The Lost Nachlass of Henry Ainsworth

The Hartlib Circle, a diffuse group of intelligentsia centered on the endeavors of the German polymath Samuel Hartlib to make accessible all human knowledge, which was a precursor to the Invisible Society, and in turn was a precursor to the Royal Society, included such notable brilliant lights John Dury and John Worthington. One interesting trajectory of their labors involves the project to find the lost Nachlass of Henry Ainsworth.

Henry Ainsworth, one of the most famous of the Christian Orientalists, author of the celebrated Annotations on the Pentateuch, the Psalms, and the Song of Solomon, as well as the metrical version of the Psalms used by the Pilgrims, died suddenly in Amsterdam in 1622 or 1623 at around the age of 51 under mysterious circumstances. In fact, he was thought by some to have been poisoned. Daniel Neal, in his History of the Puritans, Vol. 1 (1844 ed.), p. 243, writes:

His death, was sudden, and not without suspicion of violence; for it is reported that, having found a diamond of very great value in the streets of Amsterdam, he advertised it in print, and when the owner, who was a Jew, came to demand it, he offered him any acknowledgment he would desire; but Ainsworth, though poor, would accept of nothing but a conference with some of his rabbies upon the prophecies of the Old Testament relating to the Messiah, which the other promised, but not having interest enough to obtain it, 'tis thought that he was poisoned.

Benjamin Brook, Lives of the Puritans, Vol. 2, p. 302, says that other accounts hold that the conference with the Jewish rabbis did indeed take place, that Ainsworth confounded his opponents, and that they did in revenge poison him.

Be that as it may, at his death, Ainsworth, a voluminous writer, left behind him a large body of unpublished manuscripts. The existence of these papers became the subject of interest of the British Council of State which in 1652 planned a revision of the Authorized (King James) Version of the Bible. Ainsworth's writings were intended to serve as the basis for marginal notes that would accompany this revision. A committee which included Ralph Cudworth, a Hartlibian, was entrusted with the aim of obtaining these papers. The planned revision did not materialize but Hartlib, who greatly desired to see a complete commentary on the Bible written according to Ainsworth's method, did not forget about them. He and his friend John Worthington corresponded about the project to track down these lost Ainsworth manuscripts shortly before Hartlib's death.

In 1661, Worthington wrote to Hartlib, as recorded in the first volume of Worthington's Diary and Correspondence, pp. 263-269:

There is another author, whose remains are most worthy to be retriev'd: I mean Mr. Ainsworth, whose excellent Annotations upon the Pentateuch, &c., sufficiently discover his great learning, and his most excellent observation of the proper idiom of the holy text; with every jot and tittle of which he seems to be much acquainted as any of the Masoreths of Tiberius. I have been told that there are these MSS., of his, viz., his Comment upon Hosea, Notes upon S. Matthew, and Notes upon the Epistle to the Hebrews: which latter he was the more prepared for, by reason of his former labours upon the Pentateuch; the Epistle to the Hebrews being Moses unveil'd. Mr. Cole, (a bookseller at the Printing Press, in Corn-hill,) told one, that he had once these MSS., in his keeping, and thought to have printed them; but that a kinsman (or a son, I do not so well remember,) of Mr. Ainsworth's at Amsterdam, and John Can, could not well agree, either about the right of disposing the copy, or the price for the MSS. I have heard that Mr. [Philip] Nye, or Mr. [Henry] Jessey, knew something of these MSS. If they could be recovered, so they be like the other printed works of the author, it would be a good work indeed, and might be of singular use. Nay, if they be not throughout so compleated as the author intended, yet the whole is too good to be lost or [embezzled]. Perhaps you or Mr. Dury may be acquainted with the forementioned persons in England; or could by some understanding persons enquire of this business at Amsterdam. If the MSS., can be found, and may be purchased at a fit rate, there is no fear of being a looser. His other works have always sold well, and at a good price; and were bought by men of different perswasions from him; who did esteem him for his modesty and singular learning, and were much obliged to him for his skill in Jewish antiquities, lighting their candle by his.

This business I think is worthy of consideration.

Dury did in fact track down the one who held Ainsworth's manuscripts: it was Ainsworth's son. Worthington wrote again to Hartlib later that year (ibid, p. 353) to encourage Dury in this contact with Ainsworth's son. But Dury's efforts to persuade the son to part with the manuscripts were ultimately unsuccessful. Ainsworth's son did not feel that his father's reputation would be enhanced by their publication.

As for what happened to them next, the trail grows cold, at least for this writer. It would be nice to think that they were not destroyed but tucked safely away to be discovered by some researcher centuries later, like a hidden treasure of gold. But as for now they remain a literary mystery and a lost Nachlass.

Lost Treasures

Puritans were "people of the Book," and as such, they read and wrote prolifically. "Puritanism was an intrinsically bookish movement" (N.H. Keeble, "Puritanism and Literature," in John Coffey and Paul C.H. Lim, eds., The Cambridge Companion to Puritanism, p. 309). We are grateful to those who republish their works today and it is a blessing when long-lost works suddenly come to light.

There are some works by Puritans that, in God's providence, may never again see the light. Here are some of those lost treasures that I have read about from time to time. It makes one wonder, with pious reverence, "What if...?"

Samuel Rutherford is said to have prepared an exposition of Isaiah, and Robert Blair an exposition of Proverbs, both of which would have contributed to the Scottish Puritan Commentary Series, but are supposed to be lost.

Henry Ainsworth, famous for his Annotations on the Pentateuch, Psalms and the Song of Solomon, his Psalter and other writings, also had many other Biblical expositions which were not published following his "untimely" death (he is thought by some to have been poisoned). A search for those unpublished commentaries was made by John Dury on behalf of Samuel Hartlib and John Worthington (tutor of Matthew Poole, who is also thought by some to have been poisoned), who were seeking to aid the work of a committee charged with preparing a planned revision of the King James Bible with marginal notes and desired to find Ainsworth's unpublished manuscripts. Dury sought for Ainsworth's nachlass in the Netherlands, but ultimately his son refused to allow them to be published and, as far as I know, they are lost to history.

Willem Teellinck wrote a commentary on the Pentateuch, Verklaeringe Over de Vijf Boecken Moses (Exposition of the Five Books of Moses), which was ready for print shortly before he died at the age of 50, but was lost.

Patrick Simpson, cousin of George Gillespie, reported (as recorded by Robert Wodrow, Analecta, Vol. 1, pp. 159-160) that at his death (at the tender age of 36), "He had all his sermons in England, part polemicall, part practicall, prepared for the press; and but one copy of them, which he told the printer's wife he used to deal with, and bad her have a care of them. And she was prevailed on by some money from the Sectarys, who wer mauled by him, to suppress them." And so his English sermons were lost.

William Ames' personal library was donated to Harvard College and formed the nucleus of it, but it was all (save one copy of John Downame's The Christian Warfare) destroyed by fire in 1763.

But who knows, perhaps some of these are waiting to be discovered after all? There may be lost treasures, more precious that pirates' gold, yet to be found.