Page:A catalogue of notable Middle Templars, with brief biographical notices.djvu/252



Admitted 23 January, 1822.

Son of Richard Southern of York. He was educated at Cambridge, where he was Twenty-Second Wrangler in 1819. He was never called to the Bar, but devoted himself to literature, and became the founder of the Retrospective Review and London Magazine. In 1833 he accompanied the Earl of Clarendon to Spain, and was placed upon the Diplomatic Staff. In 1848 he was Minister to the Argentine Confederation, and in 1851 to Brazil. He died at Rio de Janeiro 28 Jan. 1853.

Admitted 15 July, 1680.

Third son of Francis Southerne. He was born at Oxmantown, near Dublin. Preferring poetry to law, Southerne two years after his admission produced a Tragedy which attracted the favour of James II., who gave him a commission in the army intended to oppose the Prince of Orange. His military services, however, not being needed, he returned to the cultivation of the drama, and produced several pieces with so much success that he is said to have "died the oldest and richest of his dramatic brethren." He died 26 May, 1746, in his 86th year.

Southerne's Plays were published in 1713, in 1721, and again in 1774, with a Life of the author. His Plays appeared separately in the following order: The Loyal Brother, a Tragedy (1682); Sir Anthony's Love, a Comedy (1691); The Wife's Excuse, a Comedy (1692); The Maid's Last Prayer, a Comedy (1693); Isabella, or The Fatal Marriage [known also as The Discovery], a Tragedy (1694); Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave, a Tragedy (1696); The Fate of Capua, a Tragedy (1700); Money the Mistress, a Play (1726). Of these the only two remembered are The Discovery and Oroonoko. The latter is remarkable as the first instance of Anti-Slavery literature.

Younger son of Francis Southwell. There is no record of his admission, "but he was Reader at the Inn in 1540. On 18 Oct. 1537, he was knighted. He acted successively as Surveyor, Solicitor, and Chancellor of the Court of Augmentations, being appointed to the last office on 1 July, 1542, and on the same day made Master of the Rolls. This office he surrendered in 1550, and retired to his residence in Kent, where he died in Nov. 1559.

Admitted 19 May, 1720.

Son and heir of Robert Spearman, Attorney, of Durham. He is best known as the Biographer of John Hutchinson, author of Moses's Principia, of whom he was a pupil, and whose works he edited in 1748. His opinions, like those of his master, were of an eccentric and very speculative character. In 1755 he published An Enquiry after Philosophy and Theology, in which he opposes the principles of Sir Isaac Newton, and in 1759 Letters concerning the Septuagint and Heathen Mythology. He died 20 Oct. 1761.