackness  Castle. 

[Wodrow's  Sufferings  of  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land; Lauder  of  Fountainhall's  Historical  No- 
tices ;  Memoirs  of  William  Veitch,  ed.  M'Crie  ; 
Memoirs  of  Walter  Pringle  of  Greenknowe; 
Craig-Brown's  Hist,  of  Selkirkshire,  i.  460-6.1 

T.  F.  H. 

PRINGLE,  SIE  JOHN  (1707-1782), 
physician,  born  10  April  1707,  was  youngest 
son  of  Sir  John  Pringle,  second  baronet,  of 
Stitchel,  Roxburghshire,  by  his  wife  Mag- 
dalen, sister  of  Sir  Gilbert  Elliott,  bart.,  of 
Stobs.  Robert  Pringle  [q.  v.]  and  Sir  Walter 
Pringle  [q.  v.]  were  his  uncles.  He  was 
sent  at  an  early  age  to  the  university  of  St. 
Andrews,  to  be  educated  under  his  uncle, 
Francis  Pringle,  professor  of  Greek,  and  in 


Pringle 


3*7 


Pringle 


October  1727  entered  the  university  of  Edin- 
burgh. Being  at  that  time  intended  for  a 
commercial  life,  he  remained  only  a  year  at 
Edinburgh,  and  was  then  sent  to  Amsterdam 
to  gain  a  knowledge  of  business.  While  living 
there  he  paid  a  visit  to  Leyden,  and  heard  a  lec- 
ture on  medicine  by  the  celebrated  Boerhaave, 
which  so  impressed  him  that  he  determined  to 
devote  himself  to  medicine.  He  accordingly 
entered  on  that  study  at  Leyden,  having 
among  his  teachers  Boerhaave  'and  Albinus. 
While  a  student  he  made  the  valuable  friend- 
ship of  Van  Swieten,  afterwards  the  eminent 
professor  of  medicine  at  Vienna.  He  graduated 
M.D.  on  20  July  1730,  with  an  inaugural  dis- 
sertation '  De  Marcore  Senili'  (Leyden,  4to), 
and  completed  his  medical  studies  at  Paris.  On 
returning  to  Scotland,  Pringle  settled  down  as 
a  physician  in  Edinburgh.  A  few  years  later, 
in  March  1734,  he  was  appointed  joint  pro- 
fessor of  pneumatics  [metaphysics]  and  moral 
philosophy,  and  regularly  lectured  on  these 
subjects,  taking  the  opportunity,  it  is  said, 
strongly  to  recommend  the  study  of  Bacon. 

This  appointment  did  not  prevent  Pringle 
from  continuing  to  practise  medicine,  and  in 
1742  he  received  a  commission  as  physician 
to  the  Earl  of  Stair,  commander  of  the  Bri- 
tish forces  on  the  continent,  being  also  ap- 
pointed physician  to  the  military  hospital 
in  Flanders.  He  did  not  resign  his  Edin- 
burgh professorship,  but  was  allowed  to  per- 
form the  duties  by  deputy.  Pringle  went 
through  the  German  campaign,  and  was 
present  at  the  battle  of  Dettingen  (27  June 
1743) .  The  retirement  of  his  patron,  the  Earl 
of  Stair,  did  not  retard  his  promotion,  for  in 
1744  he  was  made,  by  the  Duke  of  Cumber- 
land, physician-general  to  the  forces  in  Flan- 
ders [see  DALKYMPLE,  JOHN,  second  EAKL  OF 
STAIR].  On  receiving  this  appointment  he 
finally  resigned  his  professorship  at  Edin- 
burgh. In  1745  he  was  recalled  to  attend  the 
forces  sent  against  the  Jacobites ;  and,  accom- 
pany ing  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  to  Scotland, 
was  present  at  Culloden.  In  the  two  years 
following  he  was  with  the  British  army  on 
the  continent,  and  returned  in  the  autumn 
of  1748,  on  the  conclusion  of  peace. 

Pringle  now  settled  in  London,  with  a 
view  to  practice,  but  continued  to  hold  the 
post  of  physician  to  the  army,  and  attended 
the  camps  in  England  for  three  seasons.  On 
5  July  1758  he  was  admitted  licentiate  of 
the  Royal  College  of  Physicians,  and  on 
25  June  1763  was  chosen  a  fellow  speciali 
gratia  (as  not  being  a  graduate  of  Oxford  or 
Cambridge).  Numerous  honours  were  be- 
stowed upon  him  by  the  royal  family.  In 
1749  he  was  made  physician-in-ordinary 
to  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  in  1761  to  the 


queen,  and  in  1774  received  the  highest 
court  appointment  as  physician  to  the  king, 
who  in  1766  conferred  upon  him  a  baronetcy. 
Pringle  married,  on  14  April  1752,  Char- 
lotte, second  daughter  of  Dr.  William  Oliver 
[q.  v.]  of  Bath,  but  his  wife  died  a  few 
years  later,  without  issue. 

While  practising  with  great  success  in 
London,  Pringle  attained  a  position  of  great 
influence,  especially  in  scientific  circles. 
Having  been  made  fellow  of  the  Royal  So- 
ciety, and  having  several  times  served  on 
the  council,  he  was,  on  30  Nov.  1772,  elected 
president.  In  this  capacity  he  did  much 
towards  maintaining  the  prosperity  of  the 
society  by  encouraging  scientific  research  in 
various  departments.  The  annual  award  of 
the  Copley  medal  for  scientific  research  gave 
him  the  opportunity  of  commenting  on  the 
value  of  the  investigations  honoured  with 
that  prize  in  a  series  of  six  discourses,  which 
were  afterwards  published.  Among  their 
subjects  are  themes  as  various  as  Priestley's 
researches  on  different  kinds  of  gases,  Nevil 
Maskelyne's  observations  on  the  force  of 
gravity  in  the  mountain  Schehallion,  and 
Captain  Cook's  account  of  the  means  by 
which  he  kept  his  crews  free  from  scurvy. 
Although  the  last  only  was  cognate  to 
Pringle's  own  field  of  work,  he  discussed  all 
of  them  with  great  learning  and  much  dis- 
crimination. Pringle's  scientific  eminence 
was  recognised  by  his  being  chosen,  in  1778, 
in  succession  toLinnseus,  one  of  the  eight 
foreign  members  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences 
at  Paris,  and  by  numerous  similar  distinc- 
tions conferred  by  other  scientific  bodies  in 
Europe.  He  was  intimate  with  most  emi- 
nent scientific  men  of  his  time,  such  as 
Priestley,  Maskelyne,  and  Franklin,  and  with 
some  literary  celebrities.  Sir  Alexander 
Boswell  of  Auchinleck  and  his  son,  the 
biographer  of  Johnson,  were  his  friends  by 
hereditary  connection,  and  his  good  offices 
were  employed  in  reconciling  the  differences 
between  father  and  son.  Dr.  Johnson,  how- 
ever, could  never  be  prevailed  upon  to  meet 
Pringle.  The  objection  was  probably  not 
personal  nor  political  (though  Pringle  was  a 
staunch  whig),  but  due  to  a  want  of  sym- 
pathy in  theological  views.  Pringle  was  a 
great  student  of  divinity  (and  even,  through 
Boswell,  sought  Johnson's  advice  as  to  his 
reading  in  this  subject),  but  ultimately  he 
became  a  '  rational  Christian '  or  Unitarian, 
a  form  of  belief  very  distasteful  to  Johnson. 

In  1778  Pringle's  health  was  beginning  to 
fail,  and  he  felt  compelled  to  resign  the  pre- 
sidency of  the  Royal  Society.  In  1781  he 
removed  to  Edinburgh,  intending  to  reside 
there  permanently ;  but,  finding  the  climate 

c  c  2 


Pringle 


388 


Pringle 


unsuited  to  his  health,  and  society  changed 
from  what  it  had  been  in  his  younger  days, 
he  soon  returned  to  London.  Before  leaving 
Edinburgh  he  presented  a  manuscript  col- 
lection of  his  '  Medical  and  Physical  Obser- 
vations,' in  ten  volumes,  folio,  to  the  library 
of  the  College  of  Physicians  in  that  city.  On 
his  return  to  London  he  resumed  his  old  life, 
but  died  from  a  fit  of  apoplexy  on  18  Jan. 
1782.  He  was  buried  in  St.  James's  Church, 
Piccadilly,  and  a  monument  to  his  memory 
by  Nollekens  was  afterwards  erected  in 
Westminster  Abbey,  at  the  expense  of  his 
nephew  and  heir,  Sir  James  Pringle  of 
Stitchel.  His  portrait,  by  Sir  Joshua  Rey- 
nolds, is  in  the  possession  of  the  Royal  So- 
ciety. It  is  engraved  in  Pettigrew's '  Medical 
Portrait  Gallery  '  (vol.  ii.) 

Pringle's  great  work  in  life  was  the  re- 
form of  military  medicine  and  sanitation. 
His  experience  in  these  matters  was  very 
large,  and  it  was  reinforced  by  systematic 
observation  and  scientific  research.  He  was 
among  the  first  to  see  the  importance  of 
putrefactive  processes  in  the  production  of 
disease,  and  probably  quite  the  first  physi- 
cian to  apply  his  scientific  principles  practi- 
cally in  the  prevention  of  such  diseases  as 
dysentery  and  hospital  fever,  which  were 
the  scourge  of  armies  in  his  day.  The  sani- 
tary measures  which  he  insisted  upon  are 
now  regarded  as  essential  to  the  preservation 
of  the  health  of  troops  in  the  field  or  in 
camp.  His  book,  l  Observations  on  the 
Diseases  of  the  Army,'  published  in  1752, 
rapidly  acquired  a  European  reputation,  and 
has  ever  since  been  regarded  as  a  medical 
classic.  On  these  grounds  he  may  fairly  be 
regarded  as  the  founder  of  modern  military 
medicine,  in  distinction  from  surgery,  and  he 
has  been  recognised  as  such  by  the  most 
eminent  authorities  on  the  subject  both 
abroad  and  at  home.  His  researches  '  On 
Septic  and  Antiseptic  Substances  '  have  a 
still  wider  importance  in  relation  to  general 
medicine,  tending  in  the  same  direction  as 
recent  discoveries  which  have  obtained  an 
overwhelming  importance  in  modern  medical 
science.  They  were  first  communicated  to 
the  Royal  Society,  which  rewarded  them 
with  the  Copley  medal,  and  afterwards  in- 
corporated in  his  work  on  diseases  of  the 
army.  Along  with  these  should  be  men- 
tioned his  memoirs  on  the  gaol  fever,  or 
typhus,  which  he  showed  to  be  the  same  as 
the  hospital  fever.  This  subject  he  first 
treated  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Mead,  published  in 
]  750,  and  afterwards  in  a  communication  to  \ 
the  Royal  Society  in  1753. 

An  important  amelioration  in  the  treat- 
ment of  sick  and  wounded  soldiers  is  also 


attributed  to  Pringle.  It  was  probably  at 
his  suggestion  that  the  Earl  of  Stair,  when, 
commanding  the  British  forces  in  Germany, 
proposed  to  the  French  commander,  the  Due 
de  Noailles,  that  military  hospitals  on  either 
side  should  be  regarded  as  neutral,  and  mu- 
tually protected.  This  humane  practice  was. 
observed  throughout  the  campaign,  and  has- 
now  become  the  universal  custom  in  Euro- 
pean wars.  Few  physicians  have  rendered 
more  definite  and  brilliant  services  to  scienca 
and  humanity. 

He  wrote  :  1.  '  De  Marcore  Senili '  (in- 
augural diss.),  Leyden,  1730,  4to.  2.  '  Ob- 
servations on  the  Nature  and  Cure  of  Hos- 
pital and  Jayl  Fevers,'  London,  1750,  8vo. 
3.  '  Observations  on  the  Diseases  of  the 
Army/  London,  1752,  8vo ;  7th  edit.  1782  -r 
last  edit.  1810.  4. '  Six  Discourses  delivered 
at  the  Royal  Society,  on  occasion  of  the 
Annual  Assignment  of  the  Copley  Medal ; 
with  Life  of  the  Author  by  Andrew  Kippis, 
D.D.,'  London,  1783,  8vo.  Some  or  all  of 
these  discourses  were  published  separately 
in  4to,  1773-8  (LOWNDES).  Among  Pringle's 
contributions  to  the  '  Philosophical  Transac- 
tions,' the  most  important  are  three  papers 
on  '  Experiments  upon  Septic  and  Antisep- 
tic Substances,  with  Remarks  relating  to 
their  Use  in  the  Theory  of  Medicine,'  1750, 
vol.  xlvii. ;  and  an  '  Account  of  several  Per- 
sons seized  with  the  Gaol  Fever,  working  at 
Newgate,'  1753,  vol.  xlviii.  He  also  pub- 
lished letters  on  the  prophecies  of  Daniel, 
addressed  to  him  by  J.  D.  Michaelis,  pro- 
fessor at  Gb'ttingen,  as  '  J.  D.  Michaelis  Epi- 
stolae  de  LXX  Hebdomadis  Danielis,  ad  D.  J. 
Pringle,'  London,  1773,  8vo. 

*  A  Rational  Enquiry  into  the  Nature 
of  the  Plague,  by  John  Pringle,'  London, 
1722,  12mo,  is  by  a  namesake,  but  no  con- 
nection of  Sir  John  Pringle. 

[Life,  by  Kippis,  1783,  mentioned  above  (the 
only  original  authority);  Lives  of  British  Phy- 
sicians, 1830  ;  Munk's  Coll.  Phys.  1878,  ii.  252  ; 
Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson,  ed.  G.  B.  Hill,  pas- 
sim (see  index) ;  Allardyce's  Scotland  and  Scots- 
men in  the  Eighteenth  Century ;  Chambers's 
Bioe;r.  Diet,  of  Eminent  Scotsmen  ;  Burton's 
Hist,  of  Scotland,  viii.  552.]  J.  F.  P. 

PRINGLE,  ROBERT  (d.  1736),  politician, 
was  the  third  son  of  Sir  Robert  Pringle,  first 
baronet,  of  Stitchel,  by  his  wife,  Margaret, 
daughter  of  Sir  John  Hope,  a  lord  of  session 
under  the  title  of  Lord  Craighall.  He  was  a, 
younger  brother  of  Sir  Walter  Pringle  of 
Lochton,  lord  Newhall  [q.  v.]  After  studying 
for  some  time  at  the  university  of  Leyden, 
which  he  entered  19  Nov.  1687  (Index  to 
Leyden  Students,  p.  80),  he  took  service  under 
William,  prince  of  Orange,  with  whom  he 


Pringle 


389 


Pringle 


came  over  to  England  at  the  Revolution. 
Shortly  afterwards  he  laid  down  his  com- 
mission, and  was  appointed  under-secretary 
of  state  for  Scotland.  In  this  capacity  he 
attended  King  William  in  all  his  campaigns 
abroad  (cf.  correspondence,  Hist.  MSS.  Goinm. 
12th  Rep.  App.  pt.  viii.  p.  53).  On  18  May 
1718  he  was  appointed  secretary  at  war,  and 
he  held  that  office  until  the  24th  of  the  fol- 
lowing December.  Subsequently  he  became 
registrar-general  of  the  shipping.  He  died  at 
Rotterdam  on  13  Sept.  1736.  He  married  a 
Miss  Law,  and  had  one  son,  Robert. 

[Carstares  State  Papers;  London  Mag.  1736, 
p.  581 ;  Gent.  Mag.  1736,  p.  620.]  T.  F.  H. 

PRINGLE,  THOMAS  (1789-1834), 
Scottish  poet,  son  of  a  farmer,  was  born  at 
Blaiklaw,  Teviotdale,  Roxburghshire,  on 
5  Jan.  1789.  His  mother,  the  daughter  of 
'Thomas  Haitlie,  a  Berwickshire  farmer, 
-whom  he  lost  at  the  age  of  six,  he  affec- 
tionately memorialises  in  his  '  Autumnal 
Excursion.'  Through  an  accident  in  infancy 
Pringle  was  permanently  lame,  and  used 
crutches  (Noctes  Ambrosiance,  iv.  297).  As 
a  child  his  nurse  found  him  thoughtful,  but 

*  not  half  so  keen  of  divinity  on  a  Sunday 
as  of  history  on  a  week  day.'     After  pre- 
paration at  Kelso  grammar  school,  he  en- 
tered Edinburgh  University.    Robert  Story, 
whose  reminiscences  are  full  of  regard  for 
his  friend,  was  a  fellow-student  and  close 
companion  (LEITCH  RITCHIE,  Memoirs   of 
Pringle,  p.  20).     An  incident  in  his  college 
career  illustrates  Pringle's  enthusiastic  tem- 
perament.    He  and  his  crutches,  with  the 
aid  of  forty  or  fifty  fellow-students  armed 
with  clubs,  secured  a  favourable  first  night 
in  Edinburgh  for  Joanna  Baillie's  '  Family 
Legend,'  which  an  organised  body  of  oppo- 
nents sought  to  condemn. 

In  1811  Pringle  entered  the  Register 
Office,  Edinburgh,  as  copyist  of  old  records, 
continuing  his  service  for  several  years,  and 
giving  his  leisure  to  literature.  Dyspeptic 
and  inclined  to  religious  melancholy,  he  was 
able  in  lighter  moods  to  co-operate  with  his 
friend  Story  in  cleverly  satirising  the  Edin- 
burgh Philomathic  Society  as  'The  Insti- 
tute '  (R.  H.  STORY,  Life  of  Robert  Story, 
p.  16).  A  contribution  to  Hogg's  '  Poetic 
Mirror,'  1816,  brought  him  the  friendship  of 
Scott,  whose  manner  his  poem  imitated.  In 
a  dedication  to  Scott,  long  afterwards, 
Pringle  gracefully  said  he  had  found  the 

*  minstrel's  heart  as  noble  as  his  lay.'    Scott's 
generosity  was  proved  in  1817,  when  Pringle 
and  his  friend  Cleghorn  produced  the  first 
number  of  the  '  Edinburgh  Monthly  Maga- 
zine '  for  John  Blackwood.    Pringle's  main 


contribution  was  a  paper  on  gipsies,  based 
on  materials  supplied  by  Scott,  who  had 
thought  of  using  them  for  an  article  in  the 
'  Quarterly  Review.'  Pringle  and  Cleghorn 
edited  six  numbers  of  the  '  Edinburgh 
Monthly  Magazine,'  but  resigned  through 
disagreement  with  the  publisher.  The  chief 
result  of  the  quarrel  was  the  establishment  by 
the  publisher  of  '  Blackwood's  Magazine,'  of 
which  the  first  number  appeared  in  October 
1817,  and  which  was  managed  by  Blackwood 
himself.  Pringle,  having  now  resolved  to 
live  by  literature,  undertook  the  editorship 
of  the  '  Edinburgh  Star '  newspaper,  and  con- 
ducted for  a  time  an  '  Edinburgh  Magazine ' 
for  Constable.  Neither  venture  prospered, 
and  Pringle  returned  to  the  Register  House 
in  January  1819. 

Owing  to  his  narrow  circumstances, 
Pringle  arranged  to  emigrate  to  South 
Africa,  and  through  Scott  a  grant  of  land 
was  secured  from  Lord  Melville  for  his 
father  and  brothers.  The  government  plan 
of  colonising  required  each  party  to  contain 
at  least  ten  adult  males,  and  Pringle 
gathered  a  company  numbering  twenty-four. 
He  trusted  to  get  employment  for  himself 
in  the  civil  service  of  the  colony.  In  Fe- 
bruary 1820  they  set  sail,  his  touching  '  Emi- 
grant's Farewell'  being  a  memorial  of  the 
departure.  They  settled  in  the  upper  valley 
of  the  Baavians  river,  or  river  of  Baboons  (a 
tributary  of  the  Great  Fish  river),  and  by 
June  1821  they  owned  twenty  thousand  acres 
of  land,  under  the  name  of  Glen-Lynden. 
After  labouring  hard  to  make  the  conditions  of 
the  settlement  satisfactory,  Pringle  removed, 
with  his  wife  and  her  sister,  to  Cape  Town, 
where  he  became  librarian  in  the  public  library. 
Pringle  worked  hard  for  the  colony,  sug- 
gesting for  the  commissioners  in  1823  apian 
for  defending  the  eastern  frontier  by  a  settle- 
ment of  Hottentots,  and  in  1823-4  he  acted 
as  secretary  to  the  society  for  the  relief  of 
the  distressed  settlers  in  Albany.  He  pub- 
lished in  London  a  pamphlet  on  the  latter 
subject,  and  was  largely  instrumental  in 
collecting  for  his  purpose  7,0001.  from  Eng- 
land and  India,  and  3,000/.  in  the  colony  itself. 
Meanwhile  he  and  a  friend,  Fairbairn,  started 
a  private  academy,  which  promised  well,  and 
they  also  published  a  newspaper  and  a  maga- 
zine, '  The  South  African  Journal '  and  '  The 
South  African  Commercial  Advertiser,'  both 
of  which  were  suppressed  by  the  governor, 
Lord  Charles  Somerset.  '  Pringle  might  have 
done  well  there,'  said  Scott,  '  could  he  have 
scoured  his  brain  of  politics,  but  he  must  needs 
publish  a  whig  journal  at  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope !  He  is  a  worthy  creature,  but  conceited 
|  withal '  (ScoTT,  Journal,  i.  282).  After  the 


Pringle 


390 


Pringle 


governor's  action,  Pringle  resigned  his  posts  at 
Cape  Town,  visited  Glen-Lynden  and  found 
it  prosperous,  and  then,  with  his  wife  and  her 
sister,  proceeded  to  London,  which  he  reached 
on  7  July  1826.  The  government  at  home 
declined  to  grant  him  any  redress,  and  he 
found  himself  involved  in  heavy  expenses. 

An  article  by  Pringle  on  the  South  African 
slave  trade,  in  the  '  New  Monthly  Magazine ' 
for  October  1826,  introduced  him  to  the  notice 
of  Sir  Thomas  Fowell  Buxton  and  Zachary 
Macaulay,  and  led  to  his  appointment  in  1827 
as  secretary  to  the  Anti-Slavery  Society.  He 
inspired  enthusiasm  in  other  workers.  Clark- 
son  suggested  that  he  should  write  the  his- 
tory of  the  abolition  of  slavery ;  and  Wilber- 
force,  in  a  letter  of  January  1832,  thanked 
him  for  his  exertions,  adding,  '  I  shall  feel 
it  an  act  of  friendly  regard  if  you  will  come 
and  shake  me  by  the  hand  '  (RITCHIE,  Me- 
moirs of  Pringle,  p.  94).  In  1831  he  was  largely 
instrumental  in  enabling  Coleridge  to  retain 
his  government  annuity,  Coleridge  afterwards 
subscribing  himself,  in  a  grateful  letter,  as 
his  '  sincere  friend  and  thorough  esteemer ' 
(ib.  p.  90).  On  27  June  1834  a  document 
signed  by  Pringle  proclaimed  the  abolition 
of  slavery,  and  announced  that  the  approach- 
ing 1  Aug.  would  be  a  day  of  thanksgiving. 
The  following  day  he  became  seriously  ill, 
and  rest  and  change  seemed  imperative. 
His  friends  helped  him  to  take  out  passages 
to  Cape  Colony  for  himself  and  his  wife  and 
her  sister,  but  he  was  unable  to  start,  and 
died  in  London  5  Dec.  1834.  He  was  buried 
in  Bunhill  Fields.  An  appropriate  epitaph 
was  written  for"  his  tombstone  by  William 
Kennedy  [q.  v.] 

Pringle  married,  19  July  1817,  Margaret 
Brown,  daughter  of  an  East  Lothian  farmer, 
who  survived  him.  As  she  and  her  sister 
were  left  in  straitened  circumstances,  Leitch 
Ritchie  published,  in  their  interest,  in  1839, 
Pringle's  poems  with  a  prefatory  memoir. 

Pringle's  earlier  poems,  under  the  title 
1  Ephemerides,'  were  published  in  1828.  In 
1834  those  on  South  African  themes  were  re- 
issued as '  African  Sketches,'  the  volume  also 
including  Pringle's  vivid  and  impressive 
*  Narrative  of  his  Residence  in  South  Africa.' 
After  his  death  the  '  Narrative '  was  repub- 
lished,  with  a  biographical  notice  by  Josiah 
Conder  [q.  v.]  Several  of  the  lyrics  in '  Ephe- 
merides '  are  graceful  and  melodious,  but  the 
highest  achievement  of  the  author  is  his 
'African  Sketches.'  Of  these,  'The  Emi- 
grants '  is  a  creditable  experiment  in  Spen- 
serian verse,  concluding  with  the  tuneful 
hymn  of  'Farewell.'  There  is  a  collection  of 
passable  sonnets,  and  several  of  the  ballads 
are  meritorious.  '  The  Bechuana  Boy '  is  a 


picturesque  and  touching  narrative,  while 
'  Afar  in  the  Desert '  is  a  brilliant  study 
of  movement,  which  Coleridge  considered 
'  among  the  two  or  three  most  perfect  lyric 
poems  in  our  language  '  (RITCHIE,  Memoirs, 
p.  142).  Pringle  also  assisted  Belfrage  and 
Hay  in  their  '  Memoirs  of  Dr.  Alexander 
Waugh,'  1830,  8vo;  he  supplied  materials 
for  George  Thompson's  '  Travels  and  Ad- 
ventures in  Southern  Africa,'  1827,  4to,  and 
for  John  Philips's  '  History  of  Cape  Colony ; y 
he  was  editor  of  'Friendship's  Offering ''for 
several  years  from  its  commencement  in 
1826,  two  of  his  colleagues  being  Thomas 
Kibble  Hervey  [q.  v.]  and  Leitch  Ritchie 
[q.  v.] 

[Poetical  Works  of  Thomas  Pringle,  with  a 
Sketch  of  his  Life  by  Leitch  Ritchie ;  Lock- 
hart's  Life  of  Scott,  ed.  1837,  iv.  64,  vi.  363  ; 
Gordon's  Memoirs  of  John  Wilson,  i.  245 ; 
Noctes  Ambrosianse,  ii.  280,  iv.  297  ;  Quarterly 
Review,  1835;  Chambers's  Biographical  Dic- 
tionary of  Eminent  Scotsmen.]  T.  B. 

PRINGLE,  WALTER  (1625-1667),  of 
Greenknowe,  Berwickshire,  covenanter,  born 
in  1625,  was  the  third  son  of  Robert  Pringle, 
first  of  Stitchel,  Roxburghshire,  by  Catherine 
Hamilton  of  Silverton  Hill.  The  Pringles 
of  Stitchel  were  descended  from  the  Hop 
Pringles  of  Craiglatch  and  Newhall,  Selkirk- 
shire, a  younger  branch  of  the  Pringles  of 
Snailholm.  Robert  Pringle,  second  son  of 
George  Pringle  of  Craiglatch,  was  originally 
of  Bartinbush ;  but,  having  acquired  a  large 
fortune  by  his  profession  of  writer  to  the 
signet  in  Edinburgh,  he  in  1628  bought  the 
estate  of  Stitchel  from  Sir  John  Gordon  of 
Lochinvar,  first  viscount  Kenmure.  He  also 
in  1637  purchased  from  James  Seton  of  Touch 
and  Dame  Barbara  Cranstoun,  his  mother, 
for  himself  during  his  life,  and  then  for  his 
second  surviving  son,  Walter,  the  estate  of 
West  Gordon, Berwickshire,  'with the  manor 
place  called  Greenknowe,'  over  and  nether 
Huntly  Wood,  and  the  fourth  part  of  Fawne. 
In  1638  he  also  purchased  from  James,  third 
earl  of  Home,  various  other  lands  in  Berwick- 
shire for  the  price  of  19,000/.  Scots.  He  sat 
in  the  Scottish  parliament  as  commissioner 
for  Roxburghshire  in  1639-41.  He  was  one 
of  a  committee  appointed  by  the  parliament 
on  28  July  1641  to  proceed  against  incendi- 
aries (BALFOTJK,  Works,  ii.  22) ;  and  of  another, 
appointed  on  10  Sept.,  to  consider  the  over- 
tures for  manufactories  (ib.  p.  61).  Robert 
Pringle  died  in  1649. 

The  son,  Walter  Pringle,  when  about 
eleven  years  of  age,  was,  with  his  brother, 
placed  under  the  care  of  James  Leckie,  an 
ejected  minister  at  Stirling.  The  death  of 
Leckie  suspended  the  exercise  of  the  special 


Pringle 


391 


Pringle 


religious  influences  to  which  he  had  been  sub- 
jected at  Stirling ;  and,  according  to  his  own 
account,  there  supervened  '  several  years  of 
darkness,  deadness,  and  sinfulness,'  one  of 
which  'was  spent,  or  rather  lost,  in  Leith, 
two  at  Edinburgh  College,  five  at  home  and 
in  the  wars  (being  a  volunteer),  and  two  in 
France '  (Memoirs  in  Select  Biographies,  pub- 
lished by  the  Wodrow  Society,  i.  424).  He 
returned  home  from  France  in  June  1648,  and 
on  the  death  of  his  father,  in  May  1649,  suc- 
ceeded to  the  estate  of  Greenknowe,  Berwick- 
shire, where  the  ruined  tower  of  his  residence 
still  stands.  In  November  following  he  was 
married  at  Stow  by  James  Guthrie  [q.  v.]  to 
Janet,  second  daughter  of  James  Pringle  of 
Torwoodlee,  Selkirkshire,  and  sister  of  George 
Pringle  [q.  v.]  of  Torwoodlee.  Both  families 
held  strong  covenanting  opinions.  On  the  in- 
vasion of  Scotland  by  Cromwell  in  1652, 
Pringle  of  Greenknowe,  with  his  brother-in- 
law  of  Torwoodlee,  joined  the  covenanting 
army  which  opposed  Cromwell  at  Dunbar. 
After  the  defeat  of  the  covenanters  there  he 
took  refuge  with  his  brother-in-law  at  Tor- 
woodlee ;  and,  when  returning  one  night  from 
visiting  his  wife,  who  was  at  Stitchel,  en- 
countered an  English  trooper  on  horseback, 
whom  he  killed.  Thereupon  he  for  a  time 
took  refuge  in  Northumberland.  Shortly  after 
returning  to  Scotland  he  was  apprehended 
and  brought  to  Selkirk;  but,  on  pleading  that 
he  had  killed  the  soldier  in  self-defence,  he 
was  allowed  his  liberty  on  a  bond  for  2,000/. 
sterling.  After  the  Restoration  he  was,  on 
20  Sept.  1660,  sent  a  prisoner  to  the  castle  of 
Edinburgh,  but  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
long  detained  in  confinement.  On  19  July 
1664  he  was,  however,  brought  before  the 
court  of  high  commission  for  nonconformity. 
Being  required,  as  a  test,  to  take  the  oath  of 
allegiance,  he  affirmed  that  his  one  difficulty 
was  as  to  the  clause  relating  to  supremacy, 
and  offered  to  take  the  oath  according  to 
Bishop  Ussher's  explication,  approved  by 
James  VI.  A  heavy  fine  was  therefore  im- 
posed on  him  (Select  Biographies,  i.  453-4 ; 
WODROW,  Sufferings  of  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land, i.  394).  For  non-payment  of  the  fine 
he  was,  on  24  Nov.,  seized  and  brought  to 
the  Tolbooth  of  Edinburgh;  but  shortly 
afterwards  received  his  liberty,  on  finding 
bond  to  enter  the  burgh  of  Elgin  on  or  before 
1  Jan.  following,  and  abide  within  its  bounds 
during  the  king's  pleasure,  and,  on  the  non- 
payment of  the  fine  by  Candlemas,  to  enter 
within  the  Tolbooth  of  the  said  burgh.  On 
3  May  1665  he  petitioned  the  council  that 
since  March  last  he  had  been  imprisoned 
within  the  Tolbooth ;  and  that,  as  his  health 
had  seriously  suffered,  he  might  be  allowed 


the  limits  of  the  burgh  of  Elgin  and  one  mile 
round,  which  was  granted  on  his  finding 
caution  in  1,000/.  Scots  to  remain  within  its 
bounds.  On  6  Feb.  1666  his  friends,  with- 
out his  knowledge,  procured  from  the  court 
of  high  commission  a  change  of  his  confine- 
ment from  Elgin  to  his  own  home  at  Green- 
knowe and  three  miles  round,  on  payment 
of  200/.  sterling,  and  on  giving  a  bond  for 
his  'peaceable  and  inoffensive  behaviour.' 
Although  rather '  stumbled '  by  the  word  '  in- 
offensive,' he  accepted  the  terms.  He  died  on 
12  Dec.  1667.  He  had  six  sons  and  three 
daughters.  The '  Memoirs  of  Walter  Pringle 
of  Greenknowe,'  written  for  the  edification  of 
his  family,  was  published  in  1723,  and  re- 
published  in  1751  and  1847.  It  is  also  in- 
cluded in  vol.  i.  of  Select  Biographies, 'pub- 
lished by  the  Wodrow  Society. 

[Memoirs  ut  supra;  Wodrow's  Sufferings  of 
the  Church  of  Scotland.]  T.  F.  H. 

PRINGLE,  SIE  WALTER,  LORD  NEW- 
HALL  (1664P-1736),  Scottish  judge,  was 
second  sou  of  Sir  Robert  Pringle,  first  baronet 
of  Stitchel,  and  Margaret,  daughter  of  Sir  John 
Hope,  lord  Craighall.  Walter  Pringle  [q.  v.] 
of  Greenknowe  was  his  granduncle.  He  was 
one  of  a  family  of  nineteen  children,  thirteen 
of  whom  survived  infancy,  and  two,  besides 
himself,  Thomas  and  Robert  (c?.1736)  [q.v.], 
were  distinguished  in  law  and  politics.  Wal- 
ter, born  about  1664,  succeeded  to  the  estate 
of  Lochton.  He  was  admitted  advocate  on 
10  Dec.  1687,  and  became  one  of  the  leaders  of 
the  Scottish  bar.  His  promotion  to  the  bench 
was  long  delayed,  and  he  was  passed  over 
in  the  interest  of  several  advocates  who  were 
inferior  to  him  in  attainments  [see  ELLIOT, 
SIE  GILBERT,  LORD  MINTO],  It  was  not  until 
Sir  Gilbert  Elliot's  death  in  1718  that  Pringle 
was  made  a  judge.  On  6  June  in  that  year  he 
took  his  seat,  with  the  title  of  Lord  Newhall, 
and  was  knighted  at  the  same  time,  and  made 
a  lord  of  justiciary.  According  to  Ty  tier,  his 
high  personal  qualities  gave  him  a  'permanent 
name  in  the  annals  of  Scottishjurisprudence.' 
Upon  his  death,  on  14  Dec.  1736,  a  unique  tri- 
bute was  paid  to  his  remains,  his  funeral  being 
attended  by  his  judicial  colleagues  in  their 
robes  of  office.  The  faculty  of  advocates  en- 
grossed in  their  minutes  a  special  eulogy  on 
Pringle,  written  by  Sir  Robert  Dundas  of 
Arniston,  then  dean  of  faculty.  Pringle  mar- 
ried a  daughter  of  Johnston  of  Hilton,  and 
had  issue.  His  direct  line  failed  in  the  third 
generation,  and  his  estate  of  Lochton  fell  to 
Sir  John  Pringle  of  Stitchel.  His  niece  Ka- 
therine  was  married  to  William  Hamilton 
(1704-1754)  [q.  v.]  of  Bangour,  the  poet,  who 
wrote  a  poetical  epitaph  on  Pringle.  Pringle's 


Prinsep 


392 


Prinsep 


portrait  was  painted  by  Allan  and  engraved 
by  R.  Cooper. 

[Tytler's  Life  of  Lord  Kames,  i.  31  ;  Brunton 
and  Haig's  Senators  of  the  College  of  Justice,  p. 
495 ;  Grant's  Old  and  New  Edinburgh,  i.  161.] 

A.  H.  M. 

PRINSEP,  HENRY  THOBY  (1792- 
1878),  Indian  civil  servant,  was  the  fourth 
son  of  John  Prinsep.  The  latter,  having 
gone  out  to  India  as  a  military  cadet  during 
the  period  which  intervened  between  the  re- 
tirement of  Olive  from,  and  the  appointment 
of  Warren  Hastings  to,  the  government  of 
Bengal,  had  resigned  the  military  service 
and  made  a  considerable  fortune  in  trade. 
He  trafficked  chiefly  in  indigo,  of  which 
industry  he  may  be  regarded  as  the  founder, 
and  introduced  into  Bengal  the  printing  of 
cotton  fabrics.  He  returned  to  England  in 
1788  and  settled  at  Thoby  Priory  in  Essex ; 
he  was  M.P.  for  Queenborough,  1802-6,  and 
an  alderman  of  the  city  of  London.  He 
published  in  ]  789  '  A  Review  of  the  Trade 
of  the  East  India  Company,'  London,  8vo, 
and  this  was  followed  by  pamphlets  upon 
the  cultivation  of  the  sugar-cane  in  Bengal 
and  upon  other  East  Indian  topics  (cf. 
WATT,  Bibl  Brit.}  In  his  later  life,  after 
considerable  losses  in  trade,  his  city  influence 
procured  his  appointment  as  bailiff"  to  the 
court  of  the  borough  of  Southwark,  with  a 
salary  of  1,500/.  a  year  (cf.  Pantheon  of  the 
Age,  1825,  ii.  187).  He  married,  while  in 
India,  a  sister  of  James  Peter  Auriol,  secretary 
to  the  government  of  Warren  Hastings. 

His  son,  Henry  Thoby,  was  born  at  Thoby 
Priory  on  15  July  1793  ;  he  commenced  his 
education  under  a  private  tutor,  and  at  the  age 
of  thirteen  joined  Mr.  Knox's  school  at  Tun- 
bridge,  where  he  was  at  once  placed  in  the 
sixth  form.  In  1807,  having  obtained  a  writer- 
ship  to  Bengal,  he  entered  the  East  India 
College,  then  recently  established  at  Hert- 
ford Castle,  and,  leaving  the  college  in  De- 
cember 1808,  arrived  at  Calcutta  on  20  July 
1809,  at  the  age  of  sixteen.  After  passing 
two  years  in  Calcutta,  first  as  a  student  in 
Writers'  Buildings,  where  he  was  much 
thrown  with  Holt  Mackenzie,  and  afterwards 
as  an  assistant  in  the  office  of  the  court  of  Sadr 
Adalat,  he  was  sent  to  Murshidabad,  where  he 
was  employed  as  assistant  to  the  magistrate, 
and  also  as  registrar,  a  judicial  office  for  the 
disposal  of  petty  suits.  After  serving  in  the 
Jungle  Mehals  and  in  Bakarganj  (Backir- 
gunge),  Prinsep  was  appointed,  in  1814,  to 
a  subordinate  office  in  the  secretariat,  and 
in  that  capacity  became  a  member  of  the 
suite  of  the  governor-general,  Lord  Moira 
(afterwards  Marquis  of  Hastings),  whom 


he  accompanied  in  his  tour  through  Oudh 
and  the  North-Western  Provinces.  He  was 
subsequently  the  first  holder  of  the  office  of 
superintendent  and  remembrancer  of  legal 
affairs — an  office  established  for  the  protec- 
tion of  the  interests  of  the  government  in 
the  courts  in  the  provinces.  His  tenure  of 
the  post  was  interrupted  by  summonses  to 
join  the  governor-general's  camp  during 
Lord  Hastings's  more  prolonged  tours,  which 
embraced  the  period  of  the  Nepal  and  Pin- 
dari  wars,  and  of  the  third  war  with  the 
Mahrattas.  In  the  two  latter  the  governor- 
general,  who  was  also  commander-in-chief, 
exercised  the  chief  command.  At  the  close 
of  the  Mahratta  war,  Prinsep  obtained  the 
permission  of  the  governor-general  to  write 
'A  History  of  the  Political  and  Military 
Transactions  in  India  during  the  Admini- 
stration of  the  Marquis  of  Hastings,'  i.e. 
from  October  1813  to  January  1823.  Prin- 
sep sent  the  completed  manuscript  to  his 
elder  brother,  Charles  Robert  Prinsep  [see 
below].  A  letter  to  Canning,  president  of 
the  board  of  control,  from  Lord  Hastings,  re- 
commended that  the  publication  of  the  work 
should  be  sanctioned.  Canning,  without  read- 
ing the  manuscript,  prohibited  the  publica- 
tion. Charles  Prinsep,  however,  decided  to 
publish  on  his  .own  responsibility,  and  placed 
the  manuscript  in  the  hands  of  John  Murray, 
who  brought  out  the  book  in  1823.  The  proofs 
were  sent  to  the  board  of  control,  where 
they  were  seen  by  Canning,  who,  on  reading 
them,  approved  of  the  work,  and  evinced  no 
displeasure  at  the  violation  of  his  prohibi- 
tion. The  book  is  generally  considered  to 
be  the  best  and  most  trustworthy  narrative 
of  the  events  of  that  time.  The  original 
edition  (1  vol.  4to)  was  revised  and  repub- 
lished  in  two  octavo  volumes,  when  the  au- 
thor was  in  England  on  leave,  in  1824. 

In  1819  and  1820,  while  still  holding,  as 
his  permanent  appointment,  the  office  of 
superintendent  and  remembrancer  of  legal 
affairs,  Prinsep  was  employed  upon  more 
than  one  special  inquiry.  The  most  impor- 
tant was  an  investigation  into  the  condition 
of  the  land  tenures  in  the  district  of  Bard- 
wan  and  the  adjoining  country.  The  prin- 
cipal landowner  in  these  districts  was,  and 
is,  the  raja  of  Bard  wan,  who  paid  over 
forty  lakhs  of  rupees,  representing  in  Prin- 
sep's  time  over  400,000/.  sterling,  as  annual 
revenue  to  the  government.  The  raja  had 
introduced  the  system  of  letting  his  estates 
in  large  blocks,  called  patni  taluks,  to  tenants 
who  were  called  patnidars,  on  payment  of 
large  sums  of  money  as  bonus ;  these  again 
sublet  them  to  undertenants  called  darpatni- 
dars,  by  whom  they  were  again  further  sub- 


Pririsep 


393 


Prinsep 


let ;  so  that  there  were  sometimes  five  or 
six  middlemen  between  the  raja  and  the 
cultivating  ryot.  The  tenure  of  the  patni- 
dars  was,  by  stipulation,  perpetual  and  here- 
ditary, and  gave  to  them  all  the  rights  and 
authority  of  the  raja  over  the  subtenants ; 
the  result  was  much  confusion  and  litiga- 
tion, difficulty  in  collecting  the  raja's  dues, 
and  risk  to  the  government  revenue.  Prin- 
sep, after  a  thorough  inquiry,  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  there  was  no  security  for 
the  government  revenue,  and  no  remedy  for 
the  existing  confusion,  unless  a  law  were 
passed  that,  on  default  of  the  patnidar,  all 
the  middlemen  who  derived  their  rights  from 
him  should  fall  with  him.  He  accordingly 
drafted  a  regulation,  which  was  passed  into 
law  as  Regulation  8  of  1819,  and  is  in  force 
at  the  present  day,  not  only  in  the  districts 
originally  dealt  with,  but  throughout  Bengal. 

From  that  time  Prinsep  was  recognised  as 
one  of  the  ablest  men  in  the  service,  and  his 
promotion  to  high  office  was  assured.  On 
16  Dec.  1820,  before  he  had  been  twelve 
years  in  India,  he  was  appointed  Persian 
secretary  to  government  on  a  salary  of  three 
thousand  rupees  a  month ;  and  except  on 
two  occasions,  when  he  was  compelled  by 
the  state  of  his  health  to  leave  India  for  a 
time,  he  never  left  the  secretariat  until  he 
was  appointed  a  member  of  council,  first 
during  a  temporary  vacancy  in  1835,  and 
five  years  later,  when  he  was  permanently 
appointed  to  the  office.  He  finally  retired 
from  the  service  and  left  India  in  1843. 

During  his  long  service  Prinsep  was 
brought  into  close  contact  with  a  long  suc- 
cession of  governors-general,  including  Lords 
Hastings,  Amherst,  William  Bentinck,  Auck- 
land, and  Ellenborough.  Many  years  after- 
wards, in  1865,  he  wrote  a  valuable  autobio- 
graphical sketch  of  his  official  life  (still 
unpublished),  in  which  he  recorded  his  im- 
pressions of  each  of  these  men.  Of  Lord 
Minto,  with  whom  he  does  not  appear  to 
have  had  any  direct  intercourse,  Prinsep  had 
a  poor  opinion,  although  he  gives  him  credit 
for  the  firmness  he  displayed  in  the  opera- 
tions against  Java.  He  regarded  Lord 
Hastings's  administration,  extending  over 
nine  years,  as  '  a  glorious  one,'  which  had 
'  nearly  doubled  the  revenues  and  territories 
of  the  East  India  Company,  and  established 
its  diplomatic  influence  over  the  whole  penin- 
sula of  India.'  Lord  Amherst  he  describes 
as  a  courteous  gentleman,  and  a  ready  and 
fluent  speaker,  but  he  '  lacked  confidence  in 
his  own  judgment  and  was  by  no  means 
prompt  in  decision/  and  '  had  extraordinary 
notions  of  the  importance  of  a  very  puncti- 
lious ceremonial.'  He  had  a  high  admiration 


for  John  Adam  [q.  v.],  who  was  acting  go- 
vernor-general for  seven  months  in  1823,  and 
on  his  death  in  1825  wrote  a  memoir  of  Adam 
at  the  request  of  his  family,  which  was  pub- 
lished in  the  '  Asiatic  Journal '  for  1825. 

The  governor-general  upon  whom  Prin- 
sep is  most  severe  is  Lord  William  Ben- 
tinck. He  regarded  him  as  addicted  to 
change  for  the  mere  sake  of  change,  as  uii- 
duly  suspicious  of  those  who  worked  under 
him,  and  too  much  addicted  to  meddling 
with  details;  but  he  gives  Lord  William 
credit  for  honesty  of  intention,  especially 
in  the  distribution  of  his  patronage.  The  two 
men  differed  essentially  in  character.  Lord 
William  was  a  strong  liberal,  while  Prinsep 
was  a  conservative  to  the  backbone.  On  the 
education  question  Prinsep  was  strongly  op- 
posed to  the  policy,  initiated  by  Macaulay 
and  supported  by  Bentinck,  of  substituting 
English  for  the  ancient  oriental  languages 
as  the  medium  of  instruction.  The  policy 
ultimately  adopted  was  a  compromise  in  de- 
ference to  Prinsep's  opposition.  Later  on, 
during  the  interregnum  in  which  Sir  Charles 
Metcalfe  [q.  v.]  officiated  as  governor-general, 
Prinsep,  while  not  opposing  the  act  for  giving 
freedom  to  the  press  of  India,  predicted,  with 
a  foresight  which  subsequent  events  have 
justified,  that '  the  native  press  might  become 
an  engine  for  destroying  the  respect  in  which 
the  government  is  held.'  Prinsep's  remarks 
on  this  occasion  were  quoted  forty-three  years 
afterwards  in  support  of  the  act  passed  in 
1878  for  the  better  control  of  publications  in 
oriental  languages  in  India. 

With  Lord  Auckland,  Prinsep  appears  to 
have  been  on  very  friendly  terms  through- 
out his  administration,  but  he  regarded  him 
as  deficient  in  promptitude  of  decision,  and 
influenced  by  an  overweening  dread  of  re- 
sponsibility. He  entirely  disapproved  of 
Lord  Auckland's  Afghan  policy,  and  foretold 
the  failure  of  the  policy  of  supporting  Shah 
Soojah  on  public  grounds  as  well  as  on 
account  of  the  weakness  of  his  character. 
With  Lord  Ellenborough  Prinsep  only  served 
a  year.  In  the  autobiographical  sketch  he 
tells  the  story  of  the  despatches  which  were 
sent  by  Lord  Ellenborough  to  Pollock  and 
Nott  during  the  Afghan  war. 

On  his  return  to  England  in  1843  Prinsep 
settled  in  London,  where  he  had  been  already 
elected  a  member  of  the  Carlton  Club  and 
also  of  the  Athenaeum  Club  by  election  of 
the  committee.  His  ambition  at  that  time 
was  to  enter  the  House  of  Commons,  and  he 
contested  no  less  than  four  constituencies  as 
a  conservative  candidate,  the  Kilmarnock 
Burghs,  Dartmouth,  Dover,  and  Harwich. 
At  the  last  of  these  places  he  was  returned  by 


Prinsep 


394 


Prinsep 


a  majority,  but  was  unseated  by  petition  on 
technical  grounds  connected  with  his  qualifi- 
cation which  were  immediately  removed  by 
the  House  of  Commons.  He  then  canvassed 
for  a  seat  in  the  court  of  directors  of  the  East 
India  Company,  to  which  he  was  elected  in 
1850.  He  took  a  prominent  part  in  the 
discussions  at  the  India  House,  and  when  the 
number  of  directors  was  diminished  under  the 
act  of  1853,  he  was  one  of  those  elected  by 
ballot  to  retain  their  seats.  In  1858,  when 
the  council  of  India  was  established,  he  was 
one  of  the  seven  directors  appointed  to  the 
new  council. 

In  the  council  of  India,  in  which  Prinsep 
held  office  for  sixteen  years,  only  retiring  in 
1874,  when  failing  sight  and  deafness  dis- 
qualified him  for  the  post,  he  displayed  the 
same  activity  which  had  characterised  his 
whole  official  life.  He  recorded  frequent 
dissents  from  the  decisions  of  the  secretary 
of  state.  He  was  much  opposed  to  some  of 
the  measures  adopted  after  the  mutiny.  He 
emphatically  disapproved  of  the  abolition  of 
the  system  of  recruiting  British  troops  for 
local  service  in  India,  and  joined  on  that 
occasion  with  thirteen  other  members  of  the 
council  in  a  written  protest  against  the 
course  taken  by  the  cabinet  in  deciding  this 
question  before  the  council  of  India  had  been 
consulted  on  it.  He  also  disapproved  of  the 
original  scheme  for  the  establishment  of 
staif  corps  for  India,  and  especially  of  that 
part  of  it  which  provided  for  the  appointment 
of  officers  from  the  line  for  Indian  service. 
He  was  much  opposed  to  the  re-establishment 
of  a  native  government  in  Mysore,  after  the 
country  had  been  administered  for  thirty 
years  by  British  officers.  On  financial  grounds 
he  deprecated  the  prosecution  of  the  works 
undertaken  to  improve  the  navigation  of  the 
Godavery  river,  which  subsequently,  owing 
to  their  enormous  cost,  had  to  be  abandoned. 
In  his  last  year  of  office  he  recorded  a  protest 
against  the  adoption  of  the  narrow,  or  metre, 
gauge  for  Indian  railways. 

Busy  as  was  Prinsep's  official  life,  he  found 
time  to  write  —besides  his  history  of  Lord 
Hastings's  administration — works  on  the 
origin  of  the  Sikh  power  in  the  Punjab  (1834), 
on  the  historical  facts  deducible  from  recent 
discoveries  in  Afghanistan  (1844),  on  the 
social  and  political  condition  of  Thibet,  Tar- 
tary,  and  Mongolia  (1852),  and  in  1853  he 
published  an  exhaustive  pamphlet  on  the 
India  question,  when  the  so-called  Charter 
Act  of  that  year  was  under  discussion.  He 
also,  when  in  India,  brought  out  Rama- 
chandra  Dasa's  '  Register  of  the  Bengal  Civil 
Servants  1790-1842,  accompanied  by  Actu- 
arial Tables '  (Calcutta,  1844),  a  subject  to 


which  he  had  given  a  good  deal  of  attention. 
At  the  same  time  he  was  a  facile  verse- writer. 
Quite  in  his  old  age  he  printed  for  private  cir- 
culation a  little  volume  entitled '  Specimens  of 
Ballad  Poetry  applied  to  the  Tales  and  Tradi- 
tions of  the  East.'  He  kept  up  his  classical 
studies  to  the  end  of  his  life.  When  failing 
health  entailed  upon  him  sleepless  nights,  he 
often  whiled  away  the  time  by  translating 
the  t  Odes  of  Horace '  into  English  verse. 
He  was  a  keen  mathematician.  Only  a  few 
days  before  his  death  he  worked  out  a  new 
method  of  proving  the  forty-seventh  proposi- 
tion of  the  first  book  of  Euclid,  which  was 
favourably  reported  on  by  so  competent  a 
mathematician  as  Professor  Clifford. 

In  private  life  Prinsep  was  greatly  beloved. 
Always  genial  and  kindly,  he  was  generous 
in  the  extreme.  Some  five  or  six  years  after 
his  return  from  India  he  settled  at  Little 
Holland  House,  a  roomy  old  house  in  Ken- 
sington, with  a  large  garden,  the  site  of 
which  is  now  occupied  by  Melbury  Road. 
There  he  cultivated  the  society  of  artists, 
more  than  one  of  whom  are  largely  indebted 
to  his  help  and  encouragement  for  their 
success  in  life.  Mr.  G.  F.  Watts,  R. A.,  was 
one  of  his  most  attached  friends,  and  had  his 
home  with  Prinsep  at  the  old  Little  Holland 
House  for  twenty-five  years.  Another  was 
Sir  Edward  Burne- Jones,  who.  when  a  young 
and  struggling  artist,  attracted  Prinsep's 
notice  and  assistance. 

Prinsep  died  on  11  Feb.  1878,  at  the  house 
of  Mr.  Watts  at  Freshwater  in  the  Isle  of 
Wight.  His  wife,  Sara  Monckton,  daughter 
of  James  Pattle,  died  on  15  Dec.  1887,  leaving 
three  sons :  the  present  Sir  Henry  Thoby 
Prinsep,  a  judge  of  the  high  court  at  Cal- 
cutta;  Valentine  Cameron  Prinsep,  Royal 
A  cademician,  and  Arthur  Haldiinand  Prin- 
sep, a  major-general  (retired)  of  the  Bengal 
cavalry,  and  C.B.  He  also  left  one  daughter, 
who  married  Mr.  Charles  Gurney. 

Prinsep  was  a  man  of  commandingpresence, 
with  a  remarkably  keen  eye  and  a  pleasant 
expression  of  countenance.  There  are  two 
portraits  of  him,  both  by  Watts.  One  drawn 
in  crayons  in  1852  belongs  to  the  Hon.  Mr. 
Justice  Prinsep ;  the  other  in  oils,  painted 
twenty  years  later,  belongs  to  Mr.  Leslie 
Stephen.  There  is  an  excellent  photograph 
by  his  sister-in-law,  Mrs.  Julia  Margaret 
Cameron  [q.  v.]  Watts  also  painted  a  por- 
trait of  Mrs.  Prinsep. 

