Spaniards themselves coming over hither acquit themselves as good Trencher-men as any so that it seems want not temperance makes them so abstemious at home All amounts not to any just defence excess being an ill expression of our thankfullness to God for his goodness Nor need we with the Egyptians to serve up at the last course a dead mans head to mind us of our mortality seeing a Feast well considered is but a Charnel house of foul Fish and Flesh and those few shell-fish that are not kill'd to our hands are kill'd by our teeth It is vaine therefore to expect that dead food should alwaies preserve life in the feeders thereupon Long beards heartless painted-hoods witless Gay-coats graceless make England thriftless Though this hath more of Libell than Proverb therein and is stark false in it self yet it will truely acquaint us with the habits of the English in that Age. Long-beards heartless Our English did use nutrire comam both on their Head and beards concieving it made them more amiable to their friends and terrible to their foes Painted-hoods witless Their hoods were stained with a kind of colour in a middle way betwixt dying and painting whence Painters-stainers have their name a Mystery vehemently suspected to be lost in our Age. Hoods served that Age for Caps Gay-coats graceless Gallantry began then to be fashionable in England and perchance those who here taxed them therewith would have been as gay themselves had their Land been as rich and able to maintain them This sing-song was made on the English by the Scots after they were flush'd with Victory over us in the Reign of King Edward the Second Never was the Battle at Cannae so fatal to the Romans as that at Sterling to the Nobility of England and the Scots puffed up with their Victory fixed those opprobrious Epithets of heartless witless graceless upon us For the first we appeal to themselves whether Englishmen have not good hearts and with their long beards long swords For the second we appeal to the World whether the wit of our Nation hath not appeared as considerable as theirs in their Writings and Doings For the third we appeal to God the onely Searcher of hearts and trier of true grace As for the fourth thriftless I omit it because it sinks of it self as a superstructure on a foundred and sailing foundation All that I will adde is this that the grave sage and reduced Scotish-men in this Age are not bound to take notice of such expressions made by their Ancestors seeing when Nations are at hostile defiance they will mutually endeavour each others disgrace He that England will win Must with Ireland first begin This Proverb importeth that great designs must be managed gradatim not only by degrees but due method England it seems is too great a morsel for a forreign foe to be chopped up at once and therefore it must orderly be attempted and Ireland be first assaulted Some have conceived but it is but a conceit all things being in the bosom of Divine Providence that had the Spanish Armado in eighty eight fallen upon Ireland when the well affected therein were few and ill provided they would have given a better account of their service to him who sent them To rectify which errour the King of Spain sent afterward John de Aquila into Ireland but with what success is sufficiently known And if any foreign Enemy hath a desire to try the truth of this Proverb at his own peril both England and Ireland lie for Climate in the same posture they were before In England a bussâ—…l of March dust is woâ—…th a Kingâ—… randsom Not so in Southern sandy Counties where a dry March is as destructive as here it is beneficial How much a Kings randsom amounteth unto England knows by dear experience when paying one hundred thousand pounds to redeem Richard the first which was shared between the German Emperour and Leopoldus Duke of Austria Indeed a general good redounds to our Land by a dry March for if our clay-grounds be over-drowned in that moneth they recover not their distemper that year However this Proverb presumeth seasonable showers in April following or otherwise March dust will be turned into May-ashes to the burning up of grass and grain so easily can God blast the most probable fruitfulness England a good Land and a bad People This is a French Proverb and we are glad that they being so much Admirers and Magnifiers of their own will allow any goodness to another Country This maketh the wonder the less that they have so much endeavoured to get a share in this good Country by their former frequent invasions thereof though they could never since the Conquest peaceably posseâ—…s a hundred yards thereof for twenty hours whilst we for a long time have enjoyed large Territories in France But this Proverb hath a design to raise up the Land to throw down the People graceing it to disgrace them We English-men are or-should be ready humbly to confess our faults before God and no less truly then sadly to say of our selves Ah sinfull Nation However before men we will not acknowledge a visible badness above other Nations And the plain truth is both France and England have need to mend seeing God hath formerly justly made them by sharpe Wars alternately to whip one another The High-Dutch Pilgrims when they beg do sing the French-men whine and cry the Spaniards curse swear and blaspheme the Irish and English steal This is a Spanish Proverb and I suspect too much truth is suggested therein the rather because the Spaniards therein spare not themselves but unpartially report their own black Character If any ask why the Italians are not here mentioned seeing surely their Pilgrims have also their peculiar humours know that Rome and Loretta the staples of Pilgrimages being both in Italy the Italians very seldom being frugal in their Superstition