MATY, MATTHEW, M. D. an eminent physician and polite writer, was born in Holland in the year 1718. He was the son of a clergyman, and was originally intended for the church; but in consequence of some mortifications his father met with from the synod, on account of the peculiar sentiments he entertained about the doctrine of the Trinity, turned his thoughts to physic. He took his degree of M. D. at Leyden; and in 1740 came to settle in England, his father having determined to quit Holland for ever. In order to make himself known, he began in 1749 to publish in French an account of the productions of the English press, printed at the Hague under the name of the Journal Britannique. This journal, which continues to hold its rank amongst the best of those which have appeared since the time of Bayle, answered the chief end he intended by it, and introduced him to the acquaintance of some of the most respectable literary characters of the country he had made his own. It was to their active and uninterrupted friendship he owed the places he afterwards possessed. In 1758 he was chosen fellow, and in 1765, on the resignation of Dr Birch, who died a few months after, and had made him his executor, secretary to the Royal Society. He had been appointed one of the under librarians of the British museum at its first institution in 1753, and became principal librarian at the death of Dr Knight in 1772. Useful in all these situations, he promised to be eminently so in the last, when he was seized with a languishing disorder, which in 1776 put an end to a life which had been uniformly devoted to the pursuit of science and the offices of humanity. He was an early and active advocate for inoculation; and when there was a doubt entertained that one might have the smallpox this way a second time, tried it upon himself unknown to his family. He was a member of
VOL. XIII. Part I.
the medical club (with the Drs Parsons, Templeman, Fothergill, Watson and others), which met every fortnight in St Paul's Churchyard. He was twice married, viz. the first time to Mrs Elizabeth Boisragon; and the second to Mrs Mary Deners. He left a son and three daughters. He had nearly finished the Memoirs of the earl of Chesterfield; which were completed by his son-in-law Mr Justamond, and prefixed to that nobleman's Miscellaneous Works, 1777, 2 vols. 4to.