confess it was somewhat too soon for one with safety and truth to treat of such a Subject Indeed I could instance in some kind of course Venison not fit for food when first killed and therefore cunning Cooks bury it for some hours in the Earth till the rankness thereof being mortified thereby it makes most palatable meat So the memory of some Persons newly deceased are neither fit for a Writers or Readers repast untill some competent time after their Interment However I am Confident that unpartial Posterity on a serious review of all Passages will allow his Name to be reposed amongst the HEROES of our Nation seeing such as behold his expence on St. Pauls as but a Cypher will assign his other Benefactions a very valuable Signification viz. his erecting and endowing an Almes-house in Reading his increasing of Oxford Library with Books and St. Johns Colledg with beautifull buildings He was beheaded Jan. 10. 1644. States-men Sir JOHN MASON Knight was born at Abbington where he is remembred among the Benefactors to the beautifull Almes-house therein bred in All souls in Oxford King Hènry the eighth coming thither was so highly pleased with an oration Mr. Mason made unto Him that he instantly gave order for his education beyond the seas as confident he would prove an able Minister of State This was the politick discipline of those days to select the pregnancies of either Universities and breed them in forraign parts for publique employments He was Privy-Councellour to King Henry the eighth and K. Edward the sixth One maketh him His Secretary of State which some suspect too high another but Master of the Requests which I believe as much beneath him He continued Councellor to Q. Mary and Q. Elizabeth to whom he was Treasurer of the Household and Chancellor of the University of Oxford Mr. Camden gives him this true character Vir fuit gravis atque eruditus which I like much better then that which followeth so far as I can understand it Ecclesiasticorum Beneficiorum incubator maximus Surely he could be no Canonical Incumbent in any Benefice not being in Orders which leaveth him under the suspicion of being a great ingrosser of long leases in Church-livings which then used to be let for many years a pityful pension being reserved for the poor Curate Thought possibly in his younger time he might have Tonsuram primam or be a Deacon which improved by his great power might qualify at least countenance him for the holding of his spiritual promotions He died 1566. and lieth buried in the Quire of St. Pauls over against William Herbert first Earl of Pembroke and I remember this Distick of his Long Epitaph Tempore quinque suo regnantes ordine vidit Horum a Consiliis quatuor ille fuit He saw five Princes which the scepter bore Of them was Privy-Councellour to Four It appears by His Epitaph that he left no Child of his own Body but adopted his Nephew to be his Son an Heir Sir THOMAS SMITH Knight was born at Abbington bred in the University of Oxford God and himself raised him to the eminency he attained unto unbefriended with any extraction He may seem to have had an ingenuous emulation of Sir Tho. Smith senior Secretary of State whom he imitated in many good qualities and had no doubt equalled him in preferment if not prevented by death He attained only to be Master of the Requests and Secretary to K. James for His Latine Letters higher places expecting him when a period was put to his life Novemb. 28. 1609. He lieth buried in the Church of Fullkam in Middlesex under a monument erected by his Lady Frances daughter to William Lord Chandos and since Countess of Exeter Souldiers HENRY UMPTON Knight was born as by all Indications in the Heralds Office doth appear at Wadley in this County He was Son to Sir Edward Umpton by Anne the Relick of John Dudley Earl of Warwick and the Eldest Daughter of Edward Seymour Duke of Somerset He was imployed by Queen Elizabeth Embassadour into France where he so behaved himself right stoutly in her behalf as may appear by this particular In the Moneth of March Anno 1592. being sensible of some injury offered by the Duke of Gwise to the honour of the Queen of England he sent him this ensuing challenge For as much as lately in the Lodging of my Lord Du Mayne and in publick elsewhere Impudently Indiscreetly and over boldly you spoke badly of my Soveraign whose sacred Person here in this County I represent To maintain both by word and weapon her honour which never was called in question among people of Honesty and Vertue I say you have wickedly lyed in speaking so basely of my Soveraign and you shall do nothing else but lie whensoever you shall dare to taxe her honour Moreover that her sacred Person being one of the most complete and Vertuous Princess that lives in this world ought not to be evil spoken of by the Tongue of such a perfidious Traytor to her Law and Country as you are And hereupon I do defy you and challenge your Person to mine with such manner of Arms as you shall like or choose be it either on horse back or on foot Nor would I have you to think any inequality of Person between us I being issued of as great a Race and Noble house every way as your self So assigning me an indifferent place I will there maintain my words and the Lie which I gave you and which you should not endure if you have any Courage at all in you If you consent not meet me hereupon I will hold you and cause you to be generally held for the arrantest coward and most slanderous slave that lives in all France I expect your Answer I find not what answer was returned This Sir Henry dying in the French Kings Camp before Lofear had his Corps brought over to London and carryed in a Coach to Wadley thence to Farington where he was buryed in the Church on Tuesday the 8. of July 1596. He had allowed him a Barons Hearse because dying Ambassadour Leigier Writers HUGH of READING quitted his expectances of a fair Estate and sequestring himself from worldly delights embraced a Monastical life till at last he became Abbot of Reading Such who suspect his sufficiency will soon be satisfied when they read the high Commendation which Petrus Bloesensis Arch Deacon of Bath one of the greatest Scholars of that Age bestoweth upon him He wrote a Book of no Trival Questions fetcht out of the Scripture it self the reason why I. Bale generally a back-friend to Monks hath so good a Character for him who flourished Anno Dom. 1180. ROGER of WINDSOR was undoubtedly born in this Town otherwise he would have been called Roger of St. Albans being Chanter in that Convent Now in that Age Monks were reputed men of best Learning and most leasure The cause why our English Kings alwaies choose one of
cause valiantly fighting in the battle of Teuxbury It is charity to enter this memorial of him the rather because he died without issue and his fair estate forfeited to King Edward the fourth was quickly scattered amongst many Courtiers but from his Cousin and Heire-general the Lauleys in Shropshire are lineally descended Henry VII 17 Sir JOHN SAINT JOHN Mil. There were three Sir John Saint Johns successively in the same family since their fixing in this County 1. The father this year Sheriffe being son to Sir Oliver Saint John by Margaret daughter and sole heir to Sir John Beauchamp This Margaret was afterwards married to John Duke of Somerset to whom she bare Margaret Mother to King Henry the seventh 2. The son Sheriffe in the seventh year of King Henry the eighth 3. The grand-child Sheriffe in the third of Edward the sixth and father to Oliver the first Lord Saint John This we insert to avoid confusion it being the general complaint of Heraulds that such Homonymie causeth many mistakes in pedigrees 22 WILLIAM GASCOIGNE Much wondering with my self how this Northem Name stragled into the South I consulted one of his Family and a good Antiquary by whom I was informed that this William was a Younger Brother of Gauthorpe house in York-shire and was settled at Cardinton nigh Bedford in this County by Marrying the Inheritrix thereof He was afterwards twice Sheriffe under King Henry the eighth Knighted and Controler of the House of Cardinall Woolsey A rough Gentleman preferring rather to profit then please his Master And although the Pride of that Prelate was sar above his Covetousnesse yet his Wisedome well knowing Thrift to be the Fuell of Magnificence would usually disgest advice from this his Servant when it plainly tended to his own Emolument The Name and which is worse the Essate is now quite extinct in this County Henry VIII 1 JOHN MORDANT Ar. He was extracted of a very Ancient parent in this County and married one of the Daughters and Heirs of Henry Vere of Addington in Northampton-shire whereby he received a great Inheritance being by Aged persons in those parts remembred by the name of John of the Woods Reader I was born under the shadow and felt the warmth of them so great a Master he was of Oaks and Timber in that County besides large possessions he had in Essex and elswhere King Henry the eight owning him deservedly for a very wise man created him Baron Mordant of Turvey 29 WILLIAM WINDSOR Mil. He was descended from Walter Fitz Otho Castle-keeper of Windsor in the time of King William the Conqueror and was by King Henry the eighth created Baron Windsor of Bradenham in Buckingham-shire Ancestor to the present Lord Windsor descended from him by an Heir-general so that Hickman is his Surname Eâ—…ward VI. 1 FRANCIS RUSSEL Mil. He was Son to John Lord Russel afterward Earl of Bedford Succeeding his Father in his honour so great was his Hospitality that Queen Elizabeth was wont to say pleasantly of him That he made all the beggars He founded a small School at Wobourne and dying in great age and honour was buried at Cheneys 1585. 5 OLIVER SAINT JOHN Ar. He was by Queen Elizabeth made Lord Saint John of Bletso in this County and left two sons who succeeded to his honour First John whose onely daughter Anne was married to William Lord Effingham and was mother to Elizabeth now Countess Dowager of Peterborough His second son was Oliver blessed with a numerous issue and Ancestor to the present Earl of Bullinbrook Queen Mary 1 WILLIAM DORMER Mil. He was son to Sir Robert Dormer Sheriffe the 14. of K. Henry the 8. by Jane Newdigate his wife which Lady was so zealous a Papâ—…st that after the death of Q. Mary she left the land and lived beyond the Seas This Sir William by Mary Sidney his wife had a daughter married to the Count of Feria when he came over hither with King Philip. This Count under pretence to visit his sick Lady remaining here did very earnestly move a match betwixt King Philip his Master and Queen Elizabeth which in fine took no effect He theâ—… also mediated for Jane Dormer his Grand-mother and some other fugitives that they might live beyond the Seas and receive their revenues out of England which favour the Queen though not fit to indulge whereat the Count was so incensed â—…hat he moved Pope Pius the fourth to excommunicate Her though his wife did with all might and maine oppose it Sheriffs of this County alone Name Place Armes REG. ELIZA   Anno   17 〈◊〉 Rotheram Es. Farly Vert 3 Roe bucks tripping Or a Baston Gul. 18 Ioh 〈◊〉 â—…ewelbury G. a Salter engrailed Arg. 19 Ge. Kenesham Es. Temsford  20 Ioh. Spencer Esq Cople  21 Nich. Luke Esq. Woodend Ar. a Bugle-horn S. 22 Hen. Butler Esq. BiddenhaÌ„ G. a Fess Choâ—…kee Ar. S. betw 6 Cross 〈◊〉 Ar. 23 Ioh. Tompson Es. Crawley  24 Ric. Conquest Es. Houghton Q. Ar. S. a Labelw th 3 points 25 Lodo. Dive Esq. Brumham Parte per Pale Ar. et G. a Fess Az. 26 Ioh. Rowe Esq Ric. Charnock Es. Holeot Ar. on a Bend S. 3 Crosses Croslet of the field 27 Oliv. St. John Es.  Ar. on a Chief G. 2 Mullets Or. 28 Ric. Charnock Es. ut prius  29 Will. Butler Esq. ut prius  30 Rad. Astry Esq. Westning Barrâ—…wavee of six Ar. Az. on a Chief G. 3 Bezants 31 Oliv. St. John Es. ut prius  32 Ge Rotheram Es. ut prius  33 Exp. Hoddeson Es. ut prius  34 Will. Duncombe Batlesden Party per Chev. countâ—…r Flore G. Arg. 3 Talbots-heads Erazed countercharged 35 Nich. Luke Esq. ut prius  36 Ioh. Dive Esq ut prius  37 Wil. Gostwick Es. WillingtoÌ„ Arg. a Bend G. cotized S. twixt 6 Câ—…rnish chaughes proper on a chief Or 3 Mullets vert 38 Ric. Conquest Es. ut prius  39 Tho. Cheney Esq. Sundon  40 Edr. Rateliffe Kt. Elstow Arg. a Bend engrailed S. 41 Wâ—…ll Butler Esq ut prius  42 Ioh. Crost Kt.   43 Ric Charnocks Es. ut prins  44 Geo. Francklyn Malvern  45 Ioh. Dive Kt. ut prius  JAC. REX   Anno   1 Ioh. Dive Kt. ut prius  2 Ioh. Leigh Esq.   3 Edr. Sands Kt. Eaton  4 Fran. Anderson E. Eworth Arg. a Cheveron twixt 3 Cross-Croslets S. 5 Tho. Snagge Kt. Marson  6 Edw Mordâ—…nt Es. Ockley Aâ—…a a Chev. 〈◊〉 3 Estoyles S. 7 Tho. Ancell Esq. Barford G. on a Saltier Or betw 4 Bezants a Malcel of the first 8 Fran Ventres Kt. Campton Azu a lutie beewaot 2 Bendswavy Arg. 9 Rob. Sandy Esq.   10 Wil. Beecher Esq. Hooberry  11 Ric. Sanders Esq. Marson Parte per Ch. Ar. S. 3 Elephants heads Erazed ceunterchanged 12 Edw. Duncombe ut prius  13 Will. Plomer
Lord. Thus those who when the house of the State is on fire politickly hope to save their own chamber are sometimes burned therein Treason was charged upon him for secret siding with King Edward who before and afterward de facto and always de jure was the lawfull King of England on this account he lost his life Then did the axe at one blow cut off more learning in England then was left in the heads of all the surviving nobility His death happened on Saint Lukes-day 1470. Edward Lord Tiptoft his son was restored by Edward the fourth Earl of Worcester But dying without Issue his large Inheritance fell to his three Aunts sisters to the learned Lord aforesaid viz. First Philip married to Thomas Lord Ross of Ham-lake Second Joâ—…ne wife of Sir Edmund Ingoldsthorp of Borough-green in this County Third Joyce married unto Sir Edward Sutton son and heir of John Lord Dudley from whom came Edward Sutton Lord Dudley and Knight of the Garter JOHN CHEEKE Knight Tutor to King Edward the sixth and Secretary of State was born over against the Market-cross in Cambridge What Crosses afterwards befel him in his course of life and chiefly before his Pious death are largely related in our Church-History Souldiers The courage of the men in this County before the Conquest plainly appeareth by this authentick passage in a memorable author who reporteth that when the rest of the East Angles cowardly fled away in the field from the Danish army Homines comitatus Cantabrigiae viriliter obstiterunt The men of the County of Cambridge did manfully resist Our author addeth Unde Anglis regnantibus laus Cantabrigiensis Provinciae splendidè florebat Whence it was that whilst the English did rule the praise of the people of Cambridge shire did most eminently flourish Nor lost they their reputation for their manhood at the coming in of the Normans who partly by the valour of their persons partly by the advantage of their fens made so stout resistance that the Conqueror who did fly into England was glad to creep into Ely Yea I have been credibly informed that Cambridge-shire men commonly passed for a current proverb though now like old coine almost grown out of request Indeed the Common People have most Robustious Bodies insomuch that Quartersacks were here first used men commonly carrying on their backs for some short space eight bushels of Barly whereas four are found a sufficient load for those in other Counties Let none say that Active valour is ill inferred from Passive strength for I do not doubt but if just occasion were given they would find as good Hands and Arms as they do Backs and Shoulders Writers MATTHEW PARIS is acknowledged an English-man by all save such who mistake Parisius for Parisiensis and may probably be presumed born in this as bred in the next County where the name and family of Paris is right ancient even long before they were settled therein at Hildersham which accrued unto them by their marriage with the daughter and Heir of the Buslers Sure I am were he now alive the Parises would account themselves credited with his and he would not be ashamed of their affinity He was bred a Monke of Saint Albans skilled not only in Poetry Oratory and Divinity but also in such manual as lye in the suburbs of liberal Sciences Painting graving c. But his Genius chiefly disposed him for the writing of Histories wherein he wrote a large Chronicle from the Conquest unto the year of our Lord 1250. where he concludes with this distich Siste tui metas studii Matthaee quietas Nec ventura petas quae postera proferat aetas Matthew here cease thy pen in peace and study on no more Nor do thou rome at things to come what next age hath in store However he afterwards resuming that work continued it untill the year 1259. This I observe not to condemn him but excuse my self from inconstancy it being it seems a catching disease with Authors to obey the importunity of Others contrary to their own resolution His history is unpartially and judiciously written save where he â—…geth too much to Monkish Miracles and Visions and no writer so plainly discovereth the pride avarice and rapine of the Court of Rome so that he seldome kisseth the â—…opes toâ—… without biting it Nor have the Papists any way to wave his true jeeres but by suggesting haec non ab ipso scripta sed ab aliis falsò illi ascripta insinuating a suspicion of forgery in his last edition understand them in what â—…ome 80. years â—…ince was set forth by Mathew Parker whereas it was done with all integrity according to the best and most ancient Manuscripts wherein all those Anti-papal passages plainly appear as since in a latter and exacter Edition by the care and industry of Doctor William Wats This Mathew left off living and writing at the same time viz. anno 1259. I will only adde that though he had sharp nailes he had clean hands striâ—…t in his own as well as striking at the loose conversations of others and for his eminent austerity was imployed by Pope Innocent the fourth not only to visit the Monkes in the Diocess of Norwich but also was sent by him into Norway to reform the discipline in Holui a fair Convent therein but much corrupted HELIAS RUBEUS was born at Triplow in this County bred D. D. in Cambridge Leland acquainteth us that he was a great Courtier and gracious with the King not informing us what King it was nor what time he lived in onely we learn from him that this Rubeus conceive his English Name Rouse or Red seeing many who were Nobilitatis Portenta so that as in a Tympany their very greatness was their Disease boasted if not causelesly immoderately of their high Extraction wrote a Book contra Nobilitatem inanem He is conjectured to have flourished about the year 1266. JOHN EVERSDEN was born at one of the Eversdens in this County bred a Monk in Bury-Abbey and the Cellerer thereof An Officer higher in sense then sound being by his place to provide diet â—…or the whole Convent assigning particular persons their portions thereof But our Eversdens mind mounted above such mean matters busied himself in Poetry Law History whereof he wrote a fair volume from the beginning of the world according to the humour of the Historians of that age starting all thence though they run to several marks Being a Monk he was not over fond of Fryers And observeth that when the Franciscans first entred Bury Anno 1336. there happened a hideous Hericano levelling trees and towers and whatsoever it met with The best was though they came in with a Tempest they went out with a Calme at the time of the dissolution This John flourished under King Edward the third and dyed about the year 1338. RICHARD WETHERSET commonly called of Cambridge saith Bale because he was Chancellour thereof But there
Crediton But who can stay what will away It was afterwards alienated again in the reign of Queen Elizabeth This Bishop Turbervil carried something of trouble in his name though nothing but mildnesse and meeknesse in his nature Hence it was that he staved off persecution from those in his Jurisdiction so that not so many as properly may be called some suffered in his Diocesse He being deprived in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth lived peaceably for many years in great liberty the privacy of whose life caused the obscurity of his death and the uncertainty of the date thereof Since the Reformation THOMAS WINNIFFE was born at Sherborne in this County and was bred contemporary with Doctor Hackwell in Exeter Colledge in Oxford and we may observe a three-fold parallel betwixt these two eminent persons First they were Fellows of the same foundation Secondly Chaplains to the same illustrious Master Prince Henry Thirdly both out of indiscretion at the worst no ill intent ran on the same Rock though not to the same degree of damage Dr. Hackwel for opposing the Spanish Match was un-Chaplain'd and banished the Court Doctor Winniffe for a passage in his Sermon not against but about Gondomer was committed close prisoner to the Tower and there for some days remained During which time a great Lord who shall pass nameless with great importunity endevoured to beg away all his Church preferment to dispose of at his pleasure No said King James I mean not thus to part with the man The Lord perceiving his suit hopeless vowed most solemnly that he did it only to try his royal resolution protesting that his Majesty had not one of more merit amongst all his Chaplains Indeed he was observed to run with emulation without envy in the race of vertue even with any of his Order striving to exceed them by fair industry without offering proudly to justle their credit much less falsly to supplant their reputation He was first Dean of Gloucester afterward of Saint Pauls and lastly was chosen Bishop of Lincoln 1642. being one of those six choice persons elected Ut nutantis Episcopatus molem pietatis ac probitatis suae fulcimine sustentarent All in vain being borne down under the ruines thereof Since that government hath been happily resumed and long may it flourish in its full lustre He died Anno Dom. 1654. and was buried at Lamburne in Essex having formerly been the painfull Minister thereof He was seventy eight years of age and hath a handsome Monument erected to his Memory the Epitaph whereof being too long to transcribe thus beginneth Effare marmor silens Quid quem Luges Funus non privatum sed publicum Anglicanae Ecclesiae nisi Deus antevertat penè cadaver Thoman Wynnyffum c. I would adde more in his just Commendation but because I am prohibited by his Epitaph whereof this the conclusion Anima haec in Coelos recepta non Laudationem quaerit Sed Imitationem Nor will we forget that for some years before his aged Father was buried in the same Grave Souldiers THOMAS BASKET Esquire of Divelish in this County How much King Hâ—…nry the eighth confided in his Wisdom and Valour will plainly appear by the Letter he wrote unto him exemplified by us in our Observations of the Sheriffs of this County in the twelfth year of the reign of the King aforesaid He was commonly called Little Mr. Basket the great Souldier He died about the year of our Lord 1530. JOHN RUSSEL son of Russel Esq was born at Kingston-Russel in this County and being bred beyond the Seas arrived at great accomplishments and returned home about the time when Philip King of Castile Father to Charles the fifth Emperour was forced by foul weather into the Haven of Weymouth But it is an ill wind that blows no body profit this accident proving the foundation of Mr. Russels preferment For when Sir Thomas Trenchard bountifully received this Royal Guest Mr. Russel was sent for to compleat the entertainment King Philip taking such delight in his company that at his departure he recommended him to King Henry the seventh as a person of abilities fit to stand before Princes and not before mean men Indeed he was a man of spirit carrying a badge of Valour no blemish but a beauty in his face the loss of an eye at the siege of Montrule King Henry the eight much favoured him making him Controller of the Houshold and Privy Councellor and Anno 1538. created him Lord Russâ—…l and made him Keeper of the Privy Seal A good share of the golden showre of Abby Lands fell into his lap two Mitred ones viz. Tavestock in Devonshire and Thorney in Cambridge-shire being conferred upon him and at this day possessed by his posterity King Edward the sixth who made him Earl of Bedford sent him down to suppress the Western Commotion and relieve the besieged City of Exeter which difficult service he performed with no less Wisdom than Valour Success than either This worthy Lord died in the month of March 1554. and lieth interred at Cheineys in Buckingham shire Sir RIâ—…RD BINGHAM was born at Binghams-Melcolm in this County of as ancient a Family as any therein having my self seen an Inquisition of Lands taken ouâ—… of the Tower Rolls which William de Bingham his Ancestor held in Dorset shire in the reign of King Henry the third In his youth he traced most parts of the World to search for service and find fit objects for his valour He was at the siege of Saint Quintin in France the sacking of Lieth in Scotland served in Candia under the Venâ—…tian against the Turk then returned into the Netherlands being obseâ—…ved to be fortis foelix in all his undertakings His judgement was much relied on in Eighty eight about ordering the Land Army in Tilbery Camp After long travelling his feet were fixed in Ireland where he was not bebogg'd as some otherwise his equals with ill success but being president of Connaugh conquered and drove away O Rorke that most dangerous Rebel Sir William Fitz-VVilliams Lord Deputy of Ireland was offended at that service though he could find no fault therewith save that it was not done by hâ—…mself Indeed Bingham met with that which all men of merit must expect except they will be surprized unawares envy from others suspecting that their own Bays did wither because his did seem so verdant Hereupon they accused him of cruelty to the Queen and her Council who being employed in Connaugh the very Ireland of Ireland in that age was necessitated into severity for his own security For this cause he was brought over into England outed his Offices and kept for some time in restraint all which he being inured to hardship as who had not eat his bread nor fasted neither all in a place bare with invincible courage But neglected worth will come into fashion once in seven years Tyrone begins to trouble Munster and none found fit for to order him but Sir
Gospell He was a Zacheus for his Stature and with him tall in Piety and Charity He moved King Alfred to found or restore the University of Oxford on which account his memory is sacred to all posterity He died Anno Dom. 883. whose body was buried by one Barry his Scholar in Eynsebury since St. Neots in Huntington-shire and some say was afterwards removed to the Abby of Crouland Martyrs Of the forty four Martyrs in this Shire Three were most Remarkable 1. JOHN LAURENCE who at the Stake was permitted a Posture peculiar to himself For being so infeebled with long durance and hard usage that he could not stand he had a Chair allowed him and had the painfull ease to sit therein Nor must we forget how little Children being about the fire Câ—…ied unto him God strengthen you God strengthen you which was beheld as a product of his providence who out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings ordained Strength as also it evidenced their Pious Education To say Hosanna is as soon learnt by children as go up thou Bald head if it be as surely taught unto them 2. THOMAS HAWKES Gentleman first brought into trouble for refusing to Christen his Child after the Popish fashion This man going to the Stake promised his friends to give them some solemn token of the clearness and comfort of his Conscience In performance where of whilst his body was burning he raised up himself and though having the sence having no fear of the Fire joyfully clapp'd his hands over his head to the admiration of all the beholders 3. ROSE ALLIN a Virgin who being in her Calling fetching Beer for her Bedrid Mother was intercepted by Justice or rather un-justice Tyrrell who with a Candle most cruelly burnt her wrists which her Fire-proof patience most constantly endured What was said of the Roman scaevola when he burnt his hand before Porcenna is more appliable to this Maid Manum amisit sed Palmam retinuit Tyrrell did this meerly by the Law of his List otherwise no statute except written on the back-side of the book did authorize him for so Tyrannicall an act Some days after the fire which here took Livery and seisin of her hand brought her whole body into the possession thereof Confessors RICHARD GEORGE Labourer of West-Barfold is most eminent amongst the many Confessors in this Shire For he had successively three wives whereof two were burnt and the third imprisoned for Religion viz. 1. Agnes George burnt at Stratford-Bow June 27. 1556. 2. Christian George burnt at Colchester May 26. 1558. 3. ........... George imprisoned in Colchester and escap'd by Queen Maries death Novemb. 17. 1558. Some who consult the dates of his wives deaths will condemn him for over-speedy marriage and the appetite to a new wife is not comely before the grief for the former be well digested Such consider not that their glorious death in so good a cause was the subject rather of his joy then grief and that being necessitated for his children sake to marry he was carefull as it appears to marry in the Lord. Nor did he thrust his wives into the fire and shrink back from the flames himself who being imprisoned in Colchester had followed his two first and gone along with his last to the Stake had not Divine Providence by Queen Maries death prevented it Cardinalls THOMAS BOURCHIER was son to Sir William Bourchier who though but an English Knight was a French Earl of Ewe in Normandy Created by King Henry the fifth and had a great estate in this County with many Mansion-houses Hawsted being the place of their principall residence where I presume this Prelate was born He was bred in the University of Oxford whereof he was Chancellour 1454. Dean of Saint Martins then successively Bishop of Worcester Ely Arch-bishop of Caâ—…terbury and Cardinall by the title of Saint Cyriacus in the Baths A Prelate besides his high birth aforesaid and brotherhood to Henry Bourchier first Earl of Essex of that Surname remarkable on many accounts First for his vivacity being an old man and proportionably an older Bishop 1. Being consecrated Bishop of Worcester 1435. the fourteenth of Henry the sixth 2. Dying Arch-bishop of Canterbury 1486. the second of K. Henry the seventh Whereby it appeareth that he wore a Mitre full fifty one years a term not to be paralleld in any other person Secondly he saw strange revolutions in State the Civil-wars between Lancaster and York begun continued and concluded For though Bishop Morton had the happiness to make the match Arch-bishop Bourchier had the honour to marry King Henry the seventh to the Daughter of King Edward the fourth so that his hand first solemnly held that sweet posie wherein the White and Red Roses were tied together Thirdly for his wary compliance that he lost not himself in the labyrinth of such intricate times applying himself politiquely to the present predominant power However it may be said of him Praestitit hic Praesul nil tanto sanguine munere tempore dignum He left no monument to posterity proportionable what was an hundred pounds and a chest given to Cambridge to his great blood rich place and long continuance therein But this my Author imputeth unto the troublesomeness of the times seeing peace was no sooner setled and the land began to live but he died March 30. 1486. I know not what generous planet had then influence on the Court of Rome this I know that England never saw such a concurrence of noble Prelates who as they were Peers by their places were little less by their descent I behold their birth a good buttress of Episcopacy in that age able in Parliament to check and crush any Antiprelaticall project by their own relations But let us count how many were contemporaries with Thomas Bourchier from his first consecration at Worcester till the day of his death John Stafford son to the Earl of Stafford Arch-bishop of Canterbury Robert Fitz-Hugh Bishop of London Henry Beauford son to John Duke of Lancaster Bishop of Winchester William Gray son to the Lord Gray of Codnor Bishop of Ely Marmaduke Lumley extracted from the Lord Lumley Bishop of Lincoln Richard Beauchamp brother to the L. Saint Amand Bishop of Sarum Lionel Woodvile son to the Earl of Rivers Bishop of Sarum Peter Courtney extracted from the Earls of Devon Bishop of Exeter Richard Courtnee of the same extraction Bishop of Norwich John Zouch descended of the Lord Zouch Bishop of Landaffe George Novile brother to the Make-King Earl of Warwick Arch-bishop of York William Dudley son to the Lord Dudley Bishop of Durham William Piercy son to the Earl of Northumberland Bishop of Carlile But after the death of Bourchier I meet with but three Bishops of noble extraction viz. James Stanley Edmond Audley and Cardinall Pole However they were though of lower image of no less learning and religion Prelates RICHARD de BARKING took his name according to the Clergy-mens
their own Country Well it were if this good old custome were resumed for if where God hath given Talents men would give but Pounds I mean encourage hopefull Abilities with helpfull Maintenance able persons would never be wanting and poor men with great parts would not be excluded the Line of preferment This Sir Thomas was afterwards Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth and a grand benefactor to both Universities as I have formerly declared at large He died Anno Domini 1577. THOMAS HOWARD wherever born is justly reputed of this County wherein he had his first honour and last habitation He was second son to Thomas last Duke of Norfolk but eldest by his wife Margaret sole heir to Thomas Lord Audley Queen Elizabeth made him Baron of Audley and Knight of the Garter and King James who beheld his father a State-Martyr for the Queen of â—…ots in the first of his raign advanced him Lord Chamberlain and Earl of Suffolk and in the twelfth of his raign July 12. Lord Treasurer of England He was also Chancellour of Cambridge loving and beloved of the University When at his first coming to Cambridge Master Francis Nethersole Orator of the University made a Latine Speech unto him this Lord returned though I understand not Latine I know the Sence of your Oration is to tell me that I am wellcome to you which I believe verily thank you for it heartily and will serve you faithfully in any thing within my power Doctor Hasnet the Vice-chancellour laying hold on the Handle of so fair a Proffer requested him to be pleased to Entertain the King at Cambridge a Favour which the University could never compass from their former great and wealthy Chancellours I will do it saith the Lord in the best manner I may with the speediest conveniency Nor was he worse then his word giving his Majesty not long after so Magnificent a Treatment in the University as cost him five thousands pounds and upwards Hence it was that after his death Thomas his second son Earl of Bark-shire not suing for it not knowing of it was chosen to succeed him losing the place as some suspected not for lack of voices but fair counting them He died at Audley end Anno Domini 1626. being Grand-father to the right Honourable James Earl of Suffolk RICHARD WESTON I behold him son to Sir Jerome Weston Sheriff of this County in the one and fourtieth of Queen Elizabeth and cannot meet with any of his relations to rectifie me if erronious In his youth he impaired his estate to improve himself with publique accomplishment but came off both a saver and a gainer at the last when made Chancellor of the Exchequer and afterwards upon the remove of the Earl of Marlburrough July 15. in the fourth of King Charles Lord Treasurer of England But I hear the Cocks crow proclaiming the dawning day being now come within the ken of many alive and when mens memories do arise it is time for History to haste to bed Let me onely be a Datary to tell the Reader that this Lord was Created Earl of Portland February 17. in the eight of King Charles and died Anno Domini 163. being father to the right Honorable Jerome now Earl of Portland Capitall Judges Sir JOHN BRAMSTONE Knight was born at Maldon in this County bred up in the Middle-Temple in the study of the Common-law wherein he attained to such eminency that he was by King Charles made Lord Chief Justice of the Kings-Bench One of deep learning solid judgement integrity of life gravity of behaviour in a word accomplished with all qualities requisite for a Person of his place and profession One instance of his integrity I must not forget effectually relating to the Foundation wherein I was bred Serjeant Bruerton of whom formerly bequeathed by Will to Sidney-colledge well nigh three thousand pounds but for haste or some other accident so imperfectly done that as Doctor Samuel Ward informed me the gife was invalid in the Rigour of the Law Now Judge Bramstone who married the Serjeants Widdow gave himself much trouble gave himself indeed doing all things gratis for the speedy payment of the money to a Farthing and the legal setling thereof on the Colledge according to the true intention of the dead He deserved to live in better times the delivering his judgement on the Kings side in the case of Ship â—…oney cost him much trouble The posting Press would not be perswaded to stay till I had received farther instructions from the most Hopefull sons of this worthy Judge who died about the year 1646. Souldiers ROBERT FITZ-WALTER It is observable what I read in my Author that in the raign of King John there were three most eminent Knights in the land 〈◊〉 for their prowess viz. Robert Fitz-Roger Richard Mont-Fâ—…chet and this Robert Fitz-Walter Two of which three a fair proportion fall to be natives of this County This Robert was born at Woodham-walters and behaved himself right 〈◊〉 on all occasions highly beloved by King Richard the first and King John untill the later banished him the land because he would not prostitute his daughter to his pleasure But worth will not long want a Master the French-King joyfully entertained him till King John recalled him back again on this occasion five-years truce being concluded betwixt the two Crowns of England and France an English-man challenged any of the French to just a course or two on horse-back with him whom Fitz-Walter then oâ—… the French party undertook and at the first course with his great spear fell'd horse and man to the ground Thus then and ever since English-men generally can be worsted by none but English-men Hereupon the King next day sent for him restored his lands with license for him to repair his Castles and particularly Bainards-castle in London which he did accordingly He was styled of the common-people The Marshall of Gods Army and Holy-Church He died Anno Domini 1234. and lieth buried in the Priory of Little-Dunmow Sir JOHN HAWKEWOOD Knight Son to Gilbert Hawkewood Tanner was born in Sible heningham This John was first bound an apprentice to a Taylor in the City of London but soon turned his needle into a sword and thimble into a shield being pressed in the service of King Edward the third for his French Wars who rewarded his valour with Knighthood Now that mean men bred in manuall and mechanick trades may arrive at great skill in Martiall performances this Hawkewood though an eminent is not the onely instance of our English nation The heat of the French Wars being much remitted he went into Italy and served the City of Florence which as yet was a Free State Such Republiques preferred forrainers rather then natives for their Generalls because when the service was ended it was but disbursing their pay and then disbanding their power by cashering their Commission such Forraigners having no advantage to continue their
command and render themselves absolute because wanting an interest in alliances and relations Thus a single Stake if occasion serves is sooner plucked up then a tree fastned to the earth with the many fibrae appendant to the root thereof Great the gratitude of the State of Florence to this their Generall Hawkewood who in testimony of his surpassing valour and singular faithfull service to their State adorned him with the Statue of a man of armes and sumptuous Monument wherein his ashes remain honoured at this present day Well it is that Monument doth remain seeing his Coenotaph or honorary tombe which sometimes stood in the Parish Church of Sible-heningham arched over and in allusion to his name berebussed with Hawkes flying into a Wood is now quite flown away and abolished This Sir John Hawkewood married Domnia daughter of Barnaby the warlike brother of Galeasius Lord of Millain father to John the first Duke of Mallain by whom he had a son named John born in Italy made Knight and naturalized in the seventh year of King Henry the fourth as appeareth by the Record Johannes filius Johannis Haukewood Miles natus in partibus Italiae factus indigena Ann. 8. Hen. 4. mater ejus nata in partibus transmarinis This valiant Knight dyed very aged Anno 1394. in the eighteenth of King Richard the second his friends founding two Chantreys to pray for his and the souls of John Oliver and Thomas Newenton Esquires his military companions and which probably may be presumed born in the same County THOMAS RATCLIFF Lord Fitz-walter second Earl of Sussex of that Surname twice Lord Deputy of Ireland was a most valiant Gentleman By his prudence he caused that Actuall Rebellion brake not out in Ireland and no wonder if in his time it Rained not war there seeing his diligence dispersed the clouds before they could gather together Thus he who cures a disease may be the skilfubest but he that prevents it is the safest Physician Queen Elizâ—…beth called him home to be her Lord Chamberlain and a constant Court faction was maintained betwixt him and Robert Earl of Leicester so that the 〈◊〉 and the Leicesterians divided the Court whilst the 〈◊〉 as neuters did look upon them Sussex had a great Estate left him by his Ancestors Leicester as great given or restor'd 〈◊〉 by the Queen 〈◊〉 was the honesâ—… man and greater Souldier 〈◊〉 the more faceit 〈◊〉 and deep Politician not for the generall good but his particular profit Great the 〈◊〉 betwixt them and what in vain the Queen endeavoured death performed taking this Earl away and so the competition was 〈◊〉 New-Hall in this County was the place if not as I believe of his Birth of his principall Habitation He dyed .... ... And lyeth buried in the Church of Saint Olives Hartstreet London Sir FRANCIS and Sir HORACE VERE sons of Geffrey Vere Esquire who was son of John Vere the 〈◊〉 Earl of Oxford were both born in this County though severall places Heâ—…ngham Castle Colchester Tilbury juxta clare be by sundry men assigned for their Nativity We will first consider them severally and then compare them together Sir FRANCIS was of a fiery spirit and rigid nature undaunted in all dangers not over valuing the price of mens lives to purchase a victory therewith He served on the Scaene of all Christendome where war was acted One masterpiece of his valour was at the Battle of Newport when his Ragged Regiment so were the English then called from their ragged Cloths help'd to make all whole or else all had been lost Another was when for three years he defended Ostend against a strong and numerous Army surrendering it at last a bare skeliton to the King of Spain who paid more years purchase for it then probably the world will endure He dyed in the beginning of the raign of King James about the year of our Lord 16 ... Sir HORACE had more meekness and as much valour as his Brother so pious that he first made his peace with God before he went out to war with man One of an excellent temper it being true of him what is said of the Caspian Sea that it doth never 〈◊〉 nor Flow observing a constant Tenor neither 〈◊〉 nor depressed with success Had one seen him râ—…turning from a victory he would by his silence have suspected that he had lost the day and had he beheld him in a retreat he would have collected him a Conqueror by the chearfulness of his spirit He was the first Baron of King Charles his Creation Some years after coming to Court he fell suddenly sick and speechless so that he dyed before night Anno Domini 163. No doubt he was well prepared for death seeing such his vigilancy that never any Enemy surprised him in his quarters Now to compare them together such their Eminency that they would hardly be parallell'd by any but themselves Sir Francis was the elder Brother Sir Horace lived to be the older man Sir Francis was more feared Sir Horace more loved by the Souldiery The former in Martiall discipline was oftimes Rigidus ad ruinaâ—… The later seldome exceeded Adterrorem Sir Francis left none Sir Horace no Male issue whose four Co-heirs are since matched into Honorable families Both lived in War much Honored dyed in Peace much Lamented HENRY VERE was son of Edward Vere the seventeenth Earl of Oxford and Anne Trentham his Lady whose principall habitation the rest of his patrimony being then wasted was at Heningham Castle in this County A vigorous Gentleman full of courage and resolution and the last Lord Chamberlain of England of this Family His sturdy nature would not bow to Court-Compliants who would maintain what he spake spake what he thought think what he apprehended true and just though sometimes dangerous and distastefull Once he came into Court with a great Milk-white Feather about his hat which then was somewhat unusuall save that a person of his merit might make a fashion The Reader may guess the Lord who said unto him in some jeer My 〈◊〉 you weare a very fair feather it is true said the Earl and if you mark it there 's â—…e'r a Tâ—…int in it Indeed his family was ever Loyall to the Crown deserving their Motto VERO NIL VERIUS Going over one of the four Engish Colonells into the Low Countries and endeavouring to raise the Siedge of Bxeda he so over-heat himself with Marching Fighting and Vexing the design not succeeding that he dyed few days after Anno Domini 16 ... He married Diana one of the Co-heirs of William Earl of Exeter afterwards married to Edward Eaâ—…l of Elgin by whom he left no issue Physicians WILLIAM GILâ—…T was born in Trinity Parish in Colchester his Father being a Counsellour of great Esteem in his Profession who first removed his family thither from Clare in Suffolk where they had resided in a Gentile Equipage some Centuries of Years He had saith my informer the Clearness of Venice Glass
own drink afterwards SIMON LYNCH Son of William Lynch Gentleman was born at Groves in the Parish of 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1562 bred a Student in Queens Colledge in Cambridge and afterwards Bishop Aylmere his kinsman bestowed on him a small living then not worth above 40 〈◊〉 per 〈◊〉 at North Weale nigh Epping 〈◊〉 this County and â—…ly said unto him Play Cousin with this a while till a better comes But Mr. Lynch continued therein the first and last place of his Ministry sixty four years The Bishop â—…terwards 〈◊〉 him Brent-Wood Weale three times better 〈◊〉 North 〈◊〉 to whom Mr. Lynch to use his own words return'd this answer That he 〈◊〉 the weal of his 〈◊〉 souls before any other weal whatsoever He lived sixty one years in wedlock with Elizabeth eane his wife He was an excellent house keeper 〈◊〉 yet provided well for his ten children He was buryed at North-Wale Annò 〈◊〉 1656 Lord Mayors Name 〈◊〉 Place Company Time 1 William Edwards William Edwards Hoton Grocer 1471 2 Robert Basset Robert Basset Billenkei Salter 1475 3 Iohn Shaa Iohn Shaa Rochford Goldsmith 1501 4 Laurence Aylmer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Draper 1507 5 William Baily Iohn 〈◊〉 Thackstead Draper 1524 6 〈◊〉 Allen Richard 〈◊〉 Thackstead Mercer 1525 7 Richard Martin Thomas Martin Saffron Walden Goldsmith 1593 8 Thomas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Skinner Walden Clothworker 1596 9 〈◊〉 Dean George Deane MuchdunMowe Skinner 1628 The Names of the Gentry of this County Returned by the Commissioners in the 〈◊〉 year of King Henry the sixth 1433. Ralph Bishop of London or his 〈◊〉 generall the Bishop being absent beyond the 〈◊〉 Commissioners to take the 〈◊〉 Iohn Earl of Oxford Henry 〈◊〉 Chivaler Knights for the Shire Iohn Tyrill Chivaler Knights for the Shire Ioh. Mongom chiv Nich. Thorle chiv 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chiv Edm. Benst chiv Ioh. Fitz-Sim chiv Will. Golingh chiv Ludov. Ioh. ar Ioh 〈◊〉 ar Rob. Darey ar Tho. 〈◊〉 ar Edvar Torell ar Will. 〈◊〉 ar Tho. Rolf. Ioh. Teye arm Tho. Knevet ar Hen. Langley ar Georgii Langham ar Ricardi Fox ar Ioh. Helyon ar Tho. Batyll ar Tho. Henenyngh ar Ioh. Godmanston ar Rob. Hunte ar Ioh. Leventhorp jun. arm Tho. Barington ar Tho. Pynthon ar Tho. Pykenham ar Galf. Robell ar Hen. Chaterâ—…on ar Tho. Storkedale ar Will. Senklere ar Ioh. Godeston ar Rogeri Spyce ar Tho. Bendysh ar Hug. Nayllingh ar Tho. Rigedon Ricardi Priour Ioh. Green Ioh. Basset Rogeri Deyncourt Ioh. Poynes Ioh. Santon Ioh Malton Tho. Basset Ioh. Walchif Edm. Prest on Rob. Sudbury Ioh. Baryngton Wâ—…ll Ardale Nich. Mortimer Hen. Aleyn Rob. Weston Ioh. Chamber Tho. Chittern Will. Aleyn Ioh. Beche Rob. Priâ—…ur Ballivi Burgi Colcesteri Rich. Beamond Will. Gorge Balivi Burgi de Maldon Rob. Simond de Hatfield Tho. Hardekyn Tho. Mullyng Ioh. Gale de Farnham Ioh. Stodehawe Tho. Aldres Egidii Lucas Ioh. Stanford Rob. Wade Tho. Blosme Will. Gaâ—…ton Rob. Wright de Thurrok Ioh. Barowe Rob. Brook de Dedham Ioh. Stephâ—…nede de Elmestede Tho. Andrew Rich. Dykeleygh Will. Cony Ioh. Rouchestre Ioh. Marlere Rob. de Bury Tho. Stanes Ioh. à Benham de Witham Rich. Jocep Ioh. Berdefeld Tho. Brentys Tho. Selers Ioh. Boreham Rob. Seburgh Hen. Maldon Ioh. Caweston Th. Mars de Dunmow Ioh. Hereward de Thapstede Ioh. Fil. Will. Atte Fan de eadem Reg. Bienge de eadem Walt. Goodmay Will. Spaldyng Hug. Dorsete Rich. Atte More Radul Bonyngdon Tho. Barete Radul de Uphavering Ioh. Gobyon Will. Scargoyll Ioh. Shyunyng VVill. Higham Ioh. Riche Ioh. Veyle senioris Ioh. Hicheman Edm. Botere Ioh. VVestle VVill. Admond Ioh. Campion Rich. Sewale VValt Tybenham Ioh. Marshant de Peldon Rich. Eylotte Ioh. Baderok Ioh. VVayte de Branketre Ioh. Parke de Gestmyngthorp Will. Manwode Hen. Hoberd Rog. Passelewe Will. Atte Cherche Will. Reynold Ioh. Sailler Rich. Billingburgh Allani Bushe Ioh. Wormele Ioh. Glyne Rob. Ferthyng Mart. Stainer Rob. Beterythe Rob. Smyth de Waltham Observations Some part of this County lyeth so near London that the sound of Bow-bell befriended with tâ—…e wind may be heard into it A Bell that ringeth the Funerall Knell to the ancient Gentry who are more healthfull and longer-liv'd in Counties at greater distance from the City R. Bishop of London being absent beyond the Seas was Robert Fitz-Hugh who was twice sent Embassadour into Germany and once unto the Pope John Earl of Oxford was John de Vere second of that name and eleventh Earl of Oxford beheaded afterwards Anno 1462. in the fifth of King Edward the fourth for his Loyalty to the House of Lancaster HENRY BOURCHIER Here additioned Chivaler appears by all proportion of time and place the self same person who marryed Elizabeth sister to â—…ichard Plantaganet Duke of York and who by his Nephew King Edward the fourth was created Earl of Essex He dyed an aged person 1483 I conceive that his Father William Lord Bourchier Earl of Ewe in Normandy was living when this Henry Bourchier was chosen Knight for the shire a place usually conferred on the Eldest Sons of Peers in the life-time of their Fathers JOHN TEâ—…RYLL Chivaler Was chief of that family rich andnumerous in this County of exemplary note and principall regard Great Thorndon was the place of their sepulture where their Monuments to the Church both ruinous This name if still alive lies gasping in this County but continuing healthâ—…ull in Buchingham shire JOHN MOUNTGOMERY Chivaler I find him Supervisor to the Will of Sir Robert Darcy Anno 1469. and conceive that Surname since utterly extinct MAURICE BRUYN Chivaler He had his seat at South-Okenton From the two heirs generall of this family often married Charles Branden Duke of Suffolk the Tirells Berners Harlestons Heveninghams and others are descended A branch of the Heir-male removed into Hant-shire since into Dorset-shire where they subsist in a right Worshipfull equipage WILLIAM GOLDINGHAM Chivaler Though the great tree be blasted a small sprig thereof still sprouteth in this County JOHN DOREWARD Esq. He lived at Bocking-Doreward in this County and was Patron of the rich Parsonage therein which no ingenious person will envy to the worthy Incumbent Doctor John Gauden This John Doreward lieth buried in the Church with this inscription Hic jacet Johannes Doreward Armiger qui obiit xxx die Januar. Anno Domini Mil. cccc lxv Blancha uxor ejus quae obiit ... die Mens ... Anno Dom. Mil. cccc lx quorum animabus propitietur Deus Amen Claviger Aethereus nobis sit janitor almus ROBERT DARCY Ar. An ancient name in this County having Danbury whilst living for their residence and the Church in Maldon when dead for their Sepulture where there be many of their shamefully defaced Monuments This Robert Darcy afterwards Knighted by his Will made the fifth of October 1469. bequeathed his body to be buried in Alhallows-church in Maldon before the Alter where his father lyed in a Tombe of Marble He willed that forty marks should be disposed for Two thousand Masses four pâ—…nce a Masse to be said
for his soul anâ—… the souls of his Relations within six weeks after his discease willing also that every Priest in Pembroke-Hall in Cambridge should have a share of that money c. He made Elizabeth his Wife and others his Executors the Earl of Essex the Lord Dinham Thomas Mountgomery Thomas Terryll supervisors of his Will beseeching them to help his Son Thomas and all his children He willed the Earl of Essex and the Lord Dinham should have a Butt of Malmsy Sir Thomas Mountgomery and Sir Thomas Terryll a Pipe of Red wine for their pains Thomas Darcy his son Esquire of the body to King Henry the sixth and Edward the fourth married Margaret one of the Dâ—…ughters and Heirs of John Harelton of Suffolk Esquire He dyed 25. of September 1485. as appears by his Epitaph on his Tombe in the Church aforesaid HENRY LANGLEY Esq. He lived at Langley-Wilebores in the Parish of Rickling in the Church whereof he lyeth buried with this Inscription Hic jacet Henricus Langley Armiger qui obiit xx Septemb. M. cccc lviii Margareta uxor ejus una filiarum Haredum Johannis Waldene Armiger quae obiit v. Martii M. cccc liii There is in the same Church a Monument for his Son the more remarkable because the last of his Family Here lyeth Henry Langley Esq. and dame Catherine his wife which Henry departed this life ii April M. cccc lxxxviii and Dame Katherine died .... the year of our Lord God ...... .... It is not usuall for the wife of an Esq. to be styled Dame except she was daughter to an Earl or Relict to a Knight This Hâ—…nry left three daughters portracted on his Marble Tombe betwixt whom his Inheritance was divided THOMAS HENENINGHAM His family flourisheth in Norfolk JOHANNES LEVENTHORP Jun. Ar. His posterity flourisheth in Hertford-shire THOMAS BARYNGTON Ar. He lived at Barington-hall in the Parish of Hatfield-Brad-Oake and lyeth buried in the Church with this Inscription Hic jacent Thomas Barington Armig. Anna uxor ejus qui quidem Thomas obiit v. Aprilis M. cccc lxxii Anna proximo die sequenti quorum Animabus propitietur Altissimus See here a sympathizing wife dying the next day after her husband of whom it may be said He first deceas d â—…he for few hours try'd To live without him lik'd it not and dy'd The family is of signall nativity enriched with large possessions in the raign of King Stephen by the Barons of Montfitchet and since received an accession of honour and estate by marrying with Winifred daughter and co-heir of Henry Pole Lord Montague son of Margaret Plantagenet Countess of Salisbury descended of the bloud Royall At this day there is a Baronet thereof with other branches of good account THOMAS BENDYSH Ar. Bomsted in this County was and is the habitation of his Family EGIDIUS LUCAS The name is honourable at this day and hath a seat with fair possessions near Colchester but how related to this Giles I know not Sure I am that it appeareth on a window in the North-side of the Church of Saxham-parva in Suffolk that Anno Domini 1428. five years before this return of Gentry one Thomas Lucas kneeling there with his wife in their Coat-Armours was Servant Secretary and one of the Council to Jasper Duke of Bedford and Earl of Pembroke THOMAS BARRET Was an Esquire of signall note and the ensuing nameless Manuscript will acquaint us with the Time of his death Thomas Barryt Squâ—…r to Kyng Harry the sixt oftentimes imployed in the French warrs under the command of John Duâ—… of Bedford as also John Duc of Norfolk being alway trew leige man to his Soveraign Lord the King having taken Sanctuary at Westminstre to shon the fury of his and the Kings enemyes was from these hayled forth and lamentably hewyn a peces about whilke tym or a lityl before the Lord Skales late in an evening entrying a Wherry Bolt with three persons and rawghing toowards Westminstre there likewise too have taken Sanctuary was discride by a woman where anon the wherry man fell on him murthered him and cast his mangled corpes alond by Saint Marie Overys As for the date of his death we may learn it out of his Epitaph on his Tombe in the Church of Saint Martins in the fields London Hic jacet Thomas Barret prenobilis Armiger qui quidem Thomas erat abstractus de sanctuario Beati Petri Westmonasterii crudeliter Interfectus per manus Impiorum contra Leges Anglie totius universalis Ecclesie privilegia jura Anno Domini 1461. Anno Illustrissimi Regis Edward quarti post conquestum primo Sub eodâ—…m quoque marmoreo Lapide Johannes Barret ejusdem Thome primogenitus sepelitur qui quidem Johannes obiit ..... die ..... Anno .... This family of the Barrets received much wealth by the daughter and heir of Bell house of Bellhouse an ancient and fair seat in the Parish of Avely in this County and some few years since determined in Sir Edward Barret Knight Lord Baron of Newburg in Scotland Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster A Hospitall house-keeper and founder of an Almes-house in Avely aforesaid He adopted Lennard Esquire son to the Lord Dacres by the daughter of the Lord North heir to his estate on condition he should assume the Surname of Barret Sheriffs of Essex and Herâ—…ford shire HEN. II. Anno 1 Rich. Basset Albericus de Verr. Anno 2 Rich. de Lucy Anno 3 Mauricus Anno 4 Anno 5 Mauricus de Tireter for 5 years Anno 10 Tullus-Bovilla Anno 11 Nich. Decanus for 4 years Anno 15 Nich. Decanus Steph. de Bell. Campo dimid Anno Anno 16 Rob. Mantellus for 12 years Anno 28 Oto filius Willielm for 6 years RICH. I. Anno 1 Oto filius Willielm Anno 2 Idem Anno 3 Galf. filius Petri Anno 4 Galf. filius Petri Rich. Heriett Anno 5 Anno 6 Galf. filius Petri Simon Pateshalla Anno 7 Will. de Long. Campo Canc. Dom. Regis Anno 8 Reginall de Argento Anno 9 Regind de Argent Hug. de Nevil Hum. de Barton Anno 10 Hugo de Nevill Iohan. de Nevill JOHAN REX Anno 1 Hugo de Nevill Iohan. de Nevill Anno 2 Idem Anno 3 Rich. de Montfitchet Ioh. de Cornheard Anno 4 Rich. de Montfitchet Anno 5 Rich. de Montfitchet Ioh. de Cornheard Anno 6 Math. Mantell Com. for 4 years Anno 10 Ioh. Mantell Anno 11 Albic Willielm filius Fulconis Anno 11 Comes Albericus Idem Willielm for 4 years Anno 16 Math. Mantell Galf. Roinges Anno 17 Rob. Mantell fr. H. Matheus Mantell HEN. III. Anno 1 Anno 2 Will. Marescallus Ioh. de Cornerd Anno 3 Walt. de Udon Anno 4 Rob. Mantell Anno 5 Steph. de Segne Raâ—… filius Reginal Anno 6 Idem Anno 7 Steph. de Segne Petr. de S â—o Edward Anno 8 Rich. de Argentoem Will de
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 Shrâ—…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 the Garter Governour of the Isles of Jersey and Gernsey and Privy Counsellor to Queen Elizabeth who chiefly committed the keeping of Mary Queen of Scots to his fidelity who faithfully discharged his trust therein I know the Romanists rail on him as over-strickt in his Charge but indeed without cause for he is no unjust Steward who to those under him alloweth all his Masters allowance though the same be â—…ut of the scantest proportion Besides it is no news for Prisoners especially if accounting their restraint unjust to find fault with their Keepers meerely for keeping them And such who complain of him if in his place ought to have done the same themselves When Secretary Walsingham moved this Knight to suffer one of his Servants to be bribed by the Agents of the Queen of Scots so to compasse the better intelligence he would in no terms yield thereunto Such conniving at was consenting to and such consenting to in effect was commanding of such falshood Whereupon the Secretary was fain to go further about and make use of an Instrument at a greater distance who was no menial servant to Sir Amias He died Anno Dom. 15. And was buried in London in St. Martins in the fields where his Epitaph is all an allusion to the three Swords in his Arms and three words in his Motto Gardez la Foy Keep the Faith Which harping on that one string of his fidelity though perchance harsh musick to the ears of others was harmonioâ—…s to Queen Elizabeth Capital Judges JOHN FITZ-JAMES Knight was born at Redlinch in this County of right ancient and worthy Parentage bred in the Study of our Municipal Laws wherein he proved so great a Proficient that by King Henry the Eighth He was advanced Chief Justice of the Kings Bench. There needs no more be said of his merit save that King Henry the Eighth preferred him who never used either Dunce or Dâ—…one in Church or State but Men of Ability and Activity He sate above thirteen years in his Place demeaning himself so that he lived and died in the Kings favour He sate one of the Assistants when Sir Thomas More was arraigned for refusing the Oath of Supremacy and was shrewdly put to it to save his own Conscience and not incurre the Kings displeasure For Chancellor Audley Supream Judge in that place being loath that the whole burthen of Mores condemnation should lye on his shoulders alone openly in Court asked the advice of the Lord Chief Justice Fitz-James whether the Indictment were sufficient or no to whom our Judge warily returned My Lords all by St. Gillian which was ever his Oath I must needs confesse that if the Act of Parliament be not unlawful then the Indictment is not in my conscience insufficient He died in the thirtyeth year of King Henry the Eighth and although now there be none left at Redlinch of his Name and Family they flourish still at Lewson in Dorsetshire descended from Alured Fitz-James brother to this Judge and to Richard Bishop of London whose Heir in a direct line Sir John Fitz-James Knight I must acknowledge a strong encourager of my weak endeavours JOHN PORTMAN Knight was born of Wealthy and Worshipful Extraction at Portmâ—…ns Orchard in this County a fair Mannor which descended to him by Inheritance the Heir of the Orchards being matcht into his Family He was bred in the Study of the Common Law attaining to such eminency therein that June 11 the second of Queen Mary he was made Chief Justice of the Kings Bench continuing two years in the place and dying therein for ought I find to the contrary and a Baronet of his name and Linage flourisheth at this day with a great and plentiful Estate DAVID BROOKE Knight born at Glassenbury son to John Brook Esq. who as I read in Claréntiaux was Serjeant at Law to King Henry the Eighth Our David was also bred in the study of our Laws and in the First of Queen Mary was made Chief Baron of the Exchequer but whether dying in or quitting the place in the First of Queen Elizabeâ—…h I am not informed He married Katharine daugher of John Lord Shandois but died without Issue JAMES DIER Knight younger son to Richard Dier Esq. was born at Roundhill in this County as may appear to any by the Heralds Visitation thereof and doth also to me by particular information from his relations He was bred in the study of our Municipal Law and was made Lord Chief Justice of the 〈◊〉 Pleas Primo Eliz. continuing therein 24 years longer if my eye or Arithmetick faâ—…l me not than any in that place before or after him When Thomas Duke of Northfolk was Anno 1572 arraigned for Treason this Judge was present thereat on the same token that when the Duke desired Council to be assigned him pleading that it was granted to Humphry Stafford in the reign of King Henry the Seventh our Judge returned unto him That Stafford had it allowed him only as to Point of Law then in dispute viz. Whether he was legally taken out of the Sanctuary but as for matter of Fact neither he nor any ever had or could have any Councel allowed him a course observed in such Cases unto this day But let his own Works praise him in the Gaâ—…es is known for the place of publick Justice amongst the Jews Let his Learned Writings called his Commentaries or Reports evidence his Abilities in his Profession He died in 25 Eliz. though married without any Issue and there is a House of a Baronet of his name descended from an elder son of Richard father to our Judge at Great Stoughton in Huntington-shire well improved I believe with the addition of the Judges Estate Sr. JOHN POPHAM of most ancient descent was born at Huntworth in this County In his youthful dayes he was as stout and skilful a Man at Sword and Buckler as any in that age and wild enough in his recreations But Oh! if Quick-silver could be really fixed to what a treasure would it amount Such is wild Youth seriously reduced to Gravity as by this young man did appear He applied himself to a more profitable Fencing the study of the Laws therein atteining to such eminency that he became the Queens Attourny and afterwards Lord Chief Justice of England Being sent Anno 1600 by the Queen with some others to the Earl of Essex to know the cause of the confluence of so many Military Men unto his House the Souldiers therein detained him for a time which some did make to Tantamount to an imprisonment This his violent detention Sir John deposed upon his Oath at the Earls Trial which I note the rather for the rarity thereof that a Lord Chief Justice should be produced as witness in open Court In the Beginning of the reign of king James his Justice was exemplary on Theeves and Robbers The Land then swarmed with people which had been Souldiers who had never gotten or
a vain labour according to the Rule in Logick frustra fit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciora But seeing the owner of that House had his harmless humour therein and paid dear no doubt to his Workmen for the same There is no cause that I or any other should find fault therewith The Buildings I have presented the Portraicture of the Church of Lichfield in my Church-History with the due praise of the neatness thereof But now alas the Body thereof is become a very carcase ruined in our late Civil Wars The like Fate is likely to fall on the rest of our Cathedrals if care be not taken for their reparations I have read of Duke d'Alva that he promised Life to some Prisoners but when they petitioned Him for food he returned he would grant them life but no meat by which Criticism of courteous cruelty the poor people were starved If our Cathedrals have only a Bare Being and be not supplied with seasonable repairs the daily â—…ood of a Fabrick soon will they be famished to nothing As for the Close at Lichfield I have been credibly informed that the Plague which long had raged therein at the first shooting of Canon at the Siege thereof did abate imputed by Naturalists to the violent purging of the Air by the Bullets but by Divines to Gods goodness who graciously would not have two Miseries of War and Plague afflict one small Place at the same Time Pass we now to Civil Buildings in this Shire TUTBURY CASTLE is a stately place and I dare take it on the credit of an excellent Witness that it hath a brave and large Prospect to it in it and from it Northward it looks on pleasant Pastures Eastward on sweet Rivers and rich Meadowes Southward on a goodly Forest and many Parks lately no fewer than twelve belonging thereto or holden thereof It was formerly the Seat of the Lord Ferrars Earl of Derby and how it was forfeited to the Crown is worth our observing Robert de Ferrars Earl of Derby siding with Simon Mumford against King Henry the Third was fined at fifty thousand pounds to be paid Pridie Johan Baptist. next following I know not whether more to admire at the suddeness of payment or vastness of the Sum seeing an hundred thousand pounds was the Randsom set by the Emperour on our King Richard the First and it shaked all the Coâ—…ers of England in that Age without the help of Church-plate to make it up Well these Lords following were the security bound for the Earls true payment at the time appointed 1 Henry son to Rich. King of the Romans 2 Will. Valence Earl of Pembroke 3 John de Warren Earl of Surrey 4 Will. Beauchampe Earl of Warwick 5 Sir Roger de Summary 6 Sir Thomas de Clare 7 Sir Robert Waâ—…ond 8 Sir Roger Clifford 9 Sir Hamond le Strange 10 Sir Bartholomew de Sudeley 11 Sir Robert Bruse all being then Barons of the Land But Earl Robert unable to advance the money at the time appointed and unwilling to leave the Lords his Bail under the Kings lash surrendred his Lands and Tutbury Castle amongst the rest to the clear yearly value of three thousand pounds into the Kings hands redeemable when he or his Heirs should pay down on one day fifty thousand pounds which was never performed The English Clergie much pittied John the son of this Earl Robert who presented a petition to the Pope informing his Holiness that the English Clergie were willing to give him money by way of Contribution to redeem his Estate but durst not because commanded to the contrary under the pain of the Popes curse And therefore he craved his Apostolical Indulgence therein Something I find was restored unto him but Tutbury was too sweet a morsel to return being annexed to the Dutchy of Lancaster John of Gaunt built a fair Castle there walled on three sides by Art and the fourth by its natural steepness DUDLEY CASTLE must not be forgotten highly and pleasantly seated and in the reign of King Edward the Sixth well built and adorned by John Dudley Duke of Northumberland whereon a story worth the reporting doth depend The afore-said Duke deriving himself who truly not yet decided from a younger Branch of the Lord Dudley thirsted after this Castle in regard of the name and the honourableness of the House some having avouched that the Barony is annexed to the lawful possession thereof whether by purchase or descent Now finding John Sutton the Lord Dudley Grand-father to the last Baron a weak man exposed to some wants and intangled with many debts he by the help of those Money-Merchants wrought him out of his Castle So that the Poor Lord turned out of doores and left to the charity of his Friends for subsistance was commonly called the Lord Quondam But after the execution of that Duke Queen Mary sympathizing with Edward the son of this poor Lord which Edward had married Katharine Bruges her maid of Honour and sister to the Lord Shandois restored him to the Lands and Honour which justly belonged to his Father Proverbs In April Doves flood Is worth a Kings good DOVE a River parting this and Derby-shire when it overfloweth its Banks in April is the Nilus of Staffordshire much Battling the Meadowes thereof But this River of Dove as overflowing in April feeds the Meadowes with fruitfulness so in May and June choakes the sand grain'd with Grit and Gravel to the great detriment of the owners thereof Wotton under Weaâ—…er Where God came never It is time that this old prophane Proverb should die in mens mouths for ever I confess in common discourse God is said to come to what he doth approve to send to what he only permits and neither to go nor send to what he doth dislike and forbid But this distinction if granted will help nothing to the defending of this prophane Proverb which it seems took it's wicked original from the situation of Wotton so covered with Hills from the light of the Sun a dismal place as report representeth it But were there a place indeed where God came never how many years purchase would guilty consciences give for a small abode therein thereby to escape Divine Justice for their offences Saints Authors do as generally agree about a grand Massacre committed by the Pagans under Dioclesian on the Brittish Christians in the place where Litchfield now standeth I say they as generally agree in the fact as they disagree in the number some making them Two hundred others five others seven And one Author certainly he was no Millenary in his Judgement mounts them to just 999. Indeed many were martyred in those dayes both in Brittain and elsewhere whose names and numbers are utterly unknown so true is the expression of Gregory the Great Ipse sancti Martyres Deo numerabiles nobis arenam multiplicati sunt quia quot sint a nobis comprehendi non possunt novit enim
would do very well on the shoulders of Sir Robert Naunton Secretary of State These words were complained of and Wiemark summoned to the Privy Councel where he pleaded for himself that he intended no dis-respect to Mr. Secretary whose known Worth was above all detraction Only he spake in reference to an old Proverb Two heads are better than one And so for the present he was dismissed Not long after when rich men were called on for a Contribution to St. Pauls Wiemark at the Councel-Table subscribed a hundred pounds but Mr. Secretary told him two hundred were better than one which betwixt fear and charity Wiemark was fain to subscribe He died Anno Domini 163. leaving one daughter who first was married to Paul Vicount Banning and after to the Lord Herbert eldest son to Philip Earl of Pembroke Capital Judges JOHN de METINGHAM was born in this County where Metingham is a Village in VVang ford Hundred not far from Bongey and was Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in the reign of King Edward the Third It is reported to his eternal praise that when the rest of the Judges 18 Edw. 3. were fined and outed for corruption this Metingham and Elias de Beckingham continued in their places whose innocence was of proof against all accusations and as Caleb and Joshâ—…a amongst the Jury of false Spies so these two amongst the Twelve Judges onely retained their integrity King Edward in the 20th of his reign directed a Writ unto him about the stinting of the number of the Apprentices and Attourneys at Law well worth the inserting D. Rex injunxit John de Metingham Sociis suis quod ipsi per discreâ—…ionem eorum provideant Ordinent numerum certum è quolibet Comitatu de melioribus legalioribus libentius add scentibus secundum quod intellexerint quod Curiae suae populo de regno melius valere poterit c. Et videtur Regi ejus Consilio quod Septies viginti sufficere poterint Apponant tamen praefati Justiciarii plures si viderint esse faciendum vel numerum anticipent The Lord the King hath enjoyned John de Metingham and his Assistants that they according to their discretion provide and ordain a certain number out of every County of such persons vvhich according to their understanding shall appear unto them of the better sort and most Legal and most vvillingly applying themselves to the learning of the Lavv vvhat may better avail for their Court and the good of the people of the Land c. And it seems likely to the King and his Councel that Sevenscore may suffice for that purpose However the afore-said Justices may add more if they see it ought to be done or else they may lessen the number Some conceive this number of sevenscore confined only to the Common Pleas whereof Metingham was Chief Justice But others behold it as extended to the whole Land this Judge his known integrity being intrusted in their choice and number which number is since much increased and no wonder our Land being grown more populous and the people in it more litigious He died Anno Domini .... Sir JOHN CAVENDISH Knight was born at Cavendish in this County where his name continued until the reign of King Henry the Eighth bred a Student of the Municipal-Law attaining to such learning therein that he was made Lord Chief Justice of the Kings or Upper Bench July 15 in the 46th of King Edward the Third discharging his place with due commendation untill his violent death on the fifth of King Richard the Second on this occasion John Raw a Priest contemporary with Jack Straw and Wat Tyler advanced Robert Westbroome a Clown to be King of the Commons in this County having no fewer than fifty thousand followers These for eighth dayes together in savage sport caused the heads of great persons to be cut off and set on Poles to kisse and whisper in one anothers ears Chief Justice Cavendish chanced then to be in the Country to whom they bare a double pique one because he was honest the other learned Besides they received fresh news from London that one John Cavendish his kinsman had lately kill'd their Idol Wat Tiler in Smithfield Whereupon they dragg'd the Reverend Judge with Sir John of Cambridge Prior of Bury into the Market-place there and beheaded them Whose innocent bloud remained not long unreveng'd by Spencer the Warlike Bishop of Norwich by whom this rascal rabble of Rebels was routed and ruined 1381. Reader be charitably pleased that this Note may till better information preserve the Right of this County unto Sir ROBERT BROKE a great Lawyer and Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in the reign of Queen Mary He wrote an Abridgment of the whole Law a Book of high account It insinuateth to me a probability of his birth herein because Lawyers generally purchase near the place of their Birth his Posterity still flourish in a Worshipful equipage at Nacton nigh Ipswich in this County Souldiers Sir THOMAS WENTWORTH of Nettlested in this County of a younger Family confessed by the Crescent in his Coat descended from the Wentworths of Wentworth-Woodhouse in York-shire was created Baron VVentworth by King Henry the Eighth He was a stout and valiant Gentleman a cordial Protestant and his Family a Sanctuary of such Professors John Bale comparing him to the good Centurion in the Gospel and gratefully acknowledging him the cause of his conversion from a Carmelite The memory of this good Lord is much but unjustly blemished because Calis was lost the Last of Queen Mary under his government The manner hereof was huddled up in our Chronicles least is best of a bad business whereof this the effect The English being secure by reason of the late conquest at St. Quintin and the Duke of Guise having notice thereof he sate down before the Town at the time not when Kings go forth to but return from battle of mid-Winter even on New-years-day Next day he took the two Forts of Rise-bank and Newnam-bridge wherein the strength of the City consisted but whether they were undermined or undermonied it is not decided and the last left most suspicious Within three dayes the Castle of Calis which commanded the City and was under the command of Sir Ralph Chamberlain was taken the French wading thorough the ditches made shallower by their artificial cut and then entering the Town were repulsed back by Sir Anthony Ager Marshal of Calis the only man saith Stow who was kill'd in the fight understand him of note †Others for the credit of the business accounting four score lost in that service The French re-entring the City the next being Twelfth-day the Lord Wentworth Deputy thereof made but vain resistance which alas was like the wriggling of a Wormstail after the head thereof is cut off so that he was forced to take what terms he could get viz. That the