go out of their own Country Whereas stealing is charged on our English it is confess'd that our poor people are observed light-fingered and therefore our Lawes are so heavy making low Felony highly Penal to restrain that Vice most to which our Pezantry is most addicted I wish my Country more true Piety then to take such tedious and useless journeys but if they will go I wish them more honesty then to steal and the people by whom they pass more Charity than to tempt them to stealth by denying them necessaries in their journey Princes JOHN Eldest Son of King Edward the first and Queen Eleanor was born at Windsor before his Fathers voyage into Syria His short life will not bear a long Character dying in his infancy 1273. the last year of the Reign of King Henry the 3d. and was buryed August the 8. in Westminster under a Marble Tomb in-laid with his Picture in an Arch over it ELEANOR Eldest Daughter to King Edward the first and Queen Eleanor was born at Windsor Anno Dom. 1266. She was afterwards
worthy of his end but where he had his birth As for his Round-Table with his Knights about it the tale whereof hath Trundled so smoothly along for many ages it never met with much beliefe amongst the judicious He died about the year Anno Dom 542. And now to speak of the Cornish in generall They ever have been beheld men of Valour It seemeth in the raign of the aforesaid King Arthur they ever made up his Van-Guard if I can rightly understand the barbarous Verses of a Cornish Poet. Nobilis Arcturus nos primos Cornubienses Bellum facturus vocat ut puta Caesaris enses Nobis non aliis reliquis dat primitus ictâ—…m Brave Arthur when he meant a field to fight Us Cornish-men did firstof all invite Onely to Cornish count them Cesars swords He the first blow in Battle still affords But afterwards in the time of King Canutus the Cornish were appointed to make up the Rear of our Armies Say not they were much degraded by this transposition from Head to Foot seeing the judicious in Marshaling of an Army count the â—…rength and therefore the credit to consist in the Rear thereof But it must be pitied that these people misguided by their Leaders have so often abused their valour in rebellions and particularly in the raign of King Henry the seventh at Black-heath where they did the greatest execution with their Arrows reported to be the length of a Taylors-yard the last of that proportion which ever were seen in England However the Cornish have since plentifully repaired their credit by their exemplary Valour and Loyalty in our late Civil Wars Sea-men JOHN ARUNDEL of Trerice Esquire in the fourteenth of King Henry the eighth took prisoner Duncane Campbell a Scot accounted their Admiral by his own Country-men a Pirat by the English and a Valiant man by all in a fight at Sea This his Goodly Valiant and Jeopardous enterprise as it is termed was represented with advantage by the Duke of Norfolk to the King who highly praised and rewarded him for the same Civilians JOHN TREGONWELL was born in this County bred in Oxford where he proceeded Doctor of the Laws both Canon and Civil and attaining to great perfection in the Theoretick and practicall parts of those professions he was imployed to be Proctor for King Henry the eighth in the long and costly cause of his divorce from Queen Katherine Dowager Now as it was said of the Roman Dictator Sylla suos divitiis explevit So King Henry full fraught all those with wealth and rewards whom he retained in that imployment This Doctor he Knighted and because so dexterous and diligent in his service gave him a pension of fourty pounds per annum And upon the resignation thereof with the paying down of a Thousand pounds he conferred on him and his heirs the rich demesne and scite of Middleton a Mitred Abby in Dorsetshire possessed at this day by his posterity This Sir John died about the year of our Lord one thousand five hundred and fourty and is buried under a fair Monument in the Church of Middleton aforesaid Physitians Although this County can boast of no writer graduated in that faculty in the University and that generally they can better vouch practise for their warrant then warrant for their practise yet Cornish-men would be offended if I should omit RAWE HAYES a Blacksmith by his occupation and furnished with no more learning then is sutable to such a calling who yet ministred Physick for many years with so often success and generall applause that not onely the home-bred multitude believed so mainly in him but even persons of the better calling resorted to him from the remote parts of the Realm to make tryall of his cunning by the hazard of their lives and sundry either upon just cause or to Cloke their folly reported that they have reaped their errands ends at his hands He flourished Anno Dom. 1602. ATWELL born in this County and Parson of Saint Tue therein was well seen in the Theoricks of Physick and happy in the practise thereof beyond the belief of most and the reason that any can assign for the same For although now and then he used blood-letting he mostly for all diseases prescribed milk and often milk and apples which although contrary to the judgements of the best esteemed practitioners either by virtue of the Medicine or fortune of the Physitian or fancy of the Patient recovered many out of desperate extremities This his reputation for many years maintained it self unimpaired the rather because he bestowed his pains and charge gratis on the poor and taking moderately of the rich left one half of what he received in the housholds he visited As for the profits of his benefice he poured it out with both hands in pious uses But for the truth of the whole fit fides penes authorem This Atwell was living 1602. Writers HUCARIU the LEVITE was born in this