by the present power and blasted by these times in their estates Answer All Persons unhappy must not presently be accounted unworthy especially in distracted Times Have you not heard of that humerous Waterman on the Thames who would carry none in his Boat save such who would go along with the Tide till by feeding his humour he had almost starved himself for want of Employment I should be as peevish as partial should I admit those only into my Catalogue of Worthyes who of late years did swim in plenty seeing many have been great Sufferers deservedly commendable by the testimony of their Adversaries Exception 4. You only report the Vertues but conceal the Faults of many persons within our own memories Answer I conceive my self bound so to do by the Rules of Charity When an Orator was to praise a person deceased generally and justly hated for his Viciousnesse it was suspected that he would for his Fee force his Conscience by flattery to commend him whose expectations he thus defeated This dead person saith he must in one respect be spoken well of by all because God made him and in another respect should not be spoken ill of by any because he is dead de mortuis nil nisi bonum How much more when men have many good Virtues with some Faults ought the later to be buryed in their Graves with forgetfulnesse Exception 5. You make many uncivil and unsatisfactory References of your Reader to those Books which you have formerly printed remiting them to be there further Informed as if when you had invited Guests you consigned them over coming to dine with you to fetch a Dinner at an house they do not know It being probable that many may read this your Book who never had your former Works Answer Such Refferences are very sparing only to avoyd Repetition in those Lifes which I have formerly written at large as St. Dunstans Cardinal Woolsey Thomas Lord Cromwell Sir John Cheek Arch-bishop Whitgift Mr. Perkins c. And I appeal to all Writers of many Books of which fault I my self am guilty whether such Refferences be not usual in the like Cases I will not add that I have passed my promise and that is an honest mans bond to my former Stationer that I will write nothing for the future which was in my former Books so considerable as may make them Inter-fere one with another to his Prejudice Exception 7. You often apply the Word create to men as to create a Cardinal an Earl c. VVhereas consciencious people allow that word appropriable to God alone as importing the making of something out of Nothing Answer I hope our Common Lawyers will plead for me in this Case having the phrase so frequent in their Mouths to create right to create a Title Besides I observe that such who scruple the useing the Simple Verb boggle no whit at the compound to recreate and Recreations Now seeing to Recreate is to Create twice I understand not how the useing this word once should be a Sin whilst it is no Sin in the Repetition or Reaction thereof In a word in words of this Nature I conceive one may conform himself to the Custome of Common Language Exception 8. You out of Flattery conceal the mean Extraction of many especially Modern men who have attained to great preferment pointing at the place of their Birth but suppressing their Parentage Answer I conceive my self to have done well in so doing If enquiry be made into all mens descents it would be found true what the Poet doth observe Majorum primus quisquis fuit ille tuorum Aut Pastor fuit aut illud quod dicere nolo The first of all thine Ancestors of Yore Was but a Shepheard or I say no more Besides it plainly proveth the Properness of their parts and Tallnesse of their Industry who thereby and by Gods blessing thereon reached so high preferment though disadvantaged by standing on so low ground of their extraction Exception 9. Hast makes Wast you have hudled your Book too soon to the Presse for a Subject of such a Nature You should have sent to the Gentry of several Counties to have furnished you with Memorables out of their own Pedegrees and should have taken a longer time to compose them Nonumque prematur in annum Eight years digest what you have rudely hinted And in the Ninth year let the same be printed Answer That Ninth year might happen Eight years after my Death being sensible of the Impression of Age upon me and a Stranger to my method would hardly rally my scattered and posthumed Notes By the difficulty to get some few I conclude the impossibility to procure all the observeables out of Gentlemens Records and therefore leave the Task to the Industry of others in their Respective Counties Exception 10. Some Instructions have lately been sent you concerning some persons which appear not in this your VVork Answer Lately indeed though neither many nor considerable since such Shires were put under the Press In Holland VVagons go to and return from their Stages at set hours though carrying but one Passenger and sometimes altogether empty Such the Condition of the Press it stays for no man nor will attend the Leisure not to say Lagging of any but proceedeth on with what it hath in present be it never so little Exception 11. In your Protestant Writers you promiscuously mingle some very zealous for Episcopacy others as active for Presbytery these ought to have been sorted severally by themselves seeing the great distance of Judgement betwixt them Answer I hope such conjoyning of them may happily presage a comfortable Expedient betwixt them who differ not in Fundamentals of Religion 2. I had rather privately bemoan then publickly proclaim the difference betwixt them when alive charitably believing that being dead Jam bene conveniunt in unâ sede morantur Now they are agreed well And in bliss together dwell However it is not without Precedents in the best Authors to conjoine those in History who dissent in opinion VVitnesse Thuanus when concluding every year with the Funerals of eminent persons though fervent in opposite perswasions Exception 12. There is great disproportion betwixt your Catalogue of Statesmen beginning the Lord Treasurers under King Henry the Seventh the Lord Chancelours under King Henry the Eighth other Statesmen at other Epoches whereas had you observed the same Aera in all of them it had added much to the Uniformity of your VVork And as all start not from the same place they run not to the same mark some being continued to this day some concluded seven years since such imparity making the List seem lame like the Legs of a Badger Answer I hope that a more charitable fancy with as good a judgement will compare it to the Pipes of an Organ which though of an uneven length contribute to the better melody A reason is rendred in the respective places where these general Topicks are premised why such several
in his profession is sufficiently attested by his own Printed Reports Eight eminent Judges of the Law out of their knowledge of his great wisdome learning and integrity approving and allowing them to be published for the Common benefit He was against the Illegality of Ship-money both publickly in Westminster-hall and privately in his judgment demanded by the King though concluded to subscribe according to the Course of the Court by plurality of voices The Country-mans wit levelled to his brain will not for many years be forgotten That Ship-money may be gotten by Hââ¦ok but not by Crook though since they have paid taxes loins to the little finger and Scorpions to the Rod of Ship-money but whether by Hook or Crook let others inquire His piety in his equall and even walkings in the way of God through the several turnings and occasions of his Life is evidenced by his Charity to man founding a Chappel at Beachley in Buckingham-shire two miles at least distanced from the Mother-Church and an Hospitall in the same Parish with a liberall Revenue Considering his declining and decaying age and desiring to examine his Life and prepare an Account to the Supreme Judge he petitioned King Charles for a Writ of Ease which though in some sort denied what wise Mr. would willingly part with a good Servant was in effect granted unto him He dyed at Waterstock in Oxford shire in the eighty second year of his age Anno Dom. 1641. EDWARD BULTSTRODE Esq. born in this County bred in the studies of our municipall Laws in the Inner Temple and his Highness his Justice in North-wales hath written a book of divers Resolutions and Judgments with the reasons and causes thereof given in the Court of Kings-bench in the reigns of King James and King Charles and is lately deceased Souldiers Sir WILLIAM WINDSOR Knight I am confident herein is no mislocation beholding him an Ancestor to the right honourable Thomas Windsor Hickman Lord Windsor and fixed at Bradenham He was deputed by King Edward the third in the fourty seventh year of his reign Lord Lieutenant of Ireland which Country was then in a sad Condition For the King was so intent on the Conquest of France as a Land nearer fairer and due to him by descent that he neglected the effectuall reduction of Ireland This encouraged the Irish Grandees their O's and Mac's to Rant and Tyrant it in their respective seignieuries whilst such English who were planted there had nothing Native save their Surnames left degenerating by degrees to be Irish in their Habits Manners and Language Yea as the wild Irish are observed to love their Nurses or Fosters above their natural Mothers so these barbarizing English were more endeared to the interest of Ireland which fed then of England which bare and bred them To prevent more mischief this worthy Knight was sent over of whose valour and fidelity the King had great experience He contracted with the King to defray the whole charge of that Kingdome as appeareth by the instrument in the Tower for eleven thousand two hundred thirteen pounds six shillings and eight pence per annum Now Sir William undertook not the Conquest but Custody of the Land in a defen sive war He promised not with a daring Mountebank to Cure but with a discreet Physician to ease this Irish Gout Indeed I meet with a passage in Froissard relating how Sir William should report of himself that he was so far from subduing the Irish he could never have access to understand and know their Countries albeit he had spent more time in the service of Ireland then any Englishman then living Which to me seems no wonder the Irish vermin shrowding themselves under the Scabs of their Bogs and Hair of their Woods However he may truly be said to have left that land much improved because no whit more impaired during those dangerous distractions and safely resigned his office as I take it in the first of K. Richard the second ARTHUR GRAY Baron of Wilton is justly reckoned amongst the Natives of this Shire whose father had his Habitation not at Wilton a decayed Castle in Hereford-shire whence he took his Title but at Waddon a fair house of his Family not far from Buckingham He succeeded to a small Estate much diminished on this sad occasion His father William Lord Gray being taken Prisoner in France after long ineffectuall soliciting to be because captivated in the publick service redeemed on the publick charge at last was forced to ransom himself with the sale of the best part of his Patrimony Our Arthur endeavoured to advance his estate by his valour being entered in Feats of war under his Martial father at the siege of Lieth 1560. where he was shot in the shoulder which inspirited him with a constant antipathy against the Scotch He was afterwards sent over Lord Deputy into Ireland anno 1580. where before he had received the Sword or any Emblemes of Command ut acrioribus initiis terrorem incuteret to fright his foes with his fierce beginning he unfortunately fought the rebels at Glandilough to the great loss of English blood This made many commend his Courage above his Conduct till he recovered his credit and finally suppressed the rebellion of Desmund Returning into England the Queen chiefly relied on his counsel for ordering our Land-forces against the Spaniards in 88. and fortifying places of advantage The mention of that year critical in Church differences about discipline at home as well as with foreign foes abroad mindeth me that this Lord was but a Back-friend to Bishops in all divisions of Votes in Parliament or Council-table sided with the Anti-prelatical party When Secretary Davison that State-Pageant raised up on purpose to be put down was censured in the Star-chamber about the business of the Queen of Scots this Lord Gray onely defended him as doing nothing therein but what became an able and honest Minister of State An ear-witness saith Haec fuse oratoriè animosè Greium disserentem audivimus So that besides bluntness the common and becoming eloquence of Souldiers he had a real Rhetorick and could very emphatically express himself Indeed this warlike Lord would not wear two heads under one Helmet and may be said always to have born his Beaver open not dissembling in the least degree but owning his own judgment at all times what he was He deceased anno Dom. 1593. Writers ROGER de WENDOVER was born at that Market-town in this County bred a Benedictine in St. Albans where he became the Kings Historian Know Reader that our English Kings had always a Monck generally of St. Albans as near London the Staple of news and books to write the remarkables of their reigns One addeth I am sorry he is a forrainer and therefore of less credit at such distance that their Chronicles were lock'd up in the Kings Library so that neither in that Kings nor his Sons life they were ever opened If so
long and costly suits betwixt their Companies for Precedency to prevent future quarels agreed with themselves at last to go first by turns or alternatly The same method I embrace in ranking Souldiers Seamen Civilians Physicians sometimes one first sometimes another ringing no artificial but a meerly casual Change in the ordering their Professions These thus ranked next follow 12. Learned Writers Though many of these since the Reformation being Doctors of Divinity may challenge Precedency of some named before yet they will not be discontented to come last having learned the Apostles rule In honour preferring one another and God make us as humble as we are humbled 13. Benefactors to the Publick It is good to conclude and go out with a good savour on which account these worthy persons are placed last to leave the grateful perfume of their memory behind them As for Memorable persons they are last last placed because as that Title ãâã taken by us they are cast in as Superpondium or Overweight our work being ended before CHAP. XXIII Of the AUTHORS from whom our Intelligence in the Following WORK hath been Derived THe plain English saying hath very much of downright Truth therein I tell you my Tale and my Tale-master which is essential to the begetting of credit to any Relation Indeed when one writeth with St. John waving his Infallible Inspiration that which we have heard which we have seen with our Eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled such clogging a Book with Authors were superfluous which now is necessary in him that writeth what was done at distance far from in time long before him First to assert and vindicate the Writer When Adam complained that he was naked God demanded of him Who told thee that thou wast naked Intimating thus much that if he could not produce the person who first so informed him he might justly be suspected as indeed he was the Author as well as Utterer of that sad Truth Our Saviour said to Pilate Sayest thou this thing of thy self or did others tell thee and all things reported are reducible to this Dichotomie 1. The Fountain of Invention 2. The Chanell of Relation If one ignorantly buyeth stolen Cattel and hath them fairly vouched unto him and publickly in an open Fair payeth Tole for them he cannot be damnified thereby The case I conceive of him who writeth a falsehood and chargeth his Margin with the Author thereof Secondly To edifie and inform the Reader Frustra creditur quod sine agnitione Originis creditur It is vainly beleived which is beleived without the knowledge of the Original thereof Yea properly it is no Rational bââ¦leif but an easy lazy supine Credulity Such as designingly conceal their Authors do it either out of Guiltinesse or Envy Guiltinesse when conscious to themselves that if Inspection be made of such Quotations they will be found defectively redundantly or Injuriously cited distorted from their genuine Intention Or else they do it out of Envy Tyrants commonly cut off the stairs by which they climb up unto their Thrones witness King Richard the third beheading the Duke of Buckingham for fear that if still they be left standing others will get up the same way Such the jealousie of some Writers that their Readers would be as if not more knowing than themselves might they be but directed to the Original which they purposely intercept Some to avoid this Rock of Envy run on as bad of Ostentation and in the end of their Books muster up an Army of Authors though perchance they themselves have not seriously perused one Regiment thereof so that the Goodnesse of their Library not Greatnesse of their Learning may thence be concluded that they have if with the Prophets Axe some were not borrowed for I will not say have read many books in their possession I have endevoured to steer my course betwixt both these Rocks and come now to give in the particulars whence I have derived my Information knowing full well quantus Author tanta Fides These may be referred to 3. heads First Printed Books Secondly Records in Publick Offices Thirdly Manuscripts in the Possession of private Gentlemen To which we may adde a fourth viz. Instructions received from the nearest Relations to those Persons whose Lives we have presented We pass by Printed books cited in the Margin and obvious to all who are pleased to consult them and first pitch on the Records of the Tower Master William Riley was then Master of those jewels for so they deserve to be accompted seeing a Scholar would preferre that place before the keeping of all the Prisoners in the Tower I know not whether more to commend his care in securing dexterity in finding diligence in perusing them or courtesie in communicating such Copies of them as my occasions required thanks being all the fees expected from me I place next the Records in the Exchequer for although I had a Catalogue of the Sheriffs of England lent me by Master High-more of the Pipe-office which I compared with another of that learned Knight Sir Winkefield Bodenham yet beiââ¦g frequently at aloss I was forced to repair to the Originals in the Exchequer Here leâ⦠not my gratitude be buried in the graves of Master John Witt and Master Francis Boyton both since deceased but whilst living advantagious to my Studies To these Authentick Records let me adde the Church Registers in several Parishes denied indeed by our Commons Lawyers but stickled for by some Canonists to be Records-fellows at least and having though not the formality in Law the force thereof in History very useful to help us in many Nativities And here I cannot but bemoan the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that great Gââ¦lph or broad blank left in our Registers during our Civil Wars after the laying aside of Bishops before the Restitution of his most Sacred Majesty Yea hereafter this sad Vacuum is like to prove so thick like the Aegyptian Darkness that it will be sensible in our English Histories I dare maintain that the Wars betwixt York and Lancaster lasting by intermission some sixty years were not so distructive to Church-records as our Modern Wars in six years For during the former their differences agreed in the same Religion impressing them with reverence of all Sacred Muniments whilst our Civil Wars founded in Faction and variety of pretended Religions exposed all naked Church Records a prey to their Armed violence Let me adde that it conduced much to the exactness of Jewish Genealogies that their children were solemnly Circumcised and Named on the Eight-day On the contrary the omitting the baptizing of Infants till they be adult which causeth that though the weekly birth exceed the burials the burials exceed the christenings in London will perplex those who in the next age shall write the nativities of such persons Say not it matters not though their nativities be utterly forgotten For though their fathers were factious Phanaticks the sons by
Catalogues begin and end at such times And I do believe that they will prove Satisfactory to such ingenuous Readers that come with no cavilling premeditation Exception 13. In your Catalogue of Learned Writers you have omitted many as may appear by Pitseus his Appendix Illustrium Angliae Scriptorum For of the four hundred by him mentioned not fifty appear in your List of them Answer Pitseus himself shall plead for me who in his Preface to his Appendix ingenuously confesseth Eos adhuc efficere non valeo dignos qui inter illustres Scriptores locum obtineant So that one may call them Obscuros illustres little being known of the books which they wrote less of the times when they lived nothing of the places where they were born However seeing some persons of eminence have stragled amongst them I have selected such with my best care and presented them in my Catalogue Exception 14 Of some men you have little save their Name Life and Death and yet you tearm such eminent persons Answer Surely they were so in themselves and deserve more should be then is left written of them through the injury of time All that I will plead in my own Defence is this There is an Officer in the Exchequer called Clericus nihilorum or the Clerk of the Nichils who maketh a Roll of all such sums as are nichill'd by the Sheriff upon their Estreats of the Green wax when such sums are set on persons either not found or not found solvible This Roll he delivereth into the Treasurers Remembrancers office to have execution done upon it for the King and thus the Clerk hath done his duty leaving it to them to see if they can make any thing of his Return I conceive in like manner I have performed my utmost in that I return such persons to have nothing more to be said of them findable by all my endevours However I consign them over to more able Historians whose pains I will neither prejudice nor discourage but if they be pleased to begin where I ended I wish them more happy success in their discoveries Exception 15. Your Book is surcharged with Scripture observations and reflections in Divinity even when no necessity leadeth you thereunto Answer The Reader hath Conââ¦itentem but I will never acknowledge Reum pleading Custome and Conscience in my just excuse Custome being habited by my profession therein The Learned observe of St. Luke that being a Physician by his function and describing the great difference between Paul and Barnabas he made use of an expression in his own faculty and there was betwixt them a Dissention in Greek ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is the height and heat of a burning Feaver So that the Spirit of God guiding his Pen permitted him to make use of the Language proper to his Vocation And I presume the same favour will be indulged to me by all ingenuous persons to have I will not say a partiality but an affection to the expressions of and excursions into my own Calling Secondly I plead Conscience that seeing some may Cavil this Work to be a Deviation from my function and I my self perchance sensible of some truth therein I will watch and catch all opportunity to make a fair Regresse to my profession Exception 15. You lay down certain Rules for the better regulating your work and directing the Reader promising to confine your self to the observation thereof and break them often your self For instance you restrain the Topick of Lawyers to Capital Judges and Writers of the Law yet under that head insert Judge Paston and others who were only puny Iudges in their respective Courts You limit Statesmen to Lord Chancelours Treasurers English Secretaries of State c. and put in Sir Edward Waterhouse who was Secretary but in Ireland In a word few heads are preserved pure according to their constitution without the mixture of improper persons amongst them Why did you break such Rules when knowing you made them why did you make such Rules when minding to break them And this is an Exception of Exceptions against you Answer I never intended to tye my self up so close without reserving lawful Liberty to my self upon just occasion Indeed we read of St. Egwin the third Bishop of Worcester that he made for himself a pair of Iron Shakels and locking them close unto his Leggs cast the Key thereof into the Severn desiring never to be loosed till he had made satisfaction for his Sins Returning from Rome a Fish leaped into the Ship in whose Belly was found the Key and so Egwin was miraculously restored to his Liberty Had I in like manner fettered my self to the Topicks propounded on presumption of so strange a release none would have pitied my restraint wilfully contracted on my self But the best is I resolved to keep the Key in my own hands to enlarge my self when I apprehended a just cause thereof However I have not made use of this Key to recede from my first Limitations save where I crave leave of and render a reason to the Reader such anomalous persons being men of high merit under those heads where they are inserted Exception 16. You have omitted many Memorable persons still surviving as meriting as any you have inserted Answer The return of Martial in a case not much unlike may much befriend me herein Miââ¦aris Veteres Vacerra solos Nec laudas nisi mortuos poet as Ignosââ¦as petimââ¦s Vacerra tanti Non est ut placeam tibi perire Deceased Authors thou admir'st aloââ¦e And only praisest Poets dead and gone Vacerra pardon me I will not buy Thy praise so dear as for the same to dye All men being like-minded with Martial herein none surviving will distaste their omission in a work for reasons afore-alledged save in some cases confined to the memories of the departed Exception 17. Speaking of the Commodities of several Counties you say the Wool of Hereford shire is best and yet Gloucester-Shire is best the VVheat of Hereford-shire is best and yet Middlesex best the Lead of Darby-shire best and yet Somerset-shire best the Iron of Sussex best and Stafford-shire best The same may be observed in your praising of persons making several men at the same time the best Poets Divines Schoolmen c. and this must be both falshood and flattery together Answer Impute it I pray to my peaceable disposition unwilling to occasion discord betwixt Eminencies the rather because things of the same kind may severally be the best in sundry Qualities Some Wool best for Cloath other for Hats some Wheat best for yeilding of most other finest flower some Lead best for Bullets other for Sheeting Houses some Iron best for Ordnance other for Nails Keys and smaler Uââ¦ensils Neither is it without precedent in Scripture to Character several men best in the same Profession both ãâã and Josiah being commended to have had none like unto them neither before nor after them Exception 18. During the
with the English Congregation After his return Queen Elizabeth profered him great preferment And it seems in the first of her Reign the Archbishop of Canterbury went a wooing to accept thereof viz. to 1. JOHN FECKENHAM refusing it upon a Popish account because he would not subscribe to the Queens Supremacie 2. NICHOLAS WOTTON Doctor of Law and Dean of Canterbury refusing it on a politique account suspecting the Queens short life and fearing alterations in the State 3. This WHITEHEAD who declined it out of his desire of privacy though some causelesly suspected him for disaffection to Church Discipline For he was by Queen Elizabeth offered the Mastership of the Hospital of the Savoy which he might have accepted without any subscription but would not affirming he could live plentifully on the preaching of the Gospel a rare example of Moderation He was a deep Divine and was chosen one of the Disputants Primo Elizabethae against the Popish Bishops His many Books still extant testifie his Learning and Religion Queen Elizabeth highly valued his company the rather because of his consciencious bluntness wherin one Repartee may be remembred The Queen who ever was Iniquior in Sacerdotes Maritatos said unto him Whitehead I love thee the better because thou art unmarried In truth Madam said he I love you the worse because you are unmarried He died Anno Dom 1571. NICHOLAS FULLER was as I have cause to conceive born in this County and when a Youth was Amanuensis or Scribe to Dr. Horne Bishop of Winchester Afterwards he attended as Tutor servant on Sir Henry Wallop to Oxford and returning thence was made Minister of Allington nigh Salisbury in Wiltshire where he had a Benefice rather then a Living so small the Revenues thereof But a contented mind extendeth the smallest Parish into a Diocess and improveth the least Benefice into a Bishoprick Here a great Candle was put under a Bushel or peck rather so private his place and imployment here he applyed his studies in the Tongues and was happy in pitching on not difficult Trifles but useful Difficulties tending to the understanding of Scripture He became an excellent Linguist and his books found good regard beyond the Seas where they were reprinted DRUSIUS the Belgian Critick grown old angry and jealous that he should be outshined in his own sphear foully cast some drops of Ink upon him which the other as fairly wiped off again He charged Master Fuller for being his Plagiary taking his best Notes from him without any acknowledgement thereof Master Fuller confest himself alwayes desirous of Drusius his works but never able such his poverty to purchase them and therefore he could not steal out of those books which his eye never beheld And not to be partial to my name-sake let the world judge whether Fuller his Miscelane be not as good as Drusius his Wheat Bishop Andrewes came to him as the Queen of Sheba to Solomon to pose him with hard Questions bringing with him a heap of Knots for the other to Untie and departed from him with good satisfaction he afterwards bestowed on him a great Living in this County which Master Fuller did not long enjoy He was most eminent for that Grace which is most worth yet costeth the least to keep it I mean Humility who in his Writings doth as fairly dissent from as freely concur with any mans opinions He dyed about the year of our Lord 1626. THOMAS JAMES was born in the Isle of Wight bred first in Winchester then at New-Colledge in Oxford and afterwards proceeded Doctor in Divinity He was chosen by Sir Thomas Bodley the Keeper of his inestimable Library in Oxford And on serious consideration one will conclude the Library made for him and him for it like Tallies they so fitted one another Some men live like Mothes in Libraries not being better for the books but the books the worse for them which they only soile with their fingers Not so Dr. James who made use of Books for his own and the publique good He knew the age of a Manuscript by looking upon the face thereof and by the form of the Character could conclude the time wherein it was written He was a Member of the Convocation held with the Parliament of Oxford Primo Caroli where he made a Motion that some might be Commissioned to peruse the Manuscript Fathers in all publique and private English Libraries that thereby the Forgery of forreign Popish Editions might be detected I believe his design had formerly been by him pursued for many years as appears by this passage in Mr. Camden Tho. James Oxoniensis vir eruditus vere ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã qui se totum literis libris involvit jam publici boni studio in Angliae Bibliothecis excutiendis Deus opus secundet id molitur quod Reipublicae literariae imprimis erit usui He never attained higher preferment than the Subdeanary of Wells and dying 1628. was buried in the Chappel of New-Colledge in Oxford CHARLES BUTLER was bred Master of Arts in Magdalen-Colledge in Oxford and afterwards Beneficed in this County An excellent Musician who wrote a Book of the Principles of Musick in singing and setting with the twofold use thereof Ecclesiastical and Civil and a critical English man having composed a Grammar of our Language He also wrote a Book of Bees wherein as if he had been their Secretary he appears most knowing in the State-Mysteries of their Common-wealth whence one not unhandsomly on his Book Aut à consiliis Apibus Butlere fuisti Aut à consiliis est Apis ipsa tuis Butler he 'l say who these thy writings sees Bees counsel'd thee or els thou counselst Bees I behold these his Books as the Receptacle of the Leakage and Superfluities of his Study and it is no Trespass on Grace for one to walk and take a turn in the Field of Nature He was also a pious man a painful Preacher and a Solid Divine Witnesse his Excellent Book of the Marriage of Cousin Germans approved and commended by Doctor Prideaux as the best ever written on that Subject I conjecture he dyed about the year 1640. Romish Exile Writers RICHARD WHITE was born at Basing-Stoake in this County bred first in Winchester School then in New Colledge in Oxford In the beginning of Queen Elizabeth leaving the Land he lived first at Lovain then in Padua in Italy where he proceeded Doctor of the Laws Afterwards he became Regius Professor thereof at Doway for the space of thirty years and more He wrote many books and amongst the rest a Brittish and English History which hitherto I have not been so happy as to see save at the second hand as often cited by Mr. Selden which makes me believe much merit therein Surely he was better employed in the writing thereof then in the large Comment he hath made on the Aenigmatical Epitaph set up at Bononia Aelia Laelia Crispis
County a place so named as it seems from some noxious and malignant herbs growing therein What the natural plants there may be I know not sure the moral ones are excellent which hath produced so many of the Honourable Family of the Wottons Of whom this Nicholas Doctor of Civil Laws bred in Oxford may be termed a Center of Remarkables so many met in his person 1. He was Dean of the two Metropolitan Churches of Canterbury and York 2. He was the first Dean of those Cathedrals 3. He was Privy Councellor to four successive Soveraigns King Henry the eight King Edward the sixth Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth 4. He was employed Thirteen several times in Embassies to forraign Princes Now because there are some of so diffident Natures that they will believe no total summe except they peruse the particulars let them satisfie themselves with what followeth Five times to Charls the fifth Emperor Once to Philip his Son King of Spain Once to Francis the first King of France Once to Mary Queen of Hungary Governess of the Netherlands Twice to William Duke of Clive Once to renew the peace between England France and Scotland Anno Dom. 1540. Again to the same purpose at Cambra 1549. Once sent Commissioner with others to Edinbourgh in Scotland 1560. We must not forget how in the first of Queen Elizabeth the Archbishoprick of Canterbury was proffered unto and refused by him He died January the twenty sixth Anno Dom. 1566. being about seventy years of age and was buried in Canterbury GILES FLETCHER brother of Richard Fletcher Bishop of London was born in this County as I am credibly informed He was bred first in Eaton then in Kings Colledge in Cambridge where he became Doctor of Law A most excellent Poet a quality hereditary to his two Sons Giles and Phineas Commissioner into Scotland Germany and the Low-Countries for Queen Elizabeth and her Embassador into Russia Secretary to the City of London and Master of the Court of Requests His Russian Embassie to settle the English Merchandise was his master-piece to Theodor Juanowich Duke of Muscovia He came thither in a dangerous juncture of time viz. in the end of the year 1588. First some forraigners I will not say they were the Hollanders envying thâ⦠free Trade of the English had done them bad offices Secondly a false report was generally believed that the Spanish Armado had worsted the English Fleet and the Duke of Muscovy who measured his favour to the English by the possibility he apprehended of their returning it grew very sparing of his smiles not to say free of his frowns on our Merchants residing there However our Doctor demeaned himself in his Embassie with such cautiousness that he not only escaped the Dukes fury but also procured many priviledges for our English Merchants exemplified in Mr. Hackluit Returning home and being safely arrived at London he sent for his intimate friend Mr. Wayland Prebendary of S. Pauls and Senior Fellow of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge Tutor to my Father from whose mouth I received this report with whom he heartily exprest his thankfulnesse to God for his safe return from so-great a danger for the Poets cannot fansie Ulrsses more glad to be come out of the Den of Polyphemus than he was to be rid out of the power of such a barbarous Prince who counting himself by a proud and voluntary mistake Emperour of all Nations cared not for the Law of all Nations and who was so habited in blood that had he cut off this Embassadors head he and his friends might have sought their own amends but the question is where he would have found it He afterwards set forth a Book called The Russian Commonwealth expressing the Government or Tyranny rather thereof wherein saith my Author are many things most observable But Queen Elizabeth indulging the reputation of the Duke of Muscovy as a confederate Prince permitted not the publick printing of that which such who have private Copies know to set the valuation thereon I cannot attain the certain date of his death Physicians ROBERT FLOID who by himself is latined Robertus de Fluctibus was born in this County and that of a Knightly Family as I am informed bred as I take it in Oxford and beyond the Seas A deep Philosopher and great Physician who at last fixed his habitation in Fan-Church-Street London He was of the Order of the Rosa-Crucians and I must confesse my self ignorant of the first Founder and Sanctions thereof perchance none know it but those that are of it Sure I am that a Rose is the sweetest of Flowers and a Cross accounted the sacredest of forms or figures so that much of eminency must be imported in their composition His Books written in Latine are great many and mystical The last some impute to his Charity clouding his high matter with dark language left otherwise the lustre thereof should dazle the understanding of the Reader The same phrases he used to his Patients and seeing conceit is very contributive to the well working of Physick their fancy or faith-natural was much advanced by his elevated expressions His works are for the English to sleight or admire for French and Forraigners to understand and use not that I account them more judicious than our own Countrymen but more inquiring into such difficulties The truth is here at home his Books are beheld not so good as Chrystal which some say are prized as precious pearls beyond the Seas But I conclude all with the Character which my worthy though concealed Friend thus wrote upon him Lucubrationibus quas solebat edere profusissimas semper visus est plus sumere laboris quam Populares nostri volebant fructum quia hunc fere negligebant prae tedio legendi prejudicio quodam oleam perdendi operamque ob CABALAM quam scripta ejus dicebantur olere magis quam PERIPATUM ob ferventius hominis ingenium in quo plerique requirebant Judicium He died on the eighth of September Anno Dom. 1637. WILLIAM HARVEY Son of Thomas Harvey was born at Folkston in this County His Father had a Week of Sons whereof this William bred to learning was the eldest his other brethren being bound Apprentices in London and all at last ended in effect in Merchants They got great Estates and made their Father the Treasurer thereof who being as skilful to purchase Land as they to gain Money kept employed and improved their gainings to their great advantage so that he survived to see the meanést of them of far greater estate than himself Our William was bred in Caius Colledge in Cambridge where he proceeded Doctor of Physick Five years also he studied at Padua making a good Composition of Forraign and Domestick learning So that afterwards he was for many years Physician to King Charles the First And not only Doctor Medecinae but Doctor Medicorum For this was he that first found out the Circulation of the Blood an
whom the Cheif Justice therin said Your Kinsman was my Predecessour in the Court and a great Lawyer My Lord replied the Gentleman he was a very honest man for he left a small estate But indeed though his estate was not considerable compared to his Successors then present it was in it self of a good valuation Writers WILLIAM DE LEICESTER otherwise called William de Montibus which I would willingly English William of the Woulds was born in Leicester in this County bred in Oxford where he was Doctor and Professor of Divinity so eminent for his Learning that he was known to and much beloved by the Nobility of the land He was also known by the name of Mr. William an evidence I assure you sufficient to avouch his Majesterialty in all Learning He was removed to Lincolne and became first Canon then Chancelour of the Church Boston of Bury reckoneth up many and Learned Books of his making He flourished under King John 1210. and lyeth buryed at Lincolne RICHARD BELGRAVE was born saith J. Pitz at Chichester in Sussex but at Belgrave in Leicester-shire saith Mr. William Burton whom I rather beleive because he wrote a particular Description of this County Now surely the more is the exactness of the Authour the less the extent of his Subject especially making it his Set-work what was Pits his by-work to observe the Natives of this Shire But both agree him to be a Carmelite bred in Cambridge an excellent Divine and good Schoolman more Learned then eloquent He wrote one Book of Theological Determinations and another of Ordinary Questions flourishing in the year 1220 under King Edward the Second ROBERT DE LEICESTER was born therein but bred in Oxford a Franciscan Fryer He was one of those who brought preaching into Fashion in that age and was much esteemed for his faculty therein by most of the Nobility But Robert Mascall Bishop of Hereford as pious and learned as any in that age had an extraordinary affection for him Our Leicestrian Robert appeareth also a good Chronologer having written judiciously of the Hebrew and Roman Computation In his reduced age he retired to Leichfield where he dyed and was buryed in the Monastery of the Franciscans 1348. THOMAS RATCLIF born at Ratcliffe in this County was bred an Augustinian in Leicester where he was Ordinis sui Episcopus strain the Word no higher then to overseer of his order He had Ingenium fecundum amplum and pity it was that he had Vitae institutum sterile angustum However to enlarge his Soul he wrote divers Books and flourished anno 1360. BARTHOLOMEVV CULIE was born at Radoliffe-Culie in this County as the exact Describer thereof avoucheth And therefore Pitz committeth a double mistake about this One Writer first calling him Conway then making him a Welshman by his Nativity How hard is it to commit one and but one Error This Bartholomew was an excellent Philosopher and wrote a Book of Generation and Corruption and although J. Pitz. confesseth himself ignorant of the time he lived in my Authour assureth me that he flourished under King Edward the third WILLIAM DE LUBBENHAM was born at Lubbenham in this County brought up in Oxford a good Philosopher and a Divine was after a White Fryer or Carmelite in Coventry and after became Provincial of the Order which place he kept till he dyed He wrote upon Aristotles Posteriors and one Book of ordinary Questions He dyed in the White Fryers in Coventry 1361. in the 36. year of K. Edward the Third JEFFERY DE HARBY was born at Harby in this County and bred in Oxford where he became Provincial of the Augustines and Confessor to K. Edward the Third Wonder not when meeting with so many Confessors to that King presuming he had but one at one time Conscience not standing on State and variety in that kind For know King Edward reigned 50. years and Confessors being aged before admitted to their place his Vivaciousnesse did wear out many of them Besides living much beyond the Seas it is probable that he had his Forraign and his Home Confessors Our Jeffery was also of his Privy Counsel being as prudent to advise in matters politick as pious in spiritual concernments Such as admired he was not preferred to some wealthy Bishoprick must consider that he was ambitious and covetous to be poor and wrote a violent Book in the praise and perfection thereof against Armachanus Dying in London he was buryed in the Church of the Augustines about the Year 1361. WILLIAM DE FOLVIL was born at Ashbye-Folvil in this County and therefore when Bale calleth him Lincolniensem understand him not by County but by Diocesse He was bred a Franciscan in the University of Cambridge and engaged himself a great Master of defence in that doughty quarrel pro pueris induendis that children under the age of 18. might be admitted into Monastical orders For whereas this was then complained of as a great and general grievance that by such preproperous Couling of Boyes and vailing of Girles Parents were cozened out of their children and children cozened out of themselves doing in their Minority they knew not what and repenting in their maturity not knowing what to do our Folvil with more passion then reason maintained the legality thereof He dyed and was buryed in Stamford anno 1384. HENRY DE KNIGHTON was born at Knighton in this County sometime Abbot of Leicester who wrote his History from William the Conquerour to the time of King Richard the Second in whose Reign he dyed It seemeth Lelandus non vidit omnia nor his shadow Bale nor his shadow Pits all three confessing that the History of this Knighton never came to their hands Whereas of late it hath been fairly printed with other Historians on the commendable cost of Cornelius Bee Thus it is some comfort and contentment to such whom Nature hath denyed to be Mothers that they may be drye Nurses and dandle Babes in their Laps whom they cannot bear in their Wombs And thus this Industrious Stationer though no Father hath been Foster Father to many worthy Books to the great profit of posterity WILLIAM WOODFORD I cannot fixe his Nativity with any certainty because so many Woods and Fords and would the former did continue as well as the latter and consequently so many Towns called Woodfords in England He is placed here because his Surname in this age flourished in great Eminency in this County He was bred a Franciscan and though Bilious Bale giveth him the Character of Indoctè Doctus we learn from Leland that he was one of profound Learning and Thomas Waldensis owneth and calleth him Magistrum suum His Master Indeed Woodford set him the first Copy of Railing against Wickliffe being deputed by T. Arundel Archbishop of Canterbury to confute publickly in Writing his Opinions He dyed and was buryed at Colchester 1397. THOMAS LANGTON was born at
him in his letter to King Henry the eight Britannicarum Literarum Lumen Decus Indeed he had seholarship enough and wit too much seeing one saith truly of him Ejus sermo salsus in mordacem risus in opprobrium jocus in amaritudinem Yet was his Satyrical wit unhappy to light on three Noli me tangere's viz. the rod of a Schoolmaster the Couls of Friars and the Cap of a Cardinal The first gave him a lash the second deprived him of his livelyhood the third almost outed him of his life William Lilly was the School-master whom he fell foul with though gaining nothing thereby as may appear by his return And this I will do for W. Lilly though often beaten for his sake endeavour to translate his answer Quid me Sceltone fronte sic apertâ Carpis vipereo potens veneno Quid versus trutinâ meos iniquâ Libras dicere vera num licebit Doctrinae tibi dum parare famam Et Doctus fieri studes Poeta Doctrinam nec habes nec es Poeta VVith face so bold and teeth so sharp Of Vipers venome why dost carp VVhy are my verses by thee weigh'd In a false scale may truth be said VVhilst thou to get the more esteem A learned Poet fain wouldst seem Skelton thou art let all men know it Neither lââ¦arned nor a Poet. The Dominican Friars were the next he contested with whose vitiousness lay pat enough for his hand but such foul Lubbers fell heavy on all which found fault with them These instigated Nix Bishop of Norwich to call him to account for keeping a Concubine which cost him as it seems a suspension from his benefice But Cardinal VVolsey impar congressus betwixt a poor Poet and so potent a Prelate being inveighed against by his pen and charged with too much truth so persecuted him that he was forced to take Sanctuary at VVestminster where Abbot Islip used him with much respect In this restraint he died June 21. 1529. and is buried in Saint Margarets Chappel with this Epitaph J. Sceltonus Vates Pierius hic situs est The word Vates being Poet or Prophet minds me of this dying Skeltons prediction foretelling the ruine of Cardinal VVolsey Surely one unskilled in prophecies if well versed in Solomons Proverbs might have prognosticated as much that Pride goeth before a fall We must not forget how being charged by some on his death-bed for begetting many children on the aforesaid Concubine he protested that in his Conscience he kept her in the notion of a wife though such his cowardliness that he would rather confess adultery then accounted but a venial than own marriage esteemed a capital crime in that age Since the Reformation JOHN BARRET was born of an honest family at Linne in this County bred a Carmelite of White-Friars in Cambridge when learning ran low and degrees high in that University For many usurped scarlets qualified onely with ignorance and impudence properties seldome parted so that a Scholar could scarcely be seen for Doctors till the University sensible of the mischief thereby appointed Doctor Cranmer afterwards Arch-bishop of Canterbury to be the Poser-general of all Candidates in Divinity amongst whom he stopt Barret for insufficiency Back goes Barret to Linne turns over a new yea many new leaves plying his book to purpose whose former ignorance proceeded from want of pains not parts and in short time became a tollerable a good an excellent and admirable scholar and Commencing Doctor with due applause lived many years a painful Preacher in Norwich always making honourable mention of Doctor Cranmer as the means of his happyness Indeed he had been ever if not once a dunce who if not debarred had never deserved his Degree Bale saith that in the reign of Q. Mary he returned to his vomit and became a great Papist But his praises are better to be believed then his invectives and seeing Wood not growing crooked but warping with weight may be straightned again we charitably believe that though complying in times of persecution he returned to the truth in the reign of Queen Elizabeth in the beginning whereof he died EDMOND GOURNEY born in this County was bred in Queens and Bennet-Colledge in Cambridge where he Commenced Bachelour of Divinity and afterwards was beneficed in this Shire An excellent scholar who could be humorous and would be serious as he was himself disposed his humors were never prophane towards God or injurious towards his Neighbours which premised none have cause to be displeased if in his fancies he pleased himself Coming to me in Cambridge when I was studying he demanded of me the subject whereon I studied I told him I was Collecting the Witnesses of the truth of the Protestant Religion through all ages even in the depth of Popery conceiving it feasible though difficult to evidence them It is a needless pains said he for I know that I am descended from Adam though I cannot prove my pedigree from him And yet Reader be pleased to take notice he was born of as good a family as any in Norfolk His book against Transubstantiation and another on the second Commandement are learnedly and judiciously written he died in the beginning of our Civil Wars Benefactors to the Publique GODFREY BOLLEN Knight Son of Jeffrey Bollen was born at Salle in this County Being but a second brother he was sent into the City to acquire wealth ad aedificandum domum antiquam Unto whose atchievements fell in both the blood and inheritance of his eldest brother for want of Issue Male. By which accumulation he attained great wealth and Anno Domini 1457. was Lord Mayor of London By his Testament made in the next year he gave liberally to the Prisoners Hospitals and Lazer-houses Besides he gave one thousand pounds the greatest sum I meet with in that age to pious uses to poor Housholders in London and two hundred pounds to those in Norfolk But it was the height of his and our happiness that he was Great-grand-father by the Mothers side to Queen Elizabeth JAMES HOBART was born in this County though I dare not say at Halles-hall which he left to his posterity He was Atturney-general and of the Privy-counsel to King Henry the seventh by him dubbed Knight at such time as he Created Henry his Son Prince of Wales This worthy Patriot besides his many benefactions to his Parish-church in London built a fair Bridge over the river VVaveny betwixt this County and Suffolk and a firm Cause-way thereby with many other works of charity so that the three houses of his issue planted in this County with fair possessions may be presumed to prosper the better for the piety of this their Ancestour ANDREW PERNE was born at Bilny bred in Peter-house whereof he was Fellow and Master as also Proctor and Vice-chancellour of Cambridge and Dean of Ely Very bountiful he was to his Colledge wherein he founded a Fellowship and Scholarships Besides many rare
saved his lands though heavily fined and life though long imprisoned The King was highly displeased at him and vowed he should never sit on the Bench any more And here I hope it will not trespass on the grave character of this Judge to insert a modern and pleasant passage being privy my self to the truth thereof A Lady would traverse a suit of Law against the will of her husband who was contented to buy his quiet by giving her her will therein though otherwise perswaded in his judgment the cause wold go against her This Lady dwelling in the Shire-town invited the judge to dinner and though thrifty enough of her self treated him with sââ¦mptuous entertainment Dinner being done and the cause being called the judge clearly gave it against her And when in passion she vowed never to invite any Judge again Nay Wife said he vow never to invite a just Judge any more Well King Edward was so vexed that Sir Iohn Markham was outed of his Chief-justice-ship and lived privately but plentifully the remainder of his life having fair lands by Margaret his wife daughter and co-heir of Sir Simon Leke of Cotham in this County besides the Estate acquired by his Practice and paternal Inheritance Seamen EDWARD FENTON Brother to Sir Jeffrey Fenton of whom hereafter was born in this County whose nature inclined him wholly to Sea-service and disdaining to go in a trodden path he was ambitious to discover unknown passages His Atchievements in this nature are related at large in Mr. Hackluit and excellently contracted in an Epitaph on his Monument in Depthford Church in Kent erected by the Right Honourable Roger Earl of Corke who married his Brothers daughter Memoriae perenni Edwardi Fenton Reginae Elizabethae olim pro corpore Armigeri Jano O-Neal ac post eum Comite Desmoniae in Hibernia turbantibus fortissimi Taxiarchi qui post lustratum improbo ausu Septentrionalis Plagae Apochryphum mare excussas variis peregrinationibus inertis Naturae latebras Anno 1588. in celebri contra Hispanos Naumachia meruit Navis Praetoriae Navarchus Obiit Anno Domini 1603. Some dayes after the death of Queen Elizabeth Observe by the way how God set up a generation of military men both by Sea and Land which began and expired with the Reign of Queen Elizabeih like a suit of clothes made for her and worn out with her For Providence designing a peaceable Prince to succeed her in whose time martial men would be rendred useless so ordered the matter that they all almost attended their Mistress before or after within some short distance unto her grave Writers WILLIAM MANSFEILD named no doubt from and born at that noted Market Town in this County was bred a Dominican and for his skill in Logicks Ethicks Physicks and Metaphysicks in his Age highly applauded And because some prize a Dram of Forraign before a pound of Home-bred praise know that Leander Bononiensis though mistaking his Name Massettus giveth him the Appellation of Inclytus Theologiâ⦠Professor He defended Thomas Aquinas against Henricus Gandavensis though both of them were dead long before and got great Credit thereby Bale who is not usually so civil in his expressions saith that he did strow branches of Palms before Christs Asse which if so was I assure you no bad employment He flourished Anno Dom. 1320. WILLIAM NOTTINGHAM was first Prebendary then Chanter of York bred an Augustinian and fourteen years the Provinciall of his Order Resigning which place he went on some great employment to Rome and returning thence by Genoa fell sick and recovered of the Plague being therein a Monument of Divine Mercy to prove that disease though in it self Mortale not alwayes Mortiferum Amongst the many Books he wrote his Concordance on the Evangelists was most remarkable which I behold as a Leading-piece in that kind though since it hath met with many to follow it A worthy work to shew the Harmony betwixt those four Writers though it hath met with many to decry the design being accounted by Some Impossible Others Unnecessary As if there were Contradictions herein past reconciling whose opinion cannot be reconciled with Piety seeing the four Gospels are Indited by one and the same Spirit of Unity and Verity of Truth and Concord whilst in two sentences really contrary one must be false of necessity As if it were nothing but the reconciling of those who never fell out Whereas indeed there are many seeming oppositions therein to raise the reputation thereof Intellecta ab omnibus sunt neglecta a plurimis and some necessary difficulty becomes Scripture to quicken our prayers pains and patience to understand it Bale giveth him this Lukewarme call it hot because coming from his mouth commendation non omnino impius in voluminibus quae composuit He dyed and was buryed at Lecester Anno Dom. 1336. ROBERT WORSOP was born saith Bale in the County mistaken for the Diââ¦cese of York seeing Worsop is notoriously known to be in Nottingham-shire He was bred an Augustinian in the convent of Tick-Hill not far from Doncaster where he wrote many Books the one called the Entrance of the Sentences Bale saith that at last he was made a Bishop not naming his Diocese and no such Prelate appearing in our English Catalogue it rendereth it suspicious that either he was some Suffragan or some Titulary Bishop in Greece He dyed and was buryed at Tick Hill about the year 1360. Since the Reformation Sir JEFFREY FENTON Knight born in this County was for twenty seven years Privy-Counsellour in Ireland to Queen Elizabeth and King James He translated the History of Francis Guicciardine out of Italian into English and Dedicated it to Queen Elizabeth he deceased at Dublin October 19. 1608. and lyeth buryed in St. Patricks Church under the same Tombe with his Father-in Law Dr. Robert Weston sometimes Chancellour of Ireland JOHN PLOUGH was born in this County a pious and learned Minister of the Word who for his conscience fled over into Basil in the Reign of Queen Mary It happened that a Book came over into the hands of the English Exiles written against the Marriage of Ministers by one Miles Hoggard a silly Hosier in London but highly opinioned of his learning It was debated amongst the English whether this Book should be passed over with neglect or answered And here the Reader is requested to pardon this digression as proper enough for my profession Solomon hath two Proverbs the one immediately succeeding yet seemingly crossing the other Answer not a fool according to his folly lest thou also be like ââ¦nto him Answer a fool according to his folly lest he be wise in his own conceit Some will have the first precept given to Magistrates who are not to make their Authoitry cheap by ingaging against fools and the later to belong to all Christians O ther 's distinguish that an answer according to his folly may be twofold by way of
