Reader not to diminish their Reputation It cannot be denied they were both great Men especially Ovid his Metamorfosis is a Noble Piece the Language Lofty and Elegant it contains many excellent Descriptions and pathetical Orations and the Connexion of the Fables is admirable yet I would not have him equalizd much less preferrd to the Divine Virgil. Ovid I confess says that he intended to have mended his Metamorfosis but he deferrd it till it was too late It should have been done whilst he was in Rome and Prosperity had he done it then he might have been a formidable Competitor with Virgil for the Crown of Bays but when he went into Exile he left his Wit behind as appears by his Book De Tristibus This was the difference betwixt these two Poets Ovid could never begin and Virgil make an end of Correcting as appears by his ordering his Eneads to be burnt So that t is evident they did not please him tho then brought to the perfection wherein we now have them and they had been consumd to Ashes to the irreparable loss of the Learned World had not Augustus opportunely interposd his Soveraign Authority and dispensed with the Testamental Laws as appears by those Verses Quin percat potius legum vencranda potestas c. Ovid says he burnt his Metamorfosis when he left Rome but finding he could not wholly stifle it there being many Copies thereof in several hands he was willing it should live and have six Verses which he mentions prefixd before it they are in the First Book De Tristibus but hear him speak in his own words Hos quoque sex Versus in prima Fronte Libelli Si proponendos esse putabis habe That is All you who have my Book if you think fit I' th Front cause these six Verses to be writ The Verses are these Orba Parente suo Quicunque volumina Cernis His saltem vestra detur in Urbe locus Quoque magis faveas non sunt haec edita ab ipso Sed quasi de domino funcre rapta sui Quicquid in his igitur vitii rude carmen habebit Emendaturus si licuisset eram Which may be thus made English If these poor Orfan Books at Rome appear Make them a hearty Welcome and good Chear They much impatience to get loose exprest And would not stay till they were better drest Till I at least their greater faults had mâ—nded Which had I livd I faithfully intended Or these out of the Third Book which will serve as well Sunt quoque mutatae ter quinque volumina formae Carmina de Domini funere rapta sui Illud opus poluit si non prius ipse perissem Certius à summa nomen habere manu Nunc incorrectum Populi pervenit in ora In Populi quicquam si tamen ore mei est In English thus Stories of Men and Gods into strange shapes Transformd the better to conceal their Rapes Which I at Rome in fifteen Books compild Whilst Fortune and Augustus on me smild Now uncorrect through many hands they move If many yet poor banisht Ovid Love Both which Copies are indifferent so much does Adversity depress the Spirits of those who stand not upon the sure basis of Vertue To conclude this long but I hope not tedious Chapter All Ages and Countries even ours might produce excellent Poets Si non offenderit unum Quemque Poetarum limae labor mora That is If every one of them were not terrified and discouragd by the prospect of the great labour which they must undergo and the length of time which must be employd in filing and polishing CHAP. XXII Of Doctor Barrow ANno Domini 1672 Doctor Wilkins Bishop of Chester departed this Life and that eminently Learned Divine Doctor Pearson succeeded him by which Promotion the Mastership of Trinity-College in Cambridge became vacant this King Charles conferrd upon Dr Barrow and speaking of it afterwards he said he had given it to the best Scholar in England Dr. Barrow was then the Kings Chaplain in Ordinary and much in favour with the Duke of Buckingham then Chancellor of the University of Cambridge as also of Gilbert Lord Archbishop of Canterbury both which were ready if there had been any need to have given him their assistance to obtain this Place When the Patent for the Mastership was brought him wherein there was a clause permitting him to Marry as it had been made before for some of his Predecessors he causd the Grant to be alterd judging it not agreeable to the Statutes from which he neither desird nor would accept any Dispensation Nay he chose rather to be at the expence of double Fees and procure a new Patent without the Marrying Clause than perpetually to stand upon his Guard against the Sieges Batteries and Importunities which he foresaw that honourable and profitable Preferment would expose him to Imitatus Castora qui se Eunuchum ipse facit c. in this wisely imitating the Beaver who knows for what he is hunted Thus making Matrimony a forfeiture of his Preferment it was as effectual a way to secure him from all dangers of that kind as Castration it self could have been for Women in this Age like Hens desire only to Lay where they see Nest-Eggs To shew his Humility and care of the College Revenue he remitted to them the charge of keeping a Coach for his time which they had done a long while before for other Masters This Preferment so well bestowd gladded the hearts not only of the Members of that College but of the University and all lovers of Learning Upon this he left the Bishop of Salisbury and was then so kind to me that he earnestly invited me to spend one Winter with him at Cambridge few Arguments were sufficient to make me yield my consent The last time he was in London whither he came as it is customary to the Election of Westminster he went to Knightsbridge to give the Bishop of