Edward Leigh (writer)
Encyclopedia
Edward Leigh was a versatile English lay writer, known particularly for his works on religious topics, and a politician who sat in the House of Commons
from 1645 to 1648. He fought for the Parliamentary army in the English Civil War
, Leicestershire
, the son of Henry Leigh. He matriculated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford on 24 October 1617, and graduated B.A. in 1620, M.A. in 1623. Before leaving Oxford he entered the Middle Temple
, and became a painstaking student of divinity, law, and history. During the plague of 1625 he spent six months in France, and busied himself in making a collection of French proverbs. He subsequently moved to Banbury
, Oxfordshire
, to be near William Wheatly, whose preaching he admired.
In the Civil War, Leigh became a colonel in the parliamentary army. On 30 September 1644 he presented to parliament a petition from Staffordshire
parliamentarians complaining of cavalier oppression, and made a speech, which was printed. In 1645 he was elected Member of Parliament
for Stafford
in the Long Parliament
as one of the replacements for the members who had been declared 'disabled to sit'. His theological attainments procured him a seat in the Westminster Assembly
. His signature is affixed to the letter written in the name of the parliamentary committee which granted powers to the visitors of the university of Oxford in 1647. Having in December 1648 voted that the king's concessions were satisfactory, he was expelled from the house under Pride's Purge
. From then he appears to have avoided public life.
Leigh died at Rushall Hall, Staffordshire, at the age of 69 and was buried in the church there.
Both parts were published together as a third edition in 1650, (4th edit., 1662). These compilations were used by later lexicographers of the Old and New Testaments, and won Leigh the friendship of James Ussher
. A Latin translation by Henricus à Middoch, accompanied with observations on all the Chaldee words of the Old Testament by J. Hesser, was issued at Amsterdam, 3rd edit., 1696; 5th edit,, with appendix by J. C. Kesler, Gotha, 1706. There are also supplements by P. Stokkemark (1713) and M. C. Wolfburg (1717). The work was reconstructed by M. Tempestini for J. P. Migne's Encyclopédie Théologique (vol. vii. pt. ii.), 1846, &c.
Leigh wrote also:
With Henry Scudder
Leigh edited William Whately's 'Prototypes . . . with Mr. Whatelye's Life and Death,', 1640. He also published Christopher Cartwright
's 'The Magistrate's Authority in matters of Religion,' 1647, to which he prefixed a preface in defence of his conduct for sitting in the assembly of divines and other clerical meetings. He assisted William Hinde in bringing out John Rainolds
's The Prophesie of Haggai interpreted and applyed, 1649; and edited by himself Lancelot Andrewes
's 'Discourse of Ceremonies,' 1653.
House of Commons of England
The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...
from 1645 to 1648. He fought for the Parliamentary army in the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
Life
Leigh was born at ShawellShawell
Shawell is a small village in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. Its population at the 2001 UK census was 126.It lies less than a mile from the M1 and M6 motorways...
, Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
, the son of Henry Leigh. He matriculated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford on 24 October 1617, and graduated B.A. in 1620, M.A. in 1623. Before leaving Oxford he entered the Middle Temple
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...
, and became a painstaking student of divinity, law, and history. During the plague of 1625 he spent six months in France, and busied himself in making a collection of French proverbs. He subsequently moved to Banbury
Banbury
Banbury is a market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in the Cherwell District of Oxfordshire. It is northwest of London, southeast of Birmingham, south of Coventry and north northwest of the county town of Oxford...
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, to be near William Wheatly, whose preaching he admired.
In the Civil War, Leigh became a colonel in the parliamentary army. On 30 September 1644 he presented to parliament a petition from Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
parliamentarians complaining of cavalier oppression, and made a speech, which was printed. In 1645 he was elected Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Stafford
Stafford (UK Parliament constituency)
Stafford is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election. The sitting MP is the Conservative Jeremy Lefroy....
in the Long Parliament
Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...
as one of the replacements for the members who had been declared 'disabled to sit'. His theological attainments procured him a seat in the Westminster Assembly
Westminster Assembly
The Westminster Assembly of Divines was appointed by the Long Parliament to restructure the Church of England. It also included representatives of religious leaders from Scotland...
. His signature is affixed to the letter written in the name of the parliamentary committee which granted powers to the visitors of the university of Oxford in 1647. Having in December 1648 voted that the king's concessions were satisfactory, he was expelled from the house under Pride's Purge
Pride's Purge
Pride’s Purge is an event in December 1648, during the Second English Civil War, when troops under the command of Colonel Thomas Pride forcibly removed from the Long Parliament all those who were not supporters of the Grandees in the New Model Army and the Independents...
. From then he appears to have avoided public life.
Leigh died at Rushall Hall, Staffordshire, at the age of 69 and was buried in the church there.
Works
Leigh's writings are mostly compilations. His major works are- 'Critica Sacra, or Philologicall and Theologicall Observations upon all the Greek Words of the New Testament in order alphabeticall,' &c., London, 1639; 2nd edit, 1646.
- 'Critica Sacra. Observations on all the Radices or Primitive Hebrew Words of the Old Testament in order alphabeticall, wherein both they (and many derivatives . . .) are fully opened,' &c., London, 1642, with a commendatory epistle by William GougeWilliam GougeWilliam Gouge was an English clergyman and author. He was a minister and preacher at St Ann Blackfriars for 45 years, from 1608, and a member of the Westminster Assembly from 1643.-Life:...
.
