by a niece of Sir Capel's wife, the widow of the Hon. Henry Caulfeild (Notes and Queries, 4th ser. v. 291). The new inscription describes Molyneux as one 'whom Locke was proud to call his friend.' In appearance Molyneux was said somewhat to have resembled Locke (Familiar Letters, p. 172), and whom in his will, by a clause written with his own hand, he bequeathed 'the sum of five pounds to buy him a ring, in memory of the value and esteem I had for him ' (ib. p. 292).
A portrait of Molyneux hangs in the examination hall, Trinity College, Dublin, beside that of Archbishop King. There is also an engraved portrait by Simms prefixed to 'The Case of Ireland,' Dublin, 1725.
Molyneux had two sons, of whom Samuel Molyneux [q. v.] survived him. In addition to the works already mentioned, Molyneux contributed some papers to the Royal Society, which were printed in the 'Philosophical Transactions,' 1686-9. 'A Journal of the Three Months' Royal Campaign of His Majesty in Ireland; with a Diary of the Siege of Lymerick,' London, 1690, is wrongly attributed to him.
[The chief authority for the life of Molyneux is a short account written by himself in 1694, at the request of his brother Thomas, edited and printed for private circulation at Evesham in 1820 by Sir Capel Molyneux. The best life, and that on which the life in the Biographia Britannica is based, was contributed by the Rev. John Madden in 1738 to Bayle's General Dictionary (English translation, with additions, London, 1734–41), where also is an interesting series of letters between Molyneux and Flamsteed, communicated by James Hodgson [q. v.], who married a niece of Flamsteed. The originals of these letters, with others of Samuel Molyneux, subsequently found their way into the possession of the corporation of the town of Southampton (Hist. MSS. Comm. 11th Rep. App. iii. p. 31). See also Molyneux's correspondence with Locke, now in the possession of Alfred Morrison, esq. (Hist. MSS. Comm. 9th Rep. App. p. 409), but printed in Some Familiar Letters between Mr. Locke and several of his Friends, London, 1708; Letters to Sir H. Sloane, in Sloane MS. 4053, ff. 175, 177, 181, 183; Molyneux's own works, particularly Dioptrica Nova; Birch's Hist. of the Royal Society, London, 1756–7, vol. iv.; Weld's History of the Royal Society; James Vernon's Letters, illustrative of the reign of William III; Notes and Queries, 1870.]
MOLYNS, Lord of St. [See Kavanagh, Cahir Mac Art, d. 1554.]
MOLYNS, JOHN (d. 1591), divine, born in Somerset, was made probationary fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, 1541, and proceeded B.A. 1541, M.A. 1545, D.D. 1565-6. In Queen Mary's reign he left for Zurich, after Bishop Gardiner's visitation of his college, and at Frankfort was reader in Greek to the exiled English. He returned to England in Elizabeth's reign, and was appointed in 1559 canon of St. Paul's and archdeacon of London. In February 1561 he was collated to the rectory of Theydon Gernon, Essex, and in May 1577 to the rectory of Bocking, Essex. He was made dean of Bocking in October 1583, along with Dr. Still. He died in June 1591, and was buried in the north aisle of St. Paul's Cathedral. By his will he left 200l. to purchase lands to endow an exhibition for two scholars at Magdalen College. He is said to have published several books and sermons, but there is extant only 'Carmina Latina et Graeca in Mortem duorum fratrum Suffolciensium, Henrici et Caroli Brandon,' 1552, 4to.
[Strype's Works, passim, vide Index, sub ‘Mullings;’ Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, i. 581, ii. 8, 34; Tanner's Bibliotheca, p. 530; Register of the University of Oxford (Boase), i. 200; Newcourt's Repertorium, i. 63, 171, 309, 687, ii. 68–9, 584; Dugdale's Hist. of St. Paul's, p. 105.]
MOMPESSON, Sir GILES (1584–1651?), politician, born in 1584, was son of Thomas Mompesson of Bathampton, Wiltshire (d. 1587), by his second wife, Honor, daughter of Giles Estcourt of Salisbury (Hoare, Wiltshire, i. ii. 219—Heytesbury Hundred). He had two brothers, Thomas (1587-1640) and John (d. 1645), rector of Codford St. Mary (ib. p. 232; Harl MS. 1443, fol. 161; Crisp, Somersetshire Wills, 4th ser. 28, 6th ser. 14). With a first cousin, Jasper Mompesson, two years his senior, Giles matriculated from Hart Hall, Oxford, on 24 Oct. 1600 (Oxf. Univ. Reg., Oxf. Hist. Soc., ii. ii. 242; cf. Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1603-1610, p. 511). Neither seems to have taken a degree. About 1612 Mompesson married Catharine, a younger daughter of Sir John St. John of Lydiard Tregooze. The lady's elder sister, Barbara, was already the wife of Sir Edward Villiers, the half-brother of James I's powerful favourite, George Villiers, subsequently Duke of Buckingham. Through this connection George Villiers came to take some interest in Mompesson, and in 1614 he was elected to parliament for Great Bedwin as a subservient ally of the court (Spedding, Bacon, v. 65; Return of Members of Parl. App. x). In 1616 he suggested to the favourite Villiers the creation of a special commission for the purpose of granting licenses to keepers of inns and alehouses, whereby the pockets of the special commissioners and the king's