Works left to posterity 1. De variis Annorum Formis 2. De natura Coeli conditione Elementorum 3. Praelectio Astronomica 4. De origine Fontium 5. Disquisitio Phisiologica 6. Explicatio additameutnm Arg. temp nat ministerii Christi In handling of these subjects it seems he crossed Scalliger who was highly offended thereat conceiving himself such a Prince of Learning it was high Treason for any to doubt of much more deny his opinion Yea he conceited his own Judgment so canonical that it was Heresie for any inferiour person to differ from the same Shall Scalliger write a book of the Emendation of Times and should any presume to write one of the Emendation of Scalliger especially one no publick Professor and so private a person as Lydyate However this great Bugbear Critick finding it more easie to contemn the person than confute the arguments of his Adversary sleighted Lydyate as inconsiderable jeering him for a Prophet who indeed somewhat traded in the Apocalyptical Divinity Learned men of unbiassed judgments will maintain that Lydyate had the best in that Contest but here it came to pass what Solomon had long before observed Nevertheless the poor mans wisdom is despised and his words are not heard He never attained higher Church-preferment than the Rectory of Alkerton the Town of his Nativity and deserted that as I have cause to suspect before his death Impute his low condition to these causes 1. The nature of his Studies which being Mathematical and Speculative brought not ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Grist to the mill 2. The nature of his Nature being ambitious of Privity and Concealment 3. The death of Prince Henry whose Library-keeper he was and in whose Grave Lydyates hopes were interred 4. His disaffection to Church-discipline and Ceremonies used therein though such wrong his memory who represent him an Anabaptist His modesty was as great as his want which he would not make known to any Sir William Boswell well understanding his worth was a great friend unto him and so was Bishop Williams He dyed about Westminster as I take it in the year of our Lord 1644. Happy had it been for posterity if on his death-bed he could have bequeathed his Learning to any surviving Relation Sir RICHARD BAKER Knight was a Native of this County and High-Sheriff thereof in the 18. of King James Anno Dom. 1621. His youth he spent in learning the benefit whereof he reaped in his old age when his Estate thorough Surety-ship as I have heard him complain was very much impair'd But God may smile on them on whom the World doth frown whereof his pious old age was a memorable instance when the storm on his Estate forced him to flye for shelter to his studies and devotions He wrote an Exposition on the Lords prayer which is corrival with the best Comments which professed Divines have written on that subject He wrote a Chronicle on our English Kings imbracing a method peculiar to himself digesting Observables under several heads very useful for the Reader This reverend Knight left this troublesome world about the beginning of our Civil wars WILLIAM WHATELEY was born in Banbury whereof his father was twice Mayor and bred in Christs-college in Cambridge He became afterwards Minister in the Town of his Nativity and though generally people do not respect a Prophet or Preacher when a Man whom they knew whilest a Child yet he met there with deserved reverence to his Person and Profession Indeed he was a good Linguist Philoso pher Mathematician Divine and though a Poetical Satyrical Pen is pleas'd to pass a jeer upon him free from Faction He first became known to the world by his book called the Bride-bushe which some say hath been more condemned than confuted as maintaining a Position rather odious than untrue But others hold that blows given from so near a Relation to so near a Relation cannot be given so lightly but they will be taken most heavily Other good Works of his have been set forth since his death which happened in the 56. year of his age Anno Dom. 1639. JOHN BALLE was born at Casfigton four miles North-west of Oxford in this County an obscure Village onely illustrated by his Nativity He proceeded Batchelor of Arts in Brazen-nose college in Oxford his Parents purse being not able to maintain him longer and went into Cheshire untill at last he was beneficed at Whitmore in the County of Stafford He was an excellent School man and School-master qualities seldom meeting in the same man a painful Preacher and a profitable Writer and his Treatise of Faith cannot sufficiently be commended Indeed he liv'd by faith having but small means to maintain him but 20 pounds yearly Salary besides what he got by teaching and boording his Scholers and yet was wont to say he had enough enough enough Thus contentment consisteth not in heaping on more fuell but in taking away some fire He had an holy facetiousness in his discourse when his friend having had a fall from his horse and said that he never had the like deliverance Yea said Mr. Balle and an hundred times when you never fell accounting Gods preserving us from equal to his rescuing us out of dangers He had an humble heart free from passion and though somewhat disaffected to Ceremonies and Church-discipline confuted such as conceived the corruptions therein ground enough for a separation He hated all New Lights and pretended Inspirations besides Scripture and when one asked him whether he at any time had experience thereof in his own heart No said he I bless God and if I should ever have such phantasies I hope God would give me grace to resist them Notwithstanding his small means he lived himself comfortably relieved others charitably left his children competently and dyed piously October the 20. Anno Dom. 1640. WILLIAM CHILLINGWORTH was born in the City of Oxford so that by the benefit of his birth he fell from the lap of his mother into the armes of the Muses He was bred in Trinity college in this University an acute and subtil Disputant but unsetled in judgment which made him go beyond the Seas and in some sort was conciled to the Church of Rome but whether because he found not the respect he expected which some shrewdly suggest or because his Conscience could not close with all the Romish corruptions which more charitably believe he returned into England and in testimony of his true conversion wrote a book entituled The Religion of Protestants a safe way to salvation against Mr. Knot the Jesuit I will not say Malo nodo malus quaerendus est cuneus but affirm no person better qualified than this Author with all necessary accomplishments to encounter a Jesuit It is commonly reported that Dr. Prideaux compared his book to a Lamprey fit for food if the venemous string were taken out of the back thereof a passage in my opinion inconsistent with the Doctors approbation prefixed in the beginning
buried by him and if some eminent Surgeon was interred on his other side I would say that Physick lay here in state with its two Pages attending it Writers HUMPHREY NECTON was born though Necton be in Northfolk in this County and quitting a fair fortune from his Father professed poverty and became a Carmelite in Norwich Two Firstships met in this Man for he Handselled the House-Convent which Philip Wat in of Cowgate a prime Citizen and almost I could beleeve him Mayor of the City did after the death of his Wife in a fit of sorrow give with his whole Estate to the Carmelites Secondly He was the first Carmelite who in Cambridge took the Degree of Doctor in Divinity ââ¦orsome boggled much thereat as false Heraldry in Devotion to super-induce a Doctoral hood over a Friers Coul till our Necton adventured on it For though Poverty might not affect Pride yet Humility may admit of Honour He flourished under King Henry the Third and Edward the First at Norwich and was buried with great solemnity by those of his Order Anno Dom. 1303. JOHN HORMINGER was born of good Parents in this County and became very accomplished in Learning It happened that travelling to Rome he came into the company of Italians the admirers only of themselves and the Slighters-General of all other Nations vilifying England as an inconsiderable Country ' whose Ground was as barren as the people Barbarous Our Horminger impatient to hear his Mother land traduced spake in her defence and fluently Epitomized the commodities thereof Returning home he wrote a Book De Divitiis Deliciis Angliae of the Profit and Pleasure of England which had it come to my hand O how advantageous had it been to my present design He flourished 1310. THOMAS of ELY was born in this County For though Cambridge-shire boasteth of Ely so famous for the Cathedral yet is there Monks-Ely in Suffolk the Native Town of this Thomas who followed the foot-steps of his Countryman Necton being a Carmelitâ⦠but in Ipswich and afterwards Doctor in the University of Cambridge aith my Author of Both Divinities But the same hand which tieth untieth this knot giving us to understand that thereby are meant Scholastical and Interpretative Divinity seeming to import them in that Age to have been distinct Faculties till afterwards united as the Civil and Common Law in one profession Leaving his Native Land he travelled over the seas with others of his Order to Bruges in Flanders and there kept Lectures and Disputations as one Gobelike a formidable Author informeth my Informer till his death about 1320. RICHARD LANHAM was born at a Market-Town well known for Cloathing in this County and bred when young a Carmelite in Ipswich He made it his only request to the Trefect of his Convent to have leave to study in Oxford which was granted him and deservedly employing his time so well there that he proceeded Doctor with publick applause Lelands Pencil paints him Pious and Learned but Bale cometh with his spunge and in effect deletes both because of his great Antipathy to the VVicklevites However his Learning is beyond contradiction attested by the Books he left to Posterity Much difference about the manner and place of his death some making him to decease in his Bed at Bristol others to be beheaded in London with Sudbury Arch-bishop of Canterbury and Hales Master of St. ãâã of Jerusalem by the Rebellious Crew of VVat Tyler who being a Misogrammatist if a good Greek word may be given to so Barbarous a Rebel hated every man that could write or read and were the more incensed against Lanham for his eminent Literature He died Anno Dom. 1381. JOHN KINYNGHAM was born in this County bred a Carmelite first in Ipswich then in Oxford being the 25th Prefect of his Order in England and Ireland Confessor to John of Gant and his Lady He was the first who encountred VVickliffe in the Schools at Oxford disputing of Philosophical Subtilties and that with so much Ingenuity that VVickliffe much taken with the Mans modesty prayed heartily for him that his Judgement might be convinced But whether with so good successe wherewith Peter Martyr besought God on the same account for ãâã Gilpin I know not He died a very aged man Anno 1399 and was buried at York far I confesse from Ipswich his first fixation But it was usual for Prefects of Orders to travel much in their Visitations JOHN LYDGATE was born in this County at a Village so called bred a Benedictine Monk in St. Edmunds-Bury After some time spent in our English Universities he travelled over France and Italy improving his time to his great accomplishment Returning he became Tutor to many Noble-mens sons and both in Prose and Poetry was the best Author of his Age. If Chaucers Coin were of a greater weight for deeper learning Lydgates were of a more refined Standard for purer language so that one might mistake him for a modern Writer But because none can so well describe him as himself take an Essay of his Verses excusing himself for deviating in his Writings from his Vocation I am a Monk by my profession In Berry call'd John Lydgate by my name And wear a habit of perfection Although my life agrees not with the same That meddle should with things spiritual As I must needs confess unto you all But seeing that I did herein proceed At his command whom I could not refuse I humbly do beseech all those that read Or leasure have this story to peruse If any fault therein they find to be Or error that committed is by me That they will of their gentleness take pain The rather to correct and mend the same Than rashly to condemn it with disdain For well I wot it is not without blame Because I know the Verse therein is wrong As being some too short and some too long For Chaucer that my Master was and knew What did belong to writing Verse and Prose Ne're stumbled at small faults nor yet did view With scornful eye the Works and Books of those That in his time did write nor yet would taunt At any man to fear him or to daunt He lived to be 60 years of age and died about the year 1444 and was buried in his own Convent with this Epitaph Mortuus saeclo superis superstes Hic ãâã Lydgate tumulatus urna Qui fuit quondam celebris Britannae Fama Poesis Dead in this World living above the skie Intomb'd within this Urn doth Lydgate lie In former time fam'd for his Poetry All over England As for the numerous and various Books which he wrote of several subjects Bale presenteth us with their perfect Catalogue JOHN BARNYNGHAM born at a Village so named in this County was bred a Carmelite in Ipswich and afterwards proceeded Doctor in Oxford thence going to Serbon the Cock-pit of controversies was there admitted to the same Degree Trithemius takes
of the Ladies amongst whom one reputed a kins-man to the great Sophy after some Opposition was married unto him She had more of Ebââ¦ny then Ivory in her Complexion yet amiable enough and very valiant a quality considerable in that Sex in those Countries With her he came over into England and lived many years therein He much affected to appear in forreign Vestes and as if his Clothes were his limbes accounted himself never ready till he had something of the Persian Habit about him At last a Contest happening betwixt him and the Persian Ambassadour to whom some reported Sir Robert gave a Box on the Ear the King sent them both into Persia there mutually to impeach one another and joyned Doctor Goââ¦gh a Senior Fellow of Trinity-colledge in Cambridge in Commission with Sir Robert In this ââ¦oyage as I am informed both died on the Seas before the controverted difference was ever heard in the Court of Persia about the beginning of the reign of K. Charles Sir THOMAS SHIRLEY I name him the last though the eldest Son of his Father because last appearing in the world mens Activity not always observing the method of their Register As the Trophies of Miltiades would not suffer Themistocles to sleep so the Atchivements of his two younger brethren gave an Alaââ¦m unto his spirit He was ashamed to see them Worne like flowers in the Breasts and Bosomes of forreign Princes whilst he himself withered upon the stalk he grew on This made him leave his aged Father and fair Inheritance in this County and to undertake Sea Voyages into forreign parts to the great honour of his Nation but small inriching of himself so that he might say to his Son as Aeneas to Aescanius Disce puer VirtuteÌ ex me verumque Laborem Fortunam ex aliis Virtue and Labour Learn from me thy Father As for success Child Learn from others rather As to the generall performances of these three brethren I know the Affidavit of a Poet carieth but a small creââ¦it in the court of History and the Comedy made of them is but a friendly foe to their Memory as suspected more accommodated to please the present spectators then inform posterity However as the belief of Mitiâ⦠when an Inventory of his adopted Sons misdeââ¦nours was brought unto him embraced a middle and moderate way nec omnia credere nec nihil neither to believe all things nor nothing of what was told him so in the list of their Atchivements we may safely pitch on the same proportion and when abatement is made for poeticall embelishments the remainder will speak them Worthies in their generations The certain dates of their respective deaths I cannot attain Physicians NICHOLAS HOSTRESHAM Know Reader I have placed him in this County only on presumption that Horsham in this Shire no such place otherwise in England is contracted for Hostresham He was a learned man a most famous Physician and esteemed highly of all the Nobility of the Land who coveted his company on any conditions It seemeth that he was none of those so pleasing and conformable to the Humor of their Patients as that they press not the true Cure of the Disease and yet none of those who are so Regular in proceeding according to Art for the Disease as that they respect not sufficiently the condition of their Patients but that he was of a Middle Temper and so in effect was two Physicians in one Man Many were the Books he wrote reckoned upby Bale and Pitz amongst which I take especial notice of one contra dolorem renum thus beginning Lapis quandoque generatur in renibus I observe this the rather because his Practise was wholly at home it not appearing that he ever went beyond the Sea and this is contrary unto the confidence of such who have vehemently affirmed that the Stone was never heard of in England untill Hopps and Beer made therewith about the year 1516. began to be commonly used He flourished Anno Domini 1443. Writers LAURENCE SOMERCOTE was born saith Bale in the South-part of the Kingdome But had I am sure his best English preferment in Sussex being Canon of Chichester After his breeding here under his Carefull Parents and Skilfull Masters who taught him Logick and Rhetorick he applied himself to the Study of the Law and attained to great Learning therein Then leaving the Land he went to Rome and repaited to his Brother or Kinsman Robert Somercote Cardinall who it seems procured him to be Sub-Deacon under the Popâ⦠He wrote some Books both in Latine and French and flourished in the year of our Lord 1240. JOHN DRITON so is his Surname Englished by Bale And why not as well John Driby a Vââ¦llage in Lincoln-shire seeing no Driton in all England The truth is this in Latine he wrote himself de Arida Villâ⦠equivalent with Sicoa villa or Sack-wil a Surname most renowned in this County and because it is added to his Character ex Illustri quadam Angliae familia procreââ¦s it suiteth well with our conjecturing him this Country-man He was bred according to the Mode of that Age in France and there became at Paris Summus Gymnasii Moderator which howsoever rendred in English soundeth a high place Conferred on a Forreigner In his time was much busling in the University about an Apocrypha Book patched together out of the Dreams of Joachime and Cyril two Monkes which was publickly read and commented on by many Admirers thereof by the name of the Eternall Gospell The Pope who often Curseth where God Blesseth here Blessed where God Cursed and notwithstanding the solemn Commination against such Additions to Scripture favoured them and what a Charitable Christian can scarcely believe damned their Opposers for Hereticks this our Sackwill bestirred himself and with William de Sancto Amore and other pious Men opposed this piece of Imposture Pitz in the Character of this our de Arida Villa treads like a foundred Horse on stones mentioning only that he met with much disturbance without any particulars thereof At last this Eternall Gospell had a Temporal End and with the Serpents of the Aegyptian Inchanters which vanished away this pretended Quint Essence Gospell sunk with shame into silence whilst the other four Gospells with the Serpent of Moses doe last and continue This our Writer flourished 1260. JOHN WINCHELSEY was bred in Oxford and became a great Scholar therein I am not bound to believe Bale in full latitude that he made a Centaur-Divinity out of Poets and Philosophers but this I believe that in his old Age he turned a Franciscan and when Gray became a Green Novice of the Order at Sarisbury Many condemned him that he would enter into such a life when ready to goe out of the world and others of his own Covent commended him who being old was concerned to find out the most compendious way to Heaven The year of his Probation was not ended when he died and was
Tattered Cowle a Shirt of Hair a Girdle of Hempe a Pair of Beads a Plain Crucifix and Picture of some Saint passed for all the wealth and Wardrobe of a Friar yet by hearing Feminine Confessions wherewith Wilton twitteth them and abusing the Key of Absolution they opened the Coffers of all the Treasure in the Land He wrot also a smart Book on this subject An validi Mendicantes sint in ãâã Perfectionis Whether Friars in health and Begging be in the state of perfection The Anti-Friarists maintaining that such were Rogues by the Laws of God and Man and fitter for the House of Correction then State of Perfection This Dean Wilton flourished Anno Dom. 1460. Since the Reformation WILLIAM HOREMAN was saith my Author Patria Sarisburiensis which in the Strictest sence may be rendred born in the City in the Largest born in the Diocess of Salisbury and in the Middle-sence which I most embrace born in Wiltshire the County wherein Salisbury is situated He was bred saith Bale first in Eaton then in Kings-colledge in Cambridge both which I doe not deny though propably not of the Foundation his name not appearing in the exact Catalogue thereof Returning to Eaton he was made Vice-Provost thereof where he spent the remainder of his ãâã He was one of the most Generall Scholars of his age as may appear by the Diffusiveness of his Learning and Books written in all Faculties Grammar  Of Orthography Poetry  Of the Quantities of penultime syllables History  A Chronicle with a Comment on some Index of most Chronicles Controversial Divinity A Comment on Gabriel Biel. Case  On the divorce of King Henry the eighth Hnsbandry  A Comment on Cato Varro Columella Palladius de Re Rusticâ Other books he left unfinished for which Bale sends forth a sorrowfull sigh with a Proh Dolor which his passion is proof enough for me to place this Horeman on this side of the line of Reformation He dyed April 12. 1535. and lieth buried in the Chappel of Eaton Masters of Musick WILLAM LAWES son of Thomas Lawes a Viââ¦ar Choral of the Church of Salisbury was bred in the Close of that City being from his Childhood inclined to Musick Edward Earl of Hertford obtained him from his Father and bred him of his own cost in that Faculty under his Master Giovanni Coperario an Italian and most Exquisite Musician Yet may it be said that the Schollar in time did Equal yea Exceed his Master He afterwards was of the Private Musick to King Charles and was respected and beloved of all such Persons who cast any looks towards Vertue and Honour Besides his Fancies of the three four five and six parts to Vyol and Organ he made above thirty severall sorts of Musick for Voyces and Instruments neither was there any Instrument then in use but he composed to it so aptly as if he had only studied that In these distracted times his Loyalty ingaged him in the War for his Lord and Master and though he was by Generall Gerrard made a Commissary on designe to secure him such Officers being commonly shot-free by their place as not Exposed to danger yet such the activity of his Spirit he disclaimed the Covert of his Office and betrayed thereunto by his own adventurousness was casually shot at the Siege of Chester the same time when the Lord Bernard Stuart lost his life Nor was the Kings soul so ingrossed with grââ¦ef for the death of so near a Kinsman and Noble a Lord but that hearing of the death of his dear servant William Laws he had a particular Mourning for him when dead whom he loved when living and commonly called the Father of Musick I leave the rest of his worth to be expressed by his own Works of Composures of Psalms done joyntly by him and his brother Master Henry Laws betwixt which two no difference either in Eminency Affection or otherwise considerable save that the one is deceased and the other still surviving Master William Laws dyed in September 164. Benefactours to the Publique T. STUMPS of the Town of Malmesbury in this County was in his Age one of the most eminent Clothiers in England of whom there passeth a story told with some variation of circumstances but generally to this purpose King Henry the eighth Hunting near Malmesbury in Bredon Forrest came with all his Court Train unexpected to Dine with this Clothier But great House-keepers are as seldome surprised with Guests as vigilant Captains with Enemies Stumps commands his little Army of Workmen which he fed daily in his house to fast one Meal untill night which they might easily doe without indangering their health and with the same Provision gave the King and his Court-train though not so delicious and various most wholesome and plentifull entertainment But more Authentick is what I read in the great Antiquary speaking of the plucking down of Malmesbury Monastery The very Minster it self should have sped no better then the rest but being Demolished had not T. Stumps a wealthy Clothier by much suit but with a greater summe of Money redeemed and bought it for the Iowns-men his Neighbours by whom it was converted to a Parish-church and for a great part is yet standing at this day I find one William Stumps Gentleman who in the one and thirtieth year of King Henry the eight bought of him the demeans of Malmesbury Abby for fifteen hundred pound two shillings and a half penny Now how he was related to this T. Stumps whether son or father is to me unknown It will not be a sin for me to wish more branches from such Stumps who by their bounty may preserve the Monuments of Antiquity from destruction Memorable Persons SUTTON of ãâã Tradition and an old Pamphlet newly vamped with Additions make him a great Clothier Entertaining King Henry the first and bequeathing at his death one hundred pounds to the Weavers of Salisbury with many other benefactions I dare not utterly deny such a person and his bountifull Gifts but am ââ¦ured that he is notoriously mis-timed seeing Salisbury had scarce a stone laid therein one hundred years after King Henry the first and as for old Sarum that age knew nothing of Clothing as we have proved before Thus these Mungrell Pamphlets part true part false doe most mischief Snakes are less dangerous then Lampries seeing none will feed on what is known to be poison But these books are most pernicious where truth and falshoods are blended together and such a Medly Cloth is the Tale-story of this Clothier MICHEL born at ........... in this County was Under-sheriffe to Sir Anthony Hungarford a worthy Knight Anno 1558. in the last year of Queen Mary Of this Master Michel I find this Character A right and a perfect godly man Under sheriffs generally are complained of as over-crafty to say no worse of them but it seems hereby the place doth not spoil the person but the person the
Brachyography was not then nor many years after invented But he though a quick Scribe is but a dull one who is good only at fac simile to transcribe out of an original whereas our Robert left many Books of his own making to posterity He flourished Anno Dom. 1180. and lleth buried before the Doors of the Cloyster of his Convent PETER of Rippon was Canon of that Colledge built antiently therein by Saint Wilfred purposely omitted by us in our Catalogue of Saints to expiate our former tediousnesse concerning him in our Church History Jeoffry Archbishop of York not only delighted in but doted on our Peter He wrote a Book of the life and miracles of Saint Wilfred How many suspected persons did prick their credits who could not thread his Needle This was a narrow place in his Church and kind of Purgatory save that no fire therein through which chaste Persons might easily passe whilest the Incontinent did stick therein beheld generally as a piece of Monkish Legerdemain I am sorry to hear that this Collegiate Church one of the most ancient and famous Churches in the North of England hath the means and allowance appointed for the repair thereof deteined and more ââ¦orry that on the eighth of December 1660. a violent wind blew down the great Steeple thereof which with its fall beaâ⦠down the Chancel the onely place where the people could assemble for Divine Worship and much shattered and weakened the rest of the Fabrick and I hope that His Majesties Letters Patents will meet with such bountiful contributions as will make convenient Reparation Our Peter flourished Anno 1190. under King Richard the first WILLIAM of NEWBOROUGH was born at Bridlington in this County but named of Newborough not far off in which Monastery he became a Canon Regular He also was called Petit or Little from his low stature in him the observation was verified that little men in whom their heat is most contracted are soon angry flying so fiercely on the memory of Geffrey of Monmouth taxing his British Chronicle as a continuââ¦d fiction translated by him indeed but whence from his own Brain to his own Pen by his own Invention Yea he denieth that there was ever a King Arthur and in effect overthroweth all the Welsh History But learned Leland conceives this William Little greatly guilty in his ill language which to any Author was uncivil to a Bishop unreverent to a dead Bishop uncharitable Some resolve all his passion on a point of meer revenge heartily offended because David Prince of Wales denied him to succeed G. Monmouth in the See of St. Asaph and therefore fell he so soul on the whose Welsh Nation Sure I am that this angry William so censorious of G. Monmouth his falsehoods hath most foul slips of his own Pen as when he affirmeth That in the place of the slaughter of the English nigh Battaile in Sussex if peradventure it be wet with any small showre presently the ground thereabouts sweateth forth very blood though indeed it be no more than what is daily seen in Rutland after any sudden rain where the ground floweth with a reddish moisture He flourished Anno 1200. under King John ROGER HOVEDEN was born in this County of the Illustrious Family of the Hovedens saith my Author bred first in the study of the Civil then of the Canon-Law and at last being servant to King Henry the second he became a most accomplished Courtier He is the chiefest if not sole Lay-Historian of his age who being neither Priest nor Monk wrote a Chronicle of England beginning where Bede ended and continuing the same until the fourth of King John When King Edward the first layed claim to the Crown of Scotland he caused the Chronicles of thââ¦s Roger to be diligently searched and carefully kept many Authentical passages therein tending to his present advantage This Roger flourished in the year of our Lord 1204. JOHN of HALIFAX commonly called De SACRO BOSCO was born in that Town so famous for Cloathing bred first in Oxford then in Paris being the prime Mathematician of his age All Students of Astronomy enter into that Art through the Door of his Book De ââ¦phaerâ He lived much beloved died more lamented and was buried with a solemn Funeral on the publick cost of the University of Paris Anno 1256. ROBERTUS PERSCRUTATOR or ROBERT the SEARCHER was born in this County bred a Dominican great Mathematician and Philosopher He got the sirname of Searcher because he was in the constant quest and pursuit of the Mysteries of Nature A thing very commendable if the matters we seek for and means we seek with be warrantable Yea Solomon himself on the same account might be entituled Searcher who by his own confession Applyed his heart to know and to Search and to seek out wisdome and the reason of things But curiosity is a kernel of the forbidden fruit which still sticketh in the throat of a natural man sometimes to the danger of his choaking it is heavily laid to the charge of our Robert that he did light his Candle from the Devils Torch to seek after such secrets as he did desire witnesse his Work of Ceremonial Magick which a conscientious Christian would send the same way with the Ephesian conjuring Books and make them fuel for the fire However in that age he obtained the reputation of a great Scholar flourishing under King Edward the second 1326. THOMAS CASTLEFORD born in this County was bred a Benedictine in Pââ¦mfraict whereof he wrote a History from ASK a Saxon first owner thereof to the Lacies from whom that large Lordship descended to the Earls of Lancaster I could wish some able Pen in Pomfraict would continue this Chronicle to our time and give us the particulars of the late memorable siege that though the Castle be demolished the Fame thereof may remain Leland freely confesseth that he learnt more then he looked for by reading Castlefords History promising to give a larger account thereof in a Book he intended to write of Civil History and which I suspect he never set forth prevented by death Our Castleford flourished about the year of our Lord 1326. JOHN GOWER was born saith Leland at Stitenham in the North Riding in Bulmore Wapentake of a Knightly Family He was bred in London a Student of the Laws till prizing his pleasure above his profit he quitted Pleading to follow Poetry He was the first refiner of our English Tongue effecting much but endeavouring more therein Thus he who sees the Whelp of a Bear but half lickt will commend it for a comely Creature in comparison of what it was when first brought forth Indeed Gower left our English Tongue very bad but ââ¦ound it very very bad Bale makes him Equitem auratââ¦m Poetam Laureatum proving both from his Ornaments on his monumental Statue in Saint Mary Overies Southwark Yet he appeareth there neither laureated nor hederated Poet except
The Graver here hath well thy Face design'd But no hand FULLER can expresse thy Mind For That a RESURRECTION giues to those Whom Silent Monuments did long enclose THE HISTORY OF THE WORTHIES OF ENGLAND VVho for Parts and Learning have been eminent in the several COUNTIES TOGETHER WITH An Historical NARRATIVE of the Native Commodities and Rarities in each County Endeavoured by Thomas Fuller D. D. LONDON Printed by J. G. W. L. and W. G. for Thomas Williams and are to be sold at the sign of the Bible in Little Britain MDCLXII TO HIS Sacred Majesty Most Dread Soveraign THE tender of these ensuing Collections is made with as much Fear and Reverence as it was intended with Duty and Devotion by the Author whilest living The Obligation that lieth upon me to endeavour him all right forced me unto this presumption It is the first voice I ever uttered in this kind and I hope it will be neither displeasing to Your MAJESTY or blamed by the VVorld whilest not unlike that of the Son of Croesus it sounds Loyalty to my Soveraign and Duty to my Father The matter of this Work for the most part is the description of such native and peculiar Commodities as the several Counties of Your Kingdom afford with a revival of the Memories of such Persons which have in each County been eminent for Parts or Learning If this Age abound with the like it is their Glory if not the perusal may perhaps beget in them a Noble Emulation of their Ancestors May Your MAJESTIES Raign be Happy and Long to see Your Countries COMMODITIES improved and Your WORTHIES multiplied So prayeth Your MAJESTIES meanest Subject the Authors Orphan JOHN FULLER To the Reader READER THou hast here presented to thy view a Collection of the VVorthies of England which might have appeared larger had God spared my dear Father the Author life At his death there remained unprinted the Bishoprick of Durham the Counties of Derby Dorset Gloucester Norfolk Northampton Northumberland Nottingham Oxford Rutland with part of Kent Devonshire and the Cities of London and Westminster which now at length according to the Copy the Author left behind him without the least Addition are made publick It is needless here to acquaint thee with the nature of the Work it being already fully set down in the first sixteen sheets thereof Yet thou mayst be pleased to take notice that although the Title promiseth thee only the History of the Worthies of England in the end there is added a short Description of the Principality of Wales The discounting of Sheets to expedite the Work at severall Presses hath occasioned the often mistake of the Folio's What ever faults else occur in this Impression it is my request that thou wouldest score them on my want of Care or Skill in Correcting the same that they may not in the least reflect on the Credit of my dead Father JOHN FULLER ERRATA First Book PAg. 27. Line 7. for mutive read mutire l. 8. for Commoreat â⦠Commoveat l. 13. for Proselytes r. Prose to its Gloucestersh Pag. 366. l. 6. add were many l. 7. for may seem to be r. many London Pag. 213. l. 44. for unius r. unus l. 45. for duellum r. duellam l. 47. for suscipiendum r. suscipiendam p. 214. l. 6. for primus acie r. primâ acie York shire Pag. 220. l. 40. for Or a Fess betwixt three Water bougets Or r. Argent a Fess betwixt threee Water bougets Gules Wales Preface l. 43. for grains r. pains p. 4. l. 31. add phrase p. 17. l. 16. dele half p. 25. l. 23. for Castro r. Castor p. 27. l. 9. for Gold r. no Gold p. 34. l. 30. for is here r. might have been here p. 44. l. 19. for freed r. free p. 47. l. 39. for must r. might p. 59. l. 39. for awarded r avoided l. 43. for as r. then THE WORTHIES OF ENGLAND CHAPTER I. The Designe of the ensuing Work ENGLAND may not unfitly be compared to an House not very great but convenient and the several Shires may properly be resembled to the rooms thereof No as learned Master Camden and painful Master Speed with others have discribed the rooms themselves so is it our intention God willing to discribe the Furniture of those rooms such Eminent Commodities which every County doth produce with the Persons of Quality bred therein and some other observables coincident with the same subject Cato that great and grave Philosopher did commonly demand when any new Project was propounded unto him * Cui Bono what good would ensue in case the same was effected A Question more fit to be asked then facile to be answered in all undertakings especially in the setting forth of new Books Insomuch that they themselves who complain That They are too many already help daylâ⦠to make them more Know then I propound five ends to my self in this Book First To gain some Glory to God Secondly Deadâ⦠â⦠Thirdly To present Examples to the Living Fourthly To entertain the Reader with Delight And lastly which I am not ashamed publickly to profess To procure some honest profit to my self If not so happy to obtain all I will be joyful to attain some yea contented and thankful too if gaining any especially the First of these Ends the Motives of my Endeavours First Glory to God which ought to be the aim of all our actions though too often our bow starts our hand shakes and so our arrow misseth the mark Yet I hope that our discribing so good a Land with the various Fruits and fruitful varieties therein will ingage both Writer and Reader in gratitude to that God who hath been so bountiful to our Nation In order whereunto I have not only alwayes taken but often sought occasions to exhort to thankfulness hoping the same will be interpreted no stragling from my Subject but a closing with my Calling Secondly To preserve the Memories of the Dead A good name is an oyntment poured out smelt where it is not seen It hath been the lawful desire of men in all ages to perpetuate their Memories thereby in some sort revenging themselves of Mortality though few have found out effectual means to perform it For Monuments made of Wood are subject to be burnt of Glass to be broken of soft stone to moulder of Marble and Metal if escaping the teeth of Time to be demolished by the hand of Covetousness so that in my apprehension the safest way to secure a memory from oblivion is next his own Vertues by committing the same in writing toPosterity Thirdly To present examples to the living having here precedents of all sorts and sizes of men famous for Valour Wealth Wisedome Learning Religion and Bounty to the publick on which last we most largely insist The Scholar being taxed by his Writing-Master for idlenesse in his absence made a fair defence when pleading that his Master had neither left him Paper whereon or Copy whereby to write But rich men will
Footsteps therein But here is no such help to Trace the Footings of Truth Time having almost out-worn all impressions thereof I perceive though Judges leave more Land than Bishops they leave lesse Memorialls behind them of the time place and manner when and where born and dyed and how they demeaned themselves In the same Topick with Judges we have also placed such as have been Writers of our Common-Law and such conjunction we hope is no disparagement considering many of them were Capital Judges as Broke Dyer Coke c. and the rest learned Men of great repute in their Profession insomuch that the Judges themselves in several Cases have submitted to their Judgments And here I can but admire at the comparative paucity of the Books of our Common-Law in proportion to those written of the Civil and Canon Law Oh how corpulent are the Corpus'es of both those Lawes Besides their Shadows are far bigger than their Bodies their Glosses larger than their Text. Insomuch that one may bury two Thousand pounds and upwards in the Purchase and yet hardly compasse a Moity of them whereas all the Writers of the Common-Law except they be much multiplyed very lately with all the Year-Books belonging thereunto may be bought for threescore pounds or thereabouts which with some men is an Argument that the Common-Law imbraceth the most compendious course to decide Causes and by the fewness of the Books is not guilty of so much difficulty and tedious prolixity as the common and civil Lawes Yet is it most true that common Law-books are dearer than any of the same Proportion Quot libri tot librae holdeth true in many and is exceeded in some of them Yea should now an old common Law-book be new-printed it would not quit cost to the PRINTRR nor turn to any considerable account For the Profession of the Law is narrow in it self as confined to few persons and those are already sufficiently furnished with all Authors on that Subject which with carefull keeping and good using will serve them and their sons sons unto the third Generation So that a whole Age would not carry off a New Impression of an Ancient Law-book and quick return being the life of trading the tediousness of the sale would eat up the profit thereof All I will adde is this that That TAYLOR who being cunning in his Trade and taking exact measure of a Person maketh a suit purposely for him may be presumed to fit him better than those who by a general aim at randome make Cloaths for him In like manner seing our municipal Law was purposely composed by the Sages of this Land who best knew the Genius of our Nation it may be concluded more proper for our people and more applicable to all the Emergencies in this half-Island than the civil Law made for the general Concernment of the whole Empire by such who were unacquainted with the Particularities of our Land and Nation CHAPTER VIII Of Souldiers and Seamen with the necessity to encourage the Trade of Fishing SOULDIERS succeed though it almost affrighteth my Pen to meddle with such Martial Persons It is reported of the God of the Jews That he would have no share in the Pantheon at Rome except he might have and that justly too the whole Temple to himself So lately we have been so sadly sensible of the boisterousness of Souldiers one may suspect they will though unjustly justle all others out of the Book to make room for themselves But since their violence hath blessed be God been seasonably retrenched we have adventured to select some signal Persons of that Profession whose Prowesse made eminent impression on Forreign Parts so purposely to decline all medling with the dolefull and dangerous Distractions of our Times beginning our List in the Reign of King Edward the 3d. and concluding in the beginning of King Charles Seamen Surely Divine Providence did not make the vast body of the Sea for no other use than for Fishes to disport themselves therein or as some do conceit only for to quench and qualifie the drought and heat of the Sun with the moysture thereof but it was for higher intendmens Chiefly That by sailing thereon there may be the continuing of Commerce the communicating of Learning and Religion the Last from Palestine the Staple thereof and the more speedy and convenient portage of Burthens seeing a laden Ship doth flie in comparison of the creeping of an empty Waggon Now to speak what Envy cannot deny Our Englishmen either for Fights or Discoveries whether for tame Ships Merchants Men or Wild Ships Men of War carry away the Garland from all Nations in the Christian World Learned Keckerman who being a German by birth was unbiased in his judgment and living in Dantz a Port of great trading whither Seamen repaired from all parts and writing a Book De re nautica may be presumed skilful therein alloweth the English the best Seamen and next to them the Hollanders And if the later dare deny the truth hereof let them remember the late Peace they purchased of the English and thank God that they met with so conscientious Chapmen who set no higher price thereon Yea Let the Dutch know that they are the Scholars to the English in some of their Discoveries For I find the four first Circumnavigators of the World thus qualified for their Nativities 1. Magellanus a Spaniard 2. Sr. Francis Drake an Englishman 3. Sr. Thomas Candish an Englishman 4. Oliver Noort an Hollander But be it known That the last of these had an Englishman Captain Mellis by name Pilot to conduct him Yet let not my commending of our English Seamen be misinterpreted as if I did not refer all successe to the goodnesse of God the grand Admiral of the World The praising of Instruments by way of subordination is no more detrimental to the honour of the Principal than the praising of the edge of the Axe is a disparagement to the strength of the Arm which useth it God I confesse by his Providence ordereth all by Land and by sea yea he may be said to be the first Shipwright for I behold the Arke as a Bird wholly hatcht but utterly unfledg without any feathers of Masts and Tackling it could only float and not sail yet so that therein was left pattern enough for humane Ingenuity to improve it to Naval perfection Yea God himself hath in Scripture taken signal notice of the dextrous in this nature on which account we finde the Tyrians or Men of Hiram praised for that they had knowledg of the sea when sent with the servants of Solomon to Ophir We begin our Catalogue of Seamen in the Raign of King Edward the 3d. before which time there were many good seamen in England but few good English-seamen our King using Mariners of the Hanse Towns But it is no good huswifery to hire Chair-women to do that which may as well and better be done by her own servants In the time
cured all Maladies and so in my apprehension gave a Supersedeas to the Practitioners in that Faculty and yet I find honourable mention made of Luke the beloved Physician But since I have wondred at my wondring thereat For that Communion of Goods was but tââ¦mporal for a short continuance and topical of a narrow compasse practised onely in Judea or thereabouts whilest the Churches amongst the Gentiles continued their propriety and particularly at Rome where Zenas had his Habitation and had work enough no doubt to exercise his Profession even amongst Christians themselves As for the Apostles they had not alwayes power at their own pleasure to work Miââ¦acles and cure diseases in all Persons no nor allwayes in themselves witnesse sick St. Paul receiving in himself the Sentence of Death but as they were directed for the glory of God and other occasions And therefore notwithstanding their miraculous Power St Luke might have plenty of Practice in his Profession Not was it probable that God the Authour of all Ingenuity would by the giving of the Gospel utterly extinguish any literal Calling which formerly had been publickly lawfully and needfully professed We have in our following Book given in the List of some Eminent LAVVYERS Civilians and Cannonists who have wrote on that Subject though we confess them very few in Number their Profession being lately undeservedly disgraced though now we congratulate the probability of the Restitution thereof to its former Dignity Sure I am in the dayes of Queen Elizabeth when an Embassadour was sent to Foreign PRINCES if it were an Affair of grand importance and more than a mere matter of magniââ¦ent complement some able Civilian as Doctor Hadden Dale Fletcher c. was joyned in Commission with the Noble-man imployed on that Embassie And as the Iron Doggs bear the burthen of the fuel while the Brasen-Andirons stand only for state to entertain the Eyes so the Negotiating part was loaded on the Civil ãâã whilest the Pomp-pageantry was discharged at the cost of the Noble-man Writers on Physick The Pââ¦ecept in the Apocrypha hath a Canonical Truth therein Honour the Physician for necessity sake and although King Asa justly received little benefit by them because of his preposterous addressing himself to them before he went to God and the. Woman in the Gospel troubled with the Issue reaped lesse ease by their Endeavours because God reserved her a Subject for his own Miraculous Cure yet in all Ages Millions have been cured by their Practice The Ancient Briââ¦tans who went without Cloathes may well be presumed to live without Physick Yet seing very Beasts know what is good for themselves the Dear the Cretan Dictamum and Toad his Antidote of plantaine sure they had some experimental Receipts used amongst them and left the rest to Nature and Temperance to cure The Saxons had those they termed Leaches or Bloud-letters but were little skilled in methodical practise Under the Normans they began in England and would we had ferch'd Physicians onely and not Diseases from France Yet three hundred years since it was no distinct Profession by it self but practiced by men in Orders witness Nicholas de Fernham the chief English Physician and Bishop of Durham Hugh of Evesham a Physician and Cardinal Grisant a Physician and Pope Yea the word Physician appears not in our Statutes till the days of King Henry the eight who incorporated their Colledge at London since which time they have multiplied and flourished in our Nation but never more and more learned then in our age wherein that Art and especially the Anatomical part thereof is much improved our Civil Wars perchance occasioning the latter We begin our Catalogue at Richardus Anglicus our first Physician flourishing Anno 1230. and continue to Doctor Harvey whom I may term Gulielmus Anglicus such honour he hath done England by his worthy Writings Thus wishing them all happy success in their Practice I desire a custome in France and other forreign parts naturalized in England where a Physician is liable to Excommunication if visiting a Patient thrice before he acquainteth a Priest of his sickness that so the Medicine for soul and body may go hand in hand together Chimistry Chimistry is an ingenious Profession as which by Art will force somewhat of worth and eminence from the dullest substance yea the obduras'st and hardest hearted body cannot but shed forth a tear of precious liquor when urged thereunto with its intreaties They may be termed Parcel-physicians every day producing rare experiments for the curing of many diseas es bu I must confess there occurs t few and of those few fewer Modern ones through the whole series of our Book Yet may we be said to have extracted the spirits I mean such as were eminent therein of this Profession being confident the judicious Reader will value one Jem before many Barly Corns and one Drop of a true extract before many Bottles of worthless water Chirurgery Necessary and ancient their Profession ever since mans body was subject to enmity and casualty For that promise A bone of him shall not be broken is peculiar to Christ. As for the other To keep them in all their ways that they dash not their foot against a stone though it be extended to all Christians yet it admitteth as other temporal promises of many exceptions according to Gods will and pleasure It seemeth by the Parable of the good Samaritan who bound up the Passengers wounds pouring in Oil and Wine that in that age ordinary persons had a general insight in Chirurgery for their own and others use And it is reported to the just praise of the Scotch Nobility that anciently they all were very dextrous thereat particularly it is written of James the fourth King of Scotland Quod vulnera scientissime tractaret He was most scilful at the handling of wounds But we speak of Chirurgery as it is a particular Mystery Professed by such as make a Vocation thereof Of whom we have inserted some eminent for their Writings or otherwise amongst Physicians and that as we hope without any offence seeing the healing of diseases and wounds were anciently one Calling as still great the Sympathy betwixt them many diseases causing wounds as Ulcers as wounds occasioning diseases as feavers till in process of time they were seperated and Chirurgions only consigned to the Manual Operation Thus wishing unto them the three Requisits for their practise an Eagles Eye a Ladies Hand ond a Lions Heart I leave them and proceed CHAP. X. Writers BEING to handle this Subject let not the Reader expect that I will begin their Catalogue from Fabulous Antiquity or rather fanciful Fabels For if the first Century of J. Bale or J. Pits their British Writers were Garbled four parts of five would be found to be Trash such as 1. Samothes Gigas 2. Magus Samotheus 3. Sarron Magius 4. Druys Sarronius 5. Bardus Druydius 6. Albion Mareoticus 7. Brytus Julius 8. Gerion
Augur 9. Aquila Septonius 10. Perdix Praesagus 11. Cambra Formosa 12. Plenidius Sagax c. Of these some never were men others if men never were Writers others if Writers never left Works continuing to our age though some Manuscript-Mongers may make as if they had perused them It is well they had so much modesty as not to pretend inspection into the Book of life seeing all other books have come under their Omnividencie We are content to begin our number at Gildas commonly surnamed the wise flourishing about the year 580. and are right gald to have so good a General to lead our Army of Writers taking it for a token of good success Now these Writers were either such who wrote before or since the Reformation of Religion The former again fall generally under a treble division as either Historians Philologists or Divines and we will insist a little on their several imployments Of Writers on Philology and Divinity Doctor Collens Kings Professor in Cambridge and that Oracle of Eloquence once founded his Speech made to entertain Strangers at the Commencement on the words of Saint Paul Salute Philologus and Olympas Under the former he comprised all persons persent eminent in Humane Learning under the later all skillful in Heavenly Divinity Indeed Philology properly is Terse and Polite Learning melior literatura married long since by Martianus Capella to Mercury being that Florid skill containing onely the Roses of learning without the prickles thereof in which narrow sense thorny Philosophy is discharged as no part of Philology But we take it in the larger notion as inclusive of all human liberal Studies and preposed to Divinity as the Porch to the Palace Having passed the Porch of Philology we proceed to the Palace of Divinity The Writers in this Faculty we distinguish into two sorts First Positive Divines such I mean whose works are either Comments on or else expositions of some portion of Sacred Writ Secondly School-men who have made it their business to Weave find Threads of nicer Distinctions Writers on History This is either Ecclesiastical or Civil Of both these England presenteth many but generally Moncks before the Reformation who too much indulging to Holy Fraud have farced their Books with many feigned miracles to the prejudice of truth However herein foreign Historians have been as guitly as English-men of the same Age witness the complaint of Mariana the Jesuit which one may justly wonder how it passed the Index Expurgatorius Quis enim negare possit Fastos Ecclesiasticos aliquando adulatione Temporum aut potius incuria hominum multis maculis contaminatos libris aliis quibus preces Ecclesiasticae ritusque sacrorum continentur multas fuisse inspersas confusasque fabulas commenta Addam nonnunquam in Templis reliquias dabias prophana Corpora pro sanctorum qui cum Christo in coelo regnant exuviis sacris fuisse proposita Est enim miserum negare non posse quid sit turpe confiteri at nescio quo pacto fictis saepe fabulis prae posteris mendaciorum nugis populus magis quam veritate ac synceritate capitur ea est mentis nostrae inanitas has sordes ubi semel irrepserunt in Ecclesiam sacrorum ritus libros Ecclesiasticos nobis fortassis dormientibus attrectare nemo audet mutive nemo ne impietatis suspicionem commoreat scilicet Religioni adversarius esse videatur Nor hath our Land been altogether barren of Historians since the Reformation having yielded some of as tall parts and large performances as any Nation in Christendome Besides these we have adventured to adde such as have been eminent in Poetry which may not unfitly be termed the binding of Proselites good behaviour tying it to the strict observation of time and measure Amongst these some are additioned with the Title of Laureat though I must consess I could never find the root whence their Bays did grow in England as to any solemn institution thereof in our Nation Indeed I read of Petrarch the pre-coetanean of our Chaucer that he was crowned with a Laurel in the Capitol by the Senate of Rome Anno 1341. as also that Frederic the third Emperour of Germany gave the Laurel to Conradus Celtes and since the Count Palatines of the Empire claime the priviledge solemnly to invest Poets with the Bays The branches hereof in all ages have been accounted honourable in so much that King James in some sort wav'd his crown in the two and twenty-shilling-pieces to wear the Laurel in his new twenty-shilling-pieces On the same token that a wag passed this jeast thereon That Poets being always poor Bays were rather the embleme of wit then wealth since King James no sooner began to wear them but presently he fell two shillings in the pound in publique valuation As for our English Poets some have assumed that style unto themselves as John Kay in his Dedication of The Seige of Rhodes to King Edward the fourth subscribing himself his humble Poet Laureat Others have in complement given the title to such persons as were eminent in that Faculty and nothing more usuall then to see their pictures before their Books and Statues on their Tombs ornamented accordingly However all this is done by civil courtesie or common custome no ceremonious creation in Court or University I write not this as if I grudged to Poets a whole grove of Laurel much less a sprig to incircle their heads but because I would not have any specious untruth imposed on the Readers belief Yet want there not those who do confidently averr that there is always a Laureat Poet in England and but one at a time the Laurel importing Conquest and Sovereignty and so by consequence soleness in that faculty and that there hath been a constant succession of them at Court who beside their salary from the King were yearly to have a tun of win as very essential to the heightning of fancy This last I conceive founded on what we find given to Geffery Chaucer Vigesimo secundo anno Richardi secundi concessum Galfrido Chaucer unum dolium vini per annum durante vitâ in portu Civitatis London per manus capitalis pincernae nostri But Chaucer besides his poetical accomplishments did the King service both in war and peace as Souldier and Embassadour in reward whereof this and many other boons were bestow'd upon him Musicians Musick is nothing else but wild sounds civilised into Time and Tune Such the extensiveness thereof that it stoopeth as low as bruit beasts yet mounteth as high as Angels For Horses will do more for a whistle then for a whip and by hearing their bells gingel away their weariness The Angels in Heaven imploy themselves in Musick and one ingeniously expresseth it to this effect We know no more what they do do above Save only that they Sing and that they Love And although we know not the Notes of their Musick we know what their Ditty is namely
