of such who secretly design their overthrow whom they openly embrace Hengsten down well ywrought Is worth London town dear ybought The truth hereof none can confirm or confute seeing under-ground-wealth is a Nemo scit and vast may the treasure be of Tinne in this Down Sure I am that the gainfull plenty of metall formerly afforded in this place is now fallen to a scantsaving-scarcity But to make the Proverbe true it is possible that the Cornish Diamonds found therein may be pure and orient as better concocted in the bowells thereof For though crafty not to say dishonest Chapmen put the best grain in the top and worst in the bottome of their sack such is the integrity of nature that the coursest in this kind are higher and the purest still the lowest Tru-ru Triveth eu Ombdina geveth try-ru Which is to say Trâ—…u consisteth of three streets and it shall in time be said Here Truru stood I trust the men of this town are too wise to give credit to such predictions which may justly prove true to the superstitious believers thereof Let them serve God and defie the Devil with all his Pseudo-prophesies Like to this is another fond observation presaging some sad success to this Town because ru ru which in English is Woe Woe is twice in the Cornish name thereof But let the men of Truru but practice the first syllable in the name of their town and they may be safe and secure from any danger in the second He doth sail into Cornwall without a Bark This is an Italian Proverb where it passeth for a description or derision rather of such a Man who is wronged by his Wises disloyalty I wonder the Italians should take such pains to travail so far to fetch this expression having both the Name and Matter nearer home Name Having the field Cornetus Campus in agro falisco called Corneto at this day And a people called Corni in Latium with the Cornicti montes near Tiber not to speak of its two Promontories tearmed by good Authors Cornua duo Italiae the two Horns of Italy Matter Keeping their wives under restraint as generally full of Jealousie which if just I much bemoan the Gaolers if not I more pity their Prisoners Whereas in our Cornwall the Wives liberty is the due reward of their Chastity and the Cause of their husbands comfortable confidence therein He is to be summoned before the Mayor of Halgaver This is a joculary and imaginary Court wherewith men make merriment to themselves presenting such Persons as go Slovenly in their Attire untrussed wanting a spur c. Where judgement in formal terms is given against them and executed more to the scorn then hurt of the persons But enough hereof least I be summoned thither my self When Dudman and Ramehead meet These are two forelands well known to Sailers well nigh twenty miles asunder and the Proverbe passeth for the Periphrasis of an impossibility However these two Points have since met together though not in position in possession of the same owner Sir Pierce Edgecombe enjoying one in his own the other in right of his wife Saints SAINT KIBY was son to Solomon Duke of Cornwall whom severall inducements moved to travail First because A Prophet hath the least Honour in his own Country Secondly because Britain at that time was infected with Arianisme Thirdly because he had read so much of the works and heard more of the worth of Saint Hilary Bishop of Poicteers in France This main motive made him address himself to that worthy Father with whom he lived fifty years and afterwards saith learned Leyland was by him made Bishop of the Isle of Anglesey Pardon me Reader if suspending my belief herein seeing surely that holy and humble French Saint would not pretend to any Metropoliticall power in appointing a Bishop in Britain More probable it is that Saint Hilary made him a Bishop at large sine titulo whereof there are some precedents in Antiquity However into Wales he went and there converted the Northern parts thereof to and confirmed the rest in Christianity A Three-fold memoriall is in the Isle of Anglesey extant at this day One of his Master in Point Hilary another of himself in Caer-Guiby and a third of both in Holyhead He florished about the year of our Lord 380. URSULA daughter to Dinoth Duke of Cornwall was born in this County This is she who se life is loaden with such Anticronismes and Improbabilities that it is questionable whether this fable was ever founded in a truth or hath any thing in History for its Original This Ursula is said to have carried over out of Britain eleven thousand Maids of prime quality besides threescore thousand of meaner rank seventy one thousand in all a prodigious number to be married to so many in little Britain in France Preposterous in my mind to proffer themselves and it had argued more modesty if their Husbands had fetcht them hence But blame them not who paid so dear for their Adventures All shipp'd from London some of them were drowned in their Passage the rest slain by the Hunnes of Colen say some at Rome say others by King Attila under Gratian the Emperour Mendacium Aequabile observing equall Temper of untruth in time place and person However there is a Church at Colen dedicated to their Memories where the Virgin Earth let the reporter have the Whetstone will digest no other body no not the Corps of an Infant newly Baptised as good a Maid I believe as the best of them but will vomit it up in the night time again as if they had never been buried This Massacre is reported to have happened in the year of our Lord 383. SAINT MELIORUS was onely son of Melianus Duke of this County who being secretly made a Christian was so maliced by Rinaldus his Pagan-brother-in-law that he first cut off his right-hand and then his left-legg no reason of this transposed method of cruelty save cruelty and at last his head about the year 411. whose body being buried in some old Church in this County by the miracles reported to be done thereat procured the reputation of a Saint to his memory Prelates WILLIAM de GREN-VIL was born of a worshipfull family in this County and became Canon of York Dean of Chichester Chancellour of England under K. Edward the first and Arch-bishop of York But the worst was two years his Confirmation was deferred untill he had paid nine thousand fiveh undred marks Let him thank the Pope who gave him the odd five hundred not mounting it to even ten thousand Besides he had this favour not as many others to be consecrated by a Proxy but the very hands of P. Clement the fifth This paiment reduced him to such poverty he was relieved by the Clergy of his Province by way of Benevolence This not doing the deed to make him a Saver he was fain to crave another help
the vomit of Popery which my charity will not believe Indeed in the first of Queen Mary he was outed of his Bishoprick for being married and all that we can recover of his carriage aâ—…terwards is this passage at the examination of Master Thomas Hauke Martyr When John Bird then very old brought Boner a bottle of Wine and a dish of Apples probably a present unto him for a Ne noceat and therefore not enough to speak him a Papist in his perswasion Bishop Boner desired him to take Haukes into his Chamber and to try if he could convert him whereupon after Boners departure out of the room the quondam Bishop accosted Haukes as followeth I would to God I could do you some good you are a young man and I would not wish you to go to far but learn of the elders to bear somewhat He enforced him no further but being a thorough old man even fell fast asleep All this in my computation amounts but to a passive compliance and is not evidence enough to make him a thorough paced Papist the rather because John Pitts omitteth him in the Catalogue of English-writers which no doubt he would not have done had he any assurance that he had been a radicated Romanist Nothing else have I to observe of him but onely that he was a little man and had a pearl in his eyes and dying 1556. was buried in Chester States men Sir NICHOLAS THROCKMORTON Knight fourth Son of Sir George Throckmorton of Coughton in this County was bred beyond the Seas where he attained to great experience Under Queen Mary he was in Guild-Hall arraigned for Treason compliance with Wyat and by his own warie pleading and the Jurie's upright verdict hardly escaped Queen Elizabeth employed him Her Leiger a long time first in France then in Scotland finding him a most able Minister of State yet got he no great wealth and no wonder being ever of the opposite party to Burleigh Lord Treasurer Chamberlain of the Exchequer and Chief Butler of England were his highest preferments I say Chief Butler which office like an empty covered cup pretendeth to some state but affordeth no considerable profit He died at supper with eating of salates not without suspicion of poison the rather because hapning in the house of one no mean artist in that faculty R. Earl of Leicester His death as it was sudden was seasonable for him and his whose active others will call it turbulent spirit had brought him into such trouble as might have cost him at least the loss of his personal estate He died in the fifty seventh year of his age February the 12. 1570. and lyeth buryed in the South-side of the Chancel of St. Katharine Cree-Church London EDWARD CONWAY Knight Son to Sir John Conway Knight Lord and Owner of Ragleigh in this County This Sir John being a Person of Great skill in Military affaires was made by Robert Earl of Leicester Generall of the English Auxiliaries in the united Provinces Governour of Ostend His Son Sir Edward succeeded to his Fathers Martial skill and valour and twisted therewith peaceable policy in State-affaires so that the Gown and the Sword met in him in most Eminent Proportion and thereupon King James made Him one of the Principal Secretaries of State For these his good services he was by him created Lord Conway of Ragleigh in this County and afterwards by King Charles Viscount Killultagh in the County of Antrim And lastly in the third of King Charles Viscount Conway of Conway in Carnarvanshire England Ireland and Wales mutually embracing themselves in His Honours He dyed January the third Anno 1630. JOHN DIGBY Baron of Sherborn and Earl of Bristol was born in this County a younger Son of an ancient family long flourishâ—…ng at Coleshull therein To pass by his Infancy all Children being alike in their long Coats his Youth gave pregnant hopes of that Eminency which his mature age did produce He didken the Emhassador-Craft as well as any in his age employed by King James in several services to frreign Princes recited in his Patent which I have perused as the main motives of the Honors conferr'd upon him But his managing the Matchless Match with Spain was his Master-piece wherein a Good I mean a Great number of State-Traverses were used on both sides His contest with the Duke of Buckingham is fresh in many mens Memories charges of High Treason mutually flying about But this Lord fearing the Dukes Power as the Duke this Lorâ—…s policy it at last became a Drawn Battail betwixt them yet so that this Earl lost the love of King Charles living many years in his Dis-favour But such as are in a Court-Cloud have commonly the Countries Sun-shine and this Peer during his Eclyps was very Popular with most of the Nation It is seldom seen that a favorite once Broken at Court sets up again for himself the hap rather then happiness of this Lord the King graciously reflecting on him at the beginning of the Long-Parliament as one Best able to give him the safest Counsell in those dangerous Times But how he incensed the Parliament so far as to be excepted Pardon I neither do know nor dare enquire Sure I am after the surrender of Exeter he went over into France where he met with that due respect in forraign which he missed in his Native Country The worst I wish such who causelesly suspect him of Popish inclinations is that I may hear from them but half so many strong Arguments for the Protestant Religion as I have heard from him who was to his commendation a Cordial Champion for the Church of England He dyed in France about the year 1650. Writers WALTER of COVENTRIE was born and bred a Benedictine therein Bale saith he was Immortali vir dignus Memoria and much commended by Leland though not of set purpose but sparsim as occasion is offered He excelled in the two Essential Qualities of an Historian Faith and Method writing truly and orderly onely guilty of Coursness of style This may better be dispenced with in him because Historia est res veritatis non Eloquentiae because bad Latin was a catching disease in that age From the beginning of the Britons he wrote a Chronicle extant in Bennet Colledge Library to his own time He flourished Anno 1217. VINCENT of COVENTRIE was born in the chief City in this shire and bred a Franciscan though Learned Leland mistakes him a Carmelite in the University of Cambridg His order at their first entrance into England looked upon learning as a thing beneath them so totally were they taken up with their Devotion This Vincent was the first who brake the Ice and then others of his order drank of the same water first applyed himself to Academicall studies and became a publick Professor in Cambridge he set a Coppy for the Carmelites therein to imitate who not long after began their publick Lectures in the same place he
the most marvellous It groweth ordinarily fifteen foot in length yea I read of one four and twenty foot long which may be true because as there are Giants amongst men so there are Giants amongst Giants which even exceed them in proportion The place whereon it groweth is low lying some Winters under water having hills round about it and a spacious sheep common adjoyning The soyl whereof by every hasty showre is brought down into this little medow which makes it so incredibly fruitfull This Grasse being built so many stories high from knot to knot lyeth matted on the ground whence it is cut up with sickles and bound into sheaves It is both Hay and Provender the joint-like knots whereof will fat swine Some conceive that the seed thereof transplanted would prosper plentifully though not to the same degree of Length in other places from whose judgement other husband-men dissent conceiving it so peculiar to this place that Ground and Grass must be removed both together Or else it mrst be set in a Parellel'd position for all the particuler advantages aforesaid which England will hardly afford So that nature may seem mutually to have made this Plant and this Place one for another Proverbs It is done secundum usum Sarum This Proverb coming out of the Church hath since inlarged it self into a civil use It began on this occasion Many Offices or forms of service were used in severall Churches in England as the Office of York Hereford Bangor c. which caused a deal of Confusion in Gods Worship untill Osmond Bishop of Sarum about the year of our Lord 1090. made that Ordinall or Office which was generally received all over England so that Churches thence forward easily understood one another all speaking the same words in their Liturgy It is now applyed to those persons which do and Actions which are formally and solemnly done in so Regular a way by Authentick Precedents and Paterns of unquestionable Authority that no just exception can be taken thereat Princes MARGARET PLANTAGENET Daughter to George Duke of Clarence and Isabel Nevile Eldest Daughter and Co-heir of Richard Nevile Earl of Warwick was born August 14. 1473. at Farrley-Castle in this County Reader I pray thee let her pass for a Princesse because Daughter to a Duke Neece to two Kings Edward the fourth and Richard the third Mother to Cardinal Reginale Poole But chiefly because she was the last liver of all that Royall Race which from their birth wore the names of Plantagenets By Sir Richard Poole a Knight of Wales and Cozen-Jerman to King Henry the seventh she had divers children whereof Henry Lord Mountague was the eldest he was Accused of Treason and this Lady his Mother Charged to be Privy thereunto by King Henry the eighth who as his father was something too slow was somewhat too quick in discovering Treasons as soon as if not before they were On the Scaffold as she stood she would not gratify the Executioner with a Prostrate Posture of her body Some beheld this her action as an argument of an erected soul disdaining pulingly to submit to an infamous death showing her mind free though her body might be forc'd and that also it was a demonstration of her innocence But others condemn'd it as a needless and unseasonable animosity in her who though suppos'd innocent before man for this fact must grant her self guilty before God whose Justice was the supreme Judge condemning her Besides it was indiscreet to contend where it was impossible to prevail there being no guard against the edge of such an axe but patience and it is ill for a soul to goe recking with anger out of this world Here happened an unequall contest betwixt Weakness and Strength Age and Youth Nakedness and Weapons Nobility and Baseness a Princess and an Executioner who at last draging her by the hair gray with age may truly be said to have took off her head seeing she would neither give it him nor forgive him the doing thereof Thus dyed this Lady Margaret Heir to the name and stout nature of Margaret Dutchess of Burgundy her Aunt and God-mother whose spirits were better proportioned to her Extraction then Estate for though by special Patent she was created Countess of Sarisbury she was restored but to a small part of the inheritance she was born unto She suffered in 23. year of the raign of K. Henry the eighth JANE SEYMORE Daughter to Sir John Seymoure Knight honourably descended from the Lords Beauchamps was as by all concurring probabilities is collected born at Wulfall in this County and after was married to King Henry the eight It is currantly traditioned that at her first coming to Court Queen Anne Bollen espying a Jewell pendant about her neck snatched thereat desirous to see the other unwilling to show it and causually hurt her hand with her own violence but it greived her heart more when she perceived it the Kings Picture by himself bestowed upon her who from this day forward dated her own declining and the others ascending in her husbands affection It appeareth plainly by a passage in the Act of Parliament that the King was not onely invited to his marriage by his own affections but by the Humble Petition and intercession of most of the Nobles of his Realme moved thereunto as well by the conveniency of her years as in respect that by her Excellent Beauty and Pureness of Flesh and Bloud I speak the very words of the Act it self she was apt God willing to Conceive Issue And so it proved accordingly This Queen dyed some days after the birth of Prince Edward her son on whom this Epitaph Phoenix Jana jacet nato Phoenice dolendum Saecula Phoenices nulla tulisse duas Soon as her Phoenix Bud was blown Root-Phoenix Jane did wither Sad that no age a brace had shown Of Phoenixes together Of all the Wives of King Henry she only had the happiness to dye in his full favour the 14. of Octob. 1337. and is buried in the quire of Windsor Chappel the King continuing in real mourning for her even all the Festival of Christmas Saints ADELME Son to Kenred Nephew to Ina King of the West-Saxons was bred in Forraign parts and returning home was Abbot of Malmesbury Thirty years a Person Memorable on severall Accounts 1. He was the first Englishman who ever wrote in Latine 2. He was the first that ever brought Poetry into England 3. The first Bishop of the See of Sherburn Bede giveth him a large commendation for his Learning the rather because he wrot a book for the reducing the Britons to observe Easter according to the Church of Rome Impudent Monkes have much abused his Memory with Shameless lyes and amongst the rest with a Wooden Miracle that a Carpenter having cut a Beam for his Church too short he by his Prayers stretched it out to the full proportion To this I may add another lye as clear as the Sun it self on whose
Professors in Oxford wherein he founded two allowing a liberall salary unto them THOMAS TAYLOR was born at Richmond in this County where his father a bountifull entertainer of people in distress was Recorder of the Town He was afterwards bred in Christs-colledge in Cambridge and chose a Fellow thereof This Timothy grave when green entred very young but not raw into the Ministry at 21. years of age and continued in the same at Reading and London for the space of thirty five years His Sermons were generally well studied and he was wont to say That oftimes he satisfied himself the least when he best pleased his people not taking such pains in his preaching His flock was firmly founded and well bottomed on Catechistacall Divinity It being observed that his Auditors stuck close to their principles in this Age wherein so many have reeled into damnable Errors He was a great giver of Alms but without a Trumpet and most strict in his Conversation Zeal for the House of God may be said in some sort to have Consumed him Dying in the fifty six year of his age Anno Domini 1632. comfortably avowing at his death that we serve such a Master Who covereth many imperfâ—…ctions and giveth much wages for a little work NATHANIELL SHUTE was born at Gigleswick in this County Christopher Shute his father being the painfull Vicar thereof He was bred in Christs-colledge in Cambridge A most excellent schollar and solid preacher Though nothing of his is extant in Print save a Sermon call'd Carona Charitatis preached at the funerall of Master Fâ—…shbourn But the goodness of the Land of Canaan may as well be guessed from one great bunch of grapes as if the spies had brought whole vineyards along with them Indeed he was a profouâ—…d and profitable preacher for many years together at St. Mildred Poultrey in London One in the University being demanded his judgement of an excellent sermon in Saint Maries returned that It was an uncomfortable sermon leaving no hope of imitation for such as should succeed him In this sense alone I must allow Master Nathaniel Shute an uncomfortable preacher though otherwise a true Barnabas and Son of consolation possessing such as shall follow him in time with a dispair to equall him in eminency He died Anno Domini 1638. when our English skâ—…e was clouded all over and set to rain but before any drops of war fell down amongst us Doctor Holdesworth most excellently preached his Funerall Sermon taking for his text We have this our treasure in earthly vessels JOSIAH SHUTE brother to Nathaniel aforesaid was bred in Trinity colledge in Cambridge and became afterwards Minister of Saint Mary Woolnoâ—…h in London and was Reader I doe say and will maintain it the most Pretious Jewell that was ever shewn or seen in Lumbardstreet All Ministers are Gods Husband mâ—…n but some of them can onely plough in soft ground whose Shares and Coultures will turn Edge in a hard point of Divinity No ground came amiss to Master Shute whether his Text did lead him to controversiall or positive Divinity having a strain without straining for it of native Eloquence he spake that which others studied for He was for many years and that most justly highly esteem'd of his Parish till the beginning of our late Civil Warrs somâ—… began to neglect him distasting wholesome meat well dressed by him merely because their mouths were out of tast by that generall distemper which in his time was but an Ague afterwards turn'd to a feaver and since is turn'd to a Frensy in our Nation I insist hereon the rather for the comfort of such godly Ministers who now suffer in the same nature wherein Mr. Shute did before indeed no servant of God can simply and directly comfort himself in the sufferings of others as which hath something of envy therein yet may he do it consequentially in this respect because thereby he apprehends his own condition herein consistent with Gods love and his own salvation seeing other precious Saints tast with him of the same affliction as many godly Ministers doe now a days whose sickles are now hung up as useless and neglected though before these Civil Warrs they reaped the most in Gods harvest Master Shute dyed Anno Domini 1640. and was buried with great solemnity in his own Church Master Udall preaching his Funerall Sermon since his death his excellent Sermons are set forth on some part of Genesis and pity it is there is no more extant of his worthy indeavours It must not be forgotten how retiring a little before his death into the Country some of his Parishioners came to visit him whom he chearfully entertained with this expression I have taught you my dear flock for above thirty years how to live and now I will shew you in a very short time how to dye He was as good as his word herein for within an Hour he in the presence of some of them was peaceably dissolved Be it also known that besides these two brothers Nathaniel and Josiah fixed in the City of London there were three more bred and brought up in the Ministry viz. Robert preacher at Lyn Thomas Minister for a good time in Chester and Timothy lately if not still alive a preacher in Exeter All great though not equall Lights are set up in fair Candlesticks I mean places of eminency and conveniently distanced one from another for the better dispersing of their Light and good Housewives tell me Old Candles are the best for spending Happy their Father who had his Quiver full with five such Sons he need not be ashamed to see his Enemies in the Gate It is hard to say whether he was more happy in his sons or they in so good a Father and a wary man will crave time to decide the doubt untill the like instance doth return in England GEORGE SANDYS youngest son of Edwin Sandys Arch-bishop of York was born at Bishops-Thorp in this County he proved a most accomplished gentleman and an observant Travailer who went as far as the Sepulchre at Jerusalem and hath spared other mens pains in going thither by bringing the Holy Land home to them so lively is his description thereof with his passage thither and return thence He most elegantly translated Ovid his Metamorphosis into English verse so that as the soul of Aristotle was said to have transmigrated into Thomas Aquinas because rendring his sence so naturally Ovid's genius may seem to have passed into Master Sandys He was a servant but no slave to his subject well knowing that a Translatour is a person in free Custody Custody being bound to give the true sense of the Author he translated Free left at liberty to cloath it in his own expression Nor can that in any degree be applyed to Master Sandys which one rather bitterly then falsly chargeth on an Author whose name I leave to the Readers conjecture We know thou dost well as a Translatour But where things require a genius
years together assistant to the English Arch Priest demeaning himself commendably therein he wrote many books and one whose title made me the more to mind it Vitam Martyrium D. Margaretae Clithoroae Now whether this D. be for Domina or Diva for Lady or Saint or both I know not I take her for some Gentlewoman in the North which for some practises in the maintenance of her own Religion was obnoxious to and felt the severity of our Laws This Mush was living in these parts Anno 1612. Benefactors to the Publick THOMAS SCOT was born at Roâ—…heram no obscure market in this County waving his paternall name he took that of Roâ—…heram from the place of his Nativity This I observe the rather because he was according to my exactest enquiry the last Clergy-man of note with such an assumed Surname which Custome began now to grow out of fashion and Clergy-men like other men to be called by the name of their fathers He was first Fellow of Kings-colledge afterwards Master of Pembroke-hall in Cambridge and Chancellour of that University here he built on his proper cost saving something help'd by the Scholars the fair gate of the School with fair walks on each side and a Library on the East thereof Many have mistaken this for the performance of King Richard the third meerly because his Crest the Boar is set up therein Whereas the truth is that Rotheram having felt the sharp Tuskes of that Boar when imprisoned by the aforesaid King for resigning the Great Seal of England to Queen Elizabeth the relict of King Edward the fourth advanced his Armes thereon meerly to engratiate himself He went thorough many Church preferments being successively Provost of Beverly Bishop of Rochester Lincoln and lastly Arch-bishop of York nor less was was his share in Civil honour first Keeper of the Privy Seal and last Lord Chancellour of England Many were his Benefactions to the Publique of which none more remarkable then his founding five Fellowships in Lincoln colledge in Oxford He deceased in the 76. year of his age at Cawood of the plague Anno Domini 1500. JOHN ALCOCKE was born at Beverly in this County where he built a Chappell and founded a Chantry for his parents He was bred a Doctor of Divinity in Cambridge and at last became Bishop of Ely his prudence appeared in that he was preferred Lord Chancellour of England by King Henry the seventh a Prince of an excellent palate to tast mens Abilities and a Dunce was no dish for his diet His piety is praised by the pen of J. Bale which though generally bitter drops nothing but honey on Alcocks Memory commending him for a most mortified man Given to Learning and Piety from his Child-hood growing from grace to grace so that in his age none in England was higher for holiness He turned the old Nunnery of Saint Radigund into a new Colledge called Jesus in Cambridge surely had Malcolm King of Scots first founder of that Nunnery survived to see this alteration it would have rejoyced his heart to behold Leudness and Laziness turned out for Industry and Piety to be put in their place This Alcock died October 1. 1500. And had Saintship gone as much by merit as favour he deserved one as well as his name-sake Saint John his predecessor in that See Since the Reformation The extent of this large Province and the distance of my Habitation from it have disabled me to express my desires suitable to the merit thereof in this Topick of Modern Benefactors which I must leave to the Topographers thereof hereafter to uspply my defaults with their diligence But let me forget my self when I doe not remember the worthy charitable Master ....... Harrison inhabitant of the Populous Town of Leeds so famous for the Cloath made therein Methinks I hear that great Town accosting him in the Language of the Children of the Prophets to Elisha Behold now the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us The Church could scarce hold half the inhabitants till this worthy gentleman provided them another So that now the men of Leeds may say with Isaack Rehoboth God hath made room for us He accepted of no assistance in the building of that fair Fabrick but what he fully paid for so that he may be owned the sole Founder thereof But all his Charity could not secure him from sequestration in our Troublesome Times All I will adde is this as he hath built a House for God may God in Scripture Phrase build a House for him I mean make him fruitfull and fortunate in his posterity Memorable Persons PAULINUS DE LEEDS born in this County where there be three Towns of that name in one Wapentake It is uncertain in which of these he was born and the matter is of no great concernment One so free from Simony and far from buying a Bishoprick that when a Bishoprick bought him he refused to accept it For when King Henry the second chose him Bishop of Carlisle and promised to increase the Revenue of that Church with three hundred mark yearly rent besides the grant of two Church livings and two Mannors near to Carlisle on the condition that this Paulinus would accept the place all this would not work him to imbrace so wealthy an offer The reasons of his refusall are rendred by no Author but must be presumed very weighty to overpoise such rich proffers on which account let none envy his name a Room in this my Catalogue He flourished about the year of our Lord 1186. WILLIAM DE LA POLE born at Ravensrode in this County was for wealth and skill in Merchandize inferiour to none in England he made his abode at Kingston upon Hull and was the first Mayor of that Town When K. Edward the third was at Antwâ—…rp and much necessitated for money no shame for a Prince always in War to be sometimes in want this William lent him many thousand pounds of gold In recompence whereof the King made him his Valect equivalent to what afterward was called Gentleman of the Bed-chamber and Lord Chief-Baron of his Exchequer with many other honours Amongst which this was one that he should be reputed a Banneret not that he was really made one seeing the flourishing of a Banner over his head in the field before or after a fight was a ceremony essentiall thereunto but he had the same precedency conferred upon him I find not the exact date of his death but conjecture it to be about the year 1350. Lord Mayor Name Father Place Company Time 1 William Eastfield William Eastfield Tickell Mercer 1429 2 John Ward Richard Ward Howdon Grocer 1484 3 William White William White Tickhill Draper 1489 4 John Rudstone Robert Rudstone Hatton Draper 1528 5 Ralph Dodmer Henry Dodmer Pickering leigh Mercer 1529 6 William Roch John Roch Wixley Draper 1540 7 Richard Dobbes Robert Dobbes Baitby Skinner 1551 8 William Hewet Edmund Hewet Wales
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-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
all earnestnesse which will add so much to their account Some will say if the English be so forward in deeds of Charity as appeareth by what you said before any exhortation thereunto is altogether supersâ—…uous I answer the best disposed to Bounty may need a Remembrancer and I am sure that Nightingale which would wake will not be angry with the Thorn which pricketh her Breast when she noddeth Besides it is a Truth what the Poet saith Qui monet ut facias quod jam facis ipse monendo Laudat hortatu comprobat acta suo Who what thou dost thee for to do doth move Doth praise thy Practice and thy Deeds approve Thus the exhortations of the Apostles at Jerusalem were commendations of St. Paul Only they would that we should remember the poor the same which I also was forward to do Lastly though many of our Nation be free in this kind there want not those who instead of being Zealous are Jealous of good works being so far from shining themselves that they enviously endevour to extinguish the light of others whose Judgements I have laboured to rectifie herein The Stating of the Word REFORMATION with the Extensiveness thereof No word occurs oftner in this our Book then REFORMATION It is as it were the Aequator or that remarkable Line dividing betwixt Eminent Prelates Leaed Writers and Benefactors to the Publick who lived Before or After It. Know then that this Word in Relation to the Church of England is of above twenty years extent For the Reformation was not advanced here as in some Forraign Free-States suddenly not to say rapidly with popular Violence but Leisurely and treatably as became a matter of so great importance besides the meeting with much opposition retarded the proceedings of the Reformers We may observe that the Jews returned from the Captivity of Babylon at three distinct times under the Conduct of several persons 1. When the main Body of the Captives was brought home by Zorobabel by whom the second Temple was built 2. When a considerable Company returned with Ezra by whom the Church part as I may tearm it was setled in that Nation 3. When Nehemiah no doubt with suitable attendance came home and ordered the State moiety repairing the VValls of Jerusalem In like manner we may take notice of three distinct Dates and different degrees of our English Reformation though in relation to the Jewish I confess the method was altogether inverted For 1. The Civil part thereof when the Popes Supremacy was banished in the Reign of King Henry the Eight 2. VVhen the Church Service was reformed as far as that Age would admit in the first year of King Edward the Sixth 3. VVhen the same after the Marian interruption was resumed and more refined in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth The first of these I may call the morning Star The second the dawning of the day The third the Rising of the Sun and I deny not but that since that time his light and heat hath been increased But now the Question will be what is to be thought of those Prelates Writers and Benefactors which lived in the aforesaid Interval betwixt the Beginning and Perfecting of this Reformation For these appear unto us like unto the Batable ground lying betwixt England and Scotland whilest as yet two distinct Kingdomes in so dubious a posture it is hard to say to which side they do belong It is Answered the only way to decide this difference is to observe the Inclinations of the said persons so far forth as they are discovered in their Writings and actions such as appear in some good degree favourers of the Gospel are reputed to be since whilest those who are otherwise are adjudged to be Before the Reformation CHAP. XII Of Memorable Persons THe former Heads were like private Houses in which persons accordingly Qualified have their several habitations But this last Topick is like a publick Inn admitting all Comers and Goers having any extraordinary not vitious Remark upon them and which are not clearly reducible to any of the former Titles Such therefore who are over under or beside the Standard of Common persons for strength stature fruitfulnesse Vivacity or any other observeable eminence are lodged here under the Notion of Memorable Persons presuming the pains will not be to Me so much in marking as the pleasure to the Reader in knowing them Under this Title we also repose all such Mechanicks who in any Manual Trade have reached a clear Note above others in their Vocation Objection It is Deforme Spectaculum an uncouth Sight to behold such handy-crafts-men blended with Eminencies in ingenious professions such a mottley colour is no good wearing How would William Cecill Lord Treasurer of England and Baron of Burghleigh be offended to behold James York the Blacksmith set with him at the same Table amongst the Natives of Lincolne-shire Answer I am confident on the contrary that he would be highly pleased being so great a Statesman that he would countenance and encourage his Industrious Country man accounting nothing little without the help whereof greater matters can either not be attained or not long subsist Yea we see what signal notice the Spirit of God takes of the three Sons of Lamech the first Founders of Tent-making Organs and Iron-works and it is observable that whereas all their names are forgotten which built the Tower of Babel though done on design to get them a name these three Mechanicks viz. Jabal Jubal and Tubal Cain are nominatim recorded to all posterity Thus is it better to bottome the perpetuity of ones memory on honest Industry and ingenuous diligence then on Stately Structures and expensive magnificence I confesse it is easier to add to any art than first to invent it yet because there is a perfection of degrees as well as Kinds Eminent Improvers of an art may be allowed for the Co-inventers thereof being Founders of that accession which they add thereunto for which they deserve to be both regarded and rewarded I could name a worshipful Family in the South of England which for 16. several descents and some hundreds of years have continued in the same stay of Estate not acquiring one foot of Land either by match purchase gift or otherwise to their ancient Patrimony The same may be said of some handycrafts wherein men move in the same compasse but make no further progresse to perfection or any considerable improvement and this I impute generally to their want of competent encouragement CHAP. XIII Of Lord Maiors of LONDON I Have concluded this Work with these Chief Officers in that great City A place of so great Honour and Trust that it hath commonly been said that on the death of an English King The Lord Maior is the Subject of the greatest Authority in England Many other Offices determining with the Kings Life till such time as their Charters be renewed by his Successor whereas the Lord Maiors Trust continueth for a
in this Land flying hither for succour from their Civil Wars and surely it was against their mind if they all went back again Distress at Sea hath driven others in as the Stewards High-sheriffs in Cambridgeshire As other accidents have occasioned the coming in of the Scrimpshires an hundred years since High sheriffs in Staffordshire more lately the Nappers in Bedfordshire and before both the Scots of Scots-hall in Kent I much admire that never an eminent Irish native grew in England to any greatness so many English having prospered in that Country But it seems we love to live there where we may Command and they care not to come where they must Obey Our great distance from Italy always in Position and since the Reformation in Religion hath caused that few or none of that Nation have so incorporated with the English as to have found Families therein Yet have we a sprinkling of Italian Protestants Castilian a valiant Gentleman of Berkshire The Bassanoes excellent Painters and Musicians in Essex which came over into England under King Henry the eight and since in the raign of Queen Elizabeth Sir Horatio Palavicine Receiver of the Popes Revenues landed in Cambridgeshire and the Caesars aliàs Dalmarii still flourishing in Hartfordshire in Worshipful Estates though I never find any of these performing the office of Sheriff The High-Dutch of the Hans Towns antiently much conversed in our Land known by the name of Easterlings invited hither by the large priviledges our Kings conferred upon them so that the Steel-yard proved the Gold-yard unto them But these Merchants moved round in their own Sphere matching amongst themselves without mingling with our Nation Onely we may presume that the Easterlings corruptly called Stradlings formerly Sheriffs in Wiltshire and still famous in Glamorganshire with the Westphalings lately Sheriffs of Oxfordshire were originally of German Extraction The Low Country-men frighted by Duke D'Alvas Tyranny flocked hither under King Edward the sixth fixing themselves in London Norwich Canterbury and Sandwich But these confined themselves to their own Church discipline and for ought I can find advanced not forward by eminent Matches into our Nation Yet I behold the worthy Family of De la Fountain in Lecestershire as of Belgian Original and have read how the ancestours of Sir Simon D'us in Suffolk came hither under King Henry the eight from the Dunasti or D'us in Gelderland As for the Spaniards though their King Philip matched with our Queen Mary but few of any eminence now extant if I well remember derive their Pedigrees from them This I impute to the shortness of their Reign and the ensuing change of Religions Probable it is we might have had more Natives of that Kingdome to have setled and flourished in our Nation had he obtained a marriage with Queen Elizabeth of Blessed Memory which some relate he much endeavoured As for Portugal few of that Nation have as yet fixed their habitations and advanced Families to any visible height in our Land But it may please God hereafter we may have a happy occasion to invite some of that Nation to reside and raise Families in England Mean time the May's who have been Sheriffs in Sussex are all whom I can call to mind of the Portugal Race and they not without a Mixture of Jewish Extraction Come we now to the second Division of our Gentry according to the Professions whereby they have been advanced And here to prevent unjust misprision be it premised that such professions Found most of them gentlemen being the though perchance Younger Sons of wealthy Fathers able to give them liberal education They were lighted before as to their Gentility but now set up in a higher Candlestick by such professions which made a visible and conspicuous accession of Wealth and Dignity almost to the ecclipsing their former condition Thus all behold Isis increased in name and water after its conjunction with Thame at Dorchester whilst few take notice of the first Fountain thereof many miles more Westward in Gloucestershire The Study of the Common-law hath advanced most antient extant Families in our Land It seems they purchased good Titles made sure Setlements and entailed Thrift with their Lands on their posterity A prime person of that profession hath prevented my pains and given in a List of such principal Families I say principal many being omitted by him in so Copious a subject Miraculous the mortality in Egypt where there was not a House wherein there was not one dead But I hope it will be allowed Marvellous that there is not a generous and numerous House in England wherein there is not one though generally no first Born but a Younger Brother antiently or at this day Living Thriving and Flourishing by the Study of the Law Especially if to them what in Justice ought be added those who have raised themselves in Courts relating to the Law The City hath produced more then the Law in number and some as broad in Wealth but not so high in Honour nor long lasting in time who like Land-floods soon come and soon gone have been dried up before the third Generation Yet many of these have continued in a certain channel and carried a Constant stream as will plainly appear in the sequel of our Worthies The Church before the Reformation advanced many Families For though Bishops might not marry they preferred their Brothers Sons to great Estates As the Kemps in Kent Peckhams in Sussex Wickham in Hampshire Meltons in Yorkshire Since the Reformation some have raised Families to a Knightly and Worshipful Estate Hutton Bilson Dove Neil c. But for Sheriffs I take notice of Sandys in Worcester and Cambridgeshire Westphaling in Herefordshire Elmar in Suffolk Rud in Carmarthenshire c. Sure I am there was a generation of People of the last Age which thought they would level all Clergy-men or any descendants from them with the ground Yea had not Gods arme been stretched out in their preservation they had become a prey to their enemies violence and what they had designed to themselves and in some manner effected had ere this been time perfectly compleated As for the inferiour Clergy it is well if their narrow maintenance will enable them to leave a livelihood to their little ones I find but one Robert Johnson by name attaining such an estate that his Grand-son was pricked Sheriff of a County but declined the place by pleading himself a Deacon and by the favour of Arch-bishop Laud. The Study of the Civil-Law hath preferr'd but few The most eminent in that faculty before the Reformation being persons in Orders prohibited marriage However since the Reformation there are some Worshipful Families which have been raised by the Study in this Faculty Yet have our wars which perhaps might have been advocated for in Turks and Pagans who bid defiance to all humanity but utterly mis-beseeming Christians been a main cause of the moulting of many Eminent and Worthy persons of this Profession Nor
