Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 57.djvu/99

 some of them; yet no story nor legend reporteth any such hardiness either of the English or others that so few persons, so naked of all provisions and supplies, should undertake such an adventure upon such a counter party so well and abundantly fitted at all points.’ On the other hand, it must be remembered that torture was then and for many years later, in England as on the continent, considered a good and useful means of compelling an unwilling witness to give evidence, and the evidence was considered none the worse for being so obtained. The idea in England was that the Dutch were aiming at a monopoly of the trade, and prepared to stick at no measures which might secure it for them. It is perhaps more probable that on this occasion they were the victims of a blind panic, which rendered them incapable of reason or reflection.

It does not appear whether Towerson's Armenian wife was at Amboyna or not. She was probably with her own people at Agra. A son Robert is mentioned, but whether by the Armenian or an earlier marriage is doubtful.

[Cal. State Papers, East Indies. The volume 1622–4 is largely devoted to the detailed history of the Amboyna Massacre; see Index, s.n. ‘Towerson’ and ‘Amboyna.’ Note supplied by Sir William W. Hunter.]  TOWERSON, GABRIEL (1635?–1697), divine and theological writer, was the son of William Towerson, and probably born in London in or about 1635. He was educated first at St. Paul's school, proceeding thence to Queen's College, Oxford, where he was Pauline exhibitioner from 1650 to 1659. He matriculated on 27 Feb. 1650–1, graduating B.A. on 17 June 1654 and M.A. on 21 April 1657. In 1657 his father petitioned Richard Cromwell, then chancellor of the university of Oxford, to use his influence with the warden and fellows of All Souls' College to admit his son, who had studied for some years and devoted himself to the ministry, to one of the vacant fellowships. Towerson obtained his fellowship in 1660, and received the college rectory of Welwyn in Hertfordshire on the deprivation of Nicholas Greaves by the Act of Uniformity. He was admitted on 31 Oct. 1662, and retained the living until his death. He was created D.D. by Archbishop Sancroft on 1 Feb. 1678, and was presented to the rectory of St. Andrew Undershaft, London, on 20 April 1692. He died on 14 Oct. 1697, and was buried at Welwyn.

Towerson left his property to be equally divided among his seven children. His will, which was neither dated nor witnessed, was proved on 27 Oct. 1697.

Towerson published: 1. ‘A brief Account of some Expressions in the Creed of Saint Athanasius’ (anon.), Oxford, 1663. 2. ‘Explication of the Decalogue,’ London, 1676, reissued 1680, 1681, 1685. 3. ‘Explication of the Apostle's Creed,’ London, 1678, 1685. 4. ‘Explication of the Lord's Prayer,’ London, 1680, 1685. 5. ‘Of the Sacraments in General,’ London, 1686, 1687, 1688. 6. ‘Of the Sacrament of Baptism,’ London, 1687. 7. ‘Of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper,’ London, 1688. 8. ‘A Sermon concerning Vocal and Instrumental Music in the Church,’ London, 1696. 9. ‘The Relative Duties of Husbands and Wives,’ and ‘The Relative Duties of Masters and Servants,’ in vol. iv. of ‘Tracts of Anglican Fathers,’ London, 1841–2. ‘An Explication of the Catechism of the Church of England’ (consisting of the forenamed explications and remarks on the sacraments) was published in 1676, fol., and again in 1685, &c. He contributed English verses to ‘Britannia Rediviva,’ Oxford, 1660, and to ‘Epicedia Academiæ Oxoniensis in Obitum Serenissimæ Mariæ Principis Aurasionensis,’ Oxford, 1661.

[Funeral sermon by George Stanhope [q. v.]; Foster's Alumni, 1500–1714; Registers of St. Paul's School, p. 44; Wood's Athenæ, ed. Bliss, vol. iv. cols. 582–3; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1657–8, p. 86; Clutterbuck's Hertfordshire, ii. 498, 500; Newcourt's Repertorium, i. 268; P.C.C. 214, Pyne.]  TOWERSON, WILLIAM (1555–1577), merchant and navigator, made three voyages to the Guinea coast in 1555, 1556, and 1577. He started on the first venture from Newport in the Isle of Wight, on 30 Sept. 1555, with two ships, the Hart and Hind (masters, John Ralph and William Carter). On 22 Nov. he reached Cape Verde, on 12 Dec. began trading on the Guinea coast, and while engaged in this was attacked near St. George La Mina by the Portuguese (January 1556), but escaped destruction. He set sail for home on 4 Feb. 1556, and on 7 May sighted Ireland.

Towerson's second voyage was made in 1556 with the Tiger (120 tons), the Hart (60 tons), and a pinnace of 16 tons. He left Harwich on 14 Sept.; on 19 Dec. he was off Sierra Leone. On the Guinea coast he met five French ships, with which he entered into a trade agreement, on the basis of a common opposition to the Portuguese. The allies fought an indecisive action with the latter, traded with several native tribes, and left for home in March 1557, passing Cape Verde on 18 April. Near the mouth of the