County and lived at Saint Germans therein All-eating Time hath left us but a little Morsell for manners of his Memory This we know he was a pious and learned man after the rate of that Age and it appeareth that he was eminent in his function of Divine Service because Levite was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fixed upon him In his time as in the days of Eli the Word of God was precious which raised the repute of his pains who wrote an hundred and ten Homilies besides other Books He flourished 1040. JOHN of CORNWALL so called from the County of his Nativity leaving his Native soil studied in forraign Universities cheifly in Rome where his Abilities commended him to the Cognizance of Pope Alexander the third It argueth his learning that he durst cope with that Giant Peter Lumbard himself commonly called The Master of the Sentences and who on that account expected that all should rather obey then any oppose his judgement Yea it appeareth that the judgement of this Peter Bishop of Paris was not so sound in all points by a passage I meet with in Mathew Paris of Pope Alâ—…xander the third writing a letter to an Arch-bishop of France to abrogate the ill doctrine of Peter sometimes Bishop of Paris about Christs Incarnation But our John wrote against him in his life time a book de Homine assumpto and put Peters Pen to some pains to write his own vindication He wrote also a book of Philosophy and Heresies Wonder not at their conjunction Philosophy being in Divinity as Fire and Water in a Family a good Servant but bad Master so Sad it is when the Articles of our Creed must be tried by the Touchstone of Aristotle This John flourished under K. Henry the second Anno 1170. SIMON THURWAY was born in this County bred in our English Universities untill he went over into Paris where he became so eminent a Logician that all his Auditors were his admirers Most firm his memory
20 Fr. Lamplough a. ut prius  21 Ioh. Lamplough ut prius  22 Hen. Curwen ar ut prius  23 Chri. Dacre ar ut prius  24 Wilfr Lawson ar  Per Pale Arg. and S. a Chev. counterchanged 25 Ioh. Dalston ar ut prius  26 Ioh. Midleton ar   27 Geo. Salkeld ar ut prius  28 Ioh. Dalston ar ut prius  29   30 Rich. Louther ar ut prius  31 Hen. Curwen 〈◊〉 ut prius  32 Chr. Pickering ar  Ermin a Lion Rampent Azure Crowned Or. 33 Ioh. Southwike a   34 Will. Musgrave a. ut prius  35 Ger. Louther ar ut prius  36 Ioh. Dalston ar ut prius  37 Lau. Salkeld ar ut prius  38 Chri. Dalston ar ut prius  39 Wilfri Lawson ut prius  40 Tho. Salkeld ar ut prius  41 Ios. Penington ar ut prius  42 Nich. Curwen ar ut prins  43 Will. Orfenâ—…r ar   44 Edm. Dudley ar  Or a Lion rampant duble queve Vert. 45 Will. Hutton ar prim Jac. ut prius  JAC. REX   Anno   1 Will. Hutton ar ut prius  2 Ioh Dalston ar ut prius  3 Chri. Pickeâ—…ing a. ut prius  4 Wilf Lauson m. ut prius  5 Chri. Pickering m. ut prius  6 Hen. Blencow ar  Sable on a Bend 3 Chaplets G. 7 Will. Hutton m ut prius  8 Ios. Penington ar ut prius  9 Chr. Pickering m. ut prius  10 Wilf Lawson m. ut prius  11 Th. Lamplough a. ut prius  12 Edw. Musgrave m. ut prius  13 Rich. Flecher ar Hutton Arg. a Salter engrailed betwixt 4 Roundlets each châ—…rged with a Pheon of the field 14 Will. Musgrave m. ut prius  15 Wil. Hudleston a. ut prius  16 Geo. Dalston ar ut prius  17 Hen. Curwen mi. ut prius  18 Io Lamplough a. ut prius  19 Hen. Fetherston  G. a Chev. betwixt 3 Oestridges feathers 20 Fran. Dudley vid. Admi. Tho. Dudley ar Edw. Dudley ar defund Tho. Lamplough mil. ut prius   ut prius   ut prius  21 Rich. Samford m ut prius  22 Rich. Fletcher m. ut prius  CAR. REG.   Anno   1 Hen. Blencowe m. ut prius  2 Pet. Senhouse ar Scascall Arg. a 〈◊〉 proper 3 Chri. Dalston ar ut prius  4 Will. Layton ar   5 Wilâ—… Musgrave m. ut prius  6 Chr. Richmond a.   7 Leon. Dykes ar  Or 3 Cinquefoils Sable 8 Ioh. Skelton ar ut prius  9 Will. Orfener ar   10 Rich. Barvis ar ut prius  11 Will. Lawson ar   12 Patri Curwen ar ut prius  13 Tho. Dacre 〈◊〉 ut prius  14 Ti. Fetherston 〈◊〉 ut prius  15   16 Chri. Louther ar ut prius  17 Hen. Fletcher bar ut prius  18   19   20   21   22 Hen. Tolson ar ut prius  Edward IV. 16 RICHARD DUKE OF GLOUCESTER He is notoriously known to Posterity without any â—… Comment or Character to describe him In his Armes it is observable that the younger sons of Kings did not use our Common Modern manner of differences by Cressants Mullets Martilets c. but assumed unto themselves some other differencing devices Wonder not that his Difference being a Labell disguised with some additions hath some Allusion to Eldership therein whilst this Richard was but the Third son seeing in his own Ambition he was not onely the Eldest but Onely Child of his Father as appeareth by his Project not long after to Basterdize both his Brethren And now did he begin to cast an Eye on and forecast a way to the Crown by securing himself of this County which is the Back as Northumberland the Fore Door into Scotland In the mean time Cumberland may count it no mean Credit that this Duke was for six years together and at that very time her High-Sheriff when he was made or rather made himself King of England Henry VIII 21 THOMAS WHARTON This must needs be that worthy person whom King Henry the eighth afterwards created first L. Wharton of Wharton in Westmerland and who gave so great a defeat to the Scots at Solemn Moss that their King James the fifth soon after died for sorrow thereof Indeed the Scotish Writers conceiving it more creditable to put their defeat on the account of Anger then of Fear make it rather a Surrender then a Battle as if their Country-men were in effect unwilling to Conquer because unwilling to Fight Such their Disgust taken at Oliver Sentclear a man of Low Birth and High Pride obtruded