30 Aug. 1643, while attending the chapel service, he was seized with illness, an attack which terminated fatally on the 7th of the following September. His obsequies were formally celebrated on 30 Nov., when a funeral oration was pronounced in Great St. Mary's by Henry Molle, the public orator, and a sermon preached by the deceased's attached friend and admirer, Dr. Brownrigg [q. v.] He was interred in the college chapel.
Ward's 'Diary' (1595-1599), which is preserved among the manuscripts of Sidney-Sussex College, was mainly written during his residence at Christ's College, and exhibits the internal workings of a singularly sensitive nature, prone to somewhat morbid habits of self-introspection. Apprehensions of the evil to come, both in church and state, darkened indeed the greater part of his maturer years, but no 'head' in the university was held in higher esteem for ability, learning, and character. The eloquent tribute to his memory by the pen of Seth Ward in the preface to the 'Opera Nonnulla' exhibits him as what he really was–a central figure in the university of those days. Among his intimate friends were Archbishop Williams, Bishop Hall, Bishop Davenant, Archbishop Ussher, Brownrigg, Thomas James, Sir Simonds D'Ewes; while he was well known to most of the leading divines and scholars of his time. Among his pupils were Fuller, Edward Montagu, second earl of Manchester, and Richard Holdsworth, the master of Emmanuel.
Ward was a generous patron of learning, as is shown by the acknowledgments of Abraham Wheelocke [q. v.] in the preface to his edition of Bede, and those of Simon Birkbeck in the preface to his 'Protestant's Evidence' (ed. 1657, paragraph 2). There is a good portrait of Ward in the master's lodge at Sidney-Sussex College; his commonplace book is also in the care of the master of the college.
His works are:
- 'Gratia discriminans: Concio ad Clerum habita Cantabrigiae, 12 Jan. 1625,' London 1626, 4to.
- 'Magnetis reductorium Theologicum Tropologicum, in quo ejus novus, verus et supremus usus indicatur,' London, 1637, 8vo; the same translated by Sir H. Grimston, London, 1640, 12mo.
- 'De Baptismatis Infantilis vi et efficacia Disceptatio,' London, 1653, 8vo.
- 'Opera nonnulla: Declamationes Theologicae, Tractatus de justificatione, Praelectiones de peccato originali. Edita a Setho Wardo.' 2 pts., London, 1658, fol.
- 'Letter to W. Harvey, M.D.' [relating to a petrified skull], in 'Specimens of the Hand writing of Harvey,' &c., edited by G. E. P[aget], [Cant, 1849], 8vo.
[Information kindly afforded by authorities of Emmanuel and Sidney-Sussex Colleges, and by Professor J. E. B. Mayor; Tanner MSS., see Cat. Cod. MSS. Biblioth. Bodleianae, iv. 1152-3; Baker MSS. vii. 258-65, 268-77, xi. 341, 353; Acta Synodi Dortrechti (ed. 1620), p. 11; Aubrey's Lives, ed. Clark, ii. 283, 284, 287; Fuller's Worthies, i. 173,487-8, iii. 287; Goodman's Court of James I, ii. 174, 186, 194, 218, 325; Pope's (Sir Walter) Life of Seth Ward, pp. 13-14; Vossius (G. J.) Epist. pp. 108, 125; Worthington's Diary; Cat. of MSS. in Sidney-Sussex College Library, by Dr. James, p. 29.]
WARD, SETH (1617–1689), successively bishop of Exeter and Salisbury, baptised at St. Mary, Aspenden, in Hertfordshire, on 5 April 1617, was the second son of John Ward (d. 1656), an attorney of that town, by his wife, Martha Dalton (d. 1646), an accomplished and pious woman. He was taught ‘grammar learning and arithmetic in the school at Buntingford,’ and on 1 Dec. 1632 was admitted to Sidney-Sussex College, Cambridge, under the tutorship of Charles Pendrith, as servitor to the master, Samuel Ward (d. 1643) [q. v.] He was not related to Samuel, but was recommended to his notice by the vicar of Buntingford, Alexander Strange. He soon after became a scholar, graduating B.A. in 1636–7, and M.A. on 27 July 1640. In the same year he was elected a fellow of Sidney-Sussex College, and at commemoration was chosen prævaricator, or official jester, by the vice-chancellor, John Cosin [q. v.] In this office his freedom of speech displeased Cosin so much that he suspended Ward from his degree, restoring him, however, on the following day.
While at Cambridge Ward devoted much attention to the study of mathematics, which he commenced spontaneously without any instructor, and in 1643 was chosen mathematical lecturer in the university. He shared his enthusiasm with (Sir) Charles Scarburgh [q. v.] Together they perused the ‘Clavis Mathematicæ,’ and, finding some parts of it obscure, they visited the author, William Oughtred [q. v.], at his house at Albury in Surrey. Oughtred treated them with much cordiality, and on their return they introduced the ‘Clavis’ as a text-book in the university, commenting on it in their lectures. Ward also suggested several corrections and additions to the treatise, and persuaded Oughtred to publish a third edition in 1652. His fame as a mathematician extended beyond England, and he corresponded with foreign savants. Two letters to Johann Hevelius
