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
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
must be more in it to give him that denomination seeing many had that office besides himself He was a great Scholar and deep Divine it being reported to his no small praise That he conformed his Divinity to Scripture and not to the rules of Philosophy He flourished under King Edward the third anno 1350. WILLIAM CAXTON born in that Town a noted stage betwixt Roiston and Huntington Bale beginneth very coldly in his commendation by whom he is charactered Vir non omnino stupidus aut ignavia torpens but we understand the language of his Liptote the rather ââ¦ecause he proceedeth to praise his Diligence and Learning He had most of his Education beyond the Seas living 30. years in the Court of Margaret Dutchesse of Burgundy Sister to King Edward the fourth whence I conclude him an Anti-Lancastrian in his affection He continued Polychronicon beginning where Trevisa ended unto the end of King Edward the fourth with good judgment and Fidelity And yet when he writeth that King Richard the second left in his Treasury Money and Jewells to the value of seven hundred thousand pounds I cannot credit him it is so contrary to the received Character of that Kings Riotous Prodigality Caxton carefully collected and printed all Chaucers works and on many accounts deserved well of Posterity when he died about the year 1486. Since the Reformation RICHARD HULOET was born at Wishich in this County and brought up in good learning He wrote a book called the English and Latine A B C and dedicated the same to Thomas Goowrich Bishop of Ely and Chancellor of England Some will condemn him of Indiscretion in presenting so low a subject to so high a person as if he would teach the Greatest States-man in the land to spell aright Others will excuse him his book being though of low of generall use for the Common people who then began to betake themselves to reading long neglected in the land so that many who had one foot in their grave had their hand on their primer But I believe that his book whereof I could never recover a sight though entitled an A B C related not to Literall reading but rather to some Elementall grounds of Religion He flourished Anno Domini 1552. JOHN RICHARDSON was born of honest parentage at Linton in this County bred first Fellow of Emanuell then Master of Saint Peters and at last of Trinity-colledge in Cambridge and was Regius Professor in that University Such who represent him a dull and heavy man in his parts may be confuted with this instance An extraordinary Act in Divinity was kept at Cambridge before King James wherein Doctor John Davenant was Answerer and Doctor Richardson amongst others the opposers The Question was maintained in the negative concerning the excommunicating of Kings Doctor Richardson vigorously pressed the practice of Saint Ambrose excommunicating of the Emperour Theodosius insomuch that the King in some passion returned profecto fuit hoc ab Ambrosio insolentissimè factum To whom Doctor Richardson rejoyned responsum vere Regium Alexandro dignum hoc non est argumenta dissolvere sed desecare And so sitting down he desisted from any further dispute He was employed one of the Translators of the Bible and was a most excellent linguist whose death happened Anno Dom. 1621. ANDREW WILLET D. D. was born at Ely in this County bred Fellow of Christs-colledge in Cambridge He afterwards succeeded his father in the Parsonage of Barley in Hertford shire and became Prebendary of Ely He confuted their cavill who make children the cause of covetousness in Clergy-men being bountifull above his ability notwithstanding his numerous issue No less admirable his industry appearing in his Synopsiâ⦠Comments and Commentaââ¦ies insomuch that one considering his Polygraphy said merrily that he must write whilst he slept it being unpossible that he should do so much when waking Sure I am he wrote not sleepily nor oscitantèr but what was solid in it self and profitable for others A casuall fall from his horse in the high-way near Hodsden breaking his leg accelerated his death It seems that Gods promise to his children to keep them in all their ways that they dash not their foot against the stone 'T is as other Temporall promises to be taken with a Tacit clause of revocation viz. if Gods wisdome doth not discover the contrary more for his glory and his childrens good This Doctor died Anno Domini 1621. Sir THOMAS RIDLEY Kt. Dr. of the Laws was born at Ely in this County bred first a scholar in Eaton then Fellow of Kings-colledge in Cambridge He was a general scholar in all kind of learning especially in that which we call melior literatura He afterwards was Chancellor of Winchester and the Vicar generall to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury his memory will never dye whilst his book called the view of the Ecclesiastical Laws is living a book of so much merit that the Common Lawyers notwithstanding the difference betwixt the professions will ingeniously allow a due commendation to his learned performance in that subject He died Anno Domini 1629. on the two and twentieth day of January ARTHUR HILDERSHAM was born at Strechworth in this County descended by his mothers side from the Bloud-Royal being great-great-grand-child to George Duke of Clarence brother to Edward the fourth Yet was he not like the proud Nobles of Tecoa who counted themselves too good to put their hands to Gods work But being bred in Christs-colledge in Cambridge he entred into the Ministry How this worthy Divine was first run a ground with poverty and afterwards set a float by Gods Providence how he often alternately lost and recovered his voice being silenced and restored by the Bishops how after many intermediate afflictions this just and upright man had peace at the last is largely reported in my Ecclesiastical History to which except I adde to the truth I can adde nothing on my knowledge remarkable He died Anno Domini 1631. R. PARKER for so is his Christian name defectively written in my Book was born in Ely therefore Place-nameing himself Eliensis was son as I am confident to Master Parker Arch-deacon of Ely to whom that Bishoprick in the long vacancy after the death of Bishop Cox was profered and by him refused tantum opum usuram iniquis conditionibus sibi oblatam respuens Our Parker was bred in and became Fellow of Caius-colledge an excellent Herauld Historian and Antiquary Author of a short plain true and brief Manuscript called Sceletos Cantabrigiensis and yet the bare Bones thereof are Fleshed with much matter and hath furnished me with the Nativities of severall Bishops who were Masters of Colledges I am not of the mind of the Italian from whose Envy God deliver us Polidore Virgil who having first served his own turn with them burnt all the rare English Manuscripts of History he could procure so to raise the valuation of his own works But from my heart I wish some
of such who secretly design their overthrow whom they openly embrace Hengsten down well ywrought Is worth London town dear ybought The truth hereof none can confirm or confute seeing under-ground-wealth is a Nemo scit and vast may the treasure be of Tinne in this Down Sure I am that the gainfull plenty of metall formerly afforded in this place is now fallen to a scantsaving-scarcity But to make the Proverbe true it is possible that the Cornish Diamonds found therein may be pure and orient as better concocted in the bowells thereof For though crafty not to say dishonest Chapmen put the best grain in the top and worst in the bottome of their sack such is the integrity of nature that the coursest in this kind are higher and the purest still the lowest Tru-ru Triveth eu Ombdina geveth try-ru Which is to say Trââ¦u consisteth of three streets and it shall in time be said Here Truru stood I trust the men of this town are too wise to give credit to such predictions which may justly prove true to the superstitious believers thereof Let them serve God and defie the Devil with all his Pseudo-prophesies Like to this is another fond observation presaging some sad success to this Town because ru ru which in English is Woe Woe is twice in the Cornish name thereof But let the men of Truru but practice the first syllable in the name of their town and they may be safe and secure from any danger in the second He doth sail into Cornwall without a Bark This is an Italian Proverb where it passeth for a description or derision rather of such a Man who is wronged by his Wises disloyalty I wonder the Italians should take such pains to travail so far to fetch this expression having both the Name and Matter nearer home Name Having the field Cornetus Campus in agro falisco called Corneto at this day And a people called Corni in Latium with the Cornicti montes near Tiber not to speak of its two Promontories tearmed by good Authors Cornua duo Italiae the two Horns of Italy Matter Keeping their wives under restraint as generally full of Jealousie which if just I much bemoan the Gaolers if not I more pity their Prisoners Whereas in our Cornwall the Wives liberty is the due reward of their Chastity and the Cause of their husbands comfortable confidence therein He is to be summoned before the Mayor of Halgaver This is a joculary and imaginary Court wherewith men make merriment to themselves presenting such Persons as go Slovenly in their Attire untrussed wanting a spur c. Where judgement in formal terms is given against them and executed more to the scorn then hurt of the persons But enough hereof least I be summoned thither my self When Dudman and Ramehead meet These are two forelands well known to Sailers well nigh twenty miles asunder and the Proverbe passeth for the Periphrasis of an impossibility However these two Points have since met together though not in position in possession of the same owner Sir Pierce Edgecombe enjoying one in his own the other in right of his wife Saints SAINT KIBY was son to Solomon Duke of Cornwall whom severall inducements moved to travail First because A Prophet hath the least Honour in his own Country Secondly because Britain at that time was infected with Arianisme Thirdly because he had read so much of the works and heard more of the worth of Saint Hilary Bishop of Poicteers in France This main motive made him address himself to that worthy Father with whom he lived fifty years and afterwards saith learned Leyland was by him made Bishop of the Isle of Anglesey Pardon me Reader if suspending my belief herein seeing surely that holy and humble French Saint would not pretend to any Metropoliticall power in appointing a Bishop in Britain More probable it is that Saint Hilary made him a Bishop at large sine titulo whereof there are some precedents in Antiquity However into Wales he went and there converted the Northern parts thereof to and confirmed the rest in Christianity A Three-fold memoriall is in the Isle of Anglesey extant at this day One of his Master in Point Hilary another of himself in Caer-Guiby and a third of both in Holyhead He florished about the year of our Lord 380. URSULA daughter to Dinoth Duke of Cornwall was born in this County This is she who se life is loaden with such Anticronismes and Improbabilities that it is questionable whether this fable was ever founded in a truth or hath any thing in History for its Original This Ursula is said to have carried over out of Britain eleven thousand Maids of prime quality besides threescore thousand of meaner rank seventy one thousand in all a prodigious number to be married to so many in little Britain in France Preposterous in my mind to proffer themselves and it had argued more modesty if their Husbands had fetcht them hence But blame them not who paid so dear for their Adventures All shipp'd from London some of them were drowned in their Passage the rest slain by the Hunnes of Colen say some at Rome say others by King Attila under Gratian the Emperour Mendacium Aequabile observing equall Temper of untruth in time place and person However there is a Church at Colen dedicated to their Memories where the Virgin Earth let the reporter have the Whetstone will digest no other body no not the Corps of an Infant newly Baptised as good a Maid I believe as the best of them but will vomit it up in the night time again as if they had never been buried This Massacre is reported to have happened in the year of our Lord 383. SAINT MELIORUS was onely son of Melianus Duke of this County who being secretly made a Christian was so maliced by Rinaldus his Pagan-brother-in-law that he first cut off his right-hand and then his left-legg no reason of this transposed method of cruelty save cruelty and at last his head about the year 411. whose body being buried in some old Church in this County by the miracles reported to be done thereat procured the reputation of a Saint to his memory Prelates WILLIAM de GREN-VIL was born of a worshipfull family in this County and became Canon of York Dean of Chichester Chancellour of England under K. Edward the first and Arch-bishop of York But the worst was two years his Confirmation was deferred untill he had paid nine thousand fiveh undred marks Let him thank the Pope who gave him the odd five hundred not mounting it to even ten thousand Besides he had this favour not as many others to be consecrated by a Proxy but the very hands of P. Clement the fifth This paiment reduced him to such poverty he was relieved by the Clergy of his Province by way of Benevolence This not doing the deed to make him a Saver he was fain to crave another help
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
Perin in Cornwall The Angel Gabriel was very much beholding to him for instituting an Annual Festival unto Him observed as I humbly conceive only in his own Cathedral or own Diocesse at the most and least people shoââ¦ld complain of the dearnesse of their Devotion he left good Land to defray the cost of that Solemnity He is much blamed for compassing the Mannour of Bishops-Clift to his Church by indirect means to which I can say nothing but only observe that this small City within eighty Years did afford three eminent Prelates whereof two Episcopi in Patria the Natives thereof which will scarcely be paralell'd in any Place of the same proportion He died Anno 12. Writers JOSEPHUS ISCANUS was born at this City anciently called Isca from the River Isk now named Eske running thereby A golden Poââ¦t in a leaden Age so terse and elegant were his Conceipts and expressions This our English Maro had for his Mecenas Baldwin Archbishop of Canterbury But I revoke my words and desire to turn Maro into Cornelius Nepos under whose name the Dutch-men have lately printed a Poem made by this Josephus debello Trojano It soundeth much to a Mans honour even to be mistaken for another Man of eminency for though there may be much of error in the mistake there must be something of truth in the error especially with the judicious Yea in such case a general conformity betwixt the Persons is not enough to build the mistake on without some ãâã ãâã as here the affinity of phrase and fancy betwixt these two Poets This ãâã Nepos under whose name the Poems of this Josephus were printed flourished in the time of Tully Indeed I finde not any Poems made by him though having to that purpose perused all Scaliger de Arte ãâã as a most probable Authour But most sure it is that this Cornââ¦lius was most judicious in that Art because Valerius Catullus dedicated his Poem unto him as best able to pââ¦sse a learned censure thereon this Josephus Iscanus flourished under King John Anno 1210 being Arch-Bishop of Burdeaux I have nothing more to observe of him save what with the Readers pardon I cannot omit viz. that this Josephus alwayes minded me of another Josephus Iscanus I mean Joseph Hall lately Bishop of Exeter a witty Poet when young a painfull Preacher and solid Divine in his middle a patient Sufferer in his old age of whom God willing more in due place WILLIAM of Exeter was born in this City bred a Doctor of Divinity in Oxford and afterwards became ãâã of the ãâã in the place of his nativity Now in his age fome Franciscan Friers so praised the perfectiou of Poverty that they touched the Popes Coppy-hold of Inheritance For if Poverty was so essential to Piety Papal pomp and plenty must needs argue prophaneness In confutation hereof this William of Exeter undertook William of Ockam though indeed impar congressus betwixt them for Exeter a fair City did not more exceed Ockam a smal village in Surrey in beauty and building than that Ockam William excelled this Exeter William in parts and Learning however what he wanted in brains he had in a good back to assist him and William of Exeter with John the three and twentieth Pope of Rome was able to undertake any Authour of that age He flourished in the Year of our Lord 1330. under the Raign of King Edward the third Since the Reformation RICHARD MARTYN was born in this City and bred partly in the Court partly in the Inns of Court and at last ââ¦etook himself to the Study of the Law He was accounted one of the highest Witts of our Age and his Nation King James being much delighted with his facetiousnesse a quality which with other of his Abilities commended him to be chosen Recorder of London He is eminent as for many Speeches so especially for that he made in Parliament in the tenth year of King James when account was taken of Forty Gentlemen in the House which were not twenty and some of them not sixteen years of age Formerly said this Rââ¦order Martyn it was the custome of Old men to make Lawes for Young ones But now Nature is invaded and inverted seeing Young men enact Lawes to govern their Fathers He had an excellent Pen and wrote very much and the more the pitty that they are suppressed from publick use his death happened about the year 1616. WILLIAM MARTIN Kinsman to the aforesaid Recorder was born in this City and bred a Student in the Lawes of the Land He wrote a short and clear of the Kings of England since the conquest I have been credlbly informed that King James took some exceptions at a Passage therein sounding either to the derogation of his own Family or of the Scotch Nation which he took so tenderly that Mr. Martin was brought into trouble for the same and though he wethered out the Kings displeasure and was reconciled to his Majesty yet he never rââ¦covered his former chearfulnesse It seems that a Princes Anger is a disease which though cured is not cured grief for the same being conceived to hasten his death which happened about the year 1616. WILLIAM TUCKER was born in this City bred fellow of New-Colledge in Oxford and after became Doctor in Divinity Canon of Sarisbury Arch-deacon of Barnstable and Dean of Lichfield The purity of his Latine Pen procured his preferment writing and dedicating a Book to Queen Elizabeth de Charismate of our Kings of England their gracious healing the Evil being the best that I have seen on that Subject vindicating such cures from all imposture unlawfull Magick and from some French Writers bold usurpations who lay claim to it as originally belonging to their Kings alone Whereas under correction I conceive that the word Soveraign which properly importeth the Supream Majesty doth also in our English Tongue in a secondary sence signiââ¦ie what is cordial to cure and heal Diseases or sores ever since such sanative power hath been annexed to the Crown of England This Doctor may be said to have worn half a Miter seeing his Congee de-lire was signed if not sent to elect him Bishop of Glocester but afterwards by Order fââ¦om King James it was revoked on what occasion I list not to enquire I conjecture the date of his death was much about the Year 1617. JOHN BARKHAM born in this City was bred in Corpus Christi Colledge in Oxford whereof he was Fellow Chaplain afterwards to Archbishop Bancroft and Parson of Bocking in Essex Much his Modesty and no lesse his Learning who though never the publique Parent of any was the carefull Nurse of many Books who otherwise had expired in their Infancy had not his care preserved them He set forth D. Crackenchorp his Posthume Book against Spalato and was helpfull to John Speed in the composing of his English History yea he wrote the whole Life of the Raign of King John which is the King of all the
without the Brittleness thereof soon Ripe and long Lasting in his Perfections He Commenced Doctor in Physick and was Physician to Queen Elizabeth who Stamped on him many Marks of her Favour besides an Annuall Pension to encourage his Studies He addicted himself to Chemistry attaining to great exactness therein One saith of him that he was Stoicall but not Cynicall which I understand Reserv'd but not Morose never married purposely to be more beneficiall to his Brethren Such his Loyalty to the Queen that as if unwilling to survive he dyed in the same year with her 1603. His Stature was Tall Cââ¦plexion Cheerfull an Happiness not ordinary in so hard a Student and retired a Person He lyeth buried in Trinity Church in Colchester under a plain Monument Mahomets Tombe at Mecha is said strangely to hang up attracted by some invisible Load-stone but the Memory of this Doctor will never fall to the ground which his incomparable Book De Magnete will support to Eternity Writers GERVASE of TILBURY born at that Village in this County since famous for a Cââ¦mpe against the Spaniards in 88. is reported Nephew to King Henry the second But though Nepos be taken in the Latitude thereof to signify Son to Brother Sister or Child I cannot make it out by the Door and am loth to suspect his coming in by the Window This Gervase may be said by his Nativity to stand but on one foot and that on tip toes in England being born on the Sea side at the mouth of Thames and therefore no wonder if he quickly convayed himself over into Forraign Parts He became Courtier and favorite to his Kinsman Otho the fourth Emperour who conferred on him the Marshal-ship of the Arch-bishoprick of Arles which proveth the Imperiall Power in this Age over some parts of Province an office which he excellently discharged Though his person was wholly conversant in Forraign Aire his Pen was chiefly resident on English Earth writing a Chronicle of our Land and also adding illustrations to Gââ¦ffrey Monmouth He flourished Anno 1210. under King John ADAM of BARKING no mean market in this County was so termed from the Town of his Nativity Wonder not that being born in the East of England he went West-ward as far as Sherborn where he was a Benedictine for his education it being as usuall in that age for Monkes as in ours for Husbandmen to change their soil for the seed that their grain may give the greater encrease He was a good Preacher and learned Writer and surely would have soared higher if not weighed down with the ignorance of the age he lived in whose death happened Anno 1216. RALPH of COGSHALL in this County was first Canon of Barnewell nigh Cambridge and afterwards turn'd a Cistertian Monke He was a man Incredibilis frugalitatis parsimoniae but withall of great learning and abilities These qualities commended him to be Abbot of Cogshall the sixth in order after the first foundation thereof where he spent all his spare hours in writing of Chronicles and especially of additions to Radulphus Niger Afflicted in health he resigned his place and died a private person about the year 1230. ROGER of WALTHAM was so called from the place of his Nativity I confess there be many Walthams in England and three in Essex but as in Herauldry the plain Coat speaks the bearer thereof to be the best of the house whiles the younger Brethren give their Armes with differences so I presume that Waltham here without any other addition of Much Waltham Wood-Waltham c. is the Chief in that kind viz. Waltham in this County within twelve Miles of London eminent in that Age for a wealthy Abby The merit of this Roger being saith Bale tersè nitidè eleganter eruditus endeared him to Fulke Basset Bishop of London who preferred him Canon of Saint Pauls He wrot many worthy works flourishing under King Henry the third Anno Domini 1250. JOHN GODARD wherever born had his best being at Cogshall in this County where he became a Cistercian Monke Great was his skill in Arithmetick and Mathematicks a Science which had lain long asleep in the World and now first began to open it's eyes again He wrot many certain Treatises thereof and dedicated them unto Ralph Abbot of Cogshall He flourished Anno Dom. 1250. AUBREY de VERE extracted from the right Honorable Earls of Oxford was born saith my Authors in Bonaclea Villa Trenovantum Three miles srom Saint Osith by which direction we find it to be Great Bentley in this County Now although a witty Gentleman saith that Noble-men have seldome any thing in Print save their Cloths yet this Aubrey so applyed his studies that he wrote a Learned Book of the Eucharist In his old age he became an Augustinian of Saint Osiths preferring that before other places both because of the pleasant retireness thereof and because his kindred were great Benefactors to that Covent witness their Donation de septem Libratis terrae thereunto This Aubrey the most learned of all Honorable Persons in that Age Flourished Anno Domini 1250. THOMAS MALDON was born at Maldon no mean Market Town in this County anciently a City of the Romans called Camulodunum He was afterwards bred in the University of Cambridge where he Commenced Doctor of Divinity and got great reputation for his Learning being a Quick Disputant Eloquent Preacher Solid in Defining Subtle in Distinguishing Clear in Expressing Hence he was chosen Prior of his own Monastery in Maldon where he commendably discharged his place till the day of his death which happened 1404. THOMAS WALDENSIS was son to John and Maud Netter who declining the Surname of his Parents took it from Walden the noted place in this County of his Nativity so much are they mistaken that maintain that this Waldensis his name was Vuedale and that he was born in Hant-shire In some sort he may be termed Anti-Waldensis being the most professed Enemy to the Wicklevites who for the main revived and maintained the Doctrine of the Waldenses Being bred a Carmelite in London and Doctor of Divinity in Oxford he became a great Champion of yet Vassall to the Pope witness his sordid Complement consisting of a conjunction or rather confusion and misapplication of the words of Ruth to Naomi and David to Goliah Perge Domine Papa perge quò cupis ego tecum ubicunque volueris nec deseram in Authoritate Dominorum meorum incedam in armis eorum pugnabo He was in high esteem with three succeeding Kings of England and might have changed his Coul into what English Miter he pleased but refused it Under King Henry the fourth he was sent a solemn Embassadour 1410. about taking away the Schismâ⦠and advancing an Union in the Church and pleaded most eloquently before the Pope and Segismund the Emperour He was Confââ¦ssor and Privy Councellour to King Henry the fifth who died in his
Here a Spanish Merchants Daughter Mary de la Barrera by name fell in love with him and became his Wife worth to him in Barrs of Gold and Silver two Thousand five hundred Pounds besides Jewells of great price Returning into England he lived with great comfort and credit therein so that it may truly be said of him He had been unââ¦one if by the cruelty of his Enemies he had not been undone Writers LAMFRID of Winchester was bred a Benedictine therein Congregationis Giribenne saith my Authour wherein I am not ashamed to confess my ignorance Such his Learning in those Dayes that he got the general name of Doctor Eximius though his few works still extant answer not the proportion of so high a Title He flourished anno 980. WOLSTANUS of Winchester bred a Benedictine therein attained to the reputation of a great Scholar I listen attentively to the words of VV. Malmsbury who could ken a Learned man giving him this Caracter Vir fuit eruditus homo etiam bonae vitae castigatae eloquentiae But it seemeth his Eloquence was confined to Poetry my Author observing that Oratione soluta nunquam politè scripsit He flourished anno 1000. JOHN of HIDE was a Monk in the famous ABBY of Hide in the Suburbs of Winchester and became a competent Historian according to the rate of those times writing certain Homilies a Book of the Patience of Job and the Story of his own Convent He flourished anno 1284. JOHN of Basingstoak so called from a fair Market Town in this Coââ¦nty where he was born We have a double Demonstration of his signal worth first because Robert Grosthead that pious and learned Bishop who would not advance any thing which was under eminency preferred him Arch-deacon of Leicester secondly The Pens of Bale and Pitz diametrically opposite one to the other meet both in his commendation Being bred first in Oxford then in Paris thence he travailed into Athens Athens as yet was Athens not routed by Turkish Tyranny where he heard the Learned Lecturs of one Constantina a Noble Woman not fully Twenty Years old of the abstruse Mysteries of Nature Coming home he brought back many precious Books and had good skill in the Greek Tongue whereof he wrote a GRAMMAR and is justly reputed the first restorer thereof in England He was the Author of many worthy works and died Anno 1252. on whom M. Paris bestoweth this Eulogy Vir in trivio quatrivio ad plenum eruditus JOHN of HIDE was a Monk in the Famous Abby of Hide in the Suburbs of Winchester and became a competent Historian according to the rate of those times writing certain Homilies a book of the Patience of Job and the Story of his own Covent He flourished Anno 1284. WILLIAM ALTON a Native of a known Market-Town in this County was a Dominican or Preaching Frier famous even amongst Forreiners for his Sermons and sound judgement avouching the Virgin Mary tainted with Original Corruption He flourished Anno 1330. WILLIAM LILLIâ⦠was born at Odiam a Market-Town in this County and travelled in his youth as far as Jerusalem In his return he stayed at Rhodes and studied Greek which will seem strange to some Rhodes not being Rhodes in that Age except casually some great Critick was there seeing otherwise to find Elegant in Modern Greek sowred with long continuance is as impossible as to draw good Wine out of a vessel of Vinegar Hence he went to Rome where he heard John Sulpitius and Pomponius Sabinus great Masters of Latine in those dayes After his Return Dean Collet made him the first Master of St. Pauls School which place he commendably discharged for 15. years Here he made his Latine Grammar which this great School-Master modestly submitted to the correction of Erasmus and therefore such who will not take it on the single bond of Lillie may trust on the security of Erasmus Some charge it for surfeiting with variety of examples who would have had him onely to set down the bare Rules as best for Childrens remembrance But they may know that such who learnt Grammar in Lillies time were not School-boyes but School-men I mean arrived at mens Estate Many since have altered and bettered his Grammar and amongst them my worthy Friend Dr. Charles Scarborough calculating his short clear and true Rules for the Meridian of his own son which in due time may serve for general use Our Lillie died of the plague and was buried in the Porch of Saint Pauls Anno Dom. 1522. Since the Reformation MICHAâ⦠RENEGER was born in this County and bred Fellow in Magdalen-Colledge in Oxford where he gained great credit for his skill in Learning and Languages He wrote a Book in the Defence of Ministers marriage THOMAS STERNHOLD was born in this County and was afterwards a servant to King Henry the Eighth I find him a Legatee in his Will thus mentioned Item To THOMAS STERNHOLD Groome of our Robes a hundred Mark He was afterwards saith my Author ab intimo cubiculo to King Edward the Sixth Though I am not satisfied whether thereby he meant Gentleman of his Privie-Chamber or Groom of his Bed-Chamber He was a principal instrument of Translating of the Psalmes into English-Meeter The first twentie six and seven and thirty in all being by him performed Yet had he other assistance in that work Many a bitter scoffe hath since been past on their endeavours by some Wits which might have been better imployed Some have miscalled these their Translations Geneva Gigs and which is the worst Father or Mother rather the Expression on our Virgin Queen as falsly as other things have been charged upon her Some have not sticked to say that David hath been as much persecuted by bungling Translators as by Saul himself Some have made Libellous verses in abuse of them and no wonder if Songs were made on the Translators of the Psalms seeing Drunkards made them on David the Author thereof But let these Translations be beheld by unpartial eyes and they will be allowed to go in Equipage with the best Poems in that age However it were to be wisht that some bald Rimes therein were bettered till which time such as sing them must endeavour to amend them by singing them with Understanding heads and Gratious hearts whereby that which is but bad Meter on Earth will be made good Musick in Heaven As for our Thomas Sternhold it was happy for him that he died before his good Master Anno 1549. in the moneth of August So probably preventing much persecution which would have hapned unto him if surviving in the Reign of Queen Mary DAVID WHITEHEAD where born to me unknown is here placed Because I find a worshipful and ancient Family of his Name in this County He was bred a Batchelour of Divinity in Oxford and flying into Germany in the Reign of Queen Mary was in high esteem at Franckford