the vomit of Popery which my charity will not believe Indeed in the first of Queen Mary he was outed of his Bishoprick for being married and all that we can recover of his carriage aâ—…terwards is this passage at the examination of Master Thomas Hauke Martyr When John Bird then very old brought Boner a bottle of Wine and a dish of Apples probably a present unto him for a Ne noceat and therefore not enough to speak him a Papist in his perswasion Bishop Boner desired him to take Haukes into his Chamber and to try if he could convert him whereupon after Boners departure out of the room the quondam Bishop accosted Haukes as followeth I would to God I could do you some good you are a young man and I would not wish you to go to far but learn of the elders to bear somewhat He enforced him no further but being a thorough old man even fell fast asleep All this in my computation amounts but to a passive compliance and is not evidence enough to make him a thorough paced Papist the rather because John Pitts omitteth him in the Catalogue of English-writers which no doubt he would not have done had he any assurance that he had been a radicated Romanist Nothing else have I to observe of him but onely that he was a little man and had a pearl in his eyes and dying 1556. was buried in Chester States men Sir NICHOLAS THROCKMORTON Knight fourth Son of Sir George Throckmorton of Coughton in this County was bred beyond the Seas where he attained to great experience Under Queen Mary he was in Guild-Hall arraigned for Treason compliance with Wyat and by his own warie pleading and the Jurie's upright verdict hardly escaped Queen Elizabeth employed him Her Leiger a long time first in France then in Scotland finding him a most able Minister of State yet got he no great wealth and no wonder being ever of the opposite party to Burleigh Lord Treasurer Chamberlain of the Exchequer and Chief Butler of England were his highest preferments I say Chief Butler which office like an empty covered cup pretendeth to some state but affordeth no considerable profit He died at supper with eating of salates not without suspicion of poison the rather because hapning in the house of one no mean artist in that faculty R. Earl of Leicester His death as it was sudden was seasonable for him and his whose active others will call it turbulent spirit had brought him into such trouble as might have cost him at least the loss of his personal estate He died in the fifty seventh year of his age February the 12. 1570. and lyeth buryed in the South-side of the Chancel of St. Katharine Cree-Church London EDWARD CONWAY Knight Son to Sir John Conway Knight Lord and Owner of Ragleigh in this County This Sir John being a Person of Great skill in Military affaires was made by Robert Earl of Leicester Generall of the English Auxiliaries in the united Provinces Governour of Ostend His Son Sir Edward succeeded to his Fathers Martial skill and valour and twisted therewith peaceable policy in State-affaires so that the Gown and the Sword met in him in most Eminent Proportion and thereupon King James made Him one of the Principal Secretaries of State For these his good services he was by him created Lord Conway of Ragleigh in this County and afterwards by King Charles Viscount Killultagh in the County of Antrim And lastly in the third of King Charles Viscount Conway of Conway in Carnarvanshire England Ireland and Wales mutually embracing themselves in His Honours He dyed January the third Anno 1630. JOHN DIGBY Baron of Sherborn and Earl of Bristol was born in this County a younger Son of an ancient family long flourishâ—…ng at Coleshull therein To pass by his Infancy all Children being alike in their long Coats his Youth gave pregnant hopes of that Eminency which his mature age did produce He didken the Emhassador-Craft as well as any in his age employed by King James in several services to frreign Princes recited in his Patent which I have perused as the main motives of the Honors conferr'd upon him But his managing the Matchless Match with Spain was his Master-piece wherein a Good I mean a Great number of State-Traverses were used on both sides His contest with the Duke of Buckingham is fresh in many mens Memories charges of High Treason mutually flying about But this Lord fearing the Dukes Power as the Duke this Lorâ—…s policy it at last became a Drawn Battail betwixt them yet so that this Earl lost the love of King Charles living many years in his Dis-favour But such as are in a Court-Cloud have commonly the Countries Sun-shine and this Peer during his Eclyps was very Popular with most of the Nation It is seldom seen that a favorite once Broken at Court sets up again for himself the hap rather then happiness of this Lord the King graciously reflecting on him at the beginning of the Long-Parliament as one Best able to give him the safest Counsell in those dangerous Times But how he incensed the Parliament so far as to be excepted Pardon I neither do know nor dare enquire Sure I am after the surrender of Exeter he went over into France where he met with that due respect in forraign which he missed in his Native Country The worst I wish such who causelesly suspect him of Popish inclinations is that I may hear from them but half so many strong Arguments for the Protestant Religion as I have heard from him who was to his commendation a Cordial Champion for the Church of England He dyed in France about the year 1650. Writers WALTER of COVENTRIE was born and bred a Benedictine therein Bale saith he was Immortali vir dignus Memoria and much commended by Leland though not of set purpose but sparsim as occasion is offered He excelled in the two Essential Qualities of an Historian Faith and Method writing truly and orderly onely guilty of Coursness of style This may better be dispenced with in him because Historia est res veritatis non Eloquentiae because bad Latin was a catching disease in that age From the beginning of the Britons he wrote a Chronicle extant in Bennet Colledge Library to his own time He flourished Anno 1217. VINCENT of COVENTRIE was born in the chief City in this shire and bred a Franciscan though Learned Leland mistakes him a Carmelite in the University of Cambridg His order at their first entrance into England looked upon learning as a thing beneath them so totally were they taken up with their Devotion This Vincent was the first who brake the Ice and then others of his order drank of the same water first applyed himself to Academicall studies and became a publick Professor in Cambridge he set a Coppy for the Carmelites therein to imitate who not long after began their publick Lectures in the same place he
fratri nostro defuncto impendit in futurum fideliter impendet dedimus Concedimus eidem Thomae heredibus suis Masculis quandam Annuitatem sive annualem reditum quadraginta libraram Habendum percipiendum annuatim eidem Thomae heredibus suis de-exitibus perficuis reventionibus Comitatus Palatini nostri Lancastriae in Com. Lanc. per manus Receptoris ibidem pro tempore existente ad Festum Sancti Michaelis Arch-angeli aliquo statuto actu sive Ordinatione in contrarium editis sive provisis in aliquo non Obstante In cujus rei testimonium has literas fieri fecimus Patentes Dat. apud Ebor. 2 do Aug. Anno regni 2 do A branch of these Talbots are removed into Lancashire and from those in Yorkshire Colonel Thomas Talbot is descended Edward IV. 10 HEN. VAVASOR Mil. It is observed of this family that they never married an Heir or buried their Wives The place of their habitation is called Hassell-wood from wood which there is not wanting though stone be far more plentifull there being a quarry within that Mannor out of which the stones were taken which built the Cathedrall and Saint Maries Abby in York the Monasteries of Holden-selby and Beverly with Thornton-colledge in Lincolnshire and many others So pleasant also the prospect of the said Hassel-wood that the Cathedralls of York and Lincoln being more then 60. miles asunder may thence be discovered Hâ—…nry VIII 2 RADULPHUS EURE Alias EVERS Mil. He was afterwards by the above named King Created a Baron and Lord Warden of the Marshes towards Scotland He gave frequent demonstration as our Chronicles do testify both of his Fidelity and Valour in receiving many smart Incursions from and returning as many deep Impressions on the Scots There is a Lord Evers at this day doubtless a Remoter Descendant from him but in what distance and degree it is to me unknown 5 WILLIAM PERCY Mil. I recommend the following Passage to the Readers choicest observation which I find in Camdens Brit. in Yorkshire More beneath hard by the River Rhidals side standeth Riton an antient Possession of the antient family of the Percy-hays commonly called Percys I will not be over confident but have just cause to believe this our Sheriffe was of that Family And if so he gave for his Armes Partie per fess Argent and Gules a Lion Rampant having Will. Percy-hay Sheriff in the last of Edw. the third for his Ancestor 23 NICHOLAS FAIRFAX Mil. They took their name of Fairfax à Pulchro Capillitio from the fair hair either bright in colour or comely for the plenty thereof their Motto in alusion to their Name is Fare fac say doe such the sympathy it seems betwixt their tongues and hearts This Sir Nicholas Fairfax mindeth me of his Name-sake and Kins-man Sir Nicholas Fairfax of Bullingbrooke Knight of the Rhodes in the raign of Edward the fourth Jacomo Bosio in his Italian History of Saint John of Jerusalem saith that Sir Nicholas Fairfax was sent out of Rhodes when it was in great distress to Candia for relief of Men and Provisions which he did so well perform as the Town held out for some time longer and he gives him this Character in his own Language Cavilero Nicholo Fairfax Inglich homo multo spiritoso è prudento Queen Mary 3 CHRISTOPHER METCALFE Mil. He attended on the Judges at York attended on with three hundred Horsemen all of his own name and kindred well mounted and suitably attired The Roman Fabii the most populous tribe in that City could hardly have made so fair an appearance in so much that Master Camden gives the Metcalfes this character Quae numerosissima totius Angliae familia his temporibus censetur Which at this time viz. Anno 1607. is counted the most numerous family of England Here I forbear the mentioning of another which perchance might vie numbers with them lest casually I minister matter of contest But this Sir Christopher is also memorable for stocking the river Yower in this County hard by his house with Crevishes which he brought out of the South where they thrive both in plenty and bigness For although Omnia non omnis terra nec unda feret All lands doe not bring Nor all waters every thing Yet most places are like trees which bear no fruit not because they are barren but are not grafted so that dumbe nature seemeth in some sort to make signes to Art for her assistance If some Gentleman in our parts will by way of ingenuous retaliation make proof to plant a Colonie of such Northern Fishes as we want in our Southern Rivers no doubt he would meet with suitable success Queen Elizabeth 4 GEORGE BOWES Mil. He had a great Estate in this County and greater in the Bishoprick of Durham A Man of Metall indeed and it had been never a whit the worse if the quickness thereof had been a little more allayed in him This was he who some seven years after viz. Anno 1569. was besieged by the Northern Rebells in Bernards Castle and streightned for Provision yielded the same on Condition they might depart with their Armour After the suppression of the Rebells their Execution was committed to his Care wherein he was severe unto Cruelty For many Well-meaning people were ingaged and others drawn in into that Rising who may truely be termed Loyall Traytors with those two hundred men who went after Absolon in their simplicity and knew not any thing solicited for the Queens service These Sir George hung up by scoars by the Office of his Marshallship and had hung more if Mr. Bernard Gilpin had not begged their lives by his importunate intercession 23 ROBERT STAPLETON Mil. He was descended from Sir Miles Stapleton one of the first founders of the Garter and Sheriâ—… in the 29. of Edward the third He met the Judges with sevenscore men in suitable liveries and was saith my Author in those days for a man well spoken properly seen in languages a comely and goodly personage had scant an equall except Sir Philip Sidney no superior in England He married one of the Co heirs of Sir Henry Sherington by whom he had a numerous posterity 42 FRANCIS CLIFFORD Ar. He afterwards succeeded his Brother George in his Honours and Earldome of Cumberland a worthy Gentleman made up of all Honorable accomplishments He was Father to Henry the fifth and last Earl of that Family whose sole Daughter and Heir was married to the right Honourable and well worthy of his Honour the then Lord Dungarvon since Earl of Cork 45 HENRY BELLASIS Mil. He was afterwards by King Charles Created Baron Fauconbridge of Yarum as since his Grandchild by his Eldest Son is made Vicount Fauconbridge John Bellasis Esquire his second Son who in the Garrison of Newarke and elsewhere hath given ample Testimony of his Valour and all Noble Qualities accomplishing a Person of Honour since is advanced to the dignity of a Baron
Our Commandement comprised in Our said Letters And that ye also from time to time as ye shall see meet quickly and sharply call upon them in Our name for the execution of Our said Commandement and if you shall find any of them Remiss or Negligent in that behalf We will that ye lay it sharply to their charge Advertising that in case they amend not their defaults ye will thereof Advertise Our Councell remâ—…ining with Our dearest Daughter the Princess and so We charge you to do indeed And if Our said Sheriffe or Justice or any other Sheriffe or Justice of any Shire next to you upon any side adjoyning shall need or require your Assistance for the Execution of Our said Commandements We Will and Desire you that what the best power ye can make of Our Subjects iâ—… Harneys ye be to them Aiding and Assisting from time to time as the Case shall require Not failing hereof as you intend to please Us and as We specially truâ—…t you Given under Our Signet at Our Manor of Greenwich the 18. day of May. Henry VIII 1 WILLIAM ESSEX Ar. He was a worthy man in his generation of great command in this County whereof he was four times Sheriffe and the first of his family who fixed at Lambourn therein on this welcome occasion He had married Elizabeth daughter and sole heir of Thomas Rogers of Benham whose Grandfather John Rogers had married Elizabeth daughter and heir of John Shoteâ—…broke of Bercote in this County whose ancestors had been Sheriffs of Barkeshire in the fourth fifth and sixth of King Edward the third by whom he received a large inheritance Nor was the birth of this Sir William for aferwards he was Knighted beneath his estate being Son unto Thomas Essex Esquire Remembrancer and Vice-Treasurer unto King Edward the fourth who dyed November 1. 1500. lyeth buried with a plain Epitaph in the Church of Kensington Middlesex He derived himself from Henry de Essex Baron of Rawley in Essex and Standard-Bearer of England as I have seen in an exact Pedigree attested by Master Camden and his posterity have lately assumed his Coat viz. Argent an Orle Gules There was lately a Baronet of this family with the revenues of a Baron but * riches endure not for ever if providence be not as well used in preserving as attaining them 24 HUMPHRY FORSTER Knight He bare a good affection to Protestants even in the most dangerous times and spake to the Quest in the behalf of Master Marbeck that good 〈◊〉 yea he confessed to King Henry the third that never any thing went so much against his Conscience which under his Graces authority he had done as his attending the execution of three poor men Martyred at Windsor Edward VI. 1 FRANCIS INGLEFIELD Mil. He afterwards was Privy-Councellor unto Queen Mary and so zealous a Romanist that after her death he left the land with a most large inheritance and lived for the most part in Spain He was a most industrious agent to solicite the cause of the Queen of Scots both to his Holiness and the Catholick King As also he was a great Promotor of and Benefactor to the English Colledge at Valladolit in Spain where he lyeth interred in a family of his alliance is still worshipfully extant in this County Queen Mary 1 JOHN WILLIAMS Miles Before the year of his Sherivalty was expired Queen Mary made him Lord Williams of Tame in Oxfordshire In which town he built a small Hospitall and a very fair School He with Sir Henry Bennyfield were joynt-Keepers of the Lady Elizabeth whilst under restraint being as civil as the other was cruel unto Her Bishop Ridley when martyred requested this Lord to stand his friend to the Queen that those Leases might be confirmed which he had made to poor Tenants which he promised and performed accordingly His great estate was divided betwixt his two daughters and coheirs one married to Sir Henry Norrice the other to Sir Richard Wenman Queen Elizabeth 4 HENRY NORRICE Ar. Son-in-law to the Lord Williams aforesaid He was by Queen Elizabeth created Baron Norrice of Ricot in Oxfordshire it is hard to say whether this tree of honour was more remarkable for the root from whence he sprung or for the branches that sprang from him He was Son to Sir Henry Norrice who suffered in the cause of Queen Anne Bullen Grandchild to Sir Edward Norrice who married Fridswide sister and coheir to the last Lord Lovell He was Father though himself of a meek and mild disposition to the Martiall brood of the Norrices of whom hereafter Elizabeth his great Grandchild sole Daughter and heir unto Francis Norrice Earl of Barkshire and Baroness Norrice was married unto Edward Wray Esquire whose only Daughter Elizabeth Wray Baroness Norrice lately deceased was married unto 〈◊〉 Bertue Earl of Lindsey whose Son a Minor is Lord Norrice at this day Sheriffs of Barkeshire alone Name Place Armes REG. ELIZA   Anno   9 Edw. Unton mil. Wadley 〈◊〉 on a Fess Eng. Or twixt 3 Spear-Heads Arg. a Hound cursant S. collered Gu. 10 Io. Fetiplace ar Chilrey G. 2 Chev. Argent 11 Will. Forster ar Aldermerston Sable a Chev betw 3 Arrows Arg. a Chev. 12 Will. Dunch ar LitlewitnaÌ„ Or 〈◊〉 2 Toures in 〈◊〉 a flour de Lice in Base Arg. 13 Ioha Winchcomb Budebury  14 Hen. Nevill mil. Billingber  15 Tho. Essex ar Lamborn 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 Erm. betw 3 Eagles Arg. 16 Ric. Lovelace ar Hurley Gules on a chiefe indented Sable three Marvets Or. 17 Anth. Bridges ar HemstedMarshal  18 Thom. Parry ar  See our Notes 19 Io. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut prius  20 Tho Stafford ar Bradfeld Or a Chev. Gul. Canton Er. 21 Tho. Stephans ar   22 Hum 〈◊〉 ar ut prius  23 Tho. Bullock ar 〈◊〉 Gules a Chev. twixt three Bulls-heads Ar. armed Or. 24 Tho Read ar Abington G. a Saltyre twixt 4 〈◊〉 Or. 25 〈◊〉 Molens ar Clapgate  26 Be. Fetiplace ar ut prius  27 Edw. Fetiplace ar ut prius  28 Chri. Lillcot ar Rushcomb Or. 2 〈◊〉 vairry Arg. Sable 29 Edm. Dunch ar ut prius  30 Thom. Parry ar ut prius  31 Tho. 〈◊〉 ar Shaw Azure a Fess 〈◊〉 inter 〈◊〉 Or. 32 Iohan. 〈◊〉 ar   33 Rich. Ward ar   34 Fr. Winchcombe ut prius  35 Hum. Forster ar ut prius  36 Ricar Hide ar S. Denchw Gules 2 Chevâ—…rons Arg. 37 Hen. Nevill ar ut prius  38 Edm. Wiseman ar Stephenton Sable a Chev. twixt 3 Bars of Spears Arg. 39 Chri. Lidcotte mi. ut prius  40 Hen. Pool mil.   41 Tho. Reede mil. ut prius  42 Sa. Backhouse ar Swallofield  43 Ioha Norris mil.   44 Ed. Fetiplâ—… mil. ut prius  Ed. Dunch ar 〈◊〉 Ja. ut prius  JAC. REX   Anno   1 Edm. Dunch ar
ingenious person would Print Mr. Parkers Book for the use of Posterity He was a melancholy man neglecting all Preferment to enjoy himself and died in the place of his Nativity as I conjecture about 1624. MICHAEL DALTON Esquire He was bred in the study of our Municipall-law in Lincolns Inn and attained great skill in his own profession His gravity graced the Bench of Justices in this County where his judgment deservedly passed for an Oracle in the Law having enriched the world with two excellent Treatises the one of the Office of the Sheriffs the other of the Justices of Peace Out of the Dedicatory Epistle of the later I learnt this which I knew not before that K. James was so highly affected with our English Government by Justices of Peace that he was the first who setled the same in his Native Country of Scotland Mr. Dalton dyed before the beginning of our Civil Distempers THOMAS GOAD D. D. was son to Dr. Roger Goad for more then fourty years Provost of Kings-colledge but whether born in the Provosts Lodgings in Cambridge or at Milton in this County I am not fully informed He was bred a Fellow under his Father afterwards Chaplain to Arch-bishop Abbot Rector of Hadly in Suffolk Prebendary of Canterbury c. A great and Generall Scholar exact Critick Historian Poet delighting in making of verses till the day of his death School-man Divine He was substituted by K. James in the place of Doctor Hall indisposed in health and sent over to the Synod of Dort He had a commanding presence an uncontrolable spirit impatient to be opposed and loving to steere the discourse being a good Pilot to that purpose of all the Company he came in I collect him to have died about the year 1635. ANDREW MARVAIL was born at Mildred in this County and bred a master of Arts in Trinity-colledge in Cambridge He afterwards became Minister in Hull where for his life time he was well beloved Most facetious in his discourse yet grave in his carriage a most excellent preacher who like a good husband never broached what he had new brewed but preached what he had preâ—…studied some competent time before Insomuch that he was wont to say that he would crosse the common proverb which called Saturday the working day and Munday the holy day of preachers It happened that Anno Dom. 1640. Jan. 23. crossing Humber in a Barrow-boat the same was sand-warpt and he drowned therein by the carelesness not to say drunkenness of the boat-men to the great grief of all good men His excellent comment upon Saint Peter is daily desired and expected if the envy and covetousness of private persons for their own use deprive not the publick of the benefit thereof Benefactors to the publick HUGO de BALSHAM for so is he truly written was born in this County as may easily be spelled out of the four following probabilities put together First it was fashionable for Clergy-men in that age to assume their Surnames from the place of their Nativity Secondly Balsham is an eminent village in this County whereof an ancient Author taketh notice naming thence the neighbouring ground Amaenissima Montana de Balsham Thirdly There is no other Village of that name throughout the Dominions of England Fourthly It is certaine this Hugh was bred in this County where he attained to be Sub-prior and afterwards Bishop of Ely This Hugh was he who founded Peter-house in the University of Cambridge the first built though not first endowed Colledge in England This Foundation he finished Anno 1284. bestowing some lands upon it since much augmented by Bountifull Benefactors He sat 28 years in his See and dyed June the 6. 1286. Sir WILLIAM HORN Salter son to Thomas Hoâ—…n was born at Snail-well in this County he was Knighted by King Hen. the seventh and Anno 1487. was L. Mayor of London He gave bountifully to the Preachers at Saint Pauls crosse and bestowed five hundred Marks to the mending of the high ways betwixt Cambridge the County Town where he had his first Life and London the City where he got his best livelihood Know in that Age Horn his five hundred Marks had in them the intrinsick value of our five hundred pounds which in those days would go very far in the wages of Laborers Sir WILLIAM son of JOHN PURCASE was born at Gamlinggay in this County bred a Mercer in London and Lord Mayor thereof Anno 1497. He caused Morefields under the walls to be made plain ground then to the great pleasure since to the greater profit of the City Sir THOMAS son of JOHN KNEISWORTH was born at Kneisworth in this County bred a Fishmonger in London whereof he was Lord Mayor Anno 1505. He appointed the Water-conduit at Bishop-gate to be built to the great convenience of the City formerly much wanting that usefull Element Be it here observed for the incouragement of the industry of Cambridg-shire Apprentices that by the premises it doth appear that this small County in the compass of eighteen years afforded three L. Mayors and Benefactors which no other Shire of equal or greater quantity ever produced Since the Reformation JOHN CRANE was born in Wishbeech in this County bred an Apothecary in Cambridg so diligent an youth that some judicious persons prognosticated that he would be a rich man Dr. Butler took so great a fancy unto him that he lived and died in his Family yea and left the main body of his rich Estate unto him This Mr. Crane had a large heart to entertain his friends and Annually very nobly treated all the Oxford men at the Commencement He gave at his death no less then three thousand pounds to charitable uses bestowing the house he lived in and that a very fair one aster his Wives death on the Publick Professor of Physick and in settlement of his other Benefactions discreetly reflected on Wishbeech where he was born to which he gave 100l to build a Town-hall Cambridge where he lived Lin where he was well acquainted Ipswich where Doctor Butler the first founder of his estate was born and Kingston where his lands lay He in some sort gives Preventing Physick to the Scholars now he is dead by giving 100l to be lent gratis to an honest man the better to enable him to buy good Fish and Fowl for the University having observed much sickness occasioned by unwholsome food in that kind He bequeathed to Dr. Wren Bishop of Ely and Doctor Brounrigg Bishop of Exeter one hundred pounds a piece by his Will and as much by a Codecil annexed thereunto Besides his concealed Charities his hand was always open to all the distressed Royalists He died in May 1650. Memorable Persons WILLIAM COLLET was born at Over in this County bred a Clerk in London till at last he attained to be Keeper of the Records in the Tower none equalling him in his dexterity in that office He went the same path with his predecessor in that
* S. a Falcon rising betweâ—…t 3 Mullets Oâ—… 21 Rich. Gedy ar   22 Io. Moyle ar vir * S. Germains †Or on a Bend G. 3 Millroinds Argent CAR. REG.  * G. a Moyle passant Arg. Anno   1 Tho. Wivell ar   2 Ioh. Trefuses ar  Arg. a Cheveron betw 3 wharrow Spindles S. 3 Io. Rashleigh ar ut prius  4 Geor. He le ar  G. a Bead Losengee Erm. 5   6 Io. Trelawney m. ut prius  7 Ioh. Prideaux ar ut prius  8 Nic. Loure mil. ut prius  9 Cha. Tâ—…evanio a. ut prius  10 Hu. Bosgawen ar  Vert a Bull passant Arg. Arâ—…ed Or in a Cheif Ermin a Rose Gules 11 Io. St. Albin a. ut prius  12 Rich. Buller mil. ut prius  13 Fran Godolpin a. ut prius  14   15 Rich. Trevill ar  Or a Cross engrailed Sa. in the first quarter a Mullâ—…t G. 16 Fran. Willear   17   18   19   20   21   22 Edw. Heile ar ut prius  Edward III. ROGER de PRIDDEAUX My eye cannot be entertained with a more welcome object then to behold an antient Name not onely still continuing to but eminently flourishing in our age On which account I cannot but congratulate the happiness of this Family expecting a daily Accession of Repute from the hopefull branches thereof Edward IV. 10 JOHN ARUNDLE Mil. This worthy Knight was forewarned by what Calker I wot not that he should be slain on the Sands This made him to shun his house at Efford alias Ebbing-ford as too Maritime and remove himself to Trerice his more Inland habitation in this County But he found it true fata viam inveniant for being this year Sheriff and the Earl of Oxford surprizing Mount Michael for the House of Lancaster he was concerned by his Office and Command from the King to endeavour the reducing thereof and lost his life in a skirmish on the sands thereabouts Thus it is just with Heaven to punish mens curiosity in enquiring after credulity in believing of and cowardise in fearing at such prognostications 21 THOMAS GRANVIL Be it entred by way of caveat that there is some difference in the blazoning of the coat of the Granvils or Greenvils What usually are termed therein Rests being the Handles of Spears most honorable in Tilting to break them nearest thereunto are called by some Criticks 〈◊〉 being the necessary appendants to Organs convaying wind unto them If as it seemeth their dubious Form as represented in the Scutcheon doth ex aequo answer to both with me they shall still pass for the Rests of Spears For though I dare not deny but the Greenvils might be good Musitians I am assured they were most valiant Souldiers in all their Generations But the merits of this ancient Family are so many and great that ingrossed they would make one County proud which divided would make two happy I am therefore resolved equally to part what I have to say thereof betwixt Cornwall and Devonshire Richard III. The Reader will take notice that as it is in our Catalogue Richard Duke of Gloucester was High-Sheriff of this County ad terminum vitae a strange Precedent if it may be said to go before which hath nothing to follow after seeing for the last two years he was both King of England and Sheriff of Cornwall We therefore behold all the following persons unto the first of King Henry the seventh but as so many Deputies under him and amongst these we take speciall notice of 2 JAMES TIRREL Mil. This is he so infamous in our English Histories for his activity in murdering the Innocent sons of King Edward the fourth keeping the Keyes of the Tower and standing himself at the foot of the Staires whilst Mr. Forest and J. Dighton stifled them in their Beds I behold this Sir James as an Essex-man though now the prime Officer of this County For King Richard accounted Cornwall the back dore of Rebellion and therefore made this Knight the Porter thereof Indeed it is remote from London and the long sides of this County afford many landing-places objected to Britain in France whence the Usurper always feared and at last felt an Invasion and therefore he appointed him Sheriff to secure the County as obliged unto him by gratitude for favours received and guilt for faults committed This Tirrel was afterwards executed for Treason in the Tower yard in the beginning of King Henry the seventh Henry VII 12 JOHN BASSET This was a busie year indeed in this County when the Cornish Commotion began headed by Flammock a Lawyer and Michael Joseph a Blacksmith at the Town of Bodmin Let none impute it to the neglect of this Sheriff that he suppressed them not seeing besides that they quickly quitted this County and went Eastward it was not the work of Posse Comitatus but Posse Regni to encounter them However after long-running for they marched the breadth of the land from Cornwall to Kent before battle was bid them they were overtaken and overcome at Black-heath 13 PETER EDGCOMBE Mil. The Names of pierce or Peter and Richard have been saith my Author successively varied in this family for six or seven Descents Such Chequering of Christian Names serve Heraulds instead of Stairs whereby they ascend with assurance into the Pedigrees of Gentlemen and I could wish the like alternation of Font-names fashionable in other families For where the Heirs of an House are of the same Name for many generations together it occasioneth much mistake and the most cautious and conscientious Heralds are guilty of making Incestuous Matches confounding the Father for the Son and so reciprocally Queen Elizabeth 4 RICHARD CHAMOND Esq. He received at Gods-hand an extraordinary favour of long life serving in the office of a Justice of Peace almost sixty years He saw above fifty several Judges of the Westerne Circuit was Uncle and Great-uncle to three hundred at least and saw his youngest child above fourty years of age 19 WILLIAN MOHUN He was descended from the ancient Lords of Dunster and Earls of Somerset of which one received a great Papall priviledge whereof largely in my Church History I behold him as Grand-father to John Lord Mohun of Oakehampton descended by a Coheir from the Courtneys Earls of Devonshire and Great-grand-father to the Right Honourable Warwick Lord Mohun 29 ANTHONY ROUSE Esq. Give me leave only to transcribe what I find written of him He employeth himself to a kind and uninterrupted entertainment of such as visit him upon his not sparing inviting or their own occasions who without the self-guilt of an ungrateful wrong must witness that his frankness confirmeth their welcome by whatsoever means provision the fewell of Hospitality can in the best manner supply He was Father to Francis Rouse late Provost of Eaton whose Industry is more commendable then his
He died Anno Domini 1631. and lieth buâ—…ied at Chigwell aforesaid AUGUSTINE LINSELL D. D. was born at Bumsted in this County bred Scholar and Fellow in Clare-hall in Cambridge He applyed himself chiefly to the Studies of Greek Hebrew and all Antiquity attaining to great exactness therein He was very knowing in the antient practices of the Jews and from him I learned that they had a Custome at the Circumcising of their Children that certain Undertakers should make a solemn stipulation for their pious education conformable to our God-fathers in Baptisme He was afterwards made Bishop of Peterborough where on the joint-cost of his Clergy he procured Theophilact on the Epistles never printed before to be fairly set forth in Greek and Latine Hence he was removeâ—… to Hereford where he died 163. States-men Sir THOMAL AUDLEY Knight where born my best Industry and Inquiry cannot attain He was bred in the Studie of the Laws till he became Atturney of the Dutchie of Lancaster and Sergeant at Law as most affirme then Speaker of the Parliament Knighted and made Keeper of the great Seal June 4. 1532. being the twenty fourth of King Henry the eight and not long after was made Lord Chancellor of England and Baron Audley of Audley End in this County In the feast of Abby Lands King Henry the eight carved unto him the first cut and that I assure you was a dainty morsell viz. the Priory of the Trinity in Eald-gate Ward London dissolved 1531. which as a Van Currier foreran other Abbeys by two years and foretold their dissolution This I may call afterwards called Dukes-Place the Covent Garden within London as the greatest empty space within the Walls though since filled not to say pestered with houses He had afterwards a large Partage in the Abby Lands in severall Counties He continued in his Office of Chancellour thirteen years and had one onely daughter Margaret who no doubt answered the Pearl in her name as well in her precious qualities as rich Inheritance which she brought to her husband Thomas last Duke of Norfolk This Lord Audley died April 30. 1544. and is buried in the fair Church of Saffron-walden with this lamentable Epitaph The stroak of deaths Inevitable Dart Hath now alas of Life berefâ—…t the Heart Of Sir Thomas Audley of the garter Knight Late Chancellor of England under our Prince of might Henry the eight worthy of high renown And made him Lord Audley of this Town This worthy Lord took care that better Poets should be after then were in his age and founded Magdalen-colledge in Cambridge giving good lands thereunto if they might have enjoyed them according to his Donation Sir RICNARD MORISIN Knight was born in this County as J. Bale his Fellowexile doth acquaint us yet so as that he qualifieth his intelligence with Ut fertâ—…r which I have commuted into our marginall note of dubitation Our foresaid Author addeth that per celebriora Anglorum gymnasia artes excoluit bred probably first in Eton or Winchester then in Cambridge or Oxford and at last in the Inns of Court In those he attained to great skill in Latine and Greek in the Common and Civil Law insomuch that he was often imployed Ambassadour by King Henry the eight and Edward the sixth unto Charles the fifth Emperor and others Princes of Germany acquitting himself both honest and able in those negotiations He began a beautifull house at Cashobery in Hertford-shire and had prepared materialls for the finishing thereof but alas this house proved like the life of his Master who began it I mean King Edward the sixth broken off not ended and that before it came to the middle thereof Yea he was forced to fly beyond the Seas and returning out of Italy died at Strasburgh on the 17. of March Anno Domini 1556. to the grief of all good men Yet his son Sir Charles finished his fathers house in more peaceable times whose great-grand daughter augmented by matches with much honour and wealth a right worthy and vertuous Lady lately deceased was wife to the first Lord Capel and Mother to the present Earl of Essex Sir ANTHONY COOK Knight great-grant child to Sir Thomas Cook Lord Mayor of London was born at Giddy hall in this County where he finished a fair house begun by his great-grand-father as appeareth by this inscription on the frontispiece thereof Aedibus his frontem Proavus Thomas dedit olim Addidit Antoni caetera sera manus He was one of the Governours to King Edward the sixth when Prince and is charactered by Master Camden vir antiquâ severitate He observeth him also to be happy in his daughters learned above their sex in Greek and Latine namely 1. Mildred marryed unto 1. William Cecil Lord Treasurer of England 2. Anne  2. Nicholas Bacon  Chancellor  3. Katherine  3. Henry Killigrew Knights  4. Elizabeth  4. Thomas Hobby   5.  5. Ralph Rowlet   Indeed they were all most eminent Scholars the honour of their own and the shame of our sex both in prose and poetry and we will give an instance of the later Sir Henry Killigrew was designed by the Queen Embassadour for France in troublesome times when the imployment always difficult was then apparently dangerous Now Katherine his Lady wrot these following verses to her sister Mildred Cecil to improve her power with the Lord Treasurer her husband that Sir Henry might be excused from that service Si mihi quem cupio cures Mildreda remitti Tu bona tu melior tu mihi sola Soror Sin malè cunctando retines vel trans mare mittes Tu mala tu pejor tu mihi nulla Soror It si Cornubiam tibi pax six omnia lâ—…ta Sin mare Cecili nuntio bella vale We will endeavour to translate them though I am afraid falling much short of their native elegancy If Mildred by thy care he be sent back whom I request A Sister good thou art to me yea better yea the best But if with stays thou keepst him still or sendst where seas may part Then unto me a Sister ill yea worse yea none thou art If go to Cornwall he shall please I peace to thee foretell But Cecil if he set to Seas I war denounce farewell This Sir Anthony Cook died in the year of our Lord 1576. leaving a fair estate unto his son in whose name it continued untill our time Sir THOMAS SMITH Kt. was born at Saffron Walden in this County and bred in Queens-colledge in Cambridge where such his proficiency in learning that he was chosen out by Henry the eight to be sent over and brought up beyond the Seas It was fashionable in that age that pregnant Students were maintained on the cost of the State to be Merchants for experience in forraign parts whence returning home with their gainfull adventures they were preferred according to the improvement of their time to offices in
1266. and presented it to the young Earl conjuring him by the cogent arguments of example and rule to patrizate His other Patron was Sir Henry Sidney so often Lord Deputy of Ireland whereby he became incorporated into the familiarity of his Son Sir Philip Sidney between whom and Sir Edward there was so great freindlinesse that they were never better pleased then when in one anothers Companies or when they corresponded each with other And we find after the Death of that worthy Knight that he was a close-concerned Mourner at his Obsequies as appeareth at large in the printed Representation of his Funeral Solemnity His third Patron was Sir John Perot Deputy also of Ireland who so valued his Counsel that in state-affairs he would do nothing without him So great his employment betwixt state and state that he crossed the seas Thirty seven times until deservedly at last he came into a Port of Honour wherein â—…he sundry years anchored and found safe harbour For he received the Honour of Knighthood was sworn of her Majesties Privy Council for Ireland and Chancellour of the Exchequer therein Now his grateful soul coursing about how to answer the Queens Favour laid it self wholly out in Her service wherein two of his actions most remarkable First he was highly instrumental in modelling the Kingdome of Ireland into shires as now they are shewing himself so great a Lover of the Politie under which he was born that he advanced the Compliance therewith as commendable and necessary in the Dominions annexed thereunto His second service was when many in that Kingdome shrowded themselves from the Laws under the Target of power making force their Tutelary Saint he set himself vigorously to suppress them And when many of the Privy Council terrified with the greatness of the Earl of Desmond durst not subscribe the Instrument wherein he was proclaimed Traitor Sir Edward among some others boldly signed the same disavâ—…wing his and all treasons against his Prince and Country and the Council did the like commanding the publication thereof As to his private sphear God blessed him being but a third Brother above his other Brethren Now though he had three Wives the first a Viliers the second a Spilman the third the Widow of Herlakenden of VVood-church in Kent Esquire and though he had so strong a Brain and Body yet he lived and dyed Childlesse entercommoning therein with many Worthies who are according to Aelius Spartianus either improlifick or have Children in genitorum vituperium famarum laesuram God thus denying him the pleasure of posterity he craved leave of the Queen to retire himself and fixed the Residue of his life at VVood-church in Kent living there in great honour and repute as one who had no designe to be popular and not prudent rich and not honest great and not good He dyed in the fifty sixth year of his age the 13. of October 1591. and is buried at VVood church under a Table Marble-Monument erected to his memory by his sorrowful Lady surviving him Reader I doubt not but thou art sensible of the alteration and improvement of my Language in this Character owing both my Intelligence and expressions unto Edward VVaterhouse now of Syon Colledge Esquire who to revive the memory of his Namesake and great Uncle furnished me with these instructions HENRY CARY Viscount of Falkland in Scotland and Son to Sir Edw. Cary was born at Aldnam in this County He was a most accomplished Gentleman and compleat Courtier By King James he was appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland and well discharged his Trust therein But an unruly Colt will fume and chafe though neither switcht nor spur'd merely because backt The rebellious Irish will complain only because kept in Subjection though with never so much lenity the occasion why some hard Speeches were passed on his Government Some beginning to counterfeit his hand he used to incorporate the year of his Age in a Knot flourished beneath his Name concealing the Day of his Birth to himself Thus by comparing the date of the Month with his own Birth-day unknown to such Forgers he not only discovered many false Writings which were past but also deterred dishonest Cheaters from attempting the like for the future Being recalled into England he lived honourably in this County until he by a sad casualty brake his Leg on a Stand in Theobalds Park aud soon after dyed thereof He married the sole Daughter and Heir of Sir Lawrence Tanfield Cheif Baron of the Exchequer by whom he had a fair estate in Oxfordshire His Death happened Anno Dom. 1620. being Father to the most accomplished Statesman Lucius Grandfather to the present Henry Lord Falkland whose pregnant parts now clarified from Juvenile Extravagancies perform much and promise more useful service to this Nation Souldiers Sir HENRY CARY Son to Sir William Cary and Mary Bollen his Wife was where-ever born made by Queen Elizabeth Lord Chamberlain Baron of Hunsdon in this County A Valiant man and Lover of Men of their hands very cholerick but not malicious Once one Mr. Colt chanced to meet him coming from Hunsdon to London in the Equipage of a Lord of those dayes The Lord on some former grudge gave him a Boxe on the Ear Colt presently returned the principle with Interest and thereupon his Servants drawing their Swords swarmed about him You Rogues said the Lord may not I and my Neighbour change a blow but you must interpose Thus the Quarrel was begun and ended in the same minute It was merrily said that his Latine and his Dissimulation were both alike and that his custome in swearing and obscenity in speech made him seem a worse Christian than he was and a better Knight of the Carpet then he could be He might have been with the Queen whatsoever he would himself but would be no more then what he was preferring enough above a Feast in that nature He hung at Court on no mans Sleve but stood on his own Botome till the time of his death having a competent estate of his own given him by the Queen Who bestowed on him in the first of her Reign Hunsdon house in this County with four thousand pounds a year according to the valuation in that age in fair Demesnes Parks and Lands lying about it Yet this was rather Restitution than Liberality in her Majesty Seeing He had spent as great an estate left him by his father in her Service or rather Releif during her persecution under Queen Mary â—… This Lord suppressed the first Northern Commotion the sole reason why we have ranked him under the Title of Soldier for which This Letter of Thanks was solemnly returned unto him By the QUEEN Right Trusty and Wellbeloved Cousin We greet you well And right glad we are that it hath pleased God to assist you in this your late Service against that cankred subtil Traytor Leonard Dacres whose force being far greater in Number than yours we perceive you have overthrown and how he
Kirle arm MuchMarcle Vert a Cheveron betwixt 3 Flower de Lyces Or. 7 Rich. Hopton mil. Hopton Gules Seme de Crosse 〈◊〉 a Lyon Rampant Or. 8 Hu. Baskervil mil. ut prius  9 Hum. Cornwall a. ut prius  10 Rob. Kirle arm ut prius  11 Joh. Colles Arm.   12 Fran. Smalman a. Kinnesley  13 Rich. Cox Arm.   14 Row Skudmor â—… ut prius  25 Ambro. Elton ar Lidbury Paly of 6 Or G. on a Bend S. 3 Mullets of the first 16 Herb. Westfaling  A. a Cros tw 4 Cheval-traps O. 17 VVill. Unet Ar. Casâ—… Frome Sable a Chever on between 3. Lions heads couped Arg. 18 Edw. Leingein a. ut prius  19 Joh. Bridges ar   20 Sam. Aubrie m.  Gules a Fess ingrailed Aâ—… 21 Iac. Rodd Arm.   23 Fran. Pember ar  Ar. 3 More-cocks proper combed and jealoped G. a cheif Azure CHAR. Reg.   Anno   1 Egidius Bridges r. Wilton Argent on a cross S. a Leopards head Or. 2 Fitz Will. Conisby ut prius  3 VVill. Read Arm.   4 Iohan. Kirle Bar. ut prius  5 Iac. Kirle armig ut prius  6 Walop Brabazon Eaton G. on a 〈◊〉 Arg. 3 Martelets of the first 7 Roger. Dansey ar ut prius  8 Ph. Holman arm   9 Ioh. Abrahal arm ut prius  10 Wil. Sku damore ut prius  11 Tho. Wigmore a.  S. 3 â—…rey-hounds currant Arg. 12 Rog. Vaughan a.   13 Hen. Lingeiâ—… â—…r ut prius  14 Rob. Whitney m. ut prius  15   16   17 Isaâ—…cus Seward   18   19 Haec fecit   20 inania   21 Mavors   22 Amb. Elton ju a. ut prius  K. HENRY the Sixth 26. WALTER 〈◊〉 I have vehement and to use the Lord Coke his Epithet necessary presumptions to perswade me that he was the same person who married Anne Daughter and sole heir unto VVilliam Lord Ferrers of Chartley and in her right was afterwards by this King created Lord Ferrers He was Father to 1. John Lord Ferrers of Chartley who married Cecily Sister to Henry Bourchier Earl of Essex and was father to 2 VValter Devereux Lord Ferrers created Viscount Hereford by King Edward the Sixth and was Father to 3 Sir Richard Devereux Knight dying before his Father and Father to 4 VValter Devereux first Earl of Essex of that Family Of whom largely hereafter God willing in Carmarthen shire the place of his Nativity EDVVARD the Fourth 14 IAMES BASKERVILE Miles 18 IOHN MORTIMER Miles 19 RICHARD de la BERâ—… Miles This Leash of Knights were persons of approved Valour and Loyalty to K. Hen. the Seventh by whom being Knights Bachelours before they were made Knights Bannerets in the beginning of his Reign I confesse some difference in the date and place one assigning the Tower of London when Iasper was created Duke of Bedford another with â—…ar more probability naming Newark just after the fighting of the battle of Stoke hard by Nor doth it sound a little to the honour of Hereford-shire that amongst the thirteen then banneretted in the Kings Army three fall out to be her Natives HENRY the Eighth II RICHARDUS CORNVâ—…AIL He was a Knight howsoever it cometh to passe he is here unadditioned I read how Anno Domini 1523. in the 15. of K. Henry the Eighth he was a prime person among those many Knights which attended the Duke of Suffolk into France at what time they summoned and took the Town of Roy and Sir Richard was sent with four hundred men to take possession thereof the only service of remarke performed in that expedition Queen Eâ—…IZABETH Reader let me confess my self to thee I expected to have found in this Catalogue of Sheriffs Sr. JAMES CROFTS knowing he was this Countryman whose family flourished at Crofts Castle but am defeated seeing his constant attendance on Court and Camp priviledged him from serving in this Office This worthy Knight was accused for complying with Wiat and notwithstanding his most solemn Oath in his own defence he was imprisoned by Queen Mary convicted of high Treason restored by Queen Elizabeth and made Governour of the Town and Castle of Barwick At the siege of Leith he behaved him most vallantly in repelling the Foe and yet when in a second assault the English were worsted the blame â—…ell on him as if he favoured the French and maligned the L Gray then General so that he was outed of his Government of Barwick Yet he fell not so into the Queens final Disfavour but that she continued him Privy Councellor and made him Comptroller of her Houshold He was an able man to manage War and yet an earnest desirer and advancer of Peace being one of the Commissioners in 88. to treat with the Spaniard in Flanders I conceive he survived not long after His ancient Inheritance in this County is lately devolved to Herbert Crofts D.D. and Dean of Hereford 40. THOMAS CONISBY Mil. I have heard from some of this County a pretious Report of his Memory how he lived in a right worshipful Equipage and Founded a place in Hereford for poor people but to what proportion of Revenue they could not inform me 43. JAMES SKUDAMORE Knight He was Father unto Sr. Iohn Skudamore created by King Charles Viscount Slego in Ireland This Lord was for some years imployed Leiger Embassadour in France and during the Tyranny of the Protectorian times kept his secret Loyalty to his Sovereign Hospitality to his Family and Charity to the Distressed Clergy whom he bountifully relieved The Farewell I am credibly informed that the Office of the Under-Sheriffe of this County is more beneficial than in any other County of the same proportion his Fees it seems increasing from the Decrease of the States of the Gentry therein May the Obventions of his office hereafter be reduced to a lesser summe And seeing God hath blessed as we have formerly observed this County with so many W's ' we wish the Inhabitants thereof the Continuance and Increase of one more WISDOME expressing it self both in the improving of their spiritual Concernment and warily managing their secular Estates HUNTINGTON-SHIRE is surrounded with North-hampton Bedford and Cambridge-shires and being small in Extent hardly stretcheth 20 miles outright though measured to the most advantage The general goodness of the ground may certainly be collected from the plenty of Convents erected therein at Saint Neots Hinching-Brook Huntington Sautrie Saint Ives Ramsie c. So that the fourth foot at least in this shire was Abbey land belonging to Monks and Friers and such weeds we know would â—…ot grow but in rich Ground If any say that Monks might not chuse their own Habitations being confined therein to the pleasures of their Founders know there were few Founders that did not first consult some religious Person in
saved is a penny gained the preserver of books is a Mate for the Compiler of them Learned Leland looks on this ◅ong as a Benefactor to posterity in that he saved many Hebrew books of the Noble Library of Ramsey Say not such preserving was purloyning because those books belonged to the King seeing no conscience need to scruple such a nicety Books though so precious that nothing was worth them being in that juncture of time counted worth nothing Never such a Massacre of good Authours some few only escaping to bring tidings of the Destruction of the rest Seeing this Yong is inserted by Bale and omitted by Pits I collect him to savour of the Reformation As for such who confound him with Iohn Yong many years after Master of Pembrook-Hall they are confuted by the different dates assigned unto them this being his Senior 30 years as flourishing Anno Dom. 1520. JOHN WHITE brother to Francis White Bishop of Ely was born at Saint Neots in this County bred in Caius Colledge in Cambridge wherein he commenced Master of Arts. He did not continue long in the University but the University continued long in him so that he may be said to have carried Cambridge with him into Lancashire so hard and constant in his study when he was presented Vicar of Eccles therein Afterwards Sir Iohn Crofts a Suffolk Knight being informed of his abilities and pittying his remote living on no plentiful Benefice called him into the South and was the occasion that King Iames took cognizance of his worth making him his Chaplain in Ordinary It was now but the third moneth of his attendance at Court when he sickned at London in Lumbard-street dyed and was buried in the Church of S. Mary Woolnoth 1615. without any other Monuments save what his learned works have left to posterity which all whohave either learning piety or Ingenuity do yea must most highly cōmend Sir ROBERT COTTON Knight and Baronet son to Iohn Cotton Esquire was born at Cunnington in this County discended by the Bruces from the bloud Royall of Scotland He was bred in Trinity-Colledge in Cambridge where when a youth He discovered his inclination to the studie of Antiquity they must Spring early who would sprout high in that knowledge and afterwards attained to such eminency that sure I am he had no Superiour if any his equal in the skill thereof But that which rendred him deservedly to the praise of present and future times yea the wonder of our own and forreign Nations was his collection of his Library in Westminster equally famous for 1. Rarity having so many Manuscript Originals or else copies so exactly Transcribed th◅t Reader I must confesse he must have more skill then I have to distinguish them 2. Variety He that beholdeth their number would admire they should be rare and he that considereth their rarity will more admire at their number 3. Method Some Libraries are labyrinths not for the multitude but confusion of Volumes where a stranger seeking for a book may quickly loose himself whereas these are so exactly methodized under the heads of the twelve Roman Emperours that it is harder for one to misse then to hit any Author he desireth But what addeth a luster to all the rest is the favourable accesse thereunto for such as bring any competency of skill with them and leave thankfulness behind them Some Antiquaries are so jealous of their books as if every hand which toucheth wo◅ld ravish them whereas here no such suspition of ingenious persons And here give me leave to register my self amongst the meanest of those who through the favour of Sir Thomas Cotton inheriting as well the courtesie as estate of his Father Sir Robert have had admittance into that worthy treasury Yea most true it is what one saith That the grandest Antiquaries have here fetcht their materials Omnis ab illo Et Camdene tua Seldeni gloria crevit Camden to him to him doth Selden owe Their Glory what they got from him did grow I have heard that there was a design driven on in the Popes Conclave after the death of Sir Robert to compasse this Library to be added to that in Rome which if so what a Vatican had there been within the Vatican by the accession thereof But blessed be God the Project did miscarry to the honour of our Nation and advantage of the Protestant Religion For therein are contained many privaties of Princes and transactions of State insomuch that I have been informed that the Fountains have been fain to fetch water from the stream and the Secretaries of State and Clerks of the Council glad from hence to borrow back again many Originals which being lost by casualty or negligence of Officers have here been recovered and preserved He was a man of a publick spirit it being his principal endevour in all Parliaments wherein he served so often That the prerogative and priviledge might run in their due channel and in truth he did cleave the pin betwixt the Soveraign and the Subject He was wont to say That he himself had the least share in himself whilest his Country and Friends had the greatest interest in him He died at his house in Westminster May the 6. Anno Domini 1631. in the 61. year of his Age though one may truely say his age was adequate to the continuance of the ◅reation such was his exact skill in all antiquity By Elizabeth daughter and co-heire of William Brocas Esquire he had onely one son Sir Thomas now living who by Margaret daughter to the Lord William Howard Grandchild to Thomas Duke of Norfolke hath one son Iohn Cotton Esquire and two daughters Lucie and Francis The Opera posthuma of this worthy Knight are lately set forth in one Volume to the great profit of posterity STEPHEN MARSHALL was born at God-Manchester in this County and bred a Batchellour of Arts in Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge Thence he went very early a Reaper in Gods Harvest yet not before he had well sharpned his Sickle for that service He became Minister at Finchfield in Essex and after many years discontinuance came up to Cambridge to take the degree of Batchelour of Divinity where he performed his exercise with general applause In the late long lasting Parliament no man was more gracious with the principal Members thereof He was their Trumpet by whom they sounded their solemn Fasts preaching more publick Sermons on that occasion then any foure of his Function In their Sickness he was their Confessor in their Assembly their Councellour in their Treaties their Chaplain in their Disputations their Champion He was of so supple a soul that he brake not a joynt yea sprained not a Sinew in all the alteration of times and his friends put all on the account not of his unconstancy but prudence who in his own practice as they conceive Reconciled the various Lections of Saint Pauls precept serving the Lord and the Times And although some severely
censure him for deserting his Principles yet he is said on his death-bed to have given full â—…tisfaction to such who formerly suspected his sincerity to the Presbyterian Discipline dying Anno Dom. 1655. He was solemnly buried in the â—…bbey at Westminster Exiâ—…-Romish-Writers RICHARD BROUGHTON was born at Great Steuckley in this County bred at Rhemes in France where he received the Order of Priesthood and was sent over into England for the propagation of his partie Here he gave so signal testimony and fidelity to the cause that he was before many others preferred Assistant to the English Arch-Priest He wrote many books and is most esteemed by those of his own Religion for his English Ecclesiastical History from the first planting of the Gospel to the coming in of the Saxons But in plain truth there is little milk no creame and almost all whey therein being farced with Legendary stuff taken from Authors some of condemned most of suspected credit If by the Levitical Law a bastard should not enter into the congregation of the Lord understand it to bear Office therein to the tenth generation it is pity that adulterated Authours being an illegitimate off-spring should be admitted to bear rule in Church-History This Broughton was living in the latter end of the Reign of King Iames. Benefactors to the Publicke AMBROSE Son to Iohn Nicholas was born at Needenworth in this County whence he went to London and was bound apprentice to a Salter thriving so well in his Trade that Anno 1576. he became Lord Mayor of London He founded Twelve Almes houses in Mungwel-street in that City indowing them with Competent maintenance Sir WOLSTAN Son to Thomas Dixie was born at Catworth in this County bred a Skinner in London whereof he became Lord Mayor Anno 1585. He was a man made up of deeds of Charitie the particulars whereof are too long to recite He gave 600. pound to Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge to the founding of a Fellowship Erected a Free-school at Bosworth in Leicestershire and Endowed it where his family flourish at this day in a worshipfull Estate RICHARD FISHâ—…OURN was born in the Town of Huntington cut out of no mean Quarry being a Gentleman by his Extraction Leaving a Court life as more pleasant then profitable He became servant to Sir Raptist Hicks afterwards Viscount Camden and by Gods blessing on his industry attained a great Estate whereof he gave two thousand pounds for the buying out of Impropriations in the Northern parts and setling a preaching Ministery where most want thereof he bequeathed as much to the Company of Mercers whereof he was free and the same summe to Huntington the place of his Nativity with One thousand marks to Christ-Church Hospital The whole summe of his benefactions amounted to ten thousand seven hundred pounds and upwards briefly summed up in his Funeral Sermon commonly called Corona Charitatis preached by Master Nathaniel Shute wherein to use his Expression He supped up many things with a very short breath contracting his Deeds of Charity to avoid tediousness Nor must it be forgotten how this Gentleman lying on his death-bed when men are presumed to speak with unmasked consciences did professe that to his knowledge he had got no part of his goods unjustly No man of his Quality won more Love in health Prayers in sicknesse and Lamentation at his Funeral dying a single man and buried in Mercers Chappel May the 10. 1625. Memorable Persons Sir OLIVER CROMWELL Knight son of Sir Henry Cromwell Knight of Hinching-brooke in this County is Remarkable to Posterity on a four-fold account First For his hospitality and prodigious entertainment of King James and his Court. Secondly for his upright dealing in bargain and sale with all chapmen so that no man who soever purchased Land of him was put to charge of three pence to make good his Title Yet he sold excellent penniworths insomuch that Sir Iohn Leamon once Lord Mayor of London who bought the fair Manour of Warboise in this County of him affirmed That it was the cheapest Land that ever he bought and yet the dearest that ever Sir Oliver Cromwell sold. Thirdly for his Loyalty alwayes beholding the Usurpation and Tyranny of his Nephew God-Son and NAME-SAKE with Hatred and Contempt Lastly for his Vivacity who survived to be the oldest Gentleman in England who was a Knight Though not the oldest Knight who was a Gentleman seeing Sir George Dalston younger in years yet still alive was Knighted some dayes before him Sir Oliver died Anno Dom. 1654. The Names of the Gentry of this County returned by the Commissioners in the Twelfth year of King Henry the Sixth William Bishop of Lincoln Commissioners John de Tiptofte Chivaler  Roger Hunt Knights for the Shire  William Waton Knights for the Shire  Abbatis de Ramsey Abbatis de Sautrey Prioris de Huntington Prioris de S. Neoto Prioris de Stonle Archidiaconi Eliensis Rectoris de Somerham PrebendaÅ•ii Ecclesiae Lincolniens Domini de Leighton Rectoris Ecclesiae de Bluntesham Vicarii Ecclesiae de Gurmecest Vicarii Ecclesiae de S. Neoto Rect. Ecclesiae de Ript Abbatis Nicholai Stivecle Militis Roberti Stonham armigeri Everardi Digby armigeri Radulphi Stivecle armigeri Thomae Devyll armigeri Thomae Nesenham armigeri Henrici Hethe Johannis Bayons armigeri Rogeri Lowthe Edwardi Parker Walteri Taillard Iohannis Eyr Iohannis Bekeswell Willielmi Castell Willielmi Waldesheefe Thomae Freman Ioannis Donold Walteri Mayll Roberti Boteler de Alyngton Roberti Boteler de Hilton Iohannis Kirkeby Iohannis Sankyn Roberti Langton Reginaldi Rokesden Iohannis Pulter Roberti Wene Iohannis Sampson de Somersh Thomae Clerevax Radulphi Pakynton VVillielmi Est Richardi Est Roberti Creweker VVillielmi Maister Iohannis Morys VVillielmi Druell de VVeresle Radulphi Ioce Iohannis Devyll de Chescerton Iohannis Cokerham Richardi Bâ—…singham I. Cokeyn Parker de Kimbolton Richardi Burgham Richardi Parker de Bukden Thomae Alcumbury VVillielmi Boteler de VVeresle VVill. Iudde dâ—… Sancto Ivone VVillielmi VVassingle VVillielmi VVardale VVillielmi Colles Laurentii Merton Thomae Judde Willielmi Boteler de Ramsey Thomae Barboure de Eadem Thomae Rede Thomae Irlle Willielmi Holland Williel Smith de Alcumbury Williel Hayward de Buckworth Richardi Boton Iohannis Cross senioris Edmundi Fairstede Willielmi Erythe Willi. Skinner de Brampton Willielmi West Thomae Daniel Willielmi Daniel Iohannis Barbour Thomae Parker de S. Neoto Edm. Faillour de Kymbolton Thomae Bowelas Willielmi â—…eete Willielmi Talers Thomae Aungevin Walteri Godegamen Iohannis Cage Johannis Manypeny Johannis Copgray clerici Willielmi Arneburgh Henrici Attehill Johannis Charwalton Edmundi Ulfe Willielmi Hare Johannis Dare Willielmi Sturdivale Richarde Brigge Mich. Carleton Ballivi ejusdeÌ„ Ville Huntington Georgei Giddyng Iohannis Chikson Iohannis Pecke Thome Charwalton Iohannis Abbotesle I meet with this uncomfortable passage in Mr. Speeds or rather in Sir Robert Cottons description of this Shire Thus as this City so the old families have been here with time out worne
and exceed him in Acurateness therein Being old rather in experience than years he died not 46. years old Anno 1583. and lieth buried under a comely Monument in Saint Giles without Creplegate London on the South Wall of the Quire Let Mr. Cambdens commendation pass for his Epitaph Artis Heraldicae studiosissimus peritissimusque qui in foecialium Collegio Somerseti titulum gessit Robertus Gloverus If the expression were as properly predicated of a Nephew as of the next Brother one might say he raised up seed unto his Uncle Glover in setting forth his Catalogue of Honour in English as more useful therein because chiefly of our Nationall concernment He was employed on a message of Importance from Q. Elizabeth unto Henry the fourth King of France be ing then in Normandy which trust he discharged with great fidelity and incredible scelerity being returned home with a satisfactory answer to her Highness before she could believe him arrived there In memory of which service he had given him for the Crest of his Arms a Chappeau with Wings to denote the Mercuriousnesse of this Messenger He died Anno 16. in Ordinary by name of RoughDragon and afterwards Somerset Herald He made very pertinent Additions to the second Edition of Mr. Cambdens Remains and deserved highly wel of the City of London proving in a learned and ingenious Book that Gentry doth not abate with Apprentiship but only sleepeth during the time of their Indentures and awaketh again when they are expired Nor did he contribute a little to the setting forth of his Uncles Catalogue of Honour He died Anno 1645. and was buried in Bennet Pauls-wharf THOMAS PLAYFERD was born in this County as some of his nearest Relations have informed me He was bred Fellow of Saint Johns Colledge in Cambridge and chosen 1597. to succeed Peter Barrow in the place of Margaret Professor His fluency in the Latine tongue seemed a wonder to many though since such who have seen the Sun admire no more at the Moon Doctor Collins not succeeding him so much in age as exceeding him in eloquence The counsel of the Apostle is good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His Foe-Friends commending of him and his own conceiting of himself made too deep an impression on his Intellectuals It added to his Distemper that when his reâ—…election to his place after his last two years end was put into the Regent-House a great Doctor said DETUR DIGNIORI However he held his Professor-ship until the day of his death 1609. and lieth buried with an Hyperbolical Epitaph in S. Botolphs in Cambridge JOHN BOIS D. D. was descended of a right ancient and numerous Family in this County deriving themselves from J. de Bosco entring England with William the Conqueror and since dispersed into eight Branches extant at this day in their several seats Our John was bred Fellow of Clare-Hall in Cambridge and afterwards preferred Dean of Canterbury famous to posterity for his Postils in defence of our Liturgy So pious his life that his adversaries were offended that they could not be offended therewith A great Prelate in the Church did bear him no great good will for mutual animosities betwixt them whilest Gremials in the University the reason perchance that he got no higher preferment and died as I conjecture about the year 1625. Benefactors to the Publick Sir JOHN PHILPOT was born in this County where his Family hath long resided at Upton-Court in the Parish of Sibbertswood He was bred a Citizen and Grocer in London whereof he became Mayor 1378. In the second of King Richard the second our English Seas wanted scouring over-run with the rust of Piracies but chiefly with a Canker fretting into them one John Mercer a Scot with his fifteen Spanish Ships To represse whose insolence our Philpot on his own cost set forth a Fleet a project more proportionable to the Treasury of a Prince than the purse of a private subject His successe was as happy as his undertaking honourable and Mercer brought his Wares to a bad Market being taken with all his Ships and rich plunder therein Two years after he conveyed an English Army into Britaine in ships of his own hiring and with his own money released more than 1000. Arms there which the Souldiers formerly engaged for their victuals But this industry of Philpot interpretatively taxed the lazinesse of others the Nobility accusing him Drones account all Bees pragmatical to the King for acting without a Commission Yea in that ungrateful age under a Child-King Pro tantorum sumptuum praemio veniam vix obtinuit However he who whilest living was the scourge of the Scots the fright of the French the delight of the Commons the darling of the Merchants and the hatred of some envious Lords was at his death lamented and afterwards beloved of all when his memory was restored to its due esteem WILLIAM SEVENOCK was born at Sevenock in this County In allusion whereunto he gave Seven Acorns for his Arms which if they grow as fast in the field of Heraldry as in the Common field may be presumed to be Oaks at this day For it is more than 200. years since this William bred a Grocer at London became Anno 1419. Lord Mayor thereof He founded at Sevenock a fair Free Schoole for poor peoples Children and an Alms House for twenty men and women which at this day is well maintained Since the Reformation Sir ANDREW JUD Son of John Jud was born at Tunbridge in this County bred a Skinner in London whereof he became Lord Mayor Anno 1551. He built Alms Houses nigh Saint Ellens in London and a stately Free Schoole at Tunbridge in 〈◊〉 submitting it to the care of the Company of Skinners This fair Schoole hath been twice founded in effect seeing the defence and maintenance whereof hath cost the Company of Skinners in suits of Law and otherwise four thousand pounds So careful have they been though to their own great charge to see the Will of the Dead performed WILLIAM LAMB Esquire sometime a Gentleman of the Chappel to King Henry the eighth and in great favour with him was born at Sutton-Valens in this County where he erected an Alms-House and a well endowed Schoole He was a person wholly composed of goodnesse and bounty and was as general and discreet a Benefactor as any that age produced Anno 1557. he began and within five months finished the fair Conduit at Holborn-Bridge and carried the water in pipes of Lead more than two thousand yards at his own cost amounting to Fifteen hundred pound The total summe of his several gifts moderately estimated exceeded six thousand pounds He lies buried with his good works in Saint Faiths Church under Saint Pauls where this Inscription set up it seems by himself in his life time is fixed on a Brasse plate to a Pillar O Lamb of God which sin didst take away And as a Lamb wast offered up for sin Where I poor Lamb
late Lord Chamberlain unto King John and Lord Chiefe Justice of England In this year of his 〈◊〉 he not only valiantly defended the Castle of Dover against Lewis the French Kings Son but also in a naval conflâ—…ct overthrew a new supply of Souldiers sent to him for his assistance I behold this Hugo joyned with him as the shadow to the substance as his Under-Sheriff acting the affairs of the County in his absence II HUBERT de BUROZO WILL. de BRITO This year Anno 1227. Hugo de Burgo of whom immediately before was in the month of Februaâ—…y by the King made Earle of Kent and for a farther reward had granted unto him the third penny of all the Kings profits arising in the said County and Hubert de Burozo succeeded him in his Office But I humbly conceive him the same person who was both Comes and Vice-Comes of Kent at the same time a conjuction often precedented in other Counties The rather because this Hubert lived many years after till at last he got the Kings ill will for doing him so many good Offices not dying till the twenty seventh year of his Raign Anno 1243. Edw. I. 20 JOHAN de NORTHWOD This was a right Ancient Family in this County for I find in the Church of Minster in Shepy this Inscription Hic jacent Rogerus Norwod Boan uxor ejus sepulti ante Conquestum Possibly they might be buried here before the Conquest but the late Character of the Letter doth prove it a more modern Inscription The chief Râ—…sidence of the Norwods was a house of their own name in the Parish of Milton-Chuâ—…ch where they have many fair Monuments but with defaced Epitaphs One of their Heirs was married into the Family of the Nortons of whom hereafter Sheriffs Name Place Armes RICH. II.   Anno   1 Tho. de Cobham Roundall G. on a Chev. Or 3 Cress. Sa. 2 Jo. de Fremingham Freming  3 〈◊〉 c de Peckham Yâ—…ldham Sab. a chev Or between 3. cross Croslets Fitchee Arg. 4 Will. Septuans Milton  5 Arnald Sâ—…vage Bobbing Arg. 6. Lioncâ—…ls 3 2 1. Sab. 6 Tho. Brockhul Cale-Hill Gul. a Cross ingraild between 12. cross-croslets Fitche Ar 7   8 Rob. Corby Boughton  9 Arnold Savage ut prius  11 Radus Seintleger 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fretee Arg. a Chief Gul. 11 〈◊〉 de Guldeâ—…ord Hempsted Oâ—… a Saltyr betwixt 4 Martlets Sable 12 Jacobus Peckham ut prius  13 Will. Burcestre â—…antshire  14 Rich. de Berham Berham Arg. 3. Bâ—…ars Sable 2. 1. 〈◊〉 Or. 15 â—…ho Chich †Dungeon  16 Wilâ—… Barry Sevâ—…ngton †Az. 3 Lions rampant within a border Arg. 17 Joh. Fremingham   18 Tho. Colepeper Pepenbnry Arg. a Bend engrailed Gules â—…9 Will. Haut Waddenhal Or a Cross engrailed Gules 20 Tho. Seintleger ut prius  21 Nich. Potyne Queen-Co  12 Joh Botiller Gravency Aâ—…g on a Chief Sab. 3. Cups covered Or. HEN. IV.   Anno   1 R b Câ—…ifford Bobbing Checkee Or and Azure a Fess within a border Gul. 2 Tho. Lodelow Joh Diggs 〈◊〉 Digs Cou. 〈◊〉 on a Cross Arg. 5. Eaglets displayed Sable 3 Tho. Hyach   4 Rich Cliderow G ldstanton Arg. on a Cheveron Gules bâ—…twixt 〈◊〉 Spread-Eagles Sable 5 Annulets Or. 5   6 Valent Baret Lenham  7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉   8 Edw. Haut ut prius  9 Will. Snayth  †Ar. 4. 〈◊〉 G. on a chief S. a bar 〈◊〉 of the first 10 Reginald Pimpe †Pimps Co.  11 Joh Darel Cale-Hil Az. a Lion rampant Or crowned Argent 12 Will. Notebeame   HEN. V.   Anno   1 Will. Clifford ut prius  2 Rob. Clifford ut prius  3 Will. Langley   4 Will Darel â—…t prius  5 Joh Darel ut prius  6 Rich. Cliderow ut prius  7 Joh Burgh   8 Will. Haut Hautsburn ut 〈◊〉 9   10 Joh. Darel ut prius  HEN. VI.   Anno   1 〈◊〉 Darel ut prius  2 Wilâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Azure 6. Lions rampant Argent a Canton Erm. 3 Joh Rykeld EastlinghaÌ„  4 Will. Clifford ut pâ—…ius  5 Will. Culpeper Preston ut prius 6 Tho. Ellis Burton 〈◊〉 on a Cross S. 5. Cressants A. 7 Will. Scot Braborne AMP. 8 Joh. Peach Lullingston  9 Joh. Seintleger ut prius  10 Edward Gulfort Haâ—…den ut prius 11 Will. Burys Bâ—…omeley  12 Rich Woâ—…veile NorthaÌ„p Arg. a Fess and Canton Gul. 13 Will. Clifford ut prius  14 Will. Manston Manston  15 Jacobus Fienis Kâ—…msing Az 3. Lions rampant Or. 16 Rich Wâ—…ller Grome-Br Sab. 3. V Vallnut-leaves Or between 2. Benlets Argent 17 Edw Gulâ—…eford ut prius  18 Gervasius Clifton Brabourn Sable Semi de cinque Foyles a Lion rampant Argent 19 Joh. Yeard Denton  20 Joh Waâ—…ner Voteâ—…crey  21 Will. Mareys 〈◊〉 †Sable 3 Lions pass in Bend double cotised Argent 22 Tho. Brown †Surrey  23 Will. Crowmer Tunstal Arg. a Cheveron 〈◊〉 three Ravens Sable 24 Joh. 〈◊〉 Feversham  25 Will. 〈◊〉 Sundridge Eâ—…min a Fesse Gules 26 Will. Kene Well Hal  27 Steph. 〈◊〉 ut prius  28 Hen. Crowmer ut prius  29 Garvasius Clifton ut prius  30 Rob. Horn Horns place  31 Tho Ballard Hoâ—…ton  32 Joh 〈◊〉 Repton  33 Joh 〈◊〉 mil. ut prius  34 〈◊〉 Belknâ—…p arm The Moat  35 Alex Eden arm Westwell  36 Joh Gâ—…ldeford ar ut prius  37 〈◊〉 Clifton mil. ut prius  38 Tâ—…o Brown mil ut prius  Joh. Scot ar Vicis vic Scots-Hal ut prius EDW. IV.   Anno   1 Joh. Isaac ar Howlets  2 Will. Peach mil.   3 Idem   4 Joh. Diggs ar ut prius  5 Alex. Clifford ar ut prius  6 VVill. Haut mil. ut prius  7 â—…oh Colepeper mil. ut prius  8 〈◊〉 Seâ—…ntleger ar ut prius  9 Hen. Fâ—…rrers ar Warw shire  10 Joh. Bromston ar Preston  11 Rich Colepeper ar Oxenhoath ut prius 12 Ja Peckham ar ut prius  13 Joh. Fogge mil.   14 Joh. Isley ar ut prius  15 Will Haut mil. ut prius  16 〈◊〉 Green ar Scadbury Gules across 〈◊〉 Ermin within a border Gobony Arg. and Sable 17 Will. Cheyney ar ut prius  18 Rich. Haut ar ut prius  19 Rich. Lee ar Delce  20 Ioh. Fogge mil.   21 Geo. Brown mil. ut prius  22 Rich. Haut ar ut prius  RICH. III.   Anno   1 Will. Haut mil. ut prius  2 Ioh. Banne Grench  3 Rich Brakenbury mil The Moat  Will Cheyney ut prius  HEN. VII   Anno   1 Will. Cheyney ut prius Â
