some time along with Bucer, Fagius, and others; and Ochinus, as well as Martyr, was made a prebendary of Canterbury. He laboured heartily in the business of the Reformation; and his dialogue, upon the unjust usurped primacy of the bishop of Rome, was translated into Latin by Ponet, bishop of Winchester, and published in 1549. But, upon the death of Edward VI. being forced, as well as Martyr, to leave England, he retired to Strasburg with that friend, where they arrived in 1553. In his absence he was, among other persons who had preferments in Canterbury, declared contumacious. From Strasburg he went to Basil, and was called thence, in 1555, to Zurich, to be minister of an Italian church which was forming there. This church consisted of some refugees from Locarno, one of the four bailiwics which the Switzers possess in Italy, who were hindered from the public exercise of the reformed religion by the opposition of the popish cantons. Ochinus made no difficulty to subscribe the articles of faith agreed upon by the church of Zurich, and governed this Italian church till 1563; when he was banished thence by the magistrates of the town, on account of some dialogues be published, in which he maintained the doctrine of polygamy. He is said to have been prompted to this by the infidelity of his wife. From Zurich, he went to Basil; but, not being suffered to stay there, he fled in great distress into Moravia, where he fell in with the Socinians, and joined them. Stanislaus Lubienietski, the great patron of this sect, gives the following account of his last days, in his "Hist. Reformat. Polon." Ochinus, says he, retired into Moravia, and into Poland, and even there he was not out of the reach of Calvin's letters. He returned into Moravia, after king Sigismund's edict; who, in 1564, punished with banishment all those that were called Tritheists, Atheists, &c. Some gentlemen endeavoured to keep him in Poland; but he answered, that men must obey the magistrates, and that he would obey them, even were he to die among the wolves in the woods. During his travels, he fell sick of the plague at Pincksow, and received there all possible offices of kindness from one of the brethren, named Philippovius. His daughter and two sons, whom he carried along with him, died of the plague; but he had buried his wife before he had left Zurich. As for himself, he continued his journey to Moravia, and within three weeks died at Slakow, in 1564, aged 77.

His character is variously represented by different authors, and certainly appears not to have been very consistent. Bayle observes, that the confession he made publicly, on the change of his religion, is remarkable. He acknowledged, in a preface, that, if he could have continued, without danger of his life, to preach the truth, after the manner he had preached it for some years, he would never have laid down the habit of his order; but, as be did not find within himself that courage which is requisite to undergo martyrdom, he took sanctuary in England, where he probably might have remained in reputation, had not the reformation been disturbed on the accession of Mary. Abroad, after he had given offence to the Calvinists, the Socinians afforded him some protection for a while, but even to them he became obnoxious, and at last sunk into a species of heresy which the boasted charity of Socinianism itself could not tolerate. They class him, however, among their writers, as appears by Sandius's "Bibl. Anti-trinitariorum." His writings are rather numerous than bulky. Besides the "Dialogues," there are "Italian Sermons," in 4 vols. printed 1543; an "Italian Letter to the Lords of Sienna, containing an Account of his Faith and Doctrine;" another, "Letter to Mutio of Justinopolis, containing the reason of his departure from Italy;""Sermons upon St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatiaus," in Italian; "An Exposition of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans," in Italian; "Apologues against the abuses, errors, &c. of the Papal Synagogue, their Priests, Monks, &c." in Italian, and translated into Latin by Castalio; as were his "Dialogues," &c. &c. which last, it may be mentioned, were answered by Beza.'

OCKLEY (SIMON), an eminent Orientalist, and professor of Arabic in Cambridge, was of a gentleman's fa mily, at Great Ellingham in Norfolk, where his father lived; but was accidentally born at Exeter in 1678. After a proper foundation laid in school-learning, he was sent, in 1693, to Queen's college in Cambridge, where he soon distinguished himself by great quickness of parts as well as intense application to literature; to the Oriental languages more particularly, for his uncommon skill in which he afterwards became famous. He took, at the usual time, the degrees in arts, and that of bachelor in divinity. Hav

1 Gen. Dict.-Moreri.-Strype's Life of Cranmer.

ing taken orders also, he was, in 1705, through the interest of Simon Patrick, bishop of Ely, presented by Jesus college, in Cambridge, to the vicarage of Swavesey, in that county; and, in 1711, chosen Arabic professor of the university. These preferments he held to the day of his death, which happened at Swavesey, Aug. 9, 1720, immaturely to himself, but more so to his family.

Ockley had the culture of Oriental learning very much at heart; and the several publications which he made were intended solely to promote it. In 1706, he printed, at Cambridge, an useful little book, entitled, "İntroductio ad Linguas Orientales, in qua iis discendis via munitur, et earum usus ostenditur. Accedit index auctorum, tam illorum, quorum in hoc libello mentio fit, quam aliorum, qui harum rerum studiosis usui esse possint." Prefixed is a dedication to his friend the bishop of Ely, and a preface, addressed to the Juventus Academica, whom he labours to excite by various arguments to the pursuit of Oriental learning; assuring them in general, that no man ever was, or ever will be, truly great in divinity, without at least some portion of skill in it: "Orientalia studia, sine quorum aliquali saltem peritia nemo unquam in theologia vere magnus evasit, imo nunquam evasurus est." There is a chapter in this work, relating to the celebrated controversy between Buxtorf and Capellus, upon the antiquity of the Hebrew points, where Ockley professes to think with Buxtorf, who contended for it: but he afterwards changed his opinion, and went over to Capellus, although he had not any opportunity of publicly declaring it. And indeed it is plain, from his manner of closing that chapter upon the points, that he was then far enough from having any settled persuasion about them: "his in præsentia assentior; nolo tamen aliquid temere affirmare, quod, si posthac sententiam meam mutare mihi visum fuerit, nollem ut quispiam ea quæ hic scripsi mihi exprobret."

