gave it him I am sorrie it is no better for thee No Sir said the Porter I must have your Gown which he gave him 19. The Lieutenant coming into his chamber to visit him professed himself obliged by former fâ—vours to entertain him nobly which since he could not do for fear of the Kings displeasure he prayed him to accept of his good will and such poor fare as he had Master Lieutenant quoth Sir Thomas I believe you are my friend I thank you for your good will and I assure you I do not mislike my cheer but whensoever I do then thrust me out of your doors 20. In the Tower he had begun a Divine Treatise of the Passion of Christ and when he came to these words of the Gospel And they laid hands on him and held him they took from him all his Books Ink and Paper so that he could go on no further Afterwards he applyed himself holly to Meditation keeping his Chamber windows fast shut and very dark the occasion whereof the Lieutenant asking It is time said he when all the wares are gone to shut up shop 21. After he had received the sentence of death he said to the Judges My Lords as wâ— read that Paul consented to the death of Stephen and yet be they now both Saints in Heaven and shall continue there friends for ever so I verily trust and shall therefore right heartily pray that though your Lordships have been now Judges on earth to my condemnation we may yet hereafter all meet together in Heaven merrily to our everlasting salvation And sâ— I pray God preserve my Soveraign Lord the King and send him faithful Councellors * See the rest if you please in this English Writer or in Stapleton's Latin book De tribus Thomis VII Sr HENRY WOTTON Out of his Life written by Mr Iz Walton D. Roberto Jones Rect. de Leckhampton SIR Henry Wotton was born An. 1568. in Bocton-Hall in the Parish of Bocton Malherb in the fruitful Country of Kent both House â—nd Church seated within a fair Park of the Wottons on the brow of such a hill as gives the advantage of a large prospect and of equal pleasure to all beholâ—ers But they are not remarkable foâ— any thing so much as for that the memorable Familie of the Wottons have so long inhabited the one and now lie buried in the other as appears by their many Monuments in that Church the Wottons being a Family that hath brought foâ—th divers Persons eminent for Wisdom and Valour whose Heroick Acts and Noble Employments both in England and in Forein parts have adorned themselves and this Nation 2. Thomas Wotton the Father of our Henrie was a Gent. excellently educated and studious in all the liberal Arts who although he had many invitations from Queen Elizabeth to change his Countrie recreations and retirement for a Court life offering him a Knighthood she was then with him at his Bocton-hall and to be but as an earnest of some more honorable and more profitable imployment under her yet he humbly refuseth both being a man of great modestie of a most plain and single heart of an antient freedom and integritie of mind A commendation which Sir Henrie took occasion ofâ—en to remember with great gladness and thankfully to boast himself the Son of such a Father from whom indeed he derived that noble Ingâ—nuitie that was alwaies practised by himself and which he ever commended and cherished in others 3. Of this Family was Nicholas Wotton Doctor of Law and sometime Dean of Canterburie a man whom God did not only blesse with a long life but with great abilities of mind and an inclination to employ them in the service of his Country as is testified by his several imployments having been sent nine times Embassador unto forein Princes a Privy Councellor to â— Henrie 8 Edward 6. Q. Marie and Q. Elizabeth who imployed him three several times for setling of peace between England Scotland and France who also offered him the Archbishoprick of Cant. but he refused it and dyed not rich though he had lived in the time of dissolution of Abbies He dyed saith learned Camden full of commendation for Wisdom and Pietie 4. The Father of Sir Henrie after the death of his first wife resolved if he should marry again to avoid three sorts of persons namely those that had children or had law suits or were of his kinred And yet following his own Lâ—wsuits he met in Westminster-hall with one Mrs Morton widoâ— daughter to Sir William Finch of Kent who â—as also ingaged in several suits in Law and observing her Comportment at the time of hearing one of her Causes before the Judges he could not but at the same time both compassionate her condition and so affect her person that although there was in her a concurrence of all those accidents against which he had resolved yet he sollicited her for a wife and obtained her By her he hâ—d our Henrie his youngest son 5. His Mother was Tutoresse to him during his childhood for â—hich care and pains he paid her every day with such visible signs of future perfection in learning as turned her imployment into a pleasing trouble After his Father took him into his particular caâ—e and disposed of him to a Tutor in his own house and when time and diligent instruction had fitted him which was very early he was sent to Winch ster School a place of stâ—ict Disâ—ipline and Order that so he might in his youth be molded into a method of living by rule And that he might be confirmed in this Regularitie he was at a fit age removed from that â—â—hool to New Coll in Oxford 6. There he â—ontinued till about the 18th year of his age and was then transplanted into Queens Coll. where within that year he wrote a Play for their private use the Tragedie of Tancredo so