King Iames Bishop of Salisbury He dyed in his calling having begun to put in print an excellent book against Atheists most useful for our age wherein their sin so aboundeth His Death happened March 11. 1619. not two full years after his Consecration Statesmen EDVVARD FINES Lord Clinton Knight of the Garter was Lord Admiral of England for more then thirty years a Wise Valiant and Fortunate Gentleman The Masterpeice of his service was in Mustleborough Field in the Reign of King Edward the Sixth and the Battail against the Scots Some will wonder what a Fish should do on dry Land what use of an Admiral in a Land fight But know the English kept themselves close to the shore under the shelter of their ships and whilst their Arrows could do little their spears lesse their swords nothing against the Scots who appeared like a hedge of Steel so well armed and closed together the great Ordnance from their ships at first did all making such destruction in the Scottish army that though some may call it a Land-fight it was first a Victory from the sea and then but an Execution on the Land By Queen Elizabeth who honoured her honours by bestowing them sparingly he was created Earl of Lincoln May 4. 1574. and indeed he had breadth to his height a proportionable estate chiefly in this County to support his Dignity being one of those who besides his paternal Inheritance had much increased his estate He dyed January the sixteenth 1585. and lyeth buryed at Windsor in a private chappel under a stately Monument which Elizabeth his third Wife Daughter to the Earl of Kildare erected in his Remembrance THOMAS WILSON Doctor of Laws was born in this County bred Fellow of Kings-Colledge in Cambridge and afterwards was Tutor in the same University to Henry and Charles Brandons successively Dukes of Suffolk Hard shift he made to conceal himself in the Reign of Queen Mary Under Queen Elizabeth he was made Master of the Hospital of St. Katharines nigh the Tower of London upon the same Token that he took down the Quire which my Author saith allow him a little Hyperbole was as great as the Quire at St. Pauls I am loth to believe it done out of Covetousnesse to gain by the materials thereof but would rather conceive it so run to Ruin that it was past repairing He at last became Secretary of State to Q. Elizabeth for four years together It argues his ability for the place because he was put into it Seeing in those active times under so judicious a Queen weaknesse might despair to be employed in such an office He dyed anno dom 15. THOMAS Lord BURGE or BOROUâ—…H Son to William Lord Burge Grandson to Thomas Lord Burge created Baron by King Henry the Eight was born in his Fathers Fair house at Gainsborough in this County His first publick appearing was when he was sent Embassador into Scotland anno 1593. to excuse Bothwell his lurking in England to advise the speedy suppressing of the Spanish Faction and to advance an effectual association of the Protestants in that Kingdome for their Kings defence which was done accordingly Now when Sir William Russel Lord Deputy of Ireland was recalled this Lord Tho. Burgh was substituted in his room anno 1597. Mr. Camden doth thus character him Vir acer animi plenus â—…ed nullis fere castrorum rudimentis But where there is the stock of Valour with an able brain Experience will soon be graffed upon it It was first thought fit to make a Months Truce with Tyrone which cessation like a Damm made their mutual animosities for the present swell higher and when removed for the future run the fiercer The Lord Deputy the Truce expired streightly besieged the Fort of Blackwater the only Receptacle of the Rebells in those parts I mean besides their Woods and Bogs the Key of the County of Tyrone This Fort he took by Force and presently followed a bloody Battle wherein the English paid dear for their Victory loosing many worthy men and amongst them two that were Foster brothers Fratres Collactanei to the Earl of Kildare who so layed this losse to his heart amongst the Irish Foster brethren are loved above the Sons of their fathers that he dyed soon after Tyrons credit now lay a bleeding when to stanch it he rebesieged Blackwater and the Lord Deputy whilst indevouring to relieve it was struck with untimely death before he had continued a whole year in his place All I will add is this that it brake the heart of Valiant Sir John Norris who had promised the Deputies place unto himself as due to his deserts when this Lord Burgh was superinduced into that Office His Relict Lady famous for her Charity and skill in Chirurgery lived long in Westminster and dyed very aged some twenty years since WILLIAM CECIL Know Reader before I go farther something must be premised concerning his position in this Topick Virgil was prophane in his flattery to Augustus Caesar profering him his free choice after his death to be â—…anked amongst what heathen Gods he pleased so that he might take his place either amongst those of the Land which had the oversight of Men and Cities or the Sea-Gods commanding in the Ocean or the Skye-Gods and become a new Constellation therein But without the least adulation we are bound to profer this worthy Peer his own election whether he will be pleased to repose himself under Benefactors to the Publick all England in that age being beholden to his bounty as well as the poor in Standford for whom he erected a fair Bead-house acknowledging under God and the Queen their prosperity the fruit of his prudence Or else he may rest himself under the title of Lawyers being long bred in the Inns of Court and more learned in our Municipal-Law then many who made it their sole profession However for the present we lodge this English Nestor for wisdome and vivacitie under the notion of States-men being Secretarie and Lord-Treasurer for above thirty years together Having formerly written his life at large it will be enough here to observe that he was born at Bourn in this County being son to Richard Cecil Esq of the Robes to King Henry the eighth and a Legatee in his Will and Jane his Wife of whom hereafter He was in his age Moderator Aulae steering the Court at his pleasure and whilst the Earl of Leichester would indure no equall and Sussex no superiour therein he by siding with neither served himself with both Incredible was the kindness which Queen Elizabeth had for him or rather for her self in him being sensible that he was so able a Minister of State Coming once to visit him being sick of the Goute at Burley house in the Strand and being much heightned with her Head Attire then in fashion the Lords Servant who conducted her thorow the door May your Highness said he be pleased to stoop the Queen
they will not take twenty lines together from any Author without acknowledging it in the Margin conceiving it to be the fault of a Plagearie Yet the same Criticks repute it no great guilt to seize a whole Manuscript if they can conveniently make themselves the Masters though not Owners thereof in which Act none can excuse them though we have had too many Precedents hereof This Laurence died Anno Dom. 1410. BERTRAM FITZALIN Finding him charactered Illustri stemmate oriundus I should have suspected him a Sussex man and Allied to the Earls of Arundell had not another Author positively informed me he was patria Lincolniensis bred B. D. in Oxford and then lived a Carmelite in the City of Lincolne Here he built a faire Library on his and his freinds cost and furnish'd it with books some of his own making but more purchased He lived well beloved and dyed much lamented the seventeenth of March 1424. Writers since the Reformation EDMUND SHEFFEILD descended from Robert Sheffeild Recorder of London Knighted by King Henry the Seventh 1496 for his good Service against the Rebells at Black-Heath was born at Butterwick in the Isle of Axholm in this Country and was by King Edward the sixth Created Baron thereof Great his Skill in Musick who wrote a Book of Sonnets according to the Italian fashion He may seem Swan like to have sung his own Funeral being soon after Slaine or Murthered rather in a skirmish against the Rebells in Norwich first unhorsed and cast into a ditch and then Slaughtered by a Butcher who denyed him Quarter 1449. He was direct Anchester to the hopeful Earl of Moulgrave PETER MORVVING was born in this County and bred fellow of Magdalen Colledg in Oxford Here I cannot but smile at the great Praise which I Pitz bestoweth upon him Vir omni Latini sermonis elegantia bellè instructus qui scripta quaedam tum versu tum Prosa tersè nitidèque composuisse perhibetur It plainly appeareth he mistook him for one of his own perswasion and would have retracted this Caracter and beshrewed his own fingers for writing it had he known him to have been a most Cordial Protestant Nor would he have afforded him the Phrase of Claruit sub Philippo et Mariâ who under their Reigns was forced for his Conscience to fly into Germany where he supported himself by Preaching to the English Exiles I find not what became of him after his return into England in the Reigne of Queen Elizabeth ANTHONY GILBY was born in this County and bred in Christs Colledge in Cambridge where he attained to great skill in the three learned languages But which gave him the greatest Reputation with Protestants was that in the Reign of Queen Mary he had been an Exile at Geneva for his Conscience Returning into England he became a feirce fiery and furious opposer of the Church Discipline established in England as in our Ecclesiasticall History may appear The certaine date of his death is to me unknown JOHN FOX was born at Boston in this County and bred Fellow in Magdalen Colledg in Oxford He fled beyond the Seas in the Reign of Queen Mary where he set forth the first and least edition of the Book of Martyrs in Latine and afterwards returning into England inlarged and twice revised the same in our own language The story is sufficiently known of the two Servants whereof the one told his Master he would do every thing the other which was even Esop himself said he could do nothing rendering this reason because his former fellow servant would leave him nothing to do But in good earnest as to the particular subject of our English Martyrs Mr. Fox hath done every thing leaving posterity nothing to work upon and to those who say he hath overdone somthing we have returned our answer before He was one of Prodigious Charity to the poor seeing nothing could bound his bounty but want of mony to give away but I have largely written of his life and death in my Church History THOMAS SPARKS D. D. was born at South Sommercot in this County bred in Oxford and afterwards became Minister of Bleachley in Buckingham-shire An Impropriation which the Lord Gray of Wilton whose dwelling was at Whaddon hard-by Restored to the Church He was a solid Divine and Learned man as by his Works still extant doth appear At first he was a Non-conformist and therefore was chosen by that party as one of their Champions in the Conference of Hampton Court Yet was he wholy silent in that Disputation not for any want of Ability but because as afterwards it did appear he was Convinced in his Conscience at that Conference of the lawfullness of Ceremonies so that some accounted him King James's Convert herein He afterwards set forth a book of Unity and Uniformity and died about the year of our Lord 1610. Doctor TIGHE was born at Deeping in this County bred as I take it in the University of Oxford He afterwards became Arch Deacon of Middlesex and Minister of Alhallowes Barking London He was an excellent Textuary and profound Linguist the reason why he was imployed by King James in translating of the Bible He dyed as I am informed by his Nephew about the year of our Lord 1620. leaving to John Tighe his Son of Carby in this County Esquire an Estate of one thousand pounds a year and none I hope have cause to envy or repine thereat FINES MORISON Brother to Sir Richard Morison Lord President of Munster was born in this County of worshipfull extraction and bred a fellow in Peter-house in Cambridge He began his Travels May the first 1591 over a great part of Christendome and no small share of Turky even to Jerusalem and afterwards Printed his Observations in a large book which for the truth thereof is in good Reputation For of so great a Traveller he had nothing of a Traveller in him as to stretch in his reports At last he was Secretary to Charles Blunt Deputy of Ireland saw and wrote the Conflicts with and Conquest of Tyrone a discourse which deserveth credit because the Writers cye guide his pen and the privacy of his place acquainted him with many secret passages of Importance He dyed about the year of our Lord 1614. Benefactors to the Publique Having formerly presented the Reader with two Eminent ones Bishop Wainfleit Founder of New Colledge and Bishop Fox Founder of Corpus Christi in Oxford He if but of an ordinary appetite will be plentifully feasted therewith so that we may proceed to those who were Since the Reformation WILLIAM RATCLIFF Esq And four times Alderman of the Town of Stamford died Anno Dom. 1530. Gave all his Messuages Lands and Tenements in the Town to the Maintenance of a Free-School therein which Lands for the present yeild thirty pounds per Annum or there-abouts to a School-Master and Usher I am informed that an Augmentation was since
with small successe to do good offices betwixt the two Kingdomes Coming into England to visit her Brother K. Edward the third she deceased here without issue Anno 1357. and lyeth buried in Gray-Friers London It will not be amiss in Reference to her Name here to observe that Joan which is Feminine to John was a frequent name in the Royal Family of England as also amongst Foreign Princes and no wonder seeing we find a worthy woman of that name Benefactresse to our Saviour himself However seeing in later times it hath been counted but a Course and homely name and some Proverbs of Contempt have been cast thereon it hath since been m ollified into Jane sounding finer it seemes to an English eare though this modern name will hardly be found in any English writer three hundred yeares ago KATHERINE youngest Daughter to K. Henry the 7. and Elizabeth his Queen was born in the Tower of London on the 2 day of February Anno Dom. 1503. deceasing few dayes after It is a sad and probably too true an account of an Antient man which is given in his Epitaph Here lies the man was born and cry'd Liv'd sixty yeares fell sick and dy'd What was a bad Character of his aged unprofitablenesse is a good one of this infant Ladies innocence of whom we know nothing save that she sucked fell sick and deceased Only let me adde she was the last Princesse born in the Tower our English Kings hereafter removing their residence to Bridewel and White-hall and using the Tower not so much as a Palace for the State as Prison for the strength thereof ANNA BOLLEN Daughter of the Lord Thomas Bollen Earl of Wiltshire was as some of her Honourable relations still surviving do conjecture born in London and became second Wife to K. Henry 8th Indeed he passionately affected her when but a Lords Daughter but did not marry her till she was a Princesse Created by him Marchionesse of Pembroke partly to make her the more proportionable Match and partly to try how she would become a â—…oronet before she wore a Crown The Papists much disparage her memory malice will lye or must be dumb making all her Wit to consist in Boldnesse her Beauty in a French garb and her Modesty in a Cunning â—…oynesse whereas indeed she was a Lady accomplished in Body was it likely K. Henry would love what was not lovely and Vertuous in Mind and whilst a Favourite of the Kings a Favourer of all good men and great Promoter of the Gospel The Inconstancy of her husbands affections is conceived by most moderate men what else soever was pretended her chiefest crime and cause of her death which happened Anno 1536. KATHERINE HOWARD Daughter to the Lord Edmond Howard son to Thomas Duke of Norfolk was though her father had large lands and houses in many places probably born in London and at last became fifth wife to K. Henry the eighth Such as desire to know the names number and successe of all six may conceive K. Henry thus speaking on his death bed Three Kates two Nans and one dear Jane I wedded One Spanish one Dutch and four English Wives From two I was divorc'd two I beheaded One died in childbed and one me survives Of this Katherine Howard little is reported and yet too much if all be true of her incontinency which cost her her life The greatest good the Land got by this match was a general leave to marry Cousin-Germans formerly prohibited by the Canon and hereafter permitted by the Common-law A door of lawful liberty left open by God in Scripture shut by the Pope for his private profit opened again by the King first for his own admittance this Katherine being Cousin-German to Anna Bollen his former Wife and then for the service of such Subjects as would follow him upon the like occasion This Lady was beheaded Anno Domini 1540. Saints Not to speak of St. Sedd born in this City and afterwards Bishop thereof of whom we find nothing reported save that he was very instrumental to the converting of the Mercians we begin with WULSINE who was born in this City of worthy Parents breeding him up in the Devotion of that age and became a Benedictine Monk till at last by his fast friend St. Dunstan he was preferred first Abbot of Westminster whence he was afterwards removed to be Bishop of Sherburne in Dorsetshire A mighty Champion he was for a Monastical life and therefore could not be quiet till he had driven all the secular priests out of Sherburne and substituted Monks in their room I read not of any Miracle done by him either whilst living or when dead save that in the juncture of both he is said with St. Stephen to have seen Heavens opened c. He had contracted great intimacy with one Egeline a virtuous Knight who died on the same day with him and he injoyned his Monks that they should both be buried in one Grave their joynt death happened January the 8th Anno 985. THOMAS BECKET son to Gilbert Becket Merchant and Maud his wife was born in this City in the place where now Mercers-Chappel is erected I have Reader been so prodigal in the large description of his life in my Ecclesiastical History that I have no new observable left to present you with Onely when I consider of the multitude of vows made by superstitious Pilgrims to his Sbrine where the stones were hallowed with their bended knees I much admire at their Will-worship no vowes appearing in Scripture but what were made to God alone And therefore most impudent is the attempt of those Papists tampering to corrupt Holy Writ in favour of such vowes reading in the Vulgar Latine Prov. 20. 25. Ruina est homini devotare Sanctos post vota retractare Instead of Ruina est homini devorare Sancta post vota retractare It is a snare to a man who often maketh vowes to Saints and after vowes retracteth them It is a snare to a man who devoureth that which is holy and after vowes to make enquiry This Becket was slain as is notoriously known on Innocents-day in his own Church of Canterbury 1170. Martyrs WILLIAM SAUTRE alià s Chatris Parish-Priest of the Church of St. Osiths London was the first Englishman that was put to death by fire for maintaining the opinions of Wicliffe In the Primitive times pardon Reader no impertinent digression such the lenity and tendernesse of the Fathers of the Church towards Hereticks that contenting themselves with condemning their blasphemous opinions they proceeded to no penalty on their persons Yea in after ages when the Christian Emperour would have punisht the furious Donatists with a pecunlary mulct the Holy men of those times so earnestly interceded as to procure the remission And St. Augustine himself who was most zealous in his writing against those Donatists professeth he had rather be himself slain by them than by detecting them be
Now a Scholar undertook for a small wager much beneath the penalty to address himself ocreated unto the Vice-chancellour which was beheld by others as a desperate adventure Carrying his state in his Urinal he craved his advise for an hereditary numness in his legs and something of truth therein which made him in his habite to trespass on the Universities Statutes to keep them warme The Vicechancellour pitying instead of punâ—…shing him prefcribed him his best receipts and so by this fraus honesta he effected his desires This Doctor was a worthy Benefactour to Katharine-hall to which he had no relalion save what his bounty created bestowing thereon the fair Bull-inn of considerable value If he who giveth a nights lodging to a servant of God shall not lose his reward certainly he that bestoweth Inn and all upon the sons of the Prophets shall find full compensation The rather because that Hall pent formerly for lack of ground and complaining with the sons of the Prophets the place where we dwell is too strait for us may now say with Isaac The Lord hath made room for us by this convenient addition He died in his Vice-chancellour ship Anno 1625. JOHN CAIUS born in this City son to Robert Caius was bred Fellow in Gonvile hall in Cambridge Hence he travailed into Italy where he studied much and wrote several learned Treatises Returned home became Physician to Queen Mary and improved Gunvile-hall into a Colledge He bestowed good land on erected fair buildings in bequeathed thrifty statutes to produced a proper Coat of Arms for and imposed a new name on this Foundation Gonvile and Caius Colledge He wrote an excellent book of the Antiquity of Cambridge When King James passed thorough this Colledge the Master thereof presented him A Caius de antiquate Cantabridgiae fairly bound to whom the King said What shall I do with this book give me rather Caius de Canibus a work of the same Author very highly praised but very hardly procured Few men might have had a longer none ever had a shorter Epitaph FUI CAIUS Writers since the Reformation ROBERT WATSON born in this City was excellently well skilled in the Laws and saith Bale à Dispensatione sive Administratione domesticâ English it as you please to Arcsh-bishop Cranmer Being imprisoned for his Religion he often disputed during his Restraint with several Papists concerning Transubstantiation and at length having gained his enlargement wrote a Treatise in elegant Latine dedicating the same to such who with him suffered banishment for their Religion wherein he relateth the accidents of his life I cannot attain to any certainty in the date of his death Benefactors to the Publique WILLIAM BAITMAN was born in this City bred in Cambridge and afterwards became first Arch-deacon and then by King Edward the third made Bishop of this his Native See One of an high spirit to maintain the profit and priviledges of his place and I charitably presume him watchful over his sheep souls subjected to his charge because he was so careful of his Deer for the stealing whereof he enjoyned penance to Robert Lord Morley and making him perform them in the Cathedral of Norwich notwithstanding the Kings threatning Letters to the contrary This Prelate in his travails beyond the Seas perceiving that our English Common-law was Out-lawed in those parts and apprehending the absolute necessity that the English should have skill in the Cannon and Civil-laws for the managing of foreign Negotiations erected a Colledge in Cambridge called Trinity-hall for the Study thereof As he was Father to Trinity he was Foster-father to Gonvil-hall in the same University removing it to a more convenient place building and setling the Revenues thereof according to the Will of the Founder King Edward the third resolving to follow his Title to the Crown of France sent this Bishop to the Pope to acquaint him with his intentions in which Embassage he died at Avenion 1354. Since the Reformation THOMAS LEGG was born in this City bred first Fellow in Trinity then Jesus-colledge in Cambridge until he was chosen by Doctor Caius then surviving the nineteenth Master of Gonvil-hall and the second of Gonvil and Caius-colledge He was Doctor of the Law and Arches one of the Masters of the Chancery twice Vice-chancellour of the University and thirty four years Master of his Colledge therein There needeth no other testimony for to avouch his great learning then the Character given him by J. Lipsius in his hitherto unprinted Epistle In Antiquitatis studio tam egregie versatus es ut id de Teipso potes quod de se Apollo Enni A me omnes Cantabrigienses consilium expetunt in literis incerti quos ego mea ope ex incertis certos compotesque consilii dimitto This Doctor though himself a serious man used to recreate himself with delightful studies observing gravity in his very pleasures He composed a Tragedy of the Destruction of Jerusalem and having at last refined it to the purity of the Publique Standard some Plageary filched it from him just as it was to be acted He formerly had made a Tragedy of the life of King Richard the third presented with great Applause Queen Elizabeth I suppose being a beholder thereof in Saint Johns-colledge-hall On the same token that John Palmer afterwards Dean of Peterburough who acted King Richard therein had his head so possest with a Princelike humor that ever after he did what then he acted in his Prodigal Expences so that the Cost of a Sovereign ill befiting the Purse of a Subject he died Poor in Prison notwithstanding his great preferment Great the bounty of Doctor Legg unto his Colledge bequeathing 600. pounds for the building the East-part thereof besides several lesser liberalities Yea be it remembred that after Thomas Bacon fifteenth Master of the Colledge had been a Malefactour thereunto leaving it much indebted the four succeeding Masters ill examples avoided do good Doctor Caius Legg Branthwaite Gosling all natives of Norwich were signall Benefactours though Masters of but Stewards for the House making it for the main their Heir at their decease Doctor Legg died July 12. 1607. in the 72. year of his age The Farewell I heartily wish that this City may long flourish in its full lustre In tendency whereunto may the Thatch of all their houses by Divine Providence be effectually secured from the merciless Element of fire as which knoweth not to be a King but must be a Tyrant whose furious raging is seldome bounded unless by the want of fewel to feed on Yea may their Straw in due time advance into Tyle that thereby their houses may for the future be better fenced against an other Element I mean the injury of Wind and Rain NORTHAMPTON-SHIRE being a long narrow Inland County is stretched from North-east to South-west and bordereth on more Counties then any other in England being nine in number viz. On the East On the West On the North.
much abused by the avarice and mis-imployment of the Governors thereof and charitably do presume that such faults if any are since or will be suddenly amended Since the Reformation JOHN HARINGTON the elder son to Sir James Harington was born at Exton in this County where their ancient Family had long flourished A bountiful House-keeper dividing his hospitality between Rutland and Warwick-shire where he had a fair habitation He was one of the Executors to the Lady Frances Sidney and a grand Benefactor to the College of her founding in Cambridge King James created him Baron of Exton and his Lady a prudent woman had the Princess Elizabeth committed to her government When the said Princess was married to Frederick Prince Palatine this Lord with Henry Martin Doctor of the Laws was sent over to the Palatinate to see her Highness setled at Hidleburgh and some formalities about her Dowry and Joynture performed This done as if God had designed this for his last work he sickned on the first day of his return and dyed at Wormes in Germany on St. Bartholomews day Anno Dom. 1613. The Lord John his son of whom in Warwick-shire did not survive him a year both of them signally eminent the one a pattern for all good fathers th' other for all gracious sons and pity it is the last had not issue to be a president to all grand-children but God thought it fit that here the Male-issue of that honourable Family should expire Memorable Persons JEFFEREY was born in the Parish of Okeham in this County where his father was a very proper man broad-shouldered and chested though his son never arived at a full Ell in stature And here we may observe Pliny his observation not true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In plenum autem cuncto mortalium generi â—…inorem staturam indies fieri propemodum observatur rarosque patribus proceriores c. It seems that Families sometimes are chequered as in brains so in bulk that no certainty can be concluded from such alternations His father who kept and ordered the baiting Bulls for George Duke of Buckingham a place you will say requiring a robustious body to manage it presented him at Burleigh on the Hill to the Duchesse of Buckingham being then nine years of age and scarce a foot and half in height as I am informed by credible persons then and there present and still alive Instantly Jefferey was heightned not in stature but in condition from one degree above rags into Silk and Sattin and two tall men to attend him He was without any deformity wholly proportionable whereas often Dwarfs Pigmâ—…es in one part are Giants in another And yet though the least that England ever saw he was a proper person compared to him of whom Sabinus doth write in his Comment upon the Metamorphosis Vidit Italia nuper virum justa aetate non majorem cubito circumferri in caveâ Psittaci cujus viri meminit in suis scriptis Hieronymus Cardanus There was lately to be seen in Italy a man of a ripe age not above a cubit high carried about in a Parrets cage of whom Hierome Cardan in his Writings makes mention It was not long before he was presented in a cold baked Pye to King Charles and Queen Mary at an entertainment and ever after lived whiles the Court lived in great plenty therein wanting nothing but humility high mind in a low body which made him that he did not know himself and would not know his father and which by the Kings command caused justly his sound correction He was though a Dwarf no Dastard a Captain of horse in the Kings Army in these late civil wars and afterwards went over to wait on the Queen in France Here being provoked by Mr. Crofts who accounted him the object not of his anger but contempt he shewed to all that Habet musca suum splenum and they must be little indeed that cannot do mischief especially seeing a Pistol is a pure leveller and puts both Dwarf and Giant into equal capacity to kill and to be killd For the shooting the same Mr. Crofts he was imprisoned And so I take my leave of Jefferey the least man of the least County in England The Names of the Gentry of this County returned by the Commissioners in the twelfth year of King Henry the sixth William Bishop of Lincoln Commissioners to take the Oaths William de Souche de Harringworth chiv  Thomas Grenham Knights for the Shire  William Beaufo Knights for the Shire  Iohannes Basinges de Empyngham mil. Iohannes Colepepar de Exton mil. Henricus Plesington de Burley mil. Robertus Browne de Wodehead ar Robertus Davis de Tykencoat ar Iohannes Browne de Tygh ar Iohannes Plesington de Wissenden ar Thomas Flore de Oakham ar Franciscus Clerke de Stoke-dry ar Iohannes Chycelden de Brameston ar Iohannes Sapcoat de Keton merchant Robertus Whitwell de eadem gentleman Iohannes Clerk de Wissenden merch Willielmus Lewis de Oakham merch Iohannes Brigge de eadem merch Ioh. Basset de North Luffenham gent. Iacobus Palmer de eadem gent. Iohannes Palmer de eadem gent. Willielmi Sheffeild de Seyton gent. Iohannes Sadington de eadem gent. Rob. Sousex de Market Overton gent. Iohannes Vowe de Whitwell gent. Willielmus Pochon de Wissenden gent. Williâ—…lmus Swafeld de Braunston gent. Henricus Breton de Keton gent. Williâ—…lmus Uffingâ—…on de Pilton gent. Thomas Luffenham de Winge Sheriffs It remaineth now that we give in a List of the Sheriffs of this Shire and here Rutland conceiveth it to sound to her credit that whereas other Shires ten times bigger than this viz. Norfolk and Suffolk had but one Sheriff betwixt them this little County never took-hands to hold with a partner but had alwayes an entire Sheriff to it self though anciently the same person generally honourable discharged the Office for many years together as by the ensuing Catalogue will appear SHERIFFS From the year of King To the year of King Richard de Humet Tenth of Henry 2. Six and twenty of Henry 2. William Molduit six and twentieth of Henry 2. first of Richard 1. Anna Brigg dispensat first of Richard 1. second of Richard 1. William Albeney William Fresney second of Richard 1. nineth of Richard 1. William Albevine solus nineth of Richard 1. first of King John Benedic de Haversham first of King John second of King John Robert Malduit second of King John fifth of King John Ralph Normanvill fifth of King John twelfth of King John Robert de Braibro Henry filius ejus twelfth of King John second of Henry 3. Alan Basset second of Henry 3. twelfth of Henry 3. Jeffrey de Rokingham twelfth of Henry 3. thirty eight of Henry 3. Ralph de Greneham thirty eight of Henry 3. forty third of Henry 3. Anketyn de Markinall forty third of Henry 3. first of Edward 1. Peter Wakervill William Bovile first of Edward 1. nineth of Edward 1. Alberic de Whitleber
licet nos vel heredi nostri sit una pars Et ulterius de habundanciori gratia nostra concessimus praefato Francisco quod si ipse ad aliqua officia superdict seu aliquod praemissorum eligat ipseque officia superdict recusavit extunc idem Franciscus aliquem contemptum depâ—…rdit poenam fortisfitur aut aliquos exutos fines redemptiones seu amerciament quaecunque occasione omissionis sive non omissionis aut alicujus eorundem nullatenus incurrat fortisfaciat aut perdet sed quod praesens carta nostra de exemptione coram quibuscunque justic nostris hered nostr ac in quocunque loco aut curia de record per totum regnum nostrum praedict super demonstratione ejusdem chartae nostrae absque aliquo brevi praecept seu mandat aut aliquo alio superinde habend seu persequend vel aliqua proclamatione faciend praefato Francisco allocetur Concessimus etiam per praesentes concedimus eidem Francisco quod ipse de cetero durante vita sua in praesentia nostra aut hered nostrorum aut in praesentia alicujus sive aliquorum magnatum dominorum spiritualium vel temporalium aut aliquorum aliorum regni nostri quorumcunque quibuscunque temporibus futuris pilio sit coopertus capite non exuat aut deponat pilium suum à capite suo occasione vel causa quacunque contra voluntatem aut placitum suum ideo vobis omnibus singulis aut quibuscunque Justic. Judicibus Vicomitibus Escaetoribus Coronatoribus Majoribus praepositis Balivis aliis officiariis ministris nostris hered nostrâ—…rum firmiter injungendo mandamus quod ipsum Franciscum contra hanc concessionem nostr contra tenorem exegent aut effect praesent non vexetis perturb molest in aliquo seu gravetis In cujus reitestim has literas nostras fieri fecimus Patentes Teste meipso apud Westm. sexto die Julii anno regni nostri decimo octavo Per ipsum Regem de dat praedict authoritate Parliamenti Tolethorpe the chief place of residence at this day of Christopher Browne Esquire who hath born the office of Sheriff in this County 1647. was by Deed conveyed unto John Browne from Thomas Burton Knight in the fiftieth year of King Edward the third I meet with a Browne Lord Mayor of London 1479. the son of John Browne of Oakham The Farewell Let not the Inhabitants of Rutland complain that they are pinned up within the confines of a narrow County seeing the goodness thereof equals any Shire in England for fertility of ground But rather let them thank God who hath cast their lot into so pleasant a place giving them a goodly heritage SHROP-SHIRE hath Cheshire on the North Staffordshire on the East Worcester Hereford and Radnorshires on the South Montgomery and Denbighshires on the West The length thereof from North to South is 34 Miles and the generall breadth thereof about 26 Miles I behold it really though not so Reputed the biggest Lund-lock-shire in England For although according to Mr. Speeds mea-suring it gathereth but one hundred thirty four miles short of Wiltshireby five in Circumference Yet though less in compasse it may be more in Content as lesse angular in my eye and more approaching to a Circle the form of greatest capacity A large and lovely County generally fair and fruitful affording Grasse Grain and all things necessary for Mans sustenance but chiefly abounding with Naturall Commodities Iron It is the most impure of all Metals hardly meltable but with Additaments yea malleable and ductible with difficulty Not like that at Damascus which they refine in such sort that it will melt at a Lamp and yet so tough that it will hardly break Some impute the grossenesse of our English Iron to our water not so proper for that purpose as in Spain and other parts and the Poet telleth us of Turnus his Sword Ensem quem Dauno igni potens Deus ipse parenti Fecerat Stygia candentem extinxerat unda Sword which god Vulcan did for Daunus fixe And quenched it when firy hot in Stix However many Vtensils are made of the Iron of this County to the great profit of the Owners and no losse I hope of the Common-wealth Coale One may observe a threefold difference in our English-Coale 1 Sea-coale brought from Newcastle 2 Land-coale at Mendip Bedworth c. and carted into other Counties 3 What one may call River or Fresh-water-Coale digged out in this County at such a distance from Severne that they are easily ported by Boat into other Shires O ifthis COALE could be so charcked as to make Iron melt out of the Stone as it maketh it in Smiths Forges to be wrought in the Bars But Rome was not built all in one day and a NEW WORLD of Experiments is left to the discovery of Posterity Manufactures This County can boast of no one her ORIGINAL but may be glad of one to her DERIVATIVE viz. the VVelsh-Freeses brought to Oswastre the staple of that commodity as hereafter â—…hall be observed The Buildings No County in England hath such a heap of Castles together insomuch that Shropshire may seeme on the VVest divided from VVales with a VVall of continued Castles It is much that Mr. Speed which alloweth but one hundred eighty six in all England accounteth two and thirty in this County But as Great Guns so usefull in the side of a ship are uselesse in the middle thereof so these Castles formerly serviceable whilst Shropshire was the verge of English Dominions are now neglected this Shire being almost in the middest of England since VVales was peaceably annexed thereunto As for the Houses of the Gentry of this County as many of them are fair and handsome so none amount to an extraordinary Eminence Medicinall Waters There is a Spring at Pitch-ford in this Shire which hath an oily unctuous matter swimming upon the water thereof Indeed it is not in such plenty as in a River neer to Solos in Cilicia so full of that liquid substance that such as wash therein seem anointed with Oile nor so abundant as in the Springs neer the Cape of S. Helen wherewith as Josephus Acosta reports men use to pitch their Ropes and Tackling I know not whether the sanative virtue thereof hath been experimented but am sure that if it be Bitumen it is good to comfort the Nerves supple the Joynts drye up Rheumes cure Palsies and Contractions I have nothing more to say of Bitumen but that great the affinity thereof is with Sulphur save that Sulphur hath ingression into Mettal and Bitumen none at all Here I purposely passe by Okenyate in this County where are Allum springs whereof the Dyers of Shrewsbury make use instead of Allum Proverbs He that fetcheth a VVife from Shrewsbury must cary her into Staffordshire or else shall live in Cumberland The Staple-wit of this vulgar Proverb consisting solely in similitude of sound is scarce
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 Embasâ—…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
then would appear in publick to converse with his Friends whereof Dr. Cowel and Mr. Camden were principal Some tax him to smack of the Old Cask as resenting of the Romish Religion but they have a quicker Palatâ—…than than I who can make any such discovery In his old Age he turn'd Husbandman and Rented a Farm in Wiltshire nigh the Devises I can give no account how he thrived thereupon For though he was well vers'd in Virgil his fellow Husbandman-Poet yet there is more required to make a rich Farmer than only to say his Georgicks by heart and I question whether his Itaâ—…ian will fit our English Husbandry Besides I suspect that Mr. Daniel his fancy was too fine and sublimated to be wrought down to his private profit However he had neither a Bank of wealth or lank of want living in a competent condition By Justina his wife he had no child and I am unsatisfied both in the Place and Time of death but collect the latter to be about the end of the reign of King James HUMPHRY SIDENHAM was born at Dalverton in this County of a most Ancient and Worshipful Family bred Fellow of Wadham Colledge so Eloquent a Preacher that he was commonly called Silver-tongued Sidenham But let his own printed Sermons and especially that called the Athenian Babler set forth his deserved praise who died since our Civil distempers about the year 1650. Romish-exile Writers JOHN GIBBON was undoubtedly born in this County though herein Pitts presents us with an untoward and left-handed direction Patrica Somersetensis Diocesis Wintoniensis Now either Wâ—…nchester is imprinted for Wells or he was born in this County in some peculiar belonging to Winchester which See hath large revenues about Taunton Leaving the Land for his Religion Pope Gregory XIII collated on him a Canons place in the Church of Bonn. This he soon quitted and became Rector of the Jesuits Colledge in Triers he wrote a Book against G. Schon Professor at Heydelberge in vindication that the Pope was not Antichrist Being indisposed in health his hearing of the defeat of the Spanish Armado was no cordial unto him and died Anno 1589. ROBERT PERSON was born in this County bred in Baliol-Colledge in Oxford till for his viciousness he was expelled thence with disgrace Running to Rome and there finishing the course of his studies he with Campian were the first brace of English Jesuits who returned hither 1589 to preserve this Nation Two years after he escaped hence and got beyond the Seas One of a troublesome spirit wherewith some moderate Romanists were so offended that during his abode here they once resolved to resign him up to the Queens Officers He had an ill natured Wit biassed to Satyricalnesse A great States-man and it was not the least part of his policy to provide for his own safety who would look on direct give ground abet on other mens hands but never plaid so as to adventure himself into England He wrote a shrewd Book of the Succession to the English-crown setting it forth under the false name of Dolman a dulsecular Priest guilty of little Learning and less policy dedicating the same to the Earl of Essex He had an authoritative influence on all English Catholicks nothing of importance being agitated by them but Person had a finger hand arm therein He was for 23 years Rector of the Colledge at Rome where he died Anno Dom. 1610. JOHN FEN was born at Montacute in this County bred in New-Colledge in Oxford where he proceeded Bachelour in Laws continuing there till Anno Dom. 1562 for his Popish activity he was ejected by the Queens Commissioners Then for a time he lived Schoolmaster at St. Edmunds-bury till outed there on the same account Hence he fled over into Flâ—…nders thence into Italy whence returning at last he was fixed at Lovain He wrote many and translated more Books living to finish his Jubile or Fiftieth year oâ—… exile beyond the Seas where he died about the years of our Lord 1613. Let me add that this John Fen mindeth me of another of the same surname and as violent on conâ—…rary principles viz. Humphrey Fen a non-conformist Minister living about Coventry who in the preface to his last Will Made such a Protestation against the Hierarchy and Ceremonies that when his Will was brought to be proved the Preface would not be suffered to be put amongst the Records of the Court as which indeed was no Limb but a Wen of his Testament JOHN COLLINGTON was born in this County bred in Lincoln-Colledge in Oxford Going beyond the Seas and there made Priest he returned into England and with Campian was taken cast into the Tower of London and condemned but afterwards reprieved enlarged and sent beyond the Seas Hence he returned and for 30 years together zelously advanced his own Religion being Assistant to the two Arch-Priests and he himself supplied the Place in the vacancy betwixt them He could not but be a very aged Man who though in restraint was alive 1611. Benefactors to the Publik The Lady MOHUN Reader know I can surround the Christian Names of her neâ—…rest Relations Her Husband was John the last Lord Mohun of Dunstor Her eldest daughter Philip married to Edward Duke of York her second Elizabeth to William Montacute Earl of Salisbury her youngest Maud matcht to the Lord Strange of Knockyn buâ—… her own Christian Name I cannot recover However she hath left a worthy memory behind her chiefly on this account that she obteined from her Husband so much good ground for the Commons of the Town of Dunstor as she could in one day believe it a Summer one for her ease and advantage compasse about going on her naked feet Surely no Ingenious Scholar beheld her in that her charitable perambulation but in effect vented his wishes in the Poets expression Ah! tibi nè teneras tellus secet aspera plantas The certain date of her death is unknown which by proportion is conjectured in the reign of King Henry the Fifth Since the Reformation NICHOLAS WADHAM of Merrifield in this County Esq. had great length in his extraction breadth in his Estate and depth in his liberality His Hospital house was an Inn at all times a Court at Cristmas He married Dorothy daughter to the Secretary sister to the first Lord Peters Absolom having no children reared up for himself a Pillar to perpetuate his name This Worthy pair being Issueless erected that which hath doth and will afford many Pillars to Church and State the uniform and regular nothing defective or superfluous therein Colledge of Wadham in Oxford Had this worthy Esquire being a great Patron of Church-Livings annexed some Benefices thereunto which may be presumed rather forgotten than neglected by him it had for compleatenesse of Fabrick and endowment equalled any English Foundation If he was which some suggest a Romanist in his Judgement his charity is the more commendable to build
gent. VVillielmi Orme gent. Hugonis Greneway gent. Humfridi Clerkeson Rogeri Bealchier VVillielmi Sondbache Johannis Brennere Richardi Vicarus Johannis VVylot Thomae Bowyer Johannis Ruggeley Petri Goldsone Nicholai Flaxale Thomae Brette Thomae Neweno Richardi Banastre VVillielmi Fouke Rogeri Milnes Richardi Bisheton Roberti Onowyne Roberti Berdusmore Humfridi VValker of Kestren VVillielmi Bowdel of the Mere VVillielmi Sherred VVillielmi Broke Henrici Monyfold Stephani Bagonnal Thomae Glyfe Hugâ—…nis Bertam Sheriffs HEN. II. Anno 1 Milo de Gloucest Anno 2 Robertus de Stafford for 6 years together Anno 8 Alex. Clericus for 18 years together Anno 26 Thomas Noel for 8 years together RICH. I. Anno 1 Thomas Noel Anno 2 Tho. de Cressewel Anno 3 Hugo Coventriensis Episc. Robertus filius Walleram Anno 4 Hugo Coventr Episcopus Rober. de Humant frater ejus Anno 5 Hugo Episcop Coventr Richardus Maresse Anno 6 Hugo Bardulfe Anno 7 Idem Anno 8 Hugo de Caucombe for 2 years together JOH Regis Anno 1 Galfr. filius Petri Tho. de Erdington for 5 years together Anno 6 Tho. Erdington Robertus de alta Ripa Anno 7 Idem Anno 8 Tho. de Erdington for 9 years together HEN. III. Anno 1 Ranul Com. Cestr. Hen. de Aldicheleia for 4 years together Anno 5 Ranul Comes Cest. Phil. de Kinton for 3 years together Anno 8 Ranul Com. Cestr. Anno 9 Joh. Bonet for 3 years together Anno 12 Hen. de Aldich Robertus de Leia Anno 13 Hen. de Aldich Will de Bromley for 4 years together Anno 17 Robertus de Haga for 4 years together Anno 21 Joh. Extraneus Robertus de Acton Anno 22 Joh. Extraneus for 10 years together Anno 32 Thomas Corbet Anno 33 Idem Anno 34 Rober. Grendon for 6 years together Anno 40 Hugo de Acovere Anno 41 Hugo de Acovere Anno 42 Will. Bagod for 3 years together Anno 45 Will. de Covereswel Jac. de Aldahell Anno 46 Jaco de Aldahell for 7 years together EDW. I. Anno 1 Radul de Mortuo Mari for 3 years together Anno 4 Bogo de Knovil for 3 years together Anno 7 Rogerus Springhuse for 7 years together Anno 14 Rogerus Springhuse Lionine Ramesley for 3 years together Anno 17 Robertus Corbet Anno 18 Will. Tictely for 6 years together Anno 24 Radul de Schirle for 3 years together Anno 27 Thomas Corbet Anno 28 Idem Anno 29 Richardus de Harleigh Anno 30 Idem Anno 31 Walter de Beysin Anno 32 Idem Anno 33 Johannes de Acton Anno 34 Johannes de Dene Anno 35 Idem EDW. II. Anno 1 Rogerus Trumwinne Anno 2 Johannes Extraneus Anno 3 Hugo de Crofts Anno 4 Idem Anno 5 Hugo de Andecle for 3 years together Anno 8 Will. de Mere. Anno 9 Rogerus de Cheyne Anno 10 Rogeri Trumwinne Anno 11 Idem Anno 12 Robertus de Grendon for 3 years together Anno 15 Johannes de Swinerton Anno 16 Idem Anno 17 Henricus de Bishburn for 3 years together EDW. III. Anno 1 Johannes de Hinkele Henricus de Bishburn Anno 2 Idem Anno 3 Johannes de Hinkele Anno 4 Idem Anno 5 Henricus de Bishburn Anno 6 Idem Anno 7 Richardus de Peshal Anno 8 Idem Anno 9 Johannes de Hinkeley Anno 10 Simon de Ruggeley Anno 11 Richardus de Peshal Simon de Ruggeley for 4 years together Anno 15 Adam de Peshal Anno 16 Thomas de Swinerton Anno 17 Idem Anno 18 Johannes de Aston Anno 19 Henr. Com. Derby for 17 years together Anno 36 Johannes de Swinerton Anno 37 Robertus de Grendon Anno 38 Johannes de Perton Anno 39 Philippus de Lutteley for 4 years together Anno 43 Henricus Pius Anno 44 Johannes de Perton Anno 45 Idem Anno 46 Johannes de Gresley Anno 47 Nicholaus de Stafford Anno 48 Johannes de Verdon Anno 49 Johannes Bassey Anno 50 Nicholaus de Stafford Anno 51 Petrus de Careswel Anno 52 Walterus de Hopton Anno 53 Willielmus de Canereswel HENRY the Third 1 Ranul Com. Cestr. Henr. de Aldicheleia This Henricus of Aldicheleia was the first Lord Audley in this County and Founder of that Noble Family so long famous for Martial Atchievements I meet with a Record extant in the Tower too long to transcribe wherein King Henry the Third confirmed unto him not only many Lands of his own Donation but what other persons of quality in this County had bestowed on him 1 Nich. de Verdun gave him Aldithlege 2 Hugh de Lacy gave him Coulton 3 Eutropius Hastang gave him Cold Norton 4 Will. de Betleigh gave him Betleigh 5 Harvey de Stafford gave him Heleigh 6 Egidius Erdington gave him Shagbourn 7 Herbert Rusbin gave him Stanweare 8 Eugenulphus Greasly gave him Tunstal Chaderley 9 Alice his Wife gave him Chell Normancot 10 Margaret Strange gave him Nerle Brudnap 11 Alice Hartoate gave him Weston 12 Joan Noel gave him Weston 13 Peter Morton gave him Hauksley Bagley and Morton All or most of these were great Mannors cum pertinentiis What man of men was this Henry that so many of both Sexes should center in their bounty upon him was it for fear or love or a mixture of both But I have no calling to inquire into the cause thereof and if they were pleased to give none will blame him for receiving them Heleigh the fifth Mannor here mentioned was afterwards the prime Seat of the Lord Audley who also had great Lands in Devon-shire where formerly we have spoken of him Their heir-Males failing about the reign of King Henry the Sixth Joan one of their heirs was married to Sir John Tutchet whose son Sir John assumed the Title of Baron Audley and was Ancestor to the present Lord Audley Earl of Castle-haven in Ireland EDWARD the Third 18 John de Aston I have not met with a more Noble Family measuring on the Level of flat and un-advantaged Antiquity They have euer borne a good respect to the Church and Learned Men and not without just reason seeing Roger de Molend Bishop of Litchfield in the reign of King Henry the Third gave Haywood in this County Rogero de Aston Valecto suo to Roger de Aston his servant This Roger was son to Ralph Aston and father unto Sir John Aston whose succession is thus ordered 1 Sir John Aston afore-named 2 Sir Thomas Aston his son 3 Sir Roger Aston his son 4 Sir Robert Aston his son 5 John Aston his son Esq. 6 Sir John Aston his son Knight Banneret 7 Sir Edward Aston his son 8 Sir Walter Aston his son 9 Sir Edward Aston his son 10 Sir Walter Aston his son This last Sir Walter was employed by King James Embassador unto Spain He married Gertrude sole daughter of Sir Thomas Sadler of Standon in Hartford-shire
Stutvile 〈◊〉 Dallam 〈◊〉 Argent and Gules a Lion rampant Sable Nicol. Bacon miles ut prius  Reg. JACO   Anno   1 〈◊〉 Bacon miles ut prius  2 Edm. Bokemham armiger   〈◊〉 Tho. Playters arm 〈◊〉 Bendy Wavy of six Argent and Azure 4 Antho. Penning ar   Iâ—…oho Wentworth armiger  Sable a Cheveron between 3 Leopaâ—…ds heads Or. 6 Lionel Talmarsh ar ut prius  7 Geo. le Hunt miles   8 Thom. Tilney arm ut prius  9 Calthorp Parker mil. ut prius  10 Martin Stutevil ut prius  11 Rob. Brook miles  AMP. 12 Rob. Barker mil.  Perfess embatt'led Or and Azure 3 martlets counterchanged 13 Tho. Clench arm   14 Lio. Ialmarsh m. B. ut prius Azure a Cheveron Argent 15 Edw. Lewkenor m.   16 Io. Wentworth m. ut prius  17 Hen. North miles  Azure a Lion passant Or between 3 Flower de 〈◊〉 Ar. 18 Will. Spring miles ut prius  19 Will. Wetle arm   20 Rob. Brook arm   21 Nâ—… Bernardiston m ut prius  22 Galf. Pittman arm   Reg. CAROL   1 Sam. Aylemer arm Cleydon Argent a Cross Sable betwixt 4 Cornish 〈◊〉 proper 2 Joha Prescot mil.  S. a Chev. betwixt 3 〈◊〉 Ar. 3 Maur. Barrowe ar  S. 2 swords in Saltire Ar. 〈◊〉 betw 4 flowers de luce Or within a Bordure compone of the second and 〈◊〉 4 Brampt Gourden a. ut prius  5 Hen Hookenham a.   6 Iohan Acton arm   7 Rob. Crane miles Chyston Ar. a Fess betw 3 Cross 〈◊〉 fitchee Gu. 8 Will. * Some miles   9 Edw. Bacon miles ut prius Gules a Cheveron betwixt 3 Mallets Or. 10 Ioha Barker arm ut prius  11 Ioha Rouse miles ut prius  12 Phil. Parker mil. ut prius  13 Ed. Duke armiger Brampton Az a Cheveron betwixt 3 〈◊〉 Argent membred Gules 14 Ioh. Clench arm   15 Sim. Dewes miles Stow-Hall Or 3 Quatersoilâ—…s Gules 16 VVill. Spring arm ut prius  17 Will. 〈◊〉 aâ—…   18 Maur. Barrowe arâ—… ut prius  19   20 Ioha Cotton arm   21   22 Tho. Blosse arm   Queen ELIZABETH 18 JOHN HIGHAM Arm. I find this passage in the Ingenious Michael Lord Montaigne in France in his Essay * of Glory I have no name which is sufficiently mine Of two I have the one common to all my Race yea and also to others There is a Family at Paris and another at Montpellier called Montaigne another in Brittanny and one in Zantoigne surnamed de la Montaigne The removing of one only syllable may so confound our Web as I shall have a share in their Glory and they perhaps a part of my shame And my Ancestors have heretofore been surnamed HEIGHAM or HIQUEM a surname which also belongs to an House well known in England Indeed the Highams so * named from a Village in this County were for I suspect them extinct a right Ancient Family and Sr Clement Heigham Ancestor to this John our Sheriff who was a Potent Knight in his Generation lies buried under a fair Tomb in Thorning-Church in Northfolk 20 ROBERT JERMIN Miles He was a Person of singular Piety a bountiful Benefactor to Emanuel-Colledge and a man of great command in this County He was Father to Sir Tho. Jermin Privy Concellour and Vice-Chamberlain to King Charles the First Grandfather to Thomas and Henry Jermin Esquires The younger of these being Lord Chamberlain to our present Queen Mary and sharing in her Majesties sufferings during her long Exile in France was by King Charles the Second deservedly advanced Baron and Earl of St. Albans 23 NICHOLAS BACON Miles He was son to Sir Nicholas and elder Brother to Sir Francis Bacon both Lord Chancellors of England and afterward by King James in the ninth of his reign on the 22 of May created the first Baronet of England 36 THOMAS CROFTS Armiger He was a Man of Remark in his generation Father to Sir John Crofts Grand-father to .... Crofts who for his Fidelity to his Sovereign during his suffering condition and for several Embassies worthily performed to the King of Poland and other Princes was created Baron Crofts by King Charles the Second CHARLES the First 15 SIMONDS DEWES Miles This Sir Simonds was Grand-child unto Adrian Dâ—…wes descended of the Ancient Stem of Des Ewes Dynasts or Lords of the Dition of Kessel in the Dutchy of Gelderland who came first thence when that Province was wasted with Civil War in the beginning of King Henry the Eighth He was bred in Cambridge as appeared by his printed speech made in the long Parliament wherein he indeavoured to prove it more Ancient than Oxford His Genious addicted him to the study of Antiquity Preferring Rust before Brightness and more conforming his mind to the Garbe of the former than mode of the moderne times He was studious in Roman Coin to discriminate true ones from such as were cast and counterfeit He passed not for Price to procure a choice piece and was no less careful in conserving than curious in culling many rare Records He had plenty of pretious Medals out of which a methodical Architect might contrive a fair Fabrick for the benefit of posterity His Treasury afforded things as well new as old on the token that he much admired that the Ordinances and Orders of the late Long Parliament did in Bulks and number exceed all the Statutes made since the Conquest He was loving to Learned Men to whom he desired to do all good offices and died about the year of our Lord 1653. The Fare-wel To conclude our description of Suffolk I wish that therein Grain of all kinds may be had at so reasonable rates that rich and poor may be contented therewith But if a Famine should happen here let the poor not distrust Divine providence whereof their Grand-fathers had so admirable a testimony 15. When in a general dearth all over England plenty of Pease did grow on the Sea-shore near Dunwiâ—…h never set or sown by humane industry which being gathered in full ripeness much abated the high prices in the Markets and preserved many hundreds of hungry Families from famishing SURREY hath Middlesex divided by the Thames on the North Kent on the East Sussex on the South â—…ant Bark-shires on the West It may be allowed to be a Square besides its Angular expatiation in the South-west of two and twenty miles and is not unproperly compared to a Cynamon-tree whose Bark is far better than the Body thereof For the skirts and borders bounding this Shire are rich and fruitful whilst the ground in the inward parts thereof is very hungry and barren though by reason of the clear Air and clean wayes full of many gentile habitations Naturall Commodities Fullers-Earth The most and best of this
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 〈◊〉 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
his own charge chased away the French-man relieved the English and took sixâ—…y of the French Prisoners He removed afterwards to Virginia to view those parts and afterwards came into England and obtained from King Charles who had as great an esteem of and affection for him as King James a Patent to him and his Heirs for Mary-land on the North of Virginia with the same Title and Royalties conferred on him as in Avalon aforesaid now a hopeful Plantation peopled with eight thousand English souls which in processe of time may prove more advantagious to our Nation Being returned into England he died in London April 15. 1632. in the 53. year of his age lying buried in the Chancel of S. Dunstans in the West leaving his Son the Right Honourable Cecil Calvert now Lord Baltemore heir to his Honour Estate and Noble Disposition THOMAS WENTWORTH Earl of Strafford Deputy though Son to William Wentworth of Wentworth-Woodhouse in this County Esq at his Sons birth afterward Baronet yet because born in Chancery-Lane and Christned April 22. Anno 1593. in Saint Dunstans in the West hath his Character in London Seamen ARMIGELL WAAD born of an ancient Family in York-shire as I am informed from his Epitaph on his monument at Hampstead in Midlesex wherein he is termed Hen. 8. Edw. 6. Regum Secretiori consilio ab epistolis which I took the boldnesse to interpret not Secretary but Clerk of the Councel Take the rest as it followeth in his Funeral Inscription Qui in maximarum Artium disciplinis prudentiaque civili instructissimus plurimarum linguarum callentissimus legationibus honoratissimis perfunctus inter Britannos Indicarum Americarum explorator primus Indeed he was the first Englishman that discovered America and his several voyages are largely described in Mr. Hackluite his Travels This English COLUMBUS had by two Wives twenty Children whereof Sir William Waad was the eldest a very able Gentleman and Clerk of the Councel to Queen Elizabeth This Armigel died June 20. 1568. and was buried as is aforesaid MARTIN FROBISHER Kt. was born nigh Doncaster in this County I note this the rather because learned Mr. Carpenter in his Geography recounts him amongst the famous men of Devonshire But why should Devon-shire which hath a flock of Worthies of her own take a Lamb from another County because much conversing therein He was from his youth bred up in Navigation and was the first Englishman that discovered the North way to China and Cathai whence he brought great store of black soft Stone supposing it Silver or Gold Ore but which upon trial with great expence prov'd uselesse yet will no wise man laugh at his mistake because in such experiments they shall never hit the mark who are not content to 〈◊〉 it He was very valiant but withal harsh and violent faults which may be dispensed with in one of his profèssion and our Chronicles loudly resouâ—…d his signal service in Eighty Eight for which he was Knighted His last service was the defending of Brest-Haven in Britain with ten ships against a far greater power of Spaniards Here he was shot into the side the wound not being mortal in it self But Swords and Guâ—…s have not made more mortal wounds than Probes in the hands of carelesse and skillesse Chirurgeons as here it came to passe The Chirurgeon took out only the Bullet and left the bumbast about it behind wherewith the sore festered and the worthy Knight died at Plimoâ—…th Anno 1594. GEORGE CLIFFORD Lord Clifford Vescye c. Earl of Cumberland was son to Henry second Earl of that Family by his second Lady a person wholly composed of true Honour and Valour whereof he gave the world a clear and large demonstration It was resolved by the judicious in that age the way to humble the Spanish greatnesse was not by pinching and pricking him in the Low-Countries which only emptied his veins of such blood as was quickly re-filled But the way to make it a Cripple for ever was by cutting off the Spanish sinews of War his Money from the West Indies In order whereunto this Earl set forth a small Fleet at his own cost and adventured his own person therein being the best born Englishman that ever hazarded himselfe in that kind His Fleet may be said to be bound for no other Harbour but the Port of Honour though touching at the Port of Profit in passage thereunto I say touching whose design was not to enrich himself but impoverish the enemy He was as merciful as valiant the best metal bows best and left impressions of both in all places where he came Queen Elizabeth Anno 1592. honoured him with the dignity of the Garter When King James came first out of Scotland to York he attended him with such an equipage of Followers for number and habit that he seemed rather a King than Earl of Cumberland Here happened a contest between the Earl and the Lord President of the North about carrying the Sword before the King in York which office upon due search and enquiry was adjudged to the Earl as belonging unto him and whilest Cliffords Tower is standing in York that Family will never be therein forgotten His Anagram was as really as litterally true Georgius Cliffordius Cumberlandius Doridis regno clarus cum vi fâ—…lgebis He died 1605. leaving one Daughter and Heir the Lady Anne married to the Earl of Dorset of whom hereafter Physicians Sir GEORGE RIPLEY whether Knight or Priest not so soon decided was undoubtedly born at Ripley in this County though some have wrongfully entituled Surry to his Naâ—…vity That York-shire was the place of his birth will be evidenced by his relation of Kindred reckoned up by himself viz. 1. 〈◊〉 2. Ripleâ—… 3. Madlay 4. VVilloughby 5. Burham 6. VVaterton 7. Flemming 8. Talboyes Families found in York-shire and Lincoln-shire but if sought for in Surrey to be met with at Nonesuch Secondly it appeareth by his preferment being Canon of Bridlington in this County and to clear all In patria Eboracensi saith my Author But Philemon Holland hath not only erroniously misplaced but which is worse opprobriously miscalled him in his description of Surrey In the next Village of Ripley was born G. de Ripley a ringleader of our Alchimists and a mystical Impostor Words not appearing in the Latine Britannia and therefore Holland herein no Translator of Cambden but traducer of Ripley Leaving this Land he went over into Italy and there studied twenty years together in pursuance of the Philosophers Stone and â—…ound it in the year 1470. as some collect from those his words then written in his Book Juveni quem diligit anima mea spoken by the Spouse Cant. 3. 4. so bold is he with Scripture in that kind An English Gentleman of good credit reported that in his travels abroad he saw a Record in the Isle of Malta which declares that Sir George Ripley gave yearly to those Knights of Rhodes
whole year without any renewing after the Inter-Regnum Objection Such persons had better been omitted whereof many were little better then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though by good fortune they have loaded themselves with Thick clay and will be but a burden in your Book to the Readers thereof Answer All Wise men will behold them under a better Notion as the Pregnant proofs of the truth of 2. Proverbs not contradictory but confirmatory one to another Prov. 10. 22. Prov. 10. 4. The Blessing of the Lord maketh Rich. The hand of the Diligent maketh Rich. The one as the principal the other as the Instrumental cause and both meeting in the persons aforesaid For though some of them were the Younger Sons of Worshipful and Wealthy Parents and so had good Sums of Money left them Yet being generally of mean extraction They raised themselves by Gods Providence and their own Painfulness The City in this Respect being observed like unto a Court where Elder Brothers commonly spend and the younger gain an Estate But such Lord Maiors are here inserted to quicken the Industry of Youth whose Parents are only able to send them up to not to set them up in London For whaâ—… a comfort is it to a poor Apprentice of that City to see the Prime Magistrate thereof Riding in his Majoralibus with such Pomp and Attendance which another day may be his hap and happiness Objection It commeth not to the share of one in twenty thousand to attain to that Honour and it is as impossible for every poor Apprentice in process of time to prove Lord Maior as that a Minum with long living mould become a Whale Answer Not so the later is an utter Impossibility as debarred by nature being Fishes of several kinds Whereas there is a Capacity in the other to arive at it which puts hopes the only Tie which keeps the heart from breaking into the hearts of all of the attainablenesse of such preferment to themselves Doctor Hutton Arch-bishop of York when he came into any Great Grammar School which he did constantly visit in his visitations was wont to say to the young Scholars Ply your Books Boys ply your Books for Bishops are old men and surely the possibility of such dignity is a great Encouragement to the Endévours of Students Lord Maiors being generally aged and always but Annual soon make Room for Succession whereby the Indevours of all Freemen in Companies are incouraged But if they should chance to fall short as unable to reach the Home of Honour I mean the Majoralty it self yet if they take up their Lodgings at Sheriffe Alderman and Common-Councellour with a good Està tè they will have no cause to complain I confess some Counties in our ensuing Discourse will appear Lord-Maior-less as Cumberland Dorset-shire Hant-Shire c. However though hitherto they have not had hereafter they may have Natives advanced to that Honour and it may put a lawful Ambition into them to contend who shall be their Leader and who should first of those Shires attain to that Dignity As lately Sir Richard Cheverton Skinner descended I assure you of a right antient and worshipful Family was the first in Cornwall who opened the Dore for others no doubt to follow after him Nor must it be forgotten that many have been Lord-Maiors Mates though never rémembred in their Catalogues viz. Such who by Fine declined that Dignity and as I am glad that some will Fine that so the Stock of the Chamber of London may be increased so am I glad that some will not fine that so the State of the City of London may be maintained I begin the observing of their Nativities from Sir William Sevenoke Grocer Lord Maior 1418. For though there were Lord Maiors 200. years before yet their Birth-places generally are unknown It was I confess well for me in this particular that Mr. Stow was born before me being herein the Heir of Endevours without any pain of my own For knowing that Cuilibet Artifici in sua Arte est credendum I have followed him and who him continued till the year 1633. at what time their Labours do determine Since which Term to the present year I have made the Catalogue out by my own Inquiry and friends Intelligence To speak truth to their due praise one may be generally directed to their Cradles though by no other Candle then the Light of their good works and Benefactions to such places CHAP. XIV A Catalogue of all the Gentry in ENGLAND made in the Reign of King HENRY the Sixth why inserted in our Book AFter we have finished the Catalogue of the worthy Natives of every Shire We present the Reader with a List of the Gentry of the Land sollemnly returned by select Commissioners into the Chancery thence into the Records in the Tower on this occasion The Commons in Parliament complained that the Land then swarmed with Pilours â—…obbers Oppressers of the People Man-stealers Fellons Outlaws Ravishers of Women Unlawful Haunters of Forrests and Parks c. Whereupon it was ordered for the suppressing of present and preventing of future mischeifs that certain Commissioners should be impowered in every County to summon all persons of Quality before them and tender them an Oath for the better keeping of the Peace and observing the Kings Laws both in themselves and Retainers Excuse me Reader if I be bold to inâ—…pose my own Conjecture who conceive what ever was intended to palliate the Businesse The Principal Intent was to detect and suppress such who favoured the Title of York which then began to be set on foot and afterwards openly claimed and at last obtained the Crown 2. Even-done Of the method general used in this Catalogue The first amongst the Commissioners is the Bishop of their Diocesse put before any Earl partly because he was in his own Diocesse partly because giving of Oaths their proper work was conceived to be of Spiritual cognisance Besides the Bishop when there were three as generally Commissioners the first of them was either an Earl or at least though often intituled but Chivaler an Actual Baron as will hereafter appear And which will acquaint us partly with the Peerage of the Land in that Age. Next follow those who were Knights for the Shire in the Parliament foregoing and if with the addition of Chivaler or Miles were Knights by dubbing before of that their Relation All Commissioners expressed not equal Industry and Activity in prosecution of their trust For besides the natural Reasons that in all Affairs some will be more rigorous some more Remiss by their own Temper some more some less fancyed their Imployment insomuch as we find some Shires 1. Over done as Oxford and Cambridge-Shires whose Catalogues are too much allayed descending to persons of meaner quality 2. Even done as generally the most are where the Returns bear a competent proportion to the Populousness and numerousnesse of the Counties 3. Under done as Shropshire York-shire Northumberland c. where
partial Reflections CHAP. XIX Of the Number of Modern Shires or Counties in England And why the WORTHIES in this Work are digested County-wayes I Say Modern not meaning to meddle with those antiquated ones which long since have lost their Names and bounds as Winchelcomb-shire united to Gloucester-shire Howdon-Shire annexed to York-shire and Hexham-Shire to Northumberland As little do we intend to touch on those small Tracts of Ground the County of Poole and the like being but the extended Limits and Liberties of some Incorporations We add Shires or Counties using the words promiscuously as the same in sense I confess I have heard some Criticks making this distinction betwixt them that such are Shires which take their Denomination from some principal Town as Cambridgeshire Oxford-shire c. Whilest the rest not wearing the Name of any Town are to be reputed Counties as Norfolk Suffolk c. But we need not go into Wales to confute their Curiosity where we meet Merioneth-shire and Glamorgan-shire but no Towns so termed seeing Devon-shire doth discompose this their English Conceit I say English Shires and Counties being both Comitatus in Latine Of these there be nine and thirty at this day which by the thirteen in Wales are made up fifty two England largely taken having one for every Week in the year Here let me tender this for a real Truth which may seem a Paradoxe that there is a County in England which from the Conquest till the year 1607 when Mr. Camdens last Latine Britannia was set forth never had Count or Earl thereof as hereby may appear In his Conclusion of Bark-shire Immediately it followeth Haec de Bark shire quae hactenus Comitis honore insignivit neminem In hujus Comitatus complexu sunt Parochiae 140. Now this may seem the more strange because Comes and Comitatus are relative But under favour I humbly conceive that though Bark shire never had any Titular Honourary or Hereditary Earl till the year 1620. when Francis Lord Norris was created first Earl thereof yet had it in the Saxons time when it was first modelled into a Shire an Officiary Count whose Deputy was termed Vice-comes as unto this day Why the Worthies in this Work are digested County-ways First this Method of Marshalling them is new and therefore I hope neverthelesse acceptable Secondly it is as informative to our judgements to order them by Counties according to their place as by Centuries so oft done before according to the time seeing WHERE is as essential as WHEN to a mans being Yea both in some sort may be said to be jure divino understand it ordered by Gods immediate providence and therefore are coupled together by the Apostle Acts 17. 26. And hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation If of their habitation in general then more especially of the most important place of their Nativity The Spirit of God in Scripture taketh signal notice hereof The Lord shall count when he writes up the people That this man was born there Philip was of Bethsaida the City of Andrew and Peter and all know how St. Paul got his best Liberty where he saw the first light in Tarsus a City of Cilicia When Augustus Câ—…ar issued out a decree to taxe the whole World it was ordered therein that every own should go into his own City as the most compendious way to prevent confusion and effectually to advance the businesse I find the same to expedite this work by methodizing the Worthies therein according to the respective places of their Nativities If some conceive it a pleasant sight in the City of London to behold the Natives of the several Shires after the hearing of a Sermon passe in a decent equipage to some Hall there to dine together for the continuance and increase of Love and Amity amongst them Surely this Spectacle will not seem unpleasant to ingenuous Eyes to see the Heroes of every particular County modelled in a body together and marching under the Banners of their several Eminencies Here may you behold how each County is Innated with a particular Genius inclining the Natives thereof to be dexterous some in one profession some in another one carrying away the credit for Souldiers another for Seamen another for Lawyers another for Divines c. as I could easily instance but that I will not forestall the Readers Observation seeing some love not a Rose of anothers gathering but delight to pluck it themselves Here also one may see how the same County was not always equally fruitful in the production of worthy persons but as Trees are observed to have their bearing and barren years So Shires have their rise and fall in affording famous persons one age being more fertile then another as by annexing the dates to their several Worthies will appear In a word my serious desire is to set a noble emulation between the several Counties which should acquit themselves most eminent in their memorable off spring Nor let a smaller Shire be disheartned herein to contest with another larger in extent and and more populous in persons seeing Viri do not always hold out in proportion to Homines Thus we find the Tribe of Simeon more numerous than any in Israel Judah and Dan only excepted as which at their coming out of Egypt afforded no fewer than fifty nine thousand and three hundred Yet that Tribe did not yeild Prince Preist Prophet or any remarkable person Apocrypha Judith only excepted Multi gregarii pauci egregii and Multitude with Amplitude is never the true Standard of Eminency as the judicious Reader by perusing and comparing our County Catalogues will quickly perceive A Case of Concernment propounded and submitted to the Equity of the Reader It is this Many Families time out of mind have been certainly fixed in eminent Seats in their respective Counties where the Ashes of their Ancestors sleep in quiet and their Names are known with honour Now possibly it may happen that the chief Mother of that Family travelling in her Travel by the way side or by some other Casualty as visit of a friend c. May there be delivered of the Heir of her Family The Question is whether this Child shall be reputed the Native of that place where his Mother accidentally touched or where his Father and the Father of his Fathers have landed for many Generations On the one side it seemeth unreasonable to any man according to his Historical conscience that such a casual case should carry away the Sole credit of his Nativity This allowed tota Anglia Londinizabit a Moiety almost of the Eminent Persons in this Modern age will be found born in that City as the Inn-general of the Gentry and Nobility of this Nation Whether many come to prosecute Law-Suits to see and to be seen and on a hundred other occasions among which I will not name saving of house-keeping in the Countrey One Instance of many I find
