mentarymentary army in 1646, he retreated to Sudeley Castle by the intervention of the Chandos family. In this family he acted as chaplain during the opening years of the civil war. Later, he found shelter at Hawling in Cotswold, where he taught a private school with success and had several pupils of rank. It was here that he composed his ‘Nympha Libethris, or the Cotswold Muse, presenting some extempore Verses to the Imitation of yong Scholars,’ 1651. At the Restoration he was presented to the livings of Naunton, near Hawling, and of Stow-on-the-Wold in Gloucestershire. These he retained until his death in January 1687, in his seventy-ninth year, when (says Anthony à Wood) he left behind him ‘the character of a frequent and edifying preacher and a good neighbour.’ His chief works are:
- ‘Monumenta Literaria: sive Obitus et Elogia doctorum Virorum, ex Historiis Jac. Aug. Thuani,’ 1640.
- ‘A Short Practical Catechism out of Dr. Hammond, with a Paper Monument,’ 1649.
- ‘Adagilia Sacra Novi Testamenti … ab Andr. Schotto,’ 1651.
- ‘Nympha Libethris, or the Cotswold Muse,’ 4 parts, 1651.
- ‘Life of Hugo Grotius,’ 1652.
- ‘Noctes Hibernæ: Winter Nights' Exercise,’ 1653.
- ‘V. cl. Elogia Anglorum Camdeniana,’ 1653.
- ‘The Disputation at Whinchcombe, 9 Nov. 1653,’ 1653.
- ‘An Oxford Conference of Two Young Scholars touching their Studies,’ 1659.
- ‘A Modest Reply in Three Letters touching the Clergy and Universities,’ 1659.
- Sermons, separately published: ‘The Sacrifice,’ 1655; ‘King's Return,’ 1660; on 2 Samuel xv. 25, 1660; on Psalm cxxii. 6, 1680.
- ‘Of Contentment,’ 1660, 4th edit. 1679.
- ‘Defence of the Liturgy,’ 1661.
- ‘Memorials of Worthy Persons,’ 1661.
- ‘Remembrances of Excellent Men,’ 1670.
- ‘Masora: a Collection out of the learned Master J. Buxtorfius's Comment. Masoreticus,’ 1665.
- ‘Collection of Scripture illustrated by Mr. Richard Hooker,’ 1675.
- ‘Three Ministers, … their Collections and Notices touching several Texts at their Weekly Meeting,’ 1675.
- ‘Letter touching a College of Maids or a Virgin Society,’ 1675.
- ‘Hugonis Grotii Annot. Selectæ ad vii. cap. S. Matthæi,’ 1675.
- ‘Behold the Husbandman,’ 1677.
- ‘Learn to die,’ 1679.
- ‘Bezæ Epitaphia Selecta,’ 1680.
- ‘Sententiæ Sacræ,’ 1680.
- ‘Aurea Dicta: the King's gracious Words,’ 1681.
- ‘Memorials of Alderman Whitmore, Bp. Wilkins, Reynolds,’ &c. 1681.
- ‘Religion in Verse,’ 1683.
- ‘Old Gentleman's Wish,’ 1684.
- ‘Of Authors and Books,’ 1684.
- ‘Century of Sacred Distichs, or Religion in Verse,’ being No. 27 enlarged.
- ‘Grateful Mention of Deceased Bishops,’ 1686. Also translations of books and tractates by Cyprian, Grotius, Schurman, &c.
His only approach to poetic faculty is in his verse-translations of some of Crashaw's Latin epigrams. Otherwise he was a mere book-maker. As a biographer he is perfunctory and untrustworthy. His translations are usually paraphrastic and inelegant. His extempore verses in his ‘Nympha Libethris’ abound in allusions to contemporary persons and events.
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. (Bliss), iv. 221–5; Corser's Collectanea Anglo-Poetica; Bliss's Catalogue, 141–8; Heber's Catalogue; Hunter's MS. Chorus Vatum, in Brit. Mus.; Barksdale's books.]
BARKSTEAD, JOHN (d. 1662), regicide, the date of whose birth is unknown, was originally a goldsmith in the Strand, and was often taunted by Lilburne and the royalist pamphleteers with selling thimbles and bodkins. 'Being sensible of the invasions which had been made upon the liberties of the nation, he took arms among the first for their defence in the quality of captain to a foot company in the regiment of Colonel Venn' (Ludlow). On 12 Aug. 1645 he was appointed by the House of Commons governor of Reading, and his appointment was agreed to by the Lords on 10 Dec. (A letter written by Barkstead during his government of Reading is in the Tanner MSS. vol. Ix. f. 512). During the second civil war he commanded a regiment at the siege of Colchester. In December 1648 he was appointed one of the king's judges. Referring, at his own execution, to the king's trial, he says: 'I was no contriver of it within or without, at that time I was many miles from the place, and did not know of it until I saw my name in a paper … what I did, I did without any malice (Speeches and Prayers). He attended every sitting during the trial except that of 13 Jan. (noble). During the year 1049 he acted as governor of Yarmouth, but by a vote of 11 April 1650 his regiment was selected for the guard of parliament and the city, and on 12 Aug. 1652 he was also appointed governor of the Tower. Cromwell praised his vigilance in that capacity in his first speech to the parliament of 1650 (Speech, v.). 'There never was any design on foot but we could hear of it out of the Tower. He who commanded there would give us account, that within a fortnight, or such a thing, there would be some stirring, for a great concourse of people were coming to them, and they had very great elevations of spirit.' As governor of the Tower Bark-
