SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
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both Hebrew and Greek, in the Old and New Testaments.
On the restoiatioD of Charles II. to the throne, Dr. Walton presented the work to his majesty, and cancelled the two last leares of the preface, in which he had acknowledged the gene- rosity of the protector and council, in handsome terms, the place of which he supplied by three other leaves, in which the language was con- siderably altered, and suited to the views of the royal party ; and to some copies prefixed a Dedi- ootton to the king. From these circumstances, the copies which have the original leaves are called the Rtp^lican; those which hare the substituted leares are called the Loyal copies ; but as some differences hare been found in the loyal copies, there must have been two copies even of those.
The publication of the Polyglott Bible was followed by that of the Lexicon Heptaglotlon, by Dr. E. Castell.* This work, whico contained a joint-lexicon of the Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Samaritan, ^thiopic, and Arabic ; and a sepa- rate lexicon of the Persic, with brief grammars of those tongues, "is probably," says Dr. A. Clarke, " the greatest, and most perfect of the kind erer performed by human industry and learning." Dr. Castell expended both his fortune and his life in this immense undertaking. He laboured at this work for seventeen years, ftom sixteen to eighteen hours each day, during which time he maintained in his own house, at Lis own cost, seven Englishmen, and seven foreigners, as writers, all of whom died before the work was finished; unfortunately their names hare not been preserved. He expended £12,000 of his own property on the work, and was obliged to borrow £1,800 more; which, not being able to repay, he was constrained to make application to king Charles II. " that a prison might not be the reward of so many labours, and so much expense!" The king directed a letter, in 1660, to all the nobility, clergy, and gentry, recom- mending the work, and earnestly soliciting pecu- niary assistance in behalf of its distressed author, who complains, in his dedication to the king, that "he had expended all that he had inherit^ from his parents, and all that he bad acquired in his past life ; that after suffering severely from the effects of the ciril war and the plague, he had, in the fire of London, lost his Horary, and household goods, with three hxmdred copies of his Lexicon ; and that to these misfortunes were added divers private accidents; and from in- cessant study, an almost total blindness." The sale, howerer, notwithstanding the patronage it received, was very slow, so that at the time of the author's decease, many copies were still on hand.
Several learned men rendered assistance to
- Edmnnd Castell was born at Hatle7, in Cambridge-
•hin. In 1600, and edncated at Emannel college, Cam- Mdge. While In the unlvenit; be laboured in compiling his Letiam. In i<M he was appointed chaplam to Chailes II. and Arabic profeaaor at CunbridKe, to which was added a prebend of Canterbury. He died at Hlgham- Ootaion, In Bedfordshire, of which place he was rector, being abont 79 years, and was buried in the chuicb.
Dr. Castell, besides those whom he regularly employed in his own house ; Dr. J. LighUbot,* ana professor Golius,t were the two great coad- jutors of Dr. Castell in the Lexicon.
The Lexicon was printed at London, by Thomas Roycroft, in 1669, in 2 vols, folio, and delivered to subscribers at forty shillings per volnme in sheets. It is probable the paper had been imported duty free, as well as that for the Polyglott, a petition having been drawn up, and presented to Cromwell, who had grantM the same favour for Bee's Critici Sacri^ an im- mense collection of the works of Biblical critics, in 9 vols, folio.
1657. Printing introduced into the town of Schnol, in Switzerland, which is memorable for having produced the first edition of the Roman- etehe, or Griton Bible, which was printed in this year, and is an exceedingly rare book. Coxe, however, in his Travels in Switzerland, assigns 1679 as the date of its publication. The second edition of this bible, furnished with a new preface and observations by N.DaPorta,wasalso printed at Schuol in 1743, in folio. Of this last a good copy may be seen in the Bodleian library.
1657, May 26. The Public Advertiser. This is a weekly newspaper, which was printed for Thomas Newcomb, in Thames-street, and con- sists almost wholly of advertisements, with the anival and departure of shipping, with books to be printed. No. 1.
1657, May 26. The Public Adviser, No. I. 1667,/uty29. The Weekly Information, No. 1.
1658. A Catalogue of the most vendible Boots in ^n^jand, digested under the heads of Divinity, History, Physick, &c., with School Books, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin ; and an Introduction for the Use of Schools, by W. London, was published in 4to., London, with this motto, Varietas Delectat.
1658, Sept. Died, Oliteb Cromwell, who had been elected lord protector of England. This extraordinary man, who by his bold and daring efforts united in his simple person the whole power, civil and militaiy, of the three kingdoms; who, with the bubble in one band, and the sword in the other, raised and ruled the storming elements of political and religious fanaticism, was born at Huntingdon, April 25, 1599 : he was of a good family, but being the son of a second brother, inherited only a small
- John Lightfoot, D. D. was born at Stoke npon IVent*
in Staffordshire, and educated at Cambridge. He was " a man," says Dr. Adam Clarke, " who, for the amiable- nc«s of his disposition, the parity of his manners, and the extent and depth of his litetary knowledge, had, even in that age of profound learning, no tuperUrrf and since no eqvat.^* He died at Ely, December 0, 167s, and was In- terred at Great Mnnden, in Hertfordshire, of which place he was rector.
t James Golins, professer of Arabic at Leyden, was bom at the Hague, in ligO. He died September 28, 1M7, as much respected for his virtue and piety, as for bis talents and learning. He left two sons who became con- siderable men in Holland.
t The Critiei Saeri, or a Collection of Commentaries and Treatises by the most eminent Bntflsh and foreign critics, which was formed under the direction of bishop Pearson, John Feanon, Anthony ScatteiKOod, and Francis Gould, man, and printed in London, IMS, by CorneUns Bee, was designed as a camiNuilon to the Polyglott Bible.
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