John Worthington (academic)

John Worthington(1618–1671) was an English academic. He was closely associated with theCambridge Platonists.^[1]^[2]He did not in fact publish in the field of philosophy, and is now known mainly as a well-connected diarist.

Life

He was born inManchester,and educated atEmmanuel College, Cambridge.^[3]At Emmanuel he was taught byJoseph Mead;he described Mead's teaching methods, and later edited his works.^[4]Another teacher wasBenjamin Whichcote.^[5]

He was Master ofJesus College, Cambridge,from 1650 to 1660, and Vice-Chancellor in 1657.^[6]At theEnglish Restorationhe was replaced byRichard Sterne,apparently willingly.^[7]Subsequently he held various church positions, being lecturer atSt Benet Finkin London until burnt out in theGreat Fire of Londonin 1666. He then was given a living atIngoldsby.At the end of his life he was a lecturer inHackney.^[8]

He died in London in 1671 and he left his books onJakob BoehmeandHendrik Niclaesto the philosopherElizabeth Foxcroftand to her son the alchemistEzechial Foxcroft.^[9]

Family

He married Mary Whichcote, in 1657. She was niece to bothBenjamin Whichcote^[10]^[11]^[12]andElizabeth Foxcroft(née Whichcote), mother ofEzechiel Foxcroft.^[13]^: 197

Hartlib correspondence

Worthington was an active correspondent ofSamuel Hartlib,the "intelligencer", in the period 1655 to 1662.^[5]At Worthington's request, Hartlib's close collaboratorJohn Durysearched in the Netherlands for the lost papers ofHenry Ainsworth.^[14]He shared with Hartlib and Dury (and bothHenry MoreandJohn Covel) an interest in theKaraites.^[15]He was also involved in the connections between Hartlib and Dury withAdam Boreelin Amsterdam, including the Boreel project to translate the HebrewMishnahinto Latin and Spanish.^[16]

After Hartlib's death, Worthington took on the task of organising his archive of correspondence, which had been bought byWilliam Brereton, 2nd Baron Brereton.^[17]After a period of nearly 300 years, the bundles into which he sorted it were rediscovered, and his system for the archive persists.^[18]

Works

The Christian's Pattern: a translation of the De Imitatione of Thomas à Kempis(1654)
John Smith,Selected Discourses(London, 1660) editor
Life of Joseph Medewith third edition of Mede'sWorks(1672)
The Great Duty of Self-Resignation to the Divine Will(1675)
The Diary and Correspondence of Dr. John Worthington,2 vols. (1847–86, Chetham Society), editorJames Crossley

Notes

^Hutton, Sarah (1 August 2013). Zalta, Edward N. (ed.).The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University – via Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
^http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/themes/94/94274-content.html^{[dead link]}
^"Worthington, John (WRTN632J)".A Cambridge Alumni Database.University of Cambridge.
^"The University of Cambridge: The early Stuarts and Civil War | British History Online".www.british-history.ac.uk.
^^a ^bAndrew Pyle(editor),Dictionary of Twentieth-Century British Philosophers(2000), pp. 914-5.
^"Vice-Chancellor's Office: Cambridge Vice-Chancellors".Archived fromthe originalon 21 February 2008.Retrieved8 June2016.
^"The University of Cambridge: The age of Newton and Bentley (1660-1800) | British History Online".www.british-history.ac.uk.
^"Hackney | British History Online".www.british-history.ac.uk.
^Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (23 September 2004),"Elizabeth Foxcroft",The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,Oxford: Oxford University Press,doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/53695,retrieved21 August2023
^Betty Jo Teeter Dobbs.The Foundations of Newton's Alchemy: Or "The Hunting of the Greene Lyon" (1983), p. 112.
^Robert Crocker, Henry More, 1614-1687: A Biography of the Cambridge Platonist (2003), note p. 260.
^"Masters of Jesus College".www.jesus.cam.ac.uk.Archived fromthe originalon 5 July 2009.
^Crocker, R. (2003).Henry More, 1614-1687: A Biography of the Cambridge Platonist.Springer Science & Business Media.ISBN 9781402015021.Retrieved20 January2018.
^"Biblical Criticism Catalogue Number 70".www.mhs.ox.ac.uk.
^Matt Goldish,Judaism in the Theology of Sir Isaac Newton: International Archives of the History of Ideas(1998), p. 23.
^see Popkin, Richard H., “Hartlib, Dury and the Jews,” in M. Greengrass, M. Leslie, and T. Raylor, eds.,Samuel Hartlib and Universal Reformation: Studies in Intellectual Communication,Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1994, pp. 118-136;cf.pp. 122-123.
^Michael Hunter,Archives of the Scientific Revolution: The Formation and Exchange of Ideas in Seventeenth-century Europe(1998), p. 40.
^Sheffield, University of (10 January 2018)."Hartlib Papers - Special Collections - The University Library - The University of Sheffield".www.sheffield.ac.uk.

