Humphry, an eminent English divine, was born at Odcombe, in Somersetshire, on the 1st of January 1659. Whilst yet a boy he discovered a strong propensity to learning; and in 1676 was admitted into Wadham College, Oxford, of which he was chosen fellow in 1684. At the age of twenty-one he published his Dissertation against the History of the Seventy-two Interpreters by Aristaeus. In this production Hody shows that the story told by Aristaeus as to the occasion of the Septuagint translation is the invention of some Hellenist Jew; that it is full of blunders and anachronisms; and that it was originally circulated on purpose to recommend the Greek version of the Old Testament. This dissertation was received with much approbation by the learned, excepting Isaac Vossius, who having espoused the contrary, could not endure to see a mere youth enter the lists against one of his age and reputation in letters. He therefore published an appendix to his Observations on Pomponius Mela, containing an answer to Hody's Dissertation, in which, neglecting arguments, he contents himself with indulging in the utmost petulance and scurrility towards his opponent. In 1704, Hody published his four books De Bibliorum textis originalibus, versionibus Graecis, et Latina Vulgata; the first containing his dissertation on Aristaeus's history, the second treating of the true authors of the Greek version called the Septuagint; the third comprising a history of the Hebrew text, the Septuagint version, and the Latin Vulgate; and the fourth giving an account of the other Greek versions, namely, those of Symmachus, Aquila, and Theodotion, with the Hexapla of Origen, and other ancient editions. In 1689, Hody wrote the Prolegomena to the Chronicle of John Malela, printed at Oxford; and in 1690 he was made chaplain to Stillingfleet, bishop of Worcester. The deprivation of the nonjuring bishops involved him in a controversy with Mr Dodwell, and gave occasion to a number of polemical pieces, which have long ceased to possess any interest. The part which he took in this controversy, however, recommended him to Archbishop Tillotson, who appointed him his domestic chaplain, an office which he continued to hold under Dr Tennyson, Tillotson's successor. In 1698 he was appointed regius professor of Greek in the university of Oxford, and in 1704 he was instituted to the archdeaconry of the same place. But he did not long survive these preferments, having died on the 20th of January 1705. Hody left behind him in manuscript a valuable work, comprising the substance of his lectures as professor, and containing an account of those learned Greeks who retired to Italy before and after the taking of Constantinople by the Turks, and there revived the study of the language and literature of Greece, which had long been entirely neglected. This work was published in 1742 by Dr Jebb, and entitled De Graecis Illustribus lingua Graeca literarumque humaniorum instauratoribus, corum vitis, scriptis, et elegios libri duo; prefixed to which is an account in Latin of the author's life, extracted from a manuscript in English left by himself.