Abel Evans (1675–1737) was an English clergyman, academic, poet, and a self-conscious follower of

John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and politic ...

Life

He was son of Abel Evans of London, and was baptised on 26 February 1675. He entered Merchant Taylors' School in 1685. He was elected probationary fellow of St. John's College, Oxford (1692), proceeded regularly to the degrees of B.A. (1696), M.A. (1699), B.D. (1705), D.D. (1711). He entered holy orders in 1700, and held successively the incumbencies of

Kirtlington Kirtlington is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Oxfordshire about west of Bicester. The parish includes the Hamlet (place), hamlet of Northbrook. The United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census recorded the parish's popula ...

, St. Giles, Oxford, and

Great Staughton Great Staughton is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Great Staughton lies approximately south-west of Huntingdon. Great Staughton is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as ...

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England, which was historically a county in its own right. It borders Peterborough to the north, Fenland to the north-east, East Cambridgeshire to the e ...

. For a short, time also he was chaplain to his college. He was removed, according to Thomas Hearne, because, in a speech made publicly in the hall of St. John's, he reflected upon

William Delaune William Delaune D.D. (14 April 1659 – 23 May 1728) was an English clergyman and academic, President of St John's College, Oxford, and chaplain to Queen Anne. Life Delaune was son of Benjamin Delaune of London, England, by Margaret, daugh ...

, the President, and most of the Fellows. The Duchess of Marlborough supported him, and he was reinstated in his office. Evans was presented by his college in 1725 to the rectory of

Cheam Cheam () is a suburb of London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is divided into North Cheam, Cheam Village and South Cheam. Cheam Village contains the listed buildings Lumley Chapel and the 16th-century Whitehall. It is adjacent to t ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, and died there 18 October 1737.

Works

Turning on former friends, he published (1710) a poem entitled ''The Apparition; a dialogue betwixt the Devil and a Doctor concerning the rights of the Christian Church'', in which

Matthew Tindal Matthew Tindal (1657 – 16 August 1733) was an eminent English deist author. His works, highly influential at the dawn of the Enlightenment, caused great controversy and challenged the Christian consensus of his time. Life Tindal was baptised ...

and

White Kennett White Kennett (10 August 166019 December 1728) was an English bishop and antiquarian. He was educated at Westminster School and at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where, while an undergraduate, he published several translations of Latin works, including ...

were roughly handled. In 1713 Evans published a poetical epistle to the botanist

Jacob Bobart the Younger Jacob Bobart, the younger, (2 August 1641 – 28 December 1719), was an English botanist. Background Bobart was the younger son of Jacob Bobart. He was born at Oxford, and succeeded his father as superintendent of the Physic Garden, and on the ...

, entitled ''Vertumnus''. ''Præ-existence'' (1714) was in Milton's style.

References

External links

Abel Evans
at th
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)
;Attribution * 1675 births 1737 deaths 18th-century English Anglican priests Fellows of St John's College, Oxford English male poets {{England-poet-stub