[Dict. of Musicians, 1827; Musical World, 21 Jan. 1841; Manchester Guardian, 2 Jan. 1841.]
CUDWORTH, RALPH (1617–1688), divine, was born at Aller, Somersetshire, in 1617. His father, Dr. Ralph Cudworth (d. 1624), had been fellow of Emmanuel College, lecturer of St. Andrew's, Cambridge, vicar of Coggeshall, rector of Aller, a college living, and chaplain to James I. His mother, whose name was Machell, had been nurse to Henry, prince of Wales, and after Dr. Cudworth's death married Dr. Stoughton. Ralph Cudworth was educated by Stoughton; admitted pensioner at Emmanuel 9 May 1632, and became B.A. 1635, M.A. 1639. He was elected fellow of his college 9 Nov. 1639, and became a popular tutor, having the then unusual number of twenty-eight pupils, one of whom was Sir W. Temple. He graduated as B.D. in 1646, when he maintained theses upon the ethical and philosophical questions afterwards discussed in his writings. In 1645 he was appointed, by parliamentary authority, master of Clare Hall, in place of Dr. Pashe, ejected by the parliamentary visitors; and on 15 Oct. 1645 was unanimously elected to the regius professorship of Hebrew. He held this office until his death. Cudworth became a leader among the remarkable group generally known as the ‘Cambridge Platonists.’ Among his contemporaries at Emmanuel were Nathanael Culverwel |[q. v.], John Smith (author of ‘Select Discourses’), Wallis, the famous mathematician, Benjamin Whichcote, and John Worthington. Smith and Wallis became fellows of Queens' College, and all the others of Emmanuel. Cudworth was especially intimate with Worthington, in whose diaries, published by the Chetham Society, are several references to him. The whole party was open-minded on political questions of the day. On 31 March 1647 Cudworth preached a sermon before the House of Commons, published with a dedication to the house, omitted in later editions. It protests against the exaggerated importance attributed by the puritans to dogmatic differences. On 3 Oct. 1650 he was presented to the college living of North Cadbury, Somersetshire, vacant by the resignation of Whichcote (information from the master of Emmanuel), and was created D.D. in 1651. Worthington expresses a fear (6 Jan. 1651) that Cudworth may be forced to leave Cambridge ‘through want of maintenance.’ He appears to have had a difficulty in obtaining the stipend for his mastership at Clare (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1655, p. 133, 1655–6, p. 82). On 29 Oct. 1654, however, he was elected master of Christ's College, upon the death of Samuel Bolton [q. v.], and married directly afterwards. Upon the Restoration he had some difficulty in obtaining a confirmation of this appointment. On 15 Nov. 1655 he and other learned men were consulted by a committee of council upon the application of the Jews for admission to England (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1655–6, p. 23), and in the same year took part in preparing statutes for Durham College (ib. 218). Cudworth, whose Hebrew learning was profound, was an ‘adviser’ of Brian Walton [q. v.] and his friends when they were preparing their great ‘Polyglot-Bible’ (1654–7). On 16 Jan. 1656–7 he considered with a committee of the House of Commons a proposed revision of the translation of the Bible. They met frequently at Whitelocke's house; but their labours ended with the dissolution of parliament (Whitelocke, Memorials, 1732, p. 654). Cudworth was intimate with Cromwell's secretary Thurloe, to whom he recommended many young men for preferment. On 20 Jan. 1658–9 he asks leave of Thurloe to dedicate to Richard Cromwell, ‘to whose noble father,’ he adds, ‘I was much obliged,’ a treatise on the book of Daniel which he is proposing to publish.
On the Restoration Cudworth contributed a copy of Hebrew verses to the ‘Academiæ Cantabrigiensis Sōstra,’ a volume of congratulatory poems to Charles II. In 1662 he was presented by Bishop Sheldon to the rectory of Ashwell, Hertfordshire. Cudworth was thinking of publishing an ethical treatise in 1665, when some difficulty arose between him and Henry More, whose ‘Enchiridion Ethicum’ seemed likely to clash with his own book. More's book did not appear till 1668, when it was published in Latin to avoid clashing with Cudworth. Cudworth's did not appear at all, unless it be identical with his posthumous treatise on morality (see below). It was not till 1678 that Cudworth at last published his great work on the ‘Intellectual System,’ although the imprimatur is dated 29 May 1671. Cudworth was installed prebendary of Gloucester in 1678. He died 26 June 1688, and was buried in Christ's College chapel. His sons included John (d. 1726), fellow of Christ's, and Charles (d. 1681) who went to India; a daughter Damaris (b. 18 Jan. 1658), second wife of Sir Francis Masham, was known as the friend of Locke.
Cudworth's works are:
- ‘Discourse concerning the true notion of the Lord's Supper,’ 1642, a short treatise of great learning intended to prove that the Lord's Supper was not properly a sacrifice, but a ‘feast upon sacrifice.’
- ‘The Union of Christ and the Church a Shadow, by R.C.,’ 1642.
- ‘Sermon preached before the House of Commons, 31 March 1647.’
