Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 45.djvu/207

 has traced in it the hand of Milton. Milton is also credited with supplying his nephew with the enlightened criticism that figures in the volume on Shakespeare and Marlowe. Phillips excuses himself for mentioning his uncle's name without any elaborate notice because it ‘did not become him to deliver his judgment,’ but he compensates his readers for the omission by inserting a very high-flown eulogy on his brother John. In the Bodleian Library is Phillips's presentation copy to Bishop Barlow. William Winstanley's ‘Lives of the English Poets,’ 1687, largely plagiarises Phillips's ‘Theatrum.’ Sir S. Egerton Brydges reissued in 1800 vol. i. (only) of a heavily annotated reprint of Phillips's notices of English poets. A copy of this, with manuscript notes by J. P. Collier, is in the British Museum. A third edition of Brydges's reprint appeared in an edition limited to one hundred copies in 1824.

In September 1677, on Evelyn's recommendation, Phillips entered the service, apparently at Euston, Suffolk, of Henry Bennet, earl of Arlington, lord chamberlain, who wanted ‘a scholar to read to and entertain him sometimes.’ He also instructed in languages the earl's nephew, Henry Bennet, and the earl's daughter, a girl of ten, who was already married to Henry Fitzroy, duke of Grafton. Phillips dedicated the fourth edition of his ‘World of Words’ to the youthful duchess in 1678. Before November 1679 he was discharged of the duty, and thereupon, according to Wood, he ‘married a woman with several children, taught school in the Strand, near the Maypole, lived in poor condition, though a good master; wrote and translated several things merely to get a bare livelihood.’

In 1676 his geographical and topographical supplement to John Speed's ‘Theatre of Great Britain’ saw the light, and he probably edited the Latin edition of Milton's ‘Letters of State.’ In 1682 he issued his ‘Tractatulus de modo formandi voces derivativas Linguæ Latinæ;’ in 1684 his ‘Enchiridion Linguæ Latinæ,’ or a ‘Compendious Latin Dictionary … for all learners,’ and his ‘Speculum Linguæ Latinæ.’ Both the latter were, according to Wood, ‘all or mostly’ taken from notes prepared by his uncle Milton for a Latin dictionary. Milton's widow, according to Aubrey, gave all her husband's papers to Phillips before 1681. There followed in 1685 Phillips's ‘Poem on the Coronation of his most Sacred Majesty King James II and his Royal Consort,’ fol.; an historical romance, ‘The Minority of St. Lewis,’ dedicated to the Duke of Norfolk; and an English translation of his own ‘Tractatulus’ of 1682. In 1694 he published a translation of Milton's ‘Letters of State,’ with a short but valuable memoir, which has been liberally utilised by later biographers. Godwin reprinted it in his biography of Phillips and his brother in 1815. The fifth edition of his ‘World of Words’ is dated 1696, and he doubtless died soon afterwards.

On 4 July 1696 died ‘Mr. Phillips, philizer to the county of Middlesex, a place worth 400l. a year’ (, iv. 81); but it is improbable that this officer is identical with Milton's nephew.

[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. iv. 760–4; William Godwin's Lives of Edward and John Phillips, 1815; Masson's Life of Milton; Evelyn's Diary.] 

PHILLIPS, EDWARD (fl. 1730–1740), dramatist, stated by Baker to be of Cambridge, was the author of the following pieces: 1. ‘The Chambermaid,’ a ballad opera in one act, based upon the ‘Village Opera’ of Charles Johnson (1679–1748) [q. v.], and produced as an after-piece at Drury Lane on 10 Feb. 1729–30, London, 1730, 8vo. 2. ‘The Livery Rake and Country Lass.’ This comic opera, with sprightly songs, was repeated several times at the Haymarket and Drury Lane, where ‘first Phillis’ was played by Mrs. Pritchard, London, 1732. 3. ‘The Mock Lawer,’ a musical farce produced at Covent Garden on 27 April 1733. The libretto, printed at Dublin in 1737, is scarce. 4. ‘Britons strike Home, or Sailors' Rehearsal,’ London, 1739, 8vo. This musical piece was, according to Genest, devoid of unity and ‘full of claptraps.’ Nevertheless, Macklin and Mrs. Clive appeared in it when produced at Drury Lane on 31 Dec. 1739, and it was revived on 27 March 1779. A scarce satirical poem on the condition of the stage, with a prose introduction, entitled ‘The Players’ (London, 1733, 4to), is doubtfully attributed to Phillips (, Bibl. Account of Theatrical Lit. p. 266; cf. Introduction to The Players, ad fin.)

[Baker's Biographia Dramatica, 1812, i. 571; Thespian Dict. 1805; Genest's Hist. of the Stage, vol. iii. passim; Brit. Mus. Cat.] 

PHILLIPS, GEORGE (fl. 1597), divine, was matriculated as a pensioner of Trinity College, Cambridge, on 2 Dec. 1579. He graduated B.A. in 1582–3, and commenced M.A. in 1587 (, Athenæ Cantabr. iii. 18).

He was the author of: 1. ‘Five Sermons: (i) A Recreation for the Soule, on Col. iii. 16; (ii) The End of Vsury, on Habak. ii. 9; (iii) The Armour and Patience of a Christian, on 2 Tim. ii. 3; (iv) The Mirth of Israel, on Psalm xxi. 1–3; (v) Noah his Arke, on