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POCOCKE, RICHARD. 



POELEMBUKG, CORNELIUS. 



103 



his salary. In 1648 he was nominated to the Hebrew professorship 

 at Oxford, to which Charles L, then a prisoner in the Isle of Wight, 

 added a canonry in Chriatchurch, which was confirmed by parlia- 

 ment ; but the canonry thus assigned to him being different from that 

 originally annexed to the professorship, Pocock entered a protest 

 against it, and refused to receive the profits. In the meantime he 

 composed his ' Specimen Historiae Arabum," being extracts from the 

 work of Abu-1-faraj, in the original Arabic, together with a Latin 

 translation and copious notes. [ABULFAEAGIUS.] This work, which 

 wan printed at Oxford, in 1648 and 1650, 4to, was reprinted in 1806, 

 by White, with some additions by Sylvestre de Sacy. In November 

 1650, about a year after publishing the preceding work, Pocock was 

 ejected from his canonry, and it was intended to deprive him of the 

 Hebrew and Arabic professorships ; but upon a petition from the 

 heads of houses, the masters, and scholars at Oxford, Pocock was 

 suffered to enjoy both places. In 1655 he was on the point of being 

 deprived of his living, on the ground of " ignorance aud insufficiency ;" 

 at least such were the charges preferred against him by Cromwell's 

 committee. Some of his Oxford friends however, particularly Dr. 

 Owen, so warmly represented the disgrace which would follow the 

 rejection, upon such grounds, of so eminent a scholar as Pocock, that 

 the measure was abandoned. Soon after Pocock published his ' Porta 

 Mosis,' being six prefatory discourses of Moses Maimonides's ' Comtneu- 

 tary upon the Mishna,' written in Arabic, but with the Hebrew letters. 

 This work, which was the first production of the Hebrew press at 

 Oxford, appeared in 1655, together with a Latin translation and 

 numerous notes. In the following year Pocock appears to have enter- 

 tained the idea of publishing the ' Expositions of Rabbi Tanchum on 

 the Old Testament,' as he was at that time the only person in Europe 

 who possessed any of the manuscripts of that learned Kabbi ; but, 

 probably from want of encouragement, he did not prosecute his design. 

 In 1657 the English Polyglot appeared, in which Pocock had a consi- 

 derable hand. He collated the Arabic Pentateuch, and also wrote a 

 preface concerning the different Arabic versons of that part of the 

 Bible, and the reason of the various readings to be found in them, the 

 whole of which was inserted in the Appendix to the Polyglot He also 

 contributed greatly to the success of that literary undertaking by the 

 loan of several valuable manuscripts in his own collection. In 1658 

 his Latin translation of the ' Annals ' of Eutychius was published at 

 Oxford, in 2 vols. 4to, at the request aud at the expense of Selden, 

 who died before it appeared. At the Restoration, Pocock was restored 

 (June 1660) to his canonry of Christchurch, as originally annexed to 

 the Hebrew professorship by Charles I. In the same year he was 

 enabled, through the liberality of Mr. Boyle, to print his Arabic 

 translation of Grotius's tract ' IJe Veritate.' His next publication, in 

 1661, was the Arabic poem by Abu Ismail Thograi, entitled ' Ldmiy- 

 yatu-l-'ajem," with a Latin translation, copious notes, and a learned 

 preface by Dr. Samuel Clarke. But by far the most important as 

 well as the most useful of Pocock's works was his translation of the 

 entire work of Abu-1-faraj, which, along with the text and a few 

 excellent notes, was printed at Oxford, in 1663, 2 vols. 4to. After the 

 publication of this work he seems to have entirely devoted himself to 

 biblical learning. In 1674 he published, at the expense of the Univer- 

 sity, his Arabic translation of the Church Catechism and the English 

 Liturgy. In 1677 appeared his 'Commentary on the Prophecies of 

 Micha and Malachi ;' in 1685, that on Hosea, and in 1691, that of Joel. 

