John Fell

John Fell 1625-86, English clergyman. He was dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and bishop of Oxford. While at Oxford, he initiated an extensive building program and promoted the development of the Oxford Univ. Press. His chief literary work was his critical edition (1682) of St. Cyprian. He is probably best remembered today as the subject of Tom Brown's jingle "I do not love thee, Dr. Fell, The reason why I cannot tell; But this alone I know full well, I do not love thee, Dr. Fell."

Fell, John (1625–86), Bp. of Oxford from 1676. Under the Commonwealth he helped maintain C of E services in a private house, and in 1660 he became Dean of Christ Church. He largely brought about the reimposition of Anglican orthodoxy on the University.

Fell, Dr John (1625–86), dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and bishop of Oxford, remembered in a literary connection as an early promoter of the Oxford University Press. He procured for it the matrices and punches of the best types that could be found, and arranged every year for the publication of some classical author. He is the subject of the well-known epigram beginning ‘I do not love you, Dr Fell’, a translation by T. Brown of Martial, Epigrams, 1. 32.