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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 â—…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 〈◊〉 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 Londâ—…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
of Edward the third England grew famous for Sea-fights with the French and encreased in credit especially since the Navy Royal was erected by Q. Elizabeth Some conceive it would be a great advancement to the perfecting of English Navigation if allowance were given to read a Lecture in London concerning that Subject in imitation of the late Emperour CHARLES the fifth who wisely considering the rawness of his Seamen and the manifold shipwracks which they sustained in passing and repassing between Spain and the West Indies established not only a Pilote Major for the examination of such as were to take charge of Ships in that voyage but also founded a Lecture for the Art of Navigation which to this day is read in the Contraction House at Sivil the Readers of which Lecture have not only carefully taught and instructed the Spanish Mariners by word of mouth but have also published sundry exact and worthy Treatises concerning Marine causes for the direction and encouragement of Posterity Here it were to be wish'd That more care were taken for and encouragement given to the breeding of Fishermen whom I may call the spawn or young Frie of seamen yea such as hope that Mariners will hold up if Fishermen be destroyed may as rationally exspect plenty of hony and wax though only old stocks of Bees were kept without either Casts or Swarmes Nor can Fishermen be kept up except the publick eating of Fish at set times be countenanced yea enjoyned by the State Some suspect as if there were a Pope in the belly of every Fish and some bones of superstition in them which would choak a conscientious person especially if fasting dayes be observed But know that such Customes grew from a treble root of Popery Piety and Policy and though the first of these be pluck'd up the other must be watered and maintained and Statesmen may be mortified and wise without being superstitious Otherwise the not keeping of Fasting-dayes will make us keep Fasting-Dayes I mean The not forbearing of Flesh for the feeding on Fish for the good of the STATE will in processe of time prove the ruine of Fishermen they of Seamen both of Englishmen We are sadly sensible of the truth hereof in part God forbid in whole by the decay of so many Towns on our North-east Sea Hartlepool Whitebay Bridlington Scarborough Wells Cromer Lestofâ—… Alborough Orford and generally all from New castle to Harewitch which formerly set out yearly as I am informed Two Hundred Ships and upwards inployed in the Fisherie but chiefly for the taking of Ling that Noble Fish corrival in his Joule with the surloin of Beef at the Tables of Gentlemen These Fishermen set forth formerly with all their male Family sea-men sea-youths I had almost said sea-children too seeing some learn'd the Language of lar-board and star-board with Bread and Butter Graduates in Navigation and indeed the Fishery did breed the natural and best elemented seamen But since our late Civil Wars not three ships are imployed yearly for that purposâ—… Fishermen preferring rather to let their Vesseâ—… lye and rot in their Havens than to undergo much pain and peril for that would not at their return quit cost in any proportion So that it is suspicious That in processe of time we shall lose the Masters being few and aged the Mystery of Ling-catching and perchance the Art of taking and handling some other kinde of sound and good Fish no Nation without flattery to our selves be it spoken using more care and skill in ordering of that Commodity Yea which is a greater mischief it is to be feared that the seminary of sea-men will decay For under correction be it spoken it is not the long voyages to the East-Indies c. which do make but marr sea-men they are not the Womb but rather the Grave of good Mariners it is the Fishery which hath been the Nursery of them though now much disheartened because their Fish turn to no account they are brought to so bad Markets Nor is there any hope of redressing this but by keeping up Fasting-Dayes which our Ancestors so solemnly observed I say Our Ancestors who were not so weak in making as we are willfull in breaking them and who consulting the situation of this Island with the conveniencies appendant thereunto suited their Lawes and accommodated their Customes to the best benefit thereof Nor was it without good cause why Wednesdayes and Fridayes were by them appointed for Fish-dayes I confesse some Forreigners render this Reason and father it upon Clemens Alexandrinus that Because those dayes were dedicated by the Heathen the one to Mercury the God of cheating the other to Venus the Goddesse of lust therefore the Christians should macerate themselves on that day with Fasting in sorrowful remembrance of their Pronity to the vices aforenamed But waving such fancies our English Fish or Fasting-Dayes are founded on a more serious consideration For our English Fishermen in Kent Sussex Hantsâ—…re c. set forth on Monday and catch their Fish which on Tuesday they send up to London where on Wednesday it is sold and eaten Such therefore who lately have propounded to antidate Fish-eating and to remove it from Wednesday to Tuesday must thereby occasion the encroaching on the Lords-Day to furnish the Markets with that Commodity Again such Fishermen as returned on Tuesday set forth afresh on Wednesday to take Fish which on Thursday they send up to London to supply the remainder of the Week It being observable that so great is the goodnesse of God to our Nation that there is not one week in the year wherein some wholesome Fish caught on our own Coast is not in the prime Season thereof As for Staple or Salt-Fish there are those that are acquainted in the Criticismes thereof and have exactly stated and cast up the proportions who will maintain that it will do the deed and set up the Fishery as high as ever it was if every one in England able to dispend a Hundred Pounds per annum were enjoyned to lay out Twenty Shillings a Year in staple-fish a Summ so inconsiderable in the Particulars that it will hurt none and so considerble in the total it will help all of our Nation If any censure this for a tedious Digression let it be imputed to my Zeal for the good of the Common-wealth CHAPTER IX Of Writers on the Cannon and Civil Law Physick Chemistry and Chirurgery I Sometimes wondered in my self at two things in the Primitive Church during the time of the Apostles First That seing they enjoyed all things in common what use they had of Lawyers seing no Propriety no Pleading and such a Communion of all things gave a Writ of Ease to that Profession And yet I find mention made of Zenas the Lawyer no Scribe of the Law as many amongst the Jews but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Advocate or Barrister therein Secondly I wondered what use there was of Physicians in the Church seeing the Apostles miraculously
dispositions Many faults must be confessed in such Foundations which for the future may be amended But grant corruptions should continue in such foundations it is not plea enough for their abolition If the sentence of condemnation was pronounced on those who saw Christ naked and would not* cloth him how heavy a doome will fall on such who found Christ clothed and stript him in his poor Members of endowments given to their maintenance Here let me recommend some choice Charity to bountiful Hearts and plentiful Estates It were arrant presumption for any to imprison freedome it self and confine anothers Bounty by his own pretended Discretion Let the charitably minded do what when where how to whom and how much God and their own goodnesse shall direct them However it will not be amisse humbly to represent unto them the following considerations The rather because many well affected to the publick good have lately been disheartned with the frustrations of former Charity First for the time it is best to do it whilest they are living to prevent all suspicions that their intentions should be misimployed Sem will not be angry with me for saying Cham was a Mocker of his Father Peter will not be offended if I call Judas a betrayer of his Master Honest Executors will take no exception if I justly bemoan that too many dishonest ones have aâ—…used the good intents of the Testators How many Legacies sound and whole in themselves have proved before they were payed as maimed as the Cripples in the Hospitalls to whom they were bequeathed Yea as the blinded Syrians desiring to go and beleiving they went to Damascus were led to their Enemies and into the midst of Samaria so is it more then suspicious that many blind and concealed Legacies intended for the Temple of God have been imployed against the God of the Temple Next for the objects of well doing Surely a vigilant Charity must take the Alarum from the Groans of the Prisoners The Schoolmen reduce all Corporal Charity to seven principal heads 1 Visito 1 Visit men in Misery 1 Ebedmelech 1 Jeremiah 2 Poto 2 Give drink to the Thirsty 2 Obediah 2 The Prophets 3 Cibo 3 Meat to the Hungry 3 Nehemiah 3 The Jews Rulers 4 Redimo To 4 Rescue the Captive