departed this life a little before the beginning of our Civil Wars Memorable Persons JOHN CAVENDISH Esq. was born at Cavendish in this County bred at Court a Servant in ordinary attendance on King Richard the Second when Wat Tyler played Rex in London It happ'ned that Wat was woundly angry with Sir John Newton Knight Sword-Bearer to the King then in presence for devouring his distance and not making his approaches mannerly enough unto him Oh the pride of a self-promoting Pesant Much bussling a rising thereabout Sir William Walworth Lord Mayor of London arrested VVat and with his Dagger wounded him and being well stricken in years wanted not valour but vigour to dispatch him He is seconded by John Cavendish standing by who twice or thrice wounded him mortally my Author complaining That his death was too worthy from the hands of honourable persons for whom the Axe of the Hangman had been too good I would have said the Hââ¦lter of the Hangman But it matters not by whom a Traitor be kill'd so he be kill'd Hereupon the Arms of London were augmented with a Dagger and to divide the Honour equally betwixt them if the Heaft belonged to Walworth the Blade or point thereof at least may be adjudged to Cavendish Let me add that King Richard himself shewed much wisedome and courage in managing this matter so that in our Chronicles he appeareth wiser Youth than Man as if he had spent all the stock of his discretion in appeasing this tumult which happened Anno Dom. 1381. Sir THOMAS COOK Knight Sir WILLIAM CAPELL Knight I present these pair of Knights in parallels because I find many considerable occurrences betwixt them in the course of their lives 1 Both were natives of this County born not far asunder Sir Thomas at Lââ¦venham Sir William at Stoke-Neyland 2 Both were bred in London free of the fame Company of Drapers and were Lord-Mayors of the City 3 Both by Gods blessing on their industry attained great Estates and were Royal-Merchants indeed The later is reported by tradition since by continuance consolidated into Historical truth that after a large entertainment made for King Henry the Seventh he concluded all with a Fire wherein he burnt many Bonds in which the King a Borrower in the beginning of his Reign stood obliged unto him a sweet perfume no doubt to so thrifty a Prince not to speak of his expensive Frolick when at another time he drank a dissolved Pearl which cost him many hundreds in an health to the King 4 Both met with many molestations Sir Thomas being arraigned for lending money in the reign of King Edward the Fourth hardly escaped with his life thank a good God a just Judge and a stout Jury though griveously fined and long imprisoned As for Sir William Empson and Dudley fell with their bodies so heavy upon him that they squeased many thousand pounds out of his into the Kings Coffers 5 Both died peaceably in Age and Honour leaving great Estates to their Posterities The Cooks flourishing lately at Giddy-Hall in Essex in a Worshipful as the Capels at Hadham in Hartford-shire now in an Honourable condition Nor must it be forgotten that Elizabeth daughter to Sir William Capel was married to William Powlet Marquess of Winchester and Mildred descended from Sir Thomas Cook to William Cecil Lord Burleigh both their husbands being successively Lord Treasurers of England for above fifty years Sir Thomas Cook lieth buried in the Church of Augustineâ⦠â⦠London Sir William Capel in the South-side of the Parish Church of St. Bartholomews in a Chappel of his own addition behind the Exchange though the certain date of their deaths do not appear Lord Mayors Name Father Place Company Time 1 John Michel John Michel Ekelingham Stock-Fishmonger 1422. 2 Henry Barton Henry Barton Myldenhal Skinner 1428. 3 Roger Oteley Will. Oteley Vfford Grocer 1434. 4 John Paddesley Simon Paddesley Bury St. Edmunds Gold-smith 1440. 5 Simon Eyre John Eyre Brandon Draper 1445. 6 William Gregory Roger Gregory Myldenhal Skinner 1451. 7 Thomas Cook Robert Cook Lavenham Draper 1462. 8 Richard Gardiner John Gardiner Exning Mercer 1478. 9 William Capel John Capel Stoke-Neyland Draper 1503. 10 William Coppinger Walter Coppinger Buckshal Fish-monger 1512. 11 John Milborn John Milbourn Long-Melford Draper 1521. 12 Roger Martin Lawrence Martin Long-Melford Mercer 1567. 13 John Spencer Richard Spencer Walding-Field Cloath-worker 1594. 14 Stephen Some Thomas Some Bradley Grocer 1598. Reader this is one of the twelve pretermitted Shires the Names of whose Gentry were not returned into the Tower in the reign of King Henry the Sixth Sheriffs Know that this County and Nââ¦hfolk had both one Sheriff until the seventeenth year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth a List of whose names we formerly have presented in the description of Northfolk ãâã Place Armes Reg. ELIZ   Anno   17 Rob. Ashfield ar Netherhall Sable ãâã Fesse ââ¦ngrailed betwixt 3 flower de Luces Arg. 18 Ioh. ãâã arm  Sable a Fesse checkee Or and Azure betwixt 3 Naggs heads erazed Argent 19 Will. Spring mil. Lanham Argent on a Cheveron between 3 Martlets Gules as many Cinquefoiles of the Field 20 Rob. Jermin mil. Rushbrook Sable a Cressant betwixt ãâã Mullets Argent 21 Philip. Parker mil. Arwerton Argent a Lion passant Gules betwixt 2 Barrs Setheron 3 Bezââ¦nts in Chief as many Bucks heads ââ¦abosed of the third 22 Th. Bernardiston m. Kedington Azure a Fesse Dauncette Ermin betwixt 6 Crosleââ¦s Argent 23 Nich. Bacon mil. Culfurth Gules on a Chief ãâã 2 Mullets Sable 24 Will. Drury mil. Halsted Argent on a Chief Vert the letter Tau betwixt 2 Mullets pierced Or. 25 Carol. Framling ham miles   26 Ioh. Gurdon arm Assington S. 3 Leopards heads jessant flowers de Luce Or. 27 Will. Clopton aâ⦠ Sable a Bend Argent betwixt 2 Cotises dauncette Or. 28 Geo Clopton ar ut prius  29 Franc. Jermy arm  Arg. a Lion ramp gardant Gules 30 Phil. Tilney arm Shelleigh Argent a Cheveron betwixt 3 Griffins-heads erazed Gules 31 Will. Walgrave m. ãâã Party per Pale Argent and Gu. 32 Tho. Rowse arm  Sable 2 Barrs engrailed Argent 33 ââ¦c Garnish arm  Ar. a chev engr Az. bet 3 scallops Sab. 34 Lionel Talmarsh ãâã HelminghaÌ Argent Fretty Sable 35 Rob. Forth arm  â Or 3 Buls-heads coupee Sable 36 Tho. â Croâ⦠arm SaxmundhaÌ * Ar. on a fess Gu. 3. Garbs Or between 2 cheverons Az. charged with Escallops Arg. 37 Will. Spring mil. ut prius  38 Tho. * Eden arm   39 Antho. Wingfield Letheringham Argent a Bend Gules cotised able 3 Wings of the first 40 Hen. Warner ar   41 Antho. Felton ar Playford Gules 2 Lions passant Eââ¦in crowned Or. 42 Edw. Bacon arm ut prius  43 Edwin Withipol Christ Church in Ipswich Party per pale Or and Gules 3 Lions pââ¦ssant regardant armed Sable langued Argent a Bordure interchanged 44 Tho.
precious extraction to King James reputed a great preserver of health and prolonger of life He is conceived by such helps to have added to his vigorous vivacity though I think a merry heart whereof he had a great measure was his best Elixar to that purpose He died exceeding aged Anno Dom. 164. JOHN BUCKRIDGE was born at Dracot nigh Marleborough in this County and bred under Master Mullcaster in Merchant-Taylors school from whence he was sent to Saint Johns-colledge in Oxford where from a Fellow he became Doctor of Divinity and President thereof He afterwards succeeded Doctor Lancelot Andrews in the Vicaridge of Saint Giles Criplegate in which Cure they lived one and twenty years a piece and indeed great was the Intimacy betwixt these two learned Prelates On the ninth of June 1611. he was Consecrated Bishop of Rochester and afterwards set forth a learned Book in opposition of John Fisher De potestate papae in Temporalibus of which my Author doth affirm Johannem itaque Roffensem habemus quem Johanni Roffensi opponamus Fishero Buckerigium cujus argumentis si quid ego video ne à mille quidem Fisheris unquam respondebitur He was afterwards preferred Bishop of Ely and having Preached the Funerall Sermon of Bishop Andrews extant in Print at the end of his works survived him not a full year dying Anno Dom. 163. He was decently Interred by his own appointment in the Parish-church of Bromly in Kent the Manner thereof belonged to the Bishoprick of Rotchester States-men EDWARD SEIMOR and THOMAS SEIMOR both Sons of Sir John Seimor of Wolfull Knight in this County I joyn them together because whilst they were united in affection they were invinsible but when devided easily overthrown by their enemies Edward Seimor Duke of Sommerset Lord Protector and Treasurer of England being the Elder Brother succeeded to a fair Paternal inheritance He was a valiant Souldier for Land-service fortunate and generally beloved by Martiall men He was of an open nature free from jealousie and dissembling affable to all People He married Anne Daughter of Sir Edward Stanhop knight a Lady of a high mind and haughty undaunted spirit Thomas Seimor the Younger Brother was made Barron of Sudley by offices and the favours of his Nephew K. Edward the sixth obtained a great Estate He was well experienced in Sea affairs and made Lord Admirall of England He lay at a close posture being of a reserved Nature and was more cunning in his Carriage He married Queen Katharine Parr the Widdow of King Henry the eighth Very great the Animosities betwixt their Wives the Dutchess refusing to bear the Queens Train and in effect justled with her for Precedence so that what betwixt the Train of the Queen and long Gown of the Dutchess they raised so much dust at the Court as at last put out the eyes of both their husbands and occasioned their Executions as we have largely declared in our Ecclesiasticall History The Lord Thomas Anno 154. The Lord Edward Anno 154. Thus the two best Bullworks of the safety of King Edward the sixth being demolished to the ground Duke Dudley had the advantage the nearer to approach and assault the Kings Person and to practice his destruction as is vehemently suspected Sir OLIVER SAINT JOHN Knight Lord Grandison c. was born of an ancient and honourable family whose prime seat was at Lediard-Tregoze in this County He was bred in the warrs from his youth and at last by King James was appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland and vigorously pursued the principles of his Predecessours for the civilizing thereof Indeed the Lord Mountjoy reduced that Country to obedience the Lord Chichester to some civility and this Lord Grandison first advanced it to considerable profit to his Master I confess T. Walsingham writeth that Ireland afforded unto Edward the third thirty thousand pound a year paid into His Exchequer but it appears by the Irish-records which are rather to be believed that it was rather a burden and the constant revenue thereof beneath the third part of that proportion But now the Kingdome being peaceably settled the income thereof turned to good account so that Ireland called by my Author the Land of Ire for the constant broiles therein for 400. years was now become the Land of Concord Being re-called into England he lived many years in great repute and dying without issue left his Honour to his Sisters son by Sir Edward Villiers but the main of his estate to his Brothers son Sir John Saint John Knight and Baronet Sir JAMES LEY Knight and Baronet son of Henry Ley Esquire one of great Ancestry who on his own cost with his men valiantly served King Henry the eighth at the siedge of Bullen was born at Tafant in this County Being his fathers sixth son and so in probability barred of his inheritance he indeavoured to make himself an Heir by his Education applying his book in Brasen-nose-colledge and afterwards studying the Laws of the Land in Lincolns-Inn wherein such his proficiency King James made him Lord Chief Justice in Ireland Here he practised the charge King James gave him at his going over yea what his own tender Conscience gave himself namely Not to build his Estate on the ruines of a miserable Nation but aiming by the unpartial execution of Justice not to enrich himself but civilize the People he made a good Progress therein But the King would no longer lose him out of his own Land and therefore recalled him home about the time when his fathers inheritance by the death of his five elder brethren descended upon him It was not long before Offices and Honour flowed in fast upon him being made by King James King Charles 1. Aturney of the Court of Wards 2. Chief Justice of the Upper Bench 18. of his raign Jan. 29. 3. Lord Treasurer of England in the 22. of his raign Decemb. 22. 4. Baron Ley of Ley in Devonshire the last of the same Month. 1. Earl of Marleburg in this County immediately after the Kings Coronation 2. Lord President of the Councell in which place he died Anno Domini 1629. He was a person of great gravity ability and integrity and as the Caspian Sea is observed neither to ebb nor flow so his mind did not rise or fall but continued the same constancy in all conditions Sir FRANCIS COTTINGTON Knight was born nigh Meer in this County and bred when a youth under Sir ........ Stafford He lived so long in Spain till he made the garbe and gravity of that Nation become his and become him He raised himself by his naturall strength without any artificial advantage having his parts above his learning his experience above his parts his industry above his experience and some will say his success above all so that at the last he became Chancellour of the Exchequer Baron of Hanworth in Middlesex and upon the resignation of Doctor Juxon Lord Treasurer of England gaining also
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 Indulgââ¦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 ââ¦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 ãâã 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
Heraldry in that age from that well noted Town in this County In process of time he became Abââ¦ot of Westminster for twenty four years He was so high in favour with King Hââ¦nry the third that he made him one ' of his speciall Councellours Chief Baron of the Exchequer ââ¦nd for a short time Lord Treasurer of England He died Anno. 1246. buried in Westminster-Church whose marble tombe before the middle of the Altar was afterwards pulled down probably because taking up too much room by Frier Combe Sacriââ¦t of the House who laid a plain marble stone over him with an Epitaph too tedious and barbarous to be transcribed JOHN de CHESILL There are two Villages so called in this County where the North-west corner thereof closeth with Cambridge-shire I will not define in which this John was born time having left us nothing of his actions saving the many preferments thorough which he passed being Dean of Saint Pauls successively Arch-Deacon and Bishop of London and twice Chancellor of England viz. Anno Domini 1264. in the 48. of King Henry the third viz. Anno Domini 1268. in the 53. of King Henry the third He was afterward also Lord Treasurer of England and died Anno Domini 1279. in the seventh year of the raign of King Edward the first JOHN of WALTHAM was so named from the place of his nativity and attained to be a prudent man and most expert in government of the State so that he became Master of the Rolls Keeper of the Privy Seal and Anno 1388. was consecrated Bishop of Salisbury But he miss'd his mark and met with one who both matched and mastered him when refusing to be visited by Courtney Arch-bishop of Canterbury on the criticisme that Pope Urbane the sixth who granted Courtney his Commission was lately dead till the Arch-bishop excommunicated him into more knowledge and humility teaching him that his Visitations had a self-support without assistance of Papal power cast in onely by the way of religious complement This John of Waltham was afterwards made Lord Treasurer and Richard the second had such an affection for him that dying in his Office he caused him to be buried though many muttered thereat amongst the Kings and next to King Edward the first in Westminster His death happened 1395. ROGER WALDEN taking his Name from his Birth in that Eminent Market-Town in this County was as considerable as any man in his Age for the alternation of his fortune First he was the son of a poor man yet by his Industry and Ability attained to be Dean of York Treasurer of Calis Secretary to the King and Treasurer of England Afterwards when Thomas Arundell Arch-bishop of Canterbury fell into the disfavour of King Richard the second and was banished the land this Roger was by the King made Arch-bishop of Canterbury and acted to all purposes and intents calling of Synods and discharging of all other offices However he is beheld as a Cypher in that See because holding it by Sequestration whilst Arandell the true Incumbent was alive who returning in the first of King Henry the fourth resumed his Arch-Bishoprick And now Roger Walden was reduced to Roger Walden and as poor as at his first beginning For though all maintained that the Character of a Bishop was indelable this Roger found that a Bishoprick was delable having nothing whereon to subsist untill Arch-bishop Arundell nobly reflecting upon his Worth or Want or Both procured him to be made Bishop of London But he enjoyed that place onely so long as to be a testimony to all posterity of Arundell his Civility unto him dying before the year was expired 1404. He may be compared to one so Jaw-fallen with over long ââ¦asting thaââ¦ââ¦e cannot eat meat when brought unto him and his spirits were so depressed with his former ill fortunes that he could not enjoy himself in his new unexpected happiness Why he was buried rather in Saint Bartholomews in Smithfiââ¦ld then his own Cathedrall Church is too hard for me to resolve Since the Reformation RICHARD HOWLAND was born at Newport-Pââ¦nds in this County first Hellow of Peterhouse then chosen 1575. Master of Magdalen and next year Master of Saint Johns-Colledge in Cambridge He was twice Vice-chancellor of the University in the year 1584. he was Consecrated Bishop of Peterborough in which place he continued sixteen years and died in June 1600. JOHN JEGON was born in this County at Coxhall Fellow first of Queens then Master of Bennet-colledge in Cambridge and three times Vice-chancellour of the University A most serious man and grave governour yet withall of a most faceââ¦ious disposition so that it was hard to say whether his counsel was more grateful for the soundness oâ⦠his company more acceptable for the pleasââ¦ess thereof Take one eminent instance of his ââ¦genuity Whilst Master of the Colledge he chanced to punish all the Under-graduates therein for some generall offence and the penalty was put upon their Heads in the Buttery And because that he disdained to convert the money to any private use it was expended in new whiteing the Hall of the Colledge Whereupon a scholar hung up these verses on the Skreen Doctor Jegon Bennet-colledge Master Brake the Scholars head and gave the walls a plaister But the Doctor had not the readiness of his parts any whit impaired by his age for perusing the paper ex tempore he subscribed Knew I but the Wagg that writ these verses in a Bravery I would commend him for his Wit but whip him for his Knavery Queen Elizabeth designed him but King James confirmed him Bishop of Norwich where if some in his Diocess have since bestowed harsh language on his memory the wonder is not great seeing he was a somewhat severe presser of Conformity and dyed Anno Domini 1618. SAMUEL HARESNET was born at Colchester in the Parish of Saint Butolph bred first Scholar then Fellow then Master of Pembrock-hall in Cambridge A man of grââ¦t learning strong parts and stout spirit He was Bishop first of Chichester then of Norwich and at last Arch-bishop of York and one of the Privy Councill of King Charles the 2. last dignities being procured by Thomas Earl of Arundell who much favoured him and committed his younger son to his Education Dying unmarried he was the better enabled for Publick and Pious uses and at Chigwell in this County the place of his first Church-preferment he built and endowed a fair Grammer School He conditionally bequeathed his Library to Colchester where he was born as by this passage in his Will may appear Item I give to the Bayliffs and Corporation of the Town of Colchester all my Library of Books provided that they provide a decent room to set them up in that the Clergy of the Town of Colchester and other Divines may have free access for the reading and studying of them I presume the Town corresponding with his desire the Legacy took due effect
He died Anno Domini 1631. and lieth buââ¦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 berefââ¦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 fertââ¦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 lââ¦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
hoc breve Teste meipso apud Clypston quinto die Marââ¦it An Regni nostri Nono In obedience to the Kings command this Sheriff vigorously prosecuted the design and made his Return accordingly on the same token that it thus began Nulla est Civitas in Comitat. Gloucest There is no City in the County of Gloucester Whence we collect that Gloucester in that age though the seat of a miââ¦red Abby had not the reputation of a City untill it was made an Episcopal See by K. Hen. 8. The like Letters were sent to all other Sheriffs in England and their Returns made into the Exchequer where it is a kind of Dooms-day-Book junior but commonly passeth under the name of Nomina Villarum I have by me a Transcript of so much as concerneth Gloucester-shire the reason why this Letter is here exemplified communicated unto me with other rarities advancing this Subject by my worthy Friend Mr. Smith of Nibley It must not be omitted that though the aforesaid Catalogue of Nomina Villarum was begun in this year and a considerable progresse made therein yet some unexpressed obstacles retarding it was not in all particulars completed until 20 years after as by this passage therein may be demonstrated Bertona Regis juxta Gloucester ibidem Hundââ¦idum Hundr Margarettae Reginae Angliae Now this Margaret Queen of England Daughter to Philip the Hardy King of France and second Wife to this King Edward the First was not married unto him until the 27 of her Husbands reign Anno 1299. Edw. III. 5 THO. BERKELEY de COBBERLEY He is commended in our Histories for his civil usage of K. Edw. 2. when pââ¦isoner at Berkeley Castle at this day one of the seats of that right ancient Famiiy And right ancient it is indeed they being descended from Robert Fitz-Harding derived from the Kings of Denmark as appeareth by an Inscription on the Colledge-Gate at Bristol Rex Henricus secundus Dominus Robertus filius Hardingi filii Regis Daciae hujus Monasterii primi Fundatores extiterunt This Robert was entirely beloved of this King by whose means his Son Maurice married the Daughter of the Lord of Berkeley whereby his posterity retained the name of Berkeley Many were their Mansions in this County amongst which Cobberley accrued unto them by matching with the Heir of Chandos Their services in the Holy War alluded unto by the Crosses in their Arms and may seem to be their Benefactions whereof in my Church History signified by the Mitre in their Crest Of this Family was descended William Lord Berkeley who was honoured by King Edward the fourth with the Title of Viscount Berkeley created by K. Rich. 3. Earle of Nottingham and in the right of his Wife Daughter of Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolk Henry the sââ¦venth made him Marquess Berkeley and Marshal of England He died without Issue At this day there flourisheth many Noble stems sprung thereof though George Lord Berkeley Baron Berkeley Lord Mowbray Segrave Bruce be the top Branch of this Family One who hath been so signally bountiful in promoting these and all other my weak endeavours that I deserve to be dumb if ever I forget to return him publick thanks for the same 43. JOHN POINTS Remarkable the Antiquity of this Name and Family still continuing in Knightly degree in this County for I read in Dooms-day-Book Drugo filius Ponz tenet de Rege Frantone Ibi decem Hide Geldant de hoc Manerio And again Walterus filius Ponz tenet de Rege Lete Ibi decem Hide Geldant I behold them as the Ancestors of their Family till I shall be informed to the contrary though I confess they were not seated at Acton in this County until the days of King Edward the second when Sir Nicholas Points married the Daughter and Heir of Acton transmitting the same to his posterity Sheriffs Name Place Armes RICH. II.   Anno   1 Tho. Bradwell   2 Johan Tracy TodingtoÌ Or a scallop Sab. betw two Bends Gules 3 Radulph Waleys * Sodbury  4 Tho. Bradewell  * Azure 6. Mullets Or. 5 Joh. de Thorp mil.  Argent a Fess Nebule Sable betw 3. Trefoiles Gules 6 Tho. Fitz Nichol.   7 Radus Waleys ut prius  8 Tho. Berkeley Cobberley Gules a Cheveron betwixt ten Crosses formee Argent 9 Tho. Burgg â   10 Tho. Bradewell ut prius â Azure three flower de lys Ermine 11 Tho. Berkeley ut prins  12 Laur. Seabrooke   13 Tho Burgg ut prius  14 Maur. de Russell Derham Argent on a Chief Gules 3. Bezants 15 Hen. de la River   16 Joh. de Berkeley ut prius  17 Gilbertus Denis  Gules a Bend ingrailed Az. betw 3. Leopards heads Or ââ¦essant flower de lis of the 2d 18 Will. Tracy ut prius  19 Maur. Russel ut prius  20 Rob. Poyns Acton Barry of eight Or and Gul. 21 Johan Berkeley ut prius  22 Johan Bronings   HEN. IV.   Anno   1 Hen de la River   2 Maur. Russel ut prius  2 Rob Sommerville   3 Rob Whittington  Gules a Fess checkee Or and Argent 4 Wil. Beauchamp m   5 Idem   6 Johan Grendore  Per pale Or and Vert 12. guttees or drops counterchanged 7 Maur. Russel ut prius  8 Rob. Whittington ut prius  9 Rich. Mawrdin   10 Alex. Clivedon   11 Will. Wallwine  Gules a Bend within a Bââ¦rder Ermine 12 Joh. Grendore mil. ut prius  HEN. V.   Anno   1 Will. Beauchamp Powkes  2 Joh. Berkley mil. ut prius  3 Joh. Grevel Campden Or on a Cross engrailed within the like border Sab. ten Annulets of the First with a Mullet of five poynts in the Dexter Quarter 4 Idem ut prius  5 Will. Tracy ut prius  6 Will. Bishopeston   7 Joh. Brugg arm ut prius  8 Joh. Willecots   9 Idem   HEN. VI.   Anno   1 Joh. Panfote  Gules 3 Lions Rampant Arg. 2 Joh. Blacket mil.   3 Steph. Hatfild mil.   4 Joh. Grevil arm ut prius  5 Joh. Panfote ut prius  6 Guido Whittington ut prius  7 Rob. Andrew  Sab. a Saltire engrailed Ermin on a Chief Or 3. flower de lys of the First 8 Egidius Brigge *   9 Maur. Berkeley mil ut prius  10 Steph. Hatfield  * Arg. on a Cross Sab. a Leopards head Or. 11 Joh. Towerton   12 Cuido Whittington ut prius  13 Joh Panfote ut prius  4 Maur. Berkeley mil ut prius  15 Idem ut prius  16 Joh. Beauchamp m.   17 Will. Stafford Thornb Or a Cheveron Gules 18 Joh. Stourton mil.  Sable a Bend Or between 3.
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 BOROUââ¦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 ââ¦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 ââ¦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
of Durham but continued not long therein for he dyed in the 75 year of his Age 6th of February Anno Domini 1631. and was buried in St. Pauls in London JOHN DAVENANT D. D. born in Watling-street was son to John Davenant a Wealthy Citizen whose father was of Davenants lands in Essex When an Infant newly able to go he fell down a high pair of staires and rising up at the bottome smiled without having any harme God and his good Angels keeping him for further service in the Church When a child he would rather own his own frowardnesse than anothers flattery and when soothed up by the servants that not John but some other of his brothers did cry He would rather appear in his own face than wear their disguise returning that it was none of his brothers but John only cryed He was bred first Fellow-Commoner then Fellow then Margaret Profeslor then Master of Queens ââ¦lledge in Cambridge At a publick Election he gave his negative voice against a near Kinsman and a most excellent Scholar Cosen said he I will satisfie your father that you have worth but not want enough to be one of our Society Returning from the Synod of Dort he was elected Bishop of Sarum 1621. After his Consecration being to perform some personal Service to King James at Newmarket he refused to ride on the Lords Day and came though a Day later to the Court no lesse welcome to the King not only accepting his excuse but also commending his seasonable forbearance Taking his leave of the Colledge and of one John Rolfe an ancient servant thereof he desired him to pray for him And when the other modestly returned that he rather needed his Lordships Prayers Yea John said he and I need thine too being now to enter into a Calling wherein I shall meet with many and great Temptations PÅaefuit qui profuit was the Motto written in most of his Books the sense whereof he practised in his Conversation He was humble in himself and the Consequence thereof charitable to others Indeed once invited by Bishop Field and not well pleased with some Roisting Company there he embraced the next opportunity of departure after Dinner And when Bishop Field proferred to light him with a Candle down Stairs My Lord my Lord said he let us lighten others by our unblameable Conversation for which Speech some since have severely censured him how justly I interpose not But let others unrelated unto him write his Character whose Pen cannot be suspected of Flattery which he when living did hate and dead did not need We read of the Patriarch Israel that the time drew nigh that he must dye Must a necessity of it Such a decree attended this Bisââ¦op happy to dye before his Order for a time dyed April 1641. and with a solemn Funeral he was Buried in his own ââ¦dral Dr. Nicholas now Dean of St. Pauls preaching an excellent Sermonââ¦t ââ¦t his In terment MATHEVV WREN D. D. was born in this City not far from Cheap-side but descended as appears by his Arms from the worshipful Family of the Wrens in Northumberland He was bred Fellow of Pembroke-hall in Cambridge where he kept the extraordinary Philosophy Act before King James I say kept it with no lesse praise to himself then pleasure to the King where if men should forget even Dogs would remember his seasonable distinction what the Kings hounds could perform above others by vertue of their prerogative He afterward became an excellent Preacher and two of his Sermons in the University were most remarkable one preached before the Judges on this Text And let Judgement run down like waters and righteousnesse as a mighty stream at what time the draining of the Fens was designed suspected detrimental to the Univerââ¦ity The other when newly returned from attending Prince Charles into Spain on the words of the Psalmist abyssus abyssum invocat one depth calleth another He was afterwards preferred Master of Peterhouse Dean of Windsor Bishop of Norwich and Ely Some in the Long Parliament fell so heavily on him that he was imprisoned in the Tower almost fifteen years and his cause never heard Surely had the imposers been the sufferers hereof they would have cryed it up for a high piece of injustice But as St. Paul had the credit to be brought with intreaties out of Prison by those who sent him thither so this Prelate hath had the honour that the same Parliamentary power though not constituted of the same persons which committed him caused his Inlargement still living 1661. Statesmen Sir THOMAS MORE was Anno Domini 1480 born in Milkstreet London the ãâã that ever shined in that Via lactea sole Son to Sir John More Knight one of the Justices of the Kings Bench. Some have reported him of mean parentage meerly from a mistake of a modest word in an Epitaph of his own making on his Monument in Chelsey Church Where Nobilis is taken not in the civil but Common Law sense which alloweth none Noble under the degree of Barons Thus men cannot be too wary what they inscribe on Tombs which may prove a Record though not in Law in History to posterity He was bred first in the Family of Arch-bishop Morton then in Canterbury Colledge now taken into Christ Church in Oxford where he profited more in two then many in ten years continuance Thence he removed to an Inn of Chancery called New Inn and from thence to Lincolns Inn where he became a double Reader Then did his worth prefer him to be Judge in the Sheriffe of Londons Court whilst a Pleader in others And although he only chose such causes which appeared just to his Conscience and never took Fee of Widow Orphane or poor person he gained in those days four hundred pounds per annum Being made a Member of the House of Commons he opposed King Henry the Seventh about money for the Marriage of his Daughter Margaret Whereat the King was much discontented when a Courtier told him that a beardlesse Boy beard was never the true Standard of brains had obstructed his desires Which King being as certain but more secret then his son in his revenge made More the mark of his Displeasure who to decline his anger had travelled beyond the Seas had not the Kings going into another World stopped his journey King Henry the Eighth coming to the Crown and desirous to ingratiate himself by preferring popular and deserving persons Knighted Sir Thomas and made him Chancelour of the Dutchy of Lancaster the Kings personal patrimony Finding him faithfull in lesser matters according to the method of the Gospel he made him in effect Ruler of all when Lord Chancelour of England a place wherein he demeaned himself with great integrity and with no less expedition In testimony of the later it is recorded that calling for the next cause it was returned unto him there are no more to be heard all Suits in that Court depending and
Henry the sixth and afterwards to King Richard the third 1. Her Husband being killed at Barnet fight all her land by Act of Parliament was setled on her two Daughters as if she had been dead in Nature 2. Being attainted on her Husbands score she was forced to flye to the Sanctuary at Beauly in Hant-shire 3. Hence she got her self privately into the North and there lived a long time in a mean condition 4. Her want was increased after the death of her two daughters who may be presumed formerly to have secretly supplyed her I am not certainly informed when a full period was put by death to these her sad calamities Saints St. FRIDESWIDE was born in the City of Oxford being daughter to Didan the Duke thereof It happened that one Algarus a noble young man sollicited her to yield to his lust from whom she miraculously escaped he being of a sudden struck blind If so she had better success than as good a Virgin the daughter to a greater and better father I mean Thamar daughter of King David not so strangely secured from the lust of her brother She was afterward made Abbess of a Monastery erected by her father in the same City which since is become part of Christ-church where her body lyeth buried It happened in the first of Queen Elizabeth that the Scholars of Oxford took up the body of the wife of Peter Martyr who formerly had been disgracefully buried in a dunghill and interred it in the Tomb with the dust of St. Frideswide Sanders addeth that they wrote this Inscription which he calleth Impium Epitaphium Hic requiescit Religio cum ââ¦uperstitione though the words being capable of a favourable sense on his side he need not have been so angry However we will rub up our old Poetry and bestow another upon them In tumulo fuerat Petri quae Martyris uxor Hic cum Frideswida virgine jure jacet Virginis intactae nihilum cum cedat honori Conjugis in thalamo non temerata fides Si facer Angligenis cultus mutetur at absit Ossa suum ââ¦ervent mutua tuta locum Intom'd with Frideswide deem'd a Sainted maid The Wife of Peter Martyr here is laid And reason good for Women chaste in mind The best of Virgins come no whit behind Should Popery return which God forefend Their blended dust each other would deââ¦end Yet was there more than eight hundred years betwixt their several deaths Saint Frideswide dying Anno 739. and is remembred in the Romish Calendar on the nineteenth day of October St. EDWOLD was younger Brother to St. Edmund King of the East-Angles so cruelly martyred by the Danes and after his death that Kingdom not onely descended to him by right but also by his Subjects importunity was pressed upon him But he declined both preferring rather a sollitary life and heavenly contemplation In pursuance whereof he retired to Dorcester in this County and to a Monastery called Corn-house therein where he was interred and had in great veneration for his reputed miracles after his death which happened Anno Dom. 871. St. EDWARD the CONFESSOR was born at I slip in this County and became afterwards King of England sitting on the Throne for many years with much peace and prosperity Famous for the first founding of Westminster Abby and many other worthy aââ¦hievements By Bale he is called Edvardus simplex which may signifie either shallow or single but in what sense soever he gave it we take it in the later Sole and single he lived and dyed never carnally conversing with St. Edith his Queen which is beheld by different persons according to their different judgments coloured eyes make coloured objects some pitying him for defect or natural Impotence others condemning him as affecting singelness for want of Conjugal affection others applauding it as an high pââ¦ece of ãâã and perfection Sure I am it opened a dore for forreign Competitors and occasioned the Conquest of this Nation He dyed Anno Dom. 1065. and lyeth buryed in Westminster Abby Cardinals ROBERT PULLEN or Pullain or Pulley or Puley or Bullen or Pully for thus variously is he found written Thus the same name passing many mouths seems in some sort to be declined into several Cases whereas indeed it still remaineth one and the same word though differently spelled and pronounced In his youth ââ¦e studied at Paris whence he came over into England in the reign of King Henry the Fiââ¦st when learning ran very low in Oxford the university there being first much afflââ¦cted by Herald the Dane afterwards almost extinguished by the cruelty of ââ¦he Conqueror Our Pullen improved his utmost power with the King and Prelates for the restoring thereof and by his praying preaching and publick reading gave a great advancement thereunto Remarkable is his character in the Chronicle of Osny Robertus Pulenius scriptur as divin as quae in Anglia obsolverant apud Oxoniam legere cââ¦pit Robert Pullen began to read at Oxford the holy scriptures which were grown out of fashion in England The fame of his leââ¦rning commended him beyond the Seas and it is remarkable that whereas it is usual with Popes in policy to unravel what such weaved who were before them three successive Popes continued their love to and increased honours upon him 1. Innocent courteously sent for him to Rome 2. Celestine created him Cardinal of St. Eusebius Anno 1144. 3. Lucius the second made him Chancellor of the Church of Rome He lived at Rome in great respect and although the certain date of his death cannot be collected it happened about the year of our Lord 1150. THOMAS JOYCE or Jorce a Dominican proceeded Doctor of Divinity in Oxford and living there he became Provincial of his Order both of England and Wales From this place without ever having any other preferment Pope Clement the fifth created him Cardinal of St. Sabine though some conceive he wanted breadth proportionable to such an height of dignity having no other revenue to maintain it Cardinals being accounted Kings fellow in that Age. Others admire at the contradiction betwixt Fryers pââ¦ofession and practice that persons so low should be so high so poor so rich which makes the same men to ãâã that so chaste might be so wanton He is remarkable on this account that he had six brethren all Dominicans I will not listen to their compaââ¦ison who resemble them to the seven sons of Sceva which were Exorcists but may term them a week of brethren whereof this Rubricated Cardinal was the Dominical letter There want not those who conceive great vertue in the youngest son of these seven and that his Touch was able to cure the Popes Evil. This Thomas as he had for the most time lived in Oxford so his Corps by his own desire were buried in his Convent therein He flourished Anno Dom. 1310. Prelates HERBERT LOSING was born in Oxford his father being an Abbot
and Sollicitor to king Charles From these places he was preferred to be Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas when he was made Privy Counsellor thence advanced to be Lord Keeper and Baron of Mounslow the place of his Nativity He died in Oxford and was buried in Christ Church Anno 1645. Souldiers Sir JOHN TALBOT was born as all concurring indications do avouch at Black-Mere in this County the then flourishing now ruined House devolved to his Family by marying the Heir of the Lord Strange of Black-Mere Many Honourable Titles deservedly met in him who was 1 Lord Talbot and Strange by his Paternal extraction 2 Lord Furnival and Verdon by maryage with Joan the daughter of Thomas de Nevil 3 Earl of Shrewsbury in England and Weisford in Ireland by creation of King Henry the Sixth This is that terrible Talbot so famous for his Sword or rather whose Sword was so famous for his arm that used it A Sword with bad Latin upon it but good Steel within it which constantly conquered where it came insomuch that the bare fame of his approach frighted the French from the Siege of Burdeaux Being victorious for twenty four years together successe failed him at last charging the enemy neer Castilion on unequal termes where he with his Son the Lord Lisle were slain with a shot July 17. 1453. Hence forward we may say Good night to the English in France whose victories were buried with the body of this Earl and his body enterred at White-Church in this County Sir JOHN TALBOT son to Sir John Talbot aforesaid and Vicount Lisle in right of his Mother Though he was slain with his Father yet their ashes must not be so hudled together but that he must have a distinct commemoration of his valour The rather because a Noble Pen hath hinted a parallel betwixt him and Paulus Aemilius the Roman General which others may improve 1 Aemilius was overpowred by the forces of Hannibal and Asdrubal to the loss of the day 2 Corn. Lentulus intreated Aemilius sitting all bloodied upon a stone to rise and save himself offering him his horse and other assistance 3 Aemilius refused the proffer adding withall That he would not again come under the judgment of the people of Rome 1 The same sad success attended the two Talbots in fight against the French 2 The Father advised the son by escape to reserve himself for future fortune 3 His son crav'd to be excused and would not on any termes be perswaded to forsake his father In two considerables Talbot far surpass'd Aemilius for Aemilius was old grievously if not mortally wounded our Lord in the flower of his youth unhurt easily able to escape Aemilius accountable for the over-throw received the other no wayes answerable for that daye 's mis-fortune being as we have said the 17 of July 1453. Learned Writers ROBERT of SHREWSBURY Take Reader a tast of the different Spirits of Writers concerning his Character Leland's Text. Eadem opera religionem celebrabat literas With the same endeavour He plied both Religion and Learning Bale his Comment Per religionem fortassis Monachatum intelligit per literas Sophistica praestigia It may be he meaneth Monkery by Religion and by Learning Sophistical fallacies I confess he might have imployed his pains better But Bale proceeds de Consultis Ruthenis consulting not the Russians as the word sounds to all Criticks but the Men of Ruthin in Wales He wrote the Life and Miracles of S. Winfride flourished Anno 1140. DAVID of CHIRBURY a Carmelite was so named from his Native place in the West of this County bordering on Mountgomery-shire A small Village I confesse yet which formerly denominated a whole hundred and at this day is the Barony of the Lord Herbert He was saith Leland whom I take at the second hand on the trust of John Pits Theologiae cognitione clarus And going over into Ireland was there made Episcopus Dormorensis Bishop of Drummore as I take it He is said to have wrote some Books though not mentioned in Bale and which is to me a wonder no notice taken of him by that Judicious Knight Sr. James Ware So that it seems his Writings were either few or obscure Returning into England he died and was buried in his Native County at Ludlow in the Convent of the Carmelites Anno Dom. 1420. Since the Reformation ROBERT LANGELAND forgive me Reader though placing him who lived one hundred fifty years before since the Reformation For I conceive that the Morning-star belongs rather to the Day then to the Night On which account this Robert regulated in our Book not according to the Age he was in but Judgement he was of may by Prolepsis be termed a Protestant He was born at Mortimers-Clibery in this County eight miles from Malvern-Hills was bred a Priest and one of the first followers of J. Wickliffe wanting neither Wit nor Learning as appears by his Book called The vision of Pierce Plowgh-man and hear what Character a most Learned Antiquary giveth thereof It is written in a kind of English meeter which for discovery of the infecting corruptions of those times I preferre before many of the more seemingly serious Invectives as well for Invention as Judgement There is a Book first set forth by Tindal since exemplied by Mr. Fox called The Prayer and complaint of the Plowghman which though differing in title and written in prose yet be of the same subject at the same time in the same Language I must referre it to the same Authour and let us observe a few of his strange words with their significations 1 Behotef 1 Promiseth 2 Binemen 2 Take away 3 Blive 3 Quickly 4 Fulleden for 4 Baptized 5 Feile times 5 Oft times 6 Forward 6 Covenant 7 Heryeth 7 Worshipeth 8 Homelich 8 Household 9 Lesew 9 Pasture 10 Leude-men 10 Lay-men 11 Nele 11 Will not 12 Nemeth for 12 Taketh 13 Seggen 13 Do say 14 Swevens 14 Dreams 15 Syth 15 Afterwards 16 Thralles 16 Bond-men It 's observeable that Pitzaeus generally a perfect Plagiary out of Bale passeth this Langland over in silence and why because he wrote in oppositum to the Papal Interest Thus the most Light finger'd Thieves will let that alone which is too hot for them He flourished under King Edward the Third Anno Dom. 1369. THOMAS CHURCHYARD was born in the Town of Shrââ¦wesbury as himself doth affirm in his Book made in Verse of the Worthines of VVales taking Shropshire within the compass making to use his own expression Wales the Park and the Marches to be the Pale thereof Though some conceive him to be as much beneath a Poet as above a Rbimer in my opinion his Verses may go abreast with any of that age writing in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth It seems by this his Epitaph in Mr. Camdens Remains that he died not guilty of much Wealth Come Alecto lend me thy Torch To find a Church-yard in
the stipend and benevolence of the one and the dividend of the other but was utterly unacquainted with the taking of Tithes with the many troubles attending it together with the causeless molestations which Persons Presented meet with in their respective Parishes And because it is hard for one to have a Fellow-suffering of that whereof he never had a suffering this say some was the cause that he was so harsh to Ministers when brought before him Being Chaplain to the Earl of Dunbar then Omni-prevalent with King James he was unexpectedly preferred Archbishop of Canterbury being of a more fatherly presence than those who might almost have been his Fathers for age in the Church of England I find two things much charg'd on his memory First that in his house he respected his Secretary above his Chaplains and out of it alwayes honoured Cloaks above Cassocks Lay above Clergie-men Secondly that he connived at the spreading of non-conformity in so much that I read in a modern Author Had Bishop Laud succeeded Bancroft and the project of Conformity been followed without interruption there is little question to be made but that our Jerusalem by this time might have been a City at unity in it self Yet are there some of Archbishop Abbot his relations who as I am informed will undertake to defend him that he was in no degree guilty of these crimes laid to his charge This Archbishop was much humbled with a casual homicide of a keeper of the Lord Zouch's in Bramzel-Park though soon after he was solemnly quitted from any irregularity thereby In the reign of King Charles he was sequestred from his Jurisdiction say some on the old account of that homicide though others say for refusing to Licence a Sermon of Dr. Sibthorps Yet there is not an Express of either in the Instrument of Sequestration the Commission only saying in the general That the said Archbishop could not at that present in his own person attend those services which were otherwise proper for his cognizance and Jurisdiction For my own part I have cause to believe that as Vulnus semel sanatum novo vulnere recrudescit so his former obnoxiousness for that casualty was renewed on the occasion of his refusal to Licence that Sermon with some other of his Court-un-compliances This Archbishop died Anno Dom. 1633. having erected a large Hospital with liberal maintenance at Guildford the place of his nativity RICHARD CORBET D. D. was born at Ewel in this County and from a Student in became Dean of Christ-Church then Bishop of Oxford An high VVit and most excellent Poet of a courteous carriage and no destructive nature to any who offended him counting himself plentifully repaired with a jest upon him He afterwards was advanced Bishop of Norwich where he died Anno Dom. 1635. States-men THOMAS CROMWEL was born at Putney in this County of whom I have given measure pressed down and running over in my Church-History WILLIAM HOWARD son to Thomas Howard second of that Surname Duke of Norââ¦hfolk was by Queen Mary created Baron of Effingham in this County and by her made Lord Admiral of England which place he discharged with credit I find he was one of the first Favourers and Furtherers with his purse and countenance of the strange and wonderful discovery of Russia He died Anno Domini 154. CHARLES HOWARD son to the Lord William aforesaid succeeded him though not immediately in the Admiralty An hearty Gentleman and cordial to his Sovereign of a most proper person one reason why Queen Elizabeth who though she did not value a Jewel by valued it the more for a fair Case reflected so much upon him The first evidence he gave of his prowes was when the Emperors sister the Spouse of Spain with a Fleer of 130 Sailes stoutly and proudly passed the narrow Seas his Lordship accompanied with ten ships onely of Her Majesties Navy Royal environed their Fleet in a most strange and warlike sort enforced them to stoop gallant and to vail their Bonnets for the Queen of England His service in the eighty eighth is notoriously known when at the first news of the Spaniards approach he towed at a cable with his own hands to draw out the harbourbound-ships into the Sea I dare boldly say he drew more though not by his person by his presence and example than any ten in the place True it is he was no deep Sea-man not to be expected from one of his Extraction but had skill enough to know those who had more skill than himself and to follow their instructions and would not sterve the Queens service by feeding his own sturdy wilfulness but was ruled by the experienced in Sea-matters the Queen having a Navy of Oak and an Admiral of Osier His last eminent service was when he was Commander of the Sea as Essex of the Land forces at the taking of Cadiz for which he was made Earl of Nottingham the last of the Queens creation His place was of great profit Prizes being so frequent in that age though great his necessary and vast his voluntary expences keeping as I have read seven standing Houses at the same time at London Rigate Effingham Blechenley c. so that the wonder is not great if he died not very wealthy He lived to be very aged who wrote Man if not married in the first of Q. Elizabeth being an invited guest at the solemn Consecration of Matthew Parker at Lambeth and many years after by his testimony confuted those lewd and loud lies which the Papists tell of the Naggs-head in Cheap-side He resigned his Admiralty in the reign of King James to the Duke of Buckingham and died towards the later end of the reign of the King afore-said Sea-men Sir ROBERT DUDLEY Knight son to Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester by Douglas Shefeld whether his Mistris or Wife God knoweth many men being inclinable charitably to believe the later was born at Shene in this County and bred by his mother out of his Fathers reach at Offington in Sussex He afterwards became a most compleat Gentleman in all suteable accomplishments endeavoring in the reign of King James to prove his legitimacy and meeting with much opposition from the Court in distast he left his Land and went over into Italy But Worth is ever at home and carrieth its own welcome along with it He became a Favorite to the Duke of Florence who highly reflected on his Abilities and used his directions in all his Buildings At this time Ligorn from a Child started a Man without ever being a Youth and of a small Town grew a great City on a sudden and is much beholding to this Sir Robert for its fairness and firmness as chief contriver of both But by this time his Adversaries in England had procured him to be call'd home by a special Privy Seal which he refused to obey and thereupon all his Lands in England was seised on by the King by the Statute