â—ell that the gravest of that Society declared he had in a slight exercise given an early and a solid teâ—â—imony of future abilities About the 19th year of his age he proceeded Master of Arts and at that time read in Latin three Lectures De oculo wherein having described the foâ—m motion curious composure of the eye c. in the conclusion he took a fair occasion to beautifie his discourse with a commendation of the blessing and benefit of seeing so exactly and Rhetorically as among other admirers caused that learned Italian Albericus Gentilis then professor of the Civil Law in Oxford to call him Henrice mi ocelle which dear expression of his was used by many other persons of note during his stay in the Vniversitie 7. After his Optick Lectare he was taken into such a bosom friendship with Gentilis that if it had been possible he would have breathed all his excellent knowledge both of the Mathematicks and Law into the breast of his dear Henrie for so he used to call him and though he was not able to do that yet there was
Grace his Boy read a Chapter distinctly and aloud out of S. Paul's Epistles or Solomon's Proverbs from which he himself for the most part pickt the subject of that meals discourse asking not onely Scholars but even ordinary people if they were ingenuous what was the meaning of this or that passage with as much satisfaction to their minds as refreshment to their bodies He affected neatness in his housholdstuff cloaths books meat but not magnificence and was so much averse from all filthinesse that he could not endure solecisms or barbarous language He was hugely delighted with the conference of his friends who oft kept him till late at night but all his conference was either of literature or Jesus Christ If he had no acceptable friend to chat with for every one did not please him his boy did read somewhat to him out of godly books Sometimes he called me to ride abroad with him and then he was as merry as any man alive but a good book was alwaies his Comrade in his journey and his talk was continually of Christ 7. Whatsoever Revenues accrued unto him by the Church he entirely committed to his Steward to be distributed and spent in house-keeping His own hereditary rents and profits which were vast he himself distributed to pious uses For his Father being dead money flowed in apace from what was left him by inheritance and lest that being kept should breed some disease in him he therewith erected a stately new School in Paul's Church-yard dedicated to the Holy Child JESUS whereunto he joyned fair dwellings for two Schoolmasters to whom he assigned liberal stipends that they might teach gratis but so as they should not admit above a certain number viz. 153. from Jo. XXI 11. Above the Masters Chair stands the Holy Child JESUS curiously engraven in the posture of one reading a Lecture with this Motto HEAR HIM which words I advised him to set up And all the young fry when they come in and go out of School besides their appointed prayers salute Christ with an Hymn †Which you may read amongst Erasmus's Epigrâ—â—s Every Classe containeth 16. boyes and the best Scholar of each sits in a seat somewhat more eminent than the rest with the word CAPITANEUS engraven in golden letters over his head 8. Our quicksighted Dr Colet saw very well that the main hope and pillar of a Common-wealth consists in furnishing youth with good literature and therefore did he bestow so much care and cost on this School Though it stood him in an infinite sum of money to build and endow it yet he would accept of no partner One left indeed a Legacie of an 100 pounds sterling to the structure of it but Colet Tam ingentes sumtus ut satrapaÌ„ quoque deterrerâ— possint Eras Ep. ded ad Cop. Verb. which book he wrote for the benefit of Paul's School as he wrote his book called Ecclesiastes at the request of B. Fisher for Christ's Câ—ll and S Johâ—s in Cambrige thinking that if he took it some lay people would challenge to themselves I know not what authority over the School did by the permission of the Bishop bestow it upon holy Vestments for the Quire Yet though he would suffer no lay man to have a finger in the building he entrusted no Clergy man not so much as the Bishop Denn and Chapter of S. Pauls nor any of the Nobility with the oversight of the Revenues but some married Citizens of honest report When he was asked why he would do so he answered That there was nothing certain in human affairs but he found least corruption in such men 9. As all men highly Morus in Epist ad Col Neque valde miror â—â— clariss schoâ—â— tâ—â— râ—mpantur invidia Videâ—â—â—nim uti ex equâ— Troj prâ—dierunt Graeci qâ—i barâ—aram diruêre Trojam sic è tuâ— prodire Schola qui ipsorum arguunt subvertunt stultitiam esteemed him for his School so many wondred why he would build so stately an house within the bounds of the Carthusian Monastery not far from the Palace at Richmâ—nd but he told them That he provided that seat for himself in his old age when he should be unfit for labours or broken with diseases and so constrained to retire from the society of men There he intended to philosophizc with two or three eminent friends among which he was wont to reckon me but death prevented him For being few years before his decease visited thrice with the sweating sicknesse a disease which seised no Country men but English though he recovered yet he thereupon grew consumptive and so dyed He was buried in the South side of the Quire of his own Cathedral in a loâ— Sepulchre which he to that end had chose for himself some