As 4 Abraham did to 4 Lot 5 Tego 5 Cover the Naked 5 Dorcas 5 The Widowes 6 Colligo 6 Dress the Wounded 6 The good Jaylor 6 Saint Paul 7 Condo 7 Bury the Dead 7 The Devout men 7 Saint Stephen See here how these 7. kinds of good Works are placed like the Planets whilst to Redeem Captives stands like the Sun in the midst of all the rest Indeed it may be sadly presumed that such Captives oft times want Visiting Meat Drink Clothes Dressing and all things but burying except any will say that they are buryed alive Liberty being the Life of mans life so that the Redeeming of Captives is eminently comprehensive of all these outward acts of Charity Yea this Act may extend it self to a Spiritual Concernment to save many Souls from Damnation seeing it may be feared that many dispairing of Ransome may put their Souls in Thraldome to purchase the Liberty of their Bodies and renounce their Religion could therefore wish That there were in London a Corporation of able and honest Merchants whereof that City affordeth a plentiful choice legally impowered to receive and imploy the charity of well affected people for a General Goale Delivery of all English Captives in Tunis Tripoli Algier Salli c. And our Countrymen first discharged if there were any Surplusage running over that it might be disposed for the ransoming of Christians of what Country soever This were a Heroick Act indeed whereby Christians endevour to be like Christ himself who was the Grand Redeemer Oh that I might be but instrumental in the least degree to advance their Enlargement I should behold it as an advancement to my self Two Reasons make me the more importunate therein One because the Papists had a Company of Fryers in England of the Order of the Holy Trinity De Redimendis Captivis which being now extinct I humbly conceive that we are bound in Conscience as to quench the Superstition so to continue the Charity of so good a design Secondly because whilst other Beggars can tell their own Tale we must plead for them who cannot plead for themselves There being so great a Gulf of distance betwixt us and them And God grant That we may never passe over to theirs but they return to our Condition Objection 1. It maketh Marriners Cowards who presuming on good mens charity that they shall be ransomed do not fight it out valiantly against the Turks as they ought and might but surrender themselves on such expectations Answer I see not but the same Objection lies with equal force against the Redeeming of Souldiers taken in land Fights by what Foe soever by exchange or otherwise Secondly accidentall and sinister miscarriages ought not to discourage any sincere intention Lastly let those who have given the best testimonies of their Valour be first redeemed and let them lye longer to suffer bad usage till the feeling thereof shall convert them into more valour if after their Liberty procured ingaging again on the same occasion Objection 2. The late Long Parliament made an Act since after some intermission renewed charging a Taxe on Merchants Goods known by the name of Algier Dutie for the Redemption of Captives in Turkey Answer The blessing of God light on the hearts of those if living who first moved and since revived it as I doubt not but those departed this life have found their Reward I could heartily wish that yearly a Catalogue were printed of the names of such prisoners thereby redeemed not knowing whether it would be more honourable for or Satisfactory to this Nation But seeing such provisions fall short of doing the Work and cannot strike home to break off the Fetters of all Prisoners It will not be amiss to implore the auxiliary Charity of others Next I desire them to reflect upon aged sequestred Ministers whom with their charge the generally ill paid fifth part will not maintain say not it will be interpreted an affront to the State to Releive them which it hath adjudged Offenders If the best of beings should observe this Rule all the World would be starved Secondly some of them abateing only that their Conscience inclined them to the Royal Cause were otherwise unblameable both in Life and Doctrine Thirdly the better Divines they were the worse they are able to shift for themselves having formerly no excursion into secular affairs so that applying themselves only to and now debarred the exercise of the Ministry they are left in a sad condition Lastly allow them faulty yet quid teneri infantes c. It is pity their Wives and Children should be ruined for their offence but enough hereof seeing in motions of this
whole year without any renewing after the Inter-Regnum Objection Such persons had better been omitted whereof many were little better then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though by good fortune they have loaded themselves with Thick clay and will be but a burden in your Book to the Readers thereof Answer All Wise men will behold them under a better Notion as the Pregnant proofs of the truth of 2. Proverbs not contradictory but confirmatory one to another Prov. 10. 22. Prov. 10. 4. The Blessing of the Lord maketh Rich. The hand of the Diligent maketh Rich. The one as the principal the other as the Instrumental cause and both meeting in the persons aforesaid For though some of them were the Younger Sons of Worshipful and Wealthy Parents and so had good Sums of Money left them Yet being generally of mean extraction They raised themselves by Gods Providence and their own Painfulness The City in this Respect being observed like unto a Court where Elder Brothers commonly spend and the younger gain an Estate But such Lord Maiors are here inserted to quicken the Industry of Youth whose Parents are only able to send them up to not to set them up in London For whaâ—… a comfort is it to a poor Apprentice of that City to see the Prime Magistrate thereof Riding in his Majoralibus with such Pomp and Attendance which another day may be his hap and happiness Objection It commeth not to the share of one in twenty thousand to attain to that Honour and it is as impossible for every poor Apprentice in process of time to prove Lord Maior as that a Minum with long living mould become a Whale Answer Not so the later is an utter Impossibility as debarred by nature being Fishes of several kinds Whereas there is a Capacity in the other to arive at it which puts hopes the only Tie which keeps the heart from breaking into the hearts of all of the attainablenesse of such preferment to themselves Doctor Hutton Arch-bishop of York when he came into any Great Grammar School which he did constantly visit in his visitations was wont to say to the young Scholars Ply your Books Boys ply your Books for Bishops are old men and surely the possibility of such dignity is a great Encouragement to the Endévours of Students Lord Maiors being generally aged and always but Annual soon make Room for Succession whereby the Indevours of all Freemen in Companies are incouraged But if they should chance to fall short as unable to reach the Home of Honour I mean the Majoralty it self yet if they take up their Lodgings at Sheriffe Alderman and Common-Councellour with a good Està tè they will have no cause to complain I confess some Counties in our ensuing Discourse will appear Lord-Maior-less as Cumberland Dorset-shire Hant-Shire c. However though hitherto they have not had hereafter they may have Natives advanced to that Honour and it may put a lawful Ambition into them to contend who shall be their Leader and who should first of those Shires attain to that Dignity As lately Sir Richard Cheverton Skinner descended I assure you of a right antient and worshipful Family was the first in Cornwall who opened the Dore for others no doubt to follow after him Nor must it be forgotten that many have been Lord-Maiors Mates though never rémembred in their Catalogues viz. Such who by Fine declined that Dignity and as I am glad that some will Fine that so the Stock of the Chamber of London may be increased so am I glad that some will not fine that so the State of the City of London may be maintained I begin the observing of their Nativities from Sir William Sevenoke Grocer Lord Maior 1418. For though there were Lord Maiors 200. years before yet their Birth-places generally are unknown It was I confess well for me in this particular that Mr. Stow was born before me being herein the Heir of Endevours without any pain of my own For knowing that Cuilibet Artifici in sua Arte est credendum I have followed him and who him continued till the year 1633. at what time their Labours do determine Since which Term to the present year I have made the Catalogue out by my own Inquiry and friends Intelligence To speak truth to their due praise one may be generally directed to their Cradles though by no other Candle then the Light of their good works and Benefactions to such places CHAP. XIV A Catalogue of all the Gentry in ENGLAND made in the Reign of King HENRY the Sixth why inserted in our Book AFter we have finished the Catalogue of the worthy Natives of every Shire We present the Reader with a List of the Gentry of the Land sollemnly returned by select Commissioners into the Chancery thence into the Records in the Tower on this occasion The Commons in Parliament complained that the Land then swarmed with Pilours â—…obbers Oppressers of the People Man-stealers