bly of London, Seaman, a member of the first London classis, was moderator. In September-November 1648 he was one of the four presbyterian divines commissioned to the Isle of Wight to recommend their case to Charles in discussion with the king, aided by episcopalian divines; Charles complimented Seaman on his ability. In January 1649 he signed the 'Vindication' drawn up by Cornelius Burges, D.D. [q. v.], protesting against the king's trial. He proceeded D.D. in 1649. In 1653 he was vice-chancellor, and in 1654 was appointed by Cromwell one of the visitors of his university. Cosin was restored to the mastership of Peterhouse on 3 Aug. 1660. Seaman held aloof, with William Jenkyn and a few others, from the negotiations with Charles II in the presbyterian interest, and was looked upon as an uncompromising man, whom it was useless to tempt with offers of preferment. He resigned his benefice in consequence of the Uniformity Act; his successor, Risden, was appointed on 26 Aug. 1662. On the passing of the Five Miles Act, 1665, Baxter drew up a statement of reasons for not taking the oath which exempted from its operation; Seaman persuaded him to abstain from publishing it, and recommended a policy of 'silent patience.' He privately ministered to a congregation of his former parishioners, preached publicly after the great fire of 1666, and after the indulgence of 1672 built a chapel in Meeting-house Yard, Silver Street, Wood Street, Holborn. Wood, who knew him personally, refers to him respectfully as 'a learned nonconformist.' He died in Warwick Court, Newgate Street, about 9 Sept. 1675; Jenkyn preached his funeral sermon on 12 Sept.; an elegy on his death was issued (1675) as a broadsheet.
Seaman was a man of much learning, noted as a casuist, charitable in disposition, and a model of prudent reserve. He is chiefly remembered for his library, numbering upwards of five thousand books, which was the first sold in England by auction. The catalogue was published with the title 'Catalogus Variorum et Insignium Librorum instructissimee Bibliothecæ … Quorum Auctio habebitur Londini in aedibus Defuncti … Cura Gulielmi Cooper Bibliopolæ,' &c., 1676, 4to, pp. 137. A notice "To the Reader' states that 'it hath not been usual here in England to make sale of Books by way of Auction,' though this was 'practised in other countreys.' Four rules of sale are given, and the auction was to begin on 8 Oct. and continue each day at 9 A.M. and 2 P.M. till the books were sold. Of the two British Museum copies (821, i. 1 and 11906, e.l.) of the catalogue, the former, once in the possession of Narcissus Luttrell, has the prices added in manuscript. The highest sum obtained for a single lot was 8l. 2s. for the set of St. Chrysostom (Paris, 1636); the highest for a single volume was 1l. 15s. for Servetus's 'Dialogorum de Trinitate Libri Duo,' 1532, 8vo. Over 700 l. was realised in all (Bibliographica, i. 376).
Besides sermons before parliament (1644–1647), before the Lord Mayor (1650), and a farewell sermon (in the London collection, 1663), Seaman published:
- 'The Διατριβὴ proved to be Παραδιατριβή. A Vindication of … the Reformed Church … from Misrepresentations concerning the Ordination,' 1647, 4to (against Sidrach Simpson [q. v.] and Edmund Chillenden [q. v.]).
- 'His Majesties Papers … with an Answer … by … Mr. Seaman,' 1648, 4to, reprinted as 'The Papers which passed between His Majesty … and Mr. Seaman … concerning Church-government' [1649], 8vo. He prefixed an address to 'A Glance of Heaven,' 1638, by Richard Sibbes, D.D. [q. v.] For the Turkish version of the catechism by John Ball (1585-1640) [q. v.], erroneously ascribed to him, see Seaman, William.
[Funeral Sermon by Jenkyn, 1675; Baxter's Reliquiae, 1696, ii. 229, iii. 13; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. (Bliss) iii. 777, 1122, iv. 213; Calamy's Account, 1713, pp. 16 sq.; Calamy's Continuation, 1727, i. 17; Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, 1714, ii. 152; Wilson's Dissenting Churches of London, 1810, iii. 6sq.; Neal's Hist. of the Puritans (Toulmin), 1822, vol. iii.; Mitchell and Struthers's Minutes of the Westminster Assembly, 1874, pp. 62, &c.; Longman's Magazine, December 1893 (by Mr. A. W. Pollard); information kindly furnished by the Master of Emmanuel and the Master of Peterhouse.]
SEAMAN, WILLIAM (1606–1680), orientalist, and first translator of the New Testament into Turkish, was born in 1606. In 1623-4 he matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford, graduating B.A. at the same time, and M.A. in 1626. In 1628 he became rector of Upton-Scudamore, a living in the gift of Queen's College, Oxford, which he held up to the time of his death. Soon after his institution he travelled to Constantinople, and there entered the service of Sir Peter Wyche [q. v.], the English ambassador, though in what capacity does not appear. Twells, in a note to his 'Life of Dr, Edward Pocock' (London, 1740), doubtfully states that Seaman was chaplain to an English ambassador at the Porte, Sir Peter was ambassador from 1628 to 1639, and Thomas Hunt was his chaplain from 1628 till 1636. In 1652 Seaman published a translation from the Turkish