c. Which many think meerly made by a conceited Brain on design to puzzle Intellects to create sense by their Ingenuity and Industry which was never intended therein For I am clearly of his opinion who said Qui ea scribit legi quae non vult intelligi debet negligi I have nothing else to observe of this Richard White save that after he had successively married two Wives He was made a Priest by the special dispensation of Pope Clement the eight and that he was alive at Doway 1611. JOHN PITS was born in this County nigh the Market Town of Aulton witness his words in Vicinio cujus Oppidi natus sum ego Son he was to Henry Pits and Elizabeth his Wife Sister to Nicholas Sanders It is hard to say whether his hands took more pains in writing or feet in travelling if the List of his Laborious Life be perused whereby he will appear a very aged person At 11. years of Age he went to the school of Winchester 11 Seven years he staid there until chosen unto New-Colledge 18 Two years he lived in Oxford and then went beyond the Seas 20 One year he stayed and studied in the Colledge of Rhemes 21 Thence going to Rome he lived 7. years there in the English-Colledge and was ordained Priest 28 Returning to Rhemes two yeares he there taught Rhetorick and Greek 30 Then lived in Lorrain and in Triers two years 32 Three years at Ingolstad in Bavaria where he was made D. D. 35 Made Canon of Verdun in Lorrain and lived there two years 37 Then for twelve years he was Confessor to the Dutches of Cleve 49 Here he wrote many Volumes of several Subjects one of the Apostolical men another of the Kings and Bishops in England but because he survived not to see them set forth He was as good as his word mecum morientur sepelientur with him they died and were buried Onely that his book is brought to light which is Intituled de Illustribus Angliae Scriptoribus a Subject formerly handled by many so that some stick not to say J. Leland is the industrious BEE working all J. Bale is the angry WASP stinging  J. Pits is the idle DRONE stealing  For my part I have made much use of his endeavours to help me with many Writers especially with such English Papists as have been since the Reformation Nor will I pay him with rayling from whose pen I have borrowed much information Some wonder at his invectiveness I wonder more that he inveigheth so little and seeing he was sisters son to blackmouth'd Sanders it is much that he doth not more Avunculize in his bitterness against Protestants After the death of Anthonia Dutches of Cleve he returned the third time into Lorrain where the Bishop of Toul who formerly had been his Scholar gave him the Deanary of Liverdune a place of good credit and revenue where quietly he reposed himself for the remainder of his life for many years and dying Anno 1616. was there buried Benefactors to the Publick Besides Bishop Wickham of whom before who alone may pass for Ten I meet with none of grand remark before the Reformation since it besides many of meaner note I find Two of signal Charity Sir WILLIAM DODDINGTON Knight High Sheriffe of this County in the Third of King James kept a bountiful House at Bremer therein Succeeding to an unexpected Estate he had the words of David frequent in his mouth What am I or what is my Fathers House that thou hast brought me hitherto Having a godly jealousie that some former Dysasters in his Family had been caused by Gods displeasure on his Ancestors for holding so many Impropriations he freely and fully restored them to the Church setling them as firmly as Law could devise to a greater yearly value than many will believe or any imitate Yet was he a man of Mourning or son of Affliction all the dayes of his life No sooner had he seen Herbert his eldest son a most hopeful Gentleman married to a considerable Co-heir in Somer set-shire but he beheld him snatcht away by an untimely death What Tragedies have since happened in his household is generally known All these he bare with Saint-like Patience hearing the Rod that is understanding and obeying it and him who appointed it In a word God the skilful Lapidary polished him with sharp Instruments that he then did glister as a Pearle here who now shineth as a Starre in Heaven He died about the year of our Lord 1638. JOSEPH DIGGONS Esquire was of Dutch extraction whose Father was a Sea-man of Trinity-House but had his longest Habitation in this County in a house of his own building at Whetham in the Parish of Lisse He was bred a Fellow-Commoner of Clare-hall in Cambridge and afterwards became a Barrester in the Temple By his Will he gave to Clare hall where none knew his Face nor remembred his Name save the Worthy Master Dr. Pask all his Estate in Land of very improveable Rents to the Value of One Hundred and Thirty Pounds per annum for the founding of Fellowships and Scholarships at the discretion of the Master and Fellows He made Mr. Pickering an Attourney of Clements-Inn living at Oldham in this County an Overseer of his Will who faithfully gave the Colledge notice thereof and was very usefull and assistant to them in the settling of the Lands aforesaid Mr. Diggons died anno 1658. Memorable Persons We must not forget ONE better known to me by his Invention than his Name who dwelling at Stockbridge in this County made so artificial a Plough that by the help of Engins and some Contrivances it might be drawn by Doggs and managed by one Man who would plough in one day well nigh an Acre of the Light Ground in this County This Plough I saw some thirty Years since at Stockbridge aforesaid But the ââ¦roject was not taking beheld rather as pretty than profitable though in the judgment of Wise Men this Groundwork might have been built upon and Invention much improved by the skilfull in Mathematicks For I have heard that some Polititians are back Friends how justly I know not to such Projects which if accomplish'd invite the Land to a Losse the fewer Poor being thereby set awork that being the best way of Tillage which imployeth most about it to keep them from stealing and starving So that it would not be beneficiall to State might a Plough be drawn by Butterflies as which would draw the greater Burden on the Common wealth to devise other wayes for the Maintenance of the Poor The mentioning of these plow ãâã Doggs mindeth me one Rarity attracteth another of other Doggs in this County more usefull for the Common-wealth meeting with this Passage in a * Modern Authour It is reported that about Portsmouth is a Race of small Doggs like Beagles that they use their to hunt Moles which they hunt as their proper natural Game If this be true
in the raign of Queen Mary Writers NOTââ¦ELMUS of LONDON Having casually let slip his forelock I mean his Episcopal Capacity being successively Bishop of London and Arch-bishop of Canterbury under which he ought to be entred we are fain to lay hold on his hind-part that his memory may not escape us taking notice of him as a Writer In his Age shined a Constellation of three learned men Bede Alcuinus and our Nothelme whom the two former by their letters invited to writ a performance proper for his Pen the gests of Gregory the Great and the Disciples sent by him with Austin the Monk for the Conversion of Britain Nothelme the more effectually to enable himself for this work went to Rome obtained leave from Pope Gregory the second to peruse his Records then sent his compleated collections to Bede to be inserted in his Church history Bede in gratitude according to the courteous custome of the learned exchange dedicated to him his thirty questions on the Books of Kings His death happened Anno Domini 739. WILLIAM FITZ-STEPHENS was descended saith Leland of Norman Nobility but born in this City and bred a Monk in Canterbury He wrote many learned works and one in Latine of the description of London since commendably because rare to come by translated and added to the Survey of London Say not that London then was but the Suburbs to the London now for the bigness and populousness thereof seeing in Fitz Stephens time it accounted thirteen Conventual and an hundred and six and thirty Parochial Churches not producing so many at this day so that it seems though there be more Bodies of Men there be fewer Houses of God therein As for the populousness thereof in his time it was able to set forth sixty thousand Foot which I believe it may treble in our time It could also then raise twenty thousand Horsemen which would pose it at this day to perform But as railing Rabshekah made Jerusalem weaker not able to set two thousand Riders on horses so possibly Fitz-Stephens might make London stronger then it was I hope one may safely wish this City may be better in holiness as bigger in houses then it was when Fitz-Stephens flourished 1190. ALBRICIUS of LONDON Leland maketh him a Native of this City and signally learned though little is extant of his writings save a work of the Original of Heathen Gods Herein he sheweth how mankind having by error and ignorance left and lost the true God multiplyed Deities that a Mock-infinite viz. what was but Indefinite in number should supply his place who was Infinite in Nature Albricius flourished Anno Domini 1217. WILLIAM SENGHAM born of mean but honest Parents being one of a meek nature and quick wit was brought up in learning wherein he attained to great perfection He wrote many books and one de fide Legibus wherein Bale highly praiseth this passage There is no other law for the Salvation of men besides the Gospel of Christ our Lord. Now although this be but a plain expression of the common truth yet was it beheld as an Oracle in that ignorant age Thus a beam of noon-day might it be seen at mid-night would shine as the Sun it self besides these words were uttered in that age when impudent Friers began to obtrud on the world a fift forged Gospel consisting of superstitious ceremonies and called Aeternum Evangelium which did much mischief in the Church amongst credulous men This William is supposed by some an Augustinian Frier who flourished Anno Dom. 1260. LAURENTIUS ANGLICUS was certainly an English-man and probably a Londoner but brought up and living most of his time in Paris where he was Master of the Colledge which had an English-man for the sign thereof Hence I collect it for building little better then our ordinary Inns for entertainment where probably our Country men had their lodgings for nothing This Laurence being a learned and pious person stoutly opposed that mock Gospel commonly called Evangelium Aeternum with the Mendicant Friars the Champions thereof He wrote a smart book contra Pseudo-Praedicatores but afterwards being frightned with the Popes thunderboults and the Friars threatnings he cowardly recanted But what saith Solomon A just man falleth seven times the Vulgar Latine addeth in die in one day and riseth again as we hope this Laurence did who flourished Anno Dom. 1260. NICHOLAS LYRA was as Barnabas a Jew-Cypriot and Saul a Jew-Gilician a Jew-English man the first by Nation the second by Nativity He had the Rââ¦bbins at his Fingers ends but conversed so long with that at last he was converted by some Franciscans to be a Christian and I behold Nicholas Conquerour of his People as his Font-name then given him as predictory of those Victories he afterwards got by his disputings and writings over his own Country-men Nor doth the Church of God more complain of Nicholas that Proselite of Antioch the last of the seven Deacons and first founder of the Nicholaitans whom God hated then it doth commend our Nicholas who vigorously confuted the Jews who expect the rising of the Sun in the afternoon waiting for Messias still to come I read how some fifty years before Henry the third founded a house called Domus Conversorum where now the Office of the Rolls is kept in Chancery-lane where Converted Jews were accommodated with Lodging and a small Salary But I believe Lyra made no use thereof contenting himself to live first in Oxford then in Paris a Franciscan Fryar and wrote Comments on all the Old and New-Testament whereof so different the Editions that I am certainly informed one is so bad one can hardly give too little and one so good one can hardly give too much for it Though sometimes he may be wide of the Mark and this Harp be out of Tune yet uncharitable their censure of Lyra Delirat whilst Luther highly praiseth him because his wanton wit did not gad after empty Allegories but with the good house-keeper stays at home keeping himself close to the Text in his literal interpretations Now though there were many Jewish Synagogues in England at York Cambridge Northampton c. yet the Old Jury in London equalling all the rest in numerousness Lyra his birth is here assigned with best assurance though dying in Paris about the year 1340. BANKINUS of LONDON not Bancks of London who taught his Horse reason to perform feats above belief but one of hgher Parts and worse employed Being an Augustinian Friar he set himself wholly to suppress the poor Wicklevicks and being ready to dispute against them in a publique Council was taken off in his full speed with the following accident worthy of the Readers observation Bale de Script Brit. Cent. 6. Num. 97. Sed terrae motus justissima summi Dei vindicta subito exortus diruptis Passim domorum edificitis immanes eorum impetus fregit ac vires infirmavit But an Earthquake by the just
happiness Writers RALPH FRESBOURNE was born in this County bred a Souldier Scholar Travailer being a man of great estate and at last turn'd a Frier He attended Richard Earl of Cornwall and King of the Romans into the Holy-land Here he came acquainted with the Friers living on Mount Carmel which were then much molested with the inrodes of Pagans Our Ralph pitying their condition and much taken with their sanctity and as some say miracles brought them over with him into England and built them an house at Holme nigh Alnwick in Northumberland In loco Carmelo Syriae non dissimili saith my Author In a place not unlike to Carmel in Syria Thus pence are like shillings and as Carmel had an Hill with the river Kishon running under it a Forrest beside it and the Mid-land-Sea some three miles from it so this had the river Alne a Park adjoyning and the German-Sea at the same distance But Northumberland was but a cold Carmel for these Friers who soon got themselves warmer nests in Kent Essex London and where not Multiplying more in England then in any other Country as Mantuan observeth and hath not ill expressed Cur apud Anglorum populos ita creverit audi Anglicus in Syrias veniens exercitus olim Achonem Tyrii positam prope litora ponti Quae priùs occurrit subit is oppresserat armis Hear why that they so much in England thriv'd th' English earst in Palestine arriv'd The City Acon on the shore of Tyre As next at hand with arms did soon acquire And after some verses interpos'd Ista duces tanta intuiti miracula secum In patriam duxere viros quibus arma negabant In laribus sedem Assyriâ⦠templa domosque Construxere novas Pauc is it a fââ¦ruit annis Relligio quasi virga solo depact a feraci Et veluti palmes robur translata recepit The Captains seeing so great wonders wrought These Friers with them into England brought What war deni'd at home they here anew Churches and Houses built In years but few Increasing twig-like set by happy band Or tree transplanted to a fruitful land This Ralph wrote Books of pious exhortations and Epistles and after he had been fourteen years provincial of his own Order died and was buried at Holme aforesaid Anno Domini 1274. JOHANNES SCOTUS We have formerly asserted the very Scociety of this Scotus his nativity to belong to England and have answered the objections to the contrary He was born at Dunston a village in the Parish of Emildon in this County as appeareth by a writing in a book of his in Merton-colledge wherein he was bred He was a Franciscan by Order and of such nimble and solid parts that he got the title of Doctor subtilis Hitherto all School-men were like the world before the building of Babel of one language and of one speech agreeing together in their opinions which hereafter were divided into two Regââ¦ments or Armies rather of Thomists and Scotists under their several Generals opposing one another Scotus was a great stickler against the Thomists for that sinful opinion that the Virgin Mary was conceived without sin which if so how came she to rejoyce in God her Saviour He read the Sentences thrice over in his solemn Lectures once at Oxford again at Paris and last at Colen where he died or was kill'd rather because falling into a strong fit of an Apoplexy he was interred whilst yet alive as afterwards did appear Small amends were made for his hasty burial with an handsome monument erected over him at the cost of his Order otherwise whether as Scot Scholar or Franciscan he had little wealth of his own in the Quire before the High Altar On his Monument are inscribed the names of fifteen Franciscans viz. three Popes and two Cardinals on the top and ten Doctors whereof six English on the sides thereof all his Contemporaries as I conceive He died Anno Dom. 1308. Benefactors to the Publick STEPHEN BROWN Grocer son of John Brown was born at Newcaste upon Tine in this County afterwards Knighted and made Lord Mayor of London 1438. In which year happened a great and general famine caused much by unseasonable weather but more by some Huckstering Husbandmen who properly may be termed Knaves in grain insomuch that wheat was sold for three shillings a bushel intollerable according to the standard of those times and poor people were forced to make bread of fern roots But this Sir Stephen Brown sent certain ships to Dantz whose seasonable return with Rye suddenly sunk grain to reasonable rates whereby many a languishing life was preserved He is beheld one of the first Merchants who in want of Corn shewed the Londoners the way to the Barn-door I mean into Spruseland prompted by charity not covetousness to this his Adventure He may be said that since his death he hath often relieved the City on the like occasion because as Symmachus well observeth Author est bonorum sequentium qui bonum relinquit exemplum ROBERT WOODLARKE was born saith my Author at Wakerly in this County True it is in my late Church History I have challenged him for Northamptonshire Because there is no VVakerly in Northumberland Because there is a VVakerly in Northamptonshire But on second thoughts I resige him clear to this County loth to higgle for a letter or two misprinted perchance in the name of a Town This VVoodlarke was the last of the first Original Fellows and third Provost of Kings-colledge in Cambridge He bought three tenements in Miln-street and by a Mortmain procured from King Edward the fourth erected of them a small Colledge by the name of Saint Katharines-hall As is the man so is his strength great matters cannot be expected from so private a person who never attained to any Prelatical preferment who was bountiful to his Foundation to the utmost of his ability Herein he stands alone without any to accompany him being the first and last who was Master of one Colledge and at the same time Founder of another This his Zoar hath since met with many worthy Benefactours who have advanced it to be considerable both in buildings and revenues The date of his death I cannot with any certainty affix Memorable Persons MACHELL VIVAN is a Scotish-man by his birth but because beneficed in this County so many years shall by the Readers leave pass for an English-man so far as to be here inserted The rather because he will minister to the present and future ages just matter of admiration as by the perusing of the ensuing letter from my credible friend well know in London where his surviving Father was not long since the Prime Magistrate thereof will appear There is an acquaintance of mine and a friend of yours who certified me of your desire of being satisfied of the truth of that relation I made concerning the old Minister in the North. It fortuned in my journey to
heirs the Patent whereof is extant in the Tower and exemplified in my Author He appears to me no more than a plain Knight or a Knight Batchelour But were it in the power of my Pen to create a Banneret he should for the Reason premised have that Honour affixed to his Memory who as we conjecture died about the middle of the reign of King Henry the Sixth JOHN DUDLEY Duke of Northumberland where born uncertain was son to Edward Dudley Esq. of whom hereafter and would willingly be reputed of this County a Descendent from the Lord Dudley therein whose memory we will gratifie so far as to believe it He lived long under King Henry the Eighth who much favoured him and the Servant much resembled his Master in the equal contemperament of Vertue and Vices so evenly matched that it is hard to say which got the Mastery in either of them This John was proper in person comely in carriage wise in advising valiant in adventuring and generally till his last project prosperous in success But he was also notoriously wanton intollerably ambitious a constant dissembler prodigeously profuse so that he had sunk his Estate had it not met with a seasonable support of Abbey Land he being one of those who well warmed himself with the chipps which fell from the felling of Monasteriââ¦s King Henry the 8th first Knighted then created him Vicount Lisle Earle of Warwick and Duke of Norââ¦humberland And under Queen Mary he made himself almost King of England though not in Title in power by contriving the settling of the Crown on Queen Jane his daughââ¦er in Law till successe failed him therein And no wonder if that design missed the mark which besides many rubbs it met with at hand was thrown against the general bias of English affection For this his treasonable practises he was executed in the First of Queen Mary much bemoaned by some Martial men whom he had formerly indeared in his good service in the French and Scotish Wars He left two sons who survived to great Honour Ambrose Earl of Warwick heir to all that was good and Robert Earl of Leicester heir to all that was great in their Father The BAGNOLS Something must be premised of their Name and extraction The Bagenhalts commonly called Bagnols were formerly a Family of such remark in this County that before the reign of King Henry the Eighth there scarce passed an Ancient piece of evidence which is not attested by one of that Name But see the uncertainty of all humane things it afterwards sunck down to use my Authours language into a Plebean Condition But the sparks of their gentle Bloud though covered for a time under a mean estate have since blazed again with their own worth and valour when Ralph and Nicholas sons to John Bagnol of Newcastle in this County were both Knighted for their good service the one in Mustle-Borough fight the otherin Ireland Yea as if their courage had been hereditary Their sons Samuel and Henry were for their Martial merit advanced to the same degree Sea-men WILLIAM MINORS Reader I remember how in the Case of the Ship-money the Judges delivered it for Law that England being an Island the very Middle-land-Shires therein are all to be accounted as Maritime Sure I am the Genius even of Land-lock-Counties acteth the Natives with a Maritime dexterity The English generally may be resembled to Ducklings which though hatched under a Hen yet naturally delight to dabble in the Water I mean though born and bred in In-Land places where neither their Infancy nor Childhood ever beheld Ship or Boat yet have they a great Inclinatioâ⦠and Aptnesse to Sea-service And the present subject of our Pen is a pregnant proof thereof This William son to Richard Minors Gent. of Hallenbury-Hall was born at Uttoxater in this County who afterwads coming to London became so prosperous a Mariner that he hath safely returned eleven times from the East-Iudies whereas in the dayes of our GrandFathers such as came thence twice were beheld as Rarities thrice as Wonders four times as Miracles Much herein under Divine Providence is to be attributed to the Make of our English Ships now built more advantageous for sailing than in former Ages Besides the oftner they go the nearer they shape their Course use being the mother of Perfectnesse Yet whilst others wonder at his happiness in returning so often I as much commend his moderation in going no oftner to the East-Indies More men know how to get enough than when they have gotten enough which causeth their Coveteousness to increase with their wealth Mr. Minors having advanced a competent Estate quitted the water to live on the land and now peaceably enjoyeth what he painfully hath gotten and is living in or near Hartford at this present year 1660. Writers JOHN STAFFORD born in the Shire-Town of this County was bred a Franciscan No contemptible Philosopher and Divine but considerable Historian who wrote a Latin History of Englands affaires Authors are at an absolute loss when he lived and are fain by degrees to screw themselves into a general notice thereof He must be since the year 1226 when the Franciscans first fixed themselves in our Land He must be before John Ross who flourished Anno 1480 under Edward the Fourth and maketh honourable mention of him Therefore with proportion and probability he is collected to have written about 1380. WILLIAM de LICHFIELD so termed from the place of his Nativity applied himself to a study of Divinity whereof he became Doctor and afterwards Rector of All-hallowes the Great in Thames-street London He was generally beloved for his great Learning and godly liââ¦e He wrote many Books both Moral and Divine in Prose and Verse one intituled The complaint of God unto sinful Men. There were found in his Study after his death Three thousand four score and three Sermons of his own writing He died Anno Dom. 1447. being buried under a defaced Monument in the Quire of his own Church ROBERT WHITTINGTON born at Lichfield was no mean Grammarian Indeed he might have been greater if he would have been less Pride prompting him to cope with his Conquerors whom he mistook for his Match The first of these was Will. Lillie though there was as great difference betwixt these two Grammarians as betwixta Verb defective and one perfect in all the Requisites thereof The two other were William Horman and Alderedge both eminent in the Latin Tongue But some will carp at the best who cannot mend the worst line in a Picture the humour of our Whittington who flourished 1530. Since the Reformation HENRY STAFFORD Baron of Stafford in this County was son unto Edward Duke of Buckingham attainted and beheaded under King Henry the Eighth This our Henry though loosing his Top and Top-Gallant his Earledom and Dukedome in the tempest of the Kings displeasure yet still he kept his Keel his Barony of Stafford The less he possessed of his
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
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
not know and dare not too curiously inquire left I turn their mirth among themselves into anger against me Sure it is seated in a fruitful soyl and cheap Country and where good chear and company are the Premisses mirth in common consequence will be the Conclusion Which if it doth not trespass in time cause and measure Heraclitus the sad Philosopher may perchance condemn but Saint Hilary the good Father will surely allow Princes HENRY youngest son to William Duke of Normandy but eldest to King William the Conquerour by whom he was begotten after he was Crowned King on which politick ãâã he claim'd and gain'd the Crown from Duke Robert his eldest brother was Anno Dom. 1070. born at Selbey in this County If any ask what made his Mother travail so far North from London know it was to enjoy Her Husbands company who to prevent insurrections and settle peace resided many months in these parts besides his peculiar affection to Selby where after he founded a MitredAbby This Henry was bred say some in Paris say others in Cambridge and I may safely say in both wherein he so profited that he attained the Surname of Beauclerke His learning may be presumed a great advantage to his long and prosperous raign for thirty five years and upwards wherein he remitted the Norman rigour and restored to His subjects a great part of the English Laws and Liberties Indeed his princely vertues being profitable to all did with their lustre so dazle the eyes of his subjects that they did not see his personall vices as chiefly prejudicial to himself For he was very wanton as appeareth by his numerous natural issue no fewer then fourteen all by him publickly owned the males highly advanced the females richly married which is justly reported to his praise it being lust to beget but love to bestow them His sobriery otherwise was admirable whose temperance was of proof against any meat objected to his appetite Lampreys alone excepted on a surfeit whereof he died Anno Domini 1135. He had onely two children William dying before and Maud surviving him both born in Normandy and therefore omitted in our Catalogue THOMAS Fifth son of King Edward the first and the first that he had by Margaret his second Wife was born at and surnamed from Brotherton a small Village in this County June 1. Anno Dom. 1300. He was created Earl of Norfolke and Earl Marshall of England He left no male-issue but from his females the Mowbrays Dukes of Norfolke and from them the Earls of Arundel and Lords Berkeley are descended RICHARD PLANTAGENET Duke of York commonly is called Richard of Conisborrow from the Castle in this Shire of his nativity The Reader will not grudge him a place amongst our Princes if considering him fixed in his Generation betwixt an Antiperistasis of Royal extraction being Son to a Son of a King Father to the Father of a King Edmund of Langley Duke of York Richard Duke of York Fifth son to K. Edward 3. Father to King Edward 4. Besides he had married Anne Daughter and sole Heir to Edward Mortimer the true Inheritrix of the Crown But tampering too soon and too openly to derive the Crown in his Wives right to himself by practising the death of the present King he was taken and beheaded for treason in the raign of K. Henry the fifth EDWARD sole son to King Richard the third and Anne his Queen was born in the Castle of Midleham near Richmond in this County and was by his father created Prince of Wales A Prince who himself was a child of as much hopes as his Father a man of hatred But he consumed away of a suddain dying within a month of his Mother King Richard little lamenting the loss of either and presently projecting to repair himself by a new Marriage The untimely death of this Prince in respect of the terme to which by Naturall possibility he might have attained in his innocent age is generally beheld as a punishment on him for the faults of his Father The Tongue foreswears the Ears are cut off the Hand steals the Feet are stocked and that justly because both consisting of the same body And because Proles est pars parentis it is agreeable with divine justice to inflict on Children temporal judgements for defaults of their Parents Yet this judgment was a mercy to this Prince that he might not behold the miserable end of his Father Let me adde and a mercy also to all England For had he survived to a mans estate he might possibly have proved a wall of partition to hinder the happy union of the two houses of York and Lancaster Saints HILDA was daughter unto Prince Hererick nephew to Edwin King of Northumberland and may justly be counted our English Huldah not so much for sameness of sex and name-sounding similitude as more concerning conformities Huldah lived in a Colledge Hilda in a Convent at Strenshalt in this County Huldah was the Oracle of those times as Hilda of her age being a kind of a Moderatresse in a Saxon Synod or conference rather called to compromise the controversie about the celebration of Easter I behold her as the most learned English Female before the Conquest and may call her the She-Gamaliel at whose feet many Learned men had their education She ended her holy life with an happy death about the year of our Lord 680. BENEDICT BISCOP was born saith Pitz amongst the East Saxons saith Hierome Porter in Yorkshire whom I rather believe First because writing his life ex professo he was more concerned to be curious therein Secondly because this Benedict had much familiarity with and favour from Oswy King of Northumberland in whose Dominions he fixed himself building two Monasteries the one at the influx of the river Were the other at the river Tine into the sea and stocking them in his life time with 600 Benedictine Moncks He made five Voyages to Rome and always returned full fraught with Reliques Pictures and Ceremonies In the former is driven on as great a Trade of Cheating as in any earthly Commodity in so much that I admire to meet with this passage in a Jesuite and admire more that he Met not with the Inquisition for writing it Addam * nonnunquam in Tem plis reliquias dubias profana corpora pro Sanctorum qui cum Christo in Coelo regnant exuviis sacris fuisse proposita He left Religion in England Braver but not better then he found it Indeed what Tully said of the Roman Lady That she danced better then became a modest woman was true of Gods Service as by him adorned the Gaudiness prejudicing the Gravity thereof He made all things according not to the Patern in the Mount with Mose's but the Precedent of Rome and his Convent being but the Romish Transcript became the English Original to which all Monasteries in the Land were suddenly conformed In a word I reverence his Memory
