Origins and education Matthew Robinson, baptised at
Rokeby, Yorkshire, on 14 December 1628, was the third son of Thomas Robinson, barrister, of
Gray's Inn, and Frances, daughter of Leonard Smelt, of Kirby Fletham, Yorkshire. When, in 1643, his father was killed fighting for the Parliament in the
Civil War, Matthew was recommended as page to
Sir Thomas Fairfax. But it was decided that he should continue his education; and in October 1644 he arrived at Edinburgh. In the spring the plague broke out, and he left. In May 1645 he made his way to Cambridge, which he reached, after some hairbreadth escapes, on 9 June. A few days after he began his studies Cambridge was threatened by the
Royalists. He and a companion, while trying to escape to Ely, were brought back by "the rude rabble". Robinson now offered his services to the governor of the town, and until the dispersal of the
King's forces undertook military duty every night. On 4 November he was admitted scholar of
St. John's College. His tutor,
Zachary Cawdry, became his lifelong friend. Robinson excelled in metaphysics, and for recreation translated, but did not publish, the
Book of Canticles into Latin verse. He graduated
BA in 1648 and
MA in 1652. In 1649 he was elected a fellow of
Christ's College, but the election was disallowed by "
mandamus from the powers then in being". A resolve to go to
Padua was defeated by want of money. On 13 April 1650, however, he was elected fellow of St. John's. He now resumed his studies, and particularly that of physic, which he meant to make his profession. He "showed his seniors
vividissections of dogs and suchlike creatures in their chambers".
Sir Thomas Browne ("Dr. Brown of Norwich") sent him "epistolary resolutions of many questions". After studying medicine "not two full years", he was persuaded by his mother to accept presentation to the family living of
Burneston, Yorkshire. He went into residence in August 1651. Meanwhile his medical advice was in great request, and Sir Joseph Cradock, the commissary of the
archdeaconry of Richmond, procured him a license to practise as a physician. He had much success, especially in the treatment of consumption.
Career and works , Burneston Both Robinson and Cawdry had scruples about the
Act of Uniformity, which their bishop,
Brian Walton of Chester, took great pains to satisfy. Robinson had much respect for
Nonconformists; and he allowed some of them to preach in his parish. Plurality and non-residence he "utterly detested", and was "of my Lord Verulam's judgement" as to the desirability of many other Church reforms. He wrote his
Cassander Reformatus to "satisfy the dissenters every way", but did not publish it. In September 1682 he resigned the living of Burneston in favour of his nephew, and removed to
Ripley, where, for two years, he managed Lady Ingleby's estates. At
Burneston he erected and endowed two free schools and a hospital. In 1685 or 1686 he began his
Annotations on the New Testament, which he finished in December 1690. The occasion of this undertaking was his disappointment with
Poole's
Synopsis, in the preparation of which he had assisted. The
Annotations, in two large finely written folios, later passed to
Thomas Jackson of the
Wesleyan College, Richmond. Among Robinson's versatile tastes was one for horses. He bred the best horses in the north of England, and, while staying with his brother Leonard in London, was summoned to
Whitehall by
Charles II for consultation respecting a charger which
Monmouth afterwards rode at
Bothwell-Brigg. He also began a book on horsemanship and the treatment of horses, but thought it "not honourable to his cloth to publish". Some of his "secrets" were embodied in the ''Gentleman's Jockey and Approved Farrier'' (1676).
Death and legacy Robinson died at Ripley on 27 November 1694, and was buried in
Burneston church. He left an estate of 700
l. per annum, his skill in affairs being "next to miraculous". He married, on 12 October 1657, Jane, daughter of Mark Pickering of
Ackworth, a descendant of Archbishop
Tobie Matthew, but had no children. Their portraits, formerly at Burneston, have perished.
Thoresby mentions that
A Treatise of Faith by a Dying Divine contains an account of Robinson's character. This, with a manuscript introduction in Robinson's writing, belonged in 1897 to J. R. Walbran, Esq., of
Fallcroft, Ripon.
The Life of Matthew Robinson was printed in 1856 by Professor
Mayor in Part II of
Cambridge in the Seventeenth Century, from a manuscript in St. John's College Library, with numerous notes, appendix, and indices. It purports to be, with the exception of the last four pages, an autobiography. It was completed by Robinson's nephew, George Grey. The latter's son, Zachary, supplied chronological notes and corrections. == Notes ==