References

Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Mullinger, James Bass (1900). "Worthington, John".InLee, Sidney(ed.).Dictionary of National Biography.Vol. 63. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

External links

CCED page^{[permanent dead link]}

Academic offices
Preceded by Thomas Young	Master of Jesus College, Cambridge 1650–1660	Succeeded by Richard Sterne

[1] Hutton, Sarah (1 August 2013). Zalta, Edward N. (ed.).The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University – via Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

[2] ttp://www.oxforddnb.com/public/themes/94/94274-content.html^{[dead link]}

[3] "Worthington, John (WRTN632J)".A Cambridge Alumni Database.University of Cambridge.

[4] "The University of Cambridge: The early Stuarts and Civil War | British History Online".www.british-history.ac.uk.

[Pyle-5] Andrew Pyle(editor),Dictionary of Twentieth-Century British Philosophers(2000), pp. 914-5.

[6] "Vice-Chancellor's Office: Cambridge Vice-Chancellors".Archived fromthe originalon 21 February 2008.Retrieved8 June2016.

[7] "The University of Cambridge: The age of Newton and Bentley (1660-1800) | British History Online".www.british-history.ac.uk.

[8] "Hackney | British History Online".www.british-history.ac.uk.

[9] Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (23 September 2004),"Elizabeth Foxcroft",The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,Oxford: Oxford University Press,doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/53695,retrieved21 August2023

[10] Betty Jo Teeter Dobbs.The Foundations of Newton's Alchemy: Or "The Hunting of the Greene Lyon" (1983), p. 112.

[11] Robert Crocker, Henry More, 1614-1687: A Biography of the Cambridge Platonist (2003), note p. 260.

[12] "Masters of Jesus College".www.jesus.cam.ac.uk.Archived fromthe originalon 5 July 2009.

[Crocker-13] Crocker, R. (2003).Henry More, 1614-1687: A Biography of the Cambridge Platonist.Springer Science & Business Media.ISBN 9781402015021.Retrieved20 January2018.

[14] "Biblical Criticism Catalogue Number 70".www.mhs.ox.ac.uk.

[15] Matt Goldish,Judaism in the Theology of Sir Isaac Newton: International Archives of the History of Ideas(1998), p. 23.

[16] see Popkin, Richard H., “Hartlib, Dury and the Jews,” in M. Greengrass, M. Leslie, and T. Raylor, eds.,Samuel Hartlib and Universal Reformation: Studies in Intellectual Communication,Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1994, pp. 118-136;cf.pp. 122-123.

[17] Michael Hunter,Archives of the Scientific Revolution: The Formation and Exchange of Ideas in Seventeenth-century Europe(1998), p. 40.

[18] Sheffield, University of (10 January 2018)."Hartlib Papers - Special Collections - The University Library - The University of Sheffield".www.sheffield.ac.uk.

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