age of a man 1. Arch-bishop Cranmers whereof four besides himself were burnt at the stake and the rest exiled in Germany 2. Arch-bishop Parkers in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth leading Halcion-days without any considerable Opposition against the Hierarchy 3. Arch-bishop Whitgifts much Pen-persecuted and pelted at with Libellous Pamphlets but supported by Queen Elizabeths Zeal to maintain the Discipline established 4. Arch-bishop Abbot's fortunate all the peaceable Reign of King James and beginning of King Charles though the Skie was Red and Lowring foretelling foul weather to follow a little before their Death 5. Arch-bishop Juxton's whose Episcopal Chairs were not only shrewdly shaken but as to outward appearance overturned in our late mutinous Distempers I know the man full well to whom Mr. Charles Herle President of the Assembly said somewhat insultingly I le tel you News last Night I buryed a Bishop dashing more at his profession then person in Westminster Abbey to whom the other returned with like Latitude to both Sure you buried him in hope of Resurrection This our Eyes at this day see performed and it being the work of the Lord may justly seem marvellous in our Sight It is also very remakable that of this Fift and Last Company all Bishops in 1642. Nine are alive at this present viz. Pardon me if not enumerating them exactly according to their Consecration London Bath Wells Ely Salisbury Bongor Covent and Lichfield Oxford Rochester and Chichester A Vivacity hardly to be parallel'd of so many Bishops in any other age providence purposely prolonging their Lives that as they had seen the Violent Ruining they might also behold the legal Restitution of their Order Now although not the Quick but the Dead Worthies properly pertain to my pen yet I crave leave of the Reader in my following work to enter a brief Memorial of the place of their Nativities Partly because lately they were dead though not in Law in the List of a Prevalent party partly because they are dead to the World having most attained if not exceeded the age of man threescore and ten years To conclude though the Apostles words be most true that the Lesser are Blessed of the Greater and that Imperative and Indicative Blessings allways descend from the superiour yet an Optative Blessing no more then a plain prayer may properly proceed from an inferiour so that a plain Priest and submissive Son of the Church of England may blesse the Bishops and Fathers thereof God Sanctifie their former afflictions unto them that as the Fire in the Furnace only burnt the bonds setting them free who went in fetterr'd not the cloths much lesse the bodies of the children of the captivity so their sufferings without doing them any other prejudice may only disingage their souls from all Servitude to this World And that for the Future they may put together not only the parcels of their scattered Revenues but compose the minds of the divided People in England to the Confusion of the Factious and Confirmation of the Faithful in Israel CHAPTER VI. Of such who have been worthy States-Men in our Land THe word STATESMEN is of great Latitude sometimes signifying such who are able to manage Offices of State though never actually called thereunto Many of these men concealing themselves in a private condition have never arrived at publike notice But we confine the term to such who by their Princes favour have been preferred to the prime places Of 1. Lord CHANCELLOURS Of 2. Lord TREASURERS of England Of 3. SECRETARIES of State To whom we have added some Lord ADMIRALS of England and some Lord DEPUTIES of Ireland Lord Chancellours The name is taken from CANCELLI which signifies a kind of wooden Network which admitteth the eyes of people to behold but forbids their feet to press on Persons of Quality sequestred to sit quietly by themselves for publick imployment Hence Chancells have their denomination which by such a fence were formerly divided from the body of the Church and so the Lord Chancellour had a Seat several to himself free from popular intrusion I find another Notation of this Office some deducing his name à Cancellando from Cancelling things amisse and rectifying them by the Rules of Equity and a good Conscience and this relateth to no meaner Author then Johannes Sarisburiensis Hic est qui Leges Regni Cancellat iniquas Et mandata pii Principis aequa facit Siquid obest populis aut legibus est inimicum Quicquid obest per eum desinit esse nocens 'T is he who cancelleth all cruel Lawes And in Kings Mandates Equity doth cause If ought to Land or Laws doth hurtful prove His care that hurt doth speedily remove He is the highest Officer of the Land whose principal imployment is to mittigate the rigour of the Common Law with Conscientious qualifications For as the Prophet complaineth that the Magistrates in Israel had turned JUDâ—…MENT into WORMWOOD the like would dayly come to passe in England where High Justice would be High injustice if the bitterness thereof were not sometimes seasonably sweetned with a mixture of Equity He also keepeth the Great Seal of the Land the affixing whereof preferreth what formerly was but a Piece of written Parchment to be a Patent or Charter For though it be true what Solomon sayes Where the word of a King is there is power yet that word doth not act effectually until it be produced under the publick Seal Some difference there is between learned Authours about the antiquity of this Office when it first began in Engâ—…and Polydore Virgil who though an Italian could when he would see well into English Antiquities makes the Office to begin at the Conquerour And B. Godwin accounteth them sufficiently ridiculous who make Swithin Bishop of Winchester Chancellor of England under K. Athelwolfe Severall persons are alledged Chancellours to our English Kings before the Conquest and King Ethelred appointed the Abbat of Elie ut in Regis Curia Cancellarii ageret dignitatem The Controverfie may easily be compremized by this distinction Chancellour before the Conquest imported an Office of credit in the Kings Court not of Judicature but of Residence much in the nature of a Secretary Thus lately he was called the Chancellour understand not of the Diocess but of the Cathedral-Church whose place was to pen the Letters belonging thereunto Whereas the notion of the Kings Chancellour since the Conquest is inlarged and advanced to signifie the supreme Judge of the Land The Lord Keeper of the Great Seal is in effect the same with the Lord Chancelour of England save that some will have the Lord Chancellours place ad Terminum Vitae and the Lord Keepers ad placitum Regis Sure it is that because Nicholas Heath late Arch-Bishop of York and Chancellour of England was still alive though outed of his Office Sir Nicholas Bacon was made Lord Keeper and in his time the power of the Keeper was made equal with the authority of
Amirall of England and kept it until the day of his Death Afterwards Men were chequered at the pleasure of our Princes and took their turns in that Office For this cause I can make no certain Catalogue of them who can take with my most fixed Eye no steddy aime at them the same persons being often alternately In and Out of the Place whilst Officers protermino vitae may be with some certainty recounted Yet have we sometimes inserted some Memorable Amiralls under the Tiâ—…le of Statesmen and Vice-Amiralls under the Topick of Seamen because the former had no great knowledge in Navigation I say great it being improper they should be seamasters who in no degree were seamen and were imployed rather for their Trust then skill to see others do their Duty whilst the latter were allwayes persons well experienced in Maritine affairs Lord-Deputies of IRELAND Ever since King Henry the second conquered Ireland few of our English Princes went thither in person and none continued any long time there save King John and King Richard the second neither of them over-fortunate But that Land was governed by a Substitute commissioned from our Kings with the same power though sometimes under several names Lord Lieutenants Lord Deputies Lord Cheif Justiceâ—… These were also of a double nature for Some staid in England and appointed Deputies under them to act all Irish Affairs Others went over into Ireland transacting all things by presence not proxie Immediately deputed by the King to reside there We insist on this title as which is most constant and current amongst them Not of the Kings Bench or Common-Pleas but of all Ireland This power was sometime sole in a single person and sometimes 〈◊〉 in two together Thus these three Titles are in sense Synonima to signifie the same power and place Some erroniously term them Presidents of Ireland a Title belonging to the particular Governours of Mounster and Connagh It is true of Ireland what was once said of * Edom their Deputies were Kings No Vice-roy in Christendome Naples it self not excepted is observed in more state He chooseth Sheriffes and generally all Officers save Bishops and Judges and these also though not made by his commanding are usually by his commending to the King He conferreth Knighthood hath power of life and death signified by the Sword carried commonly before him by a person of Honour His attendance and House-keeping is magnificent partly to set a Copy of State to the barbarous Irish by seeing the difference betwixt the rude rabble routs runing after their native Lords and the solemnity of a regulated retinue partly to make in that Rebellious Nation a reverential impression of Majesty that by the Shadow they may admire the Substance and proportionably collect the State of the King himself who therein is represented Our English Kings were content with the Title of Lords of Ireland until King Henry the Eighth who partly to shew his own power to assume what style he pleased without leave or liberty from the Pope whose Supremity he had suppressed in his Dominions partly the more to awe the Irish wrote himself King thereof Anno Dom. 1541. from which Year we date our Catalogue of Lord Deputies as then and not before Vice-Royes indeed Indeed it was no more then needs for King Henry the Eighth to assume that Title seeing quod efficit tale magis est tale and the Commission whereby King Henry the Second made William-Fitz-Adelme his Lieutenant of Ireland hath this direction Archiepiscopis Episcopis Regibus Comitibus Baronibus et omnibus fidelibus suis in Hibernia salutem Now though by the post-poning of these Kings to Arch-bishops and Bishops it plainly appears that they were no Canonical Kings as I may say I mean solemnly invested with the Emblems of sovereignty the King of Connagh the King of Thomond yet were they more then Kings even Tyrants in the exercise of their Dominions so that King Henry was in some sort necessitated to set himself King Paramount above them all CHAPTER VII Of Capital Judges and Writers on the Common Law BY CAPITAL JUDGES we understand not those who have power to condemn Offenders for Capital Faults as all the Twelve Judges have or any Serjeant commissioned to ride the Circuit but the Chief Judges who as Capital LETTERS stand in Power and Place above the rest viz. 1. the Chief Justice of the Kings Bench. 2. of the Common Pleas 3. the Chief Baron of the Exchequer and the Learned Antiquary Sr. Henry Spelman avoweth the Title of Capital Justicers properly applicable to these alone The Chief Justice of the Kings or Upper Bench is commonly called the Lord Chief Justice of England a Title which the Lord Chancellor accounting himself Chief in that kind looks on as an injurious usurpation And many alive may remember how Sr. Edward Cook was accused to K. James for so styling himself in the Frontespiece of his Reports Part the Tenth and Eleventh insomuch that the Judg was fain to plead for himself Erravimus cum Patribus as who could have produced plenty of Precedents therein 2. The chief Justice of the Common Pleas in Place beneath is in Profit above the former So that some have out of Designe quitted That to accept of This Amongst these was Sr. Edward Mountague in the Raign of K. Henry the eighth who being demanded of his Friends the Reason of his Self-degradation I am now saith he an Old Man and love the Kitching above the Hall the Warmest place best suiting my Age. The Chief Baron is chiefly imployed in the Exchequer to decide causes which relate to the Kings Revenue Their Brevia or Writts did commonly run with this Clause That the Judg should have and hold his PLACE quam diu se benè geserit so long as he well behaved himself on this Token That Sr. John Walter Lord chief Baron of the Exchequer being to be outed of his Place for adjudging the Loan-mony illegal pleaded for himself That he was guilty of no Misdemeanour who had only delivered his Judgment according to his Conscience Others are granted from the King durante nostro beneplacito to continue in their Office during his will and pleasure We begin the Army of our Judges for some Few like the Forlorne Hope advance higher about the time of King Edward the first It is impossible exactly to observe that Inn of Court wherein each of them had his Education especially some of them being so Ancient that in their times Lincolnes Inn and Greys Inn were Lincoln's Inn and Grey's Inn I mean belonged to those their Owners from whom they had their Names as being before they were appropriated to the Students of our Municipall Lawes Here I will condemn my self to prevent the condemning of others and confesse our Characters of these Judges to be very brief and defective Indeed were the Subject we treat of overstrewed with Ashes like the floor of Bells Temple it were easie to finde out and follow the
Hallalu-jah Such as cavil at Musick because Juball a descendant from wicked Cain was the first founder thereof may as well be content to lye out of dores and refuse all cover to shelter them because Jaball of the same extraction being his own brother first invented to dwell in Tents I confess there is a company of pretenders to Musick who are commonly called Crowders and that justly too because they Crowd into the company of Gentlemen both unsent for and unwelcome but these are no more a disgrace to the true professors of that faculty then Monkies are a disparagement to man-kind Now right antient is the use of Musick in England especially if it be true what I read in a worthy Father and I know not which more to admire either that so memorable a passage should escape Master Camdens or that it should fall under my observation Clemens Alexand. Strom. lib. 6. pag. 632. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They say even those which compose histories that in the Island of Britanny there is a certain Cave lying under a Mountain in the top thereof gaping The wind therefore falling into the Cave and dashing into the bosome of a hollow place there is heard a tinckling of Cymbals beating in Tune and Time Where this musical place should be in Britain I could never find yet have been informed that Doctor Miles Smith Bishop of Hereford found something tending that way by the help of an active fancy in Herefordshire But waving this natural the antiquity of artificial Musick in this Island is proved by the practice of the Bards thereby communicating Religion Learning and Civility to the Britans Right glad I am that when Musick was lately shut out of our Churches on what default of hers I dare not to enquire it hath since been harboured and welcomed in the Halls Parlors and Chambers of the primest persons of this Nation Sure I am it could not enter into my Head to surm se that Musick would have been so much discouraged by such who turned our Kingdome into a Commonwealth seeing they prided themselves in the armes thereof an impaled Harp being Moity of the same When it was Ask'd what made a good Musitian one Answered a good voice another that it was skill but he said the truth who said it was incouragement It was therefore my constant wish that seeing most of our Musicians were men of maturity and arrived at their full age and skill before these distracted times began and seeing what the Historian wrote in another sence is true here in our acception and application thereof Res est unius seculi populus virorum I say I did constantly wish that there might have been some semenary of youth set up to be bred in the faculty of Musick to supply succession when this Set of Masters in that Science had served their generation Yet although I missed of what I did then desire yet thanks be to God I have lived to see Musick come into request since our Nation came into right Tune and begin to flourish in our Churches and elsewhere so that now no fear but we shall have a new generation skillful in that Science to succeed such whose age shall call upon them to pay their debt to nature If any who dislike Musick in Churches object it useless if not hurtful in Divine Services let them hear what both a learned and able Divine alledgeth in defence thereof So that although we lay altogether aside the consideration of Ditty or Matter the very Harmony of sounds being framed in due sort and carried from the Ear to the spiritual faculties of the Soul it is by a native puissance and efficacy greatly available to bring to a perfect temper whatsoever is there troubled apt as well to quicken the spirits as to allay that which is too eager soveraign against melancholy and dispair forceable to draw forth Tears of Devotion if the Mind be such as can yield them able both to move and moderate all affections In recounting up of Musitians I have only insisted on such who made it there profession and either have written books of that faculty and have attained to such an eminence therein as is generally acknowledged Otherwise the work would be endless to recount all up who took it as a quality of accomplishment amongst whom King Henry the eighth must be accounted who as Erasmus testifies to his knowledge did not onely sing his part sure but also compose services for his Chappel of four five and six parts though as good a Professor as he was he was a great destroyer of Musick in this Land surely not intentionly but accidentaly when he suppressed so many Quires at the Desolution Romish Exile Writers After the Writers before the Reformation succeed those Romish banished Writers since the same all living since the reign of Q Mary which might have been distanced from the former with a black line interposed as beheld under a far different yea worse qualification For the superstitions of the former were the more pardonable as living in a dark age which are less excusable in these since the light of the Gospel I confess the word Exile carries much of commiseration therein and with chatably minded men bespeaks pitty to the persons untill the cause of their banishment be well considered For some in the first of Queen Elizabeth willfully left the Land and so in effect banished themselves others having their lives forfeited by the Laws had their deaths mercifully commuted by ouâ—… Magistrates into banishment Objection These men might have been lost without loss and been omitted in your book as no limbe but a wen yea an ulcer thereof Answer Grant them never so bad being digested into a Classis by themselves their mixture cannot be infectious to others Secondly Abate their errours and otherwise many of them were well meriting of the Commonwealth of learning Lastly The passages of their lives conduce very much to the clearing of Ecclesiastcal History In noting of their nativties I have wholly observed the instructions of Pitseâ—…s where I knock off with his death my light ending with his life in that subject since which time I have neither list to enquire nor conveniency to attain of these Romish fugitives beyond the seas A just Complaint of the numerosity of needless Books Solomon was sensible of this vanity even in his time when pronouncing of Book there is no end The Heathen Poet took notice thereof Scribimus indocti doctique Poemata passim Poems write a main we do Learned and unlearned too All this was before the invention of Printing when books came but single into the publique which since that Mistery is made common come swimning into the world like shoals of Fishes and one edition spawneth another This made learned Erasmus for company sake to jeer himself that he might the more freely jeer others Multi mei similes hoc morbo laborant ut cum scribere nesciant
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
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
he could not avoid to behold it For these reasons he left the Land went or shall I say fled into France where he sighed out the remainder of his Life most at Pontiniack but some at Soyssons where he dyed Anno 1240. Pope Innocent the fourth Canonized him six years after his death whereat many much wondred that he should so much honour one a professed foe to Papal Extortions Some conceived he did it se defendendo and for a ne noceat that he might not be tormented with his Ghost But what hurt were it if all the Enemies of his Holiness were Sainted on condition they took death in their way thereunto Sure it is that Lewis King of France a year after translated his Corps and three years after that bestowed a most sumptuous Shrine of Gold Silver and Chrystal upon it and the 16. of November is the Festival appointed for his Memorial Martyrs It appeareth by the confession of Thomas Man Martyred in the beginning of King Henry the eighth that there was at Newberry in this County a glorious and sweet Society of faithful Favourers who had continued the space of fifteen years together till at last by a certain lewd person whom they trusted and made of their Council they were betrayed and then many of them to the number of six or seven score were abjured and three or four of them burnt Now although we knew not how to call these Martyrs who so suffered their Names no doubt are written in the Book of Life We see how the day of the Gospel dawned as soon in this County as in any place in England surely Seniority in this kind ought to be respected which made Paul a pusney in piety to Andronicus and Iunia his kinsmen to enter this caveat for their Spiritual precedency who were in Christ before me On which account let other places give the honour to the Town of Newberry because it started the first and I hope not tire for the earliness thereof in the race of the Reformed Religion Yea Doctor William Twis the painful Preacher in that Parish was wont to use this as a motive to his flock to quicken their pace and strengthen their perseverance in piety because that Town appears the first fruits of the Gospel in England And Windsor the next in the same County had the honour of Martyrs ashes therein as by the ensuing list will appear There was in Windsor a company of right godly persons who comfortably enjoyed themselves untill their enemies designed their extirpation though it cost them much to accomplish it one of them confessing that for his share he expended an hundred marks besides the killing of three Geldings These suspecting that the Judges Itinerant in their circuit would be too favourable unto them procured a special Session got four arraigned and condemned by the Commissioners whereof the three following were put to death on the Statute of the six Articles 1. Anthony Persons a Priest and profitable Preacher so that the great Clerks of Windsor thought their idleness upbraided by his industry Being fastned to the stake he laid a good deal of straw on the top of his head saying this is Gods hat I am now arm'd like a souldier of Christ. 2. Robert Testwood a singing-man in the Quire of Windsor There hapned a contest betwixt him and another of that Society singing an Anthem together to the Virgin Mary Robert Philips on the one side of the Quire Robert Testwood on the other side of the Quire Oh Redemtrix Salvatrix Non Redemtrix nec Salvatrix I know not which sung the deepest Base or got the better for the present Sure I am that since by Gods goodness the Nons have drowned the Ohs in England Testwood was also accused for disswading people from Pilgrimages and for striking off the nose of the image of our Lady 3. Henry Fillmer Church-Warden of Windsor who had Articled against their superstitious Vicar for heretical Doctrine These three were burnt together at Windsor Anno 1544. and when account was given to their patient death to King Henry the eighth sitting on horse-back the King turning his horses head said Alas poor innocents A better speech from a private person then a Prince bound by his place not only to pity but protect oppressed innocence However by this occasion other persecuted people were pardoned and preserved of whom hereafter This storm of persecution thus happily blown over Bark-shire enjoyed peace and tranquillity for full twelve years together viz. from the year of our Lord 1544. till 1556. When Dr. Jeffrey the cruel Chancellour of Sarisbury renewed the troubles at Newberry and caused the death of JULINS PALMER See his Character being born in Coventry in Warwickshire JOHN GWIN THOMAS ASKINE These three July 16. 1556. were burnt in a place nigh Newberry called the Sand-pits enduring the pain of the fire with such incredible constancy that it confounded their foâ—…s and confirmed their friends in the Truth Confessors JOHN MARBECK was an Organist in the Quire of Windsor and very skilful therein a man of Admirable Industry and Ingenuity who not perfectly understanding the Latin Tongue did out of the Latin with the help of the English Bible make an English Concordance which Bishop Gardiner himself could not but commend as a piece of singular Industry Professing that there were no fewer then twelve Learned men to make the first Latin Concordance And King Henry the eighth hearing thereof said that he was better imployed then those Priests which accused him Let therefore our Modern Concordances of Cotton Newman Bernard c. as Children and Grand-Children do their duty to Marbecks Concordance as their Parent at first endeavour'd in our Language This Marbeck was a very zealous Protestant and of so sweet and amiable Nature that all good men did love and few bad men did hate him Yet was he condemned Anno 1544. on the Statute of the 6. Articles to be burnt at Windsor had not his pardon been procured divers assigning divers causes thereof 1. That Bishop Gardiner bare him a speciall affection for his skill in the Mystery of Musick 2. That such who condemned him procured his pardon out of Remorse of Conscience because so slender the evidence against him it being questionable whether his Concordance was made after the Statute of the 6. Articles or before it and if before he was freed by the Kings General pardon 3. That it was done out of design to reserve him for a discovery of the rest of his party if so their plot failed them For being as true as Steel whereof his fetters were made which he ware in Prison for a good time he could not be frighted or flattered to make any detection Here a mistake was committed by Mr. Fox in his first Edition whereon the Papisâ—…s much insult making this Marbeck burnt at Windsor for his Religion with Anthony Persons Robert Testwood and Henry Fillmer No doubt Mr. Fox rejoyced at
past twelve years of age before he knew one letter in the Book and did not he run fast who starting so late came soon to the mark He was a Curious Poet excellent Musician a valiant and successeful Souldier who fought seven Battles against the Danes in one year and at last made them his Subjects by Conquest and Gods servants by Christianity He gave the first Institution or as others will have it the best 〈◊〉 to the University of Oxford A Prince who cannot be painted to the Life without his losse no words reaching his worth He Divided 1. Every natural day as to himself into three parts eight hours for his devotion eight hours for his imployment eight hours for his sleep and refection 2. His Revenues into three parts one for his expences in War a second for the maintenance of his Court and a third to be spended on Pious uses 3. His Land into Thirty two shires which number since is altered and increased 4. His Subjects into Hundreds and Tythings consisting of Ten persons mutually Pledges for their Good behaviour such being accounted suspitious for their Life and Loyalty that could not give such Security He left Learning where he found Ignorance Justice where he found Oppression Peace where he found Distraction And having Reigned about Four and thirty years He dyed and was buried at Winchester Anno 901. He loved Religion more then Superstition favoured Learned men more then Lasie Monks which perchance was the cause that his memory is not loaden with Miracles and He not solemnly Sainted with other Saxon Kings who far less deserved it Since the Reformation PETER CHAPMAN was born at Cokeham in this County bred an Iron-monger in London and at his death bequeathed five pounds a year to two Scholars in Oxford as much to two in Cambridge and five Pounds a year to the Poor in the town of his Nativity besides threescore pounds to the Prisons in London and other Benefactions The certain date of his death is to me unknown JOHN KENDRICK was born at Reading in this County and bred a Draper in the City of London His State may be compared to the Mustard-seed very little at the beginning but growing so great that the birds made nests therein or rather he therein made neâ—…ts for many birds which otherwise being either infledged or maimed must have been exposed to wind and weather The Worthiest of Davids WORTHIES were digested into Ternions and they again subdivided into two Ranks If this double Dichotomie were used to methodize our Protestant Benefactors since the Reformation sure I am that Mr. Kendrick will be if not the last of the first the first of the second Three His Charity began at his Kindred proceeded to his Friends and Servants to whom he left large Legacies concluded with the Poor on whom he bestowed above twenty thousand pounds Reading and Newbury sharing the deepest therein And if any envious and distrustfull Miser measuring other mens hearts by the narrowness of his own suspecteth the truth hereof and if he dare hazard the smarting of his bleered eyes to behold so bright a Sun of Bounty let him consult his Will publickly in Print He departed this life on the 30. day of September 1624. and lyes buried in St. Christophers London To the Curate of which Parish he gave twenty pounds per annum for ever RICHARD WIGHTWICK Bachelor of Divinity was Rector of East Isley in this County What the yearly value of his living was I know not and have cause to believe it not very great however one would conjecture his Benefice a Bishoprick by his bounty to Pembroke Colledge in Oxford to which he gave one hundred pounds per annum to the maintenance of three Fellows and four Scholars When he departed this life is to me unknown Memorable Persons THOMAS COLE commonly called the rich clothier of Reading Tradition and an authorless pamphlet make him a man of vast wealth maintaining an hundred and fourty meniall servants in his house besides three hundred poor people whom he set on work insomuch that his Wains with cloth filled the high-way betwixt Reading and London to the stopping of King Henry the first in his Progress Who notwithstanding for the incouraging of his Subjects industry gratified the said Cole and all of his profession with the set measure of a Yard the said King making his own Arme the standard thereof whereby Drapery was reduced in the meting thereof to a greater certainty The truth is this Monkes began to Lard the lives of their Saints with lies whence they proceeded in like manner to flourish out the facts of Famous Knights King Arthur Guy of Warwick c. in imitation whereof some meaner wits in the same sort made description of Mechanicks powdering their lives with improbable passages to the great prejudice of truth Seeing the making of Broad-cloath in England could not be so ancient and it was the arme not of King Henry but King Edward the first which is notoriously known to have been the adequation of a yard However because omnis fabula fundatur in Historia let this Cole be accounted eminent in this kind though I vehemently suspect very little of truth would remain in the midst of this story if the grosse falshoods were pared from both sides thereof JOHN WINSCOMBE called commonly Jack of Newberry was the most considerable clothier without fancy and fiction England ever beheld His Looms were his lands whereof he kept one hundred in his House each managed by a Man and a Boy In the expedition to Flodden-field against James King of Scotland he marched with an hundred of his own men as well armed and better clothed then any to shew that the painfull to use their hands in peace could be valiant and imploy their Armes in War He feasted King Henry the eighth and his first Queen Katharine at his own house extant at Newberry at this day but divided into many Tenements Well may his house now make sixteen Clothiers houses whose wealth would amount to six hundred of their estates He built the Church of Newberry from the Pulpit westward to the Tower inclusively and died about the year 1520. some of his name and kindred of great wealth still remaining in this County Lord Mayors Name Father Place Company Time 1 John Parveis John Parveis Erlgeston Fishmonger 1432 2 Nicholas Wyfold Thomas Wyfold Hertley Grocer 1450 3 William Webbe John Webbe Reading Salter 1591 4 Thomas Bennet Thomas Bennet Wallingford Mercer 1603 The Names of the Gentry of this County returned by the Commissioners in the twelfth year of King Henry the Sixth 1433. Robert Bishop of Sarum Commissioners to take the Oaths William Lovel Chivaler  Robert Shotsbroke Knights for the Shires William Fyndern  Johan Prendegest Praeceptor Hospitalis St. Johan Jerus in Anglia de Grenham Johannis Golefre Armigeri Willielmi Warbelton Ar. Willielmi Danvers Ar. Johannis Shotesbrooke Ar. Thomae Foxle Ar. Phi. Inglefeld Ar. Thomae Rothewell