expressing her intention to confer it on Watson the foresaid Earl requested the contrary acquainting the Queen with the passage betwixt them how otherwise it would be two hundred pounds out of his way Nay then said the Queen Watson shall have it he being more worthy thereof who will give two hundred to decline then he who will give two thousand pounds to attain it I confess such who have read so much of the Corruption of the Earl of Leicester and heard so little of the Integrity of Watson will hardly credit this story which I am ready to believe and the rather because of this his Epitaph written on his Marble Monument in the Church of Saint Mary Overies D. Johannes Watson hujus Ecclesiâ⦠Winton Praebendarius Decanus ãâã deinde Episcopus prudentissimus pater vir optimus praecipuè erga inopes misericors obiit in Domino January 23. anno ââ¦tatis 63. Episcopatus quarto 1583. Nothing else have I to observe save that there were three Watsons Bishops in the raign of Queen Elizabeth Thomas of Lincoln our John of Winchester and Anthony of Chichester though I believe little allied together States-men Sir THOMAS COVENTRY Knight was born at Croone in this County Eldest Son to Sir Thomas Coventry Knight one of the Justices of the Common Pleas. He was bred in the Inner Temple a student of the Laws and in the year 1618. was Treasurer of the said Temple and Atturney Generall to King James He was afterwards made Lord keeper of the Great Seal of England the first day of November in the first year of King Charles He was by the same King Created in the fourth of his raign April 10. Baron Coventry of Alesborough in this County An ingenious Gentleman in his History giveth him this Character in relation to his Keeper-ship that he injoyed that dignity fifteen years if it was not more proper to say that dignity enjoyed him This latter age affording none better qualified for the place Adding that he knew enough and acted conformable to his knowledge so that Captious Maliââ¦e ââ¦nds mute to blemish his fame To which we will only adde some few operative words taken out of his Patent when he was Created Baron Nos igitur in personâ Prââ¦dilecti per quam fidelis ãâã ââ¦stri Thomae Coventry Militis custodis magni sigilli nostri Angliae gratissima dignissima servitiâ⦠quae idem consiliarius noster tam Prââ¦charissimo Patri ãâã Jacobo Regi ãâã Memoriae per multos anââ¦s quam nobis ab ipsis Rââ¦gni nostri primis auspiciis fidelissimè prudentissimè praestitit impendit indiesque impendere non desistit nec non ãâã prudentiam strenuitatem dexteritatem integriââ¦tem industriam ãâã nos nostram coronam animo benigno regali intime recolentes constantiam fidelitatem ipsiâ⦠Thomae Coventry Militis c. In cujus rei c. T. R. apud Westm. decimo diâ⦠Aprilis Anno regni Regis Caroli 4. He died about the beginning of January 1639. before our Civill distempers began so that it is hard to say whether his Honourable Life or Seasonable Death was the greater favour which God bestow'd upon him I must not forget that it hath been observed that never Lord Keeper made fewer Orders which afterwards were Reversed then this Lord Coventry which some ascribe to his Discretion grounding most of his Orders on the Consent and Comprimise of the parties themselves interested therein whose hands so tyed up by their own Act were the more willing to be quiet for the future Writers on the Law Sir THOMAS LITLETON Knight Reader the Nimiety of my Cautiousness loath to prejudice the seeming right of any made me to bestow part of his Character on Staffordshire who since am convinced that he wholly and solely belongeth to this Shire as born at Frankley therein and I request the Reader to rectify some mistakes I formerly wrot by that which followeth He was a man remarkable in many respects First for his Extraction he was Son to Thomas Wescot Esquire and Elizabeth Litleton his wife who being a Double Inheritrix by her Father to the Litletons Mother to the Quatremains indented with Husband that her Heritable Issue should assume her Surname Say not her Husband might say Accepi dotem cognomen perdidi seeing it was done before his marriage by his free consent Besides we find even in Scripture it self Joab being constantly named the son of his Mother Zeruiah Secondly for his happiness that two great Kings had a great Sympathy to him who had an Antipathy each to other Henry the sixth whose Serjeant he was and rod Judge of the Northern circuit and Edward the fourth who made him a Judge and in his raign he rod the Northamptonshire Circuit Thirdly for his Exquisite skill in the Laws witness his Book of Tenures which though writ about two hundred years since yet at this day retaineth an Authentical reputation Insomuch that when in the raign of King James it came in question upon a Demuââ¦rer in Law whether the release to one Trespasser should be available or no to his Companion Sir Henry Hubbard and Judges Warberton Winch and Nicols his Companions gave Judgement according to the opinion of our Litleton and openly said that They would not have HIS CASE disputed or questioned Lastly for his happy posterity having left three families signally fixed and flourishing in this and the neighboring Counties of Stafford and Salop. And one saith very truely that these Quarter the Armes of many Matches after the best manner of quartering them other are scarce half-half-quartering them viz. they possess at this day good land on the same account Indeed the Lord Coke observeth that our Lawyers seldome dye either without Wills or Heirs For the first I believe it for our Common Lawyers will not have their Estates come under the Arbitrary dispose of a Civilian Judge of the Prerogative and therefore wisely prevent it For the second the Observation as qualified which Seldome may pass otherwise our Grand-fathers can remember Sir James Dier Lord Chief Justice and Periam Lord Chief Baron both dying without Issue His Book of Tenures hath since been Commented on by Sir Edward Coke his most Judicious Pen. Dic mihi num Textus vel Commentatio prestat Dicam ego tam Textus quam Commentatio prestat He died in the 21. year of King Edward the fourth and lyeth buried in the Cathedrall of Worcester having formerly constituted Doctor Alcock his faithfull friend and then Bishop of Worcestor Supervisor of his Will who saw it performed to all criticall particulars Souldiers RICHARD BEAUCHAMP Earl of Warwick was born at the Maââ¦or-house of Salwape in this County January the 28. 1381. King Richard the second and Richard Scroope then Bishop of Coventry afterwards Arch-bishop of York were his Godfathers A person so redoubted for Marshall Atchievements that the poeticall fictions of Hercules his labours found in him a reall
be without excuse if not expressing their bounty in some proportion God having provided them Paper enough The poor you have alwayes with you and set them signal examples as in our ensuing Work will plainly appear Fourthly To entertain the Reader with delight I confess the subject is but dull in it self to tell the time and place of mens birth and deaths their names with the names and number of their books and therefore this bare Sceleton of Time Place and Person must be fleshed with some pleasant passages To this intent I have purposely interlaced not as meat but as condiment many delightful stories that so the Reader if he do not arise which I hope and desire Religiosior or Doctior with more Piety or Learning at least he may depart Jucundior with more pleasure and lawful delight Lastly to procure moderate profit to my self in compensation of my pains It was a proper question which plain dealing Jacob pertinently propounded to Laban his Father in Law and now when shall I provide for mine house also Hitherto no Stationer hath lost by me hereafter it will be high time for me all things considered to Save for my self The matter following may be divided into Real and Personal though not according to the legal acception of the words By Real I understand the commodities and observables of every County by Personal the Characters of those worthy men who were Natives thereof We begin with a Catalogue of the particular heads whereof this book doth consist intending to shew how they are severally useful and then I hope if good as single instruments they will be the better as tuned in a Consort CHAP. II. The Real Topicks insisted on in the Respective Counties The Native Commodities NO County hath cause to complain with the Grecian Widdowes that they are neglected in the daily Ministration God hath not given all Commodities to one to elate it with pride and none to others to deject them with pensivenesse but there is some kind of equality betwixt the Profits of Counties to continue commerce ' and ballance trading in some proportion We have therefore in this work taken especial notice of the several coÌmodities which every Shire doth produce And indeed God himself enjoyneth us to observe the variety of the Earths productions in this kind For speaking of the land of Havilah where saith he there is Gold and the gold of that land is good there is Bdellium and the Onix-stone See here how the holy spirit points at those places where God hath scattered such treasure and the best thereof in all kinds that man if so disposed may know where to gather them up I confess England cannot boast of Gold and precious Stones with the land of Havilah yet affordeth it other things both above and beneath ground more needful for man's being Indeed some shires Joseph like have a better coloured coat then others and some with Benjamin have a more bountiful messe of meat belonging unto them Yet every County hath a Childs portion as if God in some sort observed Gavel-kind in the distribution of his favours O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness and declare the wondrous works which he doth for the Children of men Know Reader when a Commodity is general to all England then to avoid Repetition it is entered in that County where there was the first or else the most and best of that kind And we have so contrived it that generally Three Commodities are treated of in every County The Manufactures Some heathen have causlesly complained of nature as a step-mother to man-kind because other creatures come into the world clothed with Feathers furs or fleeces c. or armed with pawes clawes beaks tusks horns hoofs whilest man is exposed naked into the world I say a causles charge because providence having given men Hands and Reason to use them two blessings denyed to other creatures all Clothing and fencing is eminently and transcendently bestowed upon him It is very remarkable to see the Manufactures in England not knowing whether more to admire the Rarity or Variety thereof Undoubtedly the wealth of a Nation consisteth in driving a native commodity through the most hands to the highest artificial perfection whereof we have taken especial cognisance in the respective counties yet so as though breifly nameing not largely handling that Manufacture whereon we have formerly insisted It must not be forgotten that there be some things which cannot properly be termed Natural commodities because of their quality altered and disguised by mens industry and yet they attain not the reputation of Manufactures As salt being water boyled malt barley dryed Cider Apples pressed seeing therefore they have a mixt nature they are promiscuosly placed as suiteth best with my own conveniency Medicinal Waters The God of Nature hath not discovered himself so variously wonderful in any thing as in the waters of Fountains Rivers c. England hath as large a share herein as any Country and her springs wonderful on several accounts 1. Colour Black Red Yellow c. 2. Tast Sweet bitter salt acide corroding astringing c. 3. Odour stinking of Sulphur like the scouring of a gun very fowl 4. Sound beating somtimes like a March sometimes like a Retreat on several occasions 5. Heat Luke-warm and gradually hot even to scalding 6. Weight considerably heavier or lighter in proportion to other watters 7. Motion though many miles from the sea sympathizing therewith ebing and flowing accordingly 8. Effects some being surgeons to heale sores others Physitians to cure diseases The last is proper for our pen being the Largess of heaven to poor people who cannot go to the price of a costly cure Of these more have been discovered by casualty than industry to evidence that therein we are not so much beholden to mans paynes as Gods providence Many Springs formerly soveraign have since lost their vertue yet so that other springs have found it so that their sanative qualities may seem not taken away but removed And as there are many mean men of great ability yet depressed in obscurity so no doubt there are in our Land Aquae incognitae of concealed worth and vertue in effect no whit inferior to those which in fame are far above them However the gift which nature holdeth forth may be doubled in the goodnesse thereof if the hand of Art do but help to receive it and the patients be prepared with Physick in the using of such water otherwise fons vitae may be fons mortis if diet due time and quantity be not observed Some will say that our English waters must needs be raw because so far from the fire whilest those are better boyled which lying more south are neerer the sun But experience avow's the contrary that England affordeth most sanative waters for English bodies if men were as judicious in taking as Nature is bountiful in tendering them As for the Proprietaries of such or rather of
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 JUDââ¦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 Engââ¦and Polydore Virgil who though an Italian could when he would see well into English Antiquities makes the Office to begin at the Conquerour And B. Godwin accounteth them sufficiently ridiculous who make Swithin Bishop of Winchester Chancellor of England under K. Athelwolfe Severall persons are alledged Chancellours to our English Kings before the Conquest and King Ethelred appointed the Abbat of Elie ut in Regis Curia Cancellarii ageret dignitatem The Controverfie may easily be compremized by this distinction Chancellour before the Conquest imported an Office of credit in the Kings Court not of Judicature but of Residence much in the nature of a Secretary Thus lately he was called the Chancellour understand not of the Diocess but of the Cathedral-Church whose place was to pen the Letters belonging thereunto Whereas the notion of the Kings Chancellour since the Conquest is inlarged and advanced to signifie the supreme Judge of the Land The Lord Keeper of the Great Seal is in effect the same with the Lord Chancelour of England save that some will have the Lord Chancellours place ad Terminum Vitae and the Lord Keepers ad placitum Regis Sure it is that because Nicholas Heath late Arch-Bishop of York and Chancellour of England was still alive though outed of his Office Sir Nicholas Bacon was made Lord Keeper and in his time the power of the Keeper was made equal with the authority of
Amirall of England and kept it until the day of his Death Afterwards Men were chequered at the pleasure of our Princes and took their turns in that Office For this cause I can make no certain Catalogue of them who can take with my most fixed Eye no steddy aime at them the same persons being often alternately In and Out of the Place whilst Officers protermino vitae may be with some certainty recounted Yet have we sometimes inserted some Memorable Amiralls under the Tiââ¦le of Statesmen and Vice-Amiralls under the Topick of Seamen because the former had no great knowledge in Navigation I say great it being improper they should be seamasters who in no degree were seamen and were imployed rather for their Trust then skill to see others do their Duty whilst the latter were allwayes persons well experienced in Maritine affairs Lord-Deputies of IRELAND Ever since King Henry the second conquered Ireland few of our English Princes went thither in person and none continued any long time there save King John and King Richard the second neither of them over-fortunate But that Land was governed by a Substitute commissioned from our Kings with the same power though sometimes under several names Lord Lieutenants Lord Deputies Lord Cheif Justiceâ⦠These were also of a double nature for Some staid in England and appointed Deputies under them to act all Irish Affairs Others went over into Ireland transacting all things by presence not proxie Immediately deputed by the King to reside there We insist on this title as which is most constant and current amongst them Not of the Kings Bench or Common-Pleas but of all Ireland This power was sometime sole in a single person and sometimes ãâã in two together Thus these three Titles are in sense Synonima to signifie the same power and place Some erroniously term them Presidents of Ireland a Title belonging to the particular Governours of Mounster and Connagh It is true of Ireland what was once said of * Edom their Deputies were Kings No Vice-roy in Christendome Naples it self not excepted is observed in more state He chooseth Sheriffes and generally all Officers save Bishops and Judges and these also though not made by his commanding are usually by his commending to the King He conferreth Knighthood hath power of life and death signified by the Sword carried commonly before him by a person of Honour His attendance and House-keeping is magnificent partly to set a Copy of State to the barbarous Irish by seeing the difference betwixt the rude rabble routs runing after their native Lords and the solemnity of a regulated retinue partly to make in that Rebellious Nation a reverential impression of Majesty that by the Shadow they may admire the Substance and proportionably collect the State of the King himself who therein is represented Our English Kings were content with the Title of Lords of Ireland until King Henry the Eighth who partly to shew his own power to assume what style he pleased without leave or liberty from the Pope whose Supremity he had suppressed in his Dominions partly the more to awe the Irish wrote himself King thereof Anno Dom. 1541. from which Year we date our Catalogue of Lord Deputies as then and not before Vice-Royes indeed Indeed it was no more then needs for King Henry the Eighth to assume that Title seeing quod efficit tale magis est tale and the Commission whereby King Henry the Second made William-Fitz-Adelme his Lieutenant of Ireland hath this direction Archiepiscopis Episcopis Regibus Comitibus Baronibus et omnibus fidelibus suis in Hibernia salutem Now though by the post-poning of these Kings to Arch-bishops and Bishops it plainly appears that they were no Canonical Kings as I may say I mean solemnly invested with the Emblems of sovereignty the King of Connagh the King of Thomond yet were they more then Kings even Tyrants in the exercise of their Dominions so that King Henry was in some sort necessitated to set himself King Paramount above them all CHAPTER VII Of Capital Judges and Writers on the Common Law BY CAPITAL JUDGES we understand not those who have power to condemn Offenders for Capital Faults as all the Twelve Judges have or any Serjeant commissioned to ride the Circuit but the Chief Judges who as Capital LETTERS stand in Power and Place above the rest viz. 1. the Chief Justice of the Kings Bench. 2. of the Common Pleas 3. the Chief Baron of the Exchequer and the Learned Antiquary Sr. Henry Spelman avoweth the Title of Capital Justicers properly applicable to these alone The Chief Justice of the Kings or Upper Bench is commonly called the Lord Chief Justice of England a Title which the Lord Chancellor accounting himself Chief in that kind looks on as an injurious usurpation And many alive may remember how Sr. Edward Cook was accused to K. James for so styling himself in the Frontespiece of his Reports Part the Tenth and Eleventh insomuch that the Judg was fain to plead for himself Erravimus cum Patribus as who could have produced plenty of Precedents therein 2. The chief Justice of the Common Pleas in Place beneath is in Profit above the former So that some have out of Designe quitted That to accept of This Amongst these was Sr. Edward Mountague in the Raign of K. Henry the eighth who being demanded of his Friends the Reason of his Self-degradation I am now saith he an Old Man and love the Kitching above the Hall the Warmest place best suiting my Age. The Chief Baron is chiefly imployed in the Exchequer to decide causes which relate to the Kings Revenue Their Brevia or Writts did commonly run with this Clause That the Judg should have and hold his PLACE quam diu se benè geserit so long as he well behaved himself on this Token That Sr. John Walter Lord chief Baron of the Exchequer being to be outed of his Place for adjudging the Loan-mony illegal pleaded for himself That he was guilty of no Misdemeanour who had only delivered his Judgment according to his Conscience Others are granted from the King durante nostro beneplacito to continue in their Office during his will and pleasure We begin the Army of our Judges for some Few like the Forlorne Hope advance higher about the time of King Edward the first It is impossible exactly to observe that Inn of Court wherein each of them had his Education especially some of them being so Ancient that in their times Lincolnes Inn and Greys Inn were Lincoln's Inn and Grey's Inn I mean belonged to those their Owners from whom they had their Names as being before they were appropriated to the Students of our Municipall Lawes Here I will condemn my self to prevent the condemning of others and confesse our Characters of these Judges to be very brief and defective Indeed were the Subject we treat of overstrewed with Ashes like the floor of Bells Temple it were easie to finde out and follow the
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 supersââ¦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
of them Naturall Commodities Oakes It was given in instruction to the Spies sent to search the Land of Canaan that amongst other enquiries they should take particular notice Whether there be Wood therein or not An important question the rather because at that time the Israelites were in Arabia the Desert where they saw not a tree in many moneths travaile in so much that it is Recorded for a wonder that in Elim were seventy Palm trees and now knew the worth of wood by wanting it But Bark-shire affordeth abundance of trees of all kinds though her Oakes in Windsor-Forest for the present come onely under our commendation First for their firmness whereof our Ships are made The Oake in other Kingdoms may be called cowardly as riving and splitting round about the passage of the bullet fearing as it were the force thereof whilst our English as heart of Oake indeed though entred with bullet remaineth firm round about it Secondly for the conveniencie of Portage The wealth of a covetous man wanting an heart to make use thereof may not unfitly be compared to the Oakes and Firre-trees good and plentifull indeed in the High-lands in Scotland but growing on such unaccessible mountains no Strength or Art can render them usefull nature in this kind having given them full coffers but no key to unlock them Whereas so indulgent is Divine Providence to England that our four principal Forests lie either on the Sea or Navigable Rivers viz. New-Forest on the Sea Shirewood on the Trent Dean on the Severne and this Windsor-Forest on the Thames and I could wish more care were taken for preserving the Timber therein Bark The very name of this Shire justly intitles us here to handle this Commodity though common to other Counties because Bark-shire as some will have it was so called from a stripped or Bark-bared-Oake to which signal place the people repaired in time of trouble to make their generall defence It is essential for making good Leather though lately one hath propounded a way to tanne it solid and saleable without the help thereof on condition and good reason too he may be allowed reasonable profit for so rare an invention But many think that he that waits for dead mens shooes and he that stays for Leather-shooes made without bark may both of them go a long time bare-foot Trouts This is a pleasant and wholesom Fish as whose feeding is pure and cleanly in the swiftest streams and on the hardest gravell Good and great of this kind are found in the River of Kennet nigh Hungerford though not so big as that which Gesner affirmes taken in the Leman-lake being three cubits in length They are in their perfection in the moneth of May and yearly decline with the Buck. Being come to his full growth he decays in goodness not greatness and thrives in his head till his death Note by the way that an hog-back and little head is a sign that any fish is in season Other commodities of This return in other Counties where they may be mentioned with more conveniencie The Manufactures Clothing It is plyed therein and because we meet with the best of our Manufactures in the first of our Shires a word of the Antiquity thereof 1. Cloth sure is of the same date with Civility in this Land Indeed the ancient Brittains are reported to go naked clothed onely with colours painted custom making them insensible of cold with the beggar who being demanded how he could go naked returned all my body is face But no sooner had the Romans reduced this Island but cloth though course such as would hide and heat was here generally made and used 2. Fine Cloth though narrow for persons of worth at home to wear and for forreign Exportation began in England about the beginning of the Reign of King Edward the Third Before which time our Statutes take no Cognizance of Clothing as inconsiderable Wooll being transported in specie and needing no Rules to regulate it save what prudence dictated to private Husbands with their own families 3. Broad Cloth wherein the wealth of our Nation is folded up made with broad loomes two men attending each of them began here in the Reign of King Henry the eighth And I have been informed that Jack of Newberry was the first that introduced it into this County Well may the Poets feign Minerva the Goddess of Wit and the Foundress of Weaving so great is the ingenuity thereof The Buildings Windsor Castle was a Royal seat ever since the Conquest but brought to the modern Beauty chiefly at the cost of King Edward the Third It is a Castle for Strength a Palace for State and hath in it a Colledge for Learning a Chappel for Devotion and an Almes-house of decayed Gentlemen for Charity In this Palace most remarkeable the Hall for greatness Winchester-Tower for height and the Terrace on the North-side for pleasure where a dull eye may travaile twenty miles in a moment Nor boasteth so much that it consisteth of two great Courts as that it conteined two Great Kings John of France and David of Scotland Prisoners therein together as also that it was the seat of the Honourable Order of the Garter Many neat Houses and pleasant seats there be in this County both on the Kennet and Thames which seem dutifully to attend at distance on Windsor Castle as Aldermaston Inglefield c. most sweet in their situations Proverbs I meet with but one in this County but either so narrow that they stretch not beyond the bounds thereof or else so broad that all other Counties equally share in the cause and usage of them Wherefore seeing this is the first English Shire in the Alphabetical Order to avoid a Vacuity we will here insert such Proverbs wherein England or English-men are by express mention concerned But first we will dispatch that sole Proverb of this County viz. The Vicar of Bray will be Vicar of Bray still Bray a Village well known in this County so called from the BIBROCES a kind of ancient Britons Inhabiting thereabouts The Vivacious Vicar hereof living under King Henry the 8. King Edward the 6. Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth was first a Papist then a Protestant then a Papist then a Protestant again He had seen some Martyrs burnt two miles off at Windsor and found this fire too hot for his tender temper This Vicar being taxed by one for being a Turn-coat and an unconstant Changeling Not so said he for I alwaies kept my Principle which is this to live and die the Vicar of Bray Such many now adayes who though they cannot turn the wind will turn their Mils and set them so that wheresoever it bloweth their Grist shall certainly be grinded Proceed we now to the Proverbs General of England When our Lady falls in our Lords lap Then let England beware a sad clap Then let England beware a mishap aliàs Then let the Clergy-man look to his cap. I behold this proverbial
prophecy or this prophetical menace to be not above six score yeares old and of Popish extraction since the Reformation It whispereth more then it dare speak out and points at more then it dares whisper and fain would intimate to credulous persons as if the blessed Virgin offended with the English for abolishing her Adoration watcheth an opportunity of Revenge on this Nation And when her day being the five and twentieth of March and first of the Gregorian year chanceth to fall on the day of Christs Resurrection then being as it were fortified by her Sons assistance some signal judgment is intended to our State and Church-men especially Such Coincidence hath hap'ned just fifteen times since the Conquest as Elias Ashmole Esquire my worthy friend and Learned Mathematician hath exactly computed it and we will examine by our Chronicles whether on such yeares any signal fatalities befell England A. D. Anno Reg. D. L. G. N. Signal Disasters 1095 W. Rufus 8. G 13 K. Rufus made a fruitless invasion of Wales 1106 H. first 6. G 5 K. Hen. subdueth Normandy and D. Robert his Brother 1117 H. first 17. G 16 He forbiddeth the Popes Legate to enter England 1190 R. first 2. G 13 K. Richard conquereth Cyprus in his way to Palestine 1201 K. John 2. G 5 The French invade Normandy 1212 K. John 13. G 16 K. John resigneth his Kingdom to the Pope 1285 Ed. first 13. G 13 Nothing remarkable but Peace and Plenty 1296 Ed. first 24. AG 5 War begun with Scotland which ended in Victory 1380 R. second 4. AG 13 The Scots do much harm to us at Peryth Fair. 1459 H. sixth 38. G 16 Lancastrians worsted by the Yorkists in fight 1543 H. eighth 34. G 5 K. Henry entred Scotland and burnt Edenburgh Hitherto this Proverb hath had but intermitting truth at the most seeing no constancy in sad casualties But the sting will some say is in the taile thereof and I behold this Proverb born in this following year 1554 Q. Mary 2. G 16 Q. Mary setteth up Popery and Martyreth Protestants 1627 Charles 3. G 13 The unprosperous Voyage to the Isle of Rees 1638 Charles 14. G 5 The first cloud of trouble in Scotland 1649 Â G 16 The first complete year of the English Common-wealth or Tyranny rather which since blessed be God is returned to a Monarchy The concurrence of these two dayes doth not return till the year 1722. and let the next generation look to the effects thereof I have done my part in shewing remitting to the Reader the censuring of these occurrences Sure I am so sinfull a Nation deserves that every year should be fatal unto it But it matters not though our Lady falls in our Lords lap whilst our Lord sits at his Fathers right hand if to him we make our addresses by serious repentance When HEMPE is Spun England is Done Though this Proverb hath a different Stamp yet I look on it as Coined by the same Mint Master with the former and even of the same Age. It is faced with a Literal but would be Lined with a Mysticall sense When Hemp is Spun that is when all that necessary Commodity is imployed that there is no more left for Sailes and Cordage England whose strength consists in Shipping would be reduced to a Doleful Condition But know under HEMPE are Couched the Initial Letters of Henry the 8. Edward the 6. Mary Philip and Elizabeth as if with the Life of the last the Happiness of England should expire which time hath confuted Yet to keep this Proverb in Countenance it may pretend to some Truth because then England with the Addition of Scotland lost its name in Great Brittain by Royal Proclamation When the Black Fleet of NORVVAY is come and gone ENGLAND Build Houses of Lime and Stone For after Wars you shall have none There is a Larger Edition hereof though this be large enough for us and more then we can well understand Some make it fulfilled in the eighty eight when the Spanish-Fleet was beaten the Sur-name of whose King as a Learned Author doth observe was NORVVAY Others conceive it called the Black Fleet of Norway because it was never black not dismall to others but wofull to its own Apprehension till beaten by the English and forced into those Coasts according to the English Historian They betook themselves to Flight leaving Scotland on the West and bending towards Norway ill advised But that necessity urged and God had Infatuated their Councells to put their shaken and battered bottoms into those Black and Dangerous Seas I observe this the rather because I believe Mr. Speed in this his Writing was so far from having a Reflexion on that I Question whether ever I had heard of this Prophecy It is true that afterwards England built houses of Lime and Stone and our most handsome and Artificiall Buildings though formerly far greater and stronger bear their date from the defeating of the Spanish Fleet. As for the Remainder After Wars you shall have none We find it false as to our Civil Wars by our woful Experience And whether it be true or false as to Forreign Invasions hereafter we care not at all as beholding this prediction either made by the wild fancy of one foolish man and then why should this many wise men attend thereunto or else by him who alwaies either speaks what is false or what is true with an intent to deceive So that we will not be ellated with good or dejected with bad success of his fore-telling England is the ringing Island Thus it is commonly call'd by Foreigners as having greater moe and more tuneable Bells than any one County in Christendom Italy it self not excepted though Nola be there and Bells so called thence because first founded therein Yea it seems our Land is much affected with the love of them and loth to have them carryed hence into forreign parts whereof take this eminent instance When Arthur Bulkley the covetous Bishop of Bangor in the Reign of King Henry the eighth had sacrilegiously sold the five fair Bels of his Cathedral to be transported beyond the Seas and went down himself to see them shipp'd they suddenly sunk down with the Vessell in the Haven and the Bishop fell instantly blind and so continued to the day of his death Nought else have I to observe of our English Bells save that in the memory of man they were never known so long free from the sad sound of Funerals of general infection God make us sensible of and thankfull for the same When the sand feeds the clay England cryes Well a-day But when the clay feeds the sand it is merry with England As Nottingham-shire is divided into two parts the sand and the clay all England falls under the same Dicotomie yet so as the sand hardly amounteth to the Fifth part thereof Now a wet year which drowneth and chilleth the clay makes the sandy ground most fruitfull with corn and
a Coulâ⦠under which betwixt shame and sanctity he blushed out the remainder of his life 16 DAVID ARCHIDIACONUS c. It may justly seem strange that an Arch-deacon should be Shââ¦riff of a Shire and one would have sought for a person of his Profession rather in a Pulpit then in a Shire-Hall Some will answer that in that Age Men in Orders ingrossed not onely Places of Judicature but also such as had Military and Martial Relations whereof this Sheriff did in some sort partake But under correction I conceive that though Bishops who had also Temporall Baronies were sometimes Sheriffs yet no inferiour Clergy-men being in Orders were ever advanced to that Office neither in Anoient nor in Modern Times Sure I am that in the reign of King Charles one being pricked Sheriff of Rutland escaped pleading that he was a Deacon Yet we meet with many whose surnames sound of Church-relation both in the Catalogue of Ancient and Modern Sheriffs 1. Abbot of London 2. Arch-deacon of Cornwall 3. Bishop of Sussex 4. Chaplain of Norfolke Clerk of Northamptonshire Dean of Essex Frier of Oxfordshire Moigne of Dorsetshire M on of Devonshire Parson of Buckinghamshire Pope of Oxfordshire Prior of London It addeth to the difficulty that whereas persons of their profession were formerly enjoyned single lives we find in this list some of their sons in the next generation Sheriffs also But take one answer to all as these were Lay men so probably their Ancestors were Ecclesiasticks and did officiate according to their respective Orders and Dignities These afterwards having their patrimony devolved unto them by the death of their elder brethren were dispenced with by the Pope to marry yet so that they were always afterwards called by their former profession which was fixed as a surname on their posterity Thus we read how in France Hugh de Lusignian being an Arch-bishop and the last of his family when by the death of his Brethren the Signieuries of Partnay Soubize c. fell unto him he obtained licence to marry on condition that his posterity should bear the name of Archevesque and a Miter over their Arms for ever As for the Surname of Pope in England it is such a transcendent I cannot reach it with mine own and must leave it to more judicious conjectures King John 13. ROB. de BRAYBROOK HEN. filius ejus 14. HEN. BRAYBROOK ROB. pater ejus Here is a loving reciprocation First a son Under-sheriff to his father that was his duty Secondly the father Under-sheriff to his son that was his courtesie Indeed I can name one Under sheriff to his own father being a Gentleman of right worthy extraction and estate which son afterwards in my memory became Lord Chief Justice and Treasurer of England Henry III. 52 EDVARD filius REGIS primo-genitus It soundeth not a little to the honour of these two shires that Prince Edward afterwards the most renowned King of England first of his Christian name since the Conquest was their Sheriff for five years together Yea the Imperial-Crown found him in that office when it fell unto him though then absent in Palestine We may presume that Bartholomew de Fowen his Under-sheriff was very sufficient to manage all matters under him Sheriffs of Bedford and Buckingham-shire Name Place Armes RICH. II.   Anno   1 Ioh. de Aylesbury Aylesbury Azure a Cross Argent 2 Tho. Peynere   3 Egidius Daubeny SOMER Gules four Lozenges in Fess Argent 4 Tho. Sackwell SUSSEX Quarterly Or and Gules a Bend Vayre 5 Ioh. de Aylesbury ut prius  6 Idem ut prius  7 Ioh. Widevill Northam Arg. a Fess Canton Gu. 8 Rob. Dikeswell   9 Tho. Covell  Az. a Lion Ramp Arg. a File of 3 Lambeaux Gu. 10 Ioh. de Aylesbury ut prius  11 Rad. Fitz. Rich.   12 Tho. Peynere   13 Tho. Sackvill ut prius  14 Edm. Hampden Hampden Buc. Arg. a Saltire G. betw 4 Eaglets displayed Az. 15 Will. Teringham Teringhá B. Az. a Cross ingrailed Arg. 16 Tho. Peynere   17 Phil. Walwane   18 Ioh. Longvile WolvertoÌ Gules a Fess Indented betwixt 6 Cross Croslets Arg. 19 Edm. Hampden ut prius  20 Regin Ragon   21 Ioh. Worship   22 Idem   HEN. IV.   Anno   1 Tho. Eston   2 Edw. Hampden ut prius  2 Ro. Beauchamp Eaton Bed G. a Fess betw 6 martlets Or. 3 Reg. Ragon   4 Iohan. Boys KENT Or a Griffin Sergreant S. within 2 Borders G. 5 Idem   6 Edw. Hampden ut prius  7 Tho. Peynere   8 Rich. Hay  Sable three Pickaxes Arg. 9 Bald. Pigott Stratton Bed  10 Tho. Strickland YORK sh. G. a Chev. Or between 3 Crosses formee Arg. on a Canton ermin a Bucks-head erased sable 11 Rich. Wyott   12 Bald. Pigott ut prius  HEN. V.   Aââ¦no   1 Tho. Strickland ut priââ¦s  2 Edw. Hampden ut prius  3 Tho. Wauton   4 Rich. Wyott   5 Ioh. Gifford   6 Will. Massy   7 Walt. Fitz. Rich.   8 Iohan. Radwell   9 Ioh. Radwellet   10 Will. Massy   11 Idem   HEN. VI.   Anno   1 Iohan. Wauton   2 Ioh. Chen y mil. Cheneys B. Checky Or Az. a Fess G. Fretty Erm. 3 Rich. Wyott   4 Ioh. Cheney ut prius  5 Will. Massy ar   6 Hum. Stafford ar  Or a Chev. G. a Quarter Erm. 7 Tho. Wauton mi.   8 Tho. Hoo  Quarterly Sable and Arg. 9 Ioh. Cheney ut prius  10 Egid. Daubeny m. ut prius  11 Tho. Wauton mil.   12 Ioh. Glove   13 Ioh. Hampden ar ut prius  14 Ioh. Broughton   15 Rob. Manfeld   16 Hum. Stafford mi. ut prius  17 Ioh. Hampden ut prius  18 Walt. Strickland ut prius  19 Ioh. Brekenoll   20 Edw. Campden ut prius  21 Edw. Rede   22 Tho. Singleton   23 Ioh. Wenlock  Arg. a Chev. betw 3 Black-moreheads conped Proper 24 Tho. Rokes   25 Tho. Gifford   26 Gor. Longvile ut prius  27 Idem ut prius  28 Will. Gedney   29 Ioh. Hampden ut prius  30 Ro. Whittingham   31 Rob. Olney   32 Edw. Rede ar   32 Ioh. Poulter HARTF Arg. a Bend voided Sable 33 Tho. Singleton   34 Tho. Charlton m.   35 Ioh. Hampden ut prius  36 Ioh. Maningham   37 Ioh. Heyton ar   38 Ioh. Broughton  Arg. a Chev. betwixt 3 Mullets Gules EDWARD IV   Anno   1 Edw. Rede ar   2 Tho. Reynes   3
therein but 12. years of age He was blessed with an happy memory insomuch that when D. D. he could say by heart the second Book of the Aeneads which he learnt at School without missing a Verse He was an excellent Preacher and becoming a Pulpit with his gravity He attended King James his Chaplaine into Scotland and after his return was preferred Dean of Westminster then Bishop of Salisbury Hear what the Author of a Pamphlet who inscribeth himself A. W. saith in a Book which is rather a Satyre then a History a Libell then a Character of the Court of King James for after he had slanderously inveighed against the bribery of those days in Church and State hear how he seeks to make amends for all King James's Court pag. 129 130. Some worthy men were preferred gratis to blow up their Buckingham and his party Fames as Tolson a worthy man paid nothing in fine or Pension and so after him Davenant in the same Bishoprick Yet these were but as Musick before every hound Now although both these persons here praised were my God-fathers and Uncles the one marrying the sister of the other being Brother to my Mother and although such good words seem a Rarity from so railing a mouth yet shall not these considerations tempt me to accept his praises on such invidious terms as the Author doth proffer them O! Were these worthy Bishops now alive how highly would they disdain to be praised by such a pen by which King James their Lord and Master is causelesly traduced How would they condemn such uncharitable commendations which are if not founded on accompanied with the disgrace of others of their order Wherefore I their Nephew in behalf of their Memories protest against this passage so far forth as it casteth Lustre on them by Eclipsing the credit of other Prelates their contemporaries And grant corruption too common in that kind yet were there besides them at that time many worthy Bishops raised to their dignity by their Deserts without any Simonicall complyances Doctor Townson had a hospitall heart a generous disposition free from covetousness and was always confident in Gods Providence that if he should dye his children and those were many would be provided for wherein he was not mistaken He lived in his Bishoprick but a year and being appointed at very short warning to preach before the Parliament by unseasonable ââ¦tting up to study contracted a Fever whereof he died and was buried in Westminster Abbey Anno Dom. 1622. THOMAS son to William WESTFIELD D. D. was born Anno Dom. 1573. in the Parish of Saint Maries in Ely and there bred at the Free-school under Master Spight till he was sent to Jesus-colledge in Cambridge being first Scholar then Fellow thereof He was Curate or Assistant rather to Bishop Felton whilst Minister of Saint Mary le Bow in Cheapside afterward Rector of Hornsey nigh and Great Saint Bartholomews in London where in his preaching he went thorow the four Evangelists He was afterwards made Arch-Deacon of Saint Albans and at last Bishop of Bristol a place proffered to and refused by him twenty five years before For then the Bishoprick was offered to him to maintain him which this contented meek man having a self-subsistence did then decline though accepting of it afterwards when proffered to him to maintain the Bishoprick and support the Episcopall dignity by his signall devotion What good opinion the Parliament though not over-fond of Bishops conceived of him appears by their Order ensuing The thirteenth of May 1643. From the Committee of Lords and Commons for Sequestration of Delinquents Estates Upon information in the behalf of the Bishop of Bristoll that his Tenants refuse to pay him his Rents it is Ordered by this Committee that all profits of his Bishoprick be restored to him and a safe conduct be granted him to pass with his family to Bristoll being himself of great age and a person of great learning and merit Jo. Wylde About the midst of his life he had a terrible sickness so that he thought to use his own expression in his Diary that God would put out the candle of his life though he was pleased onely to snuff it By his will the true Copy whereof I have he desired to be buried in his Cathedral Church neer the tombe of Paul Bush the first Bishop thereof And as for my worldly goods Reader they are his own words in his Will which as the times now are I know not well where they be nor what they are I give and bequeath them all to my dear wife Elizabeth c. He protested himself on his death-bed a true Protestant of the Church of England and dying Junii 28. 1644. lyeth buried according to his own desire above mentioned with this inscription Hic jacet Thomas Westfield S. T. D. Episcoporum intimus peccatorum primus Obiit 25. Junii anno MDCXLIV Senio moerore confectus Tu Lector quisquis es vale resipisce Epitaphium ipse sibi dictavit vivus Monumentum uxor moestissima Elizabetha Westfield Marito desideratissimo posuit superstes Thus leaving such as survived him to see more sorrow and feel more misery he was seasonably taken away from the evil to come And according to the Anagram made on him by his Daughter Thomas Westfield I dwel the most safe Enjoying all happiness and possessing the reward of his pains who converted many and confirmed more by his constancy in his Calling States-men JOHN TIPTOFT son and heir of John Lord Tiptoft and Joyce his wife daughter and Co-heir of Edward Charlton Lord Powis by his wife Eleanor sister and Co-heir of Edmund Holland Earl of Kent was born at Everton in this but in the confines of Bedford shire He was bred in Baliol-colledge in Oxford where he attained to great learning and by King Henry the sixth was afterwards created first Vice-count then Earl of Worcester and Lord Hââ¦gh Constable of England and by K. Edward the fourth Knight of the Garter The skies began now to lowre and threaten Civil Wars and the House of York fell sick of a Relapse Mean time this Earl could not be discourteous to Henry the sixth who had so much advanced him nor disloyall to Edward the fourth in whom the right of the Crown lay Consulting his own safety he resolved on this Expedient for a time to quit his own and visit the Holy-land In his passage thither or thence he came to Rome where he made a Latin speech before the Pope Piâ⦠the second and converted the Italians into a better opinion then they had formerly of the English-mens learning insomuch that his holiness wept at the elegancy of the Oration He returned from Christs sepulcher to his own grave in England coming home in a most unhappy juncture of time if sooner or later he had found King Edward on that Throne to which now Henry the sixth was restored and whose restitution was onely remarkable for the death of this worthy
Lord. Thus those who when the house of the State is on fire politickly hope to save their own chamber are sometimes burned therein Treason was charged upon him for secret siding with King Edward who before and afterward de facto and always de jure was the lawfull King of England on this account he lost his life Then did the axe at one blow cut off more learning in England then was left in the heads of all the surviving nobility His death happened on Saint Lukes-day 1470. Edward Lord Tiptoft his son was restored by Edward the fourth Earl of Worcester But dying without Issue his large Inheritance fell to his three Aunts sisters to the learned Lord aforesaid viz. First Philip married to Thomas Lord Ross of Ham-lake Second Joââ¦ne wife of Sir Edmund Ingoldsthorp of Borough-green in this County Third Joyce married unto Sir Edward Sutton son and heir of John Lord Dudley from whom came Edward Sutton Lord Dudley and Knight of the Garter JOHN CHEEKE Knight Tutor to King Edward the sixth and Secretary of State was born over against the Market-cross in Cambridge What Crosses afterwards befel him in his course of life and chiefly before his Pious death are largely related in our Church-History Souldiers The courage of the men in this County before the Conquest plainly appeareth by this authentick passage in a memorable author who reporteth that when the rest of the East Angles cowardly fled away in the field from the Danish army Homines comitatus Cantabrigiae viriliter obstiterunt The men of the County of Cambridge did manfully resist Our author addeth Unde Anglis regnantibus laus Cantabrigiensis Provinciae splendidè florebat Whence it was that whilst the English did rule the praise of the people of Cambridge shire did most eminently flourish Nor lost they their reputation for their manhood at the coming in of the Normans who partly by the valour of their persons partly by the advantage of their fens made so stout resistance that the Conqueror who did fly into England was glad to creep into Ely Yea I have been credibly informed that Cambridge-shire men commonly passed for a current proverb though now like old coine almost grown out of request Indeed the Common People have most Robustious Bodies insomuch that Quartersacks were here first used men commonly carrying on their backs for some short space eight bushels of Barly whereas four are found a sufficient load for those in other Counties Let none say that Active valour is ill inferred from Passive strength for I do not doubt but if just occasion were given they would find as good Hands and Arms as they do Backs and Shoulders Writers MATTHEW PARIS is acknowledged an English-man by all save such who mistake Parisius for Parisiensis and may probably be presumed born in this as bred in the next County where the name and family of Paris is right ancient even long before they were settled therein at Hildersham which accrued unto them by their marriage with the daughter and Heir of the Buslers Sure I am were he now alive the Parises would account themselves credited with his and he would not be ashamed of their affinity He was bred a Monke of Saint Albans skilled not only in Poetry Oratory and Divinity but also in such manual as lye in the suburbs of liberal Sciences Painting graving c. But his Genius chiefly disposed him for the writing of Histories wherein he wrote a large Chronicle from the Conquest unto the year of our Lord 1250. where he concludes with this distich Siste tui metas studii Matthaee quietas Nec ventura petas quae postera proferat aetas Matthew here cease thy pen in peace and study on no more Nor do thou rome at things to come what next age hath in store However he afterwards resuming that work continued it untill the year 1259. This I observe not to condemn him but excuse my self from inconstancy it being it seems a catching disease with Authors to obey the importunity of Others contrary to their own resolution His history is unpartially and judiciously written save where he ââ¦geth too much to Monkish Miracles and Visions and no writer so plainly discovereth the pride avarice and rapine of the Court of Rome so that he seldome kisseth the ââ¦opes toâ⦠without biting it Nor have the Papists any way to wave his true jeeres but by suggesting haec non ab ipso scripta sed ab aliis falsò illi ascripta insinuating a suspicion of forgery in his last edition understand them in what ââ¦ome 80. years ââ¦ince was set forth by Mathew Parker whereas it was done with all integrity according to the best and most ancient Manuscripts wherein all those Anti-papal passages plainly appear as since in a latter and exacter Edition by the care and industry of Doctor William Wats This Mathew left off living and writing at the same time viz. anno 1259. I will only adde that though he had sharp nailes he had clean hands striââ¦t in his own as well as striking at the loose conversations of others and for his eminent austerity was imployed by Pope Innocent the fourth not only to visit the Monkes in the Diocess of Norwich but also was sent by him into Norway to reform the discipline in Holui a fair Convent therein but much corrupted HELIAS RUBEUS was born at Triplow in this County bred D. D. in Cambridge Leland acquainteth us that he was a great Courtier and gracious with the King not informing us what King it was nor what time he lived in onely we learn from him that this Rubeus conceive his English Name Rouse or Red seeing many who were Nobilitatis Portenta so that as in a Tympany their very greatness was their Disease boasted if not causelesly immoderately of their high Extraction wrote a Book contra Nobilitatem inanem He is conjectured to have flourished about the year 1266. JOHN EVERSDEN was born at one of the Eversdens in this County bred a Monk in Bury-Abbey and the Cellerer thereof An Officer higher in sense then sound being by his place to provide diet ââ¦or the whole Convent assigning particular persons their portions thereof But our Eversdens mind mounted above such mean matters busied himself in Poetry Law History whereof he wrote a fair volume from the beginning of the world according to the humour of the Historians of that age starting all thence though they run to several marks Being a Monk he was not over fond of Fryers And observeth that when the Franciscans first entred Bury Anno 1336. there happened a hideous Hericano levelling trees and towers and whatsoever it met with The best was though they came in with a Tempest they went out with a Calme at the time of the dissolution This John flourished under King Edward the third and dyed about the year 1338. RICHARD WETHERSET commonly called of Cambridge saith Bale because he was Chancellour thereof But there
Bastenthwayt Mi. for 7 years Anno 13 Nul Titulus Comitis in hoc Rotulo Anno 14 Anno 15 Anno 16 Anno 17 Hen. de Malton Rob. le Brum Anno 18 Hen de Malton EDW. III. Anno 1 Pet. Tilloll Rob. Brun Anno 2 Anno 3 Pet Tilloll Anno 4 Rad. de Dacre Ranulphus for 6 years Anno 10 Ric. de Denton Anno 11 Anth. de Lucy Roul Vaux Anno 12 Idem Anno 13 Anth. de Lucy Anno 14 Idem Anno 15 Hug. de Moriceby Anth. de Lucy Anno 16 Idem Anno 17 Hug. de Moriceby Anno 18 Idem Anno 19 Tho. de Lucy Hug. de Moriceby Anno 20 Idem Anno 21 Tho. de Lucy Anno 22 Idem Anno 23 Idem Anno 24 Rich. de Denton Anno 25 Idem Anno 26 Hug. de Louthre Anno 27 Idem Anno 28 Idem Anno 29 Nul Titulus Comitis in Rotulo Anno 30 Will. de Thirkeld Anno 31 Rob. Tillioll Anno 32 Idem Anno 33 Will. de Lancaster Anno 34 Chri. de Moriceby Anno 35 Rob. de Tillioll Anno 36 Idem Anno 37 Chri. de Moriceby Anno 38 Idem Anno 39 Idem Anno 40 Idem Anno 41 Will. de Windesor Anno 42 Idem Anno 43 Adam Puinges Anno 44 Idem Anno 45 Idem Anno 46 Ioh. de Denton Anno 47 Rob. de Moubray Anno 48 Ioh. de Derwentwater Anno 49 Ioh. de Denton Anno 50 Ioh. de Derwentwater Anno 51 Ioh. Bruyn King Henry II. 21 ROBERTUS de VAUS Alias de Vaux or de Vallibus a right ancient name still extant in this County There is a Cross in the Church-yard of Beu-castle about twenty foot in height all of one square stone carved with the Armes of Vaux whence Master Cambden concludeth it though otherwise the inscription thereon not legible of their erection I behold this Robert as Father to John de Vallibus of whom Mathew Paris saith that he was one of those that muneribus excaecati à fidelitate quam Baronibus in commune juraverant recesserunt Blinded with bribes they went back from the some will say such breach no breach of fidelity which they had jointly sworn to the Barons Indeed the same Author reckoneth him amongst those whom he termeth Clarissimos milites on whose loyalty and valour King Henry the third relied The Lord Vaux of Harrowden in Northamptonshire doth hence fetch his Extraction King Henry III. 8 WALT. EPIS CARLIOL ROB. filius WILL. de HAMPTON This Walter Bishop of Carlile was he who commonly was called Male-Clerk English it as you please Bad-scholar or Clergy-man It seems to me a strange Transposition that Henry the first King of England should be termed Beau-Clerk a Good-scholar and our Walter a Bad One who was a Bishop in Orders However though Male-Clerk had he been Bon-Homme a Good-Man the matter had been much mended But I find little praise of his manners Indeed he was Lord Trea surer of England and found false both in Word and Deed avowing his Accounts even when he was justly charged with an hundred pound a summe in that age in the purse of a poor King debt to the Exchequer This cost him much molestation so that at last he resigned his Bishoprick which by my Author is beheld as no kindly act of mortification but that he came unjustly by his place and was afraid to lose though ashamed to keep it any longer He afterwards became a Friar at Oxford as if lacking learning in his Youth he would recover it in his Old Age where he dyed October 28. 1248. Edward II. 2 ANDREAS de HARCLA Had his latter end answered his beginning he might deservedly have been ranked amongst the Worthies of Westmerland where he was born at Harcla whereas now it shall suffice to make this oblique mention of him in this place He behaved himself right handsomely in the service of King Edward the second many years together especially at the battle of Borough-brigge where he killed Humphrey Bohun Earl of Hereford and took Thomas Plantagenet Earl of Lancaster with many others of the Nobility prisoners and delivered them to the King In reward whereof he was Created in the 19. ââ¦ear of that King Earl of Carlile and had the Isle of Man bestow'd upon him Next year I know not upon what discontentment he fell into private confederacy with the Kings foes the Scots for which he was taken and condemned Now lest the Nobility of others should by secret sympathy suffer in his disgracefull death the Earl was first parted from the Man and his honour severed from his person by a solemn degradation having his knightly spurs hewed off from his heels which done he was hang'd drawn and quartered Sheriffs Name Place Armes RICH. II.   Anno   1 Io. Derwentwater  Ar. 2 barrs G. â⦠a Canton of the second a Cinqsoile of the first 2 Wil de Stapleton*   3 Gilb. de Culwen â ãâã Argent a Lion rampant Sable 4 Io. de DeweÌrwater ut prius â Arg. Frettee G. a Cheif Azure 5 Ama. Mounceaux   6 Rober. Parning   7 Ama. Mounceaux   8 Ioh. Therlwall   9 Ama. Mounceaux   10 Ioh. Therlwall   11 Pet. Tillioll   12 Ioh. Ireby  Aââ¦gent Frettee a Canton Sable 13 Rich. Redman  G. 3 Cussions Erm. buttoned and Tasselled Or. 14 Chri. Moriceby   15 Ioh. de Ireby ut prius  16 Tho. de Musgrave  Azure six Annulets Or. 17 Rich. Redman ut prius  18 Pet. Tiliot   19 Ioo de Ireby ut prius  20 Ricq Redman ut prius  21 Wil. Culwen ut prius  22 Rich. Redman ut prius  HEN. IV.   Anno   1 Will. Leigh   2 Will. Louther  Or. six Annuletes Sable 3 Rich. Redman Wil. Osmunderlaw ut prius Arg a Fess between 3 Martlets Sable 4 Pet. Tillioll   5 Idem   6 Rââ¦ch Skelton  ãâã Fess ãâã 3 Flower de ãâã Or. 7 Will. Louther ut prius  8   9   10 Ioh. Delamore   11 Rob. Rodington   12 Rich. Redman m. ut prius  HEN. V.   Anno   1 Ia. Harington m.  Sable Frettee Argent 2 Will. Stapelton ut prius  3 Chri Culwen m. ut prius  4 Ioh. Lancaster  Arg. 2 Bars G. on a Canton of the same a Lion passant Or. 5 Wil. Osmunder law ut prius  6 Rob. Louther mi. ut prius  7 Ioh. Lamplough  Or 2 Cross floury Sable 8 Will. Stapilton ut prius  9 Will. Stapleton ut prius  Rich. Ratcliffe Darwentwater Arg. a Bend engrailed Sable HEN. VI.   Anno   1 Will. Leigh mil.   2 Chri. Gulwen m. ut prius  3 Chri. Moresby m.  Arg. a Cross S. in the
