ciety, and other organisations. He was also a member of the Manchester Literary Club, and a frequent speaker at its meetings, where his knowledge of classical and modern literature and his critical acumen in discussion were much appreciated. In 1865 he went to Berlin to be treated by von Graefe for an affection of the eye called ‘granular lid,’ and afterwards published his ‘Reminiscences of a Four Months' Stay’ with that oculist, in which he gave to the English public the first account of his method of linear extraction of cataract. Samelson in 1867 translated von Graefe's essay on ‘The Study of Ophthalmology,’ and between 1860 and 1880 contributed many papers on ophthalmic science to various journals and societies.
His last years were attended by persistent insomnia, and he sought relief at Bournemouth, and then at Cannes, where he died on 12 Jan. 1888. He was buried at the protestant cemetery. By his will he left the bulk of his property, value about 4,900l., to charitable and educational institutions.
Besides professional papers he wrote: 1. ‘The Altar at Pergamus and the Satyr from Pergamus: Papers read before the Manchester Literary Club,’ 1881. 2. ‘Dwellings and the Death-rate of Manchester,’ 1883. 3. ‘The Education of the Drama's Patrons,’ printed in ‘Social Science Association Transactions’ (1882) and ‘Journal of Dramatic Reform.’
[Memoir by W. E. A. Axon in Papers of Manchester Literary Club, 1888, with list of his papers; personal knowledge.]
SAMMES, AYLETT (1636?–1679?), antiquary, grandson of John Sammes, lord of the manor of Little Totham, Essex, and son of Thomas Sammes by his wife Mary (Jeffrey), was born at Kelvedon in Essex about 1636. His father's younger brother, Edward, married into the Aylett family of Rivenhall. In 1648 he entered Felsted school under John Glascock, a fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge, and a teacher of repute throughout East Anglia. On 3 July 1655 he was admitted a fellow-commoner of Christ's College; he graduated B.A. in 1657, was admitted of the Inner Temple on 28 Oct. in the same year, and proceeded M.A., probably at Cambridge about 1659, though there appears to be no record of the fact. He was incorporated M.A. at Oxford on 10 July 1677. He had in the previous year issued his elaborate ‘Britannia Antiqua Illustrata, or the Antiquities of Ancient Britain derived from the Phœnicians’ (London, 1676, folio, vol. i., no more published). The volume was licensed by L'Estrange in March 1675, and dedicated to Heneage Finch. The work, which extends to nearly 600 folio pages, brings down the narrative to the conversion of Kent. It deals fully with the Roman period, but its main thesis of the Phœnician derivation is perverse, and, apart from its reproductions of ancient documents, such as the ‘Laws of King Ina,’ it has little intrinsic value. Bishop Nicolson accused the author of plagiarism from Bochartus, and Wood gives currency to a rumour that the work was really written by an uncle of Sammes. These aspersions are rebutted by Myles Davies in his ‘Athenæ Britannicæ’ (i. 135), and Sammes's erudition was praised by Dr. Henry Oldenburg [q. v.], the secretary of the Royal Society (cf. Phil. Trans. No. 124, p. 596). Sammes died before the completion of any further portion of his work, probably in 1679. Besides the ‘Britannia Antiqua,’ he is credited by Lowndes with ‘Long Livers: a curious history of such persons of both sexes who have lived several ages and grown young again,’ London, 1722, 8vo.
[Notes from Christ's College Registers kindly supplied by Dr. Peile; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714; Wood's Fasti Oxon. ed. Bliss, ii. 363; Morant's Essex, 1768, i. 386; Nicholson's Engl. Hist. Libr. 1776, pp. 21, 32; Lowndes's Bibl. Manual (Bohn); Allibone's Dict. of English Lit. ii. 1920; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
SAMPSON. [See also Samson.]
SAMPSON, HENRY (1629?–1700), nonconformist minister and doctor of medicine, eldest son of William Sampson (1590?–1636?) [q. v.], was born at South Leverton, Nottinghamshire, about 1629. His mother, Helen, daughter of Gregory Vicars, married, in 1637, as her second husband, Obadiah Grew [q. v.] Sampson was educated at Atherstone grammar school, under his stepfather, and at King Henry VIII's school, Coventry, under Phinehas White. In 1646 he entered at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, his tutor being William Moses [q. v.] He graduated B.A. in 1650, was elected fellow in the same year, and proceeded M.A. in 1653. He paid special attention to the study of Hebrew and New Testament Greek, and collected a library rich in critical editions of the scriptures. In 1650 he was presented by his college to the rich rectory of Framlingham, Suffolk, vacated by the sequestration of Richard Goultie for refusing the ‘engagement.’ He was never ordained, but acquired considerable repute as a preacher, both at Framlingham and Coventry. At Framlingham, where he had no literary neighbours, he added antiquarian to his theological interests. At the Restoration
