Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 19.djvu/259

  presented by Archbishop Laud to the Bodleian Library, where it is now preserved. A new edition from the manuscript used by Camden, and collated with fragments of an older one unknown to him, was published by the writer of the present notice in the appendix to the ‘Chartularies of St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin,’ Rolls Series, 1885.



FLAVEL, JOHN (1596–1617), logician, was born in 1596 at Bishop's Lydeard, Somersetshire, where his father was a clergyman. He matriculated, 25 Jan. 1610–11, at Trinity College, Oxford, and developed a turn for logical disputation. In 1613 he was made one of the first scholars of Wadham College. He graduated B.A. on 28 June 1614, and lectured on logic. Proceeding M.A. on 23 June 1617, he was in the same year chosen professor of grammar. He had skill in Greek and Latin verse. He died on 10 Nov. 1617, and was buried in Wadham College chapel.

After Flavel's death, Alexander Huish, of Wadham College, edited from his manuscript a logical treatise, with the title, ‘Tractatus de Demonstratione Methodicus et Polemicus,’ &c., Oxford, 1619, 16mo. The treatise, which is in four books, was not intended for publication. Huish dedicates it (1 March 1618–19) to Arthur Lake, bishop of Bath and Wells.

Wood mentions ‘Grammat. Græc. Enchyridion,’ 8vo (not seen), by Joh. Flavell, possibly the subject of this article.



FLAVEL, JOHN (1630?–1691), presbyterian divine, eldest son of the Rev. Richard Flavel, described as ‘a painful and eminent minister,’ who was incumbent successively of Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, Hasler and Willersey, Gloucestershire (from which last living he was ejected in 1662), was born in or about 1630 at Bromsgrove. Having received his early education at the schools of the neighbourhood, he entered University College, Oxford, at an early age, and gained a good reputation for talent and diligence. On 27 April 1650 he was sent by ‘the standing committee of Devon’ to Diptford, a parish on the Avon, five miles from Totnes, where the minister, Mr. Walplate, had become infirm. On 17 Oct. 1650, after examination and the preaching of a ‘trial sermon,’ he was ordained Mr. Walplate's assistant by the classis at Salisbury. He continued to minister at Diptford for about six years, succeeding the senior minister when he died, and endearing himself greatly to the people, not only by his earnestness, but by his easy dealings with them in the matter of tithes. In 1656 he removed to Dartmouth, though the Diptford emoluments were much greater. On the passing of the Act of Uniformity (1662) he was ejected, but continued to preach in private until the Five Mile Act drove him from Dartmouth. He kept as near it, however, as possible, removing to Slapton, five miles off, and there preached twice each Sunday to all who came, among whom were many of his old parishioners. On the granting of the indulgence of 1671 he returned to Dartmouth, and continued to officiate there even after the liberty to do so was withdrawn. In the end he found himself obliged to remove to London, travelling by sea and narrowly escaping shipwreck in a storm, which is said to have ceased in answer to his prayers. Finding that he would be safer at Dartmouth he returned there, and met with his people nightly in his own house, until in 1687, on the relaxation of the penal laws, they built a meeting-house for him. Just before his death he acted as moderator at a meeting of dissenting ministers held at Topsham. He died suddenly of paralysis at Exeter on 26 June 1691, and was buried in Dartmouth churchyard. Wood bitterly comments on the violence of his dissent.

Flavel was four times married: first to Jane Randal; secondly, to Elizabeth Morries; thirdly, to Ann Downe; and, lastly, to a daughter of the Rev. George Jeffries. There is a portrait of him in Dr. Williams's library, London.

He was a voluminous and popular author. There is a play of fine fancy in some of them, such as the ‘Husbandry Spiritualised.’ All display vigorous diction and strong evangelical sentiments. They comprise:  ‘Husbandry Spiritualised,’ Lond. 1669.  ‘Navigation Spiritualised,’ Lond. 1671.  ‘The Fountain of Life Opened, or a Display of Christ in his Essential and Mediatorial Glory, containing forty-two sermons,’ Lond. 1672.  ‘A Saint indeed,’ Lond. 1671.  ‘A Token for Mourners,’ Lond. 1674.  ‘The Seaman's Companion,’ Lond. 1676.  ‘Divine Conduct, or the Mystery of Providence Opened,’ Lond. 1678, 1814, 1822.  ‘The Touchstone of Sincerity,’ Lond. 1678.  ‘The Method of Grace in the Gospel Redemption,’ Lond. 1680. <li> ‘A Practical Treatise of Fear, wherein the various Kinds, Uses, Causes, Effects, and Remedies thereof are distinctly opened and<section end="Flavel, John (1630?-1691)"/> </ol>