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FULLER, THOMAS (16o8-1661)

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 298 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FULLER, See also:THOMAS (16o8-1661) , See also:English divine and historian, eldest son of Thomas Fuller, See also:rector of Aldwincle St See also:Peter's, See also:Northamptonshire, was See also:born at his See also:father's rectory and was baptized on the 19th of See also:June 16o8. Dr See also:John See also:Davenant, See also:bishop of See also:Salisbury, was his See also:uncle and godfather. According to See also:Aubrey, Fuller was " a boy of pregnant wit." At thirteen he was admitted to Queens' See also:College, See also:Cambridge, then presided over by Dr John Davenant. His See also:cousin, See also:Edward Davenant, was a See also:tutor in the same college. He was See also:apt and See also:quick in study; and in See also:Lent 1624-1625 he became B.A. and in See also:July 1628 M.A. Being over-looked in an See also:election of See also:fellows of his college, he was removed by Bishop Davenant to See also:Sidney See also:Sussex College, See also:November 1628. In 163o he received from Corpus Christi College the curacy of St Benet's, Cambridge. ' Fuller's See also:quaint and humorous See also:oratory soon attracted See also:attention. He published in 1631 a poem on the subject of See also:David and Bathsheba, entitled David's Hainous Sinne, Heartie Repentance, Heavie See also:Punishment. In June of the same See also:year his uncle gave him a prebend in Salisbury, where his father, who died in the following year, held a canonry. The rectory of Broadwindsor, See also:Dorset-See also:shire, then in the See also:diocese of See also:Bristol, was his next preferment (1634); and on the nth of June 1635 he proceeded B.D. At Broadwindsor he compiled The Historie of the See also:Holy Warre (1639), a See also:history of the See also:crusades, and The Holy See also:State and the Prophane State (1642).

This See also:

work describes the holy state as existing in the See also:family and in public See also:life, gives rules of conduct, See also:model " characters " for the various professions and profane See also:biographies. It was perhaps the most popular of all his writings. He was in 164o elected See also:proctor for Bristol in the memorable See also:convocation of See also:Canterbury, which assembled with the See also:Short See also:Parliament. On the sudden See also:dissolution of the latter he joined those who urged that convocation should likewise dissolve as usual. That See also:opinion was overruled; and the See also:assembly continued to sit by virtue of a royal See also:writ. Fuller has See also:left in his See also:Church History a valuable See also:account of the proceedings of this See also:synod, for sitting in which he was fined £200, which, however, was never exacted. His first published See also:volume of sermons appeared in 164o under the See also:title of See also:Joseph's See also:play-coloured Coat, which contains many of his quaint utterances and See also:odd conceits. His grosser mannerisms of See also:style, derived from the divines of the former from churches, old buildings, and the conversation of See also:ancient gossips, for his Church-History and Worthies of See also:England. He compiled in 1645 a small volume of prayers and meditations,—the See also:Good Thoughts in See also:Bad Times,—which, set up and printed in the besieged See also:city of See also:Exeter, whither he had retired, was called by himself " the first fruits of Exeter See also:press." It was inscribed to See also:Lady See also:Dalkeith, governess to the See also:infant princess, Henrietta See also:Anne (b. 1644), to whose See also:household he was attached as See also:chaplain. The See also:corporation gave him the Bodleian lectureship on the 21St of See also:March 1645/6, and he held it until the 17th of June following, soon after the surrender of the city to the parliament. The Fear of losing the Old See also:Light (1646) was his farewell discourse to his Exeter See also:friends.

