Favour, John

, who, according to a tradition still current at Halifax, was a good divine, a good physician, and a good lawyer, was born at Southampton, and was prepared for the university, partly there and partly at Winchester-school. From this seminary he was elected | probationer fellow of New-college, Oxford, in 1576, and two years afterwards was made complete fellow. On June 5, 1592, he proceeded LL. D. and, as Wood says, was made vicar of Halifax in Yorkshire, Jan. 4, 1593. In August 1608, according to Thoresby, but in March 1618, according to Wood, he was made warden or master of St. Mary Magdalen’s hospital at Ripon. In March 1616, he was collated to the prebend of Driffield, and to the chantership of the church of York. He was also chaplain to the archbishop, and residentiary. He appears to have spent much of his time in the discharge of the duties of the three learned professions. In an epistle to the reader, prefixed to a work we are about to mention, he gives as impediments to its progress, “preaching every Sabbath-day, lecturing every day in the week, exercising justice in the commonwealth, and practising physic and chirurgery.” Amidst all these engagements, however, he produced a large 4to volume, printed at London in 1619, entitled “Antiquitie triumphing over Noveltie; whereby it is proved, that Antiquitie is a true and certain note of the Christian catholicke church and veritie, against all new and upstart heresies, advancing themselves against the religious honour of Old Rome, &g.” This is dedicated to archbishop Matthews, and it appears that it was begun by the author, when he was sixty years old, at the desire, and carried on under the encouragement of the archbishop. Dr. Favour died March 10, 1623, probably at an advanced age, and was buried in Halifax church, where there is an inscription to his memory. ¹