Gods grace may prove sober Christians and eminent in their generations The last Port to which I traffiqued for intelligence towards our insuing Work was by making my addresses by letters and otherwise to the nearest Relations of those whose Lifes I have written Such applications have sometimes proved chargable but if my weak pains shall find preferment that is acceptance from the judicious Reader my care and cost is forgotten and shall never come under computation Here I cannot but condemn the carelessness not to say ingratitude of those I am safe whilst containing my self in general terms who can give no better account of the Place where their fathers or grand-fathers were born then the child unborn so that sometimes we have been more beholden to strangers for our instructions herein then to their nearest Kindred And although some will say Sons are more comfortably concerned to know the time of their Fathers death then place of their birth yet I could almost wish that a moderate fine were imposed on such heirs whose Fathers were born before them and yet they know not where they were born However this I must gratefully confess I have met with many who could not never with any who would not furnish me with information herein It is observable that men born an hundred years since and upwards have their nativities fixed with more assurance then those born some eighty years since Mens eyes see worst in the Twilight in that intervale after the Sun is set and natural light ended and before candles are set up and artificial light begun In such a crepusculum oftime those Writers lived who fall short of the history of Bale and Leland yet go before the memory of any alive which unhappy insterstice hath often perplexed us and may easier be complained of then amended To conclude should I present all with Books who courteously have conduced to my instruction the whole Impression would not suffice But I remember the no less civil then politick invitation of Judah to the Tribe of Simeon Come up with me into my Lot to Conquer the Cananites and I likewise will go with thee into thy Lot if such who have lent me theirs shall have occasion to borrow mine assistance my Pains Brains and Books are no more mine then theirs to command which besides my prayers for them and thanks to them is all my ability in requital can perform CHAP. XXIII A double Division of the English Gentry 1. According to the Nation whence they were extracted 2. According to the Profession whereby they were advanced THis discourse I tender the Reader as a preparative to dispose him for the better observing and distinguishing of our English Gentry in our ensuing Lives and Catalogue of Sheriffs We begin with the Britains the Aborigines or Native Inhabitants of the South of this Island but long since expelled by the Saxons into the West thereof None then remaining in some since returning into our Land of whom hereafter We confess the Romans Conquered our Country planted Colonies and kept Garrisons therein but their descendants are not by any character discernable from the British Indeed if any be found able to speak Latine naturally without learning it we may safely conclude him of Roman Extraction Mean time it is rather a pretty conceit then a solid notion of that great Antiquary who from the allusion of the name collecteth the noble family of the Cecils more truly Sytsilts descended from the Cecilii a Senatorian Family in Rome The Saxons succeed whose Of-spring at this day are the main bulk and body of the English though not Gentry Nation I may call them the whole cloath thereof though it be garded here and there with some great ones of foreign Extraction These Saxons though pitifully depressed by the Conquerour by Gods goodness King Henry the first favour their own patience and diligence put together the plankes of their Shiprack'd Estates and aferwards recovered a competent condition The Danes never acquired in this Land a long and peaceable possession thereof living here rather as Inroders then Inhabitants the cause that so few families distinguishable by their Surnames are descended from them extant in our age Amongst which few the respected Stock of the Denizes often Sheriffs in Devon and Gloustershire appear the principal As for Fitz-Hardinge the younger son of the King of Denmark and direct ancestour of the Truly Honourable George Lord Berkeley he came in long since when he accompanied the Conquerour I must confess that at this day there passeth a Tradition among some of the Common People that such names which Terminate in Son as Johnson Tomson Nicolson Davison Saunderson are of Danish Origination But this fond opinion is long since conâ—…uted by Vestegan that ingenious and industrious Antiquary Yea he urgeth this as an argument which much prevaileth with me why those Surnames were not derived from the Danes because they had no such name in use amongst them as John Thomas Nicholas David Alexander from whence they should be deduced Yea he further addeth that it is more probable that they made the Childs name by adjecting the syllable Son to the Appellation of the Father a custome which is usual even at this time amongst the Vulgar sort of the Dutch Yet is there not remaining any sign thereof amongst the names of our Age which probably might have been Canutson Ericson Gormoson Heraldson Rofolson c. The Normans or French under the Conquerour swarmed in England so that then they became the only visible Gentry in this Nation and still continue more then a Moity thereof several Catalogues of their Names I have so largely exemplifyed in my Church-history that some have taxed me for tediousness therein and I will not adde an new obstinacy to my old error But besides these we have some Surnames of good Families in England now extant which though French are not by any diligence to be recovered in the lists of such as came over with the Conquerour and therefore we suppose them to have remained of those Gentlemen and others which from Henault attended Queen Isabel wife unto King Edward the second Of this sort was Deureux Mollineux Darcy Coniers Longchamp Henage Savage Danvers with many more Of the British or Welsh after their expulsion hence by the Saxons some signal persons have returned again and by the Kings Grant Matches Purchases c. have fixed themselves in fair possessions in England especially since the beginning of the reign of their Country-man King Henry the seventh rewarding the valour of many contributing to his Victory in the battle of Bosworth Of the Welsh now re-estated in England and often Sheriffs therein some retain their old Surnames as the Griffins in Northamptonshire the Griffiths and Vaughans in Yorkshire some have assumed New ones as the Caradocks now known by the new Name of the Newtons in Somersetshire Many Scotch long before the Union of the two Kingdomes under King James seated themselves
his own mistake thus far forth both for Marbecks sake who escaped with his Life and his Enemies who thereby drew the less guilt of bloud on their own Consciences But hear what he pleads for his mistake 1. Marbeck was dead in Law as condemned whereon his errour was probably grounded 2. He confessing that one of the four condemned was pardoned his Life misnaming him 〈◊〉 instead of Marbeck 3. Let Papists first purge their Lying Legend from manifest and Intentionall untruths before they censure others for casuall slips and un-meant Mistakes 4. Recognizing his Book in the next Edition he with blushing amended his errour And is not this Penance enough according to the principals of his accusers Confession Contrition and Satisfaction All this will not content some morose Cavillers whom I have heard jeeringly say that many who were burnt in Fox in the Reign of Queen Mary drank Sack in the days of Queen Elizabeth But enough is said to any ingenious person And it is impossible for any Author of a Voluminous Book consisting of several persons and circumstances Reader in pleading for Master Fox I plead for my self to have such Ubiquitary intelligence as to apply the same infallibly to every particular When this Marbeck dyed is to me unknown he was alive at the second English Edition of the Book of Martyrs 1583. thirty and nine years after the time of his Condemnation ROBERT BENET was a Lawyer living in Windsor and a zealous Professor of the true Religion He drank as deep as any of the Cup of Affliction and no doubt had been condemned with Testwood Persons and the rest Had he not at the same time been sick of the plague-sore in the Prison of the Bishop of London which proved the means of his preservation Thus it is better to fall into the hands of God than into the hands of men And thus as out of the devourer came food out of the Destroyer came life yea the Plague-sore proved a Cordial unto him For by the time that he was recovered thereof a Pardon was freely granted to him as also to Sir Thomas Cardine Sir Philip Hobby both of the Kings Privy-chamber with their Ladies and many more designed to death by crafty Bishop Gardner had not His Majesties mercy thus miraculously interposed Cardinalls I have read of many who would have been Cardinals but might not This County afforded one who might have been one but would not viz. WILLIAM LAUD the place being no less freely profered to then disdainfully refused by him with words to this effect That the Church of Rome must be much mended before he would accept any such Dignity An expression which in my mind amounted to the Emphaticall Periphrasis of NEVER But we shall meet with him hereafter under a more proper Topick Prelats WILLIAM of READING a Learned Benedictine imployed by King H. the Second in many Embassies and by him preferred Arch-Bishop of Bourdeaux where he dyed in the Reign of King Richard the first JOHN DE BRADFIELD sive de lato Campo Finding fifteen Villages of the Name I fixt his Nativity at Bradfield in Berks as in my measuring the nearest to Rochester where he was Chanter and Bishop 1274. If mistaken the matter is not much seeing his Sir-name is controverted and otherwise written John de HOE However being Charractred Vir conversationis honestae decenter literatus in omnibus morigeratus I was desirous to crowd him into our Book where I might with most probability RICHARD BEAUCHAMP was Brother saith Bishop Godwin to Walter Beauchamp mistaken for William as may appear by Mr. Camden Baron of St. Amand whose chief habitation was at Wydehay in this County he was bred Doctor in the Laws and became Bishop first of Hereford then of Salisbury He was Chancellour of the Garter which Office descended to his Successors Windsor-Castle the seat of that Order being in the Dioces of Salisbury He built a most beautifull Chappel on the South-side of St. Maries Chappel in his own Cathedral wherein he lyeth buryed His death hapned Anno Dom. 1482. Since the Reformation THOMAS GODWIN was born at Oakingham in this County and first bred in the Free School therein Hence was he sent to Magdalen Colledge in Oxford maintained there for a time by the bounty of Doctor Layton Dean of York till at last he was chosen Fellow of the Colledge This he exchanged on some terms for the School-Masters place of Barkley in Gloucester-shire where he also Studied Physick which afterwards proved beneficial unto him when forbidden to teach School in the Reign of Queen Mary Yea Bonner threatned him with fire and faggot which caused him often to Obscure himself and Remove his Habitation He was an Eloquent Preacher Tall and Comely in Person qualities which much Indeared him to Q. Elizabeth who loved good parts well but better when in a goodly Person For 18. years together he never failed to be one of the Select Chaplains which Preached in the Lent before her Majesty He was first Dean of Christ-church in Oxford then Dean of Canterbury and at last Bishop of Bath and Wells Being infirm with Age and deseased with the Gout he was necessitated for a Nurse to marry a second wife a Matron of years proportionable to himself But this was by his Court-Enemies which no Bishop wanted in that Age represented to the Queen to his great Disgrace Yea they traduced him to have married a Girl of twenty years of age until the good Earl of Bedford casually present at such discourse Madam said he to her Majesty I know not how much the Woman is above twenty but I know a Son of hers is but little under forty Being afflicted with a Quartern feaver he was advised by his Physicians to retire into this County to Oakingham the place of his Birth seeing in such Cases Native Ayr may prove Cordial to Patients as Mothers milk to and old men are twice children Here he dyed breathing his first and last in the same Place November the 19. 1590. And lyeth buried under a Monument in the South-side of the Chancell THOMAS RAMME was born at Windsor in this County and admitted in Kings Colledge in Cambridge Anno Dom. 1588. whence he was made Chaplain first to Robert Earl of Essex then to Charles Lord Mountjoy both Lord Lieutenants in Ireland After many mediate Preferments he was made Bishop of Fernos and Laghlin in that Kingdom both which he Peaceably injoyed Anno 1628. WILLIAM LAWD was born at Reading in this County of honest Parentage bred in Saint Johns Colledge in Oxford whereof he became Pâ—…esident Successively Bishop of Saint Davids Bath and Wells London and at last Arch-Bishop of Canterbury One of low Stature but high Parts Piercing eyes Chearfull countenance wherein Gravity and Pleasantness were well compounded Admirable in his Naturalls Unblameable in his Morals being very strict in his Conversation Of him I have written in my Ecclesiastical History though I
their order who passed by the name of Historicus Regius the Kings Historian to write the remarkable passages of his time Our Roger was by King Henry the third selected for that service and performed it to â—…is own great credit and the contentment of others He flourished in the year of our Lord 1235. ROBERT RICH Son to Edward and Mabell his Wife Brother of St. Edmund Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was born at Abbington in this County he followed his Brother at very great distance both in Parts and Learning though accompanying him in his Travells beyond the Seas and wrote a Book of the Life Death and Miracles of his Brother being much to blame if he did not do all right to so near a Relation He dyed about the year of our Lord 1250. RICHARD of WALLINGFORD was born in that Market Town pleasantly seated on the River Thames wherein his Father was a Black-Smith He went afterwards to Oxford and was bred in Merton Coll then a Monke and at last Abbot of St. Albans where he became a most expert Mathematician especially for the Mechanical part thereof and retaining somewhat of his Fathers Trade was Dexterous at making pritty engines and Instruments His Master-piece was a most Artificial Clock made saith my Author Magno labore majore sumptu Arte verò maxima with much Pain more Cost and most Art It remain'd in that Monastry in the time of John Bale whom by his words I collect an Eye-witness thereof affirming that Europe had not the Like So that it seemed as good as the famous Clock at Strasburg in Germany and in this Respect better because ancienter It was a Calendar as well as a Clock Shewing the fixed Stars and Planets The Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea Minutes of the Hours and what not I have heard that when Monopolies began to grow Common in the Court of France the Kings Jester moved to have this Monopoly for himself viz. a Cardescue of every one who carried a Watch about him and cared not how he employed his Time Surely the Monks of Saint Albans were Concerned to be carefull how they spent their hours seeing no Convent in England had the like Curiosity This their Clock gathering up the least Crum of Time presenting the Minutary fractions thereof On which account I conceive Richard the maker thereof well prepared for the time of his dissolution when he died of the Leprosie Anno Dom. 1326. Since the Reformation HENRY BULLOCK was most probâ—…bly born in this County where his ancient name appears in a worshipful estate He was bred Fellow and Doctor of Divinity in Queens Colledge in Cambridge A good Linguist and general Scholar familiar with Erasmus an Evidence of his Learning it being as hard to halt before acriple as to deceive his Judgement calling him Bovillum in his Epistles unto him By the way our English Writers when rendring a Sirname in Latine which hath an Appellative signification content them to retein the Body of the Name and only disguise the termination as Cross Peacok Crossus Peacocus c. But the Germans in such a Case doe use to mould the meaning of the name either into Latine as I. Fierce they translate I. Ferus Bullock Bovillus or into Greek as Swarts they render Melanthon Reeck-lin Capnio T is confessed our Bullock compelled by Cardinal Wolsy wrote against Luther but otherwise his affections were biased to the Protestant Party The Date of his death is unknown WILLIAM TWIS was born at Spene in this County which was an ancient Roman City mentioned by Antonine in his Itinerary by the name of Spinae This mindeth me of a passage in Clemens Alexandrinus speaking of sanctified afflictions Nos quidem è Spinis uvas colligimus and here in another sense Gods Church gathered grapes this Good man out of this thornie place Hence he was sent by Winchester-School to New-Colledge in Oxford and there became a general Scholar His plaine preaching was good solid disputing better pious living best of all He afterwards became Preacher in the place of his nativity Spinham lands is part of Newberry and though generally our Saviours observation is verified A prophet is not without honour save in his own country chiefly because Minutiae omnes pueritiae ejus ibi sunt cognitae yet here he met with deserved respect Here he laid a good foundation and the more the pity if since some of his fancifull auditors have built hay and stubble thereupon And no wonder if this good Doctor toward his death was slighted by Sectaries it being usuall for New-lights to neglect those who have born the heat of the day His Latin Works give great evidence of his abilities in controversial matters He was chosen Prolocutor in the late Assembly of Divines wherein his moderation was very much commended and dying in Holborn he was buried at Westminster Anno Dom. 164. WILLIAM LYFORD was born at Peysmer in this County and bred in Magdalen Colledge in Oxford where he proceeded Bachelour of Divinity 1631. He was also Fellow of that foundation on the same token that his Conscience Post factum was much troubled about his resigning his place for money to his Successor but as his friends have informed me he before his death took order for the restitution thereof The modesty of his mind was legible in the comeliness of his countenance and the meekness of his Spirit visible in his courteous Carriage He was afterwards fixed at 〈◊〉 in Dorset-shire where his large Vineyard required such an able and painfull Vine-dresser Here he layed a good foundation before the beginning of our Civil Wars with his learned Preaching and Catechising and indeed though Sermons give most Sail to mens souls Catechising layeth the best Ballast in them keeping them stedy from being carriâ—…d away with every wind of Doctrine Yet he drank a deep Draught of the bitter Cup with the rest of his brethren and had his share of Obloquie from such factious Persons as could not abide the wholsome words of sound Doctrine But their Candle without their Repentance shall be put out in darkness whilst his memory shall shine in his Learned works he hath left behind him He died about the year of our Lord 1652. Romish Exile Wâ—…iters THOMAS HYDE was born at Newberry in this County and bred a Master of Art in New Colledge in Oxford he was afterwards Canon of Winchester and chief Master of the school therein He with â—…ohn martiâ—…l the second Master about the beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth left both their School and their Land living long beyond the Seas This Hyde is charactred by one of his own perswasion To be a man of upright life of great gravity and severity He wrote a book of Consolation to his fellowexile And died Anno Dom. 1597. Bâ—…nefactors to thâ—… Publick ALFREDE the fourth Son to K. Athelwolph was born at Wantage a market-town in this County An excellent scholar though he was
Benefactors to the Publick Sir WILLIAM son to William HARPER was born in the Town of Bedford but bred a Merchant-taylor in the City of London Where God so blessed his endeavours that Anno 1561. he was chosen Lord Mayor thereof In gratitude to God and the place of his Nativity he erected and endowed a free-schole in Bedford in which Town he lyeth buryed HENRY GREY son to Henry Grey was born at Wrest in this County Something must be premised of his extraction Richard Grey third Earl of Kent of that family was so profuse a person that he wilfully wasted his Estate giving away what he could not spend to the King and others so little he reflected on Sir Henry Grey his Brother but by a second Venter of Wrest in this County Hereupon the said Sir Henry though heir to his Brother Richard after his death yet perceiving himself overtitled or rather under-stated for so high an honour the undoubted right whereof rested in him declined the assuming thereof Thus the Earldome of Kent lay though not dead asleep in the family of the Greys almost 50. years viz. form the 15 of King Henry the eight till the 13. of Queen Elizabeth when she advanced Reginald Grey grandchild to Sir Hen. Grey aforesaid who had thriftily recruted himself with competence of Revenues to be Earl of Kent Anno 1571. This Reginald dying Issuelesse within the year Henry his Brother the subject of our present description succeeded to his honour A person truly noble expending the income of his own Estate and of his Ladies fair Joynter Mary the Relict of Edward Earl of Darby in hospitality He was a most Cordiall Protestant on the same token that being present at the execution of the Queen of Scots when she requested the Nobility there to stand by and see her death he fearing something of Superstition hardly assented thereunto Yet was he as far from the faction as Superstition deserving the caracter given unto him Omnibus verae nobilitatis Ornamentis vir longè Honoratissimus He left no Isue except some will behold him in some sort Parent of Sidney Colledge in Cambridge as one of the executors to the Foundress thereof who did both Prove and Improve her will besides his Personall benefaction thereunto And being the surviving executor he did perpetuate the fellowships formerly temporary according to the implicite trust deposited in him to the advantage of that foundation He died Anno Domini 1613. FRANCIS CLEARK Knight was born at Eaton-soton in this shire near to Saint Neots in the Lordship there commonly called the Parsonage He was a noble Benefactour to Sidney-colledge augmenting all the Scholarships of the Foundation and erecting a fair and firme range of building Such his skill in Arithmetick and Architecture that staying at home he did provide to a brick what was necessary for the finishing thereof He founded four new Fellowships and had he been pleased to consult with the Colledge the settlement with the same expence might have proved more advantageous For though in gifts to private persons it be improper that the Receiver should be the Director thereof a Corporation may give the best advise to improve the favours conferr'd upon it But it is a general practice that men desire rather to be broad then thick Benefactours However seeing every one may do with his own as he pleaseth blessed be the memory of this worthy Knight whose gift in effect was selt by the Colledge before the giver thereof was seen being himself a meer stranger unto it Some say that because this was the youngest foundation in the University generally the last child hath the least left it his charity pitched upon it But I have been informed that Sir Fâ—…ancis coming privately to Cambridge to see unseen took notice of Doctor Ward his daily presence in the Hall with the Scholars conformity in caps and diligent performance of exercises which indeared this place unto him Thus the observing of old Statutes is the best load-stone to attract new Benefactours His death happyned Anno Domini 163 Memorable Persons A WOMAN whose name I cannot recover lived died and is buried at Dunstable in this County It appeareth by her Epitaph in the Church that she had nineteen children at five births viz. three several times three children at a birth and five at a birth two other times How many of them survived to mans estate is unknown Here I must dissent from an Author maintaining that more Twins were born in the first Age of the World then now adays Whereas we meet with none but single births in the Patriarchs before the Flood and more 〈◊〉 six hundred years after the Deluge Esau and Jacob were the first Twins mentioned in Scripture Lord Mayors Name Father Place Company Time 1 Thomas Chalton Thomas Chalton Dunstable Mercer 1449 2 William Stoker Thomas â—…toker Eaton Draper 1484 3 William Butler â—…ichard Butler Bidenham Grocer 1515 4 William Harper William Harper Bedford Merchant-Taylor 1561 The Names of the 〈◊〉 of this County Returned by the Commissioners in the twelfth year of King Henry the sixth William Bishop of Lincoln John de Fanhope Chivaler Commissioners John Wenlock Armig. Knights for the shire John Gascoigne Armig. Knights for the shire Abbatis de Woborn sui Celerarii Abbatis de Wardon Prioris de Dunstable Prioris de Chekesond Prioris de Nunham Prioris de Chaldwell Prioris de Buschemede Simonis Filbrigge Chivaler Henrici Bronnflete Chivaler Thomae 〈◊〉 Chivaler Thomae Maningham Thomae Hoo Johannis Broughton Iohan. Enderby Roberti Mordant Iohan. Hertusherne Hen. Godfrey Iohan. Boteler de Northzele Hum. Acworth Iohan. Ragon Thomae Ragon Iohan. 〈◊〉 Iohan. Radwell Iohan. Fyse Iohan. Coldington Chri. Preston Steph. Cruker Tho. Roxston Will. Lancelin Hen. de Lye Iohan. Conquest de Houghton Tho. Lonnde Walte Lâ—…nnde Iohan. Lonnde Rich. Merston Iohan. â—…eeke junioris Tho. Peeke Will. Peeke Iohan. Glove junioris Iohan. Turvey de Turvey Iohan. Ferrour de Bedford Iohan. Gerveys de Maldon Hen. Etewell Rober. Bollock Will. Wale Nich. Ravenhull Nich. Low Valentini Bailli de Luton Willielmi White de eadem Iohan. Boughton Hugonis Hasselden Thomae Bailli de Houghton Will. Trought Hen. Manntell Rober. Valence Iohan. Attehay Will. Ypping Iohan. Petifer Tho. Purvey Will. Purvey Will. Shotfold Will. Wingate Will. Kene Tho. Stokker Ade Alford Iohan. Morton Tho. Morton Tho. Stratton Tho. Chamberlain Radulp. Cleark Math. Stepeing Nich. Harding Will. Marham Rich. Sampson Rober. Warner Iohan. Coke de Crawley Will. Sileham Will. Purvey Will. Rede Tho. Blondell Will. Milward Rober. Ratele Iohan. Kiggill de Todinton Iohan. Pestell de Nunham Thomae Chopper de Turvey Iohan. Marram Thomae Jakes Iohan. Pikot Will. Molso Iohan. Sewell Hen. Sewell Radul Falwell Hug. Billingdon Iohan. Baldoe Will. Palmer Rober. Davy junioris Iohan. Stanlow Rich. Lincoln Waleri Taillard Thomae Spencer de Geton Iohan. Spencer Iohannis King de Harowdon Iohan. Wait Will. Bochell Thomae William Roberti Ratull Rober. Warner de le
Conjunction with other Doctors of the University By his Testament he gave the Rectory of Milton to the Colledge and dying on Saint Marks day 1610. lieth buried in a Vestery on the North-side of the Chappel JOHN GREGORY was born November 10. 1607. at Amersham in this County of honest though mean parents yet rich enough to derive unto him the hereditary infirmity of the gout which afflicted him the last twenty years of his life He was bred in Christ-church in Oxford where he so applied his book that he studied sixteen hours of the four and twenty for many years together He attained to be an exquisite Linguist and general Scholar his modesty setting the greater lustre on his learning His notes on Dr. Redleys book of Civil-law gave the first testimony of his pregnancy to the world and never did text and comment better meet together He was first Chaplain of Christ-church and thence preferred by Bishop Duppa Prependary of Chichester and Sarum and indeed no Church-preferment compatible with his age was above his deserts He died at Kidlington in Oxford-shire 1646. and was buried at Christ-church in Oxford I find a smart Epitaph made by a friend on his memory and it was in my mind as well valiantly consider the times as truly indited Ne premas Cineres hosce Viator Nescis quot sub hoc jaeent Lapillo Graeculus Hebraeus Syrus Et qui te quovis vincet Idiomate At nè molestus sis Ausculta causam auribus tuis imbibe Templo exclusus Et avita Religione Jam senescente ne dicam sublatâ Mutavit Chorum altiorem ut capesceret Vade nunc si libet imitare R. W. His Opera Posthuma are faithfully set forth by his good friend John Gurgain and deservedly dedicated to Edward Bish Esquire one so able that he could charitable that he would and valiant that he durst relieve Master Gregory in his greatest distress SAMUEL COLLINS son to Baldwin Collins born in Coventry a pious and painfull preacher prodigiously bountifull to the poor whom Queen Elizabeth constantly called Father Collins was born and bred at Eaton so that he breathed learned aire from 〈◊〉 of his nativity Hence coming to Kings-colledge in Cambridge he was succesâ—…ively chosen Fellow Provost and Regius Professor One of an admirable wit and 〈◊〉 the most fluent Latinist of our age so that as Caligula is said to have sent 〈◊〉 souldiers vainly to fight against the tide with the same success have any encountred the torrent of his tongue in Disputation He constantly read his Lectures twice a week for above fourty years giving notice of the time to his Auditours in a ticket on the School-dores wherein never any two alike without some considerable difference in the critical language thereof When some displeased Courtier did him the injurious courtesie to preferre him downwards in point of profit to the Bishoprick of Bristol he improved all his friends to decline his election In these troublesome times affording more Preachers then Professors he lost his Church but kept his Chair wherein he died about the year 1651. WILLIAM OUGHTRED was though branched from a right ancient Family in the North born in the Town bred in the School of Eaton became Fellow of Kings-colledge and at last was beneficed by Thomas Earl of Arundel at Albury in Surrey All his contemporaries unanimously acknowledged him the Prince of Mathematicians in our Age and Nation This aged Simeon had though no Revelation a strong perswasion that before his death he should behold Christs anointed restored to his Throne which he did accordingly to his incredible joy and then had his Dimittis out of this mortal life June 30. 1660. Romish Exile Writers THOMAS DORMAN was born at Ammersham in this County being nephew unto Thomas Dorman of the same town A Confessour in the reign of King Henry the eighth True it is this his Uncle through weakness did abjure let us pity his who desire God should pardon our failings but was ever a cordial Protestant He bred this Thomas Dorman juniâ—…r at Berkhamsted-school founded by Dr. Incent in Hartfordshire under Mr. Reeve a Protestant School-master But this Dorman turn'd tail afterwards and became a great Romanist running over beyond the seas where he wrote a book intituled Against Alexander Nowel the English Calvinist J. Pits doth repent that he affordeth him no room in the body of his book referring him to his Appendix He flourished Anno 1560. Memorable Persons JOHN MATHEW Mercer son to Thomas Mathew was born at Sherington in this County Lord Mayor of London Anno Dom. 1490. He is eminent on this account that he was the first Bachelar that ever was chosen into that office Yea it was above a hundred and twenty years before he was seconded by a single person succeeding him in that place viz. Sir John Leman Lord Mayor 1616. It seemeth that a Lady Mayoresse is something more then ornamentall to a Lord Mayor their wives great portions or good providence much advantaging their estates to be capable of so high a dignity Dame HESTER TEMPLE daughter to Miles Sands Esquire was born at Latmos in this County and was married to Sir Thomas Temple of Stow Baronet She had four sons and nine daughters which lived to be married and so exceedingly multiplied that this Lady saw seven hundred extracted from her body Reader I speak within compass and have left my self a reserve having bought the truth hereof by a wager I lost Besides there was a new generation of marrigable females just at her death so that this aged vine may be said to wither even when it had many young boughs ready to knit Had I been one of her relations and as well enabled as most of them be I would have erected a monument for her thus design'd A fair tree should have been erected the said Lady and her Husband lying at the bottom or root thereof the Heir of the family should have ascended both the middle and top-bough thereof On the right-hand hereof her younger sons on the left her daughters should as so many boughs be spread forth Her grand-children should have their names inscribed on the branches of those boughs the great-grand-children on the twiggs of those branches the great-great-grand-children on the leaves of those twiggs Such as surviv'd her death should be done in a lively green the rest as blasted in a pale and yellow fading-colour Plinie who reports it as a wonder worthy the Chronicle that Chrispinus Hilarus Praelata pompa with open ostentation sacrificed in the Capitol seventy four of his children and childrens children attending on him would more admire if admitted to this spectacle Vives telleth us of a Village in Spain of about an hundred houses whereof all the inhabitants were issued from one certain old man who then lived when as that Village was so peopled so as the name of propinquity how the youngest of the children should call him could not
ar  Arg. on a Bend ingr S. 3 dexter handsof the first 12 Bri. Iohnson ar Beaconfield Quarterly Azure G. a Cross Patoncee a Chief Or. 13 Edm. Wheeler mi. Riding-Co Or. a Chev. between 3 Leopards-heads 〈◊〉 14 Th. Temple m. B. ut prius  15 Ioh. Laurence mi. Iver Arg. a Cross knotted G. on a Chief Az. 3 Leopards-heads Or. 16 Fra. Duncombe a.  Party per Chev. counter-Flore G. Arg. 3 Talbots-heads Erazed countercharged 17 Be. Winchombe a. See our Notes  18 Hen. Lee m. ba. Quarrendō Arg. a Fess betwixt 3 Cressants Sable 19 Ioh. Denham mil.  Gules 3 〈◊〉 Erm. 20 Will. Fleetwood ut prius * Per pale Or G. a Lion Ramp 〈◊〉 three flower de luces counterchanged 21 Fra. Goodwin * m.   22 Will. Pen †ar Pen †Arg. on a Fess S. 3 Plates REG. CARO   Anno   1 Edw. Coke mil. Stoke Partee per pale G. Az. 3 Eagles Argent 2 Gil. Gerrard bar  Quarterly the 1 4 Arg. a Sal. G. the 2 3 Az. a Lion Ramp Erm. Crowned Or. 3 Tho. Darel a. ut prius  3 F. Catesby a. Northamp Ar. 2 Lions passant S. crowned Or. 4 The. Lee ar ut prius  5 Will. 〈◊〉 m. ut prius  6 Tho. Hide baro  Or a Chev. betwixt 3 〈◊〉 Az. in Chief an Eagle of the first 7 〈◊〉 Dupper ar   8 Rob. Dormer ar ut prius  9 Fran. 〈◊〉 mi. ut prius  10 Pet. Temple mil. ut prius  11 Heneage Proby a.  Erm. on a Fess G a Lion Passant the tail extended Or. 12 Anth. Chester ba. ut prius  13   14   15 Tho. Archdale ar   16   17 Rich Grevile mi.  Sable a border Cross engrailed Or thereon 5 Pellets 18   19   20 Hen. Beak ar   21   22 Will. Collier ar   Queen Elizabeth 17 JOHN CROKE Ar. Being afterwards Knighted he was the son of Sir John Crook a Six-clerk in Chancery and therefore restrained marriage untill enabled by a statute of the 14. of Henry the eighth His 〈◊〉 in the Civil warres between York and Lancaster concealed their proper name Le Blount under the assumed one of Croke As for this Sir John Croke first Sheriff of Buckingham after the division of Bedfordshire he was most fortunate in an issue happy in the knowledge of our municipall Law Of whom Sir John Croke his eldest son Speaker of the Parliament in the 43. of Queen Elizabeth He received this Eulogium from Her Majesty That he had proceeded therein with such wisdome and discretion that none before him had deserved better As for Sir George his second son we have spoken of him before 26 ROBERT DORMER Ar. He was on the 10. of June 1615. made Baronet by King James and on the 30. day of the same Month was by him Created Baron Dormer of Wing in this County His grand-child Robert Dormer was by K. Charles in the 4. of his reign Created Viscount Ascot and Earl of Carnarvan He lost his life fighting for him who gave him his Honour at the first battle of Newbury Being sore wounded he was desired by a Lord to know of him what suit he would have to his Majesty in his behalf the said Lord promising to discharge his trust in presenting his request and assuring him that his Majesty would be willing to 〈◊〉 him to the utmost of his power To whom the Earl replied I will not dye with a suit in my mouth to any King save to the King of Heaven By Anne daughter to Philip Earl of Pembrook and Montgomery He had Charles now 〈◊〉 of Carnarvan 27 EDWARD BULSTROD Ar. I have not met with so ancient a Coat for such it appeareth beyond all exception so voluminous in the Blazon thereof viz. Sable a Bucks head Argent attired Or shot the Nose with an Arrow of the third headed and feathered of the second a Cross Patee fitchee betwixt the Attire Or. 34 HEN. LONGVILE Ar. He had to his fourth son Sir Michael Longvile who married Susan sole daughter to Hen. Earl of Kent Now when the issue in a direct line of that Earldome failed in our memory Mr. Selden was no less active then able to prove that the Barony of 〈◊〉 was dividable from the Earldome and descended to the son of the said Sir Michael and thereupon he sate as Baron Ruthyn in our late long Parliament Since his death his sole daughter and heir hath been married unto Sir Henry Yelverton of Easton in the County of Northampton Baronet a worthy Gent. of fair estate so that that Honour is likely to continue in an equipage of breadth proportionable to the height thereof King James 17 BENEDICT WINCHCOMBE Ar. His armes too large for the little space allotted them I here fully represent in gratitude to the Memory of his Ancestor so well deserving of Newbury viz. Azure on a Chev. engrailed between three Birds Or as many Cinque foiles of the first on a Chief of the second a Flower the Luce between two spears heads of the first King Charles 1 EDWARD COKE Kt. This was our English 〈◊〉 so famous for his Comments on our Common-law This year a Parliament was called and the Court-party was jealous of Sir Edwards activity against them as who had not digested his discontentments Hereupon to prevent his election as a member and confine him to this County he was prick'd Sheriff thereof He scrupuled to take the oath pretending many things against it and particularly that the Sheriff is bound thereby to prosecute Lollards wherein the best Christians may be included It was answered that he had often seen the Oath given to others without any regreet and knew full well that Lollard in the modern sense imported the opposers of the present Religion as established by Law in the Land No excuses would serve 〈◊〉 turn but he must undertake this office However his friends beheld it as an injurious degradation of him who had been Lord Chief-justice to attend onthe Judges at the Assises 9 FRANCIS CHENEY Mil. It is an Epidemical disease to which many ancient Names are subject to be variously disguised in writing How many names is it Chesney Chedney Cheyne Chyne Cheney c. And all de Casineto A name so Noble and so diffused in the Catalogue of Sheriffs it is harder to miss then find it any County Here Reader let me amend and insert what I omitted in the last County There was a fair Family of the Cheneys flourishing in Kent but landed also in other Counties giving for their Armes Azure six Lions Rampant Argent a Canton Ermin Of this house was Henry Chency High sheriffe of this County and Bedford shire in the 7. of Q. Elizabeth and not long after by her created Baron of Tuddington in Bedford-shire In his youth he
therein but 12. years of age He was blessed with an happy memory insomuch that when D. D. he could say by heart the second Book of the Aeneads which he learnt at School without missing a Verse He was an excellent Preacher and becoming a Pulpit with his gravity He attended King James his Chaplaine into Scotland and after his return was preferred Dean of Westminster then Bishop of Salisbury Hear what the Author of a Pamphlet who inscribeth himself A. W. saith in a Book which is rather a Satyre then a History a Libell then a Character of the Court of King James for after he had slanderously inveighed against the bribery of those days in Church and State hear how he seeks to make amends for all King James's Court pag. 129 130. Some worthy men were preferred gratis to blow up their Buckingham and his party Fames as Tolson a worthy man paid nothing in fine or Pension and so after him Davenant in the same Bishoprick Yet these were but as Musick before every hound Now although both these persons here praised were my God-fathers and Uncles the one marrying the sister of the other being Brother to my Mother and although such good words seem a Rarity from so railing a mouth yet shall not these considerations tempt me to accept his praises on such invidious terms as the Author doth proffer them O! Were these worthy Bishops now alive how highly would they disdain to be praised by such a pen by which King James their Lord and Master is causelesly traduced How would they condemn such uncharitable commendations which are if not founded on accompanied with the disgrace of others of their order Wherefore I their Nephew in behalf of their Memories protest against this passage so far forth as it casteth Lustre on them by Eclipsing the credit of other Prelates their contemporaries And grant corruption too common in that kind yet were there besides them at that time many worthy Bishops raised to their dignity by their Deserts without any Simonicall complyances Doctor Townson had a hospitall heart a generous disposition free from covetousness and was always confident in Gods Providence that if he should dye his children and those were many would be provided for wherein he was not mistaken He lived in his Bishoprick but a year and being appointed at very short warning to preach before the Parliament by unseasonable â—…tting up to study contracted a Fever whereof he died and was buried in Westminster Abbey Anno Dom. 1622. THOMAS son to William WESTFIELD D. D. was born Anno Dom. 1573. in the Parish of Saint Maries in Ely and there bred at the Free-school under Master Spight till he was sent to Jesus-colledge in Cambridge being first Scholar then Fellow thereof He was Curate or Assistant rather to Bishop Felton whilst Minister of Saint Mary le Bow in Cheapside afterward Rector of Hornsey nigh and Great Saint Bartholomews in London where in his preaching he went thorow the four Evangelists He was afterwards made Arch-Deacon of Saint Albans and at last Bishop of Bristol a place proffered to and refused by him twenty five years before For then the Bishoprick was offered to him to maintain him which this contented meek man having a self-subsistence did then decline though accepting of it afterwards when proffered to him to maintain the Bishoprick and support the Episcopall dignity by his signall devotion What good opinion the Parliament though not over-fond of Bishops conceived of him appears by their Order ensuing The thirteenth of May 1643. From the Committee of Lords and Commons for Sequestration of Delinquents Estates Upon information in the behalf of the Bishop of Bristoll that his Tenants refuse to pay him his Rents it is Ordered by this Committee that all profits of his Bishoprick be restored to him and a safe conduct be granted him to pass with his family to Bristoll being himself of great age and a person of great learning and merit Jo. Wylde About the midst of his life he had a terrible sickness so that he thought to use his own expression in his Diary that God would put out the candle of his life though he was pleased onely to snuff it By his will the true Copy whereof I have he desired to be buried in his Cathedral Church neer the tombe of Paul Bush the first Bishop thereof And as for my worldly goods Reader they are his own words in his Will which as the times now are I know not well where they be nor what they are I give and bequeath them all to my dear wife Elizabeth c. He protested himself on his death-bed a true Protestant of the Church of England and dying Junii 28. 1644. lyeth buried according to his own desire above mentioned with this inscription Hic jacet Thomas Westfield S. T. D. Episcoporum intimus peccatorum primus Obiit 25. Junii anno MDCXLIV Senio moerore confectus Tu Lector quisquis es vale resipisce Epitaphium ipse sibi dictavit vivus Monumentum uxor moestissima Elizabetha Westfield Marito desideratissimo posuit superstes Thus leaving such as survived him to see more sorrow and feel more misery he was seasonably taken away from the evil to come And according to the Anagram made on him by his Daughter Thomas Westfield I dwel the most safe Enjoying all happiness and possessing the reward of his pains who converted many and confirmed more by his constancy in his Calling States-men JOHN TIPTOFT son and heir of John Lord Tiptoft and Joyce his wife daughter and Co-heir of Edward Charlton Lord Powis by his wife Eleanor sister and Co-heir of Edmund Holland Earl of Kent was born at Everton in this but in the confines of Bedford shire He was bred in Baliol-colledge in Oxford where he attained to great learning and by King Henry the sixth was afterwards created first Vice-count then Earl of Worcester and Lord Hâ—…gh Constable of England and by K. Edward the fourth Knight of the Garter The skies began now to lowre and threaten Civil Wars and the House of York fell sick of a Relapse Mean time this Earl could not be discourteous to Henry the sixth who had so much advanced him nor disloyall to Edward the fourth in whom the right of the Crown lay Consulting his own safety he resolved on this Expedient for a time to quit his own and visit the Holy-land In his passage thither or thence he came to Rome where he made a Latin speech before the Pope Piâ—… the second and converted the Italians into a better opinion then they had formerly of the English-mens learning insomuch that his holiness wept at the elegancy of the Oration He returned from Christs sepulcher to his own grave in England coming home in a most unhappy juncture of time if sooner or later he had found King Edward on that Throne to which now Henry the sixth was restored and whose restitution was onely remarkable for the death of this worthy
of such who secretly design their overthrow whom they openly embrace Hengsten down well ywrought Is worth London town dear ybought The truth hereof none can confirm or confute seeing under-ground-wealth is a Nemo scit and vast may the treasure be of Tinne in this Down Sure I am that the gainfull plenty of metall formerly afforded in this place is now fallen to a scantsaving-scarcity But to make the Proverbe true it is possible that the Cornish Diamonds found therein may be pure and orient as better concocted in the bowells thereof For though crafty not to say dishonest Chapmen put the best grain in the top and worst in the bottome of their sack such is the integrity of nature that the coursest in this kind are higher and the purest still the lowest Tru-ru Triveth eu Ombdina geveth try-ru Which is to say Trâ—…u consisteth of three streets and it shall in time be said Here Truru stood I trust the men of this town are too wise to give credit to such predictions which may justly prove true to the superstitious believers thereof Let them serve God and defie the Devil with all his Pseudo-prophesies Like to this is another fond observation presaging some sad success to this Town because ru ru which in English is Woe Woe is twice in the Cornish name thereof But let the men of Truru but practice the first syllable in the name of their town and they may be safe and secure from any danger in the second He doth sail into Cornwall without a Bark This is an Italian Proverb where it passeth for a description or derision rather of such a Man who is wronged by his Wises disloyalty I wonder the Italians should take such pains to travail so far to fetch this expression having both the Name and Matter nearer home Name Having the field Cornetus Campus in agro falisco called Corneto at this day And a people called Corni in Latium with the Cornicti montes near Tiber not to speak of its two Promontories tearmed by good Authors Cornua duo Italiae the two Horns of Italy Matter Keeping their wives under restraint as generally full of Jealousie which if just I much bemoan the Gaolers if not I more pity their Prisoners Whereas in our Cornwall the Wives liberty is the due reward of their Chastity and the Cause of their husbands comfortable confidence therein He is to be summoned before the Mayor of Halgaver This is a joculary and imaginary Court wherewith men make merriment to themselves presenting such Persons as go Slovenly in their Attire untrussed wanting a spur c. Where judgement in formal terms is given against them and executed more to the scorn then hurt of the persons But enough hereof least I be summoned thither my self When Dudman and Ramehead meet These are two forelands well known to Sailers well nigh twenty miles asunder and the Proverbe passeth for the Periphrasis of an impossibility However these two Points have since met together though not in position in possession of the same owner Sir Pierce Edgecombe enjoying one in his own the other in right of his wife Saints SAINT KIBY was son to Solomon Duke of Cornwall whom severall inducements moved to travail First because A Prophet hath the least Honour in his own Country Secondly because Britain at that time was infected with Arianisme Thirdly because he had read so much of the works and heard more of the worth of Saint Hilary Bishop of Poicteers in France This main motive made him address himself to that worthy Father with whom he lived fifty years and afterwards saith learned Leyland was by him made Bishop of the Isle of Anglesey Pardon me Reader if suspending my belief herein seeing surely that holy and humble French Saint would not pretend to any Metropoliticall power in appointing a Bishop in Britain More probable it is that Saint Hilary made him a Bishop at large sine titulo whereof there are some precedents in Antiquity However into Wales he went and there converted the Northern parts thereof to and confirmed the rest in Christianity A Three-fold memoriall is in the Isle of Anglesey extant at this day One of his Master in Point Hilary another of himself in Caer-Guiby and a third of both in Holyhead He florished about the year of our Lord 380. URSULA daughter to Dinoth Duke of Cornwall was born in this County This is she who se life is loaden with such Anticronismes and Improbabilities that it is questionable whether this fable was ever founded in a truth or hath any thing in History for its Original This Ursula is said to have carried over out of Britain eleven thousand Maids of prime quality besides threescore thousand of meaner rank seventy one thousand in all a prodigious number to be married to so many in little Britain in France Preposterous in my mind to proffer themselves and it had argued more modesty if their Husbands had fetcht them hence But blame them not who paid so dear for their Adventures All shipp'd from London some of them were drowned in their Passage the rest slain by the Hunnes of Colen say some at Rome say others by King Attila under Gratian the Emperour Mendacium Aequabile observing equall Temper of untruth in time place and person However there is a Church at Colen dedicated to their Memories where the Virgin Earth let the reporter have the Whetstone will digest no other body no not the Corps of an Infant newly Baptised as good a Maid I believe as the best of them but will vomit it up in the night time again as if they had never been buried This Massacre is reported to have happened in the year of our Lord 383. SAINT MELIORUS was onely son of Melianus Duke of this County who being secretly made a Christian was so maliced by Rinaldus his Pagan-brother-in-law that he first cut off his right-hand and then his left-legg no reason of this transposed method of cruelty save cruelty and at last his head about the year 411. whose body being buried in some old Church in this County by the miracles reported to be done thereat procured the reputation of a Saint to his memory Prelates WILLIAM de GREN-VIL was born of a worshipfull family in this County and became Canon of York Dean of Chichester Chancellour of England under K. Edward the first and Arch-bishop of York But the worst was two years his Confirmation was deferred untill he had paid nine thousand fiveh undred marks Let him thank the Pope who gave him the odd five hundred not mounting it to even ten thousand Besides he had this favour not as many others to be consecrated by a Proxy but the very hands of P. Clement the fifth This paiment reduced him to such poverty he was relieved by the Clergy of his Province by way of Benevolence This not doing the deed to make him a Saver he was fain to crave another help
Judgment in his many Treatises King James 2 FRANCIS GODOLPHIN Mil. Master Carew confesseth in his Survey of this County that from him he gathered sticks to build that nest who was assistant unto him in that playing labour as he termeth it This ingenious Gentleman entertained a Dutch Mineral-man and taking light from his experience built thereon far more profitable conclusions from his own invention practicing a more saving way to make Tinn of what was rejected for refuse before And here the mention of his Ingenuity minds me how Hereditary Abilities are often intailed on Families seeing he was Ancestor unto Sidney Godolphin slain at ....... in Devonshire valiantly fighting for his Lord and Master His Christian and Sur-name divisim signifie much but how high do they amount in conjunction There fell wit and valour never sufficiently to be bemoaned 10 WILLIAM WREY Mil. He was direct Ancestor to Sir Chichester Wrey Knight and Baronet who though scarce a Youth in Age was more then a Man in Valour in his loyall service He married Anne one of the Daughters and Co-heirs of Will. Bourchier Earl of Bath whose son Bourchier Chichester shall ever have my prayers that he may answer the nobleness of his Extraction 12 RICHARD ROBERTS He was afterwards created a Baron and was Father unto the Right Honourable the Lord Roberts one of his Majesties most Honourable Privy Council lately designed Deputy of Ireland as a Person of singular ability and integrity The Battles I shall inlarge my self the rather on this subject because building my discourse therein not on the floting sands of uncertaine relations but the Rock of reall Intelligence Having gotten a Manuscript of Sir Ralph Hoptons courteously communicated unto me by his Secretary Master Tredui interpolated with his own hand being a Memoriall of the Remarkables in the West at which that Worthy Knight was present in person I begin with that which is called the Battle of Liskerd taking the name from the next Town of note thereunto otherwise Bradock-Downe was the particular place thereof Before the Fight began the Kings Side took it into their seasonable consideration that seeing by the Commission the Lord Mohun brought from Oxford four Persons viz. the said Lord Mohun Sir Ralph Hopton Sir John Berkeley and Colonel Ashburn ham were equally impowered in the managing of all Military matters and seeing such equality might prove inconvenient which hitherto had been prevented with the extraordinary moderation of all Parties in ordering a Battle it was fittest to fix the power in One Chief and generall consent setled it in Sir Ralph Hopton He first gave order that publick Prayers should be had in the Head of every Squadron and it was done accordingly and the Enemy observing it did stile it saying of Mass as some of their Prisoners afterwards did confess Then he caused the Foot to be drawn up in the best order they could placed a Forelorn of Musketiers in the little Inclosures winging them with the few Horse and Dragoons he had This done two small Mynion Drakes speedily and secretly fetched from the Lord Mohuns house were planted on a little Barrough within Randome-shot of the Enemy yet so that they were covered from their sight with small Parties of Horse about them These concealed Mynions were twice discharged with such success that the Enemy quickly quitted their ground and all their Army being put into a Rout the Kings Forces had the execution of them which they performed very sparingly They took Twelve Hundred and Fifty Prisoners most of their Colours all their Cannon being four Brass-guns upon Carriages whereof Two were Twelve-pounders and One Iron â—…aker all their Ammunition most of their Armes and marching that night to Liskard the Kings Forces first gave God Publick thanks and then took their own Private repose STRATTON fight succeeds on Tuesday 16. May 1643. But first let us take a true account of the two Armies respectively with the visible Inequality betwixt them The Kings Forces were in want of Ammunition and were to hew out their own way up a Steep-hill with their Valour exposed to all Disadvantages and Dangers Their Horse and Dragoons exceeded not five hun dred their â—…oot about two thousand four hundred in number The Parliament Army had plenty of all Provisions and had Advantagiously Barocadoed themselves on the top of a Hill Their Horse indeed were not many having lately sent away twelve hundred to surprizethe Sheriff and Commissioners at Bodmin but Foot were five thousand four hundred by Pole as their Major Generall did acknowledge As for the Kings Forces order was given that by four severall Avenues they should force their Passage to the top of the Hill which was very steep the Enemy as obstinately indeavouring to keep them down as the other did valiantly strive to ascend The fight continued doubtfull with many countenances of various events from 5. of the Clock in the Morning till 3. in the Afternoon amongst which most remarkable the smart Charge made by M. G. Chudeleigh with a Stand of Pikes on Sir Bevill Greenfield so that the Knight was in Person overthrown and his Party put into disorder which would have proved destructive unto it had not Sir John Berkeley who led up the Musketiers on each side of Sir Bevill Greenfield seasonably relieved it so re-inforcing the Charge that Major General Chudelegh was taken Prisoner Betwixt three and four of the Clock the Commanders of the Kings Forces who embraced those four severall ways of Ascent met to their mutuall joy almost at the top of the Hill which the routed Enemy confusedly forsook In this Service though they were Assaylants they lost very few men and no considerable Officer killing of the Enemy about three hundred and taking Seventeen hundred Prisoners all their Cannon being thirteen pieces of Brass-ordnance and Ammunition Seventy Barrels of pouder with a Magazin of Bisket and other provisions proportionable For this Victory Publick Prayer and Thanksgiving was made on the Hill and then the Army was disposed of to improve their success to their best advantage For this good Service Sir Ralph Hopton was afterwards at Oxford created Baron of Stratton in form as followeth CAROLUS Dei gratia Angliae c. Cum Nominis nostri Posteritatis interest ad clara exempla propaganda utilissimè compertum palam fieri omnibus premia apud nos vertuti sita nec perire fidelium Subditorum officia sed memori benevolo pectore fixissimè insidere his praesertim temporibus cum plurimorum quibus antehac nimium indulsimus temerata aut suspecta fides pretium aliorum constantiae addidit Cumque nobis certò constat Radulphum Hopton militem de Balneo Splendidis Antiquis Natalibus tum in caetera sua vita integritatis morum eximium tum in hac novissima tempestate fatalique Regni rebelli motu rari animi fideique exemplum edidisti Regiae dignitatis in eaque publice contra utriusque Adversarios
with him and was the first restorer of Learning in our Nation It is questionable whether he was a better Latinist or Grecian a better Grammarian or Physician a better Scholar or Man for his moral deportment By his endeavours Galen speaks better Latine in the Translation than he did Greek in the Original The last Volume whereof Linacer promised to dedicate to Arch-Bishop Warham and excuseth his failing therein by a Latine Letter which for several reasons I have here exemplified First for the quicknesse of conceit and purity of style therein Secondly because never formerly Printed Thirdly because there is but one Copy thereof writren with Linacers own hand prefixed to that numerical Book which he presented to the said Arch Bishop bestowed by my old Friend Doctor George Ent on the Colledge of Physicians Lastly because Doctor Christopher Merrick hath been pleased carefully to compare it with the Original Reverendissimo in Christo Patri ac Domino Domino Gulielmo Dei gratiâ Cantuariensi Archi-episcopo totius Angliae Primati Apostolicae sedis Legato Thomas Linacrus Medicus salutem cum debita dicit Observantia QUod tibi Archiepiscope Clarissime opus hoc sicuti promiseram non dedicavi sed ejus duntaxat exemplum ad Te misi nolis obsecro pro spectatâ humanitate Tuâ me magis aut promissi putare immemorem aut ejus levem habuisse curam quin id implere maximè cupientem facere tamen non potuisse Nam cùm in eâ sententiâ sic perstitissem ut ex ea me praeter unum nemo hominum dejicere potuisset is profectò nec alius eam mutavit Quippe Rex ipse cùm ex certorum hominum sermone qui nimio studio mei mea omnia nimio plus praedicant intellexisset è tribus partibus quibus tota Medicinae ars integratur hanc quae hoc codice continetur esse reliquam eam quoque veluti justam sibi nec à reliquis nuncupatione distrahendam vendicavit justitque Domino Iohanni Chambre observantissimo Paternitatis Tuae famulo tum praesenti atque audienti ut sibi eam inscriberem Itaque cùm Te perspicere non dubitem quantum apud me valere quamque legis instar haberi debeat ejus voluntas non difficulter ut spero à Te impetrabo id quod etiam magnis precibus contendo ut alio quopiam ex iis quae in manibus sunt opere studiosis ut opinor futuro non ingrato oppigneratam Tibi fidem reluere liceat Quod si concedes utrumque per Te simul fiet ut voluptate quam ex requisitis à tanto principe vigiliis meis concepi eâ fruar solicitudine quâ pro redimenda fide angebar eâ liberer Nec eò spectat Reverendissime Praesul haec tam sedula excusatio quasi ullas meas nugas sic censeam ut Tibi usquam expetitas expetendasve putem Sic eam potius intelligi postulo cum Tu mihi primus ad otium literarium beneficiis aditum aditum patefeceris justissimum existimâsse me Tibi ejus otii rationem aliquam esse reddendam ex qua me intelligeres non omnino id frustrà conterere Sed cùm id partim instituendis quibusdam partim his qualiacunque sunt ad usum studiosorum scribendis impendam hoc agere imprimis ut qui ex eo audientes legentésve fructum aliquem percipient Tibi quem non minimum ejus autorem ubique profiteor bonam ejus partem acceptam referant Quod utique tum in his quae jam edidimus velim faciant tum quae alias unquam scribam nedum quae Tibi nominatim modò vita supersit dicabuntur Diu valeas Pater Amplissime No Englishman in that age had so learned Masters viz. Demetrius Politian and Hermolaus Barbarus so noble Patrons viz. Laurence Medices Duke of Florence whilest he was beyond the Seas King Henry the Seventh and Eighth to whom he was chief Physician after his return into England so high born Scholars Prince Arthur with many Lords Sons his Contemporaries so learned Friends Erasmus Melancthon Vives c. This Linacer founded two publick Lectures in Oxford and one in Cambridge dutifully his respect to his Mother double above his Aunt for the study of Physick and that Students of that faculty of both Universities may meet the more conveniently together he founded the Colledge of Physicians in London I much wonder at what I find in good Authors that Linacer a little before his death turned Priest and began to study the Scripture with which he formerly was unacquainted in so much that reading the fifth sixth and seventh Chapters of Saint Matthew he vowed That either this was not the Gospel or We were not Christians which speech though much condemned by the Relater thereof is capable of a charitable sense as taxing mens Practice so much different from Gods Precepts He died Anno Dom. 1524. on the twelfth of October and lieth buried in Saint Pauls under a stately Monument built to his Memory by Doctor John Caius and a Phenix is erected on the top thereof Yea I may call these two Doctors the two Phenixes of their Profession in our Nation and justifie the expression seeing the later in some sort sprang of the Ashes of the former and Caius came not into general credit till after the decease of Linacer Writers THOMAS ASHBURNE was born at that well-known Market Town in this County and not in Stafford shire as both Bale and Pits mistake and became an Augustinian therein going afterwards to Oxford he was doctorated in Divinity He was a great Adversary to Wickliff and in that Synod wherein his Doctrines were condemned for Heresie by ten Bishops twenty Lawyers and four and forty Divines our Ashburne made up one of the last number Yet once he did some good or rather diverted much evil It happened that one Peter Pateshul an Augustinian preaching in London had some passages in favour of Wickliff which so displeased those of his own Order that they plucked him out of the Pulpit dragged him into the Covent of Augustines near Broadstreet intending more violence to his person This allarumed the Londoners amongst whom a considerable party of Wickliffites to rescue poor Pateshul who in their rage had burnt the Covent about the Friers ears had not our Ashburne with his prayers and tears seasonably interceded He flourished under King Richard the Second 1382. Benefactors to the Publick since the Reformation ELIZABETH HARDWICK was Daughter to John Hardwick of Hardwick in this County Esquire A Lady of an undaunted spirit and happy in her several Marriages to great persons First to Sir William Cavendish then to Sir William Saintloo and at last to George Earl of Shrewsbury She left two sacred besides civil Monuments of her Memory in this County one that I hope will not Her Tomb in All-Hallows the other that I am sure cannot be taken away as registred in the Court of Heaven Her
obnoxious to censure and deservedly punished by fine or otherwise for their misdemeanors have causelessely traduced the proceedings of that Court when they could not maintain their own innocence Saints WENFRIDE BONIFACE was born at Câ—…editon corruptly Kirton once an Episcopal See in this County bred a Monk under Abbot Woolâ—…hard in Exeter Hence he went to Rome where Pope Gregory the second perceiving the ability of his parts sent him to Germany for the converting of that stiffe-necked Nation This service he commendably performed baptising not fewer than a Hundred Thousand in Bavaria Thuringia Hassia Friesland Soxony c. But here I must depart from Bale because he departeth I am sure from Charity and I suspect from Verity it self Charity who according to his Bold and Bald Aâ—…ocaliptical Conjectures maketh him the Other Beast assending out of the Earth with two Horns And why so Because forsooth he was made by the Pope Metropolitan of Mentz and kept the Church of Colen in Commendam therewith Secondly Verity when saying that he converted men terrore magis quam Doctrinâ it being utterly incredible that a single man should terrifie so many out of their opinions And if his words relate to Ecclesiastical Censures with which Weapons Boniface was well provided such were in themselves without Gods wonderful improving them on mens consciences rather ridiculous then formidable to force Pagans from their former perswasions But if Bale which is very suspitous had been better pleased with the Germans continuing in their Pagan Principles than their conversion to corrupted Christianity he will find few wise and godly men to joyn with his judgment therein Yet do I not advocate for all the Doctrines delivered and Ceremonies imposed by Boniface beholding him as laying the true Foundation Jesus Christ which would last and remain but building much hay and stubble of Superstition thereon But he himself afterwards passed a purging fire in this life killed at Borne in Friesland with fifty four of his companions Anno Dom. 755. in the sixty year of his age after he had spent thirty six years six moneths and six dayes in his German imployment WILLIBALD descended of high Parentage was born in this County Nephew to St. Boniface aforesaid whom he followed in all respects later in time lower in parts lesse in pains but profitable in the German Conversion wherein he may be termed his Uncles Armour-Bearer attending him many a mile though absent from him at his death Herein he was more happy than his Uncle that being made Bishop of Eystet in Germany as he lived in honour so he died in peace Anno Dom. 781. Martyrs AGNES PIREST or PREST was the sole Martyr under the Raign of Queen Mary Wherefore as those Parents which have but one Child may afford it the better attendance as more at leasure So seeing by Gods goodnesse we have but this single Native of this County yea of this Diocesse we will enlarge our selves on the Time Place and Cause of her suffering 1. Her Christian Name which Mr. Fox could not learn we have recovered from another Excellent Authour 2. I am informed by the Inhabitants thereabouts that she lived at Northcott in the Parish of Boynton in the County of Cornwall but where born is unknown 3 She was a simple woman to behold thick but little and short in stature about fifty four years of age 4 She was indited on Monday the fourth Week in Lent An. Phil. and Mar. 2 3. before W. Stanford Justice of the Assize the same as I conceive who wrote on the Pleas of the Crown So that we we may observe more legal formality was usâ—…d about the condemnation of this poor Woman than any Martyr of far greater degree 5 Her own Husband and Children were her greatest persecutors from whom she fled because they would force her to be present at Masse 6 She was presented to James Troublefield Bishop of Exeter and by him condemned for denying the Sacrament of the Altar 7 After her condemnation she refused to receive any money from well affected people Saying She was to go to that City where Money had no mastery 8 She was burnt without the Walls of Exeter in a place called Sothenhay in the Moneth of November 1558. She was the onely person in whose persecution Bishop Troublefield did appear and it is justly conceived that Black-stone his Chancellour was more active than the Bishop in procuring her death Confessors This County afforded none either in or before the Raign of Q. Mary But in our Age it hath produced a most Eminent One on an account peculiar to himself JOHN MOLLE was born in or nigh South-Mollton in this County bred in France where he attained to such perfection in that Tongue that he made a Dictionary thereof for his own use After his youth spent in some military imployments of good trust he was in his reduced Age made by Thomas Lord Burgley and President of the North one of the Examiners in that Court Going afterwards Governour to the Lord Ross he passed the Alps contrary to his own resolution prizing his Fidelity to his charge above his own security No sooner were they arrived at Rome but the young Lord was courted and feasted Mr. Molle arrested and imprisoned in the Inquisition I hus at once did he lose the comfort of his Wife Children Friends own land and liberty being kept in most strict restraint Adde to all these vexations visits of importunate Priests and Jesuits daily hacking at the Root of his Constancy with their Objections till finding their Tools to turn edge at last they left him to his own Conscience What saith the Holy Spirit Revel 18. 4. Come out of Babylon my Teople But here alas was he who would but could not come thence detained there in durance for thirty years together How great his sufferings were is onely known to God who permitted his Foes who inflicted and himself who endured them Seeing no friend was allowed to speak with him alone He died in the 81. year of his Age about the year of our Lord 1638. Cardinals VVILLIAM COURTNEY was born probably at Okehampton in this County son to Hugh Courtney Earl of Devon-shire successively Bishop of Hereford Winchester and Canterbury The credit of T. Walsingham an exact Historian and born before Courtney was buried maketh me confident that the Pope made him a Cardinal and Ciaconius and Onuphrius two Italians confirm the same that a Bishop of London though mistaking his Name Adam for William was at this time rewarded with a Red Hat How stoutly he then opposed John of Gaunt Wickliffe his Patron in his Church of St. Paul is largely related in my Church History and I can add nothing thereunto For if the men of Laconia whose work was to study concisenesse punished him severely for speaking in Three what might have been said in Two Words Criticks will severely censure me for such tedious repetition Onely we may
daily out of the Nonage of their Years and Vassallâ—…ge of their Errours He died in Dublin Robert Usher soon after Bishop of Kildare preached his Funeral Sermon on that Text Behold a true Israelite wherein there is no guile shewing how he was truly a Nathaniel Gods Gift and a Carpenter a Wise Builder of Gods House until the Dissolution of his Own Tabernacle about the year 1636. Benefactors to the Publick PETER BLUNDELL of Tiverton in this County was a Clothier by his Profession and through Gods Blessing on his Endeavours therein raised unto himself a fair Estate Nor was he more painful and industrious in gaining then Pious aud Prudent in disposing thereof erecting a fair Free-School in the Town of his Nativity By his Will he bequeathed thereto a competent maintenance together with conveniency of Lodging for a Master and Usher And lest such whose Genius did encline and Parts furnish them for a further Progresse in Learning should through want of a Comfortable Subsistency be stopped or disheartned he bestowed two Scholarships and as many Fellowships on Sidney Colledge in Cambridge carefully providing that the Scholars bred in his School at Tiverton should be elected into the same I cannot attain to a certainty in the Time of his Death though it be thought to have happened about the year 1596. WILLIAM BURGOIN Esquire must not be forgotten finding this his Epitaph on his Marble Stone in the Church of Arlington Here lies Will. Burgoin a Squire by discent Whose death in this World many People lament The Rich for his love The Poor for his Almes The Wise for his Knowledge The Sick for his Balmes Grace he did love and Vice conroul Earth hath his body and Heaven his Soul He died on the Twelfth day of August in the Morning 1623. as the Inscription on his said Tomb doth inform us Memorable Persons HENRY de LA POMERAY lived at and was Lord of Berry-Pomeray in this County This Henry taking heart at the imprisonment of Richard the First by Leopaldus Duke of Austria surprized and expulsed the Monkes out of Michaels-Mount in Cornwal that there he might be a petty Prince by himself But being ascertained of his Soveraignes inlargement and fearing deserved death to prevent it he laid violent hands on himself as Roger Hoveden doth report But the Descendants from this Pomeray make a different relation of this accident affirming that a Serjeant at Armes of the Kings came to his Castle at Berry-Pomeray and there received kind entertainment for certain dayes together and at his departure was gratified with a liberal reward In counter-change whereof he then and no sooner revealing his long concealed errand flatly arrested his Host to make his immediate appearance before the King to answer a capital crime Which unexpected and ill carried Message the Gentleman took in such despight that with his Dagger he stabbed the Messenger to the heart Then despairing of pardon in so superlative an offence he abandoned his home and got himself to his Sister abiding in the Island of Mount-Michael in Cornwal Here he bequeathed a large portion of his land to the religious people dwelling there to pray for the redeeming of his soul and lastly that the remainder of his estate might descend to his heir he caused himself to be let blood unto death JOHN de BEIGNY Knight lived Lord of Ege-Lifford in this County who having been a great Travailer and Souldier in his youth retired home married and had three Sons in his reduced Age. Of these the third put himself on Forraign Action in the War against the Saracens in Spain whereof Fame made a large report to his Fathers great contentmâ—…nt which made him the more patiently dispence with his absence But after that death had bereft him of his two elder Sons he was often heard to say Oh that I might but once embrace my Son I would be contented to die presently His Son soon after returning unexpectedly the old man instantly expired with an extasie of Joy An English Father I see can be as passionate as the Italian Mother which died for Joy after the return of her Son from the Battail of 〈◊〉 Thus if all our randome desires should hit the Mark and if Heaven should alwayes take us at our word in our wishes we should be tamed with our Wild prayers granted unâ—…ous us and be drowned in the Deluge of our own Passions This Knight as I take it flourished under King Edward the Third CHILD Whose Christian Name is unknown was a Gentleman the last of his Family being of ancient extraction at Plimstock in this County and great Possessions It happened that he hunting in Dart-More lost both his Company and way in a bitter Snow Having killed his Horse he crept into his hot bowels for warmâ—…h and wrote this with his bloud He that findes and brings meto my Tombe The Land of Plimstock shall be his doom That nâ—…ght he was frozen to death and being first found by the Monkes of Tavâ—…stock they with all possible speed hasted to interre him in their own Abby His own 〈◊〉 of Plimstock hearing thereof stood at the Ford of the River to take his Body from them But they must rise early yea not sleep at all who over-reach Monkes in matter of profit For they cast a slight Bridge over the River whereby they carried over the Corps and interred it In avowance whereof the Bridge a more Premeditate Structure I believe in the place of the former Extempore Passage is called Guils Bridge to this day And know Reader all in the Vicinage will be highly offended with such who either deny or doubt the credit of this common Tradition And sure it is that the Abbot of Tavistock got that rich Manor into his Possession The exact Daâ—…e of this Childs Death I cannot attain NICHOLAS ANDREW TREMAINE were Twins and younger Sons to Thomas Tremaine of 〈◊〉 in this County Esquire Had they preceded Hypocrates in time posterity would have presumed them the sympathising Twins whereof he maketh so large mention Such their likenesse in all lineaments they could not be distinguished but by their several habits which when they were pleased on private confederacy to exchange for disport they occasioned more mirthful mistakes than ever were acted in the Amphitruo of Plautus They felt like pain though at distance and without any intelligence given they equally desired to walk travail sit sleep eat drink together as many credible Gentry of the Vicinage by relation from their Father will attest In this they differred that at New-haven in France the one was a Captain of a Troop the other but a private Souldier Here they were both slain 1564 death being pitiful to kill them together to prevent the lingering languishing of the Surviver Lord-Mayors Never one of this Office was a Devon-shire man by birth on my best enquiry Whereof some assigne these reasons 1 The Distance of the Place whose Western part is removed from London Two
