Thomas Farnaby
Encyclopedia
Thomas Farnaby (c. 1575 – June 12, 1647) was an English
schoolmaster and scholar.
, his great-grandfather an Italian musician.
Between 1590 and 1595 he appears successively as a student of Merton College, Oxford
, a pupil in a Jesuit college in Spain, a student at Cambridge, and a follower of Francis Drake
and John Hawkins
. After some military service in the Low Countries he made shift, says Anthony Wood
, to be set on shore in the western part of England; where, after some wandering to and fro under the name of Thomas Bainrafe, the anagram of his surname, he settled at Martock
, in Somerset
shire, and taught the grammar school there for some time with success.
, London at the beginning of the seventeenth century. This school was a success, in terms of reputation and also financially, and had many pupils, drawing on the sons of nobility. He had boarders as well as day scholars, held his classes in a large garden-house, and joined several houses and gardens together to meet the needs of his establishment. He had a small staff at work with him; in 1630 William Burton
(1609–1657), a well-known antiquarian scholar, was one of his assistants. Sir John Bramston the younger, with his brothers, Mountfort and Francis, were among his boarders, and he described the school in his autobiography. Sir Richard Fanshawe, Alexander Gill, and Henry Birkhead
were also Farnaby's pupils.
From this school, which had as many as 300 pupils, there issued, says Wood, more churchmen and statesmen than from any school taught by one man in England. In the course of his London career he was made master of arts
of Cambridge, and soon after was incorporated at Oxford.
Such was his success that he was enabled to buy an estate at Otford
near Sevenoaks
, Kent
, to which he retired from London in 1636, while carrying on as schoolmaster. In course of time he added to his Otford estate and bought another near Horsham
in Sussex
.
, 1643, he was arrested by the parliamentarians, and was committed to Newgate Prison
. He was placed on board ship with a view to his transportation to America, but was ultimately sent to Ely House
, Holborn
, where he was detained for a year. He was allowed to return to Sevenoaks in 1645, and he died there 12 June 1647, being buried in the chancel of the church.
The details of his life were derived by Anthony Wood from Francis, Farnaby's son by a second marriage.
, Martial
, Lucan
, Virgil
, Ovid
and Terence
, which enjoyed extraordinary popularity. He is also the author of textbooks on rhetoric and Latin grammar. His editions of the classics, with elaborate Latin notes, were very popular throughout the seventeenth century. He edited Juvenal's and Persius's satires (Lond. 1612, dedicated to Henry, prince of Wales, 1620, 1633, 1685 tenth ed.); Seneca's tragedies (Lond. 1613, 1624, 1678 ninth ed., 1713, 1728); Martial's ‘Epigrams’ (Lond. 1615, Geneva, 1623, Lond. 1624, 1633, 1670, seventh ed.); Lucan's ‘Pharsalia’ (Lond. 1618, 1624, 1659, seventh ed.); Virgil's works (1634, dedicated to William Craven, Earl of Craven of Hamsted, and 1661); Ovid's ‘Metamorphoses’ (Lond. 1637, 1650, 1677, 1739); Terence's comedies, ed. Farnaby and Meric Casaubon
(Amsterdam, 1651, 1669, 1686, 1728, Saumur, 1671).
Farnaby's other works are:
A patent dated 6 April 1632 granted Farnaby exclusive rights in all his books for twenty-one years, and on the back of the title-page of the 1633 edition of the ‘Index Rhetoricus’ penalties are threatened against any infringement of Farnaby's copyright.
Letters from G. J. Vossius to Farnaby appear in Vossius's ‘Epistolæ’; and four of Farnaby's letters to Vossius are printed in Vossius's ‘Epistolæ Clarorum Virorum’. Other letters appear in John Borough
's ‘Impetus Juveniles’ (1643), and in Barten Holyday
's ‘Juvenal.’ Farnaby prefixed verses in Greek with an English translation to Thomas Coryat
's ‘Crudities,’ and he wrote commendatory lines for William Camden
's ‘Annales.’ Ben Jonson
was a friend of Farnaby, and contributed commendatory Latin elegiacs to his edition of Juvenal and Persius. John Owen
praises Farnaby's Seneca in his ‘Epigrams.’ He is highly commended in Dunbar's ‘Epigrammata,’ 1616, and in Richard Bruch's ‘Epigrammatum Hecatontades duæ,’ 1627.
