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ROSS, ALEXANDER, a very
voluminous writer, but remembered less for his numerous works, than for a
celebrated couplet in Hudibras:--
"There was an ancient sage philosopher,
Who had read Alexander Ross over."
He was born in Aberdeen in
the year 1590; but his parentage has not been ascertained, nor have the
circumstances of his early life been recorded. He has been generally
confounded with a contemporary of the same name, of whom some account will
be found in the next memoir. At what time he quitted Scotland is unknown;
but it is supposed that not long after his arrival in England, he was
appointed master of the grammar school of Southampton, and chaplain to
Charles I. These appointments were probably procured through the influence
of Laud, archbishop of Canterbury, to whom he expresses his obligations in
the dedication of his "Commentum de Terrae Motu Circulari Refutatum." This
work appeared at London in 1634; and though professedly written against
Lansbergius and Carpentarius, two advocates of the Copernican theory,
contains, in fact, an epitome of all the arguments that have been adduced
against that system. The Latinity is respectable, and the argument is
managed with considerable skill. During the struggles of the great civil
war, Ross espoused the royal cause, and his writings are filled with praises
of the king, and denunciations of the parliament. It has been remarked by
Echard, however, that he "so managed his affairs, that, in the midst of
these storms, he died very rich, as appears from the several benefactions he
made." His death took place early in 1654. We learn from the MSS. of Sir
Robert Sibbald, that, by his will, dated 21st February, 1653, and probated
19th April, 1654, among numerous other benefactions, he left £200 to the
town council of Aberdeen, for the foundation of two bursaries; £50 to the
poor of Southampton; £50 to the poor of the parish of All-Saints; and £50 to
the Bodleian library. There is scarcely a subject in the wide range of
literature, on which Ross has not left a work. His first publication appears
to have been poetical: "Rerum Judaicarum Libri Duo", London, 1617. To these
he added a third book in 1619, and a fourth in 1632. The rarest of his
poetical effusions bears no date, but is entitled. "Three Decads of Divine
Meditations, whereof each one containeth three parts. 1. History. 2. An
Allegory. 3. A Prayer. With a Commendation of a Private Country Life." This
work has been priced so high as £8 8s. "Four Books of Epigrams in Latin
Elegiacs," also appeared without a date; and in 1642 he published, "Mel
Heliconium, or Poetical Honey gathered out of the Weeds of Parnassus. The
first book is divided into vii chapters, according to the first vii letters
of the alphabet, containing 48 fictions, out of which are extracted many
historicall, naturall, morall, politicall, and theologicall observations,
both delightful and useful; with 48 Meditations in Verse." But his most
celebrated work in the department of poetry, is his "Virgilii Evangelisantis
Christiados Libri xiii.," which was published at London in 1634, and again
in 1638 and 1659. This is a cento from Virgil, giving a view of the leading
features of sacred history, from the murder of Abel to the ascension of
Christ. It excited considerable notice in its day, and was more
lately brought before the public attention by Lauder, who accused Milton of
having plagiarized it. Lauder says, that by many Ross’s Christiad is
esteemed equal with the AEneid. The opening lines may serve as a specimen:--
"Acta, Deumque cano, coeli qul primus
ab oris
Virginis in laetae gremium descendit et orbem
Terrarum invisit profugus, Chananaeque venit
Littora, multum Ille et terra jactatus et alto
In superum, saevi memorem Plutonis ob iram."
His chief works in the
department of history, are, "Animadversions and Observations upon Sir Walter
Raleigh’s History of the World, wherein his Mistakes are noted, and some
doubtful Passages noted," London, 1653; and "The History of the World, the
Second Part, in six books, being a Continuation of Sir Walter Raleigh’s,"
London, 1652. " This," says Granger, (3d edit. vol iii. p. 32,) is like a
piece of bad Gothic tacked to a magnificent pile of Roman architecture,
which serves to heighten the effect of it, while it exposes its own
deficiency in strength and beauty." In 1652, was published, with a portrait
of the author, "Pansebia, or View of all the Religions in the World, with
the Lives of certain notorious Hereticks." Afterwards reprinted in 1672,
1675, 1683, &c. Ross entered into controversy with Hobbes, Sir Thomas
Browne, Hervey, and Sir Kenelm Digby; and has left, among others, the
following controversial writings: "Observations upon Hobbes’s Leviathan,"
1653; "Arcana Microcosmi, or the Hid Secrets of Man’s Body discovered, in
Anatomical Duel between Aristotle and Galen; with a Refutation of Thomas
Browne’s Vulgar Errors, from Bacon’s Natural History, and Hervey’s book De
Generatione," 1651; the "Philosophical Touchstone, or Observations on Sir
Kenelm Digby’s Discourse on the Nature of Bodies and of the Reasonable Soul,
and Spinosa’s Opinion of the Mortality of the Soul, briefly confuted," 1645.
This does not exhaust the catalogue of Ross’s writings. Besides many
ascribed to him on doubtful authority, there remain to be mentioned: "The
New Planet, no Planet, or the Earth no Wandering Star, against Galilaeus and
Copernicus," 1640; "Mystagogus Poeticus, or the Muses’ Interpreter," 1647,
which went through six editions; "Enchiridium Oratorium et Poeticum," 1650 "Medicus
Medicatus, or the Physician’s Religion cured," 1645; "Melisomachia;"
"Colloquia Plautina;" "Chronology, in English;" "Chymera Pythagorica," no
date; "Tonsor ad cutem Rasus," 1629; "Questions and Answers on the First Six
Chapters of Genesis," 1620; "The Picture of the Conscience," 1646; "God’s
House, or the House of Prayer, vindicated from Profaneness," 1642; "God’s
House made a Den of Thieves," 1642. These two last pieces are sermons. |
