he had a ãâã reflection on the priviledges of the Clergy as exempted by preaching the truth from payment of Taxes save with their own free consent But all would not serve their turn for in the contemporary Parliament the Clergy unwillingly-willing granted a yearly Tenth to supply the pressing occasions of King Edward the Third This William died Anno Dom. 1375. Since the Reformation FRANCIS WHITE was born at St. Neots in this County and not in Lancashire as I and others have been mis-informed witness the Admission book of Caius-Colledge and the Testimonie of his brothers son still alive The Father to this Francis was a Minister and had 5 sons who were Divines and two of them most eminent in their generation Of these this Francis was bred in Caius-Colledge on the same Token That when he was Bishop of Ely and came to consecrate the Chappel of Peter-House he received an Entertainement at that Colledge where with a short speech he incouraged the young students to ply their books by his own Example who from a poor Scholar in that house by Gods blessing on his Industry was brought to that preferment By the Lord Grey of Grobie he was presented to Broughton Ashby in Leicestershire and thence why should a Candle be put under a bushel he was brought to be Lecturer of St. Pauls in London and Parson of St. Peters in Cornhil whence he was successively preferred first Deane then Bishop of Carlile after Bishop of Norwich and at last of Ely He had several solemn Disputations with Popish Priests and Jesuites Father Fisher and others and came off with such good successe that he reduced many seduced Romanists to our Church He often chose Daniel Featly D. D. his assistant in such disputes so that I may call this Prelate and his Doctor Ionathan and his Armour-bearer being confident that the Doctor if alive would not be displeased with the comparison as any disparagement unto him joyntly victorious over the Romish Philistines He died Anno. 163 leaving some of his learned workes to Posterity Writers The Candid Reader is here requested to forgive and amend what in them is of casual transposition HENRY SALTRY was born in this County and became a Cistertian Monk in the Monastery of Saltry then newly founded by Simon Saint Liz Earl of Huntington He was also instructed by one Florentian an Irish Bishop He wrote a profitable book for his own Religion in the maintenance of Purgatory which made him esteemed in that superstitious age He flourished Anno Dom. 1140. GREGORY of HUNTINGTON so called from the place of his Nativity was bred a Benedictine Monke in Ramsey Where he became Prior or Vice-Abbot a place which he deserved being one of the most Learned men of that age for his great skill in Languages For he was through-paced in three Tongues Latine Greek as appears by his many Comments on those Grammarians and Hebrew which last he learned by his constant conversing with the Jewes in England But now the fatal time did approach wherein the Iewes full loth I assure you must leave the Land and many precious books behind them Our Gregory partly by love partly by the Kings power both together will go far in driving a bargain purchased many of those rarities to dispose them in his Convent of Ramsey which as it exceeded other English Monasteries for a Library so for Hebrew books that Monastery exceeded it self After this Gregory had been Prior of Ramsey no fewer then 38 years flourishing under King Henry the Third He died in the Reign of K. Edward the First about 1280. HUGH of Saint Nââ¦OTS was born in that well known Market-Town bred a Carmelite in Hitching in Hartfordshire Hence he went to study in Cambridge where for his worth the Degree of Doctorship was by the University gratis quare whither without paying of Fees or keeping of Acts conferred upon him To him Bale though that be the best Bale which hath the least of Bale and most of Leland therein giveth this Testimony that living in the Egyptian Darkness he sought after the light of Truth adding that he was Piscis in Palude nihil trahens de Sapore Palustri a Fish in the ââ¦enns drawing nothing of the mud thereof which is a rarity indeed Many his Sermons and he wrotea Comment on Saint Luke He died 1340. and was buried at Hitching WILLIAM RAMSEY was born in this County famous for the richest Benedictines Abbey in England yet here he would not stay but went to Crowland where he prospered so well that he became Abbot thereof He was a Natural Poet and therefore no wonder if faults be found in the feet of his verses For it is given to thorough-pacedNaggs that amble naturally to trip much whilest artificial pacers goe surest on foot He wrote the life of St. Guthlake St. Neots St. Edmond the King c. all in verse But that which may seem a wonder indeed is this that being a Poet he paid the vast debts of others even fourty thousand Mark for the ingagement of his Covent and all within the compasse of eighteen Moneths wherein he was Abbot of Crowland But it rendreth it the more credible because it was done by the assistance of King Henry the Second who to expiate the blood of Becket was contented to be melted into Coine and was prodigiously bountiful to some Churches Our William died 1180. HENRY of HUNTINGTON Son to one Nicholas where born unknown was first a Canon of the Church of Lincolne where he became acquainted with one Albine of Angiers born in France but Fellow-Canon with him of the same Church This Albine he afterwards in his writings modestly owned for his Master having gained much learning from him He was afterwards Chaplain to Alexander that Great Bishop of Lincoln Magnificent unto Madnesse who made him Arch-Deacon of Huntington whence he took his Dââ¦nomination A Town which hath received more Honour from him than ever it can return to him seeing Huntington had never been mentioned in the mouths nor passed under the Pens of so many foreigners but for the worthy History of the Saxon Kings written by this Henry Let me add that considering the sottishness of Superstition in the age he lived in he is less smoohted therewith than any of his contemporaries and being a secular Priest doth now and then abate the pride of Monastical pretended perfection He flourished under King Stephen in the year of our Lord 1248. and is probably conjectured to die about the year 1260. ROGER of St. IVES was born at that noted Town of this County being omitted by Bale but remembred by Pits though seldome sounding when the other is silent for his activity against the Lollards and Sir John Old-Castle against whom he wrote a book flourishing in the year 1420. Since the Reformation IOHN YONG was a Monk in Ramsey Abbey at the dissolution thereof Now by the same proportion that a penny
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
inward man Answer Let not our fellow servants be more harsh unto us then our Master himself we serve not so severe a Lord but that he alloweth us sawce with our meat and recreation with our vocation Secondly God himself besides such as I may call Supernatural Proverbs as divinely Inspired taketh notice and maketh use of the natural or Native Proverbs of the Country praysing approving and applying some Physitian cure thy self The Dog is returned to his Vomit and the Swine which was washed to her wallowing in the mire Dââ¦sliking and condemning others and commanding them to be abolished The Fathers have eaten sowre Grapes and the Childrens teeth are set on edge Now seeing Antiquity without Verity is no just Plea that any thing should be continued On this Warrant I have in these our Country-Proverbs alledged more than I allow branding some with a Note of Infamy as fit to be banished out of our discourse Lastly besides Information much good may redound to the Reader hereby It was the Councel which a Wise gave to a Great man Read Histories that thou dost not become a History So may we say Read Proverbs that thou beest not made a Proverb as God threatned the sinful people of Israel Sure I am that David by minding of a Country no Canonical Proverb viz. Wickednesse proceedeth from the wicked was thereby disfwaded from offering any violence to the person of Saul then placed in his power whereby he procured much Tranquillity to his own conscience We have not confined our selves to Proverbs in the strict acception thereof but sometimes insist on such which have onely a Proverbial Tendency or Lye as one may say in the Marches betwixt Proverb and Prophecie where they afford us a fit occasion to salley forth into such Discourse as may conduce to the History of our Nation The Medicinal Herbs Some maintain this Position That every Country cures the diseases which it causes and bringeth remedies for all the maladies bred therein An opinion which grant not true yet may have much of Truth therein seeing every Country and England especially affordeth excellent Plants were it not partly for mens laziness that they will not seek them partly for their ignorance that they know not when they have found them and partly for their pride and peevishnesse because when found they disdain to use and apply them Indeed quod charum charum what is fetch'd farr and bought dear that onely is esteemed otherwise were many English plants as rare as they are useful we would hug in our hands what we now trample under our feet For proof hereof let not the Reader grudge to peruse these words of a grand Herbalist speaking of Virga Aurea or Golden-rod growing plentifully but discovered lately in Middlesex Gerard in his Herbal pag. 430. It is extolled above all other Herbs for the stopping of blood in Sanguinolent Ulcers and bleeding Wounds and hath in time past been had in greater estimation and regard then in these dayes For in my remembrance I have known the dry Herb which came from beyond the Seas sold in Bucklars-bury in London for two shillings six pence the Ounce But since it is found in Hamsted wood even as it were at the Towns end no man will give two shillââ¦ngs six pence for an hundred weight of it which plainly sets forth our inconstancy and suddain mutability esteâ⦠ming no longer of anything how precious soever it be then while it is strange and rare We may also observe that many base and barren heaths and hills which afford the least food for beasts yeeld the best Physick for man One may also take notice that such places that are nearest to London Cambridge Oxford Bath or where some eminent Herbalist hath his habitation afford us the greater variety of medicinal herbes Not that more have growne but more are knowne there abouts where the native plants are not better but more happie in their vicinitie to such discoverers And now to be always within the reach if not the touch of mine owne calling we may observe in Scripture that Gods Spirit directs men to the gathering of such Simples of his owne planting Is there no * balme in Gilead True in a literal sense as well as mystically of our Saviour Now the reason why I have been so sparing in this Topick and so seldome insist thereon is because these Herbs grow equally for goodness and plenty in all Counties so that no one Shire can without manifest usurpation intitle it selfe thereunto Besides they are so Common and Numerous they would justle out matter of more concernment However we have noted it where the Herb is rare and very useful and in our following Book though here the Method be transposed have placed Medicinal Herbs next Medicinal waters conceiving that order most Natural CHAPTER III. Of the first Quaternion of Persons Viz. 1. Princes 2. Saints 3. Martyrs 4. Confessours WE take the Word as it is of the Common Gender inclusive of both Sexes and extend it onely to Kings with their Wives and Children Of the second sort we have but few and those onely from the time of King Edward the Fourth who first married his Subject or Native of his Dominions We confine our selves to such as were born since the Conquest otherwise we should be swallowed up should we Lanch out beyond that date into the Saxon Government especially into the gulph of their Heptarchie where a Prince could not be seen for Princes But if a British or Saxon-King comes under our Pen we preferre to take Cognizance of him in some other notion as of Saint Martyr Souldier c. so to preserve the Topick of Prince ship intire according to our design We have stinted our selves onely to the legitimate issue of Kings And after such who are properly Princes we have as Occasion is offered inserted some who in courtesie and equity may be so accepted as the Heires to the Crown in the Lancastrian difference though not possessed thereof or else so near a Kin thereunto that much of History doth necessarily depend upon them We have observed these Nativities of Princes because such signal persons are not onely Oakes amongst under-woods but land-markes amongst Oakes and they directorie for the methodical regulation of History Besides in themselves they are of special remarke as more or less remote from the Crown not onely their own Honour but the happiness of thousands being concerned in their extraction and Divine Providence most visible in marshalling the order thereof For although Nasci à Principibus fortuitum est may pass for a true instance in Grammar it is no right Rule in Divinity which though acknowledging rich and poor the work of Gods hands pronounceth Princes to be men of his right hand made strong for himself that is purposely advanced to imploy their own greatness to his glory Let none Object that the Wives of Kings need not to have been inserted as Persons of no such
William Sawtree John Badby c. In the two former of these we are prevented and they anticipated from us by the Popes canonizing them under the Title of Saints The third and last only remain proper for our pen martyred by the Romish Prelates for above an hundred and fifty years together I confess I have formerly met with some men who would not allow them for Martyrs who suffered in the Reign of Queen Mary making them little better then Felons de se wilfully drawing their blood on themselves Most of these I hope are since convinc'd in their judgement and have learn'd more charity in the School of affliction who by their own Losses have learn'd better to value the Lives of others and now will willingly allow Martyrship to those from whom they wholy with-held or grudgingly gave it before We have reckoned up these Martyrs according to the places of their Nativity where we could find them which is my first choice in Conformity to the rest of this work But in case this cannot be done my second choyce is for know Reader t is no refuge to rank them according to the place of their death which is their true birth-place in the Language of Antiquity Hear how a right Antient Authour expresseth himself to this purpose Apte consuetudinem tenet Ecclesia ut solennes beatorum Martyrum vel Confessorum Christi Dies quibus ex hoc mundo ad regionem migraverunt Vivorum nuncupentur Natales eorum Solennia non funebria tanquam morientium sed utpote in vera vita nascentium Natalitia vocitentur Now if the day of their Death be justly entituled their Birth-day the place of their Death may be called their Birth-place by the same Analogy of Reason and Language We have given in a List of Martyrs names in their respective Countyes but not their Total Number only inââ¦isting on such who were most remarkable remiting the Reader for the rest to the voluminous pains of Mr. Fox who hath written All and if malicious Papists be believed more then All of this Subject Worthy Confessors All good Christians are concluded within the Compase of Confessors in the Large acception thereof With the Mouth Confession is made unto Salvation But here we restrain this Title to such who have adventured fair and far for Martyrdome and at last not declined it by their own Cowardize but escaped it by Divine Providence Confessor is a Name none can wear whom it cost Nothing It must be purchased for the Maintenance of the Faith with the Losse of their Native Land Liberty Livelyhood Limbs any thing under Life it self Yet in this confined sense of Confessors we may say with Leah at the birth of Gad behold a Troop cometh Too many to be known written read remembred We are forced therefore to reconfine the Word to such who were Candidates and Probationers for Martyrdome in proxima potentia There was not a stride but to use Davids expression but a step betwixt them and Death their Wedding Clothes were made but not put on for their marriage to the Fire In a Word they were soft Waxe ready chafed and prepared but the Signature of a violent Death was not stamped upon them Manifold is the use of our observing these Confessors First to show that God alone hath Parramount power of Life and Death Preserving those who by men are appointed to Dye One whose Son lay very Sick was told by the Physician Your Son Sir is a dead man To whom the Father not disheartned thereat returned I had rather a Physician should call him so an hundred times than a Judge on the Bench should do it once whose Pronouncing him for a Dead man makes him to be one But though both a Physician in Nature and a Judge in Law give men for Gon The one passing the Censure the other Sentence of Death upon them GOD to whom belongeth the Issues from Death may Preserve them long in the Land of the Living Hereof these Confessors are Eminent Instances and may God therefore have the Glory of their so strange Deliverances Secondly it serveth to comfort Gods servants in their greatest distress Let hand joyne in hand let Tyrants piece the Lions cruelty with the Fox his craft let them face their plots with power and line then with policy all shall take no effect Gods servants if he seeth it for his glory and their good shall either be mercifully preserved from or mightily protected in dangers whereof these Confessours are a Cloud of Witnesses We have an English Proverb Threatned Folks live long but let me add I know a Threatned Man who did never dye at all namely the Prophet Elijab Threatned by cruel and crafty Iesabel The Gods do so to me and more also if I make not thy Life like one of their Lives by to morrow at this time Yet did he never tast of Mortallity being conveyed by a fiery hariot into Heaven Now although our ensuing History presenteth not any miraculously preserved from Death yet affordetb it Plenty of strange preservations of Persons to extream Old age though they wear the Marks of many and mighty mens Menacies who plotted and practised their Destruction We have persued the same course in Confessors which we embraced in Martyrs viz. We have ranked them according to their Nativities where we could certainly observe them to make them herein Uniforme with the rest of our Book But where this could not be attained we have entred them in those Counties where they had the longest or sharpest ãâã And this we humbly conceive proper enough seeing their Confessor-ship in a strict sense did bare true date from place of their greatest Persecution CHAPTER IV. Of Popes Cardinals and Prelates before the Reformation Popes I Meet with a mess of English Natives advanced to that Honour Pope John-Joan is wholly omitted partly because we need not charge that See with suspicious and doubtful crimes whose notorious faults are too apparent partly because this He-She though allowed of English extraction is generally believed born at Ments in Germany Wonder not that so few of our Countrymen gain'd the Triple-Crown For first great our distance from Rome who being an Island or little World by our selves had our Archbishop of Canterbury which formerly was accounted Alterius orbis Papa Secondly ãâã ââ¦talians of late have ingrossed the Papacy to themselves and much good may their Monopolie do them seeing our English may more safely repose themselves in some other seate then the Papal Chair more fatal it is to be feared to such as sit therein than ever Eli's proved unto him Yea I assure you four Popes was a very fair proportion for England For having perused the voluminous book of Pantaleon De Viris illustribus Germaniae I find but six Popes Dutchmen by their Nativity viz. Stephen the Eighth Gregory the Fifth Silvester the Second Leo the Ninth Victor the Second and Adrian the Sixth Seeing therefore Germany
So that as some transcripts hath for the fairness of their Character not only evened but exceeded the Original the Vice-comes have pro tempore equalled the Count himself and greatest Lords in the Land for their Magnificence Onus sine honore A Burden without Honour when it was obtruded on many as a punishment for the trouble and charge thereof and laid as a burden not on the back of that horse which was best able to carry it but who was least able to cast it off great persons by friends and favour easily escaping it whilst it was charged on those of meaner estates Though I do beleive it found all them Esquires and did not make any so as some will suggest Hence was it that many Sheriffs were forced to consult principles of Thrift not being bound so to serve their Country as to disserve themselves and ruine their estates and instead of keeping open houses as formerly at the Assises began to latch though not lock their dores providently reducing it to an ORDINARY expence and no wise man will conclude them to be the less loyal Subjects for being the more Provident Fathers At the end of every Shire after the forenamed Catalogue of the Gentry in the Reign of King Henry the Sixth I have set down a List of the Sheriffes from the Beginning of King Henry the Second untill the end of King Charles carefully collected out of the Records For I hope that by the former which I call my Broad representing the Gentry of one Generation all over England and this which I term my Long Catalogue extending it self successively through many Ages I hope I say both being put together may square out the most eminent of the Antient Gentry in some tolerable proportion Most eminent seeing I confess neither can reach all the Gentry of the land For as in the Catalogue of King Henry the Sixth many antient Gentlemen were omitted who were Minors in age and so uncapable of taking an Oath so doth not the List of Sheriffs comprehend all the Gentry in the Shire finding three sorts of people excluded out of the same Such who were 1. Above Discharging the Office 2. Besides 3 Beneath Above Such were all of the Peerage in the Land which since the Reign of King Edward the third were excused I am sure de facto not imployed in that place as Inconsistent with their Attendance in Parliament Secondly Such who were Besides the Place priviledged by their profession from that Office which may be subdivided into 1. Swordmen Imployed in Wars beyond the Seas thus Sir Oliver Ingham and Sir John Fastoffe both great men and richly landed in Norfolk were never Sheriffes thereof because imployed in the French Wars the one under King Edward the Third the other under King Henry the Fifth 2. Gownmen as Iudges Sergeants at Law Barristers Auditors and other Officers in the Exchequer c. 3. Cloakmen Such Courtiers as were the Kings Servants and in ordinary attendance about his Person Lastly Such as were Beneath the Place as men of too narrow Estates to discharge that Office especially as it was formerly in the magnificent expensivenesse thereof though such persons might be Esquires of right ancient Extraction And here under favour I conceive that if a strict Enquiry should be made after the Ancient Gentry of England most of them would be found amongst such middle-sized Persons as are above two hundred and beneath a Thousand pounds of Annual Revenue It was the Motto of wise Sir Nicholas Bacon Mediocria firma Moderate things are most lasting Men of great Estates in National Broiles have smarted deeply for their Visible Engagements to the Ruine of their Families whereof we have had too many sad Experiments whilest such persons who are moderately mounted above the level of Common people into a Competency above want and beneath Envy have by Gods blessing on their frugality continued longest in their Conditions entertaining all alterations in the State with the less destructive change unto themselves Let me add that I conceive it impossible for any man and difficult for a Corporation of men to make a true Catalogue of the English Gentry Because what Mathematicians say of a Line that it is Divisibilis in semper divisibilia is true hereof if the Latine were which for ought I know if as usuall is as Elegant Addibilis in semper addibilia Not only because New Gentry will every day be added and that as I conceive justly too for why should the Fountain of Honour be stopped if the Channel of desert be running but because ancient Gentry will dayly be newly discovered though some of them perchance for the present but in a poor and mean condition as may appear by this particular It happened in the Reign of King James when Henry Earl of Huntington was Lieutenant of Leicester-shire that a Labourers son in that County was pressed into the Wars as I take it to go over with Count Mansfield The Old man at Leicester requested his Son might be discharged as being the only Staff of his Age who by his Industry maintained him and his Mother The Earl demanded his name which the man for a long time was loth to tell as suspecting it a fault for so poor a man to confess a Truth at last he told his name was Hastings Cosen Hastings said the Earl we cannot all be Top Branches of the Tree though we all spring from the same Root Your Son my Kinsman shall not be pressed So good was the meeting of Modesty in a poor with Courtesie in an Honourable Person and Gentry I believe in Both. And I have reason to beleive that some who justly own the Sirnames and blood of Bohuns Mortimers and Plantagenets though ignorant of their own extractions are hid in the heap of Common-people where they find that under a Thatched Cottage which some of their Ancestors could not enjoy in a Leaded Castle contentment with quiet and security To return to our Catalogue of Sheriffs I have been bold to make some breif historical Observations upon them which I hope will not be unpleasing to the Reader whom I request first to peruse our Notes on Bark-shire because of their publick Influence on the rest facilitating some Difficulties which return in the Sheriffes of other Counties After we have presented the Sheriffs names we have annexed their addition either of estate as Esquire or degree as Knight Baronet c. and this we have done always after sometimes before K. Henry the Sixth For although the Statute of Additions was made in the first of King Henry the fifth to Individuifie as I may say and separate persons from those of the same name And although it took present effect in such Suits and Actions where processe of Utlary lieth yet was it not universally practiced in other Writings till the End of the Reign of King Henry the Sixth After their additions we have in a distinct Columel assigned the places of their Habitation where we
have reasons rendered of their bearing Thus whereas the Earls of Oxford anciently gave their Coat plain quarterly Gules and Or they took afterward in the first a Mullet or Star Argent because the cheife of the house had a Falling-star as my Authour saith alighting on his shield as he was fighting in the Holy-land But it were a labour in vain for one to offer at an account for all things borne in Armorie This mindeth me of a passage in the North where the ancient and worthy Family of the Gascoignes gave for their Arms the Head of a Lucie or Pike cooped in Pale Whereon one merrily The Lucy is the Finest Fish That ever graced any Dish But why you give the HEAD alone I leave to you to pick this Bone A Question which on the like occasion may be extended to Beasts and Fowle whose single heads are so generally born in several Coats After the names and places of Sheriffs exemplifyed in their respective Counties we have added their Arms ever since the first of King Richard the second And though some may think we begin too late the fixing of Hereditary Arms in England being an Hundred years ancienter we find it sometimes too soon to attain at any certainty therein In peruseing these Arms the Reader will meet with much observeable variety viz. 1. That the same Family sometimes gives two paternal Coats as Spencer in Northampton-shire Quarterly Arg. and Gules the second and third charged with a Fret Or over all on a Bend Sable 3. Escallops of the First Azure a Fess Ermin betwixt 6. Sea Meaws heads erased Arg. Sometimes two distinct Families and Names give the self same Coat as in Barkshire Fettiplace Gules 2 Cheverons Argent Hide  The same name but being distinct Families in several Counties give different Arms. Grey In Leicester-shire Barry of 6. Argent and Azure in Chief 3. Torteauxes In Northumberland Gules a Lyon Rampant with a Border engrailed Argent The same Name in the same Shire being distinct Families gives different Coats as in Northampton shire Green Of Greens-Norton Azure three Bucks trippant Or. Of Drayton Argent a Cross engrailed Gules The same name and Family in the same Shire gives the same Coat for Essentials but disguised in Colours as in Northampton-shire Tresham Of Lifden Of Newton The same Family giveth a Coat this day bearing some general allusion to but much altered and bettered from what they gave some sixty years since and forbearing to give an instance hereof for some reason I refer it to the Readers Discovery Contented with the Coat it self I have not inserted the differences of younger Houses Crescents Mullets Martlets c. Chiefly because they are generally complained of and confessed as defective subject to coincidence and not adequate to the effectual distinguishing of the branches from the same root As the affixing of Differences if done were imperfect so the doing thereof is not only Difficult but also Dangerous Dangerous for it would bring many Old houses and new ones too on his Head who undertakes it so undistinguishable are the Seniorities of some Families parted so long since that now it is hard to decide which the Root and which the Branch I remember a Contest in the Court of Honour betwixt the two Houses of Constable the one of Flamborongh head the other of Constable-Burton both in York-shire which should be the Eldest The Decision was it was never decided both sides producing such ancient Evidences that in mounting up in antiquity like Hawks they did not only Lessen but fly out of Sight even beyond the Kenn and Cognizance of any Record The Case I conceive occurs often betwixt many Families in England Some names we have left without Arms. Physicians prescribe it as a Rule of health to rise with an appetite and I am loth the Reader should fill himself with all which he might desire But not to dissemble I could not with all mine own and friends skill and industry attain their Coats as of Families either extinct in those Counties before the first or only extant therein since the last Visitation of Heralds Yet let not my ignorance be any mans injury who humbly desireth that such Vacuities may hereafter be filled up by the particular Chorographers of those respective Counties This I am sure A needle may be sooner found in a Bottle of Hay a task though difficult yet possible to be done than the Arms of some Sheriffs of Counties be found in the Heraulds Visitations of the said Counties For many were no Natives of that Shire but came in thither occasionally from far distant places Thus the Arms of Sir Jervis Clifton thrice High-Sheriff of Kent in the Reign of King Henry the Sixth are invisible in any Kentish Heralds Office as not landed therein himself though living at Braburn on the Jointure of Isabel his Wife the Widdow of William Scot Esq and I doubt not but instances of the same Nature frequently are found in other Counties We will conclude this Discourse of Arms with this memorable Record being as ancient as the Reign of King Henry the Fift Claus. 5. Henrici Quinti Membrana 15. in Dorso in Turre Londinensi Rex Vic Salutem c. Quia prout informamur diversi ââ¦omines qui in viagiis nostris ante haec tempora factis Arma Tunicas Armorum vocat Coat Armours in se susceperunt ubi nec ipsi nec eorum Antecessores hujusmodi Armis ac Tunicis Armorum temporibus retroactis usi fuerint ea in presenti viagio nostro in proximo Deo dante faciend exercere proponant Et quanquam Omnipotens suam gratiam disponat prout vult in naturalibus equaliter Diviti Pauperi volentes tamen quemlibet Ligeorum nostrorum predictorum juxta status sui exigentiam modo debito pertractari haberi Tibi praecipimus quod in singulis locis intra Ballivam tuam ubi per breve nostrum nuper promonst faciendis proclamari facias quod nullus cujuscunq status Gradus seu conditionis fuerit hujusmodi Arma sive Tunicas ââ¦rmorum in se sumat nisi ipse jure Antecessorto vel ex donatione alicujus ad hoc suââ¦ficientem potestatem habentis ea possideat aut possidere debeat Et quod ipse Arma sive Tunicas illas ex cujus dono obtinet die Monstrationis suae personis ad hoc per nos assignatis seu assignandis manifeste demonstret Exceptis illis qui nobiscum apud Bellum de Agincourt Armu portabant sub poenis non admissionis ad proficiendum in viagio praedicto sub numero ipsius cum quo retentus existit ac perditionis Vadiorum suorum ex causa praedicta praeceptorum nec non rasura ruptura dictorum armorum Tunicarum vocat Coat-armours tempore monstrationis suae praedicto si ea super illum monstrata fuerint seu inventa hoc nulla tenus omittas T. R. apud Civitatem Nov. Sarum Secundo die Junii
by the Register of St. Dunstans in the West London that Thomas Wentworth afterward Earl of Strafford was born in that Parish and Christned in the Church aforesaid his Mother big with Child probably coming thither for the conveniency of a Midwife Now what a wrong is it to deprive Woodhouse Wentworth in York-Shire where his Family hath continued in a noble Equipage for many years there possest of a large Revenue of the honour of his Nativity On the other side it is cleaâ⦠in the Rigour of the Law and I Question whether Chauncery in this case will or can afford any Remedy that the Minute of the Birth of any person at any place truly entitles the same to his Nativity This is plain by the Statutes of those Colledges in either University that confine Fellowships to Counties and it will be said transit onus cum honore the burthen as well as the Profit is to be conveyed on the same occasion Reader the case thus stated is remitted to thy own arbitration However thus far I have proceeded therein in this following Work that when such Alterations for I can give them no better term and accidental Straglings from the known place of their Family shall appear unto me I am resolved to enter them in those places accordingly But until I receive such Intelligence I will confidently admit them in that place which is generally known in persons of Honour for the principal habitation of their Family CHAP. XX. That Clergy-men formerly carried the Register of their Birth-place in their Sirnames and why As also that Since the Reformation the Sons of the married Clergy have been as successeful as others IT was fashionable for the Clergy especially if Regulars Monks and Friers to have their Surnames for Syr-names they were not or upper-names because superadded to those given at the Font from the places of their Nativity and therefore they are as good evidence to prove where they were born as if we had the deposition of the Midwife and all the Gossips present at their Mothers labours Hence it is that in such cases we seldome charge our Margin with other Authors their Sirname being Author enough to avow their births therein Some impute this custome to the pride of the Clergy whose extraction generally was so obscure that they did ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã were ashamed of their Parentage An uncharitable opinion to fixe so foul a fault on so holy a function and most false many in Orders appearing of most honourable Descent Yet Richard Bishop of London quitted Angervill though his Father Sir Richard Angervil was a Knight of worth and worship to be called of Bury where he was born and William Bishop of Winchester waved Pattin to wear Waynfleet though he was eldest Son to Richard Pattin an Esquire of great ancientry Others say that the Clergy herein affected to be Levi-like who said to his Father and to his Mother I have not seen him practising to be Mimicks of Melchisedech ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã without Father without Mother without Descent so to render themselves independent in the World without any coherence to carnal relations Surely some were well minded herein that as they might have no children they would have no Fathers beholding the place of their Birth as co-heir at least to their estates to which many did ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã plentiââ¦ully pay for their nursing therein Question But oftentimes it comes to passe That there be many Towns in England the same to a Title both in spelling and calling So that on such uncertain Evidence no true Verdict can be found for their Nativity One instance of many William of Wickham was the famous Founder of New Colledge in Oxford But how can his Cradle be certainly fixed in any place when it is equally Rockt betwixt twenty Villages of the same Denomination  Shire Hundred 1 Wickham Berks Kentbury 2 High Wickham Bucks Burnham 3 West Wickham Bucks Disborough 4 Wickham west Camb. Chilforde 5 Wickham Essex Thurstable 6 Wickham S. Paul Essex Hinckford 7 Wickham Bonant Essex Uttlesford 8 Wickham Hants Titchfield 9 Wickham-brux Kent St. Austins 10 Wickham East Kent Suââ¦ton 11 Wickham VVest Kent Ibidem 12 VVickham Linc. Ellowe 13 VVickham Brook Suffolk Risbridge 14 VVickham Suffolk Wilforde 15 VVickham Skeyth Suffolk Hartesmer 16 VVickham Oxford Banbury 17 VVickham Sussex Bramber 18 VVickham York Ridall 19 VVickham York Pickering 20 VVickham Abbey York Ibidem See here a Lottery and who dare assure himself of the prize having Nineteen Blanks against him Indeed if Election should be made by the Eminency of the place High VVickham in Buckingham-shire would clearly carry it as an ancient Borough Town sending Burgesses to Parliament But all these being VVickhams alike bring in their Claims to the aforesaid VVilliam and how shall the right be decided The same Question may be demanded of several other persons on the same occasion Answer I confess the case often occurs though seldome so many places be Competitors wherefore herein we have our Recourse to the Circumstances in the History of such a controverted Person and Consult the most important of them with our greatest Diligence and Discretion Noscitur è Socio qui non Noscetur ab ipso We by their Company do own Men by themselves to us unknown Such Circumstances may be called the Associats of a mans Life as where they most conversed had their Kindred got their Preferment c. And these though not severally joyntly seââ¦ve as so many Lights to expound the place of his Birth and clearing the Homonymiâ⦠of many places state that Town justly wherein he was born Thus are we not only in Bivio or Trivio but as I may say in Vigentivio being to find Wickhams Birth amongst twenty of his Namesake Villages But discovering John Perrot his father richly landed about Winchester and the principal Actions of his Life presented thereabouts with some other Remarks all meeting on the same Scene one may safely conclude that Wickham in Hamp-shire the Eight in the aforesaid Catalogue is that individual Wiââ¦kham wherein this Prelate took his first degree I mean proceeded into the Light of this World The like Evidence though not always so clear hath upon diligent search directed us in Differences of the same Nature An EXPEDIENT when several Places claim the Birth of the same Person It often cometh to passe that two or more places intitle themselves to the Nativity of the same Man Here my Endevour is to keep the Peace as well as I may betwixt them as in the Instance here inserted Bradwardin Castrum unde ortum nomen T. Bradwardinus Arch. Cant. habuit Camden Brit. in Herefordshire T. Bradwardinus Hartfeldiae natus in Dioecesi Cicestriensi J. Bale de Script Brit. Cent. 5. pag. 435. Tho. Bradwardinus Patria Southsaxia ex Civitate Cice stria oriundus Joh. Pits de Ang. Scrip. anno 1350. Natus fertur Bradwardinus Hatfeldiae in Comitatu Suffolciensi Godwin
