Parkhurst, John (1), Dd

Parkhurst, John (1), D.D., an English prelate of some note, was born in 1511 at Guildford, in Surrey. He received his preparatory training at the grammar school of his native place, and then proceeded to Merton College, Oxford. After graduation he was tutor at his alma mater, and one of his pupils was the learned English prelate Jewell (q.v.). In 1548 Parkhurst was presented with the living of Bishop's Cleve in Gloucestershire, but on the death of Edward VI Parkhurst retired to Switzerland, and there imbibed Calvinistic views. On the accession of queen Elizabeth he returned to his native country. He now advocated Puritanic notions, yet, notwithstanding his difference of opinion, he was highly esteemed by archbishop Parker. This primate in 1560 caused Parkhurst to be elevated to the bishopric of Norwich. As Parkhurst after this favored the most liberal concessions to the Dissenters, he fell under displeasure with the archbishop and the queen, and his last years were embittered by much reviling and slander from the High-Church party. He was accused of inability for the bishopric, was declared in his dotage, and was reported very superstitious, when the truth is that he simply had faith in ecclesiastical miracles, and put a favorable construction on the failings of his fellow beings of whatever class. He was certainly a learned and pious man. He died Feb. 2, 1574. Bishop Parkhurst was one of the translators of the "Bishops' Bible," of which his share was the Apocrypha, from the book of Wisdom to the end. Some of his letters were published by Strype, and others are still in MS. in the British Museum. His publications are, Epigrammata in Mortem duorum Fratrum, etc. (Lond. 1552, 4to): — Epigrammata Seria (1560, 4to): — Ludicra; sive Epigrammata Juveniliac (1573, 4to): —Vita Christi, carm. Lat. in lib. precum privat. (1578, 4to). See Strype, Annals; Wood, Athenae Oxon.; Neal, Hist. of the Puritans; Soames, Elizabethan History, p. 203; Macaulay, Hist. of England, 1:50; Froude, Hist. of England (see Index in vol. xii); Hook, Eccles. Biog. 7:548 sq.; Allibone, Dict. of Brit. and Amer. Authors, vol. ii, s.v.