Of  Prinsep's  numerous  brothers  one,  James, 
is  separately  noticed.  Another,  CHAKLES 
ROBERT  PRINSEP  (1789-1864),  was  admitted 
a  pensioner  of  St.  John's  College,  Cam- 
bridge, 23  May  1806,  and  proceeded  B.A. 
1811  and  M.A.  1814.  He  was  called  to 


Prinsep 


395 


Prinsep 


the  bar  by  the  Inner  Temple  in  Trinity 
term  1817,  and  was  the  author  of  '  An  Essay 
on  Money/  London,  1818,  8vo,  and  of  a 
translation  of  J.  B.  Say's '  Political  Economy, 
with  Notes/  2  vols.  8vo,  1811.  He  was 
created  LL.D.  in  1824,  received  the  appoint- 


ment of  advocate-general  of  Bengal,  and 
died  at  Chiswick  on  8  June  1864  (Gent. 
Mag.  1864,  ii.  124 ;  ALLIBONE,  Diet,  of  Eng- 
lish Lit.  ii.  1691). 

[This  article  has  been  based  largely  upon  the 
autobiographical  sketch  to  which  reference  is 
made  in  it,  and  on  information  furnished  by  a 
member  of  Prinsep's  family  and  by  friends. 
Prinsep's  works  have  also  been  consulted.] 

A.  J.  A. 

PRINSEP,  JAMES  (1799-1840),  archi- 
tect and  orientalist, born  in  1759,  was  seventh 
son  of  John  Prinsep,  and  a  younger  brother 
of  Henry  Thoby  Prinsep  [q.  v.]  He  was  ori- 
ginally intended  for  the  profession  of  an 
architect,  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen  commenced 
the  study  of  that  profession  under  Augustus 
Pugin  [q.v.],  but  his  eyesight  being  injured 
by  too  close  application  to  mechanical  and 
other  drawing,  he  was  obliged  to  seek  fresh 
employment.  Eventually,  after  having  under- 
gone a  training  for  the  duties  of  assay,  he  was 
appointed,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  assistant 
assay-master  at  the  Calcutta  mint,  arriving 
there  on  15  Sept.  1819.  His  eyesight  in 
the  meantime,  under  skilful  medical  treat- 
ment, had  been  completely  restored.  His 
chief  in  the  mint  was  Dr.  Horace  Hayman 
Wilson,  afterwards  Boden  professor  of 
Sanscrit  at  Oxford,  and  for  many  years 
librarian  at  the  India  House.  A  few 
months  after  Prinsep's  arrival,  Dr.  Wilson 
was  sent  to  Benares  to  remodel  the  mint  in 
that  city,  and  during  his  absence  Prinsep 
conducted  all  the  assay  business  at  the  Cal- 
cutta mint.  On  Wilson's  return,  Prinsep 
was  appointed  assay-master  in  the  Benares 
mint,  and  retained  that  office  until  that 
mint  was  abolished  in  1830,  when  he  was 
reappointed  to  the  Calcutta  mint  as  deputy 
assay-master  under  Wilson.  On  the  retire- 
ment of  the  latter  in  1832,  Prinsep  succeeded 
him  as  assay-master  and  secretary  to  the 
mint  committee  at  Calcutta.  He  retained 
these  appointments  until  1838,  when,  owing 
to  his  intense  application  to  scientific  and 
literary  pursuits,  in  addition  to  his  official 
duties,  his  health  entirely  failed,  and  he  was 
compelled  to  return  to  England.  He  died  in 
London,  of  softening  of  the  brain,  on  22  April 
1840,  in  his  forty-first  year. 

Apart  from  his  literary  and  scientific 
pursuits,  Prinsep's  work  was  by  no  means 
confined  to  his  assay  duties.  Upon  his  ap- 
pointment at  Benares,  finding  a  new  mint 


under  construction  the  architectural  de- 
sign of  which  was  very  defective,  he  ob- 
tained authority  to  complete  the  building 
upon  an  amended  plan,  which  he  carried 
out  with  considerable  skill  at  the  estimated 
cost  of  the  original  design.  He  was  subse- 
quently employed  upon  similar  work  at  the 
same  station,  including  the  erection  of  a 
church.  He  also  acted  as  member  and  secre- 
tary of  a  committee  appointed  to  carry  out 
municipal  improvements.  He  improved 
the  drainage  of  the  city  by  constructing  a 
tunnel  from  the  Ganges  to  conduct  water 
into  it.  He  built  a  bridge  of  five  arches  of 
large  span  over  the  Karamnasa,  a  river 
which  divides  the  province  of  Benares  from 
Behar.  He  took  down  and  restored  the  mina- 
rets of  the  mosque  of  Arangzib,  the  founda- 
tions of  which  were  giving  way.  After  his  re- 
turn to  Calcutta  he  successfully  completed  a 
canal  which  had  been  commenced  under  the 
direction  of  one  of  his  brothers,  an  officer  of 
the  Bengal  engineers,  who  was  killed  by  a 
fall  from  his  horse  while  engaged  upon  the 
work.  The  construction  of  this  canal,  which 
connected  the  river  Hugli  with  the  naviga- 
tion of  the  Sunderbands,  was  a  difficult  work, 
involving  the  building  of  locks  in  soil  of  q  uick- 
sands,  and  was  regarded  as  a  very  skilful  piece 
of  engineering.  Prinsep's  mechanical  skill  ap- 
pears to  have  been  very  remarkable  even  in 
his  childhood.  When  at  the  Calcutta  mint 
he  prepared  with  his  own  hands,  for  pur- 
poses of  assay,  a  balance  of  such  delicacy  as 
to  indicate  the  three-thousandth  part  of  a 
grain.  He  was  the  author  of  a  reform  of 
the  weights  and  measures  of  India,  and  of 
the  uniform  coinage,  under  which  the  com- 
pany's rupee  was  substituted  in  1835  for  the 
various  coinages  then  existing.  His  work, 
'Useful  Tables  illustrative  of  Indian  His- 
tory/ included  in  the  collected  edition  of  his 
works,  is  a  mine  of  information  regarding 
all  coins  of  Indian  currency  from  the  earliest 
times,  as  well  as  chronological  and  genea- 
logical details  of  ancient  and  modern  India. 
But  it  is  upon  his  literary  work  that  Prin- 
sep's fame  mainly  rests.  Shortly  after  his 
return  from  Benares  to  Calcutta,  he  became 
a  frequent  contributor  to,  and  afterwards 
editor  of,  a  periodical  called  '  Gleanings  in 
Science/  started  by  Major  Herbert,  a  scien- 
tific officer  in  the  company's  service.  Its  object 
was  to  make  known  in  India  discoveries  or 
advances  in  art  and  science  made  in  Europe. 
This  periodical  subsequently  became  the 
journal  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal,  of 
which  Prinsep  became  secretary  in  succes- 
sion to  Wilson.  From  this  time  Prinsep  de- 
voted himself  largely  to  the  study  of  the  an- 
tiquities of  India,  and  to  deciphering  ancient 


Prior 


396 


Prior 


inscriptions,  of  which  copies  were  sent  to 
him  from  all  parts  of  India.  He  succeeded 
in  deciphering  certain  important  inscriptions 
in  the  Pali  language,  on  pillars  at  Delhi  and 
Allahabad,  which  had  baffled  Sir  William 
Jones,  Colebrooke,  and  Wilson.  These  in- 
scriptions, Prinsep  found,  were  identical  with 
each  other,  and  had  their  counterparts  on 
rocks  at  Girnar  in  Guzerat,  and  at  Dhauli 
in  Katak  (Cuttack).  They  contained  edicts 
of  Asoka,  the  Buddhist  prince  who  lived  in 
the  third  century  before  Christ  and  was  the 
contemporary  of  the  early  Seleucidae  kings 
of  Syria.  Prinsep  also  devoted  much  time 
and  labour  to  the  study  of  numismatics.  His 
articles  on  this  subject  and  on  other  matters 
connected  with  the  antiquities  of  India  were 
in  1858  collected  and  published  in  two 
volumes  under  the  editorship  of  Mr.  Edward 
Thomas.  Prinsep  was  a  fellow  of  the  Royal 
Society,  and  a,  corresponding  member  of  the 
Institute  of  France  and  of  the  Royal  Aca- 
demy at  Berlin. 

A  memorial  of  him  was  erected  at  Cal- 
cutta in  the  form  of  a  ghat  or  landing-place, 
with  a  handsome  building  for  the  protection 
of  passengers  landing  or  embarking.  This 
stands  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Hugli  below 
Fort  William,  and  is  known  as  *  Prinsep's 
Ghat.' 

Prinsep  married,  in  1885,  Harriet,  youngest 
daughter  of  Colonel  Aubert,  of  the  Bengal 
army,  who,  with  one  daughter,  survived  him. 

[Annual  Register,  1840  ;  Essays  on  Indian 
Antiquities,  Historic,  Numismatic,  and  Palseo- 
graphic,  of  the  late  James  Prinsep,  F.R.S., 
secretary  to  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal, 
&c.,  with  Memoir  by  Henry  Thoby  Prinsep, 
edited  by  Edward  Thomas,  London,  1858;  Men 
whom  India  has  known,  compiled  by  J.  J.  Hig- 
ginbotham,  1871.]  A.  J.  A. 

PRIOR,  SIR  JAMES  (1790  P-1869),  mis- 
cellaneous writer,  son  of  Matthew  Prior, 
was  born  at  Lisburn  about  1790.  He  entered 
the  navy  as  a  surgeon,  and  sailed  from  Ply- 
mouth in  the  Nisus  frigate  on  22  June  1810. 
His  ship  proceeded  to  Simon's  Town,  Cape  of 
Good  Hope ;  was  stationed  at  Mauritius  from 
November  1810  to  April  1811,  when  he  had 
charge  of  the  wounded ;  and,  after  visiting 
the  Seychelles  Islands,  Madras,  Mauritius, 
Java  (at  the  reduction  of  which  by  the 
British  in  September  1811  he  was  present), 
and  Batavia,  gradually  returned  to  the  Cape. 
This  journey  Prior  described  in  a  '  Voyage 
in  the  Indian  Seas  in  the  Nisus  frigate  during 
1810  and  1811,'  published  by  Sir  Richard 
Phillips  in  1820,  and  included  in  the  first 
volume  of  a  collection  of  '  New  Voyages  and 
Travels.'  His  next  expedition,  in  the  same 
frigate,  was  to  Table  Bay  (February  1812), 


St.  Helena  (January  1813),  Rio  de  Janeiro 
(October  1813),  and  Pernambuco  (December 
1813).  This  tour  he  also  described  in  a 
*  Voyage  along  the  Eastern  Coast  of  Africa, 
&c.'  (1819),  and  it  was  included  in  the 
second  volume  of  Phillips's  '  Voyages.' 

Prior  was  present  at  the  surrender  of  Heli- 
goland, which  was  confirmed  to  England  by 
the  treaty  of  Kiel  on  14  Jan.  1814.  In  the 
same  year  he  was  ordered  to  accompany  the 
first  regiment  of  imperial  Russian  guards  from 
Cherbourg  to  St.  Petersburg,  and  in  1815 
he  was  on  the  coast  of  La  Vendee,  and  was 
present  at  the  surrender  of  Napoleon  on 
15  July.  He  then  became  staff  surgeon  to  the 
Chatham  division  of  the  royal  marines,  and  to 
three  of  the  royal  yachts.  While  at  Chatham 
he  forwarded  to  Canning,  on  27  May  1826,  a 
copy  of  his  enlarged  edition  of  the  *  Life  of 
Burke  '  (Official  Correspondence  of  Canning, 
1887,  ii.  195-6).  His  next  appointment  was 
that  of  assistant  to  the  director-general  of 
the  medical  department  of  the  navy,  and  on 
1  Aug.  1843  he  was  created  deputy-inspector 
of  hospitals.  He  was  knighted  at  St.  James's 
Palace  on  11  June  1858,  \vas  elected  mem- 
ber of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy  in  1830, 
and  F.S.  A.  on  25  Nov.  1830.  For  many  years 
before  his  death  he  resided  at  Norfolk  Cres- 
cent, Hyde  Park.  He  died  at  Brighton  on 
14  Nov.  1869. 

A  portrait  of  Prior,  by  E.  U.  Eddis,  was 
lithographed  by  Mr.  Dawson  Turner.  A 
second  impression,  lithographed  by  W.  D., 
i.e.  William  Drummond,  was  published  in 
London  in  1835  as  one  of  a  set  of  portraits  of 
prominent  members  at  the  Athenaeum  Club, 
to  which  Prior  was  elected  in  1830.  He 
married,  in  1817,  Dorothea,  relict  of  Mr.  E. 
James.  She  died  at  Oxford  Terrace,  Hyde 
Park,  on  28  Nov.  1841.  In  1847  he  married 
Carolina,  relict  of  Mr.  Charles  H.  Watson. 
She  died  on  14  Dec.  1881,  aged  85. 

Prior's  chief  works  were  biographies  of  his 
compatriots,  Burke  and  Goldsmith.  The 
c  Memoir  of  the  Life  and  Character  of 
Edmund  Burke '  appeared  in  1824,  and  was 
reissued,  enlarged  to  two  volumes,  in  1826. 
The  third  edition  came  out  in  1839,  the 
fourth  in  1846,  and,  after  it  had  been  revised 
by  the  author,  the  memoir  was  included  in 
1854  in  '  Bohn's  British  Classics.'  It  showed 
industry  and  good  sense,  and  is  still  con- 
sidered the  best  summary  of  Burke's  career. 
His  'Life  of  Oliver  Goldsmith,  from  a  variety 
of  original  sources,'  was  published  in  1837  in 
two  volumes ;  and  in  the  same  year  he  edited 
in  four  volumes  the  (  Miscellaneous  Works 
of  Goldsmith,  including  a  variety  of  pieces 
now  first  collected.'  Both  works  reflected 
credit  on  his  industry.  When  John  Forster 


Prior 


397 


Prior 


(1812-1876)  [q.  v.]  brought  out  in  1848  his 
popular  volume  on '  The  Life  and  Adventures 
of  Oliver  Goldsmith,'  he  was  accused  by  Prior 
of  wholesale  plagiarism.  The  charge  and 
defence  are  set  out  in  the  '  Literary  Gazette,' 
3  June,  17  June,  and  29  July  1848,  and  the 
'  Athenaeum,'  10  June  1848;  and  the  accusa- 
tion was  further  rebutted  by  Forster  in  1854 
in  the  second  edition  of  his  work.  Washing- 
ton Irving,  in  his  '  Life  of  Goldsmith '  (1849), 
admitted  his  obligations  to  '  the  indefatigable 
Prior.'  Nevertheless,  Prior's  tract  of  eight 
pages,  entitled  '.Goldsmith's  Statue,'  which 
details  his  own  industry,  denounces  Wash- 
ington Irving  for  having  stolen  his  materials. 
His  other  works  were :  1. '  The  Remonstrance 
of  a  Tory  to  Sir  Robert  Peel,'  1827,  in  which 
he  condemned  that  statesman's  position  on  the 
Roman  catholic  question.  2.  'The  Country 
House  and  other  Poems,'  1 846.  3.  *  Invitation 
to  Malvern,apoemwith  introductory  poetical 
epistle  to  Charles  Phillips,'  1851.  4.  '  Lines 
on  reading  Verses  of  Admiral  Smyth,'  1857. 

5.  '  Llangothlen,'  a  sketch  (without  place  or 
date)  ;  a  copy  given  by  Prior  to  Dyce  is  in 
the    latter's   library  at    South  Kensington. 

6.  '  Life  of  Edmond  Malone,  with  Selections 
from  his  Manuscript  Anecdotes/  1860;  the 
second  portion  is  of  little  value  (cf.  Notes 
and  Queries,  2nd  ser.  ix.  324,  368). 

[Men  of  the  Time,  1868  ed. ;  Allibone's  Diet, 
of  Literature  ;  Journ.Brit.  Archaeol.  Assoe.  1870, 
p.  268;  Proceedings  Soc.  of  Antiquaries,  2nd  ser. 
ir.  474  ;  Reg.  and  Mag.  of  Biography,  ii.  304; 
Gent.  Mag.  1842,  pt.  i.  p.  112.]  W.  P.  C. 

PRIOR,  MATTHEW  (1664-1721),  poet 
and  diplomatist,  was  born  on  21  July  1664. 
As  to  the  place  of  his  birth  there  has  been 
some  hesitation,  arising  chiefly  from  the  con- 
tradictory nature  of  the  records  which  bear 
upon  his  subsequent  connection  with  St. 
John's  College,  Cambridge.  In  two  of  these 
he  is  described  as '  Middlesexiensis,'  in  a  third 
as  '  Dorcestriensis ; '  but  the  bulk  of  tradition 
is  in  favour  of  the  latter,  the  exact  place  of 
birth  being  supposed  to  have  been  Wim- 
borne,  or  Wimborne  Minster,  in  East  Dorset, 
where  his  father,  George  Pripr,  is  said  to  have 
been  a  joiner  (cf.  MAYOK,  Admission  to  St. 
John's  College,  ii.  92-3).  There  is,  however, 
no  record  of  his  baptism  at  that  locality. 
This  has  been  accounted  for  by  the  sup- 
position that  his  parents  were  nonconfor- 
mists, and  to  this  he  himself  is  thought  to 
refer  in  his  first  epistle  to  his  friend,  Fleet- 
wood  Shepherd — 

So  at  pure  Barn  of  loud  Non-Con, 
Where  with  my  Granam.  I  have  gone. 

Another  tradition  makes  him  a  pupil  at  the 


Wimborne  free  grammar  school ;  and  a  third, 
too  picturesque  to  be  neglected,  affirms  the 
hole   that    perforates   a   copy  of   Raleigh's 
*  History  of  the  World,'  which  is,  or  was,  to 
be  found  in  the  church  library  over  the  old 
sacristy  of  St.  Cuthberga  in  Wimborne,  to 
have  been  caused  by  the  youthful  Prior,  who 
fell  asleep  over  it  with  a  lighted  candle. 
Unfortunately,  it  has  been  proved  conclu- 
sively by  Mr.  G.  A.  Aitken  (Contemporary 
Review,  May  1890)  that  the  books  were  placed 
in  the  library  at  a  much  later  date  than 
Prior's  boyhood.     While  he  was  still  very 
young  his  father  moved  to  Stephen's  Alley, 
Westminster,  either  to  be  near  the  school  or 
to  be  near  his  own  brother  Samuel,  a  vintner 
at  the  Rhenish  Wine  House  in  Channel  (now 
Cannon)  Row.     George  Prior  sent  his  son 
to  Westminster  School,  then  under  the  rule 
of  Dr.  Busby.    Dying  shortly  afterwards,  his 
widow  was  unable  to  pay  the  school  fees, 
and  young  Prior,  who  had  then  reached  the 
middle  of  the  third  form,  was  taken  into  his 
uncle's  house  to  assist  in  keeping  the  accounts, 
his  seat  being  in  the  bar.    Here,  coming  one 
day  to  ask  for  his  friend,  Fleetwood  Shep- 
herd [q.v.],Lord  Dorset  found  the  boy  reading 
Horace,  and,  after  questioning  him  a  little, 
set  him  to  turn  an  ode  into  English.     Prior 
speedily  brought  it  upstairs  to  Dorset  and 
his  friends,  so  well  rendered  in  verse  that 
it  became  the  fashion  with  the  users  of  the 
house  to  give  him  passages  out  of  Horace 
and  Ovid  to  translate.     At  last,  upon  one 
occasion,  when  Dr.  Sprat,  the  dean  of  West- 
minster, and  Mr.  Knipe,  the  second  master 
at  the  school,  were  both  present,  Lord  Dorset 
asked  the  boy  whether  he  would  go  back  to 
his  studies.    Uncle  and  nephew  being  nothing 
loth,  Prior  returned  to  Westminster,  the  earl 
paying  for  his  books,  and  his  uncle  for  his 
clothes,  until  such  time  as  he  could  become 
a  king's  scholar,  which  he  did  in  1681.     It 
was  at  this  date  that  Prior  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  Charles  and  James  Montagu, 
the  sons  of  the  Hon.  George  Montagu,  whose 
residence,  Manchester  House,  was  in  Channel 
Row,  opposite   the   Rhenish    Wine  House 
[see  MONTAGU,  CHARLES,  earl  of  Halifax; 
and    MONTAGU,    SIR    JAMES,    1666-1723]. 
With  both  of  the  brothers,  but  chiefly  with 
the  younger,  James  (afterwards  lord  chief 
baron  of  the  exchequer),  Prior  formed  a  close 
friendship.     In  1682  Charles  Montagu,  also 
a  king's  scholar,  was  admitted  a  fellow  com- 
moner of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  and  a 
year  later  Prior,  finding  that  James  Montagu, 
would  probably  follow  his  brother's  example, 
and  fearing  also  that  he  himself  would  be  sent 
to  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  accepted,  against 
Lord  Dorset's  wish,  one  of  three  scholarships 


Prior 


398 


Prior 


then  recently  established  at  St.  John's  Col- 
lege, Cambridge,  by  the  Duchess  of  Somerset. 
Beingthe  only  Westminster  boy  at  St.  John's, 
he  attracted  exceptional  notice ;  but  for  the 
time  he  alienated  his  patron. 

In  1686  he  took  his  bachelor's  degree,  and 
in  the  following  year  made  his  first  literary 
essay,  a  reply  to  Dryden's  '  Hind  and  Panther/ 
This  was  entitled  '  The  Hind  and  the  Panther 
transvers'dto  the  Story  of  the  Country-Mouse 
and  the  City-Mouse.'  His  ostensible  colla- 
borator in  this  satire,  which  had  small  lite- 
rary merit  but  gave  much  satisfaction  to  the 
'no  popery'  party,  was  Charles  Montagu; 
but  it  is  probable  that  Prior  was  the  active 
partner  (cf.  SPENCE,  Anecdotes,  ed.  Singer, 
1858,  p.  102;  BELJAME,  Le  Public  et  les 
Hommes  de  Lettres  enAnyleterre,  p.  195).  In 
April  1688  Prior  obtained  a  fellowship,  and 
composed  the  annual  poetical  tribute  which 
St.  John's  College  paid  to  one  of  its  bene- 
factors, the  Earl  of  Exeter.  This  was  a  rhymed 
exercise,  in  the  Cowley  manner,  upon  Exodus 
iii.  14,  and  is  preserved  in  Prior's  poems.  One 
of  its  results  was  that  Prior  became  tutor  to 
Lord  Exeter's  sons.  His  office,  however,  was 
of  brief  duration,  for  Lord  Exeter  broke  up 
his  household  after  the  revolution  and  went 
to  Italy.  Thereupon  Prior  applied  to  his  old 
patron,  Lord  Dorset,  and  ultimately,  probably 
by  the  good  offices  of  Fleetwood  Shepherd, 
was  appointed  secretary  to  Lord  Dursley 
(afterwards  Earl  of  Berkeley),  then  starting 
as  King  William's  ambassador  to  the  Hague. 
This  appointment  is  usually  regarded  as  a 
reward  of  literary  merit ;  but  apart  from  his 
share  in  the  '  Town  and  Country  Mouse,'  the 
interest  of  which  was  mainly  political,  Prior 
had  at  this  date  produced  nothing  of  import- 
ance, and  his  post  might  have  been  given 
to  any  other  university  man  of  promise  who 
could  command  the  patronage  of  Dorset.  In 
Holland  he  stayed  for  several  years,  being 
made  in  the  interim  gentleman  of  the  bed- 
chamber to  King  William,  with  whom  he 
found  considerable  favour,  especially  during 
the  great  congress  of  1691.  He  also  at  this 
time  wrote  several  court  poems,  notably  a 
'  Hymn  to  the  Sun,'  1694 ;  memorial  verses 
on  Queen  Mary's  death,  1695  ;  and  an  admi- 
rable ballad  paraphrase  of  Boileau's  pompous 
'  Ode  sur  la  Prise  de  Namur,'  which  strong- 
hold, it  will  be  remembered,  had  fallen  to 
the  French  in  1692,  only  to  be  retaken  by  the 
English  three  years  later.  This  last  jeu 
$  esprit  was  published  anonymously  in  Sep- 
tember 1695.  Another  metrical  tribute  to 
William  followed  the  assassination  plot  of 
1696,  to  which  year,  in  addition,  belongs  the 
clever  little  occasional  piece,  not  printed  until 
long  after  its  author's  death,  entitled  *  The 


Secretary,'  and  describing  his  distractions 
while  in  Holland. 

Throughout  all  this  period,  Prior  was 
acting  diligently  as  a  diplomatist.  It  has 
sometimes  been  considered  that  his  quali- 
fications in  this  way  were  slight ;  but  his 
unprinted  papers  completely  negative  this 
impression.  He  had  the  good  fortune  to 
please  both  Anne  and  Louis  XIV,  as  well  as 
William ;  and  the  fact  that  Swift  and  Boling- 
broke  later  acknowledged  his  business  apti- 
tude and  acquaintance  with  matters  of  trade 
may  fairly  be  set  against  any  contention  to 
the  contrary  on  the  part  of  political  oppo- 
nents. 

In  1697  he  was  employed  as  secretary  in 
the  negotiations  at  the  treaty  of  Ryswick, 
for  bringing  over  the  articles  of  peace  in 
connection  with  which,  *  to  their  Excellencies 
the  Lords  Justicies,'  he  received  a  gratuity  of 
two  hundred  guineas.  Subsequently  he  was 
nominated  secretary  of  state  in  Ireland,  and 
then,  in  1698,  he  went  to  Paris  as  secretary 
to  the  embassy,  serving  successively  under 
the  Earl  of  Portland  and  the  Earl  of  Jersey, 
with  the  latter  of  whom  he  returned  to  Eng- 
land. But  he  went  again  to  Paris  for  some 
time  with  the  Earl  of  Manchester,  and  then, 
after  'a  very  particular  audience' with  his 
royal  master,  in  August  1699,  at  Loo  in 
Holland,  was  sent  home  in  the  following 
November  with  the  latest  tidings  of  the  pend- 
ing partition  treaty.  His  old  master,  Lord 
Jersey,  was  secretary  of  state,  and  Prior 
became  an  under-secretary.  In  the  winter 
of  1699  he  produced  his  '  Carmen  Seculare 
for  the  Year  1700,'  a  glorification  of  the  *  acts 
and  gests'  of  '  the  Nassovian.'  The  uni- 
versity of  Cambridge  made  him  an  M.A., 
and  upon  the  retirement  of  John  Locke,  inva- 
lided, he  became  a  commissioner  of  trade  and 
plantations,  afterwards  entering  parliament 
as  member  for  East  Grinstead.  His  sena- 
torial career  was  but  short,  as  the  parliament 
in  which  he  sat  only  lasted  from  February 
to  June  1701.  In  the  impeachment  by  the 
tories  of  Somers,  Orford,  and  Halifax  for  their 
share  in  framing  the  partition  treaty,  Prior 
followed  Lord  Jersey  in  voting  against  those 
lords ;  but  it  is  alleged  that  neither  he  nor 
Jersey  had  ever  favoured  the*  negotiation, 
although  they  considered  themselves  bound 
to  obey  the  king's  orders,  and.  this,  as  far  as 
Prior  is  concerned,  receives  support  from  his 
own  words  in  the  later  poem  of  '  The  Con- 
versation,' 1720: 

Matthew,  who  knew  the  whole  intrigue, 
Ne'er  much  approv'd  that  mystic  league. 

The  explanation  given  by  his  friend,  Sir 
James  Montagu — namely,  that  he  had  to 


Prior 


399 


Prior 


choose  whether  to  condemn  the  king  or  the 
king's  ministers,  and  that  he  chose  the  latter — 
may  perhaps  be  accepted  as  the  best  reason 
for  what  has  sometimes  been  regarded  as  a 
discreditable  political  volte-face.  However 
this  may  be,  with  the  accession  of  Anne  in-, 
1702,  he  joined  the  tories,  a  step  which 
brought  him  into  close  relations  with  Harley, 
Bolingbroke,  and  Swift,  but  landed  him  on 
the  opposite  side  to  Addison,  Garth,  Steele, 
and  some  others  of  his  literary  contempo- 
raries. In  1707  his  attachment  to  the  tory 
party  led  to  his  being  deprived  of  his  com- 
missionership  of  trade;  but  in  1711,  a  year 
after  the  tories'  accession  to  power,  he  was 
made  a  commissioner  of  customs.  In  July  of 
the  same  year  he  was  privately  despatched 
to  Paris  in  connection  with  the  negotiations 
which  preceded  the  peace  of  Utrecht — 
negotiations  in  which  again,  if  we  are  to 
believe  the  above-quoted  poem,  he  was  an 
obedient  rather  than  a  willing  agent : 

In  the  vile  Utrecht  Treaty  too, 
Poor  man!  he  found  enough  to  do. 

Upon  his  return,  having  assumed  a  false 
name  for  the  sake  .of  secrecy,  he  was 
stopped  at  Deal  as  a  French  spy  by  a  bun- 
gling official,  and  detained  until  orders  came 
from  London  for  his  release.  This  accident  to 
some  extent  revealed  his  mission ;  and,  to 
meet  the  gossip  arising  therefrom,  Swift  has- 
tily drew  up  in  September  a  clever  mock 
account  of  his  journey  to  Paris — '  a  formal 
grave  lie,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end/ 
which, besides  mystifyingthe  quidnuncs,  mis- 
led, and  did  not  particularly  please,  even  Prior 
himself.  But  Mons.  Mesnager  and  the  Abbe 
Gualtier,  who  had  accompanied  him  from 
France,  had  come  fully  armed  with  ^powers  to 
treat  with  the  English  ministry,  and  after  a 
successionofconferenc.es,  many  of  which  took 
place  at  Prior's  house  in  Duke  Street,  West- 
minster, the  preliminaries  were  signed  for 
what  was  popularly  known  as  '  Matt's  Peace  ' 
on  27  Sept.  Prior's  intimate  knowledge  of 
these  proceedings  led  to  his  being  named 
one  of  the  plenipotentiaries  on  the  occasion ; 
but  Lord  Strafford,  it  is  said,  declined  to  be 
associated  with  a  colleague  of  so  obscure  an 
origin.  His  nomination  was  in  consequence 
revoked,  his  place  being  taken  by  the  bishop  of 
Bristol, Dr.  John  Robinson  [q.  v.]  In  August 
1712,  however,  Prior  went  to  Paris  with 
Bolingbroke  in  connection  with  the  suspen- 
sion of  arms  during  the  progress  of  the 
Utrecht  conference,  and  he  remained  at  Paris 
after  Bolingbroke's  return  to  England,  ulti- 
mately exercising  the  full  powers  of  a  pleni- 
potentiary (cf.  LEGRELLE,  La  Diplomatic 
Frangaise  et  la  Succession  tfEspagne,  vol.  iv. 


passim ;  MACKNIGHT,  Life  of  Bolingbroke). 
Then,  after  some  months  of  doubt,  tension, 
and  anxiety,  preceding  and  following  upon 
Queen  Anne's  death  in  1714,  he  was  re- 
called, having  already  been  deprived  of  his 
commissionership  of  customs.  As  soon  as 
he  got  back  (March  1715),  he  was  impeached 
by  Sir  Robert  Walpole,  ordered  into  the 
custody  of  the  sergeant-at-arms,  and  treated 
with  considerable  rigour.  He  amused  him- 
self during  his  enforced  seclusion  by  com- 
posing a  long  poem  in  Hudibrastic  metre, 
entitled  'Alma;  or  the  Progress  of  the 
Mind,'  a  whimsical  and  very  discursive  dia- 
logue on  the  locality  of  the  soul,  supposed  to 
be  carried  on  between  himself  and  his  friend 
and  protege,  Richard  Shelton.  In  1717 
he  was  exempted  from  the  act  of  grace, 
but  was  nevertheless  soon  afterwards  set  at 
liberty.  Fortunately,  through  all  his  vicis- 
situdes, his  foresight  had  prompted  him  to 
retain  his  St.  John's  fellowship,  or  he  would 
have  been  practically  penniless. 

To  increase  his  means  of  subsistence,  at 
this  juncture  Lord  Harley  and  Lord 
Bathurst,  aided  by  Gay,  Arbuthnot,  and 
others,  busied  themselves  in  obtaining  sub- 
scribers for  a  folio  edition  of  his  poems. 
Already,  in  1709,  the  publication,  two  years 
earlier,  of  an  unauthorised  issue  of  his  fugi- 
tive verse  by  the  notorious  Edmund  Curll 
[q.  v.]  had  obliged  him  to  collect  from  Dryden's 
*  Miscellanies  '  and  other  sources  a  number 
of  his  pieces,  to  which  he  had  added  others 
not  previously  printed,  prefacing  the  whole 
by  an  elaborately  written  eulogy  of  his  now 
deceased  patron,  Charles,  earl  of  Dorset  and 
Middlesex.  This  he  had  addressed  to 
Dorset's  son  Lionel,  afterwards  the  first 
duke.  To  the  poems  in  this  collection  of 
1709  he  appended,  in  the  edition  of  1718, 
the  above-mentioned  ( Alma,'  and  a  long- 
incubated  effort  in  heroics  and  three  books, 
entitled  '  Solomon  on  the  Vanity  of  the 
World.'  This  volume,  which  was  delivered 
to  its  subscribers  early  in  1719,  is  said  to 
have  brought  him  in  four  thousand  guineas. 
'  Great  Mother,'  he  had  written  in  some 
verses  printed  in  it : 

Great  Mother,  let  me  once  be  able 
To  have  a  garden,  house,  and  stable  ; 
That  I  may  read,  and  ride,  and  plant, 
Superior  to  desire,  or  want  • 
And  as  health  fails,  and  years  increase, 
Sit  clown,  and  think,  and  die  in  peace. 

His  wish,  real  or  feigned,  was  now  to  be 
gratified.  To  the  profits  of  his  great  folio  Lord 
Harley  added  a  like  sum  of  4,OOOJ.  for  the 
purchase  of  Down  Hall  in  Essex,  an  estate 
not  very  far  from  Harlow,  and  three  miles 


Prior 


400 


Prior 


south-west  of  the  church  of  Hatfield  Broad 
Oak.  It  is  now  in  the  possession  of  the 
Selwyn  family,  who  still  preserve  Prior's 
favourite  chair ;  but  at  the  poet's  death  it 
reverted,  by  arrangement,  to  Lord  Harley. 
In  a  ballad  of '  Down  Hall,'  afterwards  pub- 
lished separately,  Prior  describes  charmingly 
his  first  visit  to  his  new  retreat,  in  company 
with  Harley's  agent,  John  Morley  [q.  v.J, 
the  notorious  land-jobber,  of  Halstead,  and 
his  own  Swedish  servant,  Newman  or 
Oeman.  Unhappily  his  health  was  already 
failing,  and,  like  his  friend  Swift,  he  suffered 
from  deafness.  At  Down  Hall,  however, 
he  continued,  for  the  most  part,  to  reside, 
amusing  himself  in  the  manner  of  Pope  by 
nursing  his  ailments  and  improving  his  pro- 
perty until  his  death,  which  took  place  on 
18  Sept.  1721,  at  Lord  Harley's  seat  of 
Wimpole,  where  he  was  on  a  visit.  He  was 
in  his  fifty-eighth  year,  a  circumstance  which 
did  not  prevent  an  admirer  (Mr.  Robert  In- 
gram) from  writing : 

Horace  and  He  were  call'd  in  haste 
From  this  vile  Earth  to  Heaven  ; 

The  cruel  year  not  fully  pass'd 
^Etatis,  fifty-seven. 

He  was  buried,  as  he  desired,  f  at  the  feet  of 
Spenser,'  on  25  Sept.,  and  left  five  hundred 
pounds  for  a  monument.  This  was  duly 
erected,  close  to  Shadwell's,  in  the  Poets' 
Corner  of  Westminster  Abbey,  surmounted 
with  the  bust  by  Antoine  Coysevox  (mis- 
named Coriveaux  in  the  poet's  will),  which 
had  been  given  to  him  by  Louis  XIV.  His 
epitaph  was  written  by  the  copious  Dr.  Ro- 
bert Freind  [q.  v.]  To  <  the  College  of  St. 
John  the  Evangelist,  in  Cambridge,'  he  left  by 
will  two  hundred  pounds'  worth  of  books. 
These,  which  were  to  be  preserved  in  the 
library  with  some  earlier  gifts,  included  the 
poems  of  1718  '  in  the  greatest  paper '  (there 
are  said  to  have  been  three  issues  of  this 
emphatically  '  tall '  volume).  He  also  left  to 
the  college  Hyacinthe  Rigaud's  portrait  of 
his  patron,  Edward,  earl  of  Jersey,  and  his 
own  portrait  by  Alexis-Simon  Belle,  familiar 
in  Vertue's  engraving.  There  is  another 
well-known  likeness  of  him  by  Jonathan 
Richardson  in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery, 
which  again  is  a  duplicate  of  one  belonging 
to  the  Duke  of  Portland,  and  this  too  was 
engraved  by  Vertue  in  1719  for  Lord  Harley 
(Letter  to  Swift,  4  May  1720).  Prior  was 
also  painted  by  Kneller  (Stationers'  Hall), 
Michael  Dahl,  and  others,  including  an  un- 
known artist,  whose  work  is  in  the  Dyce  col- 
lection at  South  Kensington.  The  Dahl 
portrait,  once  the  poet's  own  property,  and 
afterwards  Lord  Oxford's,  now  belongs  to 


Aubrey  Harcourt,  esq.,  of  Nuneham  Park, 
and  was  etched  in  1889  by  Gr.  W.  Rhead  for 
the  '  Parchment  Library.'  Besides  the  Coyse- 
vox bust  above  mentioned,  there  is  one  attri- 
buted to  Roubiliac,  which  was  purchased  for 
one  hundred  and  thirty  guineas  by  Sir  Robert 
Peel  at  the  Stowe  sale  of  1848  (Illustrated 
London  News,  26  Aug.) ;  in  the  Portland 
collection,  dispersed  in  1786,  was  an  enamel 
by  Boit  (Academy,  4  Aug.  1883). 

The  character  of  Prior  has  suffered  some- 
what from  Johnson's  unlucky  application  to  it 
of  the  line  in  Horace  about  the  cask  which  re- 
tains the  scent  of  its  first  wine.  '  In  his  private 
relaxation/  says  the  doctor,  '  he  revived  the 
tavern,'  i.e.  the  Rhenish  Wine  House  of  his 
youth;  and  certainly  some  of  the  stories 
which  have  been  repeated  from  Spence,  Ar- 
buthnot,  and  others,  of  the  very  humble 
social  status  of  his  Chloes  and  '  nut-brown 
maids  '  lend  a  qualified  support  to  Johnson's 
epigram  (cf.  SPENCE,  Anecdotes,  1858,  pp. 
2,  37  ;  Richardsoniana,  1776,  p.  275).  But 
the  evidence  of  his  better  qualities  rests  upon 
a  surer  foundation.  Those  who  knew  him 
well — and,  both  by  rank  and  intellect,  they 
were  some  of  the  noblest  in  the  land — concur 
in  praising  him  ;  and  even  Johnson  rather 
inconsistently  admits  that  in  a  scandal- 
mongering  age  little  ill  is  heard  of  him.  But, 
by  his,  own  admission  (cf.  verses  For  my 
own  Monument),  his  standard  can  hardly  have 
been  a  very  elevated  one  ;  and  in  his  official 
life,  although  he  performed  his  duties  cre- 
ditably, he  was  probably  an  opportunist 
rather  than  an  enthusiast.  In  private  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  he  was  a  kind  friend, 
and,  as  far  as  is  possible  to  a  valetudinarian, 
a  pleasant  and  an  equable  companion.  Swift's 
picture  of  him  (Journal  to  Stella,  21  Feb. 
1711)  as  one  who  '  has  generally  a  cough, 
which  he  only  calls  a  cold,'  and  who  walks 
in  the  park  '  to  make  himself  fat,'  coupled 
with  Davis's  '  thin,  hollow-looked  man,'  and 
Bolingbroke's  '  visage  de  bois,'  may  stand 
in  place  of  longer  descriptions.  As  to  his 
amiability,  there  is  no  better  testimony  than 
that  of  Lord  Harley's  daughter,  afterwards 
the  Duchess  of  Portland,  to  whom  as  a  child 
Prior  addressed  the  lines  beginning  '  My 
noble,  lovely  little  Peggy.'  Her  recollection 
of  him  was  that  he  made  *  himself  beloved 
by  every  living  thing  in  the  house — master, 
child,  and  servant,  human  creature,  or 
animal  '  (LADY  M.  WOETLEY  MONTAGU, 
Works,  ed.  Wharncliffe,  1837,  i.  63). 

Apart  from  the  somewhat  full-wigged 
dedication  prefixed  to  his  pooms  of  1709  and 
1718,  and  his  contributions  in  1710  to  the 
tory  '  Examiner,'  Prior's  known  prose  works 
are  of  slight  importance.  At  Longleat  there 


Prior 


401 


Prior 


are,  among  other  things,  four  imprinted 
<  Dialogues  of  the  Dead  '  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm. 
3rd  Rep.  App.  p.  194),  which  have  been 
greatly  praised  by  Pope,  Beattie,  Nichols, 
and  others  who  have  seen  them ;  and  it  is 
from  his  original  papers  that  is  said  to  be 
compiled  the  dubious  '  History  of  his  Own 
Time,'  which,  with  a  second  volume  of 
*  Miscellaneous  Works/  including  several 
pieces  of  verse  now  reckoned  among  his 
accepted  efforts,  was  editorially  put  forth 
by  one  J.  Bancks  in  1740  [1739].  Both 
volumes  purport  to  be  derived  from  tran- 
scripts by  Prior's  executor,  Adrian  Drift, 
who  died  in  1738.  But  a  letter  fromHeneage 
Legge  to  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth  on  6  Nov. 
1739  (id.  llth  Rep.  App.  pt.  v.  p.  329) 
throws  considerable  doubt  on  these  collec- 
tions, and  it  is  not  easy  to  decide  how  far 
they  were  '  a  trick  of  a  bookseller's.'  It  is 
possible,  however,  to  distrust  too  much,  as 
they  admittedly  contain  a  very  great  deal  that 
is  authentic,  and  they  are  certainly  not 
without  interest. 

Of  his  poems  Prior  speaks,  either  affectedly 
or  with  sincerity,  as  '  the  product  of  his 
leisure  hours,  who  had  commonly  business 
-enough  upon  his  hands,  and  was  only  a  poet 
by  accident ; '  and  it  seems  clear  that  the 
collection  of  his  fugitive  pieces  into  a  volume 
was  precipitated  by  Curll's  unauthorised 
issue  in  1707  of  the  '  Poems  on  Several 
Occasions,'  just  as  the  larger  collection  of 
1718  was  prompted  by  Prior's  necessitous 
circumstances.  As  it  is,  some  of  his  now 
best  known  pieces,  *  The  Secretary,'  'The 
Female  Phaeton,'  <  To  a  Child  of  Quality,' 
were  not  included  among  his  works  until 
after  his  death.  What  he  considered  to  be 
tis  most  successful  efforts  are  at  present,  as 
it  often  happens,  the  least  valued.  His  three 
books  of  '  Solomon  on  the  Vanity  of  the 
World,'  of  which  he  himself  ruefully  ad- 
mitted in  <  The  Conversation,' 

Indeed,  poor  Solomon  in  rhyme 
Was  much  too  grave  to  be  sublime, 

although  they  once  found  admirers  in  John 
Wesley  and  Cowper,  find  few  readers  to- 
day; and  his  paraphrase  of  the  fine  old  ballad 
of  '  The  Nut-Brown  Maid  '  as  '  Henry  and 
Emma  '  shares  their  fate.  His  *  Alma,'  which 
he  regarded  as  a  '  loose  and  hasty  scribble,' 
is,  on  the  contrary,  still  a  favourite  with  the 
admirers  of  Butler,  whose  '  Hudibras '  is  its 
avowed  model — a  model  which  it  perhaps 
excels  in  facility  of  rhyme  and  ease  of  versi- 
fication. In  Prior's  imitations  of  the  '  Conte ' 
of  La  Fontaine  this  metrical  skill  is  main- 
tained, and  he  also  shows  consummate  art 
in  the  telling  of  a  story  in  verse.  Unhappily, 

VOL,   XLVI. 


in  spite  of  Johnson's  extraordinary  dictum 
that « Prior  is  a  lady's  book  '(BosWELL,  ed.  Hill, 
1887,  iii.  192),  his  themes  are  not  equally 
commendable.  But  he  is  one  of  the  neatest 
of  English  epigrammatists,  and  in  occasional 
pieces  and  familiar  verse  has  no  rival  in 
English.  'Prior's,'  says  Thackeray,  in  an 
oft-quoted  passage  (English  Humourists, 
1864,  p.  175) '  seem  to  me  amongst  the  easiest, 
the  richest,  the  most  charmingly  humourous 
of  English  lyrical  poems.  Horace  is  always 
in  his  mind,  and  his  song,  and  his  philosophy, 
his  good  sense,  his  happy  easy  turns  and 
melody,  his  loves,  and  his  Epicureanism, 
bear  a  great  resemblance  to  that  most  de- 
lightful and  accomplished  master.' 

[The  chief  collections  of  Prior's  poems  pub. 
lished  in  his  lifetime  are  :  Poems  on  Several 
Occasions  (1)  1707,  (2)  1709,  (3)  1716,  and  (4) 
1718.  Nos.  1  and  3  were  unauthorised,  the 
former  being  repudiated  by  Prior  in  the  preface 
to  No.  2,  the  latter  by  notice  in  the  London 
Gazette  of  24  March  1716,  but  both  probably 
contain  poems  by  Prior  which  '  he  thought  ft 
prudent  to  disown'  (POPE,  Corresp.  iii.  194-5). 
The  Conversation  and  Down  Hall  came  out  in 
1720  and  1723  respectively.  Other  pieces  are 
included  in  the  Miscellaneous  Works  of  1740. 
Of  posthumous  editions  of  his  poetical  works 
that  of  Evans  (2  vols.  1779)  long  enjoyed  the 
reputation  of  being  the  best.  The  most  com- 
plete at  present  is  the  revised  Aldine  edition 
(also  2  vols.),  edited  in  1892  by  Mr.  R.  Brimley 
Johnson.  A  selection  by  the  writer  of  this  paper, 
with  a  lengthy  Introduction  and  Notes,  contain- 
ing much  fresh  biographical  material,  chiefly  de- 
rived from  an  unprinted  statement  by  Prior's 
friend  Sir  James  Montagu,  appeared  in  the 
Parchment  Library  in  1 889.  Among  other  sources 
of  information,  in  addition  to  Johnson's  Lives, 
Thackeray's  Lectures,  and  the  letters  of  Han- 
mer,  Bolingbroke,  and  Pope,  may  be  mentioned 
North  British  Eeview,  November  1857  ;  Con- 
temporary Eeview,  July  1872 ;  Longman's  Maga- 
zine, October  1884;  Contemporary  Review,  May 
1890,  an  excellent  article  by  Mr.  G.  A.  Aitken; 
and  Chester's  Westminster  Abbey  Eegisters.  pp. 
304,  348.]  A.  D. 

PRIOR,  THOMAS  (1682  ?-17ol),  founder 
of  the  Dublin  Society  and  philanthropist,  born 
about  1682,  was  a  native  of  Rathdowny, 
Queen's  County.  He  entered  the  public  school 
at  Kilkenny  in  January  1696-7,  and  continued 
there  till  April  1699.  Among  his  school- 
fellows was  George  Berkeley  [q.  v.],  subse- 
quently bishop  of  Cloyne,  with  whom  he 
formed  a  lifelong  friendship.  Prior  entered 
Trinity  College,  Dublin,  obtained  a  scholar- 
ship in  1701,  and  graduated  B.A.  in  1703. 
He  subsequently  devoted  himself  to  the  pro- 
motion of  material  and  industrial  works 
among  the  protestant  population  in  Ireland. 

DD 


Prior 


402 


Pritchard 


In  1729  appeared  at  Dublin  his  'List  of  the 
Absentees  of  Ireland/  and  in  the  following 
year  he  published  '  Observations  on  Coin.' 
In  conjunction  with  Samuel  Madden  [q.  v.] 
and  eleven  other  friends,  Prior  in  1731  suc- 
ceeded in  establishing  the  Dublin  Society  for 
the  Promotion  of  Agriculture,  Manufactures, 
Arts,  and  Sciences.  It  was  duly  incorporated, 
and  received  a  grant  from  parliament  in  1749 
of  500/.  a  year,  and  subsequently  developed 
into  the  Royal  Dublin  Society. 

To  Lord  Chesterfield,  who  during  his  vice- 
royalty  had  occasional  intercourse  with  Prior 
and  formed  a  high  opinion  of  him,  Prior  in 
1746  dedicated  e  An  Authentic  Narrative  of 
the  Success  of  Tar-water  in  Curing  a  great 
number  and  variety  of  Distempers.'  This 
publication  included  two  letters  from  Berke- 
ley. An  essay  by  Prior,  advocating  the  en- 
couragement of  the  linen  manufacture  in 
Ireland,  was  published  at  Dublin  in  1749. 

Prior  died  on  21  Oct.  1751,  and  was  buried 
at  Eathdowny.  A  monument  was  erected 
by  subscription  to  his  memory  in  Christ 
Church  Cathedral,  Dublin,  with  an  inscrip- 
tion in  Latin  by  Bishop  Berkeley,  who  styled 
him  '  Societatis  Dubliniensis  auctor,  insti- 
tutor,  curator.'  A  marble  bust  of  Prior  is  in 
the  possession  of  the  Royal  Dublin  Society. 
A  portrait  of  him  in  mezzotint  was  published 
at  Dublin  in  1752. 

[Gilbert's  Hist,  of  Dublin  ;  Chesterfield's  Let- 
ters, by  Lord  Mahon  ;  Records  of  the  Dublin 
Society ;  Berkeley's  Literary  Eelics  ;  Tracts  re- 
lative to  Ireland,  1861  ;  Berkeley's  Works,  1871.1 

J.  T.  G. 

PRIOR,  THOMAS  ABIEL  (1809-1886), 
line-engraver,  was  born  on  5  Nov.  1809.  He 
first  distinguished  himself  in  1846  by  engrav- 
ing a  plate  of  '  Heidelberg  Castle  and  Town/ 
from  a  drawing  by  J.  M.  W.  Turner,  R.A., 
and  under  Turner's  supervision ;  it  was  pub- 
lished by  subscription.  He  next  essayed  a  plate 
in  mezzotint,'More  frightened  than  hurt/ after 
James  Bateman ;  but  he  afterwards  returned 
to  the  line  manner,  in  which  he  successfully 
executed  several  other  plates  after  Turner. 
They  included  <  Zurich,'  1852 ;  '  Dido  building 
Carthage,'  1863;  'Apollo  and  the  Sibyl'  (Bay 
of  Baiae),  1873 ;  '  The  Sun  rising  in  a  Mist,' 
begun  by  "William  Chapman,  1874;  and 'The 
Fighting  Tem6raire/  1886,  his  latest  and  one 
of  his  best  works.  He  engraved  also  after 
Turner,  '  The  Goddess  of  Discord  choosing 
the  Apple  of  Contention  in  the  Garden  of  the 
Hesperides '  and  '  Heidelberg  Castle  '  for  the 
Turner  Gallery,  and  'The  Golden  Bough' 
and  '  Venice  :  the  Dogana '  for  the  Vernon 
Gallery.  Besides  the  last  two,  there  are  in 
the  Vernon  Gallery  plates  by  him  of '  Ruins 
in  Italy,'  after  Richard  Wilson,  R.A. ;  'De 


Tabley  Park '  and  '  The  Council  of  Horses/ 
after  James  Ward,  R.  A.,  and  '  Woodcutting 
in  Windsor  Forest/  after  John  Linnell.  He 
like  wise  engraved '  Crossing  the  Bridge/  after 
Sir  Edwin  Landseer,  R.A.,  and  for  the  '  Art 
Journal '  the  following  pictures  in  the  royal 
collection :  '  The  Windmill/  after  Ruysdael ; 
'The  Village  Fete/  after  David  Teniers ; 
'  Dover/  after  George  Chambers ;  '  The  Open- 
ing of  New  London  Bridge/  after  Clarkson 
Stanfield,  R.A. ;  and  '  Constantinople  :  the 
Golden  Horn/  after  Jacobus  Jacobs. 

During  the  later  years  of  his  life  Prior  re- 
sided in  Calais,  whither  he  removed  in  order 
to  be  near  his  son,  who  had  settled  there. 
He  taught  drawing  in  one  or  two  of  the 
public  schools,  and  devoted  his  leisure  time 
to  engraving.  He  exhibited  twice  only  at 
the  Royal  Academy,  and  never  elsewhere. 
He  died  at  Calais  on  8  Nov.  1886. 

[Times,  11  Nov.  1886;  Athenseum,  1886,  ii. 
677  ;  Bryan's  Dictionary  of  Painters  and  En- 
gravers, ed.  Graves  and  Armstrong,  1886-9,  ii. 
323.]  K.  E.  G. 

PRISOT,  SIR  JOHN  (d.  1460),  judge,  was 
probably  born  at  Westberies,  Ruckinge,  Kent, 
of  which  manor  his  father  was  lord,  towards 
the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century.  He  was 
called  to  the  degree  of  serjeant-at-law  on 
31  Aug.  1443,  and  on  16  Jan.  1448-9  was 
made  chief  justice  of  the  common  bench. 
He  was  afterwards  knighted,  was  a  trier  of 
petitions  from  Gascony  and  other  parts  be- 
yond sea  in  the  parliaments  of  1453  and 
1455,  and  in  the  latter  year  was  a  member 
of  the  Hertfordshire  commission  for  raising 
funds  for  the  defence  of  Calais.  In  1459  he 
became  one  of  the  feoffees  to  the  use  of  the 
crown  of  various  estates  in  the  duchy  of 
Lancaster.  He  died  in  1460,  before  the  ac- 
cession of  Edward  IV. 

Prisot  was  a  strong  and  learned  judge, 
and  was  '  of  furtherance  '  to  Littleton  in  the 
compilation  of  his  '  Tenures.'  He  was  lord 
of  .the  manor  of  Wallington,  Hertfordshire, 
where  his  widow  Margaret  was  residing  in 
1480. 

[Cussans's  Hertfordshire,  Odsey  Hundred,  p. 
80;  Clutterbuck's Hertfordshire,  iii.  597 ;  Hasted's 
Kent,  iii.  474 ;  Dugdale's  Orig.  p.  58,  Chron.  Ser. 
pp.  64,  66 ;  Nicolas's  Proceedings  and  Ordinances 
of  the  Privy  Council,  vi.  239  ;  Eot.  Parl.  v.  227, 
279,  vi.  355;  Paston  Correspondence,  ed.  Gaird- 
ner,  i.  123,  211,  290-2;  Foss's  Lives  of  the 
Judges.]  J.  M.  E. 

PRITCHARD,  ANDREW (1804-1882), 
microscopist,  eldest  son  of  John  Pritchard 
of  Hackney,  and  his  wife  Ann,  daughter  of 
John  Fleetwood,  was  born  in  London  on 
14  Dec.  1804.  He  was  educated  at  St. 