 It was his intention to comment upon others of the lesser prophets. 

 He died, September 10, 1691, after a gradual decay of his constitution, 

 in the eighty seventh year of his age. 



Pocock had by bis marriage with Miss Burdett nine children, the 

 eldest of whom, named Edward, was also an oriental scholar, and 

 published in 1671, under his direction the philosophical treatise of 

 Ibn Tofayl, with a Latin translation and notes, under this title 

 ' Philosophus Autodidactus, sive Epistola Abu Jaafar Ebn Tophail de 

 Hai Ebn Yokdham,' the same which Ockley afterwards translated 

 into English. [OCKLEY.J He also translated into Latin the work of 

 Abda-Matif on Egypt ; but it was not printed until the beginning of 

 the present century, when White published it with the original text, 

 4to, Oxford, 1800. [ABDALLATIF.J Another of Pocock's sons, named 

 Thomas, translated into English the work entitled ' De Termino Vita; ' 

 by Mananses Ben Israel, under this title ' Of the Term of Life,' 

 London, 1699, 12mo. An account of the life and writings of Pocock, 

 the father, was published in 1740, by Leonard Twells, M.A., together 

 with an edition of his Theological works, in 2 vols. folio. 



POCOCKE, RICHARD, a distinguished traveller, distantly related 

 to the preceding, though he added an e to his name, was born in 1704, 

 at Southampton, where ha was educated until he removed to Corpus 

 Chris ti College in Oxford. In 1731 he took the degree of Bachelor of 

 Laws, and two years afterwards that of Doctor. After travelling in 

 1734 and 1736 on the Continent, he sailed for Egypt, in which 

 country be remained until the spring of 1738, when he embarked at 

 Damietta for Palestine, and taking his road through Syria, Meso- 

 potamia, Cyprus, Candia, and Asia Minor, arrived at Constantinople. 

 From Cepbalonia he sailed to Messina, whence he proceeded home- 

 wards through Italy, Germany, and Flanders. On his return in 1741 

 he published the result of his researches and observations, under the 

 title of ' Description of the East and of some other Countries,' of 

 which the first volume, entitled ' Observations on Egypt,' dedicated 



BIOO. HIV, VOL. IT. 



to Henry, Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, appeared at London in 

 1743, folio; and the second, entitled 'Observations on Palestiue, 

 Syria, Mesopotamia, Cyprus, and Candia,' dedicated to Philip, Earl 

 of Chesterfield, in 1745. In 1745 he was appointed archdeacon of 

 Dublin, and in 1756 bishop of Ossory. He was subsequently trans- 

 ferred to Elphin, and lastly to Meath, where ho died, in September 

 1765. 



Besides his ' Eastern Travels,' which are works of merit, Pococke 

 made a tour in Scotland and published a description of the basaltic 

 rock, iu the harbour of Dunbar, resembling the Giant's Causeway. 

 (' Phil. Trans.,' vol. 32, art. 17.) ' A Description of the Giant's Cause- 

 way," and ' An Account of some Antiquities found in Ireland," were 

 also published by him in the llth vol. of the ' Archseologia." Among 

 the manuscripts in the British Museum (4811, 4827) are several 

 volumes the gift of Bishop Pococke, containing the minutes aud 

 registers of the Philosophical Society of Dublin, from 1683 to 1707. 

 A French translation of his travels appeared at Paris, in 1771, in seven 

 volumes, iu 12mo. 



