Samuel, an English divine, famous for compiling a valuable collection of voyages, was born in 1577, at Thacksted, in Essex. After studying at Cambridge, he obtained the vicarage of Eastwood, in his native county; but leaving that cure to his brother, he settled in London, in order to carry on the great work in which he was engaged. He published the first volume in folio in 1613, and the last four twelve years afterwards, under the title of Purchas his Pilgrimage, or Relations of the World, and the Religions observed in all Ages and Places. Meanwhile he was collated to the rectory of St Martin's, Ludgate, in London, and made chaplain to Dr Abbot, archbishop of Canterbury. His Pilgrimage, and the learned Hackluyt's Voyages, led the way to all the other collections of the same kind, and have been justly valued and esteemed. But unhappily, by his publishing, he involved himself in debt, and Purchas died in embarrassed circumstances, about the year 1628. The works of Purchas and Hackluyt form the most valuable collections of the kind in existence; and, were such things ever done in this country, we should strongly recommend the republication of annotated editions of both at the public expense; for such an undertaking, though of the highest utility, would far transcend the means of any individual publisher.