in this Land flying hither for succour from their Civil Wars and surely it was against their mind if they all went back again Distress at Sea hath driven others in as the Stewards High-sheriffs in Cambridgeshire As other accidents have occasioned the coming in of the Scrimpshires an hundred years since High sheriffs in Staffordshire more lately the Nappers in Bedfordshire and before both the Scots of Scots-hall in Kent I much admire that never an eminent Irish native grew in England to any greatness so many English having prospered in that Country But it seems we love to live there where we may Command and they care not to come where they must Obey Our great distance from Italy always in Position and since the Reformation in Religion hath caused that few or none of that Nation have so incorporated with the English as to have found Families therein Yet have we a sprinkling of Italian Protestants Castilian a valiant Gentleman of Berkshire The Bassanoes excellent Painters and Musicians in Essex which came over into England under King Henry the eight and since in the raign of Queen Elizabeth Sir Horatio Palavicine Receiver of the Popes Revenues landed in Cambridgeshire and the Caesars aliàs Dalmarii still flourishing in Hartfordshire in Worshipful Estates though I never find any of these performing the office of Sheriff The High-Dutch of the Hans Towns antiently much conversed in our Land known by the name of Easterlings invited hither by the large priviledges our Kings conferred upon them so that the Steel-yard proved the Gold-yard unto them But these Merchants moved round in their own Sphere matching amongst themselves without mingling with our Nation Onely we may presume that the Easterlings corruptly called Stradlings formerly Sheriffs in Wiltshire and still famous in Glamorganshire with the Westphalings lately Sheriffs of Oxfordshire were originally of German Extraction The Low Country-men frighted by Duke D'Alvas Tyranny flocked hither under King Edward the sixth fixing themselves in London Norwich Canterbury and Sandwich But these confined themselves to their own Church discipline and for ought I can find advanced not forward by eminent Matches into our Nation Yet I behold the worthy Family of De la Fountain in Lecestershire as of Belgian Original and have read how the ancestours of Sir Simon D'us in Suffolk came hither under King Henry the eight from the Dunasti or D'us in Gelderland As for the Spaniards though their King Philip matched with our Queen Mary but few of any eminence now extant if I well remember derive their Pedigrees from them This I impute to the shortness of their Reign and the ensuing change of Religions Probable it is we might have had more Natives of that Kingdome to have setled and flourished in our Nation had he obtained a marriage with Queen Elizabeth of Blessed Memory which some relate he much endeavoured As for Portugal few of that Nation have as yet fixed their habitations and advanced Families to any visible height in our Land But it may please God hereafter we may have a happy occasion to invite some of that Nation to reside and raise Families in England Mean time the May's who have been Sheriffs in Sussex are all whom I can call to mind of the Portugal Race and they not without a Mixture of Jewish Extraction Come we now to the second Division of our Gentry according to the Professions whereby they have been advanced And here to prevent unjust misprision be it premised that such professions Found most of them gentlemen being the though perchance Younger Sons of wealthy Fathers able to give them liberal education They were lighted before as to their Gentility but now set up in a higher Candlestick by such professions which made a visible and conspicuous accession of Wealth and Dignity almost to the ecclipsing their former condition Thus all behold Isis increased in name and water after its conjunction with Thame at Dorchester whilst few take notice of the first Fountain thereof many miles more Westward in Gloucestershire The Study of the Common-law hath advanced most antient extant Families in our Land It seems they purchased good Titles made sure Setlements and entailed Thrift with their Lands on their posterity A prime person of that profession hath prevented my pains and given in a List of such principal Families I say principal many being omitted by him in so Copious a subject Miraculous the mortality in Egypt where there was not a House wherein there was not one dead But I hope it will be allowed Marvellous that there is not a generous and numerous House in England wherein there is not one though generally no first Born but a Younger Brother antiently or at this day Living Thriving and Flourishing by the Study of the Law Especially if to them what in Justice ought be added those who have raised themselves in Courts relating to the Law The City hath produced more then the Law in number and some as broad in Wealth but not so high in Honour nor long lasting in time who like Land-floods soon come and soon gone have been dried up before the third Generation Yet many of these have continued in a certain channel and carried a Constant stream as will plainly appear in the sequel of our Worthies The Church before the Reformation advanced many Families For though Bishops might not marry they preferred their Brothers Sons to great Estates As the Kemps in Kent Peckhams in Sussex Wickham in Hampshire Meltons in Yorkshire Since the Reformation some have raised Families to a Knightly and Worshipful Estate Hutton Bilson Dove Neil c. But for Sheriffs I take notice of Sandys in Worcester and Cambridgeshire Westphaling in Herefordshire Elmar in Suffolk Rud in Carmarthenshire c. Sure I am there was a generation of People of the last Age which thought they would level all Clergy-men or any descendants from them with the ground Yea had not Gods arme been stretched out in their preservation they had become a prey to their enemies violence and what they had designed to themselves and in some manner effected had ere this been time perfectly compleated As for the inferiour Clergy it is well if their narrow maintenance will enable them to leave a livelihood to their little ones I find but one Robert Johnson by name attaining such an estate that his Grand-son was pricked Sheriff of a County but declined the place by pleading himself a Deacon and by the favour of Arch-bishop Laud. The Study of the Civil-Law hath preferr'd but few The most eminent in that faculty before the Reformation being persons in Orders prohibited marriage However since the Reformation there are some Worshipful Families which have been raised by the Study in this Faculty Yet have our wars which perhaps might have been advocated for in Turks and Pagans who bid defiance to all humanity but utterly mis-beseeming Christians been a main cause of the moulting of many Eminent and Worthy persons of this Profession Nor
prophecy or this prophetical menace to be not above six score yeares old and of Popish extraction since the Reformation It whispereth more then it dare speak out and points at more then it dares whisper and fain would intimate to credulous persons as if the blessed Virgin offended with the English for abolishing her Adoration watcheth an opportunity of Revenge on this Nation And when her day being the five and twentieth of March and first of the Gregorian year chanceth to fall on the day of Christs Resurrection then being as it were fortified by her Sons assistance some signal judgment is intended to our State and Church-men especially Such Coincidence hath hap'ned just fifteen times since the Conquest as Elias Ashmole Esquire my worthy friend and Learned Mathematician hath exactly computed it and we will examine by our Chronicles whether on such yeares any signal fatalities befell England A. D. Anno Reg. D. L. G. N. Signal Disasters 1095 W. Rufus 8. G 13 K. Rufus made a fruitless invasion of Wales 1106 H. first 6. G 5 K. Hen. subdueth Normandy and D. Robert his Brother 1117 H. first 17. G 16 He forbiddeth the Popes Legate to enter England 1190 R. first 2. G 13 K. Richard conquereth Cyprus in his way to Palestine 1201 K. John 2. G 5 The French invade Normandy 1212 K. John 13. G 16 K. John resigneth his Kingdom to the Pope 1285 Ed. first 13. G 13 Nothing remarkable but Peace and Plenty 1296 Ed. first 24. AG 5 War begun with Scotland which ended in Victory 1380 R. second 4. AG 13 The Scots do much harm to us at Peryth Fair. 1459 H. sixth 38. G 16 Lancastrians worsted by the Yorkists in fight 1543 H. eighth 34. G 5 K. Henry entred Scotland and burnt Edenburgh Hitherto this Proverb hath had but intermitting truth at the most seeing no constancy in sad casualties But the sting will some say is in the taile thereof and I behold this Proverb born in this following year 1554 Q. Mary 2. G 16 Q. Mary setteth up Popery and Martyreth Protestants 1627 Charles 3. G 13 The unprosperous Voyage to the Isle of Rees 1638 Charles 14. G 5 The first cloud of trouble in Scotland 1649 Â G 16 The first complete year of the English Common-wealth or Tyranny rather which since blessed be God is returned to a Monarchy The concurrence of these two dayes doth not return till the year 1722. and let the next generation look to the effects thereof I have done my part in shewing remitting to the Reader the censuring of these occurrences Sure I am so sinfull a Nation deserves that every year should be fatal unto it But it matters not though our Lady falls in our Lords lap whilst our Lord sits at his Fathers right hand if to him we make our addresses by serious repentance When HEMPE is Spun England is Done Though this Proverb hath a different Stamp yet I look on it as Coined by the same Mint Master with the former and even of the same Age. It is faced with a Literal but would be Lined with a Mysticall sense When Hemp is Spun that is when all that necessary Commodity is imployed that there is no more left for Sailes and Cordage England whose strength consists in Shipping would be reduced to a Doleful Condition But know under HEMPE are Couched the Initial Letters of Henry the 8. Edward the 6. Mary Philip and Elizabeth as if with the Life of the last the Happiness of England should expire which time hath confuted Yet to keep this Proverb in Countenance it may pretend to some Truth because then England with the Addition of Scotland lost its name in Great Brittain by Royal Proclamation When the Black Fleet of NORVVAY is come and gone ENGLAND Build Houses of Lime and Stone For after Wars you shall have none There is a Larger Edition hereof though this be large enough for us and more then we can well understand Some make it fulfilled in the eighty eight when the Spanish-Fleet was beaten the Sur-name of whose King as a Learned Author doth observe was NORVVAY Others conceive it called the Black Fleet of Norway because it was never black not dismall to others but wofull to its own Apprehension till beaten by the English and forced into those Coasts according to the English Historian They betook themselves to Flight leaving Scotland on the West and bending towards Norway ill advised But that necessity urged and God had Infatuated their Councells to put their shaken and battered bottoms into those Black and Dangerous Seas I observe this the rather because I believe Mr. Speed in this his Writing was so far from having a Reflexion on that I Question whether ever I had heard of this Prophecy It is true that afterwards England built houses of Lime and Stone and our most handsome and Artificiall Buildings though formerly far greater and stronger bear their date from the defeating of the Spanish Fleet. As for the Remainder After Wars you shall have none We find it false as to our Civil Wars by our woful Experience And whether it be true or false as to Forreign Invasions hereafter we care not at all as beholding this prediction either made by the wild fancy of one foolish man and then why should this many wise men attend thereunto or else by him who alwaies either speaks what is false or what is true with an intent to deceive So that we will not be ellated with good or dejected with bad success of his fore-telling England is the ringing Island Thus it is commonly call'd by Foreigners as having greater moe and more tuneable Bells than any one County in Christendom Italy it self not excepted though Nola be there and Bells so called thence because first founded therein Yea it seems our Land is much affected with the love of them and loth to have them carryed hence into forreign parts whereof take this eminent instance When Arthur Bulkley the covetous Bishop of Bangor in the Reign of King Henry the eighth had sacrilegiously sold the five fair Bels of his Cathedral to be transported beyond the Seas and went down himself to see them shipp'd they suddenly sunk down with the Vessell in the Haven and the Bishop fell instantly blind and so continued to the day of his death Nought else have I to observe of our English Bells save that in the memory of man they were never known so long free from the sad sound of Funerals of general infection God make us sensible of and thankfull for the same When the sand feeds the clay England cryes Well a-day But when the clay feeds the sand it is merry with England As Nottingham-shire is divided into two parts the sand and the clay all England falls under the same Dicotomie yet so as the sand hardly amounteth to the Fifth part thereof Now a wet year which drowneth and chilleth the clay makes the sandy ground most fruitfull with corn and
the generall Granarie of the Land which then is dearer in other Counties and it is harder for one to feed foure than foure to feed one It is furthermore observed that a drought never causeth a dearth in England because though parching up the sandy ground the clay being the far greatest moiety of the Land having more natural moisture therein affordeth a competent encrease England were but a fling Save for the crooked stick and the gray-goose-wing But a fling That is a slight light thing not to be valued but rather to be cast away as being but half an Island It is of no great extent Philip the Second King of Spain in the reign of Queen Elizabeth called our English Ambassadours unto him whilst as yet there was Peace betwixt the two Crowns and taking a small Map of the World layed his little finger upon England wonder not if he desired to finger so good a Countrey and then demanded of our English Ambassadour where England was Indeed it is in greatness inconsiderable to the Spanish dominions But for the crooked stick c. That is use of Archery Never were the Arrows of the Parthians more formidable to the Romans then ours to the French horsemen Yea remarkable his Divine Providence to England that since Arrowes are grown out of use though the weapons of war be altered the English mans hand is still in Ure as much as ever before for no Country affords better materials of Iron Saltpeter and Lead or better work-men to make them into Guns Powder and Bullets or better marks-men to make use of them being so made So that England is now as good with a streight Iron as ever it was with a crooked stick England is the Paradise of Women Hell of Horses Purgatory of Servants For the first Billa vera Women whether Maids Wives or Widowes finding here the fairest respect and kindest usage Our Common-Law is a more courteous carver for them than the Civil-Law beyond the seas allowing Widows the thirds of their Husbands Estates with other Priviledges The ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or highest seats are granted them at all Feasts and the wall in crowding most danger to the weakest in walking most dignity to the worthiest resigned unto them The Indentures of maid-servants are cancelled by their Marriage though the term be not expired which to young-men in the same condition is denyed In a word betwixt Law and Laws-Corrival Custom they freely enjoy many favours and we men so far from envying them wish them all happiness therewith For the next â⦠Englands being an Hell for Horses Ignoramus as not sufficiently satisfied in the evidence alledged Indeed the Spaniard who keeps his Gennets rather for shew than use makes wantons of them However if England be faulty herein in their over-violent Riding Racing Hunting it is high time the fault were amended the rather because The good man regardeth the life of his beast For the last â⦠Pugatory for servants we are so far from finding the Bill we cast it forth as full of falshood We have but two sorts Apprentices and Covenant-servants The Parents of the former give large summes of money to have their Children bound for seven yeares to learn some Art or Mystery which argueth their good usage as to the generality in our Nation Otherwise it were madness for men to give so much money to buy their Childrens misery As for our Covenant-servants they make their own Covenants and if they be bad they may thank themselves Sure I am their Masters if breaking them and abusing their servants with too little meat or sleep too much work or correction which is true also of Apprentices are liable by Law to make them reparation Indeed I have heard how in the Age of our Fathers servants were in far greater subjection than now adayes especially since our Civil Wars hath lately dislocated all relations so that now servants will do whatsoever their Masters injoyn them so be it they think fitting themselves For my own part I am neither for the Tyranny of the one nor Rebellion of the other but the mutuall duty of both As for Vernae Slaves or Vassals so frequent in Spain and forreign parts our Land and Lawes whatever former Tenures have been acknowledg not any for the present To conclude as Purgatory is a thing feigned in it self so in this particular it is false in application to England A famine in England begins first at the horse-manger Indeed it seldom begins at the horse-rack for though hay may be excessive dear caused by a dry summer yet winter-grain never impaired with a drought is then to be had at reasonable rates Whereas if Pease or Oates our horse-grain and the latter mans-grain also generally in the North for poor people be scarce it will not be long ere Wheat Rie c. mount in our Markets Indeed if any grain be very dear no grain will be very cheap soon after The King of England is the King of Devils The German Emperour is termed the King of Kings having so many free Princes under Him The King of Spain King of men because they willingly yield their Sovereign rational obedience The King of France King of Asses patiently bearing unconscionable burdens But why the King of England King of Devils I either cannot or do not or will not understand Sure I am S. Gregory gave us better language when he said Angli velut Angeli for our fair complexions and it is sad we should be Devils by our black conditions The English are the Frenchmen's Apes This anciently hath been and still is charg'd on the English and that with too much truth for ought I can find to the contrary dolebat Et dici potuisse non potuisse refelli it is to us a pain This should be said and not gain-said again We ape the French chiefly in two particulars First in their language which if Jack could speak he would be a Gentleman which some get by travell others gain at home with Dame Eglentine in Chaucer Entewned in her voice full seemly And French she spake full feteously After the scole of Stratford at Bowe For French of Paris was to her unknow Secondly in their Habits accounting all our fineness in conformity to the French-fashion though following it at greater distance than the field-pease in the Country the rath ripe pease in the garden Disgracefull in my opinion that seeing the English victorious Armes had twice charged through the bowels of France we should learn our fashions from them to whom we taught Obedience The English Glutton Gluttony is a sin anciently charged on this Nation which we are more willing to excuse than confess more willing to confess than amend Some pretend the coldness of Climate in excuse of our sharp Appetites and plead the Plenty of the Land England being in effect all a great Cookes-shop and no reason any should starve therein for our prodigious Feasts They alledge also that foreigners even the
a Coulâ⦠under which betwixt shame and sanctity he blushed out the remainder of his life 16 DAVID ARCHIDIACONUS c. It may justly seem strange that an Arch-deacon should be Shââ¦riff of a Shire and one would have sought for a person of his Profession rather in a Pulpit then in a Shire-Hall Some will answer that in that Age Men in Orders ingrossed not onely Places of Judicature but also such as had Military and Martial Relations whereof this Sheriff did in some sort partake But under correction I conceive that though Bishops who had also Temporall Baronies were sometimes Sheriffs yet no inferiour Clergy-men being in Orders were ever advanced to that Office neither in Anoient nor in Modern Times Sure I am that in the reign of King Charles one being pricked Sheriff of Rutland escaped pleading that he was a Deacon Yet we meet with many whose surnames sound of Church-relation both in the Catalogue of Ancient and Modern Sheriffs 1. Abbot of London 2. Arch-deacon of Cornwall 3. Bishop of Sussex 4. Chaplain of Norfolke Clerk of Northamptonshire Dean of Essex Frier of Oxfordshire Moigne of Dorsetshire M on of Devonshire Parson of Buckinghamshire Pope of Oxfordshire Prior of London It addeth to the difficulty that whereas persons of their profession were formerly enjoyned single lives we find in this list some of their sons in the next generation Sheriffs also But take one answer to all as these were Lay men so probably their Ancestors were Ecclesiasticks and did officiate according to their respective Orders and Dignities These afterwards having their patrimony devolved unto them by the death of their elder brethren were dispenced with by the Pope to marry yet so that they were always afterwards called by their former profession which was fixed as a surname on their posterity Thus we read how in France Hugh de Lusignian being an Arch-bishop and the last of his family when by the death of his Brethren the Signieuries of Partnay Soubize c. fell unto him he obtained licence to marry on condition that his posterity should bear the name of Archevesque and a Miter over their Arms for ever As for the Surname of Pope in England it is such a transcendent I cannot reach it with mine own and must leave it to more judicious conjectures King John 13. ROB. de BRAYBROOK HEN. filius ejus 14. HEN. BRAYBROOK ROB. pater ejus Here is a loving reciprocation First a son Under-sheriff to his father that was his duty Secondly the father Under-sheriff to his son that was his courtesie Indeed I can name one Under sheriff to his own father being a Gentleman of right worthy extraction and estate which son afterwards in my memory became Lord Chief Justice and Treasurer of England Henry III. 52 EDVARD filius REGIS primo-genitus It soundeth not a little to the honour of these two shires that Prince Edward afterwards the most renowned King of England first of his Christian name since the Conquest was their Sheriff for five years together Yea the Imperial-Crown found him in that office when it fell unto him though then absent in Palestine We may presume that Bartholomew de Fowen his Under-sheriff was very sufficient to manage all matters under him Sheriffs of Bedford and Buckingham-shire Name Place Armes RICH. II.   Anno   1 Ioh. de Aylesbury Aylesbury Azure a Cross Argent 2 Tho. Peynere   3 Egidius Daubeny SOMER Gules four Lozenges in Fess Argent 4 Tho. Sackwell SUSSEX Quarterly Or and Gules a Bend Vayre 5 Ioh. de Aylesbury ut prius  6 Idem ut prius  7 Ioh. Widevill Northam Arg. a Fess Canton Gu. 8 Rob. Dikeswell   9 Tho. Covell  Az. a Lion Ramp Arg. a File of 3 Lambeaux Gu. 10 Ioh. de Aylesbury ut prius  11 Rad. Fitz. Rich.   12 Tho. Peynere   13 Tho. Sackvill ut prius  14 Edm. Hampden Hampden Buc. Arg. a Saltire G. betw 4 Eaglets displayed Az. 15 Will. Teringham Teringhá B. Az. a Cross ingrailed Arg. 16 Tho. Peynere   17 Phil. Walwane   18 Ioh. Longvile WolvertoÌ Gules a Fess Indented betwixt 6 Cross Croslets Arg. 19 Edm. Hampden ut prius  20 Regin Ragon   21 Ioh. Worship   22 Idem   HEN. IV.   Anno   1 Tho. Eston   2 Edw. Hampden ut prius  2 Ro. Beauchamp Eaton Bed G. a Fess betw 6 martlets Or. 3 Reg. Ragon   4 Iohan. Boys KENT Or a Griffin Sergreant S. within 2 Borders G. 5 Idem   6 Edw. Hampden ut prius  7 Tho. Peynere   8 Rich. Hay  Sable three Pickaxes Arg. 9 Bald. Pigott Stratton Bed  10 Tho. Strickland YORK sh. G. a Chev. Or between 3 Crosses formee Arg. on a Canton ermin a Bucks-head erased sable 11 Rich. Wyott   12 Bald. Pigott ut prius  HEN. V.   Aââ¦no   1 Tho. Strickland ut priââ¦s  2 Edw. Hampden ut prius  3 Tho. Wauton   4 Rich. Wyott   5 Ioh. Gifford   6 Will. Massy   7 Walt. Fitz. Rich.   8 Iohan. Radwell   9 Ioh. Radwellet   10 Will. Massy   11 Idem   HEN. VI.   Anno   1 Iohan. Wauton   2 Ioh. Chen y mil. Cheneys B. Checky Or Az. a Fess G. Fretty Erm. 3 Rich. Wyott   4 Ioh. Cheney ut prius  5 Will. Massy ar   6 Hum. Stafford ar  Or a Chev. G. a Quarter Erm. 7 Tho. Wauton mi.   8 Tho. Hoo  Quarterly Sable and Arg. 9 Ioh. Cheney ut prius  10 Egid. Daubeny m. ut prius  11 Tho. Wauton mil.   12 Ioh. Glove   13 Ioh. Hampden ar ut prius  14 Ioh. Broughton   15 Rob. Manfeld   16 Hum. Stafford mi. ut prius  17 Ioh. Hampden ut prius  18 Walt. Strickland ut prius  19 Ioh. Brekenoll   20 Edw. Campden ut prius  21 Edw. Rede   22 Tho. Singleton   23 Ioh. Wenlock  Arg. a Chev. betw 3 Black-moreheads conped Proper 24 Tho. Rokes   25 Tho. Gifford   26 Gor. Longvile ut prius  27 Idem ut prius  28 Will. Gedney   29 Ioh. Hampden ut prius  30 Ro. Whittingham   31 Rob. Olney   32 Edw. Rede ar   32 Ioh. Poulter HARTF Arg. a Bend voided Sable 33 Tho. Singleton   34 Tho. Charlton m.   35 Ioh. Hampden ut prius  36 Ioh. Maningham   37 Ioh. Heyton ar   38 Ioh. Broughton  Arg. a Chev. betwixt 3 Mullets Gules EDWARD IV   Anno   1 Edw. Rede ar   2 Tho. Reynes   3
therein but 12. years of age He was blessed with an happy memory insomuch that when D. D. he could say by heart the second Book of the Aeneads which he learnt at School without missing a Verse He was an excellent Preacher and becoming a Pulpit with his gravity He attended King James his Chaplaine into Scotland and after his return was preferred Dean of Westminster then Bishop of Salisbury Hear what the Author of a Pamphlet who inscribeth himself A. W. saith in a Book which is rather a Satyre then a History a Libell then a Character of the Court of King James for after he had slanderously inveighed against the bribery of those days in Church and State hear how he seeks to make amends for all King James's Court pag. 129 130. Some worthy men were preferred gratis to blow up their Buckingham and his party Fames as Tolson a worthy man paid nothing in fine or Pension and so after him Davenant in the same Bishoprick Yet these were but as Musick before every hound Now although both these persons here praised were my God-fathers and Uncles the one marrying the sister of the other being Brother to my Mother and although such good words seem a Rarity from so railing a mouth yet shall not these considerations tempt me to accept his praises on such invidious terms as the Author doth proffer them O! Were these worthy Bishops now alive how highly would they disdain to be praised by such a pen by which King James their Lord and Master is causelesly traduced How would they condemn such uncharitable commendations which are if not founded on accompanied with the disgrace of others of their order Wherefore I their Nephew in behalf of their Memories protest against this passage so far forth as it casteth Lustre on them by Eclipsing the credit of other Prelates their contemporaries And grant corruption too common in that kind yet were there besides them at that time many worthy Bishops raised to their dignity by their Deserts without any Simonicall complyances Doctor Townson had a hospitall heart a generous disposition free from covetousness and was always confident in Gods Providence that if he should dye his children and those were many would be provided for wherein he was not mistaken He lived in his Bishoprick but a year and being appointed at very short warning to preach before the Parliament by unseasonable ââ¦tting up to study contracted a Fever whereof he died and was buried in Westminster Abbey Anno Dom. 1622. THOMAS son to William WESTFIELD D. D. was born Anno Dom. 1573. in the Parish of Saint Maries in Ely and there bred at the Free-school under Master Spight till he was sent to Jesus-colledge in Cambridge being first Scholar then Fellow thereof He was Curate or Assistant rather to Bishop Felton whilst Minister of Saint Mary le Bow in Cheapside afterward Rector of Hornsey nigh and Great Saint Bartholomews in London where in his preaching he went thorow the four Evangelists He was afterwards made Arch-Deacon of Saint Albans and at last Bishop of Bristol a place proffered to and refused by him twenty five years before For then the Bishoprick was offered to him to maintain him which this contented meek man having a self-subsistence did then decline though accepting of it afterwards when proffered to him to maintain the Bishoprick and support the Episcopall dignity by his signall devotion What good opinion the Parliament though not over-fond of Bishops conceived of him appears by their Order ensuing The thirteenth of May 1643. From the Committee of Lords and Commons for Sequestration of Delinquents Estates Upon information in the behalf of the Bishop of Bristoll that his Tenants refuse to pay him his Rents it is Ordered by this Committee that all profits of his Bishoprick be restored to him and a safe conduct be granted him to pass with his family to Bristoll being himself of great age and a person of great learning and merit Jo. Wylde About the midst of his life he had a terrible sickness so that he thought to use his own expression in his Diary that God would put out the candle of his life though he was pleased onely to snuff it By his will the true Copy whereof I have he desired to be buried in his Cathedral Church neer the tombe of Paul Bush the first Bishop thereof And as for my worldly goods Reader they are his own words in his Will which as the times now are I know not well where they be nor what they are I give and bequeath them all to my dear wife Elizabeth c. He protested himself on his death-bed a true Protestant of the Church of England and dying Junii 28. 1644. lyeth buried according to his own desire above mentioned with this inscription Hic jacet Thomas Westfield S. T. D. Episcoporum intimus peccatorum primus Obiit 25. Junii anno MDCXLIV Senio moerore confectus Tu Lector quisquis es vale resipisce Epitaphium ipse sibi dictavit vivus Monumentum uxor moestissima Elizabetha Westfield Marito desideratissimo posuit superstes Thus leaving such as survived him to see more sorrow and feel more misery he was seasonably taken away from the evil to come And according to the Anagram made on him by his Daughter Thomas Westfield I dwel the most safe Enjoying all happiness and possessing the reward of his pains who converted many and confirmed more by his constancy in his Calling States-men JOHN TIPTOFT son and heir of John Lord Tiptoft and Joyce his wife daughter and Co-heir of Edward Charlton Lord Powis by his wife Eleanor sister and Co-heir of Edmund Holland Earl of Kent was born at Everton in this but in the confines of Bedford shire He was bred in Baliol-colledge in Oxford where he attained to great learning and by King Henry the sixth was afterwards created first Vice-count then Earl of Worcester and Lord Hââ¦gh Constable of England and by K. Edward the fourth Knight of the Garter The skies began now to lowre and threaten Civil Wars and the House of York fell sick of a Relapse Mean time this Earl could not be discourteous to Henry the sixth who had so much advanced him nor disloyall to Edward the fourth in whom the right of the Crown lay Consulting his own safety he resolved on this Expedient for a time to quit his own and visit the Holy-land In his passage thither or thence he came to Rome where he made a Latin speech before the Pope Piâ⦠the second and converted the Italians into a better opinion then they had formerly of the English-mens learning insomuch that his holiness wept at the elegancy of the Oration He returned from Christs sepulcher to his own grave in England coming home in a most unhappy juncture of time if sooner or later he had found King Edward on that Throne to which now Henry the sixth was restored and whose restitution was onely remarkable for the death of this worthy
Scholar-ships to each yearly four pounds 10. To the Colledge of Saint John Baptist in Oxford two Scholar-ships of the same value 11. To Christ-Church Hospital three Hundred pounds 12. To the Church and Poor to buy them Gowns of Wrenbury seventy pounds With other Benefactions Verily I say unto you I have not met a more universall and unpartial Charity to all Objects of want and worth He died about the beginning of the raign of King James JOHN BREWERTON Knight a Branch of that well-spred Tree in this County was bred one of the first Scholars of the foundation in Sidney-colledge and afterwards being brought up in the study of the Common-law he went over into Ireland and at last became the Kings Serjeant therein I say at last for at his coming thither in the tumults of Tirone neither Rex nor Lex neither King nor Serjeant were acknowledged till Loyalty and Civility were by degrees distilled into that Nation He obtained a plentifull Estate and thereof gave well nigh three thousand pounds to Sidney-colledge Now as it is reported of Ulysses returning from his long travail in Forraign Lands that all his family had forgot him so when the news of this Legacy first arrived at the Colledge none then extant therein ever heard of his name so much may the spunge of forty years blot out in this kind onely the written Register of the Colledge faithfully retained his name therein This his gift was a gift indeed purely bestowed on the Colledge as loded with no detrimentall Conditions in the acceptance thereof We read in the Prophet Thou hast increased the Nation and not multiplied their Joy In proportion whereunto we know it is possible that the comfortable condition of a Colledge may not be increased though the number of the Fellows and Scholars therein be augmented superadded Branches sucking out the sap of the Root Whereas the Legacy of this worthy Knight ponebatur in lucro being pure gain and improvement to the Colledge His death happened about the year 1633. JOHN BARNSTON D. D. was born of an ancient Family in this County bred Fellow of Brasen-Nose-Colledge in Oxford afterwards Chaplain to Chancellor Egerton and Residentiary of Salisbury A bountifull House-keeper of a cheerfull spirit and peaceable disposition whereof take this eminent Instance He sate Judge in the Consistory when a Church-warden out of whose house a Chalice was stolen was sued by the Parish to make it good to them because not taken out of the Church-Chest where it ought to have been reposited but out of his private house The Church-warden pleaded that he took it home onely to scoure it which proving ineffectuall he retained it till next morning to boil out the in-laid Rust thereof Well said the Doctor I am sorry that the Cup of Union and Communion should be the cause of difference and discord between you Go home and live lovingly together and I doubt not but that either the Thief out of remorse will restore the same or some other as good will be sent unto you which by the Doctors secret Charity came to pass accordingly He founded an Hebrew Lecture in Brasen-Nose-Colledge and departed in Peace in the beginning of our Wars about the year 1642. Memorable Persons WILLIAM SMITH was born in this County wherein his Surname hath been of signal note for many ages His Genius inclined him to the study of Heraldry wherein he so profitted that Anno he was made Persuivant of Arms. By the name of Rougdragon he wrote a description Geographical and Historicall of this County left it seems in the hands of Raynulph Crew Knight sometimes L. Chief Justice of the Kings Bench and lately set forth by the favour of Mr. Raynulph Crew Grand-child to that worthy Knight the time of his death is to me unknown WILLIAM WEB a native of this County was bred a Master in Arts and aââ¦terwards betook himself to be a Clark of the Mayors Court in Chester It appeareth also he was Under sheriffe to Sir Richard Lee High-sheriffe of this County in the thirteenth year of King James He compiled a description of Cheshire and Chester lately Printed by procurement of that no less Communicative then Judicious Antiquary Sir Simon Archer of Tamworth in Warwickshire I cannot attain the certain date of his death RANDAL CREW Esquire second Son to Sir Clipsby Grand-child to Judge Crew He drew a Map of Cheshire so exactly with his pen that a judicious eye would mistake it for Printing and the Gravers skill and industry could little improve it This Map I have seen and Reader when my eye directs my hand I may write with confidence This hopefull Gentleman went beyond the Seas out of design to render himself by his Travells more useful for his Country where he was Barbarously Assassinated by some French-men and honourably buried with generall lamentation of the English at Paris 1656. Lord Mayors Name Father Place Company Time 1 Hugh Witch Richard Witch Nantwich Mercer 1461 2 Thomas Oldgrave William Oldgrave Knotysford Skinner 1467 3 Edmond Shaw John Shaw Donkenfield Goldsmith 1482 4 James Spencer Robert Spencer Congleton Vintner 1527 5 Thomas Offley William Offley Chester Merchant-Taylor 1556 6 Humfry Weld John Weld Eaton Grocer 1608 7 Thomas Moulson    1634 I am certainly informed that this Moulsonââ¦ounded ââ¦ounded a fair School in the Town where he was born but am not instructed where this is or what Salary is setled thereon Reader know this that I must confess my self advantaged in the description of this County by Daniel King a native of this County whence it seems he travelled beyond the Seas where he got the Mystery both of Survaying and Engraving So that he hath both drawn and graven the portraicture of many ancient structures now decayed I hope in process of time this Daniel King will out-strip King Edgar erecting more Abbeys in Brââ¦ss then he did in Stone though he be said to have built one for every day in the Year But Cheshire is chiefly beholding to his Pains seeing he hath not only set forth two Descriptions thereof named the Vale Royal of England with the praise to the dead Persons the Authors thereof duly acknowledged but also hath enlivened the same with severall Cuts of Heraldry and Topography on whom we will bestow this Distick Kingus Cestrensi Cestrensis Patria Kingo Lucem Alternatim debet uterque suam Cheshire to King and King to Cheshire owes His light ãâã doth ãâã what each Bââ¦stows What is amiss in my Poetry shall be amended in my Prayers for a Blessing on his and all ingenious-mens undertakings Cheshire is one of the 12. pretermitted Counties the Names of whose Gentry were not returned into the Tower in the 12. year of K. Henry the sixth Sheriffs HEN. II. Anno 30 Gilbert Pipehard Anno 35 Rich. de Pierpoint RICH. I. Anno 1 RECORDA MANCA JOHAN Anno 1 ãâã Rich. de Burham Anni Incerti HEN. III. Anno 15 Rich. de Sonbach Anno 23 Rich. de
like being said not to be seen in all England no nor in all Europe again The Buildings Saint Werburges Church is a fair structure and had been more beautifull if the tower thereof intended some say for a steeple the first stone whereof was laid 1508. had been finished It was built long before the Conquest and being much ruined was afterward repaired by Hugh Lupus first Earl of Chester It was afterward made by King Henry the eighth one of his five Royal Bishopricks Oxford Gloucester Bristol and Peterborough being the other four I say Royal Bishopricks as whose Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions were never confirmed by the Pope nor Baronies by the Parliament The first is plain King Henry the eighth erecting them after he had disclaimed the Popes Supremacy and in the days of Queen Mary when England was in some sort reconciled to Rome the Pope thought not fit to contest with the Queen about that CriticismeÌ because these five Bishopricks were erected without his consent but suffer'd them to be even as he found them Their Baronries also were not though their Bishopricks were ever confirmed by Act of Parliament so that they owed their beings solely to the Kings Prerogative who might as well Create Spiritual as Temporal Peers by his own Authority And therefore when some Anti-praelatists in the late Long Parliament 1641. endeavoured to overthrow their Baronries as an Essââ¦y and Preludium to the rest of the Bishopricks for want of Parliamentary Confirmation they desisted from that design as fond and unfeisable on better consideration Proverbs When the daughter is stoln shut Pepper-gate Pepper-gate was a postern of this City on the East-side as I take it thereof but in times past closed up and shut upon this occasion The Mayor of the City had his daughter as she was playing at ball with other Maidens in Pepper-street stoln away by a Young-man through the same gate whereupon in revenge he caused it to be shut up though I see not why the City should suffer in her conveniences for the Mayor his want of Care or his Daughter her lack of Obedience But what shall we say Love will make the whole Walla Gate to procure its own Escape Parallel to this Proverb is the Latine Serò sapiunt Phryges when men instead of preventing postvide against dangers Martyrs GEORGE MARSH was condemned by Bishop Coats and cruelly burnt without this City near unto Spittle Boughton but because he was born elsewhere see his character in Lancashire Prelates GEORGE DOUNHAM D. D. son to John Dounham Bishop of Chester was born in this City as by proportion of time may most probably be collected He was bred in Christs-colledge in Cambridge elected Fellow thereof 1585. and chosen Logick-professor in the University No man was then and there better skill'd in Aristotle or a greater Follower of Ramus so that he may be termed the Top-twig of that Branch It is seldome seen that the Clunch-fist of Logick good to knock a man down at a blow can so open it self as to smooth and stroak one with the Palme thereof Our Dounham could doe both witness the Oration made by him at Cambridge preposed to his book of Logick full of Flowers of the choicest eloquence He preached the Sermon April 17. 160â⦠at the Consecration of James Mountague Bishop of Bath and Wells irrefragably proving therein Episcopacy jure Divino He that receiveth a Bishop in the Name of a Bishop shall receive a Bishops reward It was not long before Doctor Dounham was made Bishop of Derry in Ireland then newly augmented with the addition of London-Derry because so planted with English it was easy to find London in Derry but not Derry in Derry so much disguised from itself with new buildings But this Learned Bishop was the greatest beauty thereof indeavouring by gentleness to Cicurate and Civillize the wild-Irish and proved very successfull therein The certain date of his death I cannot attain Sea men DAVID MIDDLETON was born in this City as his Kinsman and my Friend hath informed me He was one of those who effectually contributed his assistance to the making of Through lights in the World I mean New Discoveries in the East and West-Indies as we may read at large in his own Printed relation The tender-hearted Reader whose affections go along with his eye will sadly sympathize with his sufferings so many and great his dangers with Caniballs and Portugals Crocodiles and Hollanders till at last he accomplished his intentions and setled the English trade at Bantam I meet with no mention of him after 1610. Sir HENRY MIDDLETON Knight was younger brother as I take it to the former deservedly knighted for his great pains and perills in advancing the English trade Amongst many most remarkable is his Voyage into the Red-sea which had like to have proved the Dead sea unto him I mean cost him his life Here he was tolled to land at Moha by the treacherous Aga and then had eight of his men barbarously slââ¦in himself and seven more chained up by the Necks The pretence was because that Port was the Door of the Holy City which though it be Jerusalem in the language of the Scripture is Mecca in the Phrase of the Alcaron and it is Capitoll for any Christian to come so near thereunto Then was he sent eightscore miles and upwards to the Bashaw at Zenan in Arabia in the Month of January 1611. This City of Zenan lyeth but sixteen degrees and fifteen minutes of Northern latitude from the Equator and yet was so cold that there was Ice of a Fingers thickness in one night as the said Sir Henry did relate This confuteth the Character of these Countries misapprehended by Antiquity not to be habitable for the excess of heat therein At last the Turkish Bashaw gave him leave to depart and sailing Eastwards he repaired himself by a gainfull composition with the Indians for the losses he had sustained by the Turkes His ship called the Trades increase well answered the name thereof untill it pleased God to visit his men therein with a strange disease whereof one hundred English deceased the grief whereat was conceived the cause of this worthy Knights death May 24. 1613. whose name will ever survive whilst Middletons Bay from him so called appeareth in the Dutch Cards Writers ROGER of CHESTER was born and bred therein a Benedictine Monke in Saint Werburges In obedience to the Bishop of Chester he wrot a Brittish Chronicle from the beginning of the World This was the fashion of all Historians of that age running to take a long rise from the Creation it self that so it seems they might leap the further with the greater force Our Rogers Chronicle was like a ship with double decks first onely continuing it to the year 1314. and then resuming his subject he superadded five and twenty year more thereunto entitling it Polycratica Temporum Both Bale and Pitz praise him for pure latine a rarity in