Coker ar ut prius i Per pale Arg. and Azure in the first 3. palets Sablo 27 Ioh. Horsey ar ut prius  28 Christ. Percy ar m  k Az. 3. bendlets Arg. a Chief Ermine 29 Rich. Rogers ar ut prius  30 Rob. Frampton ar n  m Or a Lion ramâ—… Az. quartered with G. 3 lucies hauriant Argent 31 Ioh. Brown ar Frampton  32 Tho. Chaffin ar   33 Radus Horsey ar ut prius n Sab. 2. Lions paws issuing out of the Dexter and sinister base points erected in form of a Cheweron Argent armed Gules 34 Ioh. Williams ar ut prius  35 Geo. Morton ut infra  36 Rob. Strod ar ut prius  37 Tho. Hussy ar o Shopwick  38 Geor. Trenchard m ut prius o Barry of 6. Erm. and Gul. 39 Tho. Freke ar Shrowton  40 Gor. Moâ—…ton ar Clenston Quarterly Gul. Er. a goats head errased Arg. in the first and last quarter 41 Rob. Miller ar * Briddie  42 Tho. Uudall ar ut prius  43 Ioh. Stoker ar  * Azure four Mascles Or. 44 Ioh. Rogers ar ut prius  JACOB   Anno   1 Ioh. Fitz-Iames ar Lewston Az. a Dolph naiant imbow Ar. 2 Ioh. Tregonwel ar Milton  3 Ioh. Ryves ar Blanford  4 Rob. Napper mil. Middle M. Arg. a salt S. bet 4. roses Gul. 5 VVill. VVeb mil. ut prius  6 Christ. Auketil ar  Arg. a saltire ragule Vert. 7 Edr. Uuedall mil. ut prius  8 Ioh. Heniâ—…g ar Pokeswell Barry Wavy of six pieces on Chief Gul. 3. plates 9 Tho. Freke mil.   10 Ioh. Strangways m ut prius  11 Rob. Coker aâ—… ut prius  12 Ioh. Hanham mil. Wimborn  13 Ioh. Brewyne ar Addle-M Azure a Crossmoline Or. 14 Ioh. Tregonwel ar ut prius  15 Ioh. Browne mil.   16 V Valt Earl mil. Charboro Gal. 3. escalops a border engrailed Arg. 17 Anth. Ashly mil. * S. G. Wim  18 Nath. Napper mil. ut prius * Az. a cinque foil Ermin a border engrailed Or. 19 Edw. Lawrence m. †  20 Ioh. Harbyn ar  †Ermin a Cross Ragulee Gul. a Canton Erminess 21 VVill. Francis ar * Combflor  22 Bam. Chafin ar  * Ar. a Che. bet 3. mull. G. pierc CAROL I.   Anno   1 Fran. Chaldecot a.   2 VVill. Uuedell mil ut prius  3 Fitz-James ar  Azure a Dalphin naiant imbowed Arg. 4 Tho. Still ar Redlinch  5 Angel Grey ar Stâ—…nsford  6 Joh. Mellet mil. ut prius  7 Bria VVilliams m. ut prius  8 Joh. Brown ar   9 VVill. Colyer ar Pidle * Per pale Arg. and Azure 3. Palets Sab. 10 Tho. Trenchard *   11 Joh. Feele ar   12 Rich. Rogers arm ut prius  13   14 Rich. Bingham ar Melcombe Azure a bend cotized betw six Crosses pattee Or. 15 VVil. Churchil a. *   16  * Sab. a Lyon ramp Arg. debruised with a bend Gul. 17 Ed. Lawrence mil. ut prius  18   Bâ—…llum nobis haec otia secit   19   20   21   22   Hen. V. 8. JOHN NEWBURGH This Family of the Newburghs or De Novo Burgo is right ancient as which derive their Pedigree from a younger Son of Henry the first Earle of Warwick of the Norman line Yea Master Cambden saith that they held Winfrot with the whole Hundred by the gift of King Henry the first Per servitium Camerarii in Capite de Domino Rege that is in service of Chamberlaine in chiefe from the King though afterwards under the reigne of King Edward the first it was held by Sergeanty namely by holding the Lauer or Ewre for the King to wash in upon his Coronation Day Hen. VIII 4. EGIDIUS STRANGWAYES Thomas Strangways was the first advancer of this Family in this County who though born in Lancashire was brought into these parts by the first Marquess of Dorcet and here raised a very great Inheritance Nor was it a little augmented through this Marriage with one of the Daughters and Inheritrices of Hugh Stafford of Suthwich by whom there accrued unto him Woodford where Guy Brent a Baron and renowned Warriour once had a Castle The Heirs of this Thomas built a fair seat at Milbery 24. THOMAS MORE Mil. He dwelt at Melplash in the Parish of Netherbury and by Tradition is represented a very humerous person Aged folk have informed me whilest I lived in those parts by report from their Fathers that this Sir Thomas whilest Sheriffe did in a wild frolick set open the Prison and let loose many Malefactors Afterwards considering his own obnoxiousness for so rash a fact he seasonably procured his pardon at Court by the mediation of William Pawlet Lord Treasurer and afterward Marquess of Winchester and a Match was made up betwixt Mary this Sheriffs Daughter and Co-heir and Sir Thomas Pawlet second Son to the said Lord by whom he had a numerous Issue The Farewell And now being to take our leave of this County I should according to our usual manner wish it somewhat for the compleating of its Happiness But it affording in it self all necessaries for mans subsistance and being through the conveniency of the Sea supplyed with forraign Commodities I am at a loss what to begge any way additional thereunto Yet seeing great possessions may be diminished by Robbery may the Hemp The Instrument of common Execution growing herein be a constant Monitor unto such who are thievishly given whither their destructive ways tend and mind them of that end which is due unto them that they leaving so bad may embrace a better some industrious course of living DURHAM DURHAM This Bishoprick hath Northumberland on the North divided by the Rivers Derwent and Tine York-shire on the South the German Sea on East and on the West saith Mr. Speed it is touched by Cumberland touched he may well say for it is but for one mile and Westmerland The form thereof is triangular the sides not much differing though that along the Sea-coasts is the shortest as not exceeding twenty three miles However this may be ranked amongst the 〈◊〉 Shires of England And yet I can remember the time when the people therein were for some years altogether unreprosented in the Parliament namely in the Interval after their Bishop was depâ—…ved of his Vote in the House of Lords and before any in the House of Commons were appointed to appear for them Princes CICELY NEVIL Though her Nativity cannot be fixed with any assurance whose Fathers vast estate afforded him a Mansion House for every week in the year yet is she here placed with most probability Raby being the prime place of the Nevils residence She may pass for the clearest instance of humane frail felicity Her Happiness Her Miseries
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 Fâ—…omund le Brun the Popes Chaplain into that See Hence ensued an hot and high contest and Pope John 21. unwilling to engage therein caâ—…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 traâ—…lated to Durham His Sur-name so contemptible in English sounds â—…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 â—…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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 consâ—…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 hâ—…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 â—…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 electâ—…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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 Salvam his Wife Son to Anthony
1550. few years before the beginning of Queen 〈◊〉 many being 〈◊〉 and so 〈◊〉 armed by his useful 〈◊〉 It must not be forgotten how during my abode in Cambridge on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1626. a Book was â—…ound in the belly of a Cod brought into the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 containing therein three 〈◊〉 whereof the 〈◊〉 and largest was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Crosse. It was wrapped about with Canvasâ—… and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fish plundred plâ—…ndred out of the pocket of some Ship-wracked Seaman The Wits of the 〈◊〉 made themselves merry thereat one making a long Copy of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on whereof this Dystiâ—… I remember If 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do bring us Books then we May hope 〈◊〉 Bodlyes Library But whilest the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 themselves herewith the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beheld iâ—… as a sad 〈◊〉 And some who then little looked for the 〈◊〉 have 〈◊〉 found it in that plâ—… This Book was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Author 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But no such Book 〈◊〉 in Bale though â—…y accurate to give â—…s a Catalogue of his Writings Whereby we 〈◊〉 it was the same made by this Richard 〈◊〉 to which another Treatise was annexed 〈◊〉 one to die made 〈◊〉 by our Tracy who himself 〈◊〉 about an hundred years since Sir THOMAS OVERBURY Knight Son to Sir Nicholas Overbury one of the Judges of the Marches was born at Borton on the Hill in this County bred in Oxford and attained to be a most accomplished Gentleman which the happiness of his Pen both in Poetry and Prose doth declare In the later he was the first writer of Characters of our Nation so far as I have observed But if the great parts of this Gentleman were guilty of Insolency and Petulancy which some since have charged on his Memory we may charitably presume that his reduced age would have corrected such juvenile extravagancies It is questionable whether Robert Carre Earl of Somerset were more in the favour of King James or this Sir Thomas Overbury in the favour of the Earl of Somerset until he lost it by disswading that Lord from keeping company with a Lady the Wife of another person of Honour as neither for his credit here or comfort hereafter Soon after Sir Thomas was by King James designed Embassadour for Russia His false friends perswaded him to decline the employment as no better than an Honourable Grave Better lie some dayes in the Tower than more months in a worse prison A Ship by Sea and a barbarous cold Country by land Besides they possessed him that within a small time the King should be wrought to a good opinion of him But he who willingly goes into a prison out of hope to come easily out of it may stay therein so long till he be too late convinced of another judgment Whilest Sir Thomas was in the Tower his Refusal was represented to the King as an Act of high contempt as if he valued himself more than the Kings service His strict restraint gave the greater liberty to his enemies to practise his death which was by poyson performed Yet was his Blood legally revenged which cost some a violent and others a civil death as deprived of their Offices The Earle was soon abated in King Jame's affection O the short distance betwixt the cooling and quenching of a Favourite being condemned and banished the Court. The death of this Worthy Knight did happen Anno Dom. 1615. JOHN SPRINT was bred a Student in Christ Church in Oxford and was afterward beneficed at Thornbury in this County a grave and godly Divine but for a long time much disaffected to the Ceremonies of the Church It happeened that Mr. Burton Arch-Deacon of Gloucester his Collegiate and Contemporary took him to task perswading him seriously to study the point which he promised and performed accordingly He put In the one Scâ—…le In the other The Wo pronounced to such who preach 〈◊〉 the Gospel and dissert their Flocks on pretended scrupulosity The nature of Ceremonies when things indifferent are enjoyned by lawfull Authority Weighing both exactly in the ballance of his judgment he found the former to preponderate concluding it unlawful for any on such â—…count to leave or lose the exercise of his Miniâ—…erial Function Hereupon he not only conformed for the future 〈◊〉 also wrote a Book dedicated to Arch-Deacon Burton called Casâ—…der Angâ—…anus to perswade others to conformity He died as I am informed â—…bout thirty years ago JOHN WORKMAN was born about Lasbury in this County where his Father was a servant to Sir Tho. Escourt He was bred in Oxford and afterwards became for many years the pioâ—…s and painfull Preacher at Gloucester being conformable to Church Discipline both in judgement and practise and in very deed It happened that some pressed super-â—…nonical Ceremonies and such sesqui-Conformists made Mr. Workman turn first but a semiConformist and then by degrees to renounce all Conformity He was prosecuted by G. G. his 〈◊〉 for preaching to the disparagement of the Blessed Virgin Mary though he pleaded his words were only these That the Papists painted her more like a Curtesan than a modest Maid Hereupon he was silenced and not suffered to teach Schoole seeing Sheâ—… and Lambs differ not in hind but age At last his good Priâ—…nd Dr. Baud furnishing him with instructions he turned Phyâ—… and 〈◊〉 unable to preservâ—… his Pattents in liâ—…e he could well prepare them for death He died about the year 1636. We have put them in Parallels not so much because living at the same time in the same County as because the one from disliking came to approve the other from approving to dislike Conformity though both no doubt did follow the dictates of their consciences RICHARD CAPEL was born as I am informed in the City of Gloucester whereof his Father was Alderman and left him a good temporal estate he was bred Fellow of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford where he had many Pupils of good qualitie and among the rest Mr. William Pemble whose Books he set forth and as I remember finished his imperfect Comment on Zachary Leaving the Colledge he was presented by Mr. Stephens to a good benefice in this County where he made his excellent Book Of Temptations full fraught with practical Piety so that what judicious person soever readeth it will experimentally say unto him as once the Lawyer to our Saviour Master thou hast well spoken it carrieth in it such a Truth by the confession confession his Conscience One thing he hath irrefragably proved That there is no Temptation which a man is subject to but what might be suggested by our own corruption without any injection of Satan We have an English expression The Devil he doth it the Devil he hath it where the addition of Devil amounteth only to a strong denial equivalent to he doth it not he hath it not My opinion is if the phrase took not the original from yet is it applyable to our common and causeless accusing of Satan with our
own faults charging him with those Temptations wherein we our selves are always chiefly and sometimes solely guilty When the reading of the Book of sports on the Lâ—…rds day was pressed upon him he refused the same as not comporting with his Conscience and willingly resigned his benefice living afterwards on his temporal means and preaching gratis in neighbouring Congregations He died Anno Dom. 165 Benefactors to the Publick KATHARINE CLYVEDON better known by the name of Dame KATHARINE BERKLEY was Daughter unto Sir John Clyvedon richly landed in this County She was first married to Sir Peter Le Veale and after to Thomas third of that Christian name Baron of Berkley whom she survived living a constant Widow for four and twenty years great her Inâ—…eritance augmented with a large Joynture and yet she expended the profits thereof in Hospitality and prous â—…es amongst which the Founding of the fair Schoole of Wootton-under-edge was most remarkable I have sometimes wondered with my self to see the vast Donations which the Family of the Berkleys bestowed on Monaâ—…eries So that there was no Religious House with in twenty-miles of their Castle besides others at greater distance which did not plentifully partake of their Liberality All these now are lost and extinct whilest the endowment of Wootton Schoole doth still continue whereof I render this private reason to my own thoughts Because Monks were not of Gods planting whilest-teaching of Youth is Iure Divino by a positive precept Teach a Child in the Trade of his Youth and he will remember 〈◊〉 when â—…e is old I behold Wootton Schoole as of great Seniority after Winchester but before Eaton in standing Iohn Smith late of Nibley Esquire was efâ—…ctually instrumental in recovering the Lands to this Schoolâ—… which since hath been happy in good School Masters as they in pregnant Scholars This Lady died March 13. 1385. and is buried by her Husband in Berkley Church in a Monument grated about with Iron Bars Sir WILLIAM HAMPTON son to Iohn Hampton was born at Minchen Hampton in this County bred after a Fish-mâ—…nger in London where he â—…ved so well that he became Lord Mayor thereof Anno 1472. He was the first that set up Stocks in every Ward for the punishment oâ—… Vagaâ—…s and Sâ—…mpets on which account I enter him a publick Benefactor For an House of Correction is a kind of Alms-House it being as charitable a work to reclaim the wicked as to reâ—…ieve the wanting and were it not for Prisons all the Land would be but a Prison Since the Râ—…formation THOMAS BELL born in this County was twice Mayor of the City of Gloucester and raised his estate by Gods blessing on his Industry and Ingenuity being one of the first that brought the trade of Capping into the City Hereby he got great wealth sufficient to maintain the degree of Knighthood which King Henry the eight as I take it bestowed on him He bought from the Crown Black-Friers by the South gate in this City and reformed the ruines thereof into a beautiful house for himself and hard by it erected an Alms-house and endowed it with competent Revenues His Daughter and sole Heir brought a fair Estate into the Families of Dennis This Sir Thomas died in the beginning of the raign of Queen Elizabeth EDWARD PALMER Esquire Uncle to Sir Thomas Overbury was born at Limington in this County where his Ancestry had continued ever since the Conquest Of his breeding I can give no exact account for as the growing of Vegetables towards perfection is insensible so for want of particular information I cannot trace his Gradual motions but find him at last answering the Character given by Mr. Cambden A curious and a diligent Antiquary Great his store of Coins Greek and Roman in Gold Silver and Brasse and greater his skill in them His plentiful Estate afforded him opportunity to put forward the ingenuity impressed in him by nature for the publick good resolving to erect an Academy in Virginia in order whereunto he purchased an â—…sland called Palmers Island unto this day but in pursuance thereof was at many thousand pounds expence some instruments employed therein not discharging their trust reposed in them with corresponding fidelity he was transplanted to another world leaving to posterity the memorial of his worthy but unfinished intentions He married one of his own name and neighbourhood the Daughter of Palmers of Compton Schorfin Esquire Palmero Palmera nobit sic nubilis Amnis Auctior adjunctis Nobilitatis aquis By her he had many Children but most of them desceased amongst whom Muriel married to Michael Rutter of this County Esquire inheriting her Fathers parts and piety left a perfumed Memory to all the Neighbourhood This Edward Palmer died at London about the year 1625. HUGH PIRRY was born in Wootton under-edge a known Market Town in this County bred a Merchant in London whereof he was Sheriff Anno Dom. 1632. He brought the best Servant that ever hath or will come to the Town of Wootton I mean the Water which in his life time on his own cost he derived thither to the great benefit of the Inhabitants He had read how Job had warmed the poor with the Fleece of his Sheep and observed what sheep Job had left he lost and what he had laid out was left him that wooll onely remaining his which he had expended on the poor Master Pirry therefore resolved on pious uses but prevented by death bequeathed a thousand pounds and upwards for the building and endowing of a fair Alms-House in Woâ—…on aforesaid which is persormed accordingly God hath since visibly blessed him in his fair posterity four Daughters the eldest married to the Lord Fitz Williams of Northampton the second to Sir of Glamorgan the third to Sir Robert Beâ—…wes of Lancaster and the youngest the Relict of Viscount Camden's second son to Sir William Fermoure of Northampton-shire He died Anno Dom. 163 Lord Mayors Name Father Place Company Time 1 Will. Hampton John Hampton Minchen HamptoÌ„ Fish-monger 1472 2 John Brug or Bruges Thomas Brug or Bruges Dymmock Draper 1520 3 Leon. Holliday William Holliday Redborough Merchant Taylor 1605 4 Richard Ven. WottoÌ„ under-edg 5 Thomas Viner Thomas Viner Gold-smith 1653 The Names of the Gentry of this County returned by the Commissioners in the twelfth year of King Henry the sixth The Keeper of the Spiritualties of the Bishoprick of Worcester sede vacante Commissioners for taking the oaths James de Berkeley James Greyndore Knights for the Shire Robert Stanshaw Knights for the Shire Guidonis Whitington Richardi Norman Iohannis Hurtesley Thome Hoke Johannis Joce Johannis Anne Johannis Panncefote Chivaler Johannis Cassy Edwardi Brugge Rob. Whitington Willielmi Boteler Willielmi Moryn Johannis Stoughâ—…on Roberti Vobe Johannis Morvan Clementis de Mitton Johannis Moryn Johannis Sâ—…ll Willielmi Penâ—…ock Johan Gifford Chivaler Reginaldi Machyn Walteri Frâ—…sh Thome Sloughter Nicholai Eynesham Radulphi Bottiller Chivaler Johannis Grennell Baldewini Rouse Willielmi Somervile Johannis
hoc breve Teste meipso apud Clypston quinto die Marâ—…it An Regni nostri Nono In obedience to the Kings command this Sheriff vigorously prosecuted the design and made his Return accordingly on the same token that it thus began Nulla est Civitas in Comitat. Gloucest There is no City in the County of Gloucester Whence we collect that Gloucester in that age though the seat of a miâ—…red Abby had not the reputation of a City untill it was made an Episcopal See by K. Hen. 8. The like Letters were sent to all other Sheriffs in England and their Returns made into the Exchequer where it is a kind of Dooms-day-Book junior but commonly passeth under the name of Nomina Villarum I have by me a Transcript of so much as concerneth Gloucester-shire the reason why this Letter is here exemplified communicated unto me with other rarities advancing this Subject by my worthy Friend Mr. Smith of Nibley It must not be omitted that though the aforesaid Catalogue of Nomina Villarum was begun in this year and a considerable progresse made therein yet some unexpressed obstacles retarding it was not in all particulars completed until 20 years after as by this passage therein may be demonstrated Bertona Regis juxta Gloucester ibidem Hundâ—…idum Hundr Margarettae Reginae Angliae Now this Margaret Queen of England Daughter to Philip the Hardy King of France and second Wife to this King Edward the First was not married unto him until the 27 of her Husbands reign Anno 1299. Edw. III. 5 THO. BERKELEY de COBBERLEY He is commended in our Histories for his civil usage of K. Edw. 2. when pâ—…isoner at Berkeley Castle at this day one of the seats of that right ancient Famiiy And right ancient it is indeed they being descended from Robert Fitz-Harding derived from the Kings of Denmark as appeareth by an Inscription on the Colledge-Gate at Bristol Rex Henricus secundus Dominus Robertus filius Hardingi filii Regis Daciae hujus Monasterii primi Fundatores extiterunt This Robert was entirely beloved of this King by whose means his Son Maurice married the Daughter of the Lord of Berkeley whereby his posterity retained the name of Berkeley Many were their Mansions in this County amongst which Cobberley accrued unto them by matching with the Heir of Chandos Their services in the Holy War alluded unto by the Crosses in their Arms and may seem to be their Benefactions whereof in my Church History signified by the Mitre in their Crest Of this Family was descended William Lord Berkeley who was honoured by King Edward the fourth with the Title of Viscount Berkeley created by K. Rich. 3. Earle of Nottingham and in the right of his Wife Daughter of Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolk Henry the sâ—…venth made him Marquess Berkeley and Marshal of England He died without Issue At this day there flourisheth many Noble stems sprung thereof though George Lord Berkeley Baron Berkeley Lord Mowbray Segrave Bruce be the top Branch of this Family One who hath been so signally bountiful in promoting these and all other my weak endeavours that I deserve to be dumb if ever I forget to return him publick thanks for the same 43. JOHN POINTS Remarkable the Antiquity of this Name and Family still continuing in Knightly degree in this County for I read in Dooms-day-Book Drugo filius Ponz tenet de Rege Frantone Ibi decem Hide Geldant de hoc Manerio And again Walterus filius Ponz tenet de Rege Lete Ibi decem Hide Geldant I behold them as the Ancestors of their Family till I shall be informed to the contrary though I confess they were not seated at Acton in this County until the days of King Edward the second when Sir Nicholas Points married the Daughter and Heir of Acton transmitting the same to his posterity Sheriffs Name Place Armes RICH. II.   Anno   1 Tho. Bradwell   2 Johan Tracy TodingtoÌ„ Or a scallop Sab. betw two Bends Gules 3 Radulph Waleys * Sodbury  4 Tho. Bradewell  * Azure 6. Mullets Or. 5 Joh. de Thorp mil.  Argent a Fess Nebule Sable betw 3. Trefoiles Gules 6 Tho. Fitz Nichol.   7 Radus Waleys ut prius  8 Tho. Berkeley Cobberley Gules a Cheveron betwixt ten Crosses formee Argent 9 Tho. Burgg †  10 Tho. Bradewell ut prius †Azure three flower de lys Ermine 11 Tho. Berkeley ut prins  12 Laur. Seabrooke   13 Tho Burgg ut prius  14 Maur. de Russell Derham Argent on a Chief Gules 3. Bezants 15 Hen. de la River   16 Joh. de Berkeley ut prius  17 Gilbertus Denis  Gules a Bend ingrailed Az. betw 3. Leopards heads Or â—…essant flower de lis of the 2d 18 Will. Tracy ut prius  19 Maur. Russel ut prius  20 Rob. Poyns Acton Barry of eight Or and Gul. 21 Johan Berkeley ut prius  22 Johan Bronings   HEN. IV.   Anno   1 Hen de la River   2 Maur. Russel ut prius  2 Rob Sommerville   3 Rob Whittington  Gules a Fess checkee Or and Argent 4 Wil. Beauchamp m   5 Idem   6 Johan Grendore  Per pale Or and Vert 12. guttees or drops counterchanged 7 Maur. Russel ut prius  8 Rob. Whittington ut prius  9 Rich. Mawrdin   10 Alex. Clivedon   11 Will. Wallwine  Gules a Bend within a Bâ—…rder Ermine 12 Joh. Grendore mil. ut prius  HEN. V.   Anno   1 Will. Beauchamp Powkes  2 Joh. Berkley mil. ut prius  3 Joh. Grevel Campden Or on a Cross engrailed within the like border Sab. ten Annulets of the First with a Mullet of five poynts in the Dexter Quarter 4 Idem ut prius  5 Will. Tracy ut prius  6 Will. Bishopeston   7 Joh. Brugg arm ut prius  8 Joh. Willecots   9 Idem   HEN. VI.   Anno   1 Joh. Panfote  Gules 3 Lions Rampant Arg. 2 Joh. Blacket mil.   3 Steph. Hatfild mil.   4 Joh. Grevil arm ut prius  5 Joh. Panfote ut prius  6 Guido Whittington ut prius  7 Rob. Andrew  Sab. a Saltire engrailed Ermin on a Chief Or 3. flower de lys of the First 8 Egidius Brigge *   9 Maur. Berkeley mil ut prius  10 Steph. Hatfield  * Arg. on a Cross Sab. a Leopards head Or. 11 Joh. Towerton   12 Cuido Whittington ut prius  13 Joh Panfote ut prius  4 Maur. Berkeley mil ut prius  15 Idem ut prius  16 Joh. Beauchamp m.   17 Will. Stafford Thornb Or a Cheveron Gules 18 Joh. Stourton mil.  Sable a Bend Or between 3.
thereupon was the first that fled having as it seemeth a heart readier to shew his unloyal falshood and malice than to abide the fight And though the best we could have desired was to have him taken Yet we thank God that he is in this sort overthrown and forced to flye oâ—…r Realm to his like company of Rebells whom no doubt God of his favourable justice will confound with such ends as are meet for them We will not now by words express how inwardly glad we are that you have such success whereby both your courage in such an unequall match your faithfulnesse towards us and your Wisdome is seen to the World this your Act being the very first that ever was executed by fight in field in our time against any Rebell But We mean also in Deed by just Reward to let the world see How much we esteem and can consider such a service as this is And so we would have your self also thank God heartily as we doubt not but you do from whom all Victories do proceed and comfort your self with the assurance of our most favourable acceptation VVe have also herewith sent our Letter of Thanks to Sir John Foster and would have you namely thank our good faithful Soldiers of Barwick in whose worthy service we do repose no small trust 26. of February 1569. Thus far was written by the Secretary of State but the ensuing Postscript was all the Queens own hand The Original being preserved by the Right Honourable Henry Earl of Monmouth Grandchild to the Lord Hunsdon by whose noble favour I carefully copied it forth as followeth I doubt much my Harry whether that the Victory given me more joyed me or that you were by God appointed the Instrument of my Glory and I assure you for my Countries good the first might suffice but for my hearts contentation the second more pleaseth me It likes me not a little that with a good testimony of your faith there is seen a stout courage of your mind that more trusted to the goodnesse of your Quarrel thâ—…n to the weakness of your Number VVell I can say no more Beatus est ille servus quem cum Dominus venerit inveniet facientem sua Mandata And that you may not think that you have done nothing for your profit though you have done much for your Honour I intend to make this journey somewhat to increase your Livelyhood that you may not say to your self Perditur quod sactum est ingrato Your Loving Kinswoman ELIZABETH REGINA Three times was this Lord in Election to be Earl of VViltshire a Title which in some sort belonged unto him in the right of Mary his Mother but still some intervening Accident retarded it When he lay on his Death bed The Queen gave him a gracious visit causing his Patent for the said Earldom to be drawn his Robes to be made and both to be laid down upon his bed but this Lord who could dissemble neither well nor sick Madam said he Seeing you counted me not worthy of this honour whilst I was Living I count my self unworthy of it now I am Dying He departed this life Ann. Dom. 1596. and lyeth buryed in a most magnificent Monument in VVestminster Abbey being the direct Ancestor to the Earls of Dover and Monmouth Physicians JOHN GILES or of St. Giles was born at St. Albans probably in the Parish of St. Giles long since as some more in that Town demolished He was bred beyond the Seas where he became so great a Scholar that he not only was Physician in ordinary to Philip King of France but also Professour of that faculty in Paris and Montpelier Then waving the care of Bodies he took on him the cure of Souls and was made Doctor of Divinity He afterwards became a Dominican and was the first Englishman that ever entred into that order In his old age he was famous for his Divinity-Lectures read in Oxford But which most perswades me to a venerable reception of his memory is what I read of him in Matth. Paris how Robert Grosthead the pious and learned Bishop of Lincoln being sick on his Death-bed sent for this Mr. John Giles learned in Physick and Divinity that from him he might receive comfort both for body and soul. How long this Physician surviv'd his Patient dying in Octob. 1253. is to me unknown JOHN de GATESDEN was undoubtedly born in this County wherein two Villages the Greater and Lesse of that name Such who except that they are written Gadesden will soon be satisfied in their Sameness from those who know the Sympathy betwixt T. and D. He was bred in Merton Colledge in Oxford where he so profited in the Study of Physick That a Forraigner compiling a Catalogue of men eminent in that faculty acknowledgeth him a Writer of high esteem therein By one who hath made a List of Learned men he is styled Johannes Anglicus I am informed that lately his Books have been printed in Italy in a Folio No small Honour I assure you Seeing in Physick the Italians account all Tramountain Doctors but Apothecaries in comparison of themselves The first Treatise in his Book is termed Rosa Anglica The English Rose and I doubt not but as it is Sweet in the Title so it is Soveraign in the matter therein contained This John flourished in the year of our Lord 1320. Writers ALEXANDER NEQUAM or Bad in English was born in St. Albans Many conceived themselves wondrous Witty in making Jests which indeed made themselves on his Sirname Whereof one eminent instance Nequam had a mind to become a Monk in St. Albans the Town of his Nativity and thus Laconically wrote for leave to the Abbot thereof Si vis veniam Sin autem tu autem To whom the Abbot returned Si bonus sis venias Si Nequam nequaquam Whereupon Nequam to discompose such conceits for the future altered the Orthography of his Name into Neckam Another Pass of wit there was saith my Author betwixt him and Philip Repington Bishop of Lincoln the latâ—…r sending the Challenge Et niger nequam cum sis cognomine Nequam Both black and bad whilst Bad the Name to thee Nigrior esse potes Nequior esse Nequis Blacker thou may'st but worse thou can'st not be To whom Nequam rejoyned Phi nota foetoris lippus malus omnibus horis Stinks are branded with a Phi Lippus Latin for Blear-eye Phi malus Lippus totus malus ergo Philippus Phi and Lippus bad as either Then Philippus worse together But by the leave of my learned Author this Nequam must be much younger than our Alexander or that Philip much older than Bishop Repington all agreeing that Alexander Nequam dyed 1227. under King Henry the third whereas Philip Repington was made Bishop of Lincoln 1405. under King Henry the fourth But leaving Nequam his name he is known to posterity by the Title of Ingenii miraculum being an excellent
token that he vanted that he cheated the covetous Usurer who had given him Spick and Span new money for the Old Land of his Great Great Grandfather JOHN GVVILLIM was of VVelch extraction but born in this County and became a Pursuivant of Arms by the name first of Portsmouth then Rougecroixe but most eminent for his methodical Display of Herauldry confusion being formerly the greatest difficulty therein shewing himself a good Logician in his exact Divisions and no bad Philosopher noting the natures of all Creatures given in Armes joyning fansie and reason therein Besides his Travelling all over the earth in beasts his Industry diggeth into the ground in pursuit of the properties of precious stones diveth into the Water in Inquest of the qualities of Fishes flyeth into the Air after the Nature of Birds yea mounteth to the very Skies about stars but here we must call them Estoiles and Planets their use and influence In a word he hath unmysteried the mysterie of Heraldry inso much that one of his own faculty thus descanteth in the Twilight of jest and earnest on his performance But let me tell you this will be the harm In Arming others you Your self disarm Our Art is now Anatomized so As who knows not what we our selves do know Our Corn in others Mill is ill apaid Sic vos non vobis may to us be said I suspect that his endevours met not with proportionable reward He dyed about the latter end of the Reign of King Iames. JOHN DAVIES of Hereford for so he constantly styled himself was the greatest Master of the Pen that England in his age beheld for 1 Fast-writing so incredible his expedition 2 Fair-writing some minutes Consultation being required to decide whether his Lines were written or printed 3 Close-writing A Mysterie indeed and too Dark for my Dimme Eyes to discover 4 Various-writing Secretary Roman Court and Text. The Poetical fiction of Briareus the Gyant who had an hundred hands found a Moral in him who could so cunningly and copiously disguise his aforesaid Elemental hands that by mixing he could make them appear an hundred and if not so many sorts so many Degrees of Writing Yet had he lived longer he would modestly have acknowledged Mr. Githings who was his Schollar and also born in this County to excel him in that faculty whilst the other would own no such odious Eminencie but rather gratefully return the credit to his Master again Sure I am when two such Transcendent Pen-masters shall again come to be born in the same shire they may even serve fairly to engross the will testament of the expiring Universe Our Davies had also some pretty excursions into Poetry and could flourish matter as well as Letters with his Fancy as well as with his Pen. He dyed at London in the midst of the Reign of King James and lyeth buryed in St. Giles in the fields Romish Exile Writers HUMPHRY ELY born in this County was bred in St. Johns Colledge in Oxford Whence flying beyond the Seas he lived successively at Doway Rome and Rheams till at last he setled himself at Pont-Muss in Lorain where for twenty years together he was Professor of Canon and Civil Law and dying 1604. Was buried therein with a double Epitaph That in Verse my Iudgement commands me not to beleive which here I will take the boldnesse to translate Albion Haereseos velatur nocte viator Desine Mirari Sol suus hic latitat Wonder not Reader that with Heresies England is clouded Here her SUN he LIES The Prose-part my Charity induces me to credit Inopia ferme laborabat alios inopia sublevans He eased others of Poverty being himself almost pinched therewith Benefactors to the Publick JOHN WALTER was born in the City of Hereford Know Reader I could learn little from the Minister which preached his funeral less from his acquaintance least from his Children Such his hatred of vain glory that as if Charity were guiltinesse he cleared himself from all suspicion thereof Yet is our Intelligence of him though breif true as followeth He was bred in London and became Clerk of Drapers-hall Finding the World to flow fast in upon him he made a solemn Vow to God that he would give the surplusage of his estate whatever it was to pious uses Nor was he like to those who at first maintained ten thousand pounds too much for any man which when they have attained they then conceive ten times so much too little for themselves but after his Cup was filled brim-full to the aforesaid proportion he conscienciously gave every drop of that which over-flowed to quench the thirst of people parched with Poverty I compare him to Elizabeth in the Gospel who as if ashamed of her shame so then reputed taken from her hid her self five Moneths so great her modesty such his concealing of his Charity though pregnant with good works and had not the Lanthorn of his body been lately broken it is beleived the light of his bounty had not yet been discovered He built and endowed a fair Almes house in Southwark another at Newington both in Surrey on which and other pious uses he expended well nigh ten thousand pounds whereof twenty pounds per annum he gave to Hereford the place of his Nativity His Wife and surviving Daughters were so far from grudging at his gifts and accounting that lost to them which was lent to God that they much rejoyced thereat and deserve to be esteemed joint-givers thereof because consenting so freely to his Charity He dyed in the seventy fourth year of his age 29. December Anno Domini 1656. and was solemnly buried in London Memorable Persons ROSAMUND that is saith my Authour Rosemouth but by allufion termed Rose of the World was remarkable on many accounts First for her Father VValter Lord Clifford who had large Lands about Cliffords-castle in this County secondly for her self being the Mistress-peice of beauty in that Age. Thirdly for her Paramour King Henry the second to whom she was Concubine Lastly fot her Son VVilliam Longspee the worthy Earl of Salisbury King Henry is said to have built a Labyrinth at VVoodstock which Labyrinth through length of time hath lost it self to hide this his Mistress from his jealous Iuno Queen Eleanor But Zelotypiae nihil impervium by some device she got accesse unto Her and caused her Death Rosamund was buryed in a little Nunnery at Godstowe nigh Oxford with this Epitaph Hic jacet in Tumba Rosa mundi non Rosamunda Non redolet sed olet quae redolere solet This Tomb doth inclose the worlds fair Rose so sweet full of favour And smell she doth now but you may guess how none of the sweetest savour Her Corps may be said to have done penances after her Death For Hugh Bishop of Lincoln coming as Visitor to this Nunnery and seeing Rosamund's body lying in the Quire under a Silken Herse with tapors continualâ—…y burning about
the Abby Lands in Ireland for the Kings use a flower of the Crown which alone had made a Posey if continued thereunto But alas the Revenues of Abby Lands are as 〈◊〉 as their buildings nothing more than the rubbish thereof remaining in the Kings Exchequer He made a Law that no Children should be admitted to Church livings which importeth the frequency of that abuse in former times He perswaded O Neile O Brian c. to go over into England to surrender their lands into the Kings hands promising they should receive them again from him by Letters Patents with the Addition of Earls which was done accordingly At his desire the King conferred on them Houses nigh Dublin that residing there they might suck in Civility with the Court air These things thus setled he returned into England and died as I take it in the raign of King Edward the sixth Sir HENRY SIDNRY was son to Sir William Sidney of Pensherst in this County who by his own worth was advanced into the favour of Queen Elizabeth never a whit the lesse for marrying Mary Dudley sister to Robert Earl of Leicester he was by her made Knight of the Garter Lord President of Wales and for eleven years off and on Deputy of Ireland Now though generally the Irish are querelous of their Deputies what Patient for the present will praise his Chirurgion who soundly searcheth his sore yet Sir Henry left a good memory and the monuments of a good Governor behind him 1. He made Annaly a Territory in Loynsteresse by the Sept of Offerralles one entire Shire by it self called the County of Longford he likewise divided the Province of â—…onaght into six Counties 2. In a Parliament held the eleventh of Elizabeth he abolished the pretended and usurped Captain-ships and all extortions incident thereunto 3. He caused an Act to pass whereby the Lord Deputy was authorized to accept the surrenders of the Irish Seâ—…gniories and to re-grant estates unto them to hold of the Crown by English Tenures and Services 4. Because the inferiour sort of the Irish were poor and not Amesâ—…able by Law he provided that five of the best persons of every Sept should bring in all the persons of their surname to be justified by the Law 5. A Law was made that for the civil education of the youth there should be one Free Schoole at least in every Diocesse 6. To acquaint the people of Mounster and Conaght with the English Government again disused amongst them for two hundred years he instituted two Presidency Courts in those two Provinces 7. To augment the Revenues of the Crown he resumed and vested therein by the power of the same Parliament more than half the Province of Ulster upon the attainder of Shane O Neale 8. He raised Customs upon the principal Commodities of the Kingdom and reformed the abuses of the Exchequer by many good instructions from England 9. He established the Composition of the Pale in lieu of Purveyance and Sesse of Souldiers It must not be forgotten that he caused the Statutes of Ireland unto his own time to be printed and so saith my Author ex umbra in solem eduxit he brought them out of the shadow into the sun-shine Whereas formerly they were only in Manuscript a sad case that men should be obliged to the observation of those Laws scarce ever seen by one in an hundred subjected thereunto Being to leave Ireland Anno 1578. and now ready to go up into his Ship he took his leave thereof with the words of the Psalmist When Israel came out of Egypt and Jacob from a strange people rejoycing in heart that he came with a clear conscience from that dangerous employment He died at Worcester May the fifth 1586. and his Corps being brought to Pensherst were there solemnly interred amongst his Ancestors I will close his Life with this Encomium which I find in a Worthy Author His disposition was rather to seek after the Antiquities and the Weal-Publick of those Countries which he governed than to obtain lands and revenues within the same for I know not one foot of Land that he had either in Wales or Ireland Sir PHILIP SIDNEY Reader I am resolved not to part him from his Father such the Sympathy betwixt them living and dying both within the compass of the same year Otherwise this Knight in relation to my Book may be termed an Ubiquitary and appear amongst Statesmen Souldiers Lawyers Writers yea Princes themselves being though not elected in election to be King of Poland which place he declined preferring rather to be a Subject to Queen Elizabeth than a Soveraign beyond the Seas He was born at Pensherst in this County son to Sir Henry Sidney of whom before and Sisters Son to Robert Earl of Leicester bred in Christs Church in Oxford Such his appetite to Learning that he could never be fed fast enough therewith and so quick and strong his digestion that he soon turned it into wholsome nourishment and thrived healthfully thereon His homebred abilities travel perfected with forraign accomplishments and a sweet Nature set a glosse upon both He was so essential to the English Court that it seemed maimed without his company being a compleat Master of Matter and Language as his Arcadia doth evidence I confesse I have heard some of modern pretended Wits cavil thereat meerly because they made it not themselves such who say that his Book is the occasion that many pretious hours are otherwise spent no better must acknowledge it also the cause that many idle hours are otherwise spent no worse than in reading thereof At last leaving the Court he followed the Camp being made Governor of Flushing under his Uncle Earl of Leicester But the Walls of that City though high and strong could not confine the activity of his mind which must into the Field and before Zutphen was unfortunately slain with a shot in a small skirmish which we may sadly tearm a great battel considering our heavy losse therein His Corps being brought over into England was buried in the Quire of St. Pauls with general lamentation Sir FRANCIS WALSINGHAM Knight was born in this County wherein his Family long flourished at Chiselhurst though I read that originally they fetch their name from Walsingham in Norfolk He was bred in Kings Colledge in Cambridge and gave the King of â—…pain his Bible to the Library thereof As a traveller many years beyond the 〈◊〉 he learnt experience as an Agent he practised it there and after his return a Secretary of State he taught it to many Emisaries imployed under him None alive did better ken the Secretary Craft to get Counsels out of others and keep them in himself Mâ—…rvellous his â—…agacity in examining suspected persons either to make them confesse the truth or confound themselves by denying it to their detection Cunning his hands who could unpick the Cabinets in the Popes Conclave quick his ears who could hear at London what
since received an exact Aâ—…narie as I may so say from his nearest relation of his life I will here insert an Abridgement thereof 1. Being Son to Matthew Hutton of Priest Hutton in this County he was born Anno Dom. 1529. 2. He came to Cambridge in the 17. year of his age Anno 1546. the 38. of K. Henry the Eighth 3. coÌ„menced Bach. of Arts 1551 Mr. 1555 4. Chosen Margaret Professor of Divinity December 15. Anno 1561. in the 4. of Queen Elizabeth 5. In the same year commenced Bachelour of Divinity 6. Elected Master of Pembroke-hall May the 12. and the same year September the fifth admitted Regius Professor Anno 1562. 7. Answered a publick Act before Q. Eliz. and Her court at Cambridg A. 1564 8. Married in the same year Katharine Fulmetby Neice to Thomas Goodrick late Bishop of Ely who died soon after 9. Made Dean of York Anno 1567. 10. Married for his second Wife Beatrix Fincham Daughter to Sir Thomas Fincham of the Isle of Ely 11. Resigned his Mastership of Pembroke-hall and his Professours place to Dr. Whitgift April 12. A. 1567. 12. Married Frances Wid. of Martin Bowes son of Sir Martin Bowes Alderman of London Nov. 20. 1583. 13. Chosen Bishop of Durham June 9. Anno Dom. 1589. 14. Confirm'd by the Dean and Chapter July 26. 15. Consecrated by John Arch-bishop of York July 27. 16. Translated to York and consecrated at Lambeth anno 1594. the Thirty seventh of Queen Elizabeth by John Arch-bishop of Canterbury and others March 24. 17. He dyed in January anno 1605. in the seventie sixth year of his age He gave an hundred marks to Trinity colledge in Cambridge and founded an Hospital at Wareton in this County In a word he was a learned Prelate liv'd a pious man and left a precious memory MARTIN HETON was born in this County as by his Epitaph on his Monument lately set up by his Daughters in the Church of Ely may appear and bred first a Student then a Canon of Christs-church on whom Queen Elizabeth bestowed the Bishoprick of Ely after 20. years vacancie thereof Now although his memory groweth under the suspicion of Simoniacal compliance yet this due the Inhabitants of Ely do unto him that they acknowledge him the best House keeper in that See within mans Remembrance He dyed July 14. 1609. leaving two Daughters married in those Knightly Families of Fish and Filmer RICHARD BANCROFT was born at ......... in this County bred in Jesus Colledge in Cambridge and was afterwards by Queen Elizabeth made Bishop of London by King James Arch bishop of Canterbury Indeed he was in effect Arch-bishop whilest Bishop to whom Doctor Whitgift in his decrepite age remitted the managing of matters so that he was the Soul of the high Commission A great Statesman he was and Grand Champion of Church Discipline having well hardned the hands of his Soul which was no more then needed for him who was to meddle with Nettles and Bryers and met with much opposition No wonder if those who were silenced by him in the Church were loud against him in other places David speaketh of poison under mens lips This Bishop tasted plentifully thereof from the mouths of his Enemies till at last as Mithridates he was so habited to poisons they became food unto him Once a Gentleman coming to visit him presented him a Lyebell which he found pasted on his Dore who nothing moved thereat Cast it said he to an hundred more which lye here on a heap in my Chamber Many a Lyebell Lye because false Bell because loud was made upon him The aspersion of coveteousnesse though cast doth not stick on his memory being confuted by the estate which he left small in proportion to his great preferment He cancelled his first Will wherein he had bequeathed much to the Church which gave the occasion for scurrilous pens to passe on him He who never repented of doing Ill Repented that once he made a good Will Whereas indeed suspecting an Impression of popular violence on Cathedralls and fearing an alienation of what was bequeathed unto them he thought fit to cancel his own to prevent others cancelling his Testament This partly appears by his second Will wherein he gave the Library at 〈◊〉 the Result of his own and three Predecessors Collections to the University of Cambridge which now they possesse in case the Archi episcopal See should be extinct How came such a jealousie into his mind What fear of a Storm when the Sun shined the Skye clear no appearance of Clouds Surely his skill was more then ordinary in the Complexion of the Common-wealth who did foresee what afterward for a time came to pass This clause providentially inserted secured this Library in Cambridge during the vacancy of the Archi-episcopal See and so prevented the embeselling at the least the dismembring thereof in our late civil distempers He dyed Anno Dom. 1610. and lyeth buryed at the Church in Lambeth THOMAS JONES was born in this County bred Master of Arts in Cambridge but commenced Doctor of Divinity in the University in Dublin He was first Chancellour then Dean of St. Patricks in that City and thence was made Bishop of Meath Anno 1584. and the next Month appointed by Queen Elizabeth one of her Privy Councel in Ireland Hence he was translated to be Archbishop of Dublin An. 1605. and at the same time was by King Iames made Chancellour of Ireland which office he discharged Thirteen years dying April 10. 1619. As he was a good Officer for the King he was no bad one for himself laying the Foundation of so fair an estate that Sir Roger Iones his Son was by King Charles created Viscount Renelaugh Thus whilst the Sons of the Clergy men in England never mounted above the degree of Knighthood Two of the Clergy men in Ireland attained to the dignity of Peerage I say no more but good success have they with their honour in their persons and posterity RICHARD PARR was born in this County bred Fellow of Brazen-nose Colledg in Oxford whilest he continued in the University he was very painfull in reading the Arts to young Scholars and afterwards having cure of Souls no lesse industrious in the Ministery He was afterwards preferr'd to be Bishop of Man by the Earl of Derby Lord thereof for the Lords of that Island have been so absolute Patrons of that Bishoprick that no lease made by the Bishop is valid in Law without their confirmation This Prelate excellently discharged his Place and died anno Domini 16 Souldiers Sr. WILLIAM MOLINEUX Kt. of Sefton in this County He was at the Battel of Navarret in Spain made Knight Banneret by Edward the Black Prince Anno 1367. under whose command he served in those Warrs as also for a long time in the Warrs of France From whence returning homewards he dyed at Canterbury Anno 1372. on whom was written this Epitaph Miles Honorificus MOLINEUX subjacet intus
us should 〈◊〉 the others Funerall-Sermon But see a strange change God to whom belongs the 〈◊〉 from death was pleased with the Patriarch Jacob blessing his 〈◊〉 wittingly to guide his hands 〈◊〉 reaching out death to the living and life to the dying So that Dr. Felton recovered and not only performed that last office to his Friend Dr. Fenton but also survived him more than ten years and dyed Bishop of 〈◊〉 Roger Fenton dyed in the fiftieth Year of his age anno Dom. 1615. buryed in his own Church under a Monument made at the expence of the Parish ROBERT BOITON was born at Blackborne in this County on Whit sunday 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Year as infamous for the Massacre of many Protestants in France so for the 〈◊〉 of some eminent in England His Parents having a narrow Estate struggled with their necessities to give him liberal Education and he was bred first in 〈◊〉 then in Brazen-nose Colledge in Oxford He had Isocrates his six Marks or Properties of a good Scholar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His want of means proved an advancement unto him For 〈◊〉 having whence to buy Books he borrowed the best Authours of his Tutor read over abridged into Note-books and returned them He was as able to express himself in Latine or Greek as English and that Stylo Imperatorio He was chosen one of the Disputants before King James at his first coming to the University and performed it with great applause Thus far I have followed my Authour mentioned in the Margine but now must depart from him a little in one particular Though Mr. Boltons parents were not overflowing with wealth they had a competent Estate as I am informed by credible intelligence wherin their Family had comfortably continued long time in good repute Sr. Angustine Nicholls presented him to the Rectory of Broughton in Northamptonshire sending him his Presentation unexspectedly from his Chamber in Sergeants â—…nn where D. King Bishop of London being accidentally present thanked the Judge for his good choice but told him withall that he had deprived the University of a singular Ornament Besides his constant Preaching he hath left behinde him many usefull Books the Witnesses of his Piety and Learning and dyed in the 59th Year of his age December 17. 1631. JOHN WEEVER was born at in this County bred in Queens Colledge in Cambridge under Dr. John Person his worthy Tutor He was very industrious in the Studie of Antiquity and composed a usefull Book of Funeral Monuments in the Diocesse of Canterbury Rochester London and Norwich He dyed in London in the fifty sixth Year of his age and was Buried in St. James Clerken-well where he appointed this Epitaph for himself Lancashire gave me Breath And Cambridge Education Middlesex gave we Death And this Church my Humation And Christ to me hath given A place with him in Heaven The certain date of his Death I cannot attain but by Proportion I collect it to be about the Year of our Lord 1634. RALPH CUDVVORTH D. D. the second Son of Ralph Cudworth of Wernith-hall near Manchester Esquire Chief Lord of Ouldham was bred Fellow of Emanuel-colledge in Cambridge A most excellent preacher who continued and finished some imperfect works of Mr. Perkins and after his Decease supplyed his place in St. Andrews in Cambridge He was at last presented by the Colledge to the parish of Auler in Somersetshire Anno 163. LAWRENCE CHADERTON was born at Chaderton in this County of ancient and wealthy Parentage but much nuzled up in Popish Superstition He was intended for a Lawyer and in order thereunto brought up some time in the Inns of Court till he changed his profession and admitted himself in Christs Colledge in Cambridge His Father hearing that he had altered his place studies and Religion sent him a Poke with a groat therein for him to go a begging therewith disinheriting him of â—…hat fair estate which otherwise had descended upon him But God who taketh men up when their Fathers and Mothers forsake them provided him a comfortable subsistance when chosen Fellow of the Colledge He was for many years Lecturer at St. Clements in 〈◊〉 with great profit to his Auditors afterwards made by the Founder first Master of Emanuel He was chosen by the Non-Conformists to be one of their four Representatives in Hampton-court conference and was afterwards employed one of the Translators of the Bible He had a plain but effectual way of Preaching It happened that he visiting 〈◊〉 friends preached in this his Native Countrey where the Word of God as in the dayes of Samuell was very pretious And concluded his Sermon which was of two hours continuance at least with words to this effect That he would no longer trespasse upon their Patience Whereupon all the Auditory cryed out wonder not if hungry people craved more meat for God 〈◊〉 Sir Go on go on Hereaâ—… Mr. Chaderton was surprised into a longer Discourse beyond his expectation in Satisfaction of their importunity and though on a sudden performed it to their contentment and his commendation Thus constant Preachers like good house keepers can never be taken so unprovided but that though they make not a plentiful Feast they can give wholsome food at a short warning He commenced Dr. in Divinity when Frederick Prince Palatine who married the Lady Elizabeth came to Cambridge What is said of Mount Caucasus that it was never seen without Snowe on the Top was true of this Reverend Father whom none of our Fathers generation knew in the Universitie before he was gray headed yet he never used Spectacles till the day of his death being Ninety four years of age He was not disheartned with that common saying he that resigneth his place before his death buryeth himself alive but put off his Clothes long before he went to bed divested himself of the Master-ship of Emanuel Colledge that so he might see a worthy successor in his life time The blessing which befell Job was in some sort appliable unto him he saw his Successors to the fourth generation I mean Doctor Presson and after his Death Doctor Sancroft and after his death Doctor Holesworth who preached his Funeral Sermon Anno 1640. about the Ninety fourth year of his age GEORGE WALKER was born at Hauxhead in Fournifells of Religious Parents Being visited when a child with the Small-poxe and the standers by expecting his dissolution he started up out of a Trance with this ejaculation Lord take me not away till I have shewed forth thy praises which made his Parents devote him to the Ministery after his recovery He was bred B. D. in St. Johns Colledge in Cambridge where he attained to be well skilled in the Oriental Tongues an excellent Logician and Divine Mr. Foster formerly his Tutor resigned unto him his living of St. John the Evangelist London wherein Mr. Walker continued the painful Preacher well nigh fourty years refusing higher preferment often profered him Dr. Felton the
to inherit Happiness so severe her Education VVhilest a childe her Father's was to her an House of Correction nor did she write Woman sooner than she did subscribe Wife and in Obedience to her Parents was unfortunately matched to the L. Guilford Dudley yet he was a goodly and for ought I â—…ind to the contrary a Godly Gentleman whose worst fault was that he was Son to an ambitious Father She was proclaimed but never crowned Queen living in the Tower which Place though it hath a double capacity of a Palace and a Prison yet appeared to her chiefly in the later Relation For She was longer a Captive than a Queen therein taking no contentment all the time save what she found in God and a clear Conscience Her Family by snatching at a Crown which was not lost a Coronet which was their own much degraded in Degree and more in Estate I would give in an Inventory of the vast Wealth they then possessed but am loth to grieve her surviving Relations with a List of the Lands lost by her Fathers attainture She suffered on Tower-Hill 〈◊〉 on the twelfth of February KATHARINE GREY was second Daughter to Henry Duke of Suffolk T is pity to part the Sisters that their Memories may mutually condole and comfort one another She was born in the same place and when her Father was in height married to Henry Lord Herbert Son and Heir to the Earl of Pembroke buâ—… the politick old Earl perceiving the case altered and what was the high way to Honour turned into the ready road to Ruin got pardon from Queen Mary and brake the marriage quite off This Heraclita or Lady of Lamentation thus repudiated was seldome seen with dry eyes for some years together sighing out her sorrowful condition so that though the Roses in her Cheeks looked very wan and pale it was not for want of watering Afterward Edward Seymour Earl of Hertford married her privately without the Queens Licence and concealed till her pregnancy discovered it Indeed our English Proverb It is good to be near a kin to Land holdeth in private patrimonies not Titles to Crowns where such Aliances hath created to many much molestation Queen Elizabeth beheld her with a jealous Eye unwilling she should match either Forreign Prince or English Peer but follow the pattern she set her of constant Virginity For their Presumption this Earl was fined fifteen thousand pounds imprisoned with his Lady in the Tower and severely forbidden her company But Love and Money will find or force a passage By bribing the Keeper he bought what was his own his Wifes Embraces and had by her a surviving Son Edward Ancestor to the Right Honourable the Duke of Somerset She dyed January 26. a Prisoner in the Tower 1567. after nine years durance therein MARY GREY the youngest Daughter frighted with the Infelicity of her two Elder Sisters Jane and this Katharine forgot her Honour to remember her Safety and married one whom she could love and none need fear Martin Kayes of Kent Esq. who was a Judge at Court but only of Doubtful casts at Dice being Seâ—…jeant-Porter and died without Issue the 20. of April 1578. Martyrs HUGH LATIMER was born at Thurcaston in this County what his Father was and how qualified for his State take from his own mouth in his first Sermon before King Edward being confident the Reader will not repent his pains in perusing it My Father was a Yeoman and had no Lands of his own onely he had a Farme of three or four Pounds a Year at the uttermost and hereupon he tilled so much as kept halfe a dozen men he had walk for an Hundred Sheep and my Mother milked thiry Kine he was able and did finde the King an HARNESS with himself and his Horse whilest he came unto the Place that he should receive the Kings Wages I can remember I buckled his Harness when he went to Black Heath Field He kept me to School or else I had not been able to have Preached before the Kings Majestie now He married my Sisters with Five Pounds or twenty Nobles a piece so that he brought them up in Godliness and Fear of God He kept Hospitallity for his Poor Neighbours and some Almes He gave to the Poor and all this did he of the same Farme where he that now hath it payeth sixteen pounds by the Year and more and is not able to do any thing for his Prince for himself nor for his Children or give a Cup of Drink to the Poor He was bred in Christ's Colledg in Cambridg and converted under God by Mr. Bilney from a Violent Papist to a Zealous Protestant He was afterwards made Bishop of Worcester and four Years after outed for refusing to subscribe the six Articles How he was martyred at Oxford 1555. is notoriously known Let me add this Appendix to his Memory when the Contest was in the House of Lords in the Raign of K. Henry the Eighth about the giving all Abby Lands to the King There was a Division betwixt the Bishops of the Old and New Learning for by those Names they were distinguished Those of the Old Learning unwillingly willing were contented that the King should make a Resumption of all those Abbies which his Ancestors had founded leaving the rest to continue according to the Intention of their Founders The Bishops of the new Learning were more pliable to the Kings Desires Only Latimer was dissenting earnestly urging that two Abbies at the least in every Diocess of considerable Revenues might be preserved for the Maintenance of Learned men therein Thus swimming a good while against the stream he was at last carried away with the Current Eminent Prelates before the Reformation GILBERT SEGRAVE Born at Segrave in this County was bred in Oxford where he attained to great Learning as the Books written by him do declare The first Preferment I find conferred on him was The Provosts place of St. Sepulchers in York and the occasion how he obtained it is remakable The Pope had formerly bestowed it on his near Kinsman which argueth the good value thereof seeing neither Eagles nor Eagles Birds do feed on Flyes This Kinsman of the Popes lying on his death bed was troubled in Conscience which speakâ—…eth loudest when men begin to be speechlesse and all Sores pain most when nere night that he had undertaken such a Cure of Souls upon him who never was in England nor understood English and therefore requested the Pope his Kinsman that after his Death the Place might be bestowed on some Learned English-man that so his own absence and negligence might in some sort be repaired by the Residence and diligence of his Successor And this Segrave to his great Credit was found the fittest Person for that Performance He was afterwards preferred Bishop of London sitting in that See not full four years dying Anno Dom. 1317. WALTER DE LANGTON was born at VVest-langton in this County He was highly in favour
branch of the same honourable Family Henry Hastings second-Son to Henry second of that Christian Name Earl of Huntington who by his Virtues doth add to the dignity of his Extraction Queen ELIZABETH 5. JOHN FISHER Armiger His Father Thomas Fisher alias Hawkins being a Collonel under the Duke of Somerset in Musleborough Field behaved himself right valiantly and took a Scotch man Prisoner who gave a Griffin for his Arms Whereupon the said Duke conferred on him the Arms of his Captive to be born within a Border Varrey in relation to a prime Coat which the said Duke the Granter thereof quartered as descended from the Lord Beauchamps of Hatch Sheriffs of Leicester-Shire alone Name Place Arms. ELIZAB. Reginae   Anno   9 Geo. Sherard ar Stapleford Argent a Cheveron Gules betwixt three Torteauxes 10 Hen. Poole arm   11 Brian Cave arm  Azure Frettee Argent 12 Jac. Harington m Pâ—…leton Sable a Fret Argent 13 Geo. Hastings m.  Argent a Maunch Sable 14 Fr. Hastings ar  The same with due difference 15 Edw. Leigh arm  G. a Cross ingrailed Ar. in the first Quarter a Lozenge O. 16 Geoâ—… Turpin m. Knaptoft G. on a bend Argent 3. Lyons heads Erazed Sable 17 Rog. Villeâ—…s ar  Ar. on a Cross G. 5 Escalops O 18 Tho. Skevington Skevingt Arg. 3. Bulls heads erased S. 19 Nic. Beaumont a. Coleorton Az. seme de flewer de Liz A Lyon Rampant Or. 20 Tho. Ashby arm  A Chev. Erm. tw 3. Leop. heads 21 Tho. Cave arm ut prius  22 Fran. Hastings a. ut prius  23 Geor. Purefey a. Drayton  24 Brian Cave a. Engersby ut prius with due difference 25 Andr. Noell a. Dalby Or fretty Gules a Canton Ermin 26 Hen. Iurvile a. Aston Gules 3 Gheverons varry 27 Will. Turpin ar ut prius  28 Aâ—…h Faunt ar Foston Aâ—… Crus ule Fitche a L. Ramp G with due difference 29 Will. Cave arm Pikwell  30 Tho. Skeffington ut prius  Belgrave Belgrave G. a Chev. Er. twixt 3 Mascles A ut prius with due difference 31 Edw. Turvile a. Thurlston  32 Geor. 〈◊〉 a. ut prius  33 Geor. Villers ar Brokesby Arms ut prius 34 Thom. Cave ar ut prius  35 Will. Turpin ar ut prius  36 Hen. Beaumont ut prius  37 Williel Cave ar ut prius  38 Henri Cave ar ut prius  39 Will. Skipwith a Cotes Arg. 3 bars Gules in chief a Greyâ—…ound cursant Sable 40 Will. Digby ar Welby Azure a Fleur de Liz Argent 41 T. Skâ—…ffington a. ut prius  42 Rog. Smith arm Withcock Gules on a Gheveron Or betw 3 Bezaunts 3 Croslets formy Fitchee 43 Georg. Ashby ar Quenby  44 Tho. Humfreys Swepston  JACOB R.   Anno   1 Will. Faunt mil. Faufton Arms ut prius 2 Will. Noell arm Wellsbor Arms ut prius 3 Basil. Brook miles Lubbenham  4 Tho. Nevill mil. Holt Gules a Saltyre Ermin 5 Hen. Hastings m. Leicester Arms ut prius 6 Will. Villers aâ—… Brokesby  7 Joh. Plummer ar Marston Ermin a Bend Varry cotised S. 8 T. Beaumont mil. Coleorton  9 Brian Cave mil. Engersby  10 〈◊〉 Hasilrig m. Nowsley Argent a Cheveron betwixt 3. Hasel leaves vert 11 Tho. Stavely ar  Barry of 8 Ar. and Gules over all a Flower de Luce Sable 12 Wolstan Dixy m Bosworth Az. a Lyon Rampant cheif Or. 13 VVill. Faunt m. ut prius  14 VV. Holford m. Welham  15 Edw. Hartop ar Buckminster S. a cheveron twixt 3 Otters Ar. 16 VV. Gerveis a. Peatling  VVil. Roberts m. Sutton Per Pale Ar. G. a Lyon Ramp S. 17 Johan Cave arm Pikwell  18 Alex. Cave mil. Bagrave  19 Richard Holford Wistowe  20 Geo. 〈◊〉 ar   21 Johan Bale mil. Carleton Curley Per Pale Vert G. an Eagle displayed Arg beaked armed O 22 Hen. Shirley m. Stanton Paly of 6. Or Az. a canton Erm. K. CHARLES   Anno   1 Tho. Hartoppe m. ut prius  2 Nathan Lary ar   3 Georg. Aisby ar   4 Er. de la Fontain m  G. a Bend Or in the Sinister cheif a cinque foile Ermin 5 W. VVollaston a.  Sable 3 Mullets pierced Argent 6 Joh. Banbrigge a. Lockinton Arg. a cheveron Embateled betw 3 Battle-axes Sable 7 Johann Brokesby ut prius  8 Joh. St. John m.  Arg. on a cheif G. 2 Mullets Or. 9 Tho Buâ—…ton M. B. 〈◊〉 S. a Chev. betw 3 owles Argent 〈◊〉 Or. 10 Fran. Sanders a.  Partee p. Ch. Ar. S. 3 Eâ—…eph beads counterch 11 Joh. Poultney ar 〈◊〉 Arg. a Fess indented G. 3. Leop. heads in cheif Sable 12 Hen. Skipwith m ut prius  13 Rich. Roberts m.   14 Joh. Whaâ—…ton ar   15 Will. Holford ar   16 Johan Pate arm   17 Arch. Palmer ar   18   19   20   21 Johan Stafford a.   22 Will. Hewit arm  Sable a Chever counterbattellee betwixt 3 owles Argent Queen ELIZABETH 14. FRANCIS HASTINGS I believe him the same Person with Sir Francis Hastings fourth Son to Francis second Earl of Huntington of that Sirname to whose many children Mr. Cambden giveth this commendation that they agreed together in brotherly love though not in religion some Protestants others Papists all zealous in their perswafion Our Sir Francis wrote a Learned Book in the defence of our Religion rather carped at then confuted by Parsons in his three Conversions and was an Eminent Benefactor to Emmanuel Colledge But if I be mistaken in the Man and these prove two different persons the Reader will excuse me for taking occasion by this his Namesake and near Kinsman of entring here the Memorial of so worthy a Gentleman 28. ANTHONY FAUNT Esquire He was a Gentleman of a Comely person and great Valor Son unto William Faunt Apprentice of the Law of the Inner Temple one of great Learning and Wisdome And had in the low Countreys served under William Prince of Orange where he gained much martial experience Returning into his Countrey he underwent some Offices therein with good esteeme being this year chosen Sheriff of the Shire In the next year which was 1588. He was chosen Lieutenant General of all the Forces of this Shire to resist the Spanish Invasion But his Election being crost by Henry Earl of Huntington Lord Leiutenant of the County he fell into so deep a Fit of Melancholy that he dyed soon after 39. VVILLIAM SKIPVVITH Esq He was afterwards deservedly Knighted being a Person of much Valor judgment Learning and VVisdome dexterous at the making fit and acute Epigrams Poesies Mottoes and Devises but chiefly at Impresses neither so apparent that every Rustick might understand them nor so obscure that they needed an Oedipus
Thames and Trent for the Southern and Northern Bounds and two such Universities Cambridge and Oxford both in the Content thereof before three smaller Bishopricks were carved out of it Amongst the Houses of the Nobility I take signal notice of two One I may call a Premeditate Building viz. Tattershall belonging to the Right Honourable the Earl of Lincolne advanced by degrees at several times to the Modern Magnificence thereof But Grimsthorp I may term an Ex tempore Structure set up on a suddain by Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk to entertain King Henry the Eighth in his Progress into these parts The Hall therein was fitted to a fair Suit of Hangings which the Duke had by his Wife Mary the French Queen and is now in the possession of the Right Honourable Montague Earl of Lindsey The Wonders At Fishtoft in this County no Mice or Rats are found insomuch that Barns built party per pale in this and the next Parish on one side are annoyed on the other side being Fishtoft Moiety are secured from this Vermin Surely no Piper what is notoriously known of Hamell in Westphalia did ever give them this Mice-Delivery by his Musick It is easier to conjure up many then allay one difficulty other places in England affording the like At one of the Rodings in Essex no Hogs will root In another Common no Mole will cast In Linley in Leicestershire no Snakes are found I believe they overshoot the Mark who make it a Miracle they undershoot it who make it Magick they come the nearest to Truth who impute it to occult Qualities If some men will swound at some meat yea but smelling it unseen by their disaffection thereunto why may not whole species and kinds of creatures have some antipathetical places though the reason thereof cannot be rendred Surely as Sampson at his Marriage propounded a Riddle to his Companions to try their Wits thereon so God offereth such Aenigmaes in nature partly that men may make use of their admiring as well as of their understanding partly that Philosophers may be tanght their distance betwixt themselves who are but the Lovers and God who is the Giver of Wisdome Let it also passe for this once for a wonder that some seven score years since nigh Harlaxton in this Shire there was found turned up by one ploughing the ground a Golden Helmet of Antick fashion I say Cassis non aurata sed aurea a Helmet not guilt but of Massive Gold studded with precious stones probable of some Prime Roman Commander Whence I observe First that though no Edge-Tool to offend may be made of Gold and Silver Yet defensive Weapons may thereof be compounded Secondly that the Poetical Fiction of Glaucus his Golden Arms is founded on History For not to speak of Solomon his Golden Sheilds Great Commanders made use of Arms of that Mettal if not for strength for state and Ornament Lastly it was presented to Queen Katharine first Wife to King Henry the Eighth who though not knowing to use it as a Helmet knew how to employ it as made of Gold and Rich Jewells Proverbs Lincolne-shire Bagpipes I behold these as most ancient because a very simple sort of Musick being little more then the Oaten Pipe improved with a Bag wherein the imprisoned wind pleadeth melodiously for the Inlargement thereof It is incredible with what agility it inspireth the heavy heels of the Country Clowns overgrown with hair and rudenesse probably the ground-work of the poetical fiction of dancing Satyrs This Bagpipe in the judgement of the Rural Midas's carryeth away the credit from the Harp of Apollo himself and most persons approve the Blunt Bagpipe above the Edge Tool Instruments of Drums and Trumpets in our Civil dissentions As loud as Tom of Lincoln This Shire carryes away the Bell for round-ringing from all in England though other places may surpasse it for Changes more pleasant for the Variety thereof seeing it may be demonstrated that twelve Bells will afford more changes than there have been hours since the Creation Tom of Lincoln may be called the Stentor fifty lesser-bells may be made out of him of all in this County Expect not of me to enter into the discourse of popish baptizing and naming of Bells many charging it on them for a prophane and they confessing enough to make it a superstitious action All the Carts that come to Crowland are shod with Silver Venice and Crowland Sic Canibus Catulos may count their Carts alike that being sited in the Sea this in a Morasse and Fenny ground so that an horse can hardly come to it But whether this place since the draining of the Fenns hath acquired more firmnesse than formerly is to me unknown 'T is height makes Grantham Steeple stand awry This Steeple seems crooked unto the beholders and I believe will ever do so until our age erect the like by it for height and workmanship though some conceive the slendernesse at such a distance is all the obliquity thereof Eminency exposeth the uprightest persons to exception and such who cannot find faults in them will find faults at them envying their advancement As mad as the Baiting Bull of Stamford Take the Original hereof William Earl Warren Lord of this Town in the time of King John standing upon the Castle Walls of Stamford saw two Bulls fighting for a Cow in the Meadow till all the Butchers Dogs great and small persued one of the Bulls being madded with Noyse and Multitude clean through the Town This Sight so pleased the said Earl that he gave all those Meadows called the Castle Meadows where first the Bull Duel began for a Common to the Butchers of the Town after the first Grasse was eaten on condition that they find a Mad Bull the day Six weeks before Christmas day for the continuance of that sport every year Some think that the Men must be mad as well as the Bull who can take delight in so dangerous a WastTime whereby that no more Mischeif is done not mans care but Gods Providence is to be praised He looks as the Devil over Lincoln Lincolne Minster is one of the statelyest Structures in Christendome The South-side of it meets the Travellers thereunto twenty miles of so that their Eyes are there many hours before their Feet The Divel is the Map of Malice and his Envy as Gods mercy is over all his works It grieves him what ever is given to God crying out with that Flesh-Divel Ut quid haec perditio What needs this wast On which account he is supposed to have overlook'd this Church when first finished with a torve and tetrick countenance as maligning mens costly devotion and that they should be so expensive in Gods service But it is suspicious that some who account themselves Saints behold such fabricks with little better looks He was born at Little Wittham This Village in this County by Orthography is Witham near which a River of the