Our Commandement comprised in Our said Letters And that ye also from time to time as ye shall see meet quickly and sharply call upon them in Our name for the execution of Our said Commandement and if you shall find any of them Remiss or Negligent in that behalf We will that ye lay it sharply to their charge Advertising that in case they amend not their defaults ye will thereof Advertise Our Councell remâ—…ining with Our dearest Daughter the Princess and so We charge you to do indeed And if Our said Sheriffe or Justice or any other Sheriffe or Justice of any Shire next to you upon any side adjoyning shall need or require your Assistance for the Execution of Our said Commandements We Will and Desire you that what the best power ye can make of Our Subjects iâ—… Harneys ye be to them Aiding and Assisting from time to time as the Case shall require Not failing hereof as you intend to please Us and as We specially truâ—…t you Given under Our Signet at Our Manor of Greenwich the 18. day of May. Henry VIII 1 WILLIAM ESSEX Ar. He was a worthy man in his generation of great command in this County whereof he was four times Sheriffe and the first of his family who fixed at Lambourn therein on this welcome occasion He had married Elizabeth daughter and sole heir of Thomas Rogers of Benham whose Grandfather John Rogers had married Elizabeth daughter and heir of John Shoteâ—…broke of Bercote in this County whose ancestors had been Sheriffs of Barkeshire in the fourth fifth and sixth of King Edward the third by whom he received a large inheritance Nor was the birth of this Sir William for aferwards he was Knighted beneath his estate being Son unto Thomas Essex Esquire Remembrancer and Vice-Treasurer unto King Edward the fourth who dyed November 1. 1500. lyeth buried with a plain Epitaph in the Church of Kensington Middlesex He derived himself from Henry de Essex Baron of Rawley in Essex and Standard-Bearer of England as I have seen in an exact Pedigree attested by Master Camden and his posterity have lately assumed his Coat viz. Argent an Orle Gules There was lately a Baronet of this family with the revenues of a Baron but * riches endure not for ever if providence be not as well used in preserving as attaining them 24 HUMPHRY FORSTER Knight He bare a good affection to Protestants even in the most dangerous times and spake to the Quest in the behalf of Master Marbeck that good 〈◊〉 yea he confessed to King Henry the third that never any thing went so much against his Conscience which under his Graces authority he had done as his attending the execution of three poor men Martyred at Windsor Edward VI. 1 FRANCIS INGLEFIELD Mil. He afterwards was Privy-Councellor unto Queen Mary and so zealous a Romanist that after her death he left the land with a most large inheritance and lived for the most part in Spain He was a most industrious agent to solicite the cause of the Queen of Scots both to his Holiness and the Catholick King As also he was a great Promotor of and Benefactor to the English Colledge at Valladolit in Spain where he lyeth interred in a family of his alliance is still worshipfully extant in this County Queen Mary 1 JOHN WILLIAMS Miles Before the year of his Sherivalty was expired Queen Mary made him Lord Williams of Tame in Oxfordshire In which town he built a small Hospitall and a very fair School He with Sir Henry Bennyfield were joynt-Keepers of the Lady Elizabeth whilst under restraint being as civil as the other was cruel unto Her Bishop Ridley when martyred requested this Lord to stand his friend to the Queen that those Leases might be confirmed which he had made to poor Tenants which he promised and performed accordingly His great estate was divided betwixt his two daughters and coheirs one married to Sir Henry Norrice the other to Sir Richard Wenman Queen Elizabeth 4 HENRY NORRICE Ar. Son-in-law to the Lord Williams aforesaid He was by Queen Elizabeth created Baron Norrice of Ricot in Oxfordshire it is hard to say whether this tree of honour was more remarkable for the root from whence he sprung or for the branches that sprang from him He was Son to Sir Henry Norrice who suffered in the cause of Queen Anne Bullen Grandchild to Sir Edward Norrice who married Fridswide sister and coheir to the last Lord Lovell He was Father though himself of a meek and mild disposition to the Martiall brood of the Norrices of whom hereafter Elizabeth his great Grandchild sole Daughter and heir unto Francis Norrice Earl of Barkshire and Baroness Norrice was married unto Edward Wray Esquire whose only Daughter Elizabeth Wray Baroness Norrice lately deceased was married unto 〈◊〉 Bertue Earl of Lindsey whose Son a Minor is Lord Norrice at this day Sheriffs of Barkeshire alone Name Place Armes REG. ELIZA   Anno   9 Edw. Unton mil. Wadley 〈◊〉 on a Fess Eng. Or twixt 3 Spear-Heads Arg. a Hound cursant S. collered Gu. 10 Io. Fetiplace ar Chilrey G. 2 Chev. Argent 11 Will. Forster ar Aldermerston Sable a Chev betw 3 Arrows Arg. a Chev. 12 Will. Dunch ar LitlewitnaÌ„ Or 〈◊〉 2 Toures in 〈◊〉 a flour de Lice in Base Arg. 13 Ioha Winchcomb Budebury  14 Hen. Nevill mil. Billingber  15 Tho. Essex ar Lamborn 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 Erm. betw 3 Eagles Arg. 16 Ric. Lovelace ar Hurley Gules on a chiefe indented Sable three Marvets Or. 17 Anth. Bridges ar HemstedMarshal  18 Thom. Parry ar  See our Notes 19 Io. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut prius  20 Tho Stafford ar Bradfeld Or a Chev. Gul. Canton Er. 21 Tho. Stephans ar   22 Hum 〈◊〉 ar ut prius  23 Tho. Bullock ar 〈◊〉 Gules a Chev. twixt three Bulls-heads Ar. armed Or. 24 Tho Read ar Abington G. a Saltyre twixt 4 〈◊〉 Or. 25 〈◊〉 Molens ar Clapgate  26 Be. Fetiplace ar ut prius  27 Edw. Fetiplace ar ut prius  28 Chri. Lillcot ar Rushcomb Or. 2 〈◊〉 vairry Arg. Sable 29 Edm. Dunch ar ut prius  30 Thom. Parry ar ut prius  31 Tho. 〈◊〉 ar Shaw Azure a Fess 〈◊〉 inter 〈◊〉 Or. 32 Iohan. 〈◊〉 ar   33 Rich. Ward ar   34 Fr. Winchcombe ut prius  35 Hum. Forster ar ut prius  36 Ricar Hide ar S. Denchw Gules 2 Chevâ—…rons Arg. 37 Hen. Nevill ar ut prius  38 Edm. Wiseman ar Stephenton Sable a Chev. twixt 3 Bars of Spears Arg. 39 Chri. Lidcotte mi. ut prius  40 Hen. Pool mil.   41 Tho. Reede mil. ut prius  42 Sa. Backhouse ar Swallofield  43 Ioha Norris mil.   44 Ed. Fetiplâ—… mil. ut prius  Ed. Dunch ar 〈◊〉 Ja. ut prius  JAC. REX   Anno   1 Edm. Dunch ar
Barbarous fact Yet though his right hand suffered as a Malefactour there want not those who maintained that Martyr belongs to the rest of his Body Prelats STEPHEN de FULBORN was born at Fulborn no other of that name in England in this County Going over into Ireland to seek his Providence commonly nick-named his fortune therein he became anno 1274 Bishop of Waterford and Lord Treasurer of Ireland Hence he was preferred Arch-bishop of Tuam and once and again was Chief Justice of that allow me a Prolepsis Kingdome He is reported to have given to the Church of Glassenbury in England Indulgâ—…nces of an hundred days which I cannot understand except he promised pardon of so many days to all in his Province who went a Pilgrimage to that place and this also seems an over-papal Act of a plain Arch-bishop He died 1288. and was buried in Trinity Church in Dublin NICHOLAS of ELY was so called say some from being Arch-Deacon thereof which dignity so died his Denomination in grain that it kept colour till his death not fading for his future higher preferments though others conjecture his birth also at Ely When the bold Barons obtrued a Chancellour A Kings Tongue and Hands by whom he publickly speaks and acts Anno 1260. they forced this Nicholas on King Henry the third for that Office till the King some months after displaced him yet knowing him a man of much merit voluntarily chose him L. Treasurer when outed of his Chancellors place so that it seems he would trust him with his Coffers but not with his Conscience yea he afterwards preferred him Bishop of Worcester then of Winchester Here he sate 12. years and that Cathedrall may by a Synedoche of a novel part for the whole challenge his interment having his Heart inclosed in a Wall though his body be buryed at Waverly in â—…urry 1280. WILLIAM of BOTLESHAM was born at Bottlesham contractly Botsam in this County This is a small village which never amounted to a Market-town some five miles East of Cambridge pleasantly seated in pure aire having rich arable on the one and the fair health of New-market on the other side thereof It hath been the nursery of refined wits affording a Triumvirate of learned men taking their lives there and names thence and to prevent mistakes to which learned pens in this point have been too prone we present them in the ensuing parallels William of Bottlesham John of Bottlesham Nicholas of Bottlesham Made by the Pope first Bishop of Bethlehem in Syria afterwards Anno 1385. Bishop of Landaffe and thence removed to Rochester A famous Preacher Confessor to King Richard the second and learned Writer but by Walsingham and Bale called John by mistake He dyed in Febru Anno 1399. Nor must we forget that he was once Fellow of Pembroke-hall Was bred in Peter-house in Cambridge whereunto he was a Benefactor as also to the whole University Chaplain to T. Arundel Archbishop of Canterbury by whose recommendation he was preferred to succeed his Towns-man in the See of Rochester which he never saw saith my Authour as dying in the beginning of the year 1401. Was a Carmelite bred in Cambridge afterwards removed to Paris where in Sorbone he commenced Doctor of Divinity Returning to Cambridge he became Prior of the Carmelites since Queens-colledge where he wrote many books and lies buried in his own Covent Anno Domini 1435. Let all England shew me the like of three eminent men all contemporaries at large which one petty village did produce Let Bottlesham hereafter be no more fam'd for its single Becon but for these three lights it afforded THOMAS of NEW MARKET was born therein and though that Town lyeth some part in Suffolk my Author assures his Nativity in this County He was bred in Cambridge an excellent Humanist and Divine having left some learned Books to Posterity and at last was advanced to be Bishop of Carlile Surely then he must be the same with Thomas Merks consecrated Anno 1397. consent of time most truly befriending the conjecture Merks also and Market being the same in effect Neither doth the omission of New in the least degree discompose their Identity it being usuall to leave out the Prenomen of a Town for brevity sake by those of the Vicenage amongst whom there is no danger of mistake commonly calling West-chester Chester South-hampton Hampton If the same he is famous in our English Histories because his devotion in a Transposed Posture to publick practise worshiped the Sun-setting King Richard the second for which his memory will meet with more to commend then imitate it Yet was his Loyalty shent but not sham'd and King Henry the fourth being sick of him not daring to let him to live nor put him to death because 〈◊〉 Prelate found an Expedient for him of a living death confining him to a Titular Grecian Bishoprick He dyed about 1405. THOMAS THIRLBY Doctor of Laws was as I am assured by an excellent Antiquary born in the Town and bred in the University of Cambridge most probably in Trinity hall He was very able in his own faculty and more then once employed in Embasseys by King Henry the eighth who preferred him Bishop of Westminster Here had Thirlby lived long and continued the course he began he had prevented Queen Mary from dissolving that Bishoprick as which would have dissolved it self for lack of land sold and wasted by him And though probably he did this to raise and enrich his own family yet such the success of his sacriledge his name and alliance is extinct From Westminster he was removed to Norwich thence to Ely He cannot be followed as some other of his order by the light of the Fagots kindled by him to burn poor Martyrs seeing he was given rather to Prodigality then cruelty it being signally observed that he wept at Arch-bishop Cranmers degradation After the death of Queen Mary he was as violent in his opinions but not so virulent in his expressions always devoted to Queen Mary but never invective against Queen Elizabeth He lived in free custody dyed and is buried at Lambeth 1570. Since the Reformation GODFREY GOLDSBOROUGH D. D. was born in the Town of Cambridge where some of his Sur-name and Relation remained since my memory He was bred in Trinity-colledge Pupil to Arch-bishop Whitgiff and became afterwards Fellow thereof at last he was consecrated Bishop of Gloucester Anno Dom. 1598. He was one of the second set of Protestant Bishops which were after those so famous for their sufferings in the Marian days and before those who fall under the cognizance of our generation the true reason that so little can be recovered of their character He gave a hundred mark to Trinity colledge and died Anno Dom. 1604. ROBERT TOWNSON D. D. was born in Saint Botolphs parish in Cambridge and bred a Fellow in Queens-colledge being admitted very young
therein but 12. years of age He was blessed with an happy memory insomuch that when D. D. he could say by heart the second Book of the Aeneads which he learnt at School without missing a Verse He was an excellent Preacher and becoming a Pulpit with his gravity He attended King James his Chaplaine into Scotland and after his return was preferred Dean of Westminster then Bishop of Salisbury Hear what the Author of a Pamphlet who inscribeth himself A. W. saith in a Book which is rather a Satyre then a History a Libell then a Character of the Court of King James for after he had slanderously inveighed against the bribery of those days in Church and State hear how he seeks to make amends for all King James's Court pag. 129 130. Some worthy men were preferred gratis to blow up their Buckingham and his party Fames as Tolson a worthy man paid nothing in fine or Pension and so after him Davenant in the same Bishoprick Yet these were but as Musick before every hound Now although both these persons here praised were my God-fathers and Uncles the one marrying the sister of the other being Brother to my Mother and although such good words seem a Rarity from so railing a mouth yet shall not these considerations tempt me to accept his praises on such invidious terms as the Author doth proffer them O! Were these worthy Bishops now alive how highly would they disdain to be praised by such a pen by which King James their Lord and Master is causelesly traduced How would they condemn such uncharitable commendations which are if not founded on accompanied with the disgrace of others of their order Wherefore I their Nephew in behalf of their Memories protest against this passage so far forth as it casteth Lustre on them by Eclipsing the credit of other Prelates their contemporaries And grant corruption too common in that kind yet were there besides them at that time many worthy Bishops raised to their dignity by their Deserts without any Simonicall complyances Doctor Townson had a hospitall heart a generous disposition free from covetousness and was always confident in Gods Providence that if he should dye his children and those were many would be provided for wherein he was not mistaken He lived in his Bishoprick but a year and being appointed at very short warning to preach before the Parliament by unseasonable â—…tting up to study contracted a Fever whereof he died and was buried in Westminster Abbey Anno Dom. 1622. THOMAS son to William WESTFIELD D. D. was born Anno Dom. 1573. in the Parish of Saint Maries in Ely and there bred at the Free-school under Master Spight till he was sent to Jesus-colledge in Cambridge being first Scholar then Fellow thereof He was Curate or Assistant rather to Bishop Felton whilst Minister of Saint Mary le Bow in Cheapside afterward Rector of Hornsey nigh and Great Saint Bartholomews in London where in his preaching he went thorow the four Evangelists He was afterwards made Arch-Deacon of Saint Albans and at last Bishop of Bristol a place proffered to and refused by him twenty five years before For then the Bishoprick was offered to him to maintain him which this contented meek man having a self-subsistence did then decline though accepting of it afterwards when proffered to him to maintain the Bishoprick and support the Episcopall dignity by his signall devotion What good opinion the Parliament though not over-fond of Bishops conceived of him appears by their Order ensuing The thirteenth of May 1643. From the Committee of Lords and Commons for Sequestration of Delinquents Estates Upon information in the behalf of the Bishop of Bristoll that his Tenants refuse to pay him his Rents it is Ordered by this Committee that all profits of his Bishoprick be restored to him and a safe conduct be granted him to pass with his family to Bristoll being himself of great age and a person of great learning and merit Jo. Wylde About the midst of his life he had a terrible sickness so that he thought to use his own expression in his Diary that God would put out the candle of his life though he was pleased onely to snuff it By his will the true Copy whereof I have he desired to be buried in his Cathedral Church neer the tombe of Paul Bush the first Bishop thereof And as for my worldly goods Reader they are his own words in his Will which as the times now are I know not well where they be nor what they are I give and bequeath them all to my dear wife Elizabeth c. He protested himself on his death-bed a true Protestant of the Church of England and dying Junii 28. 1644. lyeth buried according to his own desire above mentioned with this inscription Hic jacet Thomas Westfield S. T. D. Episcoporum intimus peccatorum primus Obiit 25. Junii anno MDCXLIV Senio moerore confectus Tu Lector quisquis es vale resipisce Epitaphium ipse sibi dictavit vivus Monumentum uxor moestissima Elizabetha Westfield Marito desideratissimo posuit superstes Thus leaving such as survived him to see more sorrow and feel more misery he was seasonably taken away from the evil to come And according to the Anagram made on him by his Daughter Thomas Westfield I dwel the most safe Enjoying all happiness and possessing the reward of his pains who converted many and confirmed more by his constancy in his Calling States-men JOHN TIPTOFT son and heir of John Lord Tiptoft and Joyce his wife daughter and Co-heir of Edward Charlton Lord Powis by his wife Eleanor sister and Co-heir of Edmund Holland Earl of Kent was born at Everton in this but in the confines of Bedford shire He was bred in Baliol-colledge in Oxford where he attained to great learning and by King Henry the sixth was afterwards created first Vice-count then Earl of Worcester and Lord Hâ—…gh Constable of England and by K. Edward the fourth Knight of the Garter The skies began now to lowre and threaten Civil Wars and the House of York fell sick of a Relapse Mean time this Earl could not be discourteous to Henry the sixth who had so much advanced him nor disloyall to Edward the fourth in whom the right of the Crown lay Consulting his own safety he resolved on this Expedient for a time to quit his own and visit the Holy-land In his passage thither or thence he came to Rome where he made a Latin speech before the Pope Piâ—… the second and converted the Italians into a better opinion then they had formerly of the English-mens learning insomuch that his holiness wept at the elegancy of the Oration He returned from Christs sepulcher to his own grave in England coming home in a most unhappy juncture of time if sooner or later he had found King Edward on that Throne to which now Henry the sixth was restored and whose restitution was onely remarkable for the death of this worthy
Staffondshire The meaning is the Genâ—…ry in Cheshire find it more profitable to match within their County then to bring a Bride out of other 〈◊〉 1. Because better acquainted with her birth and breeding 2. Because though her Portion perchance may be less the expence will be less to maintain her Such 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 County have been observed both a prolonger of worshipfull families and the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 them seeing what Mr. Camden reported of the Citizens of 〈◊〉 is verified of the Cheshire Gentry they are all or an Alliance Cardinals WILLIAM MAKILESFIELD was saith my Author 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bishop Godwin 〈◊〉 little 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Civitate 〈◊〉 However I conceive him born in this 〈◊〉 finding a 〈◊〉 Market-town and Forrest therein so named though he was reputed a 〈◊〉 because 〈◊〉 in that Age was in the 〈◊〉 of Coventry and Lichfield But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not swim against the stream I Remit the Reader to his Character in Warwickshire 〈◊〉 WILLIAM BOOTH was first bred in 〈◊〉 Inn in London in the studie of our Municipall Laws till he 〈◊〉 that profession on the proffer of a 〈◊〉 Place in Saint Pauls and took Orders upon him It was not long before he was 〈◊〉 Bishop of Letchfield and six years after translated to 〈◊〉 He expended much money 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 died and was buried in Saint Maries Chappell in Southwell 1464. LAURENCE BOOTH Brother but by another Mother to William aforesaid was bred and became Master of 〈◊〉 hall in 〈◊〉 and was Chancellour of that University He made the Composition 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 colledge to their mutuall advantage and was an eminent 〈◊〉 to his own Colledge bestowing thereon all the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Church amongst which was St. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Colledge of a Pension of five pounds which he redeemed and and Conferred there on the 〈◊〉 and Patronage of Overton-Waterfield in Huntingtanshire As it is Gods so it is all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 method in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Servants Be faithfull in a little and thou shalt rule over much Doctor Booth well performing his Chancellors Place in Cambridge was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 the fixth Well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of King 〈◊〉 the fourth made Lord High Chancellor 〈◊〉 seems his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bishop of York and deserving well of both Sees For he built in the first the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 colledge and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It must not be forgotten than this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 till the day of his death and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Bishop 〈◊〉 not that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the place but the place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with them as it is this day by the Right Reverend Father in God Benjamin Lany Lord Bishop of Peturborough This Arch-bishop died Anno Dom. 1480. JOHN BOOTH Brother to Laurence aforesaid Bachellor of Laws was consecrated Bishop of Exceter in the sixth of King Edward the fourth 1466. He built the Bishops Chair or Seat in his Cathedral which in the judicious Eye of Bishop Godwin hath not his Equall in England Let me adde that though this be the fairest Chair the soft Cushion thereof was taken away when Bishop Vescy alienated the Lands thereof The worst was when Bishop Booth had finished this Chair he could not quietly sit down therein so troublesome the times of the civil wars betwixt York and Lancaster So that preferring his privacy he retired to a little place of his own purchasing at Horsley in Hampshire where he dyed April the first 1478. and was buried in Saint Clements Danes London We must remember that these three Prelates had a fourth and eldest Brother Sir Roger Booth Knight of Barton in Lancashire Father of Margaret Wife of Ralph Nevill third Earl of Westmerland And may the Reader take notice that though we have entred these Bishops according to our best information in Cheshire yet is it done with due reservation of the right of Lancashire in case that County shall produce better Evidence for their Nativities THOMNS SAVAGE was born at Maklefield in this County his Father being a Knight bred him a Doctor of Law in the University of Cambridge Hence was he preferred Bishop of Rochester and at last Arch-bishop of York He was a greater Courtier then Clerke and most Dextrous in managing Secular Matters a mighty Nimrod and more given to Hunting then did consist with the Gravity of his Profession No doubt there wanted not those which taxed him with that Passage in Saint Jerome Penitus non invenimus in scripturis sanctis sanctum aliquem Venatorem Piscatores invenimus sanctos But all would not wean him from that sport to which he was so much addicted His provident Precedent spared his Successors in that See many pounds of needless expences by declining a costly instaulation being the first who privately was instauled by his Vicar Yet was he not Covetous in the least degree maintaining a most numerous Family and building much both at Scroby and Cawood Having sate seven years in his See he died 1508. his Body being buried at York his Heart at Maklefield where he was born in a Chapel of his own Erection intending to have added a Colledge thereunto had not death prevented him Since the Reformation WILLIAM CHADERTON D. D. Here I solemnly tender deserved thanks to my Manuscript Author charitably guiding me in the Dark assuring that this Doctor was ex praeclaro Chadertonorum Cestrensis comitatus stemmate prognatus And although this doubtfull Direction doth not cleave the Pin it doth hit the White so that his Nativity may with most Probability not prejudicing the right to Lancashire when produced here be fixed He was bred first Fellow then Master of Queens and never of Magdalen-colledge in Cambridge as Reverend Bishop Godwin mistaketh and chosen first the Lady Margarets then Kings Professor in Divinity and Doctor Whitacre succeeded him immediately in the Chair He was Anno 1579. made Bishop of Chester then of Lincoln 1594. demeaning himself in both to his great commendation He departed this life in April 1608. His Grand-child a virtuous Gentlewoman of rare accomplishments married to Mr. Joceline Esquire being big with child wrot a Book of advise since Printed and Intitled the Mothers Legacie to her unborn Infant of whom she died in travail WILLIAM JAMES D. D. was born in this County bred a Scholar in christs-Christs-church in Oxford and afterwards President of the University Colledge He succeeded Bishop Mathews in the Deanary and Bishoprick of Durham He had been Chaplain to Robert Dudly Earl of Lecester and I hope I may lawfully transcribe what I read Sir J. Harrington view of the Church of England pag.
is he who afterwards designed the Maps and composed the History of England though much help'd in both no shame to crave aid in a work too weighty for any ones back to bear by Sir Robert Cotton Master Camden Master Barkham and others He also made the usefull Genealogies preposed formerly to English Bibles in all Volumes having a Patent granted him from King James in reward of his great Labours to receive the benefit thereof to him and his This was very beneficiall unto them by Composition with the Company of Stationers untill this Licentious age neglecting all such Ingenious helps to understand Scripture and almost levelling if not prevented the propriety of all Authors of Books He dyed in London Anno 1629. and was buried in Saint Giles without Criplegate in the same Parish with Master John Fox so that no one Church in England containeth the Corps of two such usefull and voluminous Historians Master Josias Shute Preach'd his Funerall Sermon and thus we take our leaves of Father Speed truly answering his name in both the acceptions thereof for Celerity and Success JOHN DOD was born at Shottliedge in this County where his Parents had a competent Estate bred in Jesus-colledge in Cambridge by Nature a Witty by Industry a Learned by Grace a Godly Divine successively Minister of Hanwell in Oxford Fenny-Compton in Warwick Cannons-Ashby and Fausly in Northampton-shire though for a time silenced in each of them A Father who shall pass nameless is censured by some for his over-curiosity in his conceit rather then Comment Math. 5. 2. And he opened his mouth and taught them For Christ saith he taught them often when he opened not his mouth by his Example Miracles c. Here I am sure accordingly Master Dod when his mouth was shut prohibited preaching instructed almost as much as before by his holy demeanour and pious discourse A good Chimist who could extract Gold out of other mens lead and how loose soever the premises of other mens discourse piety was always his naturall and unforced conclusion inferred thereupon For the rest I refer the Reader to Master Samuel Clark by whom his life is written wherein are many remarkable passages I say Master Samuel Clark with whose pen mine never did nor shall interfere Indeed as the flocks of Jacob were distanced three days journeys from those of Laban so to prevent voluntary or casuall commixtures our styles are set more then a Months journey asunder The Jewish Rabbins have a fond and a false conceit that Methuselah who indeed dyed in the very year and his death a sad prognostick of the deluge had a Cabin built him in the outside of Noahs Ark where he was preserved by himself But most true it is that good Father Dod though he lived to see the flood of our late Civil Wars made to himself a Cabin in his own contented conscience and though his cloths were wetted with the waves when plundred he was dry in the deluge such his self-solace in his holy meditations He dyed being eighty six years of age Anno 1645. When thieves break in a house and steal the owner thereof knows for the present that he is robbed but not of what or how much till some days after he finds out by the want of such things which were taken from him The Vicenage of Fausly where Mr. Dod dyed knew then they were bereaft of a worthy treasure though ignorant in the perticulars of their losses till daily discovery hath by this time made them sensible thereof Benefactors to the Publique Sir RICHARD SUTTON was born at Presbury in this County he is generally believed a Knight though some have suspected the same but suppose him but Esquire He was one of a Plentifull Estate and Bountifull Hand It happened that William Smith Bishop of Lincoln began Brasen-Nose-Colledge but dyed before he had finished one Nostrill thereof leaving this Sutton his Executor who over-performed the Bishops Will and compleated the Foundation with his own liberall Additions thereunto When the following Verses were composed in the Person of Brasen-Nose-Colledge the Muses seemed neither to smile nor frown but kept their wonted countenance But take them as they are Begun by one but finish'd by another Sutton he was my Nurse but Smith my Mother Or if the Phrase more proper seem say rather That Sutton was my Guardian Smith my Father 'Cause equal Kindness they to me exprest Better I neither love love both the best If Both they may be call'd who had one will What One design'd the Other did fulfill May such Testators live who Good intend But if they dye Heaven such Exec'tors send This Worthy Knight being born in this County deservedly reflected upon his own Country-men making them and those of Lancashire most capable of Preferment I collect his death to have happened about the middle of the Raign of King Henry the eighth Since the Reformation ROBERT BRASSY was born at Bunbury contracted for Boniface-Bury in this County bred D. D. in Kings-colledge in Cambridge whereof he was elected the 13. Provost He being a Learned and Stout man publickly protested against the Visitors of the University in the Raign of Queen Mary as to his own Colledge Say not he onely opposed Superstition with Superstition pleading Popish Exemptions For considering the times he Drave the nail which would best go and thereby took off the edge of those Persecuting Commissioners But let none Envy him a place under this title who deserved so well of Cambridge For when many Doctors therein whose Purblind souls saw onely what was next them for the present and either could not or would not look far forward to Posterity had resolved to sell their Rights in Sturbridge-fair for a trifle to the Towns-men which if done the Vice-Chancellor might even have held the Stirrup to the Mayor he only opposed it and dash'd the designs He dyed Anno Domini 1558. and lyes buried on the South-side of the Chappell GEORGE PALIN was as I have Cogent presumptions born at Wrenbury in this County bred a Merchant in London free of the Company of Girdlers Indeed we may call his Benefactions Aureum Cingulum charitatis the Golden Girdle of Charity With our Saviour he Went ABOUT doing good compleating the Circuit of his Bounty continuing till he ended where he began 1. To Wrenbury where we believe him born two Hundred pound to purchase Lands for the relief of the poor 2. Nine Hundred pound for the building of Almes-houses in or about London 3. To Trinity-colledge in Cambridge three hundred pound 4. To the Colledge of Saint Johns the Evangelist in Cambridge three Hundred pounds 5. To the Hospitall of Saint Thomas in Southmark fifty pounds 6. To the Preachers at Pauls Cross towards the bearing of their charges two Hundred pounds 7. Toward the making a sweet Chime in Bow-church one Hundred pounds 8. To six Prisons in and about London sixty pounds 9. To Brasen-Nose-colledge in Oxford two
that age and assign 1339. the time of his death Chester the place of his buriall RANDAL or RANULPH HYGDEN commonly called Ranulph of Chester was bred a Benedictine in Saint Werburge He not onely Vamped the history of Roger aforesaid but made a large one of his own from the beginning of the World commendable for his Method and Modesty therein Method assigning in the Margent the date of each action We read Genesis 1. that Light was made on the First and the Sun on the Fourth day of the Câ—…eation when the Light formerly diffused and dispersed in the Heavens was Contracted United and Fixed in one full Body thereof Thus the Notation of Times confusedly scattered in many antient Authors as to our English Actions are by our Ranulphus reduced into an Intire bulk of Cronology Modesty Who to his great commendation Unicuique suorum Authorum honorem integrum servans confeseth himself to use his own expression with Ruth the Moabite to have gleaned after other Reapers He calleth his book Poly-Cronicon He continued sixty four years a Monke and dying very aged 1363. was buried in Chester HENRY BRADSHAW was born in this City and lived a Benedictine therein A diligent Historian having written no bad Chronicle and another Book of the Life of Saint Werburg in verse Take a tast at once both of his Poetry and the Originall Building of the City both for Beauty alike The Founder of this City as saith Polychronicon Was Leon Gawer a mighty strong Giant Which builded Caves and Dungeons many a one No goodly Building ne proper ne pleasant These his verses might have passed with praise had he lived as Arnoldus Vion doth erroniously insinuate Anno 1346. But flourishing more then a Century since viz. 1513. they are hardly to be excused However Bale informeth us that he was the Diamond in the Ring pro ea ipsa aetate admodum pius and so we dismiss his Memory with Commendation Since the Reformation EDWARD BRIERWOOD was as I am informed born in this City bred in Brasen-nose-colledge in Oxford Being Candidate for a Fellowship he lost it without loss of credit For where preferment goes more by favour then merit the Rejected have more honour then the Elected This ill success did him no more hurt then a Rub doth to an over-thrown Bowl bringing it the nearer to the mark He was not the more sullen but the more serious in his studies retiring himself to Saint Mary-hall till he became a most accomplished Scholar in Logick witness his worthy work thereof Mathematicks being afterwards a Lecturer thereof in Gresham-colledge All learned and many modern languages hereof he wrot a Learned book called his Enquiries No Sacrilegious Enquiries whereof our age dothsurfet It is a Snare after vows to make Enquiries but judicious disquisitions of the Originall and Extent of Languages A little before his death Pens were brandish'd betwixt Master Byfield and him about the keeping of the Sabbath Master Brierwood learnedly maintaining that th other exacted more strictness therein then God enjoyned Let me contribute my symbole on this Subject Our Saviour is said to be made under the Law and yet he saith of himself The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath Indeed he was made under the fourth Commandement as under the rest of the Law to observe the dominion not tyranny thereof usurped partly by the misinterpretation of the Priests partly by the misapprehension of the People and therefore both by his Life and Doctrine did manumisse men from that vassallage that the day instituted for rest and repose should not be abused for self-affliction and torment To return to our Brierwood I have heard a great Scholar in England say That he was the fittest Man whom he knew in England to sit at the Elbo of a Professor to prompt him But in my opinion he was a very proper person to discharge the place himself I conjecture his death about 1633. JOHN DOWNHAM younger Son of William Downham Bishop of Chester was as far as my best enquiry can recover born in this City bred in Cambridge B. D. and afterwards became a painfull and profitable Preacher in London He was the first who commendably discharged that eminent Lecture plentifully indowed by Master Jones of Munmouth and is memorable to posterity for his worthy work of the Christian Warfare Well had it been for England had no other war been used therein for this last twenty years all pious Persons being comfortably concerned in the prosecution thereof Seriously considering that their Armour is of proof their Quarrel is lawfull their Fight is long their Foes are fierce their Company are Saints their Captain is Christ their Conquest is certain their Crown is Heaven This grave Divine died very aged about the year 1644. Benefactors to the Publique WILLIAM ALDERSEA a pious and godly man was Mayor of the City 1560. demeaning himself in his place with much Gravity and Discretion He caused with much Cost and Industry the Catalogue of the Mayors of Chester to be compleated and that on this occasion He found by Authentick Evidences that one Whetlyâ—…ad â—…ad been four times Mayor of Chester and yet his name was never mentioned in the ordidinary Book of Mayors This put this good Magistrate on the employment Detection of faults informes little without Correction of them to amend and compleat that lame list out of their Records Thus Imperfections may occasion Perfection which makes me to hope that hereafter the Defects of this my Book without prejudice to my Profit or Credit will be judiciously discovered and industriously amended by others This William died the twelfth of October Anno 1577. and lyeth buried in the Chancell of Saint Osswalls under a fair stone of Alabaster Sir THOMAS OFFLEY Son to William Offley was born in the City of Chester and bred a Merchant-taylor in London whereof he became Lord Mayor Anno 1556. The usefull custome of the night Bellman preventing many Fiers and more Felonies began in his Mayoralty He was the Zachaeus of London not for his low Stature but his high Charity bequeathing the half of his Estate computed by a Reverend Divine to amount to five thousand pounds unto the Poor although he had children of his own Yea he appointed that two hundred pound should be taken out of the other half left to his son Henry and employed to charitable uses He died 1560. and was buried in the Church of Saint Andrews Undershaft I am heartily sory to meet with this passage in my Author Sir Thomas Offley bequeatheth one half of all his goods to charitable actions But the Parish meaning Saint Andrews Undershaft received little benefit thereby If the Testators Will were not justly performed it soundeth to the shame and blame of his Executors But if the charity of Sir Thomas acted Eminus not Comminus I mean at some distance and not at his own habitation it was no injury for any to dispose of
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
places and at a place called Somervill near to Chappel which by the landing place as ye come from Altferrâ—… to Chesil is in great abundance It is an assured remedy for the Yellow Jaundice openeth the obstructions of the Spleen c. Buildings The Houses of the Gentry herein are built rather to be lived in than to be looked on very low in their scituation for warmth and other conveniencies Indeed the rhime holds generally true of the English structures The North for Greatness the East for Health The South for Neatness the West for Wealth However amongst the Houses in this County Lullworth Castle and Sherburn-Lodge are most eminent escaping pretty well in the late war so that they have cause neither to brag nor complain Proverbs As much a kin as Lenson-hill to Pilsen-pen That is no kin at all It is spoke of such who have vicinity of habitation or neighbourhood without the least degree of consanguinity or affinity betwixt them For these are two high hills the first wholy the other partly in the Parish of Broad Windsor whereof once I was Minister Yet Reader I assure thee that Sea-Men make the nearest Relation betwixt them calling the one the Cow the other the Calf in which forms it seems they appear first to their fancies being eminent Sea-marks to such as sail along these Coasts And although there be many Hills interposing betwixt these and the Sea which seem higher to a land Traveller yet these surmount them all so incompetent a Judge and so untrue a Surveyor is an ordinary eye of the Altitude of such places Stab'd with a Byrdport Dagger That is hang'd or executed at the Gallowes The best if not the most Hemp for the quantity of ground growing about Byrdport a Market Town in this County And hence it is that there is an ancient Statute though now disused and neglected that the Cable Ropes for the Navy Royal were to be made there abouts as affording the best Tackling for that purpose Dorset-shire Dorsers Dorsers are Peds or Panniers carried on the backs of Horses on which Haglers use to ride and carry their Commodities It seems this homely but most useful implement was either first found out or is most generally used in this County where Fish-Jobbers bring up their Fish in such contrivances above an hundred miles from Lime to London Saints EDWARD son to Edgar King of England was in his Child-hood bred under the cruel correction of Elfrida his Mother-in-law who used for small faults to whip him with Wax-Candles In so much that it is reported it made such an impression in this young Princes memory that when a man he could not endure the sight of Wax-Candles But Edward afterwards outgrew his Mothers tuition and succeeded his Father in his Throne However such her ambition that advantaged with the others easiness of nature She managed most matter of State leaving her Son in-law little more than the bare title of Soveraign Not contented herewith and to derive the Scepter to her own Son Ethelred caused him to be stab'd at Corfe Castle in this County coming in a civil visit unto her His hidden â—…ody being miraculously discovered was first buried at Warham and thence removed to Shaftsbury which Town for a time was termed Saint Edwards from his interment His murder hapned about the year of our Lord 978. Cardinals JOHN MORTON was born at Saint Andrews Milborne in this County of a right Worshipful Family still extant therein He was bred in Oxford and after many mediate preferments made Bishop of Ely Anno 1578. Not long after when many groaned under the Tyranny of King Richard the third this Prelate first found out the design of marrying Elizabeth eldest daughter to Edward the fourth of the House of York to Henry Earl of Richmond the last who was left of the line of Lancaster Indeed the Earls title to the Crown was not enough to make a countenance therewith much less a claim thereto but as the Lady had a Title and wanted a man to manage it the Earl was man enough to manage any design but wanted a Title and pursuing this advice by Gods blessing he gained the Crown by the name of Henry the seventh In expression of his gratitude he made this Bishop Chancellor of England and afterwards Arch-Bishop of Canterbury He was a great instrument in advancing a voluntary Contribution to the King through the Land perswading Prodigals to part with their money because they did spend it most and the Covetous because they might spare it best So making both extreams to meet in one medium to supply the Kings necessities who though prodigiously rich may be said always to need because never-satisfied This Bishop with vast cost cut a new Channel in the Fennes for the publick good but it neither answered his expectation nor expence He was magnificent in his buildings and bountiful to poor Scholars enjoyning his Executors to maintain twenty poor Scholars in Oxford and ten in Cambridge twenty years after his death which hapned in October 1500. Prelates JOHN STAFFORD Son to Humphrey Stafford sixth Earl of Stafford was born at Hooke in this County then a most stately House belonging to this Family and bred a Doctor of the Laws in Oxford he was afterwards Dean of the Arches and Dean of Saint Martins This was a fair Colledge near Aldersgate in London founded Anno 1056. by Ingelricus and Edvardus his Brother priviledged by our Kings of England with great immunities the cause of many and high contests betwixt this Colledge and the City of London Afterwards he was made Bishop of Wells and for eighteen years a continuance hardly to be parallel'd was Chancellor of England At last he was advanced Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and no Prelate his Peer in Biâ—…th and preâ—…erment hath either less good or less evil recorded of him He died at Maidstone 1452. and lies buried in Canterbury ROBERT MORTON was Brothers Son to Cardinal Morton of whom before whose Father had a fair Habitation at Saint Andrews Milborne in this County His relation to so good an Uncle mixed with his own merits preferred him to the Bishoprick of Worcester Of whom we have little more than the date of his consecration 1486. and of his Death 1497. He lieth buried in the body of Saint Pauls Church in London JAMES TURBERVIL or De turbida villa was born of a worshipful Family who long have lived in great account in this County â—… First a Monk but afterwards brought up in New-Colledge in Oxford He was consecrated Bishop of Exeter 1556. and deserved right well of that See When he entred thereon it was most true what his Successor therein since said That the Bishop of Exeter was a Baron but a Bare one so miserably that Cathedral had been pilled and polled But Bishop Turbervil recovered some lost lands which Bishop Voysey had vezed and particularly obtained of Queen Mary the â—…estitution of the fair Manor of
