/ 
f>93 LIGHT 
thought it hi? duty to refign his re£tory, fince he could, 
no longer refide among his parifhioners ; but he obtained 
the p-refeutatioiv for a younger brother. He arrived at 
London in June 1642; and he had not been long there, 
before he was chofen minifler at St. Bartholomew’s be¬ 
hind the Royal Exchange. The affembly of divines hav¬ 
ing met in June 1643, Mr. Lightfoot-diligently attended 
their feffions, and became diffinguiffied for his eloquence 
in debate, and ailivity in bufinefs. He was friendly to 
the prefoyterian form of church-government, which he 
declared, in afermon before the houfeof commons, he ve¬ 
rily believed was “according to the pattern in the mount.’’ 
In 1643 he was appointed mafter of Catharine-hall, in 
Cambridge; and in the fame year he was prefented to the 
living cf Much-munden, in Hertfordfhire. In 1644 he 
publifhed the fir ft part of his “Harmony of the New Tef- 
tament,” with a plan of his whole defign, and continued 
afterwards to fend out, at different periods, the other 
branches of the fame work. 
In 1631, Mr. Lightfoot took the degree of doftor of 
divinity, and went through all the regular exercifes, on 
thatoccafion, with great applaufe. In 1653, (Dr. Spurftow 
•being ejefted by the parliamentary vifitor,) Dr. Lightfoot 
was chofen vice-chancellor of the univerfity of Cambridge, 
the duties of which important office he performed with 
exemplary diligence and fidelity. Upon the reftoration 
of king Charles II. Dr. Lightfoot offered to refign the 
mafterfhip of Catharine-hall in favour of Dr. Spurftow; 
but, upon his declining to accept it, our author ob¬ 
tained a confirmation from the crown ot that place, and 
.of his living. For thefe marks of royal favour he was 
chiefly indebted to the kindnefs of archbifhop Sheldon, 
who, out of pure refpedt for his learning and talents, un¬ 
dertook to f'erve him. Soon after this, lie was collated, 
through the intereft of lord-keeper Bridgman, to a pre¬ 
tend in the cathedral church of Ely. In 1661 he was ap¬ 
pointed one of the affiftants at the conference at the Sa¬ 
voy 011 the fubjedl of the liturgy ; but he attended only 
twice, on account of the violence difplayed in the de¬ 
bates. He now gladly withdrew as much as poffible from 
the world, in order that he might fpend his time in Itudies 
to which lie was attached, and which he profecuted with 
vigour to the laft. His publications would have been 
more numerous, but the expenfe of them was more than 
Jhe could bear ; and he never was fufficiently patronized 
the public to intereft the bookfellers in his behalf. A 
fhort time before his death he was, however, requefted by 
them to colled and methodife his works, in order that 
they might be printed in an uniform manner. He died 
in December 1675, before he could accompliffi the talk re¬ 
quired of him, in the 74th year of his age. 
Dr. Lightfoot was indefatigable in his purfuits,and ex¬ 
tremely temperate in his mode of living. He lived in the 
greateft harmony among his parifhioners, being eafy of 
accefs, affable, communicative, hofpitable, and charitable. 
As a writer, he was one of the molt ingenious, as well as 
learned, of our Englifh commentators, and has furniflied 
his fucceffors with very valuable materials in the fame 
line of ffudies ; he had few equals and no fuperior in rab¬ 
binical literature ; and in this branch of learning his ce¬ 
lebrity was fo great, that many foreigners came to him 
for affiffance in it. His works were collected and pub- 
liffied in 1684, in two volumes folio. A new edition of 
them was publifhed in Holland in 1686, containing all 
his writings that had been originally given to the world, 
in the Latin language, and a Latin tranflation of thofe 
which he had written in Englifh ; and a third edition was 
publifhed at Utrecht in 1699, by John Leufden : this im- 
preffion contained fome polfhurnous pieces, which were 
comprifed in a third volume. Thefe were, in the follow¬ 
ing year, publifhed in an oftavo volume by Mr. Strype, 
under the title of “Some genuine Remains of the late 
learned and pious Dr. John Lightfoot.” The dodlor was 
not only indefatigable in his own purfuits, but an encou- 
F O O T. 
rager of other learned men in their's. He gave great af¬ 
fiffance in completing the Englifh Polyglott Bible, by 
drawing up a chorograpliical table prefixed to it, and by 
fuperintending the ffieets of the Samaritan verfion, as they 
were printed ; he afforded much pecuniary affiffance to 
Dr. Caftell in the publifhing of his Heptaglott Lexicon, 
which would otherwife have occafioned his entire ruin for 
want of fupport from the learned world ; and Dr. Light¬ 
foot was the perfon who excited Mr. Pool to undertake 
his valuable work entitled Synopfis Criticorum. 
