Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol III (1901).djvu/275

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Perry Peterson

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rule, having stopped short at the Revolution of 1688. In 1868 he published for S.P.C.K. a short 'Life of Henry Hammond' and a similar 'Life of Robert Boyle,' and among his other minor works were 'The Bishop's Daughter,' 1860; ' Vox Ecclesiae Anglicanae,' 1868, being extracts from English theologians; 'History of the Crusades,' no date; 'Victor, a Story of the Diocletian Persecution,' no date; 'Croyland Abbey,' no date. In 1872 came a book which greatly enhanced his reputation, the 'Life of Bishop Grosseteste.' His intimate knowledge of the university of Oxford and also of the diocese of Lincoln, with both of which Grosseteste was so closely connected, at once rendered the task a labour of love to him, and enabled him to carry it out successfully. This was followed in 1879 by an equally good 'Life of St. Hugh of Avalon, Bishop of Lincoln,' though of course he had here to come into competition with the 'Magna Vita' (Rolls Ser.) In 1886 appeared a yet more successful production of his pen, a 'History of the Reformation in England,' written for the 'Epochs of Church History' series edited by Canon (afterwards Bishop) Creighton [q.v. Suppl.] This work gave scope for the development of Perry's most characteristic merits his power of condensation and of seizing the salient points of a subject, his fairness, and his accuracy. Moreover, although Perry was a good all-round historian, the Reformation period was that with which he was most familiar. The volume ranks among the best of an excellent series. The same merits are found in his larger publication, 'The Student's English Church History,' the Second Period (1509-1717) appearing in 1878, the First Period (596-1509) in 1881, and the Third Period (1717-1884) in 1887. He also left two posthumous works. One was the 'Diocesan History of Lincoln,' for the series published by S.P.C.K. This he took up after the death of Edmund Venables [q.v.], and incorporated in it the work which Venables had done. It was not published until after his death, in 1897; but he lived just long enough to correct the final proofs. The other was the 'Lives of the Bishops of Lincoln from Remigius to Wordsworth.' In this he had been engaged for several years in conjunction with Canon Overton, to whom he proposed the joint undertaking, 'as a pious tribute to our common alma mater' (i.e. Lincoln College, of which bishops of Lincoln were founders, benefactors, and ex-officio visitors), but the work has not yet (1901) appeared. Perry was also a contributor to periodical literature and to the 'Dictionary of National Biography.' He died on 10 Feb. 1897, and was buried in Waddington churchyard. A. tablet to his memory in Waddington church and a window in the chapter house of Lincoln Cathedral were erected by public subscription. He lost his wife in 1877. By her he had three sons and four daughters, five of whom are now living.

[Personal knowledge; private information; Perry's Works, passim; Mark Pattison's Memoirs; Times, 11 Feb. 1897; Athenaeum, 13 Feb. 1897.]

J. H. O.

PETERSON, PETER (1847-1899), Sanskrit scholar, the son of John Peterson, merchant of Leith, and Grace Montford Anderson, was born in Edinburgh on 12 Jan. 1847. His father and paternal grandfather were natives of Shetland, and hence Peterson was wont to describe himself as a Shetlander. From the high school at Edinburgh he passed to the Edinburgh University, where he graduated with first-class honours in classics in 1867. It was here that he commenced the study of Sanskrit under Professor Aufrecht. After a visit, partly for study, to Berlin, he proceeded in 1869 to Lincoln College, Oxford, in which university he continued Sanskrit under Sir Monier Monier-Williams [q. v. Suppl.] and Friedrich Max Müller [q. v. Suppl.], gaining the Boden (university) scholarship in Sanskrit in 1870, and then joining Balliol College, from which he graduated in 1872. On 2 Jan. 1873 he joined the Indian educational service, and went to Bombay as professor in Elphinstone College. He also held the post of university registrar during the greater part of his career. During his first nine years in India Peterson seems to have done little original work. Indeed in 1881 the Bombay government actually proposed to transfer him to a chair of English, making over the Sanskrit teaching to Professor Bhandarkar of Poona. In 1882, however, he commenced the work for which he will be chiefly remembered, the search for Sanskrit manuscripts in the northern part of the Bombay presidency and circle. Many of his discoveries were of high literary value, and his six reports on the search (1883-99) are in every sense excellent reading. His exploration of Jain literature has been specially appreciated. Most of his editions of Sanskrit texts were issued in the 'Bombay Sanskrit Series,' of which, with Professor Bhandarkar, he was in joint charge. Of these the most important were: 'Kädambari' (1883), with an elaborate introduction containing parallels with the analogous romance literature in Greek, and the anthologies