, bishop of Oxford, afterwards of Durham. By his first wife he had (besides a daughter Judith, wife to William Bladwell, a London merchant) a son, John, captain in the king's army, who inherited his father's Horsham property, and died there early in 1673. By his second wife he had, among other children, a son Francis, born about 1630, who inherited the Kippington estate, Sevenoaks, and was a widower on 26 January 1663, when he obtained a license to marry Mrs. Judith Nicholl of St. James, Clerkenwell.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
schoolmaster and scholar.
Early life
He was the son of a London carpenter. His grandfather, it is said, had been mayor of TruroTruro
Truro is a city and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The city is the centre for administration, leisure and retail in Cornwall, with a population recorded in the 2001 census of 17,431. Truro urban statistical area, which includes parts of surrounding parishes, has a 2001 census...
, his great-grandfather an Italian musician.
Between 1590 and 1595 he appears successively as a student of Merton College, Oxford
Merton College, Oxford
Merton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor to Henry III and later to Edward I, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to...
, a pupil in a Jesuit college in Spain, a student at Cambridge, and a follower of Francis Drake
Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He also carried out the...
and John Hawkins
John Hawkins
Admiral Sir John Hawkins was an English shipbuilder, naval administrator and commander, merchant, navigator, and slave trader. As treasurer and controller of the Royal Navy, he rebuilt older ships and helped design the faster ships that withstood the Spanish Armada in 1588...
. After some military service in the Low Countries he made shift, says Anthony Wood
Anthony Wood
Anthony Wood or Anthony à Wood was an English antiquary.-Early life:Anthony Wood was the fourth son of Thomas Wood , BCL of Oxford, where Anthony was born...
, to be set on shore in the western part of England; where, after some wandering to and fro under the name of Thomas Bainrafe, the anagram of his surname, he settled at Martock
Martock
Martock is a large village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated on the edge of the Somerset Levels north west of Yeovil in the South Somerset district. The parish includes Hurst, approximately one mile south of the village, and Bower Hinton, which is located at the western end of the...
, in Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
shire, and taught the grammar school there for some time with success.
Schoolmaster
He opened his own school in Goldsmiths Rents, CripplegateCripplegate
Cripplegate was a city gate in the London Wall and a name for the region of the City of London outside the gate. The area was almost entirely destroyed by bombing in World War II and today is the site of the Barbican Estate and Barbican Centre...
, London at the beginning of the seventeenth century. This school was a success, in terms of reputation and also financially, and had many pupils, drawing on the sons of nobility. He had boarders as well as day scholars, held his classes in a large garden-house, and joined several houses and gardens together to meet the needs of his establishment. He had a small staff at work with him; in 1630 William Burton
William Burton (antiquary, died 1657)
William Burton was an English schoolmaster and antiquary, best known for his posthumously-published commentary on the Antonine Itinerary.-Life:...
(1609–1657), a well-known antiquarian scholar, was one of his assistants. Sir John Bramston the younger, with his brothers, Mountfort and Francis, were among his boarders, and he described the school in his autobiography. Sir Richard Fanshawe, Alexander Gill, and Henry Birkhead
Henry Birkhead
Henry Birkhead was an English academic, lawyer and Latin poet. He is now known as the founder of the Oxford Chair of Poetry.-Life:He was born in the parish of St. Gregory, near St. Paul's Cathedral, London...
were also Farnaby's pupils.
From this school, which had as many as 300 pupils, there issued, says Wood, more churchmen and statesmen than from any school taught by one man in England. In the course of his London career he was made master of arts
Master of Arts (Oxbridge)
In the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin, Bachelors of Arts of these universities are admitted to the degree of Master of Arts or Master in Arts on application after six or seven years' seniority as members of the university .There is no examination or study required for the degree...
of Cambridge, and soon after was incorporated at Oxford.