Hallalu-jah Such as cavil at Musick because Juball a descendant from wicked Cain was the first founder thereof may as well be content to lye out of dores and refuse all cover to shelter them because Jaball of the same extraction being his own brother first invented to dwell in Tents I confess there is a company of pretenders to Musick who are commonly called Crowders and that justly too because they Crowd into the company of Gentlemen both unsent for and unwelcome but these are no more a disgrace to the true professors of that faculty then Monkies are a disparagement to man-kind Now right antient is the use of Musick in England especially if it be true what I read in a worthy Father and I know not which more to admire either that so memorable a passage should escape Master Camdens or that it should fall under my observation Clemens Alexand. Strom. lib. 6. pag. 632. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã They say even those which compose histories that in the Island of Britanny there is a certain Cave lying under a Mountain in the top thereof gaping The wind therefore falling into the Cave and dashing into the bosome of a hollow place there is heard a tinckling of Cymbals beating in Tune and Time Where this musical place should be in Britain I could never find yet have been informed that Doctor Miles Smith Bishop of Hereford found something tending that way by the help of an active fancy in Herefordshire But waving this natural the antiquity of artificial Musick in this Island is proved by the practice of the Bards thereby communicating Religion Learning and Civility to the Britans Right glad I am that when Musick was lately shut out of our Churches on what default of hers I dare not to enquire it hath since been harboured and welcomed in the Halls Parlors and Chambers of the primest persons of this Nation Sure I am it could not enter into my Head to surm se that Musick would have been so much discouraged by such who turned our Kingdome into a Commonwealth seeing they prided themselves in the armes thereof an impaled Harp being Moity of the same When it was Ask'd what made a good Musitian one Answered a good voice another that it was skill but he said the truth who said it was incouragement It was therefore my constant wish that seeing most of our Musicians were men of maturity and arrived at their full age and skill before these distracted times began and seeing what the Historian wrote in another sence is true here in our acception and application thereof Res est unius seculi populus virorum I say I did constantly wish that there might have been some semenary of youth set up to be bred in the faculty of Musick to supply succession when this Set of Masters in that Science had served their generation Yet although I missed of what I did then desire yet thanks be to God I have lived to see Musick come into request since our Nation came into right Tune and begin to flourish in our Churches and elsewhere so that now no fear but we shall have a new generation skillful in that Science to succeed such whose age shall call upon them to pay their debt to nature If any who dislike Musick in Churches object it useless if not hurtful in Divine Services let them hear what both a learned and able Divine alledgeth in defence thereof So that although we lay altogether aside the consideration of Ditty or Matter the very Harmony of sounds being framed in due sort and carried from the Ear to the spiritual faculties of the Soul it is by a native puissance and efficacy greatly available to bring to a perfect temper whatsoever is there troubled apt as well to quicken the spirits as to allay that which is too eager soveraign against melancholy and dispair forceable to draw forth Tears of Devotion if the Mind be such as can yield them able both to move and moderate all affections In recounting up of Musitians I have only insisted on such who made it there profession and either have written books of that faculty and have attained to such an eminence therein as is generally acknowledged Otherwise the work would be endless to recount all up who took it as a quality of accomplishment amongst whom King Henry the eighth must be accounted who as Erasmus testifies to his knowledge did not onely sing his part sure but also compose services for his Chappel of four five and six parts though as good a Professor as he was he was a great destroyer of Musick in this Land surely not intentionly but accidentaly when he suppressed so many Quires at the Desolution Romish Exile Writers After the Writers before the Reformation succeed those Romish banished Writers since the same all living since the reign of Q Mary which might have been distanced from the former with a black line interposed as beheld under a far different yea worse qualification For the superstitions of the former were the more pardonable as living in a dark age which are less excusable in these since the light of the Gospel I confess the word Exile carries much of commiseration therein and with chatably minded men bespeaks pitty to the persons untill the cause of their banishment be well considered For some in the first of Queen Elizabeth willfully left the Land and so in effect banished themselves others having their lives forfeited by the Laws had their deaths mercifully commuted by ouâ⦠Magistrates into banishment Objection These men might have been lost without loss and been omitted in your book as no limbe but a wen yea an ulcer thereof Answer Grant them never so bad being digested into a Classis by themselves their mixture cannot be infectious to others Secondly Abate their errours and otherwise many of them were well meriting of the Commonwealth of learning Lastly The passages of their lives conduce very much to the clearing of Ecclesiastcal History In noting of their nativties I have wholly observed the instructions of Pitseââ¦s where I knock off with his death my light ending with his life in that subject since which time I have neither list to enquire nor conveniency to attain of these Romish fugitives beyond the seas A just Complaint of the numerosity of needless Books Solomon was sensible of this vanity even in his time when pronouncing of Book there is no end The Heathen Poet took notice thereof Scribimus indocti doctique Poemata passim Poems write a main we do Learned and unlearned too All this was before the invention of Printing when books came but single into the publique which since that Mistery is made common come swimning into the world like shoals of Fishes and one edition spawneth another This made learned Erasmus for company sake to jeer himself that he might the more freely jeer others Multi mei similes hoc morbo laborant ut cum scribere nesciant
tamen a scribendo temporare non possunt Many men like my self are sick of this decease that when they know not how to write yet cannot forbear from writing A worthy English Barronet in his book incomparable on that subject hath clearly and truly stated this point Here I expect that the judicious Reader will excuse me if I take no notice of many Modern Phamphliteers seeing unlearned Scriblers are not ranked with learned Writers yea it was though tartly truly said to the Author of such a book Dum scateant alii erratis datur unica Libro Menda tuo totââ¦m est intiger error opus Whilst others flow with faults but one is past In all thy book 't is fault from first to last Indeed the Press at first a Virgin then a chast Wife is since turned Common as to prostitute her self to all Scurrilous Pamphlets When the Author of an idle and impersect book endeth with a caetera dessiderantur one altered it non dessider antur sed desunt Indeed they were not though wanting wanted the world having no need of them many books being like King Joram who lived not being desired yea the Press begineth to be an oppression of the Land such the burden of needless books therein Some will say the charge may most justly be brought against your self who have loaded the Land with more books then any of your Age. To this I confess my fault and promise amendment that God willing hereafter I will never Print book in the English tongue but what shall tend directly to Divinity CHAP. XI Of Benefactors to the Publick wherein also Choise Charities are recommended to men of Estates These are reducible to several Heads and we will begin with them who have been Builders of CHURCHES SUch Centurions who have erected us Synagogues places for Gods publick VVorship seem to me to have given good testimony of their Love to our nation Bitter was the Brave which railing Rabsheca sent to holy Hezekiah proffering him 2000 Horses on Condition that the other were but able to find Riders for them But it grieves me to see the Superstition of the former insult over the religion of this present age bragging that she left us ten thousand Churches and Chappels more or lesse ready built if we can find but repairers to keep them up It is in my opinion both dishonorable to God and scandalous to all good men to see such houses daily decay But there is a generation of people who to prevent the verifying of the old proverb Pater noster built Churches and our Father plucks them down endevour to pluck down both Churches and Our Father together neglecting yea despising the use both of the one and the other Be it here remembred that it is not only equal but just that such as have been Founders of Churches or Grand Benefactors unto them should have due Respect in preserving their Monuments from Violation or Incroachment of others I urge this the rather because abuses have been frequent in this kind even to those that have deserved best I cannot with patience remember the Story of Henry Keble Lord Maior of London 1511. who besides other Benefactions in his Life time rebuilded Alder-Mary-Church run to very Ruines and bequeathed at his Death a thousand pounds for the finishing thereof Yet within sixty years after his Bones were unkindly yea inhumanely cast out of the Vaute wherein they were buried his Monument plucked down for some Wealthy Person of the present times to be buried therein I could not but on this Occasion rub up my old Poetry Facit Indignatio Versus The Author to Alder-Mary Church Ungrateful Church orerun with rust Lately buried in the dust Utterly thou hadst been lost If not preserv'd by Keble's cost A Thousand Pounds might it not buy Six foot in length for him to lie But outed of his quiet Tombe For later Corps he must make Roome Tell me where his Dust is cast Though 't be late yet now at last All his Bones with Scorne ejected I will see them recollected VVho faine my self would Kinsman prove To all that did God's Temples love Alder-Mary Churches Answer Alas my Innocence excuse My Wardens they did me abuse VVhose Avarice his Ashes sold That Goodness might give place to Gold As for his Reliques all the Town They are scattered up and down See'st a Church repaired well There a Sprinkling of them fell See'st a new Church lately built Thicker there his Ashes spilt O that all the Land throughout Kebles Dust were throwne about Places scattered with that seed VVould a Crop of Churches breed I could wish this was the last Barbarisme in this kind and am sorry that upon small Inquiry I could insist on later Instances Free-Schools and Colledges I place Schools before Colledges because they are introductory thereunto intended for the bââ¦eeding of Children and Youth as the other for youth and men And seeing much of Truth is contained in our English Proverb It is as good to be unborn as unbred such may in some sort seem their Second-Parents who have provided for their Education These Schools are of two kinds First those wherein only a Salary is given to the School-master to teach Children gratis and these I confess are good Secondly such wherein a select number of Scholars have competent maintenance allowed towards their Living in the University and these all will acknowledge are better Some do suspect a surfet in our Land of the multitude of Schools because the Nursery is bigger then the Orchard the one breeding more Plants then the other can maintain Trees and the Land not affording sufficient preferment for them Learning is forced to stoop to mean Courses to make a Livelihood But I conceive that Store in this kind is no sore and if we must not do evil that good may come thereof we must not forbear doing that which is good for fear of accidental Evils which may arise from the same Bridges Builders of Bridges which are high-waies over water and makers of Caused-waies or Causways which are Bridges over dirt though last in order are not least in benefit to the Commmon-wealth Such conveniences save the lives of many ease the labour of moe painful travellers and may be said in some sort to lengthen the day and shorten the way to men in their journeys yea Bridges make and keep this our Island a Continent to it self How great the care of the ancient Romans to repair them for the safety of passengers appears by the origination of Pontifex having the inspection over bridges by his primitive institution Indeed the word bridge appears not in all Scripture whereof this the reason the rivers of Palestine were either so shallow that they were passable by foords as of Jabbok Arnon and Jordan before it grew navigable or else so deep that they were ferried over as Jordan when neer his fall into the Dead Sea but most of ours in England are of a middle size so
in Catal. Episc. Londini impres anno 1616. See here four places challenge one man and I am as unwilling to accuse any of falshood as I am unable to maintain all in the Truth However the difference may thus be accomodated Bradwardins Ancestors fetch'd their Name from that place in Herefordshire according to Camden though he himself was born as Bale saith at Hartfeld in Sussex within the City saith Pits of Chichester interpret him exââ¦ensively not to the Walls but Diocesse and Jurisdiction thereof As for Suffolk in Bishop Godwin I understand it an Erratum in the Printer for Sussex Our usual expedient in the like cases is this to insert the Character at large of the controverted person in that County which according to our apprehension produceth the best Evidence for him yet so that we also enter his name with a reference in the other respective places which with probability pretend unto him If equal likelyhood appear unto us on all sides that County clearly carries away his character which first presenteth it self to our Pen in the Alphabetical Order Thus lately when the same Living was in the gift of the Lord Chancellour Lord Treasurer and Master of the Wards that Clerk commonly carried it who was first presented to the Bishop However though in the disputable Nativities of worthy men first come first serv'd a Caveat is also entred in other Counties to preserve their Titles unprejudiced It must not be forgotten that many without just cause by mistake multiply differences in the places of mens Births The Papists please themselves with reporting a Tale of their own inventing how the men of two Towns in Germany fell out and fought together whilst one of them was for Martin the other for Luther being but the several names of the same person If one Author affirms Bishop Jewel born at Buden another at Berinerber let none make strife betwixt these two Writers the former naming the House and Village the later the Parish wherein he was born a case which often occurs in the Notation of Nativities That the Children of Clergymen have been as successeful as the Sons of Men of other Professions There goeth a common Report no less uncharitable than untrue yet meeting with many Beleivers thereof as if Clergy mens Sons were generally signally unfortunate like the Sons of Ely Hophnies and Phineaz's dissolute in their Lives and doleful in their Deaths This I may call a Libell indeed according to Sir Francis Bacon his Description thereof for first it is a Lye a notorious untruth and then a Bell some lowd and lewd Tongue hath told yea Rung it out and perchance was welcome Musick to some hearers thereof It is first confest that the best Saints and Servants of God have had bad as well as good children extracted from them It is the Note of Illiricus on those words of Saint John to the Elect Lady I rejoiced greatly when I found of thy Children walking in the Truth He saith not all thy but of thy children intimating that she had mingled Ware Corn and Tares in those who were descended from her Thus Aaron for I desire to restrain my self in instances of the Priests had Nadab and Abihu two strange Fire Offerers as well as his Godly Sons Eliazar and Ithamar Yea I find one of the best Fathers having two and those I beleive all he had of the worst Sons even Samuel himself Nor do we deny but that our English Clergy have been unhappy in their off-spring though not above the proportion of other Professions whereof some have not unprobably assigned these causes First If Fellows of Colledges they are ancient beââ¦ore they marry Secondly their children then are all Benjamins I mean the children of their Old age and thereupon by their Fathers to take off as much as we may the weight of the fault from the weaker Sex cockered and indulged which I neither defend or excuse but bemone and condemn Thirdly Such Children after their Fathers Death are left in their Minority to the careless Care of Friends and Executors who too often discharge not their due trust in their Education whence it is such Orphans too osten embrace wild courses to their own destructions But all this being granted we maintain that Clergy-mens Children have not been more unfortunate but more observed than the Children of the Parents of other Professions There is but one Minister at one time in a whole Parish and therefore the fewer they are the easier they are observed both in their Persons and Posterities Secondly the Eminency of their place maketh them exposed and obvious to all discoveries Thirdly possibly Malice may be the Eye-salve to quicken mens Sight in prying after them Lastly one ill Success in their Sons maketh for the reasons aforesaid more impression in the Ears and Eyes of people then many miscarriages of those Children whose Fathers were of another Function I speak not this out of Intent to excuse or extenuate the Badnesse of the one by the Badnesse of the other but that both may be mutually provoked to Amendment In a word other mens Children would have as many Eyesores if they had as many Eyes seeing them Indeed if happinesse be confin'd unto outward Pomp and Plenty and if those must be accounted unfortunate which I in the true meaning of the word must interpret unprovidenced who swim not in equal Plenty with others then that Epithet may be fixed on the Children of the Clergy Whose Fathers coming late to their Livings and surprised by Death not staying long on them which at the best afforded them but narrow maintenance leave them oft-times so ill provided that they are forced without blame or shame to them as I conceive to take sometimes poor and painful Employments for their Livelyhood But by our following Endevours it will plainly appear that the Sons of Ministers have by Gods blessing proved as Eminent as any who have raised themselves by their own Endevours For Statesmen George Carew Privy Councellor of England Scotland and Ireland and as able a man absit Invidia as the age he lived in produced was Earl of Totnes the same place whereof his Father was Arch-deacon Sir Edwin Sandys Son to Arch-bishop Sandys will be acknowledged even by his Enemies a man of such merit that England could not afford an Office which he could not manage For Lawyers Sir Thomas Richardson lately and the never sufficiently to be commended Sir Orlando Bridgeman now Lord Chief Justice with many others For Seamen Sir Francis Drake that great Scourge and Terror to the Spanish Pride If any say these are but thin Instances out of so thick a number de tot modo milibus unus few of so many Hundreds know we have only taken some Eminent persons leaving the rest for fear to be counted Forestallers to the Collection of the Reader in our ensuing Book But the Sons of Ministers have never been more successeful then when bred in the Professions of their
favour will be indulged to my Endevours for my many Infirmities To Come to particulars some seeming Omissions will appear to be none on better Enquiry being only the leaving of many persons which belong not to our land to their Forraign Nativities If any ask why have you not written of John a Gaunt I answer because he was John of Gaunt born in that City in Flanders Thus whilst our Kings possessed large Dominions in France from King William the Conquerour to King Henry the Sixth many eminent English men had their birth beyond the Seas without the bounds of our Subject Secondly I hope real Omissions will neither be found many nor material I hope I shall not appear like unto him who undertaking to make a Description of the Planets quite forgot to make mention of the Sun I believe most of those who have escaped our Pen will be found Stars of the Lesser Magnitude Thirdly I protest in the presence of God I have not wittingly willingly or wilfully shut the Dore against any worthy person which offered to enter into my knowledge nor was my prejudice the Porter in this kind to exclude any of what perswasion soever out of my Book who brought merit for their Admission Besides I have gon and rid and wrote and sought and search'd with my own and friends Eyes to make what Discoveries I could therein Lastly I stand ready with a pencel in one hand and a Spunge in the other to add alter insert expunge enlarge and delete according to better information And if these my pains shall be found worthy to passe a second Impression my faults I will confess with shame and amend with thankfulnesse to such as will contribute clearer Intelligence unto me These things premised I do desire in my omissions the pardon especially of two sorts concerned in my History first Writers since the Reformation having those before it compleatly delivered unto us who cannot be exactly listed First for their Numerousnesse and therefore I may make use of the Latine Distick wherewith John Pitseus closeth his Book of English Writers Plura voluminibus jungenda volumina nostris Nec mihi scribendi terminus ullus erit More Volums to our volums must we bind And when that 's done a Bound we cannot find Secondly for the scarcenesse of some Books which I may term Publici-privati juris because though publickly printed their Copies were few as intended only for friends though it doth not follow that the Writers thereof had the less Merit because the more Modesty I crave pardon in the second place for my Omissions in the List of Benefactors to the Publick for if I would I could not compleat that Catalogue because no man can make a fit garment for a growing Child and their Number is daily encreasing Besides if I could I would not For I will never drain in Print the spring so lowe but to leave a Reserve and some whom I may call Breeders for posterity who shall passe un-named in which Respect I conceive such Benefactors most perfectly reckoned up when they are Imperfectly reckoned up All I will add is this when St. Paul writing to the Philippians had saluted three by name viz. Euodias Syntyche and Clement he passeth the rest over with a Salutation General whose Names are in the Book of Life Thus I have indevoured to give you the most exact Catalogue of Benefactors but this I am sure what is lost on Earth by my want of Industry Instruction c. Will be found in Heaven and their names are there recorded in that Register which will last to all Eternity As for my omitting many Rarities and Memorables in the respective Counties I plead for my self that mine being a general Description it is not to be expected that I should descend to such particularities which properly belong to those who write the Topography of one County alone He shewed as little Ingenuity as Ingeniousnesse who Cavilled at the Map of Grecia for imperfect because his Fathers house in Athens was not represented therein And their expectation in effect is as unreasonable who look for every small observeable in a General work Know also that a mean person may be more knowing within the Limits of his private Lands then any Antiquary whatsoever I remember a merry challenge at Court which passed betwixt the Kings Porter and the Queens Dwarfe the latter provoking him to fight with him on condition that he might but choose his own place and be allowed to come thither first assigning the great Oven in Hampton Court for that purpose Thus easily may the lowest domineere over the highest skill if having the advantage of the ground within his own private concernments Give me leave to fill up the remaining Vacuity with A Corrollary about the Reciprocation of Alumnus The word Alumnus is effectually directive of us as much as any to the Nativities of Eminent persons However we may observe both a Passive and Active interpretation thereof I put Passive first because one must be bred before he can breed and Alumnus signifieth both the Nursed child and the Nurse both him that was educated and the Person or Place which gave him his Education Wherefore Laurentius Valla though an excellent Grammarian is much deceived when not admitting the double sense thereof as by the ensuing instances will appear Passive Pro Educato Active Pro Educatore Cicero Dolabellae Mihi vero gloriosum te juvenem Consulem florere laudibus quasi Alumnum Disciplinae meae Plinie lib. 3. de Italia Terra omnium terrarum Alumna eadem parens numine Deum electa De finibus 122. b. Aristoteles caeterique Platonis Alumni Augustinus lib. 70. Civit. Jovem Alumnum cognominaverunt quod omnia aleret The Design which we drive on in this observation and the use which we desire should be made thereof is this viz. That such who are born in a Place may be sensible of their Engagement thereunto That if God give them ability and opportunity they may expresse their Thankfulnesse to the same Quisquis Alumnus erat gratus Alumnus erit A Thankful man will feed The Place which did him breed And the Truth hereof is eminently conspicuous in many Persons but especially in great Prelates before and rich Citizens since the Reformation BARK-SHIRE hath Wilt-shire on the West Hamp-shire on the South Surry on the East Oxford and Buckingham-shââ¦re parted first with the Isis then with the flexuous River of Thames on the North thereof It may be fancied in a form like a Lute lying along whose belly is towards the West whilst the narrow neck or long handle is extended toward the East From Coleshull to Windsor it may be allowed in length forty miles But it amounteth to little more then half so much in the broadest part thereof It partaketh as Plentifull as any County in England of the Common Commodities Grasse Grain Fish Foul Wooll and Wood c. and we will particularly instance on one or two
he could not avoid to behold it For these reasons he left the Land went or shall I say fled into France where he sighed out the remainder of his Life most at Pontiniack but some at Soyssons where he dyed Anno 1240. Pope Innocent the fourth Canonized him six years after his death whereat many much wondred that he should so much honour one a professed foe to Papal Extortions Some conceived he did it se defendendo and for a ne noceat that he might not be tormented with his Ghost But what hurt were it if all the Enemies of his Holiness were Sainted on condition they took death in their way thereunto Sure it is that Lewis King of France a year after translated his Corps and three years after that bestowed a most sumptuous Shrine of Gold Silver and Chrystal upon it and the 16. of November is the Festival appointed for his Memorial Martyrs It appeareth by the confession of Thomas Man Martyred in the beginning of King Henry the eighth that there was at Newberry in this County a glorious and sweet Society of faithful Favourers who had continued the space of fifteen years together till at last by a certain lewd person whom they trusted and made of their Council they were betrayed and then many of them to the number of six or seven score were abjured and three or four of them burnt Now although we knew not how to call these Martyrs who so suffered their Names no doubt are written in the Book of Life We see how the day of the Gospel dawned as soon in this County as in any place in England surely Seniority in this kind ought to be respected which made Paul a pusney in piety to Andronicus and Iunia his kinsmen to enter this caveat for their Spiritual precedency who were in Christ before me On which account let other places give the honour to the Town of Newberry because it started the first and I hope not tire for the earliness thereof in the race of the Reformed Religion Yea Doctor William Twis the painful Preacher in that Parish was wont to use this as a motive to his flock to quicken their pace and strengthen their perseverance in piety because that Town appears the first fruits of the Gospel in England And Windsor the next in the same County had the honour of Martyrs ashes therein as by the ensuing list will appear There was in Windsor a company of right godly persons who comfortably enjoyed themselves untill their enemies designed their extirpation though it cost them much to accomplish it one of them confessing that for his share he expended an hundred marks besides the killing of three Geldings These suspecting that the Judges Itinerant in their circuit would be too favourable unto them procured a special Session got four arraigned and condemned by the Commissioners whereof the three following were put to death on the Statute of the six Articles 1. Anthony Persons a Priest and profitable Preacher so that the great Clerks of Windsor thought their idleness upbraided by his industry Being fastned to the stake he laid a good deal of straw on the top of his head saying this is Gods hat I am now arm'd like a souldier of Christ. 2. Robert Testwood a singing-man in the Quire of Windsor There hapned a contest betwixt him and another of that Society singing an Anthem together to the Virgin Mary Robert Philips on the one side of the Quire Robert Testwood on the other side of the Quire Oh Redemtrix Salvatrix Non Redemtrix nec Salvatrix I know not which sung the deepest Base or got the better for the present Sure I am that since by Gods goodness the Nons have drowned the Ohs in England Testwood was also accused for disswading people from Pilgrimages and for striking off the nose of the image of our Lady 3. Henry Fillmer Church-Warden of Windsor who had Articled against their superstitious Vicar for heretical Doctrine These three were burnt together at Windsor Anno 1544. and when account was given to their patient death to King Henry the eighth sitting on horse-back the King turning his horses head said Alas poor innocents A better speech from a private person then a Prince bound by his place not only to pity but protect oppressed innocence However by this occasion other persecuted people were pardoned and preserved of whom hereafter This storm of persecution thus happily blown over Bark-shire enjoyed peace and tranquillity for full twelve years together viz. from the year of our Lord 1544. till 1556. When Dr. Jeffrey the cruel Chancellour of Sarisbury renewed the troubles at Newberry and caused the death of JULINS PALMER See his Character being born in Coventry in Warwickshire JOHN GWIN THOMAS ASKINE These three July 16. 1556. were burnt in a place nigh Newberry called the Sand-pits enduring the pain of the fire with such incredible constancy that it confounded their foââ¦s and confirmed their friends in the Truth Confessors JOHN MARBECK was an Organist in the Quire of Windsor and very skilful therein a man of Admirable Industry and Ingenuity who not perfectly understanding the Latin Tongue did out of the Latin with the help of the English Bible make an English Concordance which Bishop Gardiner himself could not but commend as a piece of singular Industry Professing that there were no fewer then twelve Learned men to make the first Latin Concordance And King Henry the eighth hearing thereof said that he was better imployed then those Priests which accused him Let therefore our Modern Concordances of Cotton Newman Bernard c. as Children and Grand-Children do their duty to Marbecks Concordance as their Parent at first endeavour'd in our Language This Marbeck was a very zealous Protestant and of so sweet and amiable Nature that all good men did love and few bad men did hate him Yet was he condemned Anno 1544. on the Statute of the 6. Articles to be burnt at Windsor had not his pardon been procured divers assigning divers causes thereof 1. That Bishop Gardiner bare him a speciall affection for his skill in the Mystery of Musick 2. That such who condemned him procured his pardon out of Remorse of Conscience because so slender the evidence against him it being questionable whether his Concordance was made after the Statute of the 6. Articles or before it and if before he was freed by the Kings General pardon 3. That it was done out of design to reserve him for a discovery of the rest of his party if so their plot failed them For being as true as Steel whereof his fetters were made which he ware in Prison for a good time he could not be frighted or flattered to make any detection Here a mistake was committed by Mr. Fox in his first Edition whereon the Papisââ¦s much insult making this Marbeck burnt at Windsor for his Religion with Anthony Persons Robert Testwood and Henry Fillmer No doubt Mr. Fox rejoyced at
past twelve years of age before he knew one letter in the Book and did not he run fast who starting so late came soon to the mark He was a Curious Poet excellent Musician a valiant and successeful Souldier who fought seven Battles against the Danes in one year and at last made them his Subjects by Conquest and Gods servants by Christianity He gave the first Institution or as others will have it the best ãâã to the University of Oxford A Prince who cannot be painted to the Life without his losse no words reaching his worth He Divided 1. Every natural day as to himself into three parts eight hours for his devotion eight hours for his imployment eight hours for his sleep and refection 2. His Revenues into three parts one for his expences in War a second for the maintenance of his Court and a third to be spended on Pious uses 3. His Land into Thirty two shires which number since is altered and increased 4. His Subjects into Hundreds and Tythings consisting of Ten persons mutually Pledges for their Good behaviour such being accounted suspitious for their Life and Loyalty that could not give such Security He left Learning where he found Ignorance Justice where he found Oppression Peace where he found Distraction And having Reigned about Four and thirty years He dyed and was buried at Winchester Anno 901. He loved Religion more then Superstition favoured Learned men more then Lasie Monks which perchance was the cause that his memory is not loaden with Miracles and He not solemnly Sainted with other Saxon Kings who far less deserved it Since the Reformation PETER CHAPMAN was born at Cokeham in this County bred an Iron-monger in London and at his death bequeathed five pounds a year to two Scholars in Oxford as much to two in Cambridge and five Pounds a year to the Poor in the town of his Nativity besides threescore pounds to the Prisons in London and other Benefactions The certain date of his death is to me unknown JOHN KENDRICK was born at Reading in this County and bred a Draper in the City of London His State may be compared to the Mustard-seed very little at the beginning but growing so great that the birds made nests therein or rather he therein made neââ¦ts for many birds which otherwise being either infledged or maimed must have been exposed to wind and weather The Worthiest of Davids WORTHIES were digested into Ternions and they again subdivided into two Ranks If this double Dichotomie were used to methodize our Protestant Benefactors since the Reformation sure I am that Mr. Kendrick will be if not the last of the first the first of the second Three His Charity began at his Kindred proceeded to his Friends and Servants to whom he left large Legacies concluded with the Poor on whom he bestowed above twenty thousand pounds Reading and Newbury sharing the deepest therein And if any envious and distrustfull Miser measuring other mens hearts by the narrowness of his own suspecteth the truth hereof and if he dare hazard the smarting of his bleered eyes to behold so bright a Sun of Bounty let him consult his Will publickly in Print He departed this life on the 30. day of September 1624. and lyes buried in St. Christophers London To the Curate of which Parish he gave twenty pounds per annum for ever RICHARD WIGHTWICK Bachelor of Divinity was Rector of East Isley in this County What the yearly value of his living was I know not and have cause to believe it not very great however one would conjecture his Benefice a Bishoprick by his bounty to Pembroke Colledge in Oxford to which he gave one hundred pounds per annum to the maintenance of three Fellows and four Scholars When he departed this life is to me unknown Memorable Persons THOMAS COLE commonly called the rich clothier of Reading Tradition and an authorless pamphlet make him a man of vast wealth maintaining an hundred and fourty meniall servants in his house besides three hundred poor people whom he set on work insomuch that his Wains with cloth filled the high-way betwixt Reading and London to the stopping of King Henry the first in his Progress Who notwithstanding for the incouraging of his Subjects industry gratified the said Cole and all of his profession with the set measure of a Yard the said King making his own Arme the standard thereof whereby Drapery was reduced in the meting thereof to a greater certainty The truth is this Monkes began to Lard the lives of their Saints with lies whence they proceeded in like manner to flourish out the facts of Famous Knights King Arthur Guy of Warwick c. in imitation whereof some meaner wits in the same sort made description of Mechanicks powdering their lives with improbable passages to the great prejudice of truth Seeing the making of Broad-cloath in England could not be so ancient and it was the arme not of King Henry but King Edward the first which is notoriously known to have been the adequation of a yard However because omnis fabula fundatur in Historia let this Cole be accounted eminent in this kind though I vehemently suspect very little of truth would remain in the midst of this story if the grosse falshoods were pared from both sides thereof JOHN WINSCOMBE called commonly Jack of Newberry was the most considerable clothier without fancy and fiction England ever beheld His Looms were his lands whereof he kept one hundred in his House each managed by a Man and a Boy In the expedition to Flodden-field against James King of Scotland he marched with an hundred of his own men as well armed and better clothed then any to shew that the painfull to use their hands in peace could be valiant and imploy their Armes in War He feasted King Henry the eighth and his first Queen Katharine at his own house extant at Newberry at this day but divided into many Tenements Well may his house now make sixteen Clothiers houses whose wealth would amount to six hundred of their estates He built the Church of Newberry from the Pulpit westward to the Tower inclusively and died about the year 1520. some of his name and kindred of great wealth still remaining in this County Lord Mayors Name Father Place Company Time 1 John Parveis John Parveis Erlgeston Fishmonger 1432 2 Nicholas Wyfold Thomas Wyfold Hertley Grocer 1450 3 William Webbe John Webbe Reading Salter 1591 4 Thomas Bennet Thomas Bennet Wallingford Mercer 1603 The Names of the Gentry of this County returned by the Commissioners in the twelfth year of King Henry the Sixth 1433. Robert Bishop of Sarum Commissioners to take the Oaths William Lovel Chivaler  Robert Shotsbroke Knights for the Shires William Fyndern  Johan Prendegest Praeceptor Hospitalis St. Johan Jerus in Anglia de Grenham Johannis Golefre Armigeri Willielmi Warbelton Ar. Willielmi Danvers Ar. Johannis Shotesbrooke Ar. Thomae Foxle Ar. Phi. Inglefeld Ar. Thomae Rothewell
advanced thee to be a Bishop before many reverend persons and able Divines His expression licking the Chancery hath left Posterity to interpret it whether taxing him for Ambition liquorishly longing for that Place Or for Adulation by the soft smoothing of flatery making his way thereunto Or for Avarice licking it so that he gained great if good profit thereby As for his expression little Cleark it is plain it referred not to his stature but dwarfness in learning However all this would not perswade him into a resignation of his Bishoprick though it was not long before he lost both it and his life by a fall from a skittish-horse Anno Domini 1254. I find no Bishop born in this County since the Reformation and therefore we may go on in our propounded method Capital Judges and Writers on the Law Sir JOHN COKEYN Knight Chief Baron of the Exchequer in the reign of King Henry the fourth founded a worshipfull Family at and imparted his Sirname to Cokeyn-Hatley in this County But being convinced that he was born at Ashbourn in Derbyshire I have reserved his character for that County EDMOND WINGATE Esq. was a Native of this County whose family flourisheth at Hartington therein He was bred in Greys ãâã in the Study of our Common-law whereof he wrote besides others a Book Intitled The Reason of the Common-law and is lately deceased Writers JOHN of DUNSTABLE so called from a Market-town in this County wherein he was born If hitherto the Reader hath not it is high time for him now to take notice of a person of such perfection Indeed at first my Pen feared famishing finding so little since surfetting meeting so much of this man For this John of Dunstable was John of all Arts as appeareth by his double Epitaph one inscribed on his Monument the other written on his memory But be it premised of both that we will not avouch the truth of the Latine or quantity in these verses but present them here as we find them with all their faults and his vertues on whom they were made On his tombe in Saint Stephen's Wallbrook London Clauditur hoc tumulo qui ãâã pectore clausit Dunstable I Juris Astrorum conscius ille ......... ..... .... ãâã pondere ãâã Hic vir erat tua Laus tua Lux ãâã Musica Princeps Quique tuas fulces per ãâã sparserat Artes .......................................................... Suscipiant proprium ãâã ãâã sibi Cives The second made by John Wheathamsted Abbot of Saint Albans Musicus hic Michalus alter novus Ptolomaeus Junior ac Atlas supportans robore ãâã Pausat sub cinere melior vir de muliere Nunquam natus erat vitii quia labe carebat Et virtutis opes possedit unicus omnes Perpetuis annis celebretur fama Johannis Dunstable in pace requiescat hic sine fine What is true of the bills of some unconscionable Trades-men if ever paid over paid may be said of this hyperbolical Epitaphs if ever believed over believed Yea one may safely cut off a Third in any part of it and the remainder will amount to make him a most admirable person Let none say that these might be two distinct persons seeing besides the concurrence of time and place it would bank-rupt the Exchequer of Nature to afford two such persons one ãâã at once being as much as any will believe This Dunstable died an 1455. Sinee the Reformation GEORGE JOY was born in this County though the exact place be not expressed He was a great friend to Master Tindall and therefore perfectly hated by Woolsey Fisher and Sir Thomas Moor the perticulars of his sufferings if known would justly advance him into the reputation of a Confessor He translated some parts of the Bible into English and wrote many books reckned up by Bale notwithstanding many machinations against his life he found his Coffin where he fecht'd his Cradle in sua patria sepultus being peaceably buried in his native Country 1553. the last year of King Edward the sixth FRANCIS DILLINGHAM was born at Dean in this County and bred Fellow in Christ-Colledge in Cambridge He was an excellent Linguist and subtile Disputant My Father was present in the Bachillors-Scholes when a Greek Act was kept between him and William Alabaster of Trinity-Colledge to their mutuall commendation A disputation so famous that it served for an Aera or Epoche for the Scholars in that age thence to date their seniority He was afterwards chosen Anno 1607. to be one of the Translators of the Bible and being richly beneficed at Wilden in this County died a single man leaving a fair estate to his brother Master Thomas Dillingham who was chosen one of the late Assembly though for age indisposition and other reasons not appearing therein and for many years was the humble painfull and faithfull Pastor of Deane the place of his Nativity WILLIAM SCLATER was born at Layton-buzard in this County son to Anthony Sclater the Minister thereof for fifty years together who died well nigh an hundred years of age This William his son was bred in ãâã then in Kings Colledge in Cambridge where he commenced Bachillor and after many years discountinance Doctor of Divinity Hence he was invited to be ãâã at Walsal in Stafford-shire where he began his sermons afterwards printed on the three first Chapters of the Romans Afterwards John Coles Esquire of Sommerset-shire over-intreated him into the Western parts where he presented him Vicar of Pitmister Here he met with manifold and expensive vexations even to the Jeopardy of his life but by the goodness of God his own innocency and courage with the favour of his Diocesan he came off with no lesse honour to himself then confusion to his adversaries He was at first not well affected to the Ceremonies of the Church but afterwards on his profound studying of the point he was reconciled to them as for order and decency and by his example others were perswaded to conforme Constancy of studying contracted the stone upon him which he used to call flagellum studiosorum Nor was his health improved by being removed to a wealthier Living when John Lord Pawlet of Hinton at the instance of Elizabeth his Lady in whose inheritance it was a worthy favourer of piety and pious men preferred him to the rich Parsonage of Limpsam in Somerset-shire where indeed there was scarce any element good save the earth therein Whereupon for his own preservation he was re-perswaded to return to Pitmister there continuing till the day of his death which happened in the year of our Lord 1627. in the fifty one year of his age leaving many learned works behind him as his Comment on the Romans and on the Thessalonians Sermons at Pauls cross and the treatise of Tithes styled the Ministers portion with other posthume works some since set forth by more remaining in the hand of his son William Scalter Doctor of Divinity and Minister at London lately deceased
that age and assign 1339. the time of his death Chester the place of his buriall RANDAL or RANULPH HYGDEN commonly called Ranulph of Chester was bred a Benedictine in Saint Werburge He not onely Vamped the history of Roger aforesaid but made a large one of his own from the beginning of the World commendable for his Method and Modesty therein Method assigning in the Margent the date of each action We read Genesis 1. that Light was made on the First and the Sun on the Fourth day of the Cââ¦eation when the Light formerly diffused and dispersed in the Heavens was Contracted United and Fixed in one full Body thereof Thus the Notation of Times confusedly scattered in many antient Authors as to our English Actions are by our Ranulphus reduced into an Intire bulk of Cronology Modesty Who to his great commendation Unicuique suorum Authorum honorem integrum servans confeseth himself to use his own expression with Ruth the Moabite to have gleaned after other Reapers He calleth his book Poly-Cronicon He continued sixty four years a Monke and dying very aged 1363. was buried in Chester HENRY BRADSHAW was born in this City and lived a Benedictine therein A diligent Historian having written no bad Chronicle and another Book of the Life of Saint Werburg in verse Take a tast at once both of his Poetry and the Originall Building of the City both for Beauty alike The Founder of this City as saith Polychronicon Was Leon Gawer a mighty strong Giant Which builded Caves and Dungeons many a one No goodly Building ne proper ne pleasant These his verses might have passed with praise had he lived as Arnoldus Vion doth erroniously insinuate Anno 1346. But flourishing more then a Century since viz. 1513. they are hardly to be excused However Bale informeth us that he was the Diamond in the Ring pro ea ipsa aetate admodum pius and so we dismiss his Memory with Commendation Since the Reformation EDWARD BRIERWOOD was as I am informed born in this City bred in Brasen-nose-colledge in Oxford Being Candidate for a Fellowship he lost it without loss of credit For where preferment goes more by favour then merit the Rejected have more honour then the Elected This ill success did him no more hurt then a Rub doth to an over-thrown Bowl bringing it the nearer to the mark He was not the more sullen but the more serious in his studies retiring himself to Saint Mary-hall till he became a most accomplished Scholar in Logick witness his worthy work thereof Mathematicks being afterwards a Lecturer thereof in Gresham-colledge All learned and many modern languages hereof he wrot a Learned book called his Enquiries No Sacrilegious Enquiries whereof our age dothsurfet It is a Snare after vows to make Enquiries but judicious disquisitions of the Originall and Extent of Languages A little before his death Pens were brandish'd betwixt Master Byfield and him about the keeping of the Sabbath Master Brierwood learnedly maintaining that th other exacted more strictness therein then God enjoyned Let me contribute my symbole on this Subject Our Saviour is said to be made under the Law and yet he saith of himself The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath Indeed he was made under the fourth Commandement as under the rest of the Law to observe the dominion not tyranny thereof usurped partly by the misinterpretation of the Priests partly by the misapprehension of the People and therefore both by his Life and Doctrine did manumisse men from that vassallage that the day instituted for rest and repose should not be abused for self-affliction and torment To return to our Brierwood I have heard a great Scholar in England say That he was the fittest Man whom he knew in England to sit at the Elbo of a Professor to prompt him But in my opinion he was a very proper person to discharge the place himself I conjecture his death about 1633. JOHN DOWNHAM younger Son of William Downham Bishop of Chester was as far as my best enquiry can recover born in this City bred in Cambridge B. D. and afterwards became a painfull and profitable Preacher in London He was the first who commendably discharged that eminent Lecture plentifully indowed by Master Jones of Munmouth and is memorable to posterity for his worthy work of the Christian Warfare Well had it been for England had no other war been used therein for this last twenty years all pious Persons being comfortably concerned in the prosecution thereof Seriously considering that their Armour is of proof their Quarrel is lawfull their Fight is long their Foes are fierce their Company are Saints their Captain is Christ their Conquest is certain their Crown is Heaven This grave Divine died very aged about the year 1644. Benefactors to the Publique WILLIAM ALDERSEA a pious and godly man was Mayor of the City 1560. demeaning himself in his place with much Gravity and Discretion He caused with much Cost and Industry the Catalogue of the Mayors of Chester to be compleated and that on this occasion He found by Authentick Evidences that one Whetlyââ¦ad ââ¦ad been four times Mayor of Chester and yet his name was never mentioned in the ordidinary Book of Mayors This put this good Magistrate on the employment Detection of faults informes little without Correction of them to amend and compleat that lame list out of their Records Thus Imperfections may occasion Perfection which makes me to hope that hereafter the Defects of this my Book without prejudice to my Profit or Credit will be judiciously discovered and industriously amended by others This William died the twelfth of October Anno 1577. and lyeth buried in the Chancell of Saint Osswalls under a fair stone of Alabaster Sir THOMAS OFFLEY Son to William Offley was born in the City of Chester and bred a Merchant-taylor in London whereof he became Lord Mayor Anno 1556. The usefull custome of the night Bellman preventing many Fiers and more Felonies began in his Mayoralty He was the Zachaeus of London not for his low Stature but his high Charity bequeathing the half of his Estate computed by a Reverend Divine to amount to five thousand pounds unto the Poor although he had children of his own Yea he appointed that two hundred pound should be taken out of the other half left to his son Henry and employed to charitable uses He died 1560. and was buried in the Church of Saint Andrews Undershaft I am heartily sory to meet with this passage in my Author Sir Thomas Offley bequeatheth one half of all his goods to charitable actions But the Parish meaning Saint Andrews Undershaft received little benefit thereby If the Testators Will were not justly performed it soundeth to the shame and blame of his Executors But if the charity of Sir Thomas acted Eminus not Comminus I mean at some distance and not at his own habitation it was no injury for any to dispose of
far stronger in Consort when Compounded with other things then when singly it self A mass of this Ambergreese was about the third year of King Charles found in this County at Low water close to the shore of the Mannor of Anthony then belonging to Richad Carew Esquire Garlick Here is a great and sudden fall indeed from the sweetest of Gums to the most stinking of Roots Yet is not the distance so great if the worth of Garlick be such as some have avouched it Not to speak of the murmuring Israelites who prized it before Manna it self some avow it Soveraign for men and beasts in most Maladies Indeed the scent thereof is somewhat Valiant and Offensive but wise men will be contented to hold their noses on condition they may thereby hold or recover their health Indeed a large book is written de esu allii which if it hold proportion with truth one would wonder any man should be sick and dye who hath Garlick growing in his Garden Sure I am our Palate-people are much pleased therewith as giving a delicious Hault-gust to most meats they eat as tasted and smelt in their Sauce though not seen therein The best Garlick is about Stratton in this County Pilchards Plenty hereof are taken in these parts persecuted to the shore by their enemies the Tunny and Hake till in pursuance of their private revenge they all become a prey to the Fisherman The Pilchard may seem contemptible in it self being so small though the wit of the vulgar here will tell you they have seen many Pilchards an ell-long understand it laid at length head and tail together Their numbers are incredible imploying a power of poor people in Polling that is Beheading Gutting Splitting Powdering and Drying them and then by the name of Fumadoes with Oyle and a Lemon they are meat for the mightiest Don in Spain I wish not onely their nets but fish may hold suspecting their daily decay their shoals usually shifting coasts and verging more westward to Ireland Other fish here be which turn to good account all welcome to Fishermens hooks save the Star-fish esteemed contagious Blew-Slate These are commonly found under the Walling-Slate when the depth hath brought the workmen to the water They are thin in substance clear in colour light in weight and lasting in continuance Generally they carry so good a regard that besides the supply of home-provisions great store of them are imported into other parts of the land and transpotted into France and the Low-Countries All that I have to say of Slate is that Cinyra the son of Agriopae is said first to have found them in Cyprus for the Covering of Houses Tinne The most and best in Christendome this County doth produce Yea it was the Onely Tinne in Europe untill a Fugitive Miner running hence discovered Tinne in Voiteland in the Confines of Bohemia God may be said in this County to rain Meat such the plenty thereof and give Dishes too made of Pewter which hath Tinne for the Father and Lead for the Mother thereof and in our Age doth Matrizaââ¦e too much Vast their Expence in making their Addits understand them Addresses and Accesses to the Mine with Dressing Breaking Stamping Drying Crazing Washing and Melting all plentifully repayed in the Selling of it The discovery of many of these Mines have been very remarkable for some have gained more Sleeping then others Waking having dreamt that in such Impropable places Tinne was to be found and pursuing such Directions have found it accordingly The Poet we know faineth Two Ports of Dreames Sunt geminae somni portae quarum altera ââ¦ertur Cornea quaveris facilis datur exitus umbris Altera Candenti perfecta nitens Elephanto Sed falsa ad Coelum mââ¦ttunt insomnia manes Dreames have two Gates one made they say of Horn By this Port pass true and PropheÌticks Dreames White Ivory the other doth adorne By this false Shades and lying Fancies streames Strange that the Best Gate for matter Ivory should present the Worst false Dreames It seems these Cornish Dreames passed through the Horny Gate which fell out so happily that thereby many have been inriched and left great Estates to their Posterity I cannot take my leave of these Tinners untill I have observ'd a strange practice of them that once in seven or eight years they burn down and that to their great profit their own Melting houses I remember a merry Epigram in Martial on one Tongilian who had his house in Rome casually reputed burnt and gained ten times as much by his friends contribution to his loss Collatum est decies Rogo non potes ipse videri Incendisse tuam Tongiliane domum Gaining ten fold tell truly I desire Tongilian did'st not set thy house on fire But here the Tinners avow themselves incendiaries of their own houses on a profitable account For during the Tinnes melting in the blowing-house diverse light sparkles thereof are by the forcible wind which the bellows sendeth forth driven up to the thatched roof on the burning whereof they find so much of this light Tinne in the ashes as payeth for the new building with a gainfull overplus The Buildings Master Attorney Noy was wont pleasantly to say that his house had no fault in it save onely that it was too near unto London though indeed distanced thence full three hundred miles in the remoter part of this County But seriously one may say and defend it that the distance of Cornwall from that Metropolis is a Conventent Inconveniency As for the structure of their Houses they are generally but mean though the Nobility and Gentry have hansome habitations and amongst them none excelleth Mount-Edgecombâ⦠It was built by Sir Richard Edgecomb Knight take his Character from one who very wel knew him mildness and stoutness diffidence and wisdom deliberateness of undertakings and sufficiency of effecting made in him a more commendable then blazing mixture of vertue In the Raign of Queen Mary about the year 1555. he gave entertainment at one time for some good space to the Admirals of the English Spanish and Netherland and many Noble men besides A passage the more remarkable because I am confident that the Admiralls of those Nations never met since if ever before amicably at the same Table Mount-Edgcombe was the Scene of this Hospitality a house new built and named by the aforesaid Knight a square Structure with a round Turret at each end Garretted on the top The Hall rising above the rest yieldeth a stately sound as one entereth it the Parlour and Dyning-Roome afford a large and diversified prospect both of Sea and Land The high scituation cool in Summer yet not cold in Winter giveth Health the Neighbour River wealth Two Block-houses great safety and the Town of Plymouth good company unto it Nor must I forget the fruitful ground about it pleasure without profit is but a flower without a root stored with Wood Timber Fruit Deer and Gonnies a
worthy of his end but where he had his birth As for his Round-Table with his Knights about it the tale whereof hath Trundled so smoothly along for many ages it never met with much beliefe amongst the judicious He died about the year Anno Dom 542. And now to speak of the Cornish in generall They ever have been beheld men of Valour It seemeth in the raign of the aforesaid King Arthur they ever made up his Van-Guard if I can rightly understand the barbarous Verses of a Cornish Poet. Nobilis Arcturus nos primos Cornubienses Bellum facturus vocat ut puta Caesaris enses Nobis non aliis reliquis dat primitus ictââ¦m Brave Arthur when he meant a field to fight Us Cornish-men did firstof all invite Onely to Cornish count them Cesars swords He the first blow in Battle still affords But afterwards in the time of King Canutus the Cornish were appointed to make up the Rear of our Armies Say not they were much degraded by this transposition from Head to Foot seeing the judicious in Marshaling of an Army count the ââ¦rength and therefore the credit to consist in the Rear thereof But it must be pitied that these people misguided by their Leaders have so often abused their valour in rebellions and particularly in the raign of King Henry the seventh at Black-heath where they did the greatest execution with their Arrows reported to be the length of a Taylors-yard the last of that proportion which ever were seen in England However the Cornish have since plentifully repaired their credit by their exemplary Valour and Loyalty in our late Civil Wars Sea-men JOHN ARUNDEL of Trerice Esquire in the fourteenth of King Henry the eighth took prisoner Duncane Campbell a Scot accounted their Admiral by his own Country-men a Pirat by the English and a Valiant man by all in a fight at Sea This his Goodly Valiant and Jeopardous enterprise as it is termed was represented with advantage by the Duke of Norfolk to the King who highly praised and rewarded him for the same Civilians JOHN TREGONWELL was born in this County bred in Oxford where he proceeded Doctor of the Laws both Canon and Civil and attaining to great perfection in the Theoretick and practicall parts of those professions he was imployed to be Proctor for King Henry the eighth in the long and costly cause of his divorce from Queen Katherine Dowager Now as it was said of the Roman Dictator Sylla suos divitiis explevit So King Henry full fraught all those with wealth and rewards whom he retained in that imployment This Doctor he Knighted and because so dexterous and diligent in his service gave him a pension of fourty pounds per annum And upon the resignation thereof with the paying down of a Thousand pounds he conferred on him and his heirs the rich demesne and scite of Middleton a Mitred Abby in Dorsetshire possessed at this day by his posterity This Sir John died about the year of our Lord one thousand five hundred and fourty and is buried under a fair Monument in the Church of Middleton aforesaid Physitians Although this County can boast of no writer graduated in that faculty in the University and that generally they can better vouch practise for their warrant then warrant for their practise yet Cornish-men would be offended if I should omit RAWE HAYES a Blacksmith by his occupation and furnished with no more learning then is sutable to such a calling who yet ministred Physick for many years with so often success and generall applause that not onely the home-bred multitude believed so mainly in him but even persons of the better calling resorted to him from the remote parts of the Realm to make tryall of his cunning by the hazard of their lives and sundry either upon just cause or to Cloke their folly reported that they have reaped their errands ends at his hands He flourished Anno Dom. 1602. ATWELL born in this County and Parson of Saint Tue therein was well seen in the Theoricks of Physick and happy in the practise thereof beyond the belief of most and the reason that any can assign for the same For although now and then he used blood-letting he mostly for all diseases prescribed milk and often milk and apples which although contrary to the judgements of the best esteemed practitioners either by virtue of the Medicine or fortune of the Physitian or fancy of the Patient recovered many out of desperate extremities This his reputation for many years maintained it self unimpaired the rather because he bestowed his pains and charge gratis on the poor and taking moderately of the rich left one half of what he received in the housholds he visited As for the profits of his benefice he poured it out with both hands in pious uses But for the truth of the whole fit fides penes authorem This Atwell was living 1602. Writers HUCARIU the LEVITE was born in this County and lived at Saint Germans therein All-eating Time hath left us but a little Morsell for manners of his Memory This we know he was a pious and learned man after the rate of that Age and it appeareth that he was eminent in his function of Divine Service because Levite was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã fixed upon him In his time as in the days of Eli the Word of God was precious which raised the repute of his pains who wrote an hundred and ten Homilies besides other Books He flourished 1040. JOHN of CORNWALL so called from the County of his Nativity leaving his Native soil studied in forraign Universities cheifly in Rome where his Abilities commended him to the Cognizance of Pope Alexander the third It argueth his learning that he durst cope with that Giant Peter Lumbard himself commonly called The Master of the Sentences and who on that account expected that all should rather obey then any oppose his judgement Yea it appeareth that the judgement of this Peter Bishop of Paris was not so sound in all points by a passage I meet with in Mathew Paris of Pope Alââ¦xander the third writing a letter to an Arch-bishop of France to abrogate the ill doctrine of Peter sometimes Bishop of Paris about Christs Incarnation But our John wrote against him in his life time a book de Homine assumpto and put Peters Pen to some pains to write his own vindication He wrote also a book of Philosophy and Heresies Wonder not at their conjunction Philosophy being in Divinity as Fire and Water in a Family a good Servant but bad Master so Sad it is when the Articles of our Creed must be tried by the Touchstone of Aristotle This John flourished under K. Henry the second Anno 1170. SIMON THURWAY was born in this County bred in our English Universities untill he went over into Paris where he became so eminent a Logician that all his Auditors were his admirers Most firm his memory