Salisbury a visit and then made me engage my word to come to him at Trinity-College immediately after the Michaelmas ensuing I cannot express the rapture of the joy I was in having as I thought so near a prospect of his charming and instructive Conversation I fancied it would be a Heaven upon Earth for he was immensly rich in Learning and very liberal and communicative of it delighting in nothing more than to impart to others if they desired it whatever he had attaind by much time and study but of a sudden all my hopes vanisht and were melted like Snow before the Sun Some few days after he came again to Knightsbridge and sate down to Dinner but I observed he did not eat Whereupon I askd him how it was with him He answerd that he had a slight Indisposition hanging upon him with which he had struggled two or three days and that he hopd by Fasting and Opium to get it off as he had removd another and more dangerous Sickness at Constantinople some
THE LIFE OF THE Right Reverend Father in God SETH Lord Bishop of SALISBURY And CHANCELLOR of the Most Noble Order of the GARTER With a Brief Account of Bishop Wilkins Mr. Lawrence Rooke Dr. Isaac Barrow Dr. Turbervile And others Written by Dr. WALTER POPE Fellow of the ROYAL SOCIETY Quid foret Iliae Mavortisque Gener si Taciturnitas Obstaret meritis Invida Romuli Hor. LONDON Printed for William Keblewhite at the Swan in St. Paul's Church-yard 1697. To the Honourable Colonel JOHN WYNDHAM of DORSETSHIRE SIR I Might easily bring into the Field and Muster a Brigade if not an Army of Motives which compelld me to Dedicate this Book to you but because I know you love Brevity I shall content my self to declare to the World only one of them viz. Amongst the few Friends I have for Old Men generally out-live their Friends I could not pitch upon any Patron so fit as your Self For you were intimately acquainted with the deceased Bishop the Subject of this Treatise lovd him and was intirely belovd by him I appeal therefore to you as Competent Iudge and an Eye witness whether what I have said concerning his Hospitality his humble and obliging Conversation in Salisbury be not rather less than more than it deservd You also as I find by Experience bear no small Affection to me which I humbly beg you to continue as long as I shall approve my self SIR Your most humble obliged and Grateful Servant Walter Pope ERRATA PAGE 17. Line 23. Read London p. 44. l. 5. for Town r. College p. 45. l. 19. r. Protector p. 76. l. 11. r. is our p. 80. l. 8. r. Chaplain p. 82. l. 18. r. ten pounds p. 145. l. 3. r. omnium or panfarmacon p. 151. l. antep r. Multum p. 156. l. penult r. Absentem THE LIFE OF THE Right Reverend Father in God SETH Lord Bishop of Salisbury c. CHAP. I. The Introduction THE Motives that incouraged me to write this ensuing Treatise were such as these viz. 1. The deceas'd Bishop had conferred many Favours upon me and I thought this was a fit opportunity to publish my Gratitude for them 2. That his Life was worthy to be transmitted to Posterity and that it would be more acceptable to the Learned that it should be done by me as well as I could than not at all for I have not yet heard of any person who has designed or attempted it tho there are more than eight years past since he died 3. I am not altogether unprovided for such a Work having during my long Acquaintance with Him and his Friends inform'd my self of most of the considerable Circumstances of his Life 4. And in the fourth and last place because I shall run no risque in so doing for tho some may blame my Performance yet even they cannot but approve my pious Intention and the worst that can be said against me if I do not attain my end will have more of Praise in it than Reproach 't is what Ovid says of Faeton Magnis tamen excidit ausis i. e. 'T was a noble Attempt but the Success was not answerable I at first design'd to have written it in a continual Narration without breaking it into Chapters making any Reflections or adding any Digressions but upon second thoughts which usually are the best I steer'd another Course I have cut it into Chapters which may serve as Benches in a long Walk whereupon the weary Reader may repose himself till he has recovered Breath and then readily proceed in his way I have also interwoven some Digressions which if they are not too frequent forein impertinent and dull will afford some Divertisement to the Reader But I fear the Gate is too great for this little City CHAP. II. Of the Bishops Parentage Birth and Education till he was sent to Cambridge I Think it not worth my pains to play the Herald and blazon the Arms belonging to the numerous Family of the WARDS or to tell the World the Antiquity of it that that Name came into England with William the Conqueror that there is at present one Lord and very many Knights and Gentlemen of very considerable Estates who are so called For supposing this to be true as it is it makes little if any thing to the Praise of the the Person whose Life I am now writing Vix ea nostra voco Vertuous Actions not great Names are the best Ensigns of Nobility There are now always were and ever will be some bad Men even of the best Families I shall therefore go no further back than to his Grandfather who lived near Ipswich in Suffolk and had the misfortune to lose a considerable hereditary Estate whereupon the Bishops Father whose Name was Iohn settled himself at Buntingford in Hertfordshire following the Employment of an Attorney and was of good Reputation for his fair Practice but not rich His Mothers Maiden Name was Dalton I