must be more in it to give him that denomination seeing many had that office besides himself He was a great Scholar and deep Divine it being reported to his no small praise That he conformed his Divinity to Scripture and not to the rules of Philosophy He flourished under King Edward the third anno 1350. WILLIAM CAXTON born in that Town a noted stage betwixt Roiston and Huntington Bale beginneth very coldly in his commendation by whom he is charactered Vir non omnino stupidus aut ignavia torpens but we understand the language of his Liptote the rather â—…ecause he proceedeth to praise his Diligence and Learning He had most of his Education beyond the Seas living 30. years in the Court of Margaret Dutchesse of Burgundy Sister to King Edward the fourth whence I conclude him an Anti-Lancastrian in his affection He continued Polychronicon beginning where Trevisa ended unto the end of King Edward the fourth with good judgment and Fidelity And yet when he writeth that King Richard the second left in his Treasury Money and Jewells to the value of seven hundred thousand pounds I cannot credit him it is so contrary to the received Character of that Kings Riotous Prodigality Caxton carefully collected and printed all Chaucers works and on many accounts deserved well of Posterity when he died about the year 1486. Since the Reformation RICHARD HULOET was born at Wishich in this County and brought up in good learning He wrote a book called the English and Latine A B C and dedicated the same to Thomas Goowrich Bishop of Ely and Chancellor of England Some will condemn him of Indiscretion in presenting so low a subject to so high a person as if he would teach the Greatest States-man in the land to spell aright Others will excuse him his book being though of low of generall use for the Common people who then began to betake themselves to reading long neglected in the land so that many who had one foot in their grave had their hand on their primer But I believe that his book whereof I could never recover a sight though entitled an A B C related not to Literall reading but rather to some Elementall grounds of Religion He flourished Anno Domini 1552. JOHN RICHARDSON was born of honest parentage at Linton in this County bred first Fellow of Emanuell then Master of Saint Peters and at last of Trinity-colledge in Cambridge and was Regius Professor in that University Such who represent him a dull and heavy man in his parts may be confuted with this instance An extraordinary Act in Divinity was kept at Cambridge before King James wherein Doctor John Davenant was Answerer and Doctor Richardson amongst others the opposers The Question was maintained in the negative concerning the excommunicating of Kings Doctor Richardson vigorously pressed the practice of Saint Ambrose excommunicating of the Emperour Theodosius insomuch that the King in some passion returned profecto fuit hoc ab Ambrosio insolentissimè factum To whom Doctor Richardson rejoyned responsum vere Regium Alexandro dignum hoc non est argumenta dissolvere sed desecare And so sitting down he desisted from any further dispute He was employed one of the Translators of the Bible and was a most excellent linguist whose death happened Anno Dom. 1621. ANDREW WILLET D. D. was born at Ely in this County bred Fellow of Christs-colledge in Cambridge He afterwards succeeded his father in the Parsonage of Barley in Hertford shire and became Prebendary of Ely He confuted their cavill who make children the cause of covetousness in Clergy-men being bountifull above his ability notwithstanding his numerous issue No less admirable his industry appearing in his Synopsiâ—… Comments and Commentaâ—…ies insomuch that one considering his Polygraphy said merrily that he must write whilst he slept it being unpossible that he should do so much when waking Sure I am he wrote not sleepily nor oscitantèr but what was solid in it self and profitable for others A casuall fall from his horse in the high-way near Hodsden breaking his leg accelerated his death It seems that Gods promise to his children to keep them in all their ways that they dash not their foot against the stone 'T is as other Temporall promises to be taken with a Tacit clause of revocation viz. if Gods wisdome doth not discover the contrary more for his glory and his childrens good This Doctor died Anno Domini 1621. Sir THOMAS RIDLEY Kt. Dr. of the Laws was born at Ely in this County bred first a scholar in Eaton then Fellow of Kings-colledge in Cambridge He was a general scholar in all kind of learning especially in that which we call melior literatura He afterwards was Chancellor of Winchester and the Vicar generall to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury his memory will never dye whilst his book called the view of the Ecclesiastical Laws is living a book of so much merit that the Common Lawyers notwithstanding the difference betwixt the professions will ingeniously allow a due commendation to his learned performance in that subject He died Anno Domini 1629. on the two and twentieth day of January ARTHUR HILDERSHAM was born at Strechworth in this County descended by his mothers side from the Bloud-Royal being great-great-grand-child to George Duke of Clarence brother to Edward the fourth Yet was he not like the proud Nobles of Tecoa who counted themselves too good to put their hands to Gods work But being bred in Christs-colledge in Cambridge he entred into the Ministry How this worthy Divine was first run a ground with poverty and afterwards set a float by Gods Providence how he often alternately lost and recovered his voice being silenced and restored by the Bishops how after many intermediate afflictions this just and upright man had peace at the last is largely reported in my Ecclesiastical History to which except I adde to the truth I can adde nothing on my knowledge remarkable He died Anno Domini 1631. R. PARKER for so is his Christian name defectively written in my Book was born in Ely therefore Place-nameing himself Eliensis was son as I am confident to Master Parker Arch-deacon of Ely to whom that Bishoprick in the long vacancy after the death of Bishop Cox was profered and by him refused tantum opum usuram iniquis conditionibus sibi oblatam respuens Our Parker was bred in and became Fellow of Caius-colledge an excellent Herauld Historian and Antiquary Author of a short plain true and brief Manuscript called Sceletos Cantabrigiensis and yet the bare Bones thereof are Fleshed with much matter and hath furnished me with the Nativities of severall Bishops who were Masters of Colledges I am not of the mind of the Italian from whose Envy God deliver us Polidore Virgil who having first served his own turn with them burnt all the rare English Manuscripts of History he could procure so to raise the valuation of his own works But from my heart I wish some
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 Leadâ—…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 â—…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 â—…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 〈◊〉 Bracton Lib. tertio Tract 2. Cap. 11. Ex tunc gerunt Caput Lupinum ita quod sine judiciali inquisitione ritè 〈◊〉 secum 〈◊〉 judicium portent meritò sine Lâ—…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
they might prove profitable as by Arch-bishop Grindall limited and regulated Being really blind more with grief then age dying at sixty four he was willing to put off his clothes before he went to bed and in his life time to resigne his place to Doctor Whitgiff who refused such acceptance thereof And the Queen commiserating his condition was graciously pleased to say that As She had made him so he should die an Arch bishop as he did July 6. 1583. Worldly wealth he cared not for desiring onely to make both ends meet and as for that little that lapped over he gave it to pious uses in both Universities and the founding of a fair Free-school at Saint Bees the place of his nativity HENRY ROBINSON D. D. was born in Carlile bred Fellow and at last Provost of Queens-colledge in Oxford and afterwards 1598. was consecrated Bishop of the place of his nativity When Queen Elizabeth received his Homage She gave him many Gracious words of the good Opinion which She conceived of his Learning Integrity and Sufficiency for that place Moreover adding that She must ever have a care to furnish that See with a worthy man for his sake who first set the Crown on Her Head and many words to the like purpose He was a Prelate of great gravity and temperance very mild in Speech but not of so strong a constitution of body as his countenance did promise And yet he lived to be a very old man He dyed Anno Dom. 16 ... RICHARD SENHOUSE D. D. was born of worshipfull parentage at Netherhall in this County A valiant man in his younger days and I have heard that in his old age he felt the admonitions of his youthfull over-violent exercises He was bred Fellow of Saint Johns-colledge in Cambridge and became an Excellent Preacher his Sermons losing no lusture by his good utterance and gracefull delivering of them He was Chaplain to King Charles whilst Prince and Preached his Sermon at His Coronation He was preferred Bishop of Carlile enjoying the place but a short time He dyed Anno Domini 1626. Capitall Judges and Writers on the Law Sir RICHARD HUTTON was born at Perith of a Worshipfull Family his elder Brother was a Knight and bred in Jesus Colledge in Cambridge He intended his Studies for Divinity till disswaded by the importunity of his friends amongst whom George Earl of Cumberland most eminent he became Barrister in Grays-Inn But in expression of his former affection to Divinity he seldome if ever took Fee of a Clergy-man Afterwards being Recorder of York he was Knighted and made Judge of the Common-Pleas In the Case of Ship-money though he was against the King or rather for the Commons yet His Majesty manifested not the least distast continuing to call him the Honest Judge This person so pious to God and charitable to his poor Members was dissolved about the beginning of our National misery Thus God before he new ploweth up a land with the furrows of a Civil War first cutteth down his old crop and gathereth them like ripe sheaves into his barn He dyed at Serjeants-Inn and was buried at his earnest desire without any Funerall Sermon save what his own vertues preached to posterity at St. Dunstons in the West on the 27. day of Febr. Anno Dom. 1638. Sir JOHN BANKS was born at Keswick of honest parents who perceiving him judicious and industrious bestowed good breeding on him in Grays-Inn in hope he should attain to preferment wherein they were not deceived After he was called to the Bar for some years he solicited suits for others thereby attaining great practicall experience He afterwards might laugh at them who then did smile at him leaving many behind him in learning whom he found before him in time untill at last he was Knighted by K. Charles made first his Atâ—…urney then Chief Justice of the Common-pleas dying in the midst and heat of our Civil dissentions He ordered by his Will the Copy whereof I have received from my good friend that his body should be buried under some plain Monument at the discretion of his Executors and after an Epitaph mentioning the severall places he had held This Motto to be added Non nobis Domine non nobis sed Nomini Tuo da gloriam It must not be forgotten that by his said Will he gave to the value of thirty pounds per annum with other Emoluments to be bestowed in Pious uses and chiefly to set up a Manufacture of Course Cottons in the Town of Keswick which I understand hath good and is in hopes of better success Civilians GEORGE PORTER was born at Weery-hall in the Parish of Bolton in this County of gentile extraction He was afterward Fellow of Queens-colledge in Cambridge Doctor and Professor of Civil-law therein for above thirty years so that he might have been made Comes Imperii primi ordinis according to the constitution of Theodosius the Emperor allowing that honour to Professours in that faculty Cum ad viginti annos observatione jugi ac sedulo docendi labore pervenerint He was of a pitifull nature and we commonly called him for I had oft the honour to be in his mess The Patron of infirmities whose discourse was always defensive and charitable either to excuse mens failings or mitigate their punishments He was valiant as well as learned and with his sterne looks and long sword frighted three thieves from setting upon him He dyed Anno Domini 163. and Doctor Collins who with Saint Chrysostome was in laudatoriis hyperbolicus Preaching his Funerall Sermon endeavoured to heighten his memory to his soul mounting it above the skies for his modesty and learning Writers JOHN CANON Some will have him so called because Canon of some Cathedral Church and if so there were Hundreds of John Canons besides himself others because he was Doctor of Canon Law which leaves as great a Latitude as the former for hundreds with equall right to justle with him for the same Surname I have cause to conceive untill I shall be clearly convinced to the contrary that he was born at Canonsby in this County By being set by for brevities sake Bilious Bale bespattereth him more then any of his Order Hear how he ranteth He turned a Minotaure I should say Minorite and with his Thrasonicall Boasting c. But I am not bound to believe him the rather because Trithemius a Forraign Judicious and Moderate Writer giveth him great commendation Whence I collect that his worth was not like a Candle in the House onely burning at Home in England but a Torch blazing abroad beyond the Seas the University of Paris and other places taking signall notice of his Learning He flourished under K. Edward the second 1320. WILLIAM EGREMONT He hath almost lost his true Surname amongst the various writing thereof Bale calleth him Egumonde though no such place in all England Pits reduceth it to a Saxon Name and calleth him
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. â—…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 †〈◊〉 Argent a Lion rampant Sable 4 Io. de DeweÌ„rwater ut prius †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  Aâ—…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 Râ—…ch Skelton  〈◊〉 Fess 〈◊〉 3 Flower de 〈◊〉 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
by the waters thereof Princes I find no Prince since the Conquest who saw his first light in this County probably because our English Kings never made any long residence therein Saints St. ALKMUND son to Alred King of Northumberland slain in a Battel on the behalf of Ethelmund Vice-Roy of Worcester pretending to recover Lands against Duke Wolstan who detained them was therefore reputed Saint and Martyr It would pose a good Scholar to clear his Title to the later who lost his life in a quarrel of civil concernment On which account in all Battels betwixt Christians such as are slain on one side may lay claim to Martyr-ship However it befriendeth his Memory that his body translated to Derby was believed to do miracles being there with great veneration interred in a Church called Saint Alkmunds on the right hand as Passengers from the South go over the Bridge whither the Northern people made many Pilgrimages till discomposed by the Reformation What relation Alkmundsbury a Town in Hantingdonshire hath unto Him is to me unknown Martyrs JOAN WAST was a blind Woman in the Town of Derbey and on that account the object of any mans Alms rather than the Subject of his cruelty Besides she was seemingly a silly Soul and indeed an Innocent though no Fool. And what saith our Saviour For judgement am I come into this world that they which see not might see and that they which see might be made blind This poor Woman had a clear apprehension of Gods Truth for the testimony whereof she was condemned and burnt at the Stake by the command of Bishop Baines who as he began with the Extreams Mistress Joyce Lewis one of the best and this Joan Wast one of the basest birth in his Diocess So no doubt had not Queen Mary died he would have made his cruelty meet in persons of a middle condition Cardinals ROGER CURSON was born saith my Author ex nobili quodam Anglorum genere of Worshipful English extraction Now I find none of his sirname out of this County except some branches lately thence derived but in the same two right ancient Families one formerly at Croxton whose heir general in our age was married to the Earl of Dorset the other still flourisheth at in this County which moves me to make this Roger a Native thereof Bred he was first a Scholar in Oxford then a Doctor in Paris and lastly a Cardinal in Rome by the Title of Saint Stephen in Mount Celius When the City of Damiata in Egypt was taken under John Brenn King of Jerusalem our Cardinal Curson was there accompanying Pelagius the Popes Cardinal He wrote many Books and came over into England as the Popes Legate in the raign of King Henry the third The certain time of his death is unknown PHILIP de REPINGDON took no doubt his name and birth from Repingdon commonly contracted and called Repton in this County and I question whether any other in England of the same name He was bred and commenced first Batchelor then Doctor of Divinity in Oxford where he became a great Champion and Assertor of the Doctrine of John VVickliff which caused him much trouble and many strict examinations But alas he became like the seed on stony ground which not having root in it self endured but for a while and withered away in persecution for he solemnly recanted his opinions Novemb. 24. Anno 1383. And to give the better assurance that he was a true Anti-VVickliffite from a Professor he became a persâ—…cutor and afterwards was termed Rampington by those poor people whom he so much molested Then preferment flowed in thick and threefold upon him from a Canon he became Abbot of Leicester and Anno 1400. he was made Chancellor of Oxford 1405. Bishop of Lincoln 1408. by Pope Gregory the twelfth he was created Cardinal of Saint Nerius and Achilleius though that Pope had solemnly sworn he would make no more Cardinals till the Schisme in Rome were ended The best is the Pope being Master of the Oath-Office may give himself a Pardon for his own perjury What moved this Repington willingly to resign his Bishoprick 1420. is to me unknown Prelates WILLIAM GRAY was son to the Lord Gray of Codnor in this County He suffered not his Parts to be depressed by his Nobility but to make his mind the more proportionable he endeavoured to render himself as able as he was honourable He studied first in Baliol Colledge in Oxford then at Ferrara in Italy where he for a long time heard the Lectures of Guarinus of Verona that accomplished Scholar No man was better acquainted with the method of the Court of Rome which made our King appoint him his Procurator therein It is hard to say whether Pope Nicholas the fifth or our King Henry the sixth contributed most to his free Election to the Bishoprick of Eely whilest it 〈◊〉 out of doubt his own deserts concurred most effectually thereunto He sate in that See twenty four years and wrote many Books which the envy of time hath denied to posterity Bishop Godwin by mistake maketh him Chancellor of England whereas indeed he was Lord Treasurer in the ninth of King Edward the fourth Anno 1469. Let me adde he was the last Clergy-man that ever discharged that Office until Bishop Juxton in our days was preferred thereunto He died Aug. 4. 1478. and lies buried between two Marble Pillars in his Church having bestowed much cost in the reparation of the famous Bellfrie thereof Since the Reformation GEORGE COOKE D. D. Brother to Sir John Cooke Secretary of State was born at Trusley in this County bred in Pembroke Hall in Cambridge Afterwards he was beneficed at Bigrave in Hertford-shire where a lean Village consisting of but three Houses maketh a fat Living Hence he was successively made Bishop of Bristol and Hereford A meek grave and quiet man much beloved of such who were subjected to his jurisdiction He was in the same condemnation with the rest of his Brethren for subscribing the PROTEST in Parliament in preservation of their Priviledges The times trod so heavily upon him that though he ever was a thrifty person they not onely bruised the Foot but brake the Body of his Estate so that he had felt want if not relieved by his rich relations dying about the year 1650. States-Men Sir JOHN COOKE younger Brother to Sir Francis Cooke was born at Trusley in the Hundred of Appletree in this County of ancient and Worshipful Parentage allied to the best Family in this County He was bred Fellow of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge and being chosen Rhetorick Lecturer in the University grew eminent for his Ingenious and Critical Readings in that School on that Subject He then travailed beyond the Seas for some years returning thence rich in foraign Language Observations and Experience Being first related to Sir Fulk Grivell Lord Brook he was thence preferred to be Secretary of the Navy then Master of the
out of and far from any publick Road in a corner of the County so that Bediford Bridg is truly Bediford Bridg intended solely for the convenience of that Town 2 It is very long consisting of twenty four Peares and yet one William Alford another Milo of Bediford carried on his back for a Wager four Bushel Salt-water-measure all the length thereof 3 It is very high so that a Barge of sixty Tuns may passe and repasse if taking down her Masts betwixt the Peares thereof 4 The Foundation is very firmly fixed and yet it doth or seem to shake at the slightest step of a Horse 5 The Builder of so worthy a Work is not the more the pity punctually known Yet Tradition the best Authour where no better is to be had maketh that finished by the Assistance of Sir Theobold Greenvill the Goldneyes and Oketenets Persons of great Power in those parts Peter Quivill Bishop of Exeter granting Indulgencies to all such as contributed to the forwarding thereof As for the Houses of the Gentry in this County some may aâ—…tract none ravish the Beholder except it be Wenbury the House of the Heales near Plimouth almost corrival with Greenwich it self for the pleasant Prospect thereof The Wonders Not to speak of a River about Lidford whose stream sinketh so deep that it is altogether invisible but supplying to the Eare that it denies to the Eye so great the noise thereof There is in the Parish of North-Taunton near an House called Bath a Pit but in the Winter a Pool not maintained by any spring but the fall of rain water in Summer commonly dry Of this Pool it hath been observed that before the death or change of any Prince or some other strange accident of great importance or any Invasion or Insurrection though in an hot and dry season it will without any rain overflow its Banks and so continue till it be past that it prognosticated Be the truth hereof reported to the Vicenage the most competent Judges thereof seeing my Authour who finished his Book 1648. reporteth that it over-flowed four times within these last thirty years Some will be offended at me if I should omit the Hanging Stone being one of the Bound Stones which parteth Comb-Martin from the next Parish It got the name from a Thief who having stoln a Sheep and tyed it about his own neck to carry it on his back rested himself for a while upon this Stone which is about a foothigh until the Sheep struggling slid over the Stone on the other side and so strangled the man Let the Lawyers dispute whether the Sheep in this case was forfeited to the Kings Almoner as a Deo-Dand It appeareth rather a Providence then a Casualty in the just execution of a Malefactor To these Wonders I will add and hazard the Readers displeasure for the same The Gubbings So now I dare call them secured by distance which one of more valour durst not do to their Face for fear their fury fall upon him Yet hitherto have I met with none who could render a reason of their Name We call the Shavings of Fish which are little worth Gubbings and sure it is they are sensible that the Word importeth shame and disgrace As for the suggestion of my worthy and learned Friend borrowed from Buxtorfius that such who did inhabitare Montes Gibberosos were called Gubbings such will smile at the Ingenuity who dissent from the truth of the Etymology I have read of an England beyond Wales but the Gubbings-Land is a Scythia within England and they pure Heathens therein It lyeth nigh Brent-Tor in the edg of Dartmore It is reported that some two hundred years since two Strumpets being with child fled hither to hide themselves to whom certain lewd Fellows resorted and this was their First Original They are a Peculiar of their own making exempt from Bishop Arch-Deacon and all Authority either Ecclesiastical or Civil They live in Cotts rather Holes than Houses like Swine having all in common multiplied without Marriage into many Hundreds Their Language is the drosse of the dregs of the Vulgar Devonian and the more learned a man is the worse he can understand them During our Civil Wars no Souldiers were quartered amongst them for fear of being quartered amongst them Their Wealth consisteth in other mens goods and they live by stealing the Sheep on the More and vain it is for any to search their Houses being a Work beneath the pains of a Sheriff and above the Power of any Constable Such their Fleetnesse they will outrun many Horses Vivaciousnesse they out live most men living in the Ignorance of Luxury the Extinguisher of Life They hold together like Burrs offend One and All will revenge his Quarrel But now I am informed that they begin to be civilized and tender their Children to Baptisme and return to be men yea Christians again I hope no Civil peoplâ—… amongst us will turn Barbarians now these Barbarians begin to be civilized Proverbs To Devon-shire ground It is sad when one is made a Proverb by way of derision but honourable to become proverbial by way of imitation as here Devon-shire hath set a Copy of Industry and Ingenuity to all England To Devon-shire land is to pare off the surface or top-turffe thereof then lay it together in heaps and burn it which ashes are a marvailous improvement to battle barren ground Thus they may be said to Stew the land in its own liquor to make the same ground to find compost to fatten its self An Husbandry which where ever used retains the name of the place where it was first invented it being usual to Devonshire land in Dorset-shire and in other Counties A Plimouth Cloak That is a Cane or a Staffe whereof this the occasion Many a man of good extraction comming home from far Voiages may chance to land here and being out of sorts is unable for the present time and place to recruit himself with Cloaths Here if not friendly provided they make the next Wood their Drapers shop where a Staffe cut out serves them for a covering Ho may remove Mort-Stone There is a Bay in this County called Mort-Bay but the Harbour in the entrance thereof is stopped with a huge Rock called Mort-Stone and the People merrily say that none can remove it save such who are Masters of their Wives If so wise Socrates himself with all men who are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under Covert-feme as I may say will never attempt the removal thereof First hang and draw Then hear the cause by Lidford Law Lidford is a little and poor but antient Corporation in this County with very large priviledges where a Court of the Stanneries was formerly kept This Libellous Proverb would suggest unto us as if the Towns-men thereof generally mean persons were unable to manage their own Liberties with necessary discretion administring preposterous and preproperous Justice I charitably believe that some Tinners justly
great linage allied to the Earl of Devonshire and no lesse Learning excellently skilled in the Knowledg of both Laws So that at the instant suit of K. Henry the Fifth He was preferred Bishop of Norwich Anno 1413. His person the Inne of his Soul had a fair Sign was highly favoured by his Prince and beloved by the people Yet all this could not prolong his life So that he died of a flux at the siege of Harflew in Normandy in the second year of his Consecration and his Corps brought over was honourably entombed in Westminster Jâ—…AMES CARY was born in this County his name still flourishing nt Cockington therein He was at Rome made Bishop of Lichfield and travailing thence homewards towards England did again light on the Pope at Florâ—…nce just at the news of the vacancy of Exeter and the same See was bestowed on him the more welcome because in his Native County Say not this was a Degradation For though in our time Lichfield is almost twice as good as Exeter â—…xeter then was almost four times as good as Lichfield This appeareth by their valuations of their Income into First-Fruits Exeter paying the Pope six thousand Ducats whilst Lichfield paid onely seventeen hundred at the most But what ever the value of either or both was Cary enjoyed neither of them dying and being buried in Florence Thus though one may have two Cups in his hand yet some intervening accident may so hinder that he may taste of neither He died 1419. JOHN STANBERY was saith Bale out of Leland in Occidentali 〈◊〉 parte natus But the Western parts being a wide Parish thanks to our Authour who hath particularized the place of his Nativity viz. the Farm of Church-hill within the Parish of Bratton or Broad-Town in this County where some of his Name and Kindred remain at this day He was bred a Carmelite in Oxford and bâ—…came generaâ—…ly as learned as any of his Order deserving all the dignity which the â—…niversity did or could confer upon him King Hâ—…n the sixth highly favoured and made him the first Provost of Eaton being much ruled by his advice in ordering that his new Foundation He was by the King designed Bishop of Norwich but William de la Poole Duke of Suffolk See the presumption of a proud Favourite or Minion rather got it from him for his own Chaplain and Stanbery was for to stay his stomack on the poor Bishoprick of Bangor till Anno 1453 he was advanced Bishop of Hereford Leland doth condemn him for his over compliance with the Pope in all his intollerable taxes and others commend him as much for his fidelity to his Master King Hen. whom he deserted not in all his adversity so that this Bishop was taken prisoner in the Battail of Northampton Say not to this Prelate as Eliab to David Why camest thou down hither with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the Wildernesse I know the pride and the malice of thy heart for thou art come down to see the Battail For Stanbery being Confessor to King Henry he was tyed by his Oath to such personal attendance After long durance in Warwick Castle he was set at liberty and dying Anno 1474 was buried in the Convent of Carmelites at Ludlow where his barbarous and tedious Epitaph ill suiting with the Authour of such learned and pithy Books is not worth the inserting PETER COURTNEâ—… son to Sir Phillip Courtney was born at Powderham in this Shire He was first preferred Arch-Deacon then Bishop of â—…xeter expending very much money in finishing the North Tower giving a great called Peter Bell thereunto He was afterwards Anno 1486 translated to Winchester where he sat five years It is much one of so Illustrious Birth should have so obscure a Burial Bishop Godwin conÌ„fessing that he knew not whereabouts in his Church he lyeth interred Since the Reformation JOHN JEWEL bearing the Christian Name of his Father Grandfather and Great Grandfather was born at Buden a Farm possessed more than two hundred years by his Ancestors in the Parish of 〈◊〉 nigh Illfracombe in this County on the 24th of May 1552. His mothers Sirname was Bellamy who with her husband John Jewel lived happily fifty years together in Holy Wedlock and at their death left ten children behind them It may be said of his Sirname Nomen Omen Jewel his Name and Pretious his Vertues So that if the like ambition led us English men which doth Foraigners speciously to render our Sirnames in Greek or Latine he may be termed Johnnes Gemma on better account then Gemma Frisius entituleth himself thereunto He was chiefly bred in the School of Barstable where John Harding afterwards his Antagonist was his School fellow and at 15 years of age was admitted in Merton Collâ—…dge under the tuition of John Parkhurst afterwards Bishop of Norwich Such his sedulity rising alway at 4 of the Clock and not going to bed till 10 that he was never punished for any exercise and but once for absence from Chappel Hence he was removed to Corpus Christi Colledge where he proved an Excellent Poet having all Horace by heart Linguist and Orator Thus having touched at all Humane Arts he landed at Divinity being much assisted by Peter Martyr the Kings Professor therein St. Jerome telleth us that so great was the intimacy betwixt Pamphilius that worthy Martyr a Priest and Eusebius the Bishop of Caesarea ut ab uno alter nomen acceperet that they mutually were sirnamed the one from the other Pamphilius Eusebii and Eusebius Pamphilii No lesse the unity of affections be twixt these two who accordingly might be called Martyrs Jewell and Jewells Martyr as seldome in body and never in mind asunder What eminent changes afterwards befel him in the course of his life how he fled into Germany lived at Zurick returned into England was preferred Bishop of Salisbury wrote learnedly preached painfully lived piously died peaceably Anno Dom. 1572. are largely related in my Ecclesiastical History and I will trouble the Reader with no repetitions JOHN PRIDEAUX was born at Hartford in the West part of this County bred Scholar Fellow and Râ—…ctor of Exeter Colledg in Oxford Canon of Christ-Church and above thirty years Kings Professor in that University An excellent Linguist but so that he would make words wait on his matter chiefly aiming at expressivenesse therein he had a becomming Feâ—…ivity which was Aristotles not St. Pauls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Admirable his memory retaining what ever he had read The Welch have a Proverb in my mind somewhat uncharitable He that hath a good memory giveth few Alms because he keepeth in mind what and to whom he had given before But this Doctor cross'd this Proverb with his constant charity to all in want His learning was admired by Forreigners Sextinus Amma Rivet c. He was not Vindicative in the least degree One intimate with him having assured me that he would
been found within them Hops In latine Lupulus or the little-wolf which made a merry man complain that this Wolf did too often devour the innocent Malt in beer Gerard observes they grow best in those Countries where Vines will not grow intimating that nature pointeth at their use therein They are not so bitter in themselves as others have been against them accusing Hops for noxious preserving beer but destroying those who drink it These plead the Petition presented in Parliament in the raign of King Henry the sixth against the wicked weed called Hopps Their back-friends also affirm the Stone never so epidemicall in England as since the generall reception and use of Hops in the beginning of King Henry the eighth But Hops have since out-grown and over-topped all these accusations being adjudged wholesome if Statutable and unmixed with any powder dust dross sand or other soyl whatsoever which made up two parts of three in forraign Hops formerly imported hither They delight most in moist grounds no commodity starteth so soon and sinketh so suddainly in the price whence some will have them so named from hopping in a little time betwixt a great distance in valuation In a word as Elephants if orderly were themselves enough alone to gain if disorderly to lose a victory so great parcells of this commodity well or ill bought in the Crisis of their price are enough to raise or ruine an estate Puits There is an Island of some two hundred Acres near Harwick in the Parish of LittleOkeley in the Mannour of Matthew Gilly Esquire called the Puit Island from Puits in effect the sole inhabitants thereof Some affirm them called in Latine Upulae whilst others maintain that the Roman Language doth not reach the Name nor Land afford the Bird. On Saint George his day precisely they pitch on the Island seldome laying fewer then four or more then six Eggs. Great their love to their Young ones For though against foul weather they make to the main land a certain Prognostick of Tempests yet they always Weather it out in the Island when hatching their young ones seldome sleeping whilst they â—…it on their Eggs afraid it seems of Spring-tides which signifieth nothing as to securing their Eggs from the Inundation but is an Argument of their great Affection Being young they consist onely of Bones Feathers and Lean-flesh which hath a raw Gust of the Sea But Roulterers take them then and feed them with Gravel and Curds that is Physick and Food the one to scour the other to fat them in a fortnight and their flesh thus recruted is most delicious Here I say nothing of Eringo Roots growing in this County the candying of them being become a Staple commodity at Colchester These are Soveraign to strengthen the Nerves and pity it is that any vigor acquired by them should be otherwise imployed then to the Glory of God Manufactures This County is charactred like the good wife described by Bathshebah She layeth her hand to the spindle and her hands hold the distaffe Bays and Says and Serges and severall sorts of Stuffes which I neither can or doe desire to name are made in and about Colchester Coxal Dedham c. I say desire not to name because hoping that new kinds will daily be invented as good reason and by their Inventers intituled I know not whether it be better to wish them good Wares to Vent or good Vent for their Wares but I am sure that both together are the best It will not be amiss to pray that the Plough may go along and wheel around that so being fed by the one and clothed by the other there may be by Gods blessing no danger of starving in our Nation Gun-Powder Why hereof in this rather then in other Counties Because more made by Mills of late erected on the river Ley betwixt Waltham and London then in all England besides Though some suppose it as antient as Archimedes in Europe and antienter in India yet generally men behold the Frier of Mentz the first founder thereof some three hundred years since It consisteth of three essentiall ingredients 1. Brimstone whose office is to catch fire and flame of a suddain and convey it to the other two 2. Char-coal pulveriz'd which continueth the fire and quencheth the flame which otherwise would consume the strength thereof 3. Salt-petre which causeth a windy exhalation and driveth forth the bullet This Gun-powder is the embleme of politick revenge for it biteth first and barketh afterwards the bullet being at the mark before the report is heard so that it maketh a noise not by way of warning but triumph As for white powder which is reported to make no report at all I never could meet with Artist who would seriously avouch it For though perchance the noise may be less and lower yet no sound at all is inconsistent with the nature of Salt-petre and the ventosity thereof causing the violent explosion of the bullet It is questionable whether the making of Gun-powder be more profitable or more dangerous the Mills in my Parish having been five times blown up within seven years but blessed be God without the loss of any one mans life The Buildings This County hath no Cathedrall and the Churches therein cannot challenge to themselves any eminent commendation But as for privaâ—…e houses Essex will own no Shire her superior whereof three most remarkable 1. Audley-End built by Thomas Howard Earl of Suffolk and Treasurer of England as without compare the best Subjects house in this Island Yet is the structure better then the standing thereof as low on one side so that it may pass for the embleme of modest merit or concealed worth meaner houses boasting more and making greater show afar off in the eyes of passengers 2. New Hall built by the Ratcliffs Earls of Sussex but bought from them by George Villiers Duke of Buckingham surpassing for the pleasant shady approach thereunto and for the appurtenances of Parks round about it 3. Copt Hall in Records Coppice-Hall from the Woods thereabouts highly seated on an hill in the mid'st of a Park built by the Abbot of Waltham enlarg'd by Sir Thomas Heneage and others and it is much that multiform fancies should all meet in so uniform a fabrick Herein a Gallery as well furnish'd as most more proportionable then any in England and on this a story doth depend In the year of our Lord 1639. in November here happened an Hirecano or wild wind which entring in at the great East-window blew that down and carried some part thereof with the picture of the Lord Coventry singled from many more which hung on both â—…ides untouch'd all the length of the Gallery being about 56. yards out of the West-window which it threw down to the ground It seems the wind finding this room in form of a trunk and coarctated therein forced the stones of the first window like pellets clean thorough it I mention this the rather because pious