to Thomas Carew and Elizabeth Eââ¦gecomb was born at Anthony in this County of right worshipfull parentage who honoured his extraction with his learning He was bred a Gentleman-commoner in Oxford where being but fourteen years old and yet three years standing he was called out to dispute ex tempore before the Earls of Leicester and Warwick with the matchless Sir Philip Sidney si quaeritis hujus Fortunam pugnae non est superatus ab illo Ask you the end of this contest They neither had the better both the best He afterwards wrote the pleasant and faithfull description of Cornwall and I will not wrong his memory with my barbarous praise after so eloquent a pen. Sed haec planiùs planiùs docuit Richardus Carew de Anthonie non minus generis splendore quà m virtute doctrina nobilis qui hujus regionis descriptionem latiore specie non ad tenue elimavit quemque mihi praeluxisse non possum non agnoscere This his book he dedicated to Sir Walter Raleigh with this modest complement that he appealed to his direction whether it should pass to his correction if it might pass and to his protection if it did pass Adding moreover that duty not presumption drawing him to that offering it must be favour not desert must move the other to the acceptance thereof This Survey was set forth 1602. and I collect the Author thereof died about the middle of the raign of K. James I know not whether he or his son first brought up the use of Gambadoes much worne in the West whereby whilest one rides on horseback his leggs are in a Coach clean and warme in those dirty Countries CHARLES HERLE was born in this County of an Antient and Worshipfull Family bred though never Fellow in Exeter-colledge and at last richly Beneficed in Lancashire We read how Pharaoh removed all the Egyptians the Priests alone excepted from one end of the Borders of the land to the other end thereof but we the Ministers in England are of all men most and farthest removeable three hundred miles and more being interposed betwixt the place of Mr. Herles Birth and Benefice He was a good Scholar and esteemed by his party a deep Divine and after the death of Doctor Twiss President of the Assembly As I dare not defend all the doctrine delivered in his Printed books so I will not inveigh against him lest in me it be interpreted a revenge on his memory for licencing a book written against me wherein I was taxed for Popish Complyance though since in my self still the same man I groan under a contrary Representation The best is innocence doth turn such groans in to songs of gladness Mr. Herle departed this life about 1655. Having received no instructions of any eminent benefactors in this County either before or since the Reformation we may proceed to Memorable Persons KILTOR in the last Cornish Commotion which was in the raign of King Edward the sixth Anno Dom. 1546. was committed to Launceston Gaol for his activity therein This man lying there in the Castle-green upon his back threw a stone of some pounds weight over the Towers top and that I assure you is no low one which leadeth into the Park JOHN BRAY Tenant to Master Richard Carew who wrote the survey of this County carried upon his back about the year 1608. at one time by the space well near of a Butt length six Bushells of Wheaten Meal reckoning fifteen gallons to the Bushell and upon them all the Miller a Lubber of four and twenty years of age JOHN ROMAN his Contemporary a short Cloââ¦nish Grub may well be joyned with him He may be called the Cornish Milo so using himself to burdens in his Child-hood that when a man he would bear the whole carkase of an Oxe and to use my Authors words yet never tugged thereat VEAL an old man of Bodmin in this County was so beholden to Mercuries predominant strength in his nativity that without a teacher he became very skilfull in well-near all manner of handy-crafts a Carpenter a Joyner a Mill-wright a Free-mason a Clock-maker a Carver a Mettall-founder Architect quid non yea a Chirurgeon Physitian Alchimist c. So as that which Gorgias of Leontium vaunted of the liberall Sciences he may prosess of the Mecanicall viz. to be ignorant in none He was in his eminency Anno 1602. EDWARD BONE of Ladock in this County was servant to Mr. Courtney therein He was Deaf from his Cradle and consequently Dumb nature cannot give out where it hath not received yet could learn and express to his master any news that was stirring in the Country Especially if there went speech of a Sermon within some miles distance he would repair to the place with the soonest and setting himself directly against the Preacher look him stedfastly in the face while his Sermon lasted to which religious zeal his honest life was also answerable Assisted with a firm memory he would not onely know any party whom he had once seen for ever after but also make him known to any other by some speciall observation and difference There was one Kempe not living far off defected accordingly on whose meetings there were such embracements such strange often and earnest tokenings and such hearty laughters and other passionate gestures that their want of a tongue seemed rather an hinderance to others conceiving them then to their conceiving one another Lord Mââ¦yors I meet with but this one and that very lately Sir Richard Cheverton Skinner born in this County imputing it chiefly to their great distance from London Insomuch that antiently when Cornish-men went or rather were driven up by the violence of their occasions to that City it was usual with them to make their Wills as if they took their Voyage into a Forraign Country Besides the children of the Cornish Gentry counted themselves above and those of the Poorer sort counted themselves beneath a Trade in London as unable to attain it by reason of the differance of their Language whose Feet must travail far to come to London whilst their Tongues must travail further to get to be understood when arrived there This is one of the twelve pretermitted Counties the names of whose Gentry were not returned into the Tower in the 12. of King Henry the sixth Sheriffs of Cornwall HEN. II. Anno 1 RECORDA MANCA Anno 22 Eustachius fil Stephani for 5 years Anno 27 Alanus de Furnee for 4 years Anno 31 Hug. Bardulph Dapifer Anno 32 Idem Anno 33 Idem RICH. I. Anno 1 Will. de Bachland Anno 2 Rich. Revel for 9 years JOHAN R. Anno 1 Ioh. de Torrington Anno 2 Hug. Bardolph Anno 3 Rich. Flandry Anno 4 Idem Anno 5 Idem Anno 6 Will. de Botterel for 5 years Anno 11 Ioh. filius Richard for 6 years HEN. III. Anno 1 Anno 2 Anno 3 Guliel Lunet Anno 4
Egmund Leland for a reason immediately following nameth him William of Stamford but Egremont is the Orthography of his name from a small Market-town yet a Barony of the late Earls of Sussex in this Shire where he was born Quitting this cold Country he took his Progress into the South and fixing himself at Stamford became an Augustinian Eremite and proceeded Doctor of Divinity Going beyond the Seas he was by the Pope made Episcopus Pissinensiâ⦠some poor pitifull Bishoprick so that one would scarce trouble himself to find it out to have the profit thereââ¦f and therewith held the Suffragane-ship under Henry Beaufort Bishop of Lincoln Indeed that voluminous Diocess a full fourth part of England before Eli Peterborough and Oxford were cantoned out of it required a Co-adjutor Many are the learned works written by him and seeing he is Doubly qualified I thought fitter to repose him under the Topick of Writers then of Prelates being confident that he got more credit by his Books then profit by his Bishoprick He flourished under King Richard the second anno 1390. JOHN SKELTON was a younger branch of the Skeltons of Skelton in this County I crave leave of the Reader hitherto not having full instructions and preserving the undoubted Title of this County unto him to defer his character to Norfolk where he was Beneficed at Diss therein Since the Reformation RICHARD CRAKENTHORP D. D. was descended of an Ancient Family in this County as appeareth by their frequent being Sheriffs thereof He was bred Fellow of Queens-colledge in Oxford and afterwards in the first of King James went over Chaplain to the Lord Evers sent Embassadour to the King of Denmark and other prime Princes of Germany Here by use he got an easiness in the Latine tongue and correspondency with several persons of eminent Learning He was an excellent Logiciaâ⦠witness his work in that kind and became Chaplain in Ordinary to King James Rector of Black-Notley in Essex greater preferments expecting him had not his death prevented it Pliny observeth that Posthume Children born after the death of their Father and Caesars understand such who are cut out of the womb of their Mother prove very happy in success What reason soever Naturalists assign hereof Divines justly impute it to Gods goodness graciously remembring those Orphans which cannot remember their own Parents The Observation may be applyed to the Books of this worthy Doctor set forth after his death one called Vigilius Dormità ns in defence of the Emperour Justinian and a generall Councill held by him Anno 553. set forth by his Brother George Crakenthorp the other being an answer to the Manifesto of the Arch-bishop of Spalato set forth by that Learned Antiquary Dr. John Barkham and both of these Books finding an universall and gratefull reception among the Learned and Religious I cannot certainly fix the date of his death and be it here solemnly entred that Westmerland shall be unprejudiced if he were born as a most credible person hath informed me at NewBiggin in this County SALKELD was a branch of a Right Worshipfull Family in this County bred a Divine beyond the Seas but whether ãâã or Secular Priest I know not Coming over into England to Angle for Proselites it seems his Line broke and he was cast into prison Hence he was brought out and presented to K. James by whose Arguments and a Benefice bestowed on him in Somersetshire he became a Protestant This he used in all companies to boast of that he was a Royall Convert Nobisque dedit solatia victor And was it not a Noble thing Thus to be conquer'd by a King Indeed His Majesty in some of his works styleth him the Learned Salkeld which the other much vaunted of often telling it to such who well knew it before for fear they might forget it His preaching was none of the best and he retained some Popish though not Opinions Fancies to the day of his death I have heard much of his discourse more of his own praise then to his own praise in my judgement But his true character may be taken out of the Book he wrot of Angells He died about the year 1638. GERARD LANGBAIN D. D. was born at Kirk-Banton in this County bred first Fellow in then Provost of Queens-colledge in Oxford A skilfull Antiquary ingenious industrious and judicious in ââ¦is Writings as by his Works will appear Who so shall read over the History of thâ⦠Councill of Trent translââ¦ted out of Italian by Sir Nathaniel Brent will conceive it so compleat a Narration of all the concernments in that Council that nothing of consequence can be added thereunto Yet this his mistake will be confuted by perusing the Works set forth by Doctor Langbain of the dissent of the Gallican Churches from severall conclusions in that Council As his Brain was the Mother of some so was it the Midwife to other good books which he procured to be published Especially a book made by Sir John Cheeke concerning Rebellion and Loyalty seasonably reprinted in the beginning of our Civil Wars But alas such then was the noise of mens Animosities that the Still voice of Truth could not be heard amongst them More Excellent Tracts were expected from him particularly an Edition of Brian Twine with Additions concerning the Antiquity of Oxford when God was pleased almost in the midst of his days to put an end to his life Anno 1657. Benefactors to the Publick ROBERT EAGLESFIELD born in this County was a pious and learned man according to the rate of that age Chaplain and Confessor to Philippa Queen to King Ed ward the third He founded a fair Colledge in Oxford by the name of Queens-colledge for a Provost and twelve Fellows whom he ordered to sit in the Hall in purpura and that they should be attended on more Curiali He appointed that those of Cumberland and Westmerland should be proper for perferment in his Foundation rendring this reason why he reflected most on those Northern Counties Propter insolitam vastitatem melioris literaturae infrequentiam But prevented by death he finished not his intentions leaving onely to the Colledge the Mannor of Renwick in this County with the impropriation of Burgh under Stanmore and which I assure you was considerable most excellent Statutes To shew himself both Courtier and Scholar he ordered that in the Hall they should speak either Latine or French He bequeathed his Colledge to the honorary Patronage of the Queens of England and his Sur-name is still extant in this County in persons of quality but how to him related to me unknown He dyed about the year of our Lord 1370. Memorable Persons MAUD the Daughter of Thomas Lord Lucy Sister and Heir of Anthony Lord Lucy and Baron of Cokermouth the Widow of Gilbert Humfrevile Earl of Angus was the second Wife of Henry Percy Earl of Northumberland Who when she saw that she should dye without Issue gave to Earl Henry her husband the Castle and Honour of
Perin in Cornwall The Angel Gabriel was very much beholding to him for instituting an Annual Festival unto Him observed as I humbly conceive only in his own Cathedral or own Diocesse at the most and least people shoââ¦ld complain of the dearnesse of their Devotion he left good Land to defray the cost of that Solemnity He is much blamed for compassing the Mannour of Bishops-Clift to his Church by indirect means to which I can say nothing but only observe that this small City within eighty Years did afford three eminent Prelates whereof two Episcopi in Patria the Natives thereof which will scarcely be paralell'd in any Place of the same proportion He died Anno 12. Writers JOSEPHUS ISCANUS was born at this City anciently called Isca from the River Isk now named Eske running thereby A golden Poââ¦t in a leaden Age so terse and elegant were his Conceipts and expressions This our English Maro had for his Mecenas Baldwin Archbishop of Canterbury But I revoke my words and desire to turn Maro into Cornelius Nepos under whose name the Dutch-men have lately printed a Poem made by this Josephus debello Trojano It soundeth much to a Mans honour even to be mistaken for another Man of eminency for though there may be much of error in the mistake there must be something of truth in the error especially with the judicious Yea in such case a general conformity betwixt the Persons is not enough to build the mistake on without some ãâã ãâã as here the affinity of phrase and fancy betwixt these two Poets This ãâã Nepos under whose name the Poems of this Josephus were printed flourished in the time of Tully Indeed I finde not any Poems made by him though having to that purpose perused all Scaliger de Arte ãâã as a most probable Authour But most sure it is that this Cornââ¦lius was most judicious in that Art because Valerius Catullus dedicated his Poem unto him as best able to pââ¦sse a learned censure thereon this Josephus Iscanus flourished under King John Anno 1210 being Arch-Bishop of Burdeaux I have nothing more to observe of him save what with the Readers pardon I cannot omit viz. that this Josephus alwayes minded me of another Josephus Iscanus I mean Joseph Hall lately Bishop of Exeter a witty Poet when young a painfull Preacher and solid Divine in his middle a patient Sufferer in his old age of whom God willing more in due place WILLIAM of Exeter was born in this City bred a Doctor of Divinity in Oxford and afterwards became ãâã of the ãâã in the place of his nativity Now in his age fome Franciscan Friers so praised the perfectiou of Poverty that they touched the Popes Coppy-hold of Inheritance For if Poverty was so essential to Piety Papal pomp and plenty must needs argue prophaneness In confutation hereof this William of Exeter undertook William of Ockam though indeed impar congressus betwixt them for Exeter a fair City did not more exceed Ockam a smal village in Surrey in beauty and building than that Ockam William excelled this Exeter William in parts and Learning however what he wanted in brains he had in a good back to assist him and William of Exeter with John the three and twentieth Pope of Rome was able to undertake any Authour of that age He flourished in the Year of our Lord 1330. under the Raign of King Edward the third Since the Reformation RICHARD MARTYN was born in this City and bred partly in the Court partly in the Inns of Court and at last ââ¦etook himself to the Study of the Law He was accounted one of the highest Witts of our Age and his Nation King James being much delighted with his facetiousnesse a quality which with other of his Abilities commended him to be chosen Recorder of London He is eminent as for many Speeches so especially for that he made in Parliament in the tenth year of King James when account was taken of Forty Gentlemen in the House which were not twenty and some of them not sixteen years of age Formerly said this Rââ¦order Martyn it was the custome of Old men to make Lawes for Young ones But now Nature is invaded and inverted seeing Young men enact Lawes to govern their Fathers He had an excellent Pen and wrote very much and the more the pitty that they are suppressed from publick use his death happened about the year 1616. WILLIAM MARTIN Kinsman to the aforesaid Recorder was born in this City and bred a Student in the Lawes of the Land He wrote a short and clear of the Kings of England since the conquest I have been credlbly informed that King James took some exceptions at a Passage therein sounding either to the derogation of his own Family or of the Scotch Nation which he took so tenderly that Mr. Martin was brought into trouble for the same and though he wethered out the Kings displeasure and was reconciled to his Majesty yet he never rââ¦covered his former chearfulnesse It seems that a Princes Anger is a disease which though cured is not cured grief for the same being conceived to hasten his death which happened about the year 1616. WILLIAM TUCKER was born in this City bred fellow of New-Colledge in Oxford and after became Doctor in Divinity Canon of Sarisbury Arch-deacon of Barnstable and Dean of Lichfield The purity of his Latine Pen procured his preferment writing and dedicating a Book to Queen Elizabeth de Charismate of our Kings of England their gracious healing the Evil being the best that I have seen on that Subject vindicating such cures from all imposture unlawfull Magick and from some French Writers bold usurpations who lay claim to it as originally belonging to their Kings alone Whereas under correction I conceive that the word Soveraign which properly importeth the Supream Majesty doth also in our English Tongue in a secondary sence signiââ¦ie what is cordial to cure and heal Diseases or sores ever since such sanative power hath been annexed to the Crown of England This Doctor may be said to have worn half a Miter seeing his Congee de-lire was signed if not sent to elect him Bishop of Glocester but afterwards by Order fââ¦om King James it was revoked on what occasion I list not to enquire I conjecture the date of his death was much about the Year 1617. JOHN BARKHAM born in this City was bred in Corpus Christi Colledge in Oxford whereof he was Fellow Chaplain afterwards to Archbishop Bancroft and Parson of Bocking in Essex Much his Modesty and no lesse his Learning who though never the publique Parent of any was the carefull Nurse of many Books who otherwise had expired in their Infancy had not his care preserved them He set forth D. Crackenchorp his Posthume Book against Spalato and was helpfull to John Speed in the composing of his English History yea he wrote the whole Life of the Raign of King John which is the King of all the
according to the strictness of the Rules which we proposed to follow as not being of the number of those Bishops who may not unfitly be termed with Noah righteous in their Generations having seen two Sets if I may so speak of their Order but preferred to that Dignity since our late happy Revolution He is here fixed though no Native of this County because the fittest place I conceive it is happy when the Antidote meets the Poyson where it was first suck'd in seeing formerly treating in my Church History of this Cathedral I delivered his Character to his disadvantage very defectively JOHN COSEN D. D. was born in the City of Norwich bred in Cays Colledge in Cambridge whereof he was Fellow Hence was he removed to the Mastership of Peter-House in the same University One whose abilities quick apprehension solid Judgement variety of Reading c. are sufficiently made known to the world in his learned Books whereby he hath perpetuated his name to posterity I must not pass over his constancy in his Religion which rendereth him aimable in the eys not of good men only but of that God with whom there is no variableness nor shââ¦dow of changing It must be confessed that a sort of fond people surmised as if he had once been declining to the PopishPerswasion Thus the dim sighted complain of the darkness of the room when alas the fault is in their own eyes and the lame of the unevenness of the floor when indeed it lieth in their unsound leggs Such were the silly folk their understandings the eys of their minds being darkned and their affections the feet of their soul made lame by prejudice who have thus falsly conceited of this worthy Doctor However if any thing that I delivered in my Church History relating therein a Charge drawn up against him for urging of some Ceremonies without inserting his Purgation which he effectually made clearing himself from the least imputation of any fault hath any way augmented this opinion I humbly crave pardon of him for the same Sure I am were his Enemies now his Judges had they the least spark of ingenuity they must acquit him if proceeding according to the evidence of his Writing Living Disputing Yea whilest he remained in France he was the Atlas of the Protestant Religion supporting the same with his Piety and Learning confirming the wavering therein yea dayly adding Proselytes not of the meanest rank thereunto Since the return of our gracious Soveraign and the reviving of swooning Episcopacy he was deservedly preferred Bishop of Durham And here the Reader must pardon me if willing to make known my Acquaintance with so eminent a Prelate When one in his presence was pleased with some Propositions wherein the Pope condescended somewhat to the Protestants he most discreetly returned in my hearing We thank him not at all for that which God hath always allowed us in his Word adding withall He would allow it us so long as it stood with his Policy and take it away so soon as it stood with his Power And thus we take our leave of this Worthy Prelate praying for his long life that he mââ¦y be effectual in advancing the settlement of our yet distracted Church Civilians RICHARD COSIN Doctor of Law was born at Hartly Poole a well known harbour for the safety and some observe a providence that he who afterwards was to prove the grand Champion of Episcopacy should amongst all the counties of England be born in ãâã ââ¦ishoprick His Father was a person of quality a Captain of a Company in Mustââ¦borough field whence his valour returned with victory and wealth when crossing the River Tweed O the uncertainty of all earthly happiness was drowned therein to the great losse of his Son Richard and greater because he was not sensible thereof as left an infant in the cradle His Mother afterwards married one Mr. Meddow a York-shire Genââ¦leman who bred this his Son-in-law at a Schoole at Scypton in the Craven wherein such his proficiency that before he was twelue years old little less than a wonder to me in that age from so far a Country he was admitted in Trinity Colledge in Cambridge Some of his Friends in Queens Colledge in that University had a design to fetch him thence had not Doctor Beamont prevented the Plot in making him Scholar and Fellow as soon as by his Age Degree and the Statââ¦tes he was capable thereof He was a general Scholar Geometrician Musician Physician Divine but chiefly Civil and Canon Lawyer By Arch-Bishop Whitgift he was preferred to bâ⦠first Chancellor of Worcester in that age a place non tam gratiosus quam negotiosus and afterwards Dean of the Arches wherein he carried himself without giving though many took offence at him Of these one wrote a Book against him called the Abstract abstracted saith my Author from all Wit Learning and Charity to whom he returned such an answer in the defence of the High Commission and Oath ex officio that he he put his Adversary to silence Others lay to his charge that he gave many Blank Licences the common occasions of unlawful marriages and the procurer herein is as bad as the thief robbing many a parent of his dear child thereby But always malice looks through a multiplying glasse Euclio complained Intromisisti sexcentos Coquos Thou hast let in six hundred Cooks when there was but two truely told Anthrax and Congrio so here was there but one which a fugitive servant stole from the Register to make his private profit thereby God in his sickness granted him his desire which he made in his health that he might be freed from torture which his corpulency did much suspect bestowing ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã upon him a sweet and qutet departure pious his dying expressions I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. 1. The wages of sin is death Rom. 6. Come Lord Jesus come quickly Revel 12. and his last words was these Farewell my surviving friends remember your mortality and eternal life He gave forty pound to the building of a Chamber in Trinity Colledge and fifteen pound per annum for the maintenance of two Scholar-ships therein a good gift out of his Estate who left not above fifty pound a year clear to his Heir a great argument of his integrity that he got no more in so gainful a place Dying at Doctors Commons he was buried by his own appointment in Lambeth Church and Doctor Andrews preached his Funeral Sermon Amongst the many verses made by the University of Cambridge this with the allowance of poetical Licence came from no bad Fancy Magna Deos inter lis est exorta creatas Horum qui lites dirââ¦mit ille deest Cosinum petiere Dii componere tantas Lites quod vero jure peritus erat It must not be forgotten that Doctor Barlow afterwards Bishop of Lincoln was bred by Doctor Cosen at his charge in his own Family who in expression of his Thankfulness wrote
this Doctor Cosen's Life out of which most of our aforesaid Character hath been excerped Writers WILLIAM SHIRWOOD was born in this Bishoprick being otherwise called William of Durham bred first in University Colledge in Oxford then in Paris and afterwards was made Chancellor of Lincoln In his time the University of Oxford was Interdicted for some affronts offered to the Popes Legate and had lain longer under that burden had not the hands of this William helped to remove it shewing therein no less his love to his Mother than his power with the Pope In that age the English Clergy did drive a great Trade of preferment in France King Henry the third having large Dominions therein and amongst the rest this William was advanced Arch Bishop of Roan where he died Anno Dom. 1249. JOHN of DARLINGTON was born in this Bishoprick at a Town so called needing no other Indication than the Rode passing thorow it into Scotland He was bred a Dominican and a great Clerk Mat. Paris giveth him this Testimony that he was one qui literatura pollebat exellenter consilio King Henry the third made him his Confessor which argueth his Piety that so devout a Prince used him in so consciencious an Office and afterwards he became Arch-Bishop of Dublin in Ireland on this occasion The Prior and Covent of Trinity Church chose William de la Corner the Kings Chaplain whilest the Dean and Chapter of Saint Patricks elected Fââ¦omund le Brun the Popes Chaplain into that See Hence ensued an hot and high contest and Pope John 21. unwilling to engage therein caââ¦ted both their Elections and pitched on our Darlington as a good expedient A person in whom King and Pope met in some equal proportion seeing he was as we have said Confessor to the one and to the other his Collector of Peter-pence as also to his two Successors Nicholas the third and Martin the fourth thorow all Ireland Many Books he wrote to Posterity and returning into England sickned died and was buried in Preaching Friers in London 1284. WILLIAM SIVEYER was born at Shinkley in this Bishoprick where his Father was a Siveyer or Sive-maker and I commend his humility in retaining his Fathers Trade for his Surname to mind him of his mean extraction He was bred in Merton Colledge whereof he became Warden and Provost of Eaton and afterward Bishop of Carlile 1496. whence five years after he was traââ¦lated to Durham His Sur-name so contemptible in English sounds ââ¦erially and Episcopally when latinized In which language he is rendred Gulielmus Severus severity well agreeing with the gravity of his Function He died Anno Dom 1505. All I will ad is this that England neither before nor since saw two ââ¦ieve-makers Sons at the same juncture of time advanced to so high dignity this William in the Church Sir Richard Empson in the Common wealth ãâã the Reformation THOMAS JACKSON born of a good Family in this County was designed to be a Merchant in New-Castle till his Parents were diverted by Ralph Lord ãâã and perswaded to make him a Scholar He was admitted first in Queens Colledge in Oxford and then became Candidate of a Fellowship in Corpus Christi knowing of the election but the day before he answered to admiration and was chosen by general consââ¦nt Soon after in all likelihood he lost his life being drowned in the River and taken out rather for desire of decent burial than with hope of any recovery He was wrap'd in the Cowns of hââ¦s fellow Students the best shrowd which present love and need could provide him and being brought home to the Colledge was revived by Gods blessing on the care of Doctor Chenil equally to all peoples joy and admiration His gratitude to the Fisher-men who took him up extended to a revenue unto them ââ¦u ring his life Thus thankful to the Instrument he was more to the Principal striving to repay his life to that God who gave it him He was afterwards Vicar of New Castle a Factor for Heaven in the place where he was designed a Merchant a Town full of men and opinions wherein he endeavoured to rectifie their Errors and unite their Affections At this distance was he chosen President of Corpus Christi Colledge never knowing of the vacancy of the place till by those Letters which informed him it was refilled with his electââ¦on Here he lived piously ruled peaceably wrote profoundly preached painfully His Charity had no fault if not of the largest size oftentimes making the Receiver richer than it left him that was the Donor thereof Learn the rest of his praise from the Learned Writer of his Life in whom nothing wanting save the exact place of his birth and date of his death which hapned about the year 1640. SAMUEL WARD was born at Bishops Middleham in this County his Father being a Gentleman of more Ancientry than Estate He was first Scholar of Christs then Fellow oâ⦠Emanuel and afterwards Master of Sidney Colledge in Cambridge and Margareâ⦠Professor therein for above twenty years Now because the Pen of a Pupil may probably be suspected of partiality of an Historian I will turn a Translator and only endeavour to English that Character which one who knew him as well as most men and could judge of him as well as any man doth bestow upon him Age perge Cathedram ornare quod facis sacram Subtilitate non levi rapidâ vagâ Sed Orthodoxa quam coronat veritas Et justa firmat soliditas patiens librae Antiquâ⦠at is crypta tu penetras frequens Scholasticorum tu profundos vortices Te'nulla fallit nulla te scium latet Distinctionum tela rationum stropha Tam perspicacem mente judicio gravem Linguis peritum tamque nervosum stylo His addo genium temperatum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Placidum modestum lite rixosâ procul Go to go on deck as thou doest the Chaire With subtilty not light slight vage ás air But such as Truth doth crown and standing sure Solidly fix'd will weighing well endure Antiquities hid depths thou oft doest sound And School-mens whirl-pools which are so profound Distinctions threads none can so finely weave Or Reason wrench thy Knowledge to deceive None thy quick sight grave judgement can beguile So skill'd in Tongues so sinewy in style Add to all these that peaceful Soul of thine Meek modest which all brawlings doth decline He turned with the Times as a Rock riseth with the Tide and for his uncomplying there with was imprisoned in Saint Johns Colledge in Cambridge In a word he was counted a Puritan before these times and Popish in these times and yet being alwayes the same was a true Protestant at all times He died Anno 1643. and was the first man buried in Sidney Colledge Chappel Memorable Persons ANTHONY Lord GRAY and eighth Earl of Kent of that Surname Son of George Gray ãâã and ãâã Salvam his Wife Son to Anthony
oath You shall swear by the custome of our confession That you never made any nuptiall transgression Since you were married man and wife By houshold brawles or contentious strife Or otherwise in bed or at bord Offended each other in deed or word Or since the Parish-Clerk said Amen Wished your selves unmarried agen Or in a twelve-moneth and a day Repented not in thought any way But continued true and in desire As when you joyn'd hands in holy Quire If to these conditions without all fear Of your own accord you will freely swear A Gammon of Bacon you shall receive And bear it hence with love and good leave For this is our custome at Dunmow well known Though the sport be ours the Bacons your own It appeareth in an old book on record that Richard Wright of Badesnorth in Norfolk in the twentieth third of Henry the sixth when John Canon was Prior that Stephen Samuel of Little-Easton in Essex the seventh of Edward the fourth when Roger Rullcot was Prior and that Thomas Lee of Coxhall in Essex the second of Henry the eight when John Taylor was Prior demanded their Bacon on the premisses and receiv'd it accordingly Princes HENRY FITZ-ROY naturall son to King Henry the eight Here we confess our Trespass against our own Rules who confined our selves to the Legitimate Issue of Kings presuming that the worth of this Henry will make amends for our breach of order herein He was begotten on the Body of the Lady Talbois and born at Blackmore-Mannor in this County Anno 1519. being afterwards Created Earl of Noââ¦tingham and Duke of Richmond He confuted their Etymology who deduced Bastard from the Dutch words boes and art that is an abject Nature and verifyed their deduction deriving it from besteaerd that is the best disposition Such was his forwardness in all Martiall Activities with his knowledge in all Arts and Sciences Learned Leland dedicating a book unto him He married Mary daughter to Thomas Duke of Norfolk and dying Anno 1536. in the seventeenth year of his age was buried at Framlingham in Suffolk with great lamentation Saints Saint HELEN was born at Colchester in this County daughter to Coel King thereof as all our British Authors unanimously doe report She was Mother of Constantine the first Christian Emperour and is famous to all ages for finding out Christ's Cross on Mount Calvary Hence it is that in memoriall hereof the City of Colchester giveth for its Arms a Cross enragled between four Crowns A scandal is raised on her name that she was Stabularia A Stableress whereof one rendreth this witty rââ¦ason because her Father was Comes Stabuli an high office equivalent to the Constable in France unto the Emperour Others more truly make her so nick named by Pagan malice for her officious devotion in finding out the Stable of Christs Nativity Heathen pens have much aspersed her calling her ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã whose tongues are no slander seeing the Disciple is not above his Master More was I moved when first finding thispassage in Paulinus the pious Bishop of Nola Paulin. Epist. 11. ad Severum This englished ad verbum Prompto filii Imperatoris adsensu mater Augusta patefactis ad opera sancta thesauris toto abusa fisco est She being Mother Emperess the treasuries being set open to pious works by the ready consent of her Son the Emperor she wholly abused the exchequer I wondred to see Paulinus charging such abuses upon her being a person so prodigiously charitable that he is said to have sold himself to redeem a widows son from captivity but consulting the best of Orators I find abuti sometimes fixing no fault and importing no more then uti so that abusing the Exchequer signifieth no more then a full free usage thereof She died at Rome being eighty years of age Anno Domini 337. Saint CONSTANTINE son to the aforesaid Saint Helen was born also at Colchester one sufficiently known to all posterity by the meer mentioning of him My pen shall now do penance with its silence to expiate its tediousness in describing his character in our Ecclesiasticall History He died Anno Domini 339. Saint Ethelburgh Hildetha Theorithoid Edilburge Wolfhild Sister to Erkenwald Bishop of London was by him appointed first Abbess of the Nunnery of Barking in this County by him built and endowed Here she led a very austere life and obtained the veneration of a Saint after her death which happened 676. Sister to St. Ethelburgh aforesaid succeeded her in the government of the said Nunnery for the term of four and twenty years so that she died very aged with the reputation of a Saint Anno 700. The first of whose name soundeth Greek the second Saxon was in this respect inferior to the two former because no Abbess but onely a Nun of Barking Yet did she equall them in some sort in the holiness of her life and her memory may go a breast with them in the Classis of Sts. She died 678. Wife to Ina K. of the West-Saxons by the consent of her husband who went a Pilgrim to Rome became a Nun at Barking after her death Anno 740. room was made for her memory amongst the rank of Saints Afterwards Barking Nunnery destroyed by the Danes was rebuilt by King Edgar Daughter to Wulfhelme E. of the West-Saxons born after the 18. year of her Mothers barrenness was by King Edgar made Abbess of Barking which was the first Nunnery of England the richest valued at above 1000l of year rent at the dissolution and the fruit fullest of Saints as by this parallel doth appear St. Wolfhild died Anno 989. Saint OSITH She was daughter to the King of the East-Angles and wife to Suthred last King of East-Saxons by whose consent forsaking the world she was veiled and at last became Abbess of a Monastery of her own founding at Chich in this County untill the Danes infesting these fea-coasts cut off her head in hatred of Religion Yet this her head after it was cut off was carried by Saint Osith oh wonder oh lie three furlongs and then she fell down and died The same mutatis mutandis is told of Saint Dionys in France Saint Winefride in Wales and others such being the barrenness of Monkish invention that unable to furnish their severall Saints with variety of fictions their tired fancie is fain to make the same miracle serve many Saints She was martyred about the year of our Lord 870. Saint NEOTS why Sir-named Adulphius I know not was born saith Bale either in Essex or Kent but Pitz. who wrote sixty years after him saith positively he was born in Essex It seemeth he met with some evidence to sway down the even beam to preponderate on the side of this County Waving the pleasures of the world he lived long an Eââ¦emite in Cornwell and then leaving his solitary life he became a painfull and profitable Preacher of the
Here a Spanish Merchants Daughter Mary de la Barrera by name fell in love with him and became his Wife worth to him in Barrs of Gold and Silver two Thousand five hundred Pounds besides Jewells of great price Returning into England he lived with great comfort and credit therein so that it may truly be said of him He had been unââ¦one if by the cruelty of his Enemies he had not been undone Writers LAMFRID of Winchester was bred a Benedictine therein Congregationis Giribenne saith my Authour wherein I am not ashamed to confess my ignorance Such his Learning in those Dayes that he got the general name of Doctor Eximius though his few works still extant answer not the proportion of so high a Title He flourished anno 980. WOLSTANUS of Winchester bred a Benedictine therein attained to the reputation of a great Scholar I listen attentively to the words of VV. Malmsbury who could ken a Learned man giving him this Caracter Vir fuit eruditus homo etiam bonae vitae castigatae eloquentiae But it seemeth his Eloquence was confined to Poetry my Author observing that Oratione soluta nunquam politè scripsit He flourished anno 1000. JOHN of HIDE was a Monk in the famous ABBY of Hide in the Suburbs of Winchester and became a competent Historian according to the rate of those times writing certain Homilies a Book of the Patience of Job and the Story of his own Convent He flourished anno 1284. JOHN of Basingstoak so called from a fair Market Town in this Coââ¦nty where he was born We have a double Demonstration of his signal worth first because Robert Grosthead that pious and learned Bishop who would not advance any thing which was under eminency preferred him Arch-deacon of Leicester secondly The Pens of Bale and Pitz diametrically opposite one to the other meet both in his commendation Being bred first in Oxford then in Paris thence he travailed into Athens Athens as yet was Athens not routed by Turkish Tyranny where he heard the Learned Lecturs of one Constantina a Noble Woman not fully Twenty Years old of the abstruse Mysteries of Nature Coming home he brought back many precious Books and had good skill in the Greek Tongue whereof he wrote a GRAMMAR and is justly reputed the first restorer thereof in England He was the Author of many worthy works and died Anno 1252. on whom M. Paris bestoweth this Eulogy Vir in trivio quatrivio ad plenum eruditus JOHN of HIDE was a Monk in the Famous Abby of Hide in the Suburbs of Winchester and became a competent Historian according to the rate of those times writing certain Homilies a book of the Patience of Job and the Story of his own Covent He flourished Anno 1284. WILLIAM ALTON a Native of a known Market-Town in this County was a Dominican or Preaching Frier famous even amongst Forreiners for his Sermons and sound judgement avouching the Virgin Mary tainted with Original Corruption He flourished Anno 1330. WILLIAM LILLIâ⦠was born at Odiam a Market-Town in this County and travelled in his youth as far as Jerusalem In his return he stayed at Rhodes and studied Greek which will seem strange to some Rhodes not being Rhodes in that Age except casually some great Critick was there seeing otherwise to find Elegant in Modern Greek sowred with long continuance is as impossible as to draw good Wine out of a vessel of Vinegar Hence he went to Rome where he heard John Sulpitius and Pomponius Sabinus great Masters of Latine in those dayes After his Return Dean Collet made him the first Master of St. Pauls School which place he commendably discharged for 15. years Here he made his Latine Grammar which this great School-Master modestly submitted to the correction of Erasmus and therefore such who will not take it on the single bond of Lillie may trust on the security of Erasmus Some charge it for surfeiting with variety of examples who would have had him onely to set down the bare Rules as best for Childrens remembrance But they may know that such who learnt Grammar in Lillies time were not School-boyes but School-men I mean arrived at mens Estate Many since have altered and bettered his Grammar and amongst them my worthy Friend Dr. Charles Scarborough calculating his short clear and true Rules for the Meridian of his own son which in due time may serve for general use Our Lillie died of the plague and was buried in the Porch of Saint Pauls Anno Dom. 1522. Since the Reformation MICHAâ⦠RENEGER was born in this County and bred Fellow in Magdalen-Colledge in Oxford where he gained great credit for his skill in Learning and Languages He wrote a Book in the Defence of Ministers marriage THOMAS STERNHOLD was born in this County and was afterwards a servant to King Henry the Eighth I find him a Legatee in his Will thus mentioned Item To THOMAS STERNHOLD Groome of our Robes a hundred Mark He was afterwards saith my Author ab intimo cubiculo to King Edward the Sixth Though I am not satisfied whether thereby he meant Gentleman of his Privie-Chamber or Groom of his Bed-Chamber He was a principal instrument of Translating of the Psalmes into English-Meeter The first twentie six and seven and thirty in all being by him performed Yet had he other assistance in that work Many a bitter scoffe hath since been past on their endeavours by some Wits which might have been better imployed Some have miscalled these their Translations Geneva Gigs and which is the worst Father or Mother rather the Expression on our Virgin Queen as falsly as other things have been charged upon her Some have not sticked to say that David hath been as much persecuted by bungling Translators as by Saul himself Some have made Libellous verses in abuse of them and no wonder if Songs were made on the Translators of the Psalms seeing Drunkards made them on David the Author thereof But let these Translations be beheld by unpartial eyes and they will be allowed to go in Equipage with the best Poems in that age However it were to be wisht that some bald Rimes therein were bettered till which time such as sing them must endeavour to amend them by singing them with Understanding heads and Gratious hearts whereby that which is but bad Meter on Earth will be made good Musick in Heaven As for our Thomas Sternhold it was happy for him that he died before his good Master Anno 1549. in the moneth of August So probably preventing much persecution which would have hapned unto him if surviving in the Reign of Queen Mary DAVID WHITEHEAD where born to me unknown is here placed Because I find a worshipful and ancient Family of his Name in this County He was bred a Batchelour of Divinity in Oxford and flying into Germany in the Reign of Queen Mary was in high esteem at Franckford
making I behold his as the second accounting the Lord Tiptoft the first noble hand which since the decay of Learning took a Pen therein to be Author of a Book He dyed on the 16. of March 1532. and is buryed in the great church in Calice And I have read that the estate of the Berners is by an Heir-general descended to the Knyvets of ââ¦shwelthorp in Norfolk Since the Reformation ROGER HUTCHINSON was born in this County and bred Fellow of St. Johns Colledge in Cambridge where he was very familiar with Mr. Roger Askam who disdained Intimacy with Dunces And as this is euough to speak him Scholar so it is a sufficient Evidence to an Intelligent Jury to prove him Protestant that being commended by Bale for writing a book in English of the Image of God he is wholly omitted by John Pits He flourished Anno Dom. 1550. and probably dyed in the happy Reign of Edward the sixth before the following persecution THOMAS CARTVVRIGHT was born in this County and was admitted in St. Johns Colledge in Cambridge Anno 1550. In the Reign of Queen Mary he left the University being probably one of those Scholars which as Mr. Fox observeth went alias were driven away from this Colledge all at one time and betook himself to the service of a Counsellour Here he got some skill in the Common-Law which inabled him afterwards to fence the better for himself by the advantage thereof In the Reign of Queen Elizabeth he returned to Cambridge was chosen Fellow first of St. Iohns then of Trinity How afterwards he was made Margaret Professour outed thereof for his Non-conformity travelled beyond Seas returned home became the Champion of the Presbyterian partie is largely related in our Ecclesiastical History Onely I will add that the Non conformists not a greeing which of them where there is much choice there is no choice should answer Dr. Whitgifts Reply I read that Mr. Cartwright at last was chosen by lot to undertake it It seems the Brethren concluded it of high and holy concernment otherwise I know what Mr. Cartwright hath written of the appeal to Lots Non nisi in rebus gravioribus alicââ¦jus magni momenti ad sortis judicium recurrendumm maxime cum per sortem Deus ipse in judicio sedeat One saith for riches he sought them not and another saith that he dyed rich and I beleive both ââ¦ay true God sometimes making Wealth to find them who seek not for it seeing many and great were his Benefactors He dyed and was buryed in Warwick where he was Master of the Hospital Anno. 1603. DANIEL DIKE was born at Hempstead in this County where his Father was a Minister silenced for his Non-conformity He was bred in ....... Colledge in Cambridge and became afterwards a profitable Labourer in Gods Vineyard Witness besides his Sermons his worthy books whereof that is the Master-peice which treateth of the deceitfulnesse of mans heart wherein he layes down directions for the Discovery thereof As also how in other Cases one may be acquainted with his own Condition seeing many men lose themselves in the Labyrinths of their own hearts so much is the Terra incognita therein This Book he designed for his pious Patron John Lord Harrington But alas when the Child was come to the Birth there was no strength to bring forth before the Book was fully finished the Author thereof followed his honourable Patron into a better World so that his Surviving brother of whom immediately set it forth And to the Lady Lucy Countesse of Bedford the Lords Sister the same was dedicated A Book which will be owned for a Truth whilst men have any badness and will be honoured for a Treasure wilst men have any goodnesse in them This Worthy man dyed about the Year 1614. JEREMIAH DIKE his Younger Brother was bred in Sidney Colledge in Cambridge beneficed at Epping in Essex one of a chearful Spirit And know Reader that an Ounce of Mirth with the same degree of Grace will serve God farther then a pound of Sadnesse He had also a gracious heart and was very profitable in his Ministry He was a Father to some good Books of his own and a Guardian to those of his Brother whose Posthume Works he set forth He was one peaceable in Israel And though no Zelot in the practice of Ceremonies quietly submitted to use them He lived and dyed piously being buryed in his own Parish-Church Anno Dom. 1620. ARTHUR CAPEL Esquire of Hadââ¦m in this County was by King Charls the first created a Baron 1641. He served the King with more Valour and Fidelity then Success during the Civil Wars in the Marches of Wales After the Surrender of Oxford he retired to his own house in this Shire and was in some sort well cured of the so then reputed Disease of Loyalty when he fell into a Relaps by going to Colcbester which cost him his life beheaded in the Palace Yard in Westminster 1648. In his Life time he wrote a book of Meditation published since his death wherein much judicious piety may be discovered His mortified mind was familiar with afflictions which made him to appear with such ãâã Resolution on the Scaffold where he seemed rather to fright Death then to be frighted with it Hence one not unhappily alluding to his Arms a Lyon Rampant in a Field Gules betwixt three Crosses thus expresseth himself Thus Lion-like Capel undaunted stood Beset with crosses in a Field of Blood A Learned Dr. in Physick present at the opening and embalming of him and Duke Hambleton delivered it at a publike Lecture that the Lord Capels was the least Heart whilst the Dukes wââ¦s the greatest he ever beheld Which alââ¦o is very proportionable to the Observation in Philosophy that the Spirits contracted in a lesser model are the cause of the greater courage God hath since been the Husband to His Widow who for her goodnesse may be a Pattern to her Sexe and Father to his Children whom not so much their Birth Beauty and Portions as Vertues married to the best Bloods and Estates in the Land even when the Royalists were at the lowest condition EDVVARD SYMONDS born at Cottered in this County was bred in Peter House in Cambridge where he commenced Master of Arts afterwards Minister of Little Rayne in Essex a man strict in his Life and profitable in his preaching wherein he had a plain and piercing faculty Being sequestred from his Living for siding with the King with David 1 Sam. 23. 13. He went wheresoever he could go to Worcester Exeter Barnstable France and lastly returned to London He wrote a Book in VINDICATION OF KING CHARLES and was Instrumental in setting forth his Majesties book called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Pens were brondished betwixt him and Mr. Stephen Marshal though all was fair betwixt them before his Death For Mr. Symonds visited him lying in his bed at Westminster told him Had I taken you for a
Death of Pope Urban But Pope Boniface his Successour restored him to all his honours and dignities sent him over into England to King Richard the Second with most ample Commendation Returning to Rome he lived there in all plenty and pomp and dyed September the seventeenth 1397. Pity it is so good a Scholar should have so barbarous an Epitaph scarce worth our Translation Artibus iste Pater famosus in omnibus Adam Theologus summus Cardi que-nalis erat Anglia cui patriam titulum dedit ista Beatae Ceciliaeque morsque suprema polum Adam a famous Father in Arts all He was a deep Divine Cardi-and nall Whom England bred S. Cicilie hath given His Title Death at last gave heaven He was interred when dead in the Church of St. Cicilie which intituled him when alive though no happiness an honour which no other English man to my observation of his Order ever Injoyed Prelates JOHN BRETON alià s BRITTON Dâ⦠of the Lawes He meriteth a high place in this Catalogue and yet I am at a perfect loss where to fix his Nativity and therefore am forced to my last Refuge as the Marginal Character doth confess He was a famous Lawyer living in the Reign of King Edward the First at whose Commandement and by whose Authority he wrote a learned Book of the LAWES of ENGLAND the Tenor whereof runneth in the Kings name as if it had been penned by himself Take one instance thereof 12. Chapter VVe will that all those who are fourteen years old shall make Oath that they shall be sufficient and Loyall unto Us and that they will be neither Felons nor assenting to Felons and We will that all be c. This Style will seem nothing strange to those who have read Justinian his Institutions which the Emperour assumed unto himself though composed by others It is no small Argument of the Excellency of this Book that notwithstanding the great variation of our Lawes since his time that his work still is in great and general Repute Thus a good face conquereth the disadvantage of old and unfashionable Clothes He was preferred Bishop of Hereford in the Reign of King Henry the Third And although there be some difference betwixt Authors about the time wherein he lived and died some assigning a latter date I confide in Bishop Godwin his Successour in the same See computing his death to happen May 12. in the Third of King Edward the First Anno 1275. ADAM de ORLTON was born in the City of Hereford Proceeding Doctor of Law he became afterwards Bishop in the place of his Nativity This is he so Infamous in History for cutting off the life of King Edward the Second with his Ridling Unpointed Answer Edwardum Regem occidere nolite timere bonum est To kill King Edward you need not to fear it is good It is hard to say which of these two were the Original and which the Translation It being equally probable that the English was Latined as that the Latin was Englished by such Authors as relate this transaction This mindeth me of a meaner passage sic Canibus Catulos which to refresh both the Reader and my self I shall here insert A Schoolmaster being shut out of his School at Christmass came to Composition with his Scholars and thus subscribed the Articles tendred unto him Aequa est conditio non nego quod petitis But being readmitted into his house He called all his Scholars to account for their Rebellion they plead themselves secured by the Act of Oblivion he had signed He calls for the Original and perusing it thus pointed it Aequa est Conditio non Nego quod petitis Thus power in all ages will take the priviledge to construe its own Acts to its own advantage But to return to de Orlton he made much bustling in the Land passing through the Bishopricks of Worcester and Winchester and died at last not much lamented July 18. 1345. JOHN GRANDESSON was born at Ashperton in this County a person remarkable on several accounts For his 1. High Birth his Father Gilbert being a Baron and his Mother Sybill Coheir to the Lord Tregose 2. Great Learning being a good Writer of that age though Bale saith of him that he was Orator animosior quà m facundior 3. High Preferment attaining to be Bishop of Exeter 4. Vivacity sitting Bishop in his See two and fourty years 5. Stout Stomack Resisting Mepham Archbishop of Canterbury vi Armis when he came to visite his Diocess 6. Costly Buildings Arching the Beautifull Roofe of his Cathedrall Building and endowing a rich Colledge of Saint Mary Otterey He was the bettter inabled to do these and other great Benefactions by perswading all the secular Clergy in his Diocess to make him sole Heir to their Estates He died July 15. Anno Domini 1369. THOMAS BRADWARDINE Arch-bishop of Canterbury See him more properly in Sussex RICHARD CLIââ¦FORD Bishop of London See him more conveniently in Kent Since the Reformation MILES SMITH D. D. was born in the City of Hereford which I observe the rather because omitted in his Funeral Sermon His Father was a Fletcher and a man of no mean Estate that Vocation being more in use formerly then in our Age. He was bred first in Brasen-Nose-Colledge then Chaplain of * Christ-Church in Oxford A deep Divine great Linguist who had more then a single share in the last Translation of the Bible as hereby will appear 1. More then fourty Grave Divines were imployed in several places on that work 2. When it had passed their hands it was revised by a dozen select ones 3. This done it was referred to the final Examination of Bish. Bilston and Dr. Smith 4. Doctor Smith at last was injoyned to make the Preface to the Translation as a comely gate to a glorious City which remains under his own hand in the University Library in Oxford Yet was he never heard to speak of the work with any attribution to himself more then the rest He never sought any preferment he had and was wont merrily to say of himself that he was Nullius rei praeterquam Librorum avarus Covetous of nothing but Books King James preferred him Bishop of Glocester 1612. wherein he behaved himself with such meeknesse that in all matters of doubt the byass of his inclination did still hang ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He wrote all his books with his own hand in that faculty not being short of the professours thereof and being seaventy years of age died and was buried in his own Cathedrall 1624. Souldiers ROBERT DEVEREUX Son of Walter Devereux Earle of Essex was born at Nethwood in this County November the tenth 1567. Whilst his Father as yet was onely Viscount of Hereford He was such a Master-piece of Court and Camp and so bright a Light therein that we will observe his morning fore-noon high-noon afternoon and night His morning began at his first coming to Court the gates whereof