have often heard him commend her extraordinarily for her Vertue Piety and Wisdom to whose good Instructions and Counsels he used to say he ow'd whatever was good in him And that this Character was due to her I have the testimony of that worthy Gentleman Ralph Freeman Esq of Aspenden in Hertfordshire who has faithfully served his Country as Knight of the Shire for that County in several Parliaments this Mr. Freeman liv'd in the same Parish and well remembers the Bishops Mother I never heard the Bishop speak of his Father possibly he died before his Son came to years of Discretion on the contrary I find Horace never mentions his Mother but is very frequently praising his Father but to proceed Iohn Ward left three Sons and as many Daughters the Sons were Iohn Seth and Clement Iohn died a Batchelour Clement left three Sons and several Daughters to the Care of his Brother Seth who had then no other Preferment or Income than the Place of the Savilian Professor of Astronomy in Oxford and even then he gave two hundred pounds to one of his Sisters in Marriage which Summ he borrowed of a Friend of his whom I knew who lent it him upon his own Bond without any other Security 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which let me thus translate since 't is not è Cathedra nothing doubting or not despairing to be repaid as he was in a short time with Thanks and Interest This Friend of his perceived evident signs of a rising Man in Mr. Ward which must infallibly advance him if Merit alone can elevate as it has often without Friends under some Kings and some Archbishops and it will certainly at long run if as the Saying is The Horse does not die before the Grass is grown For all these Male and Female Children and Relations before mentioned he provided more than a competent Maintenance binding some of them Apprentices breeding others at Schools and Universities till they were fit for the Ministry and then placed them in good Benefices whereof he had the Presentation He also took
the time he enjoy'd the Astronomy Professors Place he never miss'd one reading Day Besides this he taught the Mathematics gratis to as many of the University or Foreigners as desired that Favour of him I remember he told me that a certain German Nobleman made application to him upon that account and that when Mr. Ward was in the middle of a hard Demonstration which required the utmost Intention of Mind to understand for if by Inadvertency one Link of it is lost all the rest is to no purpose and unintelligible this Person interrupted him and said Sir you have a fine Key his Key by chance lying then upon the Table 't is so reply'd the Professor and put an End to his Lecture and would read no more to that Pupil Besides this he preach'd frequently tho' he was not obliged to it for Sir Henry Savile had exempted his Professors from all University Exercises that they might have the more leisure to mind the Employment he designed them for His Sermons were strong methodical and clear and when Occasion required pathetical and eloquent for besides his Skill in the Mathematics he was a great Lover of Tully and understood him very well In his Disputations his Arguments were always to the purpose and managed with great Art his Answers clear and full I remember I heard him oppose in the Act time a Head of a House who then did his Exercise for Doctor in Divinity the Question was concerning the Morality of the Fourth Commandment against which he urged That the same time might be Saturday Sunday and Monday or Sunday and any two other days equally distant from it for supposing two Ships to set sail from the same Port one westward according to the Motion of the Sun it will make every day longer than four and twenty Hours and consequently there must be fewer days in that Year and the other which we suppose holds its course Eastward must have the contrary Effect and consequently make more days in the same space of time Let us then suppose that these two Ships sail'd at the same time from the same place and return thither that day twelve-month it shall be to one of them Monday and to the other Saturday Or supposing two Swallows with greater Celerity to make the same Voyage both of them starting upon the same Sunday from the same place and granting one of them to gain and the other lose about half a quarter of an hour or eight minutes in four and twenty hours which they may do at their Return to the place from whence they set forth tho 't will be Sunday to those who remained there it shall be to one of these Swallows Tuesday and to the other Friday Again if the Sabbath is to be accounted from Sun-set to Sun-set as some observe it then to those who inhabit under the Poles it must be a year long for the Sun under the Northern Pole sets only in September at the Autumnal Equinox and to those under the Southern Pole it sets only in March or the Vernal Equinox To those who lie more Northward than the Arctic Circle or more Southward than the Anctartic the Sunday shall not only be several Days but Weeks and Months long And several other Arguments of this Nature To all which the Respondent vouchsafed no other Answer than this Omnia hujusmodi Argumenta sunt mere Astronomica As much as if he should have said These are all but Demonstrations and therefore I think them not worthy of an Answer Whilst he continued in that Chair besides his Public Lectures he wrote several Books one De Astronomia Eliptica one against Bullialdus one about Proportion one of Trigonometry one against Mr. Hobbs who never pardoned him for it to his dying