at Croft, in York, Dr. Smith, the president, called the microscopic dot lichen, 'lichen Harrimanni.'
The Linnean Society possesses a copy of 'Acharii Methodus Lichenum,' Stockholm, 1803, with manuscript notes and figures added by Harriman, which was presented by his widow. Harriman furnished plants for Smith's 'English Botany' (such as Bartsia alpina), which he gathered in Teesdale. He was the first botanist to find Gentiana verna in England, and several rare plants in Westmoreland and Cumberland. He sent also a valuable collection of lichens from Egglestone to Smith.
[Information from James Britten, esq.; Smith's English Botany, passim.]
HARRINGTON, Earls of. [See Stanhope.]
HARRINGTON or HARINGTON, JAMES (1611–1677), political theorist, eldest son of Sir Sapcotes Harrington of Rand, Lincolnshire, by his first wife, Jane, daughter of Sir William Samwell of Upton, Northamptonshire, was born at Upton on 7 Jan. 1611. The Harringtons were an old family, connected with many of the nobility. John, first lord Harington of Exton [q. v.], was his great-uncle. He entered Trinity College, Oxford, as a gentleman-commoner in 1629, and is said to have been a pupil of Chillingworth; Chillingworth, however, was soon afterwards converted to Catholicism, and went to Douay in 1630. Upon the death of his father, Harrington chose for his guardian his grandmother, Lady Samwell. He left Oxford without a degree and travelled to Holland, where he joined the court of the elector and electress' palatine [see Elizabeth, 1596-1662], then living in exile near Arnheim. Harrington's relation, Lord Harington, had been Elizabeth's guardian. He served in the regiment of William, lord Craven [q. v.], and once accompanied the elector to Denmark. He afterwards travelled through France to Rome, where he refused to kiss the pope's toe, excusing himself afterwards to Charles I for his rudeness by saying that he would not kiss the foot of any prince after kissing the king's hand. He visited Venice, where he was much impressed by the system of government, and collected many Italian books, especially upon politics.
Returning to England he brought up his younger brother, William, as a merchant, and superintended the education of his sisters, Elizabeth, afterwards married to Sir Ralph Ashton, and Anne, afterwards married to Arthur Evelyn. He devoted himself to study, and took no active part in the civil war. With Thomas (afterwards Sir Thomas) Herbert (1605-1682) [q. v.] he followed the king from Newcastle to Holmby House, where at the request of Charles they were both made grooms of the bedchamber in place of some discharged servants. Here, according to Toland, he translated Sanderson's 'De Juramenti … obligatione,' published in 1655. Wood (under 'Sanderson, Robert') and Herbert say that Charles himself made the translation. He was with Charles in the Isle of Wight, and discussed political and other questions with him. He accompanied Charles to Hurst Castle, but was shortly afterwards dismissed on account of an imprudent conversation with some officers, in which he showed sympathy with the king and argued for accepting his concessions (Herbert). According to Toland, he was even imprisoned for refusing to take an oath against assisting the king to escape, but released by Ireton's intercession. Toland and Aubrey further say that he saw the king afterwards and accompanied him to the scaffold. Although a republican in principle, he seems to have been attracted by Charles, whose death is said to have greatly shocked him.
Harrington resumed his studies and in 1656 produced the 'Oceana.' Toland gives a story that the manuscript was seized by Cromwell and restored through the intercession of Mrs. Claypoole, whom Harrington had playfully threatened with stealing her child unless her father would restore his. A smart controversy followed the publication and led to the issue of many tracts by Harrington, chiefly in 1659. Baxter attacked the 'Oceana' in his 'Holy Commonwealth.' During the confusion which followed Cromwell's death Harrington formed a club called the Rota, to discuss the introduction of his political schemes. It lasted from November 1659 to February 1659-60, and included his friend H. Nevill, Major Wildman, Roger Coke, Cyriack Skinner, John Aubrey, William Petty, and others. It ceased when Monck's action made the Restoration a certainty.
On 26 Nov. 1661 (Wood) Harrington was committed to the Tower. His sisters were allowed access to him upon matters of private business on 14 Feb. 1661-2, when he had been eleven weeks in confinement (State Papers, Dom.) On 23 April following a warrant was issued to the lieutenant of the Tower to take him into close custody for having endeavoured at several meetings to change the form of government (ib.) In the index to the State Papers he is not distinguished from his cousin Sir James Harrington, son of his father's elder brother, Sir Edward, who was on the commission for trying the king and afterwards member of the council
