Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 58.djvu/183

 holding aloof from the political struggles of his day. By his marriage with Catherine, daughter of Gruffydd Nanney of Nannau, he had four sons: Hywel, who succeeded him at Hengwrt and was sheriff of Merioneth in 1671–2 (Kalendars of Gwynedd); Ynyr, Hugh, and Gruffydd. It was in a later generation that the estates of Hengwrt and Nannau became united. Vaughan died on 16 May 1667, and was buried at Dolgelly. He was a diligent collector of Welsh manuscripts, and to his own collection at Hengwrt was added before his death that of John Jones of Gelli Lyfdy, near Caerwys, in virtue of an arrangement between the two that the survivor should become possessed of the manuscripts of both. This joint collection, numbering many hundreds of manuscripts, has been preserved intact to the present day, passing in 1859, on the death of the last of the Vaughans, to the Wynnes of Peniarth, near Towyn, where it is now kept. It includes the ‘Black Book of Carmarthen’ and the ‘Book of Taliesin,’ two of the ‘four ancient books of Wales.’ Among the manuscripts are transcripts and some original tracts by Vaughan, but the only work he printed was ‘British Antiquities Revived’ (Oxford, 1662), an attempt to establish, against South Welsh objectors, the view put forward by Powel in his ‘Historie of Cambria’ as to the supremacy enjoyed by the princes of North Wales over those of Powys and the south. A second edition of this, with an introductory memoir of the author, appeared at Bala in 1834.



VAUGHAN, ROBERT (1795–1868), congregationalist divine, of Welsh descent, was born in the west of England on 14 Oct. 1795. His parents belonged to the established church. He had no early advantages of education, but showed a taste for historical reading, one of his first purchases being a copy of Ralegh's ‘History of the World.’ He came under the influence of William Thorp (1771–1833), independent minister at Castle Green, Bristol, who trained him for the ministry. From Thorp he caught his early style of preaching, which was declamatory with much action. While still a student he was invited (1819) by the independent congregation, Angel Street, Worcester, accepted the call in April, and was ordained on 4 July, among his ordainers being [q. v.] and [q. v.] He soon became popular, and in March 1825 accepted a call to Hornton Street, Kensington, in succession to [q. v.] By his ‘Life and Opinions of John de Wycliffe, D.D., illustrated principally from his unpublished Manuscripts’ (1828, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1831, 2 vols.), and his ‘Memorials of the Stuart Dynasty’ (1831, 8vo), he gained some repute as an historical writer. In 1834 he was appointed to the chair of history in University College, London (then known as the London University), and published his introductory lecture ‘On the Study of General History,’ 1834, 8vo. In the same year he delivered the ‘congregational lecture,’ a series of disquisitions on the ‘Causes of the Corruption of Christianity,’ 1834, 8vo. His connection with the London University brought him into relations with the whig leaders, and increased his influence as a preacher, drawing to his services persons of social position. In 1836 he received the diploma of D.D. from Glasgow University. He continued his historical labours on the ‘Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell,’ 1838, 2 vols. 8vo, and ‘The History of England under the House of Stuart … 1603–88,’ 1840, 8vo.

In 1843 he succeeded Gilbert Wardlaw as president and professor of theology in the Lancashire Independent College, removed (26 April) to new buildings at Whalley Range, Manchester. He published his inaugural discourse on ‘Protestant Nonconformity,’ 1843, 8vo. Dissatisfied with the tone of the ‘Eclectic Review,’ which, under the editorship of Thomas Price, was favouring the policy of [q. v.], he projected the ‘British Quarterly,’ bringing out the first number in January 1845. During the twenty years of his editorship he kept it at a high level of intelligence, and while retaining its nonconformist character and its theological conservatism, admitted on other topics a wide range of writers of different schools. Some of his own contributions were collected in ‘Essays on History, Philosophy, and Theology,’ 1849, 2 vols. 16mo.

In 1846 Vaughan occupied the chair of the congregational union. Returning to the subject of his first publication, he edited, for the Wyclif Society, ‘Tracts and Treatises of John de Wycliffe … with … Memoir,’ 1845, 8vo, and published ‘John de Wycliffe, D.D.: a Monograph,’ 1853, 8vo. In August 1857 the state of his health led him to resign his