the Abby Lands in Ireland for the Kings use a flower of the Crown which alone had made a Posey if continued thereunto But alas the Revenues of Abby Lands are as ãâã as their buildings nothing more than the rubbish thereof remaining in the Kings Exchequer He made a Law that no Children should be admitted to Church livings which importeth the frequency of that abuse in former times He perswaded O Neile O Brian c. to go over into England to surrender their lands into the Kings hands promising they should receive them again from him by Letters Patents with the Addition of Earls which was done accordingly At his desire the King conferred on them Houses nigh Dublin that residing there they might suck in Civility with the Court air These things thus setled he returned into England and died as I take it in the raign of King Edward the sixth Sir HENRY SIDNRY was son to Sir William Sidney of Pensherst in this County who by his own worth was advanced into the favour of Queen Elizabeth never a whit the lesse for marrying Mary Dudley sister to Robert Earl of Leicester he was by her made Knight of the Garter Lord President of Wales and for eleven years off and on Deputy of Ireland Now though generally the Irish are querelous of their Deputies what Patient for the present will praise his Chirurgion who soundly searcheth his sore yet Sir Henry left a good memory and the monuments of a good Governor behind him 1. He made Annaly a Territory in Loynsteresse by the Sept of Offerralles one entire Shire by it self called the County of Longford he likewise divided the Province of ââ¦onaght into six Counties 2. In a Parliament held the eleventh of Elizabeth he abolished the pretended and usurped Captain-ships and all extortions incident thereunto 3. He caused an Act to pass whereby the Lord Deputy was authorized to accept the surrenders of the Irish Seââ¦gniories and to re-grant estates unto them to hold of the Crown by English Tenures and Services 4. Because the inferiour sort of the Irish were poor and not Amesââ¦able by Law he provided that five of the best persons of every Sept should bring in all the persons of their surname to be justified by the Law 5. A Law was made that for the civil education of the youth there should be one Free Schoole at least in every Diocesse 6. To acquaint the people of Mounster and Conaght with the English Government again disused amongst them for two hundred years he instituted two Presidency Courts in those two Provinces 7. To augment the Revenues of the Crown he resumed and vested therein by the power of the same Parliament more than half the Province of Ulster upon the attainder of Shane O Neale 8. He raised Customs upon the principal Commodities of the Kingdom and reformed the abuses of the Exchequer by many good instructions from England 9. He established the Composition of the Pale in lieu of Purveyance and Sesse of Souldiers It must not be forgotten that he caused the Statutes of Ireland unto his own time to be printed and so saith my Author ex umbra in solem eduxit he brought them out of the shadow into the sun-shine Whereas formerly they were only in Manuscript a sad case that men should be obliged to the observation of those Laws scarce ever seen by one in an hundred subjected thereunto Being to leave Ireland Anno 1578. and now ready to go up into his Ship he took his leave thereof with the words of the Psalmist When Israel came out of Egypt and Jacob from a strange people rejoycing in heart that he came with a clear conscience from that dangerous employment He died at Worcester May the fifth 1586. and his Corps being brought to Pensherst were there solemnly interred amongst his Ancestors I will close his Life with this Encomium which I find in a Worthy Author His disposition was rather to seek after the Antiquities and the Weal-Publick of those Countries which he governed than to obtain lands and revenues within the same for I know not one foot of Land that he had either in Wales or Ireland Sir PHILIP SIDNEY Reader I am resolved not to part him from his Father such the Sympathy betwixt them living and dying both within the compass of the same year Otherwise this Knight in relation to my Book may be termed an Ubiquitary and appear amongst Statesmen Souldiers Lawyers Writers yea Princes themselves being though not elected in election to be King of Poland which place he declined preferring rather to be a Subject to Queen Elizabeth than a Soveraign beyond the Seas He was born at Pensherst in this County son to Sir Henry Sidney of whom before and Sisters Son to Robert Earl of Leicester bred in Christs Church in Oxford Such his appetite to Learning that he could never be fed fast enough therewith and so quick and strong his digestion that he soon turned it into wholsome nourishment and thrived healthfully thereon His homebred abilities travel perfected with forraign accomplishments and a sweet Nature set a glosse upon both He was so essential to the English Court that it seemed maimed without his company being a compleat Master of Matter and Language as his Arcadia doth evidence I confesse I have heard some of modern pretended Wits cavil thereat meerly because they made it not themselves such who say that his Book is the occasion that many pretious hours are otherwise spent no better must acknowledge it also the cause that many idle hours are otherwise spent no worse than in reading thereof At last leaving the Court he followed the Camp being made Governor of Flushing under his Uncle Earl of Leicester But the Walls of that City though high and strong could not confine the activity of his mind which must into the Field and before Zutphen was unfortunately slain with a shot in a small skirmish which we may sadly tearm a great battel considering our heavy losse therein His Corps being brought over into England was buried in the Quire of St. Pauls with general lamentation Sir FRANCIS WALSINGHAM Knight was born in this County wherein his Family long flourished at Chiselhurst though I read that originally they fetch their name from Walsingham in Norfolk He was bred in Kings Colledge in Cambridge and gave the King of ââ¦pain his Bible to the Library thereof As a traveller many years beyond the ãâã he learnt experience as an Agent he practised it there and after his return a Secretary of State he taught it to many Emisaries imployed under him None alive did better ken the Secretary Craft to get Counsels out of others and keep them in himself Mââ¦rvellous his ââ¦agacity in examining suspected persons either to make them confesse the truth or confound themselves by denying it to their detection Cunning his hands who could unpick the Cabinets in the Popes Conclave quick his ears who could hear at London what
opinion which entred into the World with great disadvantages For first none will be acquainted with strangers at the first sight as persons generally suspected as if to be unknown were part of being guilty Secondly the Grandees of this Profession were of the opposite judgement heavy enough without any Argument to overlay and so to stifle any Infant opinion by their Authority But Truth though it may be questioned for a Vagrant carrieth a Passport along with it for its own vindication Such have since shaken friendly hands with Doctor Harvey which at first tilted Pens against him And amongst the rest Riolanus that learned Physician if not Ambabus ulnis with one Arm at the least doth embrace his opinion and partly consent thereunto This Doctor though living a Batchelor may be said to have left three hopeful Sons to posterity his Books 1. De circulatione sanguinis which I may call his Son and Heir the Doctor living to see it at full age and generally received 2. De generatione as yet in its minority but I assure you growing up apace into publick credit 3. De Ovo as yet in the nonage thereof but infants may be men in due time It must not be forgotten that this Doctor had made a good progresse to lay down a Practice of Physick conformable to his Thesis of the Circulation of Blood but was plundered of his Papers in our Civil War Unhappy dissentions which not onely murdered many then alive but may be said by this call it mischief or mischante to have destroyed more not yet born whose Diseases might have been either prevented or removed if his worthy pains had come forth into the Publick And I charitably presume that grateful posterity will acknowledge the improvements of this opinion as Superstructures on his Foundation and thankfully pay the fruit to his memory who watered planted not to say made the root of this discovery He hath since been a second Linaore and great Benefactor to the Colledge of Physicians in London where his Statue stands with this Inscription GULIELMO HARVEO VIRO Monumentis suis immortali Hoc insuper Coll. Med. London posuit Qui enim Sanguin motum Ut Animal ortum dedit Meruit esse Stator perpetuus He died in the eightieth year of his Age June 3. Anno Dom. 1657. Writers JOHN of KENT so called because born in this County after he had studied at home with good proficiency went over into France where he became Canon in the Church of Saint Maries in Angiers But afterwards being weary of worldly wealth he quitted that place and turned a Franciscan Fryer and by Pope Innocent the fourth he was sent a joynt Legate into England He flourished in the year of our Lord 1248. HAIMO of FEVERSHAM both had his first breath at and fetched his name from Feversham in this County When a man he left the land and repairing to Paris applied his studies so effectually that Leland saith he was inter Aristotelicos Aristotelissimus He became a Franciscan in the Church of Saint Dennis it self and returning into England was elected Provincial of his Order Afterwards he was called to reside in Rome for his advice where quitting his Provincialship to his Successor he was chosen General of the Franciscans Surely he had much real or reputed merit being so highly prized by the Italians who generally do as much undervalue us English as they over-admire themselves Speculum honestatis the Glasse of honesty ââ¦aith one was the title given unto him though dark and false this Glasse if Bale may be believed who taxeth him for being an Inquisitor after and Persecutor of good people especially when imployed by the Pope into Grecia Lying on his Death-bed at Anagnia in Italy the Pope in person came to visit him which was no small honour unto him but all would not prolong his life which he ended Anno 1260. Having first at the command of Pope Alexander the fourth corrected and amended the Roman Breviary SIMON STOCK was born in this County and when but twelve years of Age went into the Woods whereof this Shire then afforded plenty and became a Hermite This Christian Diogenes had for his Tub the Stock of a hollow Tree whence he fetched his name and abating his Sex was like the Nymphs called Hama-druides which were the properties of Oak Trees Here he had saith Leland Water for his Nectar and wild Fruits for his Ambrosia One may admire how this man here met with Learning except by Inspiration and except Books as at the Original were written on Barks of Trees where with he conversed yet the University of Oxford would force a Batchelor of Divinity-ship upon him and many are the superstitious writings he lèft to posterity Reader behold here how the Roaring Lyon hath translated himself into a Mimical Ape endeavouring a mock Parallel betwixt this Simon and Simeon in the Gospell Old Simeon had a Revelation that he should not die till he had seen our Saviour come in the Flesh. This Simon aged 80. years had a Revelation that before his death he should behold a holy Order of Carmelites come out of Syria which fell out accordingly At their arrival in England our Simon quitted his Oak and advanced forward to meet them as of whom though he had no sight he had a vision before which is probably as true as that he was fed seven years with Manna in Mount Carmel He was chosen the General Governour of their Order all over Europe and died in the hundred year of his age Anno Dom. 1265. and was buried at Burdeaux in France THOMAS HASHLWOOD I find the name very ancient in a worshipful Family in Northampton-shire and professe not only my inclination but propensity to gain him for the credit of my Native Country But that needs not to be and I ought not to make it rich with the wrong of others Indeed I find a Haselwood Transposition makes no Mutation in Suffolk and another in Northumberland but their vast distance from the Monastery of Leeds in this County wherein our Haselwood was bred an Augustinian Fryer with some other insinuations too long to report prevail with me to fix him in this place He was an excellent Scholar himself and a fortunate School-master to teach others and became a faithful and painful Historian Bale out of William Botiner an industrious Collector of Antiquities assigneth him to flourish under King Edward the second 1321. but Mr. Weaver light on a Manuscript of his making in Sir Robert Cottons Library wherein he particularly speaks of the Atchievements of Edward the black Prince which I here thought fit to exemplifie Edwardus filius Edw. 3. primogenitus Princeps Walliae fortunatissimus miles in bello audacissimus inter validissima bella gesta militaria magnifice ab eodem peracta Johannem Regem Franciae apud Poyteizes debellavit pluribus tam nobilibus quam aliis de dicto regno captis
Tââ¦rtius Edwardus dilexit hunc ut amicus Fortia qui gessit Gallos Navaros que repressit Sic cum recessit morte feriente decessit Anno Milleno trecento septuageno Atque his junge duo sic perit omnis homoÌ His Monument is not extant at this day and it is pity that so good a Sword did not light on a better Pen and that Pallas so much honoured by him in her Military relation did not more assist in his Epitaph in her Poetical capacity Sr. WILLIAM MOLINEUX junior Knight descendant from the former flourished under K. Henry the eighth being a man of great command in this County bringing the considerable strength thereof to the seasonable succour of the Duke of Norfolk with whom he performed signal service in Flodden-Field It is confesââ¦ed on all sides that the Scots lost the Day by not keeping their Ranks but not agreed on the cause thereof Bucanan who commonly makes the too much Courage of his Countrymen the cause of their being conquered imputes it to their indiscreet pursuing of the English routed at the first Others say they did not break their Ranks but they were broken unable to endure the Lancashire Archers and so forced to sunder themselves In this Battail the Scotch King and chiefest Gentry were slain the English loosing scarce any of the Scââ¦ts scarce any but of prime note The King afterwards wrote his gratulatory Letter to Sr. William Molinââ¦ux in forme following Trusty and Welbeloved We greet you well and understand as well by the Report of Our Right Trusââ¦y Cousin and Counsellor the Duke of Norfolk as otherwise what acceptable serviââ¦e You amongst others lately did unto us by your valiant towardnesse in the assisting of Our said Cousin against our great Enemy the late King of Scots and how couragiously you as a very hearty loving Servant acquitted your self for the overthrow of the said late King and distressing of his malice and power to our great Honour and the advancing of your no little Fame and praise For which We have good cause to favour and thank you and so we full heartily do and assured may you be that VVe shall in such effectual wise remember your said service in any your Reasonable Pursuits as you shall have cause to think the same Rightwell imployed to your comfort and weal hereafter Given under our Signet at our Castle at Windsore the 27 of November It appears by our Authour that thâ⦠like Letters mutatis mutandis were sent unto Sr. Edward Stanley and some other men of principal note in Lancashire and Cheshire I have nothing more to observe save that these two worthy Sr. VVilliams were Ancestors unto the truly Honourable the Lord Molineux Viscount Marybourgh in Ireland lately deceased Writers HUGH of MANCHESTER was saith my Authour when Adolescens a youth a Dominican but when Juvenis a young man he changed his Copy and turned a Franciscan Say not he degraded himself choosing a later order then he left for it seems that amongst them the last is counted the best as of a more refined perfection He was a great scholar and highly esteemed in that age for his severity and discretion An Imposter happened at this time pretending himself first blind then cured at the Tomb of King Henry the Third so to get coine to himself and credit to the dead King But our Hugh discovered the cheat and Writing a Book De ãâã Diliriis Dedicated it to King Edward the First who kindly accepted thereof preferring that his Fathers memory should appear to posterity with his true face ãâã painted with such false miracles This Hugh with another Franciscan was imployed by the same King to Philip King of France to demand such Lands as he detained from him in Aquitain Such who object that sitter men than Friers might have been found for that service consider not how in that Age such mortified men were presumed the most proper Persons peaceably to compremise differences between the greatest Princes This Embassie was undertaken Anno Dom. 1294. RICHARD ULVERSTON was born in this County at Ulverston a well-known Market in Loynsââ¦ay-Hundred A great Antiquary ambitious of all Learned Mens acquaintance complained that he knew him not so well as he desired He was bred in Oxford and wrote a Book intituled the Articles of Faith or the Creed of the Church this lay latent a good while till John Stanberry Bishop of Hereford rescued it from the Moaths some Thirty Years after the Authours death and bestowed a double Light upon it one in producing it into the Publick the other illustrating it with a Commentary he wrote thereon Say not this was false Herââ¦ldry but true Humility to see a Bishop commenting which is not usual on the Book of a Priest Bale concludeth all thus longum Non doctrina potest obscuro carcere claudi noâ⦠will Worth Long be confin'd but make its own way forth The Time and Place of his Death are equally uncertain but by probability about 1434. under the Reign of King Henry the sixt THOMAS PENKETH so was his true name though wrested by some Latinists into Penââ¦hettus and miswritten Penthy and Penker by some English taken from a Village in this County He was bred an Augustinian in Warrington and a Doctor of Divinity in Oxford a deep Scotist and of so great a memory that Foreiners amongst whom he lived report of him that had all the Books of Scotus been lost he could easily have restored every word of them He was called to be Professor at Padua and returning into England became Provincial of his Order But his last act stained his former life who promoted the bastardizing of the Issue of K. Edward the 4th and as Dr. Shaw ushered his Flattery held up the train of the Usurper's Praises in a Sermon at St. Pauls in preaching whereof he who had formerly forfeited his Honesty lost his* Voice a proper punishment for a Parasite His Disgrace had some influence on his Order which then verticall and numerous ââ¦ayly ãâã in England to their Dissolution This Thomas dyed and was buryed in London 1487. JOHN STANDISH Short mention shall serve him who might have been left out wââ¦thout losse He was Nephew to Henry Standish Bishop of St. Asaph of no mean Family in this County One would suspect him ââ¦ot the same Man called by Pale a scurrillous Fool and admired by pitâ⦠for piety and learning jealous lest another man should be more wise to Salvation than himself he wrote a Book against the Translation of Scripture into English and presented it to the Parliament His death happened seasonably for his own safety 1556. a little before the Death of Queen Mary Since the Reformation THOMAS LEAVER was born in this County where his Family and Name still remains at two Villages called Leaver at this day He was bred Fellow and Batchelour of Divinity oâ⦠St. Johns Colledge in Cambridge whereof he was chosen Master
to inherit Happiness so severe her Education VVhilest a childe her Father's was to her an House of Correction nor did she write Woman sooner than she did subscribe Wife and in Obedience to her Parents was unfortunately matched to the L. Guilford Dudley yet he was a goodly and for ought I ââ¦ind to the contrary a Godly Gentleman whose worst fault was that he was Son to an ambitious Father She was proclaimed but never crowned Queen living in the Tower which Place though it hath a double capacity of a Palace and a Prison yet appeared to her chiefly in the later Relation For She was longer a Captive than a Queen therein taking no contentment all the time save what she found in God and a clear Conscience Her Family by snatching at a Crown which was not lost a Coronet which was their own much degraded in Degree and more in Estate I would give in an Inventory of the vast Wealth they then possessed but am loth to grieve her surviving Relations with a List of the Lands lost by her Fathers attainture She suffered on Tower-Hill ãâã on the twelfth of February KATHARINE GREY was second Daughter to Henry Duke of Suffolk T is pity to part the Sisters that their Memories may mutually condole and comfort one another She was born in the same place and when her Father was in height married to Henry Lord Herbert Son and Heir to the Earl of Pembroke buâ⦠the politick old Earl perceiving the case altered and what was the high way to Honour turned into the ready road to Ruin got pardon from Queen Mary and brake the marriage quite off This Heraclita or Lady of Lamentation thus repudiated was seldome seen with dry eyes for some years together sighing out her sorrowful condition so that though the Roses in her Cheeks looked very wan and pale it was not for want of watering Afterward Edward Seymour Earl of Hertford married her privately without the Queens Licence and concealed till her pregnancy discovered it Indeed our English Proverb It is good to be near a kin to Land holdeth in private patrimonies not Titles to Crowns where such Aliances hath created to many much molestation Queen Elizabeth beheld her with a jealous Eye unwilling she should match either Forreign Prince or English Peer but follow the pattern she set her of constant Virginity For their Presumption this Earl was fined fifteen thousand pounds imprisoned with his Lady in the Tower and severely forbidden her company But Love and Money will find or force a passage By bribing the Keeper he bought what was his own his Wifes Embraces and had by her a surviving Son Edward Ancestor to the Right Honourable the Duke of Somerset She dyed January 26. a Prisoner in the Tower 1567. after nine years durance therein MARY GREY the youngest Daughter frighted with the Infelicity of her two Elder Sisters Jane and this Katharine forgot her Honour to remember her Safety and married one whom she could love and none need fear Martin Kayes of Kent Esq. who was a Judge at Court but only of Doubtful casts at Dice being Seââ¦jeant-Porter and died without Issue the 20. of April 1578. Martyrs HUGH LATIMER was born at Thurcaston in this County what his Father was and how qualified for his State take from his own mouth in his first Sermon before King Edward being confident the Reader will not repent his pains in perusing it My Father was a Yeoman and had no Lands of his own onely he had a Farme of three or four Pounds a Year at the uttermost and hereupon he tilled so much as kept halfe a dozen men he had walk for an Hundred Sheep and my Mother milked thiry Kine he was able and did finde the King an HARNESS with himself and his Horse whilest he came unto the Place that he should receive the Kings Wages I can remember I buckled his Harness when he went to Black Heath Field He kept me to School or else I had not been able to have Preached before the Kings Majestie now He married my Sisters with Five Pounds or twenty Nobles a piece so that he brought them up in Godliness and Fear of God He kept Hospitallity for his Poor Neighbours and some Almes He gave to the Poor and all this did he of the same Farme where he that now hath it payeth sixteen pounds by the Year and more and is not able to do any thing for his Prince for himself nor for his Children or give a Cup of Drink to the Poor He was bred in Christ's Colledg in Cambridg and converted under God by Mr. Bilney from a Violent Papist to a Zealous Protestant He was afterwards made Bishop of Worcester and four Years after outed for refusing to subscribe the six Articles How he was martyred at Oxford 1555. is notoriously known Let me add this Appendix to his Memory when the Contest was in the House of Lords in the Raign of K. Henry the Eighth about the giving all Abby Lands to the King There was a Division betwixt the Bishops of the Old and New Learning for by those Names they were distinguished Those of the Old Learning unwillingly willing were contented that the King should make a Resumption of all those Abbies which his Ancestors had founded leaving the rest to continue according to the Intention of their Founders The Bishops of the new Learning were more pliable to the Kings Desires Only Latimer was dissenting earnestly urging that two Abbies at the least in every Diocess of considerable Revenues might be preserved for the Maintenance of Learned men therein Thus swimming a good while against the stream he was at last carried away with the Current Eminent Prelates before the Reformation GILBERT SEGRAVE Born at Segrave in this County was bred in Oxford where he attained to great Learning as the Books written by him do declare The first Preferment I find conferred on him was The Provosts place of St. Sepulchers in York and the occasion how he obtained it is remakable The Pope had formerly bestowed it on his near Kinsman which argueth the good value thereof seeing neither Eagles nor Eagles Birds do feed on Flyes This Kinsman of the Popes lying on his death bed was troubled in Conscience which speakââ¦eth loudest when men begin to be speechlesse and all Sores pain most when nere night that he had undertaken such a Cure of Souls upon him who never was in England nor understood English and therefore requested the Pope his Kinsman that after his Death the Place might be bestowed on some Learned English-man that so his own absence and negligence might in some sort be repaired by the Residence and diligence of his Successor And this Segrave to his great Credit was found the fittest Person for that Performance He was afterwards preferred Bishop of London sitting in that See not full four years dying Anno Dom. 1317. WALTER DE LANGTON was born at VVest-langton in this County He was highly in favour
For being with some other by this General for want of provisions left on land after many miseries they came to Mexico and he continued a Prisoner twenty three years viz Two years in Mexico one year in the Contractation-House in Civil another in the Inquisition-House in Triana twelve years in the Gallies four years with the Cross of St. Andrew on his back in the Everlasting-Prison and three years a drudge to Hernando de Soria to so high a summ did the Inventorie of his sufferings amount So much of his patience now see the end which the Lord made with him Whil'st enslaved to the aforesaid Hervando he was sent to Sea in a Flemish which was afterward taken by an English ship called the Galeon-Dudley and so was he safely landed at Portsmouth Decemb. the second 1590. And I believe lived not long after Sir WILLIAM MOUNSON Knight was extracted of an Antient Family in this Shire and was from his youth bred in Sea-Service wherein he attained to Great Perfection Queen Elizabeth having cleared Ireland of the Spanish Forces and desiring carefully to prevent a Relapse altered the Scaene of the War from Ireland to Spaine from Defending to Invading Sir Richard Leveson was Admiral our Sir William Vice-Admiral Anno 1602. These without drawing a Sword Killed Trading quite on the Coasts of Portugal no Vessels daring to goe in or out of their Harbours They had Intelligence of a Caract ready to land in Sisimbria which was of 1600 Tun richly laden out of the East-Indies and resolved to assault it though it seemed placed in an Invincible Posture Of it self it was a Gyant in Comparison to our Pigmy Ships and had in her three hundred Spanish Gentlemen the Marquess de Sancta Cruce lay hard by with thirteen Ships and all were secured under the Command of a Strong and well fortified Castle But nothing is Impossible to Mars valour and Gods blessing thereon After a ââ¦aire dispute which lasted for some houres with Sillogismes of fire and sword the Caract was Conquered the wealth taken therein amounting to the value of Ten Hundred Thousand Crownes of Portugal Account But though the Goods gotten therein might be valued the Good gained thereby was Inestimable for henceforward they beheld the English with admiring eyes and quitted their thoughts of Invasion This worthy Knight dyed about the mid'st of the Reign of King Iames. Writers This County hath afforded many partly because so large in it self partly because abounding with so many Monasteries whereof two Mitred ones Crowland and Bardney the Seminaries of many Learned men Not to speak of the Cathedral of Lincoln and Embrio University of Stamford wherein many had their Education Wherefore to pass by Faelix Crowlandensis Kimbertus Lindesius and others all of them not affording so much true History as will fill a hollow quill therewith we take notice of some principal ones and begin with GILBERT of HOLLAND He took his name not as others from a single Town but a great part of ground the third part of this Tripartite County which in my apprehension argues his Diligence in preaching thereabouts But quitting his Native Land he was invited by the famous St. Bernard to go to and live with him at Clarvaulx in Burgundy where he became his Scholar Some will prize a Crum of Forreign Praise before a Loafe of English commendation as subject to partiality to their own Countrymen Let such hear how Abbot Trithemius the German commendeth our Gilbert Vir erat in Scripturis Divinis Studiosus egregie doctus ingenio subtilis clarus eloquio The Poets feigâ⦠that Hercules for a time supplyed the place of wearied Atlas in supporting the Heavens so our Gilbert was frequently substitute to St. Bernard continuing his Sermons where the other brake ââ¦ff from those words in lectulo meo per noctes c. unto the end of the book being forty six Sermons in style scarce discernable from St. Bernards He flourished anno Dom. 1200. and was buryed at Gistreaux in France ROGER of CROULAND was bred a Benedictine Monk therein and afterwards became Abbot of Friskney in this County He was the seventh man in order who wrote the Life of Thomas Becket Some will say his six elder Brethren left his Pen but a pitiful portion to whom it was impossible to present the Reader with any remarkable Novelty in so trite a subject But know that the pretended miracles of Becket daily multiplying the last Writer had the most matter in that kind He divided his book into seven Volumes and was full fifteen years in making of it from the last of King Richard the first to the fourteenth of King Iohn But whether this Elephantine Birth answered that proportion of time in the performance thereof let others decide He flourished anno Domini 1214. ELIASDE TREKINGHAM was born in this County at a Village so called as by the sequents will appear Ingulphus relateth that in the year of our Lord 870. in the Month of September Count Algar with others bid battle to the Danes in Kesteven a Third part of this County and worsted them killing three of their Kings whom the Danes buryed in a Village therein formerly called Laundon but after Trekingham Nor do I know any place to which the same name on the like accident can be applied except it be Alcaser in Africa where anno 1578. Sebastian the Portugal and two other Morish Kings were killed in one Battle I confess no such place as Trekingham appeareth at this day in any Catalogue of English Towns Whence I conclude it either a Parish some years since depoulated or never but a Churchlesse Village This Elias was a Monk of Peterborough Doctor of Divinity in Oxford a Learned man and great Lover of History writing himself a Chronicle from the year of our Lord 626 till 1270. at what time it is probable he deceased HUGO KIRKSTED was born at that well known Town in this County being bred a Benedictine-Cistercian-Bernardine A Cistercian is a Reformed Benedictine a Bernardine is a Reformed Cistercian so that our Hugh may charitably be presumed Pure as twice Refined He consulted one Serlo an aged man and one of his own Order and they both clubbing their pains and brains together made a Chronicle of the Cistercians from their first coming into England anno 1131. when Walter de Espeke founded their first Abby at Rivaax in York-shire Our Hugh did write Serlo did indict being almost an hundred years old so that his Memory was a perfect Chronicle of all remarkable Passages from the Beginning of his Order Our Hugo flourished anno Domini 1220. WILLIAM LIDLINGTON was born say some at that Village in Cambridge-shire at a Village so named in this County say others with whom I concur because he had his Education at Stamford He was by profession a Carmelite and became the Fifth Provincial of his Order in England Monasteries being multiplyed in that age Gerardus a Frenchman Master General
they will not take twenty lines together from any Author without acknowledging it in the Margin conceiving it to be the fault of a Plagearie Yet the same Criticks repute it no great guilt to seize a whole Manuscript if they can conveniently make themselves the Masters though not Owners thereof in which Act none can excuse them though we have had too many Precedents hereof This Laurence died Anno Dom. 1410. BERTRAM FITZALIN Finding him charactered Illustri stemmate oriundus I should have suspected him a Sussex man and Allied to the Earls of Arundell had not another Author positively informed me he was patria Lincolniensis bred B. D. in Oxford and then lived a Carmelite in the City of Lincolne Here he built a faire Library on his and his freinds cost and furnish'd it with books some of his own making but more purchased He lived well beloved and dyed much lamented the seventeenth of March 1424. Writers since the Reformation EDMUND SHEFFEILD descended from Robert Sheffeild Recorder of London Knighted by King Henry the Seventh 1496 for his good Service against the Rebells at Black-Heath was born at Butterwick in the Isle of Axholm in this Country and was by King Edward the sixth Created Baron thereof Great his Skill in Musick who wrote a Book of Sonnets according to the Italian fashion He may seem Swan like to have sung his own Funeral being soon after Slaine or Murthered rather in a skirmish against the Rebells in Norwich first unhorsed and cast into a ditch and then Slaughtered by a Butcher who denyed him Quarter 1449. He was direct Anchester to the hopeful Earl of Moulgrave PETER MORVVING was born in this County and bred fellow of Magdalen Colledg in Oxford Here I cannot but smile at the great Praise which I Pitz bestoweth upon him Vir omni Latini sermonis elegantia bellè instructus qui scripta quaedam tum versu tum Prosa tersè nitidèque composuisse perhibetur It plainly appeareth he mistook him for one of his own perswasion and would have retracted this Caracter and beshrewed his own fingers for writing it had he known him to have been a most Cordial Protestant Nor would he have afforded him the Phrase of Claruit sub Philippo et Mariâ who under their Reigns was forced for his Conscience to fly into Germany where he supported himself by Preaching to the English Exiles I find not what became of him after his return into England in the Reigne of Queen Elizabeth ANTHONY GILBY was born in this County and bred in Christs Colledge in Cambridge where he attained to great skill in the three learned languages But which gave him the greatest Reputation with Protestants was that in the Reign of Queen Mary he had been an Exile at Geneva for his Conscience Returning into England he became a feirce fiery and furious opposer of the Church Discipline established in England as in our Ecclesiasticall History may appear The certaine date of his death is to me unknown JOHN FOX was born at Boston in this County and bred Fellow in Magdalen Colledg in Oxford He fled beyond the Seas in the Reign of Queen Mary where he set forth the first and least edition of the Book of Martyrs in Latine and afterwards returning into England inlarged and twice revised the same in our own language The story is sufficiently known of the two Servants whereof the one told his Master he would do every thing the other which was even Esop himself said he could do nothing rendering this reason because his former fellow servant would leave him nothing to do But in good earnest as to the particular subject of our English Martyrs Mr. Fox hath done every thing leaving posterity nothing to work upon and to those who say he hath overdone somthing we have returned our answer before He was one of Prodigious Charity to the poor seeing nothing could bound his bounty but want of mony to give away but I have largely written of his life and death in my Church History THOMAS SPARKS D. D. was born at South Sommercot in this County bred in Oxford and afterwards became Minister of Bleachley in Buckingham-shire An Impropriation which the Lord Gray of Wilton whose dwelling was at Whaddon hard-by Restored to the Church He was a solid Divine and Learned man as by his Works still extant doth appear At first he was a Non-conformist and therefore was chosen by that party as one of their Champions in the Conference of Hampton Court Yet was he wholy silent in that Disputation not for any want of Ability but because as afterwards it did appear he was Convinced in his Conscience at that Conference of the lawfullness of Ceremonies so that some accounted him King James's Convert herein He afterwards set forth a book of Unity and Uniformity and died about the year of our Lord 1610. Doctor TIGHE was born at Deeping in this County bred as I take it in the University of Oxford He afterwards became Arch Deacon of Middlesex and Minister of Alhallowes Barking London He was an excellent Textuary and profound Linguist the reason why he was imployed by King James in translating of the Bible He dyed as I am informed by his Nephew about the year of our Lord 1620. leaving to John Tighe his Son of Carby in this County Esquire an Estate of one thousand pounds a year and none I hope have cause to envy or repine thereat FINES MORISON Brother to Sir Richard Morison Lord President of Munster was born in this County of worshipfull extraction and bred a fellow in Peter-house in Cambridge He began his Travels May the first 1591 over a great part of Christendome and no small share of Turky even to Jerusalem and afterwards Printed his Observations in a large book which for the truth thereof is in good Reputation For of so great a Traveller he had nothing of a Traveller in him as to stretch in his reports At last he was Secretary to Charles Blunt Deputy of Ireland saw and wrote the Conflicts with and Conquest of Tyrone a discourse which deserveth credit because the Writers cye guide his pen and the privacy of his place acquainted him with many secret passages of Importance He dyed about the year of our Lord 1614. Benefactors to the Publique Having formerly presented the Reader with two Eminent ones Bishop Wainfleit Founder of New Colledge and Bishop Fox Founder of Corpus Christi in Oxford He if but of an ordinary appetite will be plentifully feasted therewith so that we may proceed to those who were Since the Reformation WILLIAM RATCLIFF Esq And four times Alderman of the Town of Stamford died Anno Dom. 1530. Gave all his Messuages Lands and Tenements in the Town to the Maintenance of a Free-School therein which Lands for the present yeild thirty pounds per Annum or there-abouts to a School-Master and Usher I am informed that an Augmentation was since
Indeed I read of a Company of ââ¦hysicians in Athens called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã because they would take no Money of their Patients and our St. German was of their Judgement as to his Clients 5. Ability being excellently skill'd in Civil Caxon and Common Law so that it was hard to say wherein he excelled Add to these his skill in scripture witnesse his Book called The Doctor and Student where the former vics Divinity with the Lââ¦w of the later 6. Industry he wrote several works wherein he plainly appeareth not only a Favourer of but Champion for the Reformation 7 Vivacity Lââ¦ving to be above eighty years old and dying anno Dom. 1593. was buryed at St. Alphage London near Criplegate WILLIAM RASTAL was born in this City Sisters Son to Sir Thomas More and was bred in the Study of our Common Law and whoever readeth this passage in Pitz. will thence conclude him one of the two Chief Justices of England Pitz. de Ang. Script Aetat 16. anno 1565. Factus est Civilium Criminalium causarum alter ex duobus per Angliam supremis Judicibus whereas in deed he was but one of the Justices of the Kings Bench yet his Ability and Integrity did capacitate him for higher preferment being also a person of Industry He wrote the Life and set forth the Works of his Uncle More made a Collection of and Comment on the statutes of England Great was his Zeal to the Roââ¦ish Religion flying into Flanders with the changing of his Countrey under King Edward the Sixth he changed the nature of his Studies but then wrote worse Books on a better subject I mean Divinity He undertook Bishop Juel as much his over match in Divinity as Rastal was his in the common Law The Papists are much pleased with him for helping their cause as they conceive and we are not angry with him who hath not hurt ours in any degree He dyed at Lovain 1565. and lyeth buryed with his Wife in the same Tomb and this Epitaph may be bestowed on him Rastallus tumulo cum conjuge dormit in uno Unius carnis Pulvis unus erit Know that Winifrid Clement his Wife was one of the greatest Female Scholars an exact Grecian and the Crown of all most pious according to her perswasion Souldiers No City in Europe hath bred more if not too many of late and indeed we had had better Tââ¦adesmen if worse Souldiets I dare not adventure into so large a Subject and will instance but in one to keep possession for the rest submitting my self to the Readers censure whether the Parties merit or my private Relation puts me on his Memorial Sir THOMAS ROPER Son of Thomas Roper Servant to Queen Elizabeth was born in Friday Street in London whose Grandfather was a younger Son of the House of Heanour in Derby shire Indeed Furneaux was the ancient name of that Family until Richard Furneaux marryed Isald the Daughter of ..... Roper of Beighton in the County of Derby Esquire and on that Consideration was bound to assume the name of Roper by Indenture Dated the Sââ¦venth of Henry the Sixth This Sir Thomas Going over into the Lowe Countries became Page to Sir John Norrice and was Captain of a Foot Company at sixteen years of age what afterwards his Martial performances were to avoid all suspicion of Flattery to which my Relation may incline me I have transcribed the rest out of the Original of his Patent Cum Thomas Roper Eques auratus è Secretioribus Concilliariis nostris in regno nostro Hyberniae jampridem nobis Bellicae virtutis Splendore clarus innotuerit Utpote qui quam plurimis rebus per eum in nuperrimo bello hujus Regni fortiter gestis praeclarum Nomen Strenui Militis prudentis Ducis reportavit Cujus virtus praecipuè in recessu in Provinciâ nostrâ Conaciae prope Le Boyle emicuit ubi paucissimis admodum equestribus ingentes equitum turmas per Regni Meditullia hostiliter grassantes fortiter aggressus Ita prudentiâ suâ singulari receptui cecinit ut non modo se suos sed etiam totum exercitum ab ingenti periculo Liberavit hostesque quam plurimos ruinae tradidit Qui etiam cum Provincia nostra Ultoniae bello deflagaverat ob exploratam animi fortitudinââ¦m ab honoratissimo Comite Essexiae exercitus tunc imperatore unius ex omnibus designatus fuit ad Duellum eum Makal uno ex fortissimis Tyronentium agminum ducibus suscipiendum nisi praedictus Makal duello praedicto se exponere remisset Cumque etiam praedictus Thomas Roper in nuperrimo Bello apud Brest in Regno Gallie se maximis periculis objiciendo sanguinem suum effundendo Fortitudinem suam invictam demonstravit Qui etiam in expeditione Portugalenci se fortiter ac honorifice ãâã ac etiam apud Bergen in Belgio cum per Hispanos obsideretur invictissimae fortitudinis juvenem in defensione ejusdem se praebuit Qui etiam in expugnationis Kinsalensis die primus ãâã juxta ãâã propissime constitutus fuerat Hispanesque ex eo oppido sepius eodem die ãâã fortissime felicissimeque ad maximam totius exercitus ãâã ãâã profligavit Sciatis igitur quod nos intuitu praemissorum Dominum Thomam Roper millitem c. Whereas Thomas Roper Knight one of our Privy Councellors of our Kingdome of Ireland long since hath been known unto us famous with the Splendor of his Warlike vertue As who by the many Atchievements valiantly performed by him in the late War of this Kingdome hath gained the eminent Repute both of a stout Souldier and a discââ¦eet Commander whose Valour chiefly appeared in his Retreat near Le Boyle in ââ¦ur Province of Conaught where with very few horse he undantedly charged great Troops of the Horse of the Enemy who in a Hostile manner forraged the very Bowels of the Kingdome and by his Wisdome made such a singular retreat that he not only saved himself and his men but also delivered the whole Army from great danger and slew very many of his Enemies Who also when our Province of Ulster was all on Fire with war being one out of many was for the tryed resolution of his mind chosen by the Right Honorable the E. of Essex then General of the Army to undertake a Duel with Makal one or the stoutest Captains in the Army of Tyrone had not the said Makal declined to expose himself to the appointed Duel And also when the aforesaid Thomas Raper in the late war in the Kingdome of France at Brest by exposing himself to the greatest perils and sheding of his own bloud demonstrated his courage to be unconquerable Who also iâ⦠the voyage to Portugal behaved himself valiantly and honorably as also at Bergen in the Nether-lands when it was besiedged by the Spaniards approved himself a young man of ãâã valour in the defence thereof Who also in the day wherin Kinsale was assaulted was
placed in the first ranck nearest of all unto the Town and with no less success then valour to the great safety of the whole army beat back and put to flight the Spaniards who in the same day made several sallies out of the Towâ⦠Know therefore that We in ãâã of the premises have appointed the aforesaid Thomas Roper Knight c. Then followeth his Patent wherein King Charles in the third of his raign created him Baron of Bauntree and Viscount ãâã in Ireland I will only adde from exact intelligence that he was a principal means to break the hearts of Irish Rebels for whereas formerly the English were loaded with their own cloths so that their slipping into Bogs did make them and the slopping of their breeches did keep them prisoners therein he first being then a Commander put himself into Irish Trouzes and was imitated first by all his Officers then Souldiers so that thus habited they made the more effectual execution on their enemies He died at ãâã Rest Anno Dom. 164. and was buried with Anne his wife daughter to Sir Henry ãâã in Saint Johns Church in Dublin Seamen I behold these Sea men as the Sea it ââ¦elf and suspect if I launch far therein I sââ¦all see land no more Besides I know there be many laws made against Forestalers and would be loth to fall under that penalty for preventing the pains of some able person a ãâã of the Trinity ãâã who may write a just tract thereof Civilians Sir HENRY MARTIN Knight was born in this City where his Father left him forty pounds a year and he used merrily to say that if his Father had left him ãâã he would never have been a Scholar but lived on his Lands whereas this being though a large encouragement but a scant maintenance he plyed his book for a better livelyhood He was bred a Fellow in New colledge in Oxford and by the advice of Bishop Andrews addressed himself to the Study of the Civil Law By the advice of the said Bishop Master Martin had weekly transmitted unto him from some Proctors at Lambeth the Brief heads of the most Important causes which were to be tried in the high Commission Then with some of his familiar friends in that faculty they privately pleaded those Causes amongst themselves acting in their Chamber what was done in the Court But Mr. Martin making it his work exceeded the rest in amplifying and agravating any fault moving of anger and indignation against the guilt thereof or else in extenuating and excusing it procure pitty obtain pardon or at least prevail for a lighter punishment Some years he spent in this personated pleading to enable himself against he was really called to that Profession Hence it was that afterwards he became so eminent an Advocate in the high Commission that no cause could come amiss to him For he was not to make new armour but only to put it on and buckle it not to invent but apply arguments to his Cliant He was at last Knighted and made Judge of the Prerogative for Probate of Wills and also of the Admiraltry in causes concerning forraign traffick so that as King James said pleasantly He was a mighty Monarch in his Jurisdiction over Land and Sea the Living and dead He died very aged and wealthy Anno Dom. 1642. Physicians RICHARDUS ANGLICUS was certainly a man of Merit being eminently so denominated by Foraigners amongst whom he conversed from his Country and he who had our Nation for his Name cannot have less then London for his Lodging in this our Catalogue of Worthies He is said to have studied first in Oxford then in Paris where he so profited in the faculty of Physick that he is counted by Simphorianus Champerius a stranger to our Nation and therefore free from Flattery one of the most eminent Writers in that Profession Now because he was the first English man whom I find famous in that Calling may the Reader be pleased with a Receipt of the several names of the Books left by him to posterity 1. A Tractate of ãâã 2. Of the Ruââ¦es of Urins 3. Of the Signs of Diseases 4. Of Prognostick Signs 5. Of Letting Bloud 6. toââ¦alen ââ¦alen 7. Of Feavors 8. A Correction of Alchymy 9. A Mirour of Alchymy 10. Of Physick 11. Repressive 12. Of the Signs of Feavors Leland reporteth that besides these he writ other works which the Envy of time hath denied unto us He flourished about the year of our Lord 1230. JOHN ãâã was born in this City bred Fellow of Baliol-colledge in Oxford where he contracted familiarity with his Colleague and Mecaenas I. Tiptoft Earl of Worcester He afterwards travelled into Italy and at Ferrara was a constant auditor of Gwarinus an old man and famous Philosopher Hitherto our Phreas made use only of his ears hereafter of his tongue when of Hearer he turned a Teacher and see the stairs whereby he ascended 1. He read Physick at Ferrara concerning Medicinal herbs 2. Then at Florence well esteemed by the Duke thereof 3. Then at Padua beneath Florence in beauty above it in learning an University where he proceeded Doctor of Physick 4. Then at Rome where he was gratious with Pope Paul the second dedicating unto him many books translated out of Greek The Pope rewarded him with the Bishoprick of Bath and Wells dying before his consecration poisoned as is vehemently suspected by some who maligned his merit Heu mihi quod nullis livor medicabilis herbis Solomon himself who wrot of all Simples from the Cedar in Lebanus to the Hysop on the Wall could find no defensative against it which made him cry out But who can stand before envy No wonder therefore if our Phreas though a skilful Botanist found mens malice mortal unto him He died at Rome Anno Domini 1465. and Lelands commendation of him may serve for his Epitaph if but Hic jacet Johannes Phreas be prefixed before it qui primus Anglorum erat qui propulsâ barbarie patriam honesto labore bonis literis restituit ANDREW BORDE Doctor of Physick was I conceive bred in Oxford because I find his book called the Breviary of Health examined by that University He was Physician to King Henry the eighth and was esteemed a great Scholar in that age I am confident his book was the first written of that faculty in English and dedicated to the Colledge of Physicians in London Take a tast out of the beginning of his Dedicatory Epistle Egregious Doctors and Masters of the Eximious and Arcane Science of Physick of your Urbanity exasperate not your selves against me for making this little volume of Physick c. Indeed his book contains plain matter under hard words and was accounted such a Jewel in that age things whilst the first are esteemed the best in all kinds that it was Printed Cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum for William Midleton Anno 1548. He died as I collect
in the raign of Queen Mary Writers NOTââ¦ELMUS of LONDON Having casually let slip his forelock I mean his Episcopal Capacity being successively Bishop of London and Arch-bishop of Canterbury under which he ought to be entred we are fain to lay hold on his hind-part that his memory may not escape us taking notice of him as a Writer In his Age shined a Constellation of three learned men Bede Alcuinus and our Nothelme whom the two former by their letters invited to writ a performance proper for his Pen the gests of Gregory the Great and the Disciples sent by him with Austin the Monk for the Conversion of Britain Nothelme the more effectually to enable himself for this work went to Rome obtained leave from Pope Gregory the second to peruse his Records then sent his compleated collections to Bede to be inserted in his Church history Bede in gratitude according to the courteous custome of the learned exchange dedicated to him his thirty questions on the Books of Kings His death happened Anno Domini 739. WILLIAM FITZ-STEPHENS was descended saith Leland of Norman Nobility but born in this City and bred a Monk in Canterbury He wrote many learned works and one in Latine of the description of London since commendably because rare to come by translated and added to the Survey of London Say not that London then was but the Suburbs to the London now for the bigness and populousness thereof seeing in Fitz Stephens time it accounted thirteen Conventual and an hundred and six and thirty Parochial Churches not producing so many at this day so that it seems though there be more Bodies of Men there be fewer Houses of God therein As for the populousness thereof in his time it was able to set forth sixty thousand Foot which I believe it may treble in our time It could also then raise twenty thousand Horsemen which would pose it at this day to perform But as railing Rabshekah made Jerusalem weaker not able to set two thousand Riders on horses so possibly Fitz-Stephens might make London stronger then it was I hope one may safely wish this City may be better in holiness as bigger in houses then it was when Fitz-Stephens flourished 1190. ALBRICIUS of LONDON Leland maketh him a Native of this City and signally learned though little is extant of his writings save a work of the Original of Heathen Gods Herein he sheweth how mankind having by error and ignorance left and lost the true God multiplyed Deities that a Mock-infinite viz. what was but Indefinite in number should supply his place who was Infinite in Nature Albricius flourished Anno Domini 1217. WILLIAM SENGHAM born of mean but honest Parents being one of a meek nature and quick wit was brought up in learning wherein he attained to great perfection He wrote many books and one de fide Legibus wherein Bale highly praiseth this passage There is no other law for the Salvation of men besides the Gospel of Christ our Lord. Now although this be but a plain expression of the common truth yet was it beheld as an Oracle in that ignorant age Thus a beam of noon-day might it be seen at mid-night would shine as the Sun it self besides these words were uttered in that age when impudent Friers began to obtrud on the world a fift forged Gospel consisting of superstitious ceremonies and called Aeternum Evangelium which did much mischief in the Church amongst credulous men This William is supposed by some an Augustinian Frier who flourished Anno Dom. 1260. LAURENTIUS ANGLICUS was certainly an English-man and probably a Londoner but brought up and living most of his time in Paris where he was Master of the Colledge which had an English-man for the sign thereof Hence I collect it for building little better then our ordinary Inns for entertainment where probably our Country men had their lodgings for nothing This Laurence being a learned and pious person stoutly opposed that mock Gospel commonly called Evangelium Aeternum with the Mendicant Friars the Champions thereof He wrote a smart book contra Pseudo-Praedicatores but afterwards being frightned with the Popes thunderboults and the Friars threatnings he cowardly recanted But what saith Solomon A just man falleth seven times the Vulgar Latine addeth in die in one day and riseth again as we hope this Laurence did who flourished Anno Dom. 1260. NICHOLAS LYRA was as Barnabas a Jew-Cypriot and Saul a Jew-Gilician a Jew-English man the first by Nation the second by Nativity He had the Rââ¦bbins at his Fingers ends but conversed so long with that at last he was converted by some Franciscans to be a Christian and I behold Nicholas Conquerour of his People as his Font-name then given him as predictory of those Victories he afterwards got by his disputings and writings over his own Country-men Nor doth the Church of God more complain of Nicholas that Proselite of Antioch the last of the seven Deacons and first founder of the Nicholaitans whom God hated then it doth commend our Nicholas who vigorously confuted the Jews who expect the rising of the Sun in the afternoon waiting for Messias still to come I read how some fifty years before Henry the third founded a house called Domus Conversorum where now the Office of the Rolls is kept in Chancery-lane where Converted Jews were accommodated with Lodging and a small Salary But I believe Lyra made no use thereof contenting himself to live first in Oxford then in Paris a Franciscan Fryar and wrote Comments on all the Old and New-Testament whereof so different the Editions that I am certainly informed one is so bad one can hardly give too little and one so good one can hardly give too much for it Though sometimes he may be wide of the Mark and this Harp be out of Tune yet uncharitable their censure of Lyra Delirat whilst Luther highly praiseth him because his wanton wit did not gad after empty Allegories but with the good house-keeper stays at home keeping himself close to the Text in his literal interpretations Now though there were many Jewish Synagogues in England at York Cambridge Northampton c. yet the Old Jury in London equalling all the rest in numerousness Lyra his birth is here assigned with best assurance though dying in Paris about the year 1340. BANKINUS of LONDON not Bancks of London who taught his Horse reason to perform feats above belief but one of hgher Parts and worse employed Being an Augustinian Friar he set himself wholly to suppress the poor Wicklevicks and being ready to dispute against them in a publique Council was taken off in his full speed with the following accident worthy of the Readers observation Bale de Script Brit. Cent. 6. Num. 97. Sed terrae motus justissima summi Dei vindicta subito exortus diruptis Passim domorum edificitis immanes eorum impetus fregit ac vires infirmavit But an Earthquake by the just