own Heralds to Marshal their own precedency they had been much to blame if not carving a good portion of Honour to themselves whilest devout Princes abused by bad Instructors and their own erroneous Consciences gave to the Clergy what they were pleased to demaund None might elect the Pope save such as were Cardi. yea none out of that Order were eligible into the Papacy as in England one must first be a Sergeant before he be a Iudge Cardinal Deacons were in equal capacity of being Popes with Cardinal Priests and oftentimes were preferred before them as they could strenthen their faction which carried all in these and I could wish in no other Elections WILLIAM ALLEN who died Anno 1594 was the last Englishman advanced to this Honour so that our Country hath not had a Cardinââ¦l these sixty years which from the former six hundred years was never without one or two of that Order This may seem a wonder our Nation being as meriting as any for the Romish Cause and having as good Heads as any why should they not weare as gay Hats as others nor will the reasons assigned for the contrary give satisfaction viz. 1. That the Pope commonly makes Cardinals to gratifie Foreign Kings whilest our English Soveraigns have ever since been of a different Religion from his Holinesse 2. That our English Catholicks living beyond Seas in the nature of Exiles and under persecution as they call it so high an honour is inconsistent with their suffering condition 3. That our Englishmen want preferment and Estates to maintain the distance of so great a dignity There are at the present two English Natives in France of noble extraction and Romish perswasion much voyced in common discourse for their probability to such preferment but on what grounds I do not know and list not to enquire Surely the matter is not great seeing that dignity hath been observed to be rather fatal then fortunate to the English and attended with some sad and sudden casualties 1. Cardinal Mackelsfield was four moneths buried before his Cap was brought him 2. Cardinal Sertor dyed in Italy in the Juncture of Time Inter Pileum datum susceptum 3. Cardinal Fisher when his Cap was come to Calis had his head struck off at Tower-Hill 4. Cardinal Somercot was poysoned in the very Conclave to prevent his selection to the Popedome 5. Cardinal Evosham was sent the same way on the same occasion 6. Cardinal Bambridge was poysoned at Rome by one of his servants being an Italian If such their successe I suppose it far easier for Englishmen to have their caps though courser and cheaper made of our own Countrey-wool which will be more warm and may prove more healthful for the wearers thereof I have done with this Subject when I have observed that there is a Cardinal Bishop of Sabine a place near Rome and a Cardinal Priest of Saint Sabine a Church dedicated to her Memory in the same City the not heeding whereof I suspect hath bred much confusion in our English Writers The best is our Englishmen when they write of Places in Italy cannot commit greater and grosser mistakes then what Italians have done when they have wrote of Towns and Places in England Though perchance such is their pride that they will say it is our duty to be exact in Italy and their courtesie to take any notice of England Let not the Reader wonder if Cardinals inserted in others are omitted in our Catalogue viz. Ulricus Ancherus Theobaldus Bernardus de Anguiscello c. Seeing I am unsatisfied in some of them whether they were Cardinals in others whether they were Englishmen Forreign Countries laying more probable claim unto them Nor will it quit the cost of a Contest nothing more then their names being left in History withouta ny other observeables Prelates before the Reformation Next succeed such eminent Clergy-men who attained to the honour of being Arch-Bishops and Bishops in England and were famous in their generations Objection These Popes Cardinals and Prelates were superstitious persons and Limbs of Antichrist whose names are better lost then kept Yea it mattered not much if some good Josiah served their bones as those of the idolatrous Priests of Jeroboam even burn them to ashes that so their bodies and memories might perish together Answer I am afraid our age affords those who if they were to manage that Act would together with their bones sans difference notwithstanding the distinguishing Epitaph burn the bodies of the young and old Prophet I mean utterly extirpate the Ministerial Function But I answer it must be confess'd they were deeply died with the Errors and Vices of the Age they lived in yet so that some of them were for their Devotion exemplary to posterity and the very worst of them though yeelding nothing fit for our Imitation may afford what is well worth our Observation And here be it remembred that the same Epithete in severall places accepts sundry Interpretations He is called A GOOD MAN in common Discourse who is not Dignified with Gentilitie A GOOD MAN upon the Exchange who hath a responsable Estate A GOOD MAN in a Camp who is a tall Man of his Armes A GOOD MAN in the Church who is Pious and Devout in his Conversation Thus whatsoever is fixed therein in other Relations that Person is A GOOD MAN in History whose Character affords such Matter as may please the Palate of an Ingenious Reader and I humbly crave the Honour to be his Taster in this Behalf Now of Bishops before the Conquest the most were meerly nuda Nomina Naked Names As for such appearing Clothed with remarkable History most of them move in an higher Sphere of Saints and so are anticipated Since the Conquest for the first seven Kings many Prelates were Foreigners generally French and so Aliens from our Subject It will therefore be seasonable to begin their Catalogue about the time of King Henry the Third deducing it unto the Popish Bishops who were deprived in the first of Queen Elizabeth CHAP. V. Since the Reformation NExt those Prelates before follow such as were since the Reformation much different not in Title but Tenure from the former holding their places not from the Pope but their Prince and practising the principles of the protestant Religion for the term of a hundred and twenty years since the latter end of the Reign of King Henry the Eighth Amongst these Malice it self meets with many which it must allow for their Living Preaching and Writing to have been the main Champions of Truth against Error Learning against Ignorance Piety against Profââ¦ss Religion against Superstition Unity and Order against Faction and Confusion verifying the judicious observation of Forreigners Clerus Britanniae Gloria mundi These Prelates may be Digested into Five Successive Setts or Companies under their respective Arch-bishops allowing each of them somewhat more then twenty years as large a proportion for the life of a Bishop as seventy years for the
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
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
Per ipsum Regem The King to the Sheriff health c. Because there are divers men as we are informed which before these times in the Voyages made by us have assumed to themselves Arms and Coat-Armors where neither they nor their Ancestors in times past used such Arms or Coat Armours and propound with themselves to use and exercise the same in this present Voyage which God willing we shortly inââ¦end to make And although the Omnipotent disposeth his favours in things Natural as he pleaseth equally to the Rich and Poor yet We willing that every one of our Leige Subjects should be had and Handled in due manner according to the Exigence of his State and Condition We command thee that in every place within thy Bailiwick where by Our Writ we have lately shewn you cause to be proclaimed that no man of what State Degree or Condition soever he be shall take upon him such Arms or Coats of Arms save he alone who doth possesse or ought to possesse the same by the right of his Ancestors or by Donation and Grant of some who had sufficient power to assign him the same And that he that useth such Arms or Coats of Arms shall on the day of his Muster manifestly shew to such persons assigned or to be assigned by us for that purpose by virtue of whose gift he enjoyeth the same Those only excepted who carried Arms with us at the Battle of Agincourt uuder the penalties not to be admitted to go with us in Our foresaid Voyage under His Command by whom he is for the present retained and of the loss of his wages as also of the rasing out and breaking off the said Arms called Coat-Armours at the time of his Muster aforesaid if they shall be shewed upon him or found about him And this you shall in no case omit Witnesse the King at the City of New Sarum June the second Consimilia Brevia diriguntur Vicecom Wilts Sussex Dors. sub eadem data I could wish a reviving of this Instrument in our Age many Up-starts in our late Civil wars having injuriously invaded the Arms of ancient Families CHAP. XVII Of the often Altering of Sirnames and the Various Writing thereof HAving dealt so largely in Sirnames it is necessary to observe that Sirnames of Families have been frequently altered some Families deposing their Old and assuming new names on several occasions But cheifly for 1. Concealment in time of Civil Wars A Name is a kind of Face whereby one is known Wherefore taking a false name is a Vizard whereby men disguise themselves and that lawfully enough when not fradulently done to deceive others but discreetly in danger to secure themselves Thus during the Contest 'twixt York and Lancaster Carington in Warwick-shire took the name of Smith La Blunt the Name of Croke in Buckingham-shire with many others 2. For Advancement when adopted into an estate as Newport the Name of Hatton in Northampton-shire Throckmorton the Name of Carew at Beddington in Surrey as long before Westcoat the Name of Littleton in Stafford-shire Besides the same Sirname continued hath been variously altered in Writing First because Time teacheth New Orthography altering spelling as well as speaking Secondly the best Gentlemen anciently were not the best Scholars and minding matters of more moment were some what too incurious in their Names Besides Writers ingrossing Deeds were not over critical in spelling of Names knowing well where the person appeared the same the Simplicity of that age would not fall out about Misnomer Lastly Ancient Families have been often removed into several Counties where several Writings follow the several pronunciations What Scholar knoweth not that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã their Greek Name for Jupiter is by their seven Dialects written ten several wayes and though not so many Dialects in England there is a real difference betwixt our Southern Western and Northern Pronunciations Hence it is that the same Name hath been so often disguised unto the Staggering of many who have mistook them for different Idem non Idem quaeruntque in Nomine Nomen The same they thought was not the same And in their Name they sought their Name Thus I am informed that the Honourable Name of Villiers is written fourteen several ways in their own Evidences and the like though not so many Variations may be observed in others And the Name of Roper in Darby-shire changed from Musard to Rubra-Spatha Rospear Rouspee Rooper Roper I insist the longer on this point because in our Catalogue of Sheriffs the same Sirname is variously written which some without cause may impute to my carelesnesse being the effect of my care conforming the Orthography exactly to the Original where such variation doth plainly appear and however such Diversity appeareth in the Eye of others I dare profess that I am delighted with the Prospect thereof CHAP. XVIII Of Modern Battels IMmediately before our Farewell to the Respective Counties we have inserted a Breviate of Modern Battels since our Civil Distempers I need here premise nothing of the difference betwixt a Skirmish being only the Ingagement of Parties and a Battle being an incounter betwixt Generals with their Armies Nor yet of the difference betwixt Praelium a Fight or Battel and Bellum a War the former being a Fight in Field the later the continuance of Hostility which may be for many years whilst the difference dependeth undecided Peracto Prââ¦lio manet Bellum And though a Truce may give a Comma or Colon to the War nothing under a Peace can put a perfect Period thereunto In describing these Battels I am for distinction sake necessitated to use the word Parliament improperly according to the Abusive acception thereof for these latter years Let us think and judge with the Wise but if we do not speak with the Vulgar we shall be Dumb to the Vulgar Otherwise I know a Parliament properly is a compleat Syllogisme the Lords and Commons being the two Propositions the King the Conclusion thereof and our English Tongue wanteth one word to express the dissenting part of a Parliament and I trust in God as our Language doth not afford the Name so our Land shall not hereafter behold the Nature thereof These Battels are here inserted not with any intent God knows my heart to perpetuate the odious Remembrance of our mutual Animosities that Heart burnings may remain when House burnings are removed but cheifly to raise our Gratitude to God that so many Battels should be fought in the bosome of so little a Land and so few Scars and Signs thereof extant in their visible Impressions Such who consider how many men we have lost would wonder we have any left and such who see how many we have left that we had any lost In a word as it is said of the best Oyl that it hath no Tast that is no Tang but the pure Natural Gust of Oyl therein so I have indevoured to present these Battels according to plain Historical truth without any
marryed by a Proxy a naked sword being in bed interposed betwixt him and her body to Alphons King of Arragon with all Ceremonies of State And indeed they proved but Ceremonies the substance soon ãâã the said King Alphons dying Anno Dom. 1292. before the Consummation of the Mââ¦rriage But soon after this Lady found that a Living Earl was better then a Dead King when Marryed to Henry the 3d. Earl of Berry in France from whom the Dukes of ãâã and Kings of Sicil are descended This Lady deceased in the seven and twentieth of her Fathers Reign Anno Dom. 1298. MARGARET third Daughter of King Edward the first and Queen Eleanor was born at Windsor in the 3d. year of her Fathers Reign 1275. When fifteen year old she was Marryed at Westminster July 9th 1290. to John the second Duke of Brabant by whom she had Issue John the third Duke of Brabant from whom the Dukes of Burgundy are descended MARY sixth Daughter of King Edward the first and Queen Eleanor was born at Windsor April the 12. 1279. being but ten years of Age she was made a Nun at Amesbury in Wilt-shire without her own and at the first against her Parents consent meerly to gratify Queen Eleanor her Grand-mother Let us pity her who probably did not pity her self as not knowing a vaile from a kerchief not understanding the requisites to nor her own fitness for that profession having afterwards time too much to bemoan but none to amend her condition As for the other Children of this King which he had by Eleanor his Queen probably born in this Castle viz. HENRY ALPHONSE BLANCHE Dying in their infancy immediately after their Baptism it is enough to name them and to bestow this joynt Epitapb upon them ââ¦leansed at Font we drew untainted Breath Not yet made bad by Life made good by Death The two former were buryed with their Brother John of whom before at Westminster in the same Tomb but where Blanche was interred is altogether unknown Edward the Third Son to Edward the Second and Queen Isabel was born at Windsor October 13. 1312. and proved afterwards a pious and fortunate Prince I behold him as meerly passive in the deposing of his Father practised on in his Minority by his Mother and Mortimer His French Victories speak both of his Wisdom and Valour and though the Conquests by King Henry the fifth were thicker atchieved in a shorter time His were broader in France and Scotland by Sea and Land though both of length alike as lost by their immediate Successours He was the first English King which Coined* Gold which with me amounts to a wonder that before his time all yellow payments in the Land should be made in foreign Coin He first stamped the Rose-Nobles having on the one side Jesus autem transiens per medium illorum ibat And on the reverse his own image with sword and shield sitting in a ship waving on the Sea Hereupon an English Rhymer in the Reign of King Henry the sixth For four things our Noble she weth to me King Ship and Swerd and Power of the See He had a numerous and happy issue by Philippa his Queen after whose death being almost seventy years old he cast his affection on Alice Pieââ¦ce his Paramour much to his disgrace it being true what Epictetus returned to Adrian the Emperour asking of him what Love was In puero pudor in virgine rubor in soemina furor in juvene ardor in sene risus In a boy bashfulness in a maid blushing in a woman fury in a young man fire in an old man folly However take this King altogether at home abroad at Church in State and he had few equals none superiours He dyed Anno Dom. 1378. WILLIAM sixth Son of King Edward the third and Queen Philippa was born at Windsor Indeed his second Son born at Hatfield was of the same name who dyed in his infancy and his Mother had a fond affection for another William because her Fathers Brothers and a Conquering Name till his short Life also dying in his cradle weaned her from renewing her desire As for King Edwards female Children Isabel Joan Blanch Mary and Margaret there is much probability of their French and no assurance of their English Nativity HENRY the sixth Son to Henry the fifth was born in Windsor-Castle against the will of his Father by the wilfulness of his Mother He was fitter for a Coul then a Crown of so easie a nature that he might well have exchanged a pound of Patience for an ounce of Valour Being so innocent to others that he was hurtful to himself He was both over-subjected and over-wived having marryed Margaret the Daughter of Reinier King of Jerusalem Sicily and Arragon a Prince onely Puissant in Titles otherwise little able to assist his Son in Law Through home-bred Dissentions he not onely lost the foreign acquisitions of his Father in France but also his own inheritance in England to the House of York His Death or Murder rather happened 1471. This Henry was twice Crowned twice Deposed and twice Buryed first at Chertsy then at Windsor and once half Sainted Our Henry the seventh cheapned the price of his Canonization one may see for his love and buy for his money in the Court of Rome but would not come up to the summe demanded However this Henry was a Saint though not with the Pope with the People repairing to this Monument from the farthest part of the Land and fancying that they received much benefit thereby He was the last Prince whom I find expresly born at Windsor It seems that afterwards our English Queens grew out of conceit with that place as unfortunate for Royal Nativities Saints MARGARET ALICE RICH were born at Abbington in this County and were successively Prioresses of Catesby in Northampton-shire They were Sisters to St. Edmund whose life ensueth and are placed before him by the Courtesie of England which alloweth the weaker Sex the upper hand So great the Reputation of their Holiness that The former Dying Anno 1257. The latter 1270. Both were honoured for Saints and many Miracles reported by crafty were believed by Credulous people done at their shrine by their Reliques St. EDMUND Son to Edward Rich and Mabel his Wife was born at Abbington in Bark-shire and bred in Oxford Some will have Edmunds-Hall in that University built by his means but others more probably nam'd in his Memory He became Canon of Salisbury and from thence by the joynt-consent of Pope King and Monkes three cords seldom twisted in the sa ne Cable advanc'd Arch-Bishop of Canterbury where he sate almost ten years till he willingly deserted it partly because offended at the power of the Popes Legate making him no more then a meer Cypher signifying onely in conjunction when concurring with his pleasure partly because vexed at his polling and peeling of the English people so grievous he could not endure so general
he could not avoid to behold it For these reasons he left the Land went or shall I say fled into France where he sighed out the remainder of his Life most at Pontiniack but some at Soyssons where he dyed Anno 1240. Pope Innocent the fourth Canonized him six years after his death whereat many much wondred that he should so much honour one a professed foe to Papal Extortions Some conceived he did it se defendendo and for a ne noceat that he might not be tormented with his Ghost But what hurt were it if all the Enemies of his Holiness were Sainted on condition they took death in their way thereunto Sure it is that Lewis King of France a year after translated his Corps and three years after that bestowed a most sumptuous Shrine of Gold Silver and Chrystal upon it and the 16. of November is the Festival appointed for his Memorial Martyrs It appeareth by the confession of Thomas Man Martyred in the beginning of King Henry the eighth that there was at Newberry in this County a glorious and sweet Society of faithful Favourers who had continued the space of fifteen years together till at last by a certain lewd person whom they trusted and made of their Council they were betrayed and then many of them to the number of six or seven score were abjured and three or four of them burnt Now although we knew not how to call these Martyrs who so suffered their Names no doubt are written in the Book of Life We see how the day of the Gospel dawned as soon in this County as in any place in England surely Seniority in this kind ought to be respected which made Paul a pusney in piety to Andronicus and Iunia his kinsmen to enter this caveat for their Spiritual precedency who were in Christ before me On which account let other places give the honour to the Town of Newberry because it started the first and I hope not tire for the earliness thereof in the race of the Reformed Religion Yea Doctor William Twis the painful Preacher in that Parish was wont to use this as a motive to his flock to quicken their pace and strengthen their perseverance in piety because that Town appears the first fruits of the Gospel in England And Windsor the next in the same County had the honour of Martyrs ashes therein as by the ensuing list will appear There was in Windsor a company of right godly persons who comfortably enjoyed themselves untill their enemies designed their extirpation though it cost them much to accomplish it one of them confessing that for his share he expended an hundred marks besides the killing of three Geldings These suspecting that the Judges Itinerant in their circuit would be too favourable unto them procured a special Session got four arraigned and condemned by the Commissioners whereof the three following were put to death on the Statute of the six Articles 1. Anthony Persons a Priest and profitable Preacher so that the great Clerks of Windsor thought their idleness upbraided by his industry Being fastned to the stake he laid a good deal of straw on the top of his head saying this is Gods hat I am now arm'd like a souldier of Christ. 2. Robert Testwood a singing-man in the Quire of Windsor There hapned a contest betwixt him and another of that Society singing an Anthem together to the Virgin Mary Robert Philips on the one side of the Quire Robert Testwood on the other side of the Quire Oh Redemtrix Salvatrix Non Redemtrix nec Salvatrix I know not which sung the deepest Base or got the better for the present Sure I am that since by Gods goodness the Nons have drowned the Ohs in England Testwood was also accused for disswading people from Pilgrimages and for striking off the nose of the image of our Lady 3. Henry Fillmer Church-Warden of Windsor who had Articled against their superstitious Vicar for heretical Doctrine These three were burnt together at Windsor Anno 1544. and when account was given to their patient death to King Henry the eighth sitting on horse-back the King turning his horses head said Alas poor innocents A better speech from a private person then a Prince bound by his place not only to pity but protect oppressed innocence However by this occasion other persecuted people were pardoned and preserved of whom hereafter This storm of persecution thus happily blown over Bark-shire enjoyed peace and tranquillity for full twelve years together viz. from the year of our Lord 1544. till 1556. When Dr. Jeffrey the cruel Chancellour of Sarisbury renewed the troubles at Newberry and caused the death of JULINS PALMER See his Character being born in Coventry in Warwickshire JOHN GWIN THOMAS ASKINE These three July 16. 1556. were burnt in a place nigh Newberry called the Sand-pits enduring the pain of the fire with such incredible constancy that it confounded their foââ¦s and confirmed their friends in the Truth Confessors JOHN MARBECK was an Organist in the Quire of Windsor and very skilful therein a man of Admirable Industry and Ingenuity who not perfectly understanding the Latin Tongue did out of the Latin with the help of the English Bible make an English Concordance which Bishop Gardiner himself could not but commend as a piece of singular Industry Professing that there were no fewer then twelve Learned men to make the first Latin Concordance And King Henry the eighth hearing thereof said that he was better imployed then those Priests which accused him Let therefore our Modern Concordances of Cotton Newman Bernard c. as Children and Grand-Children do their duty to Marbecks Concordance as their Parent at first endeavour'd in our Language This Marbeck was a very zealous Protestant and of so sweet and amiable Nature that all good men did love and few bad men did hate him Yet was he condemned Anno 1544. on the Statute of the 6. Articles to be burnt at Windsor had not his pardon been procured divers assigning divers causes thereof 1. That Bishop Gardiner bare him a speciall affection for his skill in the Mystery of Musick 2. That such who condemned him procured his pardon out of Remorse of Conscience because so slender the evidence against him it being questionable whether his Concordance was made after the Statute of the 6. Articles or before it and if before he was freed by the Kings General pardon 3. That it was done out of design to reserve him for a discovery of the rest of his party if so their plot failed them For being as true as Steel whereof his fetters were made which he ware in Prison for a good time he could not be frighted or flattered to make any detection Here a mistake was committed by Mr. Fox in his first Edition whereon the Papisââ¦s much insult making this Marbeck burnt at Windsor for his Religion with Anthony Persons Robert Testwood and Henry Fillmer No doubt Mr. Fox rejoyced at