Pritchard 


403 


Pritchard 


Saviour's  grammar  school,  Southwark,  and 
was  afterwards  apprenticed  to  his  cousin, 
Cornelius  Varley,  a  patent  agent  and  brother 
to  John  Varley  [q.  v.],  the  artist.  On  the 
expiration  of  his  apprenticeship  he  started  in 
business  as  an  optician,  first  at  18  Picket 
Street,  then  at  312  Strand,  and  afterwards 
at  162  Fleet  Street.  He  retired  from  busi- 
ness about  1852,  and  died  at  Highbury  on 
24  Nov.  1882.  He  married,  on  16  July  1829, 
Caroline  Isabella  Straker. 

Brought  up  with  the  '  independents,' 
Pritchard  later  in  life  associated  with,  though 
he  never  actually  became  a  member  of,  the 
sect  known  as  Sandemanians,  and  it  was  in 
connection  with  that  body  he  first  made  the 
acquaintance  of  Faraday.  He  finally  became 
a  Unitarian,  and  in  1840  joined  the  congrega- 
tion at  Newington  Green,  a  connection  which 
lasted  throughout  his  life.  He  was  greatly 
interested  in  all  the  institutions  connected 
therewith,  and  was  treasurer  of  the  chapel 
from  1850  to  1872. 

Pritchard  early  turned  his  attention  to 
microscopy,  and  in  1824,  while  still  with 
Varley,  he,  at  the  instigation  of  Dr.  C.  R. 
Goring,  endeavoured  to  fashion  a  single  lens 
out  of  a  diamond.  Despite  the  discourage- 
ment of  diamond-cutters,  he  ultimately  suc- 
ceeded in  1826.  He  also  fashioned  simple 
lenses  of  sapphire  and  of  ruby.  His  practi- 
cal work  on  the  microscope,  however,  was 
less  productive  of  lasting  results  than  his 
literary  labours  on  the  application  of  the  in- 
strument to  the  investigation  of  micro- 
organisms. His  '  History  of  the  Infusoria ' 
was  long  a  standard  work,  and  the  impetus 
it  gave  to  the  study  of  biological  science 
cannot  be  readily  overestimated. 

Pritchard  was  author  of :  1.  'A  Treatise 
on  Optical  Instruments,'  8vo,  London,  1828, 
forming  one  of  the  volumes  of  the  '  Library 
of  Entertaining  Knowledge.'  2.  'Micro- 
scopic Illustrations,' &c.,  written  in  associa- 
tion with  Dr.  C.  R.  Goring,  8vo,  London, 
1829;  reissued  1830;  2nd  edit.  1838;  3rd 
edit.  1845.  3.  <  The  Microscopic  Cabinet,' 
8vo,  London,  1832.  4.  '  The  Natural  History 
of  Animalcules,'  8vo,  London,  1834,  after- 
wards rewritten,  enlarged,  and  issued  as  '  A 
History  of  Infusoria,  Living  and  Fossil,'  8vo, 
London,  1841 ;  new  edit.  1852 ;  4th  edit. 
1861.  5.  'A  List  of  2,000  Microscopic  Ob- 
jects/ 12mo,  London,  1835.  6.  '  Microgra- 
phia,'  8vo,  London,  1837.  7.  '  A  Catalogue 
of  the  Orders,  Families,  and  Principal  Genera 
of  British  Insects,'  8vo,  London,  1839. 
8.  i  Notes  on  Natural  History  selected  from 
the  "Microscopic  Cabinet,"'  8vo,  London, 
1844.  9.  'English  Patents,'  8vo,  London, 
1847.  10.  '  Microscopic  Objects  .  .  .  with 


Instructions  for  preparing  .  .  .  them,'  8vo, 
London,  1847.  11.  'A  Practical  Treatise 
on  Optical  Instruments,'  8vo,  London,  1850. 
He  also  wrote  four  papers  on  microscopical 
optics  between  1827  and  1833  in  the  '  Quar- 
terly Journal  of  Science,'  the  'Edinburgh 
Philosophical  Magazine,'  and  the  '  Philoso- 
phical Magazine.' 

HENRY  BADEN  PRITCHAUD  (1841-1884), 
chemist  and  writer,  the  third  son  of  Andrew 
Pritchard,  was  born  in  Canonbury  on  30  Nov. 
1841,  and  sent  to  Eisenach  and  University 
College  school,  going  afterwards  to  Switzer- 
land to  complete  his  education.  In  1861  he 
obtained  an  appointment  in  the  chemical  de- 
partment at  the  Royal  Arsenal,  Woolwich, 
and  for  some  years  before  his  death  conducted 
the  photographic  department  there.  He 
died  at  Charlton,  Kent,  on  11  May  1884, 
having  married,  25  March  1873,  Mary,  daugh- 
ter of  Matthew  Evans  of  Shropshire. 

He  was  author  of:  1.  'A  Peep  in  the 
Pyrenees'  (anon.)  8vo,  London,  1867. 

2.  '  Tramps  in  the  Tyrol,'  8vo,  London,  1874. 

3.  '  Beauty  Spots  on  the    Continent,'  8vo, 
London,  1875.     4.  '  Photographic  Studios  of 
Europe,'  8vo,  London,  1882.     5.  '  A  Trip  to 
Sahara  with  the  Camera,'  8vo,  London,  1884. 
The   following  works    of  fiction   were   by 
Pritchard:    6.    ' Dangerfield,'   3   vols.  8vo, 
London,  1878.     7.    'Old  Charlton,'  3  vols. 
8vo,  London,  1879.     8.  '  George  Vanbrugh's 
Mistake,'  3  vols.  8vo,  London,  1880.  9.  'The 
Doctor's   Daughter,'    3  vols.   8vo,   London, 
1883.     He  was  also  proprietor  and  editor  of 
the  '  Photographic  News '  from  1878  to  188  i. 

Portraits  of  him  appeared  in  the  'British 
Journal  of  Photography,'  1884,  and  the  '  Year 
Book  of  Photography,'  1885. 

[Information  kindly  supplied  by  Miss  Marian 
Pritchard.]  B.  B.  W. 

PRITCHARD,  CHARLES  (1808  1893), 
astronomer,  was  the  fourth  son  of  William 
Pritchard,  an  enterprising  but  unsuccessful 
manufacturer,'  and  was  born  at  Alberbury, 
Shropshire,  on  29  Feb.  1808.  His  family 
having  removed  to  Brixton,  he  entered  Mer- 
chant Taylors'  School  as  a  day-boy  in  January 
1819,  and  during  a  year  and  a  half  walked  to 
Suffolk  Lane,  a  distance  of  four  miles,  every 
morning  before  seven.  Transferred  to  John 
Stock's  academy  at  Poplar,  he  learned  the  use 
of  some  old  astronomical  instruments  made 
by  James  Ferguson  (1710-1776)  [q._v.],  and 
earned  two  guineas  when  fifteen  by  instruct- 
ing a  would-be  colonist  in  field  surveying. 
His  last  school  was  Christ's  Hospital,  where 
for  a  twelvemonth  he  headed  the  deputy  Gre- 
cians. Long  early  walks  here  again  became 
part  of  his  life,  and  he  utilised  them  in  learning 

D  D  2 


Pritchard 


404 


Pritchard 


by  rote  passages  from  classical  authors.  Pecu- 
niary difficulties  at  home,  however, compelled 
his  removal ;  and  for  two  years  he  worked 
alone,  chiefly  at  mathematics,  attending  also 
some  lectures  on  chemistry.  In  1825,  when 
only  seventeen,  he  published  an  '  Introduc- 
tion to  Arithmetic/ and  in  1826  was  enabled, 
by  the  help  of  friends,  to  enter  St.  John's 
College,  Cambridge,  whence  he  graduated  as 
fourth  wrangler  in  1830.  He  proceeded  M.  A. 
in  1833,  having  been  elected  a  fellow  of 
his  college  in  March  1832.  He  had  already 
communicated  to  the  Cambridge  Philosophi- 
cal Society  a  paper  on  the  '  Figure  of  the 
Earth,'  and  he  published  in  1831  a  '  Treatise 
on  the  Theory  of  Statical  Couples,'  which 
was  adopted  in  the  teaching  of  the  univer- 
sity, and  reached  a  second  edition  in  1837. 
In  1833  he  accepted  the  head-mastership  of 
a  school  at  Stockwell,  newly  started  in  con- 
nection with  King's  College.  Dean  Bradley, 
one  of  his  pupils  there,  described  him  as  '  a 
young  man,  full  of  fire,  enthusiasm,  and  ori- 
ginal ability'  (Nineteenth  Century,  March 
1884).  Difficulties,  however,  with  the  go- 
verning body  caused  his  speedy  resignation ; 
and  the  Clapham  grammar  school  was 
founded  to  give  him  a  freer  hand  in  carrying 
out  much-needed  educational  reforms.  Over 
this  establishment  he  presided  with  remark- 
able success  from  1834  to  1862.  His  system 
of  teaching  was  wide  and  accommodating, 
his  zeal  indefatigable ;  and  pupils  were  at- 
tracted from  all  parts  of  the  kingdom. 
Among  them  were  Dean  Bradley  and  Pro- 
fessor Mivart,  with  the  sons  of  Sir  John 
Herschel,  Sir  George  Airy,  Sir  William 
Rowan  Hamilton,  and  Charles  Darwin.  A 
banquet  given  in  Pritchard's  honour  in  1886 
by  the  'Old  Boys'  of  Clapham  was  a  unique 
tribute  to  the  manner  of  his  rule  there.  He 
was  moved  by  it  to  write  a  short  autobio- 
graphy, which  he  circulated  among  his 
friends. 

On  leaving  Clapham,  Pritchard  retired 
with  his  family  to  Freshwater  in  the  Isle  of 
Wight.  He  had  been  ordained  in  1834,  and 
earnestly  desired  to  devote  himself  to  pas- 
toral duties,  but  failed  to  obtain  a  cure.  He 
nevertheless  delivered  addresses,  generally  on 
the  harmony  bet  ween  science  and  Scripture,  at 
various  church  congresses,  and  preached  so 
often  before  the  British  Association  that  he 
came  to  be  known  as  its  '  chaplain.'  His  dis- 
course at  the  Nottingham  meeting  in  1 866  sug- 
gested to  his  friend,  Sir  William  Page  Wood 
(afterwards  Lord  Hatherley),  the  latter's 
work  on  *  The  Continuity  of  Holy  Scripture,' 
and  led  to  his  own  appointment  as  Hulsean 
lecturer  at  Cambridge  in  1867.  He  was,  be- 
sides, one  of  the  select  preachers  at  Cambridge 


in  1869  and  1881,  and  at  Oxford  in  1876  and 
1877. 

Pritchard  had  a  small  observatory  at  Clap- 
ham,  and  joined  the  Royal  Astronomical 
Society  on  13  April  1849.  His  first  contri- 
bution to  their  proceedings,  in  January  1853, 
was  on  '  The  Use  of  Mercury  in  Observa- 
tions by  Reflexion '  (Monthly  Notices,  xiii. 
61).  In  '  Calculations  of  the  three  Conjunc- 
tions of  Jupiter  and  Saturn  in  B.C.  7,  B.C.  66, 
and  A.D.  54,'  he  showed,  in  1856,  the  inad- 
missibility  of  Ideler's  identification  of  one  of 
them  with  the  star  of  the  Magi  (Memoirs,  xxv. 
119).  He  made  some  photometrical  experi- 
ments on  the  annular  solar  eclipse  of  15  March 
1858  (Monthly  Notices,  xviii.  245),  and  joined 
the  '  Himalaya  Expedition '  to  Spain  for  ob- 
serving the  total  eclipse  of  18  July  1860.  He 
served  continuously  on  the  council  of  the  so- 
ciety from  1856  to  1877,  and  again  from  1883 
to  1887  ;  was  chosen  president  in  1866,  and 
in  that  capacity  delivered  two  admirable  ad- 
dresses in  presenting  gold  medals  to  Huggins 
and  Leverrier  in  1867  and  1868  respectively. 

Early  in  1870  Pritchard  succeeded  Wil- 
liam Fishburn  Donkin  [q.  v.]  as  Savilian 
professor  of  astronomy  in  the  university  of 
Oxford.  Although  just  sixty-two,  he  en- 
tered upon  his  new  duties  with  the  ardour 
of  youth.  Through  his  initiative  convoca- 
tion granted  the  necessary  funds  for  the 
erection  of  a  new  observatory  in  the  '  Parks ;' 
the  plans  of  the  building  were  designed  by 
Pritchard  himself.  A  twelve-inch  refractor 
was  purchased  from  Sir  Howard  Grubb,  and 
Dr.  Warren  de  la  Rue  [q.  v.]  presented  other 
instruments,  including  a  thirteen-inch  re- 
flecting equatoreal,  constructed  by  himself. 
The  '  New  Savilian  Observatory  for  Astro- 
nomical Physics'  was  completed  in  1875  (ib. 
xxxiv.  49,  xxxv.  376,  xxxvi.  1).  Pritchard  at 
once  discerned  the  advantages  of  the  photo- 
graphic method,  and  applied  the  collodion 
process  to  an  investigation  of  the  moon's  libra- 
tion  (Memoirs  Roy.  Astr.  Society,  xlvii.  1). 
He  next  undertook  the  micrometric  deter- 
mination of  forty  stars  in  the  Pleiades,  with  a 
view  to  ascertain  their  relative  displace- 
ments since  Bessel's  time.  The  results,  since 
shown  to  be  dubious,  were  published  in  1884 
(ib.Tilvm.  357).  Discordances  between  various 
estimates  of  the  brightness  of  thess  stars  led 
him  to  the  invention  of  the  '  wedge-photo- 
meter,' described  before  the  Astronomical 
Society  on  11  Nov.  1881  (ib.  xlvii.  357). 
This  instrument  was  criticised  by  Wilsing 
at  Potsdam  (Astr.  Nach.  No.  _  2680),  by 
Langley,  Young,  and  Pickering  in  America 
(Memoirs  Amer.  Acad.  of  Sciences,  1886,  p. 
301),  and  by  Dr.  Spitta  in  this  country. 
Vigorously  defended  by  Pritchard  (Monthly 


Pritchard 


405 


Pritchard 


Notices,  xlvi.  2,  1.  512;  Observatory,  viii- 
424,  ix.  62),  it  has  kept  its  place  as  an  in- 
dispensable adjunct  to  photometric  apparatus. 
By  means  of  seventy  thousand  accurately 
observed  extinctions  with  it  he  determined, 
in  1881-5,  the  relative  magnitudes  of  2,784 
stars  from  the  pole  to  ten  degrees  south  of 
the  equator,  travelling  to  Cairo  early  in  1883 
for  the  purpose  of  approximating  more  closely 
to  the  true  value  of  atmospheric  absorption. 
For  the  resulting  valuable  photometric  cata- 
logue, entitled  '  Uranometria  Nova  Oxoni- 
ensis/  1885,  he  received,  jointly  with  Picker- 
ing, in  February  1886,  the  Astronomical  So- 
ciety's gold  medal  (Monthly  Notices,  xlvi. 
272). 

Pritchard  was  a  pioneer  in  the  photographic 
measurement  of  stellar  parallax.  His  trial- 
star  was  61  Cygni,  and  from  two  hundred 
plates  exposed  in  1886  he  derived  a  parallax 
of  0"  '438.  Encouraged  by  this  promising 
result,  he  measured,  between  1888  and  1892, 
twenty-eight  stars,  mostly  of  the  second 
magnitude,  obtaining,  for  stars  of  that  grade 
of  brightness,  an  average  parallax  of  0"  '056, 
corresponding  to  a  light-journey  of  fifty-eight 
years.  The  Royal  Society  signified  their 
approval  of  this  considerable  performance  by 
the  bestowal,  on  30  Nov.  1892,  of  a  royal 
medal  (Proc.  Roy.  Soc.  lii.  312) ;  yet  Pritchard's 
data  are  undoubtedly  affected  by  minute,  in- 
sidious errors  (JACOBY,  Vierteljahrsschrift 
Astr.  Gesellschaft,  xxviii.  117). 

Pritchard  laid  before  the  Royal  Society,  on 
20  May  1886,  a  description  of  his  elaborate 
'  Researches  in  Stellar  Photography  :  (1)  in 
its  Relation  to  the  Photometry  of  the  Stars ; 
(2)  its  Applicability  to  Astronomical  Mea- 
surements of  great  Precision'  (Proceedings, 
xl.  449).  Some  '  Further  Experience  as  re- 
gards the  Magnitude  of  Stars  obtained  by 
Photography '  was  imparted  to  the  Royal 
Astronomical  Society  in  1891  (Monthly  No- 
tices, li.  430).  He  executed  a  series  of  light- 
measures  of  Nova  Aurigee  in  February  and 
March  1892,  both  photographically  and  with 
the  wedge-photometer  (ib.  lii.  366).  His 
co-operation  in  the  international  scheme  for 
charting  the  heavens  was  welcomed  by  the 
Paris  congress  of  1887  ;  he  received  from 
Sir  Howard  Grubb  one  of  the  regulation  in- 
struments, and  diligently  experimented  with 
it  in  1890-1.  The  conclusions  he  thus  ar- 
rived at  were  embodied  in  the  'Compte 
Rendu'  of  the  conference  in  1891  (p.  72). 
At  the  time  of  his  death  some  progress  had 
been  made  in  photographing  the  zone  as- 
signed to  Oxford.  His  '  Report  on  the  Capa- 
cities, in  respect  of  Light  and  Photographic 
Action,  of  two  Silver  Glass  Mirrors  of  dif- 
ferent Focal  Lengths '  (Proc.  Roy.  Soc.  xli. 


195)  was  founded  on  experiments  undertaken 
at  the  request  of  the  photographic  committee 
of  that  body. 

Elected  F.R.S.  on  6  Feb.  1840,  Pritchard 
was  a  member  of  the  council  1885-7.  He  was 
also  a  fellow  of  the  Cambridge  Philosophical 
Society  and,  from  1852,  of  the  Geological  So- 
ciety. He  proceeded  M.  A.  by  decree  from  New 
College,  Oxford,  on  11  March  1870,  and  D.D. 
in  1880 ;  became,  as  Savilian  professor,  fellow 
of  New  College  in  1883 ;  and  was,  to  his  great 
delight,  elected  to  an  honorary  fellowship  of 
St.  John's  College,  Cambridge,  in  1886.  He 
was  placed  on  the  Solar  Physics  Committee 
in  1885.  He  was  full  of  plans  for  future  work, 

111-  •        -•  \* 


ery  short  illness,  on  28  May  1893,  in  his 
eighty-sixth  year,  and  was  buried  in  Holy- 
well  cemetery,  Oxford.  He  married,  first, 
on  18  Dec.  1834,  Emily,  daughter  of  Mr.  J. 
Newton  ;  secondly,  on  10  Aug.  1858,  Rosa- 
lind, daughter  of  Mr.  Alexander  Campbell, 
who  predeceased  him  by  one  year.  He  left 
children  by  both  marriages. 

Nothing  could  be  more  admirable  than  the 
ardour  and  originality  with  which  Pritchard, 
at  an  advanced  age,  discharged  the  duties  of 
his  professorship.  As  many  as  fifteen  students 
at  a  time  were  often  receiving  practical  in- 
struction in  the  subsidiary  observatory  fitted 
up  for  their  use ;  Pritchard  was  greatly  aided 
there  by  his  assistants,  Messrs.  Plummer  and 
Jenkin.  Next  to  the  stars,  Pritchard  loved 
flowers.  He  practised  floriculture  as  a  fine 
art,  and  had  at  Clapham  one  of  the  finest 
ferneries  in  England.  Yet  he  would  at  all 
times  have  preferred  parish  work  to  his  bril- 
liant scientific  avocations.  'Providence,'  he 
used  to  say,  '  made  me  an  astronomer,  but 
gave  me  the  heart  of  a  divine.' 

He  published  four  numbers  of  'Astrono- 
mical Observations  made  at  the  University 
Observatory,  Oxford,'  1878-92.  The  first 
contained  observations  of  Saturn's  satellites, 
of  four  hundred  double  stars,  and  of  several 
comets,  with  elements  computed  for  these 
last,  and  for  the  three  binaries,  £  Ursse  Ma- 
joris,  70  Ophiuchi,  and  /*2  Bootis.  No.  2  was 
the  '  Uranometria  Nova  Oxoniensis,'  1885 ; 
Nos.  3  and  4  were  devoted  to  stellar 
photographic  parallax.  He  communicated, 
during  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life,  fifty 
astronomical  papers  to  learned  societies ; 
wrote  many  excellent  popular  essays,  includ- 
ing a  series  in  '  Good  Words  ; '  and  contri- 
buted several  articles  to  the  ninth  edition  of 


Pritchard 


406 


Pritchard 


sional  Thoughts  of  an  Astronomer  on  Nature 
and  Revelation,'  London,  1889,  is  a  collec- 
tion of  miscellaneous  addresses  and  dis- 
courses. Many  of  his  sermons  were,  besides, 
printed  separately.  Finally,  he  edited,  con- 
jointly with  Main,  Sir  John  Herschel's '  Cata- 
logue of  Double  Stars'  (Memoirs  Roy.  Astr. 
Society,  vol.  xl.  1874). 

[Proceedings  Roy.  Society,  vol.  liv.  p.  iii  ; 
Monthly  Notices,  liv.  198;  W.  E.  Plummer, 
Observatory,  xvi.  256  (with  portrait) ;  Astro- 
nomische  Nachrichten,  No.  3171,  and  Astronomy 
and  Astrophysics,  xii.  592  ;  Journal  Brit.  Astr. 
Association,  iii.  434  (with  portrait) ;  Foster's 
Oxford  Men  and  their  Colleges,  p.  206  ;  Histo- 
rical Register  of  the  University  of  Oxford,  p. 
i>5;  Times,  30  May  1893;  Athenaeum,  3  June 
1893;  Men  of  the  Time,  12th  edit. ;  Robinson's 
Register  of  Merchant  Taylors'  School,  ii.  210; 
Quarterly  Journal  Geological  Society,  1.  42.1 

A.  M.  C. 

PRITCHARD,  EDWARD  WILLIAM 

(1825-1865),  poisoner,  son  of  John  White 
Pritchard,  captain  R.N.,  was  born  at  South- 
sea,  Hampshire,  in  1825.  He  was  appren- 
ticed in  September  1840  to  Edward  John 
and  Charles  Henry  Scott,  surgeons  of  Ports- 
mouth. On  completing  his  apprenticeship 
he  entered  King's  College  as  a  hospital  stu- 
dent of  surgery  in  October  1843.  He  was  ad- 
mitted a  member  of  the  College  of  Surgeons 
on  29  May  1846,  and  was  at  once  gazetted 
assistant-surgeon  on  board  the  steam-sloop 
Hecate,  of  4  guns,  in  which  he  made  a  voyage 
to  Pitcairn  Island.  On  his  return  he  was  sta- 
tioned with  the  ship  at  Shields,  but  when  she 
was  ordered  to  the  Mediterranean  in  1847  he 
resigned  his  commission,  and  decided  to  settle 
in  England.  He  passed  his  examination  as 
licentiate  of  the  Society  of  Apothecaries  in 
1847,  and  purchased  the  degree  of  M.D.  from 
the  university  of  Erlangen,  Germany.  On 
19  Sept.  1850  he  married  Mary  Jane,  daughter 
of  Michael  Taylor,  a  retired  silk  and  lace  mer- 
chant of  Edinburgh.  Establishing  himself, 
with  his  father-in-law's  aid,  in  practice,  first 
at  Hunmanby,  Yorkshire,  in  the  spring  of 
1851 ,  he  removed  in  1854  to  the  neighbouring 
sea-coast  village  of  Filey,  in  1859  to  Edin- 
burgh, and  in  1860  to  Glasgow.  He  sought  to 
force  himself  into  notice  by  pamphlets  on  pa- 
thological subjects,  by  public  lectures,  and  by 
actively  aiding  in  the  management  of  the 
Glasgow  Athenaeum  ;  but  he  never  gained  a 
high  or  lucrative  position  among  Glasgow 
physicians. 

Late  on  the  night  of  5  May  1863,  while 
Pritchard  was  living  at  11  Berkeley  Terrace, 
Glasgow,  his  servant,  Elizabeth  McGirn,  was 
found  burnt  to  death  in  her  bedroom.  The 
fire  insurance  was  not  paid,  and  Pritchard  was 


suspected,  although  no  criminal  charge  was 
made,  of  causing  the  woman's  death.  In  May 
1864  he  purchased  the  practice  of  Dr.  Corbett, 
together  with  his  house  in  Clarence  Place, 
Sauchiehall  Street,  Glasgow.  Pritchard's 
wife  fell  ill  in  December  of  that  year,  and  her 
mother,  Mrs.  Taylor,  came  from  Edinburgh 
on  9  Feb.  1865  to  nurse  her.  On  25  Feb.  Mrs. 
Taylor  died  after  a  few  hours'  sickness,  her 
death  being  attributed  to  apoplexy.  Mrs. 
Pritchard  died  on  17  March.  Pritchard  re- 
gistered the  cause  of  death  as  gastric  fever. 

A  day  or  two  afterwards  he  was  arrested 
on  the  charge  of  murdering  Mrs.  Taylor  and 
his  wife.  The  trial  began  on  Monday,  3  July 
1865,  and  lasted  for  five  days.  Both  bodies 
contained  large  quantities  of  antimony.  It 
was  proved  that  Pritchard,  who  was  in  debt 
and  expected  large  sums  of  money  on  the 
deaths  of  the  two  women,  administered  an- 
timony to  his  wife  in  food  during  four  months, 
and  to  Mrs.  Taylor,  together  with  some 
aconite,  in  a  preparation  of  opium  known  as 
Batley's  sedative,  which  she  was  in  the  habit 
of  taking.  He  was  found  guilty,  was  sen- 
tenced to  death,  confessed  his  guilt,  and  was 
executed  in  front  of  Glasgow  gaol  on  28  July 
1865.  This  was  the  last  public  execution  in 
Glasgow.  Pritchard  was  five  feet  eleven  inches 
in  height,  of  well-proportioned  figure,  with  a 
pleasing  face,  bald  forehead,  and  flowing 
beard.  He  was  reputed  to  be  '  the  prettiest 
liar  of  his  time,'  but  a  plausible  and  confident 
manner  rendered  him  a  good  platform  lecturer. 

His  published  works  were  :  1.  *  A  Visit  to 
Pitcairn  Island/  1847.  2.  '  Observations  on 
Filey  as  a  Watering  Place,'  1853.  3.  <  Guide 
to  Filey  and  its  Antiquities,'  1854.  4. '  Coast 
Lodgings  for  the  Poorer  Cities,'  1854;  be- 
sides many  papers  on  medical  subjects  in 
the  '  Medical  Times  and  Gazette,  the  (  Lan- 
cet/ and  the  { Transactions '  of  the  Pharma- 
ceutical, the  Obstetrical,  and  the  King's  Col- 
lege Medical  Societies. 

[Trial  of  Dr.  E.  W.  Pritchard,  1865  ;  Sheffield 
Telegraph,  Glasgow  Herald,  North  British  Daily 
Mail,  Scotsman,  and  Dundee  Advertiser  of  July 
1865.]  A.  H.  M. 

PRITCHARD,  GEORGE  (1796-1883), 
missionary  and  consul  at  Tahiti,  born  in  Bir- 
mingham on  1  Aug.  1796,  worked  from  child- 
hood with  his  father,  a  journeyman  brass- 
founder,  and  showed  great  mechanical  skill. 
While  he  was  a  youth,  he  and  his  family 
attended  Carr's  Lane  Chapel,  and  he  became 
a  local  preacher  in  villages  around  Birming- 
ham. Having  resolved  to  undertake  mission- 
ary work,  he  left  with  his  wife  (Miss  Ay  lien, 
West  Meon,  Hampshire)  in  a  cargo  ship 
for  Tahiti,  in  the  Society  Islands  of  the 


Pritchard 


407 


Pritchard 


Pacific  Ocean,  on  27  July  1824.  Pritchard 
and  his  wife  were  welcomed  on  their  arrival 
by  the  queen,  Pomare,  and  he  was  shortly  ap- 
pointed British  consul  for  the  Georgian, 
Society,  Navigator's,  and  Friendly  Islands. 
On  21  Nov.  1836  the  queen  refused  to  admit 
to  her  dominions  two  French  priests,  Laval 
and  Garret,  from  Gambia  Island,  and  there 
followed  a  long  quarrel  with  the  French  go- 
vernment, which  ended  in  the  islands  being 
placed  under  French  protection  in  1842,  and 
a  temporary  annexation  by  France  in  1843. 
Pritchard  advised  the  queen  throughout  this 
critical  period,  and  helped  to  pay  in  1838  an 
indemnity  of  two  thousand  Spanish  dollars 
summarily  demanded  by  the  French  admiral, 
Du  Petit-Thouars.  In  1841  he  went  to  Eng- 
land to  lay  before  the  British  government  the 
case  of  the  dispossessed  queen,  and  to  describe 
the  outrages  which  the  invaders  inflicted  upon 
British  subjects ;  but  he  returned  in  February 
1843  without  obtaining  any  genuine  guaran- 
tee of  security.  On  5  March  1844  he  was 
seized  by  the  French  authorities  on  the  pre- 
tence that  he  encouraged  disaffection  among 
the  natives.  Captain  Gordon,  of  H.M.S. 
Cormorant,  procured  his  release,  on  condi- 
tion that  he  should  leave  the  islands  and 
never  return.  He  sailed  in  the  Cormorant  to 
Valparaiso,  whence  he  reached  London.  The 
English  government  thereupon  demanded  of 
the  French  an  apology  and  pecuniary  repara- 
tion. Pritchard  asserted  that  his  property 
had  suffered  damage  to  th e  amount  of  4,OGO/. 
Eventually,  in  the  queen's  speech  of  1845 
announcement  was  made  that  the  difficulty 
had  been  satisfactorily  adjusted.  Pritchard 
subsequently  lived  in  retirement  in  England, 
dying  at  Hove,  near  Brighton,  in  May  1883 
in  his  eighty-seventh  year.  His  widow  and 
several  children  survived  him. 

He  published  :  '  The  Missionary's  Reward, 
or  the  Success  of  the  Gospel  in  the  South 
Pacific,'  with  an  introduction  by  the  Rev. 
J.  A.  James,  1844;  and  '  Queen  Pomare  and 
her  Country,'  1878, 8vo,  with  an  introduction 
by  Henry  Allon  ;  he  also  left  in  manuscript 
'  The  Aggressions  of  the  French  at  Tahiti 
and  other  Islands  in  the  Pacific.' 

[Annual  Eeg.  1844,  p.  260;  Dumoulin  et  Des- 
graz,  lies  Taiti ;  Brief  Statement  of  the  Aggres- 
sions of  the  French  on  Tahiti  (London  Missionary 
Society,  1883) ;  private  information.]  S.  T. 

PRITCHARJ),  HANNAH  (1711-1768), 
actress,whose  maiden  name  wasVaughan, was 
born  in  1711 ,  and  married  in  early  life  a  poor 
actor  named  Pritchard.  As  Mrs.  Pritchard 
she  acted  in  1733,  at  Fielding  and  Hippisley's 
booth,  Bartholomew  Fair,  the  part  of  Loveit  in 
an  opera  called  'A  Cure  for  Covetousness,  or  the 


"Cheats  of  Scapin.'  She  sang  with  great  effect 
'  Sweet,  if  you  love  me,  smiling,  turn.'  A 
duet  between  her  and  an  actor  called  Salway 
was  very  popular,  and  she  was  berhymed  by  a 
writer  in  the '  Daily  Post,'  who  spoke  of  this  as 
her  first  essay, and  predicted  for  her  'a  trans- 
portation to  a  brighter  stage.'  This  was  soon 
accomplished,  since  she  appeared  at  the  Hay- 
market  on  26  Sept.  1733  as  Nell  in  the  'Devil 
to  Pay '  of  Coffey.  She  was  one  of  the  company 
known  as  the  *  Comedians  of  his  Majesty's 
Revels,'  the  more  conspicuous  members  of 
which  had  seceded  from  Drury  Lane.  During 
her  first  season  she  was  seen  as  Dorcas  in 
the  <  Mock  Doctor,'  Phillis  (the  country  lass) 
in  the  '  Livery  Rake  Trapp'd,  or  the  Disap- 
pointed Country  Lass,'  Ophelia,  Edging  in 
the '  Careless  Husband,'  Cleora  in  the  *  Opera 
of  Operas,  or  Tom  Thumb  the  Great,'  an 
alteration  of  Fielding's  'Tragedy  of  Trage- 
dies,' Lappet  in  the  '  Miser,'  Phaedra  in'  Am- 
phitryon,' Hob's  Mother  in  'Flora,'  Sylvia 
in  the  '  Double  Gallant,'  Shepherdess  in  the 
'  Festival,'  Peasant  Woman  in  the  'Bur- 
gomaster Trick'd,'  and  Belina  in  Miller's 
'  Mother-in-Law.'  Two  or  three  of  the  last- 
named  parts  are  original.  Her  appearance 
during  her  first  season  in  so  wide  a  range  of 
parts  seems  to  indicate  more  experience  than 
she  can  be  shown  to  possess.  Two  Miss 
Vaughans,  who  might  have  been  her  sisters, 
but  neither  of  whom  could  have  been  her- 
self, had  previously  been  heard  of.  Return- 
ing with  the  company  to  Drury  Lane,  she 
played  there,  30  April  1734,  Mrs.  Fainall  in 
the  '  Way  of  the  World.'  At  Drury  Lane  she 
remained  until  1740-1,  going  in  the  summer 
of  1735  to  the  Haymarket,  where  she  was 
Beatrice  in  the  '  Anatomist/  Lady  Townly, 
and  the  original  Combrush  in  the  '  Honest 
Yorkshireman.'  At  Drury  Lane,  meanwhile, 
she  played  a  wide  range  of  characters, 
chiefly,  though  not  exclusively,  comic.  The 
most  noteworthy  of  these  are  LadyWouldbe 
in  '  Volpone,'  Mrs.  Flareit  in  '  Love's  Last 
Shift,'  Lucy  Lockit,  Lady  Haughty  in  the 
'  Silent  Woman,'  Doll  Common,  Mrs.  Ter- 
magant in  the  '  Squire  of  Alsatia,'  Pert, 
Mrs.  Foresight,  Berinthia  in  the  '  Relapse/ 
Araminta,  and  afterwards  Belinda,  in  the 
'  Old  Bachelor/  Lady  Anne,  Duchess  of  York 
in  '  King  Richard  III/  Angelica  in 'Love  for 
Love/  Lady  Macduff,  Anne  Boleyn,  Leonora 
in  the '  Libertine/  Mrs.  Sullen.  Monimia,  Des- 
demona,  Rosalind,  Viola  in '  Twelfth  Night/ 
and  Nerissa  in  the  '  Merchant  of  Venice.'  A 
couple  of  original  parts  stand  prominently 
out — Dorothea  to  the  Maria  of  Mrs.  Clive  in 
Miller's  'Man  of  Taste/  6  March  1735,  and 
Peggv  in  Dodsley's  '  King  and  the  Miller  of 
Mansfield/  1  Feb.  1737. 


Pritchard 


408 


Pritchard 


On  1  Jan.  1742,  as  Arabella  in  the '  London 
Cuckolds' of  Ravenscroft,  she  first  appeared 
at  Covent  Garden,  where  she  played,  among 
other  parts,  Sylvia  in  the '  Recruiting  Officer,' 
Paulina  in  the  '  Winter's  Tale,'  Nottingham 
in  '  Essex,'  Queen  in  '  Hamlet,'  Elvira  in  the 
*  Spanish  Fryar,'  Mrs.  Frail,  and  Doris  in 
1  ^Esop.'  Next  year  she  returned  to  Drury 
Lane,  playing  Amanda  in  the  l  Relapse/ 
Margarita  in  '  Rule  a  Wife  and  have  a  Wife,' 
Elvira  in  '  Love  makes  a  Man,'  Jane  Shore, 
Belvidera,  and  Kitty  Pry  in  the  *  Lying 
Valet,'  and  was,  on  17  Feb.  1743,  the  original 
Clarinda  in  Fielding's  '  Wedding  Day.'  In 
January  1744  she  was  once  more  at  Covent 
Garden,  where  she  remained  until  1747, 
adding  to  her  repertory  Isabella  in  '  Measure 
for  Measure,'  Queen  Katharine,  Calista,  An- 
dromache, Lady  in  '  Comus,'  Abra-Mule, 
Lady  Macbeth,  Queen  in  '  Richard  III,' 
Portia  in  '  Julius  Caesar,'  Aspasia,  Lsetitia  in 
'  Old  Bachelor,'  Evadne  in  « Maid's  Tragedy,' 
Mariamne,  Lady  Brute,  Maria  in  the  '  Non- 
juror,'  Mrs.  Ford,  Portia  in  *  Merchant  of 
Venice,'  Beatrice,  Helena  in  '  All's  well 
that  ends  well,'  Marcia  in  '  Cato,'  and 
numerous  parts  of  corresponding  importance. 
Her  only  'creations'  were  Constance  in 
Colley  Cibber's  '  Papal  Tyranny  in  the  Reign 
of  King  John,'  15  Feb.  1745 ;  Tag  in  Garrick's 
'  Miss  in  her  Teens,'  17  Jan.  1747;  and  Cla- 
rinda in  Hoadley's  l  Suspicious  Husband,' 
12  Feb.  1747.  When  in  1747-8  Garrick 
became  patentee  of  Drury  Lane,  Mrs.  Prit- 
chard accompanied  him  thither,  reappearing 
on  23  Nov.  1747  as  Lady  Lurewell  in  the 
'  Constant  Couple.'  She  was  advertised  to 
act  George  Barnwell  for  the  benefit  of  her 
husband,  who  was  then  connected  with  the 
management  of  the  theatre,  but  the  piece 
was  changed.  She  played  Oroclea  in  Ford's 
'  Lover's  Melancholy,'  *  not  acted  these  100 
years.'  In  1748-9  she  played  two  origi- 
nal parts,  one  of  which,  at  least,  exercised 
an  important  influence  on  her  reputation. 
This  was  Irene  in  Johnson's  '  Mahomet  and 
Irene,'  since  known  as  'Irene,'  which  was 
given  on  6  Feb.  1749.  In  this,  as  first  pro- 
duced, Irene  was  strangled  on  the  stage. 
Audiences  that  accepted  the  suffocation 
scene  in  '  Othello '  need  not,  perhaps,  have 
been  expected  to  be  more  sensitive  with  re- 
gard to  the  bowstring  in  '  Irene.'  The  audi- 
ence, however,  on  the  first  night  of  '  Maho- 
met and  Irene '  shouted  '  murder,'  and  Mrs. 
Pritchard,  unable  to  finish  the  scene,  retired 
from  the  stage.  The  termination  was  altered  ; 
but  Johnson  seems  never  to  have  forgiven  a 
woman  he  associated  with  his  misfortune. 
Her  other  ori 
in  Aaron 


>riginal  part,  15  April,  was  Merope 
Hill's  adaptation  from  Voltaire. 


On  24  Feb.  1750  she  was  the  original  Horatia 
in  Whitehead's  '  Roman  Father,'  adapted 
from  '  Les  Horaces  '  of  Corneille,  on  2  Feb. 
1751  the  first  Aurora  in  Moore's  '  Gil  Bias/ 
on  17  Feb.  1752  the  first  Orphisa  in  Francis's 
'  Eugenia/  and  7  Feb.  1753  the  first  Mrs. 
Beverley  in  the  'Gamester/  perhaps  her 
greatest  part.  The  season  of  1753-4  saw  her 
in  three  original  characters  :  Boadicea  in 
Glover's  tragedy  so  named,  Catherine  in 
'  Catherine  and  Petruchio/  Garrick's  adapta- 
tion of  the  'Taming  of  the  Shrew/  andCreusa 
in  Whitehead's  '  Creusa.'  Among  other  parts 
that  she  had  sustained  under  Garrick  were 
Lady  Alworth  in  '  A  New  Way  to  pay  Old 
Debts/  Emilia  in  '  Othello,'  Lady  Brumpton 
in  the  '  Funeral/  Cleopatra  in '  All  for  Love/ 
Lady  Betty  Modish,  Millamant,  Zara  in  the 
'  Mourning  Bride/  Lady  Truman  in  the 
'Drummer/  Queen  Elizabeth  in  Jones's- 
'  Essex/  Hermione,  Countess  of  Rousillon, 
and  Estifania.  On  9  Oct.  1756  she  played 
Lady  Capulet  to  the  Juliet  of  her  daughter. 
Miss  Pritchard,  and  the  Romeo  of  Garrick. 

In  Home's  '  Agis'  on  21  Feb.  1758  Mrs. 
Pritchard  was  the  first  Agesistrata,  and  in 
Murphy's  'Desert  Island'  on  24  Jan.  1760 
the  first  Constantia.  On  3  Jan.  1761  she 
was  the  original  Queen  Elizabeth  in  Brookes's 
'  Earl  of  Essex/  and  on  12  Feb.  the  original 
Mrs.  Oakly  in  Colman's  '  Jealous  Wife.'  On 
11  Dec.  she  was  the  first  Hecuba  in  Dr. 
Delap's  'Hecuba.'  In  Mallet's  'Elvira' on 
19  Jan.  1763  she  was  the  first  Queen,  and  in 
Mrs.  Sheridan's  'Discovery'  on  3  Feb.  the 
first  Lady  Medway.  On  10  Dec.  she  was 
the  original  Mrs.  Etherdown  in  Mrs.  Sheri- 
dan's '  Dupe.'  The  same  season  saw  her  act 
Roxana  in  the  '  Rival  Queens.'  For  her 
benefit  on  15  March  1766  she  had  an  original 
part  in  Charles  Shadwell's  'Irish  Hospitality/ 
and  on  12  April  was  the  first  Dame  Ursula 
in  Kenrick's '  FalstafFs  Wedding.'  On  5  Dec. 

1767  she  played  her  last  original  part,  Mrs. 
Mildmay,  the"  heroine  of  the  '  Widow'd  Wife' 
of  Kenrick.     During  the  season  of  1767-8 
she  gave  a  series  of  farewell  performances, 
her  last  appearance  taking  place  on  24  April 

1768  as  Lady  Macbeth,  when  she  spoke  an 
epilogue  by  Garrick.     Another  epilogue  by 
Keate  [q.  v.],  written  for  the  same  occasion, 
but  unspoken,  appears  in  his  poems  (1781,  ii. 
109). 

Mrs.  Pritchard,  whose  fortune  appears  to 
have  been  imperilled,  if  not  impaired,  by  the 
action  of  her  brother,  Henry  Vaughan,  who- 
was  an  actor,  led  a  wholly  blameless  and 
reputable  life ;  a  portion  of  her  considerable 
estate  was  left  her  by  a  distant  relative,  a 
Mr.  Leonard,  an  attorney  of  Lyons  Inn. 
An  undefined  scheme  of  her  husband  to 


Pritchard 


409 


Pritchard 


benefit  actors  is  mentioned  by  Davies.  She 
lived  at  one  time  in  York  Street,  Covent 
Garden.  Mrs.  Pritchard  did  not  long  sur- 
vive her  retirement,  but  died  in  August  1768 
in  Bath.  A  monument  to  her  memory  was 
placed  in  Poets'  Corner,  Westminster  Abbey. 

A  son  s.eems  to  have  been  for  a  time  trea- 
surer of  Drury  Lane  Theatre.  The  debut  in 
Juliet,  as  Miss  Pritchard,  of  Mrs.  Pritchard's 
daughter  at  Drury  Lane  on  9  Oct.  1756,  caused 
a  sensation.  She  had  an  exquisitely  pretty  face, 
and  had  been  taught  by  Garrick.  She  played 
her  mother's  parts  of  Lady  Betty  Modish 
in  the  *  Careless  Husband,'  Beatrice,  Marcia, 
Isabella,  Miranda,  Horatia,  Perdita,  &c.,  but 
lacked  her  mother's  higher  gifts,  and  never 
fulfilled  expectations.  Her  chief  successes 
were  obtained  as  Harriot  in  the  'Jealous 
Wife '  of  Colman,  and  Fanny  in  the  l  Clan- 
destine Marriage '  of  Garrick  and  Colman, 
both  original  parts.  She  married,  near 
1762,  John  Palmer,  known  as  'Gentleman 
Palmer,'  the  actor  [see  under  PALMEK,  JOHN, 
1742  P— 17981,  retired  the  same  year  as  her 
mother,  1767-8,  and,  after  her  husband's 
death  in  1768,  married  a  Mr.  Lloyd,  a  poli- 
tical writer. 

General  testimony  shows  Mrs.  Pritchard 
to  have  been  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  stars 
in  the  Garrick  galaxy.  Richard  Cumberland 
and  Dibdin  give  her  precedence  of  Mrs.  Cibber. 
Dibdin  says  that  Gibber's  remark  '  that  the 
life  of  beauty  is  too  short  to  form  a  complete 
actress '  proved  so  true  in  relation  to  Mrs.  Prit- 
chard that  she  was  seen  to  fresh  admiration 
till  in  advanced  age  she  retired  with  a  fortune. 
She  was  held  the  greatest  Lady  Macbeth  of 
her  day,  her  scene  with  the  ghost  being  espe- 
cially admired.  The  Queen  in  '  Hamlet,' 
Estifania,  and  Doll  Common  were  also  among 
her  greatest  parts.  Leigh  Hunt  is  convinced 
that  she  was  a  really  great  genius,  equally 
capable  of  the  highest  and  lowest  parts. 
Churchill  praises  her  highly  in  the  '  Rosciad,' 
especially  as  the  Jealous  Wife.  Walpole,  who 
knew  and  admired  her,  praises  her  Maria  in 
the  '  Nonjuror,'  and  her  Beatrice,  which  he 
preferred  to  Miss  Farren's,  and  would  not 
allow  his  'Mysterious  Mother'  to  be  played 
after  her  retirement  from  the  stage,  as  she 
alone  could  have  presented  the  Countess. 

Mrs.  Pritchard  had,  however,  an  imperfect 
education,  and  other  critics  give  less  favour- 
able accounts  of  her.  On  one  occasion  John- 
son declared  her  good  but  affected  in  her  man- 
ner; another  time  he  calls  her 'a  mechanical 
player.'  In  private  life  he  declared  she  was 
'  a  vulgar  idiot ;  she  would  talk  of  her  gownd, 
but  when  she  appeared  upon  the  stage  seemed 
to  be  inspired  by  gentility  and  understanding.' 
'  It  is  wonderful  how  little  mind  she  had,'  he 


once  said,  affirming  she  had  never  read  the 
tragedy  of '  Macbeth  '  all  through.  « She  no 
more  thought  of  the  play  out  of  which  her 
part  was  taken  than  a  shoemaker  thinks  of 
the  skin  out  of  which  the  piece  of  leather 
out  of  which  he  is  making  a  pair  of  shoes  is 
cut.'  Campbell,  who  could  not  have  seen 
her,  says  in  his  « Life  of  Siddons,'  unjustly, 
that  something  of  her  Bartholomew  Fair 
origin  may  be  traced  in  her  professional  cha- 
racteristics, declares  that  she  '  never  rose  to 
the  finest  grade,  even  of  comedy,  but  was 
most  famous  in  scolds  and  viragos;'  adds 
that  in  tragedy,  though  she  '  had  a  large  im- 
posing manner '  (in  fact,  like  her  daughter, 
she  was  small),  '  she  wanted  grace,'  and  says 
that  Garrick  told  Tate  Wilkinson  that  she 
was  '  apt  to  blubber  her  sorrows.'  Most  of 
this  condemnation  is  an  over-accentuation 
of  faults  indicated  by  Davies. 

Hayman  painted  her  twice — once  sepa- 
rately, and  again  (as  Clarinda),  with  Garrick 
as  Ranger,  in  a  scene  from  Hoadley's '  Suspi- 
cious Husband/  ZofFany  represented  her  as 
Lady  Macbeth,  with  Garrick  as  Macbeth. 
This,  like  Hayman's  separate  portrait,  has 
been  engraved.  All  three  pictures  are  in  the 
Mathews  collection  at  the  Garrick  Club.  A 
fourth  portrait,  representing  her  asllermione, 
was  painted  by  Robert  Edge  Pine  [q.  v.] 

[Genest's  Account  of  the  English  Sta°;e ;  Bos- 
well's  Johnson,  ed.  Hill ;  Doran's  Annals  of  the 
Stage,  ed.  Lowe ;  "Wheatley  and  Cunningham's 
London  Past  and  Present;  Georgian  Era;  Davies's 
Life  of  Garrick  and  Dramatic  Miscellanies ; 
Clark  Eussell's  Kepresentative  Actors ;  Gilli- 
land's  Dramatic  Mirror  ;  Thespian  Diet.  ;  Camp- 
bell's Life  of  Siddons ;  Notes  and  Queries,  4th 
ser.  ii.  395,  5th  ser.  iii.  509,  iv.  296,  431,  492, 
v.  36,  132,  x.  457.]  J.  K. 

PRITCHARD,    JOHN     LANGFORD 

(1799-1850),  actor,  the  son  of  a  captain  in 
the  navy,  was  born,  it  is  said,  at  sea,  in 
1799,  and,  adopting  his  father's  profession, 
became  a  midshipman.  After  some  practice 
as  an  amateur  he  joined  a  small  company  in 
Wales,  and  on  24  May  1820,  as  '  Pritchard 
from  Cheltenham,'  made  his  first  appearance 
in  Bath,  playing  Captain  Absolute  in  the 
1  Rivals.'  In  August  he  played  under  Bunn, 
at  the  New  Theatre,  Birmingham,  Lord  Trin- 
ket, Sir  Benjamin  Backbite,  and  other  parts, 
reappearing  in  Bath  on  30  Oct.  as  Irwin  in 
Mrs.  Inchbald's '  Every  one  has  his  Fault.'  On 
23  May  1821  he  played  Dumain  (First  Lord) 
in  '  All's  well  that  'ends  well.'  In  the  sum- 
mer of  1821  he  joined  the  York  circuit  under 
Mansell,  making  his  first  appearance  as  Romeo. 
Parts  such  as  Jaffier,  Pythias,  lago,  Edmund  in 
Lear,'  Richmond,  Jeremy  Diddler,  and  Duke 
of  Mirandola,  were  assigned  him.  He  then 


Pritchard 


410 


Pritchard 


joined  Murray's  company  in  Edinburgh,  ap- 
pearing on  16  Jan.  1823  as  Durimel  in  Charles 
Kemble's  adaptation  '  Point  of  Honour.' 
Here,  playing  leading-  business,  he  remained 
eleven  years.  On  6  Feb.  he  was  the  original 
Nigel  in  'George  Heriot,'  an  anonymous 
adaptation  of  the  '  Fortunes  of  Nigel.'  On 
22  Slay  1824  he  was  Edward  Waverley  in 
a  new  version  of  '  Waverley,'  and  on  5  June 
Francis  Tyrrell  in  Planche's  '  St.  Ronan's 
Well.'  On  21  Jan.  1825  he  played  Rob  Roy, 
a  difficult  feat  in  Edinburgh  for  an  English- 
man. He  played  on  23  May  the  Stranger  in 
the  *  Rose  of  Ettrick  Vale/  on  the  28th  Red- 
gauntlet.  Soon  afterwards  he  was  Richard  I 
in  the  '  Talisman/  and  on  4  July  George 
Douglas  in  '  Mary  Stuart'  (the  Abbot) ;  Harry 
Stanley  in  '  Paul  Pry'  followed.  On  17  June 
1826  he  was  Oliver  Cromwell  in  'Woodstock, 
or  the  Cavalier.'  '  Charles  Edward,  or  the  last 
of  the  Stuarts/  adapted  from  the  French  by 
a  son  of  Flora  Macdonald,  was  given  for  the 
first  time  on  21  April  1829,  with  Pritchard 
as  Charles  Edward.  In  1830-1  Pritchard 
went  with  Murray  to  the  Adelphi  Theatre 
(Edinburgh),  where  he  appeared  on  6  July 
1831  as  Abdar  Khan  in  '  Mazeppa.'  In  the 
'  Renegade '  by  Maturin,  Pritchard  was  Guis- 
card,  and  on  16  April  1832,  in  a  week  at 
Holyrood,  was  the  first  Wemyss  of  Logie. 
He  was  also  seen  as  Joseph  Surface.  Prit- 
chard appeared  a  few  times  at  the  Adelphi  in 
the  summer  season,  and  then  quitted  Edin- 
burgh. During  his  stay,  he  won  very  favour- 
able recognition,  artistic  and  social,  and  took 
a  prominent  part  in  establishing  the  Edin- 
burgh Shakespeare  Club,  at  the  first  anni- 
versary dinner  of  which  Scott  owned  himself 
the  author  of  '  Waverley.'  During  his  vaca- 
tions he  had  played  in  Glasgow,  Perth,  Aber- 
deen, and  other  leading  Scottish  towns.  On 
5  Oct.  1833  he  made  his  first  appearance 
in  Dublin,  playing  Bassanio,  and  Petruchio ; 
Wellborn  to  the  Sir  Giles  Overreach  of 
Charles  Kean  followed  on  the  7th.  In  Ire- 
land, where  he  was  hospitably  entertained, 
he  also  played  Jeremy  Diddler,  Mark  An- 
tony, and  Meg  Merrilees.  His  first  appear- 
ance in  London  was  made  on  16  Nov.  1835 
at  Covent  Garden  as  Alonzo  in  '  Pizarro.' 
He  played  Macduff,  and  was  popular  as 
Lindsay,  an  original  part  in  Fitzball's  '  In- 
heritance.' During  Macready's  tenure  of 
Covent  Garden  in  1838  he  reappeared  as  Don 
Pedro  in  the  t  Wonder/  Macready  himself 
playing  Don  Felix,  which  was  held  to  be 
Pritchard's  great  part.  He  took  a  secondary 
part  in  the  performance  of  the  *  Lady  of 
Lyons/  and  was  the  original  Felton  in  She- 
ridan Knowles's  '  Woman's  Wit,  or  Love's 
Disguises.'  Macready,  with  some  apparent 


reason,  was  charged  with  keeping  him  back. 
Pritchard  retired  ultimately  to  the  country, 
and  became  the  manager  of  the  York  circuit, 
where  he  continued  to  act.  He  died  on  5  Aug. 
1850.  Pritchard  was  a  sound,  careful,  and 
judicious  actor,  but  only  just  reached  the 
second  rank.  His  best  parts  appear  to  have 
been  Don  Felix  and  Mercutio.  A  portrait 
of  him  appears  in  ( Actors  by  Daylight '  of 
30  June  1838. 

[Actors  by  Daylight ;  Theatrical  Times ;  Idler, 
1838  ;  Hist,  of  the  Theatre  Royal,  Dublin,  1870  ; 
Dibdin's  Edinburgh  Stage ;  Era  Almanack,  va- 
rious years.]  J.  K. 

