WARD, Nathaniel, English Puritan divine: b. Haverhi/l, Suffolk, 1578 ; d. Shenfield, Essex, 1652. He was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, traveled widely on the Continent, took orders' in 1618 and from 1620 to 1624 ap pears to have :been chaplain to the colony of British merchants at Elbing, Prussia. On his return to Eng-land, he was curate of Saint James', Piccadilly (1626-28), and subsequently rector of Stondon Massey, Essex. On account of his Puritan views he was frequently cited before Laud, who finally (1633) deprived him of the living. He emigrated in 1634 to Massa chusetts, and became minister to a settlement at Agawam, later called Ipswich. This post, because of ill-health, he resigned in 1636. In 1639 he was appointed, with the Rev. John Cotton (q.v.), to frame the first code of laws for the colony,— the (Body of Liberties,' passed by the General Court in 1641. This compilation is in many respects a remarkable one, and displays wide knowledge of law. Ward was influential in the colonial govern ment; in 1645 he became a member of the com mittee for the revision of the Massachusetts laws. But he is chiefly known as the author of the ((most eccentric and amusing° work written in colonial America. This book, (The Simple
Cobbler of Agawam,' was printed at London in 1647, and passed through four editions in that year. It appeared under the pseudonym of Theodore de la Guard — Theodore being the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Nathaniel, de la Guard the French for Ward — who turns from his humble last to satirize England old and new. Amid some curious syntax, there is in it an abundance of eloquence and wit, malt ing it still very readable. There is, too, much of the intolerance of the place and time. Ward went back to England in 1646. His 'Cob bler' had gained some notice, and he preached before the Cotnmons in 1647 and received the living of Shenfield, Essex, in 1648. Among his further publications were 'A Religious Re treat Sounded to a Religious Army> (1647) ; (To the High and Honorable Parliament, Humble Petitions, Serious Suggestions and Dutiful Expostulations> (1650) ; and probably, 'Mercurius Anitmechanicus> (1648), denounc ing the execution of Charles. Consult Dean, 'Memoir of Nathaniel Ward' (1868) ; Tyler, 'A History of American Literature> (1878) ; the 'Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society,' 3d ser., I, VIII; 4th ser., VII.