Doctor Jackson Head of Corpus Christi Colledge in Oxford observed the like wind about the same time as ominous and presaging our civil dissentions The Wonders This Shire affordeth none properly so called unless some conceive the bones reducible thereunto digged out of this County at the Ness near Harwich which with their bigness and length amazed the beholders I cannot see how such can maintain them to be the bones of men who must confess that according to the proportion of the doors and roofs of antient building either as extant or read of they must Ingredi incedere proni go in Stooping not to say Lye along Except the Avouchers be as Incurious of their Credit as the Travellor was who affirming that he saw Bees as big as Dogs and yet their Hives of our ordinary size and being demanded what shift they made to get in Let them said he look to that More probable it is that those were bones of Elephants store whereof were brought over into England by the Emperour Claudius Indeed some Sciolists will boast to distinguish bones of Beasts from Men by their Porosity which the learned deride as an undifferencing difference Indeed when a Scull may be produced of such magnitude which by its form is secured from mistake as appropriate to man alone then the wonder will begin indeed Till which time I behold these Shanks and Thigh bâ—…nes pretended to Men to be of Elephants To these Wonders it will not be amiss to adde the ensuing relation written by the Pen of Master Thomas Smith of Sewarstone in the Parish of Waltham Abby a discreet person not long since deceased It so fell out that I served Sir Edward Denny towards the latter end of the raign of Queen Elizabeth of blessed memory who lived in the Abbey of Waltham-Crosse in the County of Essex which at that time lay in ruinous heaps and then Sir Edward began slowly now and then to make even and re-edify some of that Chaos In doing whereof Tomkins his Gardner came to discover among other things a fair Marble Stone the Cover of a Tombe hewed out in hard Stone This Cover with some help he removed from off the Tombe which having done there appeared to the view of the Gardner and Master Baker Minister of the Town who died long since and to my self and Master Henry Knagg Sir Edwards Bayliffe the Anatomy of a Man lying in the Tombe abovesaid onely the Bones remaining Bone to his Bone not one Bone dislocated In observation whereof we wondred to see the Bones still remaining in such due order and no Dust or other Filth besides them to be seen in the Tomb We could not conceive that it had been an Anatomy of Bones only laid at first into the Tomb yet if it had been the whole Carcass of a Man what became of his Flesh and Entrals for as I have said above the Tomb was clean from all Filth and Dust besides the Bones This when we had all well observed I told them that if they did but touch any part thereof that all would fall asunder for I had onely heard somewhat formerly of the like accident Tryall was made and so it came to pass For my own part I am perswaded that as the Flesh of this Anatomy to us became invisible so likewise would the Bones have been in some longer continuance of time O what is Man then which vanisheth thus away like unto Smoak or Vapour and is no more seen Whosoever thou art that shalt read this passage thou mayst find cause of humility sufficient Proverbs Essex Miles These are cryed up for very long understand it Comparatively to those in the Neighbouring County of Middlesex otherwise the Northern Parts will give Essex odds and measure Miles therewith The truth is this good way and a good horse shorten Miles and the want of either but both especially prolong them in any Country whatsoever Essex Stiles See the Proverbs in Suffolk Essex Calves A learned Authour telleth us that Italy was so called quasi vitalae because the best Calves were bred therein Sure this will be condemned as a far fetched and forced Deduction but if true Essex may better pretend to the Name of Italy producing Calves of the fattest fairest and finest flesh in England and consequently in all Europe and let the Butchers in Eastcheap be appealed unto as the most Competent Judges therein Sure it is a Cumberland-cow may be bought for the Price of an Essex-calfe in the beginning of the Year Let me adde that it argueth the goodness of Flesh in this County and that great gain was got formerly by the Sale thereof because that so many stately monuments were erected antiently therein for Butchers inscribed Carnifices in their Epitaphs in Cogshall Chelmsford Church and elsewhere made of Marble inlaid with Brass befitting saith my Author a more eminent man whereby it appears that these of that trade have in this County been richer or at least prouder then in other places The Weavers Beef of Colchester These are Sprats caught hereabouts and brought hither in incredible abundance whereon the poor Weavers numerous in this City make much of their repast Cutting Rands Rumps Surloyns Chines and all Joynts of Beef out of them as lasting in season well nigh a quarter of a year They are the Minums of the Sea and their cheapness is the worst thing well considered the best which can be said of them Were they as dear they would be as toothsome being altogether as wholesome as Anchovies for then their price would give a high gust unto them in the judgement of Pallat Men. True it is that within these last sixteen years better Men then Weavers have been glad of worse meat then Sprats and thankfull to God if they could get it in the City of Colchester Jeering Coxhall How much truth herein I am as unable to tell as loth to believe Sure I am that no Town in England of its bigness afforded more Martyrs in the raign of Queen Mary who did not jeer or jeast with the fire but seriously suffered themselves to be sacrificed for the testimony of a good Conscience If since they have acquired a jeering quality it is time to leave it seeing it is better to stand in pain till our legs be weary then sit with ease in the chair of the scorners He may fetch a flitch of Bacon from Dunmoe This proverb dependeth on a custome practiced in the Priory of Dunmow which was founded saith Speed by Juga a noble Lady Anno IIII. for black Nuns But it seems afterwards the property thereof was altered into a Male-Monastery the mortified men wherein were mirthfull sometimes as hereby may appear Any person from any part of England coming hither and humbly kneeling on two stones at the Church-door which are yet to be seen before the Prior or Convent might demand at his own pleasure a Gammon or Flitch of Bacon upon the solemn taking of the ensuing
without the Brittleness thereof soon Ripe and long Lasting in his Perfections He Commenced Doctor in Physick and was Physician to Queen Elizabeth who Stamped on him many Marks of her Favour besides an Annuall Pension to encourage his Studies He addicted himself to Chemistry attaining to great exactness therein One saith of him that he was Stoicall but not Cynicall which I understand Reserv'd but not Morose never married purposely to be more beneficiall to his Brethren Such his Loyalty to the Queen that as if unwilling to survive he dyed in the same year with her 1603. His Stature was Tall Câ—…plexion Cheerfull an Happiness not ordinary in so hard a Student and retired a Person He lyeth buried in Trinity Church in Colchester under a plain Monument Mahomets Tombe at Mecha is said strangely to hang up attracted by some invisible Load-stone but the Memory of this Doctor will never fall to the ground which his incomparable Book De Magnete will support to Eternity Writers GERVASE of TILBURY born at that Village in this County since famous for a Câ—…mpe against the Spaniards in 88. is reported Nephew to King Henry the second But though Nepos be taken in the Latitude thereof to signify Son to Brother Sister or Child I cannot make it out by the Door and am loth to suspect his coming in by the Window This Gervase may be said by his Nativity to stand but on one foot and that on tip toes in England being born on the Sea side at the mouth of Thames and therefore no wonder if he quickly convayed himself over into Forraign Parts He became Courtier and favorite to his Kinsman Otho the fourth Emperour who conferred on him the Marshal-ship of the Arch-bishoprick of Arles which proveth the Imperiall Power in this Age over some parts of Province an office which he excellently discharged Though his person was wholly conversant in Forraign Aire his Pen was chiefly resident on English Earth writing a Chronicle of our Land and also adding illustrations to Gâ—…ffrey Monmouth He flourished Anno 1210. under King John ADAM of BARKING no mean market in this County was so termed from the Town of his Nativity Wonder not that being born in the East of England he went West-ward as far as Sherborn where he was a Benedictine for his education it being as usuall in that age for Monkes as in ours for Husbandmen to change their soil for the seed that their grain may give the greater encrease He was a good Preacher and learned Writer and surely would have soared higher if not weighed down with the ignorance of the age he lived in whose death happened Anno 1216. RALPH of COGSHALL in this County was first Canon of Barnewell nigh Cambridge and afterwards turn'd a Cistertian Monke He was a man Incredibilis frugalitatis parsimoniae but withall of great learning and abilities These qualities commended him to be Abbot of Cogshall the sixth in order after the first foundation thereof where he spent all his spare hours in writing of Chronicles and especially of additions to Radulphus Niger Afflicted in health he resigned his place and died a private person about the year 1230. ROGER of WALTHAM was so called from the place of his Nativity I confess there be many Walthams in England and three in Essex but as in Herauldry the plain Coat speaks the bearer thereof to be the best of the house whiles the younger Brethren give their Armes with differences so I presume that Waltham here without any other addition of Much Waltham Wood-Waltham c. is the Chief in that kind viz. Waltham in this County within twelve Miles of London eminent in that Age for a wealthy Abby The merit of this Roger being saith Bale tersè nitidè eleganter eruditus endeared him to Fulke Basset Bishop of London who preferred him Canon of Saint Pauls He wrot many worthy works flourishing under King Henry the third Anno Domini 1250. JOHN GODARD wherever born had his best being at Cogshall in this County where he became a Cistercian Monke Great was his skill in Arithmetick and Mathematicks a Science which had lain long asleep in the World and now first began to open it's eyes again He wrot many certain Treatises thereof and dedicated them unto Ralph Abbot of Cogshall He flourished Anno Dom. 1250. AUBREY de VERE extracted from the right Honorable Earls of Oxford was born saith my Authors in Bonaclea Villa Trenovantum Three miles srom Saint Osith by which direction we find it to be Great Bentley in this County Now although a witty Gentleman saith that Noble-men have seldome any thing in Print save their Cloths yet this Aubrey so applyed his studies that he wrote a Learned Book of the Eucharist In his old age he became an Augustinian of Saint Osiths preferring that before other places both because of the pleasant retireness thereof and because his kindred were great Benefactors to that Covent witness their Donation de septem Libratis terrae thereunto This Aubrey the most learned of all Honorable Persons in that Age Flourished Anno Domini 1250. THOMAS MALDON was born at Maldon no mean Market Town in this County anciently a City of the Romans called Camulodunum He was afterwards bred in the University of Cambridge where he Commenced Doctor of Divinity and got great reputation for his Learning being a Quick Disputant Eloquent Preacher Solid in Defining Subtle in Distinguishing Clear in Expressing Hence he was chosen Prior of his own Monastery in Maldon where he commendably discharged his place till the day of his death which happened 1404. THOMAS WALDENSIS was son to John and Maud Netter who declining the Surname of his Parents took it from Walden the noted place in this County of his Nativity so much are they mistaken that maintain that this Waldensis his name was Vuedale and that he was born in Hant-shire In some sort he may be termed Anti-Waldensis being the most professed Enemy to the Wicklevites who for the main revived and maintained the Doctrine of the Waldenses Being bred a Carmelite in London and Doctor of Divinity in Oxford he became a great Champion of yet Vassall to the Pope witness his sordid Complement consisting of a conjunction or rather confusion and misapplication of the words of Ruth to Naomi and David to Goliah Perge Domine Papa perge quò cupis ego tecum ubicunque volueris nec deseram in Authoritate Dominorum meorum incedam in armis eorum pugnabo He was in high esteem with three succeeding Kings of England and might have changed his Coul into what English Miter he pleased but refused it Under King Henry the fourth he was sent a solemn Embassadour 1410. about taking away the Schismâ—… and advancing an Union in the Church and pleaded most eloquently before the Pope and Segismund the Emperour He was Confâ—…ssor and Privy Councellour to King Henry the fifth who died in his
of Foulness rented in part by two of my credible Parishoners who attested it having paid dear for the truth thereof wheâ—… an Army of Mice nesting in Ant-hills as Conies in Burroughs shaved off the grass at the bare roots which withering to dung was infectious to Cattle The March following numberless flocks of Owls from all parts flew thither and destroyed them which otherwise had ruined the Country if continuing another year Thus though great the distance betwixt a Man and a Mouse the meanest may become formidable to the mightiest creature by their multitudes and this may render the punishment of the Philistines more clearly to our apprehensions at the same time pestered with Mice in their barns and pained with emerods in their bodies GLOUCESTER-SHIRE GLOUCESTER-SHIRE hath Worcester and Warwick-shire on the North Oxford and Wilt-shire on the East Somerset-shire on the South Hereford-shire with the River Wye on the West extending from her South to North Avon 48. miles but lessened in her broadest part from East to West to twenty eight The Severne runneth through it entring this County as a River encreasing in it to an Eastuary and becometh little lesse than a Sea before it departs out of it Some affirm that this County was anciently like the land of Gerar wherein Isaac sowed and reaped an hundred fold the greatest proportion of encrease which the good ground in the Parable brought fourth But the same men seem to insinuate that this Shire tired out with its over fruitfulnesse hath become barren in these later times True it is as Lions are said to be tamed by watching not suffering them to take any sleep so the most generous and vigorus land will in time be imbarrened when always pinched with the Plough and not permitted to slumber at all and lie fallow some competent time otherwise with moderate respite and manuring some Tillage in this County is as fruitful as in any other place As for Pasturage I have heard it reported from credible persons that such the fruitfulness of the land nigh Slimbrige that in Spring time let it be bit bare to the roots a Wand laid along therein over night will be covered with new-grown grasse by the next morning Natural Commodities Tobacco This lately grew in this County but now may not It was first planted about Winchcomb and many got great estates thereby notwithstanding the great care and cost in planting replanting transplanting watering snailing suckering topping cropping sweating drying making and rowling it But it hath been prohibited of late by Act of Parliament as hindering our English Plantation in the West Indies abating the Revenues of the State in Customs and Impost and spoiling much of our good ground which might be employed for Corn or Cattel As for the praise of Tobacco with the vertues thereof they may better be performed by the Pens of such Writers whose pallates have tasted of the same Oak England hath the best in the World not for finenesse but firmnesse Indeed Out-landish Oaks have a smaller grain and therefore fitter for Wainscot and whilest they make the best linings our English Oak is the substantial out-side The best in England is in Dean Forrest in this County and most serviceable for Shipping so tough that when it is dry it is said to be as hard as Iron I have read that in the reign of Queen Elizabeth the Spaniard sent an Embassador over purposely to get this wood destroyed by private practices and cunning contrivances who had he effected his Embassie deserved a good reward at his return It is suspicious if not timely prevented carelesness and waste will gratifie the Spaniard with what then he could not accomplish Steele It is Eldest Brother of Iron extracted from the same Oare differing from it not in kind but degree of purity as being the first running thereof It is more hard and brittle whilest Iron is softer and tougher useful for the making of English Knives Sitâ—…es Sisers Shears c. but fine edges cannot be made thereof as Lancets for letting of blood Incision Knives Dissecting Knives Razors c. I have been informed that Sir Bafil Brooke the great Steele-maker in this County his Patent to prohibit the importing of Forraign Steele was revoked on this account because that no Artist could make the aforesaid Instruments of English Steele but must have it from Damascus Spain Flanders c. As for Iron though plentiful in this it may be treated of in another County with more conveniency Manufactures Cloathing As good as any in England for finenesse and colour is wrought in this County where the Cloathiers have a double advantage First plenty of the best Wooll growing therein on Cots wold-Hills so that whereas Cloathiers in some Counties fetch their Wooll far off with great cost it is here but the removing it from the Backs of the Sheep into their Works Houses Secondly they have the benefit of an excellent water for colouring their Cloath being the sweet Rivolet of Strowd which arising about Branfield runneth crofs this Shire into the Severn Now no rational man will deny Occult qualities of perfection in some above other waters whereby Spanish Steele non natura sed tinctura becomes more tough than ours in England as the best Reds a colour which always carried somewhat of Magistracy therein are died in Strowd water Hence it is that this Shire hath afforded many wealthy Cloathiers whereof some may seem in their Loomes to have interwoven their own names into the Cloaths called Webs-cloath and Clutterbucks after the names of the first Makers of them for many years after Mustard The best in England to take no larger compasse is made at Tewksberry in this County It is very wholesome for the clearing of the Head moderately taken and I believe very few have ever surfeited thereof because not granted time but demanded present payment for the penalty of excesse turning Democritus himself presently to Heraclitâ—… as the Husband-man Poetdoth observe Seque lacessenti fletum factura sinapis It is generally used in England and the Jest is well known of two Serving-men contesting about Superiority My Master saith the one spends more in Mustard than thine does in Beefe whereunto the other returned the more sawcy men his followers But seriously this should raise our gratitude to God for the plentiful provisions of Flesh and Fish spent in this Land when Mustard a meer complement to both amounteth to more thousands of pounds by the year than will be believed Wine This formerly grew in this County but now doth not witness the many places therein still called Vineyards whereof one most eminent nigh Gloucester the palace of the Bishop and it appears by ancient Records that some Towns in this Shire paid Rent-Wines in great proportions so that England though it doth not ferre vinum is ferax vini capable especially in a hot Summer to produce it to good perfection But in later ages this commodity hath been disused
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 â—…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
An. Hungerford ar ut prius  27 Ioh Higford ar Dixton  28 Paul Tracy ar Stanway  29 Th. ThrogmortoÌ„ m. ut prius  30 Hen. Pole mil. ut prius  31 Tho. Lucy ar   32 Will. Dutton ar  Quarterly Arg. and Gul. in the 2d and 3d. quarter a Fret Or. 33 Ioh Poyntz mil. ut prius  34 Will. Chester ar   35 Ioh. Davers mil Cinencest Gul. a Chev. inter 3 Mullets Or. 36 Ioseph Benham ar   37 Hen. Winston mil.   38 Ioh. Chamberlain a. Prestbury Gul. an Inescoucheon Arg. an Orle of mullets Or. 39 Ioh. Hungerford m ut prius Cheokey Or and Sab. a Fesse Gul. 40 Edw. Winter mil. Lidney  41 Geo. Huntley   42 Th. ThrogmortoÌ„ m ut prius  43 Will. Dutton ar ut prius  44 Tho. Baynham ar ut prius  JACOBUS   Anno   1 Hen. Pole mil. ut prius  2 Egid. Read ar ut prius  3 Tho. Seymer mil. Button G. 2 wings conjoyned Or with in a border gobonated Arg. 4 VVill. Norwood * LeckhaÌ„pt  5 Tho. Estcourt mil. †Lasbury * Ermin â—… cross engrailed Gu. Anno 6 Rob Woodroff m  †Erm. on a Chief indented G. 3. Stars Will. Guyes ar ut prius  7 Ioh. Tracy mil. ut prius  8 Paul Tracy ar ut prius  9 Rob. Bathurst ar Lechlade  10 Ioh. Carter ar Charlton  11 Will. Kingston ar ut prius  12 Rich. Brent ar   13 Hen. Finâ—…h ar   14 Radus Câ—…tton ar  Az. a Cheveron between three Cotton weeks Arg. 15 Tho. Chester ar Knolle  16 Rich. Hill mil.   17 Ph. Langley ar Mangotsfi ut prius 18 Tho. Baker mil.   19 Tho. Thynn mil. Wiltshire Barry of ten Or and Sable 20 Tho. Hodges ar Shipron  21 Rich. Rogers mil. Eastwood  22 Ioh. Dowle ar   CAROL I.   Anno   1 Will Sandys mil. Misterden  2 Tho. Nicholas ar Prestbury  3 VVill. Masters mil Grencest  4 Rich. Tracy m. b. ut prius  5 Hen. Dennis ar Paule Ch. ut prius 6 Radus Dutton mil. Standish ut prius 7 Geo. VVinter mil.   8 Hen. Poole aâ—…m ut prius  9 Egid. Fetiplace m. Coln Alin Gul. two Cheverons Arg. 10 Edw. Stephens ar L. Sodbury  11 Will Leigh ar   12 Rich Ducy Bar. Frowcest Or two Lions passant Gults 13 Ioh. Poyntz mil ut prius  14 Rob. Codrington ar Codering ton Arg. a Fesâ—… imbattled Sable between 3. Lions passant Gu. 15   â—…6   17 Fr. Creswick ar Bristol  â—…8   19   12   21  Or on a Fess Gul. 3. chess-Rooks of the first as many Martlets in Chief Sab. 22 VVill. Brown ar Hasfield  Hen. VIII 6. WILLIAM KKNGSTON Mil. I read in an industrious Author that Sir Will. Kingston was created by K. Hen. 8. Knight of the Garter which I humbly conceive to be a mistake having several exact Catalogues of all admitted into that Order amongst whom he doth not appear yet was he Lieutenant of the Tower and Captain of the Guard to K. Hen. 8. by whom he was much trusted and employed Cardinal Wolsey had it given him in advice to beware of Kingston which he mistook for the Market Town in Surry well known and therefore declined going thither though many miles his nearer way in passage to the Court But at last he found this our Sir Anthony his formidable fatal Kingston when sent to fetch him out of the North with some of the Guaâ—…d And though he treated the Card. most courteously saluting him on his knees yet the sight of him went to his heart dying within few days after Edw. VI. 4. ANTHONY KINGSTON Mil. This was that terrâ—…ble Provost Marshal of the Kings Army in the execution of the Western Rebels whose memory I find accused by Sir Iohn Heywood for his cruelty and defended by Mr. Carew This Sir Anthony so frightful to all guilty persons fell himself into the same fear in the reign of Q. Mary on this occasion Some were said to have a design to raise war against the Queen and resolved to provide the sinews before the bones of war money before men In order whereunto their design was to rob the Exchequer then furnished with 50000. â—… This being discovered mane were accused as Plotters more as Privy amongst whom Sir Anthony Kingston being sent for to come up he died for fear of death some suppose in his way to London The Farewell I congratulate the Felicity of this County in the return of the Episcopal See to the chief City thâ—…reof the rather seeing some questioned its Charter and would have had it Un Citied because Un Bishoped in our Civil Wars though with their leave by the courtesie of England once a City and ever a City May the same hereafter ever remain there to take away all suspicion in that kind for the future HANT-SHIRE hath Berk-shire on the North Surrey and Sussex on the East the Sea on the South Dorcet and Wilt-shire on the West From North unto South it extendeth unto fifty foure miles not stretching above thirty miles from the East to the West thereof A happy Countrey in the foure Elements if Culinary fire in Courtesie may pass for one with plenty of the best wood for the fuel thereof most pure and peircing the aire of this Shire and none in England hath more plenty of clear and fresh rivulets of troutful water not to speak of the friendly Sea conveniently distanced from London As for the Earth it is both fair and fruitful and may pass for an Expedient betwixt Pleasure and Profit where by mutual consent they are moderately accommodated Yet much of the Arable therein is stony ground though not like that in the Gospel where the grain grew up and withered so soon having no deepness of earth this bringing plenty of corn to perfection Indeed that in the Parable may be presumed inwardly a rock onely faced over with superficial earth whereas this hath solid earth enough but abounding with little loose stones lying above it which are conceived to keep the Corn the warmer and therefore some skilfull in Husbandry have maintained that the taking of them away doth more hurt than good to the ground The South-West part of this County is called the New Forrest not in the same sense as New Colledge in Oxford then at the founding the Newest which since hath gained many Puis nes thereunto but because the Junior of all Forrests in England many having been Dis none In-forrested since the Conquest True it is King Henry the 8th made a Forrest about his Palace of Hampton in Middlesex by the name of Hamptonforrest but it never obtained peaceable possession in publique pronunciation blame not
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 â—…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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 â—…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
preferred rather to be Adrian the fourth then Nicholas the third He held his place four years eight moneths and eight and twenty dayes and Anno 1158. as he was drinking was choakt with a Fly Which in the large Territory of St. Peters patrimony had no place but his Throat to get into But since a Flye stopt his Breath fear shall stop my Mouth not to make uncharitable Conclusions from such Casualties Cardinal BOSO confessed by all an English-man is not placed in this County out of any certainty but of pure Charity not knowing where elswhere with any Probability to dispose him But seeing he was Nephew to the late named Nicholas or Pope Adrian we have some shadow and pretence to make him of the same County This is sure his Unckle made him Cardinal in the Moneth of December 1155. and he was a great Change-Church in Rome being successively 1. Cardinal Deacon of Sts. Cosma Damiam 2. Cardinal Priest of St. Crosses of Jerusalem 3. Cardin. Pr. of St. Prudentiana 4. Cardin. Pr. of Pastor He was more than Instrumental in making Alexander the third Pope with the suffrages of 19. Cardinals who at last clearly carried it against his Anti-Pope Victor the fourth This Boso dyed Anno Dom. 1180. Prelates RICHARD de WARE for this is his true name as appears in his Epitaph though some pretending his honour but prejudicing the Truth thereby sirname him Warren He was made Abbot of Westminster 1260 and twenty years after Treasurer of England under King Edward the first This Richard going to Rome brought thence certain Work-men and rich Purphury And for the rest hear my Author By whom and whereof he made the rare Pavement to be seen at Westminster before the Communion Table containing the Discourse of the whole World which is at this day most Beautiful a thing of that Singularity Curiousnesse and Rarenesse that England hath not the like again See Readers what an Enemy Ignorance is to Art How often have I trampled on that Pavement so far from admiring as not observing it And since upon serious Survey it will not in my Eyes answer this Character of Curiosity However I will not add malice to my Ignorance qualities which too often are Companions to disparage what I do not understand but I take it on the trust of others more skilful for a Master-peece of Art This Richard dyed on the second of December 1283 the 12. of King Edward the first and lyeth buryed under the foresaid Pavement RALPH BALDOCK So called from the Place of his Nativity A MoungrelMarket in this County was bred in Merton Colledge in Oxford One not unlearned and who wrote an History of England which Leland at London did once behold King Edward the first much prised and preferred him Bishop of London He gave two hundred pounds whilst living and left more when dead to repair the East part of St. Pauls on the same token that upon occasion of clearing the Foundation an incredible number of Heads of Oxen were found buried in the Ground alledged as an argument by some to prove That anciently a Temple of Diana Such who object that heads of Stagges had been more proper for her the Goddesse of the Game may first satisfie us Whether any Creatures ferae Naturae as which they could not certainly compass at all seasons were usually offered for Sacrifices This Ralph dyed July the 24. 1313. Being buryed under a Marble Stone in St. Maries Chappel in his Cathedral JOHN BARNET had his Name and Nativity from a Market-Town in this County sufficiently known by the Road passing thorough it He was first by the Pope preferred 1361. to be Bishop of Worcester and afterwards was translated to Bath and Wells Say not this was a Retrograde motion and Barnet degraded in point of profit by such a Removal For though Worcester is the better Bishoprick in our age in those dayes Bath and Wells before the Revenues thereof were reformed under King Edward the sixth was the richer preferment Hence he was translated to Ely and for 6. years was Lord Treasurer of England He dyed at Bishops Hatfield June 7. 1373. and was buried there on the South-fide of the high Altar under a Monument now miserably defaced by some Sacrilegious Executioner who hath beheaded the Statue lying thereon THOMAS RUDBURNE no doubt according to the fashion of those dayes took his Name from Rudburne a Village within four miles from St. Albans He was bred in Oxford and Proctor thereof Anno 1402. and Chancellour 1420. An excellent Scholar and skilful Mathematician of a meek and mild temper though at one time a little tart against the Wic-livites which procured him much love with great persons He was Warden of Merton Colledge in Oxford and built the Tower over the Colledge Gate He wrote a Chronicle of England and was preferred Bishop of St. Davids He flourished Anno Domini 1419. though the date of his Death be unknown Reader I cannot satisfie my self that any Bishop since the Reformation was a Native of this County and therefore proceed to another Subject Statesmen Sir EDVVARD WATERHOUSE Knight was born at Helmsted-bury in this County of an ancient and worshipful Family deriving their discent lineally from Sir Gilbert VVaterhouse of Kyrton in Low Lindsey in the County of Lincoln in the time of King Henry the third As for our Sir Edward his Parents were John Waterhouse Esquire a man of much fidelity and Sageness Auditor many years to King Henry the Eighth of whom he obtained after a great entertainment for him in his house the grant of a Weekly Market for the Town of Helmsted Margaret Turner of the ancient house of Blunts-Hall in Suffolk and Cannons in Hartfordshire The King at his Departure honoured the Children of the said John Waterhouse being brought before him with his praise and encouragement gave a Benjamins portion of Dignation to this Edward foretelling by his Royal Augury That he would be the Crown of them all and a man of great Honour and Wisdome fit for the Service of Princes It pleased God afterwards to second the word of the King so that the sprouts of his hopeful youth only pointed at the growth and greatness of his honourable age For being but twelve years old he went to Oxford where for some years he glistered in the Oratorick and Poëtick Sphear until he addicted himself to conversation and observance of State affairs wherein his great proficiency commended him to the favour of three principal patrons One was Walter Devereux Earl of Essex who made him his bosome-friend and the said Earl lying on his death-bed took his leave of him with many kisses Oh my Ned said he farewell thou art the faithfullest and friendliest Gentleman that ever I knew In testimony of his true affection to the dead Father in his living Son this Gentleman is thought to have penned that most judicious and elegant Epistle recorded in Holinsheds History pag.
