William Elstob
William Elstob (1673–1715), was an English divine and scholar.
Life
Elstob was the son of Ralph Elstob, merchant of
Lincoln's inn
.
Elstob was a linguist and antiquary, and especially skilled in
Humphrey Wanley, Sir Andrew Fountaine, John Strype, and other men of learning. In 1701 he contributed a Latin translation of the homily of Lupus to the Dissertatio Epistolaris.[4] Hickes wrote a preface to Elstob's Essay on the great Affinity and Mutual Agreement of the two professions of Divinity and Law, ... in vindication of the Clergy's concerning themselves in political matters. It is a defence of high-church principles. Sir Andrew Fountaine acknowledges Elstob's help in giving descriptions of Anglo-Saxon coins for the tables published by him in Hickes's Thesaurus.[5] Elstob communicated to John Strype a copy of Sir John Cheke's Discourse upon Plutarch's Treatise on Superstition. This had been preserved in manuscript in the library of University College, and mutilated by Obadiah Walker. Elstob's version is appended to Strype's Life of Cheke. In 1703 Elstob published a new edition (much enlarged) of Roger Ascham's 'Letters'. In 1709 he contributed a Latin version of the Anglo-Saxon homily on the nativity of St Gregory to the edition of the original prepared by his younger sister Elizabeth Elstob. An Anglo-Saxon book of hours, with a translation by him, is appended to Letters between Hickes and a Roman Catholic priest. He made collections for a history of Newcastle and of "proper names formerly used in northern countries". He also made proposals for what was to be his great work, a new edition of the Anglo-Saxon laws already published by William Lambarde (1568) and Abraham Wheelocke (1644), with many additions, comments, prefaces, and glossaries. This design was stopped by his death, and afterwards executed bv David Wilkins, Leges Anglo-Saxoniæ, etc. (1721), who mentions Elstob's plan in his preface. Hickes also speaks of this plan in the dedication of his two volumes of posthumous sermons (1726). Elstob prepared a version of the Old English Orosius, which finally came into the hands of Daines Barrington. He printed a specimen of this at Oxford in 1699.[6]
He also published two separate sermons in 1704 on the battle of Blenheim and the anniversary of the accession of Queen Anne. In Thomas Hearne's Collection of Curious Discourses by Eminent Antiquaries is a mock-heroic poem by Elstob upon the butler of University College.[7]
References
- ^ Richardson, Reprints, p. 74
- ^ "Elstob, William (ELSB691W)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Hearne, Collections, Doble, i. 114
- ^ Hickes's Thesaurus. Thesaurus, part iii. page 99
- ^ Thesaurus, part iii. page 166
- ^ John Nichols, Literary Anecdotes iv. 123 n.
- ^ Hearne, Collection, ed. Charles Edward Doble, ii. 107–9.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Elstob, William". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
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