sprat, thomas
English man of letters, bishop of Rochester and dean of Westminster. A prose stylist, wit, and founding member and historian of the Royal Society, he is chiefly remembered for his influence on language reform and for his biography of the poet Abraham Cowley. Sprat was educated at Wadham College, Oxford, a centre of scientific learning in the 17th century. In his History of the Royal Society of London (1667), a propagandist defense rather than a factual account of the new scientific society, he criticizes the "inkhorn terms" (learned jargon) and sonorous stylistic swellings of Restoration prose. He advocated the return to the style of a simpler age
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| an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance. |
| a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare. |
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