Such was his success that he was enabled to buy an estate at Otford
Otford
Otford is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent known for its classically British countryside. The village is located on the River Darent, flowing north down its valley from its source on the North Downs...
near Sevenoaks
Sevenoaks
Sevenoaks is a commuter town situated on the London fringe of west Kent, England, some 20 miles south-east of Charing Cross, on one of the principal commuter rail lines from the capital...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, to which he retired from London in 1636, while carrying on as schoolmaster. In course of time he added to his Otford estate and bought another near Horsham
Horsham
Horsham is a market town with a population of 55,657 on the upper reaches of the River Arun in the centre of the Weald, West Sussex, in the historic County of Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester...
in Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
.
Later life
In politics he was a royalist; and, suspected of participation in the rising near TunbridgeTonbridge
Tonbridge is a market town in the English county of Kent, with a population of 30,340 in 2007. It is located on the River Medway, approximately 4 miles north of Tunbridge Wells, 12 miles south west of Maidstone and 29 miles south east of London...
, 1643, he was arrested by the parliamentarians, and was committed to Newgate Prison
Newgate Prison
Newgate Prison was a prison in London, at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey just inside the City of London. It was originally located at the site of a gate in the Roman London Wall. The gate/prison was rebuilt in the 12th century, and demolished in 1777...
. He was placed on board ship with a view to his transportation to America, but was ultimately sent to Ely House
Ely House
-Ireland:*Ely Place, Dublin: No. 8 is Ely House, headquarters of the Knights of Saint Columbanus.-United Kingdom:*Ely Place, a gated road at the southern tip of the London Borough of Camden in London, England....
, Holborn
Holborn
Holborn is an area of Central London. Holborn is also the name of the area's principal east-west street, running as High Holborn from St Giles's High Street to Gray's Inn Road and then on to Holborn Viaduct...
, where he was detained for a year. He was allowed to return to Sevenoaks in 1645, and he died there 12 June 1647, being buried in the chancel of the church.
The details of his life were derived by Anthony Wood from Francis, Farnaby's son by a second marriage.
Works
Farnaby was a leading classical scholar as well as the outstanding schoolmaster of his time. His works chiefly consisted of annotated editions of Latin authors Juvenal, Persius, SenecaSeneca the Younger
Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero...
, Martial
Martial
Marcus Valerius Martialis , was a Latin poet from Hispania best known for his twelve books of Epigrams, published in Rome between AD 86 and 103, during the reigns of the emperors Domitian, Nerva and Trajan...
, Lucan
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus , better known in English as Lucan, was a Roman poet, born in Corduba , in the Hispania Baetica. Despite his short life, he is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imperial Latin period...
, Virgil
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
, Ovid
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...
and Terence
Terence
Publius Terentius Afer , better known in English as Terence, was a playwright of the Roman Republic, of North African descent. His comedies were performed for the first time around 170–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought Terence to Rome as a slave, educated him and later on,...
, which enjoyed extraordinary popularity. He is also the author of textbooks on rhetoric and Latin grammar. His editions of the classics, with elaborate Latin notes, were very popular throughout the seventeenth century. He edited Juvenal's and Persius's satires (Lond. 1612, dedicated to Henry, prince of Wales, 1620, 1633, 1685 tenth ed.); Seneca's tragedies (Lond. 1613, 1624, 1678 ninth ed., 1713, 1728); Martial's ‘Epigrams’ (Lond. 1615, Geneva, 1623, Lond. 1624, 1633, 1670, seventh ed.); Lucan's ‘Pharsalia’ (Lond. 1618, 1624, 1659, seventh ed.); Virgil's works (1634, dedicated to William Craven, Earl of Craven of Hamsted, and 1661); Ovid's ‘Metamorphoses’ (Lond. 1637, 1650, 1677, 1739); Terence's comedies, ed. Farnaby and Meric Casaubon
Méric Casaubon
Méric Casaubon , son of Isaac Casaubon, was a French-English classical scholar...
(Amsterdam, 1651, 1669, 1686, 1728, Saumur, 1671).
