NYE, JOHN (d. 1688), theological writer, was the second son of Philip Nye [q. v.] He is probably the John Nye who, on 4 Jan. 1647, was ‘approved on his former examination’ by the Westminster assembly. On 23 Feb. 1654 (being already married, and the father of two sons) he matriculated from Magdalen College, Oxford, and obtained his B.A. degree the same day. In 1654 he was a student of the Middle Temple, and was appointed (before June 1654) clerk or ‘register’ to the ‘triers,’ his father (with whom he is often confounded) being a leading commissioner. At the Restoration he conformed, and obtained the vicarage of Great Chishall, Essex, in 1661. Calamy says he was ejected from Settingham, Cambridgeshire; there seems no such place; ‘ejected’ would simply mean that he ceded some sequestered living. He was living at Cambridge in March 1662. On 27 Aug. 1662 he obtained the rectory of Quendon, Essex, vacant by the nonconformity of Abraham Clyfford, afterwards M.D. (d. 1676). In 1674 he obtained also the adjacent vicarage of Rickling, Essex. He died in 1688. He married the second daughter of Stephen Marshall [q. v.]; she seems to have died before 1655. His son, Stephen Nye, is separately noticed; another son, John (b. 1652?), was admitted pensioner of Magdalene College, Cambridge, on 27 March 1666, in his fifteenth year, and graduated B.A. in 1670.
He published: 1. ‘Mr. Anthony Sadler examined,’ &c., 1654, 4to (anon.; but assigned to Nye; it is a defence of his father in reply to Sadler's ‘Inquisitio Anglicana,’ &c., 1654, 4to). 2. ‘A Display of Divine Heraldry,’ &c., 1678, 12mo (preface dated ‘Quendon, 25 Oct. 1675;’ it is a reconciliation of the genealogies of our Lord, and a defence of the inerrancy of scripture, against Socinus).
[Calamy's Account, 1713, p. 119; Hustler's Grad. Cantabr. 1823; David's Evang. Nonconformity in Essex, 1863, pp. 285, 444 sq.; Mitchell and Smithers's Minutes of the Westminster Assembly, 1874, p. 318; Minutes of Manchester Presbyterian Classis (Chetham Soc.), 1891, iii. 391; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1891, iii. 1083; will of Stephen Marshall at Somerset House; extract from Admission Book of Magdalene College, Cambridge, per F. Pattrick, esq.]
NYE, NATHANIEL (fl. 1648), writer on gunnery, born in 1624, was author of (1) ‘A New Almanack for 1643,’ on the title-page of which he describes himself as ‘mathematician and practitioner of astronomy’ and of (2) ‘The Art of Gunnery, wherein is described the true way to make all sorts of gunpowder, gun-match [sic], the art of shooting in great and small ordnance, excellent ways to take Heights, Depths, Distances, accessible or inaccessible, either single or divers distances at one operation: to draw the Map or Plot of any City, Town, Castle, or other fortified place,’ 2 parts, 1647, 8vo. The author is styled Master gunner of the city of Worcester. On the title-page it is stated that the book is ‘for the help of all such, gunners and others, that have charge of artillery, and are not well versed in arithmetic and geometry;’ all the rules and directions ‘being framed both with and without the help of arithmetic.’ ‘The Art of Gunnery’ is dedicated, with a quaint preface, to the Earl of Lindsey, lord great-chamberlain of England. In a second preface, addressed to the reader, Nye writes: ‘Whatsoever thou findest in my Fireworks I do protest to thee that I have made and still do make practice of them myself; having by experience found them the best of all others that ever I have read of: or that are taught by Bate, Babington, Norton, Tartaglia, or Malthus.’ Several illustrations and plans are given. ‘The true Effigies of Nathaniel Nye,’ aged 20, drawn and engraved by Hollar and prefixed to the edition of 1647, is termed by Evans ‘fine and scarce.’ An edition of 1670 is in the library of Sion College.
[Nye's Works; Granger's Biogr. Hist. of England, ii. 338–9; Evans's Cat. Engr. Portraits.]
NYE, PHILIP (1596?–1672), independent divine, probably eldest son of Henry Nye (d. 1646), rector of Clapham, Sussex, was born about 1596. The Nye family seat was Hayes, near Slinfold, Sussex. On 21 July 1615, aged about nineteen, he was entered a commoner of Brasenose College, Oxford. He removed on 28th June 1616 to Magdalen Hall, and graduated B.A. 24 April 1619, M.A. 9 May 1622. In 1620 he began to preach, but his first cure is unknown; he was licensed to the perpetual curacy of Allhallows, Staining, on 9 Oct. 1627 (Newcourt), and in 1630 he was at St. Michael's, Cornhill (Wood). By 1633 his nonconformity had got him into trouble, and he withdrew to Holland, where he remained, principally at Arnhem, till 1640. Early in that year he returned to England with John Canne [q. v.], landing at Hull. Canne reached Bristol by Easter (5 April 1640), which fixes the time of Nye's return. Baxter states that Nye held a discussion (in Staffordshire) with John Ball (1585–1640) [q. v.] On the presentation of Edward Montagu