revenge of the most high God suddenly arising by breaking asunder the buildings of the houses brake their cruel assaults and weakned their forces This if literally true deserved a down-right and not only so slenting a mention But hitherto meeting it in no other Author I begin to suspect it ment Metaphorically of some consternation of mind wherewith God's restraining grace charmed the adversaries of the truth Bankinus flourished under King Richard the second Anno 1382. ROBERT IVORY was saith Leland none of the meanest Natives of this City a Carmelite and President General of his Order D. D. in Cambridge He wrote several books and Prece Precio procured many more wherewith he adorned the Library of White-Fryars in Fleet-street He dyed November the fifth 1392. JULIANA BARNES was born ex antiquâ illustri domo Understand it not in the sense wherein the same was said of a certain Pope born in a ruinous Cottage where the Sun did shine through the Rotten Walls and Roof thereof But indeed she was descended of a respective Family though I not able to find the place am fain to use my Marginal Mark of greatest uncertainty She was the Diana of her Age for Hunting and Hawking skilful also in Fishing and wrote three books of these Exercises commending the practise thereof to the Gentry of England The City of Leyden is scited in the very bottom of the Low-Countries so that the water setled their would be soon subject to putrefaction were it not by Engins forced up that it might fall and so by constant motion kept from corruption Idleness will betray Noble mens minds to the same mischief if some ingenious industry be not used for their imployment Our Julian also wrot a book of Heraldry Say not the needle is the most proper pen for the woman and that she ought to meddle with making no Coats save such as Dorcas made for the widows seeing their Sex may be not only pardoned but praised for such lawful diversions No Gentleman will severely censure the faults in her ãâã but rather imitate Julius Scaliger who passing his verdict on all Poets and coming to do the like on Sulpitia a Roman Poetress living under Domitian thus courteously concludeth Ut tam ãâã Heroinae ratio habeatur non ausim objicere ei judicii severitatem She flourished Anno Domini 1460. under King Henry the sixth ROBERT FABIAN was born and bred in this City whereof he became Sheriff 1493. Treating his Guests with good chear and wellcome he doubled his dishes with pleasant discourse being an excellent Historian witness two Chronicles of his own writing 1. From Brutus to the death of King Henry the second 2. From the first of K. Richard to the death of K. Henry the seventh He was also an excellent Poet both in Latine French and English A Modern Master wit in the contest betwixt the Poets of our age for the Laurel maketh Apollo to adjudge it to an Alderman of London because to have most wealth was a sign of most wit But had the Scene of this competition been laid seven score years since and the same remitted to the umpirage of Apollo in sober sadness he would have given the Laurel to this our Alderman As for his Histories if the whole strain of them doth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã it must be indulged to him that followed the genius of his own education He died at London 1512. and was buried in the Church of All-hallows where he hath a tedious and barbarous Epitaph as commonly Reader I should be glad to have my observation confuted who hath worse Poetry then Poets on their Monuments After his death Cardinal Wolsey caused so many Copies of his Book as he could come by to be burnt because therein he had opened the Coffers of the Church too wide and made too clear discovery of the Revenues of the Clergy THOMAS LUPSET was born in this City and was related to most English and some forraign learned eminencies of his age 1. Bred a child in the house of Dean ââ¦olet 2. Under W. Lilly in St. Pauls School 3. Sent to Oxford where he became Greek Professor 4 Resigns his place to his friend Ludovicus Vives 5. Travailed into Italy and at Padua was familiar with C. Pole 6. Was known unto Erasmus who giveth him this Character Hujus ingenio nihil gratius nihil amantius 7. Intended Divinity diverted by Cardinal Woolsy 8. At Paris was Tutor to Th. Winter a ward to the Cardinal 9. Returning into England was known to King Henry the eight 10. Began to grow into his favour when cut off with a Consumption 1532. in the prime of his life He died in London and lieth buried in the Church of Saint Alphage nigh Cripplegate without a monument Since the Reformation JOHN RASTALL was a Citizen and Printer of London by marriage a kin to Sir Thomas More and when the said Sir Thomas and Bishop Fisher wrote in defence of Purgatory to prove it by Scripture Rastall undertook to maintain it by reason Surely he that buy 's the two former books deserveth to have this last given him to make him a saver Some will say the former two indeavoured to prove the fire and Rastall the smoak of Purgatory But to pass by his works in Divinity he ãâã a good Mathematician and made a Comedy of Europe Asia and Africa which my Author saith was very witty and very large and I can believe the later seeing he had three parts of the world for his subject and how long would it have been had America been added He wrote a book against John Frith but afterwerds convinced with his adversaries arguements recanted it of his own accord the cause why we have placed him since the Reformation He wrote a book of the terms of Law and made an Index to Justice Fitz Herbert yea I behold this John as father to Rastall the famous Lawyer of whom before He died and was buried at London 1536. EDWARD HALL We may trace him from his cradle to his coffin as followeth 1. He was a Citizen of Londââ¦n by his birth 2. He was bred a Scholar at Eaton 3. Thence he removed and was one of the Foundation of Kings-colledge 4. Thence he went to Grays-Inn and studied the Municipal-law 5. He became common Serjeant of London for the well discharging whereof he 6 Was advanced to be one of the Judges in the Sheriffs Court 7. Wrote an elegant history of the wars of York and Lancaster from K. Henry the fourth till the end of King Henry the eight 8. Died a very aged man 1547. He was as by some passages in his book may appear in that age well affected to the Reformation He lieth buried in the Church of Saint Sithes contracted I think for Saint Osiths where I cannot recover any Epitaph upon him WILLIAM FULKE D. D. was born in this City bred first Fellow of
Saint John's then Master of Pembroke hall in Cambridge His studies were suitable to his years when young a good Philosopher witness his book of Meteors afterwards his endeavours ascended from the middle region of the aire to the highest heavens when he bââ¦came a pious and solid Divine Now the Romanists seeing they could no longer blind-fold their Laitie from the Scriptures resolved to fit them with false spectacles and set forth the Rhemish Translation which by Doctor Fulke was learnedly confuted though he never attained any great preferââ¦ent in the Church Here it is worth our pains to peruse the immediate succession of Masters in Pembroke-hall because unparallel'd in any English Foundation Edm. Grindall Archp. of Cant. Mat. Hutton Archp. of York Jo. Whitgift Archp. of Cant. Jo. Young ãâã of Rochester William Fulke D. D. Lanc. Andrews Bp. of Winchester Sam. Harsnet Archp. of York Nic. Felton Bp. of Eely Here though all the rest were Episcopated Doctor Fulke was but Doctor Fulke still though a man of great merit This proceeded not from any disaffection in him to the Hierarchie as some would fain suggest but principally from his love of privacy and place of Margaret-Professour wherein he died Anno Dom. 1589. EDMOND SPENCER born in this City was brought up in Pembroke-hall in Cambridge where he became an excellent Scholar but especially most haypy in English Poetry as his works do declare In which the many Chaucerisms used for I will not say affected by him are thought by the ignorant to be blemishes known by the learned to be beauties to his book which notwithstanding had been more salable if more conformed to our modern language There passeth a story commonly told and believed that Spencer presenting his Poems to Queen Elizabeth She highly affected therewith commanded the Lord Cecil Her Treasurer to give him an hundred pound and when the Treasurer a good Steward of the Queens money alledged that sum was too much then give him quoth the Queen what is reason to which the Lord consented but was so busied belââ¦ke about matters of higher concernment that Spencer received no reward Whereupon he presented this petition in a small piece of paper to the Queen in her Progress I was promis'd on a time To have reason for my rhyme From that time unto this season I receiv'd nor rhyme nor reason Hereupon the Queen gave strict order not without some check to her Treasurer for the present payment of the hundred pounds she first intended unto him He afterwards went over into Ireland Secretary to the Lord Gray Lord Deputy thereof and though that his office under his Lord was lucrative yet got he no estate but saith my Author Pââ¦culiari Poetis fato semper cum paupertate conflictatus est So that it fared little better with him then with William Xilander the German a most excellent Linguist Antiquary Philosopher and Mathematician who was so poor that as Thuanus saith he was thought fami non famae scribere Returning into England he was robb'd by the Rebels of that little he had and dying for grief in great want Anno 1598. was honorably buried nigh Chaucer in Westminster where this Distick concludeth his Epitaph on hââ¦s monument Anglica te vivo vixit plausitque poesis Nunc moritura timet te moriente mori Whilst hââ¦iu didst live liv'd English poetry Which fears now thou art dead that she shall die Nor must we forget that the expence of his funeral and monument was defrayed at the sole charge of Robert first of that name Earl of Essex JOHN STOW son of Thomas Stow who died Anno 1559. grand-child to Thomas Stow who died 1526. both Citizens of London and buried in Saint Michaels in Cornhill was born in this City bred at learning no higher then a good Gramar-scholar yet he became a painful faithful and the result of both useful Historian Here to prevent mistake by the homonymie of names I request the Reader to take special notice of three brace of English writers 1. Sir Thomas commonly with the addition of De la More who lived under and wrote the life of King Edward the second 1. John Leland bred in Oxford the most exquisite Grammarian of his age who flourished Anno 1428. 1. John Stow a Benedictine Monke of Norwich Anno 1440. who wrote various Collections much cited by Caius in his history of Cambridge 2. Sir Thomas More the witty and learned Chancellour of England 2. John Leland bred in Cambridge the most eminent Antiquary under K. Henry the eight 2. John Stow this Londiner and Historian I confess I have heard him often accused that as learned Guicciardine is charged for telling magnarum rerum minutias he reporteth res in se minutas toys and trifles being such a Smell-feast that he cannot pass by Guild-hall but his pen must tast of the good chear therein However this must be indulged to his education so hard it is for a Citizen to write an History but that the fur of his gown will be felt therein Sure I am our most elegant Historians who have wrote since his time Sir Francis Bacon Master Camden c. though throwing away the basket have taken the fruit though not mentioning his name making use of his endeavors Let me adde of John Stow that however he kept tune he kept time very well no Author being more accurate in the notation thereof Besides his Chronicle of England he hath a large Survey of London and I believe no City in Christendome Rome alone excepted hath so great a volume extant thereof Plato was used to say that many good laws were made but still one was wanting viz. a law to put all those good laws in execution Thus the Citizens of London have erected many fair monuments to perpetuate their memories but still there wanted a monument to continue the memory of their monuments subject by time and otherwise to be defaced which at last by John Stow was industriously performed He died in the eightieth year of his age April 5. 1605. and is buried at the upper end of the North-Isle of the Quire of Saint Andrews-Undershaft His Chronicle since continued by another whose additions are the lively embleme of the times he writeth of as far short of Master Stow in goodness as our age is of the integrity and charity of those which went before it GILES FLETCHER was born in this City son to Giles Fletcher Dr. in law and Embassadour into Russia of whom formerly in Kent From Westminster-school he was chosen first Scholar then Fellow of Trinity colledge in Cambridge One equally beloved of the Muses and the Graces having a sanctified wit witness his worthy Poem intituled Christs Victory made by him being but Bachelour of Arts discovering the Piety of a Saint and Divinity of a Doctor He afterward applied himself to School-Divinity cross to the grain of his Genius as some conceive and attained to good skill therein When he preached at Saint Maries his
Admirals and which Sir Clement used during his life on Festivals and at his death bequeathed them to his family for a monument He received divers wounds and was left for dead at Muscleburough-field in Scotland When Sir Thomas VVyat in the reign of Queen Mary was worsted at Ludgate and desired for the more civil usage to render himself to a Gentleman he submitted himself saith our Historian to Sir Clement Paston He served at New-haven having command of some ships of Queen Elizabeth and was pensioner to two Kings and two Queens successively So rare was his happiness that he spent his old age honourably quietly and in good house-keeping in this County where at Oxnit he built a goodly house for hospitality and a hospital hard by for six poor serving-men retainers to his name and family allowing them convenient maintenance He died Anno Domini 15. and lieth buried in a fair tombe in the Church at Oxnit Seamen No County in England doth carry a top and top gallant more high in Maritime performances then Norfolk Witness the proportion of Yarmouth alone in the ensuing Catalogue of Ships used by King Edward the third against Calis The South-fleet Ships 493. The North-fleet Ships 217. Ships of London 25. Ships of Yarmouth 43. The Mariners thereof 9630. The Mariners thereof 4521. Mariners of London 662. Mariners of Yarmouth 1950. or 1075. Know Reader I cannot with all my diligence and interest recover the Original of this Catalogue as extant not in the Tower where by my friends favour I could do something but in the Kings great VVardrobe in London out of which it is cited by our Author But our times I fear have brushed it away with the rest of the VVardrobe However give me leave to make some Annotations thereon 1. These Ships as by their great number appeareth were small vessels Yet as good as any in that age of England and better witness their victories then any in France 2. The Proportion may seem strange that Yarmouth should afford well nigh twice as many Ships and Mariners as London it self 3. Except it was that the King spared London at this time as the sure reserve for his Navy on all occasions 4. Or except there be a mistake in the numbers figures in Writing as well as figures in Rethorick may with a small dash have their Meiosis made an Hyperbole And the various Lections in the Mariners of Yarmouth doth something shake though not shatter the credit of the account 5. The numbers may be very true Yarmouth in that age being so populous a place that though but one Parish a lamentable Plague in one year did sweep thence 7000 men to the grave Thus though the Church and that very large could never hold their Living the Church yard could contain the Dead Seeing persons alive will not be pressed in their Pews so close as Corps may be crowded together in their Graves But let us proceed to the particular Sea men of this County and let none be offended if a Frier be put in the front before all the rest viz. NICHOLAS of LYNNE born in that Town bred in Oxford and is generally accounted a Franciscan Frier But my Author being a Carmelite himself makes him one of his own Order And all acknowledge him an excellent Musician Mathematician and Astrologer It is reported of him how in the year 1330. being the thirty year of the reign of King Edward the third he sailed with others to the most Northern Islands in the world Then leaving his company and taking his Astrolabe he by the help of Art-Magick so Mathematicians are nick-named by the ignorant went as far as the Pole it self where he discovered four In-draughts of the Ocean from the four opposite Quarters of the World from which many did conceive as well the flowing of the Sea as blasts of the Winds to have their Original Were these things true and had they been known to the Ancients as it would have spared Philosophers much pains in disputing the Moon the cause of the Motion of the Tide in the Sea so had it spoiled Virgil his fancy in making the Country of Aeolia the onely Magazene of the winds Sure I am Gerardus Mercator hath so graced the fancy of this Frier that he made his description of the Countries about the Artick Pole conformable to this his imaginary discovery preferring to fill that his Map with a Fiction then otherwise to leave it altogether empty But the other Parts of his book have more solid and substantial truths ór else weak were the Shoulders of his Atlas to support the world therewith But to return to Frier Nicholas One tells us he wrote a book of his discoveries and intituled it Inventio Fortunata Sure it is he was highly honoured by our learned * Chaucer witness his testimony of him styling Freere N. Linne A reverend Clerk But all his learning could not sence him from death which happened about the year 1360. and he was buried in Linne the Town of his nativity PETER READ what he was his ensuing Epitaph on his Monument in the South-Isle in Saint Peter's Church in Norwich will fully acquaint you Here under lieth the Corps of Peter Read Esquire who hath worthily served not onely his Prince and Country but also the Emperour Charles the fifth both at his Conquest of Barbary and his Siege at Tunis as also in other places Who had given him by the said Emperour for his valiant deeds the order of Barbary Who died the 29. day of December in the year of our Lord God 1566. We place him among Sea men because finding first his mention in Hakluit's voyages and Salt-water is the proper Element of the Pen of that Author Secondly because his service was performed at Tunis a Port-town in a Sea expedition Now although we confess it follows not that he was born in or about Norwich because buried therein Vast oftimes the distance betwixt the Cradles and Coffins of far-travaillers yet let none dislike his placing here but such who can disprove it and depose the negative that elsewhere he had his nativity It is observable that this Sir Peter Kinghted by the Emperour as appears in his Epitaph let me adde Anno 1538. is onely styled not less modestly then truly Esq. upon his Monument I confess some maintain that though higher honours Baron Count c. are onely local to be owned by the person receiving them in that place where they are given him Yet that Knighthood given by a Sovereign Prince is universal and passeth currant through all Christendome But others their equals as stifly deny it and one who is their superior I mean Queen Elizabeth who in the case of Count Arundle would not admit of any forreign honour conferred on her Subjects avowing that her sheep should onely be known by her own Mark Writers JOHN BACONTHORPE was born in a Village so called in this County bred a Carmelite in the
Convent of Blackney and afterwards studied first in Oxford then in Paris one remarkable on many accounts First for the Dwarfishness of his stature Scalpellum calami atramentum charta libellus His Pen-knife Pen Ink-horn one sheet of Paper and any of his books would amount to his full height As for all the books of his own making put together their burden were more then his body could bear Secondly for his high spirit in his low body Indeed his soul had but a small Diocess to visit and therefore might the better attend the effectual informing thereof I have heard it delivered by a learned Doctor in Physick at the Anatomy lecture in London who a little before had been present at the Emboweling and and Embalming of Duke Hamilton and the Lord Capel that the heart of the former was the largest the latter the least he had ever beheld inferring hence that contracted spirits act with the greatest vigorousness Thirdly for his high title wherewith he was generally termed the resolute Doctor Two sorts of people he equally disliked Scepticks who are of none and unconstant people who are successively of all opinions and whilst others turned about like the Wheel he was as fixed as the Axletree in his own judgement Yet this his resoluteness was not attended with censuring of such who were of another Opinion where equal probability on either side allowed a latitude to dissent He groaped after more light then he saw saw more than he durst speak of spake of more then he was thanked for by those of his superstitioââ¦s Order amongst whom saith Bale neither before nor after arose the like for learning and religion Most agree in the time of his death Anno 1346. though dissenting in the place of his burial assigning Blackney Norwich London the several places of his Interment JOHN GOLTON born at Tirington in this County was Chaplain to William Bateman Bishop of Norwich and first Master by the appointment of the Founder of Gonvil-hall in Cambridge Leland allows him a man plus quam mediocriter doctus bonus for which good qualities King Henry the fourth advanced him Arch-bishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland He was imployed to the Court of Rome in the heavy schisme betwixt Pope Urban the sixth and Clement the seventh which occasioned his writing of his learned treatise De causa Schismatis and because knowing the cause conduceth little to the cure without applying the remedy he wrote another book De Remediis ejusdem It seemeth he resigned his Arch-bishoprick somewhat before his death which happened in the year of our Lord 1404. ALAN of LYNNE was born in that famous Mart-town in this County and brought up in the University of Cambridge where he proceeded Doctor of Divinity and afterwards became a Carmelite in the Town of his nativity Great his diligence in reading many and voluminous Authors and no less his desire that others with him should reap the fruit of his industry to which end he made Indexes of the many Writers he perused An Index is a necessary implement and no impediment of a book except in the same sense wherein the Carriages of an Army are termed Impedimenta Without this a large Author is but a labyrinth without a clue to direct the Reader therein I confess there is a lazy kind of learning which is onely Indical when Scholars like adders which onely bite the horse heels nibble but at the Tables which are calces librorum neglecting the body of the book But though the idle deserve no Crutches let not a staff be used by them but on them pity it is the weary should be denied the benefit thereof and industrious Scholars prohibited the accommodation of an Index most used by those who most pretend to contemn it To return to our Alan his Herculean labour in this kind doth plainly appear to me who find it such a toil and trouble to make but an Index of the Indexes he had made of the Authors following 1 Aegidius 2 Alcuinus 3 Ambrosius 4 Anselmus 5 Aquinas 6 Augustinus 7 Baconthorpe 8 Basil 9 Bede 10 Belethus Bles. 11 Bernard 12 Berthorius 13 Cassianus 14 Cassiodorus 15 Chrysostome 16 Cyril 17 Damascen 18 Gerard. Laodic 19 Gilbert 20 Gorham 21 Gregory 22 Haymo 23 Hierome 24 Hilary 25 Hugo 26 Josephus 27 Neckam 28 Origen 29 Pamph. Eusebius 30 Phil. Ribot 31 Raban 32 Remigius 33 Richard All these I. Bale professeth himself to have seen in the Carmelites Library at Norwich acknowledging many more which he saw not Now although it be a just and general complaint that Indexes for the most part are Heteroclites I mean either redundant in what is needless or defective in what is needful yet the Collections of this Alan were allowed very complete He flourished Anno 1420. and was buried at Lynne in the Convent of Carmelites WILLIAM WELLS was born saith Pitz. at Wells the Cathedral See in Somerset-shire wherein no doubt he is mistaken For be it reported to any indifferent judgement that seeing this VVilliam had his constant converse in this County living and dying an Augustinian in his Covent at Lynne and seeing there is a VVells no mean Market-Town in this Shire with more probability he may be made to owe his nativity and name to Norfolk He was for twenty years Provincial of his Order in England Doctor of Divinity in Cambridge an industrious man and good writer abate only the Siboleth of Barbarisme the fault of the age he lived in He died and was buried at Lynne 1421. JOHN THORPE was born in a Village so called in this County bred a Carmelite at Norwich and Doctor at Cambridge Logick was his Master-piece and this Dedalus wrote a book intituled the Labyrinth of Sophismes and another called the Rule of Consequences for which he got the title of Doctor Ingeniosus This minds me of a Prognosticating Distick on the Physiognomies of two children Hic erit Ingenuus non Ingeniosus at ille Ingeniosus erit non erit Ingenuus The later of these characters agreeth with our Thorpe who had a pound of wit for a dram of good nature being of a cruel disposition and a violent persecutor of William White and other godly Wickliffites He died Anno Domini 1440. and lieth buried at Norwich His name causeth me to remember his Name-sake of modern times lately deceased even Mr. John Thorpe B. D. and Fellow of Queens-colledge in Cambridge my ever honored Tutor not so much beneath him in Logick as above him in the skill of Divinity and an Holy conversation JOHN SKELTON is placed in this County on a double probability First because an ancient family of his name is eminently known long fixed therein Secondly because he was beneficed at Dis a Market-town in Norfolk He usually styled himself and that Nemine contradicente for ought I find the Kings Orator and Poet Laureat We need go no further for a testimony of his learning than to Erasmus styling
itcrum tedeat esse tuam Do not the least part of your trust disdain Nor grudge of Boys to take the care again He lived to be a very aged man past seventy six and died Anno Domini 162. JOHN FLETCHER Son of Richard Fletcher D. D. was as by proportion of time is collectible born in this County before his Father was Bishop of Bristol or London and whilst as yet he was Dean of Peterborough He had an excellent wit which the back-friends to Stage-plays will say was neither idle nor well imploy'd For he and Francis Beaumont Esquire like Castor and Pollux most happy when in conjunction raised the English to equal the Athenian and Roman Theater Beaumont bringing the ballast of judgement Fletcher the sail of phantasie both compounding a Poet to admiration Meeting once in a Tavern to contrive the rude draught of a Tragedy Fletcher undertook to kill the King therein whose words being over-heard by a listener though his Loyalty not to be blamed herein he was accused of High Treason till the mistake soon appearing that the plot was onely against a Drammatick and Scenical King all wound off in merriment Nor could it be laid to Fletcher's charge what Ajax doth to Ulysses Nihil hic Diomede remoto When Diomede was gone He could do nought alone For surviving his partner he wrote good Comedies himself though inferiour to the former and no wonder if a single thread was not so strong as a twisted one He died as I am inform'd in London of the plague in the first of King Charles 1625. Sir HENRY MONTAGUE Knight third son to Sir Edward Montague Knight grand-child to Sir Edward Montague Knight Lord Chief-Justice of the Kings-bench was born at Boughton in this County One skilful in mysterious arts beholding him when a School-boy foretold that by the pregnancy of his parts he would raise himself above the rest of his family which came to pass accordingly He was bred first in Christs-colledge in Cambridge then in the Middle-Temple where he attained to great learning in the Laws and passed through many preferments viz. 1. Sergeant at Law 2. Knighted by King James July 22. 1602. 3. Recorder of London 4. Lord Chief-Justice of the Kings-Bench November 18. 1616. 5. Lord Treasurer of England Decem. 16. 1620. 6. Baron of Kimbolton 7. Viscount Mandevile 8. President of the Council Septem 29. 1621. 9. Earl of Manchester 10. Lord Privy-Seal He wisely perceiving that Courtiers were but as counters in the hands of Princes raised and depress'd in valuation at pleasure was contented rather to be set for a smaller sum then to be quite put up into the box Thus in point of place and preferment being pleased to be what the King would have him according to his Motto Movendo non mutando me he became almost what he would be himself finaly advanced to an Office of great honour When Lord Privy-Seal he brought the Court of Requests into such repute that what formerly was called the Almes-basket of the Chancery had in his time well nigh as much meat in and guests about it I mean Suits and Clients as the Chancery it self His meditations on Life and Death written in the time of his health may be presumed to have left good impressions on his own soul preparatory for his dissolution which happened 164. Writers JOHN of NORTHAMPTON in Latine Johannes Avonius was born in the Town of Northampton in ipso Insulae umbilico saith Bale and is not mistaken in his proportion This mindeth me of a village in this County sufficiently known commonly call'd Navesby whose Orthography Criticks will have Navelsby as in the middle of England This John became a Carmelite in his native Town and so addicted himself to the Study of Mathematicks that he became one of the most eminent in that age for practical experiments He was Author of a work which he called The Philosophers Ring This was not like The Philosophers Stone a thing meerly imaginary nor yet was it a work of the Cyclopedy of Arts as the sound may seem to import but it was in plain truth a perpetual Almanack I say Almanack which word though many make of Arabick extraction a great Antiquary will have it derived from the Dutch Al-mon-aght that is to say Al-mon-heed the regard or observation of all Moons However this work of John was beheld as a Master-piece of that age and since commented upon by other Writers He flourished Anno Domini 1340. ROBERT HOLCOT was born in a Village of this County so named bred in the University of Oxford and afterwards became a Dominican in Northampton A deep Scholar and yet commended to be prudent in rebus agendis and accounted one of the greatest School-men in that age Nor was he onely a Candle or domestick light confin'd within the walls of his own Country but his learning was a publick Luminary to all Christendome as appears by the praise which Trithemius bestoweth upon him Vir in Divinis Scripturis eruditissimus secularium literarum non ignarus ingenio praestans clarus eloquio declamator quoque sermonem egregius Scripsit multa praeclara opuscula quibus nomen suum posteris notificavit He died at Northampton of the plague Anno 1349 before he had finished his Lectures on the seventh of Ecclesiastes I say of the plague which at that time so raged in England that our Chroniclers affirm scarce a tenth person of all sorts was left alive Insomuch that the Churches and Church-yards in London not sussicing for their interments a new Church-yard was Consecrated in West-smithfield wherein fifty thousand were buried who at that time died of the pestilence ROBERT DODFORD was born in a Village so called in this County where the Wirlyes Gentlemen of good account have long had their habitation so named as I take it from a Ford over the river Avon and Dods Water-weeds commonly called by children Cats Tales growing thereabouts He was bred a Benedictine Monke in the Abby of Ramsey and applied himself to the Study of the Hebrew Tongue wherewith the Library of which he was Keeper in that Convent did much abound He wrote Postills on the Proverbs and other Sermons which the envy of time hath intercepted ââ¦rom us He is said to have flourished about the year 1370. by Bale though Pitz on what account I know not maketh him more ancient by an hundred years PETER PATESHULL was no doubt born in that Village not far from Northampton bred a Augustinian in Oxford however falling afterwards into some dislike of his Order he procured from Walter Dysse Legate to Pope Urbane the sixth a Dispensation to relinquish it and was made the Popes Honorary Chaplain Afterwards by often reading the works of Wickliffe but especially his book of Real Universals he became of his judgement and after the death of Wickliffe preached and promoted his doctrine he wrote an Exposition of the Prophesie of Hildegardes a Stinging
Comment on a Netling Text and so taxed the pride and lasiness of all Friers that his book was burnt by command from the Pope and the Writer thereof had been burnt also had he noâ⦠seasonably secured himself by his flight beââ¦ond the Seas This mindeth me of a passage of a Frier who burned a book of Peter Ramus after the death of the Author thereof and then and there used this Distick in some imitation of Ovid Parve nec invideo sine me Liber ibis in Ignem Hei mihi quod Domino non licet ire tuo Small Book thy fate I envy not Without me feel the Flame O had it been thy Masters lot He might have felt the Same But our Pateshull was out of retch in Bohemia betwixt which and England a great intercourse in that age since King Richard the second had married a Sister of Wincelaus King of Bohemia We behold him as an advancer of Wicklivisme in that Country for which John Husse and Hierome of Prague were afterwards condemned He flourished in the year of our Lord 1390. Since the Reformation ROBERT CROWLEY was born in this County bred Master of Arts in Magdalen-colledge in Oxford It happ'ned that one Miles Hogheard whom Pitz maketh a learned Writer and intituleth him Virum doctum ptum in fide Catholica mirè zelosum though in Master Fox it appeareth by his own confession that he was but an Hosier in London wrote railing books against the poor Protestants Our Crowley took him to task and confuted him in several Treatises Under Queen Mary he fled over to Frankford and returning under Queen Elizabeth was made Vicar of Saint Giles without Cripple gate London where he lieth buried under a fair plated stone in the ââ¦hancel He died on the 18. of June 1588. EUSEBIUS PAGET was born at ââ¦ranford in this County ââ¦as Master Ephraim Paget ââ¦is aged son late Minister of St. Edmond the King Lombard street hath informed me He was admitted at twelve years of age into Oxford where when a boy he brake his right-arme with carrying the Pax though surely some casualty beside so light a weight concurred thereunto He was commonly called the golden Sophister and yet he proved no leaden Graduate Many years he was a painful Minister in London and was Author of that excellent book called the History of the Bible and Caââ¦echisme of The fourty short questions which hath done as much good to nn book learn'd people as any of that kind The certain date of his death I cannot attain JOHN PRESTON D. D. was born at Heyford in this County bred in Queens-colledge in Cambridge whose life interwoven much with Church and State matters is so well written by his Pupill Master Thomas Ball that all additions thereunto may seem carrying of Coals to New-castle However seeing he who carrieth Char-coal a different kind from the native Coal of that place may meet with a Chapman there on the same confidence a word or two of this Doctor Before he Commenced Master of Arts he was so far from Eminency as but a little above Contempt Thus the most generous Wines are the most muddy before they are fine Soon after his skill in Phylosophy rendred him to the general respect of the University He was the greatest Pupil-monger in England in mans memory having sixteen Fellow-Commoners most heirs to fair estates admitted in one year in Queens-colledge and provided convenient accommodations for them As VVilliam the Popular Earl of Nassaw was said to have won a Subject from the King of Spain to his own party every time he put off his Hat so was it commonly said in the Colledge that every time when Master Preston plucked off his Hat to Doctor Davenant the Colledge-Master he gained a Chamber or Study for one of his Pupils Amongst whom one Chambers a Londoner who dyed very young was very eminent for his learning Being chosen Master of Emanuell-colledge he removed thither with most of his Pupills and I remember when it was much admired where all these should find lodgings in that Colledge which was so full already Oh! said one Master Preston will carry Chambers along with him The Party called Puritan then being most active in Parliament and Doctor Preston most powerful with them the Duke rather used then loved him to work that Party to his complyance Some thought the Doctor was unwilling to do it and no wonder he effected not what he affected not others thought he was unable that Party being so diffusive and then in their designs as since in their practices divided However whilst any hope none but Doctor Preston with the Duke set by and extolled and afterwards set by and neglected when found useless to the intended purpose In a word my worthy friend fitly calls him the Court Coment blazing for a time and faiding soon afterwards He was a perfect Politician and used lapwing like to flutter most on that place which was furthest from his Eggs exact at the concealing of his intentions with that simulation which some make to lye in the Marches of things lawful and unlawfull He had perfect command of his passion with the Caspian Sea never ebbing nor flowing and would not alter his compos'd pase for all the whipping which Satyrical wââ¦ts bestowed upon him He never had wife or cure of souls and leaving a plentifull no invidious estate died Anno Domini 1628. July 20. Pass we now from one who was all judgement and gravity to an other place and time making the connexion who was all wit and festivity viz. THOMAS RANDOLPH born at Houghton in this County was first bred in Westminster-school then Fellow in Trinity-colledge in Cambridge The Muses may seem not onely to have smiled but to have been tickled at his nativity such the festivity of his Poems of all sorts But my declining age being superannuated to meddle with such ludicrous matters configneth the censure and commendation of his Poems as also of his Country-man Peter Haulsted born at Oundle in this County to younger Pens for whom it is most proper Master Randolph died Anno Dom. 163. NICHOLAS ESTWICK B. D. was born at Harowden the Baronny of the Lord Vaux in this County A solid Protestant to counterpoise Kellison a violent Papist and native of the same Village He was bred Fellow of Christs-colledge in Cambridge being there beheld as a pious and judicious Divine always cheerful without the least levity and grave without any morosness He was afterwards presented by the Lord Montague Parson of Warton where he lived a painful Preacher 40. years less then a Deacon in his humility and more then an Arch bishop in his own contentment Hence he was unwillingly willing preferred by the Earl of Rutland to Botsworth in Lecestershire where he had hardly inned one harvest before like a ripe Sheaf he was brought into the Barn of the grave Thus though young Trees are meliorated with transplanting yet old ones seldome live and never flourish
ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for an hour or short time yet this Doctor had his hour measur'd him by a large glass continuing in publick esteem till the beginning of these Civil Wars when the times turn'd and he standing still was left to the censure of factious innovatours Most candid his disposition and if he had the infirmity of ingenious Persons to be Cholerick he prevented others checking it in him by checking it first in himself He suffered long imprisonment in Ely-house and the Tower for a Sermon he made when Vicechancellour of Cambridge and at last restored to his Liberty waited on his Majesty in the Isle of Weight He is here entred amongst the Bishops because profered Bristol but refused it and such who know least of his mind are most bold to conjecture the cause of it He sleighted not the smalness thereof because such his Manners Loyalty and Conscience that he would have thanked his Sovereign for an injury much more for a smaller courtesie Wherefore such onely shoot by the aime of their own fancies who report him to have said he would not wear a Bristol stone Sure I am that England had if any more able none more zealous to assert Episcopacy and let that suffice us that he esteemed the acceptance thereof in that juncture of time unsafe and unseasonable for himself he afterwards took the Deanary of Worcester though he received no profit the place received honour from him being the last who was entituled and indeed it was no more with that dignity Pity it is so learned a person left no monuments save a Sermon to Posterity for I behold that Posthume-work as none of his named by the Transcriber the Valley of Vision a Scripture expression but here mis-placed Valley it is indeed not for the fruitfulness but lowness thereof especially if compared to the high parts of the pretended Author but little vision therein This I conceived my self in Credit and Conscience concerned to observe because I was surprised to Preface to the Book and will take the blame rather then clear my self when my innocency is complicated with the accusing of others Dying about the year 1650. he was buried in his own Parish Church in Saint Peters Broad-street his ancient friend Doctor Jefferies of Pembrook-hall taking for his Text. My days are like a shadow that decline Thomas Rich and Richard Abdi Esquires his Executors and worthy friends ordering his funeral with great solemnities and lamentation Souldiers To speak of this County in general it breedeth most hardy men He who deduced the Merches so truly called from Mercke a limitary bound from frequent marching and warlike expeditions therein missed the word but hit the matter These Borderers have been embroyled in several Battles agtinst the Scotch witness the Battle of Chevy-chase whereof Sir Philip Sidney is pleased to make this mention Certainly I must confess my own barbarousness I never heard the old song of Percy and Douglas that I found not my heart moved more then with a Trumpet and yet it is sung but by some blind Crowder with no rougher voice then rude style which being so evil apparell'd in the dust and ââ¦bweb of that uncivil age what would it work trimmed in the gorgeous eloquence of Pindar True it is the story is not true in the letter and latitude thereof no Earl of Northumberland being ever killed in Chevy-chase as by the perusall of the ensuing Catalogue will appear 1 Henry Percy the first Earl lost his life in a battle against King Henry the fourth Anno Domini 1408. 2. Henry Percy his Grand-child the second Earl was slain on the side of King Henry the sixth against King Edward the fourth Anno 1455. 3. Henry his Son taking part with K. Henry the sixth was slain at Touton-field in the first of King Edward the fourth 4. Henry his Son promoting a Tax for the King was kill'd in a tumultuous rout at Cockledge eighteen miles from York in the fourth of King Henry the seventh 5. Henry his Son died a natural death in the eighteenth of King Henry the eight 6. Henry his Son died peaceably at Hackney neer London the nine and twentieth of King Henry the eight in whose reign the Scene is laid for the aforesaid Trajedy in Chevy-chase This I thought fit to have said partly to undeceive people least long possession might create a Title in their belief to the prejudice of truth partly that the noble Family of the Percy 's what need a good head of hair wear a Perriwig for birth and valour equal to any subjects in Christendome should not be beholding to an untruth to commend their martial Atchievement Yet though there be more fancy in the vernish there is much faith in the ground-work of this relation presenting a four-fold truth to posterity First that on light causes heavy quarrels have happened betwixt the Scotch and English in the Borders Secondly that the Percy 's with other Families in this County mentioned in this Ballade were most remarkable therein Thirdly that generally the English got the better in these broils Lastly that for the most part they were Victories without Triumphs wherein the Conquerour might sigh for his Conquest so dear the price thereof Physicians WILLIAM TURNER was born at Morpeth in this County bred in the University of Cambridge where he became an excellent Latinist Grecian Oratour and Poet. He was very zealous in the Protestant Religion writing many books in the defence thereof and much molested for the same by Bishop Gardner and others he was kept long in durance and escaping at last by Gods Providence fled over beyond Sea At Ferrara in Italy he Commenced Doctor of Physick there gaining his degree with general applause He wrote a great Herball and a book of Physick for the English Gentry as also several Treatises of Plants Fishes Stones Mettals c. He went afterwards into Germany where he lived in great Credit and Practise and as I conjecture died there in the reign of Queen Mary Reader I conceive him worthy of thy special notice because he was both a Confessor and Physician qualifications which meet not every day in the same Person THOMAS GIBSON It is pity to part him from the former because symbolising in many particulars of concernment Both 1. Born in this County and in the same Town of Morpeth 2. Flourishing atthe self same time 3. Physicians by Profession and it is said of this Thomas that he did aegritudinum sanationes incredibiles Incredible cures of Diseases 4. Writing of the same Subject of the nature of Hearbs 5. Professed enemies to Popery This Thomas wrote many other Books and one Entituled The Treasons of the Prelates since the Conquest which work had it come to the hand of a modern Authour happily it might have much helped him in that Subject He was alive in the last of Queen Mary and Bale sendeth forth a hearty Prayer for the continuance of his heââ¦th and
his Paynes and Piety Prelates ROBERT of SHREWSBURY was in the reign of King John but I dare not say by him preferred Bishop of Bangor 1197. Afterwards the King waging war with Leoline Prince of Wales took this Bishop prisoner in his own Cathedral Church and enjoyned him to pay Three hundred Hawkes for his ransome Say not that it was improper that a Man of Peace should be ransomed with Birds of Prey seeing the Bishop had learnt the Rule Redime te captum quam queas minimo Besides 300 Hawkes will not seem so inconsiderable a matter to him that hath read how in the reign of King Charles an English Noble Man taken prisoner at the I le Ree was ransomed for a Brace of Grey-hounds Such who admire where the Bishop on a sudden should furnish himself with a stock of such Fowl will abate of their wonder when they remember that about this time the Men of Norway whence we have the best Hawkes under Magnus their General had possessed themselves of the Neighbouring Iland of Anglesea Besides he might stock himself out of the Aryes of Pembrook-shire where Perigrines did plentifully breed How ever this Bishop appeareth something humerous by one passage in his Will wherein he gave order that his Body should be buried in the middle of the Market place of Shrewsbury Impute it not to his profaness and contempt of Consecrated ground but either to his humility accounting himself unworthy thereof or to his prudential fore-sight that the fury of Souldiers during the intestine War betwixt the English and Welsh would fall fiercest on Churches as the fairest market and men preferring their profit before their Piety would preserve their Market-places though their Churches were destroyed He died Anno 1215. ROBERT BURNEL was son to Robert and brother to Hugh Lord Burnel whose Prime Seat was at Acton-Burnel-Castle in this County He was by King Edwà rd the First preferred Bishop of Bath and VVellââ¦s and first Treasurer then Chancelor of England He was well vers'd in the Welsh affairs and much us'd in managing them and that he might the more effectually attend such employment caused the Court of Chancery to be kept at Bristol He got great Wealth wherewith he enriched his kindred and is supposed to have rebuilt the decayed Castle of Acton-Burnel on his own expence And to decline envy for his secular structures left to his heirs he built for his Successors the beautiful Hall at VVells the biggest room of any Bishops Palace in England pluck'd down by Sir John Gabos afterwards executed for Treason in the reign of King Edward the Sixth English and Welsh affaires being setled to the Kings contentment he employed Bishop Burnel in some businesse about Scotland in the Marches whereof he died Anno Domini 1292. and his body solemnly brought many miles was buried in his own Cathedral WALTER de WENLOCK Abbot of Westminster was no doubt so named from his Nativity in a Market Town in this County I admire much that Matthew of VVestminster writeth him VVilliam de VVenlock and that a Monk of VVestminster should though not miscall mis-name the Abbot thereof He was Treasurer of England to King Edward the First betwixt the twelfth and fourteenth year of his reign and enjoyed his Abbots Office six and twenty years lacking six dayes He died on Christmasse day at his Mannor of Periford in Glocester-shire 1307 and was buried in his Church at VVestminster besides the High-Altar before the Presbutery without the South dore of King Edward's Shrine where Abbas VValterus non fuit Ausââ¦erus is part of his Epitaph RALPH of SHREWSBURY born therein was in the third of King Edward the Third preferred Bishop of Bath VVells Being consecrated without the Popes privity a daring adventure in those dayes he paid a large sum to expiate his presumption therein He was a good Benefactor to his Cathedral and bestowed on them a Chest Port-cullis-like barred with iron able to hold out a siege in the view of such as beheld it But what is of proof against Sacriledge Some Thieves with what Engines unknown in the reign of Queen Elizabeth forced it open But this Bishop is most memorable for erecting and endowing a spacious structure for the Vicars-Choral of his Cathedral to inhabit together which in an old Picture is thus presented The Vicars humble petition on their knees Per vicos positi villae Pater alme rogamus Ut simul uniti te dante domos maneamus To us dispers'd i th' streets good Father give A place where we together all my live The gracious answer of the Bishop sitting Vestra petunt merita quod sint concessa petita Ut maneatis ita loca fecimus haec stabilita Your merits crave that what you crave be yeilded That so you may remain this place we 've builded Having now made such a Palace as I may term it for his Vicars he was in observation of a proportionable distance necessitated in some sort to enlarge the Bishops Seat which he beautified and fortified Castle-wise with great expence He much ingratiated himself with the Country people by disforasting Mendip Beef better pleasing the Husbandmans palate than Venison He sate Bishop thirty four years and dying August 14. 1363. lieth buried in his Cathedral where his Statue is done to the life Vivos viventes vultus vividissimè exprimens saith my Authour ROBERT MASCAL Was bred saith Bale in and born saith Pitz positively at Ludlow in this County where he became a Carmelite Afterwards he studied in Oxford and became so famous for his Learning and Piety that he was made Confessor to Henry the Fourth and Counsellor to Henry the Fifth Promoted by the former Bishop of Hereford He was one of the Three English Prelates which went to and one of the Two which returned alive from the Council of Constance He died 1416 being buried in the Church of White-Friers in London to which he had been an eminent Benefactor RICHARD TALBOTE was born of Honourable Parentage in this County as Brother unto John Talbote the first Earl of Shrewsbury Being bred in Learning he was consecrated Arch-bishop of Dublin in Ireland 1417. He sate two and thirty years in that See being all that time a Privy Counsellor to King Henry the Fifth and Sixth twice Chief Justice and once Chancelor of Ireland He deserved well of his Church founding six petty Canons and as many Choristers therein yea generally of all Ireland writing a Book against James Earl of Ormond wherein he detected his abuses during his Lieutenancy in Ireland He died August the 15. 1449. and lieth buried in Saint Patricks in Dublin under a marble stone whereon an Eââ¦itaph is written not worthy the inserting The said Richard was unanimously chosen Arch-bishop of Armagh a higher place but refused to remove wisely preferring Safety above either Honor or Profit GEORGE DAY was born in this County and successively Scholer Fellow and
and Sollicitor to king Charles From these places he was preferred to be Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas when he was made Privy Counsellor thence advanced to be Lord Keeper and Baron of Mounslow the place of his Nativity He died in Oxford and was buried in Christ Church Anno 1645. Souldiers Sir JOHN TALBOT was born as all concurring indications do avouch at Black-Mere in this County the then flourishing now ruined House devolved to his Family by marying the Heir of the Lord Strange of Black-Mere Many Honourable Titles deservedly met in him who was 1 Lord Talbot and Strange by his Paternal extraction 2 Lord Furnival and Verdon by maryage with Joan the daughter of Thomas de Nevil 3 Earl of Shrewsbury in England and Weisford in Ireland by creation of King Henry the Sixth This is that terrible Talbot so famous for his Sword or rather whose Sword was so famous for his arm that used it A Sword with bad Latin upon it but good Steel within it which constantly conquered where it came insomuch that the bare fame of his approach frighted the French from the Siege of Burdeaux Being victorious for twenty four years together successe failed him at last charging the enemy neer Castilion on unequal termes where he with his Son the Lord Lisle were slain with a shot July 17. 1453. Hence forward we may say Good night to the English in France whose victories were buried with the body of this Earl and his body enterred at White-Church in this County Sir JOHN TALBOT son to Sir John Talbot aforesaid and Vicount Lisle in right of his Mother Though he was slain with his Father yet their ashes must not be so hudled together but that he must have a distinct commemoration of his valour The rather because a Noble Pen hath hinted a parallel betwixt him and Paulus Aemilius the Roman General which others may improve 1 Aemilius was overpowred by the forces of Hannibal and Asdrubal to the loss of the day 2 Corn. Lentulus intreated Aemilius sitting all bloodied upon a stone to rise and save himself offering him his horse and other assistance 3 Aemilius refused the proffer adding withall That he would not again come under the judgment of the people of Rome 1 The same sad success attended the two Talbots in fight against the French 2 The Father advised the son by escape to reserve himself for future fortune 3 His son crav'd to be excused and would not on any termes be perswaded to forsake his father In two considerables Talbot far surpass'd Aemilius for Aemilius was old grievously if not mortally wounded our Lord in the flower of his youth unhurt easily able to escape Aemilius accountable for the over-throw received the other no wayes answerable for that daye 's mis-fortune being as we have said the 17 of July 1453. Learned Writers ROBERT of SHREWSBURY Take Reader a tast of the different Spirits of Writers concerning his Character Leland's Text. Eadem opera religionem celebrabat literas With the same endeavour He plied both Religion and Learning Bale his Comment Per religionem fortassis Monachatum intelligit per literas Sophistica praestigia It may be he meaneth Monkery by Religion and by Learning Sophistical fallacies I confess he might have imployed his pains better But Bale proceeds de Consultis Ruthenis consulting not the Russians as the word sounds to all Criticks but the Men of Ruthin in Wales He wrote the Life and Miracles of S. Winfride flourished Anno 1140. DAVID of CHIRBURY a Carmelite was so named from his Native place in the West of this County bordering on Mountgomery-shire A small Village I confesse yet which formerly denominated a whole hundred and at this day is the Barony of the Lord Herbert He was saith Leland whom I take at the second hand on the trust of John Pits Theologiae cognitione clarus And going over into Ireland was there made Episcopus Dormorensis Bishop of Drummore as I take it He is said to have wrote some Books though not mentioned in Bale and which is to me a wonder no notice taken of him by that Judicious Knight Sr. James Ware So that it seems his Writings were either few or obscure Returning into England he died and was buried in his Native County at Ludlow in the Convent of the Carmelites Anno Dom. 1420. Since the Reformation ROBERT LANGELAND forgive me Reader though placing him who lived one hundred fifty years before since the Reformation For I conceive that the Morning-star belongs rather to the Day then to the Night On which account this Robert regulated in our Book not according to the Age he was in but Judgement he was of may by Prolepsis be termed a Protestant He was born at Mortimers-Clibery in this County eight miles from Malvern-Hills was bred a Priest and one of the first followers of J. Wickliffe wanting neither Wit nor Learning as appears by his Book called The vision of Pierce Plowgh-man and hear what Character a most Learned Antiquary giveth thereof It is written in a kind of English meeter which for discovery of the infecting corruptions of those times I preferre before many of the more seemingly serious Invectives as well for Invention as Judgement There is a Book first set forth by Tindal since exemplied by Mr. Fox called The Prayer and complaint of the Plowghman which though differing in title and written in prose yet be of the same subject at the same time in the same Language I must referre it to the same Authour and let us observe a few of his strange words with their significations 1 Behotef 1 Promiseth 2 Binemen 2 Take away 3 Blive 3 Quickly 4 Fulleden for 4 Baptized 5 Feile times 5 Oft times 6 Forward 6 Covenant 7 Heryeth 7 Worshipeth 8 Homelich 8 Household 9 Lesew 9 Pasture 10 Leude-men 10 Lay-men 11 Nele 11 Will not 12 Nemeth for 12 Taketh 13 Seggen 13 Do say 14 Swevens 14 Dreams 15 Syth 15 Afterwards 16 Thralles 16 Bond-men It 's observeable that Pitzaeus generally a perfect Plagiary out of Bale passeth this Langland over in silence and why because he wrote in oppositum to the Papal Interest Thus the most Light finger'd Thieves will let that alone which is too hot for them He flourished under King Edward the Third Anno Dom. 1369. THOMAS CHURCHYARD was born in the Town of Shrââ¦wesbury as himself doth affirm in his Book made in Verse of the Worthines of VVales taking Shropshire within the compass making to use his own expression Wales the Park and the Marches to be the Pale thereof Though some conceive him to be as much beneath a Poet as above a Rbimer in my opinion his Verses may go abreast with any of that age writing in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth It seems by this his Epitaph in Mr. Camdens Remains that he died not guilty of much Wealth Come Alecto lend me thy Torch To find a Church-yard in