they had a great encouragement to be impartiall not fearing a blow on their teeth though coming near to the heels of truth which in some sort were tied up from doing them any hurt This Roger began his Chronicle at the Conquest and continued it to the year 1235. being the 19. year of King Henry the third Indeed Mathew Paris doth quarter too heavily on the pains of Wendover who onely continuing his Chronicle for some years and inserting some small alterations is intituled to the whole work As a few drops of blood because of the deep hiew thereof discoloureth a whole bason of water into rednesse so the few and short Interpolations of Paris as the more noted Author give a denomination to the whole History though a fabrick built three stories high whereof our Roger laid the foundation finished the ground-room and second loft to which by Mr. Paris was added the garret as since the roof by W. Rishanger This Wendover died about the year of our Lord 1236. JOHN AMERSHAM was born in that small Corporation in this County bred a Monck in St. Albans where he contracted not onely Intimacy but in some sort Identity of Affection with John Wheathamsted Abbot thereof insomuch that what was said of two other friends was true of them Ethicks making good the Grammar thereof Duo Amici Vixit in eodem Conventu Now there was a great Faction in that Convent against their Abbot which to me seemeth no wonder for the generality of Moncks being lewd lazy and unlearned they bare an Antipathy to their Abbot who was pious painfull and a profound Schollar Nor did they onely rail on his Person whilst living but also revile his Memory when dead Our Amersham surviving his dear friend wrote a book besides other of his works intituled the Shield of Wheathamsted therein defending him from the undeserved Darts of his Enemies Obloquy He flourished Anno Dom. 1450. MATHEW STOKES was born in the Town and bred in the School of Eaton untill he was admitted in Kings-colledge in Cambridge Anno Domini 1531. He afterwards became Fellow of that house and at last Esquire Bedle and Register of the University A Register indeed both by his place and painfull performance therein for he as the Poets fain of Janus with two faces saw two worlds that before and after the Reformation In which juncture of time so great the confusion and embezeling of Records that had not Master Stokes been the more carefull I believe that though Cambridge would not be so Oblivious as Massala Corvinus who forgot his own name yet would she have forgotten the names of all her Ancient Officers To secure whose succession to Posterity Mr. Stokes with great industry and fidelity collected a Catalogue of the Chancellours Vice-Chancellours and Proctors He was a Zealous Papist even unto persecution of others which I note not to disgrace his Memory but defend my self for placing him before the Reformation though he lived many years in the reign of Q. Elizabeth Since the Reformation WALTER HADDON was born of a Knightly Family in this County bred at Eaton afterwards Fellow in Kings-colledge where he proceeded Doctor of Law and was the Kings Professor in that Faculty chosen Vice-chancellour of Cambridge 1550. soon after he was made President of Magdalen-colledge in Oxford which place he waved in the reign of Queen Mary and sheltered himself in obscurity Queen Elizabeth made him one of the Masters of her Requests and employed him in several Embassies beyond the Seas Her Majesty being demanded whether She preferred him or Buchanan for learning wittily and warily returned Buchananum omnibus antepono Haddonum nemini postpono Indeed he was a most Eloquent man and a pure Ciceronian in his stile as appeareth by his writings and especially in his book against Osorius The rest may be learned out of his Epitaph S. Memoriae GUALTERO HADDONO Equestri loco nato juris consulto Oratori Poetâ⦠celeberrimo Graecae Latinaeque Eloquentiae sui temporis facile principi sapientia sanctitate vitae in id evecto ut Reginae Elizabethae à supplicum libellis magister esset destinareturque majoribus nisi facto immaturius cessisset Interim in omni gradus viro longe eminentissimo conjugi sui optimo meritissimoque Anna Suttona uxor ejus secunda flens maerens desiderii sui signum posuit Obiit Anno Salut hum 1572. Aetatis 56. This his fair Monument is extant in the wall at the upper end of the Chancell of Christs-church in London Where so many ancient Inscriptions have been barbarously defaced LAURENCE HUMPHRED was born in this County bred in Magdalen-colledge in Oxford a great and generall Scholar able Linguist deep Divine pious to God humble in himself charitable to others In the reign of Queen Mary he fled into Germany and there was Fellow-Commoner with Mr. Jewell whose life he wrote at large in Latine in all his sufferings Here he translated Origen de Recta Fide and Philo de ãâã tate out of Greek Returning into England in the reign of Queen Elizabeth he was made ãâã of Magdalen-colledge in Oxford and Dean of Winchester Higher preferment he ãâã ver attained because never desired it though a learned Author seems to put it on another account fortasse eo quod de adiaphoris non juxta cum Ecclesia Anglicana senserit I deny not but he might scruple some ceremonies but sure I am he was much molested in his Colledge with a party of fierce not to so furious Nonconformists from whom he much dissented in judgment He died Anno Dom. 1589. Here I must confess a mistake in my Ecclesiastical History misguided therein with many others by general tradition when I reported the gold lately found and shared amongst the President and Fellows of Magdalen-colledge in Oxford to have been the gift of this Doctor Humphred which since appeareth a legacy left by William Wainfleet their Founder Would I had been mistaken in the Matter as well as in the Person that so unworthy an act had never been performed But what said Jacob to his sons Carry back the money again peradventure it was an oversight Seasonable restitution will make reparation ROGER GOAD was born at Houton in this County and was admitted Scholar in Kings-colledge in Cambridge 1555. Leaving the Colledge he became a School-master at Guilford in Surrey But pity it is that a great candle should be burning in the Kitchin whilst light is lacking in the Hall and his publique parts pent in so private a profession He was made not to guide boys but govern men Hence by an unexpected election he was surprised into the Provostship of Kings-colledge wherein he remained fourty years He was thrice Vice-chancellonr of Cambridge a grave sage and learned man He had many contests with the young Frie in this Colledge chiefly because he loved their good better then they themselves Very little there is of his in print save what he did in
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
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
passant of the first 4 Tho. Parker ar   5 Iacob Pedley ar   6 Tho. Terrell ar Fulborn C. Arg. two Cheverons Az. within a border engrailed G. 7 Rich. Covil ar  Az. a Lion ramp Arg. a File os 3 Lambeaux G. 8 Capel Bedell ar ut prius  9 Anth. Cage ar ut prius  10 Rob. Ballam ar   11 Ludo. Dyer Bar. Gr. Ston ton Hu. Oâ⦠a chief indented Gules The Sheriffs of Cambridge-shire alone Name Place Armes 12 Ioh. Carleton ba. Chevely Arg. on a Bend Sa. 3 Mascats of the first 13 Tho. Chichesley ut prius  14 Tho. Wendy ar ut prius G. a Fess twixi 3 Scallops Or. 15 Tho. Pichard * TruÌpington Arg. a Fess betwixt 3 Crosses Fitchee G. 16 Ioh Crane â ar Kingston  17 Ioh. Cotton mil. Landwad S. a Cheveren betwixt 3 ãâã ââ¦heads erazed Arg. The Sheriffs of Cambridge and Huntington-shires again Name ââ¦lace Armes 18 Tho. Martin mil. Barton Arg. an Eagle displayed G. 19 Idem ut prius  20 On slo Winch ar   21 Tris. Diumond Wel.  Edward IV. 16 THOMAS COTTON Ar. This Thomas Cotton different in Arms and descent from the Cottons of Hunt was of Cambridg-shire the same person who in the. Gentry of that County Henricâ⦠6. 12. was returned the twenty second in Order Henry the VIII 24 THOMAS ELIOT Mil. He was son to Sir Richard Eliot and born some say in Suffolk but his house and chief estate lay in this County After his long sailing into forraign parts he at last cast anchor at home and being well skilled in Greek and Latine was the Author of many excellent works Of these one in Latine was styled Defensorium bonarum mulierum or the defence of good women though some will say that such are hardly found and easily deââ¦ended He wrote also an excellent Dictionary of Latine and English if not the first the best of that kind in that age and England then abounding with so many learned Clergy-men I know not which more to wonder at that they mist or he hit on so necessary a subject let me adde Bishop Cooper grafted his Dictionary on the stocke of Sir Thomas Eliot which worthy Knight deceased 1546. and was buried at Carlton in this County 28 THOMAS CROMWELL Ar. Here Reader I am at a perfect losâ⦠and do desire thy charitable hand to lead me No Cromwell Thomas can I find at this time in this County and can hardly suspect him to be the Cromwell of that Age because only additioned Armiger Indeed I find him this very year created Baron of Okeham but cannot believe that he was Un-knighted so long besides the improbability that he would condescend to such an Office having no Interest I ever met with in Cambridg-shire though which may signifie somewhat he was at this time Chancellor of the University of Cambridge Thus I have started the doubt which others may hunt down to their own satisfaction 34 EDWARD NORTH Mil. He was a prudent Person and in managing Matters of importance of great dispatch not unskilled in Law and eminently imployed in the Court of Augmentation A Court though short lived erected in the end of King Henry the eighth dissolved in the beginning of King Edward the sixth his reign yet very beneficial to the Officers therein This Sir Edward was made by Queen Mary Baron of Catlidge in this County and was a considerable Benefactor to Peter-house in Cambridge where he is remembred in their Parlour with this Distich under his Picture Nobilis Hic vere fuerat si Nobilis ullus Qui sibi ãâã Nobilitatis erat He was Father to Roger Lord North and Great-grand-father to Dudly Lord North now surviving Edward the VI. 2 JOHN HUDDLESTON Mil. He was highly honored afterwards by Queen Mary and deservedly Such the Tââ¦ust she reposed in him that when Jane Grey was proclaimed Queen she came privately to him to ââ¦alston and rid thence behind his servant the better to disguise herself from discovery to Framlingham castle She afterwards made him as I have heard her Privy-Councellor and besides other Great Boones bestowed the bigger part of Cambridgecastle then much ruined upon him with the stones whereof he built his fair house in this County I behold his Family as branched from the Huddlestones in Cumberland Queen Elizabeth 14 JOHN CUTS Mil. He was a most bountifull house-keeper as any of his estate insomuch that Queen Elizabeth in the beginning of her reign whilst as yet she had peace with Spain the sickness being at London consigned the Spanish Embassadour to this Knights house in this County The Embassadour coming thither and understanding his name to be John Cuts conceived himself disparaged to be sent to one of so short a name the Spanish Gentlemen generally having voluminous Surnames though not so long as the Deity in New-Spain called Yoca huvaovamaorocoti usually adding the place of their habitation for the elongation thereof But soon after the Don found that what the Knight lacked in length of name he made up in the largeness of his entertainment 34 HENRY CROMWELL Mil. This was the fourth time he was Sheriff in the reign of the Queen He was son to Richard Cromwell Esquire Sheriff in the 32. of King Henry the eighth to whom his Valour and Activity so endeared him that he bestowed on him so much Abby-land in this County as at that day at a reasonable rate is worth twenty thousand pounds a year and upwards He was no whit at all allyed to though intimately acquainted with Thomas Lord Cromwell the Mauler of Monasteries which I knowingly affirme though the contrary be generally believed For when Doctor Goodman late Bishop of Gloucester presented a Printed paper to Oliver Cromwell Grand child to this our Sheriff mentioning therein his near Affinity to the said Lord Cromwell the pretended Protectour desirous to confute a Vulgar Errour in some passion returned That Lord was not related to my Family in the least degree 39 JARVASIUS CLIFTON Mil. He had a fair Estate at Barrington in Somerset-shire whence he removed to Huntingtonshire on his Match with the sole Daughter and Heir of Sir Henry Darcy of Leighton-bromswold in that County This Sir Jarvase was by King James created Baron of Leighton aforesaid and there began a beautifull house which he lived not to finish His sole Daughter Katherine was married to Esme Steward Duke of Lenox to whom she bare the truly Illustrious by Virtues and high Extraction James Duke of Richmond King James 9 SIMON STEWARD Mil. I remember he lived after he was Knighted a Fellow-commoner in Trinity-hall where these his Armes are fairly depicted in his Chamber with this Distich over them FrancoruÌ Carolus voluit sic Stemmata ferri Singula cum valeant sunt meliora simul French Charls would have these Coats to be thus worn When singly good their better jointly born But how the Royal Name of Steward came
Staffondshire The meaning is the Genââ¦ry in Cheshire find it more profitable to match within their County then to bring a Bride out of other ãâã 1. Because better acquainted with her birth and breeding 2. Because though her Portion perchance may be less the expence will be less to maintain her Such ãâã in ãâã County have been observed both a prolonger of worshipfull families and the ãâã of ãâã ãâã ãâã them seeing what Mr. Camden reported of the Citizens of ãâã is verified of the Cheshire Gentry they are all or an Alliance Cardinals WILLIAM MAKILESFIELD was saith my Author ãâã ãâã Bishop Godwin ãâã little ãâã ãâã ãâã in Civitate ãâã However I conceive him born in this ãâã finding a ãâã Market-town and Forrest therein so named though he was reputed a ãâã because ãâã in that Age was in the ãâã of Coventry and Lichfield But ãâã ãâã ãâã not swim against the stream I Remit the Reader to his Character in Warwickshire ãâã WILLIAM BOOTH was first bred in ãâã Inn in London in the studie of our Municipall Laws till he ãâã that profession on the proffer of a ãâã Place in Saint Pauls and took Orders upon him It was not long before he was ãâã Bishop of Letchfield and six years after translated to ãâã He expended much money ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã his ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã died and was buried in Saint Maries Chappell in Southwell 1464. LAURENCE BOOTH Brother but by another Mother to William aforesaid was bred and became Master of ãâã hall in ãâã and was Chancellour of that University He made the Composition ãâã the ãâã and ãâã colledge to their mutuall advantage and was an eminent ãâã to his own Colledge bestowing thereon all the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Church amongst which was St. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Colledge of a Pension of five pounds which he redeemed and and Conferred there on the ãâã and Patronage of Overton-Waterfield in Huntingtanshire As it is Gods so it is all ãâã ãâã method in ãâã ãâã Servants Be faithfull in a little and thou shalt rule over much Doctor Booth well performing his Chancellors Place in Cambridge was ãâã ãâã ãâã to ãâã ãâã ãâã to ãâã the fixth Well ãâã ãâã ãâã he was ãâã ãâã ãâã of King ãâã the fourth made Lord High Chancellor ãâã seems his ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Bishop of York and deserving well of both Sees For he built in the first the ãâã of ãâã colledge and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã It must not be forgotten than this ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of ãâã ãâã till the day of his death and ãâã ãâã his ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and Bishop ãâã not that they were ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of the place but the place ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã with them as it is this day by the Right Reverend Father in God Benjamin Lany Lord Bishop of Peturborough This Arch-bishop died Anno Dom. 1480. JOHN BOOTH Brother to Laurence aforesaid Bachellor of Laws was consecrated Bishop of Exceter in the sixth of King Edward the fourth 1466. He built the Bishops Chair or Seat in his Cathedral which in the judicious Eye of Bishop Godwin hath not his Equall in England Let me adde that though this be the fairest Chair the soft Cushion thereof was taken away when Bishop Vescy alienated the Lands thereof The worst was when Bishop Booth had finished this Chair he could not quietly sit down therein so troublesome the times of the civil wars betwixt York and Lancaster So that preferring his privacy he retired to a little place of his own purchasing at Horsley in Hampshire where he dyed April the first 1478. and was buried in Saint Clements Danes London We must remember that these three Prelates had a fourth and eldest Brother Sir Roger Booth Knight of Barton in Lancashire Father of Margaret Wife of Ralph Nevill third Earl of Westmerland And may the Reader take notice that though we have entred these Bishops according to our best information in Cheshire yet is it done with due reservation of the right of Lancashire in case that County shall produce better Evidence for their Nativities THOMNS SAVAGE was born at Maklefield in this County his Father being a Knight bred him a Doctor of Law in the University of Cambridge Hence was he preferred Bishop of Rochester and at last Arch-bishop of York He was a greater Courtier then Clerke and most Dextrous in managing Secular Matters a mighty Nimrod and more given to Hunting then did consist with the Gravity of his Profession No doubt there wanted not those which taxed him with that Passage in Saint Jerome Penitus non invenimus in scripturis sanctis sanctum aliquem Venatorem Piscatores invenimus sanctos But all would not wean him from that sport to which he was so much addicted His provident Precedent spared his Successors in that See many pounds of needless expences by declining a costly instaulation being the first who privately was instauled by his Vicar Yet was he not Covetous in the least degree maintaining a most numerous Family and building much both at Scroby and Cawood Having sate seven years in his See he died 1508. his Body being buried at York his Heart at Maklefield where he was born in a Chapel of his own Erection intending to have added a Colledge thereunto had not death prevented him Since the Reformation WILLIAM CHADERTON D. D. Here I solemnly tender deserved thanks to my Manuscript Author charitably guiding me in the Dark assuring that this Doctor was ex praeclaro Chadertonorum Cestrensis comitatus stemmate prognatus And although this doubtfull Direction doth not cleave the Pin it doth hit the White so that his Nativity may with most Probability not prejudicing the right to Lancashire when produced here be fixed He was bred first Fellow then Master of Queens and never of Magdalen-colledge in Cambridge as Reverend Bishop Godwin mistaketh and chosen first the Lady Margarets then Kings Professor in Divinity and Doctor Whitacre succeeded him immediately in the Chair He was Anno 1579. made Bishop of Chester then of Lincoln 1594. demeaning himself in both to his great commendation He departed this life in April 1608. His Grand-child a virtuous Gentlewoman of rare accomplishments married to Mr. Joceline Esquire being big with child wrot a Book of advise since Printed and Intitled the Mothers Legacie to her unborn Infant of whom she died in travail WILLIAM JAMES D. D. was born in this County bred a Scholar in Christs-church in Oxford and afterwards President of the University Colledge He succeeded Bishop Mathews in the Deanary and Bishoprick of Durham He had been Chaplain to Robert Dudly Earl of Lecester and I hope I may lawfully transcribe what I read Sir J. Harrington view of the Church of England pag.
with great reputation He was afterwards a Commander in the French-war under King Edward the third where in despight of their power he drove the people ãâã him like sheep destroying Towns Castles and Cities in such manner and number that many years after the sharp points and Gable end of overthrown houses cloven asunder with instruments of war were commonly call'd KNOWLES HIS MITRES The last piece of his servrce was performed in suppressing Wat Tiler and his Rebells Then I behold aged Sir Robert buckling on his armonr as old Priam at the taking of Troy but with far better success as proving very victorious and the Citizens of London infranchized him a member ãâã of in expression of their thankfulness His Charity was as great as his Valour and he rendred himself no less loved by the English then feared of the French He gave bountifully to the building of Rochester-bridge founding a Chappel and Chantery at ââ¦he East end thereof with a Colledge at ãâã in Yorkshire where Constance his Lady was born endowing it with one hundred and eighty pounds per annum He died at his ãâã of Sconââ¦-Thorp in Norfolk in peace and honour whereas ãâã generally set in a cloud being at least ninety years of age for he must be ãâã no ãâã then ãâã years old when Annoââ¦52 ââ¦52 he was a Generall under K. Edâ⦠ãâã third and he ãâã untill the ãâã of August 1407. being buried in White-Friers in London to which he had been a great benefactour JOHN SMITH Captain was ãâã in ãâã County as Master Arthur Smith his Kins man and my School-master did inform me But whether or no related unto the Worshipfull Family of the Smiths at ãâã I know not He spent the most of his life in ãâã ãâã First in Hungary under the Empeâ⦠fighting against the Turks Three of which he himself killed in single Duells and therefore was Authorized by ãâã King of Hungary to bear three Turks-heads as an Augmentation to his Armes Here ãâã gave intelligence to a besieged City in the night by significant ãâã works formed in ãâã in legible Characters with many strange performances the Scene whereof is laid at such a distance they are cheaper credited then confuted From the Turks in Europe he passed to the Pagans in America where towards the latter end of the Raign of Queen Elizabeth such his Perills Preservations Dangers Deliverances they seem to most men above belief to some beyond Truth Yet have we two witnesses to attest them the Prose and the Pictures both in his own book and it soundeth much to the diminution of his deeds that he alone is the Herauld to publish and proclaime them Two Captains being at dinner one of them fell into a large relation of his own atchivements concluding his discourse with this question to his fellow And pray Sir said he what service have you done To whom he answered Other men can tell that And surely such reports from strangers carry with them the greater reputation However moderate men must allow Captain Smith to have been very instrumentall in setling the plantation in Virginia whereof he was Governour as also Admiral of New-England He led his old age in London where his having a Princes mind imprison'd in a poor mans purse rendred him to the contempt of such who were not ingenuous Yet he efforted his spirits with the remembrance and relation of what formerly he had been and what he had done He was buried in Sepulchres-Church-Quire on the South-side thereof having a ranting Epitaph inscribed in a table over him too long to transcribe Onely we will insert the first and last verses the rather because the one may fit Alexanders life for his valour the other his death for his religion Here lies one conquer'd that hath conquer'd Kings Oh may his soul in sweet Elysium sleep The Orthography Poetry History and Divinity in this Epitaph are much alike He on the 21. of June 1631. Physicians If this county hath bred no Writers in that faculty the wonder is the less if it be true what I read that if any here be sick They make him a posset and tye a kerchieff on his head and if that will not mend him then God be mercifull to him But be this understood of the common people the Gentry having the help no doubt of the learned in that profession Writers THOMAS ECLESTONE A Village in Broxtone Hundred was born in this County bred a Franciscan in Oxford Leland saith of him that under the conduct of prudence and experience he contended with many paces to pierce into the Penetrales of Learning He wrote a book of the succession of Franciscans in England with their works and wonders from their first coming in to his own time dedicating the same to not G. Notingham the Provinciall of his Order but to his friend and Fellow-Frier his mortified mind it seems not aiming at honour therein He wrote another Book intituled De impugnatione Ordinis suâ⦠per Dominicanos Of the assaults which the Dominicans made on his Order These two sorts of Friers whipping each other with their Cords or Knotted Girdles to the mutual wounding of their reputations He died Anno Domini 1340. Since the Reformation RALPH RADCLIFFE was born in this County who travelling Southward fixed himself at Hitching in Hertfordshire where he converted a demolished house of the Carmelites into a Publique Grammar-school He here erected a fair stage whereon partly to entertain his Neighhours and partly to embolden his Scholars in pronuntiation many interludes were acted by them Pitz. praiseth him being a School-master that he confined himself to his own profession not medling with Divinity and yet amongst his books he reckoneth up a Treatise of the Burning of Sodome and another of the Afflictions of Job Nor must we forget his book entitled de triplice Memoriâ of the Threefold Memory which though I never met with any that saw it may probably be presumed of the Water Wax Iron Memory receiving things very somewhat very hardly easily  retaining them no a little long Time He flourished under the raign of King Edward the sixth Anno Domini 1552. and it is likely he died before the raign of Queen Mary JOHN SPEED was born at Farrington in this County as his own Daughter hath informed me he was first bred to a handicraft and as I take it to a Taylor I write not this for his but my own disgrace when I consider how far his Industry hath outstript my Ingenious Education Sir Fulk Grevill a great favourer of Learning perceiving how his wide soul was stuffed with too narrow an occupation first wrought his inlargement as the said Author doth ingeniously confess Whose merits to me-ward I do acknowledge in setting this hand free from the daily imployments of a manuall Trade and giving it his liberty thus to express the inclination of my mind himself being the procurer of my present Estate This
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
this Doctor Cosen's Life out of which most of our aforesaid Character hath been excerped Writers WILLIAM SHIRWOOD was born in this Bishoprick being otherwise called William of Durham bred first in University Colledge in Oxford then in Paris and afterwards was made Chancellor of Lincoln In his time the University of Oxford was Interdicted for some affronts offered to the Popes Legate and had lain longer under that burden had not the hands of this William helped to remove it shewing therein no less his love to his Mother than his power with the Pope In that age the English Clergy did drive a great Trade of preferment in France King Henry the third having large Dominions therein and amongst the rest this William was advanced Arch Bishop of Roan where he died Anno Dom. 1249. JOHN of DARLINGTON was born in this Bishoprick at a Town so called needing no other Indication than the Rode passing thorow it into Scotland He was bred a Dominican and a great Clerk Mat. Paris giveth him this Testimony that he was one qui literatura pollebat exellenter consilio King Henry the third made him his Confessor which argueth his Piety that so devout a Prince used him in so consciencious an Office and afterwards he became Arch-Bishop of Dublin in Ireland on this occasion The Prior and Covent of Trinity Church chose William de la Corner the Kings Chaplain whilest the Dean and Chapter of Saint Patricks elected Fââ¦omund le Brun the Popes Chaplain into that See Hence ensued an hot and high contest and Pope John 21. unwilling to engage therein caââ¦ted both their Elections and pitched on our Darlington as a good expedient A person in whom King and Pope met in some equal proportion seeing he was as we have said Confessor to the one and to the other his Collector of Peter-pence as also to his two Successors Nicholas the third and Martin the fourth thorow all Ireland Many Books he wrote to Posterity and returning into England sickned died and was buried in Preaching Friers in London 1284. WILLIAM SIVEYER was born at Shinkley in this Bishoprick where his Father was a Siveyer or Sive-maker and I commend his humility in retaining his Fathers Trade for his Surname to mind him of his mean extraction He was bred in Merton Colledge whereof he became Warden and Provost of Eaton and afterward Bishop of Carlile 1496. whence five years after he was traââ¦lated to Durham His Sur-name so contemptible in English sounds ââ¦erially and Episcopally when latinized In which language he is rendred Gulielmus Severus severity well agreeing with the gravity of his Function He died Anno Dom 1505. All I will ad is this that England neither before nor since saw two ââ¦ieve-makers Sons at the same juncture of time advanced to so high dignity this William in the Church Sir Richard Empson in the Common wealth ãâã the Reformation THOMAS JACKSON born of a good Family in this County was designed to be a Merchant in New-Castle till his Parents were diverted by Ralph Lord ãâã and perswaded to make him a Scholar He was admitted first in Queens Colledge in Oxford and then became Candidate of a Fellowship in Corpus Christi knowing of the election but the day before he answered to admiration and was chosen by general consââ¦nt Soon after in all likelihood he lost his life being drowned in the River and taken out rather for desire of decent burial than with hope of any recovery He was wrap'd in the Cowns of hââ¦s fellow Students the best shrowd which present love and need could provide him and being brought home to the Colledge was revived by Gods blessing on the care of Doctor Chenil equally to all peoples joy and admiration His gratitude to the Fisher-men who took him up extended to a revenue unto them ââ¦u ring his life Thus thankful to the Instrument he was more to the Principal striving to repay his life to that God who gave it him He was afterwards Vicar of New Castle a Factor for Heaven in the place where he was designed a Merchant a Town full of men and opinions wherein he endeavoured to rectifie their Errors and unite their Affections At this distance was he chosen President of Corpus Christi Colledge never knowing of the vacancy of the place till by those Letters which informed him it was refilled with his electââ¦on Here he lived piously ruled peaceably wrote profoundly preached painfully His Charity had no fault if not of the largest size oftentimes making the Receiver richer than it left him that was the Donor thereof Learn the rest of his praise from the Learned Writer of his Life in whom nothing wanting save the exact place of his birth and date of his death which hapned about the year 1640. SAMUEL WARD was born at Bishops Middleham in this County his Father being a Gentleman of more Ancientry than Estate He was first Scholar of Christs then Fellow oâ⦠Emanuel and afterwards Master of Sidney Colledge in Cambridge and Margareâ⦠Professor therein for above twenty years Now because the Pen of a Pupil may probably be suspected of partiality of an Historian I will turn a Translator and only endeavour to English that Character which one who knew him as well as most men and could judge of him as well as any man doth bestow upon him Age perge Cathedram ornare quod facis sacram Subtilitate non levi rapidâ vagâ Sed Orthodoxa quam coronat veritas Et justa firmat soliditas patiens librae Antiquâ⦠at is crypta tu penetras frequens Scholasticorum tu profundos vortices Te'nulla fallit nulla te scium latet Distinctionum tela rationum stropha Tam perspicacem mente judicio gravem Linguis peritum tamque nervosum stylo His addo genium temperatum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Placidum modestum lite rixosâ procul Go to go on deck as thou doest the Chaire With subtilty not light slight vage ás air But such as Truth doth crown and standing sure Solidly fix'd will weighing well endure Antiquities hid depths thou oft doest sound And School-mens whirl-pools which are so profound Distinctions threads none can so finely weave Or Reason wrench thy Knowledge to deceive None thy quick sight grave judgement can beguile So skill'd in Tongues so sinewy in style Add to all these that peaceful Soul of thine Meek modest which all brawlings doth decline He turned with the Times as a Rock riseth with the Tide and for his uncomplying there with was imprisoned in Saint Johns Colledge in Cambridge In a word he was counted a Puritan before these times and Popish in these times and yet being alwayes the same was a true Protestant at all times He died Anno 1643. and was the first man buried in Sidney Colledge Chappel Memorable Persons ANTHONY Lord GRAY and eighth Earl of Kent of that Surname Son of George Gray ãâã and ãâã Salvam his Wife Son to Anthony
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
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.
