Humphry Hody

Humphry Hody

an English divine, was born Jan. 1, 1659, at Oldcombe, Somersetshire, and was educated at the University of Oxford. In 1684 he was elected a fellow of Wadham College, and in the same year he published a Dissertatio contra Historiam- Aristeae de LXX Interpretibus. Hody became principally known by his publications respecting the bishops who had been deprived of their bishoprics during the reign of William and Mary for refusing the oath of allegiance. The first work which he published on this subject was a translation of a Greek treatise, supposed to have been written by Nicephorus in the latter end of the 13th or the beginning of the 14th century, in which the writer maintains that "although a bishop was unjustly deprived, neither he nor the Church ever made a separation, if the successor was not a heretic." The original Greek work, as well as the English translation, were both published in 1691. Dodwell replied to it in A Vindication of the Deprived Bishops (Lond. 1692). In the following year Hody published The Case of Sees Vacant by an Uncanonical Deprivation (Lond. 1693, 4to), in which he replies to the arguments of his opponents. These exertions of Hody in favor of the ruling party in the Church did not pass unrewarded. He was appointed domestic chaplain to Tillotson, archbishop of Canterbury, which office he also held under Tillotson's successor. He was presented with a living in London, and was appointed regius professor of Greek at Oxford in 1698, and archdeacon of Oxford in 1704. He died Jan. 20,1706. He founded ten scholarships at Wadham College in order to promote the study of the Greek and Hebrew languages. Of the other works of Hody, the most important are: 1. De Bibliorum Textibus Originalibus, Versionibus Graecis Et Latina Vulgata, Libri 4 (Oxford, 1704, folio), which is said by Bishop Marsh to be "the classical work on the Septuagint." The first book contains the dissertation against the history of Aristeas, which has been mentioned above. The second — gives an account of the real translators of the Septuagint, and of the time when the translation was made. The third book gives a history of the Hebrew text and of the Latin Vulgate; and the fourth, of the other ancient Greek versions: —

2. The Resurrection Of The (Same) Body Asserted (Lond. 1694,8vo): —

3. Animadversions On Two Pamphlets Lately Published By Mr. Collier (Lond. 1696, 8vo). Sir W. Perkins and Sir J. Friend had been executed in 1695 for treason against the government; but previous to their execution they had been absolved of their crime by some nonjuring clergymen. This act was condemned by the ecclesiastical authorities, but was justified by Collier in two pamphlets which he published on the subject: —

4. De Graecis Illustribus Linguae Graecae Litteraruque Humaniorum Instauratoribus (Lond. 1742). This work was published several years after the author's death by Dr. Jebb, who has prefixed to it an account of Hody's life and writings. See English Cyclopaedia; Allibone, Dict. Of Authors, 1, 858; Hook, Eccles. Biography, 6: 104; Kitto, Cyclop. 2, 317.