on them that day by the King for their Generall And to humor their own discontentment they preferred rather to be taken Prisoners by an Enemy then to fight under so distasted a Commander As for the Lord Wharton I have read though not able presently to produce my Author that for this his service his Armes were augmented with an Orle of Lions paws in Saltier Gules on a Border Or. The Farewell I understand two small Manufactures are lately set up therein the one of course Broad-cloath at Cokermouth vended at home The other of Fustians some two years since at Carlile and I wish that the Undertakers may not be disheartned with their small encouragement Such who are ashamed of Contemptible beginnings will never arrive at considerable endings Yea the greatest Giant was though never a Dwarfe once an Infant and the longest line commenced from a little point at the first DERBY-SHIRE DERBY-SHIRE hath York-shire on the North Nottingham-shire on the East Leicester-shire on the South Stafford and Cheshire on the West The River South Darwent falling into Trent runneth through the middle thereof I say South Darwent for I find three more North thereof Darwent which divideth the West from the East riding in Yorkshire Darwent which separateth the Bishoprick of Durham from Northumberland Darwent in Cumberland which falleth into the Irish Ocean These I have seen by Critical Authors written all alike enough to perswade me that Dower the Brittish word for water had some share in their denomination The two extreams of this Shire from North to South extend to thirty eight miles though not fully twenty nine in the broadest part thereof The South and East thereof are very fruitful whilest the North part called the Peak is poor above and rich beneath the ground Yet are there some exceptions therein Witness the fair pasture nigh Haddon belonging to the Earl of Rutland so incredibly battling of Cattel that one proffered to surround it with shillings to purchase it which because to be set side-ways not edge-ways were refused Natural Commodities Lead The best in England not to say Europe
King Iames Bishop of Salisbury He dyed in his calling having begun to put in print an excellent book against Atheists most useful for our age wherein their sin so aboundeth His Death happened March 11. 1619. not two full years after his Consecration Statesmen EDVVARD FINES Lord Clinton Knight of the Garter was Lord Admiral of England for more then thirty years a Wise Valiant and Fortunate Gentleman The Masterpeice of his service was in Mustleborough Field in the Reign of King Edward the Sixth and the Battail against the Scots Some will wonder what a Fish should do on dry Land what use of an Admiral in a Land fight But know the English kept themselves close to the shore under the shelter of their ships and whilst their Arrows could do little their spears lesse their swords nothing against the Scots who appeared like a hedge of Steel so well armed and closed together the great Ordnance from their ships at first did all making such destruction in the Scottish army that though some may call it a Land-fight it was first a Victory from the sea and then but an Execution on the Land By Queen Elizabeth who honoured her honours by bestowing them sparingly he was created Earl of Lincoln May 4. 1574. and indeed he had breadth to his height a proportionable estate chiefly in this County to support his Dignity being one of those who besides his paternal Inheritance had much increased his estate He dyed January the sixteenth 1585. and lyeth buryed at Windsor in a private chappel under a stately Monument which Elizabeth his third Wife Daughter to the Earl of Kildare erected in his Remembrance THOMAS WILSON Doctor of Laws was born in this County bred Fellow of Kings-Colledge in Cambridge and afterwards was Tutor in the same University to Henry and Charles Brandons successively Dukes of Suffolk Hard shift he made to conceal himself in the Reign of Queen Mary Under Queen Elizabeth he was made Master of the Hospital of St. Katharines nigh the Tower of London upon the same Token that he took down the Quire which my Author saith allow him a little Hyperbole was as great as the Quire at St. Pauls I am loth to believe it done out of Covetousnesse to gain by the materials thereof but would rather conceive it so run to Ruin that it was past repairing He at last became Secretary of State to Q. Elizabeth for four years together It argues his ability for the place because he was put into it Seeing in those active times under so judicious a Queen weaknesse might despair to be employed in such an office He dyed anno dom 15. THOMAS Lord BURGE or BOROUâ—…H Son to William Lord Burge Grandson to Thomas Lord Burge created Baron by King Henry the Eight was born in his Fathers Fair house at Gainsborough in this County His first publick appearing was when he was sent Embassador into Scotland anno 1593. to excuse Bothwell his lurking in England to advise the speedy suppressing of the Spanish Faction and to advance an effectual association of the Protestants in that Kingdome for their Kings defence which was done accordingly Now when Sir William Russel Lord Deputy of Ireland was recalled this Lord Tho. Burgh was substituted in his room anno 1597. Mr. Camden doth thus character him Vir acer animi plenus â—…ed nullis fere castrorum rudimentis But where there is the stock of Valour with an able brain Experience will soon be graffed upon it It was first thought fit to make a Months Truce with Tyrone which cessation like a Damm made their mutual animosities for the present swell higher and when removed for the future run the fiercer The Lord Deputy the Truce expired streightly besieged the Fort of Blackwater the only Receptacle of the Rebells in those parts I