Day as we shall have occasion to shew hereafter and one in English and a jocose stile against one Webster asserting the Usefulness of the Universities He also preach'd often at St. Maries to the Admiration of all the Auditory some of which Sermons are published in the Collection printed for Iames Collins At his first coming to Oxford he made choice of Wadham Col. to reside in invited thereto by the Fame of Dr. Wilkins Warden thereof with whom he soon contracted an intimate Acquaintance and Friendship their Humours and Studies lying the same way but Dr. Wilkins was so well known that I need not dilate in his Praise for if I should my near Relation to him might make my Character of him suspected therefore I shall say no more of him at present but that he was a Learned Man and a Lover of such he was of a Comely Aspect and Gentleman-like Behaviour he had been bred in the Court and was also a piece of a Traveller having twice seen the Prince of Auranges Court at the Hague in his Journey to and Return from Heydelburgh whither he went to wait upon the Prince Elector Palatine whose Chaplain he was in England He had nothing of Bigottry Unmannerliness or Censoriousness which then were in the Zenith amongst some of the Heads and Fellows of Colleges in Oxford For which Reason many Country Gentlemen of all Persuasions but especially those then stiled Cavaliers and Malignants for adhering to the King and the Church sent their Sons to that College that they might be under his Government I shall instance but in two eminent Sufferers for that Cause Colonel Penruddoc who was murder'd at Exeter and Judge Ienkyns who was kept a close Prisoner till the Kings Return for not owning the Parliaments usurp'd Authority these two had their Sons there I could name many more who for Dr. Wards sake left Cambridge and brought their Pupils with them and settled themselves in Wadham College as Dr. Gaspar Needham and Mr. Lawrence Rooke of whom I have much to say in its due place The Affluence of Gentlemen was so great that I may truly say of Wadham College it never since or before was in so flourishing a Condition I mean it never had so many Fellow Commoners as at that time tho it cannot be denied but that it has always had more than its proportion may it for ever flourish and encrease in Riches and Reputation this I heartily wish for the Kindness I have received from it At this time there were several Learned Men of the University and in the City who met often at the Wardens Lodgings in Wadham College and sometimes elsewhere to improve themselves by making Filosofical Experiments Some of these for I will not undertake to reckon them all up were Mr. Robert Boyle then well known but since more famous in all parts of Europe for his great Piety and Skill in Experimental Filosofy and other good Literature Mr. Matthew Wren afterwards Secretary to the Duke of York Dr. Willis Dr Goddard Warden of Merton and Professor of Fysic at Gresham College in London Dr. Wallis Dr. Bathurst Mr. Rooke c. About this time that Learned and Reverend Person Dr. Brownrig the ejected Bishop of Exeter
Man and a good Governour but in his latter time peevish and froward and had never any great stock of Learning When Oxford was a Garrison for King Charles the Martyr he would stand at the College Gate and observe what Persons came to walk in Trinity Grove for that was then the Oxford Hide-Park the Rendesyous of the Nobility and Gentry I say he took notice of all and usually had a Saying to every one of them which instead of vexing them made them laugh then would tell the next of the Fellows he chanc'd to see I met some Iack Lords going into my Grove but I think I have nettled them I gave them such entertainment they little look'd for At my first coming to the University of Oxford there were innumerable Bulls and Blunders father'd upon him as afterwards upon Dr. Boldero of Cambridge Upon Dr. Kettles death the Fellows proceeded to an Election of a President and it lay betwixt Mr. Chillingworth a Person justly of great Fame for his Learning and Dr. Potter Mr. Chillingworth had the majority of Votes but being then at a considerable distance from Oxford and not able to come suddenly and take Possession Dr. Potter laid hold upon this advantage and was admitted in a short time after when the University was Visited Dr. Potter was Ejected and Dr. Harris Rector of Hanwell in Oxfordshire put into his place This Dr. Harris was a very eminent Preacher his Hair rather white than gray his Speech Grave Natural and Pathetical I never heard any Sermons which became the Persons who pronounc'd them so well as his did him After Dr. Harris's decease the Fellows chose Mr. Hawes a Loyal Learned and Modest Person but of an infirm constitution of Health he enjoy'd this Headship but a little time and some days before his death resign'd it whereupon Dr. Ward to the great contentment and joy of the Moral Sober Party was elected President which he accepted and accordingly took possession of it He us'd great diligence and care to put all things in order and settle the troubled Affairs of it governing with great Prudence and Reputation but he continued in that Station a very little while only till 1660 that memorable Year for the happy Return of King Charles the Second when he resign'd it to Dr. Potter 't is true he left Trinity College and Oxford 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with an unwilling willingness for he was contented with his Condition and so pleas'd with a Collegial Life and the Charms of that sweet place that he would