Bathurst, Ralph

college

BATHURST, RALPH, uncle of the preceding, was born in the year 1620. He studied divinity in Trinity College, Oxford ; but, on the breaking out of the civil war, he changed the course of his studies, and, applying himself to medicine, took the degree of doctor in that faculty. By dint of assiduous application, he soon rose to eminence in Ids profession ; and in the time of the Commonwealth was appointed physician to the state. At the Restoration, however, lie quitted the practice of physic ; was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and president of his college ; and, having entered holy orders, was made chaplain to the king, and afterwards dean of Wells. Soon after, he filled the office of vice-chancellor of Oxford, and was nominated by King William and Queen Mary to the see of Bristol ; but this honour he declined. To the accomplishments of an orator, philosopher, and poet, he added an inexhaustible fund of wit. Ridicule - of which he was an absolute master - was the weapon with which he used to correct the delinquents of his college. His poetical pieces in the Musa Anglicans; are excellent of their kind ; he wrote also several other poems, both in English and Latin. He died June 14, 1704, in his eighty-fourth year. (Life and Remains, by Th. Warton, 1761.)

User Comments

Share this page:
More To Explore
Contact & About