with the stones It fixeth no fault in the Fruit the Expression being merely Metaphorical wherein the folly of such is taxed who associate themselves equal in expence with others in higher dignity and estate till they be loosers at last and well laughed at for their pains Saint-Foine SAINT-FOINE or Holy-hay Superstition may seem in the name but I assure you there is nothing but good husbandry in the sowing thereof as being found to be a great Fertilizer of Barren-ground It is otherwise called Polygala which I may English much Milk as causing the Cattle to give abundance thereof Some call it the small clover Grass and it prospereth best in the worst ground It was first fetcht out of France from about Paris and since is sown in divers places in England but especially in Cobham-Park in this County where it thriveth extraordinary well on dry chalky banks where nothing else will grow If it prospereth not equally in other dry places it is justly to be imputed to some errour in the managing thereof as that the ground was not well prepared or made fine enough that the seed was too sparing or else old and decayed that cattle cropt it the first year c. It will last but seven years by which time the native grasse of England will prevail over this Foreigner if it be not sown again Trouts We have treated of this Fish before and confesse this repetition had been a breach of the Fundamental Laws premised to this Book were it not also an addition Kent affording Trouts at a Town called Forditch nigh Canterbury differing from all others in many considerables 1. Greatness many of them being in bignesse near to a Salmon 2. Colour cutting white as others do red when best in season 3. Cunning onely one of them being ever caught with an Angle whereas other Trouts are easily tickled into taking and flaâ—…tered into their destruction 4. Abode remaining nine moneths in the Sea and three in the fresh water They observe their coming up thereinto almost to a day and the men of Forditch observe them as exactly whom they catch with nets and other devices Weld or Wold Know Reader that I borrow my Orthographie hereof if it be so from the Dyers themselves This is a little seed sown in this County some fourty years since when first it was brought into England with Barley the growth whereof it doth not hinder in any degree For when the barley is mowed down in Harvest then this Weld or Wold first peeps out of the Earth where it groweth till the May following when it is gathered And thus Husband-men with one sowing reap two Crops yet so as it taketh up their ground for two years The use hereof is for the dying of the best Yellow It hath some times been so low as at four pounds a Load which containeth fifteen hundred weight and somtimes so dear that it was worth fifteen pounds betwixt which prices it hath its constant motion and now is in the Aequator betwixt both worth seven pounds ten shillings It was first sown in this County and since in Northfolk and in other places Madder This is very useful for Dyers for making of Redds and Violets It is a Weed whose root onely is useful for dying whilest the leaves only of Woade are serviceable for that purpose and there are three kinds thereof 1. Crop-Madder worth betwixt 4. and 5. l. the hundred 1. Umber-Owe  betwixt 3. and 4. l.  3. Pipe or Fat-Madder  about 1. l. 10. s.  Some two years since this was sown by Sir Nicholas Crispe at Debtford I hope will have good success first because it groweth in Zeland in the same if not a more Northern Latitude Secondly because wild-Madder growes here in abundance and why may not Tame Madder if Cicurated by Art Lastly because as good as any grew some thirty years since at Barn-Elms in Surrey though it quit not Cost through some Error in the first Planter thereof which now we hope will be rectified Flaxe I am informed by such who should know that no County in England sends better or more to London Yet doth not our whole Land afford the tenth part of what is spent therein so that we are fain to fetch it from Flanders France yea as far as Aegypt it selfe It may seem strange that our Soile kindlie for that seed the use whereof and profit thereby so great yet so little care is taken for the planting thereof which well husbanded would find linen for the rich and living for the poor Many would never be indicted Spinsters were they Spinsters indeed nor come to so publick and shameful punishments if painfully imployed in that Vocation When a Spider is found upon our clothes we use to say some money is coming towards us The Moral is this such who imitate the industry of that contemptible creature which taketh hold with her hands and is in Kings Palaces may by Gods blessing weave themselves into wealth and procure a plentiful estate Manufactures Though clothing whereof we have spoken before be diffused through many Shires of England yet is it as vigorously applyed here as in any other place and Kentish cloth at the present keepeth up the credit thereof as high as ever before Thread I place this the last because the least of Manufactures Thread being counted a thing so inconsiderable Abraham said to the King of Sodom that he would take nothing from a Thread to a Shoe latchet That is nothing at all It seems this Hebrew Proverb surrounded the Universe beginning at a Thread a contemptible thing and after the incircling of all things more precious ended where it begun at a Shoe-latchet as mean as Thread in valuation But though one Thread be little worth many together prove useful and profitable and some thousand of pounds are sent yearly over out of England to buy that Commodity My Author telleth me that Thread is onely made I understand him out of London at Maidstone in this County where well nigh a hundred hands are imployed about it I believe a thousand might be occupied in the same work and many idle women who now onely spin Street-thread going tatling about with tales might procure if set at work a comfortable lively-hood thereby The Buildings The Cathedral of Rotchester is low and little proportional to the Revenews thereof Yet hath it though no Magnificence a venerable aspect of Antiquity therein The King hath besides other three fair Palaces in this Shire Greenwich with a pleasant medlay prospect of City Country Water and Land Eltham not altogether so wholsome and Otford which Arch-Bishop VVarham did so enlarge and adorne with Building that Cranmer his Successor was in some sort forced to exchange it with King Henry the Eighth on no gainful conditions To lesson the Clergy to content themselves with Decency without sumptuousness lest it awaken Envy and in fine they prove loosers thereby COBHAM the House of the late
besides subject to rot in these Countries because bought at the second hand whereas we make our best markets fetching our Cordage from the Fountain thereof 4. Force Besides the strength inherent in the structure where of before this is accessary consisting in the Weight and number of their Guns Those of the Sixth 10. 12. 14. 16. 18. 20. Fifth 22. 26. 28. 30. Fourth Rates carrying 38. 40. 44. 48. 50. Ordinance mounted Third 50. 54. 56. 60. Second 60. 64. 70. The Royal-Soveraign being one of the first rates when she is fitted for the Seas carrieth one hundred and four Peeces of Ordnance mounted 5. Sea-men Couragious and skilful For the first we remember the Proverb of Solomon Let an other praise thee not thy own mouth a stranger not thy own lips The Spaniards with sad shrug and Dutch with a sorrowful shaking of their heads give a tacite assent hereunto Skillful Indeed Navigation is much improved especially since Saint Pauls time insomuch that when a man goes bunglingly about any work in a ship I have heard our English-men say such a man is one of Saint Pauls Mariners For though no doubt they were as ingenious as any in that Age to decline a Tempest yet modern experience affords fairer fences against foul Weather 6. Advantagious VVeapons Besides Guns of all sorts and sizes from the Pistol to whole Cannon they have Round-double-head-Bur-spike-Crow-Bar-Case-Chain shot I joyn them together because though different Instruments of death they all concur in doing Execution If they be VVind-ward of a ship they have Arrows made to shoot out of a bow with fire-workes at the end which if striking unto the Enemies Sails will stick there I fire them and the ship if they lye board and board they throw hand-Granadoes with stinck-pots into the ship which make so noisom a smell that the Enemie is forced to thrust their heads out of the Ports for air 7. Provision 1. Wholsome our English Beef and Pork keeping sweet and sound longer then any Flesh of other Countries even twenty six moneths to the East and West-Indies 2. More plentiful than any Prince or State in all Europe alloweth The Sea-men having two Beef two Pork and three Fish-dayes besides every Sea-man is alwayes well stored with Hooks to catch Fish with which our Seas do abound Insomuch that many times six will diet on four mens allowance and so save the rest therewith to buy fresh meat when landing where it may be procured I speak not this that hereafter their allowance from the King should be the lesse but that their Loyalty to him and thankfulnesse to God may be the more 8. Accommodation Every one of his Majesties Ships and Friggot-Officers have a distinct Cabin for themselves for which the Dutch French and Portugals do envy them who for the most partlye sub dio under ship-decks 9. Government Few offences comparatively to other Fleets are therein committed and fewer escape punishment The Offender if the fault be small is tried by a Court-Marshal consisting of the Officers of the Ship if great by a Council of Warre wherein only Commanders and the Judge Advocate If any sleep in their watches it is pain of death After 8 a clock none save the Captain Lievtenant and Master may presume to burn a candle No smoaking of Tobacco save for the priviledged aforesaid at any time but in one particular place of the ship that over a Tub of water Preaching they have lately had twice aweek Praying twice aday but my Intelligencer could never hear that the Lords Supper for soâ—…e yeares was administred aboard of any ship an Omission which I hope hereafter will be amended But never did this Navy appear more triumphant then when in May last it brought over our Gracious Soveraign being almost becalmed such the fear of the winds to offend with over-roughness the prognostick of his Majesties peaceable Reign The Farwel Being to tak our leave of these our wooden walls first I wish that they may conquer with their Mast and Sailes without their Gunnes that their very appearnace may fright their foes into Submission But if in point of Honour or safety they be necessitated to ingage may they alwayes keep the Wind of the Enemy that their shot may flye with the greater force and that the smoake of their Pouder pursuing the Fâ—…e may drive him to fire at hazard May their Gunner be in all places of the ship to see where he can make a shot with the best advantage their Carpenter and his Crew be allwayes in the Hold presently to drive in a wooden plug whereas a shot comes betwixt wind and water and to clap a board with Tar and Camels Hair upon it till the dispute be over Their Chirurgion and his assistants be in the same place out of danger of shot to dress the wounded Their Captain to be in the uppermost the Lieuetenant in every part of the Ship to incourage the Sea-men The Chaplain at his Devotions to importune Heaven for success and encouraging all his by his good Council if Time will permit Medicinal Waters TUNBRIDGE WATER It is usual for Providence when intending a Benefit to Mankind to send some signal chance on the Errand to bring the first Tidings thereof most visible in the Newes of Medicinal-Waters The first Discovery of this Water though variously reported is believed from a Footman to a Dutch Lord who passed this way and drinking thereof found it in taste very like to that at the Spaw in Germany Indeed there is a great Symbolizing betwixt them in many concurrences and I believe it is as Soveraign as the other save that it is true of Things as of Persons Major è longinquo Reverentia Surely it runneth thorough some Iron-Mine because so good for Splenitick distempers But I leave the full Relation to such who having experimentally found the Vertue of it can set their Seal of Probatum est unto the commendation thereof Proverbs A KENTISH Yeoman It passeth for a plain Man of a plentiful estate Yeomen in this County bearing away the Bell for wealth from all of their ranck in England Yeomen contracted for Yemen-mein are so called saith a great Antiquary from Gemein G in the beginning is usually turned into Y as Gate into Yate which signifieth Common in old Dutch so that Yeoman is a Commoner one undignified with any title of Gentility A condition of People almost peculiar to England seeing in France Italy and Spain like a lame Dye which hath no points betwixt Duce and Cinque no medium between Gentlemen and Pesants Whereas amongst us the Yeomen Ingenui or Legales Homines are in effect the Basis of all the Nation formerly most mounting the subsidyBook in Peace with their purses and the Muster Roll in war with their Persons Kent as we have said affordeth the richest in this kind whence the Rime A Knight of CALES and a Gentle-man of WALES and a Laird of the North Countree A Yeoman of KENT with his
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 chieâ—…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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
as when perceiving his old Palace at Otford to want water he struck his staff into the dry ground still called Saint Thomas his well whence water runneth plentifully to serve that house lately re-built unto this day Others spightful as when because a Smith dwelling in that Town had clogged his Horse he ordered that no Smith afterwards should thrive within that Parish But he who shall go about seriously to confute these Tales is as very a Fool as he was somewhat else who first impudently invented and vented them Prelates STEPHEN LANGTON Here we are at a perfect losse for the place of his birth his surname affording us so much direction in effect it is none at all Inopes nos copia fecit finding no fewer than twelve Langtons though none very near to this place which makes us fly to our marginal refuge herein Stephen born in England was bred in Paris where he became one of the greatest Scholars of the Christian world in his age He was afterwards consecrated Cardinal of Saint Chrysogone and then by Papal power intruded Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in defiance of all opposition which King John could make against him Many are his learned Works writing Comments on all the Old and on some of the New Testament He was the first that divided the whole Bible into Chapters as Robert Stephens a French-man that curious Critick and painful Printer so ne six score years since first subdivided into Verses A worthy Work making Scripture more managable in mens memories and the passages therein the sooner to be turned to as any person who is â—…ooner found out in the most populous City if methodized into Streets and Houses with signs to which the Figures affixed do fitly allude Say not this was a presumption incurring the curse denounced to such who adde to Scripture it being no Addition but an Illustration thereof Besides God set the first pattern to mens industry herein seeing the distinction of some Verses may be said to be Jure Divino as those in the Lamentations and elsewhere which are Alphabetically modelled As causless their complaint who cavil at the inequality of Chapters the eighth of the first of Kings being sixty six the last of Malachy but six verses seeing the entireness of the sense is the standard of their length or shortness It is confessed some few Chapters end and others begin obruptly and yet it is questionable whether the ateration thereof would prove advantageous seeing the reforming of a small fault with a great change doth often hurt more than amend and such alterations would discompose Millions of Quotations in excellent Authors conformed to the aforesaid received divisions Here it must not be concealed that notwithstanding this general tradition of Langtons chaptering the Bible some learned men make that design of far ancienter date and particularly that able Antiquary Sir Henry Spelman This I am confident of that Stephen Langton did something much material in order thereunto and the Improver is usually called the Inventor by a complemental mistake However though I believe Langton well employed in dividing the Bible he was ill busâ—…ed in rending asunder the Church and Kingdom of England reducing King Iohn to sad extremities He died and was buried at Canterbury Anno Dom. 1228. Souldiers WILLIAM PRUDE Esquire vulgarly called Proud was born in this City where his stock have continued for some hundreds of years bred a Souldier in the Low Countreys where he attained to be Lieutenant Colonel He was slain Iuly 12. 1632. at the siege of Mastrich His body which I assure you was no usual honour was brought over into England and buried in the Cathedral of Canterbury in Saint Michaels Chappel on the South side of the Quire with this Inscription on his Monument Stand Souldiers ere you march by way of charge Take an example here that may enlarge Your minds to noble Action Here in peace Rests one whose Life was War whose rich encrease Of Fame and Honour from his Valour grew Unbegg'd unbought for what he won he drew By just desert having in service been A Souldier till near sixty from sixteen Years of his active Life continually Fearless of Death yet still prepar'd to die In his Religious Thoughts for midd'st all harmes He bare as much of Piety as Armes Now Souldiers on and fear not to intrude The Gates of Death by th' example of this Prude He married Mary Daughter of Sir Adam Sprackling Knight and had Issue by her four Sons and three Daughters to whose memory his surviving Son Searles Prude hath erected this Monument Writers OSBERN of CANTERBURY so called because there he had his first birth or best Being as Chanter of the Cathedral Church therein An admirable Musitian which quality endeared him though an Englishman to Lankfrank the Lordly Lombard and Arch-Bishop of Canterbury He was the English Jubal as to the curiosity thereof in our Churches An Art which never any spake against who understood it otherwise Apollo is in a sad case if Midas his ears must be his Judges However in Divine Service all Musick ought to be tuned to edification that all who hear may understand it otherwise it may tend to delight not devotion and true zeal cannot be raised where knowledge is depressed This Osbern wrote the life of Saint Dunstan in pure Latine according to that age flourishing under William the Conquerer Anno 1070. SIMON LANGTON was by his Brother Stephen Langton the Arch-Bishop preferred Arch-Deacon of Canterbury who Carne sanguine revelante saith the Record made the place much better both to him and his successors in revenue and jurisdiction A troublesome man he was and on his Brothers score a great adversary to King Iohn even after that King had altered his Copy and became of a fierce Foe a Son-Servant to the Pope by resigning his Crown unto him But our Simon could not knock off when he should having contracted such an habit of hatred against K. Iohn that he could not depose it though commanded under the pain of excommunication This caused him to trudge to the Court of Rome where he found little favour For such who will be the Popes white Boyes must watchfully observe his signals and not only charge when he chargeth but retreat when he retreateth This Simon beside others wrote a Book of the penitence of Magdalene in relation it seems to himself though she found more favour in the Court of Heaven than he at Rome He died Anno Dom. 12 Benefactors to the Publick JOHN EASDAY was Alderman and Mayor of this City Anno 1585. He found the Walls thereof much ruined and being a man but of an indifferent estate began the reparation thereof at Ridingate and therein proceeded so far as his name is inscribed on the Wall whose exemplary endeavours have since met with some to commend none to imitate them THOMAS NEVILE born in this City of most honourable extraction as his name is enough to notifie
and avouch He was bred in Cambridge and Master first of Mag dalen then of Trinity Colledge and Dean of Canterbury He was the first Clergy man sent by Arch-Bishop Whitgift who carried to King James tidings of the English Crown and it is questionable whether he brought thither or thence more welcome news especially to the Clergy acquainting them with the Kings full intentions to maintain Church-Discipline as he found it established But the main matter commending his memory is his magnificency to Trinity College whose Court he reduced to a spacious and beautiful Quadrangle Indeed he plucked down as good building as any erected but such as was irregular intercepting the sight disturbing the intended uniformity of the Court whereby the beauty at this day is much advanced For as the Intuitive knowledge is more perfect than that which insinuates it self into the Soul Gradually by discourse so more beautiful the prospect of that Building which is all visible at one view than what discovers it self to the sight by parcels and degrees Nor was this Doctor like those Poets good only at Translation and bad at Invention all for altering nothing for adding of his own who contributed to this Colledge I will not say a Widows Mite but a Batchelours Bounty a stately new Court of his own expence which cost him three thousand pounds and upwards Much enfeebled with the Palsie he died an aged man Anno Dom. 161 The Farewell I am heartily sorry that the many laudable endeavours for the scouring and enlargement of the River Stoure advantagious for this City have been so often defeated and the Contributions given by well-disposed Benefactors amongst whom Mr. Rose once an Alderman of Canterbury gave three hundred pounds have missed their ends praying that their future enterprises in this kind may be crowned with success For the rest I refer the Reader to the pains of my worthy Friend Mr. William Somner who hath written justum volumen of the Antiquities of this City I am sorry to see him Subject-bound betrayed thereto by his own modesty seeing otherwise not the City but Diocesse of Canterbury had been more adaequate to his abilities I hope others by his example will undertake their respective Counties It being now with our age the third and last time of asking the Banes whether or no we may be wedded to skill in this kind seeing now use or for ever hold your Pens all Church Monuments leading to knowledge in that nature being daily irrecoverably imbezeled LANCASHIRE LANCASHIRE Hath the Irish Sea on the West York-shire on the East Cheshire parted with the River Mersey on the South Cumberland and Westmerland on the North. It rangeth in length from Mersey to Wenander-Mere full fifty five miles though the Broadest part thereof exceedeth not One and thirty The Ayre thereof is Subtil and Piercing being free from Foggs saving in the Mosses the Effects whereof are found in the fair Complections and firme Constitutions of the Natives therein whose bodies are as able as their minds willing for any laborious Employment Their Soyle is tolerably fruitful of all things necessary for humane Sustenance Aâ—…d as that Youth cannot be counted a Dâ—…nce though he be Ignorant if he be Docible because his lack of Learning is to be scored on the want of a Teacher So Sterilitie cannot properly be imputed to some places in this County where little Graine doth grow because capable thereof as daily experience doth avouch if it were husbanded accordingly This Shire though sufficiently thick of people is exceedingly thin of Parishes as by perusing this parallel will plainly appear Rutland hath in it Parishes Forty eight Lancashire hath in it Parishes Thirty six See here how Rutland being scarce a Fifth part of Lancashire in greatness hath a fourth part of Parishes more therein But as it was a fine Sight to behold Sir Tho. More when Lord Chancellour of England every morning in term time humbly ask blessing in VVestminster-hall of Sir John More his Father then a pusnie Judge so may one see in this Shire some Chapels exceeding their Mother-Churches in fairness of Structure and numerousnesse of people yet owning their filial relation and still continuing their dutiful dependance on their Parents But for Numerosity of Chapels surely the Church of Manchester exceedeth all the rest which though anciently called but Villa de Manchester is for Wealth and Greatnesse corrival with some Cities in England having no lesse then Nine Chapels which before these our civil Wars were reputed to have five hundred communicants a peice Insomuch that some Clergy men who have confulted Gods Honour with their own credit and profit could not better desire for themselves than to have a Lincoln-shire Church as best built a Lancashire Parish as largest bounded and a London Audience as consisting of most intelligent people The people generally devout are as I am informed Northward and by the West Popishly 〈◊〉 which in the other parts intended by Antiperistasis are zealous Protestants Hence is it that many Subtile Papists and Jesuits have been born and bred in this County which have met with their Matches to say no more in the Natives of the same County So that thereby it hath come to passe that the house of Saul hath waxed weaker and weaker and the house of David stronger and stronger Natural Commodities Oates If any ask why this Graine growing commonly all over England is here entered as an Eminent Commodity of Lancashire Let him know that here is the most and best of that kind yea Wheat and Barlie may seem but the adopted whilst Oates are the Natural Issue of this County so inclined is its genius to the production thereof Say not Oates are Horse-graine and fitter for a Stable then a Table For besides that the Meal thereof is the distinguishing form of Gruel or Broth from Water most hearty and wholsome Bread is made thereof Yea anciently North of Humber no other was eaten by People of the Primest Quality For we read how William the Conquerour bestowed the Mannour of Castle Bitham in Lincoln-shire upon Stephen Earl of Albemarle and Holderness chiefly for this consideration that thence he might have wheaten bread to feed his Infant Son Oaten bread being then the Diet of Holderness and the Counties lying beyond it Allume I am informed that Allume is found at Houghton in this County within the Inheritance of Sir Richard Houghton and that enough for the use of this and the neighbouring Shires though not for Transportarion But because far greater plenty is afforded in York-shire the larger mention of this Mineral is referred to that place Oxen. The fairest in England are bred or if you will made in this County with goodly heads the Tips of whose horns are sometimes distanced five foot afunder Horns are a commodity not to be slighted seeing I cannot call to mind any other substance so hard that it will not break so solid that it will hold liquor within
Tâ—…rtius Edwardus dilexit hunc ut amicus Fortia qui gessit Gallos Navaros que repressit Sic cum recessit morte feriente decessit Anno Milleno trecento septuageno Atque his junge duo sic perit omnis homoÌ„ His Monument is not extant at this day and it is pity that so good a Sword did not light on a better Pen and that Pallas so much honoured by him in her Military relation did not more assist in his Epitaph in her Poetical capacity Sr. WILLIAM MOLINEUX junior Knight descendant from the former flourished under K. Henry the eighth being a man of great command in this County bringing the considerable strength thereof to the seasonable succour of the Duke of Norfolk with whom he performed signal service in Flodden-Field It is confesâ—…ed on all sides that the Scots lost the Day by not keeping their Ranks but not agreed on the cause thereof Bucanan who commonly makes the too much Courage of his Countrymen the cause of their being conquered imputes it to their indiscreet pursuing of the English routed at the first Others say they did not break their Ranks but they were broken unable to endure the Lancashire Archers and so forced to sunder themselves In this Battail the Scotch King and chiefest Gentry were slain the English loosing scarce any of the Scâ—…ts scarce any but of prime note The King afterwards wrote his gratulatory Letter to Sr. William Molinâ—…ux in forme following Trusty and Welbeloved We greet you well and understand as well by the Report of Our Right Trusâ—…y Cousin and Counsellor the Duke of Norfolk as otherwise what acceptable serviâ—…e You amongst others lately did unto us by your valiant towardnesse in the assisting of Our said Cousin against our great Enemy the late King of Scots and how couragiously you as a very hearty loving Servant acquitted your self for the overthrow of the said late King and distressing of his malice and power to our great Honour and the advancing of your no little Fame and praise For which We have good cause to favour and thank you and so we full heartily do and assured may you be that VVe shall in such effectual wise remember your said service in any your Reasonable Pursuits as you shall have cause to think the same Rightwell imployed to your comfort and weal hereafter Given under our Signet at our Castle at Windsore the 27 of November It appears by our Authour that thâ—… like Letters mutatis mutandis were sent unto Sr. Edward Stanley and some other men of principal note in Lancashire and Cheshire I have nothing more to observe save that these two worthy Sr. VVilliams were Ancestors unto the truly Honourable the Lord Molineux Viscount Marybourgh in Ireland lately deceased Writers HUGH of MANCHESTER was saith my Authour when Adolescens a youth a Dominican but when Juvenis a young man he changed his Copy and turned a Franciscan Say not he degraded himself choosing a later order then he left for it seems that amongst them the last is counted the best as of a more refined perfection He was a great scholar and highly esteemed in that age for his severity and discretion An Imposter happened at this time pretending himself first blind then cured at the Tomb of King Henry the Third so to get coine to himself and credit to the dead King But our Hugh discovered the cheat and Writing a Book De 〈◊〉 Diliriis Dedicated it to King Edward the First who kindly accepted thereof preferring that his Fathers memory should appear to posterity with his true face 〈◊〉 painted with such false miracles This Hugh with another Franciscan was imployed by the same King to Philip King of France to demand such Lands as he detained from him in Aquitain Such who object that sitter men than Friers might have been found for that service consider not how in that Age such mortified men were presumed the most proper Persons peaceably to compremise differences between the greatest Princes This Embassie was undertaken Anno Dom. 1294. RICHARD ULVERSTON was born in this County at Ulverston a well-known Market in Loynsâ—…ay-Hundred A great Antiquary ambitious of all Learned Mens acquaintance complained that he knew him not so well as he desired He was bred in Oxford and wrote a Book intituled the Articles of Faith or the Creed of the Church this lay latent a good while till John Stanberry Bishop of Hereford rescued it from the Moaths some Thirty Years after the Authours death and bestowed a double Light upon it one in producing it into the Publick the other illustrating it with a Commentary he wrote thereon Say not this was false Herâ—…ldry but true Humility to see a Bishop commenting which is not usual on the Book of a Priest Bale concludeth all thus longum Non doctrina potest obscuro carcere claudi noâ—… will Worth Long be confin'd but make its own way forth The Time and Place of his Death are equally uncertain but by probability about 1434. under the Reign of King Henry the sixt THOMAS PENKETH so was his true name though wrested by some Latinists into Penâ—…hettus and miswritten Penthy and Penker by some English taken from a Village in this County He was bred an Augustinian in Warrington and a Doctor of Divinity in Oxford a deep Scotist and of so great a memory that Foreiners amongst whom he lived report of him that had all the Books of Scotus been lost he could easily have restored every word of them He was called to be Professor at Padua and returning into England became Provincial of his Order But his last act stained his former life who promoted the bastardizing of the Issue of K. Edward the 4th and as Dr. Shaw ushered his Flattery held up the train of the Usurper's Praises in a Sermon at St. Pauls in preaching whereof he who had formerly forfeited his Honesty lost his* Voice a proper punishment for a Parasite His Disgrace had some influence on his Order which then verticall and numerous â—…ayly 〈◊〉 in England to their Dissolution This Thomas dyed and was buryed in London 1487. JOHN STANDISH Short mention shall serve him who might have been left out wâ—…thout losse He was Nephew to Henry Standish Bishop of St. Asaph of no mean Family in this County One would suspect him â—…ot the same Man called by Pale a scurrillous Fool and admired by pitâ—… for piety and learning jealous lest another man should be more wise to Salvation than himself he wrote a Book against the Translation of Scripture into English and presented it to the Parliament His death happened seasonably for his own safety 1556. a little before the Death of Queen Mary Since the Reformation THOMAS LEAVER was born in this County where his Family and Name still remains at two Villages called Leaver at this day He was bred Fellow and Batchelour of Divinity oâ—… St. Johns Colledge in Cambridge whereof he was chosen Master
whom the Cheif Justice therin said Your Kinsman was my Predecessour in the Court and a great Lawyer My Lord replied the Gentleman he was a very honest man for he left a small estate But indeed though his estate was not considerable compared to his Successors then present it was in it self of a good valuation Writers WILLIAM DE LEICESTER otherwise called William de Montibus which I would willingly English William of the Woulds was born in Leicester in this County bred in Oxford where he was Doctor and Professor of Divinity so eminent for his Learning that he was known to and much beloved by the Nobility of the land He was also known by the name of Mr. William an evidence I assure you sufficient to avouch his Majesterialty in all Learning He was removed to Lincolne and became first Canon then Chancelour of the Church Boston of Bury reckoneth up many and Learned Books of his making He flourished under King John 1210. and lyeth buryed at Lincolne RICHARD BELGRAVE was born saith J. Pitz at Chichester in Sussex but at Belgrave in Leicester-shire saith Mr. William Burton whom I rather beleive because he wrote a particular Description of this County Now surely the more is the exactness of the Authour the less the extent of his Subject especially making it his Set-work what was Pits his by-work to observe the Natives of this Shire But both agree him to be a Carmelite bred in Cambridge an excellent Divine and good Schoolman more Learned then eloquent He wrote one Book of Theological Determinations and another of Ordinary Questions flourishing in the year 1220 under King Edward the Second ROBERT DE LEICESTER was born therein but bred in Oxford a Franciscan Fryer He was one of those who brought preaching into Fashion in that age and was much esteemed for his faculty therein by most of the Nobility But Robert Mascall Bishop of Hereford as pious and learned as any in that age had an extraordinary affection for him Our Leicestrian Robert appeareth also a good Chronologer having written judiciously of the Hebrew and Roman Computation In his reduced age he retired to Leichfield where he dyed and was buryed in the Monastery of the Franciscans 1348. THOMAS RATCLIF born at Ratcliffe in this County was bred an Augustinian in Leicester where he was Ordinis sui Episcopus strain the Word no higher then to overseer of his order He had Ingenium fecundum amplum and pity it was that he had Vitae institutum sterile angustum However to enlarge his Soul he wrote divers Books and flourished anno 1360. BARTHOLOMEVV CULIE was born at Radoliffe-Culie in this County as the exact Describer thereof avoucheth And therefore Pitz committeth a double mistake about this One Writer first calling him Conway then making him a Welshman by his Nativity How hard is it to commit one and but one Error This Bartholomew was an excellent Philosopher and wrote a Book of Generation and Corruption and although J. Pitz. confesseth himself ignorant of the time he lived in my Authour assureth me that he flourished under King Edward the third WILLIAM DE LUBBENHAM was born at Lubbenham in this County brought up in Oxford a good Philosopher and a Divine was after a White Fryer or Carmelite in Coventry and after became Provincial of the Order which place he kept till he dyed He wrote upon Aristotles Posteriors and one Book of ordinary Questions He dyed in the White Fryers in Coventry 1361. in the 36. year of K. Edward the Third JEFFERY DE HARBY was born at Harby in this County and bred in Oxford where he became Provincial of the Augustines and Confessor to K. Edward the Third Wonder not when meeting with so many Confessors to that King presuming he had but one at one time Conscience not standing on State and variety in that kind For know King Edward reigned 50. years and Confessors being aged before admitted to their place his Vivaciousnesse did wear out many of them Besides living much beyond the Seas it is probable that he had his Forraign and his Home Confessors Our Jeffery was also of his Privy Counsel being as prudent to advise in matters politick as pious in spiritual concernments Such as admired he was not preferred to some wealthy Bishoprick must consider that he was ambitious and covetous to be poor and wrote a violent Book in the praise and perfection thereof against Armachanus Dying in London he was buryed in the Church of the Augustines about the Year 1361. WILLIAM DE FOLVIL was born at Ashbye-Folvil in this County and therefore when Bale calleth him Lincolniensem understand him not by County but by Diocesse He was bred a Franciscan in the University of Cambridge and engaged himself a great Master of defence in that doughty quarrel pro pueris induendis that children under the age of 18. might be admitted into Monastical orders For whereas this was then complained of as a great and general grievance that by such preproperous Couling of Boyes and vailing of Girles Parents were cozened out of their children and children cozened out of themselves doing in their Minority they knew not what and repenting in their maturity not knowing what to do our Folvil with more passion then reason maintained the legality thereof He dyed and was buryed in Stamford anno 1384. HENRY DE KNIGHTON was born at Knighton in this County sometime Abbot of Leicester who wrote his History from William the Conquerour to the time of King Richard the Second in whose Reign he dyed It seemeth Lelandus non vidit omnia nor his shadow Bale nor his shadow Pits all three confessing that the History of this Knighton never came to their hands Whereas of late it hath been fairly printed with other Historians on the commendable cost of Cornelius Bee Thus it is some comfort and contentment to such whom Nature hath denyed to be Mothers that they may be drye Nurses and dandle Babes in their Laps whom they cannot bear in their Wombs And thus this Industrious Stationer though no Father hath been Foster Father to many worthy Books to the great profit of posterity WILLIAM WOODFORD I cannot fixe his Nativity with any certainty because so many Woods and Fords and would the former did continue as well as the latter and consequently so many Towns called Woodfords in England He is placed here because his Surname in this age flourished in great Eminency in this County He was bred a Franciscan and though Bilious Bale giveth him the Character of Indoctè Doctus we learn from Leland that he was one of profound Learning and Thomas Waldensis owneth and calleth him Magistrum suum His Master Indeed Woodford set him the first Copy of Railing against Wickliffe being deputed by T. Arundel Archbishop of Canterbury to confute publickly in Writing his Opinions He dyed and was buryed at Colchester 1397. THOMAS LANGTON was born at
