Hill, William

, a learned annotator on Dionysius Periegetes, was born in 1619, at Cudworth in Warwickshire, and educated at Merton college, Oxford, of which he was made one of the post-masters. He was -elected probationer-fellow of that house in 1639, and afterwards bachelor-fellow, and thence was promoted to a-free-school at Sutton-Colfield in his own county, which school he brought into considerable credit during his abode there. He then removed to London, and practised physic, and in 164i> and 1652, had leave from the delegates of the university to accumulate the degrees in physic, but Wood could not discover that he took the benefit of this licence it is probable he did not, as in his “Dionysius” he styles himself only master of arts. After this he removed to Ireland to resume the art of teaching, and became chief master of the great school of St. Patrick’s, Dublin, but at the restoration, as he had sided with the parliamentary interest, or at least was indebted to it for his promotion, he was ejected from this office, and went to Finglass, near Dublin, where he taught and boarded children of people of quality, and was made minister of the church there. Before his death he was created D. D. by the university of Dublin. He died of a pestilential fever in Nov. 1667. His edition of Dionysius is entitled “Dionisii orbis descriptio, annotationibus Eustathii, et Hen. Stepheni, nee non Gul. Hill eommentario critico et geographico, ac tabulis illustrata,” Lond. 1658, 8vo, reprinted 1659, 1663, 1678, 1683, which | last Harwood reckons a valuable edition. He is said also to have epitomized some of the works of Lazarus Riverius, a physician. As his wife was brought to bed seven months after their marriage, he wrote a treatise to prove the child lawfully begotten, and submitted the ms. to two physicians, who returned it with apparent approbation, but seriously considered it as not very conclusive. ¹