by the waters thereof Princes I find no Prince since the Conquest who saw his first light in this County probably because our English Kings never made any long residence therein Saints St. ALKMUND son to Alred King of Northumberland slain in a Battel on the behalf of Ethelmund Vice-Roy of Worcester pretending to recover Lands against Duke Wolstan who detained them was therefore reputed Saint and Martyr It would pose a good Scholar to clear his Title to the later who lost his life in a quarrel of civil concernment On which account in all Battels betwixt Christians such as are slain on one side may lay claim to Martyr-ship However it befriendeth his Memory that his body translated to Derby was believed to do miracles being there with great veneration interred in a Church called Saint Alkmunds on the right hand as Passengers from the South go over the Bridge whither the Northern people made many Pilgrimages till discomposed by the Reformation What relation Alkmundsbury a Town in Hantingdonshire hath unto Him is to me unknown Martyrs JOAN WAST was a blind Woman in the Town of Derbey and on that account the object of any mans Alms rather than the Subject of his cruelty Besides she was seemingly a silly Soul and indeed an Innocent though no Fool. And what saith our Saviour For judgement am I come into this world that they which see not might see and that they which see might be made blind This poor Woman had a clear apprehension of Gods Truth for the testimony whereof she was condemned and burnt at the Stake by the command of Bishop Baines who as he began with the Extreams Mistress Joyce Lewis one of the best and this Joan Wast one of the basest birth in his Diocess So no doubt had not Queen Mary died he would have made his cruelty meet in persons of a middle condition Cardinals ROGER CURSON was born saith my Author ex nobili quodam Anglorum genere of Worshipful English extraction Now I find none of his sirname out of this County except some branches lately thence derived but in the same two right ancient Families one formerly at Croxton whose heir general in our age was married to the Earl of Dorset the other still flourisheth at in this County which moves me to make this Roger a Native thereof Bred he was first a Scholar in Oxford then a Doctor in Paris and lastly a Cardinal in Rome by the Title of Saint Stephen in Mount Celius When the City of Damiata in Egypt was taken under John Brenn King of Jerusalem our Cardinal Curson was there accompanying Pelagius the Popes Cardinal He wrote many Books and came over into England as the Popes Legate in the raign of King Henry the third The certain time of his death is unknown PHILIP de REPINGDON took no doubt his name and birth from Repingdon commonly contracted and called Repton in this County and I question whether any other in England of the same name He was bred and commenced first Batchelor then Doctor of Divinity in Oxford where he became a great Champion and Assertor of the Doctrine of John VVickliff which caused him much trouble and many strict examinations But alas he became like the seed on stony ground which not having root in it self endured but for a while and withered away in persecution for he solemnly recanted his opinions Novemb. 24. Anno 1383. And to give the better assurance that he was a true Anti-VVickliffite from a Professor he became a persââ¦cutor and afterwards was termed Rampington by those poor people whom he so much molested Then preferment flowed in thick and threefold upon him from a Canon he became Abbot of Leicester and Anno 1400. he was made Chancellor of Oxford 1405. Bishop of Lincoln 1408. by Pope Gregory the twelfth he was created Cardinal of Saint Nerius and Achilleius though that Pope had solemnly sworn he would make no more Cardinals till the Schisme in Rome were ended The best is the Pope being Master of the Oath-Office may give himself a Pardon for his own perjury What moved this Repington willingly to resign his Bishoprick 1420. is to me unknown Prelates WILLIAM GRAY was son to the Lord Gray of Codnor in this County He suffered not his Parts to be depressed by his Nobility but to make his mind the more proportionable he endeavoured to render himself as able as he was honourable He studied first in Baliol Colledge in Oxford then at Ferrara in Italy where he for a long time heard the Lectures of Guarinus of Verona that accomplished Scholar No man was better acquainted with the method of the Court of Rome which made our King appoint him his Procurator therein It is hard to say whether Pope Nicholas the fifth or our King Henry the sixth contributed most to his free Election to the Bishoprick of Eely whilest it ãâã out of doubt his own deserts concurred most effectually thereunto He sate in that See twenty four years and wrote many Books which the envy of time hath denied to posterity Bishop Godwin by mistake maketh him Chancellor of England whereas indeed he was Lord Treasurer in the ninth of King Edward the fourth Anno 1469. Let me adde he was the last Clergy-man that ever discharged that Office until Bishop Juxton in our days was preferred thereunto He died Aug. 4. 1478. and lies buried between two Marble Pillars in his Church having bestowed much cost in the reparation of the famous Bellfrie thereof Since the Reformation GEORGE COOKE D. D. Brother to Sir John Cooke Secretary of State was born at Trusley in this County bred in Pembroke Hall in Cambridge Afterwards he was beneficed at Bigrave in Hertford-shire where a lean Village consisting of but three Houses maketh a fat Living Hence he was successively made Bishop of Bristol and Hereford A meek grave and quiet man much beloved of such who were subjected to his jurisdiction He was in the same condemnation with the rest of his Brethren for subscribing the PROTEST in Parliament in preservation of their Priviledges The times trod so heavily upon him that though he ever was a thrifty person they not onely bruised the Foot but brake the Body of his Estate so that he had felt want if not relieved by his rich relations dying about the year 1650. States-Men Sir JOHN COOKE younger Brother to Sir Francis Cooke was born at Trusley in the Hundred of Appletree in this County of ancient and Worshipful Parentage allied to the best Family in this County He was bred Fellow of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge and being chosen Rhetorick Lecturer in the University grew eminent for his Ingenious and Critical Readings in that School on that Subject He then travailed beyond the Seas for some years returning thence rich in foraign Language Observations and Experience Being first related to Sir Fulk Grivell Lord Brook he was thence preferred to be Secretary of the Navy then Master of the
happened hath been shewn to some eminent Lawyers riding that Circuit which are yet alive However no violent impression is intimated in this his peaceable Epitaph on his Monument in Amerie Church Hic jacet Will. Hankford Miles quondam Capitalis Justiciarius Domini R. de Banco qui obiit duodecimo Die Decembris Anno Domini 1422. cujus c. His Figure is portraied kneeling and out of his mouth in a Label these two sentences do proceed 1 Miserere mei Deus secundum magnam misericordiam tuam 2 Beati qui custodiant judicium faciunt justitiam omni tempore No charitable Reader for one unadvised act will condemn his Memory who when living was habited with all requisites for a person of his place Sir JOHN FORTESCUE was born of a right Ancient and Worthy Family in this County first fixed at Wimpstone in this Shire but since prosperously planted in every part thereof They give for their Motto Forte Scutum Salus Ducum and it is observable that they attained eminency in what Profession soever they applyed themselves In the Field In Westminster Hall In the Court. Sir HEN FORTESCUE a valiant and fortunate Commander under King Henry the Fifth in the French Wars by whom he was made Governour of Meux in Berry Sir HEN. FORTESCUE was Lord Chief Justice of Ireland and justly of great esteem for his many vertues especially for his sincerity in so tempting a place Sir JOHN FORTESCUE that wise Privy Councellor Overseer of Queen Elizabeth her Liberal Studies And Chancellor of the Exchequer and Dutchy of Lancaster Sir ADRIAN FORTESCUE Porter of the Town of Calice came over with King Henry the Seventh and effectually assisting him to regain the Crown was by him deservedly created Knight Banneret Sir JOHN FORTESCUE our present Subject Lord Chief Justice and Chancellour of England in the Raign of King Henry the Sixth whose learned Commentaries on the Law make him famous to all posterity  Sir LEWIS POLLARD of Kings Nimet in this County Sergeant of the Law and one of the Justices of the Kings Bench in the time of King Henry the Eighth was a man of singular knowledg and worth who by his Lady Elizabeth had Eleven Sons whereof four attained the honour of Knighthood Sir Hugh Sir John of Ford. Sir Richard Sir George who got his honour in the defence of Bullen All the rest especially John Arch Deacon of Sarum and Canon of Exeter were very well advanced Eleven Daughters married to the most potent Families in this County and most of them Knights So that what is said of Cork in Ireland that all the Inhabitants therein are Kinne by this Match almost all the Ancient Gentry in this County are allied The Portraiture of Sir Lewis and his Lady with their two and twenty Children are set up in a Glasse Window at Nimet-Bishop There is a Tradition continued in this Family that the Lady glassing the Window in her husbands absence at the term in London caused one child more then she then had to be set up presuming having had one and twenty already and usually conceiving at her husbands coming home she should have another child which inserted in expectance came to passe accordingly This memorable Knight died Anno 1540. Sir JOHN DODERIDG Knight was born at ...... in this County bred in Exeter Colledg in Oxford where he became so general a Scholar that it is hard to say whether he was better Artist Divine Civil or Common Lawyer though he fixed on the last for his publick Profession and became second Justice of the Kings Bench. His soul consisted of two Essentials Ability and Integrity holding the Scale of Justice with so steady an hand that neither love nor lucre fear or flattery could bow him on either side It was vehemently suspected that in his time some gave large sums of money to purchase places of Judicature And Sir John is famous for the expression That as old and infirm as he was he would go to Tyburn on foot to see such a man hang'd that should proffer money for a place of that nature For certainly those who buy such Offices by whole sale must sell Justice by retail to make themselves savers He was commonly called the Sleeping Judg because he would sit on the Bench with his eyes shut which was onely a posture of attention to sequester his sight from distracting objects the better to lissen to what was alledged and proved Though he had three Wives successively out of the respectful Families of Germin Bamfield and Culme yet he left no issue behind him He kept a Hospital House at Mount-Radford neer Exeter and dying Anno Domini 1628. the thirteenth day of September after he had been seventeen years a Judg in the seventy third year of his age was interred under a stately Tomb in our Ladys Chappel in Exeter To take my leave of the Devonian Lawyers they in this County seem innated with a Genius to study Law none in England Northfolk alone excepted affording so many Cornwal indeed hath a Famine but Devon-shire makes a Feast of such who by the practice thereof have raised great Estates Three Sergeants were all made at one Callâ⦠Sergeant Glanvil the Elder Dew and Harris of whom it was commonly said though I can nor care not to appropriate it respectively One Gained as much as the other two Spent Gave One Town in this Shire Tavistock by name furnisheth the Bar at this present with a Constellation of Pleaders wherein the biggest Stars Sergeant Glanvil who shineth the brighter for being so long eclipsed and Sergeant Maynard the Bench seeming sick with long longing for his sitting thereon As it is the Honour of this County to breed such able Lawyers so is it its happinesse that they have most of their Clients from other Shires and the many Suits tried of this County proceed not so much from the Litigiousnesse as Populousnesse of her Inhabitants Souldiers Sir RICHARD GREENVIL Knight lived and was richly landed at Bediford in this County He was one of the Twelve Peers which accompanied Robert Fitz-Haimon in his expedition against the Welsh when he overthrew Rhese ap Theodore Prince of South-Wales and Justine Lord of Glamorgan and divided the conquered Countrey betwixt those his Assistants This Sir Richard in my apprehension appears somewhat like the Patriarch Abraham For he would have none make him rich but God alone though in his partage good land was at Neath Nidum a City in Antoninus in Glamorgan-shire allotted unto him Indeed Abraham gave the tenth to God in Melchisedeck and restored the rest to the King of Sodom the former proprietary thereof This Knight according to the Devotion of those darker dayes gave all to God erecting and endowing a Monastery dedicated to the Virgin Mary at Neath for Cistertians bestowing all his military Acquests on them for their maintenance so that this Convent was valued at 150 li. per. annum at the dissolution Thus having finished and setled this foundation he
after so many years distance and a colder suit being to encounter a Corporation of Learned Lawyers so long in the peaceable possession thereof Bishop Nevil was afterwards canonically chosen by the Monks and confirmed hy King Henry the third Arch-bishop of Canterbury being so far from rejoycing thereat that he never gave any ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or reward for their good news to the two Monks which brought him tidings nor would allow any thing toward the discharging their costly journey to Rome foreseeing perchance that the Pope would stop his Consecration For some informed his Holiness that this Ralph was a Prelate of High Birth haughty Stomach great Courtship gracious with the King and a person probable to disswade him from paying the Pension promised by his Father K. Iohn to the Court of Rome then no wonder if his Consecration was stopped theron But was it not both an honor happiness to our Nevil thus to be crost with the hands of his Holiness himself yea it seems that no Crosier save only that of Chichester would fit his hand being afterwards elected Bish. of Winchester then obstructed by the K. who formerly so highly favor'd him He built a Chappell without the east gate of Chichester dedicated to S. Michael and having merited much of his own Cathedral died at London 1244. ALEX. NEVIL third Son of Ralph Lord Nevil was born at Raby became first Canon then Arch-Bishop of York where he beautified and fortified the Castle of Cawood with many Turrets He was highly in Honour with King Richard the second as much in hatred with the party opposing him These designed to imprison him putting Prelates to death not yet in fashion in the Castle of Rochester had not our Alexander prevented them by his flight to Pope Urban to Rome who partly out of pity that he might have something for his support and more out of policy that York might be in his own disposal upon the removal of this Arch-Bishop translated him to Saint Andrews in Scotland and so dismissed him with his Benediction Wonder not that this Nevil was loth to go out of the Popes blessing into a cold Sun who could not accept this his new Arch Bishoprick in point of credit profit or safety 1. Credit For this his translation was a Post-Ferment seeing the Arch-Bishoprick of Saint Andrews was subjected in that age unto York 2. Profit The Revenues being far worse than those of York 3. Safety Scotland then bearing an Antipathy to all English and especially to the Nevils redoubted for their victorious valour in those northern parts and being in open hostility against them Indeed half a loaf is better than no bread but this his new translation was rather a stone than half a loaf not filling his Belly yet breaking his Teeth if feeding thereon This made him preferre the Pastorall Charge of a Parish Church in Lovaine before his Arch-noBishoprick where he died in the fifth year of his Exile and was buried there in the Convent of the Carmelites ROB. NEVIL sixth Son of Ralph first Earl of Westmerland by Joane his second VVife Daughter of Iohn of Gaunt bred in the University of Oxford and Provost of Beverly was preferred Bishop of Sarisbury in the sixth of King Henry the sixth 1427. During his continuance therein he was principal Founder of a Convent at Sunning in Berkshire anciently the Bishops See of that Diocess valued at the dissolution saith Bishop Godwin at 682 l. 14 s. 7 d. ob which I rather observe because the estimation thereof is omitted in my and I suspect all other Speeds Catalogue of Religious Houses From Sarisbury he was translated to Durham where he built a place called the Exchequer at the Castle gate and gave in allusion of his two Bishopricks which he successively enjoyed two Annulets innected in his Paternal Coat He died Anno Dom. 1457. GEO. NEVIL fourth Son of Rich. Nevil Earl of Salisbury was born at Midleham in this Bishoprick bred in Baliol Colledge in Oxford consecrated Bishop of Exeter when he was not as yet twenty years of age so that in the race not of age but youth he clearly beat Tho. Arundel who at twenty two was made Bishop of Ely Some say this was contrary not only to the Canon Law but Canonical Scripture S. Paul forbidding such a Neophyte or Novice admission into that Office as if because Rich. the make-King Earl of Warwick was in a manner above Law this his Brother also must be above Canons His Friends do plead that Nobility and Ability supplyed age in him seeing five years after at 25. he was made Lord Chancellor of England and discharged it to his great commendation He was afterwards made Arch-bishop of York famous for the prodigious Feast at his Installing wherein besides Flesh Fish and Fowle so many strange Dishes of Gellies And yet amongst all this service I meet not with these two But the inverted Proverb found truth in him One GluttonMeal makes many hungry ones for some years after falling into the displeasure of King Edward the fourth he was flenderly dyetted not to say famished in the Castle of Calis and being at last restored by the Intercession of his Friends died heart-broken at Blyth and was buried in the Cathedral of York 1476. Besides these there was another Nevil Brother to Alexander aforesaid chosen Bishop of Ely but death or some other intervening accident hindered his Consecration Since the Reformation ROBERT HORN was born in this Bishoprick bred in Saint Johns Colledge in Cambridge Going thence under the raign of King Edward the sixth he was advanced Dean of Durham In the Marian days he fled into Germany and fixing at Frankford became the head of the Episcopal party as in my Ecclesiastical History at large doth appear Returning into England he was made Bishop of VVinchester Feb. 16. 1560. A worthy man but constantly ground betwixt two opposite parties Papists and Sectaries Both of these in their Pamphlets sported with his name as hard in Nature and crooked in Conditions not being pleased to take notice how Horn in Scripture importeth Power Preferment and Safety both twitted his person as dwarfish and deformed to which I can say nothing none alive remembring him save that such taunts though commonly called ad Hominem are indeed ad Deum and though shot at Man does glance at Him who made us and not we our selves Besides it shews their malice runs low for might though high for spight who carp at the Case when they cannot find fault with the Jewel For my part I mind not the Mould wherein but the Metal whereof he was made and lissen to Mr. Cambden his Character of him Valido foecundo ingenio of a sprightful and fruitful wit He died in Southwark June 1. 1589. and lyeth buried in his own Cathedral near to the Pulpit And now Reader I crave leave to present thee with the Character of one who I confess falls not under my Pen
their own Country Well it were if this good old custome were resumed for if where God hath given Talents men would give but Pounds I mean encourage hopefull Abilities with helpfull Maintenance able persons would never be wanting and poor men with great parts would not be excluded the Line of preferment This Sir Thomas was afterwards Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth and a grand benefactor to both Universities as I have formerly declared at large He died Anno Domini 1577. THOMAS HOWARD wherever born is justly reputed of this County wherein he had his first honour and last habitation He was second son to Thomas last Duke of Norfolk but eldest by his wife Margaret sole heir to Thomas Lord Audley Queen Elizabeth made him Baron of Audley and Knight of the Garter and King James who beheld his father a State-Martyr for the Queen of ââ¦ots in the first of his raign advanced him Lord Chamberlain and Earl of Suffolk and in the twelfth of his raign July 12. Lord Treasurer of England He was also Chancellour of Cambridge loving and beloved of the University When at his first coming to Cambridge Master Francis Nethersole Orator of the University made a Latine Speech unto him this Lord returned though I understand not Latine I know the Sence of your Oration is to tell me that I am wellcome to you which I believe verily thank you for it heartily and will serve you faithfully in any thing within my power Doctor Hasnet the Vice-chancellour laying hold on the Handle of so fair a Proffer requested him to be pleased to Entertain the King at Cambridge a Favour which the University could never compass from their former great and wealthy Chancellours I will do it saith the Lord in the best manner I may with the speediest conveniency Nor was he worse then his word giving his Majesty not long after so Magnificent a Treatment in the University as cost him five thousands pounds and upwards Hence it was that after his death Thomas his second son Earl of Bark-shire not suing for it not knowing of it was chosen to succeed him losing the place as some suspected not for lack of voices but fair counting them He died at Audley end Anno Domini 1626. being Grand-father to the right Honourable James Earl of Suffolk RICHARD WESTON I behold him son to Sir Jerome Weston Sheriff of this County in the one and fourtieth of Queen Elizabeth and cannot meet with any of his relations to rectifie me if erronious In his youth he impaired his estate to improve himself with publique accomplishment but came off both a saver and a gainer at the last when made Chancellor of the Exchequer and afterwards upon the remove of the Earl of Marlburrough July 15. in the fourth of King Charles Lord Treasurer of England But I hear the Cocks crow proclaiming the dawning day being now come within the ken of many alive and when mens memories do arise it is time for History to haste to bed Let me onely be a Datary to tell the Reader that this Lord was Created Earl of Portland February 17. in the eight of King Charles and died Anno Domini 163. being father to the right Honorable Jerome now Earl of Portland Capitall Judges Sir JOHN BRAMSTONE Knight was born at Maldon in this County bred up in the Middle-Temple in the study of the Common-law wherein he attained to such eminency that he was by King Charles made Lord Chief Justice of the Kings-Bench One of deep learning solid judgement integrity of life gravity of behaviour in a word accomplished with all qualities requisite for a Person of his place and profession One instance of his integrity I must not forget effectually relating to the Foundation wherein I was bred Serjeant Bruerton of whom formerly bequeathed by Will to Sidney-colledge well nigh three thousand pounds but for haste or some other accident so imperfectly done that as Doctor Samuel Ward informed me the gife was invalid in the Rigour of the Law Now Judge Bramstone who married the Serjeants Widdow gave himself much trouble gave himself indeed doing all things gratis for the speedy payment of the money to a Farthing and the legal setling thereof on the Colledge according to the true intention of the dead He deserved to live in better times the delivering his judgement on the Kings side in the case of Ship ââ¦oney cost him much trouble The posting Press would not be perswaded to stay till I had received farther instructions from the most Hopefull sons of this worthy Judge who died about the year 1646. Souldiers ROBERT FITZ-WALTER It is observable what I read in my Author that in the raign of King John there were three most eminent Knights in the land ãâã for their prowess viz. Robert Fitz-Roger Richard Mont-Fââ¦chet and this Robert Fitz-Walter Two of which three a fair proportion fall to be natives of this County This Robert was born at Woodham-walters and behaved himself right ãâã on all occasions highly beloved by King Richard the first and King John untill the later banished him the land because he would not prostitute his daughter to his pleasure But worth will not long want a Master the French-King joyfully entertained him till King John recalled him back again on this occasion five-years truce being concluded betwixt the two Crowns of England and France an English-man challenged any of the French to just a course or two on horse-back with him whom Fitz-Walter then oâ⦠the French party undertook and at the first course with his great spear fell'd horse and man to the ground Thus then and ever since English-men generally can be worsted by none but English-men Hereupon the King next day sent for him restored his lands with license for him to repair his Castles and particularly Bainards-castle in London which he did accordingly He was styled of the common-people The Marshall of Gods Army and Holy-Church He died Anno Domini 1234. and lieth buried in the Priory of Little-Dunmow Sir JOHN HAWKEWOOD Knight Son to Gilbert Hawkewood Tanner was born in Sible heningham This John was first bound an apprentice to a Taylor in the City of London but soon turned his needle into a sword and thimble into a shield being pressed in the service of King Edward the third for his French Wars who rewarded his valour with Knighthood Now that mean men bred in manuall and mechanick trades may arrive at great skill in Martiall performances this Hawkewood though an eminent is not the onely instance of our English nation The heat of the French Wars being much remitted he went into Italy and served the City of Florence which as yet was a Free State Such Republiques preferred forrainers rather then natives for their Generalls because when the service was ended it was but disbursing their pay and then disbanding their power by cashering their Commission such Forraigners having no advantage to continue their
command and render themselves absolute because wanting an interest in alliances and relations Thus a single Stake if occasion serves is sooner plucked up then a tree fastned to the earth with the many fibrae appendant to the root thereof Great the gratitude of the State of Florence to this their Generall Hawkewood who in testimony of his surpassing valour and singular faithfull service to their State adorned him with the Statue of a man of armes and sumptuous Monument wherein his ashes remain honoured at this present day Well it is that Monument doth remain seeing his Coenotaph or honorary tombe which sometimes stood in the Parish Church of Sible-heningham arched over and in allusion to his name berebussed with Hawkes flying into a Wood is now quite flown away and abolished This Sir John Hawkewood married Domnia daughter of Barnaby the warlike brother of Galeasius Lord of Millain father to John the first Duke of Mallain by whom he had a son named John born in Italy made Knight and naturalized in the seventh year of King Henry the fourth as appeareth by the Record Johannes filius Johannis Haukewood Miles natus in partibus Italiae factus indigena Ann. 8. Hen. 4. mater ejus nata in partibus transmarinis This valiant Knight dyed very aged Anno 1394. in the eighteenth of King Richard the second his friends founding two Chantreys to pray for his and the souls of John Oliver and Thomas Newenton Esquires his military companions and which probably may be presumed born in the same County THOMAS RATCLIFF Lord Fitz-walter second Earl of Sussex of that Surname twice Lord Deputy of Ireland was a most valiant Gentleman By his prudence he caused that Actuall Rebellion brake not out in Ireland and no wonder if in his time it Rained not war there seeing his diligence dispersed the clouds before they could gather together Thus he who cures a disease may be the skilfubest but he that prevents it is the safest Physician Queen Elizââ¦beth called him home to be her Lord Chamberlain and a constant Court faction was maintained betwixt him and Robert Earl of Leicester so that the ãâã and the Leicesterians divided the Court whilst the ãâã as neuters did look upon them Sussex had a great Estate left him by his Ancestors Leicester as great given or restor'd ãâã by the Queen ãâã was the honesâ⦠man and greater Souldier ãâã the more faceit ãâã and deep Politician not for the generall good but his particular profit Great the ãâã betwixt them and what in vain the Queen endeavoured death performed taking this Earl away and so the competition was ãâã New-Hall in this County was the place if not as I believe of his Birth of his principall Habitation He dyed .... ... And lyeth buried in the Church of Saint Olives Hartstreet London Sir FRANCIS and Sir HORACE VERE sons of Geffrey Vere Esquire who was son of John Vere the ãâã Earl of Oxford were both born in this County though severall places Heââ¦ngham Castle Colchester Tilbury juxta clare be by sundry men assigned for their Nativity We will first consider them severally and then compare them together Sir FRANCIS was of a fiery spirit and rigid nature undaunted in all dangers not over valuing the price of mens lives to purchase a victory therewith He served on the Scaene of all Christendome where war was acted One masterpiece of his valour was at the Battle of Newport when his Ragged Regiment so were the English then called from their ragged Cloths help'd to make all whole or else all had been lost Another was when for three years he defended Ostend against a strong and numerous Army surrendering it at last a bare skeliton to the King of Spain who paid more years purchase for it then probably the world will endure He dyed in the beginning of the raign of King James about the year of our Lord 16 ... Sir HORACE had more meekness and as much valour as his Brother so pious that he first made his peace with God before he went out to war with man One of an excellent temper it being true of him what is said of the Caspian Sea that it doth never ãâã nor Flow observing a constant Tenor neither ãâã nor depressed with success Had one seen him rââ¦turning from a victory he would by his silence have suspected that he had lost the day and had he beheld him in a retreat he would have collected him a Conqueror by the chearfulness of his spirit He was the first Baron of King Charles his Creation Some years after coming to Court he fell suddenly sick and speechless so that he dyed before night Anno Domini 163. No doubt he was well prepared for death seeing such his vigilancy that never any Enemy surprised him in his quarters Now to compare them together such their Eminency that they would hardly be parallell'd by any but themselves Sir Francis was the elder Brother Sir Horace lived to be the older man Sir Francis was more feared Sir Horace more loved by the Souldiery The former in Martiall discipline was oftimes Rigidus ad ruinaâ⦠The later seldome exceeded Adterrorem Sir Francis left none Sir Horace no Male issue whose four Co-heirs are since matched into Honorable families Both lived in War much Honored dyed in Peace much Lamented HENRY VERE was son of Edward Vere the seventeenth Earl of Oxford and Anne Trentham his Lady whose principall habitation the rest of his patrimony being then wasted was at Heningham Castle in this County A vigorous Gentleman full of courage and resolution and the last Lord Chamberlain of England of this Family His sturdy nature would not bow to Court-Compliants who would maintain what he spake spake what he thought think what he apprehended true and just though sometimes dangerous and distastefull Once he came into Court with a great Milk-white Feather about his hat which then was somewhat unusuall save that a person of his merit might make a fashion The Reader may guess the Lord who said unto him in some jeer My ãâã you weare a very fair feather it is true said the Earl and if you mark it there 's ââ¦e'r a Tââ¦int in it Indeed his family was ever Loyall to the Crown deserving their Motto VERO NIL VERIUS Going over one of the four Engish Colonells into the Low Countries and endeavouring to raise the Siedge of Bxeda he so over-heat himself with Marching Fighting and Vexing the design not succeeding that he dyed few days after Anno Domini 16 ... He married Diana one of the Co-heirs of William Earl of Exeter afterwards married to Edward Eaââ¦l of Elgin by whom he left no issue Physicians WILLIAM GILââ¦T was born in Trinity Parish in Colchester his Father being a Counsellour of great Esteem in his Profession who first removed his family thither from Clare in Suffolk where they had resided in a Gentile Equipage some Centuries of Years He had saith my informer the Clearness of Venice Glass
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 ââ¦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 juââ¦ly taxeth those who were ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã slow in heart to believe such things as were revealed in the Scripture yet neither God nor Man wââ¦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 uââ¦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
was made Lord Chancellour of England dischargeing his place with Prudence and Equity for the terme of five years Foreseeing he should be outed of his Office being of the Anti-faction to Duke Dudley to prevent stripping he politickly put off his Robes of State resigning his Office Which done no danger of catching cold his own Under-suit was so well lined having gotten a fair Estate about Lees Abbey in Essex whereof he was created Baron He died in the beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth being direct Ancestour unto the right Honourable Charles Rich now Earl of VVarwick WILLIAM POWLET where ever born had his largest Estate and highest Honour Baron of Basing and Marquess of VVinchester in this County He was descended from a younger house of the Powlets of Hinton Saint George in Sommersetshire as by the Crescent in his Arms is acknowledged One telleth us that he being a younger brother and having wasted all that was left him came to Court on trust where upon the bare stock of his wit he traffick'd so wisely and prospered so well that he got spent and left more than any Subject since the Conquest Indeed he lived at the time of the dissolution of Abbeys which was the harvest of Estates and it argued idleness if any Courtier had his Barnes empty He was servant to K. Henry the seaventh and for Thirty years together Treasurer to K. Henry the eighth Edward the sixth Qu. Mary and Qu. Elizabeth The ãâã in some ãâã owed their Crowns to his Counsel his policy being the principal ãâã of Duke Dudleys Designe to disinherit them I behold this Lord ãâã like to aged Adoram so often mentioned in Scripture being over the Tribute in the dayes of K. David all the Reign of K. Solomon untill the first Year of ãâã And though our Lord Powlet enjoyed his place not so many years yet did he serve more Soveraigns in more mutable times being as he said of himself no ãâã but an ãâã Herein the Parallel holds not The honry hairs of Adââ¦m were sent to the Grave by a violent death slain by the people in a ãâã This Lord had the rare happiness of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã setting in his full splendour having lived 97 years and seen 103 out of his body he dyed anno Domini 1572. Sr. THOMAS LAKES was born in the Parish of St. Michael in the Town of South-Hampton and there bred in Grammer-Learning under Doctor Seravia By several under Offices he was at last deservedly preferred Secretary of Estate to K. James Incredible his dexterity in dispatch who at the same time would indite write discourse more exactly than most men could severally performe them Men resembled him to one of the hips-Royal of Qu. Elizabeth called the Swift-sure such his celerity and solidity in all Affairs No lesse his secresie in concealing and what was credited to his Counsel was alwayes found in the same posture it was left in Add to all these he was a good man and a good mans Brother Dr. Arthur Lakes Bishop of Bath-and Wells King James who allwayes loved what was facile and fluent was highly pleased with his Latine Pen who by practice had made Tullie's phrase his own He was one of the three noble hands who at the Court first led Mr. George Villers into the favour of King James At last he fell for the faults of others into the Kings displeasure being punished for the Offences of one of his nearest Relations and of all them fin'd in the star-chamber he was the only person generally pittied for his suffering yet even then K. James gave him this publick Eulogie in open Court That he was a Minister of State fit to serve the greatest Prince in Europe He was outed his Secretaries place which needed him more than he it having atchieved a fair fortune which he transmitted to posterity How long he lived afterwards in a private life is to me unknown Souldiers BEAVOIS an English man was Earle of South-Hampton in the time of the Conquerer and being unable to comport with his Oppression banded against him with the Fragments of the English men the strength of Hastings the Dane and all the assistance the VVelch could afford In whose Country a Battel was fought near Carcliffe against the Normans anno Domini 1070. wherein Three Nations were conquered by One Beavois being worsted Success depends not on Valour fled to Carlile a long step from Carcliffe And afterwards no mention what became of him This is that Beavois whom the Monks cryed up to be such a man that since it hath been questioned Whether ever such a man I mean whether ever his person was in rerum natura So injurious those are who in the Reports of any mans performances exceed the bounds of probability All I will add is this that the Sword preserved and shewed to be this Beavoises in Arundel Castle is lesser perchance worn with age than that of King Edward the third kept in Westminster-Church Seamen Sr. JOHN WALLOP born in this County of a most ancient and respected Family was directed by his Genius to Sea-service at what time our Coasts were much infested with French-Piracies For there was a Knight of Malta passing in our Chronicles by the name of Prior John more proper by his Profession to be employed against the Turks lately so victorious in Hungary who liv'd by pickeering and undoing many English Merchants But our Sr. John made the French pay more than treble Dammages who with Eight Hundredh Men landed in Normandy burnt One and Twenty Towns with divers Ships in the Havens of Traport Staples c. and safely returned with wealth and Victory Methinks the ancient Armes of the Wallhops appear propheticall herein viz. argent a Bend-unde Sable interpreted by my Authour a wave or sourge of the Sea raised by some turbulent flaw of wind and tempest prognosticating the activity of that Family in Marine Performances ROBERT TOMSON Merchant was born at Andover in this County bred much at Bristol in Sea-Imployments Hence anno 1553. he sailed into Spain and thence two Years after shipped himself for Nova Hispania to make a discovery thereof on the same token that in his passage thither in a Spanish Ship a light like a canââ¦le being nothing else but a Meteor frequent by Sea and Land sell on their main Mast which the Spaniards on their knees worshiped for St. Elmo the Advocate of Saylers He afterwards wrote the Description of New Spain with the City of Mexico giving a good and the first account thereof of any Englishman During his abode many Months in Mexico at dinner he let fall some Discourse against Saint-worship for which he was imprisoned in the holy-House and enjoyned solemn Penance by the Arch-Bishop of Mexico This Tomson being the first reputed Heretick which was ever seen in America on a penitential Scaffold Hence he was sent into Spain and after three Years durance in the Inquisition discharged
and Gaping Chincks the Heraulds of its downfall deeming with my self that I discovered as Physicians in our Bodies do cadaverosam faciem ruinosam therein But it rejoyced me when coming there this last year to find it so well amended by the soveraign medicine of Gold or Silver charitably applyed by its good Bishop I wish all Cathedrals in England sick of the same distemper as quick and happy a recovery HARTFORD-SHIRE is so called from Hartford the chief Town therein as Hartford so termed from the Ford of Harts a Hart Couchant in the waters being the Armes thereof Which convinceth me that HART not HERTFORD-SHIRE is the Orthography of this County It hath Essex on the East Middlesex on the South Buckingham shire on the West Bedford and Cambridge shire on the North thereof It might be allowed a Square of 20. miles save that the Angular Insinuations of other Counties prejudice the Entireness thereof I have been informed from an ancient ââ¦stice therein that one cannot be so advantagiously placed in any part of this Shire but that he may recover another County within the riding of five miles It is the garden of England for delight and men commonly say that such who buy a house in Hartfordshire pay two years purchase for the aire thereof It falls short in Fruitfulness of ESSEX adjoyning thereunto to which it was also annexed under one Sheriff and one Eschetor till after the Reign of King Edward the Third And Paynfull Norden writes a bold Truth For deep feedings or Sheep pastures I take notice of few and those especially about Knebworth To speak of the Soyle as indeed it is most generally for my part I take it but a barren Countrey in respect of some other Shires Indeed this Forrestie-Ground would willingly bear nothing so well as a Crop of Wood. But seeing Custome is another Nature it hath for many years been contented to bring forth good Grain perswaded thereunto by the Industrious Husbandman Surely no County can shew so fair a Bunch of Berries for so they term the fair Habitations of Gentlemen of remark which are called Places Courts Halls and Mannors in other Shires This County affording no peculiar Commodity nor Manufacture We may safely proceed to other Observations when first we have given the due commendation to the Horses of this Shire Their Teames of Horses oft times deservedly advanced from the Cart to the Coach are kept in excellent equipage much alike in colour and stature fat and fair such is their care in dressing and well-feeding them I could name the place and person Reader be not offended with an innocent digression who brought his servant with a Warrant before a Justice of Peace for stealing his grain The man brought his five horses tailed together along with him alledging for himself That if he were the Theefe these were the Receivers and so escaped The Buildings THEOBALDS did carry away the credit built by Sir William beautified by Sir Robert Cecil his Son both Lord Treasurers of England The last exchanged it too wise to do it to his Losse with King James for Hatfield-house which King deceased therein March 27. 1625. Yea This House may be said to decease about its grand Climacterical some sixty three years from the finishing thereof taken down to the ground for the better partage among the Soldiery Anno 1651. and from the seat of a Monarch is now become a little Common-wealth so many intire Tenements like Splinters have flown out of the Materials thereof Thus our Fathers saw it built we behold it unbuilt and whether our Children shall see it re-built he only knows who hath written There is a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together Hatfield-house was first the Bishops of Ely then the Kings afterwards by exchange the Earls of Salisbury For Situation Building Contrivance Prospect Air and all accommodations inferiour to none in England Within a little mile thereof lyeth a place called the Vineyard where nature by the Midwifery of Art is delivered of much pleasure So that the Reader must be a Seer before he can understand the perfection thereof Had this place been in Graecia or nigh Rome where the luxuriant fancies of the Poets being subject-bound improve a Tree into a Grove a Grove into a Forrest a Brook into a River and a Pond into a Lake I say had this Vineyard been there it had disinherited Tempe of its honour and hence the Poets would have dated all their delights as from a Little Paradise and Staple-place of earthly pleasure Medicinal Waters One hath lately been discovered neer Barnet in a Common as generally sanative springs are found in such places as if nature therein intimated her intention designing them for publique profit not private employment it is conceived to run thorough veines of Alome by the taste thereof It coagulateth milk and the curd thereof is an excellent plaister for any green wounds besides several other operations But as Alexander was wont to applaud Achilles not as the most valiant but the most fortunate of men having Homer to trumpet forth his actions so are these waters much advantaged with the vicinitie of London whose Citizens proclame the praise thereof And indeed London in this kind is stately attended having three Medicinal Waters within one dayes Journy thereof The Catalogue of the Cures done by this Spring amounteth to a great number in so much that there is hope in process of time the Water rising here will repaire the blood shed hard by and save as many lives as were lost in the fatal Battel at Barnet betwixt the two houses of Yorke and Lancaster Hartford-shire Proverbs HARTFORD-SHIRE Clubs and clouted shoon Some will wonder how this Shire lying so near to London the Staple of English Civilitie should be guiltie of so much Rusticalness But the finest Cloth must have a List and the pure Pesants are of as course a thread in this County as in any other place Yet though some may smile at their clownishness let none laugh at their Industry the rather because the high-shoon of the Tenant payes for the Spanish-Leather-Boots of the Landlord HARTFORD-SHIRE Hedge-Hogs Plenty of Hedge-Hogs are found in this High woodland-County where too often they suck the Kine though the Dayry-maid conne them small thanks for sparing their pains in milking them A creature alwayes in his posture of defence carrying a Stand of Pikes on his back so that if as well victualled as armed he may hold out a seige against any equal opposition If this Proverb containeth any further reflection on the People in this County as therein taxed for covetousness and their constant nudling on the Earth I will not so understand it as hoping and believing this to be a false Application WARE and WADES-Mill are worth all LONDON This I assure you is a Master-piece of the Vulgar wits in this County wherewith they endeavour to amuse Travellers as if WARE a thorough-fare-Market and
preferred rather to be Adrian the fourth then Nicholas the third He held his place four years eight moneths and eight and twenty dayes and Anno 1158. as he was drinking was choakt with a Fly Which in the large Territory of St. Peters patrimony had no place but his Throat to get into But since a Flye stopt his Breath fear shall stop my Mouth not to make uncharitable Conclusions from such Casualties Cardinal BOSO confessed by all an English-man is not placed in this County out of any certainty but of pure Charity not knowing where elswhere with any Probability to dispose him But seeing he was Nephew to the late named Nicholas or Pope Adrian we have some shadow and pretence to make him of the same County This is sure his Unckle made him Cardinal in the Moneth of December 1155. and he was a great Change-Church in Rome being successively 1. Cardinal Deacon of Sts. Cosma Damiam 2. Cardinal Priest of St. Crosses of Jerusalem 3. Cardin. Pr. of St. Prudentiana 4. Cardin. Pr. of Pastor He was more than Instrumental in making Alexander the third Pope with the suffrages of 19. Cardinals who at last clearly carried it against his Anti-Pope Victor the fourth This Boso dyed Anno Dom. 1180. Prelates RICHARD de WARE for this is his true name as appears in his Epitaph though some pretending his honour but prejudicing the Truth thereby sirname him Warren He was made Abbot of Westminster 1260 and twenty years after Treasurer of England under King Edward the first This Richard going to Rome brought thence certain Work-men and rich Purphury And for the rest hear my Author By whom and whereof he made the rare Pavement to be seen at Westminster before the Communion Table containing the Discourse of the whole World which is at this day most Beautiful a thing of that Singularity Curiousnesse and Rarenesse that England hath not the like again See Readers what an Enemy Ignorance is to Art How often have I trampled on that Pavement so far from admiring as not observing it And since upon serious Survey it will not in my Eyes answer this Character of Curiosity However I will not add malice to my Ignorance qualities which too often are Companions to disparage what I do not understand but I take it on the trust of others more skilful for a Master-peece of Art This Richard dyed on the second of December 1283 the 12. of King Edward the first and lyeth buryed under the foresaid Pavement RALPH BALDOCK So called from the Place of his Nativity A MoungrelMarket in this County was bred in Merton Colledge in Oxford One not unlearned and who wrote an History of England which Leland at London did once behold King Edward the first much prised and preferred him Bishop of London He gave two hundred pounds whilst living and left more when dead to repair the East part of St. Pauls on the same token that upon occasion of clearing the Foundation an incredible number of Heads of Oxen were found buried in the Ground alledged as an argument by some to prove That anciently a Temple of Diana Such who object that heads of Stagges had been more proper for her the Goddesse of the Game may first satisfie us Whether any Creatures ferae Naturae as which they could not certainly compass at all seasons were usually offered for Sacrifices This Ralph dyed July the 24. 1313. Being buryed under a Marble Stone in St. Maries Chappel in his Cathedral JOHN BARNET had his Name and Nativity from a Market-Town in this County sufficiently known by the Road passing thorough it He was first by the Pope preferred 1361. to be Bishop of Worcester and afterwards was translated to Bath and Wells Say not this was a Retrograde motion and Barnet degraded in point of profit by such a Removal For though Worcester is the better Bishoprick in our age in those dayes Bath and Wells before the Revenues thereof were reformed under King Edward the sixth was the richer preferment Hence he was translated to Ely and for 6. years was Lord Treasurer of England He dyed at Bishops Hatfield June 7. 1373. and was buried there on the South-fide of the high Altar under a Monument now miserably defaced by some Sacrilegious Executioner who hath beheaded the Statue lying thereon THOMAS RUDBURNE no doubt according to the fashion of those dayes took his Name from Rudburne a Village within four miles from St. Albans He was bred in Oxford and Proctor thereof Anno 1402. and Chancellour 1420. An excellent Scholar and skilful Mathematician of a meek and mild temper though at one time a little tart against the Wic-livites which procured him much love with great persons He was Warden of Merton Colledge in Oxford and built the Tower over the Colledge Gate He wrote a Chronicle of England and was preferred Bishop of St. Davids He flourished Anno Domini 1419. though the date of his Death be unknown Reader I cannot satisfie my self that any Bishop since the Reformation was a Native of this County and therefore proceed to another Subject Statesmen Sir EDVVARD WATERHOUSE Knight was born at Helmsted-bury in this County of an ancient and worshipful Family deriving their discent lineally from Sir Gilbert VVaterhouse of Kyrton in Low Lindsey in the County of Lincoln in the time of King Henry the third As for our Sir Edward his Parents were John Waterhouse Esquire a man of much fidelity and Sageness Auditor many years to King Henry the Eighth of whom he obtained after a great entertainment for him in his house the grant of a Weekly Market for the Town of Helmsted Margaret Turner of the ancient house of Blunts-Hall in Suffolk and Cannons in Hartfordshire The King at his Departure honoured the Children of the said John Waterhouse being brought before him with his praise and encouragement gave a Benjamins portion of Dignation to this Edward foretelling by his Royal Augury That he would be the Crown of them all and a man of great Honour and Wisdome fit for the Service of Princes It pleased God afterwards to second the word of the King so that the sprouts of his hopeful youth only pointed at the growth and greatness of his honourable age For being but twelve years old he went to Oxford where for some years he glistered in the Oratorick and Poëtick Sphear until he addicted himself to conversation and observance of State affairs wherein his great proficiency commended him to the favour of three principal patrons One was Walter Devereux Earl of Essex who made him his bosome-friend and the said Earl lying on his death-bed took his leave of him with many kisses Oh my Ned said he farewell thou art the faithfullest and friendliest Gentleman that ever I knew In testimony of his true affection to the dead Father in his living Son this Gentleman is thought to have penned that most judicious and elegant Epistle recorded in Holinsheds History pag.
