Protestant Exiles from France/Volume 2 - Book Third - Chapter 18 - Section IV
IV. Maty.
The Pasteur Matthieu Maty, of Beaufort, in Dauphine, became a refugee in Holland in 1685, along with his little sons, Charles and Paul. Both these boys rose to considerable eminence. Charles Maty became the author of a Dictionnaire Geographique Universal, published at Amsterdam in 1701, and again in 1723. (Perhaps he was “Monsieur Maty, pasteur Francais a Utrecht" in 1718.)
Paul Maty was born at Beaufort in 1681, and (according to Haag), was Catechist at the Hague in Saurin’s School for the Poor. He certainly was the pasteur of Montfort, near Utrecht, in 1715. On 8th September 1715 he married Jeanne Crottier des Marets, a lady of a refugee family from Lyons. In 1729 he printed a letter on the mystery of the Trinity, in which he started a new dogma concerning our Divine Saviour. There was a very ancient sect known as the Monophysites; if our theologist had obtained followers they might have been named Triphysites. The only interest we have in this letter is that it was replied to by one of our refugees, the Pasteur Armand de La Chapelle, in a pamphlet entitled, “Reflexions en forme de lettre au sujet d’un systeme pretendu nouveau sur le mystere de la Trinité,” 1729. Paul Maty refused to appear before his synod, and was expelled from his church. He then applied himself to the study of medicine, and in 1740 he retired to England along with his son.
This son, named Matthieu, had been baptised on 19th May 1718, at Montford. He had taken the degree of M.D. at Leyden on nth February 1740. Aspiring to literary employment in England, he printed some fugitive pieces, among which were Ode sur la Rebellion en Ecosse (1746) and Eloge Critique du grand medecin, Boorhaave (1747). In order to bring himself into notice in London he began to publish in 1750 a magazine of literary news, entitled Journal Britannique, which was continued till 1755. The British Museum being organised in 1753, Matthew Maty was appointed one of its sub-librarians. In the same year he was made F.R.S. On 16th November 1754 Mr. Duncombe wrote to Archbishop Herring:
“I have lately commenced an acquaintance with a F.R.S., Dr. Maty, a man of learning and genius. He published every two months at the Hague une feuille volante (as the French call it) entitled, Journal Britannique. He has continued it five years. . . . The Dr. is in easy circumstances, and knows nothing of my mentioning his name here.”
He was a member of the Medical Club which met every fortnight at the Queen’s Arms, in St Paul’s Churchyard. In 1754 Dr. Richard Mead and M. Abraham De Moivre died, and Dr. Maty published concise memoirs of both; his tiny volume entitled, Memoire sur la vie et sur les écrits de Mr. Abraham De Moivre, is the life of which all subsequent biographies of the famous mathematician are abridgments. He also wrote memoirs of Rev. Thomas Birch, D.D., the historian of the Royal Society, who died in 1766. Dr. Maty was elected Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society 4th March 1762. And on 25th June 1765 he was admitted a Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians. On 30th November of the same year he became the Secretary of the Royal Society. He was chosen to be the Principal Librarian of the British Museum in 1772, on the death of Dr. Knight.
Dr. Maty married in London, on 13th December 1743, in the French Church in the Savoy, Miss Elizabeth Boisragon. In the same Church, of which he was afterwards a trustee.his children were baptised — Henry Paul (born 1744),Jeanne(1753),Louise(), and Marthe (1758). He died in the beginning of August 1776, and was survived by his second wife (née Mary Deners), one son, and three daughters. He left a manuscript nearly ready for publication, viz., “The Memoirs of the Earl of Chesterfield,” a work undertaken to do honour to a great statesman, but refusing to deal with his religious opinions. This memoir was published in 1779, prefixed to Chesterfield’s Works, in four volumes, edited by Justamond. A portrait of Dr. Maty, by Bartolozzi, was given to his friends as a legacy to the extent of 100 copies, after which the plate was destroyed. His funeral sermon was preached by his wife’s nephew, Charles Peter Layard (afterwards known as Dean Layard), from which I give an extract — a good specimen of the preacher’s eloquence.
“A Sermon preached at Oxendon Chapel on Sunday, August 11, 1776, occasioned by the Decease of the late Matthew Maty, M.D. of the Royal College of Physicians in London, Principal Librarian of the British Museum; Secy, to R.S.; F. of the R.SS. of Berlin and Stockholm and of the Society of Haerlem; and Physician to the Hospital for French Protestants and their descendants. By Charles Peter Layard, A.M., Fellow of St. John’s Coll., Cambridge. London, 1776.