mean besides their Woods and Bogs the Key of the County of Tyrone This Fort he took by Force and presently followed a bloody Battle wherein the English paid dear for their Victory loosing many worthy men and amongst them two that were Foster brothers Fratres Collactanei to the Earl of Kildare who so layed this losse to his heart amongst the Irish Foster brethren are loved above the Sons of their fathers that he dyed soon after Tyrons credit now lay a bleeding when to stanch it he rebesieged Blackwater and the Lord Deputy whilst indevouring to relieve it was struck with untimely death before he had continued a whole year in his place All I will add is this that it brake the heart of Valiant Sir John Norris who had promised the Deputies place unto himself as due to his deserts when this Lord Burgh was superinduced into that Office His Relict Lady famous for her Charity and skill in Chirurgery lived long in Westminster and dyed very aged some twenty years since WILLIAM CECIL Know Reader before I go farther something must be premised concerning his position in this Topick Virgil was prophane in his flattery to Augustus Caesar profering him his free choice after his death to be â—…anked amongst what heathen Gods he pleased so that he might take his place either amongst those of the Land which had the oversight of Men and Cities or the Sea-Gods commanding in the Ocean or the Skye-Gods and become a new Constellation therein But without the least adulation we are bound to profer this worthy Peer his own election whether he will be pleased to repose himself under Benefactors to the Publick all England in that age being beholden to his bounty as well as the poor in Standford for whom he erected a fair Bead-house acknowledging under God and the Queen their prosperity the fruit of his prudence Or else he may rest himself under the title of Lawyers being long bred in the Inns of Court and more learned in our Municipal-Law then many who made it their sole profession However for the present we lodge this English Nestor for wisdome and vivacitie under the notion of States-men being Secretarie and Lord-Treasurer for above thirty years together Having formerly written his life at large it will be enough here to observe that he was born at Bourn in this County being son to Richard Cecil Esq of the Robes to King Henry the eighth and a Legatee in his Will and Jane his Wife of whom hereafter He was in his age Moderator Aulae steering the Court at his pleasure and whilst the Earl of Leichester would indure no equall and Sussex no superiour therein he by siding with neither served himself with both Incredible was the kindness which Queen Elizabeth had for him or rather for her self in him being sensible that he was so able a Minister of State Coming once to visit him being sick of the Goute at Burley house in the Strand and being much heightned with her Head Attire then in fashion the Lords Servant who conducted her thorow the door May your Highness said he be pleased to stoop the Queen
which Alms-dish came afterwards into the possession of the Duke of Somerset who sent it to the Lord Rivers to sell the same to furnish himself for a Sea-voyage But after the Death of good Duke Humphrey when many of his former Alms-men were at a losse for a meals meat this Proverb did alter its Copy to Dine with Duke Humphrey importing to be Dinnerlesse A general mistake fixed this sense namely that Duke Humphrey was buryed in the Body of St. Pauls Church where many men chaw their meat with feet and walk away the want of a Dinner whereas indeed that noble person interred in St. Pauls was Sir John Beauchamp Constable of Dover Warden of the Cinque Ports Knight of the Garter Son to Guy Earl of Warwick and Brother to Thomas Earl of Warwick whilst Duke Humphrey was honourably buried in St. Albans I will use you as bad as a Jew I am sure I have carried the Child home and layed it at the Fathers House having traced this Proverb by the Tract from England in General to London thence to the Old Jury whence it had its first Original that poor Nation especially on Shrove-Tuesday being intollerably abused by the English whilst they lived in the Land I could wish that wheresoever the Jews live they may not find so much courtesie as to confirm them in their false yet not so much Cruelty as to discourage them from the true Religion till which time I can bemone their Misery condemn the Christians Cruelty and admire Gods justice in both See we it here now fulfilled which God long since frequently foretold and threatned namely that he would make the Jews become a Proverb if continuing Rebellious against him I passe not for the Flouts of prophane Pagans scoffing at the Jews Religion Credat Judaeus Apella but to behold them thus Proverbiascere for their Rebellions against God minds me of the performance of Gods Threatning unto them Good manners to except my Lord Maior of London This is a corrective for such whose expressions are of the largest size and too general in their extent parallel to the Logick Maxime Primum in unoquoque genere est excipiendum as too high to come under the Roof of comparison In some cases it is not civil to fill up all the room in our speeches of our selves but to leave an upper place voyd as a blank reserved for our betters I have dined as well as my Lord Maior of London That this Proverb may not crosse the former know that as well is not taken for as dubiously or daintily on Variety of Costly Dishes in which kinds the Lord Maior is Paramount for Magnificence For not to speak of his solemn Invitations as when Henry Pickard Lord Maior 1357. did in one day entertain a Messe of Kings Edward King of England John King of France David King of Scots and the King of Cyprus besides Edward Prince of Wales and many