LI'GHTFOOT (John), a diffinguifhed Britifh botanift, 
chiefly known as theauthorof the Flora Scotica, was bom 
in 1735. He was educated at Oxford, where he took the 
degree of M. A. and, having entered into holy orders, be¬ 
came chaplain to the late duchels-downger of Portland, 
“that great and intelligent admirer and patronefs of na¬ 
tural hiftory in general,” as he juffly denominates her in. 
the dedication of his book. By her grace’s influence, 
we believe, he obtained the reflory of Gotham in Not- 
tinghamfhire, and fubfequently the living of Cowley in 
Middlefex. In 1772, the late Mr. Pennant, fo well known 
as a zoologifl, invited Mr. Lightfoot to be the companion 
of his fecond tour to Scotland and the Hebrides, advifing 
him to undertake the “compilation,” as he himfelf mo- 
deitly calls it, of a Flora Scotica, which Mr. Pennant of¬ 
fered to ufher into the world at his own expenfe. Thefe 
generous and flattering offers Mr. Lightfoot gladly accept¬ 
ed ; but he was aware that a Angle fummer could by no 
means be fufficient for the full acconiplifhment of fuch an 
undertaking; nor would he perhaps have ventured upon 
it, but for the affiffance of “able and ingenious botanifts, 
who had refided in that country their whole lives,” who 
permitted him “ to examine their collections, and freely 
communicated the obfervations of many years.” Thefe 
were the late Dr. Hope, profeffor of botany at Edinburgh ; 
the Rev. Mr. (now Dr.) John Stuart of Lufs ; and the 
Rev. Dr. Burgefs, the venerable pallor of Kirkmichael in 
Dumfriesfhire. Mr. Stuart was the companion of our tra¬ 
vellers in their excurfion, and fupplied each, in his own 
line, with much learned information, refpeding the Erfe 
nomenclature, as well as the real orfuppoied ufes and hif¬ 
tory of the native animals and plants. Thus Mr. Pen¬ 
nant was enabled to prefix a compendious Fauna to the. 
Flora of his friend ; and thus Mr. Lightfoot found his 
path made ftraight and plain before him, and literally 
itrewed with flowers. When Mr. Lightfoot’s materials 
were got together, the library, herbarium, and perfonal 
fuperintendance, of his friend fir Jofeph Banks, in con- 
junflion with the help of Dr. Solander, were of the moft 
eminent and indifpenfable ufe; and the comparifon of his 
cryptogamic fpecimens with thofe of Dillenius at Oxford, 
under the eye of the profeffor, or rather of his fon Dr. 
John Sibthorp, gave the finifhing ftroke to his labours. 
Thus the “Flora Scotica” became ready for publication 
in 1777, when it appeared in two thick volumes 8vo. with 
thirty-five plates, five of which are zoological. The work 
is difpofed according to the fyftem of Linnaeus, with fhort 
effential generic and fpecific charaders copied from that 
author, and references to a few of the beft figures of each 
fpecies. Englifh, Scottifh, and Erfe, names are fubjoined, 
with the general or particular places of growth, duration, 
&c. and the account of every plant finiflies with a longer 
or fhorter defcription in Englifh, various botanical re¬ 
marks, and compiled notes of its economical or medical 
ufes. Mr. Lightfoot was for fome years a fellow' of th# 
Royal Society ; and was one of the original fellows of the 
Linnaean Society, the formation of whicli he contemplated, 
with great pleafure, though his death happened before he 
could attend any of its public meetings. Having married 
the daughter of an opulent miller at Uxbridge, he refided 
in that town ; and died there fuddenly in the fpring of 
1788, aged S3, leaving a Widow and feveral daughters: 
he was buried in Cowley church. He is fuppofed never 
to have recovered from a difappointment, relpefting a 