also Oysters and other Shellfish gaping for the Dew are in a manner impregnated therewith So that some conceive that as Dew is a Liquid Pearl so a Pearl is Dew consolidated in these fishes Here poor people getting them at low water sell to Jewellers for Pence what they sell again for Pounds Indeed there is a Spanish Proverbe that a Lapidary who would grow rich must buy of those who go to be executed as not caring how cheap they sell and sell to those that go to be married as not caring how dear they buy But waving these advantages such of that Mistery which Trade with Country-people herein gaine much by buying their Pearls though far short of the Indian in Orientness But whether not as usefull in Physick is not as yet decided Black-lead Plenty hereof is digged up about Keswick the onely place as I am inform'd where it is found in Europe and various is the use thereof 1. For Painters besides some mixture thereof in making Leadââ¦colours to draw the Pictures of their Pictures viz. those shadowy lines made onely to be unmade again 2. For pens so usefull for Scholars to note the remarkables they read with an impression easily deleble without prejudice to the book 3. For Feltmakers for colouring of hats 4. To scoure leaden cisternes and to brighten things made of Iron 5. In Flanders and Germany they use it for glasing of stuffs Besides these visible surely there are other concealed uses thereof which causeth it daily to grow the dearer being so much transported beyond the seas Copper These mines lay long neglected choak'd in their own rubbish till renewed about the beginning of Queen Elizabeth when plenty of Copper was here afforded both for home-use and ââ¦orraign transportation But Copper it self was too soft for severall military services and could not alone no single person can prove a parent produce brass most usefull for that purpose Here taste and see Divine Providence which never doth its work by halfes and generally doubleth gifts by seasonable giving them Lapis calaminaris whereof hereafter in due place was then first found in England the Mother of Brass as Copper the father hereof Hence came it to pass that Queen Elizabeth left more brass then She found Iron-ordnance in the Kingdome And our wooden walls so our ships are commonly call'd were rough-casted over with a coat of a firmer constitution We must not forget the names of the two Dutch-men good froggs by sea but better moles by land who re-found out these Copper-mines wherein also some silver no new milk without some creame therein viz. Thomas Shurland and Daniel Hotchstabter of Auspurge in Germany whose Nephews turning purchasers of lands hereabouts prefer easily to take what the earth tenders in her hands above ground then painfully to pierce into her heart for greater treasure I am sorry to hear and loath to believe what some credible persons have told me that within this twenty years the Copper within this County hath been wholly discontinued and that not for want of Mettall but Mining for it Sad that the industry of our age could not keep what the ingenuity of the former found out And I would willingly put it on another account that the burying of so much steel in the bowells of men dureing our Civil Wars hath hindred their digging of Copper out of the entralls of the Earth hoping that these peaceable times will encourage to the resuming thereof The Buildings This County pretendeth not to the mode of Reformed Architecture the Vicinity of the Scots causing them to build rather for Strength then State The Cathedrall of Carlile may pass for the Embleme of the Militant-Church Black but Comely still bearing in the Complexion thereof the remaining signes of its former burning Rose-castle the Bishops best Seat hath lately the Rose therein withered and the Prickles in the Ruins thereof onely remain The houses of the Nobility and Gentry are generally built Castle-wise and in the time of the Romans this County because a Limitary did abound with Fortifications Mr. Cambden taking notice of more Antiquities in Cumberland and Northumberland then in all England besides The Wonders Although if the word Wonders be strained up high and hard this County affordeth none yet if the sense thereof be somewhat let down the compass thereof fetcheth in the Moss-Troopers So strange the condition of their living if considered in their Original Increase Height Decay and Ruine 1. Originall I conceive them the same called Borderers in Mr. Cambden and charactered by him to be a wild and war-like people they are called Moss-Troopers because dwelling in the Mosses and riding in Troops together They dwell in the Bounds or meeting of two Kingdomes but obey the Laws of neither They come to Church as seldome as the 29. of February comes into the Kalender 2. Increase When England and Scotland were united in Great Britain they that formerly lived by Hostile incursions betook themselves to the robbing of their Neighbours Their Sons are free of the trade by their Fathers Copy they are like unto Job not in piety and patience but in suddain plenty and poverty sometimes having Flocks and Heards in the morning none at night and perchance many again next day They may give for their Motto vivitur ex rapto stealing from their honest Neighbours what sometimes they re-gain They are a nest of Hornets strike one and stir all of them about your ears Indeed if they promise safely to conduct a Traveller they will perform it with the fidelity of a Turkish Janizary otherwise wo be to him that falleth into their quarters 3. Height Amounting forty years ââ¦ince to some Thousands These compelled the Vicenage to purchase their security by paying a constant rent unto them When in their greatest height they had two great Enemies the Laws of the Land and the Lord William Howard of Naworth He sent many of them to Carlisle to that place where the Officer always doth his work by day-light Yet these Moss-Troopers if possibly they could procure the pardon for a condemned person of their Company would advance great sums out of their Common stock who in such a case cast in their Lots amongst themselves and all have one purse 4. Decay Caused by the wisdome valour and diligence of the Right Honorable Charles L. Howard now Earl of Carlisle who routed these English-Tories with his Regiment His severity unto them will not onely be excused but commended by the judicious who consider how our great Lawyer doth describe such persons who are solemnly ãâã Bracton Lib. tertio Tract 2. Cap. 11. Ex tunc gerunt Caput Lupinum ita quod sine judiciali inquisitione ritè ãâã secum ãâã judicium portent meritò sine Lââ¦ge pereunt qui secundum Legem vivere recusarunt Thenceforward after they are out-law'd they wear a Woolfs-head so that they lawfully may be destroyed without any judiciall inquisition as who carry their own Condemnation about them and
Bastenthwayt Mi. for 7 years Anno 13 Nul Titulus Comitis in hoc Rotulo Anno 14 Anno 15 Anno 16 Anno 17 Hen. de Malton Rob. le Brum Anno 18 Hen de Malton EDW. III. Anno 1 Pet. Tilloll Rob. Brun Anno 2 Anno 3 Pet Tilloll Anno 4 Rad. de Dacre Ranulphus for 6 years Anno 10 Ric. de Denton Anno 11 Anth. de Lucy Roul Vaux Anno 12 Idem Anno 13 Anth. de Lucy Anno 14 Idem Anno 15 Hug. de Moriceby Anth. de Lucy Anno 16 Idem Anno 17 Hug. de Moriceby Anno 18 Idem Anno 19 Tho. de Lucy Hug. de Moriceby Anno 20 Idem Anno 21 Tho. de Lucy Anno 22 Idem Anno 23 Idem Anno 24 Rich. de Denton Anno 25 Idem Anno 26 Hug. de Louthre Anno 27 Idem Anno 28 Idem Anno 29 Nul Titulus Comitis in Rotulo Anno 30 Will. de Thirkeld Anno 31 Rob. Tillioll Anno 32 Idem Anno 33 Will. de Lancaster Anno 34 Chri. de Moriceby Anno 35 Rob. de Tillioll Anno 36 Idem Anno 37 Chri. de Moriceby Anno 38 Idem Anno 39 Idem Anno 40 Idem Anno 41 Will. de Windesor Anno 42 Idem Anno 43 Adam Puinges Anno 44 Idem Anno 45 Idem Anno 46 Ioh. de Denton Anno 47 Rob. de Moubray Anno 48 Ioh. de Derwentwater Anno 49 Ioh. de Denton Anno 50 Ioh. de Derwentwater Anno 51 Ioh. Bruyn King Henry II. 21 ROBERTUS de VAUS Alias de Vaux or de Vallibus a right ancient name still extant in this County There is a Cross in the Church-yard of Beu-castle about twenty foot in height all of one square stone carved with the Armes of Vaux whence Master Cambden concludeth it though otherwise the inscription thereon not legible of their erection I behold this Robert as Father to John de Vallibus of whom Mathew Paris saith that he was one of those that muneribus excaecati à fidelitate quam Baronibus in commune juraverant recesserunt Blinded with bribes they went back from the some will say such breach no breach of fidelity which they had jointly sworn to the Barons Indeed the same Author reckoneth him amongst those whom he termeth Clarissimos milites on whose loyalty and valour King Henry the third relied The Lord Vaux of Harrowden in Northamptonshire doth hence fetch his Extraction King Henry III. 8 WALT. EPIS CARLIOL ROB. filius WILL. de HAMPTON This Walter Bishop of Carlile was he who commonly was called Male-Clerk English it as you please Bad-scholar or Clergy-man It seems to me a strange Transposition that Henry the first King of England should be termed Beau-Clerk a Good-scholar and our Walter a Bad One who was a Bishop in Orders However though Male-Clerk had he been Bon-Homme a Good-Man the matter had been much mended But I find little praise of his manners Indeed he was Lord Trea surer of England and found false both in Word and Deed avowing his Accounts even when he was justly charged with an hundred pound a summe in that age in the purse of a poor King debt to the Exchequer This cost him much molestation so that at last he resigned his Bishoprick which by my Author is beheld as no kindly act of mortification but that he came unjustly by his place and was afraid to lose though ashamed to keep it any longer He afterwards became a Friar at Oxford as if lacking learning in his Youth he would recover it in his Old Age where he dyed October 28. 1248. Edward II. 2 ANDREAS de HARCLA Had his latter end answered his beginning he might deservedly have been ranked amongst the Worthies of Westmerland where he was born at Harcla whereas now it shall suffice to make this oblique mention of him in this place He behaved himself right handsomely in the service of King Edward the second many years together especially at the battle of Borough-brigge where he killed Humphrey Bohun Earl of Hereford and took Thomas Plantagenet Earl of Lancaster with many others of the Nobility prisoners and delivered them to the King In reward whereof he was Created in the 19. ââ¦ear of that King Earl of Carlile and had the Isle of Man bestow'd upon him Next year I know not upon what discontentment he fell into private confederacy with the Kings foes the Scots for which he was taken and condemned Now lest the Nobility of others should by secret sympathy suffer in his disgracefull death the Earl was first parted from the Man and his honour severed from his person by a solemn degradation having his knightly spurs hewed off from his heels which done he was hang'd drawn and quartered Sheriffs Name Place Armes RICH. II.   Anno   1 Io. Derwentwater  Ar. 2 barrs G. â⦠a Canton of the second a Cinqsoile of the first 2 Wil de Stapleton*   3 Gilb. de Culwen â ãâã Argent a Lion rampant Sable 4 Io. de DeweÌrwater ut prius â Arg. Frettee G. a Cheif Azure 5 Ama. Mounceaux   6 Rober. Parning   7 Ama. Mounceaux   8 Ioh. Therlwall   9 Ama. Mounceaux   10 Ioh. Therlwall   11 Pet. Tillioll   12 Ioh. Ireby  Aââ¦gent Frettee a Canton Sable 13 Rich. Redman  G. 3 Cussions Erm. buttoned and Tasselled Or. 14 Chri. Moriceby   15 Ioh. de Ireby ut prius  16 Tho. de Musgrave  Azure six Annulets Or. 17 Rich. Redman ut prius  18 Pet. Tiliot   19 Ioo de Ireby ut prius  20 Ricq Redman ut prius  21 Wil. Culwen ut prius  22 Rich. Redman ut prius  HEN. IV.   Anno   1 Will. Leigh   2 Will. Louther  Or. six Annuletes Sable 3 Rich. Redman Wil. Osmunderlaw ut prius Arg a Fess between 3 Martlets Sable 4 Pet. Tillioll   5 Idem   6 Rââ¦ch Skelton  ãâã Fess ãâã 3 Flower de ãâã Or. 7 Will. Louther ut prius  8   9   10 Ioh. Delamore   11 Rob. Rodington   12 Rich. Redman m. ut prius  HEN. V.   Anno   1 Ia. Harington m.  Sable Frettee Argent 2 Will. Stapelton ut prius  3 Chri Culwen m. ut prius  4 Ioh. Lancaster  Arg. 2 Bars G. on a Canton of the same a Lion passant Or. 5 Wil. Osmunder law ut prius  6 Rob. Louther mi. ut prius  7 Ioh. Lamplough  Or 2 Cross floury Sable 8 Will. Stapilton ut prius  9 Will. Stapleton ut prius  Rich. Ratcliffe Darwentwater Arg. a Bend engrailed Sable HEN. VI.   Anno   1 Will. Leigh mil.   2 Chri. Gulwen m. ut prius  3 Chri. Moresby m.  Arg. a Cross S. in the
of King Edward the third whence and by whom collected to me unknown somewhat differing from this List now by us exemplified though I shall forbeare the nominating of them as sticking to the Catalogue communicated unto me out of the Pipe Office HENRY the Second 2. RICHARDUS COMES This is but a blind and lame Indication Richard the Earle not telling us whereof as if there had been but one English Earle Richard in that Age. Whereas there was Rich. Fitz-Gilbert Earle of Clare and Rich. de Ripariis or Rivers both flourishing at this Time But here the Letters of these must be meant who was Earl of this County the self same who married Avis Daughter and Heir of Reginald Earl of Cornwal the base Son of King Henry the first 27. WILLIELMUS BREWER His Mother unable to make the most Charitable Constructions to maintain cast him in Brewers whence he was so named or in a Bed of Brakes in New Forrest In him the words of David found performance When my Father and Mother forsake me the Lord taketh me up King Henry the Second riding to rousea Stag found this Child and caused him to be nursed and well brought up till he became a man and the Honour of all Foundlings a prime Favourite to King Henry and Richard the first made Baron of Odcomb and his Issue Male failing his large Inheritance was by Daughters derived to Breos Wake la Fort and Percy EDVVARD the Third 32. WILLIAM YOO. His family is still extant in this County in a worshipfull condition on the same token that they give for their Arms Argent a Cheveron Sable between three Turky-Cocks in their prideproper Let no over-critick causlesly cavill at this Coat as but a moderne bearing because Turky-Cocks came not into England till about the tenth year of the Reign of King Henry the eighth being here formerly shown as rareties though not fed on as Tablefoule till that time Besides Heraulds have ever assumed that priviledge to themselves to assigne for Arms both those Creatures which are found only in forraign Countries Leopards Tigers c. and those whose sole existence is in the fancie of Poets and Painters as a* Phenix Harpey and the like Sheriffs Name Place Armes RICH. II.   Anno.   1 Joh. Damerell Throwley  2 Joh. Fitzpayn  Or three Piles Azure 3 Joh. Strech   4 Wal. Corn  Arg. a Chevron betwixt 3 bugle horns Garnished Sab. 5 Ric. Champernoun Modberie Gules a Saltire varee betwixt 12 Billeis Ar. 6 Ric. Kendall  Argent a Cheveron betwixt 3 Dolphins Sable 7 Wil. de Hasthorpt   8 Ja. Chudleygh  Ermin three Lions Ramp Gu. 9 Ric. Whitiley  Azure on a bend Or 3 Torteauxes 10 Ric. Champernoun ut prius  11 John Pawlet  Sab. 3 Swords in pyle Ar. 12 Nic. Kerckham  Erm. 3 Lyons Ramp G. within a Border engrailed S. alias ar 13 Will. Bonevile VViscombe Sab. 6. Mullets Arg. Pierced Gules 14 Will. Carminow  Az. a Bend Or a Label of 3 points Gule 15 Joh. Greenvile Bediford Gules 3 Rests Or. 16 Tho. Rawleigh Rawleigh Gules à Bend Lozingee Arg. 17 Tho Brook   18 Will. Ferers  Arg. a bend Gu. on a chief Vertrect 2 Cinque foiles the field 19 VVil. Maleheââ¦b  Or a Cheveron Gules between 3 Nettle leaves proper 20 Tho. ââ¦everell  Gules a Fess Arg. betwixt six Crosses Patee Or. 21 VVill. Beaumont  Azure Seme Or Flower de lis a Lion Ramp Or 22   23   HEN. IV.   Anno.   1 Joh. Keynes   2 Tho. Pomeroy Pery Pom. Or. a Lion Rampant Gules 3 John Herle Miles Ilfarcombe Arg. a Fess Gules betwixt 3 Sheldrakes proper 4 John Keneys   5 John VVike Northwick  6 John Bââ¦vil Cornwal Arg. a Bul Passant G. armed and tripped Or. 7 John Cheââ¦eldon   8 Phil. Cole  Arg. a Bull passant Sab. armed Or within a border of the second Bezantee 9 Joh. Herle miles ut prius  10 Edwâ⦠Pine  Gules a Cheveron Ermine be-between 3 pine Apples Or 11 VVill. Cheney Pineho Gules on a Fess of four Lozengies Arg. as many Escalops Sab. 12 Robert   13 Ric. Pomeroy ut prius  14 Ric. Peveril ut prius  HEN. V.   Anno.   1 Tho. Beaumond ut prius  2 Tho. Pomeroy ut prius Sab. Sixe Swallows in Pile Argent 3 Joh. Arundell Cornwall  4 Joh. Bevill ut prius  5 VVil. Talbot Talbotswick  6 Ste. Dumeford   7 Hug. Courtnay Powderham Or 3 Torteauxes 8 Tho. Beââ¦umont ut prius  9 Rob. Challons   10 Tho Beaumond ut prius  HEN. VI.   Anno. ut prius  1 Tho. Beaumond Sr. VVil. Bonvile ut prius  2 Ric. Hanckford   3 Tho Brook   4 VVil. Palton do Umberl  5 Joh. Bampââ¦yld Polmoââ¦e Or on a bend Gules 3 Mullets Arg. 6 Tho. Beaumond ut prius  7 Rob. Hill   8 la. Chudleigh ut prius  9 Ioh. Bozome  Argent 3 bolts Gulcs 10 Edw. Pemeroy ut prius  11 Edw. Pine ut prius  12 Ioh. Cheynede ut prius  13 Tho. Stowell  Gules A Cross Lozenges Argent 14 Rog. Champernoun ut prius  15 Tho. Beaumont ut prius  16 Tho. Arundell ut prius  17 Ja. Chudleigh ut prius  18 VVil. Beauchamp  Gules a Fess betwixt six Martlets Or. 19 Rob. Burton  Argent 3 palmer slaves in Fess Az. 20 VVil. VVadham SOMER Gules a Cheveron betwixt 3 Roses Arg. 21 Rich. Yeard YeardCol Arg. a Chev. G. beââ¦wixt 3 water-Bougââ¦ts of the ãâã 22 Ioh. Cheny ut prius  23 Ioh. Bluet  Or. a Cheve ãâã â⦠Eaglââ¦s displaied Gulââ¦s 24 Nic. Bââ¦oughton  Arg. a Chev. ãâã 3 Mullets Gules 25 Hen. Fortescue  Azure a Bend Ingrailed Ar. ãâã Oâ⦠26 Th â⦠Budeokshed St. Bââ¦deox Sa. 3 Loââ¦enges in Fes between 3 ãâã ââ¦eads cabossed arg 27 Hugh ãâã Affeton ãâã 3 Pears Or. 28 Jer. ãâã ut prius  29   30 ãâã ãâã   31 Hen. ãâã ut prius  32 Iohn ãâã ut prius  33 Rich Hââ¦les  Arg. a ãâã ãâã 3 Griffins Heads erased ãâã 34 And. Hillingdon   35 Edw. Landford   36 John Nanââ¦an   37 Rich. Hales ut prius  38 Bald. Sutford Miles   39 John Dinham  Gul. 3 Fuââ¦ils in Fess within a Border ãâã 40 Walt. Dennis Holcombe ãâã 3 Battle-Axes Gules EDWARD IV.   Anno   1 John Cheney ut prius  2 Idem ut prius  3 John Chicheââ¦er  Checky Or and Gules a Chieâ⦠varry 4 John Arundle ut prius  5 Christop Wolsey   6 Will. Dynis ãâã ut prius  7 Phil. Beaumont ut prius  8 Rich. Chichester ut prius
after so many years distance and a colder suit being to encounter a Corporation of Learned Lawyers so long in the peaceable possession thereof Bishop Nevil was afterwards canonically chosen by the Monks and confirmed hy King Henry the third Arch-bishop of Canterbury being so far from rejoycing thereat that he never gave any ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or reward for their good news to the two Monks which brought him tidings nor would allow any thing toward the discharging their costly journey to Rome foreseeing perchance that the Pope would stop his Consecration For some informed his Holiness that this Ralph was a Prelate of High Birth haughty Stomach great Courtship gracious with the King and a person probable to disswade him from paying the Pension promised by his Father K. Iohn to the Court of Rome then no wonder if his Consecration was stopped theron But was it not both an honor happiness to our Nevil thus to be crost with the hands of his Holiness himself yea it seems that no Crosier save only that of Chichester would fit his hand being afterwards elected Bish. of Winchester then obstructed by the K. who formerly so highly favor'd him He built a Chappell without the east gate of Chichester dedicated to S. Michael and having merited much of his own Cathedral died at London 1244. ALEX. NEVIL third Son of Ralph Lord Nevil was born at Raby became first Canon then Arch-Bishop of York where he beautified and fortified the Castle of Cawood with many Turrets He was highly in Honour with King Richard the second as much in hatred with the party opposing him These designed to imprison him putting Prelates to death not yet in fashion in the Castle of Rochester had not our Alexander prevented them by his flight to Pope Urban to Rome who partly out of pity that he might have something for his support and more out of policy that York might be in his own disposal upon the removal of this Arch-Bishop translated him to Saint Andrews in Scotland and so dismissed him with his Benediction Wonder not that this Nevil was loth to go out of the Popes blessing into a cold Sun who could not accept this his new Arch Bishoprick in point of credit profit or safety 1. Credit For this his translation was a Post-Ferment seeing the Arch-Bishoprick of Saint Andrews was subjected in that age unto York 2. Profit The Revenues being far worse than those of York 3. Safety Scotland then bearing an Antipathy to all English and especially to the Nevils redoubted for their victorious valour in those northern parts and being in open hostility against them Indeed half a loaf is better than no bread but this his new translation was rather a stone than half a loaf not filling his Belly yet breaking his Teeth if feeding thereon This made him preferre the Pastorall Charge of a Parish Church in Lovaine before his Arch-noBishoprick where he died in the fifth year of his Exile and was buried there in the Convent of the Carmelites ROB. NEVIL sixth Son of Ralph first Earl of Westmerland by Joane his second VVife Daughter of Iohn of Gaunt bred in the University of Oxford and Provost of Beverly was preferred Bishop of Sarisbury in the sixth of King Henry the sixth 1427. During his continuance therein he was principal Founder of a Convent at Sunning in Berkshire anciently the Bishops See of that Diocess valued at the dissolution saith Bishop Godwin at 682 l. 14 s. 7 d. ob which I rather observe because the estimation thereof is omitted in my and I suspect all other Speeds Catalogue of Religious Houses From Sarisbury he was translated to Durham where he built a place called the Exchequer at the Castle gate and gave in allusion of his two Bishopricks which he successively enjoyed two Annulets innected in his Paternal Coat He died Anno Dom. 1457. GEO. NEVIL fourth Son of Rich. Nevil Earl of Salisbury was born at Midleham in this Bishoprick bred in Baliol Colledge in Oxford consecrated Bishop of Exeter when he was not as yet twenty years of age so that in the race not of age but youth he clearly beat Tho. Arundel who at twenty two was made Bishop of Ely Some say this was contrary not only to the Canon Law but Canonical Scripture S. Paul forbidding such a Neophyte or Novice admission into that Office as if because Rich. the make-King Earl of Warwick was in a manner above Law this his Brother also must be above Canons His Friends do plead that Nobility and Ability supplyed age in him seeing five years after at 25. he was made Lord Chancellor of England and discharged it to his great commendation He was afterwards made Arch-bishop of York famous for the prodigious Feast at his Installing wherein besides Flesh Fish and Fowle so many strange Dishes of Gellies And yet amongst all this service I meet not with these two But the inverted Proverb found truth in him One GluttonMeal makes many hungry ones for some years after falling into the displeasure of King Edward the fourth he was flenderly dyetted not to say famished in the Castle of Calis and being at last restored by the Intercession of his Friends died heart-broken at Blyth and was buried in the Cathedral of York 1476. Besides these there was another Nevil Brother to Alexander aforesaid chosen Bishop of Ely but death or some other intervening accident hindered his Consecration Since the Reformation ROBERT HORN was born in this Bishoprick bred in Saint Johns Colledge in Cambridge Going thence under the raign of King Edward the sixth he was advanced Dean of Durham In the Marian days he fled into Germany and fixing at Frankford became the head of the Episcopal party as in my Ecclesiastical History at large doth appear Returning into England he was made Bishop of VVinchester Feb. 16. 1560. A worthy man but constantly ground betwixt two opposite parties Papists and Sectaries Both of these in their Pamphlets sported with his name as hard in Nature and crooked in Conditions not being pleased to take notice how Horn in Scripture importeth Power Preferment and Safety both twitted his person as dwarfish and deformed to which I can say nothing none alive remembring him save that such taunts though commonly called ad Hominem are indeed ad Deum and though shot at Man does glance at Him who made us and not we our selves Besides it shews their malice runs low for might though high for spight who carp at the Case when they cannot find fault with the Jewel For my part I mind not the Mould wherein but the Metal whereof he was made and lissen to Mr. Cambden his Character of him Valido foecundo ingenio of a sprightful and fruitful wit He died in Southwark June 1. 1589. and lyeth buried in his own Cathedral near to the Pulpit And now Reader I crave leave to present thee with the Character of one who I confess falls not under my Pen
partly because better and cheaper may be procured from beyond the Seas and partly because experience proveth other Native Liquors more healthful for our English bodies Sider We must not forget Sider anciently a Native of this since a free Denizon of all other Counties made of Apples here grown in hedge-rows which both fence and feed in great abundance Such who deduce Sider from the Latine Sicera as that from the Hebrew ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifying any liquor which immoderately taken doth intoxicate make a more proper allusion therein than true deduction thereof The Portugal calls it Vinho contrafeyto and surely much Claret and White is vended in England which grew in no other Grapes than what Apple-trees afford Some maintain that the coldness and windiness easily correctable with Spice is recompenced by the temperate looseness caused by the moderate drinking thereof But the staple use of Sider is at Sea where it quencheth thirst better than other liquor and if subject to corrupt in hot Countries quickly purgeth it self to a pure constitution Buildings The Abbey since Cathedral Church of Gloncester is a beautiful building advanced by several successive Abbots It consisteth of a continued Window-work but hath the loudest praises from the Whispering-place therein Take its manner from that learned Author who though it seems never seeing it hath by his steady aim in Philosophy better guessed and described it than I who have been an eare and eye witnesse thereof There is a Church at Gloucester and as I have heard the like is in some other places where if you speak against a wall softly another shall hear your voice better a good way off than near hand Enquire more particular of the Frame of that Place I suppose there is some Vault or Hollow or Isle behind the Wall and some passage to it towards the farther end of that wall against which you speak so as the voice of him that speaketh slideth along the wall and then entreth at some passage and communicateth with the Air of the Hollow for it is preserved somewhat by the plain wall but that is too weak to give a sound Audible till it hath communicated with the back Air. The Church in all the siege of the City and our Civil Wars was decently preserved which I observe to his commendation who was the Governor thereof Since I have read that by Act of Parliament it was setled on the City to maintain and repair and hope their practice hath proved precedential to other places in the same nature As for civil structures in this County our late Wars laid a finger on Barkley their arme on Sudeley Castle seated where the Vailes and VVoulds meet and the fair clasp to joyn them together being in part pluck'd down But their loynes have been laid on Cambden-House one of the newest and neatest in England built by Baptist Hicks Viscount Cambden pressed down to the very foundation Wonders There are frequently found at Alderley in this County Oysters Cockles and Periwincles of stone Such who conceive these were formerly real Shell fish brought so far by some accident into the Land engage themselves in a Sea of inextricable difficulties Others more probably account them to be Lusus Naturae and know that as The Foolishnesse of God is wiser than men and the weaknesse of God is stronger than men so the disportings of the God of Nature are more grave than the most serious employment of men For such riddles are propounded on purpose to pose those profoundshallow Rabbies counting themselves of the Cabinet when they are scarcely of the Common Councel of Nature so unable to read such Riddles that they cannot put the letters thereof together with any probability The Higre Men as little know the cause of the name as the thing thereby signified Some pronounce it the Eagre as so called from the keennesse and fiercenesse thereof It is the confluence or encounter as supposed of the salt and fresh water in Severne equally terrible with its flashings and noise to the seers and hearers and oh how much more then to the feelers thereof If any demand why the Thames hath not an Higre as well as the Severne where we find the same cause and therefore why meet we not with the same effects I re-demand of them why is there not an Euripus with the same reciprocation of Tides as well about the other Cyclides as Euboea alone Thus in cases of this kind it is easier to ask ten than answer one question with satisfaction But hear how the Poet describeth this Higre Until they be imbrac't In Sabrins Soveraign Armes with whose tumultuous waves Shut up in narrower bounds the Higre wildy raves And frights the stragling flocks the neighbouring shores to fly A far as from the Main it comes with hideous cry And on the angry front the curled ââ¦oam doth bring The Billows 'gainst the banks when fiercely it doth fling Hurles up the slimy Ooze and makes the scaly Brood Leap madding to the Land affrighted from the Flood Oreturns the toyling Barge whose Steers-man doth not lanch And thrusts the furrowing beak into her ireful panch As when we haply see a sickly Woman fall Into a fit of that which we the Mother call When from the grieved Womb she feels the pain arise Breaks into grievous sighs with intermixed cries Bereaved of her sence and strugling still with those That 'gainst her rising pain their utmost strength oppose Starts tosses tumbles strikes turns touses spurns and sprauls Casting with furious Limbs her holders to the Walls But that the horrid pangs torments the grieved so One well might muse from whence this sudden strength should grow All that I will adde is that had this been known to the Roman Poet when he thus envied against his Shee-friend Tu levior cortice improbo Iracundior Adria Thou art more light more angry than The Cork and uncouth Adrian I say had it been known he would have changed Adria into Higrea the former being a very calme in comparison of the later We will conclude all with that which at first was a Wonders fellow until the strangeness thereof abated by degrees There is a kind of Bird as yet not known by any proper name which cometh in great companies but seldom in this County Yet oftner than welcome In Bulk not much bigger than a Sparrow which may seem to carry a Saw or rather a Sithe on his mouth for with his Bill which is thwarted crosse-wise at the end he will shave or cut an Apple in two at one snap eating only the kernels thereof spoyling more than he doth devour They come about Harvest time when Apples begin to be ripe so that these Birds may be said to drink up many Hogs-heads of Sider as destroying them in their Causes and preventing the making thereof The like have been seen in Cornwall where at first they were taken saith my Author for a forboden token understand him for a
presage of ill success Proverbs As sure as God's in Gloucester-shire This Proverb is no more fit to be used than à Toad can be wholsom to be eaten which can never by Mountebancks be so dieted and corrected but that still it remains rank poyson Some I know seek to qualifie this Proverb making God eminently in this but not exclusively out of other Counties where such the former fruitfulness thereof that it is said to return the seed with increase of an hundred fold Others find a superstitious sense therein supposing God by his gracious presence more peculiarly fixed in this Country wherein there were more and richer mitred Abbeys than in any two Shires of England besides But when all is done the best use of this Proverb is totally and finally to banish it out of the mouths and minds of all mankind You are a man of Duresley It is taken for one that breaks his word and faileth in performance of his promises ââ¦llel to Fides Graeca or Fides Punica Duresly is a Market and cloathing Town in ãâã ââ¦ounty the inhabitants whereof will endeavour to confute and disprove this ãâã to make it false now whatsoever it was at the first original thereof ãâã the worst places in the midst of epidemical viciousness have afforded some exceptions from the wickled rule therein The Cretians are always lyars was the observation of a Poet and application of the Apostle yet we find some Cretians whom the Holy Spirit alloweth for Devout men Thus sure I am there was a man of Durââ¦sley who was a man of men Edward Fox by name a right godly and gracious Prelate of whom hereafter However the men of Duresly have no cause to be offended with my inserting this Proverb which if false let them be angry with the Author the first man that made it if true let them be angry with the Subject even themselves who deserve it It is long in coming as Cotswold Barley It is applied to such things as are slow but sure The Corn in this cold County on the Wowlds exposed to the winds bleak and shelterless is very backward at the first but afterwards overtakes the forwardest in the County if not in the Barn in the Bushel both for the quantity and goodness thereof He looks as if he had liv'd on Tewksbury Mustard It is spoken partly of such who always have a sad severe and tetrick countenance Si ecastor hic homo Sinapi victitet Non censeam tam tristem esse posse Partly on such as are snappish captious and prone to take exceptions where they are not given such as will crispare nasum in derision of what they slight or neglect The Traces have always the wind in their faces This is founded on fond and false Tradition which reporteth that ever since Sir William Tracy was most Active amongst the four Knights which killed Thomas Becket it is imposed on Tracies for miraculous Penance that whether they go by Land or by Water the Wind is ever in their faces If this were so it was a Favour in a hot Summer to the Females of that Family and would spare them the use of a Fan. But it is disproved by daily experience there being extant at this day in this County two Houses the one Honourable the other Worshipful growing from the same root so that we see it is not now and therefore believe that it was never true If any say that after so many Generations this curse at last is Antiquated know that according to Popish Principles it deserved rather to be doubted of late seeing no Gentile Family in England since the Reformation have more manifested their cordial disaffection to Popery by their sufferings and writings as hereafter will appear Princes I cannot discover any Prince who took his first ââ¦andsel of life in this County Let not my unhappinesse discourage the industry of others in their enquiry herein Saints KENELME Son of Kenwolfe King of Mercia succeeded his Father therein being a Child but of seven years old so that his harmless years had not attained to any worldly guile and his vertuous inclination promised great hopes when Quenrid his ambitious Sister caused him to be kill'd as standing in her way to the Crown Solomon saith Curse not the King much less kill him no not in thy thought for a Bird in the air shall carry the voice and that which hath wings shall tell the matter that is a discovery shall surely and swiftly be made by remote unsuspected and improbable means whereby it is thought the murder of this infant-King was reveââ¦led But I cannot belive what the Golden Legend relates how a white Dove which belike had seen the deed done got it engrossed in Parchment and posting to S. Peters in Rome laid it on the high Altar to be read where in the Saxon Character it was thus found At Clenc in a Cow-pasture Kenelme the Kings child lieth beheaded under a Thorn Others say agreeing in all other particulars the discovery was made by an Angel and for fear they should fall out it may be thus accommodated that the Angel was in a Dove-like apparition As for his Sister Quenrid she was so far from getting the Crown that she is said to have lost her eyes which fell out of her head and bloodied her Primer a Womans Book as it seems in that age whilest her Brothers Corps was solemny buried at Winchcomb and had in holy veneration Martyrs JAMES BAYNAM Esquire Son to Sir Alexander Baynam Knight was born at in this County bred in learning and knowledge of the Latine and Greek Tongues He afterward became a student of the Law in the Middle Temple and when a Pleader was charitable to the poor in giving to the rich in moderating his Fees and what was the Crown of all the rest a true lover of the Gospel in the dawning of Reformation Saint Paul saith It is appointed for all men once to dye and yet the same Apostle saith of himself in deaths often so many and great his pains and perils And truly our Baynam encountered often with death so that a little Book of Martyrs might be made of his sufferings First Sir Thomas Moore sent for him to Chelsey and tying him to a tree in his Garden called by him the Tree of Truth caused him to be most cruelly scourged to make him renounce his Opinion This not succeding Sir Thomas himself saw him cruelly racked in the Tower till at last he was perswaded to abjure and solemnly carried a Torch and a Faggot in the Church of St. Pauls Hereby he rather exchanged than escaped the fire finding such a fire in his own conscience he could not be at quiet till in the Church of St. Augustines the next Parochial Church to St. Pauls that the Antidote might be brought as near as he could conveniently to the place of the Poison he publickly recanted his Recantation For which he was afterwards kept a
hoc breve Teste meipso apud Clypston quinto die Marââ¦it An Regni nostri Nono In obedience to the Kings command this Sheriff vigorously prosecuted the design and made his Return accordingly on the same token that it thus began Nulla est Civitas in Comitat. Gloucest There is no City in the County of Gloucester Whence we collect that Gloucester in that age though the seat of a miââ¦red Abby had not the reputation of a City untill it was made an Episcopal See by K. Hen. 8. The like Letters were sent to all other Sheriffs in England and their Returns made into the Exchequer where it is a kind of Dooms-day-Book junior but commonly passeth under the name of Nomina Villarum I have by me a Transcript of so much as concerneth Gloucester-shire the reason why this Letter is here exemplified communicated unto me with other rarities advancing this Subject by my worthy Friend Mr. Smith of Nibley It must not be omitted that though the aforesaid Catalogue of Nomina Villarum was begun in this year and a considerable progresse made therein yet some unexpressed obstacles retarding it was not in all particulars completed until 20 years after as by this passage therein may be demonstrated Bertona Regis juxta Gloucester ibidem Hundââ¦idum Hundr Margarettae Reginae Angliae Now this Margaret Queen of England Daughter to Philip the Hardy King of France and second Wife to this King Edward the First was not married unto him until the 27 of her Husbands reign Anno 1299. Edw. III. 5 THO. BERKELEY de COBBERLEY He is commended in our Histories for his civil usage of K. Edw. 2. when pââ¦isoner at Berkeley Castle at this day one of the seats of that right ancient Famiiy And right ancient it is indeed they being descended from Robert Fitz-Harding derived from the Kings of Denmark as appeareth by an Inscription on the Colledge-Gate at Bristol Rex Henricus secundus Dominus Robertus filius Hardingi filii Regis Daciae hujus Monasterii primi Fundatores extiterunt This Robert was entirely beloved of this King by whose means his Son Maurice married the Daughter of the Lord of Berkeley whereby his posterity retained the name of Berkeley Many were their Mansions in this County amongst which Cobberley accrued unto them by matching with the Heir of Chandos Their services in the Holy War alluded unto by the Crosses in their Arms and may seem to be their Benefactions whereof in my Church History signified by the Mitre in their Crest Of this Family was descended William Lord Berkeley who was honoured by King Edward the fourth with the Title of Viscount Berkeley created by K. Rich. 3. Earle of Nottingham and in the right of his Wife Daughter of Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolk Henry the sââ¦venth made him Marquess Berkeley and Marshal of England He died without Issue At this day there flourisheth many Noble stems sprung thereof though George Lord Berkeley Baron Berkeley Lord Mowbray Segrave Bruce be the top Branch of this Family One who hath been so signally bountiful in promoting these and all other my weak endeavours that I deserve to be dumb if ever I forget to return him publick thanks for the same 43. JOHN POINTS Remarkable the Antiquity of this Name and Family still continuing in Knightly degree in this County for I read in Dooms-day-Book Drugo filius Ponz tenet de Rege Frantone Ibi decem Hide Geldant de hoc Manerio And again Walterus filius Ponz tenet de Rege Lete Ibi decem Hide Geldant I behold them as the Ancestors of their Family till I shall be informed to the contrary though I confess they were not seated at Acton in this County until the days of King Edward the second when Sir Nicholas Points married the Daughter and Heir of Acton transmitting the same to his posterity Sheriffs Name Place Armes RICH. II.   Anno   1 Tho. Bradwell   2 Johan Tracy TodingtoÌ Or a scallop Sab. betw two Bends Gules 3 Radulph Waleys * Sodbury  4 Tho. Bradewell  * Azure 6. Mullets Or. 5 Joh. de Thorp mil.  Argent a Fess Nebule Sable betw 3. Trefoiles Gules 6 Tho. Fitz Nichol.   7 Radus Waleys ut prius  8 Tho. Berkeley Cobberley Gules a Cheveron betwixt ten Crosses formee Argent 9 Tho. Burgg â   10 Tho. Bradewell ut prius â Azure three flower de lys Ermine 11 Tho. Berkeley ut prins  12 Laur. Seabrooke   13 Tho Burgg ut prius  14 Maur. de Russell Derham Argent on a Chief Gules 3. Bezants 15 Hen. de la River   16 Joh. de Berkeley ut prius  17 Gilbertus Denis  Gules a Bend ingrailed Az. betw 3. Leopards heads Or ââ¦essant flower de lis of the 2d 18 Will. Tracy ut prius  19 Maur. Russel ut prius  20 Rob. Poyns Acton Barry of eight Or and Gul. 21 Johan Berkeley ut prius  22 Johan Bronings   HEN. IV.   Anno   1 Hen de la River   2 Maur. Russel ut prius  2 Rob Sommerville   3 Rob Whittington  Gules a Fess checkee Or and Argent 4 Wil. Beauchamp m   5 Idem   6 Johan Grendore  Per pale Or and Vert 12. guttees or drops counterchanged 7 Maur. Russel ut prius  8 Rob. Whittington ut prius  9 Rich. Mawrdin   10 Alex. Clivedon   11 Will. Wallwine  Gules a Bend within a Bââ¦rder Ermine 12 Joh. Grendore mil. ut prius  HEN. V.   Anno   1 Will. Beauchamp Powkes  2 Joh. Berkley mil. ut prius  3 Joh. Grevel Campden Or on a Cross engrailed within the like border Sab. ten Annulets of the First with a Mullet of five poynts in the Dexter Quarter 4 Idem ut prius  5 Will. Tracy ut prius  6 Will. Bishopeston   7 Joh. Brugg arm ut prius  8 Joh. Willecots   9 Idem   HEN. VI.   Anno   1 Joh. Panfote  Gules 3 Lions Rampant Arg. 2 Joh. Blacket mil.   3 Steph. Hatfild mil.   4 Joh. Grevil arm ut prius  5 Joh. Panfote ut prius  6 Guido Whittington ut prius  7 Rob. Andrew  Sab. a Saltire engrailed Ermin on a Chief Or 3. flower de lys of the First 8 Egidius Brigge *   9 Maur. Berkeley mil ut prius  10 Steph. Hatfield  * Arg. on a Cross Sab. a Leopards head Or. 11 Joh. Towerton   12 Cuido Whittington ut prius  13 Joh Panfote ut prius  4 Maur. Berkeley mil ut prius  15 Idem ut prius  16 Joh. Beauchamp m.   17 Will. Stafford Thornb Or a Cheveron Gules 18 Joh. Stourton mil.  Sable a Bend Or between 3.