of Cardinal Wolsey was personated and wherewith that Prelate was so offended that Fish was fain to fly and live two years beyond the Seas There he made and thence sent over into England a small but sharp Treatise called The Supplication of Beggars termed by Master Fox a Libel understand him a little Book Otherwise prizing and praising it for a Master-piece of Wit-learning and Religion discovering the Superstition of that age This by Queen Anna Bollen was presented to King Henry the Eighth who therewith was so highly affected that he sent for the Author home and favoured him in great proportion However many nets were laid by the Popish party against him especially by Sir Thomas More his implacable Enemy yet Fish had the happinesse to escape the hands of Men and to fall into the hand of God more immediately Dying of the Plague 1531. and lieth buried at St. Dunstan in London Sir JAM HALES was born did live was richly landed in this county one of the Justices of the Common-Pleas a man of most signal Integrity When the rest of the Judges frighted at the frowns of the Duke of Northumberland subscribed the disinheriting of the Lady Mary and Lady Elizabeth he onely refused as against both Law and Conscience Yet afterwards in the first of Queen Mary he fell into the displeasure of Bishop Gardiner which like Juniper coals once kindled hardly quenched for urging the observation of some Lawes of King Edward the Sixth For this he was imprisoned hardly used and so threatned by his Keeper that he endeavoured to have killed himself which being after let at liberty he afterwards effected drowning himself in a small water near his house fear and melancholly so much prevailing upon him Mr. Fox concludeth the sad Poem of his final estate with this Distich CuÌ nihil ipse vides propria quin labe laboret Tu tua fac cures caetera mitte Deo Seing nought thou ââ¦eest but faling in the best Mind thy own matters leave God the rest We must look on his foul Deed with anger and yet with pity on the doer thereof Frown on the one and weep for the other For seeing he had led a right godly life and had suffered so much on the account of his Conscience I hope that his station in this place will not be cavilled at by any charitable persons He died Anno Dom. 1555. Cardinals JOHN KEMP son to Thomas Grand-child to Sir John Kemp Nephew to Sir Roger Kemp both Knights was born at Wie in this County where he built a fair Colledge for Seculars bred also in Merton Colledge in Oxford successively Bishop of Rochester Chichester and London afterwards Arch-Bishop of York and Canterbury Cardinal first by the Title of Saint Balbine then of Saint Rufine in Rome all his preferments are comprehended in the old following verse Bis Primas ter Praesul erat ââ¦is Cardine functus He had another honour to make up the Distich being twice Lord Chancellour of England so that I may add Et dixit Legem bis Cancellari us Anglis Such are mistaken who report him the first raiser of his Family to a Knightly degree which he found in that Equipage as is aforesaid though he left it much improved in Estate by his bounty and some of his name and bloud flourish in Kent at this day He died a very old man March the 22. Anno 1453. RICHARD CLIFFORD His Nativity may bear some debate Herefordshire pretending unto him But because Robert Clifford was his brother in the first of King Henry the Fourth High Sheriff of this County and richly landed therein I adjudge him a Cantian and assign Bobbing as the most probable place of his birth His worth preferred him Bishop of London 1407. and he was sent by King Henry the Fourth as his Embassadour to the Council of Constance I could hold my hand from ranking him under the Topick of Cardinals confident that no ingenious person would take exception thereat For first he was one in Merit and Desert Secondly in general Desire and Designation Thirdly though no actual Cardinal he acted as a Cardinal when joyned to their Conclave to see fair play amongst them at the choosing of a new Pope Yea some mentioned him for the place who counting it more credit to make than be a Pope first nominated Cardinal Columna and he clearly carried it by the name of Martin During his abode at Constance he preached a Latine Sermon before the Emperour and Pope He answered his name de clivo forti or of the strong Rock indeed viz. Davids being a most pious person returning home he lived in good esteem with Prince and People until his death which happened 1421. being buried nigh the present Monument of Sr. Christopher Hatton Prelates RALPH of MAYDENSTAN I presume this the ancient Orthography of Maydston a noted Town in this County the rather because I met with no other place in England offering in sound or syllables thereunto An Author giveth him this short but thick commendation Vir magnae literaturae in Theologia Nominatissimus Insomuch that in the Reign of King Henry the Third 1234. He was preferred Bishop of Hereford This Prelate bought of one Mount-hault a Noble-man a fair house in and the Patronage of St. Mary Mount-hault commonly but corruptly called Mount-haw in London leaving both to his successours in the See of Hereford Know Reader that all English Bishops in that age had Palaces in London for their conveniency wherein they resided and kept great Hospitality during their attendance in Parliament Now although the School-men generally hold that Episcopacy is Apex consummatae Religionis then which Nihil amplius Nothing higher or holyer in this life and though many Friers have been preferred Bishops as a progressive motion both in Dignity and Sanctity Yet our Ralph was of a different judgement herein This made him in the year 1239. turn his Miter into a Coule and become a Franciscan first at Oxford then at Glocester where he died about the year 1244. HENRY de WINGHAM a well known Town in this County was by K. Henry the Third preferred Chancellour both of England and Gascony Dean both of Totten-Hall quaere where this place is and Saint Martins and twice Embassadour into France It happened that one Ethelmar wom-brother to King Henry the Third was then Bishop of Winchester A person who properly comes not under my pen First for his Foreign nativity Secondly so much as he was English he was an UNWORTHY wanting Age Ability and Orders to qualifie him in that place Hereupon the Monks of Winchester indeavouring to eject him chose Wingham a man of Merit and Might in the Court to be their Bishop which honour he wisely refused fearing to incur the Kings displeasure It was not long before his Modesty and Discretion were rewarded with a peaceable in sted of that litigious Bishoprick when chosen to London 1259. But he enjoyed his See
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 gaââ¦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 bââ¦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 trââ¦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
late Lord Chamberlain unto King John and Lord Chiefe Justice of England In this year of his ãâã he not only valiantly defended the Castle of Dover against Lewis the French Kings Son but also in a naval conflââ¦ct overthrew a new supply of Souldiers sent to him for his assistance I behold this Hugo joyned with him as the shadow to the substance as his Under-Sheriff acting the affairs of the County in his absence II HUBERT de BUROZO WILL. de BRITO This year Anno 1227. Hugo de Burgo of whom immediately before was in the month of Februaââ¦y by the King made Earle of Kent and for a farther reward had granted unto him the third penny of all the Kings profits arising in the said County and Hubert de Burozo succeeded him in his Office But I humbly conceive him the same person who was both Comes and Vice-Comes of Kent at the same time a conjuction often precedented in other Counties The rather because this Hubert lived many years after till at last he got the Kings ill will for doing him so many good Offices not dying till the twenty seventh year of his Raign Anno 1243. Edw. I. 20 JOHAN de NORTHWOD This was a right Ancient Family in this County for I find in the Church of Minster in Shepy this Inscription Hic jacent Rogerus Norwod Boan uxor ejus sepulti ante Conquestum Possibly they might be buried here before the Conquest but the late Character of the Letter doth prove it a more modern Inscription The chief Rââ¦sidence of the Norwods was a house of their own name in the Parish of Milton-Chuââ¦ch where they have many fair Monuments but with defaced Epitaphs One of their Heirs was married into the Family of the Nortons of whom hereafter Sheriffs Name Place Armes RICH. II.   Anno   1 Tho. de Cobham Roundall G. on a Chev. Or 3 Cress. Sa. 2 Jo. de Fremingham Freming  3 ãâã c de Peckham Yââ¦ldham Sab. a chev Or between 3. cross Croslets Fitchee Arg. 4 Will. Septuans Milton  5 Arnald Sââ¦vage Bobbing Arg. 6. Lioncââ¦ls 3 2 1. Sab. 6 Tho. Brockhul Cale-Hill Gul. a Cross ingraild between 12. cross-croslets Fitche Ar 7   8 Rob. Corby Boughton  9 Arnold Savage ut prius  11 Radus Seintleger ãâã ãâã Fretee Arg. a Chief Gul. 11 ãâã de Guldeââ¦ord Hempsted Oâ⦠a Saltyr betwixt 4 Martlets Sable 12 Jacobus Peckham ut prius  13 Will. Burcestre ââ¦antshire  14 Rich. de Berham Berham Arg. 3. Bââ¦ars Sable 2. 1. ãâã Or. 15 ââ¦ho Chich â Dungeon  16 Wilâ⦠Barry Sevââ¦ngton â Az. 3 Lions rampant within a border Arg. 17 Joh. Fremingham   18 Tho. Colepeper Pepenbnry Arg. a Bend engrailed Gules ââ¦9 Will. Haut Waddenhal Or a Cross engrailed Gules 20 Tho. Seintleger ut prius  21 Nich. Potyne Queen-Co  12 Joh Botiller Gravency Aââ¦g on a Chief Sab. 3. Cups covered Or. HEN. IV.   Anno   1 R b Cââ¦ifford Bobbing Checkee Or and Azure a Fess within a border Gul. 2 Tho. Lodelow Joh Diggs ãâã Digs Cou. ãâã on a Cross Arg. 5. Eaglets displayed Sable 3 Tho. Hyach   4 Rich Cliderow G ldstanton Arg. on a Cheveron Gules bââ¦twixt ãâã Spread-Eagles Sable 5 Annulets Or. 5   6 Valent Baret Lenham  7 ãâã ãâã   8 Edw. Haut ut prius  9 Will. Snayth  â Ar. 4. ãâã G. on a chief S. a bar ãâã of the first 10 Reginald Pimpe â Pimps Co.  11 Joh Darel Cale-Hil Az. a Lion rampant Or crowned Argent 12 Will. Notebeame   HEN. V.   Anno   1 Will. Clifford ut prius  2 Rob. Clifford ut prius  3 Will. Langley   4 Will Darel ââ¦t prius  5 Joh Darel ut prius  6 Rich. Cliderow ut prius  7 Joh Burgh   8 Will. Haut Hautsburn ut ãâã 9   10 Joh. Darel ut prius  HEN. VI.   Anno   1 ãâã Darel ut prius  2 Wilâ⦠ãâã ãâã Azure 6. Lions rampant Argent a Canton Erm. 3 Joh Rykeld EastlinghaÌ Â 4 Will. Clifford ut pââ¦ius  5 Will. Culpeper Preston ut prius 6 Tho. Ellis Burton ãâã on a Cross S. 5. Cressants A. 7 Will. Scot Braborne AMP. 8 Joh. Peach Lullingston  9 Joh. Seintleger ut prius  10 Edward Gulfort Haââ¦den ut prius 11 Will. Burys Bââ¦omeley  12 Rich Woââ¦veile NorthaÌp Arg. a Fess and Canton Gul. 13 Will. Clifford ut prius  14 Will. Manston Manston  15 Jacobus Fienis Kââ¦msing Az 3. Lions rampant Or. 16 Rich Wââ¦ller Grome-Br Sab. 3. V Vallnut-leaves Or between 2. Benlets Argent 17 Edw Gulââ¦eford ut prius  18 Gervasius Clifton Brabourn Sable Semi de cinque Foyles a Lion rampant Argent 19 Joh. Yeard Denton  20 Joh Waââ¦ner Voteââ¦crey  21 Will. Mareys ãâã â Sable 3 Lions pass in Bend double cotised Argent 22 Tho. Brown â Surrey  23 Will. Crowmer Tunstal Arg. a Cheveron ãâã three Ravens Sable 24 Joh. ãâã Feversham  25 Will. ãâã Sundridge Eââ¦min a Fesse Gules 26 Will. Kene Well Hal  27 Steph. ãâã ut prius  28 Hen. Crowmer ut prius  29 Garvasius Clifton ut prius  30 Rob. Horn Horns place  31 Tho Ballard Hoââ¦ton  32 Joh ãâã Repton  33 Joh ãâã mil. ut prius  34 ãâã Belknââ¦p arm The Moat  35 Alex Eden arm Westwell  36 Joh Gââ¦ldeford ar ut prius  37 ãâã Clifton mil. ut prius  38 Tââ¦o Brown mil ut prius  Joh. Scot ar Vicis vic Scots-Hal ut prius EDW. IV.   Anno   1 Joh. Isaac ar Howlets  2 Will. Peach mil.   3 Idem   4 Joh. Diggs ar ut prius  5 Alex. Clifford ar ut prius  6 VVill. Haut mil. ut prius  7 ââ¦oh Colepeper mil. ut prius  8 ãâã Seââ¦ntleger ar ut prius  9 Hen. Fââ¦rrers ar Warw shire  10 Joh. Bromston ar Preston  11 Rich Colepeper ar Oxenhoath ut prius 12 Ja Peckham ar ut prius  13 Joh. Fogge mil.   14 Joh. Isley ar ut prius  15 Will Haut mil. ut prius  16 ãâã Green ar Scadbury Gules across ãâã Ermin within a border Gobony Arg. and Sable 17 Will. Cheyney ar ut prius  18 Rich. Haut ar ut prius  19 Rich. Lee ar Delce  20 Ioh. Fogge mil.   21 Geo. Brown mil. ut prius  22 Rich. Haut ar ut prius  RICH. III.   Anno   1 Will. Haut mil. ut prius  2 Ioh. Banne Grench  3 Rich Brakenbury mil The Moat  Will Cheyney ut prius  HEN. VII   Anno   1 Will. Cheyney ut prius Â
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 Aââ¦d as that Youth cannot be counted a Dââ¦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 ãâã 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
1552. He was also preferred Master of Sherburn-House or Hospital in the Bishoprick a Place it seems of good profit and credit as founded by Hugh Pudsey Bishop of Durham and Earle of Northumberland In the beginning of Queen Mary he was forced to fly beyond the Seas and became the principal Pastour for they had three other of the English Exiles at Arrow in Switzerland which Congregation I behold as the least so the freest from Factions of any in that age of our Nation He was saith my Author Virtutum in omni mansuetudine seminator and besides some Sermons and a Comment on the Lords Prayer he wrote a Book intituled The Right Path way to Christ. After the death of Queen Elizabeth coming over into England he took a Journey to Durham to visite his old Hospital of Sherburne and falling sick by the way dyed at Ware anno 1558. in that very juncture of time when what Church-Preferment he pleased courted his Acceptance thereof I finde two more of his Name Ralph Leaver and John Leaver probably his Kinsmen Exiles for their Conscience in Germany in the Reign of Queen Mary WILLIAM WHITACRE was borne at Holme in this County whose Life hath been formerly twice written by me He dyed anno 1596. ALEXANDER NOWELL was born 1510. of a Knightly Family at Read in this County and at thirteen Years of age being admitted into Brasen-nose Colledge in Oxford studied thirteen Years therein Then he became School-Master of Westminster It happened in the first of Queen Mary he was fishing upon the Thames an Exercise wherein he so much delighted insomuch that his Picture kept in Brazen-nose Colledg is drawn with his lines hooks and other ââ¦ackling lying in a round on one hand and his Angles of several sorts on the other But whilest Nowel was catching of Fishes Bonner was catching of Nowel and understanding who he was designed him to the Shambles whither he had certainly been sent had not Mr. Francis Bowyer then Merchant afterwards Sheriffe of London safely conveyed him beyond the Seas Without offence it may be remembred that leaving a Bottle of Ale when fishing in the Grasse he found it some dayes after no Bottle but a Gun such the sound at the opening thereof And this is believed Casualty is Mother of more Inventions than Industry the Original of bottled-Ale in England Returning the first of Queen Elizabeth he was made Dean of St. Pauls and for his meek Spirit deep Learning Prudence and Piety the then Parliament and Convocation both chose injoyned and trusted him to be the man to make a ãâã for publick use such a one as should stand as a Rule for Faith and Manners to their Posterity ãâã by the way is an ancient Church Ordinance as appears by Theophilus and Apollos both exercised ãâã It remained in state during thââ¦ââ¦rimitive Church and did not decline till Popery began to encrease For ãâã Catechising continued it had made the Laity more wise in Religion than would well have stood with the interest of the Church of Rome It was therefore outed by School-Divinity and then a fruitfull Olive was cut down to have a bââ¦amble set in the room thereof In the first Reformation Protestants revived this Ordinance and by the use thereof Religion ââ¦ot the speed and great ground of Superstition till the Jesuits sensible thereof have since outshot us in our own bow most carefull to catechise their Novices whilest English Protestants for I will not condemn Foreigâ⦠Churches grew negligent therein What is the Reason that so much ââ¦loth so soon changeth colour even because it was never well ãâã and why do men so often change their Opinions even because they were never well catechised He was Confessour to Queen Elizabeth constantly preaching the First and Last Lent-Sermons before Her He gave two Hundred Pounds per annum to maintain thirteen Schollars in brasen Nose Colledge He died being Ninety Years of age not decayed in sight Febru 13. 1601. JOHN d ee where born I cannot recover was a man of much motion and is mentioned in this place where he had his though last best fixation He was bred as I believe in Oxford and there Doctorated but in what faculty I cannot determine He was a most excellent Mathematiti an and Astrologer well skilled in Magick as the Antients did the Lord Bacon doth and all may accept the sence thereof viz. in the lawfull knowledg of Naturall Philosophie This exposed him anno 1583. amongst his Ignorant Neighbours where he then lived at Mortclack in Surrey to the suspicion of a Conjurer the cause I conceive that his Library was then seized on wherein were four thousand Books and seven hundred of them Manuscripts This Indignity joyned with the former Scandal moved him to leave the Land and go over with Sr. Edward Kelly into Bohemia as hereafter shall be more fully related Returning to Mortclack 1592. the same Scandal of being a Conjurer haunted him again Two Years after Viz. 1594. he was under a kinde of Restraint which caused him to write to the Lady Scydemore to move Queen Elizabeth either that he might declare his case to the Counsel or have liberty under the broad Seal to depart the Land Next year he wrote an apologetical Letter to Arch-bishop Whitgift which it seems found good reception yea at last he gave such satisfaction of the lawfulness and usefulness of his Studies that the Queen besides many considerable New-Years Gifts sent unto him presented him Warden of Manchester in this Countie 1596. where he had many contests and suits with the Fellows of that Colledge The last mention I find of him is in Mr. Camden to whom he presented an ancient Roman Inscription found about Manchester and Mr. Camden in his requital presented him with this Commendation Hanc mihi descripsit qui vidit Cl. Mathematicus J. d ee collegij Manchestrensis custos And indeed all the books he hath left behind him speak him a learned as those de Usu Globi Terrestris De Nubium Solis Lunae ac Planetarum distantiis c. an aged man being dedicated to King Edward the Sixth and he dying about the beginning of King James ROGER FENTON D. D. Fellow of Pembroke-Hall in Cambridge was born in this County as appeareth by his Epitaph in St. Stephens Wallbrook London being the painfull pious learned and beloved Minister thereof Little is left of him in print save a sollid Treatise against Usury Great was his intimacy with Dr. Nicholas ãâã being Contemporaries Collegiates and City-Ministers together with some ãâã in their Sirnames but more sympathy in their Natures Once my own Father gave Dr. Fenton a visite who excused himself from entertaining him any longer Mr Fuller said he hear how the passing-bell towls ãâã this very Instant for my Dear Friend Dr. Felton now a dying I must to my Study it ãâã mutually agreed upon betwixt us in our healths that the Surviver of
rich three capital crimes in a Clergyman They plundered his Carriages taking ten thousand marks a Mine of Money in that age from him and then to secure their Riot and Felony by murder and high treason dragged him as he was Officiating from the High Altar And although they regarded difference of place no more then a Wolf is concerned whether he killeth a Lamb in the Fold or Field yet they brought him out of the Church to a Hill hard by and there barbarously murdered Him and tore his bloody Shirt in peices and left his stripped body stark naked in the place Sic concussa cadit Populari MITRA Tumultu Protegat optamus nunc DIADEMA Deus By Peoples fury MITRE thus cast down We pray henceforward God preserve the CROWN This his Massacre happened June 29. 1450. when he had sate almost twelve years in the See of Sarisbury RICHARD FOX was born at Grantham in this County as the Fellows of his Foundation in Oxford have informed me Such who make it their only argument to prove his Birth at Grantham because he therein erected a fair Free School may on the same Reason conclude him born at Tanton in Sommerset shire where he also founded a goodly Grammar School But what shall I say Ubique nascitur qui Orbi nascitur he may be said to be born every where who with Fox was born for the publick and general good He was very instrumental in bringing King Henry the Seventh to the Crown who afterwards well rewarded him for the same That politick Prince though he could go alone as well as any King in Europe yet for the more state in matters of Moment he leaned principally on the Shoulders of two prime Prelates having Archbishop Morton for his Right and this Fox for his left Supporter whom at last he made Bishop of Winchester He was bred first in Cambridge where he was President of Pembroke-hall and gave Hangings thereunto with a Fox woven therein and afterwards in Oxford where he founded the fair Colledge of Corpus Christi allowing per annum to it 401. l. 8. s. 11. d. which since hath been the Nursery of so many eminent Scholars He expended much Money in Beautifying his Cathedral in Winchester and methodically disposed the Bodies of the Saxon Kings and Bishops dispersedly buryed in this Church in decent Tombs erected by him on the Walls on each side the Quire which some Souldiers to showe their Spleen at once against Crowns and Miters valiantly fighting against the Dust of the dead have since barbarously demolished Twenty seven years he sate Bishop of this See till he was stark blind with age All thought him to dye to soon one only excepted who conceived him to live too long viz. Thomas Wolsey who gaped for his Bishoprick and endevoured to render him to the Displeasure of K. Henry the Eigth whose Malice this Bishop though blind discovered and in some measure defeated He dyed anno Domini 1528. and lyes buryed in his own Cathedral Since the Reformation THOMAS GOODRICH was Son of Edward Goodrich and Jane his Wife of Kirby in this County as appeareth by the York-shire Visitation of Heralds in which County the Allies of this Bishop seated themselves and flourish at this day He was bred in the University of Cambridge D. D. say some of Law say others in my opinion more probable because frequently imployed in so many Embassies to Forraign Princes and at last made by King Henry the Eighth Bishop of Ely wherein he continued above tweney years and by King Edward the Sixth Lord Chancellour of England Nor will it be amisse to insert and translate this Distick made upon him Et Bonus Dives bene junctus optimus Ordo Praecedit Bonitas pone sequuntur Opes Both Good and Rich well joyn'd best rank'd indeed For Grace goes first and next doth Wealth succeed I find one Pen ââ¦pirting Ink upon him which is usual in his Writings speaking to this effect that if he had ability enough he had not too much to discharge his Office I behold him as one well inclined to the protestant Religion and after his Resignation of the Chancellors place to Stephen Gardiner his Death was very seasonable for his own Safety May 10. 1554 In the first of Queen Mary whilst as yet no great Violence was used to Protestants JOHN WHITGIFT was born at Grimsby in this County successively bred in Queens Pembroke-hall Peter-house and Trinity Colledge in Cambridge Master of the Later Bishop of Worcester and Arch bishop of Canterbury But I have largely written his life in my Ecclesiastical History and may truly say with him who constantly returned to all Inquirers Nil novi novi I can make no new addition thereunto only since I met with this Anagram Joannes Whitegifteus Non vi egit favet Jhesus Indeed he was far from Violence and his politick patience was blessed in a high proportion he dyed anno 1603. Feb. 29. JOHN STILL D. D. was born at Grantham in this County and bred first Fellow of Christs then Master of St. Iohns and afterwards of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge where I have read in the Register this commendation of him that he was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã nec Collegio gravis aut onorosus He was one of a venerable presence no lesse famous for a preacher then a Disputant Finding his own Strength he did not stick to warn such as he disputed with in their own arguments to take heed to their Answers like a perfect Fencer that will tell aforehand in what Button he will give his Venew When towards the end of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth there was an unsucceeding motion of a Dyet or meeting which should have been in Germany for composing of matters of Religion Doctor Still was chosen for Cambridge and Doctor Humfred for Oxford to oppose all comers for the defence of the English Church Anno 1592. being then the second time Vice-chancelour of Cambridge he was consecrated Bishop of Bath and Wells and defeated all causelesse suspition of Symoniacal compliance coming clearly thereunto without the least scandal to his person or losse to the place In his days God opened the bosome of the Earth Mendip Hills affording great store of Lead wherewith and with his own providence which is a constant Mine of Wealth he raised a great estate and layed the Foundation of three Families leaving to each of them a considerable Revenue in a Worshipful condition He gave five hundred pounds for the building of an Almes-house in the City of Wells and dying February 26. 1607. lies buryed in his own Cathedrall under a neat Tomb of Alabaster MARTIN FOTHERBY D. D. was born at Great Grimsby in this County of a good Family as appeareth by his Epitaph on his Monument in the Church of Allhallows Lumbard street London He was bred Fellow of Trinity-colledge in Cambridge and became afterwards one and twenty years Prebendary of Canterbury then he was preferred by
given to their stipend by William Cecil Lord Treasurer but it seems that since some Intervening accident hath hindered it from taking the true effect JANE CECIL Wife to Richard Cecil Esquire and co-heire to the worshipfull Families of Ekington and Wallcot was born in this County and lived the maine of her life therein Job speaking of parents deceased His Sons saith he come to honour and he knoweth it not but God gave this good woman so long a life abating but little of an hundred years that she knew the preferment of her Son William ââ¦ecil for many years in her life Lord Treasurer of England I say she knew it and saw it and joyed at it and was thankfull to God for it for well may we conclude her gratitude to God from her Charity to man At her own charges Anno 1561. She Leded and Paved the Friday Market Cross in Stamford Besides fifty pound given to the Poor and many other Benefactions Her last Will was made Anno Dom. 1588. But she survived some time after and lies buried in the same Vault with her Son in St. Martins in Stamford GEORGE TRIGG Gentleman was as I collect a Native of this County he gave Anno Dom. 1586 four hundred pounds to be lent out for ever upon good security without Interest to Poor young Trads-men and Artificers in Stamford He also bestowed a Tenement upon the Parson and Poor of St. Johns in the same Town RICHARD SUTTON Esquire was born at Knaith in this County bred a Souldier in his Youth and was somwhat of Pay-Master by his place much mony therefore passing through some did lawfully stick on his fingers which became the bottom of his future Estate He was afterward a Merchant in London and gained great Wealth therein Such who charge him with Purblindness in his soul looking too close on the earth do themselves acquit him from Oppression that though Tenax he was not Rapax not Guilty of Covetousness but Parcimony Indeed there was a Merchant his Comrage whose name I will Conceal except the great Estate he left doth discover it with whom he had Company in Common but their Charges were severall to themselves when his friend in Travell called for two Faggots Mr. Sutton called for one when his friend for half a pint of Wine Mr. Sutton for a Gill under-spending him a Moity at last Mr. Sutton hearing of his friends death and that he left but fifty thousand pounds Estate I thought said ââ¦e he would dye no Rich man who made such needless expences Indeed Mr. Suttons Estate doubled his and he bestowed it all on Charter-House or Suttons Hospitall This is the Master-peice of Protestant English Charity designed in his life Compleated after his death Begun Continued and finished with Buildings and Endowments Sinâ⦠Causa Socia soly at his Charges Wherein Mr. Sutton appears peerless in all Christendom on an equall Standart and Valuation of Revenue As for the Canker of Popish Malice endeavouring to fret this fair Flower we have returned plentifull Answers to their Cavells in our Ecclesiasticall History Mr. Sutton died Anno Dom. 1611. ROBERT JOHNSON was born at Stamford whereof Maurice his Father had been chiefe Magistrate He was bred in Cambridge and entring into the Ministry he was beneficed at Luffenham in Rutland at what time that little County was at a great losse for the education of the Children therein and Mr. Johnson endeavoured a remedy thereof He had a rare faculty in requesting of others into his own desire and with his arguments could surprise a Miser into charity He effectually moved those of the Vicinage to contribute to the building and endowing of Schools Money or Money worth Stones Timber Carriage c. not flighting the smalest guift especially if proportionable to the Givers Estate Hereby finding none he left as many Free Schools in Rutland as there were Market Towns therein One at Oakeham another at Uppingham well faced with buildings and lined with endowments Hitherto he was only a Nurse to the Charity of others erecting the Schools aforesaid as my Author observeth who afterwards proved a fruitful parent in his own person becoming a considerable Benefactor to Emanuel and Sidney Colledges in Cambridge And though never dignified higher then Archdeacon of Leicester he left an Estate of one thousand pounds per Annum which descended to his posterity He dyed about the year of our Lord 1616. FRANCES WRAY Daughter to Sir Chichester Wray Lord chief Justice was born at Glentworth in this County and married first unto Sir George St. Paul of this County and afterwards to Robert Rich first Earl of Warwick of that Sirname She was a Pious Lady much devoted to charitable actions though I am not perfectly instructed in the particulars of her Benefactions Only I am sure Magdalen Colledge in Cambridge hath tasted largely of her Liberality who dyed in the beginning of the Reign of King Charles Memorable Persons JAMES YORKE a Blacksmith of Lincolne and an excellent Workman in his Profession Insomuch that if Pegasus himself would wear shoes this man alone is fit to make them contriving them so thin and light as that they would be no burthen to him But he is a Servant as well of Apollo as Vulcan turning his Stiddy into a Study having lately set forth a Book of Heraldry called the Union of Honour containing the Arms of the English Nobility and the Gentry of Lincolne-shire And although there be some mistakes no hand so steady as alwayes to hit the Nail on the head yet is it of singular use and industriously performed being set forth Anno 1640. Lord Maiors  Name Father Place Company Time 1 John Stockton Richard Stockton Bratoft Mercer 1470. 2 Nicholas Aldwin Richard Aldwin Spalding Mercer 1499. 3 William Rennington Robert Rennington Bostone Fishmonger 1500. 4 William Forman William Forman Gainsborough Haberdasher 1538. 5 Henry Hoberthorn Christ. Hoberthorn Waddingworth Merchant-Tay 1546. 6 Henry Amcoates William Amcoates Astrap Fishmonger 1548. 7 John Langley Robert Langley Althrope Goldsmith 1576. 8 Iohn Allot Richard Allot Limbergh Fishmonger 1590. 9 Nicholas Raynton Robert Raynton Highington Haberdasher 1632. The Names of the Gentrie of this County returned by the Commissioners in the twelfth year of King Henry the sixth William Bishop of Lincoln Commissioners Lion de Welles Chivaler  Thomas Meres Knights of the Shire  Patricius Skipwith Knights of the Shire  Johannis Willoughby militis Roberti Ros militis Humfridi Littelbery armig Phillippi Tilney armigeri Johannis Copuldik armig Richardi Laund armigeri Willielmi Braunche armig Richardi Pynchebek Richardi Welby Richardi Benynington Willielmi Goding de Boston Gilberti Haltoft Will. Hughbert de Doning VVill. Quadring de Tofte Iohan. Pawlyn de Frampton VVill. VValcote de Spaldyng Thom. Overton de Swynshed Hug. Dandison de VVrangle Roberti Hughson de Boston Rich. Whiteb. de Gosberkirk Ioh. Docking de VVhaploade Will. Calowe de Holbetch Will. ââ¦awode de Whaploade Nich. Gyomer de
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 Tââ¦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 ãâã 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
which Alms-dish came afterwards into the possession of the Duke of Somerset who sent it to the Lord Rivers to sell the same to furnish himself for a Sea-voyage But after the Death of good Duke Humphrey when many of his former Alms-men were at a losse for a meals meat this Proverb did alter its Copy to Dine with Duke Humphrey importing to be Dinnerlesse A general mistake fixed this sense namely that Duke Humphrey was buryed in the Body of St. Pauls Church where many men chaw their meat with feet and walk away the want of a Dinner whereas indeed that noble person interred in St. Pauls was Sir John Beauchamp Constable of Dover Warden of the Cinque Ports Knight of the Garter Son to Guy Earl of Warwick and Brother to Thomas Earl of Warwick whilst Duke Humphrey was honourably buried in St. Albans I will use you as bad as a Jew I am sure I have carried the Child home and layed it at the Fathers House having traced this Proverb by the Tract from England in General to London thence to the Old Jury whence it had its first Original that poor Nation especially on Shrove-Tuesday being intollerably abused by the English whilst they lived in the Land I could wish that wheresoever the Jews live they may not find so much courtesie as to confirm them in their false yet not so much Cruelty as to discourage them from the true Religion till which time I can bemone their Misery condemn the Christians Cruelty and admire Gods justice in both See we it here now fulfilled which God long since frequently foretold and threatned namely that he would make the Jews become a Proverb if continuing Rebellious against him I passe not for the Flouts of prophane Pagans scoffing at the Jews Religion Credat Judaeus Apella but to behold them thus Proverbiascere for their Rebellions against God minds me of the performance of Gods Threatning unto them Good manners to except my Lord Maior of London This is a corrective for such whose expressions are of the largest size and too general in their extent parallel to the Logick Maxime Primum in unoquoque genere est excipiendum as too high to come under the Roof of comparison In some cases it is not civil to fill up all the room in our speeches of our selves but to leave an upper place voyd as a blank reserved for our betters I have dined as well as my Lord Maior of London That this Proverb may not crosse the former know that as well is not taken for as dubiously or daintily on Variety of Costly Dishes in which kinds the Lord Maior is Paramount for Magnificence For not to speak of his solemn Invitations as when Henry Pickard Lord Maior 1357. did in one day entertain a Messe of Kings Edward King of England John King of France David King of Scots and the King of Cyprus besides Edward Prince of Wales and many prime Noble-men of the Land his daily Dinners are Feasts both for Plenty Guests and Attendants But the Proverb hath its modest meaning I haue dined as well that is as comfortable as contentedly according to the Rule Satis est quod sufficit enough is as good as a Feast and better then a Surfeit and indeed Nature is contented with a little and Grace with lesse As old as Pauls Steeple Different are the Dates of the Age thereof because it had two births or beginnings For if we count it from the time wherein it was originally co-founded by K. Ethelbert with the Body of the Church Anno six hundred and ten then it is above a thousand and forty years of Age. But if we reckon it from the year 1087. when burnt with Lightning from Heaven and afterwards rebuilt by the Bishops of London it is not above five hundred years old And though this Proverb falls far short of the Latine ones Antiquius Arcadibus Antiquius Saturno yet serveth it sufficiently to be returned to such who pretend those things to be Novell which are known to be stale old and almost antiquated He is only fit for Ruffians-Hall A Ruffian is the same with a Swaggerer so called because endevouring to make that Side to swag or weigh down whereon he ingageth The same also with Swash-Buckler from swashing or making a noise on Bucklers West-Smith-field now the Horse-Market was formerly called Ruffians-Hall where such men met casually and otherwise to try Masteries with Sword and Buckler Moe were frighted then hurt hurt then killed therewith it being accounted unmanly to strike beneath the Knee because in effect it was as one armed against a naked man But since that desperate Traitor Rowland Yorke first used thrusting with Rapiers Swords and Bucklers are disused and the Proverb only appliable to quarrelsome people not tame but wild Barretters who delight in brawls and blows A Loyal heart may be landed under Traitors Bridge This is a Bridge under which is an Entrance into the Tower over against Pink Gate formerly fatal to those who landed there there being a muttering that such never came forth alive as dying to say no worse therein without any Legal Tryal The Proverb importeth that passive Innocence overpower'd with Adversaries may be accused without cause and disposed at the pleasure of others it being true of all Prisoners what our Saviour said to and of St. Peter Another shall carry thee whither thou wouldst not Queen Elizabeth may be a proofe hereof who in the Reign of Queen Mary her Sister first stayed and denyed to Land at those Stairs where all Traytors and Offenders customably used to Land till a Lord which my Author would not and I cannot name told her she should not choose and so she was forced accordingly To cast water into the Thames That is to give to them wââ¦o had plenty before which notwithstanding is the dole general of the World Yet let not Thames be proud of his full and fair stream seeing Water may be wanting therein as it was Anno 1158. the Fourth of William Rufus when men might walk over dryshod and again Anno 1582. a strong Wind lying West and by South which forced out the Fresh and kept back the Salt-water He must take him a House in Turn-again Lane This in old Records is called Wind-again Lane and lyeth in the Parish of St. Sepulchres going down to Fleet-Dike which men must turn again the same way they came for there it is stopped The Proverb is applied to those who sensible that they embrace destructive courses must seasonably alter their manners which they may do without any shame to themselves it is better to come back through Turn-again though a narrow and obscure Lane then to go on an ill account straight forwards in a fair street hard by whence Vestigia nulla retrorsum as leading Westward to Execution He may whet his Knife on the Threshold of the Fleet. The Fleet is a place notoriouslâ⦠known for a
because some love Poetry either very good or very bad that if they cannot learn from it they may laugh at it they are here inserted WILLLIAM KNIGHT was born in this City bred Fellow of New-colledge in Oxford on the same token that there have been ten of his Sirname Fellowes of that Foundation He proceeded Doctor of Law and a noble Pen makes him Secretary to King Henry the Eighth Sure it is he was the first Person imployed to the Pope to motion to him the matter of his Divorce advertizing the King by his weekly dispatches how slowly his Cause though spurred with English Gold crept on in the Court of Rome After his return the King rewarded his Industry Fidelity and Ability with bestowing the Bishoprick of Bath and Wells upon him In Wells with the assistance of Dean Woolman he built a stately covered Crosse in the Market-place for the glorâ⦠of God and conveniency of poor people to secure them from the weather adding this Inscription Laus Deo Pax Vivis Requies Defunctis He dyed September 29. Anno 1547. NICOLAS HEATH was born and had his childhood in the City of London being noted for one of St. Anthonies Pigs therein so were the Scholars of that School commonly called as those of St. Pauls Pauls pigeons and bred first in Christs-Colledge then Fellow of Clare-hall in Cambridge By K. Henry the eighth to whom he was Almoner he was preferred Bishop first of Rochester then of Worcester deprived by K. Edward the Sixth restored by Q. Mary who advanced him Arch-bishop of York and Lord Chancelour of England A moderate man who would not let the least spark of persecution be kindled in his Diocess if any in his Province In the Conference at Westminster betwixt Papists and Protestants primo Elizabethae he was a kind of Moderatour but interposed little Infected bâ⦠his Fellow-PrisonerPopish-Prelates he could not be perswaded to take the Oath of Supremacie for which he was deprived He led a pious and private life on his own lands at Cobham in Surrey whither Q. Elizabeth came often to visit him and dyed about the year of our Lord 1566. Since the Reformation JOHN YOUNGE D. D. was borne in Cheapside and bred in Pembroke-Hall in Cambridge whereof he became Master hence he was preferred Rector of St. Giles Cripple gate and at last Bishop of Rochester A constant preacher and to whose Judgement Q. Elizabeth ascribed much in Church matters Better Bishopricks were often offered to and as often refused by him particularly when Norwich was proferred him by one who affirmed it to be a higher Seat Bishop Young pleasantly returned Yea but it is a harder and not so easie for an old man since the Cushion was taken away from it Meaning since Dr. Scambler had scambled away the Revenues thereof He dyed Anno Dom. 1605. and lyeth buried at Bromly Church in Kent where his son most solemnly and sumptuously interred him though he enjoyned all possible privacy and on his death-bed forbad all funeral expences But in such cases it may become the Charity and Affection of the survivers to do what beseemes not so well the modesty and discretion of the dying to desire WILLIAM COTTON D. D. was bon in this City though his infancy was much conversant about Finchley in Middlesex as his nearest relation hath informed me He was bred in Queens Colledge in Cambridge preferred by Queen Elizabeth Arch-Deacon of Lewis and Canon Residentiary of St. Pauls Hence he was advanced and consecrated Bishop of Exââ¦ter November the 12. 1598. During his sitting there Mr. Snape a second Cartwright not for abilities but activity came out of Gersey and plentifully sowed the Seeds of non-conformity in his Diocesse which the vigilancy of this stout and prudent Prelate plucked up by the roots before they could come to perfection In his old age he was Apoplectical which malady deprived him of his Speech some dayes before his death so that he could only say Amen Amen often reiterated Hereupon some scandalous Tongues broached this jeer that he lived like a Bishop and dyed like a Clark and yet let such men know that no dying person can use any one word more expressive Whether it be an invocation of his help in whom all the promises are Amen or whether it be a submission to the Divine providence in all by way of approbation of former or option of future things I will only add and translate his Epitaph transcribed from his Monument A Paulo ad Petrum Pia te Regina vocavit Whom th' Queen from Paul to Peter did remove Cum Petro Paulo Coeli Rex arce locavit Him God with Paul and Peter plac'd above He lyeth buried in the North-side of the Quire of Exeter but his Monument is distanced from the place of his Interment in a North-East Chappel His Death happened Anno Domini 1621. LANCELOT ANDREVVS D. D. was born in this City in Tower street his Father being a Seaman of good repute belonging to Trinity House He was bred Scholar Fellow and Master of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge He was an unimitable Preacher in his way and such Plagiaries who have stolen his Sermons could never steal his Preaching and could make nothing of that whereof he made all things as he desired Pious and pleasant Bishop Felton his Contemporary and Colleague indevoured in vain in his Sermon to assimulate his style and therefore said merrily of himself I had almost marr'd my own natural Trot by endevouring to imitate his artificial Amble But I have spoken largely of this peerlesse Prelate in my Church-History He dyed Anno Dom. 1626. THOMAS DOVE D. D. was born in this City as a Credible person of his nearest Relation hath informed me bred a Tanquam which is a Fellowes Fellow in Pembroke-Hall in Cambridge He afterwards became an eminent Preacher and his Sermons substantial in themselves were advantaged by his comely person and graceful elocution Q. Elizabeth highly affected and Anno 1589. preferred him Dean of Norwich advancing him eleven yeares after to the Bishoprick of Peterborough He departed this life 1630. in the thirtieth year of his Bishoprick on the thirtieth of August who kept a good house whilst he lived and yet raised a Family to Knightly degree JOHN HOWSON D. D. was born in St. Frides Parish in this City bred a Scholar in St. Pauls School whence going to Oxford he became a Student and Canon of Christ-Church and afterwards was consecrated Bishop of Oxford May 9. 1619. being his Birth-day in his Climacterical then entring upon the 63 year of his age His Learned book in what case a Divorce is lawfull with his Sermons against Sacriledge and stating of the Popes supremacy in 4 Sermons injoyned on him by King James to clear his causelesse aspersion of favouring Popery and never since replyed unto by the Romish party have made him famous to all posterity He was afterwards removed to the Bishoprick
I remember are buryed in Lichfield and not in the Vault under the Church of Drayton in Middlesex where the rest of that Family I cannot say lye as whose Coffins are erected but are very compleatly reposed in a peculiar posture which I meet not with elsewhere the horrour of a Vault being much abated with the Lightnesse and Sweetnesse thereof THOMAS WENTVVORTH was born his Mother coming casually to London in Chancery Lane in the Parish of St. Dunstans in the West Yet no reason Yorkshire should be deprived of the honour of him whose Ancestors long flourished in great esteem at VVent-worth-VVoodhouse in that County He was bred in St. Iohns Colledge in Cambridge and afterwards became a Champion Patriot on all occasions He might seem to have a casting voice in the House of Commons for where he was pleased to dispose his Yea or Nay there went the affirmative or negative It was not long before the Court gained him from the Country and then Honours and Offices were heaped on him created Baron and Viscount Wentworth Earl of Strafford and Lord Deputy of Ireland When he went over into Ireland all will confesse he laid down to himself this noble foundation vigorously to endevour the Reduction of the Irish to perfect obedience to the King and profit to the Exchequer But many do deny the Superstructure which he built thereon was done by legal line and Plummet A Parliament was called in England and many Crimes were by prime persons of England Scotland and Ireland charged upon him He fenced skilfully for his Life and his Grand-guard was this that though confessing some Misdemeanors all proved against him amounted not to Treason And indeed Number cannot create a new kind so that many Trespasses cannot make a Riot many Riots one Treason no more then many Frogs can make one Toad But here the Dââ¦stinction of Acumulative and Constructive Treason was coyned and caused his Destruction Yet his Adversaries politickly brake off the Edge of the Axe which cut off his head by providing his Condemnation should not passe into Precedent to Posterity so that his Death was remarkable but not exemplary Happy had it been if as it made no Precedent on Earth so no Remembrance thereof had been kept in Heaven Some hours before his Suffering he fell fast asleep alledged by his friends as an Evidence of the Clearnesse of his Conscience and hardly to be parallel'd save in St. Peter in a dead sleep the Night before he was to dye condemned by Herod His death happened 1641. He hath an eternal Monument in the matchlesse Meditations of King Charles the First and an everlasting Epitaph in that weighty Character * there given him I looked upon my Lord of Strafford as a Gentleman whose abilites might make a Prince rather afraid than ashamed in the greatest Affairs of State c. God alone can revive the dead all that Princes can perform is to honour their Memory and Posterity as our Gracious Soveraign King Charles hath made his worthy Son Knight of the Garter LYONEL CRANFIELD Son to Randal Cranfield Citizen and Martha his Wife Daughter to the Lady Dennis of Gloucester-shire who by her will which I have perused bequeathed a fair estate unto her was born in Bassing-hall street and bred a Merchant much conversant in the Custome-House He may be said to have been his own Tutor and his own University King Iames being highly affected with the clear brief strong yea and profitable sense he spake preferred him Lord Treasurer 1621. Baron of Cranfield and Earl of Middlesex Under him it began to be young flood in the Exchequer wherein there was a very low Ebb when he entred on that Office and he possessed his Treasurers place some four years till he fell into the Duke of Bucks the best of Friends and worst of Foes displeasure Some say this Lord who rose cheifly by the Duke whose near Kinswoman he married endevoured to stand without yea in some cases for the Kings profit against him which Independency and opposition that Duke would not endure Flaws may soon be found and easily be made Breaches in great Officers who being active in many cannot be exact in all matters However this Lord by losing his Office saved himself departing from his Treasurers place which in that age was hard to keep Insomuch that one asking what was good to preserve Life was answered Get to be Lord Treasurer of England for they never do dye in their place which indeed was true for four Successions Retiring to his magnificent House at Copt-hall he there enjoyed himself contentedly entertained his friends bountifully neighbours hospitably poor charitably He was a proper person of comely presence chearful yet grave countenance and surely a solid and wise man And though their Soul be the fattest who only suck the sweet Milk they are the healthfullest who to use the Latine Phrase have tasted of both the Breasts of fortune He dyed as I collect anno 1644 and lyeth interred in a stately Monument in the Abby at Westminster Writers on the Law FLETA or FLEET We have spoken formerly of the Fleet as a Prison but here it importeth a person disguised under that name who it seems being committed to the Fleet therein wrote a Book of the Common Laws of England and other Antiquities There is some difference concerning the Time when this Learned Book of Fleta was set forth but it may be demonstrated done before the fourteenth of the Reign of King Edward the Third for he saith that it is no Murder except it be proved that the Party slain was English and no Stranger whereas this was altered in the fourteenth year of the said King when the killing of any though a Forreigner living under the Kings protection out of prepensed Malice was made Murder He seemeth to have lived about the End of King Edward the Second and beginning of King Edward the Third Seeing in that Juncture of Time two Kings in effect were in being the Father in right the Son in might a small contempt might cause a confinement to that place and as Loyal ubjects be within it as without it Sure it is that notwithstanding the confinement of the Author his Book hath had a good passage and is reputed Law to posterity CHRISTOPHER St. GERMAN Reader wipe thine eyes and let mine smart if thou readest not what richly deserves thine observation seeing he was a person remarkable for his Gentility Piety Chastity Charity Ability Industry and Vivacity 1. Gentility descended from a right ancient Family born as I have cause to believe in London and bred in the Inner Temple in the Study of our Laws 2. Piety he carried Saint in his nature as well as in his Surname constantly reading and expounding every night to his Family a Chapter in the Bible 3. Chastity living and dying unmarried without the least spot on his Reputation 4. Charity giving consilia and auxilia to all his People gratis
him renow'd throughout the Christian world Yet such the bafeness and ingratitude of the French that concluding a Peace with O. C. the Usurper of England they wholy forgot his former services and consented to the expulsion of this Prince and his royal brothers out of that Kingdome ãâã valour cannot long lye neglected soon was he courted by Don John de Austria into Flanders where in the action at Dunkirk he far surpassed his former deeds often forgetting that he was a Prince to shew himself a true souldier such his hazarding his person really worth ten thousand of them to the great molestation of his true friends Since God out of his infinite love to the English hath safely returned this Duke to his native Country where that he may long live to be the joy and delight of the whole Nation I shall constantly beg of God in my daily devotions ELIZABETH second daughter of King Charles the first and Queen Mary was born at Saint James's Anno 1635. on the 28. day of December She proved a Lady of parts above her age the quickness of her mind making recompence for the weakness of her body For the remainder of her life I will my hold peace and listen to my good friend Master John Buroughs thus expressing himself in a letter unto me The Princess Elizabeth with her Brother Henry Duke of Glocester being by order of parliament to be removed to Carisbroke-castle in the Isle of Wight where his Most Excellent Maiesty was lately a Prisoner were accordingly received by Mr. Anthony Mild may from the Earl and Countess of Leceister at Penshurst in Kent and began their unwilling journey on Friday 9. of August 1650. On the 16. of the same Month they were first lodged in Carisbroke-castle aforesaid The Princess being of a melancholy temper as affected above her age with the sad condition of her Family fell sick about the beginning of September following and continuâ⦠ãâã for three or four days having onely the Advise of Doctor Bignall a worthy and able ãâã of Newport After very many rare ejaculatory expressions abundantly demonstrating her unparalelled Piety to the eternal honour of her own memory and the astonishment of those who waited on her she took leave of the world on Sunday the eighth of the same September Her body being embalmed was carefully disposed of in a Coffin of Lead and on the four ãâã twentieth of the said Month was brought in a Borrowed Coach from the Castle to the Town of Newport attended thither with her few late Servants At the end of the ãâã the Corps were met and waited on by the Mayor and Aldermen thereof in their formalities to the Church where about the middle of the East part of the Chancel in Saint Thomas ãâã Chappel her Highness was interr'd in a small Vault purposely made with an Inscription of the date of her death engraved on her Coffin The ãâã of Norway where a Winters day is hardly an hour of clear light are the ãâã of wing of any Foul under the firmament nature teaching them to bestir themselves to lengthen the shortness of the time with their swiftness Such the active piety of this Lady improving the little life alloted her in running the way of Gods Commandeâ⦠ãâã third daughter to King Charles the first and Queen Mary was born at ãâã James's March 17. Anno Domini 1637. She was a very pregnant Lady above ãâã and died in her infancy when not full four years old Being minded by those ãâã her to call upon God even when the pangs of death were upon her I am not able saith she to say my long prayer meaning the Lords-prayer but I will say my short one Lighten mine eyes O Lord lest I sleep the sleep of death this done the little lamb gave up the ghost KATHARINE fourth daughter to King Charles the first and Queen Mary was born at White hall the Queen-Mother then being at Saint James's and survived not above half an hour after her baptizing So that it is charity to mention her whose memory is likely to be lost so short her continuance in this life The rather because her name is not entred as it ought into the Register of Saint Martins in the fields as indeed none of the Kings children save Prince Charles though they were born in that Parish And hereupon a story depends I am credibly informed that at the birth of every child of the King born at Whitehall or Saint James's full five pounds were ever faithfully paid to some unfaithful receivers thereof to record the names of such children in the Register of Saint Martins But the money being embââ¦iled we know by some God knows by whom no memorial is entred of them Sad that bounty should betray any to such baseness and that which was intended to make them the more solemnly remembred should occasion that they should be more silently forgotten Say not let the children of mean persons be written down in Registers Kings children are Registers to themselves or all England is a Register to them For sure I am this common confidence hath been the cause that we have been so often at a loss about the nativities and other properties of those of Royal extraction CHARLES STUART son to the Illustrious James Stuart Duke of York by Anne daughter to the Right Honourable Edward Hide Earl of Clarendon and Lord Chancellour of England and Frances his Lady descended of the Ancient Family of the Aylesburies High-sheriffs for many years together of Bedford and Buckinghamshire in the reign of King Edward the second and third was born at Worcester-house 22. day of October 1660. and christened by the Right Reverend Father in God Gilbert L. Bishop of London his Majesty and George Duke of Albemarle being his God-fathers and Mary the Queen-mother his God-mother He was declared Duke of Cambridge a title which to the great honour of that University for these four hundred years hath been onely conferred either on forraign Princes or persons of the Royal Bloud This Princely infant dyed May 5. 1661. Saints Saint WULSY being a man reputed when living and reported when dead of great vertue and innocency Was by Saint Dunstan created the first Abbot of Westminster where he lived many years very exemplary for his conversation untill his death which happened Anno Dom. 960. Then was his body buried in the same Monastery and the 26. day of September was kept by the Citizens of London with great Veneration of his miracle-working memory Martyrs I meet with none in this City and in my mean Judgment it is most observable that London having two Pages as I may term them attending it viz. Westminster and Southwark both joyned to it in buildings should be so different from it in condition in London we have no room to hold Martyrs in the other two no Martyrs to take up any room Inquiring the cause thereof we find these three places though contiguous not to say