She was youngest Daughter and Child to Ralph Earl of Westmerland who had one and twenty and exceeded her Sisters in honour being married to Richard Duke of York She saw her Husband kill'd in battel George Duke of Clarence her second Son cruelly murdered Edward her eldest son cut off by his own intemperance in the prime of his years his two sons butchered by their Uncle Richard who himself not long after was slain at the bartel of Bosworth She was blessed with three Sons who lived to have issue each born in a several Kingdom Edward at Bourdeaux in France George at Dublin in Ireland Richard at Fotheringhay in England She saw her own reputation murdered publickly at Pâ—…uls-Cross by the procurement of her youngest son Richard taxing his eldest Brother for illegitimate She beheld her eldest Son Edward King of England and enriched with a numerous posterity  Yet our Chronicles do not charge her with elation in her good or dejection in her ill success an argument of an even and steady soul in all alterations Indeed she survived to see Elizabeth her grand child married to King Henry the seventh but little comfort accrued to her by that conjunction the party of the Yorkists were so depressed by him She lived five and thirty years a widow and died in the tenth year of King Henry the seventh 1495. and was buried by her Husband in the Quire of the Collegiate Church of Fotheringhay in Northampton-shire which Quire being demolished in the days of King Henry the eighth their bodies lay in the Church-yard without any Monument until Queen Elizabeth coming thither in Progress gave order that they should be interred in the Church and two Tombs to be erected over them Hereupon their bodies lapped in Lead were removed from their plain Graves and their Coffins opened The Duchess Cicely had about her neck hanging in a Silver Ribband a Pardon from Rome which penned in a very fine Roman Hand was as fair and fresh to be read as if it had been written but yesterday But alas most mean are their Monuments made of Plaister wrought with a Trowell and no doubt there was much daubing therein the Queen paying for a Tomb proportionable to their Personages The best is the memory of this Cicely hath a better and more lasting Monument who was a bountiful Benefactress to Queens Colledge in Cambridge Saints BEDE And because some Nations measure the worth of the person by the length of the name take his addition Venerable He was born at Girwy now called Yarrow in this Bishoprick bred under Saint John of Beverly and afterwards a Monk in the Town of his Nativity He was the most general Scholar of that age Let a Sophister begin with his Axioms a Batchelor of Art proceed to his Metaphysicks a Master to his Mathematicks and a Divine conclude with his Controversies and Comments on Scripture and they shall find him better in all than any Christian Writer in that age in any of those Arts and Sciences He expounded almost all the Bible translated the Psalms and New Testament into English and lived a Comment on those Words of the * Apostle shining as a light in the world in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation He was no gadder abroad credible Authors avouching that he never went out of his Cell though both Cambridge and Rome pretend to his habitation Yet his Corps after his death which happened Anno 734. took a journey or rather were removed to Durham and there enshrined Confessors JOHN WICKLIFFE It is a great honour to this small County that it produced the last maintainer of Religion before the general decay thereof understand me Learned Bede and the firm restorer thereof I mean this Wickliff the subject of our present discourse True it is His Nativity cannot be demonstrated in this Bishoprick but if such a scientia media might be allowed to man which is beneath certainty and above conjecture such should I call our perswasion that Wickliff was born therein First all confess him a Northern man by extraction Secondly the Antiquary allows an ancient Family of the Wickliffs in this County whose Heir general by her match brought much wealth and honour to the Brakenburies of Celaby Thirdly there are at this day in these parts of the name and alliance who continue a just claim of their kindred unto him Now he was bred in Oxford some say in Baliol others more truly in Merton Colledge and afterwards published opinions distasteful to the Church of Rome writing no fewer than two hundred Volumns of all which largely in our Ecclesiastical History besides his translating of the whole Bible into English He suffered much persecution from the Popish Clergy Yet after long exile he by the favour of God and good Friends returned in safety and died in quietness at his living at Lutterworth in Leicestershire Anno 1387. the last of December whose bones were taken up and burnt 42. years after his death Disdain not Reader to learn something by my mistake I conceive that Mr. Fox in his Acts and Monuments had entred the Names of our English Martyrs and Confessors in his Kalender on that very day whereon they died Since I observe he observeth a Method of his own fancy concealing the reasons thereof to himself as on the perusing of his Catalogue will appear Thus VVickliff dying December the last is by him placed January the second probably out of a design to grace the new year with a good beginning though it had been more true and in my weak judgement as honourable for VVickliff to have brought up the rear of the old as to lead the front of the new year in his Kalender Prelates The Nevills We will begin with a Quaternion of Nevils presenting them in Parallels and giving them their Precedency before other Prelates some their Seniors in time because of their Honourable Extraction All four were born in this Bishoprick as I am informed by my worthy Friend Mr. Charles Nevil Vice-Provost of Kings in Cambridge one as knowing 〈◊〉 Universal Heraldry as in his own Colledge in our English Nobility as in his own Chamber in the ancient fair and far branched Family of the Nevils as in his own Study RALPH NEVIL was born at Raby in this Bishoprick was Lord Chancellour under King Henry the third none discharging that Office with greater integrity and more general commendation and Bishop of Chichester 1223. He built a fair House from the ground in Chancery Lane for himselfe and successors for an Inne where they might repose themselves when their occasions brought them up to London How this House was afterwards aliened and came into the possession of Henry Lacy Earl of Lincoln from whom it is called Lincolns Inne at this day I know not Sure I am that Mr. Mountague late Bishop of Chichester intended to lay claim therunto in right of his see But alas he was likely to follow a cold scent
according to the strictness of the Rules which we proposed to follow as not being of the number of those Bishops who may not unfitly be termed with Noah righteous in their Generations having seen two Sets if I may so speak of their Order but preferred to that Dignity since our late happy Revolution He is here fixed though no Native of this County because the fittest place I conceive it is happy when the Antidote meets the Poyson where it was first suck'd in seeing formerly treating in my Church History of this Cathedral I delivered his Character to his disadvantage very defectively JOHN COSEN D. D. was born in the City of Norwich bred in Cays Colledge in Cambridge whereof he was Fellow Hence was he removed to the Mastership of Peter-House in the same University One whose abilities quick apprehension solid Judgement variety of Reading c. are sufficiently made known to the world in his learned Books whereby he hath perpetuated his name to posterity I must not pass over his constancy in his Religion which rendereth him aimable in the eys not of good men only but of that God with whom there is no variableness nor shâ—…dow of changing It must be confessed that a sort of fond people surmised as if he had once been declining to the PopishPerswasion Thus the dim sighted complain of the darkness of the room when alas the fault is in their own eyes and the lame of the unevenness of the floor when indeed it lieth in their unsound leggs Such were the silly folk their understandings the eys of their minds being darkned and their affections the feet of their soul made lame by prejudice who have thus falsly conceited of this worthy Doctor However if any thing that I delivered in my Church History relating therein a Charge drawn up against him for urging of some Ceremonies without inserting his Purgation which he effectually made clearing himself from the least imputation of any fault hath any way augmented this opinion I humbly crave pardon of him for the same Sure I am were his Enemies now his Judges had they the least spark of ingenuity they must acquit him if proceeding according to the evidence of his Writing Living Disputing Yea whilest he remained in France he was the Atlas of the Protestant Religion supporting the same with his Piety and Learning confirming the wavering therein yea dayly adding Proselytes not of the meanest rank thereunto Since the return of our gracious Soveraign and the reviving of swooning Episcopacy he was deservedly preferred Bishop of Durham And here the Reader must pardon me if willing to make known my Acquaintance with so eminent a Prelate When one in his presence was pleased with some Propositions wherein the Pope condescended somewhat to the Protestants he most discreetly returned in my hearing We thank him not at all for that which God hath always allowed us in his Word adding withall He would allow it us so long as it stood with his Policy and take it away so soon as it stood with his Power And thus we take our leave of this Worthy Prelate praying for his long life that he mâ—…y be effectual in advancing the settlement of our yet distracted Church Civilians RICHARD COSIN Doctor of Law was born at Hartly Poole a well known harbour for the safety and some observe a providence that he who afterwards was to prove the grand Champion of Episcopacy should amongst all the counties of England be born in 〈◊〉 â—…ishoprick His Father was a person of quality a Captain of a Company in Mustâ—…borough field whence his valour returned with victory and wealth when crossing the River Tweed O the uncertainty of all earthly happiness was drowned therein to the great losse of his Son Richard and greater because he was not sensible thereof as left an infant in the cradle His Mother afterwards married one Mr. Meddow a York-shire Genâ—…leman who bred this his Son-in-law at a Schoole at Scypton in the Craven wherein such his proficiency that before he was twelue years old little less than a wonder to me in that age from so far a Country he was admitted in Trinity Colledge in Cambridge Some of his Friends in Queens Colledge in that University had a design to fetch him thence had not Doctor Beamont prevented the Plot in making him Scholar and Fellow as soon as by his Age Degree and the Statâ—…tes he was capable thereof He was a general Scholar Geometrician Musician Physician Divine but chiefly Civil and Canon Lawyer By Arch-Bishop Whitgift he was preferred to bâ—… first Chancellor of Worcester in that age a place non tam gratiosus quam negotiosus and afterwards Dean of the Arches wherein he carried himself without giving though many took offence at him Of these one wrote a Book against him called the Abstract abstracted saith my Author from all Wit Learning and Charity to whom he returned such an answer in the defence of the High Commission and Oath ex officio that he he put his Adversary to silence Others lay to his charge that he gave many Blank Licences the common occasions of unlawful marriages and the procurer herein is as bad as the thief robbing many a parent of his dear child thereby But always malice looks through a multiplying glasse Euclio complained Intromisisti sexcentos Coquos Thou hast let in six hundred Cooks when there was but two truely told Anthrax and Congrio so here was there but one which a fugitive servant stole from the Register to make his private profit thereby God in his sickness granted him his desire which he made in his health that he might be freed from torture which his corpulency did much suspect bestowing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon him a sweet and qutet departure pious his dying expressions I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. 1. The wages of sin is death Rom. 6. Come Lord Jesus come quickly Revel 12. and his last words was these Farewell my surviving friends remember your mortality and eternal life He gave forty pound to the building of a Chamber in Trinity Colledge and fifteen pound per annum for the maintenance of two Scholar-ships therein a good gift out of his Estate who left not above fifty pound a year clear to his Heir a great argument of his integrity that he got no more in so gainful a place Dying at Doctors Commons he was buried by his own appointment in Lambeth Church and Doctor Andrews preached his Funeral Sermon Amongst the many verses made by the University of Cambridge this with the allowance of poetical Licence came from no bad Fancy Magna Deos inter lis est exorta creatas Horum qui lites dirâ—…mit ille deest Cosinum petiere Dii componere tantas Lites quod vero jure peritus erat It must not be forgotten that Doctor Barlow afterwards Bishop of Lincoln was bred by Doctor Cosen at his charge in his own Family who in expression of his Thankfulness wrote
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
He died Anno Domini 1631. and lieth buâ—…ied at Chigwell aforesaid AUGUSTINE LINSELL D. D. was born at Bumsted in this County bred Scholar and Fellow in Clare-hall in Cambridge He applyed himself chiefly to the Studies of Greek Hebrew and all Antiquity attaining to great exactness therein He was very knowing in the antient practices of the Jews and from him I learned that they had a Custome at the Circumcising of their Children that certain Undertakers should make a solemn stipulation for their pious education conformable to our God-fathers in Baptisme He was afterwards made Bishop of Peterborough where on the joint-cost of his Clergy he procured Theophilact on the Epistles never printed before to be fairly set forth in Greek and Latine Hence he was removeâ—… to Hereford where he died 163. States-men Sir THOMAL AUDLEY Knight where born my best Industry and Inquiry cannot attain He was bred in the Studie of the Laws till he became Atturney of the Dutchie of Lancaster and Sergeant at Law as most affirme then Speaker of the Parliament Knighted and made Keeper of the great Seal June 4. 1532. being the twenty fourth of King Henry the eight and not long after was made Lord Chancellor of England and Baron Audley of Audley End in this County In the feast of Abby Lands King Henry the eight carved unto him the first cut and that I assure you was a dainty morsell viz. the Priory of the Trinity in Eald-gate Ward London dissolved 1531. which as a Van Currier foreran other Abbeys by two years and foretold their dissolution This I may call afterwards called Dukes-Place the Covent Garden within London as the greatest empty space within the Walls though since filled not to say pestered with houses He had afterwards a large Partage in the Abby Lands in severall Counties He continued in his Office of Chancellour thirteen years and had one onely daughter Margaret who no doubt answered the Pearl in her name as well in her precious qualities as rich Inheritance which she brought to her husband Thomas last Duke of Norfolk This Lord Audley died April 30. 1544. and is buried in the fair Church of Saffron-walden with this lamentable Epitaph The stroak of deaths Inevitable Dart Hath now alas of Life berefâ—…t the Heart Of Sir Thomas Audley of the garter Knight Late Chancellor of England under our Prince of might Henry the eight worthy of high renown And made him Lord Audley of this Town This worthy Lord took care that better Poets should be after then were in his age and founded Magdalen-colledge in Cambridge giving good lands thereunto if they might have enjoyed them according to his Donation Sir RICNARD MORISIN Knight was born in this County as J. Bale his Fellowexile doth acquaint us yet so as that he qualifieth his intelligence with Ut fertâ—…r which I have commuted into our marginall note of dubitation Our foresaid Author addeth that per celebriora Anglorum gymnasia artes excoluit bred probably first in Eton or Winchester then in Cambridge or Oxford and at last in the Inns of Court In those he attained to great skill in Latine and Greek in the Common and Civil Law insomuch that he was often imployed Ambassadour by King Henry the eight and Edward the sixth unto Charles the fifth Emperor and others Princes of Germany acquitting himself both honest and able in those negotiations He began a beautifull house at Cashobery in Hertford-shire and had prepared materialls for the finishing thereof but alas this house proved like the life of his Master who began it I mean King Edward the sixth broken off not ended and that before it came to the middle thereof Yea he was forced to fly beyond the Seas and returning out of Italy died at Strasburgh on the 17. of March Anno Domini 1556. to the grief of all good men Yet his son Sir Charles finished his fathers house in more peaceable times whose great-grand daughter augmented by matches with much honour and wealth a right worthy and vertuous Lady lately deceased was wife to the first Lord Capel and Mother to the present Earl of Essex Sir ANTHONY COOK Knight great-grant child to Sir Thomas Cook Lord Mayor of London was born at Giddy hall in this County where he finished a fair house begun by his great-grand-father as appeareth by this inscription on the frontispiece thereof Aedibus his frontem Proavus Thomas dedit olim Addidit Antoni caetera sera manus He was one of the Governours to King Edward the sixth when Prince and is charactered by Master Camden vir antiquâ severitate He observeth him also to be happy in his daughters learned above their sex in Greek and Latine namely 1. Mildred marryed unto 1. William Cecil Lord Treasurer of England 2. Anne  2. Nicholas Bacon  Chancellor  3. Katherine  3. Henry Killigrew Knights  4. Elizabeth  4. Thomas Hobby   5.  5. Ralph Rowlet   Indeed they were all most eminent Scholars the honour of their own and the shame of our sex both in prose and poetry and we will give an instance of the later Sir Henry Killigrew was designed by the Queen Embassadour for France in troublesome times when the imployment always difficult was then apparently dangerous Now Katherine his Lady wrot these following verses to her sister Mildred Cecil to improve her power with the Lord Treasurer her husband that Sir Henry might be excused from that service Si mihi quem cupio cures Mildreda remitti Tu bona tu melior tu mihi sola Soror Sin malè cunctando retines vel trans mare mittes Tu mala tu pejor tu mihi nulla Soror It si Cornubiam tibi pax six omnia lâ—…ta Sin mare Cecili nuntio bella vale We will endeavour to translate them though I am afraid falling much short of their native elegancy If Mildred by thy care he be sent back whom I request A Sister good thou art to me yea better yea the best But if with stays thou keepst him still or sendst where seas may part Then unto me a Sister ill yea worse yea none thou art If go to Cornwall he shall please I peace to thee foretell But Cecil if he set to Seas I war denounce farewell This Sir Anthony Cook died in the year of our Lord 1576. leaving a fair estate unto his son in whose name it continued untill our time Sir THOMAS SMITH Kt. was born at Saffron Walden in this County and bred in Queens-colledge in Cambridge where such his proficiency in learning that he was chosen out by Henry the eight to be sent over and brought up beyond the Seas It was fashionable in that age that pregnant Students were maintained on the cost of the State to be Merchants for experience in forraign parts whence returning home with their gainfull adventures they were preferred according to the improvement of their time to offices in
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
Bosome and whom he taxed for too much lenity to the Wicklevites so that we behold the Breath of Waldensis as the Bellows which Blew up the Coals for the burning of those Poor Christians in England under King Henry the sixth he was employed to provide at Paris all necessaries for his solemn Coronation and dying in his journey thether Anno 1430. was buried at Roan He was 16 years Provinciall of his Order throughout all England and wrot many books against the Wicklevites Bale citeth four all sorraign Authors which make him solemnly Sainted whilst Pitzeus more truly and modestly onely affirmeth that he died non sine sanctitatis opinione Indeed as the Pagans had their Lares and Penates Dii Minorum Gentium so possibly this Thomas though not publickly Canonized might pass for a Saint of the lesser Size in some particular places Since the Reformation THOMAS TUSSâ—…R was born at Riven-hall in this County of an ancient family since extinct if his own pen may be believed Whâ—…lst as yet a Boy he lived in many Schools Wallingford Sâ—…int Pauls Eaton whence he went to Tâ—…inity hall in Cambridge when a Man in Stafford-shire Suffolk Northfolk Cambridge-shire London and where not so that this Stone of Sisiphus could gather no Moss He was successively a Musitian School master Servingman Husbandman Grasier Poet more skilfull in all then thriving in any Vâ—…cation He traded at large in Oxen Sheep Dairies Grain of all kinds to no profit Whether he bought or sold he lost and when a Renter impoverished himself and never inriched his Landlord Yet hath he laid down excellent Rules in his Book of Husbandry and Houswifery so that the Observer thereof must be rich in his own dâ—…fence He spread his Bread with all sorts of Butter yet none would stick thereon Yet I hear no man to charge him with any vicious extravagancy or visible carelâ—…ssness imputing his ill success to some occult cause in Gods counsel Thus our English 〈◊〉 might say with the Poet Monitis sum minor ipse meis None being better at the Theory or worse at the Practise of Husbandry I match him with Thomas 〈◊〉 yard they being mark'd alike in their Poeticall parts living in the same time and 〈◊〉 alike in their Estates both low enough I assure you I cannot find the certain date of his death but collect it to be about 1580. FRANCIS QUARLES Esquire son to James Quarles Esquire was born at Sâ—…wards in the Parish of Ruâ—…ford in this County where his son as I am inform'd hath an Estate in expectancy He was bred in Cambridge and going over into Ireland became Secretary to the Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh He was a most excellent Poet and had a mind by assed to devotion Had he been contemporary with Plato that great back-friend to Poets he would not onely have allowed him to live but advanced him to an office in his Common wealth Some Poets if debarr'd proâ—…ess want oness and Satyricalness that they may neither abuse God themselves nor their neighbours have their tongues cut out in effect Others onely trade in wit at the second hand being all for translations nothing for invention Our Qâ—…arles was free from the fâ—…ts of the first as if he had drank of Jordan in stead oâ—… Helicon and slept on mount Olivet for his Pernassus and was happy in his own invention His visible Poetry I mean his Emblems is excellent caâ—…ching therein the eye and fancy at one draught so that he hath out Aleiated therein in some mens judgement His Verses on Job are done to the life so that the Reader may see his sores and through theâ—… the anguish of his soul. The troubles of Ireland where his lossâ—…s were great forced his return hither bearing his crosses with great patience so thaâ—… according to the advice of Saint Hierome Verba vertebat in opera and practiced the Job he had described dying about the year 1643. JOSEPH MEDE was born in this County a little east of Bishop-Startford Men in â—…cripture generally are notified by their Fathers as Johnadab the Son of Rechab Simon the Son of Jona Some few are described by their Sons as Simon of Cyren the Father of Alexander and Rufus wherein it is presumed that their Sons were most eminent and their Branches not known by the Root but the Root by the Branches Such the case here where the Parents obscure in themselves may hereafter be known for having Joseph Mede to their Son He was bred in Christs-colledge in Cambridge where he attained to great Learning by his own industry R. was Shiboleth unto him which he could not easily pronounce so that a set-speech cost him the double pains to another man being to fit words as well to his Mouth as his Matter Yet by his Industry and Observation He so conquered his Imperfection that though in private discourse he often smiled out his stammering into silence yet chusing his words he made many an excellent Sermon without any considerable Hesitation The first fruits of his Eminent Studies was a written Treatise de sanctitate Relativa which he presented to Bishop Andrews who besteded him with the Kings favour when his election into his Fellow-ship met with some opposition He afterwards became an Excellent Linguist Curious Mathematician Exact Text-man happy in makeing Scripture to expound it self by Parallel places He was charitable to poor people with his Almes and to all people with his candid censure Of one who constantly kept his Cell so he called his Chamber none Travailed oftener and farther over all Christendome For things past he was a Perfect Historian for things present a Judicious Novilant and for things to come a Prudentiall not to say Propheticall Conjecturer To his private friends he would often insist on the place of Scripture Judges 3. 30. and the land had a rest Four score years which was the longest term of Peace which he ever observed the Church of God to enjoy after which many troubles did ensue And seeing the same lease of Halcion days was expired in England since the first of Queen Elizabeth he grievously suspected some strange Concussion in Church and State which came to pass accordingly I confess his Memory hath suffered much in many mens Judgements for being so great a Fauter of the fancifull opinion of the Millenaries Yet none can deny but that much is found in the Ancient fathers tending that way Besides I dare boldy say that the furious Factors for the fift Monarchy hath driven that Nail which Master Mede did first enter farther then he ever intended it and doing it with such violence that they split the truths round about it Thus when ignorance begins to build on that Foundation which learning hath laid no wonder if there be no Uniformity in such a Mungrell Fabrick He died in the fifty third year of his age Anno Domini 1638. leaving the Main of his Estate to the Colledge about the value of 300l a large
fortnight in stocks in the Bishop of Londons Cole house with Irons upon him chained again by Sir Thomas More to a post two nights cruelly handled for a seven-night at Fulham scourged for a fortnight in the Tower and at last sent to a second Tree of Truth I mean to the Stake Whereat he was burned in Smithfield April 30. 1532. Here Mr. Fox reports a passage which I cannot with credit insert or omit but take it as I find it When his Armes and Legs were half consumed in the fire he spake these words O â—…e Papists behold ye look for miracles and here now you may see a miracle for in this fire I feel no more pain than if I were in a Bed of Downe but it is to me as sweet as a Bed of Roses Soft and sweet both to please the touch and smell a double wonder I believe it might be a falshood but no lye in the Author reporting it who possibly might be abused in his intelligence Secondly it is possible that this good man feeling so much pain before might through Gods goodnesse have none at his death Thirdly this story may be kept on the deck to counterpoise the scales against that of Father Briant a Popish Priest who reported himself cruelly racked in the Tower and yet se nihil quicquam doloris sensisse That he felt not any pain at all Lastly though our Saviour juâ—…ly taxeth those who were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 slow in heart to believe such things as were revealed in the Scripture yet neither God nor Man wâ—…ll be offended with the incredulous in such reports attested onely with Humane suspicious Authority Prelates TIDEMAN de WINCHCOMBE was born in this County at the Market Town formerly famous for a rich Abbey now for plenty of Poore therein He was preferred first Abbot of Benle then Bishop of Landaffe and lastly of Worcester by King Richard the second his importunity to the Pope notwithstanding one John Green was fairly elected thereunto This Tideman was the Kings Physician and very well skilled in that Faculty Be it observed by the way that I am dayly more confirmed in my opinion that till the last two hundred years Physick in England was not a distinct profession from Divinity and the same persons Physicians and Confessors to Princes Say not these Functions were inconsistent the former uâ—…ually departing the later commonly coming to dying men for the several Professions did not justle but succeed one another so that when Potion did end Unction did begin A practice continued by Popish Priests in England at this day gaining commodity and concealment by being such Pluralists in their profession having the most best and last privacy with their Patients This Tideman died Anno Dom. 1400. JOHN CHEDWORTH was born in this County and bred in Kings Colledge in Cambridge being the third Scholar that came thereinto by election from Eaton Schoole though some I confesse for a short time make him admitted into Merton Colledge in Oxford He afterwards was the third Provost of Kings Colledge possessing the place six years till at last he was elected Bishop of Lincoln He was joyned in Commission by King Henry the sixth with Bishop Wainfliet of Winchester to revise and regulate the Statutes of Eaton and Kings Colledges He sate Bishop about eighteen years and dying 1471. lies buried in his own Cathedral under a Marble Monument JOHN CARPENTER was as my Author rationally collecteth born at Westbury in this County bred in Oriall Colledge in Oxford whereof he became Provost and Chancellor of the University thence preferred Prefect of Saint Anthonies in London and at last Bishop of Worcester He was so indulgent to Westbury the place of his Nativity that of a mean he made it a magnificent Convent more like a Castle than a Colledge walling it about with Turrets and making a stately Gate-house thereunto He had an humorous intent to style Himself and Successors in imitation of Bath and Wells Bishops of Worcester and VVestbury which Title though running cleverly on the tongues end never came in request because therein Impar conjunctio the matching of a Collegiate and Cathedral Church together He died Anno Dom. 1475 and was buried in his Native Town of VVestbury His Tomb since his Death I will use my Authors words hoping their ignorance if alive understands no Latine A stolidis quibusdam nebulonibus pudendum in morem mutulatur As for the Colledge of VVestbury it is the inheritance of the Right VVorshipful and Hospital House-keeper Ralph Sadler Esq and was in these Civil Broils unhappily burnt down though those who esteemed themselves judicious in war apprehended neither necessity thereof noâ—… advantage thereby THOMAS RUTHAL born at Cicester in this County bred in Cambridge where he commenced Doctor of the Laws was by King Henry the Seventh for his great Abilities preferred to be Bishop of Durham King Henry the Eighth made him of his Privy Councel notwithstanding the hatred which Cardinal VVolsey bare unto him It happened King Henry employed him as a politick person to draw up a Breviate of the State of the Land which he did and got it fairly transcribed But it fell out that in stead thereof he deceived with the likenesse of the cover and binding presented the King with a Book containing an Inventory of his own Estate amounting to an inviduous and almost incredible summe of One hundred thousand pounds VVolsey glad of this mistake told the King he knew now where a masse of money was in case he needed it This broke Ruthall his heart who had paid the third part of the cost of making the Bridge of New-Castle over Tyne and intended many more Benefactions had not death 1523. on this unexpected occasion surprised him Since the Reformation EDWARD FOX was born in Duresley in this County bred first in Eaton then in Kings Colledge in Cambridge whereof he was chosen Provost which place he kept until his death He was afterwards Almoner to King Henry the Eighth He first brought Doctor Cranmer to the knowledge of the King which Doctor first brought the King to the knowledge of himself how he stood in matter of marriage with the Widow of his Brother This Doctor Fox was after Bishop of Hereford and was saith my Author Reformationis Ecclesiasticae illius tempore coeptae clanculum fautor Let me adde he was the principal pillar of the Reformation as to the managery of the Politick and Prudential part thereof being of more activity and no less ability then Cranmer himself Martin Bucer dedicated unto him his Comment on the Gospels yea this Bishop wrote many Books whereof that De differentia utriusque potestatis was his Master-piece He was employed by the King on several Embassies into France and Germany and died to the great loss of Gods Church May 8. 1538. States-men Sir RALPH BUTLER Knight of the Garter and Lord Sudeley in this County was Lord Treasurer of England
He proceeded Mr. of Arts in New Colledge in Oxford And afterwards being Arch-Deacon of Lincoln was a Zealous Promoter of the Protestant Religion In the first of Queen Mary being a member of the Convocation his heart was hot within And while he was musing the fire kindled and he spake with his tongue which afterwards occasioned his Martyrdome If Papists account him a Distracted Man none will wonder who consider how the prophane Captaines of Israel called the Son of the Prophet a mad fellow And if some vehement expressions fell from him during his imprisonment his enemies Cruelty was the Cause thereof Seing ill usage which once made a dumb beast to speak may make a Sober man Overspeak in his passion But all his sufferings are reported by Mr. Fox so perfectly Perfectum est cui nihil addi potest that it is presumption for any to hope to make an essential Addition thereunto He was Martyred Anno Dom. 1555. Decemb. 18. KATHARINE GOVVCHES GUILLEMINE GILBERT PEROTINE MASSEY whose husband a Minister of Gods word was for fear fled out of the Island The first of these was the Mother a poor widdow of St. Peters Port in the Isle of Guernsey the other two her Daughters but maried women These in the reign of Queen Mary were noted to be much absent from the Church for which they were presented before Jaques Amy then Dean of the Island who finding them to hold opinions against the real presence in the Sacrament of the Altar condemned them to be burnt for Hereticks which was done accordingly July 18. 1556. Add to these an Infant without a Christian name and no wonder it is never named seeing properly it was never born but by the force of the flame burst out of his mothers belly Perotine Massey aforesaid This Babe was taken up by W. House a by-stander and by the Command of Elier Gosselin the Bailiff supreme Officer in the then absence of the Governour of the Island cast again into the fire and therein consumed to Ashes It seems this bloody Bailiff was minded like the Cruel Tyrant Commanding Canis pessimi ne catulum esse relinquendum though this indeed was no Dogge but a Lamb and that of the first minute and therefore too young by the Levitical Law to be sacrificed Here was a Spectacle without precedent a Cruelty built three generations high that Grandmother Mother and Grandchild should all suffer in the same Flame And know Reader these Martyrs dying in the Isle of Guernsey are here reckoned in Hampshire because that Island with Jersey formerly subordinate to the Arch-Bishop of Constance in Normandy have since the reign of Queen Elizabeth been annexed to the Diocess of Winchester Prelates William Wickham was born at VVickham in this County being the Son of John Perot and Sibel his wife over whose graves he hath erected a Chappel at Titchfield in this County and bred in the University of Oxford He was otherwise called Long from the height of his stature as my Authour conceives though since it may be applied to the perpetuity of his memory which will last as long as the world endureth for his two fair Foundations at OXFORD WINCHESTER Begun 1379. Finished 1386. Begun 1387. Finished 1393. The Charter of the Foundation of St. Maries-Colledge in Oxford was dated the 26. of November 1379. in his Manour in Southwarke sâ—…nce called VVinchester-House The Scholars entred thereunto about nine a clock on the 14. day of April in the same year The first Stone was laid March 26. at nine a clock in the morning in the 69. year of the age of the Founder  He died in the 37th year of his Consecration and 80th of his Age in the 5th year of the Reign of King Henry the Fourth and his Benefaction to Learning is not to be paralleld by any English Subject in all particulars JOHN RUSSELL was born in this County in the Parish of Saint Peters in the Suburbs of VVinchester He was bred Fellow of New-Colledge and when Doctor of Canon-Law was chosen Chancellor of Oxford Yea that Office annual before was first fixed on him as in Cambridge on Bishop Fisher for term of life By King EDWARD the Fourth he was advanced Bishop of Lincolne and by Richard the Third Ld. Chancellor of England having ability enough to serve any and honesty too much to please so bad a King And because he could not bring him to his bent when the Lord Hastings was killed this Bishop saith my Author was for a time imprisoned He died January the 30. Anno 1490. Leaving this Character behind him Vir fuit summa pietate ex rerum usu oppidò quà m prudens doctrina etiam singulari WILLIAM WARHAM was born at Ockley of Worshipful Parentage in this County bred Fellow and Doctor of the Lawes in New-Colledge imployed by King Henry the Seventh who never sent sluggard or fool on his errand to Margaret Dutches of Burgundy and by him advanced Bishop of London then Archbishop of Canterbury living therein in great lustre till eclipsed in power and profit by Thomas VVolsey Archbishop of Yorke It may be said that England then had ten Arch-Bishops if a figure and cypher amount to so many or else if it had but two they were Arch-Bishop Thomas and Arch-Bishop VVolsey drawing all causes to his Court-legatine whilest all other Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions in England kept a constant vacation This VVarham bare with much moderation contenting himself that as he had less honour so he had less envy and kept himself coole whilst VVolsey his screene was often scorched with just and general hatred In the case of K. Henry His divorce he was the Prime Advocate for Queen Katherine and carried it so cautiously that he neither betrayed the cause of his Client nor incurr'd the Kings displeasure Nor will any wonder that an Arch-Bishop of Canterbury did then plead before an Arch-Bishop of York seeing the King at the same time was summoned before His Subject He survived VVolsey's ruine but never recovered his former greatness blasted with a PRAEMUNIRâ—… with the rest of the Clergy and the heavier because the higher in dignity He is said to have expended thirty thousand pounds in the repair of his Palaces the probable reason why he left no other publick Monuments though Arch-bishop twenty eight years dying Anno Domini 1533. ROBERT SHERBORN was born in this County and bred first in VVinchester and then in New Coll. was a great Schollar and prudent Man imployed in several Embassies by K. Henry the seventh and by him preferred Bishop first of St. Davids then Chichester Which Church he decored with many Ornaments and Edifices especially the South-side thereof Where On the one side On the other The History of the foundation of the Church with the Images of the Kings of England The Statues of all the Bishops of this See both those of Selcey and of Chichester He often inscribed
Civil War is a vagrant and will trace all corners except they be surrounded with Gyges his ring Surely some eyes in that place besides the Sweet Rivers of Severn and Wye running by them have had Salt Waters flowing from them since the beginning of our late Distractions Lemster bread and Weabley Ale It seems both these are best in their kinds though good in other places of the Land Thus though Palestine was universally termed a Land of Wheat yet the Spirit of God takes signal notice of the wheat of Minnith and Pannag as finer than the rest Yet is there Wheat in England which justleth for pureness with that of Weabley viz. What groweth about Heston in Middlesex yeilding so fine floure that for a long time the Manchet for the Kings of England was made thereof except any will say it is prized the more for the Vicinity to London Saints ETHELBERT was King of the East-Angles and went to Offa King of Mercia to treat of a marriage with his Daughter but Queen Quendred Wife to Offa more ambitious of her own unlawful then her Daughters lawful advancement practised his Death at a Village now called Sutton-Wallis four miles from Hereford His corps was afterwards removed by Milfred a petit Prince of that Country to Hereford where he obtained the reputation of a Saint and Martyr His suffering happened Anno Dom. 793. THOMAS CANTILUPE was of honourable extraction whose Father William Lord Cantilupe had two fair habitations Abergavenny Castle in Monmouth and Harringworth in Northampton-shire which by an Heir-general of that Family afterwards descended to the Lord Zouch He was bred in Oxford whereof at last he became Chancellour and was preferred Bishop of Hereford A charitable man may believe him a person of Holy Life and great Learning But no wise man will credit what Walsingham writes of him That he was never guilty of any mortal sin Going to others say returning from Rome to assert his Church from the encroachment of Peckam Arch-bishop of Canterbury he dyed at a City in Tuscany where his flesh was taken off his Corps and buryed whilst his bones were sent for Reliques into England and enshrined at Hereford Now though different dates be assigned of his death I adhere to Bishop Godwin noting his Dissolution 1282. He was afterwards canonized by Pope John the twenty second and no fewer then four hundred twenty five miracles are registred in that Church reported to be wrought at his Tomb. I say just four hundred twenty five which falls out sewer by five and twenty then the Prophets of Baal and more by five and twenty then the Prophets of the Groves in a middle number betwixt both and all of thâ—…m I beleive honest and true alike Yea it is recorded in his legend that by his Prayers were raised from death to life threescore several persons one and twenty Lepers healed and three and twenty blind and dumb men to have received their sight and speech No wonder then what Mr. Camden observeth that in process of time parum abfuit quin pietatis opinione Regio Martyri Ethelberto praeluxerit He lack'd but little to eclipse the Lustre of Ethelbert the Royal Saint and Martyr formerly buryed as is aforesaid in the same Cathedral Indeed it is given to Superstition alwayes to be fondest of the youngest Saint But long since King Henry the eighth hath put a period to all emulations betwixt their memories The Bishops of Hereford so highly honoured this Thomas that waving their ancient Arms they assumed the paternal Coate of Cantilupe viz. Gules 3 Leopards heads inverted each with a Flower de Luce in his Mouth Or to be successively the Arms of their See This Cantilupe lived the latest of any Englishman who was canonized so that blind zeal may even close her Stomack and make up her Mouth with the Sweet-meats of his memory Martyrs Sir JOHN Son to Sir Thomas OLDCASTLE was a Native of this County whereof he was Sheriff in the seventh of Henry the fourth Lord Cobham in the right of his Wife a right valiant man but great follower of VVickliffe so that he lost his life on that account As his body was hanged and burnt in an unusual posture at Tyburne so his memory hath ever since been in a strange suspense betwixt Malefactour and Martyr Papists charging him with Treason against King Henry the fifth and heading an Army of more then ten thousand men though it wanted nine thousand nine hundred ninety and nine thereof so far as it appears solidly proved But it hath ever been the Practice of the Devil and his instruments angry with Gods Servants for their Religion to accuse them for Sedition perceiving Princes generally more jealous of their own honour then Gods Glory and most careful to cut off such as oppose their power or persons Thus Christ was accused for Disloyalty to Caesar and St. Paul for raifing of Tumults though they as it is plain in the Text either raised themselves or were raised by the Pharisees and Saducees Pauls professed Enemies But I have so worne out the Neb of my Pen in my Church-History about clearing the Innocency of this worthy Knight that I have nothing to add new thereunto Marian Martyrs this Diocess affordeth none such the Moderation of Robert Parfew the Bishop thereof Cardinal ADAM de EASTON We were at a great losse had we but his bare Sirname to direct us to the place of his Nativity seeing scarcely one County in England which hath not one or more Eastons or Eatons the same in effect therein But thanks be to our Author who hath fixed his Birth though but with an ut videtur in this Shire Pretenders to Skill in Palmestry would perswade us that such the Table in whose hands is narrow beneath and broad above are marked out for Poverty in their youth and plenty in their old Age. I will not say such the Signature in the hands of our Adam but sure I am such his successe Mean his birth homely his breeding hard his fare till by his Industry he was advanced Dr. of Divinity in Oxford wherein he became a great Scholar skill'd in Greek and Hebrew rare accomplishments in that age and was very dexterous in all civil Negotiations He was afterwards made Cardinal with the Title of St. Cicilie by Pope Urban against whom Clement the seventh was elected and erected by others Fierce the Fight between Bears and Boars but far fiercer betwixt two Anti-Popes giving no Quarter to the opposite party if brought into their power Urban suspecting Treachery in some of his Cardinals imprisoned seven of them at once and puting five of them into Sacks sunk them into the Sea Oh most barbarous Urbanity Our Adam being the sixth hardly escaped with Life and may be said in some sort put into a Sack though of a larger size I mean a streight Dungeon where he remained half starved for five years together till the
censure him for deserting his Principles yet he is said on his death-bed to have given full â—…tisfaction to such who formerly suspected his sincerity to the Presbyterian Discipline dying Anno Dom. 1655. He was solemnly buried in the â—…bbey at Westminster Exiâ—…-Romish-Writers RICHARD BROUGHTON was born at Great Steuckley in this County bred at Rhemes in France where he received the Order of Priesthood and was sent over into England for the propagation of his partie Here he gave so signal testimony and fidelity to the cause that he was before many others preferred Assistant to the English Arch-Priest He wrote many books and is most esteemed by those of his own Religion for his English Ecclesiastical History from the first planting of the Gospel to the coming in of the Saxons But in plain truth there is little milk no creame and almost all whey therein being farced with Legendary stuff taken from Authors some of condemned most of suspected credit If by the Levitical Law a bastard should not enter into the congregation of the Lord understand it to bear Office therein to the tenth generation it is pity that adulterated Authours being an illegitimate off-spring should be admitted to bear rule in Church-History This Broughton was living in the latter end of the Reign of King Iames. Benefactors to the Publicke AMBROSE Son to Iohn Nicholas was born at Needenworth in this County whence he went to London and was bound apprentice to a Salter thriving so well in his Trade that Anno 1576. he became Lord Mayor of London He founded Twelve Almes houses in Mungwel-street in that City indowing them with Competent maintenance Sir WOLSTAN Son to Thomas Dixie was born at Catworth in this County bred a Skinner in London whereof he became Lord Mayor Anno 1585. He was a man made up of deeds of Charitie the particulars whereof are too long to recite He gave 600. pound to Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge to the founding of a Fellowship Erected a Free-school at Bosworth in Leicestershire and Endowed it where his family flourish at this day in a worshipfull Estate RICHARD FISHâ—…OURN was born in the Town of Huntington cut out of no mean Quarry being a Gentleman by his Extraction Leaving a Court life as more pleasant then profitable He became servant to Sir Raptist Hicks afterwards Viscount Camden and by Gods blessing on his industry attained a great Estate whereof he gave two thousand pounds for the buying out of Impropriations in the Northern parts and setling a preaching Ministery where most want thereof he bequeathed as much to the Company of Mercers whereof he was free and the same summe to Huntington the place of his Nativity with One thousand marks to Christ-Church Hospital The whole summe of his benefactions amounted to ten thousand seven hundred pounds and upwards briefly summed up in his Funeral Sermon commonly called Corona Charitatis preached by Master Nathaniel Shute wherein to use his Expression He supped up many things with a very short breath contracting his Deeds of Charity to avoid tediousness Nor must it be forgotten how this Gentleman lying on his death-bed when men are presumed to speak with unmasked consciences did professe that to his knowledge he had got no part of his goods unjustly No man of his Quality won more Love in health Prayers in sicknesse and Lamentation at his Funeral dying a single man and buried in Mercers Chappel May the 10. 1625. Memorable Persons Sir OLIVER CROMWELL Knight son of Sir Henry Cromwell Knight of Hinching-brooke in this County is Remarkable to Posterity on a four-fold account First For his hospitality and prodigious entertainment of King James and his Court. Secondly for his upright dealing in bargain and sale with all chapmen so that no man who soever purchased Land of him was put to charge of three pence to make good his Title Yet he sold excellent penniworths insomuch that Sir Iohn Leamon once Lord Mayor of London who bought the fair Manour of Warboise in this County of him affirmed That it was the cheapest Land that ever he bought and yet the dearest that ever Sir Oliver Cromwell sold. Thirdly for his Loyalty alwayes beholding the Usurpation and Tyranny of his Nephew God-Son and NAME-SAKE with Hatred and Contempt Lastly for his Vivacity who survived to be the oldest Gentleman in England who was a Knight Though not the oldest Knight who was a Gentleman seeing Sir George Dalston younger in years yet still alive was Knighted some dayes before him Sir Oliver died Anno Dom. 1654. 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 Commissioners John de Tiptofte Chivaler  Roger Hunt Knights for the Shire  William Waton Knights for the Shire  Abbatis de Ramsey Abbatis de Sautrey Prioris de Huntington Prioris de S. Neoto Prioris de Stonle Archidiaconi Eliensis Rectoris de Somerham PrebendaÅ•ii Ecclesiae Lincolniens Domini de Leighton Rectoris Ecclesiae de Bluntesham Vicarii Ecclesiae de Gurmecest Vicarii Ecclesiae de S. Neoto Rect. Ecclesiae de Ript Abbatis Nicholai Stivecle Militis Roberti Stonham armigeri Everardi Digby armigeri Radulphi Stivecle armigeri Thomae Devyll armigeri Thomae Nesenham armigeri Henrici Hethe Johannis Bayons armigeri Rogeri Lowthe Edwardi Parker Walteri Taillard Iohannis Eyr Iohannis Bekeswell Willielmi Castell Willielmi Waldesheefe Thomae Freman Ioannis Donold Walteri Mayll Roberti Boteler de Alyngton Roberti Boteler de Hilton Iohannis Kirkeby Iohannis Sankyn Roberti Langton Reginaldi Rokesden Iohannis Pulter Roberti Wene Iohannis Sampson de Somersh Thomae Clerevax Radulphi Pakynton VVillielmi Est Richardi Est Roberti Creweker VVillielmi Maister Iohannis Morys VVillielmi Druell de VVeresle Radulphi Ioce Iohannis Devyll de Chescerton Iohannis Cokerham Richardi Bâ—…singham I. Cokeyn Parker de Kimbolton Richardi Burgham Richardi Parker de Bukden Thomae Alcumbury VVillielmi Boteler de VVeresle VVill. Iudde dâ—… Sancto Ivone VVillielmi VVassingle VVillielmi VVardale VVillielmi Colles Laurentii Merton Thomae Judde Willielmi Boteler de Ramsey Thomae Barboure de Eadem Thomae Rede Thomae Irlle Willielmi Holland Williel Smith de Alcumbury Williel Hayward de Buckworth Richardi Boton Iohannis Cross senioris Edmundi Fairstede Willielmi Erythe Willi. Skinner de Brampton Willielmi West Thomae Daniel Willielmi Daniel Iohannis Barbour Thomae Parker de S. Neoto Edm. Faillour de Kymbolton Thomae Bowelas Willielmi â—…eete Willielmi Talers Thomae Aungevin Walteri Godegamen Iohannis Cage Johannis Manypeny Johannis Copgray clerici Willielmi Arneburgh Henrici Attehill Johannis Charwalton Edmundi Ulfe Willielmi Hare Johannis Dare Willielmi Sturdivale Richarde Brigge Mich. Carleton Ballivi ejusdeÌ„ Ville Huntington Georgei Giddyng Iohannis Chikson Iohannis Pecke Thome Charwalton Iohannis Abbotesle I meet with this uncomfortable passage in Mr. Speeds or rather in Sir Robert Cottons description of this Shire Thus as this City so the old families have been here with time out worne