POE, EDGAR ALLAN, was born at Baltimore, in the United 

 States, in January 1811. He was descended of a good family, but his 

 father and mother, who had become strolling players, having died 

 when he was quite a child, he was adopted by a Mr. John Allan, a 

 wealthy merchant, who had known his father, and having no children 

 of his own, treated him as his son. In 1816 Mr. and Mrs. Allan 

 brought him to England, where he was put to school at Stoke New- 

 ington. He returned to America in 1822, was first placed in an 

 academy at Richmond, in Virginia, and thence sent to the university 

 of Charlottesville in the same state. At all these places of instruction 

 his progress was rapid, and he held a high rank as a scholar, but his 

 extravagance was so great, and his conduct so licentious, that he was 

 expelled from the university. He returned home, and on Mr. Allan 

 refusing to honour some of his drafts for gambling debts incurred 

 at the university, he wrote a satirical and abusive letter to his bene- 

 factor, left the house, and set off for Greece to help to free that 

 land from the tyranny of the Turks. He never reached Greece, but 

 after wandering about Europe for nearly a year, he arrived at St. 

 Petersburg, fell into the hands of the police for a drunken riot, 

 was rescued by the intervention of the minister of the United States, 

 and by him sent back to America. His old patron welcomed him 

 home, and as he now expressed a desire ' to adopt the military pro- 

 fession, he procured him the appointment of a cadet in the Military 

 Academy at Westpoint in New York. Here, after a short period of 

 assiduous application, his old habits returned, and within a twelve- 

 month he was cashiered for insubordination and drunkenness. He 

 returned to Mr. Allan at Richmond, who again received him with 

 kindness, but that gentleman having married a second wife, Poe 

 satirised both him and his wife so severely that he was forced to quit 

 that place of refuge, nor would Mr. Allan ever see him again or assist 

 him any further. He had by this time published a small volume 

 of poems, and from the favourable reception they had met with, 

 he thought he might support himself by his pen. He failed, and 

 enlisted as a private soldier. From this situation he was rescued by 

 some military friends he had made at Westpoint, who procured his 

 release. He again had recourse to his pen, and this time with more 

 success. He became connected with various magazines aud other 

 periodical works, with some as contributor, and with others as editor, 

 but his irregular habits constantly prevented the engagements being 

 permanent. He followed this course at Baltimore, Virginia, Phila- 

 delphia, and New York, where he arrived in 1844. Hia undoubted 

 talent unfailingly procured him employment, while his intemperate 

 and immoral habits as necessarily occasioned his dismissal. In 1848 

 he gave a series of lectures iu New York on the universe, which were 

 afterwards embodied in a work entitled ' Eureka, a Prose Poem." In 

 the autumn of 1848 he joined a temperance society, but this could not 

 save him. He went in 1849 to Virginia to deliver lectures, and on the 

 4th of October he set out on his return to New York. At Baltimore 

 he met some acquaintances, who invited him to drink ; he forgot his 

 pledge, became so utterly intoxicated that he was picked up in the 

 street, carried to a hospital, and died on the following day, October 7th, 

 1849. His works, as may be supposed from the previous sketch, con- 

 sist wholly of short pieces. He wanted the steadiness and perseverance 

 to produce anything worthy of his genius ; but they exhibit in a 

 remarkable degree the possession of faculties of a high order. In his 

 tales there is magnificence of imagination and description ; a remark- 

 able display of analytical power though wasted upon trivial subjects ; 

 a love and an acute observation of nature, aud au admiration of the 

 beautiful, which it is remarkable iu such a man never descends into 

 the sensuous ; considerable humour, and a ghastly and mystical sub- 

 limity in some of his fictions that is deeply impressive. In his poetry 

 he is tender and melodious, with great command of language ; aud in 

 conversation he is described as having been highly eloquent, but irri- 

 table and sarcastic. There are few more striking; instances of per- 

 verted talent, and personal advantages thrown away, than that of 

 Edgar Poe. Two small volumes of tales and one of poetry, besides 

 the ' Eureka" already mentioned, are all that remain of him. 



POELEMBURG, CORNELIUS, was born at Utrecht in 1586, and 

 studied painting under Abraham Bloemart. Having acquired con- 

 siderable proficiency under him, he went to Rome, where the works of 



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