I wish the continuance and Encrease of the breed of this kind of Canes Venatici And though the pleasure be not so much as in hunting of Hares the profit is more in destroying those Malignant Pioneers mischievous to Grasse more to Grain most to Gardens Lord Majors It is no less true theâ⦠strange that this County so large in it self so near to London weekly changing Cloth for Money therewith is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I mean hath not contributed one to this Topick Such as suspect the truth thereof will be satisfied on their exact survey of Stow's Survey of London The Names of the Gentry in this Shire returned into the Tower by the Commissioners in the 12th Year of K. Henry the sixth anno 1445. H. Epus VVinton Cardinalis Angliae  Commissioners to take the Oath Reginaldus le Warre Miles   Johannes Lysle Knights for the Shire  Johannes Brewe de Stapule   Walter Sandes Chivaler Johannes Popham Chivaler Johannes Uvedale Willielm Warbleton Thome Tame VVilliam Fanconer Roberti Dyngle Steph. Popham Chivaler Willielm Brokays Willielm Ryngebourne Walter Veere Iohannes Hampton Iohannes Gyffard Iohannes Brinkeley Petri Condraye Iohannes Skilling Thome Ringewood senior Willielm Persh Iohannes Hacket Iohannes Haymowe Roberti Fursey Roberti Tylbourgh Willielm Astel. Iohannes Balon Iohannes Bray Iohannes Purbyke Iohannes Catevan Willielm Clive Willielm Chellys Iohannes Faukoner Iohannes Mofunt Willielm Tested Richard Rumsey Willielm Burton Roberti VVhittehede Richard Spicer Johannes atte Berwe de Charleford Johannes Lawrence Thome Rockley Thome Yardly Thome Benebury Willielm Wellis Iohannes Escote Iohannes Rotherfield Richard Parkere Iohannes Kybbyll Iohannes Barbour Symonis Almayn William Farcy Richard Punchardon Nicholas Bernard Nicholas Banestre Thome Wayte It will be worth our enquiry who this chief Commissioner Henry Bishop of Winchester was with his insolent Title of CARDINAL of ENGLAND I finde many eminent Epithets but none of the Quorum of St. Pauls Bishops meeting in his person viz. Noble Rich Valiant Politique and long-lived Noble being Son of JOHN à GAUNT by KATHARINE SWINFORD born at Beaufort in France whence he had his Name ââ¦rother to King Henry the Fourth Uncle to King Henry the fifth great Uncle to King Henry the Sixth Rich commonly called the Rich Cardinal In his time the King and Courtiers cast a covetous eye on Church-Endowments but were diverted from longer looking on them by the Councel of Arch-Bishop Chickly and Coin of this Bishop Beaufort The former putting the King upon the War with France the later lending him on good security twenty thousand Pounds a Sum sounding high in those dayes He was also called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Cardinal of England though we had another and his Senior at the same time of the same Order viz. Thomas Langley Bishop of Durham Valiant being the Pope's Legate in plain English the Pope's General leading his Army into Bohemia in which service he behaved himself fortius quam Episcopum decebat Worldly ââ¦olitick venting words on his Death-bed to this purpose That if all England some Reporters take a longer Circuit would preserve his Life he was able by his Purse to purchase or by Policy to procure it Long Life having been Bishop of Lincolne and Winchester fifty Years yet was he so far from being weaned from the world he sucked the hardest as if he would have bit off the Nipples thereof the nearer he was to his Grave Dying anno 1447. He was in his Generation by a charitable Antiperistasis fixed betwixt Bishop Wickham and Wanfleet but did not equall them in his Benefactions to the publick though he founded a fair Hospital in VVinchester a work no doubt more acceptable to God than when he anno 1417 undertook and performed a dangerous Voyage to Jerusalem It is in my apprehension very remarkeable that the 3 aforesaid Bishops of Winchester Wickham Beaufort and Wanfleet sate successively in that See six score years lacking two not to be parallel'd in any other Bishoprick To take our leave of this great Cardinall we read of K. Josiah Now the rest of the Acts of K. Iosiah and his GOODNESS c. But as for this Prelate the rest of his acts and his GREATNESS we leave to such as are desirous thereof to collect them out of our English Hystorians Sheriffs of Hantshire HEN. II. Anno 1 Anno 2 Turcinus vic Anno 3 Turcinus vic Anno 4 Anno 5 Turcinus vic Anno 6 Anno 7 Rich. fil Turcini for 9 years Anno 16 Hugo de Gundevill for 4 years Anno 20 Herudus de Stratton Hugo de Gundevill for 5 years Anno 25 Hen. de Stratton Hugo de Gundevile Anno 26 Galf. fil Aze for 8 years RICH. I. Anno 1 Galf. fil Azon Anno 2 Ogerus fil Ogeri Anno 3 Joh. de Rebez Anno 4 Will. Briewere Anno 5 Ogerus fil Ogeri Anno 6 Hugo de Bosco for 5 years JOH REG. Anno 1 Hugo de Basco Anno 2 Idem Anno 3 Will. Briewere Rad. de Bray Anno 4 Galf. fil Petri Will Stokes Anno 5 Idem Anno 6 Rog. fil Ade for 4 years Anno 10 Walt. Briewere Alan de Bockland Anno 11 Idem Anno 12 Will. Briewere Anno 13 Hugo de Nevill Galf. de Salvaozins Anno 14 Idem Anno 15 Idem Anno 16 Will. de S to Johanne Anno 17 Will. Briewere Will de S to Johanne HEN. III. Anno 1 Anno 2 Pet. Winton Epis. Will de Schorewell for 7 yearr Anno 9 Rich. Epis. Saresb. Bartholomew de Kemes Anno 10 Idem Anno 11 Rich. Epis. Saresb. Gilb. de Staplebrigg Anno 12 Idem Anno 13 Nich. de Molis Walt. de Romsey Anno 14 Nich. de Molis Hen. de Bada Anno 15 Idem Anno 16 Idem Anno 17 Pet. Winton Epis. Rog. Wascelin Anno 18 Idem Anno 19 Hen. fil Nicholai Anno 20 Hen. fil Nich. Rob. de Mara Anno 21 Galf. de Insula Anno 22 Idem Anno 23 Idem Anno 24 Emueus de Lacy Anno 25 Idem Anno 26 Idem Anno 27 Rob. Passelewe for 6 years Anno 33 Rob. Passell Anno 34 Hen. Facull for 6 years Anno 40 Hen. de Farneleg Anno 41 Ja. le Savage Anno 42 Joh. le Jac. Savage Anno 43 Idem Anno 44 Will. de Wintershull Anno 45 Regin fil Petri Joh. de Flemer Anno 46 Idem Anno 47 Regin fil Petri Hereward de Marisco Anno 48 Idem Anno 49 Joh. de Botele Anno 50 Idem Anno 51 Gerar. de Grue Anno 52 Joh. le Botele Anno 53 Idem Anno 54 Idem Anno 55 Will. de Wintershull Anno 56 Idem EDW. I. Anno 1 Will. de Wintershull Anno 2 Hen. de Shote broke Anno 3 Joh. de Havering for 4 years Anno 7 Will. de Braybofe Anno 8 Idem Anno 9 Phil. de Foynil Anno 10 Idem Anno 11 Idem Anno 12 Simon de Winton Anno 13 Idem Anno
yearly Rent will buy them out all Three CALES Knights were made in that voyage by Robert Earle of Essex anno Dom. 1596 to the number os sixty whereof though many of great birth and estate some were of low fortunes and therefore Queen Elizabeth was halfe offended with the Earle for making Knighthood so common Of the numerousness of Welsh Gentlemen we shall have cause to speak hereafter Northern Lairds are such who in Scotland hold Lands in chief of the King whereof some have no great Revenue so that a Kentish Yeoman by the help of an Hyperbole may countervail c. Yet such Yeomen refuse to have the Title of Master put upon them contenting themselves without any addition of Gentility and this mindeth me of a Passage in my memory One immoderately boasted that there was not one of his name in all England but that he was a Gentleman to whom one in the company retnrned I am sorry Sir you have never a good man of your name Sure I am in Kent there is many a hospital Yeoman of great ability who though no Gentleman by Descent and Title is one by his Means and state let me also adde by his courteous carriage though constantly called but Goodman to which Name he desireth to answer in all respects A Man of KENT This may relate either to the Liberty or to the courage of this County-men Liberty the tenure of Villanage so frequent elsewhere being here utterly unknown and the bodies of all Kentish persons being of free condition In so much that it is holden sufficient for one to avoid the Objection of bondage to say that his Father was born in Kent Now seeing servi non sunt viri quia non sui sur is A bond-man is no man because not his own man the Kentish for their Freedome have atchieved to themselves the name of Men. Others refer it to their courage which from the time of King Canutus hath purchased unto them the precedency of marching in our English Armies to lead the Van. JOANNES Sarisbur De egregiae Curial 6 cap. 16. Ob egregiae virtutis meritum quod potenter patenter exercuit Cantia nostra primae Cohortis honorem primos congressus Hostium usque in omnibus diem in omnibus praeliis obtinet For the deââ¦ert of their worthy valour which they so powerfully and publickly expressed Our Kent obtaineth even unto this day the honor of the first Regiment and first assaulting the Enemy in all Battails Our Authour lived in the Reign of Henry the Second and whether Kentish-men retain this Priviledge unto this day wherein many things are turned upside-down and then no wonder it also forward and backward is to me unknown Neither in KENT nor Christendome This seems a very insolent expression and as unequal a division Surely the first Anthour thereof had small skill in even distribution to measure an Inch against an Ell yea to weigh a grain against a pound But know Reader that this home-Proverb is calculated onely for the elevation of our own Country and ought to be restrained to English-Christendome whereof Kent was first converted to the Faith So then Kent and Christendome parallel to Rome and Italy is as much as the First cut and all the Loafe besides I know there passes a report that Henry the fourth King of France mustering his Souldiers at the siege of a City found more Kentish-men therein than Forraigners of all Christendome beside which being but seventy years since is by some made the Original of this Proverb which was more ancient in use and therefore I adhere to the former Interpretation alwayes provided Si quid novisti rectius istis Candidus imperti Si non his utere mecum If thou know'st better it to me impart If not use these of mine with all my heart For mine own part I write nothing but animo revocandi ready to retract it when better evidence shall be brought unto me Nor will I oppose such who understand it for Periphrasis of NO-WHERE Kent being the best place of England Christendome of the World KENTISH Long-TAILES Let me premise that those are much mistaken who first found this Proverb on a Miracle of Austin the Monk which is thus reported It happened in an English Village where Saint Austin was preaching that the Pagans therein did beat and abuse both him and his associats opprobriously tying Fish-tails to their back-side In revenge whereof an impudent Author relateth Reader you and I must blush for him who hath not the modesty to blush for himselfe how such Appendants grew to the hind-parts of all that Generation I say they are much mistaken for the Scaene of this Lying Wonder was not laied in any Part of Kent but pretended many miles off nigh Cerne in Dorsetshire To come closer to the sence of this Proverb I conceive it first of outlandish extraction and cast by forraigners as a note of disgrace on all the English though it chanceth to stick only on the Kentish at this Day For when there happened in Palestine a difference betwixt Robert brother of Saint Lewis King of France and our William Longspee Earle of Salisbury heare how the French-man insulted over our nation MATTHEW PARIS Anno Dom. 1250. pag. 790. O timidorum caudatoruÌ formidolositas quà m beatus quà m mundus praesens foret exercitus si à caudis purgaretur caudatis O the cowardliness of these fearful Long-tails How happie how cleane would this our arm ie be were it but purged from tails and Long-tailes That the English were nicked by this speech appears by the reply of the Earle of Salisbury following still the metaphor The son of my father shall presse thither to day whither you shall not dare to approach his horse taile Some will have the English so called from wearing a pouch or poake a bag to carry their baggage in behind their backs whilest probably the proud Monsieurs had their Lacquies for that purpose In proof whereof they produce ancient pictures of the English Drapery and Armory wherein such conveyances doe appear If so it was neither sin nor shame for the common sort of people to carry their own necessaries and it matters not much whether the pocket be made on either side or wholly behinde If any demand how this nick-name cut off from the rest of England continues still entaild on Kent The best conjecture is because that county lieth nearest to France and the French are beheld as the firstfounders of this aspersion But if any will have the Kentish so called from drawing and dragging boughs of trees behind them which afterwards they advanced above their heads and so partly cozened partly threatned King William the Conqueror to continue their ancient customes I say if any will impute it to this original I will not oppose KENTISH Gavel Kind It is a custome in this County whereby the lands are divided equally among all the sons and in default of them amongst the daughters
A fright of his Mother is generally reported to have accelerated or rather antedated his nativity The Popish Priests belonging to the Queen stood ready watching to snatch the Royal Babe to their superstitious baptisme but the tender care of King Charles did out vigil their watchfullness commanding Doctor Web His next Chaplain in attendance to Christen it according to the Church of England This done within few houres he expired and lyes buried at Westminster Saints EALPHAGE born of good parentage had his education during his youth in Glocestershire then he became a Monk at Glastenbury But that place not sufficiently suiting the severity of his solitary soul removing thence he built himself a Hut at Bath which smal Cel in process of time the longest line proceedeth from a little point at first proved the beautiful Priory in that place Hence by Dunstan he was preferred Bishop of Winchester continuing therein twenty two years And at last became Bishop of Canterbury It happeneth that the cruel Danes seizing on that City put it under Decimation Start not loyal reader at the word if in the late Tyranny of the times thou thy self hast been against all right and reason Decimated in thy Purse as now the poor Citizens of Canterbury were in their Persons For the Danes under pretence of Tribute detained Saved the tenth part of the Citizens alive amounting unto eight hundred and four Destroyed the other nine parts no fewer than seven thousand two hundred thirty six As for Arch-Bishop Alphage they demanded of him a greater summe than he could pay or procure whose wealth consisted chieââ¦y in his Piety no currant Coin with the Pagan Danes So that after seven moneths imprisonment they barbarously murthered him near Greenwich about the year 1013. His Corps was first buried in Saint Pauls and then removed by the command of King Canutus to Canterbury Impudent Monks have almost as much wronged his memory as the Danes did his Person farcing his life with such abominable lies that thereby the very truth therein is rendred suspected AGELNOTH Son to Count Agelmar was a Calendred Saint in this County being Elected Archbishop of Canterbury from being Dean over the Canons in that Convent This is the first time I find the Dignity of Decanus or Dean in England so called from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ten having it seemeth at the first Inspection just over that Number though since an Heteroclite in England as either over fewer but Six in Norwich Bristol c. or many more in other Cathedrals He was so pious in his Life that he was commonly called the GOOD And here one may justly wonder God having two Grand Epithets OPTIMUS and MAXIMUS most give the former the go-by and strive onely for the latter to be the Greatest though Greatnesse without Goodnesse is both Destructive to him that hath it and Dangerous to all others about him Going to Rome to get his Pall from the Pope by him he was courteously entertained and deserved his welcome who gave him saith my Author for the Arm of Saint Augustine Bishop of Hippo one hundred Talents of Silver and one Talent of Gold citing Bishop Godwin for his author But indeed that Bishop though reporting the hundred Talents of Silver mentioneth not at all that of Gold Perchance Mr. Weaver had lately read still obversing his fancy how Pharaoh K. of Egypt having taken away King Jehoahash condemned the land in An Hundred Talents of Silver and A Talent of Gold and to me it is a double wonder First that this Archbishop would give Secondly that he could give living in a harraged Land wherein so much Misery and little Money so vast a sum However this mindeth me of a passage in Saint Augustine speaking of the Reliques of the deceased Si tamen Martyrum if so they be of Martyrs and let me chuse the words of this Father on this Father Si tamen Augustini If this were the arm of Saint Augustine and not of some other Ordinary not to say Infamous person Well were one as good a Mathematician as He who collected the Stature of Hercules from the length of his Foot it were easie to proportion the Price of Saint Augustines whole body from this valuation of his arme And now having so dearly bought it let him dispose thereof as he pleaseth and let no man grudge if he gave it to Coventry rather than Canterbury He expended much in repairing or rather renewing of his Cathedral of Canterbury lately destroyed by the Danes assisted therein by the bounty of King Canutus who at the instance and by the advice of this Prelate did many worthy works Our Agelnoth after he had set 17. years in his See died October 29. in the year 1038. Martyrs WILLIAM WHITE was born in this County and entering into Orders became a great maintainer of the Opinions of Wicliffe He was the first married Priest in England since the Popes solemn prohibition thereof I find Johan his wife commended for her modesty and patience and that she was conjux talidigna marito Indeed she shared very deep in her husbands sufferings hardly coming off with her life at the last For he though leaving his living as unsafe to hold still kept his calling and preached about all the Eastern parts of the Land The same mouth which commanded the Disciples in time of Peace Goe not from house to house so to avoid the censure of Levity advised them also when ye are persecuted in one City fly to another so to provide for their own security Such the constant practice of this W. VVhite who was as a Partridge dayly on the wing removing from place to place At last he was seised on at Norwich by VVilliam Alnwick the cruel Bishop thereof and charged with 30 Articles for which he was condemned and burnt at Norwich in September 1428. He was the Protomartyr of all born in this County and had not five before him in all England who suffered merely for Religion without any mixture of matter of State charged upon them As for MARIAN Martyrs we meet with many in this County though not to be charged on Cardinal Pool Arch-bishop of Canterbury further then his bare permission thereof It is observed of Bears that they love to kill their own Prey and except forced by Famine will not feed on what was dead before Such a Bear was bloody Bonner who was all for the quick and not for the dead whilest clean contrary Cardinal Pool let the living alone and vented his spleen onely on the dead whom he could wrong but not hurt burning the bones of Martin Bucer and Paulus Phagius at Cambridge Such Martyrs therefore as suffered in this Shire were either by the cruelty of Griffin Bishop of Rochester or of Thornton Suffragan of Dover Confessors SIMON FISH Esquire was born in this County bred a Lawyer in Graies-Inn London Here he acted that part in a Tragedy wherein the pride
of Cardinal Wolsey was personated and wherewith that Prelate was so offended that Fish was fain to fly and live two years beyond the Seas There he made and thence sent over into England a small but sharp Treatise called The Supplication of Beggars termed by Master Fox a Libel understand him a little Book Otherwise prizing and praising it for a Master-piece of Wit-learning and Religion discovering the Superstition of that age This by Queen Anna Bollen was presented to King Henry the Eighth who therewith was so highly affected that he sent for the Author home and favoured him in great proportion However many nets were laid by the Popish party against him especially by Sir Thomas More his implacable Enemy yet Fish had the happinesse to escape the hands of Men and to fall into the hand of God more immediately Dying of the Plague 1531. and lieth buried at St. Dunstan in London Sir JAM HALES was born did live was richly landed in this county one of the Justices of the Common-Pleas a man of most signal Integrity When the rest of the Judges frighted at the frowns of the Duke of Northumberland subscribed the disinheriting of the Lady Mary and Lady Elizabeth he onely refused as against both Law and Conscience Yet afterwards in the first of Queen Mary he fell into the displeasure of Bishop Gardiner which like Juniper coals once kindled hardly quenched for urging the observation of some Lawes of King Edward the Sixth For this he was imprisoned hardly used and so threatned by his Keeper that he endeavoured to have killed himself which being after let at liberty he afterwards effected drowning himself in a small water near his house fear and melancholly so much prevailing upon him Mr. Fox concludeth the sad Poem of his final estate with this Distich CuÌ nihil ipse vides propria quin labe laboret Tu tua fac cures caetera mitte Deo Seing nought thou ââ¦eest but faling in the best Mind thy own matters leave God the rest We must look on his foul Deed with anger and yet with pity on the doer thereof Frown on the one and weep for the other For seeing he had led a right godly life and had suffered so much on the account of his Conscience I hope that his station in this place will not be cavilled at by any charitable persons He died Anno Dom. 1555. Cardinals JOHN KEMP son to Thomas Grand-child to Sir John Kemp Nephew to Sir Roger Kemp both Knights was born at Wie in this County where he built a fair Colledge for Seculars bred also in Merton Colledge in Oxford successively Bishop of Rochester Chichester and London afterwards Arch-Bishop of York and Canterbury Cardinal first by the Title of Saint Balbine then of Saint Rufine in Rome all his preferments are comprehended in the old following verse Bis Primas ter Praesul erat ââ¦is Cardine functus He had another honour to make up the Distich being twice Lord Chancellour of England so that I may add Et dixit Legem bis Cancellari us Anglis Such are mistaken who report him the first raiser of his Family to a Knightly degree which he found in that Equipage as is aforesaid though he left it much improved in Estate by his bounty and some of his name and bloud flourish in Kent at this day He died a very old man March the 22. Anno 1453. RICHARD CLIFFORD His Nativity may bear some debate Herefordshire pretending unto him But because Robert Clifford was his brother in the first of King Henry the Fourth High Sheriff of this County and richly landed therein I adjudge him a Cantian and assign Bobbing as the most probable place of his birth His worth preferred him Bishop of London 1407. and he was sent by King Henry the Fourth as his Embassadour to the Council of Constance I could hold my hand from ranking him under the Topick of Cardinals confident that no ingenious person would take exception thereat For first he was one in Merit and Desert Secondly in general Desire and Designation Thirdly though no actual Cardinal he acted as a Cardinal when joyned to their Conclave to see fair play amongst them at the choosing of a new Pope Yea some mentioned him for the place who counting it more credit to make than be a Pope first nominated Cardinal Columna and he clearly carried it by the name of Martin During his abode at Constance he preached a Latine Sermon before the Emperour and Pope He answered his name de clivo forti or of the strong Rock indeed viz. Davids being a most pious person returning home he lived in good esteem with Prince and People until his death which happened 1421. being buried nigh the present Monument of Sr. Christopher Hatton Prelates RALPH of MAYDENSTAN I presume this the ancient Orthography of Maydston a noted Town in this County the rather because I met with no other place in England offering in sound or syllables thereunto An Author giveth him this short but thick commendation Vir magnae literaturae in Theologia Nominatissimus Insomuch that in the Reign of King Henry the Third 1234. He was preferred Bishop of Hereford This Prelate bought of one Mount-hault a Noble-man a fair house in and the Patronage of St. Mary Mount-hault commonly but corruptly called Mount-haw in London leaving both to his successours in the See of Hereford Know Reader that all English Bishops in that age had Palaces in London for their conveniency wherein they resided and kept great Hospitality during their attendance in Parliament Now although the School-men generally hold that Episcopacy is Apex consummatae Religionis then which Nihil amplius Nothing higher or holyer in this life and though many Friers have been preferred Bishops as a progressive motion both in Dignity and Sanctity Yet our Ralph was of a different judgement herein This made him in the year 1239. turn his Miter into a Coule and become a Franciscan first at Oxford then at Glocester where he died about the year 1244. HENRY de WINGHAM a well known Town in this County was by K. Henry the Third preferred Chancellour both of England and Gascony Dean both of Totten-Hall quaere where this place is and Saint Martins and twice Embassadour into France It happened that one Ethelmar wom-brother to King Henry the Third was then Bishop of Winchester A person who properly comes not under my pen First for his Foreign nativity Secondly so much as he was English he was an UNWORTHY wanting Age Ability and Orders to qualifie him in that place Hereupon the Monks of Winchester indeavouring to eject him chose Wingham a man of Merit and Might in the Court to be their Bishop which honour he wisely refused fearing to incur the Kings displeasure It was not long before his Modesty and Discretion were rewarded with a peaceable in sted of that litigious Bishoprick when chosen to London 1259. But he enjoyed his See
it and yet so clear that light will pass through it No Mechanick Trade but hath some Utensils made thereof and even now I recruit my pen with Ink from a Vessel of the same Yea it is useful cap-a-pe from Combs to shooing-horns What shall I speak of the many gardens made of horns to garnish houses I mean artificial flowers of all colours And besides what is spent in England many thousand weight are shaven down into leaves for Lanthorns and sent over daily into France In a word the very Shavings of Horn are profitable sold by the Sack and sent many miles from London for the manuring of ground No wonder then that the Horners are an ancient corporation though why they and the Bottle-makers were formerly united into one company passeth my skill to conjecture The best horns in all England and freest to work without Flaws are what are brought out of this County to London the shop-general of English Industry The Manufactures Fustians These anciently were creditable wearing in England for persons of the primest quality finding the Knight in Chaucer thus habited Of Fustian he weared a Gippon All besmottred with his Haubergion But it seems they were all Forreign Commodities as may appear by their modern names 1. Jen Fustians which I conceive so called from Jen a City in Saxony 2. Ausburgh Fustians made in that famous City in Swevia 3. Millaine Fustians brought over hither out of Lumbardy These retain their old names at this day though these several sorts are made in this County whose Inhabitants buying the Cotton Wool or Yarne coming from beyond the Sea make it here into Fustians to the good employment of the Poor and great improvement of the Rich therein serving mean people for their out ãâã and their betters for the Lineings of their garments Bolton is the staple-place for this commodity being brought thither from all parts of the County As for Manchester the Cottons thereof carry away the credit in our Nation and so they did an hundred and fifty years agoe For when learned Leland on the cost of King Henry the Eighth with his Guide travailed Lancashire he called Manchester the fairest and quickest Town in this County and sure I am it hath lost neither spruceness nor spirits since that time Other Commodities made in Manchester are so small in themselves and various in their kinds they will fill the shop of an Haberdasher of small wares being therefore too many for me to reckon up or remember it will be the safest way to wrap them all together in some Manchester-Tickin and to fasten them with the Pinns to prevent their falling out and scattering or tye them with the Tape and also because sure bind sure find to bind them about with points and ãâã all made in the same place The Buildings MANCHESTER a Collegiate as well as a Parochial Church is a great ornament to this County The Quire thereof though but small is exceeding beautiful and for Woodwork an excellent peice of Artifice The Wonders About VViggin and elsewhere in this County men go a Fishing with spades and Mathooks more likely one would think to catch Moles then Fishes with such Instruments First they pierce the Turffie ground and under it meet with a black and deadish water and in it small Fishes do swim Surely these Pisces Fossiles or subterranean Fishes must needs be unwholesome the rather because an unctuous matter is found about them Let them be thankful to God in the first place who need not such meat to feed upon And next them let those be thankful which have such meat to seed upon when they need it Proverbs Lancashire fair Women I believe that the God of nature having given fair complections to the Women in this County Art may save her pains not to say her sinnes in endeavouring to better them But let the Females of this County know that though in the Old Testament express notice be taken of the beauty of many Women Sarah Rebekah Rachel ãâã Thamar Abishag Esther yet in the New Testament no mention is made at all of the fairness of any Woman not because they wanted but because Grace is chief Gospel-beauty Elizabeths unblameableness the Virgin Maries ponââ¦ering Gods word the Canaanitish Womans faith Mary Magdalens charity Lydia her attention to Pauls Preaching these soul-piercing Perfections are far ââ¦etter than skin-deep Fairness It is written upon a Wall in Rome RIBCHESTER was as rich as any Town in Christendome And why on a Wall Indeed the Italians have a Proverb A wall is the fools paper whereon they scribble their Fancies ãâã not to be overcurious in examining hereof we suppose some Monumental Wall in Rome as a Register whereon the names of principal Places were inscribed then subjected to the Roman Empire and probably this Ribchester anciently was some eminent Colony as by pieces of Coins and Coluââ¦s there dayly digged out doth appear However at this day it is not so much as a Mercate Town but whether decaied by age or destroyed by accident is uncertain Here Reader give me leave the Historian must not devour the Divine in me so as to debar me from spiritual Reflections What saith S. * Paul We have here no continuing City and no wonder seing Mortal Men are the Efficient Moldring Buildings the Material and Mutable Laws the formal cause thereof And yet S. Paul was as well stocked with Cities as any man alive having three which in some sort he might call his own Tarsus where he was born * Jerusalem where he was bred at the feet of Gamaliel and Rome whereby he received the Priviledg of Freedome all which he waved as nothing worth because of no abiding and continuance Martyrs JOHN ROGERS was born in this County and bred in the University of Cambridge a very able Linguist and General Scholar He was first a Zealous Papist till his eyes being opened he detested all Superstition and went beyond * Seas to VVitenberg where some years after Tyndal he translated the Bible from Genesis till the Revelation comparing it with the Original coming to England he presented it in a fair Volumne to King Henry the ãâã prefixing a Dedicatory Epistle and subscribing himself those dangerous dayes required a Disguise under the name of Thomas Matthew And now Reader that is unriddled unto me which hath pusled me for some Years for I finde that K. James in the Instructions which he gave to the Translators of the Bible enjoyned them to ãâã the former Translations of 1. Tindal 2. Matthews 3. Coverdale 4. ãâã 5. Geneva Now at last I understand who this Matthews was though unsatisfied still in VVhitchurch believing his Book never publickly printed but remaining a Manuscript in the Kings Library Yet this present could not procure Mr. Rogers his security who it seems for fear of the 6 Articles was fain to fly again beyond Seas
1552. He was also preferred Master of Sherburn-House or Hospital in the Bishoprick a Place it seems of good profit and credit as founded by Hugh Pudsey Bishop of Durham and Earle of Northumberland In the beginning of Queen Mary he was forced to fly beyond the Seas and became the principal Pastour for they had three other of the English Exiles at Arrow in Switzerland which Congregation I behold as the least so the freest from Factions of any in that age of our Nation He was saith my Author Virtutum in omni mansuetudine seminator and besides some Sermons and a Comment on the Lords Prayer he wrote a Book intituled The Right Path way to Christ. After the death of Queen Elizabeth coming over into England he took a Journey to Durham to visite his old Hospital of Sherburne and falling sick by the way dyed at Ware anno 1558. in that very juncture of time when what Church-Preferment he pleased courted his Acceptance thereof I finde two more of his Name Ralph Leaver and John Leaver probably his Kinsmen Exiles for their Conscience in Germany in the Reign of Queen Mary WILLIAM WHITACRE was borne at Holme in this County whose Life hath been formerly twice written by me He dyed anno 1596. ALEXANDER NOWELL was born 1510. of a Knightly Family at Read in this County and at thirteen Years of age being admitted into Brasen-nose Colledge in Oxford studied thirteen Years therein Then he became School-Master of Westminster It happened in the first of Queen Mary he was fishing upon the Thames an Exercise wherein he so much delighted insomuch that his Picture kept in Brazen-nose Colledg is drawn with his lines hooks and other ââ¦ackling lying in a round on one hand and his Angles of several sorts on the other But whilest Nowel was catching of Fishes Bonner was catching of Nowel and understanding who he was designed him to the Shambles whither he had certainly been sent had not Mr. Francis Bowyer then Merchant afterwards Sheriffe of London safely conveyed him beyond the Seas Without offence it may be remembred that leaving a Bottle of Ale when fishing in the Grasse he found it some dayes after no Bottle but a Gun such the sound at the opening thereof And this is believed Casualty is Mother of more Inventions than Industry the Original of bottled-Ale in England Returning the first of Queen Elizabeth he was made Dean of St. Pauls and for his meek Spirit deep Learning Prudence and Piety the then Parliament and Convocation both chose injoyned and trusted him to be the man to make a ãâã for publick use such a one as should stand as a Rule for Faith and Manners to their Posterity ãâã by the way is an ancient Church Ordinance as appears by Theophilus and Apollos both exercised ãâã It remained in state during thââ¦ââ¦rimitive Church and did not decline till Popery began to encrease For ãâã Catechising continued it had made the Laity more wise in Religion than would well have stood with the interest of the Church of Rome It was therefore outed by School-Divinity and then a fruitfull Olive was cut down to have a bââ¦amble set in the room thereof In the first Reformation Protestants revived this Ordinance and by the use thereof Religion ââ¦ot the speed and great ground of Superstition till the Jesuits sensible thereof have since outshot us in our own bow most carefull to catechise their Novices whilest English Protestants for I will not condemn Foreigâ⦠Churches grew negligent therein What is the Reason that so much ââ¦loth so soon changeth colour even because it was never well ãâã and why do men so often change their Opinions even because they were never well catechised He was Confessour to Queen Elizabeth constantly preaching the First and Last Lent-Sermons before Her He gave two Hundred Pounds per annum to maintain thirteen Schollars in brasen Nose Colledge He died being Ninety Years of age not decayed in sight Febru 13. 1601. JOHN d ee where born I cannot recover was a man of much motion and is mentioned in this place where he had his though last best fixation He was bred as I believe in Oxford and there Doctorated but in what faculty I cannot determine He was a most excellent Mathematiti an and Astrologer well skilled in Magick as the Antients did the Lord Bacon doth and all may accept the sence thereof viz. in the lawfull knowledg of Naturall Philosophie This exposed him anno 1583. amongst his Ignorant Neighbours where he then lived at Mortclack in Surrey to the suspicion of a Conjurer the cause I conceive that his Library was then seized on wherein were four thousand Books and seven hundred of them Manuscripts This Indignity joyned with the former Scandal moved him to leave the Land and go over with Sr. Edward Kelly into Bohemia as hereafter shall be more fully related Returning to Mortclack 1592. the same Scandal of being a Conjurer haunted him again Two Years after Viz. 1594. he was under a kinde of Restraint which caused him to write to the Lady Scydemore to move Queen Elizabeth either that he might declare his case to the Counsel or have liberty under the broad Seal to depart the Land Next year he wrote an apologetical Letter to Arch-bishop Whitgift which it seems found good reception yea at last he gave such satisfaction of the lawfulness and usefulness of his Studies that the Queen besides many considerable New-Years Gifts sent unto him presented him Warden of Manchester in this Countie 1596. where he had many contests and suits with the Fellows of that Colledge The last mention I find of him is in Mr. Camden to whom he presented an ancient Roman Inscription found about Manchester and Mr. Camden in his requital presented him with this Commendation Hanc mihi descripsit qui vidit Cl. Mathematicus J. d ee collegij Manchestrensis custos And indeed all the books he hath left behind him speak him a learned as those de Usu Globi Terrestris De Nubium Solis Lunae ac Planetarum distantiis c. an aged man being dedicated to King Edward the Sixth and he dying about the beginning of King James ROGER FENTON D. D. Fellow of Pembroke-Hall in Cambridge was born in this County as appeareth by his Epitaph in St. Stephens Wallbrook London being the painfull pious learned and beloved Minister thereof Little is left of him in print save a sollid Treatise against Usury Great was his intimacy with Dr. Nicholas ãâã being Contemporaries Collegiates and City-Ministers together with some ãâã in their Sirnames but more sympathy in their Natures Once my own Father gave Dr. Fenton a visite who excused himself from entertaining him any longer Mr Fuller said he hear how the passing-bell towls ãâã this very Instant for my Dear Friend Dr. Felton now a dying I must to my Study it ãâã mutually agreed upon betwixt us in our healths that the Surviver of
same morning he was elected Bishop of Ely made him his Chaplain and Dr. Featly chose him his second in one of his Disputations against Father Fisher yea Mr. Walker alone had many encounters with the subtillest of the Jesuitical party He was a man of an holy life humble heart and bountiful hand who deserved well of Sion Colledge Library and by his example and perswasion advanced about a thousand pounds towards the maintenance of preaching-Ministers in this his Native County He ever wrote all his Sermons though making no other use of his Notes in the Pulpit than keeping them in his pocket being wont to say that he thought he should be out if he had them not about him His Sermons since printed against the prophanation of the Sabboth and other practises and opinions procured him much trouble and two years Imprisonment till he was released by the Parliament He dyed in the seventy year of his Age Anno Dom. 1651. Romish Exile Writers EDWARD RISHTON was born in this * County and bred some short time in Oxford till he fled over to Doway where he was made Master of Arts. Hence he removed to Rome and having studyed Divinity four years in the English Colledge there was ordained Preist 1580. Then was he sent over into England to gain Proselites in prosecution whereof he was taken and kept Prisoner three years Yet was the Severity of the State so mercifull unto him as to spare his Life and only condemn him to Banishment He was carried over into France whence he went to the University of Pontmuss in Loraine to plye his Studies During his abode there the place was infected with the Plague Here Rishton forââ¦ate the Physicians Rule Citâ⦠Procul Longe Tarde flye away soon live away far sââ¦ay away long come again slowly For he remained so long in the Town till he carried away the infection with him and going thence dyed at St. Manhow 1585. I presume no Ingenuous Papist will be censorious on our Painful Munster Learned Junius Godly Greenham all dying of the Pestilence seeing the most conscientious of their own Perswasion subject to the same and indeed neither Love nor Hatred can be collected from such Casualties THOMAS WORTHINGTON was born in this * County of a Gentile Family was bred in the English Colledge at Doway where he proceeded Bachelour in Divinity and a little before the Eighty Eight was sent over into England as an Harvinger for the Spanish Invasion to prepare his Party thereunto Here he was caught and cast into the Tower of London yet found such favour that he escaped with his life being banished beyond the Seas At Triers he commenced Doctor in Divinity and in process of time was made President of the English Colledge at Rhemes When after long expectation the Old Testament came out in English at Rhemes permitted with some cautions for our Lay-Catholicks to read this Worthington wrote his notes thereupon which few Protestants have seen and fewer have regarded He was alive in 1611. but how long after is to me unknown If not the same which for his vivaciousness is improbable there was a Father Worthington certainly his Kinsman and Countryman very busie to promote the Catholick cause in England about the beginning of King Charles He Dining some thirty years since with a Person of Honour in this Land at whose Table I have often eaten was very obstreperous in arguing the case for Transubstantiation and the Ubiquitariness of Christs body Suppose said he Christ were here To whom the Noble Master of the House who till then was silent returned If you were away I beleive he would be here Worthington perceiving his Room more wellcome then his Company embraced the next opportunity of Departure ANDERTON whose christian name I cannot recover was born in this County and brought up at Blackborne School therein and as I have been informed he was bred in Christs Colledge in Cambridge where for his Eloquence he was commonly called Golden Mouth Anderton afterwards he went beyond the Seas and became a Popish preist and one of the learnedst amongst them This is he who improving himself on the poverty of Mr. Robert Bolton sometimes his School-Fellow but then not fixed in his Religion and Fellow of Brazenose colledge perswaded him to be reconciled to the Church of Rome and go over with him to the English Seminary promising him gold enough a good argument to allure an unstable mind to popery and they both appointed â⦠meeting But it pleased the God of Heaven who holdeth both an Hour-glass and reed in his hand to measure both time and place so to order the matter that though Mr. Bolton came Mr. Anderton came not accordingly So that Rome lost and England gain'd an able Instrument But now I have lost J. Pitz to guide me and therefore it is time to knock off having no direction for the date of his Death Benefactors to the publick WILLIAM SMITH was born at * Farmeworth in this County bred Fellow in Pembroke hall in Cambridge and at last by King Henry the Eighth preferred Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry That Politick Prince to ease and honour his Native Country of Wales erected a Court of Presidency conformable to the Parliaments of France in the Marshes thereof and made this Bishop first President those Parts lying partly in his Diocesse He discharged the place with singular Integrity and general contentment retaining that Office till the day of his Death when he was removed to be Bishop of Lincoln A good name is an Ointment poured out saith Solomon and this man wheresoever he went may be followed by the perfume of charity he left behind him 1. At Lichfield he founded an Hospital for a Master two preists and ten poor people 2. In the same place he founded a School procuring from King Henry the seventh that the Hospital of Downholl in Cheshire with the Lands there unto belonging should be bestowed upon it Say not this was Robbing the Spittle or at the best Robbing Peter to pay Paul seeing we may presume so charitable a Prelate would do nothing unjust though at this distance of time we cannot clear the particulars of his proceedings At Farmeworth where he was born he founded a school allowing ten pounds annually in that age no mean salary for the Master thereof The University of Oxford discreetly chose him Oxford being in his Diocesse of Lincoln their Chancellour and lost nothing thereby for he proved a more loving Nephew than Son so bountiful to his Aunt Oxford that therein he founded Brazen Nosecolledge but dyed 1513 before his Foundation was finished Molineux a famous preacher about Henry the Eigths time descended of the house of Sefton in the County of Lancaster builded the Church at Sefton anew and houses for Schools about the Church-yard and made the great Wall about Magdalen Colledge in Oxford EDVVARD HALSALL in the County of Lancaster Esquire sometimes Chamberlain of the Exchequer at Chester