eos tantum ille qui ut habet Tsalmus 126. numerat multitudinem Stellarum omnibus eis nomina vocat St. BERTELIN was a Britton of a Noble Birth and lead an Eremitical Life in the Woods near Stafford anciently called Bethiney contracted it seems for Bertiliney something of solitariness still remaining in his Memory as being so alone it hath no memorable particulars of his accounts to accompany it WOLFADUS RUFFINUS It was pitty to part them seeing they were loving in their lives and in their death they were not divided They were sons to Wolââ¦erus the Pagan King of Mercia and a Tyrant to boot who hating Christianity and finding these times to profess privately to practice it was so enraged that nothing but their bloud would quench his anger Wolfadus was taken and martyred at Stone in this County Whilst his younger if not twin brother Ruffinus came little more behind him at his death then he started before him at his birth seeking to hid himself in a woody place where since the Chappel of Burnweston hath been built was there by his Herod-father found out and murthered They were by succeding ages rewarded with reputation of Saintââ¦ip This Massacre happened Anno Domini .... Cardinals REGINALD POLE was born at Stoverton Castle in this County Anno 1500. He was second son unto Sr. Richard Pole Knight of the Garter and Frater consobrinus a relation which I cannot make out in reference to him to Henry the Seventh His mother Margaret Countess of Salisbury was Neice to King Edward the Fourth and daughter to Geoââ¦ge Duke of Clarence This Reginald was bred in Corpus-Christi-Colledge in Oxford preferred afterward Dean of Exeter King Henry the Eighth highly favoured and sent him beyond the Seas allowing him a large Pension to live in an equipage suitable to his birth and alliance He studied at Padua conversing there so much with the Patricians of Venice that at last he degenerated into a perfect Italian so that neither love to his Country nor gratitude to the King nor sharp Letters of his Friends nor fear to lose his present nor hopes to get future preferments could perswade him to return into England but that his pensions were withdrawn from him This made him apply his studies the more privately in a Venetian-Monastery where he attained great credit for his Eloquence Learning and good Life Such esteem forreign Grandees had of his great Judgment that Cardinal Sadolet having written a large Book in the praise of Philosophy submitted it wholy to his Censure Pole as highly commended the Work as he much admired that a Cardinal of the Church of Rome would conclude his old age with writing on such a subject applying unto him the Verses of Virgil Est in conspectu Tenedos notissima fama Insula dives opum Priami dum regna manebant Nunc tantum sinus statio male fidacarinis From Troy may th'Ile of Tenedos bespide Much fam'd when Priams kingdom was in pride Now but a Bay where ships in danger ride These far fetch'd lines He thus brought home to the Cardinal that though Philosophy had been in high esteem whilst Paganisme was in the prime thereof yet was it but a bad Harbour for an aged Christian to cast his Anchor therein It was not long before he was made Deacon-Cardinal by the Title of St. Mary in Cosmedin by Pope Paul the Third who sent him on many fruitless and dangerous Embassies to the Emperour and the French King to incite them to War against King Henry the Eighth Afterwards he retired himself to Viterbo in Italy where his House was observed the Sanctuary of Lutherans and he himself became a racking but no thorough-paced Protestant In so much that being appointed one of three Presidents of the Council of Trent he endeavoured but in vain to have Justification determined by Faith alone During his living at Viterbo he carried not himself so cautiously but that he was taxed for begetting a base Child which Pasquil published in Latine and Italian Verses affixed in the season of liberty on his lawless pillar This Pasquil is an Authour eminent on many accounts First for his self-concealement being Noscens omnia notus nemini Secondly for his intelligence who can display the deeds of midnight at high noon as if he hid himself in the holes of their bedstaves knowing who were Cardinals Children better than they knew their Fathers Thirdly for his unpartial boldness He was made all of tongue and teeth biting what e're he touch'd and it bled what e're he bit Yea as if a General Council and Pasquil were only above the Pope he would not stick to tell where he trod his holy Sandals awry Fourthly for his longevity having lived or rather lasted in Rome some hundreds of years whereby he appears no particular person but a successive corporation of Satyrists Lastly for his impunity escaping the Inquifition whereof some assign this reason because hereby the Court of Rome comes to know her faults or rather to know that their faults are known which makes Pasquils converts if not more honest more wary in their behaviour This defamation made not such an impression on Poles credit but that after the death of Paul the Third he was at midnight in the Conclave chosen to succeed him Pole refused it because he would not have his choice a deed of darkness appearing therein not perfectly Italianated in not taking preferment when tendred and the Cardinals beheld his refusal as a deed of dulness Next day expecting a re-election he found new morning new minds and Pole being reprobated Julius the Third his professed enemy was chosen in his place Yet afterwards he became Alterius Orbis Papa when made Arch-bishop of Canterbury by Queen Mary He was a person free from passion whom none could anger out of his ordinary temper His youthful Books were full of the Flowers of Rhetorick whilst the withered stalkes are only found in the Writings of his old Age so dry their style and dull their conceit He died few hours after Queen Mary November the 17 Anno 1558. Prelates EDMUND STAFFORD was Brother to Ralph first Earl of Stafford and consequentially must be son to Edmund Baron Stafford His Nativity is rationally with most probability placed in this County wherein his father though Landed every where had his Prime Seat and largest revenues He was by King Richard the Second preferred Bishop of Exeter and under King Henry the Fourth for a time was Chancellour of England I meet with an Authour who doth make him Bishop first of Rochester then of Exââ¦ter and lastly of York But of the first and last altum silentium in Bishop Godwin whom I rather believe He was a Benefactor to Stapeltons-Inn in Oxford on a three-fold account viz. Of 1 Credit first calling it Exeter Colledge whereby he put an obligation on the Bishop of that See favourably to reflect thereon 2 Profit adding two Fellowships unto it and
Country Martyrs Grievous the persecution in this County under John Christopherson the Bishop thereof Such his Havock in burning poor Procestants in one year that had he sat long in that See and continued after that rate there needed no Iron-mills to rarify the Woods of this County which this BONNER junior would have done of himself I confess the Papists admire him as a most able and profound Divine which mindeth me of an Epigran made by one who being a Suitor to a surly and scornââ¦ull Mistris after he had largely praised her rare parts and Divine perfections concluded She hath too much Divinity for me Oh! that she had some more Humanity The same may this Diocess say of Christopherson who though carrying much of Christ in his Surname did bear nothing of him in his Nature no meekness mildness or mercy being addicted wholly to cruelty and destruction burning no fewer then ten in one fire in Lewes and seventeen others at several Times in sundry Places Cardinals HERBERT de BOSHAM was born at Bosham a goodly mannor in this County which Earl Godwin craftily kissed out of the Arch-bishop of Canterbary and being a good Scholar he was a Manubus I mean to write not to fight for him unto Thomas Becket Arch-bishop of Canterbury He was present at his Murder-martyring and hââ¦d the discretion to make no resistance lest he had been sent the same way with his Master However amongst many other books he wrote the story of his Mââ¦sters death Going over into Italy he was by Pope Alexander the third mââ¦de Arch bishop of Beneventum and in the Month of December 1178. created Cardinal but by what title it is unknown as also is the exact date of his death Prelates JOHN PECKHAM born of obscure Parents in this County bred when a boy in Lewes When a Youth a Franciscan in Oxford when a Young man in Paris when a Man he lived in Lyons where he became Canon when a Grave-man in Rome there made Auditor of causes in that Court when an Old man in Canterbury preferred against his will except out of cunning he would seem Courted into what he Coveted by the Popes plenary power to be Arch bishop thereof Peckham believed the Pope invited him freely to that place when soon after he was called upon to pay a sad reckoning no less then four thousand marks A worthy man he was in his place who neither feared the Laytie nor flattered the Clergy unpartially imposing on both if appearing Pecant most severe penance he was a great punisher of Pluralists and injoyner of Residence His Canons place at Lyons he not only kept during his life but left it to his successours who held it in Commendam some hundred years afterwards Loth they were to part with it as a safe retreating place in case our English Kings should banish them the Realme Besides it was a Convenient Inn for them to Lodge at as almost in the Mid-way of their journey betwixt Canterbury and Rome He sate Arch-bishop almost fourteen years built and endowed a Colledge at Wing ham yet left a great estate to his Kindred I believe his wealth well gotten because the land purchased therewith hath lasted so long in the Linage of his Allies in this and the next County even to our age he died Anno Dom. 1294. ROBERT WINCHELSEY Although Bishop Godwin saith ubi natus traditur opinor à nemine yet considering the custome of the Clergy in that age none can doubt his birth in this County except any should deny Winchelsey to be therein He was bred in the neighbouring Shire of Kent where he was such a proficient in Grammer Learning all did foretell that he then the Arch-Scholar in the School in due time would be Arch-bishop of the See of Canterbury He was afterwards admitted in Merton-colledge in Oxford went thence to Paris where he took the degree of Master of Arts and became Rector perchance no more then a Regent amongst Us of that University returning to Oxford he there proceeded Doctor of Divinity and became Chancellour thereof successively Canon of Pauls Arch-Deacon of Essex and Arch bishop of Canterbury He went to Rome to procure his Pall of Pope Celestine This is that Celestine formerly an Eremite whom a Cardinal afterward his Successor by the Name of Boniface the eighth perswaded by a voice through a hollow-trunk to resign his Popedome and return into the wilderness which he did accordingly Herein his Holiness did trust the Spirit before he did try it contrary to the counsel of the Apostle But this Pope appearing Fallible in his Chamber if in his Chair and consulââ¦ing his Conclave of Cardinalls no doubt would not have been deceived He easily obtained his Pall and refused a Cardinals Cap offer'd unto him returning to Canterbury he was there solemnly inthroned and on the same day Consecrated one Bishop bestowed 12. rich Benefices on 12. Doctors and 12. meaner Livings on as many Bachelors in Divinity Confiding in the Canon of the Councel of Lions which forbad the Clergy to pay any taxes to Princes without the consent of the Pope he created much molestation to himself King Edward the first useing him very harshly till at last he overcame all with his patience For the main he was a worthy Prelate excellent Preacher being Learned himself he loved and preferred Learned men Prodigious his Hospitality being reported that Sundays and Fridays he fed no fewer then four Thousand men when corn was cheap and five Thousand when it was dear and because it shall not be said but my Belief can be as Large as his Bounty I give credit thereunto Otherwise it seemeth suspicious as a mock-imitation of those self same Numbers of Persons which Christ at two severall times miraculously fed with Loafes and Fishes His Charity went home to them which could not come to it sending to such who were Absented by their Impotencies After his Death happening Anno Domini 1313. he was accounted though not the Popes the Poor-mans Saint Bountifull men will always be Canonized in the Calender of Beggers Poor-people repairing in Flocks to the place of his buriall and superstitiously praying unto him and they could best tell whether they found as much Benefit from his Tomb when dead as at his Table when living THOMAS BRADWARDINE was descended of an ancient family at Bradwardine in Hereford-shire who removing thence had setled themselves for three generations in this County where this Thomas was born in or near the City of Chichester He was bred Fellow of Merton-colledge in Oxford where he became a most exquisite Mathematician and deep Divine being commonly called Doctor Profundus He was Confessor to King Edward the third and some impute our great Conquest in France not so much to the Prowesse of that King as to the Prayers of this his Chaplain He constantly preach'd in the Camp Industry to Officers Obedience to Common-souldiers Humility to all in good Patience in
upon him Many were the wit combates betwixt him and Ben Johnson which two I behold like a Spanish great Gallion and an English man of War Master Johnson like the former was built far higher in Learning Solid but Slow in his performances Shake-spear with the English-man of War lesser in bulk but lighter in sailing could turn with all tides tack about and take advantage of all winds by the quickness of his Wit and Invention He died Anno Domini 16 ... and was buried at Stratford upon Avon the Town of his Nativity MICHAEL DRAYTON born in this County at Athelston as appeareth in his poeticall address thereunto My native Country If there be vertue yet remaining in thy earth Or any good of thine thou breath'st into my birth Accept it as thine own whilst now I sing of thee Of all thy later Brood th' unworthiest though I be He was a pious Poet his conscience having always the command of his fancy very temperate in his life slow of speech and inoffensive in company He changed his laurel for a crown of glory Anno 1631. and is buried in Westminster-Abby near the South-door with this Epitaph Doe pious Marble let thy Readers know What they and what their children owe To Draitons name whose sacred dust We recommend unto thy trust Protect his memory and preserve his story Remain a lasting Monument of his glory And when thy ruins shall dââ¦aime To be the Treasurer of his name His name that cannot fade shall be An everlasting Monument to thee He was born within few miles of William Shake-speare his Countryman and fellow-Poet and buried within fewer paces of Jeffry Chaucer and Edmund Spencer Sir FULKE GREVIL Knight Son to Sir Fulke Grevil the Elder of Becham-Court in this County he was bred first in the University of Cambridge He came to the Court back'd with a full and fair Estate and Queen Elizabeth loved such substantiall Courtiers as could plentifully subsist of themselves He was a good Scholar loving much to employ and sometimes to advance learned men to whââ¦m worthy Bishop Overal chiefly owed his preferment and Mr. Cambden by his own Confession tasted largely of his liberality His Studies were most in Poetry and History as his works doe witness His Stile conceived by some to be swelling is allowed for lofty and full by others King James created him Baron Brook of Beachamp-Court as descended from the sole daughter and heir of Edward Willowby the last Lord Brook in the reign of King Henry the seventh His sad Death or Murther rather happened on this occasion His discontented servant conceiving his deserts not soon or well enough rewarded wounded him Mortally and then to save the law the labour killed himself verifying the observation that he may when he pleaseth be master of an other mans life who contemneth his own He lieth buried in Warwick Church under a Monument of black and white Marble whereon he is styled Servant to Q. Elizabeth Counsellor to K. James and friend to Sir Phillip Sidney Dying Anno 16 ... without Issue and unmarried his Barony by vertue of Entail in the patent descended on his kinsman Robert Grevill Lord Brook father to the Right Honorable Robert Lord Brook NICHOLAS BYFIELD was born in this County as his son hath informed me bred as I remember in Queens-colledge in Oxford After he had entred into the Ministry he was invited into Ireland to a place of good profit and eminency in pââ¦ssage whereunto staying wind-bound at Chester his Inn proved his home for a long time unto him preaching a Sermon there with such approbation that he was chosed Minister in the City Not without an especiall Providence seeing the place promised in Ireland would have failed him his going over had been a labour in vain The Cestrians can give the best account of his profitable preaching and pious life most strict in keeping the Lords day on which occasion pens were brandished betwixt him and Mr. Breerwood In his declining age he was presented to the Benefice of Isleworth in Middlesex where for fifteen years together he preached twice every Lords-day and expounded Scripture every Wednesday and Friday till five weeks before his death notwithstanding there was Mors in ollâ⦠A stone in his bladder which being taken out weighed and measured after his death was found of these prodigious proportions In 1. Weight thirty three ounces and more In 2. Measure about the edge fifteen inches and an half In 3. Measure about the length thirteen inches and above In 4. Measure about the breadth almost thirteen inches It was of a solid substance to look upon like a flint Lo here is the patience of the Saints All I will adde is this the Pharisee said proudly I thank thee Lord I am not as this Publican Let Writer and Reader say humbly and thankfully to God We are not as this truly painfull Preacher and let us labour that as our bodies are more healthfull our souls may be as holy as his who died and was buried at Iââ¦leworth PHILEMON HOLLAND where born is to me unknown was bred in Trinity-colledge in Cambridge a Doctor in Physick and fixed himself in Coventry He was the Translator Generall in his Age so that those Books alone of his Turning into English will make a Country Gentleman a competent library for Historians in so much that one saith Holland with his Translations doth so fill us He will not let Suetonius be Tranquillus Indeed some decry all Translators as Interlopers spoiling the Trade of Learning which should be driven amongst Scholars alone Such also alledge that the best Translations are works rather of Industry then Judgement and in easy Authors of Faithfulness rather then Industry That many be but Bunglers forcing the meaning of the Authors they translate picking the lock when they cannot open it But their Opinion resents too much of Envy that such Gentlemen who cannot repair to the Fountain should be ââ¦ebard access to the Streame Besides it is unjust to charge All with the faults of some and a Distinction must be made amongst Translators betwixt Coblers and Workmen and our Holland had the true knack of Translating Many of these his Books he wrote with One Pen whereon he himself thus pleasantly versified With one sole pen I writ this Book Made of a Grey Goose Quill A Pen it was when it I took And a Pen I leave it still This Monumental Pen he solemnly kept and showed to my reverend Tutor Doctor Samuel ââ¦ard It seems he leaned very lightly on the Neb thereof though weightily enough in an other sense performing not slightly but solidly what he undertook But what commendeth him most to the Praise of Posterity is his Translating Camdens Britannia a Translation more then a Translation with many excellent Additions not found in the Latine done fifty years since in Master Camdens life time not onely with his knowledge and consent but also no doubt by his desire and help
Reader to his Life written at large by Bishop Carlton he was Rector of Houghton in the North consisting of fourteen Villages In his own house he boarded and kept full four and twenty scholars The greater number of his boarders were poor mens sons upon whom he bestowed meat drink and cloth and education in learning He was wont to entertain his Parishioners and strangers at his table not onely at the Christmas time as the custome is but because he had a large and wide Parish a great multitude of people he kept a table for them every Sunday from Michââ¦elmas to Easter He had the Gentlemen the Husbandmen and the Poorer sort set every degree by themselves and as it were ordered in ranks He was wont to commend the married estate in the Clergy howbeit himself lived and dyed a single man He bestowed in the building ordering and establishing of his School and in providing yearly stipends for a School-master and an Usher the full summe of five hundred pounds out of which School he supplied the Church of England with great store of learned men He was carefull to avoid not only all evil doing but even the lightest suspicions thereof And he was accounted a Saint in the judgements of his very enemies if he had any such Being full of faith unfained and of good works he was at the last put into his grave as a heap of wheat in due time swept into the garner He dyed the 4. of March 1583. and in the 66. year of his age RICHARD MULCASTER was born of an ancient extract in the North but whether in this County or Cumberland I find not decided From Eaton-school he went to Cambridge where he was admitted into Kings-colledge 1548. but before he was graduated removed to Oxford Here such his proficiency in learning that by general consent he was chosen the first Master of Merchant-Tailors-School in London which prospered well under his care as by the flourishing of Saint Johns in Oxford doth plainly appear The Merchant-Tailors finding his Scholars so to profit intended to fix Mr. Mulcaster as his Desk to their School till death should remove him This he perceiv'd and therefore gave for his Motto Fidelis servus perpetuus asinus But after twenty five years he procured his freedome or rather exchanged his service being made Master of Pauls-school His method in teaching was this In a morning he would exactly and ãâã ãâã and ãâã the lessons to his Scholars which done he slept his hour custome made him critical to proportion it in his desk in the School but wo be to the ãâã ãâã slept the while Awaking he heard them ãâã and ãâã ãâã be ãâã to pity as soon as he to pardon where he found just fault The ãâã of ãâã Mothers prevailed with him as much as the requests of indulgent Fathers rather increasing then mitigating his severity on their offending child In a word he was Plagosus Orbilius though it may be truly said and safely for one out of his School that others have taught as much learning with fewer lashes Yet his sharpness was the better endured because unpartiall and many excellent Scholars were bred under him whereof Bishop Andrews was most remarkable Then quitting that place he was presented to the rich Parsoââ¦ge of Stanfórd-rivers in Essex I have heard from those who have heard him preach that his Sermons were not excellent which to me seems no wonder partly because there is a different discipline in teaching children and men partly because such who make Divinity not the choice of their youth but the refuge of their age seldome attain to eminency therein He died ãâã the ãâã of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth CHRISTOPHER POTTER D. D. kinsman to Bishop Potter of whom before was born in this County ãâã Fellow of Queens-colledge in Oxford and at last was chosen Provost thereof Chapââ¦in in Ordinary to King Charles and Dean of ãâã One of a sweet nature ââ¦mely preââ¦ence courteous carriage devout life and deep learning he wrot an excellent book entituled Charity mistaken containing impregnable truth so that malice may sââ¦arl at but not bite it without breaking its own teeth Yet a railing Jesuit wrote a pretended ãâã thereof to which the Doctor mââ¦de no return partly because the industrious Bee would not meddle with a ãâã or Hornet rather partly because Mr. Chillingworth a great Master of defence in School-divinity took up the Cudgells against him This worthy Doctor died in the beginning of our civill distempers Benefactors to the Publique ROBERT LANGTON Doctors of Law MILES SPENCER Doctors of Law It is pity to part them being Natives of this County as I am credibly informed Doctors in the same faculââ¦y and Co-partners in the same Charity the building of a fair School at Appleby The Pregnant Mother of so many Eminent Scholars As for Robert Langton he was bred in and a Benefactor to Queens-ââ¦edge in Oxford owing the Glaseing of many Windows therein to his Beneficence Witness his Conceit to Communicate his Name to Posterity viz. a Ton the ãâã or Fancy Generall for all Sirnames in that Termination extended very long beyond an ordinary proportion Lang the Northern man pronounceth it whereby he conceived his Surname completed I shall be thankfull to him who shall enform me of the Dates of their severall deaths ANNE CLYFFORD sole Daughter heir to George Earl of Cumberland Wife first to Richard Earl of Dorset then to Phillip Earl of Pembrokâ⦠and Montgomery though born and nursed in Hartfordshire yet because having her greatest Residence and Estate in the North is properly referrable to this County The Proverb is Homo non est ubi animat sed amat One is not to be reputed there where he lives but where he loves on which account this Lady is placed not where she first took life but where she hath left a most lasting Monument of her Love to the Publique This is that most beautifull Hospital Stately Built and Richly Endowed at her sole Cost at Appleby in this County It was conceived a bold and daring part of Thomas Cecill son to Treasurer Burghleigh to enjoyn his Masons and Carpenters not to omit a days Work at the building of Wimbleton house in Surrââ¦y though the Spanish Armado Anno 1588. all that while shot off their Guns whereof some might be heard to the Place But Christianly Valiant is the Charity of this Lady who in this Age wherein there is an Earthquake of Antient Hospitals and as for new ones they are hardly to be seen for New lights I say Couragious this Worthy ãâã ãâã who dare found in this Confounding Age wherein so much was demolished and aââ¦ened which was given to God and his Church Long may she live in Wealth and ãâã exactly to Compleat whatââ¦oever her ãâã Intentions have ãâã Mââ¦morable Persons RICHARD GILPIN a Valiant Man in this County was ãâã offed in the Raign of K. John about the year 1208. in the Lordship of Kent-mire-ââ¦all by
fell down and bruised himself to death But that Simon did it by the Black our Oliver by the White Art he being supported by ill spirits this by meer ingenuity which made him the more to be pitied He wrot some books of Astrology and died Anno Dom. 1060. five years before the Norman Invasion and so saw not his own prediction prevented by death performed It being the fate of such Folk Ut sint Oculati foras caecutiant Domi. That when they are quick sighted to know what shall betide to others they are blind to behold what will befall to themselves WILLIAM quitting his own name of SUMMERSET assumed that of MALMESBURY because there he had if not born his best Preferment Indeed he was a Duallist in that Convent and if a Pluralist no ingenious person would have envied him being Canter of that Church and Library-Keeper therein Let me adde and LibraryMaker too for so may we call his History of the Saxon Kings and Bishops before the Conquest and after it untill his own time An History to be honoured both for the Truth and Method thereof if any fustiness be found in his Writings it comes not from the Grape but from the Cask the smack of Superstition in his books is not to be imputed to his person but to the Age wherein he lived and dyed viz. Anno Dom. 1142. and was buried in Malmesbury ROBERT CANUTUS His Surname might justly perswade us to suspect him a Dane but that Bale doth assure him born at Cricklade in this County and further proceedeth thus in the desciption of the place Leland in the life of great King Alfred informs us that during the flourishing of the glory of the Britains before the University of Oxford was founded two Scholars were famous both for Eloquence and Learning the one called Greeklade where the Greek the other Latinlade where the Latine tongue was professed since corruptly colled Cricklade and Lechlade at this day Having so good security I presumed to Print the same in my Church-History and am not as yet ashamed thereof But since my Worthy Friend Doctor Heylyn whose Relations living thereabouts gave him the opportunity of more exactness thus reporteth it that Cricklade was the place for the Profession of Greek Lechlade for Physick and Latine a small village small indeed for I never saw it in any Map hard by the place where Latin was professed But to proceed our Canute went hence to Oxford and there became Chief of the Canons of Saint Fridswith He gathered the best flowers out of Plinie his Naturall History and composing it into a Garland as he calleth it dedicated the book to King Henry the second He wrot ââ¦so his Comments on the greater part of the Old and New Testament and flourished Anno 1170. RICHARD of the DIVISES A word of the place of his nativity The Vies or Devises is the best and biggest Town for trading Salisbury being a City in this Shire so called because antiently divided betwixt the King and the Bishop of Salisbury as Mine-Thine corruptly called Minden a City in Westphalia had its Name from such a partition Now because the Devises carrieth much of strange conceipts in the common sound thereof and because Stone-henge is generally reputed a wonder Country-People who live far off in our Land misapprehend them distanced more then 12. miles to be near together Our Richard born in this Town was bred a Benedictine in Winchster where his Learning and Industry rendred him to the respect of all in that Age. He wrot a History of the raign of King Richard the first under whom he flourished and an Epitome of the British affaires dedicating them both to Robert Prior of Winchester His History ãâã could never see but at the second hand as cited by others the rarity thereof making it no piece for the Shop of a Stationer but a Property for a publick Library His death was about the year 1200. GODWIN of SALISBURY Chanter of that Church and what ever was his skill in Musick following the precepts of Saint Paul he made melody in his heart having his mind given much to Meditation which is the Chewing of the Cud of the food of the soul turning it into Clean and Wholsome Nourishment He wrot beside other works a book of Meditations dedicating the same to one Ramulia or rather Ranilda an Anchoress and most incomparable woman saith my Author the more remarkable to me because this is the first and last mention I find of her memory This Godwin flourished about the year of our Lord 1256. JOHN of WILTON Senior was bred an Augustinian Friar and after he had stored himself with home-bred Learning went over into France and studied at Paris Here he became a subtile Disputant insomuch that John Baconthorp that Staple School-man not onely highly praiseth him but also useth his authority in his JOHN of WILTON Junior was bred a Benedictine Monke in Westminster He was Elegant in the Latine tongue praeter ejus aetatis sortem He wrot Metricall Meditations in imitation of Saint Bernard and one Book highly prized by many intituled Horologium sapientiae english it as you please the Clock or Diall of Wisdome Arguments I meet not with any man in that age better stock'd with Sermons on all occasions having written his Summer his Winter his Lent his Holy-day Sermons He flourished under King Edward the second Anno 1310. He was a great Allegory-Monke and great his dexterity in such Figurative conceits He flourished some fifty years after his Namesake under King Edward the third Reader I confess there be eleven Wiltons in England and therefore will not absolutely avouch the Nativities of these two Johns in this County However because Wilton which denominateth this Shire is the best and biggest amongst the Towns so called I presume them placed here with the most Probability JOHM CHYLMARK was born at that Village well know in Daworth Hundred and bred Fellow of Merton-colledge in Oxford He was a diligent searcher into the mysteries of Nature an acute Phylosopher and Disputant but most remarkable was his skill in Mathematicks being accounted the Archemedes of that age having written many Tractates in that Faculty which carry with them a very good regard at this day He flourished under King Richard the second Anno 1390. THOMAS of WILTON D. D. was for his Learning and Abilities made first Chancellour and then Dean of Saint Pauls in London in his time in the raign of King Edward the fourth happened a tough contest betwixt the Prelats and the Friars the latter pretending to poverty and taxing the Bishops for their pompe and plenty Our Wilton politickly opposed the Friars Now as the onely way for to withdraw Hanniball from his invasive war in Italy was by recalling him to defend his own Country near Carthage so Wilton wisely wrought a diversion putting the Friars from accusing the Bishops to excuse themselves For although an Old Gown a
expressing her intention to confer it on Watson the foresaid Earl requested the contrary acquainting the Queen with the passage betwixt them how otherwise it would be two hundred pounds out of his way Nay then said the Queen Watson shall have it he being more worthy thereof who will give two hundred to decline then he who will give two thousand pounds to attain it I confess such who have read so much of the Corruption of the Earl of Leicester and heard so little of the Integrity of Watson will hardly credit this story which I am ready to believe and the rather because of this his Epitaph written on his Marble Monument in the Church of Saint Mary Overies D. Johannes Watson hujus Ecclesiâ⦠Winton Praebendarius Decanus ãâã deinde Episcopus prudentissimus pater vir optimus praecipuè erga inopes misericors obiit in Domino January 23. anno ââ¦tatis 63. Episcopatus quarto 1583. Nothing else have I to observe save that there were three Watsons Bishops in the raign of Queen Elizabeth Thomas of Lincoln our John of Winchester and Anthony of Chichester though I believe little allied together States-men Sir THOMAS COVENTRY Knight was born at Croone in this County Eldest Son to Sir Thomas Coventry Knight one of the Justices of the Common Pleas. He was bred in the Inner Temple a student of the Laws and in the year 1618. was Treasurer of the said Temple and Atturney Generall to King James He was afterwards made Lord keeper of the Great Seal of England the first day of November in the first year of King Charles He was by the same King Created in the fourth of his raign April 10. Baron Coventry of Alesborough in this County An ingenious Gentleman in his History giveth him this Character in relation to his Keeper-ship that he injoyed that dignity fifteen years if it was not more proper to say that dignity enjoyed him This latter age affording none better qualified for the place Adding that he knew enough and acted conformable to his knowledge so that Captious Maliââ¦e ââ¦nds mute to blemish his fame To which we will only adde some few operative words taken out of his Patent when he was Created Baron Nos igitur in personâ Prââ¦dilecti per quam fidelis ãâã ââ¦stri Thomae Coventry Militis custodis magni sigilli nostri Angliae gratissima dignissima servitiâ⦠quae idem consiliarius noster tam Prââ¦charissimo Patri ãâã Jacobo Regi ãâã Memoriae per multos anââ¦s quam nobis ab ipsis Rââ¦gni nostri primis auspiciis fidelissimè prudentissimè praestitit impendit indiesque impendere non desistit nec non ãâã prudentiam strenuitatem dexteritatem integriââ¦tem industriam ãâã nos nostram coronam animo benigno regali intime recolentes constantiam fidelitatem ipsiâ⦠Thomae Coventry Militis c. In cujus rei c. T. R. apud Westm. decimo diâ⦠Aprilis Anno regni Regis Caroli 4. He died about the beginning of January 1639. before our Civill distempers began so that it is hard to say whether his Honourable Life or Seasonable Death was the greater favour which God bestow'd upon him I must not forget that it hath been observed that never Lord Keeper made fewer Orders which afterwards were Reversed then this Lord Coventry which some ascribe to his Discretion grounding most of his Orders on the Consent and Comprimise of the parties themselves interested therein whose hands so tyed up by their own Act were the more willing to be quiet for the future Writers on the Law Sir THOMAS LITLETON Knight Reader the Nimiety of my Cautiousness loath to prejudice the seeming right of any made me to bestow part of his Character on Staffordshire who since am convinced that he wholly and solely belongeth to this Shire as born at Frankley therein and I request the Reader to rectify some mistakes I formerly wrot by that which followeth He was a man remarkable in many respects First for his Extraction he was Son to Thomas Wescot Esquire and Elizabeth Litleton his wife who being a Double Inheritrix by her Father to the Litletons Mother to the Quatremains indented with Husband that her Heritable Issue should assume her Surname Say not her Husband might say Accepi dotem cognomen perdidi seeing it was done before his marriage by his free consent Besides we find even in Scripture it self Joab being constantly named the son of his Mother Zeruiah Secondly for his happiness that two great Kings had a great Sympathy to him who had an Antipathy each to other Henry the sixth whose Serjeant he was and rod Judge of the Northern circuit and Edward the fourth who made him a Judge and in his raign he rod the Northamptonshire Circuit Thirdly for his Exquisite skill in the Laws witness his Book of Tenures which though writ about two hundred years since yet at this day retaineth an Authentical reputation Insomuch that when in the raign of King James it came in question upon a Demuââ¦rer in Law whether the release to one Trespasser should be available or no to his Companion Sir Henry Hubbard and Judges Warberton Winch and Nicols his Companions gave Judgement according to the opinion of our Litleton and openly said that They would not have HIS CASE disputed or questioned Lastly for his happy posterity having left three families signally fixed and flourishing in this and the neighboring Counties of Stafford and Salop. And one saith very truely that these Quarter the Armes of many Matches after the best manner of quartering them other are scarce half-half-quartering them viz. they possess at this day good land on the same account Indeed the Lord Coke observeth that our Lawyers seldome dye either without Wills or Heirs For the first I believe it for our Common Lawyers will not have their Estates come under the Arbitrary dispose of a Civilian Judge of the Prerogative and therefore wisely prevent it For the second the Observation as qualified which Seldome may pass otherwise our Grand-fathers can remember Sir James Dier Lord Chief Justice and Periam Lord Chief Baron both dying without Issue His Book of Tenures hath since been Commented on by Sir Edward Coke his most Judicious Pen. Dic mihi num Textus vel Commentatio prestat Dicam ego tam Textus quam Commentatio prestat He died in the 21. year of King Edward the fourth and lyeth buried in the Cathedrall of Worcester having formerly constituted Doctor Alcock his faithfull friend and then Bishop of Worcestor Supervisor of his Will who saw it performed to all criticall particulars Souldiers RICHARD BEAUCHAMP Earl of Warwick was born at the Maââ¦or-house of Salwape in this County January the 28. 1381. King Richard the second and Richard Scroope then Bishop of Coventry afterwards Arch-bishop of York were his Godfathers A person so redoubted for Marshall Atchievements that the poeticall fictions of Hercules his labours found in him a reall
Palmes-sunday before his Majesty Anno Domini 1539. And yet man is but man he returned to his errour in the raign of King Edward the sixth continuing therein in the first of Queen Elizabeth for which he was deprived of his Bishoprick He shewed mercy when in Power and found it in his Adversity having nothing but the Name of a prisoner in which condition he died and was buried at Lambeth 1560. RALPH BAINES was born in this County bred Fellow of Saint Johns-colledge in Cambridge An Excellent Linguist in Latine Greek and Hebrew I say Hebrew then in its Nonage whereof Baines was a good Guardian first in learning then in teaching the Rules thereof Hence he went over into France and became Hebrew Professor at Paris He wrot a Comment on the Proverbs in three Volumes and dedicated it to King Franc is the first of France that Grand Patron of good Men and great Scholars Pitz telleth us ferunt it is reported that the Ministers of Geneva have much depraved many of his writings in severall places which I doe not believe Such passages doubtlesly according to the Authors own writing being reducible to two Heads First his fair mentioning of some learned Linguists though Protestants with whom he kept an Epistolary Correspondency Secondly some expressions in preferring the Original of Scripture to the Diminution of the Vulgar Translation Returning into England he was by Queen Mary 1555 made Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield Hitherto no ill could be spoken of his Intellectualls and hereafter no good of his Moralls in point of his Cruelty he caused such persecution in his Diocess His greatest Commendation is that though as bad a Bishop as Christopher son he was better then Bonner In the first of Queen Elizabeth he was deprived of his Bishoprick and dying not long after of the Stone was buried in Saint Dunstans 1560. Since the Reformation THOMAS BENTHAM was born in this County bred Fellow of Magdalen-colledge in Oxford Under King Henry the eight he was a Complier with no Promoter of Popery In the first of Queen Mary repenting of his former he resolved not to accumulate sin refusing not onely to say Mass but also to correct a scholar in the Colledge though urged thereto by Sir Robert Reed the Prime Visitor for his absence from Popish Prayers conceiving it injurious to punish in another that omission for a fault which was also according to his own Conscience He also then assisted Henry Bull one of the same Foundation to wrest out and throw down out of the hands of the Choristers the Censer when about to offer their superstitious Incense No wonder then if he was fain to fly into Forraign parts and glad to get over into Germany where he lived at Basil Preacher to the English Exiles to whom he expounded the intire book of the Acts of the Apostles Now seeing the Apostles suffering was above all their Doing it was a proper portion of Scripture for him hence to press patience to his banished Country-men Towards the end of Queen Mary he was secretly sent for over to be superintendent of the London Conventicle the onely true Church in time of Persecution where with all his Care and Caution he hardly escaped In the second of Queen Elizabeth he was Consecrated Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield succeeding Ralph Baines therein one of the same County with him but a different Judgement and died on the 21. of February 1578. EDMUND GUEST was born at Afferton in this County bred Fellow of Kings-colledge in Cambridge where he proceeded Doctor of Divinity He was afterwards Almoner to Queen Elizabeth and he must be both a wise and a good man whom she would trust with her Purse She preferred him Bishop first of Rochester then of Salisbury John Bale saith my Author reckoneth up many books made by him of considerable value He died February 28. 1578. the same year and month with his Country-man Thomas Bentham aforesaid MILES COVERDALE was born in this County bred in the University of Cambridge and afterwards became an Augustine Frier till his eyes being opened he quitted that Superstitious Profession Going into Germany he laboured greatly in Translating of the Bible and in writing many books reckoned up by John Bale He was made Doctor of Divinity in the University of Tubing and returning into England being incorporated in Cambridge was soon after made Bishop of Exeter by King Edward the sixth 1551. But alas he was not comfortably warme in his place before his place by persecution grew too hot for him and in the first of Queen Mary he was cast into prison a certain forerunner of his Martyrdome had not Frederick King of Denmark seasonably interposed This good King with great Importunity hardly obtained this small Courtesie viz. that Coverdale should be enlarged though on this condition to be banished out of hââ¦s Country In obedience whereunto he went over into Germany In the first of Qââ¦een Elizabeth he returned to England but not to Exeter Never resuming that or accepting any other Bishoprick Severall men assigned severall causes hereof but Coverdale onely knew the true reason himself Some will say that for the Books he made he had better been placed under the title of Learned Writers or for the Exile and Imprisonment he suffered ranked under Confessors then under the title of Prelats manifesting an aversness of his own judgement thereunto by not returning to his Bishoprick But be it known that Coverdale in his judgement approved thereof Being one of those Bishops who solemnly Consecrated Mathew Parker Arch-bishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Now quod efficit tale magis est tale I understand it thus He that makes another Arch-bishop is abundantly satisfyed in his Judgement and Conscience of the lawfullness thereof Otherwise such dissembling had been inconsistent with the sincerity of so grave and godly a person He died Anno Dom. 1588. and lyes buried in Saint Bartholomews behind the Exchange under a fair Stone in the Chancell ADAM LOFTUS was born in this County and bred in Trinity-colledge in Cambridge where he Commenced Doctor of Divinity the same year with John Whitgift afterwards Arch-bishop of Canterbury He was Chaplain to Robert Earl of Sussex Deputy of Ireland and was first made Arch-bishop of Armagh Anno 1562. and afterwards Arch-bishop of Dublin Anno 1567. Wonder not that he should desire his own degradation to be removed from Armagh then Primate of Ireland to Dublin a Subordinate Arch bishoprick seeing herein he consulted his safety and perchance his profit more then his Honour Armagh being then infested with Rebells whilst Dublin was a secure City After the death of Sir William Gerrard he was made Chancellour of Ireland which place he discharged with singular Ability and Integrity untill the day of his death And that which in my judgement commendeth him most to the notice of Posterity and most ingageth Posterity in thankfullness to his memory is that he was a profitable
the leaves of the Bayes and ââ¦y be withered to nothing since the erection of the Tomb but only rosated having a Chaplet of four Roses about his head Another Author unknighteth him allowing him only a plain Esquire though in my apprehension the Colar of S.S.S. about his neck speak him to be more Besides with submission to better judgements that Colar hath rather a Civil than Military relation proper to persons in places of Judicature which makes me guess this Gower some Judge in his old age well consisting with his original education He was before Chaucer as born and flourishing before him yea by some accounted his Master yet was he after Chaucer as surviving him two years living to be stark blind and so more properly termed our English Homer Many the Books he wrote whereof three most remarkable viz. Speculum Meditantis in French Confessio Amantis in English Vox Clamantis in Latine His death happened 1402. JOHN MARRE by Bale called MARREY and by Trithemius MARRO was born at Marre a village in this County three miles West from Doncaster where he was brought up in Learning Hence he went to Oxford where saith Leland the University bestowed much honour upon him for his excellent Learning He was by Order a Carmelite and in one respect it was well for his Memory that he was so which maketh John Balâ⦠who generally falleth foul on all Fryers to have some civility for him as being once himself of the same Order allowing him subtilly learned in all secular Philosophy But what do I instance in home-bred Testimonies Know Reader that in the Character of our own Country Writers I prize an Inch of Forraign above an Ell of English Commendation and Outlandish Writers Trithemius Sixtus Senensis Petrus Lucius c. give great Encomiums of his Ability though I confesse it is chiefly on this account because he wrote against the Opinions of J. Wickliffe He died on the eighteenth of Mà rch 1407. and was buried in the Convent of Carmelites in Doncaster THOMAS GASCOIGNE eldest son to Richard the younger brother unto Sir William Gascoigne Lord Chief Justice was born at Huntfleet in this County bred in Baliol Colledge in Oxford where he proceeded Doctor in Divinity and was Commissioner of that University Anno Dom. 1434. He was well acquainted with the Maids of Honour I mean Humane Arts and Sciences which conducted him first to the presence then to the favour of Divinity the Queen He was a great Hieronymist perfectly acquainted with all the Writings of that Learned Father and in expression of his gratitude for the good he had gotten by reading his Woââ¦ks he collected out of many Authors and wrote the life of Saint Hierom. He made also a Book called Dictionarium Theologicum very useful to and therefore much esteemed by the Divines in that age He was seven and fifty years old Anno 1460. and how long he survived afterwards is unknown JOHN HARDING was born saith my Author in the Northern parts and I have some cause to believe him this Countrey-man He was an Esquire of ancient Parentage and bred from his Youth in Military Employment First under Robert Umfrevil Governour of Roxborough Castle and did good service against the Scots Then he followed the Standard of King Edward the fourth adhering faithfully unto him in his deepest distresse But the Master-piece of his service was his adventuring into Scotland not without the manifest hazard of his Life where he so cunningly demeaned himselfe that he found there and fetched thence out of their Records many Original Letters which he presented to King Edward the fourth Out of these he collected an History of the several Solemn Submissions publickly made and Sacred Oaths of Fealty openly taken from the time of King Athelstane by the Kings of SCOTLAND to the Kings of ENGLAND for the Crown of SCOTLAND although the Scotch Historians stickle with might and maine that such Homage was performed onely for the County of Cumberland and some parcels of Land their Kings had in ENGLAND south of TWEED He wrote also a Chronicle of our English Kings from BRUTUS to King EDWARD the fourth and that in English Verse and in my Judgement he had drank as hearty a draught of Helicon as any in his age He was living 1461. then very aged and I believe died soon after HENRY PARKER was bred from his infancy in the Carmelite Convent at Doncaster afterwards Doctor of Divinity in Cambridge Thence he returned to Doncaster and well it had been with him if he had staid there still and not gone up to London to preach at Pauls-Crosse where the subject of his Sermon was to prove That Christs poverty was the pattern of humane perfection and that men professing eminent sanctity should conform to his precedent Going on foot feeding on Barley-bread wearing seamless-woven-coats having no houses of their own c. He drove this nail so far that he touched the quick and the wealthy Clergy winched thereat His Sermon offended much as preached more as published granting the Copy thereof to any that would transcribe it For this the Bishop of London put him in prison which Parker patiently endured in hope perchance of a rescue from his Order till being informed that the Pope effectually appeared on the party of the Prelates to procure his liberty he was content at Pauls-Cross to recant Not as some have took the word to say over the same again in which sense the Cuckow of all Birds is properly called the Recanter but he unsaid with at least seeming sorrow what he had said before However fââ¦om this time we may date the decay of the Carmelites credit in England who discountenanced by the Pope never afterwards recruited themselves to their former number and honour but moulted their feathers till King Henry the eight cut off their very wings and body too at the Dissolution This Parker flourished under King Edward the fourth Anno 1470. Since the Reformation Sir FRANCIS BIGOT Knight was born aud well landed in this County Bale giveth him this testimony that he was Evangelicae veritatis amator Otherwise I must confess my self posed with his intricate disposition For he wrote a book against the Clergy Of IMPROPRIATIONS Had it been against the Clergy of Appropriations I could have guessed it to have proved Tithes due to the Pastors of their respective Parishes Whereas now having not seen nor seen any that have seen his book I cannot conjecture his judgment As his book so the manner of his death seems a riddle unto me being though a Protestant slain amongst the Northern Rebells 1537. But here Bale helpeth us not a little affirming him found amongst them against his will And indeed those Rebells to countenancé their Treason violently detained some Loyall Persons in their Camp and the Blind sword having Aciem not Oculum kill'd friend and foe in fury without distinction WILFRID HOLME was born in this County of Gentile
know not where to end Besides having in the fundamentalls of this Book confined Princes to the children of Soveraigns it is safest for me not to sally forth but to intrench my self within the aforesaid restrictions Onely I cannot but insert the following note found in so Authentick an Author for the rarity thereof in my apprehension Camdens Remains pag. 181. As for the Britains or Welsh whatsoever Jura Majestatis their Princes had I cannot understand that they ever had any Coin of their own for no Learned of that Nation have at any time seen any found in Wales or elsewhere Strange that having so much Silver digged out they should have none Coined in their Country so that Trading was driven on either by the bartery or change of Wares and Commodities or else by money Imported out of England and other Countries Confessors WALTER BRUTE was born in Wales and if any doubt thereof let them peruse the ensuing protestation drawn up with his own hand I Walter Brute Sinner Layman Husbandman and a Christian having mine of-spring of the Britains both by Fathers and Mothers side have been accused to the Bishop of Hereford that I did err in many matters concerning the Catholick Christian faith by whom I am required that I should write an answer in Latine to all those matters whose desire I will satisfie to my power c. Observe herein a double instance of his Humility that being a Welch-man with which Gentleman is reciprocall and a Scholar graduated in Oxford contented himself with the plain addition of husbandman He was often examined by the aforesaid Bishop by whom he was much molested and imprisoned the particulars whereof are in Master Fox most largely related At last he escaped not creeping out of the window by any cowardly compliance but going forth at the door fairly set open for him by Divine Providence For he onely made such a generall subscription which no Christian man need to decline in form following I Walter Brute submit my self principally to the Evangely of Jesus Christ and to the determination of holy Kirk and to the General Councels of Holy Kirk And to the sentence and determination of the four Doctors of holy writ that is Austin Ambrose Jerome and Gregory And I meekly submit me to your correction as a Subject ought to his Bishop It seems the Popish Prelates were not as yet perfect in their art of persecution Brute being one of the first who was vexed for Wickliffisme so that as yet they were loose and favourable in their language of Subscription But soon after they grew so punctuall in their expressions and so particular in penning abjurations and recantations that the persons to whom they were tendered must either strangle their consciences with acceptance or lose their lives for refusall thereof NICHOLAS HEREFORD I have presumptions to perswade my self though possibly not to prevail with the Reader to believe him of British extraction He was bred Doctor of Divinity in Oxford and a Secular Priest betwixt whose Profession and Fryery there was an ancient Antipathy But our Hereford went higher to defie most Popish Principles and maintain That 1. In the Eucharist after the Consecration of the Elements Bread and Wine still remained 2. That Bishops and all Clergy-men ought to be subject to their Respective Princes 3. That Monks and Fryers ought to maintain themselves by their own labour 4. All ought to regle their lives not by the Popes Decrees but Word of God From these his four Cardinall Positions many Hereticall Opinions were by his Adversaries deduced or rather detracted and no wonder they did Wrack his Words who did desire to torture his Person From Oxford he was brought to London and there with Philip Repington was made to Recant his Opinions publiquely at Saint Pauls Cross 1382. See their severall success REPINTON like a violent Renegado proved a Persecutor of his Party for which he was rewarded first with the Bishoprick of Lincoln then with a Cardinals Cap. HEREFORD did too much to displease his Conscience and yet not enough to please his enemies For the jealousie of Archbishop Arundel persecuted and continued him always a Prisoner The same with the later was the success of John Purvey his partner in opinions whom T. Walden termeth the Lollards Library But they lock'd up this Library that none might have access unto it keeping him and Hereford in constant durance I will say nothing in excuse of their Recantation nor will I revile them for the same knowing there is more requisite to make one valiant under a Temptation then only to call him coward who is foiled therewith Yet I must observe that such as consult Carnall Councills to avoid afflictions getting out by the window of their own plotting not the door of Divine Providence seldome injoy their own deliverance In such Cases our Saviours words are always without the parties Repentance spiritually and often literally true He that findeth his life shall lose it And although we read not that this Hereford was put to death he lost the life of his life his liberty and lustre dwindling away in obscurity as to the time and place of his death REGINALD PEACOCK was born in Wales bred in Kings commonly saith Bale called Orial Colleââ¦ge in Oxford where for his learning and eloquence he proceeded Doctor in Divinity Bishop first of Saint Asaph then of Chichester For twenty years together he favoured ââ¦he opinions of Wicliffe and wrot many books in defence thereof untill in a Synod held at Lambeth by T. Bourcher Arch-bishop of Canterbury 1457. he was made to recant at Pauls Cross his books being burnt before his eyes confuted with seven solid arguments thus reckoned up Authoritate Vi Arte Fraude Metu Terrore Tyrannide Charitable men behold this his Recantation as his suffering and the act of his enemies some account it rather a slip then a fall others a fall whence afterwards he did arise It seems his recanting was little satisfactory to his adversaries being never restored to his Bishoprick but confinââ¦d to a poor pension in a mean Monastery where he died obscurely though others say he was privily made away in prison He is omitted by Pitzeus in his Catalogue of Writers a presumption that he apprehended him finally dissenting from the Popish perswasion Popes I find none bred in this Principality and the wonder is not great For before the time of Austin the Monk his coming over into England Wales acknowledged no Pope but depended meerly on their own Arch-bishop of Carlyon Yea afterwards it was some hundreds of years before they yielded the Pope free and full obedience besides the inhabitants of Wales being depressed in their condition had small accommodations for their travels to Rome and those at Rome had lesse list to chuse persons of so great distance into the Papasie Cardinals SERTOR of WALES was so called from his Native Country By some he is named Fontanerius Valassus
but why saith Bishop Godwin Rationem non capio and I will not hope to understand what he could not He was bred a Franciscan and was chosen very young for that place their General the nineteenth in succession Anno Domini 1339. Afterwards he was made Bishop of Massile then Arch-Bishop of Ravenna next Patriarch of Grado and by Pope Innocent the sixth was made Cardinal Anno Domini 1361. But being extremely aged he was so unhappy that before the Cardinals Cap could come to him he was gone out of this world Many Books he wrote of his Lectures Quodlibets but chiefly he is eminent for his Comment on Saint Austin De civitate Dei He died at Padua in Italy and was therein buried in the Church of Saint Anthony Prelates MARBOD EVANX I had almost read him Evans a noted name in Wales was born in this Country and bred in the study of all Liberal Sciences In his time the Danes wofully harassed the Land which caused him to ship himfelf over into little Britain in France the inhabitants whereof may be termed Cosin-Germans to the Welch as Sons to their younger brethren much symbolizing with them in manners and language Here Marbod though abroad was at home worth is the worlds Countriman and his deserts preferred him to be Episcopus Redonensis Bishop of Renes Praelatus non Elatus such his humility in his advancement We may conclude him a general Scholar by the variety of his works writing of gems and precious stones and compounding profit and pleasure together in his book called Carmina Sententiosa much commended Italian praise of British Poetry is a black swan by Lilius * Giraldus an Italian in his life 's of Poets We will conclude all with the Character given unto him by Giraldus Cambrensis Marbodus bonarum literarum magister eruditus colores rhetoricos tam verborum quam sententiarum exornationes versibus egregiis declaravit He flourished 1050. WALTER de CONSTANTIIS Who would not conclude him from his Surname born at Constance on the Boden Zee in Switserland But we have a Constat for his British Nativity He was preferred first Arch-Deacon of Oxford then Bishop of Lincoln then Arch-Bishop of Rohan by King Richard the first A man of much merit besides his fidelity to his Soveraign whom he attended to Palestine through many perils by Sea and by Land ãâã somuch that there want not those who will have him named De Constantiis from the Expressive Plural relating to his Constancy to his Master in all conditions No doubt he had waited on him in his return through Austria and shared with him in the miseries of his Captivity if not formerly remanded into England to retrench the Tyranny of William Longcampt Bishop of Ely which he effectually performed He had afterwards a double Honour first to interr King Richard at Font-Everard then to invest K. John with the Principality of Normandy as being the Prime Prelate therein His death may be collected about the year 1206. CADUCANUS a Welsh-man by birth was a very skilful Divine and Bishop of Bangor Leaving his Bishoprick he became a Cistercian Monk in Monasterio Durensi sive Dorensi which for the present I am unwilling to English Here I find two learned Antiquaries the one the lender the other the debtor I had almost said the one owner the other stealer much divided in their judgements about this his retrograde motion from a Bishop to a Monke the one commending the other condemning him herein J. Leland cited by Bale J. Bale Rarum hoc equidem exemplum est ut quis optimas fortunas macra commutet tenuitate This indeed was a rare example that one should willingly exchange the best fortunes for a lean meannesse Qui EpiscopatuÌ appetit ait Paulus perfectum opus desiderat Non sic de monachatu otioso quum sit plantatio quam non consolidavit Pater coelestis Whoso desireth a Bishoprick desireth a good thing saith St. Paul It cannot be said so of Monkery which is a plant whââ¦h the Heavenly Father hath not planted It is past my power to comprimise a difference betwixt two so great persons in so great a difference at so great a distance onely to hold the ballance even betwixt them give me leave to whisper a word or two First for Leland whereas he calleth the Bishoprick of Bangor Optimas fortunas it was never very rich and at the present very troublesome by reason of the Civill Wars so that Caducanus turning Monk in most mens apprehension did but leave what was little for what was less As for John Bale he himself under King Edward the sixth was Bishop of Ossory in Ireland and flying thence in the days of Queen Mary did not return in the raign of Queen Elizabeth to his See but contented himself rather with a Canons place in the Church of Canterbury so that by his own practise a Bishops place may on some considerations be left and a Private though not Superstitious life lawfully embraced The best is even Bale himself doth consess of this Caducanus that after ââ¦e turned Monk Studiorum ejus interea non elanguit successus He was no less happy then industrious in his endeavours writing a book of Sermons and another called speculum Christianoââ¦um He dyed under the raign of King Henry the third Anno Domini 1225. Since the Reformation HUGH JOHNES born in Wales was bred Batchelour of the Laws in the University of Oxford and made Bishop of Landaff which See it seems for the poorness thereof lay Bishopless for three years after the death of Bishop Kitchin May 5. 1566. Memorable no doubt on other accounts as well as for this that though this ãâã be in Wales he was the first Welch-man who for the last three hundred years viz. since John of Monmouth elected 1296. was the Bishop thereof He was buried at Matherne November 15. 1574. Doctor ......... PHILIPS was a native of Wales had his education in Oxford and was afterward preferred to be Episcopus Sodorensis or Bishop of Man Out of his zeal for propagating the Gospell he attained the Manks tongue and usually preached therein Know by the way Reader that the King of Spain himself notwithstanding the vastness of his Dominions had not in Europe more distinct languages spoken under his command then had lately the King of great Britain seven tongues being used in his Territories viz. 1. English in England 2. French in Gersey Guernzey 3. Cornish in Cornwall 4. Welch in Wales 5. Scotch in Scotland 6. Irish in Ireland 7. Manks in the Isle of Man This Doctor Philips undertook the translating of the Bible into the Manks tongue taking some of the Islanders to his assistance and namely Sir Hugh Cavoll Minister of the Gospell and lately if not still ãâã of Kir-Michael He perfected the same work in the space of twenty nine years but prevented by his death it was never put to