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
of the Sea c. I confesse the modern mystery of Watch-making is much completed men never being more curious to divide more carelesse to imploy their time but surely this was accounted a master-peece in that age His Sermons so indeared him to King Edward 6. that he preferred him whilst as yet scarce thirty six yeares of age to the Bishoprick of Rochester then of Winchester But alas these honor 's soon got were as soon lost being forced to fly into high Germany in the first of Queen Mary Where before he was fully fourty and before he had finished his Book begun against Thomas Martin in defence of Ministers marriage he died at Strasburg the 2. August 1556. And was buried there with great Lamentation RICHARD FLETCHER was born in this County Brother to Doctor Giles Fletcher the Civilian and Embassadour in Russia and bred in Bennet Colledge in Cambridge He was afterwards Dean of Peterborough at what time Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded at Fotheringhay to whom he made saith my Authour Verbosam Orationem a Wordy speech of her past present and future condition wherein he took more pains that he received thanks from her who therein was most concerned Hence he was preferred Bishop of Peterborough and at last of London my Authour saith he was Presul Splendidus and indeed he was of a comly presence and Queen Elizabeth knew full well Gratior est pulcro veniens è corpore virtus The Iewel vertue is more Grac'd When in a proper person Cas'd Which made her alwayes on an equality of Desert to reflect favourably on such who were of Graceful countenance and stature In one respect this Bishop may well be resembled to John Peckham Archbishop of Canterbury of whom I find this Character Quanquam gestu incessu saepeetiami n Sermone gloriosus videretur elatus animo tamen fuit benignissimo perquam comi Although he seemed a boaster and puffed up both in gesture and gaâ—…e and sometimes in his speech also yet was he of a loving disposition exceeding courteous Such a one was Bishop Fletcher whose pride was rather on him than in him as only gate and gesture-deep not sinking to his heart though causelesly condemned for a proud man as who was a good Hypocrite and far more humble than he appeared He married a Lady of this County who one commendeth for very vertuous which iâ—… so the more happy she in her self though unhappy that the world did not believe it Sure I am that Queen Elizabeth who hardly held the second matches of Bishops excusable accounted his marriage a trespasse on his gravity whereupon he fell into her deep displeasure Hereof this Bishop was sadly sensible and seeking to lose his sorrow in a mist of smoak died of the immoderate taking thereof June the fifteenth 1596. BRIAN DUPPA D. D. the worthy Bishop of Winchester was born at Lewsham in in this County staying for farther instructions I am forced to deferre his life to our Additions States-Men Sir EDWARD POYNINGS Knight was in martial performances inferiour to none of his age and a Native of this County as from the Catalogue of the Sheriffs therein may be collected We will insist only on his Irish Action being employed by King Henry the seventh to conjure down the last walking Spirit of the House of York which haunted that King I mean Perkin Warbeck Having ferreted him out of Ireland he seriously set him self to reclaim that barbarous Nation to civility and in order thereunto passed an Act in Parliament whereby all the Statutes made in England bâ—…fore that time were enacted established and made of force in Ireland He caused also another Law to be made that no Act should be propounded in any Parliament in Ireland till first it had been transmitted into England approved there by the King and returned thence under his broad Seal Now though this Act seemeth prima facie prejudicial to the liberty of the Irish Subjects yet was it made at the request of the Commons upon just important cause being so sensible of the oppression and Laws imposed by private Lords for their particular ends that they rather referred themselves to the Kings Justice than to the merciless mercy of so many Masters Also to conform Ireland to England he procured the passing of an Act that the Irish Barons should appear in Parliament in their Robes which put a face of Grandeur and State on their Convention And indeed formalities are more than Formalities in matters of this nature essentiall to beget a veneration in barbarous people who carry much of their Brain in their Eyes He thriftily improved the Kings Revenues and obtained a Subsidy of twenty six shillings eight pence payable yearly for five years out of every six score Acres manured The worst was the burden fell on their backs whose Islands were most industrious whereby the Soveraign became not more wealthy but the Subjects more lazy the mischief being as apparent as the remedy impossible Many more large Laws of his making found but narrow performance viz. only within the Pale Nor was Henry the seventh though in title in trâ—…th Lord of all Ireland but by the favour of a Figure and large Synechdeche of a part for the whole These things thus ordered Sir Edward was recalled in to England created a Baron and dying in the beginning of King Henry the eight left a numerous natural but no legitimate issue Sir ANTHONY St. LEGER is rationally reputed a Kentish man though he had also a Devonshire Relation as will appear to such who peruse the Sheriffs of this County He was properly the first Vice-Roy of Ireland seeing shadows cannot be before their substance and in his Deputy-ship Henry the eight in the 33. year of his reign assumed the Title of King and Supream Head of the Church of Ireland To him all the Irish Nobility made their solemn submission falling down at his feet upon their knees laying aside their Girdles Skeines and Caps This was the fourth solemn submission of the Irish to the Kings of England and most true it is such seeming submissions have been the bane of their serious subjection For out of the Pale our Kings had not power either to Punish or Protect where those Irish Lords notwithstanding their Complemental Loyalty made their list the law to such whom they could over-power He caused also certain Ordinances of State to be made not altogether agreeable with the Rules of the Law of England a satisfactory reason hereof being given in the Preamble to them Quia nondum sic sapiunt leges Jura ut secundum ea jam immediate vivere regi possint Because the Irish as yet do not so savour the Laws of England as immediately to live after and be ruled by them Thus the greatest Statesmen must sometimes say by your leave to such as are under them not acting alway according to their own ability but others capacity He seized all
the Abby Lands in Ireland for the Kings use a flower of the Crown which alone had made a Posey if continued thereunto But alas the Revenues of Abby Lands are as 〈◊〉 as their buildings nothing more than the rubbish thereof remaining in the Kings Exchequer He made a Law that no Children should be admitted to Church livings which importeth the frequency of that abuse in former times He perswaded O Neile O Brian c. to go over into England to surrender their lands into the Kings hands promising they should receive them again from him by Letters Patents with the Addition of Earls which was done accordingly At his desire the King conferred on them Houses nigh Dublin that residing there they might suck in Civility with the Court air These things thus setled he returned into England and died as I take it in the raign of King Edward the sixth Sir HENRY SIDNRY was son to Sir William Sidney of Pensherst in this County who by his own worth was advanced into the favour of Queen Elizabeth never a whit the lesse for marrying Mary Dudley sister to Robert Earl of Leicester he was by her made Knight of the Garter Lord President of Wales and for eleven years off and on Deputy of Ireland Now though generally the Irish are querelous of their Deputies what Patient for the present will praise his Chirurgion who soundly searcheth his sore yet Sir Henry left a good memory and the monuments of a good Governor behind him 1. He made Annaly a Territory in Loynsteresse by the Sept of Offerralles one entire Shire by it self called the County of Longford he likewise divided the Province of â—…onaght into six Counties 2. In a Parliament held the eleventh of Elizabeth he abolished the pretended and usurped Captain-ships and all extortions incident thereunto 3. He caused an Act to pass whereby the Lord Deputy was authorized to accept the surrenders of the Irish Seâ—…gniories and to re-grant estates unto them to hold of the Crown by English Tenures and Services 4. Because the inferiour sort of the Irish were poor and not Amesâ—…able by Law he provided that five of the best persons of every Sept should bring in all the persons of their surname to be justified by the Law 5. A Law was made that for the civil education of the youth there should be one Free Schoole at least in every Diocesse 6. To acquaint the people of Mounster and Conaght with the English Government again disused amongst them for two hundred years he instituted two Presidency Courts in those two Provinces 7. To augment the Revenues of the Crown he resumed and vested therein by the power of the same Parliament more than half the Province of Ulster upon the attainder of Shane O Neale 8. He raised Customs upon the principal Commodities of the Kingdom and reformed the abuses of the Exchequer by many good instructions from England 9. He established the Composition of the Pale in lieu of Purveyance and Sesse of Souldiers It must not be forgotten that he caused the Statutes of Ireland unto his own time to be printed and so saith my Author ex umbra in solem eduxit he brought them out of the shadow into the sun-shine Whereas formerly they were only in Manuscript a sad case that men should be obliged to the observation of those Laws scarce ever seen by one in an hundred subjected thereunto Being to leave Ireland Anno 1578. and now ready to go up into his Ship he took his leave thereof with the words of the Psalmist When Israel came out of Egypt and Jacob from a strange people rejoycing in heart that he came with a clear conscience from that dangerous employment He died at Worcester May the fifth 1586. and his Corps being brought to Pensherst were there solemnly interred amongst his Ancestors I will close his Life with this Encomium which I find in a Worthy Author His disposition was rather to seek after the Antiquities and the Weal-Publick of those Countries which he governed than to obtain lands and revenues within the same for I know not one foot of Land that he had either in Wales or Ireland Sir PHILIP SIDNEY Reader I am resolved not to part him from his Father such the Sympathy betwixt them living and dying both within the compass of the same year Otherwise this Knight in relation to my Book may be termed an Ubiquitary and appear amongst Statesmen Souldiers Lawyers Writers yea Princes themselves being though not elected in election to be King of Poland which place he declined preferring rather to be a Subject to Queen Elizabeth than a Soveraign beyond the Seas He was born at Pensherst in this County son to Sir Henry Sidney of whom before and Sisters Son to Robert Earl of Leicester bred in Christs Church in Oxford Such his appetite to Learning that he could never be fed fast enough therewith and so quick and strong his digestion that he soon turned it into wholsome nourishment and thrived healthfully thereon His homebred abilities travel perfected with forraign accomplishments and a sweet Nature set a glosse upon both He was so essential to the English Court that it seemed maimed without his company being a compleat Master of Matter and Language as his Arcadia doth evidence I confesse I have heard some of modern pretended Wits cavil thereat meerly because they made it not themselves such who say that his Book is the occasion that many pretious hours are otherwise spent no better must acknowledge it also the cause that many idle hours are otherwise spent no worse than in reading thereof At last leaving the Court he followed the Camp being made Governor of Flushing under his Uncle Earl of Leicester But the Walls of that City though high and strong could not confine the activity of his mind which must into the Field and before Zutphen was unfortunately slain with a shot in a small skirmish which we may sadly tearm a great battel considering our heavy losse therein His Corps being brought over into England was buried in the Quire of St. Pauls with general lamentation Sir FRANCIS WALSINGHAM Knight was born in this County wherein his Family long flourished at Chiselhurst though I read that originally they fetch their name from Walsingham in Norfolk He was bred in Kings Colledge in Cambridge and gave the King of â—…pain his Bible to the Library thereof As a traveller many years beyond the 〈◊〉 he learnt experience as an Agent he practised it there and after his return a Secretary of State he taught it to many Emisaries imployed under him None alive did better ken the Secretary Craft to get Counsels out of others and keep them in himself Mâ—…rvellous his â—…agacity in examining suspected persons either to make them confesse the truth or confound themselves by denying it to their detection Cunning his hands who could unpick the Cabinets in the Popes Conclave quick his ears who could hear at London what
opinion which entred into the World with great disadvantages For first none will be acquainted with strangers at the first sight as persons generally suspected as if to be unknown were part of being guilty Secondly the Grandees of this Profession were of the opposite judgement heavy enough without any Argument to overlay and so to stifle any Infant opinion by their Authority But Truth though it may be questioned for a Vagrant carrieth a Passport along with it for its own vindication Such have since shaken friendly hands with Doctor Harvey which at first tilted Pens against him And amongst the rest Riolanus that learned Physician if not Ambabus ulnis with one Arm at the least doth embrace his opinion and partly consent thereunto This Doctor though living a Batchelor may be said to have left three hopeful Sons to posterity his Books 1. De circulatione sanguinis which I may call his Son and Heir the Doctor living to see it at full age and generally received 2. De generatione as yet in its minority but I assure you growing up apace into publick credit 3. De Ovo as yet in the nonage thereof but infants may be men in due time It must not be forgotten that this Doctor had made a good progresse to lay down a Practice of Physick conformable to his Thesis of the Circulation of Blood but was plundered of his Papers in our Civil War Unhappy dissentions which not onely murdered many then alive but may be said by this call it mischief or mischante to have destroyed more not yet born whose Diseases might have been either prevented or removed if his worthy pains had come forth into the Publick And I charitably presume that grateful posterity will acknowledge the improvements of this opinion as Superstructures on his Foundation and thankfully pay the fruit to his memory who watered planted not to say made the root of this discovery He hath since been a second Linaore and great Benefactor to the Colledge of Physicians in London where his Statue stands with this Inscription GULIELMO HARVEO VIRO Monumentis suis immortali Hoc insuper Coll. Med. London posuit Qui enim Sanguin motum Ut Animal ortum dedit Meruit esse Stator perpetuus He died in the eightieth year of his Age June 3. Anno Dom. 1657. Writers JOHN of KENT so called because born in this County after he had studied at home with good proficiency went over into France where he became Canon in the Church of Saint Maries in Angiers But afterwards being weary of worldly wealth he quitted that place and turned a Franciscan Fryer and by Pope Innocent the fourth he was sent a joynt Legate into England He flourished in the year of our Lord 1248. HAIMO of FEVERSHAM both had his first breath at and fetched his name from Feversham in this County When a man he left the land and repairing to Paris applied his studies so effectually that Leland saith he was inter Aristotelicos Aristotelissimus He became a Franciscan in the Church of Saint Dennis it self and returning into England was elected Provincial of his Order Afterwards he was called to reside in Rome for his advice where quitting his Provincialship to his Successor he was chosen General of the Franciscans Surely he had much real or reputed merit being so highly prized by the Italians who generally do as much undervalue us English as they over-admire themselves Speculum honestatis the Glasse of honesty â—…aith one was the title given unto him though dark and false this Glasse if Bale may be believed who taxeth him for being an Inquisitor after and Persecutor of good people especially when imployed by the Pope into Grecia Lying on his Death-bed at Anagnia in Italy the Pope in person came to visit him which was no small honour unto him but all would not prolong his life which he ended Anno 1260. Having first at the command of Pope Alexander the fourth corrected and amended the Roman Breviary SIMON STOCK was born in this County and when but twelve years of Age went into the Woods whereof this Shire then afforded plenty and became a Hermite This Christian Diogenes had for his Tub the Stock of a hollow Tree whence he fetched his name and abating his Sex was like the Nymphs called Hama-druides which were the properties of Oak Trees Here he had saith Leland Water for his Nectar and wild Fruits for his Ambrosia One may admire how this man here met with Learning except by Inspiration and except Books as at the Original were written on Barks of Trees where with he conversed yet the University of Oxford would force a Batchelor of Divinity-ship upon him and many are the superstitious writings he lèft to posterity Reader behold here how the Roaring Lyon hath translated himself into a Mimical Ape endeavouring a mock Parallel betwixt this Simon and Simeon in the Gospell Old Simeon had a Revelation that he should not die till he had seen our Saviour come in the Flesh. This Simon aged 80. years had a Revelation that before his death he should behold a holy Order of Carmelites come out of Syria which fell out accordingly At their arrival in England our Simon quitted his Oak and advanced forward to meet them as of whom though he had no sight he had a vision before which is probably as true as that he was fed seven years with Manna in Mount Carmel He was chosen the General Governour of their Order all over Europe and died in the hundred year of his age Anno Dom. 1265. and was buried at Burdeaux in France THOMAS HASHLWOOD I find the name very ancient in a worshipful Family in Northampton-shire and professe not only my inclination but propensity to gain him for the credit of my Native Country But that needs not to be and I ought not to make it rich with the wrong of others Indeed I find a Haselwood Transposition makes no Mutation in Suffolk and another in Northumberland but their vast distance from the Monastery of Leeds in this County wherein our Haselwood was bred an Augustinian Fryer with some other insinuations too long to report prevail with me to fix him in this place He was an excellent Scholar himself and a fortunate School-master to teach others and became a faithful and painful Historian Bale out of William Botiner an industrious Collector of Antiquities assigneth him to flourish under King Edward the second 1321. but Mr. Weaver light on a Manuscript of his making in Sir Robert Cottons Library wherein he particularly speaks of the Atchievements of Edward the black Prince which I here thought fit to exemplifie Edwardus filius Edw. 3. primogenitus Princeps Walliae fortunatissimus miles in bello audacissimus inter validissima bella gesta militaria magnifice ab eodem peracta Johannem Regem Franciae apud Poyteizes debellavit pluribus tam nobilibus quam aliis de dicto regno captis
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
and returning in the Raign of King Edward the sixâ—… became a Preacher of London He and Mr. Hooper were the two greatest Sticklers against Ceremonies though otherwise allowing of Episcopal Government He was the first Martyr who suffered in Smithfield in Queen Maries dayes and led all the rest of whom we may truly say that if they had not beâ—…n flesh and blood they could not have been burnt and if they had been no more then flesh and blood they would not have been burnt The Non-Conformists account it no small Credit unto them that one of their Opinion as who would not flinch from the faith was chosen by Divine Providence the first to encounter the fire Such may remember that no Army is all FRONT and that as constant did come behinde as went before Had those of an opposite judgment been called first they had come first to the stake and in due time the defenders of Ceremonies were as substantial in their Sufferings This John Rogers was martyred Febr. 4. 1555. JOHN BRADFORD was born at * Manchester in this County and bred first a Lawyer in the Inns of Court and for a time did solicite Suits for Sr. John Harrington afterwards saith my * Authour ex Rixoso Causidico mitissimus Christi Apostolus going to Cambridg a man in maturity and ability the University by special Grace bestowed on him the Degree of Master of Art and so may he be said to Commence not only per saltum but per volatum The Jesuit doth causlesly urge this his short standing for an Argument of his little understanding whereas he had alwayes been a hard Student from his youth and his Writings and his Disputings give a sufficient Testimony of his Learning It is a demonstration to me that he was of a sweet temper Because Parsons who will hardly afford a good VVord to a Protestant saith that he seemed to be of a more soft and milde nature than many of his fellowe 〈◊〉 Indeed he was a most holy and mortified man who secretly in his closet would so weep for his sinnes one would have thought he would never have smiled again and then appearing in publick he would be so harmlesly pleasant one would think he had never wept before But Mr. Fox his pains have given the pens of all Posterity a VVrit of ease to meddle no more with this Martyr who suffered Anno Dom. 1555. GEORGE MARSH was born at Dean in this County bred a good Scholar in a Grammer-School and then lived in the honest condition of a Farmer after the death of his wife he went to Cambridge where he followed his Studies very close and afterwards solemnly entring into Orders became a profitable Preacher and Curate to Mr. Lawrence Sanders the worthy Martyr Causlesly therefore doth Parsons asperse him that he of a Farmer turned a Preacher as if he had done it immediately with many of our Age leaping from the plough to the pulpit concealing his Academical breeding such is the Charity of his jesuitical reservation As little is his Charity for condemning him for answering 〈◊〉 and fearfully at first to such who examined him about the Sacrament of the Altar seeing the said Marsh condemned himself for doing it as therein too much consulting carnal Respects to save his life as appears in Mr. Fox whence the Jesuite fetcheth all his Information But Marsh made amends for all these failings with his final constancy being both burnt and scalded to death having a barrel of pitch placed over his head an accent of cruelty peculiar to him alone when he was martyred at VVestchester Apr. 24. 1555. Cardinals WILLIAM ALAN was born in this County saith my Authour nobilibus parentibus of 〈◊〉 Parentage He was bred in Oriel Colledg in the University of Oxford and became Head of Sâ—… Maries Hall therein Then going beyond the Seas he became Kings 〈◊〉 at 〈◊〉 Cannon of Cambray and Rhemes and at last by Pope Sixtus Quint us made Cardinal priest of Martins in Rome 1587. and deserved his Red Hat by his good Service the year after against his Native Country But hear what Different Characters two Authours of several perswasions bestow upon him PITZEU 〈◊〉 ANO. Script page 792. GODWIN in his Catalogue of Cardinals page 479. He was somewhat above an ordinary man in Stature comely of Countenance composed in his Gaâ—…e affable in all Meetings and for the Gifts of his Mind Pious Learned Prudent Grave and though of Great Authority Humble modest meek patient peaceable in a word beautified and adorned with all kinds of Virtues He was the last of our English Cardinals in time and first in wickedness deserving not to be counted among English men who as another Herostratus to atchieve himself a name amongst the Grandees of Earth endeavoured to fire the Church of England the Noblest without envy be it spoken in the Christian World so that his memory deserveth to be buried in oblivion He collected the English Exilâ—…s into a Body and united them in a COLLEDG first at Doway then at Rhemes so great an Advancer that we may behold him as Founder of that Seminary He â—…yed at Rome Anno 1594. and preferred rather to be buried in the English School than in the Church of St. Martins which gave him the Title of Cardinal Prelates HUGH OLDHAM born in this County at Oldham a Village some fix miles from Manchester bred in Queens Colledge in Cambridge was no ill Scholar and a good Man most pious according to and above the Devotion of the Age he lived in he was afterwards Bishop of Exeter a Foe to a Monkish Superstition and a Friend to University Learning Brazen-Nose Colledge in Oxford and Corpus-Christi Colledge therein will for ever bear witnesse of his bounty to advance Religion and Learning Besides the Town of Manchester have good cause to remember him who founded and endowed a School therein with large Revenue appointing the Warden of the Colledge therein Caput Scholae This Bishop having a tough contest with the Abbot of Tavestock was excommunicated for refusing to stand to the decision of the Court of Rome He had formerly built a Chapel in the South side of his Cathedrall and dying excommunicate on the aforesaid account was Buried not in the very Church but brink thereof and body of the Wall He dyed Anno Dom. 1520. JAMES STANLEY D. D. brother of Thomas Earl of Darby was born in this County and was by K. Henry the seaventh his kinsman by marriage preferred Bishop of Ely 1506. a man more memorable than commendable who never resided at his own Cathedral I can partly excuse his living all the Summer with the Earl his Brother in this County but must condemn his living all the Winter at his Mannour at Somersham in Huntingtonshire with one who was not his sister and wanted nothing to make her his Wife save mariage However if Jehu allowed a Burial to his most profest Enemy on this account that
she was a Kings Daughter none I hope will grudge his memory a room in this Book were it only because he was an Earles Brother He dyed Anno 1515. HEâ—…RY STANDISH was as I have just cause to conclude extracted from the Standishes of Standish in this County bred a Franoiscan and Dr. of Divinity in Cambridge and afterwards made Bishop of S. Asaph I neither believe him so Good as Pitz doth character him pietate doctrina clarum nor so bad as Bale doth decry him making him a doteing Fool. Sure I am there was Impar congressus betwixt him and Erasmus as unequal a Contest as betwixt a Childe and Man not to say Dwarf and 〈◊〉 This Standâ—… is said to have fallen down on his knees before King Henry the Eighth petitioning him to continue Religion established by his Ancesters and 〈◊〉 into Maâ—…ers of Divinity he cited the Colâ—…s for the Corinthians which being but a Memory-mistake in an Aged Person needed not to have exposed him so much as it did to the laughter of the Standers by After he had sate 16 years Bishop of St. 〈◊〉 he died very aged 1535. JOHN CHRISTOPHERSON was born in this County bred first in Pembrook Hall then Fellow of St. Johns and afterwards Master of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge an excellent Scholar and Linguist especially I have seen a Greek Tragedy made and written by his own hand so curiously that it seemed printed and presented to K. Henry the eight He no lesse eleganly if faithfullly translated Philo and 〈◊〉 into Latine Besides his own benefaction to the Masters Lodgings and 〈◊〉 he was highly instrumental in moving Queen Mary to her magnificent bounty to Trinity Colledge In the visitation of Cambridge he was very active in burning the bones of 〈◊〉 being then Elect Bishop of Chichester scarcely continuing a year in that Place All expected that at his first coming into his Diocesse he should demean himself very favourably For why should not the Poets Observation of Princes be true also of Prelates Mitissima sors est Regnorum sub Rege novo Subjects commonly do finde New made Soveraigns most kinde But he had not so much mercy as Nero to begin courteously having no sooner put on his Episcopal Ring but presently he washed his hands in the blood of poor Martyrs whereof in due * Place In the First of Qu. Elizabeth he was deprived and kept in some restraint wherein he dyed about the Year 1560. Since the Reformation JAMES PILKINTON D.D. was the third Son of James Pilkinton of Rivington in this County Esq. a Right ancient Family being informed by my good Friend Master William Ryley Norrey and this Countryman that the Pilkintons were Gentlemen of repute in this Shire before the conquest when the chief of them then sought for was fain to disguise himself a Thresher in a barn Hereupon partly alluding to the 〈◊〉 of the flail falling sometime on the one sometime on the other side partly to himself embracing the safest condition for the present he gave for the Motto of his Armes Now thus Now thus This James bred fellow of St. Johns in Cambridge was in the First of Qu. Mary forced to fly into Germany where he wrote a Comment on Ecclesiastes and both the Epistles of St. Peter after his return in the First of Qu. Elizabeth he was chosen Master of St. Johns and March the 2d 1560. was consecrated Bishop of Durham Nine Years after the Northern Rebels came to Durham and first tore the Bible then the English Liturgy in pieces Unhappy though most innocent Book equally odious to opposite parties such who account the Papists Heretiques esteeming it popish whilest the Papists themselves account it heretical The Bishop had fared no better than the book could he have been come by But when the Rebellion was suppress'd the Bishop commenced a Suit against Qu. Elizabeth for the Lands and Goods of the Rebels attainted in the Bishoprick as forfeited to him by his Charter and had prevailed if the Parliament had not itnerposed and on special consideration pro hoc tempore adjudged them to the Queen He dyed Anno Dom. 1576. EDWIN SANDYS was born at Conisby in this County whose good actings great sufferings pious life and peaceable death 1588. are plentifully related in our Church History RICHARD BARNES was borne at Bolde near Warrington in this County bred in Brasen-Nose Colledg in Oxford and afterwards advanced Suffragan Bishop of Nottingham thence he was preferred to Carlile 1570. and seven years after to Durham He was himself One of a good nature as by the sequele will appear but abused by his Credulity and affection to his Brother John Barnes Chancellour of his Diocesse A Man of whom it is hard to say whether he was more Lustfull or more Covetous who where as he should have been the man who ought to have reformed many Enormities in the Diocess was indeed the Authour of them permitting base and dishonest Persons to escape scot-free for a piece of mony so that the Bishop had a very ill report every where By the suggestion of this ill instrument the Patriarchall man Mr. Gilpin fell into this Bishops Displeasure and by him was suspended from his Benefice But the good Bishop afterwards restored him and visiting him at his house took him aside into the Parlour and thus accosted him Father Gilpin I acknowledge you are fitter to be Bishop of Durham then my self to be Parson of this Church of yours I ask forgiveness for Errors passed forgive me Father I know you have hatched up some Chickens that now seek to pick out your Eyes but so long as I shall live Bishop of Durham be secure no man shall injure you This Bishop sate about Eleven years in his See and dyed a very aged man a little before the Spanish Invasion Anno Dom. 1588. JOHN WOOLTON was born at Wiggin in this County of honest Parents and worshipful by his mothers side He was bred a short time in Oxford and in the reign of Queen Mary attended his Unkle Alexander Nowell in his flight beyond the Seas Returning into England he was made first Cannon Residentiary and after Anno 1579. Bishop of Exeter being an earnest assertor of Conformity against opposers thereof He met whilst living with many hard speeches but after his death when mens memories are beheld generally in their true colours he was restored to his deserved esteem even by those who formerly had been his adversaries He indited Letters full of Wisdome and Piety becoming the strength of one in health not two hours before his death which happened March the 13. Anno 1593. It is a part though not of his Praise of his happiness that his Daughter was married to Francis Godwin Bishop of Hereford whose Learned pen hath deserved so well of the Church of England MATTHEVV HUTTON I have given a large account of him formerly in my Ecclesiastical History However having
us should 〈◊〉 the others Funerall-Sermon But see a strange change God to whom belongs the 〈◊〉 from death was pleased with the Patriarch Jacob blessing his 〈◊〉 wittingly to guide his hands 〈◊〉 reaching out death to the living and life to the dying So that Dr. Felton recovered and not only performed that last office to his Friend Dr. Fenton but also survived him more than ten years and dyed Bishop of 〈◊〉 Roger Fenton dyed in the fiftieth Year of his age anno Dom. 1615. buryed in his own Church under a Monument made at the expence of the Parish ROBERT BOITON was born at Blackborne in this County on Whit sunday 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Year as infamous for the Massacre of many Protestants in France so for the 〈◊〉 of some eminent in England His Parents having a narrow Estate struggled with their necessities to give him liberal Education and he was bred first in 〈◊〉 then in Brazen-nose Colledge in Oxford He had Isocrates his six Marks or Properties of a good Scholar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His want of means proved an advancement unto him For 〈◊〉 having whence to buy Books he borrowed the best Authours of his Tutor read over abridged into Note-books and returned them He was as able to express himself in Latine or Greek as English and that Stylo Imperatorio He was chosen one of the Disputants before King James at his first coming to the University and performed it with great applause Thus far I have followed my Authour mentioned in the Margine but now must depart from him a little in one particular Though Mr. Boltons parents were not overflowing with wealth they had a competent Estate as I am informed by credible intelligence wherin their Family had comfortably continued long time in good repute Sr. Angustine Nicholls presented him to the Rectory of Broughton in Northamptonshire sending him his Presentation unexspectedly from his Chamber in Sergeants â—…nn where D. King Bishop of London being accidentally present thanked the Judge for his good choice but told him withall that he had deprived the University of a singular Ornament Besides his constant Preaching he hath left behinde him many usefull Books the Witnesses of his Piety and Learning and dyed in the 59th Year of his age December 17. 1631. JOHN WEEVER was born at in this County bred in Queens Colledge in Cambridge under Dr. John Person his worthy Tutor He was very industrious in the Studie of Antiquity and composed a usefull Book of Funeral Monuments in the Diocesse of Canterbury Rochester London and Norwich He dyed in London in the fifty sixth Year of his age and was Buried in St. James Clerken-well where he appointed this Epitaph for himself Lancashire gave me Breath And Cambridge Education Middlesex gave we Death And this Church my Humation And Christ to me hath given A place with him in Heaven The certain date of his Death I cannot attain but by Proportion I collect it to be about the Year of our Lord 1634. RALPH CUDVVORTH D. D. the second Son of Ralph Cudworth of Wernith-hall near Manchester Esquire Chief Lord of Ouldham was bred Fellow of Emanuel-colledge in Cambridge A most excellent preacher who continued and finished some imperfect works of Mr. Perkins and after his Decease supplyed his place in St. Andrews in Cambridge He was at last presented by the Colledge to the parish of Auler in Somersetshire Anno 163. LAWRENCE CHADERTON was born at Chaderton in this County of ancient and wealthy Parentage but much nuzled up in Popish Superstition He was intended for a Lawyer and in order thereunto brought up some time in the Inns of Court till he changed his profession and admitted himself in Christs Colledge in Cambridge His Father hearing that he had altered his place studies and Religion sent him a Poke with a groat therein for him to go a begging therewith disinheriting him of â—…hat fair estate which otherwise had descended upon him But God who taketh men up when their Fathers and Mothers forsake them provided him a comfortable subsistance when chosen Fellow of the Colledge He was for many years Lecturer at St. Clements in 〈◊〉 with great profit to his Auditors afterwards made by the Founder first Master of Emanuel He was chosen by the Non-Conformists to be one of their four Representatives in Hampton-court conference and was afterwards employed one of the Translators of the Bible He had a plain but effectual way of Preaching It happened that he visiting 〈◊〉 friends preached in this his Native Countrey where the Word of God as in the dayes of Samuell was very pretious And concluded his Sermon which was of two hours continuance at least with words to this effect That he would no longer trespasse upon their Patience Whereupon all the Auditory cryed out wonder not if hungry people craved more meat for God 〈◊〉 Sir Go on go on Hereaâ—… Mr. Chaderton was surprised into a longer Discourse beyond his expectation in Satisfaction of their importunity and though on a sudden performed it to their contentment and his commendation Thus constant Preachers like good house keepers can never be taken so unprovided but that though they make not a plentiful Feast they can give wholsome food at a short warning He commenced Dr. in Divinity when Frederick Prince Palatine who married the Lady Elizabeth came to Cambridge What is said of Mount Caucasus that it was never seen without Snowe on the Top was true of this Reverend Father whom none of our Fathers generation knew in the Universitie before he was gray headed yet he never used Spectacles till the day of his death being Ninety four years of age He was not disheartned with that common saying he that resigneth his place before his death buryeth himself alive but put off his Clothes long before he went to bed divested himself of the Master-ship of Emanuel Colledge that so he might see a worthy successor in his life time The blessing which befell Job was in some sort appliable unto him he saw his Successors to the fourth generation I mean Doctor Presson and after his Death Doctor Sancroft and after his death Doctor Holesworth who preached his Funeral Sermon Anno 1640. about the Ninety fourth year of his age GEORGE WALKER was born at Hauxhead in Fournifells of Religious Parents Being visited when a child with the Small-poxe and the standers by expecting his dissolution he started up out of a Trance with this ejaculation Lord take me not away till I have shewed forth thy praises which made his Parents devote him to the Ministery after his recovery He was bred B. D. in St. Johns Colledge in Cambridge where he attained to be well skilled in the Oriental Tongues an excellent Logician and Divine Mr. Foster formerly his Tutor resigned unto him his living of St. John the Evangelist London wherein Mr. Walker continued the painful Preacher well nigh fourty years refusing higher preferment often profered him Dr. Felton the
himself in the same garments till the Childs Cloaths become his Chains putting off his Feet by putting on his Shoos not able to run to any purpose and so is soon taken The same Humour otherwise persued betrayeth the Dotterells As the Fowler stretcheth forth his Arms and Legs going towards the Bird the Bird extendeth his Legs and Wings approaching the Fowler till surprised in the Net But it is observed that the Foolisher the Fowl or Fish Woodcocks Dotterels â—…odsheads c. the Finer the Flesh thereof Feathers It is Pity to part Lancashire Ticking lately spoken of and Lincoln-shire Feathers making so good Beds together I cannot find the first beginning of Feather-Beds the Latine word Pulvinar for a Cusheon Pillowe or Bolster sheweth that the Entrals of such Utensils amongst the Romans were made but of Dust and our English plain Proverb De Puerperis they are in the Straw shows Feather-Beds to be of no ancient use amongst the Common sort of our Nation and Beds of Down the Cream of Feathers are more Modern then they The Feathers of this County are very good though not so soft as such as are imported from Bardeaux in France and although a Feather passeth for the Emblem of Lightnesse it self they are heavy enough in their Prises to such as buy any Quantity and daily grow Dearer Pippins With these we will close the Stomach of the Reader being concluded most cordial by Physicians some conceive them to be of not above a hundred years seniority in England However they thrive best and prove biggest not Kentish excepted in this County particularly in Holland and about Kirton therein whence they have acquired addition of Kirton Pippins a wholsome and delicious Apple and I am informed that Pippins graffed on a Pippin stock are called Renates bettered in their generous Nature by such double extraction Fleet-Hounds In Latine called PETRONII or Petrunculi from Petra a Rock either because their Feet are sound and solid and therefore named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Xenophon or from the hard and rocky ground whereon they were accustomed to hunt These with much certainty of scent and quicknesse of feet will run down a Hare in a short time Janus Ulitius a Dutchman some 15 years since came into England though a man of the Gown employed in publick affairs for Diversion he went down into this County to spend one Winter where conversing with some young Gentlemen he hunted twice a Week with so great content that the season otherwise unpleasant was past before he perceived how it went Hear him expressing himself sed Petrunculi illi qui vestigiis eorum non minus celeriter quam sagaciter instant haud facile trihorio minus leporem aliquem defatigant ut in Lincolniensi montium aequijugi tractu aliquoties ipse vidi and yet I assure you the Hares in this County on Ancaster-Heath do though lesser far exceed in swiftnesse and subtilty of Doubling those of the Vallyes and Plains Such a Petronius or Fleet-hound is two Hounds in Effect Sed premit Inventas non inventura Latentes Illa feras quae Petroniis bene Gloria constat To the Petronian both the praise is due Quickly to find and nimbly to persue Grey-Hounds In Latin termed VELTRAGA or VERTRAGUS or VERTAGUS derived it seems from the Dutch Word VELT a Field and RACH or BRACH a Dog and of how high esteem the former and these were amongst the Ancients the Reader may infer from the old Burgundian Law Siquis Canem Veltraum aut Segutium vel Petrunculum praesumpserit involare jubemus ut convictus coram omni populo posteriora ipsius osculetur Martial speaking of these Greyhounds thus expresseth himself Non sibi sed Domino venatur Vertragus acer Illaesum Leporem qui tibi dente feret For 's Master not Himself doth Greyhound toyl Whose Teeth to thee return the unhurt spoyl I have no more to observe of these Greyhounds save that they are so called being otherwise of all Colours because originally imployed in the Hunting of Grays that is Brocks and Badgers Mas-Tiffes Known to the Romans by the name of Molossi from Molossia a County in Epirus whence the fiercest in that kind were fetched at first before better were brought out of Brittain Gratius an Ancient Poet Contemporary with Virgil writing his Cynegeticon or Poem of Hunting giveth great praise to our English Mastiffes highly commending their Valour only taxing them that they are not handsomly made Haec una est Catulis jactura Britannis The Brittish Whelps no blemish know But that they are not shap'd for show Which thing is nothing in my mind seeing beauty is no whit material to a Souldier This County breedeth choice Mastiffes for the Bull and Bear and the sport is much affected therein especially about Stamford whereof hereafter What remaineth concerning Mastiffes is referred to the same Topick in Somerset-shire Thus the three kinds of ancient hunting which distinctly require fleetnesse scent and strength are compleatly performed in this County by a Breed therein which are answerably qualified This I have inserted because as to my Native Country in general so to this here in particular I would not willingly do lesse right then what a Stranger hath done thereunto Before we come to Catalogue the Worthies of this County it is observable that as it equalled other Shires in all ages so it went beyond it self in one generation viz. in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth when it had Natives thereof 1. Edward Clinton Lord Admiral 2. William Cecil Lord Treasurer 3 Sir Edmund Anderson Lord Chief Justice 4. John Whitgift Arch-bishop of Canterbury 5. Peregrine Bartu Lord General in France 6. Tho. Wilson Dr. of Law and Secretary of State All Countrymen and Contemporaries Thus Sea and Land Church and Camp Sword and Mace Gospel and Law were stored with prime Officers out of this County Nor must it be forgotten though born in the same Shire they were utterly unrelated in Kindred and raised themselves independently as to any mutual assistance by Gods Blessing the Queens favour and their own deserts The Buildings Here the complaint of the Prophet taketh no place taxing men to live in Ceeled Pallaces whilst the Temple of God lay wast No County affording worse Houses or better Churches It addeth to the Wonder that seeing in this soft County a Diamond is as soon found as a Flint their Churches are built of Pollished Stones no Natives but Naturalized by importation from forreign parts I hope the Inhabitants of this Shire will endevour to disprove the old Proverb the nearer to the Church the further from God because they have substituted a better in the room thereof viz. The further from stone the better the Churches As for the Cathedral of Lincoln whose Floor is higher then the Roof of many Churches it is a magnificent Structure proportionable to the Amplitude of the Diocesse This I dare boldly say that no Diocesse in Christendome affordeth two such Rivers viz.
