In 1715 Mapletoft gave to his son John a copy of Nicholas Ferrar's 'Harmonies' (formerly in the possession of his aunt, Mary Collet), to be 'preserved in the family as long as may be.' It now belongs to his descendant, Mr. H. Mapletoft Davis of New South Wales. Another copy which had belonged to his mother is now in the possession of Miss Heming of Hillingdon Hill, Uxbridge, daughter of Mapletoft's great-nephew.
Of Mapletoft's disinterestedness and humanity Ward gives a beautiful picture. His learning was considerable. Besides a knowledge of the classical languages, he was acquainted with French, Italian, and Spanish. He is said to have translated from English into Latin his friend Sydenham's 'Observationes Medicae,' published in 1676 (which was dedicated to him by the author), and all that is contained in the edition of Sydenham's works published in 1683, with the exception of the treatise 'De Hydrope.' The extent of his share in Sydenham's works has been questioned. Watt (Bibl. Brit. ) places the 'Observationes Medicae ' among Mapletoft's works, while on the other hand it has been denied that Sydenham originally wrote in English (cf. Gent. Mag. 1742 pp. 634-5, 1743 pp. 528-9; and in Picard, Sydenham, pp. 119-26).
Mapletoft's published works, apart from single sermons, include: 1. 'Select Proverbs ' (anon.), London, 1707. 2. 'The Principles and Duties of the Christian Religion . . . with a Collection of suitable Devotions' [also issued separately], London, 1710, 1712, 1719. 3. 'Wisdom from Above ' (anon.), London, 1714, 2nd part, 1717. 4. 'Placita Principalia, seu Sententiae perutiles e Dramaticis fere Poetis,' London, 1714. 6. 'Placita Principalia et Concilia, seu Sententiae perutiles Philosophorum,' London, 1717, 1731. The last two are selections from Greek authors with Latin translations, and were reprinted in 1731. In Appendix xv. to Ward's 'Lives ' (p. 120) are printed three Latin lectures by Mapletoft on the origin of the art of medicine and the history of its invention, under the title 'Praelectiones in Collegio Greshamensi, Anno Dom. 1675,' and in the Cambridge University Library (MS. 3185) is 'The Inaugural Lecture of a Gresham Professor' (Latin), probably Mapletoft's. He wrote the epitaph for the monument to his friend Isaac Barrow in Westminster Abbey.
[Ward's Lives of the Professors of Gresham College (copy in Brit. Mus. with manuscript additions), ii. 273–9; Newcourt's Repertorium, i. 388, ii. 406, 656; Welch's Alumni Westmonasterienses, pp. 26, 130–1; Trin. Coll. Reg. and Bursar's books, per the Master; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714; Foster's Admissions to Gray's Inn; Addit. MSS. 5846 ff. 241, 266, 316, 461, 6194 f. 242 (account of election to Gresham College), 5876 f. 29, 15640; Hist. MSS. Comm. 3rd Rep. App. pp. 92–3; Fox Bourne's Life of Locke, i. 211–12, 310; Letters from Locke and Nelson to Mapletoft, in Addit. MS. 6194, ff. 245–9, and in European Mag. 1788 and 1789; Names of Commissioners of Greenwich Hosp.; Picard's Sydenham, pp. 39, 81; Sydenham's Works, ed. Swan, 1763, pp. ix, 227; Bridges's Northamptonshire, i. 487, ii. 13–14; Birch's Hist. of Royal Soc. iii. 271 et seq.; Lists of the Royal Soc.; McClure's Chapter in English Church Hist. pp. 5, 6, 28–63; Humphreys's Hist. Account of Soc. for Propagation of the Gospel, pp. xix, 18, 19; Reading's Hist. of Sion College, pp. 25, 29, 33, 44, 48, 49; will (206, Buckingham) in Somerset House; Blomefield's Collect. Cantabr. p. 80; Harleian Soc. Publications, xxiv. 148, 246; MS. Act Book and Entries of Doctors' Commons, in Lambeth Palace Library; Peckard's Memoirs of Ferrar; Mayor's Cambridge in the 17th Cent. i. 293–4, 383; Archæologia, 1888, li. 193–4; Halkett and Laing's Dict. of Anon. and Pseudon. Lit.; Coxe's Cat. of MSS. in Bodleian Libr.; parish reg. of Broughton; information from the Rev. J. Ridgway Hakewill of Braybrooke, the Rev. F. H. Curgenven of Byfield, and Captain J. E. Acland.]
MAPLETOFT, ROBERT (1609–1677), dean of Ely, son of Hugh Mapletoft, rector of North Thoresby, Lincolnshire, was born at that place on 25 Jan. 1609, and educated at the grammar school at Louth. He was admitted a sizar of Queens' College, Cambridge, on 25 May 1625, and graduated B. A. in 1628, M.A. 1632, B.D. 1639, D.D. 1660. He was elected fellow of Pembroke College on 8 Jan. 1630-1, and became chaplain to Bishop Matthew Wren, who till his death was his firm friend and patron. On Wren's recommendation he was presented to the rectory of Bartlow, Cambridgeshire, by Charles I in 1639, the king exercising the patronage by reason of the outlawry of the patron, H. Huddleston (Rymer, xx. 296). At the parliamentary visitation of the university in 1644 he was ejected as a malignant and a loyalist. After his ejection, we are told, he 'lived as privately and quietly as he could,' finding shelter at one time in the house of Sir Robert Shirley in Leicestershire, where he made the acquaintance of Sheldon, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury. During the protectorate he officiated for some time to a private congregation in Lincoln, according to the ritual of the church of England. 'Being discovered, he was like to come into some trouble, but came off safe when it became known that his congregation had made a considerable purse for him, which he would not accept' (Baker