Under the Articles of Surrender Fuller made his See also:

composition with the See also:government at See also:London, his "delinquency" being that he had been See also:present in the See also:king's garrisons. In Andronicus, or the Unfortunate Politician (1646), partly See also:authentic and partly fictitious, he satirized the leaders of the Revolution; and for the comfort of sufferers by the See also:war he issued (1647) a second devotional See also:manual, entitled Good Thoughts in Worse Times, abounding in fervent aspirations, and See also:drawing moral lessons in beautiful See also:language out of the events of his life or the circumstances of the See also:time. In grief over his losses, which included his library and See also:manuscripts (his " upper and nether millstone "), and over the calamities of the See also:country, he wrote his work on the Cause and Cure of a Wounded See also:Conscience (1647). It was prepared at See also:Boughton See also:House in his native See also:county, where he and his son were entertained by Edward See also:Lord See also:Montagu, who had been one of his contemporaries at the university and had taken the See also:side of the parliament. For the next few years of his life Fuller was mainly dependent upon his dealings with booksellers, of whom he asserted that none had ever lost by him. He made considerable progress in an English See also:translation from the MS. of the Annales of his friend See also:Archbishop Ussber. Amongst his benefactors it is curious to find See also:Sir John See also:Danvers of See also:Chelsea, the See also:regicide. Fuller in 1647 began to preach at St See also:Clement's, Eastcheap, and elsewhere in the capacity of lecturer. While at St Clement's he was suspended; but speedily recovering his freedom, he preached wherever he was invited. At Chelsea, where also he occasionally officiated, he covertly preached a See also:sermon on the See also:death of See also:Charles I., but he did not break with his See also:Roundhead patrons. See also:James See also:Hay, 2nd See also:earl of See also:Carlisle, made him his chaplain, and presented him in 1648 or 1649 to the curacy of See also:Waltham See also:Abbey. His See also:possession of the living was in See also:jeopardy on the See also:appointment of See also:Cromwell's " Tryers "; but he evaded their inquisitorial questions by his ready wit.

He was not disturbed at Waltham in 16J5, when the See also:

Protector's See also:edict prohibited the adherents of the See also:late king from See also:preaching. Lionel, 3rd earl of See also:Middlesex, who lived at Copt See also:Hall, near Waltham, gave him what remained of the books of the lord treasurer his father; and through the good offices of the marchioness of See also:Hertford, See also:part of his own pillaged library was restored to him. Fuller was thus able to prosecute his See also:literary labours, producing successively his descriptive See also:geography of the Holy See also:Land, called A Pisgah-Sight of See also:Palestine (165o), and his Church-History of See also:Britain (1655), from the See also:birth of Jesus See also:Christ until the year 1648. With the Church-History was printed The History of the University of Cambridge since the See also:Conquest and The History of Waltham Abbey. These See also:works were furthered in no slight degree by his connexion with See also:Sion College, London, where he had a chamber, as well for the convenience of the press as of his city lectureships. The Church-History was angrily attacked by Dr P. See also:Heylyn, who, in the spirit of High-Churchmanship, wished, as he said, to vindicate the truth, the church and the injured See also:clergy. About 1652 Fuller married his second wife, See also:Mary Roper, youngest See also:sister of Thomas, See also:Viscount Baltinglass, by whom he had several See also:children. At the See also:Oxford See also:Act of 16J7, See also:Robert See also:South, who was Terrae filius, lampooned Fuller, whom he described in this Oratio as living in London, ever scribbling and each year bringing forth new folia like a See also:tree. At length, continues South, the Church-History came forth with its 166 dedications to wealthy and See also:noble friends; and with this huge volume under one See also:arm, and his wife (said tobe little of stature) on the other, he ran up and down the streets of London, seeking at the houses of his patrons invitations to See also:dinner, to be repaid by his dull jests at table. His last and best See also:patron was See also:George See also:Berkeley, 1st Earl Berkeley (1628-1698), of Cranford House, Middlesex, whose chaplain he was, and who gave him Cranford rectory (1658). To this noble-See also:man Fuller's reply to Heylyn's Examen Historicism, called The See also:Appeal of Injured Innocence (1659), was inscribed.