prime Noble-men of the Land his daily Dinners are Feasts both for Plenty Guests and Attendants But the Proverb hath its modest meaning I haue dined as well that is as comfortable as contentedly according to the Rule Satis est quod sufficit enough is as good as a Feast and better then a Surfeit and indeed Nature is contented with a little and Grace with lesse As old as Pauls Steeple Different are the Dates of the Age thereof because it had two births or beginnings For if we count it from the time wherein it was originally co-founded by K. Ethelbert with the Body of the Church Anno six hundred and ten then it is above a thousand and forty years of Age. But if we reckon it from the year 1087. when burnt with Lightning from Heaven and afterwards rebuilt by the Bishops of London it is not above five hundred years old And though this Proverb falls far short of the Latine ones Antiquius Arcadibus Antiquius Saturno yet serveth it sufficiently to be returned to such who pretend those things to be Novell which are known to be stale old and almost antiquated He is only fit for Ruffians-Hall A Ruffian is the same with a Swaggerer so called because endevouring to make that Side to swag or weigh down whereon he ingageth The same also with Swash-Buckler from swashing or making a noise on Bucklers West-Smith-field now the Horse-Market was formerly called Ruffians-Hall where such men met casually and otherwise to try Masteries with Sword and Buckler Moe were frighted then hurt hurt then killed therewith it being accounted unmanly to strike beneath the Knee because in effect it was as one armed against a naked man But since that desperate Traitor Rowland Yorke first used thrusting with Rapiers Swords and Bucklers are disused and the Proverb only appliable to quarrelsome people not tame but wild Barretters who delight in brawls and blows A Loyal heart may be landed under Traitors Bridge This is a Bridge under which is an Entrance into the Tower over against Pink Gate formerly fatal to those who landed there there being a muttering that such never came forth alive as dying to say no worse therein without any Legal Tryal The Proverb importeth that passive Innocence overpower'd with Adversaries may be accused without cause and disposed at the pleasure of others it being true of all Prisoners what our Saviour said to and of St. Peter Another shall carry thee whither thou wouldst not Queen Elizabeth may be a proofe hereof who in the Reign of Queen Mary her Sister first stayed and denyed to Land at those Stairs where all Traytors and Offenders customably used to Land till a Lord which my Author would not and I cannot name told her she should not choose and so she was forced accordingly To cast water into the Thames That is to give to them wâ—…o had plenty before which notwithstanding is the dole general of the World Yet let not Thames be proud of his full and fair stream seeing Water may be wanting therein as it was Anno 1158. the Fourth of William Rufus when men might walk over dryshod and again Anno 1582. a strong Wind lying West and by South which forced out the Fresh and kept back the Salt-water He must take him a House in Turn-again Lane This in old Records is called Wind-again Lane and lyeth in the Parish of St. Sepulchres going down to Fleet-Dike which men must turn again the same way they came for there it is stopped The Proverb is applied to those who sensible that they embrace destructive courses must seasonably alter their manners which they may do without any shame to themselves it is better to come back through Turn-again though a narrow and obscure Lane then to go on an ill account straight forwards in a fair street hard by whence Vestigia nulla retrorsum as leading Westward to Execution He may whet his Knife on the Threshold of the Fleet. The Fleet is a place notoriouslâ—… known for a
the leaves of the Bayes and â—…y be withered to nothing since the erection of the Tomb but only rosated having a Chaplet of four Roses about his head Another Author unknighteth him allowing him only a plain Esquire though in my apprehension the Colar of S.S.S. about his neck speak him to be more Besides with submission to better judgements that Colar hath rather a Civil than Military relation proper to persons in places of Judicature which makes me guess this Gower some Judge in his old age well consisting with his original education He was before Chaucer as born and flourishing before him yea by some accounted his Master yet was he after Chaucer as surviving him two years living to be stark blind and so more properly termed our English Homer Many the Books he wrote whereof three most remarkable viz. Speculum Meditantis in French Confessio Amantis in English Vox Clamantis in Latine His death happened 1402. JOHN MARRE by Bale called MARREY and by Trithemius MARRO was born at Marre a village in this County three miles West from Doncaster where he was brought up in Learning Hence he went to Oxford where saith Leland the University bestowed much honour upon him for his excellent Learning He was by Order a Carmelite and in one respect it was well for his Memory that he was so which maketh John Balâ—… who generally falleth foul on all Fryers to have some civility for him as being once himself of the same Order allowing him subtilly learned in all secular Philosophy But what do I instance in home-bred Testimonies Know Reader that in the Character of our own Country Writers I prize an Inch of Forraign above an Ell of English Commendation and Outlandish Writers Trithemius Sixtus Senensis Petrus Lucius c. give great Encomiums of his Ability though I confesse it is chiefly on this account because he wrote against the Opinions of J. Wickliffe He died on the eighteenth of Mà rch 1407. and was buried in the