Alabaster, William

Alabaster, William a learned but erratic divine, born in Suffolk 1567, and studied both at Cambridge and Oxford. In 1596 he went to Cadiz as chaplain to the Earl of Essex, and there joined the Church of Rome. A few years of Romish life dist gusted him, and in 1610 he returned to the Church of England. He obtained a prebend in St. Paul's, and afterward was made rector of Therfield, where he died in 1640. He was a great student of the so-called cabalistic learning. His works are (1) Lexicon Pentaglotton (Heb., Chald., Syr., etc.), Lond. 1637, fol.; (2) Comm. de Bestia Apocalyptica, 1621. He also wrote a tragedy, "Roxana," of which Dr. Johnson spoke highly. — Wood, Athen. Oxon., Hook, Eccl. Biog. 1, 102.