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college, Oxford, in 1606. Here he took his degrees in arts, and in 1619 was chosen fellow of All Souls. In 1629, by the interest of Laud, he succeeded Dr. Denison, as master of the free school of Reading. In 1634 he was admitted D. D. but ten years after was deprived of his school by the parliamentary commissioners for Berkshire. He held, however, the rectory of East Locking in that county, to which he had been presented by his college, until his death, which happened Feb. 14, 1663, at the rectory-house. He was buried in the chancel of his own church. At the restoration he had obtained a writ of restitution to the school, which was publicly read, he being present, as appears by the diary of the corporation; but, after some debate it was carried that Mr. Singleton, the then master, should have notice before an answer was resolved upon; and it appears that Mr. Singleton was confirmed in the place, being the sixth person who held it after Page.

Dr. Page was thought well versed in the Greek fathers, an able disputant, and a good preacher. He wrote “A Treatise of justification of Bowing at the name of Jesus, by way of answer to an appendix against it," Oxford, 1631, 4to; and an "Examination of such considerable reasons as are made by Mr. Prynne in a reply to Mr. Widdowes concerning the same argument," printed with the former. The fate of this publication was somewhat singular. The point in dispute was at this time eagerly contested. Archbishop Abbot did not think it of sufficient importance to be allowed to disturb the peace of the church, and, by his secretary, advised Dr. Page to withdraw his work from the press, if already in it. Laud, on the contrary, who was then bishop of London, ordered it to be printed, viewing the question as a matter of importance, it being a defence of a canon of the church; and it accordingly appeared. Dr. Page was also the author of "Certain animadversions upon some passages in a Tract concerning Schism and Schismatics," by Mr. Hales of Eton, Oxon. 1642, 4to; "The Peace Maker, or a brief motive to unity and charity in Religion," Lond. 1652, 16mo; a single sermon, and a translation of Thomas a Kempis, 1639, 12mo, with a large epistle to the reader. Wood mentions "Jus Fratrum, or the Law of Brethren," but is doubtful whether this belongs to our Dr. Page, or to Dr. Samuel Page, vicar of Deptford, who died in 1630, and was the author of some pious It belongs, however, to neither, but to a John VOL. XXIV.

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Page, probably a lawyer, as the subject is the power of parents in disposing of their estates to their children.'

PAGI (ANTHONY), a famous Cordelier, and one of the ablest critics of his time, was born at Rognes, a small town in Provence, March 31, 1624. He took the monk's habit in the convent of the Cordeliers at Arles, and professed himself there in 1641. After he had finished the usual course of studies in philosophy and divinity, he preached some time, and was at length made four times provincial of his order. These occupations did not hinder him from applying to chronology and ecclesiastical history, in which he excelled. He printed in the Journal des Savans, Nov. 11, 1686, a learned "Dissertation upon the Consular Office," in which he pretends to have discovered the rules, according to which the Roman emperors took the dignity of consul at some certain times more than others, but in this he is not thought to have been successful. His most considerable work is " A Critique upon the Annals of Baronius;" in which he has rectified an infinite number of mistakes, both in chronology and in facts. He published the first volume of this work, containing the first four centuries, at Paris, in 1689; with a dedication to the clergy of France, who allowed him a pension. The whole work was printed after his death, in four volumes, folio, at Geneva, in 1705, by the care of his nephew, father Francis Pagi, of the same order. It is carried to the year 1198, where Baronius ends. Pagi was greatly assisted in it by the abbé Longuerue, who also wrote the eloge of our author, which is prefixed to the Geneva edition. Another edition was published at Geneva in 1727. It is a work of great utility, but the author's chronology of the popes of the first three centuries is not approved by the learned. He has also prefixed a piece concerning a new chronological period, which he calls "Græco-Romana," and uses for adjusting all the different epochas, which is not without its inconveniences. Our author wrote some other works of inferior note before his death, at Aix, in Provence, June 7, 1699. His character is that of a very able historian, and a learned and candid critic. His style has all the simplicity and plainness which suits a chronological narration. He held a correspondence with several learned men, as Stillingfleet, Spanheim, Cuper, Dodwell, the cardinal Noris, &c.2

1 Ath. Ox.-Coates's Hist. of Reading.

2 Chaufepie.-Niceron, vol. I.—Moreri.-Dupin.

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PAGI (FRANCIS), nephew of the preceding, was born at Lambesc in Provence Sept. 7, 1654. The extraordinary inclination that appeared in his infancy for polite learning induced his parents to send him to study, among the priests of the oratory, at Toulon; where he soon made so great a proficiency, that his uncle, Anthony Pagi, sent for him to Aix, where he then resided. The conversation of his uncle inspired him with a desire of devoting himself to the church, and accordingly he entered into the order of the Cordeliers, and made his profession. After having taught philosophy in several convents, he desired to return to his uncle at Aix; and, having obtained leave, remained studying under his directions for several years; and assisted him in his "Critique upon Baronius's Annals;" of which, as we have mentioned in the preceding article, he became the editor. Father Francis afterwards laid the plan of another work, which he published under the title "Breviarium Historicochronologico-criticum, illustriora pontificum Romanorum gesta, conciliorum generalium acta, nec non complura tum sacrorum rituum, tum antiquæ ecclesiæ disciplinæ, capita complectens," 4 vols. 4to, 1717, &c. In this he discovers the most bigoted zeal for the Ultramontane theology, and every thing which exalts the authority of the pope. A long illness, brought on by a fall, prevented his finishing the last volume, which was not published until 1727, six years after his death, which took place Jan. 21, 1721.