years before with this inscription JOHN COLET 10. Somewhat I shall adde first of his Nature secondly of his paradoxical Opinions and lastly of his Afflictions wherewith his ingenuous piety was exercised for some whereof he might have thanked his own natural temper For he was of a very high spirit huge impatient of any injury wonderfully prone to lascivioufnesse luxury and overmuch sleep to feasting and facetiousnesse above measure all this he confessed to me himself and he was not wholly safe from covetousnesse But against each of these he fought such a good fight by Philosophy Divine Contemplations watching fasting and prayer that he led the whole course of his life free from the infections of this world and as far as I could any waies gather by familiarity and much liberal converse with him was a pure Virgin to his dyiug day All his wealth he distributed to pious uses He did so dayly endeavour to conquer all his passions and subdue the haughtinesse of his mind by reason that he would take it well to be admonished even by a child Lasciviousnesse sleep and luxury he chased away by abstaining constantly from supper by continual sobriety indefatigable study and holy Conferences But yet when there was occasion either to discourse with fair Ladies or jest with witty persons or feast with pleasant a man might easily perceive some footsteps of his nature which made him for the most part keep from the society of all lay people but especially from banquets to which when he must needs come he commonly took with him me or some learned friend with whom he discoursed in Latin that he might avoid idle talk His custom was to eat onely of one dish to content himself with one glasse of bear or ale or two at the most And though he was delighted with good wine yet he drank very little of it alwaies suspecting his own sanguine complexion and inclination and being wary of all those things by which he might offend any person whatsoever In all my life I never saw a more happie Wit and thence it came that he was exceedingly pleased with such Wits as were like himself but at all times when he might chuse his
rather because thereby he was brought so much nearer London than before whither he must have many occasions to go for the putting forth of such Books as he had in design to write For it was not long after that he printed his first part of his Apologia Catholica About which time the Archbishop of York Toby Matthews that most exquisite preacher conferred upon him a Prebend in that Metropolitical Church 12. An. 1606. He took the Degree of Doctor in Divinitie with the great Approbation of both the professors in Divinity Dr John Overal that profound Scholar and Dr Tho Playfer that acute Disputant and accurate Preacher who were both of them very competent Judges of mens abilities And there began that intimate acquaintance he had with the said Dr Overal afterwards Dean of S. Paul's Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry and lastly of Norwich which continued between them till it was dissolved by death And about the same time he was sworn Chaplain in Ordinary to K. James and by him made Dean of Gloucester and assumed by the Lord President of Wales for one of his Majesties Council for the Marches In his first journy to Gloucester he went by Oxford at the Act time where he was incorporated and admitted to the same Degree he had in Cambridg where also he was much taken with the exercises of Mr Dan. Featly then a proceeder and carried great friendship to him ever after At which time among other eminent Persons he fell into acquaintance with that famous Dr John King then Dean of Ch. Ch. afterwards Bishop of London which afterwards grew so intimate that the Bishop made choice of him to perform the last offices to him both at his death and burial 13. An. 1609. he succeeded Dr George Abbot in the Deanry of Winchester There Bishop Bilson conserred on him the Rectorie of Alesford and there among other learned men whose friendship he much valued he had intimate acquaintance with Dr Arthur Lake then Master of St Cross In the next year a Parliament being held he preached the Sermon to the Convocation upon Matth 5. 13. Vos estis sal terrae with general applause and should have been Prolocutor but in modesty declined it and preferred a friend of his In his abode at London he took his lodging at Dean Overal's who gave him the opportunity of a very early acquaintance with the learned Isaac Casaubon then newly come out of France andentertained by the Dean The love thus begun was never intermitted in their lives nor obliterated by death as appears by Casaubon's Monument at Westminster Abby set up at the charge of Morton About the same time he had the opportunity of entring into a very good acquaintance with several other eminent forein Scholars and Divines as namely Scultetus Diodati Du Moulin whose worth is very well known by their learned works in print 14. While he continued in Winchester a certain great person passionately told the King That Dr Morton had spoiled one of the best Deanries in England It concerned the Dean to vindicate his good name from that foul and unjust aspersion And therefore acquainting his Brethren of the Chapter with it they were very forward to give and he not backward to receive a Testimonial from them under their hands and seals That he had been one of the best Deans that ever had been at Winchester in their times and some of them were very antient 15. An. 1616. July 7. he was consecrated Bishop of Chester While necessaries were preparing for his journy thither