Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 06.djvu/472

 Broughton became fellow of St. John's and afterwards of Christ's. He had no lack of patronage at the university; Sir Walter Mildmay made him an allowance for a private lectureship in Greek, and the Earl of Huntingdon still more liberally supplied him with means for study. He was elected one of the taxers of the university, and obtained a prebend and a readership in divinity at Durham. On the ground of his holding a prebend, he was deprived of his fellowship in 1579, but was reinstated in 1581, at the instance of Lord Burghley, the chancellor, who, moved by the representations of the Bishop of Durham (Richard Barnes) and the Earls of Huntingdon and Essex, overcame the opposition of Hatcher, the vice-chancellor, and Hawford, master of Christ's. He resigned the office of taxer, and does not seem to have returned to the university. He came to London, where he spent from twelve to sixteen hours a day in study, and distinguished himself as a preacher of puritan sentiments in theology. He is said to have predicted, in one of his sermons (1588), the scattering of the armada. He found friends among the citizens, especially in the family of the Cottons, with whom he lived, and whom he taught to be enthusiastic Hebrew scholars. In 1588 appeared his first work, 'A Concent of Scripture,' dedicated to the queen. John Speed, the historian, saw the book through the press. In this 'little book of great pains,' as Broughton himself calls it, he attempts to settle the scripture chronology, and to correct profane writers by it. The work is interesting, written in a lively style, full of learning and ingenuity, but removing all difficulties with a quaint oracular dogmatism, which entertains rather than convinces. He holds the absolute incorruptness of the text of both testaments, including the Hebrew points. Indeed, he goes so far in a later work as to maintain, respecting the k'thibh and the q'ri, that 'both of them are of God, and of equal authority.' The 'Concent' was attacked in their public prelections by John Rainolds at Oxford, and Edward Lively at Cambridge. Broughton appealed to the queen (to whom he presented a special copy of the book on 17 Nov. 1589), to Whitgift, and to Aylmer, bishop of London, asking to have the points in dispute between Rainolds and himself determined by the authority of the archbishops and the two universities. He began weekly lectures in his own defence to an audience of between 80 and 100 scholars, using the 'Concent' as a text-book. The privy council allowed him to deliver his lectures (as Chevallier had done before) at the east end of St. Paul's, until some of the bishops complained of his audiences as 'dangerous conventicles.' He then removed his lecture to a room in Cheapside, and thence to Mark Lane, and elsewhere. It is said that he was in fear of the high commission, and therefore anxious to leave the country. It is probable that he left for Germany at the end of 1589 or beginning of 1590, taking with him a pupil, Alexander Top, a young country gentleman. Broughton on his travels was a valiant disputant against popery (even at the table of his fast friend, the Archbishop of Maintz), and engaged in religious discussion with several Jews. At Frankfort, early in 1590, he disputed in the synagogue with Rabbi Elias. He was at Worms in 1590, and returned next year to England. His letter of 27 March 1590 (probably 1591) to Lord Burghley asks permission to go abroad, with a special view to make use of King Casimir's library. But he remained in London, where he met Rainolds, and agreed with him to refer their differing views about the harmony of scripture chronology to the arbitration of Whitgift and Aylmer. Broughton's letter to these prelates is dated 4 Nov. 1591. Nothing came of the reference, and though Whitgift acknowledged the industry and dexterity which Broughton had displayed in the 'Concent,' the archbishop was his enemy with Elizabeth. In 1592 we find Broughton again in Germany, and, according to Lightfoot, he probably remained abroad till the death of Elizabeth. But Brook prints (from Baker's copy, Harl. MS. 7031, p. 94) a letter from Broughton to Lord Burghley, dated 'London, May 16, 1595,' in which he applies for the archbishopric of Tomon (Tuam), 'worth not above 200l.,' and asks for a meeting to be arranged between him and Rainolds. On the continent he made the acquaintance of many learned men, including Scaliger, who calls him 'furiosus et maledicus.' It is said that he was tempted with the offer of a cardinal's hat; catholic scholars treated him with more respect than foreign protestants. He wrote against Beza in his fiercest Greek. Puritanical as he was in his theology, he held the episcopal polity to be apostolic. His dispute with Rabbi Elias brought him, in 1596, a letter from Rabbi Abraham Reuben, written at Constantinople. This was addressed to him in London, but in a cursive Hebrew character, which puzzled 'divers scholars,' till Top managed to make out whom it was intended for, and sent it off to Germany. Broughton was sanguine as to the good effects of his discussions with Jews in their mother tongue,, and often speaks of his disputations with one Rabbi David Farrar. While at Middleburg