, or Meetkercke, or Mekerchus (Adolphus), a learned writer, was born at Bruges in
, or Meetkercke, or Mekerchus
(Adolphus), a learned writer, was born at Bruges in 1528,
and passed the greater part of his life in the service of the
revolted states of the Low Countries, as counsellor of state,
and envoy to the foreign potentates. He was employed
on an embassy to queen Elizabeth in the latter part of his
life, an office which was probably very agreeable to him, as
he was a protestant, and had resided here for the quiet enjoyment of his religion for some time before he was appointed on the embassy. He appears to have been an ornament and delight of the age in which he lived, second to
none in literary accomplishments, and was a man also of
great benevolence and amiable temper. Grief for the loss
of his son is said to have hastened his death, which took
place at London in 1591, in his sixty-fourth year. He was
buried in the church of St. Botolph, Aldersgate, under a
monument which, when that church was rebuilt, was conveyed to Julians, near Buntingford, in Hertfordshire, the
seat of his descendants who settled in this country, and
where some of them are still living. The present owner
of the estate is in possession, among others, of a folio ms.
of Greek and Latin poetry by his ancestor, the subject of
this article, with additions by his son Adolphus, who died
without issue, and by his son Edward, D. D. of Christchurch, Oxford, professor of Hebrew in that university, and
prebendary of Winchester. He became professor in 1621,
and died in 1660. Foppen asserts that sir Adolphus, as
the ambassador was called, declared in writing, on his
death-bed, that there was no true religion out of the catholic church, and that his daughter was so struck with this
as to return to Bruges, and to the Roman catholic religion.
As far as respects the daughter, this may be true, but her
father certainly died in the protestant faith, as appears by
the inscription on his monument, which Foppen is obliged to confess, is written “stylo acatholico.
” Sir AdoU
phus published in 1565, not a translation of some pieces of
Bion and Moschus, as it has been erroneously called, but
the first edition of “Bion and Moschus,
” printed at Bruges
in Theocriti Epigrammata,
” and published a treatise “De veteri et recta
pronuntiatione linguae Graecas Commentarius,
” Bruges,
Fasti Consulares,
” “Vitae Caesarum,
”
“Magna Grsecia,
” &c. and in his political character published “A Collection of the Proceedings at the Peace of
Cologne, in 1579.
”