POTTER, CHRISTOPHER, a learned English divine, was born in 1591, and bred at Oxford. In 1633, he published
published his "Answer to a late Popish Plot," entitled Charity mistaken, which he wrote by special order of King Charles I. whose chaplain he was. In 1634, he was promoted to the deanery of Worcester; and, in 1640, was constituted vice-chancellor of the university of Oxford, in the execution of which office he met with some trouble from the members of the long parliament. Upon the breaking out of the civil wars, he sent all his plate to the king, declaring, "that he would rather, like Diogenes, drink in the hollow of his hand, than that his majesty should want;" and he afterwards suffered much for the royal cause. In consideration of this he was nominated to the deanery of Durham in 1646, but was prevented from being installed by his death, which happened about two months after. He was a person learned and religious, exemplary in his conversation, courteous in his carriage, of a sweet and obliging nature, and of a comely presence. He was remarkable in his charity to the poor.