same name doth rise But such nominal Proverbs take the advantage of all manner of Spelling as due unto them It is applyed to such people as are not overstock'd with acutenesse The best is all men are bound to be honest but not to be witty Grantham Gruel Nine Grits and a Gallon of Water Gruel though homely is wholsome Spoon-meat Physick for the Sick and food for persons in health Water is the Matter Grits the Form thereof giving the being thereunto Now Gruel thus imperfectly mix'd is Wash rather which one will have little heart to eat and get as little heart thereby The Proverb is appliable to those who in their Speeches or Actions multiply what is superfluous or at best less necessary either wholly omitting or lesse regarding the Essentials thereof They held together as the Men of Marham when they lost their Common Some understand it Ironically that is they were divided with several Factions which Proverb Mutato Nomine is used in other Counties Yea long since Virgil said the same in effect of the Men of Mantua when they lost their Lands to the Souldiers of Augustus En quo Discordia Cives Perduxit miseros En queîs consevimus Agros See Townsmen what we by our Jars are grown And see for whom we have our Tillage sown Indeed when a Common Danger calls for a Union against a General Enemy for any then to prosecute their Personal Quarrels and Private Grudges is a Folly always observed often reproved sometimes confessed but seldome Reformed Others use this Proverb only as an expression of ill Successe when men strive to no purpose though Plotting and Practising together to the utmost of their power being finally foiled in their undertakings Princes HENRY eldest surviving Son of John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster was born at the Castle of Bullingbrook in this County and bred according to the Discipline of those days in Camp and Court in both which he proved a good proficient By Nature he was made more to command then obey being ambitious cholerick and withal couragious cunning to catch careful to keep and industrious to improve all advantages Being netled with some injuries received from King Richard the second he complotted with a good party of the Nobility to depose him Miscarriages in his Government many by miâ—…managing more by the missucceeding of matters exposed him to just Exception besides his own Debauchery and how easily is a dissolute Government dissolved Having by the Murther of King Richard atcheived the Government to himself he reigned with much difficulty and opposition Though his Father was a great Patron He was a great Persecutor of the Wickliffites though not so much out of hatred to them as Love to himself thereby to be ingratiated with the Clergy then Potent in the Land When Duke he wore on his Head an Antick Hood which he cast not off when King so that his Picture is generally known by the Crown superadded thereon Lying on his Death-bed he was rather querulous then penitent much complaining of his Sufferings in keeping nothing bewayling his sin in getting the Crown Fire and Faggot was first kindled in his Reign in England to burn pardon the Prolepsis poor Protestants and happy had it been had they been quenched at his Death which happened Anno Dom. 1413. This Henry was the only Prince born in this Connty since the Conquest though a good Authour by mistake entituleth this County to another an ancienter Henry Yet so that he giveth him with one hand to it in his Book of Maps and takes him away with the other in his Chronicle J. Speed in his Description of Lincolne-sh Parag. 7. J. Speed in his Chronicle in the life of W. 〈◊〉 Pag. 436. This Shire triumpheth in the Births of Beaucleark K. Henry the first whom Selby brought forth Henry Fourth and Youngest Son of King William was born at Selby in York-Shire I believe Mr. Speed the Chronocler before Mr. Speed the Chorographer because therein concurring with other Authors Besides consult the Alphabetical Index of his Map and there is no Selby in this Shire we have therefore placed King Henry the First in York-shire and thought fit to enter this observation not to reprove others but least I be reproved my self Saints Here I make no mention of St. Botolph because there is no Constat though very much Probability of his English Nativity who lived at and gave the name to Botolphs Town corruptly Boston in this County GILBERT DE SEMPRINGHAM There born in this County was of noble extraction Joceline his Father being a Knight to whom he was eldest Son and Heir to a great Estate In Body he was very deformed but of subtile wit and great courage Travelling over into France there he got good Learning and obtained leave from the Pope to be Founder of those Epicoene and Hermaphrodite Convents wherein Monks and Nuns lived together as under one Roof but with partitions betwixt them Sure it was to him a comfort and credit which is confidently related by credible Authors to see 13. Convents 700. Monks 1100. Nuns Women out-superstition Men of his order being aged one hundred and six years He appointed the fair Convent at Sempringham his own rich Inheritance to be mother and prime residence of his new erected order He dyed anno 1189. HUGH was a Child born and living in Lincoln who by the impious Jews was stoln from his Parents and in Derision of Christ and Christianity to keep their cruel hands in ure by them crucified being about Nine years old Thus he lost his Life but got a Saintship thereby and some afterwards perswaded themselves that they got their cures at his Shrine in Lincoln However this made up the measure of the Sins of the Jews in England for which not long after they were ejected the land or which is the truer unwillingly willing they departed themselves And whilst they retain their old manners may they never return especially in this Giddy and unsettled age for fear more Christians fall sick of Judaisme then Jews recover in Christianity This Hugh was martyred Anno Dom. 1255. on the 27. of July Martyrs ANNE ASKEVVE Daughter of Sir William Askewe Knight was born at Kelsey in this County of her Piety and Patience when first wracked in the Tower then burnt in Smithfield I have largely treated in my Church History She went to Heaven in a Chariot of Fire July 16. 1546. Cardinals ROBERT SOMMERCOT There are two Villages North and South Sommercot in this 〈◊〉 and to my notice no where else in England fromone of which I presume he took his Nativity and Name Yet because Bale affirmeth Lawrence Sommercot his Brother or Kinsman born in the South of England we have affixed our Note of Dubitation But out of doubt it is he was a right learned man to whom Matthew Paris gives this short but thick commendation viz. Vir fuit discretus circumspectus omnibus amabilis merito gratiosus
they will not take twenty lines together from any Author without acknowledging it in the Margin conceiving it to be the fault of a Plagearie Yet the same Criticks repute it no great guilt to seize a whole Manuscript if they can conveniently make themselves the Masters though not Owners thereof in which Act none can excuse them though we have had too many Precedents hereof This Laurence died Anno Dom. 1410. BERTRAM FITZALIN Finding him charactered Illustri stemmate oriundus I should have suspected him a Sussex man and Allied to the Earls of Arundell had not another Author positively informed me he was patria Lincolniensis bred B. D. in Oxford and then lived a Carmelite in the City of Lincolne Here he built a faire Library on his and his freinds cost and furnish'd it with books some of his own making but more purchased He lived well beloved and dyed much lamented the seventeenth of March 1424. Writers since the Reformation EDMUND SHEFFEILD descended from Robert Sheffeild Recorder of London Knighted by King Henry the Seventh 1496 for his good Service against the Rebells at Black-Heath was born at Butterwick in the Isle of Axholm in this Country and was by King Edward the sixth Created Baron thereof Great his Skill in Musick who wrote a Book of Sonnets according to the Italian fashion He may seem Swan like to have sung his own Funeral being soon after Slaine or Murthered rather in a skirmish against the Rebells in Norwich first unhorsed and cast into a ditch and then Slaughtered by a Butcher who denyed him Quarter 1449. He was direct Anchester to the hopeful Earl of Moulgrave PETER MORVVING was born in this County and bred fellow of Magdalen Colledg in Oxford Here I cannot but smile at the great Praise which I Pitz bestoweth upon him Vir omni Latini sermonis elegantia bellè instructus qui scripta quaedam tum versu tum Prosa tersè nitidèque composuisse perhibetur It plainly appeareth he mistook him for one of his own perswasion and would have retracted this Caracter and beshrewed his own fingers for writing it had he known him to have been a most Cordial Protestant Nor would he have afforded him the Phrase of Claruit sub Philippo et Mariâ who under their Reigns was forced for his Conscience to fly into Germany where he supported himself by Preaching to the English Exiles I find not what became of him after his return into England in the Reigne of Queen Elizabeth ANTHONY GILBY was born in this County and bred in Christs Colledge in Cambridge where he attained to great skill in the three learned languages But which gave him the greatest Reputation with Protestants was that in the Reign of Queen Mary he had been an Exile at Geneva for his Conscience Returning into England he became a feirce fiery and furious opposer of the Church Discipline established in England as in our Ecclesiasticall History may appear The certaine date of his death is to me unknown JOHN FOX was born at Boston in this County and bred Fellow in Magdalen Colledg in Oxford He fled beyond the Seas in the Reign of Queen Mary where he set forth the first and least edition of the Book of Martyrs in Latine and afterwards returning into England inlarged and twice revised the same in our own language The story is sufficiently known of the two Servants whereof the one told his Master he would do every thing the other which was even Esop himself said he could do nothing rendering this reason because his former fellow servant would leave him nothing to do But in good earnest as to the particular subject of our English Martyrs Mr. Fox hath done every thing leaving posterity nothing to work upon and to those who say he hath overdone somthing we have returned our answer before He was one of Prodigious Charity to the poor seeing nothing could bound his bounty but want of mony to give away but I have largely written of his life and death in my Church History THOMAS SPARKS D. D. was born at South Sommercot in this County bred in Oxford and afterwards became Minister of Bleachley in Buckingham-shire An Impropriation which the Lord Gray of Wilton whose dwelling was at Whaddon hard-by Restored to the Church He was a solid Divine and Learned man as by his Works still extant doth appear At first he was a Non-conformist and therefore was chosen by that party as one of their Champions in the Conference of Hampton Court Yet was he wholy silent in that Disputation not for any want of Ability but because as afterwards it did appear he was Convinced in his Conscience at that Conference of the lawfullness of Ceremonies so that some accounted him King James's Convert herein He afterwards set forth a book of Unity and Uniformity and died about the year of our Lord 1610. Doctor TIGHE was born at Deeping in this County bred as I take it in the University of Oxford He afterwards became Arch Deacon of Middlesex and Minister of Alhallowes Barking London He was an excellent Textuary and profound Linguist the reason why he was imployed by King James in translating of the Bible He dyed as I am informed by his Nephew about the year of our Lord 1620. leaving to John Tighe his Son of Carby in this County Esquire an Estate of one thousand pounds a year and none I hope have cause to envy or repine thereat FINES MORISON Brother to Sir Richard Morison Lord President of Munster was born in this County of worshipfull extraction and bred a fellow in Peter-house in Cambridge He began his Travels May the first 1591 over a great part of Christendome and no small share of Turky even to Jerusalem and afterwards Printed his Observations in a large book which for the truth thereof is in good Reputation For of so great a Traveller he had nothing of a Traveller in him as to stretch in his reports At last he was Secretary to Charles Blunt Deputy of Ireland saw and wrote the Conflicts with and Conquest of Tyrone a discourse which deserveth credit because the Writers cye guide his pen and the privacy of his place acquainted him with many secret passages of Importance He dyed about the year of our Lord 1614. Benefactors to the Publique Having formerly presented the Reader with two Eminent ones Bishop Wainfleit Founder of New Colledge and Bishop Fox Founder of Corpus Christi in Oxford He if but of an ordinary appetite will be plentifully feasted therewith so that we may proceed to those who were Since the Reformation WILLIAM RATCLIFF Esq And four times Alderman of the Town of Stamford died Anno Dom. 1530. Gave all his Messuages Lands and Tenements in the Town to the Maintenance of a Free-School therein which Lands for the present yeild thirty pounds per Annum or there-abouts to a School-Master and Usher I am informed that an Augmentation was since
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
and broken in the same place which Ladie was at this present Sunday being the 27 of this month set up with a solemn procession in the which procession came first in the morning divers Priests of divers Churches with Crosses and Banners and passed by the place where she should stand then afterwards about a 11 of the Clock came the Legat of Rome in whose company came first afore him sixty black Canons of our Ladies Church then came after them one that carried the Legates Hat in such sort as they carry the great Seal in England then came the Master of Paris next to the Cardinall which carried the Image that should be set up then came the Legate himself all in red and with a white Surpless still blessing accompanied with the Bishop of Caers after him came the four Presidents of the Town with all the Councel of the Town also there went before and came behind divers Officers of the Town with Tip-Staves and so they have set her up with great solemnity and defended her with a double grate to the intent she should be no more stolen nor broken and the poor people lie still in the foul streets worshi ping her Further as I am crediblie informed the Legate that lieth here doth give Pardons and Bulls daily and one of the Kings Treasures standeth by and receiveth the money to the Kings use other news I have none Decemb. the 28. The meanest and most obliged of your Subjects Bernaby Fitz-Patrick EDVVARD We have received your Letters of the 28 of Decemb. whereby we perceive your Constancy both in avoiding all kind of Vices and also in following all things of Activity or otherwise that be honest and meet for a Gentleman of the which we are not a little glad nothing doubting your Continuance therein We understand also by certain Letters you sent to the Earl of Pembroke and Mr. Vice-Chamberlaine that you have some lack of Muletts and that you desire to have sent to you some of ours whereupon we have considered that our Muletts being old and lame will do you but little service and at least less then good ones bought there For which cause we have willed Bartholomew Champagne to deliver you 300 Crownes by Exchange for the buying of your two Muletts over and besides your former allowance Here we have little news at this present but only that the challenge you heard of before your going was very well accomplished At Tâ—…lt there came eighteen Defendants at Tournay twenty at Barriers they fought eight to eight a Twelfth night This last Christmas hath been well and merrily past Afterwards there was run a Match at Tilt six to six which was very well runne also because of the Lord Riches Sickness the Bishop of Ely was made Chancellour of England during the Parliament Of late there hath been such a Tide here as hath overflown all Medowes and Marshes All the Isle of Dogges all Plumsted Marsh all Shippey Foulness in Essex and all the Sea Coast was quite drowned We hear that it hath done no lesse harme in Flanders Holland and Zealand but much more for Townes and Cities have been there drowned We are advertised out of Almaine that Duke Morice is turned from the Emperour and he with the Protestants levieth men to deliver the old Duke of Sax and the Land grave out of Prison The cause of our slowness in writing this Letter hath been lack of Messengers else we had written before time Now shortly we wil prove how ye have profited in the French tongue for within a while we will write to you in French Thus we make an end wishing you as much good as our selves At Westminster the 25 of Jannuary 1551. EDVVARD We have received your Letters dated at Paris the twelfth of this instant and also Mr. Pickerings Letter written to our trusty well beloved Couzen the Duke of Northumberland on your behalf Whereby we perceive both the great preparation for the Warrs which the French King our Brother maketh And also how that you are ill furnished of all things meet to go such a Journey so that he thinketh that your Costs will not be born under 300. l. whereupon we have given order to Bartholomew Campagine for to deliver you in Paris 800 French Crowns over and besides all moneys sent you heretofore and besides your diet Also whereas you seem to find a lack for the moylettis there was appointed to you 300 French Crowns for the buying of the same because they could not well be transported Also order is given for your Horses to be carried over to you with dilligence which we trust shall like you well We have no more to you but to will you not to live too sumptiously as an Ambassadour but so as your proportion of living may serve you we mean because we know many will resort to you and desire to serve you I told you how many I thought convenient you should keep After you have ordered your things at Paris go to the Court and learn to have more Intelligence if you can and after to the VVarrs to learn somwhat to serve us News from hence I shall write you when you send us some in the mean season none but that thanks be to God all is well for the present Fare you well from Westminster the 25 of February 1551. EDVVARD VVe have received your Letters of the second and fifteenth of Aprill VVhereby we perceive then you were at Nancy ready to go together with Mr. Pickering to the French Camp and to the intent you might be better instructed 〈◊〉 to use your self in these Warrs we have thought good to advertise you of our pleasure therein First we would wish you as much as you may conveniently to be in the French Kings presence or at least in some part of his Army where you shall perceive most business to be and that for two Causes One is because you may have more experience in the Warrs and see things that might stand you in stead another day The other is because you might be more profitable in the Language For our Embassador who may not weare harness cannot well come to those places of danger nor seem so to serve the French King as you may whom we sent thither for that purpose It shall be best for you therefore hereafter as much as you may to be with the French King and so you shall be more acceptable to him and do your self much good VVe doubt not also but of such things as you see there done you will not failâ—… to advertise us as you have well begun in your last letters for thereby shall we Iudge of your diligence in learning and seeing things that be there done we shall be nothing wearied with often advertising nor with reciting of particularity of things and to the intent we would see how you profit in the French we would be glad to receive some letters from you in the French tongue and we would write to
ready for hearing being finally determined Whereon a Rhythmer When More some years had Chancelor been â—…o more suits did remain The same shall never more be seen Till More be there again Falling into the Kings displeasure for not complying with him about the Queens divorce he seasonably resigned his Chancellours Place and retired to his House in Chelsey chiefly imploying himself in writing against those who were reputed Hereticks And yet it is observed to his Credit by his great friend Erasmus that whilest he was Lord Chancellor no Protestant was put to death and it appears by some passages in his Utopia that it was against his mind that any should lose their Lives for their Consciences He rather soyled his Fingers then dirtied his hands in the matter of the holy Maid of Kent and well wiped it off again But his refusing or rather not accepting the Oath of Supremacy stuck by him for which he was 16. Months imprisoned in the Tower bearing his afflictions with remarkable patience He was wont to say that his natural temper was so tender that he could not indure a philip But a supernatural Principle we see can countermand yea help natural imperfections In his time as till our Memory Tower Prisoners were not dyetâ—…d on their own but on the Kings charges The Lieutenant of the Tower providing their Fare for them And when the Lieutenant said that he was sorry that Commons were no better I like said Sir Thomas Your Dyet very well and if I dislike it I pray turn me out of Dores Not long after he was beheaded on Tower hill 153. He left not above one hundred pounds a year Estate perfectly hating Covetousnesse as may appear by his refusing of four or five thousand pounds offered him by the Clergy Among his Latin Books his Utopia beareth the Bell containing the Idea of a compleat Common-wealth in an Imaginary Island but pretended to be lately discovered in America and that so lively counterfeited that many at the reading thereof mistook it for a real truth Insomuch that many great Learned men as Budeus and Johannes Paludanus upon a fervent zeal wished that some excellent Divines might be sent thither to preach Christs Gospel yea there were here amongst us at home sundry good men and Learned Divines very desirous to undertake the Voyage to bring the People to the Faith of Christ whose manners they did so well like By his only Son Mr. John More he had five Grandchildren Thomas and Augustin born in his Life time who proved zealous Romanists Edward Thomas and Bartholomew born after his Death were firm Protestants and Thomas a married Minister of the Church of England MARGARET MORE Excuse me Reader for placing a Lady among Men and Learned Statesmen The Reason is because of her 〈◊〉 affection to her Father from whom she would not willingly be parted and for me shall not be either living or dead She was born in Bucklers-bury in London at her Fathers house therein and attained to that Skill in all Learning and Languages that she became the miracle of her age Forreigners took such notice hereof that Erasmus hath dedicated some Epistles unto her No Woman that could speak so well did speak so little Whose Secresie was such that her Father entrusted her with his most important Affairs Such was her skill in the Fathers that she corrected a depraved place in St. Cyprian for whereas it was corruptly writen she amended it Nisi vos sinceritatis Nervos sinceritatis Yea she translated Eusebius out of Greek but it was never printed because I. Christopherson had done it so exactly before She was married to William Roper of Eltham in Kent Esquire one of a bountiful heart and plentiful Estate When her Fathers head was set up on London Bridge it being suspected it would be cast into the Thames to make room for divers others then suffering for denying the Kings Supremacy she bought the head and kept it for a Relique which some called affection others religion others Superstition in her for which she was questioned before the Council and for some short time imprisoned until she had buryed it and how long she her self survived afterwards is to me unknown THOMAS WRIOTHESLEY Knight of the Garter was born in Barbican Son to William Wriothesley York Herauld and Grandchild to John VVriothesley descended from an heir general of the ancient Family of the Dunsterviles King of Arms. He was bred in the University of Cambridge and if any make a doubt thereof it is cleared by the passage of Mr. Ascams Letter unto him writing in the behalf of the University when he was Lord Chancellour Quamobrem Academia cum omni literarum ratione ad te unum conversa Cui uni quam universis aliis se chariorem intelligit partim tibi ut alumno suo cum authoritate imperat partim ut patrono summo demisse humiliter supplicat c. He afterwards effectually applyed his Studies in our municipal Law wherein he attained to great eminency He was by King Henry the Eighth created Baron of Titchborne at Hampton Court January the first 1543. and in the next year about the beginning of May by the said King made Chancelor of England But in the first of King Edward the Sixth he was removed from that place because a conscienciously Rigorous Romanist though in some reparation he was advanced to be Earl of Southampton He dyed at his House called Lincolns place in Holborn 1550. the 30. of Iuly and lyes buryed at St. Andrews in Holborn WILLIAM PAGET Knight was born in this City of honest Parents who gave him pious and learned education whereby he was enabled to work out his own advancement Privy-Councellour to 4 successive princes which though of different perswasions agreed all in this to make much of an able and trusty Minister of State 1. King Henry the Eighth made him his Secretary and imployed him Embassador to Ch. the Emperor and Francis King of France 2. King Edward the Sixth made him Chancellor of the Dutchy Comptroller of his Houshold and created him Baron of Beaudesert 3. Queen Mary made him â—…eeper of her privy Seal 4. Queen Elizabeth dispenced with his attendance at Court in favour to his great Age and highly respected him Indeed Duke Dudley in the dayes of King Edward ignominiously took from him the Garter of the Order quarrelling that by his extraction he was not qualified for the same Bur if all be true which is reported of this Dukes Parentage he of all men was most unfit to be active in such an imployment But no wonder if his Pride wrongfully snatched a Garter from a Subject whose Ambition endevoured to deprive two Princes of a Crown This was restored unto him by Queen Mary and that with Ceremony and all solemn accents of honour as to a person who by his prudence had merited much of the Nation He dyed very old anno 1563 and his Corps as
house of the Earl of Arundel at High-gate and was buried in Saint Michaels Church in Saint Albans Master Mutis his grateful servant erecting a Monument for him Since I have read that his grave being occasionally opened his scull the relique of civil veneration was by one King a Doctor of Physick made the object of scorn and contempt but he who then derided the dead is since become the laughing stock of the living Writers SULCARD of WESTMINSTER was an English-man by birth bred a Benedictine Monke He was one of an excellent wit meek disposition candid behaviour and in great esteem with King Edward the Conâ—…essor What Progress he made in learning may easily be collected from what is recorded in an old Manuscript In Westmonasterio vixerunt simul Abbas Eadwinus Sulcardus Coenobita Sed Sulchardus doctrina major erat He flourished Anno Domini 1070. under King William the Conquerour GILBERT of WESTMINSTER bred first Monkc then Abbot thereof He gave himself to the study of humane learning then of Divinity and through the guidance of Anselme Arch-bishop of Canterbury attained to great knowledge in the Scriptures Afterwards he studied in France visited Rome in his return from whence he is reported to have had a disputation with a learned Jew which afterwards he reduced into the form of a Dialogue and making it publique he dedicated it to Saint Anselme He dyed Anno 1117. and was buried in Westminster MATHEW of WESTMINSTER was bred a Monke therein and as accomplished a Scholar as any of his age Observable is the grand difference betwixt our English history as he found it and as he left it He found it like Polyphemus when his eye was bored out a big and bulky body but blind Memorable actions were either presented without any date which little informed or too many dates which more distracted the Reader Our Mathew reduced such confused sounds to an Articulate and intelligible voice regulating them by a double directory of time viz. the beginnings and deaths of all the Kings of England and Arch bishops of Canterbury He wrote one History from the beginning of the world to Christ a second from Christs Nativity to the Norman Conquest a third from thence to the beginning of King Edward the second augmenting it aâ—…terwards with the addition of his life and King Edward the thirds He named his book Flores Historiarum and if sometimes for it is but seldome he presenteth a flower less fragrant or blasted bud the judicious Reader is not tyed to take what he tenders but may select for his own ease a Nosegay out of the choicest flowers thereof He dyed about the year 1368. Since the Reformation BENIAMIN JOHNSON was born in this City Though I cannot with all my industrious inquiry find him in his cradle I can fetch him from his long coats When a little child he lived in Harts-horn-lane near Charing-cross where his Mother married a Bricklayer for her Second husband He was first bred in a private school in Saint Martins Church then in VVestminster school witness his own Epigram Camden most reverend Head to whom I owe All that I am in Arts all that I know How nothing's that to whom my Country owes The great renown and Name wherewith she goes c. He was Statutably admitted into Saint Johns-colledge in Cambridge as many years after incorporated a honorary Member of Christ-church in Oxford where he continued but few weeks for want of further maintenance being fain to return to the trade of his father in law And let not them blush that have but those that have not a lawful calling He help'd in the building of the new structure os Lincolns-Inn when having a Trowell in his hand he had a book in his pocket Some gentlemen pitying that his parts should be buried under the rubbish of so mean a Calling did by their bounty manumise him freely to follow his own ingenuous inclinations Indeed his parts were not so ready to run of themselves as able to answer the spur so that it may be truly said of him that he had an Elaborate wit wrought out by his own industry He would sit silent in learned company and suck in besides wine their several humors into his observation What was ore in others he was able to refine to himself He was paramount in the Dramatique part of Poetry and taught the Stage an exact conformity to the laws of Comedians His Comedies were above the Volge which are onely tickled with down right obscenity and took not so well at the first stroke as at the rebound when beheld the second time yea they will endure reading and that with due commendation so long as either ingenuity or learning are fashionable in our Nation If his later be not so spriteful and vigorous as his first pieces all that are old will and all that desire to be old should excuse him therein He was not very happy in his children and most happy in those which died first though none lived to survive him This he bestowed as part of an Epitaph on his eldest son dying in infancy Rest in soft peace and Ask'd say here doth lye Ben Johnson his best piece of Poetry He dyed Anno Domini 1638. And was buried about the Belfry in the abby-Abby-church at VVestminster Masters of Musick CHRISTOPHER TYE Doctor of Musick flourished in the reign of King Henry the eight and King Edward the sixth to whom he was one of the Gentlemen of their Chappel and probably the Organist Musick which received a grievous wound in England at the disolution of Abbyes was much beholding to him for her recovery such his excellent skill and piety that he kept it up in credit at Court and in all Cathedrals during his life He translated the Acts of the Apostles into verse and let us take a tast of his Poetry In the former treatise to thee Dear friend Theophilus I have written the veritie Of the Lord Christ Jesus VVhich he to do and eke to teach Began untill the day In which the Spirit up did him fetch To dwell above for Aye After that he had power to do Even by the Holy Ghost Commandements then he gave unto His chosen least and most To whom also himself did shew From death thus to revive By tokens plain unto his few Even forty days alive Speaking of Gods kingdome with heart Chusing together them Commanding them not to depart From that Jerusalem But still to wait on the promise Of his Father the Lord Of which ye have heard me ere this Unto you make record Pass we now from his Poetry being Musick in words to his Musick being Poetry in sounds who set an excellent Composition of Musick of four parts to the several Chapters of his aforementioned Poetry dedicating the same to King Edward the sixth a little before the death of that good Prince and Printed it Anno Domini 1553. He also did compose many excellent Services and Anthems of four and
five parts which were used in Cathedrals many years after his death the certain date whereof I cannot attain JOHN DOULAND was as I have most cause to believe born in this City sure I am he had his longest life and best livelyhood therein being Servant in the Chappel to Queen Elizabeth and King James He was the rarest Musician that his Age did behold Having travailed beyond the Seas and compounded English with Forreign Skill in that faculty it is questionable whether he excell'd in Vocal or Instrumental Musick A chearful Person he was passing his days in lawful meriment truly answering the Anagram made of him JOHANNES DOULANDUS ANNOS LUDENDO HAUSI Christian the fourth K. of Denmark coming over into England requested him of K. James who unwillingly willing parted with him Many years he lived as I am credibly informed in the Danish Court in great favour and plenty generally imployed to entertain such English Persons of quality as came thither I cannot confidently avouch his death at Denmark but believe it more probably then their assertion who report him returned and dying in England about the year 1615. Benefactors to the Publique JAMES PALMER B. D. was born in this City and bred in Magdalen-colledge in Cambridge The Company of Carpenters in London gave him an exhibition towards his maintenance there or lent it him rather For since his bounty hath repaid them the Principle with plentiful consideration He was afterwards for many years the constant Preacher of Saint Bridgets in Fleetstreet the onely Church preferment he enjoyed I perceive thus craft and cruelty may raise a quick and great but plain frugallity especially if vivacious will advance a better and surer estate Though sequestred in these times what he had formerly gained in his place he hath since bestowed in building and endowing over against the New Chappel in Westminster a fair Almes-house for twelve poor people besides this many and great have his gifts been to Ministers poor widdows and wonder not Reader if they be unknown to me which were unknown to his own left-hand all this he did in his life time O it giveth the best light when one carrieth his Lant-horn before him The surest way that ones Will shall be performed is to see it performed Yea I may say that his poor people in his Almes-house are in some sort provided for not onely from head to foot but also from body to soul he constantly preaching to them twice a week He dyed Anno 1659. Memorable Persons EDMOND DOUBLEDAY Esquire was of a tall and proper person and lived in this City Nor had this large case a little jewell this long body a lazy soul whose activity and valour was adequate to his strength and greatness whereof he gave this eminent testimony When Sir Thomas Knevet was sent November 4. 1605. by King James to search the Cellar beneath the Parliament-house with very few for the more privacy to attend him he took Master Doubleday with him Here they found Gui Faux with his dark-lant-horn in the dead of the night providing for the death of many the next morning He was newly come out of the Divels Closset so I may fitly term the inward room where the powder lay and the train was to be laid into the outward part of the Cellar Faux beginning to bussel Master Doubleday instantly ordered him at his pleasure up with his heels and there with the Traytor lay the Treason flat along the floor by Gods goodness detected defeated Faux vowed and though he was a false Traitor herein I do believe him that had he been in the inner room he would have blown up himself and all the company therein Thus it is pleasant musick to hear disarmed malice threaten when it cannot strike Master Doubleday lived many years after deservedly loved and respected and died about the year of our Lord 1618. The Farewell Seeing the well-being yea being of this City consisteth in the Kings Court and in the Courts of Justice I congratulate the happy return of the one praying for the long continuance of the other yea may the Lawyers in Westminster-hall never again plead in their Armour as they did in the time of Wyats rebellion but in their peaceable Gowns and Legal Formalities Nor doth this Wish onely extend to the Weal of Westminster but all England For no such dearth in a Land as what is caused from a drought of Justice therein For if judgement do not run down as Waters and righteousness as a mighty Stream Injustice like an Ocean will drown all with its inundation NOR FOLK hath the German Ocean on the North and East thereof Suffolk severed by the river Waveny on the South-side Cambridge-shire parted by the river Ouse and a small part of Lincoln shire on the West it extendeth full 50. miles from East to West but from North to South stretcheth not above thirty miles All England may be carved out of Norfolk represented therein not onely to the kind but degree thereof Here are Fens and Heaths and Light and Deep and Sand and Clay-ground and Meddows and Pasture and Arable and Woody and generally woodless land so gratefull is this Shire with the variety thereof Thus as in many men though perchance this or that part may justly be cavelled at yet all put together complete a proper person so Norfolk collectively taken hath a sufficient result of pleasure and profit that being supplied in one part which is defective in another This County hath the most Churches of any in England six hundred and sixty and though the poorest Livings yet by some occult quallity of their good husbandry and Gods blessing thereon the richest Clergy-men Nor can there be given a greater demonstration of the wealth and populousness of this County than that in the late Act for an Assessment upon England at the rate of sixty thousand pounds by the Month for three Months Norfolk with the City of Norwich is rated at three thousand two hundred sixty six pounds thirteen shillings and four pence the highest proportion of any Shire in England And though Norfolk hath little cause to please and less to pride it self in so dear purchased pre-eminence yet it cannot but account it a credit to see it self not undervalued Natural Commodities It shareth plentifully in all English Commodities and aboundeth with the best and most Rabbits These are an Army of natural Pioners whence men have learned cuniculos agere the Art of undermining They thrive best on barren ground and grow fattest in the hardest frosts Their flesh is fine and wholesome If Scotish-men tax our language as improper and smile at our wing of a Rabbit let us laugh at their shoulder of a Capon Their skins were formerly much used when furs were in fashion till of late our Citizens of Romans are turned Grecians have laid down their grave gowns and took up their light cloaks men generally disliking all habits though emblemes of honour if also badges of age Their rich
Admirals and which Sir Clement used during his life on Festivals and at his death bequeathed them to his family for a monument He received divers wounds and was left for dead at Muscleburough-field in Scotland When Sir Thomas VVyat in the reign of Queen Mary was worsted at Ludgate and desired for the more civil usage to render himself to a Gentleman he submitted himself saith our Historian to Sir Clement Paston He served at New-haven having command of some ships of Queen Elizabeth and was pensioner to two Kings and two Queens successively So rare was his happiness that he spent his old age honourably quietly and in good house-keeping in this County where at Oxnit he built a goodly house for hospitality and a hospital hard by for six poor serving-men retainers to his name and family allowing them convenient maintenance He died Anno Domini 15. and lieth buried in a fair tombe in the Church at Oxnit Seamen No County in England doth carry a top and top gallant more high in Maritime performances then Norfolk Witness the proportion of Yarmouth alone in the ensuing Catalogue of Ships used by King Edward the third against Calis The South-fleet Ships 493. The North-fleet Ships 217. Ships of London 25. Ships of Yarmouth 43. The Mariners thereof 9630. The Mariners thereof 4521. Mariners of London 662. Mariners of Yarmouth 1950. or 1075. Know Reader I cannot with all my diligence and interest recover the Original of this Catalogue as extant not in the Tower where by my friends favour I could do something but in the Kings great VVardrobe in London out of which it is cited by our Author But our times I fear have brushed it away with the rest of the VVardrobe However give me leave to make some Annotations thereon 1. These Ships as by their great number appeareth were small vessels Yet as good as any in that age of England and better witness their victories then any in France 2. The Proportion may seem strange that Yarmouth should afford well nigh twice as many Ships and Mariners as London it self 3. Except it was that the King spared London at this time as the sure reserve for his Navy on all occasions 4. Or except there be a mistake in the numbers figures in Writing as well as figures in Rethorick may with a small dash have their Meiosis made an Hyperbole And the various Lections in the Mariners of Yarmouth doth something shake though not shatter the credit of the account 5. The numbers may be very true Yarmouth in that age being so populous a place that though but one Parish a lamentable Plague in one year did sweep thence 7000 men to the grave Thus though the Church and that very large could never hold their Living the Church yard could contain the Dead Seeing persons alive will not be pressed in their Pews so close as Corps may be crowded together in their Graves But let us proceed to the particular Sea men of this County and let none be offended if a Frier be put in the front before all the rest viz. NICHOLAS of LYNNE born in that Town bred in Oxford and is generally accounted a Franciscan Frier But my Author being a Carmelite himself makes him one of his own Order And all acknowledge him an excellent Musician Mathematician and Astrologer It is reported of him how in the year 1330. being the thirty year of the reign of King Edward the third he sailed with others to the most Northern Islands in the world Then leaving his company and taking his Astrolabe he by the help of Art-Magick so Mathematicians are nick-named by the ignorant went as far as the Pole it self where he discovered four In-draughts of the Ocean from the four opposite Quarters of the World from which many did conceive as well the flowing of the Sea as blasts of the Winds to have their Original Were these things true and had they been known to the Ancients as it would have spared Philosophers much pains in disputing the Moon the cause of the Motion of the Tide in the Sea so had it spoiled Virgil his fancy in making the Country of Aeolia the onely Magazene of the winds Sure I am Gerardus Mercator hath so graced the fancy of this Frier that he made his description of the Countries about the Artick Pole conformable to this his imaginary discovery preferring to fill that his Map with a Fiction then otherwise to leave it altogether empty But the other Parts of his book have more solid and substantial truths ór else weak were the Shoulders of his Atlas to support the world therewith But to return to Frier Nicholas One tells us he wrote a book of his discoveries and intituled it Inventio Fortunata Sure it is he was highly honoured by our learned * Chaucer witness his testimony of him styling Freere N. Linne A reverend Clerk But all his learning could not sence him from death which happened about the year 1360. and he was buried in Linne the Town of his nativity PETER READ what he was his ensuing Epitaph on his Monument in the South-Isle in Saint Peter's Church in Norwich will fully acquaint you Here under lieth the Corps of Peter Read Esquire who hath worthily served not onely his Prince and Country but also the Emperour Charles the fifth both at his Conquest of Barbary and his Siege at Tunis as also in other places Who had given him by the said Emperour for his valiant deeds the order of Barbary Who died the 29. day of December in the year of our Lord God 1566. We place him among Sea men because finding first his mention in Hakluit's voyages and Salt-water is the proper Element of the Pen of that Author Secondly because his service was performed at Tunis a Port-town in a Sea expedition Now although we confess it follows not that he was born in or about Norwich because buried therein Vast oftimes the distance betwixt the Cradles and Coffins of far-travaillers yet let none dislike his placing here but such who can disprove it and depose the negative that elsewhere he had his nativity It is observable that this Sir Peter Kinghted by the Emperour as appears in his Epitaph let me adde Anno 1538. is onely styled not less modestly then truly Esq. upon his Monument I confess some maintain that though higher honours Baron Count c. are onely local to be owned by the person receiving them in that place where they are given him Yet that Knighthood given by a Sovereign Prince is universal and passeth currant through all Christendome But others their equals as stifly deny it and one who is their superior I mean Queen Elizabeth who in the case of Count Arundle would not admit of any forreign honour conferred on her Subjects avowing that her sheep should onely be known by her own Mark Writers JOHN BACONTHORPE was born in a Village so called in this County bred a Carmelite in the