Convent of Carmelites in Doncaster THOMAS GASCOIGNE eldest son to Richard the younger brother unto Sir William Gascoigne Lord Chief Justice was born at Huntfleet in this County bred in Baliol Colledge in Oxford where he proceeded Doctor in Divinity and was Commissioner of that University Anno Dom. 1434. He was well acquainted with the Maids of Honour I mean Humane Arts and Sciences which conducted him first to the presence then to the favour of Divinity the Queen He was a great Hieronymist perfectly acquainted with all the Writings of that Learned Father and in expression of his gratitude for the good he had gotten by reading his Woâ—…ks he collected out of many Authors and wrote the life of Saint Hierom. He made also a Book called Dictionarium Theologicum very useful to and therefore much esteemed by the Divines in that age He was seven and fifty years old Anno 1460. and how long he survived afterwards is unknown JOHN HARDING was born saith my Author in the Northern parts and I have some cause to believe him this Countrey-man He was an Esquire of ancient Parentage and bred from his Youth in Military Employment First under Robert Umfrevil Governour of Roxborough Castle and did good service against the Scots Then he followed the Standard of King Edward the fourth adhering faithfully unto him in his deepest distresse But the Master-piece of his service was his adventuring into Scotland not without the manifest hazard of his Life where he so cunningly demeaned himselfe that he found there and fetched thence out of their Records many Original Letters which he presented to King Edward the fourth Out of these he collected an History of the several Solemn Submissions publickly made and Sacred Oaths of Fealty openly taken from the time of King Athelstane by the Kings of SCOTLAND to the Kings of ENGLAND for the Crown of SCOTLAND although the Scotch Historians stickle with might and maine that such Homage was performed onely for the County of Cumberland and some parcels of Land their Kings had in ENGLAND south of TWEED He wrote also a Chronicle of our English Kings from BRUTUS to King EDWARD the fourth and that in English Verse and in my Judgement he had drank as hearty a draught of Helicon as any in his age He was living 1461. then very aged and I believe died soon after HENRY PARKER was bred from his infancy in the Carmelite Convent at Doncaster afterwards Doctor of Divinity in Cambridge Thence he returned to Doncaster and well it had been with him if he had staid there still and not gone up to London to preach at Pauls-Crosse where the subject of his Sermon was to prove That Christs poverty was the pattern of humane perfection and that men professing eminent sanctity should conform to his precedent Going on foot feeding on Barley-bread wearing seamless-woven-coats having no houses of their own c. He drove this nail so far that he touched the quick and the wealthy Clergy winched thereat His Sermon offended much as preached more as published granting the Copy thereof to any that would transcribe it For this the Bishop of London put him in prison which Parker patiently endured in hope perchance of a rescue from his Order till being informed that the Pope effectually appeared on the party of the Prelates to procure his liberty he was content at Pauls-Cross to recant Not as some have took the word to say over the same again in which sense the Cuckow of all Birds is properly called the Recanter but he unsaid with at least seeming sorrow what he had said before However fâ—…om this time we may date the decay of the Carmelites credit in England who discountenanced by the Pope never afterwards recruited themselves to their former number and honour but moulted their feathers till King Henry the eight cut off their very wings and body too at the Dissolution This Parker flourished under King Edward the fourth Anno 1470. Since the Reformation Sir FRANCIS BIGOT Knight was born aud well landed in this County Bale giveth him this testimony that he was Evangelicae veritatis amator Otherwise I must confess my self posed with his intricate disposition For he wrote a book against the Clergy Of IMPROPRIATIONS Had it been against the Clergy of Appropriations I could have guessed it to have proved Tithes due to the Pastors of their respective Parishes Whereas now having not seen nor seen any that have seen his book I cannot conjecture his judgment As his book so the manner of his death seems a riddle unto me being though a Protestant slain amongst the Northern Rebells 1537. But here Bale helpeth us not a little affirming him found amongst them against his will And indeed those Rebells to countenancé their Treason violently detained some Loyall Persons in their Camp and the Blind sword having Aciem not Oculum kill'd friend and foe in fury without distinction WILFRID HOLME was born in this County of Gentile
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