At the end of the Appeal is an See also:

epistle " to my loving friend Dr Peter Heylyn," conceived in the admirable See also:Christian spirit which characterized all Fuller's dealings with controversialists. " Why should Peter," he asked, " fall out with Thomas, both being disciples to the same Lord and See also:Master ? I assure you, sir, whatever you conceive to the contrary, I am cordial to the cause of the English Church, and my hoary hairs will go down to the See also:grave in sorrow for her sufferings." In An Alarum to the Counties of England and See also:Wales (166o) Fuller argued for a See also:free and full parliament--free from force, as he expressed it, as well as from abjurations or previous engagements. Mixt Contemplations in Better Times (166o), dedicated to Lady See also:Monk, tendered See also:advice in the spirit of its See also:motto, " Let your moderation be known to all men: the Lord is at See also:hand." There is good See also:reason to suppose that Fuller was at the See also:Hague immediately before the Restoration, in the See also:retinue of Lord Berkeley, one of the commissioners of the House of Lords, whose last service to his friend was to See also:interest himself in obtaining him a bishopric. A Panegyrick to His See also:Majesty on his Happy Return was the last of Fuller's See also:verse-efforts. On the 2nd of See also:August, by royal letters, he was admitted D.D. at See also:Cam-See also:bridge. He resumed his lectures at the See also:Savoy, where See also:Samuel See also:Pepys heard him preach; but he preferred his conversation or his books to his sermons. Fuller's last promotion was that of chaplain in extraordinary to Charles II. In the summer of 166r he visited the See also:west in connexion with the business of his prebend, which had been restored to him. On See also:Sunday, the 12th of August, while preaching at the Savoy, he was seized with typhus See also:fever, and died at his new lodgings in Covent See also:Garden on the 16th of August. He was buried in Cranford church, where a mural tablet was afterwards set up on the See also:north side of the See also:chancel, with an See also:epitaph which contains a conceit worthy of his own See also:pen, to the effect that while he was endeavouring (viz. in The Worthies) to give See also:immortality to others, he himself attained it. Fuller's wit and vivacious good-See also:humour made him a favourite with men of both sides, and his sense of humour kept him from extremes.

Probably Heylyn and South had some excuse for their attitude towards his very moderate politics. " By his particular See also:

temper and management," said Echard (Hist. of England, iii. 71), "he weathered the late See also:great See also:storm with more success than many other great men." He was known as " a perfect walking library." The strength of his memory was proverbial, and some amusing anecdotes are connected with it. His writings were the product of a highly See also:original mind. He had a fertile See also:imagination and a happy See also:faculty of See also:illustration. Antithetic and axiomatic sentences abound in his pages, embodying literally the See also:wisdom of the many in the wit of one. He was " quaint," and something more. " Wit," said See also:Coleridge, in a well-known eulogy, " was the stuff and substance of Fuller's See also:intellect. It was the See also:element, the earthen See also:base, the material which he worked in; and this very circumstance has defrauded him of his due praise for the See also:practical wisdom of the thoughts, for the beauty and variety of the truths, into which he shaped the stuff. Fuller was incomparably the most sensible, the least prejudiced, great man of an See also:age that boasted a See also:galaxy of ~r eat men " (Literary Remains, vol. ii. (1836), pp. 389-390).

This opinion was formed after the perusal of the Church-History. That work and The History of the Worthies of England are unquestionably Fuller's greatest efforts. They embody the collections of an entire life; and since his See also:

day they have been the delight of many readers. The Holy State has taken See also:rank amongst the best books of " characters." Charles See also:Lamb made some selections from Fuller, and had a profound admiration for the " See also:golden works " of the " dear, See also:fine, See also:silly old See also:angel." Since Lamb's time, mainly through the appreciative criticisms of S. T. Coleridge, Robert See also:Southey and others, Fuller's works have received much attention. There is an elaborate account of the life and writings of Fuller by See also:William See also:Oldys in the Biographia Britannica, vol. iii. (175o), based on Fuller's own works and the See also:anonymous Life of . Dr Thomas Fuller (1661; reprinted in a volume of selections by A. L. J. Gosset, 1893).

The completest account of him is The Life of Thomas Fuller, with Notices of his Books, his Kinsmen and his Friends (1874), by J. E. See also:

Bailey, who gives a detailed bibliography (pp. 713-762) of his works. The Worthies of England was reprinted by John See also:Nichols (1811) and by P. A. See also:Nuttall (184o). His Collected Sermons were edited by J. E. Bailey and W. E. A.

Axon in 1891. Fuller's quaint wit lends itself to selection, and there are several See also:

modern volumes of extracts from his works.

End of Article: FULLER, THOMAS (16o8-1661)

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