No. VIII. INSCRIPTION ON DR. PETER HEYLIN'S [BS] MONUMENT IN WESTMINSTER-ABBEY.

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[Written by Dr. Earle, then Dean of Westminster.]

Depositum Mortale
Petri Heylyn, S. Th. D.
Hujus EcclesiÆ Prebendarii et Subdecani,
Viri plane memorabilis,
Egregiis dotibus instructissimi,
Ingenio acri et foecundo,
Judicio subacto,
Memoria ad prodigium tenaci,
Cui adjunxit incredibilem in studiis patientiam
QuÆ cessantibus oculis non cessarunt.
Scripsit varia et plurima,
QuÆ jam manibus hominum teruntur;
Et argumentis non vulgaribus
Stylo non vulgari suffecit.
Et Majestatis RegiÆ assertor
Nec florentis magis utriusque
QuÀm afflictÆ,
Idemque perduellium et scismaticÆ factionis
Impugnator acerrimus.
Contemptor invidiÆ
Et animo infracto
Plura ejusmodi meditanti
Mors indixit silentium:
Ut sileatur
Efficere non potest.
Obiit Anno Ætatis 63, et 8 die Maii, A. D. 1662.
Possuit hoc illi mÆstissima conjux.

FOOTNOTES:

[BS] Peter Heylin was born at Burford, in Oxfordshire, Nov. 29, 1599 and received the rudiments of his education at the free school in that place, from whence he removed to Harthall, and afterwards obtained a fellowship at Magdalen College, Oxford. By the interposition of Bishop Laud, to whom he was recommended by Lord Danvers, he was presented first to the rectory of Hemingford, in Huntingdonshire, then to a prebend of Westminster, and lastly to the rectory of Houghton in the Spring, in the diocese of Durham, which latter he exchanged for Alresford, in Hampshire. In 1633 he proceeded D. D. and in 1638, became rector of South Warnborough, Hampshire, by exchange with Mr. Atkinson, of St. John's College, for Islip, in Oxfordshire. In 1640 he was chosen clerk of the convocation for Westminster, and in 1642 followed the king to Oxford. After the death of Charles, he lost all his property, and removing with his family from place to place, subsisted by the exercise of his pen till the Restoration, when he regained his livings, and was made sub-dean of Westminster. His constancy and exertions were supposed by many to merit a higher reward, from a government, in whose defence he had sacrificed every prospect; but the warmth of his temper, and his violence in dispute, were such as rendered his promotion to a higher dignity in the church impolitic in the opinion of the ministers. He died May 8, 1662, and was interred in Westminster-abbey, under his own stall. A list of his numerous publications, as well as a character of him, may be found in Wood's AthenÆ Oxonienses, ii. 275.


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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