Pocock, EDWARD

Pocock, EDWARD, a learned Orientalist, was born in 1604, and educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, of which he was elected fellow in 1628. He early devoted himself to oriental studies, and sailed for Aleppo in 1630 as chaplain to the English factory, but returned in 1636 to fill Laud's newly-founded Arabic chair at Oxford, and received in 1643 the college living of Childrey. His estimable character and great learning raised up for him during the troubles friends like Selden and Owen. He was appointed to the chair of Hebrew in 1648, but his inability to take the engagement of 1649 deprived him of the salary down to the Restoration. He survived till 1691. Pocock's learning was really remarkable, even apart from all allowances for his time. His Specimen Historie Arabum (1649), abridged from Abulfaraj; Porta Mosis (1655)—extracts from Maimonides' Arabic commentary on the Mishna; the Annals of Eutychius (1656), in Arabic and Latin; and an edition of the Arabic history of Barhebraeus (1663), were followed by Commentaries on Micah (1677), Malachi (1677), Hosea (1685), and Joel (1691).