, a voluminous author of the seventeenth century, was born in 1590
, a voluminous author
of the seventeenth century, was born in 1590 in Scotland,
and became a divine, but left that country in Charles I.'s
reign, and was appointed one of his majesty’s chaplainsj
and master of the free-school at Southampton. He died
in 1654, leaving a handsome bequest to the above school,
from which it is said he had retired for some time before
his death, and passed the remainder of his days in the family of the Henleys of Hampshire, to whom he left a large
library and a considerable sum of money, part of which
was concealed among his books. Echard says “he was a
busy, various, and voluminous writer, who by his pen and
ether ways made a considerable noise and figure in these*
times, and who so managed his affairs, that in the midst of
these storms, he died very rich, as appears from the several
benefactions he made.
” We have a list before us of thirty
pieces by this author, but whether published separately,
each forming a volume, we know not. Most of them occur very seldom. Among them are some whose dates we
have recovered, but cannot vouch for the accuracy of the
list. 1. “Comment, de Terrae motu refutatum/' Lond.
1634, 4to. 2.
” The new Planet no Planet^ or, the earth
no wandering star,“ibid. 1640, 4to, reprinted in 1646.
3.
” Virgilius Evangelizans;“ibid. 1634, 8vo. This is a
cento on the life of Christ, collected entirely from Virgil.
Granger says it is ingenious, and was deservedly admired.
4.
” Medicus medicatus, or, the physician’s religion cured,“ibid. 1645, 8vo. Th;s was one of the pieces in which he
attacked the reputation of sir Thomas Browne in his
” ReJigio Medici.“We find him returning to the charge afterwards in a work entitled, 5.
” Refutation of Dr. Browne’s
Vulgar Errors,“ibid. 1652, 8vo. 6.
” Observations upon
sir Kenelm Digby’s Discourse on the nature of Bodies,“ibid. 1645, 4to. 7.
” The picture of the Conscience,“ibid. 1646, 12mo. 8.
” The Muses’ Interpreter,“ibid.
1646, 8vo. 9.
” Arcana Microcosmi,“ibid. 1651 and
1652, 12mo and 8vo. 10.
” Observations upon Hobbes’s
Leviathan,“ibid. 1653, 12mo. 11.
” Observations upon
sir Walter Raleigh’s History of the World,“ibid. 12mo.
After this he published
” A Continuation“of that history,
which Granger calls his
” great work;“but adds, that it is
like a piece of bad Gothic tacked to a magnificent pile of
Roman architecture, which serves to heighten the effect
of it, while it exposes its own deficiency in strength and
beauty. 12.
” An Epitome“of the same history. 13.
” A View of all Religions,“the work for which he is best
known, and which has passed through variotfs editions, the
sixth in 1683. It had the merit of being the first compilation of the kind in our language, and attained a great degree of popularity. 14.
” Abridgment and translation of
John Wollebius’s Christian divinity,“ibid. 1657, 8vo. 15*
” Three Decades of Divine Meditations,“no date. This
is one of his poetical works, and valued in the
” Bibliotheca Anglo-Poetica“at Si. tis. 16.
” Mel Helreonium,
or, Poetical Honey gathered out of the weeds of Parnassus,
&c.“ibid. 1642, 8vo. This, of which an account is given
by Mr. Park in the
” Censura Literaria,“is an attempt to
spiritualize the Greek and Roman mythology. In moral
and metre it resembles Quarles. Of the following works
we have no dates:
” De rebus Judaicis, libri quatuor,“in
hexameter verse;
” Rasura tonsoris,“prose;
” Chymera
Pythagoria;“”Meditations upon Predestination;“” Questions upon Genesis;“” Melissomachia;“”Four books of
Epigrams,“in Latin elegiacs
” Mystagogus poeticus“”ColloquiaPlantina;“” Chronology,“in English
” Christiados poematis libri tredecim," with others, which seem
of doubtful authority.