Nicholas Noyes
Nicholas Noyes was a 17th-century minister from Newbury, Massachusetts, who graduated from Harvard in 1667 with a divinity degree. He initially served as a minister in Haddam, Connecticut, and participated in King Philip's War, where he was involved in the Swamp Fight in Rhode Island. His military service earned him land in Connecticut, but by 1682, he relocated to Salem, Massachusetts, where he became assistant pastor and later succeeded John Higginson in 1708. Noyes is notably recognized for his involvement in the Salem Witch Trials and his connections with figures like Cotton Mather. He contributed to the literary scene of his time, producing occasional poems and elegies influenced by the Metaphysical poets, showcasing a blend of humor and literary craft. Despite his lack of a family life—he never married—Noyes became a significant figure in the Puritan community, leaving behind an extensive library upon his death in 1717. His work included a published sermon titled "New-Englands Duty and Interest: To Be an Habitation of Justice, and Mountain of Holiness."
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Nicholas Noyes
Author
- Born: December 22, 1647
- Birthplace: Newbury, Massachusetts
- Died: December 13, 1717
Biography
Nicholas Noyes was born in Newbury, Massachusetts, only twenty-seven years after the Pilgrims first landed at Plymouth. He attended Harvard, graduating in 1667, earning his divinity degree. He became a minister in Haddam, Connecticut. In 1675 he accompanied the British and Colonial forces on forays during King Philip’s War, and took part in the notorious Swamp Fight in Rhode Island. In part for his war service, Noyes was granted two hundred acres of land on the condition that he remain in Connecticut for at least four years. Nevertheless, in 1682, Noyes had moved to Salem, Massachusetts, where he became assistant pastor to John Higginson, whom he would succeed in 1708.
As a Salem minister, Noyes as participatory in the Salem Witch Trials; he would also become well acquainted with another famous Puritan member of the trials, Cotton Mather. His “A Prefatory Poem,” written around 1702, was included as a foreword or preface in Mather’s history of the Puritan church in America, the Magnalia Christi Americana. Like Mather, Noyes never showed regret or seemed to reconsider the part he played in the witch trials. Many of Noyes’s surviving poems fall into the category of occasional poems (such as the preface for Mather) or elegies, such as his “An Elegy upon the Death of the Reverend Mr. John Higginson” in 1709 and “An Elegy on the Much Lamented Death of the Reverend Mr. Joseph Green” in 1716.
Noyes’s verse was influenced by the Metaphysical poets of his day, such as John Donne; in addition to straightforward rhyme schemes and conventional methodology, he made great use of puns and conceits. At the same time, much of his poetry reveals a sly sense of humor, as demonstrated by “To My Worthy Friend, Mr. James Bayley,” published in broadside form in 1707. The poem to Bayley is filled with good-natured gibes about Bayley’s attempts to pass a kidney stone.
Both corpulent and well to do, Noyes never took a wife, but rather dedicated himself to his preaching, scholarship, and writing. He left behind one of the larger libraries in all of New England when he died in 1717. He published one short book taken from one of his sermons, New-Englands Duty and Interest: To Be an Habitation of Justice, and Mountain of Holiness.