willingly have remain'd there the rest of his days and in order to that proffer'd Dr. Potter an Equivalent which was refus'd but yet had he resolv'd to have kept it he had not wanted sufficient ground to dispute the Title at Law for tho' it must be confess'd Dr. Potter was illegally turn'd out yet he never had a Statutable right to that place as is before made manifest But Dr. Ward not being willing to contend lest it and also resign'd his Savilian Professors Place and retir'd to London what he did there shall be the Subject of the next Chapter CHAP. VIII Of Dr. Wards being in London WE have observ'd before that all Disappointments which happened to Dr. Ward even since his first ejection out of Cambridge have prov'd to his advantage but this last of not retaining the Presidentship of Trinity College turn'd more notoriously not only to his private Emolument but to the public good also For had he kept that Headship I mean been buried alive in Trinity College hiding his glorious Light under that Bushel Exeter and Salisbury could not have boasted of so good a Bishop and Benefactor the Church of England had wanted such a Pillar and Asserter of its Rights and the Poor the Houses and Benefactions he has provided for them he might have publish'd more Treatises in Divinity and Mathematics but he could not possibly have done so much good On May the 29 th since made a perpetual Holiday by Act of Parliament King Charles return'd in Glory to his Kingdoms from which he had been unjustly Exil'd for many Years He was no sooner fix'd in his Throne but he resolv'd to settle the Church as by the Ancient Laws Establish'd to restore and to confirm it all its Lands Rights and Privileges of which it had been Sacrilegiously robb'd and despoil'd To this end several new Bishops were Consecrated who together with those who out liv'd the Storm of the Persecution were commission'd by the King to do it effectually Those Ministers who were ejected out of their Livings for adhering to the King's Cause were restor'd and notice was given to all who had any pretension to any Ecclesiastical Places or Dignities at or before such a day nominated to appear and enter their Claims for after that day the Commissioners intended to fill all the Vacancies in the Churches You may remember what I said in the Fourth Chapter that Bishop Brounrig had conferr'd the Precentorship of the Church of Exeter upon Dr. Ward many Years before And now that Title which had lain so long dormant and as to outward appearance dead awak'd reviv'd and took place and was accepted by the Commissioners by whose order he was admitted Precentor not long after he was chosen Dean and in the same Year consecrated Bishop of Exeter During these Transactions Dr. Ward had frequent occasion to ride betwixt London and Oxford which Journey he always perform'd in one day upon a high-mettled dancing I might say a run-away Mare for almost any body besides him would have found her so but he was indeed a good Horseman and valu'd himself upon it I have heard him say when he was a young Scholar in Cambridge and us'd to ride in company of others to London or elsewhere he frequently chang'd Horses with those who could not make theirs go and with those tir'd Jades lead the way but this is to be reckon'd amongst the least of his Accomplishments By so often taking this Journey in the heat of the Year he threw himself into a dangerous Fever and lay long sick of it in Gresham-College which not being well Cur'd by reason that Dr. Goddard his Fysician was then very full of Employment and could not give him due attendance I say it was not well Cur'd he having not Purg'd after it as it was necessary it left in him an ill constitution of Health during the rest of his Life and tho' he wrestled with it and bore up against it for many Years yet he could never subdue it Morbum tolerare potuit superare vero non potuit Upon the promotion of Dr. Reynolds to the Bishopric of Norwich the Church of St. Laurence Iewry became Vacant and it being in the Kings Gift was conferr'd upon Dr. Ward who kept it till he was nominated Bishop of Exeter and upon his resignation procur'd it for his Friend Dr. Wilkins who was at that time wholly destitute of all Employment and Preferment for upon the Kings
in great esteem and treated him with intimate Familiarity I remember when we were at Astrop Wells he sent the Bishop a pleasant Letter by his youngest Son wherein amongst other things he strictly enjoyns not to infuse any Mathematics into him for fear they should render him unfit to be a Politician To which the Bishop return'd in answer That he would obey his Lordships Commands and principally because De Wit was a famous Instance That a good Mathematician could not be an able Statesman The Gentleman who brought this Letter together with my Lord Faulkland my Lord Roxborough and several other of the Nobility of England and Scotland perished in the memorable Shipwrack of the Gloucester which was then carrying the Duke of York to Scotland upon the Lemane Ore on Friday May 5. 