and for the accommodation of his Palace there he retired himself to Clay-Hall in Essex upon the earnest invitation of his Noble friend Sr Christopher Hatton and there fell sick of a dangerous Fever but being happily recovered presently put himself upon his journy towards his great work and was met on the borders of his Diocess and brought into the City of Chester by such a great number of Knights and other the best Gent of the Country beside the Clergy as may give a lasting testimony to their honour as well as his in shewing such a religious respect to their Bishop 16. When he was setled there he found all the inconveniences which he fore saw and which made him at first loth to undertake that weighty Office and some also which he could not foresee at so great a distance For beside the great number of Romish Recusants which hath alwaies been observed in this Diocess he found another sort of Recusants better known by the name of Nonconformists who though they were not so many in number as the other yet had they so much perversenesse and obstinacy in them as made them equal or rather superiour in relation to the trouble he had with them For the reducing of them to their obedience to the Church he used no lesse fatherly mildnesse then strength of Argument and after he had endeavoured their satisfaction in a publick Conference with them about the use of the Surplice c. he printed a Relation thereof with some enlargements intituled The defence of the three innocent Ceremonies But in reducing the other party the Popish Recusants God blessed him with far better successe to the great content of his Majestie 17. An. 1617. at the Kings return out of Scotland through Lancashire his Majestie was petitioned about some innocent Recreation for servants and other inferiour persons on the Lords day and Holy daies whose laborious Callings deprived them of it all other times The King consulted with the Bishop how he might satisfie their desires without endangering this libertie to be turned into lasciviousnesse Whereupon the Bishop presented to the King in writing the next day Bishop Andreâ—es attended the King the same time several limitations or restrictions which the King so well approved that he said He would only alter them from ohe words of a Bishop to the words of a King viz. That all known Recusants and all that are not present at Church at the Service of God shall be barred from the benefit of this liberty That these Recreations shall not be used before the end of all divine services for that day That every person should resort to his own parish Church c. The Declaration was published May 24. in the 16. of his Raign and since republished by our late Gracious Soverain K. Charles 1. The good Bishop to maintain his hospitality in that place where good house-keeping is so much valued and practised had the Rectorie of Stopford in Commendam bestowed on him by the King where his name and memory is still pretious 18. An. 1618. Mar. 6. At the motion of that great pattern of Episcopal perfection Dr Andrewes above mentioned then Bishop of Eli who was never known to do the like for any other and yet did this without his seeking or knowledge that he might have him his nearer neighbour as he said and of the same Province with himself He was translated to the See of Coventry and Lichfield void
whose sake principally Father Paulo compiled that eminent Historie of the Council of Trent Which History was as faâ—t as it was written sent in several sheets in Letters by Sir H. Wotton Mr Bedel and others unto K. James and the then B. of Cant in England and there first made publick both in â—nglish and in the Universal Language 14. For eight years after Sir Henrie Wotton's going into Italie he stood fair and highly valued but at last became much clouded by this accident Being merry with his friends at Augusta men of the best note for learning and ingenuousness the Virtuosâ— of that Nation he was requested by Christopher Flecamore to write some Sentence in his Albo a book of white paper which for that purpose many of the German Gentry usually carry about them and consenting to the motion took an occasion from some accidental discourse of the present company to write a pleasant definition of an Embassador in these very words Legatus est Vir boâ—us peregrè missus ad mentiendum Reipub. causa which Sir Henrie could have been content should have been thus Englished An Ambassador is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his Countrie But the word for lie being the hinge upon which the conceit was to turn was not so expresse in Latin as would admit in the hands of an enemy especially so fair a construction as Sir Henrie thought in English This coming to the knowledge of K. James by the malicious pen of Caspar Scioppius much offended his Majestie and this caused Sir Henrie Wotton to write two Apologies one in Latin to Velserus and another to K. James which were so ingenuous so clear and so choicely eloquent that his Majestie who was a pure Judge of it could not forbear to declare publiâ—kly That Sir H. Woâ—ton had commuted sufficiently for a greater offence And now as broken bones well set become stronger so Sir Henrie Wotton did not only recover but was much more confirmed in his Majesties favour 15. And his Interest stil increased with the Duke Leonardo Donato after whose death as though it had been an entaild love it was still found living in the succeding Dukes during all the time of his employment to that State which was almost 20 years All whiâ—h time he studyed the Dispositions