Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

people to understand the reading.' And, certainly, it would not be the least advantage, that you might do to the three nations (if not the greatest) if they be your care; and means might come to understand the proper and genuine reading of the Scripture, by an exact, vigorous, and lively translation. I hope (I say it again) you will find some time to set afoot so needful a work; and now you are about the purging of the temple, you will look into the oracle, if there be any thing amiss there, and remove it." He adds: "I beseech you, hasten the settling of the church. I rejoice to see what you have done in platforming classes and presbyteries; and I verily and cordially believe, it is according to the pattern in the mount."

He commenced doctor in divinity in the year 1652, and then preached a Latin sermon from 1 Cor. xvi. 22, "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha." In 1655, Dr Lightfoot was chosen vice-chancellor of the university of Cambridge, which office he discharged with great care and diligence, at the same time faithfully performing his duties as a pastor, when not required to attend in his offices at the university. Indeed, being now in the very prime of life, his days were all most busily occupied with the most important engagements. Beside his public duties, he was employed laboriously in writing those works which have instructed the world, and in assisting the learned in their magnificent undertakings for the promotion of sacred literature. The sheets of Walton's polyglott passed under his perusal as they came from the press, and he assisted that noble work in various ways by furnishing criticisms, especially on the Samaritan Pentateuch, lending MSS., contributing Rabbinical notes, &c., beside procuring subscriptions to the work. On its completion, under the substantial patronage of Cromwell and the council, Lightfoot delivered a speech at the university commencement, wherein he congratulates the university on the accomplishment of a work so honourable to the English nation.

Dr Lightfoot was also a promoter of that great work undertaken by Dr Castell, the Lexicon Heptaglotton, wherein he was encouraged, assisted, and comforted by Dr Lightfoot, when almost deserted by the bishops and others who had undertaken to patronize the work. Another great and lasting monument of sacred learning, Poole's Synopsis Criticorum, was also encouraged and assisted by this patron of great works for the elucidation of the sacred Scriptures, to which object Lightfoot's life was chiefly dedicated.

By the interest of Sir Olando Bridgman, lord-keeper of the great seal, Dr Lightfoot was presented to a prebendal stall in Ely cathedral, In 1660, he attended on the side of the presbyterian divines, at the conference held at the bishop of London's lodgings, at the Savoy, relative to alterations and corrections in the book of Common Prayer. He himself did not practically conform to the rubric, not wearing the surplice, and selecting only certain portions of the Liturgy for public worship.

In the latter part of the year 1675, while travelling from Cambridge to Ely, the Doctor caught a violent cold. During his indisposition, he was persuaded to eat a red herring, and drink two or three glasses of claret. A fever immediately ensued, occasioned, or at least heightened as his physicians pronounced) by a diet to which he was alto

gether unaccustomed, his usual beverage being only water or tablebeer. His head being much oppressed, without much bodily pain, he fell into a state of torpor. At intervals, his mind recovered its wonted power, and his habitual piety marked his last hours. When questioned as to his state, his usual reply was, "I feel myself in the hands of a good God." In this lethargic condition, having continued for a fortnight, he expired Dec. 6, 1675, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. His remains were removed to Munden, where he had been minister for thirty-two years, and Mr Fulwood, formerly of Catherine-hall, preached his funeral sermon.

Dr Lightfoot had four sons and two daughters by his first wife, viz. John, chaplain to Bishop Walton; Anastasius, also named 'Cottonus Jacksonus,' in memorial of the Doctor's friends, Sir R. Cotton and Sir J. Jackson; Athanasius, a tradesman; and Thomas, who died young. His daughter, Joyce, was married to Mr Duckfield, rector of Aspeden, in Hertfordshire; and Sarah, to Mr Colclough, a gentleman of Staffordshire. With his first wife he lived nearly thirty years. His second wife was Mrs Ann Brograve, a widow, related to Sir T. Brograve, Bart., a gentleman dear to Lightfoot, from his having a relish for Rabbinical learning. He had no children by his second wife, whom he survived.

Dr Lightfoot is said to have possessed a mild countenance, as appears by his portrait, and a ruddy complexion. He was grave, but affable and courteous, and very communicative to inquirers; plain, unaffected, and gentlemanly in his behaviour. If by chance he were present when rude or profligate conversation was introduced, he would testify his disapprobation by silence and speedy withdrawal from the company. On returning home from a journey, it was his custom to pass directly to his study, and not to converse with his family, until he had previously acknowledged the providence of God in his private devotions. He was particularly susceptible of gratitude for any kindness and favour, of which his pathetic and passionate expressions in the funeral sermon which he preached for his good patron, Sir Rowland Cotton, sufficiently testify; and all his learning and virtues were adorned with the covering of unaffected modesty and humility. He lived upon the best terms with persons of religious sentiments differing from his own. His house, says Strype, was a continual hospital, none went away unrelieved. He would frequently bring poor people within doors to his fire, and in winter found them occupation in spinning and other employments. Whenever his duties required him to be at Ely, or Cambridge, he was wont to express his desire to return to his flock, whom he familiarly termed his dear 'russet-coats.'

