POCOCK
310
POCOCK
I ' r the fn edom he had taken ; and gave him full
the vi nrion hi spunge and alter
r be should tliink lit. This work was published in 1660 at the sole expense of Mr. Boberl Royle: Gro- tiu,'-, introduction was left "tit. and a new prefa
... showing the design of the work, and giving
iunl of the persons to whom it would I"- of
I i bis return to England, in 1640, Pocock found
himself in very diflScull circumstances, His chair of
Arabic had been Btipended l>y archbishop Laud, tun
death of that prelate the revenues had been
Pocock now devoted himself entirely to
study, and escaped by hi- retreat, a- well as by the
p of John Selden, who enjoyed a great influ- ence in the republican party, the vexations, it nol
which his royalist opinions would have been Bure to bring upon him. In 1643 he «a- presented by
_.• with the living of Childrey, in Berkshire, and in 1»>|7. in consequence of the exertions ol John Selden, be was reinstated in his Oxford chair,andtwo
r he was appointed professor ol Hebrew. The
kin:;, who was at tli.it time a prisoner in the [ale of
Wight, also bestowed on bim a rich canonry. An acl
tmenl confirmed the gift; but the canonry thus
to bim being different from that originally annexed to the professorship, Pocock entered a protest
it, and refused to receive the profits. In the
meantime he composed his Specimen Hisloria Arabum,
from the work of Abul-faraj in the
original Arabic, together with a Latin translation ami
notes. This work, which was printed al Ox- ford in 1648 and 1650 i Ito), was reprinted in L806 by White, with some additions by Sylvestre de Sacy. In ■ a year alter publishing the pre- ceding work, Pocock was ejected from his canonry, and il ua- intended to deprive him ol the Hebrew and Ar- abic professorships; but, thank- to a petition signed by all the heads of houses, the masters, and scholars at < >x- ck was suffered to enjoy both places. In L655
n the poinl of being deprived of his living, on
ui'l of "ignorance and insufficiency;" al leasl such wire the charges preferred against him by Crom-
mmittee. Some ol his ' Ixford friends, however, wisely prevented the disgrace to the Roundhead party which would have followed the ejection, upon such grounds, of so eminent a Bcholar as Pocock. The mosl determined againsl thi- measure was Dr. John Owen
< himself • of the aissiom rs), Seth
War. I. John Wilkins, and John Wallis, who withsl 1
the Btupid and bigoti d creature- to their face, and made ol "the infinite contempt and reproach" which would reward such treatment of a man "whom all the learned, not of England only, but of all Europe, bo justly admired lor bis vast knowledge and extraor-
complishments." Meanwhile nothing had suf- ither hi- pious care of his parish or his ! and oriental learning. In Arabic and
li arning he was allowi ad to none
the first Pocock made his Oriental attainments
ienl to Biblical illustration: and his contribu-
irectly and indirectly, to Biblical learning were
■ Ktremely valuable. Of his connection
. bis biographi r saj - : " From
a -t, p was taken in that work
til] commuui-
1 ithoul whose assistance it must
mi h of it, perfection;" he collated
pies or Saadias's
i up an ac nl of thi
the Bible which is to be found in the
Appendi c I Pol; lot, and lent some of his own
' the work. viz. a
oi nt, an Ethiopic
MSS. t the Psalms, and
the commission's purp I lished his Porta
tng six prefator Moses Maimon- I ommentary upon the Mishna," written in Ara- hie hut with the Hebrew letters. This work, which was the tir-t production of the Hebrew press at < Oxford, appeared in 1655, together with a Latin translation and numerous note,. Pocock made this work the more use- ful to Biblical students by hi- copious Appendix Nota- rum Miscellanea, where he discusses many points of in- terest to Biblical scholar-. Pocock reaped golden opin- ions on the publication of thi- now neglected tl gh
still very valuable work. In the following year Pocock appears to have entertained the idea of publishing the is of Rabbi Tanchum on i/k old Testament, as he was at that time the only person in Europe who pos- sessed any of the MSS. of that learned rabbi; but, prob- ably from want of encouragement, he did not prosecute his design. In 1657 the English Polyglot appeared, in which Pocock had a considerable hand. lie collated the Arabic Pentateuch, and al-o wrote a preface con- cerning the different Arabic versions of that part of the Bible, and the reason of the various readings to be found in them, the whole of which was inserted in the Appendix to the Polyglot Those i>an- of the Syriac version of the NYw Testament which had remained uti- published are due to him : he accompanied them with a Latin version and annotations. In 1658 his Latin trans- lation of the Annals of Eutychius was published al ( »x- ford (in •_' vols, ito), at the request and at the expense of Selden, who died before it appeared. At the Restora- tion, Pocock was restored (June, 1660 I to his canonry of Christ -church, as originally annexed to the Hebrew professorship by Charles I; but the frivolous i Charles II thought as little of rewarding further his at-