Both parts were published together as a third edition in 1650, (4th edit., 1662). These compilations were used by later lexicographers of the Old and New Testaments, and won Leigh the friendship of James Ussher
James Ussher
James Ussher was Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland between 1625–56...
. A Latin translation by Henricus à Middoch, accompanied with observations on all the Chaldee words of the Old Testament by J. Hesser, was issued at Amsterdam, 3rd edit., 1696; 5th edit,, with appendix by J. C. Kesler, Gotha, 1706. There are also supplements by P. Stokkemark (1713) and M. C. Wolfburg (1717). The work was reconstructed by M. Tempestini for J. P. Migne's Encyclopédie Théologique (vol. vii. pt. ii.), 1846, &c.
Leigh wrote also:
- 'A Treatise of the Divine Promises. In Five Bookes,' &c., London, 1633 (4th edit., 1657), the model of Samuel ClarkeSamuel Clarke (congregationalist)Samuel Clarke was an English Nonconformist pastor and theological writer, known for his collection Promises of Scripture. He is not to be confused with his near contemporary Samuel Clarke , also a clergyman but an Anglican.-Life:...
's Scripture Promises. - 'Selected and Choice Observations concerning the Twelve First Caesars, Emperours of Rome,' Oxford, 1635. The second edition, published as 'Analecta de xii. primis Caesaribus,' London, 1647, has an appendix of 'Certaine choice French Proverbs.' An enlarged edition, 'containing all the Romane Emperours. The first eighteen by E. Leigh. The others added by his son, Henry Leigh,' appeared in 1657, 1663, and 1670.
- 'A Treatise of Divinity, consisting of Three Bookes,' 3 pts., London, 1647.
- 'The Saint's Encouragement in Evil Times, or Observations concerning the Martyrs in general, with some Memorable Collections about them out of Mr. Foxes three volumes,' &c., London, 1648; 2nd edit. 1651.
- 'Annotations upon all the New Testament, Philologicall and Theologicall,' &c., fol., London, 1650; translated into Latin by Arnold, and published at Leipzig in 1732.
- 'A Philologicall Commentary, or an Illustration of the most obvious and useful Words in the Law ... By E. L.,' &c., London, 1652; 2nd edit. 1658.
- 'A Systeme or Body of Divinity . . . wherein the fundamentals of Religion are opened, the contrary Errours refuted,' &c., London, 1654; 2nd edit. 1662.
- 'A Treatise of Religion and Learning, and of Religious and Learned Men,' &c., London, 1656, which fell so flat that it was reissued as 'Felix Consortium, or a fit Conjuncture of Religion and Learning,' in 1663. To this treatise William CroweWilliam Crowe (bibliographer)William Crowe was an English clergyman and bibliographer.-Lie:He was born in Suffolk in 1616, and matriculated at the university of Cambridge as a member of Caius College on 14 December 1632. On 4 December 1668 he was nominated by Archbishop Gilbert Sheldon chaplain and schoolmaster of the...
was greatly indebted in his 'Elenchus Scriptorum,' 1672. - 'Annotations on five poetical Books of the Old Testament,' London, 1657.
- 'Second Considerations of the High Court of Chancery,' London, 1658.
- 'England Described, or the several Counties and Shires thereof briefly handled,' London, 1659, taken mostly from William CamdenWilliam CamdenWilliam Camden was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and officer of arms. He wrote the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and the first detailed historical account of the reign of Elizabeth I of England.- Early years :Camden was born in London...
's 'Britannia.' - 'Choice Observations of all the Kings of England from the Saxons to the Death of King Charles the First. Collected out of the best . . . Writers,' London, 1661.
- 'Three Diatribes or Discourses. First, of Travel, or a Guide for Travellers into Foreign Parts. Secondly, of Money . . . Thirdly, of Measuring of the Distance betwixt Place and Place,' , London, 1671 (another edition, entitled 'The Gentleman's Guide, in Three Discourses,' 1680), reprinted in vol. x. of 'Harleian Miscellany,' ed. Park.
With Henry Scudder
Henry Scudder (clergyman)
Henry Scudder was an English clergyman of presbyterian views, known as a devotional writer, and member of the Westminster Assembly.-Life:...
Leigh edited William Whately's 'Prototypes . . . with Mr. Whatelye's Life and Death,', 1640. He also published Christopher Cartwright
Christopher Cartwright
Christopher Cartwright was an English clergyman, known as a Hebraist and for his use of targums in Biblical exegesis, following the lead of Henry Ainsworth with John Weemes.-Life:...
's 'The Magistrate's Authority in matters of Religion,' 1647, to which he prefixed a preface in defence of his conduct for sitting in the assembly of divines and other clerical meetings. He assisted William Hinde in bringing out John Rainolds
John Rainolds
John Rainolds , English divine, was born about Michaelmas 1549 at Pinhoe, near Exeter.He was educated at Merton and Corpus Christi Colleges, Oxford, becoming a fellow of the latter in 1568. In 1572-73 he was appointed reader in Greek, and his lectures on Aristotle's Rhetoric laid the sure basis of...
's The Prophesie of Haggai interpreted and applyed, 1649; and edited by himself Lancelot Andrewes
Lancelot Andrewes
Lancelot Andrewes was an English bishop and scholar, who held high positions in the Church of England during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. During the latter's reign, Andrewes served successively as Bishop of Chichester, Ely and Winchester and oversaw the translation of the...
's 'Discourse of Ceremonies,' 1653.