first into this County consult I pray the ensuing Epitaph in Ely Minster transcribed as my Son hath informed me by himself exactly from his Monument Premendo sustusit Ferendo vicit Secundum Redemptoris Mundi adventum expectat hic Marcus Steward Miles filius haeresque Simeonis Steward Armig. Nicholao Steward Armig. geniti qui patrem habuit Richardum Steward Armig. quem genuit Thomas Steward Armig. Johannis Steward militis filius cujus Pater erat Johannes Steward Miles ejus nominis in Angliâ primus qui cum Jacobo Roberti Scotiae Regis filio in Franciam tranfretans regnante tunc Henrico quarto vento eorum propositis opposito in Anglicano littore applicuerunt ubi diu post pro obsedibus custodiebantur Sed hic Johannes in amorem cujusdam virginis Anglicanae nomine Talmach incidens obtentâque Johannae Reginae veniâ cui ancilla inserviebat eam in conjugem cepit in fidemque Regis Henrici dum vixisset solenniter est juratus Hujus pater erat Alexander quem genuit Andreas Steward Miles Alexandri cognominati Ferocis filiorum natu minimus cujus pater erat Walterus Steward à Dun de vale in Scotiâ dictus Sed Primus in Genealogiâ hâc summonitus hic sepultus ex Annâ unâ filiarum Haeredum Roberti Huicke Armig. Reginae Elizabethae Medici pri marii varios habuit liberos quos omnes inadultos Fata rapuere praeter duos Marians scilicet Gulielmo Forster in Com. Berke militi nuptam Simionem Steward Militem Haeredem filiúmque suum moestissimum qui pii Officii singularisque erga Patrem Amoris gratiâ hoc posuit monumentum ubi inscriptum legas quòd cum multos Annos Bello Pace pro Patriâ feliciter egisset aetate tandem confectus militari singulo Auratis Calcaribus à Jacobo Rege Screnissimo ornatus senex pene octogenarius fatali Necessitati concessit 28. Februarii Anno salutis 1603. The Farewell It is hard for a Physitian to prescribe proper Physick to such a Patient who hath a Hot Liver and a Cold Stomack because what is Good for the One is Bad for the Other As hard it is for Weather to please the Concernments of this County whose Northern part being Moist and Fenny desires Fair weather â—…outh and South-eastern Dry and Heathy delighteth so much rain thâ—…t it can well digest save in harvest time one shower every Day and two every Sunday But the God of Heaven * who can make it rain on one place and not on another can fit tue Necâ—…ssity of Bâ—…th and I remitte them both to his Providence CHES-SHIRE CHES-SHIRE lieth in form of an Axe Wirral being the handle thereof having Lanca-shire parted with the river Mersey on the North a corner of York-shire on the North-East Darby and Stafford shires severed with mountains on the East Shrop-shire on the South Denbigh Flint-shire and the Irish Ocean on the West thereof The longest part advantaged with excursions is four and fourty the broadest twenty five miles This County was reputed a Palatinate before the Conquest and since continued in the same dignity It is much senior to Lancashire in that honour which relateth to Cheshire as the copy to the original being Palatinated but by King Edward the third referring the Duke of Lancaster to have his regal juridiction Adeò integrè liberè sicut Comes Cestriae c. And whereas Records are written in the Common-law Contrà Coronam dignitatem Regis in this County they run thus Contra dignitatem gladii Cestriae It aboundeth with all things necessary to mans life and it is observable that all the rivers and rivolets therein rise in or run through some meer or pool as Cumber-meer Bag-meer Pick-meer Ridley-pool Petty-pool c. so that Cheshire hath more lakes in this kind then all the neighbouring Counties affording plenty of Carps Tenches Trouts Eeles c. therein The Gentry of this County are remarkable upon a four-fold account 1. For their Numerousness not to be parallel'd in England in the like extent of ground 2. Their Antiquity many of their Ancestors being fixed here before the Norman-conquest 3. Their Loyalty especially against a Northern enemy heartily hateing a Scot understand it before the union of the two Kingdomes 4. Hospitality no County keeping better houses which because all growes on their own may be the better afforded One said pleasantly that it appeared to all people that the Cheshire Gentry were good house-keepers because they gave so many wheat-sheaves bread being the staffe of hospitality wheaten the best of bread in their Coats of Armes Indeed I have told no fewer then six and twenty called Garbs in Herauldry which are born in the several Coat-Armours of the Gentry of this County The Original whereof is sufficiently known to be out of conformity to Hugh 〈◊〉 the fifth Earl-Palatine of Chester who gave Azure six Garbs Or. And many of the Gentry of the County being his dependents had assigned them or did assume in their sheilds something in allusion thereunto Naturall Commodities Salt This is most Essentiall to mans Lively-hood without which neither Sacrifice was acceptable to God nor Meat is savory to Man It is placed on the Board with bread to shew that they are equally necessary to mans sustenance A General in our late wars soundly chid a Captain for his so soon surrendring of a Castle seeing he had store of Powder therein I had returned the Captain plenty of BLACK but no WHITE Powder at all And here it is Remarkable to Observe the defects which sundry places have herein 1. Some Countries have Salt without Flesh within many miles as in the South-part of Africa 2. Some have plenty of Flesh but no Salt to make use thereof as in many parts of Tartary 3. Some have Flesh and Salt but the Flesh utterly uncapable of seasoning as about Nombre de Dios and other places near the Meridian in America 4. Some have Flesh Salt and Flesh capable thereof but so unconscionably dear that Common people have little comfort therein as in France no Country having Salt most plentifull and for reason of State most excessive in the rate thereof These things considered we who have Flesh Salt Salt at reasonable prises and Flesh capable thereof have cause to professe O Fortunati nimium bona si sua norint Angligenae The manner of making of Salt in this County is so largely and exactly described by Mr. Camden that nothing can be added thereunto Cheese Poor men do eat it for hunger Rich for digestion It seems that the Ancient British had no skill in the making thereof till taught by the Romans and now the Romans may even learn of us more exactness therein This County doth afford the best for quantity and quality and yet their Cows are not as in other Shires housed in the Winter so that it may seem strange that the hardiest Kine should yield the tenderest cheese Some Esayed in vain