Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 10.djvu/18

 the French Philosophers,' 1721; Saurin's 'Dissertations, Historical, Critical, Theological, and Moral, of the most Memorable Events of the Old and New Testaments,' 1723. Chamberlayne died at his house in Petty-France (now York Street), Westminster in 2 November. 1723, and on the 6th was interred in the family burying-ground at Chelsea, where he had a residence, and where on his church wall a tablet was placed to his memory.

 CHAMBERLAYNE, WILLIAM (1619–1689), physician and poet, was born in 1619, He practised as a physician at Shaftesbury in Dorsetshire. During the civil war he was distinguished for his loyalty to Charles I; and it appears from a passage at the close of the second book of ‘Pharonnida’ that he wan present at the second battle of Newbury. He died in January 1689, and was buried at Shaftesbury in the churchyard of the Holy Trinity, where a monument was erected to him by his son Valentine Chamberlayne. In 1658 he published ‘Love's Victory, a Tragi-Comedy,' 4to, dedicated to Sir William Portman, bart, There are some fine passages in the play, and plenty of loyal sentiment. An alteration, under the title of ‘Wits led by the Nose, or a Poet's Revenge,’ was acted at the Theatre Royal in 1678, and printed in the some year. In 1659 appeared ‘Pharonnida, an Heroick Poem,' 8vo. The dedication to Sir William Portman, dated from Shaftesbury 12 May 1659, is followed by an 'epistle to the reader,’ in which Chamberlayne stated that ‘Fortune had placed him in too low a sphear to be happy in the acquaintance of more celebrated wits.’ The poem in in rhymed heroics; there are five books and four cantos to each book. As the fourth book commences with fresh pagination and in different type, it has been conjectured that the printing wus interrupted by the author's employment in the wars. In spite of its diffuseness and intricacy, the story is interesting; and much of the poetry is remarkable for happy imagery and rich expression. Both in its faults and in its beauties ‘Pharonnida,' bears considerable resemblance to ‘Endymion,' Southey warmly admired the poem, and in a note to his ‘Vision of the Maid of Orleans' (Poems, 1-vol. ed. 1850, p. 79) speaks of Chamberlayne as ‘a poet to whom I am indebted for many hours of delight.' A romance founded on the poem was published in 1683, under the title title of ‘Eromona, or the Noble stranger.' In 1820 'Pharonnida’ was reprinted in 3 vols. 12mo. At the Restoration, in 1683, Chamberlayne published ‘England’s Jubile, or a Poem on the happy Return of his Sacred Majesty Charles the Second,' 4to, pp. 8.

 CHAMBERLEN, HUGH, the elder, M.D. (fl. 1720) physician and economist, the eldest son of Peter Chamberlayne, M.D., by marriage with Jane, eldest daughter of Sir Hugh Myddelton, bart., was born in the parish of St. Anne's, Blackfriars, between 1630 and 1634. It is doubtful whether he ever took or obtained a degree in physic, although he is styled doctor of medicine in the state papers and on the lists of the Royal Society. From his father he inherited the faculty for bringing himself conspicuously before the public by schemes of a more or less visionary character. In 1668 he busied himself with a project for freeing the city of the plague, as we learn from a paper in his handwriting, preserved in the Record Offices (Cal. sate Papers, Dom. 1665-6, p. 423). In August 1670, while staying at Paris, he met the celebrated surgeon, François Mauriceau, and two years later he published a translation of the latter's treatise on mid-wifery. This became for long afterwards the standard text-book on the subject, and passing through several editions was republished as late as 1765. In the preface, which was repeated without alteration in all subsequent editions, are many remarkable statements, notably those relating to the invention and use of the obstetric forceps by the translator's family. Chamberlen now acquired considerable reputation in his profession, more especially as a man-midwife, and on the petition of his father he obtained, in Febuary 1673, the reversion of Sir John Hinton's place as physician in ordinary to the king, which office fell to him the following October.

In 1685 Chamberlen came again before the public as the author of ‘Manuale Medicum: or a small Treatise of the Art of Physick in general and of Vomits and the Jesuits Powder in particular,' 8vo, London, 1685. By the