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 in good health, and after a stay of only eight days went on to Bantam, where he arrived on 7 Dec. A month later he came to Button, where he entertained the king at a banquet on board; but no trade was to be done, owing to the recent destruction of the storehouses by fire, and he passed on to Bangay. The drunken and dissolute Dutchman domineered over the natives, collected the duties for the king of Ternate, and, keeping for himself as much as he wanted, sent on to the king what he could spare. Middleton, being unable to trade at Bangay, endeavoured to go to the Moluccas. Foul winds compelled him to bear up for Banda, but there the Dutch governor told him plainly that to permit him to buy a nut there was more than his head was worth. He believed that they intended to seize or burn the ship, till he showed them that he was prepared to fight if attacked. At Ceram, after some negotiation, he obtained a full cargo of nutmegs and mace. On his way back to the westward he foiled an attempt of the Dutch to intercept him, and having refitted at Bantam sailed thence on 16 Nov. He arrived in England in the early summer of 1611.

In May 1614 he sailed once more for the East Indies in the Samaritan, with the Thomas and Thomasine under his orders, and arrived at Bantam on 14 Feb. 1614–15. A full cargo was collected, and after sending the smaller vessels to other ports, Middleton, in the Samaritan, sailed for England on 3 April 1615 (Cal. State Papers, East Indies, 30 Sept. 1615). But the ship was wrecked on the coast of Madagascar, and though it was at first reported that ‘passengers and goods were saved’ (ib. Captain Pepwell to East India Company, 7 March 1617, read 5 Sept. 1617), the loss seems to have been total. The first report of Middleton's death reached the company on 5 Sept. 1617. No exact news was ever received, but he was registered as dead, and his will proved on 18 April 1618. On 6 Oct. 1624 the court of directors had under consideration a letter in favour of Middleton's son. ‘After much reasoning the court called to mind that the captain lost both ship and goods to a very great value, and therefore they gave it for answer that there is nothing due’ (ib.)

In his will, dated 20 April 1614 (Meade, 31), he names his wife Alice, sons Henry and John, daughter Elizabeth, and mentions a child not yet born, also his wife's sister, Jane Pullybancke. He names, too, his brother Christopher, his sisters and their children, several cousins [see ] and friends, the bulk of his property being left to his son Henry. Within three weeks of the announcement of the loss of Middleton's ship, his widow had married one Cannon (ib.; Court Minutes, p. 23, 30 Sept. 1617), who on 4 Dec. 1618, in right of Captain David Middleton, was administrator to Sir Henry Middleton, deceased (ib.)

 MIDDLETON, ERASMUS (1739–1805), author, born in 1739, was son of Erasmus Middleton of Horncastle, Lincolnshire. On 4 June 1767 he matriculated at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford (, Alumni Oxon., 1715–1886, iii. 951), but was expelled from the university in May 1768, along with five other members of the hall, for publicly praying and preaching (Gent. Mag. 1768, pp. 225, 410). The affair caused considerable stir at the time, and some pamphleteering (cf., Life of Johnson, edit. 1848, p. 241; see ). Middleton nevertheless obtained ordination, and subsequently entered himself at King's College, Cambridge, but does not appear to have graduated there. He became in succession minister at Dalkeith, curate of Chelsea, lecturer of St. Benet, Gracechurch Street, and St. Helen, Bishopsgate, curate of St. Margaret's Chapel, Westminster, and in 1804 rector of Turvey, Bedfordshire. He was also chaplain to the Countess of Crawford and Lindsay. He died on 25 April 1805.

Middleton wrote: 1. ‘A Letter to A. D., Esq.’ [on walking with God], 8vo (Edinburgh), 1772. 2. The theological, philosophical, critical, and poetical branches of a ‘New Dictionary of Arts and Sciences,’ fol. 1778, an indifferent compilation. 3. ‘Biographia Evangelica, or an Historical Account of the Lives and Deaths of the most eminent and evangelical Authors or Preachers both British and Foreign in the several Denominations of Protestants,’ 4 vols. 8vo, London, 1779–86, a useful work, written in a singularly uncouth style. 4. ‘Versions and Imitations of the Psalms of David,’ 8vo, London, 1806, on the title-page of which he is styled B.D. He also published several sermons.

There are two engraved portraits of Middleton, one by A. Smith.

 MIDDLETON, HENRY (d. 1587), printer, was most probably the son of William Middleton [q. v.], the printer, as he was 