in 1660 as ‘Joannis Pricæi Commentarii in varios Novi Testamenti Libros’ (folio), both separately, and in the ‘Critici Sacri,’ tom. v. (see an elaborate review of this work in John Alberti's ‘Periculum Criticum,’ Leyden, 1727, 8vo).
Price also edited three of the letters of the younger Pliny (Epp. 3, 5, and 10 of lib. i.), of which very rare book a copy (without the title-page) is in the British Museum. His latest project was an edition of Hesychius, on which he worked at Venice, having resigned his chair at Pisa for the purpose; but being forestalled by the issue of the Leyden edition in 1668, to which he contributed the ‘Index Auctorum,’ he removed to Rome, where he found a patron in Cardinal Francesco Barberini, and a last resting-place in the Augustinian monastery, in the chapel of which his remains were interred about 1676.
Price's reputation stood high among his contemporaries (see testimonies by Ussher, Selden, and others, collected by Colomiés in ‘Bibliothèque Choisie,’ Paris, 1731, p. 189, and Bayle, Dict. Hist.) Wood (Athenæ Oxon., ed. Bliss, iii. 1105) calls him the greatest critic of his time, and unquestionably he was a fine scholar. His reputation, however, rests chiefly on his work on Apuleius. The excessive license of emendation in which he indulged in his commentaries on the New Testament seriously impaired their value. From the print of his head prefixed to his edition of the ‘Metamorphoses’ of Apuleius he appears to have been a handsome man. He must be carefully distinguished from John Price, D.D. (1625?–1691) [q. v.], chaplain to General Monck.
Price's works are entitled as follows:
- ‘L. Apulei Madaurensis Philosophi Platonici Apologia recognita et nonnullis notis ac observationibus illustrata,’ Paris, 1635.
- ‘Matthæus ex sacra pagina sanctis Patribus Græcisque ac Latinis Gentium scriptoribus ex parte illustratus a Joanne Pricæo,’ Paris, 1646, 8vo.
- ‘Annotationes in Epist. Jacobi,’ Paris, 8vo.
- ‘Acta Apostolorum ex sacra pagina sanctis Patribus Græcisque ac Latinis Gentium scriptoribus illustrata,’ Paris, 1647, 8vo.
- ‘L. Apulei Madaurensis Metamorphoseos Libri XI cum notis et amplissima indice,’ Gouda, 1650, 8vo.
[Foster's Alumni Oxon. and Gray's Inn Reg.; Welch's Alumni Westmonast.; Dodd's Church Hist. iii. 286; Granger's Biogr. Hist. of Engl. 1775, iii. 104; Chaudon's Nouveau Dict. Hist.; Cal. State Papers. Dom. 1640, pp. 536, 555; Parr's Life of Ussher, pp. 506, 596; m'Clintock and Strong's Cyclop. Bibl. and Eccles. Lit.; Hallam's Literature of Europe, iv. 9; Allibone's Dict. of Engl. Lit.; Brunet's Manuel du Libraire.]
PRICE, JOHN, D.D. (1625?–1691), royalist, born in the Isle of Wight about 1625, was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, where he was admitted on 10 Jan. 1644–5, commenced M.A. in 1653, and was elected to a fellowship. Having taken holy orders, he attended General Monck as chaplain during his command in Scotland in 1654–9, and was his principal confidant and coadjutor in the enterprise of the Restoration. His loyalty was rewarded with an Eton fellowship (12 July 1660), and the prebend of Yetminster and Grimston in the church of Sarum (28 Nov. following), having a royal dispensation to hold both benefices concurrently. In 1669 he was instituted to the rich rectory of Petworth, Sussex. He received from the university of Cambridge the degree of D.D., pursuant to royal letters, in 1661. On 19 Oct. 1680 he was incorporated M.A. at Oxford. He died on 17 April 1691. His remains were interred in Petworth church.
Price was author of ‘The Mystery and Method of His Majesty's happy Restauration laid open to Publick View,’ London, 1680, 8vo; reprinted by Maseres in ‘Select Tracts relating to the Civil Wars in England,’ London 1815, 8vo; French translation in ‘Collection des Mémoires relatifs à la Révolution d'Angleterre,’ Paris, 1827, vol. iv.; an historical piece of unique value from the exceptional position occupied by the writer. He also published:
- ‘A Sermon preached before the House of Commons at St. Margaret's in Westminster on Thursday the 10th of May; being a day of solemn thanksgiving … for the mercies God had bestowed on the nation through the successful conduct of the Lord General Monk,’ London, 1660, 4to.
- ‘Sermon at Petworth in Sussex, 9 Sept. 1683, being a day of solemn thanksgiving for the deliverance of the King from the late Barbarous Conspiracy,’ London, 1683, 4to.
He must be distinguished from John Price, M.A., of University College, Oxford, author of ‘Moderation not Sedition,’ London, 1663, 4to.
[Alumni Etonenses; Foster's Alumni Oxon.; Wood's Fasti Oxon. ed. Bliss, ii. 376; Cole's MS. Coll. xv. 189; Cooper's Memorials of Cambridge, King's Coll.; Skinner's Life of Monk, pp. 96 et seq.; Le Neve's Fasti Eccl. Angl. ii. 657; Horsfield's Sussex, ii. 179; Dallaway's Western Division of Sussex, vol. ii. pt. i. p. 300; Arnold's Petworth; Sussex Archæolog. Coll. xiv. 24, xxiii. 172; Masson's Life of Milton, v. 476–7, 526, 528; Evelyn's Diary, ed. Bray, 1850, i. 425 n.]
