WILKINS, JOHN (1614-1672)

This article appears in Volume V28, Page 646 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: WAT-WIL

WILKINS, JOHN (1614-1672) , bishop of Chester, was born at Fawsley, Northamptonshire, and educated at Magdalen

Hall

, Oxford. He was ordained and became vicar of Fawsley in 1637, but soon resigned and became chaplain successively to Lord Saye and Sele, Lord Berkeley, and Prince Charles Louis, nephew of Charles I. and afterwards elector palatine of the Rhine. In 1648 he became warden of Wadham College, Oxford. Under him the college was extraordinarily prosperous, for, although a supporter of Cromwell, he was in touch with the most cultured royalists, who placed their sons in his charge. In 1659 Richard Cromwell appointed him master of Trinity College,

Cambridge

. At the Restoration in r66o he was deprived, but appointed prebendary of

York

YORK
YORK (HOUSE OF)
YORK, EDMUND OF LANGLEY, DUKE OF (1341-1402)
YORK, EDWARD
YORK, FREDERICK
AUGUSTUS
- AUGUSTUS (a name 1 derived from Lat. augeo, increase, i.e. venerable, majestic, Gr. Ee0avr6s)
, DUKE OF (1763-1827)
YORK, RICHARD, DUKE

and

rector

RECTOR (Lat. for " ruler," " guide," &c., from regere, " rule ")

of Cranford,

Middlesex

MIDDLESEX
MIDDLESEX, LIONEL CRANFIELD, 1ST
EARL
- EARL
OF (1575-1645)

. In 1661 he was preacher at Gray's Inn, and in 1662 vicar of St Lawrence Jewry, London. He became vicar of Polebrook, Northarnptonshire, in 1666, prebendary of Exeter in 1667, and in the following year prebendary of St Paul's and bishop of Chester. Possessing strong scientific tastes, he was the

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

founder of the Royal Societyand its first secretary. He died in London on the Toth of November 1672.
The

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

of his numerous works is an Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language (London, 1668), in which he ex-pounds a new universal language for the use of philosophers. He is remembered also for a curious work entitled The Discovery of a World in the Moon (1638, 3rd ed., with an appendix " The possibility of a passage thither," 1640. Other works are A Discourse concerning a New Planet (164o) ; Mercury, or the

Secret

SECRET (Lat. secretum, hidden, concealed)

and Swift Messenger (1641), a work of some ingenuity on the means of rapid correspondence; and Mathematical Magick (1648).
See P. A. Wright Henderson, The Life and Times of John Wilkins (1910), and also the article AERONAUTICS.

End of Article: WILKINS, JOHN (1614-1672)

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/WAT_WIL/WILKINS_JOHN_1614_1672_.html">
WILKINS, JOHN (1614-1672)
</a>

(Previous)
WILKINS, GEORGE (ii. 1607)

(Next)
WILKINS, MARY ELEANOR (1862 )

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email