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 yâ—…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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 attiâ—…eth
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 â—…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
Thomae Malton Iohannis Drayton Willielmi Swanlond Willielmi Norton Iohannis Barnvile Richardi Richmond Roberti Oliver Willielmi Bray Roberti Foster Henrici Filingsley Iohannis Bronn Roberti Charyngworth Richardi Skarburgh Richardi Bronn Iohannis e Elryngton VVillielmi Brokherst Iohannis Danyell What is generally true of the Gentry in all Counties that being in continuo fluxu Labitur labetur in omne volubilis aevum is most true in this County where the Stream thereof runneth most rapid to make more speedy room for Succession so that the Gentry in Middlesex seem Sojourners rather then Inhabitants therein Is it not strange that of the thirty three forenamed Families not three of them were extant in the Shire one hundred and sixty years after viz. anno Dom. 1593. as appeareth by the alphabetical Collection set forth by Mr. Norden in that year I impute the brevity as I may term it of such Gentry in this County to the Vicinity of London to them or rather of them to it and hope that Worshipful Families now fixed in Middlesex will hereafter have longer continuance THOMAE a CHALETON Militis I can hardly believe him of the same Family R. being slipped out in the Writing thereof with Thomas Carleton who dyed anno Domini 1447. being buryed under a much defaced Monument in EdmontonChurch and whom the Inhabitants deliver by Tradition to have been a man of great command in this County THOMAE b FROVVYK He was Owner of Gunners-Bury in the Parish of Great Eling wherein he lyes buryed and was Father of famous Judge Frowyk of whom before WILLIELMI c WROTH Ancestor to Sir Henry VVrotâ—… still living at Durance whose great Grandfather Sir Thomas VVroth fled over for his Religion into Germany in the Reign of Queen Mary and it is observable that he who then went away for his Conscience hath alone of all this Catalogne his name remaining in this County As for VVilliam VVroth mentioned in this Catalogue he was Son to VVill. VVroth Esquire who dyed the 20. of March the Ninth of Henry the Fourth who was the Son of Iohn VVroth who married Maud sole Daughter unto Thomas Durand by whom the house of Durands was devolved unto him JOHN SHORDYCHE So called from Shorditch on the North of Bishops Gate in London whereof he was Owner as also of the Mannor of Hackney I say Shorditch so named here in the twelfth of King Henry the Sixth and some hundred years before quasi Shorditch or the Ditch that was the Sewer or publick Drain to the North-East part of the City Hereby appeareth the Vanity of their Conceits who will have it so called from Iane Shore the Minion of Edward the Fourth reported to dye here pitifully as much pitied though not relieved in the Reign of King Richard the Third Reader Be pleased to take notice that though Mr. Norden in his Survey of this County passeth over this Sirname in Silence yet the Progeny of this Iohn Shorditch hath still a confiderable estate at Icknam therein JOHANNIS e ELRYNGTON These had an house sometimes at Neusdon in this County but are since extinct and the last that I find of the name was Iohn Elryngton Filycer of the City of London and Keeper of the Records of the Common Pleas who dying 1504. is buryed with an Inscription in Hackney Church The Sheriffs Some perchance may expect that in conformity to other Counties I should here insert the Sheriffs of Middlesex reserving those of London to the Descrâ—…ption of that City These proceed on an old vulgar error that the Sheriffs aforesaid have their several Jurisdictions divided accordingly Whereas indeed both are jointly and equally Sheriffs of London and Middlesex having not only concurrent but united power in all places Nor know I any difference betwixt them save that he who is first chosen taketh place and he who liveth the neerest to the Tower hath the Poultrie the other VVood street-Counter assigned to his Service But more of them in London All I will add is this the Gentry in Middlesex have herein a priviledge above any County in England that they are not Eligible except also they be Freemen of London to be Sheriffes of this Shire which doth cut off from them the occasion of much expences The Battells Brandford Fight 1642. November the 12. It began on the South west side of the Town near Zion house some execution being done by Great Guns and a Boat on the Thames with many therein sunk and Capt. Quarles an active Citizen on the Parliament side drowned before he could recover the Shore Soon was the Scene of this Tragedy removed to the North of the Town near Acton and the Kings Forces fell fiercely on the Regiment of Collonel Denzil Hollis then present in Parliament and put them to the Worst Here the Welsh under Sir ....... Salisbury their Leader made true the Greek Proverb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that Flyeth will fight again 〈◊〉 These who shewed swift heels at Edgehill â—…attle use as stout Arms as any in this Fight For formerly they were little better then Naked whereas since they had recovered armour to fence their bodies and Resolutions to arme their Minds Next day being Sunday marched out the Militia of London but both Armies may be said to have kept the Sabboth faceing each other without any considerable action It is incredible how many Cart Loads of Victuals were carried out from London enough to have feasted their Souldiers for some days and fed them for some Weeks In the Evening the Kings Forces drew off towards Kings Town The Number of the slain on both sides amounted not to a thousand and the Reputation of the Victory on the Kings Side was more then the effect thereof for then the Royalists did Nose and Beard the Populous City of London and did Triumphare though not In sub Hostico Indeed the accession of Citizens to the King answered not Rational expectation Wealth though Loyal being always Fearful and Loath to hazzard a certain Estate This is most sure that many Scores of Prisoners taken by the King were by him freely dismissed without other Ransome then a strict Oath to serve no more against him Now what Oath office is kept in London I know not nor what Pope therein had power to dispence with so sacred an Obligation But these met with such Confessors who seemingly satisfied them in the Violation of this Oath so that some Weeks after they appeared on the same side as fierce as before The Farewell This County is much infested with the Mildew That it is I know to my Cost but could not purchase the knowledge what it is much lesse how it might be prevented at the same Price though having diligently enquired into the Name and Nature thereof Some will have it called Mildew quasi Maldew or Illdew others Meldew or Hony-dew as being very sweet oh how lushious and noxious is Flattery with the Astringency thereof causing an Atrophy a Consumption in the Grain His
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 Dâ—…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
the lands belonging to the Church of Norwich which formerly he had so industriously recovered and setled thereon were again called into question being begged by a Peer who shall pass nameless Sir Edward desired him to desist telling him that otherwise he would put on his Gown and Cap and come into Westminster-hall once again and plead there in any Court in Justification of what he had done He died at Stoke Poges in Buckingham-shire on Wednesday the 3. of September being the 83. year of his age whose last words were Thy Kingdome come Thy will be done Sir THOMAS RICHARDSON Knight was born at Mulbarton in this County his father being Minister thereof He was bred in the study of our Municipal-law and became the Kings Serjeant therein Afterwards on the 28. of November 1626. he was sworn Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas that place having been void ten months before But coming now to our own times it is safest for me to break off Virgil I remember put a period to his Eclogue with Et Hylax in limine latrat VVe 'l Verfifie no more For do but hark Hylax doth bark at th' entrance of the Dore. Seeing many will be ready to carp it is safest for me to be silent whilst his Brass Monument on the South-side of VVestminster Abby thus entertaineth the Reader Deo Om. Thomae Richardsoni Iceni Equitis Aurati Humanum Depositum Ille Juris Municip omnes gradus exantlavit Conventus tertii ordinis ann Jacobi Regis 21 22. Prolocutor extitit Fori civilis Communium Placitorum vocant Supremum Magistratum quinquennium gessit Ad summum tandem primarii per Angliam judicis Tribunal A Rege Carolo evectus expiravit Anno aetatis 66. salutis MDCXXXIIII Tho. Richardson fil unicus Eques Aur. Baro Scotiae designatus Patri incomparabili posuit This Judge married for his second Lady Elizabeth Beaumont the sister as I take it of Mary Countess of Buckingham and the Relict of ........ Ashburnham Knight She was by King Charles Created Baroness of Craumount in Scotland and though issueless by the Judge the Honour descended to his Grand-child Souldiers ROBERT VENILE Knight one I confess whose name I never heard of till meeting with this memorable Note in a Modern Historian And here must not be forgotten Robert Venile Knight a Norfolk man who when the Scots and English were ready to give battle a certain stout Champion of great stature commonly called Tournboll coming out of the Scots Army and challenging any English man to meet him in a single combate this Robert Venile accepteth the challenge and marching towards the Champion and meeting by the way a certain black Mastife dog which waited on the Champion he suddenly with his sword cut him off at the loyns and afterwards did more to the Champion himself cutting his head from off his shoulders This put me with blushing enough that one so eminent in himself should be altogether to me obscure upon the inquiry after this valiant Knight but all my industry could not retrive him in any author so that he seems to me a kin to those spirits who appear but once and finally vanish away Sir OLIVER HINGHAM was born richly landed and buried in Hingham an eminent Market-town in this County A right valiant man whom King Edward the third left Governour of Aquitain in France an honorable but difficult place being to make good a great Country with a few men against a fierce and numerous enemy Yet he gave a good account of his trust When the French lay before Burdeaux the Citizens thereof to abuse the enemies hopes set open their gates displaying the Golden-lilies the French-armes on their Towers as if they were theirs the French were no sooner securely entred but brave Oliver Captain of this City and Warden of the whole Country for King Edward gave them such an entertainment that they drank not so much Claret-wine in the City as they left Bloud behi nd them This happ'ned in the thirteenth year of the reign of King Edward the third This Sir Oliver liv'd many years after and was made Knight of the Garter and lies buried at Hingham under a fair tomb of free-stone curiously wrought with his resemblance in his Coat-Armour having a Crowned Owle out of an Ivy-bush for his Crest lying upon a Rock beholding Sun Moon and Stars because a great Travailer all lively set forth in metal with four and twenty mourners about his monument JOHN FASTOLFE Knight was a native of this County as I have just cause to believe though some have made him a French-man meerly because he was Baron of Sineginle in France on which account they may rob England of many other Worthies He was a Ward and that the last to John Duke of Bedford a sufficient evidence to such who understand time and place to prove him of English extraction To avouch him by many arguments valiant is to maintain that the sun is bright though since the Stage hath been over bold with his memory making him a Thrasonical Puff and emblem of Mock-valour True it is Sir John Oldcastle did first bear the brunt of the one being made the make-sport in all plays for a coward It is easily known out of what purse this black peny came The Papistsâ—…ailing â—…ailing on him for a Heretick and therefore he must also be a coward though indeed he was a man of arms every inch of him and as valiant as any in his age Now as I am glad that Sir John Oldcastle is put out so I am sorry that Sir John Fastolfe is put in to relieve his memory in this base service to be the anvil for every dull wit to strike upon Nor is our Comedian excusable by some alteration of his name writing him Sir John Falstafe and making him the property of pleasure for King Henry the fifth to abuse seeing the vicinity of sounds intrench on the memory of that worthy Knight and few do heed the inconsiderable difference in spelling of their name He was made Knight of the Garter by King Henry the sixth and died about the second year of his reign Sir CLEMENT PASTON Knight fourth son to Sir VVilliam Paston son to Sir John Paston a famous Soldier and favorite to King Edward the fourth sent by him with the Lord Scales to conduct the Lady Margaret the sister of the King to her husband Charles Duke of Burgundy son to VVilliam Paston the Judge was born at Paston in this County When a youth he was at the burning of Conquest in France and afterwards by King Henry the eight was made Captain of one of his ships of war and in a Sea-fight took a French Gally and therein the Admiral of France prisoner called the Baron of Blancard whom he brought into England and kept at Castor nigh rarmouth till he had payed 7000. crowns for his ransome besides the spoil of the Galley wherein he had a cup and two snakes of gold which were the
Minister bred Fellow of Trinity-colledge in Oxford afterwards an eminent Preacher in London and Dean of ............ Hence he was preferr'd Bishop of Bristol and afterwards of Oxford and is still and long may he be living States-men Sir CHRISTOPHER HATTON was born I collect at Holdenby in this County of a family rather ancient then wealthy yet of no mean estate He rather took a bate then made a meal at the Inns of Court whilst he studied the Laws therein He came afterwards to the Court in a mask where the Queen first took notice of him loving him well for his handsome dancing better for his proper person and best of all for his great abilities His parts were far above his learning which mutually so assisted each other that no manifest want did appear and the Queen at last preferred him Lord Chancellour of England The Gown-men grudging hereat conceived his advancement their injury that one not thoroughly bred in the Laws should be preferred to the place How could he cure diseases unacquainted with their causes who might easily mistake the Justice of the Common-law for Rigour not knowing the true reason thereof Hereupon it was that some sullen Serjeants at the first refused to plead before him until partly by his power but more by his prudence he had convinced them of their errors and his abilities Indeed he had one Sir Richard Swale Doctor of the Civil-laws and that Law some say is very sufficient to dictate equity his servant-friend whose advice he followed in all matters of moment A scandal is raised that he was popishly affected and I cannot blame the Romanists if desirous to countenanâ—…e their cause with so considerable a person Yet most â—…ue it is that his zeal for the discipline of the Church of England gave the first being and life to this report One saith that he was a meer Vegetable of the Court that sprung up at night and sunk again at his noon though indeed he was of longer continuance Yet it brake his heart that the Queen which seldome gave boons and never forgave due debts rigorously demanded the present payment of some arrears which Sir Christopher did not hope to have remitted but did onely desire to be forborn failing herein in his expectation it went to his heart and cast him into a mortal disease The Queen afterwards did endeavour what she could to recover him bringing as some say cordial broaths unto him with her own hands but all would not do Thus no Pullies can draw up a heart once cast down though a Queen her self should set her hand thereunto He dyed Anno Domini 1591. and is buried under a stately monument in the Qâ—…ire of Saint Pauls Sir WILLIAM FITZ-WILLIAMS born at Milton in this County married the sister of Sir Henry Sidney Lord Deputy of Ireland Yea he himself was five times Lord Deputy of that Kingdome a sufficient evidence of his honesty and ability seeing Queen Elizabeth never trusted twice where she was once deceiv'd in a Minister of State She so preserved him in the power of his place that sending over Walter Earl of Essex a person higher in honour to be Governour of Ulster it was ordered that the Earl should take his Commission from the Lord Deputy An intelligent pen alloweth him serviceable towards the reduction of that Kingdome in two eminent particulars First in raising a composition in Mounster then in setling the possessions of the Lords and Tenants in Monahan one of the last acts of State tending to the reformation of the civil government perform'd in the reign of Queen Elizabeth His vigilancy was most conspicuous in the Eighty-eight when the routed Armado in its return did look dared not to land in Ireland except against their wills driven by tempest when they found the shore worse then the sea unto them I confess some impute the Irish Rebellion which afterwards brake out to this Deputies severity in imprisoning suspected persons for concealing Spanish goods though this onely gave the Irish a mantle for their intended wickedness He died Anno Domini 15 ... Sir ISAAC WAKE was born in this County whose father Arthur Wake Clerk was Parson of Billing Master of the Hospital of Saint Johns in Northampton and Canon of Christs-church and son to John VVake of Sancy-forrest Esquire of a most ancient and honorable family He was bred Fellow of Merton-colledge in Oxford Proctour and Oratour of that University he was afterwards Secretary to Sir Dudley Carleton Secretary of State and from his was advanced into the Kings Service and imployed Embassadour to Venice where he neglected his own commodity to attend his Majesties imployment the reason that he died rich onely to his own Conscience Coming from Venice he was appointed Leiger for France and designed Secretary of State had not death prevented him at Paris He was accomplished with all qualifications requisite for publique Employment Learning Languages Experience Abilities and what not King Charles hearing of his death commanded his Corps to be decently brought from Paris into England allowing the expences for his Funeral and enjoyning his neerest relations to attend the performance thereof These accordingly met his body at Bulloin in France and saw it solemnly conveyed into England where it was interred in the Chappel of the Castle of Dover Anno Dom. 16 ... Capital Judges and Writers on the Law MARTIN de PATESHULL Let him remain here till any shall show me a Town called Pateshulle in any other County of England which village in this Shire gave the name and afforded the habitation to that ancient family Though a Clergy-man he was in the first of King Henry the third made Justice of the Lower-â—…ench or Common-Pleas wherein he continued for twelve years and upwards as appeareth by the date of his death out of an excellent Author Eodem anno obiit Martinus de Pateshulle Decanus St. Pauli London 18. Cal. Decem. vir mirae prudentiae Legum Regni peritissimus He was the fourth Dean of Saint Pauls as reckoned up in Bishop Godwin his Catalogue In that age we see Clergy men were not onely trusted with the spirit I mean the equity but also with the letter of the Law being Judges in those Courts wherein were the most strictest proceedings Sir THOMAS de BILLING was born in this County where two Villages his namesakes near Northampton and had his habitation in great state at Ashwell in this Shire He was made Chief-Justice of the Kings-Bench in the sixth and so continued till the one and twentieth of Edward the fourth whose lands and those very large have since by the Lovels descended to the Shirlies Nothing else have I to observe of him save that he married for his second wife Mary the daughter and heir of Robert Nesenham of Conington in Huntingtonshire the Relict of William Cotton whose issue possess her inheritance at this day and she lieth intomb'd in VVestminster Sir
itcrum tedeat esse tuam Do not the least part of your trust disdain Nor grudge of Boys to take the care again He lived to be a very aged man past seventy six and died Anno Domini 162. JOHN FLETCHER Son of Richard Fletcher D. D. was as by proportion of time is collectible born in this County before his Father was Bishop of Bristol or London and whilst as yet he was Dean of Peterborough He had an excellent wit which the back-friends to Stage-plays will say was neither idle nor well imploy'd For he and Francis Beaumont Esquire like Castor and Pollux most happy when in conjunction raised the English to equal the Athenian and Roman Theater Beaumont bringing the ballast of judgement Fletcher the sail of phantasie both compounding a Poet to admiration Meeting once in a Tavern to contrive the rude draught of a Tragedy Fletcher undertook to kill the King therein whose words being over-heard by a listener though his Loyalty not to be blamed herein he was accused of High Treason till the mistake soon appearing that the plot was onely against a Drammatick and Scenical King all wound off in merriment Nor could it be laid to Fletcher's charge what Ajax doth to Ulysses Nihil hic Diomede remoto When Diomede was gone He could do nought alone For surviving his partner he wrote good Comedies himself though inferiour to the former and no wonder if a single thread was not so strong as a twisted one He died as I am inform'd in London of the plague in the first of King Charles 1625. Sir HENRY MONTAGUE Knight third son to Sir Edward Montague Knight grand-child to Sir Edward Montague Knight Lord Chief-Justice of the Kings-bench was born at Boughton in this County One skilful in mysterious arts beholding him when a School-boy foretold that by the pregnancy of his parts he would raise himself above the rest of his family which came to pass accordingly He was bred first in Christs-colledge in Cambridge then in the Middle-Temple where he attained to great learning in the Laws and passed through many preferments viz. 1. Sergeant at Law 2. Knighted by King James July 22. 1602. 3. Recorder of London 4. Lord Chief-Justice of the Kings-Bench November 18. 1616. 5. Lord Treasurer of England Decem. 16. 1620. 6. Baron of Kimbolton 7. Viscount Mandevile 8. President of the Council Septem 29. 1621. 9. Earl of Manchester 10. Lord Privy-Seal He wisely perceiving that Courtiers were but as counters in the hands of Princes raised and depress'd in valuation at pleasure was contented rather to be set for a smaller sum then to be quite put up into the box Thus in point of place and preferment being pleased to be what the King would have him according to his Motto Movendo non mutando me he became almost what he would be himself finaly advanced to an Office of great honour When Lord Privy-Seal he brought the Court of Requests into such repute that what formerly was called the Almes-basket of the Chancery had in his time well nigh as much meat in and guests about it I mean Suits and Clients as the Chancery it self His meditations on Life and Death written in the time of his health may be presumed to have left good impressions on his own soul preparatory for his dissolution which happened 164. Writers JOHN of NORTHAMPTON in Latine Johannes Avonius was born in the Town of Northampton in ipso Insulae umbilico saith Bale and is not mistaken in his proportion This mindeth me of a village in this County sufficiently known commonly call'd Navesby whose Orthography Criticks will have Navelsby as in the middle of England This John became a Carmelite in his native Town and so addicted himself to the Study of Mathematicks that he became one of the most eminent in that age for practical experiments He was Author of a work which he called The Philosophers Ring This was not like The Philosophers Stone a thing meerly imaginary nor yet was it a work of the Cyclopedy of Arts as the sound may seem to import but it was in plain truth a perpetual Almanack I say Almanack which word though many make of Arabick extraction a great Antiquary will have it derived from the Dutch Al-mon-aght that is to say Al-mon-heed the regard or observation of all Moons However this work of John was beheld as a Master-piece of that age and since commented upon by other Writers He flourished Anno Domini 1340. ROBERT HOLCOT was born in a Village of this County so named bred in the University of Oxford and afterwards became a Dominican in Northampton A deep Scholar and yet commended to be prudent in rebus agendis and accounted one of the greatest School-men in that age Nor was he onely a Candle or domestick light confin'd within the walls of his own Country but his learning was a publick Luminary to all Christendome as appears by the praise which Trithemius bestoweth upon him Vir in Divinis Scripturis eruditissimus secularium literarum non ignarus ingenio praestans clarus eloquio declamator quoque sermonem egregius Scripsit multa praeclara opuscula quibus nomen suum posteris notificavit He died at Northampton of the plague Anno 1349 before he had finished his Lectures on the seventh of Ecclesiastes I say of the plague which at that time so raged in England that our Chroniclers affirm scarce a tenth person of all sorts was left alive Insomuch that the Churches and Church-yards in London not sussicing for their interments a new Church-yard was Consecrated in West-smithfield wherein fifty thousand were buried who at that time died of the pestilence ROBERT DODFORD was born in a Village so called in this County where the Wirlyes Gentlemen of good account have long had their habitation so named as I take it from a Ford over the river Avon and Dods Water-weeds commonly called by children Cats Tales growing thereabouts He was bred a Benedictine Monke in the Abby of Ramsey and applied himself to the Study of the Hebrew Tongue wherewith the Library of which he was Keeper in that Convent did much abound He wrote Postills on the Proverbs and other Sermons which the envy of time hath intercepted â—…rom us He is said to have flourished about the year 1370. by Bale though Pitz on what account I know not maketh him more ancient by an hundred years PETER PATESHULL was no doubt born in that Village not far from Northampton bred a Augustinian in Oxford however falling afterwards into some dislike of his Order he procured from Walter Dysse Legate to Pope Urbane the sixth a Dispensation to relinquish it and was made the Popes Honorary Chaplain Afterwards by often reading the works of Wickliffe but especially his book of Real Universals he became of his judgement and after the death of Wickliffe preached and promoted his doctrine he wrote an Exposition of the Prophesie of Hildegardes a Stinging
to be wholy set again Scotish Proverbs currant in this County Lang or ye cut Falkland-wood with a penknife It is spoken of such who embrace unproportionable and improbable means to effect the ends propounded to themselves to as much purpose as to lave the sea with a cockle shell Falkland was one of the King of Scotland his Royal Palaces in Fife having a boâ—…ny wood whereof great want in the South of this Land where one can hardly find a stick to beat a dog about it so that an axe is proper and no penknife fit onely to fell a forrest of feathers with the timber of quills therein for such employment He is an Aberdeens man taking his word again It seems the men of that Town a fair Haven in the County of Mar have formerly been taxed for breach of promise I hope it true if ever of either onely of the old Aberdeen now much decayed and famous onely for Salmon-fishing If of the new then I believe it of the Townes-men not Scholars living in the University founded by Bishop Elfinston However we have formerly observ'd what is to be believed in such satyrical Proverbs He was born in August At the first hearing thereof I took it for a fortunate person that month beginning the return of profit for the pains of the year past I know amongst the Latines some months were counted more unhappy then others witness the by word Mense Maio nubunt male But since I perceive a man may miss his mark as well by over as under shooting it And one may be too serious in interpreting such common speeches For I am informed by a Scotish man that it is onely the Periphrasis of a licorish person and such said to be born in August whose Tongues will be the Tasters of every thing they can come by though not belonging to them A Yule feast may be quat at Pasche That is Christmas-cheer may be digested and the party hungry again at Easter No happiness is so lasting but in short time we must forego and may forget it The Northern parts call Christmas-Yule hence the Yule-block Yule-oakes Yule-songs c. though much difference about the cause there Some more enemies to the ceremony then cheer of Christmas to render that Festival the more offensive make the word of Paganish extraction deriving it from Julus the son of Aeneas An Etymology fetch'd far from England and farther from truth But to omit many forced and feigned deductions that worthy Doctor hits the mark bringing it from the Latine Jubilo a word as ancient as Varro signifying the rural shouting for joy so that it is a name general for festivals as Lammas Yule c. though Christmas be so called without any addition as the Feast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above all others It is more then probable that the Latines borrowed their Jubilo from the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the long sound of the trumpet whence their Jubilee got the name And seeing Christs birth was a freeing us from the slavery of sin I see not how Yule can be cavill'd at in that signification Saints Saint EBBA was born in Northumberland being daughter to Edilfrid the King thereof When her father was taken prisoner she got hold of a boat in Humber and passing along the raging Ocean she safely landed at a place in Merch in Scotland which is call'd the Promontory of Saint Ebb unto this day Becoming Prioress of Coldingham in that Country to preserve her own and fellowNuns chastity from the Pagan Danes She cut off her own Nose and perswaded the rest to do the like that their beauty might be no bait whilst their deformity did secure their virginity Sure I am that since more have lost their Noses in prosecution of their Wantonness then in preservation of their Chastity As for the Danes being offended that these Nuns would not be the objects of their lusts they made them the subjects of their fury burning them and their Monastery together But such the reputed holiness of Saint Ebb that many Churches commonly called Saint Tabbs are in north-North-England dedicated unto her and her memory is continued in the name of Ebb-Chester a little Village in the Bishoprick of Durham She flourished about the year 630. Prelates since the Reformation GEORGE CARLETON was born in this County nigh the Borders of Scotland at Norham his father being the Keeper of the Important Castle therein bred in Merton-colledge in Oxford Hear what our English Antiquary saith of him Whom I have loved in regard of his singular knowledge in Divinity which he professeth and in other more delightful Literature and am loved again of him c. He was one of the four Divines sent by King James to the Synod of Dort each of them there observed in their respective Eminencies In Carletono praelucebat Episcopalis gravitas in Davenantio subactum Judicium in Wardo multa lectio in Hallo expedita concionatio Doctor Carleton was then Bishop of Landaffe and afterwards of Chichester His good affections appear in his Treatise entituled A thankful Remembrance of Gods mercy Solid Judgement in his Confutation of Judicial Astrology and clear invention in other Juvenile exercises Indeed when young he was grave in his manners so when old he was youthful in his parts even unto his death which happened in the first of King Charles VALENTINE CARY was born at Barwick which though North of Tweed is reduced to this County extracted from the Carys Barons of Hunsdon He was first Scholar of Saint Johns-colledge in Cambridge then Fellow of Christs-colledge afterwards of Saint Johns again and at last Master of Christs-colledge so that I meet not with any his Peer herein thus bounded and rebounded betwixt two foundations But the best is they both had one and the same Foundress Margaret Countess of Richmond He was Vice-chancelour of Cambridge Anno 1612. Dean of Saint Pauls and at last Bishop of Exeter A complete Gentleman and excellent Scholar He once unexpectedly owned my nearest Relation in the high commission court when in some distress for which courtesie I as heir to him who received the favour here publickly pay this my due thanks unto his memory Though some contest happened betwixt him and the City of Exeter yet I am credibly informed when that City was visited with the Sickness he was bountiful above expectation in relieving the poor thereof He died Anno Domini 1626. and lyes buried under a plain stone in the Church of Sain Pauls London Though he hath another Monument of Memorial in the Church of Exeter RICHARD HOLEWORTH D. D. was born at Newcastle in this County preferred Fellow of Saint Johns-colledge in Cambridge Rector of Saint Peters in the Poor of London Arch-deacon of Huntington and at last Master of Emanuel-colledge During his continuance in London he did Dominari in concionibus and although it be truly observed that the People in London honour their Pastors as John Baptist 〈◊〉
Henry the sixth and afterwards to King Richard the third 1. Her Husband being killed at Barnet fight all her land by Act of Parliament was setled on her two Daughters as if she had been dead in Nature 2. Being attainted on her Husbands score she was forced to flye to the Sanctuary at Beauly in Hant-shire 3. Hence she got her self privately into the North and there lived a long time in a mean condition 4. Her want was increased after the death of her two daughters who may be presumed formerly to have secretly supplyed her I am not certainly informed when a full period was put by death to these her sad calamities Saints St. FRIDESWIDE was born in the City of Oxford being daughter to Didan the Duke thereof It happened that one Algarus a noble young man sollicited her to yield to his lust from whom she miraculously escaped he being of a sudden struck blind If so she had better success than as good a Virgin the daughter to a greater and better father I mean Thamar daughter of King David not so strangely secured from the lust of her brother She was afterward made Abbess of a Monastery erected by her father in the same City which since is become part of Christ-church where her body lyeth buried It happened in the first of Queen Elizabeth that the Scholars of Oxford took up the body of the wife of Peter Martyr who formerly had been disgracefully buried in a dunghill and interred it in the Tomb with the dust of St. Frideswide Sanders addeth that they wrote this Inscription which he calleth Impium Epitaphium Hic requiescit Religio cum â—…uperstitione though the words being capable of a favourable sense on his side he need not have been so angry However we will rub up our old Poetry and bestow another upon them In tumulo fuerat Petri quae Martyris uxor Hic cum Frideswida virgine jure jacet Virginis intactae nihilum cum cedat honori Conjugis in thalamo non temerata fides Si facer Angligenis cultus mutetur at absit Ossa suum â—…ervent mutua tuta locum Intom'd with Frideswide deem'd a Sainted maid The Wife of Peter Martyr here is laid And reason good for Women chaste in mind The best of Virgins come no whit behind Should Popery return which God forefend Their blended dust each other would deâ—…end Yet was there more than eight hundred years betwixt their several deaths Saint Frideswide dying Anno 739. and is remembred in the Romish Calendar on the nineteenth day of October St. EDWOLD was younger Brother to St. Edmund King of the East-Angles so cruelly martyred by the Danes and after his death that Kingdom not onely descended to him by right but also by his Subjects importunity was pressed upon him But he declined both preferring rather a sollitary life and heavenly contemplation In pursuance whereof he retired to Dorcester in this County and to a Monastery called Corn-house therein where he was interred and had in great veneration for his reputed miracles after his death which happened Anno Dom. 871. St. EDWARD the CONFESSOR was born at I slip in this County and became afterwards King of England sitting on the Throne for many years with much peace and prosperity Famous for the first founding of Westminster Abby and many other worthy aâ—…hievements By Bale he is called Edvardus simplex which may signifie either shallow or single but in what sense soever he gave it we take it in the later Sole and single he lived and dyed never carnally conversing with St. Edith his Queen which is beheld by different persons according to their different judgments coloured eyes make coloured objects some pitying him for defect or natural Impotence others condemning him as affecting singelness for want of Conjugal affection others applauding it as an high pâ—…ece of 〈◊〉 and perfection Sure I am it opened a dore for forreign Competitors and occasioned the Conquest of this Nation He dyed Anno Dom. 1065. and lyeth buryed in Westminster Abby Cardinals ROBERT PULLEN or Pullain or Pulley or Puley or Bullen or Pully for thus variously is he found written Thus the same name passing many mouths seems in some sort to be declined into several Cases whereas indeed it still remaineth one and the same word though differently spelled and pronounced In his youth â—…e studied at Paris whence he came over into England in the reign of King Henry the Fiâ—…st when learning ran very low in Oxford the university there being first much afflâ—…cted by Herald the Dane afterwards almost extinguished by the cruelty of â—…he Conqueror Our Pullen improved his utmost power with the King and Prelates for the restoring thereof and by his praying preaching and publick reading gave a great advancement thereunto Remarkable is his character in the Chronicle of Osny Robertus Pulenius scriptur as divin as quae in Anglia obsolverant apud Oxoniam legere câ—…pit Robert Pullen began to read at Oxford the holy scriptures which were grown out of fashion in England The fame of his leâ—…rning commended him beyond the Seas and it is remarkable that whereas it is usual with Popes in policy to unravel what such weaved who were before them three successive Popes continued their love to and increased honours upon him 1. Innocent courteously sent for him to Rome 2. Celestine created him Cardinal of St. Eusebius Anno 1144. 3. Lucius the second made him Chancellor of the Church of Rome He lived at Rome in great respect and although the certain date of his death cannot be collected it happened about the year of our Lord 1150. THOMAS JOYCE or Jorce a Dominican proceeded Doctor of Divinity in Oxford and living there he became Provincial of his Order both of England and Wales From this place without ever having any other preferment Pope Clement the fifth created him Cardinal of St. Sabine though some conceive he wanted breadth proportionable to such an height of dignity having no other revenue to maintain it Cardinals being accounted Kings fellow in that Age. Others admire at the contradiction betwixt Fryers pâ—…ofession and practice that persons so low should be so high so poor so rich which makes the same men to 〈◊〉 that so chaste might be so wanton He is remarkable on this account that he had six brethren all Dominicans I will not listen to their compaâ—…ison who resemble them to the seven sons of Sceva which were Exorcists but may term them a week of brethren whereof this Rubricated Cardinal was the Dominical letter There want not those who conceive great vertue in the youngest son of these seven and that his Touch was able to cure the Popes Evil. This Thomas as he had for the most time lived in Oxford so his Corps by his own desire were buried in his Convent therein He flourished Anno Dom. 1310. Prelates HERBERT LOSING was born in Oxford his father being an Abbot