Fellons Outlaws Ravishers of Women Unlawful Haunters of Forrests and Parks c. Whereupon it was ordered for the suppressing of present and preventing of future mischeifs that certain Commissioners should be impowered in every County to summon all persons of Quality before them and tender them an Oath for the better keeping of the Peace and observing the Kings Laws both in themselves and Retainers Excuse me Reader if I be bold to inâ—…pose my own Conjecture who conceive what ever was intended to palliate the Businesse The Principal Intent was to detect and suppress such who favoured the Title of York which then began to be set on foot and afterwards openly claimed and at last obtained the Crown 2. Even-done Of the method general used in this Catalogue The first amongst the Commissioners is the Bishop of their Diocesse put before any Earl partly because he was in his own Diocesse partly because giving of Oaths their proper work was conceived to be of Spiritual cognisance Besides the Bishop when there were three as generally Commissioners the first of them was either an Earl or at least though often intituled but Chivaler an Actual Baron as will hereafter appear And which will acquaint us partly with the Peerage of the Land in that Age. Next follow those who were Knights for the Shire in the Parliament foregoing and if with the addition of Chivaler or Miles were Knights by dubbing before of that their Relation All Commissioners expressed not equal Industry and Activity in prosecution of their trust For besides the natural Reasons that in all Affairs some will be more rigorous some more Remiss by their own Temper some more some less fancyed their Imployment insomuch as we find some Shires 1. Over done as Oxford and Cambridge-Shires whose Catalogues are too much allayed descending to persons of meaner quality 2. Even done as generally the most are where the Returns bear a competent proportion to the Populousness and numerousnesse of the Counties 3. Under done as Shropshire York-shire Northumberland c. where
Gods grace may prove sober Christians and eminent in their generations The last Port to which I traffiqued for intelligence towards our insuing Work was by making my addresses by letters and otherwise to the nearest Relations of those whose Lifes I have written Such applications have sometimes proved chargable but if my weak pains shall find preferment that is acceptance from the judicious Reader my care and cost is forgotten and shall never come under computation Here I cannot but condemn the carelessness not to say ingratitude of those I am safe whilst containing my self in general terms who can give no better account of the Place where their fathers or grand-fathers were born then the child unborn so that sometimes we have been more beholden to strangers for our instructions herein then to their nearest Kindred And although some will say Sons are more comfortably concerned to know the time of their Fathers death then place of their birth yet I could almost wish that a moderate fine were imposed on such heirs whose Fathers were born before them and yet they know not where they were born However this I must gratefully confess I have met with many who could not never with any who would not furnish me with information herein It is observable that men born an hundred years since and upwards have their nativities fixed with more assurance then those born some eighty years since Mens eyes see worst in the Twilight in that intervale after the Sun is set and natural light ended and before candles are set up and artificial light begun In such a crepusculum oftime those Writers lived who fall short of the history of Bale and Leland yet go before the memory of any alive which unhappy insterstice hath often perplexed us and may easier be complained of then amended To conclude should I present all with Books who courteously have conduced to my instruction the whole Impression would not suffice But I remember the no less civil then politick invitation of Judah to the Tribe of Simeon Come up with me into my Lot to Conquer the Cananites and I likewise will go with thee into thy Lot if such who have lent me theirs shall have occasion to borrow mine assistance my Pains Brains and Books are no more mine then theirs to command which besides my prayers for them and thanks to them is all my ability in requital can perform CHAP. XXIII A double Division of the English Gentry 1. According to the Nation whence they were extracted 2. According to the Profession whereby they were advanced THis discourse I tender the Reader as a preparative to dispose him for the better observing and distinguishing of our English Gentry in our ensuing Lives and Catalogue of Sheriffs We begin with the Britains the Aborigines or Native Inhabitants of the South of this Island but long since expelled by the Saxons into the West thereof None then remaining in some since returning into our Land of whom hereafter We confess the Romans Conquered our Country planted Colonies and kept Garrisons therein but their descendants are not by any character discernable from the British Indeed if any be found able to speak Latine naturally without learning it we may safely conclude him of Roman Extraction Mean time it is rather a pretty conceit then a solid notion of that great Antiquary who from the allusion of the name collecteth the noble family of the Cecils more truly Sytsilts descended from the Cecilii a Senatorian Family in Rome The Saxons succeed whose Of-spring at this day are the main bulk and body of the English though not Gentry Nation I may call them the whole cloath thereof though it be garded here and there with some great ones of foreign Extraction These Saxons though pitifully depressed by the Conquerour by Gods goodness King Henry the first favour their own patience and diligence put together the plankes of their Shiprack'd Estates and aferwards recovered a competent condition The Danes never acquired in this Land a long and peaceable possession thereof living here rather as Inroders then Inhabitants the cause that so few families distinguishable by their Surnames are descended from them extant in our age Amongst which few the respected Stock of the Denizes often Sheriffs in Devon and Gloustershire appear the principal As for Fitz-Hardinge the younger son of the King of Denmark and direct ancestour of the Truly Honourable George Lord Berkeley he came in long since when he accompanied the Conquerour I must confess that at this day there passeth a Tradition among some of the Common People that such names which Terminate in Son as Johnson Tomson Nicolson Davison Saunderson are of Danish Origination But this fond opinion is long since conâ—…uted by Vestegan that ingenious and industrious Antiquary Yea he urgeth this as an argument which much prevaileth with me why those Surnames were not derived from the Danes because they had no such name in use amongst them as John Thomas Nicholas David Alexander from whence they should be deduced Yea he further addeth that it is more probable that they made the Childs name by adjecting the syllable Son to the Appellation of the Father a custome which is usual even at this time amongst the Vulgar sort of the Dutch Yet is there not remaining any sign thereof amongst the names of our Age which probably might have been Canutson Ericson Gormoson Heraldson Rofolson c. The Normans or French under the Conquerour swarmed in England so that then they became the only visible Gentry in this Nation and still continue more then a Moity thereof several Catalogues of their Names I have so largely exemplifyed in my Church-history that some have taxed me for tediousness therein and I will not adde an new obstinacy to my old error But besides these we have some Surnames of good Families in England now extant which though French are not by any diligence to be recovered in the lists of such as came over with the Conquerour and therefore we suppose them to have remained of those Gentlemen and others which from Henault attended Queen Isabel wife unto King Edward the second Of this sort was Deureux Mollineux Darcy Coniers Longchamp Henage Savage Danvers with many more Of the British or Welsh after their expulsion hence by the Saxons some signal persons have returned again and by the Kings Grant Matches Purchases c. have fixed themselves in fair possessions in England especially since the beginning of the reign of their Country-man King Henry the seventh rewarding the valour of many contributing to his Victory in the battle of Bosworth Of the Welsh now re-estated in England and often Sheriffs therein some retain their old Surnames as the Griffins in Northamptonshire the Griffiths and Vaughans in Yorkshire some have assumed New ones as the Caradocks now known by the new Name of the Newtons in Somersetshire Many Scotch long before the Union of the two Kingdomes under King James seated themselves