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PAGIT, or rather PAGET (EUSEBIUS), a Puritan divine, was born at Cranford in Northamptonshire, about 1542, and at the age of twelve years came to Oxford, where he was first choirister, and afterwards student of Christ Church. He made, according to Wood, a considerable progress in logic and philosophy, but, although a noted sophister, left the university without taking a degree. As Wood passes immediately to his being presented to the rectory of St. Anne's, Aldersgate-street, that biographer seems to have known nothing of the intermediate events. On his leaving Oxford, he became vicar of Oundle, and rector of Langton in his native county, where, in 1573, he was first prosecuted for nonconformity. He was afterwards preferred to the rectory of Kilkhampton in Cornwall, and although he had acquainted both his patron and ordinary that there were some things in the book of Common Prayer

1 Chaufepie.-Bibl. Germanique, vol. III.—Niceron, vol. VI.

with which he could not comply, and they had promised, that if he would accept the cure, he should not be molested on that account, yet a prosecution was commenced against him, which ended in his losing all his preferments, and even a school which he atteinpted to establish for his maintenance. This appeared particularly hard in his case, as, according to every authority, he was "a learned, peaceable, and good divine, who had formerly complied with the customs and devotions of the church, and had been indefatigable in the ministry." He appears to have remained some years under ecclesiastical censure; but at last, in September 1604, was promoted to the rectory of St. Anne and St. Agnes, Aldersgate-street, which he held till his death in May 1617, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. His remains were interred in this church. An account of his prosecution may be seen in the Harleian MSS. 813, fol. 14, b. and an abridgment of it in Neal's "History of the Puritans." He was the author of a sermon "on Tithes;" another "of Election;" a Latin "Catechism," Lond. 1591, 8vo; a translation of Calvin's "Harmony of the Gospels," ibid. 1584, 4to; and "The History of the Bible, briefly collected, by way of question and answer." It does not appear when this first appeared, but it was afterwards printed at the end of several of the old editions of the Bible.

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He had a son EPHRAIM, who was born in 1575, and educated also at Christ Church, where he became so uncommon a proficient in languages, that at the age of twen ty-six, he is said to have understood and written fifteen or sixteen, ancient and modern. His only preferment was to the church of St. Edmund the King, Lombard-street, London, from which he was driven by the usurping party, for his loyalty. In religious sentiments he does not appear to have differed from his father; but he adhered to the king and constitution, which was then an unpardonable crime. He retired to Deptford in Kent, where he died in April 1647, aged seventy-two. In addition to the other causes of his sufferings, he wrote much against the Independents, baptists, and other sectaries, as appears by his Heresiography;" yet, in 1645, two years before his death, he united with his brethren in London, in petitioning parliament for the establishment of the Presbyterian discipline, which he thought better than none. He wrote some books that are still valued as curiosities, particularly

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his "Christianographia, or a description of the multitudes and sundry sorts of Christians in the world, not subject to the pope," &c. Lond. 1635, 4to, often reprinted, with (in some of the editions) a "Treatise of the religion of the ancient Christians in Britany;" and his "Hæresiographia, or a description of the Heresies of later times," ibid. 1645, &c. 4to. Of this there have been at least four editions.1

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PAGNINUS (SANCTES), an Italian of great skill in Oriental languages and biblical learning, was born at Lucca in 1466, and afterwards became an ecclesiastic of the order of St. Dominic, and resided for the greater part of his life at Lyons. He was deeply and accurately skilled in the Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, and Arabic tongues, but especially in the Hebrew. In the course of his studies he was led to conceive that the Vulgate translation of the Scriptures was either not by Jerome, or greatly corrupted; and he therefore undertook to make a new one, following Jerom only where he conceived that his version corresponded with the original. This design, so very soon after the restoration of letters, is calculated to give us a very high opinion of Pagninus's courage and learning, and appeared in so favourable a light to pope Leo X. that he promised to furnish him with all necessary expences for completing the work; and he was likewise encouraged in his labours by the succeeding popes, Hadrian VI. and Clement VII. who licensed the printing of it. It appears, by a letter of Picus Mirandula to Pagoinus, that he had spent twenty-five years upon this translation. It is the first modern translation of the Bible from the Hebrew text; and the Jews who read it affirmed, that it agreed entirely with the Hebrew, and was as faithful, and more exact than the ancient translations. The great fault of Pagninus was, that he adhered too closely and servilely to the original text; and this scrupulous attachment made his translation, says father Simon, "obscure, barbarous, and full of solecisms. He imagined, that, to make a faithful translation of the Scriptures, it was necessary to follow exactly the letter, according to the strictness of grammar. This, however, is quite contrary to his pretended exactness, because two languages seldom agree in their ways of

Ath. Ox. vol. I. and II.-Brook's Lives of the Puritans.-Fuller's Worthies.-Lloyd's Worthies, folio, p. 510.-Strype's Life of Whitgift, p, 377.

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