Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 53.djvu/334

 somewhat similar age and the same name who was possibly the delinquent in question. He had been made an ancient of Gray's Inn in 1638, and was elected bencher in 1660.

On the Restoration his services were rewarded by his appointment as cursitor baron of the exchequer on 9 March 1663, which post he held till March 1679.

He died in June 1679, and was buried in St. Dunstan's Church, Fleet Street. Spelman married Martha, daughter and coheiress of Francis Mason, by whom he left two sons and two daughters; of the latter, Dorothy married Sir Robert Yallop, and was grandmother of [q. v.]



SPELMAN or, EDWARD (d. 1767), author and translator, was the son of Charles Yallop of Bowthorp Hall, Norfolk, by his wife Ellen, daughter and heiress of Sir Edward Barkham, bart., of Westacre, Norfolk. Edward's grandfather, Sir Robert Yallop, married Dorothy, daughter of [q. v.], baron of the exchequer. Edward, who in later life adopted the surname of Spelman, added an assiduous study of classical literature to the ordinary pursuits of a country gentleman. He was a profound Greek scholar, but had a great contempt for university learning. ‘Good God!’ he exclaimed on one occasion, ‘doth any fellow of a college know anything of Greek?’ He lived at High House, near Rougham, Norfolk. He died unmarried on 12 March 1767 at Westacre.

In 1742 he translated Xenophon's Anabasis, under the title ‘The Expedition of Cyrus into Persia, with Notes Critical and Historical,’ London, 8vo, which went through several editions, and was republished as late as 1849. Spelman's translation was styled by Gibbon ‘one of the most accurate and elegant that any language has produced’ (see also Dict. of Biography and Mythology, ed. 1849, iii. 1300). He also translated ‘A Fragment out of the Sixth Book of Polybius,’ London, 1743, 8vo, and ‘The Roman Antiquities of Dionysius Halicarnassus, with Notes and Dissertations,’ London, 1758, 4to. The latter work won the praise of [q. v.], the former that of (1729–1794) [q. v.]

Besides his translations Spelman was the author of: 1. ‘A Short Review of Mr. Hooke's Observations concerning the Roman Senate and the Character of Dionysius Halicarnassus,’ London, 1758, 8vo, written in reply to some criticisms of [q. v.]; Spelman's tract was answered by the younger [q. v.] in ‘An Apology for some of Mr. Hooke's Observations,’ London, 1783, 4to. 2. ‘The History of the Civil War between York and Lancaster,’ Lynn, 1792, 8vo; completed by [q. v.] Under the title of ‘Two Tracts’ Lemon also issued an essay by Spelman on Greek accents, with one of his own on the ‘Voyage of Æneas from Troy to Italy,’ London, 1773, 8vo.



SPELMAN, HENRY (1564?–1641), historian and antiquary, born about 1564, was the eldest son of Henry Spelman of Congham, Norfolk, by his second wife, Frances, daughter of William Sanders of Ewell in Surrey. His father was the second son of Sir (1495?–1544) [q. v.]

Spelman was educated at Walsingham grammar school (Hist. of Sacrilege, ed. 1853, p. 247), and when ten or twelve is said by Aubrey to have been sent to ‘a curst school-master,’ who was very severe to him, and would say to a dull boy ‘as very a dunce as Henry Spelman’ (, Lives, ii. 540). He was admitted pensioner at Trinity College, Cambridge, on 15 Sept. 1580, matriculated on 17 March 1581, and graduated B.A. in 1582–3, after residing only eight terms in the university (Cambridge Antiquarian Soc. Proc. ii. 101). This curtailment of his university career was occasioned by the death of his father on 7 Oct. 1581. He was then obliged to return home to assist his mother in her management of the affairs of the family. He was probably a good scholar on leaving the university (Cambr. Antiq. Soc. Proc. ii. 112); the tradition (, Lives) that he did not master the Latin language till past middle age is unfounded. After a short stay in Norfolk (Glossary, pref. ed. 1626), he went to London, where he became a student at Lincoln's Inn in 1585–6 (, Orig. Jurid. p. 268), but he does not appear to have studied law with a view to practice, and left London within three years to settle again in Norfolk. On 18 April 1590 he married Eleanor, daughter and coheiress of John L'Estrange of Hunstanton. His wife seems to have brought him considerable property, and this, with what he inherited, provided him with a generous competency (ib.) He became guardian to his brother-in-law, Sir Hamon L'Estrange, and lived during his ward's minority on the latter's property