On the South 1. Cambridgeshire 3. Warwickshire 4. Lincolnshire 7. Bedfordshire 2. Huntingtonshire  5. Rutland 8. Buckinghamshire   6. Leicestershire 9. Oxfordshire It is as fruitful and populous as any in England insomuch that sixteen several Towns with their Churches have at one view been discovered therein by my eyes which I confess none of the best and God grant that those who are sharper sighted may hereafter never see fewer Sure I am there is as little wast ground in this as in any County in England no Mosses Mears Fells Heaths Whitering but a Beauty spot which elsewhere fill so many Shires with much emptiness Northamptonshire being an Apple without Core to be cut out or Rind to be pared away Northamptonshire challengeth that all the Rivers running through or by it are its Natives as bred in it which argueth the elevation and height of the ground thereof which I believe no other County in England can say Besides it lendeth two considerable Rivers Avon to Warwick and Cherwell to Oxfordshire The language of the common people is generally the best of any Shire in England A proof whereof when a Boy I received from a hand-labouring-man herein which since hath convinced my Judgement We speak I believe said he as good English any Shire in England because though in the singing Psalms some words are used to make the Meeter unknown to us yet the last translation of the Bible which no doubt was done by those learned men in the best English agreeth perfectly with the common speech of our Country Know Reader that Doctor Bowle my worthy friend and most skilful Botonographist hath taken notice of a Heath in this County nigh to Stamford whereof he giveth this commendation as fine a place for variety of rare Plants as ever I beheld Who I am sure hath seen in this kind as much both here and beyond the Seas as any of his age and profession Natural Commodities Now though this Shire shares as largely as any in those profits which are generall to England Grass Corn Cattle c. Yet it is most eminent for Salt-peter In latine Sal Petrae rather so called because exudat è petris it usually sweats out of rocks then because it is wrought up at the last to a rocky or a stony consistency Some conceive it utterly unknown to the ancients which learned Hoffman will not allow onely it was disguised unto them under the name of Sal nitrum though our modern use was unknown unto them that Pulvis nitrosus or Gun-powder might be made thereof It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what will easily take fire the best Test of the goodness thereof But why is Salt-peter common to all Counties insisted on in Northamptonshire Because most thereof is found in Dove-houses and most Dove-houses in this great Corn County Yet are not those Emblemes of innocency guilty in any degree of those destructions which are made by that which is made thereof All that I will adde of Salt-peter is this I have read in a learned Writer that Salt-peter-men when they have extracted Salt-peter out of a floor of earth one year within three or four years after they find more generated there and do work it over again Pigeons These of all fowls live most sociably in a Common-wealth together seeing their government is not as Bees Monarchical They are generally reported without gall understand it their gall is not sequestred into a distinct vessel as in other creatures Otherwise we find the effects thereof in their animosities among themselves whose Bills can peck as well as kiss as also if their Crops be not clearly drawn in the bitterness of their flesh They are most swift in flight and the steerage of their Tails conduceth much to their steddy mounting upright An envious man having caught his neighbours Pigeons in a Net feeding on his Stack pluck'd off their Tails and let them go Which though they could fly forward home yet were soon after found dead in the Dove coat famished for want of food as unable to fly up perpendicularly and so out at the Lover Pigeons against their wills keep one Lent for seaven weeks in the year betwixt the going out of the old and growing up of the new grain Probably our English would be found as docible and ingenious as the Turkish Pigeons which carry letters from Aleppo to Babilon if trained up accordingly But such practices by these Wingposts would spoil many a Foot-post living honestly by that painful vocation I find a grievous Indictment drawn up against the poor Pigeons for felony as the grand plunderers of grain in this Land My Author computing six and twenty thousand Dove-houses in England and Wales and allowing five hundred pair in each House four bushels yearly for each pair hath mounted the annual wast they make to an incredible sum And if the moity of his proportions hold true Doves may be accounted the causers of dearth and justly answer their Etimology in Hebrew Jonah which is deduced from a root signifying to spoil or to destroy The Advocates for Pigeons plead that they pick up such loose corn which otherwise would be lost and uselesly troden into the earth that probably Divine Providence which feedeth the fowls by some natural instinct directeth them to such grain which would be barren and fruitless that their dung incredibly fruitful for the manuring of ground abundantly recompenseth the spoil done by them However if Pigeons be guilty of so great stealth they satisfie the law for the same being generally kill'd for mans meat and a corrected-pigeon let blood under both wings is both pleasant and wholesome nourishment The Manufactures This County can boast of none worth naming whereof this the reason sufficient the fruitfulness thereof in Corn Grass and what not necessary for nature for it 's plentiful subsistance The Elder Brother who hath the inheritance of his own to maintain him need not to be bound an Apprentice let the younger turn Trades-man and inlarge his narrow portion by his inaustry It is enough for Northamptonshire to sell their Wooll whilst that other Countrys make cloath thereof I speak not this though it be my Native â—…ountry to praise Northamptonshire men for not using but that Northamptonshire men may praise God for not needing Manufactures However the Town of Northampton may be said to stand chiefly on other mens Leggs where if not the best the most and cheapest boots and stockens are bought in England I am credibly informed by a good friend that the Manufacture of Cloathing hath by prudent and able persons been endeavoured effectually understand me in design not success in this County and yet though fine their Wool their Cloath ran so coarse it could not be sold without loss Thus God hath innated every Country with a Peculiar Genius and when Art crosseth Nature neither succeed but both exceed where both concurre Buildings As Saint Peter hath the Primacy of all the other Apostles
justly suspected and I reserve his character to be ranked amongst the Benefactors to the Publique Prelates RICARD of NORTHAMPTON ADAM of NORTHAMPTON We compound them for several reasons First because natives of the same Town Secondly both going over into Ireland there became Bishops of the same See Thirdly because the history of them is single so slender it cannot subsist alone though twisted together it is posible that their memories may support one the other For we have nothing more of them then the dates of their Consecrations and Deaths The former Consecrated Bishop of Fernose October the 13. 1282. dyed Anno 1304. The later Consecrated 1322. died October the 29. 1346. having first seen his Cathedral Church burnt and destroyed by the Rebells WILLIAM le ZOUCH son to Lord Zouch was born at Haringworth in this County as a branch of thar Honorable Family still alive and Critical in their Pedigrees hath credably informed me From Dean he became Arch-bishop of York 1342. King Edward the third going over to France committed the North to the care of this Prelate Soon after David King of Scots with a great Army invaded it he promised himself Cesars success to Come and Conquer See and Subdue The rather because he believed that he floure of the English Chivalry being gone into France onely Priests and Peasants were left behind Our Arch-bishop with such forces as he could suddenly provide bid him Battle at Durham on Saint Lukes Eve whereon the Scotch King found such a fast he had little list to feast the day following being routed and taken Prisoner Hence a Poet of that age Est pater invictus sicco de stipite dictus Zouch in French signifying the dry stump of a stick However his honorable Family flourished as a Green Tree for many years till withered in our memory when Edward the last Lord Zouch dyed without Issue male in the beginning of King Charles To return to our Prelate he began a beautiful Chappel on the South-side of his Cathedral intending to be interred therein But dying before the finishing thereof was buried before the Altar of Saint Edmund 1352. ROBERT BRAYBROOKE was born at a Village in this County well known for the carkase of a Castle therein He was Consecrated Bishop of London January 5. 1381. â—…nd afterwards for six Months was Chancellour of England He dyed 1404. being buried under a Marble-stone in the Chappel of Saint Mary Which is all we can recover of this Prelate and if it be enough to satisfie the Readers hunger he need not leave any thing for manners in the dish LIONELL WYDEVILL or WOODVILL was born at Grafton since called Grafton honor in this County bred in the University of Oxford whereof for a time he was Chancellour then made Bishop of Sarisbury 1482. As he was at first preferred so his memory is still supported from sinking in Silence rather by the Buttresses of his great relations then the foundation of his own deserts For he was Son to Jaquet Dutchess of Bedford and Richard Wydevill E. of Rivers Brother to Elizabeth Q. of England Brother in-law to King Edward the fourth Uncle to King Edward the fiâ—…t and Father say some to Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester Heart-broken with grief with the Tragedies he beheld in his own family caused by the cruelty of King Richard the third he died about the year of our Lord 1484. Since the Reformation JAMES MONTAâ—…UE son to Sir Edward Montague Knight was born at Boughton in this County bred in Christs-colledge in Cambridge He was afterwards Master or rather Nursing father to Sidney-colledge For he found it in Bonds to pay 20. Marks per annum to Trinity-colledge for the ground whereon it is built and left it free assigning it a rent for the discharge thereof When the Kings Ditch in Cambridge made to defend it by its Strength did in his time offend it with its Stenche he expended a hundred marks to bring running water into it to the great conveniency of the University He was afterwards Bishop first of Bath and VVells then of VVinchester being highly in favour with King James who did ken a man of merrit as well as any Prince in Christendome He translated the works of King James into Latine and improved his greatness to do good offices therewith He died Anno Domini 1618. and lyeth buried within his fair Monument within his fairer Monument I mean a goodly Tombe in the Church of Bath which oweth its well being and beauty to his Munificence FRANCIS GODWIN son to Thomas Godwin Bishop of Bath and VVells was born at Hanningham in this County bred in Christs-church in Oxford Doctor of Divinity and Sub-Dean of Exeter He was born in the fourth year of the raign of Queen Elizabeth Anno 1561. and in the fortieth year of his age 1601. by her Majesty made Bishop of Landaffe A bishoprick better proportioned to his modesty then merits as which was much impaired by his predecessor so that one did tâ—…uly say A bad Kitching did for ever spoil the good Meat of the Bishops of Landaffe He was a good Man grave Divine skilful Mathematician pure Latinist and incomparable Historian The Church of Landaffe was much beholding to him yea the whole Church of England yea the whole Church Militant yea many now in the Church Triumphant had had their memories utterly lost on Earth if not preserved by his painfull endeavours in his Catalogue of English Bishops I am sorry to see that some have since made so bad use of his good labours who have lighted their Candles from his Torch thereby meerly to discover the faults of our Bishops that their Personal failings may be an argument against the Prelatical function He was translated by King James to the Bishoprick of Hereford and died very aged in the reign of King Charles Anno Domini 162. JOHN OWEN was born at Burton Latimers in this County his father being the worthy and grave Minister thereof He was bred a Fellow in Jesus-colledge in Cambridge where he commenced Doctor of Divinity and was Chaplain to King Charles whilst he was a Prince A modest man who would not own the worth he had in himself and therefore others are the more ingaged to give him his due esteem In the vacancy of the Bishop wrick of Saint Asaff King Charles being much troubled with two Competitours advanced Doctor Owen not thinking thereof as an expedient to end the Contest Indeed his Majesty was mistaken in his birth accounting him a Welch-man but not in his worth seeing he deserved a far better preferment Besides he was though not Ortus oriundus è Wallia and by his father being a Welchman he was related to all the best families in North-wales He out-lived his Vote in Parliament and survived to see all contempt cast on his Order which he bare with much moderation and dyed Anno Dom. 164. ROBERT SKINNER D. D. was born at Pisford in this County where his father was
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
after their removal Let his works witness the rest of his worth some of whose books are published others prepared for the Press and I wish them a happy nativity for the publique good Coming to take his Farewell of his friends he Preached on the Fore-noon of the Lords-day sickned on the After-noon and was buried with his wife in the same grave in Warton Chancell the week following 1657. Romish Exile Writers MATTHEW KELLISON was born in this County at Harrowden his father being a Servant and Tenant of the Lord Vaux in whose family his infancy did suck in the Romish Perswasions He afterwards went beyond the Seas and was very much in motion 1. He first fixed himself at the Colledge of Rhemes in France 2. Thence removed to the English-colledge at Rome where he studied in Phylosophy and Divinity 3. Returned to Rhemes where he took the Degree of Doctor 4. Removed to Doway where for many years he read School-Divinity 5. Re-returned to Rhemes where he became Kings Professor and Rector of the University So much for the travails of his Feet now for the labours of his Hands the pains of his Pen those of his own opinion can give the best account of them He wrote a book to King James which his Majesty never saw and another against Sutliff with many more and was living 1611. Benefactors to the Publick HENRY CHICHELY Son of Thomas and Agnes Chichely was born at Higham-Ferrers in this County bred in Oxford and designed by Wickham himself yet surviving to be one of the Fellows of New-colledge he afterwards became Chaplain to R. Metford Bishop of Sarum who made him Arch-Deacon which he exchanged for the Chancelours place of that Cathedral This Bishop at his death made him his chief Executor and bequeathed him a fair gilt Cup for a Legacy By King Henry the fourth he was sent to the Council of Risa 1409. and by the Popes own hands was Consecrated Bishop of Saint Davids at Vienna and thence was advanced Arch-bishop of Canterbury by King Henry the fifth During his reign in the Parliament at Leicester a shrude thrust was made at all Abbies not with a Râ—…bated point but with sharps indeed which this Arch-bishop as a skilful Fencer fairly put by though others will say he guarded that blow with a silver Buckler the Clergy paying to the King vast sums of money to maintain his Wars in France and so made a forreign diversion for such active spirits which otherwise in all probability would have Antidated the dissolution of Monasteries Under King Henry the sixth he sat sure in his See though often affronted by the rich Cardinal Beaufort of Winchester whom he discreetly thanked for many injuries A Cardinals Cap was proferred to and declined by him some putting the refusal on the account of his humility others of his pride loath to be junior to the foresaid Cardinal others of his policy unwilling to be more engaged to the Court of Rome Indeed he was thorough-paced in all Spiritual Popery which concerned religion which made him so cruel against the VVicklevites but in secular Popery as I may term it touching the interest of Princes he did not so much as rack and was a zealous assertor of the English Liberties against Romish Usurpation Great his zeal to promote learning as appears by three Colledges erected and endowed at his expence and procurement 1. One with an Hospital for the poor at Higham-Ferrers the place of his Nativity 2. Saint Bernards in Oxford afterwards altered and bettered by Sir Thomas VVhite into Saint Johns colledge 3. All-souls in Oxford the fruitful Nursery of so many Learned Men. He continued in his Arch-bishoprick longer then any of his Predecessors for 500. years full 29. years and died April 12. 1443. WILLIAM LAXTON Son to John Laxton of Oundle in this County was bred a Grocer in London where he so prospered by his painful endeavours that he was chosen Lord Mayor Anno Domini 1544. He founded a fair School and Almeshouse at Oundle in this County with convenient maintenance well maintained at this day by the Worshipful Company of Grocers and hath been to my knowledge the Nursery of many Scholars most eminent in the University These Latine Verses are inscribed in the Front of the building Oundellae natus Londini parta labore Laxtonus posuit Senibus pâ—…erisque levamen At Oundle born what he did get In London with great pain Laxton to young and old hath set A comfort to remain He died Anno Domini 1556. the 29. of July and lyeth buried under a fair Tombe in the Chancel of Saint Antonies London Since the Reformation NICHOLAS LATHAM was born at Brigtock in this County and afterwards became Minister of Al-saints Church in Barn-wells This man had no considerable Estate left him from his father nor eminent addition of wealth from his friends nor injoyed any Dignity in the Church of England nor ever held more then one moderate Benefice And yet by Gods blessing on his vivacious frugality he got so great an Estate that he told a friend he could have left his son had he had one land to the value of five hundred pounds by the year But though he had no Issue yet making the Poor his heirs he left the far greatest part of his Estate to pious uses Founded several small Schools with salaries in Country Villages and Founded a most beautiful Almes-house at Oundale in this County and I could wish that all houses of the like nature were but continued and ordered so well as this is according to the Will of the Founder He died Anno Domini 1620. and lyeth buried in the Chancel of his own Parish having lived 72. years EDWARD MONTAGUE Baron of Boughton and eldest son to Sir Edward Montague Knight was born in this County a Pious Peaceable and Hospitable Patriot It was not the least part of his outward happiness that having no male issue by his first wife and marrying when past fifty years of age he lived to see his son inriched with hopeful children I behold him as bountiful Barsillai superannuated for courtly pleasures and therefore preferring to live honorably in his own Country wherein he was generally beloved so that popularity may be said to have affected him who never affected it For in evidence of the vanity thereof he used to say Do the common sort of people nineteen courtesies together and yet you may loose their love if you do but go over the stile before them He was a bountiful Benefactor to Sidney-colledge and builded and endowed an Almes-house at VVeekley in this County To have no bands in their death is an outward favour many VVicked have many Godly men want amongst whom this good Lord who dyed in restraint in the Savoy on the account of his Loyalty to his Sovereign Let none grudge him the injoying of his judgement a purchase he so dearly bought and truly paid for whose death happened in the year of our Lord
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 〈◊〉
complying with it which may not and confuting of it which ought to be done Most make a difference between the railing fool and the reasoning fool the former to be ordered as Hezekiah did Rabshakeh Answer him not a word But if he be a reasoning fool who will offer to argue conceited of himself take him off his speed with a short and seasonable return Such a fool this Hoggard was adjudged whom John Plough undertook to answer and cut his combe so close that the other appeared no more He dyed in the beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth WILLIAM BRIGHTMAN was born in Nottingham where some of his brethren were lately alive bred Fellow of Queen Colledge in Cambridge and aftewards beneficed at Haunes in Bedfordshire No lover of Conformity yet no hater of Conformists being charitable to such who in judgement dissented from him His Memory is most remarkeable for his Comment on the Revelation by some Protestants approved praised admired by others sleighted contemned condemned Pro. 1. His very name Brightman imports something of illumination and clearness therein 2. He makes many hard places to be plain and mysteries to be histories by his Comment 3. He foretold many things forty years ago which we see performed in our dayes Con. 1. Names are casual and even Lucian himself as bad as he was had as much of light and lustre in his name 2. He makes many plain places hard and histories to be mysteries by his mis-interpretation expounding the seven Asian Churches then literally extant to be Germany France England c. 3. Shooting so many Arrows no wonder if fome few rather by hap than aim hit the mark Sure I am that Time and Mr. Brightman will expound the hardest places in the Revelation but what credit is to be given to the later alone I will not engage Such who dislike Mr. Brightmans writing could not but commend his Angelical living who had so much of Heaven in his heart Walking thorough the vineyard of this world he pluckt and eat a few grapes but put up none in his Vessel using wealth as if he us'd it not His Clay-cottage did crack and fall down in the same minute so sudden was his death But he who dyed daily could on no day be said to dye suddenly being alwayes prepared for his dissolution which happened Anno Dom. 16 Memorable Persons ROBERT HOOD was if not by birth by his chiefest abode this Country-man Cambden calls him praedonem mitissimum the gentlest thief that ever was and know Reader he is entered into our Catalogue not for his thievery but for his gentleness Take the character of his though not good less bad behaviour from the pen of our Poet From wealthy Abbots chests and Churles abundant store What oftentimes he took he shar'd amongst the poor No lordly Bishop came in lusty Robins way To him before he went but for his Pass must pay The widow in distress he graciously reliev'd And remedied the wrongs of many a Virgin griev'd But who made him a Judge or gave him a Commission to take where it might best be spared and give where it was most wanted His principal residence was in Shirewood Forrest in this County though he had another haunt he is no Fox that hath but one hole near the Sea in the North-riding in York-shire where Robin Hoods Bay still retaineth his name Not that he was any Pirat but a Land-thief who retreated to those unsuspected parts for his security One may wonder how he escaped the hand of Justice dying in his bed for ought is found to the contrary But it was because he was rather a merry than a mischievous thief complementing passengers out of their purses never murdering any but Deer and this popular Robber feasted the Vicinage with his Venison He played his pranks in the reign of King Richard the First about the year of our Lord 1100. THOMAS MAGNUS He was an exposed child left by his mother in the Parish of Newark What the Poet saith of the father of Cadmus commanding his son to find his lost sister Europa or else never to return that he was Facto piuâ—… sceleratus eodem Expressing in one act a mind Which was both cruel and was kind may be applied to the mother of this and all such Foundlings Now it happened that some York shire Clothiers coming in the dark very early or late did light on this child and resolved to pay both for his nursing and education the charge whereof would not be great equally divided betwixt them according to the Proverb Multorum manibus grande levatur onus An heavy work is light to do When many hands are put thereto First then they took order he should be baptized in Newark by the name of Thomas probably the best person in their company and because all of them had Interest alike in him for his Sirname they assigned him Amang-us which is amongst us in the Northern pronunciation They were very careful in his breeding I confess Aristotle urgeth it as an argument against the breeding of children in common that the care of all will effectually be the care of none and so the children be neglected Not so here where this Thomas though he had a Common-wealth of Foster-fathers was very well brought up in learning and became an excellent scholar and States-man being imployed in many forreign Embassies Then took he on him the name of Dr. Magnus and was famous thereby both at home and beyond the Seas on which account he might claim kindred with Pompeius Magnus Carolus Magnus and Albertus Magnus and whom not who was Great for arts arms or otherwise It soundeth much in his commendation that he forgot not his gratitude to the Town of his Nativity where he erected a fair school with other Benefactions He flourished as I take it under King Henry the Eight Lord Mayors I cannot on my best inquiry recover any Native of this County who ever attained to this place of Magistracy but am informed that now the feet of one do tread near unto the Thrâ—…shold of that Dore of Honor and doubt not but when he hath first entered and opened the way there will be others soon found to follow him The Names of the Gentry of this County returned by the Commissioners in the twelfth year of King Henry the sixth John Archbishop of York Commissioners to take the Oaths Humfrey Earl of Stafford  Richard Stanhop One of the Knights for the Shire  Tho. Cheworth chiv Iohan. Zouche chiv Will. Plumton chiv Hug. Welughby chiv Roberti Strelley chiv Hen. Perponnt chiv Rob. Maâ—…kam chiv Gerv. Clâ—…ston chiv Will. Meryng chiv Hug. 〈◊〉 chiv Ioh. Cokfeld armig Radulphi Makerell Thome Nevyll Roberti Brewce Thome Stanton Rad. Leek Richardi Sutton Thome Stanhope Iacobi Stanhope Thome Curson Willielmi Byrton Henrici Perponnt Hugonis Hercy Iohannis Wastnes Iohannis Gaitford Gorgii Clay Iohannis Husse Iohannis Hiklinge Ioh. Barbour de Leek Thome Stannton
Works left to posterity 1. De variis Annorum Formis 2. De natura Coeli conditione Elementorum 3. Praelectio Astronomica 4. De origine Fontium 5. Disquisitio Phisiologica 6. Explicatio additameutnm Arg. temp nat ministerii Christi In handling of these subjects it seems he crossed Scalliger who was highly offended thereat conceiving himself such a Prince of Learning it was high Treason for any to doubt of much more deny his opinion Yea he conceited his own Judgment so canonical that it was Heresie for any inferiour person to differ from the same Shall Scalliger write a book of the Emendation of Times and should any presume to write one of the Emendation of Scalliger especially one no publick Professor and so private a person as Lydyate However this great Bugbear Critick finding it more easie to contemn the person than confute the arguments of his Adversary sleighted Lydyate as inconsiderable jeering him for a Prophet who indeed somewhat traded in the Apocalyptical Divinity Learned men of unbiassed judgments will maintain that Lydyate had the best in that Contest but here it came to pass what Solomon had long before observed Nevertheless the poor mans wisdom is despised and his words are not heard He never attained higher Church-preferment than the Rectory of Alkerton the Town of his Nativity and deserted that as I have cause to suspect before his death Impute his low condition to these causes 1. The nature of his Studies which being Mathematical and Speculative brought not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grist to the mill 2. The nature of his Nature being ambitious of Privity and Concealment 3. The death of Prince Henry whose Library-keeper he was and in whose Grave Lydyates hopes were interred 4. His disaffection to Church-discipline and Ceremonies used therein though such wrong his memory who represent him an Anabaptist His modesty was as great as his want which he would not make known to any Sir William Boswell well understanding his worth was a great friend unto him and so was Bishop Williams He dyed about Westminster as I take it in the year of our Lord 1644. Happy had it been for posterity if on his death-bed he could have bequeathed his Learning to any surviving Relation Sir RICHARD BAKER Knight was a Native of this County and High-Sheriff thereof in the 18. of King James Anno Dom. 1621. His youth he spent in learning the benefit whereof he reaped in his old age when his Estate thorough Surety-ship as I have heard him complain was very much impair'd But God may smile on them on whom the World doth frown whereof his pious old age was a memorable instance when the storm on his Estate forced him to flye for shelter to his studies and devotions He wrote an Exposition on the Lords prayer which is corrival with the best Comments which professed Divines have written on that subject He wrote a Chronicle on our English Kings imbracing a method peculiar to himself digesting Observables under several heads very useful for the Reader This reverend Knight left this troublesome world about the beginning of our Civil wars WILLIAM WHATELEY was born in Banbury whereof his father was twice Mayor and bred in Christs-college in Cambridge He became afterwards Minister in the Town of his Nativity and though generally people do not respect a Prophet or Preacher when a Man whom they knew whilest a Child yet he met there with deserved reverence to his Person and Profession Indeed he was a good Linguist Philoso pher Mathematician Divine and though a Poetical Satyrical Pen is pleas'd to pass a jeer upon him free from Faction He first became known to the world by his book called the Bride-bushe which some say hath been more condemned than confuted as maintaining a Position rather odious than untrue But others hold that blows given from so near a Relation to so near a Relation cannot be given so lightly but they will be taken most heavily Other good Works of his have been set forth since his death which happened in the 56. year of his age Anno Dom. 1639. JOHN BALLE was born at Casfigton four miles North-west of Oxford in this County an obscure Village onely illustrated by his Nativity He proceeded Batchelor of Arts in Brazen-nose college in Oxford his Parents purse being not able to maintain him longer and went into Cheshire untill at last he was beneficed at Whitmore in the County of Stafford He was an excellent School man and School-master qualities seldom meeting in the same man a painful Preacher and a profitable Writer and his Treatise of Faith cannot sufficiently be commended Indeed he liv'd by faith having but small means to maintain him but 20 pounds yearly Salary besides what he got by teaching and boording his Scholers and yet was wont to say he had enough enough enough Thus contentment consisteth not in heaping on more fuell but in taking away some fire He had an holy facetiousness in his discourse when his friend having had a fall from his horse and said that he never had the like deliverance Yea said Mr. Balle and an hundred times when you never fell accounting Gods preserving us from equal to his rescuing us out of dangers He had an humble heart free from passion and though somewhat disaffected to Ceremonies and Church-discipline confuted such as conceived the corruptions therein ground enough for a separation He hated all New Lights and pretended Inspirations besides Scripture and when one asked him whether he at any time had experience thereof in his own heart No said he I bless God and if I should ever have such phantasies I hope God would give me grace to resist them Notwithstanding his small means he lived himself comfortably relieved others charitably left his children competently and dyed piously October the 20. Anno Dom. 1640. WILLIAM CHILLINGWORTH was born in the City of Oxford so that by the benefit of his birth he fell from the lap of his mother into the armes of the Muses He was bred in Trinity college in this University an acute and subtil Disputant but unsetled in judgment which made him go beyond the Seas and in some sort was conciled to the Church of Rome but whether because he found not the respect he expected which some shrewdly suggest or because his Conscience could not close with all the Romish corruptions which more charitably believe he returned into England and in testimony of his true conversion wrote a book entituled The Religion of Protestants a safe way to salvation against Mr. Knot the Jesuit I will not say Malo nodo malus quaerendus est cuneus but affirm no person better qualified than this Author with all necessary accomplishments to encounter a Jesuit It is commonly reported that Dr. Prideaux compared his book to a Lamprey fit for food if the venemous string were taken out of the back thereof a passage in my opinion inconsistent with the Doctors approbation prefixed in the beginning
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
his Paynes and Piety Prelates ROBERT of SHREWSBURY was in the reign of King John but I dare not say by him preferred Bishop of Bangor 1197. Afterwards the King waging war with Leoline Prince of Wales took this Bishop prisoner in his own Cathedral Church and enjoyned him to pay Three hundred Hawkes for his ransome Say not that it was improper that a Man of Peace should be ransomed with Birds of Prey seeing the Bishop had learnt the Rule Redime te captum quam queas minimo Besides 300 Hawkes will not seem so inconsiderable a matter to him that hath read how in the reign of King Charles an English Noble Man taken prisoner at the I le Ree was ransomed for a Brace of Grey-hounds Such who admire where the Bishop on a sudden should furnish himself with a stock of such Fowl will abate of their wonder when they remember that about this time the Men of Norway whence we have the best Hawkes under Magnus their General had possessed themselves of the Neighbouring Iland of Anglesea Besides he might stock himself out of the Aryes of Pembrook-shire where Perigrines did plentifully breed How ever this Bishop appeareth something humerous by one passage in his Will wherein he gave order that his Body should be buried in the middle of the Market place of Shrewsbury Impute it not to his profaness and contempt of Consecrated ground but either to his humility accounting himself unworthy thereof or to his prudential fore-sight that the fury of Souldiers during the intestine War betwixt the English and Welsh would fall fiercest on Churches as the fairest market and men preferring their profit before their Piety would preserve their Market-places though their Churches were destroyed He died Anno 1215. ROBERT BURNEL was son to Robert and brother to Hugh Lord Burnel whose Prime Seat was at Acton-Burnel-Castle in this County He was by King Edwà rd the First preferred Bishop of Bath and VVellâ—…s and first Treasurer then Chancelor of England He was well vers'd in the Welsh affairs and much us'd in managing them and that he might the more effectually attend such employment caused the Court of Chancery to be kept at Bristol He got great Wealth wherewith he enriched his kindred and is supposed to have rebuilt the decayed Castle of Acton-Burnel on his own expence And to decline envy for his secular structures left to his heirs he built for his Successors the beautiful Hall at VVells the biggest room of any Bishops Palace in England pluck'd down by Sir John Gabos afterwards executed for Treason in the reign of King Edward the Sixth English and Welsh affaires being setled to the Kings contentment he employed Bishop Burnel in some businesse about Scotland in the Marches whereof he died Anno Domini 1292. and his body solemnly brought many miles was buried in his own Cathedral WALTER de WENLOCK Abbot of Westminster was no doubt so named from his Nativity in a Market Town in this County I admire much that Matthew of VVestminster writeth him VVilliam de VVenlock and that a Monk of VVestminster should though not miscall mis-name the Abbot thereof He was Treasurer of England to King Edward the First betwixt the twelfth and fourteenth year of his reign and enjoyed his Abbots Office six and twenty years lacking six dayes He died on Christmasse day at his Mannor of Periford in Glocester-shire 1307 and was buried in his Church at VVestminster besides the High-Altar before the Presbutery without the South dore of King Edward's Shrine where Abbas VValterus non fuit Ausâ—…erus is part of his Epitaph RALPH of SHREWSBURY born therein was in the third of King Edward the Third preferred Bishop of Bath VVells Being consecrated without the Popes privity a daring adventure in those dayes he paid a large sum to expiate his presumption therein He was a good Benefactor to his Cathedral and bestowed on them a Chest Port-cullis-like barred with iron able to hold out a siege in the view of such as beheld it But what is of proof against Sacriledge Some Thieves with what Engines unknown in the reign of Queen Elizabeth forced it open But this Bishop is most memorable for erecting and endowing a spacious structure for the Vicars-Choral of his Cathedral to inhabit together which in an old Picture is thus presented The Vicars humble petition on their knees Per vicos positi villae Pater alme rogamus Ut simul uniti te dante domos maneamus To us dispers'd i th' streets good Father give A place where we together all my live The gracious answer of the Bishop sitting Vestra petunt merita quod sint concessa petita Ut maneatis ita loca fecimus haec stabilita Your merits crave that what you crave be yeilded That so you may remain this place we 've builded Having now made such a Palace as I may term it for his Vicars he was in observation of a proportionable distance necessitated in some sort to enlarge the Bishops Seat which he beautified and fortified Castle-wise with great expence He much ingratiated himself with the Country people by disforasting Mendip Beef better pleasing the Husbandmans palate than Venison He sate Bishop thirty four years and dying August 14. 1363. lieth buried in his Cathedral where his Statue is done to the life Vivos viventes vultus vividissimè exprimens saith my Authour ROBERT MASCAL Was bred saith Bale in and born saith Pitz positively at Ludlow in this County where he became a Carmelite Afterwards he studied in Oxford and became so famous for his Learning and Piety that he was made Confessor to Henry the Fourth and Counsellor to Henry the Fifth Promoted by the former Bishop of Hereford He was one of the Three English Prelates which went to and one of the Two which returned alive from the Council of Constance He died 1416 being buried in the Church of White-Friers in London to which he had been an eminent Benefactor RICHARD TALBOTE was born of Honourable Parentage in this County as Brother unto John Talbote the first Earl of Shrewsbury Being bred in Learning he was consecrated Arch-bishop of Dublin in Ireland 1417. He sate two and thirty years in that See being all that time a Privy Counsellor to King Henry the Fifth and Sixth twice Chief Justice and once Chancelor of Ireland He deserved well of his Church founding six petty Canons and as many Choristers therein yea generally of all Ireland writing a Book against James Earl of Ormond wherein he detected his abuses during his Lieutenancy in Ireland He died August the 15. 1449. and lieth buried in Saint Patricks in Dublin under a marble stone whereon an Eâ—…itaph is written not worthy the inserting The said Richard was unanimously chosen Arch-bishop of Armagh a higher place but refused to remove wisely preferring Safety above either Honor or Profit GEORGE DAY was born in this County and successively Scholer Fellow and
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
of their utter failing Medicinal Waters BATH is well known all England and Europe over far more useful and wholesome though not so stately as Dioclesian his Bath in Rome the fairest amongst 856 in that City made onely for pleasure and delicacy beautified with an infinite of Marble Pillars not for support but ostentation so that Salmuth saith fourteen thousand men were imployed for some years in building thereof Our Baths-waters consist of 1 Bitumen which hath the predominancy sovereign to discuss glutinate dissolve open obstructions c. 2 Niter which dilateth the Bitumen making the solution the better and water the clearer It clenseth and purgeth both by Stool and â—…rine cutteth and dissolveth gross Humours 3 Sulphur In regard whereof they dry resolve mollifie attract and are good for Uterine effects proceeding from cold and windy Humours But how thesâ—… Waters come by their great heat is rather controverted than concluded amongst the Learned Some impute it to Wind or Airy Exhalations included in the Bowels of the Earth which by their agitation and attrition upon Rocks and narrow passages gather Heat and impart it to the Waters Others ascribe it to the heat of the Sun whose Beams piercing through the Pores of the Earth warm the Waters and therefore anciently were called Aquae Solis both because dedicated to and made by the Sun Others attribute it to quick-lime which we see doth readily heat any water cast upon it and kindleth any combustible substance put therein Others referre it to a Subterranean fire kindled in the bowels of the Earth and actually burning upon Sulpher and Bitumen Others impute the heat which is not destructive but generative joyned with moisture to the fermentation of several minerals It is the safer to relate all than reject any of these Opinions each having both their Opposers and Defenders They are used also inwardly in Broths Beere Juleps c. with good effect And although some mislike it because they will not mixe Medicaments with Aliments yet such practice beginneth to prevail The worst I wish these waters is that they were handsomly roofed over as the most eminent Bathes in Christendome are which besides that it would procure great benefit to weak persons would gain more respect hither in Winter Time or more early in the Spring or more late in the Fall The Right Honourable James Earle of Marleborough undertook to cover the Crosse-Bath at his own charge and may others follow his resolution it being but fit that where God hath freely given the Jewel Men bestow a Case upon it Proverbs VVhere should I be bore else thâ—…n in Tonton Deane This is a parcel of Ground round about Tonton very pleasant and populous as conteining many Parishes and so fruitful to use their Phrase with the Zun and Zoil alone that it needs no manuring at all The Peasantry therein are as Rude as Rich and so highly conceited of their good Country God make them worthy thereof that they conceive it a disparagement to be born in any other place as if it were eminently all England The Beggars of Bath Many in that place some natives there others repairing thither from all parts of the Land the Poor for Alms the pained for ease Whither should Fowl flock in an hard frost but to the Barn-door Here all the two seasons the general confluence of Gentry Indeed Laws are daily made to restrain Beggars and daily broke by the connivence of those who make them it being impossible when the hungry Belly barks and bowels sound to keep the tongue silent And although Oil of whip be the proper plaister for the cramp of lazinesse yet some pity is due to impotent persons In a word seeing there is the Lazars-Bath in this City I doubt not but many a good Lazarus the true object of Charity may beg therein Saints DUNSTAN was born in the Town of Glassenbury in this County He afterwards was Abbot thereof Bishop of London VVorcester Archbishop of Canterbury and at last for his promoting of Monkery reputed a Saint I can add nothing to but must subtract something from what I have written of him in my Church History True it is he was the first Abbot of England not in time but in honour Glassenbury being the Proto-Abbaty then and many years after till Pope Adrian advanced St. Albans above it But whereas it followeth in my Book That the title of Abbot till his time was unknown in England I admire by what casualty it crept in confess it a foul mistake and desire the Reader with his Pen to delete it More I have not to say of Dunstan save that he died Anno Dom. 988. and his skill in Smithery was so great that the Gold-smiths in London are incorporated by the Name of the Company of St. Dunstans Martyrs JONH HOOPER was born in this County bred first in Oxford then beyond the Seas A great Scholar and Linguist but suffering under the notion of a proud man onely in their Judgments who were un-acquainted with him Returning in the reign of king Edward the Sixth he was elected Bishop of Glocester but for a time scrupuled the acceptance thereof on a double account First because he refused to take an Oath tendered unto him This Oath I conceived to have been the Oath of Canonical obedience but since owing my information to my Worthy Friend the Learned Dr. John Hacket I confess it the Oath of Supremacy which Hooper refused not out of lack of Loyalty but store of Conscience For the Oath of Supremacy as then modelled was more than the Oath of Supremacy injoyning the receivers thereof conformity to the Kings commands in what alterations soever he should afterwards make in Religion Which implicite and unlimited obedience Learned Casuists allow onely due to God himself Besides the Oath concluded with So help me God and all his Angels and Saints So that Hooper had just cause to scruple the Oath and was the occasion of the future reforming whilst the King dispensed with his present taking thereof The second thing he boggled at was the wearing of some Episcopal habiliments but at last it seemeth consented thereunto and was Consecrated Bishop of Glocester His adversaries will say that the refusing of One is the way to get Two Bishopricks seeing afterward he held Worcester in Commendam therewith But be it known that as our Hooper had double dignity he had treble diligence painfully preaching Gods Word piously living as he preach'd and patiently dying as he liv'd being martyred at Glocester Anno 155 He was the onely native of this Shire suffering for the testimony of the Truth and on this account we may honour the memory of Gilbert Bourn Bishop of Bath and Wells in the reign of Queen Mary who persecuted no Protestants in his Diocese to Death seeing it cannot be proved that one Lush was ever burnt though by him condemned I mention Bishop Bourn here the more willingly because I can no where recover the certainty
