Besides these dramatic pieces, our author wrote a Poem upon the Naval Victory over the Dutch by the Duke of York, a subject which Dryden has likewise celebrated in his Annus Mirabilis.  He published a translation of part of Lucian, said to be done by Mr. Francis Hicks, to which he added some dialogues of his own, though Winstanley is of opinion, that the whole translation is also his.  In the year 1646, —­47, —­52, —­62, he published several sermons, and entered into a controversy with the famous Presbyterian leader, Mr. Francis Cheynel, and his Sermon against False Prophets was particularly levelled at him.  Cheynel’s Life is written by a gentleman of great eminence in literature, and published in some of the latter numbers of of the Student, in which the character of that celebrated teacher is fully displayed.  Dr. Main likewise published in the year 1647 a book called The People’s War examined according to the Principles of Scripture and Reason, which he wrote at the desire of a person of quality.  He also translated Dr. Donne’s Latin Epigrams into English, and published them under the title of, A Sheaf of Epigrams.

On the 6th of December, 1642, he died, and his remains were deposited on the North side of the choir in Christ’s Church.  In his will he left several legacies for pious uses:  fifty pounds for the rebuilding of St. Paul’s; a hundred pounds to be distributed by the two vicars of Cassington and Burton, for the use of the poor in those parishes, with many other legacies.

He was a man of a very singular turn of humour, and though, without the abilities, bore some resemblance to the famous dean of St. Patrick’s, and perhaps was not so subject to those capricious whims which produced so much uneasiness to all who attended upon dean Swift.  It is said of Dr. Main, that his propension to innocent raillery was so great, that it kept him company even after death.  Among other legacies, he bequeathed to an old servant an old trunk, and somewhat in it, as he said, that would make him drink:  no sooner did the Dr. expire, than the servant, full of expectation, visited the trunk, in hopes of finding some money, or other treasure left him by his master, and to his great disappointment, the legacy, with which he had filled his imagination, proved no other than a Red Herring.

The ecclesiastical works of our author are as follow,

1.  A Sermon concerning Unity and Agreement, preached at Carfax Church in Oxford, August 9, 1646. 1 Cor. i. 10.

2.  A Sermon against False Prophets, preached in St. Mary’s Church in Oxford, shortly after the surrender of that garrison, printed in 1697.  Ezek. xxii. 28.  He afterwards published a Vindication of this Sermon from the aspersions of Mr. Cheynel.

3.  A Sermon preached at the Consecration of the Right Reverend Father in God, Herbert, Lord Bishop of Hereford, 1662. 1 Tim. iv. 14.

4.  Concio ad Academiam Oxoniensem, pro more habita inchoante Jermino, Maii 27, 1662.