386 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
THE LATE S. P. TREGELLES, LL.D. 
We regret to record that while this Report is passing through the 
press the Society has been deprived of its most distinguished 
member, and England has lost one of the most learned of her sons. 
Samuel Prideaux Tregelles, although not actually by birth a 
Plymothian, may, from his long residence and family connections, 
be fairly claimed as a townsman. He was born at Wodehouse 
Place, near Falmouth, where his father was a merchant, January 
30th, 1813. His father was related to the Foxes, and his mother 
was a Prideaux. From his earliest childhood he was remarkable 
for a most retentive memory. His education was conducted at 
the Falmouth Classical School by the Rev. Thomas Sheepshanks, 
and although he did not proceed to a university, the foundations of 
that knowledge which have so benefited the world were laid upon 
a sure basis. 
We may conclude that before attaining the age of twenty-five he 
had set himself his great task. For some years before 1838 he had 
devoted much time to the critical interpretation of the Greek text 
of the New Testament; and in the August of that year he issued 
proposals—to use his own words twenty years after—‘“ 1st. For 
the formation of a text of the Scriptures on the authority of ancient 
copies, without allowing the ‘received text’ any prescriptive right. 
2nd. To give to the ancient versions a determining voice as to the 
insertion or non-insertion of clauses, &c., letting the order of the 
words, &c. rest wholly upon the MSS. 3rd. To give the authorities 
for the text and for the various readings clearly and accurately, 
so that the reader might at once see what rests upon ancient 
evidence.”’ Illustrative of his plan, Mr. Tregelles prepared a 
specimen, being a portion of the epistle to the Colossians; and from 
that time, although there were occasional interruptions, the work 
was steadily pursued to a worthy and successful end.. No labour 
or expense was spared. In 1845 he published the first part of a 
translation of Gesenius’ ‘‘ Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon of the Old 
Testament,” a work much needed and most flatteringly received ; 
