Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 01.djvu/421

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Andrews
407
Andrews

(1799–1811), in 10 vols. 4to.

  1. ‘Coloured Engravings of Heaths’ (1802–30), 4 vols. folio.
  2. ‘The Heathery’ (1804–12), 6 vols. 8vo.
  3. ‘Geraniums’ (1805), 2 vols. 4to.
  4. ‘Roses’ (1805–28), 2 vols. 4to.

The drawings for these, which are careful and artistic, were executed by Andrews; but the letterpress accompanying them was in many instances by other hands; that of the ‘Heaths’ was by James Wheeler, then curator of the Chelsea Botanic Gardens, while in the first five volumes of the ‘Repository’ he was ‘assisted by gardeners and cultivators,’ and in the sixth ‘by a botanist whose opinions were diametrically opposed to those of the former.’ In consequence of this, Andrews tells us in the preface to his ‘Geraniums,’ that he thought it ‘much better [in that work] to try his own strength, however weak, than to remain tottering between the support of two such unequal crutches.’ Andrews does not seem to have contributed to contemporary periodical literature, and we have no record of the date of his death. Ventenat named a genus Andreusia after him, which is synonymous with Myoporum.

[Prefaces to Andrews's works.]

J. B.

ANDREWS, JAMES PETTIT (1737?–1797), antiquary and historian, was the younger son of Joseph Andrews, of Shaw House, a fine Elizabethan mansion near Newbury, and was born about 1737. He served in the Berkshire militia from the date of its being called out until it was disembodied, and after that date exchanged arms for the law, ultimately becoming in 1792, and remaining until his death, one of the magistrates at the police court in Queen Square, Westminster. His wife, Miss Anne Penrose, was a daughter of the Rev. Mr. Penrose, the rector of Newbury, and a sister of the Rev. Thomas Penrose, whose poetical pieces, edited by Mr. Andrews in 1781, are included in several old collections of English poetry. Mr. Andrews built at great expense a large house, called Donnington Grove, near his father's seat, but soon disposed of it to another. His wife died in 1785, and he himself 6 Aug. 1797; both lie buried in Hampstead church. His chief works are:

  1. ‘The Savages of Europe,’ a translation from the French [of Messrs. Lesuire and Louvel], 1764, with illustrations by the translator—a grotesque satire on the English.
  2. ‘An Appeal to the Humane on behalf of Climbing Boys employed by the Chimney Sweepers,’ 1788.
  3. ‘Anecdotes, antient and modern,’ 1789, with ‘Addenda’ in 1790—an amusing collection of gossip from old books.
  4. ‘History of Great Britain from death of Henry VIII to accession of James VI of Scotland,’ published in 1796 in one volume, second edition in two vols. in the same year, and third edition in 1806.
  5. ‘History of Great Britain connected with the Chronology of Europe from Cæsar's invasion to accession of Edward VI,’ 1794–95, 2 vols.

Both histories, though long since superseded, contained much curious information from ancient literature; the former work was intended as a continuation of Dr. Henry's history of Great Britain. In 1798 he joined Pye, the poet laureate, in a five-act tragedy from the German, called the ‘Inquisitor.’ Mr. Andrews contributed many topographical papers to the ‘Archæologia’ and to the ‘Gentleman's Magazine.’

[Gent. Mag. lxvii. pt. ii. 716, 796 (1797); Hist. and Antiquities of Newbury (1839), 116–20, 172–75.]

W. P. C.

ANDREWS, JOHN (17th cent.), poet, was the author of a striking and too long neglected poem called the ‘Anatomie of Basenesse’ (1615), which has been recently reprinted in the ‘Miscellanies of the Fuller Worthies' Library’ (vol. ii.). The ‘Anatomie’ was published with only the initials I. A. in the epistle dedicatory to Sir Robert Sydney, but this epistle guides to the authorship. Apologising for his dedication, the writer says, among other things, that he prints not ‘vaine-gloriously,’ or he would have ‘subscribed his name,’ and that he forbore to have his name published ‘out of some respects.’ The ‘some respects’ probably refer to his being a minister of the Gospel; he seems to have held that his satire was too drastic and vehement for a clergyman, and might lay him open to misconstruction. Anthony à Wood in his ‘Athenæ,’ and his editor Dr. Bliss, filled in the initials thus—‘I[ohn] A[ndrews]’—and wrote of him: ‘John Andrews, a Somersetshire man born, was entered a student in Trinity College 1601, aged 18, took one degree in arts [viz. M.A., Fasti Oxon.], left the university, became a painfull preacher of God's word, and a publisher of’ certain books. … ‘When he died, or where he was buried, I know not.’ According to Dr. Bliss he ‘seems to have been the same person with John Andrews, minister and preacher of the word of God at Barrick [Beswick] Bassett, in the county of Wilts, who was the author of “Christ's Cross; or the most comfortable Doctrine of Christ crucified, and joyful Tidings of his Passion.” Oxon. 1614, qu. in two parts. To this writer we may ascribe a very rare poetical work entitled the “Anatomie of Basenesse.”’ Sir Richard Hoare, the historian of Wiltshire,