Christopher Harvey (1597–1663) was an English clergyman and poet.

Life

The son of the Rev. Christopher Harvey of

Bunbury, Cheshire Bunbury is a village in Cheshire, England, south of Tarporley and north west of Nantwich on the Shropshire Union Canal. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 1,195. History Bunbury was reputedly derived from Buna-burh, meaning the "redou ...

and his wife Ellen (Helen), he came from a

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...

background, his father's associates including William Hinde, Samuel Torshell and

John Bruen John Bruen (1560–1625) was an English Puritan layman, celebrated in his time for piety. Early life Bruen was the son of a Cheshire squire of Bruen Stapleford; the elder John Bruen was three time married. His union with Anne, the sister of Sir ...

. He was a batler of

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the m ...

, in 1613, and graduated B.A. 19 May 1617, becoming M.A. 1 February 1620. In 1630 he was rector of Whitney, Herefordshire; at Michaelmas 1632 he became head-master of Kington grammar school, but he seems to have returned to Whitney on or before the following 25 March, when a new head-master was appointed. On 14 November 1639 Harvey was instituted to the vicarage of Clifton on Dunsmore,

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avo ...

. He owed this preferment to his patron Sir Robert Whitney, according to a dedicatory epistle to Whitney in his edition of

Thomas Pierson Thomas Pierson (March 22, 1950 – February 20, 2014) was founder and CEO of the SETI Institute (search for extraterrestrial intelligence), a non-profit institute conducting research in Astrobiology. Early life and education Tom Pierson was rais ...

's ''Excellent Encouragements against Afflictions'', 1647. His widowed mother had married Pierson. Harvey was buried at Clifton on 4 April 1663.

Works

Harvey was the author of ''The Synagogue'', a series of devotional poems appended anonymously to the 1640 edition of

George Herbert George Herbert (3 April 1593 – 1 March 1633) was an English poet, orator, and priest of the Church of England. His poetry is associated with the writings of the metaphysical poets, and he is recognised as "one of the foremost British devoti ...

's ''The Temple'', and reprinted with most of its later editions. ''The Synagogue'' is a derivative imitation of Herbert. In 1647 Harvey issued anonymously ''Schola Cordis, or the Heart of it Selfe gone away from God; brought back againe to him; and instructed by him. In 47 Emblems''; 2nd edition 1664; 3rd edition 1675. The volume has on the title-page "By the Author of the Synagogue". The

emblem An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a king or saint. Emblems vs. symbols Although the words ''emblem'' and '' symbol'' are often use ...

s were adapted from

Benedictus van Haeften Benedictus van Haeften (1588 – 31 July 1648) was the Provost of Affligem Abbey and a writer of religious works. Haeften commissioned Rubens and De Crayer to decorate the church and the monastery in Affligem. Biography Van Haeften was a Bened ...

's ''Schola Cordis''. This work was a free adaptation, with the engravings made freshly and reversed. It was later reissued as ''The School of the Heart'', and wrongly attributed to

Francis Quarles Francis Quarles (about 8 May 1592 – 8 September 1644) was an English poet most notable for his emblem book entitled ''Emblems''. Early life Francis Quarles was born in Romford, Essex, and baptised there on 8 May 1592. His family had a long hist ...

Harvey also published ''Ἀφηνιαστής. The Right Rebel. A Treatise discovering the true Use of the Name by the Nature of Rebellion'', 1661 (reissue ''Faction Supplanted: or a Caveat against the ecclesiastical and secular Rebels'' 1663); it was mostly written in 1642 and finished on 3 April 1645. A related polemical work was ''Self-Contradiction Censured, or, A Caveat Against Inconstancy'' (1662). Anthony Wood attributed to Harvey a book called ''Conditions of Christianity''. Harvey was a friend of

Izaak Walton Izaak Walton (baptised 21 September 1593 – 15 December 1683) was an English writer. Best known as the author of ''The Compleat Angler'', he also wrote a number of short biographies including one of his friend John Donne. They have been coll ...

, and prefixed

commendatory verse The epideictic oratory, also called ceremonial oratory, or praise-and-blame rhetoric, is one of the three branches, or "species" (eidē), of rhetoric as outlined in Aristotle's ''Rhetoric'', to be used to praise or blame during ceremonies. Origin ...

s to the ''

Compleat Angler ''The Compleat Angler'' (the spelling is sometimes modernised to ''The Complete Angler'', though this spelling also occurs in first editions) is a book by Izaak Walton. It was first published in 1653 by Richard Marriot in London. Walton continue ...

'', ed. 1655. The fourth edition of ''The Synagogue'' has commendatory verses by Walton, who also quoted one of its poems in the 1655 edition of the ''Angler''.

Family

By his wife Margaret Harvey had nine children. Between 1630 and 1639 five of them were baptised at Whitney; the others at Clifton.

References

Judith Maltby Judith Diane Maltby (born 1957) is an American-born Anglican priest and historian, who specialises in post-Reformation church history and the history of early modern Britain. She has been the chaplain and a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Ox ...

, "From ''Temple'' to ''Synagogue'': 'Old' Conformity in the 1640s–1650s and the Case of Christopher Harvey",

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Harvey, Christopher 1597 births 1663 deaths 17th-century English Anglican priests 17th-century English poets 17th-century English male writers Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford English male poets