to interpret them The Farewell Being now to take my leave of this County it is needless to wish it a Friday Market the Leap-day therein and it is strange there should be none in so spacious a Shire presuming that defect supplied in the Vicinage Rather I wish that the Leprosy may never return into this County but if it should return we carry the seeds of all sins in our Souls sicknesses in our Bodies I desire that the Lands may also without prejudice to any returne to the Hospital of Burton Lazars in this Shire if not intire yet in such a proportion as may comfortably maintain the Lepers therein LINCOLNE-SHIRE This County in Fashion is like a bended Bowe the Sea making the Back the Rivers Welland and Humber the two horns thereof whiles Trent hangeth down from the latter like a broken string as being somewhat of the Shortest Such persecute the Metaphor too much who compare the River Witham whose Current is crooked unto the Arrow crossing the middle thereof It extendeth 60. Miles from South to North not above 40. in the middle and broadest part thereof Being too Volluminous to be managed entire is divided into three parts each of them corrival in quantity with some smaller Shires Holland on the South-East Kesteven on the South-West and Lindley on the North to them both Holland that is Hoyland or Hayland from the plenty of Hay growing therein may seem the Reflection of the opposite Holland in the Neatherlands with which it Sympathyzed in the Fruitfulness lowe and wet Scituation Here the Brakishnesse of the Water and the Grossenesse of the Ayre is recompenced by the Goodnesse of the Earth abounding with Deries and Pasture And as God hath to use the * Apostles phrase tempered the body together not making it all Eye or all Ear Nonsense that the Whole should be but One sense but assigning each Member the proper office thereof so the same Providence hath so wisely blended the Benefits of this County that take Collective Lincolne-shire and it is Defective in Nothing Natural Commodities Pikes They are found plentifully in this Shire being the Fresh-Water-Wolves and therefore an old pond-pike is a dish of more State than Profit to the Owners seeing a Pikes belly is a little Fishpond where lesser of all sorts have been contained Sir Francis Bacon alloweth it Though Tyrants generally be short-lived the Surviver of all Fresh-water-Fish attaining to forty years and some beyond the Seas have trebled that term The Flesh thereof must needs be fine and wholsome if it be true what is affirmed that in some sort it cheweth the Cud and yet the less and middle size Pikes are preferred for Sweetnesse before those that are greater It breedeth but once whilest other Fishes do often in a year such the providence of Nature preventing their more multiplying least the Waters should not afford Subjects enough for their Tyranny For want of other Fish they will feed one on another yââ¦a what is four footed shall be Fish with them if it once come to their jawes biteing sometimes for cruelty and revenge as well as for hunger and because we have publickly professed that to delight as well as to inform is our aim in this Book let the ensuing story though unwarranted with a cited Authour find the Readers acceptance A Cub-Foxe drinking out of the River Arnus in Italy had his head seised on by a mighty Pike so that neither could free themselves but were ingrapled together In this contest a young man runs into the water takes them out both alive and carrieth them to the Duke of Florence whose palace was hard by The Porter would not admit him without promising of sharing his full half in what the Duke should give him To which he hopelesse otherwise of entrance condescended The Duke highly affected with the Rarity was in giving him a good reward which the other refused desiring his Highnesse would appoint one of his Guard to give him an hundred Lashes that so his Porter might have fifty according to his composition And here my Intelligence leaveth me how much farther the jest was followed But to return to our English Pikes wherein this County is eminent especially in that River which runneth by Lincolne whence grew this Proverb Witham Pike England hath nene like And hence it is that Mr. Drayton maketh this River Poetizing in her praises always concluding them Thus to her Proper Song The Burden still she bare Yet for my dainty Pikes I am without compare I have done with these Pikes when I have observed if I mistake not a great mistake in Mr. Stow affirming that Pickrels were brought over as no Natives of our Land into England at the same time with Carps and both about the beginning of the Reign of King Henry the Eighth Now if Pickrels be the deminatives of Pikes as Jacks of Pickrels which none I conceive will deny they were here many hundred years since and probably of the same Seniority with the Rivers of England For I find in the Bill of Fare made at the Prodigious Feast at the Installing of George Nevil Arch-bishop of York Anno 466 that there was spent three hundred Lupi Fluviatiles that is River Pikes at that Entertainment Now seeing all are children before they are men and Pikes Pickrels at the first Pickrels were more anciently in England then that Author affirmeth them Wild-foule Lincoln-shire may be termed the Aviary of England for the Wild-foule therein Remarkable for their 1. Plenty So that sometimes in the Month of August three thousand Mallards with Birds of that kind have been caught at one Draught so large and strong their Nets and the like must be the Readers belief 2. Variety No man no not Gesmar himself being able to give them their proper names except one had gotten Adam his Nomenclator of Creatures 3. Deliciousnesse Wild-foule being more dainty and digestable then Tame of the same kind as spending their Grossie humours with their Activity and constant Motion in Flying Now as the Eagle is called Jovis Ales so here they have a Bird which is called the Kings Bird namely Knuts sent for hither out of Denmark at the charge and for the use of Knut or Kanutus King of England If the plenty of Birds have since been drained with the Fenns in this County what Lincoln-shire lacks in her former Foul is supplyed in Flesh more Mutton and Beef and a large First makes amends for a lesse second Coursâ⦠But amongst all Birds we must not forget Dotterells This is Avis ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a Mirthmaking Bird so ridiculoussy Mimical that he is easily caught or rather catcheth himself by his over-Active imitation There is a sort of Apes in India caught by the Natives thereof after this manner They dress a little Boy in his Sight undresse him again leave all the Childs apparel behind them in the place and then depart a competent distance The Ape presently attiââ¦eth
Thames and Trent for the Southern and Northern Bounds and two such Universities Cambridge and Oxford both in the Content thereof before three smaller Bishopricks were carved out of it Amongst the Houses of the Nobility I take signal notice of two One I may call a Premeditate Building viz. Tattershall belonging to the Right Honourable the Earl of Lincolne advanced by degrees at several times to the Modern Magnificence thereof But Grimsthorp I may term an Ex tempore Structure set up on a suddain by Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk to entertain King Henry the Eighth in his Progress into these parts The Hall therein was fitted to a fair Suit of Hangings which the Duke had by his Wife Mary the French Queen and is now in the possession of the Right Honourable Montague Earl of Lindsey The Wonders At Fishtoft in this County no Mice or Rats are found insomuch that Barns built party per pale in this and the next Parish on one side are annoyed on the other side being Fishtoft Moiety are secured from this Vermin Surely no Piper what is notoriously known of Hamell in Westphalia did ever give them this Mice-Delivery by his Musick It is easier to conjure up many then allay one difficulty other places in England affording the like At one of the Rodings in Essex no Hogs will root In another Common no Mole will cast In Linley in Leicestershire no Snakes are found I believe they overshoot the Mark who make it a Miracle they undershoot it who make it Magick they come the nearest to Truth who impute it to occult Qualities If some men will swound at some meat yea but smelling it unseen by their disaffection thereunto why may not whole species and kinds of creatures have some antipathetical places though the reason thereof cannot be rendred Surely as Sampson at his Marriage propounded a Riddle to his Companions to try their Wits thereon so God offereth such Aenigmaes in nature partly that men may make use of their admiring as well as of their understanding partly that Philosophers may be tanght their distance betwixt themselves who are but the Lovers and God who is the Giver of Wisdome Let it also passe for this once for a wonder that some seven score years since nigh Harlaxton in this Shire there was found turned up by one ploughing the ground a Golden Helmet of Antick fashion I say Cassis non aurata sed aurea a Helmet not guilt but of Massive Gold studded with precious stones probable of some Prime Roman Commander Whence I observe First that though no Edge-Tool to offend may be made of Gold and Silver Yet defensive Weapons may thereof be compounded Secondly that the Poetical Fiction of Glaucus his Golden Arms is founded on History For not to speak of Solomon his Golden Sheilds Great Commanders made use of Arms of that Mettal if not for strength for state and Ornament Lastly it was presented to Queen Katharine first Wife to King Henry the Eighth who though not knowing to use it as a Helmet knew how to employ it as made of Gold and Rich Jewells Proverbs Lincolne-shire Bagpipes I behold these as most ancient because a very simple sort of Musick being little more then the Oaten Pipe improved with a Bag wherein the imprisoned wind pleadeth melodiously for the Inlargement thereof It is incredible with what agility it inspireth the heavy heels of the Country Clowns overgrown with hair and rudenesse probably the ground-work of the poetical fiction of dancing Satyrs This Bagpipe in the judgement of the Rural Midas's carryeth away the credit from the Harp of Apollo himself and most persons approve the Blunt Bagpipe above the Edge Tool Instruments of Drums and Trumpets in our Civil dissentions As loud as Tom of Lincoln This Shire carryes away the Bell for round-ringing from all in England though other places may surpasse it for Changes more pleasant for the Variety thereof seeing it may be demonstrated that twelve Bells will afford more changes than there have been hours since the Creation Tom of Lincoln may be called the Stentor fifty lesser-bells may be made out of him of all in this County Expect not of me to enter into the discourse of popish baptizing and naming of Bells many charging it on them for a prophane and they confessing enough to make it a superstitious action All the Carts that come to Crowland are shod with Silver Venice and Crowland Sic Canibus Catulos may count their Carts alike that being sited in the Sea this in a Morasse and Fenny ground so that an horse can hardly come to it But whether this place since the draining of the Fenns hath acquired more firmnesse than formerly is to me unknown 'T is height makes Grantham Steeple stand awry This Steeple seems crooked unto the beholders and I believe will ever do so until our age erect the like by it for height and workmanship though some conceive the slendernesse at such a distance is all the obliquity thereof Eminency exposeth the uprightest persons to exception and such who cannot find faults in them will find faults at them envying their advancement As mad as the Baiting Bull of Stamford Take the Original hereof William Earl Warren Lord of this Town in the time of King John standing upon the Castle Walls of Stamford saw two Bulls fighting for a Cow in the Meadow till all the Butchers Dogs great and small persued one of the Bulls being madded with Noyse and Multitude clean through the Town This Sight so pleased the said Earl that he gave all those Meadows called the Castle Meadows where first the Bull Duel began for a Common to the Butchers of the Town after the first Grasse was eaten on condition that they find a Mad Bull the day Six weeks before Christmas day for the continuance of that sport every year Some think that the Men must be mad as well as the Bull who can take delight in so dangerous a WastTime whereby that no more Mischeif is done not mans care but Gods Providence is to be praised He looks as the Devil over Lincoln Lincolne Minster is one of the statelyest Structures in Christendome The South-side of it meets the Travellers thereunto twenty miles of so that their Eyes are there many hours before their Feet The Divel is the Map of Malice and his Envy as Gods mercy is over all his works It grieves him what ever is given to God crying out with that Flesh-Divel Ut quid haec perditio What needs this wast On which account he is supposed to have overlook'd this Church when first finished with a torve and tetrick countenance as maligning mens costly devotion and that they should be so expensive in Gods service But it is suspicious that some who account themselves Saints behold such fabricks with little better looks He was born at Little Wittham This Village in this County by Orthography is Witham near which a River of the
what is good for it but it is especially used for mollifying the hardness and opening the stopping of the Belly Manufactures Leather This though common to all Counties is entred under the Manufactures of Middlesex because London therein is the Staple-place of Slaughter and the Hides of beasts there bought are generally tanned about Enfield in this County A word of the antiquity and usefulness of this commodity Adams first suit was of leaves his second of Leather Hereof Girdles Shoes and many utensils not to speak of whole houses of Leather I mean Coaches are made Yea I have read how Frederick the second Emperour of Germany distressed to pay his Army made Monetam Coriaceam Coin of Leather making it currant by his Proclamation and afterwards when his Souldiers repayed it into his Exchequer they received so much silver in lieu thereof Many good-laws are made and still one wanting to enforce the keeping of them for the making of this Merchantable commodity and yet still much unsaleable leather is sold in our Markets The Lord Treasurer Barleigh who always consulted Artificers in their own Art was indoctrinated by a Cobler in the true Tanning of Leather This Cobler taking a slice of Bread tosted it by degrees at some distance from the fire turning many times till it became brown and hard on both sides This my Lord saith he we good Fellowes call a Tanned Tost done so well that it will last many mornings draughts and Leather thus leisurely tanned and turned many times in the Fat will prove serviceable which otherwise will quickly fleet and rag out And although that great Statesman caused Statutes to be made according to his instructions complaints in this kind daily continue and encrease Surely were all of that Occupation as honest as Simon the Tanner the entertainer of Simon Peter in Joppa they would be more conscientious in their calling Let me add what experience avoweth true though it be hard to assign the true cause thereof that when Wheat is dear Leather alwayes is cheap and when Leather is dear then Wheat is cheap The Buildings HAMPTON COURT was built by that pompous Prelate Cardinal Woolsey one so magnificent in his expences that whosoever considereth either of these three would admire that he had any thing for the other two left unto him viz. His House-building House-keeping House-furnishing He bestowed it on King Henry the eight who for the greater grace thereof erected it Princes can conferr dignities on Houses as well as persons to be an honour increasing it with buildings till it became more like a small City than a House Now whereas other royal Pallaces Holdenby Oatlands Richmond Theobalds have lately found their fatal period Hampton Court hath a happiness to continue in its former estate Non equidem invideo miror magis undique totis Usque adeo spoliatur agris I envy not its happy lot but rather thereat wonder There 's such a rout our Land throughout of Pallaces by Plunder Let me add that Henry the Eight enforrested the grounds hereabouts the last of that kinde in England though they never attained the full reputation of a Forrest in common discourse OSTERLY HOUSE now Sir William Wallers must not be forgotten built in a Park by Sir Thomas Gresham who here magnificently entertained and lodged Queen Elizabeth Her Majesty found fault with the Court of this House as too great affirming That it would appear more handsome if divided with a Wall in the middle What doth Sir Thomas but in the night-time sends for workmen to London money commands all things who so speedily and silently apply their business That the next morning discovered that Court double which the night had left single before It is questionable whether the Queen next day was more contented with the conformity to her fancy or more pleased with the surprize and sudden performance thereof Whilest her Courtiers disported themselves with their several expressions some avowing it was no wonder he could so soon change a Building who could Build a Change others reflecting on some known differences in this Knights Family affirmed That any house is easier divided than united Proverbs A Middlesex Clown Some English words innocent and in-offensive in their primitive Nation are bowed by Custome to a disgraceful sense as Villain originally nothing but a Dweller in a Village and Tiller of the Ground thereabouts Churle in Saxon Coorel a strong stout Husbandman Clown from Colonus one that plougheth the ground without which neither King nor Kingdome can be maintained of which Middlesex hath many of great Estates But some endeavour to fix the Jgnominious sense upon them as if more arrant Rusticks then those of their condition elsewhere partly because Nobility and Gentry are respectively observed according to their degree by People far distant from London less regarded by these Middlesexians frequency breeds familiarity because abounding thereabouts partly because the multitude of Gentry here contraries are mutuall Commentaries discover the Clownishness of others and render it more Conspicuous However to my own knowledge there are some of the Yeomantry in this County as compleatly Civill as any in England He that is a low Ebbe at Newgate may soon be a Flote at Tieburne I allow not this Satyricall Proverb as it makes mirth on men in Misery whom a meer man may pity for suffering and a good man ought to pity them for deserving it Tieburne some will have it so called from Tie and Burne because the poor Lollords for whom this instrument of Cruelty to them though of Justice to Malefactors was first set up had their necks tied to the Beame and their lower parts burnt in the fire Others will ââ¦ave it called from Twa and Burne that is two Rivolets which it seems meet near to the place But whencesoever it be called may all endeavour to keep themselves from it though one may justly be Confident that more souls have gone to Heaven from that place then from all the Churches and Church-yards in England When Tottenham-Wood is all on fire Then Tottenham-Street is naught but mire I find this Proverbe in the Description of Tottenham written by Mr. William Bedwell one of the most learned Translators of the Bible And seeing so grave a Divine stoop'd to solow a subject I hope I may be admitted to follow him therein He thus expoundeth the Proverb When Tottenham-Wood of many hundred-Acres on the top of an high hill in the West-end of the Parish hath a foggie mist hanging and hovering over it in manner of a smoak then generally foul weather followeth so that it serveth the Inhabitants instead of a Prognostication I am confident as much mire now as formerly in Tottenham-Street but question whether so much wood now as anciently on Tottenham-hill Tottenham is turn'd French I find this in the same place of the same Author but quoting it out of Mr. Heiwood It seems about the beginning of the Reign of King Henry the eigth French Mechanicks swarmed in
Etymology was peculiar to himself who would have it termed Mildew because it grindeth the Grain aforehand making it to dwindle away almost to nothing It falleth be it Mist or Dew when Corn is almost ripe for the Sicle and antidateth the Harvest not before it is welcome but before it is wished by the Husbandman Grain being rather withered then ripened thereby If after the fall a good Rain or strong wind cometh it washeth and wipeth it off so that no mischeif is done Otherwise the hot Sun arising sealeth to use the Husbandmans Phrase the Mildew upon the Straw and so intercepteth the Nourishment betwixt the Root and the Ear especially if it falleth not on the Hoase which is but another case and hath another Tunicle under it but on the stripped Straw near to the top of the Stalk Grain growing under Hedges where the wind hath least power is most subject thereunto though VVheat of all Grain is most Bearded VVheat of VVheat is least liable unto it Not that the Hawnes thereof are Spears to fright the Mildew from it but advantagious Gutters to slide it away the sooner which sticketh on notted or pollard VVheat Inland Counties Northampton-shire Bedford-shire c. complain the least Maritime the most of Mildew which insinuateth the Vapors of the Sea to be causall thereof Some hold that seeing it falls from the Skies Earth hath no guard for Heavens blowe save praier which in this very case is prescribed by Solomon But others conceive that humane may be subordinate to Spiritual means to prevent not the falling but the hurting of this Dew in such a degree and hopefully expect the Remedy from the Ingenuity of the next Generation I am the rather confirmed in my Hopes because a help hath been found out against the smooting of VVheat at leastwise in some good proportion I say the smooting of VVheat which makes it a Negro as Mildew makes it a Dwarfe viz. by mingling the seed with Lyme as your Husbandmen will inform you And for my Vale to this County I heartily desire that either God would of his Goodnesse spare the Fruits of the Earth from so hurtful a Casualty or put it into the Minds of Men if it may stand with his VVill to find out some defensitive in some part to abate the Malignity thereof LONDON It is the second City in Christendome for greatnesse and the first for good Government There is no civilized part of the World but it hath heard thereof though many with this mistake that they conceive London to be the Country and England but the City therein Some have suspected the declining of the Lustre thereof because of late it vergeth so much VVestward increasing in Buildings in Convent Garden c. But by their Favour to disprove their Fear it will be found to Burnish round about to every point of the compasse with new Structures daily added thereunto It oweth its greatnesse under Gods Divine providence to the well conditioned River of Thames which doth not as some Tyrant Rivers in Europe abuse its strength in a destructive way but imployeth its greatnesse in goodnesse to be beneficial for commerce by the Reciprocation of the Tide therein Hence it was that when K. James offended with the City threatned to remove his Court to another place the Lord Maior boldly enough returned that he might remove his Court at his pleasure but could not remove the River of Thames Erasmus will have London so called from Lindus a City of Rhodes averring a great resemblance betwixt the Language and Customes of the Britains and Grecians But Mr. Camden who no doubt knew of it honoureth not this his Etymology with the least mention thereof As improbable in my apprehension is the deduction from Ludstown Town being a Saxon no Brittish Termination and that it was so termed from Lan Dian a Temple of Diana standing where now St. Pauls doth is most likely in my opinion Manufactures Natural Commodities are not to be expected to growe in this place which is only the Field of Art and Shop General of England Cheapsiae being called the best Garden only by Metaphore seeing otherwise nothing but Stones are found therein As for London Manufactures they are so many I shall certainly loose my self in this Labyrinth if offering to enter in leaving therefore all intermediate Inventions to others I will only insist on the Needle and the Engine as the least and greatest Instruments imployed therein Needles The Use hereof is right ancient though sewing was before Needles For we read that our first parents made themselves Aprons by sewing Fig leaves together either fastning them with some Glutinous Matter or with some sharp thing joyning them together A Pin is a Blind Needle a Needle a Pin with an Eye What Nails do in solid Needles do in supple Bodies putting them together only they remain not there formally but vertually in the Thread which they leave behind them It is the womans Pencil and Embroidery Vestis acu picta is the masterpeice thereof I say Embroydery much used in former neglected in our age wherein modern Gallants affecting Variety of suits desire that their Cloaths should be known by them and not as Our Ancestors They by their cloaths one suit of state serving them for several solemnities This Industrious Instrument Needle quasi Ne idle as some will have it maintaineth many millions Yea he who desireth a Blessing on the Plough and the Needle including that in the card and compass comprehendeth most Employments at home and abrode by land and by sea All I will add is this that the first fine spanish Needles in England were made in the Reign of Queen Mary in Cheapside by a Negro but such his Envy that he would teach his Art to none so that it dyed with him More charitable was Elias Crowse a German who coming over into England about the Eigth of Queen Elizabeth first taught us the Making of spanish Needles and since we have taught our selves the using of them The Engine This general Word ãâã to all Machins or Instruments use in this City hath confined to signifie that which is used to quench Scare-fires therein One Mr. Jones a Merchant living in Austin Fryers fetched the first Form thereof from Norenberge and obtained a Patent of King James that none should be made without his Approbation Two were begun but not finished in his Life time who dyed in the great Plague Primo Caroli primi since which Time William Burroughs City-Founder now living in ââ¦bury hath so compleated this Instrument that his additions amount to a new Invention having made it more secure from breaking and easie to be cleansed so that with the striking out of a Wedge it will cleanse it self and be fit to work again in Four Minutes Since the aforesaid ãâã hath made about threescore of these Engines for City and Country The Cooper Carpenter Smith Founder Brasier and Turner contribute their skills to the ãâã oâ⦠it
which Alms-dish came afterwards into the possession of the Duke of Somerset who sent it to the Lord Rivers to sell the same to furnish himself for a Sea-voyage But after the Death of good Duke Humphrey when many of his former Alms-men were at a losse for a meals meat this Proverb did alter its Copy to Dine with Duke Humphrey importing to be Dinnerlesse A general mistake fixed this sense namely that Duke Humphrey was buryed in the Body of St. Pauls Church where many men chaw their meat with feet and walk away the want of a Dinner whereas indeed that noble person interred in St. Pauls was Sir John Beauchamp Constable of Dover Warden of the Cinque Ports Knight of the Garter Son to Guy Earl of Warwick and Brother to Thomas Earl of Warwick whilst Duke Humphrey was honourably buried in St. Albans I will use you as bad as a Jew I am sure I have carried the Child home and layed it at the Fathers House having traced this Proverb by the Tract from England in General to London thence to the Old Jury whence it had its first Original that poor Nation especially on Shrove-Tuesday being intollerably abused by the English whilst they lived in the Land I could wish that wheresoever the Jews live they may not find so much courtesie as to confirm them in their false yet not so much Cruelty as to discourage them from the true Religion till which time I can bemone their Misery condemn the Christians Cruelty and admire Gods justice in both See we it here now fulfilled which God long since frequently foretold and threatned namely that he would make the Jews become a Proverb if continuing Rebellious against him I passe not for the Flouts of prophane Pagans scoffing at the Jews Religion Credat Judaeus Apella but to behold them thus Proverbiascere for their Rebellions against God minds me of the performance of Gods Threatning unto them Good manners to except my Lord Maior of London This is a corrective for such whose expressions are of the largest size and too general in their extent parallel to the Logick Maxime Primum in unoquoque genere est excipiendum as too high to come under the Roof of comparison In some cases it is not civil to fill up all the room in our speeches of our selves but to leave an upper place voyd as a blank reserved for our betters I have dined as well as my Lord Maior of London That this Proverb may not crosse the former know that as well is not taken for as dubiously or daintily on Variety of Costly Dishes in which kinds the Lord Maior is Paramount for Magnificence For not to speak of his solemn Invitations as when Henry Pickard Lord Maior 1357. did in one day entertain a Messe of Kings Edward King of England John King of France David King of Scots and the King of Cyprus besides Edward Prince of Wales and many prime Noble-men of the Land his daily Dinners are Feasts both for Plenty Guests and Attendants But the Proverb hath its modest meaning I haue dined as well that is as comfortable as contentedly according to the Rule Satis est quod sufficit enough is as good as a Feast and better then a Surfeit and indeed Nature is contented with a little and Grace with lesse As old as Pauls Steeple Different are the Dates of the Age thereof because it had two births or beginnings For if we count it from the time wherein it was originally co-founded by K. Ethelbert with the Body of the Church Anno six hundred and ten then it is above a thousand and forty years of Age. But if we reckon it from the year 1087. when burnt with Lightning from Heaven and afterwards rebuilt by the Bishops of London it is not above five hundred years old And though this Proverb falls far short of the Latine ones Antiquius Arcadibus Antiquius Saturno yet serveth it sufficiently to be returned to such who pretend those things to be Novell which are known to be stale old and almost antiquated He is only fit for Ruffians-Hall A Ruffian is the same with a Swaggerer so called because endevouring to make that Side to swag or weigh down whereon he ingageth The same also with Swash-Buckler from swashing or making a noise on Bucklers West-Smith-field now the Horse-Market was formerly called Ruffians-Hall where such men met casually and otherwise to try Masteries with Sword and Buckler Moe were frighted then hurt hurt then killed therewith it being accounted unmanly to strike beneath the Knee because in effect it was as one armed against a naked man But since that desperate Traitor Rowland Yorke first used thrusting with Rapiers Swords and Bucklers are disused and the Proverb only appliable to quarrelsome people not tame but wild Barretters who delight in brawls and blows A Loyal heart may be landed under Traitors Bridge This is a Bridge under which is an Entrance into the Tower over against Pink Gate formerly fatal to those who landed there there being a muttering that such never came forth alive as dying to say no worse therein without any Legal Tryal The Proverb importeth that passive Innocence overpower'd with Adversaries may be accused without cause and disposed at the pleasure of others it being true of all Prisoners what our Saviour said to and of St. Peter Another shall carry thee whither thou wouldst not Queen Elizabeth may be a proofe hereof who in the Reign of Queen Mary her Sister first stayed and denyed to Land at those Stairs where all Traytors and Offenders customably used to Land till a Lord which my Author would not and I cannot name told her she should not choose and so she was forced accordingly To cast water into the Thames That is to give to them wââ¦o had plenty before which notwithstanding is the dole general of the World Yet let not Thames be proud of his full and fair stream seeing Water may be wanting therein as it was Anno 1158. the Fourth of William Rufus when men might walk over dryshod and again Anno 1582. a strong Wind lying West and by South which forced out the Fresh and kept back the Salt-water He must take him a House in Turn-again Lane This in old Records is called Wind-again Lane and lyeth in the Parish of St. Sepulchres going down to Fleet-Dike which men must turn again the same way they came for there it is stopped The Proverb is applied to those who sensible that they embrace destructive courses must seasonably alter their manners which they may do without any shame to themselves it is better to come back through Turn-again though a narrow and obscure Lane then to go on an ill account straight forwards in a fair street hard by whence Vestigia nulla retrorsum as leading Westward to Execution He may whet his Knife on the Threshold of the Fleet. The Fleet is a place notoriouslâ⦠known for a
with small successe to do good offices betwixt the two Kingdomes Coming into England to visit her Brother K. Edward the third she deceased here without issue Anno 1357. and lyeth buried in Gray-Friers London It will not be amiss in Reference to her Name here to observe that Joan which is Feminine to John was a frequent name in the Royal Family of England as also amongst Foreign Princes and no wonder seeing we find a worthy woman of that name Benefactresse to our Saviour himself However seeing in later times it hath been counted but a Course and homely name and some Proverbs of Contempt have been cast thereon it hath since been m ollified into Jane sounding finer it seemes to an English eare though this modern name will hardly be found in any English writer three hundred yeares ago KATHERINE youngest Daughter to K. Henry the 7. and Elizabeth his Queen was born in the Tower of London on the 2 day of February Anno Dom. 1503. deceasing few dayes after It is a sad and probably too true an account of an Antient man which is given in his Epitaph Here lies the man was born and cry'd Liv'd sixty yeares fell sick and dy'd What was a bad Character of his aged unprofitablenesse is a good one of this infant Ladies innocence of whom we know nothing save that she sucked fell sick and deceased Only let me adde she was the last Princesse born in the Tower our English Kings hereafter removing their residence to Bridewel and White-hall and using the Tower not so much as a Palace for the State as Prison for the strength thereof ANNA BOLLEN Daughter of the Lord Thomas Bollen Earl of Wiltshire was as some of her Honourable relations still surviving do conjecture born in London and became second Wife to K. Henry 8th Indeed he passionately affected her when but a Lords Daughter but did not marry her till she was a Princesse Created by him Marchionesse of Pembroke partly to make her the more proportionable Match and partly to try how she would become a ââ¦oronet before she wore a Crown The Papists much disparage her memory malice will lye or must be dumb making all her Wit to consist in Boldnesse her Beauty in a French garb and her Modesty in a Cunning ââ¦oynesse whereas indeed she was a Lady accomplished in Body was it likely K. Henry would love what was not lovely and Vertuous in Mind and whilst a Favourite of the Kings a Favourer of all good men and great Promoter of the Gospel The Inconstancy of her husbands affections is conceived by most moderate men what else soever was pretended her chiefest crime and cause of her death which happened Anno 1536. KATHERINE HOWARD Daughter to the Lord Edmond Howard son to Thomas Duke of Norfolk was though her father had large lands and houses in many places probably born in London and at last became fifth wife to K. Henry the eighth Such as desire to know the names number and successe of all six may conceive K. Henry thus speaking on his death bed Three Kates two Nans and one dear Jane I wedded One Spanish one Dutch and four English Wives From two I was divorc'd two I beheaded One died in childbed and one me survives Of this Katherine Howard little is reported and yet too much if all be true of her incontinency which cost her her life The greatest good the Land got by this match was a general leave to marry Cousin-Germans formerly prohibited by the Canon and hereafter permitted by the Common-law A door of lawful liberty left open by God in Scripture shut by the Pope for his private profit opened again by the King first for his own admittance this Katherine being Cousin-German to Anna Bollen his former Wife and then for the service of such Subjects as would follow him upon the like occasion This Lady was beheaded Anno Domini 1540. Saints Not to speak of St. Sedd born in this City and afterwards Bishop thereof of whom we find nothing reported save that he was very instrumental to the converting of the Mercians we begin with WULSINE who was born in this City of worthy Parents breeding him up in the Devotion of that age and became a Benedictine Monk till at last by his fast friend St. Dunstan he was preferred first Abbot of Westminster whence he was afterwards removed to be Bishop of Sherburne in Dorsetshire A mighty Champion he was for a Monastical life and therefore could not be quiet till he had driven all the secular priests out of Sherburne and substituted Monks in their room I read not of any Miracle done by him either whilst living or when dead save that in the juncture of both he is said with St. Stephen to have seen Heavens opened c. He had contracted great intimacy with one Egeline a virtuous Knight who died on the same day with him and he injoyned his Monks that they should both be buried in one Grave their joynt death happened January the 8th Anno 985. THOMAS BECKET son to Gilbert Becket Merchant and Maud his wife was born in this City in the place where now Mercers-Chappel is erected I have Reader been so prodigal in the large description of his life in my Ecclesiastical History that I have no new observable left to present you with Onely when I consider of the multitude of vows made by superstitious Pilgrims to his Sbrine where the stones were hallowed with their bended knees I much admire at their Will-worship no vowes appearing in Scripture but what were made to God alone And therefore most impudent is the attempt of those Papists tampering to corrupt Holy Writ in favour of such vowes reading in the Vulgar Latine Prov. 20. 25. Ruina est homini devotare Sanctos post vota retractare Instead of Ruina est homini devorare Sancta post vota retractare It is a snare to a man who often maketh vowes to Saints and after vowes retracteth them It is a snare to a man who devoureth that which is holy and after vowes to make enquiry This Becket was slain as is notoriously known on Innocents-day in his own Church of Canterbury 1170. Martyrs WILLIAM SAUTRE alià s Chatris Parish-Priest of the Church of St. Osiths London was the first Englishman that was put to death by fire for maintaining the opinions of Wicliffe In the Primitive times pardon Reader no impertinent digression such the lenity and tendernesse of the Fathers of the Church towards Hereticks that contenting themselves with condemning their blasphemous opinions they proceeded to no penalty on their persons Yea in after ages when the Christian Emperour would have punisht the furious Donatists with a pecunlary mulct the Holy men of those times so earnestly interceded as to procure the remission And St. Augustine himself who was most zealous in his writing against those Donatists professeth he had rather be himself slain by them than by detecting them be
any cause they should undergoe the punishment of death Whereas henceforward in England many were brought to the fire by the Bishops and others of the Clergy whose opinions were neither so blasphemous nor deportment so inhumane as ancient Hereticks I confesse not onely simple heresie was charged on this Sautre but also a relapse thereinto after abjuration in which case such is the charity of the Canon-Law that such a person is seculari judicio sine ulla penitus audientia relinquendus not affording any audience to one relapsed though he should revoke his opinions Quite contrary to the charitable Judgement of St. Chrysostome who sticked not to say ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã If thou fall a thousand times and repent thee of thy folly come boldly into the Church There is some difference amongst Authors about the legal proceedings against this Sautre by what power he was condemned to dye Walsingham will have him die during the sitting of the Parliament secundo Henrici quarti by vertue of the Law then made against Hereticks Others will have him put to death not by any Statute-Law then made but as convicted in a Provincial Councel of the Archbishop of Canterbury The latter seemeth most true because the Writ De Haeretico comburendo sent down by the advice of the Lords Temporal to the Mayor of London to cause his execution bare date the 26 of February whereas it was ordered in that Parliament that the penal Statutes made therein should not take effect till after VVhitsontide But by what power soever it was done poor Sautre was burnt in Smithfield about the 28 of February 1400. One criticisme of cruelty and hypocrisie is most remarkable The close of the Archbishops sentence of degradation when Sautre was committed over to the Secular Court endeth with this expression Beseeching the Court aforesaid that they will receive favourably the said William unto them thus recommitted We are much beholding to Baronius for the better understanding this passage informing us that it was ever fashionable with their Clergy to this day that when they consigne an Heretick over to the Secular for execution they effectually intercede that he may not be punished with death For it appeareth in Prosper that 4 Bishops were excommunicated An. 392. for being accusers of Priscilian the first Heretick who was confuted with steel that age conceiving all tendency to cruelty utterly inconsistent with Clerical profession And hence it was thinks the aforesaid Baronius that this custome was taken up of the Clergie's mock-mercy in their dissembled mediation for condemned Hereticks I say dissembled for if the Lay having them in his power shall defer the doing of it more than ordinary it is the constant tenet of the Canonists relying on a Bull of Alexander the 4th 1260. he is to be compell'd unto it by spiritual censures We have been the larger upon this Sautre's death because he was the English Protestant pardon the Prolepsis Proto-martyr But every son must not look to be an heir we will be shorter on the rest in this City contenting our selves with their bare names except some extraordinary matter present it self to our observation JOHN BADBY was an Artificer in Black Friars in London condemned and burned in Smithfield about 1401. Henry Prince of VVales afterwards King Henry the 5th happened to be present at his execution who not onely promised him pardon on his recantation but also a stipend out of the Kings Treasury sufficient for his support all which Badby refused He was put into an empty Tun a ceremony of cruelty peculiar to him alone and the fire put therein At the first feeling thereof he cryed Mercy Mercy begging it of the God of heaven which Noble Prince Henry mistook for a kind of Revocation of his Opinions and presently caused the fire round about him to be quenched renewing his promises unto him with advantage which Badby refused the second time and was Martyred But Reader I will engage no deeper in this copious subject lest I lose my self in the Labyrinth thereof * Joseph left off to Number the Corn in Egypt for it was without number the cause alone of my desisting in this subject Yea Bloudy Bonner had murdered many more had not that Hydropical Humor which quenched the life of Queen Mary extinguished also the Fires in Smithfield Prelates Here in this City we are at a greater losse as to this Topick than in any Shire in England for in vain it is for any man to name himself Thomas of London John of London c. such Sirnames not reaching their end nor attaining their intention viz. ãâã diversifie the Person the laxity of so populous a place leaving them as unspecified as it found them We therefore have cause to believe that many Clergy-men both Bishops and Writers born in this City did not follow suit with others of their Coat to be named from the Place of their Nativity but from their Fathers the Reason why we can give so slender an account of them as followeth SIMON OF GAUNT was born in this City his Mother being an English Woman his Father a Flemming and being bred in good literature became so famous that by King Edward the first he was preferred Bishop of Salisbury 1298. He gave the first leave to the Citizens thereof to fortifie that place with a deed Ditch partly remaining and a strong wall wholly demolished at this day Now seeing good Laws are the best walls of any foundation no lesse was his care for the Church than City of Salisbury making good Statutes whereby it was ordered even unto our age He dyed about the year 1315. JOHN KITE was born in London bred in Oxford sent Embassadour into Spain made a Grecian titulary Arch bishop receiving thence as much profit as men shear wool from hogs and at last the real Bishop of Carlisle yet is his Epitaph in the Church of Stepney neither good English Latine Spanish or Greek but a barbarous confusion as followeth Under this Stone closyd marmorate Lveth John ãâã Londoner naciste Encreasing invirtues rose to hyghestate In the fourth Edwards chappel by his yong life Sith which the Seuinth Henries service primatife Proceeding still in virtuous efficase To be in favour with this our Kings grase With Witt endewyed chosen to be Legate Sent into Spain where he right joyfully Combined both Princes in pease most amate In Grece Archbishop elected worthely And last of Carlyel ruling postorally Kepyng nobyl houshold with great hospitality On thousand fyve hundred thirty and seuyn Inuyterate with carys consumed with Age The nineteeth of Jun reckonyd full euyn Passed to Heauyn from worldly Pylgramage Of whose Soul good peopul of Cherite Prey as ye wold be preyd for for thus must you lye Ieââ¦u mercy Lady help These if made 300 years ago had been excusable but such midnight verses are abominable made as it appears in the dawning of good learning and pure language Yet
I remember are buryed in Lichfield and not in the Vault under the Church of Drayton in Middlesex where the rest of that Family I cannot say lye as whose Coffins are erected but are very compleatly reposed in a peculiar posture which I meet not with elsewhere the horrour of a Vault being much abated with the Lightnesse and Sweetnesse thereof THOMAS WENTVVORTH was born his Mother coming casually to London in Chancery Lane in the Parish of St. Dunstans in the West Yet no reason Yorkshire should be deprived of the honour of him whose Ancestors long flourished in great esteem at VVent-worth-VVoodhouse in that County He was bred in St. Iohns Colledge in Cambridge and afterwards became a Champion Patriot on all occasions He might seem to have a casting voice in the House of Commons for where he was pleased to dispose his Yea or Nay there went the affirmative or negative It was not long before the Court gained him from the Country and then Honours and Offices were heaped on him created Baron and Viscount Wentworth Earl of Strafford and Lord Deputy of Ireland When he went over into Ireland all will confesse he laid down to himself this noble foundation vigorously to endevour the Reduction of the Irish to perfect obedience to the King and profit to the Exchequer But many do deny the Superstructure which he built thereon was done by legal line and Plummet A Parliament was called in England and many Crimes were by prime persons of England Scotland and Ireland charged upon him He fenced skilfully for his Life and his Grand-guard was this that though confessing some Misdemeanors all proved against him amounted not to Treason And indeed Number cannot create a new kind so that many Trespasses cannot make a Riot many Riots one Treason no more then many Frogs can make one Toad But here the Dââ¦stinction of Acumulative and Constructive Treason was coyned and caused his Destruction Yet his Adversaries politickly brake off the Edge of the Axe which cut off his head by providing his Condemnation should not passe into Precedent to Posterity so that his Death was remarkable but not exemplary Happy had it been if as it made no Precedent on Earth so no Remembrance thereof had been kept in Heaven Some hours before his Suffering he fell fast asleep alledged by his friends as an Evidence of the Clearnesse of his Conscience and hardly to be parallel'd save in St. Peter in a dead sleep the Night before he was to dye condemned by Herod His death happened 1641. He hath an eternal Monument in the matchlesse Meditations of King Charles the First and an everlasting Epitaph in that weighty Character * there given him I looked upon my Lord of Strafford as a Gentleman whose abilites might make a Prince rather afraid than ashamed in the greatest Affairs of State c. God alone can revive the dead all that Princes can perform is to honour their Memory and Posterity as our Gracious Soveraign King Charles hath made his worthy Son Knight of the Garter LYONEL CRANFIELD Son to Randal Cranfield Citizen and Martha his Wife Daughter to the Lady Dennis of Gloucester-shire who by her will which I have perused bequeathed a fair estate unto her was born in Bassing-hall street and bred a Merchant much conversant in the Custome-House He may be said to have been his own Tutor and his own University King Iames being highly affected with the clear brief strong yea and profitable sense he spake preferred him Lord Treasurer 1621. Baron of Cranfield and Earl of Middlesex Under him it began to be young flood in the Exchequer wherein there was a very low Ebb when he entred on that Office and he possessed his Treasurers place some four years till he fell into the Duke of Bucks the best of Friends and worst of Foes displeasure Some say this Lord who rose cheifly by the Duke whose near Kinswoman he married endevoured to stand without yea in some cases for the Kings profit against him which Independency and opposition that Duke would not endure Flaws may soon be found and easily be made Breaches in great Officers who being active in many cannot be exact in all matters However this Lord by losing his Office saved himself departing from his Treasurers place which in that age was hard to keep Insomuch that one asking what was good to preserve Life was answered Get to be Lord Treasurer of England for they never do dye in their place which indeed was true for four Successions Retiring to his magnificent House at Copt-hall he there enjoyed himself contentedly entertained his friends bountifully neighbours hospitably poor charitably He was a proper person of comely presence chearful yet grave countenance and surely a solid and wise man And though their Soul be the fattest who only suck the sweet Milk they are the healthfullest who to use the Latine Phrase have tasted of both the Breasts of fortune He dyed as I collect anno 1644 and lyeth interred in a stately Monument in the Abby at Westminster Writers on the Law FLETA or FLEET We have spoken formerly of the Fleet as a Prison but here it importeth a person disguised under that name who it seems being committed to the Fleet therein wrote a Book of the Common Laws of England and other Antiquities There is some difference concerning the Time when this Learned Book of Fleta was set forth but it may be demonstrated done before the fourteenth of the Reign of King Edward the Third for he saith that it is no Murder except it be proved that the Party slain was English and no Stranger whereas this was altered in the fourteenth year of the said King when the killing of any though a Forreigner living under the Kings protection out of prepensed Malice was made Murder He seemeth to have lived about the End of King Edward the Second and beginning of King Edward the Third Seeing in that Juncture of Time two Kings in effect were in being the Father in right the Son in might a small contempt might cause a confinement to that place and as Loyal ubjects be within it as without it Sure it is that notwithstanding the confinement of the Author his Book hath had a good passage and is reputed Law to posterity CHRISTOPHER St. GERMAN Reader wipe thine eyes and let mine smart if thou readest not what richly deserves thine observation seeing he was a person remarkable for his Gentility Piety Chastity Charity Ability Industry and Vivacity 1. Gentility descended from a right ancient Family born as I have cause to believe in London and bred in the Inner Temple in the Study of our Laws 2. Piety he carried Saint in his nature as well as in his Surname constantly reading and expounding every night to his Family a Chapter in the Bible 3. Chastity living and dying unmarried without the least spot on his Reputation 4. Charity giving consilia and auxilia to all his People gratis
