‘Academy,’ ‘Notes and Queries,’ and other publications.
[Latting's Memoir of Col. Chester, 1882; Dean's Memoir of Col. J. L. Chester, 1884, with a portrait; Marshall's Genealogist, vi. 189*–92* (1882); Athenæum, 3 June 1882, p. 699; Academy, 3 June 1882, pp. 394–5, by W. P. Courtney; Biograph and Review, May 1881, pp. 455–8; Palatine Note-book, ii. 156.]
CHESTER, ROBERT (fl. 1182), astronomer and alchemist, took his name from the place of his birth. Trained in the ordinary learning of his time, he turned aside from it to pursue mathematical studies, in which he gained a high reputation. Of his numerous writings Leland mentions 'De Astrolabio' as giving proof of an acute understanding. His conjecture that it was written during the reign of Richard II. is erroneous. A translation by Chester from Arabic into Latin of an alchemistical treatise by 'Morienus Romanus' bears the date 11 Feb. 1182. It exists in a manuscript of the thirteenth century in the Bodleian (Cod. Digb. 162, f.23) and has been printed several times, namely, at Paris in 1564 with the title 'Morieni Romani, quondam eremitae Hierosolymitani, de re metallica, metallorum transmutatione, et occulta summaque antiquorum medicina Libellus praeter priorem editionem accurate recognitus.' This, then, was not the first edition. Again, at Basle in 1593, in the collection 'Artis auriferae quam Chemiam vocant' (ii. 25-54), and at Geneva in 1711, in Manget's 'Bibliotheca Chemica Curiosa' (i. 509). In a brief translator's preface 'Robertus Castrensis' admits the disqualifications for his task of youth and imperfect latinity. The Bodleian contains two other manuscripts assigned to Chester; the first is entitled 'De diversitate annorum ex Roberto Cestrensi super Tabulas Toletanas' (Cod. Digb. 17, f. 156, written about 1370); and the second is the second part of an astronomical work, 'que videlicet ad meridiem urbis Londiniarum iuxta Al Batem Saracensem summam per Robertum Cestrensem contexitur' (Cod. Savil. 21, ff. 86-95).
[Leland's Commentarii de Script. Brit. p. 430 (ed. 1709); Bale's Script Brit. Cat xi. 52; Pits, De Angliæ Scriptoribus, p. 900; Tanner's Bibl. Brit.; Macray's Cat. Cod. MS. Bibliothecæ Bodleianæ, pars mona; Bernard's Cat. Libr. MS. Angliæ et Hiberniæ, p. 300; information kindly supplied by Mr. R. L. Poole of Oxford.]
CHESTER, ROBERT (1566?–1640?), poet, is conjectured by Dr. Grosart to have been the son of Mr. Edward Chester of Roysdon. If this supposition is correct, the poet was born about the end of June 1566 (Grosart, Introduction to Love's Martyr, p. 8); was knighted in 1603; married Anne (who proved very prolific), daughter of Mr. Henry Capell of Essex; and died on 3 May 1640. In 1601 Chester published a poem of obscure import entitled 'Love's Martyr; or, Rosalin's Complaint, allegorically shadowing the truth of Love in the constant Fate of the Phoenix and Turtle' &c. 4to. The poem is dedicated 'to the honourable and (of me before all other) honoured knight Sir John Salisburie.' Following the dedication are two copies of verses; one, signed 'R. Chester,' is entitled 'The Authour's request to the Phoenix,' and the other, signed 'R. Ch.,' is addressed 'To the kind Reader.' In 1611 the poem was reissued under the title of 'The Anuals [sic] of Great Brittaine. Or, A most excellent Monument, wherein may be seene all the antiquities of this Kingdome,'&c. Only one copy of each edition is known to exist. Parts of the poem, which is exceedingly difficult and tedious, appear to relate to Queen Elizabeth and Essex. Appended to Chester's poem are 'Some new Compositions of several Modern Writers whose names are subscribed to their severall Workes; upon the first subject, viz. the Phoenix and Turtle.' Shakespeare's enigmatical poem, 'The Phoenix and Turtle,' is included among these 'new compositions.' The other verses are by 'Ignoto,' Marston, Chapman, and Ben Jonson.
[Grosart's Introduction to Love's Martyr, p. 8; Corser's Collectanea.]
CHESTER, ROGER of (fl. 1339), almost beyond doubt the same person with Ranulf Higden [q. v.], the chronicler, like whom he is described as a monk of St. Werburg's at Chester, is said to have written a work entitled 'Polycratica Temporum,' in seven books, extending to the year 1314, with a supplementary book carrying on the history to 1339 (Bale, Script. Brit. Cat. v. 48, pp. 415 et seq.) A portion of this same book appears also to bear the title of 'Cosmographia' (Sir T. D. Hardy, Descriptive Catalogue of Materials relating to the early History of Great Britain and Ireland, iii. 376 et seq.) The 'Polycratica' is known to exist in a number of manuscripts, and it has generally been assumed to be the original from which Ranulf Higden borrowed the main part of his 'Polychronicon.' It appears, however, that in all the six manuscripts examined by Mr. Babington the ascription to Roger is added in a later band, and that one of these bears the heading of 'Historia Policronica;' while conversely the 'Polychronicon' of Ranulf Higden is sometimes entitled the 'Polycraticon,' or
