Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 44.djvu/198

P writers on each side,’ 1735, 4to. This pamphlet was edited, with large additions, for the Chetham Society in 1859, by Thomas Jones, then librarian of the Chetham Library, which is especially rich in these pamphlets. 6. ‘Memoirs of the Life and Actions of Oliver Cromwell, as delivered in three panegyrics of him, written in Latin; the first, as said, by Don Juan Roderiguez de Saa Meneses, Conde de Penguias, the Portugal ambassador; the second, as affirmed, by a certain jesuit, the lord-ambassador's chaplain; yet both, it is thought, composed by Mr. John Milton (Latin secretary to Oliver Cromwell), as was the third; with an English version of each. The whole illustrated with a large historical preface; many similar passages from the “Paradise Lost” and other works of Mr. John Milton, and “Notes from the Best Historians,”’ 1740, 4to. To the work was appended a collection of ‘Divers Curious Historical Pieces’ relating to, among others, Sir Thomas Scot, Thomas Hobson the carrier, Old Parr, John Evelyn, Gerard Salvin, Tobias Rustat, and Abraham Cowley; and there is ‘a large account of Queen Elizabeth's entertainment at Oxford in 1592.’ 7. ‘New Memoirs of the Life and Poetical Works of Mr. John Milton; with, first, an Examination of Milton's Style; secondly, Explanatory and Critical Notes on divers Passages in Milton and Shakespeare, by the Editor; thirdly, Baptistes: a Sacred and Dramatic Poem in defence of Liberty, as written in Latin by Mr. George Buchanan, translated into English by Mr. John Milton, and first published in 1641 by order of the House of Commons; fourthly, the Parallel, or Archbishop Laud and Cardinal Wolsey compared—a vision by Milton; fifthly, the Legend of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, knight, chief butler of England, who died of poison anno 1570—an historical poem by his nephew, Sir Thomas Throckmorton, knight; sixthly, Herod the Great, by the editor; seventhly, the Resurrection, a poem in imitation of Milton, by a friend; and, eighthly, a Discourse on the Harmony of the Spheres, by Milton, with Prefaces and Notes,’ 1740. The work, which was dedicated to Speaker Onslow, was adorned with a portrait of Milton which Peck obtained from Sir John Meres of Kirkby Beler in Leicestershire. Before the publication of the volume Vertue told Peck that the portrait was not Milton's, but Peck bade ‘posterity settle the difference.’ The critical notes on Milton and Shakespeare are remarkable, as being perhaps the first attempts made to illustrate their writings by extracts from contemporary writers, in accordance with the method subsequently followed by Steevens and Malone (see Memoirs of Milton, p. 5). 8. ‘Four Discourses, viz.: i. Of Grace and how to excite it; ii. Jesus Christ the True Messiah, proved from a consideration of His Resurrection in particular; iii. Jesus Christ the True Messiah, proved from a consideration of His Resurrection in particular; iv. The Necessity and Advantage of Good Laws and Good Magistrates,’ 1742, 8vo.

Of the various works that Peck had in contemplation at the time of his death probably the most important was his ‘Natural History and Antiquities of Leicestershire.’ The manuscript was purchased by Sir Thomas Cave in 1754 for ten guineas, and on his death in 1778 the whole of Peck's materials, together with those of Sir Thomas himself, were handed over by the latter's son to John Nichols. The materials of both were carefully, and with due acknowledgment, incorporated by Nichols in his monumental work. Peck's natural history collections were quaintly digested under the following heads: ‘Stones, Salt, Long Life, Herbs, Earthquakes, Crevices, and Apparitions.’ The next in importance of Peck's manuscripts was the ‘Monasticon Anglicanum Volumen Quartum.’ This work, which was also purchased by Cave, consisted of five quarto volumes, and was on 14 May 1779 presented to the British Museum. It has been used by numerous antiquaries and county historians, and was naturally of especial value to the subsequent editors of Dugdale (Ellis, Caley, and Bandinel). The materials used by Peck in his ‘Life of Nicholas Ferrar of Little Gidding,’ which was also in an advanced stage of preparation, are for the most part embodied in Peckard's ‘Memoirs’ (cf. Gent. Mag. 1791, i. 456). The remainder of his manuscripts, including the ‘Lives’ of William and Robert Burton (author of the ‘Anatomy of Melancholy’), ‘The History and Antiquities of Rutland,’ ‘The Annals of Stamford’ continued, ‘Memoirs of the Restoration of Charles II,’ and a third volume of ‘Desiderata Curiosa,’ were all in a fragmentary or merely inchoate state. Several other manuscripts of Peck, of minor importance, are still preserved in the British Museum; and Gilchrist possessed a copy of Langbaine's ‘Lives’ carefully interlined by him. Peck, whose interests were so catholic, and whose reading was so omnivorous, was naturally in correspondence with most of the antiquaries of his day, and letters of his are extant to, among others, Thomas Hearne, Browne Willis, Thomas Wotton (Addit. MS. 24121), Zachary Grey (Addit. MS. 6396). He also communicated some notes on the Gresham professors to Dr. Ward (Addit. MS. 6209). Papers of