Farnaby's other works are:
- Index Rhetoricus Scholis et Institutioni tenerioris ætatis accommodatus, London, 1625; 2nd ed. 1633; 3rd ed. 1640; 4th ed. 1646; 15th ed. 1767; reissued in 1640 as Index Rhetoricus et Oratoricus cum Formulis Oratoriis et Indice Poetico, and epitomised by T. Stephens in 1660 for Bury St. Edmunds school under the title Tροποσκηματολογία.
- Phrases Oratoriæ elegantiores et poeticæ, London, 1628, 8th ed.
- Ἡ τῆς Ἀνθολογίας Ἀνθολογία, Florilegium Epigrammatum Græcorum eorumque Latino versu a variis redditorum, London, 1629, 1650, 1671.
- Systema Grammaticum, London, 1641; the authorised Latin grammar prepared by royal order.
- Phrasiologia Anglo-Latina, London, n.d. 6. ‘Tabulæ Græcæ Linguæ, London, n.d.
- Syntaxis, London, n.d.
A patent dated 6 April 1632 granted Farnaby exclusive rights in all his books for twenty-one years, and on the back of the title-page of the 1633 edition of the ‘Index Rhetoricus’ penalties are threatened against any infringement of Farnaby's copyright.
Letters from G. J. Vossius to Farnaby appear in Vossius's ‘Epistolæ’; and four of Farnaby's letters to Vossius are printed in Vossius's ‘Epistolæ Clarorum Virorum’. Other letters appear in John Borough
John Borough
Sir John Borough was the Garter Principal King of Arms 1633-43.-Life:He was grandson of William Borough, of Sandwich, Kent, by the daughter of Basil Gosall, of Nieuwkerk, Brabant, and son of John Borough, of Sandwich, by his wife, daughter of Robert Denne, of Dennehill, Kent. He received a...
's ‘Impetus Juveniles’ (1643), and in Barten Holyday
Barten Holyday
Barten Holyday or Holiday was a clergyman, author and poet. He earned a Doctor of Divinity degree, and entered the clergy in 1615; he was appointed archdeacon of Oxford by King Charles I in 1626. Technogamia was his only play. In 1618, the year it was produced, Holyday served as Sir Francis...
's ‘Juvenal.’ Farnaby prefixed verses in Greek with an English translation to Thomas Coryat
Thomas Coryat
Thomas Coryat was an English traveller and writer of the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean age. He is principally remembered for two volumes of writings he left regarding his travels, often on foot, through Europe and parts of Asia...
's ‘Crudities,’ and he wrote commendatory lines for William Camden
William Camden
William 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 ‘Annales.’ Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
was a friend of Farnaby, and contributed commendatory Latin elegiacs to his edition of Juvenal and Persius. John Owen
John Owen (epigrammatist)
John Owen was a Welsh epigrammatist, most known for his Latin epigrams, collected in his Epigrammata.He is also cited by various Latinizations including Ioannes Owen, Joannes Oweni, Ovenus and Audoenus....
praises Farnaby's Seneca in his ‘Epigrams.’ He is highly commended in Dunbar's ‘Epigrammata,’ 1616, and in Richard Bruch's ‘Epigrammatum Hecatontades duæ,’ 1627.
Family
Farnaby married, first, Susan, daughter of John Pierce of Lancells, Cornwall; and secondly, Anne, daughter of John HowsonJohn Howson
John Howson was an English academic and bishop.-Life:He was born in the London parish of St Bride's Church, and educated at St Paul's School....
, bishop of Oxford, afterwards of Durham. By his first wife he had (besides a daughter Judith, wife to William Bladwell, a London merchant) a son, John, captain in the king's army, who inherited his father's Horsham property, and died there early in 1673. By his second wife he had, among other children, a son Francis, born about 1630, who inherited the Kippington estate, Sevenoaks, and was a widower on 26 January 1663, when he obtained a license to marry Mrs. Judith Nicholl of St. James, Clerkenwell.
Further reading
- R. W. Serjeantson, "Thomas Farnaby," Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 236: British Rhetoricians and Logicians, 1500–1660, First Series, Detroit: Gale, 2001, pp. 108–16.
- R. Nadeau, The Index Rhetoricus of Thomas Farnaby, Ph. D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1950.
- W. S. Howell, Logic and Rhetoric in England, 1500-1700, Princeton: University Press, 1956.