PRITCHARD  or  PRICHARD,  SIB 
WILLIAM  (1632  P-1705),  lord  mayor  of 
London,  born  about  1632,  was  second  son 
of  Francis  Pritchard  of  Southwark,  and  his 
wife,  Mary  Eggleston.  He  is  described  as 
(  merchant  taylor '  and  alderman  of  Broad 
Street.  In  1672  he  was  sheriff  of  London, 
and  was  knighted  on  23  Oct.  in  that  year. 
On  29  Sept.  1682  he  went  to  the  poll  as 
court  candidate  for  the  mayoralty,  and  on 
4  Oct.  the  recorder  declared  him  third  on 
the  list,  below  Sir  Thomas  Gold  and  Alder- 
man Cornish,  both  whigs.  But  a  scrutiny 
of  the  poll  gave  him  the  first  place.  On 
the  25th  he  was  declared  elected  by  the 
court  of  aldermen,  and  on  the  28th  was 
sworn  at  the  Guildhall.  Pritchard's  election 
was  celebrated  as  a  great  triumph  for  the 
court  party  in  loyal  ballads  and  congratu- 
latory poems.  One  of  these  '  new  loyal 
songs  and  catches '  was  '  set  to  an  excellent 
tune  by  Mr.  Pursell.'  Pritchard  carried  on 
the  policy  of  his  predecessor,  Sir  John  Moore 
(1620-1702)  [q.  v.]  He  refused  to  admit  to 
their  offices  the  recently  elected  whig  sheriffs, 
Papillon  and  Dubois,  whose  election  he  had 
abetted  Moore  in  setting  aside.  When,  in 
February  1684,  proceedings  were  taken 
against  him  by  the  whigs,  he  refused  to  ap- 
pear or  give  bail,  and  on  24  April  was  ar- 
rested by  the  sheriff's  officers  at  Grocers' 
Hall,  and  detained  in  custody  for  six  hours. 
The  arrest  l  had  wellnigh  set  the  city  in  a 
flame  that  might  have  ended  in  carnage  and 
blood '  (NORTH,  Examen,  1740,  p.  618),  and 
the  corporation  was  forced  to  disclaim  any 
part  in  it  by  an  order  in  common  council  on 
22  May  (KENNET,  Hist,  of  England,  iii.  408). 
Pritchard  retaliated  by  an  action  for  false 
and  malicious  arrest  against  Papillon — Du- 
bois being  dead.  The  case  was  tried  before 
Jeffreys  at  the  Guildhall  on  6  Nov.  1684,  the 
law-officers  of  the  crown  appearing  for  the 
plaintiff,  and  Serjeant  Maynard  for  the  de- 
fendant. Jeffreys  summed  up  strongly  in 
favour  of  Pritchard,  who  was  awarded 


Pritchett 


411 


Pritzler 


10,000/.  damages.  Papillon  fled  the  country 
to  escape  payment.  Pritchard  declared  his 
willingness  to  release  him  from  the  effects 
of  the  judgment,  with  the  king's  assent ; 
this  was  long  refused  by  James  II,  but  was 
ultimately  granted  in  1688,  when,  on  Aug.  7, 
Sir  William  gave  a  full  release  to  Papillon 
at  Garraway's  coffee-house,  drinking  his 
former  foe's  health  (PAPILLON,  Memoirs). 

Meanwhile,  Pritchard  had  lost  favour  at 
court.  In  August  1687  he,  with  other  alder- 
men, was  displaced  'for  opposing  the  address 
of  liberty  of  conscience '  (LUTTEBLL).  He 
appears  to  have  been  restored  later ;  but  in 
October  1688,  when  he  had  refused  to  act  as 
intermediary  mayor,  he  again  laid  down  his 
gown  ($.)  On  15  May  1685  and  in  March 
1690  he  was  returned  as  one  of  the  city's 
representatives  in  parliament.  After  the 
Revolution  Pritchard  continued  active  as  tory 
and  churchman.  In  June  1690  he  made  an 
unsuccessful  attempt  to  keep  the  whig  Sir 
John  Pilkington  [q.  v.]  out  of  the  mayoralty ; 
and  in  October  1698  and  Jan.  1701  he  was  an 
unsuccessful  parliamentary  candidate  for  the 
city ;  but  he  was  returned  at  the  head  of  the 
poll  on  18  Aug.  1702, 

He  died  at  his  city  residence  in  Heydon 
Yard,  Minories,  on  20  Feb.  1704-5.  His  body 
was  conveyed  '  in  great  state '  from  his  house  at 
Highgate  to  Great  Lynford  in  Buckingham- 
shire, where  it  was  buried  on  1  March  in  a 
vault  under  the  north  aisle.  An  inscription 
on  a  marble  slab  records  that  Pritchard  was 
president  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital,  and 
that  he  erected  there  '  a  convenient  apart- 
ment for  cutting  the  stone.'  In  Great  Lyn- 
ford itself,  the  manor  of  which  he  had  ac- 
quired in  1683  from  Richard  Napier  [q.  v.], 
Pritchard  founded  and  endowed  an  almshouse 
and  school-buildings,  and  his  widow  aug- 
mented his  benefaction.  By  his  wife,  Sarah 
Coke  of  Kingsthorp,  Northamptonshire,  he 
had  three  sons  and  a  daughter.  She  also  was 
buried  at  Great  Lynford  on  6  May  1718.  In 
accordance  with  Pritchard's  will,  the  Buck- 
inghamshire estates  passed  to  Richard  Uth- 
wart  and  Daniel  King,  his  nephews. 

Pritchard's  portrait  is  at  Merchant  Tay- 
lors' Hall. 

[Le  Neve's  Pedigrees  of  Knights  (Harl.  Soc.); 
Luttrell's  Brief  Relation,  passim ;  Howell's  State 
Trials,  x.  319-72  ;  Orridge's  Citizens  of  London 
and  their  Eulers,  pp.  238-9  ;  Ret.  Memb.  Parl.; 
Poems,  Songs,  &c.,  1682;  Lipscomb's  Hist,  of 
Buckinghamshire,  iv.  222,  227 ;  Memoirs  of 
Thomas  Papillon,  ed.  A.  F.  Papillon,  chap,  xi.] 

Gr.  LE  G.  N. 

PRITCHETT,  JAMES  PIGOTT  (1789- 
1868),  architect,  born  at  St.  Petrox,  Pem- 
brokeshire, on  14  Oct.  1789,  and  baptised 


there  on  4  Jan.  1 790,  was  fourth  son  of  Charles 
Pigott  Pritchett,  fellow  of  King's  College, 
Cambridge,  rector  of  St.  Petrox  and  Stack- 
pole  Elidor,  Pembrokeshire,  prebendary  of  St. 
David's,  and  domestic  chaplain  to  the  Earl  of 
Cawdor,  by  Anne,  daughter  of  Roger  Rogers 
of  Westerton-in-Ludchurch,  Pembrokeshire ; 
Delabere  Pritchett,  sub-chanter  of  St.  David's 
Cathedral,  was  his  grandfather.  Pritchett, 
adopting  the  profession  of  an  architect,  was 
articled  to  Mr.  Medland  in  Southwark,  and 
afterwards  worked  for  two  years  in  the  office 
of  Daniel  Asher  Alexander  [q.  v.],  architect  of 
the  London  Dock  Company.  After  spending 
a  short  time  in  the  barrack  office  under  the 
government,  Pritchett  set  up  for  himself  in 
London  in  1812,  but  in  181 3  removed  to  York, 
entering  into  partnership  with  Mr.  Watson  of 
that  city.  For  the  remainder  of  his  life 
Pritchett  resided  in  York,  he  and  Watson 
having  a  very  extensive  practice,  amounting 
almost  to  a  monopoly,  of  architectural  work 
in  Yorkshire.  At  York  itself  he  built  the 
deanery,  St.  Peter's  School  (now  the  school 
of  art),  the  Savings  Bank,  Lady  Hewley's 
Hospital,  Lendial  and  Salem  Chapels,  &c. 
Elsewhere  he  built  the  asylum  at  Wakefield, 
the  court-house  and  gaol  at  Beverley,  and 
acted  as  surveyor  and  architect  on  the  ex- 
tensive estates  of  three  successive  Earls 
Fitzwilliam.  Pritchett  was  a  prominent 
member  of  the  congregationalist  body  at 
York,  and  was  identified  with  a  great  many 
philanthropic  and  religious  movements  there. 
He  died  at  York  on  23  May,  and  was  buried 
in  the  cemetery  there  on  27  May  1868.  He 
married, first,  at  Beckenham,  Kent,  on  6  Aug. 
1786,  Peggy  Maria,  daughter  of  Robert 
Terry,  by  whom  he  had  three  sons  and  one 
daughter,  Maria  Margaret.  The  latter  mar- 
ried John  Middleton  of  York,  and  was  mother 
of  John  Henry  Middleton,  architect,  late 
director  of  the  South  Kensington  Museum. 
Pritchett  married,  on  6  Jan.  1829,  his  second 
wife,  Caroline,  daughter  of  John  Benson,  soli- 
citor, of  Thome,  near  York,  by  whom  he  had 
three  sons  and  two  daughters,  of  whom  the 
eldest  son,  James  Pigott  Pritchett,  adopted 
his  father's  profession  at  Darlington. 

[Builder,  6  June  1868;  Redgrave's  Diet,  of 
Artists;  Pedigree  of  Pritchett  by  Gr.  Milner- 
Gribson-Cullum  and  James  P.  Pritchett,  with 
family  notes  by  the  latter  (London,  1892).] 

L.  C. 

PRITZLER,  SIE  THEOPHILUS  (d. 
1839),  Indian  commander,  was  in  1793  ap- 
pointed ensign  in  an  independent  company 
in  the  British  army,  and  on  18  March  1794 
he  became  a  lieutenant  in  the  85th  foot.  He 
thence  exchanged,  on  27  Aug.  1794,  into  the 
5th  dragoon  guards,  went  out  to  Holland,  and 


Pritzler 


412 


Probert 


served  through  the  two  unsuccessful  cam- 
paigns of  1794  and  1795,  in  Holland  and 
Germany.  Pritzler  then  took  part  in  an  expe- 
dition to  San  Domingo  (1796-8).  On  21  Sept. 
1796  he  removed  to  the  21st  light  dragoons. 
He  remained  in  this  regiment  till  21  Sept. 
1804,  when  he  was  appointed  major  in  the 
royal  fusiliers.  He  acted  as  major  of  brigade 
at  Portsmouth  from  1800  to  1804  ;  and  from 
1807  to  1809  he  held  the  post  of  assistant 
adjutant -general  at  the  Horse  Guards.  He 
received  the  brevet  of  lieutenant-colonel  on 
16  April  1807,  and  on  4  June  1813  he  was 
appointed  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  22nd 
light  dragoons.  He  had  the  brevet  of  colonel 
in  the  army  on  4  June  1814. 

Pritzler  now  proceeded  to  India  with  his 
regiment.  On  the  outbreak  of  the  third 
Mahratta  war  in  1817,  he  was  given  the  rank 
of  brigadier-general,  and  entrusted  with  the 
duty  of  pursuing  the  Peishwa  on  the  latter's 
flight  from  Poona  on  16  Nov.  1817.  On 
8  Jan.  1818,  with  a  force  partly  European 
and  partly  native,  he  came  upon  a  large  body 
of  the  enemy,  close  to  Satura,  where  they 
had  been  left  to  cover  the  Peishwa's  retreat. 
He  attacked  and  dispersed  them,  and  con- 
tinued his  pursuit,  marching  rapidly  south- 
wards in  co-operation  with  Brigadier-general 
Smith.  On  17  Jan.  he  came  up  with  the 
Peishwa's  rearguard  near  Meritch  and  in- 
flicted a  severe  defeat  upon  them. 

Pritzler  was  now  for  a  time  employed  in 
the  movement  against  the  smaller  fortresses 
in  the  southern  Mahratta  districts.  He  was 
told  off  to  press  the  siege  of  Singhur,  which 
capitulated,  after  a  short  resistance,  on 
2  March  1818.  He  was  then  ordered  to  re- 
duce to  obedience  the  country  in  the  vicinity 
of  Satara.  His  chief  achievement  in  this 
district  was  the  capture  of  Wasota,  a  fort 
situated  in  an  almost  impregnable  position  of 
the  Western  Ghauts.  The  siege  began  on 
11  March,  and  ended  in  the  unconditional 
surrender  of  the  garrison  on  5  April.  Pritzler 
then  marched  south  and  joined  Colonel  (after- 
wards Sir  Thomas)  Muiiro  [q.  v.]  on  22  April 
at  Nagar-Manawali.  The  united  English 
force  now  moved  across  the  Sena  river  to  the 
siege  of  Sholapur,  the  Peishwa's  last  great 
stronghold  in  the  southern  districts.  On 
10  May  two  columns,  under  Colonel  Hewitt, 
advanced  to  the  assault.  Pritzler,  with  a  re- 
serve force,  stood  by  to  offer  support.  The 
Mahratta  commander,  Ganpat  Rao,  moved 
round  to  the  east  side  of  the  town  with  the 
object  of  taking  the  assailants  in  flank.  The 
Mahrattas  were  at  once  checked  and  driven 
back  in  disorder  by  Pritzler,  a  success  which 
materially  contributed  to  the  speedy  capture 
of  the  town  that  same  day.  The  Mahratta 


garrison,  about  seven  thousand  strong,  tried 
to  escape.  Pritzler,  however,  went  in  pursuit, 
came  up  with  them  on  the  banks  of  the  Sena, 
and  inflicted  upon  them  so  crushing  a  defeat 
that  they  ceased  to  exist  as  an  organised  force. 
On  3  Dec.  1822  Pritzler  was  made  a  K.C.B. 
He  died  suddenly  at  Boulogne-sur-Mer  on 
12  April  1839. 

[Philippart's  Eoyal  Military  Calendar ;  Gent. 
Mag.  1818,  passim;  Annual  Register  for  1839  ; 
Army  Lists,  passim;  Grant  Duff's  Hist,  of  the 
Mahrattas ;  Wilson's  Hist,  of  India ;  Gleig's- 
Life  of  Sir  Thomas  Munro ;  Haydn's  Book  of 
Dignities.]  G.  P.  M-Y. 

PROBERT,WILLI  AM  (1790-1870),  uni- 
tarian  minister,  was  born  at  Painscastle,  Rad- 
norshire, on  11  Aug.  1790.  Hisparents  farmed 
a  small  freehold.  William  intended  to  take 
orders  in  the  church  of  England,  but  became 
in  early  life  a  Wesleyan  methodist,  and  was 
appointed  a  local  preacher  of  that  denomina- 
tion, ministering  in  Bolton,  Leeds,  Liver- 
pool, and  in  Staffordshire.  In  1815,  while 
stationed  at  Alnwick  in  Northumberland, 
he  adopted  Unitarian  views.  He  was  ap- 
pointed in  1821  to  the  Unitarian  chapel  at 
Walmsley,  near  Bolton,  Lancashire.  Probert 
found  the  place  encumbered  with  debt  arid 
the  people  disheartened  and  scattered.  He 
succeeded  in  gathering  round  him  an  attached 
congregation,  to  which  he  ministered  for  up- 
wards of  forty-eight  years.  Walmsley  chapel 
is  commonly  called  in  the  district  '  Old  Pro- 
bert's  Chapel.'  He  was  a  man  of  much  humour 
and  of  eccentric  habits,  interested  in  anti- 
quarian and  oriental  scholarship,  and  an  au- 
thority on  Welsh  laws  and  customs.  He  was 
a  master  of  the  Welsh  language,  and  he  ob- 
tained several  medals  from  learned  societies 
for  accounts  on  Welsh  castles  and  for  trans- 
lations from  Welsh  into  English.  He  died 
at  Dimple,  Turton,  on  1  April  1870,  and  was 
buried  in  the  graveyard  attached  to  his  chapel. 
In  1814  he  married  Margaret  Carr  of  Broxton, 
Cheshire,  by  whom  he  had  six  children. 

Probert  was  the  author  of :  1.  '  Calvinism 
and  Arminianism,'  1815.  2.  *  The  Godolin, 
being  Translations  from  the  Welsh,'  1820. 
3. '  Ancient  Laws  of  Cambria,'  1823.  4.  'The 
Elements  of  Hebrew  and  Chaldee  Grammar/ 
1832.  5. '  Hebrew  and  English  Concordance/ 
1838.  6.  '  Hebrew  and  English  Lexicon 
Grammar,'  1850.  7. '  Laws  of  Hebrew  Poetry/ 
1860.  The  manuscripts  of  the  four  last- 
mentioned  works  are  preserved  in  the  Bolton 
public  library.  Probert  also  wrote  a  '  His- 
tory of  Walmsley  Chapel/  which  appeared 
in  the  '  Christian  Reformer'  for  1834. 

[Local  newspapers ;  Unitarian  Herald  for  1870; 
Scholes's  Bolton  Bibliography.]  T.  B.  J. 


Probus 


413 


Proby 


PROBUS  (d.  948?),  biographer  of  St. 
Patrick,  is  identified  by  Colgan  with  Coene- 
chair,  prelector  or  head  master  of  the  school 
of  Slane  in  the  county  of  Meath,  famous  as  the 
place  in  which  Dagobert,  son  of  Sigebert,  king 
of  Austrasia  in  the  seventh  century,  was  edu- 
cated. Probus's  '  Life  of  St.  Patrick,'  which 
was  the  first  life  of  the  saint  to  be  printed, 
was  published  anonymously  in  the  edition  of 
Bede's  works  brought  out  at  Basle  in  1563. 
It  was  afterwards  republished  by  Colgan, 
with  the  author's  name  prefixed,  and  forms  the 
fifth  life  in  his  collection.  It  is  addressed  to 
Paulinus,  apparently  Mael-Poil  (^.  920),  abbot 
of  Indedhnen,  near  Slane,  who  is  described  by 
the  '  Four  Masters '  as  '  bishop,  anchorite  and 
the  best  scribe  in  LeathChuinn/i.e.the  north 
of  Ireland.  It  may  be  regarded  as  a  revised 
edition  of  the  life  by  Muirchu  Maccu  Mach- 
theni  [q.  v.]  in  the  'Book  of  Armagh,' but 
with  the  Roman  mission  added,  of  which 
there  is  no  mention  in  Muirchu.  This  was 
apparently  taken  from  Tirechan.  Muirchu 
had  attempted  to  combine  the  authentic  nar- 
rative of  the  '  Confession '  with  the  later 
legendary  matter,  but  the  contradiction  be- 
tween them  was  obvious.  Probus,  following 
in  the  same  path,  but  with  more  literary 
skill,  invented  a  double  mission  for  St. 
Patrick — a  first  mission  of  thirty  years, 
during  which  he  laboured  as  a  priest  without 
success ;  and  a  second,  when  he  returned  as  a 
bishop  with  a  commission  from  Rome  [see 
PATRICK]. 

In  948  (Four  Masters)  or  950  (USSHER) 
Probus  and  the  chief  members  of  the  com- 
munity took  refuge  in  the  Round  Tower  of 
Slane  from  one  of  the  Danish  inroads.  They 
carried  with  them  their  valuables,  including 
especially  the  crozier  and  the  bell  of  St.  Ere 
the  founder.  The  Danes,  however,  set  fire  to 
the  building,  and  all  perished. 

[Vita  S.  Patricii,  ed.  R.  P.  E.  Hogan,  S.J. 
(  Analecta  Bollandiana),  Prsefatio,  p.  15 ;  Colgan' s 
Trias  Thaumaturga ;  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters ; 
Ussher's  Works,  iv.  378,  vi.  373 ;  Lanigan's  Eccl. 
History,  i.  82,  iii.  371.]  T.  0. 

PROBY,  GRANVILLE  LEVESON, 
third  EARL  OF  CARYSFORT  (1781-1868),  ad- 
miral, born  in  1781,  was  third  son  of  John 
Joshua  Proby,  first  earl  of  Carysfort  [q.  v.] 
He  entered  the  navy  in  March  1798  on 
board  the  Vanguard,  with  Captain  (after- 
wards Sir)  Edward  Berry  [q.  v.],  and  Rear- 
admiral  Sir  Horatio  Nelson.  In  her  he  was 
present  at  the  battle  of  the  Nile,  and,  fol- 
lowing Berry  to  the  Foudroyant,  took  part  in 
the  blockade  of  Malta,  in  the  capture  of  the 
Ge"nereux  on  18  Feb.  1800,  and  of  the  Guil- 
laume  Tell  on  31  March  1800.  In  1801,  still 
in  the  Foudroyant,  then  carrying  the  flag  of 


Lord  Keith,  he  was  present  at  the  operations 
on  the  coast  of  Egypt.  He  afterwards  served 
in  the  frigates  Santa  Teresa  and  Resistance, 
and  in  1803-4  in  the  Victory,  the  flagship  of 
Nelson  in  the  Mediterranean.  On  24  Oct. 
1804  he  was  promoted  to  be  lieutenant  of  the 
Narcissus  frigate,  from  which  in  the  follow- 
ing May  he  was  appointed  to  the  Neptune, 
and  in  her  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Trafalgar. 
On  15  Aug.  1806  he  was  promoted  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  Bergere  sloop,  and  on  28  Nov. 
1806  was  posted  to  the  Madras,  of  54  guns. 
In  1807  he  commanded  the  Juno  frigate  in 
the  Mediterranean ;  in  1808-9  the  Iris  in  the 
North  Sea  and  Baltic ;  in  1813-14  the  Laurel 
at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope;  and  in  1815-16 
the  Amelia  in  the  Mediterranean.  He  had 
no  further  service  afloat,  but  became  in  due 
course  rear-admiral  on  23  Nov.  1841,  vice- 
admiral  on  16  June  1851,  and  admiral  on 
9  July  1857.  Proby  succeeded  as  third  earl 
on  the  death,  on  11  June  1855,  of  his  brother 
John,  second  earl  of  Carysfort.  He  died  on 
3  Nov.  1868.  He  married,  in  April  1818, 
Isabella,  daughter  of  Hugh  Howard,  a  younger 
son  of  the  first  Countess  of  Wicklow,  and 
left  issue. 

[O'Byrne's  Nav.  Biogr.  Diet.  ;  Burke's  Peer- 
age; Times,  6  Nov.  1868  ;  Navy  Lists.] 

J.  K  L. 

PROBY,  JOHN,  first  BARO^  CARYSFORT 
(1720-1772),  born  on  25  Nov.  1720,  eldest 
son  of  John  Proby  of  Elton  Hall,  Hunting- 
donshire, M.P.,  by  his  wife,  the  Hon.  Jane 
Leveson-Gower,  younger  daughter  of  John, 
first  baron  Gower,  was  educated  at  Jesus  Col- 
lege, Cambridge,  where  he  graduated  B.A. 
in  1741,  and  M.A.  in  1742.  At  the  general 
election  in  June  1747  Proby  was  returned 
to  the  House  of  Commons  for  Stamford,  and 
on  23  Jan.  1752  was  created  Baron  Carys- 
fort of  Carysfort  in  the  county  of  Wicklow, 
in  the  peerage  of  Ireland.  In  May  1754  he 
was  elected  for  Huntingdonshire,  and  he 
continued  to  represent  that  county  until  the 
dissolution  in  March  1768.  He  took  his  seat 
in  the  Irish  House  of  Lords  on  7  Oct.  1755 
(Journals  of  the  Irish  House  of  Lords,  iv. 
18),  and  was  subsequently  admitted  to  the 
Irish  privy  council.  He  was  one  of  the  lords 
of  the  admiralty  from  April  to  July  1757. 
In  1758  he  was  chosen  chairman  of  the  two 
select  committees  appointed  to  inquire  into 
1  the  original  standards  of  weights  and 
measures  in  this  kingdom,  and  to  consider 
the  laws  relating  thereto  '  (Journals  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  xxviii.  167, 255, 327,  544; 
see  Reports  from  Committees  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  ii.  411-63).  He  was  invested  a 
knight  of  the  Bath  on  23  March  1761,  and 


Proby 


414 


Proby 


was  installed  on  26  May  following.  He 
moved  the  address  in  the  House  of.  Com- 
mons at  the  opening  of  the  session  in  No- 
vember 1762  (Grenville  Papers,  1852-3,  ii.  5, 
and  ParL  Hist.  xv.  1238),  and  on  1  Jan. 
1763  was  reappointed  a  lord  of  the  admiralty, 
a  post  which  he  resigned  in  August  1765. 

He  died  at  Lille  on  18  Oct.  1772,  aged  52, 
and  was  buried  at  Elton.  He  married,  on 
27  Aug.  1750,  the  Hon.  Elizabeth  Allen,  elder 
daughter  of  John,  second  viscount  Allen,  by 
whom  he  had  one  son,  John  Joshua  Proby, 
first  earl  of  Carysfort  [q.  v.],  and  one  daugh- 
ter, Elizabeth,  born  on  14  Nov.  1752,  who 
married  Thomas  James  Storer,  and  died  at 
Hampton  Court  on  19  March  1808.  Lady 
Carysfort  died  in  March  1783.  A  portrait  of 
Carysfort  was  painted  by  Sir  Joshua  Rey- 
nolds. 

[Collins's  Peerage  of  England,  1812,  ix.  139- 
140;  G-.  E.  C.'s  Complete  Peerage,  ii.  171; 
Foster's  Peerage,  1883,  pp.  132-3  ;  Lodge's 
Peerage  of  Ireland,  1789,  vii.  69-70;  Grad. 
Cantabr.  1823,  p.  382 ;  Haydn's  Book  of  Dignities, 
1890;  Gent.  Mag.  1750,  p.  380,  1808,  pt.  i.  p. 
368  ;  Official  Return  of  Lists  of  Members  of  Parl. 
pt.  ii.  pp.  101,  113,  127.]  G.  F.  R.  B. 

PROBY,  JOHN  JOSHUA,  first  EARL  OF 
CAKYSFORT  (1751-1828),  bora  on  12  Aug. 
1751,  was  the  only  son  of  John,  first  baron 
Carysfort  [q.  v.],  by  his  wife  the  Hon. 
Elizabeth  Allen,  elder  daughter  of  John, 
second  viscount  Allen.  He  was  educated  at 
Westminster  School  and  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge,  where  he  graduated  M.  A.  in  1770. 
He  succeeded  his  father  as  second  Baron 
Carysfort  on  18  Oct.  1772,  and  took  his  seat, 
on  12  Oct.  1773,  in  the  Irish  House  of  Lords, 
where  he  soon  became  a  prominent  debater 
(Journals  of  the  Irish  House  of  Lords,  iv. 
684). 

On  18  Dec.  1777  Carysfort  signed  a 
strongly  worded  protest  against  the  embargo, 
and  on  2  March  1780  hejoined  with  Charle- 
mont  and  others  in  protesting  against  the 
address  (ib.  v.  24-5,  162).  In  February  1780 
he  wrote  a  letter  *  to  the  gentlemen  of  the 
Huntingdonshire  committee/  which  was  sub- 
sequently printed  and  distributed  by  the 
Society  of  Constitutional  Information,  ad- 
vocating the  shortening  of  parliaments,  a 
fuller  representation  of  the  people,  and  'a 
strict  ceconomy  of  the  public  treasure.'  He 
appears  to  have  formed  the  intention  of  con- 
testing the  university  of  Cambridge  at  the 
general  election  in  this  year,  but  he  did  not 
go  to  the  poll  (NICHOLS,  Lit.  Anecd.  viii. 
648).  Though  Carysfort  had  supported 
Grattan  in  his  agitation  (FROUPE,  English  in 
Ireland,  1872-4,  ii.  257),  he  was  elected  a 
knight  of  St.  Patrick  on  5  Feb.  1784,  and  in- 


stalled in  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral  on  11  Aug. 
1800  (NICOLAS,  History  of  the   Orders    of 
Knighthood,  1842,  vol.  iv.  (P.)  p.  xxii).     On 
16  Feb.  1789  he  protested  against  the  address 
to  the  Prince  of  Wales  requesting  him  to 
exercise  the  royal  authority  in  Ireland  during 
the  king's  illness  (Journals  of  the  Irish  House 
of  Lords,  vi.  233-4).     As  a  reward  for  his 
support  of  the  lord-lieutenant's  policy  he  was 
appointed,  on  15  July,  joint  guardian  and 
keeper  of  the  rolls  in  Ireland,  was  sworn  a 
member  of  the  Irish  privy  council ;  and,  on 
20  Aug.,  was  created  Earl  of  Carysfort  in  the 
peerage  of  Ireland  (ib.  vi.  317).  In  February 
1790  he  was  elected  to  the  British  House  of 
Commons  for  East  Looe.     He  was  returned 
for  Stamford  at  the  general  election  in  June 
1790,  and  continued  to  represent  that  borough 
until  he  was  made  a  peer  of  the  United  King- 
dom.    In  April  1791  he  supported  Wilber- 
force's  motion  for  the  abolition  of  the  slave 
trade  (ParL  Hist.  xxix.  333-4).     During  the 
debate   on  the  address    in  December   1792 
Carysfort  warmly  advocated  the  claims  of 
the  Irish  Roman   catholics,    who  had  '  the 
same  interests  as  the  protestants,  and  ought 
to  have  the  same  privileges  '  (ib.  xxx.  78-9). 
He  cordially  supported  the  address  to  the 
king  in  November  1797,  and  maintained  that 
the  French  government  was  founded  on  '  a 
system    hostile  to   the  re-establishment  of 
tranquillity '  (ib. xxxiii.  1017-18).  On 21  April 
1800  Carysfort  spoke  in  favour  of  the  union 
with  Ireland,  and  declared  that  the  measure 
was  '  wise,  politic,  and  advantageous  to  the 
two   countries'   (ib.    xxxv.   83).      He   was 
appointed  envoy-extraordinary  and  minister- 
plenipotentiary  to  the  court  of  Berlin  on 
24  May  1800  (London  Gazette,  1800,  p.  499), 
a  post  which  he  retained  until  October  1802 
(see  DE  MARTENS,  Supplement  au  Recueil  des 
principaux  Traites,  1802,  ii.   424-36).     He 
was   created   Baron   Carysfort   of    Norman 
Cross    in    the  county    of    Huntingdon    on 
21  Jan.  1801,  and  took  his  seat  in  the  House 
of  Lords  on  27  Nov.  following  (Journals  of 
the  House  of  Lords,  xliii.  418).     On  20  Jan. 
1805  Carysfort  attacked  the  foreign  policy  of 
the  ministry,  and  moved  an  amendment  to 
the  address,  but  was  defeated  by  a  majority 
of  fifty- three  votes  (Parl.  Debates,  1st  ser. 
v.  461-5,  482).     On  the  formation  of  the 
Ministry  of  all  the  Talents  in  February  1806 
Carysfort  was  sworn  a  member  of  the  privy 
council  (12  Feb.),  and  appointed  joint  post- 
master-general (20  Feb.)  On  18  June  he  was 
further  appointed  a  member  of  the  board  of 
trade,  and  on  16  July  he  became  a  commis- 
sioner of  the  board  of  control.     He  resigned 
these  three  offices  on    the  accession  of  the 
Duke  of  Portland  to  power  in  the  spring  of 


Proby 


415 


Probyn 


the  following  year.  He  signed  a  protest 
against  the  bombardment  of  Copenhagen  on 
3  March  1808  (ROGERS,  Complete  Collection 
of  the  Protests  of  the  House  of  Lords,  1875, 
ii.  389-92).  On  31  Jan.  1812  he  spoke  in 
favour  of  Lord  Fitzwilliam's  motion  for  the 
consideration  of  the  state  of  Irish  affairs 
(Parl.  Debates,  1st  ser.  xxi.  454-5).  Though 
he  supported  the  second  reading  of  the  Pre- 
servation of  the  Peace  in  Ireland  Bill,  he 
spoke  at  some  length  against  the  Irish  Se- 
ditious Meetings  Bill  in  July  1814  (ib. 
1st  ser.  xxviii.  822,  856-7).  He  spoke  for 
the  last  time  in  the  House  of  Lords  on  23  Nov. 
1819  (ib.  1st  ser.  xli.  33-5).  He  died  at  his 
house  in  Grosvenor  Street,  London,  on 
7  April  1828,  aged  76.  A  tablet  was  erected 
to  his  memory  in  Elton  Church,  Hun- 
tingdonshire. 

Carysfort  married  first,  on  18  March  1774, 
Elizabeth,  eldest  daughter  of  the  Rt.  Hon. 
Sir  William  Osborne,  bart.,  of  Newtown, 
co.  Tipperary,  by  whom  he  had  three  sons — 
viz.  (1)  William  Allen,  viscount  Proby,  a 
captain  in  the  navy,  who  died  unmarried  off 
Barbados  on  6  Aug.  1804,  while  command- 
ing the  frigate  Amelia ;  (2)  John,  a  general 
in  the  army,  who  succeeded  as  second  Earl 
of  Carysfort,  and  died  unmarried  on  11  June 
1855 ;  and  (3)  Granville  Leveson  [q.  v.],  who 
succeeded  as  third  earl — and  two  daughters. 
His  wife  died  in  November  1783,  and  on 
12  April  1787  he  married,  secondly,  Eliza- 
beth, second  daughter  of  the  Rt.  Hon.  George 
Grenville  [q.  v.],  and  sister  of  George,  first 
marquis  of  Buckingham,  by  whom  he  had 
one  son — George,  who  died  on  .19  April 
1791 — and  three  daughters.  Lady  Carysfort 
survived  her  husband  several  years,  and  died 
at  Huntercombe,  near  Maidenhead,  on  21  Dec. 
1842,  aged  86. 

Carysfort  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the  Royal 
Society  in  1779.  He  was  created  a  D.C.L. 
of  Oxford  University  on  3  July  1810,  and  an 
LL.D.  of  Cambridge  University  on  1  July 
1811.  Portraits  of  Carysfort  and  of  his  first 
wife  were  painted  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds. 
A  portrait  of  his  second  wife  was  painted  by 
Hoppner. 

He  was  author  of:  1.  'Thoughts  on  the 
Constitution,  with  a  view  to  the  proposed 
'  Reform  in  the  Representation  of  the  People 
and  Duration  of  Parliaments/ London,  1783, 
8vo.  2.  '  The  Revenge  of  Guendolen '  [a 
poem],  anon.,  privately  printed  [1786  ?], 
8vo.  3.  '  Polyxena '  [a  tragedy  in  five  acts 
and  in  verse],  anon.,  privately  printed  [Lon- 
don, 1798],  8vo.  4.  <  Dramatic  and  Narra- 
tive Poems,'  London,  1810,  8vo,  2  vols. 
5.  '  An  Essay  on  the  proper  Temper  of  the 
Mind  towards  God :  addressed  by  the  Earl 


of  Carysfort  to  his  Children.  To  which  is 
added  a  Dissertation  on  the  Example  of 
Christ,'  privately  printed,  London,  1817, 
12mo. 

[Annual  Register,  1828,  App.  to  Chron. 
pp.  229-30  ;  G-.  E.  C.'s  Complete  Peerage,  ii. 
171-2  ;  Foster's  Peerage,  1883,  p.  133  ;  Collins's 
Peerage  of  England,  1812,  ix.  140-2;  Lodge's 
Peerage  of  Ireland,  1789,  vii.  70-1  ;  Foster's 
Alumni  Oxon.  1715-1886,  iii.  1155  ;  G-rad.  Can- 
tabr.  (1823),  p.  382  ;  Alumni  Westmon,  (1852),  p. 
547  ;  Gent.  Mag.  1791  pt.  i.  p.  586,  1805  pt.  i. 
p.  84 ;  1843  pt.  i.  p.  218,  1855  pt.  ii.  pp.  313-14  ; 
Notes  and  Queries,  8th  ser.  v.  247,  335  ;  Official 
Return  of  Lists  of  Members  of  Parliament,  pt.  ii. 
pp.  176,  J91,  204;  Haydn's  Book  of  Dignities, 
1890;  Baker's Biogr. Dramatica,  1 81 2,vol.  i. pt.  ii. 
p.  584 ;  Biogr.  Dictionary  of  Living  Authors,  1816, 
p.  58;  Martin's  Catalogue  of  privately  printed 
Books,  1854;  Watt's  Bibl.  Brit,  1824;  Brit. 
Hus.  Cat.]  G.  F.  R.  B. 


PROBYJST,  SIE  EDMUND  (1678-1742), 
judge,  eldest  son  of  William  Probyn  of  New- 
land  in  the  Forest  of  Dean,  by  Elizabeth, 
eldest  daughter  of  Edmund  Bond  of  Wai- 
ford,  Herefordshire,  and  widow  of  William 
Hopton  of  Huntley,  Gloucestershire,  was 
baptised  at  Newland  on  16  July  1678.  Hav- 
ing matriculated  at  Oxford,  from  Christ 
Church,  on  23  April  1695,  he  was  admitted 
the  same  year  a  student  at  the  Middle 
Temple,  where  he  was  called  to  the  bar  in 
1702.  He  was  made  a  Welsh  judge  in  1721, 
serjeant-at-law  on  27  Jan.  1723-4,  and,  upon 
the  impeachment  of  the  Earl  of  Macclesfield 
in  May  1725,  conducted  his  defence  with 
signal  ability  [see  PAKKEK,  THOMAS,  first 
EAEL  OF  MACCLESFIELD].  He  succeeded  Sir 
Littleton  Powy  s  [q.  v.]  as  puisne  judge  of  the 
king's  bench  on  3  Nov.  1726,  and  was  knighted 
(8  Nov.)  He  succeeded  Sir  John  Comyns 
[q.v.]  as  lord  chief  baron  of  the  exchequer  on 
24  Nov.  1740,  and  died  on  17  May  1742.  His 
remains  were  interred  in  Newland  church. 
His  portrait  was  engraved  ad  vivum  byFaber. 

By  his  wife  Elizabeth  (d.  1749),  daughter 
of  Sir  John  Blencowe  [q.  v.],  he  had  no  issue. 
Under  his  will  his  estates  passed  to  his 
nephew,  John  Hopkins,  who  assumed  the 
name  Probyn,  and  was  grandfather  of  John 
Probyn,  archdeacon  of  Llandaff(1796-1843). 

[Misc.  Gen.  et  Herald.  2nd  ser.  iii.  260,  304- 
306;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.;  Wynne's  Serjeant- 
at-Law,  p.  320 ;  Nicholl's  Personalities  of  the 
Forest  of  Dean,  p.  93  ;  Bigland's  Coll.  Glouc.ii. 
111,262;  Noble's  Continuation  of  Granger's 
Biogr.  Hist,  of  England,  iii.  197;  Howell's  State 
Trials,  xvi.  767  et  seq. ;  Notes  and  Queries,  2nd 
ser.  x.  443;  Gent.  Mag.  1740  p.  571,  1742  p.  275; 
Le  Neve's  Fasti  Eccl.  Angl.  ii.  261 ;  Foss's  Lives 
of  the  Judges.]  J.  M.  R. 


Procter 


416 


Procter 


PROCTER,  ADELAIDE  ANN  (1825- 
1864),  poetess,  eldest  daughter  and  first  child 
of  Bryan  Waller  Procter  [q.  v.]  and  his  wife 
Anne  Skepper,  was  born  30  Oct.  1825  at 
25  Bedford  Square,  London.  Her  parents 
were  residing  there  with  Basil  Montagu  [q.  v.] 
and  his  wife,  Mrs.  Procter's  stepfather  and 
mother  (BARRY  CORNWALL,  Autobiography, 
p.  67).  Her  father  delighted  in  her,  addressing 
a  sonnet  to  her  in  November  1825,  beginning 

*  Child  of  my  heart !  My  sweet  beloved  First- 
born ! '  and  calling  her  in  one  of  his  songs 

*  golden-tressed  Adelaide.'   She  early  showed 
a  fondness  for  poetry,  and  grew  up  amid  sur- 
roundings calculated  to  develop  her  literary 
taste.     Before  she  could  write,  her  mother 
used  to  copy  out  her  favourite  poems  for  her 
in    an   album   of    small    notepaper,   which 
'  looks,' wrote  Dickens,  'as  if  she  had  carried 
it  about  like  another  little  girl  might  have 
carried  a  doll.'   Frances  A.  Kemble  wrote  in 
1832  :  '  Mrs.  Procter  talked  to  me  a  great  deal 
about  her  little  Adelaide,  who  must  be  a 
wonderful  creature  '  (Records  of  a  Girlhood, 
iii.  203).     N.  P.  Willis  describes  her  as  '  a 
beautiful  girl,  delicate,  gentle,  and  pensive,' 
looking  as  if  she  '  knew  she  was  a  poet's  child ' 
(Pencillings  by  the  Way}.     About  1851  she 
and  two  of  her  sisters  became  Roman  ca- 
tholics.   The  incident  does  not  seem  to  have 
disturbed  the  peace  of  the  family  (BARRY 
CORNWALL,  Autobiography,  p.  99). 

Adelaide  commenced  author,  unknown  to 
her  family,  by  contributing  poems  to  the 
'  Book  of  Beauty '  in  1843,  when  she  was 
eighteen.  In  1853  she  began  a  long  con- 
nection with  '  Household  Words '  by  sending 
some  poems  under  the  name  of  Mary  Ber- 
wick. Dickens,  the  editor,  was  her  father's 
friend,  and  she  adopted  the  policy  of 
anonymity  because  she  did  not  wish  to 
benefit  by  his  friendly  partiality.  He  ap- 
proved of  her  verses,  and  printed  many  of 
them  in  ignorance  of  their  source.  In  De- 
cember 1854  he  recommended  the  Procters 
to  read  a  pretty  poem  by  '  Miss  Berwick  '  in 
the  forthcoming  Christmas  number  of  House- 
hold Words.'  Next  day  Adelaide  revealed 
her  secret  at  home.  All  her  poems,  except 
two  in  the  '  Cornhill '  and  two  in  '  Good 
Words,'  were  first  published  in  l  Household 
Words '  or  '  All  the  Year  Round.'  In  1853 
she  visited  Turin. 

In  May  1858  her  poems  were  collected 
and  published  in  two  volumes  under  the 
title  of  '  Legends  and  Lyrics.'  A  second 
edition  was  issued  in  October,  a  third  and 
fourth  in  February  and  December  1859,  and 
a  tenth  in  1866. 

In  1859  Miss  Procter,  who  was  thoroughly 
interested  in  social  questions  affecting  women, 


was  appointed  by  the  council  of  the  National 
Association  for  the  Promotion  of  Social 
Science  member  of  a  committee  to  consider 
fresh  ways  of  providing  employment  for 
women  (cf.  EMILY  FAITHFULL,  Victoria  Re- 
gia,  pref.)  Mrs.  Jameson  and  Lord  Shaftes- 
bury  were  on  the  same  committee.  In  1861 
Miss  Procter  edited  a  volume  of  miscellaneous 
verse  and  prose,  set  up  in  type  by  women  com- 
positors, and  entitled  '  Victoria  Regia.'  She 
contributed  a  poem  entitled  '  Links  with 
Heaven.'  Among  other  contributors  were 
Tennyson,  Henry  Taylor,  Lowell,  Thackeray, 
Harriet  Martineau,  and  Matthew  Arnold. 
The  next  year  Miss  Procter  published  a  little 
volume  of  poems  called  '  A  Chaplet  of  Verse,' 
for  the  benefit  of  a  night  refuge. 

Her  health  was  never  robust.  In  1847 
Fanny  Kemble  wrote  :  '  Her  character  and 
intellectual  gifts,  and  the  delicate  state  of 
her  health,  all  make  her  an  object  of  interest 
to  me '  (Records  of  Later  Life,  iii.  290).  In 
1862  she  tried  the  cure  at  Malvern  (cf. 
WEMYSS  REID,  Life  of  Lord  Houghton,  ii. 
84-5)  ;  but,  after  being  confined  to  her  room 
for  fifteen  months,  she  died  of  consumption 
on  2  Feb.  1864,  and  was  buried  in  Kensal 
Green  cemetery  (cf.  the  Mont h,  January  1866 ; 
MARY  HOWITT,  Autobiography,  ii.  155).  She 
was  of  a  cheerful,  modest,  and  sympathetic 
disposition,  with  no  small  fund  of  humour. 
An  engraved  portrait  by  Jeens  appears  in  the 
1866  edition  of  '  Legends  and  Lyrics,'  and 
there  is  an  oil-painting  attributed  to  Emma 
Galiotti. 

Miss  Procter,  if  not  a  great  poet,  had  a 
gift  for  verse,  and  expressed  herself  with  dis- 
tinction, charm,  and  sincerity.  She  borrowed 
little  or  nothing,  and  showed  to  best  advan- 
tage in  her  narrative  poems.  '  The  Angel's 
Story,'  the  '  Legend  of  Bregenz,'  the  'Legend 
of  Provence,' the '  Story  of  a  Faithful  Soul,' are 
;  found  in  numerous  poetical  anthologies.  Her 
songs,  'Cleansing  Fires,'  'The  Message,'  and 
'The  Lost  Chord,' are  well  known,  and  many 
of  her  hymns  are  in  common  use.  Her  poems 
were  published  in  America,  and  also  trans- 
lated into  German.  In  1877  the  demand  for 
Miss  Procter's  poems  in  England  was  in  ex- 
cess of  those  of  any  living  writer  except  Ten- 
nyson (BARRY  CORNWALL,  Autobiography, 
p.  98). 

[Memoir  by  Dickens,  prefaced  to  1866  edition 
of  Legends  and  Lyrics  ;  Madame  Belloc's  In  a 
Walled  Garden,  pp.  164-78;  Bruce's  Book  of 
Noble  Englishwomen,  pp.  445-52 ;  Julian's  Diet, 
of  Hymnology,  p.  913.]  E.  L. 

PROCTER,  BRYAN  WALLER  (1787- 
1874),  poet,  was  born  at  Leeds  on  21  Nov. 
1787.  His  ancestors  had  been  small  farmers 
in  the  north  of  England ;  his  father  came  to 


Procter 


417 


Procter 


London  and  entered  into  business.  'By 
some  bequest  or  accident  of  luck/  says  his 
son,  he  achieved  an  independence.  His  par- 
simony was  as  conspicuous  as  his  integrity. 
He  died  in  1816.  Of  Procter's  mother,  who 
survived  until  1837,  he  merely  says  '  she 
was  simply  the  kindest  and  tenderest  mother 
in  the  world.'  As  a  boy,  Procter  was  distin- 
guished by  a  passion  for  reading,  which  was 
encouraged  by  a  female  servant,  who  initiated 
him  into  Shakespeare.  He  does  not,  how- 
ever, seem  to  have  distinguished  himself  at 
Harrow,  whither,  after  some  years'  prelimi- 
nary schooling  at  Finchley,he  went  at  the  age 
of  thirteen,  and  where  he  was  the  schoolfellow 
of  Peel  and  Byron.  Upon  leaving  school  he 
was  articled  to  Mr.  Atherton,  a  solicitor  at 
Calne  in  Wiltshire,  of  whom  he  speaks  with 
great  respect.  He  returned  to  London  in 
1807,  at  which  point  the  fragment  of  auto- 
biography he  has  left  us  ends.  In  1815  he 
began  to  contribute  to  the  '  Literary  Ga- 
zette.' He  soon  entered  into  partnership 
with  another  solicitor,  and  long  practised  his 
profession.  But  literature  occupied  most 
of  his  attention.  In  1816  his  means  were 
improved  by  the  death  of  his  father,  and  he 
seems  to  have  for  a  time  launched  out  upon 
a  jovial,  though  not  a  dissipated,  course  of 
life,  taking  a  house  in  Brunswick  Square, 
keeping  a  hunter,  and  becoming  a  pupil  of 
Thomas  Cribb.  This  free  mingling  with  the 
world,  natural  in  one  whose  opportunities 
appear  to  have  been  previously  restricted  by 
parental  economy,  occasioned  after  a  while 
some  temporary  pecuniary  embarrassment, 
but  it  was  the  means  of  introducing  him  to  the 
circle  of  Leigh  Hunt  and  Charles  Lamb,  the 
influence  of  both  of  whom  may  be  traced 
in  the  abundant  poetical  productiveness  of 
the  next  few  years.  While  Hunt  inspired 
'  Marcian  Colonna '  (1820),  'A  Sicilian  Story ' 
(1821),  and  '  The  Flood  in  Thessaly '  (1823), 
Lamb  prompted  the  *  Dramatic  Scenes ' 
(1819),  to  none  of  which,  he  declared,  he 
would  have  refused  a  place  in  his  selection 
from  the  Elizabethan  dramatists,  had  they 
come  down  to  us  from  that  period.  This 
judgment  is  a  remarkable  instance  of  the 
intrepidity  of  friendship ;  for  Procter's  scenes, 
though  graceful  and  poetical,  are  very  ob- 
vious productions  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
and  seldom  transcend  the  forcible  feeble  in 
their  attempts  to  exhibit  vehement  passion. 
They  are  nevertheless  much  more  successful 
than  Procter's  imitations  of  Byron's  serio- 
comic style  in  some  of  his  poems  of  this  date, 
to  which  Byron  alludes  with  good-natured 
disdain.  But  none  of  these  efforts  exhibit 
the  genuine  individuality  of  the  man,  which 
is  to  be  found  exclusively  in  his  songs. 

VOL.   XLVI. 


These  were  mostly  written  about  this  time, 
although  not  published  until  1832,  and,  if 
not  effluences  of  potent  inspiration,  are  me- 
lodious, vigorous,  and  rarely  imitative.  Long- 
fellow thought  them  '  more  suggestive  of 
music  than  any  modern  songs,'  a  judgment  in 
which  it  is  difficult  to  concur.  A  more  am- 
bitious effort,  the  tragedy  of '  Mirandola,'  was 
brought  upon  the  stage,  at  Covent  Garden 
Theatre,  somewhat  prematurely  (January 
1821),  with  the  view  of  relieving  the  author 
from  the  embarrassments  in  which  his  hos- 
pitality and  difficulties  with  a  business  part- 
ner, together  with  the  loss  of  an  anticipated 
legacy,  had  involved  him.  The  object  was 
attained,  Procter  receiving  630/.  as  his  share 
of  the  proceeds  of  a  sixteen  nights'  run ;  but 
the  play,  a  fair  and  even  a  favourable  example 
of  the  taste  of  the  time,  was  never  revived. 
It  owed  much  of  its  success  to  the  acting  of 
Charles  Kemble,  who  was  said  to  have  never 
before  been  so  perfectly  provided  with  a  part 
as  by  Procter's  Guido.  All  these  produc- 
tions appeared  under  the  pseudonym  of 
'  Barry  Cornwall,'  an  imperfect  anagram  of 
Procter's  real  name. 

The  success  of  his  tragedy,  and  the  esta- 
blishment of  the  '  London  Magazine '  in 
1820,  introduced  Procter  to  a  wider  literary 
circle ;  and,  as  he  liked  almost  everybody  and 
everybody  liked  him,  he  gradually  became 
acquainted  with  most  contemporary  authors 
of  distinction.  He  performed  two  eminent 
services  to  literature — by  initiating  Hazlitt, 
who  previously  had  been  acquainted  only 
with  Shakespeare,  into  the  Elizabethan  and 
Jacobean  drama  in  general ;  and  by  guaran- 
teeing, in  conjunction  with  Thomas  Lovell 
Beddoes  [q.v.J  and  T.  Kelsall,  the  expense 
of  the  publication  of  Shelley's  posthumous 
poems.  Although,  however,  his  literary  in- 
terests and  sympathies  expanded,  his  lite-^ 
rary  productiveness,  except  as  a  writer  of 
stories  for  annuals,  almost  entirely  ceased. 
The  cause  was  probably  the  necessity  for 
assiduous  devotion  to  legal  pursuits  after  his 
marriage,  in  1824,  with  Miss  Skepper,  step- 
daughter of  Basil  Montagu  [q.  v.],  a  lady  of 
great  gifts,  both  social  and  intellectual  (b. 
11  Sept.  1799).  By  her  he  had  three  daughters, 
the  eldest  of  whom  was  the  poetess,  Adelaide 
Anne  Procter  [q.  v.],  and  three  sons,  one  of 
whom  became  an  officer  and  served  in  India ; 
the  others  died  young.  The  branch  of  law 
to  which  he  now  addicted  himself  was  con- 
veyancing, in  which  he  obtained  a  large 
practice.  He  had  also  numerous  pupils, 
among  whom  were  Kinglake  and  Eliot  War- 
burton.  His  last  important  contribution  to 
?oetry  was  the  volume  of  songs  published  in 
832,  with  an  appendix  of  brief  dramatic  frag- 

E  E 


Procter 


418 


Procter 


merits,  and  a  preface  announcing  his  farewell 
to  poetry ;  save  for  such  isolated  exceptions 
as  his  fine  epistle  to  Browning,  he  abstained 
from  verse  for  the  remainder  of  his  life.  In 
the  same  year  he  undertook  a  life  of  Ed- 
mund Kean,  a  task  which  Leigh  Hunt  had 
wisely  declined.  It  was  published  in  1835, 
but  Procter  earned  nothing  from  it  beyond  his 
stipulated  honorarium  and  a  scathing  critique 
in  the  '  Quarterly.'  He  had  already  been 
called  to  the  bar,  and  in  1832  was  made  a 
metropolitan  commissioner  in  lunacy,  which 
seems  to  have  been  thought  an  eminently 
suitable  appointment  for  a  poet.  He  held  it 
until  1861,  when  he  retired  upon  a  pension 
calculated  on  no  generous  scale.  But  the 
blow  was  broken  by  the  handsome  legacy  he 
had  received  a  few  years  previously  from 
John  Kenyon  [q.  v.]  His  prose  writings  were 
published  in  America  in  1853,  and  no  occur- 
rence of  importance  marked  the  remainder  of 
his  life  except  the  death  of  his  daughter 
Adelaide  in  1864,  and  the  publication  in 
London  of  his  delightful  biography  of  Charles 
Lamb  in  1866.  Procter  died  on  5  Oct.  1874. 
His  wife  survived  until  March  1888.  She 
was  long  the  centre  of  a  highly  cultivated 
circle,  which  delighted  in  her  shrewdness 
and  wit.  '  Her  spirits,'  says  a  writer  in  the 
'  Academv,'  *  often  had  had  to  do  for 
both.' 