behold Bristol as the staple-place thereof where alone it was anciently made For though there be a place in London nigh Cheapside called Sopers-lane it was never so named from that Commodity made therein as some have supposed but from Alen le Soper the long since owner thereof Yea it is not above an hundred and fifty years by the confession of the Chronicler of that City since the first Sope was boyled in London Before which time the Land was generally supplyed with Castile from Spain and Graysope from Bristol Yea after that London medled with the making thereof Bristol-sope notwithstanding the portage was found much the cheaper Great is the necessity thereof seeing without Sope our bodies would be no better than dirt before they are turned into dust men whilst living becoming noisome to themselves and others Nor lesse its antiquity For although our modern Sope made of Pot-ashes and other ingredients was unknown to the Ancient yet had they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something which effectually supplied the place thereof making their Woollen clear their Linnen-Cloth cleanly Christ is compared by the Prophet to Fullers sope in Hebrew Borith which word Arias Montanus in his Interlineary Bible reteineth untranslated but in his Comment following the example of St. Hierom on the place rendreth it Herba fullonum expounding it to be Saponaria in English Sopeworth Indeed both Dodoneus and Gerardus writeth thereof This plant hath no use in Physick Yet seeing nature made nothing in vain Sopeworth cannot justly be charged as useless because purging though not the body the Clothes of a man and conducing much to the neatnesse thereof The Buildings Ratcliffe Church in this City clearly carrieth away the credit from all parish-Parish-Churches in England It was founded by Cannings first a Merchant who afterwards bâ—…ame a Priest and most stately the ascent thereunto by many stairs which at last plentifully recompenceth their pains who climb them up with the magnificent structure both without and within If any demand the cause why this Church was not rather made the See of a Bishop then St. Augustins in this City much inferiour thereunto such may receive this reason thereof That this though an intire stately structure was not conveniently accomodated like St. Augustins formerly a great Monastery with publick Buildings about it for the Palace of a Bishop and the Reception of the Dean and Chapter However as the Town of Hague in Holland would never be Walled about as accounting it more credit to be the Biggest of Villages in Europe than but a Lesser City so ratcliffe-Ratcliffe-Church esteemeth it a greater grace to lead the Van of all Parochial than to follow in the Rear after many Cathedral Churches in England Medicinal Waters St. Vincents Well lying West of the City under St. Vincents Rock and hard by the River is sovereign for Sores and Sicknesses to be washt in or drunk of to be either outwardly or inwardly applyed Undoubtedly the Water thereof runneth through some Mineral of Ironâ—… as appeareth by the rusty ferruginous taste thereof which it retaineth though boiled never so much Experience proveth that Beer brewed thereof is wholesome against the Spleen and Dr. Samuel VVard afflicted with that malady and living in Sidney-Colledge was prescribed the constant drinking thereof though it was costly to bring it thorough the Severn and narrow seas to Lin and thence by the River to Cambridge But men in pain must not grudge to send far to purchase their ease and thank God if they can so procure it Proverbs Bristol Milk Though as many Elephants are fed as Cows grased within the Walls of this City yet great plenty of this Metaphorical Milk whereby Xeres or Sherry-Sack is intended Some will have it called Milk because whereas Nurses give new-born Babes in some places Pap in other water and sugar such Wine is the first moisture given Infants in this City It is also the entertainment of course which the courteous Bristolians present to all Strangers when first visiting their City Martyrs The moderation of John Holyman Bipshop of this City is much to be commended who in the reign of Queen Mary did not persecute any in his Diocess And yet we find Rich. Sharpe Tho. Benion and Tho. Hale martyred in this City whose Bloud the Inquisitor thereof will visit on the account of Dalbye the cruel Chancellour of this Dio cess Prelates RALPH of BRISTOL born in this City was bred as I have cause to conceive in the Neighbouring Covent of Glassenbury Going over into Ireland first he became Treasurer of St. Patricks in Dublin then Episcopus Darensis Bishop of Kildare He wrote the life of Lawrence Arch-Bishop of Dublin and granted saith my Author certain Indulgences to the Abbey of Glassenbury in England probably in testimony of his Gratitude for his Education therein He died Anno Dom. 1232. Since the Reformation TOBIAS MATTHEW D. D. was born in this City bred first in St. Johns then in Christ-Church in Oxford and by many mediate Preferments became Bishop of Durham and at last York But it will be safest for my Pen now to fast for fear for a Surfeit which formerly feasted so freely on the Character of this Worthy Prelate who died 1628. Sea-men No City in England London alone excepted hath in so short a Time bred more Brave and Bold Sea-men advantaged for Western Voyages by its situation They have not only been Merchants but Adventurers possessed with a Publick Spirit for the General Good Aiming not so much to return wealthier as wiser not alwayes to en-rich themselves as inform Posterity by their Discoveries Of these some have been but meerly casual when going to fish for Cod they have found a Country or some eminent Bay River or Hauen of importance unknown before Others were intentional wherein they have sown experiments with great pains cost and danger that ensuing Ages may freely reap benefit thereof Amongst these Sea-men we must not forget HUGH ELIOT a Merchant of this City who was in his Age the prime Pilot of our Nation He first with the assistance of Mr. Thorn his fellow-Citizen found out New-found-land Anno 1527. This may be called Old-found-land as senior in the cognizance of the English to Virginia and all our other Plantations Had this Discovery been as fortunate in publick Encouragement as private Industry probably before this time we had enjoyed the Kernel of those Countries whose Shell only we now possess It 's to me unknown when Eliot deceased Writers THOMAS NORTON was born in this City and if any doubt thereof let them but consult the Initial syllables in the six first and the first line in the seventh chapter of his Ordinal which put together compose Thomas Norton of Briseto A parfet Master you may him trow Thus his modesty embraced a middle way betwixt concealing and revealing his name proper for so great a Professor in Chymistry as he was that his very name must from his
Fathers Lands the more he enjoyed of himself It was not sullenesse or revenge but free choice which made him betake himself to his studies wherein he became eminent I place him confidently not a trans but Cis-reformation-man for translating the Book of Dr. Fox Bishop of Hereford a favourer of Luther into English Of the Difference of the power Ecclesiastical and Secular A Subject profitable in all seasonable not to say necessary in our Times For as the Water and Earth making but one Globe take their mutual advantages to enlarge themselves so these two powers united under one King in our land wait their opportunities to advance their respective Jurisdictions the right stating whereof would conduce much to the publick Peace This Lord died I dare not say the more the pitty some moneths before the beginning of Queen Elizabeth Anno 1558. SAMPSON ERDERSWIK Esq. was born at Sandon near Stafford in this County of a Right Worshipful and ancient Extraction He was a Gentleman accomplished with all Noble qualities affability devotion and Learning 'T is hard to say whether his Judgement or Industry was more in matters of Antiquity Bearing a tender respect to his native Country and desiring the honour thereof he began a description â—…ntituled A view of Stafford-shire Anno Domini 1593 conteining the same till the day of his death A short clear true impartial work taken out of ancient evidences and Records the Copies whereof in Manuscripts are deservedly valued for great Rarities This is he who when I often groped in the dark yea feared to fall in matters concerning this County took me by the hand Oh! for the like Conductors in other Counties and hath led me safe by his direction He was much delighted with decency of Gods House which made him on his own cost to repaire new Glaze the Church of Sandon wherein to prevent neglect of Executors he erected for himself a goodly Monument of Free-stone with his proportion cut out to the life and now lieth therein interred He died April the 11 1603 and let his Elogie of Mr. Camden serve for his Epitaph Venerandae Antiquitatis fuit Cultor Maximus THOMAS ALLEN was born in this County deriving his original from Allanus de Buckenhole Lord of Buckenhole in the reign of King Edward the 2d He was bred in Glocester-Hall in Oxford a most excellent Mathematician where he succeeded to the skill and scandal of Frier Bacon taken at both but given I beleeve by neither accounted a Conjurer Indeed vulgar eyes ignorant in Opticks conceit that raised which is but reflected fancy every shadow a spirit every spirit a Divel And when once the repute of a Conjurer is raised in vulgar esteem it is not in the power of the greatest Innocence and Learning to allay it He was much in favour with Robert Earl of Leicester and his admirable writings of Mathematicks are lâ—…tent with some private possessors which envy the publick profit thereof He died a very aged man towards the end of the reign of King James HENRY and ROBERT BURTON Brethren and eminent Authors in their several kinds were as some say born at Fald in this County But Leicester-shire pretending some probability to their Nativities hath by the Alphabetical advantage prevented this Shire and carried away their Characters therein Besides these deceased WRITERS Reader I have Three in my eye who are and long may they be alive as different as eminent in their liberal inclinations Edward Leigh of Rushwel-Hall Esq. whose Critica Sacra with many other worthy works will make his Judicious Industry known to posterity Elias Ashmole Esq. born in Litchfield critically skilled in Ancient Coins Chymistry Heraldry Mathematicks what not John Lightfood D. D. who for his exact insight in Hebrew and Rabbinical Learning hath deserved well of the Church of England But forgive me Reader I have forgot myself and trespassed on my Fundamental Rules Romish Exile Writers WILLIAM GIFFORD Though this Ancient and Worshipful Name be diffused in several Counties I have satisfied my self in fixing him here as an Extract of the Family of Chillington He was a man of much Motion and my Pen is resolved to follow him as able to Travel with more Speed less Pain and Cost 1 From his Fathers house he went to and lived four years in Oxford 2 Thence with his School-master he went over to Lovain where he got Lauream Doctoralem in Artibus was made Master of Arts. 3 Then studying Divinity there under Bellarmin was made Batchelour in that Profession 4 Frighted hence with War went to Paris 5 Removed to Rheams where he eleven years professed Divinity 6 Doctorated at Pont-Muss in Lorain 7 Highly prized by Henry Duke of Guise and Cardinal Lewis his brother who gave him a Pension of two hundred Crowns a year 8 After their death he went to Rome where he became Dean of St. Peters in the Isle for ten years 9 Returning to Rheams he was made Rector of the Vniversity therein 10 At fifty years of Age bidding farewel to the World he became a Benedictine at Delaware in Lorain Thus far Pitseus acquainting us that he was alive 1611 on whose Stock give me leave to graft what followeth This Dr. Gifford was afterwards advanced Arch-bishop of Rheams by the favour of the Duke of Guise who is shrewdly suspected to have quartered to heavily on the profit of that place However our Gifford gained so much as therewith to found not only a Covent for English Monks at St. Mallowes in France but also at Paris for those of the same profession Remarkable Charity that an Exile who properly had no home of his own should erect Houses for others Benefactors to the Publick This County I confess is exceeded by her Neigbours in this particular and I meet with few either ancient or eminent Benefactions therein Yet besides a â—…air School at Wolver-Hampton built by Sr. Stephen Jennings Lord Major of London and another erected by Mr. Thomas Allen at â—…tceter I am credibly informed that MARTEN NOEL Esq. born in the Counâ—…y-Town of Stafford bred Sâ—…rivener in London hath fairly built and largely endowed an Hospital in Stafford aforesaid The Crown Muâ—…al amongst the Romanâ—… waâ—… noâ—… given to every Souldier who scaled the Walls but onely to him who footed them first on which account a Garland of Glory is due to this Gentleman whose Foundation as I am certified is the first considerable Fabrick of that kind in this County Iâ—… is to be hoped that as the zeal of Achaia provoked many â—…o this good Leader will invite maâ—…y Followers to succeed him living in London this present 1660. Memorable persons THOMAS TARLTON My intelligence of the certainty of his birth-place coming too late confessed by the marginal mark I fix him here who indeed was born at Condover in the neighbouring County of Shrap-shire where still some of his Name and Relations remain Here he was in the field keeping his Fathers Swine
till sent to St. Johns then to Trinity Colledge in Cambridge whereof he was Fellow and there chosen Regius Professâ—…r one of the most profound School-Divines of the English Nation Afterwards by the Queens absolute mandate to end a contention betwixt two Corrivals not much with his will he was made Master of Katharine-hall For when Archbishop Whitgift joyed him of the place he returned that it was Terminus diminuens taking no delight in his preferment But his Grace told him That if the injuries much more the less courtesies of Princes must be thankfully taken as the Ushers to make way for greater as indeed it came to passe For after the death of Dr. Nowel he was by the especial recommendation of Sr. Fulke Grevil made Dean of St. Pauls Being appointed to preach before the Queen he profess'd to my Father most intimate with him that he had spoken Latin so long it was troublesome to him to speak English in a continued Oration He frequently had those words of the Psalmist in his mouth VVhen thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth surely every man is vanity I cite it the rather out of the new Translation something different from the old because he was so eminent an Instrument employed therein King James made him Bishop of Norwich where he was a discreet presser of Conformity on which score he got the ill will of many dis-affected thereunto and died Anno 1618. LEONARD MAW was born at * Rendlesham in this Connty a remarkable place Iassure you which though now a Country Village was anciently the Residence of the Kings of the East-Angles Where King Redwald a Mongrel Christian kept at the same time Altare Arulam the Communion Table and Altars for Idols He was bred in Cambridge where he was Proctor of the University Fellow and Master of Peter-house after of Trinity Colledge whereof he deserved well shewing what might be done in five years by good Husbandry to dis-ingage that Foundation from a great debt He was Chaplain to King Charles whilst he was a Prince and waited on him in Spain by whom he was preferred Bishop of Bath and Wells He had the Reputation of a good Scholar a grave Preacher a mild man and one of Gentil Deportment He died Anno Domini 163. RALPH BROUNRIG D. D. was born at Ipswich of Parents of Merchantly condition His Father died in his Infancy and his Mother did not carelesly cast away his youth as the first Broachings of a Vessel but improved it in his Education at School till he was sent to Pembroke-hall in Cambridge and afterwards became Scholar and Fellow thereof King James coming to Cambridge was amongst others entertained with a Philosophy Act and Mr. Brounrig was appointed to perform the Joco-serious part thereof who did both to the wonder of the Hearers Herein he was like himself that he could on a sudden be so unlike himself and instantly vary his words and matter from mirth to solidity No man had more ability or less inclination to be Satyrical in which kind posse nolle is a rarity indeed He had wit at will but so that he made it his Page not Privy Councellour to obey not direct his Judgement He carried Learning enough in numerato about him in his pockets for any Discourse and had much more at home in his chests for any serious Dispute It is hard to say whether his loyal memory quick fancy solid judgement or fluent utterance were most to be admired having not only flumen but fulmen eloquentiae being one who did teach with Authority When commencing Bachelour in Divinity he chose for his Text Vobis autem c. It is given to you not only to beleeve but suffer in the behalf of Christ. A Text somewhat Prophetical to him who in the Sequele of his life met with affronts to exercise his Prudence and Patience being afterwards defied by some who almost Deified him before in whose Eyes he seemed the blacker for wearing white sleeves when 1641 made Bishop of Exeter I was present at his Consecration Sermon made by his good Friend Doctor Younge taking for his Text The waters are risen O Lord the waters are risen c. wherein he very gravely complained of the many invasions which Popular violence made on the Priviledges of Church and State This Bishop himself was soon sadly sensible of such Inundations and yet by the Procâ—…rity of his parts and piety he not only safely waded thorough them himself but also when Vice-Chancellour of Cambridge by his prudence raised such Banks that those overflowings were so not destructive as otherwise they would have been to the University He continued constant to the Church of England a Champion of the needful use of the Liturgie and for the Priviledges of Ordination to belong to Bishops alone Unmoveable he was in his principles of Loyalty witness this instance O. P. with some shew of respect unto him demanded the Bishops Judgement non plus't it seems himself in some business to whom he returned My Lord the best counsel I can give you is Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods with which free answer O. P. was rather silenced than satisfied About a year before his death he was invited by the Society of both Temples to be their Preacher admirably supplying that place till strong fits of the Stone with Hydropical Inclinations and other distempers incident to phletorick Bodies caused his death I know all Accidents are minuted and momented by Divine Providence and yet I hope I may say without sin his was an untimely death not to himself prepared thereunto but as to his longer life vvhich the prayers of pious people requested the need of the Church required the date of Nature could have permitted but the pleasure of God to which all must submit denied Otherwise he vvould have been most instrumental to the composure of Church differences the deserved opinion of whose goodness had peaceable possession in the hearts of the Presbyterian party I observed at his Funeral that the prime persons of all Perswasions were present whose Judgements going several wayes met all in a general grief for his decease He was buried on the cost of both Temples to his great but their greater honour The Reader is referred for the rest to the Memorials of his life written by the Learned Doctor John Gauden who preached his Funeral Sermon and since hath succeeded him both in the Temple and Bishoprick of Exeter His dissolution happened in the 67th year of his Age Decemb. 7 1659 and was buried the week following in the Temple Church States-men S â— NICHOLAS BACON Knight was born in this County not far from the famous Abbey of St. Edmunds Bury and I have read that his Father was an Officer belonging thereunto His name I assure you is of an Ancient Gentry in this Shire as any whatsoever He was
notice of his parts and perfections allowing him Festivum ingenium ad quodcunque deflexum having a subtile and supple Wit so that he could be what he would be a great Master of Defence in the Schools both to guard and hit Bale saith he saw his Works in Cambridge fairly written in four great Volumes Weary with his long Race beyond the seas he returned at last to the place whence he started and retiring to his Convent whereof he was Ruler at Ipswich died there January 22 1448. JOHN of BURY was an Augustinian in Clare Doctor of Divinity in Cambridge Provincial of his Order thorough England and Ireland no mean Scholar and a great opposer of Reginald Peakock and all other Wicklevites He flourished Anno 1460. THOMAS SCROOPE was born at Bradley in this County but extracted from the Lord Scroop in York-shire who rolled through many professions 1 He was a Benedictine but found that Order too loose for his conscience 2 A Carmelite of Norwich as a stricter profession 3 An Anchorite the dungeon of the prison of Carmelitisme wherein he lived twenty years 4 Dispensed with by the Pope he became Bishop of Drummore in Ireland 5 Quiâ—…ing his Bishoprick he returned to his solitary life yet so that once a week he used to walk on his bare â—…eet and preach the Decalogue in the Villages round about He lived to be extreamly aged for about the year 1425 cloathed in sack-cloath and girt with an iron chain he used to cry out in the streets That new Jerusalem the Bride of the Lamb was shortly to come down from Heaven prepared for her Spouse Revel 21 and that with great joy he saw the same in the spirit Thomas Waldensis the great Anti-Wicklevite was much offended thereat protesting it was a scandal and disgrace to the Church However our Scroope long out-lived him and died aged well nigh 100 years Non sine sanctitatis opinione say both Bale and 〈◊〉 And it is a wonder they meet in the same opinion He was buried at 〈◊〉 in this County Anno 1491. Since the Reformation RICHARD SIRS was born in the edge of this County yet so that Essex seemeth to have no share in him nigh Sudbury and was bred a Fellow of St. Johns Colledge in Cambridge He proved afterwards a most profitable Preacher to the Honourable Society of Grais-Inn whence he was chosen Master of St. Katharine-hall in Cambridge He found the House in a mean condition the Wheel of St. Katharine having stood still not to say gone backwards for some years together he left it replenished with Scholars beautified with Buildings better endowed with Revenues He was most eminent for that grace which is most worth yet cost the least to keep it viz. Christian humility Of all points of Divinity he most frequently pressed that of Christs Incarnation and if the Angels desired to pry into that Mystery no wonder if this Angelical Man had a longing to look therein A Learned Divine imputed this good Doctors great humility to his much meditating on that point of Christs humiliation when he took our flesh upon him If it be true what some hold in Physick that Omne par nutrit suum par that the Vitals of our Body are most strengthned by feeding on such Meat as are likest unto them I see no absurdity to maintain that Mens souls improve most in those graces whereon they have most constant meditation whereof this worthy Doctor was an eminent instance He died in the 58th year of his Age Anno Domini 1631. WILLIAM ALABLASTER was born at Hadley in this County and by marriage was Nephew to Doctor John Still Bishop of Bath and Wells He was bred Fellow in Trinity Colledge in Cambridge A most rare Poet as any our Age or Nation hath produced witnesse his Tragedy of Roxama admirably acted in that Colledge and so pathetically that a Gentle-woman present thereat Reader I had it from an Author whose credit it is sin with me to suspect at the hearing of the last words thereof sequar sequar so hideously pronounced fell distracted and never after fully recovered her senses He attended Chaplain in Calis-voyage on Robert Earl of Essex where he was so affected with the beauty of Popish Churches and the Venerable respect the Papists gave to their Priests that he staggered in his own Religion There wanted not those of the Romish party to force his fall whom they found reeling working on his Ambition who complained of the slownesse of preferment in England which followed not so fast as in due time to overtake his deserts so that soon after he turned a Papist Yet it was not long before he was out of love with that perswasion so that whether because he could not comport with their discipline who would have made him who conceived himself at the top begin again according to their course at the bottom of Humane Learning Or because which I rather charitably beleeve that upon second thoughts he seriously disgusted the Romish superstition he returned into his own Country It was not long before he was made Prebendary of St. Pauls and Rector of the rich Parsonage of Tharfield in Hartford-shire He was an excellent Hebrician and well skilled in Cabalistical Learning witnesse his Clerum in Cambridge when he commenced Doctor in Divinity taking for his Text the first words of the first Book of Chronicles Adam Seth Enos Besides the literal sense as they are proper names of the Patriarchs he mined for a mystical meaning Man is put or placed for pain and trouble How well this agreeth with the Original belongs not to me to enquire This I know it had been hard if not impossible for him to hold on the same rate and reduce the proper names in the Genealogies following to such an Appellativeness as should compose a continued sense He died Anno Domini 163. SAMUEL WARD was born at Haveril in this County where his Father had long been a painful Minister of the place and I remember I have read this Epitaph written on his Monument in the Chancel there which I will endeavour to translate Quo si quis scivit scitiùs Aut si quis docuit doctiùs At rarus vixit sanctiùs Et nullus tonuit fortiùs Grant some of knowledge greater store More Learned some in teaching Yet few in life did lighten more None thundred more in preaching He bred his son Samuel in Cambridge in Sidney Colledge whereof he became Fellow being an excellent Artist Linguist Divine and Preacher He had a sanctified fancy dexterous in designing expressive pictures representing much matter in a little model From Cambridge he was preferred Minister in or rather of Ipswich having a care over and a love from all the Parishes in that populous place Indeed he had a magnifick Vertue as if he had learned it from the Load-stone in whose qualities he was so knowing to attract peoples affections Yet found he foes as well as friends who complained of him to the High
this County bred first at Eaton then at Kings-Colledge in Cambridge where when a youth he was a Rakel in grain For something crossing him in the Colledge he could find no other way to work his Revenge than by secret setting on fire the Masters lodgings part whereof he burnt to the ground Immediately after this Incendiary and was it not high time for him left the Colledge and this little Herosâ—…ratus lived for a time in the Country debauched enough for his conversation But they go far who turn not again And in him the Proverb was verified Naughty Boyes sometimes make good Men he seasonably retrenched his wildness turn'd hard Student became an eminent Scholar and most able States-man and after smaller promotions was at last made Bishop of Ely and often employed in forreign Embassies And now hath it been possible he would have quenched the fire he kindled in the Colledge with his own tears and in expression of his penitence became a worthy Benefactor to the house and re-built the masters Lodgings firm and fair from the ground No Bishop of England was better attended with Menial Servants or kept a more bountiful house which made his death so much lamented Anno Dom. 1533. Since the Reformation JOHN PARKâ—…URST was born at Gilford in this County bred first in Magdalen then in Merton-Colledge in Oxford Here it was no small part of praise that he was Tutor yea Mecenas to John Jewel After his discontinuance returning to Oxford it was no small comfort unto him to hear his Pupil read his Learned humanity-Lectures to the Somato Christians Reader I coyn not the word my self but have took it in Payment from a good hand that is to those of Corpus Chrisâ—…i Colledge to which house then Jâ—…wel was removed Hereupon Mr. Parkhurst made this Distich Olim discipulus mihi chare Juelle fuisti Nunc ero discipulus te renuente tuus Dear Jewel Scholar once thou wast to me Now gainst thy will I Scholar turn to thee Indeed he was as good a Poet as any in that Age and delighted to be an AntiEpigrammatist to John VVhite Bishop of VVinchester whom in my opinion he far surpassed both in Phrase and fancy Mr. Parkhurst when leaving Oxford was presented Parson shall I say or Bishop of Cleve in Glocester-shire as which may seem rather a Diocess than a Parish for the rich Revenue thereof But let none envy Beneficium opimum beneficiario optimo A good living to an incumbent who will do good therewith He laid himself out in works of Charity and Hospitality He used to examine the Pockets of such Oxford Scholars as repaired unto him and alwayes recruited them with necessaries so that such who came to him with heavy hearts and light purses departed from him with light hearts and heavy purses But see a sudden alteration King Edward the Sixth dies and then he who formerly entertained others had not a house to hide himself in Parkhurst is forced to post speedily and secretly beyond the Seas where he remained all the reign of Queen Mary and providing for his return in the First of Queen Elizabeth was robbed of that little he had by some Searchers appointed for that purpose Were not these Thieves themselves robbed I mean of their expectation who hoped to enrich themselves by Pillaging an Exile and a Poet It grieved him most of all that he lost the fair Copy of his Epigrams though afterwards with much ado he recovered them from his foul papers These at last he put in print Et juvenilem 〈◊〉 senex edidit without any trespass on his gravity such his Poems being so witty that a young man so harmless that an old man need not be of them ashamed Being returned into England he was by Queen Elizabeth preferred to the Bishoprick of Norwich and was consecrated Sept. the 1 1560. 14 years he sate in that See and died 1574. THOMAS RAVIS was born of worthy Parentage at Maulden in this County bred in Christ-Church in Oxford whereof he was Dean and of which University he was twice Vice-Chancellor Afterwards when many suitors greedily sought the Bishoprick of Glocester then vacant the Lords of the Councel * requested Doct. Ravis to accept thereof As he was not very willing to go â—…hither so after his three years abode there those of Glocester were unwilling he should go thence who in so short a time had gained the good liking of all sorts that some who could scant brook the name of Bishop were content to give or rather to pay him a good Report Anno 1607 he was removed to London and there died on the 14th of December 1609. and lieth buried under a fair Tomb in the wall at the upper end of the North-part of his Cathedral ROBERT ABBOT D. D. was born at Guilford in this County bred in 〈◊〉 Colledge in Oxford whereof he became Principal and Kings Professor of Divinity in that University What is said of the French so graceful is their Garbe that they make any kind of Cloathes become themselves so general was his Learning he made any liberal imployment beseem him Reading VVriting Preaching Opposing Answering and Moderating who could dis-intangle Truth though complicated with errours on all sides He so routed the reasons of Bellarmin the Romish Champion that he never could rally them again Yet Preferment which is ordered in Heaven came down very slowly on this Doctor whereof several Reasons are assigned 1 His Humility affected no high Promotion 2 His Foes traduced him for a Puritan who indeed was a right godly Man and cordiat to the Discipline as Doctrine of the Church of England 3 His Friends were loath to adorn the Church with the spoil of the University and marre a Professor to make a Bishop However preferment at last found him out when he was consecrated B. of Salisbury Decemb. 3. 1615. Herein he equaled the felicity of Suffridus B. of Chichester that being himself a Bishop he saw his brother George at the same time Archbishop of Canterbury Of these two George was the more plausible Preacher Robert the greater Scholar George the abler States-man Robert the deeper Divine Gravity did frown in George and smile in Robert But alas he was hardly warm in his Sâ—…e before cold in his Coffin being one of the â—…ive Bishops which Salisbury saw in six years His death happened Anno 1617. GEORGE ABBOT was born at Guilford in this County being one of that happy Ternion of Brothers whereof two eminent Prelats the third Lord Mayor of London He was bred in Oxford wherein he became Head of University-Colledge a pious man and most excellent Preacher as his Lectures on Jonah do declare He did first creep then run then fly into preferment or rather preferment did fly upon him without his expectation He was never incumbent on any Living with cure of soules but was mounted from a Lecturer to a Dignitary so that he knew well what belong'd to
the stipend and benevolence of the one and the dividend of the other but was utterly unacquainted with the taking of Tithes with the many troubles attending it together with the causeless molestations which Persons Presented meet with in their respective Parishes And because it is hard for one to have a Fellow-suffering of that whereof he never had a suffering this say some was the cause that he was so harsh to Ministers when brought before him Being Chaplain to the Earl of Dunbar then Omni-prevalent with King James he was unexpectedly preferred Archbishop of Canterbury being of a more fatherly presence than those who might almost have been his Fathers for age in the Church of England I find two things much charg'd on his memory First that in his house he respected his Secretary above his Chaplains and out of it alwayes honoured Cloaks above Cassocks Lay above Clergie-men Secondly that he connived at the spreading of non-conformity in so much that I read in a modern Author Had Bishop Laud succeeded Bancroft and the project of Conformity been followed without interruption there is little question to be made but that our Jerusalem by this time might have been a City at unity in it self Yet are there some of Archbishop Abbot his relations who as I am informed will undertake to defend him that he was in no degree guilty of these crimes laid to his charge This Archbishop was much humbled with a casual homicide of a keeper of the Lord Zouch's in Bramzel-Park though soon after he was solemnly quitted from any irregularity thereby In the reign of King Charles he was sequestred from his Jurisdiction say some on the old account of that homicide though others say for refusing to Licence a Sermon of Dr. Sibthorps Yet there is not an Express of either in the Instrument of Sequestration the Commission only saying in the general That the said Archbishop could not at that present in his own person attend those services which were otherwise proper for his cognizance and Jurisdiction For my own part I have cause to believe that as Vulnus semel sanatum novo vulnere recrudescit so his former obnoxiousness for that casualty was renewed on the occasion of his refusal to Licence that Sermon with some other of his Court-un-compliances This Archbishop died Anno Dom. 1633. having erected a large Hospital with liberal maintenance at Guildford the place of his nativity RICHARD CORBET D. D. was born at Ewel in this County and from a Student in became Dean of Christ-Church then Bishop of Oxford An high VVit and most excellent Poet of a courteous carriage and no destructive nature to any who offended him counting himself plentifully repaired with a jest upon him He afterwards was advanced Bishop of Norwich where he died Anno Dom. 1635. States-men THOMAS CROMWEL was born at Putney in this County of whom I have given measure pressed down and running over in my Church-History WILLIAM HOWARD son to Thomas Howard second of that Surname Duke of 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
Idem  26 Philippus de Crofts  27 Radul de Kaymes for 3 ye   30 Rob. de Savage for 4 years   34 Nic. de Wancy for 3 years   37   38 Will. Mich. de Vere   39   40 Galfr. de Grues   41 Idem   42 Gerard. de Cuncton   43 David de Jarpennil  Anno Anno Anno  44 Johannes de Wanton   45 Idem  46 Rogerus de VVikes for 6 years 46 VVillielmus de Lazouch for 3 years 46 Robertus Agwilon for 6 years  52 Rogerus de Loges for 3 years  55 Matth. de Hasting  55 Bartholomeus de Hasting 56 Idem  56 Idem  EDW. I.   Anno   1 Matth. de Hastings   2 Idem   3 VVillielmus de Herne   4 Johannes VVanton for 3 years   7 Emerindus de Cancellis   8 Idem   9 Nicholaus de Gras for 5 years   14 Richardus de Pevensey   15 Idem   16 VVill. de Pageham for 5 years  17 Rogerus de Lukenor for 4 years    21 Robertus de Gla morgan for 6 years   27 Joh. Albel for 4 years   31 VValter de Gedding   32 Idem   33 Robertus de le Knole ' for 3 years  Sheriffs of Surrey and Sussex EDW. II. Anno 1 Walter de Gedding Anno 2 VVillielmus de Henle Robertus de Stangrave Anno 3 VVillielmus de Henle Robertus de Stangrave Anno 4 Idem Anno 5 VVillielmus de Henle Anno 6 VVillielmus de Henle VVillielmus de Mere Anno 7 Petrus de Vienne Anno 8 Idem Anno 9 VVillielmus Merre Anno 10 VValterus le Gras Anno 11 VValterus le Gras Petrus de VVorldham Anno 12 Petrus de VVorldham Henricus Husey Anno 13 Idem Anno 14 Henricus Husey Anno 15 Nicholaus Gentil Anno 16 Anno 17 Petrus de VVorldham Andream Medested for 3 years EDW. III. Anno 1 Nicholaus Gentil Anno 2 Nicholaus Gentil Robertus de Stangrave for 3 years Anno 5 Johannes Dabnam Anno 6 VVillielmus Vaughan Anno 7 Idem Anno 8 Willielmus Vaughan Joh. Dabnam for 3 years Anno 11 VVillielmus Vaughan Anno 12 Idem Anno 13 Godfridus de Hunston Anno 14 Wilielmus de Northo Godfridus de Henston Anno 15 Hugo de Bowcy Willielmus de Northo Anno 16 Andreas Peverel Hugo de Bowcy Anno 17 Idem Anno 18 VVilliemus de Northo Anno 19 Regind de Forester for 3 years Anno 22 Rogerus Daber Anno 23 Tho. Hoo for 3 years Anno 26 Richardus de St. Oweyn Anno 27 Idem Anno 28 Simon de Codington Anno 29 Rogerus de Lukenor Anno 30 VVill. Northo Anno 31 Tho. de Hoo for 3 years Anno 34 Richardus de Hurst for 3 years 37 Simon de Codington 38 Ranul Thurnburn 39. Johannes Wateys 40 Johannes Weyvile 41 Andreas Sackvile 42 â—…dem 43 Ranul Thurnburn 44 Idem 45 VVillielmus Neidegate 46 Roger. Dalingrugg 47 Nicholaus Wilcomb 48 Robertus de Loxele 49 Robertus Atte Hele 50 Johannes St. Clere 51 Johannes de Melburn The Sheriffs of these two Counties before King Edward the Second are in the Records so involved complicated perplexed that it is a hard taske to untangle them and assign with the Sheriffs did severally which joyntly belong unto them Had the like difficulty presented it self in other united Shires I suspect it would have deterred me from ever meddling with their Catalogue Nor will we warrant that we have done all right in so dare a subject but submit our best endeavours to the censure and correction of the more Judicious HENRY the II. 7 Sussex HILARIUS Episcopus Chichester The King had just cause to confide in his loyalty and commit the Shire to his care For although I behold him as a French-man by birth yet great alwayes was his loyalty to the King whereof afterwards he gave a signal testimony For whereas all other Bishops assembled at the Council of Clarendon only assented to the Kings propositions with this limitation Salvo ordine suo this Hilarie absolutely and simply subscribed the same The time of his Consecration as also of his death is very uncertain EDWARD the Third 1 ANDREAS SACKVIL The Family of the Sackvils is as Ancient as any in England taking their Name from Sackvil some will have it Sicca Villa a Town and their Possession in Normandy Before this time we meet with many Eminent Persons of their Name and Ancestry 1 Sir Robert Sackvil Knight younger son of Herbrann de Sackvil was fixed in England and gave the Mannor of Wickham in Suffolk to the Abbey of St. John de Baptist in Colchester about the reign of William Rufus 2 Sir John de Sackvil his son is by Matthew Paris ranked amongst those Persons of Prime Quality who in the reign of King John were Assistants to the five and twenty Peers appointed to see the Liberties of Charta Magna performed 3 Richard de Sackvil as I have cause to beleive his son was one of such Quality that I find Hubertus de Anesty to hold two Fields in Anesty and Little Hormeed of the Honor of Richard Sackvil Now the word Honor since appropriated to Princes Palaces was in that Age attributed to none but the Patrimony of principal Barons 4 Sir Jordan Sackvil Grand-child to the former was taken prisoner at the Battle of Emesham in the Age of King Henry the Third for siding with the Barons against him 5 Andrew his son and heir being under Age at his Fathers death and the Kings Ward was imprisoned in the Castle of Dover Anno the third of Edward the First and afterwards by the special command of the said King did marry Ermyntude an I conceive a Spanish Honourable Lady of the Houshold of Queen Elianor Whereby he gained the Kings favour and the greater part of his formerly forfeited Inheritance I behold this Andrew Sackvil the Sheriff as his son Ancestor to the Truly Honourable Richard now Earl of Dorset Sheriffs Name Place Armes RICH. II.   Anno   1 Will. Percy  Or a Lion Rampant Azure 2 Edw. Fitz-Herbert  Gules 3 Lions Rampant Or. 3 Ioh. de Hadresham   4 Nich. Sleyfeld   5 Will. Percy ut prius  6 Will. Weston  Ermin on a Chief Azu 5 Bezants 7 Will. Waleys   8 Robertus Nutborne   9 Richardus Hurst   10 Thomae Hardin   11 Idem   12 Edw. de â—…t Johan  Argent on a Chief Gules 2 Mullets Or. 13 Rob. Atte-Mulle   14 Rob. de Echingham   15 Nicholaus Carew Beddingtâ—… Surrey Or 3 Lions Passant-gardant Sable armed and langued Gules 16 Thomae Jardin  Â
he was successively preferred by King Charles the first Bishop of Hereford and London and for some years Lord Treasurer of England A troublesome place in those times it being expected that he should make much Brick though not altogether without yet with very little Straw allowed unto him Large then the Expences Low the Revenues of the Exchequer Yet those Coffers which he found Empty he left Filling and had left Full had Peace been preserved in the Land and he continued in his Place Such the mildness of his temper that Petitioners for Money when it was not to be had departed well pleased with his denialls they were so civilly Languaged It may justly seem a wonder that whereas few spake well of Bishops at that time and Lord Treasurers at all times are liable to the Complaints of discontented people though both Offices met in this man yet with Demetrius he was well reported of all men and of the truth it self He lived to see much shame and contempt undeservedly poured on his Function and all the while possessed his own soul in patience He beheld those of his Order to lose their votes in Parliament and their insulting enemies hence concluded Loss of speech being a sad Symptom of approching Death that their Final extirpation would follow whose own experience at this day giveth the Lie to their malicious Collection Nor was it the least part of this Prelates Honour that amongst the many worthy Bishops of our Land King Charles the first selected him for his Confessor at his Martyrdome He formerly had had experience in the case of the Earl of Strafford that this Bishops Conscience was bottom'd on Piety not Policy the reason that from him he received the Sacrament good Comfort and Counsell just before he was Murdered I say just before that Royal Martyr was Murdered a Fact so foul that it alone may confute the errour of the Pelagians maintaining that all Sin cometh by imitaâ—…ion the Universe not formerly affording such a Precedent as if those Regicides had purposely designed to disprove the Observation of Solomon that there is No new thing under the Sun King Charles the second Anno Domini 1660. preferred him Arch-bishop of Canterbury which place he worthily graceth at the writing hereof Feb. 1. 1660. ACCEPTUS FRUIN D. D. was born at in this County bred Fellow of Magdalen-colledge in Oxford and afterwards became President thereof and after some mediate preferments was by King Charles the first advanced Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield and since by King Charles the second made Arch-bishop of York But the matter whereof Porcellane or China dishes are made must be ripened many years in the earth before it comes to full perfection The Living are not the proper objects of the Historians Pen who may be misinterpreted to flatter even when he falls short of their due Commendation the Reason why I adde no more in the praise of this worthy Prelate As to the Nativities of Arch-bishops one may say of this County many Shires have done worthily but SUSSEX surmounteth them all having bred Five Archbishops of Canterbury and at this instant claiming for her Natives the two Metropolitans of our Nation States-men THOMAS SACKVILL son and heir to Sir Richard Sackvill Chancellour and Sub-Treasurer of the Exchequer and Privy-Counsellour to Queen Elizabeth by Winifred his wife daughter to Sir John Bruges was bred in the University of Oxford where he became an excellent Poet leaving both Latine and English Poems of his composing to posterity Then studied he law in the Temple and took the degree of Barrister afterward he travelled into forraign parts detained for a time a prisoner in Rome whence his liberty was procured for his return into England to possess the vast Inheritance left him by his father whereof in short time by his magnificent prodigality he spent the greatest part till he seasonably began to spare growing neer to the bottom of his Estate The story goes that this young Gentleman coming to an Alderman of London who had gained great Pennyworths by his former purchases of him was made being now in the Wane of his Wealth to wait the coming down of the Alderman so long that his generous humour being sensible of the incivility of such attendance resolved to be no more beholding to Wealthy pride and presently turned a thrifty improver of the remainder of his Estate If this be true I could wish that all Aldermen would State it on the like occasion on condition their noble debtors would but make so good use thereof But others make him the Convert of Queen Elizabeth his Cosin german once removed who by her frequent admonitions diverted the torrent of his profusion Indeed she would not know him till he began to know himself and then heaped places of honour and trust upon him creating him 1. Baron of Buckhurst in this County the reason why we have placed him therein Anno Dom. 1566. 2. Sending him Ambassadour into France Anno 1571. into the Low-countries Anno 1586. 3. Making him Knight of the Order of the Garter Anno 1589. 4. Appointing him Treasurer of England 1599. He was Chancellour of the University of Oxford where he entertained Q. Elizabeth with a most sumptuous feast His elocution was good but inditing better and therefore no wonder if his Secretaries could not please him being a person of so quick dispatch faculties which yet run in the bloud He took a Roll of the names of all Suitors with the date of their first addresses and these in order had their hearing so that a fresh-man could not leap over the head of his senior except in urgent affairs of State Thus having made amends to his house for his mis-spent time both in increase of Estate and Honour being created Earl of Dorset by King James he died on the 19. of April 1608. Capitall Judges Sir JOHN JEFFRY Knight was born in this County as I have been informed It confirmeth me herein because he left a fair Estate in this Shire Judges genebuilding their Nest neer the place where they were Hatched which descended to his Daughter He so profited in the study of our Municipall-Law that he was preferred Secondary Judge of the Common-pleas and thence advanced by Queen Elizabeth in Michaelmas Terme the nineteenth of her Reign to be Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer which place he discharged for the Terme of two years to his great commendation He left one only Daughter and Heir married to Sir Edward Mountague since Baron of Boughton by whom he had but one Daughter Elizabeth married to Robert Barty Earl of Linsey Mother to the truly Honorable Mountague Earl of Linsey and Lord Great Chamberlain of England This worthy Judge died in the 21. of Queen Elizabâ—…h Souldiers The ABBOT of BATTLE He is a pregnant Proof that one may leave no Name and yet a good Memory behind him His Christian or Surname cannot be recovered out of our Chronicles which hitherto
