Pocklington, John, D.D., an English divine, noted also as an educator, flourished near the middle of the 17th century. He was at one time president of Pembroke Hall and Sidney College. Cambridge. He published Sermons (Lond. 1636) : — AUare Christianum (1637, 4to), in answer to Williams's Holy Table. See Williams, Joiix.
Pocock, Edward (1), an English Orientalist and theologian of great note, not only in his own times, but one whose scholarly acquirements are gladly acknowledged even in our day, was born Nov. 8, 1604. He studied in Oxford, his native place, at the university, and devoted himself especially to the Oriental tongues, the Hebrew, Arabic, Chaldee, and Syriac, first under the direction of Matthew Pason, and afterwards under that of William Bedwell. Pocock took his bachelor of arts' degree in 1622, and his master's in 1626. Lud. de Dieu publish- ing a Syriac version of the Apocalypse at Leyden the following year, our author, after his example, began to prepare those four epistles which were still wanting to a complete edition of the New Testament in that lan- guage. These epistles were the second of Peter, the second and third of John, and that of Jude. All the other books, except these five, had been well printed by
Albertus Widmanstadius, at Vienna, in 1555, who was sent into the West for that purpose by Ignatius, the Jacobite patriarch of Antioch, in the 16th century. Having met with a manuscript in the Bodleian Library proper to his purpose, Pocock engaged in this work and finished it ; but laid it by, not having the courage to pub- lish it. till the fame of it, in 1629, brought him into the acquaintance of Gerard Vossius, who, being then at Ox- ford, obtained his consent to carry it to Leyden, where it was printed that year, in 4to, under the immediate care and inspection of Lud. de Dieu. In 1628 Pocock had been received a fellow of the principal college of Oxford ; but having decided to enter the priesthood, he was ordained priest in 1629, having entered into dea- con's orders some time before, and he was appointed chaplain to the English factory at Aleppo, by the in- terest of Selden, as appears very probable. He arrived at that place, after a long voyage, Oct. 17, 1630. His residence in the East for six years furnished an oppor- tunity of further study in the Oriental tongues. He acquired great skill in the Arabic tongue, and he like- wise endeavored to get a further insight, if possible, into the Hebrew; but soon found it fruitless, the Jews there being very illiterate. He also improved himself in the Ethiopic and Syriac, of which last he made a grammar, with a praxis, for his own use. On Oct. 30, 1631, he received a commission from Laud, then bishop of Lon- don, to buy for him such ancient Greek coins and such manuscripts, either in Greek or the Oriental languages, as he should judge most proper for a university library — which commission Pocock executed to the hot of Lis power, lie also translated a number of historical works from the Arabic, collected a great quantity of < Oriental manuscripts, which he sent to England, and made a careful study of the environs of Aleppo, with respect to natural history : the result of the latter study was in- tended to furnish a desirable addition to the commenta- ries of the Old Testament. In 1634 the plague raged furiously at Aleppo ; many of the merchants fled two days' journey from the city, and dwelt in tents upon the mountains: Pocock did not stir, yet neither he nor any of the English caught the infection. In 1636 he received a letter from Laud, then archbishop of Canter- bury, informing him of his design to found an Arabic lecture at Oxford, and of naming him to the university as the professor; upon which agreeable news he pres- ently settled his affairs at Aleppo, and took the first op- portunity of returning home. On his arrival at Oxford this year, he took the degree of bachelor of divinity in July, and entered on the professorship in August; how- ever, the next year, when his friend Mr. John Greaves concerted his voyage to Egypt, it was thought expe- dient by Laud that Pocock should attend him to Con- stantinople, in order to perfect himself in the Arabic language, and to purchase more manuscripts. During bis ali. ide there, he was for some time chaplain to Sir Peter Wych, then the English ambassador to the Porte, and who became Pocock's most zealous protector. He collected during his stay in that city a number of Oriental manuscripts. In 1639 he received several let- ters from his friends, and particularly from the arch- bishop, pressing him to return home; and accordingly, embarking in August, 1640, he landed in Italy, and passed thence to Paris. Here he met with Grotius, who was then ambassador at the court of France from Sweden, and acquainted him with a design he had to translate his treatise De veritate Christiana? Religi- onis into Arabic, in order to promote the conversion of some of the Mohammedans. Grotius was pleased with and encouraged the proposal, while Pocock did not scruple to observe to him some things towards the end of his book which he could not approve: as his ad- vancing opinions which, though commonly charged by Christians upon Mohammedans, yet had no foundation in any of their authentic writings, and were such as they themselves were ready to disclaim. Grotius was so far from being displeased that he heartily thanked