Thomas Farnaby (or Farnabie) (c. 157512 June 1647) was an English

schoolmaster The word schoolmaster, or simply master, refers to a male school teacher. This usage survives in British independent schools, both secondary and preparatory, and a few Indian boarding schools (such as The Doon School) that were modelled afte ...

and scholar. He operated a successful school in the

Cripplegate Cripplegate was a gate in the London Wall which once enclosed the City of London. The gate gave its name to the Cripplegate ward of the City which straddles the line of the former wall and gate, a line which continues to divide the ward into tw ...

ward of London and enjoyed great success with his annotations of classic Latin authors and textbooks on

rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

and Latin grammar.

Early life

He was the son of a London carpenter. His grandfather had been mayor of

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its ...

and his great-grandfather an Italian musician. He may have been related to

Giles Farnaby Giles Farnaby (c. 1563 – November 1640) was an English composer and virginalist whose music spans the Transition from Renaissance to Baroque in instrumental music, transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque period. Life Giles Farnaby was ...

(1563–1640), the musician and composer, whose father was a

joiner A joiner is an artisan and tradesperson who builds things by joining pieces of wood, particularly lighter and more ornamental work than that done by a carpenter, including furniture and the "fittings" of a house, ship, etc. Joiners may work in ...

. Between 1590 and 1595 he appears successively as a student of

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of Oxford University, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the ...

, a pupil in a Jesuit college in Spain, a student at Cambridge, and a follower of

Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 (t ...

and

John Hawkins John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

. 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 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 Bow ...

, in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

shire, and taught the grammar school there for some time with success.

Schoolmaster

He opened his own school in Goldsmiths Rents,

, 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 Sir Richard Fanshawe, 1st Baronet PC (June 1608 – 16 June 1666) was an English poet and translator. He was a diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1661 to 1666. During the English Civil War he supported the Royalist cau ...

, Alexander Gill, and

Henry Birkhead Henry Birkhead (1617?–1696) was an English academic, lawyer and Latin poet. He is now known as the founder of the Oxford Chair of Poetry. Life Birkhead was born in the parish of St. Gregory, near St. Paul's Cathedral, London. His parents ...

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 A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, and soon after was incorporated at Oxford. Such was his success that he was enabled to buy an estate at

Otford Otford is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It lies on the River Darent, north of Sevenoaks. Otford's four churches are the Anglican Church of St Bartholomew in the village centre, the Otford Methodist Ch ...

near

Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506 situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parishes in England, civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter South Eastern Main Line, main line railway into Lon ...

, 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 Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

in Sussex.

Later life

In politics he was a royalist; and, suspected of participation in the rising near Tunbridge, 1643, he was arrested by the parliamentarians, and was committed to

Newgate Prison Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey Street just inside the City of London, England, originally at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, t ...

. He was placed on board ship with a view to his transportation to America, but was ultimately sent to Ely House,

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its roots ...

, 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.Wood, ''Athenae Oxonienses'', ed. Bliss, iii. 213.

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 Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ), was a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century CE. He is the author of the collection of satirical poems known as the ''Satires''. The details of Juvenal's life ...

Persius Aulus Persius Flaccus (; 4 December 3424 November 62 AD) was a Ancient Rome, Roman poet and satirist of Etruscan civilization, Etruscan origin. In his works, poems and satires, he shows a Stoicism, Stoic wisdom and a strong criticism for what he ...

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

Martial Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman poet from Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of ''Epigrams'', published in Rome between AD 86 and ...

Lucan Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (3 November 39 AD – 30 April 65 AD), better known in English as Lucan (), was a Roman poet, born in Corduba (modern-day Córdoba), in Hispania Baetica. He is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imperial ...

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

and

Terence Publius Terentius Afer (; – ), better known in English as Terence (), was a Roman African playwright during the Roman Republic. His comedies were performed for the first time around 166–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought ...

, which enjoyed great 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 The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the wo ...

'' (Lond. 1637, 1650, 1677, 1739); Terence's comedies, ed. Farnaby and

Meric Casaubon Meric or Méric or Meriç may refer to: Méric * Méric Casaubon (1599–1671), French-English classical scholar Meriç Places and geography * Meriç (river), Turkish name for the Maritsa which runs through the Balkans * Meriç, the Turkish name ...

(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 Sir John Borough, sometimes Burroughs, (died 21 October 1643) 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 B ...

's ''Impetus Juveniles'' (1643), and in

Barten Holyday Barten Holyday or Holiday (1593 – 2 October 1661) was an English clergyman, author and poet.F. D. A. Burns, ‘Holyday , Barten (1593–1661)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 Career He was educated ...

's ''Juvenal.'' Farnaby prefixed verses in Greek with an English translation to

Thomas Coryat Thomas Coryat (also Coryate) (c. 15771617) 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 ...

's ''Crudities,'' and he wrote commendatory lines for

William Camden William Camden (2 May 1551 – 9 November 1623) was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and herald, best known as author of ''Britannia'', the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, and the ''Annal ...

's ''Annales.''

Ben Jonson Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...

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.

Family

Farnaby married, first, Susan, daughter of John Pierce of Lancells, Cornwall; and secondly, Anne, daughter of

John Howson John Howson ( – 6 February 1632) 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. He was a student and then a canon of Christ Church, Oxford, and Vice-Chance ...

, 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.

Notes

Sources

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