continued in the raign of Queen Mary under three several jurisdictions London under bloudy Bonner who made havock of all he could come at Southwark under politick Gardner who took wit in his anger of whom formerly This Westminster under John Fecknam Abbot thereof with power Episcopal a man cruel to none courteous and charitable to all who needed his help or liberality Confessors Rain which Country-people say goeth by Planets goeth by Providence * I caused it to rain upon one City and caused it not to rain upon another Persecution observeth the same method ordered by the same power and pleasure A shower of bloud fell upon London whilst Westminster the next City did escape So that I find neither Martyr nor Confessor therein Meeting with none before let us proceed to Prelates since the Reformation RICHARD NEILE was born in Kings-street in this City and was bred in Saint Johns-colledge in Cambridge he was afterwards Vicar of Chesthunt in the County of Hartford presented thereunto by the honourable family of the Cecills he was the first and last Native of this City who became the Dean and so the supreme magistrate thereof Through many Bishopricks of Coventry and Lichfield Durham and Winchester he was at last preferred Arch-bishop of York being also Privy Counsellor to King James and King Charles He died Anno Domini 16. JOHN WARNER D. D. was born in the Parish of Saint Clements Danes within the Precincts of this City bred in Magdalen-colledge in Oxford at last preferred Bishop of Rochester This worthy Bishop perceiving the want of a fixed Font in the Cathedral Church of Canterbury bestow'd one upon it whether more curious or costly my Author could not decide it being both ways so excellent and exquisite A gift the more remarkable because the first which hath been offered by any private hand to that Church of later times But I suspect now this Font it self is washed away in the deluge of our late wars under the notion of superstition God hath given him a great Estate and a liberal heart to make use of it Keeping good Hospitality in the Christmas at Brumley as he fed many Poor so he freed himself from much trouble being absent when the rest of the Bishops subscribed their Protest in Parliament whereby he enjoy'd liberty in the restraint of others of his Order He was an able and active advocate for Episcopacy in the House of Lords speaking for them as long as he had any voice left him and then willing to have made signs in their iust defence if it might have been permitted him But it is now high time for me to put out my Candle when Day-light shines so bright I mean to desist from charactering of persons who are so perfectly known to so many alive I will only adde this eminent Prelate hath since seen the happy restitution of his order injoying again his former dignity who now is and long may be living 1661. Statesmen Sir FRANCIS BACON Knight youngest son to Sir Nicholas Bacon Lord Keeper was born in York-house Anno 1560. For being demanded his age by Queen Elizabeth he returned that he was two years younger then her Majesties reign He was bred in Trinity-colledge in Cambridge and there first fell into a dislike of Aristotles Philosophy as Barren and Jejune inabling some to dispute more to wrangle few to find out trueth and none if confining themselves to his Principles Hence it was that afterwards he traded so largely in experiments so that as Socrates is said to be the first who stooped Towring Speculations into Practical Morality Sir Francis was one of the first who reduced Notional to Real and Scientifical Philosophy He was afterwards bred in Grays-Inn in the Study of our Municipal Law attaining to great Eminency but no Preferment therein during the reign of Queen Elizabeth Imputable to the envy of a great Person who hindred his rising for fear to be hindred by him if risen and Eclipsed in his own profession Thus the strongest wing of merit cannot mount if a stronger weight of malice doth depress it Yet was he even then Favorite to a Favorite I mean the Earl of Essex and more true to him then the Earl was to himself For finding him to prefer destructive before displeasing Counsel Sir Francis fairly for sook not hââ¦s person whom his pity attended to the grave but practises and herein was not the worse friend for being the better subject By K. James he was made his Solicitor and afterwards his Atturney then priviledged contrary to custome to ââ¦it a member in Dom. Com. and at last Lord Chancellor of England His abilities were a clear conââ¦utation of two vulgar errors errors libells on learned men First that Judgement Wit Fancy and Memory cannot eminently be in conjunction in the same person whereas our Knight was a rich Cabinet fill'd with all four besides a golden key to open it Elocution Secondly That he who is something in all is nothing in any one Art whereas he was singular in singulis and being In at all came off with credit Such as condemn him for pride if in his place with the fift part of his parts had been ten times prouder themselves he had been a better Master if he had been a worse being too bountiful to his servants and either too confident of their honesty or too conniving at their falshood The story is told to his advantage that he had two Servants one in all causes Patron to the Plantiffe whom his charity presumed always injured the other to the Defendant pitying him as compelled to Law but taking bribes of both with this condition to restore the money received if the Cause went against them Their Lord ignorant hereof always did unpartial Justice whilst his men making people pay for what was given them by compact shared the money betwixt them which cost their Master the loss of his office Leading a private life he much delighted to study in the shade of solitariness and many useful discoveries in Nature were made by him so that he may be said to have left nothing to his Executors and all to his Heirs under which notion the learned of all ages may be beheld His vast bounty to such who brought him presents from great persons occasioned his want afterwards who in rewarding them so remembred that he had been Lord Chancellor that he forgot that he was but the Lord Verulam A Viscountry that began and ended in him dying issu'less it being remarkable that though we have had two Earls of several families of Saint Albans yet was there no Lord Verulam as if it were referved for that antient Roman Colony to be buried in its own reverend ruins and in this peerless Lords everlasting memory much admired by English more by out-landish men Distance diminishing his faults to be invisible to forreign eyes whilst we beheld his perfections abated with his failings He died Anno Domini 1626. in the
so the Cathedral dedicated unto him in this County challengeth the Precedency of all in England for a Majestick Western Front of Columel-work But alas This hath lately felt the misfortune of other Fabricks in this kind Yea as in a Gangrean one member is cut off to preserve the rest so I understand the Cloysters of this Cathedral were lately plucked down to repair the Body thereof and am heartily glad God in his mercy hath restored the onely remedy I mean its lands for the Cure thereof As for Civil Structures Holdenby-house lately carried away the credit built by Sir Christopher Hatton and accounted by him the last Monument of his Youth If Florence be said to be a City so fine that it ought not to be shown but on Holy-days Holdenby was a House which should not have been shown but on Christmas-day But alas Holedenby-house is taken away being the Embleme of human happiness both in the beauty and brittleness short flourishing and soon fading thereof Thus one demolishing Hammer can undoe more in a day then ten edifying Axes can advance in a Month. Next is Burleigh-house nigh Stamford built by William Lord Cecil Who so seriously compareth the late state of Holdenby and Burleigh will dispute wââ¦th himself whither the Offices of the Lord Chancellour or Treasurer of England be of greater Revenues seeing Holedenby may be said to show the Seal and Burleigh the Purse in their respective magnificence proportionable to the power and plenty of the two great Officers that built them Withorpe must not be forgot the least of Noble Houses and best of Lodges seeming but a dim reflection of Burleigh whence it is but a Mile distant It was built by Thomas Cecil Earl of Exeter to retire to as he pleasantly said out of the dust whilst his great House of Burleigh was a sweeping Castle Ashby the Noble Mansion of the Earl of Northampton succeeds most beautifull before a casual fire deformed part thereof But seeing fire is so furious a plunderer that it giveth whatsoever it taketh not away the condition of this house is not so much to be condoled as congratulated Besides these there be many others no County in England yeilding more Noble men no Noble men in England having fairer habitations And although the Freestone whereof they be built keepeth not so long the white innocence as Brick doth the blushing modesty thereof yet when the fresh luster is abated the full state thereof doth still remain The Wonders There is within the Demeasnes of Boughton the Barony of the Right Honorable Edward Lord Mountague a Spring which is conceived to turn wood into stone The truth is this the coldness of the water incrustateth wood or what else falleth into it on every side with a stony matter yet so that it doth not transubstantiate wood into stone For the wood remaineth entire within untill at last wholy consumed which giveth occasion to the former erroneous relation The like is reported of a Well in Candia with the same mistake that Quicquid incidit lapidescit But I have seen in Sidney-colledge in Cambridge a Skull brought thence which was candied over with stone within and without yet so as the bone remained intire in the middle as by a casual breach thereof did appear This Skull was sent for by King Charles and whilst I lived in the house by him safely again returned to the Colledge being a Prince as desirous in such cases to preserve others propriety as to satisfie his own curiosity Medicinal Waters Wellingborough-well Some may conceive it called Wellingborough from a sovereign Well therein anciently known afterwards obstructed with obscurity and re-discovered in our days But Master Camden doth marr their mart avouching the ancient name thereof Wedlingburough However thirty years since a water herein grew very famous insomuch that Queen Mary lay many weeks thereat What benefit her Majesty received by the Spring here I know not this I know that the Spring received benefit from her Majesty and the Town got credit and profit thereby But it seems all waters of this kind have though far from the Sea their ebbing and flowing I mean in esteem It was then full tide with Wellingburough-well which ever since hath abated and now I believe is at low water in its reputation Proverbs The Mayor of Northampton opens Oysters with his Dagger This Town being 80 miles from the Sea Sea fish may be presumed stale therein Yet have I heard that Oysters put up with care and carried in the cool were weekly brought fresh and good to Althrope the house of the Lord Spencer at equal distance Sweeter no doubt then those Oysters commonly carried over the Alpes well nigh 300. miles from Venice to Viena and there ââ¦eputed far fetch'd and deer bought daintes to great persons though sometimes very valiant their savour Nor is this a wonder seeing Plinny tell us that our English Oysters did Romanis culinis servire Serve the Kitchings of Rome Pickled as some suppose though others believe them preserved by an ingenious contrivance Epicures bear their brains in there bowels and some conceive them carried in their shells But seeing one of their own Emperours gave for his Motto Bonus odor hââ¦stis melior Civis occisi Good is the smell of an Enemy but better the smell of a Citizen of Rome killed I say unto such a Roman-Nose stinking may be better then sweet Oysters and to their Palates we 'll leave them He that must eat a buttered Fagot let him go to Northampton Because it is the dearest Town in England for fuel where no Coles can come by Water and little Wood doth grow on Land Camden saith of this County in general that it is Silvis nisi in ulteriori citeriori parte minùs laetus And if so when he wrote fifty years since surely it is less wooddy in our age What reformation of late hath been made in mens judgments and manners I know not sure I am that deformation hath been great in trees and timber who verily believe that the clearing of many dark places where formerly plenty of wood is all the new light this age produced Pity it is no better provision is made for the preservation of woods whose want will be soonest for our fire but will be saddest for our water when our naval walls shall be decayed Say not that want of wood will put posterity on witty inventions for that supply seeing he is neither pious nor prudent parent who spends his patrimony on design that the industry and ingenuity of his son may be quick'ned thereby Princes ELIZABETH daughter of Sir Richard Woodevill by the Lady Jaquet his wife formerly the relict of John Duke of Bedford was born at Grafton Honour in this County in proof whereof many stronge presumptions may be produced Sure I am if this Grafton saw her not first a child it beheld her first a Queen when married to King Edward the fourth This Elizabeth was widow to Sir John Grey who
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 countenanââ¦e their cause with so considerable a person Yet most ââ¦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 Qââ¦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-ââ¦ench or Common-Pleas wherein he continued for twelve years and upwards as appeareth by the date of his death out of an excellent Author Eodem anno obiit Martinus de Pateshulle Decanus St. Pauli London 18. Cal. Decem. vir mirae prudentiae Legum Regni peritissimus He was the fourth Dean of Saint Pauls as reckoned up in Bishop Godwin his Catalogue In that age we see Clergy men were not onely trusted with the spirit I mean the equity but also with the letter of the Law being Judges in those Courts wherein were the most strictest proceedings Sir THOMAS de BILLING was born in this County where two Villages his namesakes near Northampton and had his habitation in great state at Ashwell in this Shire He was made Chief-Justice of the Kings-Bench in the sixth and so continued till the one and twentieth of Edward the fourth whose lands and those very large have since by the Lovels descended to the Shirlies Nothing else have I to observe of him save that he married for his second wife Mary the daughter and heir of Robert Nesenham of Conington in Huntingtonshire the Relict of William Cotton whose issue possess her inheritance at this day and she lieth intomb'd in VVestminster Sir
itcrum tedeat esse tuam Do not the least part of your trust disdain Nor grudge of Boys to take the care again He lived to be a very aged man past seventy six and died Anno Domini 162. JOHN FLETCHER Son of Richard Fletcher D. D. was as by proportion of time is collectible born in this County before his Father was Bishop of Bristol or London and whilst as yet he was Dean of Peterborough He had an excellent wit which the back-friends to Stage-plays will say was neither idle nor well imploy'd For he and Francis Beaumont Esquire like Castor and Pollux most happy when in conjunction raised the English to equal the Athenian and Roman Theater Beaumont bringing the ballast of judgement Fletcher the sail of phantasie both compounding a Poet to admiration Meeting once in a Tavern to contrive the rude draught of a Tragedy Fletcher undertook to kill the King therein whose words being over-heard by a listener though his Loyalty not to be blamed herein he was accused of High Treason till the mistake soon appearing that the plot was onely against a Drammatick and Scenical King all wound off in merriment Nor could it be laid to Fletcher's charge what Ajax doth to Ulysses Nihil hic Diomede remoto When Diomede was gone He could do nought alone For surviving his partner he wrote good Comedies himself though inferiour to the former and no wonder if a single thread was not so strong as a twisted one He died as I am inform'd in London of the plague in the first of King Charles 1625. Sir HENRY MONTAGUE Knight third son to Sir Edward Montague Knight grand-child to Sir Edward Montague Knight Lord Chief-Justice of the Kings-bench was born at Boughton in this County One skilful in mysterious arts beholding him when a School-boy foretold that by the pregnancy of his parts he would raise himself above the rest of his family which came to pass accordingly He was bred first in Christs-colledge in Cambridge then in the Middle-Temple where he attained to great learning in the Laws and passed through many preferments viz. 1. Sergeant at Law 2. Knighted by King James July 22. 1602. 3. Recorder of London 4. Lord Chief-Justice of the Kings-Bench November 18. 1616. 5. Lord Treasurer of England Decem. 16. 1620. 6. Baron of Kimbolton 7. Viscount Mandevile 8. President of the Council Septem 29. 1621. 9. Earl of Manchester 10. Lord Privy-Seal He wisely perceiving that Courtiers were but as counters in the hands of Princes raised and depress'd in valuation at pleasure was contented rather to be set for a smaller sum then to be quite put up into the box Thus in point of place and preferment being pleased to be what the King would have him according to his Motto Movendo non mutando me he became almost what he would be himself finaly advanced to an Office of great honour When Lord Privy-Seal he brought the Court of Requests into such repute that what formerly was called the Almes-basket of the Chancery had in his time well nigh as much meat in and guests about it I mean Suits and Clients as the Chancery it self His meditations on Life and Death written in the time of his health may be presumed to have left good impressions on his own soul preparatory for his dissolution which happened 164. Writers JOHN of NORTHAMPTON in Latine Johannes Avonius was born in the Town of Northampton in ipso Insulae umbilico saith Bale and is not mistaken in his proportion This mindeth me of a village in this County sufficiently known commonly call'd Navesby whose Orthography Criticks will have Navelsby as in the middle of England This John became a Carmelite in his native Town and so addicted himself to the Study of Mathematicks that he became one of the most eminent in that age for practical experiments He was Author of a work which he called The Philosophers Ring This was not like The Philosophers Stone a thing meerly imaginary nor yet was it a work of the Cyclopedy of Arts as the sound may seem to import but it was in plain truth a perpetual Almanack I say Almanack which word though many make of Arabick extraction a great Antiquary will have it derived from the Dutch Al-mon-aght that is to say Al-mon-heed the regard or observation of all Moons However this work of John was beheld as a Master-piece of that age and since commented upon by other Writers He flourished Anno Domini 1340. ROBERT HOLCOT was born in a Village of this County so named bred in the University of Oxford and afterwards became a Dominican in Northampton A deep Scholar and yet commended to be prudent in rebus agendis and accounted one of the greatest School-men in that age Nor was he onely a Candle or domestick light confin'd within the walls of his own Country but his learning was a publick Luminary to all Christendome as appears by the praise which Trithemius bestoweth upon him Vir in Divinis Scripturis eruditissimus secularium literarum non ignarus ingenio praestans clarus eloquio declamator quoque sermonem egregius Scripsit multa praeclara opuscula quibus nomen suum posteris notificavit He died at Northampton of the plague Anno 1349 before he had finished his Lectures on the seventh of Ecclesiastes I say of the plague which at that time so raged in England that our Chroniclers affirm scarce a tenth person of all sorts was left alive Insomuch that the Churches and Church-yards in London not sussicing for their interments a new Church-yard was Consecrated in West-smithfield wherein fifty thousand were buried who at that time died of the pestilence ROBERT DODFORD was born in a Village so called in this County where the Wirlyes Gentlemen of good account have long had their habitation so named as I take it from a Ford over the river Avon and Dods Water-weeds commonly called by children Cats Tales growing thereabouts He was bred a Benedictine Monke in the Abby of Ramsey and applied himself to the Study of the Hebrew Tongue wherewith the Library of which he was Keeper in that Convent did much abound He wrote Postills on the Proverbs and other Sermons which the envy of time hath intercepted ââ¦rom us He is said to have flourished about the year 1370. by Bale though Pitz on what account I know not maketh him more ancient by an hundred years PETER PATESHULL was no doubt born in that Village not far from Northampton bred a Augustinian in Oxford however falling afterwards into some dislike of his Order he procured from Walter Dysse Legate to Pope Urbane the sixth a Dispensation to relinquish it and was made the Popes Honorary Chaplain Afterwards by often reading the works of Wickliffe but especially his book of Real Universals he became of his judgement and after the death of Wickliffe preached and promoted his doctrine he wrote an Exposition of the Prophesie of Hildegardes a Stinging
Esquire of Addington by Isabel his wife sister and at last sole heir to Henry Green of Drayton Esquire of whom formerly This Henry was afterwards Knighted and dying without Issue-male Elizabeth his daughter and co heir was married to John first Lord Mordant to whom she brought Draiton-house in this County and other fair lands as the partage of her portion NICHOLAS VAUX Mil. He was a jolly Gentleman both for Camp and Court a great Reveller good as well in a March as a Masque being Governour of Guines in Picardie whom King Hen. the eight for his Loyalty and Valour Created Baron of Harouden in this County Ancestor to Edward Lord Vaux now living This Sir Nicholas when young was the greatest Gallant of the English-Court no Knight at the marriage of Prince Arthur appearing in so costly an equipage when he wore a gown of purple velvet pight with pieces of gold so thick and massive that it was valued besides the silk and furs at a thousand pounds and the next day wore a Colar of S. S. which weighed as Goldsmiths reported eight hundred pounds of nobles Some will wonder that Empson and Dudley the Royal Promoters then in prime did not catch him by the Collar or pick an hole in his Gown upon the breach of some rusty penal sumptuary Statute the rather because lately the Earl of Oxford was heavily fined for supernumerous attendance But know that King Henry could better bear with ãâã then greatness in his Subjects especially when such expence cost ââ¦imself nothing and conduced much to the solemnity of his Sons Nuptials Besides such plate as wrought employed Artizans as massive retain'd its intrinsecal value with little loss either of the owners or Common-wealth HENRY the Eight 1 THOMAS PAR Mil. His former residence was at Kendal-Castle in Westmerland whence he removed into this Country having married Maud one of the daughters and co-heirs of Sir Thomas Green of Green-Norton He was father to Queen Katharine Par which rendereth a probability of her nativity in this County and to William Marquiss of Northampton of whom hereafter 15 WILLIAM FITZ-WILLIAMS Sen. Mil. This must be the person of whom I read this memorable passage in Stows Survey of London Sir William Fitz-Williams the elder being a Merchant-Taylor and servant sometime to Cardinal Wolsey was chosen Alderman of Bread-street-Ward in London Anno 1506. Going afterward to dwell at Milton in Northamptonshire in the fall of the Cardinal his former Master he gave him kind entertainment there at his house in the Country For which deed being called before the King and demanded how he durst entertain so great an Enemy to the State his Answer was that he had not contemptuously or wilfully done it but onely because he had been his Master and partly the means of his greatest fortunes The King was so well pleased with his Answer that saying himself had few such servants immediately Knighted him and afterwards made him a Privy Counsellour But we have formerly spoken of the benefactions of this worthy Knight in the County of Essex whereof he was Sheriffe in the sixth of King Henry the eight 17 WILLIAM PAR Mil. I have cause to be confident that this was he who being Uncle and Lord Chamberlain to Queen Katharine Par was afterwards by King Henry the eight Created Baron Par of Horton Left two daughters onely married into the Families of Tressame and Lane The Reader is requested to distinguish him from his Name-sake Nephew Sheriffe in the 25. of this Kings reign of whom hereafter 21 JOHN CLARKE Mil. I find there was one Sir John Clarke Knight who in the fifth of Henry the eight at the Siege of Terrowane took prisoner Lewis de Orleans Duke of Longevile and Marquiss of Rotueline This Sir John bare for his paternal Coat Argent on a Bend Gules three Swans proper between as many Pellets But afterwards in memory of his service aforesaid by special command from the King his Coat armour was rewarded with a Canton Sinister Azure and thereupon a Demi-ramme mounting Argent armed Or between two Flowers de lices in Chief of the last over all a Batune dexter-ways Argent as being the Arms of the Duke his prisoner and by Martial-law belonging to him He lieth buried in the next County viz. in the Church of Tame in Oxfordshire where his Coat and cause thereof is expressed on his Monument If this be not the same with Sir John Clarke our Sheriffe I am utterly at a loss and desire some others courteous direction All I will adde is this If any demand why this Knight did onely give a parcel and not the entire Arms of the Duke his prisoner a learned Antiquary returns this satisfactory answer That he who ââ¦aketh a Christian Captive is to give but part of his Arms to mind him of charitable moderation in using his success intimating withall that one taking a Pagan prisoner may justifie the bearing of his whole Coat by the laws of Armory I must not conceal that I have read in a most excellent Manuscript viz. the View of Staffordshire made by Sampson Erderswicke Esquire That one William Stamford in that County had good land given him therein for taking the Duke of Longevile prisoner August the 16. in the fifth of King Henry the eight History will not allow two Dukes of Longevile Captives and yet I have a belief for them both that Sir John Clarke and William Stamford were causae sociae of his Captivity and the King remunerated them both the former with an addition of honour the later with an accession of Estate 23 WILLIAM SPENCER Miles DAVID SISILL Arm. 24 DAVID CECILL Arm. Sir William Spencer dying it seems in his Sherivalty David Sissill supplied the remainder of that and was Sheriffe the next year This David had three times been Alderman of Stamford part whereof called Saint Martins is in this County viz. 1504. 1515. and 1526. and now twice Sheriffe of the County which proves him a person both of Birth Brains and Estate seeing in that age in this County so plentiful of capable persons none were advanced to that office except Esquires at least of much merrit The different spelling of his name is easily answered the one being according to his extraction of the Sitsilts of Alterynnis in Herefordshire the other according to the vulgar pronunciation All I will adde is this that his Grand-child William Cecil afterwards Baron of Burghley and Lord Treasurer of England being born Anno 1521. was just ten years of age in the Sherivalty of this David his Grand-father 25 WILLIAM PAR Mil. He was son to Sir Thomas Par of whom before Ten years after viz. in the 35. year of his reign King Henry the eight having newly married his Sister Queen Katharine Par made him Lord Par of Kendall and Earl of Essex in right of Anne Bourcher his wife King Edward the sixth Created him Marquiss of Northampton Under Queen Mary
he was condemned for siding with Queen Jane but pardoned his life and restored to his lands as by Queen Elizabeth to his honour Much was he given to Musick and Poetry and wanted not personal valour not unskillful though unsuccessful in Military Conduct as in the imployment against Ket He died Anno Domini 1571. without Issue Queen MARY 1 THOMAS TRESSAM Mil. He was a person of great command in this County and was zealous against the Court Faction in proclaiming and promoting Q. Mary to the Crown She therefore in gratitude made him the first and last Lord Prior of the re-erected Order of Saint Johns of Jerusalem Dying without Issue and being buried in Rushton Church his large lands descended to his Kinsman and Heir Thomas Tressam of whom hereafter Queen ELIZABETH 6 EDMUND BRUDENELL Arm. This is that worthy person of whom afterwards Knighted Master Camden entereth this honorable memorial Equibus Edmundus Brudenel Eques auratus non ita pridem defunctus venerandae antiquitatis summis fuit cultor admirator He may seem to have entailed his learned and liberal inclinations and abilities on his though not son heir Thomas Lord Brudenell of Stoughton then whom none of our Nobility more able in the English Antiquities 15 THOMAS TRESSAM Arm. The Queen Knighted him in the 18. year of her reign at Kenelworth Hard to say whether greater his delight or skill in buildings though more forward in beginning then fortunate in finishing his fabricks Amongst which the Market-house at Rothwell adorned with the armes of the Gentry of the County was highly commendable Having many daughters and being a great house-keeper he matched most of them into Honorable the rest of them into Worshipful and Wealthy Families He was zealous in the Romish perswasion though as yet not convicted which afterwards cost him a long confinement in Wisbich-Castle 20 THOMAS CECILL Mil. He was eldest son to Sir William Cecill then Baron of Burghley who would not have him by favour excused from serving his Country He afterwards was Earl of Exeter and married Dorothy one of the Co-heirs of the Lord Latimer These joyntly bestowed one hundred and eight pounds per annum on Clare-hall in Cambridge 24 THOMAS ANDREWS Arm. He attended the Execution of the Queen of Scots at Fotheringhay-Castle demeaning himself with much gravity to his great commendation 34 ANTHONY MILEMAY Esq. He was son to Sir Walter Privy-Councellor and Founder of Emanuel-colledge this Anthony was by Queen Elizabeth Knighted and sent over into France on an Embassy upon the same token he was at Geneva the same time Reader I have it from uncontrolable intelligence when Theodore Beza their Minister was convented before their Consistory and publiquely checqu'd for peaching too eloquently He pleaded that what they called eloquence in him was not affected but natural and promised to endeavour more plainness for the future Sir Anthony by Grace Co-heir to Sir Henry Sherington had one daughter Mary married to Sir Francis Fane afterwards Earl of Westmerland 43 ROBERT SPENCER Mil. He was the fifth Knight of his Family in an immediate succession well allied and extracted being a branch descended from the Spencers Earls of Gloucester and Winchester By King James in the first of his reign he was Created Baron Spencer of VVormeleiton in the County of VVarwick He was a good Patriot of a quick and clear spirit as by one passage may appear Speaking in Parliament of the valour of their English ancestors in defending the liberties of the Nation Your ancestours said the Earl of Arundel were keeping of sheep that Lord and his predecessours being known for the greatest Sheep-masters in England when those liberties were defended If they were in keeping of sheep return'd the other Yours were then in plotting of Treason Whose animosities for the present cost both of them a confinement yet so that afterwards the Upper House Ordered reparations to this Lord Spencer as first and causelesly provoked This Lord was also he who in the first of King James was sent with Sir VVilliam Dethick principal King of Armes to Frederick Duke of VVirtenberge elected into the Order of the Garter to present and invest him with the robes and ornaments thereof which were accordingly with great solemnity performed in the Cathedral of Studgard King JAMES 2 ARTHUR THROGKMORTON Mil. He was son to that eminent Knight Sir Nicholas Throgkmorton of whom in VVarwick shire and his Sister was married to Sir VValter Raleigh This Sir Arthur was a most ingenious Gentleman and dying without Issue-male his large estate was parted amongst his four daughters married to the Lord Dacres the Lord VVotton Sir Peter Temple of Stow Baronet and Sir Edward Partridge 3 JOHN FREEMAN Arm. He died without Issue and was a most bountiful Benefactour to Clare hall in Cambridge giving two thousand pounds to the founding of Fellowships and Scholarships therein 12 WILLIAM WILLMER Arm. He was the first Pensioner as Doctor James Mountague the first Master and Sir John Brewerton first Scholar of the House in Sidney-colledge being all three of them but in several proportions Benefactours to that Foundation 22 WILLIAM CHAUNCY Mil. These have been very but I know not how antient in this County but far antienter in Yorkshire For I meet with this Inscriptiou on a Monument at Sabridgeworth in Hertfordshire Hic jacent Johannes Chancy Ar. filius heres Johannis Chancy Ar. filii heredis Willielmi Chancy Mil. quondam Baronis de Shorpenbek in Com. Ebor. Anna uxor ejus una filiarum Johannis Leventhorpe Ar. qui quidem Johannes obiit VII Maii MCCCCLXXIX Annaii Decemb. MCCCCLXXVII quorum animabus It appeareth to me by a well proved pedegree that Henry Chancy Esq. of Yardlebury in Hertfordshire is the direct descendant from the aforesaid John Chancy whose Epitaph we have inserted King CHARLES 7 JOHN HEWET Baronet He had not one foot of land nor house hiring Hemington of the Lord Mountague in the whole County though several Statutes have provided that the Sheriffe should have sufficient land in the same Shire to answer the King and his people The best is this Baronet had a very fair estate elsewhere And as our English proverb saith VVhat is lost in the Hundred will be found in the Shire so what was lost in the Shire would be found in the Land However this was generally beheld as an injury that because he had offended a great Courtier the Sherivalty was by power imposed upon him The Farewell The worst I wish this my Native County is that Nine a River which some will have so term'd from Nine Tributary Rivolets were Ten I mean made navigable from Peterburg to Northampton A design which hath always met with many back-friends as private profit is though a secret a Sworn enemy to the general good Sure I am the Hollanders the best copy of thrift in Christendome teach their little ditches to bear Boats Not that their waters are more docible
here or Sea-cole brought hither This minds me of a passage wherein Oxford was much concerned When Shot-over Woods being bestowed by King Charles the First on a Person of Honour were likely to be cut down the University by Letters laboured their preservation wherein this among many other pathetical expressions That Oxford was one of the eyes of the Land and Shot-over Woods the hair of the Eye-lids the loss whereof must needs prejudice the sight with too much moisture flowing therein This retrenched that design'd for the present but in what case those Woods stand at this day is to me unknown Buildings The Colleges in Oxford advantaged by the vicinity of fair Free-stone do for the genââ¦rality of their structure carry away the credit from all in Christendom and equal any for the largness of their endowments It is not the least part of Oxfords happiness that a moity of her Founders were Prelates whereas ââ¦bridge hath but three Episcopal Foundations Peter-house Trinity-hall and Jesus who had an experimental knowledge what belonged to the necessities and conveniences of Scholars and therefore have accommodated them accordingly principally in providing them the patronages of many good Benefices whereby the Fellows of those Colleges are plentifully maintained after their leaving of the University Of the Colleges University is the oldest Pembroke the youngest Christ-church the greatest Lincolâ⦠by many reputed the least Magdalen the neatest Wadham the most uniform New-college the strongest and Jesus college no fault but its unhappiness the poorest and if I knew which was the richest I would not tell seeing concealment in this kind is the safest Hââ¦-college is most proper for Southern Exeter for Western Queens for Northern Brazen-nose for North-western men St. Johns for Londoners Jesus for Welsââ¦men and at other Colleges almost indifferently for men of all Countries Merton hath been most famous for School-men Corpus Chresti formerly called ãâã Gollegium for Linguists Christ-church for Poets All-souls for Orators New-college for Civilians Brazen-nose for Disputants Queens college for Metaphysicians ãâã for a laââ¦e series of Regius Professor's Magdalen for ancient St. Johns for modern Prelates and all eminent in some one kind or other And if any of these Colleges were transported into forreign parts it would alter its kind or degree at least and presently of a College proceed an University as equal to most and superiour to many ãâã beyond the Seas Before I conclude with these Colleges I must confess how much I was posed with a passage which I met within the Epistles of Erasmus writing to his familiar friend Ludââ¦vicus Vives then residing in Oxford in collegio Apum in the College of Bees according to his direction of his Letter I knew all Colleges may metaphorically be rermed the Colleges of Bees wherein the industrious Scholers live under the rule of one Master In which respect St. Hierom advised Rusticus the Monk to busie himself in making Bee-ââ¦ives that from thence he might learn Monasteriorum ordinem Regiam disciplinam the order of Monasteries and discipline of Kingly government But why any one College should be so signally called and which it was I was at a loss till at last seasonably satisfied that it was Corpus Christi whereon no unpleasant story doth depend In the year 1630. the Leads over Vives his Study being decayed were taken up and new cast by which occasion the Stall was taken and with it an incredible mass of Honey But the Bees as presaging their intended and imminent destruction whereas they were never known to have swarmed before did that Spring to preserve their famous kind send down a fair swarm into the Presidents Garden The which in the yâ⦠1633 yielded two Swarms one whereof pitched in the Garden for the President the other they ãâã up as a new Colony into their old Habitation there to continue the memory of this ãâã Doctor as the University styled him in a Letter to the ââ¦ardinal It seems theâ⦠Bees were Aborigines from the first building of the Colledge being called Collegium Apum in the Founders Statutes and so is John Claymââ¦d the first President thereof saluted by Erasâ⦠The Library If the Schools may be resembled to the Ring the Library may the better be compared to the Diamond therein not so much for the bunching forth beyond the rest as the preciousness thereof in some respects equalling any in Europe and in most kinds exceeding all in England yet our Land hath been ever ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã much given to the love of Books and let us Fleet the Cream of a few of the primest Libraries in all ages In the infancy of Christianity that at York bare away the Bell founded by Arch-Bishop Egbert and so highly praised by Alevinus in his Epistle to Charles the Great but long since abolished Before the dissolution of Abbies when all Cathedrââ¦s and Convents had their Libraries that at Ramsey was the greatest Rââ¦bbin spake the most and best Hebrew abounding in Iewish and not defective in other Books In that age of Lay Libraries as I may term them as belonging to the City I behold that pertaining to Guild-Hall as a principal ââ¦ounded by Richard Whââ¦ington whence three Cart loads of choice Manuscripts were carried in the raign of King Edward the sixth on the promise of never performed Restitution Since the Reformation that of Benet in Cambridge hath for Manuscripts exceeded any thank the cost and care of Mathew Parker Collegââ¦ate Library in England Of late Cambridge Library augmented with the Arch-Episcopal Library of Lambeth is grown the second in the Land As for private Libraries of Subjects that of Treasurer Burlies was the best for the use of a States-man the Lord Lumlies for an Historian the late Earl of Arundels for an Herald Sir Robert Cottons for an Antiquary and Arch-Bishop Ushers for a Divine Many other excellent Libraries there were oâ⦠particular persons Lord Brudnels Lord Hat tons c. routed by our Civil Wars and many Books which scaped the execution are fled transported into France Flanders and other forraign parts To return to Oxford Library which stands like Diâ⦠amongst her Nymphs and surpasseth all the rest for rarity and multitude of Books so that if any be wanting on any Subject it is because the world doth not afford them This Library was ââ¦ounded by Humphrey the Good Duke of Gloââ¦ster confounded in the raign of Edward the sixth by those who I list not to name re-founded by worthy Sir Thomas Bodley and the bounty of daily Benefactors As for the Kings Houses in this County Woodstock is justly to be preferred where the Wood and Water Nymphs might equally be pleased in its ââ¦uation Queen Elizabeth had a great affection for this place as one of her best Rââ¦membrancers of her condition when a prisoner here in none of the best lodgings in the raigâ⦠of her Sister Here she escaped a dangerous fire but whether casual or intentional God knoweth Here hearing
that the world may see what time cureth in a weak mind that Discretion and Moderation helpeth in you in this accident where there is so just cause to demonstrate true Patience and Moderation Your gracious and loving Sovereign E. R. Now thoughâ⦠nothing more consolatory and pathetical could be written from a Prince yet his death went so near to the heart of the Lord his ancient father that he dyed soon after Writers JOHN HANVILE took his name as I conceive from Hanwell a Village in this County now the habitation of the ancient Family of the Copes seeing none other in England both in sound and spelling draweth nearer to his Sirname He proceeded Master of Arts in Oxford then studied in Paris and travelled over most parts in Christendom He is commonly called Archithrenius or Priââ¦ce of lamentation being another Jeremy and man of mourning He wrote a book wherein he bemoned the errors and vices of his own Age and himself deserved to live in a better Yet this doleful Dove could peck as well as grone and somtimes was satyrical enough in his passion there being but a narrow ââ¦age betwixt grief and anger and bitterness is a quality common to them both He flourished under King John Anno 1200. and after his return from his travels is conceived by some to have lived and dyed a Benedictine of St. Albans JOHN of OXFORD was no doubt so named from his birth in that City otherwise had he onely had his Education or eminent learning therein there were hundreds Johns of Oxford as well as himself Hector Boethius sirnamed him a Vado Boum and owneth him the next Historian to Jeffrey Monmouth in age and industry He was a great Anti-Becketist as many more in that Age of greater learning except stubornness be made the standard thereof than Becket himself Being Dean of old Sarââ¦m and Chaplain to King Henry the second he was by him imployed with others to give an account to the Pope but I question wheââ¦her he would take it of the Kings carriage in the business of Becket He was preferred Anno 1175. Bishop of Norwich where he repaired his Cathedral lately defaced with fire built a fair Almes-house and Trinity-church in Ipswich His death happened Anno Dom. 1200. ROBERT BACON first Scholer of afterward a familiar Friend to St. Edmund Archbishop of Canterbury was bred a Doctor of Divinity in Oxford and when aged became a Dominican or preaching Fryer and for his Sermons he was highly esteemed by King Henry the third He was Lepidus Cynicus and a most profest enemy to Peter Roach Bishop of Winchester Matââ¦hew Paris gives him and another viz. Richard de Fishakle this praise Quibus non erant majores imò nec pares ut creditur viventes in Theologia aliis scientiis and I listen the rather to his commendation because being himself a Benedictine Monk he had an antipathy against all Fryers I behold this Robert Bacon as the senior of all the Bacons which like tributary streams disembogued themselves with all the credit of their actions into Roger Bacon who in process of time hath monopolized the honour of all his Sirname-sakes in Oxford Our Robert dyed Anno Dom 1248. ROBERT of OXFORD was not onely an Admirer but Adorer of Thomas Aquinas his contemporary accounting his Opinions Oracles as if it were a venial sin to doubt of and a mortal to deny any of them Mean time the Bishop of Paris with the consent of the Masters of Sorbonne the great Champions of liberty in this kind granted a licence to any Scholer Opinari de opinionibus to guess freely and by consequence to discuss in Disputations any mans Opinions which as yet by a general Council were not decided matters of faith Our Roberâ⦠much offended thereat wrote not onely against Henricus Gandavensis and Aegiââ¦ius Romanus but also the whole College of Sorbonne an act beheld of many as of more boldness than brains for a private person to perform He flourished under King Henry the third Anno Dom. 1270. JEFFREY CHAUCER was by most probability born at Woodstock in this County though other places lay stiff claim to his Nativity Berk-shires title Londons title Oxford shires title Leland confesseth it likely that he was born in Barochensi provincia and Mr. Cambden avoweth that Dunington-castle nigh unto Newburie was anciently his Inheritance There was lately an old Oake standing in the Park called Chaucers Oake The Author of his life set forth 1602. proveth him born in London out of these his own words in the Testament of love Also in the Citie of London that is to mââ¦e ââ¦ot deare and swéete in which I was foorth growne and more kindely love have I to that place than to any other in yerth as every kindely creature hath full appetite to that place of his kindly ingendure Besides Mr. Cambden praiseth Mr. Edmund Spencer the Londoner for the best Poet Ne Chaucero quidem concive excepto Chaucer himself his fellow-citizen not being excepted Leland addeth a probability of his birth in Oxford-shire and Cambden saith of Woodstock Cuâ⦠nihil habeat quod ostentet Hââ¦merum nostrum Anglicum Galfredum Chaucerum alumnum suum fuisse gloriatur Besides â⦠Pits is positive that his father was a Knight and that he was born at Woodstock And Queen Elizabeth passed a fair stone-house next to her Palace in that Town unto the Tenant by the name of Chaucers house whereby it is also known at this day Now what is to be done to decide the difference herein Indeed Appion the Grammarian would have Homer concerning whose Birth-place there was so much controversie raised ab Inferis that he might give a true account of the place of his Nativity However our Chaucer is placed heââ¦e having just grounds for the same untill stronger reasons are brought to remove him He was a terse and elegant Poââ¦t the Homer of his Age and so refined our English Tongue Ut inter expolitas gentium linguas potuit rectè quidem connumerari His skill in Mathematicks was great being instructed therein by Joannes Sombus and Nicholas of Linn which he evidenceth in his book De Sphaera He being Contemporary with Gower was living Anno Dom. 1402. Since the Reformation THOMAS LYDYATE Now I find the old sentence to be true Difficile fugitivas mortuorum memorias retrahere seeing all my industry and inquiry can retrive very little of this worthy person and the Reader I hope will not be angry with me who am so much grieved with my self for the same Indeed contradicting qualities met in him Eminency and Obscurity the former for his Learning the later for his Living All that we can recover of him is as followeth He was born at Alkerton in this County bred first in Winchester school then in New college in Oxford being admitted therein Iune 22. 1593. An admirable Mathematician witness these his learned
15 Hen. Rainford ar   16 Will. Babington m.  Ar. ten Torteauxes ãâã -3. 2. 1. 17 Mich. Molyns ar   18 Rob. Doyle mil. Ioh. Coop ar ut infra ut infra  19 Will. Hawtry ar   20 Ric. Corbet ar  Or a Raven proper 21 Edm. Bray ar   22 Ric. Hudleston ar  Gul. Frettee Arg. 23 Tho. Denton ar   24 Anth. Cope ar Hanwell Arg. on a Chev. Az. betwixt 3. 25 Ric. Fines ar ut prius Roses G. slipped and leaved 26 On. Oglethoââ¦p ar a Newingt Vert 3. Flower de luces Or. 27 Ioh. Doyle ar b  a Arg. a Chev. varry Or and 28 Idem ut prius Vert betwixt 3. Boyes heads 29 Mich. Blount ar c Maph Du. sable cut of G. 30 Ioh. Danvers ar ut prius b Or two Bends Arg. 31 Will. Clarke ar  c Barry Formy Nebââ¦le of 6. 32 Will. Spencer ar d Yardingt Or and Sable 33 Anth. Cope mil. ut prius d Quarterly Ar. G. a Fret 34 Ro. Chamblayn a. e  Or. on a Bend sab 3. Escalops of the first 35 Fran. Stonard ar f Stonard  36 Ric. Fenys mil. ut prius e Gul. a Cheveron Arg. betwixt three Escalops Or. 37 Oni. Oglethorpe ar ut prius  38 Will. Freer ar g Water E. f Az. two Bars Dancettee Or a Chief Arg. 39 Gorg. Broome ar   40 Mich. Blount ar ut prius g Gul. two Flanches Or three VVheat-ears erect in Fess counterchanged 41 Fran. Curson ar   42 Will. Greene ar   43 Will. Pope ar Wiscot Per pale Or Az. on a chev betw 3. Griffins heads erazed 4. Flower de luces all counterchanged 44 Ric. Farmer mil. *  * Arg. a Fess sab twixt three Leopards heads erazed Gul. JACOB   Anno   1 Anth. Cope mil. ut prius  2 Gorg. Tipping ar   3 Iac. Harrington m.  Sable a Fret Arg. 4 Tho. Temple mil. Buckin Arg. on two Bars sab 6. 5 Roland Lacy mil.  Martlets Or. 6 Hen. Samborne ar   7 Mich. Dormer mil.  Az. ten billets 4. 3. 2. 1. 8 Bene. WinchcoÌbe a  Or in a Chief of the second a Lion issuant sable 9 Tho. Moyle ar â  â Gul. a Mule passant Arg. 10 Will. Clerke mil.   11 Hen. Lee bar Dichley Arg. a Fess betw 3. cressants S. 12 Edw. Dunch ar  S. a chev betw 3. Towers Arg. 13 Tho. Read ar  G. a saltire twixt 4. Garbs O. 14 Th. Spencer m. b. ut prius  15 Ioh. Curson mil.   16 Edw. Fenner ar   17 Will. Cope m. b. ut prius  18 Ric. Baker mil.   19 Fra. Stoner mil. ut prius  20 ââ¦owlan Lacy ar   21 Will. Aishcombe m   22 Walt. Dunch ar ut prius  CAROL I.   Anno   1 Ric. Blount mil. ut prius  2 Ric. Lovelace mil. modo dom Lovelace Cope Doyley mil. Berk-shire ut prius Gul. a Chief indented sable 3. Martlets Or. 3 Ric. Wenman mil. modo dom Wenman ut prius ut prius  4 Rob. Dormer mil. ut prius  5 Will. Cobb mil. Adderbury  6 Ioh. Lacy mil.   7 Ioh. Harborne ar   8 Tho. Coghill ar modo Miles Bleââ¦hing Gules on a Cheveron Arg. 3. Ogresses a Chief sable 9 Ioh. Mellor mil.   10 Pet. Wentworth Miles Baranit  Sable a Cheveron betwixt 3. Leopards heads Or. 11 Fran. Norris mil.  Quarterly Arg. Gââ¦a a Fret or with a Fess Az. 12 Will. Walter ar * Saresden * Az. 3. Eagles displayed Arg 13 T. Peniston m. b. â  â Arg. 3. Cornish-choughs prop. 14 Ioh. Doyly ar ut prius  15 Rad. Warcoppe ar   16 Ric. Libb ar   17 Tho. Tippin ar   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   Q. Elizabeth 11. WILLIAM TAVERNER Arm. This was he who in the year of his Sherivalty came to Oxford and went up into the Pulpit at St. Maries with a sword by his side and a gold chain about his neck where he made a Sermon or an Oration rather to the University the stuff or rather bombace whereof we have set down in our Ecclesiastical History Now though this was an odde act wherein his zeal was conceived by most to trespass on his discretion yet was it born the better in those darker dayes from a person well-affected in Religion and abhorring to invade the Ministerial Function 18. ROBERT DOYLE Mil. This year if I mistake not were the black Assizes at Oxford wherein contrary to the common course the Prisoners caused the death of the Judge Chief-Baron Bell the Sheriff some of the Lawyers many of the Justices and most of the Jury besides other persons of Quality there present It was generally imputed to the stench of the prisoners clothes and bodies for whereas other offensive smells are open enemies and violently assaulting the brain warn men in some sort to avoid or resist them a Gaolstench trecherously pretendeth alliance as made of man-sweat and so insinuates it self with the less suspicion and more danger into the spirits 31. WILLIAM CLARKE Arm. He was son or if the same with Sir VVilliam Clarke Sheriff in the 10. of K. James grand-child to Sir John Clarke of Northampton-shire in the 21. of K. Henry the eight whose Armes with the honourable augmentation and the worthy cause thereof are there largely described 36. RICHARD PENYS Mil. He was a worthy Gentleman and bred Fellow being the Founders Kinsman of New-college in Oxford He was also lineally descended from James Lord Say and Seal Tresurer of England in the reign of K. Henry the sixth and in consideration thereof was 1. Jacobi created Lord Say and Seal He dyed Anno Dom. 1612. William Fenys his eldest son was since created Viscount Say and Seal and is still alive K. Charles I. 3. RICHARD WENMAN Mil. This worthy Knight was by K. Charles the first created first Baron Wenman of Chilmaynam in the County of Dublin and then Viscount Wenman of Tuant in the County of Galloway both in the Kingdom of Ireland by Letters Patents dated at Cambrey the 25. of July 1628. 4 Caroli The Farewell As for the poorer sort of Husbandmen in this County I wish there may be more Sir Henry Kebles for their sakes This Knight though a Native of London and Lord Mayor thereof had such an affection for this and Warwick-shire that he singled out an hundred and fifty of the poorest Husbandmen therein and gave each of them a new Plough-share and a new Coulter of Iron and in my mind that is the most charitable Charity which inableth decayed industry to follow its Vocation RUTLAND-SHIRE is by a double Diminutive called by Mr. Cambden Angliae Provinciola
minima Indeed it is but the Pestel of a Lark which is better than a quarter of some bigger bird having the most cleanly profit in it No place so fair for the Rider being more fruitful for the Abider therein Banââ¦shing the fable of King Rott and their fond conceit who will have Rutland so called from Roet the French word for a Wheel from the rotundity thereof being in form almost exactly orbicular it is so termed quasi Red-land for as if Nature kept a Dye-vat herein a reddish tincture discoloureth the earth stones yea the very flieces of the sheep feeding therein If the Rabbins observation be true who distinguish betwixt Arets the general element of the earth and Adamah red ground from which Adam was taken and named making the later the former refined Rutlands soil on the same reason may lay claim to more than ordinary purity and perfection Buildings Burgley on the Hill belonged formerly to the Lords Harrington but since so beautified with buildings by the Duke of Buckingham that it was inferiour to few for the House superiour to all for the Stable where horses if their pabulum so plenty as their stabulum stately were the best accommodated in England But alas what saith Menedemus to Chremas in the Comedy Filium unicum adolescentulum habeo Ah quid dixi habere me immo habui so may Rutland say I have yea I had one most magnificent house this Burgley being since demolished in our Civil war so just was the Poets ancient Invective ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Mars Mars bane of men slaughter-stain'd spoiler of houses But when we have first sufficiently bemoned the loss of so many worthy men in our late war if then we have still any sorrow left and tears to spare we will spend them in lamenting the razing and ruining of so many stately structures Wonders How it will appear to the Reader I know not but it is wonderful in my apprehension that this County so pleasant so fruitful almost in the middle of England had not one absolute or entire Abby therein producing onely two small appurtenances of inconsiderable value to Convents in other Counties viz. Okehame under the custody of the Priory of St. Anne by Coventry founded by William Dalby for two Chaplains and twelve poor receiving in all one and twenty pounds per annum Brook a Cell to Killingworth founded by Walkeline de Ferrers Baron of Okeham for black Canons valued at the dissolution at fourty three pounds thirteen shillings and four pence The like cannot be parallell'd in England chuse so great a parcel of good ground where you please Shew me so fair a bunch of sweet grapes which had no more flies to suck them Nor can I conjecture any competent cause thereof except because Edward the Confessor by his Will gave all Rutland to Westminster Church which though rescinded by King William the Conqueror yet other Convents perchance might be scrupulous to accept what once belonged to another Foundation Proverbs Rutland Raddleman I meet in an Author with this blazon as he termes it of Rutland-shire though I can scarcely recover the meaning thereof Rad here is the same with red onely more broadly pronounced as Radcliffe de rubro clivo Redcliffe Raddleman then is a Reddleman a Trade and that a poor one onely in this County whence men bring on their backs a pack of red stone or Oker which they sell to their neighbouring Countries for the marking of sheep well nigh as ââ¦scernable and far less hurtful to the wooll as Pitch-brands made on their flieces Saints St. Tibba Because this County is Princeless I mean affords no Royal Nativities we begin with Saints and here almost we are at a loss finding but one worshipped therein and probably a Native thereof But seriously peruse I pray the words of our Author speaking of Rihall a Village in this County VVhere when superstition had so bewitched our Anchestours that the multitude of their pety Saints had well neere taken quite away the true God one Tibba a pety Saint or Goddesse reputed to be the tutelar patronesse of Hawking was of Fowlers and Falconers worshipped as a second Diana This Saint of Falconers doth stive so high into the air that my Industry cannot flye home after the same so as to give a good account thereof to the Reader All that I can retrive of her is digested into these following particulars 1. She was a Female whose sex dubious in the English is cleared in the Latine Cambden Tibba minorum gentium Sancta 2. Though gentium may import something of Heathenism Sancta carries it cleer for Christianity that she was no Pagan Deity amongst the Britons who were not our Ancestors but Predecessors but a Popish she-Saint amongst the Saxons 3. She could not be St. Ebba a Virgin Saint of whom formerly in Northumberland whom the Country-people nick-name Tabbs for St. Ebbs. 4. My best inquiry making use of mine own and friends industry perusing Authors proper to this purpose cannot meet with this Tibb with all our industry But I will trouble my self and the Reader no longer with this Saint which if she will not be found even for me let her be lost onely observe after that superstition had appointed Saints to all Vocations St. Luke to Painters St. Crispin to Shoomakers c. she then began to appoint Patrons to Recreations and surely Falconers generally according to the Popish principles if any need a Saint both to protect them in their despeââ¦are Riding and pray for a pardon for their profane oaths in their passions A Post-script ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã at last we have found it She was no Pagan Deity but a Saxon Saint as plainly appeareth because the passage concerning her is commanded to be expung'd out of Cambden by the Index expurgatorius bearing a Pique thereat as grating against their superstitious practice The same no doubt with Tibba Virgin and Anchoress who living at Dormundcaster dyed with the reputation of holiness about the year 660. However Reader I am not ashamed to suffer my former doubts and disquisitions still to stand though since arrived at better information Benefactors to the Publick WILLIAM BROWNE Esq twice Alderman of Stamford Merchant of the Staple was as I am credibly informed extracted from the ancient Family of Brownes of Tââ¦llThorp in this County He built on his own proper cost the beautiful Steeple with a great part of the Church of All-Saints in Stamford and lyeth therein with his wife buried in a Chappel proper to his Family He also erected Anno 1493. the old Bead-house in that Town for a Warden Confrater twelve poor old men with a Nurse-woman to attend them To this he gave the Manor of Swayfeld seven miles from Stamford worth four hundred pounds per annum besides divers Lands and Tenements elsewhere I am loth to insert and loth to omit what followeth in my Author viz. That the pious and liberal gift is