strength thereof and wise conduct of their General The Loyal English did rather gaze on than pray for him as ignorant of his intentions and the Apostle observeth that the private man knoweth not how to say Amen to what is spoken in an unknown Language Now the scales began to fall down from the eyes of the English Nation as from Saul when his sight was received sensible that they were deluded with the pretences of Religion and Liberty into Atheisme and Vassallage They had learnt also from the Souldiers whom they so long had quartered to cry out One and All each Shire setting forth a Remonstrance of their grievances and refusing farther payment of Taxes Lambert cometh forth of London abounding with more outward advantages than General Monk wanted Dragon like he breathed out nought but fire and fury chiefly against the Church and Clergy But he met with a Saint George who struck him neither with sword nor spear but gave his Army a mortal wound without wounding it His Souldiers dwindled away and indeed a private person Lambert at last was little more must have a strong and long hand on his own account to hold an whole Army together The Hinder part of the Parliament sitting still at Westminster plied him with many Messengers and Addresses He returned an answer neither granting nor denying their desires giving them hope too little to trust yet too much to distrust him He was an absolute Riddle and no ploughing with his Heifer to expound him Indeed had he appeared what he was he had never been what he is a Deliverer of his Countrey But such must be as dark as midnight who mean to atchieve Actions as bright as Noon-day Then was he put on the unwellcome Office to pluck down the Gates of London though it pleased God that the Odium did not light on him that acted but those who imployed him Hence forward he sided effectually with the City I say the City which if well or ill affected was then able to make us a happy or unhappy Nation Immediately followed that TURN of our TIMES which all the World with wonder doth behold But let us not look so long on second causes as to lose the sight of the Principal Divine Providence Christ on the Crosse said to his Beloved Disciple behold thy Mother and said to her behold thy Sonne Thus was he pleased effectually to speak to the hearts of the English Behold your Soveraign which inspirited them with Loyalty and a longing desire of his presence saying likewise to our Gracious Soveraign Behold thy Subjects which encreased his ardent affection to return and now blessed be God both are met together to their mutual comfort Since the Honours which he first deserved have been conferred upon him compleated with the Title of the Duke of Albemarle and Master of his Majâ—…sties Horse c. Nor must it be forgotten that he carried the Scepter with the Dove thereupon the Emblem of Peace at the Kings Coronation But abler Pens will improve these Short Memoires into a large History Sea-men WILLIAM WILFORD was a Native nigh Plymouth in this County a valiant and successeful Sea-man It happened in the Raign of King Henry the Fourth that the French out of Britain by a sudden Invasion burnt sixteen hundred Houses in Plymouth if there be not a mistake in the figures which I vehemently suspect Sure it was a most sad desolation remembred at this day in the division of Plymouth whereof the one part is called the Britons-side the other the Old-Town But let the French boast their gain when the Game is ended which now was but began This fire enflamed all the English and especially our Wilford with desire of revenge Within a short time he made them to pay besides costs and charges more than sixfold damages by taking forty ships on the Coast of Britains and burning as many at Penarch besides many Towns and Villages for six leagues together I collect the death of this W. Wilford to be about the beginning of the Raign of King Henry the Fifth Sr. HVMPHREY GILBERT or Jilbert or Gislibert was born at Green-way in this County the pleasant Seat of his Family for a long continuance He was famous for his knowledg both by Sea and Land In the year 1569 he valiantly and fortunately served in Ireland Afterwards he led nine Companies to the assistance of the Hollanders In the year 1583 he set forth with five ships to make discoveries in the North of America where he took Sezin and Possession of New-Found-Land according to the Ancient Solemn Ceremony of cutting a Turf for the Crown of England He resolved to adventure himself in his Return in a Vessel of sorty Tun. And with two ships the onely remains of five did make for England In the instant of their winding about I may confidently report what is generally in this County averred and believed A very great Lion not swimming after the manner of a Beast with the motion of his feet nor yet diving sometimes under water and rising again as Porpyces and Dolphins do but rather gliding on the water with his whole body except legs in sight shunned not the ship nor the Marriners who presented themselves in view but turning his head too and fro yawning and gaping wide made a horrible roaring It is conceived no Spectrum or Apparition but a real fish seeing we read that such like a Lion in all lineaments was taken at Sea Anno 1282. and presented to Pope Martin the Fourth Instantly a terrible Tempest did arise and Sir Humphrey said cheerfully to his companions We are as neer Heaven here at Sea as at Land Nor was it long before his ship sunck into the Sea withal therein though the other recovered home like Jobs Messengers to bring the tydings of the destruction of their companions This sad accident happened 158. ....... COCK I am sorry I cannot add his Christian Name and more sorry that I cannot certainly avouch his Nativity in this County though inclined with many motives to believe it being a Cock of the Game indeed For in the Eighty eight Solus Cockus Anglus in sua inter medios hostes navicula cum laude periit And whereas there was not a noble Family in Spain but lost either Son Brother or Nephew in that Fight this Cock was the onely man of note of the English who fighting a Volanteer in his own ship lost his life to save his Queen and Countrey Unus homo nobis pereundo restituit rem Pity it is his memory should ever be forgotten and my Pen is sensible of no higher preferment then when it may be permitted to draw the Curtains about those who have died in the bed of Honour Sir FRANCIS DRAKE Having formerly in my Holy State written his life at large I will forbear any addition and onely present this Tetrastrick made on his Corps when cast out of the Ship wherein he died into the Sea Religio quamvis Romana
bountifull in such cases though our Nation be most concerned therein Let all ships passing thereby be fore-armed because fore-warned thereof seeing this Rock can no otherwise be resisted than by avoiding EXETER EXETER It is of a circular and therefore most capable form sited on the top of an Hill having an easie assent on every side thereunto This 〈◊〉 much to the cleannesse of this City Nature being the chief Scavenger thereof so that the Rain that falleth there falleth thence by the declivity of the place The Houses stand sidewaies backward into their Yards and onely 〈◊〉 with their Gables towards the Street the City therefore is greater in content than appearance being bigger than it presenteth it self to 〈◊〉 through the same Manufactures Cloathing is plyed in this City with great Industry and Judgment It is hardly to be believed what credible Persons attest for truth that the return for Serges alone in this City amounteth weekly even now when Trading though not dead is sick to three Thousand Pounds not to ascend to a higher proportion But the highest commendation of this City is for the Loyalty thereof presenting us with a pair-Royal of Services herein when besieged by 1 Perkin Werbeck in the Reign of King Henry the seventh 2 The Western Rebels in the Raign of King Edward the sixth 3 The Parliament Forces in the Raign of King Charles the first There Valour was invincible in the two first and their Loyalty unstained in the last rewarded by their Enemies with the best made and best kept Articles yea in the very worst of times a depressed party therein were so true to their Principles that I meet with this epitaph in the Chancell of St. Sidwells Hic jacet Hugo Grove in Comitatu Wilts Armiger in restituendo Ecclesiam in asserendo Regem in propugnando Legem ac Libertatem Anglicanam captus decollatus 6 Maii 1655. The Buildings The Cathedrall dedicated to St. Peter is most beautifull having the West end thereof adorned with so lively Statues of stone that they plainly speak the Art of those who erected them There is in this City a Castle whitherto King Richard the Usurper repaired and for some dayes reposed himself therein He demanded of the Inhabitants how they called their Castle who returned the name thereof was RUGEMONT though I confesse it a Rarity that the castle in a City should be called by any other name than a Castle Hereat the Vsurper was much abashed having been informed by Wizards that he should never prosper after he had met a thing called Rugemont It seems Sathan either spoke this Oracle low or lisping desirous to palliate his fallacy and ignorance or that King Richard a guilty conscience will be frighted with little mistook the word seeing not Rugemont but Richmond the title of King Henry the seventh proved so formidable to this Vsurper As for Parish-Churches in this City at my return thither this year I found them fewer than I left them at my departure thence 15 years ago But the Demolishers of them can give the clearest Account how the plucking down of Churches conduceth to the setting up of Religion besides I understand that