press I know not whether the doing hereof soundeth more to the honour of the dead or the not Printing thereof since his death to the shame of the living seeing surely money might be procured for so general and beneficiall a design Which makes some the less to pity the great pains of the Ministers of the Isle of Man who by double labour read the Scriptures to the peoplé out of the English in the Manks-tongue This singularly learned hospitable painfull and pious Prelate died Anno Dom. 16 ... Physicians ROBERT RECORDE was born in this Country ex Claris Parentibus bred in Oxford where he proceeded Doctor of Physick His soul did not live in the Lane of a single science but traversed the Latitude of Learning witness his Works In Arithmetick not so absolute in all numbers before his time but that by him it was set forth more Compleat Astrology he Practicall part whereof hath so great an influence upon Physick Geometry whereof the wrot a Book called the Path of Geometry and that easier and nearer then any before Physick of the Judgements of Urines and though it be commonly said Urina meretrix yet his judicious rules have reduced that Harlot to Honesty and in a great measure fixed the uncertainty thereof Metals his Sight may seem to have accompanied the Sun-beams into the Bowells of the Earth piercing into those Penetralls in his discoveries of and discourses on Gold and Silver wherewith I believe him well stored Brass Tin Lead and what not What shall I speak of his skill in Anatomy Cosmography Muââ¦ick whereof he read publique Lectures in Oxford As for his Religion say not this is of no Concernment in a Physician I conjecture him to be a Protestant First because he wrot of Auricular Confession and de Negotio Eucharistiae each whereof is a Noli me tangere for a Romish Lay-man to meddle with according to Popish principles Secondly because so largely commended by Bale But I dare conclude nothing herein having not hitherto seen his Treatises in Divinity He flourished under K. Edward the sixth about the year 1550. THOMAS PHAIER was born in Wales and bred I believe first in Oxford then in London a generall Scholar and well versed in the Common Law wherein he wrot a book De natura Brevium of the Nature of Writs Strange that he would come after Justice Fitz-herbert who formerly had written on the same Subject But probably Phaiers Book having never seen any who have seen it treateth of Writs in the Court of Marches whereto Wales was then subjected and where the Legal Proceedings may be somewhat different from ours in England But the Study of the Law did not fadge well with him which caused him to change his Copy and proceed Doctor in Physick Now though he made none he out of French did translate many usefull books 1. Of the Pestilence and the cure thereof 2. Of the Grief of children 3. Of the Nature of Simples 4. The Regiment of Nuturall Life He had also his Diversion some excursion into Poetry and translated Virgil his Eneads Magna Gravitate saith my Author which our Modern Wits will render with great Dulness and avouch that he instead of a Latine Virgill hath presented us with an English Ennius such the rudeness of his verse But who knoweth not that English Poetry is improved fifty in the Hundred in this last Century of years He died and was buried in London about the year of our Lord 1550. ALBANE HILL was Britannus by birth I confess Britannus doth not clearly carry his Nativity for Wales except it were additioned Cambro-Britannus But according to our peaceable promise premised let him pass for this Country-man The rather because so many Hills and Mountains too therein He was bred a Doctor of Physick professing and practising most beyond the Seas more famous in Forraign Parts then in his Native Country I find two eminent Outlandishmen viz. Josias Simler an Helvetian of Zurich and Bassianus Landus an Italian of Placentia charactering him to be Medicus Nobilissimus ac optimus in omni disciplinarum genere optime versatus and that he wrot much upon Galen and the Anatomicall part of Physick so that we may say with the Poet Ut littus Hilum Hilum omne sonarct The shoar resounded still Nothing but Hill and Hill I find no time affixed wherein he flourished but according to the received Rule Noscitur è socio he may from his Contemporaries be collected in full Lustre Anno 1550. and it is remarkable that Wales had three eminent Physicians Writers all in the same Age. Writers Be it premised that as I should be loth by my lasiness to conceal so with all my Industry I conceive it impossible to compleat their Characters For as the Venetian Courtezan after she had put off her lofty attire and high Chippines almost pares away her self into nothing such the slender account given us of these Writers that after some set forms and Commendations of Course common to all Persons be first defalked the remainder will be next to nothing But it is no fault of me the Cistern if I be empty whilst my fountain is dry seeing I spill nothing by the Leakage of my Neglect but faithfully deliver all the intelligence I find as followeth PETROK was a Welch-Irish-Cornish-Man He had his birth in Wales but breeding in Ireland according to the Mode of that Age wherein all British sailed over into Ireland as the English in after ages did into France there to have their Education in all learned Sciences Who would have thought to have found Helicon amongst the Bogs as indeed it was at that Time Petrok after twenty years reading good Authours there came over into Cornwall and fixed himself nigh the Severn Sea in a small Oratory called Petrok-Stowe the station or abiding place of Petrok now corruptly Pad-Stowe where many eminent Scholars were brought up under him He wrot a book of Solitary life whereto he was much addicted I confess Petrok is somewhat degraded as entred under the Topick of Writers who is reputed a Saint and I remember a handsome Church in Exeter dedicated to his Memory who flourished Anno 560. GILDAS the FOURTH for there were three before him viz. Gildas Albanius Gildas Surnam'd Sapiens of whom before Gildas Cambrius and this our Gildas who laggeth last in the Teame of his Name-sakes But the second of these is worth all the rest were there four hundred of them whom I behold as a Sun indeed shining with the Lustre of his own desert whilst two of the others are but so many Meteors about him some suspecting them no realities in Nature but meerly created by mens sight-deception and the reflection of the Memory of the true Gildas This our fourth Gildas is made a Welch-Scotch-Irish-Man Wales sharing in him two parts of three viz. his Birth and Death the largest part of his life belonging to Ireland where he studied Many the
Books imputed to him of the Wonders and first inhabitants of Britain of King Arthur and his unknown Sepulehre so that now we can teach Gildas what he knew not namely that King Arthur was certainly buried at Glassenbury He wrot also of Percevall and Lancelot whoâ⦠I behold as two Knights Combatants and presume the former most victorious from the Notation of his Name Per sevalens prevailing by himself Our Author is charged to be full of Fables which I can easily believe for in Ancient History if we will have any thing of truth we must have something of falsehood and abating onely Holy-writ it is as impossible to find Antiquity without Fables as an old Face without Wrinckles He flourished Anno Dom. 860. BLEGABRIDE LANGAURIDE Philip Comineus observeth that to have a short Name is a great advantage to a Favorite because a King may readily remember and quickly call him If so the writer aforesaid is ill qualified for a Favorite But let him then pronounce his own Name for others will not trouble themselves therewith He attained to be a great Scholar Doctor of both Laws and Arch-deacon of the Church of Landaft He to the honour of his Country and use of Posterity translated the laws of Howell the most modest King of Wales and flourished 914. SALEPHILAX the BARDE This Mungrell name seemeth to have in it an Eye or Cast of Greek and Latine but we are assured of his Welch extraction In inquiring after his works my success hath been the same with the painfull Thresher of Mill-dew'd wheat gaining little more then Straw and Chaffe All the grain I can get is this that he set forth a Genealogy of the Britains and flourished about the year 920. GWALTERUS CALENIUS may we not English him Walter of Calen was a Cambrian by his Nativity though preferred to be Arch-deacon of Oxford He is highly prized for his great learning by Lealand and others This was he who took the pains to go over into Britain in France and thence retrived an Ancient Manuscript of the British Princes from Brutus to Cadwalader Nor was his labour more in recovering then his courtesie in communicating this rarity to Jeffrey of Munmouth to translate the same into Latine Nor was this Walter himself idle continuing the same Chronicle for four hundred years together untill his own time He flourished Anno Dom. 1120. under King Henry the first GUALO BRYTANNUS born in Wales was from his Infancy a servant to the Muses and lover of Poetry That he might injoy himself the better herein he retired into a private place from the noise of all people and became an Anchorite for his Fancy not Devotion according to the Poet Carmina secessum scribentis otia quaerunt Verses justly do request Their writers privacy and rest Here his pen fell foul on the Monks whose covetousness in that age was so great that of that subject Difficile est Satyram non scribere 'T was hard for any then to write And not a Satyre to indite He wrot also Invectives against their wantonness and impostures and yet it seems did it with that Cautiousness that he incurred no danger Indeed he is commended by John of Sarisbury and others Quod esset Prudens Doctus He flourished Anno Domini 1170. under King Henry the second WILLIAM BRETON was born saith Bale and Pitz. the later alledging one Willot for his Author in Wales bred a Franciscan at Grimsby in Lincoln-shire I will not quarrell his Cambrian extraction but may safely mind the Reader that there was an ancient family of the Bretons at Ketton in Rutland next Lincoln-shire where this William had his education But let this Breton be Brito believing the allusion in sound not the worst evidence for his Welch originall sure it is he was a great Scholar and deep Divine the Writer of many books both in Verse and Prose and of all his Master-piââ¦ce was an exposition of all the hard words in the Bible which thus begins Difficiles studeo partes quas Biblia gestat Pandere sed nequeo latebras nisi qui ma ââ¦festat Auxiliante Deo qui câ⦠vult singula praestat Dante juvamen eo nihil insuperabile restat c. Hard places which the Bible doth contain I study to expound but all in vain Without Gods help who darkness doth explain And with his help nothing doth hard remain c. Such the reputation of his book that in the controversie betwixt Standish Bishop of Saint Aââ¦aph and Erasmus unequal contest the former appeals to Brââ¦tons book about the interpretation of a place of Scripture This William died at Grimsby Anno Domini 1356. UTRED BOLTON was born saith Lealand ex Transabrinâ Gente Now though parts of Salop Worcester and Gloucester-shire with all Hereford shire be beyond Severn yet in such doubtfull Nativities England giveth up the Cast rather then to make a Contest to measure it Troublesome times made him leave his Country and travail to Durham where he became a Benedictine He had a rare Naturall Happiness that the Promptness and Pleasantness of his Parts commended all things that he did or said This so far ingratiated him with the Abbot of his Convent that he obtained leave to go to Oxford to File his Nature the Brighter by learning Hither he came in the heat of the difference betwixt Wickliffe and his Adversaries Bolton sided with both and with neither consenting in some things with Wickliffe dissenting in others as his conscience directed him William Jordan a Dominican and Northern Man was so madded hereat that he he fell foul on Bolton both with his Writing and Preaching Bolton angry hereat expressed himself more openly for Wickliffe especially in that his smart Book Pro Veris Monachis for True Monkes or Monkes Indeed parallel with Saint Pauls Widdows indeed which were to be honoured showing what Sanctity and Industry was required of them Hereat the anger of Jordan did Overflow endeavouring and almost effecting to get Bolton excommunicated for an Heretick This Learned Man flourished under King Richard the second 1330. JOHN GWENT was born in Wales bred a Franciscan in Oxford till he became Provinciall of his Order throughout all Britain He wrot a Learned Comment on Lombard his Common Places and is charactered a Person qui in Penitiore recognitae Prudentiae Cognitione se vel admirabilem ostenderet Here endeth Lealand his writing of him and beginneth Bale his railing on him pretending himself to the truest Touchstone of Spirits and trying Men thereby Yet doth he not charge our Gwent with any thing peculiar to him alone but common to the rest of his Order telling us what we knew before that all Mendicants were acted with an ill Genius being Sophisters Cavilers c. this Bee being no more guilty then the whole Hive therein He dyed at Hereford in the Verge of his Native Country 1348. JOHN EDE was saith Bale genere Wallus by
Extraction a Welch man immediately adding patria Herefordensis by his Country a Hereford-shire man We now for quietness sake resign him up wholly to the former Yet was he a Person worth contending for Lealand saith much in little of him when praising him to be Vir illustris Famâ Eraditione Religione He wrot severall Comments on Aristotle Peter Lumbard and the Revelalion He was chief of the Franciscans Convent in Hereford where he was buried in the raign of King Henry the fourth 1406. DAVID BOYS Let not Kent pretend unto him wherein his Surname is so Ancient and Numerous our Author assuring us of his British Extraction He studied in Oxford saith Lealand no less to his own Honour then the Profit of others reaping much benefit by his Books Having his Breeding at Oxford he had a Bounty for Cambridge and compassing the writings of John Barningham his Fellow-Carmelite he got them fairly transcribed in four Volumes and bestowed them on the Library in Cambridge where Bale beheld them in his Time He was very familiar understand it in a good way with Eleanor Cobham Dutchess of Gloucester whence we collect him at least a Parcell-Wickliffite Of the many books he wrot fain would I see that Intituled of Double Immortality whether intending thereby the Immortality of Soul and Body or of the Memory here and Soul hereafter I would likewise satisfie my self in his Book about the madness of the Hagarens whether the Mahometans be not ment thereby pretending themselves descended from Sarah when indeed they are the Issue of the Bond-woman He was Prefect of the Carmelites in Gloucester where he dyed 1450. Let me adde that his Surname is Latined Boethius and so Wales hath her David Boethius whom in some respects she may Vie with Hector Boethius of Scotland Since the Reformation Sir JOHN RHESE alias Ap Ryse Knight was born in Wales Noble by his Linage but more by his Learning He was well vers'd in the British Antiquities and would not leave a Hoof of his Countries Honour behind which could be brought up to go along with him Now so it was that Polydore Virgil that Proud Italian bare a Pique to the British for their Ancient Independency from the Pope Besides he could not so easily compass the Welch Records into his clutches that so he might send them the same way with many English Manuscripts which he had burnt to ashes This made him slight the Credit of Welch Authors whom oâ⦠Sir John was a Zelot to assert being also a Champion to vindicate the story of King Arthur Besides he wrot a Treatise of the Eucharist and by the good words Bale bestoweth on him we believe him a Favorour of the Reformation flourishing under King Edward the sixth 1550. JOHN GRIFFIN was born in Wales first bred a Cistercian Friar in Hales-Abbey in Gloucester-shire After the dissolution of his Convent he became a Painfull and Profitable Preacher He suited the Pulpit with Sermons for all seasons having his Conciones Aestivales Brumales which he preached in English and wrot in Latine flourishing under King Edward the sixth Anno Domini 1550. HUGH BROUGHTON was born in Wales but very nigh unto Shrop-shire He used to speak much of his Gentility and of his Armes which were the Owles presaging as he said his Addiction to the study of Greek because those were the birds of Minerva and the Emblââ¦me of Athens I dare not deny his Gentile Extraction but it was probable that his Parents were fallen to great decay as by the ensuing story will appear When Mr. Barnard Gilpin that Apostolike man was going his annual journey to Oxford from his Living at Houghton in the North he spied by the way-side a Youth one while walking another while running of whom Mr. Gilpin demanded whence he came he answered out of Wales and that he was a going to Oxford with intent to be a Scholar Mr. Gilpin perceiving him pregnant in the Latine and having some smattering in the Greek Tongue carried him home to Houghton where being much improved in the Languages he sent him to Christs-colledge in Cambridge It was not long before his worth preferred him Fellow of the House This was that Broughton so famous for his skill in the Hebew a great Ornament of that University and who had been a greater had the heat of his Brain and Peremptoriness of his Judgement been tempered with more moderation being ready to quarrell with any who did not presently and perfectly imbrace his Opinions He wrote many books whereof one called The consent of times carrieth the generall commendation As his Industry was very Commendable so his Ingratitude must be condemned if it be true what I read that when Master Gilpin his Mecaenas by whose care and on whose cost he was bred till he was able to breed himself grew old he procured him to be troubled and molested by Doctor Barnes Bishop of Durham in expectation of his Parsonage as some shrewdly suspect At last he was fixed in the City of London where he taught many Citizens and their Apprentices the Hebrew Tongue He was much flocked after for his Preaching though his Sermons were generally on Subjects rather for Curiosity then Edification I conjecture his death to be about the year of our Lord 1600. HUGH HOLLAND was born in Wales and bred first a Scholar in Weââ¦minster then Fellow in Trinity-colledge in Cambridge No bad English but a most excellent Latine Poet. Indeed he was addicted to the New-old Religion New in comparison of Truth it self yet Old because confessed of long continuance He travailed beyond the Seas and in Italy conceiving himself without Ear-reach of the English let flie freely against the Credit of Queen Elizabeth Hence he went to Jerusalem though there he was not made or he would not own himself Knight of the ãâã In his return he touched at Constantinople where Sir Thomas Glover Embassador for King James called him to an account for his Scandalum Reginae at Rome and the former over freedome of his tongue cost him the confinement for a time in Prison Enlarged at last returning into England with his good parts bettered by learning and great learning increased with experience in travail he expected presently to be chosen Clerk of the Councell at least but preferment not answering his expectation he grumbled out the rest of his life in visible discontentment He made verses in description of the chief Cities in Europe wrot the Chronicle of Queen Elizabeths raign believe him older and wiser not railing as formerly and a book of the life of Master Camden all lying hid in private hands none publikely Printed This I observe the rather to prevent Plagearies that others may not impe their credit with stollen feathers and wrongfully with ease pretend to his painfull endeavours He had a competent estate in good Candle-rents in London and died about ' the beginning of the raign of King Charles The Farewell To take my Vale
with the Title of Earl thereof until the raign of King James who created Philip Herbert second Son to Henry Earl of Pembroke Baron Herbert of Shurland and Earl of Montgomery Natural Commodities Horses How good and swift are bred in this County I may well spare my Commendation and remit the Reader to the Character I find given of them in a good Author From the Gomerian fields Then which in all our Wales there is no Country yields An excellenter Horse so full of Natural fire As one of Phoebus Steeds had been that Stallions Sire Which first their race begun or of th' Asturian kind Which some have held to be begotten by the wind Now after proportionable abatement for his Poetical Hyperbole the remainder is enough to inform us of the good Strain this Shire doth afford Proverbs Y Tair Chiwiorydd In English the Three Sisters being a common By-word to express the three Rivers of ãâã Severn Rhiddiall arising all three in this County out of the South-west side of Plynnillimmon Hill within few paces one of another but falling into the Sea more miles asunder Severn into the Severn Sea Wye into the Severn Rhiddiall into the Irish Sea The Tradition is that these three sisters were to run a race which should be first married to the Ocean Severn and Wye having a great journey to go chose their way through soft Medows and kept on a Travellers pace whilest Rhiddiall presuming on her short Journey staid before she went out and then to recover her lost time runs furiously in a distracted manner with her mad stream over all opposition The Proverb is applyable to Children of the same Parents issuing out of the same Womb but of different dispositions and embracing several courses of lives in this World so that their Cradles were not so near but their Coffins are as farre asunder Pywys Paradwys Cymry That is Powis is the Paradise of Wales This Proverb referreth to Teliessen the Author thereof at what time Powis had far larger bounds than at this day as containing all the land inter-jacent betwixt Wye and Severn of the pleasantness whereof we have spoken before Gwan dy Bawlyn Hafren Hafren fyà d hifcl cynt That is Fixt thy Pale with intent to sence out his water in Severn Severn will be as before Appliable to such who undertake projects above their power to perform or grapple in vain against Nature which soon returns to its former condition Writers GEORGE HERBERT was born at Montgomery-Castle younger Brother to Edward Lord Herbert of whom immediately bred Fellow of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge and Orator of the university where he made a speech no less learned than the occasion was welcome of the return of Prince Charles out of Spain He was none of the Nobles of Tââ¦koa who at the building of Jerusalem put not their necks to the work of the Lord but waving worldly preferment chose serving at Gods Altar before State-employment So pious his life that as he was a copy of primitive he might be a pattern of Sanctity to posterity to testifie his independency on all others he never mentioned the name of Jesus Christ but with this addition My Master Next God the Word he loved the Word of God being heard often to protest That he would not part with one leaf thereof for the whole world Remarkable his conformity to Church-Discipline whereby he drew the greater part of his Parishioners to accompany him daily in the publick celebration of Divine Service Yet had he because not desiring no higher preferment than the Benefice of Bemmerton nigh Salisbury where he built a fair house for his Successor and the Prebend of Leighton founded in the Cathedral of Lincoln where he built a fair Church with the assistance of some few Friends free Offerings When a Friend on his death bed went about to comfort him with the remembrance thereof as an especial good work he returned It is a good work if sprinkled with the Blood of Christ. But his Church that unimitable piece of Poetry may out-last this in structure His death hapned Anno Dom. 163 EDWARD HERBERT Son of Richard Herbert Esquire and Susan Newport his Wife was born at Montgomery * Castle in this County Knighted by King James who sent him over Embassador into France Afrerwards King Charls the first created him Baron of Castle Island in Ireland and some years after Baron of Cheirbury in this Counââ¦y he was a most excellent Artist and rare Linguist studied both in Books and Men and himself the Author of two Works most remarkable viz. A Treatise of ãâã written in French so highly prized beyond the Seas that as I am told it is extant at this day with great Honour in the Popes Vatican He married the Daughter and sole Heir of Sir VVilliam Herbert of Saint Julians in Monmouth-shire with whom he had a large Inheritance both in England and Ireland He died in August Anno Domini 1648. and was buried in Saint Giles in the fields London having designed a fair Monument of his own Invention to be set up for him in the Church of Montgomery according to the Model following upon the ground a Hath pace of fourteen foot square on the midst of which is placed a Dorrick Columne with its rights of Pedestal Basis and Capital fifteen foot in height on the Capital of the Columne is mounted an urn with an Heart Flamboul supported by two Angels The foot of this Columne is attended with four Angels placed on Pedestals at each corner of the said Hath pace two having Torches reverst extinguishing the Motto of Mortality the other two holding up Palmes the Emblems of Victory This Monument hath not hitherto by what obstruction I list not to enquire and I fear will not be finished which hath invited me the rather to this Description that it might be erected in Paper when it was intended in Marble Memorable Persons HAWIS GADARN She was a Lady of remark sole Daughter and Heir to Owen ap Graffyth Prince of that part of Powis called Powis Wenwinwin which taketh up this whole County She was justly as will appear surnamed Gadarn that is the Hardy I confess Hardy sounds better when applyed to men as Philip the Hardy a Prince in France meek and mild being a more proper Epethite for a woman Yet some competent hardiness to comport with troubles mis-becometh not the weaker Sex and indeed if she had not been Hawis the Hardy she had been Hawis the Beggerly She had four Uncles her Fathers Brethren Lhewelyn Iohn Griffith Vachan and David which uncles became her Cosens detaining all her inheritance from her Give said they a Girle a little Gold and marry her God and nature made Land for men to manage Hereupon Hawis comes to Court complains to King Edward the second The mention of her minds me of the Daughter of Zelophehad who pleaded so pathetically for her patrimony before Moses and Joshua The King commiserating her case
consigned his Servant John Charleton born at Apple in Shropshire a vigorous Knight to marry her creating him in her right Bââ¦ron of Powis Thus was he possessed of his Lady but get her Land as he can it was bootless to implead her uncles in a Civil Court Action was the only Action he could have against them and he so bestirred himself with the assistance of the Kings Forces that in short time he possessed himself of three of her uncles prisoners and forced the fourth to a composition Yea he not only recovered every foot of his Wives Land but also got all the Lââ¦nds of her uncles in default of their issue male to be settled upon her I wish that all Ladies injured by their potent Relations may have such Husbands to marry them and match their adversaries These things hapned about the yeare of our Lord 1320. Know Reader there were four John Charletons successively Lords of Powis which I observe rather because their Homonymy may not occasion confusion JULINES HERRING was born at Flambere-Mayre in this County 1582. His Father returned hence to Coventry to which he was highly related Coventry whose Ancestors for the space of almost two hundred years had been in their course chiefe Officers of that City Perceiving a pregnancy in their Son his parents bred him in Sidney Colledge in Cambridge he becamê afterwards a profitable and painful Preacher at Calk in Derby-shire in the Town of Shrewsbury and at Rendbury in Cheshire being one of a pious life but in his judgement disaffected to the English Church-Discipline I could do no less than place him amongst the memorable Persons otherwise coming under no Topick of mine as writing no Books to my knowledge ãâã hiâ⦠Life written at large by Mr. Samuel Clark I say Mr. Clark whose Books of our modern Divines I have perused as Travellers by the Levitical Law were permitted to pass thorow other mens Vinyards For they must eat their fill on conditions they put no Grapes up in their Vessels I have been satisfied with reading his works and informed my self in Places and Dates of some mens births and deaths But never did nor will whatever hath been said of me or done by others incorporate any considerable quantity of his Works in my own detesting such Felony God having given me be it spoken with thanks to him and humility to man plenty of my own without being plagiary to any Author whatsoever To return to Julines Herring whose Christian name is very usual in the Country amongst people of quality in memory of Julius Palmer in the Marian Days martyred and a Native of that City he being prohibited his preaching here for his non-Conformity was called over to Amsterdam where he continued Preacher to the English Congregation some years well respected in his place and died in the year of our Lord 1644. The Farewell And now being to take our leave of this County the worst I wish the Inhabiââ¦ants thereof is that their Horses excellent in their kind whereof before may to use ââ¦he Counââ¦-mans expression Stand well being secured from all Infectious and peââ¦lential Diseââ¦ses ââ¦he rather because when God is pleased to strike this Creature not unfitly termed mans wings whereby he so swiââ¦tly flyeth from one place to another for dispatch of his occasions it is a sad presage that he is angry with the Riders and will without their seasonable Repentance punish their sins with some exemplary judgment MONMOUTH-SHIRE MONMOUTH-SHIRE I may fiââ¦ly call this an English-Welsh County for though it lie West of Severn yea of ãâã it self and though the Welsh be the common Language thereof yet it doth wear a double badge of English relation First whereas formerly all Welsh Counties sent but one Knight to the Parliament this had the priviledge of two Conformable to the Shires of England Secondly it is not subject to the VVelsh Jurisdiction but such Itinerant Judges as go Oxford Circuit have this County within the compass of their Commission Manufactures Caps These were the most ancient general warm and profitable coverings of mens heads in this Island It is worth our pains to observe the tenderness of our Kings to preserve the trade of Cap-making and what long and strong strugling our State had to keep up the using thereof so many thousands of people being maintained thereby in the land especially before the invention of Fulling-Mills all Caps before that time being wrought beaten and thickned by the hands and feet of men till those Mills as they eased many of their labour outed more of their livelihood Thus ingenious inventions conducing to the compendious making of Commodities though profitable to private persons may not always be gainful to the publick to which what employes most is most advantageous as Capping anciently set fiââ¦teen distinct Callings on work as they are reckoned up in the Statute 1. Carders 2. Spinners 3. Knitters 4. Parters of Wooll 5. Forsers 6. Thickers 7. Dressers 8. Walkers 9. Dyââ¦rs 10. Battellers 11. Shearers 12. Prââ¦ers 13. Edgers 14. Liners 15. Band-makers And other Exercises No wonder then if so many Statutes were enacted in Parliaments to encourage this Handicraft as by the ensuing Catà logue will appear 1. Anno 22. of Edward the fourth Cap. 5. That none thicken any Cap or Bonnet in any Fulling-Mill upon pain to forfeit forty shillings 2. Anno 3. of Henry the eighth Cap. 15. That no Caps or Hats ready wrought should be brought from beyond the Seas upon the forfeiture of fourty shillings Yet because notwithstanding this Statute some still presumed to import forraign Wares it was enacted 3. Anno 21. of Henry the eighth Cap. 9. That such outlandish Hats should be sold at such low prices as are specified in the Statute meerly to deter the Merchant from importing them because such their cheapness that they would turn to no accompt 4. Anno 7. of Edward the sixth Cap. 8. Fulling-Mills beginning now to take footing in England the Statute made the 22 of Edward the fourth was revived to stand and remain in full force strength and effect 5. Anno 8. of Queen Elizabeth Cap. 11. Fulling-Mills still finding many to favour them the pains and profit of Cap-making was equally divided betwixt the Mills and the Cap-makers it being enacted That no Cap should be thicked or fulled in any Mill untill the same had first been well scoured and closed upon the Bank and half footed at least upon the foot-stock 6. Lastly to keep up the usage of Caps it was enacted the 13. of Queen Eliz. Cap. 19. That they should be worn by all persons some of worship and quality excepted on Sabboth and Holy-days on the pain of forfeiting ten groats for omission thereof But it seems nothing but Hats would fit the Heads or humors rather of the English as fancied by them fitter to fence their fair faces from the injury of wind and weather so that the 39 of Queen Elizabeth this Statute was repealed Yea the Cap accounted
* So was I informââ¦d by his carââ¦ful Exââ¦cutors * So read I in his Epitaph in the Chappel * Mat. 23. 4. * Stow's Survey of London pag. 88. * Idem p. 89. * Idem ibidem * Stow's Surv. of London p. 89. * Idem ibidem * First book in the chap. of Churches * Stow's Surv. of London p. 90. * Bella in his ruins of Rome translated by Spencer * Bale de script Brit. Cent. 2. p. 173. in vita Gilberti Westmonasteriensis * Or Copper rather * Godwin in his Annals of K. Henry 8. Anno 1. * Sââ¦eeds Chronicle p. 684. * In title of Princes * Speeds Cron. p. 703. * Idem A M P. a Speeds Chro. in the end of the reign of K. Edward the fourth b Some say his name was Kyme * Master Booth of C. C. C * Bambridge Gassendus * Hamond L'estrange in the raign of King Charles the first p. 112. * See Battles in Worcestershire * Doctor Heylin in his life of K. Charles p. 155. * Now Cleââ¦k of Stationers-hall then an attendant of the Lady * Mistris Conant a Rocker to whom she spake it Psal. 13. 3. * See our list of Sheriffs in that County * Math. ââ¦est ad An. Dom. 958. * Vide Martyrs in Hantshire Amos 4. 7. * So informed from his own mouth * W. Somner in the Antiquity of Cant. p. 181. * Idem ibidem * See his life written by Dr. Rawleigh * Lord Burgh of Ireland and Lord Henry Jermyn * Bale de scripti Brit. Cent. 2. Num. 55. * Epigram 14. * Epigram 45. S. N. * By Ralph Sadler Esq of Standon in Hartfordshire who was with him at Copenhaguen S. N. * Amos 5. 24. * Hartlibs Legacy p. 97. * Camd. Brit. in this County * Statutes 7. Edward 4. c. 3. * Stââ¦w's Chro. p. 869. * Cam. Brit. in Norfolk * Num. 25. 18. Ephes. 6. 11. Josh. 9. 4. * Godwin in his Catalogue of the Bishops of Norwich * Sir H. Spelman in the Gossary pag. 416. * Viz. Anno regis 10. 13. * Tho. Walsingham An. 1290. * 6. Sept. 1. Ed. 11. inter Paââ¦t Par. 1. Memb. 21. * Anno Domini 1292. * Out of the book of Will. Botyner fol. 20. sometimes Herauld to Sir John Falstofe written in the reign of King Henry 6. and containeth all the ancient Gentry of this County * Isa. 53. 1. * Sir Rich. Baker Chron. 3. Ed. 3. p 181. * Holinshead Stow. * Veavers Fnu. Mon. p. 817. * Hackluit in his English Voyages Vol. 1. p. 118. c. * Camd. Brit. in Norfolk * Bale de scrip Brit. Cent. 6. Num. 25. * Idem ibidem * In the 2. of his Aeneid * Dr. John Dee * Nol. p. 99. * See it dicuss'd at large in Camd. Eliz. * Bale script Brit. Cent. 5. Num. 1. * Parker in his Skeletos Cantabrigiensis * So sairh Pitz. but mistaken for it was K. Richard the second p. 382. * J. Wareus de script Hib. p. 129. * Bale de script Brit. Cent. 7. Num. 54. * De script Brit. p. 553. * De Ang. script p. 609. * Bale de script Brit. Cent. 7. Num. 100. A M P. * Pitz. de Ang. script in Anno 1529. * J. Bale in his book intituled Script nostri temporis * Fox Acts and Mon. in the life of Archbishop Cranmer * Stow's Surv. p. 567. * Fragmenta regalia a Viz. the Donation of Sir Simon Eyre b Stow's Surv. p. 89. * Camd. Brit. in Norfolk * Parker in his Sceletos Cantab in Manuscript * Some have questioned whither the M. S. were of his gift * The Continuer of Stows Annals pag. 1012. * Cowels Epist. Ded. to his Institutions * Stow's Chro. p. 362. * Sir John Hayward in the life of Edw. 6. p. 15. * Camdens Eliz. Anno 1596. * Camd. Eliz. Anno 1584. * Mr. Bolton in his funeral Notes on Judge Nichols * Mar. 6. 30. * Gen. 3. 37. * Deur 29. 5. * Camdens Eliz. Anno 1569. * Parker Sceletos Cantabr manusc * 2 King 6. 1. * Gen. 26. ãâã * Bale de scrip Brit. Cent. 9. Num. 81. * ãâã Catalogue of the Bishops of Norwich * Idem ibidem * Ex Annalibus Coll. Gonv. Caii * In scelet Cââ¦nt he is accounted but the 17. * Other men have discovered two and thirty * Phytologia Bââ¦itannica p. 82. * Dr. Jorden of Mineral-Baths c. 11. * Sam. Hartlib of Husband his Legacy p. 227. * The ãâã had formerly for four generations lived at Grafton as appears by the Lââ¦gerbook of Pipwell-Abbey * George Buck. Esquire * Camdââ¦ns Brit. in this County * The English Martyrology In the third day of Feb. * Idem ibidem * R. Verstegan p. 212. * Cujus miracula in sugandis hinc anseribus scriptores creduli decantarunt * Camd. Brit. in Northampt. * Apud Pausioniam in Eliacis * Fox Acts and Monn Anno 1557. * Sir James Ware de Praesulibus Lagentiae pag. 58. * Idem p. 59. * Dr. Richard Zouch Professor of Law in Oxsord * Witness himself in his Cat. of Landas * Anthony Kitchin who mard this See with selling and letting long leases * Fragmenta Regalia in his Character * Guil. Fitz-Williams jam quintùm Hiberniâ⦠Prorex Camd. Eliz. An. 1587. â Idem Anno 1573. * Sir Johâ⦠Davis in his discoveââ¦es of Ireland pag. 257. * Camden Anno 1588. * So am I informed from Mr. George Wake late Fellow of Magdalen-colledge in Oxford and his near kinsman AMP. * Camd. Brit. in Northamptonshire * Sir Hen. Soelmans Gloss. verbo Justitiarius * Florilegus in An. 1226. being the 14. of Hen. 3. * Sir Hen. Spelman ut prius * Camd. Bââ¦it in Northamptonshire * Stows Surv. of London pag. 519. * Sir T. More Printing the continuation of J. ãâã Chron fol. 56. * Ratliââ¦fe * Catesby * K. Rich. the third who gave a Boar for his Crest * Camdens remains * Dr. Gray * Ovid Metam lib. 13. * Cen. 5. Num. 75. * Vestegan of decayed intelligence p. 58. * Camden Brit. in Noââ¦thamptonshire * Bale de script Brit. Cent. 5. Num. 8. * De script Eccles sol 136. * Stows Ann. p. 245. * Idem ibidem * Bale de script Brit. Cent. 4. Num. 41. * Idem Cent. 7. Num. 2. * Idem Cent. 9. Num. 80. * De Ang. script 1556. * Stows Suââ¦v of London p. 313. * As his said son related to me * Pitz. p. 811. * So saith the Inscription on his Monument * 2 Sam. 19. 35. * Psal. 73. 4. * In the 1 of K. Henry * In 23. of Henry 6. * Stows Chro. p. 483. * Mills in Cat. of Honour p. 1026. * Pag. 89. * Gwil dââ¦spla Herald pag. 2 Edition ãâã * Camd. in rem * R. Butcher in Sââ¦rvey of Sââ¦amsord p. 43. * Camd. Elââ¦z in Anno 1598. *
about three years viz. from the seventh of July in the 22. year of King Henry the Sixth being the year of our Lord 1544. until the 25. year of that Kings raign This Lord built Sudeley Castle in this County which of Subjects Castles was the most handsome Habitation and of Subjects Habitations the strongest Castle King Edward the Fourthââ¦ent ââ¦ent for him with such summons that this Lord conjectured and that truly enough that it was but a Preface to his imprisonment whereupon going to London and resting himself on a Hill whence he did behold his own Castle It is thou Sudeley it is thou said he and not I that am a Traytor and so resigned the same at last into the hand of the King to procure his own liberty So true it is what Solomon saith The ransome of a mans life are his riches but the poor heareth not rebuke I find not the certain date of his death Capital Judges and Writers on the Law ANTHONY FITZ-HERBERT for a long time Justice of the Common Pleas was as a good Antiquary will have it born about Dean Forrest in this County but is by another no whit his inferiour on better evidence referred to Derby-shire where formerly we have placed his Nativity Yea I have been informed from excellent hands the Natives of this County that no Capital Judge of the three Great Courts though many of the Marches was ever born in this County yet are they here as litigious as in other places Sure I am that Gloucester-shire did breed if no Judge yet a Plaintiff and Defendant of the primest quality which betwixt them with many alternations traversed the longest suit that ever I read in England for a suit was commenced betwixt the Heirs of Sir Thomas Talbot Viscout Lisle on the one party and the heirs of Lord Barkley on the other about certain possessions lying in this County not far from Wotton-under-edge which suit begun in the end of King Edward the Fourth was depending until the beginning of King James when and was it not high time it was finally determined But the long barrenness of this County in Judges may be recompenced with fruitfulness at last the rather because Gloucestershire at this day sheweth two eminent ones Mr. Justice Adkins and Mr. Justice Hales which grace the Court of the Common Pleas with their known ability and integrity EDWARD TROTMAN Son of Edward Trotman Esquire was born at Cam nigh Duresly in this County bred a Student of the Law till he became a Bencher in the Inner Temple He wrote an Abridgement of Sir Edward Coke his eleven Volumes of Reports for the benefit of those who had not money to purchase or leisure to peruse them at large Yea such as have both may be profitted thereby for in my owne profession and in the Book of Books even those who are best acquainted with the Chapters make also use of the Contents This Gentleman in his Title page ingeniously wisheth that his Compendium might not prove Dispendium to the Reader thereof And I verily believe he hath had his desire being informed that his endeavours are well esteemed by the Learned in that profession He was buried in the Temple Church May 29. Anno Dom. 1643. Souldiers Sir WILLIAM TRACY of Todington in this County was a Gentleman of high Birth State and Stomach much in favour with King Henry the second on whom he was a daily attendant One fact hath made his Memory call it famous or infamous because he was the first and forwardest of the four Knights who at the encouragement if not command at leastwise at the connivance if not encouragement of the aforesaid King Imbrewed their hands in the blood of Thomas Becket In his old age he went into Devon-shire where he had large possessions as may appear by so many Towns bearing his surname 1. Wollocomb-Tracy 2. Bovi-Tracy 3. Nimet-Tracy 4. Bradford-Tracy c. It is reported that he intended a penitential Pilgrimage to Jerusalem but setting to Sea was ever crost with adverse Winds He is conceived to lie buried in the Parish Church of Mort in Devonshire dying about the year of our Lord 1180. Seamen This is scarcely a Maritine-shire rather bordering on the Severn than on the Sea having therein no considerable Haven Bristol being beheld as a City entire of it self and therein eminent Seamen cannot be expected yet one Family herein hath been most fortunate in such voyages having their chief Seat at Lydney in the Forrest of Dean which hath afforded WILLIAM WINTER Knight and Vice Admiral of England famous in his Generation for several performances 1. Anno 1559. being then but Machinarum classicarum praefectus English it as you please he frighted the French in Edenborough Frith assaulting their Fort in the Island of Inchkeith 2. Anno 1567. he was sent with Sir Thomas Smith with the sound of the Trumpet and shooting of some Cannons to demand the restitution of Callis of the French King 3. Anno 1568. he conducted a great Treasure of the Genoan Merchants safely into the Netherlands in despight of the French opposing him 4. Anno 1576. he with Robert Beale Clerk of the Councel was employed into Zeland to demand the restitution of our Ships which they had either taken or did detain 5. Anno 1588. he did signal service in the station appointed him coming in though not in the heat in the coole of the day when the Spanish Fleet was fallen towards the shore of Zeland and were sadly sensible of his valour I conceive him not to survive long after because if in life he would have been in action and if in action I should have found him in Cambden's Elizabeth And therefore from no mention I conclude no motion that about this time he departed Besides others of this Family unknown to me and justly referred to this County as their chief habitation And were the phrase as proper of Men sailing as Fishes swimming in the Sea I should say that Lydney-House hath brought forth a shole of Mariners So happy have they been in Sea voyages One wondring how the English durst be so bold as to put to Sea in all weathers it was returned that they were provided to saile in all seasons having both Winters and Summers on their side The more the pity that this worthy Family of the Winters did ever leave the Element of Water to tamper with Fire especially in a destructive way to their King and Country Writers OSBERNUS CLAUDIANUS or Osbern of Gloucester was bred a Benedictine Monk in the famous Convent in that City He was learned saith Leland Praeter iliius aetatis sortem above the Standard of that age He was a good Linguist Philosopher Divine he used to give clearness to what was obscure facility to what was difficult politeness to what was barbarous Nor wanted he a becoming facetiousness in his Dialogues He wrote many Books dedicating them to Gilbert Foliot Bishop of Hereford as a
Comment on the Pentateuch Dialogue-wise as also on the Incarnation Nativity Passion and Resurrection of our Saviour He wrote also a Book called Pan-Ormia dedicating the same to Hamelin Abbot of Gloucester The Title of this Book minds me of a pretty passage in Tully At a publick Plea in Rome Sisenna an Orator who defended his Client affirmed that the crimes laid to his charge were but Crimina Sputatilica To whom Rufius the Orator who managed the accusation rejoyned that he feared some treachery in so hard a word quid Sputa sit scio quid Tilica nescio But I am at a worse loss in this uncouth word though knowing both the parts thereof I know what Pan is All what Ormia is a Line or Hook but of what subject Pan-Ormia should treat is to me unknown But well fare the heart of J. Bale who I believe out of Leland rendreth it a Dictionary or Vocabulary ââ¦ooking all words it seems within the compass thereof This Osbern flourished under King Stephen Anno 1140. ROBERT of GLOUCESTER so called because a Monk thereof He is omitted whereat I wonder both by Bale and Pits except disguised under another Name and what I cannot conjecture they speak truly who term him a Rhimer whilest such speak courteously who call him a Poet. Indeed such his Language that he is dumb in effect to the Readers of our age without an Interpreter and such a one will hardly be procured Antiquaries amongst whom Mr. Selden more value him for his History than Poetry his lines being neither strong nor smooth but sometimes sharp as may appear by this Tetrastick closing with a pinch at the panch of the Monkâ⦠which coming from the Pen of a Monk is the more remarkable In the Citie of Bangor a great Hous tho was And ther vndyr vij Cellens and ther of ther Nas That C.C.C. Moncks hadde othur mo And alle by hure travayle lyvede loke now if they do so He flourished some Four hundred years since under King Henry the second and may be presumed to have continued till the beginning of King John 1200. ALAN of TEUXBURY probably born in this Country though bred at Canterbury where he became first a Monk of Saint Saviours and afterwards Prior thereof Very intimate he was with Thomas Becket having some reputation for his Learning In his old age it seems he was sent back with honour into his Native Country and for certain was made Abbot of Teuxbury when Stephen Langton so much endeavoured and at last accomplished the canonizing of Thomas Becket Four Authors were employed Becket his Evangelists to write the History of his Mock-passion and Miracles And our Allan made up the Quaternion He flourished under King John Anno 1200. ALEXANDER of HALES was bred up in the famous Monastery of Hales founded by Richard King of the Romans After his living some time at Oxford he went over to Paris it being fashionable for the Clergy in that as for the Gentry in our age to travail into France that Clerk being accounted but half learned who had not studied some time in a Forraign University But let Paris know that generally our English men brought with them more Learning thither and lent it there than they borrowed thence As for this our Alexander as he had the name of that great Conqueror of the world so was he a grand Captain and Commander in his kind For as he did follow Peter Lombard so he did lead Thomas Aquinas and all the rest of the Schoole-men He was the first that wrote a Comment on the Sentences in a great Volumn called the Summe of Divinity at the instance of Pope Innocent the fourth to whom he dedicated the same for this and other of his good services to the Church of Rome he received the splendid Title of Doctor Irrefragabilis He died Anno Dom. 1245. and was buried in the Franciscan Church in Paris THOMAS de la MORE was saith my Author born of a Knightly Family Patria Gloucestrencis a Gloucester-shire-man by his Country For which his observation I heartily thank him who otherwise had been at an utter losse for his Nativity He thus further commendeth him Pacis Armorum vir artibus undique clarus A man whose fame extended far For Arts in Peace and Feats in War Indeed he was no Carpet Knight as who brought his honour with him out of Scotland on his swords point being knighted by King Edward the first for his no less fortunate than ãâã ãâã therein Nor less was his fidelity to his Son Edward the second though unable to help him against his numerous enemies But though he could not keep him from being deposed he did him the service ââ¦aithfully to write the manner of his deposition being a most rare Manuscript extant in Oxford Library This worthy Knight flourished Anno Dom. 1326. THOMAS of HALES came just an hundred years after Alexander of Hales in time but more than a thousand degrees behind him in ability and yet following his Foot steps at distance First they were born both in this County bred Minorites in Hales Mona stery whence for a time they went to Oxford thence to Paris where they both proceeded Doctors of Divinity and applyed themselves to Contravertial Studies till this Thomas finding himself not so ãâã for that Imployment fell to the promoting positive or rather fabulous poynts of Popery for the maintainance of Purgatory He flourished under King Edward the third Anno Dom. 1340. THOMAS NEALE was born at Yate in this County bred first in Winchester then New Colledge in Oxford where he became a great Grecian Hebritian and publick Professor of the later in the University He translated some Rabins into Latine and dedicated them to Cardinââ¦l Pole He is charactered a man Naturae mirum in modum timââ¦dae Of a very fearful nature yet always continuing constant to the Roman perswasion He was Chaplain but not Domestick as not mentioned by Mr. Fox to Bishop Bonner and resided in Oxford In the first of Queen Elizabeth fearing his Professors place would quit him for prevention he quitted it and built himself an House over against Hart hall retaining the name of Neals House many years after Papists admire him for his rare judgement and Protestants for his strange invention in first ãâã the improbable lye of Parkerââ¦is ââ¦is Consecration at the ãâã ãâã in ãâã since so substantially confuted He was living in Oxford 1576. but when and where here oâ⦠beyond the Seas he died is to me unknown Since the Reformation RICHARD TRACY Esquire ââ¦orn at Todington in this County was Son to Sir William Tracy Confessor of whom before He succeeded to his ãâã ãâã in the defence whereof he wrote several Treatises in the English tongue and ãâã moââ¦markable which is entituled ãâã to the Crosse. This he ãâã ãâã having suffered much himself in his Estate for his ãâã reputed ãâã ãâã also he wrote prophetically Anno
because they need not Neighbours whose numerous Families can subsist of themselves Or else their Ambition is therein reproved singling out Desolate Places for themselves because scorning to take that Fruitfulness which Nature doth tender and desireing as it were to be Petty-Creators enforcing Artificiall Fertility on a place where they found none before I* well knew that wealthy Man who being a great improves of ground was wont to say that he would never come into that place which might not be made better On the same token that one tartly returned that then he would never go to Heaven for that place was at the best But the truth is Fertilizing of barren ground may be termed a Charitable Curiosity employing many poor people therein It is confessed that Wales affordeth plenty of barren places yielding the benefit of the best Aire but the Italian humor of building hath not affected not to say infected the British Nation I say the Italian-humor who have a merry Proverb Let him that would be happy for a Day go to the Barber for a Week marry a Wife for a Month buy him a New-horse for a Year build him a New-house for all his Life-time be an Honest-man But it seems that the Welsh are not tempted to enjoy such short happiness for a years continuance For their Buildings generally they are like those of the old Britains neither big nor beautifull but such as their Ancestors in this Isle formerly lived in For when Cataracus that valiant British Generall who for nine years resisted here the Romans puissance after his Captivity and Imprisonment was inlarged and carried about to see the Magnificence of Rome Why do you said he fo greedily desire our poor Cottages whereas you have such stately and magnificent Palaces of your own The simplicity of their common building for private persons may be conjectured by the Palaces of their Princes For Hoelldha Prince of Wales about the year 800. built a house for his own residence of White-hurdells or Watling therefore called Ty Gwin that is the White-house or Whitehall if you please However there are brave buildings in Wales though not Welsh buildings many stately Castles which the English erected therein And though such of them as survive at this day may now be beheld as Beauties they were first intended as bridles to their Country Otherwise their private houses are very mean indeed Probably they have read what Master Camden writes that the building of great houses was the bane of good house-keeping in England and therefore they are contented with the worse habitations as loath to lose their beloved hospitality The rather because it hath been observed that such Welsh buildings as conforme to the English mode have their Chimneys though more Convenient less Charitable seeing as fewer eyes are offended fewer bellies are fed with the smoaking thereof But though the Lone-houses in Wales be worse then those in England their Market-towns generally are built better then ours the Gentry it seems having many of their habitations therein The Proverbs These are twofold 1. Such as the English pass on the Welsh 2. Such as the Welsh make on the English The latter come not under my cognizance as being in the British Tongue to me altogether unknown Besides my friend Master James Howel in a Treatise on that Subject hath so feasted his Reader that he hath starved such as shall come after him for want of New Provisions As for the former sort of Proverbs we insist on one or two of them His Welsh Blood is up A double reason may be rendred why the Welsh are subject to anger 1. Moral Give losers leave to speak and that passionately too They have lost their land and we Englishmen have driven their Ancestors out of a fruitfull Country and pend them up in Barren Mountains 2. Naturall Choler having a Predominancy in their Constitution which soundeth nothing to their disgrace Impiger Iracundus is the beginning of the Character of Achilles himself Yea Valour would want an Edge if Anger were not a Whetstone unto it And as it is an Increaser of Courage it is an Attendantââ¦n ââ¦n Wit Ingeniosi sunt Cholerici The best is the anger of the Welsh doth soon arise and soon abate as if it were an Embleme of their Country up down chequered with Elevations and Depressions As long as a Welsh pedigree Men who are made Heralds in other Countries are born Heralds in Wales so naturally are all there inclined to know and keep their descents which they derive from great antiquity so that any Welsh-gentleman if this be not a Tautology can presently clime up by the stairs of his pedigree into princely extraction I confess some English-men make a mock of their long pedigree whose own perchance are short enough if well examined I cannot but commend their care in preserving the memory of their Ancestors conformable herein to the custome of the Hebrews The worst I wish their long pedigree is broad possessions that so there may be the better symmetry betwixt their extractions and estates Give your horse a Welch-bait It seems it is the custome of the Welsh travailers when they have climed up a hill whereof plenty in these parts to rain their horses backward and stand still a while taking a prospect or respect rather of the Country they have passed This they call a bait and though a Peck of Oates would doe the palfrey more good such a stop doth though not feed refresh Others call this a Scotish-bait and I believe the horses of both mountainous Countries eat the same provender out of the same manger on the same occasion Proceed we now to our Description and must make use in the first place of a generall Catalogue of such who were undoubtedly Welsh yet we cannot with any certainty refer them to their respective Counties and no wonder 1. Because they carry not in their Sur names any directions to their nativities as the antient English generally and especially the Clergy did till lately when conquered by the English some conformed themselves to the English custome 2. Because Wales was antiently divided but into three great Provinces Northwales Powis and South-wales and was not modelled into Shires according to the modern division till the raign of K. Henry the eighth Of such therefore who succeed herein though no County of Wales perchance can say this man is mine Wales may avouch all these are ours Yet I doe not despair but that in due time this my Common may God willing be inclosed and fair Inclosures I assure you is an inriching to a Country I mean that having gained better intelligence from some Welsh Antiquaries whereof that Principality affordeth many these persons may be Un-general'd and impaled in their particular Counties Princes I confess there were many in this Principality but I crave leave to be excused from giving a list of their nativities They are so antient I know not where to begin and so many I