Death of Pope Urban But Pope Boniface his Successour restored him to all his honours and dignities sent him over into England to King Richard the Second with most ample Commendation Returning to Rome he lived there in all plenty and pomp and dyed September the seventeenth 1397. Pity it is so good a Scholar should have so barbarous an Epitaph scarce worth our Translation Artibus iste Pater famosus in omnibus Adam Theologus summus Cardi que-nalis erat Anglia cui patriam titulum dedit ista Beatae Ceciliaeque morsque suprema polum Adam a famous Father in Arts all He was a deep Divine Cardi-and nall Whom England bred S. Cicilie hath given His Title Death at last gave heaven He was interred when dead in the Church of St. Cicilie which intituled him when alive though no happiness an honour which no other English man to my observation of his Order ever Injoyed Prelates JOHN BRETON alià s BRITTON Dâ⦠of the Lawes He meriteth a high place in this Catalogue and yet I am at a perfect loss where to fix his Nativity and therefore am forced to my last Refuge as the Marginal Character doth confess He was a famous Lawyer living in the Reign of King Edward the First at whose Commandement and by whose Authority he wrote a learned Book of the LAWES of ENGLAND the Tenor whereof runneth in the Kings name as if it had been penned by himself Take one instance thereof 12. Chapter VVe will that all those who are fourteen years old shall make Oath that they shall be sufficient and Loyall unto Us and that they will be neither Felons nor assenting to Felons and We will that all be c. This Style will seem nothing strange to those who have read Justinian his Institutions which the Emperour assumed unto himself though composed by others It is no small Argument of the Excellency of this Book that notwithstanding the great variation of our Lawes since his time that his work still is in great and general Repute Thus a good face conquereth the disadvantage of old and unfashionable Clothes He was preferred Bishop of Hereford in the Reign of King Henry the Third And although there be some difference betwixt Authors about the time wherein he lived and died some assigning a latter date I confide in Bishop Godwin his Successour in the same See computing his death to happen May 12. in the Third of King Edward the First Anno 1275. ADAM de ORLTON was born in the City of Hereford Proceeding Doctor of Law he became afterwards Bishop in the place of his Nativity This is he so Infamous in History for cutting off the life of King Edward the Second with his Ridling Unpointed Answer Edwardum Regem occidere nolite timere bonum est To kill King Edward you need not to fear it is good It is hard to say which of these two were the Original and which the Translation It being equally probable that the English was Latined as that the Latin was Englished by such Authors as relate this transaction This mindeth me of a meaner passage sic Canibus Catulos which to refresh both the Reader and my self I shall here insert A Schoolmaster being shut out of his School at Christmass came to Composition with his Scholars and thus subscribed the Articles tendred unto him Aequa est conditio non nego quod petitis But being readmitted into his house He called all his Scholars to account for their Rebellion they plead themselves secured by the Act of Oblivion he had signed He calls for the Original and perusing it thus pointed it Aequa est Conditio non Nego quod petitis Thus power in all ages will take the priviledge to construe its own Acts to its own advantage But to return to de Orlton he made much bustling in the Land passing through the Bishopricks of Worcester and Winchester and died at last not much lamented July 18. 1345. JOHN GRANDESSON was born at Ashperton in this County a person remarkable on several accounts For his 1. High Birth his Father Gilbert being a Baron and his Mother Sybill Coheir to the Lord Tregose 2. Great Learning being a good Writer of that age though Bale saith of him that he was Orator animosior quà m facundior 3. High Preferment attaining to be Bishop of Exeter 4. Vivacity sitting Bishop in his See two and fourty years 5. Stout Stomack Resisting Mepham Archbishop of Canterbury vi Armis when he came to visite his Diocess 6. Costly Buildings Arching the Beautifull Roofe of his Cathedrall Building and endowing a rich Colledge of Saint Mary Otterey He was the bettter inabled to do these and other great Benefactions by perswading all the secular Clergy in his Diocess to make him sole Heir to their Estates He died July 15. Anno Domini 1369. THOMAS BRADWARDINE Arch-bishop of Canterbury See him more properly in Sussex RICHARD CLIââ¦FORD Bishop of London See him more conveniently in Kent Since the Reformation MILES SMITH D. D. was born in the City of Hereford which I observe the rather because omitted in his Funeral Sermon His Father was a Fletcher and a man of no mean Estate that Vocation being more in use formerly then in our Age. He was bred first in Brasen-Nose-Colledge then Chaplain of * Christ-Church in Oxford A deep Divine great Linguist who had more then a single share in the last Translation of the Bible as hereby will appear 1. More then fourty Grave Divines were imployed in several places on that work 2. When it had passed their hands it was revised by a dozen select ones 3. This done it was referred to the final Examination of Bish. Bilston and Dr. Smith 4. Doctor Smith at last was injoyned to make the Preface to the Translation as a comely gate to a glorious City which remains under his own hand in the University Library in Oxford Yet was he never heard to speak of the work with any attribution to himself more then the rest He never sought any preferment he had and was wont merrily to say of himself that he was Nullius rei praeterquam Librorum avarus Covetous of nothing but Books King James preferred him Bishop of Glocester 1612. wherein he behaved himself with such meeknesse that in all matters of doubt the byass of his inclination did still hang ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He wrote all his books with his own hand in that faculty not being short of the professours thereof and being seaventy years of age died and was buried in his own Cathedrall 1624. Souldiers ROBERT DEVEREUX Son of Walter Devereux Earle of Essex was born at Nethwood in this County November the tenth 1567. Whilst his Father as yet was onely Viscount of Hereford He was such a Master-piece of Court and Camp and so bright a Light therein that we will observe his morning fore-noon high-noon afternoon and night His morning began at his first coming to Court the gates whereof
he entred with four great advantages of Pitie Kindred Favour and Merit Pitie on the account of his Father lately dead to say no more and generally lamented Kindred by his Mothers side Lettice Knowles near allied to the Queen Favour being son in Law to Leicester and so was a Favourits Favourite at the first day though he quickly stood on his own legs without holding Merit being of a Beautiful Personage Courteous Nature Noble Descent Fair though much impaired Fortune Fore-noon when the Queen favourably reflected on him as a Grand-Mother on a Grand-Child making him the wanton to her fond and indulgent affection as by this Letter written with her own hand doth appear ESSEX Your sudden and undutiful departure from our presence and your place of Attendance you may easily conceive how offensive it is and ought to be unto Us. Our great Favours bestowed upon you without deserts hath drawn you thus to neglect and forget your Duty For other Construction we cannot make of these your strange Actions Not meaning therefore to tolerate this your disordered Part We gave directions to some of Our Privy Councel to let you know our Express Pleasure for your Immediate Repair hitber which you have not performed as your Duty doth bind you Increasing thereby greatly your former offence and undutiful behaviour in departing in such sort without our Privity having so special Office of Attendance and Charge near our Person We do therefore Charge and Command you forthwith upon the Receit of these our Letters all Excuses and Delayes set apart to make your present and immediate Repair unto Us to understand our further Pleasure Whereof see you fail not as you will be loth to incur our Indignation and will Answer for the contrary at your uttermost Peril The 15. of April 1589. This letter angry in the first and loving in the fourth degree was written to him sent by Sir Thomas Gorges on this occasion The Earle in pursuance of his own martial inclination secretly left the Court to see some service in France The Q. passionately loving his Person grievously complained of his absence and often said We shall have this young fellow knockt on the head as foolish Sidney was by his own forwardness and was restless till his return I behold him in his high-noon when he brought Victory with him home from Cadiz and was vertical in the esteem of the Souldiery and may be said to awaken the Queens jealousie by his popularitie His After-noon followed when he undertook the Irish action too knotty service for his smooth disposition being fitter for personal performance then conduct and managing of martial affaires And now his enemies work was halfe done having gotten such a Gulf betwixt him and the Queen For as Antaeus is said to have recruited strength when he touched his Mother Earth so this Earle wrestling with his Enemies suppressed them and supported himself by his dayly access to the Queen which distance now denied him His Night approached when coming over without leave he was confined by the Q. to his house to reclaim not ruine him Hither a miscellaneous crew of sword-men did crowd tendering him their service some of one perswasion some of another some of all some of no religion Their specious pretence was to take evil Counsellors from the Queen though it had been happie if they had been first taken away from the Earle What his companie said they would doe the Earle knew but what would have been done by them God knowes The Earle rising and missing of expected support from the City of London quickly sunck in the Queens final displeasure Anno Domini 1600. He was valiant liberall to Scholars and Souldiers nothing distrustful if not too confident of fidelity in others Revengefulness was not bred but put into his disposition 'T is hard to say whether such as were his Enemies or such as should be his friends did him more mischief When one flattered him to his face for his Valour no said he my sins ever made me a coward In a word his failings were neither so foul nor so many but that the Character of a right worthy man most justly belongs to his memory Writers ROGER of HEREFORD born in that City was bred in the University of Cambridge being one of the prime Promoters of Learning therein after the Re-foundation of the University by the Abbot of Crowland He was an excellent Astronomer and Stars being made for signes was a good Interpreter what by these signes were intended He wrote a Book of Judicial Astrologie whether to commend or condemn it such onely can satisfie themselves that have seen his Book He was also skilful in all Mettals and Minerals and his pretty curiosities made him acceptable to the Nobility of England flourishing under King Henry the Second An. Dom. 1170. WILLIAM LEMPSTââ¦R a Franciscan and a Dr. of Divinity in Oxford was born in that well known Town in this County He wrote Collations on the Master of the Sentences and Questions in Divinity as J. Pits informeth me adding withall Haec scripsit novi sed non quo tempore novi Well I know these works he wrot But for the time I know it not And I am content for companies sake with him to be ignorant of the exact date thereof Since the Reformation RICHARD HACKLUIT was born of an ancient extract in this County whose Family hath flourished at ...... in good esteem He was bred a Student in Christ Church in Oxford and after was Prebendary of Westminster His Genius inclined him to the Study of History and especially to the Marine part thereof which made him keep constant Intelligence with the most noted Seamen of Wapping until the day of his Death He set forth a large Collection of the English Sea Voyages Ancient Middle Modern taken partly out of private Letters which never were or without his care had not been printed Partly out of Small Treatises printed and since irrecoverably lost had not his providence preserved them For some Pamphlets are produced which for their Cheapnesse and Smalnesse men for the present neglect to buy presuming they may procure them at their pleasure which small Books their first and last Edition being past like some Spirits that appear but once cannot afterwards with any price or pains be recovered In a word many of such useful Tracts of Sea Adventures which before were scattered as several Ships Mr. Hackluit hath imbodied into a Fleet divided into three Squadrons so many several Volumes A Work of great honour to England it being possible that many Ports and Islands in America which being base and barren bear only a bare name for the present may prove rich places for the future And then these Voyages will be produced and pleaded as good Evidence of their belonging to England as first discovered and denominated by English-men Mr. Hackluit dyed in the beginning of King Iames his Reign leaving a fair estate to an unthrift Son who embezill'd it on this
yearly Rent will buy them out all Three CALES Knights were made in that voyage by Robert Earle of Essex anno Dom. 1596 to the number os sixty whereof though many of great birth and estate some were of low fortunes and therefore Queen Elizabeth was halfe offended with the Earle for making Knighthood so common Of the numerousness of Welsh Gentlemen we shall have cause to speak hereafter Northern Lairds are such who in Scotland hold Lands in chief of the King whereof some have no great Revenue so that a Kentish Yeoman by the help of an Hyperbole may countervail c. Yet such Yeomen refuse to have the Title of Master put upon them contenting themselves without any addition of Gentility and this mindeth me of a Passage in my memory One immoderately boasted that there was not one of his name in all England but that he was a Gentleman to whom one in the company retnrned I am sorry Sir you have never a good man of your name Sure I am in Kent there is many a hospital Yeoman of great ability who though no Gentleman by Descent and Title is one by his Means and state let me also adde by his courteous carriage though constantly called but Goodman to which Name he desireth to answer in all respects A Man of KENT This may relate either to the Liberty or to the courage of this County-men Liberty the tenure of Villanage so frequent elsewhere being here utterly unknown and the bodies of all Kentish persons being of free condition In so much that it is holden sufficient for one to avoid the Objection of bondage to say that his Father was born in Kent Now seeing servi non sunt viri quia non sui sur is A bond-man is no man because not his own man the Kentish for their Freedome have atchieved to themselves the name of Men. Others refer it to their courage which from the time of King Canutus hath purchased unto them the precedency of marching in our English Armies to lead the Van. JOANNES Sarisbur De egregiae Curial 6 cap. 16. Ob egregiae virtutis meritum quod potenter patenter exercuit Cantia nostra primae Cohortis honorem primos congressus Hostium usque in omnibus diem in omnibus praeliis obtinet For the deââ¦ert of their worthy valour which they so powerfully and publickly expressed Our Kent obtaineth even unto this day the honor of the first Regiment and first assaulting the Enemy in all Battails Our Authour lived in the Reign of Henry the Second and whether Kentish-men retain this Priviledge unto this day wherein many things are turned upside-down and then no wonder it also forward and backward is to me unknown Neither in KENT nor Christendome This seems a very insolent expression and as unequal a division Surely the first Anthour thereof had small skill in even distribution to measure an Inch against an Ell yea to weigh a grain against a pound But know Reader that this home-Proverb is calculated onely for the elevation of our own Country and ought to be restrained to English-Christendome whereof Kent was first converted to the Faith So then Kent and Christendome parallel to Rome and Italy is as much as the First cut and all the Loafe besides I know there passes a report that Henry the fourth King of France mustering his Souldiers at the siege of a City found more Kentish-men therein than Forraigners of all Christendome beside which being but seventy years since is by some made the Original of this Proverb which was more ancient in use and therefore I adhere to the former Interpretation alwayes provided Si quid novisti rectius istis Candidus imperti Si non his utere mecum If thou know'st better it to me impart If not use these of mine with all my heart For mine own part I write nothing but animo revocandi ready to retract it when better evidence shall be brought unto me Nor will I oppose such who understand it for Periphrasis of NO-WHERE Kent being the best place of England Christendome of the World KENTISH Long-TAILES Let me premise that those are much mistaken who first found this Proverb on a Miracle of Austin the Monk which is thus reported It happened in an English Village where Saint Austin was preaching that the Pagans therein did beat and abuse both him and his associats opprobriously tying Fish-tails to their back-side In revenge whereof an impudent Author relateth Reader you and I must blush for him who hath not the modesty to blush for himselfe how such Appendants grew to the hind-parts of all that Generation I say they are much mistaken for the Scaene of this Lying Wonder was not laied in any Part of Kent but pretended many miles off nigh Cerne in Dorsetshire To come closer to the sence of this Proverb I conceive it first of outlandish extraction and cast by forraigners as a note of disgrace on all the English though it chanceth to stick only on the Kentish at this Day For when there happened in Palestine a difference betwixt Robert brother of Saint Lewis King of France and our William Longspee Earle of Salisbury heare how the French-man insulted over our nation MATTHEW PARIS Anno Dom. 1250. pag. 790. O timidorum caudatoruÌ formidolositas quà m beatus quà m mundus praesens foret exercitus si à caudis purgaretur caudatis O the cowardliness of these fearful Long-tails How happie how cleane would this our arm ie be were it but purged from tails and Long-tailes That the English were nicked by this speech appears by the reply of the Earle of Salisbury following still the metaphor The son of my father shall presse thither to day whither you shall not dare to approach his horse taile Some will have the English so called from wearing a pouch or poake a bag to carry their baggage in behind their backs whilest probably the proud Monsieurs had their Lacquies for that purpose In proof whereof they produce ancient pictures of the English Drapery and Armory wherein such conveyances doe appear If so it was neither sin nor shame for the common sort of people to carry their own necessaries and it matters not much whether the pocket be made on either side or wholly behinde If any demand how this nick-name cut off from the rest of England continues still entaild on Kent The best conjecture is because that county lieth nearest to France and the French are beheld as the firstfounders of this aspersion But if any will have the Kentish so called from drawing and dragging boughs of trees behind them which afterwards they advanced above their heads and so partly cozened partly threatned King William the Conqueror to continue their ancient customes I say if any will impute it to this original I will not oppose KENTISH Gavel Kind It is a custome in this County whereby the lands are divided equally among all the sons and in default of them amongst the daughters
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
to interpret them The Farewell Being now to take my leave of this County it is needless to wish it a Friday Market the Leap-day therein and it is strange there should be none in so spacious a Shire presuming that defect supplied in the Vicinage Rather I wish that the Leprosy may never return into this County but if it should return we carry the seeds of all sins in our Souls sicknesses in our Bodies I desire that the Lands may also without prejudice to any returne to the Hospital of Burton Lazars in this Shire if not intire yet in such a proportion as may comfortably maintain the Lepers therein LINCOLNE-SHIRE This County in Fashion is like a bended Bowe the Sea making the Back the Rivers Welland and Humber the two horns thereof whiles Trent hangeth down from the latter like a broken string as being somewhat of the Shortest Such persecute the Metaphor too much who compare the River Witham whose Current is crooked unto the Arrow crossing the middle thereof It extendeth 60. Miles from South to North not above 40. in the middle and broadest part thereof Being too Volluminous to be managed entire is divided into three parts each of them corrival in quantity with some smaller Shires Holland on the South-East Kesteven on the South-West and Lindley on the North to them both Holland that is Hoyland or Hayland from the plenty of Hay growing therein may seem the Reflection of the opposite Holland in the Neatherlands with which it Sympathyzed in the Fruitfulness lowe and wet Scituation Here the Brakishnesse of the Water and the Grossenesse of the Ayre is recompenced by the Goodnesse of the Earth abounding with Deries and Pasture And as God hath to use the * Apostles phrase tempered the body together not making it all Eye or all Ear Nonsense that the Whole should be but One sense but assigning each Member the proper office thereof so the same Providence hath so wisely blended the Benefits of this County that take Collective Lincolne-shire and it is Defective in Nothing Natural Commodities Pikes They are found plentifully in this Shire being the Fresh-Water-Wolves and therefore an old pond-pike is a dish of more State than Profit to the Owners seeing a Pikes belly is a little Fishpond where lesser of all sorts have been contained Sir Francis Bacon alloweth it Though Tyrants generally be short-lived the Surviver of all Fresh-water-Fish attaining to forty years and some beyond the Seas have trebled that term The Flesh thereof must needs be fine and wholsome if it be true what is affirmed that in some sort it cheweth the Cud and yet the less and middle size Pikes are preferred for Sweetnesse before those that are greater It breedeth but once whilest other Fishes do often in a year such the providence of Nature preventing their more multiplying least the Waters should not afford Subjects enough for their Tyranny For want of other Fish they will feed one on another yââ¦a what is four footed shall be Fish with them if it once come to their jawes biteing sometimes for cruelty and revenge as well as for hunger and because we have publickly professed that to delight as well as to inform is our aim in this Book let the ensuing story though unwarranted with a cited Authour find the Readers acceptance A Cub-Foxe drinking out of the River Arnus in Italy had his head seised on by a mighty Pike so that neither could free themselves but were ingrapled together In this contest a young man runs into the water takes them out both alive and carrieth them to the Duke of Florence whose palace was hard by The Porter would not admit him without promising of sharing his full half in what the Duke should give him To which he hopelesse otherwise of entrance condescended The Duke highly affected with the Rarity was in giving him a good reward which the other refused desiring his Highnesse would appoint one of his Guard to give him an hundred Lashes that so his Porter might have fifty according to his composition And here my Intelligence leaveth me how much farther the jest was followed But to return to our English Pikes wherein this County is eminent especially in that River which runneth by Lincolne whence grew this Proverb Witham Pike England hath nene like And hence it is that Mr. Drayton maketh this River Poetizing in her praises always concluding them Thus to her Proper Song The Burden still she bare Yet for my dainty Pikes I am without compare I have done with these Pikes when I have observed if I mistake not a great mistake in Mr. Stow affirming that Pickrels were brought over as no Natives of our Land into England at the same time with Carps and both about the beginning of the Reign of King Henry the Eighth Now if Pickrels be the deminatives of Pikes as Jacks of Pickrels which none I conceive will deny they were here many hundred years since and probably of the same Seniority with the Rivers of England For I find in the Bill of Fare made at the Prodigious Feast at the Installing of George Nevil Arch-bishop of York Anno 466 that there was spent three hundred Lupi Fluviatiles that is River Pikes at that Entertainment Now seeing all are children before they are men and Pikes Pickrels at the first Pickrels were more anciently in England then that Author affirmeth them Wild-foule Lincoln-shire may be termed the Aviary of England for the Wild-foule therein Remarkable for their 1. Plenty So that sometimes in the Month of August three thousand Mallards with Birds of that kind have been caught at one Draught so large and strong their Nets and the like must be the Readers belief 2. Variety No man no not Gesmar himself being able to give them their proper names except one had gotten Adam his Nomenclator of Creatures 3. Deliciousnesse Wild-foule being more dainty and digestable then Tame of the same kind as spending their Grossie humours with their Activity and constant Motion in Flying Now as the Eagle is called Jovis Ales so here they have a Bird which is called the Kings Bird namely Knuts sent for hither out of Denmark at the charge and for the use of Knut or Kanutus King of England If the plenty of Birds have since been drained with the Fenns in this County what Lincoln-shire lacks in her former Foul is supplyed in Flesh more Mutton and Beef and a large First makes amends for a lesse second Coursâ⦠But amongst all Birds we must not forget Dotterells This is Avis ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a Mirthmaking Bird so ridiculoussy Mimical that he is easily caught or rather catcheth himself by his over-Active imitation There is a sort of Apes in India caught by the Natives thereof after this manner They dress a little Boy in his Sight undresse him again leave all the Childs apparel behind them in the place and then depart a competent distance The Ape presently attiââ¦eth
Rââ¦ward ãâã a Feild ãâã more safe and no less honourable in my Opinion Sir Ralph was of the second sort and the last which survived in England of that Order Yet was he little in stature tall not in person but performance Queen Eliz. made him Chanceââ¦our of the Dutchy During his last Embassie in Scotland his house at Standon in Herââ¦forashire was built by his Steward in his absence far greater then himself desired so that he never joyed therein and died soon after Anno 1587. in the 80 year of his age Howââ¦ver it hath been often filled with good Company and they feasted with great chear by the Hereditary Hospitality therein I must not forget how when this Knight attended his Master the Lord Cromwel at Rome before the English renounced the Papal power a ââ¦ardon wââ¦s granted not by his own but a Servants procuring for the Sins of that Famiââ¦y for three immediate Generations expiring in R. Sadlier Esquire lately dead which was extant but lately lost oâ⦠displaced amongst their Records and though no use was made thereof much mirth was made therewith Capital Judges and Writers on the Law Sir THOMAS FROVVICK Knight was born at Elinge in this County son to Thomas Frowick Esquire By his Wife who was Daughter and Heire to Sir John Sturgeon Knight giving for his Armes Azure three Sturgeons Or under a fret Gules bred in the study of our Municipal Law wherein he attained to such eminency that he was made Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas on the 39 of September in the 18 year of the Reign of King Henry the seventh Four years he sate in his place accounted the Oracle of Law in his Age though one of the youngest men that ever enjoyed that Office He is reported to have dyed floridâ juventute before full forty years old and lyeth buryed with Joane his Wife in the Church of Finchley in this County the Circumscription about his Monument being defaced onely we understand that his death hapned on the seventeenth of October 1506. He left a large Estate to his two Daughters whereof Elah the Eldest was married to Sir John Spelman one of the Justices of the Kings Bench Grand-Father to Sir Henry that Renowned Knight Sir WILLIAM STAMFORD Knight was of Staffordian extraction Robert his Grand-Father living at Rowley in that County But William his Father was a Merchant in London and purchased Lands at Hadley in Middlesex where Sir William was born August 22. 1509. He was bred to the study of our Municipal Lawes attaining so much eminence therein that he was preferred one of the Judges of the Common Pleas His most learned Book of the Pleas of the Crown hath made him for ever famous amongst men of his own profession There is a Spirit of Retraction of one to his native Country which made him purchase Lands and his son settle himself again in Staffordshire this worthy Judge died August 28 and was buried at Hadley in this Shire in the last year of the Reign of Queen Mary 1558. Writers JOHN ACTON I find no fewer then seventeen Actons in England so called as I conceive Originally from Ake in Saxon an Oake wherewith antiently no doubt those Townes were well stored But I behold the place nigh London as the Paramount Acton amongst them Our Iohn was bred Doctor of the Laws in Oxford and afterwards became Canon of Lincolne being very able in his own faculty He wrote a learned Comment on the Ecclesiasticall Constitutions of Otho and Ottob one both Cardinalls and Legats to the Pope in England and flourished under King Edward the First Anno 1290. RALPH ACTON was bred in the University of Oxford where he attained saith my Author Magisterium Theologicum and as I understand Magister in Theologiâ is a Doctor in Divinity so Doctor in Artibus is a Master of Arts. This is reported to his eternall Commendation Evangelium regni Dei fervore non modico praedicabat in medijs Romanarum Superstitionum Tenebris And though somtimes his tongue lisped with the Siboleth of the superstition of that age yet generally he uttered much pretious truth in those dangerous days and flourished under King Edward the second Anno 1320. ROGER TVVIFORD I find eleven Towns so named in England probably from the confluence of two fords thereabouts and two in this County He was bred an Augustinian Friar studied in both Universities and became a Doctor in Divinity In his declining age he applyed himself to the reading of the Scripture and the Fathers and became a painfull and profitable Preacher I find him not fixed in any one place who is charactered Concionum propalator per Dioecesin Norvicensem an Itinerant no Errant Preacher through the Diocess of Norwich He was commonly called GOODLUââ¦K and Good-Luck have he with his honour because he brought good success to others and consequently his own welcome with him whithersoever he went which made all Places and Persons Ambitious and Covetous of his presence He flourished about the year of our Lord 1390. ROBERT HOVVNSLOVV was born in this County at Hownslow a Village well known for the Road through and the Heath besides it He was a Fryar of the Order of the Holy Trinity which chiefly imployed themselves for the redemption of Captives Indeed Locusts generally were the devourers of all food yet one kind of Locusts were themselves wholesome though course food whereon Iohn Baptist had his common repast Thus Fryers I confess generally were the Pests of the places they lived in but to give this order their due much good did redound from their endeavours For this Robert being their Provinciall for England Scotland and Ireland rich people by him were affectionately exhorted their Almes industriously collected such collections carefully preserved till they could be securely transmitted and thereby the liberty of many Christian Captives effectually procured He wrote also many Synodall sermons and Epistles of confequence to severall persons of quality to stir up their liberality He flourished sayes Pitseus Anno Dom. 1430. a most remarkable year by our foresaid Author assigned either for the flourishing or for the Funeralls of eleven famous writers yet so as our Robert is dux gregis and leads all the rest all Contemporaries whereas otherwise for two or three eminent persons to light on the same year is a faire proportion through all his book De illustribus Angliae scriptoribus Since the Reformation WILLIAM GOUGE Born at Stratford-Bow in this County bred in Kings Colledge in Cambridge where he was not once absent from publique service morning and evening the space of nine years together He read fifteen Chapters in the Bible everyday and was afterwards Minister of Blackfryers in London He never took a journey meerly for pleasure in all his Life he preached so long till it was a greater difficulty for him to go up into the Pulpit then either to make or preach a Sermon and dyed aged seventy nine years leaving
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
Indeed I read of a Company of ââ¦hysicians in Athens called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã because they would take no Money of their Patients and our St. German was of their Judgement as to his Clients 5. Ability being excellently skill'd in Civil Caxon and Common Law so that it was hard to say wherein he excelled Add to these his skill in scripture witnesse his Book called The Doctor and Student where the former vics Divinity with the Lââ¦w of the later 6. Industry he wrote several works wherein he plainly appeareth not only a Favourer of but Champion for the Reformation 7 Vivacity Lââ¦ving to be above eighty years old and dying anno Dom. 1593. was buryed at St. Alphage London near Criplegate WILLIAM RASTAL was born in this City Sisters Son to Sir Thomas More and was bred in the Study of our Common Law and whoever readeth this passage in Pitz. will thence conclude him one of the two Chief Justices of England Pitz. de Ang. Script Aetat 16. anno 1565. Factus est Civilium Criminalium causarum alter ex duobus per Angliam supremis Judicibus whereas in deed he was but one of the Justices of the Kings Bench yet his Ability and Integrity did capacitate him for higher preferment being also a person of Industry He wrote the Life and set forth the Works of his Uncle More made a Collection of and Comment on the statutes of England Great was his Zeal to the Roââ¦ish Religion flying into Flanders with the changing of his Countrey under King Edward the Sixth he changed the nature of his Studies but then wrote worse Books on a better subject I mean Divinity He undertook Bishop Juel as much his over match in Divinity as Rastal was his in the common Law The Papists are much pleased with him for helping their cause as they conceive and we are not angry with him who hath not hurt ours in any degree He dyed at Lovain 1565. and lyeth buryed with his Wife in the same Tomb and this Epitaph may be bestowed on him Rastallus tumulo cum conjuge dormit in uno Unius carnis Pulvis unus erit Know that Winifrid Clement his Wife was one of the greatest Female Scholars an exact Grecian and the Crown of all most pious according to her perswasion Souldiers No City in Europe hath bred more if not too many of late and indeed we had had better Tââ¦adesmen if worse Souldiets I dare not adventure into so large a Subject and will instance but in one to keep possession for the rest submitting my self to the Readers censure whether the Parties merit or my private Relation puts me on his Memorial Sir THOMAS ROPER Son of Thomas Roper Servant to Queen Elizabeth was born in Friday Street in London whose Grandfather was a younger Son of the House of Heanour in Derby shire Indeed Furneaux was the ancient name of that Family until Richard Furneaux marryed Isald the Daughter of ..... Roper of Beighton in the County of Derby Esquire and on that Consideration was bound to assume the name of Roper by Indenture Dated the Sââ¦venth of Henry the Sixth This Sir Thomas Going over into the Lowe Countries became Page to Sir John Norrice and was Captain of a Foot Company at sixteen years of age what afterwards his Martial performances were to avoid all suspicion of Flattery to which my Relation may incline me I have transcribed the rest out of the Original of his Patent Cum Thomas Roper Eques auratus è Secretioribus Concilliariis nostris in regno nostro Hyberniae jampridem nobis Bellicae virtutis Splendore clarus innotuerit Utpote qui quam plurimis rebus per eum in nuperrimo bello hujus Regni fortiter gestis praeclarum Nomen Strenui Militis prudentis Ducis reportavit Cujus virtus praecipuè in recessu in Provinciâ nostrâ Conaciae prope Le Boyle emicuit ubi paucissimis admodum equestribus ingentes equitum turmas per Regni Meditullia hostiliter grassantes fortiter aggressus Ita prudentiâ suâ singulari receptui cecinit ut non modo se suos sed etiam totum exercitum ab ingenti periculo Liberavit hostesque quam plurimos ruinae tradidit Qui etiam cum Provincia nostra Ultoniae bello deflagaverat ob exploratam animi fortitudinââ¦m ab honoratissimo Comite Essexiae exercitus tunc imperatore unius ex omnibus designatus fuit ad Duellum eum Makal uno ex fortissimis Tyronentium agminum ducibus suscipiendum nisi praedictus Makal duello praedicto se exponere remisset Cumque etiam praedictus Thomas Roper in nuperrimo Bello apud Brest in Regno Gallie se maximis periculis objiciendo sanguinem suum effundendo Fortitudinem suam invictam demonstravit Qui etiam in expeditione Portugalenci se fortiter ac honorifice ãâã ac etiam apud Bergen in Belgio cum per Hispanos obsideretur invictissimae fortitudinis juvenem in defensione ejusdem se praebuit Qui etiam in expugnationis Kinsalensis die primus ãâã juxta ãâã propissime constitutus fuerat Hispanesque ex eo oppido sepius eodem die ãâã fortissime felicissimeque ad maximam totius exercitus ãâã ãâã profligavit Sciatis igitur quod nos intuitu praemissorum Dominum Thomam Roper millitem c. Whereas Thomas Roper Knight one of our Privy Councellors of our Kingdome of Ireland long since hath been known unto us famous with the Splendor of his Warlike vertue As who by the many Atchievements valiantly performed by him in the late War of this Kingdome hath gained the eminent Repute both of a stout Souldier and a discââ¦eet Commander whose Valour chiefly appeared in his Retreat near Le Boyle in ââ¦ur Province of Conaught where with very few horse he undantedly charged great Troops of the Horse of the Enemy who in a Hostile manner forraged the very Bowels of the Kingdome and by his Wisdome made such a singular retreat that he not only saved himself and his men but also delivered the whole Army from great danger and slew very many of his Enemies Who also when our Province of Ulster was all on Fire with war being one out of many was for the tryed resolution of his mind chosen by the Right Honorable the E. of Essex then General of the Army to undertake a Duel with Makal one or the stoutest Captains in the Army of Tyrone had not the said Makal declined to expose himself to the appointed Duel And also when the aforesaid Thomas Raper in the late war in the Kingdome of France at Brest by exposing himself to the greatest perils and sheding of his own bloud demonstrated his courage to be unconquerable Who also iâ⦠the voyage to Portugal behaved himself valiantly and honorably as also at Bergen in the Nether-lands when it was besiedged by the Spaniards approved himself a young man of ãâã valour in the defence thereof Who also in the day wherin Kinsale was assaulted was