Procter's  disposition  is  one  of  the  most 
amiable  recorded  in  the  history  of  literature. 
Carlyle  called  him  '  a  decidedly  rather 
pretty  little  fellow,  bodily  and  spiritually.' 
He  appears  entirely  exempt  from  the  ordi- 
nary defects  of  the  literary  character,  and  a 
model  of  kindly  sympathy  and  generous 
appreciation.  His  secret  good  deeds  were 
innumerable.  His  chief  intellectual  en- 
dowment was  an  instinctive  perception  of 
novel  merit,  which  embraced  the  most  various 
styles  of  literary  excellence,  and  which,  com- 
bined with  his  frankness  of  eulogy  and  his 
wide  social  opportunities,  enabled  him  to  be 
of  great  service  to  young  genius.  Brown- 
ing and  Swinburne  were  both  deeply  in- 
debted to  him  in  this  respect.  His  own 
claims  as  a  poet  cannot  be  rated  high.  His 
narrative  poems  occasionally  display  beauty 
both  of  diction  and  versification,  but  are  on 
the  whole  languid  compositions,  whose  chief 
interest  is  that  they  alone  among  the  poems 
of  the  day  evince  the  influence  of  Shelley, 
who  is  imitated  judiciously  and  without 
exaggeration  or  servility.  Some  of  the  longer 
dramatic  scenes  have  extraordinary  lapses 
into  bathos,  but  the  brief  fragments  are 
often  fanciful  and  poetical.  Procter's  songs 
will  probably  constitute  the  most  abiding 
portion  of  his  work.  A  few,  such  as  '  To  a 


Flower,'  are  exceedingly  beautiful,  and  others 
have  obtained  wide  popularity  through  their 
simple  energy  and  the  musical  accompani- 
ments by  Chevalier  Neukomm,  who,  accord- 
ing to  Choiiey,  monopolised  the  proceeds. 
His  prose  writings  are  always  agreeable. 
The  most  valuable  are  the  essay  on  Shake- 
speare, whom  he  idolised,  contributed  to  an 
edition  of  the  poet's  works  in  1843,  and  the 
biography  of  Charles  Lamb,  simple  and  un- 
pretending, but  irradiated  by  the  light  of 
personal  acquaintance  and  the  glow  of  sym- 
pathy. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  Procter's  works : 

I.  *  Dramatic  Scenes  and  other  Poems,'  1819, 
12mo ;  new  edit,  with  illustrations  by  John 
Tenniel,  1857-8.     2.  '  Marcian  Colonna,  an 
Italian  tale,  with   three   Dramatic  Scenes 
and  other  poems,'.  1820, 8vo.     3.  '  A  Sicilian 
Story,  with  Diego  de  Montilla   and  other 
poems,'  1820,  12mo  ;  3rd  edit.  1821.  4.  <Mi- 
randola :  a  tragedy '  (in   five   acts   and   in 
verse),   1821,  8vo.      5.  « Poetical  Works,' 
3  vols.   1822,   12mo.      6.    'The  Flood  of 
Thessaly,  the  Girl  of  Provence,  and  other 
poems,'  1823,  8vo.     7.  '  Effigies  Poeticse,  or 
the  Portraits  of  the  British  Poets:    illus- 
trated by  notes   biographical,  critical,  and 
poetical,'  1824,  8vo.     8.  '  English  Songs  and 
other  smaller  poems,'  1832,  12mo ;  3rd  edit. 
1851.    9.  <  Life  of  Edmund  Kean,'  1835, 8vo ; 
German  translation,  1836,  8vo.    10. '  Essays 
and  Tales  in  Prose,'  2  vols.  Boston,  1853. 

II.  '  Charles  Lamb :  a  Memoir,'  1866-8,  8vo. 
12.  '  Autobiographical  Fragment/  ed.  C.P., 
1877,  8vo  [see  below]. 

His  editions  include  '  The  Works  of  Ben 
Jonson,  with  Memoir '  (1838),  <  The  Works 
of  Shakespeare,  with  Memoir  and  Essay  on 
his  Genius  '  (1843  ;  reissued  1853, 1857,  and 
1875), '  Selections  from  Browning,'  in  con- 
junction with  J.  Forster  (1863),  and '  Essays 
of  Elia,  with  a  Memoir  of  Lamb '  (1879). 

His  critical  papers  and  his  tales,  contri- 
buted to  annuals,  were  mostly  comprised  in 
the  American  edition  of  his  prose  miscel- 
lanies, but  have  not  been  reprinted  in  Eng- 
land. 

[The  principal  authority  for  Procter's  life  is 
his  own  fragmentary  autobiography,  accompa- 
nied by  reminiscences  of  eminent  persons  whom 
he  had  known,  and  supplemented  with  additional 
particulars  by  '  C.  P.'  (Coventry  Patmore),  1877. 
See  also  Miss  Martineau's  Biographic  Sketches  ; 
H.  T.  Chorley's  Autobiography  ;  Madame  Bel- 
loc's  In  a  Walled  Garden ;  J.  T.  Fields's  Old  Ac- 
quaintances, 1876;  S.  C.  Hall's  Keminiscences, 
ii.  25-6  ;  E.  P.  Whipple  in  International  Maga- 
zine, vol.  iv. ;  S.  T.  Mayer  in  Gent.  Mag.  vol. 
xiii.  new  ser. ;  Edinburgh  Keview,  vol.  cxlvii.  ; 
Athenaeum,  10  Oct.  1874;  Academy,  17  March 
1888.] 


Procter 


419 


Proctor 


PROCTER,      RICHARD      WRIGHT 

(1816-1881),  author,  son  of  Thomas  Procter, 
was  born  of  poor  parents  in  Paradise  Vale, 
Salford,  Lancashire,  on  19  Dec.  1816.  When 
very  young  he  bought  books  and  sent  poetical 
contributions  to  the  local  press.  In  due  time 
he  set  up  in  business  for  himself  as  a  barber 
— the  trade  to  which  he  had  been  appren- 
ticed— in  Long-Millgate,  Manchester.  Part 
of  the  shop  was  used  by  him  for  a  cheap  cir- 
culating library.  In  this  dismal  city  street 
he  remained  to  the  end  of  his  days.  When 
his  shyness  was  overcome,  he  was  found  to 
be,  like  his  books,  full  of  geniality,  curious 
information,  and  gentle  humour.  In  1842  he 
was  associated  with  Bamford,  Prince,  Roger- 
son,  and  other  local  poets  in  some  interesting 
meetings  held  at  an  inn,  afterwards  styled 
the  '  Poet's  Corner/  and  he  contributed  to 
a  volume  of  verse  entitled  'The  Festive 
Wreath,'  which  was  an  outcome  of  these 
gatherings.  He  also  had  some  pieces  in  the 
1  City  Muse,'  edited  by  William  Reid,  1853. 
He  died  at  133  Long-Millgate,  Manchester, 
on  11  Sept.  1881,  and  was  buried  at  St. 
Luke's,  Cheetham  Hill.  He  married,  in 
1840,  Eliza  Waddington,  who  predeceased 
him,  and  left  five  sons. 

He  published  :  1.  '  Gems  of  Thought  and 
Flowers  of  Fancy,'  1855,  12mo ;  a  volume  of 

Eoetical  selections,  of  which  the  first  and 
ist  pieces  are  by  himself.  2.  '  The  Barber's 
Shop,  with  Illustrations  by  William  Mor- 
ton,'1856,8vo  ;  containing  admirably  written 
sketches  of  the  odd  characters  he  met.  A 
second  edition  incorporated  much  lore  re- 
lating to  hairdressing  and  to  notable  barbers, 
published,  with  a  memoir  by  W.  E.  A.  Axon, 
1883.  3. '  Literary  Reminiscences  and  Glean- 
ings, with  Illustrations/ 1860,.  8 vo;  devoted 
chiefly  to  Lancashire  poets.  4.  l  Our  Turf, 
our  Stage,  and  our  Ring/  1862,  8vo ;  being 
historical  sketches  of  racing  and  sporting  life 
in  Manchester.  5.  '  Manchester  in  Holiday 
Dress/  1866,  8vo;  notices  of  theatres  and 
other  amusements  in  Manchester,  prior  to 
1810.  6. '  Memorials  of  Manchester  Streets/ 
1874,  8vo  and  4to.  7. '  Memorials  of  Bygone 
Manchester,  with  Glimpses  of  the  Environs/ 
1880,  4to. 

[Axon's  Memoir,  above  mentioned ;  Palatine 
Note-Book,  i.  165  (with  portrait)  ;  Papers  of  the 
Manchester  Literary  Club  (article  by  B.  A.  Ked- 
fern),  1884,  p.  184  ;  personal  knowledge.] 

C.  W.  S. 

PROCTOR,  JOHN  (1521 P-1584),  divine 
and  historian,  a  native  of  Somerset,  was 
elected  scholar  of  Corpus  Christi,  Oxford,  in 
January  1536-7,  and  fellow  of  All  Souls'  in 
1540,  graduating  B.A.  on  20  Oct.  1540,  and 
M.A.  on  25  June  1544.  He  was  a  strong 


Roman  catholic.  From  1553  to  1559  he  was 
master  of  the  school  of  Tunbridge,  Kent, 
where  Francis  Thynne  was  among  his  pupils. 
Under  Elizabeth  his  religious  views  seem  to 
have  changed,  and  on  13  March  1578  he 
was  presented  to  the  rectory  of  St.  Andrew, 
Holborn.  He  died  in  the  autumn  of  1584 
(NEWCOTJET,  Repert.  i.  275,  and  n.)  His  son 
Thomas  is  noticed  separately. 

Proctor  wrote:  1.  '  The  Fall  of  the  late 
Arrian  [Arian]/  London,  1549,  8vo,  dedi- 
cated to  '  the  most  virtuous  lady  [i.e.  Prin- 
cess] Marie.'  2.  '  The  Historie  of  Wyates  Re- 
bellion, with  the  order  and  manner  of  resisting 
the  same  .  .  ./  London,  1554,  black  letter, 
8vo,  dedicated  to  Queen  Mary  (this  is  one 
of  the  authorities  on  which  Holinshed  bases 
this  part  of  his  history,  and  it  is  described  by 
Hearne  as  '  a  book  of  great  authority '). 
3.  '  The  Waie  home  to  Christ  and  Truth 
leadinge  from  Antichrist  and  Errour/  1556, 
dedicated  to  Queen  Mary;  reissued, without 
dedication,  1565 ;  this  is  a  translation  of 
'  Vincentii  Lirinensis  Liber  de  Catholicge 
fidei  antiquitate.' 

[Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  i.  235,  and  Fasti,  i. 
Ill,  121,  ii.  100;  Tanner's  Bibl.  Brit.-Hib. ; 
Lansd.  MS.  980,  f.  144;  Foster's  Alurani ; 
Hearne's  Collect.,  ed.  Doble,iii.  88  ;  Watt's  Bibl. 
Brit. ;  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  1554-6;  Strype's 
Eccl.  Mem.  in.  i.  271 ;  Hughes-Hughes's.  Eegi- 
ster  of  Tunbridge  School,  p.  1.]  W.  A.  S. 

PROCTOR,     RICHARD     ANTHONY 

(1837-1888),  astronomer,  was  born  in  Chelsea 
on  23  March  1837,  the  fourth  and  youngest 
child  of  William  Proctor,  a  solicitor  in  easy 
circumstances.  His  childhood,  marked  by 
frail  health  and  studious  tastes,  had  barely 
passed  when  the  death  of  his  father,  in  1850, 
left  the  family  burdened  with  a  protracted 
lawsuit.  Placed  as  clerk  in  the  London  and 
Joint  Stock  Bank  in  1854,  he  was  removed 
as  soon  as  improved  circumstances  rendered 
a  university  education  possible,  and  entered 
in  1855  the  London  University,  and  a  year 
later  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge.  Here 
he  took  a  scholarship,  read  mathematics  and 
theology,  and  sufficiently  distinguished  him- 
self as  an  athlete  to  be  captain  of  the  col- 
lege boating  club.  His  mother's  death  during 
his  second  university  year  was  quickly  fol- 
lowed by  his  marriage  to  an  Irish  lady, 
whom  he  met  when  travelling  with  his  sister. 
This  event  probably  explained  his  compara- 
tive failure  in  his  degree  examination  in  1860, 
when  he  disappointed  expectation  by  obtain- 
ing only  the  twenty-third  wranglership. 

Pie  next  read  for  the  bar,  but,  after  keeping 
some  terms  at  the  Temple,  abandoned  law 
for  science,  devoting  himself  in  1863  to  the 

E  E  2 


Proctor 


420 


Proctor 


study  of  astronomy  and  mathematics  as  a 
distraction  from  his  overwhelming  grief  at 
the  loss  of  his  eldest  child.  He  made  his 
literary  debut  in  1865  with  an  article  on  the 
1  Colours  of  Double  Stars '  in  the  <  Cornhill 
Magazine/  and  published  in  the  same  year, 
at  his  own  expense,  his  celebrated  monograph 
on  '  Saturn  and  his  System.'  Recognised  im- 
mediately in  the  scientific  world  as  the  work 
of  a  writer  of  consummate  ability,  it  yet 
proved,  in  his  own  words,  *  commercially  a 
dismal  failure.'  The  reputation  it  won 
enabled  him,  nevertheless,  to  make  literature 
his  profession,  when  the  failure,  in  1866,  of 
a  New  Zealand  bank  in  which  he  was  a  con- 
siderable shareholder  left  him  entirely  de- 
pendent on  his  own  earnings.  The  news 
reached  him  simultaneously  with  a  request 
from  the  editor  of  the  '  Popular  Science  Re- 
view '  for  some  articles  on  the  telescope. 
*  From  that  day  onwards  (he  wrote)  for 
five  years  I  did  not  take  one  day's  holi- 
day from  the  work  which  I  found  essential 
for  my  family's  maintenance.'  How  irksome 
he  found  this  unceasing  drudgery  may  be 
gathered  from  his  declaration  that  he  'would 
willingly  have  turned  to  stone-breaking  or 
any  other  form  of  hard  and  honest,  but  un- 
scientific, labour,  if  a  modest]  competence  in 
any  such  direction  had  been  offered  him.' 

The  limited  range  of  his  fame  was  shown 
by  the  rejection  of  many  of  his  articles,  and 
by  Anthony  Trollope's  request,  before  accept- 
ing one  for  the  '  St.  Paul's  Magazine/  of 
some  evidence  of  his  competence  to  treat 
a  subject  scientifically.  Publishers  were 
equally  sceptical,  and  only  the  assistance  of 
a  friend  enabled  him  to  publish  his  '  Hand- 
book of  the  Stars '  in  1866.  It  barely  paid 
expenses ;  nor  were  its  successors, '  Constella- 
tion Seasons '  and  '  Sun  Views  of  the  Earth/ 
much  more  successful.  They  helped,  how- 
ever to  extend  his  reputation,  and  he  was 
commissioned  by  Messrs.  Hardwick  to  write, 
for  a  fee  of  25/.,  the  small  volume,  'Half- 
hours  with  a  Telescope,'  which,  published 
in  1868,  had  before  his  death  reached  its 
twentieth  edition.  He  taught  mathematics 
for  a  time  in  a  private  military  school  at 
Woolwich,  and  in  1873  went  on  a  lecturing 
tour  to  America,  resigning,  in  order  to  do  so, 
an  honorary  secretaryship  to  the  Royal  Astro- 
nomical Society.  His  success  on  the  lectur- 
ing platform  was  from  the  first  assured,  and 
greatly  increased  his  popularity.  A  second 
lecturing  trip  to  America  was  followed,  after 
the  death  of  his  wife  in  1879,  by  a  more  ex- 
tended tour  to  the  Australasian  colonies. 
Returning  by  the  United  States,  he  there 
married,  in  1881,  Mrs.  Robert  J.  Crawley,  a 
widow  with  two  children,  and  settled  at  St. 


Joseph,  Missouri,  her  home.  In  that  year  he 
founded  in  London  '  Knowledge/  a  scien- 
tific weekly  periodical,  which  was  converted 
in  1885  into  a  monthly.  He  contributed  to 
the  Royal  Astronomical  Society's  monthly 
notices  articles  on  such  abstruse  problems 
as  the  *  Construction  of  the  Milky  Way/ 
'  The  Distribution  of  Stars  and  Nebulae/  and 
the  '  Proper  Motions  of  Stars.'  His  papers 
on  the  coming  *  Transit  of  Venus/  in  the  same- 
journal,  involved  him  in  an  acrimonious 
controversy  with  the  astronomer  royal,  Sir 
George  Airy,  as  to  the  time  and  place  for 
observing  the  transit.  Proctor's  views  ulti- 
mately prevailed. 

In  1887  he  transferred  his  household  and 
observatory  to  Orange  Lake,  Florida,  whence 
he  was  summoned  on  business  to  England  in 
September  1888.  He  reached  New  York 
suffering  from  an  illness  hastily  pronounced 
to  be  yellow  fever,  then  epidemic  in  Florida. 
He  died  in  the  Willard  Parker  Hospital  on 
12  Sept.  His  malady  was  declared  by  his 
friends  to  have  been  malarial  hsemorrhagic 
fever.  His  widow  and  many  children  sur- 
vived him.  The  alleged  cause  of  his  death 
gave  prophetic  significance  to  his  article  on 
'  Plague  and  Pestilence/  written  a  few  days 
previously  and  published  in  the  '  New  York 
Weekly  Tribune.' 

Among  his  many  gifts  that  of  lucid  expo- 
sition was  the  chief,  and  his  main  work  was- 
that  of  popularising  science  as  a  writer  and 
lecturer.  Yet  he  was  no  mere  exponent.  The 
highest  value  attaches  to  his  researches  into- 
the  rotation  period  of  Mars,  and  to  his  demon- 
stration of  the  existence  of  a  resisting  medium 
in  the  sun's  surroundings  by  its  effect  on  the 
trajectory  of  the  prominences.  His  grasp  of 
higher  mathematics  was  proved  by  his  trea- 
tise on  the  Cycloid,  and  his  ability  as  a  celes- 
tial draughtsman  by  his  charting  324,198 
stars  from  Argelander's  '  Survey  of  the 
Northern  Heavens'  on  an  equal  surface  pro- 
jection. Many  of  his  works  were  illustrated 
with  maps  drawn  by  himself  with  admirable- 
clearness  and  accuracy.  Versatile  as  pro- 
found, he  wrote  in  '  Knowledge '  on  mis- 
cellaneous subj  ects  under  several  pseudony  msr 
and  was  a  proficient  in  chess,  whist,  and  on 
the  pianoforte.  His  unfinished  book  on  the 
'  New  and  Old  Astronomy/  designed  to  em- 
body the  studies  of  his  life,  was  completed 
by  Arthur  Cowper  Ranyard  [q.  v.],  and  pub- 
lished in  1892.  Of  the  fifty-seven  books 
published  by  him,  the  principal,  not  already 
mentioned  in  the  text,  were :  1.  '  Other 
Worlds  than  ours/  1870.  2.  <  Star  Atlas,* 

1870.  3.  '  Light  Science  for  Leisure  Hours,'1 

1871.  4.  <  The  Sun/  1871.  5.    '  Elementary 
Astronomy/  1871.    6.  'The  Orbs  around  us/ 


Proctor 


421 


Proctor 


1872.  7.    l  Essays   in   Astronomy,'   1872. 
8.  'Elementary  Geography,'  1872.  9.. ' School 
Atlas  of  Astronomy,'  1872.     10.  'The  Ex- 
panse of  Heaven,'  1873.     11.  'The  Moon' 

1873.  12.    'The  Borderland   of    Science,' 

1873.  13.  <  The  Universe  and  the  Coming- 
Transit,'  1874.     14.  ' The  Transit  of  Venus,' 

1874.  15.    '  Our   Place   among  Infinities,' 

1875.  16. '  Myths  andMarvels  of  Astronomy,' 
1877.     17.  'The  Universe  of  Stars,'  1878 
18.  'Flowers  of  the  Sky,'  1879.     19.  'The 
Poetry   of  Astronomy,'   1880.     20.    'Easy 
Star  Lessons,'  1882.     21.  'Familiar  Science 
Studies,'  1882.     22.  'Mysteries  of  Time  and 
Space/  1883.      23.    <  The   Great    Pyramid,' 
1883.     24.    '  The  Universe  of  Suns,'  1884. 
25.  '  The  Seasons,'  1885.    26.  '  How  to  Play 
Whist/  1885.     27.  '  Other  Suns  than  ours,' 
1887.      28.    'Half-hours    with   the   Stars/ 
1887.     He  also  contributed  the  articles  on 
astronomy  to  the  'American   Cyclopedia/ 
and  to  the  ninth  edition  of  the  '  Encyclo- 
paedia Britannica.' 

[Memoirs  and  Obituaries  in  Monthly  Notices, 
xlix.  164;  Observatory,  xi.  366;  Times,  14  Sept. 
1888;  Knowledge,  October  1888, p.  265;  Apple- 
ton's  Annual  Cyclopsedia,  xiii.  707;  Autobiogra- 
phical Notes,  New  Science  Keview,  April  1895.] 

E.  M.  C. 

PROCTOR,  THOMAS  (fl.  1578),  poet, 
•was  the  son  of  John  Proctor  [q.  v.],  first 
master  of  Tunbridge  grammar  school.  He 
"became  free  of  the  Stationers'  Company  on 
17  Aug.  1584,  having  been  apprenticed  to 
John  Allde  (ARBER,  Transcript,  ii.  692). 
He  was  editor  or  author  of :  1.  'A  gorgious 
.Gallery  of  gallant  Inventions.  .  .  .  First 
framed  and  fashioned  in  sundrie  formes  by 
divers  worthy  Workemen  of  late  dayes, 
and  now  joyned  together  and  builded  up 
by  T.  P./  London,  1578,  4to.  This  is  the 
third  of  the  series  of  poetical  miscellanies 
which  began  with  Tottell's  in  1557.  It 
is  preceded  by  commendatory  verses  signed 
A.  M.  (Anthony  Munday  ?),  and  by  an  ad- 
dress by  '  Owen  Roydon  to  the  curious  com- 
pany of  Sycophantes.'  The  first  poem  of  the 
*  Gallery'  is  signed  by  O.  R.,  and  then  all 
the  poems  are  unsigned  till  page  100  (COL- 
LIER, Seven  English  Poetical  Miscellanies, 
iii.),  where  the  heading  occurs  of  '  Pretie 
Pamphlets  by  T.  Proctor.'  The  poem  that 
follows  is  called  '  Proctor's  Precepts/  and  in 
the  remaining  fifty-two  pages  the  signature 
T.  P.  follows  ten  of  the  pieces.  The  longest 
poem  in  the  volume  is  '  The  History  of  Pyra- 
mus  and  Thisbie  truely  translated.'  It  is 
unsigned,  and  perhaps  from  an  Italian  ori- 
ginal. It  may  well  have  been  in  Shake- 
speare's mind  when  he  wrote  the  '  Midsum- 
mer Night's  Dream.'  Collier  has  conjectured 


that  Owen  Roydon  was  the  original  editor 
of  the  anthology,  but  died  while  it  was  in 
progress,  leaving  the  work  to  Proctor.  The 
book  has  been  reprinted  in  Park's  '  Heli- 
conia/  1815,  vol.  i.,  and  in  <  Three  Collections 
of  English  Poetry  of  the  Latter  Part  of  the 
Sixteenth  Century/  London,  1578-9,  edited 
by  Sir  Henry  Ellis  for  the  Roxburghe  Club ; 
and  in  '  Seven  English  Poetical  Miscellanies,' 
printed  between  1557  and  1602,  reproduced 
under  the  care  of  J.  Payne  Collier,  London, 
1877.  2.  <  The  Triumph  of  Trueth,  mani- 
festing the  Advancement  of  Vertue  and  the 
Overthrow  of  Vice.  Hereunto  is  added 
"Csesars  Triumph,"  the  "Gretians  Con- 
quest," and  the  "  Desert  of  Dives/"  published 
by  T.  P.,  4to.  These  poems  are  not  dated, 
and  were  perhaps  printed  for  private  circu- 
lation; Mr.  C.  W.  Hazlitt  assigns  them  to 
1585.  They  have  been  reprinted  by  J.  Payne 
Collier  in  '  Illustrations  of  Old  English 
Literature/  London,  1866,  vol.  ii.  tract  8. 
3.  '  Of  the  Knowledge  and  Conduct  of 
Warres,  two  bookes,  latelie  written  and  sett 
foorthe,  profntable  for  suche  as  delight  in 
histories,  or  martiall  aft'ayres,  and  necessarie 
for  the  present  tyme/  1578,  4to.  This  was 
licensed  to  Tottell  (HAZLITT,  Coll.  3rd  ser. 
p.  205). 

It  was  probably  another  Thomas  Proc- 
tor who  was  author  of:  1.  'A  Profitable 
Worke  to  this  Whole  Kingdome  ...  by 
Tho.  Procter,  Esqre/  1610,  4to  (Brit. 
Mus.)  2.  '  The  Right  of  Kings,  conteyning 
a  Defence  of  their  Supremacy/  1621,  4to. 
3.  '  The  Righteous  Man's  Way  .  .  .'  1621, 
4to. 

[See  the  introductions  and  notes  to  the  re- 
prints quoted  above ;  Arber's  Transcript,  ii. 
313,  328;  Hazlitt's  Handbook  and  Collections, 
passim.]  K.  B. 

PROCTOR,  THOMAS  (1753-1794),  his- 
torical painter  and  sculptor,  was  born  at 
Settle,  Yorkshire,  on  22  April  1753.  His 
father,  who  was  in  humble  circumstances, 
apprenticed  him  to  a  tobacconist  in  Man- 
chester, but  he  afterwards  came  to  London, 
and  for  a  time  found  employment  in  a  mer- 
chant's counting-house.  In  1777  he  became 
a  student  of  the  Royal  Academy.  Inspired 
by  the  works  of  James  Barry,  he  painted  a 
large  picture  of  '  Adam  and  Eve/  and  in 
1780  began  to  exhibit,  sending  a  portrait  to 
the  Royal  Academy,  and  another  to  the  In- 
corporated Society  of  Artists.  In  1782  he 
gained  a  premium  at  the  Society  of  Arts,  and 
a  medal  at  the  Royal  Academy  for  drawing 
from  the  life,  in  1783  a  silver  medal  at  the 
Royal  Academy  for  a  model  from  the  life, 
and  in  1784  the  gold  medal  for  historical 


Proctor 


422 


Proud 


painting,  the  subject  being  a  scene  from 
Shakespeare's  'Tempest.'  He  then  turned 
to  modelling,  and  produced  a  statue  of 
'  Ixidn,'  which  was  exhibited  at  the  Royal 
Academy  in  1785,  and  was  so  highly  praised 
by  Benjamin  West  that  it  was  bought  by 
Sir  Abraham  Hume.  He  next  modelled  a 
group  representing  '  The  Death  of  Diomedes, 
King  of  Thrace/  which  was  greatly  admired 
at  the  academy  in  1786,  but  failed  to  meet 
with  a  purchaser.  Bitterly  disappointed, 
Proctor  broke  his  work  in  pieces  and  aban- 
doned sculpture.  He  reverted  to  painting, 
but  did  not  again  exhibit  until  1789,  and 
then  sent  only  a  portrait ;  but  in  1790  he 
contributed  to  the  exhibition  of  the  Society 
of  Artists  '  Coronis,'  a  subject  from  Ovid's 
'  Metamorphoses,'  and  to  the  Royal  Academy 
'  Elisha  and  the  Son  of  the  Shunammite,'  and 
*  The  Restoration  of  Day  after  the  Fall  of 
Phaethon,'  a  sketch.  In  1791  he  exhibited  at 
the  academy  '  Hannah  declines  accompany- 
ing her  Husband  to  the  Yearly  Sacrifice,' 
and  in  1792  two  portraits  and  a  group  in 
plaster,  '  Peirithous,  the  Son  of  Ixion,  de- 
stroyed by  Cerberus.'  Three  portraits  and 
1  The  Final  Separation  of  Jason  and  Medea  ' 
were  his  exhibited  works  in  1793,  and '  Venus 
approaching  the  Island  of  Cyprus '  in  1794. 
After  1790  Proctor  had  exhibited  without 
giving  an  address,  and  his  abode  was  un- 
known. West,  then  president  of  the  Royal 
Academy,  who  had  at  an  earlier  date  treated 
him  with  great  kindness,  discovered  that  he 
had  been  living  in  a  miserable  garret  in 
Clare  Market,  and  subsisting  on  bread  and 
water.  His  case  was  brought  by  West  under 
the  notice  of  the  council  of  the  Royal  Aca- 
demy, and  in  1793  it  was  resolved  that  he 
should  be  sent  to  Italy  as  the  travelling 
student,  with  a  grant  of  50/.  for  preliminary 
expenses.  Unhappily  the  generous  help 
came  too  late.  Before  he  could  leave  Eng- 
land he  was  found  dead  in  his  bed,  worn  out 
by  mental  anguish  and  privation.  He  was 
buried  in  Hampstead  churchyard  on  13  July 
1794. 

Professor  Westmacott,  when  lecturing  to 
the  students  at  the  Royal  Academy,  exhi- 
bited the  '  Ixion '  and  '  Peirithous '  as  ex- 
amples of  the  work  of  true  genius. 

[Redgrave's  Diet,  of  Artists  of  the  English 
School,  1878;  Bryan's  Diet,  of  Painters  and 
Engravers,  ed.  Graves  and  Armstrong,  1886- 
1889,  ii.  324  ;  Sandby's  Hist,  of  the  Eoyal  Aca- 
demy of  Arts,  1862,  i.  251;  Exhibition  Cata- 
logues of  the  Royal  Academy,  Incorporated  So- 
ciety of  Artists,  and  Free  Society  of  Artists, 
1780-1794  ;  date  of  burial  kindly  communicated 
by  the  Rev.  Sherrard  B.  Burnaby,  vicar  of  Hamp- 
stead.] E.  E.  G. 


PROUD,  JOSEPH  (1745-1826),  minister 
of  the  '  new  church,'  was  born  at  Beacons- 
field,  Buckinghamshire,  on  22  March  1745. 
His  father,  John  Proud  (d.  1784),  was  a 
general  baptist  minister  at  Beaconsfield,  and 
(from  1756)  at  Wisbech,  Cambridgeshire. 
Proud  began  his  ministry  in  1767  as  assistant 
to  his  father  at  Wisbech.  About  1772  he 
became  minister  of  the  general  baptist  con- 
gregation at  Knipton,  Leicestershire,  but  re- 
moved in  1775  to  the  charge  of  the  general 
baptist  congregation  at  Fleet,  Lincolnshire. 
Here  he  was  ordained  in  1780 ;  his  chapel  was 
enlarged  in  1782.  He  left  Fleet  in  1786  to 
preach  at  a  chapel  built  for  him  in  that  year 
in  Ber  Street,  Norwich,  by  a  surgeon  named 
Hunt.  The  chapel  and  a  minister's  house 
were  settled  on  him  for  life. 

His  views  at  this  time,  as  is  shown  by  his 
1  Calvinism  Exploded,'  were  universalist ; 
but  in  1788  he  became  acquainted  with  the 
writings  of  Swedenborg,  and  a  visit  (June 
1788)  from  Joseph  Whittingham  Salmon  of 
Nantwich,  Cheshire,  originally  a  methodist, 
led  to  his  adhesion  to  the  '  new  church,'  or 
1  new  Jerusalem  church,'  recently  organised 
by  Robert  Hindmarsh  [q.  v.]  On  24  Feb. 
1789  he  baptised,  by  immersion,  nine  per- 
sons as  members  of  the  '  new  church ; '  he 
co-operated  with  its  London  leaders,  and 
wrote,  in  three  months,  no  less  than  three 
hundred  original  hymns  for  use  in  its  wor- 
ship. In  1790  he  ceded  Ber  Street  chapel 
to  the  general  baptists,  visited  Birmingham 
(June  1790),  where  a  '  temple  '  in  Newhall 
Street  was  being  built  by  a  wealthy  mer- 
chant, and  agreed  to  become  its  minister. 
On  3  May  1791  he  was  ordained  in  London 
as  a  '  new  church '  minister  by  James  Hind- 
marsh,  and  opened  the  Birmingham  '  temple ' 
on  19  June.  Priestley,  who  was  present  at 
one  of  the  opening  services,  immediately 
wrote  a  series  of  letters  to  its  members,  and 
made  an  appointment  to  read  them,  before 
publication,  to  Proud  and  his  friends  on 
15  July,  an  intention  frustrated  by  the  riots 
which  broke  out  on  the  previous  day.  Proud's 
relations  with  Unitarians  were  friendly.  He 
preached  in  their  chapel  at  Warwick  in  1792. 

His  career  at  Birmingham  promised  well, 
but  was  suddenly  cut  short  by  the  failure  of 
his  patron.  The  '  temple '  was  found  to  be 
heavily  mortgaged,  and  Proud,  who  had 
placed  his  savings  in  his  patron's  hands,  lost 
everything.  He  received  much  sympathy 
and  substantial  help,  among  others  from 
Spencer  Madan  (1758-1836)  [q.  v.],  then 
rector  of  St.  Philip's,  Birmingham.  A'  temple ? 
was  in  course  of  erection  in  Peter  Street,  Man- 
chester, for  William  Cowherd  [q.  v.],  and 
Proud  was  invited  to  be  his  colleague.  He 


Proud 


423 


Prout 


opened  the  Manchester  'temple'  on  11  Aug. 

1793,  but  soon  falling  out  with  Cowherd, 
who  made  a  point  of  a  vegetarian  diet,  he 
closed  his  Manchester  ministry  on  19  Jan. 

1794.  He  was  invited  to  Bristol  and  Liver- 
pool, but  returned  to  Birmingham,  where  a 
new  ' temple/  also  in  Newhall  Street,  was 
opened  by  him  on  30  March.     Proud's  ser- 
vices now  attracted  large  crowds.  His  friends 
were  anxious  to  transfer  him  to  London.   A 
1  temple '  was  built  for  him  in  Cross  Street, 
Hatton  Garden  ;  he  ordained  his  successor 
at  Birmingham  on  7  May  1797,  and  opened 
Hatton  Garden  '  temple '  on  30  July. 

Proud  was  now  at  the  height  of  his  popu- 
larity. His  oratory  drew  overflowing  con- 
gregations ;  his  voice  had  much  charm,  in 
spite  of  a  provincial  accent,  and  his  manner 
was  singularly  impressive.  He  is  described 
as  wearing  '  a  purple  silk  vest,  a  golden 
girdle,  and  a  white  linen  gown'  (WHITE). 
In  less  than  two  years  disputes  arose  between 
Proud's  committee  and  the  trustees  of  the 
'temple'  about  the  rental  of  the  building 
and  about  a  liturgy.  Proud  preached  his 
last  sermon  at  Cross  Street  on  29  Sept.  1799, 
and  removed  on  6  Oct.  to  York  Street  Chapel, 
St.  James's,  which  was  taken  on  lease.  John 
Flaxman  [q.  v.]  the  sculptor,  who  had  been 
a  member  of  his  committee,  seceded  from  his 
congregation,  owing  to  the  dispute,  which  did 
not,  however,  affect  Proud's  general  popu- 
larity. The  lease  of  York  Street  chapel,  re- 
newed in  1806,  came  to  an  end  on  22  Sept. 
1813.  Proud  removed  on  10  Oct.  to  a  smaller 
building  in  Lisle  Street,  Leicester  Square  ; 
but  his  vigour  was  declining.  In  1814  he 
returned  to  Birmingham,  and  again  minis- 
tered in  the  Newhall  Street  *  temple  '  till  his 
retirement  from  regular  duty  at  midsummer 
1821.  In  1815-16  he  undertook  missionary 
journeys,  in  pursuance  of  the  plan  of  a  mis- 
sionary ministry  adopted  by  the  '  general 
conference '  of  the  '  new  church.' 

He  is  said  during  the  course  of  his  life  to 
have  preached  seven  thousand  times  and 
written  three  thousand  sermons.  His  per- 
sonal character  was  high ;  he  seems  to  have 
lacked  geniality  in  private  life,  his  manner 
was  reserved,  but  he  showed  much  fortitude 
under  many  domestic  trials.  He  died  in  a 
cottage  of  his  own  building  at  Handsworth, 
near  Birmingham,  on  3  Aug.  1826,  and  was 
buried  in  St.  George's  churchyard,  Birming- 
ham. His  funeral  sermon  was  preached 
(20  Aug.)  by  Edward  Madeley.  He  was 
first  married  on  3  Feb.  1769,  and  by  his  first 
wife,  who  died  in  1785,  he  had  eleven  children, 
two  of  whom  survived  him.  On  her  death 
he  married  a  widow,  Susannah,  who  died  on 
21  Nov.  1826,  aged  76. 


He  published,  besides  many  separate  ser- 
mons: 1.  'Calvinism  Exploded,'  &c.,  Nor- 
wich, 1786, 12mo ;  two  editions  same  year  (a 
poem).  2.  'Jehovah's  Mercy,'  &c.,  1789, 
8vo  (a  poem)  ;  several  times  reprinted. 
3.  '  Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs/ 1790, 12mo ; 
enlarged  1791,  12mo;  1798,  8vo  (the  book 
reached  a  sixth  edition ;  164  of  his  hymns 
are  included  in  the  'new  church 'hymn-book 
of  1880).  4.  '  A  Candid  .  .  .  Pteply  to  ... 
Dr.  Priestley/  &c.,  1791,  8vo;  1792,  8vo. 
5.  '  Twenty  Sermons/  &c.,  Birmingham, 
1792,  8vo.  6.  '  On  the  Lord's  Prayer/  &c., 
1803,  12mo.  7.  'Fifteen  Discourses,'  &c., 
1804, 8vo.  8. 'The  Unitarian  Doctrine  ...Re- 
futed/ &c.,  1806,  8vo  (against  Thomas  Bel- 
sham  [q.  v.])  9.  '  Lectures  on  the  Funda- 
mental Doctrines  of  Christianity ,'&c.,  1808, 
8vo ;  a  second  course,  1810,  8vo  (includes 
poetical  pieces).  10.  '  Six  Discourses  to 
Young  Persons/  &c.,  1810, 12mo.  11.'  Hymns 
and  Songs  for  Children/  &c.,  1810,  12mo. 

12.  '  Calvinism    without    Modern    Refine- 
ments/ &c.,  1812,    12mo   (a   poem,   anon.) 

13.  'The  Divinely  Inspired  Names  of  .  .  . 
Christ/  &c.,  1817,  12mo.     14.  'The  Aged 
Minister's  Last  Legacy/  &c.,  Birmingham, 
1818,  12mo. ;    2nd  edition,  abridged,  with 
memoir  by  E.  Madeley,  1854, 8vo.     In  1799- 
1800  he  was  one  of  the  editors  of  the  'Aurora/ 
a  '  new  church '  monthly. 

[Memoir  by  Madeley,  1854;  Wood's  Hist,  of 
General  Baptists,  1847,  pp.  185,  205,  208; 
White's  Swedenborg,  1867,  ii.  605  seq. ;  Julian's 
Dictionary  of  Hymnology,  1892,  pp.  1 105  seq. ; 
Kutt's  Memoirs  of  Priestley,  1832,  ii.  91.] 

A.  G. 

PROUT,  FATHEE  (1804-1866),  humourist. 
[See  MAHONY,  FKANCIS  SYLVESTEK.] 

PROUT,  JOHN  (1810-1894),  agricul- 
turist, born  1  Oct.  1810  at  South  Pether- 
win,  near  Launceston,  Cornwall,  was  the 
son  of  William  Prout,  farmer,  who  had  mar- 
ried, in  1808,  his  cousin,  Tomazin  Prout. 
John  was  educated  at  a  school  in  Launces- 
ton, and  brought  up  to  farming  under  his 
father ;  but,  dissatisfied  with  the  position  of 
a  tenant-farmer  on  the  small  holdings  of  his 
native  land  and  with  the  antiquated  restric- 
tions of  land  tenure,  he  emigrated  to  Canada 
and  purchased  land  at  Pickering,  Ontario, 
which  he  farmed  from  1832  to  1842.  He 
then  returned  to  England,  and  joined  his 
uncle,  Thomas  Prout,  in  his  business  at 
229  Strand,  London.  On  the  death  of  his 
uncle,  Prout  carried  on  the  business.  In 
1861  he  bought  Blount's  farm,  Sawbridge- 
worth,  Hertfordshire,  which  he  cultivated  till 
June  1894. 

Prout  had  married,  about  1841 ,  Sopliia  (d. 


Prout 


424 


Prout 


1893),  niece  of  Colonel  Thomson  of  Aiken- 
shaw,  Toronto.  He  died  when  residing  with 
his  married  daughter  at  Wimbish  Vicarage, 
Saffron  Walden,  Essex,  on  7  Dec.  1894. 

To  Prout  is  due  the  credit  of  teaching  a 
practical  lesson  in  scientific  farming  by  his 
thirty-three  years'  successful  cultivation  of 
Blount's  farm,  and  his  experience  has  been 
of  great  value  to  agriculturists  in  this  and 
other  countries.  His  system  was  based  on 
his  Canadian  experience  and  his  study  of  Sir 
John  Lawes's  experimental  plots  at  Rotham- 
stead.  He  demonstrated  that  successive 
crops  of  cereals  could  be  raised  on  heavy 
clay-land  if  drained  well  and  deeply  ploughed, 
and  dressed  with  properly  prepared  chemical 
manures. 

In  1881  he  published  a  report  of  his 
methods,  entitled  '  Profitable  Clay  Farming 
iinder  a  just  System  of  Tenant  Right ; '  this 
was  translated  into  French  and  German. 

[Cable,  August  1893,  p.  313,  with  portrait; 
Times,  11  Dec.  1894;  Field,  15  Dec.  1894; 
Agricultural  Gazette,  10  Dec.  1894;  Herts  and 
Essex  Observer,  15  Dec.  1894  ;  information 
kindly  supplied  by  his  son,  "W.  A.  Prout.] 

B.  B.  W. 

PROUT,  JOHN  SKINNER  (1806-1876), 
watercolour  painter,  the  nephew  of  Samuel 
Prout  [q.  v.],  was  born  at  Plymouth  in  1806. 
He  was  chiefly  self-taught.  In  1838  he  pub- 
lished '  Antiquities  of  Chester '  and  '  Castles 
and  Abbeys  of  Monmouthshire.'  After  some 
time  spent  in  Australia  he  took  up  his  resi- 
dence in  Bristol,  and  associated  with  a  little 
coterie  of  Bristol  artists,  which  comprised 
Samuel  Jackson,  William  James  Muller, 
James  Baker  Pyne,  H.  Brittan  Willis,  George 
and  Alfred  Fripp,  and  others.  Some  of  his 
Bristol  drawings  were  republished  in  1893 
with  letterpress  description,  under  the  title, 
'  Picturesque  Antiquities  of  Bristol.'  Prout 
afterwards  came  to  London,  and  became  a 
member  of  the  Institute  of  Painters  inWater- 
colours,  and  a  constant  contributor  to  their 
exhibitions.  He  died  in  London  on  29  Aug. 
1876.  There  are  several  of  his  drawings  at 
the  South  Kensington  Museum. 

[Bryan's  Diet.  (Graves  and  Armstrong)  ; 
Roget's  '  Old  Watercolour  '  Society ;  Cat.  of 
"Watercolours  in  South  Kensington  Museum.] 

C.  M. 

PROUT,  SAMUEL  (1783-1852),  water- 
colour  painter,  was  born  at  Plymouth  on 
17  Sept.  1783.  When  about  four  or  five 
years  old  he  had  a  sunstroke,  which  had  last- 
ing consequences  on  his  health.  Always 
subject  to  violent  pains  in  the  head,  he  never 
passed  a  week  without  being  confined  to  his 
room  or  bed  for  one  or  two  days,  '  till  after 


thirty  years  of  marriage.'  At  his  first  school, 
and  afterwards  at  Plymouth  grammar  school, 
then  under  the  Rev.  J.  Bidlake,  he  found 
masters  who  encouraged  his  early  proclivities 
to  art,  and  at  the  latter  he  formed  acquaint- 
ance with  Benjamin  Robert  Haydon  [q.  v.], 
two  years  his  junior,  with  whom  he  witnessed 
the  wreck  of  the  Dutton,  a  large  East  India- 
man,  which  was  cast  ashore  under  the  citadel 
on  26  Jan.  1796.  Both  boys  were  greatly 
impressed  by  the  scene,  and  made  it  the  sub- 
ject of  their  first  pictures ;  and  the  effect  on 
Prout  is  to  be  traced  in  his  drawings  for  a 
great  many  years,  e.g.  '  Wreck  of  an  India- 
man  in  Plymouth  Sound  '  (1811);  'A  Man- 
of-war  ashore'  (1821);  '  An  Indiaman  dis- 
masted '  (1824).  When  in  the  reading-room 
kept  by  Haydon's  father,  he  became  acquainted 
with  John  Britton,  then  in  want  of  drawings 
to  illustrate  his  •'  Beauties  of  England  and 
Wales.'  Britton  took  him  for  a  walking  tour 
in  Cornwall ;  but  the  result  was  failure,  as 
his  sketches  were  not  good  enough  to  en- 
grave. They  parted  good  friends,  and  Prout 
took  lessons  in  perspective,  and  worked  so 
sedulously  that  a  portfolio  of  drawings  which 
lie  sent  to  Britton  in  1802  secured  him 
attention.  He  then  went  to  London,  and  in 

1803  he  exhibited,  at  the  Royal  Academy,  a 
drawing  of '  Bennet's  Cottage  on  the  Tamar.' 
His  address  is  given  in  the  '  Catalogue '  as 
10  Water  Street,  Bridewell  Precinct ;  but 
the  next  year  it  is  changed  to  21  Wilderness 
Row,  Goswell  Street,  where  he  lived  with 
Britton  for  about  two  years,  and  was  em- 
ployed in   making  copies   of  drawings   by 
Cozens,  Turner,  Girtin,  and   others  of  the 
best  draughtsmen.    During  this  time  he  also 
made  drawings   in  Cambridgeshire,  Essex, 
and  Wiltshire,  some  of  which  were  engraved 
in  l Beauties  of  England  and  Wales'  and 
others  in  'Architectural  Antiquities,'  and  in 

1804  he  formed  an  intimacy  with  David  Cox 
(1783-1859)  [q.  v.]     He  exhibited  scenes  in 
Cornwall,  Devonshire,  Somerset,  and  Wilt- 
shire in  1804  and  1805;   but  in  the  latter 
year  he  was  obliged  to  return  to  Devonshire 
on  account  of  ill-health.     He  still  contri- 
buted to  the '  Beauties '  and  other  topographi- 
cal works,  and  sold   his  drawings  through 
Palser  of  Westminster  Bridge  Road.    Palser 
paid  him  5s.  a  drawing,  and  he  sold  others  at 
prices  varying  from  3s.  a  piece  to  51.  a  dozen. 
He  did  not  exhibit  again  till  1808,  when  he 
was  residing  at  35  Poland  Street.     In  this 
and  the  two  following   years  he  sent  four 
drawings  in  Devonshire  and  Cornwall  to  the 
Royal  Academy.   In  1810  he  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Associated  Artists  (or  Painters)  in 
Water-colour,  and  in  1811,  and  for  many 
years  afterwards,  his  address  was  4  Brixton 


Prout 


425 


Prout 


Place,  Stockwell.  He  exhibited  at  the  Asso- 
ciated Artists  in  1810-12,  the  Society  of 
Painters  in  Water-colours  in  1811-12,  the 
Royal  Academy  in  1812-14,  at  the  Bond 
Street  exhibitions  in  1814-15,  and  at  the 
Society  of  Painters  in  Oil  and  Water-colours 
in  1815-20.  His  drawings  of  this  period 
show  that  he  had  been  as  far  south  as  the 
Isle  of  Wight,  and  to  the  north  as  far  as 
Durham,  Jedburgh,  and  Kelso.  He  added 
to  his  income  by  giving  drawing  lessons,  and 
by  circulating  designs  as  'copies  for  be- 
ginners.' 

Besides  the  engravings  from  his  drawings 
which  appeared  in  the  '  Beauties  of  England 
and  Wales'  (23  plates,  1803-13),  the  <  Anti- 
quarian Topographical  Cabinet,'  '  Relics  of 
Antiquity'  (W.  Clarke  of  New  Bond  Street, 
1810-11),  and  other  works  of  the  kind,  a 
series  of  educational  books  was  published 
by  R.  Ackermann,  101  Strand,  with  designs 
etched  on  soft  ground  or  in  aquatint  by 
Prout.  Among  these  were  '  Rudiments  of 
Landscape,  with  Progressive  Studies,'  1813; 
'  Prout's  Village  Scenery,'  1813,  plates 
coloured ;  '  A  New  Drawing-book  for  the 
Use  of  Beginners ; '  '  Studies  of  Boats  and 
Coast  Scenery ; '  '  A  Series  of  Easy  Lessons 
in  Landscape-drawing,'  1820;  'A  New  Draw- 
ing-book in  the  Manner  of  Chalk,'  1821;  'A 
Series  of  Views  of  Rural  Cottages  in  the 
North  of  England/  1821.  Ackermann  also 
published  a  number  of  detached  etchings  by 
Prout  of  marine,  architectural,  and  rural 
subjects,  mostly  boat  studies,  and  a  number 
of  drawing  and  model  books  too  numerous 
to  mention.  The  '  Rudiments'  (1813)  and 
the  'Series  of  Easy  Lessons'  (1820)  also  con- 
tained some  pages  of  sound  and  simple  in- 
struction to  students.  The  plates  of  the 
latter  showed  the  process  from  chalk  to 
finished  colours. 

Down  to  this  time  Prout  had  made  no 
special  mark  as  an  artist,  and  his  subjects 
had  been  mainly  confined  to  simple  shore 
and  rustic  scenes ;  but  in  1818  or  1819  he 
paid  his  first  visit  to  the  continent,  which 
had  for  many  years  been  closed  to  artists  by 
the  wars.  He  went  from  Havre  to  Rouen, 
and  brought  back  sketches  of  the  old  pic- 
turesque architecture  of  Normandy,  some  of 
which  were  utilised  for  his  contributions  to 
the  Water-colour  Society's  exhibition  in 
1819.  He  had  now  found  his  true  vocation. 
In  those  old  streets  of  gabled  houses,  paved 
with  cobble  stones,  in  the  market-places 
crowded  with  quaint  costumes,  in  cathedral 
and  church  with  crumbled  masonry  and 
time-worn  sculpture,  he  found  an  inex- 
haustible field  of  the  picturesque.  Though 
he  was  not  the  first  to  discover  it,  for  Henry 


Edridge  [q.  v.]  had  been  before  him,  he  soon 
made  it  his  own.  His  broad  and  effective 
treatment  of  light  and  shade,  his  broken 
touch  with  chalk  or  reed-pen,  so  valuable  in 
suggesting  atmosphere  and  rendering  the 
picturesqueness  of  decay,  helped  greatly  to 
his  success.  He  had  also  a  fine  sense  of 
scale,  which  enabled  him  to  give  the  true 
value  to  the  bulk  and  height  of  the  buildings 
he  drew.  Neither  as  a  draughtsman  nor  as  a 
colourist  did  he  belong  to  the  first  rank,  but 
he  drew  surely  and  effectively,  and  he  was 
skilful  in  the  arrangement  of  his  tints  and  in 
enlivening  the  general  tone  with  sparkling 
touches  of  local  colour.  It  was  a  maxim 
with  him  that  an  artist  painted  in  colour, 
but  thought  in  chiaroscuro.  His  figures  in- 
dividually were  poor,  but  he  knew  how  to 
group  them  naturally  and  to  introduce  them 
with  effect.  They  admirably  perform  their 
function  of  aiding  the  composition  and  filling 
it  with  life,  and  no  one  has  preserved  for  us 
so  fully  the  aspect  of  continental  streets  in 
the  early  part  of  the  century  before  modem 
architecture  and  modern  costume  had  seri- 
ously impaired  their  picturesque  charm.  The 
withdrawal  of  members  from  the  old  society 
in  1820,  when  they  again  decided  to  exclude 
oil  pictures  from  their  exhibitions,  would 
have  been  still  more  serious  than  it  was  but 
for  the  efforts  of  a  few  men,  of  whom  Prout 
was  one.  In  1821  Prout  showed  nineteen 
drawings,  and  in  1822  half  the  collection  was 
supplied  by  four  artists — Prout,  Fielding, 
Robson,  and  Barrett.  This  and  next  year 
his  drawings  showed  that  he  had  been  to 
Belgium  and  the  Rhenish  Provinces,  and  in 
1824  he  exhibited  some  large  and  boldly 
sketched  scenes  in  Bavaria.  Except  that  he 
in  1824  included  Italy  in  his  wanderings, 
there  is  little  to  add  to  the  history  of  this 
artistic  progress.  He  remained  till  his  death 
the  most  popular  painter  of  continental 
streets,  and  one  of  the  most  important  mem- 
bers of  the  Water-colour  Society.  To  its 
exhibitions  (1815-32)  he  contributed  547 
works  in  all — thirty-six  as  an  exhibitor, 
and  511  as  a  member. 

In  1835  Prout  moved  from  Brixton  Place 
to  2  Bedford  Place,  Clapham  Rise  ;  but  in 
the  following  year  he  had  a  pulmonary  at- 
tack, and  went  to  Hastings,  where  he  resided 
for  several  years,  in  a  depressed  state  of 
health  and  spirits,  mourning  his  absence 
from  '  dearest  and  sweetest  London.'  From 
1840  he  was  well  enough  to  go  to  town  in 
the  summer,  when  he  took  up  his  quarters 
at  39  Torrington  Square.  At  the  end  of  1845 
he  came  to  5  De  Crespigny  Terrace,  Denmark 
H  ill,  Camberwell,where  he  lived  till  his  death . 
He  was  now  a  near  neighbour  of  his  friend, 


Prout 


426 


Prout 


Mr.  John  Ruskin,  who  has  written  of  him 
and  his  works  with  intimate  sympathy  and 
inimitable  charm.  Even  now,  notwithstand- 
ing his  reputation,  he  had  to  work  hard  for 
his  living.  His  prices  were  one,  three,  or  six 
guineas,  according  to  the  size  of  the  drawing ; 
and  when,  five  years  later,  he  raised  his  prices 
(apparently  for  the  second  time),  on  the  plea 
that  his  health  restricted  his  production,  it 
was  only  from  three  and  a  half  to  four 
guineas,  and  to  ten  for  the  larger  size.  Some 
of  these  have  since  sold  at  prices  ranging  from 
five  hundred  to  a  thousand  guineas.  His  last 
visit  to  Normandy  was  in  1846,  and  he  re- 
turned from  this  in  such  a  shattered  state  of 
health  that  he  was  obliged  to  withdraw  from 
all  society  but  that  of  his  intimate  friends. 
His  cheerfulness  and  his  industry  were,  how- 
ever, indomitable.  Though  unable  to  begin 
work  before  the  middle  of  the  day,  he  would 
continue  it  till  late  in  the  night.  In  1852  he 
was  seized  with  apoplexy,  and  he  died  at 
Camberwell  on  9  or  10  Feb.  1852. 

A  great  many  of  the  drawings  of  his  con- 
tinental period  were  lithographed  and  pub- 
lished in  volumes.  Among  these  were  '  Fac- 
similes of  Sketches  made  in  France  and 
Germany,'  1833  ;  '  Interiors  and  Exteriors,' 
1834;  'Sketches  in  France,  Switzerland, and 
Italy,'  1839;  and  'Sketches  at  Home  and 
Abroad,'  1844.  He  also  published  '  Bits  for 
Beginners  ; '  '  Hints  on  Light  and  Shade, 
Composition,  &c.,'  1838,  republished  1848: 
'  Prout's  Microcosm  ; '  and  an  '  Elementary 
Drawing-book.'  Engravings  from  his  draw- 
ings are  scattered  in  Pye's  pocket-book  series, 
the  *  Landscape  Annual,'  '  Continental  An- 
nual'(1832),' Forget-me-Not'  (1826-34  and 
1836-8),  '  Keepsake  '  (1830-2),  '  Fisher's 
Drawing-room  Scrap-book '  (1832-4),  and 
other  publications. 