thirteen Churches were exposed to sale by the publick Cryer and bought by well-affected Persons who preserved them from destruction The Wonders When the City of Exeter was besieged by the Parliaments Forces so that only the southside thereof towards the Sea was open unto it incredible number of Larks were found in that open quarter for multitude like Quails in the Wildernesse though blessed be God unlike them both in cause and effect as not desired with Mans destruction nor â—…ent with Gods anger as appeared by their safe digestion into wholesome nourishment hereof I was an eye and mouth witnesse I will save my credit in not conjecturing any number knowing that herein though I should stoop beneath the truth I should mount above belief they were as fat as plentifull so that being sold for two Pence a dozen and under the Poor who could have no cheaper as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meat used to make pottage of them boyling them down therein Seveâ—…al natural Causes were assigned hereof 1. That these Fowl frighted with much shooting on the Land 〈◊〉 to the Sea-side for their Refuge 2. That it is familiar with them in cold winters as that was to shelter themselves in the most 〈◊〉 parts 3. That some sortes of Seed were lately fown in those parts which invited them thither for their own repast However the Cause of causes was Divine 〈◊〉 thereby providing a Feast for many poor people who otherwise had been pinched for provision Princes HENRIETTA youngest Childe of King Charles and Queen Mary was born at BedfordHouse in this City Anno 1644. on the sixteenth day of June After her long and sad night of Affliction the day dawn'd with her in her Brothers happy returne Since she is marryed to the Duke of Orleance I hope that I once related unto her as a Chaplain may ever pray for her that her soul may be sanctified with true Grace and she enjoy both the Blessings of this and a Better life Prelates BARTHOLOMEUS ISCANUS born in this * City was accounted in that age the Oracle of Learning and Religion so that in all Conventions to that purpose his suffrage clearly carried it He became afterwards Bishop in the place of his nativity being intimate with his City-man whose Character next followeth Baldwin of Devonshire then but Abbot of Ford afterwards advanced to higher preferment These mutually dedicated Books each to others Commendation so that neither wanted praise nor praised himself This Leland calleth pulcherimum certamen Indeed this Alternation of reciprocal Encomiums became them the better because it was merit in both flattery in neither This Bartholomew was an opposer of Becket his insolence and having sate Bishop 14 Years ended his life Anno 1185. BALDVINUS DEVONIUS was born in this City of poor Parentage save that in some sort a worthy man may be said to be Father to himself His preferment encreased with his Learning and deserts being first a School-master then an Arch-deacon then Abbot of Ford afterwards Bishop of Worcester and lastly Arch-bishop of Canterbury An eloquent Man and a pious Preacher according to the Devotion of those dayes so that the errours which he maintained may justly be accounted the Faults of the timâ—…s and in him but infirmities When King Richard the first went to Palestine he conceived himself bound both in conscience and credit to partake of the pains and perils of his Soveraign whom he attended thither but not thence dying there and being buried at Tyre Anno Dom. 1190. WALTER BRONSCOMBE was Son to a very mean * man in this City and therefore the more remarkable that taking no rise from his extraction he raised himself by his own industry to be Bishop of Exeter Here he built and endowed an Hospital for poor people and also founded a fair Colledge at
Structure especially before part thereof was defaced with a casual fire The Wonders There is an Oake in this County which by most credible people is generally reported to put forth green leaves yearly on or about Christ-mas day It groweth nigh Lindhurst in the New Forrest and perchance I could point more exactly at the position thereof but am loath to direct some ignorant Zealot lest he cut it down under the notion of superstition and make Timber of this Oake as some lately have made Fewel of the Hawthorn at Glassenburie Proverbs Manners makes a Man Quoth William Wickham This generally was his Motto inscribed frequently on the places of his Founding so that it hath since acquired a Proverbial Reputation We commonly say In the 1. Church God makes a Man as who truly created him 2. Court Clothes make a Man as which habit and adorn him 3. Change Money makes a Man which puts him in a solvable condition 4. Schools Manners make a Man as which compleat and accomplish him Grant the two middle Expressions the extravagancy of our Pride and Covetousness the first and last must be allowed proportionable to Piety and Truth Without manners one is but a Man-beast or Centaure Now seeing no man without Manners no Manners without some Learning no Learning without Teaching no teaching of Youth to that in a Grammer Free-school of men to that in a Colledge in an Universitie How much thanks doth Posteritie owe to this VVickham's memory Canterbury is the higher Rack but Winchester is the better Manger W. Edington Bishop of Winchester was the Authour of this Expression rendring this the reason of his refusal to be removed to Canterbury though chosen thereunto Indeed though Canterbury be Graced with an higher Honor the Revenues of Winchester lying entirely are more advantagious to gather riches thereon The Proverb is appliable to such who prefer a wealthy Privacy before a less profitable Dignity Yet know that that Manger did once partly maintain that Rack viz. When John White Bishop of Winchester was injoyned by Queen Mary to pay a thousand pound a year to Cardinal Poole Archbishop of Canterburie for the better support of his Estate The Isle of Wight hath no Monks Lawyers nor Foxes This Speech hath more mirth than Truth in it That they had Monks I know Black ones at Carisbrook White ones at Quarter in this Island That they have Lawyers they know when they pay them their Fees and that they have Foxes their Lambs know However because perchance they have fewer in proportion to places of the like extent and few or none are often coupled in common discourse let not that which was pleasantly spoken be frowardly taken but pass as we found it to Posteritie Princes HENRY Eldest Son of King John and his Wife ISABEL born at Winchester Anno 1208. was one besides the account of Longaevity Eminent in his Generation He was a most pious King Son to a prophane Father King John A very poor King brother to a most wealthie Richard King of the Romans A very weak King Father to a most wise Son Edward the First The Tragi-Comedie of his life was Eminent in many particulars 1. He had scarce half a Kingdome in the beginning of his Reign Lewis of France being brought in to be King by the English in their hot and cast out in their cold Bloud 2. He had no part of a Kingdome in the middle of his Reign Imbroyled with War with his Barons Beaten in Battle Imprisoned and no King in effect 3. He had all the Kingdome in the end of his Reign For as soon as Prince Edward began to Man it This His Son may be accounted his Father by whom he attained a comfortable Old Age. He was not so weak but that he knew who were wiser then himself and would be governed by them One main cause which procured his Death in Peace and Burial in Pomp In the Abbey of Westminster of his own foundation Anno Dom. 1273. ELEANOR tenth Daughter sixteenth and youngest Child of King Edward the First was born at Winchester the 6. of May 1306. and died in her Infancy So that the Epitaph which I find elsewhere of an Infant of meaner birth may be applyed unto her She lieth buried at Saint Peters VVestminster having her Picture upon her Monument with three of her Brothers ARTHUR Eldest son to King Henry the Seaventh and Queen Elizabeth was born being partus octomestris yet vital and vigorous contrary to the rules of Physicians at Winchester the 20. day of September 1486. Some will wonder at his name whereof no Alliance nor English Prince since the unhappy Arthur Duke of Britain supposed to be made away by King John his cruel Uncle But because this Prince by his Fathers side was with King Arthur of British extraction and because born at Winchester where King Arthur kept his Court and His pretended Round Table still to be seen that name was bestowed upon him He died at Ludlow in the sixteenth year of his Age Anno 1502. and is buried in the Cathedral of Worcester more known to Posterity by the Widow he left the Lady Katherine Dowager and the effects ensuing thereon then by any of his own personal performances Saints EDBURGH eight Daughter of King Edward the Elder and his first by Queen Edgiva gave when but three years of Age a great Augury of her future Pietie Her Father presenting before her and leaving to her choyce On the one hand the New Testament and a Challice On the other Jewels Rings and Bracelets She took the New Testament and the Challice conceive it not because of Massy Silver but acted with the Principal of Infant Pietie Hereupon her Parents left her to her own disposal who became a Nun at Winchester after the Order of Saint Benedict under-going the Austeritic of that Order It is reported of her Forgive me Reader though I would not write these things they are so Absurd I cannot but write them they are so Absurd That she would by night play the part of a Pious Thief and steal the Socks of all the other Nuns and having carefully washed and annointed them restore them to their beds sides This Saint EDBURG died on the 15. of June 920. Some of her bones being kept at Winchester others say at Wilton So facile the mistakes in Latine betwixt WILTONIA and WINTONIA and the rest were translated to Pershore an Abbey in the Diocess of WORCESTER Martyrs This County being in the Diocesse of VVinchester escaped very well in the MARIAN DAYES from any visible persecution Under God it might thank Stephen Gardener or rather Gardners policy This Bishop like a Cunning Hunter preserved the GAME fair at home and Killed it in the WALKES of other Keepers It was not he but bloody Bonner who procured the death of JOHN PHILPOT Son of Sir Peter Philpot Knight was born in this County whose Family had an Ancient habitation at therein
