Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 47.djvu/52

Purdon fifth volume of the ‘Pilgrimes’ it is really a totally different work). This work has never been reprinted, and its rarity, still more than its interest, has given it an exaggerated value to book collectors. The intrinsic value of the book is due rather to its having preserved some record of early voyages otherwise unknown, than to the literary skill or ability of the author. It may fairly be supposed that the originals of many of the journals entrusted to him, of which he published an imperfect abstract, were lost through his carelessness; so that the fact that the 'Pilgrimes' contains the only extant account of some voyages is by his fault, not by his merit. A comparison of what he has printed with such originals as remain shows that he was very far indeed from a faithful editor or a judicious compiler, and that he took little pains to arrive at an accurate knowledge of facts, He inherited many of the manuscripts of [q. v.], but the use he made of them was widely different from Hakluyt's.

 PURDON, EDWARD (1729–1767), bookseller's hack, born in co. Limerick about 1729, was son of the Rev. Edward Purdon, M.A. In 1744 he entered Trinity College, Dublin, where he acquired Goldsmith's friendship. After dissipating his inheritance, he enlisted. Subsequently he settled in London, and became a ‘scribbler in the newspapers.’ Entering the service of [q. v.], he translated for him Voltaire's ‘Henriade,’ which appeared in the ‘British Ladies' Magazine.’ Probably Purdon had a share also in the ‘Memoirs of M. de Voltaire,’ by Goldsmith, which accompanied the poem. In 1759 he was compelled to publish an apology in the ‘London Chronicle’ for an abusive pamphlet, in the form of a letter to David Garrick, against Mossop and other Drury Lane performers (, Theat. Lit. pp. 140, 273). He fell dead in Smithfield on 27 March 1767. Goldsmith's epitaph on him, for the Wednesday Club, has preserved his memory.

 PURDY, JOHN (1773–1843), hydrographer, the son of a bookseller at Norwich, was born in 1773. He early turned his attention to the study of naval charts and similar subjects. Before 1812 he succeeded De la Rochette as hydrographer to Messrs. Laurie & Whittle, of 53 Fleet Street, London, and in that year published a ‘Memoir, descriptive and explanatory, to accompany the New Chart of the Atlantic Ocean,’ 4to. This work went through many editions, the fifteenth appearing in 1894, edited by Mr. W. R. Kettle, F.R.G.S. Purdy does not seem to have taken part in hydrographic expeditions himself, and his work consisted in writing works and constructing charts based upon the reports of others; but eventually he became the foremost authority of his time on hydrography. He was mainly instrumental in bringing ‘Rennell's Current’ before the notice of navigators, and in 1832 Rennell's daughter, Lady Rodd, entrusted to Purdy the editing of his ‘Wind and Current Charts’ [see ]. He died on 29 Jan. 1843.

[q. v.], who succeeded to his position as a leading hydrographer, edited and improved a large number of Purdy's works. The more important of Purdy's writings are:
 * 1) ‘Tables of Positions, or of the Latitudes and Longitudes of Places,’ &c., 1816, 4to.
 * 2) ‘The Columbian Navigator,’ 1817, 8vo; other editions 1823–4, 2 vols., 1839, and 1847–8.
 * 3) ‘Memoir to accompany the General Chart of the Northern Ocean,’ 1820, 8vo.
 * 4) ‘The New Sailing Directory for the Ethiopic or Southern Atlantic Ocean,’ 1837, 8vo; 3rd edit. Findlay, 1844. Similar ‘Sailing Directories,’ dealing with many other regions, were also published by Purdy.
 * 5) ‘The British American Navigator,’ 2nd edit. 1843, 8vo.

A fairly complete list of Purdy's maps and charts is given in the ‘Catalogue of the Map Room of the Royal Geographical Society.’ The chief are: a chart of the Atlantic Ocean (1812); a ‘map of Cabotia, comprehending the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada,’ &c. (1814); a map of the world on Mercator's Projection (1825); The Azores (1831); Jamaica (1834); the Viceroyalty of Canada (1838); Newfoundland (1844). Others published by Findlay, after Purdy's death, include the Indian and Pacific Oceans (1847); St. George's Channel (1850); the coasts of Spain and Portugal (1856). His nephew Isaac published a chart of the coasts of China in 1865. 