1682. This Story is so wonderful and honourable for the English Seamen that I cannot forbear telling it here 't is an amazing thing that Mariners who are usually as rough as the Element they converse in when inevitable Death was before their eyes and to be incurred within a very few minutes that Mariners I say should have that presence of Mind that inestimable value and deference for the Duke of York as being of the Blood-Royal and Brother to their King as to take care of his safety and neglect their own to put him into a Boat and permit no other Persons to enter into it but those he called out of the sinking Ship for fear of over-lading it and as soon as they perceiv'd the Boat clear of the Ship and the Prince out of danger that they all of them should throw up their Caps and make loud Acclamations and Huzzas of Joy as if they had obtained some signal Victory over their Enemies and in this rapture sink to the bottom immediately at the same instant concluding their Lives and their Jubilation Many Reflections may be made upon this remarkable Story but I being in haste leave that work to others I cannot positively determine whether my Lord Clarendon was in earnest and believed that Mathematics would render those who understood them unfit to manage State Affairs but if he did I put into the Scale against him another great Man and Politician I mean the late Duke of Lauderdale who has often declard in the presence of divers Persons of Quality from some of which I had it that in his opinion the Bishop of Salisbury was the best Speaker in the House of Lords I will muster but one more that shall be Anthony Earl of Shaftsbury who was for a considerable time a great Friend to our Bishop they enterchanged many Visits as they might conveniently do their Houses in the Country being but at a small distance one from the other and often consulted about Public Affairs nay after they went several ways in Parliament tho their Intimacy was at end yet their mutual Esteem continued I have seen a printed Speech of the Earls wherein he Treats the Bishop very honourably preferring his Speeches before the rest of his Opponents as having more of Argument in them and being closer to the purpose CHAP. XIV A Continuation of the former IF I should persist in this way of enumerating the Bishops Friends There 's one there 's two and so on like Faggots I should tire the Reader and my Self therefore as to those that remain I shall serve them up in Clusters excepting two or three concerning whom I intend to treat more at large The Bench of Bishops had that esteem for him that they selected him to observe and reply to the Earl of Shaftsbury if he should move any thing to the detriment of the Church for this Earl was a Person of great Ability and had a peculiar Talent to promote or hinder any thing passing the House of Peers To mount a step higher our Bishops Probity Wisdom and Ability to manage the great and Arduous Affairs of State was in so great esteem for a considerable while that he was spoke of both at Court and in the City as the fittest Person to supply the place of the Archbishop of Canterbury Lord-Keeper or Lord-Treasurer if any of them should become vacant And I am confident it pleased him more to be esteemd worthy of such Trusts than to have enjoyd the best of them I well remember the time when he told me he had the proffer of the Bishopric of Durham after Bishop Cousins death Pray my Lord said I accept it we shall have brave Horses there and the long Journey betwixt Bishops-Auclands and London will conduce much to the meliorating of your Health He replied I just now enterd it in my blue Book that this day I refusd it I replied and pray my Lord why did you so Because said he I did not like the Conditions but what they were it would have been unmannerly for me to inquire and he did not think it convenient to tell me This is refusing so rich a Bishopric is so great an Act of Self-denial that I have reason to fear 't will not be credited upon my single Testimony I shall therefore call in another Witness against whom there can be no Exception to corroborate mine he shall be no lesser a Person than the present Bishop of Durham whom not long after I met at Reading being then there with the Bishop of Salisbury in his Visitation I having had the honour to have been acquainted with the Bishop of Durham even from his first admission into Lincoln College in Oxford laid hold on this occasion to felicitate his promotion to Durham He replied 'T was proffered to your Bishop meaning the Bishop of Salisbury but he did not think fit to accept of it And here now I should add the Nobility and Gentry of Wiltshire Berkshire Devonshire and Cornwal whose Diocesan he had been but I remember my promise to ease both the Reader and my Self I proceed to the greatest of his Friends situated in high Places He was very much in favour with the King and the Duke of York before he declared himself of the Romish Perswasion whom he Treated magnificently at Salisbury and also with the Archbishop of Canterbury who used to entertain him with the greatest kindness and familiarity imaginable in his common discourse to him he used to call him Old Sarum And I have heard the Archbishop speak of him more than once as the Person whom he wished might succeed him About this time as it is notoriously known there were Intrigues carried on by a Party at Court to introduce the Romish Religion and make the Power of the King Unlimited and Arbitrary whereunto all Persons were to obey without reserve which words were in one of the Proclamations sent to Scotland But the Bishop of Salisbury not swimming with the Stream he lost at least one of his great Friends and with him his favour at Court the Effects whereof appeared not long after the manner thus The Revenue belonging to the Order of the Garter was usually received by