licet nos vel heredi nostri sit una pars Et ulterius de habundanciori gratia nostra concessimus praefato Francisco quod si ipse ad aliqua officia superdict seu aliquod praemissorum eligat ipseque officia superdict recusavit extunc idem Franciscus aliquem contemptum depââ¦rdit poenam fortisfitur aut aliquos exutos fines redemptiones seu amerciament quaecunque occasione omissionis sive non omissionis aut alicujus eorundem nullatenus incurrat fortisfaciat aut perdet sed quod praesens carta nostra de exemptione coram quibuscunque justic nostris hered nostr ac in quocunque loco aut curia de record per totum regnum nostrum praedict super demonstratione ejusdem chartae nostrae absque aliquo brevi praecept seu mandat aut aliquo alio superinde habend seu persequend vel aliqua proclamatione faciend praefato Francisco allocetur Concessimus etiam per praesentes concedimus eidem Francisco quod ipse de cetero durante vita sua in praesentia nostra aut hered nostrorum aut in praesentia alicujus sive aliquorum magnatum dominorum spiritualium vel temporalium aut aliquorum aliorum regni nostri quorumcunque quibuscunque temporibus futuris pilio sit coopertus capite non exuat aut deponat pilium suum à capite suo occasione vel causa quacunque contra voluntatem aut placitum suum ideo vobis omnibus singulis aut quibuscunque Justic. Judicibus Vicomitibus Escaetoribus Coronatoribus Majoribus praepositis Balivis aliis officiariis ministris nostris hered nostrââ¦rum firmiter injungendo mandamus quod ipsum Franciscum contra hanc concessionem nostr contra tenorem exegent aut effect praesent non vexetis perturb molest in aliquo seu gravetis In cujus reitestim has literas nostras fieri fecimus Patentes Teste meipso apud Westm. sexto die Julii anno regni nostri decimo octavo Per ipsum Regem de dat praedict authoritate Parliamenti Tolethorpe the chief place of residence at this day of Christopher Browne Esquire who hath born the office of Sheriff in this County 1647. was by Deed conveyed unto John Browne from Thomas Burton Knight in the fiftieth year of King Edward the third I meet with a Browne Lord Mayor of London 1479. the son of John Browne of Oakham The Farewell Let not the Inhabitants of Rutland complain that they are pinned up within the confines of a narrow County seeing the goodness thereof equals any Shire in England for fertility of ground But rather let them thank God who hath cast their lot into so pleasant a place giving them a goodly heritage SHROP-SHIRE hath Cheshire on the North Staffordshire on the East Worcester Hereford and Radnorshires on the South Montgomery and Denbighshires on the West The length thereof from North to South is 34 Miles and the generall breadth thereof about 26 Miles I behold it really though not so Reputed the biggest Lund-lock-shire in England For although according to Mr. Speeds mea-suring it gathereth but one hundred thirty four miles short of Wiltshireby five in Circumference Yet though less in compasse it may be more in Content as lesse angular in my eye and more approaching to a Circle the form of greatest capacity A large and lovely County generally fair and fruitful affording Grasse Grain and all things necessary for Mans sustenance but chiefly abounding with Naturall Commodities Iron It is the most impure of all Metals hardly meltable but with Additaments yea malleable and ductible with difficulty Not like that at Damascus which they refine in such sort that it will melt at a Lamp and yet so tough that it will hardly break Some impute the grossenesse of our English Iron to our water not so proper for that purpose as in Spain and other parts and the Poet telleth us of Turnus his Sword Ensem quem Dauno igni potens Deus ipse parenti Fecerat Stygia candentem extinxerat unda Sword which god Vulcan did for Daunus fixe And quenched it when firy hot in Stix However many Vtensils are made of the Iron of this County to the great profit of the Owners and no losse I hope of the Common-wealth Coale One may observe a threefold difference in our English-Coale 1 Sea-coale brought from Newcastle 2 Land-coale at Mendip Bedworth c. and carted into other Counties 3 What one may call River or Fresh-water-Coale digged out in this County at such a distance from Severne that they are easily ported by Boat into other Shires O ifthis COALE could be so charcked as to make Iron melt out of the Stone as it maketh it in Smiths Forges to be wrought in the Bars But Rome was not built all in one day and a NEW WORLD of Experiments is left to the discovery of Posterity Manufactures This County can boast of no one her ORIGINAL but may be glad of one to her DERIVATIVE viz. the VVelsh-Freeses brought to Oswastre the staple of that commodity as hereafter ââ¦hall be observed The Buildings No County in England hath such a heap of Castles together insomuch that Shropshire may seeme on the VVest divided from VVales with a VVall of continued Castles It is much that Mr. Speed which alloweth but one hundred eighty six in all England accounteth two and thirty in this County But as Great Guns so usefull in the side of a ship are uselesse in the middle thereof so these Castles formerly serviceable whilst Shropshire was the verge of English Dominions are now neglected this Shire being almost in the middest of England since VVales was peaceably annexed thereunto As for the Houses of the Gentry of this County as many of them are fair and handsome so none amount to an extraordinary Eminence Medicinall Waters There is a Spring at Pitch-ford in this Shire which hath an oily unctuous matter swimming upon the water thereof Indeed it is not in such plenty as in a River neer to Solos in Cilicia so full of that liquid substance that such as wash therein seem anointed with Oile nor so abundant as in the Springs neer the Cape of S. Helen wherewith as Josephus Acosta reports men use to pitch their Ropes and Tackling I know not whether the sanative virtue thereof hath been experimented but am sure that if it be Bitumen it is good to comfort the Nerves supple the Joynts drye up Rheumes cure Palsies and Contractions I have nothing more to say of Bitumen but that great the affinity thereof is with Sulphur save that Sulphur hath ingression into Mettal and Bitumen none at all Here I purposely passe by Okenyate in this County where are Allum springs whereof the Dyers of Shrewsbury make use instead of Allum Proverbs He that fetcheth a VVife from Shrewsbury must cary her into Staffordshire or else shall live in Cumberland The Staple-wit of this vulgar Proverb consisting solely in similitude of sound is scarce
his Paynes and Piety Prelates ROBERT of SHREWSBURY was in the reign of King John but I dare not say by him preferred Bishop of Bangor 1197. Afterwards the King waging war with Leoline Prince of Wales took this Bishop prisoner in his own Cathedral Church and enjoyned him to pay Three hundred Hawkes for his ransome Say not that it was improper that a Man of Peace should be ransomed with Birds of Prey seeing the Bishop had learnt the Rule Redime te captum quam queas minimo Besides 300 Hawkes will not seem so inconsiderable a matter to him that hath read how in the reign of King Charles an English Noble Man taken prisoner at the I le Ree was ransomed for a Brace of Grey-hounds Such who admire where the Bishop on a sudden should furnish himself with a stock of such Fowl will abate of their wonder when they remember that about this time the Men of Norway whence we have the best Hawkes under Magnus their General had possessed themselves of the Neighbouring Iland of Anglesea Besides he might stock himself out of the Aryes of Pembrook-shire where Perigrines did plentifully breed How ever this Bishop appeareth something humerous by one passage in his Will wherein he gave order that his Body should be buried in the middle of the Market place of Shrewsbury Impute it not to his profaness and contempt of Consecrated ground but either to his humility accounting himself unworthy thereof or to his prudential fore-sight that the fury of Souldiers during the intestine War betwixt the English and Welsh would fall fiercest on Churches as the fairest market and men preferring their profit before their Piety would preserve their Market-places though their Churches were destroyed He died Anno 1215. ROBERT BURNEL was son to Robert and brother to Hugh Lord Burnel whose Prime Seat was at Acton-Burnel-Castle in this County He was by King Edwà rd the First preferred Bishop of Bath and VVellââ¦s and first Treasurer then Chancelor of England He was well vers'd in the Welsh affairs and much us'd in managing them and that he might the more effectually attend such employment caused the Court of Chancery to be kept at Bristol He got great Wealth wherewith he enriched his kindred and is supposed to have rebuilt the decayed Castle of Acton-Burnel on his own expence And to decline envy for his secular structures left to his heirs he built for his Successors the beautiful Hall at VVells the biggest room of any Bishops Palace in England pluck'd down by Sir John Gabos afterwards executed for Treason in the reign of King Edward the Sixth English and Welsh affaires being setled to the Kings contentment he employed Bishop Burnel in some businesse about Scotland in the Marches whereof he died Anno Domini 1292. and his body solemnly brought many miles was buried in his own Cathedral WALTER de WENLOCK Abbot of Westminster was no doubt so named from his Nativity in a Market Town in this County I admire much that Matthew of VVestminster writeth him VVilliam de VVenlock and that a Monk of VVestminster should though not miscall mis-name the Abbot thereof He was Treasurer of England to King Edward the First betwixt the twelfth and fourteenth year of his reign and enjoyed his Abbots Office six and twenty years lacking six dayes He died on Christmasse day at his Mannor of Periford in Glocester-shire 1307 and was buried in his Church at VVestminster besides the High-Altar before the Presbutery without the South dore of King Edward's Shrine where Abbas VValterus non fuit Ausââ¦erus is part of his Epitaph RALPH of SHREWSBURY born therein was in the third of King Edward the Third preferred Bishop of Bath VVells Being consecrated without the Popes privity a daring adventure in those dayes he paid a large sum to expiate his presumption therein He was a good Benefactor to his Cathedral and bestowed on them a Chest Port-cullis-like barred with iron able to hold out a siege in the view of such as beheld it But what is of proof against Sacriledge Some Thieves with what Engines unknown in the reign of Queen Elizabeth forced it open But this Bishop is most memorable for erecting and endowing a spacious structure for the Vicars-Choral of his Cathedral to inhabit together which in an old Picture is thus presented The Vicars humble petition on their knees Per vicos positi villae Pater alme rogamus Ut simul uniti te dante domos maneamus To us dispers'd i th' streets good Father give A place where we together all my live The gracious answer of the Bishop sitting Vestra petunt merita quod sint concessa petita Ut maneatis ita loca fecimus haec stabilita Your merits crave that what you crave be yeilded That so you may remain this place we 've builded Having now made such a Palace as I may term it for his Vicars he was in observation of a proportionable distance necessitated in some sort to enlarge the Bishops Seat which he beautified and fortified Castle-wise with great expence He much ingratiated himself with the Country people by disforasting Mendip Beef better pleasing the Husbandmans palate than Venison He sate Bishop thirty four years and dying August 14. 1363. lieth buried in his Cathedral where his Statue is done to the life Vivos viventes vultus vividissimè exprimens saith my Authour ROBERT MASCAL Was bred saith Bale in and born saith Pitz positively at Ludlow in this County where he became a Carmelite Afterwards he studied in Oxford and became so famous for his Learning and Piety that he was made Confessor to Henry the Fourth and Counsellor to Henry the Fifth Promoted by the former Bishop of Hereford He was one of the Three English Prelates which went to and one of the Two which returned alive from the Council of Constance He died 1416 being buried in the Church of White-Friers in London to which he had been an eminent Benefactor RICHARD TALBOTE was born of Honourable Parentage in this County as Brother unto John Talbote the first Earl of Shrewsbury Being bred in Learning he was consecrated Arch-bishop of Dublin in Ireland 1417. He sate two and thirty years in that See being all that time a Privy Counsellor to King Henry the Fifth and Sixth twice Chief Justice and once Chancelor of Ireland He deserved well of his Church founding six petty Canons and as many Choristers therein yea generally of all Ireland writing a Book against James Earl of Ormond wherein he detected his abuses during his Lieutenancy in Ireland He died August the 15. 1449. and lieth buried in Saint Patricks in Dublin under a marble stone whereon an Eââ¦itaph is written not worthy the inserting The said Richard was unanimously chosen Arch-bishop of Armagh a higher place but refused to remove wisely preferring Safety above either Honor or Profit GEORGE DAY was born in this County and successively Scholer Fellow and
of his Nativity Prelates JOCELINE of WELLS Bishop Godwin was convinced by such evidences as he had seen that he was both born and bred in Welles becomming afterwards the Bishop thereof Now whereas his Predecessors stiled themselves Bishops of Glaston especially for some few years after their first Consecration He first fixed on the Title of Bath and Wells and transmitted it to all his Successors In his time the Monks of Glassenbury being very desirous to be only subjected to their own Abbot purchased their Exemption by parting with four fair Mannors to the See of Wells This Joceline after his return from his five years Exile in France banished with Archbishop Langton on the same account of obstinacy against King John layed out himself wholely on the beautifying and enriching of his Cathedral He erected some new Prebends and to the use of the Chapter appropiated many Churches increasing the revenues of the Dignities so fitter called than Profits so mean then their maintenance and to the Episcopal See he gave three Mannors of great value He with Hugo Bishop of Lincoln was the joynt Founder of the Hospital of St. Johns in Wells and on his own sole cost built two very fair Chappels one at VVokey the other at VVells But the Church of VVells was the Master-piece of his Works not so much repaired as rebuilt by him and well might he therein have been afforded a quiet repose And yet some have plundered his Tomb of his Effigies in Brasse being so rudely rent off it hath not only defaced his Monument but even hazarded the ruin thereof He sat Bishop which was very remarkable more than thirty seven years God to Square his great undertakings giving him a long life to his large heart and died 1242. FULKE of SAMFORD was born in this County but in which of the Samfords there being four of that name therein none elsewhere in England is hard and not necessary to decide He was first preferred Treasurer of St. Pauls in London and then by Papal Bull declared Archbishop of Dublin 1256. Mr. Paris calleth him Fulk Basset by mistake He died in his Mannor of Finglas 1271 and was buried in the Church of St. Patrick in the Chappel of St. Maries which likely was erected by him JOHN of SAMFORD It is pity to part Brethren He was first Dean of St. Patrick in Dublin preferred probably by his Brother and for a time Eschaetor of all Ireland Indeed the Office doth male audire sound ill to ignorant eares partly because the vicinity thereof to a worse word Esquire and Squire are known to be the same partly because some by abusing that Office have rendred it odious to people which in it self was necessary and honourable For the name Eschaetor cometh from the French word Escheoir which signifieth to Happen or Fall out and He by his place is to search into any Profit accrewing to the Crown by casualty by the condemnation of Malefactors Persons dying without an Heir or leaving him in minority c. and whereas every County in England hath an Eschaetor This John of Samford being Eschaetor General of Ireland his place must be presumed of great Trust from the King and Profit to himself He was Canonically chosen and by King Edward the first confirmed Archbishop of Dublin 1284 mediately succeeding John de Derlington interposed his Brothet Fulke therein and I cannot readily remember the like Instance in any other See For a time he was Chief Justice of Ireland and thence was sent with Anthâ⦠Bishop of Durham Embasââ¦adour to the Emperour whence returning he died at London 1294. and had his Body carried over into Ireland an Argument that he was well respected and buried in the Tomb of his Brother in the Church of St. Patricks THOMAS BECKINTON was born at Beckinton in this County bred in New-Colledge Doctor in the Laws and Dean of the Arches till by King Henry the Sixth he was advanced Bishop of Bath and VVelles A good 1 States-man having written a Judicious Book to prove the Kings of England to the Crown of France notwithstanding the pretenced Salique-Law 2 Church-man in the then notion of the Word professing in his Will that he had spent six thousand Marks in the repairing and adorning of his Palaces 3 Towns-man besides a Legacy given to the Town where he was born he built at VVells where he lived a fair Conduit in the Market-place 4 Subject alwayes loyal to King Henry the Sixth even in the lowest condition 5 Kinsman plentifully providing for his alliance with Leases without the least prejudice to the Church 6 Master bequeathing five pounds a piece to his chief five Marks a piece to his meaner Servants and fourty shillings a piece to his Boys 7 Man He gave for his Rebus in allusion to his Name a burning Beacon to which he answered in his Nature being a burning and a shining light Witnesse his many benefactions to VVells Church and the Vicars therein VVinchester New Merton but chiefly Lincoln-Colledg in Oxford being little lesse than a second Founder thereof A Beacon we know is so called from Beckoning that is making signs or giving notice to the next Beacon This bright Beacon doth nod and give hints of bounty to future ages but it is to befeared it will be long before his signs will be observed understood imitated Nor was it the least part of his prudence that being obnoxious to King Edward the Fourth in his life time he procured the confirmation of his Will under the broad Seal of England and died January the 14 1464. RICHARD FITZ-JAMES Doctor at Law was born at Redlinch in this County of right ancient and worshipful extraction bred at Merton Colledge in Oxford whereof he became Warden much meriting of that place wherein he built most beautiful Lodgings expending also much on the repair of St. Maries in Oxford He was preferred Bishop first of Rochester next of Chichester last of London He was esteemed an excellent Scholar and wrote some Books which if they ever appeared in publick never descended to posterity He cannot be excused for being over busie with fire and faggot in persecuting the poor Servants of God in his Diocess He deceased Anno 1512. lyeth buried in his Cathedral having contributed much to the adorning thereof in a Chappel-like Tomb built it seems of Timber which was burnt down when the steeple of St. Pauls was set on fire Anno 1561. This Bishop was brother to Judg Fitz-James Lord Chief Justice who with their mutual support much strengthned one another in Church and State To the Reader I cannot recover any native of this County who was a Bishop since the Reformation save only John Hooper of whom formerly in the Catalogue of Martyrs States-men Sir AMIAS POULET Son to Sir Hugh grand-Child to Sir Amias Poulet who put Cardinal Wolsey then but a Schoolmaster in the Stockes was born at Hinton Saint George in this County He was Chancelor
of the Garter Governour of the Isles of Jersey and Gernsey and Privy Counsellor to Queen Elizabeth who chiefly committed the keeping of Mary Queen of Scots to his fidelity who faithfully discharged his trust therein I know the Romanists rail on him as over-strickt in his Charge but indeed without cause for he is no unjust Steward who to those under him alloweth all his Masters allowance though the same be ââ¦ut of the scantest proportion Besides it is no news for Prisoners especially if accounting their restraint unjust to find fault with their Keepers meerely for keeping them And such who complain of him if in his place ought to have done the same themselves When Secretary Walsingham moved this Knight to suffer one of his Servants to be bribed by the Agents of the Queen of Scots so to compasse the better intelligence he would in no terms yield thereunto Such conniving at was consenting to and such consenting to in effect was commanding of such falshood Whereupon the Secretary was fain to go further about and make use of an Instrument at a greater distance who was no menial servant to Sir Amias He died Anno Dom. 15. And was buried in London in St. Martins in the fields where his Epitaph is all an allusion to the three Swords in his Arms and three words in his Motto Gardez la Foy Keep the Faith Which harping on that one string of his fidelity though perchance harsh musick to the ears of others was harmonioââ¦s to Queen Elizabeth Capital Judges JOHN FITZ-JAMES Knight was born at Redlinch in this County of right ancient and worthy Parentage bred in the Study of our Municipal Laws wherein he proved so great a Proficient that by King Henry the Eighth He was advanced Chief Justice of the Kings Bench. There needs no more be said of his merit save that King Henry the Eighth preferred him who never used either Dunce or Dââ¦one in Church or State but Men of Ability and Activity He sate above thirteen years in his Place demeaning himself so that he lived and died in the Kings favour He sate one of the Assistants when Sir Thomas More was arraigned for refusing the Oath of Supremacy and was shrewdly put to it to save his own Conscience and not incurre the Kings displeasure For Chancellor Audley Supream Judge in that place being loath that the whole burthen of Mores condemnation should lye on his shoulders alone openly in Court asked the advice of the Lord Chief Justice Fitz-James whether the Indictment were sufficient or no to whom our Judge warily returned My Lords all by St. Gillian which was ever his Oath I must needs confesse that if the Act of Parliament be not unlawful then the Indictment is not in my conscience insufficient He died in the thirtyeth year of King Henry the Eighth and although now there be none left at Redlinch of his Name and Family they flourish still at Lewson in Dorsetshire descended from Alured Fitz-James brother to this Judge and to Richard Bishop of London whose Heir in a direct line Sir John Fitz-James Knight I must acknowledge a strong encourager of my weak endeavours JOHN PORTMAN Knight was born of Wealthy and Worshipful Extraction at Portmââ¦ns Orchard in this County a fair Mannor which descended to him by Inheritance the Heir of the Orchards being matcht into his Family He was bred in the Study of the Common Law attaining to such eminency therein that June 11 the second of Queen Mary he was made Chief Justice of the Kings Bench continuing two years in the place and dying therein for ought I find to the contrary and a Baronet of his name and Linage flourisheth at this day with a great and plentiful Estate DAVID BROOKE Knight born at Glassenbury son to John Brook Esq. who as I read in Claréntiaux was Serjeant at Law to King Henry the Eighth Our David was also bred in the study of our Laws and in the First of Queen Mary was made Chief Baron of the Exchequer but whether dying in or quitting the place in the First of Queen Elizabeââ¦h I am not informed He married Katharine daugher of John Lord Shandois but died without Issue JAMES DIER Knight younger son to Richard Dier Esq. was born at Roundhill in this County as may appear to any by the Heralds Visitation thereof and doth also to me by particular information from his relations He was bred in the study of our Municipal Law and was made Lord Chief Justice of the ãâã Pleas Primo Eliz. continuing therein 24 years longer if my eye or Arithmetick faââ¦l me not than any in that place before or after him When Thomas Duke of Northfolk was Anno 1572 arraigned for Treason this Judge was present thereat on the same token that when the Duke desired Council to be assigned him pleading that it was granted to Humphry Stafford in the reign of King Henry the Seventh our Judge returned unto him That Stafford had it allowed him only as to Point of Law then in dispute viz. Whether he was legally taken out of the Sanctuary but as for matter of Fact neither he nor any ever had or could have any Councel allowed him a course observed in such Cases unto this day But let his own Works praise him in the Gaââ¦es is known for the place of publick Justice amongst the Jews Let his Learned Writings called his Commentaries or Reports evidence his Abilities in his Profession He died in 25 Eliz. though married without any Issue and there is a House of a Baronet of his name descended from an elder son of Richard father to our Judge at Great Stoughton in Huntington-shire well improved I believe with the addition of the Judges Estate Sr. JOHN POPHAM of most ancient descent was born at Huntworth in this County In his youthful dayes he was as stout and skilful a Man at Sword and Buckler as any in that age and wild enough in his recreations But Oh! if Quick-silver could be really fixed to what a treasure would it amount Such is wild Youth seriously reduced to Gravity as by this young man did appear He applied himself to a more profitable Fencing the study of the Laws therein atteining to such eminency that he became the Queens Attourny and afterwards Lord Chief Justice of England Being sent Anno 1600 by the Queen with some others to the Earl of Essex to know the cause of the confluence of so many Military Men unto his House the Souldiers therein detained him for a time which some did make to Tantamount to an imprisonment This his violent detention Sir John deposed upon his Oath at the Earls Trial which I note the rather for the rarity thereof that a Lord Chief Justice should be produced as witness in open Court In the Beginning of the reign of king James his Justice was exemplary on Theeves and Robbers The Land then swarmed with people which had been Souldiers who had never gotten or
enjoy the honour thereof or farther off so as not to be envied and suspected for his Title thereunto by King Henry the Fourth Now all the harm this Earl had done King Henry was this that King Henry held from him his lawful Inheritance Yea this meek Mortimer was content to wave the Crown so be it he might but enjoy his private Patrimony which he could not without many molestations from the King For this is the nature of some Men to heap injuries on those they have wronged as if the later injuries would give a countenance of Justice to the former He employed this Edmund in a War against Owen Glendour the Welsh Rebel on the same design that Saul sent David to fight against and fetch the fore-skins of the Philistins If he prov'd Conquerour then was King Henry freed from a professed Foe if conquered then was he rid of a suspected Subject But Mortimer went by the worst and being taken prisoner the King though often solicited never endeavoured his enlargement till at last he dearly ransomed himself Yet did he but exchange a Welsh for an Irish prison kept 20 years in rââ¦traint in his own Castle of Trim in the end of the reign of cunning King Henry the Fourth all the reign of couragious King Henry the Fifth and the beginning of the reign of innocent King Henry the Sixth their different tempers meeting in cruelty against this poor Prisoner He died Anno Domini 1454. without Issue leaving Anne his sister his heir and lieth buried in Clare as is aforesaid Saints St. EDMUND King of the East-Angles Hear what falshoods are hudled together in our English Martyrology written as he terms himself By a Catholick Priest Permiâ⦠Superiorum 1608. pag. 319 on the 20 of November At Hexam in Northumberland the passion of St. Edmund King and Martyr who being a Saxon by Bloud born in the City of Noremberg in that Province and Nephew to Offa King of the East-Angles First Hexam in Northumberland should be Hoxton in this County where St. Edmund was martyred Secondly there is no City Noremberg in Brittain nor Europe save that in Germany This is enough to make us distrust what he writeth afterwards viz. that When the said St. Edmund was cruelly murdered by the Danes and when the Christians seeking his Corps were lost in a Wood did call one to another Where art Where art Where art The martyred head answered Here Here Here. However God forbid that this Authors fauxities should make us undervalue this worthy King and Martyr cruelly tortured to death by the Pagan Danes and by an old Author thus not unhansomely express'd Utque cruore suo Gallos Dionysius ornat Graecos Demetrius gloria quisque suis. Sic nos Edmundus nulli virtute secundus Lux patet patriae gloria magna suae Sceptra manum diadema caput sua purpura corpus Ornat ei sed plus vincula mucro cruor As Denis by his death adorneth France Demetrius Greece each credit to his place So Edmunds lustre doth our Land advance Who with his vertues doth his Country grace Scepter Crown Robe his hand head corps renouns More famous for his bonds his bloud his wounds His death happened Anno Domini 870. whose body was placed in a goodly shrine richly adorned with jewels and precious stones at Bury in this County These all are vanish'd whilst the name of St. Edmund will ever remain in that Towns denomination ROBERT GROSTHEAD ââ¦ehosaphat seeing four hundred Prophets of Baal together and suspecting they were too many to be good cast in that shrewd question Is there not here a Prophet of the Lord besides and thereupon Micaiah was mentioned unto him Possible the Reader seeing such swarms of Popish Saints in England will demand Is there not ââ¦et a Saint of the Lord besiââ¦es and I conceive my self concerned to return a true answer that there is Robert Grosthead by name whom now we come to describe He was born in this County bred in Oxford where he became most eminent for Religion and Learning in all kind of Languages Arts and Sciences and at last was preferred Bishop of Lincoin 1235. He wrote no fewer than three hundred Treatises whereof most are extant in Manuscript in Westminster Library which Dr. Williams his Successor in the See of Lincoln intended to have published in three fair Folio Volumes had not the late troublesome Times dis-heartned him Thus our Civil Warrs have not only filled us with Legions of lying Pamphlets but also deprived us of such a Treasure of Truth as this worthy Mans works would have proved to all posterity He was a stout Opposer of Popish-Oppression in the Land and a sharp Reprover of the Corruptions of the Court of Rome as we have largely declared in our Ecclesiastical History Such the Piety of his Life and Death that though loaded with Curses from the Pope he generally obtained the Reputation of a Saint Bellarmine starts a Question whether one may pray lawfully to him paint his Picture in the Church who is not Canonized by the Pope and very gravely he determineth a short line will serve to fadom a shallow water that privately he may do it and that a Picture of such a Man may be painted in the Church provided his head be not encompassed with a Radiated Circle as particular to Canonized Saints Thus our Learned and Pious Robert must want that addition of a Glory about his Picture and the matter is not much seeing no doubt having Turned many to righteousness he doth shine in Heaven as the brightness of the Firmament Whose death happened Anno Domini 1254. Martyrs ROWLAND TAYLOR Where born unknown though some without any assurance have suggested his Nativity in Yorkshire was bred in Cambridge and became head of Borden Hostle nigh if not now partly in Cajus Colledge where he commenced Doctor of the Laws Hence he was by Archbishop Cranmer presented to the Rectory of Hadley in this County He was a great Scholar painful Preacher charitable to the Poor of a comly Countenance proper Person but inclining to corpulency and chearful behaviour The same devotion had different looks in several Martyrs frowning in Stern Hooper weeping in meek Bradford and smiling constantly in pleasant Taylor Indeed some have censured his merry Conceits as trespassing on the gravity of his calling especially when just before his death But surely such Romanists who admire the temper of Sr. Thomas More jesting with the Axe of the Executioner will excuse our Taylor for making himself merry with the Stake But though it be ill Jesting with edged Tooles whereof Death is the sharpest yet since our Saviour hath blounted it his servants may rather be delighted than dismayed with it Not long after Doctor Taylor set Archbishop Cranmer who was his Patron a Copy of Patients who indeed wrote after it but not with so steady a hand and so even a Character of constancy Taylor was martyred at Hadley February 9 1555.
Mounchensey bred first in Oxford then an Augustinian Eremite in Clare He was a great Scholar as his Works evidence and Confessor to Lionel Duke of Clarence whom he attended into Italy when he married Joland daughter to John Galeaceus Duke of Milan J. Pits conceiveth him to have been an Arch-bishop in Ireland which is utterly disowned by Judicious Sir James VVare And indeed if Bales words whence Pits deriveth his intelligence be considered it will appear he never had Title of an Arch-bishop sed cujusdam Archi-Episcopatus curam accepit He undertook care of some Arch-bishoprick probably commended in the vacancy thereof to his inspection And why might not this be some Italian Arch-bishoprick during his attendance on his Patron there though afterwards preferring privacy before a pompous charge he returned into his Native Country and died at Clare Anno 1396. THOMAS PEVââ¦REL was born of good Parentage in this County bred a Carmelite and D. D. in Oxford He was afterwards by King Richard the Second made Bishop of Ossory in Ireland I say by King Richard the Second which minds me of a memorable passage which I have read in an excellent Author It may justly seem strange which is most true that there are three Bishopricks in Ireland in the Province of Ulster by name Derry Rapho and Clogher which neither Queen Elizabeth nor any of her Progenitors did ever bestow though they were the undoubted Patrons thereof So that King James was the first King of England that did ever supply those Sees with Bishops so that it seems formerly the Great Irish Lords in those parts preferred their own Chaplains thereunto However the Bishopricks in the South of the Land were ever in the disposal of Our Kings amongst which Ossory was one bestowed on our Peverel From Ireland he was removed to Landaffe in Wales then to VVorchester in England being one much esteemed for Learning as his Books do declare He died according to Bishop Godwins account March the 1 1417 and lieth buried in his own Cathedral STEPHEN GARDINER was born in Bury St. Edmunds one of the best aires in England the sharpness whereof he retained in his Wit and quick apprehension Some make him Base-son to Lionel VVoodvile Bishop of Salisbury which I can hardly beleeve Salisbury and St. Edmunds-Bury being six score miles asunder Besides time herein is harder to be reconciled than place For it being granted an errour of youth in that Bishop and that Bishop vanishing out of this World 1485. Gardiner in all probability must be allowed of greater age than he was at his death It is confess'd by all that he was a man of admirable natural parts and memory especially so conducible to Learning that one saith Tantum scimus quantum meminimus He was bââ¦ed Doctor of Laws in Trinity-hall in Cambridge and after many State-Embassies and employments he was by King Henry the Eighth made Bishop of VVinchester His malice was like what is commonly said of white powder which surely discharged the Bullet yet made no report being secrete in all his acts of cruelty This made him often chide Bonner calling him Asse though not so much for killing poor people as not for doing it more cunningly He was the chief Contriver of what we may call Gardiners-Creed though consisting but of six Articles which caused the death of many and trouble of more Protestants He had almost cut off one who was and prevented another for ever being a Queen I mean Katharine Par and the Lady Elizabeth had not Divine Providence preserved them He complied with King Henry the Eighth and was what he would have him opposed King Edward the Sixth by whom he was imprisoned and depriv'd acted all under Queen Mary by whom he was restored and made Lord Chancellour of England He is reported to have died more than half a Protestant avouching that he believed himself and all others onely to be justified by the merits of Christ which if so then did he verifie the Greek and Latine Proverb ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Saepe Olitor valde verba opportuna loquââ¦tus The Gardiner oft times in due season Speaks what is true and solid reason He died at VVhite-hall of the Gout November the 12th 1555. and is buried by his own appointment on the Northside of the Quire over against Bishop Fox in a very fair Monument He had done well if he had parallell'd Bishop Fox Founder of Corpus Christi Colledge in Oxford in erecting some publick work the rather because he died so rich being reported to have left fourty thousand Marks in ready money behind him However on one account his memory must be commended for improving his power with Queen Mary to restore some Noble Families formerly depressed My Author instanceth in some descendanââ¦e from the Duke of Norfolk in the Stanhops and the Arundels of VVarder Castle To these give me leave to adde the Right Ancient Family of the Hungerfords to whom he procured a great part of their Patrimony seased on by the Crown to be restored Since the Reformation JOHN BALE was born at Covie in this County five miles from Donwich and was brought up in Jesus-Colledge in Cambridge being before or after a Carmelite in Norwich By the means of Thomas Lord Wentworth he was converted to be a Protestant This is that Bale who wrote a Book De scriptoribus Britannicis digested into nine Centuries not more beholding to Leland than I have been to Bale in this Work and my Church-History Anno 1552 February the 2d he was consecrated at Dublin Bishop of Ossory in Ireland whence on the death of King Edward the Sixth he was forced to flie some of his servants being slain before his eyes and in his passage over the sea was taken prisoner by Pirates sold ransom'd and after many dangers safely arrived in Switzerland After the death of Queen Mary he returned into England but never to his Irish Bishoprick preferring rather a private life being a Prebendary of the Church of Canterbury One may wonder that being so Learned a Man who had done and suffered so much for Religion higher promotion was not forced upon him seeing about the beginning of Queen Elizabeth Bishopricks went about begging able men to receive them But probably he was a person more Learned than discreet fitter to write than to govern as unable to command his own passion and Biliosus Balaeus passeth for his true Character He died in the sixty eighth year of his Age at Canterbury Anno Domini 1563 in the moneth of November and was buried in the Cathedââ¦al Church therein JOHN MAY was born in this County bred in the ââ¦niversity of Cambridge whereof he became Proctor 1545 Elected Master of Katharine-hall 1564 Vice-Chancellour 1569 and at last consecrated Bishop of Carlile Sept. 27 1577 continuing eleven years in that See and died in April 1598. JOHN OVERAL D. D. born aâ⦠Hadley in this County was bred in the Free-School therein
Stutvile ãâã Dallam ãâã Argent and Gules a Lion rampant Sable Nicol. Bacon miles ut prius  Reg. JACO   Anno   1 ãâã Bacon miles ut prius  2 Edm. Bokemham armiger   ãâã Tho. Playters arm ãâã Bendy Wavy of six Argent and Azure 4 Antho. Penning ar   Iââ¦oho Wentworth armiger  Sable a Cheveron between 3 Leopaââ¦ds heads Or. 6 Lionel Talmarsh ar ut prius  7 Geo. le Hunt miles   8 Thom. Tilney arm ut prius  9 Calthorp Parker mil. ut prius  10 Martin Stutevil ut prius  11 Rob. Brook miles  AMP. 12 Rob. Barker mil.  Perfess embatt'led Or and Azure 3 martlets counterchanged 13 Tho. Clench arm   14 Lio. Ialmarsh m. B. ut prius Azure a Cheveron Argent 15 Edw. Lewkenor m.   16 Io. Wentworth m. ut prius  17 Hen. North miles  Azure a Lion passant Or between 3 Flower de ãâã Ar. 18 Will. Spring miles ut prius  19 Will. Wetle arm   20 Rob. Brook arm   21 Nâ⦠Bernardiston m ut prius  22 Galf. Pittman arm   Reg. CAROL   1 Sam. Aylemer arm Cleydon Argent a Cross Sable betwixt 4 Cornish ãâã proper 2 Joha Prescot mil.  S. a Chev. betwixt 3 ãâã Ar. 3 Maur. Barrowe ar  S. 2 swords in Saltire Ar. ãâã betw 4 flowers de luce Or within a Bordure compone of the second and ãâã 4 Brampt Gourden a. ut prius  5 Hen Hookenham a.   6 Iohan Acton arm   7 Rob. Crane miles Chyston Ar. a Fess betw 3 Cross ãâã fitchee Gu. 8 Will. * Some miles   9 Edw. Bacon miles ut prius Gules a Cheveron betwixt 3 Mallets Or. 10 Ioha Barker arm ut prius  11 Ioha Rouse miles ut prius  12 Phil. Parker mil. ut prius  13 Ed. Duke armiger Brampton Az a Cheveron betwixt 3 ãâã Argent membred Gules 14 Ioh. Clench arm   15 Sim. Dewes miles Stow-Hall Or 3 Quatersoilââ¦s Gules 16 VVill. Spring arm ut prius  17 Will. ãâã aâ⦠  18 Maur. Barrowe arâ⦠ut prius  19   20 Ioha Cotton arm   21   22 Tho. Blosse arm   Queen ELIZABETH 18 JOHN HIGHAM Arm. I find this passage in the Ingenious Michael Lord Montaigne in France in his Essay * of Glory I have no name which is sufficiently mine Of two I have the one common to all my Race yea and also to others There is a Family at Paris and another at Montpellier called Montaigne another in Brittanny and one in Zantoigne surnamed de la Montaigne The removing of one only syllable may so confound our Web as I shall have a share in their Glory and they perhaps a part of my shame And my Ancestors have heretofore been surnamed HEIGHAM or HIQUEM a surname which also belongs to an House well known in England Indeed the Highams so * named from a Village in this County were for I suspect them extinct a right Ancient Family and Sr Clement Heigham Ancestor to this John our Sheriff who was a Potent Knight in his Generation lies buried under a fair Tomb in Thorning-Church in Northfolk 20 ROBERT JERMIN Miles He was a Person of singular Piety a bountiful Benefactor to Emanuel-Colledge and a man of great command in this County He was Father to Sir Tho. Jermin Privy Concellour and Vice-Chamberlain to King Charles the First Grandfather to Thomas and Henry Jermin Esquires The younger of these being Lord Chamberlain to our present Queen Mary and sharing in her Majesties sufferings during her long Exile in France was by King Charles the Second deservedly advanced Baron and Earl of St. Albans 23 NICHOLAS BACON Miles He was son to Sir Nicholas and elder Brother to Sir Francis Bacon both Lord Chancellors of England and afterward by King James in the ninth of his reign on the 22 of May created the first Baronet of England 36 THOMAS CROFTS Armiger He was a Man of Remark in his generation Father to Sir John Crofts Grand-father to .... Crofts who for his Fidelity to his Sovereign during his suffering condition and for several Embassies worthily performed to the King of Poland and other Princes was created Baron Crofts by King Charles the Second CHARLES the First 15 SIMONDS DEWES Miles This Sir Simonds was Grand-child unto Adrian Dââ¦wes descended of the Ancient Stem of Des Ewes Dynasts or Lords of the Dition of Kessel in the Dutchy of Gelderland who came first thence when that Province was wasted with Civil War in the beginning of King Henry the Eighth He was bred in Cambridge as appeared by his printed speech made in the long Parliament wherein he indeavoured to prove it more Ancient than Oxford His Genious addicted him to the study of Antiquity Preferring Rust before Brightness and more conforming his mind to the Garbe of the former than mode of the moderne times He was studious in Roman Coin to discriminate true ones from such as were cast and counterfeit He passed not for Price to procure a choice piece and was no less careful in conserving than curious in culling many rare Records He had plenty of pretious Medals out of which a methodical Architect might contrive a fair Fabrick for the benefit of posterity His Treasury afforded things as well new as old on the token that he much admired that the Ordinances and Orders of the late Long Parliament did in Bulks and number exceed all the Statutes made since the Conquest He was loving to Learned Men to whom he desired to do all good offices and died about the year of our Lord 1653. The Fare-wel To conclude our description of Suffolk I wish that therein Grain of all kinds may be had at so reasonable rates that rich and poor may be contented therewith But if a Famine should happen here let the poor not distrust Divine providence whereof their Grand-fathers had so admirable a testimony 15. When in a general dearth all over England plenty of Pease did grow on the Sea-shore near Dunwiââ¦h never set or sown by humane industry which being gathered in full ripeness much abated the high prices in the Markets and preserved many hundreds of hungry Families from famishing SURREY hath Middlesex divided by the Thames on the North Kent on the East Sussex on the South ââ¦ant Bark-shires on the West It may be allowed to be a Square besides its Angular expatiation in the South-west of two and twenty miles and is not unproperly compared to a Cynamon-tree whose Bark is far better than the Body thereof For the skirts and borders bounding this Shire are rich and fruitful whilst the ground in the inward parts thereof is very hungry and barren though by reason of the clear Air and clean wayes full of many gentile habitations Naturall Commodities Fullers-Earth The most and best of this
hath done more good or more harm As for Guns it cannot be denied that though most behold them as Instruments of cruelty partly because subjecting valour to chance partly because Guns give no quarter which the sword sometimes doth yet it will appear that since their invention victory hath not stood so long a Neuter and hath been determined with the loss of fewer lives Yet do I not believe what Souldiers commonly say that he was curs'd in his Mothers belly who is kill'd with a Cannon seeing many prime persons have been slain thereby Such as desire to know the pedigree and progress of great Guns in England may be pleas'd to take notice 1. Anno 1535. John Oaven was the first English-man who in England cast brass Ordnance Cannons Culverings c. 2. Peter Baud a French-man in the first of King Edward the sixth was the first who in England cast Iron-Ordnance Falcons Falconers Minions c. 3. Thomas Johnson covenant-servant to Peter aforesaid succeeded and exceeded his Master casting them clearer and better He died about 1600. Some observe that God hath so equally divided the advantage of weapons between us and Spain that their steel makes the best swords our iron the most usefull Ordnance Glass Plenty hereof is made in this County though not so fine as what Tyre afforded fetch'd from the river Belus and the Cendevian Lake nor so pure as is wrought at Chiosa nigh Venice whereof the most refined falls but one degree short of Chrystall but the course glasses here serve well enough for the common sort for vessels to drink in The work-men in this mystery are much encreased since 1557. as may appear by what I read in an Author writing that very year As for Glass-makers they be scant in this land Yet one there is as I doe understand And in Sussex is now his habitation At Chiddingsfoldââ¦e ââ¦e works of his occupation These brittle commodities are subject to breaking upon any casualty and hereupon I must transmit a passage to posterity which I received from an Author beyond exceptions A noble man who shall be nameless living not many miles from Cambridge and highly in favour with the Earl of Leicester begg'd of Queen Elizabeth all the plate of that University as useless for Scholars and more for State then Service for Superfluity then Necessity The Queen granted his suit upon condition to find glasses for the Scholars The Lord considering this might amount to more then his Baronry would maintain except he could compass the Venetian Artist who as they say could make Vitra sine vitio fragilitatis pellucida yea could consolidate glass to make it malleable let his petition which was as charitable as discreet sink in silence By the way be it observed that though course glass-making was in this County of great antiquity yet The first making of Venice-glasses in England began at the Crochet Friers in London about the beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth by ââ¦ne Jacob Venaline an Italian The Buildings Chichester Cathedral is a fine fabrick built after it had been twice consumed with fire by Bishop ãâã the second of the Name about the year 1193. Country folk are confident in their tradition that the Master-workman built Sarisbury and his Man the Church of Chichester and if so sââ¦quitur Dominum non Passibus aequis But Pââ¦oportion of Time confuteth the conceit seeing Sââ¦ffride flourished under King John and Bishop Poor the Founder of Sarisbury lived much later undeâ⦠King Henââ¦y the third Now though ãâã bestowed the Cloth and Making on the Church Bishop Sherborn gave the Trimming and best Lace thereto in the reign of King Henry the seventh I am sorry I can follow the Allegory so far being ãâã that now it is not only Seam ript but Torn in the whole-cloth having lately a great part thereof fallen down to the ground Arundel Castle is of great esteem the rather because a Local-Earldome is cemented to the wallâ⦠thereof Some will have it so nââ¦med from Arundel the Horse of Beavoice the great Champion I confess it is not withont precedence in Antiquity for Places to take names from Horses meeting with the Promentory Bucephalus in Peleponesus where some report the Horse of Alââ¦xander buried and Bââ¦llonius will have it for the same cause called Cavalla at this day But this Castle was so called long before that Imaginary Horse was foled who cannot be fancied elder then his Master Beavoice flourishing after the Conquest long before which Arundel was so called from the river Arundââ¦unning ââ¦unning hard by it ââ¦etworth the house of the Earls of Northumberland is most famous for a stately Stable the best of any Subjects in Christendome Comparisons must move in ther own ââ¦pheres and Princes only are meet to measure with Princes tell me nââ¦t ââ¦herefore of the Duke of Saxony his Stable at Dresden wherein are ââ¦n ãâã ãâã and eight horses of service with a Magazene out of which he can Arme thirty thousand Horse and Foot at a days warning that Elector being the most Potent Prince in the Empire But is not the proportion fair that ââ¦etworth Stable affordeth standing in state for threescore horse with all necessary accommodations Wonders Expect not here I should insert what William of Newbury writeth to be recounted rather amongst the Untruââ¦hs then Wonders viz. That in this County not far from Bââ¦ttail-Abby in the Place where so great a slaughter of the English-men was made after any shower presently sweateth forth very frââ¦sh blood out of the Earth as if the Evidence thereof did plainly declare the voice of Bloud there shed and crieth still from the Earth unto the Lord. This is as true as that in white chalky Countries about Baldock in Hartford shire after rain run rivolets of Milk Neither being any thing else then the water discoloured according to the Complexion of the Earth thereabouts Proverbs He is none of the Hastings This Proverb though extended all over England is properly reduceable to this County as Originated there for there is a Haven Town named Hastings therein which some erroneously conceive so called from hast or speed because William the afterwards Conqueror Landing there did as Mathew Paris saith with Hast or Speedily erect some small Fortification But sure it is that there is a Noble and Antient family of the Hastings in this Land I will not say first taking their Name from this Town who formerly were Earls of Pembroke and still are of Huntington Now men commonly say they are none of the Hastings who being slow and slack go about business with no agility Such they also call dull Dromedaries by a foul mistake meerly because of the affinity of that name to our English word Dreaming applied to such who go slowly and sleepily about their Employment Whereas indeed Dââ¦omedaries are Creatures of a Constant and Continuing Swiftness so called from the Greek word Dremo to Run and are the ãâã for travell for the Eastern
bad success He exhorted them to be Pious to God Dutifull to their King Piââ¦full to all Captives to be Carefull in making Faithfull in keeping articles with their enemies After the death of Strafford he was made Arch-bishop of Canterbury and at Avenion where the Pope then resided received his Consecration Here he was accounted ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã somewhat Clownish by the Romish Court partly because he could not mode it with the Italians but chiefly because money being the generall Turn-key to Preferment in that place he was meeââ¦ly advanced for his merit But that which most recommended his memory to posterity is that worthy book he made de Causâ Dei wherein speaking of Pelagius he complaineth in his second Book that Totus paenè mundus ut timeo doleo post hunc abiit erroribus ejus faveâ⦠I fear and lament that almost the whole world runs after him and favours his errors Bradwardine therefore undertook to be Champion for Grace and Gods cause against such who were not defensores sed deceptores sed inflatores sed praecipitatores liberi arbitrâ⦠as Augustine calleth them and as the same Father saith of Cicero dum liberos homines esse volunt faciunt sacrilegos He died at Lambââ¦th in October Anno Dom. 1349. THOMAS ARUNDELL was the fourth Arch-bishop of Canterbury who was born in this County Son he was to Robert Brother to Richard Fitz-Alen both Earls of Arundââ¦ll Herein he standeth alone by himself that the Name Arundell speaks him both Nobleman and Clergy-man the Title of his fathers honor and place of his own birth meeting both in the Castle of Arââ¦ell It was ââ¦ither his Nobility or Ability or Both which in him did supplere aetatem qualifying him to be Bishop of Ely at twenty two years of age He was afterwards Archbishop of York and at last of Canterbury 1396. and three severall times Lord Chancellor of England viz. In the Tenth of Richard the second 1386. in the Fifteenth of Richard the second 1391. the Eleventh of Henry the fourth 1410. By King Richard the second when his Brother the Earl of Arundell was beheaded this Thomas was banished the land Let him thank his Orders for saving his Life the Tonsure of his hair for the keeping of his Head who otherwise had been sent the same path aâ⦠pase with his Brother Returning in the First of K. Henry the fourth he was restored to his Arch-bishoprick Such who commend his Courage for being the Churches Champion when a powerfull Party in Parliament pushed at the Revenues thereof condemn his Cruelty to the Wicklevites being the first who persecuted them with Fire and Fagot As for the manner of his death we will neither carelesly wink at it nor curiously stare on it but may with a serious look solemnly behold it He who had stop'd the mouths of so many servants of God from preaching his Word was himself famished to Death by a swelling in his Throat But seeing we bear in our Bodies the seeds of all Sicknesses as of all sins in our souls it is not good to be over-bold and buisie in our censures on such Casualties He died February 20. 1413. and lieth buried in his Cathedral at Canterbury HENRY BURWASH so named saith my Author which is enough for my discharge from Burwash a Town in this County He was one of Noble Alliance And when this is said all is said to his Commendation being otherwise neither good for Church nor State Soveraign nor Subjects Covetous Ambitious Rebellious Injurious Say not what makes he here then amongst the worthies for though neither Ethically nor Theologically yet Historically he was remarkable affording something for our Information though not Imitation He was recommended by his kinsman Bââ¦rtholomew de Badilismer Baron of Leeds in Kent to K. Edward the second who preferred him Bishop of Lincoln It was not long be fore falling into the Kings displeasure his Temporalities were seized on and afterwards on his submission restored Here in stead of new Gratitude retayning his old Grudge he was most forward to assist the Queen in the deposing of her husband He was twice L. Treasurer once Chââ¦ncellor and once sent over Ambassador to the Duke of Bavaria He died Anno Domini 1340. Such as mind to be merry may read the pleasant Story of his apparition being condemned after Death to be viridis viridarius a green ââ¦rester because in his life time he had violently inclosed other mens Grounds into his Park Surely such Fictions keep up the best Park of Popery Purgatory whereby their fairest Game and greatest Gaine is preserved Since the Reformation WILLIAM BARLOW D. D. My industry hath not been wanting in Qaest of the place of his Nativity but all in vain Seeing therefore I cannot fix his character on his Cradle I am resolved rather then omit him to fasten it on his Coffin this County where in he had his last preferment A man he was of much Motion and Promotion First I find him Canon Regular of Sâ⦠ãâã in Essex and then Prior of Bisham in Barkshire Then preferred by K. Henry the eighth Bishop of St. Asaph and consecrated Febr. 22. 1535. Translated thence the April following to St. Davids remaining 13. years in that See In the Third of King Edward the sixth he was removed to the Bishoprick of Bath and Wells Flying the Land in the Reign of Queen Mary he became Superintendent of the English Congregation at Embden Coming back into England by Q. Elizabeth he was advanced Bishop of Chichester It is a Riddle why he chose rather to enter into new First-fruits and begin at Chichester then return to Bath a better Bishoprick Some suggest that he was loth to go back to Bath having formerly consented to the Expilation of that Bishoprick whilst others make his consent to signify nothing seeing impowred Sacriledge is not so mannerly as to ask any By your leave He had a numerous and prosperous female-Issue as appeareth by the Epitaph on his Wifes Monument in a Church in Hant-shire though one shall get no credit in translating them Hic Agathae tumulus Barloi Praesulis inde Exulis inde iterum Praesulis Uxor erat Prole beata fuit plena annis quinque suarum Praesulibus vidit Praesulis ipsa datas Barlows Wife Agathe doth here remain Bishop then Exile Bishop then again So long she lived so well his Children sped She saw five Bishops her five daughters wed Having sate about ten years in his See he peaceably ended his Life Dec. 10. 1569. WILLIAM JUXTON was born at Chichester in this County bred Fellow in Saint Johns-colledge in Oxford where he proceeded Bachelour of Law very young but very able for that degree and afterwards became Doctor in the same Faculty and President of the Colledge One in whom Nature hath not Omitted but Grace hath Ordered the Tetrarch Humour of Choler being Admirably Master of his Pen and his Passion for his Abilities