[Roget's  'Old'  Water-colour  Society;  Ens- 
kin's  Notes  on  Prout  and  Hunt ;  Art  Journal, 
March  1849  (Ruskin) ;  Mrs.  Hall's  Retrospect  of 
a  Long  Life;  Athenaeum,  14  Feb.  1852  ;  Acker- 
mann's  Repository  ;  Somerset  House  Gazette,  ii. 
47-8  ;  Mag.  of  Fine  Arts,  i.  121-2  ;  Monkhouse's 
Earlier  English  Water-colour  Painters  ;  Red- 
grave's Diet.  ;  Bryan's  Diet.  (Graves  and  Arm- 
strong).] C.  M. 

PROUT,  WILLIAM  (1785-1850),  phy- 
sician and  chemist,  was  born  on  15  Jan.  1785 
at  Horton,  Gloucestershire,  where  his  family 
had  been  settled  on  their  own  property  for 
some  generations.  His  early  education  was 
neglected,  but  he  graduated  M.D.  at  Edin- 
burgh on  24  June  1811  with  a  thesis  on  in- 
termittent fevers.  He  was  admitted  L.R.C.P. 
on  22  Dec.  1812,  and  settled  in  London.  He 
had  devoted  himself  from  an  early  age  to 
chemistry,  and  in  1813  delivered  a  course  of 


lectures  on  this  subject  at  his  house  in  Lon- 
don to  a  small  audience,  which  included  Sir 
Astley  Paston  Cooper  [q.  v.]  Of  physio- 
logical chemistry  he  was  one  of  the  pioneers, 
and  began  in  1813  to  publish  investigations 
in  this  subject.  In  1815,  in  an  anonymous 
memoir  on  the '  Relation  between  the  Specific 
Gravities  of  Bodies  in  their  Gaseous  State 
and  the  Weights  of  their  Atoms,'  Prout 
pointed  out  that  there  were  grounds  for  be- 
lieving that  the  atomic  weights  of  all  the  ele- 
ments are  exact  multiples  of  either  the  atomic 
weight  of  hydrogen  or  half  that  of  hydro- 
gen ;  and  revived  the  view  that  hydrogen 
corresponds  to  the  Trpcorr;  vXr/  of  the  ancients 
(THOMSON,  Annals  of  Philosophy,  1815  vi. 
321,  1816  vii.  111).  He  supported  his  view 
by  the  publication  of  a  few  not  particularly 
satisfactory  experiments ;  but  he  made  many 
others.  In  1831  he  suggested  that  hydrogen 
itself  may  be  formed  from  '  some  body  lower 
in  the  scale  '  (Letter  quoted  in  DAUBENY'S 
Atomic  Theory,  2nd  edit.  p.  471).  The  view 
with  regard  to  the  atomic  weights  is  known  as 
Prout's  'hypothesis'  or  'law.' 

In  181  o  Prout  discovered  that  the  excre- 
ment of  the  boa-constrictor  contains  90  per 
cent,  of  uric  acid,  a  fact  of  considerable 
physiological  importance,  and  in  1818  he 
prepared  pure  urea  for  the  first  time  (THOM- 
SON, Annals,  x.  352).  On  11  March  1819 
Prout  was  elected  F.R.J3.  on  the  proposition 
of  Alexander  Marcet,  William  Hyde  Wollas- 
ton  [q.  v.],  and  others.  In  1820  he  wrote 
that  he  had  analysed  '  almost  every  distinct 
and  well-defined  substance 'to  be  found  in 
organised  bodies.  In  1821  he  published  his 
'  Inquiry  into  * .  'Gravel,  Calculus,  dnd  other 
Diseases  of  the  Urinary  Organs,'  which  he 
recast  in  a  third  edition  in  1840,  under  the 
title  'On  ...  Stomach  and  Urinary  Diseases ; ' 
this  was  republished  in  1843  and  1848.  The 
treatise,  which  is  of  value,  is  practical,  and 
contains  little  speculation  (DA.TJBENY).  On 
23  Dec.  1823  he  announced  his  classical  dis- 
covery of  the  existence  in  the  stomach  of  free 
hydrochloric  acid,  a  most  important  factor 
in  digestion.  Of  his  scientific  papers,  which 
mostly  deal  with  the  chemistry  of  the  blood 
and  the  urine,  the  last  appeared  in  1829, 
and  he  henceforward  devoted  himself  chiefly 
to  medical  work  and  practice.  On  28  June 
1829  he  was  admitted  F.R.C.P.  { In  1831  he 
delivered  a  course  of  Gulstonian  lectures  on 
the  'Application  of  Chemistry  to  Physiology, 
Pathology,  and  Practice,'  which  were  re- 
ported in  the  'London  Medical  Gazette,' 
and  led  to  a  heated  controversy  in  the  same 
journal  (vols.  viii.  and  ix.)  with  Dr.  Alex- 
ander Philip  Wilson  Philip  [q.  v.]  (MuNK). 
In  1834  Prout  published  as  a  Bridgewater 


Prowse 


427 


Prowse 


treatise  his  l  Chemistry,  Meteorology,  and 
the  Function  of  Digestion  considered  with 
reference  to  Natural  Theology'  (2nd  edit. 
1834  ;  3rd  edit.  1845).  The  book  has  little 
value  from  either  a  scientific  or  a  theological 
point  of  view.  Prout  died  on  9  April  1850, 
in  Sackville  Street,  Piccadilly,  and  was 
buried  at  Kensal  Green. 

Some  years  before  his  death  he  became 
deaf,  and  abandoned  society.  A  good  por- 
trait of  him  by  Hayes  and  a  miniature  (of 
which  a  copy  was  made  by  Henry  Phillips, 
jun.,  for  the  Eoyal  College  of  Physicians) 
are  in  the  possession  of  his  family. 

While  Prout's  work  in  physiological  che- 
mistry and  medicine  is  notable,  it  is  as  the 
inventor  of  '  Prout's  hypothesis,'  which  has 
up  till  now  remained  a  subject  of  discussion 
among  chemists,  that  he  is  chiefly  remem- 
bered. It  was  welcomed  and  supported  by 
Thomas  Thomson,  M.D.  (1773-1852)  [q.  v.J, 
but  rejected  by  Berzelius,  though  not  with- 
out hesitation ;  by  Edward  Turner  (1796- 
1837)  [q.  v.]  ;  and  by  Frederick  Penny.  Ee- 
vived  again  by  Dumas  and  Stas  in  1839  and 
1840,  and  supported  by  Marignac,  it  was 
thought  at  one  time  to  be  finally  overthrown 
by  the  redetermination  of  atomic  weights  by 
Stas,  which  was  undertaken  to  test  its  validity 
between  1860  and  1865.  Recently,  however, 
it  has  again  been  brought  forward  by  com- 
petent chemists,  but  its  validity  is  still  un- 
determined (MENDELEEF,  Principles  of  Che- 
mistry, ii.  406).  It  has  proved  a  powerful 
stimulus  to  the  exact  experimental  inves- 
tigation of  atomic  weights. 

The  Eoyal  Society's  catalogue  enumerates 
thirty-four  papers  by  Prout. 

[Besides  the  sources  mentioned,  Prout's  own 
papers;  Munk's  Coll.  of  Phys.  iii.  110,  400; 
Gent.  Mag.  1850,  ii.  442;  Sketch  of  the  Philo- 
sophical Character  of  Prout  in  Daubeny's  Mis- 
cellanies, ii.  123  ;  Archives  of  the  Eoyal  So- 
ciety; Thomson's  Annals  of  Philosophy,  1816, 
vii.  17  ;  Daubeny's  Atomic  Theory,  1st  edit.  p. 
62,  2nd  edit.  p.  49  ;  (Euvres  Completes  de  J.  S. 
Stas,  Pref.  pp.  308,  419  and  passim;  Liebig's 
Organic  Chemistry  of  Physiology  and  Patho- 
logy, 1842,  pp.  112,  139;  Kopp's  Gesch.  der 
Chemie,  ii.  392 ;  Becker's  Atomic  Weight  Deter- 
minations, 1880,  pp.  139  et  seq.,  and  Clarke's 
Eecalculation  of  the  Atomic  Weights,  1882,  pp. 
261  et  seq.,  both  in  the  Smithsonian  Collection  ; 
Mendeleef  in  Trans.  Chem  Soc.  1889,  p.  643  ; 
Turner  in  Phil.  Trans.  1833,  pp.  523  et  seq.; 
Penny  in  Phil.  Trans.  1839,  pp.  13  et  seq.] 

P.  J.  H. 

PROWSE,  WILLIAM  (1762P-1826), 
rear-admiral,  born  in  Devonshire,  the  son 
of  parents  in  a  humble  station,  was  pro- 
bably bred  from  boyhood  on  board  a  trading 


vessel.  From  November  1771  to  February 
1776  he  was  an  able  seaman  on  board  the 
Dublin,  guardship  in  Hamoaze  ;  and  from 
November  1776  to  August  1778,  on  board 
the  Albion,  one  of  the  ships  which  sailed 
for  North  America  in  June  1778,  under  the 
command  of  Vice-admiral  John  Byron  [q.  v.l 
Early  in  1778  Captain  George  Bowyer  [q.  v.] 
was  appointed  to  the  Albion,  and  on  31  Aug. 
he  rated  Prowse  as  a  midshipman,  in  which 
capacity,  or  later  as  master's  mate,  he  was 
present  at  the  actions  off  Grenada  on  6  July 
1779,  and  near  Martinique  on  17  April, 
15  and  19  May  1781  [see  EODNEY,  GEOEGE 
BEYDGES,  LORD].  He  was  paid  off  from 
the  Albion  on  21  Dec.  1781 ;  on  17  Jan.  1782 
he  passed  his  examination,  being  described 
in  his  certificate  as  '  more  than  twenty- 
seven;'  he  was  quite  three  years  more.  He 
afterwards  served  in  the  Atlas  and  Cyclops, 
and  on  6  Dec.  1782  was  promoted  to  the  rank 
of  lieutenant.  He  continued  in  the  Cyclops 
on  the  coast  of  North  America  till  March 
1784,  after  which,  for  several  years,  his  ser- 
vice was  intermittent,  much  of  the  time 
being  probably  spent  in  command  of  mer- 
chant shipSo  During  the  armament  of  1787 
he  was  for  a  couple  of  months  in  the  Bellona 
with  Bowyer,  and  in  1790  in  the  Barfleur 
and  Stately  with  Captain  (afterwards  Sir 
Eobert)  Calder  [q.  v.J  From  August  1791 
to  January  1793  he  was  in  the  Duke,  carry- 
ing the  flag  of  Lord  Hood  at  Portsmouth ; 
in  March  1793  he  joined  the  Prince  with 
Bowyer,  now  a  vice-admiral,  and  Captain 
Cuthbert  (afterwards  Lord)  Collingwood 
[q.  v.],  whom  in  December  he  followed  to 
the  Barfleur,  and  with  them  took  part  in 
the  action  of  1  June  1794.  From  July  1794 
to  October  1795  he  was  with  Calder  in  the 
Theseus,  and  went  out  to  the  Mediterranean 
with  him  in  the  Lively.  From  her  he  joined 
the  Victory,  carrying  the  flag  of  Sir  John  Jer- 
vis  (afterwards  Earl  of  St.  Vincent)  [q.  v.], 
with  whom  Calder  was  captain  of  the  fleet. 
On  20  Oct.  1796  Prowse  was  promoted  to  the 
command  of  the  Eaven,  in  which  he  was 
present  in  the  action  off  Cape  St.  Vincent 
on  14  Feb.  1797.  On  6  March  he  was  posted 
by  Jervis  to  the  command  of  the  Salvador 
del  Mundo,  one  of  the  prizes,  which  he  paid 
off  in  the  following  November. 

From  August  1800  to  April  1802  he  was 
flag-captain  to  Calder  in  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  and  in  August  1802  commissioned 
the  Sirius  frigate,  for  the  next  three  years 
attached  to  the  fleet  off  Brest  and  in  the 
Bay  of  Biscay,  and  especially  during  1804 
and  1805  with  Calder  off  Eochefort  and 
Ferrol.  In  the  action  off  Cape  Finisterre 
on  22  July  1805,  the  Sirius  had  more  than 


Prowse 


428 


Prujean 


a  frigate's  share,  with  the  loss  of  two  killed  | 
and  three  wounded.  She  afterwards,  with  ' 
Calder,  joined  the  fleet  oft'  Cadiz,  and,  re- 
maining there  on  Calder's  return  to  Eng- 
land, was  present  at  the  battle  of  Trafalgar. 
The  Sirius  continued  in  the  Mediterranean 
under  Collingwood's  command,  and  on 
17  April  1806  attacked  a  flotilla  of  French 
armed  vessels  near  Civita  Vecchia,  captur- 
ing the  corvette  Bergere,  after  a  resistance 
which  enabled  the  smaller  vessels  to  escape 
and  inflicted  on  the  Sirius  a  loss  of  nine 
killed  and  twenty  wounded  (JAMES,  Naval 
History ',  iv.  142).  For  his  conduct  on  this 
occasion  the  Patriotic  Fund  voted  Prowse 
a  sword  of  the  value  of  100/.  The  Sirius 
was  paid  off  in  May  1808;  and  from  March 
1810  to  December  1813  Prowse  commanded 
the  Theseus  in  the  North  Sea.  He  had  no 
further  service  afloat;  but  on  4  June  1815 
was  nominated  a  O.B. ;  was  made  colonel  of  [ 
marines  on  12  Aug.  1819 ;  rear-admiral  on 
19  July  1821,  and  died  on  23  March  1826, 
aged  74  (Gent.  Mag.  1826,  i.  46). 

[Ralfe'sNav.  Biogr.  iv.  112;  Marshall's  Roy. 
Nav.  Biogr.  ii.  (vol.  i.  pt.  ii.)  779;  Service-book 
in  the  Public  Record  Office.]  J.  K.  L. 

PROWSE,      WILLIAM      JEFFERY 

(1836-1870),  humourist,  born  at  Torquay  on 
6  May  1836,  was  the  son  of  Isaac  Prowse, 
by  his  wife  Marianne  Jeffery,  a  lady  who  had 
known  Keats  and  published  a  volume  of 
poems.  On  the  death  of  his  father  in  1844, 
William  was  taken  charge  of  by  an  uncle, 
John  Sparke  Prowse,  a  notary  public  and 
shipbroker,  of  Greenwich.  At  Greenwich  he 
attended  the  school  of  N.  Wanostrocht  [q.  v.], 
a  well-known  writer  on  cricket  under  the 
pseudonym  of  Felix,  who  inspired  Prowse 
with  his  own  enthusiasm  for  the  game. 
Prowse  was  from  youth  deeply  interested  in 
all  forms  of  sport  and  was  devoted  to  the  sea. 
Before  he  was  twenty  he  developed  a  re- 
markable talent  for  humorous  verse,  and  soon 
drifted  into  the  profession  of  journalism. 
About  1856  he  obtained  an  engagement  on 
the  'Aylesbury  News,'  and  in  subsequent 
years  contributed  tales,  descriptive  articles, 
or  verses  to '  Chambers's  Journal/  the '  Lady's 
Companion/  the  l  National  Magazine/  and 
the  '  Porcupine.'  In  1861  he  was  appointed 
a  leader-writer  on  the  '  Daily  Telegraph/ 
and  in  that  capacity  mainly  occupied  him- 
self with  sporting  topics.  When  in  1865, 
his  friend,  Tom  Hood  the  younger,  be- 
came editor  of  *  Fun/  Prowse  contributed 
each  week,  under  the  signature  of  '  Nicho- 
las/ a  rambling  article  on  horse -racing, 
into  which  he  introduced  much  good- 
humoured  satire  on  other  subjects.  In  1865 


his  health  began  to  fail,  consumption  de- 
clared itself,  and  after  passing  the  winters  of 
1867, 1868,  and  1869  at  Cimiez,  near  Nice,  he 
died  there  on  Easter  Sunday  1870 ;  he  was 
buried  in  the  protestant  cemetery. 

As  a  verse-writer  Prowse  had  much  of 
the  wit  and  facility  of  Praed.  His  parodies 
were  exceptionally  successful,  one  of  the  best 
dealing  with  Coleridge's  '  Ancient  Mariner.' 
The  references  to  his  declining  health  in 
his  latest  efforts  lend  them  a  genuine  pathos, 
which  is  well  illustrated  in  his  '  My  lost  old 
Age,  by  a  young  Invalid '  (written  in  1865 
and  reprinted  in  Locker's  'Lyra  Elegan- 
tiarum.')  His  best  comic  piece  was  the  ( City 
of  Prague/  a  vindication  of  bohemianism, 
with  an  attractively  rhymed  refrain. 

Prowse  was  one  of  the  six  authors  of 
'  England's  Workshops/  1864,  and  contri- 
buted stories  to  '  A  Bunch  of  Keys/  1865, 
and  'Rates  and  Taxes/  1866  (Christmas 
volumes  edited  by  Tom  Hood).  His  contri- 
butions to  '  Fun '  were  collected  in  1870  as 
'  Nicholas's  Notes  and  Sporting  Prophecies, 
with  some  miscellaneous  poems.'  A  portrait 
and  a  memoir  by  Hood  are  prefixed. 

[Memoir  prefixed  to  Nicholas's  Notes,  1870; 
Prowse's  writings.]  S.  L. 

PRUJEAN", SiEFRANCIS,M.D.  (1593- 
1666),  physician,  whose  name  was  often 
spelt  Pridgeon,  son  of  Francis  Prujean,  rector 
of  Boothby,  Lincolnshire,  was  born  at  Bury 
St.  Edmunds  in  1593,  and  educated  by  his 
father.  He  entered  as  a  sizar  at  Caius  College, 
Cambridge,  on  23  March  1610,  and  graduated 
M.B.  in  1617,  and  M.D.  in  1625.  He  became 
a  licentiate  of  the  College  of  Physicians  of 
London  on  22  Dec.  1621,  and  was  elected  a 
fellow  in  1626.  He  practised  in  Lincolnshire 
till  1638,  and  then  settled  in  London.  In 
1639  he  was  elected  a  censor  at  the  College 
of  Physicians,  and  again  from  1642  to  1647. 
He  was  registrar  from  1641  to  1647,  and  pre- 
sident from  1650  to  1654,  in  the  last  of  which 
years  he  was  chosen,  on  the  special  recom- 
mendation of  William  Harvey,  M.D.  [q.  v.], 
who  declined  the  office.  He  was  treasurer 
from  1655  to  1663.  He  had  a  large  practice, 
and  was  knighted  by  Charles  II  on  1  April 
1661.  When  Queen  Catherine  had  typhus 
fever  in  October  1663,  he  attended  her,  and 
her  recovery  was  attributed  to  a  cordial  pre- 
scribed by  him  (PEPYS,  Diary}.  Evelyn  de- 
scribes (ib.  9  Aug.  1661)  his  laboratory  and 
collection  of  pictures,  and  mentions  that  he 
played  on  the  polythore.  He  was  married 
twice :  first  to  Margaret  Leggatt  (d.  1661) ,  and 
secondly,  on  13  Feb.  1664,  to  Margaret^  the 
widow  of  Sir  Thomas  Fleming,  and  daughter 
of  Edward,  lord  Gorges.  By  his  first  wife 


Pryce 


429 


Prydydd 


he  had  an  only  son,  Thomas  Prujean,  who 
graduated  M.D.  at  Cambridge  in  1649.  He 
died  on  23  June  1666,  and  was  buried  at 
Hornchurch,  Essex.  Dr.  Baldwin  Hamey 
the  younger  [q.  v.]  composed  a  Latin  epitaph 
for  him,  in  obedience  to  a  clause  in  his  will. 


His  portrait  was  painted  by  Streater,  and  is 
in  the  College  of  Physicians,  having  been 
purchased  by  that  society  in  1873  from  Miss 
Prujean,  his  last  surviving  descendant.  He 
lived  by  the  Old  Bailey,  and  the  place  of  his 
residence  was  named  after  him  Prujean 
Square  (Notes  and  Queries,  8th  ser.  vol.  v. 
passim). 

[Hunk's  Coll.  of  Phys.  i.  185  ;  Pepys's  Diary, 
ed.  Braybrooke,  vol.  ii.  6th  edit. ;  Chester's 
"Westminster  Abbey  Reg.]  N.  M. 

PRYCE.  [See  also  PRICE,  PRYS,  and 
PRYSE.] 

PRYCE,  GEORGE  (1801-1868),  historian 
of  Bristol,  born  in  1801,  was  for  the  most 
part  self-educated.  He  was  at  first  engaged 
in  a  school,  but  subsequently  became  an  ac- 
countant at  Bristol.  He  devoted  his  leisure 
to  the  study  of  archaeology,  and  was  regarded 
as  an  authority  on  the  early  history  of  Bris- 
tol. In  April  1856  he  obtained  the  city 
librarianship  there.  It  was  chiefly  through 
his  exertions  that  the  valuable  collection 
of  local  literature  in  the  library  was  brought 
together.  He  died  on  15  March  1868.  His 
portrait  hangs  in  the  reference  room  of  the 
Free  Library  at  Bristol. 

Pryce  was  elected  fellow  of  the  Society  of 
Antiquaries  on  30  April  1857.  To  <  Archeeo- 
logia'  (xxxv.  279)  he  contributed  a  paper 
'  On  the  Church  of  St.  Mary  Redcliffe,  Bristol 
His  chief  work,  entitled  '  Popular  History 
of  Bristol,'  8vo,  Bristol,  1861,  is  marred  by 
many  absurd  theories.  Besides  articles  in 
local  papers,  he  also  wrote:  1.  'Notes  on 
the  Ecclesiastical  and  Monumental  Archi- 
tecture and  Sculpture  of  the  Middle  Ages  in 
Bristol,'  8vo,  London,  1850.  2.  'Memorials 
of  the  Canynges'  Family  and  their  Times, 
with  inedited  Memoranda  relating  to  Chat- 
terton,'  large  8vo,  Bristol,  1854.  3.  '  West- 
bury  College,  Redcliffe  Church,  and  Chat- 
terton,'  undated,  but  published  between  1854 
and  1858.  4.  'Fact  versus  Fiction:  a  De- 
scent among  Writers  on  Bristol  History  and 
Biography,'  12mo,  Bristol,  1858. 

[Information  from  E.  R.Norris  Mathews,  esq., 
city  librarian,  Bristol ;  Daily  Bristol  Times, 
18  March  1868;  Bristol  Daily  Post,  17  March 
1868  ;  Bristol  Mercury,  21  March  1868.]  G.  G. 

PRYCE,  WILLIAM  (1725  P-1790),  an- 
tiquary, born  about  1725,  was  said  to  be  de- 
scended from  Sir  John  Pryce  of  Newtown 
Hall,  Montgomeryshire,  who  was  created  a 


baronet  in  1638,  and  whose  family  in  direct 
ine  and  title  became  extinct  in  1791.  He 
prided  himself  on  kinship  with  the  Cornish 
amily  of  Borlase.  His  father  was  Dr.  Samuel 
Pryce  of  Redruth  in  Cornwall.  Philip  Web- 

of  Falmouth  was  '  the  indulgent  father 
and  protector  of  his  orphan  state  during  a 
long  minority.'  He  claims  to  have '  dissected 
under  the  instructions  of  the  accurate  Dr. 
Hunter'  (Mineralogia  Cornub.  p.  57),  and 
from  about  1750  he  practised  as  a  surgeon 
and  apothecary  at  Redruth.  He  owned  '  a 
small  part '  in  the  copper  mine  of  Dolcoath 
in  Cornwall.  For  ten  years  he  was  similarly 
interested  in  the  adjoining  mine  of  Ped- 
nandrea,  which  was  worked  for  both  tin  and 
copper  (ib.  p.  130).  Soon  after  the  publica- 
tion of  his  volume  on  mineralogy  he '  became 
M.D.  by  diploma'  (POLWHELE,  Cornwall,  v. 
119-21),  and  on  26  June  1783  he  was  elected 
F.S.  A.  He  was  buried  at  Redruth  on  20  Dec. 
1790.  His  portrait,  a  very  good  likeness,  was 
painted  by  Clifford  and  engraved  by  Basire ; 
a  print  is  prefixed  to  the  '  Mineralogia  Cornu- 
biensis.'  He  married  Miss  Mitchell  of  Red- 
ruth, and  left  two  sons,  William  Pryce  and 
Samuel  Vincent  Pryce,  both  of  whom  were 
surgeons  at  Redruth. 

Pryce  published  his  chief  work,  the 
'  Mineralogia  Cornubiensis,'  in  1778.  It 
was  the  result  of  careful  study  of  the  mining 
world  of  Cornwall,  and  is  still  of  value,  both 
for  historical  purposes  and  for  practical 
mining. 

Pryce's  second  volume,  the  '  Archaeologia 
Cornii-Britannica,'  was  published  in  1790. 
The  value  of  the  work  depended  mainly  on 
the  vocabulary  of  sixty-four  leaves  and  the 
Cornish  grammar.  Much  of  the  matter  was 
taken  wholesale  from  the  collections  of 
Thomas  Tonkin  and  William  Gwavas;  and 
Prince  L.  L.  Bonaparte,  who  owned  the 
original  manuscript,  accused  Pryce  of  having 
disingenuously  published  the  treatise  as  his- 
own.  But  the  preface  records  Pryce's  obli- 
gations to  both  of  these  antiquaries. 

[Boase  and  Courtney's  Bibl.  Cornub.  i.  20, 
136,  ii.  535-6,  758;  Polwhele's  Cornwall,  v. 
119121  ;  Boase's  Collect.  Cornub.  pp.  770,  1342  ;. 
Kenwood's  Address  to  Royal  Instit.  Cornwall, 
18  May  1869,  p.  10;  Medical  Re<?.  1779,  pp. 
68-9  '  Letter  from  Pryce  to  Emanuel  Da  Costa. 
(Brit  Mus.  Addit.  MS.  28541)  in  the  Western 
Antiquary  (iv.  192).]  W.  P.  C. 

PRYDYDD  BYCHAN,  Y  (i.e.  'The 
Little  Poet')  (1200-1270?),  Welsh  bard  was 
of  Deheubarth,  i.e.  South  Wales.  The  title 
under  which  his  poems  have  been  handed 
down  is  a  bardic  nickname,  and  his  rea 
name  and  parentage  are  unknown.  Twenty- 


Prydydd 


430 


Pryme 


one  of  his  compositions  are  printed  in  the 
'  My vyrian  Archaiology '  (2nd  edit.  pp.  259- 
266),  among  them  being  verses  to  Rhys 
leuanc  ap  Gruffydd  (d.  1220),  to  Rhys  Gryg 
(d.  1234),  to  Morgan  ap  Rhys  (d.  1251), 
and  to  Maredudd  ab  Owain  (d.  1265),  all 
members  of  the  princely  family  of  South 
Wales.  He  also  sang  to  Owain  Goch, 
brother  of  Lly welyn  ab  lorwerth  and  prince 
of  part  of  North  Wales  from  1246  to  1255. 
The  most  marked  characteristic  of  the  '  Little 
Poet's '  verse  is  his  fondness  for  assonance. 

[Myvyrian  Archaiology ;  Stephens's  Litera- 
ture of  the  Kymry.  ]  J.  E.  L. 

'  PRYDYDD  Y  MOCH  (/.  1160-1220), 
Welsh  bard.  [See  LLYWAKCH  AB  LLYW- 

ELYN.] 

PRYME,  ABRAHAM  DE  LA  (1672- 
1704),  antiquary,  descendant  of  a  Huguenot 
family  which  migrated  from  Ypres  in  Flan- 
ders in  1628-9,  and  lost  much  money  in 
draining  the  great  fens  in  the  levels  of  Hat- 
field  Chase,  Yorkshire,  was  born  at  Hatfield 
on  15  Jan.  1671-2.  He  was  eldest  son  of 
Matthias  or  Matthew  de  la  Pryme  (1645- 
1694),  who  married,  at  Sandtoft  chapel  on 
3  April  1670,  Sarah,  daughter  of  Peter 
Smaque  or  Smacque,  a  Huguenot  from  Paris. 
He  was  educated  at  Hatfield  under  the  Rev. 
William  Eratt,  minister  of  the  parish,  and 
began  keeping  a  diary  before  he  was  twelve. 
On  2  May  1690  he  was  admitted  pensioner 
at  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge,  held  a 
scholarship  there  from  7  Nov.  1690  to  6  Nov. 
1694,  and  graduated  B.  A.  in  January  1693-4. 
He  was  then  ordained  deacon  in  the  church 
of  England,  and  on  29  June  1695  became 
curate  of  Broughton,  near  Brigg,  Lincoln- 
shire. He  was  imbued  with  the  love  of  natural 
history  and  antiquarian  study,  and  contri- 
buted to  volumes  xxii.  and  xxiii.  of  the  '  Phi- 
losophical Transactions '  eight  papers  on  the 
counties  of  Lincoln  and  York.  With  the  view 
of  writing  the  history  of  Hatfield  and  its 
chase,  he  returned  to  his  native  place  in 
November  1697,  and  dwelt  there  until  Sep- 
tember 1698,  when  he  took  priest's  orders 
and  accepted  the  post  of  curate  and  divinity 
reader  at  the  church  of  Holy  Trinity,  Hull. 
Here  he  constructed  '  a  copious  analytical 
index  of  all  the  ancient  records  of  the  cor- 
poration,' and  compiled  a  history  which  has 
formed  the  basis  of  all  subsequent  works 
on  the  borough  (FnosT,  Early  History  of 
Hull,  p.  3). 

De  la  Pryme  was  possessed  of  a  good  pro- 
perty in  Lincolnshire  and  at  Hatfield,  but 
his  expensive  tastes  exhausted  his  income. 
Through  the  favour  of  the  Duke  of  Devon- 
shire he  was  appointed,  on  1  Sept.  1701,  to 


the  vicarage  of  Thome,  near  Hatfield.  While 
visiting  the  sick  he  '  caught  the  new  dis- 
temper, a  fever,'  and,  after  an  illness  of  a  few 
days,  died  on  12  or  13  June  1704,  when  he 
was  buried  in  Hatfield  church.  He  had  been 
elected  F.R.S.  on  18  March  1701-2. 

His  diary,  containing  many  interesting 
notes,  was  published  as  vol.  liv.  of  the  'Trans- 
actions '  of  the  Surtees  Society,  under  the 
editorship  of  Charles  Jackson,  and  with  a  bio- 
graphical preface  by  Charles  de  la  Pryme, 
his  descendant.  It  belonged  to  Francis 
Westby  Bagshawe  of  The  Oaks,  near  Shef- 
field, and  was  lent  to  the  Rev.  Joseph 
Hunter,  who  made  copious  extracts  from  it 
(now  Addit.  MS.  24475  Brit.  Mus.)  and  em- 
bodied much  of  the  matter  in  his  '  South 
Yorkshire.'  De  la  Pryme's  memoir  of  Tho- 
mas Bushell  [q.  v.], '  The  Recluse  of  the  Calf,' 
also  the  property  of  Mr.  Bagshawe,  was 
printed  in  the  l  Manx  Miscellanies,'  vol.  ii., 
forming  vol.  xxx.  of  the  Manx  Society '  Trans- 
actions.' Mr.  Edward  Peacock,  F.S.A.,  who 
possessed  De  la  Pryme's  '  History  of  Win- 
terton'  in  Lincolnshire,  contributed  it,  with 
a  biographical  notice  of  the  author,  to  the 
'  Archseologia,'  xl.  225-41.  His  poem  on  the 
hermitage  at  Lindholme  is  printed  in  Peck's 
'  Description  of  Bawtry,'  p.  111. 

Particulars  of  eleven  manuscripts  in  his 
possession,  the  last  being  '  Curiosa  de  se/ 
possibly  identical  with  his  diary,  are  set  out 
in  Bernard's  'Catalog!  Manuscriptorum 
Angliee  et  Hibernise'  (1697),  n.  pt.  i.  p. 
254.  Many  of  his  manuscripts  passed  to 
John  Warburton  the  herald,  then  to  Lord 
Shelburne,  and  are  now  the  Lansdowne 
MSS.  889-97  and 972  at  the  British  Museum. 
Among  them  are  his  '  History  of  Hatfield 
and  the  Chase,'  and  some  of  his  collections 
on  Hull,  other  portions  of  his  memoranda 
on  that  town  being  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  E.  S. 
Wilson  of  Melton,  near  Hull.  He  corre- 
sponded with  Thoresby  and  Sir  Hans  Sloane. 
(cf.,  for  his  letters,  THOKESBY'S  Correspon- 
dence, ii.  3-8  ;  Archceoloyia,  xl.  228-9  ;  Sloane 
MSS.  Brit.  Mus.  4056  and  4025 ;  Phil  Trans. 
vols.  xxii.  and  xxiii.) 

[Life  prefixed  to  Surtees  Soc.  Trans,  vol.  liv. ; 
Thoresby 's  Diary,  i.  407,  456  ;  Corlass's  Hull 
Authors,  pp.  76-82  ;  Peck's  Bawtry,  82-4,  105- 
107,  Supplement,  pp.  91*-97*.]  W.  P.  C. 

PRYME,  GEORGE  (1781-1868),  poli- 
tical economist,  born  at  Cottingham,  York- 
shire, on  4  Aug.  1781,  was  only  child  of 
Christopher  Pryme  of  Hull,  merchant  [see 
PKYME,  ABKAHAM  DE  LA],  The  name  was 
originally  spelt  Priem  or  Prem.  His  mother 
was  Alice,  daughter  of  George  Dinsdale  of 
Nappa  Hall,  Wensleydale.  After  attending 


Pryme 


431 


Pryme 


private  schools  at  Nottingham  and  Bunny, 
and  the  grammar  school  at  Kingston-upon- 
Hull,  kept  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Milner  [q.  v.], 
he  read  privately  with  John  Dawson  [q.  v.] 
of  Sedbergh.  He  commenced  residence  at 
Trinity  College  in  October  1799;  was  elected 
scholar  on  25  April  1800,  and  obtained  Sir 
William  Browne's  medal  for  a  Latin  epi- 
gram in  1801,  and  for  a  Greek  ode  in  1802. 
He  graduated  B.A.  in  1803,  when  he  was 
sixth  wrangler.  In  1804  he  obtained  the 
prize  offered  by  Dr.  Claudius  Buchanan  [q.  v.] 
for  the  best  Greek  ode  on  the  subject  '  Teveo-Qo 


«$•/  and  the  first  members'  prize  for  a  Latin 
essay  on  '  The  Causes  of  the  Decline  and  Fall 
of  States.'  In  1805  he  again  obtained  this 
prize,  with  an  essay  on  '  The  Researches  and 
Discoveries  made  by  the  French  in  Egypt 
during  the  Expedition  of  Napoleon  there,'  and 
on  2  Oct.  was  elected  fellow  of  his  college. 
The  number  of  prizes  which  he  won  gained 
for  him  the  nickname  of  '  Prize  Pryme.' 

In  October  1804  Pryme  had  taken  chambers 
in  Lincoln's  Inn.  He  was  called  to  the  bar 
in  1806  (15  Nov.),  and  began  to  practise  in 
London  ;  but  his  health  broke  down,  and 
under  medical  advice  he  returned  to  Cam- 
bridge in  October  1808.  He  obtained  the 
Seatonian  prize  for  a  poem  on  the  conquest 
of  Canaan  in  1809,  and  gradually,  as  his 
health  improved,  began  to  work  as  a  pro- 
vincial barrister.  In  this  capacity  '  Coun- 
sellor Pryme,'  as  he  was  called,  attained  a 
considerable  practice.  In  1813  (August)  he 
married  Jane  Townley,  daughter  of  Thomas 
Thackeray,  esq.,  a  surgeon  in  Cambridge,  and 
took  up  his  residence  in  a  house  on  the  out- 
skirts of  the  town,  called  Barnwell  Abbey. 

In  1816  Pryme  began  to  lecture  in  the 
university  on  political  economy,  a  subject 
which  at  that  time  had  not  been  recognised 
in  any  university  as  part  of  its  regular  studies. 
He  obtained  the  sanction  of  the  vice-chan- 
cellor, John  Kaye  [q.  v.],  master  of  Christ's 
College,  before  advertising  his  course;  but 
the  heads  of  colleges,  who  viewed  innovations 
with  suspicion,  insisted  that  the  lectures  were 
not  to  begin  before  twelve  o'clock,  lest  they 
should  interfere  with  college  lectures.  Pryme's 
courses  were  well  attended,  and  in  1828 
(27  May)  he  was  recognised  as  professor  by 
grace  of  the  senate.  He  continued  to  lecture 
till  1863. 

Pryme,  as  soon  as  he  became  a  Cambridge 
householder,  contrary  to  the  established 
custom  of  members  of  the  university,  inte- 
rested himself  in  the  affairs  of  the  town.  He 
became  a  paving  commissioner,  and,  as  a  whig, 
was  popular  with  the  reforming  party  in  the 
borough.  The  control  of  the  freemen  by  the 
Duke  of  Rutland  was  distasteful  even  to  some 


of  the  tory  party,  and  in  1820,  in  order  to 
keep  alive  a  spirit  of  independence,  the  duke's 
candidates  for  parliament  were  opposed  by 
Pryme  and  Mr.  Adeane  of  Babraham,  Cam- 
bridgeshire. They  polled  respectively  eighteen 
and  sixteen  votes.  A  similar  attempt  to  open 
the  borough  in  1826  was  equally  unsuccessful. 
In  1832,  however,  after  the  Reform  Bill,  the 
nominees  of  the  Duke  of  Rutland  did  not  offer 
themselves  for  re-election,  and  Pryrne  headed 
the  poll  with  979  votes.  His  colleague  was 
Thomas  Spring  Rice  (afterwards  Baron  Mont- 
eagle)  [q.  v.]  He  retained  the  seat  till  the  dis- 
solution of  1841,  when  he  withdrew  owing  to 
ill-health.  In  the  House  of  Commons  Pryme 
was  listened  to  with  respectful  attention,  and 
was  soon  consulted  by  the  government.  In 
his  first  session  he  was  a  member  of  several 
committees,  and  was  entrusted  by  Lord  John 
Russell  with  the  charge  of  a  bill  to  enable  a 
sect  called  separatists  to  affirm.  In  the  session 
of  1836  he  took  an  active  part  in  the  discussion 
on  the  Tithe  Commutation  Act,  and  moved 
for  leave  to  introduce  a  bill  for  the  abolition 
of  grand  j  uries.  This  was  negatived. 

Pryme  had  come  forward  as  a  university 
reformer  on  4  Dec.  1833,  by  proposing  graces 
for  a  syndicate  to  consider  the  propriety  of 
abolishing  subscription  on  graduation,  and 
he  had  spoken  in  favour  of  a  petition  to  the 
House  of  Commons  having  the  same  object 
on  24  March  1834.  In  1836  he  moved  for  the 
appointment  of  a  commission  to  inquire  into 
the  state  of  the  universities  of  Oxford  and 
Cambridge.  Lord  John  Russell  promised  to 
bring  the  subject  forward  when  success  was 
probable,  and  Pryme's  motion  was  withdrawn. 
In  the  course  of  the  session  of  1839  he  got 
the  Metropolitan  Police  Act  amended  by 
the  insertion  of  a  clause  prohibiting  the 
opening  of  public-houses  before  1  P.M.  on 
Sundays. 

The  five  years  following  his  retirement 
from  parliament  in  1841  Pryme  spent  in 
Cambridge.  He  continued  his  annual  course 
of  lectures,  practised  to  some  extent  as  a  bar- 
rister on  the  Norfolk  circuit,  and  interested 
himself  in  the  Norfolk  estuary  scheme  and 
other  local  improvements.  In  1847  he  re- 
moved to  Wistow  in  Huntingdonshire,  where 
he  had  bought  a  considerable  estate.  Thence- 
forth his  interests  were  in  the  main  those  of 
his  own  neighbourhood,  but  he  continued  to 
visit  Cambridge  and  to  promote  his  favourite 
study.  In  1863  (29  Oct.)  he  had  the  satis- 
faction of  learning  that  the  senate  had  de- 
cided to  continue  the  professorship  of  poli- 
tical economy,  with  a  salary  of  300/.  On 
the  same  day  he  tendered  his  resignation. 
He  died  on  2  Dec.  1868.  By  his  will  he 
bequeathed  his  books  and  pamphlets  on  poli- 


Prynne 


432 


Prynne 


tical  economy  to  the  university  of  Cambridge 
for  the  use  of  the  professor. 

Pryme  published  the  following :  1.  'Poe- 
matia  numismatibus  annuis  dignata  A.D. 
1801-1802.'  2.  'Syllabus  of  a  Course  of 
Lectures  on  Political  Economy,'  8vo,  Cam- 
bridge, 1816  (with  new  editions  in  subse- 
quent years).  3.  '  Counter-protest  of  a  Lay- 
man, in  reply  to  the  Protest  of  Archdeacon 
Thomas  against  the  formation  of  an  Associa- 
tion at  Bath  in  aid  of  the  Church  Missionary 
Society,'  8vo,  Cambridge,  1818.  4.  '  Ode  to 
Trinity  College,'  8vo,  London,  1822.  5.  <  Letter 
to  the  Freemen  and  Inhabitants  of  the  Town 
of  Cambridge  on  the  state  of  the  Borough,' 
8vo,  Cambridge,  1823.  6.  '  Memoir  of  the 
Life  of  D.  Sykes,'  8vo,  Wakefield,  1834. 
7.  '  Jephthah  and  other  Poems,'  12mo,  Lon- 
don, 1838.  8.  '  Autobiographic  Recollections 
of  George  Pryme,'  8vo,  Cambridge,  1870, 
edited  by  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Alicia  Bayne. 

[Pryme's  Recollections,  1870;  Cooper's  Annals 
of  Cambridge,  vol.  iv. ;  University  Graduati ; 
private  information.]  .T.  W.  C-K. 

PRYNNE,  WILLIAM  (1600-1669), 
puritan  pamphleteer,  born  at  Swanswick  or 
Swainswick  in  Somerset  in  1600,  was  the  son 
of  Thomas  Prynne  by  his  second  wife,  Marie 
Sherston.  His  family  is  said  to  have  been 
originally  derived  from  Shropshire;  his  great 
grandfather  was  sheriff'  of  Bristol  in  1549  ; 
his  father  farmed  the  lands  of  Oriel  College 
at  Swanswick.  Prynne  was  educated  at 
Bath  grammar  school,  and  matriculated  from 
Oriel  College,  Oxford,  on  24  April  1618.  He 
graduated  B.A.  on  22  Jan.  1621,  was  ad- 
mitted a  student  of  Lincoln's  Inn  in  the  same 
year,  and  was  called  to  the  bar  in  1628 
(FOSTER,  Alumni  Oxon.  1500-1714,  iii.  1217; 
PEACH,  History  of  Swanswick,  1890,  pp.  36, 
48).  With  law  Prynne  combined  from  the 
first  the  study  of  theology  and  ecclesiastical 
antiquities.  His  training  had  been  puritani- 
cal, and,  according  to  Wood,  he  was  con- 
firmed in  his  militant  puritanism  by  the  in- 
fluence of  Dr.  John  Preston  (1587-1628) 
[q.  v.],  who  was  then  lecturer  at  Lincoln's 
Inn  (Athence,  iii.  845).  In  1627  he  published 
his  first  book,  a  theological  treatise  entitled 
'  The  Perpetuity  of  a  Regenerate  Man's  Es- 
tate,' followed  in  the  next  three  years  by 
three  others  attacking  Arminianism  and  its 
teachers.  In  the  preface  to  one  of  them  he 
appealed  to  parliament  to  suppress  anything 
written  against  calvinistic  doctrine  and  to 
force  the  clergy  to  subscribe  the  conclusion 
of  the  synod  of  Dort  (A  Brief  Survey  of  Mr. 
Cozens  his  cozening  Devotions ;  GARDINER, 
Great  Civil  War,  ii.  14).  At  the  same  time 
Prynne  took  in  hand  the  task  of  reforming 


the  manners  of  the  age,  and  attacked  its 
fashions  and  its  follies  as  if  they  were  vices. 
After  proving  that  the  custom  of  drinking 
healths  was  sinful,  he  demonstrated  that  for 
men  to  wear  their  hair  long  was  '  unseemly 
and  unlawful  unto  Christians,'  while  it  was 
1  mannish,  unnatural,  impudent,  and  un- 
christian '  for  women  to  cut  it  short  (Health's 
Sickness.  The  Unloveliness  of  Lovelocks. 
1628). 

About  1624  Prynne  had  commenced  a  book 
against  stage-plays,  on  31  May  1630  he  ob- 
tained a  license  to  print  it,  and  about  No- 
vember 1632  it  was  published.  The  •  His- 
triomastix  '  is  a  volume  of  over  a  thousand 
pages,  showing  that  plays  were  unlawful,  in- 
centives to  immorality,  and  condemned  by 
the  scriptures,  the  fathers,  modern  Christian 
writers,  and  the  wisest  of  the  heathen  philo- 
sophers (for  an  analysis  see  WARD,  English 
Dramatic  Literature,  ii.  413).  Unluckily  for 
the  author,  the  queen  and  her  ladies,  in 
January  1633,  took  part  in  the  performance 
of  Walter  Montagu's  '  Shepherd's  Paradise.' 
A  passage  in  the  index  reflecting  on  the 
character  of  female  actors  in  general  was 
construed  as  an  aspersion  on  the  queen. 
Similarly,  passages  which  attacked  the  spec- 
tators of  plays  and  magistrates  who  failed 
to  suppress  them,  pointed  by  references  to 
Nero  and  other  tyrants,  were  taken  as  at- 
tacks upon  the  king.  The  attorney-general, 
Noy,  instituted  proceedings  against  Prynne 
in  the  Star-chamber.  After  a  year's  impri- 
sonment in  the  Tower  (1  Feb.  1633),  he  was 
sentenced  (17  Feb.  1634)  to  be  imprisoned 
during  life,  to  be  fined  5,000/.,  to  be  expelled 
from  Lincoln's  Inn,  to  be  deprived  of  his  de- 
gree by  the  university  of  Oxford,  and  to  lose 
both  his  ears  in  the  pillory.  Prynne  was 
pilloried  on  7  May  and  10  May,  and  degraded 
from  his  degree  on  29  April  (RUSHWORTH,  ii. 
220,247  ;  State  Trials,  iii.  586 ;  LAUD,  Works, 
vi.  i.  234).  On  11  June  he  addressed  to 
Archbishop  Laud,  whom  he  regarded  as  his 
chief  persecutor,  a  letter  charging  him  with 
illegality  and  injustice.  Laud  handed  the 
letter  to  the  attorney-general  as  material  for 
a  new  prosecution,  but  when  Prynne  was  re- 
quired to  own  his  handwriting,  he  contrived 
to  get  hold  of  the  letter  and  tore  it  to  pieces 
(Documents  relating  to  William  Prynne,  pp. 
32-57 ;  LAUD,  Works,  iii.  221 ;  GAUDINER, 
History  of  England,  vii.  327-34).  Even  in 
the  Tower  Prynne  contrived  to  write,  and 
poured  forth  anonymous  tracts  against  episco- 
pacy and  against  the  '  Book  of  Sports.'  In 
one,  '  A  Divine  Tragedy  lately  acted,  or  a 
Collection  of  sundry  memorable  Examples  of 
God's  Judgment  upon  Sabbath-breakers,'  he 
introduced  Noy's  recent  death  as  a  warning. 


Prynne 


433 


Prynne 


In  an  appendix  to  John  Bast  wick's  '  Flagel- 
lum  Pontificis,'  and, in  'A  Breviate  of  the 
Bishops' intolerable  Usurpations,' he  attacked 
prelates  in  general  (1635).  An  anonymous 
attack  on  Wren,  bishop  of  Norwich,  entitled 

*  News  from  Ipswich '  (1636),  brought  him 
again  before  the  Star-chamber.     On  14  June 
1637  Prynne  was  sentenced  once  more  to  a 
fine  of  5,000/.,  to  imprisonment  for  life,  and  to 
lose  the  rest  of  his  ears.     At  the  proposal  of 
Chief-justice  Finch  he  was  also  to  be  branded 
on  the  cheeks  with  the  letters  S.  L.,  signify- 
ing *  seditious  libeller'  (RcrsHWORTH,  iii.  380 ; 
A  New  Discovery  of  the  Prelates'  Tyranny, 
1641  ;  LAUD,  Works,  vi.  i.  35).    Prynne  was 
pilloried  on  30  June  in  company  with  Henry 
Burton  and  John  Bastwick.     All  bore  their 
punishment  with  defiant  courage.     Prynne, 
who  was  handled  with  great  barbarity  by  the 
executioner,  made,  as  he  returned  to  his  pri- 
son, a  couple  of  Latin  verses  explaining  the 

*  S.  L.'  with  which  he  was  branded  to  mean 

*  Stigmata  Laudis  '  (ib.  p.  65  ;  'A  Brief  Re- 
lation of  certain  Passages  at  the  Censure  of 
Dr.  Bastwick,  Mr.  Burton,  and  Mr.  Prynne,' 
Harleian  Miscellany,  iv.  12).   His  imprison- 
ment was  henceforth  much  closer.     He  was 
deprived  of  pens  and  ink,  and  allowed  no  books 
except  the  Bible,  the  prayer-book,  and  some 
orthodox  theology.     To  isolate  him  from  his 
friends  he  was  removed  first  to  Carnarvon 
Castle   (July   1637),   and    then  to   Mount 
Orgueil  Castle  in  Jersey.     The  governor,  Sir 
Philip  Carteret,  and  his  family  treated  Prynne 
with  much  kindness,  which  he  repaid  by  de- 
fending Carteret's  character  in  1645  when 
the  latter  was  accused  as  a  malignant  and  a 
•tyrant  (  The  Liar  Confounded,  1645,  pp.  33- 
45).     He  occupied  his  imprisonment,  since 
he  was  debarred  from  theological  controversy, 
by  writing  a  verse  description  of  his  prison, 
meditations   on  rocks,  seas,  and  gardens,  a 
complaint  of  the  soul  against  the  body,  and 
polemical  epigrams  against  popery.    Rhyme 
is  the  only  poetical  characteristic  they  pos- 
sess {Mount  Orgueil,  or  Divine  and  Profitable 
Meditations,  1641 ;  A  Pleasant  Purge  for  a 
Roman  Catholic,  1642). 

As  soon  as  the  Long  parliament  assembled, 
Prynne's  petition  for  redress  was  presented 
to  it  by  his  servant,  John  Brown.  An  order 
was  immediately  made  for  his  transmission 
to  London,  and  on  28  Nov.  he  and  Burton 
made  a  triumphant  entry  into  the  city  (cf. 
BAILLIE,  Letters,  i.  277;  CLARENDON,  Re- 
bellion, iii.  57).  The  House  of  Commons  de- 
clared the  two  sentences  against  him  illegal, 
restored  him  to  his  degree  and  to  his  mem- 
bership of  Lincoln's  Inn,  and  voted  him  pecu- 
niary reparation  (April  20, 1641)  (Commons' 
Journal,  ii.  24,  123,  366;  RUSHWOKTH,  iv. 

VOL.  XLVI. 


74).  A  bill  for  reversing  the  proceedings 
against  him  was  introduced,  but  as  late  as 
October  1648  the  question  of  his  compensa- 
tion was  still  unsettled  (Commons'  Journal 
ii.  366  ;  vi.  65). 

When  the  civil  war  broke  out,  Prynne 
became  one  of  the  leading  defenders  of  the 
parliamentary  cause  in  the  press.  At  first 
he  had  used  his  freedom  to  prosecute  his 
attack  on  episcopacy  (The  Antipathy  of 
the  English  Lordly  Prelacy  both  to  Regal 
Monarchy  and  Civil  Unity;  A  New  Dis- 
covery of  the  Prelates  Tyranny,  1641).  He 
now  showed  that  the  bishops  and  the  king's 
ministers  had  been  fellow-workers  in  the 
design  of  introducing  popery  (The  Popish 
Royal  Favourite ;  Rome's  Masterpiece,  1643  ; 
cf.  LAUD'S  Works,  iv.  463).  He  proved  by 
historical  precedents  that  the  parliament's 
cause  was  legal,  that  the  parliament  had  the 
supreme  control  of  the  armed  forces  and  of 
the  great  seal  of  the  realm,  and  that  the  text 
'  Touch  not  Mine  anointed '  did  not  prohibit 
Christian  subjects  from  defending  themselves 
against  their  kings,  but  kings  from  op- 
pressing their  Christian  subjects  (A  Sovereign 
Antidote  ;  Vindication  of  Psalm  105,  ver.  15, 
1642  ;  The  Sovereign  Power  of  Parliaments 
and  Kingdoms ;  The  Opening  of  the  Great 
Seal  of  England,  1643). 

In  1643  Prynne  became  involved  in  the 
controversy  which  followed  the  surrender  of 
Bristol  by  Nathaniel  Fiennes  [q.  v.]  To- 
gether with  his  friend  Clement  Walker,  he 
presented  articles  of  accusation  against 
Fiennes  to  the  House  of  Commons  (15  Nov. 
1643),  managed  the  case  for  the  prosecution 
at  the  court-martial,  which  took  place  in 
the  following  December,  and  secured  the 
condemnation  of  the  offending  officer  (A 
True  and  Full  Relation  of  the  Trial  of 
Nathaniel  Fiennes,  1644).  Prynne  was  also 
one  of  the  counsel  for  the  parliament  at  the 
trial  of  Lord  Maguire  in  February  1645 
(GILBEKT,  Contemporary  History  of  Affairs 
in  Ireland,  1641-52,  i.  618-639 ;  The  Subjec- 
tion of  all  Traitors,  $c.  1658). 