whence I conclude him an obscure person and this Lady rather married then match'd such the distance betwixt their degrees Probably this Cecily consulting her comfort more then her credit did it of design so to be beneath the jealousie of King Henry the seventh She left no children and the date of her death is uncertain CHARLES the second son to King Charles the first of Blessed Memory and Mary youngest daughter to Henry the fourth King of France was born at Saint James's May 29. 1630. Great was the general rejoycing thereat The University of Oxford congratulated his birth with printed Poems and it was taken ill though causelesly by some that Cambridge did not do the like for then the Wits of the University were sadly distracted into several Counties by reason of the plague therein And I remember Cambridge modestly excused herself in their Poem made the year after at the birth of the Lady Mary and it will not be amiss to insert and translate one Tetrastick made by my worthy friend Quod fuit ad nixus Academia muta priores ãâã ãâã Carolus aegra fuit Spe veniente novâ si tunc tacuisset amores Non tantùm morbo digna sed illa mori Prince Charles forgive me that my silent quill Joy'd not thy birth alas sore sick was I. New hopes now come had I been silent still I should deserve both to be sick and die His birth was accompanied with two notable accidents in the heavens The star Venus was visible all day long as sometime it falls out neer her greatest Elongation And two dayâ⦠after there was an Ecclipse of the Sun about eleven digits observed by the greatest Mathematicians And now Reader give me leave to be silent my self and present thee with the expressions of a most ingenious Gentleman To behold this babe heaven it self seemed to open one Eye more then ordinary Such Asterisks and Celelestial Signatures affixt to times so remarkable as this usually are ãâã prophetically hinting and pointing out somewhat future of eminent contingency Yea such have since been the occurrences in the life of this pious Prince that rightly considered they will appear not onely eminent above the common standard of actions but full of miracle and amazement He was on the 1. of January 1650. at Scoon Crowned King of Scotland Being before invaded by an Army under the conduct of O. C. Soon after quitting that Kingdome he marched for England and on the 3. of September 1651. nigh Worcester was fought and lost the day though he to use my Authors expression acted beyond the expectation of his friends and to the great applause of his very enemies Narrow search was made after his person yea a thousand pounds a bait his politique enemies made sure would have been bit at promised to such who should betray him Yet God whose Angels â⦠were his Life-guard miraculously preserving him out of the hands of his enemies he safely passed over into France to the Queen his mother During his continuance beyond the Seas great were the proffers tendered unto him if forsaking the Protestant Religion but alas as soon might the impotent waves remove the most sturdy rocks as they once unfix him such his constancy whom neither the frowns of his afflictions nor smiles of secular advantages could make to warp from his first principles At length his piety and Patience were rewarded by God with a happy restitution to his undoubted Dominions and he after a long and tedious exile landed at Dover May 25. 1660. to the great joy of his three Kingdomes A Prince whose vertues I should injure if endeavouring their contraction within so narrow a scantling And yet I cannot pass over that wherein he so much resembleth the King of Heaven whose Vicegerent he is I mean his merciful disposition doing good unto those who spightfully used and persecuted him And now it is my hearty prayer that God who appeared so wonderful in his Restauration would continue still Gracious to us in his Preservation confounding the plots of his adversaries that upon him and his posterity the Crown may flourish forever MARY eldest daughter of King Charles the first and Queen Mary was born at Saint James's November 4. 1631. When her royal father out of his paternal love began to cast about for a fitting confort this Peerless Princess though tender in years rich in piety and wisdome made it her humble request she might be match'd as well in her religion as affection which happened answerable to her desires For not long after a marriage treated betwixt her and Count William of Nassau eldest son to Henry Prince of Orange was concluded and this royal pair wedded accordingly May 2. 1641. The February following having at Dover taken her leave of the King her Father the last time she ever saw him on earth she embarked for and within few days landed in Holland His Majesties affairs in England daily growing worse and worse at length the sad news of his horrid murder arrived at her eares this was seconded with the loss of her husband the Prince of Orange who deceased October 8. 1650. Yet such her signal patience that she underwent the weight of so many heavy afflictions sufficient to break the back of a mean Christian with a courage far surpassing the weakness of her sex But amidst these her calamities God was pleased to remember mercy blessing her the November ensuing with a hopeful son The complexion of the times being altered in England she came over to congratulate the happiness of her Brother his miraculous restitution When behold sickness arrests this royal Princess no bail being found by physick to defer the execution of her death which happened 1660. On the 31. of December following she was honourably though privately interred at Westminster in the Chappel of King Henry the seventh and no eye so dry but willingly afforded a tear to bemoan the loss of so worthy a Princess JAMES third son of King Charles and Queen Mary October was 13. 1633. born at Saint James's He was commonly stiled Duke of York though not solemnly created until January 27. 1643. At the rendition of Oxford he was taken Prisoner and some two years after through the assistance of one Colonel Bamfield made his escape landing safe in Holland Hence he went for France where he so prudently deported himself that he soon gained the favour and honour of the whole Court Yea such was this Princes valour and prowess that before arrived at the age of one and twenty years he was made Leiutenant General of the Forces of the King of France a thing which sounds highly to the esteem of this Duke being a sufficient argument as well of his Policy as Magnanimity seeing a wise head is equally required warily to consult as a stout heart resolutely to act for the due performance of that office This trust he discharged to the admiration of all atchieving so many Noble and Heroick exploits which rendred
WILLIAM CATESBYE was born in this County where his family long flourished at Asby Saint Leger He was first advanced by VVilliam Lord Hastinges by whose countenance he came to the notice then favour of Richard the third though ill requiting it when betraying him who caused his preferment Take his character transcribing in this kind is safer then inditing from an Author above exception This Catesbye was a man well learned in the Laws of this Land and surely great pity it was that he had not had more truth or less wit If any object that being neither Lord Chief-Justice Chief-Baron nor any VVriter on the Law He falleth not under my Pen by the Charter of Method prefixed to this Catalogue know that though formerly none he was eminently all Officers in every Court of Judicature all the Judges shaking at his displeasure Witness the Libel which Collingborn made and which cost him his life for the same The Rat and the Cat and Lovel the Dog Do govern all England under the Hog The time of his death is uncertain but because we find him not molested in the raign of King Henry the seventh which had he survived surely had happened it is probable he died before his Patron and Preferrer King Richard the third Sir RICHARD EMPSON It is pity to part them seeing Empson may be called the Catesbye to King Henry the seventh as Catesbye the Empson to King Richard the third both Country-men eminent for having odious for abusing their skill in Law active for the Prince injurious to the people This Sir Richard was Chancellour of the Dutchy of Lancaster and from a Sieve-makers son at Towceter in this County where he was born came to sift the estates of the most wealthy men in England For King Henry the seventh vexed that he had refused Columbus his profer whereby the VVest-Indies being found out fortunately fell to Ferdinand King of Spain resolved to discover Indies in England and to this purpose made Empson Promotor General to press the Penal-Statutes all over the land Impowred hereby this prolling Knight did grind the faces of rich and poor bringing the grist thereof to the King and keeping the toll thereof to himself whereby he advanced a vast estate which now with his name is reduced to nothing He united the two houses of York and Lancaster in the Kings Coffers taking no notice of parties or persons for their former good service but making all equally obnoxious to fines and forfeitures But in the beginning of the reign of King Henry the eight he was arraigned condemed and beheaded August the 17. 1510. Say not that Princes if sacrificing their Ministers to popular fury will want persons faithfully to serve them seeing such exemplary justice will rather fright Officers from false disserving them for in fine no real profit can redoun to the Soveraign which resulteth from the ruine of his Subjects I must not forget how there was an old man in VVarwickshire accounted very judicious in Judicial Astrology of whom Sir Richard Empson then in his prime did scoffingly demand VVhen the Sun would Change to whom the old man replyed Even when such a wicked Lawyer as you go to Heaven But we leave him to stand and fall to his own Master and proceed EDWARD MONTAGUE son of Thomas Montague born at Brigstocke in this County was bred in the Inner-Temple in the study of the Laws until his ability and integrity advanced him Lord Chief Justice of the Kings-Bench in the thirtieth of Henry the eight He gave for his Motto Equitas Justiae Norma And although equity seemeth rather to resent of the Chancery then the Kings-Bench yet the best justice will be worm-wood without a mixture thereof In his Times though the golden showers of Abby-lands rained amongst great men it was long before he would open his lap scrupling the acception of such gifts and at last received but little in proportion to others of that age In the thirty seventh of King Henry the eight he was made Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas a descent in honor but ascent in profit it being given to old age rather to be thrifty then ambitious In drawing up the Will of King Edward the sixt and setling the Crown on the Lady Jane for a time he swam against the tide and torrent of Duke Dudley till at last he was carried away with the stream as in our Church History is largely related Outed of his Judges Office in the first of Queen Mary he returned into Northamptonshire and what contentment he could not find in VVestminster-hall his Hospital-hall at Boughton afforded unto him He died Anno 1556. and lieth buried in the Parish-Church of VVeekely Sir AUGUSTIN NICOLLS Son to Thomas Nicolls Serjeant at Law was born at Eckton in this County Now though according to the rigor of our Fundamental Premises he cometh not within our Cognizance under this Title yet his merit will justifie us in presenting his Character He was bred in the study of the Common-law wherein he attained to such knowledge that Queen Elizabeth made him a King James his own Serjeant whence he was freely preferred one of the Judges of the Common-Pleas I say freely King James commonly calling him the Judge that would give no money Not to speak of his moral qualifications and subordinate abilities He was renowned for his special Judiciary Endowments Patience to hear both parties all they could say a happy memory a singular sagacity to search into the material circumstances exemplary integrity even to the rejection of gratuities after judgment given His forbearing to travail on the Lords day wrought a reformation on some of his own Order He loved plain and profitable Preaching being wont to say I know not what you call Puritanical Sermons but they come neerest to my Conscience The speech of Caesar is commonly known Oportet Imperatorem stantem mori which Bishop Jewell altered and applyed to himself Decet Episcopum concionanteÌ mori of this man it may be said Judex mortuus est jura dans dying in his calling as he went the Northern Circuit and hath a fair Monument in Kendall-church in Westmerland Sir ROBERT DALLINGTON Knight was born at Geddington in this County bred a Bible-clerk as I justly collect in Bennet-colledge and after became a School-master in Northfolk Here having gained some money he travailed over all France and Italy being exact in his observations and was after his return Secretary to Francis Earl of Rutland He had an excellent wit and judgement witness his most acurate Aporismes on Tacitus At last he was Knighted and preferred Master of the Charter-house where the School-master at his first entering wellcomed him with a Speech in Latine verse spoken by a School-boy but sure he was more then a Boy who indited it It is hard to say whether Sir Robert was more pleased or displeased with the last Distick therein Partem oneris vestri minimaÌ ne despice curam Nec Pueros
Lavale m. ut prius  7 Edw. Talbot ar ut prius  8 Joh. de Lavale ar ut prius  9 Rad. Grey mil. ut prius  10 Claud. Foster ar ut prius  11 Rad. Seldy mil.   12 Joh. Clavering m.  Quarterly Or and Gul. a Bend S. 13 Hen. Anderson m.   14 Will. Selby mil.   15 Rob. Brandlinge   16 Tho. Midleton ar   17 Joh. Fenwicke m. ut prius  18 Mat. Foster ar ut prius  19 Rad. de Lavale m. ut prius  20 Will. Muschampe ut prius  21 Joh. Clavering m. ut prius  22 Joh. de Lavale m.  Ermine 2 Bars Vert. CAR. REG.   Anno   1 Cutb. Heron ar   2 Fran. Bradling ar   3   4 Tho. Swinborn m. duobus Tumid   5   6 Rob. Bradling ar   7 Nic. Towneley ar   8 Nich. Tempest m. ut prius  9 Tho. Midleton ar   10   11 Will. Carniby m.   12 Will. WitheringtoÌ Â Quarterlr Arg. Gul. a Bend S. 13 Rob. Bewick ar   14   15   16 Ingratum bello   17 debemus Inane   18   19   20   21   22   The Reader is sensible of more blanks and interruptions in these Sheriffs then in any other Catalogue whereof this reason may be assigned because the Sheriffs of Northumberland never accompted to the Kings Majesty in his Exchequer from which accompts the most perfect List is made until the third year of King Edward the sixth Yea they assumed such liberty to themselves as to siese the issues and profits of their Baylwick and convert them to their own use with all other Debts Fines and Amercements within the said County and all Emoluments accrueing from Alienations Intrusions Wards Marriages Reliefs and the like This though it tended much unto the detriment and loss of the Crown was for many years connived at chiefly to incourage the Sheriffs in their dangerous office who in effect lay constant Perdues against the neighbouring Scots But after that their care was much lessened by setling the Lord-Wardens of the Marches it was inacted in the third of King Edward the ââ¦ixth that the Sheriffs of Northumberland should be accountable for their office as others in the Exchequer Queen ELIZABETH 19 FRANCIS RUSSELL Mil. He was son to Francis and father to Edward Earl of Bedford He married Julian daughter whom Mills calls Elionar and makes her co-heir to Sir John Foster aforesaid which occasioned his residence in these parts It happened on a Truce-day June 27. 1585. that the English meant to treat whilst the Scots meant to fight being three thousand to three hundred Now though it was agreed betwixt them to use the words of the Limitary-laws that they should not hurt each other with word deed or look they fell on the English in which tumult this worthy Knight lost his life And because seldome single funerals happen in great Families his Father died the same week in the South of England The Farewell Being now to take our leave of Northnmberland I remember what I have read of Sir Robert Umfrevile a native of this County how he was commonly called Robin Mendmarket so much he improved trading hereabouts in the reign of King Henry the fonrth It will not be amiss to wish this County more Mendmarkets that the general complaint of the decay of traffick may be removed I confess the Knight bettered the Markets by selling therein the plentiful plunder which he had taken from the Scots but I desire it done by some ingenious and not injurious design that none may have just cause to complain NOTTINGHAM-SHIRE NOTTINGHAM-SHIRE hath York-shire on the North Lincolnshire on the East Leicester-shire on the South and Derby shire on the West Nor can I call to mind any County besides this bounded with four and but four Shires and those towards the four cardinal points without any parcels of other Shires interposed The pleasantness thereof may be collected from the plenty of Noble-men many having their Barronies and more their Residence therein It is divided into two parts the Sand and the Clay which so supply the defects one of another that what either Half doth afford the whole County doth enjoy Natural Commodities Glycyrize or Liquoris England affordeth hereof the best in the world for some uses this County the first and best in England Great the use thereof in Physick it being found very pectoral and soveraign for several diseases A stick hereof is commonly the spoon prescribed to Patients to use in any Lingences or Loaches If as Aeneas his men were forced to eat their own Trenchers these chance to eat their Spoons their danger is none at all But Liquoris formerly dear and scarce is now grown cheap and common because growing in all Counties Thus plenty will make the most precious thing a drug as silver was nothing respected in Jerusalem in the dayes of Solomon Wonders We must not forget how two Ayres of Lannards were lately found in Sherwood Forrest These Hawks are the natives of Saxony and it seems being old and past flying at the game were let or did set themselves loose where meeting with Lanerets enlarged on the same terms they did breed together and proved as excellent in their kind when managed as any which were brought out of Germany Proverbs Many talk of Robin Hood who never shot in his Bow That is many discourse or prate rather of matters wherein they have no skill or experience This Proverb is now extended all over England though originally of Nottingham-shire extraction where Robin Hood did principally reside in Sherwood Forrest He was an Arch robber and withall an excellent Archer though surely the Poet gives a twang to the loose of his Arrow making him shoot one a cloth-yard long at full forty score mark for compass never higher than the breast and within less than a foot of the mark But herein our Author hath verified the Proverb talking at large of Robin Hood in whose Bow he never shot One may justly wonder that this Archer did not at last hit the mark I mean come to the Gallows for his many robberies but see more hereof in the Memorable Persons of this County To sââ¦ll Robin Hoods penny-worths It is spoken of things sold under half their value or if you will half sold half given Robin Hood came lightly by his ware and lightly parted therewith so that he could afford the length of his Bow for a yard of Velvet Whithersoever he came he carried a Fair along with him Chapmen crowding to buy his stollen Commodities But seeing The receiver is as bad as the thief and such buyers are as bad as receivers the cheap Penny-worths of plundered goods may in fine prove dear enough to
in Sussex thence removed into this County I find this remarkable passage recorded of Henry de Perpoint who flourished in those parts in the beginning of King Edward the First Claus. 8 Edvardi 1. membrana tertia in dorso in Tur. Londin Memorandum quod Henricus de ãâã die Lunae in ãâã Octab. Sancti Michaelis venit in ãâã apud Lincolââ¦iam publicè dixit quod sigillum suum amisit protestabatur quod si aliquod instrumentum cum sigillo illo post tempus illud inveniretur consignatum illud nullius esse valoris vel momenti Memorand That Henry de ãâã on Munday the day after the Octaves of St. Michael came into the Chancery at Lincoln and said publickly that he had lost his Seal and protested that if any instrument were found sealed with that Seal after that time the same should be of no value or effect He appeareth a person of prime quality that great prejudice might arise by the false use of his true Seal if found by a dishonest person so that so solemn a protest was conceived necessary for the prevention thereof Robert Perpoint a Descendent from this Henry was by King Edward the third summoned as a Baron to Parliament but died as I am informed before he sate therein which hindered the honour of Peerage from descending to his posterity But this Robert Perpoint was Robert the younger in distinction from his Name-sakeAncestor who lived in great dignity under King Edward the Third as by the following Record will appear Claus. 49 Hon. 3. in dorso memb 6. Rex Priori S. Johannis Jerusalem in Anglia salutem Cum dilectus fidelis noster Robertus de Petroponte qui fidei nostrae Edwardi primogentââ¦i nostri hactenus constanter adhaesit in conflictu habito apud Lewes captus esset ab inimicis nostris detentus in prisona Hugonis le Despenser donec per septingentas marcas finem fecisset cum eodem pro ââ¦edemptione sua unde Walerandus de Munceaus se praefato Hugoni pro praedicto Roberto obligavit per quandam chartam de feoffamento scripta obligatoria inter ipsos confecta quae vobis liberata fuerant custodienda ut dicitur Nos ipsorum Roberti Walerandi indempnitatt prospicere eidem Roberto gratiam facere volentes specialem vobis mandamus firmiter injungentes quod cartas scripta praedicta eidem Roberto Walerando vel eorum alteri sine morae dispendio deliberari faciatis nos inde versus vos servabimus indempnes In cujus c. Teste Rege apud Westmonasterium 15. die Octobris The King to the Prior of St. John Jerusalem in England greeting Whereas our beloved and faithful Robert Perpoint who hitherto hath constantly adher'd to our trust and of our first born Edward was taken by our enemies in a skirmish at Lewes and kept in the prison of Hugh le Dispenser untill by seven hundred marks he had made an end with him for his ransoming whereupon Walerand of Munceaus bound himself to the forenamed Hugh for the foresaid Robert by a certain charter of feoffment and obligatory writings made betwixt them which as is said were delivered to you to be kept We willing to provide for the safety of the said Robert and Walerand and to do a special favour to the same Robert do command you firmly injoyning that ye cause the foresaid charters and writings without any delay to be delivered to the same Robert and Walerand or to one of them and we shall thenceforth save you harmless Witness the King at Westminster the 15. day of October Whoso seriously considereth how much the Mark and how little the Silver of our Land was in that Age will conclude seven hundred marks a ransom more proportionable for a Prince than private person The best was that was not paid in effect which by command from the King was restored again The Farewell There is in this County a small Market Town called Blithe which my Author will have so named à jucunditate from the mirth and good fellowship of the Inhabitants therein If so I desire that both the name and the thing may be extended all over the Shire as being confident that an Ounce of mirth with the same degree of grace will serve God more and more acceptably than a pound of sorrow OXFORD-SHIRE hath Bark-shire divided first by the Isis then by the Thames on the South Glocester-shire on the West Buckingham-shire on the East Warwick and Northampton Shires on the North. It aboundeth with all things necessary for mans life and I understand that Hunters and Falconers are no where better pleas'd Nor needeth there more pregnant proof of plenty in this place than that lately Oxford was for some years together a Court a Garrison and an University during which time it was well furnished with provisions on reasonable rates Natural Commodities Fallow Deer And why of these in Oxford shire why not rather in Northampton-shire where there be the most or in York shire where there be the greatest Parks in England It is because John Rous of Warwick telleth me that at Woodstock in this County was the most ancient Park in the whole Land encompassed with a Stone-wall by King Henry the First Let us premise a line or two concerning Parks the case before we come to wha t is contained therein 1. The word Parcus appears in Varro derivd no doubt à parcendo to spare or save for a place wherein such Cattle are preserved 2. There is mention once or twice in Dooms-day Book of Parcus silvestris bestiarum which proveth Parks in England before the Conquest 3. Probably such ancient Parks to keep J. Rous in credit and countenance were onely paled and Woodstock the first that was walled about 4. Parks are since so multiplyed that there be more in England than in all Europe besides The Deer therein when living raise the stomachs of Gentlemen with their sport and when dead allay them again with their flesh The fat of Venison is conceived to be but I would not have Deer-stealers hear it of all flesh the most vigorous nourishment especially if attended with that essential addition which Virgil coupleth therewith Implentur veteris Bacchi pinguisque ferinae Old Wine did their thirst allay fat Venison hunger But Deer are daily diminished in England since the Gentry are necessitated into thrift and forced to turn their pleasure into profit Jam seges est ubi Parcus erat and since the sale of Bucks hath become ordinary I believe in proââ¦ess of time the best stored Park will be found in a Cooks shop in London Wood. Plenty hereof doââ¦h more hath grown in this County being daily diminished And indeed the Woods therein are put to too hard a task in their daily duty viz. To find fewel and timber for all the houses in and many out of the Shire and they cannot hold out if not seasonably relieved by Pit-cole found
behold Bristol as the staple-place thereof where alone it was anciently made For though there be a place in London nigh Cheapside called Sopers-lane it was never so named from that Commodity made therein as some have supposed but from Alen le Soper the long since owner thereof Yea it is not above an hundred and fifty years by the confession of the Chronicler of that City since the first Sope was boyled in London Before which time the Land was generally supplyed with Castile from Spain and Graysope from Bristol Yea after that London medled with the making thereof Bristol-sope notwithstanding the portage was found much the cheaper Great is the necessity thereof seeing without Sope our bodies would be no better than dirt before they are turned into dust men whilst living becoming noisome to themselves and others Nor lesse its antiquity For although our modern Sope made of Pot-ashes and other ingredients was unknown to the Ancient yet had they ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã something which effectually supplied the place thereof making their Woollen clear their Linnen-Cloth cleanly Christ is compared by the Prophet to Fullers sope in Hebrew Borith which word Arias Montanus in his Interlineary Bible reteineth untranslated but in his Comment following the example of St. Hierom on the place rendreth it Herba fullonum expounding it to be Saponaria in English Sopeworth Indeed both Dodoneus and Gerardus writeth thereof This plant hath no use in Physick Yet seeing nature made nothing in vain Sopeworth cannot justly be charged as useless because purging though not the body the Clothes of a man and conducing much to the neatnesse thereof The Buildings Ratcliffe Church in this City clearly carrieth away the credit from all Parish-Churches in England It was founded by Cannings first a Merchant who afterwards bââ¦ame a Priest and most stately the ascent thereunto by many stairs which at last plentifully recompenceth their pains who climb them up with the magnificent structure both without and within If any demand the cause why this Church was not rather made the See of a Bishop then St. Augustins in this City much inferiour thereunto such may receive this reason thereof That this though an intire stately structure was not conveniently accomodated like St. Augustins formerly a great Monastery with publick Buildings about it for the Palace of a Bishop and the Reception of the Dean and Chapter However as the Town of Hague in Holland would never be Walled about as accounting it more credit to be the Biggest of Villages in Europe than but a Lesser City so Ratcliffe-Church esteemeth it a greater grace to lead the Van of all Parochial than to follow in the Rear after many Cathedral Churches in England Medicinal Waters St. Vincents Well lying West of the City under St. Vincents Rock and hard by the River is sovereign for Sores and Sicknesses to be washt in or drunk of to be either outwardly or inwardly applyed Undoubtedly the Water thereof runneth through some Mineral of Ironâ⦠as appeareth by the rusty ferruginous taste thereof which it retaineth though boiled never so much Experience proveth that Beer brewed thereof is wholesome against the Spleen and Dr. Samuel VVard afflicted with that malady and living in Sidney-Colledge was prescribed the constant drinking thereof though it was costly to bring it thorough the Severn and narrow seas to Lin and thence by the River to Cambridge But men in pain must not grudge to send far to purchase their ease and thank God if they can so procure it Proverbs Bristol Milk Though as many Elephants are fed as Cows grased within the Walls of this City yet great plenty of this Metaphorical Milk whereby Xeres or Sherry-Sack is intended Some will have it called Milk because whereas Nurses give new-born Babes in some places Pap in other water and sugar such Wine is the first moisture given Infants in this City It is also the entertainment of course which the courteous Bristolians present to all Strangers when first visiting their City Martyrs The moderation of John Holyman Bipshop of this City is much to be commended who in the reign of Queen Mary did not persecute any in his Diocess And yet we find Rich. Sharpe Tho. Benion and Tho. Hale martyred in this City whose Bloud the Inquisitor thereof will visit on the account of Dalbye the cruel Chancellour of this Dio cess Prelates RALPH of BRISTOL born in this City was bred as I have cause to conceive in the Neighbouring Covent of Glassenbury Going over into Ireland first he became Treasurer of St. Patricks in Dublin then Episcopus Darensis Bishop of Kildare He wrote the life of Lawrence Arch-Bishop of Dublin and granted saith my Author certain Indulgences to the Abbey of Glassenbury in England probably in testimony of his Gratitude for his Education therein He died Anno Dom. 1232. Since the Reformation TOBIAS MATTHEW D. D. was born in this City bred first in St. Johns then in Christ-Church in Oxford and by many mediate Preferments became Bishop of Durham and at last York But it will be safest for my Pen now to fast for fear for a Surfeit which formerly feasted so freely on the Character of this Worthy Prelate who died 1628. Sea-men No City in England London alone excepted hath in so short a Time bred more Brave and Bold Sea-men advantaged for Western Voyages by its situation They have not only been Merchants but Adventurers possessed with a Publick Spirit for the General Good Aiming not so much to return wealthier as wiser not alwayes to en-rich themselves as inform Posterity by their Discoveries Of these some have been but meerly casual when going to fish for Cod they have found a Country or some eminent Bay River or Hauen of importance unknown before Others were intentional wherein they have sown experiments with great pains cost and danger that ensuing Ages may freely reap benefit thereof Amongst these Sea-men we must not forget HUGH ELIOT a Merchant of this City who was in his Age the prime Pilot of our Nation He first with the assistance of Mr. Thorn his fellow-Citizen found out New-found-land Anno 1527. This may be called Old-found-land as senior in the cognizance of the English to Virginia and all our other Plantations Had this Discovery been as fortunate in publick Encouragement as private Industry probably before this time we had enjoyed the Kernel of those Countries whose Shell only we now possess It 's to me unknown when Eliot deceased Writers THOMAS NORTON was born in this City and if any doubt thereof let them but consult the Initial syllables in the six first and the first line in the seventh chapter of his Ordinal which put together compose Thomas Norton of Briseto A parfet Master you may him trow Thus his modesty embraced a middle way betwixt concealing and revealing his name proper for so great a Professor in Chymistry as he was that his very name must from his
Book be mysteriously extracted He was scarce twenty eight years of Age when in fourty dayes believe him for he saith so of himself he learn'd the perfection of Chymistry taught as it seems by Mr. George Ripley But what saith the Poet Non minor est virtus quà m quaerere parta tueri The spight is he complaineth that a Merchants wife of Bristol stole from him the Elixir of life Some suspect her to have been the wife of William Cannings of whom before contemporary with Norton who started up to so great and sudden Wealth the clearest evidence of their conjecture The admirers of this Art are justly impatient to hear this their great Patron traduced by the Pen of J. Pits and others by whom he is termed Nugarum opifex in frivola scientia and that he undid himself and all his friends who trusted him with their money living and dying very poor about the year 1477. JOHN SPINE I had concluded him born at Spine in Bark-shire nigh Newbury but for these diswasives 1. He lived lately under Richard the Third when the Clergy began to leave off their Local Surnames and in conformity to the Laity to be called from their Fathers 2 My Author peremptorily saith he was born in this City I suspect the name to be Latinized Spineus by Pits and that in plain English he was called Thorn an ancient Name I assure you in this City However he was a Carmelite and a Doctor of Divinity in Oxford leaving some Books of his making to posterity He died and was buried in Oxford Anno Dom. 1484. JOHN of MILVERTON Having lost the Fore I must play an After-game rather than wholely omit such a Man of Remark The matter is not much if he be who was lost in Somerset-shire where indeed he was born at Milverton be found in Bristol where he first fixed himself a Frier Carmelite Hence he went to Oxford Paris and at last had his abode in London He was Provincial General of his Order thorough England Scotland and Ireland so that his Jurisdiction was larger than King Edward the Fourth's under whom he flourished He was a great Anti-Wiââ¦liffist and Champion of his Order both by his writing and preaching He laboured to make all believe that Christ himself was a Carmelite Professor of wilful Poverty and his high commending of the Poverty of Friers tacitly condemned the Pomp of the Prelates Hereupon the Bishop of London being his Diocesan caââ¦t him into the Jaile from whom he appealed to Paul the II. and coming to Rome he was for three years ââ¦ept close in the Prison of St. Angelo It made his durance the more easie having the company of Platina the famous Papal Biographist the Neb of whose Pen had been too long in writing dangerous Truth At last he procured his Cause to be referred to Seven Cardinals who ordered his enlargement Returning home into England he lived in London in good repute I find him nominated Bishop of St. Davids but how he came to miss it is to me unknown Perchance he would not bite at the bait but whether because too fat to cloy the stomack of his mortified Soul or too lean to please the appetite of his concealed covetousness no man can decide He died and was buried in London 1486. WILLIAM GROCINE was born in this City and bred in Winchester-School Where he when a Youth became a most excellent Poet. Take one instance of many A pleasant Maid probably his Mistris however she must be so understood in a LoveFrolick pelted him with a Snow-ball whereon he extempore made this Latin Tetrastick Me nive candenti petiit mea Julia rebar Igne carere nivem nix tamen ignis erat Sola potes nostras extinguere Julia flammas Non nive non glacie sed potes ignes pari A snow-ball white at me did Julia throw Who would suppose it Fire was in that snow Julia alone can quench my hot desire But not with snow or Ice but equal fire He afterwards went over into Italy where he had Demetrius Calchondiles and Politian for his Masters And returning into England was Publick Professor of the Greek Tongue in Oxford There needs no more to be added to his Honour save that Erasmus in his Epistles often owns him pro Patrono suo praeceptore He died Anno 1520. Romish Exile Writers JOHN FOWLER was born in Bristol bred a Printer by his occupation but so Learned a Man that if the Character given him by one of his own perswasion be true he may pass for our English Robert or Henry Stephens being skilful in Latin and Greek and a good Poet Oratour and Divine He wrote an abridgment of Thomas his Summes the Translation of Osorius into English c. Being a zealous Papist he could not comport with the Reformation but conveyed himself and his Presse over to Antwerp where he was signally serviceable to the Catholick Cause in printing their Pamphlets which were sent over and sold in England He died at Namurch 1579. and lies there buried in the Church of St. John the Evangelist Benefactors to the Publick ROBERT THORN was born in this City as his ensuing Epitaph doth evidence I see it matters not what the Name be so the Nature be good I confesse Thorns came in by mans curse and our Saviour saith Do men gather Grapes of Thorns But this our Thorn God send us many Copices of them was a Blessing to our Nation and Wine and Oil may be said freely to flow from Him being bred a Merchant-Tailor in London he gave more than Four thousand four hundred fourty five pounds to pious uses A Sum sufficient therewith to build and endow a Colledge the time being well considered being towards the beginning of the reign of King Henry the Eighth I have observed some at the Church-dore cast in six pence with such ostentation that it rebounded from the Bottom and rung against both the sides of the Bason so that the same piece of Silver was the Alms and the Givers Trumpet whilst others have dropt down silent 5 shillings without any noise Our Thorn was of the second sort doing his Charity effectually but with a possible privacy Nor was this good Christian abroad worse in the Apostle-phrase than an Iââ¦del at home in not providing for his Family who gave to his poor Kindred besides Debt forgiven unto them the sum of five thousand one hundred fourty two pounds Grudge not Reader to peruse his Epitaph which though not so good as he deserved is better than most in that Age. Robertus cubat hic Thornus Mercator Honestus Qui sibi legitimas Arte paravit opes Huic vitam dederat parvo Bristolia quondam Londinum hoc tumulo clauserat ante diem Ornavit studiis patriam virtutibus auxit Gymnasium erexit sumptibus ipse suis. Lector quisquis ades requiem cineri precor ora Supplex precibus numina
flecte tuis He died a Batchelour in the fourtieth year of his Age Anno Domini 1532 and lieth buried in Saint Christophers London Since the Reformation MARY DALE better known by the name of Mary Ramsey daughter of William Dale Merchant was born in this City She became afterward second Wife to Sir Thomas Ramsey Grocer and Lord Major of London Anno 1577 and surviving him was thereby possessed of a great Estate and made good use thereof She founded two Fellowships and Scholarships in Peter-House in Cambridge and profered much more if on her terms it might have been accepted For most certain it is that she would have setled on that House Lands to the value of five hundred pounds per annum and upwards on condition that it should be called the Colledge of Peter and Mary This Doctor Soams then Master of the House refused affirming that Peter who so long lived single was now too old to have a Feminine Partner A dear jest to loose so good a Benefactres This not succeeding the stream of her Charity was not peevishly dried up with those who in matters of this nature will do nothing when they cannot do what they would do But found other channels there in to derive it self She died Anno Dom. 1596 and lieth buried in Christs-Church in London THOMAS WHITE D. D. was born in this City and bred in Oxford He was afterwards related to Sir Henry Sidney Lord Deputy of Ireland whose Funeral Sermon he made being accounted a good Preacher in the reign of Queen Elizabeth Indeed he was accused for being a great Pluralist though I cannot learn that at once he had more than one Cure of Soules the rest being Dignities As false is the Aspersion of his being a great Vsurer but one Bond being found by his Executors amongst his Writings of one thousand pounds which he lent gratis for many years to the Company of Merchant-Tailors whereof he was Free the rest of his Estate being in Land and ready money Besides other Benefactions to Christ-Church and a Lecture in St. Pauls London he left three thousand pounds for the Building of Sion Colledge to be a Ramah for the Sons of the Prophets in London He built there also a fair Alms-house for Twenty poor Folk allowing them yearly six pounds a piece And another at Bristol which as I am informed is better endowed Now as Camillus was counted a second Romulus for enlarging and beautifying the City of Rome So Mr. John Simpson Minister of St. Olaves Hart-street London may be said a second White for perfecting the aforesaid Colledge of Sion building the Gate-house with a fair Case for the Library and endowing it with Threescore pounds per annum Dr. Thomas White died Anno Dom. 1623. Lord Majors Name Father Company Time John Aderley John Aderly Ironmonger 1442 Thomas Canning John Canning Grocer 1456 John Young Thomas Young Grocer 1466 The Farewel I am credibly informed that one Mr. Richard Grigson Cittizen hath expendeth a great Sum of money in new casting of the Bells of Christ-Church adding tunable Chymes unto them Surely he is the same person whom I find in the printed List of Compounders to have paid One hundred and sive pounds for his repuetd Delinquency in our Civil Wars and am glad to see one of his perswasion so lately purified in Goldsmiths-Hall able to go to the Cost of so chargeable a Work I wish Bristol may have many more to follow his Example though perchance in this our suspicious Age it will be conceived a more discreet and seasonable desire not to wish the increase but the continuance of our Bells and that though not taught the descant of Chymes they may retein their plain song for that publick use to which they were piously intended STAFFORD-SHIRE hath Cheshire on the North-West Darby-shire on the East and North-East Warwick and Worcester-shires on the South and Shrop-shire on the West It lieth from North to South in form of a Lozenge bearing fourty in the length from the points thereof whilst the breadth in the middle exceeds not twenty six miles A most pleasant County For though there be a place therein still called Sinai-park about a mile from Burton at first so named by the Abbot of Burton because a vast rough hillie ground like the Wilderness of Sinai in Arabia yet this as a small Mole serves for a soil to set off the fair face of the County the better Yea this County hath much beauty in the very solitude thereof witness Beau-Desert or the Fair Wildernesse being the beautiful Barony of the Lord Paget And if their Deserts have so rare Devises Pray then how pleasant are their Paradises Indeed most fruitful are the Parts of this Shire above the Banks of Dove Butchers being necessitated presently to kill the Cattle fatted thereupon as certainly knowing that they will fall in their flesh if removed to any other Pasture because they cannot but change to their loss Natural Commodities The best Alabaster in England know Reader I have consulted with Curious Artists in this kind is found about Castle-Hay in this County It is but one degree beneath White Marble only more soft and brittle However if it lye dry fenced from weather and may be let alone long the during thereof Witness the late Statue of John of Gaunt in Pauls and many Monuments made thereof in Westminster remaining without breck or blemish to this day I confess Italy affords finer Alabaster whereof those Imagilets wrought at Ligorn are made which indeed Apes Ivory in the whiteness and smoothness thereof But such Alabaster is found in small Bunches and little proportions it riseth not to use the Language of Work-men in great Blocks as our English doth What use there is of Alabaster Calcined in Physick belongs not to me to dispute Only I will observe that it is very Cool the main reason why Mary put her ointment so precious into an Alabaster Box because it preserved the same from being dried up to which such Liquors in hot Countries were very subject Manufactures Nailes These are the Accommodators general to unite Solid Bodies and to make them to be continuous Yea coin of gold and silver may be better spared in a Common-wealth than Nailes For Commerce may be managed without mony by exchance of Commodities whereas hard bodies cannot be joyned together so fast and fast so soon and soundly without the mediation of Nailes Such their service for Firmness and expedition that Iron Nailes will fasten more in an hour than Wooden Pins in a day because the latter must have their way made whilst the former make way for themselves Indeed there is a fair House on London Bridge commonly called None-such which is reported to be made without either Nailes or Pins with crooked Tennons fastened with wedges and other as I may term them circumferential devices This though it was no labour in vain because at last attaining the intended end yet was it no better than