Exon. Longas suavesque Amicitias Hoc Saxo prosecutus est Obiit Iunii 27. Anno Dom. MDCLXII AEtatis suae XL. In English thus To the Pious Memory Of that Excellent Person Laurence Rooke Who either sleeps or meditates under this Stone Who was born in Kent and successively Enjoyd the Professors Place of Astronomy and Geometry In Gresham-College Of both those Sciences being Ornament and greatest Hope In his Life-time he had measurd and comprehended What ever is in Life or Death He was highly esteemd by all good and Learned Men For the admirable Temper of his Mind Universal Erudition sweet and transparent Manners Exact and consummate Vertue easie and profitable Conversation Being full of Knowledge but not puft up By his Piety Virtue and exalted Reason He had subdued and trod under his Feet All Worldly Desires and Fears But lest he whom a most unjust Modesty Obscurd so much in his Life Should be unknown to all after his Death Seth Ward Bishop of Exeter In return for their long and most sweet Friendship Has endeavourd to perpetuate his Memory by this Monument He died Iune the 27. in the Year of our Lord 1662. in the Fourtieth Year of his Age. Doctor Barrow did not only succeed Mr. Rooke in his Place at Gresham-College but also in his intimate Friendship with Bishop Ward and as such I shall treat of him in the ensuing Chapter CHAP. XIX Of Doctor Barrow IT is not my design to write Dr. Barrows Life and if it were I am not furnished with sufficient Materials for that undertaking It is already done tho with too much brevity by a better hand dedicated to the Reverend Dr. Tillotson then Dean and afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury by my worthy learned and ingenious Friend Abraham Hill Esq out of whose Account I shall take what I before was ignorant of concerning his Birth and Education before he arrivd to be so Eminent at Cambridge adding thereunto several particular Accidents which happened during my intimate acquaintance with him and sometimes going out of the way for a season to make the Narration more delightful I may possibly insert some particulars which will seem trivial tho in my opinion the less considerable Words and Actions and Circumstances of great Men amongst whom he has a just title to be inrolld are worthy to be transmitted to Posterity Mr. Hill fixes Dr. Barrows Birth in the Month of October A. D. 1630. But I hope he will not be offended if I dissent from him both as to the Year and Month and produce Reason for so doing t is this I have often heard Dr. Barrow say that he was born upon the Twenty-ninth of February and if he said true it could not be either in October or in 1630 that not being a Leap-Year I would not have asserted this merely upon the credit of my Memory had it been any other Day of any other Month it being told me so long since had I not this remarkable Circumstance to confirm it He used to say it is in one respect the best Day in the Year to be born upon for it afforded me this advantage over my Fellow Collegiates who used to keep Feasts upon their Birth-day I was treated by them once every Year and I entertaind them once in four Years when February had nine and twenty Days Dr. Barrow was born in London and well descended his Great Grandfather was Fillip Barrow who published a Method of Fysic whose Brother Isaac was a Doctor of Fysic and a Benefactor to Trinity College in Cambridge as also a Tutor therein to Robert Cecill Earl of Salisbury and Lord-Treasurer of England His Grandfather was Isaac Barrow Esquire of Spiney-Abbey in Cambridge-shire a Person of a good Estate and a Justice of Peace during the space of fourty Years His Fathers Name was Thomas a reputable Citizen of London and Linnen-Draper to King Charles the First to whose Interests he adherd following him first to Oxford and after his Execrable Murder he went to his Son Charles the Second then in Exile there with great patience expecting the Kings Restoration which at last happened when t was almost despaird of I remember Mr. Abraham Cowley who also was beyond Sea with the King told me at our first coming into France we expected every Post would bring us News of our being recalld but having been frustrated for so many Years we could not believe it when the happy News arrivd This Thomas had a Brother whose Name was Isaac afterwards Bishop of St. Asaf whose Consecration Sermon his Nevew and Name-sake our Dr. Barrow preachd at Westminster-Abbey His Mother was Ann Daughter of William Buggins Esq of North-Cray in Kent This Genealogy tho short has quite tird my patience it so little concerns him for it is certainly the least of his Praises if it be any at all To be Nobly or Royally extracted is the gift of blind Fortune A Principibus nasci fortuitum est This may happen to an ill and ignorant Person but to be eminently Learned and Pious cannot be obtaind without indefatigable Industry and a sincere love and constant practise of Vertue He was first put to the Charterhouse School where he made little or no progress there appearing in him an inclination rather to be a Soldier than a Scholar his chief delight being in Fighting himself and encouraging his Play-fellows to it and he was indeed of an undaunted Courage as we shall make evident in its place His Father finding no good was to be hopd for there removd him to Felstead in Essex where contrary to his expectation and even beyond his hopes his Son on a sudden became so great a proficient in Learning and all other praise-worthy Qualifications that his Master appointed him Tutor to the Lord Viscount Fairfax of Emely in Ireland who was then his Scholar During his stay at Felstead he was admitted into Peter-House of which College his Uncle the Bishop had formerly been a Member When he was fit for the University he went to Cambridge and was admitted in