But  Prynne  prosecuted  Laud  with  even 
more  animosity  than  he  had  pursued  Fiennes. 
He  collected  and  arranged  evidence  to  prove 
the  charges  against  him,  bore  testimony  him- 
self in  support  of  many  of  them,  hunted  up 
witnesses  against  the  archbishop,  and  assisted 
the  counsel  for  the  prosecution  in  every  way. 
A  barrister  remarked,  '  The  Archbishop  is  a 
stranger  to  me,  but  Mr.  Prynne's  tampering 
about  the  witnesses  is  so  palpable  and  foul 
that  I  cannot  but  pity  him  and  cry  shame  of 
it '  (LAUD,  Works,  iv.  51).  By  a  refinement 
of  malice,  Prynne  was  specially  charged  with 
the  duty  of  searching  Laud's  room  in  the 


Prynne 


434 


Prynne 


Tower,  and  even  his  pockets,  for  papers  to 
be  used  against  him  (id.  iv.  25).  He  pub- 
lished a  mutilated  edition  of  Laud's  '  Diary  ' 
under  the  title  of  '  A  Breviate  of  the  Life'of 
William  Laud,'  and  a  volume  intended  to 
serve  as  an  introduction  to  his  trial  called 

*  Hidden  Works   of  Darkness   brought   to 
Public  Light'  (ib.  iii.  259).     After  Laud's 
execution,  Prynne  was  charged  by  the  House 
of  Commons  (4  March  1645)  to  produce  an 
account  of  the  trial,  and  published '  Canter- 
buries Doom,  or  the  first  part  of  a  complete 
History  of  the  Commitment,  Trial,  &c.,  of 
William  Laud'   (folio,  1646).     But  other 
controversies  prevented  him  from  finishing 
the  book.     Prynne's  hatred  of  independency 
was  as  great  as  his  hatred   of  episcopacy, 
and  from  1644  he  poured  forth  a  series  of 
pamphlets    against   it   (Independency    Ex- 
amined,   Unmasked,    and    Refuted,   1644). 
He   attacked   John   Goodwin  (Brief  Ani- 
madversions on  Mr  John  Goodwin's    Theo- 
machia,  1644),  and  fell  foul  of  his  old  com- 
panion in  suffering,  Henry  Burton  (Truth 
triumphing    over      Falsehood,     1645 ;      cf. 
HANBTJRY,  Memorials  of  Independency,  ii. 
385).       He    controverted   and    denounced 
John  Lilburne,  and  loudly  called  on  parlia- 
ment to  crush  the  sectaries  (Just  Defence  of 
John  Bastwick,  1645  ;  The  Liar  Confounded, 
1645;  Fresh  Discovery   of  some  prodigious 
new  wandering  blazing  Stars,  1645).     Yet, 
while  vehemently    opposing   the    demands 
of  the   independents   for    liberty  of    con- 
science, Prynne  was  equally  hostile  to  the 
demands  of  the  presbyterian  clergy  for  the 
unrestricted  establishment  of  their  system. 

*  Mr.  Prynne  and  the  Erastian  lawyers  are 
now  our  remora,'  complains  Robert  Baillie 
in     September    1645    (Letters,     ii.     315). 
Prynne  maintained  the  supremacy  of  the 
state   over   the  church,  and  denied   in  his 
pamphlets  the  right  of  the   clergy  to   ex- 
communicate or  to  suspend  from  the  recep- 
tion of  the  sacrament  except  on  conditions 
defined  by  the  laws  of  the  state  (Four  Serious 
Questions,  1644;    A    Vindication    of  Four 
Questions,    1645 ;     Suspension     Suspended, 
1646;   The  Sword  of  Christian  Magistracy 
Supported,  1647).       He   was  answered  by 
Samuel  Rutherford  in  '  The  Divine  Right 
of  Church  Government  and  Excommunica- 
tion,' 4to,   1646  (cf.  HANBUKY,  Historical 
Memorials  of  Independency ,  iii.  191).  Prynne 
also  came  into  collision  with  Milton,  whose 
doctrine   of  '  divorce   at  pleasure '   he  had 
denounced,  and  was  replied  to  by  the  poet 
in  a  passage  in  his  *  Colasterion.'     Milton 
also   inserted  in  the   original  draft  of  his 
sonnet   'On  the  Forcers  of  Conscience'  a 
scornful  reference  to   '  marginal  Prynne's 


ears'  (MAssoir.  Life  of  Milton,  iii.  315, 
470). 

During  1647  the  breach  between  the  army 
and  the  parliament  turned  Prynne's  attention 
from  theology  to  politics.  He  wrote  a  num- 
ber of  pamphlets  against  the  army,  an$ 
championed  the  cause  of  the  eleven  presby- 
terian leaders  whom  the  army  impeached 
(Brief  Justification  of  the  Eleven  Accused 
Members,  1647  ;  Full  Vindication  and  An- 
swer of  the  Eleven  Accused  Members,  1647  ; 
Hypocrites  Unmasking,  1647).  With  this  in- 
defatigable activity  in  pamphleteering  he 
contrived  to  combine  no  small  amount  of 
official  work.  Since  February  1644  he  had 
been  a  member  of  the  committee  of  accounts, 
and  on  1  May  1647  he  was  appointed  one  of 
the  commissioners  for  the  visitation  of  the 
university  of  Oxford.  In  April  1648  Prynne 
accompanied  the  Earl  of  Pembroke  when  he 
came  as  chancellor  to  expel  recalcitrant  heads 
of  houses  (WooD,  Annals,  ii.  569-73).  In 
November  1648  he  was  elected  member  for 
Newport  in  Cornwall,  and,  as  soon  as  he  took 
his  seat,  distinguished  himself  by  his  opposi- 
tion to  the  army.  He  urged  the  commons  to 
declare  them  rebels,  and  argued  at  great  length 
that  the  concessions  made  by  Charles  in  the 
recent  treaty  were  a  satisfactory  basis  for  a 
peace.  His  speech,  which  according  to  its 
author  converted  many  of  the  audience,  was 
four  times  reprinted  during  the  next  few 
months  (GARDINER,  Great  Civil  War,  iv.  264, 
267  ;  The  Substance  of  a  Speech  made  in  the 
House  of  Commons  by  William  Prynne,  the  4th 
of  December,  1648).  Two  days  later  Pride's 
Purge  took  place.  Prynne  was  arrested  by 
Colonel  Pride  and  Sir  Hardress  Waller,  and 
kept  prisoner  first  at  an  eating-house  called 
Hell,  and  then  at  the  Swan  and  King's 
Head  inns  in  the  Strand.  He  protested  in 
letters  to  Lord  Fairfax,  and  by  printed  de- 
clarations on  behalf  of  himself  and  the  other 
arrested  members  (WALKER,  History  of  In- 
dependency, ed.  1661,  pt.  ii.  pp.  35,  51,  62, 
81,  84,  92,  114, 120, 123, 126).  He  published 
also  a  denunciation  of  the  proposed  trial  of 
the  king,  which  was  answered  by  a  collection 
of  extracts  from  his  own  earlier  pamphlets 
(True  and  Perfect  Narrative  of  the  Officers 
and  Army's  Force  upon  the  Commons  House ; 
Brief  Memento  to  the  Present  Unparliamen- 
tary Junto-,  Mr.  Prynne's  Charge  against 
the  King}. 

Released  from  custody  some  time  in  January 
1649,  Prynne  retired  to  Swanswick,  and  began 
a  paper  war  against  the  new  government.  He 
wrote  three  pamphlets  against  the  engage- 
ment to  be  faithful  to  the  Commonwealth, 
and  proved  that  neither  in  conscience,  law,  nor 
prudence  was  he  bound  to  pay  the  taxes  which 


Prynne 


435 


Prynne 


it  imposed  (A  Legal  Vindication  of  the  Liber- 
ties of  England  against  all  Illegal  Taxes  and 
Pretended  Acts  of  Parliament.  1 649) .  Accord- 
ing to  Wood,  he  had  judiciously  conveyed  his 
property  to  a  relative  first.     The  government 
retaliated   by   imprisoning   him   for   nearly 
three  years  without   a  trial.     On  30  June 
1650  he  was  arrested  and  confined,  first  in 
Dunster  Castle  and  afterwards  in  Taunton 
(12    June    1651)    and    Pendennis    Castles 
(27  June  1651).     He  was  finally  offered  his 
liberty  on  giving  security  to  the  amount  of 
1,000/.  that  he  would  henceforward  do  no- 
thing against  the  government;  but,  refusing 
with  his  usual  indomitable  courage  to  make 
any  promise,  was  released  unconditionally  on 
18  Feb.  1653  (CaL  State  Papers,  Dom.  1652- 
1653,   p.    172 ;    A   New  Discovery   of  Free 
State  Tyranny,  1655).    On  his  release  Prynne 
returned  to  pamphleteering  with  fresh  vigour, 
but  assailed   the   government  less  directly 
than  before.     He  exposed  the  machinations  of 
the  papists,  showed  the  danger  of  quakerism, 
vindicated  the  rights  of  patrons  against  the 
triers,   and   discussed    the    right   limits   of 
the  Sabbath  (A  Brief  polemical  Dissertation 
concerning  the  Lords  Day  Sabbath,  1655  ;  The  \ 
Quakers  Unmasked,  1655  ;  A  New  Discovery 
of  some  Romish  Emissaries,  1656).     The  pro-  | 
posal   to   readmit    the   Jews   inspired  him  j 
with  a  pamphlet  against  the  scheme,  which  j 
contains  materials  of  value  for  the  history  i 
of  that  race  in  England  (A  Short  Demurrer  \ 
to   the    Jews    long-discontinued    Remitters  ! 
into  England,  1656).  The  offer  of  the  crown  I 
to  Cromwell  by  the  '  petition  and  advice ' 
suggested  a  parallel  between  Cromwell  and 
Richard  III,  who  had  also  been  petitioned  ] 
to  accept  the  English  crown  (King  Richard 
the    Third    Revived,     1657).        Similarly, 
when  the  Protector  set  up  a  House  of  Lords, 
Prynne  expanded  the  tract  in   defence  of 
their  rights    which  he    had   published  in 
1648  into  an  historical  treatise  of  five  hun- 
dred pages  {A  Plea  for  the  Lords,  1658). 

All  these  writings,  however,  attracted 
little  attention,  and  it  was  not  till  after  the 
fall  of  Richard  Cromwell  that  he  regained 
the  popular  ear.  As  soon  as  the  Long 
parliament  was  re-established,  Prynne  got 
together  a  few  of  the  members  excluded  by 
'  Pride's  purge'  and  endeavoured  to  take  his 
place  in  the  house.  On  7  May  he  was  kept 
back  by  the  guards,  but  on  9  May  he 
managed  to  get  in,  and  kept  his  seat  there 
for  a  whole  sitting.  Haslerig  and  Vane 
threatened  him,  but  Prynne  told  them  he 
had  as  good  right  there  as  either,  and  had 
suffered  more  for  the  rights  of  parliament 
than  any  of  them.  They  could  only  get 
rid  of  him  by  adjourning  the  house,  and 


forcibly  keeping  him  out  when  it  reas- 
sembled (A  True  and  Perfect  Narrative 
|  of  what  was  done  by  Mr.  Prynne,  $c.,  1659  ; 
!  Old  Parliamentary  History,  xxi.  384).  On 
:  27  Dec.,  when  the  parliament  was  again  re- 
|  stored  after  its  interruption  by  Lambert, 
!  Prynne  and  his  friends  made  a  fresh  at- 
tempt to  enter,  but  were  once  more  ex- 
cluded (ib.  xxii.  29 ;  Brief  Narrative  how 
divers  Members  of  the  House  of  Commons  were 
again  shut  out,  1660).  From  May  1659  to 
February  1660  he  never  ceased  publishing 
tracts  on  the  case  of  the  '  secluded  mem- 
bers'  and  attacks  on  the  Rump  and  the 
army.  Marchamont  Nedham,  Henry  Stubbe, 
John  Rogers,  and  others  printed  serious 
answers  to  his  arguments,  while  obscure 
libellers  ridiculed  him  as  '  an  indefatigable 
and  impertinent  scribbler '  (  The  Character  or 
Earmark  of  Mr.  W.  Prynne,  1659  ;  A  Peti- 
tion of  the  Peaceable  and  well-affected  People 
of  the  three  Nations,  fyc. ;  WOOD,  Athena,  iii. 
853) .  Still  his  pamphlets  roused  popular  opi- 
nion in  favour  of  the  'secluded  members,'  and 
on  21  Feb.  1660  Monck  ordered  the  guards 
of  the  house  to  readmit  them.  Prynne,  girt 
|  with  an  old  basket-hilted  sword,  marched 
in  at  their  head  amid  the  cheers  of  the  spec- 
;  tators  in  Westminster  Hall,  but  as  he  entered 
the  house  his  '  long  sword  got  between  Sir 
William  Waller's  short  legs  and  threw  him 
down,  which  caused  laughter '  (PEPYS,  Diary, 
21  Feb. ;  ATJBKEY,  Letters  from  the  Bod- 
leian Library,  ii.  509).  The  house  appointed 
him  to  the  pleasant  task  of  expunging  the 
votes  against  the  secluded  members,  and 
charged  him  to  bring  in  a  bill  for  the  disso- 
lution of  the  Long  parliament  (Commons' 
Journals,  vii.  847,  848, 852).  In  the  debate 
on  the  bill  Prynne  asserted  the  rights  of 
Charles  II  with  the  greatest  boldness,  and 
claimed  that  the  writs  should  be  issued  in 
his  name.  '  I  think  he  may  be  styled  the 
Cato  of  this  age,'  wrote  an  admiring  royalist 
(CAKTE,  Original  Letters,  ii.  312;  Clarendon 
State  Papers,  iii.  696).  He  also  helped  to 
forward  the  Restoration  by  accelerating  the 
passing  of  the  Militia  Bill,  which  placed  the 
control  of  the  forces  in  the  hands  of  the 
king's  friends  (LuDLOW,  Memoirs,  ed.  1894, 
ii.  248).  A  letter  which  he  addressed  to 
Charles  II  shows  that  he  was  personally 
thanked  by  the  king  for  his  services  (Notes 
and  Queries,  8th  ser.  viii.  361). 

When  the  Convention  parliament  was  sum- 
moned, Prynne  was  returned  both  forLudgers- 
hall  and  Bath,  but  sat  for  the  latter  place,  and 
presented  an  address  from  it  to  Charles  II 
on  16  June  1660  (Bathonia  Rediviva).  No 
member  of  the  Convention  was  more  bitter 
against  the  regicides  and  the  supporters  of 

F  F2 


Prynne 


436 


Prynne 


the  late  government.    On  every  opportunity 
he  endeavoured  to  restrict  the  scope  of  th 
Act  of  Indemnity.     He  successfully  move< 
to  have  Fleetwood  excepted,  and  urg-ed  th 
exclusion  of  Richard  Cromwell  and  Judgi 
Thorpe.     He  proposed  to  force  the  officiaL 
of  the  Protectorate  to  refund  their  salarie 
and  to   disable  or  punish  indiscriminately 
large  classes  of  persons  (Old  Parliament-art 
History,  xxii.  339,  352,  366,  369,  412,  428^ 
LTTDLOW,  Memoirs,  ii.  277).    Prynne  showec 
great  zeal  for  the  disbanding  of  the  army 
and  was  one  of  the  commissioners  appointee 
to   pay  it  off  (Old  Parliamentary  History 
xxii.  473).     In  the  debates  on  religion  he 
was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  presbyterians 
spoke  against  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  de- 
nied the  claims  of  the  bishops,  urged  the 
validity  of  presbyterian  ordination,  and  sup- 
ported the  bill  for  turning  the  king's  eccle- 
siastical declaration  into  law  (ib.  xxii.  375, 
385,  409,  414,  421,  xxiii.  29).      Returned 
again  for  Bath  to  the  parliament   of  May 
1661,  Prynne  asserted  his  presbyterianism  by 
refusing  to  kneel  when  the  two  houses  re- 
ceived the  sacrament  together  (Hist.  MSS. 
Comm.  5th  Rep.   p.   170).     A  few  weeks 
earlier  he  had  published  a  pamphlet  demand- 
ing the  revision  of  the  prayer-book,  but  the 
new  parliament  was  opposed  to  any  conces- 
sions to    nonconformity.      On   15  July    a 
pamphlet  by  Prynne  against  the  Corporation 
Bill  was  voted  scandalous  and  seditious ;  he 
was  reprimanded  by  the  speaker,  and  only 
escaped   punishment   by  abject   submission 
(KENJSTETT,  Register,  p.  495  ;  Commons'  Jour- 
nals, viii.  301).     He  was  again  censured  on 
13  May  1664  for  making  some  alterations  in 
a   bill   concerning  vintners  and   ale-sellers 
after  its   commitment   (ib.  viii.   563).      In 
January  1667  Prynne  was  one  of  the  mana- 
gers of  Lord  Mordaunt's  impeachment  (ib. 
viii.  681).     He  spoke  several  times  on  Cla- 
rendon's impeachment,  and  opposed  the  bill 
for  his  banishment.     On  constitutional  sub- 
jects and  points  of  procedure  his  opinion  had 
great  weight,  and  in  1667  he  was  privately 
consulted    by    the    king    on    the   question 
whether  a  parliament  which  had  been  pro- 
rogued could  be  convened  before  the  day 
fixed  (GREY,  Debates,}.  7, 65, 153  ;  CLAREN- 
DON, Continuation  of  Life,  §  1097). 

As  a  politician  Prynne  was  during  his 
latter  years  of  little  importance,  but  as  a 
writer  his  most  valuable  work  belongs  to 
that  period.  Shortly  after  the  Restoration 
he  had  been  appointed  keeper  of  the  records 
in  the  Tower  at  a  salary  of  500/.  a  year.  In 
January  1662  Prynne  dedicated  his  '  Brevia 
Parliamentaria  Rediviva '  to  Charles  II.  The 
state  papers  contain  several  petitions  from 


Prynne  for  additional  accommodation  in  the 
Tower,  in  order  to  facilitate  his  work  in  tran- 
scribing and  arranging  the  records  (  Cat.  State 
Papers,  Dom.  1661-2  p.  627,  1665-6  p.  346). 
Anthony  Wood  found  him  affable  and  obliging 
towards  record-searchers.  l  Mr.  ^Prynne  re- 
ceived him  with  old-fashion  compliments, 
such  as  were  used  in  the  reign  of  King  James  I, 
and  told  him  he  should  see  what  he  desired, 
and  seemed  to  be  glad  that "  such  a  young  man 
as  he  was  should  have  inclinations  towards 
venerable  antiquity,"  &c.'  (Life  of  Anthony 
Wood,  ed.  Clarke,  ii.  110).  Ryley,  Prynne's 
predecessor,  spread  reports  that  Prynne  ne- 
glected his  duties,  but  Prynne's  publications 
during  his  tenure  of  office  refute  the  charge 
(PEPYS,  Diary,  ed.Wheatley,  iv.  133). 

Prynne  died  unmarried  on  24  Oct.  1669  'in 
his  lodgings  in  Lincoln's  Inn,  and  was  buried 
in  the  walk  under  the  chapel  there,  which 
stands  upon  pillars'  (Woon,Athence,  iii.  876). 
His  will  is  printed  by  Bruce  (Documents 
relating  to  William  Prynne,  p.  96).  He  left 
his  manuscripts  to  the  library  of  Lincoln's 
Inn,  and  a  set  of  his  works  to  Oriel  College, 
Oxford.  The  college  also  possesses  a  portrait 
of  Prynne  in  oils.  Two  others  belong  respec- 
tively to  the  Marquis  of  Hastings  and  the 
Marquis  Townshend.  An  engraved  portrait 
of  Prynne  is  given  in  his  'New  Discovery  of 
the  Prelates' Tyranny ,' reproductions  of  which 
are  frequently  found  in  his  later  pamphlets. 
Lists  of  engraved  portraits  are  given  by 
ranger  and  in  the  catalogue  of  portraits 
n  the  Sutherland  Clarendon  in  the  Bodleian 
Library. 

Prynne  published  about  two  hundred 
Dooks  and  pamphlets.  'I  verily  believe,' 
says  Wood,  '  that,  if  rightly  computed,  he 
wrote  a  sheet  for  every  day  of  his  life, 
reckoning  from  the  time  he  came  to  the  use 
of  reason  and  the  state  of  man '  (Athence, 
Oxon.  iii.  852).  According  to  Aubrey,  '  his 
manner  of  study  was  thus :  he  wore  a  long 
}uilt  cap,  which  came  two  or  three  inches  at 
east  over  his  eyes,  which  served  him  as  an 
umbrella  to  defend  his  eyes  from  the  light ; 
about  every  three  hours  his  man  was  to 
>ring  him  a  roll  and  a  pot  of  ale  to  refocillate 
lis  wasted  spirits  :  so  he  studied  and  drank, 
and  munched  some  bread;  and  this  main- 
ained  him  till  night,  and  then  he  made  a 
d  supper '  (AUBREY,  Letters  from  the  Bod- 
eian  Library,  ii.  508).  To  this  habit  Butler 
•efers  in  '  Hudibras '  when  he  addresses  the 
nuse 

that  with  ale  or  viler  liquors 
Did'st  inspire  Wither,  Prynne,  and  Vicars. 

n  point  of  style  Prynne's  historical  works 
>ossess   no   merits.     He   apologises   to   his 


Prynne 


437 


Pryor 


readers  in  the  epistle  to  vol.  ii.  of  his  '  Exact 
Chronological  Vindication '  for  the  absence 
of  'elegant,  lofty,  eloquent  language,  em- 
bellishments, and  transitions,'  and  he  under- 
states their  defects.  The  arrangement  of 
his  works-is  equally  careless.  Yet,  in  spite 
of  these  deficiencies,  the  amount  of  historical 
material  they  contain  and  the  number  of 
records  printed  for  the  first  time  in  his  pages 
give  his  historical  writings  a  lasting  value. 

Full  lists  of  Prynne's  works  are  given  by 
Anthony  Wood  and  by  Mr.  John  Bruce. 
Many  of  his  polemical  pamphlets  have  been 
already  mentioned.  The  following  are  his 
most  important  books  :  1.  '  Histrio-Mastix : 
the  Players  Scourge  or  Actors  Tragedy,'  4to, 
1633.  A  Dutch  translation  was  published 
at  Leyden  in  1639.  On  the  publication  of  this 
work  and  for  contemporary  references  to  it, 
see  Collier's  'History  of  English  Dramatic 
Poetry,'  ed.  1879,  i.  465,  and  Ward's '  English 
Dramatic  Poetry,' ii.  413.  Voltaire  criticises 
it  in  the  twenty-third  of  his  '  Lettres  sur  les 
Anglais.'  In  1649  was  published  '  Mr.  Wil- 
liam Prynne  his  Defence  of  Stage  Plays,  or 
a  Retractation  of  a  former  book  of  his  called 
"  Histrio-Mastix," '  which  is  reprinted  in  Mr. 
W.  C.  Hazlitt's  '  English  Drama  and  Stage,' 
1869.  It  is  not  by  Prynne.  Two  answers 
to  Prynne  were  written  by  Sir  Richard 
Baker:  'Theatrum  Redivivum,'  1662,  8vo, 
and  'Theatrum  Triumphans,'  1670,  8vo. 
2.  '  The  Sovereign  Power  of  Parliaments  and 
Kingdoms,'  in  four  parts,  1643,  4to.  This 
was  held  to  be  the  most  conclusive  vindica- 
tion of  the  constitutional  position  of  the 
parliament  (ViCAKS,  God's  Ark,  1646,  p.  203). 
It  was  answered  in  '  The  Fallacies  of  Mr. 
William  Prynne  Discovered,'  Oxford,  1643, 
4to.  3.  '  The  Opening  of  the  Great  Seal  of 
England,'  1643, 4to ;  reprinted  in  the  'Somers 
Tracts,'  ed.  Scott,  iv.  551.  4.  'Hidden  Works 
of  Darkness  brought  to  Public  Light,  or  a 
necessary  Introduction  to  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury's  Trial,'  1645,  fol.  5.  '  Canter- 
bury's Doom,  or  the  first  part  of  a  Complete 
History  of  the  Trial  of  William  Laud,'  1646, 
fol.  6.  '  The  first  part  of  an  Historical  Col- 
lection of  the  Ancient  Councils  and  Parlia- 
ments of  England,'  1649,  4to.  7.  '  A  Short 
Demurrer  to  the  Jews  long-discontinued  Re- 
mitter into  England,'  1656,  4to  :  answered 
in  '  Israel's  Cause  and  Condition  pleaded,'  by 
D.L.  8.  '  A  Plea  for  the  Lords  and  House 
of  Peers,'  1658,  4to.  This  is  an  expansion  of 
'  A  Plea  for  the  House  of  Lords,'  1648,  4to. 
9.  'A  Brief  Register  of  the  several  kinds  of 
Parliamentary  Writs,'  1659, 4to ;  the  second, 
third,  and  fourth  parts  were  published  in 
1660,  1662,  and  1664  respectively.  10.  'The 
Signal  Loyalty  and  Devotion  of  God's  true 


saints  towards  their  Kings,'  1660,  4to.  This 
contains  an  account  of  the  coronation  of 
James  I,  reprinted  in  vol.  ii.  of  the  publica- 
tions of  the  Henry  Bradshaw  Society,  1892, 
8m  11.  '  An  exact  Chronological  Vindica- 
tion and  Historical  Demonstration  of  our 
British,  Roman,  &c.,  Kings'  Supreme  Eccle- 
siastical Jurisdiction  over  all  Spiritual  or 
Religious  Affairs  within  their  Realms/ 3  vols. 
fol.  The  first  volume,  published  in  1666J 
ends  with  the  death  of  Richard  I;  the 
second,  published  in  1665,  with  the  death 
of  Henry  III.  The  third,  published  in  1670, 
is  also  called  '  The  History  of  King  John, 
King  Henry  III,  and  King  Edward  I.'  A 
fourth  volume  was  left  half  printed,  a  copy 
of  which  is  in  the  library  of  Lincoln's  Inn. 
An  allegorical  frontispiece  to  vol.  ii.  repre- 
sents Prynne  presentinghis  work  to  Charles  II 
on  his  throne.  The  triple  crown  of  the  pope 
is  falling  off*  as  he  beholds  it.  12.  '  Aurum 
Reginse,  or  concerning  Queen  Gold,'  1668, 
4to.  13.  '  Brief  Animadversions  on  the 
Fourth  Part  of  the  Institutes  of  the  Laws 
of  England,  compiled  by  Sir  Edward  Coke,' 
1669,  fol.  14.  'An  Exact  Abridgment  of 
the  Records  in  the  Tower  of  London,  col- 
lected by  Sir  Robert  Cotton,'  1689,  fol. ;  the 
preface  is  dated  1656-7. 

[A  Life  of  Prynne  is  given  in  Wood's  Athense 
Oxonienses  (ed.  Bliss,  iii.  844),  partly  based  on 
John  Aubrey's  notes  for  Wood,  which  are 
printed  in  Letters  written  by  eminent  persons 
in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries, 
from  the  originals  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  1813. 
John  Bruce  collected  materials  for  a  life  of  Prynne, 
and  wrote  an  account  of  Prynne's  early  life,  which 
were  edited  by  Mr.  S.  R.  Gardiner  for  the  Camden 
Society  in  1877under  the  titleof  Documents  relat- 
ing to  the  Proceedings  against  William  Prynne. 
A  Life  of  Prynne,  by  Mr.  S.  R.  Gardiner  and  Mr. 
Osmund  Airy,  is  in  the  ninth  edition  of  the  En- 
cyclopaedia Britannica.  Some  particulars  on  his 
listory  and  that  of  his  family  are  contained  in 
Mr.  R.  E.  M.  Peach's  History  of  Swanswick.l 

C.  H.  V. 

PRYOR,  ALFRED  REGINALD  (1839- 
1881),  botanist,  eldest  son  of  Alfred  Pryor 
of  Hatfield,  Hertfordshire,  was  born  there 
on  24  April  1839,  and  received  his  early 
education  at  Tunbridge  school,  whence  he 
went  to  University  College,  Oxford,  graduat- 
ng  B.A.  26  June  1862.  He  soon  grew  in- 
terested in  botany,  and  projected  a  new  flora 
of  his  native  county,  which  formed  the  main 
occupation  of  the  remainder  of  his  life  [see 
COLEMAN,  WILLIAM  HIGGINS].  He  was  com- 
pelled by  bad  health  to  winter  abroad,  1879- 
1880,  and  he  died  unmarried  at  Baldock  on 
18  Feb.  1881.  He  left  his  herbarium,  books 
and  manuscript  flora  to  the  Hertfordshire  Na- 


Prys 


438 


Pryse 


tural  History  Society,  with  a  small  sum  o 
money  to  enable  that  society  to  print  the  ma- 
n  uscript.  His  detached  papers,  showing  greal 
critical  knowledge  of  plants,  for  the  mosl 
part  came  out  in  the  *  Journal  of  Botany, 
1 873-81.  His  <  Flora  of  Hertfordshire,  edited 
.  .  .  by  B.  Day  don  Jackson,  with  an  Intro- 
duction ...  by  John  Hopkinson  and  the 
Editor,'  was  issued  in  1887,  London,  8vo. 

[Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.  1715-1886  iii.  1160 
Journ.  Bot.  1881,  pp.  276-8  ;  Pryor's  Flora,  pp 
xliv-xM;  Proc.  Linn.  Soc.  1880-2,  p.  19.] 

B.  D.  J. 

PRYS,  EDMUND  (1541  P-1624),  trans- 
lator of  the  psalms  into  Welsh  verse,  born 
about  1541,  was  son  of  Sion(John)  apRhys  oJ 
Tyddyn  Du  in  the  parish  of  Maen  Twrog,  Me- 
rionethshire, and  his  wife,  Sian  (Jane),  daugh- 
ter of  Owain  ap  Llywelyn.  On  16  March 
1569  he  entered  St.  John's  College,  Cam- 
bridge (BAKEK,  Hist,  of  St.  John's  College,  ed. 
Mayor).  On  14  March  1572-3  he  became 
rector  of  Festiniog,  with  its  chapelry  of  Maen 
Twrog,  and  on  5  Nov.  1576  archdeacon  of 
Merioneth.  About  the  same  time,  apparently, 
he  became  chaplain  to  Sir  Henry  Sidney  [q.v.], 
lord  president  of  Wales  (Bygones,  2  April 
1873).  On  16  April  1580  there  was  added 
to  the  living  he  already  held  the  rectory 
of  Llanenddwyn  with  its  chapelry  of  Llan- 
ddwywe,  and  on  8  Oct.  1602  he  was  made  a 
canon  cursal  (second  canonry)  of  St.  Asaph. 

Prys  was  a  skilful  composer  in  the  strict 
Welsh  metres,  and  took  an  active  part  in 
the  bardic  life  of  his  time.  He  engaged  in 
the  usual  duels  of  satiric  verse,  crossing 
swords  with  his  neighbours,  Thomas  Price 
(f.  1586-1632)  [q.  v.],  Sion  Phylip  [q.  v.], 
Waelod,  and  WTilliamCynwal  of  Penmachno. 
The  last  encounter  has  become  especially 
famous  in  Welsh  literary  history,  owing  to 
its  length  (fifty-four  poems  on  both  sides), 
and  the  fact  that  the  archdeacon's  adversary 
died  while  it  was  proceeding.  But  Prys's 
reputation  rests  on  his  translation  of  the 
psalms  into  free  Welsh  verse,  suitable  for 
congregational  singing.  A  rendering  of  the 
psalms  into  the  strict  metres  by  Captain 
William  Myddelton  [q.v.]  had  been  issued  in 
1603,  and  a  freer  translation  of  thirteen  by 
Edward  Kyffin  had  appeared  in  the  same 
year.  In  1621,  however,  to  a  new  issue  of 
the  Welsh  version  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  was  appended  Prys's  translation  of 
the  whole  of  the  psalter.  He  deliberately 
rejected  the  bardic  metres,  in  which  he  was 
a  finished  writer,  in  order  to  adapt  his  work 
for  popular  use,  and  his  verses  in  conse- 
quence acquired  a  popularity  which  has  not 
yet  vanished ;  many  of  them  are  still  re- 
gularly sung  in  Welsh  places  of  worship. 


Prys  is  mentioned  by  Dr.  William  Morgan 
[q.  v.]  as  one  of  three  who  rendered  him  con- 
siderable assistance  in  the  preparation  of  his 
translation  of  the  Bible  (1588).  Dr.  John 
Davies  (1570P-1644)  [q.  v.J  also  addressed  to 
him  the  preface  to  his  grammar  (Antiques 
Linguce  Britannicce,  &c.,  1621),  which  is  fol- 
lowed by  a  poetical  '  rescriptum '  from  the 
archdeacon's  pen,  in  the  title  to  which  he 
speaks  of  himself  as  'senis  octagenarii.'  He 
died  in  1624,  and  was  buried  in  Maen  Twrog 
church.  He  was  twice  married:  first,  to  Ellen, 
daughter  of  John  ap  Lewis  of  Pengwern, 
Festiniog,  by  whom  he  had  a  son  John  and  a 
daughter  Jane ;  secondly,  to  Grwen,  daughter 
of  Morgan  ap  Lewis  of  Fronheulog  (his  first 
wife's  cousin),  by  whom  he  had  two  sons, 
Foulk  and  Morgan. 

At  least  nineteen  editions  of  the  '  Salmau 
Can  '  are  believed  to  have  appeared,  chiefly 
in  editions  of  the  Bible.  The  '  Blodeugerdd' 
(1759)  contains  a  poem  ('  Cydsain  Cerddor- 
ion  ynglyn  Helicon ' )  by  Edmund  Prys 
(pp.  340-2) ;  many  of  his  '  cywyddau,'  e.g. 
the  elegy  to  Sion  Phylip  (Brython,  iv.  142), 
some  of  the  poems  of  the  conflict  with  Wil- 
liam Cynwal  (Ceinion  Llenyddiaeth  Gymreig, 
ii.  284-312),  the  '  cywydd '  to  Sion  Tudur 
(Enwogion  y  Ffydd,  i.  67),  and  one  to  Sion 
Phylip  (ib.  p.  68)  have  been  printed,  but  the 
bulk  are  still  in  manuscript,  very  many  being 
in  the  Cymrodorion  manuscripts  in  the  British 
Museum. 

[Dwnn's  Heraldic  Visitations,  ii.  285,  215-6, 
227;  Greninen,  1884,  p.  153;  Hanes  Llenydd- 
iaeth Gymreig,  by  Gweirydd  ap  Khys,  pp. 
314-22;  Browne  Willis's  St.  Asaph,  i.  233-5; 
Ashton's  Esgob  Morgan,  pp.  166-9;  Gwyddion- 
adur,  s.  v.  Edmund  Prys ;  Hanes  PI wyf  Festiniog, 
by  G-.  J.  Williams  (Wrexham,  1882),  pp.  59,  153, 
228-31.]  J.  E.  L. 

PRYSE,  SIB  CARBERY  (d.  1695), 
mine-owner,  was  the  son  of  Carbery  Pryse, 
by  his  wife  Hester,  daughter  of  Sir  Bui- 
strode  Whitelocke,  and  grandson  of  Sir 
Richard  Pryse  of  Gogerddan,  Cardiganshire. 
He  succeeded  to  the  baronetcy  on  the  death 
of  his  uncle,  Sir  Thomas  Pryse,  in  1682. 
About  1690  mines  were  discovered  on  his 
estate  at  Bwlchyr  Escairhir,  Cardiganshire, 
the  reputed  value  of  which  was  so  great, 
that  they  were  called  the  '  Welsn  Potosi.' 
Pryse  formed  a  company,  consisting  of  him- 
elf  and  twenty-four  shareholders,  but  they 
were  opposed  by  the  Society  of  Royal 
Mines,  and  several  lawsuits  followed.  Ham- 
pered by  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  sufficient 
capital  to  work  the  mines,  and  by  heavy 
legal  expenses,  Pryse  and  his  partners  made 
ittle  progress.  In  1693  they  obtained  '  an 
act  to  prevent  disputes  and  controversies 


Psalmanazar 


439 


Psalmanazar 


concerning  royal  mines '  (5  Will.  &  Mary,  c. 
6),  empowering  all  subjects,  of  the  crown  to 
work  their  own  mines  in  England  and 
Wales,  but  securing  to  the  crown  the  right 
of  pre-emption.  Pryse  is  said  to  have  con- 
veyed the  news  of  the  passing  of  this  act  to 
Escairhir  within  forty-eight  hours.  He 
and  his  partners  now  subdivided  their 
twenty-four  shares  into  4,008  shares,  for  the 
term  of  twenty-two  years  and  a  half,  and 
obtained  considerable  support  for  the  new 
company.  He  died  in  1695,  leaving  the 
company  greatly  in  debt.  He  was  unmarried, 
and  the  baronetcy  expired  with  him.  After 
his  death,  Sir  Humphry  Mackworth  [q_,  v.] 
purchased  his  shares,  and  formed  the  famous 
Company  of  Mine-Adventurers. 

[Burke's  Extinct  Baronetcies,  p.  431  ;  Mey- 
rick's  History  of  Cardiganshire;  Macpherson's 
Annals  of  Commerce,  ii.  647;  A  True  Copy  of 
Several  Affidavits  ...  of  the  Mines  late  of  Sir 
Carbery  Pryse,  1698;  Waller's  Essay  on  the 
Value  of  the  Mines  late  of  Sir  Carbery  Pryse  ; 
numerous  tracts  and  broadsides  relating  to  the 
Mine-Adventurers'  Company.]  W.  A.  S.  H. 

PSALMAKAZAR,  GEORGE  (1679  ?- 
1763),  literary  imposjbor,  was  a  native  of  the 
south  of  France.  His  real  name  is  not  re- 
vealed. That  by  which  he  is  alone  known 
he  fashioned  for  himself  from  Shalmaneser, 
an  Assyrian  prince  mentioned  in  the  second 
book  of  Kings  (xvii.  3;  Memoirs,^.  141). 
According  to  his  vague  autobiography,  his 
birthplace  was  a  city  lying  on  the  road  between 
Avignon  and  Rome.  Both  his  parents  were 
Roman  catholics.  His  father's  family  was 
1  antient  but  decayed.'  His  pronunciation 
of  French  l  had  a  spice  of  the  Gascoin  accent.' 
He  was  educated  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
his  birthplace,  successively  attending  a  free 
school  kept  by  two  Franciscan  monks,  a 
Jesuits'  college,  a  school  taught  by  the  rector 
of  a  small  Dominican  convent,  and  a  uni- 
versity. Well  grounded  in  Latin,  he  soon 
spoke  it  fluently,  and  developed  a  marked 
faculty  for  learning  languages.  A  passion 
for  notoriety  also  declared  itself  at  an  early 
age.  When  barely  sixteen  he  secured  a  pass- 
port, in  which  he  contrived  to  have  himself 
described  as  '  a  young  student  in  theology  of 
Irish  extract  [ion],  who  had  left  his  country 
for  the  sake  of  religion  '  (p.  98).  With  tins 
document  he  set  out  for  Rome,  but  he  changed 
his  plans,  and  resolved  to  join  his  father,  five 
hundred  miles  off,  in  Germany.  Reduced  to 
the  utmost  destitution,  he  begged  by  the 
roadside,  but  his  appeals,  in  the  guise  of  a 
persecuted  Irish  catholic,  failed  to  attract 
much  attention.  At  length  he  found  his 
father,  who  proved  unable  to  support  him, 
and  he  extended  his  tour,  as  a  mendicant 


student,  through  Germany  and  the  Low 
Countries.  Hungering  for  public  notice,  he 
now  hit  on  the  eccentric  device  of  forging  a 
fresh  passport,  in  which  he  designated  him- 
self a  native  of  Japan  who  had  been  converted 
to  Christianity.  His  Jesuit  tutors  had  in- 
structed him  in  the  history  and  geography 
of  Japan  and  China,  and  he  had  heard  vaguely 
of  recent  Jesuit  missions  to  the  former  country. 
To  render  his  new  device  more  effective,  he 
soon  modified  it  by  passing  himself  off  as  a 
Japanese  who  still  adhered  to  his  pagan 
faith.  This  role  he  filled  for  many  years. 
The  trick  was  worked  with  much  ingenuity. 
He  lived  on  raw  flesh,  roots,  and  herbs,  in 
accordance  with  what  he  represented  to  be 
the  customs  of  his  native  land.  Then,  with 
bolder  assurance,  he  set  to  work  to  construct 
a  language  which  he  pretended  was  his  native 
tongue.  He  completed  an  elaborate  alphabet 
and  grammar,  making  the  symbols  run  from 
right  to  left,  as  in  Hebrew.  At  Landau 
the  whimsical  account  that  he  gave  of  him- 
self led  to  his  imprisonment  as  a  spy,  but  at 
Aix-la-Chapelle  he  obtained,  in  his  assumed 
character,  an  engagement  as  a  waiter  at  a 
coffee-house.  The  employment  was  not  per- 
manent, and,  in  despair,  he  enlisted  in  the 
army  of  the  elector  of  Cologne.  Weak  health 
brought  about  his  dismissal,  but  he  re-enlisted 
at)  Cologne  in  a  regiment  belonging  to  the 
Duke  of  Mecklenburg,  which  was  in  the  pay 
of  the  Dutch,  and  consisted  mainly  of 
Lutherans. 

He  now  first  called  himself  Psalmanazar, 
and  his  singular  story  excited  curiosity.  By 
this  time  he  had  invented  a  worship  of  his  own, 
which  he  represented  as  the  religion  of  Japan. 
Turning  his  face  to  the  rising  or  setting  sun,  he 
muttered  or  chanted  gibberish  prose  and  verse 
which  he  wrote  out  in  his  invented  character 
in  a  little  book,  and  he  adorned  the  work 
with  '  figures  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  and 
such  other  imagery  as  his  frenzy  suggested 
to  him '  (Memoirs,  pp.  144-5).  He  challenged 
his  fellow-soldiers  who  were  interested  in 
religious  controversy  to  defend  their  faith 
against  his.  When  the  regiment  moved  to 
Sluys  at  the  end  of  1 702,  his  eccentricities  were 
reported  to  Major-general  George  Lauder,the 
governor  of  the  town.  Lauder  invited  Isaac 
Amalvi,  the  minister  of  the  Walloon  church, 
and  William  Innes,  chaplain  to  a  Scots  regi- 
ment at  Sluys,  to  examine  him.  Conferences 
on  religion  between  Amalvi  and  Psalmanazar 
were  held  in  the  governor's  presence.  Psal- 
manazar claimed  the  victory,  and  his  honesty 
was  not  generally  suspected.  Innes  was  a 
shrewder  observer.  He  detected  the  impos- 
ture at  once,  but  wickedly  suggested  to  the 
youth  a  mode  of  developing  it  which  might 


Psalmanazar 


440 


Psalmanazar 


profit  them  both.  The  first  step  was  for 
limes  to  publicly  baptise  Psalmanazar  as  a 
protestant.  Thereupon  Innes  described  the 
ceremony  in  a  letter  to  Henry  Compton  fq.  v.j, 
bishop  of  London.  To  render  the  story  of 
Psalmanazar's  early  life  more  plausible,  Innes 
declared  that  the  convert  was  a  native,  not 
of  Japan,  but  of  the  neighbouring  island  of 
Formosa,  of  which  he  safely  assumed  that  very 
few  Englishmen  had  heard.  Jesuits,  Innes 
said,  had  abducted  him  from  his  native  island, 
and  had  carried  him  to  Avignon.  There  the 
young  man  had  withstood  all  persuasions  to 
become  a  Roman  catholic,  and  the  Jesuits, 
angered  by  his  obstinacy,  threatened  him 
with  the  tortures  of  the  inquisition.  In  order 
to  escape  persecution  he  fled  to  Germany, 
where  he  suffered  the  direst  poverty.  The 
bishop  accepted  the  story  without  question, 
and  bade  Innes  bring  his  convert  to  London. 
Psalmanazar's  discharge  from  his  regiment 
was  easily  effected,  and  at  the  end  of  1703 
he  landed  at  Harwich. 

In  London  Psalmanazar  at  once  attracted 
popular  interest.  He  presented  Compton  with 
a  translation  of  the  Church  of  England  cate- 
chism into  his  invented  language,  which  he 
now  called  '  Formosan.'  He  was  voluble  in 
Latin  to  Archbishop  Tillotson.  Not  only  did 
the  bishops  and  clergy  thenceforth  regard  him 
with  compassion  and  set  on  foot  a  fund  for 
his  maintenance  and  further  education,  but 
scientific  men  were  anxious  to  study  his 
language  and  to  learn  something  of  so  un- 
familiar a  land  as  Formosa.  His  assurance 
silenced  suspicions  of  fraud.  He  made  it  a 
practice  never  to  withdraw  or  modify  any 
statement  that  he  once  made  in  public,  and 
having  committed  himself  to  the  assertion 
that  Formosa  was  part  of  the  empire  of  Japan 
(instead  of  China),  and  that  its  population 
was  impossibly  large,  he  steadfastly  declined 
to  entertain  corrections.  Father  Fountenay, 
a  Jesuit  missionary  to  China,  was  at  the 
moment  in  London,  and  readily  perceived 
Psalmanazar's  blunders.  But  Psalmanazar 
met  his  critic  at  a  public  meeting  of  the  Royal 
Society  (2  Feb.  1703-4),  and,  according  to  his 
own  account,  successfully  rebutted  Foun- 
tenay's  censures.  Sir  Hans  Sloane,  the 
secretary  of  the  Royal  Society,  invited  the 
disputants  to  dine  with  him  eight  days  later, 
and  among  the  guests  was  the  Earl  of  Pem- 
broke, who  became  one  of  Psalmanazar's  most 
generous  patrons.  '  He  was  now  invited  to 
every  great  table  in  the  kingdom  '  ( Gent. 
Mag.  1765,  p.  78),  and  on  all  occasions  he 
paraded  his  Formosan  language,  which  was 
'  sufficiently  original,  copious,  and  regular  to 
impose  on  men  of  very  extensive  learning ' 

e  East,  p.  237). 


By  impudent  raillery  he  succeeded  in  turning 
the  laugh  against  sceptics.  When  Bishop 
Burnet  asked  him  for  proofs  that  he  came 
from  Formosa,  he  replied  that  the  bishop,  if 
chance  took  him  to  Formosa,  would  be 
placed  in  an  awkward  dilemma  when,  on  his 
declaring  himself  an  Englishman,  he  was 
asked  to  prove  the  statement.  '  You  say  you 
are  an  Englishman,'  the  Formosan,  according 
to  Psalmanazar,  would  retort ;  '  you  look  as 
like  a  Dutchman  as  any  that  ever  traded  to 
Formosa  '  (Pylades  and  Corinna,  by  Richard 
Gwinnet  and  Elizabeth  Thomas ;  Gent.  Mag. 
1765,  p.  78). 

At  the  expense  of  Compton  and  his  friends, 
Psalmanazar  spent  six  months,  apparently 
in  1704,  at  Oxford,  where  rooms  were  as- 
signed him  at  Christ  Church.  The  bishop 
hoped  that  he  would  there  '  teach  the  For- 
mosan language  to  a  set  of  gentlemen,  who 
were  afterwards  to  go  with  him  to  convert 
these  people  to  Christianity'  (Memoirs,  p. 
161).  He  fascinated  large  assemblies  of  ladies 
and  gentlemen  at  the  university  by  detailed 
accounts  of  the  human  sacrifices  which 
formed  part  (he  said)  of  the  Formosans'  re- 
ligious ritual.  He  thought  it  no  sin,  he 
told  his  hearers,  to  eat  human  flesh,  but 
owned  it  was  a  little  unmannerly.  He  made 
some  learned  researches  at  Oxford,  and,  ac- 
cording to  Hearne,  *  left  behind  him  at  Christ 
Church  a  book,  in  manuscript,  wherein  a 
distinct  account  was  given  of  the  consular 
and  imperial  coins,  by  himself  (Collections, 
i.  271). 

To  improve  his  position,  Psalmanazar,  at 
Innes's  instigation,  prepared  a  full  account  of 
what  he  alleged  to  be  his  early  life  and  ex- 
periences. He  wrote  in  Latin,  and  the  main 
Sirtion  of  his  manuscript  was  translated  by 
r.  Oswald.  It  was  completed  in  two  months, 
and  was  issued  before  the  end  of  1704,  with 
a  dedication  to  Bishop  Compton,  as  '  An  His- 
torical and  Geographical  Description  of  For- 
mosa, an  Island  subject  to  the  Emperor  of 
Japan  .  .  .  illustrated  with  several  Cuts.' 
There  was  prefixed  a  long  introduction,  de- 
scribing his  reception  in  England,  his  travels, 
and  his  conversion  to  protestantism.  He 
seized  every  opportunity  of  abusing  the 
Jesuits,  a  policy  which  commended  the  work 
to  English  churchmen.  In  a  later  section 
the  language,  dress,  religious  beliefs,  and  poli- 
tical constitution  of  Formosa  were  set  forth 
in  detail.  What  was  not  due  to  his  own 
imagination  he  borrowed  from  Varenius's 
'Descriptio  Regni  Japonise  et  Siam'  (Amster- 
dam, 1649)  or Candidius's ' Voyages.'  Though 
the  book  met  with  much  success,  Psalma- 
nazar only  received  ten  guineas  for  the  first 
edition.  A  second  edition,  next  year,  brought 


Psalmanazar 


441 


Psalmanazar 


him  twelve.  A  French  translation,  edited 
by  '  le  Sieur  N.  F.  B.  R.,'  with  some  addi- 
tional plates,  appeared  at  the  same  date  at 
Amsterdam,  and  a  German  version  was  pub- 
lished at  Frankfort  in  1716.  The  French 
rendering  provoked  a  reply,  entitled  '  Eclair- 
cissemens  '  (Hague,  1706J,  from  Amalvi,  the 
minister  at  Sluys,  who  complained  of  Psalma- 
nazar's  misstatements  respecting  himself. 
Other  criticisms  rendered  Psalmanazar's  posi- 
tion perilous,  but  he  was  slow  to  acknow- 
ledge defeat.  In  1707  he  published  a  singular 
'  Dialogue  between  a  Japanese  and  a  Formo- 
san  about  some  parts  of  the  Religion  of  the 
Japanese.'  Here  the  Japanese  interlocutor 
is  represented  as  a  freethinking  critic  of 
priestcraft  which  the  Formosan  champions. 
About  the  same  time  Psalmanazar's  mentor, 
Innes,  was  rewarded  for  his  zeal  in  convert- 
ing and  teaching  him,"by  his  appointment  as 
chaplain-general  to  the  English  forces  in 
Portugal.  Innes's  withdrawal  discouraged 
Psalmanazar,  who  felt  incompetent  to  sustain 
the  imposture  unaided.  The  tide  of  incre- 
dulity rose,  Psalmanazar's  credit  was  shaken, 
his  patrons  gradually  deserted  him,  and  after 
1708  he  was  the  butt  of  much  ridicule.  In 
the  <  Spectator '  (No.  14)  of  16  March  1710- 
1711  a  mock  advertisement  announced  that 
in  an  opera,  called  '  The  Cruelty  of  Atreus,' 
to  be  produced  at  the  Haymarket  Theatre, 
'  the  scene  wherein  Thyestes  eats  his  own 
children  is  to  be  performed  by  the  famous  Mr. 
Psalmanazar,  lately  arrived  from  Formosa.' 

Psalmanazar,  bowing  to  the  storm,  re- 
tired into  obscurity,  and  indulged,  accord- 
ing to  his  own  account,  in  all  manner  of  dis- 
sipation. About  1712  he  was  induced  to 
revive  his  false  pretensions.  One  Pattenden 
persuaded  him  to  father  *  a  white  sort  of  Japan ' 
paint  which  he  had  invented,  and  it  was  adver- 
tised as  i  white  Formosan  work,'  and  as  intro- 
duced by  Psalmanazar  from  his  own  country. 
Subsequently  he  obtained  more  honourable 
employment.  He  became  a  tutor,  and  then 
acted  as  clerk  of  a  regiment  engaged  in  Lan- 
cashire in  the  suppression  of  the  Jacobite  re- 
bellion of  1715.  In  1717,  when  he  left  the 
regiment  at  Bristol  on  its  departure  for  Ire- 
land, he  tried  his  hand  at  fan-painting,  and 
afterwards  did  some  literary  work  for  a  Lon- 
don printer.  A  clergyman,  who  still  be- 
lieved his  discredited  story,  collected  sub- 
scriptions in  his  behalf ;  but  a  serious  illness 
in  1728,  during  which  he  read  Law's  '  Seri- 
ous Call'  and  Nelson's  'Methods  of  Devo- 
tions/ led  him  to  renounce  his  past  life  and 
errors,  and  to  begin  '  a  faithful  narrative  '  of 
his  deceit,  which  was  to  be  published  after 
his  death. 

Thenceforth  Psalmanazar  gained  a  labo- 


rious livelihood  as  a  hack-writer,  and  the 
sanctity  of  his  demeanour  was  held  to  be 
convincing  proof  of  the  thoroughness  of 
his  repentance.  His  sole  indulgence  was 
in  opium.  At  one  time  he  took  Hen  or 
twelve  spoonfuls  every  night,  and  very  often 
more,'  but  he  succeeded  in  reducing  the  dose 
1  to  ten  or  twelve  drops  in  a  pint  of  punch,' 
which  he  drank  with  the  utmost  regularity 
at  the  end  of  each  day's  work.  He  in- 
variably wrote  from  seven  in  the  morn- 
ing ^till  seven  at  night,  and]  was  very  abs- 
temious in  his  diet.  He  spent  much  time 
in  learning  Hebrew,  which  he  came  to  speak 
with  ease.  He  prepared  for  the  press  a  new 
edition  of  the  Psalms,  with  Leusden's  Latin 
version ;  but  it  was  not  published,  because 
Dr.  Hare,  bishop  of  Chichester,  anticipated 
him  in  the  scheme  in  1736.  He  wrote  pri- 
vately against  the  bishop's  theory  of  Hebrew 
metres,  which  Lowth  finally  refuted.  Psalma- 
nazar's chief  publication  was  'A  General 
History  of  Printing,'  originally  designed  by 
Samuel  Palmer  (d.  1732)  [q.  v.],  whose  name 
alone  appears  as  author  on  the  title-page.  This 
Psalmanazar  claimed  to  have  compiled  under 
the  patronage  of  the  Earl  of  Pembroke.  Be- 
tween 1735  and  1744  he  was  employed,  with 
Archibald  Bower  [q.  v.]  and  others,  in  com- 
piling the  '  Universal  History/  To  the  first 
edition  he  contributed  i  Jewish  History,'  the 
'  Ancient  History  of  Greece,'  the  '  Ancient 
Empires  of  Nice  and  Trebizon/  the  'Ancient 
Spaniards,'  the  '  Ancient  Germans,'  the 
'  Gauls,'  the  '  Celtes  and  Scythians.'  In  the 
second  edition  he  wrote  on  later  Theban, 
Corinthian  and  Jewish  history,  and  on  Xeno- 
phon's  retreat. 

In  1747  he  contributed  an  anonymous 
article  on  Formosa  to  Bowen's '  Complete  Sys- 
tem of  Geography'  (ii.  251).  The  article 
stated  that  Psalmanazar  had  long  since 
owned  the  fraud,  though  not  publicly,  out 
of  consideration  for  a  '  few  persons  who  for 
private  ends  took  advantage  of  his  youthful 
vanity  to  encourage  him  in  an  imposture 
which  he  might  otherwise  never  have  had  the 
thought,  much  less  the  confidence,  to  have 
carried  on.'  In  1753  he  published,  under  the 
pseudonym  of  '  an  obscure  layman  in  town,' 
a,  volume  of  '  Essays  on  the  following  sub- 
jects :  I.  on  Miracles,  II.  on  the  Extra- 
ordinary Adventure  of  Balaam,  III.  on  the 
Victory  gained  by  Joshua  over  Jabin,  King 
of  Hazor.' 