of his book This William Chillingworth was taken prisoner by the Parliament Forces at Arundel castle and not surprised and slain in his studiâ—…es as Archimedes at the sacking of Syracuse as some have given it out but wâ—…s safely conducted to Chichester where notwithstanding hard usage hastened his dissolution DANIEL FEATLY D. D. was born in or very near to the City of Oxford his father being a servant of Corpus-Christi college and this his son Fellow thereof Here he had the honour to make the Speech in the College at the Funeral of Dr. Reynalds Some men may be said to have mutinous parts which will not obey the commands of him who is the owner of them Not so this Doctor who was perfect Master of his own Learning He did not as Quintilian saith of some Occultis thesaur is incumbere but his learning was in numerato for his present using thereof He was as good in the Schools as in the Pulpit and very happy in his Disputes with Papists for in the Conference with F. Fisher when Fisher was caught in his own Net though Dr. White did wisely cast that Net Dr. Featly did help strongly to draw it to the shore It seems though he was in yet he was not of the late Assembly of Divines as whose body was with them whilest his heart was at Oxford Yea he discovered so much in a Letter to the Archbishop of Armagh which being intercepted he was proceeded against as a Spie and closely imprisoned though finding some favour at last he dyed in the Prison College at Chelsey Anno Dom. 1643. His Wifes son hath since communicated to me his Pocket-Manual of his memorable observations all with his own hand but alas to be read by none but the writer thereof JOHN WHITE descended from the Whites in Hant-shire was born at StantonSt Johns in this County bred first in Winchester then New-college in Oxford whereof he was Fellow and fixed at last a Minister at Dorchester in Dorcet-shire well nigh forty years A grave man yet without moroseness as who would willingly contribute his shot of facetiousness on any just occasion A constant Preacher so that in the course of his Ministery he expounded the Scripture all over and half over again having an excellent faculty in the clear and solid interpreting thereof A good Governor by whose wisdom the Town of Dorchester notwithstanding a casual merciless fire was much enriched Knowledge causing Piety Piety breeding Industry and Industry procuring Plenty unto it A beggar was not then to be seen in the Town all able Poore being set on work and impotent maintained by the profit of a publique Brew house and other collections He absolutely commanded his own Passions and the purses of his Parishioners whom he could wind up to what height he pleased on important occasions He was free from covetousness if not trespassing on the contrary and had a Patriarchal influence both in Old and New-England yet towards the end of his dayes Factions and fond Opinions crept in his flock a new generation arose which either did not know or would not acknowledge this good man disloyal persons which would not pay the due respect to the Crown of his old age whereof he was sadly and silently sensible He was chosen one of the Assembly of Divines and his judgment was much relied on therein He married the sister of Dr. Burges the great Non-conformist who afterwards being reclaimed wrote in the defence of Ceremonies by whom he left four sons and dyed quietly at Dorchester Anno Dom. 164. I hope that Solomons observation of the poor wise man who saved the little City Yet no man remembred him will not be verified of this Town in relation to this their deceased Pastor whom I hope they will not I am sure they should not forget as a person so much meriting of them in all considerations His Comment on some part of Genesis is lately set forth and more daily expected Benefactors to the Publick since the Reformation THOMAS TISDALL of Glimpton in this County Esquire deceasing Anno 1610. bequeathed five thousand pounds to George Abbot then Bishop of London John Bennet Knight and Henry Aray Doctor of Divinity to purchase Lands for the maintainance of seven Fellows and six Scholers which money deposited in so careful hands was as advantagiously expended for the purchase of two hundred and fifty pounds per annum It fell then under consideration that it was pity so great a bounty substantial enough to stand of it self should be adjected to a former Foundation whereupon a new College formerly called Broad-gates-hall in Oxford was erected therewith by the name of Pembroke-College which since hath met with some considerable Benefactors May this the youngest College in England have the happiness of a youngest child who commonly have in their mothers love what they lack in the land of their father We must not forget that the aforesaid Thomas Tisdall gave many other charitable Legasies and deserved very well of Abington-school founding an Usher therein Memorable Persons ANNE GREENE a person unmarried was indicted arraigned cast condemned and executed for killing her child at the Assizes at Oxford Decemb. 14. 1650. After some hours her body being taken down and prepared for dissection in the Anatomyschools some heat was found therein which by the care of the Doctors was improved into her perfect recovery Charitable people interpret her so miraculous preservation a Compurgator of her innocence Thus she intended for a dead continues a living Anatomy of divine Providence and a monument of the wonderful contrivances thereof If Hippolytus revived onely by Poetical fancies was surnamed Virbius because twice a man why may not Mulierbia by as good proportion be applied to her who since is married and liveth in this County in good reputation Lord Mayors Name Father Place Company Time 1. John Norman John Norman Banbury Draper 1453 2. Thomas Pargitor John Pargitor Chippingnorton Salter 1530 3. Michael Dormer Jeffrey Dormer Tame Mercer 1541 The Names of the Gentry of this County returned by the Commissioners in the twelfth year of King Henry the sixth William Bishop of Lincoln  William de Lovell chiv Commissioners to take the Oaths Stephen Haytfeld Knights for the Shire  Richard Quatermayns Knights for the Shire  Tho. Wikeham chiv Lodowici Grevill Iohannis Wisham Iohan. Banufo Humphridi Hay Iohannis Tyso Will. Thomlyns Thome Andrey Thome atte Mille Iohannis Benet Rad. Archer Ioh. Archer Thome Willes Iohannis Perysson Ioh. Crosse de Sibford Thome Eburton Thome Kynch Willielmi Brise Willielmi Dandy Richardi Stanes Iohannis Wallrond Iohannis Daypoll Iohannis Fabian VVill. Page Iohannis Mose Williel Seton Iohannis Pytte Thome Helmeden Tho. Scholes Thome Sperehawke Thome Gascoine Thome Clere Ioh. Goldwell Williel Goldwell Iohannis White Thome Lynne Will. Smith de Bloxham Thome Chedworth Willielmi Haliwell Ioh. Chedworth Ioh. de Berford Robert Qâ—…inaton Richardi atte Mille Willielmi Mason Willielmi almer Thome Tymmes Ioh. Cross
Or over all a Cross ingrailed Ermin 4 Ioh. Corbet Barr. Stoake Or 2 Ravens in Pale proper a border ingrailed Gules 5 VValt Acton ar Aldenhâ—…m Gu. 2 Lions passant Arg. between 9 Crosses croslets Fitched Or. 6 Hum. VValcot ar VValcot Ar. a Chever inter 3 chess-Rooks Er. 7 Tho. Iâ—…eland arm Abrington Gul. 6 fleur de Luces Argent 8 Phil. Eyton Mil. Eyton Or a Fret Azure 9 Tho. Thynne Mil. Caus Castle Barry of 10 Or and Sable 10 Ioh. Newton arm Heytleigh ut prius Arg. a Cross Sable fleury Or. 11 Rob. Coâ—…bet arm   12 Paulus Harris mil. ut prius  13 VVil. Pierpoint ar Tong-Castlâ—… Arg. a Lion Ramp Sab. in an Orbe of Cinquefoiles Gules  14 Rich. Lee  Gules a Fess Coâ—…ponee Or and Az. betwixt 8 Billels Argen 15 Rog. Kinnaston ar ut prius  16 Th. Nicholas arm Shrewsbury  17 Ioh. VVelde ar VVillye  18 Bellum nobis   19 hoc fecit   20 inane   21   22 Rob. Powel ar Tâ—… Park Arg. 3 Boars-heads coâ—…pee Sable RICHARD the Second 9. NICHOLAS de SANDFORD This ancient Name is still extant at the same place in this County in a worshipful equipage Wellfare a dear token thereof For in the List of such as compounded for their reputed delinquency in our late Civil VVars I find Francis Sandford of Sandford Esq. paying four hundred fifty nine pounds for his composition Yet I believe the Gentleman begrudged not his mony in preservation of his own integrity acting according to the information of his conscience and the practice of all his Ancestors I understand that the said Francis Sandford was very well skill'd in making VVarlike Fortifications HENRY the IV. 1 JOHN CORNWALL Miles A Person remarkable on several accounts 1 For his high Extraction descended from Richard Earl of Cornwall and King of the Almains as his Arms do evidence 2 Prosperous Valour under King Henry the Fifth in France there gaining so great Treasure as that therewith he built his fair house at Amp-hiâ—… in Bedfordshire 3 Great Honour being created by King Henry the Sixth Baron Fanhop and Knight of the Garter 4 Constant Loyalty sticking faster to King Henry the Sixth than his own Crown did faithfully following after the other forsook him 5 Vigorous vivacity continuing till the reign of King Edward the Fourth who dispossessed him of his Lands in Bedford-shire 6 Chearful disposition pleasantly saying That not He but his fine House at Amp-hill was guilty of high Treason happy that he could make mirth at his misery and smile at the loosing of that which all his Frowns could keep no longer Know Reader that if this J. Cornwal shall which I suspect not prove a distinct person from this his Kinsman and Namesake none will blame me for taking here a just occasion of speaking of so eminent a Man who elsewhere came not so conveniently under my Pen. EDWARD the Fourth 2 ROGER KINASTON Ar. I cannot satisfie my self in the certain Arms of this ancient Family much augmented by match with HORD finding them giving sundry all good and rich Coats in several Ages but conceive they now fix on Ar. a Lion ramp Sa. RICHARD the Third 1 THOMAS MITTON He in obedience to King Richard's commands apprehended the Duke of Buckingham the Grand Engener to promote that Usurper in the house of Humphry Banaster who for the avaricious desire of a thousand pounds betrayed the Duke unto the Sherif 3 GILBERT TALBOT Mil. He was son to John Talbot second Earl of Shrewsbury of that name In the time of his Sherivalty Henry Earl of Richmond afterwards King Henry the Seventh marching with his men to bid battle to King Richard the Third was met at Shrewsbury by the same Sir Gilbert with two thousand men well appointed most of them Tenants and Retainers to his Nephew George fourth Earl of Shrewsbury then in minority whence forward and not before his Forces deserved the name of an Army For this and his other good service in Bosworth-field King Henry rewarded him with fair Lands at Grafton in VVorcester-shire made him Governour of Calis in France and Knight of the Garter and from him the present Earl of Shrewsbury is descended I conceive it was rather his son than himself to whom King Henry the Eight fearing a sudden surprise from the French wrote briefly and peremptorily That he should instantly fortifie the Castle of Calis To whom Governour Talbot unprovided of necessaries as briefly as bluntly replyed That he could neither fortifie nor fiftifie without money Queen ELIZABETH 45 ROGER OWEN Miles He was the son of Sir Thomas Owen the Learned and religious Justice of the Common Pleas who lieth buried on the South side of the Quire of Westminster Abbey This Sir Roger most eminent in his Generation deserved the Character given him by Mr. Camden Multiplici doctrinâ tanto Patre dignissimus He was a Member of Parliament Vndecimo Jacobi as I take it when a great Man therein who shall be nameless cast a grieveous and general Aspersion on the English Clergy This Sir Roger appeared a Zelot in their defence and not only removed the Bastard Calumny from their doores at which it was laid but also carried the Falshood home to the true Father thereof and urged it shrewdly against the Person who in that place first revived the Aspersionâ—… King JAMES 14 ROWLAND COTTON Miles Incredible are the most true relations which many eye-witnesses still alive do make of the Valour and Activity of this most accomplished Knight So strong as if he had been nothing but bones so nimble as if he had been nothing but sinewes CHARLES the First 2 RICHARD NEWPORT Miles Signal his Fidelity to the king even in his lowest condition by whom he was deservedly rewarded with the Title of Baron of High-Arcol in this County being created at Oxford the 14 of October 1642. His sonne Francis Lord Newport at this day honoureth his honour with his Learning and other natural accomplishments Farewell May this Shire by Divine Providence be secured from the return of the Sweating sicknesse which first began and twice raged in the Town of Shrewsbury The Cure was discovered too late to save many yet soon enough to preserve more thousands of Men viz. by keeping the Patient in the same posture wherein he was seized without Food or Physick and such who so weathered out the disease for twenty four hours did certainly escape SOMERSET-SHIRE hath the Severn-sea on the North Glocestershire on the North-east Wilts-shire on the East Dorcet-shire on the South and Devonshire on the West Some will have it so called from the Summerlinesse or temperate pleasantnesse thereof With whom we concurre whilst they confine their Etimologies to the Air dissent if they extend it to the Earth which in winter is as winterly deep and dirty as any in England The truth is it is so named from Sommerton the most ancient Town
Manufactures Taunton Serges are eminent in their Kind being a fashionable wearing as lighter than Cloath yet thicker than many other Stuffs When Dionysius sacrilegiously plundred Jove his Statue of his Golden Coat pretending it too cold for Winter and too hot for Summer he bestowed such a vestimēt upō him to fit both Seasons They were much sent into Spain before our late War therewith wherein Trading long since complained of to be dead is now lamented generally as buried though hereafter it may have a resurrection The Buildings Of these the Churches of Bath and Wells are most eminent Twins are said to make but one Man as these two Churches constitute one Bishops See Yet as a Twin oft-times proves as proper a person as those of single Births So these severally equal most and exceed many Cathedrals in England We begin with Bath considerable in its several conditions viz. the beginning obstructing decaying repairing and finishing thereof 1 It was begun by Oliver King Bishop of this Diocess in the reign of Henry the Seventh and the West end most curiously cut and carved with Angels climbing up a Ladder to Heaven But this Bishop died before the finishing thereof 2 His Death obstructed this structure so that it stood a long time neglected which gave occasion for one to write on the Church-wall with a Char-coal O Church I wail thy woeful plight Whom King nor Card'nal Clark or Knight Have yet restor'd to ancient right Alluding herein to Bishop King who begun it and his four Successors in thirty five years viz. Cardinal Adrian Cardinal Wolsey Bishop Clark and Bishop Knight contributing nothing to the effectual finishing thereof 3 The decay and almost ruin thereof followed when it felt in part the Hammers which knocked down all Abbyes True it is the Commissioners profered to sell the Church to the Towns-men under 500 Marks But the Towns-men fearing if they bought it so cheape to be thought to cozin the King so that the purchase might come under the compasse of concealed lands refused the profer Hereupon the Glass Iron Bells and Lead which last alone amounted to 480 Tun provided for the finishing thereof were sold and sent over beyond the Seas if a ship-wrack as some report met them not by the way 4 For the repairing thereof collections were made all over the Land in the reign of Queen Elizabeth though inconsiderable either in themselves or through the corruption of others Onely honest Mr. Billet whom I take to be the same with him who was designed Executor to the Will of William Cecil Lord Burghley disbursed good sums to the repairing thereof and a Stranger under a fained name took the confidence thus to play the Poet and Prophet on this Structure Be blithe fair Kirck when Hempe is past Thine Olive that ill winds did blast Shall flourish green for age to last Subscribed Cassadore By Hempe understand Henry the Eight Edward the Sixth Queen Mary King Philip and Queen Elizabeth The Author I suspect had a Tang of the Cask and being parcel-popish expected the finishing of this Church at the return of their Religion but his prediction was verified in a better sense when his Church 5 Was finished by James Montague Bishop of this See disbursing vast sums in the same though the better enabled thereunto by his Mines at Mynedep so that he did but remove the Lead from the bowels of the Earth to the roof of the Church wherein he lies enterred under a fair Monument This Church is both spacious and specious the most lightsome as ever I beheld proceeding from the greatness of the Windows and whiteness of the Glass therein All I have more to add is only this that the parable of Jotham Judg. 9. 8. is on this Church most curiously wrought in allusion to the Christian Sirname of the first Founder thereof how the Trees going to choose them a King profered the place to the OLIVE Now when lately one OLIVER was for a time Commander in Chief in this Land some from whom more Gravity might have been expected beheld this Picture as a Prophetical Prediction so apt are English fancies to take fire at every spark of conceit But seeing since that Olive hath been blasted bottom his Root and Branches this pretended Prophecy with that observation the reason is withered away As for the Cathedral of Wells it is a greater so darker than that of Bath so that Bath may seem to draw devotion with the pleasantnesse Wells to drive it with the solemnity thereof and ill tempered their Minds who will be moved with neither The West Front of Wells is a Master-piece of Art indeed made of Imagiry in just proportion so that we may call them Vera spirantia signa England affordeth not the like For the West end of Excester beginneth accordingly it doth not like Wells persevere to the end thereof As for the Civil Habitations in this County not to speak of Dunstar Castle having an high ascent and the effect thereof a large prospect by Sea and Land Mountague built by Sir Edward Philips Master of the Roles is a most magnificent Fabrick Nor must Hinton St. George the House of the Lord Poulet be forgotten having every stone in the Front shaped Doule-wayes or in the form of a Cart-nail This I may call a Charitable Curiosity if true what is traditioned That about the reign of King Henry the Seventh the owner thereof built it in a dear year on purpose to imploy the more poor people thereupon The Wonders VVockey Hole in Mendip-hills some two miles from VVells This is an undergroundConcavity admirable for its spacious Vaults stony Walls creeping Labyrinths the cause being un-imaginable how and why the Earth was put in such a posture save that the God of Nature is pleased to descant on a plain hollowness with such wonderful contrivances I have been at but never in this Hole and therefore must make use of the description of a Learned eye Witness Entring and passing through a good part of it with many lights Among other many strange Rarities well worth the observing VVe found that water which incessantly dropped down from the Vault of the Rock though thereby it made some little dint in the Rock yet was it turned into the Rock it self As manifestly appeared even to the judgment of sense by the shape and colour and hardnesse It being at first of a more clear and glassie substance then the more ancient part of the Rock to which no doubt but in time it hath been and will be assimulated And this we found not in small pieces but in a very great quantity and that in sundry places enough to load many Carts From whence I inferre that as in this Cave so no doubt in many other where they searched the Rocks would be found to have increased immediately by the dropping of the water besides that increase they have from the Earth in the Bowels thereof which still continuing as it doth there can be no fear
kind in England not to say Europe is digged up nigh Rygate in this County It is worth 4 d. a Bushel at the Pit 16 d. at the Wharfe in London 3 s. at Newbury and Westward twice as dear Double the use thereof in making Cloath to scoure out stains and to thicken it or to use the Trades-mans term to bring it to proof Though the transporting thereof be by Law forbidden yet private profit so prepondereth the publick that Ships ballasted therewith are sent over into Holland where they have such Magazins of this Earth that they are ready on their own rates to furnish us therewith if there should be any occasion And now we are mentioning of Earth near Non-such is a Vein of Potters-Earth much commended in its kind of which Crusibles are made for the melting of Gold and many other necessary Utensils Wall-Nuts As in this County and in Cash-Haulton especially there be excellent Trouts so are there plenty of the best Wall-nuts in the same place as if Nature had observed the Rule of Physick Post Pisces Nuces Some difficulty there is in cracking the Name thereof why Wall-Nuts having no affinity with a VVall whose substantial trees need to borrow nothing thence for their support Nor are they so called because walled with shels which is common to all other Nuts The truth is Gual or VVall to the old Dutch signifieth strange or exotick whence VVelsh that is Foreigners these Nuts being no natives of England or Europe and probably first fetch'd from Persia because called Nux Persique in the French tongue Surely some precious worth is in the Kernels thereof though charged to be somewhat obstructive and stopping of the stomack because provident nature hath wrapped them in so many coverts a thick green one â—…alling off when ripe an hard yellowish and a bitter blackish one As for the timber of the VVall-nut-tree it may be termed an English Shittim-wood for the fineness smoothness and durableness thereof whereof the best Tables with stocks of Guns and other manufactures are made Box. The best which England affords groweth about Darking in this County yet short in goodness of what is imported out of Turky Though the smel and shade thereof be accounted unwholesome not only pretty toys for children but useful tooles for men and especially Mathematical Instruments are made thereof But it is generally used for Combes as also by such as grave Pictures Arms in wood as better because harder than Pear-tree for that purpose For mine own part let me speak it with thankfulness to two good Lords and Patrons it hath not cost me so much in Wood and Timber of all kinds for the last ten years as for Box for one twelve-moneth Manufactures Gardening I mean not such which is only for pleasure whereof Surrey hath more than a share with other shires to feast the sight and smell with flowers and walks whilst the rest of the body is famished but such as is for profit which some seventy years since was first brought into this County before which time great deficiency thereof in England For we fetcht most of our Châ—…ries from Flanders Apples from France and hardly had a Messe of Rath-Ripe pease but from Holland which were dainties for Ladies they came so far and cost so dear Since Gardening hath crept out of Holland to Sandwich in Kent and thence into this County where though they have given six pounds an Aker and upward they have made their Rent lived comfortably and set many people on work Oh the incredible profit by digging of Ground For though it is confess'd that the Plough beats the Spade out of distance for speed almost as much as the Press beats the Pen Yet what the spade wants in the Quantity of the Ground it manureth It recompenceth with the plenty of the Fruit it yeildeth that which is set multiplying a hundred fold more than what is sown 'T is incredible how many poor people in London live thereon so tâ—…at in some seasons Gardens feed more poor people than the Field It may be hoped that in process of time Anis-seeds Cumin-seeds Caraway-seeds yea Rice it self with other Garden VVare now brought from beyond the seas may hereafter grow in our Land enough for it's use especially if some ingenious Gentlemen would encourage the Industrious Gardiners by letting Ground on reasonable rates unto them Tapestry Pass we from Gardening a kind of Tapestry in Earth to Tapestry a kind of Gardening in Cloath The making hereof was either unknown or un-used in England till about the end of the reign of King James when he gave two thousand pounds to Sir Francis Crane to build therewith an House at Morecleark for that purpose Here they only imitated Old Patterns until they had procured one Francis Klein a German to be their Designer This F. Klein was born at Rostock but bred in the Court of the King of Denmark at Coppenhagen To improve his skill he travelled into Italy and lived at Venice and became first known unto Sir Henry VVootton who was the English Lieger there Indeed there is a stiff contest betwixt the Dutch and Italians which should exceed in this Mystery and therefore Klein endeavoured to unite their perfections After his return to Denmark he was invited thence into England by Prince Charles a Virtuoso Judicious in all LiberalMechanical Arts which proceeded on due proportion And though Klein chanced to come over in his absence being then in Spain yet King James gave order for his entertainment allowing him liberal accommodations and sent him back to the King of Denmark with a Letter which for the form thereof I conceive not unworthy to be inserted trans-scribing it with my own hand as followeth out of a Copy compared with the Original Jacobus Dei Gratia magnae Britanniae Franciae Hiberniae Rex fidei Defensor Serenissimo Principi ac Domino Domino Christiano Quarto eadem gratia Daniae Norvegiae Vandalorum Gothorum Regi Duci Slesuici Holsatiae Stormariae Ditmarsiae Comiti in Oldenburg Delmenhorsh Fratri Compatri Consanguineo Affini nostro charissimo salutem felicitatem Serenissimus Princeps Frater Compater Consanguineus Affinis charissimus CUm Franciscus Klein Pictor qui litteras nostras fert in animo habere indicasset si Vestra modo Serenitate volente id fieret filio nostro Principi Walliae operam suam locare accepimus benevolè id a Vestra Serenitate fuisse concessum data non solum illi quamprimum videretur discedendi venia verùm etiam sumptibus erogatis ad iter quo nomine est quod Vestrae Serenitati gratias agamus Et nos quidem certiores facti de illius in Britanniam jam adventu quanquam absente filio nostro satis illi interim de rebus omnibus prospeximus Nunc vero negotiorum causâ in Daniam reversurus tenetur ex pacto quam primum id commode poterit ad nos revenire Quod ut ei per vestram
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 Norâ—…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
short Character be pitch'd up like a Tent for a time to be taken down when a firmer Fabrick which as I am informed a more able Pen is about shall be erected to his memory He died Anno Domini 1659. Romish Exile Writers NICHOLAS SANDERS was born at Charlewood in this County where his Family still continueth worshipful bred Bachelour of the Laws in New-Colledge Going over beyond the seas he was made D. D. at Rome and afterwards Kings-Professor thereof at Lovain Pity it was he had not more honesty or less Learning being Master of Art in malice not hoping the whole body of his lies should be believed but being confident the least finger thereof finding credit could prove heavy enough to crush any innocence with posterity presuming the rather to write passages without truth because on a subject beyond memory He thought it would much advantage his Cause to call the Church of England Schismatick first in that his libellous Treatise But what said St. Augustine in a Dispute with one of the Donatists Uâ—…rum schismatici nos simus an vos non ego nec tu sed Christus interrogelur ut judicet Ecclesiam suam Indeed the controversie consisting much in matter of fact let Records and Histories be perused and it will appear that our English Kings after many intolerable provocations and intrenchments on their Crown from the Church of Rome at last without the least invading of others conserv'd their own right Partly as Supreme Princes calling together their Clergy by their advice to reform the errours therein partly to protect their subjects from being ruined by the Canons and Constitutions of a foreign power But this subject hath lately been so handled by that Learned Baronet Sir Roger Twysden that as he hath exceeded former he hath saved all future pains therein To return to Sanders it is observeable that he who â—…urfeited with falshoods was famished for lack of food in Ireland We must be sensible but may not be censorious on such actions such deserving to forfeit the eyes of their souls who will not mark so remarkable a judgement which happened Anno Domini 1580. Benefactors to the Publick I meeâ—… with none besides Bishop Merâ—…on of whom I have spoken eminent before the Reformation Since it we find HENRY SMITH who was born at Wandsworth in this County Now Reader before I go any further give me leave to premise and apply a passage in my apprehension not improper in this place Luther Commenting on those words Gen. 1. 21. And God created great Whales rendereth this reason why the creation of Whaleâ—… is specified by name Ne territi magnitudine creâ—… ea spectra esse Lest affrighted with their greatness we should believe them to be â—…nly Visions or Fancies Indeed many simple people who lived where Luther did in an In-land Country three hundred miles from the sea might suspect that Whales as reported with such vast dimentions were rather 〈◊〉 than Realities In like manner being now to relate the Bounty of this Worthy Person I am affraied that our Inâ—…idel Age will not give credit thereunto as conceiving it rather a Romanza or Fiction than a thing really performed because of the prodigious greatness thereof The best is there are thousands in this County can attest the truth herein And such good deeds publickly done are a pregnant proof to convince all Denyers and Doubters thereof This Henry Smith Esq. and Alderman of London gave to buy Lands for a perpetuity for the relief and setting the Poor to work Croidon one thousand pounds In Kingston one thousand pounds Guilford one thousand pounds Darking one thousand pounds In Farnham one thousand pounds Rigate one thousand pounds In Wandsworth to the Poor five hundred Besides many other great and liberal legacies bequeathed to pious uses which I hope by his Executors are as conscionably imployed as by him they were charitably intended He departed this life the 13th of January 1627. in the seventy-ninth year of his Age and lieth buried in the Chancel to Wandsworth Memorable Persons ELIZABETH WESTON We must gain by degrees what knowledge we can get of this eminent Woman who no doubt was 1 Of Gentile Extraction because her Parents bestowed on her so liberal and costly Education 2 A Virgin because she wrote a book of Poetry called Parthâ—…nicon 3 A great Scholar because commended by two grand Criticks 4 She must flourish by proportion of time about 1600. Hear what Janus Dousa saith of her Angla vel Angelica es vel prorsus es Angelus 〈◊〉 Si sexus vetat hoc Angelus est animus Joseph Scaliger praiseth her no less in prose Parthenicon Elizabethae Westoniae Virginis nobilissimae Poetriae florentissimae linguarum plurimarum peritissimae And again speaking to her Penè priùs mihi contigit admirari ingenium tuum quà m nosse It seems her fame was more known in foreign parts than at home And I am 〈◊〉 that for the honour of her Sex and our Nation I can give no better account of her However that her memory may not be harbourless I have lodged her in this County where I find an Ancient and Worshipful Family of the Westons flourishing at Sutton ready to remove her at the first information of the certain place of her Nativity Here we may see how capable the weaker Sex is of Learning if instructed therein Indeed when a Learned Maid was presented to King James for an English rarity because she could speak and write pure Latine Greek and Hebrew the King returned But can she spin However in persons of Birth and quality Learning hath ever been beheld as a rare and commendable accomplishment The Names of the Gentry of this County returned by the Commissioners in the 12 year of King Henry the Sixth Anno Dom. 1433. Commissioners to take the Oaths H. Bishop of Winchester Cardinal of England Robert de Ponyges Chivaler Joh. Fereby one of the Knights of the Shire Regin Cobham de Lingfeld mil. Joh. Kigele de Walketon mil. Hen. Norbury de StokedeberoÌ„ m. Joh. Leboys de Farnham mil. Joh. Weston de Papeworth arm Th. Winter shul de Wintershul ar Tho. Husele de Southwark arm Johan Corue de Mercham Rob. Skirnde Kingeston Rob. Fitz-Robert de Bernas Joh. Gainsford de Crowherst ar Will. Uvedale de Tichsay arm Nich. Carewe de Bedington Joh. Ardern de Lye armigeri Rog. Elingbrig de Croydon ar Th. Codeington de Codington a. Joh. Yerd de Chayham arm Will. Kygâ—…le de Waweton arm Joh. Burg de Waleton armiger Joh. Merston de Cobbesham arm Will. Otteworth de Parochia Scemortle armiger Arth. Ormesby de Southwark ar Will. Weston de Okeham arm Thomae Stoughton Ade Lene Lord de Southwark ar Will. Godyng de eadem armig Nich. Hogh de eadem Joh. Malton de eadem Joh. Godrick de Bermondsey ar Tho. Kenle de Southwark arm Rob. Stricklond de Walworth Rich. Tyler de Southwark Joh. Hanksmode de eadem Joh. Newedgate de eadem ar Will Sidney