he was successively preferred by King Charles the first Bishop of Hereford and London and for some years Lord Treasurer of England A troublesome place in those times it being expected that he should make much Brick though not altogether without yet with very little Straw allowed unto him Large then the Expences Low the Revenues of the Exchequer Yet those Coffers which he found Empty he left Filling and had left Full had Peace been preserved in the Land and he continued in his Place Such the mildness of his temper that Petitioners for Money when it was not to be had departed well pleased with his denialls they were so civilly Languaged It may justly seem a wonder that whereas few spake well of Bishops at that time and Lord Treasurers at all times are liable to the Complaints of discontented people though both Offices met in this man yet with Demetrius he was well reported of all men and of the truth it self He lived to see much shame and contempt undeservedly poured on his Function and all the while possessed his own soul in patience He beheld those of his Order to lose their votes in Parliament and their insulting enemies hence concluded Loss of speech being a sad Symptom of approching Death that their Final extirpation would follow whose own experience at this day giveth the Lie to their malicious Collection Nor was it the least part of this Prelates Honour that amongst the many worthy Bishops of our Land King Charles the first selected him for his Confessor at his Martyrdome He formerly had had experience in the case of the Earl of Strafford that this Bishops Conscience was bottom'd on Piety not Policy the reason that from him he received the Sacrament good Comfort and Counsell just before he was Murdered I say just before that Royal Martyr was Murdered a Fact so foul that it alone may confute the errour of the Pelagians maintaining that all Sin cometh by imitaââ¦ion the Universe not formerly affording such a Precedent as if those Regicides had purposely designed to disprove the Observation of Solomon that there is No new thing under the Sun King Charles the second Anno Domini 1660. preferred him Arch-bishop of Canterbury which place he worthily graceth at the writing hereof Feb. 1. 1660. ACCEPTUS FRUIN D. D. was born at in this County bred Fellow of Magdalen-colledge in Oxford and afterwards became President thereof and after some mediate preferments was by King Charles the first advanced Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield and since by King Charles the second made Arch-bishop of York But the matter whereof Porcellane or China dishes are made must be ripened many years in the earth before it comes to full perfection The Living are not the proper objects of the Historians Pen who may be misinterpreted to flatter even when he falls short of their due Commendation the Reason why I adde no more in the praise of this worthy Prelate As to the Nativities of Arch-bishops one may say of this County many Shires have done worthily but SUSSEX surmounteth them all having bred Five Archbishops of Canterbury and at this instant claiming for her Natives the two Metropolitans of our Nation States-men THOMAS SACKVILL son and heir to Sir Richard Sackvill Chancellour and Sub-Treasurer of the Exchequer and Privy-Counsellour to Queen Elizabeth by Winifred his wife daughter to Sir John Bruges was bred in the University of Oxford where he became an excellent Poet leaving both Latine and English Poems of his composing to posterity Then studied he law in the Temple and took the degree of Barrister afterward he travelled into forraign parts detained for a time a prisoner in Rome whence his liberty was procured for his return into England to possess the vast Inheritance left him by his father whereof in short time by his magnificent prodigality he spent the greatest part till he seasonably began to spare growing neer to the bottom of his Estate The story goes that this young Gentleman coming to an Alderman of London who had gained great Pennyworths by his former purchases of him was made being now in the Wane of his Wealth to wait the coming down of the Alderman so long that his generous humour being sensible of the incivility of such attendance resolved to be no more beholding to Wealthy pride and presently turned a thrifty improver of the remainder of his Estate If this be true I could wish that all Aldermen would State it on the like occasion on condition their noble debtors would but make so good use thereof But others make him the Convert of Queen Elizabeth his Cosin german once removed who by her frequent admonitions diverted the torrent of his profusion Indeed she would not know him till he began to know himself and then heaped places of honour and trust upon him creating him 1. Baron of Buckhurst in this County the reason why we have placed him therein Anno Dom. 1566. 2. Sending him Ambassadour into France Anno 1571. into the Low-countries Anno 1586. 3. Making him Knight of the Order of the Garter Anno 1589. 4. Appointing him Treasurer of England 1599. He was Chancellour of the University of Oxford where he entertained Q. Elizabeth with a most sumptuous feast His elocution was good but inditing better and therefore no wonder if his Secretaries could not please him being a person of so quick dispatch faculties which yet run in the bloud He took a Roll of the names of all Suitors with the date of their first addresses and these in order had their hearing so that a fresh-man could not leap over the head of his senior except in urgent affairs of State Thus having made amends to his house for his mis-spent time both in increase of Estate and Honour being created Earl of Dorset by King James he died on the 19. of April 1608. Capitall Judges Sir JOHN JEFFRY Knight was born in this County as I have been informed It confirmeth me herein because he left a fair Estate in this Shire Judges genebuilding their Nest neer the place where they were Hatched which descended to his Daughter He so profited in the study of our Municipall-Law that he was preferred Secondary Judge of the Common-pleas and thence advanced by Queen Elizabeth in Michaelmas Terme the nineteenth of her Reign to be Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer which place he discharged for the Terme of two years to his great commendation He left one only Daughter and Heir married to Sir Edward Mountague since Baron of Boughton by whom he had but one Daughter Elizabeth married to Robert Barty Earl of Linsey Mother to the truly Honorable Mountague Earl of Linsey and Lord Great Chamberlain of England This worthy Judge died in the 21. of Queen Elizabââ¦h Souldiers The ABBOT of BATTLE He is a pregnant Proof that one may leave no Name and yet a good Memory behind him His Christian or Surname cannot be recovered out of our Chronicles which hitherto
of the Ladies amongst whom one reputed a kins-man to the great Sophy after some Opposition was married unto him She had more of Ebââ¦ny then Ivory in her Complexion yet amiable enough and very valiant a quality considerable in that Sex in those Countries With her he came over into England and lived many years therein He much affected to appear in forreign Vestes and as if his Clothes were his limbes accounted himself never ready till he had something of the Persian Habit about him At last a Contest happening betwixt him and the Persian Ambassadour to whom some reported Sir Robert gave a Box on the Ear the King sent them both into Persia there mutually to impeach one another and joyned Doctor Goââ¦gh a Senior Fellow of Trinity-colledge in Cambridge in Commission with Sir Robert In this ââ¦oyage as I am informed both died on the Seas before the controverted difference was ever heard in the Court of Persia about the beginning of the reign of K. Charles Sir THOMAS SHIRLEY I name him the last though the eldest Son of his Father because last appearing in the world mens Activity not always observing the method of their Register As the Trophies of Miltiades would not suffer Themistocles to sleep so the Atchivements of his two younger brethren gave an Alaââ¦m unto his spirit He was ashamed to see them Worne like flowers in the Breasts and Bosomes of forreign Princes whilst he himself withered upon the stalk he grew on This made him leave his aged Father and fair Inheritance in this County and to undertake Sea Voyages into forreign parts to the great honour of his Nation but small inriching of himself so that he might say to his Son as Aeneas to Aescanius Disce puer VirtuteÌ ex me verumque Laborem Fortunam ex aliis Virtue and Labour Learn from me thy Father As for success Child Learn from others rather As to the generall performances of these three brethren I know the Affidavit of a Poet carieth but a small creââ¦it in the court of History and the Comedy made of them is but a friendly foe to their Memory as suspected more accommodated to please the present spectators then inform posterity However as the belief of Mitiâ⦠when an Inventory of his adopted Sons misdeââ¦nours was brought unto him embraced a middle and moderate way nec omnia credere nec nihil neither to believe all things nor nothing of what was told him so in the list of their Atchivements we may safely pitch on the same proportion and when abatement is made for poeticall embelishments the remainder will speak them Worthies in their generations The certain dates of their respective deaths I cannot attain Physicians NICHOLAS HOSTRESHAM Know Reader I have placed him in this County only on presumption that Horsham in this Shire no such place otherwise in England is contracted for Hostresham He was a learned man a most famous Physician and esteemed highly of all the Nobility of the Land who coveted his company on any conditions It seemeth that he was none of those so pleasing and conformable to the Humor of their Patients as that they press not the true Cure of the Disease and yet none of those who are so Regular in proceeding according to Art for the Disease as that they respect not sufficiently the condition of their Patients but that he was of a Middle Temper and so in effect was two Physicians in one Man Many were the Books he wrote reckoned upby Bale and Pitz amongst which I take especial notice of one contra dolorem renum thus beginning Lapis quandoque generatur in renibus I observe this the rather because his Practise was wholly at home it not appearing that he ever went beyond the Sea and this is contrary unto the confidence of such who have vehemently affirmed that the Stone was never heard of in England untill Hopps and Beer made therewith about the year 1516. began to be commonly used He flourished Anno Domini 1443. Writers LAURENCE SOMERCOTE was born saith Bale in the South-part of the Kingdome But had I am sure his best English preferment in Sussex being Canon of Chichester After his breeding here under his Carefull Parents and Skilfull Masters who taught him Logick and Rhetorick he applied himself to the Study of the Law and attained to great Learning therein Then leaving the Land he went to Rome and repaited to his Brother or Kinsman Robert Somercote Cardinall who it seems procured him to be Sub-Deacon under the Popâ⦠He wrote some Books both in Latine and French and flourished in the year of our Lord 1240. JOHN DRITON so is his Surname Englished by Bale And why not as well John Driby a Vââ¦llage in Lincoln-shire seeing no Driton in all England The truth is this in Latine he wrote himself de Arida Villâ⦠equivalent with Sicoa villa or Sack-wil a Surname most renowned in this County and because it is added to his Character ex Illustri quadam Angliae familia procreââ¦s it suiteth well with our conjecturing him this Country-man He was bred according to the Mode of that Age in France and there became at Paris Summus Gymnasii Moderator which howsoever rendred in English soundeth a high place Conferred on a Forreigner In his time was much busling in the University about an Apocrypha Book patched together out of the Dreams of Joachime and Cyril two Monkes which was publickly read and commented on by many Admirers thereof by the name of the Eternall Gospell The Pope who often Curseth where God Blesseth here Blessed where God Cursed and notwithstanding the solemn Commination against such Additions to Scripture favoured them and what a Charitable Christian can scarcely believe damned their Opposers for Hereticks this our Sackwill bestirred himself and with William de Sancto Amore and other pious Men opposed this piece of Imposture Pitz in the Character of this our de Arida Villa treads like a foundred Horse on stones mentioning only that he met with much disturbance without any particulars thereof At last this Eternall Gospell had a Temporal End and with the Serpents of the Aegyptian Inchanters which vanished away this pretended Quint Essence Gospell sunk with shame into silence whilst the other four Gospells with the Serpent of Moses doe last and continue This our Writer flourished 1260. JOHN WINCHELSEY was bred in Oxford and became a great Scholar therein I am not bound to believe Bale in full latitude that he made a Centaur-Divinity out of Poets and Philosophers but this I believe that in his old Age he turned a Franciscan and when Gray became a Green Novice of the Order at Sarisbury Many condemned him that he would enter into such a life when ready to goe out of the world and others of his own Covent commended him who being old was concerned to find out the most compendious way to Heaven The year of his Probation was not ended when he died and was
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 aââ¦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 flourishââ¦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 Lorââ¦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
Martyrdome and hereon a remarkable Story doth depend A Story which hath been solemnly avouched by the late reverend Archbishop of Armagh in the presence of several persons and amongst others unto Sir James Ware Knight that most excellent Antiquary and divers in the University of Oxford who wrot it from his mouth as he received the same from ancient persons of unquestionable credit About the third of the raign of Queen Mary a Pursevant was sent with a Commission into Ireland to impower some eminent persons to proceed with fire and fagot against poor Protestants It happened by Divine Providence this Pursevant at Chester lodged in the house of a Protestant Inn-keeper who having gotten some inkling of the matter secretly stole his Commission out of his Cloke-bag and put the Knave of Clubs in the room thereof Some weeks after he appeared before the Lords of the Privy-Councel at Dublin of whom Bishop Coren a principall and produced a Card for his pretended Commission They caused him to be committed to prison for such an affront as done on designe to deride them Here he lay for some months till with much adoe at last he got his enlargement Then over he returned for England and quickly getting his Commission renewed makes with all speed for Ireland again But before his arrival there he was prevented with the news of Queen Maries death and so the lives of many and the liberties of more poor Servants of God were preserved To return to our Coren though a moderate Papist in Queen Maries days yet he conformed with the first to the reformation of Queen Elizabeth being ever sound in his Heart He was for some short time cheif Justice and Chancellor of Ireland till he quitted all his Dignities in exchange for the Bishoprick of Oxford It may seem a wonder that he should leave one of the best Arch-bishopricks in Ireland for one of the worst Bishopricks in England But oh no Preferment to Quiet and this Politick Prelate very decrepit broken with old age and many State-affairs desired a private repose in his Native Land before his death which happened Anno Dom. 1567. BARNABY POTTER was born in this County 1578. within the Barony of Kendall in which Town he was brought up untill he was sent to Queens-colledge in Oxford becoming successively Scholar Fellow and Provost thereof He was chosen the last with the unanimous consent of the Fellows when being at great distance he never dreamed thereof Then resigning his Provosts Place he betook himself to his Pastorall charge in the Country He was Chaplain in Ordinary to Prince Charles being accounted at Court the Penitentiall Preacher and by King Charles was preferred Bishop of Carlile when others sued for the Place and he little thought thereof He was commonly called the Puritanicall Bishop and they would say of him in the time of King James that Organs would blow him out of the Church which I do not believe the rather because he was loving of and skilfull in Vocall Musick and could bear his own part therein He was a constant Preacher and performer of family-duties of a Weak Constitution Melancholy Lean and an Hard Student He dyed in honour being the last Bishop that dyed a Member of Parliament in the year of our Lord 1642. States-men Sir EDWARD BELLINGHAM Knight was born of an ancient and warlike family in this County servant of the Privy-Chamber to King Edward the sixth who sent him over Anno 1547. to be Lord Deputy of Ireland whose Learning Wisdome and Valour made him fit to discharge that place Hitherto the English-pale had been hide-bound in the growth thereof having not gained one foot of ground in more then two hundred years since the time of King Edward the third This Sir Edward first extended it proceeding against the Irishry in a martial course by beating and breaking the Moors and Connors two rebellious Septs And because the Poet saith true It proves a man as brave and wise To keep as for to get the prize He built the forts of Leix and Offaly to secure his new acquisition Surely had he not been suddenly revok d into England he would have perfected the project in the same sort as it was performed by his successour the Earl of Sussex by setling English plantations therein Such his secresie the soul of great designs that his Souldiers never knew whither they went till they were come whither they should go Thus he surprised the Earl of Desmond being rude and unnurtured brought him up to Dublin where he informed and reformed him in manners and civility sometimes making him to kneel on his knees an hour together before he knew dis duty till he became a new man in his behaviour This Earl all his life after highly honoured him and at every dinner and supper would pray to God for good Sir Edward Bellingham who had so much improved him This Deputy had no fault in his Deputiship but one that it was so short he being called home before two years were expired Surely this hath much retarded the reducing of the Irishry the often shifting of their Deputies too often change of the kinds of plaisters hinders the healing of the sore so that as soon as they had learn'd their trade they must resigne their shop to another which made King James continue the Lord Chichester so long in the place for the more effectual performance therein Coming into England he was accused of many faults but cleared himself as fast as his adversaries charged him recovering the Kings favour in so high a degree that he had been sent over Deputy again save that he excused himself by indisposition of body and died not long after Writers RICHARD KENDAL I place him here with confidence because no Kendal in England save what is the chief Town of this County He was an excellent Grammarian and the greatest instructer Shreud and Sharp enough of youth in his age He had a vast collection of all Latine Grammars and thence extracted a Quintessence whereof he was so highly conceited that he publickly boasted that Latine onely to be Elegant which was made according to his Rules and all other to be Base and Barbarous Which Reader I conceive being out of his though under thy Correction a Proud and Pedantick expression He flourished in the raign of K. Henry the sixth Since the Reformation BERNARD Son of EDWIN GILPIN Esquire was born at Kentmire in this County Anno 1517. At sixteen years old very young in that Age from those Parts his Parents sent him to Queens-colledge in Oxford whence his merit advanced him one of the first Students in the new foundation of Christs church Hitherto the Heat of Gilpin was more then his Light and he hated Vice more then Error which made him so heartily dispute against Master Hooper who afterwards was Martyred when indeed he did follow his Argument with his Affections How afterwards he became a zealous Protestant I referre the
the Baron of Kendal ãâã his singular deserts ââ¦oth in Peace and War This was that Richard ãâã who sââ¦w the wild Bore that raging in the Mountains ãâã as sometimes that of Erimanthus much indamaged the Country people whence it is that the Gilpins in their Coat Armes give the Bore I confess the story of this Westmerland-Hercules soundeth something Romanza like However I believe it partly because so reverend a pen hath recorded it and because the people in these parts need not feigne foes in the fancy Bears Bores and Wild beasts who in that age had real enemies the neighbouring Scots to encounter Lord Mayors Name Father Place Company Time 1 Cuthbert Buckle Christopher Buckle Bourgh Vintner 1593 Sheriffs I find two or three Links but no continued chain os Sheriffs in this County untill the 10. of K. John who bestowed the Baily-week and Revenues of this County upon Robert Lord Vipont ROBERT de VIPONT the last of that Family about the raign of K. Edward the first left two daughters 1. Sibel married to Roger Lord Clifford 2. Idonea the first and last I meet with of that Christian-name though proper enough for women who are to be meet helps to their husbands married to Roger de Leburn Now because honor nescit dividi Honour cannot be divided betwixt Co-heirs and because in such cases it is in the Power and Pleasure of the King to assign it entire to which he pleased the King Conferred the Hereditary Sheriffalty of this County on the Lord Clifford who had Married the Eldest Sister Iâ⦠hath ever since continued in that honorable family I find Elizabeth the Widdow of Thomas Lord Clifford probably in the Minority of her son Sheriffess as I may say in the sixteenth of Richard the second till the last of K. Henry the fourth Yet was it fashionable for these Lords to depute and present the most Principal Gentry of this Shire their Sub-Vicecomites Under-sheriffs in their Right to order the affairs of that County I find Sir Thomas Parr Sir William Parr Ancestors to Q. Katherin Parr as also Knights of the Families of the Bellingams Musgraves c. discharging that office so high ran the Credit and Reputation thereof Henry Lord Clifford was by K. Henry the eight Anno 1525. Created Earl of Cumberland and when Henry the fift Earl of that family died lately without Issue male the Honour of this Hereditary Sheriffalty with large Revenues Reverted unto Anne the sole daughter of George Clifford third Earl of Cumberland the Relict of Richard Earl of Dorset and since of Phillip Earl of Pembroke and Mountgomery by whom she had two daughters the Elder married to the Earl of Thanet and the younger married to James Earl of Northampton The Farewell Reader I must confess my self sorry and ashamed that I cannot do more right to the Natives of this County so far distanced North that I never had yet the opportunity to behold it O that I had but received some intelligence from my worthy friend Doctor Thomas Barlow Provost of Queens-colledge in Oxford who for his Religion and Learning is an especiall ornament of Westmerland But Time Tide and a PrintersPress are three unmannerly things that will stay for no man and therefore I request that my defective indeavours may be well accepted I learn out of Master Camden that in the River Cann in this County there be two Catadupae or Waterfalls whereof the Northern sounding Clear and Loud foretokeneth Fair Weather the Southern on the same Terms presageth Rain Now I wish that the former of thesemay be Vocall in Hay-time and Harvest the latter after Great Drought that so both of them may make welcome Musick to the Inhabitants VVILT-SHIRE WILT-SHIRE hath Gloucester-shire on the North Berk-shire and Hampshire on the East Dorset-shire on the South and Summerset-shire on the West From North to South it extendeth 39. Miles but abateth ten of that Number in the breadth thereof A pleasant County and of great Variety I have heard a Wise man say that an Oxe left to himself would of all England choose to live in the North a Sheep in the South part hereof and a Man in the Middle betwixt both as partaking of the pleasure of the plain and the wealth of the deep Country Nor is it unworthy the observing that of all Inland Shires no ways bordered on Salt-water this gathereth the most in the Circumference thereof as may appear by comparing them being in compass one Hundred Thirty and Nine Miles It is plentifull in all English especially in the ensuing Commodities Naturall Commodities Wooll The often repetition hereof though I confess against our rules premised may justly be excused Well might the French Embassadour return France France France reiterated to every petty title of the King of Spain And our English Wooll Wooll c. may counterpoize the numerous but inconsiderable Commodities of other Countries I confess a Lock thereof is most contemptible Non flocci te facio passing for an expression of the highest neglect but a quantity thereof quickly amounteth to a good valuation The Manufactures Clothing This Mystery is vigorously pursued in this County and I am informed that as MEDLEYS are most made in other Shires as good WHITES as any are woven in this County This mentioning of Whites to be vended beyond the Seas minds me of a memorable contest in the raign of King James betwixt the Merchants of London and Sir William Cockain once Lord Mayor of that City and as Prudent a Person as any in that Corporation He ably moved and vigorously prosecuted the design that all the Cloth which was made might be died in England alledging that the wealth of a Country consisteth in driving on the Naturall Commodities thereof through all Manufactures to the utmost as far as it can go or will be drawn And by the Dying of all English cloth in England Thousands of poor People would be imployed and thereby get a comfortable subsistence The Merchants returned that such home-dying of our cloth would prove prejudiciall to the sale thereof Forreigners being more expert then we are in the mysterie of fixing of Colours Besides they can afford them far cheaper then we can much of dyingstuff growing in their Countries and Forraigners bear a great affââ¦ction to White or Virgin cloth unwilling to have their Fancies prevented by the Dying thereof insomuch that they would like it better though done worse if done by themselves That Sir William Cockain had got a vast deal of Dying-stuff into his own possession and did drive on his own interest under the pretence of the Publick good These their Arguments were seconded with good store of good Gold on both sides till the Merchants prevailed at last A Shole of Herrings is able to beat the Whale it self and Clothing left in the same condition it was before Tobacco pipes The best for shape and colour as curiously sized are made at Amesbury in this County They may be
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
of Rome Take a tast of them Joannes Sarisburiensis in Polycratico Sedent in Ecclesia Romana Scribae Pharisaei ponentes onera importabilia in humeros hominum Ita debacchantur ejus Legati ac si ad Ecclesiam flagellandam egressus sit Satan a facie Domini Peccata populi comedunt eis vestiuntur in iis multipliciter luxuriantur dum veri adoratores in Spiritu adorant Patreâ⦠Qui ab eorum dissentit Doctrina aut Haereticus judicatur aut ãâã Manifestet ergo seipsum Christus palà m faciat viam quá nobis est incedendum Scribes and Pharisees sit in the Church of Rome putting unbearable burthens on mens backs His Legates do so swagger as if Satan were gone forth from the Face of the Lord to scourge the Church They eat the sins of the people with them they are clothed and many ways riot therein whilst the true worshipers worship the Father in Spirit who so dissent from their Doctrine are condemned for Hereticks or Schismaticks Christ therefore will manifest himself and make the way plain wherein we must walk How doth our Author Luther it before Luther against their errors and vices the more secure for the generall opinion men had of his person all holding our John to be though no Prophet a Pious man King Henry the second made him Bishop of Chartres in France where he died 1182. RICHARD POOR Dean of Sarisbury was first Bishop of Chichester then of Sarisbury or Old Sarum rather He found his Cathedrall most inconveniently seated for want of water and other necessaries and therefore removed it a mile off to a place called Merry-field for the pleasant situation thereof since Sarisbury Where he laid the foundation of that Stately Structure which he lived not here to finish Now as the place whence he came was so dry that as Malmsbury saith miserabili commercio ibi aqua vaeneat by sad chaffer they were fain to give money for water so he removed to one so low and moist men sometimes upon my own knowledge would give money to be rid of the water I observe this for no other end but to show that all humane happiness notwithstanding often exchange of places will still be an Heteroclite and either have too much or too little for our contentment This Poor was afterwards removed to the Bishoprick of Durham and lived there in great esteem Mat. Paris characterizing him eximiae sanctitatis profundae scientiae virum His dissolution in a most pious and peaceable manner happened April 5. Anno Domini 1237. His Corps by his Will were brought and buried at Tarrent in Dorsetshire in a Nunnery of his own founding and some of his Name and probably Alliance are still extant in this County WILLIAM EDENDON was born at Edendon in this County bred in Oxford and advanced by King Edward the third to be Bishop of Winchester and Lord Treasurer of England During his managing of that Office he caused new coines unknown before to be made groats and half-groats both readier for change and fitter for charity But the worst was imminuto nonnihil pondere the weight was somewhat abated If any say this was an un-episcopal act know he did it not as Bishop but as Lord Treasurer the King his Master having all the profit thereby Yea succeeding Princes following this patern have sub-diminished their coin ever since Hence is it that our Nobility cannot maintain the port of their Ancestors with the same revenues because so many pounds are not so many pounds though the same in noise and number not the same in intrinsecal valuation He was afterward made Lord Chancellor and erected a stately Convent for Bonhomes at Edendon in this County the place of his Nativity valued at the Dissolution per annum at five hundred twenty one pounds twelve shillings five pence half penny Some condemn him for robbing Saint Peter to whom with Saint Swithin Winchester-Church was dedicated to pay all Saints collectively to whom Edendon-Covent was consecrated suffering his Episcopal Palaces to decay and drop down whilst he raised up his new foundation This he dearly payed for after his death when his Executors were sued for dilapidations by his successour William Wickham an excellent Architect and therefore well knowing how to proportion his charges for reparations who recovered of them one thousand six hundred sixty two pounds ten shillings a vast sum in that Age though paid in the lighter groats and half-groats Besides this his Executors were forced to make good the standing-stock of the Bishoprick which in his time was empaired viz. Oxen 1556. Weathers 4717. Ewes 3521. Lambes 3521. Swine 127. This Edendon sat in his Bishoprick twenty one years and dying 1366. lyeth buried on the South-side in the passage to the Quire having a fair Monument of Alabaster but an Epitaph of course stone I mean so barbarous that it is not worth the inserting RICHARD MAYO alias MAYHOWE was born nigh Hungerford in this County of good parentage whose Sur-name and Kindred was extinct in the last generation when the Heirs-general thereof were married into the Families of Montpesson and Grove He was first admitted in New-colledge and thence removed to Magdalens in Oxford where he became President thereof 27. years It argueth his abilities to any indifferent apprehension that so knowing a Prince as Henry the seventh amongst such plenty of Eminent Persons elected and sent him into Spain Anno 1501. to bring over the Lady Katharine to be married to Prince Arthur which he performed with all fidelity though the heavens might rather seem to Laugh at then Smile on that unfortunate marrying After his return he was rewarded with the Bishoprick of Hereford and having sat 11. years therein dyed 1516 and lyeth buried in his Church on the South-side of the high Altar under a Magnificent Monument Since the Reformation JOHN THORNEBOROUGH B. D. was born as I am credibly informed in the City of Salisbury bred in Magdalen-colledge in Oxford He did ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and his Goodly Presence made him more acceptable to Queen Elizabeth preferring him Dean of York and Bishop of Lymbrick in Ireland where he received a most remarkable deliverance in manner as follweth Lying in an Old Castle in Ireland in a large room partitioned but with Sheets or Curtaines his Wife Children and Servants in effect an whole Family In the dead time of the night the floor over head being Earth and Plaister as in many places is used over-charged with weight fell wholly down together and crushing all to pieces that was above two foot high as Cupboards Tables Formes Stools rested at last on certain Chests as God would have it and hurt no living Creature In the first of King James 1603. he was consecrated Bishop of Bristoll and held his Deanery an Irish Bishoprick in commendam with it and from thence was translated to Worchester I have heard his skill in Chimistry much commended and he presented a
a very great estate But what he got in few years he lost in fewer days since our Civil Warrs when the Parliament was pleased for reasons onely known to themselves to make him one of the examples of their severity excluding him pardon but permitting his departure beyond the seas where he dyed about the year 1650. Capitall Judges Sir NICHOLAS HYDE Knight was born at Warder in this County where his father in right of his wife had a long lease of that Castle from the family of the Arundels His father I say descended from an Antient Family in Cheshire a fortunate Gentleman in all his Children and more in his Grand-children some of his under-boughs out-growing the top-branch and younger children amongst whom Sir Nicholas in wealth and honour exceeding the heir of the family He was bred in the Middle-Temple and was made Sergeant at Law the first of February 1626. and on the eighth day following was sworn Lord Chief Justice of the Kings-bench succeeding in that Office next save one unto his Countryman Sir James Ley then alive and preferred Lord Treasurer born within two miles one of another and next of all unto Sir Randal Crew lately displaced Now though he entered on his place with some disadvantage Sir Randal being generally popular and though in those days it was hard for the same person to please Court and Country yet he discharged his office with laudable integrity and died 1631. Souldiers First for this County in general hear what an antient Author who wrot about the time of King Henry the second reporteth of it whose words are worthy of our translation and exposition Johannes Sarisburiensis de Nugis Curialium 6. cap. 18. Provincia Severiana quae moderno usu ac nomine ab incolis Wiltesira vocatur eodem jure sibi vendicat Cohortem Subsidiariam adjecta sibi Devonia Cornubia The Severian Province which by moderne use name is by the inhabitants called Wiltshire by the same right chalengeth to it self to have the Rere Devonshire and Cornwall being joyned unto it The Severian Province We thank our Author for expounding it Wiltshire otherwise we should have sought for it in the North near the Wall of Severus By the same right Viz. by which Kent claimeth to lead the Vanguard whereof formerly To have the Rere So translated by Mr. Selden from whom it is a sin to dissent in a Criticisme of Antiquity otherwise some would cavill it to be the Reserve Indeed the Rere is the basis and foundation of an Army and it is one of the chief of Divine promises The glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward We read how the Romans placed their Triarii which were Veteran souldiers behind and the service was very sharp indeed cum res rediit ad Triarios We may say that these three Counties Wiltshire Devonshire and Cornwall are the Triarii of England yet so that in our Author Wiltshire appears as principal the others being added for its assistance Here I dare interpose nothing why the two interjected Counties betwixt Wilts and Devon viz. Dorset and Summerset are not mentioned which giveth me cause to conjecture them included in Devonia in the large acception thereof Now amongst the many worthy Souldiers which this County hath produced give me leave to take speciall notice of HENRY D'ANVERS His ensuing Epitaph on his Monument in the Church of Dantsey in this Shire will better acquaint the Reader with his deserts then any character which my Pen can give of him Hââ¦re lyeth the body of Henry Danvers second son to Sir John Danvers Knight and Dame Elizabeth Daughter and Co-heir to Nevill Lord Latimer He was born at Dantsey in the County of Wilts Jan. Anno Dom. 1573. being bred up partly in the Low-Country-Wars under Maurice Earl of Nassaw afterward Prince of Orenge and in many other military Actions of those times both by Sea and by Land He was made a Captain in the Wars of France and there Knighted for his good Service under Henry the fourth the then French King He was imployed as Leiutenant of the Horse and Serjeant Major of the whole Army in Ireland under Robert Earl of Essex and Charles Baron of Mountjoy in the Raign of Queen Elizabeth By King James the first he was made Baron of Dansey and Peer of this Realm as also Lord President of Munster and Governour of Guernsey By King Charles the first he was Created Earl of Danby made of his Privy Councell and Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter In his latter time by reason of imperfect health considerately declining more active Imployments full of Honours Wounds and Days he died Anno Domini 1643. Laus Deo For many years before St. George had not been more magnificently Mounted I mean the solemnity of his feast more sumptuously observed then when this Earl with the Earl of Morton were installed Knights of the Garter One might have there beheld the abridgment of English and Scotish in their Attendance The Scotish Earl like Zeuxis his Picture adorned with all Art and Costliness whilst our English Earl like the plain sheet of Apelles by the Gravity of his habit got the advantage of the Gallantry of his Corrival with judicious beholders He died without Issue in the beginning of our Civil Wars and by his Will made 1639. setled his large Estate on his hopefull Nephew Henry D'Anvers snatch'd away before fully of age to the great grief of all good men Writers OLIVER of MALMESBURY was saith my Author iâ⦠ipsius Monasterii terratorio natus so that there being but few paces betwixt his cradle and that Convent he quickly came thither and became a Benedictine therein He was much addicted to Mathematicks and to judicial Astrology A great Comet happened in his age which he entertained with these expressions Venisti Venisti multis matribus lugendum malum Dudum te vidi sed multò jam terribilius Angliae minans prorsus excidium Art thou come Art thou come thou evil to be lamented by many mothers I saw thee long since but now thou art much more terrible threatning the English with utter destruction Nor did he much miss his mark herein for soon after the coming in of the Norman Conqueror deprived many English of their lives more of their laws and liberties till after many years by Gods goodness they were restored This Oliver having a mind to try the truth of Poeticall reports an facta vel ficta is said to have tied Wings to his hands and feet and taking his rise from a Tower in Malmesbury flew as they say a ââ¦rlong till something failing him down he fell and brake both his Thighs Pity is it but that Icarus-like he had not fallen into the water and then OLIVER OL'VARIS nomina fecit aquis I find the like Recorded in the Ecclesiastical History of Simon Magus flying from the Capitol in Rome high in the Ayre till at last by the Prayers of Saint Peter he
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. ââ¦ore ãâã 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. Soââ¦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. Stodelââ¦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 ââ¦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
performance 1. Being hardly 22. years old in the fift of King Henry the fourth at the Queens Coronation he Justed and Challenged all commers 2. He bid battle to Owen Glendour the Welch Rebell put him to flight and took his Bannor with his own hands 3. He fought a pitch'd field against the two Piercies at Shrewsbury and overcame them 4. In his passage to the Holy land whither he went on Pilgrimage he was challenged at Verona by an Italian Sir Pandulph Malacet to fight with him at three weapons viz. with Axes Arming Swords and Sharp Daggers whom he had slain at the second weapon had not some seasonably interceded 5. Fighting at Justs in France with Sir Collard Fines at every stroke he bare him back-ward to his horse and when the French suspected that he was tyed to his Saddle to confute their jealousies our Earl lighted and presently remounted 6. He was eminently active in the Kings victorious battles in France and might truely say Quorum pars ego magna fui 7. He was one of those whom King Henry the fifth sent to the Counsell of Constance whose whole retinue amounted unto eight hundred horse 8. Here he killed a Dutch Duke who challenged him Sigismond the Emperour and his Empress beholding it 9. The Empresse affected with his valour took the Badge from one of the Earls men being a plain Bear of Silver anâ⦠wore it on her shoulder But the next day our Earl presented her with a Bear which was his Crest made of Pearls and Precious Stones 10. Being sent by King Henry the fifth with a thousand men in armes to fetch Q. Katherine sole daughter to the King of France he fought with the Earls of Vendosm and Linosin killed one of them with his own hand routed the forces of five thousand men and brought the Lady whom he saw safely married to the King 11. He was by the said Kings Will appointed Governour to his son in his mââ¦no rity and made Lieutenant oâ⦠aââ¦l France 12. During his life our ââ¦uccess in France was progressive and retrograde aââ¦ter his death It must not be forgotten how Sigismond the Emperour coming into England told King Henry the fifth that no Christian King had such another Knight foâ⦠ãâã Nurture and Manhood He obtained leave of the King because in his Dominions that he might by Imperial Authority fix a Title of Honour upon him and caused him to be named the Father of Courtesie as indeed true courage and courtesie are undividuall Companions The last time he went over into Normandy he was tossed with a hideous Tempest so that despairing of life he caused himself to be bound for who could bind him against his will with his Lady and infant Son to the Main Mast on this design that having his Armour and Coat of Armes upon him he might thereby be known that such who should light on his corps if either noble or charitable might afford him a Christian buriall Yet he escaping the Tempest and landing safely in France dyed in his bed no usuall repose for so restless and active a spirit at Roan of a lingring disease April 30. 1439. and lieth buried in a most stately Tombe in a Chappel of the Collegiat Church of Warwick where his Epitaph graven in brasse is pointed with Bears serving for Commas Colons Periods and all distinctions thereof His deeds of Charity according to the devotion of those days were little inferior to the Atchievements of his valour Physitians and Chemists Sir EDWARD KELLEY alias TALBOT was born at Worcester as I have it from the Scheame of his Nativity graved from the original calculation of Doctor Dee Anno Domini 1555. August the first at four a clock in the afternoon the Pole being there elevated gr 52. 10. Thus Reader I hope that my exactness herein will make some reparation for my uncertainties and looser intelligence in the births of othââ¦r persons He was well studied in the mysteries of nature being intimaââ¦e wiââ¦h Doctor Dee who was beneath him in Chemistry but above him in Mathematicks These two are said to have found a very large quantity of Elixir in the ruins of Glassââ¦nbury Abby Indeed I have read how William Bird the Prior of the Bath left and lost the Elixir in the walls of his Priory and it may seem strange that what was lost at Bath was found at Glassenbury in the same County indeed but sixteen miles asunder But so long as Kelley had this treasure none need trouble themselves how or where he came by it Afterwards being here in some trouble he went over beyond the seas with Albertus Alasco a Polonian Baron who gave for his Armes the Hull of a ship having onely a Main-mast and a top without any tackling and gave for his Motto Deus dabit Vela God will send Sails But it seems this Lord had formeny carried too high a sail of whom a good Author reporteth that Aere alieno oppressuâ⦠clam recessit and now it seems sought to repair his fortunes by associating himself with these two Arch-chemists of England How long they continued together is to me unknown Sir Edward though I know not how he came by his Knight-hood with the Doctor fixed at Trebona in Bohemia where he is said to have transmuted a brass warming-pan without touching or melting onely warming it by the fire and putting the Elixir thereon into pure silver a piece whereof was sent to Queen Elizabeth He had great converse with Rodulphus the second Emperour I have seen a voluminous Manuscript in Sir Thomas Cotton his Library of the particulars of their mysterious proceedings where amongst many strange passages I find this ensuing monstrosity They kept constant intelligence with a Messenger or Spirit giving them advice how to proceed in their mysticall discoveries and injoyning them that by way of preparatory qualification for the same they should enjoy their Wives in common Though boggling hereat at first they resolved to submit thereunto because the Law-giver might dispence with his Laws in matters of so high a nature Hereby may the Reader guess the rest of their proceedings This probably might be the cause why Doctor d ee left Kelley and return'd into England Kelley continuing still in Germany ranted it in his expences say the Brethren of his own art above the sobriety befitting so mysterious a Philosopher He gave away in gold-wyer-rings at the marriage of one of his Maid-servants to the value of four thousand pounds As for the high conceit he had of his own skill in Chemistry it appeareth sufficiently in the beginning of his own works though I confess my self not to understand the Geberish of his language All you that fain Philosophers would be And night and day in Geber's kitchin broyle Wasting the chips of ancient Hermes Tree Weening to turn them to a precious Oyle The more you work the more you loose and spoil To you I say how learn'd so e're you be Go burn your Books and
the Chequer and afterwards Treasurer of England and twice Embassadour to the King of France He deserved right well of his own Cathedrall and dying October 31. 1228. was buried under a Marble Tombe on the South-side of the Presbytery WILLIAM de MELTON was born in this County wherein are four villages so named and preferred therein Provost of Beverly and Canon then Arch-bishop of York He went to Avinion there to procure his Consecration I say to Avinion whither then the Court was removed from Rome and continued about threescore and ten years on the same token that those remaining at Rome almost starved for want of employment called this the seventy years captivity of Babilon Consecrated after two years tedious Attendance he returned into England and fell to finish the fair fabrick of his Cathedrall which John Roman had began expending seven hundred Marks therein His life was free from Scandall signall for his Chastity Charity Fasting and Praying He strained up his Tenants so as to make good Musick therewith but not break the string and surely Church-lands were intended though not equally yet mutually for the comfortable support both of Landlord and Tenants Being unwilling that the Infamy of Infidell should be fixed upon him according to the Apostles Doctrine for not providing for his family he bought three Mannors in this County from the Arch-bishop of Roan with the Popes Confirmation and setled them on his Brothers Son whose Descendant William Melton was High-sheriff of this County in the Fiftieth of King Edward the third There is a Place in York as well as in London called the Old-baly herein more remarkable then that in London that Arch-bishop Melton compassed it about with a great Wall He bestowed also much cost in adorning Feretrum English it the Bear or the Coffin of Saint William a Person purposely omitted by my Pen because no assurance of his English Extraction Arch-bishop Melton dyed after he had sate two and twenty years in his See Anno Domini 1340. Entombed in the Body of his Church nigh the Font whereby I collect him buried below in the Bottom of the Church that Instrument of Christian Initiation antiently advancing but a little above the Entrance into the Church HENRY WAKEFEILD is here placed with Assurance there being three Towns of that name in and none out of this County Indeed his is an Episcopall Name which might mind him of his Office the Diocess of Worcester to which he was preferred Anno 1375. by King Edward the third being his Field and he by his place to Wake or watch over it Nor hear I of any complaints to the contrary but that he was very vigilant in his Place He was also for one year Lord Treasurer of England Dying March 11. 1394. he lyeth covered in his own Church Ingenti marmore and let none grudge him the greatness of his Grave-stone if two foot larger then ordinary who made the Body of this his Church two Arches longer Westward then he found it besides a fair Porch added thereunto RICHARD SCROOPE son to the Lord Scroope of Bolton in this County brother to William Earl of Wilt-shire was bred a Doctor of Divinity in Cambridge attaining to be a man of great learning and unblamable life Nor was it so much his high extraction as his own Abilities causing him to be preferred Bishop first of Coventry and Lichfield then Arch-bishop of York Being netled with the news of his Earl-brothers Beheading he conjoyned with the Earl of Northumberland the Earl Marshall Lord Bardolph and others against King Henry the fourth as an Usurper and Invader of the Liberties of Church and State The Earl of Westmerland in outward deportment complied with him and seemed to approve a Writing wherein his main intentions were comprised so to Trepan him into his destruction Toling him on till it was too late for him either to advance or retreat the King with his Army being at Pontfract Bishop Godwin saith it doth not appear that he desired to be tried by his Peers and I believe it will appear that nothing was then Calmly or Judiciously transacted but all being done in an hurry of heat and by Martiall Authority The Executioner had five strokes at his Neck before he could sunder it from his Body Imputable not to his Cruelty but Ignorance it not being to be expected that one nigh York should be so dextrous in that trade as those at London His beheading happened Anno 1405. STEPHEN PATRINGTON was born in the Village so called in the East-riding of this County He was bred a Carmelite and Doctor of Divinity in Oxford and the three and twentieth Provinciall of his Order through out England for fifteen years It is incredible saith Leland what Multitudes of People crowded to his Sermons till his Fame preferred him Chaplain and Confessour to King Henry the fifth He was deputed of the King Commissioner at Oxford to enquire after and make Process against the Poor Wicklevites and as he was busyed in that employment he was advanced to the Bishoprick of Saint Davids Hence he was sent over to the Councill of Constance and therein saith Walsingham gave great Testimony of his ability Returning into England he was made Bishop of Chichester but dying before his Translation was finished 1417. was buried in White-fryars in Fleetstreet WILLIAM PEIRCY was Son to Henry Peircy second Earl of Northumberland of that Name and Eleanour Nevill his Wife Indeed the Son of a Publique Woman conversing with many men cannot have his Father certainly assigned and therefore is commonly called Filius Populi As a base child in the Point of his Father is subject to a shamââ¦full so is the Nativity of this Prelate as to the Place thereof attended with an Honorable Uncertainty whose Noble Father had so many houses in the Northern Parts that his Son may be termed a Native of North-England but placed in this County because Topliffe is the Principall and most Antient seat of this Family He was bred a Doctor of Divinity in Cambridge whereof he was Chancellour and had a younger Brother George Peircy a Clerk also though attaining no higher preferment then a Prebend in Beverly Our William was made Bishop of Carlile 1452. Master Mills erroneously maketh him afterwards Bishop of Wells and it is enough to detect the mistake without disgracing the Mistaker He died in his See of Carlile 1462. CUTHBERT TONSTALL was born at Hatchforth in Richmond-shire in this County of a most Worshipfull Family whose chief seat at Tonstall Thurland not far off and bred in the University of Cambridge to which he was in books a great Benefactor He was afterwards Bishop of London and at last of Durham A great Grecian Orator Mathematician Civilian Divine and to wrap up all in a word a fast friend to Erasmus In the raign of King Henry the eight he publiquely confuted the papall supremacy in a learned Sermon with various and solid arguments preached on