Late  in  life  he  lived  in  Ironmonger  Row, 
Old  Street,  Clerkenwell,  and  bore  an  irre- 
proachable reputation.  '  Scarce  any  person, 
iven  children,  passed  him  without  showing 
aim  the  usual  signs  of  respect '  (HAWKINS, 
Johnson,  p.  547).  Smollett,  in  '  Humphrey 


Pucci 


442 


Pucci 


Clinker,'  described  him  in  his  old  age  as 
one  '  who,  after  having  drudged  half  a  cen- 
tury in  the  literary  mill  in  all  the  simplicity 
and  abstinence  of  an  Asiatic,  subsists  upon 
the  charity  of  a  few  booksellers,  just  suf- 
ficient to  keep  him  from  the  parish.'  His 
fame  for  sanctity  reached  the  ears  of  Dr. 
Johnson,  who  'sought  after'  him  and  '  used 
to  go  and  sit  with  him  at  an  alehouse' 
in  Old  Street.  Johnson  said  that  he  never 
saw  '  the  close  of  the  life  of  any  one  that 
he  wished  so  much  his  own  to  resemble 
for  its  purity  and  devotion.'  Johnson  never 
contradicted  him.  He  would,  he  said,  as 
soon  have  thought  of  contradicting  a  bishop ; 
and,  according  to  Mrs.  Piozzi,  he  declared 
that  '  Psalmanazar's  piety,  penitence,  and 
virtue  exceeded  almost  what  we  read  as 
wonderful  in  the  lives  of  the  saints.'  John- 
son mentions  him  in  his  '  Prayers  and  Medi- 
tations '  (p.  102)  as  a  man  '  whose  life  was, 
I  think,  uniform.' 

Psalmanazar  died  in  Ironmonger  Row  on 
3  May  1763,  aged  about  84.  '  His  pious  and 
patient  endurance '  (wrote  Mrs.  Piozzi)  '  of 
a  tedious  illness,  ending  in  an  exemplary 
death,  confirms  the  strong  impression  his 
merit  had  made  upon  the  mind  of  Mr.  John- 
son '  (Anecdotes,  p.  175). 

All  his  property  he  left,  by  will  dated 
23  April  1754,  to  his  friend  and  housekeeper, 
Sarah  Rewalling.  In  1764  there  was  pub- 
lished, by  his  direction  and  for  the  benefit 
of  his  executrix,  his  '  Memoirs  of  *  *  *  com- 
monly known  by  the  name  of  George  Psalma- 
nazar.' A  portrait  is  prefixed,  together  with 
his  will.  A  second  edition  appeared  in  1765. 
The  story  of  his  imposture  and  early  struggles 
fills  two-thirds  of  the  book.  The  success  of 
his  deceit  and  the  interest  it  excited  seem 
to  justify  Horace  Walpole's  comment  that, 
as  a  literary  impostor,  he  possessed  a  greater 
genius  than  Chatterton.  In  the  'Biblio- 
theque  Universelle  des  Voyages/  by  G. 
Boucher  de  la  Richarderie  (Paris,  1808),  a  full 
summary  of  Psalmanazar's  history  of  For- 
mosa is  unsuspectingly  supplied  (v.  289  sq.) 

[Psalmanazar's  Memoirs,  1764,  and  Account  of 
Formosa,  1704;  Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson,  ed. 
G.  B.  Hill,  iii.  314,  443-9  (an  essay  by  Dr.  Hill), 
iv.  274 ;  Disraeli's  Curiosities  of  Literature; 
Celebrites  Anglaises  by  Jules  Lefevre  Deumier, 
1895  (a  very  slight  sketch).]  S.  L. 

PUCCI,  FRANCESCO  (1540-1593?), 
theological  writer,  was  born  at  Florence  in 
1540  (GASPAKI).  He  was  of  the  same 
family  as  the  conservative  cardinals  Lorenzo 
Pucci  (d.  1531),  Roberto  Pucci  (d.  1547), 
and  Antonio  Pucci  (6?.1544),  but  his  own  bent 
was  towards  literature  and  freethought. 
Following  Tuscan  custom,  he  began  life  in  a 


mercantile  house  at  Lyons.  Here  he  became 
bitten  with  a  reforming  zeal,  and  having 
some  means  of  his  own,  in  addition  to  an 
allowance  from  his  father,  he  pursued  a 
career  of  strange  independence.  He  made 
his  way  to  London,  where  he  became  ac- 
quainted with  Antonio  de  Corro  [q.  v.]  In 
1572  he  repaired  to  Oxford,  apparently  ex- 
pecting to  find  sympathy  with  his  anta- 
gonism to  the  Calvinistic  type  of  protes- 
tantism. On  18  May  1574  he  was  admitted 
M.A.  He  applied  for  a  post  of  lecturer  in 
th'eology,  but  his  disputations  soon  made  him 
obnoxious  to  the  authorities,  who  expelled 
him  (before  June  1575)  from  the  university. 
John  Rainolds,  D.D.  [q.  v.],  writes  in  1576  to 
the  vice-chancellor,  'It  pleased  God  to  stirrup 
your  haste  with  the  grace  of  his  holy  Spirit 
for  the  removing  of  Puccius.'  In  1575-7  he 
was  in  London,  communicating  with  the 
Italian  congregation  of  the  '  strangers' 
church,'  but  unsettled  in  his  views.  •  He 
corresponded  with  Francesco  Betti,  a  Roman 
of  noble  family,  who  advised  him  to  come  to 
Basle  and  lay  his  difficulties  before  the  future 
heresiarch,  Fausto  Paulo  Sozzini  (Socinus). 
Pucci  reached  Basle  about  May  1577,  and 
held  a  written  disputation  with  Sozzini  on 
the  question  of  immortality.  Pucci  regarded 
all  creatures  as  imperishable;  Sozzini  de- 
nied the  natural  immortality  of  man,  treat- 
ing a  future  life  as  a  conditional  privilege. 
On  4  June  Pucci  formulated  his  positions, 
under  ten  heads;  Sozzini  replied  on  11  June ; 
Pucci  finished  a  rejoinder  on  1  July.  The 
discussion  was  interrupted  by  the  expulsion 
of  Pucci  from  Basle.  He  had  publicly  main- 
tained an  extreme  form  of  Pelagianism,  print- 
ing theses,  *  De  Fide  natura  hominibus  uni- 
versis  insita,'  in  which  he  claimed  that  all 
men  are  by  nature  in  a  state  of  salvation.  Soon 
afterwards  an  epidemic  drove  Sozzini  from 
Basle  ;  he  completed  an  answer  to  Pucci  at 
Zurich  on  27  Jan.  1578.  This,  in  the  following 
October,  he  forwarded  to  Pucci,  who  made 
notes  on  the  margin  of  the  manuscript,  but 
wrote  no  formal  reply.  Long  afterwards  the 
manuscript  was  returned  to  Sozzini  through 
Cornelius  Daems,  D.C.L.,  of  Gouda.  Sozzini 
printed  the  whole  discussion  with  the  title 
'De  Statu  Primi  Hominis  ante  Lapsum,' 
Cracow,  1590,  4to  (reprinted  1610,  4to;  also 
in  Socini  Opera,  ii.  257  seq.) 

From  Basle  Pucci  had  returned  by  way 
of  Nuremberg  and  Flanders  to  London,  where 
Sozzini  believed  him  to  be  still  staying  in 
December  1580.  His  peculiar  views  exposed 
him  to  persecution  and  imprisonment  ;  on 
his  release  he  betook  himself  to  Holland, 
where  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Justus 
Lipsius  at  Leyden.  In  Holland  he  attached 


Puckeridge 


443 


Puckering 


himself  to  a  '  concilium  peregrinantium 
Christianorum,'  and  invited  the  adhesion  oi 
Sozzini.  He  soon  moved  on  to  Antwerp. 
By  1585  he  had  resorted  to  Sozzini  in  Poland 
At  Cracow  he  fell  in  with  John  Dee  [q.  v. 
and  Edward  Kelley  [q.  v.],  who  passed  for 
Roman  catholics,  and  were  bent  on  a  new 
universal  reformation.  They  initiated  Pucci 
into  their  angelic  experiences,  and  about  the 
middle  of  1585,  despite  the  strong  remon- 
strances of  Sozzini,  he  accompanied  them  to 
Prague.  On  his  arrival  there,  an  angelic  voice 
bade  him  re-enter  the  Roman  communion, 
which  he  at  once  did.  He  wrote  to  Sozzini 
and  other  friends,  entreating  them  to  follow 
his  example.  Dee  and  Kelley  suspected  him 
of  bad  faith  in  treating  against  them  with 
Roman  catholic  ecclesiastics  ;  he  exculpated 
himself  in  a  letter  of  17  Sept.  1585,  which 
was  printed. 

Reverting  to  the  theme  which  had  caused 
his  expulsion  from  Basle,  he  printed  a  trea- 
tise '  De  Christi  Servatoris  Efficacitate  in 
omnibus  et  singulis  hominibus  ....  Asser- 
tio  Catholica,'  &c.,  Gouda,  1592,  8vo,  with  a 
dedication  to  Clement  VIII.  A '  Refutatio ' 
of  this  '  Satanic'  treatise  was  published  by 
Lucas  Osiander  at  Tiibingen  in  1593  ;  Nicho- 
las Serarius  also  published  <  Contra  Novos 
.  .  .  Puccii . . .  Errores  libri  duo,'  &c.,  Wiirz- 
burg,  1593,  12mo,  and  there  were  other  re- 
plies. He  projected  a  journey  to  Rome,  to 
present  his  book  in  person ;  but  in  November 
1592,  while  on  the  way,  he  was  thrown  from 
a  vehicle,  and  lay  some  months  with  a 
broken  thigh  at  Salzburg,  where  he  probably 
died,  under  arrest,  in  1593.  Many  of  his 
letters  and  papers  are  in  the  archives  of  the 
consistory  at  Salzburg.  According  to  Gas- 
pari,  he  wrote  his  l  De  Serv.  Effic. '  on  his 
sick-bed  at  Salzburg ;  it  was  probably  his 
'De  Christi  Regno,'  which  is  preserved 
among  the  Salzburg  papers  in  Latin  and  in 
Italian. 

[Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  (Bliss),  i.  580,  587  seq., 
iii.  290;  F.  Socini  Opera  [1668],  i.  378  seq., 
497,  508  ;  Bayle's  Dictionnaire  Hist,  et  Grit. 
1740,  iii.  826  seq.;  Joannis  Baptistae  de  G-as- 
paris  Commentarius  de  Vita  .  .  Puccii,  in  A. 
Calogiera's  Nuova  Raccolta  d'Opuscoli,  &c., 
1755,  vol.  xxix.,  also  1776,  vol.  xxx. ;  Caterbi's 
La  Chiesa  di  S.  Oiiofrio,  1858;  Cantti's  Gli 
Eretici  d'ltalia,  1866,  ii.  499;  the  Sozzini  and 
their  School,  in  Theological  Review,  October 
1879,  pp.  549  seq. ;  Wood's  MSS.  E.  29,  in  the 
Bodleian  Library;  Twelve  Bad  Men,  ed.  Sec- 
combe,  s. v.  Kelley;  information  from  the  Rev. 
Fortunate  Cecchi  of  St.  Onofrio.]  A.  G. 

PUCKERIDGE,   RICHARD    (1690?- 

1759),  inventor  of  the  musical  glasses.     [See 

POCKRICH.] 


^PUCKERING,    SIR   HENRY    (1618- 
1701),  royalist.    [See  NEWTON,  SIB  HENRY.] 

PUCKERING,  SIR  JOHN  (1544-1 596), 
lord  keeper  of  the  great  seal,  eldest  son  of 
William  Puckering  of  Flamborough,  York- 
shire, was  born  in  1544.  On  10  April  1559 
he  was  admitted  a  student  at  Lincoln's  Inn, 
where  he  was  called  to  the  bar  on  15  Jan. 
1567,  was  elected  governor  in  1575,  and 
reader  in  Lent  1577.  In  1580  he  was  made 
serjeant-at-law.  In  the  parliaments  of  1 584- 
1586  and  1586-7  he  was  speaker  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  being  member  for  Bed- 
ford in  the  one,  and  for  Gatton,  Surrey,  in 
the  other.  In  the  former  he  committed,  on 
17  Dec.  1584,  William  Parry  [q.v.]  for  op- 
posing the  bill  excluding  Jesuits  from  the 
realm ;  in  the  latter,  on  the  incrimination  of 
the  Queen  of  Scots  by  the  Star-chamber  com- 
mission, he  presented  to  Elizabeth  on  12  Nov. 
1586  the  resolutions  of  the  commons  in 
favour  of  her  speedy  execution.  In  both  parlia- 
ments his  speeches  to  the  queen  were  couched 
in  the  most  grandiloquent  style  of  loyal 
adulation.  While  still  speaker  he  was  made 
queen's  Serjeant,  and  employed  in  unravelling 
the  plots  of  Babington,  Abington,  and  their 
confederates.  His  first  appearance  in  court 
on  the  crown  side  was  in  Abington's  case  on 
15  Sept.  1586.  He  also  took  part  in  the 
prosecution  of  William  Davison  (1541  ?- 
1608)  [q.  v.],  of  Sir  Richard  Knightley  [q.  v.], 
and  of  Philip  Howard,  first  earl  of  Arundel 
of  the  Howard  family  [q.  v.],  besides  acting 
as  joint  commissioner  with  Baron  Clarke  in 
the  trial  of  the  puritan  John  Udal  [q.  v.]  in 
July  1590  and  February  1590-1.  While  oc- 
cupied in  prosecuting  at  Westminster  the  late 
lord-deputy  of  Ireland,  Sir  John  Perrot  [q.  v.], 
he  was  made  lord  keeper  of  the  great  seal  on 
28  April  1592,  in  succession  to  Sir  Christopher 
Hatton  [q.  v.],  and  knighted.  He  took  the 
lord-keeper's  oaths  and  his  seat  in  the  court 
of  chancery  on  4  June,  and  delivered  the 
queen's  speech  on  the  meeting  of  parliament 
on  19  Feb.  1592-3. 

Puckering  was  a  favourite  with  the  queen, 
whom  he  entertained  with  prodigal  magni- 
ficence at  his  villa  at  Kew  on  11  Dec.  1591. 
His  town  residence  was  Russell  House,  be- 
tween Charing  Cross  and  the  Temple.  After 
a  brief  tenure  of  office,  disgraced  by  a  si- 
moniacal  disposal  of  ecclesiastical  patronage 
— the  guilt  of  which  Camden  imputes  ex- 
clusively to  his  subordinates — he  died  at  his 
villa  at  Kew  on  30  April  1596.  His  re- 
mains were  interred  in  St.  Paul's  Chapel, 
Westminster  Abbey,  where  a  costly  monu- 
ment was  placed  to  his  memory  by  his 
widow. 


Puckering 


444 


Puckering 


Some  manuscripts,  transcribed  by  Thomas 
Baker  [q.  v.]  from  lost  papers  by  Puckering, 
are  in  Harl.  MS.  7042  [cf.  arts.  MARLOWE, 
CHRISTOPHER,  and  PENRY,  JOHN.]  Other  of 
his  letters  and  memoranda  are  Egerton  MSS. 
2124  ff.  48-53, 2644,  and  Addit.  MSS.  25246 
and  32117. 

By  his  wife,  Jane,  daughter  of  George 
Chowne  of  Kent,  he  had  issue  (with  four 
daughters)  three  sons,  of  whom  the  two  elder 
died  in  infancy.  The  third,  SIR  THOMAS 
PUCKERING  (1592-1636),  who  was,  between 
1605  and  1610,  the  companion  of  Henry, 
prince  of  Wales,  sat  in  parliament  as  M.P.  for 
Tamworth  from  1621  to  1628,  and  was  high 
sheriff  of  Warwickshire  in  1 625.  In  1 61 2  he 
was  both  knighted  (3  June)  and  made  a 
baronet  (25  Nov.)  He  was  a  member  of  the 
North-West  Passage  Company.  He  was 
buried  in  1636  in  the  church  of  St.  Mary, 
Warwick,  where  an  elaborate  monument  is 
extant.  The  baronetcy  expired  on  his  death. 
By  his  wife,  Elizabeth,  only  daughter  of  Sir 
John  Morley  of  Halnaker  in  Sussex,  whom 
he  married  in  1616,  he  had  three  daughters, 
viz. :  Frances,  who  died  in  infancy ;  Jane  and 
Cecilia  or  Cicely,  who  died  at  the  age  of 
thirteen.  The  surviving  daughter,  Jane, 
died  without  issue  in  1652,and  on  her  death 


the  estates  devolved  on  Sir  Henry  Newton 
[q.  v.],  her  father's  nephew  (Hamper's  manu- 
script notes  to  DTJGD  ALE'S  Warwickshire,  ii. 
404,  in  Brit.  Mus. ;  COLVILE,  Warwickshire 
Worthies;  BROWN,  Genesis  of  the  United 
States}. 

[Dugdale's  Orig.  pp.  253,  261,  and  Chron. 
Ser.  p.  95;  Strype's  Works,  ed.  1822;  Cnl. 
State  Papers,  Dom.  1591-7  and  Addenda,  1580- 
1625;  Browne  Willis's  Not.  Parl.  iii.  99,  115; 
Cobbett's  State  Trials,  i.  1143, 1233,  1281, 1327; 
Cobbett's  Parl.  Hist.  i.  822 ;  Somers  Tracts,  i.  227, 
232 ;  Nichols's  Progresses  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
iii.  129-30,  252,  369,  452,  463;  Camden's  An- 
nales  regn.  Eliz.  ed.  Hearne,  pp.  541,  593,  641, 
735-6;  Sidney  Papers,  ed.  Collins,  i.  376; 
Nicolas's  Sir  Christopher  Hatton,  p.  482,  and 
Davison,  pp.  151,  313;  Lysons's  Environs  of  Lon- 
don, i.  204-5;  Manning  and  Bray's  Surrey,  i.446 ; 
Hasted'sKent.i.  35;  Clutterbuck's Hertfordshire, 
ii.  516,  521 ;  Norden's  Essex  (Camden  Soc.),  p. 
xvii ;  Nichols's  Herald  and  Genealogist,  iii.  450, 
473;  Neale's  Westminster  Abbey,  ii.  179;  Mar- 
shall's Genealogist,  iv.  33 ;  Howard's  Misc.  Gen. 
et  Herald,  ii.  101,  198,  2nd  ser.  i.  207;  Hist. 
MSS.  Comm.  llth  Eep.  A  pp.  pp.  127,  137,  160, 
306  ;  Harl.  MS.  6164,  ff.  51  b,  79,  and  91 ;  Sped- 
ding's  Life  of  Francis  Bacon ;  Foss's  Lives  of  the 
Judges  ;  Campbell's  Lives  of  the  Chancellors ; 
Manning's  Lives  of  the  Speakers.]  J.  M.  E. 


INDEX 


TO 


THE     FOKTY-SIXTH    VOLUME, 


PAGE 

Pocock,  Sir  Geonre  (1706-1792)  ...  1 
Pocoek,  Isaac  (1782-1835)  ....  3 
Pocock,  Isaac  John  Innes  (1819-1886).  See 

under  Pocock,  Isaac. 

Pocock,  Lewis  (1808-1882)  .  .  .  .5 
Pocock,  Nicholas  (1741  ?-1821)  ...  5 
Pocock,  Robert  (1760-1830)  ....  6 
Pocock,  William  Fuller  (1779-1 849)  .  .  7 
Pocock,  William  Innes  (1783-1 836)  .  .  7 
Pococke,  Edward  (1604-1691)  ...  7 
Pococke,  Edward  (1648-1727).  See  under 

Pococke,  Edward  (1604-1691). 
Pococke,  Richard  (1704-1765)          ...     12 

Poe,  Leonard  (d.  1631  ?) 14 

Poer.     See  also  Poor  and  Power. 

Poer,  Ranulf  le  (d.  1182).    See  under  Poer, 

Roger  le. 
Poer,  Robert  le  (fi.  1190).    See  under  Poer, 

Roger  le. 

Poer.  Roger  le  (d.  1186) 15 

Poer,  Walter  le  (fi.  1220).    See  under  Poer, 

Roger  le. 

Pogson,  Norman  Robert  (1829-1891)  .  .  15 
Poingdestre,  Jean  (1609-1691)  ...  16 
Poins.  See  Poyntz. 

Pointer,  John  (1668-1754)       ....     17 
Pointer,  William  (fi.  1(524).     See  Kidley. 
Poitiers,  Philip  of  (d.  1208  ?).     See  Philip. 
Pokeridge,  Richard  (1690  P-1759).    See  Pock- 
rich. 

Pol  (d.  573).     See  Paul. 

Polack,  Joel  Samuel  (1807-1 882)     .  .18 

Folding,  John  Bede  (1794-1877)      .  .    18 

Pole,  Arthur  (1531-1570?)      .  .19 

Pole,  Sir  Charles  Morice  (1757-1830)  .     19 

Pole,  David  (d.  1568)        ...  .20 

Pole,  Edmund  de  la,  Earl  of  Suffolk  (1472?- 

1513) 21 

Pole,  Sir  Geoffrey  (1502  P-1558)  .  .  .23 
Pole,  Henry,  Lord  Montague  or  Montacute 

( 141-2  P-1539) 25 

Pole,  John  de  la,  Earl  of  Lincoln  (1464?- 

1487) 26 

Pole,  John  de  la,   second   Duke    of   Suffolk 

(1442-1491) 27 

Pole.  Margaret,  Countess  of  Salisbury  (1473- 

1541) 28 

Pole,  Michael  de  la,  called  in  English  Michael 

atte  Pool,  Earl  of  Suffolk  (1330  P-1389)       .    20 


Pole,   Michael  de  la,  second  Earl  of  Suffolk 

(1361P-1415) 33 

Pole,  Michael  de  la,  third  Earl   of   Suffolk 

(1394-1415).    See  under  Pole,  Michael  de 

la,  second  Earl  of  Suffolk. 

Pole  or  Dela  Pole,  Ralph  ( fi.  1452)  .  .  34 
Pole,  Reginald  (1500-1558)  ....  35 
Pole,  Sir  Richard  de  la  (d.  1345).  See  under 

Pole,  Sir  William  de  la,  called  in  English 

William  atte  Pool. 

Pole,  Richard  de  la  (d.  1525)  .        .  .46 

Pole,  Thomas  (1753-1829)  ....  48 
Pole,  Sir  William  de  la,  called  in  English 

William  atte  Pool  (d.  1366).        ...    48 
Pole,  William  de  la,  fourth  Earl  and  first  Duke 

of  Suffolk  (1396-1450) 50 

Pole,  Sir  William  (1561-1635)  ...  56 
Pole,  William  Wellesley,  Earl  of  Mornington 

(1763-1845).  See  Wellesley-Pole. 
Polehampton,  Henry  Stedman  (1824-1857)  .  57 
Polenius,  Robert  (d.  1150).  See  Pullen. 
Polhill,  Edward  (1622-1694?)  ...  57 
Polidori,  John  William  (1795-1821)  .  .  58 
Pollard,  Sir  Hugh  (d.  1666)  .  .  .  .59 
Pollard,  Sir  John  (d.  1557)  .  .  .  .59 
Pollard,  Leonard  (d.  1556)  .  .  .  .60 
Pollard,  Sir  Lewis  ( 1465  P-1540)  .  .  .60 
Pollard,  Robert  (1755-1838)  .  .  .  .61 
Pollard,  William  (1828-1893)  .  .  .61 

Pollard-Urquhart,  William  (1815-1871)  .  .  61 
Pollexfen,  Sir  Henry  (1632  P-1691)  .  .  62 
Pollexfen,  John  ( fl."  1697)  .  .  .  .62 
Pollock,  Sir  David  (1780-1847)  .  .  .63 
Pollock,  Sir  George  (1786-1872)  ...  63 
Pollock,  Sir  Jonathan  Frederick  (1783-1 870)  .  68 
Pollock,  Sir  William  Frederick  (1815-1888 )  .  69 
Pollok,  Robert  (1798-1827)  ....  69 
Polton,  Thomas  (d.  1433)  ....  70 
Polwarth,  fifth  Baron.  See  Scott,  Henry 

Francis  (1800-1867). 

Polwhele,  Richard  (1760-1838)        ...    71 
Polwhele  or  Polwheile,  Theophilus  (d.  1689)  .     73 
Pomfret,  Earl  of.    See  Fermor,  Thomas  Wil- 
liam, fourth  Earl  (1770-1833). 
Pomfret,  Countess  of.    See  Fermor,  Henrietta 

Louisa  (d.  1761). 

Pomfret,  John  (1667-1702)  .  .  .  .74 
Pomfret,  Samuel  (1650-1722)  .  .  .  .75 
Ponce,  John  (d.  1660  ?) 75 


446 


Index  to  Volume  XLVI. 


PAGE 

Pond,  Arthur  (1705  P-1758)     .        .        .        .76 

Pond,  Edward  (  ft.  1623) 76 

Pond,  John  (1767-1836) 76 

Ponet  or  Poynet,  John  (1514  P-1556)  .  .  78 
Ponsonbv,  Lady  Emily  Charlotte  Mary  (1817- 

1877)" *     .         .79 

Ponsonby,  Sir  Frederic  Cavendish  (1783-1837)  80 
Ponsonbv,  Frederick  George  Brabazon,  sixth 

Earl  of  Bessborough  (1815-1895)         .        .    81 
Ponsonby,  George  (1755-1817)         ...     82 
Ponsonby,  Henry  (d.  1745)      ....     84 
Ponsonby,  Sir  Henry  Frederick  (1825-1895). 
See  under  Ponsonby,  Sir  Frederic  Cavendish. 
Ponsonby,  John  (1713-1789)    .         .         .         .84 
Ponsonby  John,  Viscount  Ponsonby  (1770  ?- 

1855) 86 

Ponsonby,  John  William,  fourth  Earl  of  Bess- 
borough  (1781-1847) 87 

Ponsonby,  Richard  (1772-1853).     See  under 

Ponsonbv,  John,  Viscount  Ponsonby. 
Ponsonby, "  Hon.   Sarah    (1755  P-1831).     See 

under  Butler,  Lady  Eleanor. 

Ponsonby,  William  (1546?-! 604)    ...    87 
Ponsonby,    William,    second    Earl    of   Bess- 
borough  (1704-1793) 88 

Ponsonby,  Sir  William  (1772-1815)         .        .    89 
Ponsonbv,  William  Brabazon,  first  Baron  Pon- 
sonby (1744-1806) 90 

Pont,  Kylpont,  or  Kynpont,   Robert   (1524- 

1006)" 91 

Pont,  Timothy  (1560  P-1630  ?)         ...     94 

Pontack, (1638  P-1720  ?)          ...     94 

Ponton,  Mungo  (1802-1880)  ....  95 
Poole,  Arthur  William  (1852-1885)  .  .  96 
Poole,  Edward  Stanley  (1830-1867).  See 

under  Poole,  Sophia. 

Poole,  George  Ayliffe  ( 1809-1883)  ...  96 
Poole,  Jacob  (1774-1827)  ....  97 
Poole,  John  (1786  P-1872)  ....  97 

Poole,  Jonas  (d.  1612) 98 

Poole,  Joshua  (  ft.  1640) 98 

Poole,  Maria  (1770  P-1833).  See  Dickons. 
Poole  or  Pole,  Matthew  (1624-1679)  .  .  99 
Poole,  Paul  Falconer  (1807-1879)  .  .  .  100 
Poole,  Reginald  Stuart  (1832-1895)  .  .  101 
Poole,  Robert  (1708-1752)  .  .  .  .103 
Poole,  Sophia  (1804-1 891)  .  .  .  .104 
Poole,  Thomas  (1765-1837)  .  .  .  .104 
Poor  or  Pauper,  Herbert  (d.  1217)  .  .  .105 
Poor,  Poore,  Poure,  or  Le  Poor,  Richard  (d. 

1237) 106 

Poor,  Roger  le,  or  Roger  Pauper  (fi.   1135). 

See  Roger. 

Pope,  Alexander  (1688-1744)  .  .  .  .109 
Pope  or  Paip,  Alexander  (d.  1782)  .  .127 

Pope,  Alexander  (1763-1835)  .        .  .127 

Pope,  Clara  Maria  (d.  1838)    .        .  .130 

Pope,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  (1744  P-1797)  .  130 

Pope,  Miss  Jane  (1742-1818)    .        .  .132 

Pope,  Mrs.  Maria  Ann  (1775-1803)  .  134 

Pope,  Sir  Thomas  (1507  P-1559)      .  .  135 

Pope,    Sir   Thomas,  second  Earl  of   Downe 

(1622-1660) 138 

Pope,  Sir  Thomas,  of  Wroxton,  third  Earl  of 
Downe  (1598-1668).     See  under  Pope,  Sir 
Thomas,  second  Earl  of  Downe. 
Pope,  Walter  (d.  1714)    ...  138 

Pope-Hennessy,  Sir  John  (1834-1891)  139 

Popham,  Alexander  (1729-1810)     .  141 

Popham,  Edward  (1610  P-1651)       .  141 

Popham,  Sir  Francis  (1573-1644)   .  143 

Popham,  Sir  Home  Riggs  (1762-1820)  143 


PAGE 

Popham,  Sir  John  (d.  1463?)  .  .  .  .146 
Popham,  Sir  John  (1531  P-1607)  .  .  .147 
Popple,  William  (d.  1708).  See  under  Popple, 

William  (1701-1764). 

Popple,  William  (1701-1764)  .  .  .  .149 
Porchester,  Viscount.  See  Herbert,  Henry 

John    George,    third    Earl    of    Carnarvon 

(1800-1849). 

Pordage,  John  (1607-1681)      .... 
Pordage,  Samuel  (1633-1691  ?) 
Porden,    Eleanor    Anne  (1797  P-1825).     See 

Franklin. 

Porden,  William  (1755-1822)  . 
Porrett,  Robert  ( 1783-1868 )    . 
Porson,  Richard  (1759-1808)  .... 
Port  or  Porz,  Adam  de  (d.  1213  ?)  . 
Port,  Sir  John  (1480  P-1541)    .     '. 
Port,  Sir  John  (d.  1557).     See  under  Port,  Sir 

John  (1480  P-1541). 

Portal,  Abraham  (#.1790)      .... 
Portal,  Sir  Gerald  Herbert  (1858-1894)  . 
Porteu,  Sir  Stanier(d.  1789)    .... 
Porteous.     See  also  Porteus. 

Porteous,  John  (d.  1736) 

Porteous,  William  (1735-1812) 
Porter,  Anna  Maria  (1780-1832)     . 
Porter,  Sir  Charles  (d.  1696)   .... 
Porter,  Classon  Emmett    (1814-1885).      See 

under  Porter,  John  Scott. 
Porter,  Endymion  (1587-1649) 

Porter,  Francis  (d.  1702) 

Porter,  George  (1622  P-1683) 

T> j_ /i . /  _a     1  s+t\~  \ 


150 
151 


.  152 
.  153 
.  154 
.  163 
.  165 


165 
166 
167 

168 
169 
170 
170 


.  172 
.  175 
.  176 

Porter,  George  (fl.  1695).  .  .  .  .176 
Porter,  Sir  George  Hornidge  (1822-1895)  •  177 
Porter,  George  Richardson  (1792-1852)  .  .  178 
Porter,  Henry  (fi.  1599)  .  .  .  179 

Porter,  Sir  James  (1710-1786)  .        .179 

Porter,  James  (1753-1798)        .  .  180 

Porter,  Jane  (1776-1850)          .  .         .182 

Porter  or  Nelson,  Jerome  (d.  1632)  .        .  184 

Porter,  John  Scott  (1801-1880)  .        .  185 

Porter,  Josias  Leslie  (1823-1889)  .        .187 

Porter,  Mary  (d.  1765)     .         .  .  188 

Porter,  Robert  (d.  1690)  .        .  .  190 

Porter,  Sir  Robert  Ker  (1777-1842)  .  .190 
Porter,  Sarah  (1791-1862).  See  under  Porter 

George  Richardson. 

Porter,  Thomas  (1636-1680)  .  .  .  .193 
Porter,  Walter  (1595  P-1659)  .  .  .  .193 
Porter,  Whitworth  (1827-1892)  .  .  .194 
Porter,  William  (1805-1880).  See  under 

Porter,  John  Scott. 
Porter,   William    Henry    (1790-1861).      See 

under  Porter,  Sir  George  Hornidge. 
Porteus,  Beilby  (1731-1808)    .        .        .        .195 
Portland,  Dukes  of.     t-ee   Hentinck,   William 
Henry  Cavendish,  third  Duke  (1738-18U9)  ; 
Bentinck-Scott,  William   John   Cavendish, 
fifth  Duke  (1800-1879). 

Portland,  Earls  of.  See  Weston,  Richard, 
first  Earl  (1577-1631);  Weston,  Jerome, 
second  Earl  (1505-1664)  ;  Bentinck,  Wil- 
liam, first  Earl  of  the  Bentinck  line  (1649- 
1709). 
Portland,  titular  Earl  of.  See  Herbert,  Sir 

Edward  (1 648? -1698). 
Portlester,   Lord.     See  Eustace,  Roland  Fitz 

(d.  1496). 

Portlock,  Joseph  Ellison  (1794-1864)     .         .107 
Portlock,  Nathaniel  (1748  P-1817)  .         .         .198 
Portman,   Edward   Berkeley,  Viscount  Port- 
man  (1799-1888)  .        .    "    .        .        .        .199 


Index  to  Volume  XLVI. 


447 


PAGE 

Portman,  Sir  William  (d.  1557)  .  .  .199 
Portman,  Sir  William  (1641V-1690)  .  .  200 
Portmore,  first  Earl  of.  See  Colyear,  Sir  David 

(d.  1730). 
Portsmouth,  Duchess  of.  See  Keroualle,  Louise 

Rene'ede  (1649-1734). 
Portsmouth,  first  Earl  of.     See  Wallop,  John 

(1690-1742). 
Portu,  Mauritius  de  (d.  1513).    See  O'Fihely, 

Maurice. 

Pory,  John  (d.  1573?)     ...  .200 

Pory,  John  (1570  P-1635)  .  .  .  .201 
Pory  or  Porey,  Robert  (1608  P-1669)  .  .  202 

Post,  Jacob  (1774-1855) 202 

Poste,  Beale  (1793-1871)  .  .  .  .203 
Postgate,  John  (1820-1881)  .  .  .  .203 
Postlethwaite,  Thomas  (1731-1798)  .  .  204 
Postlethwayt,  James  (d.  1761)  .  .  .205 
Postlethwayt,  John  (1650-1713)  .  -  .  .205 
Postlethwayt,  Malachy  (1707  P-1767)  .  .205 
Postlethwayt,  Matthew  (1679-1745).  See 

under  Postlethwayt,  John. 

Pote,  Joseph  (1703 1-1787)  .  .  .  .206 
Potenger  or  Pottinger,  John  (1647-1733)  .  206 
Pott,  Joseph  Holden  (1759-1847)  .  .  .207 
Pott,  Percivall  (1714-1788)  .  .  .  .207 
Potter,  Barnaby  (1577-1642)  .  .  .  .211 
Potter,  Charles  (1634-1663).  See  under 

Potter,  Christopher  (1591-1646). 
Potter,  Christopher  (1591-1646)  .  .  .212 
Potter,  Christopher  (d.  1817)  .  .  .  .214 
Potter,  Francis  (1594-1678)  .  •  .  .214 
Potter,  George  (1832-1893)  .  .  .  .215 
Potter,  Hannibal  (1592-1664).  See  under 

Potter,  Francis. 

Potter,  John  (1674  P-1747)  .  .  .  .216 
Potter,  John  (ft.  1754-1804)  .  .  .  .217 
Potter,  John  Phillips  (1818- 1847)  .  .  .218 
Potter,  Philip  Cipriani  Hambl[e]y  (1792- 

1871) 218 

Potter,  Richard  (1799-1886)  ....  219 
Potter,  Robert  (172 1-1804)  .  .  .  .219 


Potter,  Thomas  Joseph  (1828-1873)  .  .  222 
Potter,  Thomas  Ros^ell  (1799-1873)  .  .  223 
Potter,  William  (fl.  1656)  .  .  .  .223 
Pottingcr,  Eldred  (1811-1843)  .  .  .  224 
Pottinger,  Sir  Henry  (1789-1856)  .  .  .224 
Pottinger,  Israel  (  ft.  1770)  ....  226 
Pottinger,  John  (1647-1733).  See  Potenger. 
Potts,  Laurence  Holker  (1789-1850)  .  .226 
Potts,  Robert  (1805-1885)  ....  228 
Potts,  Thomas  \fl.  1612-1618)  .  .  .228 
Potts,  Thomas  (1778-1842)  .  .  .  .228 
Poulett.  See  also  Paul et. 
Poulett,  John,  first  Baron  Poulett  (1586- 

1649) 229 

Poulett,  John,  second   Lord   Poulett  (1615- 

1665).     See  under  Poulett,  John,  first  Baron 

Poulett. 
Poulett,  John,  fourth   Baron   and  first   Earl 

Poulett  (1663-1743)     .        .        .        .        .  230 
Poulson,  George  ( 1783-1858)   .        .  231 

Pouncy,  Benjamin  Thomas  (d.  1799)  231 

Pound",  James  (1669-1724)       .         .  232 

Pounds,  John  (1766-1839)       .         .  233 

Povey,  Charles  (1652  P-1743)  .        .  233 

Povey,  Thomas  (fl.  1658)        .        .  235 

Powel.     See  Powell  and  Powle. 
Powell,  Mrs.  (fl.  1787-1829),  previously  known 

as  Mrs.  Farmer,  and  subsequently  as  Mrs. 

Renaud.         .  .  236 


Powell,  Baden  (1796-1860)      . 
Powell  or  Powel,  David  (1552  P-1598)  .  238 

Powell,  Edward  (1478?-1540)          .  .239 

Powell,  Foster  (1734-1793)      .         .  .240 

Powell  or  Powel,  Gabriel  (1576-1611)  .  240 

Powell,  George  (1658  P-1714)  .        .  .241 

Powell  or  Powel,  Griffith  (1561-1620)  .  243 

Powell,  Humphrey  (ft.  1548-1556)  .  243 

Powell,  Sir  John  (1633-1696)  .  .244 

Powell,  Sir  John  (1645-1713)  .         .  .  244 

Powell,  John  (  ft.  1770-1785)  .         .  .  245 

Powell,  John  (ft.  1796-1829)  .         .  .245 

Powell,  John  Joseph  (1755  P-1801)  .  .  245 

Powell,  Martin  (  ft.  1710-1729)        .  .  245 

Powell,  Nathaniel  (d.  1622)     .        .  .246 

Powell,  Richard,  M.D.  (1767-1834)  .  246 

Powell,  Robert  (ft.  1636-1 652)         .  .247 

Powell,  Thomas  (1572  P-1635?)       .  .248 

Powell,  Thomas  (1766-1 842?)          .  .249 

Powell,  Vavasor  (1617-1670)   .        .  .249 

Powell,  William  (1735-1769)    .         .  .  253 

Powell,  William  Samuel  (1717-1775)  .  254 

Power,  Henry,  M.D.  (1623-1668)    .  .  256 

Power,  Joseph  (1798-1868)      .        .  .  256 

Power,  Lionel  (fl.  1450  ?)        .         .  .  257 

Power,  Sir  Man'ley  ( 1773-1826)        .  .257 

Power,  Marguerite,    afterwards  Countess    of 

Blessington  (1789-1849).    See  Blessington. 
Power,  Miss  Marguerite  A.  (1815  P-1867)       .  258 
Power,  Richard,  first  Earl  of  Tyrone  (1630- 

1690) .        .258 

Power,  Tyrone  (1797-1841)      .        .        .        .260 
Powerscourt,  Viscount.     See  Wingfield. 
Powis,  titular  Dukes  of.  See  Herbert,  William 

(1617-1696)  ;  Herbert,  William  (d.  1745). 
Powis.  Marquises  of.     See   Herbert,  William, 

first  Marquis  (1617-1696)  ;    Herbert,  Wil- 
liam, second  Marquis  (d.  1745). 
Powis.  second  Earl  of.    See  Herbert,  Edward 

(1785-1848). 

Powis,  William  Henry  (1808-1836)  .  .  261 
Powle.  See  also  Powell. 

Powle,  George  (  fl.  1770)          .        .        .        .261 
Powle,  Henry  (1630-1692)       ....  262 
Powlett.     See  Paulet. 
Powlett,    Thomas    Orde,   first    Lord    Bolton 

(1746-1807).     See  Orde-Powlett. 
Pownall,  Robert  (1520-1571)  .        .        .        .264 
Pownall,  Thomas  (1722-1805)          .         .        .264 
Powrie-Ogilvy,   John  (fl.   1592-1601).      See 

Ogilvy. 

Powys,  Horatio  ( 1805-1877)  .  .  ,  .268 
Powys.  Sir  Littleton  (1648  P-1732)  .  .  269 
Powvs',  Sir  Thomas  (1649-1719)  .  .  .269 

Poyer,  John  (d.  1649) 269 

Poynder,  John  (1779-1849)      .        .        .        .270 
Poynet,  John  ( 1514  P-1556).    See  Ponet. 
Poynings,  Sir  Edward  (1459-1521)  .        .        .271 
Povnings  or  Ponyngs,    Michael    de,    second 

Baron  Povnirigs  (1817-1869)        .        .        .274 
Poynings,    Robert   de,   fifth    Baron  Poynings 

( 1380-1446).  See  underPoynings  or  Ponyngs, 

Michael  de,  second  Baron  Poynings. 
Poynings,  Thomas,  Baron  Povnings  (d.  1545)  275 
Povnter,  Ambrose  (1796-1886)        .        .        .275 
Poynter,  William,  D.D.  (1762-1827)        .         .  276 
Poyntz,  Sir  Anthony  (1480  P-1533).   See  under 

Poyntz,  Sir  Francis. 

Poyntz,  Sir  Francis  (d.  1528)  .  .  .  .277 
Poyntz,  John  (fl.  1660).  fcee  under  Poyntz, 

Svdenham. 
Poyntz,  Robert  (/.  1566)        .       ..     ,  .       .  278 


Index  to  Volume  XLVI. 


Poyntz,  Sir  Robert  (1589  P-1665).     See  under 

Povntz,  Sir  Francis. 

Poyntz,  Stephen  (1685-1750)  .  .  .  .278 
Povntz,  Sydenham  (  ft.  1650)  .  .  .  .280 
Praed,  Winthrop  Mackworth  (1802-1839)  .  281 

Prance,  Miles  (ft.  1689) 283 

Pratt,  Anne,  afterwards  Mrs.  Fearless  (1806- 

1893) -        .        .        .284 

Pratt,  Charles,  first  Earl  Camden  (1714-1794).  285 
Pratt,  Sir  Charles  (1768-1838)  .  .  .288 
Pratt,  Sir  John  (1657-1725)  .  .  .  .288 

Pratt,  .John  (1772-1855) 289 

Pratt,  John  Burnett  (1799-1869)  .  .  .  29U 
Pratt,  John  Henry  (d.  1871).  See  under 

Pratt,  Josiah. 

Pratt,  John  Jeffreys,  second  Earl  and  first  Mar- 
quis of  Camden  (1759-1840)  .  .  .290 
Pratt,  John  Tidd  (1797-1870)  .  .  .  .292 
Pratt,  Josiah  (1768-1844)  .  .  .  .293 
Pratt,  Sir  Roger  (1620-1684)  .  .  .  .295 
Pratt  or  Prat,  Samuel  (1659  P-1723)  .  .  295 
Pratt,  Samuel  Jackson  (1749-1814).  Pseu- 
donym, Courtney  Melmoth  ....  295 
Pratt,  Sir  Thomas  Simson  (1797-1879)  .  .298 
Pratten,  Robert  Sidney  (1824-1868)  .  .298 
Prence,  Thomas  (1600-1673)  .  .  .  .298 
Prendergast,  John  Patrick  (1808-1893)  .  .  299 
Prendergast  or  Pendergrass,  Sir  Thomas 

(1660  P-1709) 300 

Prendergast,  Thomas  (1806-1886)  .  .  .  3<)1 
Prentice,  Archibald  (1792-1857)  .  .  .301 
Prentis,  Edward  (1797-1854)  .  .  .  .303 
Prentis,  Stephen  (180 1-1862)  .  .  .  .303 
Prescott,  Sir  Henry  (1783-1874)  .  .  .303 
Prescott,  Robert  (1725-1816)  .  .  .  .304 
Preston,  Viscount.  See  Graham,  Richard 

(1648-1695). 

Preston,  Sir  Amy  as  (d.  1617?)  .  .  .305 
Preston,  George '(1659?-! 748)  .  .  .305 
Preston,  Gilbert  de  (d.  1274)  .  .  .  .306 
Preston,  Sir  John  (ft.  1415)  .  .  .  .306 
Preston,  Sir  John  (d.  1616)  .  .  .  .307 
Preston,  John,  D.D.  (1587-1628)  .  .  .308 
Preston,  Richard  (1768-1850) .  .  .  .312 
Preston,  Sir  Simon  (fi.  1538-1570)  .  .  312 
Preston,  Thomas  (1537-1598)  .  .  .  .314 
Preston,  Thomas,  first  Viscount  Tara  (1585- 

1653?) 314 

Preston,   Walter  de   (d.   1230).      See   under 

Preston,  Gilbert  de. 

Preston,  William  (1753-1807)  .  .  .318 
Preston,  William  (1742-1818)  .  .  .319 
Prestongrange,  Lord.  See  Grant,  William 

(1701  ?-1764). 

Prestwich,  John,  called  Sir  John  (d.  1795)       .  319 
Pretyman,  George  (d.  1827).     See  Tomline. 
Prevost,  Sir  George  (1767-1816)      .        .        .320 
Prevost,  Sir  George  (1804-1893)      .         .         .321 
Pre'vost,  Louis  Augu-tin  (1796-1858)      .         .  322 
Price.     See  also  Pryce,  Prys,  and  Pryse. 
Price,  Arthur  (d.  1752)    .        .        .*      .        .322 
Pi  ice,  .Bonamy  (1807-1888)     .        .        .        .322 
Price,  Sir  Charles  (1708-1772)          .         .         .323 
Price,  Sir   Charles  (1732-1788).     See  under 

Price,  Sir  Charles  (1708-1772). 
Price,  Daniel  (1581-1631)        .        .        .        .324 
Price,  David  (1762-1835)          .        .         .         .325 
Price,  David  (1790-1854)         .         .         •         .326 
Price,  Edmund  (1541-1624).    See  Prys. 
Price,  Ellen  (1820-1887).     See  Wood. 
Price,  Ellis  (1505  P-1599)          .        .        .        .326 
Price,  Francis  (d.  1753) 327 


Price,  Hugh  (1495P-1574) 
Price,  James  (1752-1783) 


PAGR 

.  328 

328 


338 
339 
340 
340 
341 
342 


Price,  ap  Price,  or  ap  Rhys,  Sir  John  (d.  1573  ?  )  329 
Price  (Pricaeui),  John  (1600-1676  ?)  .  330 

Price,  John,  D.D.  (1625P-1691)       .  .  331 

Price,  John  (d.  1736)  .  .332 

Price,  John  (1773-1801) 332 

Price,  John  (1734-1813) 332 

Price,   Joshua   ( ft.   1715-1717).      See    under 

Price,  William',  the  elder  (d.  1722). 
Price,  Laurence  (  ft.  1628-1680  ?)     .        .        .333 

Price,  Owen  (d.  1671) 333 

Price,  Richard  (1723-1791)  .  .  .  .334 
Price,  Richard  (1790-1833)  .  .  .  .337 
Price,  Robert  (1655-1733)  .  .  .  .337 
Price,  Sampson  (1585-1630).  See  under  Price, 

Daniel. 

Price,  Theodore  (1570  P-1631) 
Price  or  Prys,  Thomas  (  ft.  1586-1632)    . 
Price,  Thomas  (1599-1685)      .... 
Price,  Thomas  (1787-1 848)       .... 
Price,  Sir  Uvedale  ( 1747-1829) 
Price,  William  (1597-1646)      .... 
Price,  William   (d.  1666).    See  under  Price, 

William  (1597-1646). 

Price,  William,  the  elder  (d.  1722)  .  .  .343 
Price,  William,  the  younger  (d.  1765).  See 

under  Price,  William,  the  elder  (d.  1722). 
Price,  William  (1780-1830)      ....  343 
Prichard,  Richards,  or  Rhisiart,  Evan  (1770- 

1832) 344 

Prichard,  James  Cowles  (1786-1848)  .  .344 
Prichard,  Rhys  or  Rice  (1579-1644)  .  .  346 
Pricke,  Robert  (fl.  1669-1698)  .  .  347 

Pricket,  Robert  (ft.  1603)         .  .  347 

Pridden,  John  (1758-1825)       .  .  348 

Pride,  Thomas  (d.  1658)  .         .  .  349 

Prideaux,  Sir  Edmond  (d.  1659)  .         .  350 

Prideaux,  Frederick  (1817-1891)  .        .  351 

Prideaux,  Humphrey,  D.D.  (1648-  724)  .  352 
Prideaux,  John  (1578-1650)  .  .  .  354 

Prideaux,  John  (1718-1759)    .  .  356 

Prideaux,  Matthias  (1622-1646  ?).   See  under 

Prideaux,  John  (1578-1650). 
Priestley,  Joseph,  LL.D.  (1733-1804)  .  .  357 
Priestley,  Timothy  (1734-1814)  .  .  .376 
Priestman,  John  (1805-1866)  .  .  .  .377 
Prime,  John  (1550-1596)  .  .  .  .378 
Primrose,  Sir  Archibald,  Lord  Carrington 

(1616-1679) 378 

Primrose,  Archibald,  of  Dalmeny,  first  Earl  of 

Rosebery  (1661-1723) 379 

Primrose,  'Archibald  John,  fourth  Earl  of  Rose- 
bery (1783-1868) 379 

Primrose,  Gilbert,  D.D.  (1580  P-1641)     .  380 

Primrose,  James  (d.  1641)        ...  381 

Primrose  or  Primero«e,  James,  M.D.  (d.  1659)  381 
Prince,  John  (1643-1723)  .  .  .  582 

Prince,  John  Critchley  (1808-1866)         .  383 

Prince,  John  Henry  (ft.  1818)          .         .  384 

Pring,  Martin  (1580-1626?)     ...  384 

Pringle,  Andrew,  Lord  Alemoor  (d.  1776)  385 
Pringle,  George  (1631-1689)  ...  386 

Pringle,  Sir  John  (1707-1782)         .        .  386 

Pringle,  Robert  (d.  1736)          ...  388 

Pringle,  Thomas  (1789-1834)  ...  389 

Pringle,  Walter  (1625-1667 ).         .         .  390 

Prince,  Sir  Walter,  Lord  Newhall  (1664?- 

1736) 391 

Prinsep,   Charles   Robert   (1789-1864).      See 

under  Prinsep,  Heury  Thoby. 
Prinsep,  Henry  Thoby  (1792-1878)          .        .  392 


Index  to  Volume  XLVI. 


449 


PAGE 

,  395 
,  396 

,  397 
,  401 
,  402 
,  402 
.  402 
,  403 
,  406 
,  406 
.  407 


Prinsep,  James  (1799-1840)     . 

Prior,  Sir  James  (1790  ?-1869) 

Prior,  Matthew  (1664-1721)    .... 

Prior,  Thomas  (1682  ?-175n    .... 

Prior,  Thomas  Abiel  (1809-1886)     . 

Prisot,  Sir  John  (d.  1460) 

Pritchard,  Andrew  (1804-1882) 

Pritchard,  Charles  (1808-1893) 

Pritchard,  Edward  William  (1825-1865) 

Pritchard,  George  (1796-1883) 

Pritchard,  Hannah  (1711-1768) 

Pritchard,  Henry  Baden   (1841-1884).     See 

under  Pritchard,  Andrew. 

Pritchard,  John  Langford  (1799-1850)  .  .  409 
Pritchard  or  Prichard,  Sir  William  (1632  ?- 

1705) 410 

Pritchett,  James  Pigott  (1789-1868)  .  .  411 
Pritzler,  Sir  Theophilus  (d.  1839)  .  .  .411 
Probert,  William  (1790-1870) .  .  .  .412 

Probus  (d.  948?) 413 

Proby,  Granville  Leveson,  third  Earl  of  Carys- 

fort  (1781-1868) 413 

Proby,    John,   first   Baron  Carysfort    (1720- 

1772) .413 

Proby,  John  Joshua,  first  Earl  of  Carvsfort 

(1751-1828) .  414 

Probyn,  Sir  Edmund  (1678-1742)  .  .  .415 
Procter,  Adelaide  Ann  (1825-1864)  .  .416 
Procter,  Bryan  Waller  (1787-1874)  .  .  416 
Procter,  Richard  Wright  (1816-1881)  .  .  419 
Proctor,  John  (1521 P-1584)  .  .  .  .419 
Proctor,  Richard  Anthony  (1837-1888)  .  .  419 
Proctor,  Thomas  (ft.  1578)  .  .  .  .421 


PAGE 

421 
422 


Proctor,  Thomas  (1758-1 794)  . 

Proud,  Joseph  (1745-1826)       . 

Prout,    Father  (1804-1866).     See   Mahony, 
Francis  Sylvester. 

Prout,  John  (1810-1894) . 

Prout,  John  Skinner  ( 1 806-1 876  )     . 

Prout,  Samuel  (1783-1852)      . 

Prout,  William  (1785-1850)     . 

Prowee,  William  (1752  ?-1826) 

Prowse,  WiUiam  Jeffery  (1836-1870) 

Prujean,  Sir  Francis,  M.D.  (1593-1666) 

Pryce.    See  also  Price,  Prys,  and  Pryse. 

Pryce,  George  (1801-1868) 

Pryce,  William  (1725  ?-1790) 

Prydydd  y  Bychan  (i.e.  'The  Little  Poet') 
(1200-1270?) 429 

Prydydd  y  Moch  (ft.  1160-1220).    See  Llyw- 
arch  ab  Llywelyn. 

Pryme,  Abraham  de  la  (1672-1704) 

Pryme,  George  (1781-1868)    . 

Prynne,  William  (1600-1669)  . 

Pryor,  Alfred  Reginald  (1839-1881) 

Prys,  Edmund  (1541  ?-1624)  . 

Pryse,  Sir  Carbery  (d.  1695)    . 

Psalmanazar,  George  (1679  ?-l763) 

Pucci,  Francesco  (1540-1593  ?) 

Puckeridge,  Richard  (1690  ?-1759).  See  Pock 
rich. 

Puckering,  Sir  Henry  (1618-1701).  See  New- 
ton, Sir  Henry. 

Puckering,  Sir  John  (1544-1596)    .        .        .443 

Puckering,    Sir  Thomas    (1592-1636).      See 
under  Puckering,  Sir  John, 


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426 
427 
428 
428 

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429 


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430 
432 
437 
438 
438 
439 
442 


END  OF  THE  FORTY-SIXTH  VOLUME 


VOL.   XLVI. 


o 


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28  v.46 

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