“A mark of the author’s veneration for the character and memory of his deceased uncle.”
“To lay the examples of men of this amiable character before the world is in some measure to prosecute the plan of their lives, and to carry into practice their laudable intentions of advancing to the utmost the benefit of mankind and the glory of God. It is too often observed, and with justice, that the industry of those who are endowed with brighter parts than the generality of men is by no means proportionable to their abilities; because, as they perceive their natural superiority to others, they rely too much on their talents in the acquisition and communication of knowledge. But this was far from being the case in the instance before us. An unwearied application, which commenced in the dawn and failed not till the very extinction of the last gleam of life, gave constancy and energy to the exertion of faculties far exceeding such as are entrusted to the majority. An extent of knowledge comprehending a great number of the most essential parts of science, and a superior acquaintance with the rational theory, joined to eminent skill in discharging the duties of [the medical profession] a profession not more useful to society than difficult ill its study and practice, were the effects of this happy disposition. The very relaxations of a great and good man participate in that dignity which adorns his character. To his vast and valuable fund of profane literature was added an intimate acquaintance with religious and moral learning; the pride of human wisdom had not taught him to scorn what was most worthy his attention; nor had the contagion of infidelity poisoned the pure sources of benevolence in his heart. Deep indeed is the shadow which has fallen upon those who so lately enjoyed the society of our departed friend; but not they alone have been deprived of a father, a husband, or a brother; the orphan, the widow, the afflicted, share in their distress; every honest man has lost a fellow-labourer; every learned man an assistant in his laudable pursuits; every Christian an industrious and faithful fellow-servant; and this country one of its wisest and one of its worthiest citizens.
“I might describe to you the last hours of this excellent person, which corresponded exactly with his former life; I might relate to you with what humility he waved the deserved applause of his surrounding friends; with what earnestness he declared his disapprobation of that vain wisdom which misleads men from the ways of religion, till their ears cannot hear her voice, nor their eyes behold her perfections; with what fervency he professed his faith, with what constancy he persevered in his hope in Christ; and with what resignation and sincerity he awaited that moment which was to divide him from his nearest and dearest connections; but let me recall these words; the nearest connection of a good man is with the merciful Being, whose grace hath enabled him to persevere in that course which is closed in the brightness of His presence.
“A great degree of solid and useful and elegant knowledge, acquired, by the application of excellent abilities, with habitual and unwearied industry; an heartfelt interest in the public good; a charitable attention to that of every private person; and such a belief of religion and obedience to its precepts as constitute the real dignity and happiness of man, — are the most striking features in this unflattered portrait. If, therefore, the tenor of this man’s life excites respect and attachment in the mind of any one, let me exhort him in the words of our Lord, for the sake of God’s glory, for the benefit of the community, for his own present and future happiness, to go and do likewise.”
Dr. Maty’s daughter, Louise, became, on 21st March 1776, the second wife of Rogers Jortin, Esq., son of Archdeacon Jortin. Before that date, another daughter had been married to Obadiah Justamond, Surgeon to the Westminster Hospital, and F.R.S. The other daughter was unmarried.
Dr. Maty’s only son was born in London, 18th December 1744, and was registered Henry Paul at his baptism in the Savoy, 18th January 1745; at Westminster he was entered as Paul Henry; from 1782 to 1786 he called himself Henry only; I appealed to Mr. Winter Jones, late Principal Librarian of the British Museum, and he kindly wrote to me, with charming official positiveness, “His name was Paul Henry.” He became a pupil at Westminster School in 1758, and from thence was elected to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1763. He became B.A. in 1767, and M.A. in 1770; he also obtained a travelling fellowship and passed three years abroad. He was ordained to the ministry of the Church of England, and became, in 1774, chaplain to Viscount Stormont, our Ambassador at Paris. Dr. Lort, in a letter dated “Old Bond Street, 7th August 1776,” says, “Dr. Maty being dead, his son, who is chaplain to Lord Stormont, is expected over.” Soon after his arrival in London, he renounced the Thirty-nine Articles of his Church and embraced Unitarian ism. That this step was not the result of any very industrious research may be inferred from Mr. Nichols’ account of the posthumous volume of his sermons; “they had been preached in the British Ambassador’s Chapel in Paris in the years 1774, 1775, 1776, and in this volume by an oversight, that has sometimes happened in other cases, two or three sermons which he had transcribed from other authors were reprinted.”