revenge of the most high God suddenly arising by breaking asunder the buildings of the houses brake their cruel assaults and weakned their forces This if literally true deserved a down-right and not only so slenting a mention But hitherto meeting it in no other Author I begin to suspect it ment Metaphorically of some consternation of mind wherewith God's restraining grace charmed the adversaries of the truth Bankinus flourished under King Richard the second Anno 1382. ROBERT IVORY was saith Leland none of the meanest Natives of this City a Carmelite and President General of his Order D. D. in Cambridge He wrote several books and Prece Precio procured many more wherewith he adorned the Library of White-Fryars in Fleet-street He dyed November the fifth 1392. JULIANA BARNES was born ex antiquâ illustri domo Understand it not in the sense wherein the same was said of a certain Pope born in a ruinous Cottage where the Sun did shine through the Rotten Walls and Roof thereof But indeed she was descended of a respective Family though I not able to find the place am fain to use my Marginal Mark of greatest uncertainty She was the Diana of her Age for Hunting and Hawking skilful also in Fishing and wrote three books of these Exercises commending the practise thereof to the Gentry of England The City of Leyden is scited in the very bottom of the Low-Countries so that the water setled their would be soon subject to putrefaction were it not by Engins forced up that it might fall and so by constant motion kept from corruption Idleness will betray Noble mens minds to the same mischief if some ingenious industry be not used for their imployment Our Julian also wrot a book of Heraldry Say not the needle is the most proper pen for the woman and that she ought to meddle with making no Coats save such as Dorcas made for the widows seeing their Sex may be not only pardoned but praised for such lawful diversions No Gentleman will severely censure the faults in her ãâã but rather imitate Julius Scaliger who passing his verdict on all Poets and coming to do the like on Sulpitia a Roman Poetress living under Domitian thus courteously concludeth Ut tam ãâã Heroinae ratio habeatur non ausim objicere ei judicii severitatem She flourished Anno Domini 1460. under King Henry the sixth ROBERT FABIAN was born and bred in this City whereof he became Sheriff 1493. Treating his Guests with good chear and wellcome he doubled his dishes with pleasant discourse being an excellent Historian witness two Chronicles of his own writing 1. From Brutus to the death of King Henry the second 2. From the first of K. Richard to the death of K. Henry the seventh He was also an excellent Poet both in Latine French and English A Modern Master wit in the contest betwixt the Poets of our age for the Laurel maketh Apollo to adjudge it to an Alderman of London because to have most wealth was a sign of most wit But had the Scene of this competition been laid seven score years since and the same remitted to the umpirage of Apollo in sober sadness he would have given the Laurel to this our Alderman As for his Histories if the whole strain of them doth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã it must be indulged to him that followed the genius of his own education He died at London 1512. and was buried in the Church of All-hallows where he hath a tedious and barbarous Epitaph as commonly Reader I should be glad to have my observation confuted who hath worse Poetry then Poets on their Monuments After his death Cardinal Wolsey caused so many Copies of his Book as he could come by to be burnt because therein he had opened the Coffers of the Church too wide and made too clear discovery of the Revenues of the Clergy THOMAS LUPSET was born in this City and was related to most English and some forraign learned eminencies of his age 1. Bred a child in the house of Dean ââ¦olet 2. Under W. Lilly in St. Pauls School 3. Sent to Oxford where he became Greek Professor 4 Resigns his place to his friend Ludovicus Vives 5. Travailed into Italy and at Padua was familiar with C. Pole 6. Was known unto Erasmus who giveth him this Character Hujus ingenio nihil gratius nihil amantius 7. Intended Divinity diverted by Cardinal Woolsy 8. At Paris was Tutor to Th. Winter a ward to the Cardinal 9. Returning into England was known to King Henry the eight 10. Began to grow into his favour when cut off with a Consumption 1532. in the prime of his life He died in London and lieth buried in the Church of Saint Alphage nigh Cripplegate without a monument Since the Reformation JOHN RASTALL was a Citizen and Printer of London by marriage a kin to Sir Thomas More and when the said Sir Thomas and Bishop Fisher wrote in defence of Purgatory to prove it by Scripture Rastall undertook to maintain it by reason Surely he that buy 's the two former books deserveth to have this last given him to make him a saver Some will say the former two indeavoured to prove the fire and Rastall the smoak of Purgatory But to pass by his works in Divinity he ãâã a good Mathematician and made a Comedy of Europe Asia and Africa which my Author saith was very witty and very large and I can believe the later seeing he had three parts of the world for his subject and how long would it have been had America been added He wrote a book against John Frith but afterwerds convinced with his adversaries arguements recanted it of his own accord the cause why we have placed him since the Reformation He wrote a book of the terms of Law and made an Index to Justice Fitz Herbert yea I behold this John as father to Rastall the famous Lawyer of whom before He died and was buried at London 1536. EDWARD HALL We may trace him from his cradle to his coffin as followeth 1. He was a Citizen of Londââ¦n by his birth 2. He was bred a Scholar at Eaton 3. Thence he removed and was one of the Foundation of Kings-colledge 4. Thence he went to Grays-Inn and studied the Municipal-law 5. He became common Serjeant of London for the well discharging whereof he 6 Was advanced to be one of the Judges in the Sheriffs Court 7. Wrote an elegant history of the wars of York and Lancaster from K. Henry the fourth till the end of King Henry the eight 8. Died a very aged man 1547. He was as by some passages in his book may appear in that age well affected to the Reformation He lieth buried in the Church of Saint Sithes contracted I think for Saint Osiths where I cannot recover any Epitaph upon him WILLIAM FULKE D. D. was born in this City bred first Fellow of
Saint John's then Master of Pembroke hall in Cambridge His studies were suitable to his years when young a good Philosopher witness his book of Meteors afterwards his endeavours ascended from the middle region of the aire to the highest heavens when he bââ¦came a pious and solid Divine Now the Romanists seeing they could no longer blind-fold their Laitie from the Scriptures resolved to fit them with false spectacles and set forth the Rhemish Translation which by Doctor Fulke was learnedly confuted though he never attained any great preferââ¦ent in the Church Here it is worth our pains to peruse the immediate succession of Masters in Pembroke-hall because unparallel'd in any English Foundation Edm. Grindall Archp. of Cant. Mat. Hutton Archp. of York Jo. Whitgift Archp. of Cant. Jo. Young ãâã of Rochester William Fulke D. D. Lanc. Andrews Bp. of Winchester Sam. Harsnet Archp. of York Nic. Felton Bp. of Eely Here though all the rest were Episcopated Doctor Fulke was but Doctor Fulke still though a man of great merit This proceeded not from any disaffection in him to the Hierarchie as some would fain suggest but principally from his love of privacy and place of Margaret-Professour wherein he died Anno Dom. 1589. EDMOND SPENCER born in this City was brought up in Pembroke-hall in Cambridge where he became an excellent Scholar but especially most haypy in English Poetry as his works do declare In which the many Chaucerisms used for I will not say affected by him are thought by the ignorant to be blemishes known by the learned to be beauties to his book which notwithstanding had been more salable if more conformed to our modern language There passeth a story commonly told and believed that Spencer presenting his Poems to Queen Elizabeth She highly affected therewith commanded the Lord Cecil Her Treasurer to give him an hundred pound and when the Treasurer a good Steward of the Queens money alledged that sum was too much then give him quoth the Queen what is reason to which the Lord consented but was so busied belââ¦ke about matters of higher concernment that Spencer received no reward Whereupon he presented this petition in a small piece of paper to the Queen in her Progress I was promis'd on a time To have reason for my rhyme From that time unto this season I receiv'd nor rhyme nor reason Hereupon the Queen gave strict order not without some check to her Treasurer for the present payment of the hundred pounds she first intended unto him He afterwards went over into Ireland Secretary to the Lord Gray Lord Deputy thereof and though that his office under his Lord was lucrative yet got he no estate but saith my Author Pââ¦culiari Poetis fato semper cum paupertate conflictatus est So that it fared little better with him then with William Xilander the German a most excellent Linguist Antiquary Philosopher and Mathematician who was so poor that as Thuanus saith he was thought fami non famae scribere Returning into England he was robb'd by the Rebels of that little he had and dying for grief in great want Anno 1598. was honorably buried nigh Chaucer in Westminster where this Distick concludeth his Epitaph on hââ¦s monument Anglica te vivo vixit plausitque poesis Nunc moritura timet te moriente mori Whilst hââ¦iu didst live liv'd English poetry Which fears now thou art dead that she shall die Nor must we forget that the expence of his funeral and monument was defrayed at the sole charge of Robert first of that name Earl of Essex JOHN STOW son of Thomas Stow who died Anno 1559. grand-child to Thomas Stow who died 1526. both Citizens of London and buried in Saint Michaels in Cornhill was born in this City bred at learning no higher then a good Gramar-scholar yet he became a painful faithful and the result of both useful Historian Here to prevent mistake by the homonymie of names I request the Reader to take special notice of three brace of English writers 1. Sir Thomas commonly with the addition of De la More who lived under and wrote the life of King Edward the second 1. John Leland bred in Oxford the most exquisite Grammarian of his age who flourished Anno 1428. 1. John Stow a Benedictine Monke of Norwich Anno 1440. who wrote various Collections much cited by Caius in his history of Cambridge 2. Sir Thomas More the witty and learned Chancellour of England 2. John Leland bred in Cambridge the most eminent Antiquary under K. Henry the eight 2. John Stow this Londiner and Historian I confess I have heard him often accused that as learned Guicciardine is charged for telling magnarum rerum minutias he reporteth res in se minutas toys and trifles being such a Smell-feast that he cannot pass by Guild-hall but his pen must tast of the good chear therein However this must be indulged to his education so hard it is for a Citizen to write an History but that the fur of his gown will be felt therein Sure I am our most elegant Historians who have wrote since his time Sir Francis Bacon Master Camden c. though throwing away the basket have taken the fruit though not mentioning his name making use of his endeavors Let me adde of John Stow that however he kept tune he kept time very well no Author being more accurate in the notation thereof Besides his Chronicle of England he hath a large Survey of London and I believe no City in Christendome Rome alone excepted hath so great a volume extant thereof Plato was used to say that many good laws were made but still one was wanting viz. a law to put all those good laws in execution Thus the Citizens of London have erected many fair monuments to perpetuate their memories but still there wanted a monument to continue the memory of their monuments subject by time and otherwise to be defaced which at last by John Stow was industriously performed He died in the eightieth year of his age April 5. 1605. and is buried at the upper end of the North-Isle of the Quire of Saint Andrews-Undershaft His Chronicle since continued by another whose additions are the lively embleme of the times he writeth of as far short of Master Stow in goodness as our age is of the integrity and charity of those which went before it GILES FLETCHER was born in this City son to Giles Fletcher Dr. in law and Embassadour into Russia of whom formerly in Kent From Westminster-school he was chosen first Scholar then Fellow of Trinity colledge in Cambridge One equally beloved of the Muses and the Graces having a sanctified wit witness his worthy Poem intituled Christs Victory made by him being but Bachelour of Arts discovering the Piety of a Saint and Divinity of a Doctor He afterward applied himself to School-Divinity cross to the grain of his Genius as some conceive and attained to good skill therein When he preached at Saint Maries his
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
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
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
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
of their utter failing Medicinal Waters BATH is well known all England and Europe over far more useful and wholesome though not so stately as Dioclesian his Bath in Rome the fairest amongst 856 in that City made onely for pleasure and delicacy beautified with an infinite of Marble Pillars not for support but ostentation so that Salmuth saith fourteen thousand men were imployed for some years in building thereof Our Baths-waters consist of 1 Bitumen which hath the predominancy sovereign to discuss glutinate dissolve open obstructions c. 2 Niter which dilateth the Bitumen making the solution the better and water the clearer It clenseth and purgeth both by Stool and ââ¦rine cutteth and dissolveth gross Humours 3 Sulphur In regard whereof they dry resolve mollifie attract and are good for Uterine effects proceeding from cold and windy Humours But how thesâ⦠Waters come by their great heat is rather controverted than concluded amongst the Learned Some impute it to Wind or Airy Exhalations included in the Bowels of the Earth which by their agitation and attrition upon Rocks and narrow passages gather Heat and impart it to the Waters Others ascribe it to the heat of the Sun whose Beams piercing through the Pores of the Earth warm the Waters and therefore anciently were called Aquae Solis both because dedicated to and made by the Sun Others attribute it to quick-lime which we see doth readily heat any water cast upon it and kindleth any combustible substance put therein Others referre it to a Subterranean fire kindled in the bowels of the Earth and actually burning upon Sulpher and Bitumen Others impute the heat which is not destructive but generative joyned with moisture to the fermentation of several minerals It is the safer to relate all than reject any of these Opinions each having both their Opposers and Defenders They are used also inwardly in Broths Beere Juleps c. with good effect And although some mislike it because they will not mixe Medicaments with Aliments yet such practice beginneth to prevail The worst I wish these waters is that they were handsomly roofed over as the most eminent Bathes in Christendome are which besides that it would procure great benefit to weak persons would gain more respect hither in Winter Time or more early in the Spring or more late in the Fall The Right Honourable James Earle of Marleborough undertook to cover the Crosse-Bath at his own charge and may others follow his resolution it being but fit that where God hath freely given the Jewel Men bestow a Case upon it Proverbs VVhere should I be bore else thââ¦n in Tonton Deane This is a parcel of Ground round about Tonton very pleasant and populous as conteining many Parishes and so fruitful to use their Phrase with the Zun and Zoil alone that it needs no manuring at all The Peasantry therein are as Rude as Rich and so highly conceited of their good Country God make them worthy thereof that they conceive it a disparagement to be born in any other place as if it were eminently all England The Beggars of Bath Many in that place some natives there others repairing thither from all parts of the Land the Poor for Alms the pained for ease Whither should Fowl flock in an hard frost but to the Barn-door Here all the two seasons the general confluence of Gentry Indeed Laws are daily made to restrain Beggars and daily broke by the connivence of those who make them it being impossible when the hungry Belly barks and bowels sound to keep the tongue silent And although Oil of whip be the proper plaister for the cramp of lazinesse yet some pity is due to impotent persons In a word seeing there is the Lazars-Bath in this City I doubt not but many a good Lazarus the true object of Charity may beg therein Saints DUNSTAN was born in the Town of Glassenbury in this County He afterwards was Abbot thereof Bishop of London VVorcester Archbishop of Canterbury and at last for his promoting of Monkery reputed a Saint I can add nothing to but must subtract something from what I have written of him in my Church History True it is he was the first Abbot of England not in time but in honour Glassenbury being the Proto-Abbaty then and many years after till Pope Adrian advanced St. Albans above it But whereas it followeth in my Book That the title of Abbot till his time was unknown in England I admire by what casualty it crept in confess it a foul mistake and desire the Reader with his Pen to delete it More I have not to say of Dunstan save that he died Anno Dom. 988. and his skill in Smithery was so great that the Gold-smiths in London are incorporated by the Name of the Company of St. Dunstans Martyrs JONH HOOPER was born in this County bred first in Oxford then beyond the Seas A great Scholar and Linguist but suffering under the notion of a proud man onely in their Judgments who were un-acquainted with him Returning in the reign of king Edward the Sixth he was elected Bishop of Glocester but for a time scrupuled the acceptance thereof on a double account First because he refused to take an Oath tendered unto him This Oath I conceived to have been the Oath of Canonical obedience but since owing my information to my Worthy Friend the Learned Dr. John Hacket I confess it the Oath of Supremacy which Hooper refused not out of lack of Loyalty but store of Conscience For the Oath of Supremacy as then modelled was more than the Oath of Supremacy injoyning the receivers thereof conformity to the Kings commands in what alterations soever he should afterwards make in Religion Which implicite and unlimited obedience Learned Casuists allow onely due to God himself Besides the Oath concluded with So help me God and all his Angels and Saints So that Hooper had just cause to scruple the Oath and was the occasion of the future reforming whilst the King dispensed with his present taking thereof The second thing he boggled at was the wearing of some Episcopal habiliments but at last it seemeth consented thereunto and was Consecrated Bishop of Glocester His adversaries will say that the refusing of One is the way to get Two Bishopricks seeing afterward he held Worcester in Commendam therewith But be it known that as our Hooper had double dignity he had treble diligence painfully preaching Gods Word piously living as he preach'd and patiently dying as he liv'd being martyred at Glocester Anno 155 He was the onely native of this Shire suffering for the testimony of the Truth and on this account we may honour the memory of Gilbert Bourn Bishop of Bath and Wells in the reign of Queen Mary who persecuted no Protestants in his Diocese to Death seeing it cannot be proved that one Lush was ever burnt though by him condemned I mention Bishop Bourn here the more willingly because I can no where recover the certainty
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
behold Bristol as the staple-place thereof where alone it was anciently made For though there be a place in London nigh Cheapside called Sopers-lane it was never so named from that Commodity made therein as some have supposed but from Alen le Soper the long since owner thereof Yea it is not above an hundred and fifty years by the confession of the Chronicler of that City since the first Sope was boyled in London Before which time the Land was generally supplyed with Castile from Spain and Graysope from Bristol Yea after that London medled with the making thereof Bristol-sope notwithstanding the portage was found much the cheaper Great is the necessity thereof seeing without Sope our bodies would be no better than dirt before they are turned into dust men whilst living becoming noisome to themselves and others Nor lesse its antiquity For although our modern Sope made of Pot-ashes and other ingredients was unknown to the Ancient yet had they ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã something which effectually supplied the place thereof making their Woollen clear their Linnen-Cloth cleanly Christ is compared by the Prophet to Fullers sope in Hebrew Borith which word Arias Montanus in his Interlineary Bible reteineth untranslated but in his Comment following the example of St. Hierom on the place rendreth it Herba fullonum expounding it to be Saponaria in English Sopeworth Indeed both Dodoneus and Gerardus writeth thereof This plant hath no use in Physick Yet seeing nature made nothing in vain Sopeworth cannot justly be charged as useless because purging though not the body the Clothes of a man and conducing much to the neatnesse thereof The Buildings Ratcliffe Church in this City clearly carrieth away the credit from all Parish-Churches in England It was founded by Cannings first a Merchant who afterwards bââ¦ame a Priest and most stately the ascent thereunto by many stairs which at last plentifully recompenceth their pains who climb them up with the magnificent structure both without and within If any demand the cause why this Church was not rather made the See of a Bishop then St. Augustins in this City much inferiour thereunto such may receive this reason thereof That this though an intire stately structure was not conveniently accomodated like St. Augustins formerly a great Monastery with publick Buildings about it for the Palace of a Bishop and the Reception of the Dean and Chapter However as the Town of Hague in Holland would never be Walled about as accounting it more credit to be the Biggest of Villages in Europe than but a Lesser City so Ratcliffe-Church esteemeth it a greater grace to lead the Van of all Parochial than to follow in the Rear after many Cathedral Churches in England Medicinal Waters St. Vincents Well lying West of the City under St. Vincents Rock and hard by the River is sovereign for Sores and Sicknesses to be washt in or drunk of to be either outwardly or inwardly applyed Undoubtedly the Water thereof runneth through some Mineral of Ironâ⦠as appeareth by the rusty ferruginous taste thereof which it retaineth though boiled never so much Experience proveth that Beer brewed thereof is wholesome against the Spleen and Dr. Samuel VVard afflicted with that malady and living in Sidney-Colledge was prescribed the constant drinking thereof though it was costly to bring it thorough the Severn and narrow seas to Lin and thence by the River to Cambridge But men in pain must not grudge to send far to purchase their ease and thank God if they can so procure it Proverbs Bristol Milk Though as many Elephants are fed as Cows grased within the Walls of this City yet great plenty of this Metaphorical Milk whereby Xeres or Sherry-Sack is intended Some will have it called Milk because whereas Nurses give new-born Babes in some places Pap in other water and sugar such Wine is the first moisture given Infants in this City It is also the entertainment of course which the courteous Bristolians present to all Strangers when first visiting their City Martyrs The moderation of John Holyman Bipshop of this City is much to be commended who in the reign of Queen Mary did not persecute any in his Diocess And yet we find Rich. Sharpe Tho. Benion and Tho. Hale martyred in this City whose Bloud the Inquisitor thereof will visit on the account of Dalbye the cruel Chancellour of this Dio cess Prelates RALPH of BRISTOL born in this City was bred as I have cause to conceive in the Neighbouring Covent of Glassenbury Going over into Ireland first he became Treasurer of St. Patricks in Dublin then Episcopus Darensis Bishop of Kildare He wrote the life of Lawrence Arch-Bishop of Dublin and granted saith my Author certain Indulgences to the Abbey of Glassenbury in England probably in testimony of his Gratitude for his Education therein He died Anno Dom. 1232. Since the Reformation TOBIAS MATTHEW D. D. was born in this City bred first in St. Johns then in Christ-Church in Oxford and by many mediate Preferments became Bishop of Durham and at last York But it will be safest for my Pen now to fast for fear for a Surfeit which formerly feasted so freely on the Character of this Worthy Prelate who died 1628. Sea-men No City in England London alone excepted hath in so short a Time bred more Brave and Bold Sea-men advantaged for Western Voyages by its situation They have not only been Merchants but Adventurers possessed with a Publick Spirit for the General Good Aiming not so much to return wealthier as wiser not alwayes to en-rich themselves as inform Posterity by their Discoveries Of these some have been but meerly casual when going to fish for Cod they have found a Country or some eminent Bay River or Hauen of importance unknown before Others were intentional wherein they have sown experiments with great pains cost and danger that ensuing Ages may freely reap benefit thereof Amongst these Sea-men we must not forget HUGH ELIOT a Merchant of this City who was in his Age the prime Pilot of our Nation He first with the assistance of Mr. Thorn his fellow-Citizen found out New-found-land Anno 1527. This may be called Old-found-land as senior in the cognizance of the English to Virginia and all our other Plantations Had this Discovery been as fortunate in publick Encouragement as private Industry probably before this time we had enjoyed the Kernel of those Countries whose Shell only we now possess It 's to me unknown when Eliot deceased Writers THOMAS NORTON was born in this City and if any doubt thereof let them but consult the Initial syllables in the six first and the first line in the seventh chapter of his Ordinal which put together compose Thomas Norton of Briseto A parfet Master you may him trow Thus his modesty embraced a middle way betwixt concealing and revealing his name proper for so great a Professor in Chymistry as he was that his very name must from his
Book be mysteriously extracted He was scarce twenty eight years of Age when in fourty dayes believe him for he saith so of himself he learn'd the perfection of Chymistry taught as it seems by Mr. George Ripley But what saith the Poet Non minor est virtus quà m quaerere parta tueri The spight is he complaineth that a Merchants wife of Bristol stole from him the Elixir of life Some suspect her to have been the wife of William Cannings of whom before contemporary with Norton who started up to so great and sudden Wealth the clearest evidence of their conjecture The admirers of this Art are justly impatient to hear this their great Patron traduced by the Pen of J. Pits and others by whom he is termed Nugarum opifex in frivola scientia and that he undid himself and all his friends who trusted him with their money living and dying very poor about the year 1477. JOHN SPINE I had concluded him born at Spine in Bark-shire nigh Newbury but for these diswasives 1. He lived lately under Richard the Third when the Clergy began to leave off their Local Surnames and in conformity to the Laity to be called from their Fathers 2 My Author peremptorily saith he was born in this City I suspect the name to be Latinized Spineus by Pits and that in plain English he was called Thorn an ancient Name I assure you in this City However he was a Carmelite and a Doctor of Divinity in Oxford leaving some Books of his making to posterity He died and was buried in Oxford Anno Dom. 1484. JOHN of MILVERTON Having lost the Fore I must play an After-game rather than wholely omit such a Man of Remark The matter is not much if he be who was lost in Somerset-shire where indeed he was born at Milverton be found in Bristol where he first fixed himself a Frier Carmelite Hence he went to Oxford Paris and at last had his abode in London He was Provincial General of his Order thorough England Scotland and Ireland so that his Jurisdiction was larger than King Edward the Fourth's under whom he flourished He was a great Anti-Wiââ¦liffist and Champion of his Order both by his writing and preaching He laboured to make all believe that Christ himself was a Carmelite Professor of wilful Poverty and his high commending of the Poverty of Friers tacitly condemned the Pomp of the Prelates Hereupon the Bishop of London being his Diocesan caââ¦t him into the Jaile from whom he appealed to Paul the II. and coming to Rome he was for three years ââ¦ept close in the Prison of St. Angelo It made his durance the more easie having the company of Platina the famous Papal Biographist the Neb of whose Pen had been too long in writing dangerous Truth At last he procured his Cause to be referred to Seven Cardinals who ordered his enlargement Returning home into England he lived in London in good repute I find him nominated Bishop of St. Davids but how he came to miss it is to me unknown Perchance he would not bite at the bait but whether because too fat to cloy the stomack of his mortified Soul or too lean to please the appetite of his concealed covetousness no man can decide He died and was buried in London 1486. WILLIAM GROCINE was born in this City and bred in Winchester-School Where he when a Youth became a most excellent Poet. Take one instance of many A pleasant Maid probably his Mistris however she must be so understood in a LoveFrolick pelted him with a Snow-ball whereon he extempore made this Latin Tetrastick Me nive candenti petiit mea Julia rebar Igne carere nivem nix tamen ignis erat Sola potes nostras extinguere Julia flammas Non nive non glacie sed potes ignes pari A snow-ball white at me did Julia throw Who would suppose it Fire was in that snow Julia alone can quench my hot desire But not with snow or Ice but equal fire He afterwards went over into Italy where he had Demetrius Calchondiles and Politian for his Masters And returning into England was Publick Professor of the Greek Tongue in Oxford There needs no more to be added to his Honour save that Erasmus in his Epistles often owns him pro Patrono suo praeceptore He died Anno 1520. Romish Exile Writers JOHN FOWLER was born in Bristol bred a Printer by his occupation but so Learned a Man that if the Character given him by one of his own perswasion be true he may pass for our English Robert or Henry Stephens being skilful in Latin and Greek and a good Poet Oratour and Divine He wrote an abridgment of Thomas his Summes the Translation of Osorius into English c. Being a zealous Papist he could not comport with the Reformation but conveyed himself and his Presse over to Antwerp where he was signally serviceable to the Catholick Cause in printing their Pamphlets which were sent over and sold in England He died at Namurch 1579. and lies there buried in the Church of St. John the Evangelist Benefactors to the Publick ROBERT THORN was born in this City as his ensuing Epitaph doth evidence I see it matters not what the Name be so the Nature be good I confesse Thorns came in by mans curse and our Saviour saith Do men gather Grapes of Thorns But this our Thorn God send us many Copices of them was a Blessing to our Nation and Wine and Oil may be said freely to flow from Him being bred a Merchant-Tailor in London he gave more than Four thousand four hundred fourty five pounds to pious uses A Sum sufficient therewith to build and endow a Colledge the time being well considered being towards the beginning of the reign of King Henry the Eighth I have observed some at the Church-dore cast in six pence with such ostentation that it rebounded from the Bottom and rung against both the sides of the Bason so that the same piece of Silver was the Alms and the Givers Trumpet whilst others have dropt down silent 5 shillings without any noise Our Thorn was of the second sort doing his Charity effectually but with a possible privacy Nor was this good Christian abroad worse in the Apostle-phrase than an Iââ¦del at home in not providing for his Family who gave to his poor Kindred besides Debt forgiven unto them the sum of five thousand one hundred fourty two pounds Grudge not Reader to peruse his Epitaph which though not so good as he deserved is better than most in that Age. Robertus cubat hic Thornus Mercator Honestus Qui sibi legitimas Arte paravit opes Huic vitam dederat parvo Bristolia quondam Londinum hoc tumulo clauserat ante diem Ornavit studiis patriam virtutibus auxit Gymnasium erexit sumptibus ipse suis. Lector quisquis ades requiem cineri precor ora Supplex precibus numina