In 1707 he published in 12mo, from the Italian of Leo Modena, a Venetian Rabbi, "The History of the present Jews throughout the world; being an ample, though succinct, account of their customs, ceremonies, and manner of living at this time:" to which is subjoined a Supplement concerning the Carraites and Samaritans, from the French of Father Simon." In 1708, a little curious book, entitled "The Improvement of Human Reason, exhibited in the Life of Hai Ebn Yokdhan, written above 500 years

ago, by Abu Jaafar Ebn Tophail :" translated from the Arabic, and illustrated with figures, 8vo. The design of the author, who was a Mahometan philosopher, is to shew, how human reason may, by observation and experience, arrive at the knowledge of natural things, and thence to supernatural, and particularly the knowledge of God and a future state: the design of the translator, to give those who might be unacquainted with it, a specimen of the genius of the Arabian philosophers, and to excite young scholars to the reading of eastern authors. This was the point our Rabbi had constantly in view; and, therefore, in his "Oratio Inauguralis," for the professorship, it was with no small pleasure, as we imagine, that he insisted upon the beauty, copiousness, and antiquity, of the Arabic tongue in particular, and upon the use of Oriental learning in general; and that he dwelt upon the praises of Erpenius, Golius, Pocock, Herbelot, and all who had any ways contributed to promote the study of it. In 1713, his name appeared to a little book, with this title, "An Account of South-West Barbary, containing what is most remarkable in the territories of the king of Fez and Morocco; written by a person who had been a slave there a considerable time, and published from his authentic manuscript: to which are added, two Letters; one from the present king of Morocco to colonel Kirk; the other to sir Cloudesly Shovell, with sir Cloudesly's answer," &c. 8vo. While we are enumerating these small publications of the professor, it will be but proper to mention two sermous: one, "Upon the Dignity and Authority of the Christian Priesthood," preached at Ormond chapel, London, in 1710; another, "Upon the Necessity of instructing Children in the Scriptures," at St. Ives, in Huntingtonshire, 1713. To these we must add a new translation of the second " Apocryphal Book of Esdras," from the Arabic version of it, as that which we have in our common Bibles is from the vulgar Latin, 1716. Mr. Whiston, we are told, was the person who employed him in this translation, upon a strong suspicion, that it must needs make for the Arian cause he was then reviving; and he, accordingly, published it in one of his volumes of "Primitive Christianity Revived." Ockley, however, was firmly of opinion, that it could serve nothing at all to his purpose; as appears from a printed letter of his to Mr. (afterwards Dr.) Thirlby, in which are the following words: "You shall have my Esdras' in a

little time; 200 of which I reserved, when Mr. Whiston reprinted his, purely upon this account, because I was loth that any thing with my name to it should be extant only in his heretical volumes. I only stay, till the learned author of the History of Montanism' has finished a dissertation which he has promised me to prefix to that book*." A learned Letter of Ockley's to Mr. W. Wotton is printed among the "Miscellaneous Tracts of Mr. Bowyer, 1784."

But the most considerable by far of all the professor's performances is, "The History of the Saracens ;" begun. from the death of Mahomet, the founder of the Saracenical empire, which happened in 632, and carried down through a succession of Caliphs, to 705. This "History," which illustrates the religion, rites, customs, and manner of living of that warlike people, is very curious and enter. taining; and Ockley was at vast pains in collecting materials from the most authentic Arabic authors, especially manuscripts, not hitherto published in any European language; and for that purpose resided a long time at Oxford, to be near the Bodleian library, where those manuscripts were reposited. It is in 2 vols. 8vo; the first of which was published in 1708; the second, in 1718: and both were soon after republished. A third edition was printed, in the same size, at Cambridge, in 1757; to which is prefixed, "An Account of the Arabians or Saracens, of the Life of Mahomet, and the Mahometan Religion, by a learned hand:" that is, by the learned Dr. Long, master of Pembroke-hall, in Cambridge.

While at Oxford, preparing this work, he sent a letter to his daughter, part of which is worth transcribing, as characteristic both of him and his labours. "My condition here is this: one of the most useful and necessary authors I have is written in such a wretched hand, that the very reading of it is perfect decyphering. I am forced sometimes to take three or four lines together, and then pull them all to pieces to find where the words begin and end; for oftentimes it is so written, that a word is divided as if the former part of it was the end of the foregoing word, and the latter part the beginning of another; besides innumerable other difficulties known only to those that understand the language. Add to this the pains of

This letter, dated Oct. the 15th, 1712, is entitled, "An Account of the authority of the Arabic Manuscripts

in the Bodleian Library, controverted between Dr. Grabe and Mr. Whiston." 1712, 8vo.