Page:A new and general biographical dictionary; containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation v1.djvu/448

 A U S O N I U S. genius. Had he lived in Auguftus's reign, hisverfes, accord* jng to good judges, would have equalled the moft finifhcd of th;>t age. He is generally fuppofed to have been a Chriftian ; fome ingenious authrrs indeed have thought otherwife, but, according to Mr. Baylc, without juft reafon. The beft edi- tion of his poems is that of AmfUrdam in 1671. B AYLMER (JOHN), was born of a good family at Ayl- , ' merhall in Norklk, about the year 1521. Grey marquis of p- 2 > 3- Dorfer, and afterwards duke of Suffolk, taking a liking to 1 him when he was very young, entertained him as his fcholar, and gave him an exhibition at the univerfity of Cambridge, where, Mr. Wood fuppofes, he took his degrees in arts j after which the marquis made him tutor to his children, among whom was the lady Jane Grey, afterwards queen. He early adopted the opinions of the Reformers ; and under the patro- nage of the duke or Suffolk and the earl of Huntingdon, in the reign of Edward VI. was for fome time the only preacher in Leicefterihire, and was highly initrumental in bringing Ider. ver the people of that county to the Proteftant religion. In JS53 he was made archdeacon of Stow in the diocefe of Lincoln. In the convocation which fat in the firft year of queen Mary, he diftinguiihed himlelf by his warmth againft Popery. The violent meafures of that queen's miniftry ren- dered his ftay in England unfafe ; he retired beyond fea, and reluied firft at Strafburgh, and afterwards at Zurich in Switzerland, where he undertook the inihudiicn of feveral young gentlemen in clafllcal learning and religion. During his exile he alfo viiited the univerlities of Italy and Germany. T J ^.p. n'. A* that of Jena in Saxony he was offered the Hebrew pro- fell -iih : p ; but, having a near profpedl of returning home, he declined it. After the accellion of queen Elizabeth, he came back to England j and in the beginning of that princefs's reign, was one of the eight divines appointed to difpute at niter, before many perfons of diftindtion, againft an
 * rrber of popifh bi{hops. In 1562, by the iutereft

..iry (Jeci!, he was made archdeacon of Lincoln ; and sflilted at the fynod held this year, wherein the dodtrine and difcipline of the church, and the reformation from i nery were cihblifhed. He continued long without any oth: r ctM)l;d."r;;i)le preferment, though often nominated by tlv r.rchbifhop of Canterbury to fome vacant bifhopric. According to .Sivype, one reafon of his being negleded was