returned For your Masters sake I will stoop but not for the King of Spains This worthy Patriot departed this life in the seventy seventh year of his Age August the 4th 1598. Capitall Judges Sr. WILLIAM de SKIPVVITH was bred in the study of the Laws profiting so well therein that he was made in Trinity Terme Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer in the thirty fifth continuing therein untill the fortieth of the Reign of King Edward the third I meet not with any thing memorable of him in our English Histories except this may pass for a thing remarkable that at the importunity of John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster this Sr. William condemned William Wichkam Bish. of Winchester of Crimes rather powerfully objected then plainly proved against him whereupon the Bishops Temporalls were taken from him and he denied access within twenty miles of the Kings Court. I confess there is a Village in the East riding of Yorkshire called SKIPWITH but I have no assurance of this Judge his Nativity therein though ready to remove him thither upon clearer information Sr. WILLIAM SKIPVVITH Junior He was inferior to the former in place whom I behold as a Puisne Judge but herein remarkable to all posterity That he would not complie neither for the importunity of King Richard the second nor the example of his fellow Judges in the 10th year of that Kings Reign to allow that the King by his own power might rescinde an Act of Parliament Solus inter impios mansit integer Gulielmus Skipwith * Miles Clarus ideo apud Posteros And * shined the brighter for living in the midst of a crooked Generation bowed with fear and favour into Corruption I know well that the Collar of S. S. S. or Esses worn about the necks of Judges and other persons of Honor is wreathed into that form whence it receiveth its name Chiefly from Sanctus Simon Simplicius an uncorrupted Judge in the Primitive Times May I move that every fourth link thereof when worn may mind them of this SKIPVVITH so upright in his judgment in a matter of the highest importance Having no certainty of his Nativity I place him in this County where his name at Ormesby hath flourished ever since his time in a very worshipfull equipage Sr. WILLIAM HUSEâ—… Knight was born as I have cause to believe in this County where his name and Familie flourish in a right worshipfull equipage He was bred in the study of our Municipall Law and attained to such eminencie therein that by King Edward the fourth in the one and twentieth of his Reign he was made Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench. King HENRY the seventh who in point of policy was onely directed by himself in point of Law was chiefly ruled by this Judge especially in this question of importance It hapned that in his first Parliament many Members thereof were returned who being formerly of this Kings partie were attainted and thereby not legal to sit in Parliament being disabled in the highest degree it being incongruous that they should make Laws for others who themselves were not Inlawed The King not a little troubled therewith remitted it as a case in Law to the Judges The Judges assembled in the Exchequer Chamber agreed all with Sr. VVilliam Husee their Speaker to the King upon this Grave and safe opinion mixed with Law and convenience that the Knights and Burgesses attainted by the course of Law should forbear to come into the House till a Law were passed for the reversall of their attainders which was done accordingly When at the same time it was incidently moved in their Consultation what should be done for the King himself who likewise was attainted the rest unanimously agreed with Sr. VVilliam Husee that the Crown takes away all defects and stops in blood and that by the Assumption thereof the fountain was cleared from all attainders and Corruptions He died in Trinity Term in the tenth year of King Henry the 7th Sr. EDMUND ANDERSON Knight was born a younger brother of a Gentile extract at Flixborough in this County and bred in the Inner Temple I have been informed that his Father left him 1000 l. for his portion which this our Sr. Edmund multiplyed into many by his great proficiency in the Common Law being made in the twenty fourth of Queen Elizabeth Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. When Secretary Davison was sentenced in the Star Chamber for the business of the Queen of Scots Judge Anderson said of him that therein he had done * justum non juste and so acquitting him of all malice censured him with the rest for his indiscretion When H. â—…uff was arraigned about the Rising of the Earl of Essex and when Sr. Edward Coke the Queens Solicitor opposed him and the other answered Syllogistically our Anderson sitting there as Judge of Law not Logick checked both Pleader and Prisoner ob stolidos Syllogismos for their foolish Syllogismes appointing the former to press the Statute of King Edward the third His stern countenance well became his place being a great promoter of the established Church-discipline and very severe against all Brownists when he met them in his Circuit He dyed in the third of King James leaving great Estates to several sons of whom I behold Sr. Francis Anderson of Euworth in Bedfordshire the eldest whose son Sr. John by a second Wife Audrey Butler Neece to the Duke of Buckingham and afterwards married to the Lord Dunsmore in VVarwickshire was according to some conditions in his Patent to succeed his Father in Law in that honour if surviving him This I thought fit to insert to vindicate his memory from oblâ—…vion who being an hopefull Gentleman my fellow Colleague in Sidney Colledge was taken away in the prime of his youth Souldiers Sr. FREDERICK TILNEY Knight had his chief Residence at Bostone in this County He was a man of mighty stature and strength above the Proportion of ordinary persons He attended King Richard the first Anno Dom. 1190. to the Seidge of Acon in the Holy Land where his Atcheivements were such that he struk terror into the Infidels Returning home in safety he lived and died at Terington nigh Tilney in Norfolk where the measure of his incredible stature was for many 〈◊〉 preserved Sixteen Knights flourished from him successively in the Male line till at last their Heir generall being married to the Duke of Norfolk put a period to the Lustre of that ancient family PEREGRINE BERTY Lord Willoughby Son of Richard Berty and Katharine Dutchess of Suffolk Reader I crave a dispensation that I may with thy good leave trespass on the Premised Laws of this Book his name speaking his foraign Nativity born nigh Hidleberg in the Palatinate Indeed I am loath to omit so worthy a Person Our Histories fully report his valiant Atcheivements in France and the Netherlands and how at last he was made Governour of
learned Author and doubt such exceed the properties of its nature and the promises of experiment will not secure the adventure and I believe few Mountebanks will be so daring as to poyson themselves on the Security of such an Alexipharmacon I have done Reader with this Subject when I have told thee that two of my worthy friends yea the Friends to Mankind by their general generosity Dr. Baldwin Hamey and Sir Francis Prugean the one had the Horn it self which to my dim eyes at some distance seemed like a Taper of wreathed Waxe the other hath the Socket as I may term it of the Fish into which this Horn was fixed I have heard that upon Experiment a great cure against poyson hath been done with some Grains theâ—…erof and it is improbable that the Vigour of the vigour of Nature should extrude that so specious to Sight which is not also Soveraign to Service Since I am informed that the same Dr. Hamey hath parted with the Propriety thereof to the Colledge of Physicians and they have solemnly presented this Unicorns Horn to his Majesty to supply the place of that in the Tower which our Civil wars have embeseled Proverbs A London Jury hang half and save half Some affirm this of an Essex others of a Middlesex Jury and my Charity believes it equally true that is equally untrue of all three What gave first occasion to this Libelling Proverb I know not this I know reports of this Nature like round bodies down Precepices once mâ—…ved move themselves and a Mouse may stir what a man cannot stay in this kind The best is though none can hinder a Slanderer from speaking they may hinder them from speaking Truth This Proverb would fain suggest to credulous people as if Londoners frequently impannelled on Juries and loaded with multiplicity of matters aim more at dispatch then Justice and to make quick Riddance though no hast to hang true men acquit half and condemn half Thus â—…hey divide themselves in aequilibrio betwixt Justice and mercy though it were meet the latter should have the more advantage and the Beam break on the pitiful side Others extend this Proverb also to their arbitrations betwixt party and party as if not minding the merits of the cause they cleave the thing controverted into equal moities betwixt Plainuff and Defendant The falsnesse of these Suggestions will appear to such who by perusing History do discover the London Jurors most consciencious in proceeding secundum allegata probata always inclining to the merciful side in saving life when they can find any cause or colour for the same and amongst many thousands take two most memorable Instances The first Sir Nicholas Throgmorton who on the 17 of April 1554. was in the Reign of Queen Mary arraigned for High Treason in Guildhall before Sir Thomas White Lord Maior the Earls of Shrewsbury and Derby Sir Thomas Bromley Lord Cheif Justice c. Mr. Edward Griffin the Attorney General pressed the Prisoner very sorely for his Correspondency with the Carews in the West and his being privy to the Rising of Sir Thomas Wyat. Sir Nicholas pleaded many hours for himself no lesse stoutly then wisely yet with due submission to the Conrt till at last his Jury passed upon him whose names ad perpetuam rei memoriam are here inserted 1. Wheston 2. Lucar 3. Yoong 4. Martin 5. Beswike 6. Barscarfeld 7. Kightleie 8. Low 9. Painter 10. Banks 11. Calthrop 12. Cater These acquitted the Prisoner and though much menaced by the Court stood stoutly to their Verdict for which they were all imprisoned five of them fined and paid 260. l. a peice the rest lower Sums and after their discharge from durance commanded to attend the Council Table at an hours warning The other is of a person who was lately arraigned in Guildhall and whom I list not to name partly because he is easily guessed partly because he was of so turbulent a Spirit that his Name would set all my Book at dissention He being charged with what concerned his Life was by an uncorrupted Jury though heavily pressed to the contrary clearly acquitted and one passage omitted in his printed Tryal I must here insert Speaking his Farewell to the Jury now ready to depart the Bar he requested them to remember a Statute in the Reign of King Henry the Seventh as making much in his behalf Sirrah said one Judge on the Bench to this Prisoner I know that Statute better then you do to whom he calmly replyed I believe you Sir but I desire that these Gentlemen of the Jury should understand it but as well as I do and so it seems they did for his life was saved thereby A Fool will not part with his Bawble for the Tower of London This Tower anciently was and in part still is the Magazine of Englands Wealth There the Silver the Mint of Money and there the Brasse and Iron to defend it the Armory and Store-house of Ordnance yet Fools so doat on their darling Fancies that they prize them above all this Treasure But alass Quod scribimus Legimus ridemus hoc facimus We do our selves what we deride in others Every one is addicted to some vanity or other which he will not part with on any conditions so weak and wilful we are by nature He that will not freely and sadly confess that he is much a Fool is all a Fool. London Lick Penny The Countryman coming up hither by his own experience will easily expound the meaning thereof The best is it is also London Get Penny to those who live here and carefully follow their Vocations London Cockneys Let us observe first the antiquity of this Proverb then the meaning Lastly the Application thereof to Londoners It is more then four hundred years old for when Hugh Bigot added artificial fortifications to the natural strength of his Castle at Bungey in Suffolk he gave out this Rhime therein vaunting it for impregnable Were I in my Castle of Bungey Upon the River of Waveney I would ne care for the King of Cockeney Meaning thereby King Henry the Second then peaceably possessed of London whilest some other places did resist him though afterwards he so humbled this Hugh that he was fain with large sums of money and pledges for his Loyalty to redeem this his Castle from being razed to the Ground I meet with a double sense of this word Cockeney some taking it for 1. One coaks'd or cockered made a wanton or Nestle-cock of delicately bred and brought up so that when grown Men or Women they can endure no hardship nor comport with pains taking 2. One utterly ignorant of Husbandry and Huswifery such as is practiced in the Country so that they may be perswaded any thing about Rural Commodities and the Original thereof and the Tale of the Citizens Son who knew not the Language of Cock but call'd it Neighing is commonly known Here I take no Notice of his
I remember are buryed in Lichfield and not in the Vault under the Church of Drayton in Middlesex where the rest of that Family I cannot say lye as whose Coffins are erected but are very compleatly reposed in a peculiar posture which I meet not with elsewhere the horrour of a Vault being much abated with the Lightnesse and Sweetnesse thereof THOMAS WENTVVORTH was born his Mother coming casually to London in Chancery Lane in the Parish of St. Dunstans in the West Yet no reason Yorkshire should be deprived of the honour of him whose Ancestors long flourished in great esteem at VVent-worth-VVoodhouse in that County He was bred in St. Iohns Colledge in Cambridge and afterwards became a Champion Patriot on all occasions He might seem to have a casting voice in the House of Commons for where he was pleased to dispose his Yea or Nay there went the affirmative or negative It was not long before the Court gained him from the Country and then Honours and Offices were heaped on him created Baron and Viscount Wentworth Earl of Strafford and Lord Deputy of Ireland When he went over into Ireland all will confesse he laid down to himself this noble foundation vigorously to endevour the Reduction of the Irish to perfect obedience to the King and profit to the Exchequer But many do deny the Superstructure which he built thereon was done by legal line and Plummet A Parliament was called in England and many Crimes were by prime persons of England Scotland and Ireland charged upon him He fenced skilfully for his Life and his Grand-guard was this that though confessing some Misdemeanors all proved against him amounted not to Treason And indeed Number cannot create a new kind so that many Trespasses cannot make a Riot many Riots one Treason no more then many Frogs can make one Toad But here the Dâ—…stinction of Acumulative and Constructive Treason was coyned and caused his Destruction Yet his Adversaries politickly brake off the Edge of the Axe which cut off his head by providing his Condemnation should not passe into Precedent to Posterity so that his Death was remarkable but not exemplary Happy had it been if as it made no Precedent on Earth so no Remembrance thereof had been kept in Heaven Some hours before his Suffering he fell fast asleep alledged by his friends as an Evidence of the Clearnesse of his Conscience and hardly to be parallel'd save in St. Peter in a dead sleep the Night before he was to dye condemned by Herod His death happened 1641. He hath an eternal Monument in the matchlesse Meditations of King Charles the First and an everlasting Epitaph in that weighty Character * there given him I looked upon my Lord of Strafford as a Gentleman whose abilites might make a Prince rather afraid than ashamed in the greatest Affairs of State c. God alone can revive the dead all that Princes can perform is to honour their Memory and Posterity as our Gracious Soveraign King Charles hath made his worthy Son Knight of the Garter LYONEL CRANFIELD Son to Randal Cranfield Citizen and Martha his Wife Daughter to the Lady Dennis of Gloucester-shire who by her will which I have perused bequeathed a fair estate unto her was born in Bassing-hall street and bred a Merchant much conversant in the Custome-House He may be said to have been his own Tutor and his own University King Iames being highly affected with the clear brief strong yea and profitable sense he spake preferred him Lord Treasurer 1621. Baron of Cranfield and Earl of Middlesex Under him it began to be young flood in the Exchequer wherein there was a very low Ebb when he entred on that Office and he possessed his Treasurers place some four years till he fell into the Duke of Bucks the best of Friends and worst of Foes displeasure Some say this Lord who rose cheifly by the Duke whose near Kinswoman he married endevoured to stand without yea in some cases for the Kings profit against him which Independency and opposition that Duke would not endure Flaws may soon be found and easily be made Breaches in great Officers who being active in many cannot be exact in all matters However this Lord by losing his Office saved himself departing from his Treasurers place which in that age was hard to keep Insomuch that one asking what was good to preserve Life was answered Get to be Lord Treasurer of England for they never do dye in their place which indeed was true for four Successions Retiring to his magnificent House at Copt-hall he there enjoyed himself contentedly entertained his friends bountifully neighbours hospitably poor charitably He was a proper person of comely presence chearful yet grave countenance and surely a solid and wise man And though their Soul be the fattest who only suck the sweet Milk they are the healthfullest who to use the Latine Phrase have tasted of both the Breasts of fortune He dyed as I collect anno 1644 and lyeth interred in a stately Monument in the Abby at Westminster Writers on the Law FLETA or FLEET We have spoken formerly of the Fleet as a Prison but here it importeth a person disguised under that name who it seems being committed to the Fleet therein wrote a Book of the Common Laws of England and other Antiquities There is some difference concerning the Time when this Learned Book of Fleta was set forth but it may be demonstrated done before the fourteenth of the Reign of King Edward the Third for he saith that it is no Murder except it be proved that the Party slain was English and no Stranger whereas this was altered in the fourteenth year of the said King when the killing of any though a Forreigner living under the Kings protection out of prepensed Malice was made Murder He seemeth to have lived about the End of King Edward the Second and beginning of King Edward the Third Seeing in that Juncture of Time two Kings in effect were in being the Father in right the Son in might a small contempt might cause a confinement to that place and as Loyal ubjects be within it as without it Sure it is that notwithstanding the confinement of the Author his Book hath had a good passage and is reputed Law to posterity CHRISTOPHER St. GERMAN Reader wipe thine eyes and let mine smart if thou readest not what richly deserves thine observation seeing he was a person remarkable for his Gentility Piety Chastity Charity Ability Industry and Vivacity 1. Gentility descended from a right ancient Family born as I have cause to believe in London and bred in the Inner Temple in the Study of our Laws 2. Piety he carried Saint in his nature as well as in his Surname constantly reading and expounding every night to his Family a Chapter in the Bible 3. Chastity living and dying unmarried without the least spot on his Reputation 4. Charity giving consilia and auxilia to all his People gratis
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 〈◊〉 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—… 〈◊〉 for three or four days having onely the Advise of Doctor Bignall a worthy and able 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 of Norway where a Winters day is hardly an hour of clear light are the 〈◊〉 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—… 〈◊〉 third daughter to King Charles the first and Queen Mary was born at 〈◊〉 James's March 17. Anno Domini 1637. She was a very pregnant Lady above 〈◊〉 and died in her infancy when not full four years old Being minded by those 〈◊〉 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 embâ—…iled we know by some God knows by whom no memorial is entred of them Sad that bounty should betray any to such baseness and that which was intended to make them the more solemnly remembred should occasion that they should be more silently forgotten Say not let the children of mean persons be written down in Registers Kings children are Registers to themselves or all England is a Register to them For sure I am this common confidence hath been the cause that we have been so often at a loss about the nativities and other properties of those of Royal extraction CHARLES STUART son to the Illustrious James Stuart Duke of York by Anne daughter to the Right Honourable Edward Hide Earl of Clarendon and Lord Chancellour of England and Frances his Lady descended of the Ancient Family of the Aylesburies High-sheriffs for many years together of Bedford and Buckinghamshire in the reign of King Edward the second and third was born at Worcester-house 22. day of October 1660. and christened by the Right Reverend Father in God Gilbert L. Bishop of London his Majesty and George Duke of Albemarle being his God-fathers and Mary the Queen-mother his God-mother He was declared Duke of Cambridge a title which to the great honour of that University for these four hundred years hath been onely conferred either on forraign Princes or persons of the Royal Bloud This Princely infant dyed May 5. 1661. Saints Saint WULSY being a man reputed when living and reported when dead of great vertue and innocency Was by Saint Dunstan created the first Abbot of Westminster where he lived many years very exemplary for his conversation untill his death which happened Anno Dom. 960. Then was his body buried in the same Monastery and the 26. day of September was kept by the Citizens of London with great Veneration of his miracle-working memory Martyrs I meet with none in this City and in my mean Judgment it is most observable that London having two Pages as I may term them attending it viz. Westminster and Southwark both joyned to it in buildings should be so different from it in condition in London we have no room to hold Martyrs in the other two no Martyrs to take up any room Inquiring the cause thereof we find these three places though contiguous not to say
continued in the raign of Queen Mary under three several jurisdictions London under bloudy Bonner who made havock of all he could come at Southwark under politick Gardner who took wit in his anger of whom formerly This Westminster under John Fecknam Abbot thereof with power Episcopal a man cruel to none courteous and charitable to all who needed his help or liberality Confessors Rain which Country-people say goeth by Planets goeth by Providence * I caused it to rain upon one City and caused it not to rain upon another Persecution observeth the same method ordered by the same power and pleasure A shower of bloud fell upon London whilst Westminster the next City did escape So that I find neither Martyr nor Confessor therein Meeting with none before let us proceed to Prelates since the Reformation RICHARD NEILE was born in Kings-street in this City and was bred in Saint Johns-colledge in Cambridge he was afterwards Vicar of Chesthunt in the County of Hartford presented thereunto by the honourable family of the Cecills he was the first and last Native of this City who became the Dean and so the supreme magistrate thereof Through many Bishopricks of Coventry and Lichfield Durham and Winchester he was at last preferred Arch-bishop of York being also Privy Counsellor to King James and King Charles He died Anno Domini 16. JOHN WARNER D. D. was born in the Parish of Saint Clements Danes within the Precincts of this City bred in Magdalen-colledge in Oxford at last preferred Bishop of Rochester This worthy Bishop perceiving the want of a fixed Font in the Cathedral Church of Canterbury bestow'd one upon it whether more curious or costly my Author could not decide it being both ways so excellent and exquisite A gift the more remarkable because the first which hath been offered by any private hand to that Church of later times But I suspect now this Font it self is washed away in the deluge of our late wars under the notion of superstition God hath given him a great Estate and a liberal heart to make use of it Keeping good Hospitality in the Christmas at Brumley as he fed many Poor so he freed himself from much trouble being absent when the rest of the Bishops subscribed their Protest in Parliament whereby he enjoy'd liberty in the restraint of others of his Order He was an able and active advocate for Episcopacy in the House of Lords speaking for them as long as he had any voice left him and then willing to have made signs in their iust defence if it might have been permitted him But it is now high time for me to put out my Candle when Day-light shines so bright I mean to desist from charactering of persons who are so perfectly known to so many alive I will only adde this eminent Prelate hath since seen the happy restitution of his order injoying again his former dignity who now is and long may be living 1661. Statesmen Sir FRANCIS BACON Knight youngest son to Sir Nicholas Bacon Lord Keeper was born in York-house Anno 1560. For being demanded his age by Queen Elizabeth he returned that he was two years younger then her Majesties reign He was bred in Trinity-colledge in Cambridge and there first fell into a dislike of Aristotles Philosophy as Barren and Jejune inabling some to dispute more to wrangle few to find out trueth and none if confining themselves to his Principles Hence it was that afterwards he traded so largely in experiments so that as Socrates is said to be the first who stooped Towring Speculations into Practical Morality Sir Francis was one of the first who reduced Notional to Real and Scientifical Philosophy He was afterwards bred in Grays-Inn in the Study of our Municipal Law attaining to great Eminency but no Preferment therein during the reign of Queen Elizabeth Imputable to the envy of a great Person who hindred his rising for fear to be hindred by him if risen and Eclipsed in his own profession Thus the strongest wing of merit cannot mount if a stronger weight of malice doth depress it Yet was he even then Favorite to a Favorite I mean the Earl of Essex and more true to him then the Earl was to himself For finding him to prefer destructive before displeasing Counsel Sir Francis fairly for sook not hâ—…s person whom his pity attended to the grave but practises and herein was not the worse friend for being the better subject By K. James he was made his Solicitor and afterwards his Atturney then priviledged contrary to custome to â—…it a member in Dom. Com. and at last Lord Chancellor of England His abilities were a clear conâ—…utation of two vulgar errors errors libells on learned men First that Judgement Wit Fancy and Memory cannot eminently be in conjunction in the same person whereas our Knight was a rich Cabinet fill'd with all four besides a golden key to open it Elocution Secondly That he who is something in all is nothing in any one Art whereas he was singular in singulis and being In at all came off with credit Such as condemn him for pride if in his place with the fift part of his parts had been ten times prouder themselves he had been a better Master if he had been a worse being too bountiful to his servants and either too confident of their honesty or too conniving at their falshood The story is told to his advantage that he had two Servants one in all causes Patron to the Plantiffe whom his charity presumed always injured the other to the Defendant pitying him as compelled to Law but taking bribes of both with this condition to restore the money received if the Cause went against them Their Lord ignorant hereof always did unpartial Justice whilst his men making people pay for what was given them by compact shared the money betwixt them which cost their Master the loss of his office Leading a private life he much delighted to study in the shade of solitariness and many useful discoveries in Nature were made by him so that he may be said to have left nothing to his Executors and all to his Heirs under which notion the learned of all ages may be beheld His vast bounty to such who brought him presents from great persons occasioned his want afterwards who in rewarding them so remembred that he had been Lord Chancellor that he forgot that he was but the Lord Verulam A Viscountry that began and ended in him dying issu'less it being remarkable that though we have had two Earls of several families of Saint Albans yet was there no Lord Verulam as if it were referved for that antient Roman Colony to be buried in its own reverend ruins and in this peerless Lords everlasting memory much admired by English more by out-landish men Distance diminishing his faults to be invisible to forreign eyes whilst we beheld his perfections abated with his failings He died Anno Domini 1626. in the
the lands belonging to the Church of Norwich which formerly he had so industriously recovered and setled thereon were again called into question being begged by a Peer who shall pass nameless Sir Edward desired him to desist telling him that otherwise he would put on his Gown and Cap and come into Westminster-hall once again and plead there in any Court in Justification of what he had done He died at Stoke Poges in Buckingham-shire on Wednesday the 3. of September being the 83. year of his age whose last words were Thy Kingdome come Thy will be done Sir THOMAS RICHARDSON Knight was born at Mulbarton in this County his father being Minister thereof He was bred in the study of our Municipal-law and became the Kings Serjeant therein Afterwards on the 28. of November 1626. he was sworn Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas that place having been void ten months before But coming now to our own times it is safest for me to break off Virgil I remember put a period to his Eclogue with Et Hylax in limine latrat VVe 'l Verfifie no more For do but hark Hylax doth bark at th' entrance of the Dore. Seeing many will be ready to carp it is safest for me to be silent whilst his Brass Monument on the South-side of VVestminster Abby thus entertaineth the Reader Deo Om. Thomae Richardsoni Iceni Equitis Aurati Humanum Depositum Ille Juris Municip omnes gradus exantlavit Conventus tertii ordinis ann Jacobi Regis 21 22. Prolocutor extitit Fori civilis Communium Placitorum vocant Supremum Magistratum quinquennium gessit Ad summum tandem primarii per Angliam judicis Tribunal A Rege Carolo evectus expiravit Anno aetatis 66. salutis MDCXXXIIII Tho. Richardson fil unicus Eques Aur. Baro Scotiae designatus Patri incomparabili posuit This Judge married for his second Lady Elizabeth Beaumont the sister as I take it of Mary Countess of Buckingham and the Relict of ........ Ashburnham Knight She was by King Charles Created Baroness of Craumount in Scotland and though issueless by the Judge the Honour descended to his Grand-child Souldiers ROBERT VENILE Knight one I confess whose name I never heard of till meeting with this memorable Note in a Modern Historian And here must not be forgotten Robert Venile Knight a Norfolk man who when the Scots and English were ready to give battle a certain stout Champion of great stature commonly called Tournboll coming out of the Scots Army and challenging any English man to meet him in a single combate this Robert Venile accepteth the challenge and marching towards the Champion and meeting by the way a certain black Mastife dog which waited on the Champion he suddenly with his sword cut him off at the loyns and afterwards did more to the Champion himself cutting his head from off his shoulders This put me with blushing enough that one so eminent in himself should be altogether to me obscure upon the inquiry after this valiant Knight but all my industry could not retrive him in any author so that he seems to me a kin to those spirits who appear but once and finally vanish away Sir OLIVER HINGHAM was born richly landed and buried in Hingham an eminent Market-town in this County A right valiant man whom King Edward the third left Governour of Aquitain in France an honorable but difficult place being to make good a great Country with a few men against a fierce and numerous enemy Yet he gave a good account of his trust When the French lay before Burdeaux the Citizens thereof to abuse the enemies hopes set open their gates displaying the Golden-lilies the French-armes on their Towers as if they were theirs the French were no sooner securely entred but brave Oliver Captain of this City and Warden of the whole Country for King Edward gave them such an entertainment that they drank not so much Claret-wine in the City as they left Bloud behi nd them This happ'ned in the thirteenth year of the reign of King Edward the third This Sir Oliver liv'd many years after and was made Knight of the Garter and lies buried at Hingham under a fair tomb of free-stone curiously wrought with his resemblance in his Coat-Armour having a Crowned Owle out of an Ivy-bush for his Crest lying upon a Rock beholding Sun Moon and Stars because a great Travailer all lively set forth in metal with four and twenty mourners about his monument JOHN FASTOLFE Knight was a native of this County as I have just cause to believe though some have made him a French-man meerly because he was Baron of Sineginle in France on which account they may rob England of many other Worthies He was a Ward and that the last to John Duke of Bedford a sufficient evidence to such who understand time and place to prove him of English extraction To avouch him by many arguments valiant is to maintain that the sun is bright though since the Stage hath been over bold with his memory making him a Thrasonical Puff and emblem of Mock-valour True it is Sir John Oldcastle did first bear the brunt of the one being made the make-sport in all plays for a coward It is easily known out of what purse this black peny came The Papistsâ—…ailing â—…ailing on him for a Heretick and therefore he must also be a coward though indeed he was a man of arms every inch of him and as valiant as any in his age Now as I am glad that Sir John Oldcastle is put out so I am sorry that Sir John Fastolfe is put in to relieve his memory in this base service to be the anvil for every dull wit to strike upon Nor is our Comedian excusable by some alteration of his name writing him Sir John Falstafe and making him the property of pleasure for King Henry the fifth to abuse seeing the vicinity of sounds intrench on the memory of that worthy Knight and few do heed the inconsiderable difference in spelling of their name He was made Knight of the Garter by King Henry the sixth and died about the second year of his reign Sir CLEMENT PASTON Knight fourth son to Sir VVilliam Paston son to Sir John Paston a famous Soldier and favorite to King Edward the fourth sent by him with the Lord Scales to conduct the Lady Margaret the sister of the King to her husband Charles Duke of Burgundy son to VVilliam Paston the Judge was born at Paston in this County When a youth he was at the burning of Conquest in France and afterwards by King Henry the eight was made Captain of one of his ships of war and in a Sea-fight took a French Gally and therein the Admiral of France prisoner called the Baron of Blancard whom he brought into England and kept at Castor nigh rarmouth till he had payed 7000. crowns for his ransome besides the spoil of the Galley wherein he had a cup and two snakes of gold which were the
thereof with circumspect diligence and without long delay to procure and see to be done and obtained such Licenses as they will answer for the same before Almigbty God for if they or any of them should neglect to obtain such Licenses no Prince nor Counsel in any degree will deny or defeat the same and if conveniently by my Will or other Conveyance I might assure it I would not leave it to be done after my Death Then the same shall revert to my Heirs whereas I do mean the same to the Commonweale and then their default thereof shall be to the reproch and condemnation of the said Corporation before God c. This worthy Knight compleated his second change I mean of a mortal life for a Blessed Eternity on the 21. of November 1579. and lieth buried in the Parish Church of Saint Hellens Sir WILLIAM PASTON Knight son and heir to Erasmus Paston of Paston Esquire is justly recounted a Publick Benefactour True it is the family whence he was extracted were always forward in deeds of Charity according to the devotion of the days they lived in Witness their â—…ountiful donations to the Abbys of Saint Bennet in the Holme and Bromholme in this County after the Reformation they had not with too many less heat because more light but continued the stream though they changed the Channel of charity This Sir William erected a very fair school with thirty pounds per annum for the maintenance thereof at Northwalsam in this County a deed no doubt acceptable to the God of heaven Solomon saith Teach a Child in the trade of his youth But alas it's above the reach of poor parents to teach their Children lacking learning to do it themselves and livelyhood to hire others save where such good persons as this worthy Knight have made provision for them This Sir William married Francis the daughter of Sir Tho. Clear of Stokesby and was Great-grand-father to Sir William Paston the bountiful promoter of all my weak endeavours HENRY HOWARD youngest son of Henry Howard Earl of Surrey and brother to Thomas Howard last Duke of Norfolk was boâ—… at Shotesham in this County He was bred a serious student for many years in Kings colledge in Cambridge then in Trinity-hall going the ordinary path and pace to the degree of Mastership without any honorary advantage Here he became a greaâ—… and general Scholar witness his large and learned work intituled A Dâ—…pensative against the poyson of supposed Prophesies and dedicated to Sir Francis Walsingham His fortune left him by his Father was not great and he lived privately all the reign of Queen Elizabeth till King James advanced him in honour and wealth Here for variety sake and the better to methodize our matter we will make use of a distinction common in the Custome-house about bills of lading Inwards and Outwards observing what greatness were imported and conferred on him what gratitude was exported and performed by him Inwards Outward 1. King James Created him Baron of Marnehill in Dorset shire 2. Earl of Northampton 3. Lord Privy Seal 4. Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports 5. Knight of the Garter 6. Cambridge chose him her Chancellour 1. He founded and endowed an Hospital for twelve poor women and a Governour at Rising in this County 2. Another for twelve poor men and a Governour at Clun in Shropshire 3. Another at Greenwich in Kent for a Governour and twenty poor men of whom eight are to be chosen out of Shotesham the place of his nativity He died the 15. of June 1614. and was buried in the ancient Chappel of the Castle of Dover Memorable Persons SHARNBORN born at and Lord of Sharnborn a considerable Mannor in this County This Manner William the Conquerour out of the plenitude of his power conferred on one Warren a Norman Souldier But Sharnborn was not so tame as silently to set down and suffer a stranger peaceably to possess his inheritance which his English Ancestors for many years had injoyed but fairly traversed his Title I will not say in Westminster-hall as of later erection in the reign of King Rufus but in that publick place where Pleas were held in that age Surely none but a Norfolk-man durst go to Law with the Conquerour and question the validity of his Donations Yea brave Sharnborn got the better of the Suit and the Kings grant was adjudged void This is pertinently pressed by many to prove that King William though in Name was in very deed no Conquerour but came in by composition to keep the Laws of England Now as I am heartily sorrowful that Sharnborn possessed ever since almost 600. years by that name and family should in our age be sold and aliened from it whose heir males are just now extinct so am I cordially glad that it is bought by a worthy person Francis Ash Esquire which with some limitation hath freely setled it being of good yearly value on Emanuel-colledge and may they as long enjoy it as the former owners if before that term the Day of Judgement put not a Period to all earthly possessions Lord Mayors Name Father Place Company Time 1 Godfry Bullen Geffrey Bullen Salle Probably Mercer 1457 2 Bartholomew Rede Robert Rede Crowmer Goldsmith 1502 3 Richard Gresham John Gresham Holt Mercer 1537 4 John Gresham John Gresham Holt Mercer 1547 5 Thomas Cambell Robert Cambell Fullsam Iron-Monger 1609 6 John Leman John Leman Gillingham Fish-Monger 1616 7 Edward Barkham Edward Barkham South-Akere Draper 1621 The names of the Gentry of this County returned by the Commissioners in the twelfth year of King Henry the sixth 1433. William Bishop of Norwich Commissioners to take the Oaths John de Morley Chivaler Robert Cliffton mil. Knights for the shire John Roys Knights for the shire Abbatis de Langle Abbatis de Creek Abbatis de Wendelyng Abbatis de Derham Prioris Sancte fidis Prioris de VValsyngham Prioris de Tetford Prioris de Linne Prioris de Yernemouth Prioris de Ingham Prioris de Cokysforde Prioris de Westar Prioris de Penteneye Prioris de Castelacre Prioris de Bromhill Prioris de Ghildham Prioris de Wyrmingheye Prioris de Bokynham Prioris de Bromholm Prioris de Hyking Prioris de Petreston Prioris de Flycham Prioris de Baeston Iohan. Clyfton mil. Briani Stapulton mil. Tho. Kerdeston Hen. Inglose mil. Tho. Tudenham mil. Rog. Harsick mil. Hen. Richford mil. Iohan. Curson mil. Henry Grey Willielâ—…i Calthorp Iohan. Fitz-Rauf de Moris Thomae Willoughby Oliveri Groos Thomae Chaumbir Edmundi Winter Nich. Apilyerde VVill. Apilyerde Nicholai Castel Edmundi Stapulton Thomae Pigot Henrici Walpole Thomae Trusbute Willielmi Byllingford Willielmi Daubeney Thomae Astele Radulphi Lampet Iohannis Woodehouse Iohan. Berney de Redham Ioh. Berney de Wythingham Georgii Holkham VVillielmi Yelverton Edmundi VVychyngham Iohan. Heydon VVill. Grey de Merston VVillielmi Raimis Thomae Dengayne Iohannis Clepisby Iohannis Strange Richardi Gogh Christopheri Strange Henrici Catte Iohannis Bakon
justly suspected and I reserve his character to be ranked amongst the Benefactors to the Publique Prelates RICARD of NORTHAMPTON ADAM of NORTHAMPTON We compound them for several reasons First because natives of the same Town Secondly both going over into Ireland there became Bishops of the same See Thirdly because the history of them is single so slender it cannot subsist alone though twisted together it is posible that their memories may support one the other For we have nothing more of them then the dates of their Consecrations and Deaths The former Consecrated Bishop of Fernose October the 13. 1282. dyed Anno 1304. The later Consecrated 1322. died October the 29. 1346. having first seen his Cathedral Church burnt and destroyed by the Rebells WILLIAM le ZOUCH son to Lord Zouch was born at Haringworth in this County as a branch of thar Honorable Family still alive and Critical in their Pedigrees hath credably informed me From Dean he became Arch-bishop of York 1342. King Edward the third going over to France committed the North to the care of this Prelate Soon after David King of Scots with a great Army invaded it he promised himself Cesars success to Come and Conquer See and Subdue The rather because he believed that he floure of the English Chivalry being gone into France onely Priests and Peasants were left behind Our Arch-bishop with such forces as he could suddenly provide bid him Battle at Durham on Saint Lukes Eve whereon the Scotch King found such a fast he had little list to feast the day following being routed and taken Prisoner Hence a Poet of that age Est pater invictus sicco de stipite dictus Zouch in French signifying the dry stump of a stick However his honorable Family flourished as a Green Tree for many years till withered in our memory when Edward the last Lord Zouch dyed without Issue male in the beginning of King Charles To return to our Prelate he began a beautiful Chappel on the South-side of his Cathedral intending to be interred therein But dying before the finishing thereof was buried before the Altar of Saint Edmund 1352. ROBERT BRAYBROOKE was born at a Village in this County well known for the carkase of a Castle therein He was Consecrated Bishop of London January 5. 1381. â—…nd afterwards for six Months was Chancellour of England He dyed 1404. being buried under a Marble-stone in the Chappel of Saint Mary Which is all we can recover of this Prelate and if it be enough to satisfie the Readers hunger he need not leave any thing for manners in the dish LIONELL WYDEVILL or WOODVILL was born at Grafton since called Grafton honor in this County bred in the University of Oxford whereof for a time he was Chancellour then made Bishop of Sarisbury 1482. As he was at first preferred so his memory is still supported from sinking in Silence rather by the Buttresses of his great relations then the foundation of his own deserts For he was Son to Jaquet Dutchess of Bedford and Richard Wydevill E. of Rivers Brother to Elizabeth Q. of England Brother in-law to King Edward the fourth Uncle to King Edward the fiâ—…t and Father say some to Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester Heart-broken with grief with the Tragedies he beheld in his own family caused by the cruelty of King Richard the third he died about the year of our Lord 1484. Since the Reformation JAMES MONTAâ—…UE son to Sir Edward Montague Knight was born at Boughton in this County bred in Christs-colledge in Cambridge He was afterwards Master or rather Nursing father to Sidney-colledge For he found it in Bonds to pay 20. Marks per annum to Trinity-colledge for the ground whereon it is built and left it free assigning it a rent for the discharge thereof When the Kings Ditch in Cambridge made to defend it by its Strength did in his time offend it with its Stenche he expended a hundred marks to bring running water into it to the great conveniency of the University He was afterwards Bishop first of Bath and VVells then of VVinchester being highly in favour with King James who did ken a man of merrit as well as any Prince in Christendome He translated the works of King James into Latine and improved his greatness to do good offices therewith He died Anno Domini 1618. and lyeth buried within his fair Monument within his fairer Monument I mean a goodly Tombe in the Church of Bath which oweth its well being and beauty to his Munificence FRANCIS GODWIN son to Thomas Godwin Bishop of Bath and VVells was born at Hanningham in this County bred in Christs-church in Oxford Doctor of Divinity and Sub-Dean of Exeter He was born in the fourth year of the raign of Queen Elizabeth Anno 1561. and in the fortieth year of his age 1601. by her Majesty made Bishop of Landaffe A bishoprick better proportioned to his modesty then merits as which was much impaired by his predecessor so that one did tâ—…uly say A bad Kitching did for ever spoil the good Meat of the Bishops of Landaffe He was a good Man grave Divine skilful Mathematician pure Latinist and incomparable Historian The Church of Landaffe was much beholding to him yea the whole Church of England yea the whole Church Militant yea many now in the Church Triumphant had had their memories utterly lost on Earth if not preserved by his painfull endeavours in his Catalogue of English Bishops I am sorry to see that some have since made so bad use of his good labours who have lighted their Candles from his Torch thereby meerly to discover the faults of our Bishops that their Personal failings may be an argument against the Prelatical function He was translated by King James to the Bishoprick of Hereford and died very aged in the reign of King Charles Anno Domini 162. JOHN OWEN was born at Burton Latimers in this County his father being the worthy and grave Minister thereof He was bred a Fellow in Jesus-colledge in Cambridge where he commenced Doctor of Divinity and was Chaplain to King Charles whilst he was a Prince A modest man who would not own the worth he had in himself and therefore others are the more ingaged to give him his due esteem In the vacancy of the Bishop wrick of Saint Asaff King Charles being much troubled with two Competitours advanced Doctor Owen not thinking thereof as an expedient to end the Contest Indeed his Majesty was mistaken in his birth accounting him a Welch-man but not in his worth seeing he deserved a far better preferment Besides he was though not Ortus oriundus è Wallia and by his father being a Welchman he was related to all the best families in North-wales He out-lived his Vote in Parliament and survived to see all contempt cast on his Order which he bare with much moderation and dyed Anno Dom. 164. ROBERT SKINNER D. D. was born at Pisford in this County where his father was
Minister bred Fellow of Trinity-colledge in Oxford afterwards an eminent Preacher in London and Dean of ............ Hence he was preferr'd Bishop of Bristol and afterwards of Oxford and is still and long may he be living States-men Sir CHRISTOPHER HATTON was born I collect at Holdenby in this County of a family rather ancient then wealthy yet of no mean estate He rather took a bate then made a meal at the Inns of Court whilst he studied the Laws therein He came afterwards to the Court in a mask where the Queen first took notice of him loving him well for his handsome dancing better for his proper person and best of all for his great abilities His parts were far above his learning which mutually so assisted each other that no manifest want did appear and the Queen at last preferred him Lord Chancellour of England The Gown-men grudging hereat conceived his advancement their injury that one not thoroughly bred in the Laws should be preferred to the place How could he cure diseases unacquainted with their causes who might easily mistake the Justice of the Common-law for Rigour not knowing the true reason thereof Hereupon it was that some sullen Serjeants at the first refused to plead before him until partly by his power but more by his prudence he had convinced them of their errors and his abilities Indeed he had one Sir Richard Swale Doctor of the Civil-laws and that Law some say is very sufficient to dictate equity his servant-friend whose advice he followed in all matters of moment A scandal is raised that he was popishly affected and I cannot blame the Romanists if desirous to countenanâ—…e their cause with so considerable a person Yet most â—…ue it is that his zeal for the discipline of the Church of England gave the first being and life to this report One saith that he was a meer Vegetable of the Court that sprung up at night and sunk again at his noon though indeed he was of longer continuance Yet it brake his heart that the Queen which seldome gave boons and never forgave due debts rigorously demanded the present payment of some arrears which Sir Christopher did not hope to have remitted but did onely desire to be forborn failing herein in his expectation it went to his heart and cast him into a mortal disease The Queen afterwards did endeavour what she could to recover him bringing as some say cordial broaths unto him with her own hands but all would not do Thus no Pullies can draw up a heart once cast down though a Queen her self should set her hand thereunto He dyed Anno Domini 1591. and is buried under a stately monument in the Qâ—…ire of Saint Pauls Sir WILLIAM FITZ-WILLIAMS born at Milton in this County married the sister of Sir Henry Sidney Lord Deputy of Ireland Yea he himself was five times Lord Deputy of that Kingdome a sufficient evidence of his honesty and ability seeing Queen Elizabeth never trusted twice where she was once deceiv'd in a Minister of State She so preserved him in the power of his place that sending over Walter Earl of Essex a person higher in honour to be Governour of Ulster it was ordered that the Earl should take his Commission from the Lord Deputy An intelligent pen alloweth him serviceable towards the reduction of that Kingdome in two eminent particulars First in raising a composition in Mounster then in setling the possessions of the Lords and Tenants in Monahan one of the last acts of State tending to the reformation of the civil government perform'd in the reign of Queen Elizabeth His vigilancy was most conspicuous in the Eighty-eight when the routed Armado in its return did look dared not to land in Ireland except against their wills driven by tempest when they found the shore worse then the sea unto them I confess some impute the Irish Rebellion which afterwards brake out to this Deputies severity in imprisoning suspected persons for concealing Spanish goods though this onely gave the Irish a mantle for their intended wickedness He died Anno Domini 15 ... Sir ISAAC WAKE was born in this County whose father Arthur Wake Clerk was Parson of Billing Master of the Hospital of Saint Johns in Northampton and Canon of Christs-church and son to John VVake of Sancy-forrest Esquire of a most ancient and honorable family He was bred Fellow of Merton-colledge in Oxford Proctour and Oratour of that University he was afterwards Secretary to Sir Dudley Carleton Secretary of State and from his was advanced into the Kings Service and imployed Embassadour to Venice where he neglected his own commodity to attend his Majesties imployment the reason that he died rich onely to his own Conscience Coming from Venice he was appointed Leiger for France and designed Secretary of State had not death prevented him at Paris He was accomplished with all qualifications requisite for publique Employment Learning Languages Experience Abilities and what not King Charles hearing of his death commanded his Corps to be decently brought from Paris into England allowing the expences for his Funeral and enjoyning his neerest relations to attend the performance thereof These accordingly met his body at Bulloin in France and saw it solemnly conveyed into England where it was interred in the Chappel of the Castle of Dover Anno Dom. 16 ... Capital Judges and Writers on the Law MARTIN de PATESHULL Let him remain here till any shall show me a Town called Pateshulle in any other County of England which village in this Shire gave the name and afforded the habitation to that ancient family Though a Clergy-man he was in the first of King Henry the third made Justice of the Lower-â—…ench or Common-Pleas wherein he continued for twelve years and upwards as appeareth by the date of his death out of an excellent Author Eodem anno obiit Martinus de Pateshulle Decanus St. Pauli London 18. Cal. Decem. vir mirae prudentiae Legum Regni peritissimus He was the fourth Dean of Saint Pauls as reckoned up in Bishop Godwin his Catalogue In that age we see Clergy men were not onely trusted with the spirit I mean the equity but also with the letter of the Law being Judges in those Courts wherein were the most strictest proceedings Sir THOMAS de BILLING was born in this County where two Villages his namesakes near Northampton and had his habitation in great state at Ashwell in this Shire He was made Chief-Justice of the Kings-Bench in the sixth and so continued till the one and twentieth of Edward the fourth whose lands and those very large have since by the Lovels descended to the Shirlies Nothing else have I to observe of him save that he married for his second wife Mary the daughter and heir of Robert Nesenham of Conington in Huntingtonshire the Relict of William Cotton whose issue possess her inheritance at this day and she lieth intomb'd in VVestminster Sir
itcrum tedeat esse tuam Do not the least part of your trust disdain Nor grudge of Boys to take the care again He lived to be a very aged man past seventy six and died Anno Domini 162. JOHN FLETCHER Son of Richard Fletcher D. D. was as by proportion of time is collectible born in this County before his Father was Bishop of Bristol or London and whilst as yet he was Dean of Peterborough He had an excellent wit which the back-friends to Stage-plays will say was neither idle nor well imploy'd For he and Francis Beaumont Esquire like Castor and Pollux most happy when in conjunction raised the English to equal the Athenian and Roman Theater Beaumont bringing the ballast of judgement Fletcher the sail of phantasie both compounding a Poet to admiration Meeting once in a Tavern to contrive the rude draught of a Tragedy Fletcher undertook to kill the King therein whose words being over-heard by a listener though his Loyalty not to be blamed herein he was accused of High Treason till the mistake soon appearing that the plot was onely against a Drammatick and Scenical King all wound off in merriment Nor could it be laid to Fletcher's charge what Ajax doth to Ulysses Nihil hic Diomede remoto When Diomede was gone He could do nought alone For surviving his partner he wrote good Comedies himself though inferiour to the former and no wonder if a single thread was not so strong as a twisted one He died as I am inform'd in London of the plague in the first of King Charles 1625. Sir HENRY MONTAGUE Knight third son to Sir Edward Montague Knight grand-child to Sir Edward Montague Knight Lord Chief-Justice of the Kings-bench was born at Boughton in this County One skilful in mysterious arts beholding him when a School-boy foretold that by the pregnancy of his parts he would raise himself above the rest of his family which came to pass accordingly He was bred first in Christs-colledge in Cambridge then in the Middle-Temple where he attained to great learning in the Laws and passed through many preferments viz. 1. Sergeant at Law 2. Knighted by King James July 22. 1602. 3. Recorder of London 4. Lord Chief-Justice of the Kings-Bench November 18. 1616. 5. Lord Treasurer of England Decem. 16. 1620. 6. Baron of Kimbolton 7. Viscount Mandevile 8. President of the Council Septem 29. 1621. 9. Earl of Manchester 10. Lord Privy-Seal He wisely perceiving that Courtiers were but as counters in the hands of Princes raised and depress'd in valuation at pleasure was contented rather to be set for a smaller sum then to be quite put up into the box Thus in point of place and preferment being pleased to be what the King would have him according to his Motto Movendo non mutando me he became almost what he would be himself finaly advanced to an Office of great honour When Lord Privy-Seal he brought the Court of Requests into such repute that what formerly was called the Almes-basket of the Chancery had in his time well nigh as much meat in and guests about it I mean Suits and Clients as the Chancery it self His meditations on Life and Death written in the time of his health may be presumed to have left good impressions on his own soul preparatory for his dissolution which happened 164. Writers JOHN of NORTHAMPTON in Latine Johannes Avonius was born in the Town of Northampton in ipso Insulae umbilico saith Bale and is not mistaken in his proportion This mindeth me of a village in this County sufficiently known commonly call'd Navesby whose Orthography Criticks will have Navelsby as in the middle of England This John became a Carmelite in his native Town and so addicted himself to the Study of Mathematicks that he became one of the most eminent in that age for practical experiments He was Author of a work which he called The Philosophers Ring This was not like The Philosophers Stone a thing meerly imaginary nor yet was it a work of the Cyclopedy of Arts as the sound may seem to import but it was in plain truth a perpetual Almanack I say Almanack which word though many make of Arabick extraction a great Antiquary will have it derived from the Dutch Al-mon-aght that is to say Al-mon-heed the regard or observation of all Moons However this work of John was beheld as a Master-piece of that age and since commented upon by other Writers He flourished Anno Domini 1340. ROBERT HOLCOT was born in a Village of this County so named bred in the University of Oxford and afterwards became a Dominican in Northampton A deep Scholar and yet commended to be prudent in rebus agendis and accounted one of the greatest School-men in that age Nor was he onely a Candle or domestick light confin'd within the walls of his own Country but his learning was a publick Luminary to all Christendome as appears by the praise which Trithemius bestoweth upon him Vir in Divinis Scripturis eruditissimus secularium literarum non ignarus ingenio praestans clarus eloquio declamator quoque sermonem egregius Scripsit multa praeclara opuscula quibus nomen suum posteris notificavit He died at Northampton of the plague Anno 1349 before he had finished his Lectures on the seventh of Ecclesiastes I say of the plague which at that time so raged in England that our Chroniclers affirm scarce a tenth person of all sorts was left alive Insomuch that the Churches and Church-yards in London not sussicing for their interments a new Church-yard was Consecrated in West-smithfield wherein fifty thousand were buried who at that time died of the pestilence ROBERT DODFORD was born in a Village so called in this County where the Wirlyes Gentlemen of good account have long had their habitation so named as I take it from a Ford over the river Avon and Dods Water-weeds commonly called by children Cats Tales growing thereabouts He was bred a Benedictine Monke in the Abby of Ramsey and applied himself to the Study of the Hebrew Tongue wherewith the Library of which he was Keeper in that Convent did much abound He wrote Postills on the Proverbs and other Sermons which the envy of time hath intercepted â—…rom us He is said to have flourished about the year 1370. by Bale though Pitz on what account I know not maketh him more ancient by an hundred years PETER PATESHULL was no doubt born in that Village not far from Northampton bred a Augustinian in Oxford however falling afterwards into some dislike of his Order he procured from Walter Dysse Legate to Pope Urbane the sixth a Dispensation to relinquish it and was made the Popes Honorary Chaplain Afterwards by often reading the works of Wickliffe but especially his book of Real Universals he became of his judgement and after the death of Wickliffe preached and promoted his doctrine he wrote an Exposition of the Prophesie of Hildegardes a Stinging
Esquire of Addington by Isabel his wife sister and at last sole heir to Henry Green of Drayton Esquire of whom formerly This Henry was afterwards Knighted and dying without Issue-male Elizabeth his daughter and co heir was married to John first Lord Mordant to whom she brought Draiton-house in this County and other fair lands as the partage of her portion NICHOLAS VAUX Mil. He was a jolly Gentleman both for Camp and Court a great Reveller good as well in a March as a Masque being Governour of Guines in Picardie whom King Hen. the eight for his Loyalty and Valour Created Baron of Harouden in this County Ancestor to Edward Lord Vaux now living This Sir Nicholas when young was the greatest Gallant of the English-Court no Knight at the marriage of Prince Arthur appearing in so costly an equipage when he wore a gown of purple velvet pight with pieces of gold so thick and massive that it was valued besides the silk and furs at a thousand pounds and the next day wore a Colar of S. S. which weighed as Goldsmiths reported eight hundred pounds of nobles Some will wonder that Empson and Dudley the Royal Promoters then in prime did not catch him by the Collar or pick an hole in his Gown upon the breach of some rusty penal sumptuary Statute the rather because lately the Earl of Oxford was heavily fined for supernumerous attendance But know that King Henry could better bear with 〈◊〉 then greatness in his Subjects especially when such expence cost â—…imself nothing and conduced much to the solemnity of his Sons Nuptials Besides such plate as wrought employed Artizans as massive retain'd its intrinsecal value with little loss either of the owners or Common-wealth HENRY the Eight 1 THOMAS PAR Mil. His former residence was at Kendal-Castle in Westmerland whence he removed into this Country having married Maud one of the daughters and co-heirs of Sir Thomas Green of Green-Norton He was father to Queen Katharine Par which rendereth a probability of her nativity in this County and to William Marquiss of Northampton of whom hereafter 15 WILLIAM FITZ-WILLIAMS Sen. Mil. This must be the person of whom I read this memorable passage in Stows Survey of London Sir William Fitz-Williams the elder being a Merchant-Taylor and servant sometime to Cardinal Wolsey was chosen Alderman of Bread-street-Ward in London Anno 1506. Going afterward to dwell at Milton in Northamptonshire in the fall of the Cardinal his former Master he gave him kind entertainment there at his house in the Country For which deed being called before the King and demanded how he durst entertain so great an Enemy to the State his Answer was that he had not contemptuously or wilfully done it but onely because he had been his Master and partly the means of his greatest fortunes The King was so well pleased with his Answer that saying himself had few such servants immediately Knighted him and afterwards made him a Privy Counsellour But we have formerly spoken of the benefactions of this worthy Knight in the County of Essex whereof he was Sheriffe in the sixth of King Henry the eight 17 WILLIAM PAR Mil. I have cause to be confident that this was he who being Uncle and Lord Chamberlain to Queen Katharine Par was afterwards by King Henry the eight Created Baron Par of Horton Left two daughters onely married into the Families of Tressame and Lane The Reader is requested to distinguish him from his Name-sake Nephew Sheriffe in the 25. of this Kings reign of whom hereafter 21 JOHN CLARKE Mil. I find there was one Sir John Clarke Knight who in the fifth of Henry the eight at the Siege of Terrowane took prisoner Lewis de Orleans Duke of Longevile and Marquiss of Rotueline This Sir John bare for his paternal Coat Argent on a Bend Gules three Swans proper between as many Pellets But afterwards in memory of his service aforesaid by special command from the King his Coat armour was rewarded with a Canton Sinister Azure and thereupon a Demi-ramme mounting Argent armed Or between two Flowers de lices in Chief of the last over all a Batune dexter-ways Argent as being the Arms of the Duke his prisoner and by Martial-law belonging to him He lieth buried in the next County viz. in the Church of Tame in Oxfordshire where his Coat and cause thereof is expressed on his Monument If this be not the same with Sir John Clarke our Sheriffe I am utterly at a loss and desire some others courteous direction All I will adde is this If any demand why this Knight did onely give a parcel and not the entire Arms of the Duke his prisoner a learned Antiquary returns this satisfactory answer That he who â—…aketh a Christian Captive is to give but part of his Arms to mind him of charitable moderation in using his success intimating withall that one taking a Pagan prisoner may justifie the bearing of his whole Coat by the laws of Armory I must not conceal that I have read in a most excellent Manuscript viz. the View of Staffordshire made by Sampson Erderswicke Esquire That one William Stamford in that County had good land given him therein for taking the Duke of Longevile prisoner August the 16. in the fifth of King Henry the eight History will not allow two Dukes of Longevile Captives and yet I have a belief for them both that Sir John Clarke and William Stamford were causae sociae of his Captivity and the King remunerated them both the former with an addition of honour the later with an accession of Estate 23 WILLIAM SPENCER Miles DAVID SISILL Arm. 24 DAVID CECILL Arm. Sir William Spencer dying it seems in his Sherivalty David Sissill supplied the remainder of that and was Sheriffe the next year This David had three times been Alderman of Stamford part whereof called Saint Martins is in this County viz. 1504. 1515. and 1526. and now twice Sheriffe of the County which proves him a person both of Birth Brains and Estate seeing in that age in this County so plentiful of capable persons none were advanced to that office except Esquires at least of much merrit The different spelling of his name is easily answered the one being according to his extraction of the Sitsilts of Alterynnis in Herefordshire the other according to the vulgar pronunciation All I will adde is this that his Grand-child William Cecil afterwards Baron of Burghley and Lord Treasurer of England being born Anno 1521. was just ten years of age in the Sherivalty of this David his Grand-father 25 WILLIAM PAR Mil. He was son to Sir Thomas Par of whom before Ten years after viz. in the 35. year of his reign King Henry the eight having newly married his Sister Queen Katharine Par made him Lord Par of Kendall and Earl of Essex in right of Anne Bourcher his wife King Edward the sixth Created him Marquiss of Northampton Under Queen Mary
he was condemned for siding with Queen Jane but pardoned his life and restored to his lands as by Queen Elizabeth to his honour Much was he given to Musick and Poetry and wanted not personal valour not unskillful though unsuccessful in Military Conduct as in the imployment against Ket He died Anno Domini 1571. without Issue Queen MARY 1 THOMAS TRESSAM Mil. He was a person of great command in this County and was zealous against the Court Faction in proclaiming and promoting Q. Mary to the Crown She therefore in gratitude made him the first and last Lord Prior of the re-erected Order of Saint Johns of Jerusalem Dying without Issue and being buried in Rushton Church his large lands descended to his Kinsman and Heir Thomas Tressam of whom hereafter Queen ELIZABETH 6 EDMUND BRUDENELL Arm. This is that worthy person of whom afterwards Knighted Master Camden entereth this honorable memorial Equibus Edmundus Brudenel Eques auratus non ita pridem defunctus venerandae antiquitatis summis fuit cultor admirator He may seem to have entailed his learned and liberal inclinations and abilities on his though not son heir Thomas Lord Brudenell of Stoughton then whom none of our Nobility more able in the English Antiquities 15 THOMAS TRESSAM Arm. The Queen Knighted him in the 18. year of her reign at Kenelworth Hard to say whether greater his delight or skill in buildings though more forward in beginning then fortunate in finishing his fabricks Amongst which the Market-house at Rothwell adorned with the armes of the Gentry of the County was highly commendable Having many daughters and being a great house-keeper he matched most of them into Honorable the rest of them into Worshipful and Wealthy Families He was zealous in the Romish perswasion though as yet not convicted which afterwards cost him a long confinement in Wisbich-Castle 20 THOMAS CECILL Mil. He was eldest son to Sir William Cecill then Baron of Burghley who would not have him by favour excused from serving his Country He afterwards was Earl of Exeter and married Dorothy one of the Co-heirs of the Lord Latimer These joyntly bestowed one hundred and eight pounds per annum on Clare-hall in Cambridge 24 THOMAS ANDREWS Arm. He attended the Execution of the Queen of Scots at Fotheringhay-Castle demeaning himself with much gravity to his great commendation 34 ANTHONY MILEMAY Esq. He was son to Sir Walter Privy-Councellor and Founder of Emanuel-colledge this Anthony was by Queen Elizabeth Knighted and sent over into France on an Embassy upon the same token he was at Geneva the same time Reader I have it from uncontrolable intelligence when Theodore Beza their Minister was convented before their Consistory and publiquely checqu'd for peaching too eloquently He pleaded that what they called eloquence in him was not affected but natural and promised to endeavour more plainness for the future Sir Anthony by Grace Co-heir to Sir Henry Sherington had one daughter Mary married to Sir Francis Fane afterwards Earl of Westmerland 43 ROBERT SPENCER Mil. He was the fifth Knight of his Family in an immediate succession well allied and extracted being a branch descended from the Spencers Earls of Gloucester and Winchester By King James in the first of his reign he was Created Baron Spencer of VVormeleiton in the County of VVarwick He was a good Patriot of a quick and clear spirit as by one passage may appear Speaking in Parliament of the valour of their English ancestors in defending the liberties of the Nation Your ancestours said the Earl of Arundel were keeping of sheep that Lord and his predecessours being known for the greatest Sheep-masters in England when those liberties were defended If they were in keeping of sheep return'd the other Yours were then in plotting of Treason Whose animosities for the present cost both of them a confinement yet so that afterwards the Upper House Ordered reparations to this Lord Spencer as first and causelesly provoked This Lord was also he who in the first of King James was sent with Sir VVilliam Dethick principal King of Armes to Frederick Duke of VVirtenberge elected into the Order of the Garter to present and invest him with the robes and ornaments thereof which were accordingly with great solemnity performed in the Cathedral of Studgard King JAMES 2 ARTHUR THROGKMORTON Mil. He was son to that eminent Knight Sir Nicholas Throgkmorton of whom in VVarwick shire and his Sister was married to Sir VValter Raleigh This Sir Arthur was a most ingenious Gentleman and dying without Issue-male his large estate was parted amongst his four daughters married to the Lord Dacres the Lord VVotton Sir Peter Temple of Stow Baronet and Sir Edward Partridge 3 JOHN FREEMAN Arm. He died without Issue and was a most bountiful Benefactour to Clare hall in Cambridge giving two thousand pounds to the founding of Fellowships and Scholarships therein 12 WILLIAM WILLMER Arm. He was the first Pensioner as Doctor James Mountague the first Master and Sir John Brewerton first Scholar of the House in Sidney-colledge being all three of them but in several proportions Benefactours to that Foundation 22 WILLIAM CHAUNCY Mil. These have been very but I know not how antient in this County but far antienter in Yorkshire For I meet with this Inscriptiou on a Monument at Sabridgeworth in Hertfordshire Hic jacent Johannes Chancy Ar. filius heres Johannis Chancy Ar. filii heredis Willielmi Chancy Mil. quondam Baronis de Shorpenbek in Com. Ebor. Anna uxor ejus una filiarum Johannis Leventhorpe Ar. qui quidem Johannes obiit VII Maii MCCCCLXXIX Annaii Decemb. MCCCCLXXVII quorum animabus It appeareth to me by a well proved pedegree that Henry Chancy Esq. of Yardlebury in Hertfordshire is the direct descendant from the aforesaid John Chancy whose Epitaph we have inserted King CHARLES 7 JOHN HEWET Baronet He had not one foot of land nor house hiring Hemington of the Lord Mountague in the whole County though several Statutes have provided that the Sheriffe should have sufficient land in the same Shire to answer the King and his people The best is this Baronet had a very fair estate elsewhere And as our English proverb saith VVhat is lost in the Hundred will be found in the Shire so what was lost in the Shire would be found in the Land However this was generally beheld as an injury that because he had offended a great Courtier the Sherivalty was by power imposed upon him The Farewell The worst I wish this my Native County is that Nine a River which some will have so term'd from Nine Tributary Rivolets were Ten I mean made navigable from Peterburg to Northampton A design which hath always met with many back-friends as private profit is though a secret a Sworn enemy to the general good Sure I am the Hollanders the best copy of thrift in Christendome teach their little ditches to bear Boats Not that their waters are more docible
Scotland I lay at Alnwick in Northumberland one Sunday by the way and understanding from the Host of the house where I lodged that this Minister lived within three miles of that place I took my horse after dinner and rid thither to hear him preach for my own satisfaction I found him in the Desk where he read unto us some part of the Common-prayer some of Holy Davids Psalmes and two Chapters one out of the Old the other out of the New Testament without the use of Spectacles The Bible out of which he read the Chapters was a very small Printed Bible He went afterwards into his Pulpit where he prayed and preached to us about an hour and half His Text was Seek you the Kingdome of God and all things shall be added unto you In my poor judgement he made an excellent good Sermon and went cleaverly through without the help of any Notes After Sermon I went with him to his house where I proposed these several following Questions to him Whether it was true the book reported of him concerning his hair whether or no he had a new set of Teeth come whether or no his Eye-sight ever failed him and whether in any measure he found his strength renewed unto him He answered me distinctly to all these and told me he understood the News-book reported his hair to become a dark brown again but that is false he took his Cap off and shewed me it It is come again like a childs but rather flaxen then either brown or gray For his Teeth he hath three come within these two years not yet to their perfection while he bred them he was very ill Forty years since he could not read the biggest Print without Spectacles and now he blesseth God there is no Print so small no written hand so small but he can read it without them For his Strength he thinkes himself as strong now as he hath been these twenty years Not long since he walked to Alnwick to dinner and back again six North-country miles He is now an hundred and ten years of age and ever since last May a hearty body very chearful but stoops very much He had five children after he was eighty years of age four of them lusty lasses now living with him the other died lately his wife yet hardly fifty years of age He writes himself Machell Vivan he is a Scotish-man born near Aberdeen I forget the Towns name where he is now Pastor he hath been there fifty years Your assured loving friend Thomas Atkin. Windsor 28. Septem 1657. A most strange accident For waving the Poetical fiction of Aeson his Re-juvenescency in Medeas Bath it will hardly be paired To begin with Scripture Caleb or All-heart his professing himself as able for any action at eighty as forty years before speaketh no renovation but continuation of his strength And whereas David saith that his youth was renewed as an Eagles he is to be understood in a Metapborical yea Spiritual sense of the vigorousness and sprightfulness of grace in his heart seeing otherwise his great debilitation doth appear at seventy years scarce a moity of this mans a age As for the many miracles wrought by our Saviour though extending to the cleansings of Leapers Curing Diseases Casting out Divels yea Reviving the Dead yet they never countermanded nature in this kind by recruiting the strength of an aged person As for humane History I meet not with any to mate him in all particulars The nearest that treadeth on his heels is the Countess of Desmond married in the reign of King Edward the fourth and yet alive Anno 1589. and many years since when she was well known to Sir Walter Raleigh and to all the Nobles and Gentlemen in Mounster But chiefly to the Earls for there was a succession of them worn out by her vivacity of Desmond from whose expectation she detained her jointer The Lord Bacon casteth up her age to be an hundred and fourty at least adding withall Ter per vices dentisse That she recovered her Teeth after her casting them three several times All I will adde is this had this happened in foreign parts addicted to Popery near the shrine of some Saint superstition with her sickle might have reaped a great harvest thereby ........ ANDERSON a Townsman and Merchant of Newcastle talking with a friend on Newcastle-bridge and fingering his ring before he was aware let it fall into the river and was much troubled with the loss thereof untill the same was found in a fish caught in the river and restored unto him The same is reported by Herodotus in his third book of Polycrates a petty King and the Minion of fortune and may be an instance of the recurrency of remarkable accidents according to Solomons observation There is no new thing under the sun The names of the Gentry of this County returned by the Commissioners in the twelfth year of King Henry the sixth 1433. Thomas Bishop of Durâ—…am Commissioners to take the Oaths Ralph Earl of VVestmerland  Thomas Lilborn Knights for the Shire  John Carington Knights for the Shire  Rob. Umfravile mil. Rad. Gray mil. Rob. Ogle senior mil. Rob. Ogle jun. mil. Johan Bertram mil. Will. Elmeden mil. Johan Midleton mil. Will. Svynbarn mil. Johan Maners mil. Math. Whitfeld mil. VVill. Carnaby Johan Fenwyk Johan Midelton Tho. Ilderton Rob. Raymes Tho. Haggerston Rob. Maners Laur. Acton Tho. Gray de Norton Tho. Blekensop Row Thirwall Ric. Fetherstanhalgh Gilb. Rotherford VVill. Muschaunce Gilb. Eryngton VVill. Clenell Johan Heron de Netherton Tho. Reed de Redesdale Roger. Ushere Tho. Midleton Joh. Ellerington Joh. Park Rich. Lilburne Tho. Elwick Joh. Eryngton Nic. Heron de Meldon Joh. Trewyk Joh. Chestre Lion Chestre Joh. Horsley de Horsley Jaco Buk de Morpath Observations The Fable is sufficiently known of the contest betwixt the Wind and the Sun which first should force the Travailer to put off his cloaths The Wind made him wrap them the closer about him whilst the heat of the Sun soon made him to part with them This is moralized in our English Gentry such who live South-ward near London which for the â—…stre thereof I may fitly call the Sun of our Nation in the warmth of wealth and pleanâ—…â—…f pleasures quickly strip and disrobe themselves of their Estates and Inheritance whilst the Gentry living in this County in the Confines of Scotland in the VVind of VVar daily Alarumed with their blustering enemies buckle their Estates as their armour the closer unto them and since have no less thriftily defended their patrimony in Peace then formerly they valiantly maintained it in War The Commissioners of this County did not over weary themselves in working when they returned these persons presenting no underwood yea no standels but only tymber-oaks men of great wealth and worship in this Shire as appears by the thinness of their number but one and twenty Sheriffs of Northumberland HEN. II. Anno 1 Odardus Anno