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
that the world may see what time cureth in a weak mind that Discretion and Moderation helpeth in you in this accident where there is so just cause to demonstrate true Patience and Moderation Your gracious and loving Sovereign E. R. Now thoughâ—… nothing more consolatory and pathetical could be written from a Prince yet his death went so near to the heart of the Lord his ancient father that he dyed soon after Writers JOHN HANVILE took his name as I conceive from Hanwell a Village in this County now the habitation of the ancient Family of the Copes seeing none other in England both in sound and spelling draweth nearer to his Sirname He proceeded Master of Arts in Oxford then studied in Paris and travelled over most parts in Christendom He is commonly called Archithrenius or Priâ—…ce of lamentation being another Jeremy and man of mourning He wrote a book wherein he bemoned the errors and vices of his own Age and himself deserved to live in a better Yet this doleful Dove could peck as well as grone and somtimes was satyrical enough in his passion there being but a narrow â—…age betwixt grief and anger and bitterness is a quality common to them both He flourished under King John Anno 1200. and after his return from his travels is conceived by some to have lived and dyed a Benedictine of St. Albans JOHN of OXFORD was no doubt so named from his birth in that City otherwise had he onely had his Education or eminent learning therein there were hundreds Johns of Oxford as well as himself Hector Boethius sirnamed him a Vado Boum and owneth him the next Historian to Jeffrey Monmouth in age and industry He was a great Anti-Becketist as many more in that Age of greater learning except stubornness be made the standard thereof than Becket himself Being Dean of old Sarâ—…m and Chaplain to King Henry the second he was by him imployed with others to give an account to the Pope but I question wheâ—…her he would take it of the Kings carriage in the business of Becket He was preferred Anno 1175. Bishop of Norwich where he repaired his Cathedral lately defaced with fire built a fair Almes-house and Trinity-church in Ipswich His death happened Anno Dom. 1200. ROBERT BACON first Scholer of afterward a familiar Friend to St. Edmund Archbishop of Canterbury was bred a Doctor of Divinity in Oxford and when aged became a Dominican or preaching Fryer and for his Sermons he was highly esteemed by King Henry the third He was Lepidus Cynicus and a most profest enemy to Peter Roach Bishop of Winchester Matâ—…hew Paris gives him and another viz. Richard de Fishakle this praise Quibus non erant majores imò nec pares ut creditur viventes in Theologia aliis scientiis and I listen the rather to his commendation because being himself a Benedictine Monk he had an antipathy against all Fryers I behold this Robert Bacon as the senior of all the Bacons which like tributary streams disembogued themselves with all the credit of their actions into Roger Bacon who in process of time hath monopolized the honour of all his Sirname-sakes in Oxford Our Robert dyed Anno Dom 1248. ROBERT of OXFORD was not onely an Admirer but Adorer of Thomas Aquinas his contemporary accounting his Opinions Oracles as if it were a venial sin to doubt of and a mortal to deny any of them Mean time the Bishop of Paris with the consent of the Masters of Sorbonne the great Champions of liberty in this kind granted a licence to any Scholer Opinari de opinionibus to guess freely and by consequence to discuss in Disputations any mans Opinions which as yet by a general Council were not decided matters of faith Our Roberâ—… much offended thereat wrote not onely against Henricus Gandavensis and Aegiâ—…ius Romanus but also the whole College of Sorbonne an act beheld of many as of more boldness than brains for a private person to perform He flourished under King Henry the third Anno Dom. 1270. JEFFREY CHAUCER was by most probability born at Woodstock in this County though other places lay stiff claim to his Nativity Berk-shires title Londons title Oxford shires title Leland confesseth it likely that he was born in Barochensi provincia and Mr. Cambden avoweth that Dunington-castle nigh unto Newburie was anciently his Inheritance There was lately an old Oake standing in the Park called Chaucers Oake The Author of his life set forth 1602. proveth him born in London out of these his own words in the Testament of love Also in the Citie of London that is to mâ—…e â—…ot deare and swéete in which I was foorth growne and more kindely love have I to that place than to any other in yerth as every kindely creature hath full appetite to that place of his kindly ingendure Besides Mr. Cambden praiseth Mr. Edmund Spencer the Londoner for the best Poet Ne Chaucero quidem concive excepto Chaucer himself his fellow-citizen not being excepted Leland addeth a probability of his birth in Oxford-shire and Cambden saith of Woodstock Cuâ—… nihil habeat quod ostentet Hâ—…merum nostrum Anglicum Galfredum Chaucerum alumnum suum fuisse gloriatur Besides â—… Pits is positive that his father was a Knight and that he was born at Woodstock And Queen Elizabeth passed a fair stone-house next to her Palace in that Town unto the Tenant by the name of Chaucers house whereby it is also known at this day Now what is to be done to decide the difference herein Indeed Appion the Grammarian would have Homer concerning whose Birth-place there was so much controversie raised ab Inferis that he might give a true account of the place of his Nativity However our Chaucer is placed heâ—…e having just grounds for the same untill stronger reasons are brought to remove him He was a terse and elegant Poâ—…t the Homer of his Age and so refined our English Tongue Ut inter expolitas gentium linguas potuit rectè quidem connumerari His skill in Mathematicks was great being instructed therein by Joannes Sombus and Nicholas of Linn which he evidenceth in his book De Sphaera He being Contemporary with Gower was living Anno Dom. 1402. Since the Reformation THOMAS LYDYATE Now I find the old sentence to be true Difficile fugitivas mortuorum memorias retrahere seeing all my industry and inquiry can retrive very little of this worthy person and the Reader I hope will not be angry with me who am so much grieved with my self for the same Indeed contradicting qualities met in him Eminency and Obscurity the former for his Learning the later for his Living All that we can recover of him is as followeth He was born at Alkerton in this County bred first in Winchester school then in New college in Oxford being admitted therein Iune 22. 1593. An admirable Mathematician witness these his learned
bad success He exhorted them to be Pious to God Dutifull to their King Piâ—…full to all Captives to be Carefull in making Faithfull in keeping articles with their enemies After the death of Strafford he was made Arch-bishop of Canterbury and at Avenion where the Pope then resided received his Consecration Here he was accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 somewhat Clownish by the Romish Court partly because he could not mode it with the Italians but chiefly because money being the generall Turn-key to Preferment in that place he was meeâ—…ly advanced for his merit But that which most recommended his memory to posterity is that worthy book he made de Causâ Dei wherein speaking of Pelagius he complaineth in his second Book that Totus paenè mundus ut timeo doleo post hunc abiit erroribus ejus faveâ—… I fear and lament that almost the whole world runs after him and favours his errors Bradwardine therefore undertook to be Champion for Grace and Gods cause against such who were not defensores sed deceptores sed inflatores sed praecipitatores liberi arbitrâ—… as Augustine calleth them and as the same Father saith of Cicero dum liberos homines esse volunt faciunt sacrilegos He died at Lambâ—…th in October Anno Dom. 1349. THOMAS ARUNDELL was the fourth Arch-bishop of Canterbury who was born in this County Son he was to Robert Brother to Richard Fitz-Alen both Earls of Arundâ—…ll Herein he standeth alone by himself that the Name Arundell speaks him both Nobleman and Clergy-man the Title of his fathers honor and place