heirs the Patent whereof is extant in the Tower and exemplified in my Author He appears to me no more than a plain Knight or a Knight Batchelour But were it in the power of my Pen to create a Banneret he should for the Reason premised have that Honour affixed to his Memory who as we conjecture died about the middle of the reign of King Henry the Sixth JOHN DUDLEY Duke of Northumberland where born uncertain was son to Edward Dudley Esq. of whom hereafter and would willingly be reputed of this County a Descendent from the Lord Dudley therein whose memory we will gratifie so far as to believe it He lived long under King Henry the Eighth who much favoured him and the Servant much resembled his Master in the equal contemperament of Vertue and Vices so evenly matched that it is hard to say which got the Mastery in either of them This John was proper in person comely in carriage wise in advising valiant in adventuring and generally till his last project prosperous in success But he was also notoriously wanton intollerably ambitious a constant dissembler prodigeously profuse so that he had sunk his Estate had it not met with a seasonable support of Abbey Land he being one of those who well warmed himself with the chipps which fell from the felling of Monasteriââ¦s King Henry the 8th first Knighted then created him Vicount Lisle Earle of Warwick and Duke of Norââ¦humberland And under Queen Mary he made himself almost King of England though not in Title in power by contriving the settling of the Crown on Queen Jane his daughââ¦er in Law till successe failed him therein And no wonder if that design missed the mark which besides many rubbs it met with at hand was thrown against the general bias of English affection For this his treasonable practises he was executed in the First of Queen Mary much bemoaned by some Martial men whom he had formerly indeared in his good service in the French and Scotish Wars He left two sons who survived to great Honour Ambrose Earl of Warwick heir to all that was good and Robert Earl of Leicester heir to all that was great in their Father The BAGNOLS Something must be premised of their Name and extraction The Bagenhalts commonly called Bagnols were formerly a Family of such remark in this County that before the reign of King Henry the Eighth there scarce passed an Ancient piece of evidence which is not attested by one of that Name But see the uncertainty of all humane things it afterwards sunck down to use my Authours language into a Plebean Condition But the sparks of their gentle Bloud though covered for a time under a mean estate have since blazed again with their own worth and valour when Ralph and Nicholas sons to John Bagnol of Newcastle in this County were both Knighted for their good service the one in Mustle-Borough fight the otherin Ireland Yea as if their courage had been hereditary Their sons Samuel and Henry were for their Martial merit advanced to the same degree Sea-men WILLIAM MINORS Reader I remember how in the Case of the Ship-money the Judges delivered it for Law that England being an Island the very Middle-land-Shires therein are all to be accounted as Maritime Sure I am the Genius even of Land-lock-Counties acteth the Natives with a Maritime dexterity The English generally may be resembled to Ducklings which though hatched under a Hen yet naturally delight to dabble in the Water I mean though born and bred in In-Land places where neither their Infancy nor Childhood ever beheld Ship or Boat yet have they a great Inclinatioâ⦠and Aptnesse to Sea-service And the present subject of our Pen is a pregnant proof thereof This William son to Richard Minors Gent. of Hallenbury-Hall was born at Uttoxater in this County who afterwads coming to London became so prosperous a Mariner that he hath safely returned eleven times from the East-Iudies whereas in the dayes of our GrandFathers such as came thence twice were beheld as Rarities thrice as Wonders four times as Miracles Much herein under Divine Providence is to be attributed to the Make of our English Ships now built more advantageous for sailing than in former Ages Besides the oftner they go the nearer they shape their Course use being the mother of Perfectnesse Yet whilst others wonder at his happiness in returning so often I as much commend his moderation in going no oftner to the East-Indies More men know how to get enough than when they have gotten enough which causeth their Coveteousness to increase with their wealth Mr. Minors having advanced a competent Estate quitted the water to live on the land and now peaceably enjoyeth what he painfully hath gotten and is living in or near Hartford at this present year 1660. Writers JOHN STAFFORD born in the Shire-Town of this County was bred a Franciscan No contemptible Philosopher and Divine but considerable Historian who wrote a Latin History of Englands affaires Authors are at an absolute loss when he lived and are fain by degrees to screw themselves into a general notice thereof He must be since the year 1226 when the Franciscans first fixed themselves in our Land He must be before John Ross who flourished Anno 1480 under Edward the Fourth and maketh honourable mention of him Therefore with proportion and probability he is collected to have written about 1380. WILLIAM de LICHFIELD so termed from the place of his Nativity applied himself to a study of Divinity whereof he became Doctor and afterwards Rector of All-hallowes the Great in Thames-street London He was generally beloved for his great Learning and godly liââ¦e He wrote many Books both Moral and Divine in Prose and Verse one intituled The complaint of God unto sinful Men. There were found in his Study after his death Three thousand four score and three Sermons of his own writing He died Anno Dom. 1447. being buried under a defaced Monument in the Quire of his own Church ROBERT WHITTINGTON born at Lichfield was no mean Grammarian Indeed he might have been greater if he would have been less Pride prompting him to cope with his Conquerors whom he mistook for his Match The first of these was Will. Lillie though there was as great difference betwixt these two Grammarians as betwixta Verb defective and one perfect in all the Requisites thereof The two other were William Horman and Alderedge both eminent in the Latin Tongue But some will carp at the best who cannot mend the worst line in a Picture the humour of our Whittington who flourished 1530. Since the Reformation HENRY STAFFORD Baron of Stafford in this County was son unto Edward Duke of Buckingham attainted and beheaded under King Henry the Eighth This our Henry though loosing his Top and Top-Gallant his Earledom and Dukedome in the tempest of the Kings displeasure yet still he kept his Keel his Barony of Stafford The less he possessed of his
he was the son of a good King which many men would wish and no child could help The then present Power more of coveteousness than kindness unwilling to maintain him either like or unlike the son of his Father permitted him to depart the Land with scarce tolerable Accommodations and the promise of a never-performed Pension for his future Support A passage I meet with in my worthy Friend concerning this Duke deserveth to be written in letters of Gold In the year 1654 almost as soon as his two Elder Brethren had removed themselves into Flanders he found a strong practise in some of the Queens Court to seduce him to the Church of Rome whose temptations he resisted beyond his years and thereupon was sent for by them into Flanders He had a great appetite to Learning and a quick digestion able to take as much as his Tutors could teach him He fluently could speak many understood more Modern Tongues He was able to express himself in matters of importance presently properly solidly to the admiration of such who trebled his Age. Judicious his Curiosity to inquire into Navigation and other Mathematical Mysteries His Courtesie set a lustre on all and commanded mens Affections to love him His life may be said to have been All in the night of affliction rising by his Birth a little before the setting of his Fathers and setting by his Death a little after the rising of his Brothers peaceable Reign It seems Providence to prevent Excess thought fit to temper the general mirth of England with some mourning With his Name-sake Prince Henry he compleated not twenty years and what was said of the Unkle was as true of the Nephew Fatuos a morte defendit ipsa insulsitas si cui plus caeteris aliquantulum salis insit quod miremini statim putrescit He deceased at Whitehall on Thursday the 13th of September 1660 and was buried though privately solemnly Veris spirantibus lacrymis in the Chappel of King Henry the Seventh Martyrs I meet with few if any in this County being part of the Diocess of Politick Gardiner The Fable is well known of an Ape which having a mind to a Chest-nut lying in the fire made the foot of a Spannel to be his tongs by the proxy whereof he got out the Nut for himself Such the subtlety of Gardiner who minding to murther any poor Protestant and willing to save himself from the scorching of general hatred would put such a person into the fire by the hand of Bonner by whom he was sent for up to London and there destroyed Confessors ELEANOR COBHAM daughter to the Lord Cobham of Sterborough-Castle in this County was afterwards married unto Humphrey Plantaginet Duke of Glocester This is she who when alive was so persecuted for being a Wickliffiââ¦e and for many hainous crimes charged upon her And since her memory hangs still on the file betwixt Confessor and Malefactor But I believe that the voluminous paines of Mr. Fox in vindicating her innocency against the Cavils of Alane Cope and others have so satisfied all indifferent people that they will not grudg her position under this Title Her troubles happened under King Henry the Sixth Anno Domini 14 ... Prelates NICHOLAS of FERNHAM or de Fileceto was born at Fernham in this County and bred a Physician in Oxford Now our Nation esteemeth Physicians little Physick little worth except far fetcht from foreign parts Wherefore this Nicholas to acquire more skill and repute to himself travelled beyond the Seas First he fixed at Paris and there gained great esteem accounted Famosus Anglicus Here he continued until that ââ¦niversity was in effect dissolved thorough the discords betwixt the Clergy and the Citizens Hence he removed and for some years lived in Bononia Returning home his fame was so great that he became Physician to King Henry the Third The Vivacity and health of this Patient who reigned longer than most men live was an effect of his care Great were the giââ¦ts the King conferred upon him and at last made him Bishop of Chester Wonder not that a Physician should prove a Prelate seeing this Fernham was a general Scholar Besides since the Reformation in the reign of Queen Elizabeth we had J. Coldwel Doctor of Physick a Bishop of Sarum After the Resignation of Chester he accepted of the Bishoprick of Durham This also he surrendred after he had sitten nine years in that See reserving only three Mannors for his maintenance He wrote many Books much esteemed in that Age of the practice in Thysick and use of Herbs and died in a private life 1257. WALTER de MERTON was born at Merton in this County and in the reign of King Henry the Third when Chancellors were chequered in and out three times he discharged that Office 1 Anno 1260 placed in by the King displac'd by the Barons to make room for Nicholas of Ely 2 Anno 1261. when the King counting it no Equity or Conscience that his Lords should obtrude a Chancellor on him restored him to his place continuing therein some three years 3 Anno 1273. when he was replaced in that Office for a short time He was also preferred Bishop of Rochester that a rich Prelate might maintain a poor Bishoprick He founded Merton-Colledge in Oxford which hath produced more famous School-men than all England I had almost said Europe besides He died in the year 1277 in the fifth of King Edward the First THOMAS CRANLEY was in all probability born at and named from Cranley in Blackheath Hundred in this County It confirmeth the conjecture because I can not find any other Village so named in all England Bred he was in Oxford and became the first Warden of New Colledge thence preferred Arch-bishop of Dublin in Ireland Thither he went over 1398 accompanying Thomas Holland Duke of Surrey and Lieutenant of Ireland and in that Kingdom our Cranley was made by King Henry the Fourth Chancellour and by King Henry the Fifth Chief Justice thereof It seems he finding the Irish possessed with a rebellious humour bemoaned himself to the King in a terse Poem of 106 Verses which Leland perused with much pleasure and delight Were he but half so good as some make him he was to be admired Such a Case and such a Jewel such a presence and a Prelate clear in Complexion proper in Stature bountiful in House-keeping and House-repairing a great Clerk deep Divine and excellent Preacher Thus far we have gone along very willingly with our Author but now leave him to go alone by himself unwilling to follow him any farther for fear of a tang of Blasphemy when bespeaking him Thou art fairer than the children of men full of grace are thy lips c. Anno 1417 he returned into England being fourscore years old sickned and died at Faringdon and lieth buried in New-Colledge Chappel and not in Dublin as some have related NICHOLAS WEST was born at Putney in
this County bred first at Eaton then at Kings-Colledge in Cambridge where when a youth he was a Rakel in grain For something crossing him in the Colledge he could find no other way to work his Revenge than by secret setting on fire the Masters lodgings part whereof he burnt to the ground Immediately after this Incendiary and was it not high time for him left the Colledge and this little Herosââ¦ratus lived for a time in the Country debauched enough for his conversation But they go far who turn not again And in him the Proverb was verified Naughty Boyes sometimes make good Men he seasonably retrenched his wildness turn'd hard Student became an eminent Scholar and most able States-man and after smaller promotions was at last made Bishop of Ely and often employed in forreign Embassies And now hath it been possible he would have quenched the fire he kindled in the Colledge with his own tears and in expression of his penitence became a worthy Benefactor to the house and re-built the masters Lodgings firm and fair from the ground No Bishop of England was better attended with Menial Servants or kept a more bountiful house which made his death so much lamented Anno Dom. 1533. Since the Reformation JOHN PARKââ¦URST was born at Gilford in this County bred first in Magdalen then in Merton-Colledge in Oxford Here it was no small part of praise that he was Tutor yea Mecenas to John Jewel After his discontinuance returning to Oxford it was no small comfort unto him to hear his Pupil read his Learned humanity-Lectures to the Somato Christians Reader I coyn not the word my self but have took it in Payment from a good hand that is to those of Corpus Chrisââ¦i Colledge to which house then Jââ¦wel was removed Hereupon Mr. Parkhurst made this Distich Olim discipulus mihi chare Juelle fuisti Nunc ero discipulus te renuente tuus Dear Jewel Scholar once thou wast to me Now gainst thy will I Scholar turn to thee Indeed he was as good a Poet as any in that Age and delighted to be an AntiEpigrammatist to John VVhite Bishop of VVinchester whom in my opinion he far surpassed both in Phrase and fancy Mr. Parkhurst when leaving Oxford was presented Parson shall I say or Bishop of Cleve in Glocester-shire as which may seem rather a Diocess than a Parish for the rich Revenue thereof But let none envy Beneficium opimum beneficiario optimo A good living to an incumbent who will do good therewith He laid himself out in works of Charity and Hospitality He used to examine the Pockets of such Oxford Scholars as repaired unto him and alwayes recruited them with necessaries so that such who came to him with heavy hearts and light purses departed from him with light hearts and heavy purses But see a sudden alteration King Edward the Sixth dies and then he who formerly entertained others had not a house to hide himself in Parkhurst is forced to post speedily and secretly beyond the Seas where he remained all the reign of Queen Mary and providing for his return in the First of Queen Elizabeth was robbed of that little he had by some Searchers appointed for that purpose Were not these Thieves themselves robbed I mean of their expectation who hoped to enrich themselves by Pillaging an Exile and a Poet It grieved him most of all that he lost the fair Copy of his Epigrams though afterwards with much ado he recovered them from his foul papers These at last he put in print Et juvenilem ãâã senex edidit without any trespass on his gravity such his Poems being so witty that a young man so harmless that an old man need not be of them ashamed Being returned into England he was by Queen Elizabeth preferred to the Bishoprick of Norwich and was consecrated Sept. the 1 1560. 14 years he sate in that See and died 1574. THOMAS RAVIS was born of worthy Parentage at Maulden in this County bred in Christ-Church in Oxford whereof he was Dean and of which University he was twice Vice-Chancellor Afterwards when many suitors greedily sought the Bishoprick of Glocester then vacant the Lords of the Councel * requested Doct. Ravis to accept thereof As he was not very willing to go ââ¦hither so after his three years abode there those of Glocester were unwilling he should go thence who in so short a time had gained the good liking of all sorts that some who could scant brook the name of Bishop were content to give or rather to pay him a good Report Anno 1607 he was removed to London and there died on the 14th of December 1609. and lieth buried under a fair Tomb in the wall at the upper end of the North-part of his Cathedral ROBERT ABBOT D. D. was born at Guilford in this County bred in ãâã Colledge in Oxford whereof he became Principal and Kings Professor of Divinity in that University What is said of the French so graceful is their Garbe that they make any kind of Cloathes become themselves so general was his Learning he made any liberal imployment beseem him Reading VVriting Preaching Opposing Answering and Moderating who could dis-intangle Truth though complicated with errours on all sides He so routed the reasons of Bellarmin the Romish Champion that he never could rally them again Yet Preferment which is ordered in Heaven came down very slowly on this Doctor whereof several Reasons are assigned 1 His Humility affected no high Promotion 2 His Foes traduced him for a Puritan who indeed was a right godly Man and cordiat to the Discipline as Doctrine of the Church of England 3 His Friends were loath to adorn the Church with the spoil of the University and marre a Professor to make a Bishop However preferment at last found him out when he was consecrated B. of Salisbury Decemb. 3. 1615. Herein he equaled the felicity of Suffridus B. of Chichester that being himself a Bishop he saw his brother George at the same time Archbishop of Canterbury Of these two George was the more plausible Preacher Robert the greater Scholar George the abler States-man Robert the deeper Divine Gravity did frown in George and smile in Robert But alas he was hardly warm in his Sââ¦e before cold in his Coffin being one of the ââ¦ive Bishops which Salisbury saw in six years His death happened Anno 1617. GEORGE ABBOT was born at Guilford in this County being one of that happy Ternion of Brothers whereof two eminent Prelats the third Lord Mayor of London He was bred in Oxford wherein he became Head of University-Colledge a pious man and most excellent Preacher as his Lectures on Jonah do declare He did first creep then run then fly into preferment or rather preferment did fly upon him without his expectation He was never incumbent on any Living with cure of soules but was mounted from a Lecturer to a Dignitary so that he knew well what belong'd to
the stipend and benevolence of the one and the dividend of the other but was utterly unacquainted with the taking of Tithes with the many troubles attending it together with the causeless molestations which Persons Presented meet with in their respective Parishes And because it is hard for one to have a Fellow-suffering of that whereof he never had a suffering this say some was the cause that he was so harsh to Ministers when brought before him Being Chaplain to the Earl of Dunbar then Omni-prevalent with King James he was unexpectedly preferred Archbishop of Canterbury being of a more fatherly presence than those who might almost have been his Fathers for age in the Church of England I find two things much charg'd on his memory First that in his house he respected his Secretary above his Chaplains and out of it alwayes honoured Cloaks above Cassocks Lay above Clergie-men Secondly that he connived at the spreading of non-conformity in so much that I read in a modern Author Had Bishop Laud succeeded Bancroft and the project of Conformity been followed without interruption there is little question to be made but that our Jerusalem by this time might have been a City at unity in it self Yet are there some of Archbishop Abbot his relations who as I am informed will undertake to defend him that he was in no degree guilty of these crimes laid to his charge This Archbishop was much humbled with a casual homicide of a keeper of the Lord Zouch's in Bramzel-Park though soon after he was solemnly quitted from any irregularity thereby In the reign of King Charles he was sequestred from his Jurisdiction say some on the old account of that homicide though others say for refusing to Licence a Sermon of Dr. Sibthorps Yet there is not an Express of either in the Instrument of Sequestration the Commission only saying in the general That the said Archbishop could not at that present in his own person attend those services which were otherwise proper for his cognizance and Jurisdiction For my own part I have cause to believe that as Vulnus semel sanatum novo vulnere recrudescit so his former obnoxiousness for that casualty was renewed on the occasion of his refusal to Licence that Sermon with some other of his Court-un-compliances This Archbishop died Anno Dom. 1633. having erected a large Hospital with liberal maintenance at Guildford the place of his nativity RICHARD CORBET D. D. was born at Ewel in this County and from a Student in became Dean of Christ-Church then Bishop of Oxford An high VVit and most excellent Poet of a courteous carriage and no destructive nature to any who offended him counting himself plentifully repaired with a jest upon him He afterwards was advanced Bishop of Norwich where he died Anno Dom. 1635. States-men THOMAS CROMWEL was born at Putney in this County of whom I have given measure pressed down and running over in my Church-History WILLIAM HOWARD son to Thomas Howard second of that Surname Duke of Norââ¦hfolk was by Queen Mary created Baron of Effingham in this County and by her made Lord Admiral of England which place he discharged with credit I find he was one of the first Favourers and Furtherers with his purse and countenance of the strange and wonderful discovery of Russia He died Anno Domini 154. CHARLES HOWARD son to the Lord William aforesaid succeeded him though not immediately in the Admiralty An hearty Gentleman and cordial to his Sovereign of a most proper person one reason why Queen Elizabeth who though she did not value a Jewel by valued it the more for a fair Case reflected so much upon him The first evidence he gave of his prowes was when the Emperors sister the Spouse of Spain with a Fleer of 130 Sailes stoutly and proudly passed the narrow Seas his Lordship accompanied with ten ships onely of Her Majesties Navy Royal environed their Fleet in a most strange and warlike sort enforced them to stoop gallant and to vail their Bonnets for the Queen of England His service in the eighty eighth is notoriously known when at the first news of the Spaniards approach he towed at a cable with his own hands to draw out the harbourbound-ships into the Sea I dare boldly say he drew more though not by his person by his presence and example than any ten in the place True it is he was no deep Sea-man not to be expected from one of his Extraction but had skill enough to know those who had more skill than himself and to follow their instructions and would not sterve the Queens service by feeding his own sturdy wilfulness but was ruled by the experienced in Sea-matters the Queen having a Navy of Oak and an Admiral of Osier His last eminent service was when he was Commander of the Sea as Essex of the Land forces at the taking of Cadiz for which he was made Earl of Nottingham the last of the Queens creation His place was of great profit Prizes being so frequent in that age though great his necessary and vast his voluntary expences keeping as I have read seven standing Houses at the same time at London Rigate Effingham Blechenley c. so that the wonder is not great if he died not very wealthy He lived to be very aged who wrote Man if not married in the first of Q. Elizabeth being an invited guest at the solemn Consecration of Matthew Parker at Lambeth and many years after by his testimony confuted those lewd and loud lies which the Papists tell of the Naggs-head in Cheap-side He resigned his Admiralty in the reign of King James to the Duke of Buckingham and died towards the later end of the reign of the King afore-said Sea-men Sir ROBERT DUDLEY Knight son to Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester by Douglas Shefeld whether his Mistris or Wife God knoweth many men being inclinable charitably to believe the later was born at Shene in this County and bred by his mother out of his Fathers reach at Offington in Sussex He afterwards became a most compleat Gentleman in all suteable accomplishments endeavoring in the reign of King James to prove his legitimacy and meeting with much opposition from the Court in distast he left his Land and went over into Italy But Worth is ever at home and carrieth its own welcome along with it He became a Favorite to the Duke of Florence who highly reflected on his Abilities and used his directions in all his Buildings At this time Ligorn from a Child started a Man without ever being a Youth and of a small Town grew a great City on a sudden and is much beholding to this Sir Robert for its fairness and firmness as chief contriver of both But by this time his Adversaries in England had procured him to be call'd home by a special Privy Seal which he refused to obey and thereupon all his Lands in England was seised on by the King by the Statute
he was successively preferred by King Charles the first Bishop of Hereford and London and for some years Lord Treasurer of England A troublesome place in those times it being expected that he should make much Brick though not altogether without yet with very little Straw allowed unto him Large then the Expences Low the Revenues of the Exchequer Yet those Coffers which he found Empty he left Filling and had left Full had Peace been preserved in the Land and he continued in his Place Such the mildness of his temper that Petitioners for Money when it was not to be had departed well pleased with his denialls they were so civilly Languaged It may justly seem a wonder that whereas few spake well of Bishops at that time and Lord Treasurers at all times are liable to the Complaints of discontented people though both Offices met in this man yet with Demetrius he was well reported of all men and of the truth it self He lived to see much shame and contempt undeservedly poured on his Function and all the while possessed his own soul in patience He beheld those of his Order to lose their votes in Parliament and their insulting enemies hence concluded Loss of speech being a sad Symptom of approching Death that their Final extirpation would follow whose own experience at this day giveth the Lie to their malicious Collection Nor was it the least part of this Prelates Honour that amongst the many worthy Bishops of our Land King Charles the first selected him for his Confessor at his Martyrdome He formerly had had experience in the case of the Earl of Strafford that this Bishops Conscience was bottom'd on Piety not Policy the reason that from him he received the Sacrament good Comfort and Counsell just before he was Murdered I say just before that Royal Martyr was Murdered a Fact so foul that it alone may confute the errour of the Pelagians maintaining that all Sin cometh by imitaââ¦ion the Universe not formerly affording such a Precedent as if those Regicides had purposely designed to disprove the Observation of Solomon that there is No new thing under the Sun King Charles the second Anno Domini 1660. preferred him Arch-bishop of Canterbury which place he worthily graceth at the writing hereof Feb. 1. 1660. ACCEPTUS FRUIN D. D. was born at in this County bred Fellow of Magdalen-colledge in Oxford and afterwards became President thereof and after some mediate preferments was by King Charles the first advanced Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield and since by King Charles the second made Arch-bishop of York But the matter whereof Porcellane or China dishes are made must be ripened many years in the earth before it comes to full perfection The Living are not the proper objects of the Historians Pen who may be misinterpreted to flatter even when he falls short of their due Commendation the Reason why I adde no more in the praise of this worthy Prelate As to the Nativities of Arch-bishops one may say of this County many Shires have done worthily but SUSSEX surmounteth them all having bred Five Archbishops of Canterbury and at this instant claiming for her Natives the two Metropolitans of our Nation States-men THOMAS SACKVILL son and heir to Sir Richard Sackvill Chancellour and Sub-Treasurer of the Exchequer and Privy-Counsellour to Queen Elizabeth by Winifred his wife daughter to Sir John Bruges was bred in the University of Oxford where he became an excellent Poet leaving both Latine and English Poems of his composing to posterity Then studied he law in the Temple and took the degree of Barrister afterward he travelled into forraign parts detained for a time a prisoner in Rome whence his liberty was procured for his return into England to possess the vast Inheritance left him by his father whereof in short time by his magnificent prodigality he spent the greatest part till he seasonably began to spare growing neer to the bottom of his Estate The story goes that this young Gentleman coming to an Alderman of London who had gained great Pennyworths by his former purchases of him was made being now in the Wane of his Wealth to wait the coming down of the Alderman so long that his generous humour being sensible of the incivility of such attendance resolved to be no more beholding to Wealthy pride and presently turned a thrifty improver of the remainder of his Estate If this be true I could wish that all Aldermen would State it on the like occasion on condition their noble debtors would but make so good use thereof But others make him the Convert of Queen Elizabeth his Cosin german once removed who by her frequent admonitions diverted the torrent of his profusion Indeed she would not know him till he began to know himself and then heaped places of honour and trust upon him creating him 1. Baron of Buckhurst in this County the reason why we have placed him therein Anno Dom. 1566. 2. Sending him Ambassadour into France Anno 1571. into the Low-countries Anno 1586. 3. Making him Knight of the Order of the Garter Anno 1589. 4. Appointing him Treasurer of England 1599. He was Chancellour of the University of Oxford where he entertained Q. Elizabeth with a most sumptuous feast His elocution was good but inditing better and therefore no wonder if his Secretaries could not please him being a person of so quick dispatch faculties which yet run in the bloud He took a Roll of the names of all Suitors with the date of their first addresses and these in order had their hearing so that a fresh-man could not leap over the head of his senior except in urgent affairs of State Thus having made amends to his house for his mis-spent time both in increase of Estate and Honour being created Earl of Dorset by King James he died on the 19. of April 1608. Capitall Judges Sir JOHN JEFFRY Knight was born in this County as I have been informed It confirmeth me herein because he left a fair Estate in this Shire Judges genebuilding their Nest neer the place where they were Hatched which descended to his Daughter He so profited in the study of our Municipall-Law that he was preferred Secondary Judge of the Common-pleas and thence advanced by Queen Elizabeth in Michaelmas Terme the nineteenth of her Reign to be Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer which place he discharged for the Terme of two years to his great commendation He left one only Daughter and Heir married to Sir Edward Mountague since Baron of Boughton by whom he had but one Daughter Elizabeth married to Robert Barty Earl of Linsey Mother to the truly Honorable Mountague Earl of Linsey and Lord Great Chamberlain of England This worthy Judge died in the 21. of Queen Elizabââ¦h Souldiers The ABBOT of BATTLE He is a pregnant Proof that one may leave no Name and yet a good Memory behind him His Christian or Surname cannot be recovered out of our Chronicles which hitherto
Rayes they report he hung his Veââ¦ment which miraculously supported it to the great admiration of the beholders Coming to Rome to be Consecrated Bishop of Sherburn he reproved Pope Sergius his fatherhood for being a father indeed to a Base Child then newly born And returning home he lived in great Esteem untill the day of his death which happened Anno Dom. 709. His Corps being brought to Malmesbury were there Inshrined and had in great Veneration who having his longest abode whilst living and last when dead in this County is probably presumed a Native thereof EDITH Naturall daughter of King Edger by the Lady Wolfhild was Abbess of Wilton wherein she demeaned her self with such Devotion that her Memory obtained the reputation of Saint-ship And yet an Author telleth us that being more curious in her attire then beseemed her profession Bishop Ethelwold sharply reproved her who answered him roundly That God regarded the Heart more then the Garment and that Sins might be covered as well under Rags as Robes One reporteth that after the slaughter of her brother Edward holy Dunstan had a design to make her Queen of England the Vail of her head it seems would not hinder the Crown so to defeat Ethelred the lawfull Heir had she not declined the proffer partly on Pious partly Politick diswasions She died Anno Dom. 984. and is buried in the Church of Dioness at Wilton of her own building she is commonly called Saint Edith the younger to distinguish her from Saint Edith her Aunt of whom before Martyrs It plainly appeareth that about the year of our Lord 1503. there was a persecution of Protestants give me leave so to Antedate their name in this County under Edmund Audley Bishop of Salisbury as by computation of time will appear Yet I find but one man Richard Smart by name the more remarkable because but once and that scentingly mentioned by Mr. Fox burnt at Salisbury for reading a book called Wicliffs Wicket to one Thomas Stillman afterwards burnt in Smithfield But under cruel Bishop Capon Wiltshire afforded these Marian Martyrs Name Vocation Residence Martyred in Anno John Spicer Free-Mason    William Coberly Taylor Kevel Salisbury 1556 Apr. John Maundrell Husbandman    Confessors Name Vocation Residence Persecuted in Anno John Hunt Husbandman Marleborough Salisbury 1558 Richard White Husbandman    These both being condemned to die were little less then miraculously preserved as will appear hereafter ALICE COBERLY must not be omitted wife to William Coberly forenamed charitably presuming on her repentance though she failed in her Constancy on this occasion The Jaylors wife of Salisbury heating a key fire hot and laying it in the grasse spake to this Alice to bring it in to her in doing whereof she pitiously burnt her hand and cryed out thereat O said the other if thou canst not abide the burning of a key how wilt thou indure thy whole body to be burnt at the stake Whereat the said Alice revoked her opinion I can neither excuse the Cruelty of the one though surely doing it not out of a Persecuting but Carnall preserving intention nor the Cowardliness of the other For she might have hoped that her whole body encountering the flame with a Christian resolution and confidence of Divine support in the Testimony of the truth would have found lesse pain then her hand felt from the suddain surprize of the fire wherein the unexpectedness added if not to the pain to the fright thereof This sure I am that some condemn her shrinking for a burnt hand who would have done so themselves for a scratched finger Cardinals WALTER WINTERBURN was born at Sarisbury in this County and bred a Dominican-fryer He was an excellent Scholar in all Studies suitable to his age when a Youth a good Poet and Orator when a Man an acute Philosopher Aristotelicarum doctrinarum heluo saith he who otherwise scarce giveth him a good word when an Old-man a deep Controvertial Divine and Skilfull Casuist a quality which commended him to be Confessor to King Edward the first Now news being brought to Pope Benedict the eleventh that William Maklesfield Provincial of the Dominicans and designed Cardinall of Saint Sabin was dead and buried at London before his Cap could be brought to him he appointed this Walter to be heir to his Honour The worst is as Medlers are never ripe till they are rotten so few are thought fit to be Cardinals but such as are extreamly in years Maklesfield had all his body buried and our Winterburn had one foot in the grave being seventy nine years of age before he was summoned to that dignity However over he went with all hast into Italy and though coming thither too late to have a sight of Pope Benedict the eleventh came soon enough to give a suffrage at the choice of Clement the fift This Walter his Cardinals Cap was never a whit the worse for wearing enjoying it but a year In his return home he died and was buried at Genua but afterwards his Corps were brought over and Re-interred most solemnly in London Anno 1305. ROBERT HALAM was saith my Author Regio sanguine Angliae natus born of the bloud Royal of England though how or which way he doth not acquaint us But we envy not his high Extraction whilst it seems accompanied with other Eminences He was bred in Oxford and afterwards became Chancelour thereof 1403. From being Arch-deacon of Canterbury he was preferred Bishop of Salisbury On the sixt of June 1411. he was made Cardinal though his particular title is not expressed It argueth his Abilities that he was one of them who was sent to represent the English Clergy both in the Council of Pisa and Constance in which last service he dyed Anno Dom. 1417. in Gotleby Castle Prelates JOANNES SARISBURIENSIS was born at and so named from old Sarum in this County though I have heard of some of the Salisburies in Denby shire who Essay to assert him to their Family as who would not recover so eminent a person Leland saith that he seeth in him Omnem ãâã Orbem all the World or if you will the whole Circle of Learning Bale saith that he was one of the first who since Theodorus Arch-bishop of Canterbury living five hundred years before him oh the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of Barbarisme in England indeavoured to restore the learned languages to their Originall Purity being a good Latinist Grecian Musician Mathematician Philosopher Divine and what not What learning he could not find at home he did fetch from abroad travelling into France and Italy companion to T. Becket in his Exile but no partner in his protervity against his Prince for which he sharply reproved him He was highly in favour with Pope Eugenius the third and Adrian the fourth and yet no author in that age hath so pungent passages against the Pride and Covetousness of the Court
Commodity in this County not ââ¦ormerly omitted by me but pretermited till this Occasion Sure it is that the finest though this may seem a word of Challenge Cloth of England is made at Worcester and such I believe was that which Erasmus that great Critick who knew fine Cloth as well as pure Latine is calleth Pannus Britannicus Lempster Wool in the neighboring County of Hereford being here made into Pardon the Prolepsis till it be died the purest Scarlet YORK-SHIRE YORK-SHIRE hath the Bishoprick of Durham and Westmer land on the North Lancashire and a snip of Cheshire on the West Derby Notingham and Lincolnshire divided by Humber on the South and the German Ocean on the East thereof It extendeth without any Angular advantages unto a square of fourscore and ten miles adequate in all Dimensions unto the Dukedome of Wirtenberg in Germany Yea on due consideration I am confident that all the seven United Provinces cannot present such a square of solid Continent without any Sea interposed One may call and justify this to be the best Shire of England and that not by the help of the generall Katachresis of Good for Great a good blow good piece c. but in the proper acception thereof If in Tullies Orations all being excellent that is adjudged optima quae longissima the best which is the longest then by the same proportion this Shire partaking in goodness alike with others must be allowed the best Seeing Devonshire it self the next in largeness wisely sensible of the visible inequality betwixt them quits all claimes of corrivality as a case desperate and acknowledgeth this as Paramont in greatness Indeed though other Counties have more of the Warm Sun this hath as much as any of God's temporall blessings So that let a Survayer set his Center at Ponââ¦fract or thereabouts and take thence the Circumference of twenty miles he there will meet with a tract of ground not exceeded for any nor equalled for the goodness and plenty of some Commodities I would term it the Garden of England save because it is so far from the Mansion House I mean the City of London Insomuch that such sullen dispositions who do not desire to go thither only because of the great distance the same if settled there would not desire to come thence such the delight and pleasure therein Most true it is that when King Henry the eight Anno 1548. made his Progress to York Doctor Tonstall Bishop of Durham then attending on him shewed the King a Valley being then some few miles North of Doncaster which the Bishop avowed to be the richest that ever he found in all his travails thorough Europe For within 10. miles of Hasselwood the seat of the Vavasors there were 165. Mannor houses of Lords Knights and Gentlemen of the best quality 275. Severall Woods whereof some of them contain five hundred Acres 32. Parks and two Chases of Dear 120. Rivers and Brooks whereof Five be Navigable well stored with Salmon and other Fish 76. Water-mills for the Grinding of Corn on the aforesaid Rivers 25. Cole-mines which yield abundance of Fuell for the whole County 3. Forges for the making of Iron and Stone enough for the same And within the same limits as much sport and pleasure for Hunting Hawking Fishing and Fowling as in any place of England besides Naturall Commodities Geat A word of the name colour vertues and usefulness thereof In Latine it is called Gagates as different in nature as alike in name to the precious stone called Gagites onely found in an Eagles nest whence our English word Geat is deduced But be it remembred that the Agate vastly distinct from Geat is also named Gagates It is found in this County towards the sea side in the clefts of the rocks whose gaping chaps are filled up therewith It is naturally of a reddish and rusty colour till it becomes black and bright by polishing Indeed the lustre consists in the blackness thereof Negroes have their beauties as well as fair folk and vulgar eyes confound the inlayings made of black Marble polished to the height with Touch Geat and Ebony though the three former be stones the last a kind of wood The vertues of Geat are hitherto conceal'd It is the lightest of all solid not porous stones and may pass for the Embleme of our memories attracting trifles thereto and letting slip matters of more moment Rings are made thereof fine foyles to fair fingers and bracelets with beads here used for Ornament beyond sea for Devotion also small utensills as Salt-cellars and the like But hear how a Poet describes it Nascitur in Lycia lapis a prope gemma Gagates Sed geââ¦us eximium faecunda Britania mittit Lucidus niger est levis laevicssimusi idem Vicinas paleas trahit attritu calefactus Ardet aquâ lotus restinguitur unctus olivo Geat a stone and kind of gemm In Lycia grows but best of them Most fruitfull Britain sends 't is bright And black and smooth and very light If rubb'd to heat it easily draws Unto it self both chaffe and straws Water makes it fiercely flame Oyle doth quickly quench the same The two last qualities some conceive to agree better to our sea-coal then Geat whence it is that some stiffly maintain that those are the Brittish Gagates meant by forraign Authors and indeed if preciousness of stones be measured not from their price and rarity but usefulness they may be accounted precious But hereof formerly in the Bishoprick of Durham Alume This was first found out nigh Geââ¦burgh in this County some sixty years since by that worthy and learned Knight Sir Thomas Chaloner Tutor to Prince Henry on this occasion He observed the leaves of trees there abouts more deeply green then elsewhere the Oakes broad-spreading but not deep-rooted with much strength but little sap the earth clayish variously coloured here White there Yellowish there Blew and the ways therein in a clear night glistering like glass symptoms which first suggested unto him the presumption of Minerals and of Alum most properly Yet some years interceded betwixt the discovery and perfecting thereof some of the Gentry of the Vicinage burying their estates here under earth before the Alum could be brought to its true consistency Yea all things could not fadge with them untill they had brought not to say stolÅ over three prime workmen in Hogsheads from Rochel in France whereof one Lambert Russell by name and a Walloon by birth not long since deceased But when the work was ended it was adjudged a Mine Royal and came at last to be rented by Sir Paul Pindar who paid yearly To The King 12500. The Earl of Moulgrave 01640. Sir William Penniman 00600. Besides large salaries to numerous Clarks and daily wages to Rubbish-men Rockmen Pit-men and House-men or Fire-men so that at one time when the Mines were in their Majesty I am credibly informed he had in pay no fewer then eight hundred by sea and land
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 ãâã 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