eos tantum ille qui ut habet Tsalmus 126. numerat multitudinem Stellarum omnibus eis nomina vocat St. BERTELIN was a Britton of a Noble Birth and lead an Eremitical Life in the Woods near Stafford anciently called Bethiney contracted it seems for Bertiliney something of solitariness still remaining in his Memory as being so alone it hath no memorable particulars of his accounts to accompany it WOLFADUS RUFFINUS It was pitty to part them seeing they were loving in their lives and in their death they were not divided They were sons to Wolââ¦erus the Pagan King of Mercia and a Tyrant to boot who hating Christianity and finding these times to profess privately to practice it was so enraged that nothing but their bloud would quench his anger Wolfadus was taken and martyred at Stone in this County Whilst his younger if not twin brother Ruffinus came little more behind him at his death then he started before him at his birth seeking to hid himself in a woody place where since the Chappel of Burnweston hath been built was there by his Herod-father found out and murthered They were by succeding ages rewarded with reputation of Saintââ¦ip This Massacre happened Anno Domini .... Cardinals REGINALD POLE was born at Stoverton Castle in this County Anno 1500. He was second son unto Sr. Richard Pole Knight of the Garter and Frater consobrinus a relation which I cannot make out in reference to him to Henry the Seventh His mother Margaret Countess of Salisbury was Neice to King Edward the Fourth and daughter to Geoââ¦ge Duke of Clarence This Reginald was bred in Corpus-Christi-Colledge in Oxford preferred afterward Dean of Exeter King Henry the Eighth highly favoured and sent him beyond the Seas allowing him a large Pension to live in an equipage suitable to his birth and alliance He studied at Padua conversing there so much with the Patricians of Venice that at last he degenerated into a perfect Italian so that neither love to his Country nor gratitude to the King nor sharp Letters of his Friends nor fear to lose his present nor hopes to get future preferments could perswade him to return into England but that his pensions were withdrawn from him This made him apply his studies the more privately in a Venetian-Monastery where he attained great credit for his Eloquence Learning and good Life Such esteem forreign Grandees had of his great Judgment that Cardinal Sadolet having written a large Book in the praise of Philosophy submitted it wholy to his Censure Pole as highly commended the Work as he much admired that a Cardinal of the Church of Rome would conclude his old age with writing on such a subject applying unto him the Verses of Virgil Est in conspectu Tenedos notissima fama Insula dives opum Priami dum regna manebant Nunc tantum sinus statio male fidacarinis From Troy may th'Ile of Tenedos bespide Much fam'd when Priams kingdom was in pride Now but a Bay where ships in danger ride These far fetch'd lines He thus brought home to the Cardinal that though Philosophy had been in high esteem whilst Paganisme was in the prime thereof yet was it but a bad Harbour for an aged Christian to cast his Anchor therein It was not long before he was made Deacon-Cardinal by the Title of St. Mary in Cosmedin by Pope Paul the Third who sent him on many fruitless and dangerous Embassies to the Emperour and the French King to incite them to War against King Henry the Eighth Afterwards he retired himself to Viterbo in Italy where his House was observed the Sanctuary of Lutherans and he himself became a racking but no thorough-paced Protestant In so much that being appointed one of three Presidents of the Council of Trent he endeavoured but in vain to have Justification determined by Faith alone During his living at Viterbo he carried not himself so cautiously but that he was taxed for begetting a base Child which Pasquil published in Latine and Italian Verses affixed in the season of liberty on his lawless pillar This Pasquil is an Authour eminent on many accounts First for his self-concealement being Noscens omnia notus nemini Secondly for his intelligence who can display the deeds of midnight at high noon as if he hid himself in the holes of their bedstaves knowing who were Cardinals Children better than they knew their Fathers Thirdly for his unpartial boldness He was made all of tongue and teeth biting what e're he touch'd and it bled what e're he bit Yea as if a General Council and Pasquil were only above the Pope he would not stick to tell where he trod his holy Sandals awry Fourthly for his longevity having lived or rather lasted in Rome some hundreds of years whereby he appears no particular person but a successive corporation of Satyrists Lastly for his impunity escaping the Inquifition whereof some assign this reason because hereby the Court of Rome comes to know her faults or rather to know that their faults are known which makes Pasquils converts if not more honest more wary in their behaviour This defamation made not such an impression on Poles credit but that after the death of Paul the Third he was at midnight in the Conclave chosen to succeed him Pole refused it because he would not have his choice a deed of darkness appearing therein not perfectly Italianated in not taking preferment when tendred and the Cardinals beheld his refusal as a deed of dulness Next day expecting a re-election he found new morning new minds and Pole being reprobated Julius the Third his professed enemy was chosen in his place Yet afterwards he became Alterius Orbis Papa when made Arch-bishop of Canterbury by Queen Mary He was a person free from passion whom none could anger out of his ordinary temper His youthful Books were full of the Flowers of Rhetorick whilst the withered stalkes are only found in the Writings of his old Age so dry their style and dull their conceit He died few hours after Queen Mary November the 17 Anno 1558. Prelates EDMUND STAFFORD was Brother to Ralph first Earl of Stafford and consequentially must be son to Edmund Baron Stafford His Nativity is rationally with most probability placed in this County wherein his father though Landed every where had his Prime Seat and largest revenues He was by King Richard the Second preferred Bishop of Exeter and under King Henry the Fourth for a time was Chancellour of England I meet with an Authour who doth make him Bishop first of Rochester then of Exââ¦ter and lastly of York But of the first and last altum silentium in Bishop Godwin whom I rather believe He was a Benefactor to Stapeltons-Inn in Oxford on a three-fold account viz. Of 1 Credit first calling it Exeter Colledge whereby he put an obligation on the Bishop of that See favourably to reflect thereon 2 Profit adding two Fellowships unto it and
buried by him and if some eminent Surgeon was interred on his other side I would say that Physick lay here in state with its two Pages attending it Writers HUMPHREY NECTON was born though Necton be in Northfolk in this County and quitting a fair fortune from his Father professed poverty and became a Carmelite in Norwich Two Firstships met in this Man for he Handselled the House-Convent which Philip Wat in of Cowgate a prime Citizen and almost I could beleeve him Mayor of the City did after the death of his Wife in a fit of sorrow give with his whole Estate to the Carmelites Secondly He was the first Carmelite who in Cambridge took the Degree of Doctor in Divinity ââ¦orsome boggled much thereat as false Heraldry in Devotion to super-induce a Doctoral hood over a Friers Coul till our Necton adventured on it For though Poverty might not affect Pride yet Humility may admit of Honour He flourished under King Henry the Third and Edward the First at Norwich and was buried with great solemnity by those of his Order Anno Dom. 1303. JOHN HORMINGER was born of good Parents in this County and became very accomplished in Learning It happened that travelling to Rome he came into the company of Italians the admirers only of themselves and the Slighters-General of all other Nations vilifying England as an inconsiderable Country ' whose Ground was as barren as the people Barbarous Our Horminger impatient to hear his Mother land traduced spake in her defence and fluently Epitomized the commodities thereof Returning home he wrote a Book De Divitiis Deliciis Angliae of the Profit and Pleasure of England which had it come to my hand O how advantageous had it been to my present design He flourished 1310. THOMAS of ELY was born in this County For though Cambridge-shire boasteth of Ely so famous for the Cathedral yet is there Monks-Ely in Suffolk the Native Town of this Thomas who followed the foot-steps of his Countryman Necton being a Carmelitâ⦠but in Ipswich and afterwards Doctor in the University of Cambridge aith my Author of Both Divinities But the same hand which tieth untieth this knot giving us to understand that thereby are meant Scholastical and Interpretative Divinity seeming to import them in that Age to have been distinct Faculties till afterwards united as the Civil and Common Law in one profession Leaving his Native Land he travelled over the seas with others of his Order to Bruges in Flanders and there kept Lectures and Disputations as one Gobelike a formidable Author informeth my Informer till his death about 1320. RICHARD LANHAM was born at a Market-Town well known for Cloathing in this County and bred when young a Carmelite in Ipswich He made it his only request to the Trefect of his Convent to have leave to study in Oxford which was granted him and deservedly employing his time so well there that he proceeded Doctor with publick applause Lelands Pencil paints him Pious and Learned but Bale cometh with his spunge and in effect deletes both because of his great Antipathy to the VVicklevites However his Learning is beyond contradiction attested by the Books he left to Posterity Much difference about the manner and place of his death some making him to decease in his Bed at Bristol others to be beheaded in London with Sudbury Arch-bishop of Canterbury and Hales Master of St. ãâã of Jerusalem by the Rebellious Crew of VVat Tyler who being a Misogrammatist if a good Greek word may be given to so Barbarous a Rebel hated every man that could write or read and were the more incensed against Lanham for his eminent Literature He died Anno Dom. 1381. JOHN KINYNGHAM was born in this County bred a Carmelite first in Ipswich then in Oxford being the 25th Prefect of his Order in England and Ireland Confessor to John of Gant and his Lady He was the first who encountred VVickliffe in the Schools at Oxford disputing of Philosophical Subtilties and that with so much Ingenuity that VVickliffe much taken with the Mans modesty prayed heartily for him that his Judgement might be convinced But whether with so good successe wherewith Peter Martyr besought God on the same account for ãâã Gilpin I know not He died a very aged man Anno 1399 and was buried at York far I confesse from Ipswich his first fixation But it was usual for Prefects of Orders to travel much in their Visitations JOHN LYDGATE was born in this County at a Village so called bred a Benedictine Monk in St. Edmunds-Bury After some time spent in our English Universities he travelled over France and Italy improving his time to his great accomplishment Returning he became Tutor to many Noble-mens sons and both in Prose and Poetry was the best Author of his Age. If Chaucers Coin were of a greater weight for deeper learning Lydgates were of a more refined Standard for purer language so that one might mistake him for a modern Writer But because none can so well describe him as himself take an Essay of his Verses excusing himself for deviating in his Writings from his Vocation I am a Monk by my profession In Berry call'd John Lydgate by my name And wear a habit of perfection Although my life agrees not with the same That meddle should with things spiritual As I must needs confess unto you all But seeing that I did herein proceed At his command whom I could not refuse I humbly do beseech all those that read Or leasure have this story to peruse If any fault therein they find to be Or error that committed is by me That they will of their gentleness take pain The rather to correct and mend the same Than rashly to condemn it with disdain For well I wot it is not without blame Because I know the Verse therein is wrong As being some too short and some too long For Chaucer that my Master was and knew What did belong to writing Verse and Prose Ne're stumbled at small faults nor yet did view With scornful eye the Works and Books of those That in his time did write nor yet would taunt At any man to fear him or to daunt He lived to be 60 years of age and died about the year 1444 and was buried in his own Convent with this Epitaph Mortuus saeclo superis superstes Hic ãâã Lydgate tumulatus urna Qui fuit quondam celebris Britannae Fama Poesis Dead in this World living above the skie Intomb'd within this Urn doth Lydgate lie In former time fam'd for his Poetry All over England As for the numerous and various Books which he wrote of several subjects Bale presenteth us with their perfect Catalogue JOHN BARNYNGHAM born at a Village so named in this County was bred a Carmelite in Ipswich and afterwards proceeded Doctor in Oxford thence going to Serbon the Cock-pit of controversies was there admitted to the same Degree Trithemius takes
short Character be pitch'd up like a Tent for a time to be taken down when a firmer Fabrick which as I am informed a more able Pen is about shall be erected to his memory He died Anno Domini 1659. Romish Exile Writers NICHOLAS SANDERS was born at Charlewood in this County where his Family still continueth worshipful bred Bachelour of the Laws in New-Colledge Going over beyond the seas he was made D. D. at Rome and afterwards Kings-Professor thereof at Lovain Pity it was he had not more honesty or less Learning being Master of Art in malice not hoping the whole body of his lies should be believed but being confident the least finger thereof finding credit could prove heavy enough to crush any innocence with posterity presuming the rather to write passages without truth because on a subject beyond memory He thought it would much advantage his Cause to call the Church of England Schismatick first in that his libellous Treatise But what said St. Augustine in a Dispute with one of the Donatists Uââ¦rum schismatici nos simus an vos non ego nec tu sed Christus interrogelur ut judicet Ecclesiam suam Indeed the controversie consisting much in matter of fact let Records and Histories be perused and it will appear that our English Kings after many intolerable provocations and intrenchments on their Crown from the Church of Rome at last without the least invading of others conserv'd their own right Partly as Supreme Princes calling together their Clergy by their advice to reform the errours therein partly to protect their subjects from being ruined by the Canons and Constitutions of a foreign power But this subject hath lately been so handled by that Learned Baronet Sir Roger Twysden that as he hath exceeded former he hath saved all future pains therein To return to Sanders it is observeable that he who ââ¦urfeited with falshoods was famished for lack of food in Ireland We must be sensible but may not be censorious on such actions such deserving to forfeit the eyes of their souls who will not mark so remarkable a judgement which happened Anno Domini 1580. Benefactors to the Publick I meeâ⦠with none besides Bishop Merââ¦on of whom I have spoken eminent before the Reformation Since it we find HENRY SMITH who was born at Wandsworth in this County Now Reader before I go any further give me leave to premise and apply a passage in my apprehension not improper in this place Luther Commenting on those words Gen. 1. 21. And God created great Whales rendereth this reason why the creation of Whaleâ⦠is specified by name Ne territi magnitudine creâ⦠ea spectra esse Lest affrighted with their greatness we should believe them to be ââ¦nly Visions or Fancies Indeed many simple people who lived where Luther did in an In-land Country three hundred miles from the sea might suspect that Whales as reported with such vast dimentions were rather ãâã than Realities In like manner being now to relate the Bounty of this Worthy Person I am affraied that our Inââ¦idel Age will not give credit thereunto as conceiving it rather a Romanza or Fiction than a thing really performed because of the prodigious greatness thereof The best is there are thousands in this County can attest the truth herein And such good deeds publickly done are a pregnant proof to convince all Denyers and Doubters thereof This Henry Smith Esq. and Alderman of London gave to buy Lands for a perpetuity for the relief and setting the Poor to work Croidon one thousand pounds In Kingston one thousand pounds Guilford one thousand pounds Darking one thousand pounds In Farnham one thousand pounds Rigate one thousand pounds In Wandsworth to the Poor five hundred Besides many other great and liberal legacies bequeathed to pious uses which I hope by his Executors are as conscionably imployed as by him they were charitably intended He departed this life the 13th of January 1627. in the seventy-ninth year of his Age and lieth buried in the Chancel to Wandsworth Memorable Persons ELIZABETH WESTON We must gain by degrees what knowledge we can get of this eminent Woman who no doubt was 1 Of Gentile Extraction because her Parents bestowed on her so liberal and costly Education 2 A Virgin because she wrote a book of Poetry called Parthââ¦nicon 3 A great Scholar because commended by two grand Criticks 4 She must flourish by proportion of time about 1600. Hear what Janus Dousa saith of her Angla vel Angelica es vel prorsus es Angelus ãâã Si sexus vetat hoc Angelus est animus Joseph Scaliger praiseth her no less in prose Parthenicon Elizabethae Westoniae Virginis nobilissimae Poetriae florentissimae linguarum plurimarum peritissimae And again speaking to her Penè priùs mihi contigit admirari ingenium tuum quà m nosse It seems her fame was more known in foreign parts than at home And I am ãâã that for the honour of her Sex and our Nation I can give no better account of her However that her memory may not be harbourless I have lodged her in this County where I find an Ancient and Worshipful Family of the Westons flourishing at Sutton ready to remove her at the first information of the certain place of her Nativity Here we may see how capable the weaker Sex is of Learning if instructed therein Indeed when a Learned Maid was presented to King James for an English rarity because she could speak and write pure Latine Greek and Hebrew the King returned But can she spin However in persons of Birth and quality Learning hath ever been beheld as a rare and commendable accomplishment The Names of the Gentry of this County returned by the Commissioners in the 12 year of King Henry the Sixth Anno Dom. 1433. Commissioners to take the Oaths H. Bishop of Winchester Cardinal of England Robert de Ponyges Chivaler Joh. Fereby one of the Knights of the Shire Regin Cobham de Lingfeld mil. Joh. Kigele de Walketon mil. Hen. Norbury de StokedeberoÌ m. Joh. Leboys de Farnham mil. Joh. Weston de Papeworth arm Th. Winter shul de Wintershul ar Tho. Husele de Southwark arm Johan Corue de Mercham Rob. Skirnde Kingeston Rob. Fitz-Robert de Bernas Joh. Gainsford de Crowherst ar Will. Uvedale de Tichsay arm Nich. Carewe de Bedington Joh. Ardern de Lye armigeri Rog. Elingbrig de Croydon ar Th. Codeington de Codington a. Joh. Yerd de Chayham arm Will. Kygââ¦le de Waweton arm Joh. Burg de Waleton armiger Joh. Merston de Cobbesham arm Will. Otteworth de Parochia Scemortle armiger Arth. Ormesby de Southwark ar Will. Weston de Okeham arm Thomae Stoughton Ade Lene Lord de Southwark ar Will. Godyng de eadem armig Nich. Hogh de eadem Joh. Malton de eadem Joh. Godrick de Bermondsey ar Tho. Kenle de Southwark arm Rob. Stricklond de Walworth Rich. Tyler de Southwark Joh. Hanksmode de eadem Joh. Newedgate de eadem ar Will Sidney
fabulous and frivolous as her dreams witness that deadly passage in an excellent Author In Johannis de Bridlington vatis monastici vaticinales rythmos omnino ridiculos incidimus yet no doubt he was a holy man and could one light on his life unleavened before heaved up with the ferment of Monkish fiction it would afford many remarkables He died in the sixtieth year of his age 1379. and was reputed though I believe not solemnly canonized a Saint amongst his own Countrimen WILLIAM SLEIGHTHOLME It is pity to part him from his last named dear friend such the sympathy of amity and sanctity betwixt them Once this William demanded of his friend John what might be the reason that the Devil in their days afrighted few if any with his terrible appearance who in former ages was very frequent with formidable apparitions reflecting in this his question perchance on Saint Pauls messenger of Satan sent to buffet him but chiefly on those usuall reported personall combates of the Devil with Saint Dunstan Guthlake c. To whom his friend return'd We are grown so remiss in goodness that the Devil needs not put himself to such pains seeing less and lighter temptations will doe the deed It is recorded of this William that he was one of singular piety and after his death wrought many miracles at his Tombe in the Monastery of Bridlington where he was buried about the year 1380. I will adde no more but that I have a learned friend William Sleight holme Doctor of Physick living at Buntingford in Hartfordshire but born in this County whom I believe remotely related to this Saint Expect not here that I should adde to this Catalogue that Maiden who to secure her virginity from his unchast embraces that assaulted it was by him barbarously murdered whereby she got the reputation of a Saint and the Place the Scene of his Cruelty formerly called Horton the Name of Hali-fax or Holy-hair For the credulous People conceited that the Veins which in form of little threds spred themselves between the Bark and Body of that Yew-tree whereon the head of this Maid was hung up were the very hairs indeed of this Virgin head to whom they flock in Pilgrimage Oh! how sharp sighted and yet how blind is Superstition Yet these Country-folks fancies had the advantage of Daphnes being turned into a Laurell-tree In frondem criââ¦es in ramos brachia crescunt Into a bough her hair did spred And from her Armes two branches bred But here she is wholly omitted not so much because her Name and Time are unknown but because the judicious behold the whole Contrivance devoid of Historicall truth Martyrs The County and generally the Province of York escaped very well from Popish persecution which under Gods goodness may be justly imputed to the tempers of their four succeeding Arch-bishops 1. Thomas Wolsey whom all behold as a person more proud then cruell not so busying himself to maintain Popery as to gain the Popedome 2. Edward Lee more furious then the former persecuting many to imprisonment none to death save two of whom hereafter 3. Robert Hollgate who was as they say a parcell-Protestant imprisoned and deprived for being married 4. Nicholas Heath a meek and moderate man carrying a Court of Conscience in his bosome long before Queen Mary made him Chancellor of England Hereupon it came to pass that the Diocess of York was dry with Gedeon's fliece whilst others lying near unto it were wet in their own tears and blood Confessors Where no fish there no fry and seeing here no Martyrs which are Confessors full blown no wonder if here no Confessors which are Martyrs in the bud Cardinalls JOHN FISHER was born in the Town of Beverly in this County his father Robert Fisher was by condition a Merchant and lived in good reputation He was afterwards bred in Michaell-house in Cambridge whereof he was the first Chancellor pro termino vitae and Bishop of Rochester How this Fisher was caught afterwards in the net of Elizabeth Barton commonly called the holy Maid of Kent thereby made accessary to her dissembling How stiffe he was against King Henrys Divorce and Title of Supream head of the Church How the Pope sent him a Cardinalls Cap and the King Cut off his head hath been so largely related in my Ecclesiastical History and being I hope pardoned by the Reader for my former tediousness I will not now contract a new guilt by offending in Prolixity on the same person The rather because his Manuscript life written 80. years since by Richard Hall of Christs-colledge in Cambridge is lately set forth in Print under the name of Thomas Bââ¦ily D. D. in which book as I doe not repine at any passages though Hyperbolicall to the praise of this Prelate so I cannot but be both angry and grieved at the many false and scandalous reflections therein on the worthy Instruments of our Reformation This learned Bishop was beheaded in the year 1535. the Threescore and seventeenth year of his age Let me adde he was tryed by an Ordinary Jury and not by his Peers whereof severall reasons are rendred Some thought he forgot to demand his Priviledge herein disturb'd with grief and fear as Edward Duke of Somerset forgot to crave the Benââ¦fit of the Clergy or that he neglected it as surfetting of long life and ãâã of his Dissolution Others because he preferred death in a Direct Line before a Circumferential Passage thereunto as Certain though not so Compendious being assured that the Lords durst not displease the King in acquitting him But most imputâ⦠it to his suspicion that if desiring to be tryed by his Peers it would have been denyed him as not due to a Bishop And yet that worthy Lawyer Judge Stamford in his Pleas of the Crown leaveth it doubtfull and seemeth inclined to the Affirmative Besides Sir Robert Brook in his Novell Cases affirmeth in Express Terms that a Bishop is Peer of the Realm and ought to be tryed by his Peers The best is our Charity may be Confident that our Bishops will so inoffensively behave themselves and God we hope so secure their innocence that there will not hereafter be need to decide this Question Prelates EUSTATHIUS de FAUCONBRIDGE was born in this County where his Surname appeareth among the Antient Sheriffs thereof He was chosen Bishop of London in the sixth of King Henry the third Anno 1222. carrying it clearly from a Company of able Competitors occasioning this Distick Omnes his Digni tu Dignior omnibus omnes Hic plene sapiunt plenius ipse sapis All here are Worthy thou the Worth est All fully Wise thou Wiser then the rest Others played on his Name Eustatius One that stood well both in Respect of his spirituall Estate yet let him that standeth take heed lest he fall and Temporall Condition well fixed in the Favour of Prince and People being Chief Justice then Chancellour of
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
Palmes-sunday before his Majesty Anno Domini 1539. And yet man is but man he returned to his errour in the raign of King Edward the sixth continuing therein in the first of Queen Elizabeth for which he was deprived of his Bishoprick He shewed mercy when in Power and found it in his Adversity having nothing but the Name of a prisoner in which condition he died and was buried at Lambeth 1560. RALPH BAINES was born in this County bred Fellow of Saint Johns-colledge in Cambridge An Excellent Linguist in Latine Greek and Hebrew I say Hebrew then in its Nonage whereof Baines was a good Guardian first in learning then in teaching the Rules thereof Hence he went over into France and became Hebrew Professor at Paris He wrot a Comment on the Proverbs in three Volumes and dedicated it to King Franc is the first of France that Grand Patron of good Men and great Scholars Pitz telleth us ferunt it is reported that the Ministers of Geneva have much depraved many of his writings in severall places which I doe not believe Such passages doubtlesly according to the Authors own writing being reducible to two Heads First his fair mentioning of some learned Linguists though Protestants with whom he kept an Epistolary Correspondency Secondly some expressions in preferring the Original of Scripture to the Diminution of the Vulgar Translation Returning into England he was by Queen Mary 1555 made Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield Hitherto no ill could be spoken of his Intellectualls and hereafter no good of his Moralls in point of his Cruelty he caused such persecution in his Diocess His greatest Commendation is that though as bad a Bishop as Christopher son he was better then Bonner In the first of Queen Elizabeth he was deprived of his Bishoprick and dying not long after of the Stone was buried in Saint Dunstans 1560. Since the Reformation THOMAS BENTHAM was born in this County bred Fellow of Magdalen-colledge in Oxford Under King Henry the eight he was a Complier with no Promoter of Popery In the first of Queen Mary repenting of his former he resolved not to accumulate sin refusing not onely to say Mass but also to correct a scholar in the Colledge though urged thereto by Sir Robert Reed the Prime Visitor for his absence from Popish Prayers conceiving it injurious to punish in another that omission for a fault which was also according to his own Conscience He also then assisted Henry Bull one of the same Foundation to wrest out and throw down out of the hands of the Choristers the Censer when about to offer their superstitious Incense No wonder then if he was fain to fly into Forraign parts and glad to get over into Germany where he lived at Basil Preacher to the English Exiles to whom he expounded the intire book of the Acts of the Apostles Now seeing the Apostles suffering was above all their Doing it was a proper portion of Scripture for him hence to press patience to his banished Country-men Towards the end of Queen Mary he was secretly sent for over to be superintendent of the London Conventicle the onely true Church in time of Persecution where with all his Care and Caution he hardly escaped In the second of Queen Elizabeth he was Consecrated Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield succeeding Ralph Baines therein one of the same County with him but a different Judgement and died on the 21. of February 1578. EDMUND GUEST was born at Afferton in this County bred Fellow of Kings-colledge in Cambridge where he proceeded Doctor of Divinity He was afterwards Almoner to Queen Elizabeth and he must be both a wise and a good man whom she would trust with her Purse She preferred him Bishop first of Rochester then of Salisbury John Bale saith my Author reckoneth up many books made by him of considerable value He died February 28. 1578. the same year and month with his Country-man Thomas Bentham aforesaid MILES COVERDALE was born in this County bred in the University of Cambridge and afterwards became an Augustine Frier till his eyes being opened he quitted that Superstitious Profession Going into Germany he laboured greatly in Translating of the Bible and in writing many books reckoned up by John Bale He was made Doctor of Divinity in the University of Tubing and returning into England being incorporated in Cambridge was soon after made Bishop of Exeter by King Edward the sixth 1551. But alas he was not comfortably warme in his place before his place by persecution grew too hot for him and in the first of Queen Mary he was cast into prison a certain forerunner of his Martyrdome had not Frederick King of Denmark seasonably interposed This good King with great Importunity hardly obtained this small Courtesie viz. that Coverdale should be enlarged though on this condition to be banished out of hââ¦s Country In obedience whereunto he went over into Germany In the first of Qââ¦een Elizabeth he returned to England but not to Exeter Never resuming that or accepting any other Bishoprick Severall men assigned severall causes hereof but Coverdale onely knew the true reason himself Some will say that for the Books he made he had better been placed under the title of Learned Writers or for the Exile and Imprisonment he suffered ranked under Confessors then under the title of Prelats manifesting an aversness of his own judgement thereunto by not returning to his Bishoprick But be it known that Coverdale in his judgement approved thereof Being one of those Bishops who solemnly Consecrated Mathew Parker Arch-bishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Now quod efficit tale magis est tale I understand it thus He that makes another Arch-bishop is abundantly satisfyed in his Judgement and Conscience of the lawfullness thereof Otherwise such dissembling had been inconsistent with the sincerity of so grave and godly a person He died Anno Dom. 1588. and lyes buried in Saint Bartholomews behind the Exchange under a fair Stone in the Chancell ADAM LOFTUS was born in this County and bred in Trinity-colledge in Cambridge where he Commenced Doctor of Divinity the same year with John Whitgift afterwards Arch-bishop of Canterbury He was Chaplain to Robert Earl of Sussex Deputy of Ireland and was first made Arch-bishop of Armagh Anno 1562. and afterwards Arch-bishop of Dublin Anno 1567. Wonder not that he should desire his own degradation to be removed from Armagh then Primate of Ireland to Dublin a Subordinate Arch bishoprick seeing herein he consulted his safety and perchance his profit more then his Honour Armagh being then infested with Rebells whilst Dublin was a secure City After the death of Sir William Gerrard he was made Chancellour of Ireland which place he discharged with singular Ability and Integrity untill the day of his death And that which in my judgement commendeth him most to the notice of Posterity and most ingageth Posterity in thankfullness to his memory is that he was a profitable
Brachyography was not then nor many years after invented But he though a quick Scribe is but a dull one who is good only at fac simile to transcribe out of an original whereas our Robert left many Books of his own making to posterity He flourished Anno Dom. 1180. and lleth buried before the Doors of the Cloyster of his Convent PETER of Rippon was Canon of that Colledge built antiently therein by Saint Wilfred purposely omitted by us in our Catalogue of Saints to expiate our former tediousnesse concerning him in our Church History Jeoffry Archbishop of York not only delighted in but doted on our Peter He wrote a Book of the life and miracles of Saint Wilfred How many suspected persons did prick their credits who could not thread his Needle This was a narrow place in his Church and kind of Purgatory save that no fire therein through which chaste Persons might easily passe whilest the Incontinent did stick therein beheld generally as a piece of Monkish Legerdemain I am sorry to hear that this Collegiate Church one of the most ancient and famous Churches in the North of England hath the means and allowance appointed for the repair thereof deteined and more ââ¦orry that on the eighth of December 1660. a violent wind blew down the great Steeple thereof which with its fall beaâ⦠down the Chancel the onely place where the people could assemble for Divine Worship and much shattered and weakened the rest of the Fabrick and I hope that His Majesties Letters Patents will meet with such bountiful contributions as will make convenient Reparation Our Peter flourished Anno 1190. under King Richard the first WILLIAM of NEWBOROUGH was born at Bridlington in this County but named of Newborough not far off in which Monastery he became a Canon Regular He also was called Petit or Little from his low stature in him the observation was verified that little men in whom their heat is most contracted are soon angry flying so fiercely on the memory of Geffrey of Monmouth taxing his British Chronicle as a continuââ¦d fiction translated by him indeed but whence from his own Brain to his own Pen by his own Invention Yea he denieth that there was ever a King Arthur and in effect overthroweth all the Welsh History But learned Leland conceives this William Little greatly guilty in his ill language which to any Author was uncivil to a Bishop unreverent to a dead Bishop uncharitable Some resolve all his passion on a point of meer revenge heartily offended because David Prince of Wales denied him to succeed G. Monmouth in the See of St. Asaph and therefore fell he so soul on the whose Welsh Nation Sure I am that this angry William so censorious of G. Monmouth his falsehoods hath most foul slips of his own Pen as when he affirmeth That in the place of the slaughter of the English nigh Battaile in Sussex if peradventure it be wet with any small showre presently the ground thereabouts sweateth forth very blood though indeed it be no more than what is daily seen in Rutland after any sudden rain where the ground floweth with a reddish moisture He flourished Anno 1200. under King John ROGER HOVEDEN was born in this County of the Illustrious Family of the Hovedens saith my Author bred first in the study of the Civil then of the Canon-Law and at last being servant to King Henry the second he became a most accomplished Courtier He is the chiefest if not sole Lay-Historian of his age who being neither Priest nor Monk wrote a Chronicle of England beginning where Bede ended and continuing the same until the fourth of King John When King Edward the first layed claim to the Crown of Scotland he caused the Chronicles of thââ¦s Roger to be diligently searched and carefully kept many Authentical passages therein tending to his present advantage This Roger flourished in the year of our Lord 1204. JOHN of HALIFAX commonly called De SACRO BOSCO was born in that Town so famous for Cloathing bred first in Oxford then in Paris being the prime Mathematician of his age All Students of Astronomy enter into that Art through the Door of his Book De ââ¦phaerâ He lived much beloved died more lamented and was buried with a solemn Funeral on the publick cost of the University of Paris Anno 1256. ROBERTUS PERSCRUTATOR or ROBERT the SEARCHER was born in this County bred a Dominican great Mathematician and Philosopher He got the sirname of Searcher because he was in the constant quest and pursuit of the Mysteries of Nature A thing very commendable if the matters we seek for and means we seek with be warrantable Yea Solomon himself on the same account might be entituled Searcher who by his own confession Applyed his heart to know and to Search and to seek out wisdome and the reason of things But curiosity is a kernel of the forbidden fruit which still sticketh in the throat of a natural man sometimes to the danger of his choaking it is heavily laid to the charge of our Robert that he did light his Candle from the Devils Torch to seek after such secrets as he did desire witnesse his Work of Ceremonial Magick which a conscientious Christian would send the same way with the Ephesian conjuring Books and make them fuel for the fire However in that age he obtained the reputation of a great Scholar flourishing under King Edward the second 1326. THOMAS CASTLEFORD born in this County was bred a Benedictine in Pââ¦mfraict whereof he wrote a History from ASK a Saxon first owner thereof to the Lacies from whom that large Lordship descended to the Earls of Lancaster I could wish some able Pen in Pomfraict would continue this Chronicle to our time and give us the particulars of the late memorable siege that though the Castle be demolished the Fame thereof may remain Leland freely confesseth that he learnt more then he looked for by reading Castlefords History promising to give a larger account thereof in a Book he intended to write of Civil History and which I suspect he never set forth prevented by death Our Castleford flourished about the year of our Lord 1326. JOHN GOWER was born saith Leland at Stitenham in the North Riding in Bulmore Wapentake of a Knightly Family He was bred in London a Student of the Laws till prizing his pleasure above his profit he quitted Pleading to follow Poetry He was the first refiner of our English Tongue effecting much but endeavouring more therein Thus he who sees the Whelp of a Bear but half lickt will commend it for a comely Creature in comparison of what it was when first brought forth Indeed Gower left our English Tongue very bad but ââ¦ound it very very bad Bale makes him Equitem auratââ¦m Poetam Laureatum proving both from his Ornaments on his monumental Statue in Saint Mary Overies Southwark Yet he appeareth there neither laureated nor hederated Poet except