Trinity in Febr. A. D. 1645. He was there kindly treated by Dr. Hill whom the Parliament had put in to that Mastership in the place of Dr. Comber ejected for adhering to the King This Dr. Hill I say one day laying his Hand upon young Isaacs Head Thou art a good Lad said he t is pity thou art a Cavalier and afterwards when he had made an Oration upon the Gun-powder Treason wherein he had so celebrated the former Times as to reflect much on the present Some of the Fellows movd for his Expulsion but the Master silencd them with these word Barrow is a better Man than any of us This is very remarkable and an evident Testimony of our young Scholars irresistible Merits which could as the Poets feign of Orfeus Lenire Tigres rapidesque Leones that is Tame Savage Tigers and fierce Lions make a Presbyterian kind to a Cavalier and Malignant which Names the adherers to the King Church and
morto that is It will appear at his death whether he be or not Ovid not without reason enlarges the time in these words Dicique beatus Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet That is No Man ought to be accounted happy bâ—fore he is dead and buried So Petrarch Il Giorno la sera la vita loda il Fine That is Call not the day fair wherein it rains before Sun-set Nor that life happy which does not end well I should have accounted this Bishop of Salisbury invidiously happy had his Exit been answerable to his glorious Acting upon the Stage of the World Had he either died sooner or lived longer I mean had he died before that great I may say Total decay of his Senses and Reason befel him or livd with them intire Integra cum mente to have born his share and added one more to the number of those Faithful Bishops whose Imprisonment Tryal and Deliverance ought never to be forgotten had he livd to have seen those Clouds blown over the Church and Civil Rights of England restord and securd Iamque Opus exegi Altho I do not pretend to what follows quod nec Iovis Ira nec Ignis Nec poterit ferrum nec Edax abolere vetustas Yet I believe this Book will be longer livd than the Author and that I shall be consumd by Worms before the Moths shall have devoured it I have I say finisht the Task I imposd upon my Self as to the Performance the Readers will be Judges according to their Capacities and Inclinations but if they pronounce Sentence against me I have this to hold up my Spirits that I am certain No Man could have written this Life better or so well without my assistance Now one word to thee my little Book if the Fanatics rise up in Arms and assault thee Tu ne cede malis sed contra Audentior ito That is Let not thy noble Courage be cast down Fight it out to the last drop of Blood never yield never beg Quarter for they will give thee none for having spoken well of a Bishop Let this be thy comfort the more they rail against thee the more despitefully they use thee thou shalt be so much the more in my favour and I shall think it a sufficient reason to believe that there is something good in thee whereat they are so much offended And now I have no more to say of the Bishop of Salisbury and only this concerning my Self I thank God for prolonging my days till I have given the World this public Testimony of my Gratitude and here without begging the Reader to be Courteous or making Apologies for my Stile for my long frequent and as they will be thought by some impertinent Digressions I shall conclude with those Verses of Imperiale Meglio Amo Al mondo tutto Dicitor mal saggio E scarso d' Arte è d' alto Stil mendico Che à te solo parer non grato Amico Which may be thus Translated I had rather the whole World should say of me My Stile is flat and trivial there 's no Wit Nor one grain of good Sense in all I have writ Then seem ungrateful blessed Saint to thee Liberavi Animam meam Domine nunc dimittis I have disingaged my Soul I have paid my Debt to my deceased Friend I am I thank God arrivd to a good Old Age without Gout or Stone with my External Senses but little decayd and my Intellectuals tho none of the best yet as good as ever they were Lord now dismiss thy Servant in Peace according to thy Word FINIS Books Printed for W. Keblewhite at the Swan in St. Paul's Church-yard FIght Chirurgical Treatises on these following Heads 1. Of Tumours 2. Of Ulcers 3. Of Diseases of the Anus 4. Of the Kings-Evil 5. Of Wounds 6. Of Gunshot Wounds 7. Of Fractures and Luxations 8. Of the Lues Venerea By Richard Wiseman Serjeant-Chirurgeon to King Charles the Second The Third Edition Folio The Condemnation of Mons. Du Pin's History of Ecclesiastical Authors by the Archbishop of Paris Also his own Retractation from the French Quarto A Letter of Advice to a Friend upon the Modern Argument of the Lawfulness of Simple Fornication half Adultery and Poligamy Quarto An Enquiry into the Nature Necessity and Evidence of Christian Faith in several Essays Part I. Of Faith in General and of the belief of a Deity Part II. Of Faith with respect to Divine Providence By Iohn Cockburn D. D. Octavo Nomenclator Classicus sire Dictionariolum Trilingue By I. Ray Fellow of the Royal Society For the use of Schools Octavo A Discourse concerning the Inventions of Men in the Worship of God By the Right Reverend Dr. William King Lord Bishop of London-Derry Octavo his Admonition to the Dissenters of his Diocese Octavo Mr. Clutterbuck's Vindication of the Liturgy of the Church of England explaining the Terms Order and Usefulness of it Octavo Fifteen Sermons preached upon several Occasions and on various Subjects by Iohn Cockburn D. D. Octavo Dr. Lluellyn