complying with it which may not and confuting of it which ought to be done Most make a difference between the railing fool and the reasoning fool the former to be ordered as Hezekiah did Rabshakeh Answer him not a word But if he be a reasoning fool who will offer to argue conceited of himself take him off his speed with a short and seasonable return Such a fool this Hoggard was adjudged whom John Plough undertook to answer and cut his combe so close that the other appeared no more He dyed in the beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth WILLIAM BRIGHTMAN was born in Nottingham where some of his brethren were lately alive bred Fellow of Queen Colledge in Cambridge and aftewards beneficed at Haunes in Bedfordshire No lover of Conformity yet no hater of Conformists being charitable to such who in judgement dissented from him His Memory is most remarkeable for his Comment on the Revelation by some Protestants approved praised admired by others sleighted contemned condemned Pro. 1. His very name Brightman imports something of illumination and clearness therein 2. He makes many hard places to be plain and mysteries to be histories by his Comment 3. He foretold many things forty years ago which we see performed in our dayes Con. 1. Names are casual and even Lucian himself as bad as he was had as much of light and lustre in his name 2. He makes many plain places hard and histories to be mysteries by his mis-interpretation expounding the seven Asian Churches then literally extant to be Germany France England c. 3. Shooting so many Arrows no wonder if fome few rather by hap than aim hit the mark Sure I am that Time and Mr. Brightman will expound the hardest places in the Revelation but what credit is to be given to the later alone I will not engage Such who dislike Mr. Brightmans writing could not but commend his Angelical living who had so much of Heaven in his heart Walking thorough the vineyard of this world he pluckt and eat a few grapes but put up none in his Vessel using wealth as if he us'd it not His Clay-cottage did crack and fall down in the same minute so sudden was his death But he who dyed daily could on no day be said to dye suddenly being alwayes prepared for his dissolution which happened Anno Dom. 16 Memorable Persons ROBERT HOOD was if not by birth by his chiefest abode this Country-man Cambden calls him praedonem mitissimum the gentlest thief that ever was and know Reader he is entered into our Catalogue not for his thievery but for his gentleness Take the character of his though not good less bad behaviour from the pen of our Poet From wealthy Abbots chests and Churles abundant store What oftentimes he took he shar'd amongst the poor No lordly Bishop came in lusty Robins way To him before he went but for his Pass must pay The widow in distress he graciously reliev'd And remedied the wrongs of many a Virgin griev'd But who made him a Judge or gave him a Commission to take where it might best be spared and give where it was most wanted His principal residence was in Shirewood Forrest in this County though he had another haunt he is no Fox that hath but one hole near the Sea in the North-riding in York-shire where Robin Hoods Bay still retaineth his name Not that he was any Pirat but a Land-thief who retreated to those unsuspected parts for his security One may wonder how he escaped the hand of Justice dying in his bed for ought is found to the contrary But it was because he was rather a merry than a mischievous thief complementing passengers out of their purses never murdering any but Deer and this popular Robber feasted the Vicinage with his Venison He played his pranks in the reign of King Richard the First about the year of our Lord 1100. THOMAS MAGNUS He was an exposed child left by his mother in the Parish of Newark What the Poet saith of the father of Cadmus commanding his son to find his lost sister Europa or else never to return that he was Facto piuâ—… sceleratus eodem Expressing in one act a mind Which was both cruel and was kind may be applied to the mother of this and all such Foundlings Now it happened that some York shire Clothiers coming in the dark very early or late did light on this child and resolved to pay both for his nursing and education the charge whereof would not be great equally divided betwixt them according to the Proverb Multorum manibus grande levatur onus An heavy work is light to do When many hands are put thereto First then they took order he should be baptized in Newark by the name of Thomas probably the best person in their company and because all of them had Interest alike in him for his Sirname they assigned him Amang-us which is amongst us in the Northern pronunciation They were very careful in his breeding I confess Aristotle urgeth it as an argument against the breeding of children in common that the care of all will effectually be the care of none and so the children be neglected Not so here where this Thomas though he had a Common-wealth of Foster-fathers was very well brought up in learning and became an excellent scholar and States-man being imployed in many forreign Embassies Then took he on him the name of Dr. Magnus and was famous thereby both at home and beyond the Seas on which account he might claim kindred with Pompeius Magnus Carolus Magnus and Albertus Magnus and whom not who was Great for arts arms or otherwise It soundeth much in his commendation that he forgot not his gratitude to the Town of his Nativity where he erected a fair school with other Benefactions He flourished as I take it under King Henry the Eight Lord Mayors I cannot on my best inquiry recover any Native of this County who ever attained to this place of Magistracy but am informed that now the feet of one do tread near unto the Thrâ—…shold of that Dore of Honor and doubt not but when he hath first entered and opened the way there will be others soon found to follow him The Names of the Gentry of this County returned by the Commissioners in the twelfth year of King Henry the sixth John Archbishop of York Commissioners to take the Oaths Humfrey Earl of Stafford  Richard Stanhop One of the Knights for the Shire  Tho. Cheworth chiv Iohan. Zouche chiv Will. Plumton chiv Hug. Welughby chiv Roberti Strelley chiv Hen. Perponnt chiv Rob. Maâ—…kam chiv Gerv. Clâ—…ston chiv Will. Meryng chiv Hug. 〈◊〉 chiv Ioh. Cokfeld armig Radulphi Makerell Thome Nevyll Roberti Brewce Thome Stanton Rad. Leek Richardi Sutton Thome Stanhope Iacobi Stanhope Thome Curson Willielmi Byrton Henrici Perponnt Hugonis Hercy Iohannis Wastnes Iohannis Gaitford Gorgii Clay Iohannis Husse Iohannis Hiklinge Ioh. Barbour de Leek Thome Stannton
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 genâ—…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 â—…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 Hâ—…-college is most proper for Southern Exeter for Western Queens for Northern Brazen-nose for North-western men St. Johns for Londoners Jesus for Welsâ—…men and at other Colleges almost indifferently for men of all Countries Merton hath been most famous for School-men Corpus Chresti formerly called 〈◊〉 Gollegium for Linguists Christ-church for Poets All-souls for Orators New-college for Civilians Brazen-nose for Disputants Queens college for Metaphysicians 〈◊〉 for a laâ—…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 〈◊〉 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 Ludâ—…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-â—…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 〈◊〉 up as a new Colony into their old Habitation there to continue the memory of this 〈◊〉 Doctor as the University styled him in a Letter to the â—…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 Claymâ—…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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 Cathedrâ—…s and Convents had their Libraries that at Ramsey was the greatest Râ—…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 â—…ounded by Richard Whâ—…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 Collegâ—…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 â—…ounded by Humphrey the Good Duke of Gloâ—…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 â—…uation Queen Elizabeth had a great affection for this place as one of her best Râ—…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
15 Hen. Rainford ar   16 Will. Babington m.  Ar. ten Torteauxes 〈◊〉 -3. 2. 1. 17 Mich. Molyns ar   18 Rob. Doyle mil. Ioh. Coop ar ut infra ut infra  19 Will. Hawtry ar   20 Ric. Corbet ar  Or a Raven proper 21 Edm. Bray ar   22 Ric. Hudleston ar  Gul. Frettee Arg. 23 Tho. Denton ar   24 Anth. Cope ar Hanwell Arg. on a Chev. Az. betwixt 3. 25 Ric. Fines ar ut prius Roses G. slipped and leaved 26 On. Oglethoâ—…p ar a Newingt Vert 3. Flower de luces Or. 27 Ioh. Doyle ar b  a Arg. a Chev. varry Or and 28 Idem ut prius Vert betwixt 3. Boyes heads 29 Mich. Blount ar c Maph Du. sable cut of G. 30 Ioh. Danvers ar ut prius b Or two Bends Arg. 31 Will. Clarke ar  c Barry Formy Nebâ—…le of 6. 32 Will. Spencer ar d Yardingt Or and Sable 33 Anth. Cope mil. ut prius d Quarterly Ar. G. a Fret 34 Ro. Chamblayn a. e  Or. on a Bend sab 3. Escalops of the first 35 Fran. Stonard ar f Stonard  36 Ric. Fenys mil. ut prius e Gul. a Cheveron Arg. betwixt three Escalops Or. 37 Oni. Oglethorpe ar ut prius  38 Will. Freer ar g Water E. f Az. two Bars Dancettee Or a Chief Arg. 39 Gorg. Broome ar   40 Mich. Blount ar ut prius g Gul. two Flanches Or three VVheat-ears erect in Fess counterchanged 41 Fran. Curson ar   42 Will. Greene ar   43 Will. Pope ar Wiscot Per pale Or Az. on a chev betw 3. Griffins heads erazed 4. Flower de luces all counterchanged 44 Ric. Farmer mil. *  * Arg. a Fess sab twixt three Leopards heads erazed Gul. JACOB   Anno   1 Anth. Cope mil. ut prius  2 Gorg. Tipping ar   3 Iac. Harrington m.  Sable a Fret Arg. 4 Tho. Temple mil. Buckin Arg. on two Bars sab 6. 5 Roland Lacy mil.  Martlets Or. 6 Hen. Samborne ar   7 Mich. Dormer mil.  Az. ten billets 4. 3. 2. 1. 8 Bene. WinchcoÌ„be a  Or in a Chief of the second a Lion issuant sable 9 Tho. Moyle ar † †Gul. a Mule passant Arg. 10 Will. Clerke mil.   11 Hen. Lee bar Dichley Arg. a Fess betw 3. cressants S. 12 Edw. Dunch ar  S. a chev betw 3. Towers Arg. 13 Tho. Read ar  G. a saltire twixt 4. Garbs O. 14 Th. Spencer m. b. ut prius  15 Ioh. Curson mil.   16 Edw. Fenner ar   17 Will. Cope m. b. ut prius  18 Ric. Baker mil.   19 Fra. Stoner mil. ut prius  20 â—…owlan Lacy ar   21 Will. Aishcombe m   22 Walt. Dunch ar ut prius  CAROL I.   Anno   1 Ric. Blount mil. ut prius  2 Ric. Lovelace mil. modo dom Lovelace Cope Doyley mil. Berk-shire ut prius Gul. a Chief indented sable 3. Martlets Or. 3 Ric. Wenman mil. modo dom Wenman ut prius ut prius  4 Rob. Dormer mil. ut prius  5 Will. Cobb mil. Adderbury  6 Ioh. Lacy mil.   7 Ioh. Harborne ar   8 Tho. Coghill ar modo Miles Bleâ—…hing Gules on a Cheveron Arg. 3. Ogresses a Chief sable 9 Ioh. Mellor mil.   10 Pet. Wentworth Miles Baranit  Sable a Cheveron betwixt 3. Leopards heads Or. 11 Fran. Norris mil.  Quarterly Arg. Gâ—…a a Fret or with a Fess Az. 12 Will. Walter ar * Saresden * Az. 3. Eagles displayed Arg 13 T. Peniston m. b. † †Arg. 3. Cornish-choughs prop. 14 Ioh. Doyly ar ut prius  15 Rad. Warcoppe ar   16 Ric. Libb ar   17 Tho. Tippin ar   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   Q. Elizabeth 11. WILLIAM TAVERNER Arm. This was he who in the year of his Sherivalty came to Oxford and went up into the Pulpit at St. Maries with a sword by his side and a gold chain about his neck where he made a Sermon or an Oration rather to the University the stuff or rather bombace whereof we have set down in our Ecclesiastical History Now though this was an odde act wherein his zeal was conceived by most to trespass on his discretion yet was it born the better in those darker dayes from a person well-affected in Religion and abhorring to invade the Ministerial Function 18. ROBERT DOYLE Mil. This year if I mistake not were the black Assizes at Oxford wherein contrary to the common course the Prisoners caused the death of the Judge Chief-Baron Bell the Sheriff some of the Lawyers many of the Justices and most of the Jury besides other persons of Quality there present It was generally imputed to the stench of the prisoners clothes and bodies for whereas other offensive smells are open enemies and violently assaulting the brain warn men in some sort to avoid or resist them a Gaolstench trecherously pretendeth alliance as made of man-sweat and so insinuates it self with the less suspicion and more danger into the spirits 31. WILLIAM CLARKE Arm. He was son or if the same with Sir VVilliam Clarke Sheriff in the 10. of K. James grand-child to Sir John Clarke of Northampton-shire in the 21. of K. Henry the eight whose Armes with the honourable augmentation and the worthy cause thereof are there largely described 36. RICHARD PENYS Mil. He was a worthy Gentleman and bred Fellow being the Founders Kinsman of New-college in Oxford He was also lineally descended from James Lord Say and Seal Tresurer of England in the reign of K. Henry the sixth and in consideration thereof was 1. Jacobi created Lord Say and Seal He dyed Anno Dom. 1612. William Fenys his eldest son was since created Viscount Say and Seal and is still alive K. Charles I. 3. RICHARD WENMAN Mil. This worthy Knight was by K. Charles the first created first Baron Wenman of Chilmaynam in the County of Dublin and then Viscount Wenman of Tuant in the County of Galloway both in the Kingdom of Ireland by Letters Patents dated at Cambrey the 25. of July 1628. 4 Caroli The Farewell As for the poorer sort of Husbandmen in this County I wish there may be more Sir Henry Kebles for their sakes This Knight though a Native of London and Lord Mayor thereof had such an affection for this and Warwick-shire that he singled out an hundred and fifty of the poorest Husbandmen therein and gave each of them a new Plough-share and a new Coulter of Iron and in my mind that is the most charitable Charity which inableth decayed industry to follow its Vocation RUTLAND-SHIRE is by a double Diminutive called by Mr. Cambden Angliae Provinciola
when a Servant of Robert Earl of Leicester passing this way to his Lords Lands in his Barony of Denbighe was so highly pleased with his happy unhappy answers that he brought him to Court where he became the most famous Jester to Queen Elizabeth Many condemn his vocation I cannot term it for it is a coming without a calling Imployment as unwarrantable Such maintain that it is better to be a Fool of Gods making born so into the World or a Fool of Mans making jeered into it by general Dirision than a Fool of one 's own making by his voluntary affecting thereof Such say also he had better continued in his Trade of Swine-keeping which though more painful and less profitable his conscience changed to loss for a Jesters place in the Court who of all men have the hardest account to make for every idle word that they abundantly utter Others alledge in excuse of their Practises That Princes in all Ages were allowed their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose Virtue consisted in speaking any thing without control That Jesters often heal what Flatterers hurt so that Princes by them arive at the notice of their Errors seeing Jesters carry about with them an Act of Indemnity for whatsoever they say or do That Princes over-burdered with States-business must have their Diversions and that those words are not censurable for absolutely idle which lead to lawful delight Our Tarlton was Master of his Faculty When Queen Elizabeth was serious I dare not say sullen and out of good humour he could un-dumpish her at his pleasure Her highest Favorites would in some Cases go to Tarleton before they would go to the Queen and he was their Vsher to prepare their advantagious access unto Her In a word He told the Queen more of her faults than most of her Chaplains and cured her Melancholy better than all of her Physicians Much of his merriment lay in his very looks and actions according to the Epitaph written upon him Hic â—…itus est cujus poterat vox actio vultus Ex Heraclito reddere Democritum Indeed the self same words spoken by another would hardly move a merry man to smile which uttered by him would force a sad soul to laughter This is to be reported to his praise that his Jests never were prophane scurrilous nor Satyrical neither trespassing on Piety Modesty or Charity as in which plurimum inerat salis muâ—…tum aceti aliquid sinapis nihil veneni His death may proportionably be assigned about the end of Queen Elizabeth JAMES SANDS of Horborn nigh Bremingham but in this County is most remarkable for his Vivacity for he lived 140 and his wife 120 years He out lived five Leases of twenty one years a piece which were made unto him after his Marriage Thus is not the age of Man so Vniversally contracted but that Divine Providence sometimes draweth it out to an extraordinary length as for other reasons so to render the longevity of the primitive Patriarchs more credible He died about the year 1625. WALTER PARSONS born in this County was first Apprentice to a Smith when he grew so tall in stature that a hole was made for him in the Ground to stand therein up to the knees so to make him adequate with his Fellow work-men He afterwards was Porter to King James seeing as Gates generally are higher than the rest of the Building so it was sightly that the Portâ—… should be taller than other Persons He was proportionable in all parts and had strength equal to height Valour to his strength Temper to his valour so that he disdained to do an injury to any single person He would make nothing to take two of the tallest Yeomen of the Guard like the Gizard and Liver under his Arms at once and order them as he pleased Yet were his Parents for ought I do understand to the contrary but of an ordinary stature whereat none will wonder who have read what St. Augustine reports of a Woman which came to Rome a little before the sacking thereof by the Goths of so Giantlike a height that she was far above all who saw her though infinite Troopes came to behold the spectacle And yet he addeth Et hoc erat maximae admirationis quod ambo parentes ejus c. This made men most admire that both her Parents were but of ordinary stature This Parsons is produced for proof that all ages affords some of extraordinary height and that there is no general decay of Mankind in their Dimentions which if there were we had ere this time shrunk to be lower than Pigmyes not to instance in a lesse proportion This Parsons died Anno Dom. 162. Lord Majors Name Father Place Company Time 1 William Taylor John Taylor Ecclestone Grocer 1468 2 Stephen Jennings Will. Jennings Wolverhampton Merchant-Tailor 1508 3 Richard Pipe Richard Pipe Wolverhampton Draper 1578 4 James Harvey Will. Harvey Cottwalton Iron-monger 1581 5 Stephen Slany John Slany Mitton Skinner 1595 6 William Rider Thomâ—…s Rider Muclestone Haberdasher 1600 7 Hugh Hamersley Hugh Hamersley Stafford Haberdasher 1627 The Names of the Gentry of this County returned by the Commissioners in the 12 year of K. Henry the Sixth Anno Dom. 1433. Commissioners to take the Oathes William Bishop of Covent and Liech Humphry Earl of Stafford Knights for the Shire Hugh Ardeswyk Thomas Arblastier Johannis Sutton chiv Johannis Bagot chiv Rogeri Aston chival Johannis Gruffith chi Johannis Gresley chiv Thomae Stanley arm Radulphi Egerton ar Radulphi Basset arm Roberti Harecourt ar Philippi Chetwynd ar Richardi Bagot arm Roberti Whitgrave ar Thomae Barbour arm Willielmi Grevel arm Thomae Detheck arm Thomae Goyne armig Johannis Miners ar Tho. Oker arm senioris Tho. Oker arm junioris Johannis Minerel arm Richardi Peshale armi Hugonis Wrotesley arm Riehardi Hareconrt ar Sampsonis Ardiswick ar Johannis Winesbury ar Thomae Swinerton arm Willielmi Newport arm Johannis Hampton arm Humphry Low armiger Richardi Lone armig Willieimi Lee armiger Willielmi Everdon ar Willielmi Leveson arm Nicolai Warings arm Jacobi Leveson arm Rogeri Wirley armig Cornelii VVirly armig Johannis Whatecroft ar Gerardi de Ringeley ar Richardi Pety armig VVillielmi Hexstall ar Edwardi Doyle arm Richardi Selman arm David Cawardyn arm Thome Swynfen arm Richardi Rugeley ar Johannis Broghton arm Johannis Atwell arm Thomae Cotton armig Johannis Cotton arm Aymeri Cotton armig Thomae VVolseley ar Johannis Colwich ar Roberti Swinerton ar Rogeri Swineshede ar Th. VVhitington ar Joh. More armiger Thome More arm Joh. Askeby arm Joh. Mollesley arm Joh. Horewold ar VVill. Saltford ar VVil. Leventhorp ar VVill. Corbyn gent. Joh. Corbyn gent. Thomae VValton ar Reg. Bro de Oake ar Johannis Sheldon ar Radulphi Frebody arm VVill. Bradshaw arm Joh. Bonghay gent. Joh. Burton gent. Roberti Stokes armig Joh. Cumberford armig Nicolai Thiknes armig Aegidii Swinerton arm Thomae VVolaston gent. Hugonis Holyns gent. Thomae Lokewood gent. Thomae Stafford gent. Nicolai Norman gent. Richardi Snede
 16 Ioh. Agard arm   17 Ed. Mosely Bar.  Sable on a Cheveron betwixt 3 Mallets Argent as many Mullets Gules 18   19 Simon* Rudgeley   20  * Argent on a Chevâ—… Sable 3 Mullets of the first 21   22 Th. Kynnersley armiger  Azure 〈◊〉 de crosses croslet a lion rampant Argent RICHARD the Second 1 BRIAN CORNWAL He 〈◊〉 also this year Sheriff of Shrop-shire so that the two adjacent Counties were under his inspection 4 ROGER de WIRLEY When I observe how this Gentleman is fixed in his Generation I cannot satisfie my self whether he lived nearer unto his Ancestor Roberâ—… de Wirley who flourished in this County under King Henry the 2d if not before or whether he approached nearer unto his Descendent Sâ—… John Wirley that learned Knight now living at Hampsteade In my Arithmetick he is equally distanced from them both HENRY the Sixth 12 THOMAS STANLEY His true name was Audley For after that Adam youngest Brother to James Lord 〈◊〉 had married the daughter and heir of Henry de Stanley William their son assumed the sir-name of Stanley transmitted it to his posterity As for this Thomas Stanley till I be clearly convinced to the contrary he shall pass with me for the same person whom King Henry the Sixth made Lord Stanley Knight of the Garter Lord Deputy of Ireland and Lord Chamberlain of his Household and father unto Thomas Stanley whom King Henry the Seventh created the first Earle of Derby 34 JOHN DELVES Esq. He is the last of that Ancient Family appearing in this Catalogue who were fixed in this County in the reign of King Edward the Third This Sir John Delves for he was afterwards Knighted left one daughter and sole heir called Helene married unto Sir Robert Sheffield Knight and Recorder of London Ancestor unto the present Earl of Moulgrave EDWARD the Fourth 1 WALTER WROTESLEY He was lineally descended from Sâ—… Hugh Wrotesley one of the first Founder of the most Noble Order of the Garter HENRY the Eighth 28 JOHN DUDLEY I had thought his Ambition had been too high to come under the Roof of such an Office and discharge the place of a Sheriff But know that as yet Sir John Dudley was but Sir John Dudley a Plain but powerful Knight who not long afterwards viz. the 38th of King Henry the Eighth was created Viscount Lisley and then Earl of Warwick in the first of King Edward the sixth and in the fifth of the said King Duke of Northumberland However now he waited at Assizes on the Itinerant Judges who afterwards made all the Judges of the Land Justice Hales alone excepted attend on him and dance after the Pipe of his pleasure when the Instrument was drawn up Testament I can hardly term it whereby the two Sisters of King Edward the sixth were dis-inherited King CHARLES 3 WILLIAM BOWYER Knight Thomas Bowyer his Ancestor from whom he is lineally descended did in the reign of King Richard the Second marry Katharine daughter and heir of Robert Knipersley of Knipersley in this County with whom he had a fair Inheritance The Bowyers of Sussex invited thither some 200 years since by an Earl of Northumberland are a younger Branch from these in Stafford-shire BATTLES At Hopton Heath in this County in March 1643 a fierce fight happened betwixt the Kings and Parliaments Forces on a ground full of Cony-borroughs therefore affording ill footing for the Horse But an equal disadvantage on both sides is no disadvantage on either The Royalists may be said to have got the Day and lost the Sun which made it I mean the truly Loyal and Valiant Spencer Earl of Northampton though still surviving as in his grateful memory so in his Noble and Numerous Issue no less deservedly honoured by others then mutually loving amongst themselves The Farewel To take our Vale of Stafford-shire I wish that the Pit-coal wherewith it aboundeth may seasonably and safely be burnt in their Chimnies and not have their burning antedated before they be digg'd out the Bowels of the Earth The rather because I have read how in the year 1622 there was found a Coal-mine actually on fire between Willingsworth and Weddesbury in this County I find not by what casualty this English Aetna was kindled nor how long it did continue And although such combustions be not so terrible here as in the South of Italy where the sulphureous matter more inrageth the fury of the fire yet it could not but cause much fright and fear to the people thereabouts SUFFOLK hath Norfolk on the North divided with the Rivers of Little Ouse and Waveny Cambridge-shire on the West the German Ocean on the East and Essex parted with the River Stoure on the South thereof From East to West it stretcheth fourty five miles though the general breadth be but twenty saving by the Sea-side where it runneth out more by the advantage of a Corner The Air thereof generally is sweet and by the best Physicians esteemed the best in England often prescribing the Receit thereof to the Consumptionish-Patients I say generally sweet there being a smal parcel nigh the Sea-side not so excellent which may seem left there by Nature on purpose to advance the purity of the rest Naturall Commodities Cheese Most excellent are made herein whereof the finest are very thin as intended not for food but digestion I remember when living in Cambridge the Cheese of this County was preferred as the best If any say that Scholars palates are incompetent Judges whose hungry appetites make course Diet seem delicates unto them let them know that Pantaleon the Learned Dutch Physician counted them equal at least with them of Parma in Italy Butter For Quantity and Quality this County doth excel and venteth it at London and elsewhere The Child not yet come to and the old Man who is past the use of Teeth eateth no softer the Poor Man no cheaper in this Shire the Rich no wholesomer food I mean in the morning It was half of our Saviours Bill of Fare in his Infancy Butter and Hony shall he eat It is of a Cordial or if I may say Antidotal Nature The story is well known of a Wife which desiring to be a Widow incorporated Poison in the Butter whereon her Husband had his principal repast The poor man finding himself strangely affected repaired to a Physician who by some Symptomes suspecting poison demanded of his Patient which was his chiefest Diet. The sick man told him that he fed most constantly on Butter Eat Butter still return'd the Physician which hitherto hath saved your Life for it corrected the poison that neither the malignity thereof nor the malice of the wife could have their full operation Manufactures Cloathing Here it will not be amiss to insert a passage which I meet with in an Industrious Antiquary as relating to the present subject The Manufacture of Cloathing in this
bred in Bennet Colledge in Cambridge to which afterwards he proved a bountiful Benefactor building a beautiful Chappel therein He afterwards applied himself to the study of the Common Law and was made Attourney to the Court of Wards whence he was preferred Lord Keeper of the Great Seal in the First of Queen Elizabeth 1558. He married Anne second daughter to S â— Anthony Cook of Giddy-hall in Essex Governour to King Edward the Sixth And it is worthy of our observation how the Sates-men in that Age were arched together in affinity to no small support one to another Sir John Cheek Secretary to K. Edward the Sixth whose sister was first wife to Sr William Cecil Secretary to the same King Sir Will. Cecil aforesaid for his second wife married the wives sister unto this Sir Nicholas Bacon Lord Keeper Sr. Francis Walsingham Secretary to Queen Elizabeth had a sister married unto Sir Walter Mildmay Chancellour of the Exchequer Sir Franc. Walsingham was also brother in Law unto Sir Tho. Randolph that grand States-man Ambassador To return to Sir Nicholas Bacon he was condemned by some who seemed wise and commended by those that were so for not causing that Sâ—…atute to be repealed the Queen relying on him as her Oracle of Law whereby the Queen was made illegitimate in the dayes of her Father For this wise States-man would not open that wound which time had partly closed and would not meddle with the variety yea contrariety of Statutes in this kind whereby people would rather be perplexed than satisfied but derived her right from another Statute which allowed her succession the rather because Lawyers maintain That a Crown once worn cleareth all defects of the wearer thereof He continued in his Office about eighteen years being a Man of rare wit and deep experience Cui fuit ingenium subtile in corpore crasso For he was loaden with a corpulent body especially in his old Age so that he would be not only out of breath but also almost out of life with going from Westminster-hall to the Star-chamber in so much when sitting down in his place it was some time before he could recover himself And therefore it was usual in that Court that no Lawyer should begin to speak till the Lord Keeper held up his staffe as a signal to him to begin He gave for his Motto Mediocria Firma and practised the former part thereof Mediocria Never attaining because never affecting any great Estate He was not for Invidious Structures as some of his Contemporaries but delighted in Domo Domino pari Such as was his house at Gorhambury in Hartfordshire And therefore when Queen Elizabeth coming thither in progresse told him My Lord your house is too little for you No Madam returned he no less wittely than gratefully But it is your Highness that hath made me too great for mine house Now as he was a just practiser of the first part of this Motto Mediocria so no doubt he will prove a true Prophet in the second part thereof Firma having left an Estate rather good than great to his posterity whose eldest son Sir Edward Bacon in this County was the first Baronet of England He died on the 20th of February 1578 and Iieth buried in the Quire of St. Pauls In a word he was a goodman a grave States-man a Father to his Country and Father to Sir FRANCIS BACON Sir WILLIAM DRUERY was born in this County where his Worshipful Family had long flourished at Haulsted His name in Saxon soundeth a Pearle to which he answered in the pretiousness of his disposition clear and hard innocent and valiant and therefore valued deservedly by his Queen and Country His youth he spent in the French Wars his middle in Scotland and his old Age in Ireland He was Knight Marshal of Barwick at what time the French had possessed themselves of the Castle of Edenburgh in the minority of King James Queen Elizabeth employed this Sir William with 1500 men to besiege the Castle which service he right worthily performed reducing it within few dayes to the true owner thereof Anno 1575 he was appointed Lord President of Mounster whether he went with competent Forces and executed impartial Justice in despite of the Opposers thereof For as the Sign of Leo immediately precedeth Virgo and Libra in the Zodiack so no hope that innocency will be protected or Justice administred in a Barbarous Country where power and strength do not first secure a passage unto them But the Earl of Desmond opposed this good President forbidding him to enter the County of Kerry as a Palatinate peculiarly appropriated unto himself Know by the way as there were but four Palatinates in England Chester LancasterDurham and Ely whereof the two former many years since were in effect invested in thâ—… Crown there were no fewer than eight Palatinates in Ireland possessed by their Respective Dynasts claiming Regal Rites therein to the great retarding of the absolute Conquest of that Kingdom Amongst these saith my Author Kerry became the Sanctuary of sin and Refuge of Rebels as out-lawed from any English Jurisdiction Sir William no whit terrified with the Earls threatning entred Kerry with a competent Train and there dispenced Justice to all persons as occasion did require Thus with his seven-score men he safely forced his return through seven hundred of the Earls who sought to surprise him In the last year of his life he was made Lord Deputy of Ireland and no doubt had performed much in his place if not afflicted with constant sickness the fore-runner of his death at Waterford 1598. Sir ROBERT NAUNTON was born in this County of Right ancient Extraction some avouching that his Family were here before others that they came in with the Conqueror who rewarded the chief of that Name for his service with a great Inheretrix given him in marriage In so much that his Lands were then estimated at a vast sum in my Judgment seven hundred pounds a year For along time they were Patrons of Alderton in this County where I conceive Sir Robert was born He was first bred Fellow Commoner in Trinity Colledge and then Fellow of Trinity-Hall in Cambridge He was Proctor of the University Anno Domini 160 0 1 which Office according to the Old Circle returned not to that Colledge but once in fourty four years He addicted himself from his youth to such studies as did tend to accomplish him for Publick imployment I conceive his most excellent piece called Fragmenta Regalia set forth since his death was a fruit of his younger years He was afterwards sworn Secretary of State to King James on Thursday the eighth of January 1617. which place he discharged with great ability and dexterity And I hope it will be no offence here to insert a pleasant passage One Mr. Wiemark a wealthy Man great Novilant and constant Pauls walker hearing the News that day of the beheading of Sir Walter Raleigh His head said he
the stipend and benevolence of the one and the dividend of the other but was utterly unacquainted with the taking of Tithes with the many troubles attending it together with the causeless molestations which Persons Presented meet with in their respective Parishes And because it is hard for one to have a Fellow-suffering of that whereof he never had a suffering this say some was the cause that he was so harsh to Ministers when brought before him Being Chaplain to the Earl of Dunbar then Omni-prevalent with King James he was unexpectedly preferred Archbishop of Canterbury being of a more fatherly presence than those who might almost have been his Fathers for age in the Church of England I find two things much charg'd on his memory First that in his house he respected his Secretary above his Chaplains and out of it alwayes honoured Cloaks above Cassocks Lay above Clergie-men Secondly that he connived at the spreading of non-conformity in so much that I read in a modern Author Had Bishop Laud succeeded Bancroft and the project of Conformity been followed without interruption there is little question to be made but that our Jerusalem by this time might have been a City at unity in it self Yet are there some of Archbishop Abbot his relations who as I am informed will undertake to defend him that he was in no degree guilty of these crimes laid to his charge This Archbishop was much humbled with a casual homicide of a keeper of the Lord Zouch's in Bramzel-Park though soon after he was solemnly quitted from any irregularity thereby In the reign of King Charles he was sequestred from his Jurisdiction say some on the old account of that homicide though others say for refusing to Licence a Sermon of Dr. Sibthorps Yet there is not an Express of either in the Instrument of Sequestration the Commission only saying in the general That the said Archbishop could not at that present in his own person attend those services which were otherwise proper for his cognizance and Jurisdiction For my own part I have cause to believe that as Vulnus semel sanatum novo vulnere recrudescit so his former obnoxiousness for that casualty was renewed on the occasion of his refusal to Licence that Sermon with some other of his Court-un-compliances This Archbishop died Anno Dom. 1633. having erected a large Hospital with liberal maintenance at Guildford the place of his nativity RICHARD CORBET D. D. was born at Ewel in this County and from a Student in became Dean of Christ-Church then Bishop of Oxford An high VVit and most excellent Poet of a courteous carriage and no destructive nature to any who offended him counting himself plentifully repaired with a jest upon him He afterwards was advanced Bishop of Norwich where he died Anno Dom. 1635. States-men THOMAS CROMWEL was born at Putney in this County of whom I have given measure pressed down and running over in my Church-History WILLIAM HOWARD son to Thomas Howard second of that Surname Duke of Norâ—…hfolk was by Queen Mary created Baron of Effingham in this County and by her made Lord Admiral of England which place he discharged with credit I find he was one of the first Favourers and Furtherers with his purse and countenance of the strange and wonderful discovery of Russia He died Anno Domini 154. CHARLES HOWARD son to the Lord William aforesaid succeeded him though not immediately in the Admiralty An hearty Gentleman and cordial to his Sovereign of a most proper person one reason why Queen Elizabeth who though she did not value a Jewel by valued it the more for a fair Case reflected so much upon him The first evidence he gave of his prowes was when the Emperors sister the Spouse of Spain with a Fleer of 130 Sailes stoutly and proudly passed the narrow Seas his Lordship accompanied with ten ships onely of Her Majesties Navy Royal environed their Fleet in a most strange and warlike sort enforced them to stoop gallant and to vail their Bonnets for the Queen of England His service in the eighty eighth is notoriously known when at the first news of the Spaniards approach he towed at a cable with his own hands to draw out the harbourbound-ships into the Sea I dare boldly say he drew more though not by his person by his presence and example than any ten in the place True it is he was no deep Sea-man not to be expected from one of his Extraction but had skill enough to know those who had more skill than himself and to follow their instructions and would not sterve the Queens service by feeding his own sturdy wilfulness but was ruled by the experienced in Sea-matters the Queen having a Navy of Oak and an Admiral of Osier His last eminent service was when he was Commander of the Sea as Essex of the Land forces at the taking of Cadiz for which he was made Earl of Nottingham the last of the Queens creation His place was of great profit Prizes being so frequent in that age though great his necessary and vast his voluntary expences keeping as I have read seven standing Houses at the same time at London Rigate Effingham Blechenley c. so that the wonder is not great if he died not very wealthy He lived to be very aged who wrote Man if not married in the first of Q. Elizabeth being an invited guest at the solemn Consecration of Matthew Parker at Lambeth and many years after by his testimony confuted those lewd and loud lies which the Papists tell of the Naggs-head in Cheap-side He resigned his Admiralty in the reign of King James to the Duke of Buckingham and died towards the later end of the reign of the King afore-said Sea-men Sir ROBERT DUDLEY Knight son to Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester by Douglas Shefeld whether his Mistris or Wife God knoweth many men being inclinable charitably to believe the later was born at Shene in this County and bred by his mother out of his Fathers reach at Offington in Sussex He afterwards became a most compleat Gentleman in all suteable accomplishments endeavoring in the reign of King James to prove his legitimacy and meeting with much opposition from the Court in distast he left his Land and went over into Italy But Worth is ever at home and carrieth its own welcome along with it He became a Favorite to the Duke of Florence who highly reflected on his Abilities and used his directions in all his Buildings At this time Ligorn from a Child started a Man without ever being a Youth and of a small Town grew a great City on a sudden and is much beholding to this Sir Robert for its fairness and firmness as chief contriver of both But by this time his Adversaries in England had procured him to be call'd home by a special Privy Seal which he refused to obey and thereupon all his Lands in England was seised on by the King by the Statute
hath done more good or more harm As for Guns it cannot be denied that though most behold them as Instruments of cruelty partly because subjecting valour to chance partly because Guns give no quarter which the sword sometimes doth yet it will appear that since their invention victory hath not stood so long a Neuter and hath been determined with the loss of fewer lives Yet do I not believe what Souldiers commonly say that he was curs'd in his Mothers belly who is kill'd with a Cannon seeing many prime persons have been slain thereby Such as desire to know the pedigree and progress of great Guns in England may be pleas'd to take notice 1. Anno 1535. John Oaven was the first English-man who in England cast brass Ordnance Cannons Culverings c. 2. Peter Baud a French-man in the first of King Edward the sixth was the first who in England cast Iron-Ordnance Falcons Falconers Minions c. 3. Thomas Johnson covenant-servant to Peter aforesaid succeeded and exceeded his Master casting them clearer and better He died about 1600. Some observe that God hath so equally divided the advantage of weapons between us and Spain that their steel makes the best swords our iron the most usefull Ordnance Glass Plenty hereof is made in this County though not so fine as what Tyre afforded fetch'd from the river Belus and the Cendevian Lake nor so pure as is wrought at Chiosa nigh Venice whereof the most refined falls but one degree short of Chrystall but the course glasses here serve well enough for the common sort for vessels to drink in The work-men in this mystery are much encreased since 1557. as may appear by what I read in an Author writing that very year As for Glass-makers they be scant in this land Yet one there is as I doe understand And in Sussex is now his habitation At Chiddingsfoldâ—…e â—…e works of his occupation These brittle commodities are subject to breaking upon any casualty and hereupon I must transmit a passage to posterity which I received from an Author beyond exceptions A noble man who shall be nameless living not many miles from Cambridge and highly in favour with the Earl of Leicester begg'd of Queen Elizabeth all the plate of that University as useless for Scholars and more for State then Service for Superfluity then Necessity The Queen granted his suit upon condition to find glasses for the Scholars The Lord considering this might amount to more then his Baronry would maintain except he could compass the Venetian Artist who as they say could make Vitra sine vitio fragilitatis pellucida yea could consolidate glass to make it malleable let his petition which was as charitable as discreet sink in silence By the way be it observed that though course glass-making was in this County of great antiquity yet The first making of Venice-glasses in England began at the Crochet Friers in London about the beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth by â—…ne Jacob Venaline an Italian The Buildings Chichester Cathedral is a fine fabrick built after it had been twice consumed with fire by Bishop 〈◊〉 the second of the Name about the year 1193. Country folk are confident in their tradition that the Master-workman built Sarisbury and his Man the Church of Chichester and if so sâ—…quitur Dominum non Passibus aequis But Pâ—…oportion of Time confuteth the conceit seeing Sâ—…ffride flourished under King John and Bishop Poor the Founder of Sarisbury lived much later undeâ—… King Henâ—…y the third Now though 〈◊〉 bestowed the Cloth and Making on the Church Bishop Sherborn gave the Trimming and best Lace thereto in the reign of King Henry the seventh I am sorry I can follow the Allegory so far being 〈◊〉 that now it is not only Seam ript but Torn in the whole-cloth having lately a great part thereof fallen down to the ground Arundel Castle is of great esteem the rather because a Local-Earldome is cemented to the wallâ—… thereof Some will have it so nâ—…med from Arundel the Horse of Beavoice the great Champion I confess it is not withont precedence in Antiquity for Places to take names from Horses meeting with the Promentory Bucephalus in Peleponesus where some report the Horse of Alâ—…xander buried and Bâ—…llonius will have it for the same cause called Cavalla at this day But this Castle was so called long before that Imaginary Horse was foled who cannot be fancied elder then his Master Beavoice flourishing after the Conquest long before which Arundel was so called from the river Arundâ—…unning â—…unning hard by it â—…etworth the house of the Earls of Northumberland is most famous for a stately Stable the best of any Subjects in Christendome Comparisons must move in ther own â—…pheres and Princes only are meet to measure with Princes tell me nâ—…t â—…herefore of the Duke of Saxony his Stable at Dresden wherein are â—…n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and eight horses of service with a Magazene out of which he can Arme thirty thousand Horse and Foot at a days warning that Elector being the most Potent Prince in the Empire But is not the proportion fair that â—…etworth Stable affordeth standing in state for threescore horse with all necessary accommodations Wonders Expect not here I should insert what William of Newbury writeth to be recounted rather amongst the Untruâ—…hs then Wonders viz. That in this County not far from Bâ—…ttail-Abby in the Place where so great a slaughter of the English-men was made after any shower presently sweateth forth very frâ—…sh blood out of the Earth as if the Evidence thereof did plainly declare the voice of Bloud there shed and crieth still from the Earth unto the Lord. This is as true as that in white chalky Countries about Baldock in Hartford shire after rain run rivolets of Milk Neither being any thing else then the water discoloured according to the Complexion of the Earth thereabouts Proverbs He is none of the Hastings This Proverb though extended all over England is properly reduceable to this County as Originated there for there is a Haven Town named Hastings therein which some erroneously conceive so called from hast or speed because William the afterwards Conqueror Landing there did as Mathew Paris saith with Hast or Speedily erect some small Fortification But sure it is that there is a Noble and Antient family of the Hastings in this Land I will not say first taking their Name from this Town who formerly were Earls of Pembroke and still are of Huntington Now men commonly say they are none of the Hastings who being slow and slack go about business with no agility Such they also call dull Dromedaries by a foul mistake meerly because of the affinity of that name to our English word Dreaming applied to such who go slowly and sleepily about their Employment Whereas indeed Dâ—…omedaries are Creatures of a Constant and Continuing Swiftness so called from the Greek word Dremo to Run and are the 〈◊〉 for travell for the Eastern
he was successively preferred by King Charles the first Bishop of Hereford and London and for some years Lord Treasurer of England A troublesome place in those times it being expected that he should make much Brick though not altogether without yet with very little Straw allowed unto him Large then the Expences Low the Revenues of the Exchequer Yet those Coffers which he found Empty he left Filling and had left Full had Peace been preserved in the Land and he continued in his Place Such the mildness of his temper that Petitioners for Money when it was not to be had departed well pleased with his denialls they were so civilly Languaged It may justly seem a wonder that whereas few spake well of Bishops at that time and Lord Treasurers at all times are liable to the Complaints of discontented people though both Offices met in this man yet with Demetrius he was well reported of all men and of the truth it self He lived to see much shame and contempt undeservedly poured on his Function and all the while possessed his own soul in patience He beheld those of his Order to lose their votes in Parliament and their insulting enemies hence concluded Loss of speech being a sad Symptom of approching Death that their Final extirpation would follow whose own experience at this day giveth the Lie to their malicious Collection Nor was it the least part of this Prelates Honour that amongst the many worthy Bishops of our Land King Charles the first selected him for his Confessor at his Martyrdome He formerly had had experience in the case of the Earl of Strafford that this Bishops Conscience was bottom'd on Piety not Policy the reason that from him he received the Sacrament good Comfort and Counsell just before he was Murdered I say just before that Royal Martyr was Murdered a Fact so foul that it alone may confute the errour of the Pelagians maintaining that all Sin cometh by imitaâ—…ion the Universe not formerly affording such a Precedent as if those Regicides had purposely designed to disprove the Observation of Solomon that there is No new thing under the Sun King Charles the second Anno Domini 1660. preferred him Arch-bishop of Canterbury which place he worthily graceth at the writing hereof Feb. 1. 1660. ACCEPTUS FRUIN D. D. was born at in this County bred Fellow of Magdalen-colledge in Oxford and afterwards became President thereof and after some mediate preferments was by King Charles the first advanced Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield and since by King Charles the second made Arch-bishop of York But the matter whereof Porcellane or China dishes are made must be ripened many years in the earth before it comes to full perfection The Living are not the proper objects of the Historians Pen who may be misinterpreted to flatter even when he falls short of their due Commendation the Reason why I adde no more in the praise of this worthy Prelate As to the Nativities of Arch-bishops one may say of this County many Shires have done worthily but SUSSEX surmounteth them all having bred Five Archbishops of Canterbury and at this instant claiming for her Natives the two Metropolitans of our Nation States-men THOMAS SACKVILL son and heir to Sir Richard Sackvill Chancellour and Sub-Treasurer of the Exchequer and Privy-Counsellour to Queen Elizabeth by Winifred his wife daughter to Sir John Bruges was bred in the University of Oxford where he became an excellent Poet leaving both Latine and English Poems of his composing to posterity Then studied he law in the Temple and took the degree of Barrister afterward he travelled into forraign parts detained for a time a prisoner in Rome whence his liberty was procured for his return into England to possess the vast Inheritance left him by his father whereof in short time by his magnificent prodigality he spent the greatest part till he seasonably began to spare growing neer to the bottom of his Estate The story goes that this young Gentleman coming to an Alderman of London who had gained great Pennyworths by his former purchases of him was made being now in the Wane of his Wealth to wait the coming down of the Alderman so long that his generous humour being sensible of the incivility of such attendance resolved to be no more beholding to Wealthy pride and presently turned a thrifty improver of the remainder of his Estate If this be true I could wish that all Aldermen would State it on the like occasion on condition their noble debtors would but make so good use thereof But others make him the Convert of Queen Elizabeth his Cosin german once removed who by her frequent admonitions diverted the torrent of his profusion Indeed she would not know him till he began to know himself and then heaped places of honour and trust upon him creating him 1. Baron of Buckhurst in this County the reason why we have placed him therein Anno Dom. 1566. 2. Sending him Ambassadour into France Anno 1571. into the Low-countries Anno 1586. 3. Making him Knight of the Order of the Garter Anno 1589. 4. Appointing him Treasurer of England 1599. He was Chancellour of the University of Oxford where he entertained Q. Elizabeth with a most sumptuous feast His elocution was good but inditing better and therefore no wonder if his Secretaries could not please him being a person of so quick dispatch faculties which yet run in the bloud He took a Roll of the names of all Suitors with the date of their first addresses and these in order had their hearing so that a fresh-man could not leap over the head of his senior except in urgent affairs of State Thus having made amends to his house for his mis-spent time both in increase of Estate and Honour being created Earl of Dorset by King James he died on the 19. of April 1608. Capitall Judges Sir JOHN JEFFRY Knight was born in this County as I have been informed It confirmeth me herein because he left a fair Estate in this Shire Judges genebuilding their Nest neer the place where they were Hatched which descended to his Daughter He so profited in the study of our Municipall-Law that he was preferred Secondary Judge of the Common-pleas and thence advanced by Queen Elizabeth in Michaelmas Terme the nineteenth of her Reign to be Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer which place he discharged for the Terme of two years to his great commendation He left one only Daughter and Heir married to Sir Edward Mountague since Baron of Boughton by whom he had but one Daughter Elizabeth married to Robert Barty Earl of Linsey Mother to the truly Honorable Mountague Earl of Linsey and Lord Great Chamberlain of England This worthy Judge died in the 21. of Queen Elizabâ—…h Souldiers The ABBOT of BATTLE He is a pregnant Proof that one may leave no Name and yet a good Memory behind him His Christian or Surname cannot be recovered out of our Chronicles which hitherto
good in Physick whose Keys are opening of obstructions arising from the Spleen Cole Much hereof is digged up at Bedworth which in my Measuring of all Cole-mines North of Thames is the most Southward adding much to their Price and Owners Profit The making such Mines destroyeth much but when made preserveth more Timâ—…er I am sorry to hear that those black Indies both in Quantity and Quality fall short of their former fruitfulness and I wish they may recover their lost Credit being confident the Earth there will bleed Profit as plentifully as any had the Miners but the good Hap to hit the right vein thereof As for Manufactures in this County some Broad cloths are made in Coventry and ten might be made for one if the mistery thereof were vigorously pursued The Buildings Coventry much beholding to the Lady Godiva who took Order that her Charity should not prejudice her Modesty when she purchased the Priviledges of this Place sheweth two fair Churches close together How clearly would they have shined if set at competent Distance whereas now such their Vicinity that the Arch-angel eclypseth the Trinity Saint Maâ—…ies in Warwick a Beautifull Structure owes its life to the Monuments of the dead therein most being Earls of Warwick Of these that in the Body of the Church is the Oldest that in the Chancell is the largest that in the Chapell of Guilt Brass the Richest that in the Chapter-House of Fulke Lord Brook the latest Greatness may seem in some fort to be buried in the Tomb of the Earl of Leicester and Goodness in that of the Earl of Warwick Women are most delighted with the Statue of the Infant Baron of Denby and Scholars most affected with the learned Epitaph of Sir Thomas Puckering In a word so numerous is the Church with its Appendences as I am enformed by my Worthy Friend the Minister that he can accommodate One Clergy-man of all Dignities and Degrees to repose them in severall Chapells or Veâ—…ries by themselves Kenelworth alias Kenilworth It had the Strength of a Castle and Beauty of a Princes Court Though most fair the Porch no danger of the Castles running out thereat like that of Mindus at the Gate as most Proportionable to the rest of the Fabrick I confess Handsome is an unproper Epithete of a Gyant yet Neatness agreeth with the Vastness of this structure Some Castles have been Demolished for security which I behold destroyed se defendendo without offence Others Demolished in the heat of the Wars which I look upon as Castle-slaughter But I cannot excuse the Destruction of this Caâ—…tle from Wilfull-murder being done in cold blood since the end of the Wars I am not stock'd enough with Charity to pitty the Ruiners thereof if the materialls of this Castle answered not their Expectation who destroyed it Pass we now from the Preterperfect to the Present Tense I mean from what was once to what now is most magnificent the Castle of Warwick It over-looketh the Town which is washed and swept by Nature so sweet on a Rising Hill is the situation thereof The Prospect of this Castle is Pleasant in its self and far more to the Present Owner thereof the Right Honourable Robert Lord Brooke seeing the Windows look into Lands mostly of his Possession We will conclude the Buildings of this County with the beautifull Cross of Coventry A Reformed Cross or Standard rather without any Cross thereon being a Master-piece all for Ornament nothing for Superstition so that the most curious hath just cause to commend the most conscientious to allow none to condemn it It was begun 1541. the 33. and finished 1544. the 36. of King Henry the eighth at the sole cost of Sir William Hollis Lord Mayor of London Great-grand-father to the Right Honorable the Earl of Clare The Wonders At Lemington within two Miles of Warwick there issue out within a stride of the womb of the Earth two Twin-springs as different in Tast and Operation as Esaâ—… and Jacob in disposition the one Salt the other Fresh Thus the meanest Country-man doth plainly see the Effects whilst it would pose a Consultaâ—…ion of Philosophers to assign the true cause thereof To this Permanent let me joyne a transâ—…ent Wonder which some was fifty years since The Situation of Coventry is well known on a rising Hill having no River near it save a small Brook over which generally one may make a Bridge with a Stride Now here happened such an Inundation on friday April the seventeenth 1607. attested under the Seal of the City in the Majoralty of Henry Sâ—…wel as was equally admirable In 1. Coming about eight a clock in the morning no considerable rain preceding which might suggest the least suspicion thereof In 2. Continuance for the Space of three Hours wherein it overflowed more then two hundred and fifty dwelling Houses to the great damage of the Inhabitants In 3. Departure or vanishing rather sinking as suddenly as it did rise Thus what the Scripture saith of wind was then true of the water One cannot tell whence it came nor whither it went Leaving others to enquire into the second and subordinate I will content my self with admiring the Supreme Cause observed by the Psalmist He turneth a wilderness into a standing water and dry-ground into water-Springs Medicinal waters At Newenham Regis there is a Spring the water whereof drunk with Salt loosneth with Sugar bindeth the Body It is also very Sovereigne against Ulcers Impostumes the Stone This last I commend to the Readers choise observation the same Author affirming that it turneth Sticks into Stone and that he himself was an Eye-witness thereof Now how it should dissolve the Stone in the Body of a Man and yet turn Wood into Stone I leave to such who are naturae à Sanctioribus Consiliis at their next meeting at their Counsel-table to discuss and decide Proverbs He is the black Bear of Arden Arden is a Forrest anciently occupying all the Wood-land part of this County By the Black Bear is meant Guy Beauchamp Earl of Warwick who besides the allusion to his Crest was Grim of Person and Surly of resolution for when this Bear had gotten Pierce Gavistone that Munkey and Minion of King Edward the second into his Chambers he caused his Death at a Hill within two miles of Warwick notwithstanding all opposition to the contrary The Proverb is appliable to those who are not Terricula menta bnt Terrores no fancy-formed Bug-bears but such as carry fear and fright to others about them As bold as Beauchamp Some will say the concurrence of these two B. B. did much help the Proverbe and I think as in others of the same kind they did nothing hinder it However this quality could not be fixed on any name with more truth If it be demanded what Beauchamp is chiefly meant amongst the many of that Surname Earls of Warwick The answer of mutinous people is true in this case One and all
upon him Many were the wit combates betwixt him and Ben Johnson which two I behold like a Spanish great Gallion and an English man of War Master Johnson like the former was built far higher in Learning Solid but Slow in his performances Shake-spear with the English-man of War lesser in bulk but lighter in sailing could turn with all tides tack about and take advantage of all winds by the quickness of his Wit and Invention He died Anno Domini 16 ... and was buried at Stratford upon Avon the Town of his Nativity MICHAEL DRAYTON born in this County at Athelston as appeareth in his poeticall address thereunto My native Country If there be vertue yet remaining in thy earth Or any good of thine thou breath'st into my birth Accept it as thine own whilst now I sing of thee Of all thy later Brood th' unworthiest though I be He was a pious Poet his conscience having always the command of his fancy very temperate in his life slow of speech and inoffensive in company He changed his laurel for a crown of glory Anno 1631. and is buried in Westminster-Abby near the South-door with this Epitaph Doe pious Marble let thy Readers know What they and what their children owe To Draitons name whose sacred dust We recommend unto thy trust Protect his memory and preserve his story Remain a lasting Monument of his glory And when thy ruins shall dâ—…aime To be the Treasurer of his name His name that cannot fade shall be An everlasting Monument to thee He was born within few miles of William Shake-speare his Countryman and fellow-Poet and buried within fewer paces of Jeffry Chaucer and Edmund Spencer Sir FULKE GREVIL Knight Son to Sir Fulke Grevil the Elder of Becham-Court in this County he was bred first in the University of Cambridge He came to the Court back'd with a full and fair Estate and Queen Elizabeth loved such substantiall Courtiers as could plentifully subsist of themselves He was a good Scholar loving much to employ and sometimes to advance learned men to whâ—…m worthy Bishop Overal chiefly owed his preferment and Mr. Cambden by his own Confession tasted largely of his liberality His Studies were most in Poetry and History as his works doe witness His Stile conceived by some to be swelling is allowed for lofty and full by others King James created him Baron Brook of Beachamp-Court as descended from the sole daughter and heir of Edward Willowby the last Lord Brook in the reign of King Henry the seventh His sad Death or Murther rather happened on this occasion His discontented servant conceiving his deserts not soon or well enough rewarded wounded him Mortally and then to save the law the labour killed himself verifying the observation that he may when he pleaseth be master of an other mans life who contemneth his own He lieth buried in Warwick Church under a Monument of black and white Marble whereon he is styled Servant to Q. Elizabeth Counsellor to K. James and friend to Sir Phillip Sidney Dying Anno 16 ... without Issue and unmarried his Barony by vertue of Entail in the patent descended on his kinsman Robert Grevill Lord Brook father to the Right Honorable Robert Lord Brook NICHOLAS BYFIELD was born in this County as his son hath informed me bred as I remember in Queens-colledge in Oxford After he had entred into the Ministry he was invited into Ireland to a place of good profit and eminency in pâ—…ssage whereunto staying wind-bound at Chester his Inn proved his home for a long time unto him preaching a Sermon there with such approbation that he was chosed Minister in the City Not without an especiall Providence seeing the place promised in Ireland would have failed him his going over had been a labour in vain The Cestrians can give the best account of his profitable preaching and pious life most strict in keeping the Lords day on which occasion pens were brandished betwixt him and Mr. Breerwood In his declining age he was presented to the Benefice of Isleworth in Middlesex where for fifteen years together he preached twice every Lords-day and expounded Scripture every Wednesday and Friday till five weeks before his death notwithstanding there was Mors in ollâ—… A stone in his bladder which being taken out weighed and measured after his death was found of these prodigious proportions In 1. Weight thirty three ounces and more In 2. Measure about the edge fifteen inches and an half In 3. Measure about the length thirteen inches and above In 4. Measure about the breadth almost thirteen inches It was of a solid substance to look upon like a flint Lo here is the patience of the Saints All I will adde is this the Pharisee said proudly I thank thee Lord I am not as this Publican Let Writer and Reader say humbly and thankfully to God We are not as this truly painfull Preacher and let us labour that as our bodies are more healthfull our souls may be as holy as his who died and was buried at Iâ—…leworth PHILEMON HOLLAND where born is to me unknown was bred in Trinity-colledge in Cambridge a Doctor in Physick and fixed himself in Coventry He was the Translator Generall in his Age so that those Books alone of his Turning into English will make a Country Gentleman a competent library for Historians in so much that one saith Holland with his Translations doth so fill us He will not let Suetonius be Tranquillus Indeed some decry all Translators as Interlopers spoiling the Trade of Learning which should be driven amongst Scholars alone Such also alledge that the best Translations are works rather of Industry then Judgement and in easy Authors of Faithfulness rather then Industry That many be but Bunglers forcing the meaning of the Authors they translate picking the lock when they cannot open it But their Opinion resents too much of Envy that such Gentlemen who cannot repair to the Fountain should be â—…ebard access to the Streame Besides it is unjust to charge All with the faults of some and a Distinction must be made amongst Translators betwixt Coblers and Workmen and our Holland had the true knack of Translating Many of these his Books he wrote with One Pen whereon he himself thus pleasantly versified With one sole pen I writ this Book Made of a Grey Goose Quill A Pen it was when it I took And a Pen I leave it still This Monumental Pen he solemnly kept and showed to my reverend Tutor Doctor Samuel â—…ard It seems he leaned very lightly on the Neb thereof though weightily enough in an other sense performing not slightly but solidly what he undertook But what commendeth him most to the Praise of Posterity is his Translating Camdens Britannia a Translation more then a Translation with many excellent Additions not found in the Latine done fifty years since in Master Camdens life time not onely with his knowledge and consent but also no doubt by his desire and help
how soon for their own safety they may have need to make use thereof Many other Charities he bestowed and deceased Anno 1496. Since the Reformation ............. HALES Esquire He purchased a prime part of the Priory of Coventry Now either out of his own inclination or as a Condition of his Composition with King Henry the eighth or a mixture of both he founded and endowed a fair Grammer-school in Coventry Herein I have seen more abate the Three English schools of the first Magnitude and as well learned Scholars be it spoken that the Master Usâ—…er and Scholars may according to their Proportions divide the praise betwixt them as in any School in England Here is also an Infant which may be an Adult Library when it meeteth with more Benefactors JOHN Lord HARRINGTON son to James Lord Harrington was born at Combe Abby in this County accruing unto him by his Mother Heiress of â—…elway as by a property of that Family lately or still surviving I have on very strict enquiry been certainly enformed He did not count himself priviledged from being Good by being Great and his timely Piety rising early did not soon after go to Bed as some young Saints beheld under an other Notion but contiuned watchfull during his life He was one of the first who began the pious fashion since followed by few of his Quality of a Diary wherein he registred not the Injuries of others done unto him a work of Revenge not Devotion but of his Faâ—…lings and Infirmities toward his Master Thus making even with the God of Heaven by Repentance in Christ at the end of every day he had to use the Expression and Counsell of the Reverend Arch-Bishop of Armagh but one day to repent of before his death He lived out all 〈◊〉 days in the appointment of Divine Providence not half of them according to the course and possibility of Nature not Half a Quarter of them according to the hopes and desires of the Lovers and Honourers of Virtue in this Nation especially of the society in Sidney-colledge in Cambridge whereto he was a most 〈◊〉 Bénefactour He was the last Male of that Honourable Family as one justly complains JOHANES DOMINUS HARRINGTONIUS Anagramma INSIGNIS ERAT AH UNUS HONOR DOMI The Reader is referred for the rest unto his Funerall Sermon preached by Master Stock of London who though he would not to use his own Phrase Gild a Poâ—…sheard understand him Flatter unworthyness yet giveth him his large and due Commendation He died unmarried Anno 161. leaving his two Sisters his Heirs Lucy married to Edward Earl of Bedford and Anne who by Sir Robert Chichester had a daughter Anne married to Thomas Earl of Elgin and Mother to Robert L. Bruce who is at this day Heir Apparent to no small part of the Lands but Actually possessed of a larger of the Vertues of his Honourable Great-uncle Memorable Persons THOMAS UNDERHILL Esquire was born at Neaher-Eatendon in this County It is pity to part him from Elizabeth his wife seeing the Poetical fiction of Philemon and Baucis found in them an Historical performance with improvement * Sed pia Baucis anus parilique aetate Philemon Illâ sunt annis juncti juvenilibus illâ Consenuere casâ paupertatémque ferendo Effecere levem nec iniqua mente ferendam But good old Baucis with Philemon matchd In youthfull years now struck with equal age Made poorness pleasant in their cottage Thatch'd And weight of want with patience diâ—… aswage Whereas this our Warwick-shire-Pair living in a worshipfull equipage and exemplary for their hospitality did teach others not how Poverty might be born but Wealth well used by their Example for the owners and others good The Ovidian-couple appear issueless whereas twenty children viz. tâ—…teen sons and seven daughters were begotten and born by this Thomas and Elizabeth living sixty five years together in marriage Indeed the poeticall-pair somewhat outstrip'd them in the happiness of their death their request being granted them Et quoniam concordes egimus annos Auferà thora duos eadem nec conjugis unquam Busta meae videam nec sim tumulandus ab illa Because we liv'd and lov'd so long together Let 's not behold the funeralls of either May one hour end us both may I not see This my wife buried nor wife bury me However these Underhills deceased in one year she in July he in October following 1603. Lord Mayors Name Father Place Company Time 1 John Coventry William Coventry Coventry Mercer 1425 2 John Olney John Olney Coventry Mercer 1446 3 Robert Tate Thomas Tate Coventry Mercer 1488 4 Hugh Clopton John Clopton Stratford upon Avon Mercer 1491 5 John Tate Thomas Tate Coventry 1496 6 William Cockain William Cockain Baddesley Skinner 1619 7 John Warner John Warner Rowington Grocer  The Names of the Gentry of this County Returned by the Commissioners in the 〈◊〉 year of King Henry the sixth 1433. William Bishop of Lincoln Commissioners to take the Oaths Richard Earl of Warwick John Cotes Knights for the shire Nicholas Metley Knights for the shire Radul Nevill mil. Ioh. Colepeper mil. Will. Mounford mil. Edw. Oddingsselles m. Tho. Bâ—…rdet mil. Rich. Otherston Abbatis de Camba Will. Pole Abbatis de Alyncestre Joh. Buggeley Abbatis de Miravalle Edw. Bronâ—…ete de Farnburgh ar Bald. Mountford de Hampton ar Râ—…d Brasebrugg de Kinnesbury ar Will. Lucy de Charlecote ar Tho. Hugford de Emescote ar Tho. Erdington de Erdington ar Rob. Arden de Bromwich ar Will. Pucfrey de Shiford ar Rog. Harewell de Morehall ar Rich. Hyband de Ippesley armig Will. Botoner de Wythybroke Ioh. Midlemore de Eggebaston ar Thome Porter de Escote ar Tho. 〈◊〉 de Tonworth ar Tho. Waryng de eadem ar Rich. Verney ar de Wolverton Tho. Gâ—…ene de Solyhull ar Joh. Chelwyn de Alspath ar Ioh. Waldiene de eadem ar Nich. Ruggeley de Donton ar Will. Holt de Aston ar Rich. Merbroke de Codbarow ar Galf. Allefley d eparva Lalleford Tho. Greswold de Solyhull Tho. Haynton de Napton Will. Parker de Tonworth Edm. Starkey de Stretton Ranul Starky de eadem Will. Derset de Thurlaston Rich. Hall de Stretford Ioh. Mayell de eadem Simon Forster de Althercton Clemen Draper de â—…adem Iohan. Darant de Berston Rog. Mullward de Nuneton Iohan. Omfrey de eadem Iohan. Waryn de eadem Hum. Iacob de Tamworth Tho. Neuton de eadem Math. Smalwode de Sutton Rich. Dalby de Brokhampton Rich. Eton de Warwick Hum. Corbet Iohan. Aleyn de Berford Tho. Iakes de Woner Rog. Clerk de Tatchbrook Rich. Briches de Longedon Will. Reynold de Attilburgh Ioh. Michell majoris civitatis Coventrae Will. Donington unius Ballivorum civitatis Predictae Rob. Southam alterius Ballivorum civitatis Predicte Egidii Alles sley Magistri Gildae Sanctae Trinitatis de Coventrae Lauren. Cook de Coventrae Merchant Rich. Sharp de eadem Merchant Rich. Boton de eadem Fishmonger Ioh. Lychefeld de eadem Grasier
the Baron of Kendal 〈◊〉 his singular deserts â—…oth in Peace and War This was that Richard 〈◊〉 who sâ—…w the wild Bore that raging in the Mountains 〈◊〉 as sometimes that of Erimanthus much indamaged the Country people whence it is that the Gilpins in their Coat Armes give the Bore I confess the story of this Westmerland-Hercules soundeth something Romanza like However I believe it partly because so reverend a pen hath recorded it and because the people in these parts need not feigne foes in the fancy Bears Bores and Wild beasts who in that age had real enemies the neighbouring Scots to encounter Lord Mayors Name Father Place Company Time 1 Cuthbert Buckle Christopher Buckle Bourgh Vintner 1593 Sheriffs I find two or three Links but no continued chain os Sheriffs in this County untill the 10. of K. John who bestowed the Baily-week and Revenues of this County upon Robert Lord Vipont ROBERT de VIPONT the last of that Family about the raign of K. Edward the first left two daughters 1. Sibel married to Roger Lord Clifford 2. Idonea the first and last I meet with of that Christian-name though proper enough for women who are to be meet helps to their husbands married to Roger de Leburn Now because honor nescit dividi Honour cannot be divided betwixt Co-heirs and because in such cases it is in the Power and Pleasure of the King to assign it entire to which he pleased the King Conferred the Hereditary Sheriffalty of this County on the Lord Clifford who had Married the Eldest Sister Iâ—… hath ever since continued in that honorable family I find Elizabeth the Widdow of Thomas Lord Clifford probably in the Minority of her son Sheriffess as I may say in the sixteenth of Richard the second till the last of K. Henry the fourth Yet was it fashionable for these Lords to depute and present the most Principal Gentry of this Shire their Sub-Vicecomites Under-sheriffs in their Right to order the affairs of that County I find Sir Thomas Parr Sir William Parr Ancestors to Q. Katherin Parr as also Knights of the Families of the Bellingams Musgraves c. discharging that office so high ran the Credit and Reputation thereof Henry Lord Clifford was by K. Henry the eight Anno 1525. Created Earl of Cumberland and when Henry the fift Earl of that family died lately without Issue male the Honour of this Hereditary Sheriffalty with large Revenues Reverted unto Anne the sole daughter of George Clifford third Earl of Cumberland the Relict of Richard Earl of Dorset and since of Phillip Earl of Pembroke and Mountgomery by whom she had two daughters the Elder married to the Earl of Thanet and the younger married to James Earl of Northampton The Farewell Reader I must confess my self sorry and ashamed that I cannot do more right to the Natives of this County so far distanced North that I never had yet the opportunity to behold it O that I had but received some intelligence from my worthy friend Doctor Thomas Barlow Provost of Queens-colledge in Oxford who for his Religion and Learning is an especiall ornament of Westmerland But Time Tide and a PrintersPress are three unmannerly things that will stay for no man and therefore I request that my defective indeavours may be well accepted I learn out of Master Camden that in the River Cann in this County there be two Catadupae or Waterfalls whereof the Northern sounding Clear and Loud foretokeneth Fair Weather the Southern on the same Terms presageth Rain Now I wish that the former of thesemay be Vocall in Hay-time and Harvest the latter after Great Drought that so both of them may make welcome Musick to the Inhabitants VVILT-SHIRE WILT-SHIRE hath Gloucester-shire on the North Berk-shire and Hampshire on the East Dorset-shire on the South and Summerset-shire on the West From North to South it extendeth 39. Miles but abateth ten of that Number in the breadth thereof A pleasant County and of great Variety I have heard a Wise man say that an Oxe left to himself would of all England choose to live in the North a Sheep in the South part hereof and a Man in the Middle betwixt both as partaking of the pleasure of the plain and the wealth of the deep Country Nor is it unworthy the observing that of all Inland Shires no ways bordered on Salt-water this gathereth the most in the Circumference thereof as may appear by comparing them being in compass one Hundred Thirty and Nine Miles It is plentifull in all English especially in the ensuing Commodities Naturall Commodities Wooll The often repetition hereof though I confess against our rules premised may justly be excused Well might the French Embassadour return France France France reiterated to every petty title of the King of Spain And our English Wooll Wooll c. may counterpoize the numerous but inconsiderable Commodities of other Countries I confess a Lock thereof is most contemptible Non flocci te facio passing for an expression of the highest neglect but a quantity thereof quickly amounteth to a good valuation The Manufactures Clothing This Mystery is vigorously pursued in this County and I am informed that as MEDLEYS are most made in other Shires as good WHITES as any are woven in this County This mentioning of Whites to be vended beyond the Seas minds me of a memorable contest in the raign of King James betwixt the Merchants of London and Sir William Cockain once Lord Mayor of that City and as Prudent a Person as any in that Corporation He ably moved and vigorously prosecuted the design that all the Cloth which was made might be died in England alledging that the wealth of a Country consisteth in driving on the Naturall Commodities thereof through all Manufactures to the utmost as far as it can go or will be drawn And by the Dying of all English cloth in England Thousands of poor People would be imployed and thereby get a comfortable subsistence The Merchants returned that such home-dying of our cloth would prove prejudiciall to the sale thereof Forreigners being more expert then we are in the mysterie of fixing of Colours Besides they can afford them far cheaper then we can much of dyingstuff growing in their Countries and Forraigners bear a great affâ—…ction to White or Virgin cloth unwilling to have their Fancies prevented by the Dying thereof insomuch that they would like it better though done worse if done by themselves That Sir William Cockain had got a vast deal of Dying-stuff into his own possession and did drive on his own interest under the pretence of the Publick good These their Arguments were seconded with good store of good Gold on both sides till the Merchants prevailed at last A Shole of Herrings is able to beat the Whale it self and Clothing left in the same condition it was before Tobacco pipes The best for shape and colour as curiously sized are made at Amesbury in this County They may be