Mr. Maty found a more appropriate field for his tastes and talents. The death of his father having necessitated a re-arrangement of the staff of the British Museum, he was appointed as Assistant Librarian in December 1776, and he was promoted to bean Under-Librarian or Keeper of a Department in July 1782 — the department assigned to him being Natural History and Antiquities. On 13th February 1772, he had been made Foreign Secretary to the Royal Society, of which he was elected a Fellow, and on 30th November 1778, he succeeded Dr. Horsley as Principal Secretary. In 1782 he began to publish a periodical entitled, “The New Review, with Literary Curiosities and Literary Intelligence. By Henry Maty. Sequitur patrem von passibus oequis.” It was continued till 1786, and consists of nine respectable octavos.
Unfortunately, in the Royal Society, he forgot the neutrality which is almost incumbent on a Secretary, and in its debates he both spoke and voted (the mere voting might have signified little, as it was by ballot). A series of disputes arose in which he took a prominent part, and even (it is believed) printed an anonymous pamphlet. His distinguished friend, Dr. Hutton, the Foreign Secretary, had been covertly censured on 20th November 1783 by a resolution of the council, and his resignation was accepted. Mr. Maty disliked the President, Sir Joseph Banks, whom he considered guilty of canvassing and using undue influence as to the election of Fellows, and the exclusion of the unsuccessful candidates for that honour. The Royal Society, however, refused on 26th February 1784 to inflict any covert censure on Sir Joseph Banks, though notice of such a motion had been signed by Samuel Horsley, Nevil Maskelyne, William James, Henry Maty, Charles Hutton, John Hyacinth de Magellan, Francis Maseres, Thomas Brand Hollis, and Richard Paul Jodrell. That motion had “originated in some words spoken by Sir Joseph Banks to Mr. Maty, expressive of his dissatisfaction at finding that gentleman usually in opposition to him.” On 25th March 1784, Mr. Maty resigned his secretaryship; and on 5th May Dr. Blagden was elected his successor. Dr. Kippis, from whose pamphlet[1] I have taken my information, says:—
“I cannot but express my wish Mr. Maty could be induced to abate something of the warmth of his disposition. For his general integrity, and for the particular proof he hath displayed of it in a striking instance, by which he sacrificed his interests and prospects in life, he is greatly to be respected. Nor will the praise be denied him of abilities and learning. But certainly, in the exercise of his free and independent spirit, he might have preserved a greater moderation of temper. If, as is commonly understood, he is author of the History of the instances of exclusion from the Royal Society, the violence of it cannot be approved; and the time will probably arrive, in which he himself will acknowledge that the language of his indignation hath gone beyond all reasonable limits.”
Mr. Maty continued in his post at the British Museum, and devoted his leisure to literary work and a useful study of the Royal Society’s Transactions. He published in 1787 a translation, in three volumes, of Baron Riesbeck’s Travels through Germany. He also translated from Latin into French Bryant’s Gemmae Marlburienses (an account of the collection of gems in Blenheim), for which the Duke of Marlborough gave him £100. About the same time he brought out “A General Index to the Philosophical Transactions from Vol. I. to Vol. LXX.” He died on 16th January 1787, leaving a widow (daughter of Joseph Clark, Esq. of Weatherfield, in Essex) and a son, who died young.
In his “New Review” he characterised the English translation of Saurin’s Sermons as unworthy of the justly-admired orator, and gave suggestions for a nearer reproduction of them. The following is Mr. Maty’s version of Saurin’s grand apostrophe to Louis XIV. (in a sermon preached in Holland):—
"And thou, formidable Prince, whom I formerly honoured as my king, and still respect as the minister of the punishments of the Most High ! thou, too, shalt have a part in my wishes. These Provinces threatened by thee, but sustained by the arm of the Lord — these climates which thou hast peopled with fugitives, but with fugitives whom a spirit of charity inspires — these walls which enclose thousands by thee made martyrs, but by faith made triumphant — shall resound once more with benedictions on thy head. God grant that the fatal bondage which covers thy eyes may drop off! God forgive the rivers of blood with which thou hast covered the earth! God efface from His book the ills which thou hast done to us! And while He recompenses those who have suffered, may He pardon those who have made them suffer! God grant that after having been for us and the whole Christian Church the minister of his judgments, thou mayest be the dispenser of His graces and the minister of His mercies!”
- ↑ Observations on the Late Contests in the Royal Society. By Andrew Kippis, D.D., F.R.S,, and A.S. London, Printed for G. Robinson, No. 25 Paternoster Row, 1784. Page 144.