, a learned sufferer during the usurpation, was born near Lynn in
, a learned sufferer during the usurpation, was born near Lynn in Norfolk, about the end of
the sixteenth century, and was educated at Caius college,
Cambridge, where he took his degree of A. B. in 1610, and
that of A. M. in 1614, in which last he was incorporated at
Oxford in 1618. After leaving college, he travelled abroad
and became master of various languages. On his return
he was made chaplain in ordinary to king Charles I. In
1639 he took his degree of D.D. at Oxford, and had the
living of St. Alban’s, Wood-street, but the time of his admission does not appear. He was afterwards chaplain under the earl of Arundel, general of the forces in the. Scotch
expedition in 1639, and prebendary of Wells. About
1642, his living in London was sequestered, his wife and
family turned out of doors, and himself compelled to fly.
Some small pittance is said to have been afterwards given
to his family out of the sale of his goods. He now joined
the king, who appointed him to attend as chaplain upon
prince Rupert, and he was present with his highpess in all
his engagements. He also served under the prince on
board of ship, and was with him when he was blocked up
in the harbour at Kingsale in Ireland. While here, Dr.
Watts was “taken with a distemper which no physic could
cure,
” and of which he died in 1649. Dr. Watts is often
mentioned by Vossius, as one of the most learned men of
his time. He had a principal hand in Spelman’s Glossary,
and was the editor of Matthew Paris, a fine edition printed
at London in 1640, fol. In the preface he acknowledges
his obligations to sir Henry Spelman. He also published
in 1631, a translation of “St. Augustine’s Confessions,
”
with marginal notes, &c. 12mo. Wood mentions some
other treatises from his pen, but it seems doubtful if they
were printed. Wood adds that he published, before the
civil wars of England began, “several numbers of
newsbooks,
” which appear to be the newspapers called “The
German Intelligencer,
” Swedish Intelligencer,
”