the Chequer and afterwards Treasurer of England and twice Embassadour to the King of France He deserved right well of his own Cathedrall and dying October 31. 1228. was buried under a Marble Tombe on the South-side of the Presbytery WILLIAM de MELTON was born in this County wherein are four villages so named and preferred therein Provost of Beverly and Canon then Arch-bishop of York He went to Avinion there to procure his Consecration I say to Avinion whither then the Court was removed from Rome and continued about threescore and ten years on the same token that those remaining at Rome almost starved for want of employment called this the seventy years captivity of Babilon Consecrated after two years tedious Attendance he returned into England and fell to finish the fair fabrick of his Cathedrall which John Roman had began expending seven hundred Marks therein His life was free from Scandall signall for his Chastity Charity Fasting and Praying He strained up his Tenants so as to make good Musick therewith but not break the string and surely Church-lands were intended though not equally yet mutually for the comfortable support both of Landlord and Tenants Being unwilling that the Infamy of Infidell should be fixed upon him according to the Apostles Doctrine for not providing for his family he bought three Mannors in this County from the Arch-bishop of Roan with the Popes Confirmation and setled them on his Brothers Son whose Descendant William Melton was High-sheriff of this County in the Fiftieth of King Edward the third There is a Place in York as well as in London called the Old-baly herein more remarkable then that in London that Arch-bishop Melton compassed it about with a great Wall He bestowed also much cost in adorning Feretrum English it the Bear or the Coffin of Saint William a Person purposely omitted by my Pen because no assurance of his English Extraction Arch-bishop Melton dyed after he had sate two and twenty years in his See Anno Domini 1340. Entombed in the Body of his Church nigh the Font whereby I collect him buried below in the Bottom of the Church that Instrument of Christian Initiation antiently advancing but a little above the Entrance into the Church HENRY WAKEFEILD is here placed with Assurance there being three Towns of that name in and none out of this County Indeed his is an Episcopall Name which might mind him of his Office the Diocess of Worcester to which he was preferred Anno 1375. by King Edward the third being his Field and he by his place to Wake or watch over it Nor hear I of any complaints to the contrary but that he was very vigilant in his Place He was also for one year Lord Treasurer of England Dying March 11. 1394. he lyeth covered in his own Church Ingenti marmore and let none grudge him the greatness of his Grave-stone if two foot larger then ordinary who made the Body of this his Church two Arches longer Westward then he found it besides a fair Porch added thereunto RICHARD SCROOPE son to the Lord Scroope of Bolton in this County brother to William Earl of Wilt-shire was bred a Doctor of Divinity in Cambridge attaining to be a man of great learning and unblamable life Nor was it so much his high extraction as his own Abilities causing him to be preferred Bishop first of Coventry and Lichfield then Arch-bishop of York Being netled with the news of his Earl-brothers Beheading he conjoyned with the Earl of Northumberland the Earl Marshall Lord Bardolph and others against King Henry the fourth as an Usurper and Invader of the Liberties of Church and State The Earl of Westmerland in outward deportment complied with him and seemed to approve a Writing wherein his main intentions were comprised so to Trepan him into his destruction Toling him on till it was too late for him either to advance or retreat the King with his Army being at Pontfract Bishop Godwin saith it doth not appear that he desired to be tried by his Peers and I believe it will appear that nothing was then Calmly or Judiciously transacted but all being done in an hurry of heat and by Martiall Authority The Executioner had five strokes at his Neck before he could sunder it from his Body Imputable not to his Cruelty but Ignorance it not being to be expected that one nigh York should be so dextrous in that trade as those at London His beheading happened Anno 1405. STEPHEN PATRINGTON was born in the Village so called in the East-riding of this County He was bred a Carmelite and Doctor of Divinity in Oxford and the three and twentieth Provinciall of his Order through out England for fifteen years It is incredible saith Leland what Multitudes of People crowded to his Sermons till his Fame preferred him Chaplain and Confessour to King Henry the fifth He was deputed of the King Commissioner at Oxford to enquire after and make Process against the Poor Wicklevites and as he was busyed in that employment he was advanced to the Bishoprick of Saint Davids Hence he was sent over to the Councill of Constance and therein saith Walsingham gave great Testimony of his ability Returning into England he was made Bishop of Chichester but dying before his Translation was finished 1417. was buried in White-fryars in Fleetstreet WILLIAM PEIRCY was Son to Henry Peircy second Earl of Northumberland of that Name and Eleanour Nevill his Wife Indeed the Son of a Publique Woman conversing with many men cannot have his Father certainly assigned and therefore is commonly called Filius Populi As a base child in the Point of his Father is subject to a shamââ¦full so is the Nativity of this Prelate as to the Place thereof attended with an Honorable Uncertainty whose Noble Father had so many houses in the Northern Parts that his Son may be termed a Native of North-England but placed in this County because Topliffe is the Principall and most Antient seat of this Family He was bred a Doctor of Divinity in Cambridge whereof he was Chancellour and had a younger Brother George Peircy a Clerk also though attaining no higher preferment then a Prebend in Beverly Our William was made Bishop of Carlile 1452. Master Mills erroneously maketh him afterwards Bishop of Wells and it is enough to detect the mistake without disgracing the Mistaker He died in his See of Carlile 1462. CUTHBERT TONSTALL was born at Hatchforth in Richmond-shire in this County of a most Worshipfull Family whose chief seat at Tonstall Thurland not far off and bred in the University of Cambridge to which he was in books a great Benefactor He was afterwards Bishop of London and at last of Durham A great Grecian Orator Mathematician Civilian Divine and to wrap up all in a word a fast friend to Erasmus In the raign of King Henry the eight he publiquely confuted the papall supremacy in a learned Sermon with various and solid arguments preached on
the Water is this That whether Husband or VVife come first to drink thereof they get the mastery thereby St. CLINTANKE was King of Brecknock a small Kingdom for an obscure King though eminent with some for his Sanctity Now it happened that a noble Virgin gave it out that she would never marry any man except the said King who was so zealous a Christian. Such as commend her good choice dislike her publick profession thereof which with more Maiden-like modesty might have been concealed But see the sad successe thereof A Pagan Souldier purposely to defeat her desire kild this King as he was one day a hunting who though he lost his life got the reputation of a Saint and so we leave him The rather because we find no date fixed unto him so that the Reader may believe him to have lived even when he thinks best himself Prelates GILES de BRUSE born at Brecknock was Son to William de Bruse Baron of Brecknock and a prime Peer in his Generation This Giles became afterwards Bishop of Hereford and in the Civil Wars sided with the Nobility against King John on which account he was banished but at length returned and recovered the Kings favour His Paternal Inheritance by death it seems of his elder Brother was devolved unto him being together Bishop and Baron by descent and from him after his death transmitted to his Brother Reginald who married the Daughter of Leoline Prince of Wales If all this will not recover this Prelate into our Catalogue of Worthies then know that his Effigies on his Tomb in Hereford Church holdeth a Steeple in his hand whence it is concluded that he built the Belfree of that Cathedral as well he might having so vast an estate His death happened Anno 1215. Since the Reformation THOMAS HOWEL was born at Nangamarch in this County within few miles of Brecknock bred Fellow of Jesus Colledge in Oxford and became afterwards a meek man and most excellent Preacher His Sermons like the waters of Siloah did run softly gliding on with a smooth stream So that his matter by a lawful and laudable felony did stââ¦al secretly into the hearts of his hearers King Charls made him the last Bishop of Bristol being consecrated at Oxford He died Anno Dom. 1646. leaving many Orphan children behind him I have been told that the honourable City of Bristol hath taken care for their comfortable education and am loath to pry too much into the truth thereof lest so good a report should be confuted States-Men HENRY STAFFORD Duke of Buckingham Though Humphrey his Father had a fair Castle at and large lands about Stafford whereof he was Earl yet his Nativity is most probably placed in this County where he had Brecknock-Castle and a Principality about it This was he who with both his hands set up Richard the third on the Throne endeavouring afterwards with his hands and teeth too to take him down but in vain He was an excellent Spoaks-man though I cannot believe that his long Oration to perswade the Londoners to side with the Usurper was ever uttered by him in terminis as it lieth in Sir Thomas Mores History Thus the Roman Generals provided themselves of Valour and Livy as he represented them stocked them with Eloquence Yet we may be well assured that this our Duke either did or would have said the same and he is the Orator who effects that he aimeth at this Duke being unhappily happy therein Soon after not remorse for what he had done but revenge for what King Richard would not do denying his desire put him on the project of unravelling what he had woven before But his fingers were entangled in the threads of his former Web the King compassing him into his clutches betrayed by Humphrey Banister his Servant The Sheriff seised this Duke in Shropshire where he was digging a ditch in a Disguise How well he managed the Mattock and Spade I know not this I know that in a higher sense He had made a Pit to disinherit his Soveraign and digged it and is fallen into the Ditch which he had made being beheaded at Sarisbury without any legal Tryal Anno 1484. Memorable Persons NESTA Hunger maketh men eat what otherwise they would let alone not to say cast away The cause I confesse wanting matter to furnish out our Description inviting me to meddle with this Memorable not Commendable Person 1. She was Daughter to Grââ¦ffin Prince of Wales 2. VVife to Bernard de Neumarch a Noble Norman and Lord by Conquest of this County 3. Mother to Mahel an hopeful Gentleman and Sibyl his Sister 4. Harlot to a young man whose name I neither do nor desire to know It happened Mahel having got this Stallion into his power used him very hardly yet not worse than he deserved Nesta madded hereat came in open Court and on her Oath before King Henry the second publickly protested no Manna like revenge to malicious minds not caring to wound their Foes though through themselves that Mahel was ââ¦e of Neumarch his Son but begotten on her in Adultery This if true spake her dishonesty if false her perjury true or false her peerless impudency Hereby she disinherited her Son and setled a vast Territory on Sibyl her sole Daughter married afterwards to Milo Earl of Hereford The Farewell When Mr. Speed in pursuance of his Description of England passed this County no fewer than Eight who had been Bayliffs of Brecknock gave him courteous entertainment This doth confirm the Character I have so often heard of the Welsh Hospitality Thus giving them their due praise on just occasion I hope that the British Reader will the better digest it if he find some passages altogether as true as this though nothing so pleasing to Him in our following Farewells CARDIGAN-SHIRE CARDIGAN-SHIRE is washed on the West with the Irish Sea and parted from the neighbouring Shires by Rivers and the Reader will be careful that the similitude of their sounds betray him not to a mistake herein 1. Dovi severing it on the North from Merioneth-shire 2. Tovy on the East from Brecknock-shire 3. Tyvy on the South from Carmarthen and Pembroke-shlre My Author saith the form thereof is Horn-like wider towards the North and I may say it hath a Cornââ¦-Copia therein of all things for mans sustenance especially if industry be used This County though remotest from England was soonest reduced to the English Dominion whilest the Countries interposed maintained their liberty The reason whereof was this The English being far more potent in shipping than the Welsh found it more facile to saile over the Mountains of Water so the Surges of the Sea are termed by the Poet than march over the Mountains of Earth and by their Fleet invaded and conquered this County in the reign of Rufus and Henry the first bestowed the same entirely upon Gilbert de Clare Natural Commodities Bevers Plenty of these formerly did breed in the
tract of its self But this Edward first estranged himself from his Subjects and in effect subjected himself to a stranger Pierse Gaveston his French Minion and after his execution to the two Spencers who though Native English-men were equally odious to the English for their insolence Hence it was that he first lost the love of his Subjects then of his Queen the vacuity of whose bed was quickly filled up then his Crown then his Life Never any English Kings case was so pitiful and his person less pitied all counting it good reason that he should give entertainment to that woe which his wilfulness had invited home to himself His violent death happened at Berkley Castle Septemb. 22. 1327. Saints There is an Island called Berdsey justly reduceable to this County lying within a mile of the South-West Promontory thereof wherein the Corps of no fewer than twenty thousand Saints are said to be interred Estote vos omnes Sancti Proud Benhadad boasted that the dust of Samaria did not suffice for handfuls for all the people that followed him But where would so many thousand Bodies find Graves in so petty an Islet But I retrench my self confessing it more facile to find Graves in Berdsey for so many Saints than Saints for so many Graves States = Men. JOHN WILLIAMS was born at Aber-Conwy in this County bred Fellow of Saint Johns Colledge in Cambridge Proctor of the University Dean of Westminster Bishop of Lincoln Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England and lastly Arch-Bishop of York In my Church History I have offended his Friends because I wrote so little in his praise and distasted his Foes because I said so much in his defence But I had rather to live under the indignation of others for relating what may offend than die under the accusation of my own conscience for reporting what is untrue He died on the 25. day of March 1649. Prelates since the Reformation RICHARD VAUGHAN born at Nuffrin or else at Etern in this County was bred Fellow in Saint Johns Colledge in Cambridge and was afterwards successively Bishop of Bangor Chester and lastly of London a very corpulent man but spiritually minded an excellent Preacher and pious Liver on whom I find this Epigram which I will endeavour to English Praesul es ô Britonum decus immortale tuorum Tu Londinensi primus in Urbe Brito Hi mihi Doctores semper placuere docenda Qui faciunt plus quam qui faciendae docent Pastor es Anglorum doctissimus optimus ergo Nam facienda doces ipse docenda facis Prelate of London O immortal grace Of thine own Britons first who had that place He 's good who what men ought to do doth teach He 's better who doth do whââ¦t men shold preach You best of all preaching what men should do And what men ought to preach that doing too Here to justifie the observation Praesul must be taken for a plain Bishop and primus accounted but from the conversions of the Saxons to Christianity For orherwise we find no fewer than sixteen Arch Bishops of London before that time and all of the British Nation He was a most pleasant man in discourse especially at his Table maintaining that Truth At meals be glad for sin be sad as indeed he was a mortified man Let me add nothing could tempt him to betray the Rights of the Church to sacrilegious Hands not sparing sharply to reprove some of his own Order on that account He died March 30. 1607. being very much lamented HENRY ROULANDS born in this County bred in the University of Oxford was consecrated Bishop of Bangor Novemb. 12. 1598. We have formerly told how Bishop Bulkley plundered the Tower of Saint Asaph of five fair Bells now the bounty of this Bishop bought four new ones for the same the second Edition in Cases of this kind is seldom as large as the first whereof the biggest cost an hundred pounds He also gave to Jesus Colledge in Oxford means for the maintenance of two Fellows He died Anno Dom. 1615. The Farewell The Map of this County as also of Denby and Flint-shire in Mr. Speed is not divided as other Shires in England and Wales with Pricks into their several Hundreds which would have much conduced to the compleating thereof whereof he rendreth this reason That he could not procure the same though promised him out of the Sheriffs Books fearing lest the riches of their Shire should be further sought into by revealing such particulars He addeth moreover This I have observed in all my Survey that where least is to be had the greatest fears are possessed I would advise these Counties hereafter to deny no small Civility to a painful Author holding a Pen in his hand for fear a drop of his Ink fall upon them for though juyce of Lemmon will fetch such spots out of Linnen when once printed in a Book they are not so easily got out but remain to posterity DENBIGH-SHIRE DENBIGH-SHIRE hath Flint-shire Cheshire and Shrop-shire on the East Montgomery and Merionith-shires on the South Carnarvonshire divided by the River Conwey on the West being from East to West thirty one from North to South twenty miles The East part of this County towards the River Dee is fruitful but in the West the industrious Husbandman may be said to fetch his bread out of the fire paring off their upper Turfs with a Spade piling them up in heaps burning them to Ashes and then throwing them on their barren ground which is much fertilized thereby Natural Commodities Amelcorne This English Word which I find in the English Cambden is Welsh to me Let us therefore repair to his Latine Original where he informeth us that this County produceth plenty of Arinca Here the difficulty is a little changed not wholly cleared In our Dictionaries Arinca is Englished 1. Rice but this though a frequent name of many in this Country is a grain too choice to grow in Wales or any part of England 2. Amelcorn and now having run round we have not stirred a step as to more information of what we desired a kind of At last with long beating about we find it to be RYE in Latine more generally called Serale Plinles Pen casts three dashes on this Grain being it seems no friend to it or it to him 1. Est tantum ad arcendam famem utile Good only to drive away famin as not pleasant at all 2. Est licet farre mixtum ventri ingratissimum as griping the Guts 3. ââ¦ascitur quocunqne solo any base ground being good enough to bear it However whatever his forraign Rye was that which groweth incredibly plentiful in this County is very wholsome and generally in England Rye maketh moistest bread in the dryest Summer for which cause some prefer it before Wheat it self Buildings The Church of Wrexham is commended for a fair and spacious building and it is questionable whether it claimeth more praise for
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
25. * Godwin in the Bââ¦shops of Lincoln * Hatcheââ¦s M. S. in Anno 1444. * Goodwyn in the Bishops of Worcestââ¦r * Idem Ibid. * Godwyn in his Catalogue of the Bishops of Durââ¦m * Dr. Hatchââ¦r his Manuscript Catalogue of the Masters and Fellows of K. Colleâ⦠* Godwin in his Cataloguâ⦠of the Bishops of Herââ¦ford * Prov. 13 8. * David Powel in his History of Wales * Camb. Brit. in Derby-shire * Camb. Brit. in Gloucestershire * Register of the Burial in the Temple * See Camb. Eliz in these respective years * Sir George Summers of whom in Dorset-shire * Bââ¦le descrip Brit. Cent. 2. Num. 78. Pits in Anno 1140. * In his Book Declaris Oratoribus otherwise called Brutus toward the later end * Cells or Portions â Ruler or Governor sed quaere * Bale de scrip Brit. Cent. 3. Num. 46. Pits in An. 1200. * Pits de Illust. Ang. script Anno 1326. * New Coll. Reg. Anno 1540. * Pitseus de Angl. script pag. 770. * Mason de Mââ¦nst Ang. * Bale de scrip Bââ¦t Cent. 9. Num. 58. * Tho Rââ¦ndolph * Page 18. * Cent. Octav. Nuâ⦠71. * Patent 7. Rich. 2. part 2. Memb. 2. * In his Description of Gloucestershire * Job 31. 20. * Stows Annals pag. 327. * Cambden in ãâã set-shire * Burton in description of Leicester-shire pag. 320. * Lord Howard in his Defensative against Prophesies fol 130. * Lord Herbert ut prius * In his life of K. Edw. 6. â In his Survey of Cornwall * Holingshed in the fourth of Q Mary pag. 1132. * Matth. 13. 5. * Camden's Brit. in Somersetshire * Idem in Hant-shire * Sir Ro. Cotton under the name of Mr. Speed in Huntingtonshire * P. Jovius de legatione Muscovitarum ãâã de ãâã * Nat. Hist. lib. 11. cap. 24. * Naturae liquor iste novae cui summa natat faex Auson * Prov. 24. 13. * Olim communis pecori cibus atque homini Glans Auson * Bishop Godwin in the Bishops of Winc hester * Cam. Brit. in the Isle of Wight * Speeds Catâ⦠of Religious Houses * Speeds Chro. Page 565. * Lord Verulam in his Hen. the 7. * Speeds Chro. Page 763. * Hen. Higgd Polick lib. 6. cap. 4. * Flowers of the English Saints Page 570. June the 15. * Idem Ibidem * The English Martyrologie in the 15. of June * J. Bale Descript Brit. Cent. 8. num 89. * 2 King 9. 11. * Numb 22. 28. * Godwin in the Bishops of Winchest * Those dates are exactly Transcribed out of the Records of New-Colledge * Register of New-Colledge in Anno 1449. * Godwin in Catalogue of Bishops of Lincolne * J. Philpot in Catalogue of Chancellors page 65. * Harps field Hist. Eccl. Ang. dââ¦cimo quinto saeculo c. 24. * Idem ibid. * New-Colledge Register in the year 1475 * Godwin in the Arch-bishops of Canterbury * ââ¦ew Coll. Register in the year 1474. * Cambdens Brit. in Sussex * Godwin in his Bishops of Chichester * Godwin in his Bishops of Chichester * Sir J. Harrington in the Bishops of Winchester * Made by Christopher Johnson afterwards Schoolmaster of Winchester * Piââ¦s de ill Ang. Script page 763. * Nââ¦w Colledge Register Anno 1565. * John 19. 30. * See the life of Dr. Smith prefixed to his Sermon * New-Colledge Register Anno 1589. wherein he was admitted * ãâã Description of Leicester-shire page 105. * J. Philpot in his Carâ⦠of Chancellors page 73. S. N. * Sir Robert ãâã in his ãâã ãâã * 2 Sam. 20. 24. * 1 King 4. 6. * King 12. 18. * Ibidem * Holinshead Stow Ed. Herbert in this Year * Gwillim his Display of Heraldry pag. 50. * Hatkluit his Voyages Volume 3. pag. 437. * Idem pag. 450. * Idem pag. 451. * Pitz. aetate decima Num. 149. * Libro secundo de gestis Reg. Angliae * Pitz. aetat undecima Num. 154. * Descrip. Brit. Cent. quarta pag. 302. * de scrip Brit. * Idem * Idem * In ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã * ãâã * Bale de Script Britt Cent. 8. Numb 64. * Stowes Survey of London page 370. * Bale de Script Brit. Cent. 9. Num. 78. * Bale de Script Britt Cent. 9. Num. 79. * Idem Ibidem * Psal. 69. 12. * Rinerius in Histor. Benedictinor â Holling sheads Cron. p. 1403. * Heroologia Angliae p. 173. * Idem Aut. Ibid. * Lord Verulam In his Apophââ¦gms * New Colledge Register Anno 1593. * Britt in Monmouthshire S. N. * In the Verses ad Authorem * He writeth himself in his Book of Basing-stoak * Pitts de Ill. Ang. Scrip. pag. ââ¦06 â Pits in the life of William Aulton in anno 1330. * Idem in his own life pag. 817. * Micah 6. 9. S. N. Brittania Baconica in Hantshire Pag. 51. * 2 Chron. 35. 26. * ãâã ãâã in this County * Sââ¦ed in his Map of this County * In his description of Hartford-shire Page the 2d * Eccles. 3. 5. * Tunbridge Epsham Barnet * On Charles Blunt son to the Earle of Newport in St. Martins in the Fields * As appeareth in Villare Anglicanum * Speed in the Description of Pembrokeshire * Lord Herbert in the life of King Henry the Eighth * In the Earle of Richmond * Acts 22. 25. * Cent. 4. pag. 17 c. * Norden in his description of this County pag. 29. * Camd. Brit. in Middlesex * Bale de Scrip. Brit. Cent. Secund numero 90. Piââ¦seus in anno 1159. * REM * Bale de Scrip. Brit. * Godwin in Cat. of Cardin. Pag. 164. * On his Tomb yet well to be seen in Westminster Abbey on the North-side of the Tomb of Amer de Valens Earl of Pembroke * J. Philipot in his Treasurers of England collected Ann. Dââ¦m 1636. p. 19. * Godwin in his Bishops of London * Camd. Britt in Middlesex * Bish. Godw. in Bishops of Ely * Godwin in Cat. of Bishops of St. Davids * Bale de Scrip. Brit. Cent. 7 n. 53. Pits An. 1419. S. N. * Sir R. Nanton in his Fragment Regal * Bale ãâã de Scrip. Angl. * In An. 1253. * Symphorianus Champerius in his fift Tract de medi Art script * Mathaeus Silvaticus in Lexico * Bale de scrip Brit. Cent. 5. n. 7. Pits in an 1320. * Bish. Godw. in Cat. of the Bish. of Lincoln * Bale Pits de script Angl. * Weavers Fun. Mon. in Hartford-shire * In suo heptuââ¦lo * Bale de scrip Brit. cent 4. p. 323. Pits p. 349. * Weavers Fun. Mon. in this County * Bale de scrip Brit. * Pit de Illust. Ang. Scrlp. an 1400. * See Writers in Middlesex * Wââ¦aver Fun. Monum p. 569 Manusc Sir R. Cottons Library AMP. * Mills in hls Catal.
20 Fr. Lamplough a. ut prius  21 Ioh. Lamplough ut prius  22 Hen. Curwen ar ut prius  23 Chri. Dacre ar ut prius  24 Wilfr Lawson ar  Per Pale Arg. and S. a Chev. counterchanged 25 Ioh. Dalston ar ut prius  26 Ioh. Midleton ar   27 Geo. Salkeld ar ut prius  28 Ioh. Dalston ar ut prius  29   30 Rich. Louther ar ut prius  31 Hen. Curwen ãâã ut prius  32 Chr. Pickering ar  Ermin a Lion Rampent Azure Crowned Or. 33 Ioh. Southwike a   34 Will. Musgrave a. ut prius  35 Ger. Louther ar ut prius  36 Ioh. Dalston ar ut prius  37 Lau. Salkeld ar ut prius  38 Chri. Dalston ar ut prius  39 Wilfri Lawson ut prius  40 Tho. Salkeld ar ut prius  41 Ios. Penington ar ut prius  42 Nich. Curwen ar ut prins  43 Will. Orfenââ¦r ar   44 Edm. Dudley ar  Or a Lion rampant duble queve Vert. 45 Will. Hutton ar prim Jac. ut prius  JAC. REX   Anno   1 Will. Hutton ar ut prius  2 Ioh Dalston ar ut prius  3 Chri. Pickeââ¦ing a. ut prius  4 Wilf Lauson m. ut prius  5 Chri. Pickering m. ut prius  6 Hen. Blencow ar  Sable on a Bend 3 Chaplets G. 7 Will. Hutton m ut prius  8 Ios. Penington ar ut prius  9 Chr. Pickering m. ut prius  10 Wilf Lawson m. ut prius  11 Th. Lamplough a. ut prius  12 Edw. Musgrave m. ut prius  13 Rich. Flecher ar Hutton Arg. a Salter engrailed betwixt 4 Roundlets each chââ¦rged with a Pheon of the field 14 Will. Musgrave m. ut prius  15 Wil. Hudleston a. ut prius  16 Geo. Dalston ar ut prius  17 Hen. Curwen mi. ut prius  18 Io Lamplough a. ut prius  19 Hen. Fetherston  G. a Chev. betwixt 3 Oestridges feathers 20 Fran. Dudley vid. Admi. Tho. Dudley ar Edw. Dudley ar defund Tho. Lamplough mil. ut prius   ut prius   ut prius  21 Rich. Samford m ut prius  22 Rich. Fletcher m. ut prius  CAR. REG.   Anno   1 Hen. Blencowe m. ut prius  2 Pet. Senhouse ar Scascall Arg. a ãâã proper 3 Chri. Dalston ar ut prius  4 Will. Layton ar   5 Wilâ⦠Musgrave m. ut prius  6 Chr. Richmond a.   7 Leon. Dykes ar  Or 3 Cinquefoils Sable 8 Ioh. Skelton ar ut prius  9 Will. Orfener ar   10 Rich. Barvis ar ut prius  11 Will. Lawson ar   12 Patri Curwen ar ut prius  13 Tho. Dacre ãâã ut prius  14 Ti. Fetherston ãâã ut prius  15   16 Chri. Louther ar ut prius  17 Hen. Fletcher bar ut prius  18   19   20   21   22 Hen. Tolson ar ut prius  Edward IV. 16 RICHARD DUKE OF GLOUCESTER He is notoriously known to Posterity without any â⦠Comment or Character to describe him In his Armes it is observable that the younger sons of Kings did not use our Common Modern manner of differences by Cressants Mullets Martilets c. but assumed unto themselves some other differencing devices Wonder not that his Difference being a Labell disguised with some additions hath some Allusion to Eldership therein whilst this Richard was but the Third son seeing in his own Ambition he was not onely the Eldest but Onely Child of his Father as appeareth by his Project not long after to Basterdize both his Brethren And now did he begin to cast an Eye on and forecast a way to the Crown by securing himself of this County which is the Back as Northumberland the Fore Door into Scotland In the mean time Cumberland may count it no mean Credit that this Duke was for six years together and at that very time her High-Sheriff when he was made or rather made himself King of England Henry VIII 21 THOMAS WHARTON This must needs be that worthy person whom King Henry the eighth afterwards created first L. Wharton of Wharton in Westmerland and who gave so great a defeat to the Scots at Solemn Moss that their King James the fifth soon after died for sorrow thereof Indeed the Scotish Writers conceiving it more creditable to put their defeat on the account of Anger then of Fear make it rather a Surrender then a Battle as if their Country-men were in effect unwilling to Conquer because unwilling to Fight Such their Disgust taken at Oliver Sentclear a man of Low Birth and High Pride obtruded on them that day by the King for their Generall And to humor their own discontentment they preferred rather to be taken Prisoners by an Enemy then to fight under so distasted a Commander As for the Lord Wharton I have read though not able presently to produce my Author that for this his service his Armes were augmented with an Orle of Lions paws in Saltier Gules on a Border Or. The Farewell I understand two small Manufactures are lately set up therein the one of course Broad-cloath at Cokermouth vended at home The other of Fustians some two years since at Carlile and I wish that the Undertakers may not be disheartned with their small encouragement Such who are ashamed of Contemptible beginnings will never arrive at considerable endings Yea the greatest Giant was though never a Dwarfe once an Infant and the longest line commenced from a little point at the first DERBY-SHIRE DERBY-SHIRE hath York-shire on the North Nottingham-shire on the East Leicester-shire on the South Stafford and Cheshire on the West The River South Darwent falling into Trent runneth through the middle thereof I say South Darwent for I find three more North thereof Darwent which divideth the West from the East riding in Yorkshire Darwent which separateth the Bishoprick of Durham from Northumberland Darwent in Cumberland which falleth into the Irish Ocean These I have seen by Critical Authors written all alike enough to perswade me that Dower the Brittish word for water had some share in their denomination The two extreams of this Shire from North to South extend to thirty eight miles though not fully twenty nine in the broadest part thereof The South and East thereof are very fruitful whilest the North part called the Peak is poor above and rich beneath the ground Yet are there some exceptions therein Witness the fair pasture nigh Haddon belonging to the Earl of Rutland so incredibly battling of Cattel that one proffered to surround it with shillings to purchase it which because to be set side-ways not edge-ways were refused Natural Commodities Lead The best in England not to say Europe
is found in this County It is not churlish but good natured Metal not curdling into knots and knobs but all equally fusil and therefore most useful for Pipes and Sheets yea the softnesse thereof will receive any artificial impressions The Miners thereof may be called a Common-wealth within our Common-wealth governed by Laws peculiar to themselves often confirmed by Act of Parliament and take a few of them 1. If any of this Nation find a Rake or Sione or Leading to the same he may set in any ground to get Lead Oar. 2. But Churches Houses and Gardens are free from this Custom of the Minery 3. All Miners ought to commence their suits for Oar-debt in the Bargemoot-Court Otherwise they must lose their debt and pay cost too 4. The Barge-Master keeps his two great Courts twice a year in Barge-Moot-Hall the Steward under him once in three weeks to decide Controversies and punish offences betwixt Miners 5. Plaintiffs or Defendants having three Verdicts passed against them are bound up for ever 6. He that stealeth Oar twice is fined and the third time struck through his hand with a Knife unto the haft into the Stow and is there to stand until death or loose himself by cutting off his hand 7. The Lord for Lot hath the thirteenth dish of Oar within their Mine and six pence a load for Cope This Manual as other Liberal Art hath Terms peculiar to it sef which will not be understood without an Interpreter of their own profession Bunnings Polings Stemples Forks and Slyder ãâã Yokings Soletrees Roach and Rider Water holes Wind holes Veyns Coe-shafts and Woughs Maine Rakes Cross Rakes Brown henns Buddles and Soughs Breââ¦k-offs and Buckers Randum of the Rake Freeings and chasing of the Stole to th' Stake Starting of Oar Smilting and driving drifts Prim-gaps Roof-works Flat-works Pipe-works shifts Cauke Spar Lid-stones Twitches Daulings and Pees Fell Bous and Knock-bark Forstid-Oar and Tees Bing-place Barmoot Court Barge-master and Stowes Crosses Holes Hange-benches Turntree and Coes Founder-meers Taker-meers Lot Cope and Sumps Stickings and Stringes of Oar Wash-Oar and Pumps Corfe Clivies Deads Meers Groves Rake-soil the Gange Binge-Oar a Spindle a Lampturne a Fange Fleaks Knocking 's Coestid Trunks and Sparks of Oar Sole of the Rake Smitham and many more Let me adde that whereas Miners complain that Lead in Somerset-shire as the Tinne in Cornwall doth dayly decay here it doth improve and encrease For as if Phoebus himself had been their Vulcan massy pieces of Lead are frequently found whereof lately I had one in my hand so well ripened in the bowels of the Earth that they seemed refined such the original purity thereof Manufactures Mault Though commonness causeth contempt excellent the Art of the first inventing thereof I confesse it facile to make Barley Water an invention which found out it self with little more than the bare joyning the ingredients together But to make Mault for Drink was a master-piece indeed How much of Philosophy concurred to the first Kill of Mault and before it was turned on the Floor how often was it tossed in the Brain of the first inventer thereof First to give it a new growth more than the earth had bestowed thereon Swelling it in the water to make it last the longer by breaking it and taste the sweeter by corrupting it Secondly by making it to passe the fire the grain by Art fermented acquiring a lusciousnesse which by nature it had not whereby it doth both strengthen and sweeten the water wherein it is boyled ALE. Ceres being our English Bacchus this was our Ancestors common drink many imputing the strength of their Infantry in drawing so stiff a Bow to their constant but moderate drinking thereof Yea now the English begin to turn to Ale may they in due time regain their former vigorousness and whereas in our remembrance Ale went out when Swallows came in seldom appearing after Easter it now hopeth having climed up May Hill to continue its course all the year Yet have we lost the Preservative what ever it was which before Hops was found out made it last so long in our land some two hundred years since sor half a year at the least after the brewing thereof otherwise of necessity they must brew every day yea pour it out of the Kive into the Cup if the prodigious English Hospitality in former ages be considered with the multitude of menial Servants and strangers entertained Now never was the Wine of Sarepta better known to the Syrians that of Chios to the Grecians of Phalernum to the Latines than the Canary of Derby is to the English thereabout Buildings Chatsworth erected by the magnificent Lady Elizabeth Cavendish Countess of Shrewsbury is a stately Structure thus described by the Poet Stat Chatsworth praeclara domus tuÌ mole superba Tum Domino magnis celereÌ Deroëntis ad undaÌ Miranti similis portam praeterfluit Amnis Hic tacitus saxis infra supraque sonorus Chatsworth which in its bulk it self doth pride And Lord both great stands Derwens bank beside Which slides still by the gate as full of wonder Though loud with stones above the house under The Garden on the backside with an artificial Rock and Wilderness accomplisheth the place with all pleasure Wonders God who is truely ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the onely Worker of Wonders hath more manifested his might in this than in any other County in England such the heaps of Wonders therein amongst which we take special notice of Maim Tor or Mam-Tor Tor is a Hill ascending steep as Glassenbury-Tor Maim saith one because maimed or broken in the top thereof Others following the vulgar pronounciation will have it Mam-Tor that is the Mother Hill because it is always delivered and presently with child again for incredible heaps of sandy earth constantly fall thence yet is it not visibly diminished having it seems as a constant stream such a spring of matter whence it is recruited It may pass for the Embleme of the liberal man never impoverished by his well-bounded and grounded charity his expences being re-supplyed by a secret providence Medicinal Waters Buxton Well dedicated to St. Anne sending forth both cold and warm water is little less than miraculous in the effects thus described by our Author Haec resoluta senum confirmat membra trementum Et refovet nervos lotrix haec lympha gelatos Huc infirma regunt baculis vestigia claudi Ingrati referunt baculis vestigia spretis Huc Mater fieri cupiens accedit inanis Plenaque discedit puto nec veniente marito Old mens numb'd joynts new vigor here acquire In frozen Nerves this Water kindleth Fire Hither the Creples halt some help to find Run hence their ãâã unthankt left behind The barren Wife here meets her Husbands love With such success she strait doth Mother prove This Well is also famous for the abode of Mary Queen of Scots thereby who found much refreshing
for his Motto Dilexi decorem domus tuae Domine I have loved the beauty of thy House ô Lord and sometimes Credite operibus Trust their works Now although some may like his Almes better then his Trumpet Charity will make the most favourable construction thereof Being 96. years of age he resigned his Bishoprick and died in the same year Anno Dom. 1536. JOHN WHITE was born in this County of a worshipful House began on the floor and mounted up to the roof of Spiritual Dignitie in this Diocess First Scholar in VVinchester then Fellow of New-colledge in Oxford then Master of VVinchester-School then VVarden of that Colledge and at last taking Lincoln Bishoprick in his passage Bishop of VVinchester all composed in this Distick Me puero Custos Ludi paulo ante Magister VITUS hac demum Praesul in Urbe fuit I may call the latter a Golden Verse for it cost this VVhite many an Angel to make it true entring into his Bishoprick on this condition to pay to Cardinal Pole a yearly Pension of a thousand pounds Now though this was no better then Simony yet the Prelats Pride was so far above his Covetousness and his Covetousness so farre above his Conscience that he swallowed it without any regreet He was a tolerable Poet and wrote an Elegy on the Eucharist to prove the corporal presence and confute Peter Martyr the first and last I believe who brought controversial Divinity into Verses He preached the Funeral Sermon of Queen Mary or if you will of publique Popery in England praising Her so beyond all measure and slighting Queen Elizabeth without any cause that he justly incurr'd Her displeasure This cost him deprivation and imprisonment straiter then others of his Order though freer than any Protestant had under Popish Persecutours until his death which hap'ned at London about the year 1560. Since the Reformation THOMAS BILSON was born in the City of Winchester bred first Scholar in Winchester-School then taking New-Colledge in his passage School-master thereof afterwards Warden of the Colledge and at last taking Worcester in his way Bishop of Winchester As reverend and learned a Prelate as England ever afforded witness his worthy Works Of the perpetual Government of Christs Church and of Christs Descent into Hell not Ad 1. Patiendum to Suffer which was concluded on the Cross with it is finished Nor 2. Praedicandum to Preach useless where his Auditory was all the forlorn hope Neither 3. Liberandum to Free any Pardon never coming after Execution But 4. Possidendum to take possession of Hell which he had conquered And 5. Triumphandum to Triumph which is most honourable in Hostico in the Enemies own Country The New Translation of the Bible was by King James his command ultimately committed to his and Dr. Smiths Bishop of Gloueester perusal who put the compleating hand thereunto His pious departure out of this life hapned 1618. HENRY COTTON was born at Warblington in this County being a younger son unto Sir Richard Cotton Knight and privy Councellor to King Edward the Sixth Queen whilest yet but Lady Elizabeth being then but twelve years of age was his God-mother He was bred in Magdalen Colledge in Oxford and was by the Queen preferred Bishop of Salisbury When she pleasantly said That formerly she had blessed many of her God-sons but now her God-son should bless her Reflecting on the Solemnity of Episcopal Benediction He was consecrated November the 12. 1598. at which time William Cotton of another Family was made Bishop of Exeter The Queen merrily saying alluding to the plenty of clothing in those parts that she hoped that now she had well Cottoned the West By his wife whose name was Patience he had nineteen children and died May the 7. 1615. ARTHUR LAKES was born in the Parish of Saint Michael in the Town of Southampton bred first in VVinchester-School then Fellow of New-Colledge In his own nature he preferred the fruitfulness of the Vine and fatness of the Olive painfulness in a private Parish before the government of the Trees had not immediate Providence without his suit and seeking preferred him successively Warden of New-Colledge Prefect of Saint Crosses nigh VVinchester Dean of VVorcester Bishop of Bath and VVells He continued the same in his Rochet what he was in his Scholars-gown and lived a real comment upon Saint Pauls character of a Bishop 1. Blameless Such as hated his Order could not cast any aspersion upon him 2. The Husband of one VVife He took not that lawful Liberty but led a single Life honouring Matrimony in his brethren who embraced it 3. Vigilant Examining Canonically in his own person all those whom he ordained 4 Sober of good behaviour Such his austerity in diet from his University-Commons to his dying day that he generally fed but on one and that no daintie dish and fasted four times a week from supper 5. Given to Hospitality When Master of Saint Crosses he encreased the allowance of the poor-Brethren in diet and otherwise When Bishop he kept 50. servants in his Family not so much for state or attendance on his Person but pure charity in regard of their private need 6. Apt to teach the Living with his pious Sermons in his Cathedral and neighbouring Parishes and Posterity with those learned Writings he hath left behinde him 7. Not given to VVine His abstemiousness herein was remarkable 8. No striker not given to filthy lucre He never fouled his fingers with the least touch of Gehazi's reward freely preferring desert 9. One that ruleth well his own House The rankness of House-keeping brake not out into any Riot and a Chapter was constantly read every Meal by one kept for that purpose Every night besides Cathedral and Chappel-Prayers he prayed in his own Person with his Family in his Dining-room In a word his Intellectuals had such predominancy of his Sensuals or rather Grace so ruled in both that the Man in him being subordinate to the Christian he lived a pattern of Piety I have read of one Arthur Faunt a Jesuite who entring into Orders renounced his Christian name because forsooth never Legendary Saint thereof and assumed that of Laurence This gracious Arthur was not so superstitiously scrupulous and if none before may pass for the first Saint of his name dying in the fifty ninth year of his age Anno Domini 1602. States-men RICHARD RICH Knight was in the words of my Author A Gentleman well descended and allied in this County Bred in the Temple in the study of our Common Law and afterwards became Sollicitor to King Henry the eighth His Deposition on Oath upon words spoken to him in the Tower was the sharpest evidence to cut off the head of Sir Thomas More He was under Cromwel a lesser hammerto knock down Abbeys most of the Grants of which Lands going through his hands no wonder if some stuck upon his fingers Under King Edward the Sixth he
was made Lord Chancellour of England dischargeing his place with Prudence and Equity for the terme of five years Foreseeing he should be outed of his Office being of the Anti-faction to Duke Dudley to prevent stripping he politickly put off his Robes of State resigning his Office Which done no danger of catching cold his own Under-suit was so well lined having gotten a fair Estate about Lees Abbey in Essex whereof he was created Baron He died in the beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth being direct Ancestour unto the right Honourable Charles Rich now Earl of VVarwick WILLIAM POWLET where ever born had his largest Estate and highest Honour Baron of Basing and Marquess of VVinchester in this County He was descended from a younger house of the Powlets of Hinton Saint George in Sommersetshire as by the Crescent in his Arms is acknowledged One telleth us that he being a younger brother and having wasted all that was left him came to Court on trust where upon the bare stock of his wit he traffick'd so wisely and prospered so well that he got spent and left more than any Subject since the Conquest Indeed he lived at the time of the dissolution of Abbeys which was the harvest of Estates and it argued idleness if any Courtier had his Barnes empty He was servant to K. Henry the seaventh and for Thirty years together Treasurer to K. Henry the eighth Edward the sixth Qu. Mary and Qu. Elizabeth The ãâã in some ãâã owed their Crowns to his Counsel his policy being the principal ãâã of Duke Dudleys Designe to disinherit them I behold this Lord ãâã like to aged Adoram so often mentioned in Scripture being over the Tribute in the dayes of K. David all the Reign of K. Solomon untill the first Year of ãâã And though our Lord Powlet enjoyed his place not so many years yet did he serve more Soveraigns in more mutable times being as he said of himself no ãâã but an ãâã Herein the Parallel holds not The honry hairs of Adââ¦m were sent to the Grave by a violent death slain by the people in a ãâã This Lord had the rare happiness of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã setting in his full splendour having lived 97 years and seen 103 out of his body he dyed anno Domini 1572. Sr. THOMAS LAKES was born in the Parish of St. Michael in the Town of South-Hampton and there bred in Grammer-Learning under Doctor Seravia By several under Offices he was at last deservedly preferred Secretary of Estate to K. James Incredible his dexterity in dispatch who at the same time would indite write discourse more exactly than most men could severally performe them Men resembled him to one of the hips-Royal of Qu. Elizabeth called the Swift-sure such his celerity and solidity in all Affairs No lesse his secresie in concealing and what was credited to his Counsel was alwayes found in the same posture it was left in Add to all these he was a good man and a good mans Brother Dr. Arthur Lakes Bishop of Bath-and Wells King James who allwayes loved what was facile and fluent was highly pleased with his Latine Pen who by practice had made Tullie's phrase his own He was one of the three noble hands who at the Court first led Mr. George Villers into the favour of King James At last he fell for the faults of others into the Kings displeasure being punished for the Offences of one of his nearest Relations and of all them fin'd in the star-chamber he was the only person generally pittied for his suffering yet even then K. James gave him this publick Eulogie in open Court That he was a Minister of State fit to serve the greatest Prince in Europe He was outed his Secretaries place which needed him more than he it having atchieved a fair fortune which he transmitted to posterity How long he lived afterwards in a private life is to me unknown Souldiers BEAVOIS an English man was Earle of South-Hampton in the time of the Conquerer and being unable to comport with his Oppression banded against him with the Fragments of the English men the strength of Hastings the Dane and all the assistance the VVelch could afford In whose Country a Battel was fought near Carcliffe against the Normans anno Domini 1070. wherein Three Nations were conquered by One Beavois being worsted Success depends not on Valour fled to Carlile a long step from Carcliffe And afterwards no mention what became of him This is that Beavois whom the Monks cryed up to be such a man that since it hath been questioned Whether ever such a man I mean whether ever his person was in rerum natura So injurious those are who in the Reports of any mans performances exceed the bounds of probability All I will add is this that the Sword preserved and shewed to be this Beavoises in Arundel Castle is lesser perchance worn with age than that of King Edward the third kept in Westminster-Church Seamen Sr. JOHN WALLOP born in this County of a most ancient and respected Family was directed by his Genius to Sea-service at what time our Coasts were much infested with French-Piracies For there was a Knight of Malta passing in our Chronicles by the name of Prior John more proper by his Profession to be employed against the Turks lately so victorious in Hungary who liv'd by pickeering and undoing many English Merchants But our Sr. John made the French pay more than treble Dammages who with Eight Hundredh Men landed in Normandy burnt One and Twenty Towns with divers Ships in the Havens of Traport Staples c. and safely returned with wealth and Victory Methinks the ancient Armes of the Wallhops appear propheticall herein viz. argent a Bend-unde Sable interpreted by my Authour a wave or sourge of the Sea raised by some turbulent flaw of wind and tempest prognosticating the activity of that Family in Marine Performances ROBERT TOMSON Merchant was born at Andover in this County bred much at Bristol in Sea-Imployments Hence anno 1553. he sailed into Spain and thence two Years after shipped himself for Nova Hispania to make a discovery thereof on the same token that in his passage thither in a Spanish Ship a light like a canââ¦le being nothing else but a Meteor frequent by Sea and Land sell on their main Mast which the Spaniards on their knees worshiped for St. Elmo the Advocate of Saylers He afterwards wrote the Description of New Spain with the City of Mexico giving a good and the first account thereof of any Englishman During his abode many Months in Mexico at dinner he let fall some Discourse against Saint-worship for which he was imprisoned in the holy-House and enjoyned solemn Penance by the Arch-Bishop of Mexico This Tomson being the first reputed Heretick which was ever seen in America on a penitential Scaffold Hence he was sent into Spain and after three Years durance in the Inquisition discharged