Dr Lightfoot's numerous works were published in a collective form in 1684, in 2 vols. folio, under the joint care of Dr George Bright, rector of Loughborough, and the Rev. John Strype, M.A., of Low Leighton, Essex. Other editions followed; and the last edition of his entire works was published by the London booksellers in 1825, in 13 vols. 8vo, edited by the Rev. J. R. Pitman, A.M.

Esaac Barrow.

BORN A.D. 1630.-died A.D. 1677.

ISAAC BARROW, an eminent mathematician and divine, was born in the city of London, in the month of October, 1630. His father, Thomas Barrow, who survived him, is honourably recorded as "a citizen of London, of good reputation." He was linen-draper to Charles I., whom he followed to Oxford; continuing, indeed, through life, a steady adherent to the royal cause. His brother, Isaac Barrow, uncle to the subject of this memoir, was educated at Cambridge for the church, and became fellow of Peterhouse. He was ejected for writing against the covenant, and, during the commonwealth, experienced great varieties of hard fortune. At the Restoration, he was re-instated in his fellowship, and, soon after, raised to the bishopric of the isle of Man. For some years he was made governor of that island by the earl of Derby. He was translated to the see of St Asaph in 1669, when his nephew, Isaac Barrow, preached his consecration sermon. He died in 1680. There was another Isaac Barrow, brother to the great-grandfather of the subject of this memoir. He was a doctor of medicine, and, in his youth, tutor to Robert Cecil, earl of Salisbury. The early youth of Dr Barrow was unpromising. He was sent to the Charter-house school, where he showed no disposition for learning, and was chiefly remarkable for encouraging quarrels and fighting among his school-fellows. His worthy father was often heard to say, that if it pleased the Lord to remove any of his children, he wished it might be his son Isaac.

"Nescia mens hominum fati, sortisque futuræ!"

He was removed to Felstead, in Essex, where his successful diligence in study speedily confuted all his father's gloomy prophecies, and procured him the situation of tutor to Lord Fairfax of Emely, in Ireland. In 1643 he was admitted a pensioner of Peterhouse, Cambridge, of which, however, he does not appear to have been long a member, owing, probably, to the expulsion of his uncle. He entered Trinity college in 1645. At this time the fortunes of his family were greatly reduced, through their attachment to the royal cause; and the young student was mainly indebted for his support at college to the kindness of Dr Hammond, whose memory he afterwards celebrated in an epitaph. His steady resolution in refusing to take the covenant gave of fence to many in the college; but his modesty and discretion preserved the respect and regard of his superiors. A Latin oration on the gunpowder-plot (which is still extant) so far provoked some of the fellows of Trinity that they demanded his expulsion, on which Dr Hill, the master, gave them a quietus by saying, "Barrow is a better man than any of us." He is said to have been dissatisfied with the physiology then taught in the schools, and to have studied with great care the

'There does not appear to be much offensive matter in this discourse. mendations bestowed upon the character and policy of James I. were most unpalatable parts. Speaking of the religion of that time, he says, illa corruptela, nec hesternas ineptias admittebat.

The comprobably the Nec veteres

writings of Lord Bacon, Des Cartes, Galileo, and all the profoundest philosophers of the age. In 1649, he commenced B.A.; in 1652, he proceeded M.A., and in the same year was incorporated in the same degree at Oxford. After his election to a fellowship in Trinity college, he was so discouraged at the aspect of the times towards the episcopal clergy, that he turned his attention to the medical profession, and pursued with great vigour the study of anatomy, botany, and chemistry. On further consideration, however, and consultation with his uncle, he abandoned the study of medicine, and resumed the profession of divinity. It is said that the reading of Scaliger upon Eusebius directed his attention to astronomy, as a science essentially necessary in the study of chronology; and that his application to astronomy made him a student of the mathematics in which he afterwards attained such extraordinary eminence. About this time he was an unsuccessful competitor for the professorship of Greek, then vacant by the resignation of Duport. It is said that his Arminianism was the cause of his defeat. In the year 1655 he set out on his travels into foreign countries, having sold his books to defray his expenses. In Paris he found his father an attendant upon the English court; and, as one of the doctor's biographers tell us, "out of his small viaticum, he made his father a seasonable present." After staying some months in France, he visited Italy, and at Florence availed himself of the opportunity of consulting the ducal library. The plague then raging at Rome, he was prevented from visiting the eternal city, so that he took shipping at Leghorn and sailed for Smyrna. The vessel was attacked by an Algerine corsair ; on which occasion Barrow came on deck, and fought manfully through the whole action, until their obstinate defence compelled the pirate to abandon the attempt. Of this voyage and combat he has given us a long poetical narrative in hexameter and pentameter verse. At Constantinople, Barrow read through the works of Chrysostom, whose diocese was there prior to the irruption of the Turks. For the writings of this father he always entertained the highest esteem. He returned to England by way of Venice, and through Germany and Holland. Soon after his return he was ordained by Brownrigg, bishop of Exeter,—-a prelate whose works, in two volumes folio, attest the vigour of his understanding and the depth of his learning. At the time of the Restor ation it was expected by Barrow and his friends that something would have been done for him; but our most religious sovereign the king was too deeply occupied with court-harlequins and prostitutes to remember any thing so insignificant as piety and learning. It was at this time that Barrow wrote his well-known epigram,