of his own birth meeting both in the Castle of Arâ—…ell It was â—…ither his Nobility or Ability or Both which in him did supplere aetatem qualifying him to be Bishop of Ely at twenty two years of age He was afterwards Archbishop of York and at last of Canterbury 1396. and three severall times Lord Chancellor of England viz. In the Tenth of Richard the second 1386. in the Fifteenth of Richard the second 1391. the Eleventh of Henry the fourth 1410. By King Richard the second when his Brother the Earl of Arundell was beheaded this Thomas was banished the land Let him thank his Orders for saving his Life the Tonsure of his hair for the keeping of his Head who otherwise had been sent the same path aâ—… pase with his Brother Returning in the First of K. Henry the fourth he was restored to his Arch-bishoprick Such who commend his Courage for being the Churches Champion when a powerfull Party in Parliament pushed at the Revenues thereof condemn his Cruelty to the Wicklevites being the first who persecuted them with Fire and Fagot As for the manner of his death we will neither carelesly wink at it nor curiously stare on it but may with a serious look solemnly behold it He who had stop'd the mouths of so many servants of God from preaching his Word was himself famished to Death by a swelling in his Throat But seeing we bear in our Bodies the seeds of all Sicknesses as of all sins in our souls it is not good to be over-bold and buisie in our censures on such Casualties He died February 20. 1413. and lieth buried in his Cathedral at Canterbury HENRY BURWASH so named saith my Author which is enough for my discharge from Burwash a Town in this County He was one of Noble Alliance And when this is said all is said to his Commendation being otherwise neither good for Church nor State Soveraign nor Subjects Covetous Ambitious Rebellious Injurious Say not what makes he here then amongst the worthies for though neither Ethically nor Theologically yet Historically he was remarkable affording something for our Information though not Imitation He was recommended by his kinsman Bâ—…rtholomew de Badilismer Baron of Leeds in Kent to K. Edward the second who preferred him Bishop of Lincoln It was not long be fore falling into the Kings displeasure his Temporalities were seized on and afterwards on his submission restored Here in stead of new Gratitude retayning his old Grudge he was most forward to assist the Queen in the deposing of her husband He was twice L. Treasurer once Châ—…ncellor and once sent over Ambassador to the Duke of Bavaria He died Anno Domini 1340. Such as mind to be merry may read the pleasant Story of his apparition being condemned after Death to be viridis viridarius a green â—…rester because in his life time he had violently inclosed other mens Grounds into his Park Surely such Fictions keep up the best Park of Popery Purgatory whereby their fairest Game and greatest Gaine is preserved Since the Reformation WILLIAM BARLOW D. D. My industry hath not been wanting in Qaest of the place of his Nativity but all in vain Seeing therefore I cannot fix his character on his Cradle I am resolved rather then omit him to fasten it on his Coffin this County where in he had his last preferment A man he was of much Motion and Promotion First I find him Canon Regular of Sâ—… 〈◊〉 in Essex and then Prior of Bisham in Barkshire Then preferred by K. Henry the eighth Bishop of St. Asaph and consecrated Febr. 22. 1535. Translated thence the April following to St. Davids remaining 13. years in that See In the Third of King Edward the sixth he was removed to the Bishoprick of Bath and Wells Flying the Land in the Reign of Queen Mary he became Superintendent of the English Congregation at Embden Coming back into England by Q. Elizabeth he was advanced Bishop of Chichester It is a Riddle why he chose rather to enter into new First-fruits and begin at Chichester then return to Bath a better Bishoprick Some suggest that he was loth to go back to Bath having formerly consented to the Expilation of that Bishoprick whilst others make his consent to signify nothing seeing impowred Sacriledge is not so mannerly as to ask any By your leave He had a numerous and prosperous female-Issue as appeareth by the Epitaph on his Wifes Monument in a Church in Hant-shire though one shall get no credit in translating them Hic Agathae tumulus Barloi Praesulis inde Exulis inde iterum Praesulis Uxor erat Prole beata fuit plena annis quinque suarum Praesulibus vidit Praesulis ipsa datas Barlows Wife Agathe doth here remain Bishop then Exile Bishop then again So long she lived so well his Children sped She saw five Bishops her five daughters wed Having sate about ten years in his See he peaceably ended his Life Dec. 10. 1569. WILLIAM JUXTON was born at Chichester in this County bred Fellow in Saint Johns-colledge in Oxford where he proceeded Bachelour of Law very young but very able for that degree and afterwards became Doctor in the same Faculty and President of the Colledge One in whom Nature hath not Omitted but Grace hath Ordered the Tetrarch Humour of Choler being Admirably Master of his Pen and his Passion for his Abilities
not know and dare not too curiously inquire left I turn their mirth among themselves into anger against me Sure it is seated in a fruitful soyl and cheap Country and where good chear and company are the Premisses mirth in common consequence will be the Conclusion Which if it doth not trespass in time cause and measure Heraclitus the sad Philosopher may perchance condemn but Saint Hilary the good Father will surely allow Princes HENRY youngest son to William Duke of Normandy but eldest to King William the Conquerour by whom he was begotten after he was Crowned King on which politick 〈◊〉 he claim'd and gain'd the Crown from Duke Robert his eldest brother was Anno Dom. 1070. born at Selbey in this County If any ask what made his Mother travail so far North from London know it was to enjoy Her Husbands company who to prevent insurrections and settle peace resided many months in these parts besides his peculiar affection to Selby where after he founded a MitredAbby This Henry was bred say some in Paris say others in Cambridge and I may safely say in both wherein he so profited that he attained the Surname of Beauclerke His learning may be presumed a great advantage to his long and prosperous raign for thirty five years and upwards wherein he remitted the Norman rigour and restored to His subjects a great part of the English Laws and Liberties Indeed his princely vertues being profitable to all did with their lustre so dazle the eyes of his subjects that they did not see his personall vices as chiefly prejudicial to himself For he was very wanton as appeareth by his numerous natural issue no fewer then fourteen all by him publickly owned the males highly advanced the females richly married which is justly reported to his praise it being lust to beget but love to bestow them His sobriery otherwise was admirable whose temperance was of proof against any meat objected to his appetite Lampreys alone excepted on a surfeit whereof he died Anno Domini 1135. He had onely two children William dying before and Maud surviving him both born in Normandy and therefore omitted in our Catalogue THOMAS Fifth son of King Edward the first and the first that he had by Margaret his second Wife was born at and surnamed from Brotherton a small Village in this County June 1. Anno Dom. 1300. He was created Earl of Norfolke and Earl Marshall of England He left no male-issue but from his females the Mowbrays Dukes of Norfolke and from them the Earls of Arundel and Lords Berkeley are descended RICHARD PLANTAGENET Duke of York commonly is called Richard of Conisborrow from the Castle in this Shire of his nativity The Reader will not grudge him a place amongst our Princes if considering him fixed in his Generation betwixt an Antiperistasis of Royal extraction being Son to a Son of a King Father to the Father of a King Edmund of Langley Duke of York Richard Duke of York Fifth son to K. Edward 3. Father to King Edward 4. Besides he had married Anne Daughter and sole Heir to Edward Mortimer the true Inheritrix of the Crown But tampering too soon and too openly to derive the Crown in his Wives right to himself by practising the death of the present King he was taken and beheaded for treason in the raign of K. Henry the fifth EDWARD sole son to King Richard the third and Anne his Queen was born in the Castle of Midleham near Richmond in this County and was by his father created Prince of Wales A Prince who himself was a child of as much hopes as his Father a man of hatred But he consumed away of a suddain dying within a month of his Mother King Richard little lamenting the loss of either and presently projecting to repair himself by a new Marriage The untimely death of this Prince in respect of the terme to which by Naturall possibility he might have attained in his innocent age is generally beheld as a punishment on him for the faults of his Father The Tongue foreswears the Ears are cut off the Hand steals the Feet are stocked and that justly because both consisting of the same body And because Proles est pars parentis it is agreeable with divine justice to inflict on Children temporal judgements for defaults of their Parents