Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 41.djvu/370

 a second edition of vol. i. A third edition (by subscription in 1757 at Cambridge) appeared with ‘Life of Mahomet,’ attributed to Dr. Long, master of Pembroke College, ‘for the sole benefit of Mrs. Anne Ockley’ (title-page), the daughter of Ockley, born in 1703. The ‘History’ was included in Bohn's Standard Library in 1848, and many times reprinted in various series. A French translation by A. F. Jault was published as early as 1748. The work was based upon a manuscript in the Bodleian Library ascribed to the Arabic historian El-Wâkidî, with additions from El-Mekîn, Abû-l-Fidâ, Abû-l-Faraj, and others. Hamaker, however, has proved that the manuscript in question is not the celebrated ‘Kitâb el-Maghâzî’ of El-Wâkidî, but the ‘Futûh esh-Sham,’ a work of little authority, which has even been characterised as ‘romance rather than history’ (Encycl. Britannica, 9th ed., s.v. Ockley, written or endorsed by Professor W. Robertson Smith). But, although many of its details require correction, the importance of Ockley's work in relation to the progress of oriental studies cannot be overestimated. Following in the steps of Pocock's famous ‘Specimen Historiæ Arabum,’ but adopting a popular method, and recommending it by an admirable English style, Ockley for the first time made the history of the early Saracen conquests attractive to the general reader, and stimulated the student to further research. With all its inaccuracies, Ockley's ‘History of the Saracens’ became a secondary classic, and formed for generations the main source of the average notions of early Mohammedan history. Gibbon did not disdain to use it freely.

The evidences of unwearied research in which it abounds insured its author's succession to the first vacant professorship of oriental languages. He was admitted a B.D. at Cambridge in 1710, and in December 1711 (, l.c., iii. 286) he was appointed to the chair of Arabic at his university; but the increase of income and consideration came too late. In his inaugural address as professor, Ockley expatiates with enthusiasm upon the beauty and utility of the Arabic language and literature, and pays tribute to the past labours of Erpenius, Golius, Pocock, and Herbelot; but refers sadly to fortune, always ‘venefica,’ and to the ‘mordaces curæ,’ which had so long embittered his life (Oratio Inauguralis habita Cantabrigiæ in Scholis Publicis Kalend. Febr. 1711 [1712]).

It is not known whether he had any pupils, or devoted much time to lecturing at Cambridge. He continued to write and publish, however, on various branches of learning. In 1712 appeared his ‘Account of the Authority of the Arabic MSS. in the Bodleian Library controverted between Dr. Grabe and Mr. Whiston, in a Letter to Mr. Thirlby,’ in which Ockley endeavoured to clear himself of the charge of sympathising with Whiston's Arian proclivities (referred to in HEARNE, iii. 57, where Ockley's visit to the Bodleian Library in Whiston's company, in September 1710, is noticed; cf. iii. 485). Ockley translated the Second Book of Esdras from the Arabic for Whiston, but issued it separately in 1716, in order to emphasise his disagreement with Whiston's opinions. Harley had apparently recommended the poor professor to Mr. Secretary St. John, for it is recorded that Bolingbroke employed Ockley to translate some letters from Morocco. Connected with this task, no doubt, was the publication (London, 1713) of the ‘Account of South-West Barbary,’ a narrative of captivity by an unknown Christian slave who escaped in 1698. Besides editing the captive's story, Ockley appended two letters from the Emperor of Morocco, Muley Ismaîl, one to Captain Kirk of Tangier (in Arabic, with translation), the others to Sir Cloudesley Shovel ‘on board the Charles galley,’ with reply; and also a letter from Hulagu Khan to the Sultan of Aleppo, written in 1259. The fall of Harley and Bolingbroke, however, soon deprived Ockley of any hopes of advancement from the government. In 1717 (London) appeared a translation from the Arabic of ‘The Sentences of Ali,’ made by Ockley at the request of Thomas Freke of Hannington, Wiltshire (who also had urged the preparation and provided for the expense of publishing the ‘History of the Saracens.’). The preface contains a spirited eulogy of the Arabs and their literature; and at the end is found a ‘proposal for printing’ the second volume of the ‘History of the Saracens’ (to which the ‘Sentences of Ali’ was appended in 1718), dated 21 Dec. 1716, from which it appears that all Ockley asked from the subscribers was 2d. per sheet, of which 2s. 6d. was to be paid down, and ‘the rest on delivery of the quires;’ but a ‘small number to be on Royal Paper at 10s. a book.’ The preparation of this second volume occupied much time, and involved protracted residence at Oxford. In a letter to his daughter (published by Heathcote, in, Gen. Biogr. Dict. ed. 1815, xxiii. 296–8), Ockley describes the labour of deciphering the manuscripts, abridging, comparing, and selecting; and the difficulty of rendering an oriental language into English. He was much hampered by the want of sufficient authorities, and adds: ‘We are all swallowed up in politics; there is no room for letters; and it is to be feared that the