6

"Te magis optavit rediturum, Carole, neino,

Et nemo sensit, te rediisse minus."

[ocr errors]

Though far from adopting the Cartesian physics, he thus speaks of the French philosopher in an essay bearing this title, Cartesiana hypothesis haud satisfacit præcipuis Nature Phænomenis:' "Renatus Cartesius, vir procul dubio optimus atque ingeniosissimus, ac serio philosophus, et qui videtur ad philosophiæ hujus contemplationem ea attulisse auxilia, qualia fortassis nemo unquam alius; intelligo eximiam in mathematicis peritiam; animum natura atque assuefactione meditationis patientissimum; judicium præjudiciis omnibus et popularium errorum laqueis exutum, extricatumque; ne memorem incomparabile ingenii acumen, et facultates quibus præstabat eximiis tam clare et distincti cogitandi, quam mentem suam paucis verbis admodum plene ac dilucide explicandi."

In 1660 he was elevated to the Greek professorship at Cambridge. He delivered a course of lectures on Aristotle's Rhetoric; " of which," says Hill, "I can only say, that some friend (to himself, I mean,) thought fit to borrow, and never to return those lectures." In 1661 he took the degree of B. D. The following year he was appointed, on the recommendation of Dr Wilkins, to the professorship of geometry in Gresham college; where he not only filled his own chair with distinguished ability, but also lectured on astronomy in the absence of his colleague, Dr Pope. In 1663 he was chosen fellow of the Royal Society in the first election of members after their incorporation. In the same year he was appointed to the then recently instituted Lucasian professorship of mathematics at Cambridge, when he resigned the Greek chair in that university, as well as his situation in Gresham college. After discharging the duties of this office with great ability for nine years, he resigned it to his illustrious pupil, Mr, afterwards Sir Isaac Newton; and, for the remainder of his life, applied himself wholly to divinity. He was created doctor of divinity in 1670. Two years after he was raised to the mastership of Trinity college; on which occasion the king observed, that "he had given it to the best scholar in England." On receiving this appointment he resigned a small living in Wales, previously bestowed upon him by his uncle, the bishop of St Asaph, and a prebend in Salisbury cathedral, to which he had been presented by Ward, bishop of Salisbury. Of these preferments he had always distributed the profits in charity. A few years after he was made vice-chancellor of the university. In the month of April, 1677, he was seized with a fever, which terminated his life on the fourth of May following. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, where his friends erected a monument to his memory, exhibiting a Latin epitaph from the pen of Dr Mapletoft. Dr Barrow is described as short in stature, of a pale complexion, but possessed of great muscular strength. His character was a beautiful assemblage of virtues: intrepid firmness, incorruptible integrity, a perfect simplicity of life and manners, a courtesy and cheerfulness which no change of circumstances seems to have impaired, a native modesty unspoiled by all his great abilities and acquirements, and a serious piety arising out of the profoundest conviction of the truth and value of religion. Of his humanity the following characteristic anecdote is preserved. Walking about the premises of a friend in the evening, he was attacked by a fierce mastiff, which was left unchained at night, and had not become acquainted with the Doctor's person. He struggled with the dog and threw him down; but when on the point of strangling him, he reflected that the animal was only doing his duty in seizing a stranger; for which, therefore, he did not deserve to die. As he durst not loose his hold, lest the dog should seize and tear him, he laid himself down on the animal, and there remained till some one came to his assistance. Dr Barrow is said to have been extremely negligent of his personal appearance. Of this a ludicrous story is recorded in the Biographia Britannica. The well-known anecdote of his 'wit-combat' with Lord Rochester illustrates his power of repartee. The witty profligate, on meeting Barrow, exclaimed, Doctor, I am yours to the shoe-tie;" to which the clergyman replied, My lord, I am yours to the ground." The peer rejoined, "Doctor, I am yours to the centre;" "My lord," retorted the doctor, "I am

66

66

« ZurückWeiter »