Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 02.djvu/324

Babington thoroughly done, but not very notable. He translated from the German Hecker's ‘Epidemics of the Middle Ages,’ and edited a translation of Feuchtersleben's ‘Medical Psychology’ for the Sydenham Society (London, 1847).

Those who knew Dr. Babington best had the highest opinion of his abilities; by the profession in general he was greatly respected, but he hardly enjoyed the public reputation or gained the success which might have been considered his due. Partly this was owing to his retiring and unambitious character; partly, perhaps, to his having entered the profession somewhat late in life. He was a man of genial character, and physically well-favoured. His wife, a daughter of Mr. Benjamin Tayler, died before him.

Dr. Babington wrote no independent and separate work in medicine, but published: 1. ‘A Grammar of the High Dialect of the Tamil Language. Translated from the Latin of Constantius Josephus Beschius,’ Madras, 1822, 4to. 2. ‘The Adventures of the Gooroo Paramartan,’ by C. J. Beschius. With a translation and vocabulary (Tamul and English), London, 1822, 4to. 3. ‘The Vedàla Cadai, being the Tamul version of a collection of ancient tales in Sanscrit,’ translated by B. G. Babington. Oriental Translation Fund, London, 1831, 8vo. 4. ‘An Account of the Sculptures and Inscriptions at Mahâma Laipûr in Captain M. W. Carr's Descriptive Papers relating to the Seven Pagodas on the Coromandel Coast,’ Madras, 1869, 8vo. 5. An English Translation of Hecker's ‘The Black Death in the Fourteenth Century,’ London, 1833, 12mo. (This is included in the translation of Hecker's ‘Epidemics of the Middle Ages,’ London, 1844 (Sydenham Society) and 1859.) Besides papers in ‘Guy's Hospital Reports:’ ‘Cases of Small-Pox which occurred in the Deaf and Dumb Asylum,’ series 1, i. 159; ‘Experiments and Observations on Albuminous Fluids,’ series 1, ii. 534; ‘Observations on Epilepsy,’ series 1, vi. 1; ‘On Chorea,’ series 1, vi. 411. Also papers in the ‘Philosophical Transactions,’ in the ‘Cyclopædia of Anatomy and Physiology,’ and elsewhere.

[Obituary Notice in Proceedings Roy. Med. and Chir. Society, v. 249, 1867; Lancet, 21 April 1866; Medical Directory, London, 1866.] 

BABINGTON, BRUTE (d. 1610), bishop of Derry, is said to have been a native of Cheshire. He was admitted into Christ's College in 1572, was B.A. 1575-6, and became a fellow in 1576. He was incorporated at Oxford 15 July 1578, on the same day with Gervase Babington. He was collated to the prebend of Bishopshall, in Lichfield Cathedral, 18 Sept. 1592. He was also rector of Thurcaston, Leicestershire, and Tatenhill, Staffordshire. On the death of Dr. Boleyn, Babington applied for the deanery of Lichfield unsuccessfully. On 6 July 1603 he complains to the Earl of Shrewsbury that the chancellor of the diocese, Zachary Babington, had obstructed his suit and dispossessed him of his divinity lectureship. In 1610 he was appointed to the bishopric of Derry, after some opposition from supporters of Dean Webb: resigning Thurcaston 8 Nov. 1610, but holding his prebend and Tatenhill in commendum. He was consecrated at Drogheda, and died in 1611, probably on 10 Sept. O'Sullivan tells the story that his death was ascribed to a divine punishment for his sacrilege in attempting to burn a statue of the Virgin Mary, which, however, remained unconsumed, while the perpetrators of the outrage were either struck dead on the spot, or, like the bishop himself, died a lingering death.

[Le Neve's Fasti, i. 590, iii. 316; Dyer's Hist. of Camb. Univ. ii. 65; O'Sullivan's Hist. Cath. iv. 13; Cal. State Papers (Dom. 1603-10), pp. 614, 641, (Irish, 1608-10) pp. 448, 487, 490; Cotton's Fasti Eccl. Hib. iii. 316, v. 254 ; Lodge's Illustrations (1838), iii. 36; Talbot Papers, M. 97, 374; Ware's Bishops of Ireland (Harris), 292; Willis's Cathedrals, i. 427; Wood's Fasti (Bliss), i. 211.] 

BABINGTON, FRANCIS (d. 1569), Oxford divine, is said to have been a native of Leicestershire: to have entered Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1544, and to have taken his B.A. degree in 1548-9. Two years later he was appointed fellow of St. John's, and in 1552 became M.A. By 1555 he must have changed his religion, for at that date his name is found appended to the Roman catholic articles of belief (, Cambr. Doct. 176), About the same time he seems to have transferred his residence to Oxford, where he 'incepted' in arts 1554. ( WoodApp. 95). After three years he was unanimously chosen proctor of his new university (1557), being already a fellow of All Souls. In 1557 and 1558 he successively took his bachelor's and doctor's degree in divinity; but Wood adds a special warning that such rapid promotion was only due to the fact that the university was very empty, and wanted 'theologists to perform the requisite offices. 'There were only three doctors in theology who proceeded in six years; and sermons were so rare, that scarce one was given.' It is only fair, however, to