Potter, Francis, an English divine, was born in 1594 al Myre, in Wiltshire, and was educated al Trinity College, Oxford. He took holy orders, and. after suc- cessively filling various preferments, became in 1637 rec- tor of KUmington. He died in 1678. He was a man of learning and mechanical ingenuity. He published, .•in Interpretation of tb Number 666, etc. (Oxf. 1642, ■Itn; in Latin, translated by Thomas Gibbet and oth- er-. Amst, lti77. 8vo; also translated into French and Dutch). It was attacked by Rev. Lambert Morehouse, to whom l'otter wrote, a reply; hut neither the attack nor reply was ever published. A ureal authority (Jo- seph Brfede) thus commends Potter's Interpretation: '■ I'his discourse of the Number of the Beasl is the hap- piest thai ever yel came into the world, and such as cannot be read (save of those thai perhaps will not be- lieve ii i without much admiration." See Athen. Oxon. ; Aubrey's MSS.', in Letters of Eminent Persons (1813,3 vi Is. 8vo : -Gem ral Dictionary; Walker, Suffi rgy.
Potter, Isaiah, a Congregational minister, was burn at Plymouth, Conn., in 1746. lie was educated al JTalel i ;e, class of 1767, studied theology with Dr. Smalley, of Berlin, Conn., and was the firsl settled min- ister al Lebanon, N. II.. from July 6, 177J. to his death, duly 2, 1817, He published Bome occasional Sermons,
Potter, John, an Anglican prelate of much note, was bom in 1674 ofvery humble parentage, He was, however, given all the educational facilities as ifol su- perior rank. and. manifi Btin a more than usual aptitude for study, was Ben I al fourteen to the University Col- i txford; took the degree of B.A. in 1692, and in 1694 became fellow of Lincoln College, lie had by this
time made gnat attainments in classical learning, and.
though still very young, was encouraged by Pr. Char- lett, the master of University College, to publish in 1694 a collection which he bad made of various read- ings and notes on Plutarch's treatise De Audiendis Poetis, a wcirk which he followed .-con after by va- riuus readings and notes on an oration of Basil. His greater works appeared Boon after: his edition of /.;/- cophron, and hi> Archaologia Grace i 1697), the former gaining him a world-wide reputation. In 1698 he en- tered into holy orders, and from that lime his studies appear to have been almost exclusively professional, and he passed from one preferment in the Church to an- other, till at last he reached the highest dignity. Areh- bishop Tenison made him his chaplain, and gave him the living of Great Mongeham in Kent, and subse- quently other preferment in Buckinghamshire and Ox- fordshire. He became chaplain to Queen Anne and regius professor of divinity in the University of I (xford
in 1708. In the same year he published an excellent
edition of the we.rks of Clemens Alexandrinns (2 vols, fob). His other publications were Sermons and Charges, and .1 Discoursi on Church Government. In 1715 he was made bishop of Oxford, and in 17:S7 archbishop of Canterbury, which high station he supported with much
dignity to the time of his death. Oct 21, 1717. His theological works were published al Oxford (1753,3 vols. 8vo). Archbishop Potter was a man of much in- dustry, but hardly a great scholar: a compiler rather than an original investigator, and hence his works are of little value in our day. A> an ecclesiastic be was haughty and overzealous, as will as excessively narrow. See Hook, Eccles. Biog. viii. 142; Biog. Brit. s. v. ; English ( 'yclop. s. v. ; Allibone. Diet, of Brit, and A mt r. Aui/i. s. v.; Perry, Eccles. Hist, of tfu <'/>. of England, iii, 199, 360 sq. (J.H.W.)
Potter, John "W., a Presbyterian minister, was born in Beaver Co., Pa., duly 30, 1832, He was the child of pious parents, and early made a profession Of religion. He graduated at Jefferson College, Canons- burg, l'a.. in 1859; studied divinity in the Western Theological Seminary. Alleghany, l'a. : was licensed by Alleghany City Presbytery; and. after supplying some churches for a time, he accepted a call to the Church of Plains, Pa., and was ordained and installed Sept 8, 1863. Subsequently he was earnestly solicited, and, after prayerful consideration, consented to take charge of Fairmounl church. Pa., in connection with thai of Plains, which relation existed till he died, dune 10, 1866. Mr. l'otter was a favorite pa-tor and an excel- lent preacher. His preaching was plain, pointed, and scriptural. He always carefully prepared his sermons. See Wilson, Presb. Hist.Almanac,18G7, p. 191. (J.L.S.)
Potter, Robert, an Anglican divine, noted some- what as a poet, was born in 1721; was educated at Emanuel College, Cambridge, and was for some years vicar of Seaming, after which he obtained the livings of Lowestoft and Kessingland, and a prebend in the cathedral of Norwich, lie died in 1804. Hi- original poetry consists ofa volume of Poi ms, and two Odes from [saiah (a translation of Tin Orach concerning Babylon ami '1'ln So/,;/ of Exultation), and is much above medi- ocrity. Bui he i- lust known by bis spirited versions of .Kschylus. Sophocles, and Euripides, lie- also published A Sermon on thi Thanksgiving for tht Peaa (1802).
Potter's Field (dypoc row Kepapiwi ; Yirlg.ager
figuli), a piece of ground which, according to the