PRIDEAUX
566
PRIERIAS
sary fur giving a distinct view of the completion of tlie prophecies which relate to the timea comprehended in it. The author has also set in the clearest lighl some passages of profane history which before lay dispersed and buried in confusion, and tin-re appears throughout the whole work such an amiable spirit of sincerity and candor as sufficiently atones as well for the few mistakes which escaped bis diligence as for some weaknesses arising from his individual temperament. About three fore bis death be presented bis collection o< Oriental books, more than three hundred in number, to the library of Clare Hall. Cambridge. Several of bis posthumous Tracts and Letters, with a Lif oj Dr. Prideaux, the author of which is not named, were pub- lished in 1748 (8vo). Dr. Prideaux was tall, well-built. and of a Strong and robust constitution. His qualities wire very good, solid rather than lively, and bis judg- ment excellent. He possessed great moral worth, and more ardent piety than was usual in bis generation. As a writer he is clear, strong, intelligent, and learned. See, besides the works above mentioned, Biog. Brit. s. v.; Gentleman's Magazine, voL lxx; and especially the ex- cellent article in Allibone, Diet, of Brit. andAmer. Au- thors, ii. 1681, 1682.
Prideaux, John, D.D., an English prelate of much note, was bom of bumble parentage at Stowford, near Ivybridge, in Devonshire, Sept. 17. 157s. While yet in his boyhood he was a candidate for the office of parish- clerk at LTgborough, a neighboring village ; but he did not succeed, and to his failure he used to attribute his elevated position in after-life. He was then noticed by a lady of the parish, who, seeing that a boy of only common educational training attempted so much, felt persuaded that he would surely rise if given greater fa- cilities; and she supported him at school till he had ac- quired a knowledge of Latin, and was ready to go to < Ixford. where he was admitted a poor scholar at Exeter College in 1596. He was elected probationer fellow of his college in 1602, being then a B.A. In the following year he received holy orders, and, having become noted for his profound knowledge of divinity as well as his great learning in general, he was elected rector of bis college upon the death of Dr. Thomas Holland in 1612. In 1615 be succeeded Dr. 1,'obert Abbott, then promoted to the see of Salisbury, as regius professor of divinity, canon of Christ Church, and rector of Ewelme. He afterwards bold the office of vice-chancellor for several years. '"In the rectorship of his college," says Wood, •• he carried himself so winning and pleasing by his gentle government and fatherly instruction that it flourished more than any house in the university with scholars, as well of great as of mean birth ; as also with many foreigners thai came purposely to -it at bis feet to gain instruction." He no less distinguished himself in the divinity chair, which be occupied for twenty-six years. Although he maintained his decided convic- tions against the Socinians and Arminians. and was a most stout defender of the Calvinistic tendency, be was yet popular with all bis bearers, and none failed to do him reverence, however widely they might differ from
him. Though the university was agitated deeplj by the controversy of those times, Prideaux happily es- caped all partisan imbroglio, and in Kill was elevated
to the bishopric Of Worcester. On account of his ad- herence to the king, he found bis dignity neither pleas- ant nor profitable. He became so impoverished aa i<-
be C polled to sell bis books, and so was, BS Dr.
Gauden Bays, "verus librorurn belluo." "Having," continues Wood, - Bret, by indefatigable studies, digest- ed bis excellent library into bis mind, be was after- wards forced again to devour all bis books with his teeth, turning them, by a miraculous faith and patience, into bread for himself and bis children, to whom he left no legacy but pious poverty, God's blessing, and a fa- ther's prayers." He died at Bredon, in Worcestershire, July 12, 1650. lb was a man ..i most unassuming ami gentle manners : of excellent conduct, and great integ-
rity and piety of mind: quite regardless of worldly con- cerns, and careless and often imprudent in worldly mat- ter-, lb- was an excellent linguist, possessing a won- derful memory, and so profound a divine that some have called him "Columna Fidei < Irthodoxse et Malleus Hsereticorum," "Patrum Pater," and " Ingens Schoke et Acidemia- Oraculum." His works were as much es- teemed as his learning. They were numerous, and mostly written in Latin — upon grammar, logic, theol- ogy, and other subjects. Those specially interested will find a li.-t in Middleton's Evangel. Biog. iii. 203 sq.
Though be died before the publication of the London he was well known to tin editor, Brian Wal- ton, who appeals to Pridcaux's authority, on tin- nicer points of Hebrew criticism, in vindicating the Polyglot from certain cavils that bad been raised against ii. See Honk. Eccles. Biog. vin, 163; Perry, Hist, of tin Church of England, iii, 239; English Cyclopadia, 8. v.; Wood, Minna Oxoniensis (Bliss ed.), iii, 267; Fuller, Worthies, i, 408 sq.; Nicholls, ii, 450; and Allibone. Diet, of Brit, and . I m< /-. .4 tit/tors, s. v.