in a Trance Ten days without any sustenance and at last coming to himself uttered to the Standers by many strange speeches Inveighing against Pride 〈◊〉 and other Outragious sins But let the Credit thereof be Charged on my Authors account The Names of the Gentry of this County Returned by the Commissioners in the twelsth year of King Henry the sixth Commissioners S. Bishop of Chichester John Earl of Huntington Knights for the shire William St. John William Sidney Abbatis de Bello Tho. de Echingham mil. Hugon Halsham mil. Rog. Ferrys mil. Tho. Leukenore mil. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mil. Hen. Husee mil. Rich. Dalyngrigge ar Edw. Sakevyle ar Will. Ryman ar Rog. Gunter ar Rob. Lyle Iohan. Bartelet Will. Ernele Walt. Urry Iohan. Lylye Ioh. Knottesford ar Rich. Profyt Iohan. Bolne Walt. Fust. Iohan. Wilteshire Ade Iwode Will. Halle de Orâ—… Ioh. 〈◊〉 Tho. 〈◊〉 Rob. Arnold 〈◊〉 Peres Rich. Danmere Tho. Stanton Tho. Cotes Ioh. Wyghtrynge Will. Hore Iohan. Sherar Iohan. Hilly Will. Warnecamp Will. Merwe Toh Grantford Rad. Vest 〈◊〉 Vest Iohan. Hammes de Padyngho Iohan. Parker de Lewes Iacob Honâ—…wode Prior de Lewes Abbatis de Ponte Roberâ—… Rober. Abbatis de Begeham Prioris de Mechilham Prioris de Hasting Rich. Waller ar Iohan. Ledes ar Iohan. Bramshel ar Rich. Cook ar Rich. Farnfold Ioh. Burdevyle ar Rad. Rademeld ar Iohan. Apsle Rich. Grene Tho. Grene Will. Blast Rober. Tank Iohan. Bradebrugge Will. Delve Will. Shreswell Iohan. Luniford Iohan. Penhurst Iohan. Goringe Sim. Cheyne Tho. Ashburnham Rich. Clothule Rob. Hyberden Iohan. Dragon Tho. Surflet Henrici Exton Ioâ—… Symond Will. Scardevyle Will. Yevan Ioh. Rombrigg Hen. Wendon Rich. Danel Rich. Roper Tho. Fustyngden Rad. Shreswell Sheriffs This County had the same Sheriffs with Surry till the twelfth year of Queen Elizabeth and then for the four years following had these Sheriffs peculiar to it self Name Place Armes REG. ELIZA   〈◊〉   9 Ed. BellinghaÌ„ ar  Arg. 3. Hunters-horns stringed S. 10 Ioh. Apseley ar  Barry of 6. Ar. G. a Cant. Er. 11 Hen. Goring ar  Arg. a Chev. twixt 3 〈◊〉 G 12 Edw. Carrell ar Harting Arg. 3. Bars as many Marâ—…lets in Chief S. Then were the two Counties re-united under one Sheriff untill the twelfth year of K. Charles when being divided these following were proper to Sussex alone Sheriffs Name Place Armes REX GARO   Anno   12 Edw. Bishop mi. Parham Ar. on a Bend coticed G. 3 〈◊〉 13 Anth. Fowlc ar 〈◊〉 Gu. a Lion Pass Gard betwixt 3 Roses Or. 14 Anth. Forster ar Tronton S. on a Cheveron Aâ—… 3 Scallop-shels of the field betwixt as many Pheons Or. 15 Edw. Apsley ar ut prius  16 Geo. Churchar ar   17 Egid. Garton ar   18   19 Ioh. Baker ar   20 Edw. Payne ar  Ar. on a fess Engrailed G. 3 Roses Erm. 21   22 Tho. Eversfield ar  Erm. on a Bend S. 3 〈◊〉 Or. betwixt as many 〈◊〉 S. The Farewell For my Vale to this County I desire to be their Remembrancer of the counsell which their country-man William Earl of Arundle gave to his Son Henry Fitzallen last Earl of that Surname viz. Never to trust their Neighbours the French Indeed for the present they are at amity with us but forreign friendship is ticklish temporary and lasteth no longer then it is advantaged with mutuall interest May never French land on this shore to the Losse of the English But if so sad an Accident should happen send then our Sussâ—…xians no worse success then their Ancesters of Rye and Winchelsey had 1378. in the reign of Richard the second when they embarked for Normandy For in the night they entred a Town called Peters port took all such Prisoners who were able to pay ransome and safely returned home without loss and with much rich Spoil and amongst the rest they took down out of the Steeple the Bells and brought them into England Bells which the French had taken formeâ—…ly from these Towns and which did afterwards Ring the more merrily restored to their proper place with addition of much wealth to pay â—…or the cost of their Recovery VVARWICK-SHIRE WARWICK-SHIRE hath Leicester and Northampton-shires on the East Oxford Gloucester-shires on the South Worcester on the West and Stafford-shire on the North thereof In forme at the first view in a Map it doth pretend to some Circularness but attaineth no exactness therein as extending Thirty three miles from North to South though from East to West not distanced above twenty six One said no less truly then merrily It is the Heart but not the Core of England having nothing Course or Choaky therein The Wood-land part thereof may want what the Fieldon affords So that Warwick-shire is defective in neither As for the Pleasure thereof an Author is bold to say that from Edg-hill one may behold it another Eden as Lot did the Plain of Jordan but he might have put in It is not altogether so well watered Naturall Commodities Sheep Most large for bone flesh and wooll in this County especially about Worm-Leighton In this Shire the complaint of J. Rous continueth and increaseth that sheep turn Canibals eating up men houses and towns their pastures make such depopulation But on the other side it is pleaded for these Inclosures that they make houses the fewer in this County and the more in the Kingdome How come buildings in great towns every day to encrease so that commonly Tenants are in before Tenements are ended but that the poor are generally maintain'd by Clothing the Staple-trade of the Nation Indeed Corn doth visibly employ the poor in the place where it groweth by Ploughing Sowing Mowing Inning Threshing but Wooll invisibly maintaineth people at many miles distance by Carding Spinning Weaving Dressing Dying it However an expedient might be so used betwixt Tillage and Pastureage that Abel should not kill Cain the Shepherd undoe the Husbandman but both subsist comfortably together Ash. It is the Prince Oke being allowed the King of Eglish Timber growing plentifully in the Wood-land Part of this County I confess it far short in Sovereigness against Serpents of the Italian Ash if true what Pliny reporteth making Affidavit thereof on his own Experience Experti prodimus that a Serpent incircled with Fire and Boughes of Ash will in this Dilemma put himself rather on the hazard of fire then adventure on the fence of Ashen Boughes It is also far infeâ—…iour in toughness to the Spanish Ash and yet a Stand of Pikes made of English Ash and managed with English-mens Arms will doe very well But to wave the Warlike and praise the Peaceable use of the Ash it is excellent for Plow-timber besides many Utensils within a Family Being cut down Green it burneth a Peculiar Priviledge of this Wood clear and bright as if the Sappe thereof had a fire-feeding Unctiousness therein The fruit thereof is
called Chimneys portable in pockets the one end being the Harth the other the Tunnell thereof Indeed at the first bringing over of Tobacco Pipes were made of silver and other metalls which though free from breaking were found inconvenient as soon fouled and hardly clensed These Clay-pipes are burnt in a furnace for some fifteen hours on the self-same token that if taken out half an hour before that time they are found little altered from the condition wherein they were when first put in It seems all that time the fire is a working it self to the height and doth its work very soon when attain'd to perfection Gauntlet-pipes which have that mark on their heel are the best and hereon a Story doth depend One of that trade observing such Pipes most salable set the Gauntlet on those of his own making though inferior in goodness to the other Now the workman who first gave the Gauntlet sued the other upon the Statute which makes it penal for any to set anothers Mark on any Merchantable Commodities The Defendant being likely to be cast as whose Counsell could plead little in his behalf craved leave to speak a word for himself which was granted He denied that he ever set another man's mark for the Thumb of his Gauntlet stands one way mine another and the same hand given dexter or sinister in Heraldry is a sufficient difference Hereby he escaped though surely such who bought his Pipes never took notice of that Criticisme or consulted which way the Thumb of his Gauntlet respected The Buildings The Cathedrall of Salisbury dedicated to the Blessed Virgin is paramount in this kind wherein the Doors and Chappell 's equall the Months the Windows the Days the Pillars and Pillarets of Fusill Marble an ancient Art now shrewdly suspected to be lost the Hours of the Year so that all Europe affords not such an Almanack of Architecture Once walking in this Church whereof then I was Prebendary I met a Country-man wondring at the Structure thereof I once said he to me admired that there could be a Church that should have so mamy Pillars as there be Hours in the Year And now I admire more that there should be so many Hours in the Yèar as I see Pillars in this Church The Cross Isle of this Church is the most beautifull and lightsome of any I have yet beheld The Spire Steeple not founded on the ground but for the main supported by Four Pillars is of great heighth and greater workman-ship I have been credibly informed that some Forraign Artists beholding this building brake forth into Tears which some imputed to their Admiration though I see not how wondring can cause weeping others to their Envy grieving that they had not the like in their own Land Nor can the most Curious not to fay Cavilling Eye desire any thing which is wanting in this Edifice except possibly an Ascent seeing such who address themselves hither for their devotions can hardly say with David I will go up into the house of the Lord. Amongst the many Monuments therein that of Edward Earl of Hartford is most magnificent that of Helen Suaâ—…enburgh a Swede the Relict of William Marquess of Northampton and afterwards married to Sir Thomas Gorges is most commended for its artificiall plainness But the curiosity of Criticks is best entertained with the Tomb in the North of the Nave of the Church where lieth a Monument in stone of a little boy habited all in Episcopal Robes a Miter upon his â—…ead a Crosier in his hand and the rest accordingly At the discovery thereof formerly covered over with Pews many justly admired that either a Bishop could be so small in Person or a Child so great in Clothes though since all is unriddled For it was fashionable in that Church a thing rather deserving to be remembred then fit to be done in the depth of Popery that the Choristers chose a boy of their society to be a Bishop among them from Saint Nicholas till Innocents day at night who did officiate in all things Bishop-like saying of Mass alone excepted and held the state of a Bishop answerably habited amongst his fellows the counterfeit Prebends one of these chancing to die in the time of his mock-Episcopacy was buried with Crosier and Miter as is aforesaid Thus superstition can dispence with that which Religion cannot making Piety Pageantry and subjecting what is sacred to lusory representations As for Civil-buildings in this County none are such Giants as to exceed the Standard of Structures in other Counties Long-leat the house of Sir James Thynne was the biggest and Wilton is the stateliest and pleasantest for Gardens Fountains and other accommodations Nor must the industry of the Citizens of Salisbury be forgotten who have derived the River into every Street therein so that Salisbury is a heap of Islets thrown together This mindeth me of an Epitaph made on Mr. Francis Hide a Native of this City who dyed Secretary unto the English Leiger in Venice Born in the English Venice thou didst die Dear friend in the Italian Salisbury The truth is that the strength of this City consisted in the weakness thereof uncapable of being Garrison'd which made it in our Modern Wars to scape better then many other places of the same proportion The VVonders Stone-henge After so many wild and wide conjectures of the Cause Time and Authors hereof why when and by whom this monument was erected a Posthume-book comes lagging at last called Stone-henge restored and yet goeth before all the rest It is questionable whether it more modestly propoundeth or more substantially proveth this to be a Roman work or Temple dedicated to Coelus or Coelum son to Aether and Dies who was senior to all the Gods of the Heathen That it is a Roman design he proveth by the Order as also by the Scheame thereof consisting of four equilateral Triangles inscribed within the Circumference of a Circle an Architectonicall Scheam used by the Romans Besides the Portico or entrance thereof is made double as in the Roman ancient Structures of great Magnificence Not to say that the Architraves therein are all set without Morter according to the Roman Architecture wherein it was ordinary to have Saxa nullo fulta glutino No less perswasive are his Arguments to prove a Temple dedicated to Coelum First from the Sâ—…ituation thereof standing in a plain in a free and open Ayre remote from any village without woods about it Secondly from it's Aspect being sub dio and built without a roof Thirdly from the Circular form thereof being the proper Figure of the Temple of Coelus Not to mention his other arguments in which the Reader may better satisfy himself from the originall Author then my second-hand relation thereof Knot Grasse This is called in Latine Gramen caninum supinum longissimum and groweth nine miles from Salisbury at Master Tuckers at Maddington It is a peculiar kind and of the ninety species of Grasses in England is
precious extraction to King James reputed a great preserver of health and prolonger of life He is conceived by such helps to have added to his vigorous vivacity though I think a merry heart whereof he had a great measure was his best Elixar to that purpose He died exceeding aged Anno Dom. 164. JOHN BUCKRIDGE was born at Dracot nigh Marleborough in this County and bred under Master Mullcaster in Merchant-Taylors school from whence he was sent to Saint Johns-colledge in Oxford where from a Fellow he became Doctor of Divinity and President thereof He afterwards succeeded Doctor Lancelot Andrews in the Vicaridge of Saint Giles Criplegate in which Cure they lived one and twenty years a piece and indeed great was the Intimacy betwixt these two learned Prelates On the ninth of June 1611. he was Consecrated Bishop of Rochester and afterwards set forth a learned Book in opposition of John Fisher De potestate papae in Temporalibus of which my Author doth affirm Johannem itaque Roffensem habemus quem Johanni Roffensi opponamus Fishero Buckerigium cujus argumentis si quid ego video ne à mille quidem Fisheris unquam respondebitur He was afterwards preferred Bishop of Ely and having Preached the Funerall Sermon of Bishop Andrews extant in Print at the end of his works survived him not a full year dying Anno Dom. 163. He was decently Interred by his own appointment in the Parish-church of Bromly in Kent the Manner thereof belonged to the Bishoprick of Rotchester States-men EDWARD SEIMOR and THOMAS SEIMOR both Sons of Sir John Seimor of Wolfull Knight in this County I joyn them together because whilst they were united in affection they were invinsible but when devided easily overthrown by their enemies Edward Seimor Duke of Sommerset Lord Protector and Treasurer of England being the Elder Brother succeeded to a fair Paternal inheritance He was a valiant Souldier for Land-service fortunate and generally beloved by Martiall men He was of an open nature free from jealousie and dissembling affable to all People He married Anne Daughter of Sir Edward Stanhop knight a Lady of a high mind and haughty undaunted spirit Thomas Seimor the Younger Brother was made Barron of Sudley by offices and the favours of his Nephew K. Edward the sixth obtained a great Estate He was well experienced in Sea affairs and made Lord Admirall of England He lay at a close posture being of a reserved Nature and was more cunning in his Carriage He married Queen Katharine Parr the Widdow of King Henry the eighth Very great the Animosities betwixt their Wives the Dutchess refusing to bear the Queens Train and in effect justled with her for Precedence so that what betwixt the Train of the Queen and long Gown of the Dutchess they raised so much dust at the Court as at last put out the eyes of both their husbands and occasioned their Executions as we have largely declared in our Ecclesiasticall History The Lord Thomas Anno 154. The Lord Edward Anno 154. Thus the two best Bullworks of the safety of King Edward the sixth being demolished to the ground Duke Dudley had the advantage the nearer to approach and assault the Kings Person and to practice his destruction as is vehemently suspected Sir OLIVER SAINT JOHN Knight Lord Grandison c. was born of an ancient and honourable family whose prime seat was at Lediard-Tregoze in this County He was bred in the warrs from his youth and at last by King James was appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland and vigorously pursued the principles of his Predecessours for the civilizing thereof Indeed the Lord Mountjoy reduced that Country to obedience the Lord Chichester to some civility and this Lord Grandison first advanced it to considerable profit to his Master I confess T. Walsingham writeth that Ireland afforded unto Edward the third thirty thousand pound a year paid into His Exchequer but it appears by the Irish-records which are rather to be believed that it was rather a burden and the constant revenue thereof beneath the third part of that proportion But now the Kingdome being peaceably settled the income thereof turned to good account so that Ireland called by my Author the Land of Ire for the constant broiles therein for 400. years was now become the Land of Concord Being re-called into England he lived many years in great repute and dying without issue left his Honour to his Sisters son by Sir Edward Villiers but the main of his estate to his Brothers son Sir John Saint John Knight and Baronet Sir JAMES LEY Knight and Baronet son of Henry Ley Esquire one of great Ancestry who on his own cost with his men valiantly served King Henry the eighth at the siedge of Bullen was born at Tafant in this County Being his fathers sixth son and so in probability barred of his inheritance he indeavoured to make himself an Heir by his Education applying his book in Brasen-nose-colledge and afterwards studying the Laws of the Land in Lincolns-Inn wherein such his proficiency King James made him Lord Chief Justice in Ireland Here he practised the charge King James gave him at his going over yea what his own tender Conscience gave himself namely Not to build his Estate on the ruines of a miserable Nation but aiming by the unpartial execution of Justice not to enrich himself but civilize the People he made a good Progress therein But the King would no longer lose him out of his own Land and therefore recalled him home about the time when his fathers inheritance by the death of his five elder brethren descended upon him It was not long before Offices and Honour flowed in fast upon him being made by King James King Charles 1. Aturney of the Court of Wards 2. Chief Justice of the Upper Bench 18. of his raign Jan. 29. 3. Lord Treasurer of England in the 22. of his raign Decemb. 22. 4. Baron Ley of Ley in Devonshire the last of the same Month. 1. Earl of Marleburg in this County immediately after the Kings Coronation 2. Lord President of the Councell in which place he died Anno Domini 1629. He was a person of great gravity ability and integrity and as the Caspian Sea is observed neither to ebb nor flow so his mind did not rise or fall but continued the same constancy in all conditions Sir FRANCIS COTTINGTON Knight was born nigh Meer in this County and bred when a youth under Sir ........ Stafford He lived so long in Spain till he made the garbe and gravity of that Nation become his and become him He raised himself by his naturall strength without any artificial advantage having his parts above his learning his experience above his parts his industry above his experience and some will say his success above all so that at the last he became Chancellour of the Exchequer Baron of Hanworth in Middlesex and upon the resignation of Doctor Juxon Lord Treasurer of England gaining also
Commodity in this County not â—…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 Ponâ—…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 geâ—…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 Geâ—…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
a spring of a Vitrioline tast and Odour It was discovered by one Master Slingsby about the year 1620. and is conceived to run paralell with the Spaw waters in Germany Not far off is a sulphur-well which hath also the qualities of saltness and bitterness The stench whereof though offensive Patients may hold their nose and take wholesome physick is recompenced by the vertues thereof Insomuch as my Author saith It heateth and quickneth the stomack bowels liver spleen blood veynes nerves and indeed the whole body insomuch that it consumes crudities rectifieth all cold distempers in all parts of the body causeth a good digestion cureth the dropsy spleen scurvy green-sickness gout And here it is high time to hold still for if this last be true let that disease which formerly was called dedecus medicinae be hereafter termed decus fontis Knaresburgensis In the same parish over against the Castle the river Nid running betwixt ariseth a spring which runneth a little way in an entire streame till dammed at the brow of the discent with ragged rocks it is divided into severall trickling branches whereof some drop some streame down partly over partly through a jetting rock this is called the Petrifying well how grammatically I will not engage because it converteth spungy substances into stone or crusteth them over round about We must not forget Saint Mungus his Well which some have slighted as an ineffectuall superstitious relique of Popery whilst others maintain it hath regained its reputation and is of Soveraign vertue Some will have the name thereof mistaken for Saint Magnus which in my opinion was rather so called from Saint Mungo Kentigernus in Latine a Scotish Saint and much honoured in these Northern parts I believe no place in England can shew four springs so near in scituation so distant in operation Such as desire to know more of the nature and use of these springs of the time manner and quantity wherein the Waters are to be taken and how the Patient is to be dieted for his greater advantage may inform themselves by perusing two small Treatise one set forth Anno 1626. by Edmund Dean Doctor of Physick living in York called Spadsacrena Anglica The other written some six years since by John French Doctor of Physick and is very satisfactory on that subject The Buildings The Church of Beverly is much commended for a fine Fabrick and I shall have a more proper occasion to speak hereafter of the Collegiate Church in Rippon but amongst antient Civil Structures we muâ—… not forget Wreseâ—… Castle It is sealed in the Confluence of Derwent and Owse In what plight it is now I know not but hear how Leland commendeth it in his Itinerary through this County It is built of square stone which some say was brought out of France it hath four fair Towers one at each corner and a Gatehouse wherein are Chambers five stories high which maketh the fifth In Lelands time it looked as new built though then 100. years old as being erected by the Lord Percy Earl of Winchester in the raign of King Richard the second Without the Walls but within the Mote gardens done Opere Topiario In a word he termeth it one of the properest buildings North of Trent But that which most affected him was a study in an eight square Tower called Paradise furnished with curious and convenient Deskes loaden with variety of choice books but as Noahs floud is generally believed of learned men to have discomposed the Paradise in Eden so I shrewdly suspect that the Deluge of time hath much impaired if not wholly defaced so beautifull a building then belonging to the Earl of Northumberland Amongst many fine and fair Houses now extant in this County we hear the highest commendation of Maulton late the house of the Lord Euers Proverbs From Hell Hull and Halifax deliver us This is part of the Beggars and Vagrants Letany Of these three frightfull things unto them it is to be feared that they least fear the first conceiting it the furthest from them Hull is terrible unto them as a Town of good government where Vagrants meet with Punitive Charity and 't is to be feared are oftner Corrected then Amended Halifax is formidable unto them for the Law thereof whereby Theeves taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the very Act of stealing of cloath are instantly beheaded with an Engine without any further Legal Proceedings A Scarborough warning That is none at all but a sâ—…dain surprize when a mischief is felt before it be suspected This Proverbe is but of 104. years standing taking its Originall from Thomas Stafford who in the raign of Queen Mary Anno 1557. with a small company seized on Scarborough-castle utterly distitute of provision for resistance before the Towns-men had the least notice of his approach However within six days by the industry of the Earl of Westmerland he was taken brought to London and Beheaded So that since the Proverb accepteth a secondary but no genuine sense and a Scarborough-warning may be a Caveat to any how he undertaketh a treacherous design But if any conceive this Proverbe of more antient original fetching it from the custome of Scarborough-castle in former times with which it was not a word and a blow but a blow before and without a word as using to shoot ships which passed by and strook not sail and so warning and harming them both together I can retain mine own without opposing their opinion As true Steel as Rippon Rowels It is said of trusty Persons men of metall faithfull in their imployments Spurs are a principal part of Knightly Hatchments yea a Poet observes The Lands that over Ouze to Barwick forth doe bear Have for their Blazon had the Snaffle Spur and Spear Indeed the best Spurs of England are made at Rippon a famous Town in this County whose rowels may be inforced to strike through a Shilling and will break sooner then bow However the horses in this County are generally so good they prevent the Spurs or answer unto them a good sign of thrifty metall for continuance An Yorkshire * way-Bit That is an Over-plus not accounted in the reckoning which sometime proveth as much as all the rest Ask a Country-man here on the high-way how far it is to such a Town and they commonly return So many miles and a way-bit which way-bit is enough to make the wearied Travailer surfet of the length thereof If such over-measure be allowed to all Yards Bushels c. in 〈◊〉 Shire the Poor therein have no cause to complain of their penny-worths in buying any Commodities But hitherto we have run along with common report and false spelling the way not to win the race and now return to the starting place again It is not Way-bit though generally so pronounced but Wee-bit a pure Yorkshirisme which is a small bit in the Northern Language Merry Wakefield What peculiar cause of mirth this Town hath above others I doe
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 shamâ—…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 leaves of the Bayes and â—…y be withered to nothing since the erection of the Tomb but only rosated having a Chaplet of four Roses about his head Another Author unknighteth him allowing him only a plain Esquire though in my apprehension the Colar of S.S.S. about his neck speak him to be more Besides with submission to better judgements that Colar hath rather a Civil than Military relation proper to persons in places of Judicature which makes me guess this Gower some Judge in his old age well consisting with his original education He was before Chaucer as born and flourishing before him yea by some accounted his Master yet was he after Chaucer as surviving him two years living to be stark blind and so more properly termed our English Homer Many the Books he wrote whereof three most remarkable viz. Speculum Meditantis in French Confessio Amantis in English Vox Clamantis in Latine His death happened 1402. JOHN MARRE by Bale called MARREY and by Trithemius MARRO was born at Marre a village in this County three miles West from Doncaster where he was brought up in Learning Hence he went to Oxford where saith Leland the University bestowed much honour upon him for his excellent Learning He was by Order a Carmelite and in one respect it was well for his Memory that he was so which maketh John Balâ—… who generally falleth foul on all Fryers to have some civility for him as being once himself of the same Order allowing him subtilly learned in all secular Philosophy But what do I instance in home-bred Testimonies Know Reader that in the Character of our own Country Writers I prize an Inch of Forraign above an Ell of English Commendation and Outlandish Writers Trithemius Sixtus Senensis Petrus Lucius c. give great Encomiums of his Ability though I confesse it is chiefly on this account because he wrote against the Opinions of J. Wickliffe He died on the eighteenth of Mà rch 1407. and was buried in the Convent of Carmelites in Doncaster THOMAS GASCOIGNE eldest son to Richard the younger brother unto Sir William Gascoigne Lord Chief Justice was born at Huntfleet in this County bred in Baliol Colledge in Oxford where he proceeded Doctor in Divinity and was Commissioner of that University Anno Dom. 1434. He was well acquainted with the Maids of Honour I mean Humane Arts and Sciences which conducted him first to the presence then to the favour of Divinity the Queen He was a great Hieronymist perfectly acquainted with all the Writings of that Learned Father and in expression of his gratitude for the good he had gotten by reading his Woâ—…ks he collected out of many Authors and wrote the life of Saint Hierom. He made also a Book called Dictionarium Theologicum very useful to and therefore much esteemed by the Divines in that age He was seven and fifty years old Anno 1460. and how long he survived afterwards is unknown JOHN HARDING was born saith my Author in the Northern parts and I have some cause to believe him this Countrey-man He was an Esquire of ancient Parentage and bred from his Youth in Military Employment First under Robert Umfrevil Governour of Roxborough Castle and did good service against the Scots Then he followed the Standard of King Edward the fourth adhering faithfully unto him in his deepest distresse But the Master-piece of his service was his adventuring into Scotland not without the manifest hazard of his Life where he so cunningly demeaned himselfe that he found there and fetched thence out of their Records many Original Letters which he presented to King Edward the fourth Out of these he collected an History of the several Solemn Submissions publickly made and Sacred Oaths of Fealty openly taken from the time of King Athelstane by the Kings of SCOTLAND to the Kings of ENGLAND for the Crown of SCOTLAND although the Scotch Historians stickle with might and maine that such Homage was performed onely for the County of Cumberland and some parcels of Land their Kings had in ENGLAND south of TWEED He wrote also a Chronicle of our English Kings from BRUTUS to King EDWARD the fourth and that in English Verse and in my Judgement he had drank as hearty a draught of Helicon as any in his age He was living 1461. then very aged and I believe died soon after HENRY PARKER was bred from his infancy in the Carmelite Convent at Doncaster afterwards Doctor of Divinity in Cambridge Thence he returned to Doncaster and well it had been with him if he had staid there still and not gone up to London to preach at Pauls-Crosse where the subject of his Sermon was to prove That Christs poverty was the pattern of humane perfection and that men professing eminent sanctity should conform to his precedent Going on foot feeding on Barley-bread wearing seamless-woven-coats having no houses of their own c. He drove this nail so far that he touched the quick and the wealthy Clergy winched thereat His Sermon offended much as preached more as published granting the Copy thereof to any that would transcribe it For this the Bishop of London put him in prison which Parker patiently endured in hope perchance of a rescue from his Order till being informed that the Pope effectually appeared on the party of the Prelates to procure his liberty he was content at Pauls-Cross to recant Not as some have took the word to say over the same again in which sense the Cuckow of all Birds is properly called the Recanter but he unsaid with at least seeming sorrow what he had said before However fâ—…om this time we may date the decay of the Carmelites credit in England who discountenanced by the Pope never afterwards recruited themselves to their former number and honour but moulted their feathers till King Henry the eight cut off their very wings and body too at the Dissolution This Parker flourished under King Edward the fourth Anno 1470. Since the Reformation Sir FRANCIS BIGOT Knight was born aud well landed in this County Bale giveth him this testimony that he was Evangelicae veritatis amator Otherwise I must confess my self posed with his intricate disposition For he wrote a book against the Clergy Of IMPROPRIATIONS Had it been against the Clergy of Appropriations I could have guessed it to have proved Tithes due to the Pastors of their respective Parishes Whereas now having not seen nor seen any that have seen his book I cannot conjecture his judgment As his book so the manner of his death seems a riddle unto me being though a Protestant slain amongst the Northern Rebells 1537. But here Bale helpeth us not a little affirming him found amongst them against his will And indeed those Rebells to countenancé their Treason violently detained some Loyall Persons in their Camp and the Blind sword having Aciem not Oculum kill'd friend and foe in fury without distinction WILFRID HOLME was born in this County of Gentile
found in the name of ALCUINUS LUCIANUS Thus these Nominall Curiosities whether they hit or miss the Mark equally import nothing to Judicious Beholders He was made first Abbot of Saint Augustines in Canterbury and afterward of Saint Martins in the City of Towers in France and dying Anno 780 he was buried in a small Convent appendant to his Monastery He is here entred under the Topick of Saints because though never solemnly canonized he well deserved the Honor His Subjects said to David Thou art worth ten Thousand of us and though I will not ascend to so high a Proportion many of the Modern Saints in the Church of Rome must modestly confess that on a Due and True estimate our Alcuinus was worth many Scores of them at least so great his Learning and holy his Conversation SEWALL had his Nativity probably in these Parts But he was bred in Oxford and was a Scholar to St. Edmund who was wont to say to him Sewald Sewald thou wilt have many Afflictions and dye a Martyr Nor did he miss much of his mark therein though he met with Peace and Plenty at first when Arch-bishop of York The occasion of his Trouble was when the Pope plenitudine potestatis intruded one Jordan an Italian to be Dean of York whose Surprised Installing Sewald stoutly opposed Yea at this time there were in England no fewer then three Hundred Benefices possessed by Italians where the People might say to them as the Eunuch to Philip How can we understand without an â—…nterpreter Yea which was far worse they did not onely not teach in the Church but mis-teach by their lascivious and debauched behaviour Asfor our Sewald Mathew Paris saith plainly that he would not bow his Knee to Baal so that for this his contempt he was excommunicated and cursed by Bell Book and Candle though it was not the Bell of Aarons Garment nor Book of Scripture nor the Candle of an Unpartiall Judgement This brak his heart and his Memory lyeth in an Intricate posture peculiar almost to himself betwixt Martyr and no Martyr a Saint and no Saint Sure it is â—…ewall though dying excommunicated in the Romish is reputed Saint in Vulgar estimation and some will maintain that the Popes solemn Canonization is no more requisite to the making of a Saint then the Opening of a Manâ—… Windows is necessary to the lustre of the Sun Sewald died Anno Dom. 1258. Bale who assumeth liberty to himself to surname Old-writers at his pleasure is pleased to Addition this worthy man Sewaldus Magnanimus Martyrs VALENTINE FREESE and his Wife were both of them born in this City and both gave their lives therein at one Stake for the testimony of Jesus Christ Anno Domini 1531. Probably by order from Edward Lee the cruell Arch-bishop I cannot readily call to mind a man and his wife thus Marryed together in Martyrdome And begin to grow confident that this Couple was the first and laâ—… in this kind Confessors EDWARD FREESE brother to the aforesaid Valentine was born in York and there a Prentice to a Painter He was afterwards a Novice-Monke and leaving his Convent came to Colchester in Essex Here his hereticall Inclination as then accounted discovered it self in some sentences of Scripture which he Painted in the Borders of Cloths for which he was brought before John Stoaksley Bishop of London from whom he found such cruell usage as is above belief Master Fox saith that he was fed with Manchet made of Saw-dust or at the least a great part thereof and kept so long in Prison Manicled by the wrests till the Flesh had overgrown his Irons and he not able to kembe his own head became so distracted that being brought before the Bishop he could say nothing but my Lord is a good man A sad sight to his Friends and a sinfull one to his Foes who first made him mad and then made mirth at his madness I confess distraction is not mentioned in that list of losses reckoned up by our Saviour He that left his House or Brethren or Sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands for my sake c. But seeing his wits is nearer and dearer to any man then his wealth and seeing what is so lost may be said to be left no doubt this poor mans distraction was by God gratiously accepted on his enemies severely punished and to him mercifully rewarded We must not forget how the wife of this Edward Freese being big with child and pressing in to see her husband the Porter at Fulham gave her such a kick on the belly that the child was destroyed with that stroke immediately and she died afterwards of the same Prelates JOHN ROMAN so called because his Father was born in Rome though living a long time in this City being Treasurer of the Cathedrall therein and I conjecture this John his Son born in York because so Indulgent thereunto For generally Pure Pute Italians preferred in England transmitted the gain they got by Bills of Exchange or otherwise into their own Country and those outlandisâ—… Mules though lying down in English Pasture left no Hairs behind them Whereas this Roman had such Affection for York that being advanced Arch-bishop he began to build the Body of the Church and finished the North Part of the Cross-Isle therein Polydore Virgil praised him no wonder that an Italiaâ—… commended a Roman for a Man of great Learning and Sincerity He fell into the disfavour of King Edward the first for Excommunicating Anthony Beck Bishop of Durham and it cost him four thousand marks to regain his Princes Good Will He died Anno Domini 1295. And let none grudge his Buriaâ—… in the best Place of the Church who was so Bountifull a Builder thereof ROBERT WALBEY born in this City was therein bred an Augâ—…stinian Friar he afterwards went over into France where he so applied his studies that at last he was chosen Divinity Professor in the City of Tholouse he was Chaplain to the black Prince after his death to his Father K. Edward the third Now as his Mr. injoyed three Crowns so under him in his three Kingdoms this his Chaplain did partake successively of three Miters being first a Bishop in Gascoine then Arch-bishop of Dublin in Ireland afterwards Bishop of Chichester in England not grudging to be degraded in Dignity to be preferred in profit At last he was consecrated Arch-bishop of York and was the first and last Native which that City saw the least of Infants and in his Time when Man the greatest therein Yet he enjoyed his place but a short time dying May 29. Anno Domini 1397. Since the Reformation THOMAS MORTON was born Anno 1564. in the City of York whose father Richard Morton allyed to Cardinall Morton Arch bishop of Canterbury was a Mercer I have been informed the first of that calling in that City sure of such repute that no Mercers
