Austin, John

AUSTIN, JOHN: English Roman Catholic; b. at Walpole (65 m. n. of London), Norfolk, 1613; d. in London 1669. He studied at St. John’s, Cambridge, and remained there until about 1640, when, having embraced the Roman Catholic religion, he found it necessary to leave the university; he studied law and lived in London, and for some time during the civil war was a private tutor in Staffordshire. Under the pseudonym of William Birchley he published The Christian Moderator; or persecution for religion condemned by the light of nature, law of God, evidence of our own principles (part i, London, 1651; parts ii-iv, 1652-61), aiming to vindicate the Roman Catholic beliefs against popular misconceptions and pleading for the rights and privileges accorded to other religious bodies. He also wrote Devotions; First Part, in the Ancient Way of Offices, with psalms, hymns, and prayers for every day in the week and every holy day in the year (2d ed., Rouen, 1672; place and date of 1st ed. not known), a work which in various forms has passed through many editions (4th ed., 1685; ” reformed” by T. Dorrington,1687, 9th ed., 1727; by Mrs. Susanna Hopton, with preface by Dr. George Hickes, commonly known as ” Hickes’s Devotions,” 1701, 5th ed., 1717, reprinted, 1846). The Harmony of the Holy Gospels Digested into one History, reformed and 376improved by J. Bonnel (London, 1705) is thought to have been originally published as the second part of the Devotions.

Bibliography: A. à Wood, Athenæ Oxonienses, iii, 149, 150, 1226, 1227, Oxford, 1692; C. Butler, Historical Memoirs, of English . . . Catholics, iv, 459, London, 1822; DNB, ii, 263-264; J. Gillow, Biographical Dictionary of English Catholics, i, 87-90, London, 1885.