Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 19.djvu/76

This page has been validated.
Fisher
70
Fisher

some value. The first of these compilations is 'A Catalogue of most of the Memorable Tombs, &c., in the Demolisht or yet extant Churches of London from St. Katherine's beyond the Tower to Temple Barre,' written 1666, published 1668, 'two years after the great fire,' London, 4to. The second is 'The Tombs, Monuments, and Sepulchral Inscriptions lately visible in St. Paul's Cathedral . . . by Major P. F., student in antiquity, grand-child to the late Sir William Fisher and that most memorable knight, Sir Thomas Neale, by his wife, Elizabeth, sister to that so publick-spirited patriot, the late Sir Thomas Freke' of Shroton, Dorsetshire; from the Fleet, with dedication to Charles II, after the fire, London, 1684, 4to. Several editions were published of both these catalogues; the latest is that revised and edited by G. B. Morgan, entitled 'Catalogue of the Tombs in the Churches of the City of London,' 1885. Fisher died in great poverty in a coffee-house in the Old Bailey 2 April 1693, and was buried 6 April in a yard belonging to the church of St. Sepulchre's.

Besides the works above enumerated, and a quantity of other odes and epitaphs (see list in Wood and Brit. Mus. Cat.), Fisher edited poems on several choice and various subjects, occasionally imparted by an eminent author [i. e. James Howell, q. v.]; collected and published by Sergeant-major P. F., London, 1663; the second edition, giving the author's name, is entitled 'Mr. Howel's Poems upon divers emergent occasions,' and dedicated to Dr. Henry King, bishop of Chichester, with a preface by Fisher about Howell, whom he describes as having 'asserted the royal rights in divers learned tracts,' London, 1664, 8vo. Fisher also published: 1. 'Deus et Rex, Rex et Episcopus,' London, 1675, 4to. 2. 'Elogia Sepulchralia,' London, 1675, a collection of some of Fisher's many elegies. 3. 'A Book of Heraldry,' London, 1682, 8vo. 4. 'The Anniversary of his Sacred Majesty's Inauguration, in Latin and English; from the Fleet, under the generous jurisdiction of R. Manlove, warden thereof,' London, 1685.

Winstanley sums up Fisher's character in the following words: 'A notable undertaker in Latin verse, and had well deserved of his country, had not lucre of gain and private ambition overswayed his pen to favour successful rebellion.' Winstanley adds that he had intended to 'commit to memory the monuments in the churches in London and Westminster, but death hindered him' (Lives of the Poets, pp. 192, 193).

[Chalmers's Biog. Dict. p. 433; Cat. of Printed Books in Brit. Mus.; Bodleian Cat.]

E. T. B.


FISHER, SAMUEL (1605–1665), quaker, son of John Fisher, a hatter in Northampton, was born in Northampton in 1605. After attending a local school he matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford, in 1623, and graduated B.A. in 1627. Being puritanically inclined he removed to New Inn Hall, whence he proceeded M.A. in 1630. Croese (Gen. Hist. of Quakers, p. 63, ed. 1696) says he was chaplain to a nobleman for a short time, and became a confirmed puritan. In 1632 he was presented to the lectureship of Lydd, Kent, a position variously estimated as being worth from two to five hundred pounds a year. Wood (Athenæ Oxon. iii. 700, ed. 1813) says he was presented to the vicarage of Lydd, but the register shows this to be incorrect. He rapidly obtained the character of a powerful preacher, and was a leader among the puritans of the district. In his 'Baby-Baptism' (p. 12) Fisher states that he was made a priest (? presbyter) by certain presbyterian divines after episcopacy was laid aside. While at Lydd Fisher took a warm part in favour of some anabaptists, attending their meetings and offering them the use of his pulpit, in which he was stopped by the churchwardens. About 1643 he returned his license to the bishop and joined the baptists, with whom he had for some time consorted, supporting himself by farming. He was rebaptised, and after taking an active part in the baptist community became minister to a congregation at Ashford, Kent, some time previous to 1649, in which year he was engaged in a controversy on infant baptism with several ministers in the presence of over two thousand people. He also disputed with Dr. Channel at Petworth, Sussex, in 1651, and was engaged in at least eight other disputes within three years, and is said to have been considered a 'great honour to the baptist cause' (Crosby, Hist. of the Baptists, i. 363). He wrote several tractates in defence of his principles, and 'Baby-Baptism meer Babism,' In 1654 William Coton and John Stubbs, while on a visit to Lydd, stayed at Fisher's house, and convinced him of the truth of quakerism. Shortly afterwards he joined the Friends, among whom he subsequently became a minister, probably before his meeting with George Fox at Romney in 1655. On 17 Sept. 1656 Fisher attended the meeting of parliament, and when the Protector stated that to his knowledge no man in England had suffered imprisonment unjustly attempted a reply. He was prevented completing his speech, which he afterwards published. He subsequently attempted to address the members of parliament at a fast-day service in St. Margaret's Church, Westmin-