OCKLEY, SIMON, 1678-1720; b. England; entered Queen's college, Cambridge, 1693, and received the degree of 13.D. In 1705 he was presented to the vicarage of Swavesey. He in the oriental languages. From Arabic manuscripts in the Bodleian library, at Oxford, he compiled a work containing much serviceable information con cerning the early conquests of the Arabs, entitled The History of the Saracens, beginning with the times immediately subsequent to the death of Mohammed, and concluding in the year 705, which is much esteemed as a book of reference for the student in oriental languages. Gibbon, the historian, while writing his _Decline and Fall, consulted it with 'advantage, and characterized the author as "an original iu.every souse .who had opened his eyes," and "a learned and spirited interpreter of Arabian authorities." Disraeli says: " Ile was, perhaps, the tirst who exhibited to us other heroes titan those of Rome :n.1 Greece, sages as contemplative, and a people more magnificent even thou the iron masters of the world." The scholars of his time received the book with marked appro bation, esteeming it " the most authentic account of the Arabian prophet yet given to the world," and in 1847 it was regarded as "the standard history of this eventful period." In 1711 he was made professor of Arabic in the university of Cambridge, and in his inaugural address lie pathetically referred to his poverty. ,The 1st vol. of his history was published in 1703, the 2d and last in 1718, and was dated at Cambridge castle, where he was impris (at ed for debt. From these circumstances the conclusion is drawn that his literary work
brought him little profit, but it is also a matter of history that he had an expensive family. , La Chalmers's Biographical Dietionary there is an interesting account of his life, by Dr. Deatheote, and about the preparation of his principal work, his own words express the difficulties encountered, when he says : " Had I not been forced to snatch every thing that I have, as it were, out of fire, our Saracen history should have been ushered into the world in a different manner." A third edition with additions by Dr. Long appeared int1757 in 2 vols., and a fourth edition revised, improved, and enlarged, in 1847. Among his most important works, in addition to sermons on The Christian Priesthood, and the Necessity of instructing Children in the Scriptures, there were published in 1706, Introductio ad Linguis Orientalis in qua its Diseendis via minium. et Earum 11611.8 Ostenditur ; in 1707, The History of the present Jews Throughout the World, translated from the Italian of Leo of Modena, a Venetian rabbi; iu 1708, The Improvement of Human Reason Eehibited in the Life of Hai Elm Yokdhan, from the Arabic. In 1716 he pub lished a new translation from the Arabic version of the second Apocryphal Book of 14,7vtlras, •Hiswritings are distinguished for their almost perfect accuracy as well as their erudition.