Daughter Frances Countess of Warwick scatter her Benesactions the thicker in that place But I have been informed that his Ancestor by some accident came out of Cornwell where his Name is right Antient. He was bred in the study of our Municipall Law and such his proficiency therein that in the sixteenth of Queen Elizabeth in Michaelmas Term he was made Lord Chief Justice of the Kings-bench He was not like that Judge who feared neither God nor man but onely one Widow lest her importunity should weary him but he heartily feared God in his Religious Conversation Each man he respected in his due distance off of the Bench and no man on it to biass his judgement He was pro tempore Lord Privy Seal and sate Chief in the Court when Secretary Davison was sentenced in the Star Chamber Sir Christopher collecting the censures of all the Commissioners concurred to Fine him but with this Comfortable conclusion that as it was in the Queens power to have him punished so Her Highness might be prevailed with for mitigating or remitting of the Fine and this our Judge may be presumed no ill instrument in the procuring thereof He bountifully reflected on Magdalen-colledge in Cambridge which infant Foundation had otherwise been starved at nurse for want of maintenance We know who saith * the righteous man leaveth an inheritance to his Childrens Children and the well thriving of his third Generation may be an evidence of his well-gotten goods This worthy Judge died May the eighth in the thirty fourth of Queen Elizabeth States Men. Pardon Reader my post poning this Topick of States-Men being necessitated to stay a while for further information Sir JOHN PUCKERING Kt. was born at Flamborough head in this County as I have learned out of the Notes of that industrious and judicious Antiquary Mr. Dodââ¦worth He was second Son to his Father a Gentleman who left him neither plentiful nor penurious estate his breeding was more beneficial to him than his portion gaining thereby such skill in the Common Law that he became Queens-Serjeant Speaker in the House of Commons and at last Lord Chancellor of England How he stood in his judgement in the point of Church-Discipline plainly appeareth by his following Speech delivered in the House of Lords 1588. the Original whereof was courteously communicated unto me And especially you are commanded by Her Majesty to take heed that no eare be given nor time afforded to the wearisome solicitations of those that commonly be called Puritans wherewithal the late Parliaments have been exceedingly importuned which sort of men whilest that in the giddiness of their Spirits they labour and strive to advance a new Eldership they do nothing else but disturb the good repose of the Church and Commonwealth which is as well grounded for the body of Religion it self and as well guided for the Discipline as any Realm that prosesseth the Truth and the same thing is already made good to the world by many the writings of Godly and Learned men neither answered nor answerable by any of these new fangled Refiners And as the present case standeth it may be doubted whether they or the Jesuits do offer more danger or be more speedily to be repressed For albeit the Jesuites do empoison the hearts of her Majesties Subjects under a pretext of Conscience to withdraw them from their obedience due to Her Majesty Yet do they the same but closely and only in privy corners But these men do both teach and publish in their printed Books ââ¦nd teach in all their Conventicles sundry opinions not only dangerous to the well-setled Estate and Policy of the Realm by putting a Pique between the Clergy and the Laââ¦ty But also much derogatory to Her Saââ¦red Majesty and Her Crown as well by the diminution of her ancient and lawfull Revenues and by denying her Highness Prerogative and Supremacy as by offââ¦ng peril to her Majesties safety in her own Kingdom In all which things however in other points they pretend to be at war with the Popish Jesuites yet by this separation of themselves from the unity of their Fellow-Subjects and by abasing the Sacred Authority and Majesty of their Prince they do both joyn and concur with the Jesuites in opening the door and preparing the way to the Spanish Invasion that is threatned against the Realm And thus having according to the weaknesse of my best understanding delivered Her Majesties Royal pleasure and wise direction I rest there with humble suit for Her Majesties most gracious pardon in supply of my defects and recommend you to the Author of all good counsel He died Anno Domini 1596. caractered by Mr. Cambden VIR INTEGER His estate is since descended according to the solemn settlement thereof the male-issue failing on Sir Henry Newton who according to the condition hath assumed the Surââ¦name of Puckering and I can never be sufficiently thankful to him and his Relations Sir GEORGE CALVERT Kt. was born at Kiplin near Richmond in this County had his education first in Trinity Colledge in Oxford then beyond the Seas His abilities commended him first to be Secretary to Robert Cecil Earl of Sarisbury Lord Treasurer of England Afterwards he was made Clerk of the Councel and at last principal Secretary of State to King James succeeding Sir Thomas Lakes in that office Anno 1619. Conceiving the Duke of Buckingham highly instrumental in his preferment he presented him with a Jewel of great value which the Duke returned him again not owning any activity in his advancement whom King James ex mero motu reflecting on his ability designed for the place This place he discharged above five years until he willingly resigned the same 1624. on this occasion He freely confessed himself to the King That he was then become a Roman Catholick so that he must either be wanting to his Trust on violate his Consolence in discharging his office This his ingenuity so highly affected King James that he continued him Privy Councellor all his raign as appeareth in the Councel-Book and soon after created him Lord Baltemore of Baltemore in Ireland During his being Secretary he had a Patent to him and his Heirs to be Absolutus Dominus Proprietarius with the Royalties of a Count Palatine of the Province of Avalon in New-found-Land A place so named by him in imitation of old Avalon in Somerset shire wherein Glassenbury stands the first fruits of Christianity in Britain as the other was in that part of America Here he built a fair House in Ferry Land and spent five and twenty thousand pounds in advancing the Plantation thereof Indeed his publick spirit consulted not his private profit but the enlargement of Christianity and the Kings Dominions After the death of King James he went twice in person to New found-Land Here when Mounsier de l'Arade with three Men of War sent from the King of France had reduced our English Fishermen to great extremity This Lord with two Ships manned at
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 Roââ¦heram no obscure market in this County waving his paternall name he took that of Roââ¦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 Antwââ¦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
King James 9 HENRY SLINGSBY Mil. The Armes of this Antient and Numerous Family to large too be inserted in our List are as followeth Quarterly the First and Fourth Gules a Cheveron between two Leopards-heads and a Hutchet or Bugle Argent The Second and Third Argent a Griffon Surgeant Sable supprest by a Fess Gules 11 GEORGE SAVILL Mil. Bar. This is the last mention of this Numerous Wealthy and Antient Family which I find in this Catalogue and here Reader to confess my self unto thee my expectation is defeated hoping to find that vigorous Knight Sir John Savill in this Catalogue of Sheriffs But it seems that his constant Court-attendance being Privy-Councellour to King Charles priviledged him from that imployment untill by the same King he was Created Baron Savill of Pomfraict as his Son since was made Earl of Sussex I hear so high commendation of his house at Houley that it disdaineth to yield precedency to any in this Shire King Charles 12 JOHN RAMSDEN Mil. The Reader will pardon my Untimely and Abrupt breaking of this Catalogue for a reason formerly rendred Onely let me adde that the Renowned Knight Sir Marmaduke Langdale was Sheriff 1641. He without the least Self-attribution may say as to the Kings side of Northern Actions Pars Ego magna fui But as for his Raising the Siege of Pomfraict felt before seen by the Enemy it will sound Romanza-like to Posterity with whom it will find Plus famae quam fidei No wonder therefore if K. Charles the second Created him a Baron the Temple of Honour being of due open to him who hath passed through the Temple of Vertue The Battles Many Ingagements as much above Skirmshes as beneath Battles happened in this Shire But that at Marston-moor July 2. 1644. was our English Pharsalian Fight or rather the Fatall Battle of Cannae to the Loyal Cavaliers Indeed it is Difficult and Dangerous to present the Particulars thereof For one may easier doe right to the Memories of the Dead then save the Credits of some Living However things past may better be found fault with then amended and when God will have an Army Defeated Mistakes tending thereto will be multiplied in despite of the greatest care and diligence Know then that Prince Rupert having fortunately raised the Siege at York drew out his Men into the Moor with full intention to fight the Enemy Discreet Persons beholding the Countenance of the present affairs with an unpartiall Eye found out many Disswasives for the Prince to hazard a Battle 1. He had done his Work by relieving York let him Digest the Honour thereof and grasp at no more 2. His wearied Souldiers wanted refreshing 3. Considerable Recruits were daily expected out of the North under Colonel Clavering Adde to all these that such were the present Animosities in the Parliament Army and so great their Mutuall Disatisfactions when they drew off from York that as a prime Person since freely confest if let alone they would have fallen foul amongst themselves had not the Prince preparing to fight them Cemented their Differences to agree against a Generall Enemy But a Blot is no Blot if not hit and an Advantage no Advantage if unknown though this was true the Prince was not informed of the differences aforesaid However he did not so much run out of his own Ambition of Honour as answer the Spur of the Kings Command from whom he had lately received a Letter still safe in his Custody speedily to fight the Enemy if he had any Advantage that so he might spare and send back some Supplies to his Majesties perplexed occasions at Oxford Besides the Prince had received certain Intelligence that the Enemy had the Day before sent away seven thousand Men now so far distanced that they were past possibility of returning that day The former part hereof was true the latter false confuted by the great Shout given this day in the Parliaments Army at the return of such forces unto them But now it was too late to draw off the Parliament forces necessitating them to fight A Summers Evening is a Winters Day and about 4. a Clock the Battle began Some causelesly complain on the Marquess of New-castle that he drew not his men soon enough according to his Orders out of York to the Prince his seasonable succour Such consider not that Souldiers newly relieved from a Nine weeks Siege will a little Indulge themselves Nor is it in the power of a General to make them at such times to March at a Minutes warning but that such a Minute will be more then an Hour in the length thereof The Lord Generall Gorââ¦ng so valiantly charged the left Wing of the Enemy that they fairly forsooke the Field Generall Lââ¦slie with his Scottish ran away more then an York-shire mile and a Wee-bit Fame with her Trumpet sounded their flight as far as Oxford the Royalists rejoycing with Bonfires for the Victory But within few days their Bays by a mournfull Metamorphosis were turned into Willow and they sunk the lower in true sorrow for being mounted so high in Causeless Gladness For Cromwell with his Curassires did the work of that Day Some suspected Colonel Hurry lately converted to the Kings party for foul play herein for he divided the Kings Old Horse so valiant and victorious in former fights into small Bodies alledging this was the best way to break the Scottish Lanciers But those Horse always used to charge together in whole Regiments or greater Bodies were much discomposed with this new Mode so that they could not find themselves in themselves Besides a right valiant Lord severed and in some sort secured with a Ditch from the Enemy did not attend till the foe forced their way unto him but gave his men the trouble to pass over that Ditch the occasion of much disorder The Van of the Kings foot being led up by the truely honorable Colonel John Russell impressed with unequall numbers and distanced from seasonable succour became a Prey to their Enemy The Marquess of New-castles White-coats who were said to bring their Winding sheet about them into the field after thrice firing ââ¦ell to it with the But ends of their Muskets and were invincible till mowed down by Cromwells Carassires with Jobs Servants they were all almost slain few escaping to bring the Tidings of their overthrow Great was the Execution on that Day Cromwell commanding his Men to give no quarter Various the numbering of the slain of both sides yet I meet with none mounting them above six or sinking them beneath three thousand I remember no Person of honour slain on the Kings side save the hopefull Lord Cary eldest Son to the E. of Monmouth But on the Parliaments side the Lord Didup a lately created Baron was slain on the same Token that when King Charles said that he hardly remembred that he had such a Lord in Scotland one returned that the Lord had wholly forgotten that he had such a King in England
under K. Henry the seventh Anno 1490. Since the Reformation RICHARD STOCK was born in this City bred Scholar of the house in Saint Johns-Colledge in Cambridge and designed Fellow of sidney though not accepting thereof He was afterwards Minister of All hallows Bredstreet in London by the space of thirty two years till the day of his death Where if in health he omitted not to Preach twice every Lords day with the approbation of all that were Judicious and Religious No Minister in England had his Pulpit supplyed by fewer Strangers Doctor Davenant afterwards Bishop of Sarum whose father was his parishioner was his constant Auditor while lying in London His Preaching was most profitable Converting many and Confirming more in Religion so that appearing with Comfort at the Day of Judgement he might say behold I and the Children that God hath given me He was zealous in his life a great Reformer of prophanations on the Sabbath prevailing with some companies to put off their wonted Festivalls from Mundays to Tuesdays that the Lords-day might not be abused by the preparation for such entertainments Though he preached oft in neighbouring Churches he never neglected his own being wont to protest That it was more Comfortable to him to win one of his own Parish then twenty others Preaching at Saint Pauls Cross when young it was ill taken at his mouth that he reproved the inequality of Rates in the City burdening the Poor to ease the Rich and he was called a Green head for his pains But being put up in his latter days to preach on the Lord Mayors Election and falling on the same subject He told them That a Gray head spake now what a Green-head had said before He dyed Aprill 20. Anno Domini 1626. with a great lamentation of all but especially of his Parishioners Memorable Persons JOHN LEPTON of York Esquire servant to King James undertook for a wager to ride six days together betwixt York and London being sevenscore and ten miles stylo vetere as I may say and performed it accordingly to the greater praise of his strength in acting then his discretion in undertaking it He first set forth from Aldersgate May 20. being Munday Anno Domini 1606. and accomplished his journey every day before it was dark A thing rather memorable then commendable many maintaining that able and active bodies are not to vent themselves in such vain though gainfull ostentation and that it is no better then tempting Divine Providence to lavish their strength and venture their lives except solemnly summoned thereunto by just necessity Lord Mayors Expect not Reader that under this Title I should present thee with a list of the Lord Mayors of this City born therein Onely to make this part conformable to the rest of my book know that I find one Native of this City Lord Mayor of London viz. Name Father Place Company Time 1 Martin Bowes Thomas Bowes York Goldsmith 1545 The Farewell To take our leaveof this Loyall City I desire that some Lucrative Trade may be set up therein to repair her former losses with advantage Mean time I rejoyce that the Archiepiscopat See is restored thereunto not despairing but that in due time if the Supream Authority adjudge it fit the Court of the Presidency of the North may be re-erected therein presuming the Country will be Eased and City Inriched thereby as the Loadstone which will atract much Company and by consequence Commodity thereunto Let me adde I am informed that Sir Thomas Widdrington a person accomplished in all Arts as well as in his own Profession of the Laws hath made great Progress in his Exact Description of this City Nor doe I more congratulate the happiness of York coming under so Able a Pen then Condole my own Infelicity whose unsuccessfull attendance hitherto could not compass speech with this worthy Knight Sure I am when this his work is set forth then indeed YORK SHALL BE what a City most compleatly Illustrated in all the Antiquities and Remarkables thereof FINIS THE PRINCIPALITY OF WALES PSAL. 95. 4 5. In his hand are the deep places of the Earth the strength of the Hills is his also The Sea is his and he made it PROV 27. 25 26. The herbs of the Mountains are gathered The Lambs are for thy clothing and the Goats are the price of thy fields A NECESSARY PREFACE TO THE READER IT bare a debate in my serious consideration whether a Totall Omission or Defective Description of this Principality were to be preferred finding my self as Unable to do it Exactly as Unwilling to Pretermit it For First I never was in VVales and all know how necessary ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is to accurateness herein Secondly I understand not their Language and cannot go to the Cost nor dare take the State of having an Interpreter King James was wont pleasantly to say that he cared not though he was poor himself so long as his Subjects were Rich as confident he could command their wealth on good conditions and a just occasion But indeed it matters not how meanly skil'd a Writer is so long as he hath Knowing and Communicative Friends my happiness in England who here am quite destitute of such assistance However on the other side a Totall Omission seemed very unhandsome to make a Cypher of this Large Principality Besides England cannot be well described without VVales such the Intimacy of Relation betwixt them three of our English Kings being born and many of Our Prime Atchievments being acted in VVales Wherefore I resolved to endeavour my utmost in the description thereof though sadly sensible in my self that my desires were as high as a Mountain but my performances would fall as low would they were half so fruitfull as the Vallies And here I humbly desire that the many faults by me committed may be like a Ball cast down and deaded on a soft Floor even to be buried in my own weakness to my own shame without the least Ripling or Rebounding to the disgrace of the VVelsh Country or Nation And my hope and desire is that these my weak pains will provoke others of more Ability to substitute a more Exact Description in the room thereof I had rather the Reader should take the name of that worthy Knight from Master Camden then from me who designing to build according to the Italian Mode of Architecture plucked down a good and convenient English-house preposterously destroying the one and never finished the other I hope the Reader will not be so uncharitable I will not say undiscreet but will allow our grains a subsistence till they will willingly vanish at the substitution of another In Doubtfull Nativities of Worthy Persons betwixt England and Wales I have not call'd for a sword to divide the controverted Child betwixt the two Mothers but have wholy resigned it to VVales partly out of desire of quietness not engage in a contest partly because I conceived England might better spare then
Wales is therefore placed in this because the first County thereof Prelates GUIDO de MONA was so sir-named from his Birth-place in Anglesey Some suspect that Filius insulae may be as bad as Filius populi no place being particularized for his birth whiles others conceive this sounding to his greater dignity to be denominated from a whole Island the Village of his nativity being probably obscure long and hard to be pronounced He was afterwards Bishop of Saint Davids and Lord Treasurer of England under King Henry the fourth who highly honoââ¦ed him for when the Parliament moved that no Welsh-man should be a State Officer in England the King excepted the Bishops as confident of their faithful service Indeed T. Wallingham makes this Gui the Author of much trouble but is the lesse to be believed therein because of the known Antipathy betwixt Fryers and Secular ãâã the former being as faulty in their lafie speculation as the other often offending in the practical over-activity This Bishop died ââ¦nno 1407. ARTHUR BULKLEY Bishop of Bangor was born either in Cheshire or more probably in this County But it matters not much had he never been born who being bred Doctor of the Laws had either never read or wholly forgotten or wilfully would not remember the Chapter De sacrilegio for he spoyled the Bishoprick and sold the five Bells being so over-officious that he would go down to the Sea to see them shipped which in my mind amounted to a second selling of them We have an English Proverb of him who maketh a detrimental bargain to himself That he may put all the gains gotten thereby into his eye and see nothing the worse But Bishop Bulkley saw much more the worse by what he had gotten being himself suddenly deprived of his sight who had deprived the Tower of Bangor of the tongue thereof Thus having ended his credit before his days and his days before his life and having sate in that See fourteen years he died 1555. WILLIAM GLYN D. D. Was boââ¦n at ãâã in this County bred in Queens Colledge in Cambridge whereof he was Master until in the second of Queen Mary he was preferred Bishop of Bangor An excellent Scholar and I have been assured by judicious Persons who have seriously perused the solemn Disputations printed in Master Fox betwixt the Papists and Protestants that of the former none pressed his Arguments with more strength and lesse passion than Doctor Glyn though constââ¦t to his own he was not cruel to opposite judgements as appeareth by the appearing of no persecution in his Diocesse and his mild Nature must be allowed at least Causa socia or the fellow-cause thereof He died in the first of Queen Elizabeth and I have been informed that Jeoffry Glyn his Brother Doctor of Laws built and endowed a Free-Schoole at Bangor Since the Reformation ROULAND MERRICK Doctor of Laws was born at Boding án in this County bred in Oxford where he became Principal of New Inne-Hall and afterwards a Dignitary in the Church of Saint Davids Here he with others in the reign of King Edward the sixth violently prosecuted Robert Farrar his Diocesan with intention as they made their boast to pull him from his Bishoprick and bring him into a premunire and prevailed so far that he was imprisââ¦ned This Bishop Farrar was afterwards martyred in the raign of Queen Mary I find not the least appearance that his former adversaries violented any thing against him under that Queen But it is suspicious that advantage against him I say not with their will was grafted on the stock of his former accusation However it is my judgement that they ought to have been I can be so charitable to believe that Dr. Merrick was penitent for his causelesse vexing so good a person Otherwise many more besides my self will proclaim him unworthy to be who had been a Persecutor of a Bishop He was consecrated Bishop of Bangor December 21. in the second of Qââ¦een Elizabeth 1559. and sate six years in his See I have nothing to adde save that he was Father to Sir Gilly Merrick Knight who lost his life for engaging with the Earl of Essex 1600. LANCELOT BULKLEY was born in this County of a then right Worshipful since Honourable Family who have a fair habitation besides others near Beumaris He was bred in Brasen nose Colledg in Oxford and afterwards became first Arch-Deacon then Archbishop in Dublin He was consecrated the third of October 1619. by Christopher Archbishop of Armagh Soon after he was made by King James one of his Privy Councel in Ireland where he lived in good reputation till the day of his death which happened some ten years since Seamen MADOC Son to Owen Gwineth ap Gruffyth ap Conan and brother to David ap Owen Gwineth Prince of North Wales was born probably at Aberfraw in this County now a mean Town then the principal Palace of their royal Residence He made a Sea-voyage westward and by all probability those names of Cape de Breton in Noruinberg Pengwin in part of the northern America for a white Rock and a white headed bird according to the British were reliques of this discovery If so then let the Genoveses and Spaniards demean themselves as younger Brethren and get their Portions in Pensions in those parts paid as well as they may owning us Britons so may the Welsh and English as an united Nation style themselves for the Heirs to whom the solid inheritance of America doth belong for the first discovery thereof The truth is a good Navy with a strong Land-Army therein will make these probabilities of Madoc evident Demonstrations and without these in cases of this kind the strongest Arguments are of no validity This Sea voyage was undertaken by Madoc about the year 1170. The Sheriffs Expect not my description should conform this Principality to England in presenting the respective Sheriffs with their Arms. For as to Heraldry I confesse my self Luscum in Anglia Caecum in Walliâ Besides I question whether out Rules in Blazonry calculated for the East will serve on the West of Severne and suspect that my venial mistakes may meet with mortal anger I am also sensible of the prodigious Antiquity of Welsh Pedegrees so that what Zalmana said of the Israelites slain by him at Tabor Each of them resembleth the children of a King all the Gentry here derive themselves from a Prince at least I quit therefore the Catalogue os Sheriffs to abler Pens and proceed to The Farewell I understand there is in this Island a kind of Allumenous Earth out of which some fifty years since began to make Allum and Copperess until they to use my Authors phrase like unflesht Souldiers gave over their enterprise without further hope because at first they saw it not answer their over-hasty expectations If this Project was sirst founded on rational probability which I have cause to believe I desire the seasonable
tract of its self But this Edward first estranged himself from his Subjects and in effect subjected himself to a stranger Pierse Gaveston his French Minion and after his execution to the two Spencers who though Native English-men were equally odious to the English for their insolence Hence it was that he first lost the love of his Subjects then of his Queen the vacuity of whose bed was quickly filled up then his Crown then his Life Never any English Kings case was so pitiful and his person less pitied all counting it good reason that he should give entertainment to that woe which his wilfulness had invited home to himself His violent death happened at Berkley Castle Septemb. 22. 1327. Saints There is an Island called Berdsey justly reduceable to this County lying within a mile of the South-West Promontory thereof wherein the Corps of no fewer than twenty thousand Saints are said to be interred Estote vos omnes Sancti Proud Benhadad boasted that the dust of Samaria did not suffice for handfuls for all the people that followed him But where would so many thousand Bodies find Graves in so petty an Islet But I retrench my self confessing it more facile to find Graves in Berdsey for so many Saints than Saints for so many Graves States = Men. JOHN WILLIAMS was born at Aber-Conwy in this County bred Fellow of Saint Johns Colledge in Cambridge Proctor of the University Dean of Westminster Bishop of Lincoln Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England and lastly Arch-Bishop of York In my Church History I have offended his Friends because I wrote so little in his praise and distasted his Foes because I said so much in his defence But I had rather to live under the indignation of others for relating what may offend than die under the accusation of my own conscience for reporting what is untrue He died on the 25. day of March 1649. Prelates since the Reformation RICHARD VAUGHAN born at Nuffrin or else at Etern in this County was bred Fellow in Saint Johns Colledge in Cambridge and was afterwards successively Bishop of Bangor Chester and lastly of London a very corpulent man but spiritually minded an excellent Preacher and pious Liver on whom I find this Epigram which I will endeavour to English Praesul es ô Britonum decus immortale tuorum Tu Londinensi primus in Urbe Brito Hi mihi Doctores semper placuere docenda Qui faciunt plus quam qui faciendae docent Pastor es Anglorum doctissimus optimus ergo Nam facienda doces ipse docenda facis Prelate of London O immortal grace Of thine own Britons first who had that place He 's good who what men ought to do doth teach He 's better who doth do whââ¦t men shold preach You best of all preaching what men should do And what men ought to preach that doing too Here to justifie the observation Praesul must be taken for a plain Bishop and primus accounted but from the conversions of the Saxons to Christianity For orherwise we find no fewer than sixteen Arch Bishops of London before that time and all of the British Nation He was a most pleasant man in discourse especially at his Table maintaining that Truth At meals be glad for sin be sad as indeed he was a mortified man Let me add nothing could tempt him to betray the Rights of the Church to sacrilegious Hands not sparing sharply to reprove some of his own Order on that account He died March 30. 1607. being very much lamented HENRY ROULANDS born in this County bred in the University of Oxford was consecrated Bishop of Bangor Novemb. 12. 1598. We have formerly told how Bishop Bulkley plundered the Tower of Saint Asaph of five fair Bells now the bounty of this Bishop bought four new ones for the same the second Edition in Cases of this kind is seldom as large as the first whereof the biggest cost an hundred pounds He also gave to Jesus Colledge in Oxford means for the maintenance of two Fellows He died Anno Dom. 1615. The Farewell The Map of this County as also of Denby and Flint-shire in Mr. Speed is not divided as other Shires in England and Wales with Pricks into their several Hundreds which would have much conduced to the compleating thereof whereof he rendreth this reason That he could not procure the same though promised him out of the Sheriffs Books fearing lest the riches of their Shire should be further sought into by revealing such particulars He addeth moreover This I have observed in all my Survey that where least is to be had the greatest fears are possessed I would advise these Counties hereafter to deny no small Civility to a painful Author holding a Pen in his hand for fear a drop of his Ink fall upon them for though juyce of Lemmon will fetch such spots out of Linnen when once printed in a Book they are not so easily got out but remain to posterity DENBIGH-SHIRE DENBIGH-SHIRE hath Flint-shire Cheshire and Shrop-shire on the East Montgomery and Merionith-shires on the South Carnarvonshire divided by the River Conwey on the West being from East to West thirty one from North to South twenty miles The East part of this County towards the River Dee is fruitful but in the West the industrious Husbandman may be said to fetch his bread out of the fire paring off their upper Turfs with a Spade piling them up in heaps burning them to Ashes and then throwing them on their barren ground which is much fertilized thereby Natural Commodities Amelcorne This English Word which I find in the English Cambden is Welsh to me Let us therefore repair to his Latine Original where he informeth us that this County produceth plenty of Arinca Here the difficulty is a little changed not wholly cleared In our Dictionaries Arinca is Englished 1. Rice but this though a frequent name of many in this Country is a grain too choice to grow in Wales or any part of England 2. Amelcorn and now having run round we have not stirred a step as to more information of what we desired a kind of At last with long beating about we find it to be RYE in Latine more generally called Serale Plinles Pen casts three dashes on this Grain being it seems no friend to it or it to him 1. Est tantum ad arcendam famem utile Good only to drive away famin as not pleasant at all 2. Est licet farre mixtum ventri ingratissimum as griping the Guts 3. ââ¦ascitur quocunqne solo any base ground being good enough to bear it However whatever his forraign Rye was that which groweth incredibly plentiful in this County is very wholsome and generally in England Rye maketh moistest bread in the dryest Summer for which cause some prefer it before Wheat it self Buildings The Church of Wrexham is commended for a fair and spacious building and it is questionable whether it claimeth more praise for
the artificial Tower thereof or for the Organs These were formerly most famous the more because placed in a Parochial no Cathedral Church for beauty bigness and tunableness though far short of those in worth which Michael Emperor of Constantinople caused to be made of pure Gold and beneath those in bigness which George the Salamitan Abbot made to be set up in the Church of his Convent whose biggest Pipe was eight and twenty foot long and four spans in compass The first Organ which was ever seen in the West of Europe was what was sent Anno 757. from Constantine the Grecian Emperor to Pipin King of France And their general use in Churches began about the year 828. I read that the form of this instrument was much improved by one Bernard a Venetian who was absolutely the best Musician in the World with addition of many Pipes thereunto What is become of Wrexham-Organs I know not and could heartily wish they had been removed into some Gentlemans house seeing such as accuse them for superstitious in Churches must allow them lawful in private places Otherwise such Moroso's deserve not to be owners of an articulate voice sounding thorough the Organ of a Throat But to return to the buildings in this County Holt Castle must not be forgotten How well ââ¦t is now faced and repaired without I know not I know when it was better lined within than any Subjects Castle I believe in Europe at that time viz. when in the possession of William Lord Stanley When the ready mony and plate therein besides Jewels and rich Houshold-stuff amounted unto forty thousand Marks got by the plunder of Bosworth field But as the River Dee running by this Castle is soon after swallowed up in the Irish Ocean so it was not long before this vast treasure upon the Owners attainder was confiscated into the Coffers of King Henry the seventh Prelates LEOLINE being born in the Marches he had a double name to notifie him to posterity One after the Welsh-mode à Patre Leoline ap Llewelin ap Yuyr the other according to the custom of the English Clergy à Patria Leoline de Bromfield a most fruitful tract of ground in this County Under King Edward the first Anno 1293. he was consecrated Bishop of Saint Asaph and deserved right well of that See by his manifold Benefactions appropriating some Churches to his Chapter As for a portion of Tithes in the Parish of Corwen appropriated to the Fabrick of the Church he reduced it to its former estate The first and last instance for Precedent I dare not call it which I have met with of a Church legally appropriated which reverted to its presentative propriety Had King Henry the eighth at the dissolution of Abbies followed this example the Church had been richer by many pounds the Exchequer not poorer by a penny I find also that he asked leave of King Edward the first to make a Will which may seem very strange whether it was a Court-complement or ex gratia cautela or because Welsh Bishops in that age might not Testamentize without Royal assent By his Will he bequeathed much of Plate rich Vests and Books to the Canons of that Church and his Chaplains dying Anno Dom. 1313. Since the Reformation GODFREY GOODMAN was born of wealthy Parentage in this County bred under his Uncle of whom hereafter in Westminster School then in Trinity Colledge in Cambridge where he commenced Doctor of Divinity successively preferred Pââ¦ebendary of Windsor Dean of Rochester and Bishop or ãâã He is ãâã joyned to the Prelates before though he lived long ãâã the Reformaââ¦on because he agreed with them in Judgement dying a professed Romanist as appeareth by his Will Yet the Adversaries of our Hierarchy have no cause to triumph thereat who ãâã charge Popish compliance on all his Order being able to produce of two hundred Bishops since Queen Elizabeth but this only instance and him a person of no great eminency not only disavowed by his fellow Prelates but imprisoned in the late Convocation for his erronious Opinions Indeed in this Discourse he would be constantly complaining of our first Reformers and I heard him once say in some passion That Bishop Ridley was a very Odde man to whom one presently returned he was an Odde man indeed my Lord for all the Popish party in England could not match him with his equal in Learning and Religion To give Goodman his due he was a harmless man hurtfull to none but himselâ⦠pitiful to the poor hospitable to his neighbours against the ruining of any of an opposite judgement and gave the most he left to pious uses He was no contemptible Historian but I confesse an under-match to Doctor Hackwell But I remember the Ring bequeathed to me in his Will with the Posie thereof Requiem Defunctis and therefore I will no longer be troublesome to his Memory who was made Bishop 1624. and some seven years since deceased in Westminster almost 80. years of age Writers since the Reformation VVILLIAM SALESBURY was born in this County where his family flourisheth at this day This Gentleman out of a love to his Native language Amor patriae ratione valentior omni composed a short English and Welsh Dictionary first privately presented to and approved by King Henry the eighth being a Tuthar by his Fathers side of Welsh extraction and then publickly printed Anno Dom. 1547. Some captious spirits will quarrel the usefulness thereof seeing the Welsh did not want and the English did not wish a Book of that natnre But let them know that it is useful for both Nations to the English for attaining to the VVelsh for retaining that Language Attaining For being an original Tongue an Antiquary is lame without it which I find by my own defect to understand the few of many remaining Monuments of that Nation Retaining That Tongue as well as others by disuse being subject not only to Corrupââ¦ion but Oblivion by the confession of the Natives of that Countrey Indeed all Dictionaries of Languages are very useful VVords bringing Matter to the Tongue and as Plato well observed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A Name or Word is an instrument of Instruction and ushereââ¦h Knowledge into our Understanding However seeing nothing can be begun and finisht at once Salesbury his Book as the first in this kind did rather essay than effect the work and since hath been completed by others He died about the year 1560. Benefactors to the Publick since the Reformation Sir THOMAS Son of RICHARD EXMEW was born at Rythin in this County Being bred in London a Goldsmith he thrived therein so well that Anno 1517. he was Lord Mayor thereof besides other Benefactions in his own Country and to Saint Mary Magdalen in Milk-street London where he lies buried He made the Water Conduit by London-wall at More-gate ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã so Pindar begins his Poems Water is a
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 thââ¦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 falshoââ¦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 ââ¦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
by the Romans an emblem of liberty is esteemed by the English except Faulconers and Hunters a badge of servitude though very useful in themselves and the Ensign of constancy because not discomposed but retaining their fashion in what form soever they be crouded The best Caps were formerly made at Monmouth where the Cappers Chappel doth still remain being better carved and gilded than any other part of the Church But on the occasion of a great plague hapning in this Town the trade was some years since removed hence to Beaudly in Worcester-shire yet so that they are called Monmouth Caps unto this day Thus this Town retains though not the profit the credit of Capping and seeing the Child still keeps the Mothers name there is some hope in due time she may return unto her All I will adde is this if at this day the phrase of wearing a Monmouth Cap be taken in a bad acception I hope the inhabitants of that Town will endeavour to disprove the occasion thereof Saints Saint AMPHIBALUS a Citizen of Carlion See the Saints in Hereford shire Saint AARON was a wealthy Citizen of Carlion in this County who for the testimony of the Christian Faith was martyred under the Tyrant Emperor Dioclesian By the way we may observe the names of the three first British Martyrs as to their Language 1. Alban Of Latine Originall 2. Amphibalus  Greek  3. Aaron  Hebrew  It seems that the Christian Britons at the Font quitted their Native names as barbarous and imposed on their Children those of the learned Languages This Aaron was martyred Anno Dom. 303. Saint JULIUS It is pity to part so fast friends both being Citizens of Carlion Yea they were lovely in their lives and in their deaths they were not divided both suffering martyrdom together and therefore like Philip and Jacob one day is assigned to their Memories in the Kalendar Nor must I forget how Carlion the place of their aboad though now a small Town was once a great City stretching so far oâ⦠both sides of the River that Saint Julians a house of late of Sir William Herberts was sometimes within the City though now about a mile South-West thereof being a Church dedicated anciently to the Memory of this Saint Julius Cardinals GEFFERY of Monmouth is by some very firmly avouched to have been created a Cardinal but by what Pope and with what Title uncertain but my worthy Author justly suspecteth the truth hereof alledging that Popes in that age advanced few Forraigners at so great a distance to that Title except their merits to the See of Rome which appears not to this Jeffery were very great Let me adde that it is improbable so much honour should be done unto him whilest living who was so solemnly disgraced after his death whose Books extant in his life were afterwards by the Court of Rome publickly prohibited See him therefore in this Shire under the Title of Writers JOHN of Monmouth so called from the place of his Nativity D. D. and Canon of Lincoln was chosen Anno 1296. Bishop of Landaff The manner whereof was remarkable for when Robert Kilwarby complained to Pope Celestine how that Cathedral had been for seven years without a Bishop caused either by the troublesomness of those Times or the exility of revenue thereof his Holiness remitted his Election wholly to the discretion of this Arch-Bishop to conferre that vacant See on whomsoever he pleased The Arch-Bishop knowing all eyes intent on his Integrity herein resolved on a Welsh-man by his birth as most proper for and acceptable in the place and on one of merit for the Function Both Qualifications met in this John of Monmouth as British by his birth and alliance and Charactered to be Doctus Pius Theologus One of his Successors in that Bishoprick acknowledgeth that he was Multimodis sedi suae Benefactor and more particularly that he procured the Rectory of Newland in the Forrest of Dean to be appropriated thereunto But one Bishop Anthony Kitchin by name more unlanded Landaff in one than all his Predecessors endowed it in four hundred years This John dying April 8. 1323. was buried in Saint Maries Chappel whose Epitaph in French is hardly legible at this day on his Marble Monument WALTER CANTILUPE was Son to William the elder Lord Cantilupe whose prime residence was at Abergavennie in this County One of high birth higher preferment made by King Henry the third Bishop of Worcester and highest spirit In his time the Popes Legate came into England and complained of mââ¦ny Clergy-men keeping their livings against the Canons intending either to force such irregular Incumbents into avoydance so to make room for the Popes Favourites or else to compound for their continuance at his arbitrary price But our Walter would not yield to such extortion Indeed he was one of a keene nature and his two-edged spirit did cut on both sides against The Pope The King Telling Rusland his Legate coming hither 1255. that he would preferre to be hang'd on the Gallows rather than ever consent to such expilation of the Church Siding with the Barons he encouraged them in their Civil Warres promising Heaven for their reward though this doctrine cost him an excommunication from the Pope Lying on his death-bed he was touched with true remorse for his disloyalty and upon his desire obtained absolution He died February the fifth 1267. whom I behold as Uncle unto Thomas Cantilupe the Sainted Bishop of Hereford Souldiers RICHARD de CLARE was born as from all concentred probabilities may be conjectured at Strigule-Castle in this County and had the Title of Earl of Strigule and Pembroke He was otherwise surnamed Strongbow from drawing so strong a Bow and had Brachia projectissima saith my Author though I can hardly believe that Reacher which another writeth of him that with the palms of his hands he could touch his knees though he stood up right More appliable to him is the expression of Tully Nihil egit levi brachio being a person of effectual performance It hapned that Mac Murugh Lord of Leinster in the year of our Lord 1167. being expelled his Territory for several Tyrannies by the Lords of Meth and Conaght repaired to our King Henry the second and invited him to invade Ireland But that politick King fearing if failing in success to forfeit the reputation of his discretion would not engage in the design but permitted such Subjects of his who had a mind Militare propriis stipendiis to adventure themselves therein Amongst these Richard Strongbow was the principal going over into Ireland with twelve hundred men too great for an Earls Train yet too little for a Generals Army to make a National Invasion yet so great his success that in a short time he prossessed himself of the Ports of Leinster and Mounster with large lands belonging thereunto insomuch that King Henry grew jealous of his greatness remanded
for his Motto Dilexi decorem domus tuae Domine I have loved the beauty of thy House ô Lord and sometimes Credite operibus Trust their works Now although some may like his Almes better then his Trumpet Charity will make the most favourable construction thereof Being 96. years of age he resigned his Bishoprick and died in the same year Anno Dom. 1536. JOHN WHITE was born in this County of a worshipful House began on the floor and mounted up to the roof of Spiritual Dignitie in this Diocess First Scholar in VVinchester then Fellow of New-colledge in Oxford then Master of VVinchester-School then VVarden of that Colledge and at last taking Lincoln Bishoprick in his passage Bishop of VVinchester all composed in this Distick Me puero Custos Ludi paulo ante Magister VITUS hac demum Praesul in Urbe fuit I may call the latter a Golden Verse for it cost this VVhite many an Angel to make it true entring into his Bishoprick on this condition to pay to Cardinal Pole a yearly Pension of a thousand pounds Now though this was no better then Simony yet the Prelats Pride was so far above his Covetousness and his Covetousness so farre above his Conscience that he swallowed it without any regreet He was a tolerable Poet and wrote an Elegy on the Eucharist to prove the corporal presence and confute Peter Martyr the first and last I believe who brought controversial Divinity into Verses He preached the Funeral Sermon of Queen Mary or if you will of publique Popery in England praising Her so beyond all measure and slighting Queen Elizabeth without any cause that he justly incurr'd Her displeasure This cost him deprivation and imprisonment straiter then others of his Order though freer than any Protestant had under Popish Persecutours until his death which hap'ned at London about the year 1560. Since the Reformation THOMAS BILSON was born in the City of Winchester bred first Scholar in Winchester-School then taking New-Colledge in his passage School-master thereof afterwards Warden of the Colledge and at last taking Worcester in his way Bishop of Winchester As reverend and learned a Prelate as England ever afforded witness his worthy Works Of the perpetual Government of Christs Church and of Christs Descent into Hell not Ad 1. Patiendum to Suffer which was concluded on the Cross with it is finished Nor 2. Praedicandum to Preach useless where his Auditory was all the forlorn hope Neither 3. Liberandum to Free any Pardon never coming after Execution But 4. Possidendum to take possession of Hell which he had conquered And 5. Triumphandum to Triumph which is most honourable in Hostico in the Enemies own Country The New Translation of the Bible was by King James his command ultimately committed to his and Dr. Smiths Bishop of Gloueester perusal who put the compleating hand thereunto His pious departure out of this life hapned 1618. HENRY COTTON was born at Warblington in this County being a younger son unto Sir Richard Cotton Knight and privy Councellor to King Edward the Sixth Queen whilest yet but Lady Elizabeth being then but twelve years of age was his God-mother He was bred in Magdalen Colledge in Oxford and was by the Queen preferred Bishop of Salisbury When she pleasantly said That formerly she had blessed many of her God-sons but now her God-son should bless her Reflecting on the Solemnity of Episcopal Benediction He was consecrated November the 12. 1598. at which time William Cotton of another Family was made Bishop of Exeter The Queen merrily saying alluding to the plenty of clothing in those parts that she hoped that now she had well Cottoned the West By his wife whose name was Patience he had nineteen children and died May the 7. 1615. ARTHUR LAKES was born in the Parish of Saint Michael in the Town of Southampton bred first in VVinchester-School then Fellow of New-Colledge In his own nature he preferred the fruitfulness of the Vine and fatness of the Olive painfulness in a private Parish before the government of the Trees had not immediate Providence without his suit and seeking preferred him successively Warden of New-Colledge Prefect of Saint Crosses nigh VVinchester Dean of VVorcester Bishop of Bath and VVells He continued the same in his Rochet what he was in his Scholars-gown and lived a real comment upon Saint Pauls character of a Bishop 1. Blameless Such as hated his Order could not cast any aspersion upon him 2. The Husband of one VVife He took not that lawful Liberty but led a single Life honouring Matrimony in his brethren who embraced it 3. Vigilant Examining Canonically in his own person all those whom he ordained 4 Sober of good behaviour Such his austerity in diet from his University-Commons to his dying day that he generally fed but on one and that no daintie dish and fasted four times a week from supper 5. Given to Hospitality When Master of Saint Crosses he encreased the allowance of the poor-Brethren in diet and otherwise When Bishop he kept 50. servants in his Family not so much for state or attendance on his Person but pure charity in regard of their private need 6. Apt to teach the Living with his pious Sermons in his Cathedral and neighbouring Parishes and Posterity with those learned Writings he hath left behinde him 7. Not given to VVine His abstemiousness herein was remarkable 8. No striker not given to filthy lucre He never fouled his fingers with the least touch of Gehazi's reward freely preferring desert 9. One that ruleth well his own House The rankness of House-keeping brake not out into any Riot and a Chapter was constantly read every Meal by one kept for that purpose Every night besides Cathedral and Chappel-Prayers he prayed in his own Person with his Family in his Dining-room In a word his Intellectuals had such predominancy of his Sensuals or rather Grace so ruled in both that the Man in him being subordinate to the Christian he lived a pattern of Piety I have read of one Arthur Faunt a Jesuite who entring into Orders renounced his Christian name because forsooth never Legendary Saint thereof and assumed that of Laurence This gracious Arthur was not so superstitiously scrupulous and if none before may pass for the first Saint of his name dying in the fifty ninth year of his age Anno Domini 1602. States-men RICHARD RICH Knight was in the words of my Author A Gentleman well descended and allied in this County Bred in the Temple in the study of our Common Law and afterwards became Sollicitor to King Henry the eighth His Deposition on Oath upon words spoken to him in the Tower was the sharpest evidence to cut off the head of Sir Thomas More He was under Cromwel a lesser hammerto knock down Abbeys most of the Grants of which Lands going through his hands no wonder if some stuck upon his fingers Under King Edward the Sixth he
his own charge chased away the French-man relieved the English and took sixââ¦y of the French Prisoners He removed afterwards to Virginia to view those parts and afterwards came into England and obtained from King Charles who had as great an esteem of and affection for him as King James a Patent to him and his Heirs for Mary-land on the North of Virginia with the same Title and Royalties conferred on him as in Avalon aforesaid now a hopeful Plantation peopled with eight thousand English souls which in processe of time may prove more advantagious to our Nation Being returned into England he died in London April 15. 1632. in the 53. year of his age lying buried in the Chancel of S. Dunstans in the West leaving his Son the Right Honourable Cecil Calvert now Lord Baltemore heir to his Honour Estate and Noble Disposition THOMAS WENTWORTH Earl of Strafford Deputy though Son to William Wentworth of Wentworth-Woodhouse in this County Esq at his Sons birth afterward Baronet yet because born in Chancery-Lane and Christned April 22. Anno 1593. in Saint Dunstans in the West hath his Character in London Seamen ARMIGELL WAAD born of an ancient Family in York-shire as I am informed from his Epitaph on his monument at Hampstead in Midlesex wherein he is termed Hen. 8. Edw. 6. Regum Secretiori consilio ab epistolis which I took the boldnesse to interpret not Secretary but Clerk of the Councel Take the rest as it followeth in his Funeral Inscription Qui in maximarum Artium disciplinis prudentiaque civili instructissimus plurimarum linguarum callentissimus legationibus honoratissimis perfunctus inter Britannos Indicarum Americarum explorator primus Indeed he was the first Englishman that discovered America and his several voyages are largely described in Mr. Hackluite his Travels This English COLUMBUS had by two Wives twenty Children whereof Sir William Waad was the eldest a very able Gentleman and Clerk of the Councel to Queen Elizabeth This Armigel died June 20. 1568. and was buried as is aforesaid MARTIN FROBISHER Kt. was born nigh Doncaster in this County I note this the rather because learned Mr. Carpenter in his Geography recounts him amongst the famous men of Devonshire But why should Devon-shire which hath a flock of Worthies of her own take a Lamb from another County because much conversing therein He was from his youth bred up in Navigation and was the first Englishman that discovered the North way to China and Cathai whence he brought great store of black soft Stone supposing it Silver or Gold Ore but which upon trial with great expence prov'd uselesse yet will no wise man laugh at his mistake because in such experiments they shall never hit the mark who are not content to ãâã it He was very valiant but withal harsh and violent faults which may be dispensed with in one of his profèssion and our Chronicles loudly resouââ¦d his signal service in Eighty Eight for which he was Knighted His last service was the defending of Brest-Haven in Britain with ten ships against a far greater power of Spaniards Here he was shot into the side the wound not being mortal in it self But Swords and Guââ¦s have not made more mortal wounds than Probes in the hands of carelesse and skillesse Chirurgeons as here it came to passe The Chirurgeon took out only the Bullet and left the bumbast about it behind wherewith the sore festered and the worthy Knight died at Plimoââ¦th Anno 1594. GEORGE CLIFFORD Lord Clifford Vescye c. Earl of Cumberland was son to Henry second Earl of that Family by his second Lady a person wholly composed of true Honour and Valour whereof he gave the world a clear and large demonstration It was resolved by the judicious in that age the way to humble the Spanish greatnesse was not by pinching and pricking him in the Low-Countries which only emptied his veins of such blood as was quickly re-filled But the way to make it a Cripple for ever was by cutting off the Spanish sinews of War his Money from the West Indies In order whereunto this Earl set forth a small Fleet at his own cost and adventured his own person therein being the best born Englishman that ever hazarded himselfe in that kind His Fleet may be said to be bound for no other Harbour but the Port of Honour though touching at the Port of Profit in passage thereunto I say touching whose design was not to enrich himself but impoverish the enemy He was as merciful as valiant the best metal bows best and left impressions of both in all places where he came Queen Elizabeth Anno 1592. honoured him with the dignity of the Garter When King James came first out of Scotland to York he attended him with such an equipage of Followers for number and habit that he seemed rather a King than Earl of Cumberland Here happened a contest between the Earl and the Lord President of the North about carrying the Sword before the King in York which office upon due search and enquiry was adjudged to the Earl as belonging unto him and whilest Cliffords Tower is standing in York that Family will never be therein forgotten His Anagram was as really as litterally true Georgius Cliffordius Cumberlandius Doridis regno clarus cum vi fââ¦lgebis He died 1605. leaving one Daughter and Heir the Lady Anne married to the Earl of Dorset of whom hereafter Physicians Sir GEORGE RIPLEY whether Knight or Priest not so soon decided was undoubtedly born at Ripley in this County though some have wrongfully entituled Surry to his Naââ¦vity That York-shire was the place of his birth will be evidenced by his relation of Kindred reckoned up by himself viz. 1. ãâã 2. Ripleâ⦠3. Madlay 4. VVilloughby 5. Burham 6. VVaterton 7. Flemming 8. Talboyes Families found in York-shire and Lincoln-shire but if sought for in Surrey to be met with at Nonesuch Secondly it appeareth by his preferment being Canon of Bridlington in this County and to clear all In patria Eboracensi saith my Author But Philemon Holland hath not only erroniously misplaced but which is worse opprobriously miscalled him in his description of Surrey In the next Village of Ripley was born G. de Ripley a ringleader of our Alchimists and a mystical Impostor Words not appearing in the Latine Britannia and therefore Holland herein no Translator of Cambden but traducer of Ripley Leaving this Land he went over into Italy and there studied twenty years together in pursuance of the Philosophers Stone and ââ¦ound it in the year 1470. as some collect from those his words then written in his Book Juveni quem diligit anima mea spoken by the Spouse Cant. 3. 4. so bold is he with Scripture in that kind An English Gentleman of good credit reported that in his travels abroad he saw a Record in the Isle of Malta which declares that Sir George Ripley gave yearly to those Knights of Rhodes