Wotton, Sir Henry

diplomatist and scholar, born in Kent; was amba ador of James I. for 20 years, chiefly at Venice; visited Kepler ( q. v .) on one occasion, and found him a very "ingenious person," and came under temporary eclipse for his definition of an amba ador, "An honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country"; was ultimately provost of Eton, and was a friend of many good men, among others Isaac Walton, who wrote his Life; he wished to be remembered as the author of the saying, "The itch of controversy is the scab ( scabies ) of the Churches," and caused it to be insculpt in his epitaph (1568-1630).