of those Dukes the Consultors of State wel knowing that he who negotiates a continual business and neglects the studie of dispositions usually fails in his proposed ends But this Sir H. Wotton did not For by a fine sorting of fit Presents curious and not costly entertainments alwaies sweetned by various and pleasant discourse by his choice application of stories and his so elegant delivery of all these even in their Italian Language he first got and still preserved such interest in the State of Venice that it was observed such was either his merit or his modestie they never denyed him any request 16. When he had attended the Emperour and German Princes eight months to incline them to equitable conditions for the Restoration of the Queen of Bohemia and her Descendants to their Patrimonial Inheritance of the Palatinate and had brought the businesse to a probability of successe but after a victory gotten by the Imperial Army saw the face of peace altered at his departure from the Emperour he was so bold as humbly to advise him to use his Victorie soberly and still put on thoughts of peace Which advice though it seemed to be spoke with some passion yet was taken in good part by the Emperour who was ever much pleased with his cariage all the time that he resided in his Court and said That though the King his Master was lookt on as an Abetter of his enemie the Palsgrave yet he took him to be a Person of much honour and merit and did therefore desire him to accept of that Jewel as a testimonie of his good opinion of him which was a Jewel of Diamonds of more value than a thousand pounds This was received with all circumstances and terms of honour by Sir H. Wotton but the next morning at his departing from Vienna at his taking leave of the Countess of Salvina an Italian Lady in whose house the Emperour had appointed him to be lodged and honourably entertained He acknowledged her merits and besought her to accept of that Jewel as a testimonie of his gratitude presenting her with the same that was given him by the Emperour Which being suddenly discovered by the Emperour was by him taken for a high affront and Sir H. Wotton told so To which in the nobleness of his mind he repli'd That though he received it with thankfulness yet he found in himself an indisposition to be the better for any gift that came from an Enemie to his Royal Mistresse for so the Queen of Bohemia was pleas'd he should call her 17. Many other of his Services to his Prince and this Nation might be insisted on as his procuration of Privileges and courtesies with the German Princes and the â—epublick of Venice for the English Merchants his releasing and relieving many hundred captivated English soldiers and sending them back in a comfortable condition to thank God for their lives and libertie in their own Nation but I must haâ—â— to bring Sir H. Wotton in an instant from Venice to London whither he returned that year in which K. James dyed 18. The King had for the reward of his forrein service promised him the reversion of an Office which was fit to be turned into present money and also granted him the Reversion of the Master of the Rolls place if he outlived charitable Sir Julius Caesar who then possessed it and then grown so old that he was said to be kept alive beyond natures course by the prayers of those many poor which he dayly relieved Mean while his condition requir'd present support For in the beginning of these imployments he sold to his elder brother the Lord Wotton the Rent-charge left by his good Father and which is worse was now at his return indebted to several persons whom he was not able to satisfie but by the Kings payment of his Arrears He had brought into England many servants of whom some were German and Italian Artists This was part of his condition who had many times hardly sufficient to supply the occasions of the day For it may by no means be said of his providence as himself said of Sir Philip Sidney's wit That it was the very measure of congruitie he being alwaies so careless of mony as though our Saviours words Care not for to morrow were to be literally understood 19. But it pleased God that in this juncture of time the Provostship of his Majesties College of Eaton became void by the death of Murray for which there were as the place deserv'd many earnest and powerful Suitors to the King Sir Henrie who had for many years rolled the restlesse stone of a State employment and knowing experimentally that the
School had had before great experience And so much were they pleased to honour the judgment and integrity of this worthy man that presently after his death they pitched upon an excellent learned man whom he had so providently commended to them 11. This worthy friend of mine the Friday and Saturday before his own Fit was pleased to visit me lying at that time under a sore Fit of the Stone It pleased the Lord the Monday following to bring a Fit upon him and sending to enquire of his condition he sent me word hov it was with him and that he looked on this Fit as a Messenger of death from God unto him And though in obedience to Gods appointment he made use of means yet he still insisted upon it that his time of dissolution was now come and accordingly with great composednesse and resolvednesse of spirit waited for death as a man doth for a loving friend whom he is willing to embrace Ob. Septemb. 