buried in that Covent Anno 1326. Since the Reformation WILLIAM PEMBLE was born in this County where his Parents had no plentifull Estate but their wants were supplied as to this their Sons education in Learning by the bounty of John Barker of Mayfield in this Shire Esq. as by the following passage may appear written by Mr. Capel his worthy Tutor You are the man who supported the Vine that bore this and many other excellent grapes His studies had shrunk and withered even then when they were about to knit had it not been for you and your Exhibitions who have raised up an able Scholar a learned Divine a well studied Artist a skilfull Linguist and which is the soul of all a very godly Minister So then if I have miss'd Master Pembles native County yet I shall be excused by the known Proverb Non ubi nascor sed ubi pascor Sussex affording him his most effectuâ—…l maintenance He was bred in or if you will he bred Magdalen-hall in Oxford that house owing its late lustre to his Learned Lectures the gravest in the University not disdaining their presence thereat He was an excellent Orator indeed as who spake nonex ore sed ex pectore many excellencies being in him but above all this was his Crown that he unfainedly sought Gods Glory and the good of Mens Souls He died in the flower of his Age as he was making his Lectures on the Prophesie of Zachary finishing but nine chapters of fourteen Anno Dom. of a burning feaver THOMAS CHUNE Esquire living at Alfriston in this County set forth a small Manuall intituled Collectiones Theologicarum Conclusionum Indeed many have much opposed it as what book meeteth not with opposition though such as dislike must commend the brevity and clearness of his Positions For mine own part I am glad to see a Lay-Gentleman so able and industrious His book was set forth 1635. THOMAS MAY was born in this County of a worshipfull but decayed Family bred Fellow-commoner in Cambridge in Sidney colledge where he seriously applyed himself to his studies He afterwards lived in Westminster about the Court He was an Elegant Poet and translated Lucan into English Now though Scaliger be pleased to say Hypocritically of Lucan Non canit sed latrat yet others under the Rose as judicious allow him an excellent Poet and loseing no lustre by Mr. Mays translation Some disgust at Court was given to or taken by him as some will have it because his Bays were not gilded richly enough and his Verses rewarded by King Charles according to his expectation He afterwards wrote an History of this State in the beginning of our Civill Wars and being my self for my many writings one under the Authority of the Tongues and Pens of others it ill becometh me to pass any censure on his performance therein Sure I am if he were a Biassed and Partiall writer he lieth buried near a good and true Historian indeed I mean Mr. Camden in the West-side of the North Isle of Westminster Abby dying suddenly in the night Anno Dom. 1652. in the 55. year of his Age. JOHN SELDEN son of Thomas Selden was born at Salvington within the parish of East Terring in this County and the ensuing inscriptions being built three stories high will acquaint us with his age and parentage The lowest is written on the top stone of his sepulcher being five foot deep in the ground Hic inhumatur corpus Johannis Seldeni The second is inscribed on a blew marble stone lying flat on the 〈◊〉 in the Temple Church J. Seldenus J. C. Hic situs est The third is graven on the wall in a monument of white and black marble Johannis Seldenus Heic juxta situs natus est decimo sexto Decembris MDLXXXIV Salvintoniae qui viculus est Terring occidentalis in Sussexiae maritimis parentibus honestis Joannae Seldeno Thomae filio è Quinis secundo Anno MDXLI nato Et Margareta filia haerede unica Thomae Bakeri de Rushington ex Equestri Bakerorum in Cantîo familia filius 〈◊〉 cunis superstitum unicus Aetatis fere LXX annorum Denatus est ultimo die Novembris Anno salutis reparatae MDCLIV per quam expectat heic Resurrectionem faelicem He was first bred in Hart-hall in Oxford then in the Inner Temple in London where he attained great skill in the Law and all Antiquity His learning did not live in a Lanâ—… but traced all the Latitude of Arts and Languages as appears by the many and various works he hath written which people affect as they stand affected either by their Fancy or Function Lay-gentlemen preser his Titles of honour Lawyers his Mare Clausum Antiquaries his Spicelegium ad Edmearum Clergy-men like best his book de Dis Syris and worst his History of Tythes Indeed the body of that History did not more offend them in point of profit then the preface thereof in matter of credit Such his insolent reflections therein Nor will it be impertinent here to insert a passage of consequence which I find in a Modern Author of good Intelligence Master Selden was no friend to Bishops as constituted and established in the Church of England For being called before the High Commission and forced to make a publique acknowledgment of his error and offence gived unto the Church in publishing a book entituled The History of Tithes it sunk so deep into his stomack that he did never after affected the men or cordially approved the calling though many ways were tryed to gain him to the Churches interest To this his publique acknowledgment I can say nothing this I know that a friend of mine imployed on a fair and honest account to peruse the Library of Arch-bishop Laud found therein a large letter written to him and subscribed with Master Seldens own hand wherein he used many expressions of his Contrition much Condemning himself for setting forth a book of that nature which Letter my aforesaid friend gave back again to Master Selden to whom I assure you it was no unacceptable present But that which afterwards entituled him to a generall popularity was his pleading with Master Noy for a Habeas Corpus of such Gentlemen which were imprisoned for the refusall of the Loane Hence was it that most men beheld Master Selden as their Common Councell and them selves as his Clients conceiving that the Liberty of all English Subjects was concerned in that Suit He had very many Ancient Coynes of the Roman Emperours and more modern ones of our English Kings dying exceeding wealthy Insomuch that naked charity both wish'd and hoped for a good new Coat at his hands but mist of its Expectation The Arch-bishop of Armagh to whom he was always most civill and respectfull preached his Funerall Sermon The Large Library which he left is a Jewell indeed and this Jewell long looked to be put into a New Cabinet when one of the Inns of Court on which it was
I will therefore crave leave to transcribe what followeth out of a short but worthy work of my honoured friend confident of the Authenticall truth thereof The Fight was very terrible for the time no fewer then five thousand men slain upon the place the Prologue to a greater slaughter if the dark night had not put an end unto that dispute Each part pretended to the victory but it went clearly on the Kings side who though â—…e lost his Generall yet he kept the Field and possessed himself of the dead bodies and not so oâ—…ely but he made his way open unto London and in his way forced Banbury Castle in the very sight as it were of the Earl of Essex who with his flying Army made all the hast he could towards the City that he might be there before the King to secure the Parliament More certain signs there could not be of an absâ—…lute victory In the Battel of Taro between the Confederates of Italy and Charles the eight of France it happened so that the Confederates kept the Field possest themselves of the Camp Baggage and Artillery which the French in their breaking through had left behind them Hereupon a dispute was raised to whom the Honour of that day did of right belong which all knowing anâ—… impartiall men gave unto the French For though they lost the Field their Camp Artillery and Baggage yet they obtained what they fought for which was the opening of their way to France and which the Confederates did intend to deprive them of Which resolution in that case may be a ruling case to this the King having not onely kept the Field possest himself of the dead bodies pillaged the carriages of the enemy but forcibly opened his way towards London which the enemy endeavoured to hinder and finally entred triumphantly into Oxford with no fewer then an hundred and twenty Coâ—…ours taken in the Fight Thus far my friend Let me adde that what Salust observeth of the Conspirators with Cateline that where they stood in the Fight whilst living they covered the same place with their Corpes when dead was as true of the Loyal Gentry of Lincoln-shire with the Earl of Linsey their Country man Know also that the over-soon and over-far pursuit of a flying Party with Pillaging of the Carriages by some who prefer the snatching of wealth before the Securing of Victory hath often been the Cause why the Conquest hath slipped out of their fingers who had it in their hands and had not some such miscarriage happened here the Royalists had totally in all probability routed their Enemies The Farewell I cannot but congratulate the happiness of this County in having Master William Dugdale now Norrey my wrothy Friend a Native thereof Whose Illustrations are so great a work no Young Man could be so bold to begin or Old Man hope to finish it whilst one of Middle-Age fitted the Performance A well chosen County for such a Subject because lying in the Center of the Land whose Lustre diffuseth the Light and darteth Beames to the Circumference of the Kingdome It were a wild wish that all the Shires in England where described to an equall degree of perâ—…ection as which will be accomplished when each Star is as big and bright as the Sun However one may desire them done quoad speciem though not quoad gradum in imitation of Warwickshire Yet is this hopeless to come to pass till mens Pains may meet with Proportionable Incouragement and then the Poets Prediction will be true Sint Maecenates non desint Flacce Marones Virgiliumque tibi vel tua Rura dabunt Let not Maeceâ—…asses be Scant And Maroes we shall newer Wanâ—… For. Flaccus then thy Country-field Shall unto thee a Virgil yield And then would our Little divided World be better described then the Great World by all the Geographers who have written thereof VVESTMERLAND WESTMERLAND hath Cumberland on the West and North Lancashire on the South Bishoprick and Yorkshire on the East thereof From North to South it extendeth thirty miles in length but is contented in the breadth with twenty four As for the soil thereof to prevent exceptions take its description from the pen of a credible Author It is not commended either for plenty of Corn or Cattle being neither stored with arable grounds to bring forth the one nor pasturage to breed up the other the principal profit that the people of this Province raise unto themselves is by clothing Here is cold comfort from nature but somewhat of warmth from industry that the land is barren is Gods pleasure the people painfull their praise that thereby they grow wealthy shews Gods goodnâ—…ss and calls for their gratefulness However though this County be sterile by general Rule it is fruitfull by some few exceptions having some pleasant vales though such ware be too fine to have much measure thereof In so much that some Back-friends to this County will say that though Westmerland hath much of Eden running clean through it yet hath little of Delight therein I behold the barrenness of this County as the cause why so few Frieries and Convents therein Master Speed so curious in his Catalogue in this kind mentioning but one Religious house therein Such lazy-folk did hate labour as a house of Correction and knew there was nothing to be had here but what Art with Industry wrested from Nature The Reader perchance will smile at my curiosity in observing that this small County having but four Market Towns three of them are Kirkby-Stephens Kirkby-Lonsdale Kirkby-Kendale so that so much of Kirk or Church argueth not a little Devotion of the Ancestors in these parts judiciously expressing it self not in building Convents for the ease of Monks but Churches for the worship of God The Manufacture Kendall Cottons are famous all over England and Master Camden termeth that Town Lanificii gloria industria praecellens I hope the Townâ—…men thereof a word is enough to the wise will make their commodities so substantiall that no Southern Town shall take an advantage to gain that Trading away from them I speak not this out of the least distrust of their honesty but the great desire of their happiness who being a Cambridge-man out of Sympathy wish well to the Clothiers of Kendall as the first founder of our Sturbridge-fair Proverbs Let Uter-Pendragon do what he can The River Eden will run as it ran Tradition reporteth that this Uter-Pendragon had a design to fortifie the Castle of Pen-Dragon in this County In order whereunto with much art and industry he invited and tempted the River of Eden to forsake his old chanell and all to no purpose The Proverb is appliable to such who offer a rape to Nature indeavouring what is cross and contrary thereunto Naturam expellas Furcâ licet usque recurret Beat Nature back 't is all in vain With Tines of Fork 't will come again However Christians have not onely some hope but comfortable assurance that they
Reader to his Life written at large by Bishop Carlton he was Rector of Houghton in the North consisting of fourteen Villages In his own house he boarded and kept full four and twenty scholars The greater number of his boarders were poor mens sons upon whom he bestowed meat drink and cloth and education in learning He was wont to entertain his Parishioners and strangers at his table not onely at the Christmas time as the custome is but because he had a large and wide Parish a great multitude of people he kept a table for them every Sunday from Michâ—…elmas to Easter He had the Gentlemen the Husbandmen and the Poorer sort set every degree by themselves and as it were ordered in ranks He was wont to commend the married estate in the Clergy howbeit himself lived and dyed a single man He bestowed in the building ordering and establishing of his School and in providing yearly stipends for a School-master and an Usher the full summe of five hundred pounds out of which School he supplied the Church of England with great store of learned men He was carefull to avoid not only all evil doing but even the lightest suspicions thereof And he was accounted a Saint in the judgements of his very enemies if he had any such Being full of faith unfained and of good works he was at the last put into his grave as a heap of wheat in due time swept into the garner He dyed the 4. of March 1583. and in the 66. year of his age RICHARD MULCASTER was born of an ancient extract in the North but whether in this County or Cumberland I find not decided From Eaton-school he went to Cambridge where he was admitted into Kings-colledge 1548. but before he was graduated removed to Oxford Here such his proficiency in learning that by general consent he was chosen the first Master of Merchant-Tailors-School in London which prospered well under his care as by the flourishing of Saint Johns in Oxford doth plainly appear The Merchant-Tailors finding his Scholars so to profit intended to fix Mr. Mulcaster as his Desk to their School till death should remove him This he perceiv'd and therefore gave for his Motto Fidelis servus perpetuus asinus But after twenty five years he procured his freedome or rather exchanged his service being made Master of Pauls-school His method in teaching was this In a morning he would exactly and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 the lessons to his Scholars which done he slept his hour custome made him critical to proportion it in his desk in the School but wo be to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 slept the while Awaking he heard them 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be 〈◊〉 to pity as soon as he to pardon where he found just fault The 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 Mothers prevailed with him as much as the requests of indulgent Fathers rather increasing then mitigating his severity on their offending child In a word he was Plagosus Orbilius though it may be truly said and safely for one out of his School that others have taught as much learning with fewer lashes Yet his sharpness was the better endured because unpartiall and many excellent Scholars were bred under him whereof Bishop Andrews was most remarkable Then quitting that place he was presented to the rich Parsoâ—…ge of Stanfórd-rivers in Essex I have heard from those who have heard him preach that his Sermons were not excellent which to me seems no wonder partly because there is a different discipline in teaching children and men partly because such who make Divinity not the choice of their youth but the refuge of their age seldome attain to eminency therein He died 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth CHRISTOPHER POTTER D. D. kinsman to Bishop Potter of whom before was born in this County 〈◊〉 Fellow of Queens-colledge in Oxford and at last was chosen Provost thereof Chapâ—…in in Ordinary to King Charles and Dean of 〈◊〉 One of a sweet nature â—…mely preâ—…ence courteous carriage devout life and deep learning he wrot an excellent book entituled Charity mistaken containing impregnable truth so that malice may sâ—…arl at but not bite it without breaking its own teeth Yet a railing Jesuit wrote a pretended 〈◊〉 thereof to which the Doctor mâ—…de no return partly because the industrious Bee would not meddle with a 〈◊〉 or Hornet rather partly because Mr. Chillingworth a great Master of defence in School-divinity took up the Cudgells against him This worthy Doctor died in the beginning of our civill distempers Benefactors to the Publique ROBERT LANGTON Doctors of Law MILES SPENCER Doctors of Law It is pity to part them being Natives of this County as I am credibly informed Doctors in the same faculâ—…y and Co-partners in the same Charity the building of a fair School at Appleby The Pregnant Mother of so many Eminent Scholars As for Robert Langton he was bred in and a Benefactor to Queens-â—…edge in Oxford owing the Glaseing of many Windows therein to his Beneficence Witness his Conceit to Communicate his Name to Posterity viz. a Ton the 〈◊〉 or Fancy Generall for all Sirnames in that Termination extended very long beyond an ordinary proportion Lang the Northern man pronounceth it whereby he conceived his Surname completed I shall be thankfull to him who shall enform me of the Dates of their severall deaths ANNE CLYFFORD sole Daughter heir to George Earl of Cumberland Wife first to Richard Earl of Dorset then to Phillip Earl of Pembrokâ—… and Montgomery though born and nursed in Hartfordshire yet because having her greatest Residence and Estate in the North is properly referrable to this County The Proverb is Homo non est ubi animat sed amat One is not to be reputed there where he lives but where he loves on which account this Lady is placed not where she first took life but where she hath left a most lasting Monument of her Love to the Publique This is that most beautifull Hospital Stately Built and Richly Endowed at her sole Cost at Appleby in this County It was conceived a bold and daring part of Thomas Cecill son to Treasurer Burghleigh to enjoyn his Masons and Carpenters not to omit a days Work at the building of Wimbleton house in Surrâ—…y though the Spanish Armado Anno 1588. all that while shot off their Guns whereof some might be heard to the Place But Christianly Valiant is the Charity of this Lady who in this Age wherein there is an Earthquake of Antient Hospitals and as for new ones they are hardly to be seen for New lights I say Couragious this Worthy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who dare found in this Confounding Age wherein so much was demolished and aâ—…ened which was given to God and his Church Long may she live in Wealth and 〈◊〉 exactly to Compleat whatâ—…oever her 〈◊〉 Intentions have 〈◊〉 Mâ—…morable Persons RICHARD GILPIN a Valiant Man in this County was 〈◊〉 offed in the Raign of K. John about the year 1208. in the Lordship of Kent-mire-â—…all by
place When the Writ de comburendis haereticis for the Execution of Richard White and John Hunt of whom formerly was brought to Mr. Michel instead of burning them He burnt the Writ and before the same could be renewed Doctor Geffray the bloody Chancellour of Salisbury who procured it and Queen Mary were both dead to the Miraculous preservation of Gods poor Servants Sir JAMES Vicar Choral as I conceive of the Church of Sarisbury in the raign of King Edward the sixth was wholy addicted to the Study of Chemistry Now as Socrates himself wrot nothing whilst Plato his Scholar praised him to purpose so whilst the Pen of Sir James was silent of his own worth Thomas Charnock his Scholar whom he made Inheritour of his Art thus chants in his Commendation I could find never Man but one Which could teach Me the secrets of our Stone And that was a Priest in the Close of Salisbury God rest his Soul in Heaven full merry This Sir James pretented that he had all his skill not by Learning but Inspiration which I list not to disprove He was alive Anno 1555. but died about the beginning of Queen Elizabeth Lord Mayor Name Father Place Company Time Sir Nicholas Lambert Edward Lambert Wilton Grocer 1531 The Names of the Gentry of this County Returned by the Commissioners in the twelsth year of King Henry the sixth R. Bishop of Salisbury Commissioners to receive the Oaths Walt. Hungarford Knight Robert Andrew Knights for the Shire Robert Long. Knights for the Shire Rob. Hungarford mil. Edm. Hungarford m. Ioh. Stourton mil. Will. Becham mil. Ioh. Beynton mil. Will. Westbery Justiciarii Ioh. Seymour Will. Darell Rich. Milbourn Edm. Dantesey Ioh. Westbery sen. David Cerington Randul Thorp Lau. Gowayn Rog. Peryton Will. Gore sen. Roh Ernly Rob. Blake Tho. Drewe Will. Daungers Rob. Paniffote Ioh. Westbery junior Will. Rouse Tho. Boneham Iohan. Rous Will. Besyle Rob. Baynard Rog. Trewbody Will. Caynelt Will. Botreauxe Will. Widecombe Ioh. Atte Berwe Ioh. Northfolk Ioh. Sturmy Tho. Cryklade Rob. Bodenham Iohan. Bride Rob. Beast Cob. Colyngborn Hen. Chancy Ioh. Combe Ioh. West Rob. Onewyn Tho. Ierderd Ioh. Whitehorn Ioh. Gergrave Nich. Wotton Tho. Hall Ioh. Hall Rich. Hall Will. â—…ore 〈◊〉 Rob. Crikkelade Ioh. Lambard Tho. Beweshyn Rich. Mayn Ioh. Mayn Ioh. Benger Rob. Mayhow Hen. Bardley Rob. Confold Ioh. Mumfort Tho. Hancock Ioh. Osburn Ioh. Gillberd Ioh. Attuene Ioh. Escote Gul. Orum Rich. Soâ—…wel Reg. Croke Ingel Walrond Ioh. Waldrine Rich. Warrin Will. Stanter Rob. Solman Tho. Temse Will. Temse Tho. Ryngwode Will. Watkins Rob. Backeham Walt. Backeham Will. Dantesey Rich. Caynell Rich. Hardone Ioh. Tudworth Ioh. Coventre Tho. Gore nuper de Lynshyll Rob. Wayte Will. Coventre Ioh. Ingeham Ioh. Martyn Walt. Evererd Will. Polelchirch Ioh. Iustice Walt. Stodelâ—…y Will. Wychamton Rob. Eyre Ioh. Voxanger Sim. Eyre Ioh. Ford Will. Russell Ioh. Scot Tho. Vellard Pet. Duke Ioh. Quinton Tho. Quinton Ioh. Bourne Rich. Warneford Ioh. Stere Tho. Hasard Rob. Lyvenden Will. Lyng Ioh. Davy Rob. Davy Rob. Floure Will. Leder Ioh. Edward Ioh. Cutting Tho. Blanchard Will. Moun Edm. Penston Rich. Lye Ioh. Bellingdon Ioh. Pope Ioh. Lye Ioh. Spender Walt. Clerk Ioh. Quarly Will. Bacon Ioh. Everard Nich. Spondell Will. Walrond Tho. Stake Rich. Cordra Rich. de Bowys Will Renger Thom. Bower de Devise R. is here Robert Nevil then Bishop of Salisbury Walter Hungerford was the Lord Hungerford Treasurer of England WILL. WESTBRY Justiciarii Surely this Justice must be more then an Ordinary one of the Peace and Quorum because preposed to John Seimour a signall Esquire late High-sheriffe of the Shire Yet was he none of the two Chief-Justices of Westminster as not mentioned in their Catalogue Probably he was one of the Puny Judges in those Courts but because no certainty thereof we leave him as we found him DAVID CERINGTON The self same name with Sherington for all the literall variation and they I assure you were men of great Anchestry and Estate in this County Sir Henry Sherington was the last Heir-male of this Family dwelling at Lacock in this County a Right Godly Knight and great friend to Bishop Jewell who died in his house at Lacock He disswaded the Bishop from Preaching that Lords-day by reason of his great Weakness Affirming it better for a Private Congregation to want a Sermon one day then for the Church of England to lose such a Light for ever But he could not prevail the Bishop being resolved to expire in his calling This Sir Henry left two Daughters which had Issue one married into the Honourable family of Talbot the other unto Sir Anthony Mildmay who enriched their Husbands with great Estates Sheriffs of Wilt-shire HEN. II. Anno 1 Will. qui fuit Vic. Anno 2 Com. Patricius Anno 3 Idem Anno 4 Anno 5 Idem Anno 6 Anno 7 Rich. Clericus Anno 8 Idem Anno 9 Mil. de Dantesaia Anno 10 Rich. de Wilton Anno 11 Rich. de Wilteser Anno 12 Rich. de Wilton for 15 years Anno 27 Mich. Belet Rob. Malde Anno 28 Mich. Belet Rob. Malde Rog. filius Reuf Anno 29 Rob. Malduit Anno 30 Idem Anno 31 Idem Anno 32 Rob. Malduit Anno 33 Idem RICH. I. Anno 1 Hug. Bardulfe Anno 2 Will. Comes Saresb. Anno 3 Rob. de Tresgoze Anno 4 Will. Comes Saresb. Anno 5 Will. Comes Saresb. Tho. filius Will. for 4 years Anno 9 Steph. de Turnham Alex. de Ros Anno 10 Idem JOHAN REX Anno 1 Steph. de Turnham Wand filius Corcelles Anno 2 Comes Will. de Saresb. Hen. de Bermere Anno 3 â—…dem Anno 4 Idem Anno 5 Comes Will. de Saresb. Iohan. Bonet for 6 years Anno 11 Will. Briewere Rob. filius Anno 12 Idem Anno 13 Nich. Briewere de Vetri ponte Will de Chanto Anno 14 Idem Anno 15 Idem Anno 16 Will Comes Saresb. Hen. filius Alchi Anno 17 Idem HEN. III. Anno 1 Anno 2 Will. Comes Saresb. Rob. de Crevequeor for 6 years Anno 8 Will. Comes Saresb. Adam de Alta Ripa Anno 9 Idem Anno 10 Idem Anno 11 Sim. de Halei Anno 12 Eliz. Comit. Saresb. Ioh. Dacus Anno 13 Ioh. de Monemue Walt. de Bumesey Anno 14 Ioh. de Monemue Anno 15 Idem Anno 16 Eliz. Com. Saresb. Ioh. Dacus for 4 years Anno 20 Eliz. Comit. Sarum Rob. de Hugen Anno 21 Eliz. Comit. Sarum Anno 22 Rob. de Hogesham Anno 23 Idem Anno 24 Idem Anno 25 Nich. de Haversham for 6 years Anno 31 Nich de Lusceshall Anno 32 Idem Anno 33 Idem Anno 34 Will. de Tynehiden for 4 years Anno 38 Will. de Tenhide Io. de Tenhide fil Here 's Anno 39 Idem Anno 40 Ioh. de Verurd Anno 41 Idem Anno 42 Idem Anno 43 Ioh. de Verund Galf. de Scudemor Anno 44 Idem Anno 45 Ioh. de Verund
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-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
Brachyography was not then nor many years after invented But he though a quick Scribe is but a dull one who is good only at fac simile to transcribe out of an original whereas our Robert left many Books of his own making to posterity He flourished Anno Dom. 1180. and lleth buried before the Doors of the Cloyster of his Convent PETER of Rippon was Canon of that Colledge built antiently therein by Saint Wilfred purposely omitted by us in our Catalogue of Saints to expiate our former tediousnesse concerning him in our Church History Jeoffry Archbishop of York not only delighted in but doted on our Peter He wrote a Book of the life and miracles of Saint Wilfred How many suspected persons did prick their credits who could not thread his Needle This was a narrow place in his Church and kind of Purgatory save that no fire therein through which chaste Persons might easily passe whilest the Incontinent did stick therein beheld generally as a piece of Monkish Legerdemain I am sorry to hear that this Collegiate Church one of the most ancient and famous Churches in the North of England hath the means and allowance appointed for the repair thereof deteined and more â—…orry that on the eighth of December 1660. a violent wind blew down the great Steeple thereof which with its fall beaâ—… down the Chancel the onely place where the people could assemble for Divine Worship and much shattered and weakened the rest of the Fabrick and I hope that His Majesties Letters Patents will meet with such bountiful contributions as will make convenient Reparation Our Peter flourished Anno 1190. under King Richard the first WILLIAM of NEWBOROUGH was born at Bridlington in this County but named of Newborough not far off in which Monastery he became a Canon Regular He also was called Petit or Little from his low stature in him the observation was verified that little men in whom their heat is most contracted are soon angry flying so fiercely on the memory of Geffrey of Monmouth taxing his British Chronicle as a continuâ—…d fiction translated by him indeed but whence from his own Brain to his own Pen by his own Invention Yea he denieth that there was ever a King Arthur and in effect overthroweth all the Welsh History But learned Leland conceives this William Little greatly guilty in his ill language which to any Author was uncivil to a Bishop unreverent to a dead Bishop uncharitable Some resolve all his passion on a point of meer revenge heartily offended because David Prince of Wales denied him to succeed G. Monmouth in the See of St. Asaph and therefore fell he so soul on the whose Welsh Nation Sure I am that this angry William so censorious of G. Monmouth his falsehoods hath most foul slips of his own Pen as when he affirmeth That in the place of the slaughter of the English nigh Battaile in Sussex if peradventure it be wet with any small showre presently the ground thereabouts sweateth forth very blood though indeed it be no more than what is daily seen in Rutland after any sudden rain where the ground floweth with a reddish moisture He flourished Anno 1200. under King John ROGER HOVEDEN was born in this County of the Illustrious Family of the Hovedens saith my Author bred first in the study of the Civil then of the Canon-Law and at last being servant to King Henry the second he became a most accomplished Courtier He is the chiefest if not sole Lay-Historian of his age who being neither Priest nor Monk wrote a Chronicle of England beginning where Bede ended and continuing the same until the fourth of King John When King Edward the first layed claim to the Crown of Scotland he caused the Chronicles of thâ—…s Roger to be diligently searched and carefully kept many Authentical passages therein tending to his present advantage This Roger flourished in the year of our Lord 1204. JOHN of HALIFAX commonly called De SACRO BOSCO was born in that Town so famous for Cloathing bred first in Oxford then in Paris being the prime Mathematician of his age All Students of Astronomy enter into that Art through the Door of his Book De â—…phaerâ He lived much beloved died more lamented and was buried with a solemn Funeral on the publick cost of the University of Paris Anno 1256. ROBERTUS PERSCRUTATOR or ROBERT the SEARCHER was born in this County bred a Dominican great Mathematician and Philosopher He got the sirname of Searcher because he was in the constant quest and pursuit of the Mysteries of Nature A thing very commendable if the matters we seek for and means we seek with be warrantable Yea Solomon himself on the same account might be entituled Searcher who by his own confession Applyed his heart to know and to Search and to seek out wisdome and the reason of things But curiosity is a kernel of the forbidden fruit which still sticketh in the throat of a natural man sometimes to the danger of his choaking it is heavily laid to the charge of our Robert that he did light his Candle from the Devils Torch to seek after such secrets as he did desire witnesse his Work of Ceremonial Magick which a conscientious Christian would send the same way with the Ephesian conjuring Books and make them fuel for the fire However in that age he obtained the reputation of a great Scholar flourishing under King Edward the second 1326. THOMAS CASTLEFORD born in this County was bred a Benedictine in Pâ—…mfraict whereof he wrote a History from ASK a Saxon first owner thereof to the Lacies from whom that large Lordship descended to the Earls of Lancaster I could wish some able Pen in Pomfraict would continue this Chronicle to our time and give us the particulars of the late memorable siege that though the Castle be demolished the Fame thereof may remain Leland freely confesseth that he learnt more then he looked for by reading Castlefords History promising to give a larger account thereof in a Book he intended to write of Civil History and which I suspect he never set forth prevented by death Our Castleford flourished about the year of our Lord 1326. JOHN GOWER was born saith Leland at Stitenham in the North Riding in Bulmore Wapentake of a Knightly Family He was bred in London a Student of the Laws till prizing his pleasure above his profit he quitted Pleading to follow Poetry He was the first refiner of our English Tongue effecting much but endeavouring more therein Thus he who sees the Whelp of a Bear but half lickt will commend it for a comely Creature in comparison of what it was when first brought forth Indeed Gower left our English Tongue very bad but â—…ound it very very bad Bale makes him Equitem auratâ—…m Poetam Laureatum proving both from his Ornaments on his monumental Statue in Saint Mary Overies Southwark Yet he appeareth there neither laureated nor hederated Poet except
Creature of absolute and common Concernment without which we should be burnt with the thirst and buried with the filth of our own bodies GABRIEL GOODMAN Son of Edward Goodman Esq was born at Rythin in thâ—…s County afterwards Doctor of Divinity in Saint Johns Colledge in Cambridge and Dean of VVestminster where he was fixed for full forty years though by his own parts and his friends power he might have been what he would have been in the Church of England Abigail said of her Husband Nabal is his name and folly is with him But it may be said of this worthy Dean Goodman was his name and goodness was in his nature as by the ensuing Testimonies will appear 1. The Bible was translated into VVelsh on his cost as by a note in the Preface thereof doth appear 2. He founded a Schoole-house with a competent salary in the Town of his Nativity as also erected and endowed an Almes-House therein for twelve poore people 3. He repaired the House for the Minister there called the Warden of Rythin furnishing it with Plate and other Utensils which were to descend to his Successors 4. He purchased a fair House with Land thereunto at Chiswick in Middlesex where with his own hands he set a fair Row of Elmes now grown up to great beauty and height for a retiring place for the Masters and Scholars at Westminster in the heat of Summer or any time of Infection If these Lands at this Day be not so profitably employed as they were by the Donor piously intended it is safer to bemoan the sad effect than accuse the causers thereof There needs no other Testimony of his Honesty and Ability than that our English Nestor the Lord Treasurer Cecil made him one of the Executors of his Will to dispose of great sums to charitable uses which Trust he most faithfully discharged He died in the year 1601. and is buried in the Collegiate Church of Westminster whereof he so well deserved as of all England Mr. Cambden performing his Perambulation about it on his expences Sir HUGH MIDDLETON Son of Richard Middleton was born at Denbigh in this County and bred in London This is that worthy Knight who hath deserved well of London and in it of all England If those be recounted amongst Davids worthies who breaking through the Army of the Philistines fetcht water from the Well of Bethlehem to satisfie the longing of David founded more on fancy than necessity how meritorious a work did this worthy man perform who to quench the thirst of thousands in the populous City of London fetcht water on his own cost more than 24. miles encountering all the way with an Army of oppositions grapling with Hills strugling with Rocks fighting with Forrests till in defiance of difficulties he had brought his project to perfection But Oh whaâ—… an injury was it unto him that a potent Person and idle Spectator should strike in Reader I could heartily wish it were a falshoâ—…d what I report and by his greatness possess a moity of the profit which the unwearied endeavours of the foresaid Knight had purchased to himself The Farewell I heartily wish this County may find many like Robert Eari of Leicester by his bounty much advancing the building of a new Church in Denbigh who may willingly contribute their Charity for the repairing of all decayed Churches therein Yea may it be happy in faithful and able Ministers that by their pains they may be built up in the Faith of the Lord. FLINT-SHIRE FLINT-SHIRE It taketh the name from Flint formerly an eminent place therein But why Flint was so named will deservedly bear an enquiry the rather because I am informed there is scarce a Flint stone to be found in the whole shire An eminent Antiquary well known in these parts Reader I must carry my Author at my back when I write that which otherwise will not be believed hath informed me it was first called Flit-Town because the people Flitted or removed their habitations from a smal Village hard by to and under a Castle built there by King Edward the first Afterwards it was called Flint Town or Flint to make it more sollid in the prononciation Now although sometimes Liquids are melted out of a word to supple it to turn the better on the tongues end It will hardly be presidented that ever the sturdy Letter N. was on that or any account interjected into the middle of an original word But it is infidelity not to believe what is thus traditioned unto us It hath the Sea on the North Shropshire on the South Cheshire on the East and Denbigh-shire on the west thereof the smallest County in Wales whereof the Natives render this reason That it was not handsomly in the power of King Edward the first who made it a Shire to enlarge the Limits thereof For the English Shires Shropshire and Cheshire he would not discompose and on the Welsh side he could not well extend it without prejudice to the Lord Marchers who had Potestatem vitae necis in the adjacent Territories the King being unwilling to resume and they more unwilling to resign their respective Territories If any ask why so small a parcel of ground was made a Shire let them know that every foot therein in Content was ten in Concernment because it was the passage into North Wales Indeed it may seem strange that Flint the Shire Town is no Market Town no nor Saint Asaph a City qua sedes Episcopi till made so very late But this is the reason partly the vicinity of Chester the Market generaâ—… of these parts partly that every village hath a Market in it self as affording all necessary Commodities Nor must we forget that this County was parcel of the Pallatinate of Chester paying two thousand Marks called a Mize at the change of every Earl of Chester until the year of our Lord 1568. For then upon the occasion of one Thomas Radford committed to prison by the Chamberlain of Chester Flint-shire saith my Author revolted I dare say disjoyned it self from that County Pallatine and united it self to the Principalities of Wales as conceiving the same the more advantagious Proverbs Mwy nag â—…n bwa yro Ynghaer That is more then one Yugh-Bow in Chester Modern use applieth this Proverb to such who seize on other folks goods not with intent to steal but mistaken with the similitude thereof to their own goods But give me leave to conjecture the original hereof seeing Cheshire-men have been so famous for Archery Princes ELIZABETH the seventh Daughter of King Edward the first and Queen Elenor was born at Ruthland Castle in this County a place which some unwarily confound with Rythin Town in Denbigh shire This Castle was anciently of such receipt that the King and his Court were lodged therein yea a Parliament or something equivalent was kept here or hereabouts seeing we have the Statutes of Ruthland on the same token the year erroneously printed in the
Prima parte rot 9â—… in the remembrancers formerly called Osbornos office * Carew in his survey of Cornwall fol. 66. * Carew in his Survey of Cornwall fol. 60. * Bale de script Brit. Cent. 2. Num. 47. Pits an 1040. * 1 Sam. 3. 1. * Bâ—…le de script Aâ—…g Cent. 3. Num. 6. * Anno 1179. * Bale de script Brâ—…t Cent 3. Num. 47. * Rom. 12. 3. †Lib. 15 Angl. Hâ—…st * Bale ut prius * Bale de script Brit. Cent. â—… Num. 10. * Hence â—… Gammon 〈◊〉 4. 9. * 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 Brit. 〈◊〉 5. Num. 6. * 〈◊〉 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 696. * Camdens Brit. in Cornwall * In his Dedicatory Epistle * A mistake in my Church History * Gen. 47. 21 22. * By Mr. John 〈◊〉 * Carew in his survey of Cornwall fol. 63. * Idem fol. 6â—… * Idem fol. 63. * Idem fol. 62 * Cic. de Oâ—…at * Carew in his survey of Cornwâ—…ll pag. 13â—… * Câ—…rews Survey of Coâ—…n pag. 119. * 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 fol. 101. * Carew in his Survey of Cornwall pag. 1 8. * Ut prius pag. 114. * pag 13. * Reader being 〈◊〉 to this worthy Lord I câ—…uld doe no less then in G atitude to his 〈◊〉 make this Exemplification * Bishop Carletons Thankfull Remem cap. 1. pag. 4. * Prov. 1. 14. * In the Law of K. Edw. an Out-law'd person is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lambert fol. 127. B. Num. 7. * Cambd. Brit. in Cumberland * Cambd. Brit. ibidem * Combd Brit. in Lancashâ—…re * Lib. 〈◊〉 cap. 9. 〈◊〉 Ang. * Idem 〈◊〉 * Vide 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 1170. * Fox Acts Mon. pa. 1857. * Centuria Sexta Nam 29. * Godwin in the Bishops of Carlile * Sir G. Paul in 〈◊〉 liâ—…e pag. 27. * So Mr. Robinson Stationer and his Countrymâ—…n informed me * Sir J. Harington in his view of the Church of England p. 108. * O. Oglethorp * It is pity his Manuscripts on the Law should be smothered in private hands which I hope will hereafter become publici â—…uris * Mr John 〈◊〉 Minister at 〈◊〉 * Cod. Theod. lib. 6. 〈◊〉 21. * Cent. 5. num 3. * â—…e â—…cript Brit. 〈◊〉 7. Num. 12. * De Ang. scrip 1390. * Catalog of Honour pag. 719. * Mat. 21. 15. * In his Eliz. Anno 1489. * In hiâ—… History Anno 1263. * Ibid m Anno 1364. * Godwin in the Bishops of Carlile * 3 4. Phil. Mar. Act 4. * 3 Edw. 6. Act. 9. * 16 Edw. 1. c. 2. * Composed by Edward Manlove Esq heretosore Steward of the Barge-â—…Court for the Lead Mines within the said VVapentake * Mr. Hobbs de Mirabilibus Pâ—…cci * Mr. Hobbs de Mirabilibus pecci * Idem ibidem * The Translator durst not be so bold as the Author * Ioh. 9. 39. * John Bale de script Brit. * Mat. Paris in Anno 1228. * Mark 13. 20. * Fox Act. Mon. pag. 444. * Godwin in the Bishops of Eely out of Bale and Pits * Pitscus in Appen Viror illustrum * See Sir Hen. Spelmans Catalogue in his Gloss. and Jo. Philpots pag. 75. * Stathom Tit. Toll last case of the Title * It is the Gospel appointed for the day * It is the Gospel appointed for the day * Camb. Brit. in Derby-shire * Exemplified in Hackluits Voyages Vol. 1. pag. 231. * Hackluit ut 〈◊〉 pag. 230 * Weavers Fun. Mon. pag. 370. * Bale de scrip Brit. Cent. 8. Num. 65. J. Pits in Anno 1524. * Idem ut prius * Johan Check de Pronunciatione Grâ—…ca * Thomas Walsingham ex illo Bale Gent. 6. Num. 77. * In my computation of time this is more proportionable that some ascribe this passage to Girtâ—…ude the fiâ—…st Wife of George Earl of Shrewsbury * Stows Survey of London pag. 67. * Edward Manlow Esq in his customs of the Barge-Moot-Court * Extant in the Tower in the years here noted * Isaiah 1. 25. †1. 22. †Doctor Iordan in his History of Baths Page 60. * Manuscript of Baronet Northcolt †Virg. Eclog. 2. * A Busnel is two strikes in this County * Manuscript of Baronet Northcott * From the same Authour * Mr. Joseph Maynard †In his Talmudical Rabinical Dictionary Verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * See Camdens Brit. in Pem. broke-shire * De Script Brit. Cent. 2. Num. 13. †Revel 19. †Bale De Scâ—…ipt Brit. Cent. 2. Num. 16. * Mr. Vowell in Hollinshed Pag. 1309. * Idem ibidem * Fox Acts and Monum Pag. 2050. * Idem Pag. 2052. * The ensuing Relation I had from his son Mr. Henry Molle late Orator of Cambridge * Godwin in the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury †Godwin in the Bishops of Exeter * Manuscript of Baronet Northcott †Jo. Sarisbuâ—… in Policratic cap. 7. * Godwin in the Bishops of London †The Goddesse of the Zidonians * Bale de Scrip Brit. Cent 3. Num. 8. †Godwin in the Bishops of Hereford * See our Catalogue of Sheriffes in Henry the Second †Godwin in the Bishops of Exeter * The effect of what followeth is taken oâ—…t of Bishop Godwin in his Bishops of Winchester †Matth. 3. * Bishop Godwin in the Bishops of Norwich * Compa e Bishop Godwin pag. 331. with pag. 415. †De Sc ip Brit. cent 8. Num. 34. * Mannse ipt of Baronet 〈◊〉 †1 Sam. 17. 28. * Gowin in the Bishopâ—… of Winchâ—…er †In his Apologia adversus 〈◊〉 * Mr. Josâ—…ph Maynard Fellow of Exeter Colledg * Sir John Davis in his Discourse of Ireland pag. 270. †Idem pag. 2â—…1 * 1 of Edw. 3. Pat. 4. Parl. 1. Memb. 35. †Sir Hen. Spelmans Gloss. tit Justic. pag. 417. * Gen. 14. AMP. * Cam. Eliz. boc Ann. †Meteran in Historia Belgica * H. Holland Herologia Anglia pag. 110. * Gen. 23. 6â—… * The House its Name was called Hayes * 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 * At 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Middlesex * In Anno Domini 1248. pag 747. †De Scrip. Brit 〈◊〉 4. num 6. * In the Writers of Oxford Shire * Manuscript of Baronet Northcott †Manuscript of 〈◊〉 Northcott * Manuscâ—…ipt of 〈◊〉 onet 〈◊〉 * St. Augustine †From the mouth of his Sister latâ—…ly livnâ—…g at Hogsden nigh London * Carews Survey of Cornwal pag. 155. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Cam. Brit. in Somersâ—…t †An â—…ld English word * Gwillim his Display of Heraldry pag. 161. †Stows Chro. pag 1038. â—… The Crest of the Marquess of Hertford * Carew Survey of Cornw. fol. 114. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Devonshire Goodwin in his Catalogue of Bishop Hooker alias 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 Catalogue of the Bishops of EXETER * See Writers in Lecestershire * Bale de scrip Brit. cent 5. p. 405. Piâ—…z anno 1330. * N.