Yet this judgment was a mercy to this Prince that he might not behold the miserable end of his Father Let me adde and a mercy also to all England For had he survived to a mans estate he might possibly have proved a wall of partition to hinder the happy union of the two houses of York and Lancaster Saints HILDA was daughter unto Prince Hererick nephew to Edwin King of Northumberland and may justly be counted our English Huldah not so much for sameness of sex and name-sounding similitude as more concerning conformities Huldah lived in a Colledge Hilda in a Convent at Strenshalt in this County Huldah was the Oracle of those times as Hilda of her age being a kind of a Moderatresse in a Saxon Synod or conference rather called to compromise the controversie about the celebration of Easter I behold her as the most learned English Female before the Conquest and may call her the She-Gamaliel at whose feet many Learned men had their education She ended her holy life with an happy death about the year of our Lord 680. BENEDICT BISCOP was born saith Pitz amongst the East Saxons saith Hierome Porter in Yorkshire whom I rather believe First because writing his life ex professo he was more concerned to be curious therein Secondly because this Benedict had much familiarity with and favour from Oswy King of Northumberland in whose Dominions he fixed himself building two Monasteries the one at the influx of the river Were the other at the river Tine into the sea and stocking them in his life time with 600 Benedictine Moncks He made five Voyages to Rome and always returned full fraught with Reliques Pictures and Ceremonies In the former is driven on as great a Trade of Cheating as in any earthly Commodity in so much that I admire to meet with this passage in a Jesuite and admire more that he Met not with the Inquisition for writing it Addam * nonnunquam in Tem plis reliquias dubias profana corpora pro Sanctorum qui cum Christo in Coelo regnant exuviis sacris fuisse proposita He left Religion in England Braver but not better then he found it Indeed what Tully said of the Roman Lady That she danced better then became a modest woman was true of Gods Service as by him adorned the Gaudiness prejudicing the Gravity thereof He made all things according not to the Patern in the Mount with Mose's but the Precedent of Rome and his Convent being but the Romish Transcript became the English Original to which all Monasteries in the Land were suddenly conformed In a word I reverence his Memory
for many years by past were of any Eminency but either immediately or mediately were Apprentices unto him He was bred in York school where he was School-fellow with Guy Faux which I note partly to shew that Loyalty and Treason may be educated under the same Roof partly to give a check to the received opinion that Faux was a Fleming no Native English-man He was bred in Saint Johns-colledge in Cambridge and chosen Fellow thereof to a Fellowship to which he had no more Propriety then his own Merit before Eight Compâ—…titors for the place equally capable with himself and better befriended Commencing Doctor in Divinity he made his Position which though unusuall was Arbitrary and in his own power on his second Question which much defeated the expectatioâ—… of Doctor Playfere replying upon him with some passion Commosâ—…i mihi stomachum To whom Morton return'd Gratulor tibi Reverende professor de bono tuo stomacho caenabis apud me hac nocte He was successively preferr'd Dean of Gloucester Winchester Bishop of Chester Coventry and Lichfield and Durham The Foundation which he laid of Forraign corre spondency with eminent persons of different perswasions when he attended as Chaplain to the Lord Evers sent by King James Embassadour to the King of Denmark and many Princes of Germany he built upon unto the Day of his Death In the late Long Parliament the displeasure of the House of Commons fell heavy upon him partly for subscribing the Bishops Protestation for their Votes in Parliament partly for refusing to resign the seal of his Bishoprick and baptizing a Daughter of John Earl of Rutland with the sign of the Cross two faults which compounded together in the judgement of honest and wise-men amounted to a High Innocence Yet the Parliament allowed him eight hundred pounds a year a proportion above any of his Brethren for his maintenance But alass the Trumpet of their Charity gave an uncertain sound not assigning by whom or whence this summe should be paid Indeed the severe Votes of the Parliament ever took full effect according to his observation who did Anagram it VOTED OUTED But their mercifull Votes found not so free performance However this good Bishop got a thousand pounds out of Goldsmiths-hall which afforded him his support in his old Age. The Neb of his Pen was unpartially divided into two equall Moyeties the one writing against Faction in defence of three Innocent Ceremonies the other against Superstition witness the Grand Impostor and other worthy works He solemnly proffered unto me pardon me Reader if I desire politiquely to twist my own with his Memory that they may both survive together in these sad times to maintain me to live with him which Courteous Offer as I could not conveniently accept I did thankfully 〈◊〉 Many of the Nobility deservedly honoured him though none more then John Earl of Rutland to whose Kinsman Roger Earl of Rutland he formerly 〈◊〉 been Chaplain But let not two worthy Baronets be forgotten Sir George Savill who so civilly paid him his purchased Annuity of two hundred pounds withall Proffered advantages and Sir Henry Yelveâ—…ton at whose house he dyed aged 95. at Easton-Manduit in Northampton shire 1659. For the rest the Reader is remitted to his life written largely and learnedly by Doctor John Barwick Dean of Durham States-men Sir ROBERT CAR was born in this City on this occasion Thomas Car his father Laird of Furnihurst a man of great lands and power in the South of Scotland was very active for Mary Queen of Scots and on that accompt forced to fly his land came to York Now although he had been a great inroder of England yet for some secret reason of State here he was permitted safe shelter duâ—…ing which time Robert his son was born this was the reason why the said Robert refused to be Naturalized by Act of our Parliament as needless for him born in the English Dominions I have read how his first making at Court was by breaking of his leg at a Tilting in London whereby he came first to the Cognizance of King James Thus a fair starting with advantage in the notice of a Prince is more then half the way in the race to his favour King James reflected on him whose Father was a kind of Confâ—…ssor for the cause of the Queen his Mother besides the Young Gentleman had a handsome person and a conveniency of desert Honors were crowded upon him made Baron Viscount Earl of Sommerset Knight of the Garter Warden of the Cinque-Ports c. He was a well natured man not mischievous with his might doing himself more hurt then any man else For abate one foul fact with the appendance and consequences thereof notoriously known and he will appear deserving no foul Character to posterity but for the same he was banished the Court lived and dyed very privately about the year of our Lord 1638. Writers JOHN WALBYE was born in this City of honest Parentage He was bred an Augustinian Provinciall of his Order and Doctor of Divinity in Oxford A Placentious Person gaining the good-will of all with whom he conversed being also Ingenious Industrious Learned Eloquent Pious and Prudent Pitz writeth that after Alexander Nevell he was Chosen but never Confirmed Arch bishop of York an Honour reserved for Robert his Younger Brother of whom before But Bishop Godwin maketh no mention hereof which rendreth it suspicious The said Pitz maketh him actuall Arch-bishop of Dublin whilst Bale who being an Irish Bishop had the advantage of exacter Intelligence hath no such thing whence we may conclude it a Mistake The rather because this John is allowed by all to have died in this place of his Nativity 1393. Also I will adde this that though sharp at first against the Wickliffites he soon abated his own Edge and though present at a Council kept at Stanford by the King against them was not well pleased with all things transacted therein JOHN ERGHOM was born in this City an Augustinian by his profession Leaving York he went to Oxford where passing thorough the Arts he fixed at last in Divinity proving an admirable Preacher My Author tells me that sometimes he would utter nova inaudita whereat one may well wonder seeing Solomon hath said There is no nâ—…w thing under the Sun The truth is he renewed the custome of expounding Scripture in a typicall way which crouded his Church with Auditors seeing such 〈◊〉 preaching break 's no bones much pleased their fancy and little cross'd or curb'd their corruptions Indeed some but not all Scripture is capable of such comments and because metalls are found in Mountains it is madness to Mine for them in every rich Meadow But in expounding of Scripture when mens inventions out-run the Spirits intentions their swiftness is not to be praised but sawcyness to be punished This Erghom wrote many books and dedicated them to the Earl of Hereford the same with Edward Duke of Buckingham and flourished