1657. III. Dr THOMAS MORTON Bishop of Duresme Out of his Life Written by Dr Barwick now Dean of S. Pauls D. Thomae Vyner Rect. de Staunton HIs Coat-armour and pedigree shew him to be of the same Original and Stock with that eminent Prelate and wise States-man John Morton Lord Chanc of England and Arch-bishop of Cant by whose contrivance and management the two Houses of York and Lancaster were united But in his great modesty and humility he would not revive nor so much as look upon a very fair and large descent of his Pedigree when it was presented to him though he liberally rewarded the person that presented it 2. The place of his birth was the antient and famous City of York his Parents were of good note Mr Richard Morton Mercer and Mrs Eliz Leedale by whom the Valvasours and Langdales acknowledge themselves to be of his kindred by whose care he was brought up in pietie and learning firâ—â— at York and afterward at Hallifax under Mr Maud of whom he alwaies spake with great reverence as a grave man and a good Shoolmaster He took root in the Nursery of Hallifax till the eighteenth year of his age before he was trans-planted into the Garden of the Vniversity 3. An. 1582. he was sent to Cambridge and there admitted into S. John's Coll. wherein were so many eminent Scholars at that time as he was wont to say It seemed to be a whole University of it self The Master of the Colledge was Dr Whitaker his first Tutor was Mr Anthony Higgon who left him to the care of Mr Hen Nelson who lived to see his Pupil passe through all the other Dignities he had in the Church till he came to be Bishop of Duresm and a good many years after 4. An. 1590 he took his Degree of Master of Arts having performed all his Exercises with great approbation and applause Afterward for above two years he continued his studies in the Colledge at his Fathers charge And then Marâ— 17. 1592. he was admitted Fellow meerly for his worth against eight Competitors for the place Which he was wont to recount with greater contentment to himself than his advancement to any Dignity he ever enjoyed in the Church About the same time he was chosen Logic Lecturer for the University which place he discharged with as much Art and Diligence as may appear by his Lectures fairly written which I find among his papers 5. In the same year he was admitted to the sacred Order of Deacon and the next after of Priesthood Having received his Commission from God and his Church he was very ready to assist others in the way of charity but not too forward to take upon him a particular care of Souls And accordingly we find him for about five years after this continuing in the Colledge prosecuting his own private Study and reading to such yong Scholars as were committed to his care and Tuition 6. An. 1598. he took his Degree of Bachelor in Divinitie And about the same year being presented instituted and inducted to the Rectory of Long Marston four miles distant from his native City of York he beâ—ook himself wholly to the Cure of Souls there committed to him which he discharged with great care and diligence And yet he did not intermit his higher studies for the general good of the Church while he attended it To that end he had alwaies some Person to be his Assistant whom he knew to be pious and learned 7 And this assistance was the more necessary because his great parts and worth would not suffer him to enjoy his privacy in a country-cure For first he was made choice of by the Earl of Huntington then Lord President of the North to be his Chaplain for his dexterity and acutenesse in disputing with the Romish Recusants for it was Queen Elizabeth's expresse command to him to convince them by Arguments rather than suppresse them by force and this she expressed as his Lordshop was wont to say in the words of the Prophet Nolo mortem peccatoris 8. But the Earl dying presently after he returned again to his privacy at Marston where he continued not long before the Lord Sheffield who succeeded as Lord President commanded him to hold a publick Conference before his Lordship and the Council at the Mannor house in York with two Romish Recusants then prisoners in the Castle which he performed with great satisfaction to the Auditory among whom were many of the chief Gentry and Clergy of Yorkshire 9 An. 1602 began the great plague at York at which time he carried himself with much Heroical Charitie For the poorer sort being remov'd to the Pesâ—house he made it his frequent exercise to visit them with food both for their bodies and souls His chief errand was to instruct and comfort them to pray for them and with them and to make his coming the more acceptable he carried usually a sack of provision with him for those that wanted it And because he would have no man run any hazard thereby but himself he seldom suffered any of his servants to come near him but sadled and unsadled his own horse and had a private door made on purpose into his house and chamber 10. An. 1603. he attended the Queens Embassador into Germany being desirous to improve himself by seeing forein Kingdoms Churches and Universities His stay in those parts was the shorter because the Embassadors Commission determined at the death of the Queen But however he improved his time so well partly in furnishing his own Librarie with books at Frankfurt and elsewhere but chiefly in his conversation with learned men and in his forein Observations that he alwaies very highly valued that opportunity 11. At his return he was sollicited by Roger Earl of Rutland to be his domestical Chaplain Which proffer he was the more willing to accept for the privacy he hoped to enjoy in a place where he was not know for making use of that Treasure of Books he had got in his travels And the