under K. Henry the seventh Anno 1490. Since the Reformation RICHARD STOCK was born in this City bred Scholar of the house in Saint Johns-Colledge in Cambridge and designed Fellow of sidney though not accepting thereof He was afterwards Minister of All hallows Bredstreet in London by the space of thirty two years till the day of his death Where if in health he omitted not to Preach twice every Lords day with the approbation of all that were Judicious and Religious No Minister in England had his Pulpit supplyed by fewer Strangers Doctor Davenant afterwards Bishop of Sarum whose father was his parishioner was his constant Auditor while lying in London His Preaching was most profitable Converting many and Confirming more in Religion so that appearing with Comfort at the Day of Judgement he might say behold I and the Children that God hath given me He was zealous in his life a great Reformer of prophanations on the Sabbath prevailing with some companies to put off their wonted Festivalls from Mundays to Tuesdays that the Lords-day might not be abused by the preparation for such entertainments Though he preached oft in neighbouring Churches he never neglected his own being wont to protest That it was more Comfortable to him to win one of his own Parish then twenty others Preaching at Saint Pauls Cross when young it was ill taken at his mouth that he reproved the inequality of Rates in the City burdening the Poor to ease the Rich and he was called a Green head for his pains But being put up in his latter days to preach on the Lord Mayors Election and falling on the same subject He told them That a Gray head spake now what a Green-head had said before He dyed Aprill 20. Anno Domini 1626. with a great lamentation of all but especially of his Parishioners Memorable Persons JOHN LEPTON of York Esquire servant to King James undertook for a wager to ride six days together betwixt York and London being sevenscore and ten miles stylo vetere as I may say and performed it accordingly to the greater praise of his strength in acting then his discretion in undertaking it He first set forth from Aldersgate May 20. being Munday Anno Domini 1606. and accomplished his journey every day before it was dark A thing rather memorable then commendable many maintaining that able and active bodies are not to vent themselves in such vain though gainfull ostentation and that it is no better then tempting Divine Providence to lavish their strength and venture their lives except solemnly summoned thereunto by just necessity Lord Mayors Expect not Reader that under this Title I should present thee with a list of the Lord Mayors of this City born therein Onely to make this part conformable to the rest of my book know that I find one Native of this City Lord Mayor of London viz. Name Father Place Company Time 1 Martin Bowes Thomas Bowes York Goldsmith 1545 The Farewell To take our leaveof this Loyall City I desire that some Lucrative Trade may be set up therein to repair her former losses with advantage Mean time I rejoyce that the Archiepiscopat See is restored thereunto not despairing but that in due time if the Supream Authority adjudge it fit the Court of the Presidency of the North may be re-erected therein presuming the Country will be Eased and City Inriched thereby as the Loadstone which will atract much Company and by consequence Commodity thereunto Let me adde I am informed that Sir Thomas Widdrington a person accomplished in all Arts as well as in his own Profession of the Laws hath made great Progress in his Exact Description of this City Nor doe I more congratulate the happiness of York coming under so Able a Pen then Condole my own Infelicity whose unsuccessfull attendance hitherto could not compass speech with this worthy Knight Sure I am when this his work is set forth then indeed YORK SHALL BE what a City most compleatly Illustrated in all the Antiquities and Remarkables thereof FINIS THE PRINCIPALITY OF WALES PSAL. 95. 4 5. In his hand are the deep places of the Earth the strength of the Hills is his also The Sea is his and he made it PROV 27. 25 26. The herbs of the Mountains are gathered The Lambs are for thy clothing and the Goats are the price of thy fields A NECESSARY PREFACE TO THE READER IT bare a debate in my serious consideration whether a Totall Omission or Defective Description of this Principality were to be preferred finding my self as Unable to do it Exactly as Unwilling to Pretermit it For First I never was in VVales and all know how necessary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to accurateness herein Secondly I understand not their Language and cannot go to the Cost nor dare take the State of having an Interpreter King James was wont pleasantly to say that he cared not though he was poor himself so long as his Subjects were Rich as confident he could command their wealth on good conditions and a just occasion But indeed it matters not how meanly skil'd a Writer is so long as he hath Knowing and Communicative Friends my happiness in England who here am quite destitute of such assistance However on the other side a Totall Omission seemed very unhandsome to make a Cypher of this Large Principality Besides England cannot be well described without VVales such the Intimacy of Relation betwixt them three of our English Kings being born and many of Our Prime Atchievments being acted in VVales Wherefore I resolved to endeavour my utmost in the description thereof though sadly sensible in my self that my desires were as high as a Mountain but my performances would fall as low would they were half so fruitfull as the Vallies And here I humbly desire that the many faults by me committed may be like a Ball cast down and deaded on a soft Floor even to be buried in my own weakness to my own shame without the least Ripling or Rebounding to the disgrace of the VVelsh Country or Nation And my hope and desire is that these my weak pains will provoke others of more Ability to substitute a more Exact Description in the room thereof I had rather the Reader should take the name of that worthy Knight from Master Camden then from me who designing to build according to the Italian Mode of Architecture plucked down a good and convenient English-house preposterously destroying the one and never finished the other I hope the Reader will not be so uncharitable I will not say undiscreet but will allow our grains a subsistence till they will willingly vanish at the substitution of another In Doubtfull Nativities of Worthy Persons betwixt England and Wales I have not call'd for a sword to divide the controverted Child betwixt the two Mothers but have wholy resigned it to VVales partly out of desire of quietness not engage in a contest partly because I conceived England might better spare then
Extraction a Welch man immediately adding patria Herefordensis by his Country a Hereford-shire man We now for quietness sake resign him up wholly to the former Yet was he a Person worth contending for Lealand saith much in little of him when praising him to be Vir illustris Famâ Eraditione Religione He wrot severall Comments on Aristotle Peter Lumbard and the Revelalion He was chief of the Franciscans Convent in Hereford where he was buried in the raign of King Henry the fourth 1406. DAVID BOYS Let not Kent pretend unto him wherein his Surname is so Ancient and Numerous our Author assuring us of his British Extraction He studied in Oxford saith Lealand no less to his own Honour then the Profit of others reaping much benefit by his Books Having his Breeding at Oxford he had a Bounty for Cambridge and compassing the writings of John Barningham his Fellow-Carmelite he got them fairly transcribed in four Volumes and bestowed them on the Library in Cambridge where Bale beheld them in his Time He was very familiar understand it in a good way with Eleanor Cobham Dutchess of Gloucester whence we collect him at least a Parcell-Wickliffite Of the many books he wrot fain would I see that Intituled of Double Immortality whether intending thereby the Immortality of Soul and Body or of the Memory here and Soul hereafter I would likewise satisfie my self in his Book about the madness of the Hagarens whether the Mahometans be not ment thereby pretending themselves descended from Sarah when indeed they are the Issue of the Bond-woman He was Prefect of the Carmelites in Gloucester where he dyed 1450. Let me adde that his Surname is Latined Boethius and so Wales hath her David Boethius whom in some respects she may Vie with Hector Boethius of Scotland Since the Reformation Sir JOHN RHESE alias Ap Ryse Knight was born in Wales Noble by his Linage but more by his Learning He was well vers'd in the British Antiquities and would not leave a Hoof of his Countries Honour behind which could be brought up to go along with him Now so it was that Polydore Virgil that Proud Italian bare a Pique to the British for their Ancient Independency from the Pope Besides he could not so easily compass the Welch Records into his clutches that so he might send them the same way with many English Manuscripts which he had burnt to ashes This made him slight the Credit of Welch Authors whom oâ—… Sir John was a Zelot to assert being also a Champion to vindicate the story of King Arthur Besides he wrot a Treatise of the Eucharist and by the good words Bale bestoweth on him we believe him a Favorour of the Reformation flourishing under King Edward the sixth 1550. JOHN GRIFFIN was born in Wales first bred a Cistercian Friar in Hales-Abbey in Gloucester-shire After the dissolution of his Convent he became a Painfull and Profitable Preacher He suited the Pulpit with Sermons for all seasons having his Conciones Aestivales Brumales which he preached in English and wrot in Latine flourishing under King Edward the sixth Anno Domini 1550. HUGH BROUGHTON was born in Wales but very nigh unto Shrop-shire He used to speak much of his Gentility and of his Armes which were the Owles presaging as he said his Addiction to the study of Greek because those were the birds of Minerva and the Emblâ—…me of Athens I dare not deny his Gentile Extraction but it was probable that his Parents were fallen to great decay as by the ensuing story will appear When Mr. Barnard Gilpin that Apostolike man was going his annual journey to Oxford from his Living at Houghton in the North he spied by the way-side a Youth one while walking another while running of whom Mr. Gilpin demanded whence he came he answered out of Wales and that he was a going to Oxford with intent to be a Scholar Mr. Gilpin perceiving him pregnant in the Latine and having some smattering in the Greek Tongue carried him home to Houghton where being much improved in the Languages he sent him to Christs-colledge in Cambridge It was not long before his worth preferred him Fellow of the House This was that Broughton so famous for his skill in the Hebew a great Ornament of that University and who had been a greater had the heat of his Brain and Peremptoriness of his Judgement been tempered with more moderation being ready to quarrell with any who did not presently and perfectly imbrace his Opinions He wrote many books whereof one called The consent of times carrieth the generall commendation As his Industry was very Commendable so his Ingratitude must be condemned if it be true what I read that when Master Gilpin his Mecaenas by whose care and on whose cost he was bred till he was able to breed himself grew old he procured him to be troubled and molested by Doctor Barnes Bishop of Durham in expectation of his Parsonage as some shrewdly suspect At last he was fixed in the City of London where he taught many Citizens and their Apprentices the Hebrew Tongue He was much flocked after for his Preaching though his Sermons were generally on Subjects rather for Curiosity then Edification I conjecture his death to be about the year of our Lord 1600. HUGH HOLLAND was born in Wales and bred first a Scholar in Weâ—…minster then Fellow in Trinity-colledge in Cambridge No bad English but a most excellent Latine Poet. Indeed he was addicted to the New-old Religion New in comparison of Truth it self yet Old because confessed of long continuance He travailed beyond the Seas and in Italy conceiving himself without Ear-reach of the English let flie freely against the Credit of Queen Elizabeth Hence he went to Jerusalem though there he was not made or he would not own himself Knight of the 〈◊〉 In his return he touched at Constantinople where Sir Thomas Glover Embassador for King James called him to an account for his Scandalum Reginae at Rome and the former over freedome of his tongue cost him the confinement for a time in Prison Enlarged at last returning into England with his good parts bettered by learning and great learning increased with experience in travail he expected presently to be chosen Clerk of the Councell at least but preferment not answering his expectation he grumbled out the rest of his life in visible discontentment He made verses in description of the chief Cities in Europe wrot the Chronicle of Queen Elizabeths raign believe him older and wiser not railing as formerly and a book of the life of Master Camden all lying hid in private hands none publikely Printed This I observe the rather to prevent Plagearies that others may not impe their credit with stollen feathers and wrongfully with ease pretend to his painfull endeavours He had a competent estate in good Candle-rents in London and died about ' the beginning of the raign of King Charles The Farewell To take my Vale
River Tyvy which saith Giraldus Cambrensis was the only place afforded them in all Britain A cunning Creature yet reported by some men more crafty than he is who relate that being hunted and in danger to be taken he biteth off his Stones as useful in Physick for which only his life was then sought and so escapeth Hence some will have him called Castro à Castrando seipsum And others adde that having formerly bitten off his Stones he standeth upright and sheweth the Hunters that he hath none that so they may surcease their pursuit of an unprofitable Quâ—…re Hence it was that amongst the Egyptians the Bever passeth for an Hieroglyphick of him who hurteth himself though by Alciate the great Emblematist he is turned to another purpose to teach men rather to part with their purses than their lives and by their wealth to redeem themselves out of danger The plain truth is all those reports of â—…he Bever are no better than vulgar errours and are disproved both by sense and experience For his Stones are so placed in his body as those of the Boar that it is impossible for himself with his teeth to touch them And some maintain they cleave so fast to his back they cannot be taken away without loss of his life However grant the story true the gelding of himself would not serve his turn or excuse the Bever from Hunters now adays except he could also flea off his skin the wooll whereof is so commonly used for the making of Hats All that I will add is this that what plenty soever there was of Bevers in this County in the days of Giraldus the breed of them now is quite destroyed and neither fore-foot of a Bever which is like a Dogs nor hind-foot which is like a Goose to be seen therein Proverbs Being well at leisure in this little County we will observe what indeed is generall to all Wales something Proverbial and conducing to our necessary information Talaeth Talaeth In effect the same in English with Finâ—… Fine when Mothers and Nurses are disposed to please their little Ones in dressing them take the original thereof When Roderick the Great divided Wales betwixt his three Sons into three Dominions North Wales South VVales and Powis He ordered that each of them should wear upon his Bonnet or Helmet a Coronet of Gold being a broad lace or head-band indented upwards set and wrought with precious stones called in the British Talaeth and they from thence Ytri twysoc Talaethioc that is the three crowned Princes But now either the number of Princes is well multiplied in Wales or which is truer the Honour of Talaeth is much diminished that being so called wherewith a Childs head is bound uppermost upon some other linnen cloaths Thus the English have that which they call the Crown of a Cap. Bu Arthur ond tra fu That is Arthur was not but whilest he was It is sad to say Nos fuimus Trojes the greatest eminency when not extant is extinct The Fryer never loved what was good Ne thorres Arthur Nawdd gwraig That is King Arthur did never violate the refuge of a Woman Arthur is notoriously known for the mirrour of manhood By the Womans Refuge many understand her Tongue and no valiant man will revenge her words with his blows Nullum memorabile Nomen Fâ—…minii in Paena Caleny Sais wrah Gymro That is the heart of a Englishman whom they call Saxons towards a Welsh-man It is either applied to such who are possessed with prejudice or only carry an outward compliance without cordial affection We must remember this Proverb was origined whilest England and wales were at deadly Feude there being better love betwixt them since the union of the Nations Ni Châ—…itw Cymbro oni Gollo That is the welshman keeps nothing until he hath lost it The historical truth thereof is plain in the British Chronicles that when the British recovered the lost Castles from the English they doubled their diligence and valour keeping them more tenaciously than before A fo Pen bid Bont That is he that will be a Head let him be a Bridge It is founded on a Fictitious tradition thus commonly told Benigridran a Britain is said to have carried an Army over into Ireland his men came to a River over which neither was Bridg nor Ferrey hereupon he was fain to carry all his men over the River on his own back To lesson men not to affect the empty title of a General except they can supply their Souldiers with all necessaries be their wardrobe in want of Cloaths Kitching in want of Meat c. Thus Honour hath ever a great burden attending it We will conclude these General Proverbs of wales with a Custom which was ancient in this Nation they had a kind of Play wherein the stronger who prevailed put the the weaker into a Sack and hence we have borrowed our English By-word to express such betwixt whom there is apparent odds of strength he is able to put him up in a bagge The Farewell It is observable what a credible Author reporteth that there was in this County a City once an Episcopal See called Llan-Badern-Vaure that is Llan-Baderne the great Which City is now dwindled to nothing Reader by the way I observe that Cities surnamed the Great come to Little at last as if God were offended with so ambitious an Epithete Sidon the Great Ninive the Great Babylon the Great it is fallen c. But the cause of the ruine of this City was for their cruel killing of their Bishop which provoked Divine Justice against them I hope the welsh warned herewith will for the future demean themselves with due respect to such persons and am confirmed in my confidence from their commendable Proverb Na difanco y Beriglawr vilifie not thy Parish-Priest and then much more ought the Bishop to be respected CARMARTHEN-SHIRE CARMARTHEN-SHIRE hath Pembroke shire on the Wâ—…st the Severn-Sea on the South Cardigan-shire on the North Brecknock and Glamorgan-shires on the East The mountains therein are neither so many nor high as in the neighbouring Counties affording plenty of Grass Grain Wood Fish and what not Besides nature here giveth the Inhabitants both meat and stomach the sharpness of the air breeding an appetite in them There is a place in this County called Golden-grove which I confess is no Ophir or Land of Havilah yielding Gold in specie but plentifully affording those rich Commodities which quickly may be converted thereunto and the pleasure is no less than the profit thereof It is the Possession of the right Honourable Richard Vaughan Baron of Emelor in England and Earl of Carbery in Ireland He well deserveth to be owner of Golden-grove who so often hath used a Golden hand in plentiful relieving many eminent Dâ—…vines during the late Sequestration This county affording no peculiar Commodities let us proceed to Wonders Giraldus Cambrensis reporteth a Fountain to be in this County let he himself
whom was learned Nenniuâ—… commonly called Nennius Elvodugi assuming his Masters name for his surname on which account some mistake him for his Father This Elvoduge flourished Anno 590. Since the Reformation MERIDITH HANMER D. D. was born in this County where a respective Family of his name and alliance flourish at Han-meer at this day was Treasurer of Trinity Church in Dublin He translated the Ecclesiasticall Histories of Eusebius Socrates Euagrius c. into English wrote an Ephemeris of the Irish Saints and a Chronicle of that Country He died at Dublin of the Plague Anno 1604. Benefactors to the Publick since the Reformation RICHARD CLOUGH was born at Denbigh in this County whence he went to be a Chorister in the City of Chester Some were so affected with his singing therein that they were loath he should lose himself in empty air Church-Musick beginning then to be discountenanced and perswaded yea procured his removal to London where he became an Apprentice to and afterwards Partner with Sir Thomas Gresham He lived some years at Antwerp and afterwards travelled as far as Jerusalem where he was made a Knight of the Sepulchre though not owning it after his return under Queen Elizabeth who disdained her Subjects should accept of such foraign Honour he afterwards by Gods blessing grew very rich and there want not those who will avouch that some thousands of pounds were disbursed by him for the building of the Burse or Royal Exchange Such maintain that it was agreed betwixt him and Sir Thomas Gresham that the survivor should be chief Heir to both on which account they say that the Knight carried away the main of the Estate How much the new Church in Denbigh was beholding to his bounty I am not as yet certainly inâ—…ormed This is true that he gave the Impropriation of Killken in Flint-shire worth an hundred pounds per annum to the Free Schoole in Denbigh and if the same at this day be aliened I question whether Repentance without Restitution will secure such who are the Causers thereof He died Anno Dom 15 Memorable Persons THOMAS ap William ap Thomas ap Richard ap Howel ap Evan Vaâ—…ghan c. Esquire was born of ancient and worshipful Parentage at Moston in this County This Gentleman being called at the Pannel of a Jury by the aforesaid names and many more was advised by the Judge in the reign of King Henry the eight for brevity sake to contract his name who thereupon denominated himself Moston from the place of his Nativity and ancient Inheritance This leading Case was precedential to the practice of other Gentry in Wales who leaving their Pedigrees at home carry one sirname only abroad with them whereby much time especially in Winter when the days are short is gained for other employment The Farewell I understand that superstitious pilgrimages do still continue of fond people in this County to the Well of St. Winifred and will only presume to mind them of a savoury Proverb of their own Nation Goreu Pererindod Cyrchu offeren Sull that is It is the best Pilgrimage to frequent the Divine Duties of the Sabboth A Pilgrimage it may well be called in Wales where some Parishes are so large people go ten miles to Church and whose pains are employed more acceptable to God than in longer peregrinations to less porpose GLAMORGAN-SHIRE GLAMORGAN-SHIRE hath the Severn Sea on tâ—…e South Carmarthen on the West Brecknock on the North Monmouth-shire severed by the River Remney falling from the Mountains which in the Britâ—…sh Tongue signifieth to drive on the East thereof The North of this County is so full of Mountains that almost nothing is to be had the South is so fruitful a Valley nothing at all is wanting therein Indeed it is the Garden of Wales and I am informed that at Saint Donats in this Shire an ancient house of the right Worshipful Family of the Stradlings groweth as good fruit and as soon ripe as in any part of England Mr. Cambden will have it so called though others affirm one Morgan a Prince thereof gave his name thereunto from Mor the British word for the Sea as agreeing 〈◊〉 its scituation Wonders Giraldus Cambrensis reports that in the Island Barrey termed so from Baruch an Holy man that was there buried three miles from the mouth of Taff there appeareth a chink in a Rock or Cliff to which if you lay your ear you may easily discover a noise not altogether unlike to Smiths at work one while blowing of the Bellows another while striking of the Hammer the grinding of Iron Tools the hissing of Steel Gads yea the puffing noise of Fire in a Furnace I must confess my self at a loss for the reason thereof for it cannot proceed from the close stealing in of the Sea water as some have supposed seeing the same noise continueth even at a low Ebb when the Sea is departed There is also at Newton on the bank of Ogmore west-ward a Well the water whereof is so low at the flowing of the Sea in Summer you can scarce get up a dish full of the same whereas at the ebb thereof you may easily recover a pail or bucket full Mr. Cambden doubting of the truth made his own eyes Witnesses herein finding it true according to the common relation adding withall that it is the same thoughnot so discernable by reason of the accession of much rain water in Winter Civilians Sir EDWARD CARNE is here placed with confidence because assured to be a Welsh-man and I find his Family flourishing at Wenny in this County He was bred I believe in Oxford Doctor of the Civil Law and was Knighted by Charles the fifth Emperor The first publick service he eminently appeared in was when King Henry the eight having intelligence of the Popes intention shortly to cite him to appear at Rome either in Person or Proxie dâ—…spatched him thither for his Excusator to remonstrate that his Grace was not bound by Law so to appear This he effectually performed pleading that the Emperor was so powerful at Rome that he could not expect Justice declaring that unless they desisted he must appeal thence to the able men in some indifferent Universities and if this were refused he protested a nullity in all that they did A behaviour which spake him of no less Valour than Ability Queen Mary highly prized him and no whit the less for his cordial appearing for King Henry in the matter of her Mothers Divorce imputing it to the discharge of his Câ—…edit and Calling in him who otherwise was a thorow paced Romanist and whom she employed her Embassador to the Pope After her death he still resided at Rome and by command from Queen Elizabeth repaired to Pope Paul the fourth to give him an account that his Mistress was called to the Crown of England To whom the Pope returned That England was a Fee of the Church of Rome and that she could not
prius  14 Nich. Moor ar   The Farewell I understand that in January 1607. part of this County which they call the Moore sustained a great loss by the breaking in of the Severn sea caused by a violent South-west wind continuing for three dayes together I heartily desire the Inhabitants thereof may for the future be secured from all such dangerous inundations water being a good servant but bad master by his Providence who bindeth the sea in a girdle of sands and saith to the waves thereof Thus far shall ye go and no further PEMBROKE-SHIRE is surrounded on all sides with the Sea save on the North-East where it boundeth on Cardigan and East where it butteth on Carmarthen-shire A County abounding with all things necessary for mans livelihood and the East part thereof is the pleasantest place in all VVales which I durst not have said for fear of offence had not Giraldus their own Country-man affirmed it Nor is it less happy in Sea than in Land affording plenty of Fish especially about Tenby therefore commonly called Tenby-y-Piscoid which I rather observe for the vicinity of the British piscoid with the Latine piscosus for fishfull though never any pretended an affinity between the two Languages A part of this Country is peopled by Flemmings placed there by King Henry the first who was no less politick than charitable therein For such Flemmings being driven out of their own Country by an irruption of the Ocean were fixed here to defend the land given them against the Welsh and their Country is called little England beyond Wales This mindeth me of a passage betwixt a Welsh and English man the former boasting Wales in all respects beyond England to whom the other returned he had heard of an England beyond Wales but never of a Wales beyond England Natural Commodities Faulcons Very good are bred in this County of that kind they call Peregrines which very name speaks them to be no Indeginae but Forraigners at first lighting here by some casualty King Henry the second passing hence into Ireland cast off a Norway Goshawk at one of these but the Gos-hawk taken at the source by the Faulcon soon fell down at the Kings foot which performance in this ramage made him yearly afterward send hither for Eyesses These Hawkes Aeries not so called from building in the Air but from the French word Aire an Egge are many in the Rocks in this Shire Buildings For a sacred structure the Cathedral of Saint David is most eminent began by Bishop Peter in the raign of King John and finished by his Successors though having never seen it I can say little thereof But in one respect the roof thereof is higher than any in England and as high as any in Europe if the ancient absolute independent jurisdiction thereof be considered thus stated by an Authentick Author Episcopi Walliae à Menevensi Antistite sunt consecrati ipse similiter ab aliis tanquam suffraganeis est consecratus nulla penitus alii Ecclesiae facta professione vel subjectione The generality of which words must be construed to have reference as well to Rome as to Canterbury Saint Davids acknowledging subjection to neither till the reign of King Henry the first Princes HENRY TUTHAR Son to Edmund Earl of Richmond and Margaret his Lady was born at Pembroke in this County Anno Dom. In the reign of King Henry the sixth he was bred a Child at Court when a young man he lived an Exile in France where he so learned to live of a little that he contracted a habit of frugality which he did not depose till the day of his death Having vanquished King Richard the third in the battel of Bosorsth and married Elizabeth eldest Daughter to King Edward the fourth he reigned King of England by the name of Henry the seventh He is generally esteemed the wisest of our English Kings and yet many conceive that the Lord Bacon writing his life made him much wiser than he was picking more prudence out of his actions than the King himself was privy to therein and not content to allow him politick endeavoured to make him policy it self Yet many thiâ—…k hâ—…s judgemenâ—… 〈◊〉 him when refusing the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Columbus for the discovery of America who might therein have made a secret advenâ—…e without any prejudice to the râ—…putation of his wisdom But such his waâ—…ss he would not tamper with costly Contâ—…s though never â—…o probable to be gainful nor would he hazard a hook of Silver to catch a fish of Gold He was the first King who secretly sought to abaâ—…e the formidable greatness the Parent of many former Rebellions in the English â—…earage lessening their Dependencies countenaâ—…cing the Commons and encouraging the Yeomandry with provisions against Depopulations However â—…ereby he did not free his Successors from fear but only exchanged their care making the Commons who because more numerous less manageble more absolute and able in time to conâ—…est with Soveraignty He survived his Queen by whom he had the true Title to the Crown about five years Some will say that all that time he was King only by the Courtesie of England which I am sure he was loth to acknowledge Others say he held the Crown by Conquest which his Subjects were as unwilling to confess But let none dispute how hâ—… hâ—…ld seeing he held it having Pope Parliament Power Purse Success and some shadow of Succession on his side His greatest fault was grinding his Subjects with grievous exactions he was most magnificent in those Structures he hath left to posterity Amongst wâ—…ich his â—…evotion to God is most seen in two Chappels the one at Cambridge the other at Westminster his charity to the poor in the Hospital of the Savoy his Magnificence to himself in his own Monument of guilded Copper and his vanity to the World in building a Ship called the Great Harry of equal cost saith some with his Chappel which asterwards sunk into the Sea and vanished away in a moment He much imployed Bishops in his service finding them honest and able And here I request the judicious and learned Reader to help me at a dead liâ—… being posed with this passage written in his life by the Lord Verulam He did use to raise Bishops by steps that he might not lose the profits of the First fruits which by that course of gradation was multiplied Now I humbly conceive that the First fruits in the common acception of the word were in that age paid to the Pope and would fain be informed what By-FirstFruits these were the emolument whereof accrued to the Crown This politick King at his Palace of Richmond April 22. 1509. ended his life and was buried in the Magnificent Chappel aforesaid On the same token that he ordered by his last Will and Testament that none save such of the Blood Royal who should descend from his Loyns should be buried in that place
Prison to which many are committed for their contempts more for their debts So called it is from a Brook running by as that of Tygris in Armenia from its former Fleetnesse though now it creepeth flow enough not so much for age as the injection of City excrements wherewith it is so obstructed The Proverb is appliable to those who never owed ought or else having run into debt have crept out of it so that now they may defie danger and arrests yea may triumphare in Hostico laugh in the Face of the Serjeants Surely the Threshold of the Fleet so used setteth a good edge on the Knife and a better on the Wearer thereof acting him with a Spirit free from all engagements All goeth down Gutter-lane There is a small Lane inhabited anciently by Gold-beaters leading out of Cheapside East of Foster-lane which Orthography presents to the Reader by the name of Guthurun-Lane from him the once Owner thereof But common people we must speak with the volge and think with the wise call it Guttur Lane pleading for their mispronouncing it that the narrow form thereof is like the Throat or Gullet and such a one would have pleased Apitius the Epicure who wished to himself Tricubitale Guttur The Proverb is appliable to those who spend all in Drunkennesse and Gluttony meer Belly-Gods whom the Philosopher called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I confesse the word both in sound and sense hath some affinity with that of St. Pauls of the Gretians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idle-bellyes save that our Gastrimargi are far worse so named from the meer madnesse and distraction of their appetite As Lame as St. Giles Criple-gate St. Giles was by â—…irth an Athenian of noble Extraction and great Estate but quitted all for a solitary Life He was visited with a Lamenesse whether natural or casual I know not but the Tradition goes that he desired not to be healed thereof for his greater mortification if so his Judgement differed from all the good Lame-men in the Gospel importunate for ease from their infirmity He is accompted the Patron of Criples and whereas Churches dedicated to other Saints of better Footmanship get the speed of him and come into the City generally Lame St. Giles laggeth behind in the Suburbs as in London Cambridge Salisbury c. Criplegate was so called before the Conquest from Criples begging of Passengers therein And indeed they may prescribe for their Custome ever since the Lame-man begged an Alms of â—…eter and Iohn at the beautiful Gate of the Temple This Proverb may seem guilty of false Herauldry Lamenesse on Lamenesse and in common Discourse is spoken rather merrily then mournfully of such who for some light hurt lagg behind and sometimes is applied to those who out of Lazinesse none so lame as they that will not go counterfeit Infirmity You are all for the Hoistings or Hustings It is spoken of those who by Pride or Passion are mounted or elated to a pitch above the due proportion of their Birth Quality or Estate such as are all in Altitudinibus so that Common persons know not how to behave themselves unto them It cometh from Hustings the Principal and highest Court in London as also in Winchester Lincolne York c. so called from the French word Haulser to raise or lift up The mention of the Hustings a Court so called mindeth me of another Court called the Court of Hall-mote and I am resolved to run the hazard of the Reader 's anger with this my Digression to rectifie a mistake in some and prevent it in others Sir Edward Coke Institut 4. part cap. 9. This is derived of Hall and Mote as much as to say the Hall Court id est Conventus Civium in Aulam Publicam Every Company in London having a Hall wherein they kept their Courts and this Court antiently called Hall-Mote or Folk-Mote With whom verbatim concurreth who would not willingly dissent from him in point of Common-Law the Learned Doctor Cowel in his Interpreter But let all take heed that they confound not this Court with another more Antient and more proper for the cognizance of the Pen of a Divine viz. Haly-Mote Court being a Court derived from Haly which is Holy and Mote a Meeting being an Assembly kept before the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs for the Regulation of the Company of the Bakers in London wherein the Staffe of Bread and therein the Life of the poor is so much concerned formerly kept on the Lords Day whence it took its Name before the Feast of St. Thomas But a Court of Common-Councell 〈◊〉 the 15th 1609. altered that Court until the Thursday before St. Thomas's Day as since by a later act of the same Councel it is Removed unto the Monday before the said Festival The Antient Title of this Court ranne as followeth Curia Sancti-Motus tenta in Guilhaldea Civitatis London coram Majore Vicecomitibus Civitatis London Die Dominico proximo ante Festum St. Thomae Apostoli ad horam sextam ante Meridiem ejusdem Diei secundum Consuetudinem Civitatis London Such who are Learned in the Lawes and are pleased to reflect on the Name of my Author and Worthy Friend on the Margin will not in the least Degree suspect the Truth hereof Before I come to enroll the List of the Worthies of this City I premise the words Londinas and Londinensis as some have curiously stated their Senses according to whose fancy 1. Londinas signifieth one born in London wheresoever he doth live 2. Londinensis  one living in  wheresoever he was born Could this be made a truth this distinction would be very serviceable to me in this work but it will not hold water finding on due enquiry that by the best Criticks both are used promiscuously for anâ—… either born or living in that City save that Londinas answering to the Question Cujas signifieth Persons alone whilst Londinensis importeth either Persons or Things relating to that City as Turris Londinensis Pons Londinensis c. Princes KATHERINE third Daughter of K. Henry the third and Q. Eleanor was born at London Anno Dom. 1252. November the 25th being St. Katherins day whose name was therefore given unto her at the Font by Boniface Archbishop of Canterbury her Uncle and Godfather She dyed in her very Infancy on whom we will presume to bestow this Epitaph Wak't from the wombe she on this world did peep Dislik tit clos'd her eyes fell fast asleep She lyeth interr'd at Westminster in the space betwixt the Chappels of King Edward and St. Bennet JOAN Eldest Daughter and third child of K. Edward the second and Q. Isabel was born in the Tower of London about the year 1316. She was afterward married to David the second K. of Scotland continuing his wife twenty eight yeares This was she as I conceive who was commonly called Joan Make-Peace and we know Blessed are the peace makers improving her power though sometimes
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 â—…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 â—…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