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
a very great estate But what he got in few years he lost in fewer days since our Civil Warrs when the Parliament was pleased for reasons onely known to themselves to make him one of the examples of their severity excluding him pardon but permitting his departure beyond the seas where he dyed about the year 1650. Capitall Judges Sir NICHOLAS HYDE Knight was born at Warder in this County where his father in right of his wife had a long lease of that Castle from the family of the Arundels His father I say descended from an Antient Family in Cheshire a fortunate Gentleman in all his Children and more in his Grand-children some of his under-boughs out-growing the top-branch and younger children amongst whom Sir Nicholas in wealth and honour exceeding the heir of the family He was bred in the Middle-Temple and was made Sergeant at Law the first of February 1626. and on the eighth day following was sworn Lord Chief Justice of the Kings-bench succeeding in that Office next save one unto his Countryman Sir James Ley then alive and preferred Lord Treasurer born within two miles one of another and next of all unto Sir Randal Crew lately displaced Now though he entered on his place with some disadvantage Sir Randal being generally popular and though in those days it was hard for the same person to please Court and Country yet he discharged his office with laudable integrity and died 1631. Souldiers First for this County in general hear what an antient Author who wrot about the time of King Henry the second reporteth of it whose words are worthy of our translation and exposition Johannes Sarisburiensis de Nugis Curialium 6. cap. 18. Provincia Severiana quae moderno usu ac nomine ab incolis Wiltesira vocatur eodem jure sibi vendicat Cohortem Subsidiariam adjecta sibi Devonia Cornubia The Severian Province which by moderne use name is by the inhabitants called Wiltshire by the same right chalengeth to it self to have the Rere Devonshire and Cornwall being joyned unto it The Severian Province We thank our Author for expounding it Wiltshire otherwise we should have sought for it in the North near the Wall of Severus By the same right Viz. by which Kent claimeth to lead the Vanguard whereof formerly To have the Rere So translated by Mr. Selden from whom it is a sin to dissent in a Criticisme of Antiquity otherwise some would cavill it to be the Reserve Indeed the Rere is the basis and foundation of an Army and it is one of the chief of Divine promises The glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward We read how the Romans placed their Triarii which were Veteran souldiers behind and the service was very sharp indeed cum res rediit ad Triarios We may say that these three Counties Wiltshire Devonshire and Cornwall are the Triarii of England yet so that in our Author Wiltshire appears as principal the others being added for its assistance Here I dare interpose nothing why the two interjected Counties betwixt Wilts and Devon viz. Dorset and Summerset are not mentioned which giveth me cause to conjecture them included in Devonia in the large acception thereof Now amongst the many worthy Souldiers which this County hath produced give me leave to take speciall notice of HENRY D'ANVERS His ensuing Epitaph on his Monument in the Church of Dantsey in this Shire will better acquaint the Reader with his deserts then any character which my Pen can give of him Hâ—…re lyeth the body of Henry Danvers second son to Sir John Danvers Knight and Dame Elizabeth Daughter and Co-heir to Nevill Lord Latimer He was born at Dantsey in the County of Wilts Jan. Anno Dom. 1573. being bred up partly in the Low-Country-Wars under Maurice Earl of Nassaw afterward Prince of Orenge and in many other military Actions of those times both by Sea and by Land He was made a Captain in the Wars of France and there Knighted for his good Service under Henry the fourth the then French King He was imployed as Leiutenant of the Horse and Serjeant Major of the whole Army in Ireland under Robert Earl of Essex and Charles Baron of Mountjoy in the Raign of Queen Elizabeth By King James the first he was made Baron of Dansey and Peer of this Realm as also Lord President of Munster and Governour of Guernsey By King Charles the first he was Created Earl of Danby made of his Privy Councell and Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter In his latter time by reason of imperfect health considerately declining more active Imployments full of Honours Wounds and Days he died Anno Domini 1643. Laus Deo For many years before St. George had not been more magnificently Mounted I mean the solemnity of his feast more sumptuously observed then when this Earl with the Earl of Morton were installed Knights of the Garter One might have there beheld the abridgment of English and Scotish in their Attendance The Scotish Earl like Zeuxis his Picture adorned with all Art and Costliness whilst our English Earl like the plain sheet of Apelles by the Gravity of his habit got the advantage of the Gallantry of his Corrival with judicious beholders He died without Issue in the beginning of our Civil Wars and by his Will made 1639. setled his large Estate on his hopefull Nephew Henry D'Anvers snatch'd away before fully of age to the great grief of all good men Writers OLIVER of MALMESBURY was saith my Author iâ—… ipsius Monasterii terratorio natus so that there being but few paces betwixt his cradle and that Convent he quickly came thither and became a Benedictine therein He was much addicted to Mathematicks and to judicial Astrology A great Comet happened in his age which he entertained with these expressions Venisti Venisti multis matribus lugendum malum Dudum te vidi sed multò jam terribilius Angliae minans prorsus excidium Art thou come Art thou come thou evil to be lamented by many mothers I saw thee long since but now thou art much more terrible threatning the English with utter destruction Nor did he much miss his mark herein for soon after the coming in of the Norman Conqueror deprived many English of their lives more of their laws and liberties till after many years by Gods goodness they were restored This Oliver having a mind to try the truth of Poeticall reports an facta vel ficta is said to have tied Wings to his hands and feet and taking his rise from a Tower in Malmesbury flew as they say a â—…rlong till something failing him down he fell and brake both his Thighs Pity is it but that Icarus-like he had not fallen into the water and then OLIVER OL'VARIS nomina fecit aquis I find the like Recorded in the Ecclesiastical History of Simon Magus flying from the Capitol in Rome high in the Ayre till at last by the Prayers of Saint Peter he
or used some indirect means to inrich himself The Knight calmly gave in the unquestionable particulars of the Bottom he began on the accrewment by his Marriage and with what was advanced by his industry and frugality so bringing all up within the view though not the Touch of his present Estate For the rest my Lords said he you have a good Mistris our Gracious Queen and I had a good Master the Duke of Sommerset which being freely spoken and fairly taken he was dismissed without further trouble Nor were his means too big for his Birth if descended as Camden saith from the Antient Family of the Bottevils 41 WALTER VAUGHAM Ar. His Armes too large to be inserted in that short space were Sable a Cheverâ—…n betwixt three Childrens-heads Cooped at the Shoulders Argent their Peruques Or Inwrapped about their Necks with as many Snakes Proper whereof this they say the Occasion because one of the Ancestors of this Family was born with a Snake about his Neck Such a Neck-Lace as Nature I believe never saw But grant it How came the Peruques about the Infants Heads So that Fancy surely was the sole Mother and Midwife of this Device The Lands of this Walter Vaugham afterwards Knighted descended to his Son Sir George a Worthy Gentleman and after his Issueless decease to a Brother of his who was born blind bred in Oxford brought up in Orders and Prebendary of Sarum King Charles 1 FRANCIS SEYMOUR Mil. This wise and religious Knight grand-child to Edward Earl of Hartford and brother to William Duke of Sommerset was by King Charles the first Created Baron of Troubridge in this County since for his Loyalty made Privy-councellour to K. Charles the second and Chancellour of the Dutchy of Lancaster Battles Lansdoune Fight This was fought in the Confines of this County and Somerset the 13. of July 1643. It was disputed by parcells and peece-meals as the Place and narrow Passages would give leave and it seemed not so much one intire Battle as a Heap of Skirmishes hudled together It may be said in some sort of both â—…des Victus uterque fuit Victor uterque fuit For the Parliament Forces five times by the confession of the Royalists beat them back with much Disorder Sir Bevill Greenfield being slain in the Head of his Pikes Major Lowre in the Head of his Party of Horse Yet the Kings Forces alleadge Demonstration of Conquest that Prince Maurice and Sir Ralph Hopton remained in the Heads of their Troops all Night and next Morning found themselves possessed of the Field and of the Dead as also of three hundred Armes and nine 〈◊〉 of Powder the Enemy had left behind them Round way Fight Five days after Prince Maurice with the Earl of Carnarvan returning and the Lord Wilmot coming from Oxford with a gallant supply of Select Horse charged the Parliament Forces under the Conduct of Sir William Waller With him were the Horse of Sir Arthur Haslerigg so well Armed that if of Proof as well within as without each Souldier seemed an Impregnable Fortification But these were so smartly Charged by the Prince that they fairly forfook the Field leaving their Foot which in English Battles bear the heat of the day to shift for themselves In the mean time Sir Ralph Hopton hurt lately with the blowing up of Powder lay sick and sore in the Town of the Devizes His Men wanted Match whom Sir Ralph directed to beat and to boyl their Bed-cords necessity is the best Mother of Ingenuity which so ordered did them good service when Marching forth into the Field they effectually contributed to the totall routing and ruining of the Parliament â—…oot which remained The Farewell This County consisting so much of sheep must honour the Memory of King Edgar who first free'd the Land from all Wolves therein For the future I wish their flocks secured From 1. Two-legg'd Wolves very destructive unto them 2. Spanish Ewes whereof one being brought over into England Anno .......... brought with it the first generall contagion of sheep 3. Hunger-Rot the effect of an over-dry summer I desire also that seeing these seem to be of the same breed with Labanâ—… and Jethros sheep which had their solemn times and places of drinking which in other Shires I have not observed that they may never have any want of wholesome water WORCESTER-SHIRE hath Stafford-shire on the North Warwickshire on the East Gloucester-shire on the South Hereford and Shorp-shires on the West It is of a Triangular but not equilaterall form in proportion stretching from North to South Twenty two Miles South to North-west Twenty eight Miles Thence to her North-east point Twenty eight Miles Be this understood of the continued part of this Shire which otherwise hath Snips and Shreds cut off from the whole cloth and surrounded with the circumjacent Countries even some in Oxford-shire distanced by Gloucester-shire interposed What may be the cause hereof it were presumption for me to guess after the conjectures of so many Learned men Some conceive that such who had the Command of this County probably before the Conquest and had parcells of their own Land scattered in the Vicinage desired to Unite them to this County so to make their own authority the more entire Or else as a Worthy Writer will have it rendering a reason why part of Devon-shire straggleth into Cornwall it was done that there might rest some cause of Intercourse betwixt this and the Neighbouring Counties adding moreover that a late great man ensued and expressed the like consideration in the division of his Lands betwixt two of his Sons All I will say is this that God in the partage of Palestine Reader if you forget I must remember my own profession betwixt the twelve Tribes on the same account as the learned conceive made some Tribes to have In-lots within another And Manasseh had in Issachar and in Asher Bethshean and her Towns and Ibleam and her Towns c. This County hath a childs portion and that I assure you a large one in all English and especially in these Naturall Commodities Lampreys In Latine Lampetrae à lambendo petras from licking the rocks are plentifull in this and the neighbouring Counties in the river of Severn A deformed fish which for the many holes therein one would conceive nature intended it rather for an Instrument of Musick then for mans food The best manner of dressing whereof says my Author is To kill it in Malmesey close the mouth thereof with a nutmegg the holes with so many cloves and when it is rolled up round putting in thereto filbard-nut-kernells stamped crums of bread oyle spices c. Others but those Mâ—…so-lampreys doe adde that after all this cost even cast them away seeing money is better lost then health and the meat will rather be delicious then wholesome the eating whereof cost King Henry the first his life But by their favour that King did not dye of
a spring of a Vitrioline tast and Odour It was discovered by one Master Slingsby about the year 1620. and is conceived to run paralell with the Spaw waters in Germany Not far off is a sulphur-well which hath also the qualities of saltness and bitterness The stench whereof though offensive Patients may hold their nose and take wholesome physick is recompenced by the vertues thereof Insomuch as my Author saith It heateth and quickneth the stomack bowels liver spleen blood veynes nerves and indeed the whole body insomuch that it consumes crudities rectifieth all cold distempers in all parts of the body causeth a good digestion cureth the dropsy spleen scurvy green-sickness gout And here it is high time to hold still for if this last be true let that disease which formerly was called dedecus medicinae be hereafter termed decus fontis Knaresburgensis In the same parish over against the Castle the river Nid running betwixt ariseth a spring which runneth a little way in an entire streame till dammed at the brow of the discent with ragged rocks it is divided into severall trickling branches whereof some drop some streame down partly over partly through a jetting rock this is called the Petrifying well how grammatically I will not engage because it converteth spungy substances into stone or crusteth them over round about We must not forget Saint Mungus his Well which some have slighted as an ineffectuall superstitious relique of Popery whilst others maintain it hath regained its reputation and is of Soveraign vertue Some will have the name thereof mistaken for Saint Magnus which in my opinion was rather so called from Saint Mungo Kentigernus in Latine a Scotish Saint and much honoured in these Northern parts I believe no place in England can shew four springs so near in scituation so distant in operation Such as desire to know more of the nature and use of these springs of the time manner and quantity wherein the Waters are to be taken and how the Patient is to be dieted for his greater advantage may inform themselves by perusing two small Treatise one set forth Anno 1626. by Edmund Dean Doctor of Physick living in York called Spadsacrena Anglica The other written some six years since by John French Doctor of Physick and is very satisfactory on that subject The Buildings The Church of Beverly is much commended for a fine Fabrick and I shall have a more proper occasion to speak hereafter of the Collegiate Church in Rippon but amongst antient Civil Structures we muâ—… not forget Wreseâ—… Castle It is sealed in the Confluence of Derwent and Owse In what plight it is now I know not but hear how Leland commendeth it in his Itinerary through this County It is built of square stone which some say was brought out of France it hath four fair Towers one at each corner and a Gatehouse wherein are Chambers five stories high which maketh the fifth In Lelands time it looked as new built though then 100. years old as being erected by the Lord Percy Earl of Winchester in the raign of King Richard the second Without the Walls but within the Mote gardens done Opere Topiario In a word he termeth it one of the properest buildings North of Trent But that which most affected him was a study in an eight square Tower called Paradise furnished with curious and convenient Deskes loaden with variety of choice books but as Noahs floud is generally believed of learned men to have discomposed the Paradise in Eden so I shrewdly suspect that the Deluge of time hath much impaired if not wholly defaced so beautifull a building then belonging to the Earl of Northumberland Amongst many fine and fair Houses now extant in this County we hear the highest commendation of Maulton late the house of the Lord Euers Proverbs From Hell Hull and Halifax deliver us This is part of the Beggars and Vagrants Letany Of these three frightfull things unto them it is to be feared that they least fear the first conceiting it the furthest from them Hull is terrible unto them as a Town of good government where Vagrants meet with Punitive Charity and 't is to be feared are oftner Corrected then Amended Halifax is formidable unto them for the Law thereof whereby Theeves taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the very Act of stealing of cloath are instantly beheaded with an Engine without any further Legal Proceedings A Scarborough warning That is none at all but a sâ—…dain surprize when a mischief is felt before it be suspected This Proverbe is but of 104. years standing taking its Originall from Thomas Stafford who in the raign of Queen Mary Anno 1557. with a small company seized on Scarborough-castle utterly distitute of provision for resistance before the Towns-men had the least notice of his approach However within six days by the industry of the Earl of Westmerland he was taken brought to London and Beheaded So that since the Proverb accepteth a secondary but no genuine sense and a Scarborough-warning may be a Caveat to any how he undertaketh a treacherous design But if any conceive this Proverbe of more antient original fetching it from the custome of Scarborough-castle in former times with which it was not a word and a blow but a blow before and without a word as using to shoot ships which passed by and strook not sail and so warning and harming them both together I can retain mine own without opposing their opinion As true Steel as Rippon Rowels It is said of trusty Persons men of metall faithfull in their imployments Spurs are a principal part of Knightly Hatchments yea a Poet observes The Lands that over Ouze to Barwick forth doe bear Have for their Blazon had the Snaffle Spur and Spear Indeed the best Spurs of England are made at Rippon a famous Town in this County whose rowels may be inforced to strike through a Shilling and will break sooner then bow However the horses in this County are generally so good they prevent the Spurs or answer unto them a good sign of thrifty metall for continuance An Yorkshire * way-Bit That is an Over-plus not accounted in the reckoning which sometime proveth as much as all the rest Ask a Country-man here on the high-way how far it is to such a Town and they commonly return So many miles and a way-bit which way-bit is enough to make the wearied Travailer surfet of the length thereof If such over-measure be allowed to all Yards Bushels c. in 〈◊〉 Shire the Poor therein have no cause to complain of their penny-worths in buying any Commodities But hitherto we have run along with common report and false spelling the way not to win the race and now return to the starting place again It is not Way-bit though generally so pronounced but Wee-bit a pure Yorkshirisme which is a small bit in the Northern Language Merry Wakefield What peculiar cause of mirth this Town hath above others I doe
the Chequer and afterwards Treasurer of England and twice Embassadour to the King of France He deserved right well of his own Cathedrall and dying October 31. 1228. was buried under a Marble Tombe on the South-side of the Presbytery WILLIAM de MELTON was born in this County wherein are four villages so named and preferred therein Provost of Beverly and Canon then Arch-bishop of York He went to Avinion there to procure his Consecration I say to Avinion whither then the Court was removed from Rome and continued about threescore and ten years on the same token that those remaining at Rome almost starved for want of employment called this the seventy years captivity of Babilon Consecrated after two years tedious Attendance he returned into England and fell to finish the fair fabrick of his Cathedrall which John Roman had began expending seven hundred Marks therein His life was free from Scandall signall for his Chastity Charity Fasting and Praying He strained up his Tenants so as to make good Musick therewith but not break the string and surely Church-lands were intended though not equally yet mutually for the comfortable support both of Landlord and Tenants Being unwilling that the Infamy of Infidell should be fixed upon him according to the Apostles Doctrine for not providing for his family he bought three Mannors in this County from the Arch-bishop of Roan with the Popes Confirmation and setled them on his Brothers Son whose Descendant William Melton was High-sheriff of this County in the Fiftieth of King Edward the third There is a Place in York as well as in London called the Old-baly herein more remarkable then that in London that Arch-bishop Melton compassed it about with a great Wall He bestowed also much cost in adorning Feretrum English it the Bear or the Coffin of Saint William a Person purposely omitted by my Pen because no assurance of his English Extraction Arch-bishop Melton dyed after he had sate two and twenty years in his See Anno Domini 1340. Entombed in the Body of his Church nigh the Font whereby I collect him buried below in the Bottom of the Church that Instrument of Christian Initiation antiently advancing but a little above the Entrance into the Church HENRY WAKEFEILD is here placed with Assurance there being three Towns of that name in and none out of this County Indeed his is an Episcopall Name which might mind him of his Office the Diocess of Worcester to which he was preferred Anno 1375. by King Edward the third being his Field and he by his place to Wake or watch over it Nor hear I of any complaints to the contrary but that he was very vigilant in his Place He was also for one year Lord Treasurer of England Dying March 11. 1394. he lyeth covered in his own Church Ingenti marmore and let none grudge him the greatness of his Grave-stone if two foot larger then ordinary who made the Body of this his Church two Arches longer Westward then he found it besides a fair Porch added thereunto RICHARD SCROOPE son to the Lord Scroope of Bolton in this County brother to William Earl of Wilt-shire was bred a Doctor of Divinity in Cambridge attaining to be a man of great learning and unblamable life Nor was it so much his high extraction as his own Abilities causing him to be preferred Bishop first of Coventry and Lichfield then Arch-bishop of York Being netled with the news of his Earl-brothers Beheading he conjoyned with the Earl of Northumberland the Earl Marshall Lord Bardolph and others against King Henry the fourth as an Usurper and Invader of the Liberties of Church and State The Earl of Westmerland in outward deportment complied with him and seemed to approve a Writing wherein his main intentions were comprised so to Trepan him into his destruction Toling him on till it was too late for him either to advance or retreat the King with his Army being at Pontfract Bishop Godwin saith it doth not appear that he desired to be tried by his Peers and I believe it will appear that nothing was then Calmly or Judiciously transacted but all being done in an hurry of heat and by Martiall Authority The Executioner had five strokes at his Neck before he could sunder it from his Body Imputable not to his Cruelty but Ignorance it not being to be expected that one nigh York should be so dextrous in that trade as those at London His beheading happened Anno 1405. STEPHEN PATRINGTON was born in the Village so called in the East-riding of this County He was bred a Carmelite and Doctor of Divinity in Oxford and the three and twentieth Provinciall of his Order through out England for fifteen years It is incredible saith Leland what Multitudes of People crowded to his Sermons till his Fame preferred him Chaplain and Confessour to King Henry the fifth He was deputed of the King Commissioner at Oxford to enquire after and make Process against the Poor Wicklevites and as he was busyed in that employment he was advanced to the Bishoprick of Saint Davids Hence he was sent over to the Councill of Constance and therein saith Walsingham gave great Testimony of his ability Returning into England he was made Bishop of Chichester but dying before his Translation was finished 1417. was buried in White-fryars in Fleetstreet WILLIAM PEIRCY was Son to Henry Peircy second Earl of Northumberland of that Name and Eleanour Nevill his Wife Indeed the Son of a Publique Woman conversing with many men cannot have his Father certainly assigned and therefore is commonly called Filius Populi As a base child in the Point of his Father is subject to a shamâ—…full so is the Nativity of this Prelate as to the Place thereof attended with an Honorable Uncertainty whose Noble Father had so many houses in the Northern Parts that his Son may be termed a Native of North-England but placed in this County because Topliffe is the Principall and most Antient seat of this Family He was bred a Doctor of Divinity in Cambridge whereof he was Chancellour and had a younger Brother George Peircy a Clerk also though attaining no higher preferment then a Prebend in Beverly Our William was made Bishop of Carlile 1452. Master Mills erroneously maketh him afterwards Bishop of Wells and it is enough to detect the mistake without disgracing the Mistaker He died in his See of Carlile 1462. CUTHBERT TONSTALL was born at Hatchforth in Richmond-shire in this County of a most Worshipfull Family whose chief seat at Tonstall Thurland not far off and bred in the University of Cambridge to which he was in books a great Benefactor He was afterwards Bishop of London and at last of Durham A great Grecian Orator Mathematician Civilian Divine and to wrap up all in a word a fast friend to Erasmus In the raign of King Henry the eight he publiquely confuted the papall supremacy in a learned Sermon with various and solid arguments preached on
Daughter Frances Countess of Warwick scatter her Benesactions the thicker in that place But I have been informed that his Ancestor by some accident came out of Cornwell where his Name is right Antient. He was bred in the study of our Municipall Law and such his proficiency therein that in the sixteenth of Queen Elizabeth in Michaelmas Term he was made Lord Chief Justice of the Kings-bench He was not like that Judge who feared neither God nor man but onely one Widow lest her importunity should weary him but he heartily feared God in his Religious Conversation Each man he respected in his due distance off of the Bench and no man on it to biass his judgement He was pro tempore Lord Privy Seal and sate Chief in the Court when Secretary Davison was sentenced in the Star Chamber Sir Christopher collecting the censures of all the Commissioners concurred to Fine him but with this Comfortable conclusion that as it was in the Queens power to have him punished so Her Highness might be prevailed with for mitigating or remitting of the Fine and this our Judge may be presumed no ill instrument in the procuring thereof He bountifully reflected on Magdalen-colledge in Cambridge which infant Foundation had otherwise been starved at nurse for want of maintenance We know who saith * the righteous man leaveth an inheritance to his Childrens Children and the well thriving of his third Generation may be an evidence of his well-gotten goods This worthy Judge died May the eighth in the thirty fourth of Queen Elizabeth States Men. Pardon Reader my post poning this Topick of States-Men being necessitated to stay a while for further information Sir JOHN PUCKERING Kt. was born at Flamborough head in this County as I have learned out of the Notes of that industrious and judicious Antiquary Mr. Dodâ—…worth He was second Son to his Father a Gentleman who left him neither plentiful nor penurious estate his breeding was more beneficial to him than his portion gaining thereby such skill in the Common Law that he became Queens-Serjeant Speaker in the House of Commons and at last Lord Chancellor of England How he stood in his judgement in the point of Church-Discipline plainly appeareth by his following Speech delivered in the House of Lords 1588. the Original whereof was courteously communicated unto me And especially you are commanded by Her Majesty to take heed that no eare be given nor time afforded to the wearisome solicitations of those that commonly be called Puritans wherewithal the late Parliaments have been exceedingly importuned which sort of men whilest that in the giddiness of their Spirits they labour and strive to advance a new Eldership they do nothing else but disturb the good repose of the Church and Commonwealth which is as well grounded for the body of Religion it self and as well guided for the Discipline as any Realm that prosesseth the Truth and the same thing is already made good to the world by many the writings of Godly and Learned men neither answered nor answerable by any of these new fangled Refiners And as the present case standeth it may be doubted whether they or the Jesuits do offer more danger or be more speedily to be repressed For albeit the Jesuites do empoison the hearts of her Majesties Subjects under a pretext of Conscience to withdraw them from their obedience due to Her Majesty Yet do they the same but closely and only in privy corners But these men do both teach and publish in their printed Books â—…nd teach in all their Conventicles sundry opinions not only dangerous to the well-setled Estate and Policy of the Realm by putting a Pique between the Clergy and the Laâ—…ty But also much derogatory to Her Saâ—…red Majesty and Her Crown as well by the diminution of her ancient and lawfull Revenues and by denying her Highness Prerogative and Supremacy as by offâ—…ng peril to her Majesties safety in her own Kingdom In all which things however in other points they pretend to be at war with the Popish Jesuites yet by this separation of themselves from the unity of their Fellow-Subjects and by abasing the Sacred Authority and Majesty of their Prince they do both joyn and concur with the Jesuites in opening the door and preparing the way to the Spanish Invasion that is threatned against the Realm And thus having according to the weaknesse of my best understanding delivered Her Majesties Royal pleasure and wise direction I rest there with humble suit for Her Majesties most gracious pardon in supply of my defects and recommend you to the Author of all good counsel He died Anno Domini 1596. caractered by Mr. Cambden VIR INTEGER His estate is since descended according to the solemn settlement thereof the male-issue failing on Sir Henry Newton who according to the condition hath assumed the Surâ—…name of Puckering and I can never be sufficiently thankful to him and his Relations Sir GEORGE CALVERT Kt. was born at Kiplin near Richmond in this County had his education first in Trinity Colledge in Oxford then beyond the Seas His abilities commended him first to be Secretary to Robert Cecil Earl of Sarisbury Lord Treasurer of England Afterwards he was made Clerk of the Councel and at last principal Secretary of State to King James succeeding Sir Thomas Lakes in that office Anno 1619. Conceiving the Duke of Buckingham highly instrumental in his preferment he presented him with a Jewel of great value which the Duke returned him again not owning any activity in his advancement whom King James ex mero motu reflecting on his ability designed for the place This place he discharged above five years until he willingly resigned the same 1624. on this occasion He freely confessed himself to the King That he was then become a Roman Catholick so that he must either be wanting to his Trust on violate his Consolence in discharging his office This his ingenuity so highly affected King James that he continued him Privy Councellor all his raign as appeareth in the Councel-Book and soon after created him Lord Baltemore of Baltemore in Ireland During his being Secretary he had a Patent to him and his Heirs to be Absolutus Dominus Proprietarius with the Royalties of a Count Palatine of the Province of Avalon in New-found-Land A place so named by him in imitation of old Avalon in Somerset shire wherein Glassenbury stands the first fruits of Christianity in Britain as the other was in that part of America Here he built a fair House in Ferry Land and spent five and twenty thousand pounds in advancing the Plantation thereof Indeed his publick spirit consulted not his private profit but the enlargement of Christianity and the Kings Dominions After the death of King James he went twice in person to New found-Land Here when Mounsier de l'Arade with three Men of War sent from the King of France had reduced our English Fishermen to great extremity This Lord with two Ships manned at
Chri. Hilliard ar  Az. a Cheveron betwixt 3 mullets Or. 13 Tho. Fairfax ar ut prius  14 Ioh. Dawney ar ut prius  15 Marm. Constable m. ut prius  16 Will. Bellasis mil. Newborogh Arg. a Cheveron Gu. betwixt 3 flower de luces Az. 17 Tho. Danby mil. ut prius  18 Tho. Boynton ar Barmstone Or. a Fess between 3 Cressents Gules 19 Will. Fairfax ar ut prius  20 Cl. Wondsworth ar Kirklington  21 Rich. Goodrich ar Ribton Arg. on a Fess G. twixt 2 Lions pas Gard. S. a flour de luce of the first between 2 Cressents O. Arg. a Lion Rampant Sable 22 Rad. Burcher ar   23 Rob. Stapleton mi.   24 Tho. Wentworth m. ut prius  25 Got. Gargrave mil. ut prius  26 Ioh. Hotham mil. ut prius  27 Bri. Stapleton ar ut prius  28 Hen. Constable m. ut prius  29 Rob. Aske  Or 3 Barralets Azure 30 Rich. Maleverer ut prius  31 Io. Dawney mil. ut prius  32 Phil. Constable ar ut prius  33 Rich. Goodrick ar ut prius  34 Will. Mallery Ripley Or a Lion Ramp queve forchee G. collard Ar. 35 Rad. Eure ar primogen Domini Eure ut prius  36 Fran. Vaughan ar ut prius  37 Chri. Hilliard ar ut prius  38 Fran. Boynton ar ut prius  39 Tho. Lassells ar  Sable a Cross Flurt Or. 40 Marm. Gâ—…imston ar  Arg. on a Fess Sable 3 mullets of 6 points Or. 41 Rob. Swift ar * Doncaster  42 Fran. Clifford ar ut prius * Or a Cheveron Varry twixt 3 Roebucks coursant proper 43 Will Wentworth ar ut prius  44 Tho. Strickland ar   45 Hen. Bellasis mil. ut priâ—…  JAC. REX   Anno   1 Hen. Bellasis mil. ut prius  2 Rich. Gargrave m. ut prius  3 Will Banburgh m Howson Arg. a Pheon on a Cheife Sab. a Lion Passant of the first 4 Hen. Griffeth mil. ut prius  5 Tim. Hutton mil. Mask  6 Hug. Bethell mil. Alne Ar. a Cheveron between 3 Boars-heads 〈◊〉 S. 7 Fran. Hildsley mil.   8 Tho. Dawney mil. ut prius  9 Hen. Slingâ—…by mil.  See our Notes 10 Chri. Hilliard mil. ut prius  11 Geo. Savill m. bar ut prius  12 Io. Armitage ar Kerkles Az. a Lions-head Erased between 3 Croslets Or. 13 Edw. Stanhop mil.  Quarterly Ermine and Gules 14 Mith. Warton m. Beverly Or on a Cheveron Azâ—… a Maâ—…let betwixt 2 Pheons of the first 15 Rob. Swift m. ut prius  16 Will. Alford mil. Bilton Gules 6 Pears and a Cheif Or. 17 Arth. Ingram m.  Erm. on a Fess Gu. 3 Escallops Or. 18 Tho. Odwer m. b.   19 Rich. Tempest mil. ut prius  20 Guid. Palmes mil. Lindley G. 3 flour de luces Arg. a Cheif Varry 21 Hen. Ienkins mil.   22 Rich. Cholmeley m. ut prius  CAR. REX   Anno   1 Tho. Wentworth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut prius  2 Tho. Norcliff mil. Manythorp Azure 5 Mascles in Cross Or a Cheif Erm. 3 Tho. Fairfax mil. ut prius  4 Math. Boynton mil. bar ut prius  5 Art Ingram jun. m. ut prius  6 Io. Gibson mil.   7 Tho. Laton mil. Lat n Aâ—… a Cheveron betwixt 3 Cross. Crosleâ—…s Fetchee Sable 8 Arth. Robinson m. Newby  9 Mar. Wyvell mil. bar Custable Burton G 3 Cheverons braced Varry a Cheif Or. 10 Ioh Hotham m b. ut prius  11 Will. Pennyman b. Maske G. a Cheveron Erminâ—… bewixt 3 Spear-heads Aâ—…g 12 Ioh. Ramsden mil Byram Ar. on a Cheu betwixt 3 flower de luces S. asmany Rames heads cooped of the first Henry IV. 8 THOMAS ROKEBY Mil. I may call him Sir Thomas junior in distinction from an Elder probably his Ancestor of his Name of whom in the 17. of King Edward the third This Sir Thomas in this year of his Sherivalty acquitted himself Loyall and Valiant against Henry Percy Earl of Northumberland and the Lord Bardolfe who returning out of Scotland with considerable Forces began a War against the King both which Sir Thomas at Bareham-more in this County overcame and took Prisoners A service the more remarkable because performed by the sole assistance of this Shire and quenching the fire in the first spark he presented the King with a Cheap Suddain and Seasonable Victory Henry V. 8 HALVATHEUS MAULEVER Mil. Or Mal levorer in Latine Malus Leporarius or the Bad Hare-â—…unter A Gentleman of this County being to let slip a brace of Grey-hounds to run for a great wager Tradition is the Author so held them in the Swinge that they were more likely to strangle themselves then kill the Hare whereupon this Surname was fixed on his family I doubt not but many of this extraction are since as Dexterous in the Criticismes of hunting as any Nâ—…mrod whatsoever Henry VI. 11 HENRY BROMFLEET Miles In the next year he was sent with other Embassadors both of the Clergy and Layety to the Councill of Basill and after his return was by the King Created Lord Vescy in the right of his Mother Anastatia Daughter and Heir to William Atton Lord Vescy Mr. Camden observeth this Passage inserted in his Pattent unusual in that age Volumus vos Haerâ—…des vestros Masculos de corpore vestro legitimè Exeuntes Barones de Vescy 〈◊〉 Now though hereby the Barony of Vescy was intailed onely on his Heirs Male yet was the Kings Favour more extensive then his Patent in this Particular For this Henry leaving no Male-issâ—… but Margaret his Sole Daughter and Heir married to John Lord Clifford father to Henry first Earl of Cumberland of that Sur-name She notwithstanding the Premises derived the Barony of Vescy into that Family which at this day they enjoy 22 EDMOND TALBOT Mil. This family of Talbots is though unrelated to the house of Shrewâ—…bury of right antient extraction seated in this Country ever since the time of King Henry the second As for this Edmond Talbot our present Sheriff who dyed in the first of 〈◊〉 Edward the fourth he was father to Sir Thomas Talbot one very zealous for the house of York and a servant to King Richard the third who bestowed an AÅ„nuity of 40 pounds by the year on him and his heirs for his good service as by the following Patent will appear Richardus Dei Gratia Rex Angliae Franciae Dom. Hiberniae Omnibus ad quos praesentes literae pervenerint salutem sciatis quod de gratia nostra speciali ac pro bono gratuito servitio quod dilectus serviens noster Thomas Talbot Miles in â—…aptur a magni adversarii nostri Henrici nuper de facto sed non de jure Regis Angliae nobis ac bonâ—… Memoriae Regi Edwardi quarto
King James 9 HENRY SLINGSBY Mil. The Armes of this Antient and Numerous Family to large too be inserted in our List are as followeth Quarterly the First and Fourth Gules a Cheveron between two Leopards-heads and a Hutchet or Bugle Argent The Second and Third Argent a Griffon Surgeant Sable supprest by a Fess Gules 11 GEORGE SAVILL Mil. Bar. This is the last mention of this Numerous Wealthy and Antient Family which I find in this Catalogue and here Reader to confess my self unto thee my expectation is defeated hoping to find that vigorous Knight Sir John Savill in this Catalogue of Sheriffs But it seems that his constant Court-attendance being Privy-Councellour to King Charles priviledged him from that imployment untill by the same King he was Created Baron Savill of Pomfraict as his Son since was made Earl of Sussex I hear so high commendation of his house at Houley that it disdaineth to yield precedency to any in this Shire King Charles 12 JOHN RAMSDEN Mil. The Reader will pardon my Untimely and Abrupt breaking of this Catalogue for a reason formerly rendred Onely let me adde that the Renowned Knight Sir Marmaduke Langdale was Sheriff 1641. He without the least Self-attribution may say as to the Kings side of Northern Actions Pars Ego magna fui But as for his Raising the Siege of Pomfraict felt before seen by the Enemy it will sound Romanza-like to Posterity with whom it will find Plus famae quam fidei No wonder therefore if K. Charles the second Created him a Baron the Temple of Honour being of due open to him who hath passed through the Temple of Vertue The Battles Many Ingagements as much above Skirmshes as beneath Battles happened in this Shire But that at Marston-moor July 2. 1644. was our English Pharsalian Fight or rather the Fatall Battle of Cannae to the Loyal Cavaliers Indeed it is Difficult and Dangerous to present the Particulars thereof For one may easier doe right to the Memories of the Dead then save the Credits of some Living However things past may better be found fault with then amended and when God will have an Army Defeated Mistakes tending thereto will be multiplied in despite of the greatest care and diligence Know then that Prince Rupert having fortunately raised the Siege at York drew out his Men into the Moor with full intention to fight the Enemy Discreet Persons beholding the Countenance of the present affairs with an unpartiall Eye found out many Disswasives for the Prince to hazard a Battle 1. He had done his Work by relieving York let him Digest the Honour thereof and grasp at no more 2. His wearied Souldiers wanted refreshing 3. Considerable Recruits were daily expected out of the North under Colonel Clavering Adde to all these that such were the present Animosities in the Parliament Army and so great their Mutuall Disatisfactions when they drew off from York that as a prime Person since freely confest if let alone they would have fallen foul amongst themselves had not the Prince preparing to fight them Cemented their Differences to agree against a Generall Enemy But a Blot is no Blot if not hit and an Advantage no Advantage if unknown though this was true the Prince was not informed of the differences aforesaid However he did not so much run out of his own Ambition of Honour as answer the Spur of the Kings Command from whom he had lately received a Letter still safe in his Custody speedily to fight the Enemy if he had any Advantage that so he might spare and send back some Supplies to his Majesties perplexed occasions at Oxford Besides the Prince had received certain Intelligence that the Enemy had the Day before sent away seven thousand Men now so far distanced that they were past possibility of returning that day The former part hereof was true the latter false confuted by the great Shout given this day in the Parliaments Army at the return of such forces unto them But now it was too late to draw off the Parliament forces necessitating them to fight A Summers Evening is a Winters Day and about 4. a Clock the Battle began Some causelesly complain on the Marquess of New-castle that he drew not his men soon enough according to his Orders out of York to the Prince his seasonable succour Such consider not that Souldiers newly relieved from a Nine weeks Siege will a little Indulge themselves Nor is it in the power of a General to make them at such times to March at a Minutes warning but that such a Minute will be more then an Hour in the length thereof The Lord Generall Gorâ—…ng so valiantly charged the left Wing of the Enemy that they fairly forsooke the Field Generall Lâ—…slie with his Scottish ran away more then an York-shire mile and a Wee-bit Fame with her Trumpet sounded their flight as far as Oxford the Royalists rejoycing with Bonfires for the Victory But within few days their Bays by a mournfull Metamorphosis were turned into Willow and they sunk the lower in true sorrow for being mounted so high in Causeless Gladness For Cromwell with his Curassires did the work of that Day Some suspected Colonel Hurry lately converted to the Kings party for foul play herein for he divided the Kings Old Horse so valiant and victorious in former fights into small Bodies alledging this was the best way to break the Scottish Lanciers But those Horse always used to charge together in whole Regiments or greater Bodies were much discomposed with this new Mode so that they could not find themselves in themselves Besides a right valiant Lord severed and in some sort secured with a Ditch from the Enemy did not attend till the foe forced their way unto him but gave his men the trouble to pass over that Ditch the occasion of much disorder The Van of the Kings foot being led up by the truely honorable Colonel John Russell impressed with unequall numbers and distanced from seasonable succour became a Prey to their Enemy The Marquess of New-castles White-coats who were said to bring their Winding sheet about them into the field after thrice firing â—…ell to it with the But ends of their Muskets and were invincible till mowed down by Cromwells Carassires with Jobs Servants they were all almost slain few escaping to bring the Tidings of their overthrow Great was the Execution on that Day Cromwell commanding his Men to give no quarter Various the numbering of the slain of both sides yet I meet with none mounting them above six or sinking them beneath three thousand I remember no Person of honour slain on the Kings side save the hopefull Lord Cary eldest Son to the E. of Monmouth But on the Parliaments side the Lord Didup a lately created Baron was slain on the same Token that when King Charles said that he hardly remembred that he had such a Lord in Scotland one returned that the Lord had wholly forgotten that he had such a King in England
find it out and justifie it which conformable to the Sea ebbeâ—…h and floweth twice in four and twenty hours But seeing this is a maritime Shire possibly there may be a more then ordinary communication betwixt it and the Ocean and then the wonder is not so great More credibly it is related that there are in this Shire strange subterranean Vaults conceived the Castles of routed people in the Civil Wars And no wonder seeing David first set up in a defensive posture for himself in the Cave of Adullam so that having no place where he could safely set the sole of his foot above ground all his present help was under the Earth and future hope was above the heavens Martyrs ROBERT FARRAR an English man by biâ—…th but where born unknown was a prime Martyr of this County A man not unlearned but somewhat indiscreet or rather uncomplying which procured him much trouble so that he may be said with Saint Laurence to be broyled on both sides being persecuted both by Protestants and Papists He was preferred to be Bishop of Saint Davids by the Duke of Sommerset then Lord Protector who was put to death not long after Some conceive that the Patrons fall was the Chaplains greatest guilt and encouraged his enemies against him Of these two were afterwards Bishops in the reign of Queen Elizabeth viz. Thomas Young Arch. Bishop of York and Rowland Merrick Bishop of Bangor Souldiers Sir RICE ap THOMAS was never more than a Knight yet little less than a Prince in this his Native County If the Author of Praelia Anglornm may not be believed Ricius Thomas flos Cambro-Britannum King Henry the seventh will himself witness his worth To him lately landed at Milford Haven with contemptible forces this Sir Rice repaired with a considerable accession of choice Souldiers marching with them to Bosworth field where he right valiantly behaved himself That thrifty King according to his cheap course of remuneration rewarding Gown-men in Orders by him most employed with Church Livings and Sword-men with Honour afterwards made Sir Rice Knight of the Order and well might he give him a Garter by whose effectual help he had recovered a Crown Elmelin in this County was one of his principal seats whose name and â—…ture he altered building and calling it New-Castle and I believe it one of the latest Castles in Wales seeing since that time it hath been fashionable to demolish not to erect fortified Houses As he appeared early so he continued long in military action for I find him in the fourth year of King Henry the eighth conductor of five hundred light horse at the pompous and expensive fiege of Therouene where I meet his last mention in our English Chronicles WALTER de DEVEREUX son of Devereâ—…x and Cicely his Wife sole sister to Thomas Bourchier last Earl of Essâ—…x was born in the town of Carmarthen and by Queen Elizabeth in his Maternall Right created Earl of Essex One Martially minded and naturally hating Idlenesse the Rust of the Soul Though time hath silenced the factions and only sounded the Facts of Queen Elizabeths Court no place had more heart-burnings therein and it was a great part of Gods goodness and her prudence that no more hurt was done thereby Many maligned our Earl Tantae ne Animis Aularibus Irae desirous to thrust him on dangerous designs Nor need we consult the Oracle of Apollo to discover his chief Adversary being he was a prime Favourite who loved the Earls nearest relation better than he loved the Earl himself whom he put on the project of Ireland Yet was not our Walter surprised into that service seeing Injuria non fit volenti and being sensible that his roome was more welcome to some than his company at Court he willingly embraced the employment Articles the first and last I believe in that kind are drawn up betwixt the Queen and him who was to maintain such a proportion of Souldiers on his own Cost and to have part of the fair Territory of ClandeBoy in Ulster for the conquering thereof So much for the Bears skin now all the craft will be to catch kill and fley the Bear himself Well to maintain an Army though a very little one is a Soveraigns and no Subjects work too heavy for the support of any private mans estate which cost this Earl first the Mortgaging then the selling out-right his fair Inheritance in Essex Over he goeth into Ireland with a noble company of Kindred and Friends supernumerary volunteers above the proportion of Souldiers agreed upon Sir William Fitz-VVilliams Lord Deputy of Ireland hearing of his coming and suspecting Court jealousie riseth very early or goeth not to bed at all to be ecclipsed by this great Earl sollicits the Queen to maintain him in the full power of his place without any diminution alledging this much to conduce to the Honour of her Majesty whom he represented Hereupon it was Ordered that the Earl should take his Commission from this Lord Deputy which with much importunity and long attendance he hardly obtained and that with no higher Title than Governour of Ulster After many impressions not over successfully made in Ulster he was by the Deputy remanded into the South of Ireland where he spent much time take much in little in my Authors words as to his general performance Nullius bono sed magno suo damno His Friends in the English Court grow few and cold his Foes many and active affronts were plentifully powred upon him on purpose either to drown him in grief or burn him in his own anger From Munster he was sent back into Ulster where he was forbidden to follow his blow and use a Victory he had gotten Yea on a sudden stript out of his Commission and reduced to be a Governour of three hundred men yet his stout Stomach as true tempered Steele bowed without breaking in all these afflictions embracing all changes with the same tenour of constâ—…cy Pâ—…y days in Ireland came very thick moneys out of England very slow his noble Associates began to withdraw common men to mutiny so that the Earl himself was at the last recalled home Not long after he was sent over the second time into Ireland with a loftier Title the length of the Feather makes not the Head the higher of Earl Marshall of Ireland where he fell into a strange looseness not without suspicion of Poyson and he died Anno 1576. His Soul he piously resigned to God his Lands much impaired descended to his Son Robert but ten years of age His Body was brought over and buried in Carmarthen the place of his Nativity and his Widow Lady to say no more was soon re-married to Robert Earl of Leicester Let me adde that he died in the 36 year of his age fatal to his Family his Father and grand-Father dying in the same which year Robert Earl of Essex his Son never attained to and whether it had not been as honourable for
Creature of absolute and common Concernment without which we should be burnt with the thirst and buried with the filth of our own bodies GABRIEL GOODMAN Son of Edward Goodman Esq was born at Rythin in thâ—…s County afterwards Doctor of Divinity in Saint Johns Colledge in Cambridge and Dean of VVestminster where he was fixed for full forty years though by his own parts and his friends power he might have been what he would have been in the Church of England Abigail said of her Husband Nabal is his name and folly is with him But it may be said of this worthy Dean Goodman was his name and goodness was in his nature as by the ensuing Testimonies will appear 1. The Bible was translated into VVelsh on his cost as by a note in the Preface thereof doth appear 2. He founded a Schoole-house with a competent salary in the Town of his Nativity as also erected and endowed an Almes-House therein for twelve poore people 3. He repaired the House for the Minister there called the Warden of Rythin furnishing it with Plate and other Utensils which were to descend to his Successors 4. He purchased a fair House with Land thereunto at Chiswick in Middlesex where with his own hands he set a fair Row of Elmes now grown up to great beauty and height for a retiring place for the Masters and Scholars at Westminster in the heat of Summer or any time of Infection If these Lands at this Day be not so profitably employed as they were by the Donor piously intended it is safer to bemoan the sad effect than accuse the causers thereof There needs no other Testimony of his Honesty and Ability than that our English Nestor the Lord Treasurer Cecil made him one of the Executors of his Will to dispose of great sums to charitable uses which Trust he most faithfully discharged He died in the year 1601. and is buried in the Collegiate Church of Westminster whereof he so well deserved as of all England Mr. Cambden performing his Perambulation about it on his expences Sir HUGH MIDDLETON Son of Richard Middleton was born at Denbigh in this County and bred in London This is that worthy Knight who hath deserved well of London and in it of all England If those be recounted amongst Davids worthies who breaking through the Army of the Philistines fetcht water from the Well of Bethlehem to satisfie the longing of David founded more on fancy than necessity how meritorious a work did this worthy man perform who to quench the thirst of thousands in the populous City of London fetcht water on his own cost more than 24. miles encountering all the way with an Army of oppositions grapling with Hills strugling with Rocks fighting with Forrests till in defiance of difficulties he had brought his project to perfection But Oh whaâ—… an injury was it unto him that a potent Person and idle Spectator should strike in Reader I could heartily wish it were a falshoâ—…d what I report and by his greatness possess a moity of the profit which the unwearied endeavours of the foresaid Knight had purchased to himself The Farewell I heartily wish this County may find many like Robert Eari of Leicester by his bounty much advancing the building of a new Church in Denbigh who may willingly contribute their Charity for the repairing of all decayed Churches therein Yea may it be happy in faithful and able Ministers that by their pains they may be built up in the Faith of the Lord. FLINT-SHIRE FLINT-SHIRE It taketh the name from Flint formerly an eminent place therein But why Flint was so named will deservedly bear an enquiry the rather because I am informed there is scarce a Flint stone to be found in the whole shire An eminent Antiquary well known in these parts Reader I must carry my Author at my back when I write that which otherwise will not be believed hath informed me it was first called Flit-Town because the people Flitted or removed their habitations from a smal Village hard by to and under a Castle built there by King Edward the first Afterwards it was called Flint Town or Flint to make it more sollid in the prononciation Now although sometimes Liquids are melted out of a word to supple it to turn the better on the tongues end It will hardly be presidented that ever the sturdy Letter N. was on that or any account interjected into the middle of an original word But it is infidelity not to believe what is thus traditioned unto us It hath the Sea on the North Shropshire on the South Cheshire on the East and Denbigh-shire on the west thereof the smallest County in Wales whereof the Natives render this reason That it was not handsomly in the power of King Edward the first who made it a Shire to enlarge the Limits thereof For the English Shires Shropshire and Cheshire he would not discompose and on the Welsh side he could not well extend it without prejudice to the Lord Marchers who had Potestatem vitae necis in the adjacent Territories the King being unwilling to resume and they more unwilling to resign their respective Territories If any ask why so small a parcel of ground was made a Shire let them know that every foot therein in Content was ten in Concernment because it was the passage into North Wales Indeed it may seem strange that Flint the Shire Town is no Market Town no nor Saint Asaph a City qua sedes Episcopi till made so very late But this is the reason partly the vicinity of Chester the Market generaâ—… of these parts partly that every village hath a Market in it self as affording all necessary Commodities Nor must we forget that this County was parcel of the Pallatinate of Chester paying two thousand Marks called a Mize at the change of every Earl of Chester until the year of our Lord 1568. For then upon the occasion of one Thomas Radford committed to prison by the Chamberlain of Chester Flint-shire saith my Author revolted I dare say disjoyned it self from that County Pallatine and united it self to the Principalities of Wales as conceiving the same the more advantagious Proverbs Mwy nag â—…n bwa yro Ynghaer That is more then one Yugh-Bow in Chester Modern use applieth this Proverb to such who seize on other folks goods not with intent to steal but mistaken with the similitude thereof to their own goods But give me leave to conjecture the original hereof seeing Cheshire-men have been so famous for Archery Princes ELIZABETH the seventh Daughter of King Edward the first and Queen Elenor was born at Ruthland Castle in this County a place which some unwarily confound with Rythin Town in Denbigh shire This Castle was anciently of such receipt that the King and his Court were lodged therein yea a Parliament or something equivalent was kept here or hereabouts seeing we have the Statutes of Ruthland on the same token the year erroneously printed in the
25. * Godwin in the Bâ—…shops of Lincoln * Hatcheâ—…s M. S. in Anno 1444. * Goodwyn in the Bishops of Worcestâ—…r * Idem Ibid. * Godwyn in his Catalogue of the Bishops of Durâ—…m * Dr. Hatchâ—…r his Manuscript Catalogue of the Masters and Fellows of K. Colleâ—… * Godwin in his Cataloguâ—… of the Bishops of Herâ—…ford * Prov. 13 8. * David Powel in his History of Wales * Camb. Brit. in Derby-shire * Camb. Brit. in Gloucestershire * Register of the Burial in the Temple * See Camb. Eliz in these respective years * Sir George Summers of whom in Dorset-shire * Bâ—…le descrip Brit. Cent. 2. Num. 78. Pits in Anno 1140. * In his Book Declaris Oratoribus otherwise called Brutus toward the later end * Cells or Portions †Ruler or Governor sed quaere * Bale de scrip Brit. Cent. 3. Num. 46. Pits in An. 1200. * Pits de Illust. Ang. script Anno 1326. * New Coll. Reg. Anno 1540. * Pitseus de Angl. script pag. 770. * Mason de Mâ—…nst Ang. * Bale de scrip Bâ—…t Cent. 9. Num. 58. * Tho Râ—…ndolph * Page 18. * Cent. Octav. Nuâ—… 71. * Patent 7. Rich. 2. part 2. Memb. 2. * In his Description of Gloucestershire * Job 31. 20. * Stows Annals pag. 327. * Cambden in 〈◊〉 set-shire * Burton in description of Leicester-shire pag. 320. * Lord Howard in his Defensative against Prophesies fol 130. * Lord Herbert ut prius * In his life of K. Edw. 6. †In his Survey of Cornwall * Holingshed in the fourth of Q Mary pag. 1132. * Matth. 13. 5. * Camden's Brit. in Somersetshire * Idem in Hant-shire * Sir Ro. Cotton under the name of Mr. Speed in Huntingtonshire * P. Jovius de legatione Muscovitarum 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 * Nat. Hist. lib. 11. cap. 24. * Naturae liquor iste novae cui summa natat faex Auson * Prov. 24. 13. * Olim communis pecori cibus atque homini Glans Auson * Bishop Godwin in the Bishops of Winc hester * Cam. Brit. in the Isle of Wight * Speeds Catâ—… of Religious Houses * Speeds Chro. Page 565. * Lord Verulam in his Hen. the 7. * Speeds Chro. Page 763. * Hen. Higgd Polick lib. 6. cap. 4. * Flowers of the English Saints Page 570. June the 15. * Idem Ibidem * The English Martyrologie in the 15. of June * J. Bale Descript Brit. Cent. 8. num 89. * 2 King 9. 11. * Numb 22. 28. * Godwin in the Bishops of Winchest * Those dates are exactly Transcribed out of the Records of New-Colledge * Register of New-Colledge in Anno 1449. * Godwin in Catalogue of Bishops of Lincolne * J. Philpot in Catalogue of Chancellors page 65. * Harps field Hist. Eccl. Ang. dâ—…cimo quinto saeculo c. 24. * Idem ibid. * New-Colledge Register in the year 1475 * Godwin in the Arch-bishops of Canterbury * â—…ew Coll. Register in the year 1474. * Cambdens Brit. in Sussex * Godwin in his Bishops of Chichester * Godwin in his Bishops of Chichester * Sir J. Harrington in the Bishops of Winchester * Made by Christopher Johnson afterwards Schoolmaster of Winchester * Piâ—…s de ill Ang. Script page 763. * Nâ—…w Colledge Register Anno 1565. * John 19. 30. * See the life of Dr. Smith prefixed to his Sermon * New-Colledge Register Anno 1589. wherein he was admitted * 〈◊〉 Description of Leicester-shire page 105. * J. Philpot in his Carâ—… of Chancellors page 73. S. N. * Sir Robert 〈◊〉 in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 2 Sam. 20. 24. * 1 King 4. 6. * King 12. 18. * Ibidem * Holinshead Stow Ed. Herbert in this Year * Gwillim his Display of Heraldry pag. 50. * Hatkluit his Voyages Volume 3. pag. 437. * Idem pag. 450. * Idem pag. 451. * Pitz. aetate decima Num. 149. * Libro secundo de gestis Reg. Angliae * Pitz. aetat undecima Num. 154. * Descrip. Brit. Cent. quarta pag. 302. * de scrip Brit. * Idem * Idem * In 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 * Bale de Script Britt Cent. 8. Numb 64. * Stowes Survey of London page 370. * Bale de Script Brit. Cent. 9. Num. 78. * Bale de Script Britt Cent. 9. Num. 79. * Idem Ibidem * Psal. 69. 12. * Rinerius in Histor. Benedictinor †Holling sheads Cron. p. 1403. * Heroologia Angliae p. 173. * Idem Aut. Ibid. * Lord Verulam In his Apophâ—…gms * New Colledge Register Anno 1593. * Britt in Monmouthshire S. N. * In the Verses ad Authorem * He writeth himself in his Book of Basing-stoak * Pitts de Ill. Ang. Scrip. pag. â—…06 †Pits in the life of William Aulton in anno 1330. * Idem in his own life pag. 817. * Micah 6. 9. S. N. Brittania Baconica in Hantshire Pag. 51. * 2 Chron. 35. 26. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this County * Sâ—…ed in his Map of this County * In his description of Hartford-shire Page the 2d * Eccles. 3. 5. * Tunbridge Epsham Barnet * On Charles Blunt son to the Earle of Newport in St. Martins in the Fields * As appeareth in Villare Anglicanum * Speed in the Description of Pembrokeshire * Lord Herbert in the life of King Henry the Eighth * In the Earle of Richmond * Acts 22. 25. * Cent. 4. pag. 17 c. * Norden in his description of this County pag. 29. * Camd. Brit. in Middlesex * Bale de Scrip. Brit. Cent. Secund numero 90. Piâ—…seus in anno 1159. * REM * Bale de Scrip. Brit. * Godwin in Cat. of Cardin. Pag. 164. * On his Tomb yet well to be seen in Westminster Abbey on the North-side of the Tomb of Amer de Valens Earl of Pembroke * J. Philipot in his Treasurers of England collected Ann. Dâ—…m 1636. p. 19. * Godwin in his Bishops of London * Camd. Britt in Middlesex * Bish. Godw. in Bishops of Ely * Godwin in Cat. of Bishops of St. Davids * Bale de Scrip. Brit. Cent. 7 n. 53. Pits An. 1419. S. N. * Sir R. Nanton in his Fragment Regal * Bale 〈◊〉 de Scrip. Angl. * In An. 1253. * Symphorianus Champerius in his fift Tract de medi Art script * Mathaeus Silvaticus in Lexico * Bale de scrip Brit. Cent. 5. n. 7. Pits in an 1320. * Bish. Godw. in Cat. of the Bish. of Lincoln * Bale Pits de script Angl. * Weavers Fun. Mon. in Hartford-shire * In suo heptuâ—…lo * Bale de scrip Brit. cent 4. p. 323. Pits p. 349. * Weavers Fun. Mon. in this County * Bale de scrip Brit. * Pit de Illust. Ang. Scrlp. an 1400. * See Writers in Middlesex * Wâ—…aver Fun. Monum p. 569 Manusc Sir R. Cottons Library AMP. * Mills in hls Catal.
may be said to have ushered him to the English Court whilest the Lady Lucy Countess of Bedford led him by the one hand and William Earl of Pembroke by the other supplying him with a support far above his patrimonial income The truth is Sommersets growing daily more wearisome made Villiers hourly more welcome to K. James Soon after he was knighted created successively Baron Viscount Villiers Earl Marquess Duke of Buckingham and to bind all his honours the better together the noble Garter was bestowed upon him And now Offices at Court not being already void were voided for him The Earl of Worcester was perswaded to part with his place of Master of the horse as the Earl of Nottingham with his Office of Admiral and both conferred on the Duke He had a numerous and beautiful female kindred so that there was hardly a noble Stock in England into which one of these his Cients was not grafted Most of his Neices were matched with little more portion then their Uncles smiles the forerunner of some good Office or Honour to follow on their Husbands Thus with the same act did he both gratifie his kindred and fortifie himself with noble alliance It is seldome seen that two Kings father and Son tread successively in the same Tract as to a Favourite but here King Charles had as high a kindness for the Duke as K. James Thenceforward he became the Plenipotentiary in the English Court some of the Scottish Nobility making room for him by their seasonable departure out of this Life The Earl of Bristoll was justled out the Bishop of Lincoln cast flat on the Floor the Earls of Pembroke and Carlisle content to shine beneath him Holland behind him none even with much lesse before him But it is generally given to him who is the little God at the Court to be the great Devil in the Countrey The Commonalty hated him with a perfect hatred and all miscarriages in Church and 〈◊〉 at Home Abroad at Sea and Land were 〈◊〉 on his want of Wisdom Valour or Loyalty John â—…elton a melancholy malecontented Gentleman and a sullen Souldier apprehending himself injured could find no other way to revenge his conceived wrongs then by writing them with a point of a Knife in the heart of the Duke whom he stabbed at Portsmouth Anno Dom. 1620. It is hard to say how many of this Nation were guilty of this murther either by publick praising or private approving thereof His person from head to foot could not be charged with any blemish save that some Hypercriticks conceived his Brows somewhat over pendulous a cloud which in the judgement of others was by the beams of his Eyes sufficiently dispelled The Reader is remitted for the rest of his Character to the exquisite Epitaph on his magnificent Monument in the Chappel of Henry the Seventh Capital Judges Sir ROBERT BELKNAP Being bred in the Study of the Laws he became Chief Justice of the Common Pleas October the 8. in the 48. of King Edward the third and so continued till the general Rout of the Judges in the wonder-working Parliament the eleventh of Richard the second when he was displaced on this occasion The King had a mind to make away certain Lords viz. His Unkle the Duke of Glocester the Earls of Arundel Warwick Darby Nottingham c. Who in the former Parliament had been appointed Governors of the Kingdome For this purpose he called all the Judges before him to Nottingham where the Kings many Questions in fine were resolved into this Whether he might by His Regal power revoke what was acted in Parliament To this all the Judges Sir VVilliam Skipwith alone excepted answered affirmatively and subscribed it This Belknap underwrote unwillingly as foreseeing the danger and putting to his seal said these words There wants nothing but an hurdle an horse and an halter to carry me where I may suffer the Death I deserve for if I had not done this I should have dyed for it and because I have done it I deserve death for betraying the Lords Yet it had been more for his credit and conscience to have adventured a Martyrdome in the defence of the Laws then to hazzard the death of a Malefactour in the breach therof But Judges are but men and most desire to decline that danger which they apprehend nearest unto them In the next Parliament all the Judges were arrested in VVestminster-hall of high treason when there was a Vacation in Term time till their places were resupplied Sir R. Tresilian Cheif Justice of the Kings Bench was executed The rest thus named and reckoned up in the printed Statutes Robert Belknap John Holt John Cray William Burgh Roger Fulthorp all Judges and Knights with J. Locktan Serjeant at Law had their lands save what were intailed with their goods and chattels forfeited to the King their persons being banished and they by the importunate intercession of the Queen hardly escaping with their lives Belknap is placed in this County only because I find a worshipful family of his name fixed therein whereof one was High Sheriff in the 17. of K. Henry the 7. Provided this be no prejudice to Sussex the same Name being very ancient therein Sir ROBERT CATELIN descended from the ancient Family of the Catelins of Raunds in Northampton shire as doth appear by the Heralds visitation was born at Biby in this County He was bred in the Study of the Municipal Laws profiting so well therein that in the first of Q. Elizabeth he was made Lord Cheif Justice of the Kings Bench. His Name hath some allusion to the Roman Senator who was the Incendiary of that State though in Nature far different as who by his Wisdom and Gravity was a great support to his Nation One point of Law I have learned from him at the Tryall of Thomas Duke of Norfolk who pleaded out of Bracton that the Testimonies of Forreigners the most pungent that were brought against him were of no Validity Here Sir Robert delivered it for Law that in case of Treason they might be given in for evidence and that it rested in the Brest of the Peers whether or no to afford credit unto them He had one as what man hath not many Fancy that he had a prejudice against all those who write their Names with an alias and took exceptions at one in this respect saying that no honest man had a double name or came in with an alias The party asked him what exceptions his Lordship could take at Jesus Christ alias Jesus of Nazareth He dyed in the Sixteenth year of Queen Elizabeth and his Coat of Arms viz. Party per Cheveron Azure and Or 3 Lions passant Guardant counterchanged a Cheif Pearl is quartered by the Right Honourable the Lord Spencer Earl of Sunderland this Judges Daughter and Sole Heir being married to his Ancestor Some forty years since a Gentleman of his name and kindred had a Cause in the Upper-Bench to
whom the Cheif Justice therin said Your Kinsman was my Predecessour in the Court and a great Lawyer My Lord replied the Gentleman he was a very honest man for he left a small estate But indeed though his estate was not considerable compared to his Successors then present it was in it self of a good valuation Writers WILLIAM DE LEICESTER otherwise called William de Montibus which I would willingly English William of the Woulds was born in Leicester in this County bred in Oxford where he was Doctor and Professor of Divinity so eminent for his Learning that he was known to and much beloved by the Nobility of the land He was also known by the name of Mr. William an evidence I assure you sufficient to avouch his Majesterialty in all Learning He was removed to Lincolne and became first Canon then Chancelour of the Church Boston of Bury reckoneth up many and Learned Books of his making He flourished under King John 1210. and lyeth buryed at Lincolne RICHARD BELGRAVE was born saith J. Pitz at Chichester in Sussex but at Belgrave in Leicester-shire saith Mr. William Burton whom I rather beleive because he wrote a particular Description of this County Now surely the more is the exactness of the Authour the less the extent of his Subject especially making it his Set-work what was Pits his by-work to observe the Natives of this Shire But both agree him to be a Carmelite bred in Cambridge an excellent Divine and good Schoolman more Learned then eloquent He wrote one Book of Theological Determinations and another of Ordinary Questions flourishing in the year 1220 under King Edward the Second ROBERT DE LEICESTER was born therein but bred in Oxford a Franciscan Fryer He was one of those who brought preaching into Fashion in that age and was much esteemed for his faculty therein by most of the Nobility But Robert Mascall Bishop of Hereford as pious and learned as any in that age had an extraordinary affection for him Our Leicestrian Robert appeareth also a good Chronologer having written judiciously of the Hebrew and Roman Computation In his reduced age he retired to Leichfield where he dyed and was buryed in the Monastery of the Franciscans 1348. THOMAS RATCLIF born at Ratcliffe in this County was bred an Augustinian in Leicester where he was Ordinis sui Episcopus strain the Word no higher then to overseer of his order He had Ingenium fecundum amplum and pity it was that he had Vitae institutum sterile angustum However to enlarge his Soul he wrote divers Books and flourished anno 1360. BARTHOLOMEVV CULIE was born at Radoliffe-Culie in this County as the exact Describer thereof avoucheth And therefore Pitz committeth a double mistake about this One Writer first calling him Conway then making him a Welshman by his Nativity How hard is it to commit one and but one Error This Bartholomew was an excellent Philosopher and wrote a Book of Generation and Corruption and although J. Pitz. confesseth himself ignorant of the time he lived in my Authour assureth me that he flourished under King Edward the third WILLIAM DE LUBBENHAM was born at Lubbenham in this County brought up in Oxford a good Philosopher and a Divine was after a White Fryer or Carmelite in Coventry and after became Provincial of the Order which place he kept till he dyed He wrote upon Aristotles Posteriors and one Book of ordinary Questions He dyed in the White Fryers in Coventry 1361. in the 36. year of K. Edward the Third JEFFERY DE HARBY was born at Harby in this County and bred in Oxford where he became Provincial of the Augustines and Confessor to K. Edward the Third Wonder not when meeting with so many Confessors to that King presuming he had but one at one time Conscience not standing on State and variety in that kind For know King Edward reigned 50. years and Confessors being aged before admitted to their place his Vivaciousnesse did wear out many of them Besides living much beyond the Seas it is probable that he had his Forraign and his Home Confessors Our Jeffery was also of his Privy Counsel being as prudent to advise in matters politick as pious in spiritual concernments Such as admired he was not preferred to some wealthy Bishoprick must consider that he was ambitious and covetous to be poor and wrote a violent Book in the praise and perfection thereof against Armachanus Dying in London he was buryed in the Church of the Augustines about the Year 1361. WILLIAM DE FOLVIL was born at Ashbye-Folvil in this County and therefore when Bale calleth him Lincolniensem understand him not by County but by Diocesse He was bred a Franciscan in the University of Cambridge and engaged himself a great Master of defence in that doughty quarrel pro pueris induendis that children under the age of 18. might be admitted into Monastical orders For whereas this was then complained of as a great and general grievance that by such preproperous Couling of Boyes and vailing of Girles Parents were cozened out of their children and children cozened out of themselves doing in their Minority they knew not what and repenting in their maturity not knowing what to do our Folvil with more passion then reason maintained the legality thereof He dyed and was buryed in Stamford anno 1384. HENRY DE KNIGHTON was born at Knighton in this County sometime Abbot of Leicester who wrote his History from William the Conquerour to the time of King Richard the Second in whose Reign he dyed It seemeth Lelandus non vidit omnia nor his shadow Bale nor his shadow Pits all three confessing that the History of this Knighton never came to their hands Whereas of late it hath been fairly printed with other Historians on the commendable cost of Cornelius Bee Thus it is some comfort and contentment to such whom Nature hath denyed to be Mothers that they may be drye Nurses and dandle Babes in their Laps whom they cannot bear in their Wombs And thus this Industrious Stationer though no Father hath been Foster Father to many worthy Books to the great profit of posterity WILLIAM WOODFORD I cannot fixe his Nativity with any certainty because so many Woods and Fords and would the former did continue as well as the latter and consequently so many Towns called Woodfords in England He is placed here because his Surname in this age flourished in great Eminency in this County He was bred a Franciscan and though Bilious Bale giveth him the Character of Indoctè Doctus we learn from Leland that he was one of profound Learning and Thomas Waldensis owneth and calleth him Magistrum suum His Master Indeed Woodford set him the first Copy of Railing against Wickliffe being deputed by T. Arundel Archbishop of Canterbury to confute publickly in Writing his Opinions He dyed and was buryed at Colchester 1397. THOMAS LANGTON was born at