Professors in Oxford wherein he founded two allowing a liberall salary unto them THOMAS TAYLOR was born at Richmond in this County where his father a bountifull entertainer of people in distress was Recorder of the Town He was afterwards bred in Christs-colledge in Cambridge and chose a Fellow thereof This Timothy grave when green entred very young but not raw into the Ministry at 21. years of age and continued in the same at Reading and London for the space of thirty five years His Sermons were generally well studied and he was wont to say That oftimes he satisfied himself the least when he best pleased his people not taking such pains in his preaching His flock was firmly founded and well bottomed on Catechistacall Divinity It being observed that his Auditors stuck close to their principles in this Age wherein so many have reeled into damnable Errors He was a great giver of Alms but without a Trumpet and most strict in his Conversation Zeal for the House of God may be said in some sort to have Consumed him Dying in the fifty six year of his age Anno Domini 1632. comfortably avowing at his death that we serve such a Master Who covereth many imperfââ¦ctions and giveth much wages for a little work NATHANIELL SHUTE was born at Gigleswick in this County Christopher Shute his father being the painfull Vicar thereof He was bred in Christs-colledge in Cambridge A most excellent schollar and solid preacher Though nothing of his is extant in Print save a Sermon call'd Carona Charitatis preached at the funerall of Master Fââ¦shbourn But the goodness of the Land of Canaan may as well be guessed from one great bunch of grapes as if the spies had brought whole vineyards along with them Indeed he was a profouââ¦d and profitable preacher for many years together at St. Mildred Poultrey in London One in the University being demanded his judgement of an excellent sermon in Saint Maries returned that It was an uncomfortable sermon leaving no hope of imitation for such as should succeed him In this sense alone I must allow Master Nathaniel Shute an uncomfortable preacher though otherwise a true Barnabas and Son of consolation possessing such as shall follow him in time with a dispair to equall him in eminency He died Anno Domini 1638. when our English skââ¦e was clouded all over and set to rain but before any drops of war fell down amongst us Doctor Holdesworth most excellently preached his Funerall Sermon taking for his text We have this our treasure in earthly vessels JOSIAH SHUTE brother to Nathaniel aforesaid was bred in Trinity colledge in Cambridge and became afterwards Minister of Saint Mary Woolnoââ¦h in London and was Reader I doe say and will maintain it the most Pretious Jewell that was ever shewn or seen in Lumbardstreet All Ministers are Gods Husband mââ¦n but some of them can onely plough in soft ground whose Shares and Coultures will turn Edge in a hard point of Divinity No ground came amiss to Master Shute whether his Text did lead him to controversiall or positive Divinity having a strain without straining for it of native Eloquence he spake that which others studied for He was for many years and that most justly highly esteem'd of his Parish till the beginning of our late Civil Warrs somâ⦠began to neglect him distasting wholesome meat well dressed by him merely because their mouths were out of tast by that generall distemper which in his time was but an Ague afterwards turn'd to a feaver and since is turn'd to a Frensy in our Nation I insist hereon the rather for the comfort of such godly Ministers who now suffer in the same nature wherein Mr. Shute did before indeed no servant of God can simply and directly comfort himself in the sufferings of others as which hath something of envy therein yet may he do it consequentially in this respect because thereby he apprehends his own condition herein consistent with Gods love and his own salvation seeing other precious Saints tast with him of the same affliction as many godly Ministers doe now a days whose sickles are now hung up as useless and neglected though before these Civil Warrs they reaped the most in Gods harvest Master Shute dyed Anno Domini 1640. and was buried with great solemnity in his own Church Master Udall preaching his Funerall Sermon since his death his excellent Sermons are set forth on some part of Genesis and pity it is there is no more extant of his worthy indeavours It must not be forgotten how retiring a little before his death into the Country some of his Parishioners came to visit him whom he chearfully entertained with this expression I have taught you my dear flock for above thirty years how to live and now I will shew you in a very short time how to dye He was as good as his word herein for within an Hour he in the presence of some of them was peaceably dissolved Be it also known that besides these two brothers Nathaniel and Josiah fixed in the City of London there were three more bred and brought up in the Ministry viz. Robert preacher at Lyn Thomas Minister for a good time in Chester and Timothy lately if not still alive a preacher in Exeter All great though not equall Lights are set up in fair Candlesticks I mean places of eminency and conveniently distanced one from another for the better dispersing of their Light and good Housewives tell me Old Candles are the best for spending Happy their Father who had his Quiver full with five such Sons he need not be ashamed to see his Enemies in the Gate It is hard to say whether he was more happy in his sons or they in so good a Father and a wary man will crave time to decide the doubt untill the like instance doth return in England GEORGE SANDYS youngest son of Edwin Sandys Arch-bishop of York was born at Bishops-Thorp in this County he proved a most accomplished gentleman and an observant Travailer who went as far as the Sepulchre at Jerusalem and hath spared other mens pains in going thither by bringing the Holy Land home to them so lively is his description thereof with his passage thither and return thence He most elegantly translated Ovid his Metamorphosis into English verse so that as the soul of Aristotle was said to have transmigrated into Thomas Aquinas because rendring his sence so naturally Ovid's genius may seem to have passed into Master Sandys He was a servant but no slave to his subject well knowing that a Translatour is a person in free Custody Custody being bound to give the true sense of the Author he translated Free left at liberty to cloath it in his own expression Nor can that in any degree be applyed to Master Sandys which one rather bitterly then falsly chargeth on an Author whose name I leave to the Readers conjecture We know thou dost well as a Translatour But where things require a genius
years together assistant to the English Arch Priest demeaning himself commendably therein he wrote many books and one whose title made me the more to mind it Vitam Martyrium D. Margaretae Clithoroae Now whether this D. be for Domina or Diva for Lady or Saint or both I know not I take her for some Gentlewoman in the North which for some practises in the maintenance of her own Religion was obnoxious to and felt the severity of our Laws This Mush was living in these parts Anno 1612. Benefactors to the Publick THOMAS SCOT was born at 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
Soon after more then 60. Royalists of prime quality removed themselves beyond the Seas so that hencefor ward the Kings affairs in the North were in a languishing condition The Farewell As I am glad to hear the plenty of a courser kind of Cloth is made in this County at Halifax Leeds and elsewhere whereby the meaner sort are much imployed and the middle sort inriched So I am sorry for the generall complaints made thereof Insomuch that it is become a generall by word to shrink as Northern Cloth a Giant to the eye and Dwarf in the use thereof to signify such who fail their Friends in deepest distress depending on their assistance Sad that the Sheep the Embleme of Innocence should unwillingly cover so much craft under the wooâ⦠thereof and sadder that Fullers commended in Scripture for making cloth white should justly be condemned for making their own Consciences black by such fraudulent practices I hope this fault for the future will be amended in this County and elsewhere For sure it is that the transporting of wooll and Fullers-earth both against Law beyond the Seas are not more prejudiciall to our English cloathing abroad then the deceit in making cloth at home debasing the Forraign estimation of our Cloth to the unvaluable damage of our Nation YORK is an Antient City built on both sides of the River Ouse conjoyned with a Bridge wherein there is one Arch the highest and largest in England Here the Roman Emperors had their residence Severus and Valerius Constantius their death preferring this place before London as more approaching the Center of this Island and he who will hold the Ox-hide from rising up on either side must fix his Foot in the middle thereof What it lacketh of London in Bigness and Beauty of Buildings it hath in Cheapness and Plenty of Provisions The Ordinary in York will make a Feast in London and such Persons who in their Eating consult both their Purse and Palate would chuse this City as the Staple place of good chear Manufactures It challengeth none peculiar to it self and the Forraign Trade is like their River compared with the Thames low and little Yet send they course Cloth to Haââ¦orough and have Iron Flax and other Dutch Commodities in return But the Trade which indeed is but driven on at York runneth of it self at Hull which of a Fishers Town is become a Cities fellow within three hundred years being the Key of the North. I presume this Key though not new made is well mended and the Wards of the Lock much altered since it shut out our Soveraign from entering therein The Buildings The Cathedrall in this City answereth the Character which a forraign Author giveth it Templum opere magnitudine toto orbe memorandum the work of John Romaine Willam Melton and John Thoresbury Successive Arch-bishops thereof The Family of the Percyes contributing Timber of the Valvasors Stone thereunto Appending to this Cathedrall is the Chapter-house such a Master piece of Art that this Golden verse understand it written in Golden Letters is ingraved therein Ut Rosa Flos Florum sic est Domus ista DomoruÌ Of Flowers that grow the Flower 's the Rose All Houses so this House out-goes Now as it follows not that the Usurping Tulip is better then the Rose because preferred by some Forraign Fancies before it so is it as inconsequent that Modââ¦h Italian Churches are better then this Reverent Magnificent Structure because some humorous Travailors are so pleased to esteem them One may justly wonder how this Church whose Edifice Woods designed by the Devotion of former ages for the repair thereof were lately sold should consist in so good a condition But as we read that God made all those to pity his Children who carried them captive so I am informed that some who had this Cathââ¦drall in their command favourably reflected hereon and not onely permitted but procured the repair thereof and no doubt he doth sleep the more comfortably and will die the more quietly for the same Proverbs Lincoln was London is and York shall be Though this be rather a Prophesie then a Proverb yet because something Proverbiall therein it must not be omitted It might as well be placed in Lincoln shire or Middlesex yet if there be any truth therein because Men generally worship the Rising Sun blame me not if here I onely take notice thereof That Lincoln was namely a far Fairer Greater Richer City then now it is doth plainly appear by the ruins thereof being without controversie the greatest City in the Kingdome of Mercia That London is we know that York shall be God knows If no more be meant but that York hereafter shall be in a better condition then now it is some may believe and mââ¦re doe dââ¦sire it Indeed this Place was in a Fair way of Preferment because of the convenient Scituation thereof when England and Scotland were first United into GreatBââ¦itain But as for those who hope it shall be the English Metropolis they must wait untill the River of Thames run under the great Arch of Ouse-bridge However York shall be that is shall be York still as it was before Saints FLACCUS ALBINUS more commonly called Alcuinus was born say some nigh London say others in York the later being more Probable because befriended with his Northern Education under Venerable Bede and his advancement in York Here he so plââ¦d the well furnished Library therein much praised by him that he distilled it into himself so great and generall his knowledge Bale ranketh him the third Englishman for Learning placing Bede and Adelme before him and our Alcuinus his Humiltââ¦y is contented with the place though he be called up higher by the judgements of others Hence he travailed beyond the Seas and what Aristotle was to Alexander he was to Charles the first Emperour Yea Charles owed unto him the best part of his Title The Great being made Great in Arts and Learning by his Instructions This Alcuinus was the Founder of the University in Paris so that whatsoever the French brag to the contrary and slight our Nation their Learning was Lumen de Lumine nostro and a Tapor lighted at our Torch When I seriously peruse the Orthography of his Name I call to mind an Anagram which the Papists made of Reverend Calvin bragging like boys for finding of a Bees when it proves but a Hornets Nest I mean Triumphing in the sweetness of their conceit though there be nothing but a malitious sting therein CALVINUS LUCIANUS And now they think they have Nicked the Good man to Purpose because Lucianus wââ¦s notoriously known for an Atheist and Grand Scoffer at the Christian Religion A silly and spirefull Fancy seeing there were many Lucians worthy Persons in the Primitive ââ¦imes amongst whom the chief one Presbyter of Antioch and Martyr under Dioââ¦sian so Famous to Posterity for his Translation of the Bible Besides the same literall allusion is
found in the name of ALCUINUS LUCIANUS Thus these Nominall Curiosities whether they hit or miss the Mark equally import nothing to Judicious Beholders He was made first Abbot of Saint Augustines in Canterbury and afterward of Saint Martins in the City of Towers in France and dying Anno 780 he was buried in a small Convent appendant to his Monastery He is here entred under the Topick of Saints because though never solemnly canonized he well deserved the Honor His Subjects said to David Thou art worth ten Thousand of us and though I will not ascend to so high a Proportion many of the Modern Saints in the Church of Rome must modestly confess that on a Due and True estimate our Alcuinus was worth many Scores of them at least so great his Learning and holy his Conversation SEWALL had his Nativity probably in these Parts But he was bred in Oxford and was a Scholar to St. Edmund who was wont to say to him Sewald Sewald thou wilt have many Afflictions and dye a Martyr Nor did he miss much of his mark therein though he met with Peace and Plenty at first when Arch-bishop of York The occasion of his Trouble was when the Pope plenitudine potestatis intruded one Jordan an Italian to be Dean of York whose Surprised Installing Sewald stoutly opposed Yea at this time there were in England no fewer then three Hundred Benefices possessed by Italians where the People might say to them as the Eunuch to Philip How can we understand without an ââ¦nterpreter Yea which was far worse they did not onely not teach in the Church but mis-teach by their lascivious and debauched behaviour Asfor our Sewald Mathew Paris saith plainly that he would not bow his Knee to Baal so that for this his contempt he was excommunicated and cursed by Bell Book and Candle though it was not the Bell of Aarons Garment nor Book of Scripture nor the Candle of an Unpartiall Judgement This brak his heart and his Memory lyeth in an Intricate posture peculiar almost to himself betwixt Martyr and no Martyr a Saint and no Saint Sure it is ââ¦ewall though dying excommunicated in the Romish is reputed Saint in Vulgar estimation and some will maintain that the Popes solemn Canonization is no more requisite to the making of a Saint then the Opening of a Manâ⦠Windows is necessary to the lustre of the Sun Sewald died Anno Dom. 1258. Bale who assumeth liberty to himself to surname Old-writers at his pleasure is pleased to Addition this worthy man Sewaldus Magnanimus Martyrs VALENTINE FREESE and his Wife were both of them born in this City and both gave their lives therein at one Stake for the testimony of Jesus Christ Anno Domini 1531. Probably by order from Edward Lee the cruell Arch-bishop I cannot readily call to mind a man and his wife thus Marryed together in Martyrdome And begin to grow confident that this Couple was the first and laâ⦠in this kind Confessors EDWARD FREESE brother to the aforesaid Valentine was born in York and there a Prentice to a Painter He was afterwards a Novice-Monke and leaving his Convent came to Colchester in Essex Here his hereticall Inclination as then accounted discovered it self in some sentences of Scripture which he Painted in the Borders of Cloths for which he was brought before John Stoaksley Bishop of London from whom he found such cruell usage as is above belief Master Fox saith that he was fed with Manchet made of Saw-dust or at the least a great part thereof and kept so long in Prison Manicled by the wrests till the Flesh had overgrown his Irons and he not able to kembe his own head became so distracted that being brought before the Bishop he could say nothing but my Lord is a good man A sad sight to his Friends and a sinfull one to his Foes who first made him mad and then made mirth at his madness I confess distraction is not mentioned in that list of losses reckoned up by our Saviour He that left his House or Brethren or Sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands for my sake c. But seeing his wits is nearer and dearer to any man then his wealth and seeing what is so lost may be said to be left no doubt this poor mans distraction was by God gratiously accepted on his enemies severely punished and to him mercifully rewarded We must not forget how the wife of this Edward Freese being big with child and pressing in to see her husband the Porter at Fulham gave her such a kick on the belly that the child was destroyed with that stroke immediately and she died afterwards of the same Prelates JOHN ROMAN so called because his Father was born in Rome though living a long time in this City being Treasurer of the Cathedrall therein and I conjecture this John his Son born in York because so Indulgent thereunto For generally Pure Pute Italians preferred in England transmitted the gain they got by Bills of Exchange or otherwise into their own Country and those outlandisâ⦠Mules though lying down in English Pasture left no Hairs behind them Whereas this Roman had such Affection for York that being advanced Arch-bishop he began to build the Body of the Church and finished the North Part of the Cross-Isle therein Polydore Virgil praised him no wonder that an Italiaâ⦠commended a Roman for a Man of great Learning and Sincerity He fell into the disfavour of King Edward the first for Excommunicating Anthony Beck Bishop of Durham and it cost him four thousand marks to regain his Princes Good Will He died Anno Domini 1295. And let none grudge his Buriaâ⦠in the best Place of the Church who was so Bountifull a Builder thereof ROBERT WALBEY born in this City was therein bred an Augââ¦stinian Friar he afterwards went over into France where he so applied his studies that at last he was chosen Divinity Professor in the City of Tholouse he was Chaplain to the black Prince after his death to his Father K. Edward the third Now as his Mr. injoyed three Crowns so under him in his three Kingdoms this his Chaplain did partake successively of three Miters being first a Bishop in Gascoine then Arch-bishop of Dublin in Ireland afterwards Bishop of Chichester in England not grudging to be degraded in Dignity to be preferred in profit At last he was consecrated Arch-bishop of York and was the first and last Native which that City saw the least of Infants and in his Time when Man the greatest therein Yet he enjoyed his place but a short time dying May 29. Anno Domini 1397. Since the Reformation THOMAS MORTON was born Anno 1564. in the City of York whose father Richard Morton allyed to Cardinall Morton Arch bishop of Canterbury was a Mercer I have been informed the first of that calling in that City sure of such repute that no Mercers
because they need not Neighbours whose numerous Families can subsist of themselves Or else their Ambition is therein reproved singling out Desolate Places for themselves because scorning to take that Fruitfulness which Nature doth tender and desireing as it were to be Petty-Creators enforcing Artificiall Fertility on a place where they found none before I* well knew that wealthy Man who being a great improves of ground was wont to say that he would never come into that place which might not be made better On the same token that one tartly returned that then he would never go to Heaven for that place was at the best But the truth is Fertilizing of barren ground may be termed a Charitable Curiosity employing many poor people therein It is confessed that Wales affordeth plenty of barren places yielding the benefit of the best Aire but the Italian humor of building hath not affected not to say infected the British Nation I say the Italian-humor who have a merry Proverb Let him that would be happy for a Day go to the Barber for a Week marry a Wife for a Month buy him a New-horse for a Year build him a New-house for all his Life-time be an Honest-man But it seems that the Welsh are not tempted to enjoy such short happiness for a years continuance For their Buildings generally they are like those of the old Britains neither big nor beautifull but such as their Ancestors in this Isle formerly lived in For when Cataracus that valiant British Generall who for nine years resisted here the Romans puissance after his Captivity and Imprisonment was inlarged and carried about to see the Magnificence of Rome Why do you said he fo greedily desire our poor Cottages whereas you have such stately and magnificent Palaces of your own The simplicity of their common building for private persons may be conjectured by the Palaces of their Princes For Hoelldha Prince of Wales about the year 800. built a house for his own residence of White-hurdells or Watling therefore called Ty Gwin that is the White-house or Whitehall if you please However there are brave buildings in Wales though not Welsh buildings many stately Castles which the English erected therein And though such of them as survive at this day may now be beheld as Beauties they were first intended as bridles to their Country Otherwise their private houses are very mean indeed Probably they have read what Master Camden writes that the building of great houses was the bane of good house-keeping in England and therefore they are contented with the worse habitations as loath to lose their beloved hospitality The rather because it hath been observed that such Welsh buildings as conforme to the English mode have their Chimneys though more Convenient less Charitable seeing as fewer eyes are offended fewer bellies are fed with the smoaking thereof But though the Lone-houses in Wales be worse then those in England their Market-towns generally are built better then ours the Gentry it seems having many of their habitations therein The Proverbs These are twofold 1. Such as the English pass on the Welsh 2. Such as the Welsh make on the English The latter come not under my cognizance as being in the British Tongue to me altogether unknown Besides my friend Master James Howel in a Treatise on that Subject hath so feasted his Reader that he hath starved such as shall come after him for want of New Provisions As for the former sort of Proverbs we insist on one or two of them His Welsh Blood is up A double reason may be rendred why the Welsh are subject to anger 1. Moral Give losers leave to speak and that passionately too They have lost their land and we Englishmen have driven their Ancestors out of a fruitfull Country and pend them up in Barren Mountains 2. Naturall Choler having a Predominancy in their Constitution which soundeth nothing to their disgrace Impiger Iracundus is the beginning of the Character of Achilles himself Yea Valour would want an Edge if Anger were not a Whetstone unto it And as it is an Increaser of Courage it is an Attendantââ¦n ââ¦n Wit Ingeniosi sunt Cholerici The best is the anger of the Welsh doth soon arise and soon abate as if it were an Embleme of their Country up down chequered with Elevations and Depressions As long as a Welsh pedigree Men who are made Heralds in other Countries are born Heralds in Wales so naturally are all there inclined to know and keep their descents which they derive from great antiquity so that any Welsh-gentleman if this be not a Tautology can presently clime up by the stairs of his pedigree into princely extraction I confess some English-men make a mock of their long pedigree whose own perchance are short enough if well examined I cannot but commend their care in preserving the memory of their Ancestors conformable herein to the custome of the Hebrews The worst I wish their long pedigree is broad possessions that so there may be the better symmetry betwixt their extractions and estates Give your horse a Welch-bait It seems it is the custome of the Welsh travailers when they have climed up a hill whereof plenty in these parts to rain their horses backward and stand still a while taking a prospect or respect rather of the Country they have passed This they call a bait and though a Peck of Oates would doe the palfrey more good such a stop doth though not feed refresh Others call this a Scotish-bait and I believe the horses of both mountainous Countries eat the same provender out of the same manger on the same occasion Proceed we now to our Description and must make use in the first place of a generall Catalogue of such who were undoubtedly Welsh yet we cannot with any certainty refer them to their respective Counties and no wonder 1. Because they carry not in their Sur names any directions to their nativities as the antient English generally and especially the Clergy did till lately when conquered by the English some conformed themselves to the English custome 2. Because Wales was antiently divided but into three great Provinces Northwales Powis and South-wales and was not modelled into Shires according to the modern division till the raign of K. Henry the eighth Of such therefore who succeed herein though no County of Wales perchance can say this man is mine Wales may avouch all these are ours Yet I doe not despair but that in due time this my Common may God willing be inclosed and fair Inclosures I assure you is an inriching to a Country I mean that having gained better intelligence from some Welsh Antiquaries whereof that Principality affordeth many these persons may be Un-general'd and impaled in their particular Counties Princes I confess there were many in this Principality but I crave leave to be excused from giving a list of their nativities They are so antient I know not where to begin and so many I
press I know not whether the doing hereof soundeth more to the honour of the dead or the not Printing thereof since his death to the shame of the living seeing surely money might be procured for so general and beneficiall a design Which makes some the less to pity the great pains of the Ministers of the Isle of Man who by double labour read the Scriptures to the peoplé out of the English in the Manks-tongue This singularly learned hospitable painfull and pious Prelate died Anno Dom. 16 ... Physicians ROBERT RECORDE was born in this Country ex Claris Parentibus bred in Oxford where he proceeded Doctor of Physick His soul did not live in the Lane of a single science but traversed the Latitude of Learning witness his Works In Arithmetick not so absolute in all numbers before his time but that by him it was set forth more Compleat Astrology he Practicall part whereof hath so great an influence upon Physick Geometry whereof the wrot a Book called the Path of Geometry and that easier and nearer then any before Physick of the Judgements of Urines and though it be commonly said Urina meretrix yet his judicious rules have reduced that Harlot to Honesty and in a great measure fixed the uncertainty thereof Metals his Sight may seem to have accompanied the Sun-beams into the Bowells of the Earth piercing into those Penetralls in his discoveries of and discourses on Gold and Silver wherewith I believe him well stored Brass Tin Lead and what not What shall I speak of his skill in Anatomy Cosmography Muââ¦ick whereof he read publique Lectures in Oxford As for his Religion say not this is of no Concernment in a Physician I conjecture him to be a Protestant First because he wrot of Auricular Confession and de Negotio Eucharistiae each whereof is a Noli me tangere for a Romish Lay-man to meddle with according to Popish principles Secondly because so largely commended by Bale But I dare conclude nothing herein having not hitherto seen his Treatises in Divinity He flourished under K. Edward the sixth about the year 1550. THOMAS PHAIER was born in Wales and bred I believe first in Oxford then in London a generall Scholar and well versed in the Common Law wherein he wrot a book De natura Brevium of the Nature of Writs Strange that he would come after Justice Fitz-herbert who formerly had written on the same Subject But probably Phaiers Book having never seen any who have seen it treateth of Writs in the Court of Marches whereto Wales was then subjected and where the Legal Proceedings may be somewhat different from ours in England But the Study of the Law did not fadge well with him which caused him to change his Copy and proceed Doctor in Physick Now though he made none he out of French did translate many usefull books 1. Of the Pestilence and the cure thereof 2. Of the Grief of children 3. Of the Nature of Simples 4. The Regiment of Nuturall Life He had also his Diversion some excursion into Poetry and translated Virgil his Eneads Magna Gravitate saith my Author which our Modern Wits will render with great Dulness and avouch that he instead of a Latine Virgill hath presented us with an English Ennius such the rudeness of his verse But who knoweth not that English Poetry is improved fifty in the Hundred in this last Century of years He died and was buried in London about the year of our Lord 1550. ALBANE HILL was Britannus by birth I confess Britannus doth not clearly carry his Nativity for Wales except it were additioned Cambro-Britannus But according to our peaceable promise premised let him pass for this Country-man The rather because so many Hills and Mountains too therein He was bred a Doctor of Physick professing and practising most beyond the Seas more famous in Forraign Parts then in his Native Country I find two eminent Outlandishmen viz. Josias Simler an Helvetian of Zurich and Bassianus Landus an Italian of Placentia charactering him to be Medicus Nobilissimus ac optimus in omni disciplinarum genere optime versatus and that he wrot much upon Galen and the Anatomicall part of Physick so that we may say with the Poet Ut littus Hilum Hilum omne sonarct The shoar resounded still Nothing but Hill and Hill I find no time affixed wherein he flourished but according to the received Rule Noscitur è socio he may from his Contemporaries be collected in full Lustre Anno 1550. and it is remarkable that Wales had three eminent Physicians Writers all in the same Age. Writers Be it premised that as I should be loth by my lasiness to conceal so with all my Industry I conceive it impossible to compleat their Characters For as the Venetian Courtezan after she had put off her lofty attire and high Chippines almost pares away her self into nothing such the slender account given us of these Writers that after some set forms and Commendations of Course common to all Persons be first defalked the remainder will be next to nothing But it is no fault of me the Cistern if I be empty whilst my fountain is dry seeing I spill nothing by the Leakage of my Neglect but faithfully deliver all the intelligence I find as followeth PETROK was a Welch-Irish-Cornish-Man He had his birth in Wales but breeding in Ireland according to the Mode of that Age wherein all British sailed over into Ireland as the English in after ages did into France there to have their Education in all learned Sciences Who would have thought to have found Helicon amongst the Bogs as indeed it was at that Time Petrok after twenty years reading good Authours there came over into Cornwall and fixed himself nigh the Severn Sea in a small Oratory called Petrok-Stowe the station or abiding place of Petrok now corruptly Pad-Stowe where many eminent Scholars were brought up under him He wrot a book of Solitary life whereto he was much addicted I confess Petrok is somewhat degraded as entred under the Topick of Writers who is reputed a Saint and I remember a handsome Church in Exeter dedicated to his Memory who flourished Anno 560. GILDAS the FOURTH for there were three before him viz. Gildas Albanius Gildas Surnam'd Sapiens of whom before Gildas Cambrius and this our Gildas who laggeth last in the Teame of his Name-sakes But the second of these is worth all the rest were there four hundred of them whom I behold as a Sun indeed shining with the Lustre of his own desert whilst two of the others are but so many Meteors about him some suspecting them no realities in Nature but meerly created by mens sight-deception and the reflection of the Memory of the true Gildas This our fourth Gildas is made a Welch-Scotch-Irish-Man Wales sharing in him two parts of three viz. his Birth and Death the largest part of his life belonging to Ireland where he studied Many the
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